ENTER! Dohko Ryūgami

Martial Arts Tournament
"Finally!" Ahatake stretched, grinning widely as he ran outside the school, jumping like a girl who had gotten good news. "Aren't you guys just happy to be friggin' done for a day? The first day of the festival is done!"

Kayla frowned. "Why are you so happy? You did look cute in that outfit." She smirked a bit.

Harumi and Gaikou seemed to be a little...spaced out. Ahatake looked at them for a minute. "Are you two okay? Your eyes are rather...blank."

Before they could actually say anything, a loud voice interrupted them.

"Ahatake-kun!"

"...Crap." Ahatake groaned as Kōyuri wrapped her arms around his neck, and they looked conspicuously like a young couple. Kayla's eyes narrowed. "You weren't going to leave me, were you!? That's not very nice!"

Ahatake sighed. "Calm down, Kōyuri. I'm in a good enough mood that, yes, you can come home with us."

"Alright!" She grinned like she had just won some sort of prize. "Are you happy to have me come over, Gaikou-san? Harumi-san?"

"Of course." Harumi smiled. "The more the merrier."

Kōyuri clasped her hands, letting out a barely audible giggle that was for all the wrong intentions. "...Excellent, excellent. I love how we're all becoming best of friends. It's sweet, don't you think~" There was something so...eerily terrifying about this girl; as if she was from a different world.

Gaikou's eyes, while still hazy, uttered in a creepy voice, "...Yes, it is....I think that I need scissors..." While it was a completely out-of-context statement, the tone basically meant, "I AM UNDER YOUR BED RIGHT NOW." It was...scary as all get-out.

Kayla and Ahatake looked at the three with...very confused eyes. Ahatake walked over to Gaikou. "Hey, stupid, you okay in there?"

Gaikou didn't even blink; a pleasant smile was constantly plastered upon her face, as she sounded almost...cheerful. "I'm as busy as a beaver in here!" ...What.

Ahatake frowned. She didn't insult him. That was....definitely odd. "..Let's just head to the house..." He said slowly. "I take it you're coming as well, Gaikou?"

Gaikou nodded in an uncanny manner. "Yeppers~" Her train of thought...drifted off. "I like stories."

Ahatake decided to ignore this as they went back to the house, and he took up a seat in the kitchen while Kayla busied herself in the kitchen. He groaned. "I officially hate café's, coffee, tea, pastries, and maids."

Gaikou chimed incessantly, "Well, I like the flesh of small children~" What the hell kind of statement was that?

Harumi frowned, her blank eyes shifting to Gaikou. "I really have no idea what's wrong with her." She said, standing up and dragging the girl upstairs. "I'll handle it."

Ahatake looked on as this happened. "Kōyuri, any idea what the heck is up with them?"

As he asked this, screams were heard from the upstairs.

Kouyuri scooted closer to Ahatake, slinging her arms around his neck in a psuedo-loving manner. "Unnnnn~ You're so warm, Ahatake-kun~" The way she stretched that...it was a punchable offense. "I'm just happy to be with you; tell me something, do you think we're still friends?"

Ahatake flinched backwards as Kayla's eyes drifted over towards them. This girl really rubbed her the wrong way. "Yeah, we're friends. I've known you since we were five, but that's all we are is childhood friends, Kōyuri."

Before anything else could happen, Harumi came back down the stairs with Gaikou, who seemed to be in a more normal state than she had been previous.

"Sorry. She ate something bad earlier, and it was affecting her." Harumi sighed. "I had to induce vomiting."

Gaikou muttered, "...I think I just vomited up my organs."

"So, have you all heard about the tournament being sponsored?" Harumi asked, taking a bowl from Kayla as she brought everyone food. "I think it should be interesting, and I was thinking about entering."

"I'm all for it. I mean, my trigger finger is itching...I mean, I feel the urge to bust some skulls." Gaikou immediately began hooking into the meal.

"I've never been a fan of tournaments." Kayla frowned, morphing her own two index fingers into a knife and fork and began to eat. "They always take...well, way too long."

"But I think it would be fun to watch you guys go at it!" Kōyuri sounded like she was encouraging them. "I wish I could enter, but I'm not really made for combat."

Ahatake looked at her incredulously. "I've seen you wielding a sword on one or two occasions, I'm sure they'd let you use a wooden one."

"But that's aaaaall I can do, ya know?" Kōyuri brushed him off here. "Meanwhile, you have so many other ways ot fight."

Gaikou's eyes shifted. "....Suuuuuuuuuuure, you do." She was inherantly suspicious of Kouyuri...though her suspicion was drown out by happy thoughts; and how nice the woman seemed.

"So I suppose all of us except Kayla and Kōyuri are in for it." Ahatake shrugged. "Maybe we'll actually meet someone worth our time." He chuckled derisively, seriously doubting this.

Gaikou muttered, "Or, you know, there could be something actually interesting going on there. In stories, tournaments usually have a lot of strong competitors...or they're complete anticlimaxes."

"Then it's settled." Ahatake yawned. "We know who will enter the tournament tomorrow."

Boy Like Me
"WELCOME, EVERYONE!" A loud, female voice called into the stands, ushering in a welcome to the people attending the school's martial arts tournament. "TO YASURAKA HIGH'S MARTIAL ARTS TOURNAMENT!"

A loud cheer erupted, mainly from the males in the crowd.

"BUT FIRST, LET'S GIVE A LARGE THANKS TO THIS EVENT'S SPONSOR, ENTENRYŪ-SAN, WHO WOULD LIKE TO SAY A FEW WORDS."

A man dressed in a large blue kimono walked up into the ring, and took the mike from the girl. "HELLO EVERYONE." His voice, while not as loud as hers, carried well. "I AM GLAD TO BE ABLE TO SPONSOR THIS EVENT, FOR THE SAKE OF GIVING A BIT OF HOPE TO FUTURE MARTIAL ARISTS. I WANT TO SEE A NICE, CLEAN FIGHT, FROM ALL OF YOU." With that, he handed her the mike back.

"...." Harumi's blank eyes narrowed as she saw this man walk off.

"Something wrong?" Ahatake asked, walking over to her holding what looked like a giant piece of bacon. "You know him?"

"Yes..." She frowned. "Why would he be sponsoring....nevermind..."

Gaikou asked straight out of the blue, "...what is he sponsoring anyway? What exactly does that guy do? Does he have a big cooperate job or is he just another ordinary hat-and-clogs store owner?"

"The latter." Harumi replied. "I'm well acquainted with him, and I have no idea why he'd be sponsoring this tournament."

"ALSO, ALL PROCEEDS TO THIS TOURNAMENT GO DIRECTLY TO THE GREEN DRAGON SHOP!"

".....there we go." Harumi groaned. "It's an easy way to make money."

Gaikou was STILL confused. "Literally, what does he sell? Why does nobody answer me?"

"A little of everything and anything." Harumi replied. "He's got connections with the other side, so he even sells objects for supernatural purposes."

"Does he se-" Kayla began, but Harumi interrupted her.

"Yes, he in fact does sell meth." Harumi seemed a bit irritated with that one.

Gaikou queried, "What about woofles?" The hell were woofles? "...Woofles are waffles, but made by a dog." They actually existed; though they weren't very tasty, apparantly.

"NOW! WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, LET'S START THIS TOURNAMENT!"

"These matches are...actually quite boring." Ahatake was watching two fighters in the ring going at it, and, to him, it all seemed so mundane. "I guess it's because  we do fighting a much different scale but...." He frowned, watching as one of the fighters knocked his opponent out of the ring, securing a win. "...it feels like there's someone here actually worth our time. Not like the rest of the people here. Someone as strong as me."

"Screw you!" One of the other competitors could hear Ahatake and shouted this in his direction.

Gaikou felt like marching over to them and smashing their faces in; but she stopped herself, "Go eff yourselves! I't not his fault it's boring! Don't make me come over there and rearrange your faces!"

Ahatake looked up as his name was called for his first match in a sequence of a good 25. He groaned, and walked into the ring, confronted by some woman who seemed to have dressed up for this occasion, wearing traditional gi.

"BEGIN!"

"I know you." The girl murmured. "You're that delinquent fro-" Ahatake cut her off, slamming his elbow into her gut, before spinning his leg upwards into a kick that landed squarely in her jaw, knocking her out of the ring.

"R-RING OUT IN FIVE SECONDS! THE VICTOR IS AHATAKE KUROSAKI!"

"Somebody get her a stretcher." Ahatake brushed hair out of his eyes. "This is boring after all."

Gaikou muttered, in no tone of surprise, "...Well, that escalated quickly."

Ahatake went back up to join the girls, and took a seat. A few stares followed him as he walked, which made sense, he nearly broke a girl's neck. "Seems like they're calling you, Gaikou."

Gaikou stretched. "This should be a walk in the park, then!"

The moment that she stepped in the ring, her opponent was a broad-shouldered young man with an intimidating stare. Or at least it would be, if it wasn't Gaikou, who took everything in stride.

"BEGIN!"

As the young man threw a punch...

...Gaikou caught it with a single hand, pulled the guy forward, and slammed him with a powerful spinning kick, knocking him straight out of the arena. Just like Ahatake, she destroyed her foe in so effortlessly.

"...Again!?" The announcer was absolutely shocked, while Gaikou walked off as if nothing at all had happened.

Harumi went up next, and utterly floored here opponent within seconds, breaking his nose.

"W-WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE!?" The announcer called out in shock as she announced Harumi's victory.

"This is why I said we shouldn't bother..." Ahatake sighed as Harumi walked back towards them. "Notice how none of them are worth our effort?"

The next match was a tough one. Both competitidors fought valiantly, but in the end, the female had toppled her male opponent after a struggle. This tournament was...boring. As in, excessively boring. It made sense however; considering that most of the participants were supernatural in some way.

"ALRIGHT, EVERYONE! THE NEXT MATCH IS HERE! DOHKO RYŪGAMI! AHATAKE KUROSAKI! CAN YOU PLEASE STEP INTO THE RING!?"

Etenryū, watching from his own reserved seat, looked up at this. "Now...this should be it."

Ahatake stepped into the ring, waiting on his opponent to join him.

The young man who stood to the ring had rather distinctive silver hair which had an abnormal shade of black underneath it, parting to the right. His figure was quite lean, but well toned as a result of his physical fitness, and he was also quite tall as well. His eyes were a dark blue colour, and were noted to be quite blank, barely seeing the pupils within his eyes.

In terms of attire, Dohko was rather conservative and uniform. He wore a light blue dress shirt with orange suspenders attached to his black dress pants. Near his shoulder-line, there was a white rectangle going across his shirt, with an orange tie dangling down from there. Additionally; he wore white dress shoes, coloured with an orange-ish front. Despite his rather basic appearance, Dohko did indeed emit an aura of intimidation.

There was something about Ahatake that put Dohko right off- like he and Dohko were quite similar, yet something about them clashed furiously. He didn't speak a word at first; merely looking at Ahatake like something was up with him. "....Hmmmm."

"ALRIGHT YOU TWO, BEGIN!"

Ahatake took a stance, looking at the boy before him. "It's you..." His eyes narrowed. "You're the one whose power I've been feeling. Someone like me...the only competitor here who seems to have the power to keep up with me."

Dohko merely stayed perfectly still, continuing to look at Ahatake. "...Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..." Honestly, this was kind of wierd; this guy, just continually staring at him.

Ahatake relaxed his stance, staring at this very odd teenager. "Uh...I'm not sure how to ask, concern isn't my thing, but...are you all there?" He wouldn't fight a mentally handicapped opponent.

Dohko straightened up. "...Yeah, I'm fine. You, however, are a different case. Like, you remind me of somebody...somebody who I can't really remember 'cept scarse details."

"That's strange..." Ahatake once again took his stance. "I get the same vibe from you...memories long gone...anyway, we're here for a battle. Come at me."

Dohko started the match off- dissapearing from sight instantly. Swiftly, he reappeared behind Ahatake, swinging his arm towards the boy; displaying little hint of technique nor finesse.

"Fast." Ahatake felt the arm collide with his back and it sent him flying along the ring, however, he caught himself by using his hand to slow his own movement along the surface. "Looks like he's self-taught too...this should be interesting." He began to dash forward, arm cocked back as if to punch Dohko...only he slid in, spinning his leg up for a kick to the jaw.

Dohko merely...moved. It was hard to describe, but he dissapeared again; reappearing behind Ahatake once more. "You do know if you have a speed technique such as this, you don't be an idiot and don't spam it for all it's worth, right? He sneered...and pushed Ahatake forward lightly.

Ahatake, however, instinctively reacted to Dohko's stupidity of speaking while he was behind a target, slamming his own elbow backwards towards the boy's gut. "There's a thing called 'element of surprise'. I don't think you quite understand what that is."

Dohko was struck by Ahatake's blow; sliding back a few centimeters, the mysterious boy countered with a powerful spinning kick, swinging his leg towards his foe at full force.

With surprising speed and force, Ahatake swung his arm upwards towards Dohko's leg, blocking it. However, he went the extra mile, pressing with enough power to slam the leg into the ground. Naturally, such a movement forced Dohko to stumble from the lack of balance, and Ahatake used this opportunity, freeing his main arm from Dohko's leg and punching upwards towards his face.

"T-THIS IS INCREDIBLE!" The announcer girl called out, shocked at the level of this match. "TO ANYONE EXPECTING A CURBSTOMP FROM EITHER OF THESE TWO, THEY WERE SORELY MISTAKEN. THEY ARE DOING AN EXCELLENT JOB OF KEEPING UP WITH EACH OTHER! ALSO, TO THOSE ASKING AT THE ENTRANCE, SWIMSUIT PICTURES OF ME WILL BE FOR SALE ON THE WAY OUT!"

Gaikou called out, "And I'm just sitting here, eating corndogs!"

Dohko anticipated this attack; blocking his rival's strike; he countered with a powerful downwards punch, aiming to knock him straight out of the ring.

Ahatake, however, ducked, letting the punch go straight over his head. Placing his hands on the ground for the purpose of balance, he slid his right leg in an arc, aiming to sweep Dohko off his feet.

Leaping over Ahatake's blow, Dohko spun around in mid-air, swinging down with a powerful axe kick that actually parted the air as his leg moved. No doubt, that this young man was extremely powerful- and yet, it felt like he was holding back in some way of form.

Ahatake sidestepped the blow, suddenly showing off the speed Dohko was so fond of bragging about, vanishing with the tap of his feet as Dohko's blow crashed into the wooden arena, cracking it, and reappearing near the edge of the ring, flipping his hair as he took a look at Dohko. "You...you don't seem to be all that into this." His eyes narrowed. "Do you think I'm weak? Or are you just here to kill time?"

Dohko stopped in his tracks, cracking his neck. "Neither. Accusing somebody who's just a humble student of such a thing? I'm just but an ordinary guy, here to have fun." He said, denying suspiciously. "I'm just testing you, so simmer down."

"I can feel that." Ahatake replied, irritably. "I can also feel much more from you. You're hiding something." He gritted his teeth. "Show me what you're hiding."

Dohko raised his right hand slightly; from it, an intense pressure arose. Upon the tips of his fingers, an intense blue flame rose; rising up to the skies and surrounding the arena. "Don't worry. They'll deactivate when I say so."

"W-WHAT'S THIS!?" The announcer cried. "THE RING HAS BEEN BLOCKED BY A MASS OF FIRE!"

"...I wasn't under the impression I cared." Ahatake replied, and his tone made it obvious that he didn't. "I'm not a hero man, I wouldn't jump through flames to save all these people. My friends, sure." He lifted his arms up, and flames began to spill from them, licking at the floor and giving off an impressive sight that everyone was missing out on because Dohko was depriving them of a view. "You are depriving people of the view they paid for though."

Dohko pouted. "True, true. But you'd think they'd freak out if they saw two guys acting like the damn Human Torch?"

"....The entire ring is covered in a spiraling pillar of flames, blue flames at that, and you're worried about them freaking over us?" Ahatake sighed. "You're the limit."

Dohko laughed at that. "Hey, I may have skewed priorities. Humans and fire do not go well. There was this one time I set this kid on fire- let's not go there. Anyway, let's resume."

Ahatake wasn't even gonna ask. Though, he could relate to setting people on fire, though it hadn't been accidental. He waved his hands, sending a blast of flames heading straight towards Dohko.

Dohko dissipated the flames with a wave of his hands, before countering with a straight beam of his own which aimed to knock Ahatake backwards.

Ahatake extended his hands, wrapping the flames around his arm, and dispersing them into the wall Dohko used to surround them. "What is this!? Your flames! They're cold as ice!"

Dohko jumped back. "Whaaaaaaaaaaaat? I thought they were like water..." He shook his head. "No matter." Swinging his leg forward, Dohko released a powerful burst of flame from his foot, shooting towards Ahatake.

Ahatake swatted them into the ground, and returned fire literally, sharply jabbing the air and releasing quick spheres of flame. Flames were never damaging to him. He was probably the only child who touched a lit stove and didn't get burned.

Dohko, naturally, countered Ahatake's flames with his own once more. "...At any rate, this is just going to turn into us swinging fire around until one of us hits. Let's can the flames, and fight the ol' fashioned way, don't you say?"

Ahatake's flames immediately ceased, and he watched as the wall of flames came down as well. "I suppose you have a fair point. Flames never have been able to hurt me, even as child. I suppose it's been the same for you as well?"

Dohko nodded. "Exactly. It's like splashing water into the sea in the hopes that you'll defeat it; utterly useless."

Ahatake took a stance as the announcer made a comment about finally being able to see things again. "Come at me. We'll end this now."

Dohko took upon the stance of a crane. "...Very well!" WHOOSH! Like a bullet, it took only five seconds for Dohko to reach Ahatake, swinging his most powerful kick towards the youth; surely, this would have enough power to shatter the arena around them.

Ahatake, with great speed and reaction time, sidestepped the kick, feeling the air rush past him. Had that hit, he would surely be more broken than he is now. Ahatake then spun his own leg upwards, towards Dohko's ribs.

Dohko performed a downwards chop; causing an immediate clash from both body parts, pushing the two back. "...Gh!" He wasn't surprised, however- Ahatake Kurosaki was just as powerful as Dohko Ryuugami.

"AND THAT'S IT! DOHKO AND AHATAKE HAVE BOTH REACHED THE TIME LIMIT, AND THIS MATCH IS DECLARED A DRAW!" The announcer girl called out into the stadium, and a huge uproar followed. "IN THE EVENT OF A DRAW, BOTH COMBATANTS ARE DISQUALIFIED, DUE TO TIME CONSTRAINTS!"

Dohko cracked his neck; smiling enthusiastically while holding his hand out to his rival. "Not bad, eh?"

Ahatake grasped Dohko's hand, shaking it with a returning, yet less enthusiastic smile. "You're very good. I think we would make decent partners. I look forward to another competition."

Dohko nodded. "Yeah. Next time, I assume we'll be able to go all out. Having to hide my true nature in front of all these people...kinda boring, ya know? Like we have to surpress our real selves in front of this bland world full of sheep who merely let nature control their souls. They're scared of anything that's not natural; it's the main problem with Earth. ...Well, I've droned on long enough. It was a pleasure meeting you."

"Of course." Ahatake eyed the boy again. Perhaps he was a tad touched in the head? "The pleasure was all mine." With that, he walked off, back towards the girls, seeming a bit brighter than before.

"That was who you meant?" Kayla asked, looking at Dohko walk away. "The one strong like you?"

"Yeah..." Ahatake also turned his eyes to Dohko's retreating form. "I think we'll meet him again soon."

Gaikou was eying Dohko off. "That's right, keep walking! I bet he's a sore loser..." Once again, the idiot was overcomplicating things. "Anyway...now what happens, hmm?"

"Well, I'm not hanging around here all day, and classes have been cancelled due to the festival." Ahatake rubbed his head. "Let's just head out. Pretty sure nothing can go wrong for today." The group began to walk away.

Entenryū watched them go. "I think those boys both show promise. This is going to prove interesting..."

END