Yuka sighed. It was always difficult keeping calm during a
tournament. Sure, she was doing good, but she'd already given away one
of her stronger attacks that she liked to keep hidden. She knew she
had a lot of power to burn, but she didn't want to spiritually exhuast
herself, just in case she faced an opponent who had better control or
more power.
The Variable Geo tournament was over, so she needed to find
something to do. Satomi Yajima, Yuka's best friend, and her little
brother Daisuke were finally happy, given that the prize money alone
was more than they would ever need.
Losing to Satomi had shown Yuka that her skills needed serious
improvement. And besides, it was nice to be out of the Variable Geo
tournament, where she would have to strip if she lost. Of course, she
wasn't the only one from the VG tournament who had entered this
tournament.
Jun Kubota, ex-professional wrestler and fellow VG fighter, had
entered, likely to keep her skills sharp. The dark-skinned woman
pushed her long dark hair back as she readjusted her headband. Jun had
become a good friend as well. Of course, she kept saying things that
made Yuka wonder if she wasn't using tournaments as a means of getting
a date. Jun wasn't as powerful as Yuka when it came to energy attacks,
but she was definitely stronger when it came to physical strength.
"Well, with Copycat Ken out of the way, this tournament should be
a bit easier." Jun said conversationally.
"I don't think so, Jun." came the voice of another of one of
Yuka's friends, Elena Goldsmith, the half-american blonde girl who wore
a red and black bunnysuit as a fighting uniform. Elena's hair was
about shoulder-length, and her bright blue eyes were almost shiny with
glee that she had more than one strong opponent.
Both she and Jun were very powerful, but Elena's strength was a
mixture of powerful ki and strength while Jun focused more on physical
strength. Yuka, on the other hand, focused enough more on her ki
training, and she agreed with Elena's sentiment, "Elena's right. Cerl
Tendo seems like the sort of person we should all look out for. She
hasn't used much ki, either, so we can't really tell what's she's
capable of. After all, she was able to decipher Ken's trick and defeat
him with almost minimal effort."
Jun considered that, "Well, if YOU say so, Yuka. It's not like
it's going to be too important, since Elena's the one who'll probably
be facing her."
"That's right, you're Division 1, aren't you?" Yuka recalled.
"Yeah, but what I'm worried about is Division 4. We don't know
anything about most of the fighters in that division." Elena commented.
"Well, the first fight should be coming up about now." Yuka
noted.
The annoucner turned on his microphone, "Next up, the first round
in Division 4! In the red corner, hailing from Hokkaido, Yuki! And in
the blue corner, hailing from Greece, OH MY KAMI-SAMA!"(1)
The exclamation was well warranted, as the woman standing in the
blue corner was a fairly sexy red-haired woman wearing a living green
snake, red high heels and a smile. From the look of pain and disgust
on Yuki's face, the two knew each other.
Over six hundred guys who were standing behind the redhead
developed powerful nose bleeds as the snake apparently wasn't long
enough to cover her buttocks.
The woman who wasn't attracting all the attention, Yuki, had long
brown hair pulled back with a blue bandanna. She wore a matching blue
cheongsam with an oval-shaped opening showing her cleavage, blue cloth
arm guards and soft white boots.
"Uh, uh, anyway, the naked cha-er, natural red-haired challenger
in the blue corner is named Medusa!" the announcer continued, catching
some of his composure, "And trust me, folks, I'm close enough to tell
that it is INDEED her natural hair color."
Yuki developed an unhealthy eyetwitch, "You just HAD to enter
this tournament, didn't you?"
Medusa sneered, "Of course, I did. I'm here for the prize money,
of course."
Yuki glared daggers at the redhead, "Right. And I bet this just
HAPPENED to be right in your neighborhood, right?"
"Why are you so hostile? Is it because of your defeat at my
hands in the Strip Fighter tournament?" Medusa asked.
"Uh, HELLO? _I_ won that fight." Yuki replied.
"That's what the judges say, but we all know you wanted more
'hair' time." Medusa responded.
Yuki shuddered involuntarily, "Not on your life."
"How about YOURS?!" Medusa asked, rolling her head backwards as
the bell rang.
Yuki saw the telltale signs of Medusa's attack and leapt to the
side as Medusa's hair shot forward and gripped the corner post Yuki had
been standing in front of.
Yuka, meanwhile, blinked, then turned to Jun and Elena, "Have you
guys heard of the Strip Fighter tournament?"
Elena shook her head, but Jun grimaced and nodded.
"What is it?" Elena inquired.
"Shortly after the first VG tournament, a secret society got
together and decided to see how well a more daring tournament would be.
In VG, stripping is the main attraction. In Strip Fighting, it's okay
to KO your opponent by any means necessary, save killing, and there
weren't any 'out of bounds' for the tournament. The only other
enforced rule was that each fighter has to disrobe in order to use one
of their more powerful techniques." Jun explained.
"How do you know about it?" Elena probed.
"I'd told my old manager that I had decided to enter a fighting
tournament. Apparently, they got word and approached me about joining.
The money was pretty good, even if you didn't win, but the whole thing
looked kinda stupid. By comparison, VG's a lot better, even if you
have to do a Level 1. At least in VG, guys can only watch. In Strip
Fighter, they could also approach you about 'after fight
performances'." Jun answered.(2)
Yuka blanched, "Yeah, that does sound pretty bad."
"So, what happened to it?" Elena inquired.
"I don't really know. I heard rumors that it was still going,
but it's difficult to find fighters who'd be willing to sell their
dignity AS WELL AS their bodies." Jun responded.
Back in the ring, Yuki was not about to hold back against Medusa,
who had freed her hair from the corner post. Dashing forward as fast
as she could manage, Yuki summoned her ki in preparation of a quick
finish. Medusa, however, wasn't sitting on her laurels. She gripped
the tail of her snake, infusing it with ki as she pulled it off and
flung it at Yuki like a boomerang. Yuki leapt over the flung snake and
dove at the now naked Medusa like a hawk. The snake hit the ropes and
fell to the mat, then began slithering back to it's mistress.
Medusa simply smiled and rolled her head back again. Yuki
twisted to the side as a spiral of red hair struck at the spot she had
been just seconds ago. Medusa's snake had reached Medusa and was
climbing up her leg in a fashion that made everyone shudder in disgust.
"ICE WAVE!" Yuki cried, charging both her hands with cold ki as
she put her hands together, palms flat, and made a chopping motion
towards Medusa. Yuki separated her hands when they came parallel with
the ground.
Medusa's eyes widened in panic as a wave of freezing energy
flowed along the mat towards her. She tried to jump out of the way,
but she was too slow with her snake still on her left leg. Medusa
clasped her arms over her breasts and knelt down to conserve her body
temperature as her teeth chattered relentlessly.
"Th-th-that w-w-w-w-wasn-n-n-n't v-v-v-very n-n-n-n-ice." Medusa
told Yuki.
"Then allow me to warm you up." Yuki responded, as she approached
Medusa and engulfed her right hand in hot ki, "RISING DRAGON FIST!"
The combination of hot ki and a solid uppercut sent Medusa out of
the ring and into dream land. The medics on hand quickly draped a
blanket over the unconscious girl before hauling her out of the arena,
much to the booing of quite a few people.
Yuki grumbled to herself while she exited the ring. The last
thing she wanted to be reminded of was the Strip Fighter tournament.
Especially since she was currently banned from her clan due to the
shame inflicted by that entire tournament. Sure, it was called
'starting a new branch', but essentially, it was the same as being
kicked out. But being a ninja was like being in the mafia, one was
never fully out until they were deceased.(4)
Cerl considered Yuki as the kunoichi returned to the locker room
to await the next round. There were a fair number of fighters who
could use their ki, meaning that the next rounds were going to get more
and more difficult. They would have anyway, but neither she nor Ranma
were yet up to the level necessary for ki extension techniques, like
Yuki's Ice Wave or Yuka's Scream Devil Bullet.
Meanwhile, Cologne was contemplating the situation herself, but
her focus was not on the tournament's participants, but rather the
tournament overall. The tournament's contestants had been reduced from
thirty-two to sixteen and yet, Cologne hadn't sensed anything
malevolent in the air. However, Ihadurca, were she truly behind the
tournament, would likely wait before trying to make an appearance. If
anything, she would appear near the final match.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAILLLL ILPALAZZO!" Excel cried.
"It's 'Xenon', not Ilpalazzo." Lord Xenon gently reminded her,
holding back the urge to fire a brain reintegrating beam at Excel,
which was technically worse than a disintegrating beam as it would
cause Excel's brain to fuse until it was a milk ball-sized walnut.
"FORGIVE ME, LORD XENON! I AM NOT WORTHY! I AM NOT WORTHY!"
Excel bawled, bowing rapidly.
"Calm down, Excel." Lord Xenon commanded, the words causing Excel
to fall silently to the floor, where she then return to her feet, in a
much calmer state.
"You are indeed worthy as you performed your job admirably. I
was able to collect the energy to pay for the base, but you managed
enough to begin the massive upgrades to our forces." Lord Xenon told
her.
Excel's eyes were wide, "Wha-what did you say?"
"You did good." Lord Xenon reiterated his sentence in a
simplified manner.
Excel's eyes fluttered happily as her mind trailed off into an
extravagant fantasy. Lord Xenon could only stare for the first few
minutes, but when she began feeling herself up, he was forced to speak
up, "That's enough, Excel..."
He quietly added, "for now."
Excel's mind and focus snapped back to reality. Then, as she
realized that she was in a fanfic and not reality, her focus returned
to the story.
"However, even with this victory firmly in hand, we must continue
moving forward or else the journey to world domination will be an
infinite one." Lord Xenon explained.
Excel nodded, her motivation magnified by a thousand percent at
Lord Xenon's fancy words.
"Therefore, I want you to begin DISCREETLY searching for new
personnel, as we must first build a strong force with which to continue
our march towards the future." Lord Xenon told her.
"Well, actually, I do have a few friends that might be
interested..." Excel began.
"Excellent. Bring them here and we'll see if they wish to join
our secret para-military organization of ACROSS." Lord Xenon commanded,
"And in the meantime, I too shall seek out new personnel. Hmmm, is
tonight good for you?"
"Any night is good for me..." Excel said, blushing delicately.
"I meant for the next meeting, where we'll bring new
candidates?" Lord Xenon explained.
"Oh, of course." Excel answered.
[RATS!] Excel thought.

Cerl looked at the lineup. The progression had shown very clear
paths to victory. Jun, Elena, Yuka, Yuki, Ranma, herself and two other
fighters, a man named Orion and a girl named Alleana, had made it to
the semi-finals. She was preparing herself for her fight against
Elena, who was obviously her next opponent, when the announcer stepped
into the ring, "May I have your attention, please?"
Cerl wondered what was going on when the announcer answered her
question for her, "The semi-finals will begin tomorrow at noon. Semi-
finalists, please report to locker room 1."
Cerl frowned as the crowd booed the decision to delay the
tournament an entire day. What did they have in store? She walked
with Ranma back to the locker room he had changed in. Inside were the
other six of the semi-finalists and the announcer, plus one of the
judges, who had a clipboard and a small cardboard box that had a
circular hole in the top.
"Is everyone here?" the announcer asked, glancing around, before
continuing, "Great. Now, I'm sure you're wondering why we're gathered
here and I'll answer that right now. The sponsors of the tournament
have asked us to change how the semi-finals work in order to spice up
the competition a bit. So, we're going to call you up one by one to
pick a number from the box."
There was some grumbling, but everyone agreed.
"First up, can we get Alleana?" the announcer inquired.
The process of number selection went rather fast. Orion was 8,
Elena was 7, Yuka was 6, Alleana was 5, Cerl was 4, Ranma was 3, Jun
was 2, and Yuki was 1.
"All right. You have until tomorrow to rest up before the semi-
finals begin. Please be here at least one hour beforehand so that we
can be certain that all of you are present. And good luck to each and
every one of you." the announcer declared.

That night was a rather busy one for ACROSS. Excel had invited
four friends to meet Lord Xenon while Lord Xenon had chosen another two
members. And yet, there were two other people there, confusing Excel.
The meeting felt more like a welcoming party. There was a table
on one side of the room covered in snack items on silver platters as
well as a soda fountain with a disposable cup dispenser on it's right
side.
Currently visiting the cheese and crackers was Excel's best
friend, the dark blue-haired and incredibly pale Hyatt Ayasugi, her
long wavy hair and light brown eyes made her seem exotic, considering
that most of the other new members were from Japan and thus, had fairly
straight hair. She was wearing her red sweater and black jeans.
Next to her was a red-haired red-eyed woman that Lord Xenon had
chosen, named Misaki Matsuya, though the woman preferred being called
'Matsuya'. Her long hair was tied back into a fountaining ponytail and
her dark purple business attire gave her an extra serious look.
Panting behind Matsuya was Excel's not-a-friend-at-all-but-an-
annoying-dork-who-always-tagged-along Iwata Norikuni. His spiky brown
hair and vacant brown eyes spoke even to Excel of the levels of
stupidity that he possessed. He'd 'fallen in love' with both Matsuya
and the tallest of the strangers that Excel didn't know. He wore an
orange t-shirt and blue jeans.
Sumiyoshi Daimaru was the strong silent type. Actually, he was
silent because he was a mute telepath, but his telepathic ability was
limited to 'speaking' to people and not actually reading their minds
(meaning that he was a broadcast-only telepath). He was rather husky
with short but neat-looking dark hair and he wore thick glasses that
prevented most people from sending his eyes at all. He wore his usual
green t-shirt and grey-blue pants.
Toru Watanabe was Excel's best male friend (Sumiyoshi being a
close second and Iwata failing to register as anything but an annoying
tack on). He had very tan skin because he was from the country, and he
had dark hair, but his hair was parted down the middle. Unlike most
people who simply looked dorky with said hair style, the uneven ends
made Toru look rather cool instead.(5) He wore a white unbutton shirt
over a blue t-shirt and tan slacks. His dark eyes swept the room, and
though he thought it was a waste of time, he wasn't about to leave.
After all, the snacks were free and they were the most substantial
things he'd eaten since he, Sumiyoshi and Iwata had been laid off from
their previous part-time jobs.
The last guy that Excel saw was Shioji Gojo. He wore glasses,
but his were very thin. He wore a white lab coat over a business suit
and he had short dark hair with a lesser version of the spikeyness that
Iwata's hair possessed.
The two people that Excel didn't know were two women. The first
was a tall dark-puprle haired woman who wore a white double-breasted
business suit similar to Matsuya's, but more formal. She wore a
headband that kept her short hair out of her dark maroon eyes.
The second girl was a head shorter than the first. She had the
same eyes as the first woman, but she wore a black vest over a white
button shirt with a white skirt. On her hands were black gloves and
short but adorable black slipper-like boots were on her feet. Her hair
was the most unusual part of her. Directly over her head was pink hair
that was almost like a flattened cap with purple hair fanning out from
behind her ears similar to a laureate.(6)
Lord Xenon stood up from his seat and cleared his throat loudly,
bringing everyone's attention to him. He gestured and nine folding
metal chairs levitated from a far corner to arrange themselves in front
of him. He motioned his guests and Excel to sit. Shioji and the two
unknown women sat down to Lord Xenon's right.
Once they were seated, he spoke, "It's so nice of you all to come
here, and on such short notice. You may or may not know, depending on
what Excel has told you or what you've found out independently, but we
are the ideological para-militaristic secret organization ACROSS. We
are currently seeking world domination, but for now, we're working on
building up our personnel and power. I am Lord Xenon, leader of the
ACROSS. Excel is my second in command... for now."
Watanabe raised his hand and Lord Xenon nodded. Watanabe spoke
up, "Is this for real?"
"Yes. I know the idea of joining a secret organization,
especially in this day and age, seems preposterous. However, we are
more than a mere terrorist organization or any such nonsense." Lord
Xenon said, before walking down and handing Toru a metal bar, "Try to
bend this. Pass it around when you're ready to give up."
Toru tried with all his might to bend the bar, but it wouldn't
budge. Frustrated, he passed it Matsuya, who also tried. Matsuya
handed it to Excel, who tried and, just like Toru and Matsuya, also
failed. However, instead of allowing her to pass it on, Lord Xenon
spoke up, "Hold on to it, Excel."
Excel blinked in confusion as Lord Xenon placed a hand on her
shoulder. Xenon's hand glowed with a bluish aura briefly, then as he
removed his hand, Xenon told her, "Try bending it again."
Excel bent the bar easily, and though the sound of bending metal
was not a very pleasant one, everyone was more in awe of the sudden
display of strength.
"I bet it's a trick bar." Toru commented.
Excel passed the bar to him and he tried to unbend it, but just
like his attempt to bend it, he failed miserably. Xenon smiled and
placed his hand on Toru's shoulder. His hand flared even more briefly
than it had with Excel.
"Try bending it now." Xenon told him, taking his hand off Toru's
shoulder.
Watanabe's eyes went wide as he bent the bar as easily as he
could bend a soggy ramen noodle.
"Though the effect will fade in a day for you, Watanabe, that is
just a very small taste of the power that I can grant you and everyone
else, should any of you decide to join ACROSS. Even better, you can
consciously shut off the power at any time and no, your unconscious and
subconscious cannot activate it unless you are in actual danger." Xenon
explained.
"Amazing..." Matsuya commented.
"However, there is one small problem." Lord Xenon announced,
"Since we will not be making very much money at this, you all will
still need to find work if you wish to continue living in society.
Otherwise, we now have personal quarters down here that you can live
in."
Shioji arched an eyebrow, reminding Lord Xenon of his presense.
"Oh yes, and this is our new resident mad scientist, Professor
Shioji Gojo. He is the creator of our two android compatriots, uh..."
Lord Xenon faltered, then turned to Shioji, "By the way, you never told
me their names."
"Ropponmatsu." Shioji answered.
"And the other one?" Lord Xenon inquired.
"Ropponmatsu." Shioji repeated.
Lord Xenon sighed, recalling that Shioji was called a MAD
scientist for a reason (and it wasn't because he was angry), then
pointed at the taller of the two androids, "You're Roppon," then to the
smaller, "And you're Matsu."
The two androids nodded.
"Anyway, Roppon and Matsu will be assisting you in the field.
Shioji will be designing weapons and such for us." Lord Xenon
explained.
"Pleased to meet you." Shioji spoke up.
"Actually, Professor, I thought the two androids would look
similar. Why does one look like she's not even out of junior high?"
Lord Xenon inquired.
"A matter of taste." Shioji answered, laughing light-heartedly,
despite the disgusted expressions on the faces of the other humans in
the room.
"ANYways," Xenon declared, thinking quickly to change the subject
from the professor's 'tastes' in women, and directing his attention to
the two androids, "why don't you two show us exactly how good your
creator's work is with a small display of skill? Anything that you
think will impress us will be fine."
Roppon and Matsu both rolled forward, grabbing their chairs out
from beneath them as they moved and flinging said chairs into the air.
Roppon leapt up after hers and cut her chair to pieces with a
vibroblade that extended from the back of her hand, while Matsu fired
lasers from her eyes to slice her chair to pieces, then leapt after it.
In a flurry of motion, both androids landed, holding the remains of
their chairs, which were fashioned into rough, but identifiable,
sculptures of themselves.
"........ that's... great...." Xenon said, slowly applauding. As
if their brains had been kick started by Xenon's clapping, everyone
save Shioji, joined in on the applause.

=======================================================================

(1) Kami-sama means "God". Watch the poseurdom of the author as he
adds other crappy Japanglish to his story and pass it off as
educational!
(2) Level 1 is from the VG anime. Only a few of the VG video games
show the actual stripping (Super VG for instance lacked it entirely),
so the anime mocked up a system for how far a girl had to go if she
lost. I'm a bit hazy on the details, but I think Level 1 is full
masturbatory goodness (or at least, that's what the video implies)
while a Level 5 is probably just walking away from the fight. Yuka
states that Jun didn't need to strip naked at Level 4, so that's the
impression that I get. Level 4 probably demands the fighter to strip
down to underwear or something.(3)
(3) Aren't ya glad I'm a pervert who has too much time on his hands?
(4) And sometimes, not even then.
(5) Gee, can you tell which of the three guys that the author favors?
(6) Her hair alwaya seema incomplete to me. So, I've altered it to
make it seem more 'right'. As a laureate is that wreath-thingy that
greek gods, nobility and merchants always wear.

"I don't hate Anno anymore. If you look at it, there were only
two real ways to end Evangelion. The first was to make everything come
out all right, but the series was already too dark to allow such a lame
/ cheesy ending. The second was what happened in the two movies and
everyone hated that. So, given those options, the ending for
Evangelion that Anno originally provided was probably the best one
could hope for." - A-kun

"If I die before I wake... then I guess someone gets an extra
donut at breakfast, don't they?" - Dennis Miller, HBO Comedy Special
Comedy Central

Chapter 8, incomplete.

Stay tuned!

Next chapter:
The next few rounds of the tournament unfold!
Cologne discovers the truth behind the tournament!
Evil Inc.'s first plot unraveled!
And Cerl versus Ranma!