[ OP: Granrodeo ‒ Remember Your Passion ]
Battle One: Neoru VS Tenganosu! Harnessing the Human's Ever-Burning Fighting Spirit!
"LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOO!"
Neoru went red.
"(Holy shit, why me…)"
Kaset, now with a vertical afro and a topless cap, screamed in excitement from the stands at decibels that could drown out an overbooked concert.
"THAT'S MY STUDENT, THAT'S MY STUDENT DOWN THERE!"
"I'm aware," Ayeva responded, with an expression that needed at least 5 more hours of sleep.
Said student heaved, as if struggling with the quintet of steps he was ascending. "Gimme a friggin' break…"
He reached the arena, and stared eye to eye with his enemy for the time being.
"... If I don't get this out before the fight, it'll ruin a meal later."
"Oh, come the… fine, match ain't started yet anyway."
Tenganosu's enraged eyes remained glued to Neoru.
"It's not anything you did, but what's been done by your people in the past. That's what makes me hate you."
Neoru didn't ask for more. Still, Tenganosu continued.
"See, long ago, the Orojia tribe were... let's keep it civil and say a war-mongering people. Instead of helping out the others along the 'South Stretch,' already borderline uninhabitable as-is, they set out to be number one above anything else. That meant conquering every other tribe and clan, consuming their cultures, and taking their secrets for themselves; my clan, the Graffia, one of them. All to find a way to master a power they had no idea how to control. But then they had to go and implode on their own, instead of letting another rise and take them down. With every fiber of my heart, I hate them… and unfortunately, that includes you. So if I wind up beating you half to death, or putting you through hell… just know it's not your fault. Directly, anyway."
"(Guess it's my turn, eh Zink?)... Ok."
"Is that all you have to say?"
Neo threw up his hands. "The hell'd you want me to do? Apologize for a bunch'a looneys I never met? We're gonna beat the shit outta each other anyway, so I'm not gonna be asking why if ya break my bones by the end'a this, 'cus I sure as hell plan on breaking yours if that's what it takes."
He proceeded to flip the hoodied young man off.
"In fact, your guys can shove it, too."
Tenganosu's aura suddenly shot into the sky, violently rippling across the arena.
"... YOU…"
Neo gave a fanged, malice-ridden smirk. "There, you sonuvabitch, now it's personal."
He turned to the lavender-haired announcer. "I'm done humoring this asshole, drop your damn hand already. Jeez."
Trunks ‒ who'd been intrigued by the pre-fight trivia about an obscure indigenous people ‒ frowned.
"Yeah, of course, now back to your position."
The purple-eyed boy walked back, now glaring daggers at the dull-eyed boy opposite to him.
"No one's gotta walk away with a bad taste in their mouths, even if a femur or two gets snapped."
Tenganosu grimaced. "Thanks for the idea."
Neoru grinned. "No problem, fuckface, just make sure I don't get to yours, first."
Despite the seeming bravado, just off of aura alone, he could tell his challenger was strong. And using the same observation, he was gonna go all out, intent on everything but murder.
He wasn't sure if he'd win or lose. All he knew was that the guy pissed him off.
As long as the ill will was mutual, it was fine by him.
Trunks raised his hand.
BOTH FIGHTERS HAVE ISSUED THEIR BONE-CHILLING PROCLAMATIONS, AND ARE REELING TO BEGIN! THEREFORE, WITHOUT ANY FURTHER DELAY…
Neoru leaned over a tad, in a spread-out posture.
Tenganosu began leaping, foot to foot.
The tension in the air could be cut. And with the swift motion of a hand,
BEGIN!
It was.
[ BGM: Force of Nature ‒ Sneak Chamber ]
Tenganosu dove in at blistering speeds, as did Neoru. One's soaring knee flew into the other's charging elbow, as a flash of heat from the brief power exchange knocked the two back to neutral. Neoru effortlessly caught his bearings just in time to duck under a mid-air kick, jumping onto his hands for a counter kick of his own; Tenganosu's other leg swung around and parried it in a single motion, the power behind it forcing Neo to go with it and throw himself back up feet-first. Granting no breathing space the instant soles smacked the stone, Tenganosu proceeded to swing into Neoru's face mid-sway ‒ evident by the latter's violent head jerk following the punch's path, the boy's head visibly flinging back and forth along with the now-flying fists of the hoodied young man's trajectory.
"(TCH! Damn it!)"
But in reality, Neoru had been dodging the entire time, bursts of speed and just enough space allowing him to outpace the punches before they could touch him. Before he could get too gassed by the hare-brained maneuver, Neoru jerked his entire body with the next right fist toward the ground, planted an arm down as a support pillar, and aimed a heel-first kick at the chin.
But with an inexplicable speed burst of his own, Tenganosu leaned his upper body back, jerking his waist ‒ and lower body with it ‒ into a low kick that would've outright broken his forearm had he not first shot himself off the ground; even then, it nicked the limb mid-air, the force throwing his entire arm back. An ensuing back kick finally solidified a first hit, though Neo minimized damage by using his two knees as a shield.
"(One minute he's stronger, one minute he's faster…)" Neoru observed as he started to skip across the ground, catching an idea as the sun shined off the stage's material before sending a sizeable tremor straight toward his opponent, lifting up sand and debris like a missile. Noticing his purple-eyed adversary's absence soon after swatting away the large cloud, Tenganosu witnessed Neoru's silhouette growing larger at a rapid pace, the dragon-vested boy having launched himself into the air before boosting his fall with ki and flipping like a madman within the sun's glow, building momentum for a fierce downward kick that gave off immense pressure just being reeled back. This time, Tenganosu turned to the ground to give his planned counter more oomph, only now using ki from his palm to add even more centrifugal force to his next attack, throwing all his force into a rotating kick that blurred through the air as his own pupils started to fade.
"OO~RLA!
"RU-SHAA~!"
The ensuing clash's shockwave could shatter a state's worth of building glass.
Taking a brief knee within a slight crater, Tenganosu's eyes remained focused. All the while, sleekly flipping through the air in order to catch his bearings, Neoru landed on the other edge of the arena. The instant he landed, a wave of pain shot up his kicking leg.
"...!? FUCK!"
A toddler smashing his shin with everything he had into the side of a brick wall. That was a nice reference point.
"(He definitely chipped something!)"
Getting better acquainted with the new pain, Neoru did a few small snap kicks to the ground.
"(His ki, it's like it doesn't have any set value… I think it's constantly shifting between different areas, I don't even know his baseline at this point. And to boot, that stunt he just pulled... I'm kinda pissed I've never thought'a that...)"
Though his eyes showed concern, his lips curled into a smirk.
"(Wonder how long I can keep this up...)"
Mid-contemplation, a low sweep kick shot toward his aching leg.
As if a throwaway mook in a Super Sentai show after a choreographed hit, Neoru threw himself onto his back, dodging the attack and following with a breakdance-esque wake-up that intercepted the come-around sweep. Neoru's next swinging leg was stopped by Tenganosu's ‒ the other boy taking a similar lower body-swinging method of attack ‒ and what looked like a fast-paced and physical breaker battle commenced, each one rapidly parrying the other before the hoodied fighter got fed up and lashed out with a foot-thrown ki wave comparable to a sting ray's barb. Feeling the concentrated energy preemptively, Neoru threw himself up off his hands, somersaulting behind his opponent.
Tenganosu's grey eyes darted around and toward the boy before pivoting around and throwing a spun high kick from his side, swathing through the air and nearly cutting Neoru's chin before he threw his own, and the two circled each other in an exchange of thrown kicks supplanted by outlandish maneuvers.
"A KNIFE-EDGE STRUGGLE FOR AN ADVANTAGE!? A SUDDEN BREAKOUT INTO A RHYTMIC DANCE BOUT!? WHO CAN SAY FOR SURE WHERE THIS FIGHT IS GOING!?"
Starting to throw his competition off, Tenganosu began speeding things up and eventually put Neoru on the backfoot, a high-speed bout of swung momentum ensued. From each flip and kick that spanned the now-seemingly limited space of the arena, Neoru relied much more on improvisation and instinctual acrobatics; on the other hand, Tenganosu had much more focus on concise and sudden movements from the low stance he periodically took, one where he swayed, hopped, and pursued on one leading foot to the next, keeping a steady center foundation as his blatantly-trained style and Neoru's amalgamation began to contrast. Each started strafing and dashing toward the other, sparse hits being landed with Tenganosu steadily taking the lead point-wise, as it seemed that-
"Neo's being overtaken in his own style…" Mashii observed from the stands.
Katlij, not far, cosigned. "As hard as it is to believe, yes… and Neoru refuses to break outside of it, like he's letting his own pride blind him."
"Doubt it."
They both glanced over. Dina, who'd also been watching intently, smiled.
"He's as stubborn as always, but the bastard isn't the kind to throw a fit when someone happens to be better in his category. In any other scenario, he'd switch his means of attack and outwit from there, but there's a distinct lack of said wit here. He's not trying to outdo… he's learning as he goes along."
Back on ground-floor, a solid elbow crashed into Neoru's core, evoking spittle as he staggered.
"Your half-assed mockery can't compare to the original, punk!" Tenganosu snarled as he leapt in for a headbutt.
"Gh… Can't, can it?"
For a split second, Neo took the same foundation stance that Tenganosu had used.
Restabilizing and lower to the ground, planting down forearms and transitioning to a pseudo-handstand, he shot a side kick into Tengano's cranium.
Neo held his breakdance-like pose as his opponent crashed to the ground. Once the latter slowly caught his bearings and began to rise, Neo went from hands to feet.
And then he began to sway.
"So it starts from low center-mass… about shoulder width… then… foot-to-foot, but the center inbetween's like the base… yeah, it's defense and momentum, huh..." he muttered to himself, slowly mimicking Tengano's serious stance to a damn-near tee. Speaking of, he lifted his head to him.
"Like this, right?"
Tengano was currently watching his entire ancestry be shat upon.
"... yeah."
His hoodie suddenly flared off, revealing a chaotically-flailing bundle of dreads. His eyes ignited, his pupils a bright gold. And his aura gradually ripped the arena apart.
"That's the perfect way to ask for your limbs to be ripped apart!"
He then rushed Neo, roaring all the way.
And then he was kicked in the face.
[ BGM: Kenji Fujisawa ‒ Maximum Attack ]
"Jeez Louise, who gets that pissed over a stance?"
Neoru landed on his feet, rushing toward the enraged Tenganosu and feinting with an overhead strike, only for an elbow of his own to bash into his adversary's side, and then a kick from the opposite side battered him once more. A dodged backhand resulted in a jump-borne upward kick from Neoru, an axe kick following soon after. Tenganosu rolled across the floor, leaping back up to once more face the Orojia.
"Don't worry, I'm still nowhere near your level with it. No way in hell I'd ever challenge that. But…"
At a higher speed, Tengano attempted to rush Neoru, only for the latter to backstep it, and the next rush, and the next rush again. The dreadlock'd young man then shot into the air, letting off a flurry of sharp, oblate ki constructs that the mullet-ponytailed young man outpaced before literally leaping across 3 of them as if launchpads, his unorthodox strat winning him a crack at a sudden grapple and a crashing back down to Earth. Once the ensuing dust cloud settled, Tenganosu was ensnared in an armbar, Neoru's legs over his throat and under the opposing arm's shoulder.
"You relying on a single set'a motions really sets you back in the long run. Now maybe that wouldn'ta mattered, if you hadn't lost your cool. Now about that… bone I… needed to break…"
"STUDENT NEORU HAS TENGANOSU IN A VISE HOLD! FROM HERE, TWO OPTIONS REMAIN, BUT WHICH WILL HE GIVE UP: THE FIGHT, OR THE ARM!?"
Tengano's eyes nearly popped out of his skull, rage and pain culminating into a sensation that blurred his thoughts.
"(It's not worth…)"
His breathing slowly began to slow down, all the while becoming louder.
"(Getting angry over…)"
His eyes slowly lowered. And the inner center of his grey eyes shifted into a deep black.
"(If you're gonna throw your rage around like a moron…)"
Neoru noticed a sharp decline in his backward bend. His adversary's arm was no longer moving.
"(The hell… !?)"
[ BGM: Nathan Johnson ‒ The Bio-Terrorist Threat ]
The Graffia's body temperature skyrocketed, alluding to an-
No, he hadn't the time to finish the thought. A spiritual eruption sent him flying, burning like a bitch the entire time. And while it wasn't as intense, and that wasn't saying much in the first place…
He'd only felt it from one other person in his life. Barring himself.
The image of his inflamed brother's aura flashed through his mind.
Neoru got to his feet. "So that's what he meant by… holy…"
Tenganosu slowly stood, rotating his formerly-bound arm and neck.
"(... Then turn it into a will, and let it burn as fuel.)"
"Lower Tletl: Gleaming Tortoise."
He sneered at his opponent's borderline-traumatized expression.
"What's wrong? Someone strong is in front of you, and you freeze? Your ancestors must be rolling."
Neo said nothing in response, and took up a stance.
"(CALM DOWN… CALM DOWN!)"
"No, I don't like that. You can't just throw away that carefree persona you had a few minutes ago. Here, let me beat it outta you myself."
The purple-eyed contestant lowered himself, every hair raised in his body.
"Higher Tletl:"
Even though Neo was confident that he was still looking at him, a now blue-pupiled Tenganosu kneed him in the spine, sending him flying before a force he couldn't track smacked him all across the arena like a pinball.
"FALLING STAR HAWK."
Neo crashed into the ground, blood from what he hoped was bruised gums stippling from his ajar mouth. Head spinning, he stood and moved because he needed to, no other reason.
Tenganosu dropped next to him, staring downward as his pupils morphed into the same gold from before.
"Core Tletl:"
He got up just in time to see a roaring fist coming at him, that seemed to hit before the punch even landed.
Sucked to be Neo.
It still landed.
"SOUTH STRETCH JAGUAR!"
It wasn't bruised gums this time. Something was definitely bruised, but it was something lower and much more important than a gum.
His ribs were also broken by the attack. Insult to- no. Just worse injury.
The attack did a number on the arena; the once-pristine material was now broken up, leaving only a grainy field where dust was momentarily king.
"WH-WHAT THE!? STUDENT TENGANOSU HAS JUST UNRAVELED A... A FORM!? TECHNIQUE!? WHATEVER IT IS, IT'S LIKE NOTHING WE'VE SEEN BEFORE, AND ONE THING'S FOR CERTAIN; THERE'S NOT MUCH THAT CAN MATCH ITS HEAT!"
But as sure as Tenganosu was that the fight was finished, the worst had come to pass.
The Orojia wasn't out of the fight, and he was pretty sure he'd pissed it off.
"Holy shit, you… woah…" Neoru huffed, a small pool of blood below him as dribbles fell from his chin.
"Fuck it, I'm not even that invested in this tournament thing. Before you knock me out… tell me more about this Orojia and, uh, Graffia stuff that's been goin' on behind my back."
"What?"
"That smoky shit you did, and the weird animal thingies that shaped from it. My bro did that once, when a ree~al bad thing nearly happened to me and he found out. He only had one though, a bird on fire, but you've got 3 of the bastards."
"... tch. You really do have no investment in this squabble I've forced on you, huh?"
Neoru blegh'd out a gob of blood. "Nope."
"... Tlatla."
Neoru raised a brow. "Tulatula?"
"No, Tlatla."
"Sure."
"Anyway, it's the name given by it to the ones who first began seeking ways to make it theirs, in order to compete with the other beasts that'd conquered the evolutionary arms race."
"... the Graffia?"
"Nice humility, but no. Your own, the Orojia."
"So they didn't steal that? Guess that's great. So the hell is it, really?"
"It goes by different names at times, but it's something that every human has in spades: willpower. The force that compelled us to evolve, to fight, to be selfish and selfless."
"(That's what it is?) And, they found a way to… what, rip it outta themselves?"
"Somewhat, yes. But there was the problem: your ancestors were idiots."
"Neat."
"They saw it as a well to draw 'water' from… but in reality, it was a bottomless sea without an upper limit. Each time they drew from it, they ran the risk of 'overflow,' and under that volume-"
"The bucket… or soul, breaks."
"You're talking like you have more experience than you're letting on."
"Eh. So the Graffia found a way to get past that by, uh… splitting it?"
Tenganosu nodded. "Grit, Speed, and Strength. Focusing your will on each 3 faucets, using the megafauna of our islands instead of something as absurd as mystic beings as a basis, humbling ourselves and abstaining from greed… that's how the Graffia mastered willpower, what we broke down into 3 inner flames: the Tletl. The Orojia wanted that knowledge. So with their flawed yet overpowering technique that only a select few could bear, and only for moments at a time at that, they made it their business to rampage through our and every other local collective that knew anything about the cultivation of Tlatla, learning more and growing stronger at the expense of others."
"... so even though it was imperfect, it was still able to compete with a modernized version?"
Tenganosu simply walked toward Neoru. "I guess. But the history lesson's over. If you won't jump out yourself…"
"There's one more thing, though."
"I don't care. You can scream it from the sta-"
"You've been using 'Tletl' ever since we first started. Switching back and forth just to keep up with what I can do normally."
Tenganosu picked up the pace.
"... So?"
[ BGM: Earthside ‒ The Ungrounding ]
"I haven't even used mine yet. Which is a damn shame…"
Neoru's violet eyes began to blaze. His small smirk turned into a full-blown psychotic grimace.
"I REALLY WANTED TO SAVE THIS FOR THIS ONE BLONDE DUMBASS I KNOW."
Tengano's pupils sparked bright azure.
"BUT FUCK ME IF I DON'T SHOW YOU SOME RESPECT, AH!?"
"YOU PIECE OF-"
A clothesline tackle to the gut knocked him breathless.
"RUAAAAAAA~!"
The other's pupils flared black, but only a millisecond after the other's attack landed. A small stream of viscous red trailed after Tengano as he shot back, Neoru in pursuit as he glided across the shredded arena before smacking him into the air with a double-legged push kick. A tremendous POW! echoed throughout the area, before Neoru threw himself skyward. Tengano's eyes blazed blue, and he flashed out of view from most of the spectators; Neoru also vanished, and after a few clashes, a shockwave violently struck Tengano down to the battered ring.
His eyes suddenly goldened, and he lashed out with a wave that Neoru literally kicked straight through. The raw force lanced the Graffia, as if he'd been outright hit.
"(HOW THE HELL IS THIS POSSIBLE!?)" Tengano internally fumed, staggering as his opponent sailed through the air in a brilliant violet aura, the wing-like design upon his back glowing alongside it. "(AS YOUNG AS HE IS, HIS SOUL SHOULD'VE GLASSED BY NOW!)"
AND JUST LIKE THAT, OUT OF NOWHERE, ANOTHER BURNING TECHNIQUE IS UNRAVELED, AND THE ENTIRE ARENA FEELS LIKE A COLOSSAL SAUNA! ONE HAS TO WONDER; ARE THESE TWO EVEN HUMAN AT THIS POINT!?
Mashii gawked. "It's 'that purple power' again!"
Both Katlij and Dina glanced over; one blatantly more surprised than the other.
"Wait so this ISN'T new to-"
"Now that you mention it... yes, I've felt a glimpse of this before, too!"
"SODDING HELL, YOU BOTH KNOW ABOU-"
Mashii gave a nervous chuckle. "So he can do this at will, now? Talk about scary..."
"THE BASTARD'S ONLY HELD OUT ON ME THEN!? WHAT A CROCK'A SHI-"
Three others took note of the boost in soul Neoru had taken.
"It's just like the one from that day..." Zinco noted, amazed.
"That burst in qi... he's learning how to harness it?" Mei glared, confirming her suspicion.
"I don't understand," Ayeva tensed. "A human's never showcased any ability remotely like this before. This doesn't make sense."
"That's where you're screwing up," Kaset sneered, pride in his apprentice in full display.
"You're assumin' the boy had any damn sense in the first place."
As his opponent recovered, Neoru's aura began to quiver, as if containing pressure.
"(Not long now…)"
He redirected himself mid-air and honed on Tengano, who'd steeled himself.
"(If I lose it now, it's over.)"
He summoned thoughts of squalor, of existing with a defamed and once-great culture that never got the chance to hit back.
The unfairness of it all.
"(None of this is worth losing my mind over.)"
It was because they couldn't beat THAT.
"(If I'm really THAT angry over it…)"
His pupils flared gold.
"Then use that as fuel, and with it, MAKE a greater way," his father once said.
And a black ring burned into the iris.
Neoru's downward kick landed into the Graffia's neck, and he sank into the ground.
And yet he stood it, and made a fist.
Proceeding it, a cry more dinosaur than human, more apex mammal than colossal reptile.
A fist burrowed into Neo's gut, gale-force wind accompanying it. Flung back, he caught his bearings with an arm to the floor in a backflip, only for a foot to stomp onto his hand as the air around him superheated.
The next roar was a paralyzing fusion of the same great jaguar and a mammoth eagle.
A high knee crashed into his chin, knocking him involuntarily onto his feet and briefly sending his mind into a tizzy.
"(HIGHER…)" mentally demanded Tenganosu, the iris-isolated ring now a deep blue.
"(TAKE IT HIGHER!)"
A foot stomped onto Neo's, and Tenganosu began a fist-laden onslaught.
"(WHO THE HELL CARES IF I COMBUST!? THIS IS THE ONLY CHANCE I'LL EVER HAVE!)"
Two crossed elbows suddenly bashed away the fists, and a shoulder tackle followed, sending the inflamed boy in dreads skidding back, almost off the ring before he caught himself, blackening the ring while his eyes still blazed gold.
"(He's pushin' himself this far?)"
Neo spat blood, his smoky aura shaking even more feverishly.
And even still…
"(He knows what'll come from something like that, and he's still going that mile?)"
With twin flares of blue-gold and perfect violet, they clashed with fists and struggled against one another, Neo's glare softer than Tenganosu's. The heat throughout the battlefield shot to such a level, the area's air audibly began sizzling.
"(Why the hell am I here, again?)"
As he slid backward, Zinco's ridiculous challenge came to mind.
"(... this guy… he's a shithead, but he's still puttin' his all into this... and I just see him as a bump in the road?)"
His trip to the edge of the arena gradually slowed, as his expression hardened.
"(I won't ever beat a damn thing if I half-ass anyone with this much of a soul… I don't WANNA be able to beat anyone like that!)"
His aura began to tremor uncontrollably, yet it held on. The mere existence of the one in front of him caused his soul to burn even brighter.
"(IF THIS IS HOW YOU'RE GONNA DO THIS, THEN I'LL TAKE IT EVEN HIGHER!)" he roared within, conveyed externally with a dragon's roar before ripping his hand away and responding with a passionate double punch, knocking back Tenganosu. In a constantly-alternating combination of Core/Higher and Core/Lower, body heating uncontrollably, jumped back with a roar unlike any earthly creature.
"(HOLD ON… JUST HOLD ON!)"
The two clashed and exchanged, laser-hot winds eclipsing gale force rippling throughout the area, both desperately trying to control the limit at which their powers were now rising.
"(HEHE… SHIT, I'M CLOSING IN ON MY LIMIT…!)"
Neoru was beginning to slip up, the pressure piling onto him reaching an unbearable height; smoke was beginning to pour from his mouth, his punches getting much harder, faster, and easier to read as he continued.
Tenganosu suddenly dodged a hit, the astral wings of a great raptor accompanying him. And for the smallest of moments, all 3 beasts comprising his will vanished.
And a winged black panther took their place, unleashing an earth-shaking snarl as he launched up from the ground to the air and, with a blinding flash of black-and-white energy, launched a back kick into Neoru's face. The force contained within it smacked into the spectator area's field, resulting in a noise comparable to a glacier continuously breaking as the shockwaves were gradually dispersed and nulled.
Both young men fell to the ground, Neoru more violently than Tenganosu for apparent reasons.
"AH… AH…"
Tenganosu coughed up smoke. Feeling "it" for a fraction, of a fraction, of a second had damn-near killed him.
"I get it now… why the Orojia were able to conquer, why their own lendário warriors were nigh-unbeatable, and… and why no other clan was ever stupid enough to subject their people to such a horrible feeling...!"
He stood, a grin now adorning his face. "But I WAS strong enough to hold it. And I'm still here." His glare turned to Neoru.
"YOU SEE THAT!? YOU BASTARDS AREN'T SPECIAL! THIS IS THE WILL OF A GRAFFIA!"
Neo covered the bloody patch in his head, falling down twice before successfully standing. In terms of visualized health, unbeknownst to the pair, both were in the red; maybe 20% for Tengenosu, and 11% for Neoru.
The latter sucked his teeth. "Oh just shut the-"
A coughing fit cut him off.
"-uck. Just give yourself credit, dipshit. Tired of you talkin' about some old assholes who ain't even here."
"(20 seconds. Maybe. I dunno. I try to pop it again today, and I'll die… shit, didn't plan on goin' this far against this guy.)"
Tengano spat blood to the side. "Say what you want. You'll NEVER understand the weight behind all this!"
Neo grit his teeth in dejection. "... no, I won't. Not right now, at least."
His feet began to move forward, his upper body still slanted.
"But you've got your trials, you've got your drive, and I've got mine. If it helps you so much to stay tethered to history, feel free. But I'm not letting myself go yet, and I'm sure-as-hell not LETTING YOU HAVE SHIT."
Tengano approached, picking up speed and outpacing the dull purple-eyed boy. "Of course you won't, and I don't plan on asking. You're FAR too weak to use your Tlatla now, and I'm still able to make use of my own will. As of now, you're on your own!"
Both charged at each other, Tengano jumping to the side last-minute, pivoting with one foot, raising his leg at mach speed as he threw his upper body almost to the ground, and unleashing one of the most potent kicks of his tribe's original martial art into Neo's face; this was the only way to finish it.
"(That's where…)"
One in front of the oncoming heel.
The other, straight on the kneepad.
That was how Katlij did it.
"(YOU'RE DEAD WRONG!)"
[ BGM: Hideki Nagamura ‒ THE NAKED PANTHER ]
Tengano's shin almost split, only to have his other leg swept from under him as he was slammed into the barren arena's surface. Neo immediately rolled away, then lunged back in with a roundhouse aimed at the core as Tengano rose. The other intercepted just in time, summoning a granite aura and throwing both his forearm toward it.
Neo's shin then rose.
Channeling ki, into that single point where you're kicking.
Foot straight out, like a knife.
That was how Mashii did it.
It careened into Tengano's neck, sending his nervous system into a tizzy.
Neo fell, leaping back in. Tengano's sheer force of will managed to cease the disruption in his body, just in time to eat an overhead hook.
The force of it sent Neo to the ground, his palm smacking into it as he lifted his heel.
"YIN… YANG…"
And both slammed into the newly-recovered opposition, sending him head-first into the ground.
"DIVE!"
Neo rolled back and finally took a coveted breather, eyes fleeting in desperation as he assured himself that there was no feasible way that-
"How are you… still able to… fight…"
Tenganosu was able to stand first, though now, he was even with Neoru damage-wise.
"(You're one to talk, fuckin' A…)" Neo got onto a knee, but nothing else would move. His opponent stared a hole into his soul as he returned the gesture.
"What the hell is pushing you forward!?" He shouted, firing a bolt of ki as he stumbled forward. To his surprise, Neo could bash it aside with an arm; the entire time, he never broke eye contact.
"... somethin' about a light."
Tengano didn't question the delirious spiel and kept up his shooting, struggling to support his weight as he channeled every last fragment of spirit he could into his raised fist.
In time, he closed the distance. And he brought his fist down.
"DU-RA~AAAAH!"
It smashed straight into Neo's face.
And it ended the fight.
But not in his favor.
"(This one's mine.)"
Tengano's throat was squeezed in place by Neo's crossed legs, from shin to feet.
He'd turned his head mid-punch, taking it and diverting course at the same time. Now, he could pull the arm he'd wrapped around with all his strength.
"ROOOO~IYAAAAAA!"
He then threw him overhead and back into the ground behind him; now, he was atop Tengano's throat, applying pressure as he focused his energy down, "flying" into the ground as he pushed his legs together and pulled the other warrior's arm beneath his own, amping his unorthodox "hold."
Any ki attack was no longer an option; he was low on energy to begin with, and Neo was depriving him of breath now.
So Tengano's free fist crashed into Neo's gut.
"(GO AHEAD. I'M GIVING YOU THAT.)"
Tengano's struggling eyes burned into Neo's desperate eyes as he kept up the punches, both gritting their teeth to the point of bleeding gums.
"(IF I CAN'T TAKE 'EM ALL, THEN YOU WIN!)"
They continued.
And continued.
And continued.
And stopped.
Tenganosu's eyes hollowed. And then shut.
Neoru then fell over to the side. That gave him a good look at his own bar.
5%.
"(... y'know? I coulda just used it in bursts.)"
The count slowly rang into his ears, and shaking, with a final bash to his quads, he willed himself up.
"(My Tlatla... yep. But… if I'd done that, I wouldn'ta been able to…)"
"... AND WE HAVE A WINNER!"
Neoru basked in the glory. Not of the cheers, but his own personal victory against a strong guy, and himself.
"(And only gets worse from here, right?)" Chuckling hurt his ribs. "(Greeeeat.)"
"NEORU OROJIA MOVES ON TO THE QUARTER-FINALS!"
He turned to the sound of further struggling. Somehow, Tenganosu had recovered.
"... unbeliev…" Neoru staggered over to him, and crouched.
"... what are you…"
"Hell's it look like, dumbass?" he responded to the question. An almost-childish smile adorned his face, as if looking at a role model.
"Just take the help."
"... Heh."
Tengano, recovering quicker than normal and yet still tipsy, took Neo's hand.
"I'm sorry. I took out my rage on some poor schmuck with no involvement."
"Hey, you're doin' better than a shit ton'a other people with the same problem. Besides, we both did each other a favor, yeah?"
"We… did?"
Neo nodded, slinging Tengano's arm over his shoulder as he hobbled off the platform.
"You are one abnormal piece'a work, amigo," the grey-eyed boy said, the purple-eyed one shrugging.
"And, uh, for the record… I've only known one other Orojia in my life. If you'd known him, too…"
He looked off.
"You two would've gotten along."
[ ED: Pay Money To My Pain ‒ Weight of My Pride ]
POST-FIGHT COVERAGE! A WORD FROM OUR COMMENTATORS!
Ace made excited hand gestures, then kicked a bunch in his seat, then punched a bit, made a power-up gesture, and then stretched out his arms in a length-measuring sense. He then looked around as if searching for something, then shrugged as if he could not find said thing. He then softly bumped both his fists, before finally giving a thumbs up.
"Ace believes the fight was extremely exciting, considering the impressive footwork and kinetic style of martial arts that both fighters used! The sheer grit and fighting spirit the two gave off gave Ace the impression that he was watching two Saiyans go at it, but there were no tails present from where he could see, which came off as a surprise. The cherry on top was the way the two bonded after the fight; the sportsmanship impressed him more than anything."
Ace then raised a board with a 10/10.
Trunks chuckled. "I think his rating speaks for itself."
Pudding maintained her cheerful expression.
"While both did their best, there definitely wasn't enough of something! 5 out of 10!"
"Ouch, harsh critique from our second guest!"
Ace heard the word "critique" and scratched his head.
Goku crossed his arms. "Both fighters are still young, so I don't wanna be too harsh; after all, they're no slouches in combat, and they gave every move their all. Still... Tenganosu should've leveled his head more, and Neoru was too focused on learning instead of winning near the beginning. Both could benefit a bit more by opening themselves more to instinct and technique, respectively, but they're on their way towards both, and it was evident throughout the fight. Not to mention, that fancy power'a theirs got me pumped! I'll give it a 7!"
"THAT MAKES IT A 22/30! NOT TOO SHABBY FROM OUR FIRST BOUT!"
1/20/2024 UPDATE: Switched up names for Tenganosu's Tletl.
So that's a thing, now.
AnywaaaayyyYO! OP here!
This was THE first battle of the WHE MAE-T arc. I'm pretty happy with it, yeah.
It helped me a LOT with conceptualizing Neoru's origins, as well as the thingy I will now call Tlatla. It can be translated as "Fire Breaks Out" in Nahuatl, a long-lived language spoken in the time of Mesoamerican empires and still being spoken today by select indigenous people over in Central America. I went on a pretty rad study session concerning stuff like that, and even found out about the ways Aztec culture divided the soul into 3 quadrants (Tonalli, Teyolia, Ihiyotl.) Yeah, very subtle nods, I know. Just keep in mind that everything in this fanfiction is VERY, VERY loosely inspired by real-life thingies, and by no-means are they supposed to be stand-ins for anything ever for the sake off some agenda; you don't see damn floating cities over the UK, do you? Nah, but seriously, don't take it too serious. Real life has cool stuff in it, and I wanna use some of it here. That's what it boils down to.
Tenganosu: Yeah, I screwed up last chapter, his pun is STEGANOgraphia. He's based off the JP/Brazillian population in South America, and is a homage to the kewl fans in South America. Hell, the entire South Stretch is a small tribute to Central/South America, and all the love fans over there have shown Dragon Ball. It's insane. Anyway, he's better than Neo at capoeira, and I hope i=I was able to make a cool capoeira fight scene. It looks so damn fun. Batoque helped out a bit even though I read A chapter before getting back to writing. Oh, and I want to give Neo a bit more Lucha influence in his "Whatever Works" style, alongside everything else that... works.
I most likely won't ever make it a point to go extremely in-depth with Neoru's Oroji heritage after this chapter, I just wanna give context to the uber-cool human power-up trope I love so much. Yeah, trope; the Getter, Spiral Power, Tlatla's heavily based on mecha-native concepts like that. Don't worry, I don't plan on sucking humans off, I just want more from them, and what better besides techniques than BURNING, RAGING, FLAMING WILLPOWER THAT BREAKS DOWN EVERYTHING WITH SHEER FORCE OF FUCKING WILL!? Nah, nah, but its stipulation is that if you can't stop yourself from pulling from it in time, your soul goes bye-bye. End goal is to get your mind, body, and soul to such a level that it can support such a power for longer and longer periods.
I don't think I've got anything else to add. So yeah. Next up is a big bouncy boi vs an angry shorty that cuts things.
PLEEEASE let this not have over 8.9k errors.
But uh, yeah. That's about it.
See ya next match.