Ultimate Heroes 2007
The ultimate cross-series tournament. Pitting the best chosen few against each other in a series of arenas across their respective universes, and Light Yagami along with the mysterious L have been chosen as commentators! Whoever thought this one up has one strange sense of humour. Serious OC.
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An Authors Note:
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Greetings one and all.
First of all let me explain that this story was started primarily as a little joke between me and a friend after a discussion of 'which anime character is the toughest'? -Thus the Ultimate Heroes tournament began. Please note that because this is a story written for fun- however serious I try and make it seem- there will be some OC characters as well as the classics. Bearing this in mind I will try and keep the competitors I use- but don't own- as in character as possible. Hope you enjoy. ZG
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Stage One – Welcome to the Arena
"Light-Kun?"…
…"Wake up Light. I think you should see this."
With very little ambition indeed Light Yagami opened his eyes. Come to think of it, this had been the first decent sleep he'd had in quite some time; after all, being the next God of the people can put great strain on a man. Once his deep brown pupils were drawn open the lack of light made him wonder what time his involuntary partner had awoken him, and whether he really did get as good a night sleep as he thought. Then he realised what he was looking at was not the black shroud of common night, but two great and wide black spheres.
"Ryuzaki, I'd appreciate it if you didn't get so close!" With a gentle push the absent looking detective toppled back silently from his crouching position and landed on his back, still in a similar if not more vertical crouching pose. Light Yagami pulled away his own covers; of course what with the falsely suggestive chain linking them together they were forced to share a double bed- something Light was not very fond of even if L, working under his alias "Ryuzaki", insisted upon it.
"Don't you notice something odd here, Light-kun?" Looking over his shoulder Light Yagami noticed the oddly mannered detective sitting in his usual fashion on a close desk side stool. He hadn't even noticed the man leave the bed, though given his almost none-existent weight that clearly wasn't the 'odd thing' here.
"Let me guess…you're wearing socks today." A quick glance down and a smirk proved his point, "Clearly not." That was when the sleep left his body, brushing a slight chocolate brown fringe aside from his eyes Light came to a realisation.
"Since when did we have a desk?" One thing had become evident. Light needed coffee in the mornings for his brain to operate. The second thing to become apparent, they were not in their own room.
"So…what's going on here, exactly?" With a suspicious scowl the inner KIRA did arise, Light's paranoia had suddenly peaked as he realised they were not where they should be, and without any memory of getting there, it was justified. L was already running things over in his head it seemed, with one thumb between his teeth and slightly rocking on the stool. The clueless look was very deceptive.
"Well, I've been searching the room for the past six hours…" At this alone Light's eyebrows loosened from his scowl and he looked rather surprised for an instant. What time exactly had Ryuzaki woken up? Even more important though, why had it only just become apparent to wake up his roommate? "…the most I can say about this place is that were not getting out until someone unlocks that door." With a lazy gesture he motioned to the thick oak door nestled exactly in the middle of the wall opposite them. The door itself was a dark wood, with a strange golden ivy pattern around the corners. On closer observation the room in its entirety was quite splendorous, the bed on which Light now sat with his morning hair clearly reflecting his recent rise, was a rich maroon in colour and considerably more comfortable than the one he had gone to sleep in.
"Wait a second…" Light began, his urgency catching L off guard and snapping him out of his catatonic state, "How did you search the room if we're chained together?"
No farther than a dozen paces down the outside corridor a tall young man, accompanied by a more petite young woman, made an approach to the sealed door behind which a rather creepy detective was ignoring the questions of a cautiously homicidal Japanese college student from Kanto.
"Be a dear and fetch me my jacket, will you?" The strange lad requested motioning a hand tucked away inside a thin black leather glove. Like an obedient pup the mysterious partner began a quick stride back down the expensively decorated hall, which stood with a rich scarlet carpet below and warmly flickering candle chandeliers above. Taking his limitless time the silver haired youth slipped a small golden key from the inside of his glove, turning it gently in the shine of artificial noon. With no lack of haste the girl returned, carrying cautiously in her arms a long jacket- a deep and powerful maroon in colour, which suited well to the rest of his attire.
"Thank you, Kaori." He said with a gratifying nod, gladly accepting it. The teenage girl known as Kaori merely looked up at him, as though awaiting further orders, however when none came and her present company merely continued to examine his favourite jacket, she decided to speak up.
"When is he getting here? You said I could see him again!" With a silencing hand the tallest of the pair put an end to her sudden outburst. The bustle from behind the door ahead of him had come to a sudden halt, no doubt alerted someone was nearby. Not that it mattered; it was about time for the grand entrance!
"Oh yes, Kaori, one more request if you will…"
"You heard somebody too, didn't you?" Light asked, steadily gaining his footing and trying to make as little sound as possible, he stepped over to the door and maintained a careful ear to his surroundings. L however, had somehow obtained a lollipop and was nibbling mercilessly on the poor confectionary- Light had very little doubt the strange man had gone to bed with it still in his clothes. Before L could deliver a response, as unlikely to happen as it may have been, a gentle yet pronounced click caused Light to freeze his pace. With a questioning side glance to that same small stool Yagami non-verbally addressed the long haired friend and secret adversary; however the only reply he received however was an emotionless shrug and further indulging on candy. L however had not once taken his eye off the door, and was observing carefully the light coming in from underneath it. While the light in their room was plenty, despite being supplied by two oil lamps and a candle on the wall, there was still a distinct pattern of dim warmth creeping in from the outer halls. Ryuzaki was certain he'd noticed the shadows moving around outside long before Light had.
That was when the wooden cell door cracked open, slightly at first and gently ebbing further, inviting in with it the bounty of candle-light and a strong smell that was very familiar to them both, however they had not time to place it before someone nervously came through into their new quarters. The visitor was but a young woman, a girl even, no older than sixteen from the looks of it with rather scruffy black hair down past her cheekbones. Her most noticeable feature however was the tray with two hefty cups of what were no doubt coffee, and also the cause of the fetching aroma that had followed her, which was steadied in her hands.
"So, you bring us breakfast but don't full us in on what's going on here? My father must be freaking out, and he's very influential in the police department!" Of course this was a lie now that Mr. Yagami was working under L himself, who took a mental note of this but still had an optical lock on the girl. She seemed rather off-set, her clothes alone were quite tattered as well as her hair, which seemed to have had some attempt on it made but still didn't compliment her flustered appearance.
"Uhm…these are for you two, I don't make much coffee so…I hope they're okay…" With that Kaori placed down the tray and shuffled back to the doorway, as though hoping to hide behind the door itself- which wouldn't be too surprising considering she had L's haunting eyes studying her the whole time. She seemed very nervous, but despite her timid demeanour Light couldn't help but question.
"Mind telling us what we're doing here?" Light pulled his collar on the simple white shirt, straightening it out and trying to make his early-morning appearance more acceptable. Unfortunately the girl didn't seem at all obliged to give answers, and took another step back toward the door. An unexpected hand made her start, but she soon relaxed as the sleek black glove patted her gently on the arm and ushered her aside. Taking the stand now, a second figure widened the door. Standing with his own mug of steaming coffee and a rather satisfied grin, a taller young man who would have to be, at both the chained men's estimate, around the same age as Light if not a year or so older. With a subtle sigh the taller youth raised the cup to his lips and kept his eyes closed, clearly in no rush to make with an introduction. Regardless of this his clothes carried a presence of their own: he wore a long jacket, which Light recognised as being a similar colour to the sheets he had awoken under, however the rather uncommon cravat made the ensemble all the more outstanding. Below this a simple black shirt, which didn't grab much attention if it were not for the impressive golden amulet, with a great shimmering jewel much like a ruby, hanging over his chest and giving off an atmosphere close to that of royalty. His trousers too were long and a rich maroon like that of his jacket, however with both a slouch and one hand fitted lazily into his pocket this young man didn't act to suit his image.
"You seem quite relaxed." This time it was L who made first remark, still chewing mindlessly on that damned lollipop. Lime flavoured, to be more precise.
Diverting his eyes finally from the door L cast his gaze on the coffee mugs first, and then slowly raised them across to the girl known as Kaori. Reading his actions the girl was quick to fetch the cup and hand it over to the perched Ryuzaki. It was strange that L acted about ten years younger than Light sometimes, few people would guess the young looking mastermind was actually roughly ten years his senior.
"Allow me to introduce myself," The extravagantly dressed teenager spoke with an unnecessary bow, somehow managing to keep his coffee level, "My name, is Ryu."
After a brisk walk through what seemed to be half a dozen separate hallways the group consisting of two men, one woman and an L, came to a set of double doors that seemed to be an upscale version of their needlessly thick bedroom door. Clearly the appearance of these doors was a lot more important than whether or not it was physically possible to open them. Heading the pack the man known as Ryu placed a hand on the woodwork, behind him a rather lost looking Kaori clutched a tray with some empty mugs resting on it. No sooner than one gloved finger graced the door however did another hand take to slamming hard against it. Light Yagami, now appearing rather frustrated, held shut the door and now stood before the oddly dressed stranger.
"Alright 'Ryu' we came along with you, perhaps now you can tell us what it is we're needed here for?" For once Light was unsure whether it was wise to seem threatening, but in such a situation his first instinct was usually the correct one. However, the last reaction he would have expected would be for this weirdo to start chuckling with no signs of him trying to hide it. As Ryu raised a hand over his mouth, clearly realising openly laughing about such things could just possibly be considered rude, the frills on his jacket cufflinks caught his attention, he hadn't realised it before but they were very similar to the cravat he was wearing- which was weird enough. L however was not paying so much attention, he merely had his back up against the wall and waited out Lights little tantrum.
"Very well," Ryu spoke, adding a little drama by brushing his chin-length hair from before his piercing, almost frosted blue eyes. Even his hair seemed like it should come with a side order of red wine and caviar- it was a delicately light blend of pure silver and a creamy champagne tone, which suited fondly with his winter complexion. "I have brought you both here, because I have selected both of your inquisitive and brilliant minds for a great task."
At first Light wondered if they had been assigned to some top secret government special agency, but just as he questioned Ryu's motives that familiar gloved hand was raised to implore silence. Light cringed as he was forced to oblige, after all he knew very little about what was going on for the first time in his memory, so he didn't have too much of a choice.
"What is your request?" Ryu turned his head partially to share the glance upon Ryuzaki, who stood with both hands in his jean pockets and both eyes on the lengthy red carpet. "If you were willing to take a step as extreme as kidnapping to bring us here, I doubt we're talking about anything conventional."
Ryu's smirk returned once more, his eyes had already been laid once more on the uncertain Yagami Light, who hesitated in relieving his hand from the door. Light couldn't be certain, but there was something strangely familiar about this individual- despite being certain he'd never met anyone quite like him before.
"Kidnapping? Well, call it what you want really, you'll see for yourself soon enough." With this Ryu forced his weight onto the door, as heavy as they looked as soon as they began to crack open the broad barricades seemed to slide the rest of the way at their own accord. By this pound all four had herded closer to the door, even L had edged behind Yagami with earnest to see what was beyond. Once the doors were opened there was quite a selection of thoughts and questions running between the two genius minds, Light shared the primary of which.
"I didn't figure we were this high up." Light hadn't even entered the room yet, although the broad windows running along the farthest wall of the oddly proportioned room, as well as the walls to either side, gave them a considerable view of the outside world. L trekked slowly past his partner, who was soon dragged in after him with thanks to the thick chain between them.
"It's…a stadium." The detective was indeed correct, painted out across the windows like a grand artwork a wondrous stadium, sizable to that of the Olympic counterpart, stood proud within a great grandstand that their current room overlooked. It did appear to be somewhat early in the morning, as the sun was just partially overlooking the great stands from the west.
"This is…" Light began, running his hand across a thick wooden desk running across the forward window, "…a commentators booth." It was true that there was a wide selection of equipment around the room, though it was mostly furnished to be more luxurious than professional. Aside from the wide windows and the two long desks on both sides of the room, there was little else to suggest such a thing; though the two microphones on both the desks kind of gave it away.
"I hope you like the accommodations, tried to make it comfortable but, we still needed the proper tools." Ryu sat himself down on the right table, which was connected to both the front and right side window. Granted it may have been a big large for one person to sit, but it did indeed carry some level of professionalism. The ghostly haired young man tapped on the microphone stand nestled on the desk, and then pointed over to a pair of headphones which lay sprawled on a cushy looking chair, which resembled something more of a throne if anything, in which the commentator would no doubt sit. "I assume you know how to use these?"
Light nodded, still quite perplexed about this. They were here to commentate on something? How did that require a pair of greatly capable minds?
"There are two seats." L pointed out. Indeed if one were to look into the room from outside the door, without the people residing in it of course, it would well appear to be mirrored down the middle. A couple of long desks and some equipment, two important looking seats as well as a thick cream rug and toffee coloured walls sharing a golden vine décor was all to be found within the reasonable sized booth. It seemed Ryu was fond of his royal themes.
"We'll its real pretty and all, but perhaps you should start explaining." The spite was still common in Lights words, and L was wondering if perhaps this new face he was showing through all the confusion was in fact the killer he'd been searching for. However, there wasn't much time to ponder over such matters right now.
After another set of empty mugs had been laid down on the table Ryu had taken his new company through the basics of what was going on, however he was rather vague as to how it was all achieved, especially consider he seemed to be the only perpetrator. L was crouched on the burdensome desk, casting his sight over the stadium below. There was a very clear view from here, and he had no doubt the monitors higher up close to the ceiling and near the microphones would support their limited eyesight across such vast grounds. Ryu was sitting on the edge of the desk himself, tapping his fingers along the woodwork as he explained. Light was the only one of them properly seated, as Kaori was stood at Ryu's side and didn't seem very keen on joining their conversation. Lights coffee was the only one untouched.
"A tournament?" He questioned bluntly, "What kind of tournament are we talking about?" As he spoke Ryuzaki hopped off the desk and walked across a few paces to the other grand chair, running his hand along the woodwork up to the top, and tapping on it with his fingers.
"This chair has my name on it." He spoke in almost a whisper, apparently even the great 'L' could be surprised sometimes. Come to think of it, wouldn't that mean the anonymous detectives real name was only a few steps away from KIRA himself? Light leant forward perhaps a little too aggressively, but managed to calm himself when he spotted the title in question. A fine 'L' in gothic characters at the head of the chair, which was entirely constructed of lightly coloured wood and fabrics.
Figures. Light grunted in his mind, though this did raise a good point. Turning around in his chair, which was parallel to Ryuzaki's in the sense that it was fashioned from much darker materials; with the main exception being a silver heart carved in a similar fashion at the height of his own ebony seat. Light had seen this mark a few times before, mainly through the internet, and it was recognised within a certain selection of cult minds as being the symbol of Lord KIRA. Light could only hope L had not come across it- and he dared not question Ryu about it through fear of drawing attention to the fact! Whatever was going on, he figured these people knew a lot more than they were letting on.
"Yes." Light could have sworn he felt his pupils broaden as Ryu spoke this simple word, which was before he realised there was no way this strange man could be reading his thoughts. This situation was getting to him- that was certain.
"Pardon me?" Light regained his composure and crossed his legs in the chair, deciding to try his hand at the now room temperature coffee. L was now crouching on his own throne an arms length away from Lights, and biting on the tip of his pale and bony fingers.
"A tournament- The Tournament to be exact- A competition between few specially selected participants that I myself have arranged." His company merely nodded as Kaori gathered together the cups and took them out of the room, Light had already deducted she was more than likely a servant as opposed to an associate. It looked for the moment like this Ryu was the sole man in all this.
"And you want Ryuzaki and me to commentate on your little tournament?" L looked up at the mention of his alias. Seems the awe of the view had worn off on him.
"It does seem a little strange." Ryuzaki confirmed. Ryu merely tampered with his jacket, fixing the buttons up along it as he tucked away the strange amulet underneath. Once his jacket was fastened and he was satisfied with his reflection in the glass window, Ryu gave a warm smile that neither had been anticipating.
"I have faith in both your abilities. Now, I think you both are ready to meet your subjects." At these words the door cracked open a fraction more, a tuft of black hair perked out from around the corner. Apparently the shy girl had been listening in. Ryu stood up and gestured the two men to follow. "Come now Kaori, it's time."
The sun had already risen, yet the night air was still passing. Standing on the brink of a steel giant, a high building somewhere within an unknown city, a man with dynamic blonde hair and a ridiculously sized sword in his grasp watched out over the horizon. The sun had risen behind a stadium off to the west of the city; it was quite an impressive sight. Of course there would be far more opportunity for sightseeing, if this particular man had some clue of how he arrived in this city. "Time to wake, friend." He remembered a voice calling him through his dreams, "The games are going to begin soon, Cloud." Whoever had been calling to him, they were long gone now. Cloud Strife had arisen at the height of this great tower, and had been pondering silently for the past hour where he was and how he could have arrived there; he wouldn't be surprised to find he was still dreaming. Keeping a firm hold on the trusty blade, Cloud stepped forward once more to the direct edge of the building. Far below a series of roads was entangled, infusing into a main road heading directly through what Cloud could only assume was the middle of the city, the closest road departed off towards that stadium.
"Good to see you're ready." That voice. Snapping back in a fluid motion Cloud Strife grafted blue eyes, burning with the presence of Mako, onto a slender young man who had not been standing there a few moments before- and there was no doorway from inside the building onto the roof. The strangely apparelled man wasn't even looking at him, instead he was more preoccupied with a silver pocket watch he held in his hand. "The fun will begin shortly." Ryu snapped shut the small clock and swayed his eyes up to greet Cloud, performing a short bow.
"How did I wind up here?" Cloud made his first statement count, ignoring any need for a formal greeting. Dusting off his done-up jacket the man approached, and Cloud instinctively jutted his sword forward which quickly closed the gap between them. The First Tsurugi came inches close from Ryu's chest, given its unusual size, however the seemingly mild mannered man didn't seem to be paying much attention to the giant blade pointing toward his heart.
"You're here to attend a little fighting tournament of mine; you are Cloud Strife after all, aren't you?" The slight glint of the eyes made it clear the question was rhetorical; he knew very well who he was talking to, "Former SOLDIER, first class if I recall?"
"You've got the wrong man." Cloud interrupted sternly. Ryu merely chuckled, he was well aware of the truth behind this two-faced warrior.
"I don't care." With that Cloud looked down and huffed under his breath, hoisting up his great sword and laying it across his shoulder. With a quick glance up he then took a step back and vanished, leaving Ryu to sigh, still with that same devilish smirk plaguing his pale lips.
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An Authors Note:
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Thus concludes the first section of UH2007.
I hope this story was acceptable, as one of my first contributions it's nice to get a running start. Things may seem a little strange at the moment, but its Kuro's world now- so be prepared for chaos. Whether I get reviews or not I'm still writing this thing, but comments and constructive criticism is appreciated.
Also, if you know a character you think should be involved in the tournament, be sure to mention them and I'll look into it- who knows? You might pick a winner.
-ZG