If by miracle or if it were due to Bubba slumping over asleep on his light, the beam managed to find Hayato Nekketsu. He wore a black T-shirt over his standard red gym pants, although the print on the shirt was difficult to make out. "Let's go down to one of our various ringside people whom we have thrust a microphone into the hands of for a word with the former teacher himself!" Dai said.

"I'm not sure that's proper grammar," Hiro commented.

Jane McEnroe checked her hair in the camera lens. They may have just thrown a microphone into her hands, but she wasn't going to look like it. She checked her limp blonde hair and slender figure over once more. Hayato stared. The cameraman coughed.

"Um, Jane, we're on."

"Oh!" She cleared her throat. "Jane McEnroe here with Taiyo High's Hayato Nekketsu. Hayato, tonight you're facing off against some sort of robot thing. Does this bother you?"

"Normally, Jane, it would, but I'm more concerned tonight about my new T-shirt design. Do you think people will buy it?" He turned his back to the camera, showing the back of his shirt. It read:

Jane blinked. "That's very clever."

"Yeah, I know. Stayed up all night to think of it."

"Well, back to you, Hiro, Dai." She smiled and waited for the camera to click off. Hayato looked around.

"Wanna go get something to eat after the fight?"

"No." She continued smiling sweetly.

Q stood in his dressing room facing the bed where Susan Anderson sat. "Why Must I Compete In This Tournament?" he said. "In The Last One I Lost An Arm And It Took Days To Manufacture Another."

Susan smiled. "Come on, last time you were against a huge golden robot, this time you only have to fight a P.E. TEACHER." Q shrugged and left to go to the ring as Susan turned to her hulking bodyguard. "Hey Galli, let's go to the Announcer's box, I got a bone to pick with them."

"Yes, Mistress," said Galli.

"And now, representing Taiyo High School, the one gym teacher who has actually found a real outlet for his sadistic tendencies, HAYTO NEKKETSU!"

Hayato cheered and flexed his muscles, winking at the lady fans.

Hiro and Dai were sitting in the booth waiting when Q came out. The interviewer smiled and said into the camera, "Hi there! I am Joan Stream, and we are about to get an interview with the other contestant for today, a creature known only as Q!" She turned to Q as he stepped out of the tunnel toward the ring. "Mister Q, how do you feel to be in the Darkfighter Tournament for the second time?" She smiled wider. "...after you were humiliatingly defated in the last match?"

Q turned and leaned down to the interviewers level. "If You Point That Camera At Me Again, I Will Blast It." He turned and walked to the center of the ring.

"So you think he will do better this time?" Dai asked, turning to her partner.

"Hmmm?" said Hiro, looking up. "What did you say?"

Dai didn't get to repeat what she said as a flying Steve Austin landed on the floor between them at that moment and a voice from the doorway said "Hi there, I am going to be announcing for this match." The two of them turned to see a young woman standing in the doorway with a huge guy in a suit and hat standing behind her with his arms crossed.

"I'm Susan and he's Galli," she gestured at the guy in the suit. "You can stay, you're cute." She smiled at Hiro then turned and frowned at Dai. "But I'm taking your place, lady." Dai splashed herself with hot water, Susan blinked a few times. "Now can I stay?" He smiled at her. "Ahhhhhhhhhh, sure. Galli, get rid of the other one."

Hiro learned quickly that humans were not meant to fly.

"Galli dear, I didn't mean for you to throw him out the window..."

Q knelt next to the human who had apparently fallen out of the announcer's booth, but looked up whan the spotlight fell on him and a familiar voice yelled throughout the Dome. "AND NOW WE HAVE THE FAVORITE FOR TONIGHT, THE MYSTERY WRAPPED IN AN ENIGMA, THE MASTER OF THORATIC POWER, THE UNSTOPPABLE Q!" There was dead silence. Q stood and said, "Susan, What Are You Doing Up There?"

"...Er, well, last time they had people in the announcer's box so I thought..."

She tapered off and Q sighed. "Very Well." He turned to face his opponent. "I Am Sorry, But I Must Defeat You Now."

Hayato looked up at his foe, studying his reflection in the robot's metallic face. He calmly ran his fingers over his unshaven chin and adjusted his hair whilst glancing into the thing's cheek, which had the unfortunate effect of infuriating his opponent. Hayato sailed through the air, landing on concrete, and the bell rang.

"Whoops. Probably should have put some mats there," Susan cackled.

Hayato pulled himself to his feet, attempted to get his bearings. Let's recap. I am a high-school gym teacher. Standing in front of me is a massive cyborg-robot-android thingy. I am expected to fight it. He stared at Q, looked into the robot's soulless eyes that were half-covered by its inexplicable fedora. I'm dead unless I can turn this around to my favor. Hayato's thoughts were momentarily jarred by the metallic backhand of Q. He flew across the cement floor and slammed into the metal security railing, where he was showered with what he hoped was warm beer by supportive fans.

As he goggled at the ceiling, Hayato remembered something. Somewhere between the chirping birds and swirling colors, he realized that the Clashdome had the ability to transport its combatants to any playing field they so chose. That means I've only got one shot, Hayato thought. I've got to take this to my home turf. Unsure of what the proper procedure for transportation was, Hayato just thought really hard.

Something snapped inside his mind. More of a click than a snap, really, but it happened just the same, and Q and Hayato suddenly found themselves in a perfect replica of the Taiyo High School gymnasium. Hayato grinned as he slowly regained his feet.

"Welcome to my world, tin man."

Q looked around at his new surroundings. "I Do Not See How This Could Help You." He stepped toward his foe. "I Am Sorry But You Will Have To Prepare For Pain."

Hayato swung at Q's head with his kendo stick. Q broke the stick near the hilt and lifted the man from the ground. After a few kicks and punches to Q's head and stomach, Hayato stopped struggling and said, "Errrrr...could you put me down please?"

"In A Moment, It Will Be Over." Q raised his other hand and pointed it at Hayato, gathering a ball of flaming energy.

At this point, two things happened.

One, a gigantic energy spike in the temporal matrix of the Clashdome occurred, sending reality into what amounted to a spin cycle. That was the first thing. The second thing was that a rhinoceros was thrown from its jungle home into a strange new place (the gym), confusing and irritating it to no end. As such, it charged blindly at the first thing it saw, which happened to be Q.

Q turned around just in time to see the rhinoceros as it charged into the side of him, sending the cyborg flying into the men's locker room, and more specifically the showers. Whatever metal Q was made of, it was astonishingly light. The android got to his feet, shaking himself. "How...How Did That Happen?"

Hayato stood by a shower handle, shaking his head and chuckling. "Silly robot! You of all people should know about 'deus ex machina'!" He paused to let the pun sink in on his foe, realized that it wouldn't, and turned the showers on.

The water sputtered on and immediately soaked Q, the water seeping into his circuits. Smoke began to billow out of his joints and sparks began to fly from his body. His head and neck twitched as he spasmodically began to move his legs. His mouth opened as he burst out into song.

As he finished his song with a flourish, the cyborg sputtered out one final spray of sparks, then pitched over in a heap, smoke still rising from his crumpled form. Hayato dusted his hands off and the simulation of Taiyo High ended, leaving nothing but cheering crowds before Hayato's eye.

Well, that wasn't too bad. What next?

"And what a victory for Nekketsu's first Darkfighter tournament! I'm sure they'll be talking about that one at Taiyo for a long time to come!" Dai was speaking in his...her...whatever's Announcer Voice. Susan was less than thrilled.

"C'mon, Galli, we've got a cyborg to pick up." She grabbed Galli's sleeve and dragged the man behind her. "Nice to meet you," he said to Dai as they left. A few moments later, Hiro pulled himself back into the room, cut up, bruised, broken, and overall quite the worse for wear.

"What'd I miss?" he asked in between coughs.

"Not much. Temporal disturbances, disgruntled animals, explosions, that sort of thing."

"Oh, the usual."

"Yeah."

"Well, so long as I didn't miss anything important," Hiro said shortly before he passed out.

Tetsuya Akihido watched the proceedings of the fight from the Akihido Corporation's private skybox. Shame Father couldn't be here tonight to see this, he did always love these events. He glanced down at the young, attractive black-haired girl that was sleeping on his lap, and smiled. He'd have time for her later. He stretched his arms out and continued pondering. Mr. Nekketsu is a formidable opponent, but everyone has a weakness. It's all a matter of finding that weakness and hitting it. He reclined in his seat and swirled his drink around in its glass. But for now, I'll let him have his fun. Good luck, Nekketsu-sensei. You'll need it.