Knowing that sleep would only make him more tired in the morning, Gokin merely sat down on the front step of the temple. He sat crosslegged and began to meditate. It would revitalize him well enough and he would be instantly ready when the time came. That Taro guy was really starting to bother him though. The was no reason to any of the jackassed things he was doing. I swear if we don't win this tournament I'm going to kill him. Mostly Gokin was upset about the small portions of his meal. Saiyans were known to have very large appetites to replace the enormous amount of energy they expended. While Gokin wasn't nearly as bad as a full-blooded, a few more days of meager rations and he'd be next to worthless. And already he barely felt the training gear anymore.

(Speeding up to the ship, you guys will be happy to know a few things.)

And so the week passed. The five students were forced, day after day, to run through all those sequences again. Fortunately for them, their rations were getting proportionally bigger, but they still weren't enough to feed them.

(Stills of the training. Gokin, Maron, and Mercutio barely jumping the obstacles. Faze getting hit by several shots as he tripped on the tires. Kimimaro with both his legs in a crocodile's mouth as he cleaned the fishtank. The group being attacked by hungry monkeys.)

Now, today is the day when they will head to the Dark Tournament...

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Taro was sitting on a bar near the docks. The night before, he had told them where they were going to meet, but they were late. 'Then again,' he thought, 'I did put up all those traps in the way, didn't I? Oh well, they'll likely be here before the ship leaves.' Right as he thought that, the group passed through the door, exhausted. "Sheesh. You guys are wimps, aren't you? Anyway, let's get to the ship before it leaves. It's just six or seven blocks of distance..." With that, they all groaned. "Shut up and let's get going!"

************************************************** ***************************

On the ship, the group was panting on the ground, dead tired. "I thought that my training would have made you stronger than that!" He then took a deep breath. "But you guys are probably hungry. So, I'll tell ya something. We'll have a new training system while we're off-land, and for that one, you guys can eat as much as you can..." he finished as he noticed all of them running towards the dining rooms. "Kids these days..."

Bummer. Faze had the roughest morning in the history of rough mornings. They had been told by Taro (during one of Faze's particularly fine meal of cube steak with a onion gravy) that they would set off for the Tournament tommorrow the day before, and they would walk to the boat. Faze nearly spat out his food (nearly, Cause he sure as hell wasn't going to miss out on any food) at the mere mention of the word 'Boat'. Faze did not like boats. Faze did not like the ocean the boats rode on. Faze did not like water period. To travel across the sea was certain death. No Pyrosian had crossed the ocean willingly for over 3 millenia, except for the first one, Pyros (it was even reported he enjoyed fishing and swimming).

The dislike didn't just come from the fact Faze can't swim, or that the body weights would sink Faze like a stone. It was the fact that all his natural powers dimmed, and the sea was filled to the brim with sea creatures and water spirits who shared a strong dislike for the Pyrosians, and feel that any member of an opposing element who dares be in their domain has declared dominance over the entire element. And anyone who remotely acts like he's dominant over them is a target for a slow, painful, yet beautiful death. The very minute he stepped on the boat, it would be swarmed by all sorts of water beasts and spirits, maybe even the king of the Merpeople himself!

In fear for himself, and in fear of breaking his oath to fight in the tournament, Faze set out to hide his Pyrosianness. He took the loathsome thing known as a 'bath' and and washed any scent of fire and brimstone from his person. Then he willingly took a nibble of a Pyrosian rose, sheer poison to his kind, and it immediately drained him of all his powers. The loss of his powers would be only for 14 hours, and after that they'd be fairly dimmed. It'd also give him a slightly non-masculine appearance for a while, which was good in this case, as Water spirits were notorious for being overly courteous with anything that remotely resembled a female. Then he put on a fine hempen robe he got for being an emissary of the Table of Light (Their mom's made it) which was a white and red robe with a white cape. He put this on over a clean t-shirt and shorts in case there was any fighting. He placed his magic pocket (the tiny red sack) into the short's pocket, and undid the spikes in his hair.

So at 6:00 in the morning he was as hyperactive as the Flash (tm) and of an undeterminable gender, and he started to leaving the training grounds. All of a sudden he triggered a switch that sent chainsaws running through the floor after him, followed by the walls enclosing, Then upon escaping that hallway, he was swarmed by a renegade band of giant spiders armed with paintball guns (the balls were also loaded with a highly corrosive acid) and their cousins, the Psychotic Scorpion Ninjas. Faze ran like the wind.

(You want me on the ship, you've got me on the ship.)

Faze took a bite out of anything that wasn't tied down, as he and his teammates devoured the Galley's entire stock of food.

(Done.)

Mercutio stepped on board the ship and noticed for the first time that without his muscles Pyros looked like a chick. This will be fun. "Hey Pyros," he calls "What the hell happened to you? did a mermaid castrate your or something? Maybe it was a shark?" He walks away laughing then turns and calls "I'm sorry, I couldn'y help it, you look like a queer."

I have to put the Joke in somewhere: Yar!
 

(A: First of all, it's Faze. Pyros works in the sense of reincarnation, so It'll do.)

Faze starts sweating.
Faze shushed him. "Shush! Exnay on the OsPyray while on the Enopay Easay! (In english: If you say pyros on the open water, Death comes swimming on waterwings)

A Deckhand walks up to the two. "Aye Me laddies, It not be good for ye health if ye've anybody that's a fire demon, That thar's for sure. The Sea god himself'll cut off ye seabells with his golden trident, that thar he will! Aye, and after that his lubberly dotter'll dress up ye drowned corpse and play a most accursed game of "house", Aye that she will! If'n ye do manage surviven' the encounter, ye'll wake up on a marroon island's beach and join some oter lonely marrooned buckaneer named Tom in 'oly matrimony, Aye that ye will."

Another deckhand walked up to them. "Quit yer chattin', we be nearing time to pull anchor and we need more food to stuff those disgustin' filthy landlubber swine's gobs (Noticing Faze and Mercutio.) Ehrm, I meant to say to accomodate our fine and esteemed guests." The second deckhand walks off. The first deckhand nods to the two, and walks off.

"I'll get the food Tom, Aye, that I will!"

Faze stared, mouth agape as he watched the man walk off.

"I need a drink!" Faze muttered as he walked back to the galley. He turned to face Mercutio. "Oh and for overly contrived joke's sake, Yar."

He walked into the Galley, with a shudder.

OOC: I know, I'm troturing Faze as much as posible.

Maron stared at the deckhand who had spoken first. "Does anyone have any idea what that guy just said?"

"Don't ask me, I"m a drinking myself to forget it, aye that I am!" Replied an intoxicated Faze.

"Ah who cares. If anyone needs me, I'll be out on deck." Shazu said as he walked out of the dining hall. Not eating decent meals in like forever really made him to a point where he didn't require much to eat. After getting full on what he could, he was out on deck enjoying probably one of the only peaceful moments he would ever get.

Gokin entirely missed everything around him as he was working on his thirtieth helping of food. When he finally felt he had enough, he emptied his pack. In addition to Taro's training gear, he put on the heavier of his own and tossed the lighter(as he was now past the point of it doing him any good) so that he could stuff the pack to maximum capacity with food. The new weight bothered him a bit, but he had long since gotten used to the training ones, so it felt the same as his first day at the temple again. He hefted his bulging sack and smiled.

"I'm ready," he said and, ignoring the boarding ramp, he leapt from the dock over the rail of the ship.

Faze was ill. As ill as could be. He leaned over the railing and watched the golden sun sink into the crimson ocean, like an icecube melting in some tomato soup, with dolphins flying through the air like they were not bound to the ocean, but the air. He listened to the beautiful sound of Jim (the ship's cook) playing a sweet song on his violin that carried across the waters, where Merpeople could be seen dancing in the mood of the moment. Faze then vomited into the ocean, purging himself of beer, and his 1st. and 2nd lunches.Faze was ill.

He had been told they'd reach their destination within a few days, but seasickness accompanied by Taro's rigorous training and Faze's overwhelming fear of the ocean was taking it's toll upon Faze. He had even once during training happened upon the thought that Simple Plan was a cool band. He caught himself and realized he was losing it, only an irrational mind would think that!

<This trip can't get any worse!>

And so the days passed by. The group was busy running around the ship, doing their best to not fall over or go sick, and still having to dodge energy blasts (unknown to them, these blasts were only psychological - in reality, there was nothing hitting them).

Finally, they could see the docks of the island where the Dark Tournament would be hosted. There, they would see whether or not they would be champions. There... they would do their best.

(Continues on Episode 1: Rough Meetings.)

(Yusuke Urameshi: "I didn't meet the Other World because I wanted to!)