>"And up next" Akisame herd the announcers voice ring through the air, "The
>challenger Akisame Kurogane, and his opponent...Copycat Ken!".  Hearing these
>words the crowd went into an uproar and people started making bets, legally
>or not.
>
>[[That's you...hey, Akisame, are you focused?]]
>
>All Akisame could do was growl, "He couldn't have taken my style...and my
>moves...do you think he knows my Shougekiha Driver?  He couldn't possibly..."
>
>[[Just remember, even if he does, it's just a copy, and a copy is never
>perfect.  And you shouldn't even be using the Shougekiha Driver, the energy
>drawn to do it could put your body temperature over the limit.]]
>
>"Right" said Akisame as he finished changing the last of his beads to the
>color black.  He got to his feet quickly, slamming his fists together to get
>psyched then began to move over to the fighting area.  When he arrived he
>could see many scars in the ground that marked previous fights.
>
>"Heh...someone had fun here..."  he then heard the announcement boom again.
>
>"Last call for Copycat Ken ladies and gentlemen I repeat LAST call for
>Copycat Ken"
>
>He snickered to himself, "heh...maybe he won't even show up"
>
>Just then he saw someone make their way into the circle.  He was Akisame's
>age, maybe a little younger, dark hair, blue jeans, and a red shirt was
>nothing out of the ordinary to him.  He finally came to a stop standing in
>front of Akisame, smiling at him.
>
>Ken began to chuckled lightly, "oh it's a great day when I can finally be a
>master of a style such as Shinsei Kinkou..."
>
>Akisame began to become angry, raising his fist he spoke, "you ain't copied
>nothing!  I don't believe it!  And I dare you to prove me wrong!  Well, what
>are you waiting for?!"
>
>"Nothing at all..."  with a wave of his oversized handkerchief he was
>enveloped completely, when he appeared again he had taken the appearance of
>Akisame, pants, hair, vest, feather, eyes and all.
>
>"Grrr...impossible!  Nac this guy is dead, RAGE unit 10%, adrenaline boosted
>up, I mean way up!"  Akisame was entering almost a berserker's rage now, any
>concern for himself was almost gone.
>
>[[Akisame don't you know the after effects of too much adrenaline?  The
>shakes that follow...]]
>
>Akisame snapped at the computer in his head, "quiet!  Just do it, make sure
>my blood stays oxygenated, that's all I need is to suffocate from exhaustion."
>
>[[Alright...]]
>
>Copycat Ken called from across the ring, taunting Akisame, "Well?  Are you
>gonna keep talking to yourself or are we gonna fight?  I don't have all day
>to beat the hell outta you!"
>
>That was it, Akisame new it was now time to attack.  With all his strength he
>bounded into the air and screamed, "Drill Sanction!".  He began to descend
>rapidly in Ken's general direction, his outstretched foot moving in a
>circular motion at an extreme speed until it began to cut the air around it,
>leaving small marks in the atmosphere itself.
>
>Ken grinned and at the precise moment moved out of the way of Akisame's
>attack.  Ken was indeed surprised at the attack and made sure he would be
>able to duplicate it having seen it.  Akisame's foot drove deep into the
>ground, causing a small crater and a ripple of pure earth to move some 10
>feet from the impact.  Having seen he missed his intended target he tore his
>foot out the of the earth and turned to Ken.
>
>"Whoa ho hooo!"  Ken jested, "that was pretty good, now let's see how good I
>am.  Your style says that balance is the mainstay of all things, so let's see
>how good your balance is, shall we?"
>
>Akisame took his native stance, just like he would in a spar against his
>mentor.  Right foot far forward, weight equally balanced low to the ground,
>right hand fingers outstretched and crooked in front of the body, left hand
>somewhat relaxed and almost touching the ground.  A unique stance, but the
>correct one never the less.
>
>This time it was Ken's turn to lead off an assault.  He came forward with a
>right hook, but Akisame was able to roll underneath it and come around with a
>roundhouse kick, which also missed.  Making sure not to give Akisame any time
>to think, Ken spun quickly with a backhand.  Akisame saw it coming in the
>nick of time and snatched it from the air.  Trying to counter he swung his
>right foot around which was caught by Ken.  Ken now seeing Akisame was only
>standing on one leg took the advantage to try and get him off balance, he
>brought his own leg around and tried to sweep Akisame's out from under him.
>Akisame picked up his foot and swung it at Ken's head hoping to make contact
>so Ken would let go of his right leg and he would be able to stand.  Ken
>moved swiftly and ducked under the kick.  Everything for the next few moments
>seemed to move in slow motion to Akisame.  He saw his foot miss and knew he
>only had one chance of keeping his balance, his body twisted in mid air and
>he was able to place his one free hand onto the ground, holding him up.
>
>Ken saw this and immediately let go of Akisame completely, knowing from there
>he would be able to make a counter attack.  As soon as Akisame felt his legs
>freed he leapt off of his hand and onto his feet, kneeling on one knee.  Ken
>then drew back again with a fist and fired it at Akisame while he was
>kneeling, but this time Akisame caught it, and instead of trying to take Ken
>off balance, he began to squeeze it.
>
>"Gaaaahhhh!!" cried Ken.
>
>"Ahha!" Akisame said aloud, "I knew it, you can't make a perfect copy!  You
>can copy my clothes, my hair and my style, but you couldn't copy the
>cybernetic upgrades!"
>
>Copycat Ken began to whine, "That's not fair!"
>
>Akisame broke into a laughter, lifted Ken up by his arm and tossed him aside.
>  Ken skidded a few feet and finally came to a stop.  Ken breathed out hard,
>kicking up some dust from his nostrils and slowly made his way back to his
>feet.
>
>"Did you really think it was that easy!?  Ha!  Your style isn't the best you
>know, I've got plenty more, check this out!"  with another wave of his
>handkerchief he took on the shape of another boy.  One with dark hair, a
>spotted bandanna, and a strange type of pants with ties going up the legs.
>The first thing Akisame noticed however was the umbrella he possessed now.
>
>Akisame chuckled lightly, "what the hell is that?  your little parasol?"
>
>The boy just grinned and spoke calmly and softly, "we're gonna see how strong
>you really are..."
>
>"Take yur best shot!"  Akisame called to him, standing proudly.
>
>The boy dashed toward Akisame wielding the umbrella offensively, giving a
>loud battle cry.  Akisame put his forearms up at the last second to take the
>blow, but it was nothing like he expected.  The umbrella drove right through
>his arms and cracked into his upper body, sending him literally flying
>backwards.  Before Akisame hit the ground he twisted in flight and managed to
>land on his feet clenching his bare chest.
>
>"God..." he said in-between gasps, "What is that thing made out of, lead?
>No one has EVER knocked me over you copycating punk!  You wanna weapon fight,
>we'll weapon fight"
>
>Instinctively, the gnarled, twisting rings on Akisame's fingers quickly
>sprouted their tendrils and laced themselves tightly around both of Akisame's
>hands.  With some concentration he managed to get animal-like talons to
>protrude from the fingertips, "Nac, RAGE up t-t-to 20%"
>
>[[I told you Akisame, the adrenaline is already beginning to effect you...]]
>
>"Do as your told blast it all!"
>
>[[Right...I'll do what I can to keep you alive.]]
>
>Akisame stood up straight and shook a few beaded braids out of his eyes, "Ok
>c-c-copycat...it's t-t-t..."  he needed to pause and force himself to stop
>stuttering, "time to pay the piper"
>
>Akisame and Ken both charged each other simultaneously, the claws and the
>umbrella coming into contact actually threw them both back some.  As quickly
>as possible they both charged each other again.  Ken took the umbrella,
>brought it over his head and forced it to come down on Akisame as hard as
>possible.  Akisame spun out of the way and caught Ken lightly with one of his
>claws, causing a thin trickle of blood to begin flowing down the side of his
>face.
>
>Ken knelt down on one knee for a moment and brought a hand to his face.
>Bringing back in front of his eyes he noticed the blood visible and became
>infuriated.  He removed one of his bandanna's and sent it toward Akisame.  At
>this point Akisame didn't know what was coming at him, by the time he saw it
>and began to twist out of the way it caught the right side of his chest,
>slicing him slightly above his right pectoral and also taking a good chunk
>out of his open leather vest.
>
>He knew it wasn't at all bad, but the fact that he had actually been cut by
>someone the likes of Copycat Ken made him angry.
>
>Akisame watched as some of the blood trailed lightly down his chest and
>abdomen, "that's it Ken!  This ends n-n-now!"
>
>Akisame picked up and rushed toward Ken who brought the umbrella up to defend
>himself, in one fluid motion Akisame knocked the umbrella from Ken's hands
>and brought the back of his other rock hard hand around to whack Ken across
>the face.  Spots of red flew from his mouth as he finally landed into a tree
>trunk, almost pulling it out of the ground by it's roots from the force.
>Finally Akisame was declared the winner by KO.
>
>"And your winner, Akisame Kurogane!"  he heard the announcer cry over the
>loud speaker.
>
>He stood in a state of after shock, with Nac quickly turning down the RAGE
>unit and adrenaline, "He...cut....what kinda people live in this town?!"