Author's Note: Chapters 10-13 are more or less a niche filler arc, although there is some story progression here and there as well. It isn't essential to read these chapters end to end, so do not feel bad about skipping around!
Time marched on for the town, inching ever closer to the fateful festival. A news outlet was at the stadium reporting on the future event's current status, which led to many people coming to visit the stadium in advance and book seats early. And even some members of the student council who'd left had returned to the school to help organize and decorate the town. It was starting to become a much more vibrant place.
Soon enough, the day Suiiki had been waiting for had arrived. The announcer kickstarted the event with a rousing exclamation as the people poured inside the venue.
"OOOOOHHHHH YYYEEAAHHHH! It's the newest fighting game of the year, and you all know these young folks want the grand prize to themselves! A limited Silver Fighter edition of Burning Red 5, with exclusive early access to 4 yet-to-be-released characters, and a new custom character creation system! Who will be the one to take this beauty home?"
The crowd erupted inside the arcade. Even Suiiki was amazed by how many had actually shown up. Seeing the many arcade cabinets lining the walls, he realized how many matches he'd need to win before getting to the finals.
"16 cabinets…wow, that's a lot of people. If there's 32 people playing…divide by 2 I think…5 rounds to win? I can do that. I hope…" He nervously bounced one of his legs up and down while he talked to himself.
Really wish Daisuke had come along. Makes a lot of difference having him doing all the worrying for me.
Runoso slapped Suiiki on the back. "Not getting cold feet now, are you? Thought you were gonna meet me in the finals?"
"Of course I am! Cold feet? Me? You all wish!" Suiiki put on a brave face to mask his true emotions. He had thought only twenty or so people would come, and it seemed four times that amount were trying to play. Adding to his fears, many people had chosen characters he'd never fought or even chosen, since he'd mainly paid attention to improving his own character.
"Get ready to draw your lots everyone, and once you have your number, please find the machine with your number on it and ready up! First pick, Runoso Ishido! Next, Teng Jie! Next, Kyouko Toshino!" One by one, everyone drew their number, headed over to their seat and chose their characters. Almost no one chose the same character as the next. One girl even chose the Hydra God, Zhassu, one of the boss characters.
Wait, huh!? That's just cheating! Can't even get close to someone like that, how is this even allowed! Runoso said something about his extended hurtbox or something…whatever that means.
"Suiiki Saru? Last call, Suiiki Saru?" Snapped out of his thoughts, he ran over to the table and prepared to pull out a strip of paper. "There you are! Is your mind somewhere else today, kid?" He asked Suiiki as he pulled away from the microphone. "You best get yourself back in here, you're going to need every part of the brain you have to beat some of these people!"
"Yes, Sir!" Get a hold of yourself! You didn't practice non-stop for three weeks just to lose! I've got this. On 3. 1…2…3!
He yanked a slip of paper out, and turned it around to see which spot he'd taken. "03. I'm fighting…you're kidding me." None other than the girl who chose Zhassu waved over to him from the number 04 seat. Bouncing giddily in her seat as he approached, it wasn't unlikely she was happy just to be here more than anything.
"So it's you first? Who do you use?! Who are you good with!? Show me your character! I personally like Zhassu, even though I always lose with him, but it's still fun!"
She's definitely jacked up on something sugar related, even though it's kinda taking my edge off.
"Well, I use Mizucho, that new water dude. He's pretty basic-"
"Aww, another anti-zoner! I hate fighting people like him, it throws me off my gameplan! He's the 5th anti-zoner they've added to the series, it's ridiculous! How are the zoners supposed to play how they want when even the rush-down characters have ways around their attacks?"
Rushdown? Zoners? Anti-Zoner? I've heard some of these before…isn't a zoner the character who stays far away? Or goes up close? Eh, doesn't matter. I practiced a safer counter game, so I'm sticking with that.
"Welp, no use complaining about it! You ready?" She asked while the game began the pre-battle sequence.
"Yeah…" Anxious, he readied himself for the coming battle.
"Alright! Bring it on!"
"It's still a nice quirk, sweetie. Maybe not much for fighting but-"
"Not much, period."
"Curio, stop that!"
"But he'll be pretty safe if he gets hurt, though! That's pretty cool!"
"His sister does that without being aware of it, let alone she can actually fight."
"Well, his sister had that woman for a mother, of course she's stronger."
"Hey, he can hear us, can't he?"
He doesn't know what we're saying. Isn't that right? Aww, he's so cute! Who's a cute little boy? Come on, Kisho, come here! Hey! Kisho!? HEY!"
"Dude! You there?!" Kisho was taken out of his daydream by Mako, who'd shaken him until he finally came back to his senses. "I need you on planet Earth! Or are you trying to learn automatic ultra-incest?"
"What?!" Kisho asked, dumbfounded at what his friend said. "Ultra-in…what do you mean?"
"I think he meant Instinct." Tsubame said. She was finishing writing down some extra details for the itinerary. The two were spending much of their time trying to prepare the last-minute details of the festival. From the amount of times they had come to the stadium, they were already getting sick of it. Mako's endless bragging didn't help the matter.
"Whatever, I don't watch shows like that these days, I'm too busy trying to prepare for my awesome victory! By the way, Tsubame, do you know if Ranika's learned any new tricks I should watch out for?"
Banging her head off of the picnic table, she sighed as she took yet another piece of paper, balled it up, and hurled it into the trashcan. "No, I don't. And even if I knew, what makes you think I'd tell you?"
He scoffed at her answer. "Some VP. Why are you always such a stick in the mud? Kisho, you've got to pick your assistants more carefully. I'd be much more helpful!"
"I don't get to "pick" anyone, it's held to a vote." Kisho snapped back. "Also, only if my other option was Ranika would you ever be considered."
"Hey!" Tsubame started.
"The girl has improved magnificently, but do you trust her with anything regarding the school's finances? Or planning? Or…ANYTHING?"
Tsubame shifted the ground under him to make him fall out of his seat.
"And there you have it." He proclaimed, dusting himself off.
"And what about yourself? Not like you have anything to brag about. You do know the only reason Erina let you pick the bracket is cause she thinks you're too weak to win, right? Sounds kind of sad, if you ask me."
"I merely wished to match whatever and whoever makes for the…"coolest" fights! I've no ulterior motives whatsoever."
"Uh-huh."
After a few more minutes, she groaned in frustration as she balled up another piece of paper and threw it into the trash. "How many hot-dog varieties are there, damn it? Whatever, I'll finish some other day, preferably when they stop changing their menu items." She took out her phone and started taking pictures of all the stalls being set up, along with their current line-up of offerings.
"Very well, I'll see you next Monday, Tsubame. Thank you for taking care of the concession stands."
"Sure thing, see you."
Once Tsubame was out of earshot, Mako asked Kisho something that had been on his mind for quite some time.
"I noticed you haven't really made mention of this so I guess you didn't do it anymore but, why haven't you absorbed her? Not that I have an issue, personally I prefer you not…well…kill people."
"Risk. Tamura rarely showed up to school, and thus no one really knew his quirk was Suction. All this was conveniently placed alongside the fact he was soon to be dropping out of school. His parents were also scum of the earth dirt-piles, so everything was almost suspiciously easy. I can't afford to take away someone who's not only a Vice President, but well liked among many students, teachers, and her parents."
Mako nodded, though his face stayed slightly wrinkled. "True, but then we just say she dropped out or ran away. Can't be too hard, considering you're the school president and all."
"Perhaps you'd be right, and if I'd acted sooner. But now…the game has changed, for one simple fact: Tsubame is dating that ogre, Ranika."
"How's that change anything?"
"Ranika has ties to possibly the most threatening people to my plan. The Police. There's no way I can overthrow an actual government entity even with a hundred quirks. And something about the chief herself…she's danger in a bottle. Can't read her, her face is always neutral or at best a slight frown. Taking either of them would be sure to alert the authorities no matter what, so I'm playing it safe with those two."
Mako shrugged, not having much else to say on the subject. "Well, long as we aren't just sucking people up, it's fine by me. Anyway, what are you doing here? Still got work to do?"
Kisho exhaled deeply at the thought of his problems. "The board in charge of the event is a little, how you say, apprehensive about a student making the roster. I should've expected as much, but it's still…damn annoying."
"Sounds like they aren't completely opposed though? Just get someone who'll vouch for you and say you're a helpful, trustworthy person and whatnot. Tell Erina!"
"They're skeptical of her as it is, so she's useless to me. And I know I think highly of myself-"
"Here, here!"
"…but I don't think anyone would describe me as "helpful" or "trustworthy." Not that I'd want them to, but it would help me out right about now."
He bit his thumb while keeping a hand on his bouncing knee. Thinking about his issues in the bigger picture was quite daunting and made him doubtful he'd be able to follow through with his plans. "I don't well have many friends if any, and fewer still who'd talk well of me to the board. Definitely none who would even get past their door to begin with."
"Who needs friends though? Ask Tsubame. You have a Vice President for a reason."
"I didn't think this would need explaining—she's not exactly on my fan club."
"I mean, yeah obviously, but you're the President! Just tell her to do-"
"Exactly. I'm a President, not a dictator, so she can refuse to do whatever I say unless a teacher gets involved, and you know how much of a teacher's pet she can be. They all love her, so they'll probably take her side against mine."
Mako slumped in his chair, out of ideas. "Uh, then hope and pray that she will? Threaten her with nukes? Give her a reason to side with you? Offer her mint chocolate chip ice cream?"
Kisho perked up at the suggestion. "Wait, what was that?"
"Oh yeah, mint chocolate chip is the absolute best when it comes to flavors! I'd probably be won over if-"
"A reason to side with me." He pondered it over, liking the idea the longer he considered it. "It would actually be quite doable, provided there's something she'd want. But what? Such a kind, caring, diabetically sweet girl like her, what would she possibly throw her integrity away for?"
Giving it some thought, he stood up with a smile across his face.
"Mako, do you know where that arcade is?"
"Gotcha! Geez, Louise!" Suiiki finally drained the Hydra of the last of its lifebar, no easy feat even with all the training he'd done the weeks before.
"Dang it! Good match, but I really wanted to keep going!" The girl pouted when the words "Mizucho Wins!" flashed across the screen. "Nice job, Suiiki!"
"Thanks, Kyouko! I had a lot more fun than I thought I would, though Zhassu's still busted to hell." The two shook hands respectfully, a tradition carried through many gaming tournaments
"We still have some time before your next match, let's play some rounds for fun!" Kyouko pressed the rematch button.
"Wait, is that allowed?"
"Duh! At the beginning of the tournaments, people always have some spare time to mess around, since everyone fights at once. I want to show you a thing or two."
As the round started again, Kyouko kept her distance as always, though she didn't attack like usual. "Okay, you use almost all his moves wrong. My friend Yui told me Mizucho isn't a close-up character, but more of a zoner, at least starting out. You should want to keep your distance and attack from far away, and his Water Parry helps him run that playstyle. Try using it like you were during our fights."
Doing as she said, he tried to use the form to parry her attacks, but no matter how he timed it, Zhassu's long necked attacks always seemed to hit, even if he was close. "Ugh, that's what I mean, why doesn't the parry work?"
"That's what I wanted to show you. It's projectile only. Physical attacks don't activate it, so use it when I throw my fireball."
Backing away from her character, he waited for the fireball to get close, then performed his move. Instantly, Mizucho cast a large torrent of water across the screen, which also automatically did his Puddle move as well across the floor, making the other character move much slower across the field.
"See? And you can have Water Ball keep pushing me back into the Puddle, so now I'm locked down over here. Now to be clear, Zhassu likes being far so it's not the greatest thing to do with him, but imagine a character who doesn't have a hydra's neck!"
"That's crazy! So that's why it wouldn't work? How come I didn't know this?"
"Not many people do, I only know because Yui plays games so much! You can also use your Puddles to slide through them without getting hit, so you don't have to worry about trying to get close! It does it for you!"
"Suiiki and Koji! Suiiki and Koji! Please move to your cabinets and get ready to rumble!"
"That's me! Thanks a lot, Kyouko! Never would've figured that out myself!"
"Of course, of course! Good luck!" She waved goodbye as he went to his next match, where an older man was waiting in the seat next to his.
So I should be playing keep away, instead of getting close…Maybe that's what his back-slide is for?
"What's up, kid? I'm Koji, but I doubt you'll need to know that for too long, 'cause you're about to run home crying!" He did a fist pump as he flashed a cocky smile Suiiki's way. The man had tan skin and his hair was grey all over, despite only being in his thirties at most.
"I'm not going to be the one crying! Let's do this!" Picking Mizucho with more confidence now that he understood how he worked, Koji laughed in his face.
"Mizucho, huh? Tsk, all you kids are the same: see something new, you gotta play with it! Stick with the oldies though, and they'll never let you down! And it's more manly to play with one of the original people! I'll show you!"
To Suiiki's surprise, the man's choice was Vicar, a light user that was heavily stance oriented, and quite complicated to get even the basic combos down. A good Vicar player was not to be trifled with. He hadn't expected a person so intense and boisterous to choose one of the more technical characters in the series.
Good close-range combat, almost stifling far-range, and solid stance options. The only thing I can rely on is Vicar's slow movement speed and stationary attacks. He's like a tank.
"Game-Start! Action!"
Both chose to jump backwards, a safe option in almost any situation. Creating space between the opponent benefited both characters greatly. Mizucho first threw out a Water Ball, a slow-moving projectile that covered many bases in times where neither character was doing anything, such as opening up the opponent or approaching safely.
Vicar, however, had a stance for every situation, and in his Reflect-Stance, he could reflect projectiles back to the opponent. Quite a useful stance, but it had a weakness his others did not: he couldn't leave the stance until he reflected something first.
Suiiki knew that, and that was precisely why he'd thrown the Ball to make him commit to the stance. When he reflected the Water Ball, Mizucho immediately retaliated with his Water Wave Parry. Even though Vicar still had time to block it, he was now in a puddle far across the screen.
Thank you, Kyouko!
"Oh ho, you know the game pretty well, huh? Alright, here's a treat for you!" Vicar took out his weapon, a large cross, and planted it into the ground.
Far-Stance, his strongest stance. He can do four different attacks depending which button he pushes, and they all need to be blocked or dodged differently. The low and medium light rays are both easy, but his overhead slam and unblockable beam are a problem.
An onslaught of light attacks began, and it was all Suiiki could do to block most of it. The beam was thankfully slower than the other attacks, so it wasn't as scary as Suiiki thought it would be.
"Nice blocking kid, but where's your health going?"
Looking at his health bar, Suiiki gasped as he saw he was already down to half health. Even if you blocked, you took slight damage, and if you took enough hits, those tiny amounts really started to add up.
Shoot, what do I do? I'm stuck way over here…how is this fair!? I need to do my parry, but there's such a small window of time to pull it off! Forward-Down-Forward, what were they thinking?! Z-motions should be banned!
Suiiki tried his best to pull it off quickly, but was still caught by an attack. Left at the mercy of his opponent, Mizucho's life quickly ran out and the first round went to Vicar.
"K.O! Vicar Wins!"
"It's like there was nothing I could do."
"Oh? Already despairing? If you want to quit now, you can keep your dignity!" Koji taunted him, going to the start menu and hovering over the Forfeit/Quit option.
"No way, I'm going to beat you!" Suiiki resumed the game and began once more.
"Game Start! Action!"
Vicar jumped back, but Suiiki decided to go after him this time, catching him in a fairly strong mid-air combo. Due to the nature of the combo, Vicar would get up slower than usual, giving Mizucho the time needed to plant a Water Puddle on the ground.
Kyouko said I can slide much faster and through attacks with my Puddle down! I didn't use it last round but maybe this time, I'll make use of it.
Mizucho threw out a Water Ball to keep his distance, then created another puddle midway on the floor. Vicar kept his distance, pulling out the Cross once again to redo what he did last round.
Mizucho stayed away, putting down one more puddle on the far end of the screen, and waited for the light to start coming. He got what he wished for, and used the Puddles to slide right through it.
What Suiiki didn't know was that if you had more than one Puddle connecting, he slid all the way across the screen until he hit the opponent, and that hit would do much more damage. Vicar popped into the air, giving Suiiki enough time to perform a charged Water Ball. Vicar fell onto the gargantuan sphere and instead of getting hit, was now stuck inside.
"What!? Come on, that's cheap!" Koji clicked buttons trying to escape, to no avail.
See how you like it? I've got a pretty good combo I was working on, and it should kill him with this much health left!
Mizucho started it off with a strong uppercut, then went into a bombardment of attacks that annihilated Vicar until he finally fell to the floor with a shout.
"K.O! Mizucho Wins!"
"Okay, you've got a few tricks up your sleeve! This'll be much more fun than the last fight, so I thank you for a good challenge!"
"Game Start! Action!"
Vicar took the initiative and opted into a stance that saw him take his Cross and wield it with both his hands.
Oh no, it's the Sanctuary stance, get out of there!
Mizucho couldn't move fast enough before the cross sent him flying into the air, and a second hit knocked him across the screen, bouncing him back towards Vicar as he swung it one more time into Mizucho, splatting him down into the ground. His health was now down in the red, one good combo would kill him off.
Oh my GOD, that's ridiculous! Can't get close, can't get far, can't do anything! And I'm pretty sure that stance works in the air too…but he doesn't have any parry moves, does he? As long as I get the first hit in, I should be able to suffocate him with an assault. I'll sacrifice a few advantages to get down my puddles.
Mizucho began placing down his puddles across the screen, covering it once more in water. Vicar tried to go into his Far-Stance to take advantage of the distance, and Suiiki had anticipated as such, doing his Water Parry perfectly to send out a wave, covering the last of the floor in water.
Vicar jumped in the air, knowing the plan Mizucho had for him. Staying off the ground wasn't going to save him though. The Big Water Ball ensured any one jumping couldn't block it, so it was either stay on the ground and block, or try to jump over and get sucked inside, and unfortunately, he'd chosen the latter.
Good ol' Catch-22! That's some good thinking right there, yes sir! And I have two bars of meter, I can do a Burning Assault here! Won't kill when he has almost full health, but it'll bring me back in the game.
Mizucho did his Burning Assault, essentially this game's name for super moves. He took control of the bubble Vicar was in and then started a sequence Suiiki had never seen. He used the water on the floor to add more to the bubble, then squeezed it until it exploded. The combo counter racked up hundreds of hits on the side of the screen until they finally stopped at a gagantuan 500, taking away Vicar's entire life bar.
"Burning K.O! Mizucho Wins!
…Oh.
"Holy shit! That did way too much damage! Gotta be a glitch, there's no way that's legit!" Koji cried out to the people watching, who were also dumbstruck by the amount of damage it had done.
"Actually," A girl from the crowd spoke up, with black hair and brown eyes. "The more water the Bubble absorbs, the more damage the attack does, and if I'm not mistaken, he covered the entire arena in water, making it an insta-kill. It only makes sense it took away all your health."
Koji gnashed his teeth together. "Damn it, I still say it was cheap! You still have one more match to win, so come on! I know all your tricks now! See if you get past my Vicar!"
Suiiki leaned to the girl who had defended him. "Uh, thanks. I didn't even know that myself, I could've gotten-"
"You should learn your character better, watch online tutorials and spend time using all the moves. Because if you don't know how to play them, someone else you're fighting will, and they'll use it against you." She walked away without saying anything else, meeting up with Kyouko, the excitable girl from earlier.
That must be her friend Yui then. Not very friendly? Or just focused? Whatever, time to close the curtains on this fool!
"Game Start! Action!"
Vicar leapt into the air and readied his cross, an aerial stance that looked similar to the Sanctuary stance. Approaching him from below was certainly a bad idea.
Think I'm coming after you? I know better than that!
Letting loose two puddles, Mizucho already had put down enough water to traverse the stage with. Vicar took his opening and attacked Mizucho with a heavy kick, a move that netted very little reward considering what power the water-user had set-up for himself.
"Getting started early, you little punk? Not for long!" Vicar planted his cross in the ground and began the long-range bombardment that had once brought down Mizucho before. Now, however, with the puddles across the stage, it would be easy for Mizucho to traverse the gap. The light passed through his body as he slid right into Vicar and started a nice long combo that took away a good chunk of health.
Wow, it's like I've got something for everything he does now. Maybe grand champion isn't as far away from reality as I was thinking!
Mizucho placed another puddle nearby as Vicar got off the ground. Taking out his cross, he prepared to hit Mizucho into the air, a scary tactic for the character since he could follow-up with three more cross attacks for a ton of damage. But if he missed, the end lag was devastating, and thus was the case as Mizucho back-slid away, leaving Vicar completely open.
Starting with Big Water Ball, Mizucho suspended the priest in the air, uppercutting him and performing a long aerial combo, ending with another large water ball trap and completing it with one last Burning Assault finisher, ending the match decidedly in a perfect victory.
"Perfect Burning K.O! Mizucho, Victory!"
"YES! Uh-huh! Uh-huh! That's what I'm talking about!" Suiiki did a little dance by his seat, quickly stopping when he saw Koji put his hands on his head. Suiiki felt a bit bad for him; even if he had talked a big game, no one was immune to disappointment. He extended his hand towards him in an attempt to keep goodwill between them.
"A-hem…thanks for the match, Koji. Your Vicar is seriously scary – I honestly thought you had me in the third round, I barely had any health left! I appreciate the fight!"
Looking at Suiiki's open palm, Koji laughed and accepted the gesture, returning in kind the gratitude. "I jinxed myself by being so confident. You got a pretty strong pick yourself, kid. Don't embarrass me by losing your next match! And trust me, I'll beat you next time we go at it!"
"I'd like to see you try! How about-"
"Suiiki and Junichi! Please move to cabinet 5 for your matches! Suiiki and Junichi! "
Ah man! I wanted to go a few more rounds with him.
Koji put his hand on his shoulder, a more serious expression donning on his face. "Since I'm hedging my bets on you, I'm going to warn you - you're past the warm-ups. You aren't going to get past the next few people making mistakes. Junichi is someone I train with, he's really strong. His Master is absolutely monstrous. Just stay away from his doll and keep doing what you did against me. And do it damn well."
"Doll? What is that?"
"Suiiki, your opponent is waiting at Cabinet 5! "
Koji didn't have time to elaborate, and Suiiki went to his next match somewhat nervous.
Ehh, it's probably some weird loli girl or something who throws baby dolls and stuff. If I just Water Parry it'll all be fine!
"You're Suiiki, I take it? Nice to meet you, I'm Junichi."
"Right back at ya." He couldn't put his finger on it, but the man looked like someone he knew. A teacher maybe? Someone's parent? He must have been staring pretty hard, because the man noticed the confused expression.
"Do I look familiar? I'm the arcade owner's brother, and we look pretty similar. He lets me come in and play after he closes shop, so I don't get to see other people playing much. It's a shame too, it gets tiring fighting the max difficulty over and over. After a while, it gets boringly easy."
Max…difficulty?
"Fighting others is so much more different! Humans don't fight at all like A.I, so it's more exciting! Ooh, but enough of that, I can go on for ages! Let's go!"
Suiiki took a glance at his character choice, a cape wearing puppeteer with a large mannequin next to him. Suiiki hadn't given him much thought, his control scheme was quite complicated to learn.
Why do these people use the harder characters? Don't they think the harder controls hold them back? Then again, they also have some really good moves, like Vicar and his stances.
Selecting their characters, the stage was chosen and soon the crowd had gathered around them, eager to see the beginning of the real matches, both begging for a spot even in the upcoming semi-finals. Suiiki was proud of how far he made it, and he didn't plan on losing here. Steeling his resolve and getting rid of his nerves, he watched as the game zoomed in on the two and flashed the starting words on the screen.
"Game Start! Action!"