The crowd yet again cheered and shouted Gon’s name and he returned to the wall to wait for the others to finish. He got aid while he watched them fight with much respect from every one of them. Mr Pan’s man went down by the older man, Andrise and Catigernus also won his fight. The last fight was between two equally strong fighters that took long time to settle. But was finally over after one of them made the mistake of opening up their side of the body that was closest to the other fighter and thus, got a knee there. The winner was named Dima and the four fighters then stood to take the praise from the crowd.
Jay and Senji were eager to head downstairs to see their friend. They were finally able to meet him and saw Gon as he left the waiting rooms. He got a hug from Senji and shook Jay’s hand. The crowd in the arena were not allowed in that part of the arena and only the private rooms had access there. Mr Pan was glad Gon made it so far and had his fighter next to him who also wished him good luck. They were able to come home with the help of the private wagons supplied by the arena. After washing, Gon lay down on the floor. The cut from the knife went pretty deep and all the punches and kicks made his body ache. Senji gave him the food, and Jay told him of what he knew of the other fighters and what he heard about them. He also filled Gon in on some information on how the competition would be from then on.
After talking for a while, Gon asked for a silent moment so he could think. There were only two fights left for him until the winner stood alone. Gon believed the man with the crossed arms was the strongest of them and the old man definitely held his own. Even Dima would be hard to beat but probably the biggest chance for winning. Senji put all her knowledge in place and treated Gon even after he fell asleep from exhaustion. Gon woke up during the night and saw Senji sleeping over his chest and Jay to the side of him on the floor. He slowly moved up and took Senji to her bed and tucked her in. He came back in the room and then Jay had woken up. He smiled and asked Gon how he felt. They chatted for a while and looked out the window. It was still dark outside and even if it was quiet where they were, they could still see the lights and sounds over the houses as some people stayed and enjoyed the night.
Jay asked about the cut but it was hardly noticeable and some of the bruising was clearing as well, so whatever Senji put on, it was helping a lot. Both went to bed and slept the night away. The next day was reaching noon when Gon woke up and was given some food. They met up Mr Pan who was waiting in his office. They then left together after Mr Pan had introduced Gon to the people from the Grasoll kingdom city. A man called Hillmer had advanced fast in the army and had become a high ranking officer despite his young years. They talked and Hillmer also encouraged Jay to come to the castle where he would be welcomed. They asked about the restaurant and about him coming to the kingdom to set it up. The judge was saying he knew of a great spot he could recommend, and when Gon came, he could show him. Gon, of course, was very happy, and with the prize money than being 30,000 credits, he could open his restaurant either way but would still try to win the whole competition.
Jay was very happy to hear that he had a big opportunity to get work in the kingdom if he chose to be part of the guards which was exactly what he wanted. As they arrived back to the arena, the sun was about to set, and Jay and Senji followed Gon to the waiting rooms. They were then asked to return to their seats as no one was allowed to stay once they entered into the waiting area. The crowd outside the arena that was not able to get a seat was really loud, and the 2,000 people sitting in the arena were making a lot of noise as well.
Up in the private room, Senji sat anxiously waiting for the fight to begin, while Jay was enjoying some drinks with the others and made toasts to Gon. The announcement was finally coming, and the four remaining fighters joined out on the ring. After some introductions of the fighters were done, the head judge said that there would be extra check conducted. An extra check for weapons after what happened the day before, the draft was then on the way.
After it was all done, the fighters stood next to each other. The small box with the four names were placed in front of the judges. The first name drawn was Catigernus and Dima was second from the last fight on the previous day. That meant Gon would have to fight the old man, Andrise. The first fight began, and Gon saw the two men exchange strikes but Catigernus definitely had the upper hand in the fight. This time, he was not keeping his hands crossed and instead, held them ready to fight. He had little problem with bringing Dima to a corner and could unleash some heavy combos. After a while, Dima tried to get loose and did a desperate attempt to get free. But his attempt failed and he got a knee in the chest that hit so hard it looked like it broke off some ribs. He went down and turned on the ground with Catigernus not touching him.
Dima eventually managed to get on his feet but the pain was too big that he only had one thing to do. He knew he would cause more injury to himself and he signalled defeat. He fell back and got carried out to receive help from the healers. Gon thought the fight was too quick and felt Catigernus would be hard to fight. He won’t have much time to think about it as the next fight would be with him and Andrise. Gon looked upon the older man in front of him. He might not be so young any more but had definitely seen combat. His muscles seemed to be tough, and his face was almost square, thought Gon, due to his big chin. He seemed to be a soldier and had many of his friends there cheering him on.
Andrise advanced through the first day with all knock outs and stood calm observing Gon. From the private room, Jay was talking to one of the guests and found out Andrise was, indeed, a guard, but not only that, he had been a body guard to the king of Redonia as he travelled around the world. When he was set to retire, he decided to enter the competition and finished runner up the previous year. He had lost to another fighter that was defending his title but had made him retire of the injury he sustained after the fight that he almost lost to Andrise. Again, the people above were betting a lot of money to whoever they thought might win.
Mr Pan asked if Jay had bet any money but he had not. Jay didn’t want to but knew he would have earned a lot as he would have bet it all on Gon. Senji was so concentrated about what was going on below that she didn’t notice them talk. The fight began, and the two fighters were testing each other for a little bit. The old soldier went in first, and the crowd got to see how both the men were giving and receiving hits from one another. Andrise was tough and even if the strikes were maybe not so fast, they still hurt as they were being blocked. And whenever Gon delivered a hitting punch, it was hardly noticeable since the man had a very high pain threshold. Both of them were careful and didn’t want to do anything to break their defence. The fight went on for 10 minutes before something big happened, and it was Gon who delivered a kick behind the leg of the old soldier who went on his knee. But as he tried to continue his attack, Andrise swiped his legs, and Gon received a punch over the nose. They moved away from each other to get control. When they both were standing up again, blood came out from Gon’s nose.
The old man was good, no doubt about it and a crowd favourite since he was returning. Gon saw himself getting closer to losing because he had still not really been able to get a proper strike in. There was no weakness that Gon could discover, and Andrise stayed calm at all times. He must do something different because what he did till now was not working, he said to himself. Gon wondered if the old soldier could fight as well if it became unpredictable. Gon started attacking but instead of advancing, he pulled away and was not finishing the attacks. But didn’t let the soldier come in too close either.
Andrise clearly got affected and annoyed by the constant back and forward and tried to speed up the attacks a little. Gon continued to start attacking then moved back. Andrise then changed his fight technique to reach Gon as he had no other choice at the moment. Gon continued to make the fight a spectacle that confused some of the people watching. They were not sure as to what he was doing and some called for the fight to get going. Andrise began to miss more and more to also make a mistake. And despite
being so trained as he was, he never saw what was about to come.
When the chance came after the old soldier missed to deliver a kick to his opponent, Gon was able to swing his whole arm over the chest hard. Without both feet on the ground, he was not as stable, and Gon made the old man fall down. While on the ground, Gon took the chance and delivered some hard punches to the head and didn’t stop even as Andrise tried to disrupt them by blocking or hitting back. Gon took some punches but they were not as hard as those Andrise was getting to his body. He was not used to lying on the ground, and Gon felt the old soldier lost his strength fast. When he was finally able to come up, his head was shaking from the pounding from Gon. It took much out of him to push Gon over. The old soldier saw blur, and when he tried to block, he instead missed, and Gon then went back to his own style. It became easy to block or move away from Andrise, and the strikes finally hit where they were supposed to.
The crowd never stopped cheering and neither did the private room with his friends. They saw Gon back off and took aim for Andrise, and the whole room got to witness the knockout of the competition as Gon, after avoiding a punch, stepped on the man’s knee to gain more power and kneed the man under the chin. Andrise fell down and Gon stayed next to him ready for more but Andrise was out. He was instantly named the winner and was brought to the side of the ring. It was hard for Gon to not let off a smile and felt himself getting almost sick from the adrenaline that was pumping inside of him.
This time, people were brave enough to bet money on the young man from Dofamu. The preparations of the final fight were in the works, and the two challengers were allowed to stay inside of the fighting area instead of leaving for the resting area. Gon had been seen as an underdog and the crowd liked it. It would take some time and he could feel the butterflies fly inside him as the excitement was enormous for him. The two opponents were facing each other and Catigernus was having his same calm look at all times. Gon might have gained some fans this day but it was clear who was the crowd favourite.
Jay had briefly left his company to visit one of his customers from the bar. They spoke about what would happen, and Jay convinced him to place a large sum on Gon to win. So far, his customer had made safe bets, and he did hesitate from betting on someone so new. When Jay finally came back to Senji, he told her he was unable to sit still as he wanted the fight to start so bad. He got his wish, and the announcers began to speak. Finally, the fight was ready to begin, and both the fighters were standing in front of each other. The announcer told them to start, and the crowd again could not contain themselves. The fight began, and Catigernus and Gon knew not to go in too close, but Gon started testing his opponent. Catigernus moved and blocked the kicks and struck very fast back using his hands. Gon nearly got hit by the fast hands and backed off. His opponent had great range with his long arms that would became dangerous if they got caught.
Catigernus stood still, and Gon thought he could perhaps try and move around and began to circle him. Gon walked in a wide circle around Catigernus and only closing in a little at a time. Catigernus still looked unaffected and was keeping a close eye on Gon. With little notice, Gon came out with a kick and when his opponent returned the kick, Gon then rushed in to try to limit the range advantage he had and then they were both in close combat. Gon tried to grab the leg as Catigernus used it against him but was not able to grab on to it. He instead received a punch to the head. But Gon, in a light speed decision, was able to swing his leg around and it hit him over the cheek. Catigernus looked surprised and then let the attack commend. The men fought with heavy strikes and kicked, and Gon had already decided not to hold back to save energy but went hard and either win or get knocked out.
Both men managed to hit each other, but Gon was getting hit more than Catigernus who was a formidable fighter. For a while, the combat became so intense that people in the crowd started to fight as well when they accidently hit each other. After Catigernus struck Gon on the knee, he followed with a punch that Gon was able to block, but got an uppercut that felt like a rock. He was able to hit back at Catigernus but also left himself open for strikes and that was exactly what happened. Catigernus delivered a punch to the face followed by another in the stomach and then another that hit him on the shoulder. The pain from the strike over the shoulder was intense and hurt more than the other hits. He grabbed the legs of Catigernus fast and pushed forward so they both fell on the ground. Gon had the intention to bring him down and started punching him from above. But Catigernus, instead of blocking, got his arms around the neck of his opponent and pulled him towards himself.
While he held Gon, he kicked him with his heels and Gon could only get light punches in. ‘He would have to act fast,’ said Mr Pan to Jay and Senji looked worried out from her seat. Gon knew he was in trouble and would have to try to get out fast, but Catigernus held him with all his might towards the ground. Catigernus rolled onto the side and suddenly kicked Gon off him.
‘He had him in such a tight grip,’ Jay could hear one of the surprised guests of Mr Pan. It was not Catigernus’s intention to let go of his opponent but Gon used his fingers to jab him in the side just under his ribs. But even if Gon then was free, it was only for a few seconds as Catigernus attacked relentlessly. He was fast and while Gon tried to recover, he, at the same time, had to defend against the merciless onslaught. Senji could not watch anymore and felt she would have to treat Gon for long time after this.
It was then only one way the fight was going which got the people even more excited. They believed the fight was about to end soon and then Catigernus made a move that would secure his victory. After kicking his opponent hard on his shin, making Gon slip to the side, he quickly engaged and was able to get around to stand behind. He gripped Gon using his elbow and intended to choke him out. Senji screamed “no” and left her chair to exit the room. Gon felt he could not get enough air and started to feel dizzy almost right away. He got tired and soon started to see black around him. The noises around the arena became less as his hearing became almost nothing. He began to believe he was done and was not long from defeat. More and more, the world around him vanished as he then lay on the ground with Catigernus over him.
Suddenly, a voice clear as day reached his ears and he felt calm coming over him. The darkness was still there but he felt his power rushing back to him. He could hear his own heart and how the heat was increasing with a fast rate. He regained his vision and with new strength, he made his move. He grabbed Catigernus’s hands and squeezed it tight with all his power. That released some of the pressure over his throat. He got his legs under himself and pushed away from the ground to make his opponent lie on his back with him over. With a heavy arm to the ribs, Catigernus had to let go some more. Quickly, Gon rolled over and he had then Catigernus over him but his opponent still didn’t fully let go of him. Gon swung his head as fast as he could and hit him over the nose.
The hit was so hard, Catigernus lost the grip and Gon could push him off then managed to punch hard over the nose again while getting up. He looked up towards where the sound was coming from and saw Senji standing outside of the private room singing with her angelic voice. She stopped, and many who had heard her cheered for her singing. She got back to the room after winking her eye to Gon who got ready for Catigernus who was on his feet again.
Gon had got new strength and rushed in towards Catigernus who tried to punch but missed. Gon grabbed him and squeezed his arms around him as hard as he possibly could. Gon was super strong, and all that working in the kitchen had made his forearms stronger than other fighters. For the first time, Catigernus showed sign of pain and a crack could be heard from his back. Gon let go and pushed him away and waited for him to get ready. Catigernus could not properly rise himself and was holding himself at the back. He had the look of surprise on his face as he never would have thought anyone would have the strength to squeeze so hard. Especially someone so young as his opponent.
Gon felt a warm sensation as he walked up to Catigernus an
d with full confidence over him proceeded to deliver punch after punch that hit. When Catigernus had finally got Gon away, he stood and felt pain everywhere. He looked at the young man who he thought would be an easy match, and then he felt the result of underestimating him. He became furious and started attacking but Gon again came in close. He no longer felt any doubt on how this would end, and when the man kicked Gon in the stomach, he grabbed the foot and moved forward so Catigernus again fell down. This time, he delivered an elbow on the forehead followed by another punch on the cheek. Gon smiled and then walked a few steps back to give his opponent some space. The strikes had hit so hard, Catigernus had trouble getting up but took a deep breath and managed to raise himself up. His back was hurting even more which was obvious, and Gon saw the opportunity. He began to advance to him with relaxed arms. Catigernus struck but missed and then Gon grabbed him around the waist and the leg to lift him up. He swung him so he landed on top of Catigernus and punched him some more before he got pushed off by the then tired fighter.
They were both standing there, but he was so angry, he just moved towards Gon, and when he came close, he tried to strike him but Gon then saw the punch coming. He knew he would have a chance to finish him off and didn’t waste any more time. The crowd became silent as Gon bent down to deliver an uppercut that lifted Catigernus up and knocked him almost completely out. When he lay on the ground, the roar of the crowd went off. Catigernus had still a chance to fight if he could get up but he had decided to do something he never thought he would do. He gave the sign for giving up, and with that, the fight was over. Gon raised his arms in the air, and the announcers came out and brought Gon to the stage. It took a long time for everyone to quiet down, but the judges did their best to bring order to the crowd. Some fights had erupted again between those not winning and screamed a lot at each other.
World of Taroo Page 13