"Oh, come on, of course I know who you are. You weigh 527 pounds, and your strength is..." Four Arms said excitedly. Meeting his idol made him even happier than winning the lottery.
"Enough." Ishiyama's face turned cold. "You know that much about me. Speak. Are you one of the Shape-Shifting Demon's minions?"
"Uh, I guess that's not exactly wrong." Four Arms was only trying to make a joke.
But the next second, Ishiyama attacked without hesitation.
"I once swore to the heavens that I would wipe out the Shape-Shifting Demon and restore peace to the world!"
"Evil fiend, die!"
As he spoke, golden light blazed around Ishiyama's body as he activated his skill.
Gigantification!
His broad, powerful body swelled again, growing to a height of five or six meters!
Four Arms hurriedly waved his hands. "Wait, listen to me! I'm not one of the Shape-Shifting Demon's minions!"
"I'm afraid I can't believe that."
Ishiyama kicked off the ground and shot upward like a high-speed tank, then came crashing down with explosive force.
Four Arms wasn't stupid. He immediately dodged aside.
Boom!
A huge hole was smashed straight through the purple palace. Ishiyama plunged into it with a deafening crash, and the entire palace shook violently.
"Hey, I'm really not a bad guy!" Four Arms shouted.
"I don't believe you."
Ishiyama leaped back up onto the palace and stood face-to-face with Four Arms, the flesh on his face brimming with killing intent.
"Villain, you can't fool me!"
With a furious roar, Ishiyama activated another skill.
Teleport!
Blinding golden light burst from his massive, wall-like body. His figure flickered repeatedly, and in the blink of an eye he was right in front of Four Arms.
One punch.
Four Arms had no intention of fighting back. He only raised his thick arms, trying to block Ishiyama's iron fist.
Bang!
A terrifying force slammed through his arms and sent Four Arms flying. His blood churned violently, and he nearly blacked out on the spot.
This guy's attack power was almost fully stacked!
Four Arms flew like a kite with its string cut and crashed hard into a spaceship, setting off a burst of blazing fire.
Then, with no footing beneath him, he dropped straight toward the abyss.
If he fell, Ben wouldn't be able to revive. He only had one life left.
Whoosh!
At the last possible moment, Big Chill rushed over and exhaled a curtain of ice, like a river of stars across the cosmos, freezing into place beneath Four Arms.
Four Arms slid along the smooth ice and all the way onto a nearby tower.
"Who are you?" Ishiyama looked at Big Chill and asked.
"We're not enemies. We're allies," Big Chill said in a hoarse voice.
"Why?"
"Because we share a common enemy. The Shape-Shifting Demon," Big Chill replied.
He wasn't afraid of Ishiyama, but having someone like him on their side would make what came next a little easier.
One more friend was better than one more enemy. That was a truth that never changed.
"I don't believe you. The Shape-Shifting Demon is a master of disguise. You must be it in disguise!" Ishiyama suddenly lunged forward, smashing through the robots in his path as he charged at Big Chill.
"Wait!" Gwen's voice came from behind him.
Ishiyama stopped and turned around.
There was Gwen in blue armor, boomerang in hand, weaving back and forth among the flying robots.
Spinning, leaping.
In a flash, Gwen took down more than a hundred robots. Then she made a light jump, like a nimble swallow, and landed in front of Ishiyama.
Behind her, a dazzling spread of score numbers hung in the air, high and low, packed so densely it was a stunning sight.
At the sight of a human wrestler, Ishiyama's tightly furrowed brows eased a little. He looked at Gwen seriously and said, "Wrestler, your combat skills are impressive. What is your name, and where do you come from?"
"My name is Gwen. As for where I come from... that's hard to explain in just a few words." Gwen put away her weapon and continued, "Also, those two are my family. You can't hurt them."
Big Chill tapped the Omnitrix and had Four Arms change back.
Once the two of them returned to human form, Ishiyama finally let go of his doubts.
"Oh, man..." Just thinking about how badly Ishiyama had beaten him up earlier made Ben slump in frustration.
"Wrestler Gwen, your fighting techniques are outstanding. Where did you learn them?" Ishiyama asked.
Gwen gave an awkward laugh. "Uh, well... I read the strategy guide."
"Oh, come on, I'm the strongest Sumo Slammer here, okay?" Ben said jealously, wanting to show off a little in front of his idol.
"The priority right now is finding Upgrade's Totem and getting out of here," Lucian said slowly.
"Right." Gwen took out the strategy guide and studied it carefully. "According to the map, Upgrade's Totem is in Level 13, at the Extreme Dojo."
"But we're only at Level 2 right now..."
Lucian shook his head slightly. "It'll take too long to fight our way to Level 13, and both you and Ben only have one life left..."
No one knew what would happen if they died in the game.
Would they return directly to the real world?
Or disappear completely?
No one wanted to find out, and no one dared gamble on it.
"Ishiyama, is there some shortcut straight to the Extreme Dojo?" Ben couldn't help asking.
"A wrestler never cheats," Ishiyama said righteously, then changed his tone. "But there is a side path."
...
Not long after, Ishiyama led Lucian and the others into a dark little passage.
There were no robots here, and no spaceships either, only a few crude facilities.
Ben looked around and muttered, "Wow, I've never seen this part of the game before!"
The group kept moving forward.
But behind them, among a pile of ceramic jars, two long golden eyes silently lit up, giving off a chilling coldness...
Crack!
The floor tiles beneath Ben's feet suddenly collapsed.
It was like some kind of trap had been triggered!
"Run!"
Lucian saw that the gate ahead was slowly closing.
But they were too far away. It was already too late.
With a furious roar, Ishiyama activated Teleport while enlarging himself at the same time. Golden light flashed again and again as he shot forward like lightning and wedged himself in the middle of the doorway.
His fan-like palms braced hard against both sides of the gate.
But the force of the closing gate was too strong. Even Ishiyama's arms started trembling uncontrollably.
Everyone immediately picked up speed, rushed past Ishiyama, and made it to the other side.
Seeing that they were through, Ishiyama stepped forward and stopped holding the gate back.
Bang!
The gate slammed shut, leaving behind dead silence.
A flash of golden light passed over him as Ishiyama released his Gigantification state, then turned to Ben.
"A game? This isn't a game."
"The fate of the entire sumo world is in our hands!"
After hearing Ishiyama's words, Ben planted his hands on his hips and laughed. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I read the ad copy!"