The Start of Turnir Chempionov

Lucifer Hermes Mercury clicked a button on his desk as the flat screen television which was just holding the face of Elena Marie, the Leader of Shade, and the conversation between them slid away into the wall and once more out of sight. The illusive leader of the Crime Syndicate, the world’s largest criminal organization, leaned back in his rolly chair and mused over everything they had just talked about. The day had finally come, they time was now and it was about time he got going because they would all start to arrive soon. At least four billion of the worlds’ known eight billion was going to arrive and be seated in the massive Coloseeum that he now resided in. It was a masterpiece, and it stretched over most of the Atlantic Ocean, the only way to get to it was from the teleporters set up at the entrances to every arena across the globe.

A smile came to his face as he heard the first ding knowing the first ticket had been clipped and the teleporter activated. The people were arriving, the fans were getting ready, and certainly no one wanted to be excluded from such a wonderful event. Rising up out of his chair Phantom grabbed his cane as he made his was over to the glass wall that looked out over the first arena, the arena that was made to resemble the base of a volcano. The Arena’s were one of his favorite inventions of the Coloseeum, not one was the same as the other and none were suited to support the betterment of any of the competitors but the opposite rather. They were all built with the intentions of testing the world’s super-human’s competitors even more so. Because not only did they have to fight against an opponent they had to use their arena to their advantage.

He stood at the top of the Coloseeum in his office looking down at all that was proceeding beneath him, members of the Crime Syndicate working as the arena employees as to not have to pay any money and keep the Coloseeum a secret until opening day. The people flooded in from the teleporters, moving like ants to their seats or rushing to get refreshments. Some people were moving this way and that way trying to find old friends, making new friends, but all there for the same reason. They were there all here to watch their favorite hero win the title, to see the biggest baddest villain walk away with the title, and to witness the birth of a legend. The competitors would all be arriving very soon as well, gathering underneath the main arena where at the end of his begging speech Lucifer would present them to the audience.

Speaking of speeches, it was about time he moved to his platform where the speech would be given as everyone was slowly settling down. The loud speakers, playing whatever song the person thought to be their favorite, slowly started to die off and get quieter as he was lowered down into the middle of the world’s largest Coloseeum. When it stopped he smiled and raised his hat above his eyes letting all have their eyes rest on him. “Ladies and Gentlemen, Children of all ages; Welcome one and welcome all to the greatest tournament of year, no the tournament of the millennium. Welcome to… TURNIR CHEMPIONOV!” He called out to the roaring crowds as he raised his hands into the air. Once it calmed down again he let out a hardy laugh and pointed to the main arena. “Now then, I believe it is time we met the competitors!” As he spoke arena stage split open and from it out rose all sixteen of the supers. It had begun.

The event of the millennium. A tournament, for the entire world to see. The strongest meta humans in the entire world gathered in one arena to duke it out to see just who exactly is the most powerful of them all. An event like this, would instantly make you a celebrity in an instant of joining. For good or bad reasons. The weak would be shunned and ridiculed by the entire world, while the strong will be praised and celebrated. This was an event Skyscraper was actually excited for.

An event to show the entire world, not just humans, but all the meta humans that he was powerful. He is glad someone put the tournament together. He wanted to show the world just how much power the meta humans have. He knew that he would most likely be entertaining regular human tycoons flaunting their money but he didn't care. He wanted to prove just how strong he was to them, to show them who was the most dominant to the world. Meta humans were superior and this tournament would defiantly show it.

"I constantly consider the destruction of you worthless beings, you take up unnecessary planet on this planet. Using all the resources, polluting your own planet,creating wars against your ow n brethren. Meta humans would do you all a favor by eliminating you, however why would I even waste the energy. The only reason why I don't go on a slaughter of them, is because I was once one. They can't help being inefficient. Maybe, one day they will evolve." He mumbled under his breath as he saw various humans entering the arena. He took a breath and would enter through the side where entrants could get in.

He was told to go to some type of platform so that he would be presented to the audience with the other participants. He advanced forward and positioned himself atop one of the open platforms and he would begin to ascend upward. As his platform rose he stared at the crowd and he heard the roars of the crowd he couldn't help but crack a smile. He rose his hand and waved at the crowd and lowered his hood to reveal his face. He brushed his hair back and took a deep breath as the feeling of adrenaline began to raise. "I can't wait to start. All these contestants look quite strong. I'm quite excited!" He shouted as he pounded his fists together awaiting his match.

He had to concede the prospect of leaving his Parisian refuge wasn't exactly an enticing one. He had been wondering a lot, of course, whether it all turned out right, and so forth, and in his first evening in Paris, happening to pop into a quiet sort of little restaurant which he frequented when he didn't feel inclined for the bright lights of Paris' night life. So there he sat in the quite little restaurant snacking on a small plate of sandwiches. After some time, he thrust away his plate and put his head in his hands. Looking towards the slender, brunette waitress that had left the plate of sandwiches before him words droping from her mouth in a mechanical motion, a note pad and pencil twitching in her fingers. As his watch struck 7:00 pm he stood up and went towards the door.

He don't know what I expected, but he went out, and wandered eastward, soon losing his way in a labyrinth of grimy streets and lush, green squares. At half past 9 he arrived at the Parc des Princes, the Parisian football stadium with its iconic stands and famous acoustics. Indeed even today he could almost hear the chants of "Ici c'est Paris". A sickening chant that brought a wrecking to his stomach and thoughts of his beloved FC Bayern München. Keeping his head down he couldn't help but notice the posters plastered about the stadium promoting the tournament and it's charitable goals.

Glancing up and coming to a stop, he finally stood before the transporter that would take him from his Paris vacation to the tournament that would put him back on the run. reaching forward he slowly opened the transporter before pausing for a moment of introspection.

Agreeing to participant in the tournament, we'll it was certainly one way for Sebastian get back on the BND's radar, though perhaps not his crowning movement. Sure, he certainly thought of more subtle ways drawing their attention but they all lacked a certain exuberance. He was a gentleman after all, and they hated him for that, hated him through some curious instinct for which they couldn't account for that reason it was all the more dominant within them. So he took it as a matter of personal pride and obligation to make them hate him all the more, it was a delightful sort of schadenfreude that he would derive for this particular act. It was the whole point of this really, he was under no illusions of winning the tournament, a few matches sure, but the real prize was the anger that it would cause in his hunters more than the potential of winning the tournament. But that was just it The exaggerated folly of the threat, the passionate gesture that accompanied it, the mad melodramatic words, made life seem more vivid to him. It provided that visceral response that so many years on the run from German authorities had deprived from him. What better way to flaunt his distant for their authority then to appear in public in front of billions of people when he was supposedly on the run.

With one final sigh, he stepped forward onto the transporter and took his place with the other competitors.

(Not particularly happy with this but it will do for now)

Somehow young John Capore had found himself in just one very annoying mess. Well, actually he knew how this had happened. Well he knew some of the details. He had received a call from his friend Darren just yesterday asking John to meet him in their superhero identities somewhere. How Darren even knew how to operate a phone was beyond him. That kid seemed like he could not tell the difference of right from left let alone operate a telephone. So of course he had gone to attend this little meeting only to be given some down right ridiculous news. Darren had somehow, someway managed to enter John in some tournament between various metahumans who would be competing for some unknown prize. John of course thought that this was just some crazy joke that he was being told. It seemed likely considering what Darren was like, but as it turned out it was completely real.

Apparently he was stuck having to compete in a tournament of sixteen competitors. All of which were supposedly also metahumans. This was just plain ridiculous. He was now torn between just backing out and still going for the win despite not even having signed up for it. Pride was a powerful feeling and despite everything else that he was John was still a pretty proud person underneath and it was now pushing him to try and win this whole damn thing.

The participants had all been somehow teleported to a coliseum where this tournament would take place it seems. He looked around at the other entrants and actually recognized three of them. Not all of which he was exactly excited to see though. Any one of these fellows could be the one he faces first off. There were a couple he would prefer to face off against but it would not matter too much if it worked out as he hoped.

It was an early morning for Millennia. She wanted to give herself plenty of time to get ready for the big event that was taking place, also it's location was in a different time zone than her current one so she would need to compensate. Her ritual started in front of her vanity with a brush made of boar bristles with a ivory handle. It was a very old object passed down in her family. She used it to brush through her long hair and detangle it before she put it up in the buns adorned with various Japanese items. While brushing and preparing for what would happen later that day, she thought about what had brought her to this situation. A Tournament that would challenge all of the mighty warriors of the world. Such a gathering had never been organized before and it did interest her as to who had enough power or contact information to set up an event on such a massive scale.

Before Millenia had entered the competition she was visiting her family back in Spain, everything was very lovely at the time. No sorts of conflicts or battles that Millenia had to protect anyone from, she was living a very simple life and she quite enjoyed it. However, after a couple weeks of visiting and retiring to her room, she came across a glowing letter on her night stand. Curious, she approached and opened the parchment. Reading it's contents she became extremely worried for her and her family's sake. The letter spoke of a great tournament that was to test the limits of all the greatest warriors of this planet. At first she assumed that this was from another world, as if there was anyone on this planet that could collect everyone with powers on the planet. Put she couldn't put it past the people of earth. There were quite the number of powerful individuals on this rock and if enough of them got together she was sure that something like this would be possible.
Millenia brought it to her family and explained the situation and what this was. At first they were completely against the idea, but as they looked into it there were no other accounts that said that they had directly received a letter. But why her? Why Millenia? She was damn near a no body. Why would anyone need or even want her in a tournament that pit the whole population against each other? Her family was convinced that she had been chosen for this for a reason and that she should respond properly and enter the tournament. Though she had no idea how to say that would be partaking in this major event. Suddenly there was a flash of light and the paper had disappeared from her hands, scanning the room with her eyes looking for somewhere that the invitation may have gone she spotted another glowing envelope. One of the Murcielago family members handed it to her. This time it only listed coordinates. Teleportation coordinates to be specific, along with a date and time to arrive at the stated destination. It was not long from the current date so Millenia packed up her belongings, got a good nights sleep, and left the next morning for America.
Flying across the Atlantic she thought she may have caught site of something down on the water from the plane. Which had to have been absolutely massive to have been seen from so high up the air. She figured she just might have been tired and continued to enjoy her flight home care free. When she landed in America, in New York she went straight home and began to put things together for this competition. Only having a few weeks she trained and got herself back into shape so that she might be able to hold her own. There was no telling what kind of powerful individuals there would be at this thing and she had to be ready to face any number of them. Hopefully all the countless days and nights of training would pay off.

Millenia had finished putting her hair up and she slowly dressed herself in a multi-layerd Kimono. She grabbed the suitcase with her packed essentials and grabbed her umbrella-sword. Unsheathing the sword she carved a design into her floor. It was very intricate with a number of different symbols that appeared ancient in nature. After the ritual circle had been completed she replaced her sword back into its home and stood in the center of the circle and began a chant. The Design on the floor began to glow a light green color. The glow increased in brightness before it completely encased Millenia's figure. There was a shockwave that was given off once Millenia vanished shaking her house and her neighbors'.
When she reappeared she was in another room all alone that slightly resembled her own home. There was a note left on the mirror that said that the competition would be starting in a few hours. Millennia got settled in and took a nap so that she could be fully rested once the tournament started.
What seemed like moments later her alarm when off and she arose to find her way to the competition level. She found a doorway that led to an extremely large opening, as she walked forward towards the light at the end of the tunnel she took deep breaths in and out to mentally prepare herself for whatever this may be. Millenia had no idea where she was or what she was in store for her, for all she knew this could have been a giant ambush and this could be her final moments. But it was not a time for negative thoughts.
As she made her way through the door way into the massive open space of the colosseum she could hear the crows cheering high above. She could not sense the presence of the rest of the Murcielago family, which she was grateful for as she did not need them getting hurt here. Millenia unfolded her umbrella and walked closer to the other competitors to join them. She kept the shade low so that the others would not see her face. Millenia may not have met any powerful supers in her day, but who knows how far they may have come.
The platform she was standing on began to raise up as the cheers from the crowd increased in volume. She readjusted her umbrella to shade her eyes from the increasing amount of light, not to mention all of these unknown individuals cheering for her, or whomever else was on this platform, did not need to see her face just this instant. She was positive that it would be plastered all over literally everywhere in a matter of moment.
Only 16? I would think there would be more worthy opponent that only 16... she thought as the platform came to a halt.
Millenia Murcielago was dumbfounded by the amount of people she saw when she moved her umbrella up slightly. It looked like half the population of this planet. Where in the world were they? What structure could possible contain this many people...?
"Heh..." Millenia slightly chuckled to herself as she moved her shade back down to hide her face again.

"The whole world's a stage..."

The first time Echo had seen a poster,she'd been moving through Texas. Since the exposure and official end human obliviousness, people like Echo were being heralded as heroes. "Meta-humans" they called them. She scoffed when she first heard the term. Why would anyone need to be more than human? Echo wanted nothing more than to be normal. To live a normal life, to grow up and have a normal job with a normal family... But she saw the tourney posters everywhere. Sides of buildings, inside theaters, stadiums, convenience stores... And finally some part of her convinced the rest that it might be fun to do something with herself for once. So she got her first haircut in several months, bought herself a uniform of sorts (okay, so it was a black t-shirt, black pants, and a leather jacket. Close enough), and signed herself up. Which is why she stood there, resenting some part of herself, as someone pushed a button and she was pulled through space.

When she arrives at the Colosseum, Echo was feeling a bit sick. She'd never used anything remotely like that, and wasn't pleased about how it turned out. She felt like she'd been stretched out and she squeaked to make sure she was alright and intact. She did it again, surveying the others in the room. There was a confident, young boy already on his platform, looking bold as brass. Echo felt herself grow nervous as she stepped onto her own, but she kept a brave face. The ceiling split open, and Echo felt them being lifted. She squeaked nervously, but it was blurred and fuzzy from the volume of the event. She caught the black-haired boy again. He looked almost bored by the whole thing and Echo envied his confidence. She herself was feeling a bit woozy from the teleporter and now the rising of their platforms. She squeaked again and would have laughed were she able. The boy was bent in a curt bow at the moment she'd squeaked, though her image was blurred, and she smiled, showing her teeth.

Echo nodded to the crowd, realizing that she should acknowledge them. She couldn't see them, but the continuous cheering and her blurred echolocation made their presence clear. She sighed, mentally beating herself up for having ever decided to sign up for this stupid damn tourney in the first place. This was not her thing- she kept a low profile, she didn't go gallivanting off to tournaments in the middle of an ocean with who knows what kinds of heroes, villains, and other general meta-human assholes. She scowled, and inwardly glared at herself. Which was senseless, but satisfying.

She squeaked as loudly as she could, which likely hurt someone next to her's ears, but it helped her to see a little better. There appeared to be fifteen others around her, though it was blurry due to the raucous cheering, and she felt vulnerable in the open space. Now, standing before the crowd with all those other supers, she felt small and unsafe. She shook her head, trying to clear it.

She rubbed her face in a nervous and slightly exasperated fashion. She was probably not ready for this. He best fighting tools were her teeth, and she wasn't much of a fan of the taste of blood. She steeled herself against these disquieting thoughts. You're here. You got yourself into this. Time to see it through. She decided, firming her stance and trying to look more confident. B'sides. What have you got to lose?

Seraph breathed deeply, trying to gain composure. The tournament of the ages was about to start, and he was actually competing in it. He knew for a fact he wasn't going to be the strongest there, and that there was next to no hope of him actually winning, but his leader and best friend had chosen him to assist in investigating the competition. Of course by investigate, he meant enter the tournament and try to win, while trying to figure out what the true reason for such an event was. There was a chance it was just a harmless tournament, but with half the planet's population inside a giant colosseum built by God knows who, which was God knows where, there was definitely a reason to check things out.

After using the teleporter he had received to get to the colosseum, he found himself in a room with all the other contestants. "Yep. I'm screwed." he said to Phoenix, who had teleported with him. "I think you have a solid chance at this. Once I get eliminated I'll look around this place, check for anything suspicious, but it could take a while. This place is huge!" Hartley stepped onto one of sixteen platforms and was raised up into the crowd's view.

The thunderous applause hurt his ears a bit, but he ignored the pain and waved to the people of Earth. Even knowing he wasn't going to win, being in front of that crowd was incredible. Getting a little caught up in the moment, Seraph fired an explosive arrow into the air, as a sort of firework, and the crowd loved it. He noticed he was getting some annoyed looks from the other contestants, but he didn't much care, he just wanted to soak up the spotlight while he still had it.

A loud thrumming came from behind a group of bikers as they parted and allowed a Modified Harey Davidson ride through. Back as a ravens shadow with a modified jet engine and pipes that came out and curved sideways. The handlebars were fingerprint scanners meaning no one but him could even turn it on, the bike stopped amongst some other bikers who wore the biker gang logo. Normally the man would crush their bikes and their dreams except these bikers were known as the "Holy Angels" A group of bikers who went around helping others and fighting other biker gangs causing problems. Every now and then when the gang needed help the man would offer it. In return he knew his bike was going to be well taken care of.

Boots thudded on the ground as the teleporter loomed up in front; with a single step he was whisked away from this place and appeared amongst the other stars of the tournament. His first thought was if it was a two way type because he really loved his bike. The man looked around the group each one had its up and down types but some he didn't recognize at all which was a little odd. Shrugging the thought away for new heros and villians were being born every day. The man moved through the group searching out anyone he knew personally but sadly there was none. A flicker of dismay entered his heart at the thought that the greatest hero on the planet hadn't been seen in ages. Not even the tournament could bring him out again. In the end it had to be accepted he was really gone.

The platform rose up casting them into the roles of the legendary supers to the normal eyes. The people shouted and cheered, but was it for them or for the violence they got to watch? Shrugging it away the man had better and more important things to worry about like analyzing his opponents. The sound of a chopper overhead and a familiar figure dropped from the sky to land amongst her fellow heros. Rex gave a courteous nod to Bethany than turned back to the roar of the crowd. He closed his eyes picturing the scene, he heard a distant scream. The sound of the crowd drowned out all thought as they cheered and chanted different names. Rex was among them as he was recognized from his fight with Bethany. The woman had brought him some fame and he didn't really care for it but it was what it was. Now the battle ahead was almost here, and everyone was going to fight their best to become the champion. He wanted that belt, to be good as his idol and friend Pain, to be the champion and strongest on earth and he was going to get it.

Andrew and Hartley were at the Tournament. To keep the fact he wasn't actually dead from the world he had on a completely new mask and outfit. Sure, he may blow his cover to the few contestants he was up against, but it wasn't anybody he didn't trust or know. At least not yet. As the contestants were raised up into the air, Andrew looked over to Seraph and shot a Hunger Games joke his way before the archer took it upon himself to fire an explosive arrow into the sky for all to see. "You. Are. A. Douche bag." The Phoenix said to his best friend, chopping it up into syllables to add some emphasis. The fighters there all seemed pretty strong to the hero as he took a glance around to see some familiar faces, such as Forcewave, Millenia, Cain, and Daji. However, it was th new combatants that had Andrew guessing.


The crowd's roars were like a hurricane of sound sweeping away all other noises in their path. This didn't bother Andrew like it did some of the other contestants, but instead amped him up to go the distance. As far as he was concerned this was his day to show off some of what Elena Marie's good counterpart had shown him in the other dimension. Looking up to the sky, he mouthed "watch over me buddy." half talking to his dad, half talking to Elena.
Thinking back to earlier this morning he remembered he forgot to take the trash out of him and Tyuki's apartment.
"Crap...even if I win I'm gunna have an angry asian on my tail when I get home." Andrew laughed to himself.


To his direct left was Millenia. "Good luck with this all. Also, i'm sorry about our run in that time with Doctor Everyone." The hero said with a genuine smile.
With that last sentence he was done talking. This was a tournament for warrior, not public speakers.
He would let his fists and weapons do the talking from here on out.
Closing his mouth and taking a deep breath in, Andrew Pettiglio exhaled knowing he was ready for anything and everything these fighters could throw his way.

A sinister grin spread across The Lord of Shadow's face as he stood in front of the mirror of his 'room' in the abandoned theater he called home. Normally he would not dare to go out in the sunlight of only because of the things it could do to him. But today was an exception, for today he would prove his strength and power to the world once more. The world would fear him once again as they aught to, the puny bag 'o bloods wouldn't put the stories of The Lord of Shadows up to a myth and legend no more. Flashing a sinister smile he donned his infamous leather jacket over his purple shirt before turning to exit the bathroom and out into the main room. Snapping his fingers a shadow monster rose from the ground and the next thing he knew he was in the designated teleporter room set up for him and Daji.

Su Daji, the Shade Princess, and one of the only females on the planet to even remotely push away Cain's advances. He loved it. She was also one of his 'friends' of sorts in the team as it was a 'love/hate' type relationship mainly consisting of them exchanging stories of their evenings, teaching one another torture techniques the other didn't know and constantly trying to one up the other in every way. The latest example of this lovely little competition just so happened to revolve around a tournament set up for Meta-Humans or super powered individuals that they had both entered. Not only were they looking to win but there was a side bet on the side. The one who got further in the competition got to keep Isak as their personal 'slave' or 'maid' of sorts for a couple months. A bet Cain was sure to win.

Upon arriving in the teleporter room he raised an eyebrow seeing Marian there but Daji no where in sight. Which of course meant he was late by a minute or two and she had not waited on him. Walking past Marian, slapping her ass as he did, he stepped onto the teleporter and off he went to the Colosseum where the tournament was to be held. His travel although nearly spontaneous was no where near as fast as shadow traveling had been and it felt different to. Shaking his head he looked around at the competition gathering around him. Sixteen pedestals meaning sixteen competitors and sixteen bag 'o bloods he would have to slice through to get to the top. Kilij by his side dangling it its sheath he let his blood red eyes take in those he would have to face as he crossed his arms. Only three of them, besides Daji, even remotely impressed the King of Darkness. Forcewave, the boy wonder he had fought against once before, a man slightly resembling Corvin Dax...sniffing the air he blinked. Was that, was that Phoenix? The leader of the Talons? Oh he hoped so. Sadly the one he wanted to face was no where in sight... It seemed Pain was truly dead.

He took his place next to a female he knew not of and stood on the pedestal as it rose them all up into the air. He hoped to hell there was no sunlight in this arena as it did so. When the stage split open and revealed the false lights and plated top of the Colosseum he eased up ever so slightly and stood listening to the roaring crowd. It was time for a little show man ship, remind them all who he truly was. As he gave a bow all of the shadows in the Colosseum, all four billion of them, rose up and bowed back to him. Blood red eyes flashing in the light he grinned revealing the fanged canines. The New York Vampire was back and ready for action. "Let the games begin."

((For the tl;dr version just scroll past the line break))

Mary, a 26 year old blonde dental hygienist, walked down the aisles of the plane to find her seat. She had been visiting family in Los Angeles, but it was now time to return to her home in Georgia. She would be glad to be home, as since being in LA she had lost two pairs of glasses and hadn't been able to see properly in over 48 hours. As she approached her seat, looking down at her ticket to make sure she knew which one it was despite the fact that she had already memorized it, she found her neighbor was already seated next to the window. Curiously, the reclined figure seemed to be dressed in a long tan canvas coat and matching cowboy hat which was pulled down over the man's face. Long black hair flowed from underneath the hat, and what appeared to be a banjo rested on his lap. Mary thought this was just too much of a curiosity to remain silent, so as she approached her seat she spoke up. "Oh my, I get to sit next to a real cowboy?" She said as she took her seat next to him. The man looked up with a broad grin and, now that she was close enough to see without her glasses, an obviously Asian face. "The banjo" in his lap was in fact a shamisen. "This is my first time back in the states in some time." He said in a heavily accented voice. "...and I like to make an impression." Mary laughed and responded. "You look like a regular John Wayne. Are you a musician?" She said pointing towards the instrument he held. She knew that is was a shamisen, though she had no way of knowing that it was a specific variation that was larger and had a much thicker neck than tradition shamisens. Warm smile intact, the man softly replied. "Oh yes, I have been playing the shamisen for years. Normally I would be delighted to play a lovely tune for a beautiful woman such as yourself, but unfortunately this old girl needs a little work. As it is she can barely make a sound."

The man introduced himself as Ryo, a traveling artist. After a brief exchange Mary asked if she could have the window seat, which Ryo graciously obliged. She spoke with him the entire flight, and he only seemed to become friendlier. Despite how anxious she had been to get home when she got on the plane, she was a bit disappointed that they had to part ways as the plane landed. The man said his farewells as he stood up and became a part of the mass of people pouring through the bottleneck of the rapidly-emptying plane's aisle. The Asian man would be able to get out quickly, since he had already gone through customs in Los Angeles. He had stated the reason for his trip was business. Of course, there was always a little room for pleasure with this particular man. The man called Ryo stopped, and looked back with a friendly smile as Mary caught up to him.

---

Ryo stood nude in the middle of the hotel room he had been staying at the past two nights. He sternly looked upon his own muscular physique in a large mirror on a table, and picked up his shamisen and laid it on the table's cleared surface. The door to the bathroom squeaked open as a blonde woman peeked out. Her name was Mary, he had met her on the plane ride over here. Normally Ryo would have traveled by sea but sometimes haste was necessary. She began to speak to him in a sweet tone, but he dismissed it. "I am sorry." He said in a flat tone without looking at the girl. "but it is time for you to go now. I have business to attend to." The woman's mouth opened, but no words came out of the stunned girl's mouth. Ryo continued ignoring her presence as he opened his palms, gliding them in the air just above the shamisen as if searching for something. He stopped abruptly, raising his hand up and quickly bringing his palm down stopping just short of hitting the instrument. A clean break appeared in the shamisen's neck, and he separated the two pieces of the instrument to reveal a hidden treasure. A katana, in a simple black sheath, gold at the tip and the hilt. Ryo held it in front of him and meditated on the battles ahead, completely tuning out the blonde woman. He then set the sword on the table and began to get dressed. Not in the gaudy cowboy outfit he had worn on the plane, but in for more ornate clothing that conjured memories of the much more traditional dress Ryo wore years ago in Japan. A long red and gold silk shirt, that conveniently left his impressive bare chest exposed, and relaxed white trousers that disappeared into black boots of soft fabric. He picked up his sword and returned it to it's rightful place at his waist, then turned and began walking out of the room. The woman called after him to wait. "Um...can I at least have your number?" She asked somewhat pathetically. He turned his head to her. "Number? I'm afraid I have no telephone, nor a residence. If our paths are meant to cross another time we will see each other again." He then simply exited leaving the stunned girl in the hotel room.

Ryo left the hotel and began walking to Philip's Arena a relative small number of blocks away. The streets were backed up with traffic because of all the people trying to get in line to board the teleporter and see the show live. Indeed, once Ryo's purposeful stride had taken him to the arena he saw a huge line of people waiting to get in the front entrance. Ryo's interest lay in the other teleporter housed in the giant building though, the one for contestants. He skirted around the building until he found the appropriate entrance, where he was met by two large guards in uniform. When they told him to stop, he responded with a flurry of motion. Though he was barely touching them with a mere two fingers, in doing so he was actually reading their body's ki like a map, and the "mere touches" were in fact blocking the pathways, so to speak. Both men dropped their guns as their instantly paralyzed bodies fell to the ground. Ryo wordlessly stepped over their bodies and headed inside.

Once he arrived in the teleporter room, after a few more easily dealt with obstacles, he came face to face with a number of technicians prepping the teleporter for a large black man who's lack of a shirt revealed many sacred tattoos that Ryo recognized from a middle-eastern society that had supposedly faded from history. The much larger man turned to him. "What the hell are you doing here?" Ryo looked past the man passively and replied. "There is no longer any mortal that can challenge me, so I will ascend to the heavens and do battle with the gods themselves." This prompted a snort from the imposing man in front of Ryo. "Sorry to tell ya little guy, but this is an exclusive tournament and all the slots are already filled." He began to turn his back on Ryo and walk towards his teleporter. "Then I will take your place." Ryo said matter-of-factly. The man turned and looked at Ryo. "Huh? What did you say?" Ryo assumed a battle stance. "I challenge you. I will defeat you and take your spot on the roster." This prompted a laugh from the man. "Haha, fine I could use a little...warm up. I'll show you why they call me Efreet!" Suddenly "Efreet's" back and arms ignited into an imposing mass of flame that drew sweat from everyone in the room except for the two warriors in the middle of it. The flame rose higher as he charged for an attack, and all the room's technician's quickly took to whatever cover they could find. Before any attack could be unleashed however, Ryo struck forward at the man's abdomen. The flames instantly died as Efreet looked down to see Ryo's open palm had not actually touched him. He tried to say something, but his words were drowned out by a gurgling as he began to leak blood out of his mouth before spitting up a bucketful and collapsing on the ground. Though Ryo's attack didn't touch him or leave any visible wounds on the outside of his body, his concentrated ki had eviscerated the man's internal organs.

Ryo looked down at the dying man. "You were given the power of a god, but you relied on it. Squandered it. Now you have been slain by a mere mortal." He then added "but take solace in this: you have died a warrior's death today, and that is an increasingly rare privilege in this age." Ryo then stepped over the fresh corpse onto the teleporter. The workers decided that they were much better equipped to deal with the man on the other side of the portal and sent him through.

As it turns outs the people in charge of the tournament had no problem with Ryo taking the spot of the man he had murdered. Such was highly suspsicious considering it was supposed to be a tournament for charity, but Ryo gave no thought to such things. After all why should they have a problem? He had beaten his opponent in an honorable challenge. After getting that squared away he was directed towards the contestant platforms, with not a moment to spare. Ryo took his position on his platform and looked around at the others. Hopefully they were more of a challenge than the buffoon who's spot he had taken. It was certainly an odd collection of people. It seemed he wasn't the only contender from the far East as well, as the person in front of him was dressed in a rather flamboyant and feminine outfit based on traditional Chinese wear and wore a blade. "A swordsman in this day an age? That's a rare sight." Ryo semi-whispered to the woman in front of him, seemingly oblivious to the sword at his own side. "and such a lovely one at that, truly a rarity." True, Ryo hadn't actually seen the woman's face yet but even if she had the most hideous frontside in the world Ryo was more than happy to settle for the backside, so it wasn't much of a gamble in his mind. "Perhaps you should retire this tournament now, and we can find a bedroom to have our bout. I assure you my swordplay techniques there are just as impressive as what I can display with Gentou here." He said, continuing to flirt even as the platforms raised them into the audience's view.

BlackOut had been plagued by a minor dizzy feeling ever since he had stepped through the teleporter. He rubbed his temples with one hand as he wandered about the marvelous new stadium. He supposed that the temporary sick feeling he had incurred was well worth the convenience of being able to travel from one end of the earth to the other in an instant. He was not one to wonder about the mechanics of such a device; honestly he could not care less. He was more or less preoccupied with this tournament.

Black was not capable of turning down an opportunity to take part in this tournament. He was a performer and he loved to be the center of attention. Being a part of a worldwide event such as this was just too much temptation for him. He really had not real expectation of winning the thing. Honestly as long as he did not get knocked out right away he would be satisfied. If he did win great, but if not he may as well go out there and put on a good show. That was exactly what he intended to do here today.

The dizziness seemed to have subsided for the time being giving him some welcome relief. With his head composed he made a go at navigating the stadium. He was in full costume, he figured he'd rather not take the risk of having his identity found out. He adjusted his mask meticulously and occasionally tossing out a wave and a concealed smile whenever he passed by a group of fans. Black was loving this honestly he did not even need to fight, all the attention was by a wide margin enough for him. Black stopped to sign an autograph or two as he went, he may or may not have posed for a handful of pictures as well. Soon it became apparent to him that he was going to be late for the opening ceremonies. Well, technically it was more the event staff that it became apparent to. The were quite quick to put an end to his eternal hamming and almost forcibly directed him to the room where all the other fighters seemed to be waiting.

It was an impressive group of supers that had been assembled to take part in the revelries, well, for the most part. However Black found himself was disappointed that he did not recognize anyone. It seemed that there would be no reunion of old friends today. With a shrugged he entered the room. "Gentlemen." He nodded taking a step closer to the assemblage of meta-beings. "And of course ladies." He said this time accompanied by a deep ostentatious bow. Floating up above the others he found a vacant spot on the platform and set himself down. "Well I suppose there's nothing left to say, but break a leg." He chuckled at his choice of words and soon after he felt the stage begin to ascend upwards. If nothing else he was going to be a good time, that fact he was sure of.