"How're the written portions?"
Trunks sifted through the last batch of test pages.
"Mathematics and reading comprehension ranging from elementary to high-end high school level, major historic events, all 7 fields of physics, and both logical and ethical portions, all mapped across 100 questions. Set."
"And the Headlink portion?"
Trunks sat crisscrossed, scratching his chin as he donned thick, metallic sunglasses that wrapped around his head.
"Myriad of courses ranging from beginner to advanced, each detailing scenarios including multiple opponents, minimizing collateral damage, efficient teamwork alongside historic pillars, objectively correcting history, etcetera. Of course, that's exclusive to the 'Patroller' course; those with different aspirations will have different headlink courses. Set."
"... and the tournament?"
Trunks took in the fresh, early morning, Age 750 air.
"Overall design-wise, traditional Tenkaichi Budokai layout within a dimension mirroring Papaya Island's local by up to a dozen kilometers in every direction. The modernized platform, which self-reconstructs every 30 minutes, has been expanded by about a hundred meters all-around to grant participants more leg room. Two entryways from both sides for dramatic effect, and up top, 'health bar' holograms serve to map out a contestant's physical state, green degrading down to red. Match ends upon one's full depletion."
He flicked a glowing speck at the stands. Before it could even reach the bottom row, a translucent wall flickered into view, causing the small ki ball to explode in a massive blast; once the dust settled, not a smidgen of dust had moved from a single seat.
"Spectators will view from stands modeled after those present from the 24th tournament onwards, to maximize ease of viewing. They're protected by a force-reactant, hyper-dense plasma barrier that can hold itself together against a red giant's point-blank supernova, and absorb the ensuing heat and radiation like black tar on a summer afternoon. To compensate for photochromatic obstruction upon barrier activation, atomic, built-in image transmitters ensure that viewers still receive an accurate, high-def holographic projection of what's occuring outside."
To the side, a purple old man in divine robes made a face. "... what?"
"That's… fantastic, but I didn't ask for a C.C. tech demo."
Trunks, Capsule Corp Shill Extraordinaire, chuckled nervously. "Y-yeah, apologies. In regards to protocols and the like, those who plan on becoming patrollers in the field will participate after the VR portion. From there, all aspiring patrollers will duke it out across 8 blocks, until it's narrowed down to 16 finalists. From there, it'll be 8 matches, then 4, then 2, until we reach the finals. Aside from mandates like ring-outs and a no-killzone, anything goes. This is to test what a patroller can bring to the table in real combat, after all. Set."
Pleased, the Supreme Kai of Time put her hands together.
"Then from here, there's only one thing left to do!"
Back at the city, walking up toward its main PA, Trunks nodded. He cleared his throat.
"... ATTENTION ALL PROUD WARRIORS!"
[ OP: Granrodeo ‒ Remember Your Passion ]
Advent of the Heaven Eye-Worthy Martial Arts Tournament!
"I trust you all had a good night's rest and a decent breakfast, because you'll need it for much more than this meager quizlet!" Stroga declared before tossing the stack of papers into the air, every packet slowly descending upon each student with pinpoint accuracy.
"Wha- no one said anything about a test! I thought we were just beating each other's faces in!"
"That was literally the second announcement. You couldn't even walk 50 feet without running into something about it, what rock were you living under?"
"THE GOOD ONE WHERE WE PUNCHED THINGS AND DIDN'T COLOR IN BOXES, SHITLORD!"
The two whos were cut off by a desk bang from the front of the room.
"It should go without mention that cheating will be punished severely. You have two hours to complete the test. Without further adieu, the first phase of the exam begins now!"
An intense two hours passed, and by its end, many students were either satisfied, relieved or utterly mindbroken.
Among them...
Leaning back on the two legs of his chair, skimming through his test was a purple-eyed, olive-skinned boy with slicked-back dark-brown hair ending behind both ears in three high, spike-like tufts each and a short, messy ponytail hanging off his back, in dark-grey capris, a navy-blue short-sleeve shirt, and light-grey, high collar, waistcoat-esque vest, decorated lightly in deep violet on the front and heavily on the back in a tribal design, culminating in the shape of a feathered serpent.
"Yeah, passed with a 75!"
Neoru Orojia
Human
Age: 16
Notable Results: "The Hostile Wants Me Dead, So If They Die, They Die. And You Cant Carry Inteligense, Thats Not Phisycal." (All initial letters were capitalized. Reason unknown.)
His test was suddenly snagged from him, almost making him fall and snap his chair's legs. Now, it was in the hands of a ruby red-eyed, fair-skinned girl with an inverted in the front, lightly flared out in the back and bang-heavy light-brown bob coming down over her neck, maroon pants, a red and open leather jacket with two darker shoulder designs and a snap-on choker connecting her otherwise-open collar, and a white undershirt showcasing a black, swirling smoke design culminating into a smildon's open jaws.
"Hah! Subpar brainlet!"
Dina Spaurk
Saiyan/Human Mixed
Age: 17
Notable Results: "If the kitten is THAT cute, then yes. The Butterfly Effect is a myth, regardless, so joke's on you." (VERY CONCERNING)
"Oh yeah, wiseass? What'd YOU get?"
Dina proudly presented her paper. "Nyeh!"
"... 75.5- you know how to count, right?"
"Um, do YOU know how to round? That there's an 80!"
"... Your fuckin' thought process is round, neck yourself."
"And as expected, the dullard's jealous! GODS it feels good to be superior!"
Neoru watched as she skipped off to the snack bar, slowly balled up his test, and demonstrated how much force a 45g object launched at 75,000m/s^2 could exert onto the back of one's unsuspecting head.
His best scores laid in the physics portion.
Reading over her test in disbelief was a tall, light blue-eyed, fuchsia-skinned girl with bob-esque tendrils in place of hair, two antennae-like strands at the front both descending in inward crescents down to her chest, in a grey alien vest detailed with white vector highlights; aside from small golden-brown, plate-like sections along her baggy pants, everything else she wore was white, including the massive, faded-out cape which she donned.
"I… I passed…"
Kaza
Majin
Age: 13
Notable Results: Answers reached unsettlingly-specific levels when regarding teammates. Consistently prioritized later-mentioned teammate over both own wellbeing and space-time.
Proud of her score, she giddily turned to the boy next to her.
Looking particularly distraught was the boy in question: green-eyed and blonde, high and messy mop-top hair and topped with a curved, spiky bang touching the bridge of his nose, he wore a verdant, sleeveless jacket with a high, closed collar and curvy, lemon-yellow highlights, over a white and black-highlighted, long-sleeved shirt and bagged pants. His blonde Saiyan tail was thick and spritely... usually, at least.
"H-hey…"
Jin Sok-Kum (Zinco. Student has no recollection of the former name and won't respond to it.)
Saiyan/Human Mixed
Age: 14
Notable Results: Wrote in "no" for all questions which so much as implied violence as a course of action. Refused to elaborate further.
Zinco, teary-eyed, shakily presented his 69.5 paper to her.
"I… I'm s-smarter now, right?"
Kaza gazed upon it like one would the positive test results of something terminal.
"D-DEFINITELY! You worked so hard for that score, and it all paid off! S-see, you're a whole half-point higher than I am!"
"... That's only 'cause you got an upside down test!" Zinco wailed, now weeping over the unjust hand dealt to Kaza.
Lazily examining his test score was a tall, black-sclera'd and yellow/copper-iris'd boy with low, dark-grey hair in small spikes, starting on and hanging off the base of his neck before ascending toward the top and increasing in size before ending in two large, sharp bangs that hung off the sides of his face, wearing a bland, tight black undershirt and red and black sweatpants.
"Hmph. Couldn't give a fuck," the grey-haired young man grunted before tossing his 66-score packet behind his back.
Kazikum
Saiyan/[?] Hybrid, Potentially Paranormal Origin
Age: 18
Notable Results: "KILL EM ALL" (This was used for all essay questions, without exception. Outcomes ranged from highly disturbing to disturbingly acceptable.)
It promptly splashed into the bowl of available drink. Mid-examining her 90, a small, dark red-haired girl was caught in the subsequent mess.
Now ruined were her black hanfu, elaborately detailed with muted indigo and now-blaring dark pink lines, coupled with indigo string along her forearms and shins that closed up her would-be baggy sleeves and pants ‒ her overall outfit more focused on being noticed than for any sort of stealth ‒ as well as her absurdly-long hair, in two sharp strands coming off front of her ears that descended toward her elbows, and two looped ponytails on the back that could cover nigh-3 meters fully extended.
"... k-khh…"
Xiāo Mèi/Shaomei. Student aggressively responds to birth name with "Kao Nimaa." Staff was informed by translator that this was not a correction.
Human
Age: 17
Notable Results: Expressed essay answers through impressively-detailed and surprisingly-descriptive drawings. Pleasant change of pace, bar several responses. Reviewing questions 82, 88, 93, and 97 is especially ill-advised for those faint of heart.
The angry seething noise in-turn pissed off Kazikum.
"I'M GONNA DEMOLISH WHOEVER THE FUCK'S MAKING THA-Oh, it's that micro-pansy ass who's hand I ate."
"K-KHH-KH…"
"What, not enough you're half the size of a bug, now you need to sound like one, too?"
Mei's eyes visibly strained as her audible seething reached a blood-drawing crescendo.
Kazikum, tired of her, sucked his teeth. "Look, dumbass, I'm not gonna be your waste disposal. If you thought glazing yourself would make me wanna take another bite and end your sorry ass, with how shitty YOU taste, you're dead wrong. Now stop making bug noises and go clean yourself up before you stink up the room, you freaky fucking idio-"
Kazikum's stomach promptly split open.
"... Fuck's sake, now I need to clean up." Holding in his intestines like a loose belt, he grabbed a granola bar and walked off. "Sucks for the rest of these bozos, they have to deal with your putrid fucking stench for more time than it's worth."
From a combination of miscellaneous energy drink, blood splatter, violently-swaying hair, and her own ungodly amounts of rage clouding her vision, Mei began seeing red.
Kicking it at the snack bar was a coal-eyed, tall, jacked Saiyan boy with upright front hair that preluded his black, mane-like, raised and outgoing hair that jut from the back and to the sides of his head, wearing a dark russet-brown jumpsuit accompanied with near-golden highlights ‒ self-broken shoulder pads and large dual waist plates included ‒ that showed off his muscle definition.
"Yeah, the test couldn't've been a cakewalk for anyone else, but all said and done, I couldn't tell it apart from any regular old quiz."
Archi
Saiyan
Age: 18
Notable Results: Large swaths of blank answers for M-C portion. Wrote "I tried :/" on page which preceded essay portion.
"How much studying did you put yourself through?" asked one of the girls hanging with him.
"Y'know, it's weird, but I never really got into studying." The flirtatious Saiyan let out a pseudo-casual yawn. "Leave that 'staring at some book for seven years' stuff for the bookworms, I was busy breaking my limits. I guess I just can't help being gifte-"
"AHEM!"
Opening a garbage-smeared packet with Archi's name across it stood a tanned, onyx-eyed Saiyan girl with a long, thick and layered black hair ‒ also mane-like in appearance, though in a different sense as it came down her shoulders in large strands, hovered over the eyes in sharp bangs, and stopped from the back at her tail-wrapped waist ‒ and donning streamlined, cyan, white-outlined and black combat jacket over a midnight-blue, short-sleeve jumpsuit that came up to her neck, complete with a food prepper's skirt refashioned as combat plates.
Kora
Saiyan
Age: 18
Notable Results: Of the few in the class with a nigh-perfect score, save one suspect answer; "A teammate would not hold me back, therefore I would never leave a teammate."
"Question 52, Planet Vegeta's destruction. You answered Age 739. That's like a human forgetting the date of the Cell Games, how do you even?"
"H-hey, everyone mixes those up-"
"Question 35, oh this one's rich. You wrote the Force Equation as 'Matter times Apples.' Source: Your Own Ass."
"Erm…"
"Kakarot beat Vegeta on Earth, Bojack's attack on Earth being part of the primary continuum, 2 TIMES 4 EQUALS 6!? ARE YOU RETARDED?"
The honnies around Archi began to vacate.
"Wait, I can explain, uh… T-those were on purpose, y-ya see? Equal amount right and wrong, it's high-IQ stuff, I… aw…"
He narrowly dodged the dirty packet, as it splat against the wall behind him.
"Maybe if you'd hit the books like you hit iron, wusses, or your sad excuse for a 'manhood,' you would've passed this 'regular old quiz,' or ANY quiz flat-out, you pompous jerkass!"
Archi's head sank as she stormed off.
"... she totally wants me."
Kora's 99.5 paper smashed into his face.
Upon everyone's table laid metallic sunglasses.
"Oh damn, these hoes kinda crispy…" a student said, looking around before being smacked by a paper plane.
"AH-"
"beat yo fuckin ass if you don't stop playin', that's the only hope your stupid ass got left," his friend hiss-pered through his teeth.
"All I did was look at em, damn…"
Stroga cleared his throat. "This next portion of this final will test your mind and prowess in a simulated scenario. This is a virtual reality designed to be as close to the real deal as possible, so know beforehand that you WILL feel pain; not enough to die, of course, but it's enough kick to motivate strategy in place of recklessness."
He raised his hand. "All things said, you may now place them on and begin!"
The students followed the order, and a small, thin energy field surrounded their heads before transporting them into the second phase.
It played out something like this:
[ BGM: Hidenori Shoji ‒ Four Faith (Extended) ]
[NEUTRALIZE GROUP OF HOSTILES WITHOUT SUSTAINING MAJOR INJURY]
Neoru burst into the thick of things, launching his knee into one tango full-speed and instantly stopping on impact to let the others come to him. Swaying through a myriad of armed, unarmed, and blast attacks as if drunk, he chose a moment and dove into a leg-scissors takedown, causing one bogey's head to fall and crash into the full-swing fist of another; while the latter reeled back over their wounded fist, Neoru shuffled over to just-under their legs and transitioned from another leg takedown to a ground-pounding mount. 3 aggressive punches to the tango's throat later, he coiled underneath like a serpent and kicked them into the next pair that'd tried to get him off, before spinning his legs 'round breakdance-style and creating spare space before going into a handstand and launching himself into the others, sending them packing and narrowly dodging the punch behind him. Still in his zone and ready to end things, he grabbed the arm, leapt upon and span all across his opponent like an angry snake speeding up a tree, firing off ki blasts in the directions of the last bits of the group - a maneuver that also boosted his momentum - before finishing things with a headscissor takedown that violently sent the enemy through the simulated field's ground.
[COMPLETE]
Neoru kicked himself up and wiped off sweat. "Why the hell'd they start off with somethin' like this? Whatever, next up is..."
[CAPTURE INTRUSIVE TARGET WITHOUT WOUNDING NATIVE AGGRESSORS]
"EASY!" Dina rocketed toward the target, before suddenly stopping in the way of ensuing non-threats. She growled, annoyed before dodging a baton sweep and weaving through the other attempts, proceeding to maneuver through the dozens of bunched distractions like a cat through grass stalking prey. Fed up with the footwork, she hopped off the top of one's hat and (with all due flair) shot a concussive blast toward the fleeing assailant, knocking them off-balance with its proximity. Upon her landing, another non-hostile stood in her way, firearm aimed; unwilling to stop, she simply ran up to their face, gave a beast-like, fanged and red-eyed grimace as she snarled deeper than anything remotely-human should, and hopped over them once they'd gone into a full-on fear limbo, blasting off toward the bogey before her fist knocked the wind, consciousness, and various bodily fluids out of the perp.
[COMPLETE]
Dina flung her hair back. "Absolute cakewalk! Hopefully, next up's just as simple!"
[KEEP STRUCTURES SAFE AND INTACT]
A mass-barrage of energy rapidly approached the simulated metropolis, practically covering the sky in blasts.
"To~h..."
A sharp, aggressive exhale that lightly shook the city signaled Zinco's advance, as he dove straight for the swarm. In the span of another breath, he unleashed a set of aerial kicks packing enough force to send clusters of blasts spiraling into the sky, decorating the stratosphere in yellow. As a final, elusive wave came for his position, much larger than the others prior, he threw himself closer to the city and gathered his ki into his palms. They were mere meters away before Zinco let out a roar, cascading the rival spirit with his own; instead of exploding, the large spheres began to dissipate, fading off into the world.
A bit of sweat trickled off his face, but he didn't seem to care in the slightest.
[COMPLETE]
"I DID IT!" he cheered. "Now all I need to do is-"
[DEFEND AND TRANSPORT DRAGON BALL]
Clutching the wish orb for dear life, Kaza hastily flew through the thick forest, a legion of bogeys on her tail. Hyperventilating, and unable to focus on one thing in particular, a separate battalion suddenly appeared before her, mean and sinister mugs with eyes disguised over helmets. Unable to slow herself down, most-definitely about to fail, Kaza decided it was best to shut her eyes, go in a straight line, and wish REALLY, REALLY HARD that she could take the dragon ball where it needed to.
She promptly bulldozed through everyone in her way. In an effect not far from dominos, her pursuers were smacked and downed in the ensuing confusion.
Reopening her eyes, Kaza was still thrown into a panic; the dragon ball was out of her hands, nowhere in sight. She was ready to break down until…
[COMPLETE]
"...Eh?"
By pure… luck… it had landed inside the closed time machine. Somehow.
"Oh… I did it… Great! Then next is… Oh no-"
[DESTROY ANOMALOUS STRUCTURE WITHIN GIVEN TIME FRAME]
"It's just a pile of fucking rocks…"
Irrational anger welling within him, Kazikum hobbled toward the colossal monolithic structures currently sapping would-be energy from the timeline.
"You sacks of dogshit love wasting my time like this, DON'T YOU?" he bellowed.
Unbeknownst to him, dozens of deformed tangos started surrounding him. He was too pissed to care.
"BOX ME IN A FUCKING CAGE, PUT SOME FUCKING NUMBERS ABOVE ME, TELL ME WHAT I CAN AND CAN'T TEAR TO FUCKING PIECES, WHAT GAME ARE YOU FUCKERS PLAYING WITH ME!?"
Rapidly, the "big rocks" in front of him became the focus of his rage.
The clock reached ten seconds.
"WHY ARE YOU STILL FUCKING THERE!?" he screamed, literally ramming into it with enough force to send it falling down in a violent burst of flying debris nigh-instantly.
Ten seconds.
Kazikum grabbed one of the sky-scraping structures in a blind state of berserk and began slamming it against the ground, breaking it at such a speed that it combusted into smaller and smaller specks of dust upon each ground-shattering impact. Every other hostile and monolith within eyesight suffered a similar fate.
"DIE, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" he roared, finally shattering the one in his gripped, veined-to-Hell hands entirely.
Nine seconds.
[COMPLETE]
"Fuck you," Kazikum spat at the message, still angry at everything and nothing at the same time; the confusing feeling adding more fuel to his rage-bonfire. He heard a beeping noise on his arm and broke both his device and forearm entirely. If he'd just read the message, it would've said:
[PROTECT VIP FROM INTRUSIVE HOSTILES]
The purple figure peacefully snacked on chips and read a magazine in their wonky domicile, unaware of the change they'd someday make… apparently. Unannounced to them, an elusive group of figures was out to ensure that vague "change" would never happen.
One attempted to slowly pry open a door, only to hit something faint, golden, and glinting.
They died in the next second. Many of his comrades would follow, haywire qi bursting through spots around their bodies as each would-be assassin devolved into a panicked frenzy that would never pierce the night's quiet.
One crashed through the window, startling the daylights out of their target before throwing themselves toward them in a last ditch effort, snuffing out their lives before they could become something more.
At least, that's what he thought he'd seen.
In reality, they stopped before they breached the window. Unfathomable pain shot through them, yet they couldn't move, scream, or even breathe. All they could do was see what they couldn't reach.
"Stripped of your freedom, spend your fleeting moments in regret," a feminine voice whispered, before the hostile was horizontally bisected.
[COMPLETE]
Inside, the young purple figure inquisitively raised their head.
Atop the roof, Xiao Mei checked her next objective.
"Ránhòu…"
[LOWER VILLAIN'S POWER WITHIN GIVEN TIME FRAME]
Archi giggled a bit. "Seriously? That's it?"
The opponent in sight, Archi dove in from above, ramming them with an elbow before battering them with punches and kicks, high and low, as fast and hard as he could throw them out. Met with brief resistance, he reveled in the scuffle and even took a few head-on to see if he could. He hissed, before shining a cocky smile and returning fire with a kick that sent the villain sky-high, then vanishing and bashing his virtual opponent back and forth in what looked like a column of sonic booms culminating in a downward smash. He prepared a ki wave in both hands to finish things off as the villain staggered below, eager to win.
Before he could, however, a set of fighters converged on the wounded major threat, and they engaged in an even brawl.
Peeved, Archi threw down his hands. "(HEY, WHAT THE HELL!?)" he mentally yelled overhead. "(THAT GUY'S MINE, GET LOST!)"
The villain momentarily got an upper hand, knocking the others away, and the young Saiyan above felt vindicated enough to charge his beam again.
"(See what happens when you butt in!? Now just sit back and…)"
He hesitated for a moment.
"(Wait… Lower… power… Are you telling me…?)"
He held his fire.
And soon after, the warriors recovered; one hit the villain's flank, another struck their eyes, and a final third bashed it downward before all three hit it with a coordinated beam attack of their own.
[COMPLETE]
"CALLED IT!" Archi yelled. "Then again, this stuff comes naturally for a genius like me… Whelp, all that's left is… huh?"
[DEFEAT HERO AND ENSURE VILLAIN'S SAFETY]
"So much for a fun one…"
Kora adjusted her neck. The tall, bug-like man arrogantly attempted to keep her back, and the downward, dual flame-haired Saiyan responded with a massive swath in the ground as she blasted off to meet the challengers. The sim cut no corners in making the current objective's hostiles as accurate to actual historic heroes' likenesses as possible, a fact she took in once she honed in on one with a hook to the temple, before quickly spinning in place to intercept and counter a desperate attack from a blind spot with a kick to the neck. She sidestepped another punch, grabbed a wrist, and flung the fighter responsible into another, subsequently blasting both. A blue tint ran up her face and caught her attention, Kora turning to face a charged energy wave flying straight at her. Just barely delaying it with a kiai, she blasted back with a beam of her own; though an initially-losing battle, as she poured more ki into her opposing force, Kora overwhelmed the attack, and a blinding explosion resulted. 3 ragged breaths later, she sank back to the ground.
"There… happy?" she hissed to no one in particular as the villain whined incomprehensibly. Still, the sky seemed to reply.
[COMPLETE]
"Great!" Kora lightheartedly-cheered before kicking the villain's head clean off.
[ HEADLINK COMPLETE ! TEST END IN 5 . . . ]
"..."
"..."
"... is… is it buffering? ARE YOU SERIOUS HOW IS IT BUFFER-"
Stroga anxiously coughed. "I was positive that the generous folk at Capsule Corp would supply us with up-to-date tech beyond that of a Yyleptoid Grill-and/or-Burn hotspot, but as with many things in my line of work, I was woefully misinformed. Apologies."
"wait the fuck is a yyleptoid, is that good-"
"no aND IN ANY CASE, REJOICE, STUDENTS! Had this been a year prior, this would be the end, and you would all be striding out the open door while I laud or cackle over your scores! However..."
Stroga's eyes sharpened. "This is no ordinary year."
As the instructor spoke, fluorescent blue light slowly flickered around the future patrollers. Many anticipated what came next, though that didn't stop a few minor freakouts.
"As this may very well be the last time we see each other, I wish you all good luck. On that note, farewell. From here begins the 1st annual Worthy of Heaven's Eye Martial Arts Exa-"
The students disappeared.
"... huh."
Stroga turned, with a melancholy smile. "I'll miss those kids…"
",,,"
"wait, no I won't."
The melancholy having been expelled from him, he whipped out a liter of cheap soda from under his desk, and fell back into his chair.
"Knock yourselves out, ya little shits…" he slurred as he swigged.
"-aaAND WE'RE HERE NOW, WHAT THE FUCK?" Neoru frantically shouted as he gradually resumed existing in a new place entirely.
"DID I SEE GOD? WAS THAT WHAT GOD LOOKS LIKE?" Dina shrieked, close to vomiting after her atoms reassembled.
Both slowly recovering from their literal and metaphysical trips, they directed attention toward the place they and hundreds of others were now in front of.
The structure looked a few hundred years behind modern, rounded architecture, giving off a traditional temple aesthetic alongside its thatched roof and shrine-esque iconography, including a colossal stone gate just outside it. A banner almost the length of the temple itself read out, in ancient kanji, "Heaven Eye-Worthy Martial Arts Tournament."
"Screw me, the size'a this line," Neoru sighed. Sure enough, literally hundreds had vied for the patroller path this year; many already in the building, many still outside like he and Dina. "Sure it ain't taking its time moving, at least, but the STINK THAT'S GOTTA BE INSIDE, UUUGH."
"How the hell are this many people supposed to fit inside some dolled-up waffle house without virtually spooning upright, who came up with this crap?" the light brown-haired girl hissed.
Without a doubt, if the exterior of the building was all one had to go off, more than hundreds of people shouldn't've been able to fit.
The interior was a much different story.
"... eh?" Dina and Neo both squeaked.
It was the size of an indoor stadium. Students of all shapes and sizes, on both extremes and in-between, comfortably stood around 8 square platforms. And as the last few behind them entered, dramatic lighting directed the attendants' attention toward the center, and the ceiling's straw slowly split apart.
From there, a purple, long-eared, white-mustached old man in spiffy, closed and pointed robes that went up to the neck descended.
"Now how do I work this…" he muttered before a brief burst of feedback tore apart everyone's ear drums. Painful groans and agonized bat-screaming ensued.
"WAIT, WAIT, there we go, there it is." He cleared his throat. "Before this tourna-whatever kicks off, rules. Unlike our mother-tournament, the Number One Under Heaven Martial-hunahbaguh, weapons and other technology are permitted. We're testing you as a patroller more-so than we are testing you as a fighter."
"ETERNAL DISHONOR!" a battle elitist screeched, before a brief verbal scuffle ensued. The elder looked at his mic again. "How'd I do that again?"
Another blast of feedback shot throughout the building, immediately hushing the mob.
"WHY!?" a shrill voice once-more howled.
The elfish old man nodded. "That's better. Anyway, underhanded tactics like groin and eye shots are also permitted; it's how you all react to attempts, react to having them struck, and how you overcome their effects."
"if anyone touch my peepee, they are dying to death," a deep, reverb-packing voice declared.
"Which brings me to what HASN'T changed. One minute, and while there are now 8 blocks, with 2 finalists from each, losing conditions are still ring-outs, knockouts, or wuss-outs. Lastly, murder will result in-"
"Disqualification?"
"EXECUTION."
"... oh."
The elder laughed. "No, no, I'm just yankin' your chain. 2 dead patrollers is a bad trade, no matter how you look at it. But you ARE going away for a long time should it be revealed it wasn't an accident. And accident or not, immediate disqualification if it happens. You should all know a hint of self-control at this point, after all."
"Can we start already, gods."
"RUDE LITTLE RUNT, KEEP OUR NAME OUT OF YOUR PIEHOLE!"
"Please, just get to it."
Purple Guy, now with a giant vein across his elegantly-mohawked head, obliged.
"(Ah, to hell with it, they'll knock the daylights outta 'emselves soon enough, anyway.) First, you'll all draw lots from the box. The resulting number oughta align with a block number on the board. You all can read numbers, right? Course ya can. From there, self organize. To compensate for the added blocks, 2 blocks will go at a time; 1-and-2, 2-and-4, just like that. Now with everything said and done, get this show on the road already!"
The divine geezer proceeded to slowly elevate himself out of the ceiling, thatched roof once more parting.
"... holy shit just leave-"
One last round of feedback from the ceiling.
"GYAAAA-"
[ BGM: Alisa Okehazama ‒ Battle Royale (Extended) ]
2 referee hands raised to the roof.
"Numbers 12 and 44, come up!"
From east of Block 1, Neoru ran up.
"Welp, let's get this over with."
No.12 scowled at the remark. "Don't underestimate me just because I'm-"
"Wearin' a full suit of armor? Jeez Louise, if you're THAT scared'a taking a hit, why are ya even here?"
"... a woman."
"Oh. Well yeah, no shit that doesn't matter, it's the fact that you ARE a pussy, not that ya got one."
"WANNA BET!?" The exosuit user yelled as she charged his formless stance. Focusing, Neoru closed his eyes.
Not a second later, a high kick across the chin sent his opponent falling to the ground. Neoru slowly reopened his eyes, the tense feeling that formerly flooded his body finally dissipating.
"(Alright!)"
"STIM PACK AUTHORIZED," stated a robotic voice from the suit.
"say wha?"
With a sudden jolt, No.12 caught her footing and, with a meteor's impact, kicked Neoru in a vital point.
"Hmph. Men are all talk."
"A… ah-ah…"
Many male contestants cringed hard, subconsciously feeling pain in said vital point.
Dina happened to catch it.
"PFFFFFT-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The female warrior cast a cocky smile, victory from there assured as Neoru's eyes went blank.
"HAHAHAHA, OH MAN, SHE'S FUCKING DEAD!" Dina wiped a tear as a contestant from her own block flew over her head.
No.12 raised a brow at the distant remark before two enraged hands gripped her shoulder.
Down upon her glared wrathful, vacant eyes, before an earth-shaking roar followed by a brutal headbutt to the chest made one thing clear.
"GI~HAAAAAAA!"
Both men and women possessed two blatant meat orbs as nerve-ridden weak points.
"N… Number 44 advances!"
Neoru angrily hobbled away from his screaming former opponent, surpassing his own pain threshold in the process.
"OI! OI, NEO! I HEARD A LIL' POP BACK THERE, Y'LRIGHT MATE!?" Dina howled.
"ₕₒₚ ₒբբ ₐ ₆ᵣᵢₔ₉ₑ, ₔᵢₚₛₕᵢₜ!" he replied in a macho, manly dialect that gave Dina a ten pack.
"Numbers 56 and 77, present yourselves!"
Dina grinned, hopping onto the ring.
"There are a few twits down there that I've gotta show off to, so let's make this interesting, yeah, big boy?"
No.56 smirked. "You think you can? Don't kid yourself, you're a girl! You don't have many options against me!"
"Well that was a bit crass, even for my standards." Dina appeared to be pondering something, before snapping her fingers. "Tell you what, strongman? I'll give YOU the first hit. Just swat me like the fly I am!"
"No, don't do that dumbass, that's stupid!" Neoru yelled over from Block 1.
"OH PISS OFF, STAY IN YOUR FUCKIN' BLOCK 'FORE I KNOCK YOURS OFF YEAH?"
"You're gonna get knocked out, you're gonna cry like a bitch, you're gonna blame everyone that isn't you so stop goofin' off and focus on your-"
"MIND YOUR BUSINESS, SHITHEAD, YOU'RE THE ONE WHO DID THAT DUMB EYE-CLOSING THING BACK LAST MATCH, JUST LET ME DO SOMETHING COO-"
A forceful sucker punch cut Dina off. Blood spewed from her mouth as she fell back.
"Jeez, all chicks do is talk."
"..."
"'OW OOK' WHA' 'OU 'ID, 'OU JA'ASS!" Dina screamed at Neo as blood flew from her mouth. "I... BIT MY FUCKING TONGUE ON THA'!"
"Now you're blaming me, who saw that comin'? Maybe if you weren't so jet-set on showin' off in the Baby Bitch League, that wouldn'ta-"
"NyEh-NyEh-NyEh-NyEh-NyEh-NyEhNyEh-I'LL COME DOWN THERE, AND I'LL MAKE YOUR LAST MATCH LOOK LIKE A FUCKING MASSEUR SESH YOU SNIDY LITTLE SHIT, DO YOU HEAR ME!?"
No.56, fed up, attempted to punch her off the platform.
"Cocky little bitch, I'm your opp-"
"I'M-"
Dina struck the man's fist with a right elbow, breaking his hand entirely.
"FUCKING-"
Dina, with a left smash, obliterated his liver.
"BUSY!"
Dina's jumping uppercut shot him through the ceiling.
"... And Number 77 advances!"
Dina let out a few beastly exhales before remembering where she was. "O-oh crud, I lost it there. Um uh, sorry 'bout that!"
Another ref approached Neoru. "Please refrain from distracting contestants."
"refrain from gettin' the fuck in my face, dweebass."
"Numbers 277 and 290, you're up!"
Devine stepped up to Block 7's plate, as both Dina and a previously-KO'd Baubi shouted words of encouragement.
"WOO-HOO! YOU GO GIRL!"
"YOU'RE DOING GREAT SO FAR, DEVI! KEEP IT GOING!"
Neoru, however, seemed more interested in who she was up against.
"Hi, I'm Zinco!"
"Hey, cutie!" Devine replied. "Oh my gawds, you're like SO adorable, my heart's LITERALLY gonna blow up, like, a~ah!"
"(stop talkin~g, kick his ass already~...)" both Dina and Neoru thought in unison.
Zinco then pointed off the stage. Devine followed his finger.
"Hey, can you jump off that?"
"(that dumbass…)" Neoru sighed internally, as Dina and Baubi sneered externally.
"Hm? Oh, 'course I can! Obviously!" Devine cheerfully responded, as she proved her point.
"(THAT DUMBASS!)" Dina screeched internally, as Neoru and Baubi's eyes bulged externally.
"But like… why~y d'you ask?"
Zinco respectfully bowed. "I'm gonna win this without hurting anybody."
"O~h. Well, like, good luck with that!"
"Number 277 Advances!"
It took a second for it to hit Devine.
"... OH. MY GODS. I JUST TOTALLY FORFEIT."
Dina and Baubi proceeded to knock her into the Earth's Inner Core, as Neoru banged his head on something hard.
"Numbers 339 and 344, come forth!"
"YES! FINALLY I, THE GREAT FGKJHGDSW XXXXXXXIV, TAKE THE STAGE!"
The lanky bug man basked in the glow of like 44 people who didn't care, before facing off his opponent.
Kora stared, deadpan. "You're like the first guy who's made it a point to shout their whole name."
"It's the best name in the universe, of course I shouted it!"
"I think a name would need at least… 1… vowel to even crack Top… Million."
"Hah!" The lanky guy strode toward Kora at a frankly-unnatural speed. "Say what you want, but no race makes better names than an X-"
Kora punched him through a wall.
"... this... proves... nothing!" He yelled from the distant stands before passing out.
"Number 344 advances!"
The long-haired Saiyan looked at her fist; it was actually somewhat bruised.
"Well, if nothing else, he had SOME reason to be so proud… wait, what did he say he was, anyway?"
"Numbers 133 and 140, you're on!"
Archi silently gawked.
"So you're… uh… you…"
"WellWhatIsItSpitItOutWeHaveAMatchToFinish!" The grainy, literally 2-dimensional girl shouted without any pause between words. Her lips didn't seem to exist; her mouth simply opened and closed continuously.
"I mean it's just, uh… how?"
"Fool!IHaveAchievedNirvanaWithIntenseMartialFocusAndHaveNowAscendedPastAllOtherMartialArtistsInMyDimensionNowEnoughTalkWeMustNowFight!" No.140 yelled, bizarre white lines appearing all around her as she darted toward Archi.
Archi proceeded to do something beyond all comprehension.
He took a step to the side.
"NOHOWISTHISHAPPENINGTHISCANNOTBEEVENAFTERSURPASSINGEVERYMASTERINMYWAKEANDSTUDYINGTHE9SACREDSCROLLSWHATSTROKEOFHORRIDFORTUNECOULD-"
She promptly crashed into the floor.
"Number 133 advances!"
Archi scratched his head. "If I had let that attack hit, I might've been walking with a limp for a while! I mean I would've taken it anyway, if I was into 2D girls that is..."
"Numbers 99 and 100, step up!"
The wooden man glared daggers. "I can already tell… You're one of those 'martial artists,' aren't you?"
Mei shrugged.
No.100 took out a bag from a self-compartment. "You all just LOVE going around, chopping down trees and using our corpses to prove points! Well, guess what?"
He threw the bag's contents into the air, revealed to be impeccably-conditioned human bones.
"LET'S SEE HOW YOU LIKE IT WHEN THE FOOT'S IN THE OTHER SHOE!"
The woodman then soared to meet them, chopping and kicking them apart as if they were twigs.
Mei's oak opponent landed, with a smug aura about him as calcium fragments descended around him despite his lack of facial features. However, he was met only with a wagging finger.
"Bones... do not hit back," Mai bluntly stated, bored.
Literally splintering in rage, No.100 charged the extremely long-haired martial artist, who treated his flying arms like those of a wooden post as she parried where the force was weakest and struck whenever he showed a moment of vulnerability, eventually opening him up to the extent where she could unleash a hailstorm of blows onto one spot upon his core which only grew in force, finishing with a strike that left a sharp imprint as he fell off the stage.
"Number 99 advances!"
Mei recomposed herself, looking down upon her dazed, defeated adversary as imaginary birds orbited and pecked into his head.
"And perhaps boards shouldn't."
"Numbers 166 and 158, you're on!"
No.158 threw on an impossibly-exaggerated pose and gathered ki. "You are now facing the greatest exorcist in Conton City's #1 disciple!"
Kazikum walked forward.
"So you won't introduce yourself, huh? F-fine by me, uh…"
Kazikum walked forward.
"I, uh… You should have a bit more regard for your own s-safety, I mean c-come on, m-my techniques could even cut down a dem-AH SCREW IT!"
He grabbed his beads. "SUPER-DUPER HEAVEN-BLESSED MONK BEADS OF THE END, GO!"
He threw them at Kazikum as a minor, concussive distraction.
They actually sizzled across No.166's skin on contact.
"... huh?"
Kazikum ran forward.
Screaming in ascending pitch all the way, the disciple threw his posture to the wayside and ran for the edge of the platform.
He almost made it off before his spine was fragmented and he splat against a distant wall outside. He let out a shrill squeak as consciousness began to leave him.
"HOLY-Uh, Number 166 advances!"
The ex-disciple somehow managed to hobble back onto his feet before a "YOU THINK YOU'RE FUCKING SAFE OVER THERE!?" caused him to scream incoherently and flee the vicinity.
"Numbers 199 and 202, fight!"
Kaza still had a smile from seeing how Zinco dealt with his opponent. Likewise, she wanted to deal with hers in such a way. So she faced hers down and put on a brave smile.
"Please step off the-"
No.202 blasted the one spot with their full power and didn't stop for a good half-minute, until smoke enveloped the area.
"Hah…. hah…" the small frog girl swallowed. "If nothing else, they fell off the ring… so why isn't anyone saying anything?"
She felt a tap on her shoulder.
"Sorry, I don't think you heard me..."
She turned to face a 7-foot, over 2-meter Majin gazing down upon her with a smile of now dangerously-ambiguous intent.
"Please step off the ring."
No.202 began welling up out of what Kaza assumed was good will.
"ok"
"Number 199 advances!"
All the while, Kaza diverted attention from Zinco to try and console the inconsolable, sobbing former No.202.
For 8 other contestants, things seemed to be going rather smoothly as well.
Their legs ensnared in a hold that was very-well about to break them, someone aggressively banged their hand onto the ring's floor.
"Number 4 advances!"
The dark-skinned, brown-haired young man stood, with sharp gold eyes and a tribal hoodie with which he covered his head.
On the other side, words appearing out of thin air became a wind gust strong enough to blast a large contestant out to the ring entirely.
"Number 48 advances!"
A blonde young woman in a fancy robe and skirt threw back her long hair with a cocky smile, reopening her crystal-blue eyes to marvel at her own work.
Slammed into by a massive stomach tackle, a smaller contestant tumbled outside the arena.
"Number 130 advances!"
A, frankly, round Majin in striped, slim and rubber-like attire triumphantly twirled off the ring.
With pure telekinetic might, a contestant was slammed repeatedly into the arena until they were nigh-unconscious, until a single, small blast put them out of it.
"Number 180 advances!"
A small Musai laughed with obnoxious innocence, hands on hips as if the result was obvious, and yet oblivious to the pain he'd just caused.
On the other side, a contestant threw a punch at their opposition, only to suddenly hit air before a colossal shadow appeared above them; the last thing they saw before being flattened was a giant fist descending upon them.
"Number 257 advances! Number 222, you're up next!"
After helping them up and out the ring, a metallic man of average height gave a thumbs-up toward their downed opponent. A shorter, dark blue-haired man donning a visor and a laid-back grin went past him toward the stage.
With a single qi-enhanced palm strike, an 8-armed contestant crashed into a wall. Their eyes went vacant from sheer pressure, seconds before the strike made contact.
"Number 303 advances!"
A dull-grey Namekian, donning an elaborately designed dark brown-and-black robe, nodded before leaving. Despite his win, he showed no signs of joy; if anything, he looked perpetually depressed.
Opposite to him, a young Saiyan man in a furred garb and with a large, tri-spike hairdo beat the tar out of a battle-armored contestant, beating through said armor like it didn't exist before landing a knockout punch.
"Number 315 advances!"
Cracking bloody knuckles, his aggressively-swaying tail slowly cooled off, as he spat on his armored former opponent.
Neoru whistled, water bottle in hand as he watched a guy fly over his head like a well-structured joke.
"Hey, Neo!"
Spotting Katlij and Mashii, he pushed himself off the wall he'd been leaning on.
"W'zup? You guys doin' well in the tourney?"
"did," Mashii meekly muttered.
"Huh?"
Katlij chuckled. "I only managed 2 wins before I was stopped dead."
Mashii held up a 1 with her fingers.
Neoru stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Well shit, uh, were they at least strong? The guys who did ya in?"
"Neither of them belong here."
The blue ‒ physically and emotionally ‒ girl began shaking. Neoru raised a brow, before Katlij elaborated.
"It's not an excuse, mind. The two we fought… it hardly feels like they belong in this dimension, much less a school game like this. We were standing there, and then… we weren't."
"yeah that makes sense"
"THAT'S HIS POINT," Mashii butted in, "They're… just see for yourself." She pointed her finger, and Neoru followed.
Walking up to Block 7 was a tall, moppy and black-haired Saiyan boy in full-body, modernized armor, who seemed to exude an aloof, otherworldly aura. Around the block's edge, four girls stood on standby.
"Kisekai… I know you can win this…" whisper-spoke a Human in a medic-style dress.
"YOU WON'T LIVE TO REGRET IT IF YOU LOSE, S-STUPID…!" yelled a Saiyan in a chassis who seemed to be perpetually blushing.
"Win, big brother!" cheered a thousand year-old dragon-tailed little girl who blatantly wasn't his sister.
"You've got This, nyah!" purred a cat demihuman with gargantuan gahungas.
He briefly turned toward them and smiled, before returning to his stoic persona.
Also stepping up to the plate, a standard black and yellow-chassis Saiyan with outward spiked hair and a red sports headband, overall appearance suspiciously similar to that of another well-known historic figure, bowed toward his opponent before taking a stance.
Keeping up his bored and confident look with sharp bangs brushing over his eyes, Kisekai took no stance and simply stood. His opponent took a second to evaluate before rushing in, Kisekai never breaking eye contact with him.
At the moment of what should've been impact…
"Is that Kisekai guy who you were talkin' about?" Neoru asked.
A tremendous shockwave erupted throughout the prelim area.
Kisekai stood, his fist still firmly jut forward.
"... What the!?"
His fist was scraped.
Mashii turned to Neo.
"No."
[ BGM: Toshiyuki Kishi, Hiromi Mizutani, and Kenji Katoh Reno ‒ World Tournament Arena ]
On the far side of the arena stood his opponent who, if anything, looked more lively.
The otherworldly Saiyan's eyes suddenly spaced out.
"(System, appraise this guy.)"
NAME: Son Gokiichi
AGE: 17
RACE: Saiyan/Human
LEVEL: N/A
"(This doesn't make any sense...)"
HP: N/A / N/A
KI: N/A / N/A
STA: N/A / N/A
STR: N/A
PER: N/A
AGL: N/A
INT: N/A
CHA: N/A
LK: IRRELEVANT
Kisekai was lost for words.
"(I should be able to see everyone's ability and translate it to stats with 'Gamer's Eye'... why's this guy different?)"
Gokiichi, somewhat put off by his lack of movement, craned his neck to the side. "You're looking kind of blank over there. Are you ok?"
Shaking his head,
"Wait so you aren't?"
Kisekai returned to his stoic expression, before unleashing even more power.
"Oh, so you WERE holding out on me!" Gokiichi hopped in place.
A smirk ran up the other Saiyan's face. "Looks like I finally have a challenge… Alright then, I'll show you my full power. Come on!"
"If you say so!"
Gokiichi ran up on Kisekai, even faster than before. The latter threw an incredibly-speedy barrage which the red-band fighter parried with an uncanny ease. As soon as they stopped, a kick from the side was blocked, mere millimeters away from Gokiichi.
"(Dammit… even with my 'Gamer's Mind,' I'm starting to lose my cool…)"
"Is that what it's called?"
Kisekai immediately backed up. Gokiichi didn't relent.
"(HOW ARE YOU READING MY THOUGHTS MID-FIGHT!?)"
Gokiichi smiled as he kept pressuring Kisekai's guard, pushing him to the end of the arena and granting not a centimeter of breathing room. "(I've been doing this for a while, that's all. But what you're feeling isn't all that crazy; from experience, even the best of gamers lose their cool if hit with enough pressure in the thick of it!)"
With a sudden low kick feint that sent Kisekai crouching, Gokiichi bounded upward with an axe-handle, stunning his foe out of his guard before juggling him into the air with a string of focused attacks, each enough to knock him further upward and preparing a heavy roundhouse before avoiding a sudden kiai, sending him back down and skidding across the platform.
"BEAT HIM, KISEKAI!" his entire group of definitely-not love interests cried out.
"Would you idiots shut up already?"
They all immediately snapped around, revealing a red Majin girl with baggy, black-gold "M" pants and thick pinkish-white hair descending down her back and over her eyes in massive bangs.
"Care to repeat that, buster!?" the Saiyan girl barked, only to be met with a red and black glare. The subsequent tidal wave of barely-controlled battlelust she was hit by made her catatonic for a few seconds.
"Try it, if you'd like. Just know that I won't let anyone interrupt my prey as he claws up the ranks."
Back on the platform, Gokiichi beheld a mass amount of swirling ki.
"(MY KI METER IS FINALLY FULL ENOUGH!) TAKE THIS! X100 FINAL…"
Gokiichi dropped his guard, and stood perfectly still.
As staff began to panic, Kisekai threw his wave.
"KAMEHAME…"
"(Hm. His attacks were strong, and all textbook-perfect, but…)"
Gokiichi's eyes flashed teal, and he disappeared.
"HA-"
With a backhand strike from behind, Kisekai suddenly flew out the ring.
"HUEH!?" all 4 of Kisekai's very, very, very close friends screeched in unison.
"(He made them way too easy to read.)" Gokiichi retouched the ground. "(Like going against an RPG character in a Fighter… in the end, we were just playing two different games.)"
[BGM: Hiroyuki Sawano ‒ He Zi Yingluo (1:41-2:28) ]
Slow, sarcastic clapping made the spikey-haired fighter turn.
"Bravo, champion!" the red Majin from before snarked. "Another nobody disposed of."
Gokiichi frowned. "There's no need to be so harsh, Refuen. Everyone's trying their best today!"
Refuen shrugged. "To get in the way of our fight in the finals? They're not doing a very good job of it, are they? Still, no matter..." Hair ominously flowing behind her, she made a path out of the others who'd been watching the prior match.
"Once that cheery-eyed brat and that boresome namek in our block are dealt with, and all the other trash who weasel their way onto the stage take their exit, the real fight can begin."
A sinister grin stretched across her face, as she craned her neck and swerved her head 180 degrees.
"I can't wait to make a banquet of all the skills and power you've amassed since our last battle!"
As he watched her leave while walking down the platform himself, he tended to his own shaking wrist.
"(I'll win, I won't win… the uncertainty of it is driving me up the wall with excitement…!)"
He looked up, optimistically. "(We'll definitely settle this in the finals! No matter wha-
ONE MATCH LATER
Gokiichi stared at Refuen.
"I didn't… think this would happen…"
Refuen stared at Gokiichi.
"I hadn't exactly… considered this outcome…"
"286, 294… you're good to fight now. Can you, like… do that?"
Refuen turned to the ref.
"Excuse me sir," she said meekly, "could we please move this to a bigger ring?"
"... like…?"
"The tournament one would be nice."
If Refuen spat in the referee's dead mother's decaying face, shat in it, and proceeded to eat it while making full eye contact, the expression he'd have in that instance would still pale in comparison to the one he currently possessed.
".. for a preliminary match."
Gokiichi joined in the begging. "I-it SOUNDS stupid, but we've been waiting for this for a while, and uh, if we went all out in here, er…"
Despite the initial disbelief at their audacity, Block 7's ref took everything into account. He then got into a call with someone higher up, stating the case and request.
"... yeah they know how stupid it sounds…"
"... i mean, nothing about the two is really 'fair' for anyone else, honestly…"
"... uh huh…"
"... uh huh…"
"... HUH?"
"... y... yes, sir…"
"... 'Love you'!? What are you-"
He got off his comm.
"5 minutes, and if it turns out you wasted everyone's time, I'm not getting paid. And also you two piss off. So uh, go bonkers."
"ALRIGHT!" Refuen pumped her fists, before regaining her composure.
"And… and thank you kindly…"
Gokiichi smiled. "You're not all that bad when you act with kindness, Refuen!"
"Hm? The dog wants to be neutered?"
"n-nevermind..."
No one was certain why the preliminary matches had been interrupted for such a menial reason, and in such a significant way, no less.
[ BGM: AJURIKA ‒ Heat Haze Shadow 1st (Extended) ]
The two present, one approaching from the left and one from the right, hadn't exactly ever caused a ruckus in class. To many, they were borderline unrecognizable.
But as the Saiyan donned a light smile, and a mad grin creased the Majin's visage, they'd soon get their answer.
"MATCH ZERO: GOKIICHI VS REFUEN!"
Gokiichi took a wide, direct stance.
Refuen leaned forward.
A ref threw down an arm.
"BEGIN-"
There was no delay.
The clash created from the two cratered the center of the massive outer ring. Gokiichi had wasted no time erupting into the coveted golden flames—to the shock of all but Refuen, he'd transformed into a Super Saiyan.
They eyed each other, feeling out the most subtle of muscle movements as they saw through what likely movements the other would subsequently make before breaking from the clash. From there, amongst the small flying specks of debris, they engaged in a visible display of martial prowess, every high, low, center attack being blocked or evaded by the other. Soon into their testing of each other's mettle, Gokiichi would spot the miniscule weight shift in Refuen's posture that indicated an impending sweep kick and hop upward, and Refuen would in-return sense the meager partings in the air that preluded an attempted downward kick from the air, making distance with a stamp of her back foot before dashing back in. The Majin prepared a fist in her left hand, as Gokiichi watched intently; however, in the nick of time, he noticed the greater influx of murderous intent from the right and ducked under a snap-roundhouse kick from that very direction, said kick sending bits of his hair flying as he dove in for a shot at her gut; a descending elbow knocked his fist off-course, and Refuen's free hand soared toward him in the form of an uppercut.
In that moment, both were hit; one with an uppercut, the other with a retaliatory spin kick.
Both took the strikes with a smile, spinning through the air before regaining their footing upon the ground.
"That enough for a warmup? We're on the clock, after all!"
"Hmph! It'd be boring if you reduced this to a slugfest, 'Number One,' considering you know very well that outlasting me isn't an option!"
They both rocketed toward each other once more, disappearing and covering the area in rapid shockwaves, each of which the only momentary indicators of their location.
"Come on!" one of the spectators groaned. "If I wanted to sit through some crap I couldn't even see, I'd just watch a fight with the Ginyus!"
"Look!" another pointed, mid of the arena.
Just above it, Gokiichi attempted to strike Refuen, only for the latter to appear behind them, only for the former to appear behind them, only for the latter to disappear and counter the former's subsequent attempt at a knife-kick read with a block so picture-perfect that its shockwave resounded throughout the stands. Refuen backflip-kicked Gokiichi to the ground before he could take further action, the Saiyan catching his bearings and looking up to see red-black ki blasts gunning for his head, promptly dashing out of their reach before soaring higher to lose them—he channeled an attack of his own, all the while. As who-he-knew-would-be Refuen appeared before him at the top of his flight course, he jut his ki-laced fist at it hook-style and threw them at the blasts that'd been chasing him; before they could explode, however, "Refuen'' would be revealed as a mere multi-form double. The significantly-weaker energy signature had been lost on him in his moment of sudden action, and he flipped through the air in order to avoid the ensuing explosion, the blast radius still sending in on a course toward the ground.
On his way down, his defense was pushed to the limit as Refuen began pressuring, appearing all around him in bursts of speed that could only be performed with a body as malleable as a Majin's.
"DID YOU REALLY THINK I'D USE THE SAME TECHNIQUE FROM OUR LAST BOUT!? YOU'RE LETTING ME DOWN, POOR ICHI!" she cackled with her razor-sharp attacks, cutting into Gokiichi's unrelenting forearms as he constantly shifted his position to meet her blows head-on. "HOW LONG WILL YOU LAST AGAINST ME AT THIS RATE!?"
"(No choice… shoot, I was hoping I'd force her to use this first… but screw it!)"
They neared the breaking stadium in time, and a brief barrier allotted Gokiichi some space. He gathered his spirit and focused thoughts on the two mentors whose teachings and techniques he'd taken closest to heart.
"[Multi-Form:]"
Out from his aura spawned a golden familiar of a tall, spotted and muscular bug-winged man, and a blue-armored man in a golden undersuit and tall, golden, flame-like hairdo.
"[Fighters' Essence!]"
The Saiyan familiar took spot above Gokiichi, raining down ki blasts at his opponent as both Gokiichi and the tall spotted familiar attacked, Refuen dodging all like a sentient, bouncy putty-borne slinky.
"So soon, Poor Ichi? Very well…"
She dived down and sent both staggering away with a split kick from handstand position. Refuen then threw herself upward, somersaulting and throwing out a hailstorm of mine-like ki blasts beneath her before bringing her arms and knees together.
"[Multi-Form:]"
Out from her aura spawned the same two figures; only their color code more-closely mirrored her own. As she finished her technique, the mines detonated, covering the arena in razed dust and a dark-red glow.
"[Fighters' Essence!]"
Instead of sending them after anyone in specific, Refuen rushed Gokiichi through the walls of smoke, sliding across the battlefield at midrange before throwing a punch that should've hit nothing.
Instead, it clobbered the back of the red-band Saiyan's head.
A knee to the falling forehead followed the nonsensical attack, before Refuen took Gokiichi to the air and laid into him, one of her spirit fighters throwing a string of blasts each and every time he even appeared to be getting a handle on her.
"(Dammit! She's getting faster!)"
Refuen smacked her prey into the ground before bathing herself in chaotic energy and charging toward him, and low on plans, Gokiichi vaulted over the torrent; but the residual energy beneath him proceeded to shoot up skyward, scorching and disorientating him before Refuen suddenly smacked into him, carrying the same force from the prior charge as if she'd never stopped moving in a straight line. She darted through the air from all directions, maniacally cackling and battering him silly before driving him into the ground with a mammoth ki blast above her hand.
"It was fun!" she howled before flipping off him, avoiding a current of energy from Gokiichi's stout Saiyan familiar.
"Oh fine, I'll take care of you first," Refuen rolled her eyes, rushing in. The way she read and punished its moves made it clear that she was just as knowledgeable of the familiar's inspiration as Gokiichi, before a quick, mid-knuckle strike to a meridian in its open chest dispelled it instantly. She turned to reveal a charged-up Gokiichi, who'd personally-dispelled his winged assistant. Smirking, Refuen gave her spirit-fighters the bare minimum to maximize her power and ensure their usefulness, as they dove in once again.
This time, as Refuen threw a seemingly-meaningless downward punch, Gokiichi cast his head to the side.
It didn't add up at first, killing intent from behind when his opponent was right in front of him,
But as a fist soared over his shoulder,
He bore witness.
"Phasing your punches through reality… that's honestly terrifying."
Refuen only grinned harder. "So you've caught on? Good! NOW I CAN STOP HOLDING BACK ON YOU!"
She darted into his face, throwing literally hundreds of thousands of punches with each second that passed. Gokiichi now had to contend with a countless array of omnidirectional punches, and yet…
"(I wanna match it!)"
He kept blocking and parrying from the punches' wrist points. Only a few could get through his defense.
"(SOMETHING AS CRAZY AS THIS… I WANNA MATCH IT!)"
However, Refuen began getting creative. She tossed Gokiichi into the air and, hopping through holes in space, her increasingly random attacks began taking on elemental properties. Millions of volts would suddenly tear into his nerves, only for two fists containing sun-like heat and void-like cold to strike him simultaneously. But despite that, Gokiichi kept pushing.
"(To the limit!)" he hissed, matching a hail of blows with his own evenly-powerful and ki field-reinforced string of hits, before turning to match a dozen with blocks and then nigh-instantly breaking Refuen's attempted grapple from behind, parrying/deflecting the ensuing hail of ki blasts and tail whips from above.
"(No… EVEN FURTHER BEYOND!)"
His brain was literally overheating. Gokiichi was exceeding the speed that his body could take, and his skin began to burn as it clashed with the air's friction. The spectacle began to catch people's attention; space had begun to distort, somehow, around his body as it defied mortality.
It was at the point where not a complex scheme on his foe's end, but one small slip in block timing caused the spikey-haired hybrid to be knocked out of his form and into the ring. Still not ready to go under, but at his weakest, Gokiichi rebounded and looked up to face Refuen with hollow eyes.
Proudly smirking at her asserted victory over her strong rival, she prepared a ki-laced fist which spelled the end.
"I couldn't have asked for a better meal. No… you jerk, you've spoiled all lesser treats for me forever. Nothing else will ever come close."
Sentiment shared, she undid the ki around her hand and resummoned her Saiyan familiar to charge in and take care of things.
In that instance, everything felt like a dream. Everything felt hot. He couldn't focus; no, his mind had shut off entirely.
"(With how hard you must've trained, I... think I'm comfortable… with losing to you, Refuen…)"
His mind no longer functioned.
"(But… I'm not alright with this battle ending so soon...)"
But his body was a different story.
"(Not while I still…)"
As it began to shake and fire up once more…
[ BGM: AJURIKA ‒ Heat Haze Shadow 2nd (Extended) ]
His eyes flared a brilliant silver.
"(HAVE SO MUCH TO SHOW YOU!)"
He disappeared, and the world shook.
The spirit fighter received a resounding bash that completely erased it, before Refuen herself received the full brunt of a vicious back kick that sent her soaring, straight into a high front kick that sent her spiraling into the stratus above, all culminating in Gokiichi's instant landing onto the tournament floor before releasing a concentrated torrent of energy with a beastful roar; its effect alone rattled the fields preserving the spectators, who currently couldn't make heads or tails of what they were witnessing.
"WHERE DID THIS…!"
Her agonized grimace morphed back into a demonic grin.
"There's still more I can squeeze from you, huh!?"
She recovered, clenching her fists as a black steam erupted from her. A significantly stronger, hellish energy began pooling around her, as she suddenly sprouted two additional arms and blackened hair.
"[HERETIC'S PATRONAGE: ASURA REBIRTH!]"
Space tore into fragments, descending upon the now-autonomous Gokiichi as he swerved through the fragments toward his rival.
They clashed again, and the world froze.
A tremendous light followed, and they spiraled through the air. All present could now FEEL their presence, as they rocketed across the arena without a care. Gokiichi's ability to block had transcended his prior ability, as now, nothing that currently was could pierce his guard; not the seemingly-infinite ki-blasts which now assailed him, not the space-ripping swathes that were literally flying toward him; yet he couldn't pierce that which was now Refuen, either. Manic expressions growing within each other's eyes, desperate for a leg-up on the other while experiencing inexpressible amounts of joy on the trip there. The arena had turned into a lightshow on par with the stars in the night sky, all laws of biology or physics suddenly lost to them.
They suddenly broke from an exchange of shaking blows, and Refuen smiled as she clapped her hands together, holding a bubble-like rift before charging full speed into Gokiichi.
"[GEO-SHIFT:]"
The two suddenly left the tournament.
No, that plane of existence altogether.
"[ETERNAL SPIRIT STORM!]"
Gokiichi momentarily floated throughout the void, still thoughtless, until a wave of ki struck his back.
Refuen chuckled. "Are you impressed, Ichi? In this world of mine, all attacks which I throw hit unconditionally. It's just as much a constant here as gravity is within the one we just left!"
A punch smacked his center, and a blast volley sent him spinning.
"Surprise me again! What will you do against such an ability?"
Gokiichi began to vibrate at impossible speeds, before violently jabbing his fingers into the air; his own force now opposing the new dimension's. From there, he said one word before acting upon it:
"Break."
Before any ki blasts could hit and stop him, his power broke the dimension entirely. Slowly regaining consciousness, he and Refuen became mere beams of blue and red as they sailed through the Azure, sending sparks throughout creation and now occasionally gaining visible hits upon each other, knocking the opposition away ever-so briefly before going back at it in a flurry of burning energy.
Refuen would eventually obtain the upper hand, double knee-bashing Gokiichi into the arena before noticing her power beginning to fade; her arms were receding, her regenerating stamina was waning, even her hair was lightening.
"What!? Even I have a limit!?" For the first time, she was getting antsy to finish things, and so shot toward Gokiichi. Despite rapidly using his former miraculous autonomy, his own spirit still held itself together in defiance and excitement; he shot himself toward the ground using his hands as a jet engine, sliding across the ground hands-first before rapidly spinning and leaving a trail of energy.
"[DIVINE WILL:]"
Refuen gasped as Gokiichi directed a colossal amount of energy toward the ground, igniting the ki-trail as well.
"[EARTH MOTHER IN MOURNING!]"
The tournament grounds disappeared in light.
Once it cleared, a deep-orange hue revealed flowing lava and floating magmatic rocks.
All that held Gokiichi together at that point was his own burning desire for a definitive answer.
Refuen was no longer any different.
Upon two parallel burning stones, they ran at each other, lept a great height, and collided in a martial bout which even the weakest eyes could see. Refuen endlessly struck at each and every perceivable blind spot of Gokiichi, whose defense still held true despite his condition. They landed upon another set of falling land, and charged again; in between her strikes, she threw in a strand of focused blows certain to break his guard; however, Gokiichi countered directly with his own flurry, each strike narrowly being countered as the two shot back onto yet another pair of scorched earth. This time, Gokiichi took charge, frantically searching for a weak point in Refuen's defense; but within her own desperation, she held just as great a defense as Gokiichi now held offense. The scuffle grew in ferocity, each meeting an attempted punch, kick, grapple, tail whip, elbow, knee, shove, stomping upon foot, slash, everything short of a bite, and they most definitely considered it. A final exchanged punch, due to each's slipup, sent them crashing into the bottom of the lava mass.
Last legs, Gokiichi stood.
Last legs, Refuen stood.
Each slowly began to gather the ki within the air, borrowing it in frenzied last roars.
Black eyes in white seas gleamed. "[Divine Will…]"
Red eyes in black voids gleamed. "[Heretic's Patronage…]"
Gokiichi's aura took the shape of a dragon.
Refuen's aura began to resemble a tiger.
The two stepped with force, shattering the rock beneath them before charging; one with a kick, the other with a fist.
"[SUN-CLAD SKY DRAGON!]"
"[SNOW-LATENT EARTH TIGER!]"
They shot.
From there, their two attacks shattered through the obscuring earth and into the farthest reaches of the sky, constantly bashing together and vying for supremacy until finally…
CRACK!
Not the stadium's force fields.
Not the contestants' tattered bones.
Not even the earth beneath them.
"... Does anyone hear something?" King Enma asked atop his mahogany desk.
"... Eh, it's probably those damn pipes agai-"
Qi waves shot into his office and right through his desk, sending him toppling over in a babbling fit.
Heaven broke.
The referee, who'd long-since fled into the stands, peeked into the thousand-mile hole in the ground.
"... uh… One... "
As he counted, she lifted himself up, crawling up toward the bit of stage stuck into the far east side.
"Four… Five…"
He clamored onto any rock he could find, no matter how molten, in order to reach the piece of arena now sticking out of the far west side.
"Eight… Nine…"
Both reached out with the last iota of strength they had.
"... TEN!"
CLAMP!
CLAMP!
"DRAW!"
"... shoot," Gokiichi smiled.
"... tch," Reufen smirked.
Still clinging on, the two had passed out.
The stands were hush-silent, glued to their seats.
"... UM… oh shoot that's right this is a prelim- DUE TO MUTUAL KNOCKOUT, NEITHER 286 NOR 294 ADVANCE TO THE TOURNAMENT. YEAH."
Intense relief.
Praise for the fighters.
Gratitude for a splendid show.
For whatever reason, the stands erupted into cheers.
All the while, a single thought ran across 8 contestants.
"That level…"
Neoru grinned.
Dina grinned.
Zinco grinned.
Kaza grinned.
Kazikum grinned.
Mei grinned.
Archi grinned.
Kora grinned.
"I HAVE TO REACH THAT LEVEL."
[ ED: Pay Money to My Pain ‒ Weight of My Pride ]
Yo! OP here!
So yeah, this VERY LONG CHAPTER took a lot longer than I though it would. No thanks to procrastination. Finished up Hajime No Ippo (Vorg and Sendo are the homies) and freshman college year in that time, too, that was sweet. I'm just glad I got this out before June tbh.
I also, uh, wrote down like 240 numbers and plotted out most of the prelims, just so I could get a few numbers accurate. That probably sounds bare minimum to everyone else, but I'm used to being a lazy bum, so that was a self surprise I thought was noticeable.
Yes, "Gokiichi" and "Refuen" are exactly who you think they are. I've had that exhibition match floating around in my head for a long time now, and I'm glad it's finally out. That match was also just one of the coolest fucking things in video games I've ever seen. If that outs me as some kind of plebite, I don't care, it was splendid. As for the actual characters, if they didn't both lose, we'd be looking at a Kuroki Gensai situation real quick, and the rest of the matches are just a bit too important for the MCs going forward for that to happen.
Jin... I mean Zinco's weird name thing will be explored further down the road. I also altered Neoru's clan name, emphasize the more Latin part of it, cus, y'know, Latin-American influence. If No.4's small introduction hasn't spoiled it yet, I've also found a (far-too apparent) solution to that whole issue I had regarding the Araji(a) throughout the other chapters. "Arajia" is now just one clan on the distant island chain that Neoru's from, now. With that, came other ways of weaponizing will and junk. IDK if Archi or Neoru will go up first, but if Neoru's the guy, it'll be explored there.
(Also have a plan to revamp his sword a bit.)
I got pretty far in TOUGH, too. I can't really explain much of it in words, but uuuuh it's aight.
That bastard LordCaldrin finally updated his bombass DBZ/PJO fic after 5000 years, so that was ill. Shoutouts, he's one of my favorite creators on this site.
One last note is that Thunderbolt Fantasy dropped Season 3. The characters are literally just in a confused whirlpool where no one knows what's going on and I love it. Just heroes and villains alike trying to figure stuff out.
Alright, I think that's all the lighthearted stuff out of the way.
Shunsuke Kikuchi.
Kentaro Miura.
Thank you. So. So fucking much.
I say things that kinda sound like I might die before I finish this story, but when you see others like... like fucking MIURA leaving behind something like Berserk, you just... I dunno. You think more about that. Life's fleetingness.
But regardless, it was fun while it lasted. Kikuchi for his amazing DB scores, and Miura for Berserk. And everything that came with enjoying the story about ceaselessly struggling against the trials one faces in this turbulent world we live. Both of them have inspired me, and countless other creators, immeasurably.
So rest easy, guys. We'll miss you.
Take care, everyone. See ya next match.