THIS IS WAR

"I can't believe that really happened.

We put so much into that arrogant jerk, and he just goes off and loses even though he cheated. How pathetic, and now we will have to use HIM."

Branchman said. "Get the guards and order them to capture Toro Fernandez and his brother Coyote."

"What was the deal with the princess? She seemed to be down in the dumps." Coyote asked.

"Th, she got a bit upset when her brother got burned to a crisp. Plus I did tell her that her brother was a no good rotten cheat." Toro replied.

"Geez, sounds like she's having a bad day, maybe you should have went easy on her big brother."

"I was going easy on her. It's not Kindness to lie to someone to make them feel better. All it does is make it harder whenever they eventually have to face reality." Toro replied.

"Yeah I guess you're right, it's going to hard for her when all those retainers that have been putting up with her brother for years start leaving now that he lost." Coyote said.

"Eh, whatever it's not my problem." Toro said as he Shrugged his shoulders.

"Put your hands where I can see 'em, don't resist and you won't get hurt." Said a man in full tactical gear. He was leading a group of heavily armed guards that had surrounded the Fernandez brothers.

"You mean if we don't resist YOU won't get hurt." Toro said.

"P-Please just come with us." The guard said nervously.

"Sure we'll go, to see that crooked politician, what's his name again?" Toro asked.

"Its Branch-" The guard stated to say.

"Oh I don't actually care what his name is let's just go already."

Toro and Coyote followed the guards to a room where they found Rich Branchman sitting at a desk.

"Ah, I'm glad to see you decided to come peacefully." Branchman said, "Please sit." He pointed at two chairs opposite his desk.

"Nah, we'll pass, just cut to the chase." Toro said.

"Straight to business, I can respect that. Look it's no secret that I underestimated you toro, or overestimated the rest, or some combination of both. Our team seems to be in a bit of trouble, and I believe I know what your plan to fix it is. I've brought you here to advise you against it."

"So what exactly do you think I was about to do?"

"Teams are only allowed to change team members once and only in the event of a death."

"Now if competitors aren't allowed to fight outside of the arena, how would they die? Obviously we can't replace team members that died in their matches either so what is the point of that rule?The rule obviously implies that a team member would have to kill his comrade to take his spot on the team. I believe that your plan is to kill the final member of our team and replace him with your brother. Am I wrong?" Branchman continued.

"Well I'll admit the thought did cross my mind, in fact I thought it would be best to do it in the last match; however, while I do think that would give us the best chance to win I would never stoop to those type of tactics to win. It would go against my code of chivalry." Toro replied.

"Chivalry huh? You're more of a straight laced guy than your reputation would suggest."

"Well, if that's the case it's for the best. The guy we have for the final match is a real monster, there's no way you could kill him even if you fought him 2 against 1." Branchman continued.

"I find that hard to believe you haven't exactly proven yourself to be a good judge of strength." Toro said

"Fair enough, but when you hear who it is you'll understand."

"Our final member is none other than the infamous Black Mask. I assume of course that you've heard of him."

"Of course I have." (He hadn't)

"It's that thing you're not supposed to do on Halloween." (See)

"No brother, you're thinking of something else." Coyote explained.

"Well, anyway if you don t know who he is, I'll tell you. For starters he's the man who killed Lu Hun after he escaped prison."

Lu Hun was a vicious martial artist from China who specifically targeted martial arts masters as his victims. It's confirmed that he killed over 40 black belts, as well as many more unconfirmed victims.

"Hey man I don't know who you're talking about, all these names mean nothing to me." Toro said.

"No brother you do know lu Hun," Coyote said

"You fought him after we left Mongolia. Don't you remember? It was when we got lost in northern China for 3 weeks."

"Oh yeah that guy. He wasn't half bad, I remember a bunch of guys in suits shook my hand afterwards for some reason." Toro said.

Branchman thought to himself "He beat Lu Hun too? I guess I really DID underestimate him.

Not to mention that solves the mystery of how Lu Hun ended up in prison in the first place, as well as why the Prime Minister of China recommended him."

"So if that's the case, you should understand how impressive Black Mask's power is." Branchman said.

"I guess we'll know how good he is when we actually see him fight. Anyway if we understand each other, me and Coyote are heading back to our seats."

"Wait, I'll go with you. I want to see this thing through to the end." Branchman said

"Huh, you got more guts than I thought Branchman." Toro said.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen are you ready for the conclusion of this exciting War Festival? With the score tied 3-3 the fate of Earthia is in the balance, who will win? We are about to find out!"

"Introducing first, fighting out of the eastern corne, standing 6 feet 1 inch tall, weighing in at 201 Ibs, with a War Festival record of 1011 wins with zero losses, this cool and quiet warrior is determined to end this tournament in victory for the Empire it's..."

"WIND!!!!"

"WIND"

Age: 23

Ht: 6'1

Wt: 201

Special Ability: Wind

"Wind" was a man with a slender but muscular frame with messy black hair and pale skin. He wore a white Imperial military uniform.

"Now introducing out of the western corner, standing 7 feet 8 inches tall, weighing in at 584 ibs, he's making his War Festival debut, this man is an infamous warrior feared by all across the planet it's..."

"The Indomitable

Black Mask!!!"

Black Mask

Age:???

Ht: 7'8

Wt: 584

Special Ability: Overpower

A massive man walked into the arena, covered head to toe with black armor and a winged black helmet.

"Mommy is that really Black Mask? Is he here to get me?" A frightened child asked.

"No, honey we'll be fine. I hope."

His mother responded.

"No way that guy is real, I thought he was just an urban legend or something." An Earthian spectator said.

Black Mask was a man of mystery, no one knew his real name or his face, nor was there any information about his origin. With so little information known the rumors about him turned into urban legends and tales told to frighten children.

However, throughout all the rumors and legends there was one thing that was an indisputable fact.

Encountering Black Mask is the same as coming face to face with death.

"I'll admit, this guy's power is the real deal. Coyote you're better than me at sensing aura; how does he compare to the guys that we've seen so far?" Toro asked.

"Well brother, he's definitely stronger than anyone who's fought so far. Of course, that doesn't include you or "Lightning". Plus "Earth" and "Fire" definitely weren't at 100%" Coyote replied.

"Both fighters ready?"

"FIGHT!!!!!"

"This guy definitely had the power to win this thing." Toro said.

"Enough of this farce!!!!" "Wind" said.

"Or at least he would have if he had fought one of those other guys, but this guy "Wind" is on another level. He's at least as strong as "Lightning."

EMPEROR TORNADO !!!!

An enormous tornado immediately engulfed the arena with devastating winds leaving nothing but a massive hole in the ground so deep the bottom was imperceivable.

"I-I can't believe it he lost so quickly. W-What just happened."

Branchman said.

"Ahhaha! I guess we lost, suppose that means the world is doomed. Ahhaha." Toro said

jovially.

The next day...

"In accordance with the rules all members of the War Festival's losing team are sentenced to death, we will now carry out the executions by hang-" An Imperial army official was saying until he was interrupted.

"Oi! Can you hurry this thing up?

I've got other things to do today!" Toro shouted, his hands and feet bound and a rope around his neck.

"Man this is taking so long I wonder if you're trying to bore me to death instead." He said while yawning.

Slightly perturbed the official continued, "By order of His Majesty the Emperor and Imperial High Command, the following men are sentenced to death."

"Mikanos Pappas and Fabian Martinez,"

"Lazy bums, if you'd actually fought we could have one. Fabian seems like he's still not even here.

"Edward Cunningham,"

"Ha, guess saving that guy was pointless. "Toro laughed.

"And Toro Fernandez."

Toro's brother Coyote could be seen crying in the crowd.

"Brother no!" He cried out.

"Coyote you need to quit crying and prepare yourself, because it's all up to you now."

After Toro had finished speaking, the order was given and the execution was over.

While the execution was taking place the 7

Elements were already on their way back to their HQ in a transport ship.

"So, "Wind" whats going to happen next?" "Fire" asked.

"Well even though we won as a team, the fact remains that for the first time in history an Imperial lighter lost a match. An unprecedented failure like that will probably cost us our heads. I expect OUR executions will be scheduled by the time we get back to HQ. As for Earthia, that planet will now be ravaged by the..."

Chapter 5

The Winds of Change

END