The Heir Of Tsunami

The atmosphere here had become twice as intense since the beginning of the fight. Not just a result of the final 4, but also the environment’s changes in response.

What was a bright stadium, now was dark. Aside from the ring, and small lights up and down stairs throughout the entertainment structure, there was no color anywhere else.

While Kazue had begun to pick himself back up, he just noticed that standing around him now were two suits of mechanized power armor.

They were hard to visualize completely, given the unlit surroundings, but it was clear they had just arrived. Each stood motionless, just about a foot taller than him as well, presumably watching the action with as much anticipation as Kazue had.

Visibly frustrated with the results, Kazue approached the side of the ring, but was unable to physically touch it as an invisible force prevented passage. Upon reaching forward, he saw the touched surface in front of him reveal millions of microscopic orbs stuck together, fashioning the barrier that contained the ring inside.

“These keep the eliminated teammates, who still have partners inside, from meddling with the results,” he thought to himself.

Seeing as he could not grab Zane’s leg as much as he’d wanted to, Kazue turned to leave and return to his friends at the team’s dugout.

Both mechanized suits nearby glowed as he walked in between them; the glow emitted from the swordguns each pulled from their chests. These weapons displayed attributes of both melee and ranged capabilities, fashioned as a two handed large sword, but inscribed with a trigger that would fire basic caliber rounds.

The suits themselves now seemed activated. Headlights atop the helmet, widening frames with armored limbs moving, and open chests with blue spherical orbs in place.

“Contestant Kazue Kinoskue must remain present until final results are processed,” an electronic voice stated, turning its head to meet Kazue’s irritated eyes.

“If my teammate wins, then I’ll come back,” he said in return.

“Failure to respect the Daimyo’s wishes shall result in ejection from the building.”

“Really?!” Kazue said, rubbing his inner thigh. “That’s stupid as hell!” He turned back to watch the ring, hoping to at least see Zane get beat up.

Inside the ring, Lita leaned against a corner, while Zane stood just next to her, nearly obscuring her from view.

Lita massaged his shoulders from behind.

“Okay, so things are really simple. You two fight it out, and then you get a chance at us. Not that you’ll actually have a chance though,” Zane snickered.

“Mmm, that’s right Zane, you tell them how it is,” Lita deviously said.

Neji blinked twice, causing his visors to return around his eyes. He looked over at Zenshi, still prone from his attack, then back at the pair of Zane and Lita.

“Seems like Zenshi here can’t even defend himself. Why not just eliminate him now?” Neji asked.

“Oh we like a good comeback story, don’t we Zane?” Lita laughed.

“We’re totally not just going to beat up the last of you two for hours upon hours,” Zane laughed back.

“Hmm. I think you’re both just afraid of winning. To put it quite simply, if the winning team meets in the end, you two will have to face each other in some final challenge, and neither of you wants that, right?” Neji smiled. “Why don’t you just let me win instead, so Virgo and I can solve that fear for you.”

Zane and Lita both stopped smiling.

“No, we already have that planned out. Zane is going to lose on purpose for me in the finals.”

“Me? I’m pretty sure we agreed you would lose, Lita.”

“Don’t kid yourself. I’m the beauty, and I will be a much better heir than you, Zane.”

“Please, Lita. I’m sure Tsunami would get so sick of your voice, that he’d replace you. That’s why I’m a better choice, because everyone thinks I’m funny.”

Lita pinched his cheek.

“The only thing funny about you is when you’re in pain!” she yelled in his ear.

Neji watched as the two bickered, and then whispered something to himself.

Kazue looked down as he’d felt something touching his feet, nearly yelling in surprise, but concealing his voice. He knelt down to examine it, while the stalemate in the ring continued.

Carried by several tiny moving metallic pegs, was Virgo’s metal foot.

The moving bits tickled his hand as he picked it up, but they all retracted and left the foot stationary.

Kazue looked back into the ring, noticing Neji’s visors were gone.

Neji approached the ropes at the side of the ring near Virgo, and exited freely.

“Neji Edd has been eliminated. Team five has now been fully eliminated,” said the calm announcer.

The crowd burst into a flurry of boos.

This time the usual commentary from Tsunami was absent afterwards.

Drinks, foods, and even hats and visors were tossed at the ring in anger from the fans in attendance.

“Kazue, you still want to become heir, right?”

A voice came from the metal foot, similar to Virgo’s, just slightly duller.

“If true, then listen closely. Neji exited the ring not out of cowardice, but to avoid unnecessary injury. From the moment I saw Zenshi in the ring, I knew defeat was certain for all that opposed him.”

As Virgo spoke, Zenshi suddenly stood up, and paced towards Zane, stopping inches before his face.

“Heh? You confused too about what happened?” Zane said to Zenshi’s concealed face.

“Careful Zane…” Lita said concerningly.

“Why am I so confident?” Virgo continued, “I was once like him, and in many ways I still am. Neji’s visors only confirmed my suspicions. There's a reason he hides himself the way he does.”

“Why should I be careful around some hairy freak?” Zane spat in Zenshi’s hair.

Zenshi then gripped Zane’s jacket, and pulled him closer.

“Listen kid, this here’s a new jacket. You rough it up and I’ll rough you up,” Zane threatened.

“That reason is because your teammate in the ring is a monster.” Virgo then told Kazue.

Zane clenched his fist, and plunged it into Zenshi’s gut with a loud crunch, screaming as pain set returned almost instantly. Each finger on Zane's hand bent ways they weren’t supposed to.

Zenshi then whipped Zane across the ring, watching as Zane fell and tumbled with a roll. He turned his attention to Lita.

She had fear on her face, not for Zane, but for herself. With each hand, she clawed at where his face was beneath his hair. Dark brown ooze coated her hands, and started to spurt out of Zenshi’s hair, and drip down his body.

Undaunted, Zenshi latched onto each of Lita’s arms with his hands, squeezing tightly.

Zane suddenly punched against the back of Zenshi’s head with his other hand, this time without pain, but was coated in similar ooze.

Zenshi let go of Lita, turning his entire hairy head around to meet Zane.

“J-just w-what are you?” Zane muttered.

Zenshi delivered multiple blows that Zane could not block. A punch to Zane’s chin, his abdomen, and several to his gut, sending Zane scrambling backwards with sickening thuds.

Zane spat out a glob of blood.

“Pissant!” Zane shouted back, throwing his leg up into Zenshi’s crotch, and frowning.

Zenshi had caught his leg with his hands before it reached him. He then collapsed Zane, diving onto his leg with an elbow drop, breaking it entirely.

Zane’s gasp of pain was almost as loud as the crowd’s enjoyment for violence.

Zenshi then continued to throw a barrage of punches into Zane’s body, rattling him each time as Zane ragdolled around.

“STOP PLEASE!” Lita screamed, trying to pull Zenshi back by his slippery neck, and getting soaked in more ooze in the process.

Zenshi turned back around, and shoved Lita back across the ring.

She launched herself back at him again, however, this time he turned to catch her. He stepped towards the side of the ring as she punched and clawed at his face, and dumped her out to the floor outside.

“Lita Takeda from team two has been eliminated,” came from the announcer, with the crowd’s joyous cheers in response.

Still, Tsunami’s voice was missing.

Lita’s attempts to get past the barrier and stop Zenshi were fruitless. For the next five minutes, she was forced to watch as Zane was beaten to a bloody pulp.

Just then a man wearing all white approached the side of the ring where the beatdown still occurred. His face was obscured by an augmented gasmask.

“Do you submit, Zane Hojo?” he shouted as Zenshi delivered another punch.

“Nnnoo…” Zane groaned, sticking up his broken middle finger in Zenshi’s face.

Zenshi lurched down, concealing the finger in his hair, and hiding it from view, as he bit down on it.

The arena lit back up as men identical to the man in white all poured into the ring, and struggled to finally pull Zenshi away from Zane. Ooze coated everyone, and the mat itself.

Zane looked down to see his finger missing, instead replaced with a bloody spectacle.

Crashing down into the middle of the ring from above, Daimyo Tsunami had returned and made his appearance.

He glanced down at the substance coating the mat, examining it silently for a moment, before looking between both remaining competitors.

Next, he stomped towards Zenshi, and shoved aside the men that restrained him. He hastily held up one of Zenshi’s arms in the air, and pointed to him with his other hand.

“THIS IS YOUR WINNER OF TEAM FOUR, ZENSHI MIZUNO!!!”

The crowd rallied behind Tsunami’s declaration.

Though he could not see behind his hair, Tsunami studied Zenshi carefully for a brief moment before letting go of his arm.

He carefully strolled across the ring towards Zane, and helped the prone man up to his feet. Tsunami then put an arm on Zane’s shoulder, shaking his woozy body.

“A true warrior, through and through. Go with my medical team, gladiator,” he told him.

Zane’s face was still embedded with pain.

“I…I-I can still fight…” Zane stumbled to say to the tall man and his samurai mask.

“Only when the fight is over do we wish for it to continue,” Tsunami said softly, stepping aside as medical staff surrounded Zane, and escorted him outside the ring. There Lita anxiously awaited him, and followed them away.

The remaining staff had also begun to clean the mat, using rags soaked in an atrocious smelling solution. They also gave Zenshi a wipedown as well.

The members of both team 1 took humble bows before the rest of the crowd, and the siblings of team 3 hung an arm around each other’s waist, as each team left with their heads down in disappointment.

The static voice of Virgo continued.

“That sinking feeling just hit you now, didn’t it? You wish that any other team had won. You wish that you were sick, that you didn’t have to continue, or that you hadn’t ever arm wrestled Tsunami. I get it. People like Zenshi and I were bred for experiments in which we wanted to wake up from too. Nobody cares.”

“Tell me how to beat him!” Kazue desperately yelled at the metal foot in his grasp. “You said you’d help me with him, so tell me how it’s possible!”

Kazue watched the other side of the ring as Neji had picked up Virgo over his shoulder, and began to walk away. Virgo stared back at Kazue, mouth moving as words came from the foot.

“The machine never loses at its own game, Kazue. You just adapt. It’s what we did at Sunfell.”

With each word Virgo said, his voice became increasingly more incoherent as distance between them grew.

“That’s…why…y…m…p…Find…f…sh…in…blood…D…think…t…mu-” the voice cut out.

“Damnit!” Kazue yelled, standing up to just run over to Neji, but was prevented by the guards blocking pursuit. He then threw down the foot, which broke off into a few more pieces.

He watched as Virgo mouthed the words, “See you,” before fading out of view into the interior of the stadium as Neji carried him out, holding a thumbs up from his other hand.

Buff banged on the walls of his dugout, creating a noise so that someone had to check on him. They arrived just behind the glowing barrier.

“What can I help you with?” the man that had written their team name down earlier asked.

“Can you tell me why all the other teams get to leave their little cubby holes, but we’re still stuck in here?” Buff grumbled.

“My apologies sir, but the festival has yet to conclude, and a member of your team is still participating. We simply cannot allow interference.”

“Interference my ass!” Buff yelled. “What kind of interference would we risk? Doesn’t seem like there's any rules anyways! That guy in the ring is leaking! Does that not seem strange to you?”

“We ask that you patiently wait until the final event is resolved, and then you may leave if you wish.”

“So you’re saying, I can’t support my pupil from ringside, and instead have to sit in this shitty little box and wait? This is while your Daimyo runs around picking winners, and lets people murder each other?”

“Are there any other questions?” the man simply replied.

“Can we use the bathroom?” Xion spoke up, pointing between himself and Saeko. “There isn’t one here.”

The man sighed.

“So long as you let me escort you there and back.”

Xion and Saeko left alongside their escort, while Buff stayed behind.

“Do you know Zenshi’s real surname?” Saeko asked the man.

“Mizuno.” the man replied.

“Is that what he gave you?” Saeko asked again.

“Of course.”

“So you don’t actually know then.”

“I know that what he gave me is what I wrote down.”

“I see…” Saeko said, disappointed.

“The restrooms are here,” the man stopped them by two doors. “I shall await you here.”

“We know the way back ourselves,” Xion tried to reassure him, though he was given no reply back.

Back in the ring, cleaning had finished. Tsunami had Zenshi and Kazue standing on each side of him. Kazue looked across to see Zenshi’s hair still covering his face, soaked.

“If you haven't enjoyed our lovely dancers above, the finest food our kitchen can prepare, or the big and bold sights that Chūbu has to offer…certainly our Festival of Fighting has brought you some entertainment tonight!” Tsunami claimed, to the cheers of fans.

“While the Boss Boss squabble was a treat, it is time for the main course. Here with me now you have two men that are just moments away from becoming my heir, and possibly even your future Daimyo!”

“Zenshi Mizuno has surely grasped your attention. He has the fighting spirit of a wild animal, does he not?!”

“But Kazue Kinoskue has so much more to prove. Determination, valor, gusto a plenty! Can he overcome his own teammate that brought him to this final dance?!”

Tsunami stomped his right leg, then his left, squatting into a traditional sumo wrestling pose with his arms held out wide. He then clapped his hands together.

The ring ascended nearly 50feet into the air with the use of a single pillar that elevated it, leaving a gaping hole beneath it in the ground.

In an instant, the ropes in the ring burst into flames, and the entire ring was then enclosed in two halves of walls that formed a black box-like structure, preventing anyone from seeing inside.

“ONE SHALL DEPART THIS EARTH, THE OTHER SHALL DEPART AS MY HEIR IN THIS FINAL DUEL TO THE DEATH!” Tsunami shouted over the speakers in the arena. The crowd loved this.

Trapped inside the insane asylum belonging to the conductor of chaos, Kazue found himself at the end of his road.

There were no friends, or acquaintances here.

A lack of hope.

The fear of smoke.

And he couldn’t even look cool while his friends watched him beat the ever living daylight out of Zenshi.

Yet even as he thought this, Virgo’s words reminded him it was impossible to win. Whatever advice he had tried to relay was lost in static. All Kazue could think of was “Find blood.”

Inside this box, he would not see his friends stumble out of the bathroom in fear, and sprinting past their escort.

Nor would he see Tuff Buff blast away at the barrier with his gun, breaking free of his constraints.

No, instead Kazue would only fixate on one thing in this room.

He took a few steps forward, inhaling the smoke as he progressed towards his opponent with no urgency. He paid no attention to Tsunami, who stood by with a sickening smile.

There, he approached Zenshi who hadn’t moved yet, and threw his arms around him.

Kazue hugged Zenshi amidst it all.