(Written by Yuri)
Chapter 1: Training
Coincidentally enough, this story began much as any warrior-based story almost always starts - with training.
Unlike other stories, however, this one starts inside a hyperbolic time chamber. A chamber which, according to various people, can extend a moment in time to an eternity's length. Many warriors all over the universe have used places such as these to power themselves up to never-before-reached heights, and even beyond that at times.
As it turned out, this particular chamber would be used by many warriors, and it all started with a man by the name of Scloud, who was really only concerned with his own training. So concerned, in fact, that he ended up almost completely ignoring the questions of the boy who walked in--the son of the man who owned the place. His name was Nori.
Soon after that, a third man entered the chamber. Alykoth, who had stumbled upon the place purely by chance, journeyed through the twists, turns, menus, and commands to get to the actual chamber itself, where he was greeted by the young boy. Unlike Scloud, Alykoth fully noticed the young boy, and had every intention of making sure the boy noticed his.
The two battled in 20x gravity, which was not an effort for either warrior. Alykoth, however, had the upper hand in almost every sense of the word, and took full advantage of it with a single attack that trapped the young boy in a small bubble, and almost destroying the boy outright.
Needing information from the boy, however, Alykoth healed the defeated warrior, and the boy, albeit slightly dazed, was more than willing to comply to the questions.
What he did not expect to find out, however, was that the boy's father was involved in the War long, long ago.
Before he could continue asking questions, however, the boy rushed back into the house to check on his mother.
More seriously, though, he burst in tears over the finality of the news that his father had left the realm of the living. Despite words of reassurance, Nori was inconsolable for long moments as he clung to his mother.
Alykoth, deep in thought, barely noticed the boy and his mother.
Scloud, who had contented himself with training on his own, was having his own mental battle when he exited the hyperbolic time chamber, wondering whether or not SkizZ was truly dead, and how to contact him.
Meanwhile, SkizZ, in the Otherworld, was having a battle of the physical kind, fighting off ice demons. Needless to say, he was quite surprised to hear Scloud's voice ring in his head through telepathy, and with the frustration of the battle he was having with the ice demons, he was at the brink of his patience.
However, with Scloud being his son's godfather, there wasn't much else he could say, except to ask for help. Without his presence, his son and wife were in danger, and he needed someone to protect them.
Scloud wasn't too happy about doing it, but reluctantly agreed, and stayed put at the time chamber to watch over Nori and his mother. He had other things in mind, however, than just sitting around doing nothing, and it involved fighting.
Using the excuse that SkizZ wouldn't want his son to grow up being a pathetic weakling, Scloud dragged Nori into a series of training fights, in order to build the boy up. Of course, yet again Nori was outclassed in every sense of the word, and had to make more than one stop at the healing chamber to recuperate.
Amidst all the chaos of everyone complaining about Scloud's treatment towards the boy, nobody noticed at first the arrival of the next warrior--SkizZ. After almost half a year, he had returned home to his wife and son.
During the joyous reunion of SkizZ with his fellow friends and family members, Alykoth experienced his own set of feelings, and teleported away when no one else was looking.
However, the reunion soon turned sour, as SkizZ and his wife, Amaya, began to bicker. Meanwhile, Zack, another warrior training in the chamber, took off to his own devices for awhile before returning with someone else, named Tyreth.
And as they began to plan the coming home party for him, SkizZ began scouting for his own party--a ten vs. ten battle royale. Zack and Tyreth, the first two invited, gladly accepted. Ra'Keth, the next newcomer to the house, also accepted.
More and more fighters began to appear, answering the call of SkizZ's worldwide commercial to join his "coming home" party. Bryce and J-Bomb were the first arrivals; soon following them were Indigo, Kenu, Thornet, and others. With their arrival, the party was officially underway, complete with music, food, and friendly chit-chat between the people who knew each other.
SkizZ, however, had no such notion of sitting around just eating food, and made the announcement for everyone to go to the back yard.
The teams were almost set by that time, with new arrivals quickly filling in the slots for both teams, 8 on each side: SkizZ, Nori, Omen, Phalluce, Ra'Keth, Thornet, Kenu, and Zechariah were facing Indigo, Shino, Zetsuei, Hiei, Osirus, PsionBryce, Tyreth, and Scloud. Late arrivals joined afterwards--Shadole and Serenade joined up with the teams, making them 9 against 9.
The battle was beginning.
Chapter 2: First Blood
As it turned out, the first battle was a battle between Tyreth and Zack. While their teammates discussed casually or cheered the warriors on, the two were deadlocked in a heated battle. Each one gave and took their fair share of blows, both physical and otherwise, and each had their own fair share of surprises. The other warriors were in simple amazement as punch after punch, kick after kick, and blast after blast were exchanged between the two warriors.
However, as the battle progressed, Tyreth began to show the upper hand, launching himself into SSJ2, a full power level above Zack. As long as the power levels were unbalanced like this, Tyreth was slowly, but surely, proving himself to be the stronger fighter. The fight soon progressed to a grapple match, each one trying to get an unbreakable hold on the other--a match that suited Zack better, as brute force wasn't always the winning factor in grappling moves.
After awhile, however, Zack proved to hold his own, and the fighting duo exhausted their energy supplies. In a common-interest decision, chose to call a momentary truce in order to recharge.
The team leaders took it in their own hands to up the ante. Using secret words to summon their own team to the front, the war was officially past a one vs. one fight. Now, everyone was involved.
Memories were vague at this point, as the adrenaline rushed through all the warriors, but it was agreed that SkizZ started the onslaught by attacking Hiei. Soon after, both teams threw themselves in the fray, sometimes fighting solo with another, sometimes double-teaming each other for easier battling.
The fight began as more of a mixture of a street fight than anything else--Hiei attacked SkizZ, only to find that Thornet was holding him back from behind; he, in turn, was attacked by Bryce. The cycle continued for the fighters after that, each warrior trying to help out a teammate in one way or another, and as it stood, the battle would probably never end. It almost seemed as if the only way to take someone out of the battle was if an attack K.O.'d someone outright, or at least close to it.
Of course, with two teams of competent fighters, it wouldn't be hard to accomplish that.
SkizZ was the first one to throw a wide-affecting attack, blasting a flamed X into the ground where everyone was fighting, shattering the ground from underneath them. Alykoth continued the trend, powering up and sending lightning bolts streaking across the battlefield.
Even warriors that weren't already decided upon at the beginning joined in. Shino, who had arrived long ago only to find out that he was too late to battle, joined in anyways, helping Indigo with his opponent. Meanwhile, two of the fighters--Shadole and Serenade--were not battling at all by this point, instead observing the battle together, even though they were on opposite sides.
The battle was flaring up in intensity, and soon, the elite and the average would be separated.
Chapter 3: As They Begin to Fall...
Tyreth was the first to take heavy damage; Ra'Keth blindsided him from the side and knocked the man to the ground, the fight taken out of the Saiyan for the time being.
Meanwhile, a dramatic fight was being fought between JBomb and Zack. Bryce and Kenu jumped into the fray soon after, making it a steady two-on-two power matchup, with Bryce taking JBomb's side and the two Saiyans forming their own team. The battle soon escalated to an all-out brawl, where everyone was powering up to their max as they tried to gain the upper hand.
JBomb and Bryce were proving themselves to be more than a match for their opponents, mainly because of JBomb's sword and chains. In a daring move, however, JBomb tossed his weapons aside, choosing instead to take the path of an honorable fight and use only his own power.
Tyreth, the downed fighter, also joined their battle with an attack of his own, completely taking Kenu by surprise. As it stood, however, Tyreth knew when he was outmatched, and quickly stopped any thoughts of continuing the battle. He chose instead to wait for a better chance.
However, the first kill originated from a completely different area--Thornet, taken completely by surprise by Hiei, was petrified and shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces with a well-placed strike. Team 1 was down a member. Soon after that, Scloud's health dropped dramatically low in his own battle, and was immediately transported to the infirmary.
In the meantime, during the battle, Shadole and Serenade, who had so far observed the battle, disappeared by their own choice.
It was now 8 vs. 8.
Chapter 4: Attack!
The battle was escalating as more and more people were dropping out of the tournament. Power levels were escalating; targets were switching on the fly, worrying more about what opponent was available for an easy strike than what warrior was fighting them.
Ra'Keth was fighting Tyreth, trying to eliminate the man. JBomb and Bryce were still locked in heated battle with Kenu and Zack. Shuno was trying to fight Hiei, while at the same time Hiei and Indigo were battling SkizZ. Everyone else was either jumping around from fighter to fighter, or taking their time to power up for their own techniques.
Ra'Keth, however, felt no need for anyone to be left out of the battle any longer, and took things in his own initiative, unleashing a devastating attack that affected everyone. Zack chose to add his energy to the blast by firing one of his own, and soon after, others followed. The room began to light up in a bright flash of multiple attacks.
Zetsuei and Phalluce were eliminated instantly from this attack. Tyreth and Zack fell soon afterwards with follow-up attacks. Everyone else was thrown like ragdolls either to the side or upwards, and reacted in their own ways to counter the attack.
The teams were now shortened down to 6 on each side, and during this time, a respite was to be found in the form of something way out in left field--team huddles.
It turned out that the plan for the two teams was nothing more than everyone picking a man and taking him out. SkizZ and Indigo, the team leaders, were fighting; Nori and Osirus, Omen and Bryce, Ra'Keth and Hiei, Kenu and JBomb, Shuno and Shino were the remaining pairs.
It suited most of the warriors, however, to fight like this; no longer were they fighting a street fight. It was now all about fighting the opponent one on one, without interruptions.
Needless to say, the battles were fierce. However, new arrivals again entered the fray. Alykoth entered to help his friend Ra'Keth, while SkizZ summoned two androids--SyxX and Ness--to help him. Another man, Dante, entered the fray purely of his own will.
The androids, however, didn't last very long, and were soon taken out.
Moments later, Team 1's leader, SkizZ, was defeated by Dante, the newcomer.
In response, however, Gokan, ANOTHER new arrival, came in to help out.
After another set of furious battles by the fighters, the next to fall was JBomb, who had been surprised from behind and paralyzed, making Kenu the winner out of the two of them. The battle that started from nearly the beginning of the war was now over between the two of them.
Indigo was busy unleashing his own devastating attack, shooting waves of missiles at most of the warriors; most of the warriors dodged or countered this one, however, with Shino's counter being the most effective and breaking Indigo's weapon.
Meanwhile, Alykoth was unleashing his own attack against Shino in return, and eliminated the man in a rather short amount of time.
With the fighters dwindling down, and the fight raging on stronger than ever, it would take a lot of force to take out any of the remaining team members.
Chapter 5: The Finishing Touch
The fighters were unleashing everything they had in their arsenal to take down their opponents now. Everyone was unleashing everything they had against one another, and little by little, everyone was beginning to wear down.
Shuno was the next opponent to be eliminated, as Ra'Keth unleashed his attack for the second time--the very same attack that eliminated so many people the last time. Bryce, the actual target of the blast, was also eliminated.
Another tragic thing was happening to another fighter. Gokan, who had powered up using advanced levels of transformations to keep up with his opponent, Drakkar, was losing power as his transformations began to fade.
Drakkar, taking the advantage, let loose a major blast towards Gokan and the rest of the fighters; in response, Gokan unleashed a blast of his own. However, coincidentally enough, Dante's attack absorbed Gokan's, nearly doubling in size and strength. As a result, Gokan was eliminated.
The teams were now down to five--Kenu and Omen for Team 1, and Drakkar, Indigo, and Hiei.
At least, that's how it stood before Indigo ripped Omen apart with a devastating attack.
Kenu was on his own, now. In a move purely consisting of desperation, he lunged at Drakkar with his sword, using his flames from earlier to paralyze his opponent.
The attack succeeded, and Drakkar was eliminated. Team 1 might have a chance.
Sadly, however, it was not meant to be. Hiei, using the opportunity given to him by the opening in Kenu's attack, eliminated the remaining member from Team 1 with a quick slice to the throat.
It was now just Hiei and Indigo. Team 2 was victorious.
However, Hiei had other things in mind, and confronted Indigo. It seemed the war wasn't just about making a certain team win; now it was a matter of which PERSON was best as well.
Indigo was all too happy to comply, and launched into the battle.
The meeting was intense. Strike after strike was delivered with an intensity that rivaled any battle ever created on the entire planet in history. Each blow that connected was powerful enough to kill, and yet, none of them did.
Ironically enough, however, Hiei won by technicality, as Indigo volunteered to lose, and forfeited.
Hiei was officially the "winner" of the War.