Adam shot into the sky in time to send a shockwave tearing through the ice beneath them. The shards of ice and earth stopped in mid air and rose into the sky. The nova within Adam?s grasp began to shimmer as the pieces began to shatter.

Tigerclaw leapt off the rising stalactite just before he fell into the chasm below. He looked up to see the last of the debris buckle. The star flickered and a small mass fell into Adam?s palm.

Adam smirked. "By the way, Tigerclaw, every time you break my shit you have to pick up the PIECES!!!"

Only suddenly did he realise it before the two halves of the sphere clapped over him, crushing from Tigerclaw from both sides. His vision blurred and Tigerclaw fell over.

The hemispheres begin beating down on his body with rhythm. TC rolls onto his knees just barely dodging the attack. He jumps to the side as the second half cracks the ground where he stood just a moment ago and scrambles to his feet. The claymore comes in from the side attempting to slice him at the knees; TC hops over the blade missing the cleaver by a hair.

TC breaks into a sprint toward the new chasm, and the weapons change their trajectory. He hops into the pit, disappearing into the darkness.

Adam twitches as he recognises the move. He twists around coming nearly face to face with Tigerclaw rearing back for a 9th level punch.

Before he lands the hit, however, one half of the sphere cuts between them. TC smashes the hemisphere generating a shockwave of pressure that brought Adam to the ground.

?Fucking OW!!!? TC cursed as he groped his poor knuckles, landing ass-first in a drift of snow.

Adam pops out of the snow forty feet over and charged at Tigerclaw again. TC leapt to his feet and stuck ready stance as Adam closed the gap, flipping backward within the last few yards and delivering an uppercut from under TC?s guard.

Tigerclaw is sent skyward and smashed from the side by a now dented hemisphere. The weapon rides him down and drives him into the drifts. The hemisphere clears off TC?s prone body revealing the claymore coming down from the sky. TC dodges as the sword pierces the ice.

Once again back on his feet as another attack comes in from behind.

*Smush*

Adam lands an open-palm hit on Tigerclaw?s jaw, pressing a putty-like substance into his face. The weapons dart off away from the area as TC staggers back wiping the putty off.

?What the?!?

Adam snaps his fingers.

*BOOM!!!*

The plastic explosive flashes at point blank range. Out of the explosion, TC?s figure erupts from the smoke. He arks over Adam?s head, who follows under him. TC lands in Adam?s waiting arms. An arm circles around his neck and under his arm; Adam heaves and pulls Tigerclaw to the ground. He snatches TC by the wrist of the hand holding the Tensai Ken and twists it behind his back. Both hemispheres smash down on TC?s legs pinning them to the ground.

?Gotcha, bitch!? Adam growled into Tigerclaw?s ear. A piece of soot flaked off Tigerclaw?s eyes as he blinked. As they came into focus, he could see the claymore halt an inch over his chest, the tip hovering over his heart ready to run him through.

"So what do you have to say NOW?" Adam quipped.

Tigerclaw held still, the massive claymore right against his chest, his legs pinned, his arms useless, in a headlock.

"I thought you said no more silly tricks," Tigerclaw growled.
"I said no more games of hit and run," Adam replied, a sinister smirk forming on his face. "Only a foolish wimp would think I was going to play fair. I guess your parents never taught you to watch your back, fools."

Tigerclaw's eyes narrowed.
Despite Adam's grip, sphere halves, and claymore, Tigerclaw's fist curled up and tightened, Adam had to strain to hold down the shaking arm.

---
ATC: Oh man, don't do it. Don't go there, you REALLY don't wanna.
VICIL: He's just throwing a few insults.
---

"That's right, your parent's are DEAD aren't they?" Adam grinned. He was going to rub some salt into the wound of defeat before forcing the judge to call the match.

"What happened? Oh yes, D filled me in ALL about you," He smirked as Tigerclaw jerked violently, but tightened his grip. "You killed them, didn't you. You didn't mean to I understand, but you didn't know what kind of power you had..."

---
ATC: FOOL! DON'T DO IT!
VICIL: What ARE you talking about?
ATC: There's only one thing that can drive Tigerclaw over the edge...
---

Adam leaned down and whispered in Tigerclaw's ear.
"The fucked up child who destroyed his own family. Yes. And you know what's more?"

Tigerclaw's whole body was shaking, Adam was enjoying it.

"A fucked up child is the product, of Fucked up Parents."


It wasn't clear how much energy was unleashed,but Adam never thought that much energy could suddenly come out of nowhere.
His sword shattered instantly against the shockwave that erupted from Tigerclaw, throwing Adam ten kilometers straight up before he decelerated enough to orient himself. He landed near Tigerclaw, growling at his near victory ruined.

---

ATC: FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!
VICIL: What what what what?
ATC: You don't insult the parents. NO ONE INSULTS THE PARENTS.
VICIL: So what? He's only pissed.
ATC: He was pissed when Adam nearly killed bystanders. He was pissed when Julzz interfered. This isn't pissed. This is snapped.

---

Adam stared at the massive energy vortex swirling around Tigerclaw. The energy in play was just BEGGING to be used against him. And now that he got Tigerclaw to show him all that power, he was going to take it and use it.

Inside the head of the Admiral, all linear thought had ceased. Emtions, thoughts, feelings, and ideas swirled and jumbled in a chaotic mess of insanity. Though the mind was complex, thoughts were patterns upon patterns, and the universe in its infinity was vast. Everything became clear with stark clarity. Amidst the chaos, one thing made perfect sense. And Tigerclaw's mind grasped this, and everything snapped into place.

Adam smiled as he reached out with his mind, grasping a tumult of energy he never thought could be controled in one place. He would smack Tigerclaw with one HELLUVA gravity nova, just to get his attention.

Everything was energy. Tigerclaw's mind suddenly understood with a level of clarity beyond the mere meaning of those words. The ground benieth him. The sky above. EVERYTHING. It was all energy. He could sense one form of energy pulling on the free energy around him. He looked at it. And then he took the energy away.


Adam's eyes snapped wide. All at once, the energy he was collecting stopped. He tugged on it, but it wouldn't move.
"WHAT THE FUCK?!" he snapped.

---

VICIL: WHAT THE FUCK?! HOW THE HELL?
ATC: I was afraid of this!
VICIL: OF WHAT?
ATC: Tigerclaw's synced. He isn't tapping the power, he's controling it.

---

Adam decided to get a little physical with Tigerclaw again. NO ONE took energy back from him once he collected it, NO ONE.

The two halves of the sphere rose into the air from their positions nearby, and hurled themsevles at Tigerclaw with incredible speed.

He sensed it. His mind felt two strange energies aproaching quickly. HE stopped them to examine them...

Adam's jaw dropped when the two sphere halves came to a dead stop in front of Tigerclaw. Everything he tried to do, simply couldn't make it move or budge.

Tigerclaw stared at the energies trapped in the unknown metal. IT wasn't right. This metal just didn't want to be. It wasn't natural. Tigerclaw released the energy from its bonds.


Adam was thrown to the ground when the sphere halves suddenly exploded into pure radiation. Tigerclaw was completely unharmed.

---

VICIL: ATC! I DEMAND YOU EXPLAIN!
ATC: IT's called we're screwed...
VICIL: What?

---

Adam watched Tigerclaw stare into space with blank glowing eyes, eyes that seemed to convey no thoughts.

ATC: What we have here is what happens when a Zeropoint entity reaches their most powerful state, known simply as Syncronization.
VICIL: Looks to me like he's learned to control energy, not just move it and gather it around like Adam can.
ATC: Exactly, but that's only the begining.

"ARGH!!!" Adam picked up a large shard of his claymore and hurled it at Tigerclaw.

Tigerclaw sensed the strange energy again, but for reasons beyond knowledge, was compelled to do something different. He reached out, and plucked the energy from space.

Adam took a step back when the sword suddenly ceaced to be. He didn't feel it teleport, he didn't feel it get destroyed. It simply, WASN'T.

ATC: This is where it gets complicated. At syncronization, a Zeropoint becomes one with the very fabric of space time. You can imagine energy as bumps in this fabric. When they syncronize, they can create, or remove these bumps and ripples.
VICIL: WHA?! Are you saying he can-
ATC: He can violate the Law of Conservation of Energy.
VICIL: He can create and destroy energy.

Vicil gathered some energy from his environment and launched a gravity Nova at Tigerclaw...

Tigerclaw sensed more energy appraoching. Excited energy that wanted to scatter his self energy. Looked at it and stopped it. The play of its ripples in the Fabric was a sight to behold. Then for no reason, he made it grow.

Adam sensed and watched as his small Nova suddenlly quadrillioned in power. HE could only gawk at this. Even he couldn't do that. It was something from NOTHING. He dove under the sphere of energy as it suddenly hurtled past him out into space, then detonated.

"THIS IS INSANE!" Adam snarled. "I can't be beaten by something like this!"
HE hurled himself at Tigerclaw, he'd snap the fool back to reality with his bare hands.

ATC: He's lost.
VICIL: Why?
ATC: Tigerclaw controls all energy now. He can create, destroy, move it, or halt it. And we both know. Matter and Energy are the same.


Adam suddenly froze in the air. Unable to move. His mind raced with fear and panic. Something he never thought he'd feel, EVER. He stared into the glowing eyes of Tigerclaw, and suddenly, he saw it. Infinity.

Tigerclaw gazed curiously at Adam on a level that wasn't human sight. To him, this was the cause of the unnatural energies a while ago. Something in the chaos suddenly compelled him to rid the universe of such unnaturalness.

Adam felt it. He tried to will it from happening, but the pull he exerted had nothing backing it against the will of this. He felt his very being unraveling. Atoms broke apart, releasing energy, and then that energy vanished.
'Well FUCK,' Adam thought, and then he simply wasn't.

D: ADAM! ADAM!
VICIL: No way! He didn't even die! He just... VANISHED!
ATC: This is bad.
D: What? HOW? HE JUST WON THE MATCH!
ATC: To attain sync, a Zeropoint's mind must collapse into chaos, only then can it handle the infinity. In this state, he's insane. There's not thoughts as to anything. Merely will of power.
VICIL: Can we stop him?
ATC: Got any weapons that don't exist?
VICIL: What?
ATC: Exactly.

WASHU: There's someone out there!

ATC: WHAT?! He'll snuff them easy as Adam if he so pleases!
VICIL: Hey, that's a girl!
ATC: Sarah?

Tigerclaw sensed the approach of another animate energy. He turned and looked at it, examining it. However, something compelled him to leave this energy as it was. It seemed to belong.


"PAY ATTENTION!" Sarah shouted. Tigerclaw merely gazed back as if he wasn't there.

ATC: She scares me when she's pissed, but she doesn't stand a chance.
D: Wait, she's still alive, and she got that close to him?

Sarah glared.
"DON'T IGNORE ME YOU BASTARD!"
And she punched him in the jaw.


There was a jolt, and the Chaos seemed to fade. Tigerclaw's mind wandered into odd thoughts, of things that were far away.

Sarah grabbed Tigerclaw by the shoulders... And stated violently shaking him. The glow in his eyes faded a little more.

ATC: She's bringing him back. She actually lasted long enough to get this far.
D: He's gonna be back to pissed off when he comes back from La LA land.

The shaking wasn't doing any good. She suddenly stared straight into his now lightly glowing eyes.
"You're a fucking bastard for making me do this on intergalactic television but..."
She grabbed his head, and kissed him.

VICIL: 0_0
D: WOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooo...
ATC: O_O! I never thought the Author would EVER write something like this...
D: Is that a little tongue in there?
WASHU: If that doesn't work...

Somewhere in the distant thoughts. Tigerclaw had felt something shaking. But he ignored it. Then a new sensation took over. Something urgent seemed to be calling to his mind. Then all at once, Tigerclaw's conciousness snapped back to reality like a tree struck by lightning.

Sarah was in his face, not Adam, and she had her lips pressed to his, and that wasn't all... Tigerclaw suddenly jumped away. His eyes narrowed to deadly slits as he looked around.
"SARAH?!" he asked. "Where's Adam, so I can reduce his candy ass to kindling and beyond?" He charged an energy sphere in his hand. Adam was gonna go down, manipulations or not.

"You obliterated him already," she stated, a little flushed. "Don't you remember?"
"I only remember getting really pissed just now," Tigerclaw stated. "Did I really take him out?"

"Yes,"

"Oh good," Tigerclaw stated. Then his body relaxed and he smiled weakly. "Love you too, goodnight..."

And he pitched backwards, and smacked into the ground unconcious.

D: O_O
VICIL: O_O
WASHU: O.O
ATC: O_o It seems his mind was exhausted by syncing.
JUDGECAPSULE: I am unable to compute the results... Uncalculable events seem to have taken place. Cannot compute any of this sweatheart. I leave the final call to the humanoid refferee.

Upon awakening, Tigerclaw was giddy. For some reason, he seemed a lot lighter now? couldn?t help but to smile. The red sky and orange clouds and yellow sun?

?WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!? He chorused. He leapt into the air pumping his fists high and landed on his feet, swinging his arms lazily at his sides with a lopsided grin on his face. ?Somebody pinch me, don?t tell me it?s a dream because when you got it you feel it in yo? feet. It?s a love, for my baby! BABY!!!? He finished his jingle with a serine gaze at the sky. He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see who it was.

*PUNCH!!!*

Adam smashed Tigerclaw across the face and knocked him off his feet. ?JACK-ASS!!!? Adam cursed. ?What the FUCK are you doing with that kind of authority?!!!? Adam delivered another swift kick to his groin.

?UFFfwuaaa!!!? Tigerclaw yelped.

?You don?t even have a mind how to use it! Just another killing machine!? Adam shouted as Tigerclaw gripped his sore crotch. ?You SHOULD have offed yourself for the good of reality, you FUCK!!!? Adam stomped on Tigerclaw?s chest.

?Ugh!?

Adam?s tone dropped to a low growl. ?You?re the most dangerous kind; a young brat who messes with shit beyond his comprehension. People like you have to be dealt with...?

Tigerclaw winced as he looked up at Adam. He had called a shard of the claymore into his grip, rearing back to make a critical blow.

And that was when it happened; Adam was hit with a punch akin to enough energy to light Tokyo for ten years; Adam was sent hurdling into the drifts and ploughed into the ice below.

Tigerclaw was shocked and shaken as Sarah stood up straight; she blushed and smiled at him, offering a hand to help him up.

Adam burst out of the glacier sending debris into the sky and raining it down of the couple. Tigerclaw put an arm over Sarah as large chunks of ice batted them from above.

?KNOCK IT OFF! KNOCK IT OFF! KNOCK IT OFF!!!?

Michael raced into the vicinity of the competitors. Adam halted in midair a short distance from TC and Sarah. Michael looked the two over Adam visibly in a state of rage, Tigerclaw pushing Sarah behind him; Sarah was blushing from Adam?s naked figure.

Michael almost didn?t say it, wondering if they had any sense left between them. He stepped over to Tigerclaw, grabbed him by the wrist and raised it to the sun. ?Winner by knock out!?

The four shared a cautious glance among them, each taking a turn to glare at Michael for his rudeness. Michael dropped Tigerclaw?s arm and shot a glance around. ?Go home, all of you.?

Adam watched Michael step off, feelings of betrayal drifted within him. He could not see Tigerclaw for what he was, or maybe he could and didn?t do anything. His glare shifted back to Tigerclaw and Sarah, both of them sharing a strange expression.

?Tigerclaw?? Adam deadpanned. ?I want you to know for certain that what you toy with is a danger to everything.?

?You think I don?t?!? Tigerclaw shot back. ?You sick fuck, you have no right to lecture me. You?re just plain evil??

?You call ME evil?!? Adam shouted. ?I?m the only one left in this universe who maintains a common sense!? He paused for a moment to settle his nerve, he raised his hand and waved it at Tigerclaw as if dismissing him. ?Fuck you and you?re girlfriend. Your doomed, you know that? Your entire empire is belligerent; you?re power crazy; you wage wars with worlds! I?ve seen that list of classes, Tigerclaw; it?s like you size up every species in the galaxy in case they rise up against you. No better than fucking Hitler!?

?THOSE classes are??

?FACIST!? Adam screamed. ?You?re a DICTATORSHIP! Just blindly enforcing a set of rules that were made up to make the lives of aristocrats easy! And with YOU at the front of the military, a FUCK like you, they can destroy worlds! NOBODY should own power like that!?

Tigerclaw was silent, he took every word?

?That?s my lesson to you, Tigerclaw? That?s why I brought you here? What do YOU have to say??

Nothing?

Adam snorted and flew off. He pierced the cloud cover and left to join Vicil and the ride home...

"Did I ever mention those classes were part of a six thousand year old text?" Tigerclaw muttered. Then he turned to Washu and ATC, who had suddenly shown up. "And would some one tell me why the hell he's acting like that. I don't even know how I beat him from that headlock."

Washu merely looked at ATC and vice versa.

"Another time man," ATC replied. "Another time..."

Vicil and D waited patiently by the judgecapsule, both wore a sorrowful look on their face.

D spoke first. "2 in a row... We come to the WAR and we end up finding even better competition."

Vicil smiled warmly. "We're just here to entertain, D."

D forced himself to smile also, but it faded soon after. "I thought Adam was going to win for sure."

"He's not ruthless, D. He's a teacher. He's supposed to make us think. His methods are true and they always produce something very warm. He brings out the best and worst in people for all to see."

D still hung his head.

"You have to get stuff at the root. He has a way of piercing anything, any shield, any wall of the mind to protect you from ephiphany. Adam's not afraid of getting hurt, and that makes him the man for the job. If only we all had someone like that close to us as we were growing up."

Vicil stood as he spotted Adam coming in from the north. He picked up a pile of clothes he was sitting on and threw them up into the air. They were grabbed by some unseen force and drawn to Adam. When he landed next to his creator, Adam was once again fully clothed. He wore an ugly grimace.

Vicil raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong?"

Adam spat. "I got a nasty headache."

Vicil smiled. "How about I return you to your apartment and write in a steak dinner waiting for you on the table."

"Naw, how about you put me on a rooftop with a six pack and let me stare at the clouds."

Vicil chuckled. "Done."