~ Hong Kong

The constant beeping sound of the monitoring machine next to her was hardly heard. The smell of medicine in the room hardly registered in her mind. Her eyes were fixed on the person laid on hospital bed. Her mind was transfixed on the event two nights ago when she had the first life-and-death fight.

The fight that might have took her and her best friend's lives.

More than once in her dreams when she was unconscious the event was replayed. At times the result was worse than in reality. She shuddered involuntarily thinking how close their lives might end at that time.

A gentle hand was on her shoulder. She turned to find her sifu, Gen, next to her. Her tears rolled unbidden and she hugged him tightly, seeking comfort and protection.

Gen whispered comforting words while softly stroke his gentle-hearted pupil hair. "Hush little songbird, it is not your fault. Your friend will recover, I'm very sure of that."

Linda cried a bit more and then let go of her hug and wiped her tears. She looked up to Gen. "Thank you, sifu." She turned to her friend and made a silent resolution in her heart and mind. "Sifu, has that man been caught? Who is he?"

Gen let out a deep breath. He knew or at least could guess what was in the mind of his student. He had to be careful with his words. "Linda, let the police and Chun Li handle this matter, you have to rest, don't burden yourself with this matter. You're still injured."

"He knows, but does not want to tell me." Linda thought. She knew her sifu well enough to not press on the matter. She nodded. "Very well, but please keep me updated." She rose from her seat and held Gen's hand. "Thank you, sifu, for accompanying me. Please tell Li jie to be careful. That man is very dangerous."

Gen nodded. "I will. You just rest and heal, okay?"

She smiled and nodded obediently. "I want to go back to my room. Good night, sifu."

***

That night in the same hospital...

Three people stood in front of a patient's room. They were a woman and two men. One was old and the other two looked young enough to be his children.

"Poor girl, she surely had a really hard time." Said the younger man. His body indicated that he was a fighter. A very great fighter he was, since he had held the title of the champion of Street Fighter tournament and he hardly had a record of losing in his many fighting experiences in his journey to become the true warrior. He was Ryu.

The young woman, his lover – an open secret to many people who knew them, nodded. "I can understand. I've had the experience of fighting Vega. It wasn't a walk in the park. And adding that her friend almost got killed protecting her."

"She intended to go after Vega." Said the older man, Gen. He gazed hard on the couple. "So how's your investigation coming along? I'm hoping that she would not foolishly chase Vega herself, but you know her well enough, Chun Li. Linda can be very stubborn when she wanting something, and I can sense that she wants this revenge business very bad."

"We're still tracking them, sifu. There are clues that lead us to believe that Shadowlaw is connected to a tournament that is coming shortly."

"Are you talking about Champion of Fists tournament?" Gen asked. "The preliminaries in Hong Kong will be on soon enough."

Chun Li nodded. "Champion of Fists is on international level. The fighters that are coming are surely among the greatest. Shadowlaw will want to have a hand in this business."

Gen rubbed his beard sagely. "I just hope it won't end up like four years ago."

***

Inside the patient's room...

A figure rose from the bed, carefully and silently getting off. She made sure that no one was around the room, inside or outside. She kept the lights off so anyone who passed her room would believe that she was still sleeping. She walked toward the cabinet, selected a set of clothes, and quickly changed.

She went to the door and carefully opened it. After looking around to make sure that no one that she knew was around, she walked out of the room. On the way out, she noticed Gen, Chun Li, and Ryu were still in the hospital and still looked like they were not about to leave soon.

"Dammit, I thought they were gone already. I've got to get out of here quickly." She looked around the lobby, there were a few patients waiting to be called. A couple of them were sleeping, some were reading, while the others simply did not notice her. She saw a patient sleeping and an idea came up.

***

"I'm going back up to see how she's doing. I'll try to find something from my contacts and let you know later. You two should go home and get some rest." Said Gen to Ryu and Chun Li.

The two warriors nodded. "Thank you, sifu. Please take care of yourself as well."

Gen grinned and playfully bopped Chun Li on her head. "Silly girl, you think I'm that old that I could not care for myself? Go on, go back to dojo and take care there."

Chun Li and Ryu grinned and bowed before leaving.

Gen turned around and accidentally bumped onto a person going out. "Pardon me, I wasn't watching. Are you okay?"

The person nodded. "I am fine. It was I who wasn't watching where I was going. I am sorry." The reply was a bit muffled by the hospital mask that someone used when having flu.

Gen nodded, impressed by the politeness of the young person as he watched the person leave. "If only nowadays youngsters are like that." His thought was on a certain young fighter who liked skateboarding.

***

When he got to Linda's room, Gen knocked first to make sure that she was still sleeping. He got in and turned on the dim lights. He proceeded to the sofa, but before he got there, he noticed something odd on Linda's bed.

He approached the bed then sighed and slapped his own forehead. "I think I'm getting too old."

***

She entered the taxi, named the destination to the driver, and took off the baseball cap and the breathing mask revealing a beautiful face. Her thoughts flashed on a certain patient who – when he woke up - will be very surprised to find that in place of his baseball cap were 5 ten-dollar bills and a kind nurse who gave her the breathing mask.

She looked at the hospital and her thought was on her sifu. "I'm sorry, sifu, but I'm going to catch that killer myself."

As the taxi rode by the Hong Kong roads, there were four words embedded in her mind. "Champion of The Fist."
 
 
 

~ Oakland, California

"That's your second cup already. And it's not even seven thirty a.m. yet."

Guile glanced at Charlie, who was currently lounging back in his seat in the small conference room. "What's your point?"

"Meeting won't start for another half hour."

"So I got here early. So what?" Guile shrugged.

Charlie opened the file folder he had brought with him into the small debriefing office. "You do your homework?"

"Yeah."

The two men would be meeting one more agent representing a different government faction who had been assigned to investigate the tournament. Currently, in the folders in front of them, were the personnel files of Enrique Pierantoni. Pretty impressive stuff.

Guile reached over to the television remote and turned the unit on to catch the morning news while enjoying the rest of his coffee. Several topics included wars, political scandals at home and abroad.

Charlie's eyes focused on the screen when a knock came to the door.

"Come in," Charlie called out.

The door opened and Sergeant John Heagy entered the meeting room, promptly standing at attention. "Good morning, sirs."

"Morning, John," Guile returned the greeting with a nod. "Have a seat."

"Thank you, sir." John grabbed the back of one chair and pulled it out before settling down.

"How's your stay in San Francisco so far?" Charlie asked.

John stared at the tabletop for a few seconds before turning to the two soldiers. "I...met someone."

Guile and Charlie glanced at each other.

"You work fast," Charlie said.

John's eyes widened, realizing what he had said, and how it could easily be misinterpreted. "No, sir, that's not what I meant-"

"Well, that's nothing to be scared to admit," Guile cut in. "It happens all the time...being away from home, you're always gonna meet someone new. I remember back when..."

 John decided that he'd better turn the conversation into the serious direction he had intended. Fast. He really didn't need to hear Charlie and Guile's stories about traveling abroad.

"Sir, I was referring to Iwa Hoshi. I meant that I met someone familiar."

"You interacted with her?" Guile asked immediately.

He and Charlie had instantly gone alert.

"Yes, sir," John nodded, his eyes hardening briefly. Then he reached into the file folder he had brought with him, placing the invitation Iwa had tossed his way onto the table, as close to the two men as possible. "She gave me this."

Guile took a drink of his coffee. "Huh. Looks like you were right, Nash. He was invited..."

 Another knock came to the door.

"Come in," Guile called out.

The door opened to reveal a young man, a small briefcase in hand.

"Katsusaki, welcome," Charlie nodded in his direction. "John, this is Yukito Katsusaki from MI6, your contact. Since we have several different agents who have different roles in this mission, I thought it best that all of us meet."

"Morning," Yukito greeted quietly.

It was probably for the best. The last thing they needed was to step on each other's toes. Nothing would ever be accomplished that way.

"John, you were saying?" Guile moved to the coffee machine and refilled his cup.

Yukito sat in a chair and pulled out information from his briefcase.

Heagy cleared his throat. "We met at Ghirardelli Square, sir. After a brief battle, she gave me the invitation."

"You fought her?" Charlie asked as he pointed to a name on Yukito's list. The young man immediately found the corresponding photograph before turning his attention to John and his story.

"No civilians were harmed," John stated. Then he added with a grimace, "But we had attracted a lot of attention."

Guile released a breath, rubbing his eyes. "All right. No doubt she already knows everyone who's been invited, and who has a high chance of making it to Hawaii."

"My report on the incident will be finished by the end of today," John spoke up. "It isn't much."

"But it's something," Charlie shrugged. "And it definitely confirms that she's not on your side..."

 Another knock came to the door.

"That must be our last guy," Guile murmured, glancing at the clock. "Seven-fifty a.m." Then he called out, "Come in."

The door opened and another man entered.

Four heads turned to study the newcomer who met each of their gazes briefly.

"You must be Enrique Pierantoni," Guile spoke up. "Have a seat. Glad you could make it."

Riq sat in a chair several seats down from Guile's. Introductions were made around the table and a brief summary of John's encounter with Iwa was given for Riq's benefit.

"Now that everyone's formally met..." Guile turned the television off as Charlie turned on the projector which had already been prepared for the meeting. "The sponsors have representatives in each city where the prelims are being held. I heard that Karin Kanzuki herself was seen in Tokyo. Of course...being a local, Ken Masters has every intention of attending, which will be located here..." he clicked a button on his mouse to show a bird's eye view photograph, of the new baseball stadium built in China Basin, "...SBC Park."

"How many are scheduled to start tomorrow?" Yukito asked.

"We have the list here of matches..." Charlie began to hand out a list to the men and spoke to Guile and John. "You'll notice that Pierantoni and Katsusaki are listed to fight in two days."

John observed the list for a few seconds until one of the older men spoke up.

"Katsusaki is pretty much unknown," Charlie stated. "We thought he'd be the best choice among all of us to infiltrate into the ranks and find out exactly who is connected to this tournament and their plans." He pointed at the invitation by John's elbow. "Especially now that she's handing those out. There's no doubt they're involved somehow. Katsusaki'll be in constant communication throughout the entire operation."

Guile gave several sheets of paper and photographs to Riq and Yukito, so they could update their records. "Here is a list that we know of for every hitman, assassin, mercenary, lackey, so on, rumored as well as have to officially been on Shadowlaw's payroll at one point or another within the last five years."

Riq picked up the list of hired men and women that Guile had set on the table. Paperwork, paperwork and more paperwork. "None of these people are listed to fight in Hong Kong or San Francisco. Is Shadowlaw hoping to recruit some new people?" He glanced at the youngest man in the group. "Do you know who from Shadowlaw is supposed to be recruiting if that's the case?"

Yukito shook his head. "No." He frowned. "In the past, from what I heard, there were times Bison himself would personally contact those he wanted to work for the organization. It depends on how he wants to handle things."

"Not surprising..."

"Pierantoni will handle Umbrella," Charlie announced. "I trust everyone's up to speed on them?" Several confirmed responses were enough to satisfy him.

"What about the other sponsors?" Yukito asked. "Is there anything else we need to know?"

"Everything we know are in the files your superiors gave you prior to arriving here," Guile responded.

With a slight grin, Yukito admitted, "I was kind of hoping for more of a challenge."

Riq stood up to pour himself some coffee. "You might become a madman's dog for a good few weeks. How's that not challenging?"

At that, the young man merely shrugged, his grin widening.
 
 
 

~ 18 hours later, several seats above homeplate, SBC Park, San Francisco
 

Sky blue eyes surveyed the grass and empty seats of the large stadium as the San Francisco chill seeped through his thick jacket. Yukito zipped the front up to his chin, glancing down as a distinctive ring filled the cold air.

Pulling out his phone from his pocket, he brought the device to his ear. "Yes?"

"How's it going?" the business-like voice of a female greeted.

"Good. Couldn't have planned it better myself," Yukito said. "I'm scheduled to fight day after tomorrow. The Americans are hoping that will attract some attention and allow me to get close to our targets."

"Great to hear. Keep us posted." Click.
 
 
 

~ Preliminary COF tournament waiting room at Hong Kong...
 

She sat quietly on a bench near the wall watching fighters in the hall. The place was full of fighters from around the world. She had not thought so many fighters would be coming for this tournament. Some of them looked though and/or scary, while others looked like just an ordinary guy, or girl. But she knew from her sifu's teachings and experiences that appearance could be deceiving.

The hall had four square rings. Each was about seventy feet square and three feet tall. On the center of the ring was two circles drawn to indicate where the fighters should stand in the beginning of the match.

She carefully scanned the hall and the fighters. She was sure that Chun Li or Ryu or Gen would be around to stop her fighting. She had registered under a different name, 'Lisa' and changed her appearance so even her sifu would not recognized her – an easy feat for an artist like her.

She could not find them on the crowd or anywhere on the spectators' bench, but she would not risk to do anything that would make them recognized her, so she just wait quietly for her turn to fight.

From inside her bag, she took out a picture of her and Saeko, her manager. They were on a holiday to the theme park and enjoyed the rides and games very much. Tears began to well in her eyes when she remembered Saeko's condition in the hospital. She had made a mistake in fighting that thief/assassin that night and her best friend had become a victim in that fight. She promised to herself to bring this maniac down to justice, or revenge.

She was deep in her thought so much that she almost missed the call for her match. She wiped her eyes, put the picture in her bag again, tied her dyed hair, and proceeded to the ring number two where her opponent had arrived.
 
 
 

~ Elsewhere in the fighting arena - Hong Kong, China
 

From his position several feet from the judges' table, Ming adjusted his gloves and glanced behind him. Spectators had filled the area, eager to see the fights relating to the most publicized tournament in years.

His trip from Egypt had been a gruelling one. As soon as he arrived in Hong Kong, he had checked himself into a hotel and caught up on sleep so he'd be able to practice before he was scheduled to fight. He needed to be alert if he was planning on winning a ticket to Hawaii.

Cameras were focused on the stage and he grimaced.

He forgot that he might be on camera.

"You're up next."

Ming glanced over once the fight coordinator spoke to him. A clipboard was in his hand as he made notes before turning to the judges.

The treasure hunter made his way towards the ring, pausing as he waited for his opponent to show up.

His eyes went to the large board that displayed all the participants' matches.

Juli?

What the hell?

At that moment, a petite brunette made her way towards the ring.

Of course he'd have a female to fight against. He was just that lucky.

And of course it had to be her.

Juli stepped into the ring, holding her fist high in a fighting stance.

Okay, he knew some one-night stands went bad. But this was pushing it.

"Long time no see," she sneered.

He glanced around. If Juli was here, did that mean that Pablo was here too? Why were they after him?

"You should have stayed unconscious and tied up like a good boy," Juli said, shaking her head, coldness in her eyes.

She was completely different than the helpless woman he met earlier.
 
He mentally shook his head. Helpless she definitely wasn't.

"What was the plan, Juli? Why me?" Was Juli even her real name?

"That's my business," she responded quietly.

Ming quickly jumped into the ring, shaking his arms once before clenching his fists. He really wasn't going to have to beat the answer out of her, was he?

"BEGIN!"

Juli quickly leapt up in the air towards him. Ming blocked her kick, jumping back slightly as she followed up with another leg extension, this time hitting his thigh. The hard pressure of her boots would make a weaker person cringe, but Ming didn't even feel any pain.

In spite of her small frame, she hit pretty hard. One wouldn't think so by looking at her.

The back of her hand, clenched into a fist, came directly to his face. Ming blocked again, his breath escaping his lungs as she quickly leapt into the air, her feet kicking him in the chest as she jumped back several feet to safety.
 
 
 

~ SBC Park - San Francisco, California
 

 Victoria adjusted her sunglasses over her eyes as Ken took a seat next to her. The special box seating area designated for Ken Masters and his guests.

At the moment, Victoria was the only guest who sat in the box. Eliza and Mel had plans that day that didn't involve watching sweaty men duke it out. Those had been Eliza's exact words.

The park was full of tourists and tournament participants alike. Ken had personally chosen it himself for the venue for the preliminaries. He figured the park would be big enough to hold four or five matches simultaneously.

Ken sat back in his chair, a clipboard in his hand of all the matches scheduled.

"What time is Sean scheduled to fight?" Victoria asked.

Grinning, Ken handed her his clipboard. "You that curious?" He placed his arm over the back of the empty chair next to him. "I told the judges to keep the matches short. There are a lot of people that came to San Francisco to fight, and the prelims need to get done in two days."

Victoria glanced at him. "Why's that?"

"I only have the park for two days. There's some big corporate event happening right after we're done here."

"Oh." Victoria scanned the list of matches, her eyes rounding at the sight of one name in particular. Immediately, from her position, she began to scan the area.

What's he doing here? she wondered.
 
 
 

~ Fighting arena - Hong Kong, China
 

Ming got to his feet after Juli had kicked him to the ground.

He let her have her fun. Now it was time to get serious.

"Okay, little girl. Playtime's over..." he said with a smirk.

"You didn't seem to think so a few nights back," she taunted.

Juli quickly dashed towards him before spinning once to punch him chest level. Ming blocked the attack cringing as she kicked him in the midsection. He moved aside, his foot quickly flying out to hit her back.

Juli staggered slightly, wincing before she straightened to her full height. She went on the offensive again, moving towards him, but he quickly jumped in the air, flipped and aimed a kick at her chest, his foot glowing red.

Unable to stop her momentum, Juli suddenly crashed back first into the ring as Ming flipped back several feet.
 
 
 

~ Home plate, SBC Park – San Francisco, California
 

"Welcome to San Francisco, folks!" a loud announcer's voice entered the stadium. "It's a cool sixty degrees, but who cares?"

From his position in the middle of the ring, Riq leisurely smoked his cigar while sizing up his opponent.

The guy was fairly tall, a little taller than him. A thick chain was connected to his wrist and he had a permanent disfigured facial expression.

Well, it looked that way.

The large screen in the park currently displayed their names in bold type, 'Riq versus Birdie'.

Huh.

Riq studied his opponent. The guy was what? Seven feet?

Birdie made his way to the middle, grinning madly as he swirled the chain around his wrist before cracking his neck.

Riq tossed his cigar aside.

"BEGIN!"

Birdie launched himself forward, headbutting his opponent. Riq managed to block, but the hit was enough to move him back a couple steps before he regained his balance.

That was fast, Riq thought grimly.

His opponent was surprisingly quick.

Before Birdie could pull off a move, Riq lashed out, striking Birdie with his Kenpo Storm. His opponent slid across the ring floor.

Birdie got up, rotated his neck in a circle and glared at him. Then he ran forward. Riq barely managed to block and dodge the rush until Birdie snatched him with his chain, throwing him once onto the ground, only to jerk him upwards and drag him down again.

Riq rolled to safety. That particular move did not do well for his right shoulder. He shook it out and stood up as Birdie hopped in his direction.
 
 
 

~ Ring 2 – Hong Kong, China
 

Cath defended herself by deflecting the incoming series of attacks aimed at her upper body and head. She somersaulted backward and readied her fighting stance. Her opponent in this preliminary had proven to be very challenging, despite the weird appearance.

Blanka leapt high and slashed at the female fighter. His opponent however countered with her own anti-air attack. "Tensho Kyaku!" She flew up high diagonally and hit Blanka three times on his chest. As she recovered from the last attack, Blanka, who was surprisingly fast for such a big fighter, was already prepared his next attack. He kicked the ground while curling his body like a ball and with such an inhuman speed crashed onto his unprepared opponent.

"Oomph!" Linda exclaimed. She gritted her teeth to hold the pain and quickly leapt back to her feet. She stepped under Blanka's punch and sent a high kick that almost hit Blanka's chin had he not swung his body backward fast enough. Linda follow up her high kick with another kick aimed at Blanka's torso, but the latter fighter expertly caught her ankle. He swung Linda's leg to the side and attempted to break her leg, but the fighter/singer managed a kick that prevented Blanka from breaking her leg and managed to free herself.

Another bout of trading punches and kicks went on after that. With Linda Cath having the advantage of speed and technique and Blanka having the advantage of his power and defense, the fight turned to be a very fierce one. After about a minute and a half trading punches and kicks, Blanka managed to gain the upper hand. He scored in a punch to Cath's face, sending the female fighter reeling backward. Caught off guard, she did not manage to defend herself from Blanka unleashing a super attack called Direct Lighting.

Blanka crouched and gathered his chi and combined it with the natural electricity power that he had. He then leapt forward and curled his body in ball position while unleashing all the power gathered. A simple name for such a super attack, yet the effect was so devastating, Linda felt both like her soul being pushed out when she was knocked and burned from the immense power of electricity.

She was thrown nearly to the edge of the ring and landed with a painful thud. She tried to get up, but found her body uncooperative. She felt unbearable pain all over her body and almost lost to unconsciousness if not for her thought of Saeko. "No, I cannot lose!" She forced herself back onto her feet, though it was evident from the shaking that she had not much power left.

"You are a very brave girl, but you cannot hope to win against me in such condition," Said Blanka in his amazement and respect toward Cath's fighting spirit.

She grinned weakly. "Well, prove it. Or are you just all talk, muscle boy?"

"Very well," said Blanka. "As you wish." He prepared his fighting stance and then with such a surprising speed charged at Linda.

When Blanka was near enough, Linda unleashed a technique that often caught any fighter off guard. She unleashed her scream technique, Siren and it hit and stunned Blanka. Not wasting her chance, she leapt high to the sky, somersaulted once and sped down toward her opponent. She focused whatever chi she had left on her right foot for a final attack.

The super technique called Thien Lung Xia (Supreme Dragon Descends) hit dead on Blanka's head. Blanka was forcefully slammed on the ground and a huge spidery crack was formed under his head and body.

The referee was so shocked to see such attack that hewas stunned for a moment before quickly going to check on Blanka's condition. He found to his relief that he was still breathing. Apparently Blanka was lucky enough that the inhuman hardness of his skull had managed to absorb most of the impact and not to count on that in Linda's wounded condition, the super technique's power may have been reduced quite a lot.

The referee stepped back and admiringly looked at the female fighter who was ready to collapse. He swung a hand announced the winner of the bout while paramedics were rushing toward Blanka.
 
 
 

~ Elsewhere, Hong Kong, China
 

 In a dark restaurant, Shing Tao waited for the bill for his food.

He had given some thought to Chun Li and Ryu's words. Shadowlaw was quite a force to be reckoned with. After a few subtle inquiries, he found out from different sources that the organization had originally been based in Southeast Asia. It had agents all around the world, all serving one purpose.

That purpose was the will of their leader. Whatever that meant. It was said that the leader had various assignments for all those in his organization.

Shing Tao nodded at the server who came to deliver his check before dropping several bills down. The waiter picked up the money and check and headed to the register.

"You told me that all I had to do was one thing and I'd be in." A slightly angry voice could be heard at the next table.

"I didn't say that," came another voice. "I said you might be considered. There were never guarantees."

"I did your dirty work, dammit!"

"Yeah. And it was fun to watch," another voice said.

"Screw you!"

The distinctive sound of a fist hitting a jaw came through the air. A short, Asian man suddenly hit the floor, his prone form sprawled adjacent to Shing Tao's table.

Drunks.

"Pain in the ass...Check him...make sure he's not carrying anything that'll lead to us," one of the men whispered, but the voice was loud enough for Shing Venom to hear.

A skinny Chinese man moved the unconscious man's arm so he could dig around his pockets.

Upon noticing that they had an audience, the skinny man assured with a smile to other restaurant patrons, "He falls asleep a lot. Sleeping disorder. Trying to find his smelling salts..."

 A pathetic lie. Anyone could hear the punch that had been thrown. Venom glanced to his right side, seeing that the skinny man's long sleeve had ridden up his forearm. The arm was crisscrossed with various scars, and even he could see a distinctive mark in the faint lighting. There was no mistaking that skull and wings...

 He watched as the skinny man dug through his jacket pockets once his cell phone rang, not noticing a small paper fall out.

"Hey. You get your drunk friend out of here!" the host ordered, making his way towards them from the bar.

The skinny man smiled apologetically after checking the caller ID before pressing a button on his phone to cancel his call. "Of course..." He quickly exited the restaurant, the man propped over his shoulder.

Venom bent carefully to retrieve the fallen paper that had been folded into a square many times.

"Champion of Fists?" he said quietly, reading the paper.

Hmm. It looked as if he had to schedule a trip to Hawaii.
 
 
 

~ Left Field, SBC Park – San Francisco, California
 

 From his position, Aaron Volpe watched his opponent, who seemed to be meditating standing up.

At least, that's what it looked like.

Once in a while, the large samurai-looking man would mutter something in a foreign language. Japanese, maybe?

Definitely.

On the big display screen of the park were the names of the current fighters out on the field, but he was only looking for his name, in the hopes of figuring out how to address said samurai-man.

'Aaron versus Sodom'.

"BEGIN!"

Aaron backed one step slowly, curious to see if his opponent was more of an offensive or a defensive.

He got his answer soon enough as Sodom rushed forward, slicing the air with one of the Japanese weapons he held in his hands.

Aaron jumped back, blocking the attack. Were weapons even allowed in this tournament?

Hm. Maybe so. As long as they weren't long, sharp, pointy ones.

Sodom jumped forward, extending his arms to hit, giving Aaron the opportunity to grab his arm and throw him to the ground, bending his arm back in a way that had to be extremely uncomfortable in that armor. Aaron rolled backwards to safety, dusting himself off.

And the man started muttering something again. Japanese words or something. Aaron, for some reason, understood the Japanese words he was saying, but a bunch of nonsense words were in there. What was he saying?

Before he could think anymore, Sodom jumped towards him again, snatching him by his bright Hawaiian shirt and broke into a quick run, dragging him along the ground before tossing him several feet away.

"Curses...looks like I'm gonna have to dig around for some quarters to do laundry this week," Aaron said aloud, bracing his hand against his head for a few seconds.

Apparently the crowd nearest to them in the stadium was cheering louder.

Aaron looked up to see Sodom doing strange movement while waving to the crowd.

"Happy crowd, eh?" Aaron got to his feet. "Whaaaaahoo!" He launched himself into a flying kick, originally aiming for Sodom's back of the head, but ended up hitting Sodom in the face as his opponent turned around.

Face, mask, whatever.

Sodom stayed on the ground.

Aaron frowned slightly before grinning. "Can you get up?"

"You ruined my dance," he answered in Japanese.

Aaron blinked. "That was dancing?"