[u][b]Al[/b][/u]

The ground shuddered. His coffee drinking was interrupted as he lowered the rules notes and glanced about to see what was causing the ground to rumble. Nothing immediately presented any notable source for the earth's subtle motions. Quite the mystery. With a shrug he was just about to pick up his papers when the ground shook yet again, harder this time.

"What the hell?" He swore under his breath, looking around now more confused as to what was going on than before. The whole cafe shook once more as the tiled floor erupted, the worked flooring exploding out from the point where a stone man was beginning to emerge. The massive stone figure pulled itself from the dirt and stood tall, looming over the mostly frightened masses at a terrifying... Eight feet tall, approximately. Alright, so it wasn't that big but considering they were in Japan it was basically a giant by comparison to most folks. To Al it was just two or three heads taller than him. While everyone else in the cafe were fleeing or hiding behind cover he just stood up, eyed the tall earthen adversary up and down to gauge how tough it might be, chugged down the rest of his coffee since he could barely feel the scalding hot liquid's intense heat and he crumpled the paper cup up with the same hand, tossing it over his shoulder once he was done.

"Damn. I was hoping to be wrong about this tournament." He uttered mostly to himself as nobody else could understand him and the ugly stone guy didn't seem to care. The statue with the glowing blue eyes held aloft it's big club and bellowed forth a great roar, one that was joined from many around. With an annoyed sigh Al put his fists up, getting ready for a scrap.

_
Taking his motion as a challenge the rock man charged at him, club raised high to crush him with sheer force. Just as it made it's move towards him Al kicked off his back heel and darted right past it's weapon's threat range. Seeing as it had no real plan to block any attacks on it there was nothing in the way of his target as he drove his fist into it's side with a powerful straight punch. Hitting the stone felt like hard clay against his fist, the surface shattering around his hand as he struck true. The force of the blow not only left a fist shaped crater in it's torso but also sent the whole thing flying back, smashing partways into the wall behind it.

Though damaged the statue was still mostly intact, pulling itself from the wall for round two. At this point Al was beginning to suspect he might not have that much to fear from this guy. While very heavy for normal folk for Al it was fairly light considering just one hit took it right off it's feet. Moving a lot more lax in his motion Al just kinda shuffled forward, hands still up of course as he watched for the big guy's next attack.

The statue's idea of mixing it's attack up apparently consisted of a one-two punch club swing as it tried to hit him with a sloppy rocky hook before kicking his momentum back around for an upwards swing. Al decided to brave the punch however, the blow glancing off his shoulder with minimal effect. Once again too close for effective clubbing he went to town, starting with an uppercut to the lower right side of it's stomach. Using the angle of his footing he brought his whole body into the blow, creating far more power than he had put in his straight punch. His fist crashed into the stoney surface of the animated statue, not stopping there as it drove up through it's body. He was all the way down to his elbow inside the thing. With his other fist he swung up with a long overhead hook to it's face. The blow basically crushed it's entire face, leaving his hand halfway into it's head.

_
After Al's little one-two of his own the force that kept the statue moving left, leaving the stone to crumble apart. His arms fell back to his sides as the stone which previously housed his fists began to disintegrate. With the statue now nothing more than loose rubble Al looked to his right hand which he had previously used to cave in the former statue's face. A strange blue energy seemed to sizzle away from the dust that covered his fist, dissipating into nothing.

"Everybody okay?" Al asked as he was dusting his arms off. There was little to no response as anyone who was able to understand him had fled. Seeing the complete lack of understanding Al turned his efforts back towards looking to see what was going on. Running out into the ground floor hall he looked out to see many more statue men rising up and...

"Are they... Climbing the arena?" He mildly exclaimed with equal parts confusion and surprise. [i]What the heck is up with this arena?[/i] He wondered, looking over to the stairs leading up to the audience seats overlooking the arena itself. The MAVERICK guards who were standing by the entrance had long since ran in leaving the whole area conveniently open for entry. Running to and up the stairs he could hear the sharp echoes of gunfire both far and near, a sound only barely audible over the din of terrified screams.

He could only hope nobody was seriously injured as of yet. As much as he'd of rather sat this one out he'd hate himself more than he does already if he didn't at least try to help.