A/N: Onward and upward! We continue the tournament! (Apologies for any delays-I have more notes at the end explaining things a little better.)

Einherjar Stadium, Announcer's Room

"Ready to roll?" Jay poured himself another drink with a small shot in it. He was pacing himself fairly well, all told.

"Yep," Roger said, rolling the sleeves of his button-down shirt up. The office got fairly warm, even in the Norwegian fall. He gathered up the papers, swearing that he had seen two copies of the Round Two brackets somewhere.

"What's up?" the younger man asked, seeing Roger searching.

"Could've sworn I sent to have two copies of these made?" He rubbed his chin. "Maybe not, though."

"Well, we only need one, anyway."

"Yeah, guess so. Might be my age," he joked. "Anyway, let's get this show on the road."

Taking their seats, they geared their mics up, the sound guys making sure everything was okay before they went back 'on air', so to speak.

"Alrighty gang! Get back to your seats! We have the next two fighters ready to roll. This fight is going to be a doozy, guaranteed."

"You're gonna see some explosive action, let me tell you."

"Very explosive, Rog! Coming in from Shanghai, the God of War himself, Shen Woo, is gonna be squaring up against the legendary colonel himself, Ralf Jones!"

Round 2, Fight 5: Shen Woo vs. Ralf Jones

Shen turned, listening to the announcer while still sitting in the VIP section. Grinning, the brawler let out a hearty laugh.

"Well then, guess it's good I didn't eat those crabs!" he exclaimed, standing and smacking his fist into his hand.

"It's Ralf, too. A friend of yours these days, as I understand it," Ash said.

"Yep! They hold the best parties. This oughta be fun!" He saluted them, making his way down to the field. The VIP section thankfully had an easy way down.

Ralf, who was ringside at this point, jumped up and crashed his fists together, causing the metal on his gloves to spark, as they would.

"Alright, buddy!" he said to Clark. "Get ready for a show!"

"Watch him. He hits like a truck."

"And I hit like a tank. I'll be good." Grinning, he waved and dashed to the stage, seemingly excited to go.

Duo Lon and Leona, who had been chatting right before that, looked at one another.

"Oh, this is going to be good," the soldier said, a small smile on her face.

"I look forward to this. Come on, I think they'll want us down there." The assassin touched her shoulder lightly as they also made their way down to watch.

The rest of the crew were making their way down as well, seemingly ready for the show, which they expected to be high-energy, at the very least. Bets changed hands, with much of the crowd unknown on who to go for. Both of them had won a tournament, but Shen had shown off a seemingly endless endurance in previous tournaments. Ralf, however, was a long-time veteran, and was currently the favored winner. But Shen was enough of a contender that caused some rather intense discussions between the gambling crowd on who would come out victorious.

Ralf trudged toward the middle of the ring to meet Shen, the two men squaring up against one another, their muscular forms giving the audience quite the eyeful.

"Ready to roll?" Shen grinned, holding his fists out.

"Oh yeah. Show me what you got. Lemme see where you got that nickname!" The two crashed their fists together hard enough that the audience almost thought the fight started, but indeed, they were just greeting one another.

The referee, sensing that the pair was ready to go, started the fight.

READY…GO!

The two, surprisingly, managed to stay back long enough to feel each other out…at least for a few moments. It was Shen that made the first move, dashing forward quickly to force the veteran soldier into a defensive stance. His huge fist hit home on the man's blocked arms, pushing him back several meters as he dug his heels in against the force.

"Aaaaand they're off!" Jay said from above.

"How far did he move him?" Roger asked. "That's Ralf Jones we're talking about!"

"It looked like he actually pushed him halfway across the ring! And look, there they go!"

There they went indeed. The two big brutes were now rather close to each other, already slugging it out in flashes of fists, with a few kicks missed in; Shen even met Ralf with one that threw him off for a moment. Many expected Shen to be more of a boxer; while the man did rely more on his fists, he was capable of any sort of high kick or roundhouse that most other fighters could do, and indeed used them to powerful extent, particularly to trip up opponents, to give him breathing room, or to just put an opponent directly on their asses.

Ralf was able to regain his footing, however, and threw out his own, long-ranged mid-kick, which caught Shen in the gut, knocking him off. He crashed his fists together, dashing in for another blow, which Shen managed to block that time, slight chi starting to flash in the air.

Another mistake people made was thinking Shen being unable to summon chi; the man was indeed able to. In fact, he was able to turn it around to power himself up somewhat, even if he didn't throw energy balls or anything of that nature.

Shen and Ralf were fairly evenly matched in size. Of a similar height, Ralf was heavier than the brawler, and both men were capable of immense power and durability when focused. Ralf's limbs were a little longer, it seemed, but not by much.

Where the difference lied was experience. While Shen had spent a fair bit of his life in street brawls-even from a teen-Ralf was ten years older and had been on the battlefield since he was barely over twenty.

He had fought a far wider variety of foes, as a result, and the experience started to show as he managed to duck out of the way of Shen's tricks, quickly blocking and countering with one of his own attacks-a massive punch to Shen's chest which knocked the brawler back, causing him to cough. He barely got a chance to find his feet again to dodge the next blow, a straight kick, but he managed to long enough to sweep out Ralf's leg and come down on him with a knee into a punch.

"Yes! Shen, my friend, keep going!" Ash said, clapping.

Duo Lon nodded. "That was smart. He's going to find that Ralf can take a lot more punishment than that, however."

Indeed, the two began slugging it out again, their fists clashing, and an occasional leg lashing out. Shen actually managed to catch Ralf off-guard with one of his surprise high-kicks that he'd throw out, causing the man to get blown back rather quickly from the blow as the brawler rushed in to smash his fist into him again, pushing him back even more.

"Whoohoo, Shen! Show them how you do it, monsieur!" Ash grinned at his friend at the ring.

"Whoa," Adel said. "Didn't expect that."

"Ralf ain't done. Don't worry," Whip chuckled.

"Damn. You actually sounded like you weren't teasing him for once."

The soldier laughed. "I tease him. But I know what he's made of."

"Yeah. He didn't get into his position doing nothing."

As Shen started to come in for another huge blow, Ralf quickly stood, greeting Shen with a giant uppercut, which sent him back; Shen had managed to catch it at the very last minute as to not take the full force, but he took enough of it that one could see him holding his chest and trying to make sure the wind wasn't knocked out of him.

"And look at that!" Jay yelled. "Ralf just got himself some breathing room."

"That he did! These two both want to be up in each others' faces, but I think Ralf might have just needed to get himself that space. Shen shouldn't let him sit too long, though."

Roger was right; it gave Ralf-who was far, far smarter than many laymen who didn't know any better gave him credit for-time to think over Shen's weak points. Which he had to do; he had to give Shen credit that the man was powerful and he did have chi that he knew how to use to further strengthen himself.

Seeing where Shen would leave himself open. Ralf once again charged up and smashed his fists together, causing the sparks as they would to great cheers from the crowd; he ducked to the side, having a feeling he could tell where the brawler was moving in, due to his habits. He slid around and slammed the other man with an uppercut, sending him reeling for a moment, though he once again regained his feet.

Centering himself for just a moment-actually taking some of his friends' advice that they tried to give him over the past years-Shen tried to calm himself, focusing his chi the best he could. He knew he couldn't charge in randomly against Ralf. He sometimes just couldn't help it.

Ralf noticed this and started to somewhat back off himself. He had just started to blast into position, but seeing this gave him pause; was Shen up to something?

"Okay, this is uncharacteristic of the two, Rog!"

"It is, Jay. These guys are known for turning things up to eleven. They seem to be trying to…keep control?"

"Something big might be coming!"

This even gave the people viewing pause. Duo Lon blinked, shaking his head.

"Well, that's different."

Leona, however, smirked. "He may have started to pay attention."

"Ralf, too, somehow. Huh." Clark took his hat off for a moment to rub his hair.

Now, Shen thought to himself. He sprung forward, moving in, almost throwing himself wide; this caused Ralf to aim for his unprotected chest…

…Which Shen then proceeded to parry; and then he parried a second blow, before he then sent his left fist home instead, right to Ralf's solar plexus. The big man doubled over for a moment, wheezing; he hadn't anticipated that, and it knocked the wind from him.

"Would you look at that, Rog! Shen actually pulled one on him!"

Adel blinked this time. "Well, hell. Big guy's picking some stuff up."

Ash giggled lightly, as he would. "C'mon, monsieur!"

Ralf managed to recover himself, knocking Shen away with a quick kick before finally revving himself up once again. He didn't expect to be parried by the man, but the next time, he wouldn't be taken aback like that.

At this point, the timer was ticking down; there was just under a minute left to the fight. The crowd was on its feet, surprised that the brawler was giving the legendary Ralf such a stand-up fight; someone like one of the Sacred Treasures was one thing, they were used to explosive fights there, but Shen's skill and overall grit surprised them. As the two slugged it out in between themselves a few more moments, they both looked for the necessary opening.

And it finally came. Ralf, feeling himself getting slightly worn out and seeing the other man overextend himself, threw out a big mid kick; this forced Shen to step back to avoid getting it right to the gut. As he did so, the big soldier wound back, charging forward with all of his might with a giant punch; Shen, seeing this, tried to meet it with his own chi-fueled blow.

But his came slightly late; while their fists met in mid-strike, the sparks of power that resulted seemed to explode in what almost resembled a display of fireworks; but Ralf pushed through, striking Shen and knocking the other man back what seemed to be at least five yards. As he rolled out of the ring, the last moments of the timer had appeared on the screen; even though there was technically time left, the ref-who had been knocked on his own arse-saw that Shen was not going to be able to regain his wind fast enough to get back in to fight. He called it there, pointing toward the panting soldier, who still stood tall in the ring, though the look on his face was one of slight surprise given he felt the explosion.

WINNER: Ralf Jones

"Holy crap, Rog! I'm surprised we still have a stage after that one!"

"Indeed, Jay! Look, even the ref is taking his time getting up from that clash! He was even knocked over!"

The main ref, a bit stunned and surprised that he wasn't standing far back enough, rubbed his eyes and head, shaking it. He stood up, looking back and forth at the two men, before waving toward Ralf again.

The crowd cheered; that last, explosive clash had been a lot of fun and one of the more impressive displays so far at the tournament.

"Owwww," Shen said, rubbing his own head, standing up. He had only noticed he had been blown several meters out of the ring. He was able to steady himself and come up.

To give him credit, Ralf, while still mostly standing, had been reduced to going down on one knee for a few moments after thrusting his fist to the crowd in victory to gather himself. Shen's massive, chi-filled punch that met his explosive one had certainly caused a bit of power to emit from the two men.

"Ahaaa! Well, our friend did the best he could, but it would look like the veteran got the best of him, in the end." Ash twirled his hair, a touch disappointed that his buddy didn't win, but knowing that he was now friends with the big soldier sort of softened this notion for him.

Duo Lon only smiled, his arms folded as he usually was. "Indeed. He'll get over it, though. He forced Ralf to his knees."

"The last time that happened was with Adel," Leona said. She had been knocked nearly out by the young man during that, with Ralf having been the last man standing…until he fell over after his famed Galactica Phantom hit home, which was the only thing that gave him the match that day.

"Well, he did fall on his ass when he took that grenade for me," Clark smirked.

In the ring, Ralf stood, stretching and checking himself to make sure he was still in one piece after that explosive exchange of power. He looked over and saw Shen wandering back to the ring, also a bit dazed. He extended his hand to the brawler, who took it as he pulled him up.

"Holy shit. That was intense," Shen said, shaking his head and rubbing his eyes. "Everyone was right about you."

"Hell, I hadn't been knocked onto my knees in a long time. Adel did that. Sometimes a grenade would. I guess Clark managed to get me on my ass a few times, too."

Shen laughed at this. "Eeeehhhh, I can't even hold a grudge. We made friends already. I've drunk your punch too many times," he grinned. "It's like getting my ass kicked by Duo Lon or somethin'. I'd have been pissed if I didn't know you so well."

"Well glad that ain't the case!" He slung his arm around the brawler. "Drinks after?"

"Hell yeah. Lemme get a shower, though. A long one. Whew. Might need some painkillers for this headache after."

Ralf wiped some blood from his mouth and checked again to make sure his shoulder wasn't dislocated. "Got it. You're buyin' first though."

"Yeah, yeah." The two hopped off the stage and went toward the group; this time, their respective crowds were all together, as one might expect.

"Damn. That was something," Adel grinned, holding both of his hands out to clap the pair. "I thought the ref was going to fall off of the platform." He looked over, noticing the ref looking around, before taking a hit from a flask. He chuckled, shaking his head.

Shen took his hand and shook his head. "Well, I didn't win. But I somehow feel satisfied."

Duo Lon smirked. "You did well. I saw where you opened yourself up, though."

"Of course you did," the brawler replied, sticking his tongue out. The assassin spared him the poke in the forehead, given the guy had already taken part in a mutual thrashing in the ring.

"You did do good, though," Leona said. "But I had a feeling this guy was gonna take it." She rubbed Ralf's arm, before getting pulled into a massive hug for a moment.

"I had to!" Ralf said. "I was the only man left. I couldn't let the unit go out without someone gettin' into the top 8."

"Wonder who you're gonna face?" Clark said.

"Who knows. Ain't that many left. But all I know is, they're gonna force me to not drink too much tomorrow night," he said, almost disappointed.

"Guess we'll have to make up for it tonight?" The other soldier adjusted his hat.

"Looks like it!" He looked at everyone. "I'm gettin' a shower."

Whip laughed. "Gods know you need it."

"Yeah, yeah," he said, making a face at her, though clearly joking. "See ya upstairs!" he saluted, turning to walk off.

Shen looked toward Ash and Betty. "Was happy to see you guys leave the comfort of the lounge," he grinned.

"Believe it or not, we do enjoy your company and watching you fight," Betty said to him with a sly smirk. "At least he enjoys your company," she said, motioning to Ash…though one could tell she was teasing. She probably wouldn't admit to actually not minding Shen in public. "Anyway, it would seem that Ralf was quite the wall."

"You got that right!" Shen exclaimed. "Wonder who's gonna have to fight him next?"

"I am not sure," Ash said, "But I suppose, in a day, we will find out."

"Welp, now I have an excuse to drink for two nights," Shen said. "And…about those crabs…"

"Get a shower first," Betty replied, faux-waving her hand at the slightly sweaty man. "Gods know you need it."

"Yeah, I heard they got nice saunas there, too. Alright. I'll be up at that lounge. I haven't been there nearly long enough yet, and I'm freaking starved."

As he turned to walk away, Ash and Betty watched him go, before turning to look at one another.

"Is it just me, or did he seem to grow a bit?" Elisabeth asked.

"He has, I think," Ash replied. "I do not know why, but it would seem that, while he is still the Shen we know and love, that he took that loss very well."

"It might be that he's friends with Ralf by now," his partner replied. "He's always taken his losses at the hands of Duo Lon extremely well."

"Aye, once you make friends with that brute, he tends to be a friend for life." Ash chuckled lightly.

"Pain in the rear end that he is," Betty said, giving a laugh herself. "He may actually make me somewhat like him." She sighed, shaking her head; Ash could tell that some part of her did like the man of course. He had been sympathetic toward her during her very rough time. "Well, let's make our way up."

"Yes. I do believe I'll let them know to get the crabs going for him. I will surprise him when he gets out."

As the people started to mill about again, the outer ring picked up in terms of crowd. Workers, who were taking a breather, began to get ready to sell again as the next fight was prepared for. Given the length of time that Shen and Ralf had fought, there wouldn't be as much time in between matches.

Iori, who had actually watched the fight and even raised his eyebrow a few times, walked back to the table with a cup of coffee for himself and tea for Athena. She was currently reading a magazine she had grabbed; it appeared to be a music magazine of sorts in English. On the cover was a pop-band that Iori wasn't familiar with.

"Anything interesting?" he asked, a small smile on his face.

"Just seeing what's up and coming," she said, taking the teacup. "Thank you." Taking a sip, she swallowed and went back to it. "After I finished performing that…humiliating act," she said with a grimace, "I wanted to sort of get back into things."

Iori laughed. He knew that Athena had been trying to keep an eye on Kensou, and in the process, had to sort of start to go somewhat undercover to do so, since the media and the like had started to somewhat catch onto her, and the last thing she needed was to let people on that she had been talking with a certain assassin to keep watch over Kensou for her.

So she devised a plan-which she had apologized to Mai and Yuri afterward for, and profusely-to whip up a completely asinine, unbelievable act to cause the media to begin to talk about how she had been apparently starting to go through her "flop era."

It worked, but she felt like she needed to shower after the fact.

"Well, it worked," he said.

"That is true. And now I'm hoping to perhaps get in touch with a few more respectable musicians again."

"I'm sure that won't be difficult," Iori replied. He knew that there were musicians out there who would very much like to work with her.

She sipped some of her tea and nodded. "I have a few in mind. I think I'll wait for a bit of this to pass first, though."

"Probably for the best."

"Do you have anything planned?" she asked. She realized she hadn't asked him about his music in a while. Given it was a major part of both of their lives, it was almost a given, and they didn't speak about it as much as one might guess.

"Talked to a few of the session musicians," he said. "For the more rock-oriented act. Might join them on stage once or twice this fall."

Athena smiled. Iori cut a fairly good stage presence; despite his more quiet overall public appearances, he had a lot of charisma up there, even if he didn't speak much afterward and went off on his own. "Let me know."

"I'd like it if you came," he said with a small smile on his face. He sipped his coffee as he glanced back at the monitor to see what was going on next.

"Oh, I will."

As everyone continued to mill around, May Lee had decided to go off for a spell to stretch her legs and look to procure another cup of overly-sweet latte to bring back to the lounge. She stepped in line, only to hear a voice on the side of her.

"Oh, hello, mademoiselle."

Turning, she blinked. "Oh, hello." She smiled. "I don't think we've actually met? I've seen you around. You were great."

"Thank you," he said, holding out his hand. "Ash. I saw you there with your boyfriend in the lounge, and have been trying to get to know some of the other competitors that I had not had the pleasure to meet."

At his comment, the young woman sputtered. "B…boyfriend? Oh, Jhun? Ahh, hah," she said, scratching her head and turning an alarming shade of pink. "He's just a very good friend."

"Oh, I see," Ash replied, smirking slightly, looking between the two for a moment and rubbing his chin. "You had such chemistry, I just assumed."

May Lee's shade of pink had now started to turn bright red; she coughed, trying to think of something to bring up to change the subject. "Excited for your fight?" she finally managed to formulate.

"I am, yes," he said. "I look forward to who I face." He flexed a hand out in front of him. "I have missed the thrill of competition, believe it or not. Luckily, I was not gone for terribly long," he chuckled.

Laughing at his strange, though charismatic mannerisms, May Lee glanced at the line, which had moved somewhat to have her almost at the front. "I might be out, but I'll be rooting for people."

"How do you think your…friend will do?"

A slight line of red appeared on her face again, though she managed to hold back this time. "He's been training a lot. He might not have the…crazy powers like Iori. But…I think he'll do well."

"He fights well," Ash agreed. "He's definitely strong." He looked up, noticing the two were up. "Anyway, it was nice to meet you. I need to bring some things back to my table. Good luck," he said with a smirk and a bow, as he went to the open line next to the young woman.

Shaking her head, she chuckled and ordered up a drink; pausing for a second, she got a second-a plain coffee, with a bit of sugar on the side. She noticed Kim wasn't there, and assumed he was off chatting with some of the guys from South Town who he liked to meet, so held off on getting a third for now.

Before people knew it, they heard the familiar voices over the loudspeakers; they knew that there would be a shorter amount of time between the next two fights, but they didn't realize the last fight had cut it that close.

"Hey Rog! Looks like it's time!"

"That it is, Jay. Can you tell me who's up next?"

"Hell yeah! If the last fight was explosive, this one is gonna be blazing. We saw him in the first round, and he's very familiar in these parts, with a few victories under his belt-K'! And over in that other corner is one Iori Yagami, who is no doubt going to be looking to continue!"

Round 2, Fight 6: K' vs. Iori Yagami

Maxima blinked, looking over at K', who was leaning back lazily on his seat.

"You better get ready for this one," Maxima said.

"Pft." He didn't seem like he was in a hurry to take his legs down.

Kula looked over at the field, back at him, and snorted laughter. "This is Yagami they mentioned."

"Yeah, I know." He sighed, putting his legs down. "At least I get it over with." He stood, wandering to the field with his hands in his pockets.

Maxima watched him walk up, before looking over to Kula. She looked at him and smirked.

"What do you think?"

"Well, they both have something in common."

Thinking for a moment, she chuckled once. "Neither of them like to train very much."

"Indeed. I suppose we'll find out which one trains more."

"Iori was there during the Igniz fight, I remember you said."

"He was. And he is certainly as fierce as they say." He wasn't around when he beat Orochi, but the fact the man had "A God" under his belt was enough to give both of them pause.

"I think if K' focuses…he could. But he'll have to focus."

"Why do I feel like he'd be more disappointed if he won." Maxima knew K' would have liked nothing more than to just relax the rest of his time here, but at the same time, he'd give it his all, as much as he could come off as not.

"I'll make him buy me extra dinner," Kula said.

Iori, upstairs, had quickly finished his coffee and stood.

Athena looked up. "Good luck," she said.

Iori nodded, touching her gently under the chin. "Thanks." He started to move out as Chizuru and Kyo decided to walk up and follow him.

"Think you got this?" Kyo grinned.

"I suppose," he said.

Chizuru laughed softly. "Let's see how this goes." They continued to walk toward the field as Iori walked ahead; he quickly got to the ring, simply wanting to get things over with, win or lose.

K' was already there, simply waiting patiently. Kula and Maxima had joined Whip and Adel off to the side to watch.

Adel smirked at the field; Maxima could almost tell what he was thinking.

"I'll be able to see pretty quickly, I think, how much K' has trained here," he said.

Kula chuckled. "Unless he's trained in secret…"

Maxima finished her sentence. "About as much as one might guess."

Whip nodded. "He didn't have too much of a problem with Kensou…until he had kicked that power in. But he still outlasted it."

"This is true," Adel said. "And that power is something." He glanced at Kula and grinned. "What's he owe you?"

"If he blows this? Dinner tonight. My choice." She snorted. "I can make him dress up, too."

Whip blinked. "That might just be enough to motivate him."

The big blond laughed. "Damn, you're right. Good call."

Kula laughed at this as the three lined up together to watch. Athena had decided to come to the field to watch as well; she had taken her spot alongside the rest of her crew. Kensou looked ever so slightly conflicted; these days, he had accepted his friendship with Athena and even moved on, but there was always that tiny, slight twinge of something there. He was quite able to be cordial and even somewhat friendly with the man-though he was a little intimidated, to be sure-but it was only human to have a little bit of leftover something or other there.

That being said, he had lost to K', and sort of wanted to see him put in his place as well. He had no personal beef with the man-he barely even knew him-this was more or less just a spur of the moment thing.

The crowd was quite hyper; these were two big names who tended to leave some relatively exciting destruction behind, and after the show the last pair put on, they were rearing to go some more. Last minute bets were being placed, with Iori slightly favored, though more than a few people were betting on K', as he was one of those 'Easy Slight Underdog' picks that could double or triple winnings while not being a particularly big risk for the better.

The two usually dour men faced each other in the ring, nodding once, not really saying anything. They did, however, walk toward one another to clash fists; this surprised almost everyone there, but everyone was, at least, pleasantly surprised.

The referee, visibly nervous this time, particularly after the last explosive fight, gulped and called a start to the battle.

READY…GO!

Unlike the last fight, this one opened slightly slower, both men almost lazily sizing one another up. It had been ages since they had really ended up in a fight together, and the last time they had really witnessed one another fight, they were on the same side; this was out of necessity against one of NESTS's scarier(and decidedly out-of-control, not to mention megalomaniacal) creations.

They had seen one another fight often, though. The two had a few things in common. Well, both used fire, for one. Both of them had abilities well above a normal human, though Iori's was more mystical/bloodline related, with K's being artificial. Both were, mostly, unbelievably grumpy, as well, but could care about some things-and people-close to them.

And when it came to tournaments, neither of them particularly basked in glory. K' usually had to be convinced to go, and Iori mostly went out of duty.

"C'mon, K'!" Maxima yelled, a grin on his face.

Athena, who had maneuvered off to the side, simply smiled and folded her arms. She caught him glancing at her out of the corner of his eye; while most others couldn't tell, she knew there was a slight smirk on his face.

It started with K' jumping back, trying to whip a flame at the other man; Iori simply ate it with his own. They were feeling each other out, as they occasionally would. Iori could see the other man could let his training go, though he had enough natural ability to keep up.

"Now interestingly enough, Jay, these two are actually not jumping right at each other's throats."

"I guess they've done this enough now that they seem to have tempered themselves a bit?" Jay replied.

"Indeed, Jay. If there's one thing that you learn here is that styles refine over time. Yagami seems to be almost trying to bait K', and K' is seemingly not taking it this time."

"Think he's learned some temperance?"

"We'll have to see, Jay."

While K' managed to hold back for a short while, it didn't take him long to attempt to bite at Yagami's bait; and in doing so he ended up dashing into the man's long-reaching side kick, right to the gut. With the stun on K', the redhead dashed in and swiped up with his claw, and then down again, ending with an axe handle to the shoulderblades, driving him to the ground. However, the leather-clad young man managed to roll out of the way just in time to not get hit with an axe kick.

"And there's the Yagami we know!" Jay shouted.

"Oof," Maxima said. "He rushed that."

K' snarled, almost more angry at himself that he allowed himself to be almost tricked into running into that stuff. He knew that Yagami had his number when it came to patience, so he grit his teeth, allowing himself to calm for a split second as he whipped more fire at the man, trying to keep him at bay long enough to formulate some counterplay.

"Counterplay," to K', ended up being flying at the man again, trying to rush him down. While not many people would do this to Iori, it did take the red-haired man somewhat by surprise that he recovered that quickly. Managing to dash in with an almost lazy kick, he positioned his hand and let his power go through it-along with some of his inner abilities-to hit him with the ol' one-inch punch, sending Iori sliding back a meter or two. The redhead didn't get dropped like many would have, but he exhaled heavily, knowing a bruise would form on his ribs.

Growling low, he threw flames down in front of him, causing K' to dash to the side, but gave him room to maneuver to get the white-haired man toward the edge of the ring.

The referee saw them getting slightly close and decided to spin off to the side for his own safety for this one.

Continuing his assault with a series of his trademark claw-swipes and strikes with his long legs, he had started to push K' more into a corner. The surly, younger fighter was trying to keep his cool-and actually succeeding somewhat, though he was starting to be at a loss of how to take the redhead by surprise.

For a second, he saw Iori step back and leave himself open; without thinking, he launched himself forward with a flying kick, striking the man in the chest and bowling him over. Flicking some flames at him, he scorched the field somewhat, with Iori rolling out of the way; K' kept going and threw more, this time Iori managing to counteract them back to a standstill. His breath tight in his chest from the powerful kick, he rolled and stood, wanting to end this now.

"Whoa! He looks a little staggered!"

"He's coming to pretty quickly, Jay. We'll see what he's got."

Iori, snarling, had started to take a low stance, his arms forward, purple flames shooting off of his left hand. K', noticed this-and somehow managed to consider this even while he was hotheaded…and ran toward it, thinking that the red-haired man was going to try to fake him out.

Which, in the end, was what Iori was actually expecting. He lifted his arm, blocking the kick that K' flew at him with, and while the other man was reeling, let his free hand tear upward, scooping him up viciously and flinging him toward the edge of the ring, where he landed with a thunk. He didn't fall out of the ring, but the referee saw how long it was taking him to regain his footing from the powerful strike. Calling the fight, he gestured toward the Sacred Treasure who stood there, his flames now out and his pose becoming more relaxed. He wiped a bit of blood from the corner of his mouth nonchalantly.

WINNER: Iori Yagami

K' struggled to his feet at the edge of the ring, shaking his head. At first, he was just a little pissed…but he knew he only had himself to somewhat blame, as he could have trained more. Then he remembered that he really didn't care about these things, anyway-he was more irritated that the jerky redhead one-upped him than anything else.

Still, he remembered the time he and Kyo helped them during a dire time. Gritting his teeth, he breathed in and out for a few moments, thinking of a couple of things-one, people he cared for very much were watching, and two, he was better than him .

Not Iori, but someone else. Someone who would very much get incredibly salty at a loss. He and his team weren't able to finish in the last tournament-not that his rival finished, either, of course, and he was able to take it pretty well then.

Standing, he looked at the redhead, and nodded once.

Iori nodded back, closing his eyes. The two left the field, with the audience watching on.

Kula and Maxima, however, couldn't have been prouder of him at that moment; any mild disappointment at his loss was tempered at the young man's growth.

"Well look at you," Maxima teased. "You did well. Even forced him to get serious."

Kula hugged him, checking out any injuries that he had picked up. "And you didn't even get mad."

"Why would I? I don't care about these things."

"It is Yagami," Maxima smirked.

"Anyway, at least now you can hang out and watch the rest of it."

"Wait, we can't just leave yet?"

"Why would we? Plus, you still owe me that dinner." She laughed lightly.

"Right," he said, shoving his hands in his pockets as he slumped over. Maxima always thought he sort of resembled a human brine shrimp half the time. He looked up at her after a moment. "Just lemme know where you wanna go."

"I'll think about it."

He stood. "I guess I'll get a shower then. I'll be back." He wandered off, seemingly no worse for the wear, but they could tell he was a touch sore from his tussle with the redhead.

Meanwhile, Iori himself had simply walked off, one hand in his pocket himself and sparing the crowd a small wave. Kyo and Chizuru walked up, the priestess patting him on the shoulder.

"Nice job," she said. "You looked in control most of the time."

"He's good," Iori said, "But he occasionally gets a little bit predictable."

"You seemed to pick up on it quickly." Kyo rubbed his head.

"I like to think I can read people fairly well."

"Going up to the lounge after?"

"Yeah."

"Alright. See you there." Kyo wandered off, with Chizuru somewhat surprised that they managed to behave themselves for that minute.

Athena waited quietly off to the side, as she would. Iori walked by her, knowing she'd probably want to look over whatever small injuries he had collected.

"I'm fine," he pre-empted, though not unkindly at all.

"I know," she said. "You'd refuse any healing even if I offered it."

"It's only fair," he said. Iori wasn't one to go for underhanded tactics. While many of the fighters went to get rubdowns, epsom salt soaks, and even bandages or stitches, using…more mystical means of healing was often frowned upon in fights. Athena didn't do it herself if she had an upcoming fight, and she knew Iori didn't, as well.

"I agree," she said. She brushed a bit of his hair back. They were far enough off to the side that he didn't mind. "Want a shower first?"

"Yeah," he said. "They have saunas here, too. Pretty nice. Wish some of the other stadiums would get those."

"I heard they are popular up north. I don't tour here too often, but I remember one faintly in the backstage area once when I happened to be in Stockholm."

He smiled softly. "That'd have been nice, but the clubs usually don't offer those. We usually get drinks and dinner." He looked up at the large clock at the stadium. "I'll be back." Touching her lightly under the chin-still discreetly-he moved off to clean up as she made her way back to the lounge.

Given how long that fight lasted, the people weren't filling the hallways as much; mostly they seemed to be sticking in their seats, given the day was heading down to the last two. The betting circles were busily taking their notes, exchanging money and discussing-sometimes loudly-who was left, and who might win; there were only a few combinations of fighters that could go up, and they'd be finding out soon enough, at least.

But the fighters almost seemed to be waiting for something. While no one had any sort of vibes that anything really bad was going to happen, the fact that they were in the process of looking both for a killer, and also a motive for said killing, cast a small pall on things. While it wasn't nearly as bad as the nonsense they usually had to deal with, it was still something…and no one was sure where it was going.

Up on the higher level-in the nosebleed section-the young man in the hoodie-who had been rather nondescript-was sitting, looking down over everything. Careful to still hide his hair by tucking it inside of the hood, he mostly watched the matches as they went on, all while heading around to different parts of the audience to see if he could sniff out anything strange.

While he was pretty sure he had taken care of the main issue, he still had a feeling that there was someone else that knew what was up with the fellow. He planned, after the day's festivities were done, to head to a certain bar after the fact to go check out a few things, in particular a few newspaper articles. He even considered stopping by the library to see what he could find, but he knew he didn't have a long time tomorrow.

Still might have been worth trying. Looking around again, he decided to go do another round near the restaurants; he was a bit hungry, though he figured it would be just as easy to go back to his hotel room to eat if things were too busy.

He made his way down, passing by a couple of familiar faces, who once again paid him no mind. They may not have been even aware of what was going on those other years.

In the back room, Heidern and Seth sat back down, looking over the roster who had already fought. Rubbing his chin, Seth pointed at four names that were still without checkmarks.

"Well, it's down to these guys," he said. "After that, if it's all clear, then I guess we'll just plan our next moves on the day off tomorrow."

"Yes," he said. "I'll tell everyone to keep an eye on all the levels to make sure. I think that…today will be smooth, though."

"Same here. But it never hurts."

Hearing the door open behind them, Adel and Whip walked in, nodding.

"Hey, Commander," Whip said. "Everything alright?"

"Yes. We were just making our plans. We know who's left, and we'd like people to keep an eye on the different spots. Just in case."

"We will. Everything's been quiet," Adel said. "I mean, there were some drunken fights around, but nothing weird."

"How's Ralf?"

"He's fine. Shen gave him a pretty good go, but with a shower and a couple of beers, he'll be good," Whip chuckled.

Heidern smiled at this. "I thought so." He sipped a cup of coffee on the table; he and Seth had gone through several cups. "If you two could hang out around the VIP lounge, that'd be great," he said. "That general area and the floor. You guys seem to get on well with everyone there, and if you overhear something, let me know," he said.

"Roger," Whip replied.

"I'll be honest," Seth said, "I don't expect much today. Mostly I'd like to see if we could dig up one of those drivers, but I suspect they're long gone by now."

"They could still be in Oslo, at least."

Adel rubbed his chin a moment. "What bothered you the most about what you saw, by the way?"

"I think how cleanly it was done," Heidern said after a moment. "And the fact it wasn't a gunshot. The overall angle. Whatever it was, it looked more deliberate than spur of the moment."

"Which means it may not have been a fight gone wrong," Seth added.

"Yeah. Makes sense."

"A deal gone wrong seems to be one of the other things we've talked about," Adel mentioned. "I've…seen deals go bad," he said, knowing that he sort of walked a gray line, keeping the underworld as clean as it could be, and the other two were no strangers to more gray operations.

"Yes. Partner doesn't like it. Shanks him." Seth rubbed his chin. "Why he used the strange weapon he did, who knows, but it's not the first time someone in the criminal world had a signature weapon."

"Oh yeah," Adel said. "Some of them pride themselves on it, even if it makes them easier to catch."

"My main concern," Heidern started, "Is that this tournament goes off without a hitch. If we cannot find the culprits by the time it's finished, and it finishes cleanly…I think we will be leaving this up to the authorities here."

"Agreed," Seth said. "It's out of our hands at that point."

Adel nodded. "I was sort of expecting you guys to say that. And I agree. They'd probably want us out of their hair, anyway."

Whip laughed. "Sometimes I think they're glad we're here, the way they sit around drinking coffee. I'm pretty sure I saw one of them spike theirs."

"I do get the impression the authorities here chafe somewhat, but they know that we have a bit more jurisdiction than they'd like. Of course, if they hired us afterward, we'd stay and help, but we can cross that bridge when we get there."

"I think it's a case of looking for two different things," Whip said. "They're trying to catch a killer. We're trying to make sure the tournament doesn't go up in flames. So to speak."

"Indeed. What happened was unfortunate, but given I'm starting to think this guy was shady…yeah." Adel rubbed his hair.

"Alright. It's settled. I'll get in touch with the authorities, and we will continue what we're doing. See anything, come to me."

The other three nodded at Heidern. Turning to leave, they felt fairly confident that if there was something in the wings, they-or someone-would find it.

A/N: Again, extremely sorry for the huge delay on this one, folks. Real life hit, along with that vicious bout of writer's block and general malaise at things, but I'm hoping I can pick this back up again at some sort of decent rate! (I Know I've published a few things since then, but those were either shorts, or things I had also been sitting on the back burner before everything decided to rear its head over the summer.) So I had to sort of prioritize in my head, and this is what happened.

Two more fights down, and they were big, explosive ones to boot! We're just about at the end of Round 2, and there's more to be seen coming forward.

Heidern washing his hands of the potential criminal isn't really too out of character for him, I think. I genuinely think these guys would be more concerned with the tournament itself-Norway can fend for itself in terms of a criminal investigation once that's done and over with. (They might even *insist* on it.) Who knows-maybe all of this worry is for naught. Perhaps?

Tune in next time for the last two fights of Round 2!