Round 1

The Setting:

Deep within the Fuurinkan High School gym, a crowd had gathered. As usual, the crowd had assembled of its own free will, each person making it up sharing a passion for martial arts that might be considered strange to people from other corners of the globe. The Amateur Martial Arts tournaments were full of surprises and thrills, which is exactly why they held the most appeal to the various persons gathered.

The gym had been arranged simply. As was the case for most of the after school sports events, the center of the gym had been covered with a mat. The bleachers had been set up all around the center mat, providing seating for quite a number of spectators. The school band had even been brought in to entertain the crowd before the match had begun.

As the band played its pep tunes for the crowd, Hayato Miyauchi looked around the gym of his school. It was one of his least favorite places to be. He always felt acutely embarassed about performing athletic feats in front of his classmates, especially the girls. Of course, due to his high level of Social Invisibility, no one really payed him any attention in class anyways.

He had never really been in a martial arts tournament before... at least, not one with this many people present. The large concentration of people was exactly the reason that he tried to avoid organized events like this. However, he was a man driven by a higher purpose. Hayato wasn't sure why, but he knew that somehow, if he were to be victorious in this tournament, he would have a chance to date with Kasumi Tendou.

Taking quiet breaths, he walked off toward the locker room to prepare himself for the battle. As he did this, Johnny Walker arrived on the scene. At six feet tall, he all but towered over the generally short Japanese high school students and others who made up the crowd. Chuckling a bit to himself, he hoped that whoever was challenging him was a little more imposing than the people he was seeing at the moment.

He had only one objective for competing in this tournament, and that was to prove to everyone that he was the greatest. Japan was supposed to be famed for its martial artists, but so far, he hadn't met very many who could even make him break a sweat. Such a tournament would probably pit him against the best of the best, and that was exactly why he would know he was the greatest if he won. With a confident smile, he walked off toward the locker room.

The announcer picked up his microphone and started speaking over the PA system. He said, "Welcome everyone, to our exciting martial arts competition! Announcing the first of our combattants... A young man who hails all the way from America... A man nicknamed the 'Fear Factory' for his prowess in battle... It's none other than Johnny Walker!" The band started playing regal announcement music usually reserved for kings and such as Johnny walked out of the locker rooms and onto the competition mat. He was dressed in his usual fare, a flashy looking club shirt, a pair of athletic Adidas pants, and his fingerless leather gloves. The crowd cheered for him, and he smiled.

"Our next fighter..." The announcer saw that nothing was written on his information sheet besides his name, and residence. He continued, "A resident of Nerima, it's Hayato Miyauchi!" Members of the crowd, although they heard the name, had no idea who the competitor was. They all looked around, seeing no one come out of the other locker room, which created a fair amount of confusion. A few surprised persons noticed that seemingly out of nowhere, a young man dressed in the Fuurinkan High School uniform was standing near the center of the mat, carrying a staff.

Johnny suddenly noticed the young man in front of him, and got a little confused. Hayato looked fairly scruffy, and besides his staff, appeared completely harmless. Johnny laughed out loud, and said to the referees, "THIS is who I'm going to fight? This is just a joke, right?" He looked to Hayato, and said, "Dude, I'll let you surrender if you want. I'd feel like a bully if I had to slap a little guy like you around."

Hayato looked a little annoyed at Johnny's words, but did his best to take them in stride. He replied in a quiet voice, "I am your opponent, and I will fight you."

Johnny grinnned broadly, and said, "Hey, man, it's your funeral. I hope you won't regret taking my generous offer after I've beaten you into the ground."

Hayato didn't reply, instead, moving into position and taking a fighting stance with his staff. He knew better than to get in a war of words with his opponent... For one thing, he wasn't very good with them, and for another, he had to maintain his calm at all costs. With a deep breath, he closed his eyes, and became in tune with his Personal Space.

Johnny grew a little bit annoyed. He didn't like it when people didn't respond to his verbal jabs. "Oh well," he thought, "This little guy really can't be any match for me." He dropped into his No Limit Martial Arts fighting stance, and prepared to fight.

Comments:

Spanner

Johnny's greatest strengths are his ability to deal hard blows, and his ability to gauge and take advantage of his opponents' weaknesses. The first, in this case, will be all but negated by Hayato's technique - Hayato's main strength comes from avoiding blows. The latter will, possibly, be Johnny's downfall. Hayato's weaknesses are twofold: First, he's fairly fragile, and can't take a lot of punishment. But, again, Hayato specializes in avoiding attacks, so this may not be very useful to Johnny. Secondly, he panics when an opponent gets too close. It won't take Johnny long to figure that one out - the fact that Hayato will spend the whole fight trying to keep him at a distance will ensure that. However, if he should attempt to press that weakness, he'll end up with a face full of "Keep Away". Ryoga's strength, he may have. But Ryoga's endurance? I think this fight will go to Hayato (though he may barely be able to walk by its end).

Rafel

Hayato's got a lot of kool techniques but has nothing that can actually finish off an opponent, especially one as offense-orientated as Johnny.  Johnny has a large, yet realistic arsenal of moves (since most of them are kicks and not stuff that blows up everything in sight, which takes away from the fun of the fight) and no matter how well Hayato can hide, if he can't put Johnny out, Johnny's going to eventually connect with one and when he does, its gonna spell defeat for Hayato.

Hitman25

Hmm... two opposites of the same coin, yin and yang.  Johnny Walker, the yin, likes to fight with power and direct attacks.  Hayato is the positive yang, who is more peaceful and collected.  In the end however, I feel Johnny will come out on top.  Fighters like Hayato would be strong against direct power players, but let's look at the situation.  They are in a crowded area, which will be distracting to Hayato.  Johnny also won't hesitate to pull off any dirty tricks.  Also, his moves seem to be a little more powerful than Hayato's.  In the long run, Johnny only needs to hit his opponent a few times to take them down.  I give the match to him.

Runningstill

Logical outcome:Walker
Reason: Walker's attack capacity outways Hayato's.  Hayato defence inadequte to the task of completly masking his pressence long enough to to comletely incapacitate Walker without same successfully striking back.
Anime Outcome:Hayato
Reason:Same as above.  Implications of which are as follows.  Walker is hopelessly well trained and patheticly agressive.  Blatenly more powerfull and boastfull to boot Walker's only hope for survival, let alone victory is to discover an angsty and painful past post haste or to suddenly become sympathic, understanding and noble.   Beaten by an obvious "inferior" I pray for Walkers sanity after the match and hope he is able to keep word of this from unduely damaging his reputation with his peers.
"Watch out Walker! I'm a master of Introversion" would be just a little to cruel to taunt him with at the next match. It wasn't a fair fight.
Point and conterpoint comlete.
Verdict Rendered.

Tora10

Well lets start out by looking at the obvious fact of how Johnny is underestimating Hayato, it's like the Reiko/Sirach match times 1000. Johnny won't even come close to expecting a fight, he could even show a sign of accual humanity and start off easy on Hayato! Then there is Hayato, Johnny is used to picking out and opponents weakness, but Hayato is so mysterious, that the only flaws  that can be seen are the facts that Johnny is bigger,stronger, and MAYBEY faster...but that stuff is TOO obvious and Johnny knows it. Further more, it apears that Johnny is the most affective when up close, something that is not going to happen much since Hayato is the master at keeping opponents away.altough their may be times where Johnny will get in close, Hayato IS good enough to fend off Johnny till he can get to a safe distance again. Also, The Veil of the cameleon trick works when some one takes his eyes off of Hayato, wich will be a good chunk of the fight since Johnny will, at least in the begining, take more time doing something cocky than accually fighting. Hayato also did a preatty good job fighting Ryouga, and Johnny is basically more like a pumped up Ryouga, even if he is his sworn rival. Also take into account that altough Hayato is not THAT strong, he can still deal some great attacks and wear down Johnny. Another thing is Johnny's final attack "your dead", now this seems powerful, but that just might be a BIG mistake since Hayato's Keep Away works when someone is up close to him, but just imagine some one who was up close, bigger, and ON FIRE!!!, it'll probably cause him to deleive a keep away similar to a mega ton bomb!!! Also if you go by the theory of goodguys vs. bad guys, Hayato will win, altough you might not see a set up for this senario, it is PERFECT here, Johnny is our villan who fighting because his of his cocky pride and wants to have a reason to show off, and Hayato is our hero who fights to help his quest for love!  But don't think it will be just like that, Johnny has near Ryouga toughness and he is more than likely push the envelope more as the fight developes. This fight should be a long hard battle of atrition, and I'm going to love every SECOND of it! Besides, Johnny is a cocky jerk and dose not desrve to win, I'm just glad Hayato is here to kick Johnny's butt!

The Fight:

An official shouted, "Fight!" The match had officially began. Johnny, being quite the agressive fighter, charged straight in for Hayato. He thought to himself, "I can put this scrawny guy out in one hit. No point in wasting time."

Hayato merely stood there, watching his opponent coming with little worry showing on his face. He'd dealt with agressive fighters before, and in fact, usually had little trouble defeating them. He jabbed suddely at the other fighter with his ten foot long staff, aiming the blow at Johnny's midsection.

Johnny was somewhat surprised by the speed of the attack, but didn't let it bother him. He simply stepped to the side and kept charging, getting closer to the introverted martial artist. Hayato still had some time before the other man could get in close, however, and changed his swing, this time sweeping the staff low at his opponent's feet. Johnny again avoided the attack, this time by jumping above the staff, but now he was in the air, where it was harder to maneuver. The introverted boy swung his staff again, this time at Johnny's head.

The No Limit martial artist was quite strong, and brought arm arm up, deflecting the attack up and over his body. However, the strike did hurt quite a bit. He thought, "Okay, this guy might look like a dweeb, but he's good with that staff of his. I bet he ain't so good without it." Johnny landed, and stopped where he was, saying, "What a wuss! I'd love to see you try fighting me without that weapon of yours."

Hayato maintained his inner calm. As his opponent talked, he jabbed out again several times at the stationary Johnny. The other man was able to sidestep the first few attacks, and then suddenly, he grabbed onto the other end of Hayato's ten foot pole. This didn't bother the introvert too much, however. If an opponent had lasted even this long against him, it usually meant he had a fair amount of skill, and usually, it meant they would have the sense to try and remove his range advantage. He tightened his grip on the staff, and prepared himself.

Johnny briefly pondered using one of his fire attacks on the staff to scare the daylights out of Hayato, but thought, "I can't use something like that against this little scrawny guy. I don't need to." He lifted the staff into the air, and along with it was his opponent, down at the other end. Chuckling, he brought it all the way up above him, and then slammed it down to the ground using all his strength.

Hayato thought as the staff he was holding on to was being brought down, "This guy is strong. I have to be especially careful not to get close to him." He shifted his grip on the staff as it neared the ground, and with both hands, inched away from the edge.

The end of the staff hit the ground hard, leaving a small crater from the impact, despite the fact that mats had been layed down for the event. Johnny chuckled, but then noticed that his opponent was doing a handstand on the staff, away from the end where it had hit the ground, safe from the attack. The crowd cheered at Hayato's skillful evasion.

The introvert got back on his feet and resumed his grip on the staff. As the crowd cheered, he remembered that it wasn't just him and Johnny present in the gym, and lost some of his inner tranqulity. He tried to pull the staff free from his opponent's grip, but Johnny still had a very strong hold on it. He then attempted to use his Fist of the Void, and force his opponent to let go, but the distraction of the crowd had ruined his concetration, and thus, he just stood there, holding onto the staff.

Johnny noted his opponent's lack of counter attack, and said, "What's wrong? You got nothing left?" He released one hand from the staff, but was still able to keep the introvert from recovering it. He brought down his free hand in a chopping attack right on top of the staff, with a great deal of strength behind it. A good two feet of the ten foot pole was broken off by the attack, but the No Limit martial artist felt quite a bit of pain in his hand. Obviously, the other young man had been able to focus much of his ki into the weapon in order to strengthen it.

Once the staff had been cut down, Hayato was finally able to bring the rest of it back to him, since Johnny wasn't holding onto his part of it. The introvert thought to himself, "He broke my staff... he's obviously a very powerful opponent. I'm going to have to use everything I have to get rid of him." He pushed all thoughts of the crowd out of his mind, and regained his inner peace.

Of course, Johnny wasn't just going to stand there, and he started charging in again, shouting, "Try using that thing again, I dare you! I'll cut it into toothpicks!" Hayato struck out with his staff to keep the other man at bay, but didn't want to let his weapon fall into his hands again. Johnny blocked the attacks, but before he could grab the weapon, it had already been pulled back. Hayato kept backing up, and the No Limit martial artists charge became an exercise in futility. He jumped back a bit to get more distance.

Considering his options, Johnny thought, "Okay... this could go on forever. I hate to have to use more than just punches and kicks, but I have to use his tactics against him if I want to get out of here any time soon." He shouted, "Eat this! Firebomb!" He gathered his ki, and fired off a faintly glowing orange ball, which Hayato sidestepped. Johnny noted that the sidestep wasn't all that fast, and that his opponent seemed like the type not to move around while fighting.

The introverted martial artist was taken off guard as the attack he had avoided exploded as it hit the ground. He brought up an arm to cover his face, and was more or less unhurt by the attack, but the moment of distraction was enough to give Johnny the chance he needed. He leapt into the air, and said, "Now you're going down! Eat this!" The No Limit fighter held both hands out, and unleashed a barrage of the very fast fiery projectiles.

Hayato saw this coming, and decided that although one blast might not have hurt, being hit by a great deal more would not be pleasant. As Johnny predicted, there was no way that he could move out of the way quickly enough to get away from all these blasts, but, he didn't need to. He took in a breath, and focused his energies. He diverted the field that surrounded him which was normally his personal repulsion field into a stronger, more focused field right in front of him. As the ki blasts closed in, they suddenly hit the field and were replused by Hayato's strong aura. The entire barrage was reflected away, and the introvert was completely unharmed by the attack.

Johnny, however, was still high in the air, and the ki blasts that he had shot out suddenly were headed back toward him, and he had nowhere to go. He covered his face, and was hit by the 20 or so blasts, which exploded all around him. He fell from the air and landed very roughly, looking generally burnt up and battered. Hayato let out a breath of relief as his opponent fell to the ground, but was very surprised as Johnny got back to his feet... this time, he looked very, very angry.

The Fear Factory got into his fighting stance again, now glowing softly with an orange aura. He thought to himself, "There's absolutely no way that I'm going to lose to a scumbag like this. I'm through playing around... this little punk is going to burn!"

Hayato watched all of this happen, and thought, "He looks like he's gotten quite serious. However, I'm not going to let him get the advantage now." He pointed behind Johnny, and shouted, "Look, behind you!"

This tactic was simply laughable, Johnny thought, and in fact, he did start laughing hard enough that he closed his eyes while doing so. He said, "You really think something like that is going to distract me? And here I thought you might even have an ounce of skill." He opened his eyes, still chuckling, and looked at his opponent... or at least, where his opponent should have been. Seeing the introvert nowhere in front of him, he looked around, behind him, and even up into the air trying to find his opponent. Growling, he said, "That's pathetic! He ran away?"

The crowd was very confused by Johnny's behavior. After the man had started laughing, they had seen Hayato walk rather casually over toward him, and then around behind him, readying his staff. The onlookers were sure that during several instances, Johnny had been looking directly at Hayato. The 'Fear Factory' looked at the officials, waiting for them to declare him the victor, but instead, he only saw them looking intently at what was going on.

With his guard down, Johnny felt the full impact of his opponent's staff on the side of his head. The impact was such that he staggered to the side several steps before he could turn around and look at the attack's source. Again, however, he saw empty air. A strong jab then caught him in his lower back. This time, he tried to grab the staff, but his hands met with empty air. His frustration was quickly building. He didn't understand why he couldn't see his adversary, but however he had somehow made himself invisible, and he had to put a stop to it quick. The blows from the staff were starting to hurt... a lot.

More attacks hit Johnny in various places, and his endurance was being worn down in a major way. Every time he tried to spin around quickly and counter attack, though, he had no target that he could see, and realized that his chances of hitting were next to none. His rage almost took ahold of him, which would have surely been the end of the match then and there, but then his eyes happened to glance upon the crowd and the officials, whose eyes were all intently focused on something moving around that was not him. He took another hit, and realized that it was coming from where everyone else was looking.

"So... They can see you, but I can't? Well, it doesn't matter now..." Johnny thought to himself, and continued watching the eyes of the crowd. Suddenly, he turned and shouted, "Firewave!" and kicked, creating a huge wall of flames with his hot, angry ki. Hayato was completely surprised by the sudden counter attack, and struggled to shield himself from the flames which washed over him.

Suddenly, Johnny could see his opponent as the flames died down. However, he had already known where the introverted martial artist would be, and had prepared his follow up. Finally given an outlet upon which he could vent his frustration, he shouted, "Hotfoot!" and let loose with an extremely quick barrage of kicks, his foot moving so fast that it caught fire. Hayato was still reeling from the fire wave attack, and thus, was all but helpless as the flurry of kicks came his way. He couldn't even block, and was pummeled severely by the fiery kicks before his battered body was finally thrown clear, where it impacted strongly with the wall of the gym, causing a large, and prominent crack.

The No Limit martial artist watched the smaller boy slump to the ground, looking much the worse for wear. Hayato was still barely conscious, and managed to get back to his feet, only to see Johnny walking toward him, looking very ominous. He thought, "I can barely stand... what in the world am I going to do...?" Against his will, his feet started edging him backwards until he was up against the wall.

Johnny was using all of his most powerful moves now, and didn't care. His opponent had crossed the line, and he was going to show him who was really the best here. He looked at Hayato and growled through clenched teeth, "Now, you little bastard, you're going to learn why they call me the Fear Factory..." His aura flared bright red, and it really looked like he was on fire, several people in the crowd noted. He hopped into the air, and curled himself into a ball, channeling the abundant energy that was available to him, before launching himself right at the cornered Hayato.

Now, the Fear Factory really did catch fire in a rather large explosive burst of energy. The fire blasted Hayato hard against the wall, and the introverted young man had to do everthing in his power just to keep conscious, although a more sensible part of his mind suggested to him that he might be better off unconscious as not to experience what was to come. Johnny closed in with a wicked grin, and his arms and legs went into a flurry of motion.

Most of the onlookers just turned away, not wanting to see the slaughter that was going to happen. Many of them were rooting for the underdog in this fight, and it looked like it wasn't going to end how they hoped. A split second later, however a blood curdling scream was heard, and a loud, thunderous explosion rocked the gym, casing many of those nearest to the action to be thrown against the people they sat next to roughly. Everyone turned quickly to see what happened, and saw Hayato standing there with a look of sheer terror on his face, but still conscious. The wall behind him had been blown out completely.

Entirely on the other side of the gym, Johnny was imbeded in the far wall, obviously out for the count. His fiery battle arua caused the area around him to go black before it finally flickered and then faded away completely. Most of those in attentance, and indeed, all of them but Hayato, had no idea what just happened, but nevertheless, they started clapping and cheering wildly. Hearing this, the introvert opened his eyes and saw that he had won, and scratched the back of his head nervously. He wasn't used to being the focus of so many people's attention. He walked over to the officials to be declared the winner.

Meanwhile, the smoke that had been caused by Johnny's aura drifted up to the top of the gym, setting the sprinklers off. The entire gym and those inside it were completely soaked, causing many in the crowd to beat a hasty retreat. Hayato felt much more at ease as they all left, and thought to himself, "Obviously, destiny has carried me this far... All for you, my dear Kasumi." With that, he walked off, still looking quite charred and battered.

The Results:

Hayato Miyauchi: 14

Johnny Walker: 6

I got quite a few votes on this one, however, it's only because I left the darned match up for so long! Anyway, thanks to everyone who voted in this one, and everyone who was patient enough to come back and see the results and such. This match wasn't quite as close as I'd hoped it would be, but, once again, it just goes to show how bad I am at predicting stuff like this =) Thanks again to everyone who voted and such.

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