Garou's Rival

Chapter 13 - The Super Fight Tournament

Lily throws an empty can at my head. "How many times are you gonna be sent to the hospital before you finally learn to give up?" she asks with her hands on her hips.

I groan and put my good hand over my head. "Just don't talk to me," I mumble. "It's bad enough that you're here, do you have to throw things at me? There are other patients here who have to deal with your shit."

"Oh, don't mind us," Charanko answers, out of sight. Lily turns around and pulls back a curtain. "Hello. So you're a friend of Alpha?"

"The hell? How many of you are there?" she asks.

"We were the only ones who were put in this condition. But there were over twenty people at that fight, and we all got a beating," someone else says. Lily crosses over my bed and draws back the opposite curtain. Tanktop Master is also in a bed, heavily bandaged. "Even me, an S Class hero."

Lily nods and runs back over to me. "Why didn't you tell me you knew Tanktop Master?!" she whispers loudly.

"Ow, ow! I don't! Is this the same thing as Genos? Lily, I don't know these people, we just happen to fight together," I groan. She's silent for a moment, thinking hard about something. "Lily, you can't sleep with him."

"What?! Why not?" she asks.

"You're 18!"

"Yeah yeah, this again," she sighs. "When are you gonna learn that you can't stop me from doing whatever and whoever I want?"

I turn around and stand up. "I'm not gonna lie here while you flirt with a crippled hero. I'm out of here," I say. "If I'm ever gonna beat Garou, I have to improve my martial arts.

"I can help you with that," Charanko says quietly. I look over at him. "I entered a tournament for martial artists a while back, and still have the ticket. I was gonna cancel, but the ticket should still be good to watch it. You might learn something from the fights."

I take the ticket and look at it. "Thanks. So, this ticket would get me a place in the tournament, right?"

He grabs my wrist. "Hey, you can't impersonate me! That would be illegal, not to mention you're in no condition to enter a tournament!"

Lily grabs my ear. "He's right. If you enter that tournament, I will march in there myself and throw you off the ring," she says.

"Okay, okay! I won't go! But, before we do anything rash, just think this over," I say calmly, taking a step back. "If you were all in the same position, what would you do? After all, with everything I've done to get stronger, do you really think I'll stop here?" I stop, with my back to the open window. "Now, I know what you're thinking. But let me just say..." I lean back and fall straight out of the window.

—————

"Welcome, welcome all! Welcome to the 22nd Super Fight Tournament! Fighters from all over the continent have gathered here for their chance to win, and prove themselves the most skilled martial arts fighter in the area!" I walk up to the registration and hand in my ticket. Just have to put in my details. I put in Alpha, before quickly erasing it and putting in Charanko. If I'm gonna do this, I have to go under Charanko's name. But if I run into anyone that knows him, I'm done for.

I start getting ready in the fighters' area. Looking in the mirror, it doesn't actually look that bad. I had to dye my hair orange to be safe. It's only temporary, it'll wash out eventually. That's not what I should be worried about, though. My bones are barely healed after my last fight with Garou. I could be brought down with a couple of good blows in the wrong areas. "Hey, Charanko! Long time no see!" FUCK!