Chapter Text
Location: Capricorn Temple, Sanctuary, Greece
He didn’t like that she had gone there alone, to that place half a world away where the Sagittarius Cloth had ended up. Standing with his arms crossed over his chest on the steps of the tenth temple, Capricorn Shura frowned up at the night sky, his dark eyes settled on the Columba Constellation. For once, he found himself unable to be consoled by the normally welcome and comforting breeze of the Greek evening as it ruffled his short dark green hair and whispered over skin tanned by relentless training under the merciless Grecian sun. Perhaps it was the fact that she had gone to face these Japanese Bronze Saints who were so deliberately breaking and flaunting the laws of Athena; the very thought of those pretenders smearing of the name of Saint made a righteous indignation curl in the pit of his belly alongside the knot of concern.
The girl had grown on them, each of them, in her own special way. They had gotten so used to her running around Sanctuary as she grew from toddler into young adulthood and later on around the world after earning her Cloth. The first time she’d left Sanctuary on an errand run for the Pope, he’d practically stood on his head in worry, along with the rest of the Gold Saints. Of course she’d returned, triumphant of her first mission and bringing them presents.
“Shura.” The voice of the Aquarius Saint brought him out of his thoughts.
Lowering his gaze, he looked at the long-haired Saint beside him; like him, the other Saint was dressed in relatively casual clothing of a dress shirt and slacks, though the Frenchman appeared more formal due to his neatly done tie along with a vest. “What is it, Camus?”
“It’s almost time for the matches to start. Milo’s managed to book a private room in Athens so we can watch it there,” the French Saint informed him, the faint breeze stirring the ends of his long icy teal hair and the sleeves of his shirt.
Shura studied him and saw the faint lines of worry on his face that those who had not interacted with him as often as his fellow Gold Saints would never see. Of course. The boy trained by the Crystal Saint was also entering the Tournament secretly on Sanctuary’s behalf, wasn’t he? Two of his students would be concealed among the fighters and there was always the possibility they would come face to face on opposing sides of the ring. They might have to fight each other, possibly to the death.
“They’ll be fine.” It was a hollow reassurance, but it was all Shura could offer. From the ever-so-faint curling of the stoic Aquarius Saint’s lips and subtle softening of those icy blue eyes, it was appreciated.
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Location: The Coliseum, Tokyo, Japan
“You want me to do what?” Even with her voice level, the change in tone and pitch on the last word and sudden drop of temperature in the hallway was evidence plenty that the Bronze Saint of Columba was more then a little peeved. Despite the blankness of that silver mask, the incredulous stare being directed at the producer was unnerving.
“Make a flashy entrance,” he repeated, fidgeting anxiously, not certain of why the petite foreign girl made him so nervous. “To impress the audience. It also would make an impression on your opponent – Bear Geki – who is a very big and strong boy for his age.”
“I'll think about it,” the Messenger retorted turning and stalking down the hallway to wait for when she was called to the arena.
Make a flashy entrance. Impress the audience. The reminders of this display caused anger to well up behind her breastbone and the temperature of the hallway fell by another good ten degrees, frost starting to form on the walls. A flashy entrance? Alright then... The female Saint's lips curved wickedly behind her mask. Perhaps she'd have some fun with these moronic pretend-Saints!
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Location: The Coliseum, Tokyo, Japan
It was an impressive building, the way it was designed for the roof of the Coliseum facsimile to seal up like that, then for the technicians to make that star-field appear; it was a faithful map of the sky as seen over the true Coliseum, even though many within the stands didn't know it. The boxing-styled ring in the very center of the arena was awash in the bright, harsh floodlights, glinting off the grey-black armor of the towering teen standing in the center. The stark lighting almost washed out his darkly tanned skin and rich, dark purple hair, as well as casting harsh shadows over the sharp features of his face.
Of the one-hundred that had started out, he had always been and remained the tallest and physically strongest. So it was no surprise that Geki had come back with the Bear Cloth to compete in the tournament. Many would naturally be leery of tangling with him, so he wasn't too surprised that his opponent, this Columba Angie of Sanctuary hadn't shown. Though he had wanted to test his mettle against a Saint not part of the group Kido had gathered, a true test of his skills. As the announcer began the final countdown that would eliminate the foreign Saint, something remarkable and yet so odd began to happen within the contained environment of the dome.
It had begun to snow.
Fat, fluffy flakes of snow fell from the false starry sky projected by the technicians; some melted instantly around the spotlights, and the temperature, which had been cool despite the hot lights got noticeably colder until Geki could see his breath puffing out, snow beginning to stick, then pile on the floor of the ring.
The announcer had stopped the countdown in surprise of the unexplained event before suddenly one of the technicians swung one of the spot lights and the bright light caught off a silver and gold figure standing high into the rafters. As though taking that cue, the figure abruptly made a suicidal leap into the air, causing many to scream in shock. Geki for a moment felt that same surprise for a split-second until he realized how graceful that apparently reckless plunge really was, the falling form lithely twisting to fall feet first and land lightly on one of the turnbuckles of the ring facing him.
As she straightened, he stared at his new-found opponent. He had know he's be fighting a foreign female Saint from her name, but he had not anticipated to be fighting someone so...petite, so fragile looking; the top of her head probably would reach somewhere just beneath his sternum! Bad enough he had to fight a female Saint – what was the deal with that eerie silver mask, anyway? -- but one so weak looking! If he lost he would be known as being beaten by a girl half his size, but if he won, he'd be seen as some woman-beating bully. It was a damned if he did and damned if he didn't situation, and Geki cursed the one who put him in it.
With a critical eye he studied her in search for obvious weaknesses, the snow – her doing, he supposed though he wasn't too sure how just yet – still falling lightly about them. The armor she wore was light, just like all the Bronze Clothes were, protecting more over the torso then some of the other Clothes did, offering near total protection to the heart and a good portion of the lungs. Not as much as his, of course, but it was a good bit. The shoulder guards were much like Andromeda Shun's, resting just off the shoulder and protecting not just the shoulders but a good deal of her upper arms as well; combined with the gantlets and forearm guards, her arms were well protected. Her lower torso and legs on the other hand, held far less protection aside from the bikini-bottom styled hip and groin armor and the knee guards, with absolutely no armor on the girl's actual feet, just sandals.
As he sized her up, she did the same. Angie studied him, his Cloth, and his Cosmos; even for a Bronze Saint it as rather low and seemed barely trained. Then again, of the gathering Cosmos at this tournament, many of them seemed so very chaotic, making for a wide range along the spectrum – the Andromeda and Dragon Saints seemed to have the best control over their Cosmos, while Bear and Lionet were on the other end, the rest falling somewhere in the middle. If she had to rank their skill, from greatest to least, it'd easily be Andromeda, Dragon, Swan – he was lurking about but she could sense him – Pegasus, Unicorn, Wolf, Hydra, Lionet, and then Bear.
According to the Scoreboard, there was another Bronze Saint who had yet to appear, the Phoenix. To her discomfort what she could sense of his mostly hidden Cosmos was so foul and hateful that she didn't want to sense it, as though some part of her feared if she could sense him, knew where he was, that he could easily do the same and he was a predator, while she...was not. And it didn't help what she could feel didn't feel on the level of any Bronze Saint she'd ever encountered before, no it was much more like a low to mid-ranked silver Saint.
Her analytical and compartmentalized mind had analyzed and stored the knowledge and theories in order of importance before her eyes sharpened behind her mask as the Bear Saint shifted, taking a step towards her.
His breath was visible as he suddenly spoke. “Forfeit, please. I don't want to fight you. I assure you, I won't kill you if you do decide to fight, not intentionally anyway; there's only so much I can pull my punches.”
“How strange,” her Japanese came out in that clipped accent of a foreigner. “I was about to say something remarkably similar to you, Bear Geki. Forfeit, leave this place, and throw yourself to the Mercy of the Pope and the Goddess before you willfully commit one of the gravest of crimes for a Saint.”
“Crime? What crime?” the powerfully built teen seemed so bewildered, the expression so honest that it couldn't have been faked.
A spike of outrage speared through her. How could it be possible this pretender-Saint not know given who he sought to impersonate with this charade?! “A Saint is to use their abilities in defense of the Goddess and the Earth, never for their personal gain! We are pledged to our Goddess the moment we gain our Cloths to obey Her and Her Will, and this mockery is against Her Wishes!”
“But...this is a tournament to earn the right to wear the Gold Cloth of Sagittarius...” Even as he repeated what he had been told, what he had been taught, she could easily see the unease in his posture; between to her extensive training in analyzing spoken and unspoken language and his lack of training to conceal it, he was as easy to read as a Greek primer.
“Was your teacher even a Saint?!” Angie demanded harshly of the male Saint, her glare unhampered by her mask and the temperature seemed to plummet even further. “This is not the way a Gold Saint is selected. They are trained for that role from childhood, just as we Bronze Saints are! Very rarely will a Bronze or Silver Saint ascend to the rank of Gold and even then the Gold Cloth they can wear is reflected in their Astrological Sign; a person who is not a Sagittarius cannot wear the Sagittarius Cloth.”
Geki bristled at the slight against his teacher, who had raised him and trained him like a father, his shoulders squaring; a small part of him agreed with her, while another wondered... “And for all I know this is a spiel of nonsense to get me to forfeit my chance at the Gold Cloth. I don't think so.”
“Obviously you don't,” she said scornfully, gracefully leaping from the turnbuckle onto the mat. Immediately she assumed a fighting stance he was unfamiliar with, her weight mostly on her far leg and hands outstretched before her in a way that vaguely resembled a bird's wingtips touching. “I'll just have to beat the knowledge into you and perhaps Athena will be merciful on you given the sheer ignorance your teacher left you with.”
“Bear Geki! Columba Angie!” the announcer called their names sharply over the speakers. “Ready, set – FIGHT!”
Geki immediately tensed, even as she sprang forward – and blurred. A fraction of a second later, she had reappeared, her punch meeting square across his jaw; the force sent him reeling back a a half step while she twisted gracefully to land in her starting position. He righted and arched his brows at her.
“I barely felt that. You're pretty damn fast, but your hits don't have anything to back them up,” he drawled.
“Your head's harder then I originally calculated it to be. It will not happen again,” she snapped before blurring again.
A punch caught him in the throat this time and if it hadn't been for the fact he'd moved a half-step back, it would have crushed his windpipe. Choking, he gripped a big hand over his throat, coughing and wheezing for breath. She landed and blurred again before he had a chance to recover; this time a harsh kick struck him in the back, right in his left kidney. Again and again she blurred and struck him where he had no Cloth to protect him, each punch or kick seeming stronger and stronger. For the ones trained to sense it, they could tell the foreign girl's Cosmos was rising with each strike.
“She's using her Cosmos to enhance her strength,” Andromeda Shun murmured softly; the feminine-looking boy had his longish green hair pulled back loosely out of his face, and he leaned against the wall with his hands in the pockets of his white dress pants. His green-eyed gaze remained intent on the fighting pair, wanting to see if the training of one who had been in Sanctuary itself from the very beginning was truly something better then anything they had received.
“And going directly after the weak-spots he's presenting to her,” Dragon Shiryuu stated, watching the match closely; the Chinese-garbed teen crossed his arms over his chest thoughtfully. “She likes aiming for his throat; too bad for her he's already figured that out. See how he has his guard up?”
“Better to be pissing blood then have his throat crushed,” Seiya snorted as the girl struck again at Geki's kidneys. “He just better hope she doesn't rupture 'em.”
“She sure does kick a lot,” Hydra Ichi noted, his head tilting in curiosity, allowing his long white hair to trail down his back.
“I hear girls kick harder then they punch. Could be why,” offered the dark-haired Wolf Nachi as he leaned over, crossing his arms over the railing and looking down at the ring. The fabric of his tee-shirt pulled taunt with the motion, molding to the muscles of his shoulders and back.
“...they do. The center of gravity's lower, in their hips.” Seiya offered reluctantly with a rare insight. “Ours is in our chests, which is why we hit harder with our punches.”
He ignored as the others turned to look at him. Shun arched his brows at the other Saint. “That's true; one of my friends on Andromeda Isle who gained a Cloth is a girl. How did you know?”
“My teacher in Sanctuary was a woman,” he admitted absently, watching as the Columba Saint's heel met Geki's chin. “But she always hit pretty damn hard, even with her fists...”
“If he catches her, he'll win,” Jabu stated suddenly, still watching the match. “He'll be able to break her into pieces if he gets his hands on her.”
Nachi made a thoughtful noise of agreement in his throat. “Geki's smarter then he looks – I think she's underestimated that. He'll have her patterns figured out any minute now.”
In the ring, Geki suddenly gave a predatory grin as he twisted his body to avoid another of the foreign Saint's kicks, his big hand suddenly clamped around her ankle. “Gotcha, little birdie.”
Angie didn't even have time to utter the virulent curse that crossed her mind as she was hauled by her ankle and over his shoulder to be slammed back first into the mat with a resounding crack and thud. To those in the stands, it sounded like he had broken the ring with her body; a mixture of gasps and cheers escaped them at the possibility of a one-hit knockout.
Of course that hope was dashed when he leaned in to see if he had inadvertently killed her given she didn't seem to be breathing and was as limp as a ramen noodle in his grasp, because the second he was in range, he received the heel of her sandal full strength to his nose. For Angie, the sound of his nose breaking, that wet crunch-cracking sound was quite satisfying, even as she rolled away, her ankle freed by his surprise-slackened hand. Rising to her feet, she concealed the fact that the strong grip and powerful swing might have just pulled vital tendons and muscles in her ankle.
“Oh please,” she managed a convincing scoff as he straightened back up, a hand clutching his ruined nose. “Was that supposed to hurt?”
Geki was a pretty mild-mannered nice guy, all things considered. But at that moment he was beyond mad. How dare this tiny scrap of a girl come here, to his homeland, to try and take away his chance to earn and wear that Gold Cloth? His barely trained Cosmos flared and behind her mask, Angie's eyes narrowed at the rough outline of a bear enveloping the other Saint.
Oh great. She had to nip this in the bud and fast. Cosmos pooled into the palm of her hand – not the icy Cosmos Master Aquarius had trained her to utilize, she didn't want to kill him if she didn't have to just yet – and lashed her hand forward with her full speed while releasing and launching the flat disk of energy at him. Her voice echoed -- “Sonic Boom!” -- right before the sound barrier was shattered as the localized sonic boom and the energy it contained knocked her opponent off his feet and back into the chains of the ring.
She watched as he slumped limply, his arms tangled in the chains, holding his body mostly upright; there was bleeding from his ears and his broken nose had started to bleed more freely. Given the proximity she probably ruptured his eardrums but she had used only half the amount of Cosmos she normally would have so not to cause brain hemorrhaging in him or any of those in the stands located further behind him. The crowd had been stunned to silence by the abrupt turnaround and display of power.
Straightening, she turned and looked up to where the Cosmos of that Saori girl was in that large viewing box. Placing her hands on her hips, she regarded the box impatiently. 'Well? Declare it already, little girl,' she thought with an annoyance visible in her body language..
“Did she win?” Ban asked, the shock in his voice an echo of what his comrades were feeling.
“I...I don't know,” the white-haired teen shook his head in confusion.
“Geki can take a lot of punishment but if she did what I think she did, then...” Shun's voice trailed off; it was something he didn't want to contemplate, knowing there was a distinct possibility that one of them would have to go up against a killer in the later rounds.
“She may have given him a brain aneurysm. She might have just killed him,” Shiryuu stated grimly even as medics were making their way to the ring. Still, there was no call of victory for the foreign girl from Sanctuary. What was holding back the call? If Geki was dead, then she was the clear winner.
The rattle of the chains before the medics had reached ringside was faint, almost drowned out by the abrupt roaring of the crowd, calls for Geki to get up. Still, Angie had heard it and was turning; had it not been for that ankle, she'd have moved with her normal speed and avoided being snagged up by the neck, those calloused, powerful hands engulfing her throat. The grip was crushing; she saw black spots appear immediately in her vision and there was the roar of blood rushing in her ears, drowning out the excited chatter of the announcer as he speculated how much more pressure it'd take to snap her neck or just plain crush her throat.
Geki sensed, felt, more then saw, the female Saint's small hands flutter up, gripping at his gauntlet covered hands, futilely trying to curl her fingers around his broad palms to loosen his grip. And then he felt it, cold seeping through the metal alloy of his Cloth to his skin. Even in the middle of the harshest winter of the Rocky Mountains, he had never felt the cold pierce his Cloth...
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Location: Hotel, Athens, Greece
“I'm going to rip his soul out and shred it to pieces!”
Shura winced at the enraged howl coming from beneath the dog-pile on a pissed off Italian, quite certain that if the man could get free at the moment, he would have teleported into the center of the ring in that distant land and do just that...and probably to any one else that managed to catch his ire as well. No one was allowed to harm the beloved pet of the Cancer Saint. It just wasn't permitted.
“Calm down. She'll be fine – we all made certain that she received excellent training and that Neanderthal will have a nasty case of frostbite shortly,” Aphrodite said, shaking a rose in a scolding manner at the fuming man pinned to the floor; the teal curls that cascaded free from his up-swept hair swished back in forth as he shook his head in wry amusement as the other Gold Saints restraining the Italian inched back cautiously from the black rose he held. Despite what some might think of the fact the Italian considered that girl his 'pet' those that had come to know the psychotic man personally was fully aware the relationship was platonic, almost paternal in nature.
“Actually, right about now, to be more accurate,” Camus stated, a tight smile on his lips.
Every head jerked about to see the dark Cloth of the Bear Saint suddenly turn white and then shatter. A gleeful whoop of triumph escaped the bottom of the dog-pile as the young female Saint escaped the male pretend-Saint – she was leaping back gracefully, the hot spotlights glinting off her the metal of her mask and Cloth, the braid of wheat-blond hair looking more like the gold that trimmed her Cloth.
But more importantly the lights glinted off the icy Cosmos that swirled her hand, off the tiny particles of ice and snow. She thrust her fist outwards, directing the ice and Cosmos of her attack -- “Frost Bite!” -- that washed over the other teen, who had crossed his forearms in a futile effort to shield himself instinctively. Ice formed over his Cloth, over the chains behind him; the weaker metal became so brittle that the chains shattered under their own weight.
“Good girl, piccione,” Deathmask all but purred as the others began to cautiously get up, letting him free; a feral, savage smile spreading was over his face as a twisted paternal pride seemed to shine in his eyes. She wasn't quite as weak as she had been all those years ago when they first met her.
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Location: The Coliseum, Tokyo, Japan
“N-not possible---!” Tatsumi gasped out in surprise as Bear Geki fell, defeated by the slip of a girl from Greece.
Saori felt that niggle of worry spread and curl in her belly; the Messenger from Sanctuary was stronger then any had anticipated. But that made sense – they wouldn't send someone weak to represent their interests and try to reclaim the Gold Cloth of Sagittarius.