Special Thanks to AnubisGundam0 for editing and proofreading the chapter.
A/N: well thanks to the reviews and everyone who voted, so without further delay here is the next chapter with our first tournament fight in the story.
Chapter 3
The Island
Sitting in his cabin, Lelouch monitored the security feeds from the numerous cameras distributed throughout the luxury cruise ship; Freedom Survivor. Currently, Lelouch was restricted to his cabin – by his own choice, of course – to protect his identity from the unlikely possibility of being discovered. That however, had changed with the appearance two young girls; Kasumi and Ayane, from the Mugen Tenshin Clan whom he had met in the past.
Lelouch knew the two held no hostility towards him, their reactions however could draw needless attention towards him in the event they recognized him should he be mingling with the other guests aboard the ship. They were probably the only two people – excluding his employer – in the tournament that could positively ID him, everyone else was a stranger.
He had met the two girls nine years ago when he had gone into hiding during Britannia's invasion of Japan. It had been arranged for him and his sister to reside in the Mugen Tenshin mountain village. Back then he had thought living in the remote Kururugi Shrine was difficult, but it was nothing compared to the inhospitable mountains.
They had been given accommodations in the Clan leader's residence alongside his children; Hayate and Kasumi. Nunnally was for the most part confined to building as the mountain paths weren't much more than game trails ill suited for her wheelchair to traverse. Only Lelouch could wander outside with any sort of ease, which was just as well, while the clan leader; Shiden and those within his house were polite and courteous, the further one travelled, the less tolerant the locals became.
At the time, Lelouch was familiar with Japanese resentment towards Britannians, he had been waylaid many times by the rural youths back when he was living at the shrine while getting food for him and Nunnally. However, the beatings the village youths gave him made his scuffles with rural youths look like harmless rough housing. It was no surprise really, the rural youths grew up in a modern Japan, while the isolationist ninja villages had barely changed at all since the time of feudal Japan, and were accustomed to the harsh lifestyle making the village youths both tougher and meaner in comparison to their modern contemporaries.
One of his tormentors was the village outcast; Ayane, who stood out with purple hair and ruby eyes. It was hate at first sight between the two. She frequently ousted his location to the village youths unless he surrendered whatever treats – in the eyes of those living on the outskirts of the village – he had been given, he had stubbornly refused to be blackmailed at first. Later he had accused Ayane of being too weak and cowardly to do it herself, it was then that she personally beat the stuffing out of him and helped herself. To add insult to injury she used him as an impromptu seat as she enjoyed the spoils of war.
This hasn't gone unnoticed by the clan head. However, no one was punished; Lelouch had been warned not to venture too far from the residence. In their eyes, his refusal to heed their warnings was himlooking for trouble and finding it.
Afterwards Lelouch resorted to bargaining and bribery, much to his relief Ayane gave him some respite. Unless of course, the former prince had the misfortune of running into the village youths on his own, in which case it was his problem. What he couldn't figure out much to his frustration was why she frequently targeted him. One day, however Lelouch stumbled across the village youths by accident, fortunately they had yet to notice him. This was because they had already found a target for their amusement; a familiar girl with purple hair, Ayane.
Watching from the shadows, Lelouch realized that Ayane wasn't all that popular in the village, as the youths had given her the same work over they reserved for Lelouch. When they eventually wandered off, Ayane looked like Lelouch had on a bad day, bruised and bloody. With a black eye and a split lip, Ayane scowled in the direction of youths retreating backs, an expression Lelouch was familiar with, he'd seen it in the mirror on his own face many a time.
When he had approached her, she had turned that same scowl on him daring him to pity her. Lelouch saw that he made the right choice in not intervening as he'd have received no gratitude for his trouble, once the youths were done with him, she probably would've throttled him herself afterwards to vent her own frustration. Instead, he allowed her to salvage her wounded pride by implying that she had taken a tumble down a steep hill as opposed to being beaten up; he had even surrendered his treats without a fuss which she snatched from his hand before dashing away.
It was later that day he learned about Ayane's outcast status, hated and looked down upon by the adults, and frequently bullied and ostracized by village children. Only then Lelouch began to understand her behavior, his arrival had provided a distraction for the village youths granting her a reprieve from her usual routine. In a way they were similar, both despised by their own people.
It was Genra who revealed this truth to him during another of their private lessons together.
"Ayane was born after her mother Ayame, the wife of our clan leader Shiden, and his older brother who had always had an eye for Ayame. However, she chose Shiden over him and when Raidou was passed over to become the next clan leader, he raped her before escaping, but this left Ayame pregnant with Ayane who was forced to live as an outcast because of her tainted birth viewed as a dishonor by the rest of the clan."
From then on Lelouch freely shared his treats with her; in exchange she showed him the side alleys and escape routes she used to avoid the village youths. They still didn't like each other, but there was a begrudging respect between them and a degree of acceptance. One time she found him at Kasumi's favorite fishing spot where he showed how bad he was at fishing, entangling himself in the line. Once again, he resentfully became in impromptu seat as Ayane enjoyed freshly cooked fish, after she had untangled him it was revealed that Ayane had left him the last remaining one.
Lelouch couldn't say if their relationship had begun to improve that day, but it didn't get worse.
Memories of being used as a seat by the girl both irritated, and amused him to this day.
I'll likely have to fight you or Kasumi, Lelouch thought before noting it was likely he would fight both of them at some point. It was just a question which of the two he would fight first. His interactions with Kasumi in the past were much more amicable than with Ayane, though Kasumi mostly kept Nunnally company during their stay at the village.
Using his free hand to massage his right temple, he decided to get a look at some of the other competitors.
Making use of his control over the security cameras once more Lelouch soon spotted two more of the competitors he would have to face.
He saw an old Chinese man of sixty five with a long white beard, long matching hair tied into a long braid, although he was balding on the sides. He stood over five feet tall. His skin was tanned, but despite his age, he was in impressive shape as he was dressed in baggy white long-sleeved martial arts top with striped fur sleeves and pants with the same design and kenpo shoes.
The man he was interacting with a young man of African-Britannian descent of twenty five standing at five feet and eleven inches. He was dressed in a white crop top with black text on the front and a logo on each sleeve. Lelouch couldn't see it from the angle, but it was a detail he could ignore because the man was famous enough for Lelouch to instantly recognize the man. The rest of his attire consisted of leather pants, gray sneakers, and a metal wristband on his left wrist, a hoop earring in his left ear, a pair of black sunglasses, and a blue beret.
"The prize money will be used to pay for my granddaughter's medical treatment," Gen Fu said with a determined expression, but his fellow competitor was different even though he seemed to possess a seemingly unending sense of optimism.
"Oh, why don't you relax Gramps, because I can double that money in Vegas." Zack offered in what was publicly recognized as usual flamboyant self with no end to his optimism.
The old martial artist however didn't share in his enthusiasm, "NEVER!"
Lelouch's eyes narrowed like those of a hawk.
Gen Fu; he hails from the Chinese Federation where he owns a book store in Beijing. Lelouch read as he reviewed the contents of Gen Fu's file. Despite his humble life style the old man was a master of xinyi liuhe quan, a formidable martial art that trains a fighter to use fighting techniques that revolves around using his upper body and hands primarily.
Lelouch found no indication or any record of Gen Fu having ever participating in any past martial arts tournaments, at least those that DOATEC knew about. So there was nothing Lelouch had that could help him determine the old man's fighting skills, aside from footage of Gen Fu's preliminary matches. Just the same given his age and confidence to stand against the world's best fighters gathered was good enough reason for Lelouch to act on the assumption that he was dangerous.
Zack on the other hand...
He began as a DJ who's happy-go-lucky, silly and showman antics have made him a very popular celebrity in Britannia. He has even broken a number of world records such as having balanced a stack of one hundred plates on his head and traveled the fastest in a supersonic car. He has always been seeking ways to further his own fame and fortune to fund his luxurious lifestyle. Some might've been surprised that a celebrity like Zack would compete in a martial arts tournament, but others more familiar with him wouldn't be since it was a golden opportunity for him to claim even more fame and wealth if he won.
"I would write him off as a joke, but..." Lelouch murmured thinking out loud to himself. "He fought in four other fighting tournaments last year having used a Muay Thai boxing, which was according to him self-taught."
The former prince placed one hand on his chin as he observed Zack's prelim footage.
"On the other hand he been overly flashy and a showoff, so that could be to my advantage to take him down. However, his long limbs give him extensive reach."
Lelouch shifted his attention and began looking for the next competitor until he spotted a young Chinese woman who was nineteen years old and was another who hailed from the Chinese Federation. She possessed long brown hair that was styled into a braided queue hairstyle. The young woman had a fair skin complexion with brown eyes and was dressed in a red and gold trimmed cheongsam gown with a dragon imprinted upon it.
"Let's see she must be Lei fang; a college student who joined the tournament. Like the others she passed the qualifying preliminary tournament, but for someone from a wealthy family, her decision to attend a tournament like this seems rather sudden." Lelouch said before he began trying to get a better idea of Lei fang's personality.
The young man knew that according to her dossier, the young woman was trained in T'ai chi ch'uan, although she probably wasn't physically as powerful as some of the other contenders, Lelouch decided to be mindful of her and if possible attempt to observe her during the tournament.
Next is…
This time Lelouch spotted two more competitors, but they were in a heated argument with one another. The first was a young woman of twenty two years with shoulder-length blonde hair, peach-colored skin and blue eyes. She was dressed in a red sports bra with spandex pants with the words Board and Above imprinted on the sides of the paints, the red gloves and on the arm bands. She wore black knee pads, a pair of matching boots with red and yellow protective wrestling gear.
Her companion, or rather Lelouch realized it was her father, who had the same shoulder-length blonde hair styled into a mullet with a beard to match. Befitting having spent his whole life as a wrestler he possessed a very tall and broad muscular frame despite being in his late forties. His attire consisted of a black leather biker's jacket with spikes, matching pants, boots, and biker gloves, a red shirt, and a black bandana. His outfit was complimented with a pair of black sunglasses, a chain necklace, metal bands on his arms and a chain dangling from his belt.
I guess they are the father and daughter competing against one another.
The competitors' names were Tina Armstrong and her father Bass Armstrong. Much like her father, Tina had followed in her father's footsteps and became a professional wrestler and became one of the best Women Wrestlers in Britannia winning the national championship two years in a row. Both were highly popular in Britannia, Lelouch's friend back at Ashford; Rivalz was a big fan of the Armstrongs – particularly Tina–and never missed a match. No surprises there. Lelouch didn't know the reason the two entered the tournament together, but judging from the argument, although Lelouch wasn't attempting to listen in, the former prince suspected that Tina's decision to enter the tournament was not something her father approved of.
Moving onto the next competitor, but like the last two he had just observed they were Britannian. The fact that he was a year younger than Lelouch was remarkable enough, but given his friendly deposition it wasn't hard to spot him mingling with various members of the crowd. He had spiky blonde hair, blue eyes and a fair skin complexion wearing a white suit with a black vest, black pants and a green tie with black boots on. His name was Gino Weinberg.
According to the dossier, he had just recently run away from home, which is odd given that he is the heir to the Weinberg Household.
The Weinberg Family was among Britannia's oldest and most prominent of noble families, so to hear that its youngest heir had run away was odd. It wasn't unheard of; since there have been such cases in the past usually involving the daughters from such families wishing to escape an unsavory arranged marriage, but in his case it was just odd. There were few details to explain his reasons for taking part in the tournament, but adding to the oddities was the fact that Gino was listed as a user of Japanese martial arts mixed with kickboxing creating something of his own style, confirmed in his prelim footage.
Gino's friendly disposition was rather baffling, which wasn't something you would expect from a child of a noble family, or at least those Lelouch had known. Either it was a mask, or Gino was the odd duck of the family.
Unable to gleam anything further, Lelouch began looking for the last of the competitors, but he ran into a problem.
I don't see Ryu or Raidou, although the latter not being present is unsurprising. However I don't see the last contender.
The last competitor whom Lelouch was unable to find was a man named Bayman, who like Zack lacked a surname of any kind according to the dossier he was given. Based on the information Lelouch was provided, the man was of Russian descent and was formerly part of Russia's spetsnaz who was also trained and specializes in the sambo fighting style. He'd left the military when the military leaders of the EU and Russia began clashing over various issues related to the military as the EU wanted to transfer more of their soldiers to defend Europe from invasion, but his country was worried that would leave them weakened to an invasion from Alaska. With the situation deteriorating, Bayman left the military where he became a mercenary and assassin for hire who took on the most challenging assignments.
Lelouch made do with watching Bayman's prelim matches.
I suppose unlike the others I doubt I could've gained anything from observing his personality, but given his background he'll likely be an aggressive fighter like the Armstrong Family, Raidou and Lee.
Lelouch finished his observations for the evening and decided to freshen up since the day after tomorrow they would arrive at the island where the tournament would begin.
It was late afternoon and classes for the day had concluded at Ashford Academy, but a small gathering of its students, specifically the student council was gathered inside the student council club building that had a ballroom for formal events. One such event happening today was the members of the student council gathering before a large flat-screen television set.
"So is everyone ready?"
The cheery voice came from the student council's eccentric and seemingly endlessly energetic leader. She had medium-length blonde hair, wearing the student uniform for female students consisting of a light-sandy brown color coat with gold trim, a white dress shirt, a green tie and a black skirt. Her blue eyes considered a very mischievous nature that Milly Ashford was famous around the academy for.
"So Lelouch is still out?" Asked the only other male member of the student council besides Lelouch who was the Vice-President, but unlike their missing vice-president, Rivalz Cardemonde was present.
He wore the male version of the Ashford Academy uniform consisting of a black-uniform tunic-like top with gold trim and matching pants. Rivalz himself had spiky blue hair and gray eyes with a more tanned complexion.
"He is, but I am getting worried he has been out for almost a week? Just how long is this internship program supposed to take?"
The answer leading to another question came from the next female member of the student council Shirley Fenette who had long orange hair and light green eyes with a fair skin complexion the same as Milly.
"Well, I'm not sure what he did to earn such an offer." Began another female member of the gathering being the same age as the others except for Milly, who was a year older, but she was the only Japanese girl amongst them. "But my mother is head of DOATEC's Japan branch, so she would know more than I would, however, usually such internship programs can last a few weeks, especially if it takes them to one of their other main offices around the world, like the company headquarters in Britannia."
She had long black hair and she wore oval-shaped red rimmed glasses over her deep gray eyes. She had a fair skin complexion, but like Shirley and Milly, she had an attractive petite figure.
"So he could be gone for a month?" Shirley asked who was distressed about the young man.
"That is possible depending on which department at DOATEC he is involved in, and you can't forget travel time." Kokoro said with a matter of fact tone in an effort to calm her friend.
Being the only Japanese person in the room had in the past made the group's last official member of the Student Council nervous, but Nina Einstein had grown to not mind Kokoro's presence since it helped that she was trained in martial arts, which protected the young woman from any unsavory characters.
"It's starting!" Rivalz shouted as the broadcast began.
In the southwestern region of the Pacific Ocean, the Freedom Survivor had dropped anchor off of a privately owned island belonging to DOATEC, although it had a hotel, a harbor with a beach and a resort area it possessed a military base on the other side of the island with some weapon testing facilities next to it. The office near the hotel was likely the headquarters for DOATEC's operations on the island while the beach and hotel was likely intended for employees and special guests to use.
Lelouch was hiding below the ring at the newly built stadium, which had been built next to the hotel by the harbor for convenience, because Fame had asked if the former prince could set up for a dramatic entrance to provide both a good introduction and a way to close off the introduction of the fighters. It felt unnecessary, but Lelouch was willing to oblige his benefactor. He was of course dressed in his Zero attire with the mask and everything firmly secured to mask his true identity.
There is no turning back now.
Meanwhile, at the harbor Fame Douglas was on a large stage overlooking a crowd consisting of high ranking executives of DOATEC, mixed with special guests and dignitaries from the three major superpowers of the world. There were news crews using cameras to provide live worldwide coverage of the tournament's opening event as Fame spared no expense to make the opening of the Dead or Alive Tournament to be a real spectacle.
The observation deck Fame stood on overlooked both the crowd, as well as the ring that sat in the middle of the gathering. The fighting area of the coliseum itself is simply an enclosed, square wrestling ring. The ring didn't appear to be anything other than what you might typically expect from a wrestling ring, the ropes around the outside of the ring are actually electric, meaning that anyone touching or thrown against them will be shocked once the match began forming a danger zone. Thankfully the electric current wasn't enough to be fatal, but it would give you a nasty shock.
The stadium around the ring was of recent construction, so around the outside of the ring there are bleachers with tiered rows of seats for spectators. There was a large gateway on one end of the stadium where fighters may exit to make their entrance before a fight, and a large screen is above it showing the action in the ring. Above it was the observation deck where Fame and Raidou could be seen within. The last additions to the stadium included proper stage lighting hanging from the ceiling, colorful lighting, and confetti falling from the ceiling during winning poses.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I want to thank you all for being here for the opening ceremony of the tournament where the world shall get a first look at our contenders for the title of the greatest fighter alive, and we shall also decide the first matches." Fame Douglas announced to the gathered crowd while he stood behind a podium stop the small stage overlooking the arena. "Let us begin with the Empire's representatives," Fame began before pausing for dramatic effect, "BRASS ARMSTRONG!"
At the far end of a runaway connected to the stage was Brass. He proudly walked to the ring with his arms in the air as confetti and fountain sparklers shot into the air. Many of Bass's fans cheered from the audience. As the competitor made his or her way to the stage the large screens positioned around the stadium began played back a video recording of their fights from the preliminary tournament to qualify for Dead or Alive.
Brass's video footage showed him using his wrestling and grapple techniques to deal with his opponents before using his physical might to overpower them.
Once he arrived on the stage Fame moved on to introduce the next competitor.
"TINA ARMSTRONG!"
Much like her father she basked in the dramatic flair of the entrance she was being given, blowing kisses to the Audience. There were plenty of catcalls and wolf whistles from the guys in the stands. Her own demonstration video saw her employ a fighting style that was unsurprisingly similar to her father, but she was quicker than he was in his movements adding speed to her powerful blows she dealt to those who fought her in the preliminaries.
"ZACK!"
Zack's entrance was the most energetic by far, as with any of his public appearances he put on a flashy show of movements and his muscles as he advanced towards the stage. This was another reason where Lelouch's suspicions about Zack being formidable were supported, even though others might assume otherwise, his flashy and showman personality, swiftly and easily defeated foes with a mix of showy, but effective punches and strikes.
Once Zack joined the others Fame called the name of the next contender.
"GINO WEINBERG!"
Gino made his way to the stage taking a moment to offer a friendly wave or two to the cheering spectators.
Gino's video proved that despite his friendly demeanor he was a capable fighter in his own right as he used a mixed fighting style of Japanese martial arts and kickboxing to throw some of his opposition off guard by changing his style of fighting, but he integrated them remarkably well.
"From The Federation; GEN FU!"
Compared to Zack, the elderly Chinese man carried himself with a more composure as he simply strolled to the stage joining the four. His demonstration video of his fighting technique showed Gen Fu skillfully using quick strikes and blows to swiftly take down his foes, which only proved Lelouch's suspicions about the elderly man being more formidable than his age might've led anyone else to believe.
It was something his opponents had clearly learned the hard way.
"LEIFANG!"
She put upon an elegant style entrance, but unlike Tina she didn't attempt to put on a show. Not unlike the person who was called to join the others next. Even so the guys amongst the audience showed their appreciation with the occasional wolf whistle.
Her demonstration showed her using rapid strikes and redirection to defeat her foes, although she lacked the strength Tina had she made up for it with speed and evasion.
"JANN LEE!"
Jann Lee was completely indifferent to the crowd and made no effort to appeal to them other than strolling confidently to the ring at a quick pace wishing to begin fighting as soon as possible.
The Chinese Federation native's video could be described as watching a kung fu movie as Jann Lee demonstrated he had both speed and power accompanied by his famous dragon cry. His foes barely had a chance to respond to his attacks and even those who had a chance to get a hit in, couldn't stop him as he merely shrugged off their attacks like they were nothing, which was likely thanks to the years he spent as a bouncer and a high pain threshold.
"From Europia United; BAYMAN!"
The Russian Mercenary marched out onto the stage with discipline and professionalism as he paid no mind to the crowd seeking to join the other competitors as quickly as he could. The hardened mercenary was six feet tall with a muscular build befitting his profession with a slightly tanned complexion. He had blue eyes and dark brown hair styled into a military cut with a black beret on his head.
His attire consists of a gray and white battle uniform with black boots and fingerless gloves.
Bayman's video showed him to be a tower that couldn't be taken down by his foes as he could be seen parrying the blows of his foes before delivering punishing counterattacks that would leave them on the ground defeated.
"From Area 11 and the first of DOATEC's sponsored fighters... KASUMI!"
Kasumi was indifferent as she made her way to the ring, although she carried herself with a modest and elegant grace as she did so.
Unlike the others though Kasumi didn't have a prerecorded video of her fighting in the preliminaries because of the special circumstances surrounding how she was brought into the tournament. Similar to Zero she was brought in and inducted into the tournament by a high-ranking member of DOATEC with the authority to do so bypassing the preliminary tournament. Officially, Donovan was her sponsor.
Lelouch shook his head, of all the things she could've worn, it had to be that outfit. He thought referring to her blue garb which earned her a number of catcalls, not as many as Tina, but more than Lei fang, much to Kasumi's embarrassment. 'Not that Ayane's is much better.'
"AYANE!"
The purple haired shinobi strolled towards the ring with confidence, but she didn't waste a chance to cast a glare at Kasumi. Both her dress and her exotic looks earned her a few whistles from the crowd, though she paid them no mind her gaze briefly settling on the observation deck.
Ayane's video had her evading the opposition before seizing any openings and quickly delivering a series of punishing kicks and strikes that left them on the ground defeated if they were unable to defend themselves properly.
"RYU HAYABUSA!"
The famed super ninja, Ryu Hayabusa, walked out towards the stage with a sense of strict discipline and didn't care all that much for the cheering crowd.
His attire was known as the legendary Black Falcon that consisted of a full bodysuit with a minor padding and straps which hold his six kunai, three on each thigh, in place. He also wears tabi-style boots, black armor, a balaclava, a forehead protector, and a mask which covers his lower face. On his back was the famed Dragon Sword said to be a formidable blade.
Aside from that his exposed upper arms suggested he had a slightly tanned complexion and light green eyes.
His demonstration video showed him defeating his foes with lightning fast speed and strikes that came so quickly some of his foes barely had a chance to react resulting in a quick defeat for most of them.
Fame's introduction of the Shinobi had been somewhat flat, and the unintended snub was met with approval by the Britannian nationals within the audience. However, Fame held nothing against the three Shinobi; he was simply caught off guard by the number of them present as he knew they had no interest in either the tournament, or the prize money. Which begged the question; were they here for his bodyguard Raidou, or were here for Kasumi whom had been spirited away by Donovan?
Lelouch figured that Donovan was going to get an earful from Fame for the uncertainty he created by drawing the possible ire of the clans.
"Now for the final competitor representing DOATEC, I give you a man whom I personally invited to make things more interesting." Fame announced injecting renewed enthusiasm into his voice before declaring the name of his chosen contender, "ZERO!"
Instead of appearing at the end of the runway as the others did Lelouch appeared as Zero after a cloud of black smoke erupted in the heart of the ring. Once the small cloud vanished Zero was standing there like a statue.
Some of the contenders were taken back, which was expected. Some like Jann didn't pay Lelouch any mind, but others still eyed the masked man.
No one said a word, but Lelouch could feel their stares upon him especially those of Kasumi and Ayane.
"Now let's begin deciding the first set of matches," Fame said before gesturing for a female employee wearing a business suit to rolled out a cart holding a set of balls contained within a black box with a hole on the top for a contender to reach into. "One at a time I wish for our competitors to take one ball out of the box and then display the number it holds."
One by one they did so, there were twelve in total and once the numbers on each ball were revealed in the hand of the one who picked it the large monitors displayed the match line ups. The twelve were divided into three groups of four. Numbers one through four made up group A, five through eight, group B, and lastly nine through twelve, group C. The fighters in Group A would compete in the first two rounds.
The first round would be between Kasumi and Gen Fu, which would be followed by Ryu Hayabusa against Jann Lee.
"The contenders for our first match will remain in the ring while the rest can observe the fight from the observation room." Fame instructed as everyone, but Kasumi and Gen Fu left the ring.
Once everyone else had left Kasumi assumed a fighting stance as did get foe.
"Let the first round begin!" The CEO and founder of DOATEC announced.
"I shall win!" Kasumi declared bowing respectfully to her opponent.
"I wouldn't hold back," Gen Fu cautioned.
"FIGHT!"
With that the fight began as Gen Fu and Kasumi rushed towards the other to engage in a fierce exchange of hand stokes and fists. The young ninja had no intention of holding back as she soon recognized that Gen Fu was stronger than his age would suggest. Kasumi quickly parried some quick hand thrusts that nearly got past her defenses, during the exchange Kasumi felt that Gen Fu's strikes were like his hands were made of iron with considerable strength behind them.
Thankfully Kasumi had the vitality of youth, with speed and agility on her side.
Using a ninpo technique, Kasumi slipped behind Gen Fu to surprise him from behind. She vanished in a flurry of cherry blossom petals before reappearing behind her foe. Unfortunately, being an experienced fighter Gen Fu had realized the danger and he countered her attack, catching her right arm aimed to strike his back before delivering five consecutive hand chops to her left arm, shoulder and striking her in the chest three times before ramming his shoulder into her, knocking her across the ring. Kasumi rolled backwards before using one had to transition into a back flip righting herself in midair.
Gen Fu closed in to press his attack, but when he overextended himself trying to strike Kasumi with another punch, she evaded before delivering a vicious counterattack. Using his arm as leverage she launched herself into the air delivering a kick to the face with both feet knocking him across the ring. Using teleportation again, Kasumi appeared in the air above Gen Fu before dive bombing into him like an arrow before hitting him in the chest.
As Kasumi rolled back onto her feet, Gen Fu was surprisingly quick to recover. He attacked Kasumi again, but the young woman deflected the punishing blows. Gen Fu delivered a swift blow to her stomach with a knee strike creating an opening for some quick jabs. Kasumi allowed herself to fall towards the floor, but she grabbed her foe pulling him down with her. As he fell forward, Kasumi kicked him with enough strength to knock Gen Fu off his feet before kicking him multiple times in the torso before a final kick sent him flying ten feet into the air. Gen Fu recovered as he fell back towards the ground righting himself, but he barely dodged Kasumi's attack.
Gen Fu followed it up with two low kicks to trip her up, but his foe maneuvered to avoid it before delivering a high quick to his face. Despite Kasumi's rapid strikes the aged martial artist endured with no oblivious sign of fatigue. Kasumi was far from being worn down herself, which made it all the more clear that victory wouldn't come easy for the other.
The elderly fighter harried her with a combination of powerful palm strikes and a series of high & low punches. Gen Fu countered Kasumi's attack by grabbing her arm and then flipping the woman over his shoulder and launching her into the air.
The young shinobi flipped around in midair before landing on both feet, turning to meet Gen Fu as the latter renewed his attack with a shoulder slam, but Kasumi dropped to her knees before sweeping her older foe off his feet. As he fell back Gen Fu tried to use one hand to recover, but Kasumi wasn't going to give him a chance before delivering a powerful kick that sent Gen Fu sliding across the floor of the arena. Kasumi hurried to press her offensive, but Gen Fu was quick to recover as he was back on his feet in time to meet Kasumi head on.
Kasumi dodged his strike before spinning around to deliver a kick to the side of his dead, but Gen Fu didn't go down as he stubbornly stood his ground. The blow to his head stunned him momentarily, but he quickly recovered and followed up his attack with a shoulder slam before attempting to deliver a kick to Kasumi's stomach. Unfortunately for him, Kasumi was equally determined to win as he was if not more so, but only one can be the victor. Kasumi dodged his next attack before grabbing his arm allowing her to entrap him, restricting his movements and began repeatedly striking him in the face with her free hand before kicking him away with a blow to the stomach.
Gen Fu rushed the young woman, but Kasumi dodged it. The elderly fighter however anticipated her evasion and was ready for it with an elbow strike to the face when she tried to flank him for a surprise attack. The attack had briefly stunned the young Kunoichi before countering with a hold gripping his arm and wrapping one leg around his head before spinning the old man around using her leg to drive Gen Fu's face into the floor of the ring. Resigning control the old man rolled with it turning his body in an attempt to kick Kasumi, although he missed, the near miss forced the young woman to release him freeing him from her hold. Using a sweeping kick to keep Kasumi at a distance as he rolled into a crouch, Gen Fu defiantly rose up to his feet once more with still no signs of wear upon his aged face as he resumed his fighting stance.
Kasumi answered his defiance with one of her own.
The Kunoichi attacked, exchanging various strikes and kicks before an opening allowed Kasumi stun Gen Fu with another kick to the face before leaping into the air to deliver more than eight consecutive kicks to his face in rapid succession, followed by a powerful kick to his face to dive the older man to the floor and launch herself into the air where she performed a graceful forward flip before landing on the ground again. Gen Fu lay stunned, but rose once more as he refused to fall so easily when his granddaughter's life was on the line.
Kasumi employed a roundhouse kick as an opening for her renewed assault, but she had anticipated her foe would absorb the blow and followed with a high kick at the moment Gen Fu blocked her kick by leaping and spinning in midair to enable her other leg to strike the old man in the fast face. She followed this up using both hands to catch herself and then drive both feet into Gen Fu's torso knocking him back with a blow that would've broken the bones of any ordinary fighter. The elderly fighter was sent staggering back by that blow to be sure, but he hadn't suffered any broken bones during the course of this fight as a testament to both his tenacity and durability. Gen Fu rushed her before she could get back onto her feet delivering a punishing blow to the face knocking Kasumi across the ring, but much like her foe she had tenacity and durability to match as well as she recovered in time to met the elderly fighter what she would be would the last engagement between them.
Even though neither fighter had showed signs of slowing down, however someone had to be weakening by now given the punishing blows both fighters had dealt to the other.
Kasumi caught another of Gen Fu's strikes before flooring him with another kick to the face, but after the old man got to his feet once more Kasumi used her teleportation to deliver a fast and hard strike onto Gen Fu in passing. The impact of her attack caused Gen Fu to drop to his knees again, but now it seemed to be the old man was beginning to weaken as he struggled to get back onto his feet after Kasumi struck him. Even though it seemed to be a short time had passed everyone was interested in watching the first match of the tournament coming down to the wire as both Kasumi and Gen Fu were giving it their all to win.
Only one could win the fight in the end though, and the match was over after Kasumi attacked Gen Fu with a flurry of punches and hand strikes targeting the chest and head before finishing him with another roundhouse kick to the face sending the old man crashing into the floor face first.
Gen Fu lay motionless on the ground, he was still breathing, but he wasn't moving.
Taking this as a signal the referee hurried into the ring to check the fallen Gen Fu. After he proved unresponsive the referee began counting down.
"1…2…and 3 YOU ARE OUT!"
A bell rang throughout the stadium before colorful confetti began falling from the ceiling to commemorate the first victor of the tournament.
"The winner of the first round is Kasumi!" Fame announced having clearly enjoyed the fight as his expression and tone implied.
Kasumi let out a sigh of relief, while at the same time she silently acknowledged her defeated foe.
Gen Fu was still unconscious, as two members of the on-duty medical team with a stretcher hurried out into the ring to take the old man to the onsite infirmary inside the stadium to recover until he regained conscious. The crowd was applauding wildly having enjoyed the fight as much as Fame did, but so too did the members of the Ashford Academy Student Council.
"Damn that old man really put up a fight. I thought he'd never go down." Rivalz said as he was among those impressed by Gen Fu's durability and endurance despite all of the punishment he had taken. A grin appeared on his face as he watched Kasumi proceed to leave the stage as he put one hand on his chin before offering up a comment about the victor. "Still that's an interesting outfit she is wearing."
"Oh yes I'm sure," Shirley said sarcastically while eyeing the young man suspiciously.
"Maybe you should wear something like that Shirley, I'm sure it will attract attention, especially from a certain someone!" Milly said with a mischievous grin.
Shirley's face turned bright red before managing to loudly retort, "MADAME PRESIDENT!"
Thankfully Kokoro came to Shirley's rescue when she decided to point out the intention of Kasumi's outfit.
"Her outfit is meant to distract male opponents using her sex appeal as a weapon. It's not unheard of for a Kunoichi to employ such tactics, especially when history has recorded how effective such tactics have seen."
"So I guess the term 'looks could kill,' came from those people right?"
Kokoro shrugged her shoulders, "maybe, but your guess is as good as mines."
Back at the stadium Lelouch had silently observed the battle, and a part of him was both glad Kasumi had won and at the same time he wasn't. He had known how formidable Gen Fu was thanks to his observations combined with the demonstration video he had gotten to watch before disembarking the ship, which he combined together to get a better grasp of both Gen Fu's skill and experience while fighting. Kasumi on the other hand was inexperienced yet had both the endurance and speed of youth on her side, and Lelouch knew to a degree the kind of training the shinobi of her clan endured though so the young man knew it would come down to the wire.
Of course having watched Kasumi fight, he now had a better grasp on the young woman's skills and what to expect when he faced her in battle.
I am not looking forward to fighting you, but I can't ignore the possibility.
Lelouch didn't want Kasumi to win if only to spare her from not only the danger of facing Raidou would bring, but he feared what would happen to her should she somehow defeat him. What Fame had told him about Donovan's growing interest in Kasumi's clan had left Lelouch deeply concerned coupled with the alterations preformed on Raidou.
Taking a calming breath Lelouch knew there wasn't much he could do at this point until his time came to face either her or Ayane in battle, but his match would be against someone else. He was thankful Ryu wasn't his first opponent, but this was an excellent opportunity for him to see him fight a foe he had hoped would give the super ninja a challenge so he could get a better grasp of his fighting style and his personality was during a battle to find any potential advantages he could exploit.
In the meantime Lelouch could only wait until his turn came.
A/N: the first round of the tournament is over with Kasumi victorious and next will be Ryu vs Jann, and the match ups for the first set of fights have been decided.
Pairings we got that decided and taken care of, but remember I do have other reasons for my choices.
Thank you in advance your reviews and feedback.