[Semifinals: Basna versus Ericnox]

[Rensou Hiruen]

To the West, Ericnox stood, fresh off his victory over a child whom had been returned to the tournament through the graces of the crowd.

To the East, Basna, the warrior from the planet Namek, awaited the introductions of the announcer before he set himself to face the winged warrior.

The announcer raised his hand, hushing the crowd and issuing a single word. . .

"FIGHT! ! !"

And in a flash, he exited the ring as quickly as he could. . .he had seen what these two were capable of.

[The silvery flat circle has decided it will be Basna who posts first.]

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And there he was, standing at the east of the ring like the announcer had stated, feeling so comfortable in the spot light of the stage and having the crowd cheer the learnt name of Basna. He was fresh out of the oven and ready for more action, a big grin on his face to confirm such a positive mood. As customary for a warrior Basna studied his opponent and, of course, the first thing he did was marvel over the bright white wings that decorated his persona; foreshadowing the possibility of an aerial battle. –At least until Basna decided to go giant and smack him across the ring like a rattle ball.

Ericnox was definitely a warrior and Basna could see it with the armor and clothing he wore. In truth, he’d think he was fighting an angel if he didn’t know any better. But he didn’t have the time nor the interest to contemplate over the man’s origins and race. He had already analyzed his appearance and possible feats, but now it was time to assess his fighting ability with a generic ice breaker. Basna had used this to start all of his fights until now and he used it again. He clenched his fist and thrust it forward as his arm stretches all-the-way to the other end of the ring, threatening to pounce on the winged man.

If the announcer hadn’t jumped off of the stage when he did, he would’ve gotten caught by Basna’s reckless attack without warning, missing the harbinger by a hair as he thoroughly escaped injury. Basna smirked.

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"A Namekian? What is that?" Eric asked after landing in the area when he was called.

Unlike many of the races, his people had been unwilling to explore space so he was rather unversed in the people of the universe. He disliked this very much, but he would roll the dice and learn on the job. No sooner had the announcer vanished than Eric saw the fist coming at him, being extended of all things!

"Son of a --!" Eric cried out, dropping quickly and barely missing the fist heading towards him. He was fast, very fast, and Eric could tell this wasn't going to be easy in the slightest. His eyes narrowed for a moment, pushing off the tiles and keeping close to them as he flew at his foe, Tsuken wasn't expected to win his fight it seemed.

Half way to the Namekian, Ericnox focused his energy from within. Tsuken had been a tough foe, a very dangerous one who battered him around in their first encounter, and even now, he knew he would need this. His wings shimmered, once more taking the color of gold into them as his ki built within him. The Golden Heart seemed to be his saving grace on this world, a massive power increase for nearly nothing, where these people needed something to aid them, perhaps this... Green Namekian man was like them?

His attack would be direct, depending on how quickly the arms could recall, Eric was aiming to knock his foe into the air with a powerful uppercut, hopefully the speed and power increase of his Golden Heart would offer him that advantage.

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Ericnox was quick on his feet. Basna was glad to see this fight wasn’t going to be as easy as he thought. He never liked winning without a challenge. His foe was also quick to unleash some kind of transformation which was swift and on the go while Basna’s transformation required more time and concentration, leaving him no time to power up and appropriately prepare for the incoming attack. Ericnox’s wing’s and eyes glowed a golden shade, which made him look even more angelic than before.

However, his attack wouldn’t be a direct hit as Basna’s fist came as fast as it goes. One thrust was as fast as any other punch, lasting about a whole second to come and go as he retracted his elongated arm and repositioned his palms to cushion the impact of the winged warrior’s upper-cut; while on the other end, regardless of how fast Ericnox was moving, his trajectory probably lasted about 3 or more seconds to dodge his thrust, react, and run all the way from one end of the ring to Basna.

He grit his teeth and cringed under the powerful force he had just held with his bare arms and thwarted him into the sky, where he would promptly catch himself airborne with his telepathic abilities. His hands were blue and left a very unpleasant burning sensation. He glared.

“You’ll have to try harder than that…” Basna said, replicating the exact words he had told Brandon on their previous fight. Sadly, he would not be able to stand up to his enemy in this form, so it wasn’t a surprise to witness his limbs expanding so early in the fight. But, since Basna hated his transformation so, he only raised enough to match his opponent’s rivaling aura. Basna grew only to about four times his normal size, probably twice Ericnox’s height, as he did not want this to turn into another giant and the ant battle –although, this time the ant had wings.

Basna descended back onto the tiled floors, which had been reconstructed prior to his destruction. The authorities had warned him not to destroy their property again, but Basna couldn’t help it. Something was prone to get destroyed when they were dealing with so little space and an epic battle. He grined and soon lunged forward to antagonize his adversary. Upon close-range, Basna would break out into a barrage of kicks and punches to try and overwhelm his opponent as they gradually fought closer and closer to the edge of the ring.

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The Namekian had parried the strike with surprising ease. When he still went into the air, Eric felt he had the advantage... At least until he started to grow much larger. Eric's heart almost dropped, at first, but soon he felt alive.

"Try harder? I can do that..." He says, watching his foe land slowly upon the recently repaired tiles, he inhaled slowly.

His was foe was easily four times Eric's own height now, powerful as well. He wasn't sure how close they would be in terms of power, but if his size was any hint, this being was stronger, and could grow stronger if he could push past any size barriers his race might have.

Quickly, he was on the defensive once more, this Namekian still having massive speed despite everything happening to his body to cause such an increase. The flurry of kicks and punches caught Eric almost off guard, his eyes widening at the sheer speed of them and doing his best to dodge and parry them.

Several strikes still made it past the defense he had, connecting with his armor and causing him to stagger back. One the ground Eric was slow, and this man was going to beat him to a pulp if this kept up. Eric preformed the one defensive move he had on the ground, a quick jump back and then a leap upwards, into the air as his wings opening wide to catch him as he got a small distance above. Maybe he would take the bait, maybe Eric would have to force his hand.

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It was difficult fighting a fighter significantly smaller than himself, which was one of the many reasons why Basna disliked his transformation. He had to bend lower and reach farther to properly hit Ericnox, but the size of his fists and feet helped fill that disadvantage with its size at it would require his opponent to move more than normal just to dodge it; a simple side step wouldn’t cut it anymore. Only if he could have all the powers of his Great Namek transformation while keeping his size compact and nice.

Suddenly, the winged warrior withdrew back and away from his assault, promptly flying towards the sky. Basna knew Ericnox probably had the advantage in the air, and it might not be too hard to reach up with his oversized hand and rip off his wings or just slam him back onto the ground, but he also thought it would be easier for himself to hit him in the air without having to do all the extra bending and looking down since he could just adjust his height. By flying lower, he’d be eye to eye to his adversary.

All of this came without mentioning Basna actually wanted to see what his opponent could do; everything added up to win and win in this situation since he was so sure that he couldn’t lose to this man. Finally, with a smirk, he took the bait and rushed to the skies and continue his barrage of attacks that, with comfort, were now more precise, fast and threatening with power packed in every punch and kick he thrust his way.

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When the Great Namekian took the bait, Eric smiled. The attacks the quickly followed he rolled more, using the greater range of his now airborn abilities. While Basna was much larger than he was, many of the shock troopers on his homeworld had been large men as well, so it was simply an adjustment to things. He danced in the sky as well as he could, one strike already damaging the weakened armor, breaking off a bit of the shoulder armor and sending it crashing down to the arena below. It was time.

He knew it would be a fraction of a moment before the man was upon him, so he did something he figured would atleast get him to think twice before rushing headlong. Flapping his wings once to add a bit of space between them, he pulled back his hands, ki forming quickly as he let out one of his main attacks, Falling Stars, his rapid fire ki attack.

Either the Namekian would dodge it, take it head on, or do something to counter it, Ericnox knew no matter what, he was probably going to be well outclassed by this man, but he would make him earn if nothing else. When he tossed out the final part of the Falling Stars, he pushed higher into the air. If Basna rushed him again, he would do the second of his main air based attacks, if he got the chance.

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And so the fight had taking flight like he had initially anticipated. So far, he had his foe dancing around his arms as he avoided his thrusts. Ericnox was noticeably faster in the air, as expected, but Basna hadn’t targeted his wings just yet. No, he wanted this to keep on going for a little bit longer. He was having fun, until suddenly; his opponent retreated back with the swing of his golden wings. Basna was getting restless from his adversary running away so much when all he wanted was a good hand to hand combat.

Despite his wishes though, the winged man had ascended higher into the air, evading Basna’s desperate attempt to drag him back into close range with the flick of his flexible arms, which missed by a hair. He glared and snarled in disdain. “Come and fight me like a man!” he exclaimed, sortly after getting assaulted by an array of energy blasts from above. Basna groaned and braced himself, shielding himself from the barrage of blasts with his arms crossed in front of him as an energy barrier formed around him for fortification.

The plan was going smoothly for the duration of the first few encounters, but his shield cracked and soon exploded after the last few, sending him steaming back and down to the ground. Basna caught himself in the air long before he was even close to falling though. This was just the first attack his opponent had landed and Basna had more energy ready to be burned to the bone by his reckless fighting. He grinned defiantly at the man as he continued to rise into the sky and followed suit behind him, itching to ram his fist into his face.

Basna launched a few energy blasts of his own as he ascended to both slow down Ericnox and distract him.

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Basna had fallen back a little bit, that energy barrier was going to be a lot of trouble. And this Namekian was powerful as it stood. When he got a bit of distance from the explosion of the energy barrier, it was time to try it. Eric was rolling the dice with this attack, and if he missed, he could be out from simply not being able to aim it... However this Namekian was large and offered a lot of surface area.

If Rensou or Tsuken was in the crowd, they would reconize the start of this move. Eric pulled into a quick, tight loop, his eyes looking over the crowd in the time of the loop. The energy waves shot by Basna wasn't ignored, hitting Eric and almost stopping him, he completed the loop, he wasn't going to stop now. The smoke burst off him, his armor broken badly and would need to be replaced.

"Here goes..." Eric whispers, a grin on his face as he angles himself. The goal, slam into Basna with his Comet Crash ability. His eyes locked on Basna and he shifted everything he had into his speed, pouting everything he had as he twisted into an Aileron roll, heading towards Basna with all the speed his body could handle.

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Basna continued to fly towards Ericnox at high speeds while contemplating what the man was up to with the loops. Perhaps he was panicking or trying to confuse him somehow. Maybe it was time to end the fight if the man had become so mentally ill? He thought. But he was caught completely off guard when the man suddenly charged down even faster than what Basna was going. He jerked to a stop, but didn’t have time to properly react as the winged man was within close-range within only milliseconds.

Basna barely managed to cross his arms over in defense as Ericnox made impact and took the namekian down with him at unfaltering speeds. Basna gasped and cringed under the intense pain. His bones could’ve cracked if it were just a bit stronger –or if he were to experience a second one of those attacks. They were falling fast and towards out-of-bounds. Basna panicked, he couldn’t let this guy beat him! He glared at the man and squint his eyes, roaring as he tried to will Ericnox to stop with all his force.

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"JUST GO DOWN!" Ericnox yelled, his wings opening up as he pulled back from Basna, his eyes wide.

The Namekian was denser than he expected, and his hand was broken and several bones in his arm had been cracked from the strike. He wasn't in the base shape for what he was about to do, but it was either now or never. Still at nearly point blank range, Eric started to pour his energy into the Falling Stars attack, shooting rapidly at Basna despite the pain that tore into his arms and shoulders.

"War isn't why you are here Eric, calm down." His mind whispered to him, reminding of what he was really doing.

Four more shots and everything Eric told himself caused him to stop and jump back, landing on the tiles and panting, he poured more into his attacks than he should really, and he knew it, this was going to cost him a lot more than he expected. His hand was already starting to bruise under the glove, and the muscles grew weak in his arm as a whole. If Basna wasn't out of bounds now, Eric would do his best to still make the Namekian earn his win.

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Basna struggled to break free, but his arms were crushed under Ericnox’s powerful force. And even after the winged man opened his wings and regressed from the attack, speed at which Basna was falling was overwhelming. “Skeeza!” he cussed under his breath in the namekian native tongue. His body was arched back and Ericnox unleashed yet another barrage of energy blasts to ensure he stays that way. Basna groaned and moaned as the blasts exploded upon impact and enveloped him within a cloud of smoke from which he soon shot out from like a catapult at even greater speeds than before.

His veins were starting to pop at his forehead and body tense as he tried to will his body to stop, but he just couldn’t. It wouldn’t be long before he was landing head first into the ground and the announcer declares him a ring-out. The audience stared intently with anticipation and others gave a disappointing gaze towards him; something he definitely took into account. “No…” he murmured. “I am going to win this tournament!” he exclaimed.

When you can’t beat someone, you join them. Basna applied this teaching by embracing his fall and turning to face the impending ground he would soon crash land on and probably break a bone or two. His hands were free thanks to his adversary leaving, and although his clothes were ripped off and body steaming with smoke and purple blood dripping from his bruises, Basna extended both arms forward and grit his teeth; for they had a sharp sting to it.

“HYAAAAAGH!” he cried like a warrior as a yellow beam of blistering energy burst out the seams with a raging roar and buzz that filled the air as its bright blinding light overtook the battlefield and buried into the ground. He cringed, soon feeling the blast push against his hemorrhaging arms and change his direction back skyward. The crowd was astonished and jumped off their chairs to clap and cheer after having decided on the winner. But they judged too soon. This wasn’t over until the fat man sings and Basna had much more power from what that came from. He wasn’t going to go down with an out-of-bound.

At last, he was out of danger and back in the game. The oversized namekian dropped down like a rock and landed on his feet with an audible boom which left a pulsating wave that spread across the ring and shook everything within his reach. The ground cracked around his feet and bellowed under. He stood on one knee with a fist buried into the tiled floors of the ring and slowly got back to his feet with a glare. He wasn’t sure how he felt. Mad? Momentarily frightened that he could’ve lost if it weren’t for his quick thinking? Or amused? He smirked.

Regardless of how he felt, he stood once again before his small opponent with blood streaming down his bruised arms which dangled to his sides with a grotesque and intense sense to them. Ericnox didn’t seem like he would last much longer, and that made him all tingly with excitement. “You’re a real piece of work, you know that?” he grinned.

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The crowd cried out, as if the match was over, but Eric couldn't tell, and he would be ready until someone came in and declared him the real winner, and now the crowd. The judge wasn't to be seen just yet, and the smoke was still in the process of clearing. With the rumble, Eric knew the truth.

He didn't land out of bounds, and Eric was out of tricks. He didn't have a lot of energy left in him to really fight much with. He was panting and his right arm felt near useless. His eyes kept slipping into and out of focus. This Namekian was going to win, and Eric knew it, from the look on Basna's face, he knew it as well.

The words caught him by surprise, something he didn't expect to hear really. "Thank you... You are very powerful... I feel a little outclassed here."

In truth he was outclassed. The rumble of the arena when Basna landed nearly tossed him off his feet, but he manged to hold his ground for the time being. His breathing was getting tougher and tougher, he probably had two or three broken ribs as it stood. He was in bad shape, but he was still willing to give it all he had.

Shifting his stand, he moved so his good left arm was in front of him, his eyes still locked on his target. The Golden Heart wasn't going to hold out forever in his current condition. He tried to focus on the here, use what time he does have to give the remaining parts of the match a good show.

"Come and finish it. I don't think either of us really has much left." Eric said, deciding to take one final roll of the dice before it became too late.

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Basna smirked at the man’s remark. It was true that he was significantly injured, but he didn’t think of it much for he could easily grow more than twice his current size and his namekian genes allowed a faster recuperation. But he kept the battle fair and maintained his power at the current level. He admired Ericnox’s determination to see this battle to the end. Basna crouched into a fighting position himself with his right arm leading.

There was an eerie silence as the two fighters did nothing but stare at each other, knowing the end of their match was near. Suddenly, Basna’s antennae twitched, foreshadowing his incoming attack. The namekian bent forward and turned, lifting his left leg behind him and thrusting it forward as it stretched all the way to the winged man. Following that kick came a second which curved down from above like an axe as he completed the full turn and possibly pinning Ericnox to the ground.

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His breathing leveled somewhat when Basna got into his fighting position. Ericnox was ready for something, and if it was ground battle time only, he would be at a disadvantage. His eyes watched the movements of the Namekians stance.

When he twitched and then attacked, Eric slammed his forearm into the leg, rushing forward to meet the attacker head on. The shadow was all that stopped him, the forewarning of the axe kick at the last moment allowed Eric to roll away from the strike... At least partly. He wasn't used to the leg being thicker than most beings, and the strike landed upon his damaged right arm, causing several bones to break and crack like twigs.

He did his best to bite back the yell of pain, his eyes blurring again and he fired one shot blindly, it was a miss by a good margin if Basna didn't jump into it. He staggered back once more, only a few feet from Basna and the edge, a ring out would be easy at this point. Eric was spent, exausted, and nearly blinded by pain.