The Naga gaped uncertainly. It had been a long while since he had met a challenge. Last round of the tourney, and he had decimated each and every one of his opponents. He didn't really pay much heed to the bottom of the score card, Harvenger, the Kato. He didn't care how many circles he had on the board, it didn't matter. The Naga was breezing through opposition, and was flawless, not even touched yet.

He felt it now. Glancing at his chest to note the three, long scratches along the left side. Training his eyes on his right arm, where not three, but six, clawed grooves ran his forearm full circle. He felt it building now, the fear of losing, the shame of being defeated now. It was climbing...it was enraging...it was intoxicating...and it was sweeping him up in the torrent of emotion that flowed...

The dirt around Harvenger's right claws sifted as he stalked toward the Naga, Lethander, leaving three lined trails behind them. He wasn't injured, this was just his fighting style, always dragging his right claws across the ground. In fact, he hadn't been hit yet, and no one in this tournament had hit him yet. He noted the Naga's winning streak and watched his matches intently, learning his moves, his tactics, his weakness...

It all paid off now, Lethander on the retreat, sulking backward from the Kato. How embarrassing this must be for a Naga, Harvenger thought. No matter. It was time to end this fight, and claim his just prize.

Harvenger took off in a dead spent, his short legs seeming like a blur at their speed. His left claw was across his chest, while the right one ripped up dust in a fury. Lethander gritted his teeth as the ground was erupting towards him. It was coming out now. He couldn't hold it in, and why bothering trying to?

Harvenger jumped and spun twice in mid air. As he landed, he swiped his right claw in front of him. A large, spinning vortex of flying dust flew towards the Naga. Lethander couldn't escape. The tornado was too powerful, snatching the naga into its hold. This tornado didn't subside like most, it held him inside, still spinning as strong as it had when it was first created.

Harvenger's mustache curled up as his teeth appeared in a victorious smile. He crouched slightly, pointing both claws behind him, as if preparing for flight. Fly he did, as he bounded right into the tornado.

Initially, everyone could see the Naga's shadow whipping around in the twister. Then, a smaller, fast shadow darted past him time and time again. Lethander's shadow jerked each time, harder than the last. Eventually, the dust was too much, and no one knew what was happening inside.

The clings and clangs of claws within the dust storm was still loud and ringing. No one could imagine that the Naga would be even feasibly putting up a fight within this. Then, there was a glow, that grew into a bright, shining light. The sound of clashing claws increased ten-fold, as if this tornado was full of knives and swords. The dust seemed to be smoking more, but they were stirring up an unbelievable amount of debris now. It had seemingly filled the entire coliseum.

One solid cling followed by a very loud whack echoed lastly, and everyone's eyes tried to squint past the flying dust as one of the shadows flew out the opposite side of the storm. It was too fast to make out size, but one of them had been slung out of the fray. However, the center of the dust cloud was...pulsing?

The storm stopped, and as the debris began to settle, everyone was anticipating who had came out on top. Before anything could be spotted in the falling dust, two, large balls appeared in the center of the where the pulsing was coming from. They swayed slightly, off beat with the other, as they moved towards where the other shadow had went. Then, one went back quickly, then flew forwards at a very high rate. The other went up, and then downward, chasing its fellow Energy Ball. No one could even see where the other shadow was, but the first ball hit with a huge explosion, followed shortly by the second, for an additional boom.

The dust was calming more now, but the pulsating was becoming brighter. Eventually, everyone could see the Naga glowing. He was also smoking, possibly from the dust? Not likely, as his eyes were glowing an eerie red tint. In the falling dust, his eyes seemed to reach into it, piercing the dirt with the beams from its sockets.

Then, the floor moved slightly. The other shadow, no doubt Harvenger, climb uneasily out of the crator. The second ball hit slightly past the first, so the crators looked like a figure eight. The Kato walked slowly out of the hole he had found himself in. The dust was still too thick to tell much more than shadows and the Naga's menacing transformation.

Lethander's voice rumbled slightly with a humor only found with great power. Harvenger slowly moved toward him anyway, dragging his right claw along the dirt. Maybe he was hurt now. The Naga's eye lit up a few times rapidly, then, twin red beams fired from them.

Harvenger rolled forward, barely dodging the rays as they fell in the creators with another solid explosion, but not nearly as big as the others. Harvenger came out of his roll in full sprint again. The eye lasers continued to rain as the Kato ducked and bobbed his way to the Naga.

Lethander raised his claws slowly, preparing for combat, but continued to launch the beams. One fateful shot, the Kato leaped and twisted in mid jump to dodge the laser. However, he continued to spin, diving at his opponent head first, claws outstretched. Lethander got his claws up just in time.

The dust had fallen now, enough to see anyway. Right now, the Kato's claws were interlocked with the Naga's, both pushing and twisting, trying to overpower and counter their opponent at the same time. Havenger was, of course, suspended in the air, claw-in-claw with Lethander. Their eyes stared at each other, their cheeks showed the strain of them gritting their teeth. The Naga had several deep gashes now, always in sets of three. The red blood streaked down its purple skin, slightly spattered about by the severity of the fight. The dust had accumulated in some of the cuts, which only fueled his rage. The Kato had a few cuts, but not as many. His fur was matted with crimson, forming little red spikes as the hair stuck together with blood. He also had some large portions of his coat charred and blackened.

Looking at their claws alone told the severity of this battle. Each was dinged and chipped all over. This was the same for both monsters. Now, they were in a stale-mate, locked in a bid for power that was going to have to end, soon.

The two monsters and most of the audience was so entranced by this fight that the bell sound made them jump. The match was over, now it would be a judge ruling.

Wait...whats this? They are still locked?

Certainly, the match had ended, but not for these two. Now they had something to prove. Harvenger broke the lock with a graceful back flip. As he landed, he saw the glowing Naga tail rolling across the ground towards him. He took a quick hop and raked his claws across the passing tail. Lethander growled loudly as he spun himself upright, slinging a claw toward the air born Kato.

Harvenger barely twisted his body to get away from this attack as the bell rang again. They didn't care. As the Harvenger landed, he skipped backward twice. As he looked to Lethander, the Naga wasn't there. The Kato barely rolled to his left as the tail stabbed into the ground where he was. Studying your opponent pays off.

The bell rang again, and the gates opened. Both monsters noted the Mariomax entering from each of the four gates. Harvenger jumped into the air, diving strait at the Naga. Lethander braced his claws in a X over his head as the Kato's claws slammed into them. Harvenger pulled himself over and kicked the Naga in the forehead.

He spring boarded off this attack in a flip. Halfway through it, twin red beams of energy came at him. Being small, only one hit him, the other nailed one of the Golem/Wrackys in the chest. However, the one beam that hit Harvenger was enough. Harvenger found himself spiraling sideways, and used this to his advantage. As he landed, he swiped both claws in the same direction. Two tornados spun wildly towards Lethander. The Naga evaded one, but the second caught him. He found himself in the air, flying up and to the right. The second twister slung another of the Mariomax in the coliseum wall.

Lethander didn't have time to do anything as the Kato skyrocketed towards him. Hit after painful hit rocked the Naga's world. Each shot propelled him farther up, as the blood splattered on the unrelenting Kato. Harvenger knew he had him now. Then, all the Kato could see was the Naga's palm. This surprised him, but not as much as when the clawed hand filled with white. Harvenger could do nothing as the ball exploded in mid air.

Everyone was in awe as the two monsters were slammed into the ground from the force. Dust erupted around where each of the fighters had landed. Before the smoke of the explosion or the dust from the falling creatures subsided, everyone saw the sides of the dust clouds open and streak toward the other. The little extensions of wavering dust were actually clinging to the shadowed forms that rushed each other yet again. The two shadows slammed into each other at center of the coliseum once more.

This time, one load clang was followed by a series of them. Dust was picking up slightly were they were now. People could see the angered Lethander sending and blocking a constant volley of attacks from a likewise Harvenger. The two monsters were attacking and blocking at a rate that was hard to keep up with.

Then, each fighter found themselves grasped by a Mariomax. Their claws slammed each other even as the Golems lifted them up and began backing away. Lethander screamed an unearthly scream. The Mariomax that held him froze in terror, then he jerked hard as several, large, purple spines shot out of his back. They were covered with the Golem's blood, and retracted back into him. The Golem's grip loosened and Lethander found himself charging his now held opponent.

Harvenger plunged his left claws into the Mariomax's forearm. The Golem loosened his grip enough for Harvenger to wiggle free. The Kato jumped strait into the air, and the Golem outreached both hands up to recapture him.

The Golem jerked hard as the claw plunged through his abdomen. The Mariomax had a look of pure terror in his eyes, and genuine sadness as he coughed up a bit of blood. Lethander had no remorse, merely frustrated that he barely missed the Kato. Harvenger made his presence known as he landed behind the Naga, raking all his claws full length down the Naga's back.

Lethander let out a scream of anguish as his tail thrashed behind him, trying to hit this agile foe. Harvenger backed up with a high, double back flip, landing on one knee, his left claw across his chest, his right claw limply laid in the dirt, sadly attempting at his usual fighting stance.

Both monsters felt the ground shaking a bit, and each must have seen the shock in the other's eyes as the Mariomax charged their foe from behind. Lethander simply turned and outstretched his left hand towards the Golem, firing an orb of energy from his hand. The Golem buckled from the explosion in his stomach. He raised his eyes to gaze at the Naga. All he saw was red.

The crowd was shocked as the eye lasers from Lethander sunk into each of the Golem's sockets. Only a small bit from the back of his head blew off, but the sight of a toppling Mariomax, with blooded tears rolling down its cheeks, was a bit much. The eyes were only red and empty sockets now. The Golem fell back, dead.

The other Golem was almost to Harvenger when this happened. The Kato prepared to defend himself, only to find the Golem charging past him. The Mariomax's fist swelled three fold as he lifted it over his head. As Lethander turned he saw the Golem, he saw the fist detach, but had no way of evading it.

The crowd cringed with the crunch of the hit. The flying fist carried the Naga on the end of it, slamming him into the stadium wall. The Golem continued to charge, intent on killing this murderer. All of a sudden, a Kato appeared between him and the Naga. The Golem didn't care, he'd as soon squash the other cause for this mess. As he got to the Kato, Harvenger outstretched both of his claws to the side, then slashing them past each other in front of him.

A huge tornado appeared, but this Mariomax was no slacker. The monster's body detached and began spinning in a tornado of its own. The spiraling wind masses collided with an engulfing wave of flying dust. A very load crash rang forth from the other side of the arena. The shadow of the Golem climbing out of his hole in the wall was obvious.

Then, not one, not two, but three balls of light slammed into the Mariomax's chest. This wouldn't have been so bad, had they all not hit in the exact same location, one right after the other. The Golem had a huge hole in its chest now, dug out by the three consecutive hits. He fell back into his hole, never to fight again.

The dust settled again, but this time, the Naga was pretty beat up. Blood came from his nose, his eyes. His bright shine faded, the smoke dissipating from him, and the red tint subsided. He hissed slightly as he moved towards the Kato, who was pretty messed up as well.

"You've got this one, Harvenger...but I will have my rematch..." Lethander hissed.

The Naga collapsed on his face in a rise of dust. The Kato watched him for a second, then sat down, in a puff of dust considerably smaller. He sat their, breathing hard, not able to believe he survived this fight at all.

He glanced to the stadium gates as several monsters and trainers entered the arena. Nothing to stop now, it was over. Harvenger noticed a man kneeling over the downed Naga. It was blurry though, all blurry. He also noticed a man running towards him. Harvenger couldn't think, his mind wouldn't work now. He just gave in to the fatigue, and let his vision go dark as his eyes moved up to see a blackened sky as the first of the rain drops spattered on his face.

It felt cool, compared to the uncomfortable warmth of fresh blood drops, anyway...


-Hey hey, thought I'd start up a new story in the MR universe, once again. Hope you guys like it. I decide to open with my trademark, ACTION! CHB-