"WHOOOEEE FOLKS, WASN'T THAT A TERRIFIC LAST MATCH?" Hiro screamed into the mike. "BOY, HUITZIL AND DARK SAKURA REALLY WENT AT IT!"

"Except that both were trying to kill each other." Dai went on blandly.

"Regardless, the winner of the last match was Sakura Aensland Yugure-"

"SLUT!" Darke Seeij cried from the audience. Two Clashdome guards carted him away.

. "-And our next match is Guy against Vega. As you will remember, Guy defeated Sodom in the first round of the tournament, while Vega went on to best Hideo Minazuki in what some are calling a woefully mismatched battle."

"AND NOW THEY'RE FIGHTING EACH OTHER! WHAAAAAAAZZZZZOOOOOOO!"

"Both fighters rely on speed and technique over damage." Dai said. "Guy is a fast and furious Bushin fighter, while Vega's style is geared towards quick, bloody, and painful kills. However, the Clashdome staff has successfully repaired the Lethality Interlocks which members of the Phobos Robot Horde deactivated for the last match, and Vega is being watched closely."

"ALRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIGHT!" Hiro screamed. "LET'S HEAR IT FOR-"

"Ahem."

Someone turned Hiro around and he stared up at Beatriz Cuello Alvarez.

"Uh.Hi?"

"Lord Vega has asked me to once again sit in and announce for this match." Beatriz stated. "So move."

"You will all remember that Ms. Alvarez, along with Kyoko Minazuki sat in for Hiro and myself in Round 1's match." Dai noted. "It seems that Vega has decided that Beatriz be his official announcer." She turned away from the mike. "Am I also being replaced?"

Beatriz shook her head. "No. Lord Vega has decided he can.tolerate you."

"How nice of him." Dai noted, dryly. "Hiro, give Ms. Alvarez the seat."

Hiro grumbled something and then sat up. "Well, this gives me time to hit the bathroom, at least." He mumbled. He shuffled sulkily out the door of the announcers booth. Immediately, the lights in the booth went out, and when they came back on, Beatriz looked like nothing had happened, but Dai.Dai looked different.

"S-So now then, we will introduce the, uh.the..um." 'She' muttered, looking down at something on 'her' lap and flipping through a few pages of the script.

"Oh yeah, we will now introduce that girly-man, gerbil-boinking, god-awful Ninja wannabe with the gi that puts Dan's to shame, uh..Guy?"

There was a stunned silence. Dai actually SAID that?

Guy came out, Papa Smurf on his head, shaking his fist at the two figures in the booth.

Beatriz elbowed 'Dai' sharply in the side. "Put some feeling into it, next time, McCormick."

Ian's gaze dropped quickly down to where Mr. Zsasz had a gun pointed at the real Dai's head while Julian Diablo swiftly tied her with some strong rope and gagged her and he nodded. "Uh, right."

Beatriz grinned, and turned to the mike. "And now, ladies and gentlemen, it is my great honour, and privilege to introduce a great man, a wonderful man, the greatest bullfighter Spain has ever known!

"Is he insane, or merely an artist? Many people say he is, of course, an artist. A genius of his craft, if you will. Masterfully combining Ninjitsu with bullfighting, to create a style all his own, he has proven to the world the power that comes from True Beauty!

"Some say he is an eccentric man, others say he is a coward afraid to be hurt. But of course, he decimates those who call him a coward, or worse, dare I say it, ugly. He is the most beautiful fighter alive, and he will prove his beauty, grace, and power to anyone who dares challenge it! So without further adieu, ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, I present to you a National Hero of Spain, the famed El Serpiente.ESTEBAN VARGAS VEGA!"

Vega somersaulted in to the arena, leapt high into the air, landed in a perfect crouch, and whipped off his porcelain mask and flashed a devastatingly beautiful smile to the crowd. Many non-Brazilian fangirls renounced a shirtless Sean and swooned over Vega.

"You may, uh, applause now." Ian said in his best Dai voice. There was scattered applause. "B-Before we begin, Lor-Ah, Challenger Vega would like us to activate a system integrated into the Clashdome, the 'Badlands' program, which he assures us will make the match 'interesting'." Ian stuttered. He looked down at the many-buttoned control panel and leaned over to Beatriz. "Which one is it, Ms. Alvarez?"

Beatriz sighed and pushed a button. Immediately, the ground on the arena floor began to shake, as the floor grew upwards, in pillars and hills, while holes opened in the floor.

Guy steadied himself against the wall until the rumbling subsided and the arena had finished changing. Vega stood upon an upraised pillar in the middle of the rough arena.

"So, my friend, shall we dance?" He sneered, putting his mask on.

"Ready when you are." Guy assumed a fighting stance.

Vega grinned and leapt down from the pillar, and somersaulted towards Guy.

Guy stood his ground, waiting.waiting.

Then, Vega suddenly went into a Barcelona Roll, and Guy leapt out of the way just as Vega's claw was thrust upwards to where his chest would have been. Vega whipped around and advanced on Guy, who was working his way up a hill. He backed up, Vega advancing slowly, until Guy reached the top of the hill, and suddenly, charged forward, tucking into a roll, and raced down the hill towards the startled Vega! Guy slammed into Vega's legs, and the Second Lord of Shadowlaw went flying over him, and just barely managed a successful breakfall. He leapt up and made a 'harrumph' noise.

"You'll have to do better than that, Vega." Guy said.

"The foolish Guy thinks he has the upper hand!" Beatriz cried. "But soon he will see that his technique is far worse than Lord Vega's, for he is ugly and True Beauty always wins!! Right, Dai?"

"Uh.yes?" Ian replied meekly.

Guy got up. "Okay, what the hell is with the announcers dissing me?" He asked, gazing up at the booth.

He saw Beatriz, and.Dai?

He then saw Vega's foot slam into his face in a roundhouse kick. Guy was knocked off his feet. He quickly rolled away as Vega's claw slammed down into the dirt where his chest should have been. He leapt to his feet and began running, trying to get some distance between himself and Vega. Vega surveyed the running Guy and then said into his hidden transceiver.

"Open the pit in sector 2-A."

"Yes sir." Beatriz replied dutifully. She pressed a button and a giant pit opened up right in front of Guy. He blinked and leapt over the pit just in the nick of time.

It was then he realized Papa Smurf was gone! He stopped, and looked around frantically for his little gerbil.

"PAPA SMURF, WHERE ARE YOU?!" He called frantically.

Then Vega came leaping over a hill, jumped over the pit and slashed downwards at Guy with his claw! Guy leapt away, but the claw slashed down at tore the front of his gi. Guy felt where he'd been cut, and brought his hand up to his face.It was slightly bloody.

Vega examined his claw. "Hmm.not bloody enough." He somersaulted backwards, leapt against the wall, and pressed against it, then rocketed off it at Guy! Guy successfully leaped out of the way.and right into the pit he'd just leapt over. There was silence and then a 'thud'.

In the stands, Hiro munched on his hotdog. "WMHFG! WRFISGH AGH SGHKES?!!" Because his mouth was full of hotdogs. Roughly translated, it means: WOW! WERE THERE ANY SPIKES?!!"

Vega sauntered over to the pit and glanced down. Guy was lying, senseless at the bottom of the pit. His eyes trailed down to his not-so-bloody claw, and he gave a sigh of disappointment. There had been too little blood.

"LORD VEGA IS THE WINNER! APPLAUSE!" Beatriz cried.

"And there was much rejoicing. Yay, yay?" 'Dai' squeaked.

Everyone looked up. Dai had NEVER quoted Monty Python before. People high up looked at the booth through binoculars, but they were confused. It sure LOOKED like Dai.

Then, Papa Smurf crawled up 'Dai', and grabbed 'her' 'hair' in his teeth and pulled! He fell to the ground, squeaked, and scampered off.along with 'Dai's' hair.

"HEY!" Someone cried. "That isn't Dai! It's a kid dressed up like her!"

Ian gave an 'eep' and ran out the door. Beatriz sighed as Clashdome guards came in, surveyed the scene, saw Dai gagged and tied up, Ian, Julian, and Zsasz all gone. A guard looked at the control panel. "This match has been rigged!"

They arrested Beatriz, and untied Dai. She straightened up, and sat down. "From what we can see here, it appears as though Vega and his men have rigged the match. Therefore the match goes to Guy by default." She said.

"Boogie-woogie." Guy mumbled incoherently. Some guards came out to arrest Vega, but he only smiled under his mask.

"Wait but a moment, please." He said calmly as the guards handcuffed him.

"So the winner of the match is-Hiro?" Dai asked, looking at her partner as he came in, looking confused.

"Dai, the judges just reached a very.odd decision." He said. "They're letting Vega progress to the next round."

"You mean they're letting him win a match he so obviously rigged?" Dai cried very uncharacteristically.

"It's weird, but they are the judges." Hiro admitted, shrugging helplessly. Dai turned back to the microphone, shaking her head. "Ladies and gentlemen, the judges are allowing Vega to progress to the next round."

Vega glared severely at the guards. "You may release me now." He snapped. "And release my secretary. I'll need her for my next match."

"Ugga-bugga." Guy mumbled.

Dai sighed as Vega bowed to a booing audience. "I'm just worried about the person Vega fights next. He'll cheat somehow."

"Yeah. But it should be a good match, if he's as flashy as he always is." Hiro said, nodding.

"But why did the judges allow this, that's what I want to know." Dai said, shaking her head.

"T-T-That's right, 9.9's all a-a-a-a-around." Mr. Zsasz whispered from behind the curtain that the judges sat in front of, his pistol hidden by the back of the middle judge. "Everyone's n-n-n-nice and happy, s-s-s-see? G-Good."

Vedic had the tip of the Vedic Blade poked up against another judge, saying nothing.

"So I'll disarm the mine underneath your foot just as soon as it's declared a legal victor, okay?" Julian Diablo promised. "Remember, we're all smiles."