Anniversary (Phoenix City Chronicles)

Just outside the hubbub of the enormous crowd gathered around the restored Phoenix City Arena like spectators at a ballpark, two figures walked into view. A green-skinned monk and a strapping minotaur with bladed hands.



"If Knuckles, the same as before is, then find him here we surely will," the grasslander looked to his companion.



His companion simply nodded.

=ANNIVERSARY=



The interior of the arena was a vibrant mesh of lake red and shimmering gold, the city's proud colors, and the tournament to mark off the 50th Anniversary of Phoenix City commenced.



Fighters from all around the land had gathered here in hopes of proving their mettle on this, perhaps the most celebrated day since the foundation of the BEIR. Ultimately, they would all be defeated by two men whose legendary strength simply outmatched them.



One was an old tiger who had proven he still had more than a little spring in his stride. Infamously known for his ties to the Knights of the Omerta, he ruled his neighborhood with an iron fist and had done so for nearly ten years.



The other, a legendary hero in his own right, had entered this tournament for the sole purpose of putting the tiger to sleep.

As Mason's friends and family watched from the sidelines, the bell rung, the gloves went up, and the final round of the tournament began!

Watching from ringside she sighs 'I'm still not sure why he insists on this...' she looks at the combatants trading blows 'I understand the fact of wanting to kick this guys ass but why here?' she sighs again 'Not much I can do but show my support and be ready to pull his... rear.... Mmm..... Girl, you start thinking like that and you'll get distracted...' she shakes her head trying to clear it and starts cheering for her feance.

Ami clung to Brother Lights arm as she tried to pull herself higher so she could see the match better. "He's doing great!" She screamed over the crowd to Brother Light.

"Focus Mason," Light leaned forward, eyes focused intently on the battle.



"You certainly have a lot of fire in you," Venga "The Tiger" Morae noted as he weaved around the young man's furious swings, "Do I know you?"



"I'm just some punk whose home you burned to the ground," Knuckles finally connected a solid right hook to the man's jaw, "BUT MY MOTHER WAS A GREAT WOMAN!"



"Hm, a great amount of fighting spirit," a silver-haired youth noted with a thoughtful smile as he looked up to the man at his right, "Don't you agree Kage-san?"

Kage rubbing his eyes, says, "Yeah Ro, he does since I fought with him when Vektor started making trouble." Kage then looks around, hoping he'd catch a face he'd recognized, though it would be harder than normal now.

Watching from the rafters and suspended cables making up the roof of the building, Cerys watched all the battles up to the one going on, cheering on for knuckles during all his bouts before.

"Well this one should be interesting, the two who have won every battle up till now, end up going against each other... Knuckles against this Venga guy... looks like it would be a good one."

As he starts to cheer from the heights of the building, a somewhat odd feeling came over him, something that smelled familiar. As he began to look around the crowd, he noticed something about one particular person. "Well ill be, if it isnt him... i could recognize that crazy looking hat from a mile away."

As he motions on the rafters he sees brother light, trying to somewhat focus on him for a brief instant to send him a message,
'Guess who i see among the crowd... you'll never believe me.'

After sending him the message Cerys hops off the rafters heading on his way over to the spot where the person was resembling Kage stood.

"Most bizarre indeed!," Brother Light spoke aloud in response.

Ami looked back at Brother Light in response. "Who are you talking to Light?" SHe asked her violet eyes bright with curiosity.

"That was Cerys," Brother Light replied, "Apparently, an ally we long thought murdered has rematerialized and is waiting among the crowd."

~@~

Meanwhile, the battle between the two warriors in the ring pressed on. Knuckles had got a few good shots in, but his fire was fading fast as the cold-hearted Tiger played an impenetrable defensive with no emotional drawback whatsoever.



"Slow down boy," Venga warned with a laugh, "At this rate you won't last beyond the first round!"

As if to prove his point, he gracefully danced behind the boy and took a hard shot to his back, claw-like weapons extending from the knuckles at the last moment with enough speed and depth to send our hero reeling onto one knee, eyes wide.



"D-d-damn you!," Knuckles growled, barely able to keep from collapsing.

"Hell is what you make of it," Venga sneered.

Seeing Knuckles go down Kaylea screams as the air around her suddenly becomes uncomfortably hot as her temper and herself flare.

"FIGHT FAIR!" She shouts notacing the crouds reaction she trys to calm herself "YOU CAN BEAT HIM LOVE! JUST KEEP CALM!"

Ami jumped up in her seat clinging so hard to Brother Light she drug him up with her. "Oh my god is he ok!?"

Kage, seeing Knuckles go down to one knee, says, "Come on Knux, you can do it!" Then, he notices the increased heat in the area, hears someone calling Knuckles 'love', and Kage thinks, 'Hmm, I've been gone too long, apparently.'

As Cerys closes in on the person resembling Kage, he shifts to his cats form, and pounces on top of the hat making it lean a little to the front, then leaning over the front of the hat looks down to his face,

"Well been awhile since we've seen you here, you don't look too bad for being declared missing for a good time. What ya been up to, hiding from us all this time? Well anyways good to see ya back here again Kage."

As he finishes, he perches himself on top of the hat again and continues to watch the fight from the top of the hat with his claws embedded on the hat remembering what he had done once before when he did this to him a long time ago.

Kage, feeling the hat lean, thinks to himself, 'Now what?' Then sees a cat talking to him, he thinks, 'Only one that I know of.' Kage then smiles and says, "Well Cerys, it has been too long, but we can catch up later, it seems Knuckles is having some problems."

Still sitting atop the hat, "Yea seems like it, that other guy was pretty powerful in his other battles... and some quit just seeing they were going up against him."

Leaning back over the front of the hat, "Do you think we ought to work our way up to the platform and check it out from there?"

Kage nods, knowing full well that Cerys is still perched up on his hat, and Kage looks to Ro and says, "you coming? Gotta give him some support."

"I have a good feeling about it," Ro Tar R'an smiled softly as he turned to watch the match.

As Kage made his way though the crowd to where he had heard the girl scream for Knuckles, he asks Cerys, "Who's Kunx's fan over by the ring?"

Glancing around, trying to figure out who he was talking about, and seeing the general direction he was motioning to he seen Kaylea there rooting for Knuckles.

Giving out a laugh as he was answering him, "Well you wouldn't believe me if i told ya, but it seems Knuckles has a girlfriend and that is her. Her name is Kaylea and shes a pretty good fighter so wouldn't be wise for ya to bug her much."

"Boy you really will be in Hell if you keep fighting this bad!," Venga laughed as he rushed up to kick the boy in the ribs while he was down.



"I fought my way out once," Knuckles glared over his shoulder as he gripped his opponent's leg with hands so hard they must have been made of steel before tossing him across the arena like a rag doll with enough force to knock him senseless as he slammed face-first into the ropes.

Standing to his full height, the warrior smiled confidently as if the blow no longer hurt him.



"You ring fighters like to hear yourself talk," he moved into a readied pounce, "But the real deal can take what he gives out."

"You're nothing!," Venga tried to pick himself up, inching his way over with blurred vision toward his target, "I've hung bigger guys than you on hooks! Made 'em dance!"

"I used to be like you," Knuckles shook his head as the man collapsed at his feet, "All I could see was red. My mother's blood on your face. It's funny. Seeing you like this, I just feel empty all over."

Kicking the unconscious mob boss off him, he walked out of the ring.

Rushing to his side, she hugs him fiercely and kisses him, stopping when she notaces him wincing only to poke at the blade wound. "Ya see, you just had to fight him HERE of all places! Light tells you to forget it, I tell you go after him on your terms, but do you listen?" She prods the wound again.

"NO! I aught to take you home and make you heal in time. BUT... where would that leave me? Hmm? Or Cally, for that matter? I don't want to be the bouncer AND the waitress." with that she grabs his hand and pulls him after her "Now lets go find the aformentioned cleric and get you patched up."

"I won," Knuckles noted with his signature boyish grin as she took him up through the crowd, which had long since jumped to their feet with applause and congratulations, to see Brother Light.



"Well played Mason," Light smiled knowingly as he reached out the hand Ami wasn't clinging to and placed it on Knux's back and fixed him right up.



"Well played indeed," the storyteller wandered up to meet Knuckles face to face, Kage and Cerys just behind.

~~~~~~~
Brother Light heals Knuckles
~~~~~~~

Ami smiled at Knuckled. "Congratulations Knuckles. You did great. But you gave my non-existent heart a heart attack. Do you realize how hard that is to do?"

"If you ask my sister and wife-to-be it's a wonder I keep my own heart running," Knuckles laughed, then turned to the strange young man, "Sorry, didn't catch your name."

Kage walks to Knuckles and says, " I'd figure it'd take more than that to beat ya." Kage then turns to Ro, "and this is Ro, he's the reason I dissapeared back in Marrowbrook, and well, long story really short, there's gonna be something far worse coming this way than anything we've ever seen before." Kage lifts his hat up, showing the scar that ran vertically over his eye. "We are gonna need all the help we can get."