Yuka sighed.  It was always difficult keeping calm during a 
tournament.  Sure, she was doing good, but she'd already given away one 
of her stronger attacks that she liked to keep hidden.  She knew she 
had a lot of power to burn, but she didn't want to spiritually exhuast 
herself, just in case she faced an opponent who had better control or 
more power.
	The Variable Geo tournament was over, so she needed to find 
something to do.  Satomi Yajima, Yuka's best friend, and her little 
brother Daisuke were finally happy, given that the prize money alone 
was more than they would ever need.
	Losing to Satomi had shown Yuka that her skills needed serious 
improvement.  And besides, it was nice to be out of the Variable Geo 
tournament, where she would have to strip if she lost.  Of course, she 
wasn't the only one from the VG tournament who had entered this 
tournament.
	Jun Kubota, ex-professional wrestler and fellow VG fighter, had 
entered, likely to keep her skills sharp.  The dark-skinned woman 
pushed her long dark hair back as she readjusted her headband.  Jun had 
become a good friend as well.  Of course, she kept saying things that 
made Yuka wonder if she wasn't using tournaments as a means of getting 
a date.  Jun wasn't as powerful as Yuka when it came to energy attacks, 
but she was definitely stronger when it came to physical strength.
	"Well, with Copycat Ken out of the way, this tournament should be 
a bit easier." Jun said conversationally.
	"I don't think so, Jun." came the voice of another of one of 
Yuka's friends, Elena Goldsmith, the half-american blonde girl who wore 
a red and black bunnysuit as a fighting uniform.  Elena's hair was 
about shoulder-length, and her bright blue eyes were almost shiny with 
glee that she had more than one strong opponent.
	Both she and Jun were very powerful, but Elena's strength was a 
mixture of powerful ki and strength while Jun focused more on physical 
strength.  Yuka, on the other hand, focused enough more on her ki 
training, and she agreed with Elena's sentiment, "Elena's right.  Cerl 
Tendo seems like the sort of person we should all look out for.  She 
hasn't used much ki, either, so we can't really tell what's she's 
capable of.  After all, she was able to decipher Ken's trick and defeat 
him with almost minimal effort."
	Jun considered that, "Well, if YOU say so, Yuka.  It's not like 
it's going to be too important, since Elena's the one who'll probably 
be facing her."
	"That's right, you're Division 1, aren't you?" Yuka recalled.
	"Yeah, but what I'm worried about is Division 4.  We don't know 
anything about most of the fighters in that division." Elena commented.
	"Well, the first fight should be coming up about now." Yuka 
noted.
	The annoucner turned on his microphone, "Next up, the first round 
in Division 4!  In the red corner, hailing from Hokkaido, Yuki!  And in 
the blue corner, hailing from Greece, OH MY KAMI-SAMA!"(1)
	The exclamation was well warranted, as the woman standing in the 
blue corner was a fairly sexy red-haired woman wearing a living green 
snake, red high heels and a smile.  From the look of pain and disgust 
on Yuki's face, the two knew each other.
	Over six hundred guys who were standing behind the redhead 
developed powerful nose bleeds as the snake apparently wasn't long 
enough to cover her buttocks.
	The woman who wasn't attracting all the attention, Yuki, had long 
brown hair pulled back with a blue bandanna.  She wore a matching blue 
cheongsam with an oval-shaped opening showing her cleavage, blue cloth 
arm guards and soft white boots.
	"Uh, uh, anyway, the naked cha-er, natural red-haired challenger 
in the blue corner is named Medusa!" the announcer continued, catching 
some of his composure, "And trust me, folks, I'm close enough to tell 
that it is INDEED her natural hair color."
	Yuki developed an unhealthy eyetwitch, "You just HAD to enter 
this tournament, didn't you?"
	Medusa sneered, "Of course, I did.  I'm here for the prize money, 
of course."
	Yuki glared daggers at the redhead, "Right.  And I bet this just 
HAPPENED to be right in your neighborhood, right?"
	"Why are you so hostile?  Is it because of your defeat at my 
hands in the Strip Fighter tournament?" Medusa asked.
	"Uh, HELLO?  _I_ won that fight." Yuki replied.
	"That's what the judges say, but we all know you wanted more 
'hair' time." Medusa responded.
	Yuki shuddered involuntarily, "Not on your life."
	"How about YOURS?!" Medusa asked, rolling her head backwards as 
the bell rang.
	Yuki saw the telltale signs of Medusa's attack and leapt to the 
side as Medusa's hair shot forward and gripped the corner post Yuki had 
been standing in front of.
	Yuka, meanwhile, blinked, then turned to Jun and Elena, "Have you 
guys heard of the Strip Fighter tournament?"
	Elena shook her head, but Jun grimaced and nodded.
	"What is it?" Elena inquired.
	"Shortly after the first VG tournament, a secret society got 
together and decided to see how well a more daring tournament would be.  
In VG, stripping is the main attraction.  In Strip Fighting, it's okay 
to KO your opponent by any means necessary, save killing, and there 
weren't any 'out of bounds' for the tournament.  The only other 
enforced rule was that each fighter has to disrobe in order to use one 
of their more powerful techniques." Jun explained.
	"How do you know about it?" Elena probed.
	"I'd told my old manager that I had decided to enter a fighting 
tournament.  Apparently, they got word and approached me about joining.  
The money was pretty good, even if you didn't win, but the whole thing 
looked kinda stupid.  By comparison, VG's a lot better, even if you 
have to do a Level 1.  At least in VG, guys can only watch.  In Strip 
Fighter, they could also approach you about 'after fight 
performances'." Jun answered.(2)
	Yuka blanched, "Yeah, that does sound pretty bad."
	"So, what happened to it?" Elena inquired.
	"I don't really know.  I heard rumors that it was still going, 
but it's difficult to find fighters who'd be willing to sell their 
dignity AS WELL AS their bodies." Jun responded.
	Back in the ring, Yuki was not about to hold back against Medusa, 
who had freed her hair from the corner post.  Dashing forward as fast 
as she could manage, Yuki summoned her ki in preparation of a quick 
finish.  Medusa, however, wasn't sitting on her laurels.  She gripped 
the tail of her snake, infusing it with ki as she pulled it off and 
flung it at Yuki like a boomerang.  Yuki leapt over the flung snake and 
dove at the now naked Medusa like a hawk.  The snake hit the ropes and 
fell to the mat, then began slithering back to it's mistress.
	Medusa simply smiled and rolled her head back again.  Yuki 
twisted to the side as a spiral of red hair struck at the spot she had 
been just seconds ago.  Medusa's snake had reached Medusa and was 
climbing up her leg in a fashion that made everyone shudder in disgust.
	"ICE WAVE!" Yuki cried, charging both her hands with cold ki as 
she put her hands together, palms flat, and made a chopping motion 
towards Medusa.  Yuki separated her hands when they came parallel with 
the ground.
	Medusa's eyes widened in panic as a wave of freezing energy 
flowed along the mat towards her.  She tried to jump out of the way, 
but she was too slow with her snake still on her left leg.  Medusa 
clasped her arms over her breasts and knelt down to conserve her body 
temperature as her teeth chattered relentlessly.
	"Th-th-that w-w-w-w-wasn-n-n-n't v-v-v-very n-n-n-n-ice." Medusa 
told Yuki.
	"Then allow me to warm you up." Yuki responded, as she approached 
Medusa and engulfed her right hand in hot ki, "RISING DRAGON FIST!"
	The combination of hot ki and a solid uppercut sent Medusa out of 
the ring and into dream land.  The medics on hand quickly draped a 
blanket over the unconscious girl before hauling her out of the arena, 
much to the booing of quite a few people.
	Yuki grumbled to herself while she exited the ring.  The last 
thing she wanted to be reminded of was the Strip Fighter tournament.  
Especially since she was currently banned from her clan due to the 
shame inflicted by that entire tournament.  Sure, it was called 
'starting a new branch', but essentially, it was the same as being 
kicked out.  But being a ninja was like being in the mafia, one was 
never fully out until they were deceased.(4)
	Cerl considered Yuki as the kunoichi returned to the locker room 
to await the next round.  There were a fair number of fighters who 
could use their ki, meaning that the next rounds were going to get more 
and more difficult.  They would have anyway, but neither she nor Ranma 
were yet up to the level necessary for ki extension techniques, like 
Yuki's Ice Wave or Yuka's Scream Devil Bullet.
	Meanwhile, Cologne was contemplating the situation herself, but 
her focus was not on the tournament's participants, but rather the 
tournament overall.  The tournament's contestants had been reduced from 
thirty-two to sixteen and yet, Cologne hadn't sensed anything 
malevolent in the air.  However, Ihadurca, were she truly behind the 
tournament, would likely wait before trying to make an appearance.  If 
anything, she would appear near the final match.

	"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAILLLL ILPALAZZO!" Excel cried.
	"It's 'Xenon', not Ilpalazzo." Lord Xenon gently reminded her, 
holding back the urge to fire a brain reintegrating beam at Excel, 
which was technically worse than a disintegrating beam as it would 
cause Excel's brain to fuse until it was a milk ball-sized walnut.
	"FORGIVE ME, LORD XENON!  I AM NOT WORTHY!  I AM NOT WORTHY!" 
Excel bawled, bowing rapidly.
	"Calm down, Excel." Lord Xenon commanded, the words causing Excel 
to fall silently to the floor, where she then return to her feet, in a 
much calmer state.
	"You are indeed worthy as you performed your job admirably.  I 
was able to collect the energy to pay for the base, but you managed 
enough to begin the massive upgrades to our forces." Lord Xenon told 
her.
	Excel's eyes were wide, "Wha-what did you say?"
	"You did good." Lord Xenon reiterated his sentence in a 
simplified manner.
	Excel's eyes fluttered happily as her mind trailed off into an 
extravagant fantasy.  Lord Xenon could only stare for the first few 
minutes, but when she began feeling herself up, he was forced to speak 
up, "That's enough, Excel..."
	He quietly added, "for now."
	Excel's mind and focus snapped back to reality.  Then, as she 
realized that she was in a fanfic and not reality, her focus returned 
to the story.
	"However, even with this victory firmly in hand, we must continue 
moving forward or else the journey to world domination will be an 
infinite one." Lord Xenon explained.
	Excel nodded, her motivation magnified by a thousand percent at 
Lord Xenon's fancy words.
	"Therefore, I want you to begin DISCREETLY searching for new 
personnel, as we must first build a strong force with which to continue 
our march towards the future." Lord Xenon told her.
	"Well, actually, I do have a few friends that might be 
interested..." Excel began.
	"Excellent.  Bring them here and we'll see if they wish to join 
our secret para-military organization of ACROSS." Lord Xenon commanded, 
"And in the meantime, I too shall seek out new personnel.  Hmmm, is 
tonight good for you?"
	"Any night is good for me..." Excel said, blushing delicately.
	"I meant for the next meeting, where we'll bring new 
candidates?" Lord Xenon explained.
	"Oh, of course." Excel answered.
	[RATS!] Excel thought.

	Cerl looked at the lineup.  The progression had shown very clear 
paths to victory.  Jun, Elena, Yuka, Yuki, Ranma, herself and two other 
fighters, a man named Orion and a girl named Alleana, had made it to 
the semi-finals.  She was preparing herself for her fight against 
Elena, who was obviously her next opponent, when the announcer stepped 
into the ring, "May I have your attention, please?"
	Cerl wondered what was going on when the announcer answered her 
question for her, "The semi-finals will begin tomorrow at noon.  Semi-
finalists, please report to locker room 1."
	Cerl frowned as the crowd booed the decision to delay the 
tournament an entire day.  What did they have in store?  She walked 
with Ranma back to the locker room he had changed in.  Inside were the 
other six of the semi-finalists and the announcer, plus one of the 
judges, who had a clipboard and a small cardboard box that had a 
circular hole in the top.
	"Is everyone here?" the announcer asked, glancing around, before 
continuing, "Great.  Now, I'm sure you're wondering why we're gathered 
here and I'll answer that right now.  The sponsors of the tournament 
have asked us to change how the semi-finals work in order to spice up 
the competition a bit.  So, we're going to call you up one by one to 
pick a number from the box."
	There was some grumbling, but everyone agreed.
	"First up, can we get Alleana?" the announcer inquired.
	The process of number selection went rather fast.  Orion was 8, 
Elena was 7, Yuka was 6, Alleana was 5, Cerl was 4, Ranma was 3, Jun 
was 2, and Yuki was 1.
	"All right.  You have until tomorrow to rest up before the semi-
finals begin.  Please be here at least one hour beforehand so that we 
can be certain that all of you are present.  And good luck to each and 
every one of you." the announcer declared.

	That night was a rather busy one for ACROSS.  Excel had invited 
four friends to meet Lord Xenon while Lord Xenon had chosen another two 
members.  And yet, there were two other people there, confusing Excel.
	The meeting felt more like a welcoming party.  There was a table 
on one side of the room covered in snack items on silver platters as 
well as a soda fountain with a disposable cup dispenser on it's right 
side.
	Currently visiting the cheese and crackers was Excel's best 
friend, the dark blue-haired and incredibly pale Hyatt Ayasugi, her 
long wavy hair and light brown eyes made her seem exotic, considering 
that most of the other new members were from Japan and thus, had fairly 
straight hair.  She was wearing her red sweater and black jeans.
	Next to her was a red-haired red-eyed woman that Lord Xenon had 
chosen, named Misaki Matsuya, though the woman preferred being called 
'Matsuya'.  Her long hair was tied back into a fountaining ponytail and 
her dark purple business attire gave her an extra serious look.
	Panting behind Matsuya was Excel's not-a-friend-at-all-but-an-
annoying-dork-who-always-tagged-along Iwata Norikuni.  His spiky brown 
hair and vacant brown eyes spoke even to Excel of the levels of 
stupidity that he possessed.  He'd 'fallen in love' with both Matsuya 
and the tallest of the strangers that Excel didn't know.  He wore an 
orange t-shirt and blue jeans.
	Sumiyoshi Daimaru was the strong silent type.  Actually, he was 
silent because he was a mute telepath, but his telepathic ability was 
limited to 'speaking' to people and not actually reading their minds 
(meaning that he was a broadcast-only telepath).  He was rather husky 
with short but neat-looking dark hair and he wore thick glasses that 
prevented most people from sending his eyes at all.  He wore his usual 
green t-shirt and grey-blue pants.
	Toru Watanabe was Excel's best male friend (Sumiyoshi being a 
close second and Iwata failing to register as anything but an annoying 
tack on).  He had very tan skin because he was from the country, and he 
had dark hair, but his hair was parted down the middle.  Unlike most 
people who simply looked dorky with said hair style, the uneven ends 
made Toru look rather cool instead.(5)  He wore a white unbutton shirt 
over a blue t-shirt and tan slacks.  His dark eyes swept the room, and 
though he thought it was a waste of time, he wasn't about to leave.  
After all, the snacks were free and they were the most substantial 
things he'd eaten since he, Sumiyoshi and Iwata had been laid off from 
their previous part-time jobs.
	The last guy that Excel saw was Shioji Gojo.  He wore glasses, 
but his were very thin.  He wore a white lab coat over a business suit 
and he had short dark hair with a lesser version of the spikeyness that 
Iwata's hair possessed.
	The two people that Excel didn't know were two women.  The first 
was a tall dark-purple haired woman who wore a white double-breasted 
business suit similar to Matsuya's, but more formal.  She wore a 
headband that kept her short hair out of her dark maroon eyes.
	The second girl was a head shorter than the first.  She had the 
same eyes as the first woman, but she wore a black vest over a white 
button shirt with a white skirt.  On her hands were black gloves and 
short but adorable black slipper-like boots were on her feet.  Her hair 
was the most unusual part of her.  Directly over her head was pink hair 
that was almost like a flattened cap with purple hair fanning out from 
behind her ears similar to a laureate.(6)
	Lord Xenon stood up from his seat and cleared his throat loudly, 
bringing everyone's attention to him.  He gestured and nine folding 
metal chairs levitated from a far corner to arrange themselves in front 
of him.  He motioned his guests and Excel to sit.  Shioji and the two 
unknown women sat down to Lord Xenon's right.
	Once they were seated, he spoke, "It's so nice of you all to come 
here, and on such short notice.  You may or may not know, depending on 
what Excel has told you or what you've found out independently, but we 
are the ideological para-militaristic secret organization ACROSS.  We 
are currently seeking world domination, but for now, we're working on 
building up our personnel and power.  I am Lord Xenon, leader of the 
ACROSS.  Excel is my second in command... for now."
	Watanabe raised his hand and Lord Xenon nodded.  Watanabe spoke 
up, "Is this for real?"
	"Yes.  I know the idea of joining a secret organization, 
especially in this day and age, seems preposterous.  However, we are 
more than a mere terrorist organization or any such nonsense." Lord 
Xenon said, before walking down and handing Toru a metal bar, "Try to 
bend this.  Pass it around when you're ready to give up."
	Toru tried with all his might to bend the bar, but it wouldn't 
budge.  Frustrated, he passed it Matsuya, who also tried.  Matsuya 
handed it to Excel, who tried and, just like Toru and Matsuya, also 
failed.  However, instead of allowing her to pass it on, Lord Xenon 
spoke up, "Hold on to it, Excel."
	Excel blinked in confusion as Lord Xenon placed a hand on her 
shoulder.  Xenon's hand glowed with a bluish aura briefly, then as he 
removed his hand, Xenon told her, "Try bending it again."
	Excel bent the bar easily, and though the sound of bending metal 
was not a very pleasant one, everyone was more in awe of the sudden 
display of strength.
	"I bet it's a trick bar." Toru commented.
	Excel passed the bar to him and he tried to unbend it, but just 
like his attempt to bend it, he failed miserably.  Xenon smiled and 
placed his hand on Toru's shoulder.  His hand flared even more briefly 
than it had with Excel.
	"Try bending it now." Xenon told him, taking his hand off Toru's 
shoulder.
	Watanabe's eyes went wide as he bent the bar as easily as he 
could bend a soggy ramen noodle.
	"Though the effect will fade in a day for you, Watanabe, that is 
just a very small taste of the power that I can grant you and everyone 
else, should any of you decide to join ACROSS.  Even better, you can 
consciously shut off the power at any time and no, your unconscious and 
subconscious cannot activate it unless you are in actual danger." Xenon 
explained.
	"Amazing..." Matsuya commented.
	"However, there is one small problem." Lord Xenon announced, 
"Since we will not be making very much money at this, you all will 
still need to find work if you wish to continue living in society.  
Otherwise, we now have personal quarters down here that you can live 
in."
	Shioji arched an eyebrow, reminding Lord Xenon of his presense.
	"Oh yes, and this is our new resident mad scientist, Professor 
Shioji Gojo.  He is the creator of our two android compatriots, uh..." 
Lord Xenon faltered, then turned to Shioji, "By the way, you never told 
me their names."
	"Ropponmatsu." Shioji answered.
	"And the other one?" Lord Xenon inquired.
	"Ropponmatsu." Shioji repeated.
	Lord Xenon sighed, recalling that Shioji was called a MAD 
scientist for a reason (and it wasn't because he was angry), then 
pointed at the taller of the two androids, "You're Roppon," then to the 
smaller, "And you're Matsu."
	The two androids nodded.
	"Anyway, Roppon and Matsu will be assisting you in the field.  
Shioji will be designing weapons and such for us." Lord Xenon 
explained.
	"Pleased to meet you." Shioji spoke up.
	"Actually, Professor, I thought the two androids would look 
similar.  Why does one look like she's not even out of junior high?" 
Lord Xenon inquired.
	"A matter of taste." Shioji answered, laughing light-heartedly, 
despite the disgusted expressions on the faces of the other humans in 
the room.
	"ANYways," Xenon declared, thinking quickly to change the subject 
from the professor's 'tastes' in women, and directing his attention to 
the two androids, "why don't you two show us exactly how good your 
creator's work is with a small display of skill?  Anything that you 
think will impress us will be fine."
	Roppon and Matsu both rolled forward, grabbing their chairs out 
from beneath them as they moved and flinging said chairs into the air.  
Roppon leapt up after hers and cut her chair to pieces with a 
vibroblade that extended from the back of her hand, while Matsu fired 
lasers from her eyes to slice her chair to pieces, then leapt after it.  
In a flurry of motion, both androids landed, holding the remains of 
their chairs, which were fashioned into rough, but identifiable, 
sculptures of themselves.
	"........ that's... great...." Xenon said, slowly applauding.  As 
if their brains had been kick started by Xenon's clapping, everyone 
save Shioji, joined in on the applause.

=======================================================================

(1) Kami-sama means "God".  Watch the poseurdom of the author as he 
adds other crappy Japanglish to his story and pass it off as 
educational!
(2) Level 1 is from the VG anime.  Only a few of the VG video games 
show the actual stripping (Super VG for instance lacked it entirely), 
so the anime mocked up a system for how far a girl had to go if she 
lost.  I'm a bit hazy on the details, but I think Level 1 is full 
masturbatory goodness (or at least, that's what the video implies) 
while a Level 5 is probably just walking away from the fight.  Yuka 
states that Jun didn't need to strip naked at Level 4, so that's the 
impression that I get.  Level 4 probably demands the fighter to strip 
down to underwear or something.(3)
(3) Aren't ya glad I'm a pervert who has too much time on his hands?
(4) And sometimes, not even then.
(5) Gee, can you tell which of the three guys that the author favors?
(6) Her hair always seems incomplete to me.  So, I've altered it to 
make it seem more 'right'.  As a laureate is that wreath-thingy that 
greek gods, nobility and merchants always wear.

	"I don't hate Anno anymore.  If you look at it, there were only 
two real ways to end Evangelion.  The first was to make everything come 
out all right, but the series was already too dark to allow such a lame 
/ cheesy ending.  The second was what happened in the two movies and 
everyone hated that.  So, given those options, the ending for 
Evangelion that Anno originally provided was probably the best one 
could hope for." - A-kun

	"If I die before I wake... then I guess someone gets an extra 
donut at breakfast, don't they?" - Dennis Miller, HBO Comedy Special 
Comedy Central

	Chapter 8, incomplete.

	Stay tuned!

	Next chapter:
	The next few rounds of the tournament unfold!
	Cologne discovers the truth behind the tournament!
	Evil Inc.'s first plot unraveled!
	And Cerl versus Ranma!