by Jamie L. Word
"The First Round Concludes"
Kien, now a giant Nameccian the size of a Saiyan in his Oozaru state, flew at Tao, catching his fellow green-skinned fighter by surprise! Kien hammered Tao with a punch to the face, bruising Tao's cheek and splitting his lip as it knocked him across the battlefield a great distance! Tao stopped his unplanned flight and wiped the blood off of his face with the back of his fist before assuming a combat ready stance in mid-air!
"Very good!" Tao called out to Kien in admiration. "I can sense that your power level has shot up considerably, and your strength and fighting prowess have improved a bit as well! This will be interesting!"
"You haven't seen anything yet!" Kien shouted back as he assumed a fighting stance. "Let's go!"
The two combatants engaged in a flurry of hand-to-hand techniques once more, dazzling the audience with their incredible speed and skill! Their fighting prowess was so good, that only a couple of the fighters in the rest area could follow their movements: namely Koji and Xarlok!
"Impressive," Koji thought to himself as he admired his fellow gladiators' work in the arena. "Even though Tao's power is still bigger than Kien's, Kien is still determined to win this!"
"Hmmm," Xarlok thought to himself as he watched the fight unfold before him. "One of these fighters will go on to face me in the semi-finals. It will be interesting to see how battered the winner is when he faces me. That Kanassian will be a piece of cake. In the end, it will just be you and me, Koji. Then your debt to me will be paid!"
Xarlok gazed at Koji with a disdainful look on his face for a moment before turning his attention back to the fight! Tao still managed to successfully defend himself against Kien's attacks, and Kien still seemed to be struggling to keep up with Tao! The fight remained intense and fierce!
Tao managed to sidestep a lunging punch by Kien, and this left Kien overextended and extremely vulnerable to counterattack! Tao took advantage of Kien's disadvantageous position by slamming a powerful kick into his midsection that stunned him and knocked the breath out of him! Tao then followed that up with a two-fisted smash across the back, knocking Kien to the ground with a thud! As Kien rose to his feet to continue the fight, Tao seemingly appeared out of nowhere behind him, prompting Kien to turn around to face him! Unfortunately, Tao was still quicker than Kien, and he nailed the giant Nameccian right in the chest with a powerful energy blast that knocked him across the arena! Kien slammed into the far wall, making a large crater there, and slumped to the ground on his hands and knees, breathing heavilly and sweating profusely!
Tao landed across the battlefield from Kien, took a wide stance, tensed every muscle in his body so that every vein in his body bulged, and began his long, drawn-out power-up cry! Instantly, he began to glow, and, seconds later, the sky began to darken slightly, the wind began to howl, and the ground began to tremble slightly! Kien managed to force himself to stand as he grimaced and noted the increasing power of his opponent, and the ground began shaking more strongly as small stones began to rise from the ground! Moments later, the ground began to shake violently, whirlwinds formed on the battlefield, and small rocks began to split, and then Kien began to power-up as well, glowing just like Tao!
Seconds later, huge rocks began erupting out of the ground, the whirlwinds tearing across the battlefield intensified, the sky went dark, and lightning once more danced in the heavens a cellestial ballet for the crowd! Tao aimed both of his hands towards Kien and channeled some of his raised energy into a forming energy sphere in his hands, and Kien responded in kind! The colliseum shook under the pressure from the power the two green gladiators were generating!
Then, both fighters' power-up cries soared simultaneously to a crescendo as they fired their powerful blasts at each other! Both blasts met in the middle of the battlefield and began pushing against each other, but Tao's blast began driving Kien's blast back just a few inches at a time in the early moments of the clash! Within moments, both fighters began pumping more of their incredible energy into their attacks, and Tao's blast began pushing Kien's blast back much more quickly at that point!
"It's unreal!" Kien thought to himself as he grimaced in the strain of desperately trying to fend off Tao's powerful attack. "Even in my giant Nameccian form, I can't generate as much power as he can, and he can raise the energy much faster than I can as well! He's going to overtake me! My only hope is to try to withstand the blast, maybe deflect it somehow! I can't win this clash of energy blasts against him! He's too powerful!"
"This Nameccian is really amazing!" Tao thought to himself as he pressed his advantage. "His fierce determination and courage are quite impressive! Any other warrior would have thrown in the towel by now!"
At that moment, Kien stopped firing his blast into Tao's and crossed his forearms in front of his face to shield himself from the blast! Tao's blast slammed into him like a runaway train, driving him backwards into the far wall once again! This time, Kien's body almost brought the wall down when it slammed into it, and he reverted to his normal state as he crumpled to the ground motionless! For several seconds, everyone watched the Nameccian's limp, prone form for signs of life!
Tao, Koji, and Hirato seemed pleased, but everyone else was still stunned by what they saw. After a few seconds, the onlookers noted that Kien was still breathing, that he was only unconscious.
"Well, that takes care of that!" the announcer shouted into his microphone. "Kien has been knocked out, and that means Tao is one his way to the finals! We'll take a few minutes for our maintainance crew to repair the damage from this fight, and then we'll continue with the action in the final first round match-up! Don't you go anywhere, folks!"
"It would be truly an honor to fight someone the caliber of Tao," Koji thought to himself, impressed by the green warrior's power and skill.
"It looks like this guy's unlucky victim number two in my path towards that filthy Saiyan," Xarlok thought to himself with a sinister grin. "These fools have no idea what they're up against! It's a shame to have to destroy two fighters I have no grudge against just to get my hands on that filthy monkey, but you have to break a few eggs if you want to make an omelet!"
Minutes later, Xarlok and Hirato stood in the newly repaired battlefield, and the crowd was excited once again. Xarlok still had his hooded cloak on, still concealing his features. Both fighters were engaged in a pre-fight staredown. Xarlok smiled evilly, and Hirato smiled a knowing smile.
"And so it begins," Hirato thought to himself as he looked into Xarlok's eyes from so far away. "The beginning of the end is at hand."
"This is the last of our first round matches!" the announcer shouted as the crowd was eager for the fight to begin. "Representing the Kanassian people, he is another newcomer to this arena! Please, make welcome Hirato!"
The crowd gave a modest cheer for the fish-like fighter, and his knowing smile continued still.
"His opponent is a real mystery!" the announcer proclaimed. "He wouldn't tell us much about himself at all, but we all saw him storm effortlessly through a few exhibition matches and the qualifying bout just to get here! Let's give it up for the mighty Xarlok!"
The crowd gave Xarlok a healthy reception, and the mysterious fighter continued to smile sinisterly as he glared at the Kanassian.
"It is now time to get this fight under way!" the announcer shouted to the cheers of the fans. "Fighters, go to it!"
"I'm feeling generous today," Xarlok informed Hirato with his confidence on display. "I think I'll let you make the first move."
"As you wish," Hirato replied as he tensed his body for battle and grinned in response to Xarlok's statement.
Hirato took a wide stance and powered-up, glowing as small stones began rising from the ground, the sky darkened, the wind began to howl, and the ground began to shake! The entire power-up lasted a bit longer than half-a-minute, and the all of the power-up effects subsided as Hirato looked pumped!
"I am now at my maximum!" the Kanassian shouted at Xarlok, poised to begin the fight. "I hope you're ready!"
"You honestly mean to tell me that this is the best you can do?" Xarlok taunted in supreme arrogance, still not removing his hooded cloak. "All that drama, and here I was expecting a fight!"
Hirato flew at Xarlok with great speed, but his punch never found the mark! Xarlok's speed was uncanny as he caught the Kanassian's fist in one hand and punched him in the stomach with the other, causing the Kanassian to be doubled over as he spit out blood from the impact of the punch! Xarlok laughed as he then released the Kanassian's fist and placed a finger under his chin to hold him up!
"What's the matter, Kanassian?" Xarlok taunted as he chuckled at his opponent's plight. "I thought your ability to see the future and read minds would've warned you about me. I guess your reception is a bit on the fritz, eh? All this bad weather knocked out your reception, did it?"
"What?!?" Hirato gasped wide-eyed in disbelief at Xarlok's comments. "H-how did ... you know?"
"Why don't you read my mind and find out," Xarlok taunted in what seemed to be a dare.
Hirato grabbed Xarlok by the head, knocking his hood off and revealing the head of a Changeling who very much resembled Tarboz and Frieza! This sight sent shock waves through all the onlookers, and Hirato released Xarlok's head in shock and terror, prompting the evil fiend to laugh even more!
"I really didn't want to destroy you without you first getting to know your fate was written in destiny the moment you walked out here with me," Xarlok stated with overwhelming arrogance.
"You foul fiend!" Hirato replied as he grimaced in pain, Xarlok's finger still holding him up. "I ... knew the outcome ... of this fight ... from the moment I first ... saw that we would be opponents ... during the drawing!"
"And you still came out here to die anyway?" Xarlok inquired sarcastically as he smiled evilly. "You are a bigger fool than I thought!"
"Really?" the Kanassian replied with a grin. "Well, I've also seen your fate, and it to is written in destiny! Wouldn't you like to know?"
"Shut up, fool!" Xarlok snarled as he fired a finger bolt from the finger holding Hirato up, blowing the Kanassian's head to oblivion.
Everyone gasped as the decapitated fighter crumpled to the ground at the Changeling's feet! Xarlok wiped his feet off on the corpse before returning to the fighters' rest area!
"Well, there you have it," the announcer muttered over the silence of the crowd. "Xarlok is the winner."