“God, I’m never going to get tired of that,” Akira said, as the two swordsmen reappeared in their allotted destination.

“Come follow me,” Ryunosuke said leading the way down the main road into town.

“So exactly how big is this tournament?” Akira asked.

“It’s the biggest one you’ll find on this planet. Here you will find fighters of many races, some, that you have never even dreamt of.”

“Great, so am I expected to go far?”

“We’ll see. Ah, there are the rest of our companions,” Ryunosuke said, walking towards an inn on the side of the road. At the entrance stood Sion, Kei, and Sakamoto.

“I believe this is yours,” Sakamoto said throwing a Tachi to Akira.

“Isn’t this a bit long for a Katana?” Akira asked.

“You are very ignorant in the ways of weaponry for someone who grew up in a dojo,” Ryunosuke pointed out.

“Sorry,” Akira said, mockingly.

“A Tachi is a slightly longer, more curved katana. It was wielded by the upper class samurai in Japan a long time ago,” Kei said.

“Oh I see. So when does this tournament start?” Akira asked.

“In a few minutes, we’ve already registered you,” Sion said.

“Damn, Don’t I get a chance to rest?” Akira asked.

“Nope, sorry. A master swordsmen must also be have master endurance,” Kei said half jokingly.

“Come, it is time for the tournament to begin,” Sakamoto said leading the way to Akira’s first match.

“So, who’s first?” Akira asked, striding confidently into the ring.

Suddenly an announcer’s voice rang clear the cloud of spectators, “Attention, the first match of the Bushu Tournament is about to begin.”

At that a reasonably sized man strode into the ring dragging a Bastard Sword behind him. He looked rather inexperienced in the ways of wielding the Bastard Sword.

“This match will feature swordsmen Akira and Aritomo. Let the match begin!” Came the announcers voice followed by the striking of a gong.

At the sound of the gong Aritomo raised his Bastard Sword up with much effort, readying himself for battle. Akira instantly recognized his opponent’s weakness.

“You’ve never wielded that weapon before,” Akira said smugly.

“Very good, but no matter, I will crush you with little effort,” Aritomo answered arrogantly.

This statement of pure arrogance enraged Akira. At the moment when Aritomo uttered his final statement Akira sprang towards him, Tachi drawn, with intent to kill with the first stroke. Fortunately for Aritomo the tournament forbids the killing of a contestant, the match is won by the first player to draw blood from the torso. So Akira lowered his Tachi so as to make a swipe for Aritomo’s torso. Aritomo clumsily brought his Bastard Sword up in defense. The two swords clashed in battle. With that Akira sprang back and readied himself for another attack. Akira now knew the exact way to victory. Aritomo was slow and awkward with his new weapon the key to victory was speed! Akira sprinted towards Aritomo and once again Aritomo struggled to defend against Akira’s onslaught, but to no avail. When Akira ceased his attack, Aritomo felt a sudden searing pain in his lower chest. He looked down to find his shirt split open and a bleeding wound. Akira was the victor!

The fights continued throughout the rest of the day, most of the fights ending in much the same way as the first. Akira was becoming a bit board with the lack of competition. Each fight increased in difficulty but not enough to cause Akira to break a sweat. Meanwhile Ryunosuke had wondered off to check out some of the competition. A large crowd around one of the fights had caught his attention. As Ryunosuke got closer he could make out a fighter wielding a double voulge and another wielding a pike. It appeared as though the fighter with the double voulge could tell his opponents movements ahead of time. The fight was over quicker than Akira’s fight with Aritomo.

“What is your name young warrior?” Ryunosuke asked when he had reached the ring.

“I am Haru, and what may I ask is your name?” Haru asked in a most polite manner.

“My name is Ryunosuke. How did gain the ability to read people’s moves before they execute them?”

“Ah, you’re a wise one Ryunosuke, not many people have discovered my secret. It is a family ability, I was born with it,” Haru answered.

“I see you will go far in this tournament. I expect I will see you sometime in the finals,” Ryunosuke said walking back towards Akira’s fight.

“Are you competing?” asked Haru.

“No, but a pupil of mine is,” Ryunosuke answered.

“And what is his name?”

“He is called Akira, but with your abilities I doubt he will be able to beat you,” Ryunosuke concluded.

“We shall see, until that time I bid you farewell,” Haru said.

“Till we meet again,” Ryunosuke said turning in the direction of Akira’s ring.

“Damn, I thought you brought me here to train, instead all I get is a bunch of losers who think they can fight,” Akira complained.

“A word of warning Akira you have now ascended to fifth place. I can guarantee an increase in the abilities of your opponents,” Ryunosuke said.

“Whatever, I got this tournament in the bag,” Akira said confidently.

“Be careful young Akira your attitude will be your down fall,” Ryunosuke warned.

“Sure sure I’ll watch it,” Akira said as he strode back into the ring for his next battle.

“The fight for fourth place will feature Akira and Hiro,” the small balding announcer proclaimed.

Akira watched as a man of medium height walk into the ring. He wore long baggy pants that looked like the kind worn by masters in the field of martial arts. On his upper body he wore a black, long sleeve, skintight shirt, and in his right hand he held a rapier.

“Let the match begin,” the announcer yelled.

“This should be mildly entertaining,” Akira said as he sprang towards his opponent.

Akira ran toward his opponent Tachi drawn ready for attack. Akira made a downward slash at Hiro. Hiro sprang up and over Akira landing on his feet and instantly making a jab for Akira’s chest. Akira dropped to the ground, rolled away to the right, and jumped to his feet.

“Damn that guy is fast,” Akira thought.

Hiro sprinted toward Akira and upon reaching him he began a never-ending assault of jabs, swipes, and slashes. Akira spent much of his time fending off Hiro’s many attacks. Hiro never allowed Akira the time to get in an attack of his own. After a while Hiro was beginning to tire of Akira. Hiro made a fake jab to Akira’s right and when Akira dove to the left Hiro slashed Akira’s back leaving a large gash all the way down his back. A move such as that is considered fowl play in any tournament held in Bushu. Akira fell to the ground grimacing in pain. Angry yells began to erupt from the crowd that had gathered to watch the match. Akira sprang to his feet, his eyes on fire with rage. He sprinted towards Hiro, dodged and attack, and then immediately brought his sword up. Akira brought his sword down with all of the strength he could muster. The attack came with too much speed for Hiro to move out of the way, his only way out was to bring his rapier up in defense. There was a spark followed by the sound of metal striking the ground. When the dust cleared the crowd gasped as they saw Hiro on the ground beside his rapier, which had been split in two! Akira stood over Hiro and with one quick swipe ended the match. The crowd began to cheer as Akira walked out of the ring towards Ryunosuke and the rest of his fellow swordsmen.

“Nice move Akira,” Kei said.

“Not bad,” Sion said.

“Are you ok?” Sakamoto asked a bit concerned with the bleeding wound on Akira’s back.

“I’ll be fine,” Akira answered.

“Come with me Akira,” Ryunosuke said leading Akira over to another ring.

“Why are we here?” Akira asked.

“A fight is about to take place here that I want you to witness,” Ryunosuke replied.

“The next fight will feature Kaneda and Eiji,” said the announcer, “Let the match begin.”

Kaneda was a reasonably sized man wielding two Tachis, while Eiji was very tall and thin. He wielded a spear; Kaneda seemed to have the advantage right off the bat. Kaneda was very muscular while Eiji was very skinny. Eiji was holding his own though, he would have been a good opponent for Akira. Kaneda suddenly began to attack using a bunch of whirlwind like attacks that were beautiful but not lacking in purpose. When Kaneda had finished his attack he stepped back and sheathed both of his swords. Eiji fell to his knees; his entire torso was cut up. Most of the wounds were barely deep enough to bleed but the accumulation of cuts must have caused him an immense amount of pain.

“If you make it to the finals this is who you will be facing,” Ryunosuke said.

“He’s really good,” was all Akira could say.

“Hey Kaneda come here,” Ryunosuke called.

“What’s up Ryunosuke?” Kaneda asked.

“Akira this is Kaneda he is one of the two fighters I met today,” Ryunosuke said.

“You’re awesome,” Akira said.

“Why thank you, I hear you’re not to bad yourself,” Kaneda complimented.

“I guess, well I got to go to my next fight now. It was nice talking to you,” Akira said walking of with Ryunosuke.

“Hey,” Kaneda called out, “I’ll see you in the finals.”

Akira looked back and smiled.

“He’s good, but you’ll have to get through Haru at some point in time,” Ryunosuke said.

“Who’s he?”

“He’ll probably be the person you will fight to gain entrance to the finals,” Ryunosuke said.

“It doesn’t matter anyway, nobody can keep me from winning this tournament. Not even Kaneda,” Akira said striding into the ring for yet another fight.

“This next match will feature Akira and Matsugoro,” came the announcer’s squeaky voice.

Into the ring stepped perhaps the most intimidating fighter in the tournament. He had to be at least seven feet tall and had muscle covering ever inch of his body. He carried two axes of gold.

“I am Matsugoro, ‘The Butcher of Bushu’. Prepare to be defeated,” Matsugoro, said in his own deep voice.

“Ha, you don’t scare me. Sure your big and ugly but you’re probably all talk,” Akira retorted.

The insult sent Matsugoro into a flaming rage. He ran at Akira with his axes ready to strike. Akira dodged the first attack and began to strike at Matsugoro. Matsugoro defended all that Akira could throw at him and in turn Akira blocked all that Matsugoro could throw at him. The fight went on in this manner for some time and it was apparent that Akira was beginning to tire. Matsugoro’s attacks became stronger and faster making it very difficult for Akira to predict and block each blow. Matsugoro brought both of his axes over his head and brought then crashing down towards Akira’s head. Akira saw this and was suddenly struck with an idea. Akira raised his Tachi over his head and let both of Matsugoro’s axes hit causing a dead lock. Akira then summoning all his strength wrenched his Tachi backwards and flinging Matsugoro’s axes away towards the edge of the ring. Then, not wasting anytime, Akira slashed Matsugoro’s chest before he even had a chance to fully realize what had just happened.

“No, I can’t lose,” Matsugoro cried.

“Well that’s just too bad,” Akira said walking back towards his friends.

“Very cool,” Kei complimented.

“Couldn’t have done it better myself,” Sion put in.

“That was close, you should have headed my warning,” Ryunosuke said.

“Yeah well I won, didn’t I?” Akira retorted.

“You should be more cautious,” Sakamoto added.

“Hey its my fight,” Akira said strolling back into the ring.

“Next there will be a match for the right to enter the finals. This fight will feature Akira and Haru.”

“Shit, Akira watch him carefully, he can see your moves ahead of time,” Ryunosuke warned.

“Yeah yeah, whatever,” Akira said unsheathing his Tachi.

The fight began like all the others, but something strange began to happen. Every time Akira would attack Haru would block every blow effortlessly, but every blow Akira had to block was increasingly difficult. Akira was beginning to think that he was going to lose. This guy was way to good; he blocked even the most complicated moves with minimum effort and energy. Akira was determined not to give up he would win even if it cost him his life. Akira spent much of this middle portion of the fight making up different moves and trying to fake Haru out, but each time Haru would block every move. He was unmoved by petty attempts to make him slip up. Akira was thinking it would about time to throw in the towel. He decided he would try just one more move, it was very difficult to complete but what the hell he was going to lose anyway. Akira began his final attack but halfway through the set up Akira lost his footing, which caused his to immediately switch forms. This threw Haru off he had no clue what was coming next. Akira decided to run with it and completed the move that he was in. Akira let out a sigh of relief when he saw blood beginning to spread throughout Haru’s shirt.

“What a fluke,” Kei said as Akira walked back over to the swordsmen.

“Yeah I’d say you were pretty lucky on that one,” Sion added.

“Whatever, it was all skill. I meant to do that,” Akira said trying to cover for himself.

“There will be a two hour break before the finals.”

Akira spent those two hours sleeping.

“The finals will feature Kaneda and Akira, let the match begin.”

With that Akira and Kaneda launched into battle. Kaneda’s moves were quick, precise, and deadly. Akira could barely keep up, before long Kaneda clearly had the upper hand. Kaneda dealt with everything Akira threw at him with relative ease. Akira was determined not to give up; he would win no matter what the cost! The speed at which it took Akira to block two Tachis at the same time was beginning to catch up with Akira. His arms felt like they weighed a hundred pounds each and Kaneda wasn’t even sweating! Even through all of this Akira never lost hope, even in the mist of defeat he was still determined to win. This was one of Akira’s more admirable traits. The battle raged on and it finally looked like the great Kaneda was also beginning to tire, but our own Akira looked like he was about to die. Kaneda lashed out with a strong attack, bringing both his Tachis down on top of Akira. Akira brought his Katana up to block the incoming attack but the strength of the blow knocked the Katana from Akira’s overworked hands. The crowed gasped as Kaneda ended the fight without any more trouble.

Akira fell to his knees, how in the world did he beat me?? Akira thought.

            “Get up Akira. You have nothing to be sorry for. You did well,” Ryunosuke said standing over Akira.

            “I…I…”Akira fumbled for words.

            “You lost. So what?” Ryunosuke said.

            “But I can’t lose,” Akira exclaimed.

            “Oh bullshit, anyone can lose. Now get up we’re going home,” Ryunosuke said.

            And at that Kei and Sion picked Akira up of the ground and the group teleported back to their home in New Japan.