[{Semifinals Begin!} Namek versus Saiyan! ! !]

[Rensou Hiruen]

A week had passed since Rensou's violent spectacle in the Coliseum in the Saru city slums, and steadily he had grown in strength. Like his strength the spectators had grown as the crowning of a new champion steadily loomed closer, and the announcer confirmed it as his Saiyan voice trembled within the stone walls, lined every inch with eyes of man, woman, and child.

“Fight fans of all ages!” cried the man whom rose up in flight above the center of the ring of triumph and defeat, his arms risen and his body flexed as he poured every ounce of his being into his vocals.

“Welcome! ! !” he bode as pyrotechnics flashed like lightning throughout the arena, and his syllables supplied the reverberating boom of thunder. Suddenly, three fighters flew into the arena with their cohorts behind them and banners flying. Two Saiyan and one Namekian remained standing to take the crown of Saru City's Gladiators, but one man was missing. Nonetheless, the announcer continued his introduction.

“. . .to the Saru City Gladiatorial Grand Prix Semifinal rounds. . .” he finished slowly, quietly as he whirled to point at the Namekian fighter who floated in midair, the banner of his planet billowing in the winds of conditioning vents. The Namek was shirtless, with loose white pants about his legs and his feet bore a simple pair of sandals. He folded his muscular green arms over his chest as the announcer introduced this warrior whom had knocked out a Saiyan competitor to come this far. Still, the crowd cheered many praises.

“Hailing from Planet Namek, Maraka~” the announcer chimed, and the Namek lowered himself to the floor of the arena, his forearms still intertwined across his chest as he awaited the introduction and arrival of his foe, a bored expression across his noble features. Unlike the Saiyan race, few Namek lived for battle. Maraka was strong, that was for certain, and the screens flashed his fighting prowess in Saiyan numerals that translated to 3400.

“His opponent, ladies and gentlemen, needs little introduction! Saru City's own Rensou Hiruen! ! !” and his arm whirled to point towards where Rensou was supposed to be waiting but alas, he pointed towards emptiness. The announcer, for once in the entire proceeding, was without word as the crowd erupted with disgust at these happenings.

“. . .it seems Rensou Hiruen is not present, and thus, Maraka proceeds to the final rou—” Suddenly, a brilliant arc of aquamarine sped through an entrance and a tall figure with onyx hair, torn pants, and a wrapped midsection stood tall with a grin across from the Namek. “Rensou Hiruen is here, ladies and gentlemen! ! !”

Fresh from the Vegetan Jungles was Rensou, smelling of wood-smoke and his face half encrusted with blood. The screens flashed with his power reading, three times that of his last appearance! 3100 read the graphics, a slight underdog to the Namekian, but close enough to set the crowd afire with a vigor they had never shown before with the realization that the fight would continue onward and for the first time in Saru City history, Rensou Hiruen might be outmatched.

“Without further delay, let the first semifinal round of the games begin! ! !”

To be continued. . .

[Rensou Hiruen]

Rensou flexed his arms, his eyes afire with darkness and resolution to proceed to the final round of this petty tournament and bask in the riches of his winnings. All that stood before him was this green skinned warrior from the Namekian home, and today, this warrior of the dragon clan would surely perish. The crowds were silent as the warriors stared blades at each other, and the crack of Rensou's knuckles reverberated throughout the dome before his voice took flight.

“I've heard of your kind, Namekian,” began the last of the Hiruen clan with a grin laden with confidence, stretching his fingers within the tight gloves that bound them with protection from shattered knuckle and torn nail. Maraka answered his words with a sneer and a quick reply. It was obvious he wished to begin this violent affair.

“As have I, Saiyan. . .” he mused as his legs spread and a beautiful green rippled upward from about his feet and enshrouded his statuesque form, his sinew rippling as he tapped into his resevoirs of power, which, if Rensou were not such a brash warrior, would have inspired awe in the Saiyan. Rensou rolled his head, the bones within his powerful neck cracking with the revolution as the blue-green light the Saruans had grown fondly of ignited like a wildfire, ki arcing like electricity and popping like a whip.

“To the death or. . .?” inquired Rensou, and the Namekian doubled with his hands placed upon his knees, deep laughter rolling from his mouth which bore the sharpened canine of his people. Maraka had seen the mercy of Rensou Hiren, and the mercy of the warrior at the opposite end of the arena showed none to his foes. The Namekian nodded his answer.

To the death.

The twin boots of the bloodied, dirty, and beaten Saiyan spread to adopt a stronger center of gravity as his foe mimicked his movements, the Namekian lifting his arms, his hands relaxed and his sharpened nails treacherous as they glinted in the light of the complex. Rensou raised his fists in answer before striding forward towards Maraka who approached with equal vigor.

In the center the combatants met, green and aqua aura intermingling as both flared to shine brighter. Fists flew, mauling powerfully and missing narrowly, the ferocity evident as the Saiyan and Namek warred with hand and foot. Maraka drew first blood as a kick shuddered Rensou backward, the cut upon his brow spraying crimson upon white tile. The crowd erupted at the spectacle, but neither killer paid heed. Driven backward, Rensou snapped an arm back and willed a luminescent blast of ki into being, paying the Namekian back as he drove the wave into Maraka's stomach at short range.

“. . .ungh.” gasped the fighter from the Dragon clan as his eyes widened, staring downward at the smoking circle where Rensou's blast had smashed into him. His gaze snapped back upward to his relief. Rensou had bounded backward, drawing breath to replenish his energies after the struggle that had seen a score of blows, but only seconds of time. The Saiyan wiped blood from his vision as the Namekian winced as his fingertips noted his lower torso was still fiery hot.

Like clockwork both warriors recognized the weakened state of the other and hands were drawn together to begin to charge ki waves in an effort to destroy the other. Tempers flared as focus intensified. . .and tension exploded between the two.

“You're good. . .” said the Namek.

“As are you!” answered the Saiyan.

Spoken word ceased as primal roars bellowed from the lungs of the duo as charging completed simultaneously and Rensou hurled the aqua fires within his hands and the clawed digits of Maraka brought his green torrent down and forward. Both beams raced to the center, the air exploding with a sonic boom with the beginning of their travels, and then once again as both beams doubled the speed of sound. The raging forces of Namek and Planet Vegeta rushed headlong towards the other into a collision that could potentially split the stone coliseum asunder.

To be continued. . .

[Rensou Hiruen]

Behold the majesty of two unrelenting forces meeting in agreeance to settle dispute. . .

The waves of ki washed across the arena like unbridled warhorses, their points converging in the center as velocities halted and the energies expanded the only direction they could, both building in mass against the other but neither gaining ground. The assembled many cheered with excitement, some screamed in fear as the arena shook and debri crumbled from the concave roof. . .but nothing was heard over the roar of ki battling ki. Rensou and Maraka cried out their efforts from the deepest recesses of their being, but to onlooking eye, they roared mutely. If vision could ever manage to pick them out of the blinding illumination the two blasts produced, that is.

For a moment Rensou's ocean hued power surged forward as vein shuddered up visibly above his muscle. The Saiyan was literally pulsating with his own heartbeat as sodium and water emerged from his pores to shield him from the raging heat his masterpiece was exuding. Finally his voice managed to be heard above the chaos before his bloodshot onyx stare.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH! ! !

Just as swiftly as Rensou had noted his superiority in the struggle, Maraka had become painfully aware that his energies were no equal to the violent focus of this. . .unstoppable monstrosity he had been pitted against. The fangs of the Namek went agrit as his death steadily surged, inch by inch toward him. Inches turned to feet, and a foot quickly tripled to a meter. The Namekian swallowed the fear encumbering his throat to allow courage and resolve to sweep over him.

"This is the end. . ." he whispered through his latched ivories as he allowed his beam rest and the beautiful color of the Namekian seas washed onward, above the assembled crowd and stabbing the inner walls of the coliseum before the impale was complete with the exit through the outside.

Rensou Hiruen, breathed deeply as he halted his surging powers, his entirity rising and falling with his hands still widespread before him, smoking and burned lightly from his expenditures. Slowly, he relaxed as his adrenaline dropped off and exhaustion began to overcome his physical and mental being. Their ki struggle had destroyed the arena floor where the beams had traveled, all that remained was smoking rubble and settling dust. As for the Namek known as Maraka, he was, simply stated, no longer there.

Above the Saiyan whom smiled in triumph the announcer cried out above the jubilant peoples of Saru city. "Ladies and gentlemen, -that- was a battle! ! !"

To be continued. . .

[Rensou Hiruen]

As the echo of the announcer's words began to fade to silence and the crowds ceased their maniacal celebration, the announcer continued. "Rensou Hiruen is proceeding to the final. . ."

A blur and an afterimage was all that Rensou Hiruen saw before he was shattered with pain, and he found his lips could utter no cry. There was nothing to describe this terrible feeling of dread that had crept up the base of the Saiyan's spine and into the darkest closets of his brain, sundering his world apart with fear and hurt and utter and complete paralysis. His eyes were wide and his pupils narrow, his mouth agape as he screamed silently within thought, and he willed himself to move with every last ounce of his strength.

"This is the end. . ." whispered the cause of all these things; hurt and terror and helplessness. Maraka. At the moment of death, the Namekian had used the Zanzouken to disappear and hide high towards the centrifugal top of the arena, and when the time was right, he had struck where Rensou Hiruen was utterly and absolutely the most vulnerable.

Maraka had taken hold of the tail whipping behind Rensou as he had relaxed it after his "victory," unfurling it from his waist and leaving it to the whims of his very much living opponent. Now, it seemed the battle was truly won.

"The fight continues. . .ladies and gentlemen." stated the announcer, in absolute shock at the happenings. The crowd had been washed over with the same feeling of surprise, and with the majority hailing from the Saiyan race, they understood the dire situation Rensou Hiruen had found himself in. They stared in awe, silently as they awaited the next stroke of the Namek, one that would surely defeat their Gladiator.

They did not wait long as the Namek bent his arm and placed two of his clawed fingers to his skull, his green energies swirling and accumulating into a dense and destructive attack that killed not so much with trauma, but instead, surgical expertise.

". . .the Makansappo, Rensou. Fear not, there is no pain." stated Maraka, his eyes driven and focused at the task at hand. He took no pleasure in killing this man he held within his grasp like a babe, but he had seen the lives he had taken and could allow it to continue no longer. Rensou Hiruen was a crazed, destructive being, and the universe was better served without his existence. And so, the Namek had his reason to take the life. Between his brow and his fingertips the weapon was honed into a blade to pierce the heart.

Fear not, the Namek had said, and though derived of physical ability, his senses were still adept.

The pain retreated.

The fear dwindled.

Peace overcame everything that was Rensou Hiruen as his memory raced to better days than this, as his death loomed ever closer.

To be continued. . .

[/i]

[Rensou Hiruen]

When the mind accepts the inevibility of the end, the memories unveil like the quickly flipped pages of a beautiful novel, skimming the chapters until the reader settles on a particular excerpt

[Eleven years ago, a week before the death of Rensou's family.]

The barren wastes of Planet Vegeta was a flat, rolling plain of nothing but dirt and rock, a destroyed landscape devoid of even the most hardy forms of life. No water rose to the surface here, no plant drank of that water. . .nothing sentient devoured that nonexistent water, and therefore, no predator skulked the dunes in search of the next meal.

But far from civilization blooming life had come here to enjoy their days and revel in simply being. Two Saiyan, one a teenager, and one barely seven years old. Brothers, borne of the same mother and father. Good stock, destined to be elite before their conception. Here in the dead lands, Tsunen and Rensou Hiruen stood against death and thrived.

The insignificant fists of Rensou clenched as his elder brother, the brother honored with the Tsu- prefix, came charging in. Tsunen was a blur to Rensou's unsharpened senses, his head always lagging behind as the blurring image of his sibling approached ever closer. Instinct drove him to duck as a kick brushed his dark locks, and his comparitively slow reaction time caused his counter-punch to miss widely.

The hook Rensou had sent had caught thin air, and he had put too much of his weight into the blow and he staggered forward. Suddenly his fall was halted by the identical feelings he would feel that fateful day in the arena of Saru city.

Tsunen had taken hold of his tail, but not enough to overcome his brother with a pain too taxing for his young body to withstand. It was the third time today he had caught his brother unprepared for the crippling maneuver, and his head shook from side to side as he spoke his disappointment.

"Third time today, Ren-chan! Stop fumbling and allowing such things. Now, escape." ordered the elder brother, a grin escaping him as he hoped his little brother would manage to overcome the predicament and escape his grasp. The two had been drilling this scenario for hours, and he was beginning to grow hopeless. Suddenly, he felt his brother quiver and heard a sob escape his throat.

"I-I-I c-c-can-can't, Tsu-n-nen! I can't do i-i-it!" cried the child, his little onyx eyes overcome by his emotions and his helpless situation as tears sprung forth. Rensou wailed, his face scrunching moreso from shame than the hurtful toll Tsunen's grip was extracting.

"Yes you can, little brother. . ." snarled the disgusted eldest, slowly, menacingly. If Rensou did not escape soon, he was going to really give him a reason to cry like a babe. For now, he awaited his little brother's answer with action. Rensou's sobs began to grow farther and farther apart as hope left him.

"Tsunen. I c-can't do it!" yelled the little Saiyan, his eyes pleading with the cloudless sky before him for some mercy from his best friend, his hero, Tsunen Hiruen. Tsunen bit back the remorse building within him as he applied enough pressure to shear his little brother's body with agony.

Rensou screamed, his body shuddering as his throat cracked with the most horrible plain he had ever experienced, his ability to vocalize nearly robbed as Tsunen tortured his brother, but with compassionate purpose. He cried out for his brother.

"TSUUUUUUU! ! !" he screamed, but his brother only applied more pain to his trembling nervous system.

". . .n-noooo!" he pleaded, but Tsuren maintained his hold as a single tear twinkled down at his little brother before it fell to the sands below their boots, the Vegetan sun shimmering against the water before it disappered into the parched dirt.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH! ! !" Echoed the cry of that poor, helpless creature, resounding through the wastes over and over, and over again.

And then it happened.

[Present time.]

In the Saru Arena, Rensou Hiruen's eyes flashed open as the Namek behind him uttered the beginning of the finale.

"Maaakan...." chanted Maraka.

[Eleven years ago.]

Upon the desolate wastes, Rensou Hiruen had uttered "Tsu-no-ha," and his mind had connected the words subconsciously. His single Tsuru-no-ha orb, bestowed upon him through his grandfather's tutelage, had manifested behind his brother.

[Present time.]

Rensou had literal seconds left to save his life and take a life. Though his body had been halted, his mind was still thriving. On both sides of Maraka's chanting face two tiny spheres had glimmered into existence, the remainder of Rensou's ki resevoir. They began to slowly come together, as if magnetized. Gradually, they accelerated as Maraka growled again.

"Saaaaaaaaa. . ." he continued.

[Eleven years ago.]

For the first time in his life, Rensou's Tsuru-no-ha had acted of it's own accord and slammed into his brother's spine, causing him to lose hold of his brother's tail. Tsunen stumbled backward, a shocked and proud smile beaming from his features. Rensou had escaped the impossible. The younger brother collapsed to his hands and knees, ruined by pain and struggle.

"I hate you, Tsunen! ! !" he exclaimed, with a smile of his own across his young face.

[Present time.]

For the second time in his life, Rensou's Tsuru-no-ha acted with an independent agenda and suddenly, viciously accelerated and penetrated opposing temples of the skull between them. They blew through skin and skull and brain matter, ceasing the functions of the Namek with a metaphorical pistol at the centered base of Rensou's skull. With the brain function, the Makansappo disappated and the hold upon the tail went limp. Maraka crumbled into a heap, a shocked look the last he would ever express. The Saiyan he had nearly killed collapsed to his hands and knees, ruined by pain and struggle.

"I love you, Tsunen. . ." he whispered, tears falling to the whitened tile his weight rested on.

"Ladies and gentlemen. Rensou Hiruen has reached the final round of the Saru Grand Prix!" cried the announcer, but Rensou did not hear his words.

[Rensou Hiruen]

Ready for grading whenever you mod cats get the time!

[Deleted]

+1,500 Zenie or PL! Enjoy ^_^

[Rensou Hiruen]

Zeni again, please.