The tournament (part 2)

As Rani and Rando got up to follow Yashiro to his fight. Rando felt his arms throb. He looked down at them and realised that they were slightly bruised from all the punches he blocked from Hirase.

[Damn. I didn't realise I took this much damage from those punches. Blocking won't really work now]. He quietly thought to himself as he put his hands in his pockets.

Yashiro removed his outer jacket, revealing his tank top and a set of well toned arms.

He stepped onto the ring and just like Rando, began stretching in a corner of the ring. His facial expression was a mixture of excitement and confidence.

[I wonder what technique he uses], Yashiro thought, as he let out a smile. He looked at his opponent; a teen roughly the same height as him and Rando (5"11). Lean and well toned. His face, expressionless.

An announcement came from where the trio were just sitting, "Next fight in Group D, Dota Amaku VS Kuroni Zuka".

At this, Rando and Rani turned and looked at each other, then at Yashiro, who was too focused on his fight that was about to begin to notice the announcement.

Rani said to Rando, "I think it would be a good idea for you to go take notes on how Dota fights. Shiro is zoned out anyway"

"I don't really want to miss his fight but you have a point. It would be beneficial to see Dota in action."

"If he finishes before you come back I'll let him know where you went."

Rando nodded and began to head back to group D. He thought to himself, [I should use this chance to get an ice pack or something.]

He made is way to a nurse before going to watch Dota.

"Fighters take your stances" the announcer at group F said.

Yashiro got into an offensive stance, bouncing lightly on his toes. Yasuke simply put up his fists in front of him.

"Ready?...Fight!"

Yasuke advanced quickly towards his opponent, with his fists still in front.

Yashiro stepped forward, spun around and attempted to kick him with his heel, he blocked this and shuffled backwards.

Without any delay, he attacked again, this time going low with his kick, trying to bring his opponent to the ground by sweeping him off his feet.

Yasuke anticipated this jumped backwards, completely avoiding the kick.

As he landed, he leapt forward, closing the distance between himself and Yashiro in a split second, then striking upwards with his foot aiming at his jaw.

Yashiro slightly leaned backwards, narrowly avoiding the attack. Seeing a chance for a counter attack, he flipped forwards with his leg outstretched and with a lot of force, slammmed his heel into Yasuke's cheekbone.

This made him fall hard and flat on his back, the force causing him to slide backwards a few centimetres.

Yashiro sprung back to his feet, bouncing lightly on his toes again as he waited to see if the fight was over or not.

"Are you trying to mock me?", Yasuke grunted angrily as he got back up to his feet.

"I'm not a fan of attacking people while they're down", Yashiro replied, with a very confident smile on his face.

Yasuke got back into his stance, then said, "Let's see where this sense of chivalry you have gets you"

Yashiro smiled and thought to himself, [He uses a similar fighting style as me, I should be able to handle him].

Yasuke took a deep breath and charged at Yashiro. Attempting the same upward quick as before.

To Yashiro's surprise, he was much faster. So much so that he had to block the attack this time.

The attack knocked him backwards and before he could regain his balance, Yasuke lunged at him with a foot in the air and kicked him in the chest.

Although Yashiro managed to block the kick, it had enough force to knock him several metres away from the stage.

"Yashiro Katsui Is off the stage. Twice more and he loses"

After the announcement, Yashiro jumped back onto the stage.

[That was unexpected.] he thought, [Time to get serious now]"

He let out a smile and got back into his stance, more focused this time.

He dashed forward, moving faster than his opponent could anticipate, unleashing a powerful low kick.

Yasuke blocked with his lead leg, but his facial expression made it seem like that was a mistake.

*

"Fighters take your stances"

Dota smiled and put his hands in his pockets which infuriated his opponent.

"Take your hands out of your pockets or you're going to seriously regret it "

He got no response.

"Ready?..."

"Don't say I didn't warn you. Cocky bastard "

Dota once again didn't respond

"Fight!"

Now angered, Kuroni sprinted forward, swinging punches and wildly kicking at his opponent.

He simply dodged the attacks without retaliation, all the while keeping his hands in his pockets.

Kuroni, getting even more angry attacked again, but the outcome was the same.

After 2 minutes of this, round 1 ended.

[he's so confident that he just toys with his opponent. This guy is on a different level. He hasn't attacked once and Kuroni looks that flustered] Rando thought, as he observed the fight closely.

After 30 seconds, the fighters were up again as the announcer signalled the start of round 2.

Kuroni went at his opponent with another barrage of attacks.

Yet again, Dota gracefully dodged every punch, kick and grapple attempt, further enraging his opponent.

Letting his rage take over, Kuroni let out a shout and to the surprise of everyone watching the fight he began forming a ball of black energy in his hands.

"I'm going to make you regret pissing me off!" He yelled, before joining his hands together to charge the black ball, causing it to increase drastically in size.

Dota finally removed his hands from his pocket and got into a defensive stance, as he realised that the attack could be fatal to him if he underestimated it.

With a shout, Kuroni launched the ball of energy at Dota.

Before most could react, there was a huge explosion, that was powerful enough to destroy the mid section of the ring.

The explosion caused a small cloud of dust to form in the ring which prevented anyone from seeing what had happened to the fighters.

As the attention of most people in the dojo turned to group D, a familiar voice spoke out from within the cloud.

"What did I say about the use of powers in this tournament young man?" Ichisuda said, as the cloud of dust began to settle.

He was standing in the middle of the ring, where the explosion had occurred with his hand stretched in front of him, and smoke rising from his palm.

He had negated the attack.

He continued speaking, "Due lack of control of your temper, you are hereby disqualified from this tournament and any other future tournaments held in this dojo. You're free to go".

As Ichisuda finished speaking, the announcer spoke "Kuroni Zuka disqualified, Dota Amaku advances to the next round"

Kuroni stormed out of the dojo, with tears in his eyes and Dota watched as Ichisuda calmly walked off the stage.

His smile had disappeared as he couldn't help but think; [when did he get in front of me to block that attack? How did I not feel his presence before he got to the ring? How did he block something so destructive without taking any damage?].

Similar thoughts ran through Rando's mind as both teens questioned Ichisuda's strength.

Dota with his hands in his pockets again thought to himself [if I had used my powers there for defence, would I have been able to stop that attack? Most importantly, would I have been disqualified too?]

He walked off, realising there were a lot of questions he couldn't answer, which slightly annoyed him.

As people all around the dojo debated whether Dota was lucky or not, an announcement came from group F.

"Yasuke Oshime is unable to continue, Yashiro Katsui advances to the next round".

Rando turned his head and he saw Yasuke on the floor clutching his leg.

Blocking Yashiro's kick had broken his leg.

Yashiro walked off the ring and joined Rani and Rando, who was still shocked at what he just witnessed in group D, but excited that his friend had just won his fight.

"What the hell happened over there?" Yashiro asked immediately, not giving his friends a chance to even congratulate him on his win.

Rando replied, "Dota's opponent lost his temper and used his powers, but Mr Ichisuda came out of nowhere and blocked it before Dota or anyone could even react."

"Woah, that's crazy. I was wondering what that explosion was"

"Enough about that" Rani said as she smiled at Yashiro. "That was a pretty crazy kick back there"

She turned excitedly towards Rando, "Rando, you should've seen it. Yasuke's body couldn't handle it"

"oh, is that why he was clutching his leg when the announcement was made?"

"Yeah, his leg broke unfortunately. I was just starting to enjoy the fight too. I guess all that training with me kicking your steel skin paid off"

with a smile on his face, Rando responded, "Yeah, I guess it did"

"So, what now?" Rani asked, looking excitedly at the screen displaying all the winners of the tournament so far.

Yashiro replied to her question, "I think we should remain here, I have a feeling you're next"

He was not wrong.

An announcement came from the speakers again "Next Fight; Rani Rimomi VS Mika Amon"

Rani smiled confidently as she walked towards the ring. She turned around to the boys, holding a peace sign up with her fingers, and tilting her head to the side.

That smile faded away quickly as she realised who her opponent was.

The "girl in black".

As Yashiro realised this too, he shouted to her "Rani, be very careful"

Mika's face had no expression as she walked up the ring and gave the trio a very menacing stare.

Rando soon realised why Yashiro shouted out the warning as he felt how immense her aura was.

[Shit, Rani might be in trouble here]

Although that was what he was thinking, his words, were words of encouragement, "Rani, you got this. Don't panic".

"Fighters take your stances"

Rani nodded and took an offensive stance.

[Good, show her you're not fazed], Yashiro thought.

"Ready?...Fight"

Rani leapt forward, and threw a quick punch at her opponent, who shuffled to the side, and kicked her in the stomach, causing her to double over.

Capitalising on the situation, she lunged forward, her knee connecting with Rani's face. Breaking her nose and spattering the floor with blood.

Not giving her any chance for recovery, she kicked Rani again, sending her off the ring.

She landed hard on her back, coughing and gasping for air.

An announcement followed, "Rani Rimomi is off the ring. Strike 1"

As she lay on the cold floor, she thought to herself [the boys both won their matches. So I have to win this. I have to keep up with them]

Using those thoughts as her driving force, she got up slowly, and walked towards the ring. Blood dripping down her face.

Yashiro clenched his fist as he watched Mika, who seemed to be enjoying this, as she had a mischievous smile on her face.

As soon as she was in the ring, Mika ran at her again. When she was close enough, she threw a straight punch at her.

Rani deflected the punch downwards and retaliated with a punch of her own, hitting her opponent in the face and following up with kick aimed at her head.

Mika smiled and ducked under the kick, picked her off balance opponent up by the waist and slammed her onto the floor of the ring.

She then violently stamped on her face, causing her to scream out in pain.

As she was about to do it again, an announcement came. "Rani Rimomi is unable to continue, Mika Amon advances to the next round "

Yashiro's eyes burned with rage as he stepped into the stage and viciously punched Mika causing her to fall backwards.

Before he could do anything else, two teachers were standing in front of him, blocking his path to Mika and causing him to freeze.

One of them spoke up "Yashiro Katsui, for attacking another contender outside battle, at this moment, you're disqualified from this tournament"

Mika laughed maliciously as she got back to her feet and dusted herself.

Rando looked in disbelief as both of his friends were out of the tournament that they had earnestly been waiting for.