Day 16: U-ZG [ Suffocate / Space ]

Allison whipped her hair back and shot a beam of cool water from her bottle into her mouth, took a deep gulp and gasped with satisfaction.
"Goddamnit, Allison!" Roger said as he sunk down on the bench next to her, "You've really given your judo 110% lately! You're like a grappling machine now!"
"Well, yeah!" Allison said, "I'm stuck at all of my other projects and are getting nowhere. Between my capacity to tolerate boredom decreasing as the opportunities to get bored increases, judo is my only saving grace now, so I'm focusing on that."
"Damn, girl! You're gonna be killing at the tournament on the 24th!"
"I'm not going on the 24th."
"You're... what?" Roger blinked, "But... you're the champion of this dojo! The hero! The creme de la creme! It's gonna be a huge deal, Allison!"
"Sorry. I'm going away on a conference on the 23rd, and won't be back before the 25th."
"Allison... come on!"
"Do I look like I've got a time machine?"
Roger slumped back pouting, "Ugh... we'll have to manage, somehow..."
"Look, it's not easy for me either. I've been looking forward to this for a long time. Took its toll on me when I found out I wasn't gonna be able to go."
"Geez... you really can't catch a break, can you?" Roger said.
"Well..." Aölison crossed her legs, "It's not that bad. I'm going for a different martial arts tournament later."
"Ah? I didn't know there was another tournament... well I guess it won't be quite the same thing, will it?"
"I don't know... I think this event might be even higher profile."
"Bullshit!" Roger laughed, "If that was the case then I would've heard of it."
"Perhaps..." Allison said, "It's a matter of perspective, really."
"Now I wanna go to this tournament too!" Roger said.
"Roger, I'm not sure that's such a good idea."
"You talked a big game, now you gotta back up those words. If this so-called tournament is such a big deal as you say, then show it to me!"
"Yeah, no... I've got a feeling that won't end well."
"You don't think I've got what it takes? Allison, if I can take you on, then no one's got a snowman's chance in hell!"
"...I'm not gonna be able to talk you out of this, am I?"
Roger folded his arms, "You ain't getting rid of me that easy!"
"All right then, but you need to do exactly as I say. Do you understand?"
"Aye aye, captain!" Roger stood up and saluted, "Lead the way."
"Great!" Allison took another clunk from her bottle, "Then meet me at my apartment on the twenty seventh. Come alone, and don't tell anyone."
Roger and Allison soon went their different ways to shower, and Roger was feeling pretty confident about himself.

He had two tournaments in a row to show wha he was made of. What could possibly go wrong?

817 years later...

"What the crap!?" Roger yelled as the white light swallowed him whole, and he suddenly found himself on a space station, "Where are we!?"
"More importantly," Allison said raising her index finger, "...is when are we? That's a very important question when you're travelling in time."
"Travelling in... fuck me, Allison! You never told me you had a time machine!?"
"I never said I didn't have a time machine!"
"Yes! You did! Back when you told me about this tournament..."
"Uhh... ah, no... I asked you if I looked like I had a time machine."
"I thought that was a rhetorical question!"
"It was... and the rhetorical answer was yes."

Roger face-palmed, "Gah... fine... time travel is real, and you can do it... but you do realize you could've used it to make it to the tournament even after you missed it?"
"Wait, did I miss it after all?"
"Well... no, you said you made it in the last minute, travelled across the tri-city area on a break just to be there... it was such a badass moment, and you lead us to the semi-finals... wait..."
"Yeah, now it clicked!" Allison clapped her hands, "But ssssh, no spoilers! I'm not supposed to know how the tournament turns out, or I'll have to deal with a time paradox."
"Don't worry, I'll keep my mouth shut. But you know there was one match that was such utter bullshit..."
"I said hush! I've already entered you into the 90th U-ZG Tournament! Anyone can enter this tournament. Fighters of all styles from all over space and time will be gathering here to test their mettle! A quarter of a quarter of a quarter of a quarter of the entire galaxy will be looking! So be on your very best behaviour, all right?"
"A quarter of a quarter... that doesn't sound like a lot..." Roger said
"It'll be billions! If you win this tournament you'll be a hero for all of history!"
".......shit!"
"Shit's right!" Allison pointed towards an older looking gentleman in white gi, carrying himself with stoic dignity, "That guy will be your first opponent. As luck would have it, turns out your first matchup is against another judo practitioner."
"That old guy? Who's that Putin looking motherfucker?" Roger asked.
"That would be Vladimir Putin." Allison said.
"...the fuck?" Roger had the expression of someone wondering if he was going to have a heart attack or a stroke, "The Vladimir Putin? One of the greatest villains in history?"
"The one and only. I told you, anyone can join this tournament."
"...that's not anyone though. Isn't he like a warmongering monster?"
"Well, this is a Putin from 2013, before his worst atrocities."
"Should we, you know.... kill him though? Prevent war and atrocity?"
"...you don't want to do that, Roger. **** belongs in the arena, not on the streets. Besides, you've already not killed a 61 year old Putin, or the 70 year old Putin wouldn't be there wreaking havoc on the world."
"Yeah," Roger said, "Still gonna kick him in the balls though."
"Hell yeah! Go nuts!"
A siren sounded throughout the station, and the crowd started moving towards the lectars.
"Looks like we need to get ourselves ready now!" Allison dropped a small pill on Roger's hand, "Go to the mens' locker room, and right before your fight, take this pill and swallow it whole. Got it?"
"What's it do?" Roger asked, but Allison was pulled away with the rest of the female fighters towards the ladies' locker room.
"It's a... you know? Ah, just take it before your fight! You won't be able to win without it!" Allison slipped away to the locker rooms, leaving Roger alone in the mens' locker room.

After changing to his gi he looked at the pill in the palm of his hand. Allison really didn't think he could stand a chance without chemical aid?
So what? Roger was here to show the skills he had developed through hard work and perseverance. He had every reason to be confident about his abilities, but if it turned out he didn't have what it took to win, then he wasn't going to resort to **** to make him that.
He flushed the pill away to the faucet, and went out to the arena.
As the young and old man met each other at the center of the hexagon, greeting each other with competitive glances, the announcer bellowed "Welcome to the 90th Annual Ultimate Zero Gravity Championship!"
As the audience cheered wildly, Roger nodded to them, "...wait, what kind of gravity?"
"You know the rules, people! First one who is knocked down or submits loses! No weapons or tools, no excessive ****, no gravity, otherwise anything is allowed! Now let's geeeeet ready to ruuuuuumble!!!"
The gong sounded, and the fight began. Putin was taking careful steps over the hexagon, moving slowly towards his opponent.

Roger was having none of that, and without breaking his form he nearly dashed towards Putin... or so he would have if he didn't launch himself off of the ground in one step, slowly levitating upwards. Without a grip on the ground, Roger could do little to propel himself forward, so he remained suspended in the air while Putin moved in closer. On top of it all he started feeling really squeezy in his stomach. He was about to vomit, and his head was dizzy.
"Is something wrong, mr Villit?" Putin said as he grabbed on to Roger's leg, "Do you suffer from gravity sickness? The one who brought you here must either not think very well, or doesn't care about you."
"Hey! Shut up! Allison's not like that! She'd..." Roger stopped himself... she would give him the cure for gravity sickness before the match started, and tell him to take it.
The organs and fluids of humans have evolved to function with and against Earth's gravity, and the majority of people since the dawn of the species have never experienced anything but Earth's gravity... so it would be very surprizing if they perform with the exact same efficiency as they would in any other circumstance. Just like Roger is floating around the room, the organs and fluids in his body are floating, or attempting to float, inside his body... and it is not pleasant.
It became even less pleasant as Putin wrapped his arms in a pretzel and spun him around and around at high speed, making Roger disoriented.
"Aahhhhhh!"

Putin attempted to dunk the young man head first on the floor, knocking him out... but Roger caught the floor with his hand, wrapped his legs around Putin's head and, using his own **** against him, tossed him far and hard against the wall. Gravity being absent, he did not fall on the floor, but bounced around like a billiard ball in the hexagon, soon becoming limp as he was rendered ****.
This actually made Roger very anxious, seeing an old man flying ragdoll style from wall to wall. He intercepted Putin and caught him, preventing any further damage.
Though he did actually stomp him on his balls.
"Oohhhh... that most certainly's gonna make the up and coming new fighter disqualified.... though the veteran dictator is in no position to continue fighting. Looks like both fighters will drop out at this point!!!"
The audience booed, but Roger smiled leaving the arena. It was totally worth it.
While Roger had been fighting a villain, Allison fought a hero; specifically El Santo, the Mexican masked wrestler of fame.
Allison stood little chance against such a strong and technical minded opponent, though she did manage to grab him in a **** hold and pin him down long enough to remove his silver mask in order to reveal his identity to the world.
He had another mask underneath though.
Not that it would matter, the world at this point had known about El Santo's identity for well over 800 years... but it was the principle that counted.
Allison never tapped out, but the fight lasted until the end of the time... whereupon El Santo won by points.
"You too were eliminated this early, huh?" Roger said, "Too bad... I feel sorry for you."