Anime Death Tournament Interlude (between Round 2 and 3)

        The Tournament was on hold, pending further investigation of the 
barrier.  With no more battles left anyway, the victorious fighters returned 
to their rooms.  Defeated warriors were visiting the hospital.
        A lot of fighters, since they hadn't gone into the ring just yet, 
were eating or practicing in one of the many practice rooms.  Some were 
enjoying the free spas and hotsprings, while others just sat in their rooms, 
spitting out mental or verbal curses towards various people.
        Skyler Sands was one who was eating, but in a daze.  He had heard 
how good Gourry Gabriev was via other peoples comments near him.  Most were 
betting on Gourry chopping poor Skyler into itty-bitty pieces or at the very 
least, stomping him totally.  Juri sat next to him, smiling and eating at a 
pace that might've seemed rather rushed for her.  Skyler, had he not still 
been in a daze, would've queried as to what had caused her good mood.
        Naga the White Serpent was sitting nearby, her massive chest and her 
tight stomach wrapped in gause.  She was currently eating pudding that was 
fed to her by Amelia.  Lina, Zelgadis and Sylphiel sat nearby.  Sylphiel was 
teary-eyed and glanced angrily in Skyler's direction, but had to admit that 
it had been quite a coincidence.  Meanwhile, Naga waved off Amelia's next 
spoonful of tapioca pudding.
        "Sis, you LOVE tapioca pudding." Amelia said.
        "...hurts..." Naga replied in a very soft voice.
        "Well, maybe if you hadn't tried to scream your lungs out at that 
Backstreet Boys concert.  Or the Metallica concert after that.  Or maybe if 
you hadn't challenged that Banshee to a scream off." Amelia answered.
        "...i won, didn't i?" Naga asked in the same soft voice.
        "Yeah, you did." Amelia answered.
        "That in itself was impressive." Zelgadis commented.
        Lina looked at Sylphiel, who, once again, was glaring at Skyler.  No 
doubt thinking of death threats.
        "Sylphiel, relax.  First of all, Gourry will be fine.  His fight was 
WAAAAY before that barrier showed up and the healers here are some of the 
best.  In fact, I think there are about ten copies of you here acting as 
nurses or healers or doctors, so lay off.  Secondly, it was Gourry's own 
fault for underestimating Skyler.  And finally, we're not here for 
vendettas, we're here for the mission." Lina answered.
        "Miss Lina!" Amelia began to protest as Sylphiel lowered her head in 
shame for forgetting why she had come here.  Well, other than the fact that 
she wanted to be with Gourry-sama.
        "It's all right, Amelia.  Somehow I doubt Skyler or Juri are going 
to spill the beans about anything we say.  Also, there are no cameras in 
here and scrying spells can only pick up images in the cafeterias, not 
noises." Zelgadis answered.
        "A lot of anti-scrying places around, aren't there?" Lina inquired.
        "The announcers/producers were smart.  They knew there'd be a lot of 
scrying going on.  After all, you don't get this many magic/psionic/ki-using 
super-humans in one place without a lot of them trying to scry." Zelgadis 
answered.
        "That's another thing, why are they even putting on this tournament? 
  The ratings'll be huge, but even that can't be enough to cover ALL the 
expenses." Lina answered.
        "Well, this is the first year, they're expecting to take a dive or 
two.  It's the NEXT Tournament that they'll be making huge amounts of 
money." Zelgadis answered.
        "I guess." Lina answered.
        "It doesn't matter, you guys.  All we're here for is to stop the 
person responsible for the Death Threats." Amelia scolded.
        "....that's right." Naga added, trying not to strain her vocal 
chords.

        Washu typed frantically.  They were just barely keeping the crowd 
calm and that was with the promise of free snow cones.  The readings from 
her computer told her that the Death Dome Field wasn't being affected by the 
new barrier.  If anything, the new barrier seemed to simply be stopping 
people from leaving.  But this would beceome a very dangerous situation 
because the hotel rooms would become cramped within a few days.  By the end 
of the week, people would be camping outside.  After that, they would start 
breaking health and fire standards and would be closed down.  She liked 
challenges, but not when the lives and safety of the those involved in the 
challenge became threatened.
        "Any progress, Washu?" C-chan asked.
        "Some.  The tournament CAN proceed, provided the grey barrier 
doesn't start shrinking." Washu replied.
        "What happens then?" C-chan inquired.
        "We'll have to destroy it by raw force.  That means every 
combatant'll have to put forth all of their power." Washu replied.
        "............. that isn't good.  There's at least fifteen fighters I 
wouldn't trust any farther than Gosunkugi could throw them." C-chan replied.
        "True.  But, we can still get security and random fans to help out." 
Washu replied.
        "That's true.  Well, try and take that barrier down.  In the 
meantime, Goku and company are building thick metal fences to prevent more 
people from coming in." C-chan responded.
        The gun-crazed girl turned to go.
        "C-chan?" Washu inquired.
        "Yeah, what is it?" C-chan asked.
        "Can you get the chief of security out here?  I'd like to try 
something." Washu requested.
        "Right." C-chan answered as she wondered if she could remember the 
pass-code for his office intercom.
        "Darn these forty-five gigabyte key sequences." C-chan grumbled.
        Drayko walked up behind her.
        "What is it?" Drayko inquired.
        C-chan began bashing her head against the intercom.

        Silphion sipped at his tea.  The current situation was distressing.  
The tournament hadn't even really gotten very far and it was already plagued 
with troubles.  Hidden plots, a psycho-killer robot that was disguising 
itself as a cute adorable little cat, and now the strange barrier.
        Not to mention that Ranka Noriega's fight had ended in a disturbing 
manner.  Madness seemed to surround this tournament and was infecting the 
combatants.  How long before even he was corrupted?  He sighed, slumped back 
and fell asleep.
        Rhialto the Marvellous entered the eating area to see Silphion 
slumped back in his chair.  Instantly, his reflexes snapped to 
full-readiness and he leapt back and out of the way of the tiny dart that 
would've put him to sleep like it had to Silphion.
        "Oh well.  You'll get yours, Rhialto the Marvellous.  
WAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Hello Kitty laughed before vanishing in a burst of 
blue flame.
        Rhialto was no fool.  He leapt up and out of the way as a second 
dart missed him.  Kitty smirked.
        "Just thought I'd give it a second try." Kitty said before vanishing 
in another burst of blue flame.
        Rhialto slumped as the third dart hit him in the middle of the back.
        "Tch, tch, tch.  Too bad you couldn't think faster." Hello Kitty 
laughed as Rhialto began to lose consciousness.
        "I can't die..." Rhialto muttered.
        "Oh, this won't kill you.  It'll just put you to sleep until the 
semi-finals." Kitty giggled.
        "Why..." Rhialto managed to ask.
        "-Would I do such a thing?  I've evil, you schmuck.  I'm supposed to 
do pointless and repetitive evil crap like this." Kitty replied, kicking 
Rhialto in the head.
        Kitty grabbed Rhialto and Silphion and dragged them by their ankles 
down two flights of stairs to the medical ward before deciding she was 
thirsty and climbing six flights of stairs to go to the refreshment mall and 
heading to 'Milk For Kitties 'R' Us', one of the two dozen milk exclusive 
locations.  Unfortunately for Silphion and Rhialto, there was a revolving 
door...

        Drayko stood next to Washu.
        "Now, I know my expectations are quite high for your powers, but the 
sooner we can get rid of this barrier, the better." Washu told him.
        "Right.  I've got just the spell for getting rid of barriers like 
this." Drayko said.
        "I'll just step back and let you work." Washu said, before leaping
        "YAWA OG YAWA OG REIRRAB LIVE YAWA OG YAWA OG!" Drayko intoned.
        Nothing happened.
        "Guess I'll just have to get nastier.  YAWA OG YAWA OG SREIRRAB 
EDISTUO LLA YAWA OG YAWA OG!" Drayko chanted.
        "Good going, genius, you just took out the Death Dome Field!" Washu 
yelled.
        "That's not good.  KCAB TI EKAT I!" Drayko snapped.
        "It's back up." Washu replied.
        "I don't think any of my spells are going to be of much use.  Well, 
without the Death Dome Field going down as well." Drayko answered.
        "Well, thanks for trying." Washu said.
        "No problem." Drayko said, leaving to resume his duty as head of 
Security.
        Washu looked at the barrier and frowned.  This was going to become 
quite a challenge.

        "RED XIII!  GET YOUR BUTT OUT HERE RIGHT NOW!" Cloud growled.
        "Calm down, Cloud." Aerith said.
        "I can't!  Red XIII took off for-" Cloud began before they spotted 
Red XIII with the pather-sized alternate world Ura.
        Tifa grabbed Cloud and yanked him off to the side.  They watched Red 
XIII and Ura purr and head for the Milk Emporium.  Yuffie popped up behind 
them.
        "Man, you three missed it!  Red XIII's getting engaged to some cat 
from El Hazard called Ura!" Yuffie exclaimed.

        Makoto sighed into her coffee.  Haruka and Michiru exchanged 
glances.
        "What's wrong?" Michiru inquired as Kentaro entered the cafe behind 
Makoto.
        "Well, it's that Ranka girl.  I just can't get her out of my mind." 
Makoto commented.
        Kentaro paused.
        "Maybe you feel attracted to her.  I couldn't get Michiru out of MY 
mind when the two of us met." Haruka answered.
        Makoto blushed.
        "But me and Ranka?" Makoto asked.
        Kentaro's nose began bleeding at the thought.
        "She IS rather sexy.  I'd pay good money to see you two." Haruka 
said, grinning lecherously.
        With a geyser of blood spewing from his nose, Kentaro collapsed.
        "What was that?" Michiru asked.
        "Nothing important.  Probably just a water pipe." Haruka replied, 
despite the fact that she hadn't even bothered to look.
        "I think it might be important." Makoto said.
        "No, no.  Let's get back to this idea of you and Ranka..." Haruka 
said, positively drooling at the idea.
        Suddenly, a cry from outside was heard.  Without warning, 
A-kun-chan, half-naked as she had just started a bath, flew into the room 
and slapped Haruka upside the head.
        "What the..." Drayko began from behind the group.
        "Damn Hand of Morality." A-kun-chan said.
        Suddenly, she was yanked/thrown outside by her hand and began 
slapping Ataru endlessly.  Drayko raced outside to help beat Ataru senseless 
(even moreso than usual).
        "Well that was certainly exciting!" Drayko2 noted from her private 
booth before she returned to examining data on barriers that she'd broken 
through in the past.

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

        Well, here's the interlude between Rounds 2 and 3.

        Um, enjoy, I guess.

        By the way, A-kun's right hand is his Hand of Morality.  It lashes 
out to slap hentais when they get out of "hand".  He can't control it and it 
often winds up slapping him the most.  We've tried everything we could, save 
wasting money to send him to a psychologist, but to no avail.

        ?????
        C-chan


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