The Banquet!

[Deleted]

Following the Semi Final round, will be a large reception in the honor of the victors, however EVERYONE is invited (and Highly encouraged to attend). Yes even those whom did not compete are welcome to this grand occasion, so come one come all.



The room was bright and festive, truly a celebration was to be had.

At the head of the table were four seats, each one with the name of a semi finalist winner, with the exception of the one on the end, it simply read.

Reserved

As many fighters began to shuffle in, making their way to the Buffet of appetizers, The true honorary guests would no doubt be showing up soon, as it was promised that All semi finalists would receive a prize at the banquet.

(I need each winner of the tournament to post here before we begin, in addition if you wish to be a part of this, you must also post here ASAP, make sure you do so before the winners, otherwise you will be late to the party, and might miss something important.)

[matrixwarsz]

Kris Stephens emerged from the portal into a strange, metallic chamber. There were windows lining the walls, though which he could see numerous stars in the distance. The place matched Kami's description. Kris walked out of the chamber and into a large hallway with electronic monitors positioned every so often. The monitors were displaying a message:

"Come on, come all! A large banquet will be held in honor of the tournament's competitors!"

Kris walked down the halls, following signs to the banquet hall and looking at windows every so often. He passed a few doors that were marked with different symbols, one of which was the English language. They were doors to several different arenas, many of which were recently used during the tournament.

Soon, Kris walked into a large, elegantly decorated room with many people. He was a bit nervous, as there was people of many different species of alien. He made his way over to a large buffet table that hosted tons of appetizers. Kris fought his Saiyan appetite, thinking he should treat the situation a bit more importantly.

[samael]

A soft, casual whistling would echo off the walls of the banquet chamber, followed like a shadow by the sound of expensive shoes on the floor. Soon after the sounds followed a young, handsome man in a white business suit, purple aviator sunglasses on his face - the demon known as Samael. He, like his whistling, was shadowed - but by men, rather than shoes. One man was broad and ugly, the other wiry and boy-faced. Both wore dark sunglasses and both were stone-faced. Samael, by contrast, wore an easy smile, an unlit cigarette dangling from his lips.

He'd overheard word of the banquet while enjoying an espresso doppio back on Earth and simply KNEW he had to attend.

"Boys, at ease. Have some food, some wine, enjoy yourselves. If you hear a scream, or anything goes down, you know ex-act-ly where to be."

The two men nodded, the thin one smiling wide and patting the broad one on his back before taking off for the nearest food and women. The broad man just took a seat by the entrance. Samael, on the other hand, decided to wander and mingle - no doubt there would be SOME customers amongst all of these warriors.

[Gray Callahan]

(This takes place after my match, obvs)

Boliko Koregutsu sits at one of the seats, not looking at any of the other finalists. He had been fairly bored, waiting around - his would-be opponent dropped out (and, he would later find out, wreaked havoc on the planet Earth. What a bore!) so he hadn't fought anyone since Mollus. However, his Saiyan appetite was as legendary as ever, and the idea of a banquet did stoke the fire in his gut.

Slightly bored looking, he glances around - he spotted some individuals within the crowd who seemed to stand out. He would note their faces. His cold, calculating gaze would send a chill down many a spine this evening.

Perhaps, when he meets the other semi-finalists in person, he'd be able to weigh them up - see if they could handle him. Doubtful.

[Zach]

With the unceremonious and frankly unsatisfying defeat of his opponent in the latest match, Zach left the arena even more embittered then usual. He scowled at everything that moved, opening a path in the milling crowd of fighters. His status as a semifinalist had garnered him some level of respect, even among the usually more arrogant species and so when he glared ahead, the waves parted. It didn’t take long to find s bench to sit an relax on, although Zach was still tense and radiating so much energy left over from the fight, that he sat on the edge of the seat and could swear he was starting to melt it’s cheap, plastic construction. He tried to close his eyes and clear his thoughts, but this place did not allow for that, it was too loud, too crowded and who ever ran it still needed to be taught a lesson in manners.

It didn’t take long for the blonde’s attention to be called away from his attempt at relaxing, one of the weaker fighters that hadn’t gotten past the first round clasped him on the shoulder and insisted on making some insipidly droll conversation, over toned with transparent attempts at gleaming information on how Zach had attained such power wile being from what was considered a weak race. The blonde did his best to suppress to urge to pound the little pipsqueak’s face into the floor, but was entirely successful. His intent had shown through and the other fighter backed off, desperately looking for a change of subject, and then one came. He pointed up to one of the display screens and attempted to call Zach’s attention to it before he ended up as street pizza, or more aptly, floor pizza.

“Hey, looks like they want you up in the banquette hall. Must be some big high up’n to-do going on.” the fighter commented and continued to gesticulate in the direction of the display.

Looking up, Zach glared at the display as if it too had offended him. His name was indeed present, listed among the other semifinalists, all being called to the banquette hall. Lurching up from his seat, Zach toppled the bench over backwards and started in the direction the telltales indicated. The route to the hall was clearly marked with enough signage that a half drunk and blind Saiyan could find his way there, hence it was child’s play for Zach to make his way to the room. Upon arrival though he felt immediately out of place, wearing nothing but boots and his black training pants and being naked from the waist up while everyone else was either in some form on formal ware or at the least, casual clothing. Still, the teen never shied away from people looking at his body and this time would be no different. If someone had a problem with the way he was dressed, he would remove the problem by removing the person possessing it, he’d proved himself perfectly capable of doing just that after all.

Stepping further into the room, Zach’s gaze flitted from one occupant to another, his annoyed visage remaining unchanged. The room was loaded with more aliens then he could identify or would care to identify for that matter. There were a handful of humans scattered about, apparently either oblivious or uncaring that the opening event of this tournament was the unprovoked bombing of a major city on Earth. Then the thought occurred to him, the only way too and from this station from Earth was via that teleportation machine so they had to know about the bombing. This of course made them worse then ignorant, they were apathetic or even worse, traitors. In either case, when this place came down Zach would not be making any move to save them; no one who could let just a barbarous act go unprotected deserved to be saved.

Remaining standing, the shirtless teen made his way through the gathering with carefully measured steps, exuding nothing but anger and determination to reach whatever destination he had in mind. He rounded the corner of the great table and made his way along, finding a seat marked for him but not sitting. No, he wouldn’t sit until this travesty officially got moving, and only then if he wanted to. The food spread out was mostly of alien cuisine, unsightly and unpalatable to the blonde and thus the temptation to dine was not great. Though there were some recognizable dishes, their proximity to the rolling grotesquery that sprawled across the table made them just as undesirable.

[Deleted]

Carmine found himself limping into the banquet hall by himself. Ryota had told him about the invitation, and had been pretty intent on attending. Something about the banquet however rubbed Carmine the wrong way - he couldn't put his finger on it, but he thought it best that the captain have backup. As such, he called in some assistance from Keyra on the Galleon, and she helped him build an at least workable right leg and right arm replacement. Underneath his pants, his right leg was little more than a skeletal armature with wires. It's movement wasn't fluid, and it had no real flesh to it. He'd need to set it up to his internal repairs systems to get it fully integrated, but he hadn't had time. The same went for the mechano-skeletal right forearm he was hiding under his now-tattered coat and black leather gloves. With the limp, the coat, and the gloves he had ended up looking more like a pirate than ever - all he needed was the hat and a new sword.

He looked around, noting the wide array of power signatures, but not spotting the Captain anywhere.

"Damnit Ryota, how did I beat you here? I had a whole damn LEG to rebuild. You're like a girl, I swear..."

[Deleted]

"It's despair at the lack of feeling, of love, of reason in the world. It's despair that anyone can even contemplate. It's despair that so few of us care. It's despair that there's so much brutality and callousness in the world. It's despair that perfectly normal young men can be made vicious and evil " -John Fowles

The room was full, with the exception of two empty seats, one to the captain of the demons galleon, and the other, to the beast whom defeated Girkin. The lights slowly dimmed, showing that it was time for everyone to take their seat, and as they did so an eiry silence fell upon the hall. Each footstep could be heard around the room, although it was dim and difficult to see.

tap
...
tap
....
tap

The warriors of the room whom would try, would sense nothing more than 2000 powerlevel walking past them, nothing alarming, yet still equally dark.

tap
...
tap
...
tap

Reaching the front of the table, much to the surprise of the audience in the room, is a Namekian man. There was nothing spectacular about this man, as a matter of fact if anything this man was simply ordinary. He wasnt even the most spectacular Namekian in the room, the other competitors looked far superior to him in many ways, however the confidence this man portrayed was nothing short of incredible.

"Thank you for coming this evening"

He said, his deep voice resonating through the hall, even echoing near the back of the room.

"We are missing one of our champions, however it is my humble opinion that we get started with the ceremony"

[Deleted]

"No need to worry, I'm here. Sorry for the hold up I just got a bit held up with a bit of personal business." Ryota said as he finally arrived giving those he knew in the room a grin and quite possibly destroying some of the tension that may have been brought on by the Namekian's arrival.

Taking a quick look around and noticed that the seating was set up in such a way that the winners of there matches were places close to the head of the table, he noticed that amongst those near those seats were Zach and a very large man whom he had not gotten the chance to see fight. Even a cursory sense of the man's power gave Ryota the opinion that this was a truly powerful man, perhaps he would stay in the tournament after all.

Finally spotting his place at the table Ryota quickly made his way over too it not really caring to delay this any longer than he had already. He gave Zach a friendly grin as he noted that the young warrior seemed to be in an incredibly foul mood, perhaps his fight hadn't gone quite as well as he'd hoped even if he had won. Ryota was well aware of fights that left you feeling unfulfilled, his first fight in the tournament had been such a match.

[Deleted]

Noting the arrival of the captain, the Namekian began to speak once more."With the arrival of yet another impressive fighter, we can begin tonight's celebration"

Walking to the head of the table, Gurin tapped a small coaster, suddenly from beneath the ground rose a large podium, one that indeed overshadowed the table, and was incrested with the symbol

世界貿易機関

"I would like to take a moment to recognize the Benefactor of this astounding event, Lord Touketsuki Yakedo"

Suddenly a darkness fell on the room, for those whom were not prepared it may have sent a shiver down their spine, or in many weaker cases involved vomiting. As down from the skyline, Suki appeared, His tail moving from side to side, with a short smirk plastered on his face, he was loving the attention Gurin had placed on him, and as he landed, he chose not to stand behind the podium but rather to sit on it, one leg crossed over the other, his tail waving in the background. He landed elegantly on the podium and looked out at the audience he was facing, recognizing the Captain from their earlier conversation, and Zach as one of his early favorites.

"Good Evening gentlemen, I have called all of you to this banquet in your honor to bring you news"

Suki held his hand as though holding a champagne glass, and the crowd watched as a glass from the table floated up to him, landing perfectly in his hand.

"But first a toast to the winners"

Suki took a drink, however no real toast was given, most of the audience was struck with either fear or confusion. Once Suki had finished his drink he allowed the glass to float back down to the table below him and spoke again.

"The first announcement is that I have grown tired of watching these rounds, it was fun at first, however it is my understanding that all of our semifinalists deserve the reward that will be offered to them, and so there shall be no final round"

Suki allowed the thought of this to sink in before continuing to his next thought, no doubt what was being told to them was surprising, for some of them relieving, and others perhaps disappointing. The captain had mentioned his disdain, wishing he were back on earth, however others like the King of Vegeta looked less than appeased with the lack of a final round.

"But the good news is, you all will win the prize, one that I will present to you now!"

Suki put his fist into the air, and behind him appeared several banners, each one with a different face.

Boliko
Ryota
Carmine
Ikezu
Zach
Gerreck

"These men will now be offered the ability to join the World Trade Organization as leading generals, usually men must fight for years to prove loyalty and resolve, however I have graciously decided that you may each join my conquest as a ranking officer, congratulations!"

It was time now to see how these warriors would respond to the offer placed before them.

[Gray Callahan]

Boliko watches the final champions arriving, before he remains quiet as the benefactor of the tournament revealed himself to the fighters - none of than one 'Lord Touketsuki'. He was a short figure, and had Boliko not learned how to sense power levels he would not have felt an inch of respect for the figure; however, he could certainly sense an educated darkness behind the fear, and if Suki was attempting to hide his power it was not working so well - at the very least, Boliko's instincts screamed that he was a threat.

He listens to the speech intently, and raises the wine glass automatically to his lips, downing it in one. He cocks his head to the right and glances at the lizard-like manchild. As he mentioned becoming bored, he could see where the line of conversation. His grip tightened on the glass, using only a minuscule amount of Boliko's latent strength - but that was enough to cause a large crack appear down the rim. He sets it back down on the table, and on impact it shatters completely. Shaking his head with furious disbelief, he sweeps his hand across the table and the glass falls to the ground with an audible 'tinkle'.

And what's this about a World Trade Organization? That name seemed familiar... hadn't the High King Bardock eliminated such an organization in the distant past? Boliko had done much research into Vegeta's past, and despite an odd time blip hadn't found much out of place. King Bardock had supposedly wiped out the remnants of a World Trade Organization, taking over most of their worlds.

Boliko had no interest in joining the WTO. He stands up and his chair falls backwards, clattering to the floor. "Is that all?"

[Deleted]

As Suki began to lower himself, the feeling that overtook the room caused Carmine's systems to briefly lock up before indicating a serious potential threat. So sudden was it that his primary contextual systems were overridden by his core defense system, his left arm transforming reflexively into the Galleon Buster.

When Suki began talking and it became clear that everyone was NOT in fact going to die, he reverted the Buster back into his hand and listened intently. He'd never heard of the World Trade Organization, but something just didn't feel right. He looked for Ryota, and made his way over to him. He was in poor condition, and if it somehow came down to violence he wanted to be near the Captain. He also wanted to gauge the Captain's response to this offer.

[Zach]

As Zach stood behind his assigned seat, radiating anger that could have probably ignited the carpeting, he noticed more and more of the attendees taking seats. While he still didn’t feel like sitting down with a bunch of aliens, the party seemed to be headed for the more formal functions of speech giving and award ceremonies, both having the prerequisite of his having to sit. Grumbling silently to himself or rather not so silently, the shirtless teen stepped around his chair and sat. Dropping his arms to either side of his plate, the blonde eyed the unsightly dishes that were laid out before him which reaffirmed his complete lack of a desire to eat.

Eventually a green skinned alien, one Zach recognized as a Namekian called attention to it’s self. One used the pronoun ‘it’ in the case of Namekians as they had no real gender. Although the entire population appeared to be male, they reproduce hermaphroditically and thus appearances aside, are in fact ‘it’s’ and not ‘he’s.’ Zach of course only had a rudimentary knowledge of Namekians though, the cursory lessons one was given in grade school along with the heavy dose of politically correct BS that was mixed in to promote peace and togetherness and all of that ‘good stuff.’ He did know one thing though, the Namekians were peace loving, they were perhaps the only aliens he might have felt comfortable living around, so it was a given that he couldn’t understand why a member of such a peaceful civilization would be officiating at such a barbarous event.

As he was contemplating the answers a familiar face finally appeared, the good Captain Ryota, the man he’d met on the beach some days ago and who’d pulled his butt out of the fire during a losing battle. The fell dressed man nodded to him prompting the teen to nod back but garnering no other reaction, Zach’s mood was still to sour to smile at a friend. Then the answer he was seeking literally fell, or rather floated down out of a hatchway in the ceiling. Another alien, one he couldn’t identify descended to the podium. He was smaller then Zach, but carried a confidence that told the boy that he might very well be formidable. Had Zach the ability to sense exterior energy signatures, he might of picked up on the rolling feelings of dread that seemed to be disturbing some of the attendees, for him though the darkening of the room was just a dramatic lighting effect.

Then another answer came, the reason for this ridiculous contest, this alien was looking for recruits. Zach had half a mind to walk up and punch the guy… or girl… or what ever the effeminate looking creature was, right in the nose. But something else donned on him, slowly at first as thinking wasn’t always the boy’s strong suit. If this alien held enough power to call a gathering of this magnitude and was offering such lofty positions, he might be a potential ally in Zach’s own personal crusade to find his town’s destroyers, take his revenge and then safeguard Earth from any more such atrocities. But in order to do any of this, he would first have to talk to the alien and again, suppress the urge to punch his lights out for bombing Earth.

There was the expected bluster from the near by Saiyan but that meant less then nothing to Zach. So far the other semifinalists were silent so Zach took it upon himself to respond next. In a decidedly more civil tone then even he thought possible under the circumstances, the shirtless teen stood up from his seat to proverbially take the floor and responded, looking directly to the alien on the podium.

“I might be interested… But we have to talk first.” the blonde stated and remained standing for a moment to wait and see what the alien’s reaction would be. Most likely it would be one of pleasure Zach reasoned, he was after all there to recruit fighters and Zach was the first to potentially accept.

[samael]

Samael crossed one leg over the other and let a smirk crawl across his face. He watched as the various side conversations and general dickwaving contests died down as the Namekian began to speak. He'd found himself sitting at a table of humans, none of whom had taken notice of him just yet. He was confident that he'd have been able to make a sale to each of them then and there, but this event wasn't about quantity, it was about quality. It was about more than just sales and numbers, but about connections and trade.

And then the room dimmed, and the event's "benefactor" made a rather grand entrance. Samael was only mildly impressed. He recognized the planning and influence that a truly memorable entrance required, but he himself preferred to just be casual and nonchalant. Such blatant shows of power were rarely his style, but it was good to know that this...whatever it was liked to show off.

Then the proposition hit, and Samael was simultaneously intriqued and disappointed. This alien would be an incredible sale, but likely wouldn't be interested in any of what Sam could offer - maybe youth? He looked a bit young...and he was certainly powerful, and whatever this World Trade Organization was, it definitely sounded like it pulled the profits. Sam would have to get to know this guy before making a pitch.

However, he was also a bit mad that the alien had made an offer to literally every worthwhile fighter in the room. The only one that Sam had no interest in was the robot, Carmine, as he probably had no soul. However, the man that Carmine was moving towards...

...WWWWaaaaaaaiiiiit a second.

"Hounds of hell, that's the fucking prince."

It had been ages, but he recognized the Demon King's son anywhere, by face if not always by name. He knew the name Ryota had been familiar. Samael stood and took a step back behind the crowds, signaling silently for Sticks and Stones to take position with him as he made his way across the banquet hall, following behind Carmine towards Ryota.

[matrixwarsz]

Kris downed another slice of otherworldly food. He completely lost control of his appetite, and many other party guests watched in astonishment (And slight disgust) as he chowed down. He noted the delectable desert items placed further along the table, but made a point to save them for later. He took a moment to breathe and settle his stomach when the lights began to dim. People began taking their seats in various chairs along the table, so Kris soon decided to do the same. He walked quickly to where the deserts were located, eager to try a few.

Soon, everything began quiet, minus the sound of a Namekian making his way to the end of the table. His power level was nothing particularly powerful, but it was worth noting that he was much stronger than most people in the room. Kris also sensed the power levels of the champions sitting in their reserved chairs. He took special notice of Boliko. Something about him seemed familiar... A Saiyan, perhaps? Kris was unable to see a tail from this point of view, but his energy resembled that of a pure-blooded Saiyan. Kris was unaware that he was, in fact, the Saiyan king.

The Namekian decided to begin the ceremony. Kris was happy to oblige, taking a delicious-looking pastry and cramming it in his mouth, only for the Namekian to continue speaking, saying something about a "benefactor". Kris didn't know what that meant, but soon a short, tailed fellow would emerge. Kris slowly swallowed the food in his mouth as he sensed the energy level emitted by the being that had just arrived... He was strong, even stronger than Meishi. Kris also couldn't help but sense a deeper power, one tainted with evil intent.

Suki then explained his prize. Kris had no clue what the "World Trade Organization" was, but he didn't like the sound of it. His cautious nature caused him to breath deeply and sharpen his senses. If things started to go wrong, Kris would be ready.

[Deleted]

Ryota raised an eyebrow as the Namekian stated the name of the true benefactor of the tournament and much to Ryota's surprise it was the name that belonged to the man he had been watching the end of the first round with, in hindsight it made a lot of sense that the psychic alien with a lot of power was the one who was controlling a tournament such as this and for the most part it alleviated much of Ryota's concerns about the tournament in general as he'd gotten along rather well with Touketsuki.

Despite this Ryota couldn't help but feel a slight chill run down his spine with the man's arrival, he exuded power and general danger much like a powerful demon could, luckily though it seemed that for the most part any comparison to an average demon that could be drawn to Suki stopped at his appearance and his 'aura' at least as far as Ryota was aware. Before Suki began speaking Ryota made the effort to cloud his mind once again as best he could knowing full well that Suki had no qualms against reading minds.

Ryota was likely among the very few who managed to on any level participate in the 'toast' as he drank a bit from the cup placed at his seat though from what he could tell he was in a vast minority as many of the others were simply stunned by Touketsuki a few of them even seemed terrified by the aura the man had, causing Ryota to roll his eyes, sure Touketsuki was likely trying to have such an effect but the majority of these men and women were supposed to be fighters of some sort, they could have tried a bit harder to hide there fear.

Regardless Ryota returned his attention back to Suki as he had finished his drink and was once again speaking, Ryota's eyebrow raised once again at the revelation that there would be no more rounds and that all of the current semifinalists were in face 'winners' of the tournaments prize. Truth be told Ryota hadn't even thought about a prize, he'd expected perhaps some money but overall has more come to this for the fighting itself unfortunately his first fight had been terrible leaving Ryota a bit annoyed and while his second fight had been great the fact that he'd lost control left it feeling a bit hollow. Thankfully he'd not done any permanent damage.

Ryota's head tiled ever so slightly as the banners fell behind Suki and he had to repress a chuckle as his mind instatly assumed that the banners themselves were literally the prize for the tournament, thankfully he was quickly corrected by Suki explaining the true 'prize' admittance to his 'World Trade Organization' and not just basic admittance at the base level but high level admittance to a position where the person would likely be in charge of a large number of forces. Ryota couldn't help but chuckle at the prize despite knowing it was rather rude to do so. Though considering the reaction of the large man from across the table that he now could identify as 'Boliko' he was far from the 'most' rude.

Carmine's reaction to Suki was a bit unexpected, as Ryota noticed his friend had made his way nearby though as of yet he'd not actually said anything, with any luck perhaps it was simply Carmine wanting to have a chance to smack some reason into him if Ryota actually decided to agree to accept the 'prize', if that was the case there would be nothing to worry about as Ryota had no intention of accepting simply because he was already the leader of what would likely be an opposing faction to Touketsuki's World Trade Organization if the implications of the name were to be trusted. Ryota had long ago known that one day he would likely begin working towards collecting the Demon and Mortal realms under his control and he could only assume that Touketsuki would be quite against his attempts to take control of any planet that he was in control of.

Zach's reaction to Touketsuki was perhaps the most interesting, of everyone he seemed to be the one most willing to hear the offer out, the young warriors general anger though seemed to still be rather firmly in place though, Ryota hoped that eventually Zach would decline the position simply on the merit that the boy seemed to have a distaste for the non-humans of his realm. It wasn't that Ryota wished for Touketsuki too fail or anything but more that he'd sort of hoped to recruit Zach for his crew. The young man had what appeared to be rather boundless potential as a warrior considering just how quickly he could grow in power without anything close to formal or even informal(such as Ryota's own at the hands of the previous captain of the Galleon.) combat training.

Ryota sighed as he returned his attention to Touketsuki giving the man a friendly grin. "Unfortunately Touketsuki I'm going to have to decline your offer, while it's quite interesting I just can't accept. It's nothing against you, its just that I'm just not exactly in the market for a downgrade from 'leader' to 'follower' I'm pretty sure from are last encounter that you already know that I'm the captain of my own ship so going from that to 'general' isn't exactly a particularly interesting prospect especially considering A) I wouldn't accept being under anyone, even you. B) My loyalties are to My crew and to Myself, so even if I accepted all it would be would be a way for me to keep tabs on what you're doing because C) Soon, If my idea of what your Organization is is right, I'll be part of your competition." Ryota said with a chuckle as he leaned back into his chair.

With that Ryota had hoped to simply wait until Touketsuki would respond but then he'd heard a eerily familiar voice, that in of itself would have only brought his attention away from Suki for a moment to see who it was however it was what the voice had said that put him on edge. Whoever it belonged to had called him something that practically nobody knew. Turning slightly Ryota saw who it was, and while he couldn't put a name to the face he knew the person by reputation and from vague memories of his youth. A Makaioshin like himself who generally stuck to the Mortal Realm however for a brief period he'd played an advisory role to Ryota's father. Ryota let out a barely audible growl of annoyance as he glared at the man in a very 'keep your trap shut or I hurt you' way. The man had already started making his way over and was unfortunately close to where Carmine had positioned himself. With any luck few if any in attendance had paid the man enough attention to hear what he had said though considering Ryota's general luck in the man simply being here he had to doubt it.