Mirai no Senshi
by ICYSHADOWNINJA@AOL.COM
Mirai no Senshi Chapter 13:
"Tenkaichi Budoukai: First Round: Ryuu An’ya vs. Kuriren!

"Get a good night’s rest, An’ya?"

"Hai, Trunks."

"Ready for your fight against Kuriren?"

"Hai, but I don’t think it’ll be much of a fight."

Trunks raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Well, look at him! He’s short, uncoordinated... he doesn’t even _look_ all that strong. Sure, he’s muscular for a little guy, but he doesn’t look to be that much of a challenge."

"Don’t underestimate your enemy, An’ya. Kuriren may be small, but he’s a cunning warrior who will use _every_ advantage he has against you. For one, because he’s so small, he’s harder to hit, and he _knows_ it too. Two, look at your first impressions of him! You instantly underestimated him, and assumed he’s not much of a fighter. Kuriren is capable of going toe-to-toe with Saiya-jin, albiet non Super Saiya-jin, but Saiya-jin nonetheless, and winning as often as loosing. He’s brilliant when it comes to battle strategy, though it often makes him look cowardly because most of his strategies involve striking from an advantageous position at an opprotune time."

An’ya looked at her feet. "In other words, my initial impressions of him were completely wrong."

"Hai."

Trunks noticed her shift her gaze uneasily to her left arm. "If what you say is true, do I really have a chance of winning?"

Trunks nodded. "Hai."

"Even with... my disability?"

"What disability?"

She blinked, and opened her mouth to speak.

Trunks sighed, and gently used a finger to raise An’ya’s chin until she was looking directly at him, and close her mouth. "Old injuries are only debilitating if you _let_ them be, An’ya. You can win, you’ve got the strength, An’ya. Kuriren is cunning, fast, and powerful, but you can beat him if you want to badly enough. Who knows, maybe you’ll realize you’re not as ‘weak’ and ‘disabled’ as you think you are. There’s no one I’d rather have at my side in a battle than you, An’ya."

An’ya smiled. "I don’t know why, Trunks, but hearing you say that... Chikushoume, if you believe in me, can I do no less than to believe in myself as well?"

"Now that’s the old An’ya talking! Get in there and win, An’ya. You can do it."

She nodded. "Hai, I can."

***

An’ya studied her opponant, and was slightly annoyed by the fact that she saw the concern in his eyes as he looked at her left arm... or, more specifically, looked at where her left arm used to be. She tilted her head slightly to one side. "Not planning on underestimating me, are you? I know better than to underestimate you, Kuriren. You’ve fought in the Budoukai before, and you’ve shown how much skill you have simply by making it this far."

Kuriren seemed slightly suprised by her comments.

An’ya smiled, and continued "I won’t make the mistake of underestimating you, but you’d damn well better not make the mistake of underestimating me! I’m not as handycaped as you might think!"

Kuriren nodded. "Could there ever be any doubt with such determination in your voice?"

Her smile didn’t fade. "Let’s make this a good fight, hai?"

"Hai."

"And the two warriors, Kulilyn and An’ya have taken to the ring! Who do you expect to win this match, Dan?"

"An’ya. She’s got the advantage of reach over Kulilyn."

"Yeah, but what of her handycap? Not having an arm could put her at a serious disadvantage in this fight!"

An’ya dropped into the fighting position that she hoped would giver her the most advantage over a smaller foe. Lowering her center of gravity, she hoped to be able to prevent any moves that would easily knock her over. Briefly, she felt the old, familiar doubt that she would be unable to beat opponant with only one arm, but she pushed those doubts away more quickly than she had before.

If Trunks has faith in me, then it’s safe to have faith in myself. If I loose, it will not be because of an imagined handycap! Trunks’s mentor spent a large part of his life fighting with one arm, if I’m to be worthy of Trunks, I’ve got to be worthy of Son Gohan’s memory!

Kuriren was smiling as well. "I hope I live up to your expectations of me."

An’ya shrugged. "It’s your opinion of yourself that matters, mine has no bearing on you."

"Match begin!"

Neither An’ya nor Kuriren moved for a full second after the attack, until Kuriren stagered forward from a hit from behind. He spun quickly, and came face to face with An’ya.

"An amazing first round move by An’ya!"

He nodded "Zanzoken."

"It worked, didn’t it?"

Kuriren smiled. "Not as well as this will." Kuriren said, creating a ball of energy in his right hand. He threw it, yelling "Kuraya boru!"

"WOW! Will you look at that!"

"I’m looking Hal! I’m looking!"

An’ya was suprised to see a Ki attack used in the Budoukai. So far, the closest she’d seen had been the Shougekiha. An’ya smiled, and threw her hand forward. A circular barrier of Ki energy appeared before her, absorbing Kuriren’s attack.

"What an amazing defensive move on An’ya’s part!"

***

Trunks blinked. "I didn’t know she could do that."

Juuhachi looked up at him. "Seriously? You’ve never seen her use it before?"

"Iie."

Juuhachi put a hand to her chin, and returned her attention to the fight. "Me neither."

Trunks would have facefaulted, had he not been sitting down. Somehow, Setsuna managed to pull off a pretty decent sweatdrop, dispite being a demi-amphibious alien who didn’t sweat.

***

An’ya’s fight with Kuriren was not the intense, close-range duel she had expected, but nor was it an easy fight. It was akin to sparring with a stronger version of Setsuna, difficult, but it wouldn’t be impossible for her to win.

Still, there’s enough of a chance that I can loose to make it a very tough fight if I’m not careful. She thought, dodging a series of punches and kicks. Her arm blurred as she focused on blocking Kuriren’s attacks. Trunks was right though, this is no unskilled warrior!

"Such speed from both warriors! Ladies and gentlemen, these are combatants to watch! Whoever wins this fight had a very good shot at the championship!"

Kuriren smiled. "Not bad."

"You’re not bad either."

"Whatever accident caused the loss of your arm must have happened quite some time ago." Kuriren said between punches, and breaths.

An’ya shook her head, still on the defensive. "Iie, not really. It only happened about a month ago."

Kuriren allmost fell over in mid attack. "Fukanou! You’re fighting as if you’ve been compensating for it for years!"

An’ya struck while Kuriren was off balance, kicking him just hard enough to send him toppling head-first into the ground. "I’ve got my trainer to thank for that. He’s doubtless the ‘strong person’ Son Gohan told you about."

"An excelent strike by An’ya!"

"But Kuriren looks unphased. This fight could still go either way!"

Kuriren jumped to his feet. "Who is he?"

"I can’t tell you, sumimasen."

"Figures." Kuriren thrust his hands forward, launchinga pair of Ki blasts at her. An’ya swatted them both up into the air. Normally, she wouldn’t have taken the time to do so, but she wanted to make sure nobody got hurt.

"AMAZING! How does Kuriren keep doing those attacks?"

"I don’t know about you, but if I was a member of the audience, I’d be afraid of coalateral damage."

"Not if An’ya keeps up her beautiful defensive strategy! I haven’t seen her make a single mistake, truly she’s an amazing warrior!"

"You need to be more carefull with where you aim your attacks. You would’ve taken out ‘D’ section if I hadn’t deflected your blast."

"Nothing you can’t handle though, it was only ment..."

It took her a second to realize the voice had started coming from behind her.

"To distract your attention!"

"Kuso! Zanzoken!" An’ya threw herself towards the center of the ring, Kuriren’s attack narrowly missing her. Doing a one-armed handspring, she was back on her feet in seconds.

***

Piccolo crossed his arms. "Whoever this woman is, she’s good."

Son Gohan looked at his ‘idol’. "Do you think Kuriren can win?"

"He’d be hard pressed. She fights brilliantly, maybe even on par with Son Gokou, Vegeta, or even myself! She’s obviously put a lot of effort into training."

"Think you could beat her?"

"Maybe, but there’s a good chance she could beat me too. She’s a very good warrior, and she’s not even at half strength yet."

"Is Kuriren?"

"Hai, he’s not at maximum yet, but he’s getting closer. Look at her! She’s completely unworried!"

Tenshinhan looked at Piccolo. "It’s amazing though! Whatever took her arm obviously happened quite some time ago."

Piccolo nodded. "Hai. It would be difficult to compensate for a missing limb that quickly, though you managed to do pretty well, Tenshin."

"That was a long time ago, Piccolo... it seems a lifetime away now." Tenshinhan sighed. "I guess I should be ready to loose today."

"What are you talking about, Ten?" Chaiotzu asked, looking up at his friend.

"There’s no way I can beat my opponant."

Son Gohan blinked, and looked at Tenshinhan. Kuso! I forgot about that! He can tell when someone is lying or telling the truth!

"Have faith, Ten! I’m sure you can win! If worse comes to worse, you can use some of your old techniques."

"They won’t help me much, but they might increase my chances of victory... hai, even though I can’t win, I’ll still give it my best effort. I can do no less."

***

Kuriren raised a hand to ward off a vicious kick from An’ya, only to watch her image fade before his eyes.

Zanzoken again! But where... Kuriren felt a surge of Ki, directly behind him Kuso! Behind me!

He spun, and tried to block the boot that would have taken him in the face, but it faded like the first. Kuriren spun again to face his foe’s Ki. He jumped over a kick that would have taken his legs out from under him. Grinning in triumph, he attacked with a flying dropkick to An’ya’s head, only to discover that her image was already fading.

Where _IS_ she?

Each time, he spun to face nothing but a fading image, Kuriren got more frustrated. His rage at a boiling point, he missed the real attack, which sent him skidding out of the ring.

"Kuriren is out of the ring! Ryuu An’ya is the winner!"

***

"An amazing series of attacks by Ryuu An’ya! She’s definitely a contender for champion, that’s for sure!"

Trunks crossed his arms. "Those idiots really need to expand their vocabulary."

Juuhachi nodded in assent. "Amazing this, Amazing that... it’s like listening to a three year old talk about cartoons."

Trunks grinned.

***

Trunks was caught up in a crushing embrace, much to his, and _most_ of his student’s embarrissment.

"Told you you could win, An’ya."

"Hai, you did. Domo, Trunks-sensei..." An’ya said, releasing Trunks. Dispite the fact that they were far from alone, and her chief rival for Trunks’s affections was present, she kissed him full on the lips. "Domo Arigato."

Juuhachi smiled faintly. So she’s finally gotten her spine back. It’s about time, she’ll make a worthy sparring partner now, for what it’s worth. Juuhachi grinned when she noticed An’ya looking at her. Not wanting to ruin the moment, she flashed a peace sign.

An’ya almost facefaulted. Would have, in fact, but it would have made her look like an idiot in front of Trunks, and that was the last thing she wanted to do. I don’t get it! I kissed him right in front of her, and she doesn’t care! Either she’s very confident, or she’s willing to give up Trunks... and I’m not betting on the latter! That leaves me to wonder what her plan is. Chikushoume...

End of Chapter 13:

The chapter title translates to Strongest Under the Heavens Tournament: First Round: Ryuu An’ya vs. Kuriren

I’ll see you in Chapter 14.

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