Kai was pretty glad that driving the shuttle was something he definitely didn’t need to do now, or hopefully at all for a while when given that much stress to be quick and drive fast. If he was going to learn driving in the future he’d rather it just be for general use and not for emergencies or warzones, he didn’t need that in his life. Having Leto decide to take over driving was probably for the best so long as he didn’t jolt the vehicle around and cause a lot of discovered and possibly the death of Viral in the process, that would just make the whole thing pointless. Everybody was needing seen to, but Viral definitely more than anyone else. For now he was going to have to help out his brother and the others with getting Viral into the back without jolting him too much, definitely a fair big task to undertake if he was to survive. It didn’t matter if he got covered in blood doing it, he was already bloodied and bruised after the last battle.

As the twins moved over to Viral they both moved in sync to get Viral hoisted off the ground safely and with as limited jolting as possible. Despite everyone helping they both felt pretty weak, having used up most of their energy fighting. It was a bad time for everyone and hopefully the hospital hadn’t actually been blown up in the fighting. Viral went a little nuts at the end and blew up a fair bit, so hopefully he hadn’t actually ended up blowing up his only salvation too. Once he was in the vehicle the twins both moved over to their own seats, Choi feeling more relieved than Kai for finding the time to relax. Choi wasn’t very good at handling stress and the possibility of death, it just wasn’t a very nice thing to experience and he was going to be stressing out about it for the rest of the day until everybody was stable once more. He especially didn’t like it when someone like Yumi was clearly upset, but there wasn’t much he could do about that either.

Viral really didn’t like the whole moving process, especially when it made it even worse to try and stay awake. He had already lost a fair volume of blood so feeling dizzy along with the pain and exhaustion was not a good combination. Everything was just a swirl in his eyes and he could no longer really see, just the sounds of others around him that sometimes faded briefly. Feeling the solid surface of the vehicle again he felt some relief, but not a lot as everything just continued to remain bad. He was trying to hang on but he didn’t know how much longer he could keep it up and remain awake. Hearing Yumi only slightly as she decided being quiet was better for him he grunted, moving his head slightly. “If…I died…Aito would kill me…” he spoke slowly, sounding like he was losing it somewhat, “It was…my…mission…”

Over the dull roar of the engines outside it was difficult to make out what Viral was saying. Straining her ears just to pick up the noise Yumi smiled sadly at his comments, shaking her head in disagreement. "You did everything you needed to Viral, we're all alive because of it," she reassured in a soft tone, her fingers curling around his paw as she leaned closer, "I'm alive because of you. Thank you, I owe you my life." She had to repay him somehow after that, though shy of saving his life as well she hadn't a clue where to even begin. As the shuttle began to move along Yumi had to move herself over a bit to make space for the doctor as he approached, now having proper bandages to cover up Viral's wounds with. It wasn't much and he'd clearly need more than what he had but it would do for now, enough to make sure he could hold out until they touched back down.

A short ride of perhaps 5 minutes and they had set down once more, this time on the outskirts on the ravaged city. Though far from a proper hospital it had all the amenities they might need and there were plenty of staff to help. Rather than be made to tentatively carry Viral again the doctor called for help and several other medical aides hurried over with a stretcher, moving the Beastman before transporting him to a vacant tent. Due to the crowded nature of the site, there were easily a hundred other patients and nearly as many doctors, visitors were not permitted no matter how much Yumi argued. With their own minor injuries they were each seen to by their own practitioner as well, sat out along the grass and cleaned and patched up however needed. Despite the chaos that had engulfed the city it appeared that they had quite a lot in place for such an event, a somber reminder that the planet was probably on constant alert and ready for attacks. Would they have to live like that now that they had won today?

Almost an hour had elapsed when a doctor at last came to fetch them from their spot. Before he'd even reached the group Yumi was already on her feet, staring intently at the man as he came to meet them. The look on his face was not cause for worry and when he smiled she returned one of her own, her puffed up, swollen eye closing and the bandages wrapped around her head wrinkling. Viral was going to be okay after his surgery, they had removed some debris from the wounds and cleaned and sewn them shut, now he only needed to recover. It appeared that was the case for most of those who were here too which was a heartwarming turnout for their side. They were well aware of the occasional gurney, blanket draped over the top, and they all knew what it went but they had been mercifully far and few between, and Viral hadn't been on one of them. Before the doctor had a chance to give them permission to visit Yumi was already fast on her way, passing by him and walking swiftly through the thinning crowds to where Viral was resting.

"Oh thank goodness you're okay..." After how hectic things had become for them and how badly injured Viral was Yumi had of course considered and prepared herself for the worst. Yet despite all of that Viral would survive, and given enough time he would be as good as new again too. Feeling dampness on her cheeks for the umpteenth time today she rubbed at them preemptively and moved to the bedside, laying her hand across Viral's paw and gently stroking the back with her thumb. He was probably barely lucid and on all kinds of pain medications, plus the IVs stuck into him were probably drawing most of his focus from everything, but she wanted him to know she was there. Before any of the others showed up Yumi leaned down and lightly pressed her forehead against his, closing her eyes and letting out a soft sigh. "I'm so happy you're going to be okay, I was so scared..."

Viral had only managed to stay conscious for half the ride before he lost consciousness despite trying hard to keep it together, it was just impossible as everything grew darker and sounds became evermore harder to hear. He had tried to hold on but everything was too much stress for him and eventually he gave in, but in the end the result was that he didn’t die like he had become worried about. His consciousness had wavered a few times before, but it had been only for a few seconds before he was gone again in his struggle to stay awake. The operation couldn’t had come sooner, he was on the brink of losing it all but with everything intrusive from his body had been removed and what was broken had been fixed to the best of their ability. The rest was up to him to heal, but he was so low on energy that healing would have to wait until he was able to function at a regular level again.

Once he was stabilised and finally able to recover he was left exhausted and numb, his body hardly able to find rest when he was barely able to feel a thing. They had done a complete sweep on him and fixed everything that was in dire need of repair. He wasn’t damaged to the point of paralysis, but rather he had been given so many drugs that it left his body in a complete state of relaxation even with all the injuries. Even if he wanted to move he probably couldn’t, he was just too weak to fight against drugs and then there was the whole being low on fluids that completely sapped his strength. He barely had the stamina to keep awake, but he didn’t want to sleep when he had already spent an hour completely out of it. Sleep felt like it was too close to being dead for him right now, especially when he had just got out from what he thought was going to be his death.

Hearing the sound of footsteps nearby he tried to lift his head but found it went nowhere, instead he opted to shift it to the side ever so slightly. Something told him that his neck had been bounded by something as he found it hard to do so, there was also some bandages around his head that made movement even harder. He couldn’t really see well even if he tried to focus, but that was better than not seeing anything but darkness. Hearing that the noise was indeed Yumi he frowned, not feeling entirely sure that he wanted her to be seeing him like this. She should’ve been in recovery, not running around after him when she had probably been told that he was okay. Barely able to feel her touch his paw he realised he could barely see her still. He barely knew if his eyes were open at all, but he could definitely see a sort of white and the shapes of the equipment near him. Groaning lightly when she decided upon resting her head against his he tried to move, knowing it was a bad idea in general. “A-Are you…trying to channel the pain or something…” he spoke, sounding rather groggy and scratchy as if he had smoked a lot in his life, “Because…it’s not working…”

"Sh-Shut up, I'm saying hi," Yumi muttered through a small laugh, smiling as she reached out and ran her fingers through Viral's hair. Pulling back she gave a sympathetic look and smile as she moved her hand down to his paw, her fingers curling around it gently. "Sorry, I'd help if I could. But the doctor said you should be fine now, you're through the worst of it. Now you'll just have to heal up and you'll be as good as new. And... If we go back to Uuonoe then you can probably use a tank and heal even faster!" Though if they went back to Uuonoe in the state they were in Vegeta, Aito and June would probably all have a fit. With her own arm in a sling and her head bandaged Yumi didn't look the state of health either but at least she was able to get up and be mobile, unlike Viral.

"I know I said it before but I want to thank you again. I thought I was as good as dead fighting that Elite, and I probably would be dead right now if it wasn't for you," Yumi continued as her fingers tightened slightly around Viral's paw, "I'm still not used to it, fighting like that. I don't get how they can be so careless about taking a life. And I'm sorry you had to get so hurt in order to save mine. I'll make it up to you," she added with a determined look, her eyes shining as she gave Viral a toothy grin, "Next time I'm going to save you and that will make us even." Or to be more accurate they would be saving each other, as they should be. She didn't want Viral thinking they were all going to rely on him every time and let him take the fall, and she didn't expect any of them to have to do the same. Yumi would have elaborated had the door to the room not opened then and the doctor from before along with a nurse entered, the latter carrying several bags of fluids with her.

"Viral, its good to see you awake. Not many people come back from those kind of injuries," the doctor said with a friendly smile, standing at the foot of the bed. Glancing at the charts in his hand he went silent briefly as he poured over information before knocking a finger against a certain passage, showing it to Viral and Yumi as it was highlighted in red. "You sustained a lot of internal damage, organs were hemorrhaged and bones broken, but already most of that has healed. We don't really understand why, or how, but you're healing at an unusually fast rate. That being said..." Placing the clipboard on a hook beside the bed the doctor took out several x-rays and posted them on a board beside the bed. "Some bones are still healing, and they need to set too. We're going to keep giving you fluids for at least another few days, and maybe tomorrow or the next we can try some solid foods. You should count yourself a miracle, by the end of this week it might look like you never had any damage to begin with."

---

The World Tournament it was not but Takeshi was excited for it all the same. It would be nice to fight a bit without someone trying to kill you and after spending a day doing pretty much nothing being able to let loose a bit was nice. There would be quite the pool of contestants for this tournament too, a mixture of Uuonians and rebels alike with the four of them included in the mix, a total of 36 participants in all. Eager as he was to begin Takeshi's first match didn't happen until nearly the end of the first round with Shu, Sasha and Ricken all getting their go before him. Once the matches were set and the brackets established all participants were ushered into waiting areas closer to the stage while the audience filed into seats erected around the arena itself. It sure did look a lot like the World Tournament now and when an announcer came up onto the stage to officially begin the tournament a real sense of deja vu hit Takeshi. Excitement was an understatement as the first two fighters came up to tussle, two Uuonians who looked like they might just know a thing or two about fighting. The crowd let out a chorus of cheers and shouts and the fight was on, the two men exchanging blows and dancing around the ring vying for an edge. It was a far cry from what people like them were capable of but it was kind of fun to watch, though it ended rather quickly when one managed to land a punch to the other's jaw and knocked him out cold. Couldn't have been more than a minute and the first match was over, one down and 34 more to go.

Ricken's match was the first of theirs to take place and it would be against another rebel soldier. Even though they were both members of the same team that didn't mean their skills were the same, and judging by how nervous the other guy looked there was already a winner even before the match began. In a style awfully reminiscent of Takeshi's the rebel soldier went right in as soon as the match started and quickly found himself on his back, having been tripped and flipped in the blink of an eye. When he tried to get up and throw a punch Ricken deflected it and jabbed him square in the chest with an elbow, probably winding the guy and surprisingly not breaking any bones with the blow. Just like that he was done, Ricken swept the man's feet before grabbing a leg, spinning him and simply throwing him out of the arena for a technical ring out. Considering what probably could have been he'd let his fellow soldier off easy with some bumps and bruises, and when he left the arena none of the other fighters were very keen on getting anywhere near him. Just wait until they fight me or Shu, Takeshi mused, a grin spreading across his face as he awaited the next round. If they thought Ricken was scary they were in for a nasty treat when they got to watch a Saiyan fight.

Two rounds later Sasha would have her turn, and from a plain view it would look like she was horribly outmatched. Her opponent was a Uuonian and unusually large for one, probably rivaling Leto in sheer size. But of course size wasn't everything in a fight and Sasha was quick to remind him of that. As soon as the match began he tried to grab her and failed as she easily ducked under his arms and slid beneath his legs, springing up on her hands and kicking him in the back. For all his mass he wasn't trained for quick strikes from the looks of things and that was a huge detriment fighting someone quick like Sasha. Each trunk-like limb missed by a wide margin and was answered with a quick counter strike, barely moving the man on impact but each and every one landing. Perhaps for a change of pace the Uuonian had begun to pick up the pace and deliver blows more rapidly and yet, almost pitifully so, every single attack missed. Sasha danced between the arms and legs of the man like his attacks were as slow as molasses and after a short while the Uuonian was visibly perspiring, becoming worn down from the duel. On an errant punch Sasha jumped up and wrapped her legs around the arm, using her body's weight to torque it and spin the man around, flipping herself over and him onto his back. With him laid on the ground she twisted her body and yanked the arm in an awkward manner and within seconds the man was calling it quits, leaving the arena while cradling his strained arm as Sasha left to rejoin the others.

"You could have ended that a lot more quickly Sasha, instead of wasting everyone's time like that," Ricken chastised as his sister returned, frowning at her as she gave him a smile.

"Part of this tournament is a show Ricken, you know that. The people want to watch close matches and exciting matches, not ones that are over in 10 seconds like yours was," Sasha rebutted, sticking out her tongue childishly as Ricken grumbled something incoherent beneath his breath. On stage the announcer had since returned and was declaring the next match, and when Shu's name was mentioned she turned to the young Saiyan with an excited smile. "Looks like you're next, show everyone what you can do," she urged, patting his shoulders and easing him towards the ring.

Viral didn’t really know whether he should appreciate Yumi being here or not, especially when she had been injured herself. She should’ve been in her own room getting better, not coddling him. He wasn’t exactly in the same level of stamina she had to stop her though, he was barely able to think clearly nevermind act upon her not taking care of herself first. “Fine now…? I don’t…think that’s how I feel…” he muttered, only managing to move his head a little bit, “Uuonoue…hmph, they’ll…never let me fight again…” They probably wouldn’t anyway once Leto or the other soldiers involved gave them a rundown of what happened. Either way he was going to get an earful when he got back, whenever that was. He could barely move and had very little energy, it would take a while to recover again. His regeneration was good but it still took time to come back from near death.

Trying to conserve energy he didn’t try to interrupt Yumi as she talked about the fight, his preference being to forget most about it. He screwed up a lot back there, he was too busy treating it like he was fighting by himself with his teammates being the ones that needed protecting. He was trying to take on everything himself and completely overestimated his strength to the point that he was simply taking the punishment rather than delivering it properly. He forgot that he was the one who was trying to save the city, not destroy it carelessly as he fought against a rebelling faction. He had forgotten everything about his original objective and was simply treating it like he was back with the King again, like he had a duty to destroy the enemy at all cost. He didn’t really know what got over him back there, only that he was fair lost in a world of his own as he fought the enemy.

Gasping lightly as the door was opened he looked over at the door, frowning at the awkward shapes as they came close enough so that he could just see them. A doctor and a nurse had come to check on him, but he didn’t know if the news he was given was something he particularly wanted to hear. He was almost completely done for before they got to him and what was worse was he needed to remain in bed for the week if he was going to recover properly. Aito was going to kill him, he was supposed to be watching himself but here he was unable to move and probably barred from missions like that ever again without supervision. “I can only heal so fast with energy levels this low…so…don’t count on tomorrow for food…” he groaned, knowing even trying to eat again was going to be a struggle, “The others…when can they leave…?”

-

Shu had a great day so far and everything he had earned had been taken back to the base before the small tournament started. It had been a long time since he had been at a tournament and he was a little nervous, mostly because he was being judged on everything he did still by the siblings and his brother. Everybody was paying attention to how he acted and whether he was happy or not, making everything all the more tense. He didn’t want them to know that he was also holding back any sort of awkwardness that they might judge him on for fear that he was going to be caught out as being mildly uncomfortable somewhat. He was enjoying himself, but he was worried if he was to go slightly off the handle that he would be judged as acting abnormally. He did wonder if they suspected anything from him, even though he thought he was acting so naturally himself.

The tournament to Shu sounded very similar to what he had fought in on Earth, but this time there was a whole bunch of aliens too. Maybe they were going to be strong or maybe just weak like the others had been on Earth, he had no idea. He didn’t even know how strong he was, only that he was capable of defeating his opponents when it mattered. Did winning in the tournament matter at all? He had no idea, he just knew it would make Takeshi happy if he took part in it. All he had to do was try to not freak out if he got grabbed, he could do that surely. For now, all he could do was watch as Sasha and Ricken fought while not really paying much attention to the others, his concern being on whether or not it was going to end with him fighting against one of the others.

Shu remained fairly quiet, scratching his head through his hair as if trying to groom himself as Sasha fought on the stage, eventually winning. It was nice that everyone was enjoying themselves, now all he had to do was not act all nervous and enjoy himself too. Gasping when his name was called he looked to the others quickly, his attention taken to Sasha as she spoke to him and tried to get him to go into the ring now that it was his turn. “Ooh! Yes! Shu to the fighting!” he squeaked, jumping off towards the ring. He still didn’t feel incredibly sure that he could do this, but considering his strength he shouldn’t have too many problems other than his usual. He was rather clumsy and if he fell and got caught then that would be a loss for him and he would be out of the match, everyone would be disappointed with him after that. Once he got into the ring he quickly looked up and around at the other people, smiling nervously before having a bounce. “Ooh! Shu will win! I real good at win!”

With Sasha and Ricken's battles over with the next one called would be Shu. Everyone was excited to see how a child Saiyan would fare against some of Uuonoe's best fighters, and at the same time there was a clear tension in the room. By now the vast majority of people were well aware of both who Shu and Takeshi were the children of and while their allegiance seemed to be to the rebellion it hardly absolved them of all concern. As Shu and his opponent entered the stage Takeshi grew increasingly excited to see his brother compete. Even rebel soldiers were probably not a match against any of them and seeing a Uuonian didn't exactly spark fear in him either. To the alien's credit he didn't seem all that worried either despite knowing what he was going up against, and perhaps his large size was a part of that. Being bigger than Shu didn't necessarily mean you were going to win though, something Takeshi had learned since the first day of their meeting. He was a quick, resourceful little guy and could be a real pain if you didn't somehow lock him down.

"Introducing Uuonoe's very own Thal! He's a big name in the inner cities and across many fighting leagues, and a hometown favorite for many here! But how will he stack up to his opponent, the young Saiyan, Shu? Let's find out together shall we?" The roar of the crowd signaled everyone was more than ready for the match and the lights lining it came on, flooding the arena in a glow and illuminating its inhabitants. "Now remember, this is a nice, clean fight! If your opponent is knocked out then you win. If you knock your opponent out of the arena then you win. And, if you put your opponent in a submission hold and they submit, you win. Best of luck to both of you, and be sure to put on a great show!" Stepping out of the center of the ring the announcer looked between Shu and Thal, hand raised before dropping it swiftly and stepping back to the edge. "And begin!"

Fighting a Saiyan was new, and fighting someone who had fought so much with Korian's people was definitely new. But Thal was not deterred and was determined to take this fight just as any other, he'd be careful and do his best to force his opponent into making a mistake. As soon as the announcer signaled the fight to start he slowly began to advance on Shu, a look of pure concentration on his features, arms spread slightly apart and ready to strike at the slightest movement. Waiting until he was into range for an attack he danced back and forth on his feet, leaning back on one foot suddenly and spinning his body around, swinging up a leg trying to kick Shu and knock him over. With how small Shu was he could probably knock him down easily and pin him in a submission, this fight wouldn't take too long.

Aito hadn't the slightest idea there was a tournament being held nor that any of the kids might be taking part in it, so seeing Shu on stage was a surprise. Were it anyone else he might well have passed on by without a care but seeing his little patient taking part was relative cause for concern. June wasn't the least bit interested in watching the fighting either but he'd managed to convince her it was pertinent he was there: should the worst come to pass and Shu transform unexpectedly he was by far the best suited person to handle the situation. That and he'd found out there was popcorn being offered and it had been ages since he'd had any, he wanted some. June gave him a rather nasty look when he nearly missed the commencement of Shu's fight in order to buy a bag but he'd bashfully done so anyways, joining the throngs of other onlookers as the fight commenced and Thal began making a move. Depending on his performance he may have to pull Shu from the competition, in fact he probably should now, but he'd bide his time and see how things progressed.

Shu did wonder if Takeshi was giving his full attention and frantically looked around for him until the lights almost blinded him, rubbing his eyes quickly before shaking his head. Now he couldn’t see the crowd at all which was a little worrying but hopefully not entirely a sign of danger. He had to try and win to please his brother that was for sure and to not raise any suspicions that he was a little bit worried that he was going to end up screwing everything up. It had been a long enough day without too many alarm bells, but then again he was only good at watching what he was saying rather than observing his own actions. A lot of the time he acted without thinking which was probably a problem in their eyes but he had always done that to get around. He could do it this time, he could try and act at least a little bit normal while fighting. All he had to do was get the guy on the floor and keep him there for a bit or toss him out like in the tournament, or at least that’s what he assumed was the only ways to win.

Hearing and seeing who he was up against had him rubbing his hands together, staring at him as he practically towered over him. These Uuonians sure did vary in size and this guy was one of the largest he had seen in a while up close so naturally he was a little worried. He just needed to be smart about this, treat the guy like he was a large predator wanting to eat him. Looking to the announcer as he gave them both instructions he squeaked a little, nodding before watching him leave. So it was just like he thought so shouldn’t be too bad, he just had to not get caught. He greatly disliked it when people held him tight so he would prefer it if he was knocked out if he had to lose at some point. That wouldn’t be very pleasant though, so he had no other option other than to win if he could.

Watching his opponent he didn’t make much of a move other than shift his feet, almost looking like he was waiting for his opponent to make a move. If he knew how the man was going to react then it would be pretty good for him to figure out how to counter it. Backing off as the Uuonian moved closer he dropped his stance as he noticed him starting to make a move to attack, springing into the air when he saw it was a sweep attack. With his jump Shu had aimed to jump at the man’s head, springing off while also wrapping his tail around the man’s neck, pulling down as he bounced to the ground. That probably wouldn’t take out someone as big as this guy but it was still something to get him started. Landing on all fours Shu quickly bounced around again, throwing his feet forward as he tried to retaliate against any attempt to get back at him and attack.

Fighting a Saiyan child was going to be exciting. On one hand Shu was just a boy who didn't look any older than 14 years and that was being generous, one would think their fight would be a snap. But there was the other part, the small detail that the boy was a Saiyan that was cause for concern. Deciding to start off simply with a sweep he moved in until he was within range and swung a leg around, his body twisting slightly in the momentum. Expecting Shu to either dodge or perhaps even block he'd not expected Shu to leap over it entirely and go on the attack, putting his tail around the Uuonian's throat and yanking him over backwards with surprising force. Struggling to remain upright he pinwheeled his arms and barely managed to catch himself on the way down only to be swiftly kicked in the rear by Shu. Unstable as he was Thal was thrown forward, tumbling head over heels awkwardly and nearly going off the arena almost immediately. Catching himself he dragged his hands along the floor and stopped, looking at Shu slightly amazed. Pushing off and breaking into a dash he tried to get back at Shu, jumping and spinning his body again, aiming a kick downward towards the young Saiyan.

Takeshi fully expected Shu to mop the floor with this guy. For as much as his younger brother didn't like to fight that didn't mean he was bad at it and beating some random alien shouldn't be any problem for him. When Shu nearly kicked Thal out of the ring he was already cheering for his brother's victory only to promptly go silent when Thal stopped himself. He'd completely expected his brother to win quick just as Sasha and Ricken had, but then again he supposed the guy his brother was fighting did seem tougher than the other two. Thal was clearly the crowd favorite as the arena went nuts when he saved himself, and when he went on the offensive shortly thereafter everyone was cheering for him as well. Everyone save for Shu's older brother. "Come on buddy, kick his ass!" Takeshi shouted, probably drowned out by the multitude of voices around him, "You've got this!"

Shu didn’t want to go too hard against the guy, he was certain he would cause him misery if he did. He knew he could be strong, he was well aware that he had trouble controlling his strength. Luckily this guy could take it, he didn’t harm the man too much and that’s all that mattered to him at this point. He must’ve been doing well, the crowd certainly sounded like they were having a good time so that must be a good thing. He was feeling pretty confident now if that was the case and maybe he would be able to pull off some good fighting moves, so long as this guy wasn’t going to overpower him. This guy was definitely a strong one and probably well liked, but Shu was just small and barely worth the muscle to his weight. If he was to show off he would need to know he could take on the guy without a problem, only problem was it wasn’t easy to show force that had some strength behind it. The guy was more stunned than worn down by the attacks, probably because he didn’t expect him to be so quick on his feet and being able to show off an ability to force him off balance.

Shu was feeling pretty good at this point, even if he didn’t know if the crowd was cheering for him or for his opponent. He didn’t really mind much, they were happy so he was happy. Squeaking happily for a moment he looked around hastily, trying to see the crowd before gasping as he had to avoid a kick again by springing off to the side. He didn’t want to lose, he wanted to win so he could fight in the finals again, but this guy was pretty strong and wasn’t giving him much of a chance to recover. “Noooo! You kick, I kick back!” he spoke quickly as he made a sudden jump for the man’s side after he had finished the kick, kicking out himself in hope that he might be able to knock the guy out of the ring, even going right back in for another kick in hope that he might be able to accomplish something.

Thal was confident that his speed was enough to connect this time, there was no way that Shu would be able to dodge. When his axe kick met only the floor of then he was stunned and barely able to follow the Saiyan child as he dashed to his side. He was so quick! The Uuonian had barely taken his heel from the stone when Shu was already countering with a kick that easily connected with his side, sending an already off-balance Thal tumbling yet again towards the edge of the arena. Trying to catch himself upright and stop his momentum Thal had just barely saved it and looked up to see where Shu was, his face dropping seeing the Saiyan boy racing in for yet another attack. Not able to dodge he threw up his arms and tried to block the kick, feeling the full force of the blow on his forearms as he was easily lifted off of his feet and thrown out of the ring as he collided with a barricade set up on the edge, collapsing into a few of the closer bystanders. Cheering all but died down when Thal was ejected in such a fashion and no one was sure what to make of it until Takeshi began to cheer above the silence, and Sasha quickly followed suit. A second later and the arena had erupted into cheers again, this time solely for Shu however.

"And that concludes our match folks! Your winner is Shu!" the announcer declared, beaming as he rejoined the young Saiyan on stage, "Well done Shu, go ahead and take a rest until round 2, you've earned it! We'll get the ring fixed up and start the next match shortly!"

Takeshi had a wild grin all over his face when Shu rejoined them in the waiting space and he nearly tackled his brother in excitement. Instead he rushed over and ruffled the younger boy's hair, laughing as he then patted his brother's back. "See? I knew you'd kick his ass, the guy never even touched ya!" he cheered proudly, looking over at Thal as he was helped up by a few ringside doctors, clearly in a daze as he stumbled about. Putting an arm around Shu's shoulders he walked with his brother back to Sasha and Ricken, looking mighty proud as he pointed to his sibling at his side. "How was that guys? The Uuonian didn't even stand a chance!"

"Gee, its almost like he was stuck fighting Saiyan royalty," Ricken replied sarcastically with a roll of the eyes, "No wonder he didn't stand a chance, no one with a brain expected Thal to win." Getting an elbow to the side he growled and shot Sasha a glare as he nursed the spot.

"Thal is still a very good fighter, you made it look easy beating him Shu. Nice job!" Sasha added in with a thumbs up, "But its only going to get harder as we go on, so don't get too comfortable. You might have to fight one of us in the later rounds still," she added, tossing Shu a playful wink, "And we're not going to be that easy to beat."

Back in the hospital plenty of people were tuning into the tournament as well, Yumi and Viral included. Not that there was much else to be doing anyways in such a stuffy place. Knowing their friends were taking part in it made viewing the whole ordeal a little more exciting. As Shu's match came to a rather quick and satisfying conclusion Yumi was out of her seat and clapping, an act which must have looked rather idiotic to Viral who was the only other person present. "It really reminds me a lot of those tournaments back on Earth, doesn't it?" she asked, beaming as she posed her question to Viral, "What do you think... Want to try and sneak down there? We could probably get out without one of the nurses noticing if you'd want to."

Shu had a fair desire to win but he also didn’t want to hurt the guy too much, he knew he was unable to control himself very well and too much would be harmful to the man. He could send him into the hospital or something which was bad, especially when this was supposed to be a fun little wrestling event of sorts. Managing to land a kick on him he squeaked when Thal had smashed against the barricade, his hands quickly going to his face when some viewers ended up getting caught in the fall as well. He didn’t mean to kick that hard, he didn’t know he was going to go that far and hit all those people. As everything grew silent Shu grew frightened. Maybe he had made a mistake with coming here, nobody really wanted him to win.

Gasping when he heard what sounded like Takeshi cheering he looked around hastily, hearing the others being set up to cheer for him as a result. He didn’t know what to make of that if Takeshi had to start it off, maybe he was really the unlikeable opponent out of that match. Hearing the announcer he smiled nervously, trying to play it off since it meant he was going to be analysed for it. Quickly bouncing off the stage he met back up with Takeshi, bouncing on the spot as he was praised as he squeaked. “Ooh! I did! Hope he okay after that”. Being lead to the siblings again he looked to his brother before staring at Ricken. He didn’t know what to think of that, it definitely made him feel really bad even if it was something he couldn’t help. Forcing a smile when Sasha spoke to him he nodded quickly, pressing his fingers together. “I know! I keep trying…I fight good in next round even if we fight sometime! Maybe we will soon…umm, I still try and fight good then too! Don’t go easy on me, though!”

At the hospital Viral didn’t much care for what was on the television, more seeing it as a way to keep Yumi occupied over anything. Back on Earth whenever the tournament he was only able to watch it being televised, he wasn’t allowed to go anywhere even if he kept hidden. It was a pretty depressing memory so holding tournaments in any other regard other than something he wasn’t going to be able to take part in. Even once he returned to Earth and took part in a tournament he was going to feel angry that he had missed many chances to take part in them before, but it probably wouldn’t matter since one of them could just pick him up and throw him out of the ring. At least Yumi was in high spirits, maybe too high as she suggested they’d go somewhere. He could barely move and had only been awake for the few matches that it had been on for, not to mention there was nowhere to go. “What…? Unless I’m suddenly on Uunoue…I don’t know what you’re talking about…” he muttered, “I’m not that strong or fast, for one…”

"Go easy on you? Where's the fun in that!" Takeshi teased, beaming as he rubbed his hands together in excitement, "We've gotta show all of these people how real fighters do things, you know?" Feeling the annoyed stare of Ricken on his back he turned to face the other boy with a smirk, folding his arms and cocking his eyebrow. "Unless one of you two are going to beat us, huh? I'd pay to see that happen, even though it won't."

"You don't know how badly I'd like to drive that smug face of yours into the dirt," Ricken growled before letting out a sigh, "But this isn't about just winning, its a show for the people to enjoy. We'll do our best to win but we're not treating it like a real battle, if we lose then we lose. If I do get to level your sorry hide in the process though then I'm fine with that."

If Takeshi and Ricken wanted to go at each other before a match even began then fine, Sasha wasn't going to waste her time keeping two children apart. Rolling her eyes as the two resumed bickering between themselves the announcer gracefully drowned them out with the announcement of the next match, one which none of them would participate in. Two rebels whose names she couldn't remember were going to be taking part in this one and it should be a decent match, their uniforms suggested they were both of decent rank. The crowd around them had seemingly already forgotten about Shu's match and his triumph over Thal as the announcer worked them up into another frenzy over the impending brawl. Seeing the match of little importance Sasha instead chose to talk to Shu and bring up something that was eating at her.

"How are you feeling? You doing okay? Not scared or stressed are you?" Aito had warned against fighting so early and Sasha understood Shu's hesitation plenty well but at the same time facing your fears could be therapeutic. Whether they continued in the tournament with Shu all depended on how he himself felt going into things. "You did a really good job in your match, I don't think anyone expected you to win so easily," Sasha added with a smile, folding her arms as she turned towards the stage to watch the match, "Did you notice how quiet things went? I think everyone was shocked you made it look so easy, Thal is a pretty big name around this city. So you winning like that probably got a lot of people's attention, other contestants too. I hope you're ready because we're going to only get tougher opponents as this goes on," she said before winking at Shu, "But I imagine you'll do just fine."

-----

"We are on Uuonoe though! See? Right outside is the city..." Oh wait a minute, outside the window was a large open lawn with scarcely any other buildings nearby. They were on Lioma still weren't they? Realizing her folly with a sheepish smile Yumi let out a laugh and shrugged, laying her head down on her arm as she rested on the edge of Viral's bed. "You're crazy if you think that. You beat the crap out of the Elites, and you're stronger than anyone else I know. You'd win if you competed, that's a fact!" It would be fun to watch too and even better if Viral got to smack Takeshi's fresh mouth once or twice. The only down side to that though was he would probably end up fighting Shu as well and she didn't want that in the least.

"Hey... You'd kick Takeshi's butt if you fought him right? I'd like to see that, he deserves a good butt kicking," Yumi continued, inching closer to Viral's bedside as she slid her chair forward. "I totally think you'd win! Then you could rub it in his face instead! And then Vegeta wouldn't have any reason to be such a big baby about everything." Thank goodness Vegeta or Aito weren't here right now or they'd be having a heart attack over how hurt Viral was. Though he'd long since become stable and should be recovering in no time thanks to his special healing powers. Yumi wouldn't mind those the way her arm and head were aching, though the medications she'd been put on certainly helped. There was a minor side effect to them however...

"Maybe we can be in the one on Earth sometime. I think that'd be fun, don't you?" Yumi posed as she grabbed Viral's paw, "Plus we could win that money and we could go on a trip somewhere, or we could... Oh..." Viral's paw was awfully soft in her hands, or perhaps she was just imagining things. Either way she lifted his paw higher and appeared to examine it studiously for a moment, turning it before smiling and ultimately pressing it to her cheek which she nuzzled against the limb. "That's soft... I like it," she giggled, falling forward onto Viral's bed and inadvertently onto his arm, "Oops... I fell down Viral..."

Shu stared at Takeshi as he got all excited, not feeling too sure how he should react to that. He knew he was just trying to get him all pumped up and was expressing his excitement, but it wasn’t really working on him all that much. What Ricken said was being taken to heart more than the excitement he should be feeling. What if more people got hurt? He did wonder how those bystanders were and if they got hurt because of him, he should really look to see but if he did they would notice his concern. Looking to Ricken when Takeshi practically challenged him he tilted his head a little, feeling rather confused now. Takeshi wanted to win and seemed all hyped up for that, but Ricken just wanted to entertain people and didn’t care about winning. Shu didn’t know what he’d win if he did come out the champion, but people’s happiness mattered too. If Takeshi wasn’t willing to go easy on him then he didn’t know how he was supposed to do this, whether he shouldn’t show he was just another Saiyan and could put on a struggle or if he should just try to win like Takeshi.

Spacing out for a moment as he watched Ricken and Takeshi he almost jumped when Sasha spoke to him, turning around quickly to face her. “Ooh! I-I’m okay! Things are very good!” he responded, worried that he was showing something others might be picking up on, “Am ready for next fight!” Looking back over at the stage as Sasha did he stared for a moment before looking up at her, not knowing quite how to respond to that. Shock was never a good thing, it usually meant things didn’t go as they should had and everyone had been thrown off by that. Thal sounded like had a good reputation, but what if he just destroyed that by having him lose in such a manner? He hoped that wasn’t the case, but he was still worried. “Ooh, who know how good I do! How good is Shu? No really sure”, he spoke, clapping briefly, “Maybe Shu get beat! But that okay! No really mind, not much like Takeshi, yes? Takeshi be all ‘I win, you know!’ but Shu be like ‘fun and be happy! That all Shu needs!’ Yes?”

--

Viral wasn’t having any of Yumi’s nonsense and simply groaned, shifting his head to pay no attention to her. She really was just not functioning at all. If he could he would just watch the event in silence, but she was all sorts of excitable since when he first woke up. Groaning, he kept his eyes off her until she was just at the point of spouting claims he didn’t see as possible to keep. “All I did was use my trump card…” If he didn’t transform he probably would had been beaten, especially when that’s what had him using it in the first place. He had taken a great amount of punishment and was on the verge of dying by the time he did and even that didn’t save him in the end. He would never know if he did well or not because of that.

Growling a sigh at the mention of Takeshi he was certainly starting to wish he could move so he could sit her somewhere else, shame he couldn’t feel most of his body. He didn’t even want to think about Takeshi or how he’d act if he was allowed to go all out and not that fist fight they had before. “…You know, Vegeta has every reason to be cautious with me…” Feeling her take hold of his paw he looked back at her, becoming rather suspicious. He didn’t like how she was holding his paw, but when she decided to lift it that’s where things were certainly becoming painful. Wincing, he tried to make an attempt to pull it out of her grasp but as a result he was just unsettling his body some more. Trying to force his way through the pain he looked away, hoping she’d let go of him soon but instead that moment of pain turned into agony as she fell on his arm. Even if she was pretty light he had sustained so much damage that even the slightest weight was going to cause pain, he couldn’t even yell at her because of the organ damage he received too. “Get off me before I just kill myself…!”

"You did really well Shu! Thal is a well known fighter on Uuonoe and a lot of people probably expected him to go all the way to the finals. But you beat him in the first round, that's why everyone was so surprised," Sasha explained, "That's the spirit! There's no real prize to all of this anyways really, nothing huge anyways. We're just doing this for fun and to blow off a little steam, relax a bit. So as long as you're having fun you're doing it right." Then you had Takeshi, and really Ricken too, both of whom were only focused on winning an essentially meaningless tournament. She would say it was a product of men being men if Shu wasn't an exception to that, as were nearly every other competitor here. Even Thal himself who seemed befuddled by his loss was already laughing it off and moving on, clearly no one was taking this seriously. No one aside from Takeshi and Ricken. Smiling wryly as an idea struck her Sasha stepped closer to Shu and leaned down, cupping a hand around her mouth to whisper into his ear. "Hey... Do me a favor? If you get matched against Ricken try to kick him in the butt okay? And tell him its from his sister, he'll get so annoyed!" she said with a giggle, "Don't worry, if he gets mad I'll handle it."

It was fascinating to see how Shu managed through his match and of great relief that he had little trouble. It had been a quick match though and his opponent was clearly outmatched, how he'd fare against an equal opponent was still a mystery. Aito ignored June's request to withdraw Shu from the tournament even after she continued to insist, and though doubtless he'd be given an earful for it later he'd watch Shu continue to compete. Or to be more precise he'd watch the Uuonians and rebels compete as the young Saiyan's match was likely a ways off. Seeing people of other races and worlds fighting was highly interesting, their styles and approach to their duels so different. To some battle was like a dance and their movements fluid and loose, others attempted to latch onto their opponent and use their lanky frames to fight them into a submission hold, and more still used surprising speed to try and overwhelm. Evidently the use of Ki and other abilities was forbidden as no one practiced anything outside of standard martial arts, and perhaps just as well. If Ki usage was allowed then those with the ability would have a massive advantage, and those who were capable like the rebels even more so.

-----

"Oooooh, don't do that," Yumi muttered with a click of her tongue as she peeled herself from the bed. A ridiculous smile played on her face as she let out a giggle, finally releasing Viral's paw to scratch her head. "If you did that then Vegeta would be in my face! He'd be all 'Yumi, what did you do? Now we're going to need the Dragon Balls again!'" she joked, lowering her voice as she put a finger in Viral's face, "And then he'd probably be all 'Why didn't you stop him? What do you mean you were asleep!?' See, because this medicine is making me sleeeepy... So I'd be asleep! And you don't want me to fall asleep do you? So no killing yourself!" She reinforced her command with a prod to Viral's nose, trying to come across as stern as she could though she broke into a smile rather quickly. On the other side of the room the door was opened and a nurse and Viral's doctor entered, both of which gave Yumi a concerned look.

"You're not supposed to be out of bed..." the doctor spoke with a frown.

"Viral needed company so I'm giving him company!" Yumi answered, beaming as she again leaned in and tried to hug Viral. The nurse had mercifully stepped over and grabbed her beneath the arms to halt her, and in her drugged state she could do little other than squirm fitfully to try and escape. "Let me goooo! I want to sit with Viral!"

"M-Miss, you're supposed to be recovering! So please stop fighting me!" the nurse stammered, shrieking when Yumi began to float up towards the ceiling with use of her Ki. The doctor had to help pull her down and lead Yumi back to her bed, making sure she was down for good before leaving her in the care of the startled nurse. Perhaps they had given her a little too much pain medication, he'd make a mental note to reduce her dosage.

Standing at the foot of Viral's bed he took a chart and examined the details upon it studiously. They were recordings of Viral's vitals and his body since he'd been put in bed and medicine had been administered. Better already though there would be some time yet until he was back to full health. "Any improvements since you arrived Viral? Are the medications helping with the pain at all?" the doctor asked, walking around to the bedside and adjusting his glasses before leaning in and brandishing a small torch from his coat pocket. "What is hurting the most in particular?"

Shu gave Sasha a quick smile, scratching his head as he looked to his brother and Ricken again. He hoped it was correct and she wasn’t just feeding him praise for his way of thinking. If she was saying it was good to not get too excited over winning or too sad over losing then maybe it was correct and Takeshi was wrong for thinking that way, but then again she might just be saying that to make him feel good about making a decision on his own that wasn’t entirely someone else’s. He was certainly growing confused over this whole process, he didn’t know what he was supposed to believe for himself but it was apparently good in her eyes. It all came down to whether Aito was pleased with him, he certainly wondered whether he was doing good according to what Aito wanted him to do. Probably if Aito found him here he would be mad or maybe even disappointed that he took part in an activity that could be deemed stressful. Letting out a little squeak when Sasha got really close to his ear not particularly liking it when someone got that close, frowning at what she wanted him to do. “Ooh umm, o-okay! I do that if so”, he spoke quickly, sighing a little, “Hope he no get all mad at me instead…”

--

Viral did wonder if she had shifted something out of place, he was definitely feeling a fair amount of pain now that wasn’t exactly going away very quickly. If she pulled him and he fell out of his bed he would probably end up having to go back into surgery because he ruptured everything that was supposed to heal. He wasn’t going to heal very fast, his body was too damaged to focus healing on one area and he wasn’t going to get much energy restored in a place like this. It was too risky to be pulled around, even if he didn’t want to be in this bed all busted and broken like this. Groaning as Yumi continued to poke and prod him he was about ready to bite Yumi’s finger until he noticed a doctor and nurse enter the room, their immediate concern was towards Yumi. Feeling rather thankful that they had come he was startled when Yumi looked like she was ready to crush his broken body in a hug; however, thankfully for him the nurse had caught her before she could.

He didn’t care what Yumi was on, if she was going to be like that whenever someone was away he would probably just be best tying her down or better yet just killing himself like he told her. If he couldn’t do that there was always the whole knocking himself completely out for the days it would take for him to recover. Letting out a groan in annoyance he turned his attention to the doctor, staring at him as he moved around his bed. “…The only improvement right now is that I’m not bleeding…” he spoke lowly, “They were somewhat helping until Yumi dropped herself on me, but now…I wonder if being awake is what I should really be when my chest feels like it split in half…” He had felt worse in the past and at least he didn’t feel like he was going to die, but lying here with no way to ease it didn’t make him wonder if he was better comatose. “Why would it matter…you’ve done all you can. When can the others leave…? They need their freedom more than me, I can’t care less about how I’m feeling. Just make sure they’re out of here soon…”

"If you're worried then its okay, you don't have to do it. I just think he needs a good kick to the butt is all," Sasha added with a smile, "So does your brother. I know you love your brother Shu and I love mine but they really need to learn to relax. Its not always about winning every little thing you do." Victory was important particularly in their line of work when loss meant death often but this wasn't work, it was a game. Both Ricken and Takeshi could do well to learn to relax and enjoy themselves without treating everything so seriously. The crowd around them broke into cheers again and she turned back to the stage to watch the two participants exchange a series of blocks, blows and dodges, really impressive all things considered. Both men were clearly smiling and having fun with their match which was all the more proof that this tournament wasn't meant to be serious. "Have you ever been in a tournament before Shu? Do you know how they work?" Sasha prodded curiously as she pointed towards the standings on a distant wall, "We've got a bit of time until our next match, what do you say about letting our brothers argue and getting a snack? My treat."

-----

"That is certainly... Good. If the internal hemorrhaging has stopped then you're out of the worst of it, now its just soreness and broken bones that need to mend. And... We'll do our best to sedate her," the doctor added with a meek look at the still fidgeting Yumi, "She shouldn't be moving at all with her concussion and her arm broken, but it seems the dosage we gave her wasn't enough. Easily fixed." Odd given the fact they had administered the regular amount of medication, perhaps Yumi just wasn't as susceptible to their medicine? They were an unusual pair to treat these two and most conventional medicine they had seemed to either be ineffective or pointless. Every medical personnel in the building was clueless as to how Viral was healing as fast as he was, but if he was recovering then just as well, they'd monitor him all the same.

"The others? If you mean the Saiyan boys and Leto then they'll be discharged soon. Compared to you and Ms. Yumi here their injuries were relatively minor. Actually the two of you had some of the worse injuries of the patients we've had here," the doctor spoke before growing silent as his mouth pulled into a frown, "Those that returned alive at least. But back to your point, they will be free to leave soon though I don't know where they'll go exactly with the city in its current state. The hospital may be a better stay." While not all of the city was ruined much of what was still intact was being used as emergency hospitals, places where one could actually go then were extremely limited. And in anticipation of another attack troops were still on high alert and within the city meaning even residents would have a hard time traveling about.

Yumi's fussing had finally subsided as she was given additional pain medication and the nurse had managed to settle her into her bed at last. Giving Viral's charts one last look over the doctor gave him a smile and walked over to her bed, going through the paces of covering her condition as well. Behind him the sound of the television caught his eye and he turned to see a pair of fighters on screen wrestling, his lips pursing in distaste as he shook his head. They had just gone through a battle and this was what these people were watching? Maniacs, every last one of them. But as doctors it was their job to patch them up along with the soldiers, even if their injuries were of their own doing. "You two should be just fine, we'll be back in about an hour just to follow up on your charts and some blood work," the doctor explained while moving for the door, "If you need anything use the call buttons on your beds and a nurse will be right in. Any questions before we go?"

Shu stared at Sasha, wondering why she was changing her mind all of a sudden before he remembered why again. This was still part of the act of making him not worried about everything, he had to keep that in mind for everything that was being said to him tonight. Sighing lightly he clasped his hands together, bouncing on his toes a little. “Oooohh…really? He does always act weird when winning is a thing that can happen”, he spoke slowly, looking over to him briefly, “I know it not the winning that is the good, it is the fun! Fun for Shu! Fun so long as nobody on the side get hurt, yes…” One thing he hoped for was he was going to be able to do this little tournament fine and not hurt people who were sitting on the side-lines again. It would be an awfully sad time if someone on the side got hurt because of him. “Ooh! Yes! That where I found Takeshi! Martial Arts Tournament! It was fun, won money but no really wanting the money much”, he spoke quickly, remembering the time until the thought was interrupted by Sasha asking if he wanted a snack. “Ooh! Yummy food? Yes yes! Please yummy food! Something sweet? Do they give people in tournament sweet food?”

--

Viral wasn’t one for complaining about how he felt so it was fairly hard to be specific on what was going on with him, even if he knew it was important. It will still take a few days for him to fully heal from such devastating injuries, but he was still going to work through it and try to get moving as soon as possible. It was his fault that he was in this mess, he wasn’t strong willed enough to have finished the fight before the Saiyan could pull off a last resort attack. He acted stupidly and that was it, who knew how many he actually killed with his attacks overall too. “Even if you didn’t have her all drugged up, she’d still act that way…” he spoke lowly, sighing lightly, “She doesn’t seem to realise the more she moves me around, the slower I heal…”

Listening to the doctor when the others were mentioned he frowned, glancing in Yumi’s direction before looking away again. He was responsible for Yumi getting so injured so hearing that didn’t help at all, it just made him feel worse and even more angry at himself. “Hmm…they’re capable of doing work around the city…” he spoke lowly before frowning, “I am supposed to be in charge of them…” He was responsible for what happened and even if the rest would insist that he wasn’t to blame he was still going to be angry with himself. He was angry at himself and the Saiyan Empire, just everything was giving him every reason to go solo and do everything himself. He wasn’t fit to look after people he knew personally, not like this at least. “Once I’m out…we have to leave. We’re already using precious resources being here…”

Being given a moment to himself he groaned lightly and rested his head properly again, already feeling fed up. He knew it was going to take a long time to heal compared to other times, but it was that length of time he was going to have to spend here that was going to bother him. He wanted to get out of here and not take up unnecessary space and resources, this place was already on the verge as it is. He would just sleep the time away, but that was probably not a great option when he had a tendency to dream of past events rather than have actual dreams at this point in his life. Frowning as the doctor returned to the door, his eyes following him over. “Just…if your team ever get asked to write a report for the rebel team…just mention it was minor injuries for me. You’d be doing me a big favour if you did have to…”

"At least you get it. We do enough fighting outside of this tournament so we need to have some fun when we can. Those idiots would take drinking glasses of water as a challenge if you let them." Aito could probably explain why they acted the way they did seeing as he was the real bookworm among them but Sasha didn't know if she much cared enough to learn. Knowing why her brother and Takeshi needed to make a competition out of everything wasn't going to help her any, it'd just annoy her more. Had Shu ever seen a tournament before? For a kid who always seemed to be dazzled by the most basic of things he looked almost at home here. And his answer explained why, so he had fought in something similar before. Considering Takeshi's attitude Sasha couldn't imagine their first meeting was exactly nice especially not if Shu had been the winner of it.

"We can get whatever we want. They have a lot of stalls nearby where we can get anything we want," Sasha explained, turning then to her brother an Takeshi who had surprisingly stopped arguing to watch the match. "Hey, we're going to get some snacks, you two want anything?"

"Snacks? We're in the middle of a tournament Sasha, now isn't the time for snacks..." Ricken replied stiffly, frowning as one of the combatants tripped over his own feet and nearly lost because of it. "Be careful you fool! Watch where you're going!"

"Nah, I'm saving room for the big dinner after the tournament!" Takeshi answered with a grin, "Going to work up an appetite kicking some asses and eat later!"

Well at the very least they weren't at each other's throats now which was nice. "Looks like its just us Shu, come on!" The stalls were through the crowd of other fighters and back by the entrance to the arena, and after weaving through plenty of people they finally made their way there. If Shu wanted sweet then she had just the thing in mind for them, some caramelized fruits on a stick! Sasha had never seen them anywhere before until Uuonoe but she'd fallen in love and it was a rare treat that she'd be able to get any. In line it wasn't Shu that was bouncing excitedly for a change but her, though she tried to contain it as she bounced on the heels of her feet. When they had finally gotten their turn she quickly bought two pupoto fruits covered in caramel, stepping aside and handing Shu his with a wide grin. "The stuff on the outside is sweet and gooey, and the fruit is a little tart. Go on, give it a try!"

-----

"Even still there's protocol. I can't let someone who was in our care go out and fight or work right away, they may end up agitating their wounds. I appreciate what you're trying to do but they won't be allowed to work, not for at least a day or two. And for you and Yumi quite a bit longer." Unless Viral's healing continued to accelerate then he may end up healthy even sooner than those with minor wounds. Yumi was hard to say given her concussion, though fortunately for her it had been minor. With Yumi finally reasonably restrained and sedated they could leave the two to continue their recovery and see to other patients in the ward.

"So you're asking me to lie to them? That's... Highly unethical," the doctor muttered with a disconcerted look, frowning as he tapped his clipboard with a pen, "Let's see how your recovery goes. If you are in good health quickly then I suppose I could say you recovered quickly from your wounds, it could suggest the same thing. No promises, I'd rather not upset anyone there by lying." Would the rebels be angry with Viral if he'd been injured? It seemed odd that he might be chastised or punished for being injured in battle... When he was sent out to battle. The doctor never would understand their type. "Until then do your best to rest and relax, if you continue healing at the rate you are we can discharge you soon," he added with a slight smile, "I'll see you two tomorrow morning unless anything comes up."

Yumi wanted to be out of bed and with Viral right now and she would be if her body would cooperate. The pain medication she had just been given was a might powerful sedative and every time she tried to climb out of her bed her arms simply wouldn't work. Frustrated by her inability to move much she let out an audible huff when the doctor and nurse left, rolling onto her side and smiling at Viral. "Hey handsome... Come here often?" she joked, laughing as she reached out and grabbed a glass of water off her nightstand, "I wanna go somewhere and do something... Can we go into the city? I want to see whats there...!" Who was going to carry them though? She could barely move and Viral was so bandaged up he resembled a mummy! Sipping at her water she let out a sigh, staring back at the television to watch the match continue on. "Where'd the nurse go? She can take us! Make her come back Viral!"

Shu frowned at the drinking analogy, not really understanding what it was supposed to mean but shaking it off either way. It probably wasn’t important and probably one of those things adults say when trying to make an example. It would be an awfully strange thing to be drinking water for a challenge, but maybe he shouldn’t question her words too much and just take it as it is. Smiling happily when he was given the option to get whatever he bounced on his feet. “Ooh! Sounds good to me!” he spoke quickly before looking to Takeshi and Ricken. He was a little disappointed that they didn’t want something, snacks were fairly high energy after all and would probably give them the extra boost, at least he saw them as high energy. He was often quite excitable when he had a snack before an event like this so maybe he could pull off extra moves once he had his next match.

Following along after Sasha he kept looking back every so often, his interest taken on the people all around him. Everybody seemed to be enjoying themselves so he should try and enjoy himself a little bit more too and maybe a snack would help him out. Once they reached the stalls he stood on his toes briefly to get a better look, but everybody was taller than him and in big crowds. He didn’t know what there was but Sasha seemed to know as she went to get something or rather knew where to go to get something for him. He had absolutely no idea what she was going to get him, he could only stand there in anticipation. Once she finally turned around he reached out and took the strange looking fruit, tilting his head a little before he let out a squeak. “Ooh! Gooey sweet tart! No real sure what tart is…” Deciding ultimately to just go with it he took in a deep breath before biting into the sweetened fruit, shaking his head quickly at first before bouncing on his toes. “Ooh! Yummy yummy! It strange! Tingly and sweet and strange…” he spoke quickly, contemplating the fruit for a moment, “Strange how people make these things…like how do think of? It so strange with the mixing of things for new flavour!”

--

Well that was going to be a problem, especially on his part. Viral knew he was supposed to had eliminated the threat and then tried to assist the city after it, but instead they were all stuck in hospital. “Hmm right…great. What a disaster…” They would just have to leave once he was able to move properly again, they couldn’t be out here for too long or suspicions would be raised at the base. He should have at least some energy by then, but all this healing was going to completely exhaust him to the point where he wondered if he’ll actually be able to walk straight away even with his wounds healed. Then there was everything that was happening at the base, what with Aito trying to get him to full strength again and sharpen his skills. He was going to be a complete mess, he didn’t know what he was supposed to do.

Frowning when the doctor questioned his decision regarding the report he let out a slight sigh. He knew that was probably too much to ask, but hopefully he did recover quickly to get that written. He could always put on that his energy levels were fine once his wounds were all healed up and then get the report, then once they got to the ship he could rest up there. It sounded like a fair plan but would probably end up being a bit of a dud too if things didn’t quite go as planned and he ended up barely able to walk. “Fine…I’ll just have to show you how fast I can heal, then…” he sighed, “There will be nothing left to mend by the time by the end of the week…”

Once the doctor had finally left he simply sighed and tried to relax some more, feeling fed up already. He didn’t know how he was going to sleep, especially with Yumi being as yappy as she was. It was annoying on many parts but he would have to deal with it, giving her a room to herself would just be stretching the hospital’s resources too far. Groaning when she started to talk again he slowly looked over to her, staring at her as she talked like they were on holiday or something. She was just full of nonsense right now and it really bugged him. “We can’t go anywhere, not unless you want me to die…” he spoke lowly, “This city’s nearly destroyed, mostly because of me…now I wish you’d shut up about all this stupid nonsense. I’m on more crap than you and all I want to do is die. Would certainly be better than going back and saying how I just killed again…didn’t capture them like we were told to. What am I supposed to say when I get back…”

"Go on and try it Shu! You're going to like it, trust me!" Sasha urged as she bit into her own fruit, wiping away juice from her chin with the back of her hand. Stifling a laugh when Shu's face lit up after sampling his snack she took another bite, lifting her shoulders in a shrug to his question. "I don't know, I suppose they just mix things together and see how they taste! I've never really cooked before so I haven't a clue how people figure it out." It was something to ponder though, just how did people figure out what you could and couldn't eat? No doubt someone had eaten some fairly bad things along the line and gotten sick or worse and she was grateful it wasn't her playing test dummy. "Come on, let's get back and see how the match is going! We don't want to miss all the excitement do we?" The distant cheers of the crowd spurred Sasha back to the arena just in time to see the announcer declaring one of the fighters the victor, the other being helped off stage by a medic. So they'd missed the end of the fight in favor of getting their snacks, oh well. Smiling as the stage was tidied up for the next match she glanced at Shu and playfully nudged his arm with her elbow, winking as she took another bite of her treat. "If they're still open after the tournament how about we get another? I don't think I'm happy with just one."

"Well then ladies and gentlemen that brings us to our second to last match of the first round! I hope you've all enjoyed yourselves so far because things will only get even better from here on out!" Basking in the cheers of the audience the announcer played it up, beaming as he waved everyone on before ushering them to quiet down. "For our next match will Takeshi and Jura please enter the arena? I repeat, will Takeshi and Jura please enter the ring?"

Finally, he had a chance to kick some ass! Standing around watching everyone else was so boring after a while, even more interesting fights like Shu's. Beaming as he raced to the stage he nearly jumped the entire length of the stairs and walked to the center, folding his hands behind his head as he looked at his opponent. Naturally he was feeling smug, they were much more well trained and probably leagues stronger than any of the competitors here. Stretching himself out as the other competitor entered the arena he grinned broadly at them. He'd refrain from using Ki just to make it a fair fight and he'd go easy on the guy, it wouldn't be much fun if it was over in a second. Waiting for the announcer to begin the match he squat down and stretched himself out further, jumping to his feet and bouncing on the ball of them. "Let's try and make this look convincing alright?" Takeshi asked with a wink, grinning as he rolled his shoulders, "I'll take it easy on ya."

-----

"I don't want you to die! No dying Viral, you're not allowed to!" Yumi chastised, vaguely slurring her words as she pointed sternly at the Beastman, "You're not allowed to die, got it? Not ever, never ever. I'm not going to let you!" He was too strong to die, and moreover much too important to her to die. She didn't know what she would ever do if Viral were to be killed. Rolling onto her front awkwardly she tucked her injured arm to the side and exhaled into her pillow, squirming a bit to get comfortable before turning her head. "You saved everyone and the planet, that's what you say! I mean they were bad guys, like... REALLY bad guys, you did the right thing. Vegeta and Aito are idiots if they think you were wrong," she answered as she huffed, rolling back onto her side and smiling at Viral, "We'd be dead if you didn't save us. Who cares what anyone else thinks? Anyone who was here is going to say you're a hero and thats what you are. I'll kick anyone who tries to tell you otherwise. I don't care if its Korian, or Aito, or Vegeta, I'll kick them all and make them apologize!"

"They were going to kill us... They were going to kill me, you're the only reason they didn't," Yumi said somberly, closing her eyes and exhaling before rubbing at her face, "The whole no killing thing is dumb anyways... I don't like to do it and I don't think I could, but you have to sometimes..." Frowning as she looked across at Viral she felt her eyelids growing heavy as she tried to fight off the sedatives given to her, grumbling and rubbing at her face again. "Seriously... Thank you Viral, so much. I thought I was dead until you saved me. I don't know how I'll ever thank you..."