Sorry I haven't been updating this fanfic lately! I wanted to finish Soldier Candy, one of my other fanfics, before I started the Gladiator Games Finals arc. I will try to do more frequent updates in the future, and hopefully you'll enjoy this latest installment!
Chapter 38: The Failure vs. The Natural Part 1
Characters (in order of first appearance):
Genma Shiranui / Antifrizione Fosforescente
The day of the Gladiator Games Finals had arrived. Everyone within the Foglia family was excited, because they all had the privilege to watch the matches in a large arena located underneath the old football stadium. While the spectators, including the Godfather and the Teacher (Kazekage) took to their seats, the participants were taken to a locker-room, where they were greeted by a Foglia Soldier with medium brown hair.
He chewed on a toothpick that was hanging out of his mouth as he spoke. "My name is Antifrizione Fosforescente, and I'm here to substitute Imprevisto, who was mysteriously killed this past month, along with Ecc Seta of the Suono family. Because of these unforeseen circumstances, the match-ups have been altered slightly."
"How?" Capriolo asked tiredly, since the incident with Tarma the night before kept him and Gelato up late.
"Gelato and Voluta will still go first, followed by Morte and Oscuro, since Tony and Tarma are absent, and Capriolo will fight Pallamano instead. Any questions?"
No one said anything.
As Antifrizione, Gelato, and Voluta made their way into the arena through a set of doors at the back of the locker-room, the crowd cheered their entrance. Rosa was standing up in her seat, giving Gelato supportive advice, along with Zanna a few rows away, with Aurora sitting next to him, looking at Voluta nervously when she recalled the injuries she got from their earlier match. After Antifrizione made the match-up announcements to the crowd, he signaled Gelato and Voluta to begin.
"You should forfeit while you have the chance," Voluta suddenly said, making Gelato flinch.
"What makes you say that?" Gelato asked angrily.
"Because you're a failure, and failures are destined to lose."
"Shut up!" Gelato didn't waste time and made five Homunculi.
They all surrounded Voluta, and attacked him all at once. He immediately activated his Bianco Occhi eyes, and hit each Homunculus only once in the vital regions, causing them to dissolve. Gelato gritted his teeth as Voluta smiled, making more Homunculi in the process. Voluta just scuffed and folded his arms.
"Do you really think that trick is going to work twice?" he said, and rushed past the Homunculi, not even touching them. "I know you're standing behind the others, because you don't want to get hurt!"
He eventually came to the Gelato in the far back, who looked surprised, and forced his palm into the left rib, making Gelato cry out in pain. Rosa and Maiale, who was sitting next to her, were frozen stiff, Zanna cursed, and Aurora looked down in bitter disappointment. However, the Gelato that Voluta hit merely dissolved instead of falling to the ground. This caused Voluta to look behind him. All the other Homunculi had dissolved, and out of the red mist ran the real Gelato, followed by another Homunculus, who went off to the side.
"You must be going blind or something, because you didn't see this coming!" Gelato said, punching Voluta as he ran past him, and the Homunculus did the same, except from the opposite direction.
This surprised everyone, especially Cielo, who had never been able to touch Voluta in the many times they sparred together when they weren't on missions. Aurora's face lit up, while Rosa cheered on. With a new boost of confidence, Gelato and his Homunculus ran up to Voluta again, this time with Throwing Knives drawn. Meanwhile, Voluta spit some blood out of his mouth and cursed, "You'll pay for that!"
Then Voluta spread his arms out, palms turned up, and his feet spread apart. As he activated his Bianco Occhi eyes again, he shouted, "Twelve Zodiac Wheel of Fists (Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven)!"
As he spun, his body emitted nature energy, creating a make-shift barrier. When Gelato and his Homunculus made contact with it, they were instantly thrown back. While Gelato landed unsteadily on his feet, his Homunculus dissolved. Aurora's eyes widened as well as those of a middle-aged man in an expensive suit sitting in the higher rows with the same eyes as her. Then as quickly as it happened, Voluta stopped spinning, but immediately charged at Gelato. Gelato had no time to react, and found himself being hit multiple times by Voluta as he counted every single one out loud. After Voluta reached thirty-one, Gelato collapsed.
"Gelato!" Rosa cried.
"Gelato…" Aurora muttered.
"You really thought you could beat me, didn't you?" Voluta smiled again, deactivating his Bianco Occhi eyes once more. "Well newsflash, Gelato! You can't! I just sealed off all your nature energy with my Twelve Zodiac Thirty-One Punches (Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms), so you're as good as dead if you want to continue this pointless match!"
Antifrizione sighed, and walked over to Voluta. He was about to raise Voluta's hand up, declaring him the winner, when Gelato suddenly stood up. Everyone gasped. Gelato was panting heavily, but he stood his ground and said, "This match…isn't over."
End of Chapter 38