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Chapter 2
Unexpected Fight

“Do you think he’s not fighting on purpose?” Midori asked dumbfounded. She, Kona, and Kumori all turned their heads as Zatch dodged another intense Sound-powered punch aimed at him by hopping backwards, the opponent gave chase, running so low to the ground like an animal.

“I think he’s scared he’s gonna hurt the guy.” Kona said with a drop of sweat.

“Poor guy.” said Kumori shaking his head. The three followed the fight with their heads moving to the other side.

“Come on, fight already!” the man said throwing another Sound-punch at Zatch. He dodged to the side with a grunt.

“I said no, I don’t want to hurt—” Zatch began but was interrupted; he lost his footing as the man finally punched away a layer of the ring ahead of Zatch. While the demon fell backwards, his opponent charged faster.

“Yeah right, like you actually have the guts to hurt me!” He prepared a punch with a large Sound barrier surrounding it. Zatch caught his body with his right hand, twisted his body, and sent the back of his right leg around knock the punch away with a crushing force. While the announcer was distracted, the momentum carried Zatch’s upper body forward, allowing for the follow up attack; he gave his opponent a headbutt so massive that a cracking noise echoed around them—it actually was not modified by the Sound power of either fighters, it was the sound of the actual impact.

The announcer flew back, sliding on his side to the very edge of the ring. His collar dragged along with him so that it eventually slid to the middle of his bicep, overstretching it well beyond what it was supposed to. The cap was also destroyed with the brim split in three different areas, including one that actually tore it apart; now, the announcer’s ruffled and messy black hair was revealed to the audience. His shorts suffered no damage whatsoever and neither did his shoes. However, his head bled critically from the pressure of the impact, mixing colors with the hair and forming tiny jagged streams down his face where his eyes were as foggy as they were blue.

It was an accident; Zatch knew it to be true. He didn’t mean to go so hard.

“I apologize. ” His eyes widened as the announcer’s body rolled on the ground and rose like a serpent with hollow eyes. The grin that had stayed on his face continued in its usual area.

“Hey…” he said in a mystifying manner once more. Zatch’s eyes returned to normal, although his gaze glowered. “Since it appears you aren’t who I met earlier, allow me to introduce myself. You can call me Sann.”

“Sann, huh? It must have some meaning if you want to tell me it.”

“Actually it’s just a combination of ‘sound’ and ‘announcer’. ‘S’ in ‘sound’ and ‘ann’ with two ‘n’s in ‘announcer’. I think it’s pretty clever.” he said, waving his finger around.

“It doesn’t matter. Since it seems you can take a hit, let’s fight. Now I don’t have to worry.” Zatch said charging now.

“I’m just bleeding from the head…Nothing to worry about.” Sann said looking up.

Zatch kept his charge but then disappeared as he was about to punch. He reappeared behind Sann, who still stared upward, and kicked back. Sann disappeared in a scratchy afterimage. With wide eyes, Zatch searched for Sann. Instantly, he reappeared in front of Zatch, delivering a knee to Zatch’s chest and still staring up. Breathless, Zatch floated slowly onto Sann’s knee.

“I’m certain my head will be okay. But I can’t promise to be easy with you.” Sann said softly. He then blasted a huge Sound blast from his knee that fired Zatch high in the air. “Tell me, Zatch, is that huge checkmark a weak point, or is that just an accessory for decoration? At this point it just seems life an annoying target.”

“Damn you talk a lot!” Zatch reappeared behind Sann, who was surprised to see his opponent behind him after seeing him in the air. “Long story short, that was a pathetic knee!” He grunted with his statement, sending his own knee into Sann, forcing a cough of blood. Smiling still, Sann held onto his leg; Zatch lifted Sann and his leg up, supporting the two with his hands and bounced off them spinning in the air and creating a large cyclone that blew the audiences’ hair towards it and then away from it.

Sann flew off the knee, spinning in the air until he slowed down and held his hand out for another Sound blast. With it launched, Zatch kept his left hand tightly to his side with a triumphant smile across his face and a dark grey aura around the hand. The massive Sound blast minimized and evaporated into Zatch’s hand, as the demon sent an open right hand forward.

Sann gasped with horror; Zatch chuckled with victory.

Zatch unleashed a large Light beam at Sann who began descending slowly. Sann clapped his hands together and then put them forward to block, releasing the same wavelength motion that appeared on his lips before. Thus the beam was blocked by Sann’s Sound barrier. But the demon was not finished; Zatch ceased his Light attack and roared loudly, launching his own Sound attack in the wavelengths so familiar to Sann. The barrier shook from its instability from the collision of Sound forces, until finally it shattered with the sound of breaking glass, making Sann fall quicker. Zatch clenched his fists and brought them to his face, puffing his cheeks and inflating his chest. With a roar to support the attack, he released a wave of violent flames that shifted into several curved paths. But then he noticed the crowd behind Sann as he saw the sneaky smile once more. Quickly, Zatch dashed to the ground, across the ring, and leapt, turning around to point his gun-shaped hand at Sann, who only caught a glimpse of the attempted attack. Zatch quickly fired a Psychic beam from his fingers with a Lightning bolt circling around it in its natural jagged pattern. Sann tried to block, but was halted as the Psychic-Lightning beam trapped Sann, while the wave of flames finally surrounded him, making a fire doll.

Although he smiled with glowing triumph, Zatch noticed that he overleapt and was about to land out of the ring. As the troubling discovery was made, he noticed that Sann was standing as proud as ever, with the collar being the only remaining part of his shirt, burns everywhere, and a abnormally skinny body revealed as his physique. Sann knew that the end was near and that he would be the victor.

Suddenly, Zatch shot his ebony wings out of his coat and lifted himself back up into the air with the smile still glowing. Now annoyed, Sann crouched down into a ball, a sky blue aura forming around him. With a tiny shockwave that put little pressure on Zatch, Sann grew a smooth black tail, round black ears, glossy whiskers, sharp teeth that hooked over his lip, and golden eyes with pin needle pupils.

Zatch was intrigued; besides him and his friends, he had never seen another person who could also summon parts of an animal on their body. Sann revealed to Zatch that he was a panther demon.

“Round two.” Sann said with a deeper voice, then disappearing. Zatch looked behind him and saw Sann, who disappeared several times before actually punching Zatch. With shakiness in his body, Zatch shook his head and brought his wings back into his hand.

“Let’s go Sann.” Zatch’s demon eye appeared. He pulled the fist from his gut, and then drove his shoulder into Sann. He then released several Metal spikes from his shoulder, but Sann was already gone. Zatch then sent his left fist in, countering against Sann’s foreseen fist. Then they both disappeared from sight reappearing in small glimpse an inch within the audience or demolishing the stage. Zatch then stopped and summoned his blade during a slash; Sann sent a pointed hand forward, bearing claws to defend against the blade. Zatch held steady, but his blade shook from the magnificent power that the once laid back Sann now wielded. With a sharp grin, Sann brought the nameless blade away from him and stabbed into Zatch’s ribs, hooking over it and bringing him forward. Zatch gasped for breath again, but could not regain control of his body. Snarling Sann laughed in Zatch’s face.

“How do you like me Noble form?” asked Sann. Zatch replied with a gasp. “And to think you’re the one who terrorized the island. How disappointing…” Sann threw the wounded demon away from him. Zatch rolled hard on the floor, his blood trailing behind him and laid out like a tattered crimson curtain. Zatch pushed his body up with his elbows, shaking with a jerk. His breath was hoarse and eyes became dense foggy circles. His sword flew off in a different direction, but was thrusted into the ground, adding to the already damaged ring.

Sann smiled again and walked over to the damaged body. He kicked Zatch around and picked him straight up using Zatch’s rib.

“What a pity. I would’ve thought that someone with your reputation would be more of a fight.” Sann said, ripping the collar of his destroyed shirt off and padding his bloody head with his hand. Struggling with his first hand, he lifted his opposite arm to support it.

“Hmph, I could say the same about you.” Zatch suddenly said as if unaffected by the stab, but limp like he was paralyzed.

“What?! What the hell did you just say?!” Sann said, twitching and forcing his smile to gracefully fade.

“ ‘How disappointing’? I can relate. I thought I’d be able to take this battle seriously…” Zatch’s body transformed into water dripping over Sann’s arm. Then it froze in place, leaving Sann defenseless. He was prepared to blast the thick ice away, but Zatch appeared from behind and delivered another kick powered by his Metal and Fire element. He struck Sann in the neck, launching him out of the ring to slide into the dirt. Zatch landed gracefully back on his feet, walking triumphantly back to his friends afterwards. As he strutted, the flames and metal sizzled away, almost like they were being burned by a more intense fire.

“And the winner is…Mr. Zatch…” Sann said, his voice muffled in the dirt. He lifted his arm up to point at the victor, but his muscles were so weak from the paralyzing attack that it fell down with a thud.

Zatch closed his eyes and grunted; his sword disappeared in a same void of darkness in which it grandly appeared. Zatch walked past one of the audience.

“You might have overdone it a little.” The hooded figure spoke with a small voice.

“Me? At least it wasn’t so quick that people didn’t get to enjoy it.” Zatch chuckled.

“Oh, someone’s a little talkative all of the sudden, huh? I sense some intimidation in your voice.” the hooded figure chuckled back. His hood shook with his broad shoulders.

“Hmph, my ass. Don’t mistake fear for confidence, little one.” stated Zatch. He continued his march coldly, turning his head catch a last glimpse. The hooded figure’s frowning lips finished with a last statement.

“You might wanna watch how you talk to me…” The figure disappeared after a crowd of people walked in front of him.

Back with his friends, Zatch crossed his arms and lowered his angry gaze again.

“What a waste of time.” Kumori scoffed.

“It’s a tournament, I had to at least play the drama bit. Besides, what fun would it be if I didn’t get to see any good moves?” Zatch asked.

“Kinda dragged on, don’t you think?” asked Midori. “It was really boring watching you run from him.”

“It’s fine, there’ll be more exciting fights later on. Who knows, maybe I’ll get to fight one of you guys.” He said smiling widely. The three stared at him and sighed at the same time. “But on to another thing. Sann transformed there, calling it his ‘Noble form’. What the heck is that?”

“It’s what Kona and I are in.” said Midori. Zatch scratched his head. “Basically it’s this. Whenever a person from a kingdom gains attributes of a beast without transforming completely, they are in the stage of their evolution called ‘Noble form’. From lowest to highest, there is ‘Serf’ or the ‘Base’ form, then ‘Noble’, then ‘Pride’. Noble is that form you went into fighting Zakourma, and when you transform into a complete dragon, you are in your ‘Kingdom Pride’ form, or simply called ‘Pride’. That’s about it. Isn’t it simple?” She tilted her head and smiled. He nodded in response.

“I had my doubts, but that was actually very simple to understand.” he said, bringing his hand to his chin. “So then Kumori and I would in our Base form and you and Kona are in Noble form correct?”

“That’s about right. But seeing as how you can summon single parts from your Pride form by themselves like your wings you must be an ‘Incomplete Noble’. Meaning you still haven’t reached the full power of your Noble form.” she finished.

“” Zatch thought to himself. After recovering, Sann signaled for the next contestants grumpily.