"Thank you, I think I understand better now. Fight well, FOR JUSTICE!"

Ultra-Dimension then waited patiently to be called.

~~

“I would not normally raise my hand against an elder, but I presume you would not enter if you were not fit. As such, would you do me the honor of fighting me with no regrets, to show the world the power of the SUPER GALAXY SAMURAI AND THE ZEN SCHOOL, FIGHTING TOGETHER FOR RIGHTOUSNESS?!?” Ultra-Dimension stood resolute, dramatic sentai posing ending in a rather traditional defensive sword stance.

“Knnnneerrrk…” Master Shin Zen was barely standing. The old man Ultra-Dimension was fighting looked like he was about to topple over backwards, a sleep bubble blowing forth from one nostril. He was a small, wrinkled man, his beard and hair large enough to reach the arena floor. His green robe was too large for his body.

“Do you… Um… Need a moment?” Ultra-Dimension’s blade lowered slightly.

“Hehee, no need boy, I got this!” Shin Zen dashed forward, before throwing a widely telegraphed punch. Compared to the previous match’s speed and high action, though this blow was nothing special. Ultra-Dimension lowered his blade even more, taking the punch from below, pushing it up and away. As Shin Zen’s other hand came in below his first strike, the wily old warrior having expected his obvious attack to be deflected, Ultra-Dimension let his rear knee crumble limply to the ground, lowering his stance so that his hilt interfered with the strike.

Both parties put weight into their weapons, Shin Zen’s forearms pushing against Ultra-Dimension’s Katana from both side, while Ultra-Dimension strove to advance forward and regain his footing. Both of them were stronger than their feet’s traction with the ground, Ultra-Dimension’s footing sacrificed to block while Shin Zen’s rapid dash had left him not enough time to set his feet. So they were both pushed back. Then, between them, they exchanged a flurry of completely blocked blows, with Shin Zen’s fists doing most of the attacking. One fist would occupy Ultra-Dimension’s blade, but then the other fist would be shoved out by Ultra-Dimension’s shoulders or forearms, never letting Shin Zen land a proper torso hit.

Compared to the past battle, it was slow and not flashy. Yet, to those with keen martial arts senses, they could tell that they were testing each other. Or weak. They hadn't exactly ruled that one out yet. Shin Zen’s speed seemed fluctuate through the battle, though never reaching particularly high, and Ultra-Dimension always seemed to follow wherever Shin Zen’s speed was a step behind. Their power was harder to gauge, as neither of them were giving or making ground on the other, and their strength was not such that the arena was being damaged in the slightest. Though perhaps that was due to the precision of their strikes against each other.

Taking a step back, Ultra-Dimension retook his stance… While Shin Zen rolled back and… took a nap?

“Um…” Ultra-Dimension seemed at a bit of a loss for what to do now.

“3.. 2…” The announcer began counting down. Perhaps he had thought Ultra-Dimension had landed a blow somewhere in the flurry.

“Hold the count… I haven’t actually hit him yet.” Ultra-Dimension raised a hand to interrupt the count.

“Er… Then why is he knocked out?” The Announcer asked.

“I suppose he’s… Napping? The elderly do that.. I suppose.” Ultra-Dimension lowered his weapon.

“Heh.. Mighty kind of ya to wait… Time to go all out I suppose. Hup.” Shin Zen kipped up onto his feet, before taking a stance and breathing in and out once with a centering hand motion. “Let’s go, BOY!”

The fight suddenly took a turn into full power land, as Shin Zen rocketed across the arena and threw a mighty punch, breaching straight Ultra-Dimension’s guard with speed and power, smashing into his gut, causing Ultra-Dimension to double forward. Shin Zen’s upper body was sent spinning backwards from the force of his punch, suddenly turning his forward punch into a backflip, hooking his feet under Ultra-Dimension’s armpits. The old man’s body showed extreme flexibility, as, while standing on his hands, his feet slammed Ultra-Dimension’s head straight into the stone, breaching it with brute strength. Not willing to let his combo end there, Shin Zen kneed Ultra-Dimension’s back, the force of the strike sliding Shin Zen far enough back for his other foot to land a full kick, finally freeing Ultra-Dimension from the arena’s stone and sending him a few yards towards the edge.

Ultra-Dimension was obviously hurt by this attack, and his neck probably would have snapped if it weren’t for his armor, barely managing to stand by the time Shin Zen was dashing forward to land another attack. This time though, it was Shin Zen’s turn to underestimate how much power his opponent was capable of outputting, as a surprise horizontal swing of Ultra-Dimension overpowered Shin Zen mid step, his footing incapable of allowing him to put proper strength into his strike. Shin Zen tumbled under the swing like a limbo’er moving too fast into the limbo pole, smacking into the ground as he slid past.

Spitting out a tiny piece of tooth that had come lose as he bounced across the ground, Shin Zen smiled with glee at the match. Dashing forward into Ultra-Dimension. This was the point where they both knew each other’s strength. No more surprise attacks.
 
They clashed, and in an instant, the superior was visible. Shin Zen struck through Ultra-Dimension’s guard, grappling an arm and capturing Ultra-Dimension’s strike. Shin Zen launched them both into the air, before an axe kick, only half blocked by Ultra-Dimension’s left arm, smashed into Ultra-Dimension’s head, sending him back to the arena floor, barely keeping himself standing with his right arm. Shin Zen smirked as he gently landed, Ultra-Dimension dashing forward to land an overhand strike.

“Heh, for a young buck who needs to get off the computer and do some more exercise, you’re a notch too proud.” Shin Zen’s hands relentlessly held Ultra-Dimension’s katana in check, having caught the swing. Sparks sputtered from the strained metal between the pressure from Ultra-Dimension attempting to push the blade forward, and Shin Zen keeping it in check, seemingly effortlessly despite the whine and whirr of overstrained tech systems.

“If your opponent gives you an opening, you take it!” Shin Zen smiled, raising his voice as he shifted his hands and weight, suddenly lifting and launching Ultra-Dimension with a throw across the arena. Zipping forward with lightning footwork, Shin Zen launched a mighty punch at Ultra-Dimension’s head while he was still upside down, flying across the arena, this hit sure to send him rocketing out of the arena if it connected solid. Somehow, Ultra-Dimension, even upside down spinning wildly, managed to interpose his katana, bracing the blade with his primary hand, a last-ditch desperation block.

CRACK. Shattered bits of the Nebula Rebound System slammed into the arena with enough force to shatter stone.

~User Input Disrupted Engaging Auto Landing System~ Ultra-Dimension’s body twisted unnaturally in the air, and his feet managed to touch down, sliding to a halt a few bare feet from the edge.

Shin Zen paused, a frown on his face as he withdrew his fists into his massive sleeves. “Tch.. I apologize for your injury, it was not intentional, but this battle is over. You cannot allow pride to get in the way against a superior opponent.”

Ultra-Dimension slowly toppled to one knee.

The crowd was somewhat confused, till the camera zoomed in on Ultra-Dimension’s face, showing sparks issuing from a shard of metal piercing through his visor directly on the right eye. Smoke rose and an occasional burst of sparks told of the damage to the machine. The trail of blood down the shard, now dripping onto the cold gray stone, spoke of the damage to the man inside.

Ultra-Dimension toppled forward, about to hit the floor.

Clack.

“Mmm?” Shin Zen’s eyebrow raised, as Ultra-Dimension had pulled out his scabbard and slammed it into the arena floor to prevent himself from falling. “Surely you can’t intend to keep fighting with that injury?”

“Justice is blind, they say.” Ultra-Dimension’s knee raised slowly, finding his footing and raising himself to standing.

“Surely this is no time for bad jokes, get yourself some medical attention, boy! This fight isn’t worth losing an eye over!” Shin Zen dramatically swung an arm in an gesture of how stupid he thought Ultra-Dimension was being.

Meanwhile Ultra-Dimension straightened up, as though the pain was no longer a factor, and examined his blade. With one determined slash, halted suddenly, the useless remaining fragments of the Nebula Rebound system were flung away, sent skidding away along the stone arena. 

“WHAT USE IS A HERO THAT THROWS AWAY HIS CONVICTIONS WHEN THINGS ARE DIFFICULT? MY PRIDE AS A HERO IS WORTH MORE THAN WINNING A TOURNAMENT! BUT ENOUGH TALK, I’VE ONLY BEGUN TO FIGHT!” Bare sword leveled at Shin Zen, the roaring conviction in Ultra-Dimension’s words revealed the surging emotional intensity that kept his pain in check.

"Hmmph.. You can't even se*VVVMMMMMM*" Shin Zen was interrupted as ki suddenly started blasting from Ultra-Dimension, emanating from him like a fierce wind. "Throwing your power around won't... ""SUPER GALAXY SAMURAI BLACK HEAVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!" Shin Zen was interrupted again, as Ultra-Dimension half-sheathed his weapon, then turned on his energy-sucking mode, which absorbed energy as he sent it out, causing the ki that had been blasting pointlessly to almost form a bubble around Ultra-Dimension.

"Dammit Boy, listen to your Elde*WHAM*" Shin Zen rushed forward to Ultra-Dimension blind side, about to launch a blow to force Ultra-Dimension to his knees before Ultra-Dimension's scabbard slammed him in the gut. Ultra-Dimension wasn't even looking. Shin Zen looked at the flow of Ki, and how he was blocking it, and his eyes dawned with comprehension as he retreated outside of the sphere.

"Not bad, Boy, I suppose I underestima*WHAM*" Shin Zen was interrupted again as Ultra-Dimension swung his sword, a strike starting low and aimed high. Shin Zen easily backed out of the way, but then was slammed with the extra reach of the scabbard as the scabbard slid down the blade. Punching his sword back down the scabbard and rushing forward, Ultra-Dimension kicked Shin Zen into the air, nearly out of the arena, Shin Zen having already a foot off the ground from the previous strike.

"STOP INTERRUPTI""SUPER GALAXY SAMURAI SUPER-NOVA KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!" Ultra-Dimension's ki aura stopped, and he activated the energy now stored in his scabbard, and the explosion sent Ultra-Dimension spinning in the air up after Shin Zen. Time seemed to slow, as Shin Zen raised his hands to block, while Ultra-Dimension's super spin kick neared, his remaining eye glinting with intent.

*CRASH*

Shin Zen slammed into the ground, while Ultra-Dimension, having successfully kicked Shin Zen despite his eye injury, had miss aimed his trajectory, and slammed into the concrete wall protecting the stands. In a super-sentai pose, no less, though this one was probably not intentional.

Only the keenest eyes, and moments later, the double checking of high speed cameras revealed the truth.

"The winner is Ultra-Dimension, as he landed a full 73 milliseconds after Shin Zen!"

Medics rushed over to the pair. Shin Zen was quickly removed on a stretcher, but he seemed to simply be sleeping rather than heavily injured. While he had been the one knocked out of the field first, he had suffered significantly less damage, even ignoring the eye injury to Ultra-Dimension. Speaking of which, they were having significant difficulties prying him from the wall.

Then, a huge roar began to close in on the crowd from above. People began to look up as hot wind blew upon them. A spaceship, about 30 feet in length, 13ish in breadth and depth, descended, and lowered a crane arm to grab Ultra-Dimension.

"Auto-Recovery Mode Enabled. Super Galaxy Samurai Ultra-Dimension Will Return Shortly." The dispassionate AI voice commented, bringing him into some sort of hangar bay before setting off to park on the lawn outside.