The New Champion Rising

Chapter 1: The Bull Fight

I sat in a booth with Arizona, noticing that almost everyone is staring. I looked at Arizona for some sort of explanation. After the long walk from the docks of airships, we decided to go to her part of the country. We're now at some sort of Saloon along the dirt road. It's mostly made up of bulls and cows, save for a couple of sheep and three dragons. I kind of gave everyone my best 'I'll give you more than a middle finger if you even try to mess with me' look. Arizona noticed and shook her head.

"I believe they think you cheated your first battle," she said. I shook my head and grinned.

"Haters gonna hate," I said. Arizona gives me a stern look.

"If you keep walkin' around and talking like that, you're gonna get more than hate. Don't go off and accept challenges, because if you kept losing, you're probably gonna actually die from the battle! So I suggest that the next time someone pushes you around, walk away," she said. I rolled my eyes. "What're you gonna do if a bunch of them gangs tag team on ya!?" She exclaims. I grinned even wider.

"In that case, I'm gonna make a couple of freaking kabobs with my katana," I said. Before she could protest a bull walks up, and spits on the table.

"You ain't from around here, are ya partner?" He asks. I shook my head.

"No sir I am not from around here," I answered.

"Heard from my lil' cousin you beat up his boss," I grinned deviously and nodded. "Well then, I challenge you to a battle, outside now," he said in a firm voice. I sighed.

"Sorry pal, she just told me not to get into a fight today," I said. Arizona gave me a nod of approval. The bull snorted and cackled.

"Lettin' a little girl tell you what to do?" He asked.

"No, if I was, I'd be wearing a tutu and inviting you over for some herbal tea in a backyard play set that was made of crayons and magic," I said. He stares at me and shakes his head. I turned to Arizona as he was walking away.

"Nutcased varmit," he said. I froze, my smile disappearing. I stood up.

"What did you call me?" I asked. He looks back, cracking a grin.

"A crazy lil' varmit," he answered calmly. I slowly walked up to him, hand on my katana.

"Say that again, one more time," I said in his face.

"You are a nutcased varmit," he said. I frowned.

"Meet me outside, and pray to God I don't murder you," I said.

As we stood and stared at each other in a standoff, barriers up and health bars full, I felt some sort of surge all of a sudden. At the same time, I grew angry at the bull for some reason. I taunted him by putting two of my fingers on both sides on my head. "Mess with the bull you get the horns moron!" I yelled. The bull huffed and charged. I jumped, did a flip with my katana and sliced at the bull. His health bar lowered slightly. He was a tough cookie to crack. Oh crap that reminds me, I'm kinda hungry. Ironically, I'm hungry for steak. I jumped off the barrier, did a backflip and landed on the bull backwards. I spin around and laughed maniacally as I held on. Arizona was in the crowds, face hoofing at my choice of action. I stuck up my katana and stabbed the bull. It took a bunch of HP off of him, but I'm only half way there. The bull then grows some smarts and tries to stand on two legs.

"Oh crap," I mutter as the bull falls backwards. Before I could slide onto his belly, the ground met my back in a body slam. Once the bull got off I get up, ticked off. It took almost a quarter of my HP. I turned around, flip my katana in a lot of fancy moves and glared. "Hey buddy, I'm hungry for some steak," I said, flipping him off. He charges, a stupid mistake. I jumped, landed on his head and steered him into the barrier. It stunned him, making him stagger. I got the ninja sword and plunged it into his skull. His HP goes down a quarter and I only have to hit him one more time at least. He threw me off, slamming me on the ground. Before he slammed his body on mine, I saw a flash. I looked around as everything is now frozen.

"Power up activated," said a feminine voice. I got up, and the bull finished his slam. He looks up, hate now burning his eyes.

"Come at me beefcake!" I taunted. Everything froze when I stopped moving. The bull slowly charges. I took a side step, getting out my katana, and slicing him. He falls onto the ground in defeat as I put my hands up in victory. The surge I had felt a minute ago is now gone. I look around to see not a crowd of surprised people, but a crowd of grinning idiots and a scared to death Arizona. I realized I didn't hear the beep like last time. I look behind me to see the bull head butt me upwards and slammed me down. I groaned as I saw my HP go down immensely. I felt pure rage and sprang up as the bull tried to slam down again. I got out my katana and swiped at him. I upper cut him with the handle of the katana and kept slashing at him in the air. I finished off my combo of ten hits with a firm drop kick, slamming him into the ground. As I stood on top of him in victory, as the crowds stared at me with surprise, I heard a beep. One by one, everyone started to clap, except Arizona. She walks up to me and bucks me hard in the gut. I groan in pain as I fell to the ground.

"That was just overkill Jack!" She said. I got up and coughed out a little blood.

"It's not like I actually killed him," I said weakly. She grabs my head and turns it to the bull. He still didn't get up yet. "Oh crap," I said. I ran over and checked his pulse. I decided the best place to check was his neck. I felt normal heart beats beat every second. That's a little too close for comfort. After Five minutes of waiting though, he woke up and groaned loudly.

"Ow, you have a bad temper," he said, getting up.

"Sorry sir, I didn't know you could actually get hurt. It looked so much like a game I thought-"

"Now I don't want to hear any of that, you won fair and square," he said, limping up. I sighed. He pats my shoulder and said, "I know I was a little rough on you, but I had a reason!" He said, chuckling. I tilted my head with Arizona in confusion. He points to a couple of cows watching throughout the whole time. "I wanted to seem like a tough guy, most gals like that!" He said. I smiled a little.

"Yeah, it kinda worked the same way in my world," I said. He and I laughed together as he trotted towards the cows. As Arizona and I started walking, I struck up a conversation, "Do cows actually like that?" I asked. Arizona rolls her eyes and kept silent. "Look I'm sorry for fighting, but no one, and I mean no one, calls me crazy," I said.

"Why?" Arizona asked finally in an irritated voice.

"I don't wanna talk about it, it brings bad memories," I said simply.

"Then why did you tell that?" She asked.

"So that one, you can talk more, and two, a warning for the future," I said. She sighs. I then felt horrible when she wouldn't talk for the next hour.

When she talked, she said, "You're someone I don't think I'll ever understand." I laughed a little. She smiled and we continued walking.