Season 2, Episode 2: Sempai Warriors! Fight For Your Lives!

[I. R. Shogun]

Shogun took a deep breath as he ran through his form. It was the day of the firestorm, and the entire school couldn't stop talking about it. Those that were entered were looked upon as heroes by everyone else in the school, the nature of this tournament mean that they were the cream of the crop of the cream of the crop as far as Sempai went. The absolute best that the school could possibly offer. Shogun had ignored most of the added attention given to him, to him this tournament was all that was on his mind. Well, almost all the was on his mind.

The Old Man would be arriving during the tournament today, Shogun could only guess what he would think of all that. The Old Man had always stressed one thing to Shogun, "kill sparingly in the defense of yourself, but do not hesitate in the defense of those precious to you." The more Shogun thought about it, the more he realized that was exactly what he was going to have to do. The Old Man was the only family that he'd seen in years, and so the others were more precious to him than anything. At the tournament he wasn't sure what was going to happen, but one thing was for certain, he would give his everything, if only to make sure that the others walked out of there alive.

There was one other thing on his mind, but this was much more pleasant to think about. Jeze, the new girl and magics star. After she'd given him her number it had taken Shogun three days to work up the nerve to call her, three days that he hadn't done anything at home except stare at the phone. At school he'd walked her to her locker between every class, stood with her in the lunch line every day, and walked her out to her jeep at the end of the day every day. It had gotten to the point where everyone in school had already pretty well figured out that the two of them had a thing for each other, although they weren't an official couple yet. They'd set a date for tonight after the tournament, that alone was more than enough motivation for him to stay alive, even if everything else hadn't been.

As Shogun finished his form he looked up at the clock, lots of time left before class started, he headed out of the kung fu training room to look for the others...

 

[Kenshin]

Kenshin awoke with a knot in his gut.Firestorm. Its today. He got out of bed, took a shower, and began his daily training. The whole time, he was thinking about his conversation the day before with Confessor. "Kenshin this is strange.she had said."Ive never heard of anyone who couldnt control their magical ability. The magic within you must be just now awakening, which is probably why you have such little control. Just try and keep it in check, only use it when situation are at their worst.
Kenshin trained with renwed intensity.

When he got to Sempai High, the whole school was abuzz. Everyone was talking about the firestorm. Students looked and Kenshin in awe, he being one of the main participants in the tournament. He ignored the stares and whispers, and he headed off to his morning classes, wanting school to be over quickly today. When the time came for weapons practice, he again trained with a ferocity. There was no room for error in the tournament to come. He had to master everything he knew.

Later on in the day, the students were still talking about the tournament, and asking Kenshin what he was going to do."Im going to participate in the tournament, and kick some Gato ass." This brought cheers from the students, which was the exact opposite effect Kenshin had hoped for. After he broke away from the crowd, he saw Shogun walking down the hall towards the cafeteria. Approaching him, Kenshin asked, "Shogun, what are the plans for the tournament tonight?

 

[Kakashi]

Kakashi walked through the halls until he saw Kenshin and I.R. ahead, talking. He impishly walked over, and joined them. The entire day he had been tense because of the Firestorm. He was excited, but over tense too. It was a big thing, and he had been thinking about it non stop. He didn't know what the feeling was, but he didn't like it. He had never been one to get nervous but...here he was, felling all weird the day of the Firestorm.

Kakashi walked up to them and greeted them, "Hey Kenshin, Hey I.R." But Kenshin was already asking a question.

"Shogun, what are the plans for the tournament tonight?"

He hadn't even thought about that. He had been to nervous to even think about plans, or anything of any importanace. He had actually paid attention in class today. Something was defenitly wrong with him. He just wondered if anyone else felt the same way.

 

[Rosgwak]

Waking up, Rosgwak blearily rubbed his eyes and looked at the sheet music scattered before him. He sighed, and began to pack them all away. He still hadn't been able to come up with a good ending for this damned song! It was starting to get on his nerves. But, as he walked into his kitchen and looked at the calendar on the opposite wall, all thoughts of the song were instantly removed, and he immediately turned and ran to his bathroom. Today was the day of the firestorm tournament, and there was no way Rosgwak was going to be even fashionably late.

--------Timeskip--------

Walking into the school, Rosgwak began looking around for any of the other fighters he knew would be in the tournament today alongside him. As he began to walk down the corridor, a small group of young girls immediately surrounded him, their high voices shooting questions at him from all around, as an air of babble rose up around the group. Rosgwak smiled, and laughed gently, trying to disengage himself from the group, and their unceasing comments along the lines of "Such beautiful white armour" and "What a sharp sword!", and finally, Ros managed to break free from them and hurriedly walk away, turning briefly to apologise and explain he needed to prepare for the tournament. However, when he was out of their sight, he shook his head. It never ceased to amaze him, this fascination most of the girl's had with him. It was pointless, he wasn't deserving of this sort of adulation, and sometimes it grated on him to an astounding degree.

After a few seconds, Rosgwak managed to find Shogun, walking down the corridor with both Kenshin and Kakashi. Smiling, Rosgwak called out to them and hurried up.
"Good morning everyone!" he said, shaking their hands. "Are we all ready for the tournament today?"

Then, quickly pulling Kenshin aside briefly, Rosgwak lowered his voice and became serious.
"Kenshin... best of luck to you today." he said, making a slight bow, his daggers and longsword, both brought because he hadn't decided what weapons he would use later, clanking against his chain mail. "I've been impressed with your swordsmanship so far, and I have no doubt you'll impress me yet again today. I actually have a few training drills I want you through at some point, so if you come and see me after the tournament, I'll talk about some further... elite, training sometime this week. If you agree, of course." Ros finished, placing his hand on Kenshin's shoulder.

 

[Kenshin]

Walking down the hall, Kenshin and Shogun were joined by Kakashi, and later Rosgwak."Hello guys, how are you all doing?" Kenshin asked. He recieved a half-hearted "good how are you" from the both them, but that was to be expected. It was the day of the Firestorm after-all. They were almost to the lunch room when Kenshin felt a tap on the shoulder. Turning around, he saw that it was Rosgwak.
"Kenshin, I've been impressed with your swordsmanship so far, and I have no doubt you'll impress me yet again today. I actually have a few training drills I want you through at some point, so if you come and see me after the tournament, I'll talk about some further... elite, training sometime this week. If you agree, of course."

Kenshin beamed at Rosgwak. It was exactly what he needed, a distraction from disturbing magic slowly growing inside of him. He could use some more practice anyway. "That sounds great Ros, excellent idea." The weapons team captain smiled, and Kenshin and the others continued to make their way down the hall. Ros and the others were talking quietly, but Kenshin remained silent. He had to mentally prepare himself for the things to come, as hard as that was. He recalled everything he could about Confessor's class, thoughts lingering on the chart of lighting,water,fire,earth,spirit, and heart.Heart..... Aanya.

 

[I. R. Shogun]

The first one Shogun ran into was the young swordsman Kenshin. Kenshin was apparently also developing some sort of talent for magics. Not long after Kenshin showed up Kakashi caught up to them as well. They were both signed up, and both of them had a lot of skill and promise, but they were still two of the fighters in the tournament that he was most worried about. Two of the other fighters that they'd entered simply because they had two more slots to fill he'd already pretty well told to just lay down if they were matched against a captain or teacher. He wasn't sure whether or not he could do that with these two.

Kenshin asked, "Shogun, what are the plans for the tournament tonight?"

Shogun took a deep breath, that was something he himself wasn't sure of. There was a lot riding on this tournament, and it was the first gauntlet style tournament he'd been in in years. Add in that there were three core types of opponents he could be matched against, and it was dangerous to try to make a real plan of attack. Literally anything could happen at this tournament, but Shogun couldn't just tell Kenshin that, not because he didn't think Kenshin could handle that he didn't know, but because Shogun knew were going to need some sort of plan for this.

Shogun ran his hand through his hair and sighed, "I'm going to go in there, hope for the best, give it my all, and give the crowd a show they'll never forget. Then, barring medical holding, I'm going to meet up with Jeze afterward and take her to dinner." He said this last bit with a smirk and much more confidence in his voice. It seemed that as worried as he was about the tournament he believed that he'd make it through. Whether this was an act or he genuinely felt that confident would have to be seen later on.

Ros showed up and asked a question along the same lines, but Shogun felt more confident in answering this one, "Well hell lots of blood thirsty opponents, not knowing what to prepare for until you're in the ring, and a guaranteed Hell in a Cage, what's there to be concerned about?" Shogun was certain everyone that had been there remembered last year's only Hell in a Cage match, the one that had featured him versus the super fighter Gan. It was going to take similar tricks to the ones he'd used there to pull this out.

"One more thing, Kakashi, Kenshin, if you're out there in the ring and you think for a second you may not be ready for the guy you're getting matched up against, don't be a hero, take a knee. Staying alive is the most important thing we can do tonight. Other than that, try not to think about it too much, you'll only make yourself nervous."

 

[Dragn9]

The room was dimly lit in Dragn’s basement as he sat at his desk with his eyes closed, spell books scattered before him. He was having difficulty deciding which spells he would most likely need for the Firestorm today. He had spent all last night mulling over the same question, who would be his opponent and what spells would be required to achieve victory? He would only be able to use a certain amount of magic before becoming exhausted but that coupled with his sword was his main defence and means of attack.

He had been practicing his casting of different spells for the past few nights but he did not perform any this morning, knowing that he would need all his energy to be at maximum. However, he did review some healing magic seeing as though they would most likely be in need of them. He rose from his seat and picked up his sword, he went through a few quick movements. Trying to keep himself centered and calm, clearing his mind and focusing on the task at hand. He then took a deep breath and placed the sword into its sheath.

He walked over to his desk placed the spell books within his pockets and headed towards the school.

Arriving at the school, Dragn headed towards the magic wing, he quickly gathered some items then headed down the hall in the direction of the martial arts wing, knowing that the others would most likely be gathered there. On his way there someone ran up beside him. Dragn looked over to view Gin. "Ah Gin, how are you today?" Gin smiled "Never been better, I've heard about that tournament that's taking place today - You in it?" Dragn laughed, "Yes, I am a participant. Will you be attending the tournament?" Dragn had asked looking at the guy. "Wouldn't miss it, I'll be front row." Dragn frowned, "Those aren't the best seats, people usually get bathed in blood that close to the fight." Gin looked at Dragn for a second then replied, "All the more reason." Shrugging his shoulders Dragn continued down the hall with Gin trailing behind.

As he walked he pulled out his spell book and began to read. Gin said nothing but kept following him. After a few minutes he heard voices coming from up ahead. He looked up and there were the captains of both the Kung Fu and Weapons team along with two others, Kakashi and Kenshin.

Shogun was speaking to them, but Dragn caught the end of it as they approached, “…Other than that, try not to think about it too much, you'll only make yourself nervous." Dragn smiled “Yeah, it doesn’t help to be nervous going into a match, just keep your cool. I’ve seen you both fight and I’m sure you have nothing to worry about.”

 

[Kakashi]

"One more thing, Kakashi, Kenshin, if you're out there in the ring and you think for a second you may not be ready for the guy you're getting matched up against, don't be a hero, take a knee. Staying alive is the most important thing we can do tonight. Other than that, try not to think about it too much, you'll only make yourself nervous."

Those were the words that I.R. had left them with as he left. Kakashi pondered them as he grabbed some ramen from the cafeteria. try not to think about it too much, you'll only make yourself nervous. Thats the part he paid the most attention too. He was sure it was already too late, but he still tried to be level minded about it. He tried to put his mind on something else. Kenshin came up and sat at a table with him, and for a little while they sat in silence, until Kakashi spoke. "So, Kenshin. What's up with the magic? Were you able to harness your abilities yet?"

 

[Kenshin]

They sat in silence, until Kakashi spoke. "So, Kenshin. What's up with the magic? Were you able to harness your abilities yet?"Kenshin stiffened at the question. He hated talking about it, it made him feel strange. He sighed. "No not completely Kakashi, i have discovered how to keep in check, but its quite hard to maintain the balance during battles, although that may not be such a bad thing in the tournament as long as I dont wear myself out."

Kakashi was silent a moment, and Kenshin took this moment to his advantage and wolfed down some Ramen.

 

[I. R. Shogun]

As Kenshin and Kakashi went off Shogun spoke to Dragn. Shogun had been acting as Dragn's guinea pig for Dragn's Chi Force experiments. They'd yielded some results, but there was still a lot to it that they had yet to work out. Shogun supposed slow progress was better than none at all, but he still wished that they'd been able to gather more concrete results. Or for that matter, that the results could be more useful in battle, or at the very least less draining when used.

"So what did last nights tests show?" Shogun asked.

"Your skin hardened by a fraction of a percent when you focused on that, healing and recovery factor went up two percent when we worked on that, and your metabolic rate increased by four percent. Overall not bad considering it was the first night we'd been working on any of that, but your energy projection still hasn't shown any conclusive results. The visualization exercises were doing something, but I couldn't really figure out just what," Dragn responded.

Shogun nodded, "Guess I'm stuck with just these tonight eh?" Shogun said, raising his fists.

"It's looking that way. Although if there's anyone who can pull off a miracle with something like this, I'd say someone whose life has focused on perfecting technique as much as you have would be the best bet," Dragn answered. "So... I've heard you're taking Jeze to dinner tonight after the tournament. How did that come to fall on a date like today?"

Shogun smirked, "You know how I am, I train first, and since this took quite a bit of training I couldn't ask her out until after the tournament, but I wanted to make sure no one else swept her off her feet beforehand. So, it was pretty much tonight or never. Besides, her having seen me in action will give us plenty to talk about. It'll also give me a reason to avoid coming home right away."

Now Dragn smirked, "Ah yeah, your grandfather is coming for his visit tonight isn't he?" Shogun chuckled and nodded. Dragn and the others had only met Shogun's grandfather, or the Old Man as Shogun called him, once before, right after their war with the super fighter school. And quite frankly the Old Man seemed to them to be a nut job, not to mention the only person who was more of a nut about training than Shogun. Dragn wasn't surprised Shogun wanted to enjoy life before the regiment the old man put him through.

Shogun and Dragn said their goodbyes then as Shogun went off again, this time looking for Jeze. He soon found her just having gotten to her locker. Shogun leaned against the one next to hers and smiled as she turned to face him. Jeze returned his smile and blushed slightly. "So miss Jeze," Shogun said, "Where can I expect you to be sitting tonight at the tournament?"

 

[Disco Jezebel]

Shogun and Dragn said their goodbyes then as Shogun went off again, this time looking for Jeze. He soon found her just having gotten to her locker. Shogun leaned against the one next to hers and smiled as she turned to face him. Jeze returned his smile and blushed slightly. "So miss Jeze," Shogun said, "Where can I expect you to be sitting tonight at the tournament?"
-----------------------

“Where ever I can find a free seat?”Jeze smiled as she winked at him.
“So, will that be were you can get a fair view of the tournament?” Shogun asked as she started to rummaged though her locker.
“Hmmmm...” was all the reply he got from return.
At this point Jeze was pulling book after book from her locker, as let out a cry as a pile of heavy books landed on her feet.
“AhhHa!” Jeze yelped after she pulling out a novel.
“Hold this.” she thrust the novel into Shogun's hands as she began to put the books that had fallen back into her locker. Shogun eyebrow inched up as he realize what he was looking at, and romance novel.
“What's this all about?” he asked, hold the novel up slightly.
“To keep me busy while I am at the tournament?” Jeze grinned and put on her glasses.
Jeze reached for the book, just to have Shogun hold it out of her reach.
“To keep you busy?” Shogun asked, feeling kinda offended.
“Well, it's for when I get bored.” Jeze said with a wince.
“ Bored? How can that happen at a tournament?” Shogun asked with a snort.
“ Umm..well..er...When yourself or one of the others isn't on the floor?” she said trying to get out of the hole she dug for herself.
Shogun looked as if she had really offend him for a moment.
“So, you will be looking for me.” Shogun grinned.
“Well, Duh!” Jeze smiled, releaved that Shogun was still talking to her.
“ Thought so.” Shogun smiled
“Ego much?” Jeze raised an eyebrow.
“Maybe, just a little” Shogun laughed
Jeze tried to grab the book from Shogun, only for him to pull it father out of reach.
“Please?” Jeze pouted a little.
“Fine, but what do I get in return?” Shogun asked while he gave her the book.
Jeze took the book without a second thought and started to blush.
“ Look at the time! Ahh... I gotta go to my class..see you at the tournament.” She blushed as she began to turn and walk in the opposite direction of him. Only to stop, turn around again, and walk back up to Shogun. Swiftly place a kiss him on his cheek.
“See you tonight little man.” she whispered and turned around and walked toward her class again so Shogun wouldn't see her blush.

 

[I. R. Shogun]

As soon as Jeze planted the kiss on his cheek Shogun's lips fixed themselves in a grin that lasted the rest of the day. Through every meeting he had with her afterwards, and leading up until he entered the arena where the Firestorm would be held. Shogun predictably arrived before anyone else, and so he sat alone in the locker room as he got ready. He carefully applied the tape to his hands, he'd always preferred knuckle wraps to actual gloves, just something about doing it yourself, but still having the protection for your hands. Although, it wasn't entirely an innocent thing.

In his fight against Gan, inside the Hell in a Cage structure, he'd wrapped a heavy chunk of metal around his broken hand, giving him something of an edge against his beast of an opponent. It was true Shogun had always made sure to keep an ace in the hole, no matter how dirty the trick may seem. Hell, that same fight he's spat a blinding mist into his foe's eyes. Shogun wasn't worried about winning in an absolutely honorable way. The asian mist was a proud tradition in tournaments, and in hell in the cage it may well have saved his life.

He pushed the thought aside, there was still a lot of preparing he needed to do before it started. He stood and began to run through another form, then began his regular shadow boxing, focusing on everything that might happen that night. Only two things were certain, at the end of the night there would be a hell in a cage to determine who was the better school, and he had to do everything in his power to make absolutely certain that he and everyone else made it out of there alive...

 

[Dragn9]

After finishing his conversation with Shogun, Shogun had left Dragn to attend to other duties. Most likely to find Jeze, Dragn thought. He made his way to his locker, he wasn’t outright nervous about the tournament but was constantly thinking about who was being paired off with whom in the first round. This tournament could go any way, each individual could be squaring off against a person with a totally different skill and set style. He only had to have faith in his abilities to get through his match. Unloading all his books so as not to have them damaged during his match, he took another quick glance at his spell book, then placed it in the locker, closed the door and put up the ward.

He had spent most of the day reviewing his spells, he had to be one hundred percent sure that he had them all memorised and which ones would be most crucial in the match. He wasn’t going to go with any that wasted too much energy since he could only guess how long the match would take, and there would be no rest time he knew to rest once the match had begun. Besides although there was ample room in the arena he did not want any of the audience to be injured by a spell, even though most people who came to these tournaments knew how dangerous it can be just sitting there to watch it.

Dragn had witnessed many matches between Gato and Sempai last year and knew their rivals to be very competent competitors; he wasn’t going to underestimate any of the opponents. He had to be ready for anything especially things that might be hidden up his opponents sleeves, and he meant that the person he was facing might literally be hiding something. With all his musings over with he headed towards the arena. Once there he stood outside for a minute then took a deep breath and walked in.

 

[Kenshin]

Kenshins stomach was in knots as he appraoched the firestorm arena. He looked around. This was the place soe much would happen. This was the place where so many would get hurt. It made him shudder. As he made his way over to the locker room, he thought about his upcoming match. He had a feeling it wasnt going to be easy, that was for sure. If he was paired with a mage, he would be at a disadvantage, being the weapon fighter that he was. Luckily, Kenshin had speed, and he would have to use that speed and give mages no time to cast. He would have to keep his opponenents on the defensive long enough, and that would give Kenshin time to strike before anyone could do any real damage.I just have to remember not to kill anyoneKenshin thought. He hated killing, and only did it when there was no other way out.

He would much prefer being paired with a weapons or fist fighter. They would be more evenly matched. There was something about mages that made Kenshin uncomfortable, even more so now that he was becoming one.

Kenshin glanced around as he entered the locker room. The only person he saw was Shogun, but he decided not to engage in any conversation other then a nod and a "hello". He found a secluded corner of the room and began to warm up, doing push ups and sit ups. After he finished with these, he sat down on the floor, as unusual as that may have looked, and began to meditate, thinking of all the possible ways to seize a victory in his match.

 

[Confessor]

deleted.