Hiro wiped his sweating forehead with a hankerchief. "Whoa! Someone take the caffene out of this arena because I'm being blown away by the adrenaline!"

Dai restrained herself from shaking her head at the corny line. "...That was bad."

However, Hiro overheard and glared at Dai. Producing a kettle of hot water from nowhere, he dumped the liquid upon Dai, reverting her into a male form. "Now that you're not a girl anymore, I won't get crap from feminists every time I tell you off. Haw haw haw."

The now male announcer whacked Hiro with a frying pan. "Anyway, let's introduce our next match! From the left corner, we have Rose, the metaphysical psychic who knows her way in battle!"

The crowd cheered wildly as Rose came out out. A bored expression was painted on her face as she randomly shuffled through her tarot cards.

"In her last battle, Rose defeated her opponent without even moving! Will she be pulling off that same M@D SKILLZ again this time?" Hiro asked.

Rose ignoring the crowds and the announcers. "Another battle..." she muttered to herself. She pulled a tarot card from the top of her pile. Wheel of Fortune. "This is redundant, presicely." she agreed. Pulling random cards had captured her interest more than the heat of battle ever could.

"And in the right corner," Dai continued, "we have the Storming White Dragon, Yun Lee!"

Yun, skateboardless this time, vaulted from his seat in the audience and into the ring. He waved to his opponents and his many screaming fangirls. His smile was bright and confident. Unlike Rose, he loved the heat of competition. Yang stood outside the ring. He gave his brother a nod and wished him good luck, which was returned with a two-finger salute.

Hiro continued where Dai left off. "Once the Dark Horse of 3-1, Yun managed to come victorious in his last battle! Will his lucky streak continue through this time?"

The chinese boy adjusted his hat and winked at Rose, grinning. "Another lovely lady. Luck has nothin' to do with this... It's fate. Don't you think so?"

Rose drew another tarot card from her pile - The Sun. "Fine, whatever you say." She was running out of cards. "You shouldn't assume such things though." The last card drawn just happened to be The Lovers "Hmph." she scoffed angrily and threw her cards aside.

Yun was a bit confused about the cards, but just shrugged. It was none of his business. "Just because I'm such a nice guy, I'll let you have first strike." He clasped his fist in his palm and preformed a traditional Kung Fu bow. "I'm ready."

Rose smiled sweetly and stood sideways, fingers on chin. "Hmmm, such gallantry in the midst of battle. How admirable. But," She charged in with a soul spiral connecting with a shawl swipe, then stepped back and stood upright, "I'm really not in the mood for a lenghty battle. They're so unnecessary."

Yun parried the blow, then jumped to the side. "I understand the feelin'. I'd fight fair and square but I haven't eaten since yesterday and DAMN I'm starving. You know any good places to eat around here? I couldn't find any half as decent as my brother's cooking..." Right on cue, his stomach grumbled. 'Damn, that was embarassing.'

'Excellent way to reveal your weakness, boy.' Rose charged her hand with psychic energy and punched Yun's lower navel area. 'Hunger is a weakness emanating from the lack of psychic energies from that area.' Aloud, she stated, "Cheap trick, but I am in a hurry..."

"Irk..." Yun reeled back, clutching his stomach.

Dai stood up. "What is this?"

"Rose gets the first attack!" Hiro cried out more exuberantly. "Looks like she's capable of fighting hand to hand after all!"

'Damn, that hurt. If I wasn't so hungry... And what the hell is she talking about? Psychic energy makes a person not hungry?' Yun knew he had better things to do in a fight than think what had just happened. "Me too. Let's get this over with so I can get some grub!" He stepped forward, ducking slightly and shoved his palms outwards. His dakai was not the best lead-off attack, but he had to do something.

As predicted, the attack was quickly evaded. Rose swiftly side-stepped the attack and attacked with her own elbow strike to Yun's stomach. Then, as Yun reeled back, Rose quickly connected with another Soul Spiral.

"And another hit!" Hiro cried.

Yun wavered a little. 'Shit... hunger.... don't give in...' The opening wasn't there, so Yun took a safer approach - quickly crouching with a backwards swipe with his leg. His attack was jumped over and countered with a midair shawl attack.

"And ano--"

The shawl wrapped around Yun's outstretched forearm. "I saw that one!" He yanked her in and was about to counterattack with a palm strike but was halted by an immediate hunger pain. "Shit..." He clenched his teeth. This was not good.

Rose would have shook her head if she wasn't in the middle of a battle. 'I would really rather be somewhere else now. These fights tend to drag into ugly extremes. Fine, I wished to avoid this but...' She sent another Soul Spark at Yun's stomach, sending the boy flying back into the ropes.

"Ooh, what an upset, ladies and gentlemen!" Dai called out in a tone that was both calm, yet passionate. "Yun's hunger has rendered him helpless of a counterattack. Rose saw this and took full advantage with an attack of her own..."

The crowd "oohed".

Hiro continued, "... Which is why you should ALWAYS eat at least one hour before the match! Otherwise, you end up like that lamebrain schmuk with the hat down there."

Dai whacked Hiro with a frying pan.

*CLONG*

Hiro winced. "... At times like this, I could swear you're still a girl..."

Yun forced his eyes open as he clenched his teeth to numb the pain somewhat. 'Urk... I can't lose... Victory dinners taste much better than drowning depression in food.'' He rebounded off the ropes, flying at Rose with a foot sweep that purposely missed, then quickly stood up and side-kicked her.

The attack grazed the side of Rose's head. "A comeback." Rose punched at Yun with alternating hands, missing the agile boy each time. Then quickly, as his defences were all top-side, she ducked and spun on her hand with a roundhouse kick.

Just like how Yun's foot sweep missed earlier, Rose's did as well. Yun caught the foot with his hand and used the momentum to flip off of Rose's foot. He handsprung off, landing behind the mysterious woman. "Let me show you how to do a foot sweep properly!" he taunted as he tripped her with a foot sweep, then quickly stood up and kicked her away into the ropes. "Sorry, ma'am..." He caught her on the rebound with a rising side kick, lifting her further into the air. "But dinner comes first!"

As she was about to land, Yun slid forward with a Sourai Rengeki. The first two elbow strikes cleanly connected. The next two swung thin air. The rising kick connected but not the spinning back kick.

Hiro paraded on as if the last miss meant nothing. "What a comeback! It looks like Yun still has some fight left in him after all!"

Rose thanked the miss of the last attack as she landed on the mat, rolling backwards in an attempt to recover. "He certainly has no meaning of the word overkill." She channeled her psychic energy outwards in the form of physical spirit clones, otherwise known as the Soul Illusion, which connected to Yun with various punches and kicks.

"Dammit..." Yun uttered as he was smacked around by each attack.

Hiro sweatdropped. "... or not."

"This match doesn't look good for the younger fighter." Dai gravely spoke. "Rose must be trying to finish this battle quickly."

Hiro eyed Dai. "... You THINK?"

Dai whacked Hiro with a frying pan.

*CLONG*

A bump began to rise from the top of Hiro's head. "Oww... announcer abuse..."

After enough abuse, the Soul Illusion finally disappeared. The projections faded back into Rose. However, she couldn't mark her victory yet as she noticed she was still aching a bit from Yun's earlier attacks. "Damn."

Yun forced himself out of his pain. "Opportunity knocks!" He dashed in with an elbow strike in between Rose's ribs, striking with his palm with his other hand to her jaw. Then, a quick kick to the shin and a rising side kick with the same leg, followed up by another Sourai Rengeki. "- Literally!"

"And a counter attack!" Hiro cried.

Rose rolled back a few times, then stood, pausing to take a few breaths again. "This is redundant. I would say boring if there weren't pain involved."

Yun rested one hand on his knee, panting heavily and dusting off his burn marks from the Soul Sparks. Pain ached all over his body. He knew that one more hit would spell doom for him. However, showing any more weakness than what he already did would be even more fatal. "After I win, wanna go out to dinner with me? It'll be on me."

Rose laughed softly. "You are a persistent one, but my gastronomical tastes might be a bit too expensive for you." She looked to her side to the fallen pack of cards and caught a glimpse of the Lover's card again. Annoyed, she eyed no-one in particular. "That is not funny."

"Umm..." Yun scratched his head. "Whatever you said..."

From the sidelines, Yang called out, "She said that her taste in food is too expensive for you."

"Oh." Yun muttered under his breath something about people using big words to sound smart. "Personally, I wouldn't give up an offer for free food." He cracked his knuckles and went into his fighting stance. "Let's end this with one attack."

Rose sighed. "Better end this now." She blocked to lessen the next upcoming blow.

"This is clever." Dai commented, nodding to himself. "Rose chooses to take a defensive stance instead of a last-ditch attack."

Yun looked at Rose curiously. This was new... What sort of a last-ditch attack was a block? He knew she wanted to get this over with and he might as well give her a break in the form of a Zesho Hohou. The dashing punch cleanly connected to Rose's arms.

Hiro sat on the edge of his seat. "Is this it?"

Rose fell over, first to her knees, then to her side, however still conscious. "Finally..." she breathed in relief.

"And it looks like the winner of this round is Yun Lee!" Hiro waved his arm. "Everyone, give him a big round of applause!"

While the crowd cheered, Dai carried on. "I have to hand it to Rose. It looked like she didn't want to continue battle for too long. I would almost believe that she gave Yun the last blow."

Hiro covered the mike with his hand. "You're not supposed to say stuff like that." he informed his partner.

Dai covered his mike as well. "It's only the truth. Are we not supposed to comment on what is out there?"

"We're supposed to please the crowds! Not..."

Dai held up the frying pan.

"Eep!" Hiro held up one arm. "Okay, you're right! You're right!"

Yun offered his hand to Rose. "You still don't want to go to dinner with me? I'm hurt." He grinned.

Rose smiled. "I make terrible company when I'm in a hurry. To cut this short," She turned around and walked away, purposely dropping a card behind her. 'It better not be The Lovers card.' she thought to herself.

As Rose disappeared from the arena, Yun picked up the card that Rose left behind - The Magician.