Now that I was back in the cleansing stage I could rebuild from the bottom up. The problem with this was that until you reached the Gathering phase you could only use your own internal chi. So I blocked it from entering my body and went upstairs to get something to eat. The sun was starting to rise, and Alfred had just started to prepare breakfast, so I watched television for thirty minutes or so until he was finished. The story of how the Justice League had stopped a plot by supervillains to kidnap children for some nefarious purpose had made the news, and they were currently speculating on the which villain had done it.

“The League of Assassins.” said Bruce, sitting down in a recliner beside me. “It’s the only thing that makes sense. No one else has the ability to resurrect so many of your people or control such powerful martial artists. What I don’t get, though, is how she’s doing it.”

“Your woman?” I asked.

“Talia, and yes.”

“I assume she’s using that Lazarus Pit you told me about.”

“But from what I know they would have to haul all of the bodies back to the pit, which I doubt they could have done.”

“We could ask Damian about it.”

He shook his head. “That’s the last thing we should do. If he finds out I’m investigating his mother there’s no telling what how he will react. He could try to warn her, or interfere in the investigation. At the very least, it will make him like me less.”

I nodded. “Very well.” Alfred called us over to the table and we sat down just as the boys started coming down the stairs. “So, do you have any business a bodyguard might need to accompany you on?”

The boys sat down at the table, but Bruce didn’t really pay attention to them. “There is a shareholders meeting tomorrow night, but none today.”

I nodded. “In that case, I think I’ll head into town.”

It took me over an hour to walk to the nearest bus stop. Bruce probably would have loaned me a vehicle if I asked, but all of the ones at the mansion were too flashy and would have drawn attention. I hadn’t really explored the city since coming here, so I spent the morning wondering around Gotham. Around Lunch I had an idea, though. Why should I explore the city alone? I sent a text message to someone I knew and a few seconds later we agreed to meet in Central City. The Justice League had set up teleportation arrays, something they called zeta tubes, in every major city, and as I was recognized by them as a hero I could use them.

Five minutes later I stepped out of a tube to see Raven standing there. “So, what are you in the mood for?” she asked.

Yu Bang’s perspective:

I stepped out of the portal onto the stage of some sort of lecture hall. The chairs were stacked against the wall, some sort of collapsible ones that only a few of were set up so that you could sit down. There was damage on the stage and the floor, as well as many white drawings in the shape of fallen people and small orange triangles scattered about. Some sort of tape covered all of the doors, but I tore it down and took a door with a sign above it into an alley beside the building. Some loud, annoying sound started as soon as I opened the door, but I ignored it and walked away. Maybe it was some monster trying to warn me to leave its territory. I jumped over a fence at the end of the alley, not even needing touch the two man-height fence as I leapt up and over it, landing on the other side.

It was night and I appeared to wake up a man that was laying on a pile or papers and reeking of alcohol and body odor. The man looked at me before shrugging, saying something, and going back to sleep. He was the first person I met in this realm and I needed to learn the language, so I pulled out an Elixir of Memories, opened the cork, and quickly pulled out one of the man’s hairs and dropped it in. He sat up and started complaining about something but once the potion stopped bubbling I drank it. I could feel the toxins in his body from the single hair and shuttered. I doubt the man would live long unless he removed them.

“the hell would you just pull a man’s hair out.” I heard him say loudly.

“Sorry about that, old man.” I said, trying to adopt the behavior what his memories would expect of me. “It was just a prank. Here, how about I give you something to apologize.”

“Twenty bucks?” he asked.

“No, not money.” I pulled a Nascent grade Cleansing pill from my ring. “Here. This should remove all of the toxins from your body and make you healthier.” Unlike the Collection stage version, this one only caused dehydration from intense sweating, not digestive issues or Black Sweat.

“I don’t do pills.” the old man said. “Just alcohol.”

“It’s just medicine.” I responded, then thought of something. “Tell you what. I’ve got a bottle of rice wine here. It you take the pill, you can have the wine.”

“Well, I do like a good sake.” the man said and nodded. After he swallowed the pill I left him the wine and a large jug of water. He was about toe sweat more than he’d ever sweated before, but when he was done he would probably be healthier than he had been in thirty years.

I got up and left as I saw the man wipe his head, a dirty brown oil coming off of it as the first of the toxins left his body, and take a swig from the wine. He couldn’t get drunk while the pill was working, so I didn’t feel like I needed to stick around.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

I opened myself up to the flow of chi and started looking for a concentrated source. That would be me best chance to find Lo. It took over an hour before I found someone with more than cleansing stage levels. He appeared to have Collection levels of strong Fire chi, but I followed him anyway. A cultivator was more likely to know where a fellow cultivator was than a civilian, after all.

He made his way to a metal door and knocked. The man inside opened a sliding gate on the door and the cultivator responded with some sort of code phrase. The man inside let him through the door. I could tell that the man inside had peak Cleansing stage levels of chi, as did several more people inside, so I waited a minute or so before going up to the door and knocking on it. I gave the same code phrase and was let inside. This must be a gathering place for cultivators. Maybe a criminal or demonic sect, as most of the people here appeared to be the criminal type based on the old man’s memories.

“Hey, you. Never seen you before. You new?” asked a large man that looked like some sort of reptile. Probably a monster cultivator, though I only sensed early Gathering levels of chi inside him.

“So, Croc found a newbie.” said a man in blue as he walked over. He had many triangular weapons on his body, something the old man’s memories told me were called Boomerangs. “So, what’s your story. I take it you’re here to join the brawl?” So this was some sort of arena? I wouldn’t mind testing myself against the cultivators of this world.

“Of course he is.” said a man in some sort of fur coat. He carried two strange looking ‘guns’ on his belt. “Why else would he be here.”

“No need to be an ass about it, mate.” said the boomerang man. “Just though I’d get to know the competition. I flew all the way ‘ere from Central city. Got to at least make the money I spent on the ticket back.”

“I think I was talking to him first.” said the reptile man, and the other two men nodded and backed away. “So, what’s your power?”

“Chi.” I said. The question didn’t really make sense. Did these men have some sort of non-chi magic? Two of them appeared to just be carrying relics.”

“Like Jade Dragon?” he asked.

“Exactly.” I responded, surprised to hear the name of my sect. That could only be Lo. “I was hoping to meet him. Any idea where I could find him.”

“So, I take it he messed up a job you were on?” the Boomerang man said. “He’s been working with the Bat recently. Word has it that there’s another villain with powers like his that’s trying to take him down. A Guy named Soul Blade. Though that’s just a rumor I heard.” Did he upset one of the mercenaries?

“Oh, he’s definitely working with the Bat.” said a man in a purple suit and wearing white makeup. “I’ve manage to avoid him, but he’s hurt a lot of other people. Way more effective at stopping crime than him and the boy blunder ever were. Maybe because he’s actually willing to do what he has to, unlike that goody two-shoes in a cape.”

Before I could respond someone walked into the room from the opposite side as the door. “Ok, everyone, listen up. Once we’re set up you will need to sign up with your stage name and wait patiently to be called.” Several people were bringing in tables and chairs, as well and wooden boards with pieces of paper clipped to them. “Once you are called, you will be given a changing room. There you can change into your costume if you still need to. If you haven’t joined the Metabrawls before, you will need to tell us your powers, as well as test to see how strong they are so that we can properly match you in the ring.” Several people raised there hands and he motioned for them to lower them. “You will be paid based on where you are in the rankings and how many fights you win. Last place makes ten dollars, and if there are a hundred of you, first place will make a thousand, but every battle you win improves that. Win one and that amount is doubled, two and it’s tripled. Etc. Feel free to bet on fights, but you can’t bet on your opponent, because then you could just throw the match. If you’ve got any questions, ask a receptionist. Now, let’s go out there and give the folks a good show.” The people clapped and I joined them, as apparently this was a local way to show that you liked something, usually a performance.

I stood in line to sign up for the match. “Name” said the bored woman.

“Yu Bang.” I responded.

“You Bang? Like you explode? Or like ‘are you DTF?’ Too confusing. I’m just going to put you down as Bang.” It was close enough. She pushed some places on a tablet-like device’s front. “Now, I don’t see where you’ve signed up before. What are your powers?”

“I’m a five elements body cultivator.” She gave me a confused look. “A martial artist.”

“Fine. Please go to the room to the right and hand this to the woman there. She’ll test you and update your file.” She handed me a piece of paper that had my name and ‘martial artist’ written on it. “Next!” she called, and I left. This was close enough to other tournaments I’d fought in that I could understand what was happening, even if the Jade Dragon Sect already had my information.

After testing I was given a changing room even though I didn’t need to change. I would be allowed to use any equipment I brought with me, but I wanted to avoid pulling out my sword if possible. This was just a friendly competition, after all, not a fight to the death.

My first opponent was the man in the purple suit from before. They introduced him as “the Joker.” The crowd cheered for him like he was some sort of local hero, but he didn’t prove that difficult to fight. His weapon of choice appeared to be an unfolding knife called a ‘switchblade’ and, even with his agility, once he was disarmed it only took a few seconds before I knocked him out. If it was going to be this easy I should put a few contribution points on myself. Or, I would if I had any money.

The next fight was that boomerang guy. He had beaten the cold gun man in the first round and was a tougher fight than the makeup man. Some of his boomerangs exploded and some had blades built into them so that they could cut you if they hit you. My defenses were strong enough to block the injury, but it was distracting enough to let him get in an explosive one that could actually do some damage. When I finally managed to get close enough to hit him he threw one with a string tied to it upwards, hooking it in the cage above us and pulling himself up. He underestimated how high I could jump, though, and I grabbed onto him, punching him in the face and making him fall. The amount of blood that was coming out of his face caused him to surrender and seek medical attention, and I won.

Three fights later I took on the reptile man. This was much more of a normal combat, with punches and kicks on my part and claw strikes, kicks, and tail swipes on his. He eventually lost when I grabbed his tail after it missed me and pulled it towards the cage. He slammed into the cage and left himself open to a punch in the chest. I heard several ribs crack and he collapsed in pain, winning me the round.

Eventually I made it to the semi-finals with a large man with tubes all over his body. “Bane. Bane. Bane.” the crowd cheered as the man entered the cage. Once inside he flexed his muscles and large amounts of some substance went into him. It must have been at least a Foundation level enhancement elixir, as his chi levels went from low Collection to high Foundation in a matter of seconds. He even seemed to grow a head taller somehow.

The fight began and he ran at me. He swung at me and I tried to block it with crossed arms, but when his blow landed I felt like my arms were almost shattered. I stepped back in pain and when he swung again I dodged. This seemed to annoy him and he started swinging faster.

I had to find a weakness to his attacks. Thankfully I was faster than him so I was able to keep dodging and landing blows to his back and sides. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough and just slowed him down. I also tried pulling the tubes out, hoping that it would stop him from receiving whatever was improving his strength, but even after pulling three of them out he didn’t slow down. I got greedy and tried for a fourth and he was ready. He gave me an opportunity to grab at one of them and when I did he swung at my head. I was unable to dodge in time and took a blow to the temple, falling unconscious. Luckily I had my defenses up or he would have killed me if not completely pulped my head.

When I woke up I was in some sort of bed with white sheets. They weren’t made of silk, but some sort of plant fiber. “Hello.” said a beautiful woman that was sitting beside me. “I saw your performance out there. You were quite impressive.” She motioned to the table beside me where a paper bag sat. “That’s your prize money, in case you were wondering. You took third place out of ninety seven fighters. That means you were better than ninety four of them, and worse than two. That’s nine hundred and fifty dollars times seven wins, for a total of six thousand, six hundred and fifty dollars.” I nodded. Something in the old man’s memories told me that was a lot of money. “I’m not associated with this event, however. I’m merely a spectator that’s here to recruit talent. My boss wants to find the strongest fighters he can to do jobs for him, and I think you are more than strong enough.” She handed me a small, thick, paper rectangle and stood up. “If you ever want to make a lot more than you made here tonight, give me a call. I’m sure I’ll have something for a man of your talents.”

After she left I looked at the piece of paper. All it had on it was three numbers, a three digit one, a second three digit one, and a four digit one. My brain called it a phone number. After a few more memories came to me about ‘phones’, some sort of communication device, I knew I needed to get one.