Finally, after some delays (and some revisions), Chapter 5 is finally up. Sorry for that long wait ^_^;

as before, Naomi belongs to  joe-schmendrik (and thanks for the aid in proofreading)

all other characters belong to me

Chapter 5

Once Charlotte walked in, she saw that the place packed with people who came from all over the region just to see the competition as she also saw the women that signed up now a bit larger than before. Some looked built for sumo or other fighting styles, while other females were of various shapes and different schools of fighting as well. The interior of Edion Arena had the entire place prepared and ready for hosting the World Fighter Plus Kansai Regionals.
"Wow! I bet they must have been training just like me,” Charlotte said to herself. Kella gently tapped on her shoulder, snapping the firebird out of her awed look.
"Don't be awed by them, Charlotte," The Feline told her, "as much as it is nice to chat, we need you to get checked in for the tournament. "Charlotte snapped back as she replied to Kella, "oh right! By the way, what will you be doing?"

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be up over in the top seats over there” Kella said to Charlotte, “Just get yourself signed in and remember to keep a calm head.” Charlotte then watched the feline head to her seat while she headed toward the kiosk. She would see the familiar female staff member she met at the park weeks ago. She looked at Charlotte and asked the firebird for her name.
"Charlotte Ishizu," she replied as the kiosk staff began to type in her name. She found the firebird's name as the official replied, "There we are, miss Ishizu. You signed up weeks ago," She then hands the firebird her participant number for the competition. “Here’s your participant number,” said the female staff member. “you got the locker rooms should you need to change into your uniform if you have one. The emcee will be announcing group divisions soon. I would suggest you get to work."
"Right, thanks," Charlotte said to herself as she headed to the locker room. The door to the lockers had a sign saying "Participants and Staff Only" which ensured the women had some privacy to change into their uniforms if needed. Once she walked in, she managed to see that the locker room was pretty spacious but nothing familiar to what she's used to at the college. However, when she saw the contestants changing into martial arts uniforms or clothing, it reminded her that she wasn't back at the college. As she began to look around to find her locker, she bumped into a chubby, raccoon-like woman. She was dressed in a one-piece outfit and nearly Charlotte's size though she was a bit younger than the firebird.

“Oh sorry” Charlotte apologized, "I didn't see you right there."
"Oh, it's quite alright," the other female said to Charlotte, "it's a bit packed in here. I'd say around maybe seventy-five participants, which is a pretty big turnout."
"seventy-five people in all of Osaka?", Charlotte said in shock, "How many usually turn up?"

“Last one was only 60, but it’s impressive regardless," The female explained. the tanuki then changed the subject, "Oh where are my manners, I’m Kyoki Mishia.” She bowed to Charlotte politely, and the firebird returned the bow

"Charlotte Ishizu," the firebird replied back. "This your first time here as well?"
"Why yes," Kyoki replied, "I waited up until my eighteenth birthday to participate in this tournament. Would have tried when I was sixteen, but--"The WFP forbids minors from taking part for safety reasons, hence why you need to be at least 18 years old to be in the competition", Charlotte said. The tanuki female became curious on what Charlotte said.
"That's an actual rule? I thought that was just a suggestion on the pamphlet", Kyoki figured
"Well, when you've been a fan of the sport for years, your pick up on the rules and how they work," Charlotte said to Kyoki. She then asked the tanuki girl "are you joining because you wanted to fulfill a dream of being in the WFP?"

“Me? No” Kyoki replied, "I just want to show my parents that I can do things myself."

“why so?” Charlotte inquired

"I'm a middle child to a college-bound older sister and a baby brother that gets attention," explains Kyoki, "It's a pain when you feel ignored, so I decided to participate in hopes of showing what I can do as a middle child."
Charlotte nodded and tried to give her opinion when one of the staff members came by with a small blood reading device. This device wasn’t anything fancy as it resembles something used to check for diabetes.

“Excuse me ladies” the staff member stated as she began to first check on Kyoki as she places the tip of the device’s reader close to the Tanuki’s arm. Charlotte had a feeling of what the machine was as the Tanuki looked puzzled as the machine drew only a tiny amount of blood before it gave a green light. "alright, you're clean," the staff member stated as she moved to Charlotte next and repeated the same action. And like Kyoki, Charlotte checked out clean. "Alright ladies, can you move to Room 2-B? we're going to be announcing the preliminary pairings."
The two females nodded as Charlotte began to place her things like her phone and wallet into her locker, while the tanuki girl placed her things away. She turned to Charlotte and asked her "What was that they were doing to us?"
"They were checking us for any performance enhancement drugs," Charlotte said to Kyoki

"You mean like steroids and that such? Why would they check that? I never would resort to that stuff", the tanuki said to Charlotte in fear and shock.
"They have to do these checks, Kyoki," Charlotte explained, "People will go out of their way to win. Some used steroids, blood boosting and even metabolism retardants to get big quickly. That's why they're going out of the way. Some of the girls suffered major health issues later in their lives thanks to their recklessness. Also, the device is much more efficient and sanitary than having to pee in a cup like the old days". The two girls continued chatting as they headed into the room, where Kyoki asked how Charlotte knew so much about the WFP and their rules.
Charlotte only explained "As I already said, when you're a big fan of the competitions as I am, you have to understand the rules, bylaws, and everything.", Charlotte said to Kyoki. "Besides, some of these girls here look like- "
On cue, she bumped into something pretty heavy and wore a yukata. Charlotte noticed that this woman was apple-shaped and looked obviously built for sumo wrestling. Both girls stared in awe as this female turned around. She seemed like a tortoise woman in her early late forties to early fifties with a bit of a curious look on her face as she wondered who bumped into her.
"Careful," she told Charlotte, "I don't want to knock you out before you get into the ring accidentally."
"no no, that's my fault," Charlotte apologized, "I was talking with Kyoki about that, and I didn't see you right there."

"Oh well. By the way, what styles are you two working on?", The tortoise woman asked
"I'm a bit of mixed fighting style, but my primary forms are Aikido and Jujitsu," Charlotte explained while she turned to the tanuki, curious at what her style of fighting was.
"Oh, I've been taking savate classes, so I've been using that for the preliminaries," Kyoki stated but stopped as a staff member arrived to remind the girls that preliminary setups were starting. The three entered the room, just as the emcee began his speech. The person was a male dressed in casual work attire, which was a pair of baggy leather pants and sleeved vest.

“Welcome participants to the World Fighter Plus Regionals here in Osaka,” the emcee announced, “It’s an honor to have every woman in the Kansai region here for this year’s regionals. I’ll be the emcee of this competition, and before we start, we need to get you all separated into two groups. From what we’ve heard, we have a total of seventy-six competitors this year.” The Emcee began to motion toward a medium-sized white box with a hole on top of it “Now, I need everyone to form a line and reach inside the box and grab a ball and see the color. The red team will be fighting in the outside arena while the blue team will be in the training area. Rules are either best two out of three ring outs or until K.O."
As the Emcee continued explaining the rules, Charlotte nudged Kyoki and quietly asked her, “I thought you said seventy-five people were here.”

"I guess there was one more," The tanuki said with a light chuckle, "Sometimes participants luckily get in by the skin of their teeth."

Charlotte sighed for a minute as they began to form their line. She saw that each girl reached in and grabbed a ball. Some were congregating with either the red or blue groups. When she saw the sumo tortoise pull out a blue ball, she sighed then told Kyoki "I guess she's on the blue team."
Charlotte watched her friend draw a blue ball then head toward her assigned group. Charlotte headed up to the box next. She wondered what group she was going to put in. What felt like an eternity feeling inside that box, the firebird pulled it out and saw a red ball. She was surprised that she was on the red team, but it meant she didn't have to risk fighting either Kyoki or that sumo tortoise. Once everyone was grouped up, each team headed out to begin their preliminary matches.
*******************************************************************

Meanwhile, outside of the stadium, Toshi and Mizuki swerved in between cars on their scooter. Mizuki held on tight as she asked Toshi, "Do you have to veer so sharply?"

“Well, you wanted to get here quickly don’t you?”, Toshi explained “so we’re here. Didn’t Charlotte tell you that I’m a bit of an adrenaline junkie from time to time?”

“no…”, Mizuki faltered, “Never knew she was like that.”

Once the scooter was parked, the two headed toward the stadium. Once they entered, the preliminaries have already begun. Toshi was amazed at how crowded this place was and the intensity of the fighting combatants. He couldn’t help but wonder if Charlotte’s match was about to start or if it already passed. Mizuki was trying to find a seat, but it seemed that the packed stadium made finding a seat next to impossible.
"Man, how are we going to find a seat?" Toshi said as he began to scan the crowd, "and where's Charlotte? I don’t see her.”

“Maybe her match has ended?”, Mizuki replied

“Or maybe her matches are in the training gym,” replied a very familiar voice “since the preliminaries have two groups."
The human girl turned to her right and saw the little feline already seated and watching the current match.
"Hey, Kella," Mizuki replied, "You found a place all to yourself?"
"I saved a place for you and your boyfriend," The feline said, "now come sit down, the preliminaries have been going well, and I think Charlotte's coming up."
Mizuki chuckled a bit as she looked at Toshi for a few moments then explained to Kella, "I wish, Toshi is Charlotte's boyfriend and he was kind enough to lend me a ride here."

"well that's splendid," The feline said while eyeing Toshi for a few moments, "and I have to admit that Charlotte's got an interesting choice in some relations."
Toshi didn't know if to feel complimented, embarrassed or creeped out. But his attention would turn to the match happening.
"Hey, I think the competition is starting," he said to the two females.
*******************************************************************Charlotte walked onto the stage as she heard the crowd applauding around her. Her first match in her entire life as she began to feel a bit jittery and excited. To Charlotte, this was like an NBA fan getting to participate in the actual game. She noticed her first opponent, a rabbit in a similar build like the firebird, but her karate gi pants were a yellowish orange color.

“Okay...”, Charlotte said to herself “this girl’s just like me…skilled in martial arts. However, I’m not going to lose.”
Charlotte got herself ready, the bell rang, and the two began to duke it out. Both girls started to throw and block each punch and kick. The firebird noticed that her opponent’s fighting style is a mixed form of Lama Pai and Kempo. She began to use that to her advantage to dodge and weave each kick and punch from the rabbit.
Back at the stands, Toshi began to watch Charlotte dodge and weave each kick and punch while the feline began to watch eagerly.

“Why the change of strategy?” he would ask the feline, “She’s not going on the offense?”

"She's watching, darling," Kella explained, "Since that girl's style incorporates Aikido..just watch". The Feline continued to watch while Mizuki and Toshi watched the fight go on. Charlotte began to use aikido to move a few of the kicks and punches away from her. Once the rabbit found herself exhausted, Charlotte started to go onto the offense through a well-placed sweep that knocked the rabbit to the ground hard. The ref started counting to ten as the crowd began to clap, complimenting charlotte's well-executed counter. When the rabbit couldn't get up, the Ref called for a technical knockout. Charlotte felt confident of her win, while Mizuki and Toshi watched the match from where they were sitting.

“Whoa, she got her first KO," Mizuki replied

“but how did she do it?” Toshi asked

The feline smiled as she explained, "Charlotte saw she was trying to knock her out quickly, so she began to block and exhaust that rabbit."

"Wow, that's impressive," Toshi explained in awe

"bah! Beginner's luck," Kella dismissed, "That rabbit was burning all her energy trying to take down a person with Aikido. Though…it shows that Charlotte's training has paid off when spotting a rookie mistake."

"That's good, right?" Mizuki asked

"Let's just say that she passed the first test and didn't get herself eliminated in the first round," Kella said, "but I want to see what she'll do next."