//------------------------------// // A New Challenger Appears // Story: The Wandering Warrior // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// The chirping of the birds overhead woke the sleeping warrior from his slumber. He let out a soft moan before he opened his eyes, squinting slightly as the bright sun blinded him momentarily. He glanced up to see the branches of a tree resting over his head, with the birds colored like the rainbow looking down at him. He placed his hand against the ground and pushed himself up to his bare feet, adjusting his red gloves slightly before tucking in his white gi. Ryu reached up and tightened his headband, feeling the breeze catch its tails. He glanced down and found his bag with his personal belongings leaning against his worn, white gi. He bent over and picked up the incredibly heavy bag with a single arm before slinging the bag over his shoulder. 'I don't recognize this place,' he thought as he glanced around, finding himself in a large field. 'This was not near the cave where I found that hermit. So did his magic work? Guess I'll have to find out.' The warrior looked ahead to see the buildings of a large city looming in the distance. Figuring that it was as good a place to start as any, Ryu began to walk towards the buildings. Ten minutes of silent walking went by before he met another traveler on the path he took, though he was slightly surprised by what he saw. It was a horse smaller than him that was colored yellow, with a brown mane. They gawked up at Ryu as he walked by them, but aside from a slight bow of his head Ryu paid them little mind. When Ryu finally reached the edge of the city, he found more of the horses within. All of the horses were painted like the rainbow, but when he looked closer he found that some had horns while others had wings. All of them, aside from the smallest of the small, had marks on their flanks that were a variety of things. Most of them stopped what they were doing to watch Ryu as he walked by, but as none of them did anything he found no need to notice them. 'Truly that hermit was correct,' Ryu mused when he glanced up at the city sky to see dozens of pegasi flying overhead. 'This world is far stranger than the one that I call home. I am glad that he warned me that there would be strange beings here that I have never seen before. This would be jarring otherwise.' The closer he went into the city, the more crowded the place became. Soon he found himself walking on the sidewalk alongside other ponies, who he towered over completely. Every time he glanced around at them he saw that all eyes were upon him, but none of them said anything to him. Nor did he read fear or terror in their eyes. They were just curious. 'I should ask for directions,' Ryu realized while standing at a crosswalk. 'I'm just wandering around aimlessly. Perhaps someone here will be able to at least point me in a direction that I would need to go.' Ryu spied a stand that had the words "Information" printed above it, so he decided to try there. He walked up to the stand, where a pony was sleeping in a chair, and tapped against the wood with his fingers. The pony awoke with a start, but when they laid eyes on Ryu a smile crossed their face. "Well hello there. You're not from around here, are you?" the pony asked Ryu, who shook his head in reply. "No no, don't say anything. I can tell from your build, your outfit...you're a fighter, aren't you?" "Yes, I am. How did you know that?" Ryu asked with some confusion. The pony's response was to smile before reaching under his desk, reemerging a moment later with a flier that he handed to Ryu. Ryu took the flier in his hand, raising an eyebrow when he saw what was written on it. "That's for the fighting tournament that we have going on in this city. Today as a matter of fact," the pony said to Ryu, who folded up the flier and stuck it in his gi. "We've had all sorts of martial artist showing up over the past couple of days. Some of them even came here. That's how I knew you were one of them." "You are correct, I am a fighter. And perhaps this tournament you speak of is the first step towards what I am looking for," Ryu pondered aloud. "Well what are you looking for?" "I do not know." The pony smirked at Ryu's response before reaching under his desk once more and pulling out a map. "Here, I've circled where you are on here in red and circled where the fight's taking place at in blue. Shouldn't be too hard for you to follow." "Thank you for you kindness," Ryu said with a bow. After receiving the map from the pony, he began to moved towards the blue circle as best he could. With all of the side roads and back alley's, he got lost more than once. Though even when lost, he found that there was still things of interest in those places. "Whoa, who is that, mom?" Ryu heard a foal ask when he had stopped in a park to see where he had gotten to. "I don't know dear, but it's rude to point. He's probably here for the fighting tournament, same as all the others." "But he looks so different from nearly all the other fighters! And his gloves look so cool! Can I get some?!" "Dear...we don't have hands." As he moved through the streets, Ryu found that while the ponies were interested in him, they were not exactly the most courteous of creatures. They yelled at each other from the tops of carriages after they cut one another off. Some bickered in the streets over the smallest of details. Ryu also believed that he saw a few black, insect looking beings among them. Eventually, as the sun was starting to set, Ryu found his way to the place that had been circled on the map. It was a large stadium, build from marble and flooded in spotlights. Even from the outside, Ryu could hear the sounds of the crowds roaring from within. He pulled the flier from his gi and saw that the tournament began at six. He then glanced at the nearest clock to see it read eight o' five. A frown crossed his face, but he walked up to the gates anyway, figuring that he would simply explain why he was so late in entering the tournament. A single pony sat behind a folding table with a sign that said "Sign ups", fast asleep on his table. Once again Ryu tapped against the table to awaken the pony, who let out a small yawn before glancing up at the warrior with curious eyes. "Well hello there. You're quite the specimen, aren't ya?" the pony asked as he looked up at down Ryu. "Let me guess, here for the tourney? Well well, seems that you've arrived awfully late. The whole thing is pretty much over." "I am sorry to hear that. I had come in hopes that I could test myself against the fighters of this land," Ryu said with disappointment as he turned and started to walk away. "Whoa there buddy, I said almost over, not completely over," the pony hastily said, his words causing Ryu to stop and glance back over his shoulder. "See, while there were a lot of cool preliminaries and fights for the crowd, we actually have a bit of a problem. There's no final match." "Why is that?" "Because no pony wants to fight the three time defending champion of this tourney. The Black Bull, as he's called," the pony explained. "And the one fighter that was supposed to didn't show up. Whether he got held up or chickened out, we don't know and we don't care. Because nopony else wants to fight him and because of that we don't got a show. A lot of ponies had money on this final bout, so of course most of them are upset. So I'll tell you what I'll do. You agree to go fight our champion, and I'll allow you to enter. What do you say? Want to fight one of the best we got?" "What do I say?" Ryu repeated before looking down at his fist, clenching it tight with a smile crossing his face. "I say that this would be the right way to start off my journey here." →↓↘ + P "Alright mares and gentlecolts, it's time for the moment that you've all been waiting for! The main event!" The crowd of ponies bellowed with excitement, causing the whole stadium to shake beneath their excitement. "Now then, let us introduce the champion! You know him, you love him! Give a loud round of applause for the three time, I said THREE time, champion, the BLACK BULL!" The crowd erupted into shrieks as a minotaur that was completely black burst through a wall of concrete and skidded to a stop in the center of the arena. He bellowed with a voice that could be heard over the roaring of the crowd, while he pawed at the floor with his hooves. His white horns gleamed in the spotlights, blinding a number of ponies in the crowd. He then began to pace back and forth across the arena floor, waiting for his opponent. "And now for the challenger. The master of the skies, the unholy angel: Let's get a large cheer for...the WINGED WEAPON!" The crowd bellowed as well, but as the spotlights shown on the other entrance the roaring died down to confused murmurs. "Perhaps you didn't hear me. I said the WINGED WEAPON!" Once again the challenger failed to appear, causing the murmuring to continue. "Well well, it seems that the rumors were true Filthy Rich. Your pick to win is nowhere to be found," Golden Greed said with a smile as he cast a glance at the brown stallion with the slicked back hair. His smile grew longer when he saw the look of disbelief that was crossing the face of the stallion. "Perhaps he is in the bathroom. Or he simply didn't get his gear on," Filthy Rich tried to argue, but all his words did was get a smirk from Golden Greed. Greed then looked behind the box seats to the rest of the ponies that were there as well. His own family sat on one side while Filthy Rich's wife and daughter sat on the other, with the same looks of concern on their faces as Filthy Rich's. "We just need to give him more time. I'm sure that he's-" "More time? Filthy, can't you hear this crowd?" the grey stallion asked with a small chuckle as the crowd began to boo wildly, not at all happy that there was no fight going on. "They all paid good money to see our, well, money match. Two of the best fighters in the world going at it. And your combatant is a no show. That's got not good for sales...or for our little bet." Filthy Rich bit down hard on his lip as he hoped fervently that his fighter would walk through the gate at any moment. Greed let out a chuckle as the crowd's booing got louder, which was only stopped when Black Bull got ahold of a microphone and began to talk smack to his opponent. Filthy took that moment to walk back over to his wife and daughter, one who glared at him with anger while the other simply looked concerned. "Dad, what's going on?" Diamond Tiara asked him. "What's going on is that your father was so certain that this warrior of his would be able to win that he placed nearly all of our money on this fight," Spoiled Rich explained for her daughter, her haughty words only making Filthy hang his head in shame. "But since his fighter isn't showing up, it seems that we're going to lose this little bet of his by forfeit. Good going "dear", you ruined our family by betting on the wrong horse." "Now don't be too hard on him, I'm sure that he had nothing but faith in his fighter," Golden Greed laughed from his seats. "But seeing as your fighter isn't going to show up, I guess we can go ahead and call the bet and match here. Now are you going to pay me in bits or-?" "I invoke the substitution rule," Filthy cut off Greed in a near whisper. Spoiled Rich gasped at this while Greed let out a loud laugh. Diamond Tiara looked back and forth between the two, both confusion and concern written clearly on her face. "What's the substitution rule?" she asked with fear in her voice. "The substitution rule, my little filly, is a rule that can be invoked when a fighter does not appear. The rule states that the next combatant to step up to the plate, as it were, shall take the place of the fighter that was originally supposed to fight," Greed explained, practically licking his lips. "Are you that desperate, Filthy, that you would leave the fate of your fortune up to chance? Up to whatever jobbers they have sitting around in the back?" Filthy looked away from Greed as he sat down next to his family. His wife gave him a cold scowl while his daughter rested her head against him, trying to comfort him as best she could. "Of course, if no other fighter steps up to challenge my Black Bull, then you still lose," Greed reminded Filthy and his family with a smile. "Perhaps you shouldn't have bet so much money on this match. I mean, who knows what can happen to a fighter in between bouts?" Filthy gave Greed as cold a glare as he could muster, but his courage quickly fell when Greed gave him another smirk. The ponies waited five more minutes before Greed let out a sigh. "Alright Filthy, I'm done watching you squirm. Nopony else is coming out, so- "Wait a moment mares and gentlecolts, looks like this evening isn't over yet! We have a new challenger!" the announcer roared, silencing Greed and causing the crowd to turn their eyes towards the tunnel where the spotlights shown. A being then walked out of the tunnels, a being in a white gi with the sleeves ripped off. A red headband was wrapped around his head and he tightened his red gloves as he walked into the arena. He walked into the center of the arena, right next to the Black Bull, who smirked down at him. "You really think you can take me, shrimp?" the bull asked, despite barely being taller than his opponent. "When I'm done with you, they won't even be able to carry you out in a body bag. you'll have to be take home in a jar, because you'll be pounded into liquid when I'm finished! What do you think of that?" The crowd then looked to the other fighter, who stood with his eyes closed. He then slowly opened them and looked up at the bull. "Talk is cheap. Let's settle this with our fists," he replied as he took up his fighting stance. The Black Bull snorted as he began to paw the ground, the two sizing each other up. "So this is who you've put your faith in?" Greed said to Filthy with a chuckle. "Well, I hope that he at least puts up a show." "Mares and Gentlecolts, I give you your new challenger!" The crowd roared in response, excited that they'd finally get their fight. But for Filthy Rich and his family, they all watched the battle with scared eyes, placing all of their hope on this fighter. "From parts unknown, weighing in at Faust knows how much, I give you the mysterious being, the black haired battler. Mares and Gentlecolts..." "THE WANDERING WARRIOR!"