Welcome to Gaia! ::

The crowd cheered as one by one, each participant of the Gaian Tenkaichi Budokai strolled in. Some replied to the praises from the people, and some simply took it as a passing wind as their only focus was on what lied ahead of them. Though it seemed not all thirty-two showed up for the ceremony, he had a feeling that they would at least show their faces at the fights. To miss them would be to contradict their entry into this tournament, to defeat their purpose of coming here to prove themselves in mortal combat.

As the crowd cheered, someone steps up the side steps onto the platform, carrying a wireless microphone in his right hand. He wore a pale blue long coat over a white dress shirt. His pants were the same color as the coat, but his shoes a shiny black. Orange eyes, bright, showed against his tanned skin, and white hair flowed down the back of his head, with a spiky touch to the top. The pretentious looking man comes to a stop in the middle of the arena, and the crowd ceases their cheering. When everything went silent, the mic comes up to his mouth, his voice following in its deep, smooth mature tone.

"Hello, everyone. Welcome to the second annual Gaian Tenkaichi Budokai. My name is Midus Sonners, president of GTB, and I am proud to bring to you the event of the year."

The crowd roars in applause as he pauses. When it finally dies down, he returns to his speech.

"One year ago, a man by the name of Clash Kiddick created this tournament for the sake of having all known fighters at the current time to come together and compete for the title of 'Gaia's Best.' With an entry total of over two hundred competitors, the GTB was by the far the largest tournament on the planet. People came and the fights commenced in an epic struggle to see who comes out on the top. The numbers continued to decrease round after round until it finally came to the remaining sixteen. It was then that something unexpected happened. Clash came forward and told the real reason for this tournament: it was simply for the sake of showing up some of the boasting fighters he had encountered, and thus left the tournament to the council."

He pauses again, only this time it was in silence, just the reaction he wanted as he took a moment to catch his breath and let the truth settle into everyone's ears.

"At this time, it had become a stressing toil, for the council did not know how they were going to bring this tournament to the climax that it was waiting for. The leadership, Clash, was gone, and so they were left in the dark. That is....until I arrived. I had been watching the tournament since it had first begun, wondering why an old friend like Clash would create such an organized event which had quickly gained the attention of all these fighters, friends, foes, and those inbetween. I watched, and when I saw that he had left, and came up to take the responsibility, receiving the praise from Kiddick himself. I asked him why he was leaving like this, and he said to me: 'Because I am done with it. However, I trust that you will make this tournament into something big.'

"And so he left. Now, I stand before you all with the promise of the next tournament. Though the first ended with no actual winner, this time around, I have made it so there will be a conclusion this time. There will be a definite winner, and there will be definite losers. There will be more organization, there will be more entertainment, and most of all, there will be the greatest tournament you have seen yet!"

And once more, a loud boom of the crowd came forth, their fists shooting into the air, the atmosphere changing from despair to excitement in a blink of a second. Midus looks toward the ground of fighters, waving his hand before them.

"And you all are our special guests. Today, you will showcase your skills in front of the entire world, and combat to see who will become our first ever Gaian Tenkaichi Budokai champion. The winner will walk away with a trophy, money, and most of all: glory. If you truly wish for these three, and much more, then give your all and express your passion for combat inside the ring! Do this not for just those qualities, but for yourself. Now then. If you will all give your attention to the screen behind me..."

He turns, a giant screen resting on the high wall of the stadium, the screen currently showing the names of each of the fighters.

"Now, the fights are going to be randomized, and one by one, each pairing will be shown to you all."

And after that, the scrambling of words begun, a sound effect of accompanying this as everyone awaits to see the match pair ups. The suspense started to build as each person had their eyes on the screen, waiting to see what to expect.

Rei smiled. He listened to the words of mister Sonners and clenched his fists tight. He seemed to be very happy about this tournament. Rei was as well. He had only heard of the last GTB recently, seeing as how he was in the dark this time last year. But now he had come forward, and while he didn't expect to win, he expected his name to be known, and then that would be enough for him. He looked to his new friend Sanji. Maybe he would be his first opponent. Hopefully not. He wanted to know what the man was capable of.

As the screen came on, he turned towards it, watching as the names flashed by, waiting until it came to a stop to reveal the match-ups. He was eager.

He'd listened to the speech patiently, his arms crossed over his chest. He'd seen Jack and Kuroha here - he wondered how many other opponents he'd fought were here. Guess it was time to find out. Deitric grinned - he wanted to fight both of them again. Not because he had won, but to see how much they'd improved, and how much better he had gotten.

Kai.. Ethrale? Never even heard of him. I suppose I'll be in for a surprise, tomorrow.

Deitric skimmed over the other matches, seeing Jack's right below his own - it seems as though they'd come pretty close to a rematch. Hopefully, they'd be fighting each other next round, if they both managed to win.

Murdoch grinned widely, a dish of teeth of all shapes sizes and lethality would be visible as his left palm smacked his bare scaled stomach. Which one of these little guys was Muso Ragori?

The dragonic-humanoid would peer at each individual, scanning them up and down swiftly behind protective glasses which hid his crimson hued irises. The ******** is probably going to s**t his pants. Murdoch thought as he moved amongst the fighters.

THUMP

THUMP

His massive five-hundred-eighty pound bulk would surely stir whomever stood close by.

Yeah, Korag was just a tad bit late, but he caught the end of Mr. Sonners' speech, and walked to stand next to the other fighters right before the words appeared on the screen. He felt like roaring in confusion and fury, but instead took a moment to look closely at the screen. He knew well enough how his own name looked, so he found it easy enough. Next to his name was another name, one that he couldn't get all at once, but after breaking it down, the ogre was able to mumble his opponents name under his breath.

"Matthew...

The ogre memorized the symbol he knew to be a number; surely he'd need it to find where he would fight this man named 'Matthew' at.

" Ah ******** hate seeing my name up there..." Damion grumbled, scratching the back of his head as he hopped up from the stands where he had been lounging, looking rather sleepy at that. You would too if you fell asleep and had to be woken up by all the noise. " Wonder who this....Baptiste? John? the ********? Oh well...run with Spooky for now." He said to no one in particular, making his way down from the stands, " Outlaw, to me..." his way of summoning the knife was rather untheatrical, but it got the job done, the modified trench knife popping into existance in his right hand.

" Let's get this party started I suppose." The islander said, hopping down onto the grass then jogging over to Arena 1 to get ready.

Feeling the strong clasp of an unexpected hand greet his shoulder, Barsait shifted away enough to turn about-face; before laughing almost jovially prior to his response. "Well, you! Glad to see you're around this time too man; a few familiar faces amidst this crowd goes a long way for easing my spirits." Indeed, Mooo and Omi knew each other well enough; Round V of Gaian Tenkaichi Budoukai I had them bashing each other apart in a short-range show of melee prowess with gusto, until the judges deemed it over and the man standing before Barsait, the winner.

One could guess the mercenary'd regard Mooo with hostility- but, nothing of the sort was true. Even when he was bitter over the loss, it was the judges and not his opponent that the swordsman directed his anger towards; yet now, the wayward young man could only view it as having been a rather entertaining and educational match-up that made participating all the more worthwhile in the first place. Still - that was the past, and this was assuredly the ever more intense present. Spearheading the 'now,' was a man stepping across the platform ahead of them, wireless microphone and blue long coat introduce himself as none other than the individual that sent Omi his ticket - Midus Sonners.

"Hey, let's hope we get some failures for our first match-ups, ah? A warm-up round would be damned appreciated." The mercenary spoke in a lower tone; wry grin returning as his eyes and ears trained themselves on the man speaking. The history of the tournament, promises of the future - both blended together, painting a definition for the newest incarnation of the tournament. Then finally, the lovely screen upon the high wall of the stadium humming to life.. here it was. The match-ups.

Reading from "Arena 1" on down versus immediately skimming for his own name, Barsait was already throwing his lot in at the memorization game; match one's appearance with their names ahead of time for future use. Yet it didn't take long to reach Arena 6, first spotting the name "Mooo," - Omi skimmed over to the adjacent side, curious who the man standing next to him'd be facing..

.. And his eyes narrowed. Both shoulders drooped, and all that escaped his lips was a rhetorical, stunned: ".. What? I'll be damned, you've got.." Lulling out of the initial shock, the mercenary turned back to his company, laughing hysterically. "THAT IS TOO GREAT - right off the bat, we get to pick up where that last match left off, that's damned priceless! It really does fail, that one of us'll have to get knocked out the first step, but - bright side, whichever one of us wins'll have a world less to worry about, right?" Clapping Mooo in a similiar fashion on the left shoulder, the mercenary was already stepping off towards the tunnels of the arena, chiming in with each word - his tone of voice becoming more solemn though still friendly: "We should never gamble, ya know it? Our luck at draws is terrible. Catch you in the arena, Mooo! Good luck."

Only a few feet away, already - Omi's mind was on overload regarding the rapidly approaching first match.

Fireworks litter the sky in an epilogue of light and sparks, explosions of many colors hanging in the sky as their lit bursts rain from the skies one after another over the main Tenkaichi Budokai stadium, the crowd enthralled by the light show and similarly the announcement about to come on who won. Everybody's voices cheered loudly, though the volume of the booming voices of the rockets clearly beat out their combined shouts. In the center lied a copy of the stone platform the fighters fought in the final round, where four men in suits were standing with their hands in front of their bodies, awaiting for the host to come out and state the cree of the tournament. Stationed in front of them was a set up table, having a gold, a silver, and bronze GTB trophy on their sheeted tables. Each had three pillars that were aligned in a triangle formation with two figurines resting on the top. One was a man with a sword seeming to be lunging at the other. And the other figuring was using only his bare fists, doing the same to the swordsman, showing the theme that this tournament followed, that fighters of all different varieties were what represented what this tournament was about.

Finally, the people's anticipation was delayed no longer, as coming from the northern entrance was Midus himself. His blond hair was long and wavy against the back of his head, showing fullness and depth in the texture of the way it settled onto his head like a stream of water rushing down a bumpy stream, its strands keeping with the natural form of the water, the glares along the blond streaks appearing like the shining blemishes that mark the surface of a body of water during the day of the sun's glare. He was in clothes that were mostly white, though his top distinguished itself in that the cuffs were dark golden, with the shoulder pads holding the same color, though having large attachments similar to what majors wore in the military, wearing badges that told of their different accomplishments throughout their occupation thus far. On Midus's shoulder pads, he had five stars on each, with the middle star being bigger than the surrounding four. This hinted at what experience he had himself prior to taking the responsibility of the Gaian Tenkaichi Budokai.

In his right hand he held a wireless mic, his feet stepping up the added steps that took him into the ring, walking casually toward the center where the officials awaited. Clapping arose about them as the people watched Midus come in, giving an ovation for him finally bringing about a successful tournament. As long as he knew the people were happy, Sonners was not disappointed one bit. With a raise of his hand, he signaled for everyone to die down. And like a magician's hand at the magic show, everyone's voices were settled down, silence coming, giving room for the echoing, broadcasted voice of Midus's that was to follow. Bringing the mic to his mouth, he then speaks.

"For a month, we have been sitting here, watching as fighters pit against one another in mortal combat for the chance of proving who is the best amongst them. They have been through dirt; they have been through fire; they have been through water; they have been through blood. These men showed what it means to be a real fighter, to have the dedication and courage to step up to any challenge they are faced with and taking it on with no fear. And for that, each participant of this tournament are given my highest respects."

He paused for a moment, moving the mic away from his mouth to take a breather. But the crowd would make use of this pause to give an applause. Returning the mic back to his mouth, he continues: "As much as it would satisfy my heart to make all of them winners, I am afraid that the tournament would lose its meaning if I gave everyone an equal win. That is why today, I am about to announce the winners of the Gaian Tenkaichi Budokai."

Midus started to walk around, making sure he faced occasionally each side of the stadium so that all of the crowd could be acknowledged of their presence.

"Three of these four men are going to walk home with a title, money, and best of all: glory. So now, without further ado, it is time to announce the winners!"

Removing an folded piece of paper from his pocket, he opens it up and has his left hand hold it as his eyes look onto its contents.

"For the battle between Snow and Reyin, for the title of third place, the winner goes to..."

"Snow!"

A moment of applause came from the crowd for the announcement of the winner, the table awaiting for Snow to come and pick up his trophy, and give the crowd his thanks if he wanted to.

"And now, the moment you've all been waiting for. We will finally announce who is the first and new champion of the Gaian Tenkaichi Budokai!"

He pauses before saying loudly: "Deitric Jocasta!"

The crowd went into another loud uproar, Midus smiling and nodding his head as his ears were filled with the joy and excitement of the crowd.

"Though Omi Barsait lost," Midus continues. "He still is awarded with second place for making this far to begin with. Reyin Nova, although he did not make either of these places, we will not send him off without a consolation prize, for he fought just as well to keep himself in this tournament."

Awaiting up there was a fourth place trophy, though this one was smaller than the others. All of them could come and be claimed now by the winning fighters upon this stage, as Midus stood, finally happy to have brought upon the conclusion of the tournament.

"If you will Mr. Jocasta, can you come up here and say a few words?" Midus held the mic out, ready for Deitric to take if he wished.