Day 20: The Beatdown

This article, , is the eight chapter of the Investigating Grat arc, which is part of Bleach: Cataclysm. Garrett Sheppard remains the primary POV character with Tiffany Henderson and May as the secondary POV characters.

May cast a nervous eye over the assembled crowd and shivered despite her best intentions. She hadn't been here in a while; not since Hawke, who was the "King of the Arena" at the time, fought here prior to his relocation to Horiwari.

She jumped when a hand came to rest on her shoulder.

"Randy!? You startled me."

"Not my intention." Randy replied. "Has Garrett showed yet?"

May answered by shaking her head. She then motioned towards a solitary figure seated by his lonesome at a table on the far side of the complex. He was dressed in a Brazilian jiu-jitsu gi not unlike that worn usually by Garrett. It consisted of a heavy cotton jacket and reinforced trousers coloured black.

"... Aaron Sheppard." Randy acknowledged. "I hope Garrett doesn't end up fighting him."

"That's if he shows at all." May added.

"Garrett will be here: you can count on it." Randy replied. "Although I wish he'd skip this month. He's not ready to fight Aaron. It'll be a slaughter."

The duo's attention was diverted towards the entrance as a fist-fight broke out.

As usual the so-called "Arena Beatdown" attracted the biggest punters in town. The amount of money that shifted hands on this day every month in Grat was astronomical! It was probably more than May or Randy could hope to earn working all year. Of course gambling wasn't the only thing in excess as far as the Beatdown went. The fights hadn't even begun yet and some people in the crowd where already falling over themselves drunk. Others where simply letting themselves loose. Combine that kind of atmosphere in a confined space and something's going to give.

The only thing that surprised May more was the fact only one fight had broken out amongst the spectators thus far.

"I hate this place." May whispered.

Randy's hand tightened on her shoulder in support. The guy might be a womanising ass most of the time but he wasn't all that bad at heart.

"You're going to be late."

Garrett responded to this comment with a loud harrumph. He was struggling to tie his hair into a tight ponytail at the back but wasn't meeting with much success. At last he threw his arms up in the air in defeat.

"You are hopeless. Come here!"

Tiffany deftly styled his hair into a neat and tight ponytail. It was only after she'd tied his hair up that she noticed the emblem on the back of his gi. Emblazoned on the white surface was a yellow lightning bolt.

"What's the emblem for?"

"What emblem?" Garrett answered, trying to peak around.

"It's my emblem." Kenji declared.

The Shinigami began pacing in-place whilst laughing at some unsaid joke.

"Isn't it customary for a student to flaunt who trained him? Let me tell you something: show off that lightning bolt in the right place and the people who wanted to kick your head in will suddenly back off and go 'Oh, shit. Kenji trained him?'. Of course the same could happen in reverse and they may decide to kill you out to get back at me. I've pissed off a lot of people in my time."

"That's reassuring!" Tiffany exclaimed.

"That's what I'm here for! That being said though... It's time to go."

Garrett secured his belt and attempted to control his breathing. His heart was beating like a drum in his chest and sweat was beading on his forehead. Kenji grabbed him by the shoulders and smiled. With that Garrett's anxiety washed away as if it had never been there. There was a certain air to Kenji Hiroshi. You could believe in him.

"You've been in this pocket dimension long enough." Kenji said. "The Beatdown's about to start, but I suppose I can give you one more gift."

Kenji snapped his fingers. A flash of light engulfed Garrett and Tiffany as the world began to whiz past! In mere seconds they where standing outside the agreed venue for the Beatdown...

"Are you ready?" Tiffany asked.

"... No idea. I guess we'll find out."

With that Garrett walked into the arena as the matches where being called. Unknowingly the announcer for the fights had just fulfilled Garrett's wish.

"You heard me ladies and gentlemen! The reigning King of the Arena, Aaron Sheppard, will be facing off against none-other than young Garrett Sheppard!"

A string of whispers ran through the assembled crowd. Quite a few put two-and-two together and realized the familial relationship. The excitement that arose as a result could only be described as electric! The bookies where nearly knocked off their seats by punters looking to place their bets on the father vs. son match-up.

"Garrett!?" May exclaimed. "What happened to you?"

It just wasn't Garrett's hair that was longer. He'd grown by almost four inches and put on some muscle for by. That "pocket dimension" Kenji had mentioned so off-handedly had been created by a black-coloured orb in Kenji's possession. What had been a day to May and everyone else had been roughly a year for Garrett and Tiffany.

"I'll explain later." Garrett replied. "Come on. I've got to get ready to face my old man."