Chapter Seventeen: Battle on Karpen Island!

By 9AM, the announcers started calling everyone to their seats and they all quieted down as the competition would begin soon.

Commentator 1: Everyone, we’d like to welcome you to Karpen Island!

The crowd cheered.

Commentator 2: And a big welcome to all the fighters that accepted their invitations to participate in the fight of the century. Let’s give them all a big hand folks.

Claps and cheers erupted through the audience. I listened intently for a moment because the commentators' voices seemed familiar.

Commentator 1: Early betting will close in ten minutes, so if you haven’t picked a longshot favorite yet, the time is now. At the end of the announcements the preliminaries will commence and be followed by a short break to allow the fighters to recuperate and for round one betting to start.

Commentator 2: Fighters. You’ve been gathered here today because of your remarkable skills and the opportunity to win a grand prize of one hundred million US dollars and the cosmic secret that is held by the tournament's host, Mr. Stargazer!

The crowd went wild, but Annika, who was leaning against a wall behind us in the dugout, felt differently.

“I dun give two fucks about some secret of the universe. I’m just here for the fookin monay,” she expressed.

I turned to acknowledge her objective and then surveyed the other fighters, especially Volmar, who was stoic as ever.

Commentator 1: The rules are simple. There are sixty-four of you. You will each draw lots with a number one through eight on them. The number you draw will signify your preliminary match. Each match will consist of eight of you duking it out in a Battle Royale style match. The last fighter standing advances to your corresponding bracket number for round one. The eight remaining fighters will face each other one on one until the bracket is complete. Wins are determined by knockout, submission, or ringout. There are no weapons allowed and killing is strictly prohibited and will be punished with immediate expulsion from the tournament.

As the rules were being explained, it suddenly hit me. I knew where I had heard the voices of the commentators before. They were the commentators of the basketball game from my dream! What the hell was going on here?!

I had no time to think. A staffer came into the dugout with a box and signaled it was time to draw lots. Everyone started lining up, then suddenly I felt a push from behind.

“Out of the way chump, the real men get to draw their lots first,” said a man who was rather muscular, but had a waistline too big for his own good.

He approached the box and drew a number four. Several other men drew their lots. Then it was Annika’s turn. She drew a number one. Good, I’d get to see her fight early on, assuming I wasn’t in her battle bracket. Several others drew their numbers, then it was Li’s turn. He drew number two. Next was Slim Jim. He drew a five. Finally, it was my turn. A number four. Awesome, I wouldn’t have to face Li, Slim, or Annika right away and neither in round one either if we all advanced. But I would get to face fatso right off the bat.

The last to draw a lot was Volmar. He drew a number six. That means none of the fighters I was concerned about would be facing off in the preliminary round. We could all get a front row seat of one another’s abilities.

Commentator 2: All fighters have drawn their lots and betting for the preliminaries is now over.

Commentator 1: Fighter’s with lot number one, you may approach the battle stage now.

Here it goes. It was time to see what Annika and these other fighters were made of. The eight of them entered the ring and stood in a circle apart from one another about five to ten feet each. The crowd was at full hype lung capacity now. The official on the sideline then signaled the fight to begin.

Annika immediately took off running to the opponent directly across from her and impacted her knees to his chest, knocking him down. She started laying rapid punches into his body as the other fighters grappled with one another. It looked like sheer pandemonium in the ring as bodies and punches were thrown everywhere. The fighter Annika had knocked down was now crying and shielding his head with his arms and began crawling towards the edge of the ring, screaming, “I give up! I give up!”

The other fighters were disjointedly carrying on what consisted of little more than a bar brawl. One by one, Annika would interrupt one of their fights to take on and eliminate both fighters. In under four minutes she had eliminated all seven of her opponents with little damage taken to herself. With only a few scrapes and bruises, she wiped her opponent’s blood from her arms and chest and breathed heavily as she was declared victor of the first preliminary battle.

“Oh my god Guy,” Cinema said to me, “I’m scared of her! That was fucking brutal. Be careful out there.”

“I’ve fought a mummy and a centuries old crusader. I can handle anyone in this tournament,” I assured her as I caught myself sneaking a glance over at Volmar.

Commentator 1: And the second preliminary round is about to begin!

Li gave us a thumbs up and said, “Alright, that’s me. See you one the other side my friends.”

I reciprocated the thumbs up and watched Li ascend into the ring. I learned most of what

I knew about fighting from Master Li Chen and honed my craft with him for a couple years, but I’ve never seen him fight what would be considered his equal. Not the guys that attacked me in the alley, or the drunken Australian poachers we fought in the outback, and not me either. I had only been his sparring partner, but today, we would likely spar for real. I’ll spare you the details of Li’s preliminary match. Just know that in under two minutes, he dispatched all seven of his opponents with grace not shown by Annika in her match. Li would be advancing to round one.

The next match was more entertaining for the fact that there were no standouts. The flashiness of the first two preliminary matches were nowhere to be found and this resulted in a fifteen minute rumble that left only one man standing. Seven combatants fought with one another until the eighth finished them off in their weakened state. He would go on to be my opponent in round one.

Speaking of me. Did you think I was going to detail my own match? Please! I’ve been in bar fights on tour with Modicum that were more entertaining than my preliminary match. If you want an interesting fight, refer back to one of my battles against Tet, or Percival. Hell, even the redneck in Kansas was more interesting than this. He kicked my ass at first! Just know that after about three and a half minutes, I climbed out of that ring with the crowd cheering at my back and a little bruise on my cheek.

Fights number five, seven, and eight weren’t much different than fight three. You had decent fighters facing off against decent fighters. Slim easily won his contest. But it was match six that stole the show. Everyone in the ring decided they had best team up to eliminate Volmar first. But he delivered punches that would send men flying like bowling pins. Half the fighters were sent out of bounds in a single hit. The rest seemed to be completely stunned and unable to defend themself after getting to their feet. Oh yes, Volmar had a powerful secret, and I was going to expose it.

It was time for the bracket to be displayed. The remaining eight of us would descend down to the semi finals and give these cronies a real show for their money. Looking back, I probably should have been focused on my round one opponent. But in a vain attempt to distract myself from Volmar, who was being coached in German by his friends on the far bench in the dugout, I was watching Li. I could see his kinetic energy connecting with Annika as they looked at each other, speechless. They knew that they would be the first true fight in this tournament, and it was about to start any moment.

Commentator 2: Alright folks, that concludes the betting period for round one. Please return to your seats and prepare for the first full fight of the tournament.

The crowd erupted again as Li and Annika made their way down to the stage.

Commentator 1: Entering the ring first is the South African Beauty, Annika! Her reputation as a fighter extends far beyond the borders of her home country though she is relatively new to the sport.

The crowd cheered as Annika climbed into the ring and began bouncing up and down and started shaking off any numbness in her hands.

Commentator 1: Her opponent is Master Li Chen of Hong Kong, now residing in California. Though primarily a culinary artist, Li has been a student of the martial arts since he was a child. His experience, though not as renowned, far exceeds that of his opponent.

Commentator 2: It’s gonna make for one interesting fight, that’s for sure.

The official signaled the beginning of round one and both fighters went at each other at amazing speeds. Neither destroyed the other immediately as they had each done to their previous opponents. They carefully laid strikes into one another and backed off in caution that their next advance would be their last.

“You’re quite skilled, girl,” Li said to her, “but unfortunately, this is a fight you cannot win.” “Says who?” she responded.

“Says me. It’s really not a knock on you. You just don’t have the experience to face off against a foe as formidable as myself.”

“I’ll show you how formidable I can be,” she stressed as she laid a fury of attacks into Li’s body.

“I know what you’re doing, and that won’t work against me,” he added.

“Don’t pretend to know my strategy!” she shouted.

“It’s not pretend. The only one who is pretending is you. You’re pretending you haven’t used your special technique this entire time against me.”

Special technique? What was Li talking about? I knew she was an incredibly aggressive fighter that would not be easily defeated, but I hadn’t picked up on any technique.

Annika looked both angry and stunned. She stood there holding her guard up and ceased any more attacks in fear of a sudden strike from Li.

“You channel your Chi energy from your vice, and explode it out into a fury before your opponent can even react.”

“Oh yeah, and what exactly is my vice?” she bluffed, pretending that Li hadn't figured her out.

“Your fear of being too weak,” he answered.

Annika’s guard dropped completely and her hands lowered to her sides. Her expression showed that her entire world had just been shattered.

“I can tell that you’ve gone through your whole life trying not to be weak, and somehow, even without proper training, you’ve learned to harness that and use it to make yourself stronger. When you deliver those bursts of attacks, it transfers your perceived weakness that you have sworn off on to your enemy. But there’s just one problem,” Li teased, “it won’t work against someone who’s will is stronger.”

Annika dropped to her knees and looked like she was about to throw up. Li had just defeated her with cold hard truth alone, completely despite their earlier physical fight. Li then dropped his guard and waited for her to make a move. After a moment, she got up to her feet, held back some tears and blurted out, “You’re right, and you win,” before voluntarily walking off the stage, disqualifying herself.

“The winner of match one is Li Chen!” the official shouted as he raised Li’s hand.

Annika stumbled towards the back of the dugout and collapsed onto a bench and put her face in her hands. She looked more defeated than the opponents she wasted in the preliminary round. I was in shock as well. How was Li so good that he could cancel out an opponent's Chi without touching them? He simply knew his will was stronger than hers, that’s how!

Li came back into the dugout and Cinema gave him a high five and congratulated him. I followed and did the same. It was now time for my match, I hadn’t paid much attention to my opponent up until, due to keeping an eye on Annika and Volmar. But my brain went into focus mode at the sound of the Commentator’s announcement of the match…

Commentator 1: Now entering the ring, from East Lansing, Michigan…the Dungeon Master?

A scrawny kid, no older than twenty, with rail thin arms, messy hair and glasses climbed into the ring. Somehow, he had not only secured an invitation to this tournament, but survived the preliminary round. Although it appeared to be totally due to luck.

Commentator 2: And his opponent, from Someplace, Somewhere…Just Some Guy!

“Nice one,” Cinema declared, as she saw me out of the dugout.

I climbed into the ring with a round of applause behind me. In front of me was an opponent that seemed to have no defensive stance, no battle prowess, and no physical intimidation about him. He just stood there looking fiercely in my direction. I decided there was no reason risking some kind of trick and took off running head on to finish the match quickly. I didn’t want to kill him, so I refrained from using ‘White Lightning’, and laid a normal punch square across his forehead. This attack sent him flying back, almost to the edge of the arena. Before I could follow up, I started to feel woozy. My peripheral vision started to blacken and the last thing I saw was Dungeon Master looking up at me and laughing.

The next thing I knew, reality had morphed around me. I was no longer in the arena and found myself in a deep dark medieval dungeon cell. I was clad in light chainmail armor and had a sword sheathed on my hip. The cell door before me opened and I heard a voice permeate around me.

“You’re in my world now,” said the Dungeon Master.

“What’s going on?!” I demanded.

“You underestimated my power, just like all the rest,” he mocked, “the rules are simple. When someone connects with my Chi energy, they enter a world of my creation. Time slows down to their subconscious and they have to survive an assigned quest before they can return to their lucid life. Every minute in my world is a second in the real world, so I estimate you have about twenty minutes to wake up before I get to my feet and roll you out of the ring.”

“Well, what’s my task?” I eagerly requested.

“It’s very simple,” he explained, “you just need to exit the dungeon.”

Before I could comment or make a move, he continued, “...but watch out for the minotaur.”

Oh great! I was caught up in some kid’s fantasy role play world when I should be receiving rounds of applause. I bet my body looked totally stupid laying there after not even taking a hit from that wimp.

I wasted no more time. I took off out of my cell and made my way through the torch lit maze. Every turn felt just the same as the last one. I had no map, no bearings, and no clue how to get out of there. That’s when I heard the shrieks in the distance. It must be the minotaur! At this point I calculated that between him explaining the rules to me and my random dashing through the maze, I must have burned up at least four minutes of my time. In the real world, he was surely back on his feet and making his way over to my body.

“Time’s running out, Guy,” he taunted, “and even if you somehow escape in time, it only takes a few seconds for me to generate another world. I’ll send you to a sunken ship, or a mountain full of man-eating giants.”

Okay, this kid was really starting to piss me off. I found out later that he was raised in some crazy religious cult and that role playing games were his only escape. But they would beat him when they found out he was involved in such a hobby. Eventually, he was able to channel that into Chi energy. By swearing off the games, he sent his abusers into a delusional state, like this one, long enough for him to escape them once and for all. Most people affected appear crazy and continue on in their waking lives, haunted by visions of the false world he created until they complete their task. But he knew that I would be different and could still be a threat if I was on my feet, so he put my body in a catatonic state that was symbolic of the dungeon I was tasked with escaping.

I continued my sporadic running through the dungeon maze as fits of laughter filled the air around me. He mocked as he got closer to my body in the real world. All he needed was to get close enough to roll me out of the ring and it was over. Then suddenly, I turned the corner, and there it was...the minotaur! It stood eight feet tall and must have weighed nearly four hundred pounds. He let out a horrific roar and swung its battle ax at me. I drew my sword and attempted to defend. The beast backhanded me and threw me against a wall.

“It’s all over now,” I heard echoing around me, signifying he had reached my body in the outer world.

That’s when it hit me. I knew exactly how I could leave this dungeon right now. I stood up, backed away from the minotaur and inverted my sword directly towards my chest. In one swift inward stabbing motion, I killed myself right then and there. It was a big risk to take, but one I was willing to try, and it worked!

Dungeon Master was hovering over my body, getting ready to lean down and roll me over when I came back to my senses. I knew I didn’t have much time to react since he would easily send me back into another realm in a matter of seconds, so I swept sideways and took him off of his feet with a ‘White Lightning’ kick. The force sent him a few feet away from me and he landed just outside the ring. The crowd went wild as the official declared me the winner.

Cinema and Li rushed to my aid to figure out what happened. They of course had no awareness of the illusion I had just conquered. As staffers helped my winded opponent to his feet, he asked, “How did you know that killing yourself would exit the game?”

“Well, when I thought about the fighters from the preliminary match and the rules I was given, I simply deduced that since they were still mobile, the rules of their game were different from mine. They were basically running around like crazy people until they succeeded. But since you rendered me unconscious, you must have put up extra stakes in order to keep me down. My lack of consciousness was the prison and as long as I left, I would escape, regardless of how I did it.”

He smirked and acknowledged that I was correct. I sometimes wonder if he had calculated me as less of a risk and used his power like he did to the other fighters if the outcome would’ve been different. Maybe I would have seen him as a barbarian and swung at him regardless of the illusion, or maybe he would’ve appeared as a dragon and caused me to run out of the ring in fear willingly. Either way, he was a worthy opponent.

Shortly after returning to the dugout, the announcers called for the third match. It was time to see what Volmar was made of. He was going up against Slim Jim. I knew what he was capable of from our first encounter. If Volmar hits him with everything he’s got right out the gate, there’s a good chance Slim will absorb an incredible amount of his nutrients. It might be enough to give Slim a chance to surprise and overwhelm him.

Commentator 2: Next up, from New Delhi, India…Jimesh ‘Slim Jim’ Gauba!

Commentator 1: And his opponent, who I personally can’t wait to see, from New Teuton Outpost, Antarctica…Volmar, the Ubermensch!

The crowd went insane. He was the favorite to win the tournament and a lot of money was riding on his matches. I knew Slim was skilled, but he was definitely at a size disadvantage. Though that could change in an instant once he absorbed some of Volmar’s attacks.

The match began and right away Slim put his hands in front of him in a yoga hand clasp. He drew on the energy he already had within him and stretched his arms outward in an attempt to encircle Volmar. Each arm must have been ten feet in length. He was going for a bear hug and tried to suck as much life force from Volmar as he could at the start of the match. Then, without warning, Volmar charged up. He reared back his enormous fist and yelled, “Impurity!” The punch landed on Slim’s chest and sent him flying directly out of the ring. Slim's arms retracted and his entire body inflated to the size of a large, fat, buddha statue. This must be Slim's original form before he harnessed his power!

Cheers erupted, and those of us in the dugout looked on in amazement. Slim had seemingly lost his power without even engaging his opponent. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Li starting to exit the rear of the dugout. I turned around and asked, “Hey, where are you going? Don’t you want to see the fourth match?”

“It makes no difference,” Li said sternly, “Volmar will defeat either of the remaining fighters. The finals will come down to either you or I. I suggest you prepare for our match.”

He then left and I turned to Cinema, “He’s got a point,” I said.

“Go ahead, you do what you’ve gotta do,” she urged.

I left the dugout myself to go meditate and prepare mentally for the battle. There would be a short interval to all the round two fighters to recover from their previous fights and for betting to commence. On my way out, I saw Annika sitting by herself with her head in her hands still. She was sobbing. I didn’t stop as I passed her, but I saw Cinema start to comfort her on my way out.

When I returned, I saw Slim, still in his fattened state. On the other side of the dugout, the two other Nazi’s were coaching Volmar in German. My match with Li was going to start soon and I noticed the audience was starting to return to their seats. I wanted to spend my last few moments chatting with Cinema, but her and Annika were no longer there. I ran back out to the rear of the arena and I saw Cinema hugging her as she was about to depart.

“Hey, what’s up?” I asked, Cinema as she turned away from Annika.

“That poor girl. I was just talking to her and apparently, she had more riding on this tournament than we all thought.”

“What do you mean?”

Cinema continued, “Annika has fourteen brothers, sisters, and cousins at home that she has to care for. She’s been raising them for five years on her own since all of their parents died or turned to drugs. Her street fighting is what pays for their living. She had hoped she could come here and win the grand prize to once and for all give them some comfort.”

I watched as Annika walked away back towards the estate. I decided to approach her. I told Cinema to go back inside and make sure the officials knew I was still coming.

“Hey! Annika!”

“What you want?” she asked, “I dun have any business witchu. You don’ave to worry about fighting me in the tournament anymore.”

“I need a favor. You see, I plan on winning this tournament and I’d like to give you the prize money.”

She perked up and turned around to listen to me.

“Assuming I defeat Master Chen, I will win the tournament, but I may need your help,” I insisted.

“You wan meh tah help ya cheat?” she implied.

“No, it’s not cheating. Well, maybe it’s a gray area. But that doesn’t matter. I know how much you need the money, and I really don’t. I mean, it be nice, maybe I should only give you half…no, wait, nevermind. I’ll give it all to you. I’ll be perfectly happy as Champion and learning Stargazer’s secret.”

She approached me and asked, “Whatcha wan meh tah do?”