12 Day Of The Tournament

Next morning…...Amaya sat up on the bed and stretched her arms up towards the sky.

"Today's the day." Amaya then looked over to Emi who was still asleep.

Amaya thought to herself.

"Should I wake her up and tell her I'm going to head to the tournament? Or….maybe I should just let her sleep."

She then stood up and put her boots on. Amaya walked over to the closet then opened it. She looked at the smooth-looking light-grey cloak that was hanging.

"I think this makes me look kinda cool when I wear it. Good thing I bought this. " Amaya then threw on her cloak and walked over to the door. As she reached for the doorknob a voice came from behind.

"Were you going to leave without me?"

Amaya stopped and slowly turned around. Emi was sitting up on the bed with a sad look on her face.

"When did she wake up!?" Amaya thought to herself.

"You meanie! You were actually planning on leaving me behind?" Emi asked.

Amaya scratched the back of her head.

"ummm...I didn't wanna wake you...but now that you're up you can come too."

Emi jumped off the bed in excitement.

"Yay! I really wanted to see you fight in the tournament. I'll get ready super fast. Emi grabbed her shoes and quickly put them on.

"See, I'm already finished."

Amaya stared at Emi's messy hair.

"Don't you want to brush your hair first?"

"Nah, I'm fine."

She walked over to the door where Amaya was standing.

"You ready?" Amaya asked.

As Emi nodded, Amaya turned to face the door.

"Alright, let's go."

They walked over to Katsu's room and knocked on his door. After a couple of seconds of silence, it slowly opened and Katsu peeked his head out. He was still in his sleeping clothes and looked tired.

"Huh? What do you want?"

"We are supposed to go to the tournament, remember?" Amaya replied.

"Oh, That's right. Give me a second to get ready."

He yawned then shut the door.

After waiting for a while Katsu finally opened the door. He was wearing his trench coat and boots like always. As Katsu walked out he shut the door.

"Let's go."

After leaving the Inn they all walked for quite some time. Katsu was beginning to get tired of walking.

"Do you even know where the tournament is going to be?"

"Of course I do. The paper said it was at the sparring arena at the center of the town. It's a small town, so I'm sure we'll find it in no time." Amaya replied.

Emi held her stomach as it .

"I'm hungry."

"If one of us wins this competition, we'll go get something to eat." said Amaya.

Emi's face filled with joy.

"Really? Yay!"

Katsu had an unsure look on his face.

"I doubt that we'll win. I'm sure there will be skilled fighters and magic users there."

Amaya smiled.

"Well, we are pretty skilled too, aren't we?"

Katsu sighed.

"yeah, I guess."

"You also got that hundred clone skill and that time slowing skill, right?"Amaya asked.

Katsu scratched the back of his head.

"I can use my time slowing skill but.... I'm not really sure it'll be a good Idea to use my hundred clone skill."

"Why not?" Amaya asked.

"Well, I might accidentally kill my opponent if I use that."

"Oh…. yeah, nevermind, don't use it." said Amaya.

"Glad you understand."

Sparring Center…..They had finally arrived. It was a building that was about one-hundred feet tall and two-hundred feet wide. The walls looked sturdy and were silver-colored. In the front, there were two doors that were a dark shade of silver.

Amaya, Katsu and Emi were all surprised.

"This...is a pretty big place." said Amaya.

"Wow! That's big!" Emi shouted.

"Enough admiration, let's go in already," said Katsu.

"R-right." Emi replied.

They all walked towards the building. As they walked In, they noticed a woman dressed in some kind of business suit standing behind a counter.

Amaya thought to herself.

"This is a sparring arena, right? Looks like a business company."

The woman began talking.

"I'm sorry, today the sparring arena is closed due to a tournament going on. If you came to see the tournament then you can purchase your tickets here." said the woman.

Katsu stepped forward.

"We didn't come to see the tournament. We signed up as fighters."

"Oh, you can enter in through these doors right next to me." The woman pointed to another set of doors right next to her and continued.

"They will call out the names of the ten fighters that were accepted. If they don't call your name, don't worry about buying tickets. People who signed up as fighters get to watch for free."

Amaya, Katsu and Emi all walked through the second pair of doors.

As they entered the arena, they realized how huge it was.

There was a giant square drawn by white chalk in the middle to show where the fighting area was. All around there were people sitting in seats. There was a giant billboard with a message written on it.

"Tournament begins in two minutes"

"Looks like we made it just in time." said Amaya.

The message on the board then changed.

"Tournament will start in one minute."

Katsu looked up at the board.

"I guess we'll be seeing if we were accepted to fight or not."

Suddenly, a loud voice filled the arena.

"Hellllooooo, ladies and gentlemen. We are going to start this competition about a minute early. We will now be calling up the fighters that were accepted. For the fighters that did not show up, the position will be given to the next fighter on the list. When I call your name, Walk to the square and stand. Okay. First one, Kazuhiko."

A man with spiky white hair and yellow colored pupils walked over to the square.

The announcer continued "Rock, Raging Thunder, Flash Hands…"

A tall man with big muscles and no shirt stood up. He was wearing a bandana over his eyebrows and had brown short hair, He was Rock. Another man stood up, he had blue-colored pupils and long black hair. The man was wearing a blue-colored coat, black pants and brown boots, he was Raging Thunder. The third man stood up and was wearing a black shirt, black pants, white boots and white gloves. His pupils were brown and he had short grey hair, he was Flash Hands. The three men walked over to the square and stood side to side.

Katsu thought to himself.

"I don't know what arena name Amaya gave me. I just hope it's not dumb."

The announcer called more names "Goro, Taichi, Yuuto, Yuudai..."

A man with short blue hair and brown eyes stood up. He was wearing armor on his chest and forearms and had a wooden sword hanging on his hip. The man had on black pants, light-brown boots, and a black long-sleeved shirt, he was Goro. The second man stood up. He had a grey long-sleeved shirt, brown pants, black boots and leather armor on his forearms. His hair was brown and his pupils were black, he was Taichi. The third man stood up and was dressed like a normal person. He didn't look too tough and had spiky brown hair and black colored eyes,he was Yuuto. The fourth man stood up, he was wearing a grey cloak with a black long-sleeved shirt underneath and a white mask that covered the lower half of his face. He wore black pants, a white belt, white gloves and brown boots. He had glowing green pupils and light-green hair, he was Yuudai. The men walked over to the square as the announcer called the last two names.

"Time for the last two. Dumb Dog and… Amaya."

Amaya shoved Katsu with her elbow to get his attention, then whispered.

"Dumb Dog is what I put for your Arena name."

" I knew it was going to be something dumb." Katsu thought to himself.

They walked over to the square as the announcer continued speaking. "The fights will be picked at random. Now that you are all here, let's get started. For the first fight it's…..Rock versus Yuuto. The rest of you can go sit down and wait for your fights."

Yuuto walked over to one side of the square while Rock walked to the other.

The announcer began counting down "Five….four….three….two….one….fight!"

Rock slowly walked towards Yuuto.

"Give up now, It'll save you the beating."

Yuuto smiled and nervously scratched the back of his head.

"Just, do your best." Rocky Rock got closer and closer.

"Time to lose, small fry." Rock swung his fist him.

Yuuto smiled then quickly moved to the side and swung a kick, hitting Him in the face.

He grunted and took a few steps back.

Rock then thought to himself "This average-looking guy is actually pretty strong... and fast."

He smiled and stood up.

"I guess you're not as weak as you seem, Yuuto. I'm gonna get serious now. You had your chance to give up." Rock looked at the sky and began yelling as his veins began popping out. He then began rushing at Yuuto.

"Dodge this if you can!"

As he swung his fists, Yuuto noticed that his punches were faster than before.

A sweat ran down his face.

"Dash!" Yuuto quickly jumped out of the way.

"Get back here!!"

"Strengthen! Quick Attack!" Yuuto quickly swung his fists at Rock. He was overwhelmed and each hit landed. As Yuuto stopped, there was a couple seconds of silence. Then, Rock fell backwards, unconscious.

Yuuto thought to himself "That was a close match."

"He looked like a normal guy but he seems pretty strong." said Amaya.

"Yeah, he seems like he was trying to avoid using his skills but Rocky Rock pushed him."

The announcer shouted "There you have it! The winner of this match is Yuuto. Time for the second fight. Flash Hands versus Raging Thunder!"

Flash Hands and Raging Thunder stood up and walked to the square.

The announcer started counting down.

"Five….four….three….two….one...fight!"

Raging Thunder quickly held out his hand.

"Electric ice arrows!"

Arrow made of Ice appeared behind him and launched to where Flash Hands was standing. As the arrows hit the ground, Flash Hands was nowhere to be seen. A voice came from directly behind.

"You took too long to cast your spell."

Raging Thunder quickly turned around. One hit, then another. Flash hands threw multiple punches so fast it looked like a blurr. Raging Thunder kneeled down and was breathing heavily. He then stood up and shouted.

"Electric bla-" he was interrupted by being struck in the chest. The impact sent him flying backwards, landing on his back.

Flash Hands continued holding out his foot.

"You were too slow."

"The winner is Flash Hands. Let's move on." The announcer shouted.

Third fight…..Goro rushed at Kazuhiko and rapidly swung the wooden sword as he easily dodged each and every strike.

"You lack technique."

His words angered Goro and he swung the sword at him.

"Fire ball." A ball of fire appeared between them, hitting Goro's face. He fell back, unconscious.

"You have speed but lack technique and experience." said Kazuhiko.

"The winner is Kazuhiko! Time for the fourth fight." said the announcer.

Fourth fight…..Katsu stood on one side of the square. On the other side was Yuudai.

"Fight!" the announcer shouted.

None of them moved. Both Katsu and Yuudai were waiting for each other to strike first. As they intensely stared at each other,Yuudai began speaking.

"Since you're not making the first move I guess I'll have to. Make this an interesting match for me, okay?"

He then kneeled down and placed his hand on the floor. He looked up at Katsu and grinned.

"He's up to something, but what?" Katsu thought to himself.

The ground began shaking and a wall came out of the ground, separating them.

Katsu wore a confused look on his face.

"A wall? But I haven't even started attacking yet."

He then looked up and noticed a green magic circle in the air. The circle bagan glowing as if it was gonna explode. Suddenly, a green beam of light shot out at him.

"Time slow!" Time all around Katsu began moving slow.

"That was close. He made that wall just to distract me."

The wall that once separated Katsu and Yuudai then collapsed.

Yuudai came running at an amazing speed then appeared behind Katsu

Katsu had not noticed yuudai getting closer yet.

"Surprise."

Katsu quickly turned around and swung his sword.

"Quick slash!"

Yuudai quickly jumped , dodging the swing of his sword.

Katsu was shocked.

"He dodged?!"

Yuudai swung his foot down at him. Katsu quickly jumped out of the way as his foot got stuck in the ground.

"Combat enhancement." Yuudai began glowing green then freed his foot from the ground.

Yuudai was faster than before and began running in circles around Katsu. He was overwhelmed and could only see blurry movements.

"He's moving too fast. All I can see are his after images. Time slow!"

Everything around Katsu began moving slow. Katsu turned and looked at Yuudai.

"Flying slash!" He jumped at him and swung his sword across his chest.

The force had pushed Yuudai into the ground.

Amaya looked at them and thought to herself.

"Katsu is overwhelmed but he's still holding his own. Yuudai, I wonder what his stats are."

She looked at Yuudai as he slowly stood up.

(Yuudai: Hp:1,000-292 Mp:787-500 Atk:350+1,000 Speed:250+125 Endurance:579)

"He's faster than Katsu and his attack power is higher than it because he enhanced it with magic."

Yuudai stared at Katsu.

"You think you are so much better than me because you landed a hit, huh? Sorry to break it to you but, this match is already decided. I'm gonna win. Speed boost!"

He moved and was instantly in front of him.

Yuudai swung his fist as Katsu shouted.

"Time slow!" He quickly dcuked and touched the ground.

"Shock spread."

Electricity appeared all around Katsu and began shocking Yuudai. He stood there and couldn't move as Katsu swung his sword at him.

After taking two hits with the sword, Yuudai fell backwards, unconscious.

"The winner is Dumb Dog! Time for the fifth fight, Yuuto versus Amaya." said the announcer.

Amaya stood up as Katsu walked over to her.

"Be careful, your opponent might have a couple tricks up his sleeve. He looks weak but don't let your guard down."

"I'll be fine. There's no way I'm gonna let my guard down." Amaya replied.

Amaya looked over at the square.

"Well, I guess I should go now." She then walked over..

Amaya turned her head and saw her opponent Walking over to the other side of the square. They stood there waiting for the announcer to start the match. Amaya looked around at all the people sitting in the crowd.

She then thought to herself

"There's so many people here. There's way too many people here, it's making me nervous. I've never done anything in front of a crowd before. I'll try not to do anything I'll regret."

The announcer bagan speaking.

"Alright! Get ready! Five...four...three...two...One! Fight!"

Yuuto looked at Amaya and smiled.

"Do your best."

Amaya looked at him and his stats came up.

(Yuuto: Lvl:20 Hp:950 Mp:300 Atk:450 Speed:100 Endurance:85)

"Okay, now what are his skills." Amaya thought to herself.

(Skills: Quick Attack, Awaken, Strengthen, No other skills)

"He doesn't have that many skills but I'm curious what that Awaken skill is."

(Awaken: When your Hp reaches less than 30% then your atk will be doubled. Hp and Mp capacity will be doubled. Speed will be increase and indurance will increase by 10% All changes are permanent. )

"So basically, I'll have to take down the last thirty percent of his health quickly when it's that low. I got his."

Amaya and Yuuto began walking towards each other. The walking turned into running.

"Quick attack!" Yuuto shouted.

"I had a feeling you would do that." Amaya thought to herself.

Yuuto began rapidly swinging his fists as Amaya quickly jumped, dodging the attacks. As she landed, she swung her leg at Yuuto but missed as he ducked.

Yuuto took a deep breath.

"Strengthen."

Amaya jumped out of the way as he swung his fist.

"That's the skill he used against Rocky Rock! Good thing I moved in time."

Amaya then took a fighting stance. Her and Yuuto stared at each other, waiting for one another to make a move.

"He's way faster than me, also stronger. I can't dodge his attacks once he's already launched one. I have to move before he strikes and predict his next move like I've been doing. Just like that one kid at the dojo taught me."

Amaya then remembered a memory from long ago when she was still a kid.

Ten years ago..... Nine-year old Amaya and a kid with blonde spiky hair were sparring in the dojo. Amaya was wearing a whit-belt and He was wearing a black-belt. She threw a punch at him but he ducked and kicked her leg. Amaya fell to the ground.

"Looks like I lost, again."

"You put up a good fight, Amaya." said the kid.

She then slowly stood up off the ground and patted her clothes as dust came off.

"I guess, but you're just so much better and stronger. I don't think I'll ever be strong."

The kid smiled.

"It's not all about being strong and being number one. When I first started I wasn't really all that good myself. Then I came to a realization. If I wanted to become better then I would have to pay close attention to my opponents moves and think at least two moves ahead."

"What made you realize that?" Amaya asked.

"I always wanted to be a martial artist and win some kind of championship. Before my dad passed away, he told me to remember that the mind is the greatest weapon. I thought about it a lot and tried to think how his advice could help me. So now, I move before they get a chance to strike, and I try to predict their next move. So that's the key. If you want to get better and beat me, then use your head and try to predict your opponent's next move.The mind is the greatest weapon."

Amaya was confused about what he meant.

"How am I supposed to know what someone's gonna do? I don't have powers or anything?"

The kid then scratched the back of his head.

"You'll know what I mean when you get older. But for right now, do your best. You got this."

Amaya smiled.

"Thanks, Riku."

The present…. Amaya and Yuuto stared at each other as Amaya thought to herself.

"That's right, I got this. Dash!"

Amaya was suddenly right in front of Yuuto and his eyes quickly widened.

"What!?" He swung his fist at Amaya but missed as she ducked and smiled.

"Penetrate!" She quickly slammed her fist into his chest.

The force of the hit sent him tumbling. A phrase came up in the bottom right corner of her view.

[New skill learned: Fast Tracking]

" I better check the description before Yuuto gets up again."

( Fast Tracking: Allows your eyes to keep up movements of any speed The longer this is used, the more stress is put on your body.)

Yuuto slowly stood up.

"I was not expecting that strong of a hit from you. But this fight isn't over yet."

"I guess It's time to use that new skill, " Amaya thought to herself.

['Fast Tracking' has been activated]

Yuuto ran at Amaya and began swinging his fists.

Left, right, down, Amaya was dodging each and every strike.

"Thanks to that skill, I can somewhat keep up now. He's still really fast, I have to play it smart."

Amaya ducked and kicked at his stomach. He quickly recovered and threw another punch. Amaya crossed her arms to guard herself as the Impact pushed her back.

(Amaya: Hp: 140/365)

"Yup! He's still really fast!" Amaya thought to herself.

Yuuto then shouted.

"Quick attack!"

And began swinging his fists at a steady pace.

A sweat ran down Amaya's cheek.

"Dash!" She quickly moved to the side. Yuuto chased after. One swing, then another. There seemed to be no stop to his attacks. Amaya was barely keeping up.

"I can't keep up for much longer….. His attacks are fast and overwhelming….I'm getting tired…..I'm so overwhelmed...It's making.. me mad."

['Rage' has activated]

Amaya's face darkened and her eyes turned fully white. She ducked and kicked Yuuto's leg. As he fell on his back, Amaya jumped up in the air. As she was falling back down, she swung her fist down at him. He quickly rolled out of the way then jumped to his feet.

Amaya rushed at him and began throwing hits. Yuuto quickly moved side to side and dodged each and every punch.

"I got you now!" He kicked at Amaya, but missed. She weaved to the side and landed a powerful punch on his face, knocking him on his back.

Amaya was breathing heavily. After a couple seconds she had caught her breath.

['Rage' has deactivated]

"Alright, I calmed down."

Her skin and eye color had gone back to normal.

The announcer shouted.

"The winner is Amaya!"