Disclaimer: I do not own Rumble Roses or it's characters.
Chapter Three: Wednesday: Sucks To Be A Day Off
Three days removed from her very first victory, Michiro, who was wearing a pink short sleeved crop top, tight blue jeans and flip-flops, decided to leave the hotel where everyone was staying at, or as she put it she wanted to clear her head. She had been overly excited about her victory, and about the announcement that followed it. "How the heck am I supposed to prove that I'm better than Ayake by Sunday," muttered Michiro as she waited for the street light to change. "I mean sure I beat two members on the roster, but Ayake actually beat a veteran Rose. Maybe she should get the opportunity…" Michiro walked down several roads, not paying attention to where she was going nor did she care. "But then again, Ayake is a proud woman, so I doubt that she would allow me to just hand over that type of opportunity to her…"
Michiro continued to walk carelessly like she was, and while she was wrapped in her thoughts, she collided into a kneeling guy who seemed to be working on something. Before she could get out an apology, the red haired man said, "Heh, sorry about that. I saw that you were in deep thought but I stayed in your way." He smiled.
"Uh, erm… no, I should apologize for not paying attention to where I was going." She noticed a broken metal object near the guy's feet. "I… I didn't do that did I?"
The read haired guy stood straight, and only then did Michiro really take notice of him. He was very handsome but kind of childish looking at the same time. He was about 6', had unkempt red hair that stopped in the middle of his neck, dark brown eyes, had fair skin, and was wearing a baggy black T-shirt, dark blue cargo pants, black tennis shoes, and he had a dark blue shirt wrapped around his waist. He noticed that Michiro was eyeing him so he replied, "Yup, you ruined it! But alas, I broke it in the first place, so that's no skin off of your back. But I was really trying to fix it before going…" The guy sighed, waited a couple of moments then held out his hand. "Anyway, my name's Ian, Ian Uzuki."
She shook Ian's hand. "Um, well I'm Michi-"
"Heh, I know who you are. You're Michiro Kurosaki right?" She nodded. "Heh, well you seem to be quite the brawler. Were you ever an Underground Fighter at one point?"
"N-N-No! I wasn't! Why would you even ask me such a thing?" Michiro began walking away from Ian.
"No need to get your panties in a bunch "Rosie", but your style seemed familiar to me." Ian bent down and continued to work on the broken metal object.
"Why are you so rude to me you… you… you poopy face!" Michiro sucked at argument, and usually didn't think before she spoke when she was in one. She immediately apologized to Ian. "I-I-I'm so sorry Ian. I didn't mean to call you a-"
"Poopy face? Naw it's cool. But if you really want to make it up to me, you can come with me to my fight and cheer me on. Then I could show you back to your hotel if you'd like." Ian could tell that she wasn't used to the area by how she was fidgeting.
"O-okay, as long as your fight is soon."
"Heck, it starts when I get there," he exclaimed. Then he grabbed Michiro's hand and made their way through countless alleys in route to their destination.
Back in her hotel room, Reiko sat on her bed wearing a white tank top and pink pajama pants, while listening to her iPod as "Power Trip" by Monster Magnet blared out of her headphones. She was in a very disheartened state. She felt as though nothing was going right for her, and she didn't know why it was happening. "What the heck is going on?" She asked herself. "Ever since I lost the Championship, I can't win any matches on my own. Every show, I'm getting beat as though I'm one of the rookies. I have no idea where Fujiko is. And now the two undeserving newbies are about to get an opportunity to get a match with Aigle for the Championship… My Championship!"
Reiko got up and punched the wall. "Can mother be proud of what I've become? Be proud that Little Reiko has become a loser!" She punched the wall a couple more time. Then she broke out crying. She didn't want to, but all of the emotions that she had built up ever since losing the Championship and her sister was overwhelming her. As the tears flowed out of her eyes, Reiko could have sworn that someone had called out to her. "Huh… W-wh-who's there?"
"You have become complacent once again," the voice called out.
"Huh… what… what are you-"
"You have let your 'friends' fill you head with false hopes and desires. All the while they were just waiting for you to fail. And now look at you-"
"My friends aren't like that!" yelled Reiko. "My friends care…" Her voice trailed off as she remembered the things that her friends had done recently. Aigle had just become the Rose of Roses Champion. Makoto is on a 10-0 winning streak, with Reiko being her most recent victim. And Dixie had a very reluctant tone in her voice and a pitiful look in her eyes when Reiko had asked for her help against the former Tag Team Champions. Yet what had Reiko done; since losing the Championship she was 2-10, both of her victories coming from disqualification, and she still had no leads to where Fujiko was. Everyone seemed to be distancing themselves from her. "My friends… care…"
"Sure they do," said the voice. It seemed to get louder, and more familiar, as Reiko became convinced by it. "But how do they show it, by beating you, taking YOUR Championship, and not wanting to help you when you're down? Face it, your friends don't need or want you around, Little Reiko."
"That's… that's not true…" Reiko punched the ground a couple of times, trying to convince herself that she was right, but to no avail.
"Yes it is, but you don't need them either! You don't need anyone! As long as you can make that journey to Hell and back all you need is yourself, Queen Cobra!"
"Turn back into Queen Cobra…" Reiko thought back to her days as Rowdy Reiko, when she used to lie, cheat and steal. The days when she lived by her own rules, and how she always had the gang's support and loyalty. She went into the bathroom and looked into the mirror. "But those days are long gone… I broke up the gang, and without the Cobras, how can I be Queen?"
"This is the type of thinking that made you become so weak Reiko," said the voice, it was almost as loud as Reiko was. "You never needed those clowns either; you just kept them around because you could. Listen to me Reiko, stop letting your would-be 'friends' tell you how to act. Stop letting your sister dictate what you should do. Stop letting your dead mother decide on what your goals should be!"
Reiko looked into the mirror, but it wasn't her image that was being reflected anymore. "Dixie doesn't want to help me… Makoto wants to only beat me up… and Aigle wants to steal from me… maybe I should listen to you… Rowdy Reiko. Maybe I should just say 'screw what they want' and just be me. And then maybe… maybe…"
Her voice tapered off until it was inaudible. Reiko went back into her room and jumped on the bed. She looked at the ceiling with her arms spread wide, and with a satisfied evil look on her a face and a sadistic tone in her voice, she said, "Then maybe I'll just show these bastards how rowdy the true 'queen' can get!"
Yasha, who had her hair in a ponytail and was wearing a white unbuttoned shirt with a sky blue tank top beneath it, tight jeans, white shoes and a blue baseball cap in which the bill was covering her eyes, been following the evil Latina nurse since daybreak in an attempt to find out where her hidden base in this city was; however, the wicked nurse was more elusive than the Immortal Revenger had initially imagined. It was around eleven in the morning, when suddenly Anesthesia vanished from the kunoichi's view. Yasha quickly moved to the place where she had last saw the nurse, and examined the area thoroughly. There weren't any secret areas, or any alleys that the nurse could have tried to vanish into. The brown eyed kunoichi had to face the fact that Anesthesia had disappeared. With this new development, Yasha decided to search the city for some clues before heading back to the hotel.
The Immortal Revenger did a complete search of the city. She went from the ghettos to the high risers, from the sewers to the rooftops, and looked in every inch, eavesdropped on every conversation, investigated everything and person that could possibly be connected with Anesthesia, but she came up dry. Yasha decided that there was nothing to be found and started heading back to the hotel. She was mad at herself for losing the wicked nurse so easily. A mile, due to the paths that the alleys made, away from the hotel, Yasha noticed that a lot of people in an alley were crowded around something. After getting a better look at the sight, the kunoichi saw that it was nothing more than the beginnings of a street fight between a huge bulky man and a smaller man with red hair.
Normally Yasha would have had just ignored the event, however something about the big one caught her eye. Since the two brawlers hadn't begun fighting yet, she took this time to inspect the appearance of the big again. He was bending down, but due to his body mass, Yasha put him at about 6'5". He was very muscular, had black liberty spikes and a tanned complexion. The behemoth was topless and was only wearing black fighting gloves and brown cut off pants. The man also had a scar on his right eye, like Rowdy Reiko, and he had crimson eyes. Looking into the man's eyes, Yasha discovered what had previously caught her eye; the pupils of the man's eyes were in the exact same symbol that is on Dr. Anesthesia's hat!
"So this man is associated with that witch," Yasha thought as she got in a better position to see the two brawlers. "Well if the evil in his heart consumes his adversary, then I shall cut off his head." Yasha took notice of her surroundings one final time, and saw that the newcomer, Michiro Kurosaki, was amongst the onlookers. "If you get caught up in this… I cannot guarantee your safety…"
"Alright then fans," said a little kid who couldn't be any older than nine years old that stood between the competitors. "It is time for the Underground Fighting Championship Career Ending Match! Now in this match whoever loses will be forced to leave the UFA (Underground Fighting Alliance) forever. Introducing first, the challenger, standing at 6'1" and weighing in at 197 lbs, he is the only undefeated fighter in the circuit with an impressive record of 132-0-0; I give to you Ian Uzuki!" He pointed toward the red haired brawler.
Ian got a pretty good reception from the crowd. He looked over toward Michiro, and saw that she was smiling at him. He waved at her then turned around. He then saw that another Rose had decided to watch him fight. "My I must be getting popular amongst the ladies," he thought to himself.
"And his opponent," the kid continued. "Standing at 6'5" and weighing in at 275 lbs, he is known as the Dominator and has a devastating record of 165-3-0, he is the current Underground Fighting Champion, I present to you Rox Grandeur!" The crowd booed the Champion fiercely; everyone was sick of his reign and hoped that he would lose badly to Ian, but they really didn't have their hopes up too much. Rox just grunted as he set himself into his fighting stance.
"Guess this isn't going to be like last time," murmured Ian as he set himself into his fighting stance as well.
"Fighters ready?" asked the little boy, who had gotten from in between Ian and Rox. "Begin!"
The crowd stirred up into an uproar as the match went underway. Ian immediately ran towards Rox and hit him dead in the jaw three times. However these hits proved to be ineffective, as Rox grabbed Ian by the throat and slammed him hard into the ground. Ian spit out a little blood as his body hit the concrete. Rox then tried to stomp Ian in the chest, but Ian rolled out of the way and got to his feet. The two of them stood at a face-off until Rox rushed at his opponent with a clothesline. Ian dodged, Rox and elbowed him in the back of the neck. He then hit Rox with a flurry of jabs to his back, and finished up with a roundhouse kick that hit Rox on the left side of his head, and sent him flying into the side of a building.
"Not bad," said one of the onlookers. "Keep at it!" said another one. "Show that bullocks why you're the only fighter that's undefeated!" said the kid that introduced Ian. Many other spectators followed suit, by cheering for Ian.
With all these people behind him, Ian sighed and faced his opponent who was struggling to get to his feet. Ian took advantage of this moment and delivered a multitude of punches to Rox's head, followed by a couple of kicks to the midsection of his opponent. Ian took a very small breather delivered a right punch, which was caught by Rox. He then delivered a punch with his other hand, which was also caught by Rox. Rox then got to his feet and lifted Ian into the air by his hands. Then with the power of a mammoth, Rox slammed Ian's body into the building opposite of him. While Ian was still against the wall, Rox ran over and executed a hard elbow to Ian's midsection.
Ian's body fell to the ground very hard, and he was beginning to lose the feeling in his body. As Ian struggled to get to his feet, he watched as the enormous structure of his opponent loomed closer and closer to Ian until he was standing over him. The Dominator then grabbed Ian by the throat and lifted him until the two were at eye level with each other. "Is this… all that… you got?" Rox breathed deeply. He began to squeeze Ian's neck tighter now, making his opponent turn a little blue in the face. "You probably… should give up!" Rox was just taunting Ian now, but he had to be careful not to accidentally kill Ian so he won't lose the match and the Championship.
Ian could feel his soul leaving him. He tried to mount some type of offensive but he barely had any feeling left in his entire body. He thought it was all over, that he was out of options, but then he remembered something that the legendary Kamikaze Rose had said during an interview one time. She said, "To describe my fighting style would be impossible, because I never play to my strengths… I just fight how I want to fight." With that in mind, Ian thought about the repercussions that would follow his next action, but then said "Screw it!" and spit into the eyes of this opponent.
Temporarily blinded, Rox let go of Ian and tried to get the saliva out of his eyes. Ian whose body had fell to the ground again, was able to slowly regain the feeling in his appendages and get to his feet, though he was very wobbly. He then made couple of hand signs like he was doing some kind of ninjutsu, and fell into his fighting stance. By this time Rox had gotten the spit out of his eyes, and looked toward Ian with a cold and powerful glance that seemed to have no soul behind it. Rox then ran at Ian and threw a powerful jab which Ian luckily dodged. Rox then threw another punch, but this one was dodged too and he instead hit the wall that he had previously slammed Ian into. The impact caused a huge crater to form.
"So he's bringing out all of the shots," said Ian to himself, as he looked at the crater. The feeling had almost completely returned to his body and knew that the next series of maneuvers would end the matchup. So Ian ran at full speed at Rox, and executed a jumping lariat kick, but jumped too high and his bottom leg caught Rox instead. Ian then transitioned the lariat into a neck scissors that left Ian upside down, while still applying pressure to Rox's neck. Rox struggled with the move so a while before he began to spin around in a circle with such velocity, that Ian was eventually rocketed into the side of a building. However, Ian was able to miraculously land on the wall safely. He then jumped off the wall into the air and did a corkscrew spin. Rox looked up and saw that Ian was coming straight for him, so he braced himself for impact, but it was too late. Ian had extended his legs out and double kicked Rox in the face, this caused Rox's head to almost do a 180; he then followed it up with a forceful back flip off of his opponent's face, in which he screwed up the landing, causing the back of Rox's head to slam into the ground bringing the rest of his body with him.
The crowd was in awe of what had just transpired. Everyone had thought that Ian had knocked out Rox. The little kid, who was both announcer and the official for the match, even began doing his 10-count. "1… 2… 3…" However, before the kid could even part his mouth for four, Rox had gotten back to his feet. Everyone, especially Ian looked on in belief as the Dominator walked over to Ian and stopped in front of him. Ian braced himself for whatever attack Rox had in store for him. However, but the attack never came. Ian looked up and saw that Rox had fallen unconscious the moment that he stopped moving. Once the crowd noticed this the was a monstrous uproar for Ian. The 'official' checked Rox out before saying, "Yup, it's official! The winner due to his opponent being rendered unable compete, and the new Underground Fighting Champion, Ian Uzuki!"
Everyone became ecstatic as Ian was handed the Championship. Michiro, who had tears in her eyes, rushed over and hugged Ian tightly, "Y-you won! You actually won! It looked like… er, I mean at times-"
Ian began laughing, which in turn made him start hurting due to all the pain he was in. "Ha ha ha, ouch, ha ha… you worry too much for someone you barely know." Michiro blushed. Ian stared at the Championship that was in his hands and raised into the air. The spectators were loving this moment; the fan favorite had won, Rox was no longer Champion and he could no long fight in the UFA, and someone deserving of the Championship was finally Champion. Ian looked around in the audience and saw that Yasha was still there watching him intently. "Well I thought I'd do this at the victory party but I have an announcement to make." Everyone fell silent. "Due to new managerial policies and a request by an old friend, effective immediately I will be leaving the UFA and joining Rumble Roses as one of the 'Thorns' on the roster."
"Wait-a-minute, what does this mean about your Championship?" said Michiro and the 'official' in unison.
"I guess… right now, I'm relinquishing the belt… with the stipulation that the next title holder will have to win a tournament in order to regain it." Everyone had a cautious look on their faces, but they all decided that his course of action was for the best.
"Um Ian, why Rumble Roses if you don't mind me asking?" questioned Michiro sheepishly.
"Heh, ouch… when I said 'due to new managerial policies and a request by an old friend,' I wasn't talking about anyone in the UFA." Ian began walking off slowly. "If you still don't understand, ask your GM about it after Yasha takes you back to you all's hotel." He looked over toward the kunoichi, who nodded her head in agreement and started walking off. "Well, see you around Michi…" Ian continued walk down the alley until he was out of the sights of everyone who had seen him wrestle…