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Chapter 36: Battle City

            “Welcome to Argund’s battle arena night!  Hello, hello, hello!” exclaimed an announcer who could be heard from anywhere in the city, “Yes!  Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you our arena champion, David!”

            A series of lights rapidly circled around the center of the city where the arena field was, and as the announcer called out the champion the lights immediately tracked him down and followed him to the center stage.  Loud rock music played through the speakers around the arena as a medium sized man walked down a path between his audience.  He wore a thick suit of scale armor over his body which had three long metal chains flowing down the back from its shoulders, and over his head the man wore a red helmet with blades shooting back out from the sides and from over his head.  The suit granted him an appearance of greatness and excellence, bringing his peers to awe.  As he walked down the path he held his hands up high, and the crowd cheered louder for him.

            The moment he arrived to the center of the arena he removed the helmet from over his head, revealing his face to all around him.  He appeared to be no older than 20, and the way he acted on stage showed his youth.  His skin was much tanned and his short, jagged hair the blackest of black.  His eyes burned with a crave for action and fan satisfactory.  He brushed his hair back with one of his gloved hands and used the other to send out a kiss to all of his lovely ladies.  Cameras focused and rotated around David as he tossed his helmet to the side and prepared for a night of entertainment.

            “Yeah!” David cheered with the crowd.  He bounced around, waving his hands up high and shouted, “Who wants some of this?  What’s up, brah?  Yeah!”  He began dancing around the stage as he waited for the announcer to get back on track and shouted, “To all mah dashingly good looking brahettes out there, you know mah numbah!  Hell yeah!”

            Koichi and Celia walked through the city and found their way to the arena, curious as to what the fuss was about at that time of the night.  The entire city was up late to see the arena event, which was held in a large open area with no barriers or boundaries.  A line showed the limits of the arena, and just outside were tables and chairs for people to sit and watch.

            Celia tugged on a random watcher’s shoulder and asked, “Excuse me, but what’s going on in this city?”

            “Are you new here or what?” the character asked Celia, “Argund hosts the most amazing fights in the world, and they’re all free to watch!”

            A lady beside the character interrupted them by saying, “Well I for one hope that David loses a match.  Too many people die while blindly trying to get into that tower for some stupid legend about a wish.  Plus David is a bloody perverted cheat.”

            Koichi looked at the two strangers and asked, “The tower?  You mean that guy up there, David, is the guardian of the tower?”

            “Yeah.  Did you plan on trying to enter, too?”  The man asked.

            “That’s why I was told to come here.  My friend is sick and we came here to wish for a cure.” Koichi told them.

            “Bah, go find a good doctor.  That’s all you need.” The man said, blowing them off.

            Koichi was stunned for a moment, but soon the two walked away from the two strangers to mind their own business.  They found an open table to watch the fights from and relaxed after their long travel.

            The announcer tapped his microphone several times and then cleared his throat and said, “Yes, ladies and gentlemen!  Another night of fights!  I am your announcer, V-Man, and tonight’s first opponent will be a stranger from God knows where.  This will be his third and final attempt to defeat the champion in hopes of entering the Tower of Ascension, so let’s hear it for Dunshi!”

            A small opening appeared in the surface of the arena on the side opposite of where David stood.  From within rose an elevator pad carrying a man with black skin and long grey fur coating his body.  He wore a trench coat and was covered in ammunition.  Dunshi carried heavy guns in both hands, and as his eyes met David’s he let out a sneer of both determination and anxiety.

            “Wow, brah.” David said in sarcastic amaze, “I nevah knew ya were into gun play.  Well, at least not in our last two fights.”

            “Grawr, I came here to win this fight.” Dunshi snarled with a slight stutter, “It’s an anything goes fight, and I intend to win it.  Anything goes.”

            He let out a loud roar and began shooting his guns rapidly out into the audience, but a magical field emitted from the arena borders blocked the bullets from harming anything outside.

            “Foul play doesn’t pay, brah.” David said as he shook his finger at Dunshi.

            “It looks like Dunshi brought some new toys to play with in tonight’s match, folks, but does that mean that this competitor has become any stronger since his first two fights?” V-Man called out, “Let’s find out!”

            The ground shook around the arena, and another opening appeared to the side of the ring.  This was a long rectangular opening that revealed a large display that everyone in the arena could see.  Across the board it stated “Experience Levels” along with the names of the two fighters.  On the left side it showed Dunshi with the number six under his name, and on the right side it showed David.  However under David’s side there showed a number that kept changing randomly between one and twenty-five.  David looked up at the board and shook his head in disappointment, and half of the crowd began to laugh at Dunshi.

            David shrugged his shoulders and asked, “The hell were you up to the last week, brah?  You’re getting weaker.”

            V-Man pounded his desk and called out, “Oh man, Dunshi dropped from level seven to level six!  How does he plan on winning against David’s unknown level of power?”

            “Shut up!” Dunshi called out.  He ripped off a grenade from inside his coat and shouted, “All I need is one of these and I’ll be on my way to an explosive victory of riches!”

            Without any further hesitation, and fear of Dunshi blowing himself up before the match began, V-Man called out, “Let the match begin now!”

            As the fight call was pressed, Dunshi leaned back with the grenade in hand and prepared to throw it towards David.  On the other side of the ring David watched Dunshi move, and at the same time he removed his coat of scales and chains, tossing it to the side with his helmet.  Under the coat he only wore a green light fabric tank top and black pants.  Before Dunshi was able to throw his grenade he felt a heavy rush of wind pass by him, and he noticed David was no longer in front of him, but behind him holding his hand.

            “Oh shit, not again.” Dunshi cried.

            Celia looked back and forth around the arena at first, but when she finally caught sight of David’s position she exclaimed, “Wow!  That was too fast!”

            “Yeah, I haven’t seen anyone go that fast before.  Not even Ryan!” Koichi explained.

            “Let me give you a hand, brah.” David told Dunshi.

            Dunshi cried and tried to resist, but he was no match for David’s hold over his hand.  A loud crack was heard from the arena as David twisted the hairy fighter’s hand off into a right angle.  The champion then took the grenade from Dunshi’s hand and threw it up into the air where it exploded over them.  The crowd went wild with cheers as the area lit up in sparkles and smoke from the explosion.

            David looked directly at Dunshi and smiled as if he were playing with him.  He spun around behind Dunshi and kicked him away into the side of the arena where the barrier bounced him back off.  As soon as Dunshi regained control over his body he panicked and began rapidly firing at David with his free and able hand.  A rain of bullets sprayed over the ground towards the champion as Dunshi attempted his assault.  Instead of dodging the rain of bullets, David instead began a swift charge through the line of fire into point blank firing range.  He covered his face with his arms, allowing the bullets to break into his body and limbs, and when he came into range he slammed his body into Dushi and pushed him into the barrier again.

            “Now!  This is the end!” David called out as he hopped back several steps.  He pulled back his right arm back and shouted, “Split Punch!”

            He thrust his fist forward into Dushi’s chest, and upon impact his fist shot through the man’s chest.  David held Dushi’s torn heart in his hand through the other side and slowly pulled out from the corpse to show the audience.  He walked away to the center of the arena with the heart in his hand up high.  As Dushi’s body hit the floor it exploded with the power of the remaining bombs.  The flames and shrapnel lightly grazed David’s skin, and as the fires burned bright in the arena David tossed the heart back to Dushi.

            “You had your chance to live.” David told the spirit leaving the flames.

            The champion began to squat for a moment, and as he relaxed every bullet that his body absorbed began to leak out from his body.  He then stood upright with a smile and waved a victory sign with his fingers.  The whole arena burst out in an even louder cheer, causing Koichi and Celia to cover their ears to keep from going deaf.

            “And there you have it, folks!  A deathblow by David’s amazing damage-converting attack, the Split Punch!” V-Man exclaimed.

            Koichi watched David walk away from the center of the arena and thought, “So that’s just a piece of what I’ll have to fight to get in the tower.  I should have known that the guardian of the tower was a Guardian.”

            Before David disappeared from the path from the stage he turned around and looked directly at Celia.  When Celia noticed he was there looking at her, David sent her a sparkling smile and a wink.  As soon as the message was sent and received, the champion turned and disappeared from the arena.

            “Ladies and gentlemen, before we move on to the next match we would like to have a brief intermission to clear the arena.” V-Man told the audience, “We will be back in thirty minutes with the next challenger.”

            The crowd began to stir and shift around the arena once the intermission was called.  Some people departed for their homes for the night while others simply went to the concession stands for snacks and drinks.  A few groups of people even ran out towards the building where David had disappeared to in search for collectable fan gifts and special chats.

            Koichi stood soon after the call was made and told Celia, “Let’s go find that guy and get me signed up.”

            As Celia followed Koichi up the steps following David’s trail she asked, “You still want to fight him after seeing what he did to that hairy guy back there?”

            Koichi shrugged and said, “One of us needs to do it so we can find out what’s wrong with you, and I don’t think you’re in the condition to do it in.” As the two arrived at the door, Koichi placed his hand on the handle but did not open it for a moment, but he said, “I will learn how this all works out first and try from there.  If it’s that bad then I’m sure there’s another way to go about all this.”

            Before Koichi could open the door to the registration building several ladies burst out from within as if they were a careless stampede, slamming the door into Koichi and pushing him to the side.

            “What a bunch of pigs!” one lady complained.

            “Yeah.  To think that only the suicidal maniacs are allowed to go back and personally meet David.” Another complained.

            Koichi backed away from the closing door and shook his head.

            “The people of this world can be rather inconsiderate.” Koichi mumbled.

            He turned around and entered the building with Celia following him.  They entered a long dark room with neon lights and pictures on both long walls.  One wall was marked as “The Hall of Fame” while the wall opposite to it was marked as “The Hall of Shame (losers)”.  The pictures spread over the Hall of Fame wall showed fighters who showed excellent spirits and matches, according to what the text said underneath the pictures.  The Hall of Shame on the other hand showed pictures of fighters who showed just the opposite.  All pictures had included the time of fights and the number of matches held.  Not all fighters on the Hall of Fame had very high experience level ratings, and not all fighters on the Hall of Shame had very low ratings either.

            A man in a uniform entered the room as Koichi and Celia walked through it.  He carried a picture frame in his hands, and he removed one of the pictures on the Hall of Shame wall to place the picture he carried at.  The two caught glimpse of the picture as they passed by the man and saw it was a picture of Dunshi.  Under the comments area the author had written “Experience level 7… 6”

            The worker shook his head and mumbled, “Biggest idiot ever.”

            Koichi took the moment to stop and ask the man, “Hey, can you tell me how to sign up for those fights?”

            “What?  You’re asking me? (Man, I love this job!)” The man said in excitement.  He pointed down the hall towards a desk in the next room and said, “Tell Julie in the office there about it and she’ll get you signed up.”  Before Koichi was allowed to thank the man or leave, the man turned around and looked at Koichi and exclaimed, “Wow!  You’re all battle ready and stuff!  You got a sword and even a claw glove!  And that cloak you’re wearing makes you look like such a mystical fighter!” He dropped to his knees before Koichi and pleaded, “Oh, you are so awesome!  I’m not worthy!  Please say you really aren’t going to get yourself killed!  I don’t think I could take it after seeing someone like you!”

            “Umm, thanks?” Koichi said as he began to stagger away in slight fear of the employee.  He turned to Celia and whispered, “Let’s get going quickly before he does something we might regret standing around for.”

            The next room was also dark, but not as dim as before, and a purple glow lined the walls all around the room.  The front desk was stationed just to the left of the entry door, and the two were greeted and welcomed as they entered by the janitor, who was working on cleaning up the area to the right of the room where there were couches and other forms of seats..  Bright red letters formed the words “Argund Fighting Arena” on the wall behind the desk, and to the right of the desk was the only other door in the room.  The door was solid and locked mechanically through the office desk and other devices behind the door to prevent any illegal trespassing.

            Koichi looked at the lady at the desk, who was looking through files on her computer and listening to music through a set of headphones, and said, “Excuse me, Julie?” He looked down at the name block on the desk to confirm her name, then looked back at Julie and said, “I’m here to join this fighting event.  I need information.”

            Julie only continued to listen to her music and play games over her computer.  Celia looked at the janitor, whose nametag read “Roseanne”, and noticed the lady roll her eyes at Koichi’s attempt to wake Julie.  Soon Koichi placed his hand on the front of Julie’s desk and tapped lightly and tried again.

            “Excuse me?  Can we get some help here?” Koichi asked as he tapped his hand on the desk.  He sighed and turned around as he thought, “This world is too complicated for me.”  He shook his head in disappointment and turned around again to Julie, slammed his fist into the desk, and yelled, “I want some information now!”

            The punch shook the desk and everything on it, tipping over pictures and cups, and the impact let out a loud thump.  Julie fell back from her chair, ripping her headphones out from the computer jack.  The whole room’s attention soon turned to center around Koichi.

            “You overdid it, Koichi!” Celia exclaimed.

            “Those were expensive headphones, you know!” Julie cried.  She stood up and asked, “What do you need?”

            “I just need to sign up to fight in the arena.” Koichi told the lady.

            Julie gave Koichi a stubborn look, but soon reached into her desk and removed several forms, then gave the man what he wanted and said, “Here’s your damn paperwork.” She ran her hand down the front form and said, “This here states that if you die its your own damn fault and that you acknowledge by signing on the line below that we are not cold blooded killers.” She flipped through the other forms and said, “These other pages describe what we do and how the process works.  But you’ll have most things explained to you when you’re given the walk through with the champion.”

            “Julie!” A fancy voice came through an intercom, “We have important guests at the front, and I see you haven’t been the best, so you’d bettah shape up yer act or I’ll do somethin ‘bout it.”

            Julie jumped again and said, “Yes, David, sir!”

            “Right.  Well, I’m coming out to meet them.” David informed Julie.

            Julie looked up at Koichi and Celia and asked, “Who are you all?  I’ve never seen you around here before.”

            Celia waved her hand and sarcastically said, “We’re e-friends.”

            Koichi sat down in the back and began reading each form carefully.  The contents explained that the arena fights were held for people wanting to gain access to the Tower of Ascension.  It described the rumors about how inside the tower carried a key to wish that many sought for greatness.  Everyone who signed up for their attempts at entering the tower was given three chances to fight David, the champion, and if any fighter were to ever defeat him they would be granted entry at the time of their request.  If any fighters were to fail after their third and final attempt, David would be responsible to kill them to end the match.  The papers explained that the reason for this is to prevent any further attempts at the tower by foolish greed.  However any fighters were able to leave the arena and cease their attempts at the tower at any time before the third match to spare their lives.  Further to the back of the forms described how fighters who signed up to fight David in the arena would be given an “End of Life” treatment in luxury living quarters until they either died or left the arena.

            As Koichi finished reading the paperwork and signed at the line, David appeared through the locked door next to Julie’s desk.

            “Nucheka!” David exclaimed with his arms wide open, walking towards Celia, “How ya been lately?  Ya look different.  Didja die?”

            Celia shook her head at David and said, “I’m sorry.  I really don’t know what you mean.  What is Nucheka?”

            “Maybe that’s your Guardian name?” Koichi suggested.

            David nodded and said, “Yeah brah, that’s right.”  He leaned forward and rubbed Koichi’s head and asked, “How didja know she was a Guardian?”

            “How did you know she was a Guardian?” Koichi asked.

            “Oh, I get it now.” David said.  He leaned back and explained, “Guardians just give off a unique aura, y’know?  It radiates differently than other humanoids on this planet.”  He let out a sly smile and said, “And I could never forget a pretty like Nucheka, no mattah how many times she’s died.”

            Koichi stood up and said, “You’re a Guardian, too, aren’t you?  Celia was founded and raised for a few days as a princess, but her healing powers were very well known.  I was the head guard of the castle she was raised in, so I was placed under the authority to protect her.”

            David rubbed his chin and said, “Really?  Then your memory hasn’t quite returned yet.”

            “It hasn’t returned anything at all.” Celia told him.

            “Ah, so you must have forgotten all about Zareon then, eh?” David said with a curly smile to follow.

            The comment about Zareon immediately pulled the travelers’ attentions, and Koichi asked, “We’ve heard of Zareon.  We keep hearing about him.”

            “First it was with that rock Guardian guy at Fonan`Kal, and then when we met Ryan he called Joel that name, and then we found Ro-Ten again he was still moaning about Zareon.” Celia explained to David.

            “I see.” David said with a nod.  He scratched his head and said, “Well it’s probably best that I nevah said nut’n about it, brah, but I guess it’s too late now.”  David sat down and explained, “See, Zareon was the third strongest Guardian alive, and he was a very ruthless killing machine with heavy ambitions.  He liked to play with other Guardians in a cruel way and eventually just killed them all.  Called us all weaklings.  Then there was Nucheka, Guardian of Nature.  She was a pretty average Guardian, powah-wise, and she attracted what affection Zareon had.  Seemed t’like her a lot, but she was on the wary side.  When Zareon heard about Lyz and Euzhacho having Guardlings and the effects on Lyz, Zareon wanted to gain Nucheka’s ultimate affection by having her fall in love with him and making her as strong as him.  This way she wouldn’t fit in with all the other people Zareon kept calling weaklings.  He went and worked at her constantly, but Euzhacho soon found out about his intentions and went to put Zareon to his first death.  He wasn’t gonna allow him to create another of what he wanted to call freak, but after Euzhacho finished Zareon off Nucheka didn’t seem the same anymore.”

            “That must be why she put herself to death and created Celia.” Koichi said.

            Celia shook her head and said, “But I remember Ryan told me that Euzhacho and Zareon came together to fight in a test of skill to see who was better.”

            David shook his finger at Celia and said, “Two sides to every story.  Susalini nevah heard it from the source.”

            “It’s time to fight, sir!” Julie called out to David.

            David stood up quickly and said, “Well, it was nice talkin with ya, brah, but I got work to do.”

            Koichi handed David his paperwork and said, “Wait.  I want to fight.  It’s to help cure Celia’s sick condition, we hope.”

            David stopped before he went too far and turned around to Koichi and Celia again.  He looked at Celia very closely, squinting his eyes, but in the end he shrugged his shoulders.

            “Very rare that any sickness can penetrate a Guardian, brah.” David told them, “Honestly I couldn’t tell ya.”

            Koichi looked down at Celia, then at David and said, “Then I’m going to fight to get into that tower and cure her.”

            David presented Koichi with a sly grin.  He turned to Julie and hit her desk to get her attention again.

            “Julie, call V-Man and tell him tah hold the next fighter off for a newcomer.” David told her.  He looked back at Koichi and said, “Follow me, brah.  We’ll have some fun for a while.”

David directed the two back to the arena where the crowd waited for his return.  He stopped Celia at the arena border line and had her wait at a spectator table.  He then set Koichi on one end of the arena and then turned for his own position.  David nodded and waved at Koichi from his side, and as the crowd began stirring with energy, craving for action, he turned around and shifted focus to waving at the people.

“Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen!  This is your announcer, V-Man!” V-Man exclaimed through the speakers, “Our second match has actually been pushed back for a special new fighter that just joined the ranks.  Give a warm arena welcome to Koichi the wanderer!”

The crowd roared and clapped for Koichi as V-Man introduced him, and Koichi stood as tall as an ant could, brave but small, in the middle of hundreds of people.  The young warrior tried not to let the pressure get to him and make him nervous.  He knew that if he let the noise irritate him that he would lose focus on his fight and lose for sure, if he ever had a chance at winning.  Koichi swallowed everything he had building up against him and shifted into his fighting stance.

“As we all know, all fights are anything goes.  That means the newcomer is welcome to use the sword and claw he has equipped.” V-Man announced, “He is also allowed to leave the arena and forfeit the match at any time, but will he chose to stay and fight until the bitter death?  Will he leave before dying and live for another day?  Or will he be the one who takes down our champion?”  V-Man paused for a moment to let the crowd go wild and then said, “Before we let Koichi begin his first round let’s see how high his experience level is!”

The display over the arena showed Koichi’s name, and under his name it displayed the number eleven.  David’s number still changed randomly between one and twenty-five in an imitating fashion.  The crowd gasped in amaze at Koichi’s rating and then cheered him on even more.

“Well, well!  Level eleven!  That, ladies and gentlemen, is the highest level we have ever seen in the arena!” V-Man exclaimed.

“Impressive, brah.” David called out to Koichi.  He positioned himself into a fighting stance of his own, indicating that he was going to put out some effort, or plainly show off, and said, “Let’s see what you’re made of.”

“Let’s wait no longer, folks!  So let the match begin!” V-Man exclaimed, moving his hand for the fight bell.

The bell let out a loud, echoing ring through the arena, but Koichi did not make a first move.  He was locked into a stare down with David to see who would make the first move so the other could calculate the next to counterattack.  The crowd slowly went silent in suspense of the moment.  Koichi suddenly felt like he had stiff knees as everyone expected him to fight and lose, but he would not easily let his chance at victory go.  He looked down at his now-shaking legs and tried to keep them steady.

“Feeling alright, brah?” Koichi heard David’s voice next to him.

In the moment Koichi had looked away from David he managed to swiftly sneak up right next to the young warrior.  Koichi stumbled forward, away from David, and he turned around to face the champion once more.  He felt that he was already losing the fight without it truly beginning.

How will the fight turn out?  Will Koichi win or lose?  Will he die or move on in his life?  These small, but incredibly large questions stand for the length of Koichi’s arena fighting terms.

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