[I]The fights so far...[/I] Jack thought to himself as he leaned against the windowsill overlooking the arena. [I]There's no question about it. I'm likely to be one of the weakest here. I have to give it my all and then some if I want to keep the title.[/I] The green-haired champion wiped nervous sweat from his brow. [I]It isn't even about getting my wish. This is to save face. My pride as a warrior. Today's adversaries may be powerful, but I will overcome them and win. That is what the people expect of me and what I expect of myself. That's right. I can do this. One round at a time.[/I]

The Champion watched as the two Saiyan women began their fight in the arena. They seemed evenly matched, which is a difference compared to the previous two fights where there was someone with a clear upper-hand. Yet in both those matches the fighter he predicted to win ended up losing. He had fought Teemo before and knew he was powerful, yet he lost in the first round. And while Jack had never met this elderly Shin Zen in his life, he could see that Ultra-Dimension was pushed to his limit and then some while the old man hardly exerted himself. And the old man still ended up losing! Jack looked over at Fenro again. The large Namekian had hardly moved since the tournament began. While Jack knew that most of the fighters were watching the fights he felt that the others were enjoying it whereas Fenro seemed to be studying it far more intently than the rest.

Then again, his demeanor so far had been rather unfriendly and detached. Whether he was trying or not the Namekian certainly gave off some hardcore macho vibes. Jack shuddered for a moment as he reinforced the idea that he is the weakest contender. [I]I can't explain it but all these fighters... I can just feel that they are stronger,[/I] he thought to himself as he let his gaze wander around the room. [I]But I'm not afraid. I've made up my mind and I will be defeating them. My greatest challenge yet and I'm not planning on failure. This will be the day that I truly make my master proud.[/I] His train of thought was interrupted by the loud cheers of the crowd and the announcer shouting something. Turning to look back out the window he saw that Chikori had been defeated by ringout. Realizing that his thoughts made him miss an entire fight, Jack cursed himself as the two Saiyans left the arena with their own power.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" the host called from the stage. After dramatically twirling his microphone, he thrust one of his hands toward the fighters' resting area. "The fourth match of the first round is about to begin! We have our returning champion, Jack Ryan! And he will be facing the biggest Namekian I've ever seen, Fenro! Fighters! Come to the stage!"

As the crowd began cheering wildly, Jack's nervous expression transformed into a confident grin. Rather than walk around the room and go out the door, he leapt out the window he was at and bounced off the grass. Landing next to the announcer, the champion tugged on his gi playfully before giving the audience a thumb's up. Contrary to his bravado, the large Namekian approached from the stone walkway, calmly and casually walking onto the stage. With Fenro's arrival, Jack turned to face him. Standing in front of each other, preparing to fight, Jack couldn't help but feel somewhat intimidated. The green man before him was significantly larger than himself, and he considered himself to be a big guy.

Jack's hand went forward, offering a handshake. "No matter what goes down, no hard feelings right?" Jack offered. The Namekian looked at his hand for a moment before reaching out himself and accepting the handshake. "Sure," Fenro gave him, though there was no sarcasm in his voice. Noting that this was only the second word that he's heard come from Fenro, Jack briefly considered the possibility that he simply didn't know English very well. Then again, he did make it through registration so he had to have some skill in the language. After the two locked hands, the crowd began cheering again. Surely this fight was going to be marvelous to watch.

Meanwhile, the announcer scampered off the stage back to the fighters' area. Once safely out of the way, he brought the microphone back up to his face. "Fighters!" he began, letting his voice echo (somehow) across arena. "Prepare for battle!" Jack and Fenro both took a few steps back, to give themselves a respectable starting distance. Once Jack felt comfortable he dropped into his fighting stance. But his look of confidence turned to shock when he saw that his opponent didn't take up a stance. Instead, Fenro stood with his arms crossed over his chest. "Let the battle...! Begiiiiiiin!!"

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[I]Full power![/I] Jack Ryan let out a primal shout as he dashed forward. The speed at which he moved earned an expression of shock on the Namekian's face. Fenro was barely able to get into his stance and block the incoming punch with his forearm. Without relenting, the champion followed up with another punch. One after another, blow after blow. A blistering fast onslaught of punches and kicks thrown in a seemingly uncoordinated fury. But for the two fighters on the stage every single move was calculated. Fenro was able to match every strike with a proper block, but the assault left no openings for him to attempt a counter-attack. In fact, the force of each successive block pushed him back slightly. The fighters were skirting closer and closer toward the edge of the arena.

"The contender can only hold a guard against the champion! He's losing ground fast! Will he be able to recover!?" the announcer shouted into the microphone. Though more than loud enough for the entire crowd, and likely a good portion of the entire city, neither Fenro nor Jack were paying attention. The Namekian continued being pushed back toward the edge of the arena, sliding all the way from the center to the edge over the span of a minute. The barrage was endless. Fenro's heels reached the corner. With his right arm, Jack threw a punch harder than any of the ones before, aimed directly for his opponent's face.

The large green man took the window of opportunity that the haymaker provided, rotating around Jack so he would no longer be at the edge of the arena. But that was just as the champion had predicted. As Fenro brought his fists up in a position behind Jack, the champion's left leg shot out in a mule kick, connecting directly into Fenro's midsection. The large man lurched around the foot, even getting some lift off the ground. In his moment of being stunned, Jack regained his balance and turned around. He thrust his left palm into the Namekian's large chest, knocking the wind out of his foe. As Fenro began to stumble backwards from the blow, Jack grabbed him by his left wrist. After spinning himself to hold Fenro's arm over his own shoulder, Jack let out another shout of effort as he tossed the large man straight up into the air.

Facing his back towards the edge of the arena, Jack looked up to watch his falling foe. With precision timing, he let out one last shout of effort before leaping into the air himself. With his foot stretched forward for a powerful kick, he shouted "Dragon Ascent!!" The blow connected with Fenro's midsection, causing him to first bend around the blow before being rocketed off in the other direction. Jack touched back down, panting heavily from his exertion. He watched with a grin as the Namekian started to come back down to Earth, with a trajectory that suggested he was going to land out of the ring. It didn't particularly matter as he wasn't moving anyways. [I]I did it! I managed to rise to the occasion,[/I] Jack began congratulating himself.

Before Fenro could land out of the arena, he suddenly caught himself on the edge in a handstand. This sudden movement shocked Jack, who thought he was unconscious. "This match isn't over yet folks!" Jack could hear the announcer shout. As Fenro calmly let his feet down onto the stage and stood upright, Jack could finally feel the sweat from his assault. And upon Fenro turning to face Jack, the champion's eyes seemed to fade. His opponent seemed almost unscathed. [I]No way. He can still fight even after taking such heavy blows?[/I] Jack brought his hands back up into his fighting stance, even though they were quite literally on opposite ends of the arena. No matter how hard he tried to suppress it, he was still breathing heavily.

"I underestimated you," Fenro spoke up, catching Jack off guard. "W-what?" was the only response he could muster, though he kept his hands up in case the Namekian tried a surprise assault. "I thought you would be weaker than this. I had sensed that you had one of the weakest powers among the fighters, but it seems that I was wrong," the Namekian explained as he brought his fists to his sides. Jack wasn't sure if he should be offended or take the compliment, but regardless he knew the fight wasn't over. A moment of silence passed over the arena and a single gust of wind. Then the two charged forward.

The fighters met at the center of the arena. Jack came in with a kick toward his head, but Fenro ducked underneath and made a low sweep. After having his leg kicked out from under him, Jack began to fall. Quick thinking set in and he grabbed the ground with one hand. Retaining that balance, he made another kick toward his foe that was consequently blocked. Using the momentum from the blocked attack, Jack flipped to his feet and brought his right fist forward. Rather than a typical block, Fenro caught his fist with his left hand. The Namekian's hands were much larger than Jack's and easily stopped the fist. Not giving him any time, Jack brought his other fist forward only to be caught as well.

The two were locked now. Jack was pushing with all his might to overpower the green man, but Fenro wasn't budging in the slightest. Suddenly, Jack's fists began to hurt. The Namekian's strength from squeezing his fists was beginning to get to him. "You have a true fighter's spirit," Fenro spoke again, surprising Jack. The human gritted his teeth and began grunting in effort. The grunt soon turned into a primal shout as he tried to push Fenro back. Suddenly, without any warning, Fenro stretched his arms out wide. This brought Jack's arms out too and pulled the smaller human closer. Jack's loud shout was finally silenced when he received the powerful headbutt from the Namekian.

The blow had a nasty crack sound to it and visibly left Jack Ryan dazed. The champion began to lose his balance from his own dizziness, but Fenro instead began lifting his arms up. This kept Jack standing, but as Fenro's arms crossed each other this caused Jack to spin around and consequently be trapped in a bear hug with his arms trapped too. By now, Jack was beginning to regain his bearings and realized how bad of a position he was in. The Namekian could probably break his shoulders or back like this. He tried struggling to get free, but he was no match for the larger green man. Suddenly, Jack felt his feet leave the ground.

Then he saw the sky, then he saw the crowd upside-down. Fenro bent backwards in a Suplex move, slamming the champion into the arena head-first. The power of the impact created a gust of wind from the arena and cracked the stone tiles substantially. The Namekian let go of the champion after that blow, letting Jack fall to the ground face-down as he stood back upright. "Jack Ryan is down!!" the announcer shouted after a moment, overcoming his disbelief. "One! Two! Three!" The sound of a gong was heard, yet Jack Ryan remained unconscious on the stage.

"We have a winner! With a victory by knocking out the returning champion, the Namekian, Fenro, will be moving on to the next round!" As the large, green man dusted off his shoulders and calmly walked off-stage, medical personnel came rushing from the fighters' area with a stretcher between them. The rolled Jack onto the stretcher and marched away. They had no idea what condition he was in, considering the blows he took, but at least they knew he was breathing. As Fenro returned to the fighters' area, he took one last look at the unconscious champion being taken away. His face was still stern, giving no insight to his thoughts, but it seemed that he had gained a little respect for his opponent.