Tournament-Second Set Rounds
Bart glanced about him as he spiraled upwards in the citadel. Ever since he had surfaced from the waterworks below the castle, it had been one rough encounter with the guards after the other, although moat of the ones he ran up against so far didn't pose much of a threat.
Grr...if only they had told me where exactly in here she is, I might not be having this mess! This place is bigger than I remembered...where could Margie be? he thought as he went up another set of stairs and began looking around.
"How's Fei doing, I wonder...the people in the cafeteria were talking about a pair of people...some Wandering Youth and Dancing Firebird...And Aireel better not be doing something dumb or I'll never hear the end of it," he said out loud, "Especially from Citan."
He heard someone walking towards him and sighed, knowing what was coming next and said, "Here we go again..."
Aireel looked up at the sky, standing against the fence where she was before, and said in a low voice, "I wonder how that pirate boy's doing."
"Aireel, why do you call the young one 'pirate boy'?"
She winced and looked to her left, saying, "Hyu, he's a pirate, isn't he?"
"Well, yes..."
"And he's a kid, right?"
Citan harumphed at this and said, "Ah, well...he is eighteen and we are quite a bit older than he is, but still--"
"To me, he's still a wet-behind-the-ears kid that fancies himself as some Captain Hook..."
He looked at her strangely and asked, "Captain Hook? I have never heard of that...."
"Back in my hometown, they recently found some stuff from an ancient civilization near where the Kislev Empire's lands used to be at. One of the things found was a strangely well preserved book called 'Peter Pan'..."
He nodded a bit distantly at this, though he still didn't understand the reference and asked, "Are you certain you are all right now? I mean, from Miang..."
She nodded, although she suddenly seemed a bit old and tired...a combination that worried him a bit.
Before he even realized what he was doing, Citan quickly held Aireel in a close embrace, just as she had done in Bart's Lair.
"I will not let Miang or Krelian even try to get their hands on you. They are not going to hurt you again," he said in a low voice.
"I'll be okay, really. You're really sweet though, you know?" she asked with a little smile, then laughed as he turned red.
Before he could reply, the announcer announced, "There will be four semi-final matches and the winners of the first two matches will face each other in the third. For the first quarter-final match, we have the Wandering Youth against Scud!"
"That's the one I saw in the registration book," she muttered, "Looks like a little school kid. Are you sure he or she's not an adult dwarf?"
"I have wondered that often myself. I do not know if anyone will ever know, to be honest."
"Do the people in Lahan know what kind of kidder you are?" she asked with a soft laugh.
"No, nobody does, actually, except for you...and maybe Fei."
"Poor kid," she said as she watched the fight begin between Fei and the smart-looking girl, "He's got amnesia...but then again, in a way, so do you."
"Aireel...there is something you should know about Fei, as well as about me...but we cannot discuss it here, where Gebler soldiers may be listening."
She nodded, "I understand. We'll talk about it later, okay?"
"Of course."
Beside them, some spectators started saying, "Look at those two...they make a great couple, don't you think?"
"Which two?"
"Dancing Firebird and that guy in green."
Those comments made both of them remember that they were still holding each other and they let go, both a bit embarrassed.
A second later, a strong wave of dizziness hit him, sending him to the ground as an image appeared in his head...
He was in Bledavik's castle courtyard with many people surrounding a large square ring. It had been one year since the city had been made by the giants and the king had come up with a way of celebrating the year of the founding...with a brawling tournament.
In the ring currently was one of the guards in training and a young, tall woman with dark red hair...a woman that always made him smile when he saw her.
"Hey, Tian," a young man with dark hair said, "Isn't that Cera?"
"Yes, it is," he replied.
"Oh, man, I knew it was her! I mean, I was there at the wedding right after the city was constructed. I didn't know she could fight."
"But of course. Rene taught her how before the major conflict between the two aerial cities began," he replied to the young man.
"Rene? As in Roni's brother?"
"The same."
"Man, I didn't know he liked her skills that much. But, you're lucky, Tian. Wish I had a woman like her..."
"Hey, Citan? Are you okay?" Aireel asked, worried as she helped him up.
The doctor blinked and looked at her, puzzled.
"A-Aireel? Is something wrong?"
"You tell me. You suddenly fell as if you got dizzy or something."
"I think I am all right now. How long was I...?"
"A few minutes. The match between Fei and Scud's just about over."
He nodded and saw Fei delivering the final blow to the strange, smug being, sending him/her backwards.
Much more of the crowd cheered that time as Fei was declared the winner of the match.
"Next up is the Dancing Firebird versus Jameson," the announcer said, causing Aireel to grimace and mutter, "Two from Kislev...and this one is from my batallion. What is going on?"
"Excuse me? Aireel, do you know him?" Citan asked, although he caught the part, " this one is from my batallion."
"An old schoolmate," she replied, thinking, Not exactly a lie...we did attend the military training together, but I can't tell Hyuga the whole truth just yet.
"This should be interesting...you had the same expression on your face when that Banderman fellow was announced. All the same, good luck," he said to her with a small smile.
"Thanks," she said and walked towards the ring when she saw Fei and motioned to him.
"Hey, Fei...do me a favor during this match and keep an eye on Hyu--I mean Citan," she quickly said.
"What happened?"
"He had a flashback wave that toppled him. If another one hits while I'm up there--" she said.
"I don't understand what you mean, but okay. I'll watch over him."
"Thanks, Fei," she replied and got into the ring, bowing respectfully to the judges.
That was stupid of me...Fei doesn't know his real name or anything and I nearly blurted it out. What if Hyuga was on some sort of mission himself?
When the gong rang to begin the match, the two immediately went into the center of the ring.
"Just how many of you are out here?" Aireel asked while delivering a punch.
"Only Banderman and myself, ma'am," the tall young man with brown hair replied, "But for different reasons."
"What do you mean?"
"I had a feeling you'd be here. Unlike Banderman, I'm not here on orders. To tell you the truth...I've resigned from the military and came here to find the Aveh pirates," he replied a bit sheepishly as he dodged a second punch, "I had no idea that you had joined them."
"How did you know that?" she asked, executing a sweeping kick, which he avoided easily, "You've trained well, Jameson."
"I had you for a good teacher," he replied, "I heard things around here...especially about the break-in at the pirate's lair and how the Striker was fighting them off."
"I see father trained you well in reconnisance," she replied with a slightly proud tone as she threw a punch to the chest, which connected, sending him back a little bit, "Why did you resign your comission?"
"I don't like this insane war any more than you do, Commander, and I figured the best way to end the war between our two countries was to join the pirates and place the true king of Aveh back on the throne."
"Jameson, for one thing, don't call me Commander, nobody here knows that I'm in the military. Call me Aireel and certainly don't use that other nickname, do you hear me?"
"Yes...Aireel," he said, executing a sweep kick of his own, which she sidestepped quickly and countered.
"After this bout, I'll introduce you to at least two of the band's members and I'll tell Bart about you, but I'm sure he'd welcome a new member," she told him, "Now, let's let this bout be a test between student and teacher. Let's see how well you've trained."
"Of course, Aireel," the young man replied, then concentrated on the bout.
Fei and Citan watched Aireel's fight from the side of the spectator's row that was closest to the ring itself.
"Is it just me or are those two's fighting styles the same?" the younger of the two asked.
"They seem that way to me, too. What I am concerned about was something she said. I heard her mutter something about that young man having being in her batallion."
"Doc, you remember the story Bart and the others told us about three years back. She was in the military then but she obviously isn't now."
"Except for one thing, Fei. She did not say that he was in her batallion...she said that he is in it..." Citan shook his head and said, "I may just be a bit paranoid."
A couple of minutes later, Aireel used a flurry of punches that sent her opponent to the floor, knocking him out.
"The winner of the second match of the quarter-finals is the Dancing Firebird!"
The people in the Spectator's section stood and cheered except for a small bunch that grumbled and threw down betting tickets.
"I don't believe it, doc. She's already proven to be very strong and some people are still betting against her," Fei remarked as Aireel helped Jameson up.
"People tend to think that some wins are merely flukes or that someone better will stop the winning streak," was the reply, "I do believe Aireel and that young man are headed towards us."
The younger of the two nodded, seeing Aireel and the man she fought against walking in their direction. When they stood in front of Citan, Aireel grinned and said, "Don't be nervous, now."
"Do you know this young man?" the doctor asked.
"Gentlemen, this is Matt Jameson. He's from my home town, Nortune...and he wants to join us."
Fei looked at him oddly and asked, "Nortune? Isn't that in Kislev? And how do you know this man isn't a spy?"
"Com--Aireel knew you might be suspicious, so I'll explain. Aireel and I once served in Kislev army's 4th Batallion three years ago, and I was on Aireel's ship when we ran into the deposed prince of Aveh. I for one am sick and tired of the war between Aveh and Kislev...so I resigned my commission. When I got here, I heard all about Gebler's breaking into a hideout and that Aireel's more standardized Gear, Striker, was helping the pirates fight them off."
"We will let the young one decide, but I believe he would say that any friend of Aireel's is a friend of ours. I am Citan," he replied, "And this is Fei. I hope I am not prying, but I noticed your fighting style is similar to hers."
"Yeah, well," she started to say.
"She taught self-defense and martial arts classes to us. I was one of Aireel's students."
"Oh, I see," Fei said, "Wait a minute, her more standardized Gear?"
"Ouch...I let the cat out of the bag, didn't I...well, if I may, Aireel?" Jameson turned to her and asked.
She sighed and nodded.
"Whenever she's tried to manage normal Gears, they tend to be extremely incompatible in terms of strength and speed. Half of them blow up after one use or they simply go out of control."
"Like Heimdal did with other pilots, but in reverse..." Aireel said quietly.
"I don't know about that, but if you say so...anyway, the only option was to construct one that suited her more...which led to Striker's construction. A few months later, we unearthed a Gear that was compatible only with her..."
"What was this Gear?" Citan asked.
"Sorry but that's classified, even to you guys."
The two other men nodded quietly at this and the doctor said, "It looks like both Aireel and Fei will go on to the semi-finals."
"Something tells me she didn't tell you about this ahead of time," Matt guessed.
"You would be right. We did not know until her first match."
The young man gaped at Aireel and shook his head, saying, "You did it again..."
"Enough of that, Matt. Hyu, can we talk over there, please?" Aireel asked, then grimaced as she realized just what she said.
Everyone except Citan looked at her strangely.
"What? It's just my pet name for him," she explained.
The other nodded and Citan walked with her into a different direction. Behind them, a new match started.
"Is something wrong?" he asked her a short distance away.
"You could say that. On the way to this city, I heard Bart and Fei talking about something really weird that happened in that cave they sank to."
Aireel had been walking to the Gun Room to see Maison when she heard talking going on below her.
"I tell ya, that battle was still one of the harriest I've ever seen! There we were, with Calamity throwing missles and flying punches at us from left and right! That ol' man Bal was nuts, sending that thing after us." the young pirate said.
"I don't know if he did," Fei replied, "But I do remember we thought that the Gear was scrap metal, but after a few minutes the thing revived and attacked again."
"And did it ever! But I still wonder what that weird technique was you suddenly used on it."
"I told you, Bart, I don't know where that came from. I had never used it before in my life."