16 Unnamed

Over the next couple of months, a few things around the dojo changed. Kenichi moved in full time so he could be more thoroughly trained by the masters. Carl was quite amused by his antics. The boy was simply smitten with Miu and couldn't help but make a fool of himself regularly. Carl sometimes wished he could conjure popcorn out of nowhere.

So he cheated and made many bags of popcorn that he set near his warehouse entrance. The next few times Kenichi made a spectacle of himself, Carl grabbed the popcorn and handed it out to his senseis while they enjoyed the spectacle.

The next thing Carl would have to do is figure out how to get poster boards prepared with scores and embarrassing judgement calls to wave at Kenichi after his antics were over. Being ranked as a 1/5 failure at attempting to woo Mui would cause Kenichi to make some faces that Carl was sure would be hilarious.

Every two to three weeks Carl would receive an email from Niijima with information on his next target. He would pick up Eiji and his camera and go have a bout. Carl's instructions to Niijima were to not limit his opponents to just unarmed fighters.

So over the two months he had one opponent at a Kendo dojo, one Karate disciple, one Jujutsu, and another street brawler.

After fighting a master level swordswoman, the speed of the disciple class kendo swordsman didn't seem that fast to Carl. The style of kendo his opponent practiced threw Carl for a loop for a while, making it difficult to anticipate the blows. But Carl soon got used to it, and began turning the tide against him.

Carl was amazed once more at how much the laws of this world catered to martial arts. Half a year of training in this world under master class martial artists improved him more than 30 years of amateur practicing on his own in other worlds.

Just a few months of training under a master of blades increased his skill to the point he could take out practioners who had trained for 6 plus years.

The toughest opponent for Carl was the Jujutsu disciple, Hideo. Carl limited his moves to Jujutsu to really test himself out, and it was an uphill battle. Carl loved it.

Miu and Kenichi both had eclectic fighting styles that made use of moves from many different styles, so Carl also used anything goes. But fighting a straight Jujutsu student, Carl limited himself to only Jujutsu. During the match, Carl would finally maneuver Hideo into a hold, only to get reverse joint locked in a moment, and Carl would have to scramble to escape or reverse the hold.

The battle lasted a good 9 minutes, and was exhilarating for both Carl and Hideo. Carl managed to eek out a win, but it was a close thing.

Once the match was over, Hideo accepted his loss with good grace, but took a page out of Might Guy's book and declared that Carl was his eternal rival, and he would be back for a rematch soon.

Carl didn't take his words seriously at first, but he soon found that like clockwork, Hideo would seek him out once every month to have a rematch for the rest of the time he was in the world.

After the third fight in a row that Carl won, he started to gift Hideo with a video copy of each of their fights so he too could review his moves and improve. After that, the matches started getting closer and closer, and sometimes Carl lost, which motivated him to train harder.

The school year ended, and the Ryozanpaku dojo took a trip to their island training. Carl thought it was hilarious how Kenichi thought he would get out of training to go have a vacation on an island.

The boat they took was built by the dojo, and it was powered by peddling with both arms and legs to turn the rotor. Carl and Kenichi of course had first crack at it, due to their Senseis wanting to turn it into a training opportunity.

Carl tried his best to last the distance, but he ran out of steam after only 30 minutes into the journey. He still had a long way to go until he was master class. Once Sakaki and Akisame senseis took over, the boat moved faster than a speedboat the rest of the way to the island.

Carl really enjoyed his time on the island, catching fish, cliff jumping, running through hot coals, being used for target practice, swimming with sharks. It was a fun "vacation".

About a month after school started back up, Carl finally took his first step in manipulating his Ki. He was finally able to grasp it. It took nearly a year to even find it in his daily meditations. Of course sometimes he was so worn out from being trained by his senseis that his daily meditations were nothing but passing out for the night.

But Carl had persisted, and he finally found his Ki. Being able to touch the Ki energy made Carl pleased with his progress. He was really, truly, progressing well. Even though he could only kind of feel it at first.

After a couple more months of exploring his Ki, Carl starting getting a good grasp on it. He had traced the flow of Ki in his body, and found that its center was about where his heart was. He could now play with the Ki in his body a bit, or knead it, as the local martial arts masters called it.

He couldn't do much more than move it about within his body, but even that was enough to really increase the pace at which he progressed in his training.

Now that he was able to identify his Ki center and flow clearly, he was also able to separate out the feel of his magical energy and start learning how the magic flowed through his body. He soon discovered that his magic core was centered in his head.

Adding in what he knew about the cultivation novels from his original world, Carl guessed that the center for his soul would be located just below his navel. It was what the novels called the dantian. But Carl also figured he had no opportunity to find it or do anything with it until he went into a Cultivation world.

Once Carl showed Akisame Sensei that he could access and play with his Ki, he started receiving instructions on how to utilize Sei Ki, which was also the type of Ki that Akisame Sensei used.

Upon reflection, Carl realized he was more surprised than he should have been to discover the way Akisame Sensei came up with to train his Ki was to increase the rigor of his training. In the immortal words of Sensei, "If training doesn't accomplish anything, even more training is necessary."

Ki came from the body, was built up through the body, and only through thoroughly training and understanding every millimeter of his body could he understand and manipulate his Sei Ki. At least according to Akisame Sensei.

Thankfully, by kneading his Ki and having the amount of Ki that flowed through his body increase during the extreme exercises, Carl's strength, speed, agility, and endurance began to really increase quickly. His recovery period was shortened as well. The use of Ki to aid his training speed was self evident.

During this several months long period, Carl watched as Kenichi fought his way through the ranks of the Ragnarok gang, and occasionally found a good match to fight. Most of the Ragnarok gang was just street punks, though. Not even disciple level.

Kenichi and Naruto were two characters from mangas that Carl had read about in his original world that had a peculiar attribute particular to them. They had a certain charisma and certainty in their beliefs that just seemed to reach out and touch the hearts of many of their opponents.

It didn't always work out, and some people were so set in their ways that they always stayed enemies. But for those it did work on, it had a curious effect of turning enemies into friends.

And many of the members of Ragnarok, after being defeated and leaving the gang behind, were feeling somewhat friendly towards Kenichi. Even in defeat they didn't really have hard feelings for him.

So Carl shamelessly took advantage of the circumstances provided by Kenichi.

He visited the former members of Ragnarok with Niijima and invited them to tour the facilities and listen to their recruitment spiel.

Ikki Takeda, the boxer, after having his left arm healed, found a master in James Shiba to teach him boxing and underground boxing. He felt indebted to Kenichi for saving his life and having Akisame Sensei heal him so he could regain the use of his left arm and resurrect his boxing career. By joining the group, he gained access to a wonderful dojo where he could train and test his skills against others in the group in sparring on a regular basis. Takeda became a Captain of the Shinpaku Alliance.

Hibiki Kugenin, also known as Siegfried, was the Fifth fist of Ragnarok, but his main passion was composing music using his battles as inspiration for his melodies. Through joining the group he also gained a place to practice and develop his style, and being a Captain of the Shinpaku alliance, he was always available to join the battlefield to gain more inspiration for his melodies.

Kaname Kugatachi, also known as Freya, the Third Fist of Ragnarok was a weapon user of the Kugatachi Style. She favored a jo staff for her main weapon. She had joined Ragnarok to learn techniques from Ogata, a member of Yami, but was left disappointed when she never even met him. Carl managed to persuade Shigure Sensei to occasionally stop by the Dojo owned by Carl to give a few pointers to Freya. And so Freya became a Captain of the Shinpaku Alliance.

Kisara Nanjo, also known as Valkyrie, was the Eighth fist of Ragnarok before becoming a captain of the Alliance. She was completely obsessed with cats, to the point that she modified her Tae Kwon Do to include cat movements that Niijima named Nya Kwon do. She even modeled her behavior after cats, being fond of lounging around like a cat, and being just as independent. She liked having a nice place as a hang out, watch videos, and train.

Renka Ma was the daughter of Kensei Ma. She originally came to Japan to convince her father to return to China and the organization he had built there. But after meeting Kenichi, she decided she would stay and participate in the Alliance as a Captain while trying to get close to Kenichi and compete against Miu.

Yuma Chiaki, otherwise known as Thor, was the Seventh Fist of Ragnarok before joining the Alliance as a captain. His fighting style was Combat Sumo, which suited his tall and large frame. He had dreams of making a combat capable Sumo style, and so having a dojo to train at and opponents to spar with was enough enticement for him to join.

Natsu Tanimoto, or Hermit, was the Sixth Fist of Ragnarok. He repeatedly denied having joined the Shinpaku Alliance, but since he hung out with and trained with the members all the time, everyone just left him to his tsundere attitude. He only really admitted to enjoying the presence of Kenichi's sister Honoka, who reminded him of his own sister who passed away to disease years ago.

Kozo Ukita, or Ukita the Thrower, was good friends with Takeda and resumed his Judo career. He joined the Alliance as a Vice Captain to hang out and practice at Carl's dojo.

Kaoru Shiratori was Kisara's Lieutenant in Ragnarok, and also practiced Tae Kwon Do. She followed Kisara into the Alliance as a Vice Captain.

With the Captains recruited, Carl left the rest of the recruiting effort to Niijima, while he continued to spend his time training, sparring with the members of the Shinpaku Alliance, which was the whole reason Carl recruited them, so he could have more sparring partners, and occasionally seeking out other disciple class combatants that he could challenge.

Over the next several months Carl found that Ryozanpaku started running into more and more members of Yomi. Yomi was Yami's disciple group. After Kenichi had dismantled Ragnarok, the members of Yami had informed their disciple group about Kenichi and sent them after him to test who was the stronger.

Carl figured the competition and rivalry between Yami and Ryozanpaku was so high, even the disciples couldn't help but get swept up in it.

Kenichi had it pretty tough at the time, he even had to defend his beloved Miu against Sho, a disciple of the masters of Yami who had fallen in love with Miu at first sight.

As part of Sho's plan to steal away Miu and prove to Kenichi that Kenichi couldn't protect her, he sent an invitation to Ryozanpaku for the Desperate Fight of Disciples Tournament that would take place at a southern island.

When the member of Ryozanpaku were at the docks, about to leave for the island, the members of the Shinpaku Alliance showed up, wanting to join in the tournament.

The high strung Kenichi didn't want to endanger his friends, so he had intended to leave them behind. Carl wouldn't let that stand, as he felt it was up to each individual whether they would risk their life and pride on fighting against the best. So he made some preparations.

When Hayato Furinji wouldn't let the members of the Shinpaku Alliance on board the boat, Carl didn't worry or protest. He simply kept quiet to let the play go on.

In his bag was a tracker that Niijima could follow on the boat that Hermit was going to be bringing by in a few minutes. That way Carl could ensure they wouldn't get lost on the way.

This tournament and the opportunity it provided was too good for the Alliance to pass up. For Niijima, it was to let the world know the name "Shinpaku Alliance". For the other members, it was a chance to support their friend, Kenichi, and to test their martial arts against other opponents.

Carl didn't worry about undermining the master's decision in this particular area by allowing the Alliance to participate in the tournament. As Kisara said at the meeting Carl called to tell them about the tournament, "Everyone has the right! The right to fight for what they believe in!"

If Carl blocked their ability to go to the tournament, despite how much they desired to go, it would only engender ill feelings on the part of his new sparring partners and friends. This was something they wanted, something they needed to prove themselves.

Even the masters of Ryozanpaku had gone through similar trials in their youth as they struggled and fought their way to their current status as masters.

It's only right that the masters in training of the Shinpaku Alliance get to go too.

Carl was impressed by the fortification of the island of despair. The place was well defended with huge walls and high tech. He momentarily felt a little nervous about helping the Alliance members to arrive there because of the defenses, but he pushed it down. He was confident in their abilities to survive.

He also knew that due to his help and sparring in the past several months, they were all stronger now than they would have been without his participation in this world. So they should be just fine.

They arrived at a large old fashioned gate. The gate itself was probably 20 feet in height, while the walls were closer to 30 feet.

When the gate opened and Carl saw the resort accommodations he was impressed. To call the resort luxurious would be to downplay it. Even during his time as an heir to a large company in the Pokemon world, he hadn't seen such opulence. It certainly redefined what he thought of as "wealthy".

In front of the resort was a large pool for the many nearly naked women to play at. And a few naked women to sunbathe on the side of the pool.

Kensei and Kenichi went bug eyed at the scene, while the rest of the masters had a bit less lecherousness driving their actions.

They soon entered the resort, and found many female employees helping with their bags, pampering the masters, and providing lots of food when Apachai asked for it, and booze when Sakaki requested it.

Carl decided to follow the example of his senseis and enjoy the food and service while he could. He could only shake his head at how tightly strung Kenichi was.

"Silly Kenichi, if you were worried about things like that, you should have brought a supply of food with you. Since you didn't, and you don't want to be weak for the fighting tomorrow, just forget about your worries and eat up." Carl attempted to advise him.

"But…How can we trust the enemy not to poison us?" Kenichi finally asked.

"They…probably won't be…so petty." Shigure deadpanned while eating the food Apachai asked for.

Since Kenichi didn't relax one bit, Carl decided to just ignore him and enjoy himself. Worrying about how much Kenichi was worrying would have been a full time occupation.

Later that night the group joined the masked party for the introduction to the no holds barred tournament. The extremely violent tournament attracted the rich, drug cartels, and other groups of people with money to spend and a desire to see a death tournament.

Spotlights lit up the stage, and an announcement introduced the Executive Producer of the tournament, Laughing Fist Diego, before a tall well built luchadore leaped over the crowd, doing a couple of flips and landing on the stage.

"Ah, a true showman." Carl muttered.

Diego was introducing the tournament, when his mic cut out and a familiar voice cut in. The enormous screen on the wall behind the stage lit up with a video of Niijima and two members of the Shinpaku Alliance on screen, with their faces covered. They demanded a place in the tournament.

Soon enough Diego, who was a master martial artist, found Niijima and his crew from where they were hacking into the feed.

Once they were found out, the Shinpaku Alliance members jumped out, ready to defend themselves from security.

There was a tense moment in the standoff, before Sakaki sensei rushed in and started bopping them on the head for being reckless.

Carl couldn't help himself, he just started laughing at the sight.

Diego stormed up in front of the security guards and yelled at Niijima and the Alliance members. "You worthless brats! You completely ruined my show!"

Carl could see the Alliance members getting tense.

"I really like you guys!" Diego laughed while giving them a thumbs up. "Trespassing is a man's romance! Your methods are pretty good, pointy ears!" Diego laughed while pointing at Niijima. "Fine! I approve of your entrance into the D of D tournament! Although in this tournament there is always people who die. Try not to be one of those guys." Diego turned away, laughing loudly.

Sakaki Sensei just chuckled. "Well, whatever happens is no longer my concern."

"Apa!" Apachai agreed.

"Welcome to the feast." Carl laughed the Alliance members joined them openly.

Soon after Carl watched as a tall, well built young man introduced himself to Kenichi as Spartacus of the Pankration Team. It seems that certain groups wanted to get a handle on the disciple of Ryozanpaku that was making such a name for himself. Since Carl was always just acting as backup for Kenichi, it seems they didn't really pay much attention to him.

'Man, this world is ridiculous. We've got 16-18 year old being so built they would make Arnold jealous.' Carl thought as he watched Spartacus walking away. Carl looked down at his 14 year old body. Due to the training regimen of Akisame Sensei, while he had muscles and supreme definition, he would never be bulky. 'Thank goodness.' Carl thought. 'Due to my body mod from the jump chain I was already at least Usain Bolt fast, and I've only improved since then. I'm guessing I'm edging into the High Class Disciple rank physically. Wonder how much longer it'll take to get to the Expert rank, let alone the Master rank.'

Shrugging off the idle thoughts, Carl brought his attention back to the little party and continued to enjoy himself.

The next day Carl joined the group as they made their way to the arena. The stadium was perfectly circular, with 9 tiers of seating box seating. The tournament was for the ultra rich, no way would they settle for sitting in normal stadium seats when they could each have their own comfortable box cabin.

In the center was the square stage where the fights would take place. The 20 year old and younger participants all waited on the stage for the announcements and the start of the tournament.

Niijima pulled off his cape that replaced the Shinpaku Alliance Banner and had one of his subordinates waving it around. Carl was amused and actually kind of admired the teen's determination. He knew what he wanted, and went all out to get it.

Diego began announcing the start of the tournament and the rules.

"Now, the Desperate fight of Disciples, D of D, begins!" He orated into the microphone. "This huge tournament has my heart and soul in it. Please enjoy my work. Let's briefly talk about the rules of the tournament. It is really simple, 5 people make a team. To win all you have to do is defeat all of them!"

The Shinpaku Alliance members began looking at each other while thinking about the rules and teams.

"Winning teams are advanced to the next round. It is OK for one man to defeat all 5 members of another team. If a person has enough confidence in himself, then there is no need for a 5 man team. But with fewer people will only lower the chances for winning." Diego laughed for a bit. "Finally, please make a superb show!"

After everyone settled down into their seats, Diego continued.

"Let's begin our first match. Our first team's member has no name. Even their nationality is unknown. They are simply known as Black Force."

Carl looked across the way. There were five men wearing combat boots, black military fatigues, a harness across their chest, and berets. They looked quite eager and bloodthirsty for their match.

"And their opponent is the troublemaker of our event, and the team who has absolutely no idea how to survive this contest, Shinpaku Alliance."

After some discussion, Niijima chose to send Mizunuma. Mizunuma was the second most bullied student after Kenichiin Koryou High School. After seeing how Kenichi fought to escape his fate, Mizunuma also struggled hard to advance his Karate. He was determined to grow strong.

Wearing his white Karate gi and wearing his glasses, he looked particularly small and weak against his large muscular brute of an opponent.

When the start was given, the Black Force member exploded forward, throwing punches at Mizunuma to throw him off guard, before slipping behind him. He grabbed Mizunuma in a hold that would let him break his neck.

Before the black force member could capitalize his advantage, Mizunuma yelled "Back machine gun!" and somehow began pummeling his opponent with a barrage of back hands over his shoulder. The amazing thing was that a punch with such an awkward leverage pounded the Black Force's face in, stunning him and allowing Mizunuma to escape the hold.

Unfortunatly, Mizunuma let his guard down and was punched in the throat. As he was gasping for air he was knocked down by a punch to the face. The Black Force member seemed to take great sadistic delight in working Mizunuma over with kicks to the ribs.

When member of the Shinpaku Alliance wanted to intervene and save Mizunuma, a huge circular area around the stage fell down, making a near impossible to cross moat to prevent them from helping Mizunuma.

In desperation, the Alliance tried throwing in the towel, but Diego ruled that the match would continue. The more hotheaded members of the alliance had it pointed out to them that despite being pummeled relentlessly, Mizunuma still had a focused gaze of determination. He hadn't given up, so the match would continue.

In the moment the Black Force member was about to give a finishing blow, Mizunuma took the opening, kicking his opponent in the balls as hard as he could. The Black Force member curled up like a shrimp, cradling his aching member.

Stupidly, Mizunuma didn't follow up on his advantage. When he was about to celebrate, the Black Force member jumped him, continuing to beat him up.

"He's the type that forgets about pain when angry." Sakaki explained to the Alliance, referencing the Black Force member. "It's a wide world. There are people tougher than you could believe. You've been loafing around." He chided.

Mizunuma eventually was ruled to have lost. But even when he couldn't move, his fists were clenched in determination. He hadn't broken, and he hadn't given up. Even though he couldn't win, he still had the determination and grit to fight.

"He didn't give up, cower, or run away. Which is itself a win. A win against his weaker side. His doubtful, fearful side. This is a win for Mizunuma in the long run." Carl judged.

After Mizunuma was taken away by the medics, Tazuna stepped into the arena chuckling. "You're going to get hurt if you step into a rules-free coliseum without any actual power." At the Thor's protest, Tazuna continues. "Relax. I'm not talking about Mizunuma. I'm talking to you, blockhead." Tazuna stated to Member J of the Black Force while poking him in the chest.

"What?" Was the reply from Member J. Apparently the man didn't understand enough Japanese to understand what Takeda had said.

The fight began, and Member J began pummeling Takeda for a few rounds, until Takeda called for a time out. Strangely enough, large bald man stopped, allowing Takeda to take off his shirt.

Underneath his shirt was revealed a strange contraption of heavy duty springs and coils that restricted Takeda's ability to move. He quickly stripped it off, and threw it behind him to Thor.

Member J merely scoffed at Takeda, and leaped forward throwing a punch that Takeda dodged by a centimeter by leaning back. Takeda then crouched down, and leaped forward like a frog with a double fist punch to Member J's face. Member J fell backwards into the moat, unconscious.

After fishing the losing member out of the moat, Member J's own Captain handed him a gun. "We did not come here to play games, and losing is not optional. So you just have to fix that mistake of yours."

Member J then put the gun in his mouth, preparing to suicide. Kenichi reached him in time, knocking the gun away.

"Are you trying to end your life just because you lost once? This doesn't have to be the end of your martial road, just because of one loss! If that's the case, I would have tried to end my life 100 times already!"

Apparently he had been faking not understanding Japanese before, because he suddenly seemed moved.

His teammate wasn't satisfied though. Laughing, he picked up the gun. "Then let me do it for you." He offered before aiming the gun. Just as he was about to pull the trigger, he dodged the attack of Thor from behind him.

Since Diego didn't rule against the battle, Thor continued to attack and the security guards simply stood by watching.

After a flurry of strong attacks that the Black Force member dodged, Thor was about to unleash his final, most powerful attack, when Freya interrupted his momentum.

"You're pretty fast for a big guy, Thor. But as a fellow weapons wielder, this fight is mine." Freya stated, pointing out the blade wires on the Black Force member's gloves that would have torn up Thor if he continued.

They moved their fight to the arena. Just as they were about to start the fight, the battlefield changed. Pillars everywhere lifted up, making the fight a close combat battle, with Freya at the disadvantage due to it restricting her ability to use her jo staff, and the Black Force Captain's ability to use the pillars to set up razor wire traps.

"Man, how much money did they sink into this high tech arena?" Carl muttered as he watched the battle.

Freya didn't have much room to utilize her jo staff, and the enemy's razor wire traps made it difficult for Freya to close the distance. But Freya kept her cool as she maneuvered around the arena, occasionally picking up cuts from the razor wire.

Freya took her jacket off, and prepared herself. It was pointed out that she didn't actually get cut beyond the first two cuts, only her clothes were damaged by the traps set up by her opponent. So she had been able to adapt herself to the traps and avoid taking damage.

Freya suddenly charged forward, flipping and dodging the wires, before attacking the enemy in a flurry of blows from her jo staff.

Just when it looked like she had him defeated, he used his wires to jump to the top of the pillars and begin attacking anew from a distance. Freya was almost caught in a decapitating move, but managed to slip out of it with the use of her staff.

Freya continued to dodge and block his attacks, then used her pole to vault herself up to the top of the pillars as well, and swiftly subdued him, knocking him down and stopping her attack that would have crushed his throat and killed him with her pole centimeters from his throat.

"Hey, woman. You could have killed me, why didn't you?" He asked her from his place on his back.

"You will never understand it, will you? I don't care about this." Freya blandly stated.

"I have lost. Kill me!" The captain of the Black Force demanded.

"I refuse." Freya stated as she turned to walk away.

"It's over! The match has been decided. The winner is Freya!" Diego yelled in excitement.

"Fine…I will do it myself." The captain declared before looping his razor wire around his head so he could decapitate himself. Just before he could pull the wire and suicide, Freya caught the wire, stopping him.

"You fool! Why are you so eager to die?" Freya exclaimed.

"Let go, otherwise your fingers would be cut." The captain declared, when a microphone came flying in and hit him in the head, knocking him down. Diego had knocked him bloody with the microphone.

"How shameful! The loser obeys the winner! Now make room for the next battle. Get out!" Diego yelled.

"Oya, oya, what a straight theory." Hayato muttered.

"How primitive." Akisame disdained.

"A while ago he was happily watching the fights out of the ring…" Kenichi trailed off.

"To sum up, he's a very moody referee." Miu airily affirmed.

Back on stage, Freya was glaring at the defeated Captain. "This seems to be the rule at this place, where the loser obeys the winner. I'll say it only once. Live on!" She declared before walking off the stage.

And with the defeat of the Black Force's Captain, the victory went to the Shinpaku Alliance.

A few minutes later, the next two teams prepared to go up on stage. On one side was Muay Thai Taifu Team's Gaien Oosugi verses the Mysterious Teenager Garyu X.

Carl couldn't believe his eyes. Hayato Furinji, Miu's grandfather was standing on the stage in a mask, posing as Mysterious Teenager Garyu X. He didn't even bother covering up his blonde beard.

"Hohoho. Please be gentle with me." Hayato said to his opponent.

Carl just started laughing, especially when Kenichi started yelling about Garyu X being the elder, Hayato. Diego of course allowed the match to continue.

Miu just muttered "Granpa sure is naughty. He seems to like to demonstrate his skills…"

Apachai just pointed to an obviously wooden dummy with a wig on it next to him. "Apa, but the elder is here all the time."

Carl just laughed more.

"Kenichi, why are you so mad?" Akisame asked.

"N-nothing!" Kenichi answered.

"Hmm, you're obviously thinking of something strange there Kenichi." Carl commented.

After easily defeating the first opponent, Hayato pointed at the Muay Thai team, and yelled out "Stop playing around and come forth!"

"What's going on with Garyu X? He seems to be addressing the leader?" Diego's commentary was ongoing.

"Wrong!" Answered Garyu X. "I am addressing the guy behind him! Kicking Demon Robusaki Gorobe, I mean you!"

A Master Class combatant was hiding amongst the Disciple Class team, waiting to wreak havoc on the fights.

Now that he was exposed, Gorobe beat down the disciples on the Muay Thai team. "A bunch of useless brats. I told you not to let me stand out too much." He spat on them before speeding to the stage.

Diego commented, "It seems like a Master Class fighter is hiding under the participants."

"It is an honor to meet the invincible superman." He greeted Garyu X. "As he said, I'm 51, a Master Class fighter. How did you know?" He asked.

"It doesn't matter how good you can change your appearance. I can still hear every cell in your body." Garyu X-er…Elder Hayato Furinji stated.

"Although I don't have the chance to win the millions as the champion of the D of D, the head of the Invincible Superman is worth 100 times more!" Gorobe yelled while leaping to attack.

"Wrong! It's worth a million times more!" Yelled Hayato before smashing Gorobe with one fist, sending him flying up to the balcony where Diego was commenting from.

Diego caught Gorobe by catching his face with one hand, holding him at arm's length.

"Because all the member of Team Muay Thai Hurricane can no longer fight, the Mysterious Teenager, Garyu X wins!" The announcer stated.

Garyu X sped off the stage so quickly he left an after image behind.

"Oya, that Garyu X is really cool, right?" Hayato asked the group from beside Apachai, startling all the young Disciples who hadn't seen how he had moved, he was so fast.

"When did you come back?!" Exclaimed Niijima.

"When? I was here the whole time…"

"You liar!" Kenichi yelled.

Niijima chuckled. "Garyu X…is going to retreat after his mission is done, am I right? This is a tournament for teenagers after all…"

"What?" Hayato asked. "Garyu X is a teenager at the spring of his youth! Of course he is aiming for the title of the Champion!" Hayato yelled full of Youth! Before straightening up and stroking his beard. "At least I think that's what he wants." He commented much more calmly.

"Well, good luck to Garyu X. We won't let him have the championship without a fight!" Carl declared, playing along with the elder. He didn't have any reason to be embarrassed by the old man's antics. He wasn't Carl's grandfather, and Carl thought it was hilarious.

"Quite right, as it should be!" Hayato agreed with the battling sentiment of youth.

Next up was the match between Ryozanpaku and three youths from Taichi, Bagua, and Shin Yi schools from China. Diego declared that it would be a 3 vs 2 fight.

"What the heck? Am I invisible?" Carl asked, looking over at Akisame Sensei. "Aren't I on the team too?" Carl began wondering if he'd been too passive since arriving here. Maybe Diego thought Kenichi and Miu were the only disciples of Ryozanpaku?

"Well, you are a couple years younger than Kenichi and Miu, and they are the youngest of all the people competing. So, maybe?"

Carl sighed and resigned himself to not fighting. Was the plot overtaking him and not going to let him participate?

One of the opponent team was a black haired girl with her hair in buns, Bagua Clan Cho Yin Lin, a blonde haired averaged build young man, Taichi Clan Gaku Shin Ten, and a taller black haired man with an eye patch, Shin Yi Clan Yo Tekai.

Carl sulkily sat down with his arms crossed as he watched the fight.

The three opponents did a good job at first of splitting Kenichi and Miu up and attacking them as individuals.

Eventually Kenichi and Miu had a bonding moment of trust building, and really began working together.

'I guess this is why the plot rails kicked in. The world wants them to have their moment that builds their relationship of trust and care. Whatever. I'll just have to find someone to fight somewhere.'

Kenichi worked together to help Miu take out the first two opponents. Finally there was just the blonde male left. Kenichi then challenged and fought him 1vs1. It was one of those defining fights for Kenichi. One where he had to dig deep into himself, find his determination, not give up, and put together all the parts his teachers had been giving him into one coherent whole.

It was a wonderful thing for the masters to see their disciple blossom on the battlefield.

And with Kenichi pulling a win out of his ass, he passed out.