"And that's the whole story of what happened, more or less..."
A day had passed since the sudden end to the date that Leopold had gone on with both Nix and Breeze. Unfortunately for the boy, he had inadvertently ended up having to explain the whole date's contents and aftermath to Zion due to its strange conclusion. He had hoped that his roommate would have some sort of advice for him, since he claimed to be such a "romantic" individual.
Zion put his hand under his chin and thought, observing the events he had just been told of. "I see... So, they just left you behind after you ate some of their crepes?! THAT'S ALL SHE WROTE! NOTHING MORE!" He seemed both surprised and frustrated at what had happened.
Leopold nodded. "And then they seemed to be avoiding me today at school as well... Do you think I did something wrong on the date? Was it something I said?!" He knew that was possible.
Zion nodded, narrowing his eyes. "Well, if I'm being completely honest with you, I think you'll be just fine." He gave Leopold a grin and then further explained his statement. "You aren't the brightest bulb, are you..."
"What are you getting at now?" Leopold asked him.
The boy laughed, lying in his bed. "If you were smart enough, you'd understand what I'm getting at." He closed his eyes, Leopold still confused.
Leopold tilted his head in confusion at Zion's words. "How so?" What exactly was he getting at now? Was he just trying to insult his friend or was there actually some sort of deeper meaning he was getting at?
Zion, laughing for a short moment, looked back at Leopold. "Trust me, Leo... You'll see what I mean soon enough..." He clearly was not about to elaborate.
Sighing as he observed Zion's unhelpful remarks, Leopold leaned back against the wall. At this point, there was no point in worrying about what had happened, especially if there would be no way of him figuring out what he had done. Instead, the boy decided to change the conversation's topic.
"Anyways..." he breathed. "did you hear about the announcement from earlier today?"
Zion nodded, sitting back up. "Yeah. I heard that the school is putting together some sort of rankings tournament for the students to participate in." Zion frowned, scratching the back of his head. "Although I'm not sure what it really is. Why?"
Leopold looked at him. "I just didn't really have a grasp of what this was supposed to be either. What in the world is a rankings tournament?" It was the first he had heard of such a term.
Zion nodded, stretching his arms into the air. "From what I've gathered, It's pretty much what it sounds like..." He pointed to his weapon that was lying on the ground some distance away from him. "Basically, everyone at the school will battle one another in a big tournament. I think it's going to be used to decide where you stand among your fellow students here at Academy Five."
"You think?"
"Probably. My guess is that they'll have us mostly fight in one on one battles." The boy crossed his arms. "Unfortunately, it's not likely any of us from Class 1-D will be able to get a high place due to how weak we all are..."
"Huh..." Leopold mumbled. "So, its going to be fairy difficult then?"
"I'd suppose that would be the case. Still, I can't say for sure..." Zion observed. He scratched his forehead as he continued to think of anymore information. "What else was there that I had gathered..."
"Are the teachers going announce specifics of the tournament sometime later?" Leopold questioned, still curious. "Would it possibly be during one of tomorrow's classes?"
Zion yawned, starting to feel tired from the long last few days. He laid back down on his bed, giving his friend a few more words of advice. "I think that there may be a bulletin board outside of our room. It should have some more information about the tournament. You... could check that out if you want..." After those words, he crashed out.
Leopold thought to himself for one more moment. He sighed and then proceeded to walk out of his dorm room, heading down the halls of the school in search of the bulletin board Zion had spoken of.
Sometime later, when the boy had arrived at said board, he saw a paper that had been nailed to the slab of wood. The boy frowned and pulled the paper off the wall. As Zion had said, it did seem to have that of the specifics on the tournament. The boy grinned, slowly reading over its contents.
"Now let's see..."
RANKINGS TOURNAMENT
Austro 18, 21-22
All day during school hours
Classes will be canceled for these days
The rankings tournament will be a group of battles used to determine a students rank and sitting among school students while here at Academy Five. Ranks for students will be labeled for the entire year and are listed below:
1-8 ranks: Eight Elite and Student Council members
9-50 ranks: S
51-200 ranks: A
201-350 ranks: B
351-500 ranks: C
501-720 ranks: D
Battle order and opponents listed at later time
Leopold scratched his head, thinking about the whole the idea of this tournament he was being placed in. "I had thought that the exam we took before we got into this school determined ranking, right? So, what is this ten? And they're letting all classes take this tournament instead of just the freshman students?" He scratched his cheek. "Sounds pretty weird if you ask me..."
"Reading the tournament details, Mister Blond?"
As the sound of an unfortunately familiar voice caught Leopold's ear, he turned around and found that a female student was standing behind him. She was wearing a red uniform on her person, signaling she was from Class 1-A...
The boy felt his right eye twitch just slightly."Crap! I had hoped that I'd never see this girl ever again..." The one person at Academy Five who Leopold already couldn't not stand.
Leopold sighed. "Did you need something, Miss Second Princess of Kushida?" Yep. It was none other than Cinder Kushida, the second princess of the kingdom and the same person who had challenged Leopold to a fight on the very first day. Her eyes shined with a fiery passion as she looked at her fellow freshman.
Cinder frowned when she heard Leopold's completely disrespectful tone. "You should really have more regard for those in a higher station than you, Mister Blonde." She didn't really seem to respect anyone though, so Leopold really didn't want to listen to her.
He narrowed his eyes, not breaking eye contact. "Remind me... just why are you calling me "Mr. Blond" anyways?" Leopold asked in hopes of getting away from Cinder's immediate pestering.
Cinder scoffed at his question, grinning as she prepared to explain her reasons. "Because that is what you are, Mr. Blond. A character who doesn't even get a name because you aren't important enough!" She acted as though her new nickname was somehow clever or something. From where Leopold was standing, it just sounded like she was too flustered to even try mocking him.
He smiled, not backing down. "At least I don't have to have someone walk with me everywhere and babysit me because I throw temper tantrums 24/7..." He quickly covered his mouth, trying to hide his laughter.
Cinder blushed and hid her face from the boy. "They aren't temper tantrums, idiot! It's just a means to keep people in line is all! Gosh! Why are all of you people that this damned school so mean?!"
"Geez... Where did her high and mighty act go now? This is way better from my point of view..."
After a few minutes of Cinder whining and trying to make excuses to Leopold about her attitude problems, she cleared her throat and continued with her previous conversation. "Anyway, the point is you won't have any chance in this tournament, Mr. Blond. Just throw in the towel during the first match and call it a day, Blond!" With that, she spun around and walked away from the scene.
Leopold watched her and again felt a feeling of confusion rise in him. "Just what in the world was that about?! Whatever... It's not like I'll drop out of this thing just because some princess tells me I should! Well, unless it was Breeze or Ivory... Then maybe..."
He sighed and looked back at the bulletin board once again... "I wonder just how they're going to pit battles... Ranking on the exam? Random selection? Whatever the case is, Class 1-D will be at a disadvantage from the start..." He bit his lip and then finally walked off.
================
"Hello, folks, and welcome to the 1,021st annual 'Rankings Tournament'!" an announcer yelled at the crowds of cheering audience members who had come to see the tournament.
The day had finally come and the rankings tournament had finally arrived. Everyone was gathered in a large colosseum located on school grounds. People were there besides the students, including fans and family members. They were all watching the matches from the stands and cheering for certain students they liked above others...
"YOU GO, JACK!"
"WE LOVE YOU, LISA!"
"TAKE THEM DOWN, CINDER!"
According to Lucas, around 66,000 different people were in the stands. Some of these people even included the kings and queens of Kushida and Stashin! "I wonder if Ivory's parents will cheer for her... They've never had as much fondness for her as they did for her siblings, so I'm hoping she does well!"
As Leopold thoughts over and over about all of the factors that went into the event, the announcer started to explain details about how the rounds would work. "A magic based intelligence or MBI randomly selected rounds for students to fight in to climb their way to the top." he explained.
"I see... So really, your chances of winning are based on the luck that you go against someone weaker than you... So everyone has a chance in this first match!"
"And now, let the first match begin!"
The first few matches went about as well as Leopold had expected them to go. A Class 3-A student demolished a female from 2-D. Then, someone from 2-B defeated 1-C. One of Leopold's own classmates was defeated within 5 seconds against someone from 3-B! Finally, in the 210th match of the first round, it was Cinder's turn to fight!
Cinder walked out onto the grounds to fight someone from 2-A. Overall, she had a disadvantage in this fight, so winning would be tough..."Maybe she was the one who needed to throw in the towel..."
Still, Cinder gritted her teeth and prepared to fight. Leopold watched her intent gaze as she readied herself. "She looks like she really wants to win this thing... But why exactly? Usually, she just wants to show off her power... but this is different..."
"You have no chance, Miss Cinder!" the 2-A student mocked before the match began. "Just give up now before you get yourself hurt!"
Cinder smiled. "I'm sorry, but that isn't happening! I've got two reasons to demolish you, buddy!" With that, the match started and Cinder blasted off from her starting position.
Leopold watched her fight and was honestly impressed with how well she carried herself. Cinder used a form of fire magic called "Supernova magic" during the match. It's flames we're some of the hottest among fire type spells and a single touch from the flames could incinerate you in seconds!
Cinder swung her sword and fire over and over at the 2-A student, but he just dodged her attacks as if he'd been doing this is whole life. "I wonder though... He hasn't used any magic, so what's his plan?" Was he just going to try and tire her out. It seemed like a pretty pathetic fighting strategy. Not very manly either...
"But I guess this is a fight and not a show of chivalry." the boy observed.
The second year looked at his opponent, smirking at her failures. "You need to try harder, Miss Cinder!" Soon after, the boy could be seen kicking her in the stomach with ease. "This fight will be over at this rate..."
"BLACH!" Cinder went flying as blood fell from her mouth onto the dirt floor below. She landed roughly, dirt covering her dress as the blood covered her body from head to toe in red.
Stratus frowned, crossing his arms. "She's clearly not on her best game today. She seems a bit too tense." Leopold couldn't imagine that this second year was really all that powerful though. So, what had her so nervous then.
Cinder, looking up from her spot on the ground, wiped her mouth. "Damn... Just what is it going to take to defeat this guy?!" She thought about it, although unable to come up with much.
Leopold sighed. He was getting tired of watching the princess flail around, hoping for some sort of opportunity. She needed to act or this fight would be over just as soon as it started, Cinder not on the winning side.
"I know we could consider this cheating, but I guess I could help her out a little..." he thought, hesitantly. With a flick of his fingers, he conjured some of his own special flame then stealthily used it to make Cinder's own flames start to rise. The ground was instantly covered in the sparks. "That should suffice."
"What the..." the second year boy breathed.
Cinder looked down at her hands, watching as the flames became brighter. They seemed to become more directly focused at one point on her palm, a skill she didn't actually possess. "What's going on..." She looked back at the 2-A student and smiled. "Well would you look at that! I would seem that I've been blessed by God himself, eh?"
"What the... What is this!" The 2-A widened his eyes in panic. "Just how did you do that?!" He started to conjure some sort of magic that looked to be liquid. "Mercury magic!" He send liquid mercury ay Cinder in seconds, but the flames she now had just cut through it. The boy gritted his own teeth at the failed attack. "Damn..."
Cinder smiled, a look on her face that was quite menacing. "You look worried now! What happened to all that gusto, huh?!" The girl licked her lips in an evil way.
"Grr..." the 2-A boy growled in annoyance. "I will- HUH?!" Already, Cinder was upon the boy, her sword at the neck of her opponent.
"It's over! That's the match!"
The announcer announced the results and the match came to a close. "Winner, Cinder Kushida!" Cheers erupted around the stadium as she defeated her foe, standing tall and proud at the sight of her victory.
Leopold nodded. "Good. Still, I shouldn't help anyone else out in the future..."
"Now, the next battle will commence!" the announcer said. "Battle number 211! Samuel Crost of class 3-A vs Leopold Stratus of Class 1-D!"
"Looks like I'm up..."
Leopold walked down to the grounds and as he did, he saw Cinder passing him on his left side. She saw him as well and narrowed her eyes. "You better not lose, Blond. I need to be the one to put you in your place..."
Leo nodded to her demands. "Of course, Miss Hypocritical."
"Samuel Crost vs Leopold Stratus! Begin!"
Leopold observed his opponent, Samuel Crost. He had darkened tan skin, a red coat to symbolize he was from class A, and two swords at his side. "Still, he doesn't seem like he'll use them, so what will he do..."
"So you're the bastard who took down her highness?" Crost asked Leopold.
"Her highness? Does he mean my first encounter with Cinder?" Leopold shrugged. "It wasn't really a takedown. She was overconfident and came at me, so I performed proper self defense. Still, I didn't fight her in reality..."
"So, you're saying you're stronger than her, huh?" Leopold's opponent asked, snobbishly.
"No, that is not what I said..." Leopold responded, annoyed. "All I did was..."
"Shut it!" Crost interrupted. He unsheathed both his sword and imbued them with magic. "Fight me, twerp!" He launched himself at Leopold, but do sloppily that Leopold was confused.
"How does he think he'll win with a form like that? I don't even need to do anything besides redirect the swords magic elsewhere. And I thought this might have been fun..." Leopold sighed. "Well, whatever." He used wind to slightly nudge the sword a different direction and sent Samuel Crost flying.
"Gah!" he hit the wall hard and was knocked unconscious within seconds.
"Winner! Leopold Stratus from class 1-D!"
A moment of silence filled the arena as everyone whispered among one another. No other student from a Class D had won a round yet and this fast against someone from Class A... "I'm still wondering how he's even class A..."
Leopold turned around and walked out of the arena to take a breather. "No more battles for me until tomorrow when I have three, assuming I win all three of them to begin with... I'm done here!" Little did Leopold know that he would miss two important battles that would change the event entirely...