The tournament (part 3)

Rani and Yashiro were in one of nurses room. Rani was laying on the bed with a splint on her nose. Yashiro sat on a chair next to the bed. Most of the blood had been cleaned from her body.

"Are you okay?" He asked, with a slightly concerned look on his face.

She sat up and replied, "I'm fine", before Yashiro could say anything else, she continued.

"You didn't have to do that." She had a very serious expression on her face but was looking down at her hands. "I lost because I was weaker. It's as simple as that. You didn't have to hit her and get yourself kicked out of the tournament"

At that moment, Rando walked into the room. "She's right Yashiro. If you wanted revenge so bad you should have channeled that anger into making sure you met her in the finals"

With a sigh, Yashiro replied, "I know this guys. I guess I just lost my temper a little. It doesn't matter though. This wasn't the way I wanted to get into the Academy and I'm sure the same goes for you guys"

Rani and Rando nodded in agreement.

"I never had a chance anyway" Rani said jokingly. "I have no business fighting anyone who can take a serious punch from Yashiro to the face and laugh it off"

Rando smiled and asked "How is your nose?"

"It still hurts but I'll live. Also, thanks guys. For being here"

"where else would we be?" Yashiro asked as he put a hand on her shoulder.

Meanwhile, some of the teachers and announcers were discussing what had just transpired, in a little room above the 6 rings where the fights were taking place.

Ichisuda was speaking to Goto Takekite, one of the two teachers who stopped Yashiro from attacking Mika.

"It's a shame he couldn't keep his temper in check. He showed great promise.", Goto said.

Ichisuda nodded in agreement.

"In his first fight, that was a very interesting kick. You could tell he's practiced that same kick hundreds of times. However, kids these days can't control their temper."

"What do you make of Mika?" Goto asked

"She's strong, even though she fights dirty and now that Yashiro is out of the competition, she's most likely going to win this."

"What about Dota? I thought he showed promise too"

"He does, but his overconfidence is going to cause his downfall"

"Lastly, what do we do now that a fighter has been disqualified from group F" Goto asked again

"I guess the person he was meant to fight next advances, even though that gives them a slight advantage"

After he finished speaking, Ichisuda looked downwards to the rings and thought to himself. [Things are really starting to shape up. I hope someone is able to prove my prediction about Mika winning wrong.]

*

"Fight seven, group D. Rando Yukumi VS Yami Renki "

In Yami's previous fight, he had completely overwhelmed his opponent and won in 25 seconds.

[I can't disappoint my friends. I have to win this fight no matter what], Rando thought.

He looked down at his arms. [Why do they hurt so much? Taking more damage to them would be...]

His thought process was interrupted by Yami.

"Maybe this fight will be even less than 25 seconds. I'm going to crush you harder than that Mika girl wrecked your weak friend"

At the mention of Rani, he stood still and put his arms by his side, with his fists clenched. He spoke no words and his face showed no expression.

"Fighters, take your stances"

Rando still didn't make any movements. Yami smiled and thought to himself [yeah, just stand there and get crushed]

"Ready?...Fight"

Yami charged full speed at Rando, who still wasn't moving and wasn't in any type of stance.

He got close enough, pulled his arms back and attempted to punch Rando.

However, Rando was much faster. He managed to hit Yami on one side of his jaw, with enough force to fully dislocate it before he could even swing a punch.

Yami was unconscious before he hit the floor.

"Yami Renki is unable to continue. Rando Yukumi advances to the semi finals."

"You're were right" Rando said, as he casually walked off the ring "the fight did last less than 25 seconds. Pathetic being"

Ichisuda at the sight of the victory thought to himself [what tremendous speed. To also generate that much power from that stance is incredible. The finals should be an interesting spectacle]

Rando walked towards Yashiro, who had a very big smile on his face.

"That was incredible Rando but why were you so pissed off?"

Rando didn't want to mention the reason to Yashiro of all people, so he lied "He said I looked weak. So I had to prove him wrong"

Yashiro laughed. "Well, you definitely did that"

Rando smiled as the pair sat down to watch the remaining fights.

After the rest of the groups had finished and there were five fighters in the semi finals, an announcement came from the speakers.

"The last match to determine the final fighter of the semi-finals, Dota Amaku VS Mika Amon"

Yashiro and Rando both turned and looked at each other.

Mika confidently walked into the ring. This time, she was smiling.

She stared at Dota as he walked into the ring. She spoke, "Are you going to keep your hands in your pockets for this fight too?"

Dota didn't respond to her but thought to himself

[I've seen how she fights. As long as I stay on the offensive. I should be fine]

"ooh, silent treatment" she teased.

"Fighters, take your stances"

To most people's surprise, Dota took an offensive stance with his palms in front of him.

Mika laughed. [I guess he's going to be serious for this fight then] she thought to herself.

"Ready?...Fight"

Dota advanced very quickly towards her, catching her by surprise and hitting her in the chest with his palm.

Mika flew off the ring, landed on her feet and slid backwards a bit.

"Mika is off the ring. Strike 1"

She got back into the ring, cracked her neck and got into her stance, with her fists in front of her face, one leg in front and one behind.

Dota attacked again, but this time with a kick aimed at her rib.

She stepped backwards, avoiding the kick, then immediately pushed off her back leg, springing towards him before punching him in the throat.

He fell to his knees, with his face on the floor, struggling to breathe and holding his neck.

Mika attacked again, attempting to kick his head. He anticipated a follow up attack from her and rolled to the side, fighting against the pain in his neck.

As she came at him again. He grit his teeth and punched her. It came hard and fast, catching her off guard and knocking her backwards.

He put his hand on his neck again and coughed, forcing himself to take deep breaths despite the pain.

He charged forward and kicked her again. She caught the kick and stomped on his standing leg at an angle, breaking his ankle in the process.

He fell again and clutched his ankle as Mika breathed a hidden sigh of relief.

An announcement came shortly after.

"Dota Amaku is unable to continue. Mika Amon advances to the semi finals"

"She's so dirty" Yashiro said angrily. He turned to Rando. "Crush her!"

The announcer spoke again.

"We will take a short 20 minute break in preparation for the semi finals"

Yashiro got up angrily and walked back to the room where Rani was.

For the duration of the 20 minute break, Rando and the other fighters in the semi finals rested, rehydrated themselves and mentally prepared themselves for their fights.

Mika sat crossed legs and mediatated again and Rando tried to forget about how much his arms were hurting.

After the break an announcer began calling the fights.

"Your opponents have been decided. In Ring A, Rando Yukumi VS Kazenaka Tayuki. In Ring C, Mika Amon VS Seshi Saiya and In Ring E, Shoka Namba VS Shihata Saki."

The fighters got in their respective rings and the announcer spoke again, "Fighters, take your stances"

Rando got into his usual stance this time, bouncing lightly on his toes just like Yashiro did.

[I've got to end this quickly] he thought, [my arms still haven't gotten better. They can't take much damage]

Mika on the other hand stood with her hands by her sides. Staring at her opponent, who appeared to be calm.

"Ready?...Fight"

Kazenaka made the first move advancing towards Rando with speed.

He was very quick. He threw a few punches all aimed at Rando's head. However, he was able to keep up with the speed of his opponent and dodged all as he moved around the ring.

Kazenaka closed the distance and punched again. This time, Rando had to block as the punches were much faster.

He winced as the blow landed.

Kazenaka advanced again with his fists covering his face. This time, he went for a kick.

As he swung his foot. He let the guard on his face down a bit.

Rando noticed this and immediately threw a brutal straight punch that connected before Kazenaka's kick could land.

His head snapped back violently, causing him to stagger backwards. Rando advanced, hitting him with a variation of hooks, and jabs. All of them connecting.

He was about to punch Kazenaka again, but noticed he was falling, so he stopped himself as his opponent fell off the ring, slumped on the ground

"Kazenaka Tayuki is unable to continue. Rando Yukumi advances to the final"

Meanwhile, Mika was toying with her opponent in Ring C, the exact same way Dota toyed with his first opponent.

Seshi tried his best to land an attack on Mika as she simply evaded, smiled and moved around the ring.

She thought to herself as she increased the distance between herself and her opponent.

[I took more damage from Dota's hit than I thought. It's hindering my breathing. I have to finish this fight in one hit]

She waited for an opening as she continued to evade and dodge attacks.

Surely enough, the opening came when Seshi lashed out momentarily and attempted to grab her. She jumped forward, with her knee moving towards his face, forcing him to block and cover his face. It was a fake, and he fell for it.

She used this to her advantage, grabbed him by his hair and pulled backwards. She then drove her knee into his belly several times, making him double over and drop his face guard to protect his stomach.

With her free hand, she then smashed her elbow into his nose and raised it to do it again but was interrupted.

"I surrender " Seshi struggled to say as he coughed up blood and as Mika let go of his hair, he crumpled to the floor.

"Seshi Saiya surrenders. Mika Amon advances to the finals"

She coughed a little, then walked off the ring to recuperate.

In Ring E, Shoka and Shihata were both on the floor but Shihata had her legs wrapped around Shoka's torso, and her arms wrapped around his neck.

Shoka tried as much as possible to escape from the lock but his opponent wouldn't let up.

His face went red as Shihata increased the pressure on his neck, further restricting airflow.

After a few more seconds of trying to escape, Shota unwillingly tapped her arm 3 times, indicating that he surrendered.

She released the hold and her opponent gasped for air.

"Shoka Namba surrenders. Shihata Saki is the final fighter of the final"

Breathing heavily, as she walked off the ring, she thought to herself [my specialty Is grappling, and the final consists of 3 fighters. How am I going to do this?]

After a few minutes, an announcer spoke again. "Now, the final battle of this tournament.

Mika Amon VS Rando Yukumi VS Shihata Saki"

As the fighters walked into the ring, most of the other contestants, including Yashiro gathered round, to see who was going to win the tournament.

"Fighters, take your stances"

Rando put his fists up, but for a split second, his facial expression showed that he was in pain. Mika noticed. The three of them stood in positions that formed a triangular shape with Mika standing at the top.

"Ready?..."

Shihata thought, [I have to reduce this to a one on one fight, otherwise I'm screwed.]

"Fight!"

Mika immediately ran towards Rando, Shihata stood still and watched.

She threw multiple punches at him. Forcing him to block some of the attacks. As he blocked, he grit his teeth as his arms were taking even more damage.

She moved in again, but Rando attacked first. He fought through the pain and punched Mika with enough force to knock her back a few metres.

Rando realised that even punching made the pain in his arms worse.

She rolled and got back to her feet, but Rando was already in front of her again forcing her to go on the defensive as he unleashed a barrage of punches. She wasn't able to block all of them and staggered backwards as a little bit of blood trickled from her nose.

[I feel like I'm cheating] Shihata thought, as she watched the fight in front of her [but what did they expect? My fighting style isn't meant to combat more than one person at a time]

Mika breathed heavily as she watched Rando advance again. Using the attack she used in the previous match, she leapt forward with her knee in the air, forcing Rando to block yet again. The knee connected with his arm but she didn't follow up with the hair grab this time. Instead, immediate she landed, she stepped backwards and launched a devastating high kick at the same spot her knee hit.

Rando had no choice but to block but as her leg connected, there was a very sharp pain one of his arms and he fell to the floor, unable to bear the pain this time.

The bruising on that arm was much more visible and appeared to be much bigger. A nurse watching the fight noticed this and immediately raised her hand to the announcer. She had a very concerned look on her face.

"Following the doctor's orders, Rando Yukumi is unable to continue this fight"

The contenders watching were confused as to why this decision was made because Rando appeared to have the upper hand up until that point.

Rando looked pissed off as some of the medical staff brought a stretcher onto the ring to carry him off.

The nurse said to him as he was being carried off, "if you had carried on with that fight, you would have done some long term damage to those arms. The bruising on your arms show that you have been fighting with really bad fractures so I'm sorry, but I had to call the fight before you made it worse ". Rando had no response as he was carried to one of the nurse's rooms. One of his hands was covering his face.

The announcer spoke again "Fight resumed"

Mika wiped the blood from her nose on her sleeve and turned sharply to Shihata who had her fists up in front of her.

Shihata took a deep breath and charged at her opponent attempting to punch her. Mika saw this coming and simply sidestepped and relaliated with a punch of her own, hitting Shihata in the face and causing her to stagger backwards.

"Now I see why you just stood there and watched " Mika said,"you're very weak"

She charged again, trying to land a punch on Mika, who simply blocked or evaded every punch and exploited every opening she could.

After about a minute of this, Shihata was breathing heavily and Mika simply shook her head.

"My turn" she said, with a menacing smile and charged at her. When she was close enough she punched her.

Shihata shifted to the side with a speed that caught Mika off guard, completely avoiding the punch while doing so, jumped behind her, wrapping her arms around Mika's neck and her legs around her torso, bringing her to the ground.

Everyone watching was completely shocked by the manoeuvre and some even cheered.

Just like before, Shihata applied more pressure to the neck as her opponent attempted to escape. Realising that she was about to lose, Mika grabbed one of her opponents ears and pulled down extremely hard.

Shihata cried out in pain and slightly loosened the grip, allowing Mika to escape the hold and catch her breath.

She rushed in, punched Shihata in the throat, grabbed her by the hair and then slammed her head into the ground.

As her opponent lay on the floor, she repeatedly kicked her ribs, until she passed out from the pain.

"The fight is over, Mika Amon is the champion"

There were a string of boos from the other fighters who were watching as medical staff rushed to the ring.

It didn't matter to Mika, she smiled nonchalantly.

[it was a brilliant plan from Shihata, making Mika believe she used kicks and punches and then surprising her with a choke hold. It's too bad though] Ichisuda thought to himself as he walked towards the ring with a certificate and a trophy.

"Congratulations Mika, here's your certificate of admittance to the Horizon Academy"

"I don't want it" she said, to everyone's surprise " I only came here to prove that I'm the best. I've done that so I'll be on my way."

Ichisuda stared at her, speechless. While she got death stares from the other contenders in the dojo. Yashiro shook his head in disbelief and began to walk towards the room where Rando was taken.

"See all you guys at the entrance exam " she said, as she exited the dojo.