"Whoever that woman was wasn't someone to be messed with, why was she even here?" Jacob had shivers from the woman, he was someone who had dabbled in the underworld and could tell when someone was bad news. "You're not wrong, I have a strong hunch on her reason for being here however you can't spread it too far" Ron thought the woman was one of the scouts but why come to Ron and trade him the ring for the weapons? Just to win some goodwill? Or was she really looking for weapons?
Over at the stands the scouts were now joined by another robed man, it was the same red robed man who originally started the tournament. He looked at the black robed woman who was sitting peacefully after conducting her trade with Ron, "Mind explaining your blatant disregard to the rules?" he spat towards the woman who peacefully replied "I don't know what you mean?".
The red robed man didn't like her answer and said "I mean the fact that you ignore our right to be the first in scouting out new talent". The role to host the beginner event would change every time and this time it was the red robed man's turn, those who hosted the event would be granted the right to scout out new blood first before the rest of the scouts were allowed to.
"Did I scout him? No I didn't, I merely traded with him" The black robed woman stated as a matter of fact. A vein nearly busted out of the man's head when he heard that reply "Don't bullshit me! As if you of all people need those toys, should I remind you of the rule to not help out the beginners as well?" That rule was well known or else they would've just given people power for their allegiance.
The black robed woman began to grow angry as well "Don't you dare shout at me! First off those are plain guns and you know a capable enchanter can make them into deadly weapons even on the upper floors. Second off, the ring I gave him does zero for his combat ability ergo I've broken zero rules". Her counters were watertight and held reasonable plausibility to her actions other than to sow goodwill. The red robed man looked like he choked on an apple, he had no counter argument to give so he just left but not before saying "Let this be the last time something like this happens or else don't blame us for being unforgiving".
"Scouts from the upper floors? But why?" Jacob asked after Ron told him about the scouts, it sounded strange why would they scout them? "Every three years newcomers arrive at the tower and humans will almost always group up, I suppose the upper floors have many politics at play" Ron told Jacob about the newcomers every three years. "Even here there are politics at play" Jacob scoffed about the idea of politics, he had dealt with that for years and didn't want to re-enter a world like that.
"486 and 99!" A referee shouted from a different ring, Ron noticed the call and went to the ring with Jacob still following. Ron jumped onto the ring and noticed his opponent was an asian looking elderly man with a sword and a kimono, this was an unexpected but welcomed change of opponent. "I apologise in advance, I won't be holding back. I need to win" The old man stated before drawing his sword and focusing on Ron, he could feel the old man was an above average fighter and thus he drew his whip "Fine then I suppose I will get a little serious as well"
The referee gave the signal to begin and Ron immediately started with a simple overhand swing onto the old man, the old man wasn't expecting much from a whip so he opted to defend himself with the sword. *Crack* The impact came and was much stronger than the old man had expected, it forced the old man back a few steps until he regained balance. "I told you I would get serious," Ron said as he retracted the whip. "I seem to have underestimated you, no matter" The old man responded.
The old man then rushed in, he was a little faster than what Ron had expected from a man his age. Ron flicked the whip from a forehanded position in order to reach the charging old man, to Ron's surprise the old man once again put his sword in the way of the whip. ('Does he expect something different?') Ron was unsure of the old man's strategy yet the old man did something Ron never would've expected, once the whip touched the sword the old man swung it over his head diverting the entire whip strike to go over his head.
('What the-!') Ron was stunned, his entire swing had been nullified and now the old man was in close range. The old man swung his sword aimed at Ron's arm, he wasn't allowed to aim for the neck or heart as those would've been killing blows. The strike hit Ron's arm however the old man frowned at what he felt, it felt like he had struck a steel plate. The sword barely cut Ron's skin and was completely stopped in its tracks, Ron quickly countered with a punch to the old man's chest. For the same reasons the old man couldn't aim for Ron's heart or neck Ron couldn't use his claws in order to strike a fatal hit.
The old man skidded backwards, the punch that landed was a heavy hit that caused the old man to cough up some blood. Ron had a small cut on his arm due to the strike, he was impressed the sword was even able to break through his skin in the first place. Ron quickly double tapped and swung the whip once more at the old man, to the old man's surprise the whip didn't hit him instead it snaked around his waist and was tightened once it went taut.
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Putting both hands on the handle Ron pulled the old man towards him once more, the old man tried to get another swing in on Ron however Ron ignored the sword and got another shallow cut on his arm. Ron grabbed the old man in a chokehold and applied pressure to cut off the man's oxygen, the old man with no other option anymore as the sword couldn't cut deep enough to do massive damage quickly tapped and muttered "I give up". Ron quickly let go and the referee declared Ron the winner.
The old man was dejected and jumped off the ring and muttered "I suppose the youth of today surpass the elders of yesterday, first a youngster that commanded a giant bee now one that is just an all round monster" The old man's words piqued Ron's curiosity so he quickly followed the old man "Excuse me sir, can you please elaborate on that first part?" ('A giant bee?') Ron thought.
"The youngster had some sort of orb that stored the giant bee and it fought for the youngster and was pretty strong for a bee" The old man elaborated, once Ron heard those words he quickly managed to identify the 'bee' ('A giant bee that is stored in a orb? Beedrill the Pokémon?') It sounds like someone actually managed to wish for a pokemon and even managed to tame or become friends with it.
Still the elder was no pushover however his loss meant that he now had two losses and that making it into the top 128 would be nigh impossible. Ron quickly found the flaw in the old man, he didn't have a power system that could grow with him. Ron had the kindling state and the youngster could add more Pokémon later on, the old man however had nothing yet. ('Perhaps 'that' will fit a swordsman like him') Ron had an idea.
"Thank you for the information sir, if possible I'd like to repay the favour with some advice if the sir is willing" Ron asked carefully, some people didn't like to be given unwanted advice, especially if that someone was ages younger than them. "It's about the fact I don't have a 'special ability' like some here correct?" The old man seemed to be aware of his own problems. Ron nodded to which the old man sighed "All my life I've lived by the sword and I can't just give it up now, I won't give up the sword for something else" The old man explained.
"There's no need to give up the sword, in fact I know of a 'special ability' that is focused on swordplay" Ron said to the old man, the old man looked at Ron with some surprise "Then in that case, can you tell me what it is?" The old man was willing to listen to Ron's advice. "It's called a Zanpakutō, basically it's a sword with a spirit inside it that gives it special abilities. I don't know the inner details however someone else here might know more or if you're willing to spend the points for it the wish store is always open" Ron explained the basics of the Zanpakutō from Bleach, it wasn't Ron being lazy to not go into details he truly didn't know them as Ron had never read past a certain point of the show.
There were gaps in Ron's knowledge, although he knew a lot of basic things he didn't know everything. Same went for the Vampire Killer that Ron had, he didn't know there were so many upgrades available and that one needed to be a Belmont to wield. He only knew the basics however even the basics were a goldmine when it came to other people like Jacob and the old man who knew nothing about these things.
"There are of course other options of combining another special ability and sirs swordplay, I could tell sirs swordplay was immaculate from how you deflected my whip strike" Ron also told the old man that he could combine another power with the sword and didn't have to necessarily cast away the sword, fire blades, lightning blades were all popular concepts. As for why Ron was trying to help the old man? He thought the old man had a lot of hidden potential and if he could make friends or even rivals with the old man he could profit from it as well.
The old man listened to Ron's words and was astounded by what he heard, he had never even heard of such possibilities due to him always focusing on the sword and never on entertainment. "Thank you for the advice, my name is-" just before the old man could give his name Ron quickly cut him off. "Woah! Stop!" His sudden interjection surprised the old man and Ron explained about his run in with certain people being able to command others with just their names.
The old man laughed and explained "Don't worry I've also ran into those people and I'm protected" he said flashing a necklace, Ron quickly guessed it was to block those types of wishes. "Now like I said my name is Ryu Kosoku, just call me Ryu. The constant 'sir' makes me feel old" the old man or rather Ryu, now told his name to Ron. "Ron, Ron Belmont, nice to meet you Ryu," Ron said as he introduced himself. Ron and Ryu chatted for a bit and talked about each other's experiences in the tower, Ryu himself also encountered the Kobold's dungeon however he went further east over the mountain whereas Ron went west to the desert.
Soon they bade each other farewell as Ron still had more fights to win, Jacob already went off on his own after watching Ron win once more. ('I suppose he doesn't want me watching') Ron still had cards left in the tank even though Jacob might think he wouldn't anymore. ('Still Pokémon huh') Ron thought back to Ryu's words, with the wishing tower anything was possible even summoning and taming magical beasts that defied all logic.
He doubted that he would encounter him in the preliminaries, although Ryu wasn't bad he wasn't amazing and because of that he got given two tough opponents right off the bat he wasn't going to make it to the top 128.