Retribution

Ikunara vs Goku

Dark days had passed, and dark days will inevitably come, but for the time being, things were peaceful. A real sense of safety had been established amongst everyone; it was a content time of calmness.

“The first two unknown challengers have successfully defeated their well-established and experienced opponents; can Ikunara make it a third victory for the unknowns? He’ll have his work cut out for him though, because he faces this year’s favourite: Goku!” said the announcer, doing his routine introduction.

The two competitors took the now familiar walk down the aisle, before positioning themselves in their preferred stance. Goku’s red GI stood out like a light in the gloom, whereas by contrast, Ikunara’s dark trousers and vest blended in as if he were a part of this dim, sinister backdrop, like a missing jigsaw piece being returned to its puzzle of origin.

“Ikunara” Hanashi said, sitting in the backstage area, watching the prelude to the fight.

“Yeah, easily” Taisho agreed. “Hey, that Goku guy looks familiar doesn’t he?”

“No” Hanashi replied bluntly, with an underlying tone of bitterness.

“Heh, I think you remember him just as well as me…probably better in fact.” Taisho began interrogatingly. “After all, it was you who bought about his death. It was you who finished him for good. It’s entirely your fault that he’s not with us today.”

“Shut up!” Hanashi yelled at Taisho’s face, before pushing him aggressively, sending him staggering back against the wall. “You don’t know anything about that day!” He pulled his fist back to strike, but the idea had come to his heckler before him. Taisho had buried his fist deep into the gut of Hanashi, causing him to bend over in overwhelming agony.

“We’ll finish this later,” Taisho began arrogantly, walking off with a cruel smirk spreading across his face, leaving Hanashi on one knee desperately gasping for breath. He paused at the doorway and said, finishing just as arrogantly as he had began, “assuming you’ll be able to get up by then”.

Back in the ring, the two competitors were ready to begin, inching slowly closer to one another, prepared to spring an attack. The sound of a foreboding thunder clap was followed by a bombardment of rain, drenching the two fighters.

The cold rain dripped rapidly down Ikunara’s balding head, some of it going on to drift down the back of his neck, sending a shrill chill down his back and causing him to shiver. Goku responded by launching himself with amazing speed, like an arrow cutting through the downpour, creating a sort of vacuum with the rain swirling momentarily before resuming its course to the ground. Striking with the viciousness of wild animal, Goku swung ferociously at Ikunara’s face, missing narrowly. A flurry of punches and blocks ensured, with Goku always on the offensive.

“Heh, you’re pretty good!” Goku exclaimed excitedly, continuing his onslaught, driving his opponent gradually towards the edge of the ring.

“You’re not bad…either!” Ikunara shouted, sweeping Goku’s legs from under him and following it through with an axe kick onto the floored fighter’s chest. Recoiling with pain, Goku managed to roll out of the way of a second attack, hopping backwards to gain some distance as he tried to regain his composure.

“Damn, he’s not just pretty good, he’s really good,” Goku said to himself, wincing from the throbbing agony in his chest. “But I’m better!” He pushed hard off the floor creating a small hole on the tiled surface, speeding at Ikunara. He pulled his fist back to strike as he closed in on his dogged opponent. Ikunara swung powerfully and accurately at Goku’s head, but for some reason it went right through it, as if he hit only air. Puzzled, he gazed at the blurred image momentarily, before receiving a sturdy kick to his lower back, sending him skimming across the ring.

“What the..?” Ikunara asked in a daze as he climbed back up to his feet having come to a halt a couple of feet from the edge of the ring.

“It’s called zanzoken,” Goku replied helpfully. “The user leaves an after-image of themselves due to moving so fast.”

“Cheap tricks!” Ikunara shouted furiously. He managed to calm himself down quickly though, breathing deeply, and blocking out all angry thoughts. “Ok, that’s the warm up done. Now onto the real thing!”

“Agreed,” Goku confirmed.

Ikunara crossed his arms over his chest, roaring loudly, a dark blue aura beginning to surround him, engulfing his whole body. His back arched and he let out a wild scream, as the flame-like aura flickered and danced about frenziedly, turning green, then red, then black, and then returning to blue. At length it began to calm, getting smaller and smaller until it had been compressed to a glowing cover radiating serenely off the fighter.

“Wow! Impressive! That’s going to be hard to match!” Goku said, a smile lighting up his face at the prospect of a real challenge. Many of the Earth’s inhabitants had the ability of sensing other’s power levels, and Goku was one who possessed such a skill. Ikunara however, was comparatively clueless as to the relative power of anyone else at the tournament, relying instead on his ego insisting that they would be weaker than he.

Spreading his legs and clenching his fists, Goku began to give a droning humming, rising quickly into a shout, and then elevating once more into a roar. He spread his arms out to the side, a pure white energy quickly enveloping him, swirling around him like the Milky Way. It grew larger, and its shape adopted that of a flame, one that had surrounded him in the name of hope and justice before now, but presently stood for his sheer competitiveness.

The enormous amount of energy being released by the two fighters caused a reaction unfamiliar to most of the audience. Small chips of stone were ripped out of the ring floor and were levitating at about eye-level, circling the two fighters slowly like a hawk.

In terms of confidence, neither fighter could be faulted, as they both had the self-belief and determination necessary to never give-up and to always fight full of spirit.

Goku was firmly positioned in a defensive stance, his guard seemingly impenetrable. Ikunara’s stance, however, was an antithesis to Goku’s. He stood in no particular pose, simply choosing to let his hands hang limply at his sides, giving a crude half-smile at his confused opponent.

“Aren’t you going to fight any more?” Goku inquired, surprised at his opponent’s apparent lack of fighting spirit.

“Heh, ignorance isn’t always bliss my friend,” Ikunara replied, lifting one arm up, and pointing it towards Goku with an outstretched palm. “Indeed, it is often the opposite. Ignorance truly is an inferior fault. It is something to be ashamed of, and to strive to erase. Someone like you has no idea why this tournament is so important; what sets it apart from the past ones. There is someone here of unspeakable power, matched only by their resolve and sway towards their chosen alignment. He is a God among men…”

“What? Chosen alignment? Is he good? Bad?” asked Goku, an underlying hint of desperation in his voice.

Ikunara replied by widening his smile, beginning to gather energy in his palm. Tiny balls of luminous blue energy began to be pulled towards his hand from within a small diameter of its immediate area, forming a single, increasingly bigger ball of raw power.

“Oh, I get it, I’m meant to be scared,” Goku said, annoyance hindering his usual calm tone. “I’ve seen people do that before you know; I can do it in fact, and it’s not going to beat me, sorry.” He held his arms across his chest in an ‘x’, and braced himself for the impact, steadying his legs to ensure that they were securely planted into the ground. “Heh, still going to try it anyway? Give it your best shot.”

“I will,” Ikunara replied. Letting out a small grunt of effort, he forcefully shot the orb on a collision course towards Goku’s general area. It shot speedily towards the reigning champion, but fell just short. Goku let out a brief, somewhat mocking laugh at the poor effort. In all of his training he’d never missed a stationary target from point blank range with a KI blast, and for that reason he undermined Ikunara’s strength in his estimations. It was to prove too hasty a judgement though.

The blast hit the floor about a foot away from where Goku stood; close enough for the fighter to feel the warm radiation of it without suffering any damage. Upon impact a cloud of dust and rubble flew sharply into the air creating a cloud that obscured Goku’s sight.

A voice laughed proudly from beyond the cloud, seemingly moving about rapidly. His plan had gone exactly according to plan; he’d left his opponent in a confused state, vulnerable to an attack.

Shards of stone grazed past Goku’s face, as his eyes became blurred from the dust. Keeping his composure he shut his eyes, and carefully sensed his opponent’s whereabouts, just in time to duck an incoming punch. Ikunara had distinguished a dark silhouette in the haze and had struck out at it.

“What?!” said Ikunara disbelievingly. Assuming the evasion to be pure fluke, he attempted a back kick on the outline of his opponent, with it once again being dodged with relative ease. “How?”

Like a bullet Goku sped behind Ikunara, and delivered an axe handle smash to the back of his head, knocking him down to one knee. In a flash he’d exploited his advantage sending a fierce knee to the exact same spot, leaving his opponent lying face-down on the floor, completely motionless.

The announcer watched on, barely daring to interrupt the match with his commentary for fear of ruining the dramatic tension going on around the arena.

“Ikunara is down,” began the announcer quietly, a drop of sweat formulating on the side of his brow. “After those two hugely powerful blows I think he’s been knocked completely unconscious.”

Just as the count began however, Ikunara began to move, flinching slightly before, at length, he picked himself up off the floor and back onto his feet. By the time he was standing the count had reached 7, and the crowd rewarded his fortitude through respectful applause.

“That stung,” said Ikunara, rubbing the back of his head with a grimace on his face.

“Heh, sorry about that,” Goku chirped.

“Don’t worry, in fact, allow me to repay the favour!” Ikunara burst forward and swung wildly at Goku, only missing thanks to a skilful parry by the defending champion. Aggravated, Ikunara attempted another blow which was blocked, followed by another, and another, all sharing the same fate.

Goku retaliated, sending a flurry of attacks right back at his worthy opponent, unable to connect with a single one.

The two fighters engaged in an even battle for a while, exchanging a flurry of kicks and punches, attacking and counter-attacking with no result. After about 20 seconds of completely even, inseparable combat, Ikunara was the one who managed to land a decisive strike, knocking Goku off balance through a commanding kick to the side of his shins. As Goku staggered, Ikunara caught him with an elbow to the cheek, sending him sprawling uncontrollably across the ring.

“It’s over,” Ikunara stated confidently, striding over to his downed opponent.

Goku lay on the floor helplessly, a huge gash covering his cheek from the previous blow, groaning painfully. One of his eyes was half shut, with the other at a squint as pain began to overwhelm him. His thoughts were encumbered by his stinging cheek, the throbbing agony almost forcing him to succumb to it. Almost.

Ikunara had made perfect contact from his attack; the accuracy was unfaultable. The power of his shot was matched only by its aggressiveness.

The rain fell heavier still, making the ring slippery. Ikunara hovered ominously above Goku, a cold look of resolve in his eyes. Rotating his hip, Ikunara aimed to deliver a thunderous kick at the floored competitor to eliminate him from the tournament.

A flash of lightning lit up the dreary sky with a bright glimmer of optimism. It roused Goku from his preoccupation of pain and dragged him back to the critical situation at hand.

An aura as bright as the Sun exploded around Goku creating a vortex of huge power as his eyes opened as swiftly as the wind. With God-like speed he managed to catch Ikunara’s ankle, and used the momentum of the kick to mightily throw him out of the ring, causing him to skid across the freshly cut grass, ploughing the ground with his face.

The aura around Goku completely dispersed as rapidly as it had come about, and a smile crept across his bruised face.

“Goku has won! What a manoeuvre! He used the power of Ikunara’s own kick against him to throw him out of the ring!” boomed the announcer excitedly as his personal favourite won. Attempting to avoid too much bias, he decided not to proceed any further, leaving it instead to the image inside the ring.

Goku clambered up to his feet and beamed a huge grin towards his friends in the crowd, and a small wave at his son, Gohan.

The outside of the ring was a different story however, with Ikunara slamming his fists down against the ground, shouting angrily, frustrated at losing so carelessly. He was breathing very heavily, his face crimson red with rage.

“Hey,” started Goku, having floated down behind his defeated opponent. “That was a great match, perhaps we can do it again some time?” There was no answer. “I was lucky to win, you almost had me there.”

“Shut up,” said Ikunara quietly.

“What?”

“I said shut up! You may have disgraced me today, but my pride shall have it’s revenge! I will gain retribution on you, and defeat you next time we meet!” boomed Ikunara.

“Heh, well, any time! I can’t wait. Outside a ring next time though, eh? The fight should end properly rather than from something like a ringout.”

“It will end properly. It will end with your death! You’ve damaged my pride irreparably, and for that I will destroy you!”

“Well, hey, no need to get so angry” said Goku, annoyed at his opponents lack of sportsmanship.

“Shut up!” Ikunara shouted, shaking as rage pumped through his body, causing his blood to boil. He brushed past Goku, purposely knocking him out the way with his shoulder.

Goku stood outside the ring, a serious, puzzled look on his face. After short consideration he broke out into a smile and scratched the back of his head goofily. “Man, some people are bad losers!”