Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Synthetic Emotions ❯ Phase 18: The Tournament Begins! ( Chapter 18 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

By: MellyN

XxXxXx

Synthetic Emotions

By: Melissa Norvell

Phase 18: The Tournament Begins!

XxXxXx

The stadium that the tournament was held at was filled with people, both high school students and fans alike. They swarmed the seats and seemed in high spirits for the beginning of the tournament. Hopefully, things would be great and they'd get to see a wide variety of fighting techniques, as well as root for their favorite contender.

"A tournament! Kick ass! The perfect opportunity to skip class!" Momo exclaimed in happiness as she and a few others stood in a small group.

"You're such a delinquent," Mizuki crossed her arms and looked at the blonde an in unamused manner.

"Well, what could be better than watching people beat the living daylights out of each other?" The wavy-haired girl asked.

"There are a lot of people here, too," Mariko glanced around at the masses of people who walked the tournament grounds.

"Fighters came from all around to be in this tournament. It isn't just SayaTouya High," Mizuki explained. There were more than just teenagers and school officials involved. There were many outsiders as well. It was one of the reasons that the tournament lasted so long.

"I wish you luck in the tournament," Momo looked at her Japanese, kimono-style fighting outfit.

"Thanks, but I wonder where the other contestants are."

"They're probably just getting in some last minute preparations," Himemari told everyone. After all, they were the fighters, so she imagined that they would be the ones to do quite a bit of preparing as well.

Asagi, Sonata and Susumu walked up to the group, clad in many different forms of battle outfits. Sonata wore a pair of loose fitting white pants, black sandals and a kimono-style white shirt with wizard sleeves and a blue, cloth belt. Susumu wore a black hakama with a red kimono-style shirt and a cape composed of what looked to be hawk feathers. He was also carrying a bokata (1) in his hand and Asagi was dressed in black pants with leg wrapping around his ankles. He also wore a black, long-sleeved shirt with a white, vest-type piece of clothing with straps that went over each shoulder and a red head band that tied in the back.

"There you are," Asagi looked to Mizuki. They had been trying to find her for a while and were happy that they could.

"You wouldn't think a man would be fashionably late," Momo looked them up and down, examining their battle costumes.

"Then you haven't met Hyobe," Mizuki informer her of her brother's narcissism.

"Good luck, Asagi," Mariko spoke up with a smile. "Beat their ass with Souhi."

"Thanks," the spiky-haired man told her as Kisame and Hisame walked up to the group of people.

"We're here!" Kisame threw her arms up. She was dressed in a short, ninja-type outfit that was purple in coloration with matching stockings and arm warmers. She looked as if she popped right out of the ninja era.

"You're entering the tournament as well?" Susumu stared the girl down.

"Well, I couldn't let you have all the fun!" The brown-haired twin smiled.

"I'm a little nervous. It's the first time that I've entered so I really don't know what I'm up against," Sonata said a little apprehensively. There were so many people, some that didn't even have classes with him. It seemed like a pretty serious tournament and no doubt, things would get competitive.

"Just stay focused and confident and you'll be sure to win," Eros and Aroura walked up behind him. "Think about every second of time that flies by. It's an opportunity in waiting. The fight is not over until you land outside of the ring."

"Eros," Sonata called the robot's name as he turned around to see the black and red haired boy staring at him with cold, gray eyes.

"I look forward to our match," Asagi told Eros as he stared at him with serious lime-green eyes.

"I hope that we can make it that far," Eros informed. There would be more than just school students there this time. It was a whole different playing field.

"I'm sure that you will. I'll be cheering for you on the stands," Himemari smiled brightly at the two, trying to give them uplifting words and support.

"It will be nice to watch an event rather than host it," Hisame replied, happy to actually see the event as a leisure rather than a job.

"Yeah, but then you can't be ringside." It seemed like it would be awesome to be an announcer to Momoko. You could be right beside of the carnage and see the fight up close without the view of the backs of all those heads.

"When people land beside of you, sometimes it's not so great," Hisame noted. Being nearly taken out by someone's body or foot was actually pretty scary and she had a few close calls herself.

"It rocks!" That made her job twice as exciting to Momo.

"We have four minutes," Susumu pulled back the red, cherry-blossom petal pattered sleeve of his kimono top and check his watch. "We'd better head down to the arena."

"Right, good luck all of you, and please be careful," Aroura wished them all the best of luck in their fights.

"Don't curse us. We want to win, you know," to Asagi, it was a curse to tell them to be careful. More times then not, someone got hurt when that phrase was uttered. It was like a magnet for bad luck.

"Sorry," Aroura looked a little guilty. She meant well.

"Don't worry about it. We'll be fine," the stoic bird fighter told her, his stone face being a silent reassurance that nothing would happen to them.

"Let's get a move on," Mizuki told the guys and Kisame. 'Though I have a strange feeling that this will be no ordinary tournament.' The blonde fighter thought as they departed from Aroura and the rest of her school friends.

"Let's go and find some seats," Hisame told her friends with a smile and they agreed.

XxXxXx

Chacha, Hisaka and Tetsumaru all sat in a section of the stadium as the black-haired boy popped open his laptop.

"Ready to analyze the fights," Hisaka looked to the lime-haired girl, who nodded in response.

"All systems are definitely go. When they call the names of the contestants, I want you to do a quick scan on them, Tetsumaru," Chacha instructed the robot.

"Correct, but what about Asagi, master?" Tetsumaru looked at the girl in question. She had remembered what the spiky-haired man had done to Hisaka's computer, so she worried about her own hard drive as well.

"Forget him. He damages our equipment far too badly, and I can't risk digging into the Robotics Funds to get it all fixed again," Chacha explained.

"You guys are too serious about this. It's meant to be entertaining," a young, male voice said from beside of them. It was Hyobe.

Chacha pulled out a notebook and pen, ignoring the white-haired boy's comments. "I'll take the names and notes of each. Tetsu, you do the data on the separate matches."

"Yes, master."

XxXxXx

"Hey, there are enough seats over here," Mariko pointed to a nearly empty row of seats as they all made their way over to them. Each person took their seat. When Himemari sat down, her phone rang. The girl dug in her purse and fished out the cell phone, picking it up and answering.

"Hello?"

"What are you doing?" She heard the voice of her boyfriend, Kyoui on the phone.

"I'm at the tournament. I'm going to sit with my friends," she told him kindly. Maybe he'd want to sit with them? It seemed like fun.

"Get over here and sit with me," his voice was cold and strong.

The long-haired girl glanced around through the bleachers with a confused look on her face. "What? Where are you?" She didn't know that Kyoui was going to be at the tournament.

"I see you looking at me," Kyoui replied as her eyes rested upon his figure.

"I just found you. I'll be over in a few minutes," Himemari wanted to at least say goodbye to her friends before she left.

"Fine, good bye."

"Good bye."

"C'mon! Sit down already! You're blocking my way!" Momo complained. All she could see was a white, long, sleeved shirt and blue jean skirt in her face.

"Sorry, Kyoui wants me to sit with him,” the curly-haired girl looked a little disappointed that she couldn't sit with her friends but she knew what would happen if she disobeyed Kyoui's wishes.

"Oh come on! You hardly ever spend time with us!" Momo whined. It seemed like every time they finally got to spend time with Himemari, she was being drug away by her stupid boyfriend.

"Sorry," the curly-haired girl replied with a sorrowful look on her face as she walked away. "I have to go."

"Man!" The blonde shouted in frustration, "I don't see what's so special about him."

"He's her boyfriend," Aroura thought that maybe he just wanted Himemari to spend a little time with him.

"So!"

"You know, she sounded almost like she didn't want to go," Mariko pointed out the sorrow in the girl's voice and expression on her face.

Aroura looked behind her to see her friend and Kyoui sitting in the seats a section up from them and cast the two a worried look. 'Himemari…Is there something going on with you and Kyoui? I wish you'd tell me what was wrong so that I could help you.'

The black-haired girl was snapped out of her thoughts as she heard the announcer's booming voice. Aroura quickly turned around in her chair to face the center stage, where the blonde man stood. Clad in a black formal suit and darkened sunglasses.

"Hello everyone and welcome to the International Martial Arts Tournament!" The mustached man sounded off as the crowd cheered.

"It's starting!" Momo leaned forward, eyes glued to the battlefield below.

"This tournament is so famous, it's international!" Everyone heard as the crowd cheered once more. "As you all know, the rules are simple…There really aren't any! The two contestants will fight in this ring." The blonde man gestured behind him to the empty, raised battle field. "This ring is raised, so if you fall off, forfeit or die, then you lose the battle. Everyone here has been advised but I will say it again. Anything goes, so if it offends you, then you should leave now, before things get too bad. Now we will introduce our fighters, so let's bring them out!" The announcer gestured to an open doorway across from him, signaling the fighters to come out and be introduced.

Asagi placed a hand on the door frame and glanced back at the others. "This is what we trained for."

"No turning back now," Mizuki looked ahead with determination.

"Metal Zoa! We'll kick ass!" Shizu smiled as the patted her large, metal bird with a large grin on her face.

Kumoigi was silent.

'I feel like I'm gonna die!' The anticipation was really getting to Sonata. He felt pre-fight jitters that made him want to jump right out of his sandals.

Everyone walked out single file with Asagi leading the line of fighters as they made their way to the raised stage.

'Asagi sure does look regal.' Mariko observed her roommate from the stands, carrying himself with pride. 'I hope that he doesn't have another seizure.' It had been a while since the man had one, and it worried Mariko.

'Please Eros, don't die.' Aroura silently prayed as Eros looked at her and waved. The girl blushed to herself and stood up, waving back. "Eros! Do your best!"

"No fair!" Eri pouted as she slammed her purse down in anger. "Why does she get recognition? I wished him luck!" The yellow-clad girl fumed as she placed a hand on the chest of her yellow, spaghetti strapped dress.

"Why didn't Noel come with us?" Hanamei glanced towards her friend in question.

"She said that she couldn't handle the gore," Eri informed the dark-headed girl, who was clad in leather shorts, a black and red corset and matching gloves.

"It is barbaric," Hanamei smiled, "but I have a dark side."

"I just want to see Eros fight," Eri crossed her arms.

"So, let's get this under way!" The announcer finally said as all of the fighters lined up below the stage and faced the audience. "We'll start from the first of the line. The fighters will be referred to be their title. These are the names of competing: Asagi, Eros, Sonata, Kisame, Mizuki, Susumu the Bird Fighter, Diedara, A17, Fighting Doll Kumoigi, Metal Zoa, Akemi, Tomiko, Occarina, Tetsuou, Akira, Tartos and Quazijitsu."

The crowd cheered for each person they would be supporting.

Kyoui slouched back in his chair and got comfortable as a sly smile crossed his face. "This ought to be good."

"Yeah…" Himemari tried to sound like something wasn't bothering her.

"Now, we'll get underway! All fighters except Fighting Doll Kumoigi and Sonata please exit the ring!" The announcer called out as the fighters went back towards the opening that they had came out of.

"Asagi isn't fighting now," Mariko stated as she saw him exit the ring.

"It looks like Sonata is first," Hisame informed.

"I wonder who Eros will be up against," Aroura wondered aloud.

"Now, we'll see if all of that training paid off," Chacha laid eyes upon the boy dressed in white and blue.

XxXxXx

Sonata glanced around, confused at what was happening. "Uh…Why am I staying?"

"You'll be fighting me. We are the first round," Kumoigi informed him as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Are you serious?" Panic ran through the blonde's form. No way! He had been nervous this whole time and he was the first fight to take place. His day couldn't get any worse.

The announcer stood in the middle of the two as he spoke to the crowd. "Now, we'll be starting things up. Round one will be Fighting Doll Kumoigi versus Sonata."

"This isn't right," Sonata said, worried beyond all belief. "Why can't Susumu or Eros go first?"

"Remember, if you're knocked out of the ring, forfeit or die then you lose." The announcer reminded the audience of the few rules that applied to the event at hand. "Whoever wins this round will go on to the semi-finals."

"Ready! Go!" The announcer pointed to a gong that was sounded to signify the beginning of the match.

Sonata took a fighting stance, holding his Bokata in a defensive position as he concentrated on the enemy in front of him. 'Okay, here I go.'

"Come on, show me your skills," Kumoigi told they boy with a small smile on her face.

The blonde then charged at the dark-haired Syntacom and when he was right on top of her, he called out the word, afterimage as a blur of color faded away from her view as he skillfully appeared behind her and brought down his pole to strike her on top of the head, but the robot was quick to react as she caught the weapon in her hand effortlessly.

"Great job, Kumoigi!" The robotics teacher cheered on her creation from the first row.

An older, more distinguished man, who was sitting beside of her commented on her Syntacom. "Your robot is remarkable."

"Professor Gaiga," the teacher turned around in surprise to see that the creator of the very robot that had been her partner all of this time and was now fighting below.

"You definitely taught her well. It will be interesting to see the fruits of my labor as far as the ten's battle capabilities," the man replied.

"I hope that I don't disappoint you," the long-haired woman smiled politely, happy to test out one of the few 10 model Syntacoms.

Kumoigi turned around and spin kicked Sonata square in the stomach with her black high-heels. The blonde flew backwards with the blow. Looking behind him, Sonata saw that he was headed towards the edge of the ring. Kumoigi had a powerful kick for a female. He had not counted on something like that.

The blonde dug his feet into the ground has hard as he could before he came to a stop just before he went over the edge.

"Damn, she almost threw me over!" He cursed.

"Wow…" Himemari stared wide-eyed at the event that had just unfolded before her very eyes. With a single kick, Sonata was nearly knocked out of the ring.

"She's definitely strong," Kyoui commented. "No doubt about it."

Sonata decided that now was as good of a time as any to finally toughen up and show that black-haired robot what he was made of. There would be no more underestimation. It was a fight that meant going on for either one of them, and things would only get harder from that point on. The boy spun his pole above his head and pointed it at the black-clad robot, which stood across the ring from him.

"Ranzoken!" He shouted as a beam of energy blasted out of the pole. Kumoigi simply jumped over it as the announcer's astonished voice could be heard, as well as several gasps from the crowd.

"What an attack!"

Sonata then ran at the girl once more. She tried to punch him but he ducked and preformed a leg-sweep. Kumoigi jumped over his leg and ducked down, performing the same move and sending him across the stage and right off the edge.

"Sonata!" Aroura stood up from her seat and shouted.

"He lost," Hisame stated the obvious.

"The winner!" The announcer announced as he gestured towards the robot. "Fighting Doll Kumoigi!"

"You're too weak to defeat me," the robot looked down at the blonde, who lay on the ground outside of the stage.

The boy slowly pulled himself up to sit up. "Well, darn! I didn't expect to be the first one to lose! This sucks!" The blonde cursed.

"The next match will be Kisame versus Tetsuou," the announcer sounded the next match as Kumoigi and Sonata left the ring.

A small, wiry looking boy with short, brown hair and large, green eyes flipped into the stage. The freckle-faced kid smiled with determination. "Hee, I'll make sure that I win this fight."

"A twerp like you? In your dreams," Kisame nearly laughed at the thirteen-year old's phrase.

"Go!"

Tetsuou was quick to respond. As soon as the bell rang, he threw his shurikens towards Kisame. The brown-haired girl skillfully ran through them, evading any that came her way. Kisame was determined to win and nothing was going to stop her. She had not come all the way for nothing.

This stunned the child. He had never had anyone ruin through his weapons like they were nothing before.

"What?" Tetsuou asked in shock as his green eyes widened as the twin neared him.

The girl was right on him, punching at his face. He managed to evade a couple of punches before he was punched twice and kicked in the stomach. The girl then grabbed his arm and swung him around relentlessly before she let go and sent the small boy flying out of the ring, where he landed on his butt on the ground.

"What!? I lost!" The boy exclaimed, shocked that he was beaten so early on in the tournament.

"Get out of my ring," Kisame told him cockily as the announcer told her that she was the winner and the crowd cheered for her victory. Now the girl would get to live out her dream of putting her ninja moves to work.

"How are you so fast?" Tetsuou asked as the girl walked over to get off of the stage. She plopped down on the edge of the stage and looked at the brown-haired preteen.

"I've been practicing really hard for two weeks. Looks like my training paid off," Kisame smiled happily. Two weeks had really improved her.

She was definitely proud of herself for pulling off a victory on her first match.

"Looks like I need to train some more," the boy looked down at his hands that held many shuriken, disappointed that he didn't do better.

"Hey, even though you lost I still admire you," Kisame told the boy as she hopped down from the state.

"Huh?" The freckle-faced boy looked confused at her words.

"You look young and you still had the guts to come to this tournament, even though you knew that you might die." To her, that was a very admirable quality and she had to admit that she didn't know many kids with that kind of ability or talent.

"I'm only thirteen but yeah, I figured it was worth a shot. Oh well, it was fun just fighting, you know?" The boy gave her a half-smile.

"Yep, you did a good job,Kisame complimented him as they both walked away from the raised stage.

"Thanks, I'll be watching you in the stands and I'll cheer for you," Tetsuou had not been complimented like that before, so he was happy to have the girl's support, even if she did beat him.

"Thanks," Kisame smiled.

"Good luck!" Tetsuou beamed. He hoped that she'd get far in the tournament.

"Yeah, same to you. I hope that we can face each other one day and go head to head."

"You bet!" The boy beamed. "I'll definitely wait for that day!" He gave her one final smile as the two separated, going on their separate ways. Kisame was glad to have met a friend like Tetsuou and she would definitely remember him and wait until the day that they could one day battle each other in the tournament.

"What a happy end to this round," the announcer broadcasted to the crowd, who cheered at his words. "They next round will be Mizuki versus Susumu the Bird Fighter!"

The two friends looked at each other in question. A part of them couldn't believe that they were being called out to fight each other, then again, it was to be expected and this was a tournament, after all. They had to do what they had to do.

"So this is it. It's you and me," Susumu said as he took one final look at the girl who would now be his opponent.

"Let's get this over with," Mizuki didn't like fighting her friend right off the bat, but she knew that he would not go easy on her just as she wouldn't on him.

This was strictly business and their friendship would not be a weakness in their battle tactics.

She then felt a soft arm around her shoulder as she looked over to see Susumu giving her a light hug. "Good luck, Mizuki." He smiled his first smile in a long time.

The light-blonde smiled back. "Same to you, Susumu," she told him as they walked out onto the battle field together, as friends.

Neither one of them would regret the outcome of this fight. They would simply be happy that the other won.

…To Be Continued