Intermission: The preliminary rounds

[pan2000]

Finn and Leah have reached the place of the tournament.

They are now observing how many the contestants are.

"Careful, Leah," Finn says. "The contestants alone are one thousand and twenty-four. Among them, some will certainly stand out."

"Don't worry, dear, I've got this," Leah says as she stretches her arms for a warm-up.

Finn kisses her on the cheek. "May the Force be with you. I will watch you at first, but go outside in case something is wrong."

Leah strokes his face. "Oh, don't worry, everything will go fine."

The first match is Tomari, one of Big Al's men, against a martial artist wearing a blue belt. The martial artist attacks with two quick punches, but Tomari blocks them and lands a powerful shoulderbash, knocking his opponent down.

The rookie gets back up and performs a flying kick, striking Tomari hard and making him struggle to retain balance. Then he follows up with a roundhouse kick, which makes the warrior flinch.

But Tomari jumps on the ropes of the arena and then divebombs his opponent, instantly knocking him on the terrain.

"1... 2... 3... 4... 5... 6... 7... 8... 9... 10! Knock out!"

The next match involves a muscular black woman, who once hospitalized a man whom she mistook for a creep, and has pink hair.

"Come at me. No man can beat me!"

Unfortunately for her, her opponent is Dumbbell, who easily blocks her punches and knocks her towards the edge of the arena. Then he runs at her with his horns pointing forward, gives her a strong headbutt and sends her flying out of the arena.

Next match involves a masked man who wants the money of the tournament to give to the anarchist gang he is in. Since he loves beating up people, he believes he will win easily.

However, his opponent, Bob Charlie, a tan, lanky boxer, avoids all of his punches. Then he feigns two low blows, making the anarchist try a low block, before breaking his jaw with a mighty uppercut.

"You are not feeling the rhythm, man. And that's why you lost."

Next up is Terror Billy, who is a cowboy. He faces off against an arrogant Chinese man who is boasting about his skills.

"You got unlucky, white guy. I know how to counter any punch or kick coming my way! One touch from me and you will go down!"

Billy makes his thumb and index finger form a gun and shoots a bullet out of ki, knocking his opponent out just as he finishes his gloating.

Then he blows the smoke off his fingers.

Karn goes next, up against a brutish bodybuilder who has been training through power lifting and doped before the match. The bodybuilder throws a very hard right cross at Karn, but it passes through his body.

"I think our difference in skills is transparent," Karn says as he lets the enemy's punches pass through him harmlessly.

Once he has had his fun, he grabs the muscleman's arms and knees him three times in the face, drawing blood and knocking him down.

The bodybuilder gets up and jumps at him, aiming his elbow at Karn's head, but Karn avoids it and retaliates with a powerful high spin kick, which knocks his opponent out instantly.

It's Leah's turn, against a large bald white man.

"I am disgusted by the rules of this tournament," he tells her. "Forcing women to compete with men, don't you think it's a bit unfair?"

Leah nods. "Yes, this fight is quite unfair."

"I will go easy on you, redskin." The man throws a weak punch, but Leah shrugs it off and with a left jab she sends him skidding close to the edge of the arena.

"Very well. Equal rights, equal lefts." The man charges at Leah and throws a very strong left hook, but Leah easily dodges it and knocks him off the ring with one kick.

It's Phantem's turn, against a woman with red hair who has been hitting her husband to the point he was unable to speak to her without permission.

She charges at Phantem, throwing her Wife Punch at him. Phantem barely dodges it and lets it rip apart the ropes of the ring. Then he blocks several quick kicks until one of them connects.

He glares at her for a moment, grabs her and throws her off the ring.

"You are disgusting! I hope you get hit by a car!" the woman curses as the announcer declares Phantem's victory.

Next up is a Wookiee against a man who is wearing a headband.

"You are done for, furball! I know ki!" The man charges an energy beam with both hands.

"Now, behold, the 100% of my power level! TURTLE... "

The Wookiee approaches.

"SHELL... "

The Wookiee is very close to him and pulls back his right arm.

"ENERGY... "

WHAM!

One punch interrupts the attack and makes the man dizzy, allowing the Wookiee to suplex him and knock him out.

---

While the tournament is happening, an underground cave in Greece has a gathering of monsters.

Harpies are talking to each other, Nure-Onnas are eating meat, and a person is being fed to four savage mares.

Suddenly, a harpy approaches a throne room with snakes engraved all over the walls. A giant green snake tail is covering half the gigantic room.

"Mistress, a goatman wants to see you."

"Goatman? Who exactly?" a feminine voice asks, echoing all over the room.

"His name is Captain Ramhorn the Brutal. He is one of the officers of the Grand Order of Apocalyptic Times."

"Tell him to pass."

Ramhorn, a red Goatman in black armor, who is wielding twin obsidian scythes, bows before the throne.

"O Mother of Monsters, we require your assistance. Since Starfleet changed and Twilight came back to the throne, our forces are in trouble. I would ask for you to give us the Four Mares of Diomedes. They will be used to little ponies."

"I can accept that request," the woman on the throne hisses. "Anything else?"

"No, my lady."

"Then, take part of our forces, as you asked, and go back. Make us all proud."

Once the Goatman leaves, the lady snaps her fingers, and a Chimera comes forward.

"My dear child, o mighty Chimera, I have a request. I learned that Pan, the demon hunter, is having a vacation in Greece. And just as we were planning to retake it for good. I want you to make sure he regrets coming back home."

All three heads of the Chimera nod.

"I will send an army to back you up as well if you are in trouble."

The Chimera nods again and leaves, roaring, bleating and hissing at once.

---

The first round is over, and the second round starts.

Nairr, the Wookiee wrestler, is fighting against a thug with blue spiky hair.

The thug manages to block Nairr's first punch and land several punches on his face.

"I am not afraid of a nerd that cosplays Chewbacca!"

"Rawwwwwwr?"

"You are so immersed in your role, you forgot to function normally! Wake the fuck up!" The thug throws his strongest punch, but Nairr grabs his arm and breaks it like a twig, making him scream like a little girl.

The only thing the thug has to say about his defeat is a question.

"That was a real Wookiee?"

Next up is Terror Billy, who uses his ki bullets to defeat a Mectan wrestler.

But then, a match catches the eyes of everyone.

"Things have become interesting! Bob Charlie, the Rhythm Boxer, is fighting against Karn the Transparent! It might be the first actually even fight in the tournament!"

The two step into the arena.

Bob Charlie is pretending to be an owl, while Karn blinks in confusion.

"Hoo, hoo, hoo!" Bob Charlie hops towards Karn and prepares a body blow, but Karn dodges it, grabs the collar of his shirt and knees his gut three times until he gets him dizzy.

Bob is about to walk off the arena, but he recovers from his dizzinees just in time and hops back into the center. "Hoo, hoo!"

"Stop doing that! I will make you shut up!" Enraged, Karn attacks with his deadly spin kick, but Bob dodges it and feigns an attack from the right.

Karn, still mad, raises his hands to block it, only for a right hook to blindside him.

Karn attacks with yet another spin kick, but Bob Charlie dodges it and gets on the ropes. Then he attacks with a mighty spinning uppercut.

But the masked disciple of Big Al simply turns transparent and lets the uppercut go through him, then gets behind him and knocks him down with a spin kick.

"That will teach you to act like a monkey!"

However, Bob Charlie gets back up at seven, and jumps back into the arena. "Hoo, hoo! Time to shuck and jive!"

He makes a few more such sounds, shaking his hands high, before attacking with two low blows. Karn lets them phase through him before he grabs him and lands a few knee kicks.

"This is a fight, not a game, Bob."

Bob retaliates by preparing to throw low hooks, and Karn simply turns transparent.

But the three first punches are fakeouts, and the intangibility wears off just in time for Karn's jaw to connect with an uppercut.

Weary, Karn barely stands up, and Bob Charlie goes back to the edge of the arena.

Karn becomes transparent again, hoping to time it right, only for Bob to moonwalk to the other side, wait until the transparency wears off, and then perform a spinning uppercut.

This connects with his opponent, knocking him down on the mat.

"You cannot feel the rhythm, Karn. Your power is nothing without skill."

Karn struggles to get up, he is down to both knees and uses a hand to help himself off the mat.

Damn it! This guy is much smarter than he looks!

"Un-believable!" the announcer says. "A boxer that was usually in Major Circuit actually knocked down the best of Big Al's disciples! 1... 2... 3... 4..."

I got too cocky, I have to fight as if my life depended on it! Karn thinks.

"7... 8... 9..."

Karn gets up slightly before a knockout is declared.

Then he moves at the center of the arena.

"You are better than you look, Bob. Know that I respect you."

Bob nods and fakes an uppercut, but Karn gets transparent again. Then he passes through Bob like a ghost and gets behind him before grabbing him and suplexing him.

As Bob struggles to recover, Karn unleashes a mighty spin kick.

Bob barely dodges it, goes to the corner and prepares a spinning uppercut, but Karn performs a second spin kick to counter it.

The attacks collide, but Karn is faster and has left himself less open, so he manages to instantly knock down his enemy.

"In a clash, strength and speed matter more than everything else."

"Karn has shown his true power at last!" the announcer says. "He showed why he is Big Al's champion! 1... 2... 3... 4... 5..."

Bob is still floored and can't move.

"8... 9... 10... KNOCKOUT! Karn is the winner!"

Once Bob gets up, both he and Karn bow to each other before the next match.