Engines Running

"You were strong. I was stronger." Those solemn words were little more than a pity reward for the loser. His hair was slightly messy from the fight, so he swept it back with confidence in his gait. Meanwhile, the loser was left on the floor, sitting up and head facing down.

He was crushed in his own field, dominated by a beast of adaptability. Those few words merely made the grave deeper for him to sink into.

Medics helped his body onto a stretcher and then they moved off with him. The center was bereft of the fighters, yet the audience still had their eyes stuck to the empty field, like the fight was still ongoing.

Vincent can't blame them for being thunderstruck by the outcome. The battle was wondrously erratic and swift on both sides. Even though both fighters were tanks, they moved with the alacrity of a lightning bolt to take each other done. The Fang of Metsudo showed the American why his legend was cemented as a fighter who has never lost. Vincent's hands are shaking from a fight he didn't even participate in.

The last time his spirit has been ignited so furiously was almost six years ago. "Ohta," Vincent spoke up. He forgot to refer to the CEO as boss.

The overweight man turned to his fighter and instinctively backed away. He couldn't identify why he felt so concerned with his distance toward him because there wasn't an aura of pressure bringing him fear. It...just felt wrong to stand so close to him right now. "Yes?"

"Will you consider setting up a match between me and the Fang?" A number of Kengan Association members took a step away from the crazy lunatic who asked such a ridiculous question. They couldn't conceive of somebody wanting to face such a monster after seeing him fight.

At first, they saw him as a new, arrogant fighter that didn't see just how high the Kengan Matches were. Now, they just see him as someone completely out of his mind.

Ohta was no different. "You, what, wait, seriously?! Take a step back and think what you're asking of me!"

The usually meek CEO actually yelled, though keeping his voice low enough to not attract the attention of Metsudo.

Vincent massaged the thin hairs on his chin in thought, nodding to himself while calming down his burning spirit. "Yeah, you're right. My bad."

Everyone around him began relaxing, Ohta included. They all believed that the man finally came back to sanity. His next words, however, destroyed that peaceful assumption with zero hesitation.

"I wouldn't want you to incur a loss if I do actually lose." Those words seemed normal at first glance, but the fact that Vincent assumed his loss wasn't a foregone conclusion baffled those around him. There were fighters who went up against the Fang that glared at Vincent or shot him an interested glance and then there were CEOs who wanted to just get away from the American so his craziness wouldn't infect them.

"Vincent, let's go." His boss called him by name and motioned him to follow. The fighter merely wore a lax smile and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

'It's fine. My battle with him is an inevitability.' Vincent believed that with his heart and closed his eyes, imagining how the battle would go during the car ride back home.

Two days passed since that match and the day of Vincent's match against Kaburagi Koji has finally come. It would be Under Mount against Koyama Mart. Ohta was currently speed walking toward his office. Nervous sweat was piling up on his back and pouring down his head when he blew the door open and closed it with a slam.

He ripped the phone right up and smashed the speed dial button before falling in his chair lacking any grace whatsoever. There was a reason behind the man's complete loss of composure and that reason could only be because of the match.

He was completely fine before.

"Boss, what do we do?! They changed their fighter to someone of the Kure Clan!" Rudely, he didn't even give the chance for Kenzo to greet him and immediately shouted the problem. If his employees were to see him now, they'd be taken aback by the calm and composed Ohta looking like he's at the end of his rope.

"...Calm down." And just like that, the CEO calmed down. All it took were those two simple words from the man who pulled him all the way to success and he felt his breathing stabilize.

"Now, I believe you say they changed their fighter to someone from the Kure Clan?" Ohta gave a pointless nod and failed to swallow what was stuck in his throat.

"Yes." There was a hum over the phone.

"Okay...this can be a good opportunity to truly test the prowess of Vincent Walker. I'll assist reimbursing the company if we suffer a loss."

"Oooooooooooooooooh, as expected of my boss!! He always knows how to keep my mood up and look out for the company's best interests!" A sigh came from Kenzo.

"...Aren't you the boss of this company?" He let out another sigh, like he was exhausted from a long day of extreme exercise.

Ohta's previously panicked mood was washed away by the calm tides of his boss's words. He understood his thought process as well. Vincent's fight with a member of the Kure Clan would be a good way to tell just how powerful he really is. Neither Ohta nor Kenzo has seen his limits, nor have they seen him struggling for victory.

He's always either wearing a lax smile or a mild frown. His expression watching the Fang's fight was new, but fighting that man wouldn't be good in the slightest.

'The Fang would only damage him too greatly and it'd knock me out of the Kengan Matches for an unsatisfactorily amount of time.' This was a good opportunity. It was believed that nobody in the Kure Clan could match Kanoh Agito's martial prowess, so they preferred this match over that. It's more even.

One could say that this is looking down on the vaunted Kure Clan, yet at the same time, it's praise for the Fang of Metsudo's sheer power.

"Thanks boss. Now I just need to let him know the good news."

"Wait." Before the CEO hung up, he was stopped by that single word. As Ohta hung from everything his boss said, he did exactly as what was told.

"Don't give him all that much detail about the fighter. Just tell him that there was a change in the planned fighter and you don't know who the new fighter is. That's all. Goodbye."

The phone beeped and Ohta put it back down. 'Is there something he wants to see?'

Ohta made sure his recording device was functional and then he left his personal office to drive back to his mansion. Sometimes he likes to drive a car himself as it keeps his mind alert. It's a good way for him to fire up his neurons and think over some more complex problems.

He parked the car in his garage and strolled over to Vincent's room. Opening the door, he saw the man exercising once more, doing handstand pushups.

"Ah, boss." He fell on his back, too lazy to actually land on his feet before getting up and properly greeting his employer. Vincent should show respect to the man who's giving him his paycheck, but he's just too lazy for that.

"It's time for the match? Lost track of time there." Ohta hesitated for a moment.

"The match will be in an hour, but we should get there early now that I think about it. I just came here to tell you that the man you would've been facing today has been substituted for another fighter. ...I don't have information on him, so you'll be going in blind."

It was like lightning flashed through the American's eyes. He slammed a fist into his palm and grinned. "That's great. Let's head there now."

An exciting unknown.

His previous opponent didn't look all that special and Vincent didn't really feel the drive to beat on a person he's familiar with outside of fighting.

This is just another match he has to win. He'll stomp over everyone underfoot until he reaches the Fang and he'll fight him. Just to throw everything at a person once more; he wants to do that again, so he'll have to win this fight. Ever since he saw the Fang's fight, his mindset took a gradual shift.

No, it's more like he's regressing back to a time when he was on fire. He's finally getting his engine started again.