“Hi, Lina Inverse here. In the previous episode Alex left the university to travel to the virtual arena to blow off some steam and learn to control his abilities better. The journey was a long and difficult one, since monsters attacked him at every turn, but he finally arrived. He signed in, meeting Myria, the woman who takes care of registration and computer related things; Rei, a were tiger with an immense attitude, and Piccolo, the big green Namekian who he met ages ago. Now he faces his biggest challenge - surviving orientation and his first battles.”

     It had been a couple of days since the last time Lina Inverse had seen Alex West, a.k.a. Warrior Saturn, and she was anxious to learn more about the world they were in. She decided to stop by his room and surprise him with a magic lesson. but when she reached Alex’s room, all she found was one of his throwing knives jammed deep into the wood of the door and a letter attached which was addressed to his friends.
     “This can’t be good,” Lina said, reading the note after removing the knife from the door, “this definitely is not good,” she added a moment later, “he isn’t saying when he’s coming back.”
     As Lina read the letter, three of Alex’s floor mates charged down the hall, a hockey puck sailing before them. The one at the front set up a slapshot, which careened towards the sorceress. The three stopped and stared in shock as Lina held up her right hand, still absorbed in the note, and hit the puck with a fireball. The spell blew up the puck and blasted the three out into the elevator lobby at the end of the hall, where the fireball exploded with a loud note of discord.
     A moment later Lina folded the note, slipped it into her pocket, slipped the knife into her belt, turned on one heel, and left the first floor. She passed the three extra crispy freshmen, who didn’t have a clue as to what had stuck them, and just grinned at them. She left the building, pulled out a cel phone, and called the apartment. Five people fought to get the phone, with Zelgadis Greywords winning.
     “Adderson’s apartment, what’s up?” Zel said.
     “Zel, it’s Lina. Alex isn’t here.”
     “When will he be back?”
     “He didn’t say. I found a note with a knife stabbed through it saying he went to the virtual arena to blow off some steam and hone his skills.”
     “Oh brother,” Adderson said, taking over the phone, “well, we’ll have to try to get along without him.”
     “Trust me, we can do it,” Lina said, sighing, “we’ll survive even if I have to dress up in his armor and learn how to use his attacks.”
     Lina ended the conversation at this point, put the cel phone away, took out the meal plan card that Adderson used when ever he was on campus, and walked towards the dining hall, her stomach rumbling and her mind saying, ‘Give me food NOW!’

     When morning reached room 130 of the men’s dormitory Alex West grumbled and rolled over, his body getting wrapped up in his cape as he fell off of the bed. He landed with an audible THUMP, which jarred him awake. He looked around at the unfamiliar room, his mind whirling until he remembered his long trek to the virtual arena. He reversed his transformation, stripped down to his shorts, and entered the bathroom, where he found a full bath and a basin with soap and herbal shampoo and conditioner. He grinned and hopped right into the shower, cranking on the hot water and humming as he washed away a couple of days worth of dirt.
     “This feels so good!” he exclaimed as he smelled the shampoo. He emulated an herbal shampoo commercial he had seen, which drew attention from people outside the room. Half an hour later he emerged from the bathroom, wrapped in a royal violet towel, his hair dripping wet but full of volume and life. He dumped out his pack, taking a pair of faded blue jeans and a T-shirt with a pair of anime characters on it from the pile. He dressed in these, tied his hair back with four brightly colored elastics, took some vitamins, grabbed the RPGVA rule book and his key, and headed towards the kitchen and the cafeteria.
     In the cafeteria he picked up a large stack of pancakes, covered them in syrup and strawberries, added some bacon and some fresh fruit, a banana, a big glass of orange juice and a large cup of cocoa before sitting down at an empty table. He broke the seal on the book and opened to the index.
     “Welcome to the RPGVA, young warrior,” a woman’s voice said from over his shoulder. Alex turned his head to see one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen in his entire life. Her honey blonde hair hung about her face in little ringlets, her blue eyes the same color as the sky. She brushed some hair back from her left ear to show a pair of earrings in her left lobe, one a gold hoop with a large red gem dangling from it, the other a large emerald stud. She was dressed in a simple green dress which looked like it was molded to her slender body.
     “Um... hello,” Alex said, blushing.
     “Is this seat taken?” she asked, indicating the chair to Alex’s right with her left knee, since she held a large tray of food in her hands. He quickly stood up and pulled the chair out and seated the young lady before sitting down again.
     “I’m Elizabeth,” she said, holding out one dainty hand. Alex took it and shook it gently. “Everyone here calls me EEH.”
     “I’m Alex,” he said, “I guess everyone will call me WS or Warrior Saturn or something like that.”
     “You’re the new guy, aren’t you?” Elizabeth said, taking a big bite from an apple, “Myria told Tiffa who told me.”
     “Is Myria the woman in registration?”
     “Yeah. She may look plain, but when she needs to get tough she gets TOUGH!”
     “I’ll make a mental note of that.”
     “You are aware that you’ll be late for orientation if you hang around here too often,” she said, checking her watch. Alex looked at his, grimaced, and exclaimed, “How can it be ten minutes of ten all ready?!”
     He stood up, excused himself, grabbed his rule book, and exited the cafeteria in a flash. He arrived outside the arena moments later. A wave of energy and electricity which was in the air caused the hairs on the back of his neck to stand on end, a shiver running through his spine. He took a deep breath and stepped through a large archway and entered a long tunnel, which was dark except for a couple of small lamps on the sides. He walked on through the tunnel before emerging in the central part of the arena. A group of people of all sizes, races, and classifications stood in the center, awaiting someone. At that moment he realized he was the one they had been waiting for.
     “He’s here,” the namek, Piccolo, said.
     “He’s late,” the were tiger, Rei, growled. A woman next to Rei elbowed him in the ribs. Once Rei was clutching his bruised ribs the girl stepped up to Alex. One look at her brown eyes gave Alex the creeps, since there was a hint of instability in them. Her long brown hair was pulled back in a long ponytail. She wore a tight white tank top, short brown cargo shorts, red and brown boots, and red gloves / gauntlets.
     “Hi, you must be Warrior Saturn,” she said, grinning, “I’m Tiffa. You’ve all ready met Rei and Piccolo.”
     “Yeah, I met Rei in the kitchen last night,” he answered, his thoughts reeling back to his late dinner and the were tiger he fireballed.
     “He hit me with a fireball!” Rei shouted. Tiffa groaned.
     “He doesn’t shut up, does he?” Alex whispered to Tiffa as Rei ranted and raved.
     “Not often. If you defeat him in a battle then he either shuts up or complains about it for a long time.”
     “Come over here so that everyone can meet you,” a bull like creature said, motioning Alex over.
     “That’s Maduin, and he’s an esper who summoned himself here,” Tiffa said, walking with Alex, “the guy with the blonde hair and royal blue trench coat is Sinclair C, or Sinc as we call him. You know Picc.... he’s the founder of the arena. The young man next to Sinc with the tanned complexion is Aximili, or Axi as we affectionately call him. He looks a lot like Vegeta, and as you can probably tell his jeans house interdimensional pockets of indeterminable depths, sort of like my backpack and probably your own subspace pockets.”
     “I met Myria and EEH all ready,” Alex said, waving to all who waved to him, “EEH met me for breakfast.”
     “Have you had time to read the rule book?” Tiffa asked. Alex swallowed convulsively.
     “Errr... yeah, sort of. I skimmed it this morning.”
     “You had better read it before 2 this afternoon,” Rei growled, “because I want to fight you in the arena!”
     Everyone looked between Rei and Alex, awaiting the reply of the one being challenged. Finally, after a long pause, Alex said, “I accept your challenge.”
     “Fine, I’ll see you here at two,” Rei growled before he left.

     “Do you think it was smart to accept his challenge?” Tiffa asked. It was two later and Alex was pouring over the rule book and trying to avoid screaming.
     “He challenged, I accepted,” Alex replied, not looking up from the book before him.
     “Well, he’s virtually undefeated,” EEH said from the seat across from Alex.
     “WHAT?!” Alex exclaimed, leaping from his chair and slamming his palms on the table, “Why didn’t anybody tell me that?!”
     “Page 325 of the rule book is linked into the arena’s computer and displays the current scores of each combatant,” Aximili said, opening Alex’s rule book to the page, which was a small, flexible computer. Near the top of the list stood Rei’s name, followed by his wins / losses and the percentage. When Alex saw this his jaw dropped.
     “What’s worse is that Rei is now in his Zelda mood over the release of that 64 bit game,” Tiffa said, “and that usually means danger.”
     “Well, I want to wipe that smug look from his face,” Alex said, turning back to where he had been in the book and resumed his rapid learning of the rules.
     “Hey what’s up?” a voice asked. Alex looked up to see a tall man with long brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, brown eyes, and a chiseled face. He was dressed in black pants, black boots, a deep blue tunic beneath black chest armor, and a cape which was royal green inside and black outside. Resting on his hip was a broadsword in a black leather sheath with gold and silver work in a pattern similar to Alex’s.
     “Hey Pookee,” Axi said, “pull up a seat.”
     Pookee pulled up a chair and said, “Who’s the new guy?”
     “Pookee, this is Warrior Saturn,” EEH said, “Saturn, this is Pookee, our resident warrior mage.”
     “Hey,” Alex said, waving without looking up from his rule book.
     “Not much of a talker, is he?” Pookee whispered to Tiffa.
     “He’s studying the rules before his match against Rei in less than two hours,” Tiffa whispered back.
     Alex produced his left gauntlet, opened the computer part, and began typing frantically. The others looked over his shoulder to see him programming in a strategy from all that he had read. When he punched in the bit about a desperation move shock registered on Tiffa’s face.
     “What’s wrong?” Pookee asked.
     “No... nothing,” Tiffa said, “nothing at all.”
     “What’s the time before my match?” Alex asked once he finished his programming.
     “One hour, fifteen minutes and counting,” EEH said.
     “Thanks. I’m going to go back to my room, change into my armor, and meditate for a bit before I go to fight.”
     “We’ll be rooting for ya,” Pookee said as Alex left.

     Half an hour later the two met on the battle field of the arena. They were both outfitted with ear pieces and microphones so they could communicate with the judges booth and the judges could communicate with them. Rei had outfitted himself in a green tunic, brown pants, and a green elf like hat, where as Alex simply transformed into Warrior Saturn.
     “Hey Rei, what’s with the new outfit?” Alex asked.
     “He’s in Zelda mode,” Piccolo said over the radio.
     “Forgot that Tiffa told me that. Oh well, works for me,” Alex said, shrugging, “let’s get it on.”
     Piccolo got on the loud speakers and said, “Round 114, Rei vs. Warrior Saturn. That is the battle order. And.... FIGHT!”
     Rei opened up by producing a small crystal, which he slammed into the ground. The crystal produced an expanding wave of fire, which raced about the arena floor and blasted Alex. Alex blew smoke from his nostrils before utilizing a plasma bolt chain, which he wrapped around Rei’s neck. The chain zapped Rei with a few thousand volts before vanishing.
     Rei’s second attack involved a bow and arrow. The arrow burst into flames as it sailed through the air before smashing into Saturn’s chest. Saturn retaliated with the dive of doom, first taking Rei into the stratosphere before diving as steeply as possible. At the last possible moment he broke off his dive, leaving Rei to crash into the arena floor and blast out a crater.
     For Rei’s third move he produced his mirror shield and reflected the sun’s rays into Saturn’s face, blinding him. Saturn, without even thinking, activated his visor to block the sun’s rays before hurling a crescent beam at Rei’s feet.
     “Illegal move,” Picc said into Saturn’s ear.
     “Gomen,” Saturn said, “auto pilot took over for a moment.”
     “You DID read the rule book, didn’t you?”
     “I tried to, but it was sort of last minute.”
     “Keep your eyes on your opponent,” Tiffa said, cutting in seconds before Rei’s bombchu stopped at Saturn’s feet.
     “Oh crap!” Saturn said, a small AT Field starting to unfold. He held it in place to take the brunt of the blast, but ended up taking a good deal of damage from the explosion.
     “Now you’re gonna get it,” Saturn said, his unstable side showing. He charged at Rei, laughing maniacally with his glaive above his head. At the last possible moment he used his glaive to pole vault into the air, neatly planting his foot in Rei’s face to allow him to vault higher, where he summoned a giant porta toilet, which dropped on Rei and broke open.
     “Rei is Near Fatal,” Piccolo announced.
     Rei pulled out a piece of red materia and summoned his esper, the tiger goddess Tigris. The mystic deity appeared and recharged Rei’s life energy and magic power.
     “Rei is no longer Near Fatal,” Picc announced.
     “He’ll be back there soon enough,” Saturn said under his breath. He took his own piece of materia and summoned Ridley, the space pirate. The giant dragon creature appeared and breathed a large wave of atomic flames on Rei. Rei dropped to a crouch, his energy low. Ridley vanished a moment later.
     “Rei is Near Fatal.”
     Rei took a hi potion from behind his back and chugged the contents of the bottle, restoring some of his life energy.
     “Rei is no longer Near Fatal.”
     Saturn spun around, forming a circular design. He shouted, “Burning Mandala!” before placing his hands so that the heels met and faced Rei. A mass of flame rings flew from his hands, striking Rei in the chest and throwing him halfway across the arena floor.
     “Saturn, according to my readings you’re out of MP,” Piccolo said to him over the radio.
     “Heads up!” Rei shouted, activating his hookshot. The hookshot stuck into Saturn’s chest, going through the armor before the hooks retracted. Rei recalled the hookshot, tearing a gash in Saturn’s chest and armor. Saturn coughed up blood, going into a crouch.
     “Saturn is Near Fatal.”
     Saturn looked through his pack for something to restore both his life and magic energies. He pulled out an unmarked bottle with some reddish liquid in it. He downed it quickly, not really feeling anything different.
     “What was that I just drank?” Saturn asked, hiccuping.
     “I don’t know,” Piccolo said, “but I think you should use it like a hi potion to restore your life energy.”
     “I’ll use it like an ether and recover my magic power,” Saturn said.
     “Heads up!” Tiffa called, breaking in as Rei slashed at Saturn with a Biggerons (bigass) sword. Saturn fell backward, coming back up in a crouch, nursing a gash in his arm and the hole in he chest.
     “You should be dead,” Rei shouted at Saturn.
     “Apparently I’m not,” Saturn said, grinning evilly.
     What transpired next was a lengthy argument between the pair, multiple curse words used in each sentence. Tiffa finally got sick of it all and teleported Rei out above the arena shouting, “Chill Dammit!” As Saturn began to say something he found himself out near the bath house with Tiffa’s voice ringing, “You too!” in his head. The two combatants reappeared in the arena a moment later.
     Saturn was still in a crouch, holding his hand over the gash in his chest and armor. Waves of energy began to emit from his body, all focusing on Rei and increasing in temperature, burning Rei with the intensity of a thousand suns. Saturn shouted, “Solar Flare! Near Fatal tech!” as Rei was incinerated.
     “Rei is.... defeated,” Piccolo said as a hush fell over the arena.
     “I’m still standing,” Rei gasped, his fur singed, his Link outfit hanging in ribbons. Saturn collapsed a moment later from loss of blood and the shock to his system.
     “Rei is the winner... Saturn is defeated.”
     “Saturn needs medical attention,” Tiffa said, grabbing the mic, “medic units to the arena floor. We have a fighter down and bleeding.”

     Hours later Alex awoke in the infirmary under the arena. His body felt like it was going to fall apart at any moment. He also felt like he had just been hit with a magically enhanced Dragon Slave.
     “So you’re finally awake,” Tiffa’s voice said from off to his right. When he turned to look over she said, “Don’t move. You’re still pretty banged up.”
     “Is Rei still gloating about his win?”
     “Oh yeah. He’s throwing a big party to celebrate his win.”
     Alex groaned when he heard this. He lapsed back into unconsciousness moments later, using what little magic power he had remaining to cast a major Recovery spell.

     Many days later Alex met Tiffa in the arena for the first of their many battles. On a not too cloudy night the first of the fights transpired.
     “Are you folks ready for round 115?” SinclairC asked the two combatants over their ear pieces and over the loud speakers.
     “Oh yeah,” Tiffa said, “I’m ready to rock and roll.”
     “I’m ready to get my first real lesson in how to fight,” Saturn said.
     “O.K., Saturn gets first strike since he chose the correct number. And.... FIGHT!”
     Saturn started off by imitating one of Sailor Mars’ attacks, beginning with a spin and clasping his hands together with his index fingers extended, forming a “gun”. As he spun he shouted, “Fire... SOUL!”, a spark forming at his fingertips. The spark erupted into a giant fireball which he hurled at Tiffa. The fireball struck her in the chest and hurled her through a wall.
     Tiffa dragged herself from the wall and reared her hand back, a pink energy ball forming around it. She screamed, “KOUKEN!” and slammed it into Saturn’s chest, propelling him backwards.
     ‘Damn, that one hurt,’ Saturn thought as he stumbled back, temporarily stunned. He recovered and held his hands above his head, producing his Star Sword. He slashed downwards, cutting Tiffa’s face and chest. He then slashed across her chest, forming a rudimentary cross.
     For Tiffa's comeback attack she slid forward while shouting, “YURI CHOU UPPER!”, which constituted of her upper cutting Saturn into the air. She landed first and as Saturn fell back to the earth she shouted, “DOUBLE!” while driving her fist into Saturn’s backbone, which elicited a grumble of pain from her opponent.
     ‘I’m... going to regret this later on,’ Saturn thought as he coughed in pain, wincing as his spine was driven into his spleen. He landed hard on his back, gasping for air as it was driven from his lungs. Summoning what energy he could, he created a heated whirlwind of sand, namely his Sandstorm Blast attack, and engulfed Tiffa in it. The winds pelted her with sands exceeding mach 1 in speed and heat in excess of 1,000 degrees. When the whirlwind finally died away Tiffa was dropped hard onto her butt.
     Tiffa spun in place slightly and shouted "CHOU KNUCKLE!” before flying towards Saturn, slamming her fist into his jaw.
     Saturn took a second to crack his jaw back into position before charging at Tiffa. He took a baton from his left gauntlet, spinning it around until it's the size of a quarter staff, and used it to pole vault into the air. He performed a head stomp, leaving boot prints on Tiffa's forehead. He rebounded into the air, stomped again, rebounded one more time, performing an elegant back flip and at the same time slamming his fist into the back of Tiffa's head, leaving her to eat dirt.
     Tiffa dashed at Saturn next, whispering "Konno..." and grabbed him. She then began slapping him several times in the face! After five seconds of it she reared her hand backwards and gave Saturn one hell of a b*tch slap, sending him sprawling, face first, to the ground.
     “That’s payback for smacking me in the head,” she taunted, grinning wickedly.
     Saturn felt very dishonored by the b*tch slap and proved it by summoning Ridley, his esper. The infamous space pirate appeared in a flash of light and a burst of flames and breathed atomic fire on Tiffa, singeing the girl’s outfit.
     “That’s payback for that very dishonorable slap you dealt me,” Saturn said, grinning evilly as well.
     “Tiffa has reached GO for Limit Break,” Sinclair said over the loudspeaker.
     “And I’m more than ready to let him have his fill,” Tiffa growled, “but first I’ll take some of my energy back, thank you. DRAIN.”
     A globe of energy formed around Saturn, depleting some of his energy before it returned to Tiffa, returning energy to her. A slight glow surrounded her, signaling that the energy was accepted.
     “No fair,” Saturn said, taking an Ofuda from his pouch and holding it before his face, “Aku Ryo.... Tai San!” he chanted before sticking it to Tiffa’s forehead. The scroll held in place, leaving Tiffa paralyzed and fast asleep. Saturn blinked a couple of times before thinking, ‘Guess Mars’ magic has a different effect in the arena. Oh well, might as well make the best of it.’
     As Tiffa slept, he performed several lightning fast kicks, knocking his opponent onto her butt. Tiffa’s eyes snapped open a moment later, signaling to all that the spell was no longer in effect. She dove at Saturn and rammed her fist into his chest while shouting, “CRUSH!” sending him flying through the air and crashing into a wall.
     “Tiffa’s limit has been broken,” Sinclair announced.
     ‘Boy, will I say,’ Saturn thought as he gasped for air, a scream dying in his throat due to lack of air. Once he caught his breath he produced his glaive and channeled energy into the blade. A large globe formed around the blade, the ground around him cracking from the sheer power. He held the blade above his head and shouted, “Silence Glaive APPLY!” before arcing the blade downward. The explosion that resulted from the energy release picked Tiffa up and hurled her into one of the arena walls.
     “Saturn, you have just reached level one of your Super Art,” Sinclair said in his ear, “feel free to use it at any time, or if you like you can save it for later.”
     “Thanks for the advice,” Saturn said, “but for the moment I’ll keep my eyes on my opponent.”
     For Tiffa’s next attack she jumped high into the air and shouted,  "RAIOUKEN!" before firing a fireball at Saturn. Saturn jumped to avoid it, but when the ball hit the ground, it exploded, causing him to fly back into the rubble and crack his back on a few rocks with a muffled, “Ow.”
     “Saturn has reached limit break,” Sinclair said, “and it appears he broke something else.”
     “I’ll break my limit and break her,” Saturn grumbled as he flipped out of the crater and performed several rapid back handsprings, landing in a crouch. Energy collected around his body, forming a ghostly aura. He screamed, “GIGA CRISIS!” while flinging his body outward, an energy wave of immense proportions rippling out from where he stood, tearing up the ground as it went. The wave picked Tiffa from her feet and hurled her into the wall before dumping several tons of rocks and other debris upon her. Once this feat was accomplished Saturn said, “Limit has been broken.”
     “As has much of the arena floor,” Sinclair said before whistling through his teeth. He looked at his controls and announced, “Tiffa is near fatal.”
     “Not for long,” Tiffa said as she crawled out from under several large rocks. She cast a high level healing spell on herself, white light flowing around her body and restoring her health. Sinc then announced, “Tiffa is no longer near fatal.”
     “Looks like it’s time for one of my super arts,” Saturn said to himself, “one that she doesn’t know about.” With that he went into a sort of trance, his eyes glowing a dark red that was almost black. All of the shadows in the arena came to life for a short time, surrounding Tiffa and binding her. Saturn’s own shadow produced a shadow sword, which it used on Tiffa to slice up her face and her chest. A moment later the shadows returned to their former states and Saturn came out of his trance.
     “Was that..... a super art?” Sinclair and Tiffa asked in unison. Saturn nodded.
     “Well, here’s draining ya,” Tiffa said, casting DRAIN once again and stealing more of Saturn’s energy to replenish her own. Saturn, in return, chugged an ether and tossed the bottle away. The following was a cat fight in which Tiffa tore at Saturn’s throat, muting him. In return Saturn slashed at Tiffa’s throat with his sword, muting her.
     “Umm.... Saturn’s mute and Tiffa’s mute,” Sinclair said.
     Tiffa used an echo screen to relieve her muted status. Sinclair announced this revelation moments before Saturn utilized a Cannon Drill kick, sending Tiffa careening into a nearby wall.
     “Tiffa has just reached her limit,” Sinclair announced.
     “And the limit is this,” Tiffa said before clawing at Saturn’s eyes, blinding him for a few moments. Saturn stumbled back and used an echo screen so that he would at least be able to cast higher level spells that didn’t require aim. To retort to this Tiffa cast Osmose, stealing some of Saturn’s magic power.
     “You can’t hit what you can’t see,” Tiffa taunted, dancing about.
     “But I can hit what I can hear,” Saturn said as he chuckled evilly, energy concentrating around his fist and forming a large globe. He knelt down and slammed the energy sphere into the ground, creating a large, expanding shock wave of energy which threw Tiffa to the ground and buried her under some rubble.
     “Tiffa is now near fatal,” Sinclair said. He cut the mic before mumbling, “again.”
     Tiffa chugged a hi potion, her body glowing as her energy was replenished. She tossed the bottle off to the side, shattering it against the wall.
     Saturn used his keen sense of hearing to determine where Tiffa was buried. He shouted "Sparkling Wide Pressure!!" and formed a disc of electrical energy, much in the way that Sailor Jupiter does when she uses the attack, which he slammed into the ground. The disc burrowed through the ground and struck Tiffa, blasting her with a few thousand volts of power, knocking her onto her butt and leaving her hair extra frizzy. A moment later he blinked and his vision restored itself.
     “You’re going to pay for doing that,” Tiffa coughed as she charged at Saturn, energy glowing around her fist. She slammed her fist into Saturn’s face and shouted, “CRUSH!”, sending him sailing across the arena and to the ground. “The limit has been broken,” she grumbled.
     “Saturn, my instruments indicate you’re near fatal,” Sinclair said in his ear.
     “I know, I know,” Saturn moaned, “oh well, time to kick out the jam and heat up this party.”
     Saturn managed to get his body into a crouch, his eyes glowing, his hair standing on end, an orange aura forming around his body. The energy radiated from around his body, centering around Tiffa. He shouted, “SOLAR FLARE!”, causing the energy to ignite and burn his opponent with solar level temperatures. He then remained in a crouch, breathing heavily.
     “Tiffa is now near fatal,” Sinclair said over the loud speakers. Tiffa was stumbling about, but still had some life left in her. She raised her hand to the sky, energy collecting around it. She then shouted, “ELEMENTAL WRATH!” and smashed her fist into the ground. Pillars of elemental energy formed around Saturn and drained the remainder of his energy. Saturn collapsed to the floor a moment later, his loss marked up on the board.
     “Saturn is defeated,” Sinclair said, “medics to the main field please.... we have one down, and he looks really bad.”

     Saturn awoke with a pounding ache in his head, his body refusing to move properly. He opened his eyes to see Tiffa standing beside his bed. He blinked at her and tried to speak, but she put a finger to his lips.
     “It’s best you don’t try to speak,” she said, “I’m sorry I went so rough on you, but you brought out the warrior spirit inside of me. Anyway, you name the day and time and I’ll fight you for a rematch. Right now, you need to rest.”
     She left the room with a slightly suggestive wiggle to her posterior. Saturn lapsed back into slumber a moment later, his body recovering at an accelerated rate thanks to his mutant powers coupled with his spell casting abilities and his warrior powers.

     The moment that Saturn was on his feet and ready to fight again he searched out Tiffa and took her up on the challenge of a rematch. That same afternoon the pair met in the arena, everyone on the island turning out to watch. In the control tower sat Aximili, who took his turn at judging for the pair.
     “Are you sure you want to go through with this?” Axi asked over the microphone.
     “Oh yeah,” Saturn said, grinning, “I want this rematch.”
     “Well, whenever you’re ready, you get to go first.”
     “I’m ready now.”
     Axi then turned on the loudspeaker for the rest of the arena. “Round 128, Warrior Saturn vs. Tiffa. BEGIN!”
     Saturn charged the blade of his glaive with energy before shoving it into the ground. He then ripped it forward, sending a shock wave across the arena floor which knocked Tiffa onto her butt. For a comeback Tiffa stood up and charged her body with energy, her attack power increasing, not to mention her muscle mass rippling.
     “Tiffa’s ATP is up,” Axi said, "Didn’t he learn his lesson the last time?”
     Saturn raised his hand to the sky, energy collecting around it. A globe formed around his fist, a ring spanning his body and joining the globe. He shouted, “World SHAKING!” before slamming the globe into the ground. The globe raced about the arena floor before striking Tiffa and shaking her to her knees. A moment later debris landed on top of her, burying her.
     “You’re gonna pay for that,” Tiffa said before she emerged from the debris with a weighted fan in hand. She hurled it at Saturn, and he chuckled when it struck him, up to the point that it cut deeply into his flesh and caused him to wince in pain. “Like I said,” she chuckled, “you’re gonna pay for that.”
     Saturn stood in place, his aura flashing brilliantly as energy collected around his body, forming a shield of sorts and increasing his defense.
     “Saturn’s defense up,” Aximili said over the loud speaker.
     “Whatever, it’s not going to protect him for long,” Tiffa said as she leapt forward and kicked Saturn in the face. As she landed she rolled forward and planted her elbow in his chest, sending Saturn sprawling onto his back.
     Saturn managed to back flip away from Tiffa, narrowly avoiding a dinner of pavement. He then leapt into the air and performed a head stomp on Tiffa, rebounding into the air and performing a second stomp, leaving a boot mark on Tiffa's forehead. He was then catapulted back into the air, where he performed an elegant back flip and landed with his feet planted off center on Tiffa's shoulders. His weight and momentum caused Tiffa to fall forward and get a face full of pavement.
     “You’ll pay for that,” Tiffa mumbled as she flipped forward and took a pair of the same fans she had used earlier out of nowhere and ran at Saturn, screaming at the top of her lungs. She then began to dance around Saturn, hitting and slashing him several times until he collapsed. “Like my fan dance? It’s deadly, isn’t it?”
     “Back off lady,” Saturn said as he regained his feet, his sword appearing in his hands. He held it before his body and shouted, “CYCLONE!” before spinning about like a tornado and hacking and slashing Tiffa’s arms, legs, face, and chest. Once he stopped spinning he shook his head to get his equilibrium back.
     “Tiffa has reached the limit that needs to be broken,” Axi chimed in over the loud speaker, “and Saturn has reached level one of his Super Arts.”
     “CRUSH!” Tiffa shouted, her fist colliding with Saturn’s face and sending him flying through the air and into a wall. “That limit has been BROKEN!” she cheered, blowing dust from her knuckles.
     “And Saturn is near fatal,” Axi said, wincing as Saturn’s body collided with the wall. “Saturn has also reached limit break and Tiffa has reached level one of her super arts.”
     “And I’m not going to need any healing,” Saturn said as he stood before Tiffa and tended to his somewhat broken nose. “You bent my nose out of shape and now you shall pay!”
     Saturn stood with his palms a little ways apart, a small twister forming between his hands. He shouted, “TORNADO STRIKE!” and the tornado vanished, only to reappear around Tiffa as a tornado funnel of awesome magnitude. The tornado lifted Tiffa half a mile into the air, where it promptly disappeared, leaving Tiffa to drop to the ground below and leave a fairly impressive, not to mention large, impression in the ground.
     “Tiffa is defeated,” Axi exclaimed over the radio, “Winner of round 128 is Warrior Saturn, and medics, get the spatula.... we’re going to need it to lift Tiffa from the pavement.”

     Tiffa awoke in the infirmary to see Saturn sitting next to her bed, his glaive resting against the wall. His head was nodded onto his chest, gentle snores escaping from him now and then. She arched an eyebrow and grumbled something colorful before rolling over.
    ‘Some guardian angel he turned out to be,’ she thought, her blood boiling, ‘at least when I was  watching over him I didn’t fall asleep.’
     A gentle yawn broke her thought process, and she turned her head to see Saturn standing over her bed, stretching the kinks from his back and shoulders. He turned his head and smiled at her.
     “So you’re awake. That’s good. I hope I didn’t hurt you too much when I used my super art. That tornado strike is pretty impressive, isn’t it? Well, when you’re feeling up to it I’ll treat you to some breakfast or something. Until then I’ll catch you around.”
     With that he cast a small healing spell on her and left the room, his glaive vanishing from her room. She rolled back over and fell into a deep and fitful slumber.

     Following the two fights with Tiffa he competed with Aximili in a team match against Tiffa and Sinc, his team losing due to Axi getting double teamed from the other team. In the time following that he competed against a multitude of opponents in the arena, winning some matches, losing others. He eventually bested Rei in a match, which was a major shock to the were tiger’s system and his ego.
     After many months (or so it seemed) at the arena Saturn decided it was time to return to the university and home. Everyone was sorry to see him leave.... everyone except for Rei, that is, since he was still nursing a grudge for his defeat.
     “Are you sure you have to go?” Tiffa asked.
     “Yeah. My friends probably miss me a lot,” Saturn said, “but if you guys need anything, don’t be afraid to call.”
     “Don’t worry,” Axi said, “we will.”
     “Hurry back,” EEH said.
     “I’ll return at some point,” Saturn said, waving as he levitated off of the ground, “catch you guys on the flip side. Ray WING!”
     The magical aura surrounded him once again, giving him the speed requirement to get home quickly. Ten hours or so later he landed outside of his residence hall. He walked in, entered his floor, and was met by an icy silence.
     “Hello,” he called, “is anybody here?”
     “Surprise!” Lina shouted, leaping from behind a pillar, “welcome back from your big trip. You were gone for about a week.”
     “Huh?!” Alex said, his jaw dropping, “I was gone for only a week?! It seemed like several months!”
     “According to my calculations, for every hour you were there, a minute passed here,” Ariel said, stepping from around a corner.
     “Do you feel any stronger Mister Alex?” Amelia asked, leaping out of a doorway.
     “Yeah. Maybe someday I’ll take you guys there and you can learn some of what I learned.”
     “That would be cool,” Amelia and Lina exclaimed.
     From behind them came Adderson, Derek, Tod, and the moon warriors, all carrying some form of food or drink. Alex took a large pizza from the stack that Jack carried and immediately began to wolf it down. He took a 2 liter bottle of cola and downed that in a matter of seconds before starting in on the Chinese food.
     As Alex ate, Amelia whispered to Lina, “He certainly eats a lot.”
     “He must have used Ray Wing to get back,” Lina said, “that spell takes a lot of energy to maintain for long periods of time.”
     “So is that why you eat so much?”
     Lina turned red before putting Amelia into a headlock. “Just shut up about that! I work that off when I’m running from monsters or casting high level magic!”
     Following the party Alex entered his room, tossed his pack on the empty bed across the room, kicked off his boots, and collapsed onto his own bed, exhausted from his trip. He had peace, quiet, and he was more powerful than he had been before he left. He also had less stress in his life. But now he had to explain to his teachers why he was gone for a week, and that would be something else all together.