Chapter 18: The First Two Matches
ALRIGHTY! Three reviews, huh? I'll take it, it hasn't been a particularly long time since the last update... This is how this is going to work. I'm gonna make the tournament chapters very short for what I usually put out, but I'm gonna see if I can't them put out quickly. In fact, this chapter was actually finished twenty four hours ago to the minute! XD I might make the first two fights in this chapter, then see where that goes. Enjoy the fights!
At the tournament
"The first match up is Ryū Tora no Kami vs JC!" Akira shouted. "It will begin in half an hour, fighters please use this time to prepare!"
JC... Isn't he some famous actor or something? Tony thought to himself.
"So what do you think you need Tony?" Kagami asked.
"Well, I could use some window shopping if you all are up to it." Tony turned to the girls. "How about it?"
"Yeah!" They all agreed. They all started to walked around the various vendors, each looking at different things and not really seeing anything in particular.
"Otōto!" Tony heard his brother call. Tony turned around to see Masutā with a large necklace and a small jeweler's glass, looking at it. Tony ran over.
"What's up?"
"This is real, and it's rare." Masutā held up the necklace. It was a platinum necklace with a large gemstone in the shape of a diamond. The gem had a sunburst design and was surrounded by diamonds. "I didn't see anything wrong with it. No miscuts, no pieces missing, nothing. This is probably one of the finest pieces I've seen in a long time, if not ever. It's one of those few things the vendors have that is seriously worth what they ask." Masutā whispered to Tony.
"Really? It's very pretty... How much does it cost?" Tony asked.
"A steal at only 300,000 yen! You won't find a better Alexandrite necklace anywhere else! See how it changes from blue-green to violet!" The vendor shouted.
"Whoa, that's expensive... but..." Tony looked back at Tsukasa, currently looking at a stuffed animal display. "It would be amazing for her birthday..." Masutā laughed.
"Even if you could afford it, do you think you could wait that long?" Masutā laughed.
"Maybe I'd make it an early birthday present." Tony smiled, knowing if he got it, he wouldn't be able to keep it from her until her birthday. He suddenly realized he was starting to sound a lot like her boyfriend. He blushed as he realized that was the real reason his brother was laughing. "Um... Do you have anything less expensive..." Tony almost stuttered.
"You don't want anything else, that was one of the only real pieces of jewelry here." Masutā said, much to the objection of the vendor.
"By the way bro, how do you know how to check jewelry like that? They certainly didn't teach you that in the forces..." Tony asked.
"A friend taught me the basics. If you end up buying it, we can take it to him for a real evaluation." Masutā offered. Tony noticed Tsukasa turning from her place at the stuffed animals.
"Thanks, but it's too expensive." Tony said, getting away quickly. Luckily, none of the girls saw him.
"That was a pretty necklace you were going to buy for Tsukasa." Konata catgrinned. Okay. Maybe one, but I didn't see her.
"Wha! ? What are you talking about? Ehehehe!" Tony shouted in a feeble attempt to cover his tracks.
"Don't worry, I won't tell." Konata grinned.
"Re-really?" Tony asked before their friends were upon them.
"Yeah, that's what sisters are for, right?" Konata smiled to him.
"... Yeah. Thanks a lot Konata." Tony smiled.
"What was that Kan-chan?" Tsukasa asked, a question mark appearing above the three girls' heads.
"Nothin'! Don't worry about it!" Tony shouted with a bad poker face on.
"Geez, if I hear that line one more time today..." Kagami muttered.
"Well I won't say it anymore, so no need to worry." Tony smirked. Before Kagami could go off, however, the fighters were called to arena.
"Let's go find some seats girls." Masutā started to shuffle the girls off. Tsukasa turned around while being pushed.
"Good luck Kan-chan!" She shouted.
"Thanks!" Tony smiled back. He took one last look at the vendor with the necklace and decided to mark his location for future reference. Just in case. He thought. He made his way to the area where he would enter the ring from. There, they made sure he was ready and fit.
"You're name?"
"Ryū Tora no Kami."
"Opponent?"
"JC."
"That's right, good luck!" The man asking the questions smiled as he let Tony into the ring.
Round 1- FIGHT!
As Tony entered the square ring, he found the entire thing to be surrounded by stone walls and seemed sunk below the seats, almost like a pit. The floor was also made of stone. The seats themselves were incredibly numerous, about a football field of them on all sides. There was oddly one wall that had seats, but only one lone group in it. Tony decided it wasn't important and decided to concentrate on his match.
"We're here live at the World Martial Arts Tournament! Behind me we have Ryu Tora no Kami about to fight JC! Let's watch!" Minoru said into the camera recording him.
No out of bounds here, eh? Cool. So my first opponent is JC, huh? This should be easy. Tony thought as his opponent came out. The shirtless JC was incredibly muscular, having an easily visible six pack. Show off... Tony thought as he removed his own shirt. A chorus of gasps followed by whispers was heard at Tony's scars. It even almost threw the girls through a loop since they had only seen it once. "Still have a chance to step out man. I don't wanna hurt ya." He called out.
"I'm fine." JC called back.
"Go Kan-chan!" Tsukasa shouted from her place in the front row.
"You can do it Tony!" Kagami shouted.
"Woohoo!" Konata shouted. Tony snickered.
Back at the Hiiragi household
"Ah~! So that's little mister Charming!" Matsuri grinned.
"What's with all the scars?" Inori asked, though knowing no one around could know.
"I dunno..." Matsuri said. "You gotta admit though... He is pretty built."
"True." Inori smirked.
Back at the plot
"Ready?" Akira shouted.
"Ready!" Tony and JC both shouted.
"Fight!" Akira shouted as she sprinted off. Neither one moved, however.
"You ain't got wires to help you now pretty boy!" They heard from the crowd as laughter erupted from the man and his friends. JC just snickered as he took a fighting stance.
"Fans think my moves are all wire work and special effects. Truth is..." JC smirked as he swiped the bridge of his nose with his hand. "I AM the special effects." He said as he started glowing green. The next thing Tony knew, he was slammed into the wall twenty feet away, JC's foot raised in the air where Tony's head had been only a second ago.
Okay, OW! Tony thought as he realized he had barely seen JC's movements. Resounding gasps were heard from the audience as a green ball formed in his hand. *Sigh* Looks like this isn't going to be as easy as I hoped... Tony thought as the green ball was sent hurdling towards him. He evaded it, but the wall behind him was now cracked, not only from the force of his impact, but by the Force of the Ball.
"I'm gonna get that prize money AND show the world that I'm not faking in my movies!" JC shouted, forming another ball.
Tony picked himself up as he ran towards the actor, sidestepping another blast. Tony threw a punch to have it caught in the hand of JC. Tony used his forward momentum and pushed off the ground, grabbing his opponent by the arm before doing so. Tony was now behind JC with the actor's arm stretched over his shoulder, and pulling.
"Kan-chan, look out!" He heard as he suddenly felt a force hit him, sprawling him on the ground for an instant before jumping back up. He looked at JC to see him rolling the arm that had been practically torn off.
Force Ball... Right... Tony mentally slapped himself for grabbing something that essentially just shot him. Tony rushed JC and faked another punch, instead ducking down and sweeping JC's legs out from under him. Tony kept spinning and straightened his leg slightly, catching JC on the cheek. Everything suddenly went slow-mo as a picture of JC's skull appeared, the effects of the knee's bone-shattering force looking prominent until they seemed to vanish with the picture. JC was propelled away, but not faster than Tony as he leaped up and caught him in the stomach, slamming him into the ground. Everything slow-moed again as a picture of JC's stomach exploding appeared. However, due to the in-continuity of the kombat, JC wouldn't die from his injuries. JC got up dazedly, looking around and seeming like he was going to pass out at any moment.
"Finish him!" Tony heard Konata yell from her seat, front row and elevated over the wall. Tony looked at her.
"Fine." Tony said as he walked over. As he did, JC started to fall, but was caught by his former opponent. The boy helped JC to his feet and helped him walk out of the pit.
"Friendship! FRIENDSHIP!" Konata shouted.
"Winner! Ryū Tora No Kami!" Akira shouted. "The next round will be held after the fighting in this round is over! It will be fought with weapons chosen by the fighters!"
And that was just the first fight. At least it looks like a good turnout, the prize money will probably be epic. Tony thought as he walked off.
Outside the ring
"Good job Otōto!" Masutā called as they met outside the ring.
"That was awesome!" Konata shouted.
"A good fight indeed." Miyuki eyesmiled.
"Way to go Tony!" Kagami smiled.
"Co-congratulations Kan-chan." Tsukasa blushed. Tony had forgotten to put his shirt back on.
"Thanks guys, that was tougher then I thought it would be. He was a pretty good fighter, almost like this wasn't his first tournament." Tony smirked. "Though, I have no clue what kind of experience these fighters have."
"Well with your strength and speed, I would think most of these matches should be pretty one-sided, right?" Kagami asked.
"You may be right, but don't forget Hercules against Aladdin. I think it was Hercules and the Arabian Nights. Sure, if I were to use Hachiman, it probably would be a one-sided fight the entire time, but where's the fun in that?" Tony smiled.
"I guess that's true..." Kagami said.
"I'm here for fun as much as I am for the money at the end." Tony reminded. "Besides, if I do win, that means I'm the strongest on Earth, right?"
"Unless there are people who just didn't compete." Masutā reminded.
"Yeah, that's true... But I think if I run into someone who's super strong, I can always cop out with Hachiman hehe." Tony chuckled as they started walking about.
"Hey, Otōto... Let's go see that Shin guy fight. Just to see if that score means anything..." Masutā said.
"Yeah..." Tony said as they started walking to where the seats were. As they were climbing stairs to get up them, the ground started to shake for an instant. "Whoa, what the-" Tony shouted as he tackled Tsukasa and Kagami to the ground, Masutā getting over Konata and Miyuki to provide whatever protection they could. The ground stopped without any apparent damage. Tony and Masutā got up warily and helped the girls up.
"Winner! Gisō-shin!" They heard Akira announce as they walked into the seats.
"Holy mother of Haruhi!" Konata shouted as they beheld the stone floor of the pit. It was broken with boulders that were obviously not placed there and even deeper parts of the floor that were missing entirely. Actually, it was probably where the boulders came from.
"Dear gods..." Tony muttered. Shin turned and looked straight at Tony with the same smirk from before. I'm... gonna have to fight that, aren't I? Tony thought.
"Otōto..." Masutā said.
"Yeah, I know. That score was no lie." Tony said, returning Shin's stare. Shin walked out. "What's up with him?"
"I dunno." Masutā said. "Come one Otōto, let's go get something to eat."
"Right..." Tony said as they left, uninterested in the rest of the fights. They made their way to a food court nearby, talking about random generic topics, the most recent stench, the usual. They got to the court, ordered their food, and sat down at a table.
"You know what I find funny?" Kagami asked.
"What's that Onee-chan?" Tsukasa asked.
"The fact that they closed colleges to save money, but we're not paying to take our college classes at school. Doesn't that kill the point? They're losing money!" Kagami pointed out.
"Yeah, I never thought about it like that!" Tsukasa started laughing. "What's up with that?"
"That, my dear Hiiragi's, is bad thinking on the writer's part." Masutā explained.
"What's with you and Tony always talking about 'writers' and 'plots' and stuff like that?" Kagami asked, her irritation and curiosity mixing. Odd combination... "You make it sound like you're as crazy as Konata when she talks about 'flags'."
"Not crazy, just well informed." Masutā smirked.
*Sigh* "Whatever..." Kagami sighed. They continued eating until they finished, after which they probably didn't eat anymore. Or did they? No, no they didn't.
"So let's go see if we can't find something good from all these vendors. Tsukasa, I noticed you looking at the stuffed animals." Tony smirked.
"Eh! Well I like them..." Tsukasa's ribbon rose frantically
"Haha, no reason you shouldn't!" Tony laughed.
"Any place you want to go Kagami?" Konata asked almost hesitantly.
"I didn't really see anything before that looked interesting, but we could go look some more. Who knows, maybe we'll find something cool."
She said she liked me the way I am, but she just called me crazy! I'm still afraid of pushing her away if I go overboard on the perversion or comments. Damn it! I'm so scared she'll hate me now for anything or everything I do! Life was so much less confusing when I was confused... Konata thought. "Sure, let's go." Konata said as they all got up. Konata and Kagami walked around, more just seeing what people were selling then looking to buy anything. Kagami did, however, note a lack of energy in Konata again. Kagami sighed as she may never be able to read Konata like the older girl could her. Tony and Tsukasa, however, knew exactly where they were going. They walked over to a stuffed animal vendor they had seen earlier, Tony knowing Tsukasa wanted one since she had seen a different display earlier.
"So Tsukasa, which do you like?" Tony asked.
"Um~..." Tsukasa peered around the display.
"Buying a doll for your girlfriend?" The mustached man selling the animals asked.
"She's not... No. I'm buying one for my wife." Tony sighed. Tsukasa's face lit up in blush again.
"You're a little young to have a wife, aren't you?" The man asked.
"You're a little old to be having all these stuffed animals, aren't you?" Tony retorted.
"...Okay..." The man looked dejected.
"May I buy this one?" Tsukasa picked up a small unicorn.
"Allow me Tsukasa." Tony smiled as he brought out some money.
"Actually... You know what?" The man said.
"What?" Tony asked.
"NO DOLL FOR YOU!" The man snatched the animal back. He then held up one finger. "Come back, one year!"
"...Wha?" Tony looked confused.
"NEXT!" The man yelled. Tsukasa's ribbon drooped as she she teared up.
"Hey, no reason to be a doll nazi. We just want to buy a stuffed animal, that's all!" Tony shouted.
"You want a doll? 300 hundred extra!" The man yelled.
"Wait... what?"
"You want to buy an animal?" The man asked.
"... Yes please." Tony gritted his teeth.
"FOUR HUNDRED!" The man yelled.
"What?" Tony yelled.
"NO DOLL FOR YOU!" The man yelled. He closed his cart, locked it, and left.
"..." Tony glared at the man. "Tsukasa, if I went to jail, would you visit me?"
"Kan-chan, it isn't worth it!" Tsukasa shouted in a panic, unsure if Tony would actually do it. He sure sounded like it.
"Alright then..." Tony sighed. "Sorry Tsukasa."
"It's okay. But..." Tsukasa stopped.
"Yes?"
"Why did you call me your wife instead of saying I wasn't your girlfriend?" Tsukasa blushed, looking away.
"It was simply easier to say then that you weren't my girlfriend, then people will say 'whatever you say!' then all that kind of stuff happens. It was just quicker." Tony explained.
"Oh... Okay..." Tsukasa muttered as she went to walk around.
Hmm... "Let's see what else we can find!" Tony smiled.
"Alright!" Tsukasa smiled. As they started looking around, Tony noticed they were only appearing in pictures.
What is this, some music montage? Tony thought to himself. Could they have at least picked better music? This is so faint, I can't even hear it... As the montage ended, they heard Tony being called to the ring.
"Wow, has it been that long already?" Tsukasa wondered.
"Whew, time flew by really quickly. That was a lot of fun though." Tony smiled. Man, we hung out through at least 13 matches... and then some downtime...
"Yeah it was." Tsukasa smiled back.
"Well, let's get going!" Tony started to run at about the speed Tsukasa could so she could keep up. They quickly got to the place Tony would go in and they met the others there.
"You two were alone for a while." Konata catgrinned.
"So were you and Kagami." Tony responded. Had he not turned his attention away, Tony would have seen a blush creep onto Konata's face. However, it went unnoticed.
"So what did you two do?" Miyuki asked.
"We don't have a lot of time, so we better get seats while we can..." Masutā looked up.
"Yeah, I'll talk to ya after my match! Cheer for me!" Tony smiled as he started walking to the preparation room.
"Good luck Kan-chan!" Tsukasa shouted.
"Thanks Tsukasa!" Tony walked into the room.
"You're name?"
"Ryū Tora no Kami."
"Opponent?"
"Ingo Montoy."
"That's right, good luck!" The man asking the questions smiled as he let Tony into the ring.
Weapons match!
"Onee-chan, I have to go to the bathroom..." Tsukasa said as she got up.
"Why didn't you go before we came all the way up here?" Kagami chided.
"I.. I don't know, I guess I didn't need to go before! I'll be right back..." Tsukasa slid down between the wall and the people behind her. She exited the arena
Igno Montoy stepped into the ring to face Tony. Tony noticed that he was a Spaniard.
"I do not mean to pry, but you don't by any chance happen to have six fingers on your right hand?" He asked Tony.
"Do you always begin conversations this way?" Tony responded, being interrupted by Akira before anything else could be said.
"Alright! What weapons do you choose?" Akira shouted from the mostly empty seats, revealing a melee weapon cache in the seats behind her.
"What would you like?" Ingo asked.
"I'll fight with what you're fighting with." Tony responded.
"Smallswords?" Ingo suggested.
"Sure, I've practiced with them." Tony informed.
"Okay!" Akira cheered as two smallswords were thrown into the ring.
"I warn you, I have been using these for a long time, devoted my life to my ability to use one." Ingo shouted as he drew his from the ground with his left hand.
"You've done nothing but sword-play?" Tony asked, intrigued as he drew his own with his left hand from the place it had pierced the ground.
"More pursue than study lately. You see, I cannot find the man who killed my father... It's been twenty years now and I'm starting to lose confidence. I just entered this tournament to pay the bills. There's not a lot of money in revenge." Ingo explained. Tony was silent for a moment.
"Well I certainly hope you find him someday." Tony commented.
"Let the death match begin!" Akira shouted.
"DEATH MATCH?" Tony shouted in surprise. "There's got to be some kind of law against that!" He continued as he looked around. He suddenly saw two important people, protected by many guards. It was the lone group in the empty seats. The Prime Minister? AND the Emperor? Geez, this has attracted some big names, I suppose this has to be legal... Tony thought. The girls followed his vision.
"The Emperor's here!" Miyuki said, the first to notice.
"You're right Miyuki, the Emperor is here!" Kagami confirmed.
"Well I didn't vote for him..." Konata commented.
"I understand that death is a possibility, but a fight TO the death? That seems a bit barbaric, don't you think?" Tony looked over to see Ingo waiting patiently.
"Are you done?"
"Well you could get a little irked..."
"I am, but the fact that I still have to kill you does not change."
"That does put a damper on our relationship..."
"You are ready then?"
"Whether I am or not, you've been more than fair to wait through my rant."
"You seem a decent fellow... I hate to kill you." Ingo sighed.
"You seem a decent fellow... I hate to die." Tony smirked. Ingo smiled back as he poised ready to attack.
"Begin."
Ingo struck out slowly, Tony easily repelling the attack. Tony thrusted slowly, it getting blocked with a few lazy flicks of Ingo's wrist. Tony smirked as the two started trading blows, neither sustaining an injury. Tony started to climb the boulders that had been the result of the past few fights, namely Shin's.
"You are using Bonetti's Defense against me, ah? " Ingo smiled as they continued.
"I thought it fitting considering the ruined terrain." Tony stated calmly.
"Naturally, you must suspect me to attack with Capa Ferro?"
"Naturally... but I find that Thibault cancels out Capa Ferro, don't you?" Tony asked as he jumped off of the boulder to the ground below. On the way, he looked to his friends, but noticed Tsukasa wasn't there. His heart felt like it dropped for an instant.
"Unless the enemy has studied his Agrippa... " Ingo smiled as he flipped to the other side of the boy. "Which I have!" Tony started the assault this time as he started to gain ground. He was pulled from his thoughts back into his fight.
"You are wonderful!" Ingo smiled at having a worthy opponent.
"Thank you. I've worked hard to become so." Tony smirked.
"I admit it, you are better than I am." Ingo chuckled.
"Then why are you laughing?" Tony asked.
"Because I know something you don't know."
"And what is that?"
"I am not left-handed." Ingo said as he flipped the blade to his right hand, gaining the upper hand.
"You are amazing." Tony said in admiration of the Spaniard's skill, still trading blows, but losing ground. I'm even using as of much of Hachiman in my arm as I can and I'm still losing...
"I ought to be after 20 years." Ingo smiled, pushing Tony against the wall of the ring.
"Oh, there's something I ought to tell you." Tony said.
"Tell me!" Ingo requested, pushing all the harder on his smallsword.
"I'm not left-handed either." Tony smirked as he threw the man off, tossing the sword up and catching it in his right hand. They started going at it again, Tony gaining the advantage again. He swung his sword to catch Ingo's and throw it from his hands. As Ingo looked slightly worried, Tony pointed to the fallen blade. Ingo looked at it and then back to Tony, who gestured to it more. Ingo ran and picked it up.
"Who are you? Really?" Ingo asked, curious to know who his opponent truly was.
"No one of consequence." Tony said.
"I must know." Ingo insisted.
"Get used to disappointment."
"'Kay..." Ingo shrugged as he started again. The fighting was fierce as the two blocked and parried each other's attacks. Tony caught Ingo's sword again and threw it from his hand, but Ingo leapt over and caught, Tony waiting for him to do so. Once, Ingo even jumped over Tony's smallsword. Tony started waving his blade in circles, causing Ingo to flail in an attempt to anticipate his next move. Tony used the opportunity to bring the flat of his blade through Ingo's hair, and then disarm him. Ingo looked astonished, then mortified.
"Kill me quickly." Ingo muttered as he fell to his knees.
"I would sooner destroy a shrine than an artist like yourself. However, since I can't have you winning either..." Tony said as he knocked Ingo out by a blow to the head from the butt of his sword. "Please understand, I hold you in the highest respect."
"Winner! Ryū Tora No Kami!" Akira shouted.
Good man, I hope he finds his happily ever after. Meh, knowing his luck so far, he'll end up becoming a pirate or something... Tony thought as he left the pit.
Outside the pit
"Hey, where's Tsukasa?" Tony asked soon as he came out.
"She said she went to the bathroom, but she really should have been back by now..." Kagami said. Tony started feeling uneasy. Suddenly, Kagami's cell phone started to ring. "Yes, hello? This is Hiiragi. … What? When?" Kagami's voice was getting alarmed.
"What's up?" Tony asked, everyone leaning towards Kagami in a vain attempt to hear what the other person was saying.
"Okay. Thanks for telling me." Kagami said before hanging up.
"Kagami, what's going on? You look horrified!" Tony shouted. Kagami looked up.
"Tsukasa's in the hospital."
Luckier Channel
"Luckier~! Channel~!" Akira shouted. "Hiya luckies! I'm Akira Kogami, your navigator!"
"And I'm Minoru Shiraishi, the assistant!"
"I told ya I'd get you something Shiraishi-san! Even if it was only three lines!" Akira said.
"Yes you did, thanks Akira-sama!" Minoru smiled. She actually did it. Frankly, I'm surprised.
"Maybe you'll make more appearances! Those were some good fights though, huh?"
"Well, they could have been better written." Minoru commented.
"Huh?" Akira turned her head to him.
"A-Akira-sama?" Minoru stuttered.
"Yeah, of course they could have been better written, but the writer's a freakin' amateur, give them a break. It's not like they have a hell of a lot of experience writing fights, now do they?" Akira said.
"Um, well... There was that time with Yutaka..." Minoru stuttered.
"You can't count that, no one who's reading now even freakin' knows what happened! Everyone who read that stopped reading the damn story right after it happened!" Akira shouted.
*Music Tone*
"Aw~, I guess that's all the time we have for today. I'll see you all later! Bye nii~!"
"..."
"You were defending the writer quite adamantly there, weren't you Akira-sama?"
"Yeah, so what? What's your point? Without them, I'd probably be out of a job..."
"Yeah, I guess so. You know Akira, if you really needed money that bad, you could always ask."
"... You're not serious."
*End*
Aftersection
Alrighty, how was it? First two rounds! Complete! I have three more fights to go, wish me luck! This story has officially reached past the 100,000 word mark! By the way, I have a new goal. As of now, and I do declare, this story shall be the longest Lucky Star story on the site. Which means for a single story, I would have to type more then Vossago at 218,380 words with his "Other Worlds Than These" story. For a complete story, I have to go even higher, to RezleVettems, one of my favorite authors, and topple his Lucky Future series at 242,769 words! (Meaning this story will have to more then double in length XD) Hopefully if I do it, little or none of it will be boring or out of character, but I have plenty of ideas! Uuu I'm getting pumped! See you next chapter!