Please use the feedback thread for any comments you may have Click Here for the Feedback Thread! Chapter One The Beginning Elina The shouts and shrieks of the crowd somehow pierced me through those thick stone walls. They were wild, excited, some of them drunk. All of them out there frenzied for blood, my blood. If I went out there and got torn apart they would cheer and scream for more. But I knew deep in my heart that today was not my day to die. I will get through this. “Belief in yourself is important. Without it, failure is assured,” replied the old man, even now walking next to me. I jumped, for I had not realized I had spoken aloud. “You believe in me?” I said hopefully. For him to say yes would lift my spirits out of the deep pit they had somehow fallen into. For my training master to tell me that he had faith, although I was a girl and had a five percent chance of making it past my first battle would truly be the happiest moment in my life thus far. To be honest, even I found that a little pathetic. He didn’t do what I wanted him to however, and with a sigh he just shrugged his shoulders. “I cannot predict the future Elina,” he replied. “I can only hope that the past doesn’t repeat itself.” I nodded and stared down at my feet. I knew he wouldn’t give me encouragement. He had taught hundreds of others and how many of them had survived this brutality? One. But that was almost sixty years ago, and my master was not what he once was. All of a sudden we stopped. We were in front of a plain wooden door. He sighed and put his hand on my arm. Violet eyes met watery blue as I looked at my master for the last time. “I cannot go any further than this,” He informed me sadly, a small smile on is wrinkled old face. Then much to my surprise, he pulled me into a hug. I froze for a second surprised then hugged him back gently. He was frailer than he looked, and should I squeeze him with all my strength as I wished to do, I would probably break his spine. Then he pulled away and began his walk back to the training facility. I took a deep breath then pushed open the door. The first thing that hit me was the light. The afternoon sun at its highest peak in the sky beat down on me almost like a physical blow, pushing me downward. As my eyes gradually adjusted to the light, I began to see the place in which I stood. In front of me there was an iron grate. Curious to how it felt in this scorching heat, I reached my hand forward to touch it. Though my fingers barely brushed it, I immediately pulled in back. I should have guessed it was electrified. “Stupid stupid stupid,” I cursed under my breath as I cradled my hand. It didn’t hurt after that first second, but my arm muscles were jumping and twitching horribly, though my hand was numb. Thankfully I had touched it with my left hand, not my right so I could still handle a sword with ease. “Ladies and Gentlemen!” The announcer roared into his microphone, “Welcome, welcome all to the very first round of the season!” The crowd roared in response, they were definitely ready. The question remained, was I? “In this round, we have chosen ten, yes ten, people to face off against each other. Five girls, five boys, you know the drill.” The crowd cheered in response. “The last two standing are partners for the rest of the games!” “Now in sector number one is Alren from Sefneg.” The announcer rumbled and there was an answering scream from the crowd. I zoned out throughout the whole thing, there was no need for me to listen, it’s not like I would actually recognize any names. The contestants were forbidden to have any contact with one another. Once he had finally finished, he then yelled, “It’s smashing time!” and the grates slid up slowly. I had a moment of panic. Where were my weapons?!? But then I calmed down as I felt the smooth rapier on my belt. I grimly unsheathed it, gripping the handle harder than I would normally and crept out to join the real battle. The real fighting had commenced before I had arrived. Three of the girls and two of the boys were lying dead on the ground with nothing but dust to soak up their blood. The last girl and a dark haired guy were grimly fighting two enormous boys, trapped in a corner. As I ran towards them, one boy’s broadsword flashed and cleans beheaded her, her fiery hair glinting as it sailed towards the ground. With a loud yell I ran and jumped practically flying as I slashed the culprit in the shoulder. I was roughly shoved into the corner by him, who had dropped his broadsword in the process. The boy I was standing back to back with looked at me with desperate silver eyes, his dark black hair messy and covered in dust. “Alliance?” He whispered. I nodded, with no other option available. With one smooth stroke, the boy turned and smoothly slid his katana into the other boy’s chest. His mouth opened in surprise, and he pitched backward in the dust, his green eyes staring blindly up at the bright blue sky. The other boy, realizing his imminent doom turned to run. However in the circular space, there was nowhere to hide. I got to him first, and with a clean stroke his head went rolling much like the girl’s, golden hair sparkling in the sunlight. His body collapsed, and for the first time I became aware of the crowds’ roar and the announcer yelled, “Congratulations to Kantos Kairnen and Elina Kupeyshama, winners of today’s match!” I turned in surprise to the boy, Kantos and realized his silver eyes were wet with tears. Looking down at the body at my feet I realized why. I had killed a human being for the first time today, and I will still sleep well tonight.
Chapter 2 The Aftermath Elina After the battle we were immediately led into a small sitting room. There were various assortments of colorful bean bags along with a few comfy looking chairs. I immediately sat down in the chair nearest to me, and immediately sank in around six inches. It was the most comfortable place I had ever sat down in my life. Kantos on the other hand made a beeline for the nearest brightly colored bean bag and plopped down in it. “Careful,” I said raising my eyebrows, “you might break it.” As a reply, Kantos rolled his silver eyes and let out a loud groan. Then he smirked at me. “What?” Kantos grinned at me, showing his pearly white teeth. “Careful Elina, if you relax anymore you’ll completely disappear into that chair.” At the moment an incredibly gorgeous person walked through the plain white door at the end of the room. She smiled at us, her green eyes glinting in the warm vanilla lights above us. She was very thin with a pinstripe suit with gleaming brown hair. “Hello victors, I’m Evelyn Song! But you can just call me Evelyn!” Because of her excitement she almost seemed to vibrate in her seat. “Ooookay?” Kantos and I replied simultaneously. Her energy was just a little too much right then. Despite the fact that the fight had only lasted just over ten minutes, I felt as if every bone in my body was slowly dissolving into warm nothingness. It was only a matter of time before I slipped into sleep. “You’re probably wondering why I’m here right now,” she said with a beautiful smile. Kantos and I both nodded. Looking in his eyes, I realized that he was just as exhausted as I. She glanced at both of us and realized the same thing. “I’ll make this quick. I’m the news caster for the INPN.” Noticing our puzzled looks she quickly explained “International Public Newscast. Anyway, I’m here just to ask you a few questions about your expectations for the tournament this season.” We both gave her blank stares. She rolled her eyes at her camera man and continued. “So Elina, how do you feel about the fact that you just killed someone for the first time today?” I inwardly winced but let no emotion cross my face. “Well now that I’m sitting here, I kind of feel guilty,” I replied a little sheepishly, “but out there the only thing running through your brain is kill or be killed you know?” She nodded seriously as if she did understand then turned to Kantos. “So Kantos, what do you think is your favorite weapon?” Kantos frowned and thought about it, a little crease appearing in between his eyes. “I would probably say my knives,” he answered after a long pause. She made a waving gesture with her hand, encouraging him to continue. “I say this because they’re so versatile you know? I can fight hand to hand with them, I can throw them, and they’re fairly easy to carry around compared to a broadsword or mace.” He replied. “I’m not going to trip of my knife hilt.” She nodded cheerfully and continued to ask questions for what seemed like hours. And it was simple stuff too like what our favorite piece of clothing was and what we thought our best qualities were. We answered all as patiently as possible, and when she was finally done she flashed us a smile one more time and thanked us for our cooperation. She then made a quick exit and we were free to go. As we exited the parlor as I had come to think of it, we were immediately clapped on the back as a tall man appeared out of nowhere. “Well done, well done,” he shouted at us, beaming hugely. “You really showed your spirit out there kids!” He was tanned and muscular without being bulky and had swooping brown hair that almost covered his green eyes. “Uh thanks?” Kanto responded confusedly. “Oh I forgot introductions.” The man admitted with a sheepish grin, his green eyes twinkling mischievously. “I’m Crolux Grey, but if you want you can call me Cro-Cro. I’m going to be your trainer for the rest of your lives, or until you win this tournament.” I then noticed that only one eye was green. The other was a deep chocolate brown with emerald flecks. Kantos and I glanced nervously at each other. We were going to have a trainer called Cro Cro? “Don’t worry,” He quickly assured us. “I trained the winning team four years ago. All the rest of my kids have made it to the semi finals and one team two years ago made it all the way to the finals!” He said cheerfully. I quickly stifled a yawn. Cro seemed like a nice guy and I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. He still noticed it however and nodded knowingly. “You two are probably tired. I’ll show you to your sleeping quarters and you can crash for the night.” He then led us silently down the corridor and opened the door into a dark room. I found the nearest bed and fell into it, dirty clothes and all and quickly dropped off to sleep. It had been a long day.
Chapter 3 A Scare Elina I woke up quickly, sleepy and disoriented. Despite my initial apathy towards the taking of another life by my own hands, I did not have an easy night. I kept seeing the boy’s head flashing in the sunlight as it flew in a clean arc away from his body. It deeply sickened me. I sat up and began to blearily look around. Light was streaming through the huge barred windows on either side of me. The bed I was sleeping in had dark brown sheets and a mattress as soft as a cloud. “I guess they want us to be in good shape to fight.” I muttered. I heard a door creak and immediately reached for the knife in my belt. My fingers grasped at air. I began to panic, my heart beating fast and my face turning red and hot. I had no weapons and the ghost of the blond boy was coming to get me! My hands met an object round and cold. I grasped it and turned to face my invader. “Relax,” I heard a familiar voice say. I looked up into the cheerful face of Crolux. I let out a sigh of relief. “Thank god it’s you Cro!” I exclaimed, “I thought you were an enemy coming to get me.” “Nice reflexes,” Crolux commented, “though I doubt an apple would do very well against an assassin.” I looked down at my hand and blushed. “Anyway, I’ll have the food people bring you something, and then we’ll start our training. How about I come and get you in a couple hours, say at eight?” I nodded sleepily and replied, “That would be great!” As soon as he was gone, I leapt out from under the covers. I looked down at myself and realized I was still wearing the dusty and mud-splattered clothes I fought in yesterday. “Shower,” I told myself firmly. Somehow talking to myself eased the little knot of tension in my stomach. Cro seemed like a nice person, but what if he was an impossible trainer? What if he lied about his resume? What if Kantos killed me in the next battle just to up his kill count? What if... I shook my head as if to cast all the bad thoughts out of my mind. Thinking about what ifs would only hurt me. I could not let myself get distracted. As my old training master said, “To fight, you must always concentrate on your goal. To lose sight of it, even for a second means certain death. Now, you will not understand it, and should you lose focus now, you will not keel over as we speak. But Evaline, I guarantee that should you lose your concentration, you will not survive long enough to be remembered.” I waded across the thick blue beige carpet, away from the dark brown bed-sheets that were undoubtedly smeared with blood and dust. I decided to head towards the door marked with a large B, hoping that it was the shower room. Thankfully it was. Fifteen minutes later I was out with my body cleared of dirt and grime, my hair smelling of coconuts. I quickly dried my hair and put on the plain yet comfortable clothes laid out for me, and walked out of the washroom. I gasped as I beheld the image before me. My bed was gone, and instead sat a small table laden with every breakfast delicacy one could imagine. There was crispy bacon so hot it was still practically sizzling on the plate. There were cooked eggs of every kind with creamy whites and golden yellow yolks on a bed of warm toasted bread. There was a bowl of watermelon with dark green rinds and moist pink flesh dotted here and there with black seeds. I could have just stood there all day marveling at the enormous smorgasbord of food, but glowing orange numbers on my clock, reading seven thirty, reminded me that I was on a time frame. I chose my food carefully, leaving dairy products behind so they wouldn’t curdle in my stomach while I was training and make me sick. In the end, mostly proteins covered my plate. A few hard boiled eggs, a few strips of bacon, and a few steak strips. I didn’t want to choose too much, because I didn’t want to be to full to train. Then I began to dig in. Before I put my food to my mouth however, I remembered one last thing. Check for poison, for in this game, many people would do anything to have the people they betted on be the winners. Carefully I sniffed each piece of food, using my highly sensitive sense of smell. It was all clean as far as I could tell. Then I carefully took my first bite, and I heard someone start laughing. I picked up my knife and turned towards the sound. There was Croluxian laughing so hard that there were tears running down his face. As you can imagine, I wasn’t very happy with him for scaring me a second time. “WHAT?!?” I snapped at him He managed to stop his torrent of hilarity. “I probably should be checking in on Kantos, but watching you eat was so much more entertaining,” He giggled again. I glared at him angrily which only made him giggle more. “You took so much care picking everything, and then you had to sniff it all before you actually ate!” He said between laughing fits. “I was checking for poison,” I informed him coldly, ice dripping from every word. He nodded and replied, “Well I better go check on Kantos,” I nodded and watched him walk out the door chuckling.
Chapter 4 The Griever Elina Every morning since then, as soon as I was done eating, I walked to the Gladiator Training Facility. That is where I basically spent all of my waking hours, amid the maze of mats and machines. Crolux worked us hard, but he was not impossible as I so feared. Adequately preparing for the next challenge seemed like the ultimate goal for him. We worked out and practiced and worked until finally it was the end of the week. The time had come for our next battle. I found myself once again in the small dusty area with the gate, though this time Kantos stood at my side. For the second time in my entire life, I heard the suave voice of the announcer roar in my ears. “Welcome to the fourth match of the season!” He yelled. The crowd cheered in response, causing the walls and ceiling to shake. “Today we have two contestants, Elina Kupeyshama and Kantos Kairnen against the fierce griever!” This caused the crowd to erupt in frenzied howls and cheers. Kantos and I gave each other worried glances. They were putting us on grievers in our second battle? Then without any prompting, I saw the grate begin to slide open, screeching as it rose up through the ceiling. That’s when I saw the enemy. Its grate was not open yet, but it stood as close to it as possible panting through the hole that is its mouth. Shiny claws glinted on its hands and feet, and under the thing’s undoubtedly tough skin was armor made of bone. The griever’s face was covered in deep slashes and scars, and no other features could be determined. It was virtually faceless “That’s what they do to with potential gladiators that try to escape,” Kantos murmured, horrified by the sight. The thing’s head swiveled towards the sound of his voice, and I drew out my rapier. I looked over and saw Kantos already had his dual katanas in his hands. Then, without warning, the grate in front of the monstrous being flew up, and the griever rushed out to meet us. I gasped at its incredible speed as it tackled Kantos and began to slash at his face. Kantos kicked the creature off, and it then decided to go for me. I ducked and rolled as it made a flying jump, and attempted to stab it. Although my rapier cut through its skin like butter, the sharp blade skittered off of its bone plating. It was barely a scratch, but the griever howled in pain and rage as it spun and kicked me with its clawed feet. I went flying, and blacked out for a moment as I soared though the air. The head cracking thump against the stone walls was enough to wake me out of my stupor. I leapt to my feet to see Kantos furiously battling the scarred creature, and I began to see how truly great of a fighter he was. His speed and strength matched the griever’s almost exactly, so he could keep up with the slashing claws. I prepared to rush in and help him when I looked down at my hand to see the hilt of my rapier. The blade must have broken off when I hit the wall. I cussed violently and threw my now useless weapon at the griever’s head. By pure luck I hit it right where its temple would be and knocked it to the ground, putting a good sized dent in its head. Kantos bent down to chop the squealing creature’s head off, when I saw it swing its foot towards him. “Kantos! The foot!” I screamed. My warning however came too late. The griever kicked Kantos full in the stomach and sent him wheeling up into the air. I noticed that in the process Kantos had dropped his katanas. At that moment I probably did the craziest thing any person in the arena had ever done. Howling out a war cry, I ran straight for the griever. It howled in return, crouched and jumped straight at me. It would have had me had I not accidentally tripped and rolled out of the way. It fell flat on its hideous scarred face. In desperation, I grabbed Kantos’ katana, jumped to my feet and stabbed it straight through its neck. It screeched and writhed on the ground red blood spattering everywhere. Finally it was still. The crowd roared as I walked over to Kantos and hauled him up. We both waved, then walked back to the door at the back of our grate where Crolux was waiting.
Chapter 5 Holographs and some lizard-birds Elina The next morning much to my surprise, we did not meet in our normal training facility. Crolux stopped in to inform me that we would be meeting in a separate location today. “Okay, this is room 3216,” Kantos said nervously as we stood in front of the same boring grey door that occupied every other room in this part of the hallway. The only problem is that we didn’t have a door handle. We stood there staring blankly for a few more seconds before we both tentatively touched it. The door flew up into the ceiling, reminding me uncomfortably of the grates in the Arena, and we walked into the surprisingly small room that was hidden behind the door. The entire area was covered in soft red carpet, with gentle pink walls, and a pastel white ceiling. In the room were two compartments, much like the photo booths that silly girls went into to take pictures in malls. Not that I had ever seen one. The curtains of these booths were the same dark red as the floor. In between these two strange contraptions was a computer desk where Crolux sat busily typing. When he heard the door slam behind us he spun his red desk chair around to look. “Ah excellent, excellent, my new shipment of guinea pigs has arrived.” Crolux said with a grin. Kantos rolled his eyes while I cocked an eyebrow at him. Guinea pigs? That didn’t sound too encouraging. Noticing my curious glance he smiled reassuringly. “Don’t worry,” he said, “this is just a new process for me. It’s a holographic flight simulator. I figured out your weakness, which can be described in three words. Lack of teamwork.” “Really?” Kantos asked incredulously, “I thought we did pretty well.” Crolux nodded. “Yes you did do pretty well considering the only act of working together during the whole battle was Elina warning you about the feet which came too late anyway. If you had been a tiny bit less lucky, that griever would have killed you.” He stated. “Had you been up against another team or god forbid, two grievers, you would be dead for sure.” I hesitated before asking my next question. “Sir?” I asked quietly, “Is it normal for newbies to battle grievers as their second battle.” Sighing as he ran his big hand through his hair, Crolux replied, "No, it’s not normal to be tested so harshly on what is essentially your first team battle ever. However, as a player at the mercy of the unpredictable Arena you must be ready for everything, because a monster won’t care if it’s fair or not.” I detected a note of bitterness in his voice. With obvious effort he plastered a smile on his face. “That’s where these wonderful machines come in. It is a full body scanner and a holographic suit all in one.” We stood there staring blankly at him for a few seconds. “Well go ahead, get in,” he ordered us impatiently. We quickly did as we were told. It was alarming for a second, being doused in darkness. I was surprised however by the air quality. One would expect the air to be hot and stuffy, but the air was cool and almost minty to breathe in. “Okay,” I heard Crolux say, “I’m turning on the scanner.” I heard a strange humming noise as the booth warmed to life. I could hear the scanners whistling and humming through the walls as a strange tickling sensation vibrated through my body. Then a monotonous robotic voice spoke, “Life form scanned,” I jumped a little, disoriented by the pure dark in which I was plunged. Then to my surprise, I began to see my vision returning. I was back in the dusty Arena, and it was just as bright smelly and dusty as I remembered it. Next to me, I heard movement. I looked and much to my surprise stood Kantos, blinking blearily. “Hey,” I said, trying to catch his attention. He jumped a little, and then turned to face me. “Hey,” he replied. Suddenly, the air in front of us began to shimmer. Out of what seemed like nowhere, two monsters appeared. They had long curved beaks with grooves meant for tearing through flesh. On their heads were bony crests meant for head butting and smashing. Instead of hands were two huge pincers, incredibly sharp, that looked like they could snap bone. They stood on two legs, much like giant velociraptors, around six feet tall hunched over. They were covered in scales and bone plating, and had lizard like feet with incredibly long talons meant for ripping and tearing. Their eyes however were interesting. One had light grassy green eyes, and the other warm caramel. The color was not what fascinated me however; it was the intelligence and curiosity. Despite their scary appearance, they had the expression of a little kid examining a new toy. Green eyes walked up to me and casually poked me with its beak. I lightly reached out to feel the top of its head. Yellow eyes however was not so friendly. It screamed loudly and charged Kantos, who barely had time to pull out his weapons. Green eyes did not seem concerned with its friend’s loud noises, and instead grabbed me with its beak and tossed me high into the air, where I came down to a hard landing on its back. It then turned its head to glance at me out of the corner of its eye. “Where do you want to go?” It seemed to be asking. I got the feeling that it would understand anything I said. “Can we please help out my friend over there?” I asked quietly. Despite my belief in the fact that it could understand me, it let out a large “RAWK!” and charged Yellow eyes. Green eyes jumped at it so fast, it was all I could do to hold on. Seeing Kantos pinned beneath the now bloodied and squirming yellow eyed beast, I reached down dangerously low to hall him up. “Thanks,” he gasped, and we spent the rest of the battle on lizard-chicken, slashing at it with our weapons. We couldn’t really do much to help however, by the time we got our bearings; Greeny (as I had nicknamed him) had basically decapitated the mean yellow eyed one. As Yellow eyes writhed on the floor in agony, we faded out. When I was returned back to the suffocating darkness, I panicked and practically fell out of the booth. I landed at the feet of a bemused Crolux. “That was amazing!” He said, though I could tell he was surprised. “What?” Kantos asked who had exited the holograph booth much more gracefully. “You really have a thing with reots!” Crolux replied, still looking at me. “So that’s what they’re called, reots.” I replied with a grin. “Yeah I did like that green eyed one. He was nice.” “She was nice,” Crolux corrected, still deep in though. With a grin however he came back to himself, clapped his hands and smiled. “Time for lunch.” He shouted cheerfully as all of our stomachs rumbled.
Chapter 6 Revelations Elina The days became monotonous. Wake up, eat, train, rest, then train some more. Although there was a new match every few days, we were not to compete in the next round because we had successfully killed a high ranked monster. Cro said that this was a good thing, the week off meant we could train more and rest up. Naturally, I worked myself even harder, knowing that we would probably be facing off against another team who would probably have two battles under their belt, while we would only have one. Cro kept assuring me that we would be ready and that I didn’t have to kill myself; but harsh training seemed to be the only thing that could keep the bad dreams away. Today however things were different. I shrieked as Cro popped his head into my room, for I was in the midst of wading through a thick plush carpet wearing only a towel. “Can’t you learn to KNOCK?” I shouted angrily as he quickly backed out. Knowing he was probably waiting in the hallway, I changed as quickly as possible and threw open the door, which almost smashed his face in. “Whoa there,” he said quickly, “I was just coming to tell you that you can relax today. There is no morning training,” I nodded at him, but still continued to walk passed him, “I think I’m going to do some lifts and stuff while I’m up,” I replied. He immediately grabbed my elbow and spun me around to face him. I must have looked shocked because he quickly responded with a, “Sorry.” I raised my eyebrows at him. He looked worriedly at me then replied, “When I said there was no training, I meant there was NO training. You are going to have dinner with the other pairs tonight and I don’t want you to be sweaty and gross.” When I attempted to interrupt he added, “Also this is going to be filmed, so you will have a crew here in about…” He trailed off as he looked at his watch, “thirty minutes to fix you up.” “Thirty minutes?” I asked incredulously, “How much time do we have until this thing?” “Mmmm about six hours,” he muttered, he warm brown eyes trained on shoes. “What?!?” I shrieked, my voice definitely breaking through a few octaves, “They’re going to be grooming me for SIX AND A HALF HOURS!!!” “Kantos took this a lot better than you,” he grumbled again, still staring dejectedly at his shoes, “although I can’t say I’m surprised.” Suddenly I felt bad. It wasn’t Cro’s fault that I had to sit for over six hours to be groomed by a bunch of twittering idiots. I looked back at Cro. “Sorry,” I replied softly. He sighed tiredly and I got the impression he’d gone through this many, many times before. “It’s okay,” He replied with a roll of his eyes. He turned to go then paused. “You wouldn’t happen to be trained by Trainer Parazzi or Master Tiritagua would you?” He asked casually over his shoulder. I tensed up a little. Master Tiritagua was the one who had trained me, and going by Cro’s tone of voice it didn’t sound like a good thing. “Actually yes,” I replied hesitantly, “Master Tiritagua was my Master.” I paused for a short moment. “Is that a bad thing?” Cro turned around fully. When he saw my expression, he quickly assured me, “Oh no, no. It’s just that those two don’t allow their pupils to be seen by the media or anyone else. That means that you won’t know anyone there but Kantos.” I must have looked surprised because he continued to explain. “Your master and Trainer Parazzi believe that emotional bonds with anyone but your partner in these games is detrimental to your survival. I’m still not sure if they were right or wrong, but he probably told you it was illegal right?” I nodded absently, but wasn’t really paying attention to the last part of his sentence. To tell the truth, Master never told me that it was illegal, but I had never seen anyone besides him and the various servants and such so I assumed it to be so. I wonder what he would have told me if I had asked him.” “Also just warning you, there will be a TV on in there, and it may talk about you in various ways…” He trailed off, staring into the distance. I began to get nervous again. “What kind of ways?” He saw my expression and quickly moved to clarify. “Like, maybe talking about who the people voted to be your best match, either relationship wise or best fighting partner wise.” “Is that… Bad?” I asked again. “No actually it’s a good thing.” He responded. “You want more popularity because that will mean that you will be given nicer weapons, and the devs may go easier on you.” He responded. “Devs?” I questioned “The people who plan the fights.” He answered. “So far you have been fighting in the basic arena area, but when you move on against real people you may be forced to fight on different terrain. If you are more popular than the other team, the devs are more likely to slant the fight in your favor. They don’t want those people to die early on, because the more popular people you have on, the more viewers there are, and the more money they make.” I nodded thoughtfully, and then heard the sound of people coming down the hallway. “That would be the groomers,” Cro groaned tiredly. “Better go warn Kantos.”
Chapter 7 Gussied up and Gesticulating Elina The next six hours were pure and utter hell. Full of strangely dressed people clicking their tongues, smothering me in various powders and creams, then finally dressing me up like a doll. The worst part? They blinded me with some sort of opaque contacts so I couldn’t see any of it. I spent the time imagining them turning my skin pink then dressing me up in frills and bows until I looked like a wedding cake, or dusting my skin with a sparkly power that would never come off. However I didn’t fight or struggle because I knew that I would be more likely to hit an innocent assistant then the perpetuator of my troubles. At the very end of the long and tortuous ordeal, they helped me out of the chair I was sitting in and took my “contacts” off. I groaned in pain as the bright lights beat down on my adjusting eyes. After the last spot of whiteness left my eyes, I gazed down at myself. My dress was very simple, and thankfully not bright pink or frilly in the slightest. It was a dark red color that reached all the way to the floor. After walking around a bit I realized that despite how it looked, it did not hamper me in the slightest. The ruffled skirt flowed easily around me and despite looking complicated I could still move around. That’s when I noticed that I was not wearing heels. Although I couldn’t see them, I knew they were extremely comfortable flats. I turned around to look at my crew. As I turned around, I noticed the woman in front had a funny look in her eye. Was it fear? This woman was tall and thin boned, wearing a simple blue tunic and leggings. I also noticed that she alone of the five women was not wearing beige. Other than that, their outfits were identical. “Thank you for not making it pink and frilly,” I whispered hoarsely. She smiled back at me and the other four women let out tiny sighs of relief. I suddenly grasped the reason they were afraid. They were worried that I was going to have a temper tantrum. “Just like Cro.” I thought grimly in my head. Why was it that everyone seemed so afraid of me? At that moment there came a quiet knock at the door. “All ready ladies?” I heard Cro’s familiar voice echo through the doorway. “Yes, you may come in,” the leader woman shouted in a surprisingly deep voice. Cro came in first, Kantos trailing behind. “Now you learn to knock.” I grumbled. Cro chuckled and Kantos looked at him confusedly. Kantos was dressed in a simple black suit and red shirt. His tie was black with the red polka dots. After a closer look, I realized that they weren’t polka dots, they were small smiley faces. His entire personality was displayed in a few simple pieces of clothing. Serious but cheerful, amazing. Cro rubbed his hands together in anticipation. “So are you ready?” He asked cheerfully. “Yes!” Kantos exclaimed as I muttered, “No.” When we finally got to our destination, there was a line. A small snippy man in a plum waist coat instantly ushered us into our place. “Zaln Uchida,” The man said, nodding to the guy that was on Kantos’ right, “and Roxanna” he informed me, nodding to a petite redhead on my left. Roxanna didn’t even turn to look at me. Zaln on the other hand shouted, “Kantos! Buddy!” And they began to chat animatedly. Left with no one to talk to, I examined the walnut table beneath me. When I looked up next, I observed a small mousy boy sat directly in front of me was giving me a sad smile. I realized that he was in the same position as me. The girl who I assumed was his partner was chatting with a hulking guy next to her, and the guy to his right had literally turned his back to him. He waved his hands at me, and it took me a second to understand that he was speaking in sign. “… popular aren’t we,” He gesticulated. I hesitated, trying to remember how to sign. Finally I replied with a few gestures, “I don’t know about you, but I’m so popular I’m being absolutely fawned upon. Look at how everyone is just so excited to talk to me.” He twisted his rodent face in what I assumed was a smile, then replied, “The simpleton on your right seems to have abandoned you,” I rolled my eyes, “He hasn’t seen these people in a few months, cut him some slack,” “Maybe that’s bad for him;” He argued, “then it will hurt more to kill them.” I saw in his eyes that he was just arguing for the sake of arguing and replied, “Let’s just agree to disagree, and get on with our lives. Maybe someday one of us will accidentally destroy this place, and then our lives may have meaning.” At this the man began to laugh, sounding like raspy grunts. Looking into his open mouth, I realized that he had no tongue! At his frightening laughter, the entire room went silent. People stared in shock. “Shut up, you’re making a scene,” I signed frantically. “Yeah sure. Look now they’re all staring at you!” I looked around to meet the surprised eyes of everyone around me. Even the girl next to me spun around in her chair to ogle at me. “I really hate being the center of attention.” I gestured angrily. “Thanks a lot.” At this he began to laugh again, his raspy voice echoing through the dead silence. “Where did you learn sign language?” Kantos hissed at me out of the corner of his mouth. I turned to him in surprise. “You mean you never learned any?” “No?” In his tone of voice, it came out as more of a question. All of a sudden, the plum coated man appeared again, ironically right behind my chair. “Gladiators,” He shouted, making me jump “it is time to feast!”
Chapter 8 Feasts and Friends Elina Everyone seemed to perk up at the mention of food, and went back to chatting with the person next to me. I noticed that people were still giving me sideways glances, but those all but disappeared when they realized that our conversation was over. I went back to staring forlornly at the table. The feast was obviously not one where you were immediately served your food; it was slowly and majestically paraded around the table until everyone was practically drooling onto their empty plates. Finally it got back to the head of the table and the first slice of beef was slowly and ceremoniously cut, so that the juices had the chance to seep a little out of the meat and congeal on the knife. It was excruciatingly delicious. We all dug in to our meal, and for a moment there was only the sound of knives scraping plates, and spoons and forks clinking against the dinnerware. At last someone broke the silence. To my right I heard a warm male voice, “So Elina, where did you learn sign language?” I looked over to see Zaln smiling at me, his warm black eyes glowing and friendly. I noticed for the first time that he had a thin scar stretching from his right eyebrow to his right cheekbone. I shrugged my shoulders awkwardly and answered, “Well my original training master taught me all sorts of languages, because he always said that if I survived I would need a useful skill besides killing.” “And this was the same master that kept you isolated so you couldn’t establish any social skills?” a rough voice called across the room. Once again everyone was staring at me as if I was a bug under the microscope. I turned to the boy who addressed me. He was the tall thick boy two people to the mute boy’s left. In fact he looked like he could almost take up two chairs. When he saw me eying him nervously he flexed his bulging muscles and growled, “Well got an explanation?” Then I heard a small voice pipe up. “Oh Dylan lay off. The poor thing is so scared she’s shaking in her seat!” I heard a couple more giggles in the room but the girl seemed to mean well. She was sitting at the right of the head of the table. Her small girlish face seemed out of place amongst the hulking men around her. I jumped as a rough looking girl next to Dylan banged her fist on the table. “She’s not scared Katya she’s smart! I wouldn’t be giving out that kind of information either. “ A black haired boy with multicolored eyes nodded grimly in agreement and a small boom of thunder exploded through the air causing a waiter to spill a bowl of soup all over himself. I imagine it must have hurt, but he just grimaced and picked it up again. The girl next to me sighed in pity for the scalded waiter. “Oh Ben can’t you go anywhere without your booms and flashes?” “For the last time Roxanne, my name is Benjamin!” He snapped back. “But Ben is soooo much cuter.” She replied, “And as long as you keep doing stuff like that I’ll call you Ben.” “And here they go again,” I heard Kantos mutter to my right. Benjamin growled and the volume of the noise (which I realized was thunder) increased. A small cloud appeared above Roxanne and then it began to pour. She immediately shrieked and made an attempt to cover her hair. I winced and leaned over into Kantos to avoid the tempest that was creating itself above Roxanne’s head. “Enough!” A voice roared and the rain ceased. The boy sitting at the head of the table was glaring at Benjamin. His strange yellow eyes gave me the creeps. Benjamin just nodded dazedly and went back to eating his food as if nothing had happened. It was silent for a moment and then I heard, “Damn it the soup got cold,” We all looked in surprise to the sopping wet waiter, and when he realized that he had spoken aloud he blushed and made a move to retreat. “No wait I can help you,” A smooth male voice spoke up. A tall blond boy next to Zaln got to his feet and walked over to the waiter. He put a spoon lightly into the soup and to my astonishment it began to bubble and boil, sending a rich herbal aroma around the room. He smiled with a flash of perfectly white teeth. “There you go!” “T-t-t-thank you Dresmond,” he gasped. Dresmond turned to smile brilliantly at a slender auburn haired girl sitting across from him and she blushed tomato red. “Showoff,” Someone muttered and I realized that it was Kantos who spoke while glaring at Dresmond. “Who’s she?” I inquired casually. “Why who is she?” Zaln responded in mock surprise, “That’s Max Sypan, hottest girl in this room… Besides you my dear,” He said with a grin. I rolled my eyes, “Translation- I am too goofy to possibly be liked by any other girl, so I’m going after the one who has never seen me before,” Zaln winked, “You got it babe,” I grabbed a roll off of a server’s tray and through it at him. It ricocheted off his ear and landed in his soda. I began to laugh at the expression on his face, but my face quickly composed one of horror. His glass was fizzing wildly. Not just fizzing- dissolving. He let out a very unmanly scream and pushed his chair back from the table so hard he landed on his back. He quickly got up and was dusted off by an attendant who was standing by. Unfortunately, the dissolving didn’t stop at the glass. It began to eat at the tablecloth, and then the table itself. The rest of the night consisted of a mad rush to the doors which were immediately thrown open, and all but me and the boy at the head of the table ran screaming out into the hallway. We were the last ones out, being the only ones who calmly got to our feet and walked. He paused in the door way and turned to me, his yellow eyes glinting in the dim light. “You were trained by Tiritagua weren’t you,” he asked, a small smile tugging on the corners of his mouth. “Darren?” I asked incredulously. He smiled more openly this time as we strolled out the door. Not to my surprise, they slammed shut behind us. When I said that I never saw anyone, that wasn’t exactly true. Darren was the student of Parazzi, who happened to be my master’s partner when they won their lives almost one hundred years ago. Naturally, they worked together every few months to teach us teamwork exercises, and also to give me someone to talk to, being the only one not allowed to have any contact elsewhere. We stopped at a fork in the hallway, and I sensed we were going in different directions. “Well it’s nice seeing you again,” I said holding out my trembling hand. He looked at it, and for a second I thought he was going to refuse it. Instead he pulled me into a tight hug. “Yeah, nice seeing you again,” He whispered, “I’m glad you made it.” We heard footsteps clicking and sprang apart like startled rabbits. “Well,” I said awkwardly, “See you later.” He nodded and flicked his dark brown hair out of his eyes. “Yeah. I just hope that it’s not in a dusty circle with weapons.” I laughed shakily and turned to go. What an interesting day.
Chaper 9 All is not what it seems Elina I returned to my hallway to see a crushed bow tie on the floor. I realized that it must be Kantos’, so I walked tiredly down the hallway to return it. When I arrived, I noticed the door to his room was slightly ajar. I was about to walk in when I heard Crolux yelling. I hesitated for a moment waffling about what to do. I didn’t want to embarrass Kantos, but I wanted to return the bow tie. I squared my shoulders. If I was him, I would rather know that I knew Crolux was yelling at him. I prepared myself to walk in the door when I caught the words, “she should have died!” I froze, thinking I misheard when I heard Kantos angrily reply, “And what exactly is THAT supposed to mean.” “Kantos, you do realize your partner is the former student of Marx Taritagua right?” Crolux snapped. I had never heard so much hatred and anger packed into one sentence before. I could almost imagine him trembling with rage. “I don’t understand why you’re making such a big deal of this” Kantos replied, sounding genuinely confused. “The two trainers I asked you about before. Remember them?” “Yes there was Parazzi too wasn’t there?” “Yes. Well normally in these matches the last two standing get to move on as partners right?” I imagined Kantos nodding, his black hair flying around his face. “Well when three people die, and there is one person left, the original trainer gets to pick the person whom they want his or her “champion” to end up with.” “And?” Kantos replied, even more confused than he was before. “For every match until the cutoff,” “The cutoff?” “When, if your partner is killed you go it alone.” “Ah” “For every match until the cutoff, you two and Parazzi’s boy have a match on the same days. That means that if you or Katya gets killed, the other person is free to kill off their partner. The final match before the cutoff is scheduled to go up against them and, provided that they win their next few matches, that will be the easiest spot to kill off one or both of them, and they both know it. Elina may seem nice, but if she doesn’t “accidentally” kill you before that final match, I’ll eat my shoes.” “Well make sure you have some salt and butter ready because I don’t think that she’s like that.” Kantos answered coldly. “Kantos I’m only trying to keep you alive here,” “What about keeping Elina alive?” “Kantos, every year that a Tiritugua and a Parazzi manage to become partners, they make it to the finals. If those two get together then they’ll be practically unstoppable, and you’ll be dead.” “I think you’re just bitter,” Kantos snapped. I felt a bit of pride welling up inside of me at his vote of confidence. Then I heard the last word. Bitter? What was there to be bitter about? “NO I’m not; I’m just trying to keep my favorite alive.” Crolux replied while trying to remain calm. “You’re favorite? So that’s what this is about?” “No, I didn’t mean it that way!” “I don’t want to hear it!” I heard an exasperated sigh, then slow heavy footsteps. In a panic, I ran down the hall and pivoted quickly just as the door opened. They both stared at me in shock. Thinking quickly I blurted out, “Sorry I got back late, I was talking to Darren.” Crolux raised his eyebrows, assuming my breathy voice and red cheeks meant something else. “Anyway,” I said quickly as Kantos opened his mouth, “I found your bowtie on the ground.” I walked over and handed him his tie, feeling the flush of my cheeks begin to fade. Crolux smirked at me, “Well get some sleep. You’ve had an exciting day.” I nodded and practically sprinted back to my room. Although I was both physically and mentally exhausted, I didn’t fall asleep immediately. I just laid there for a while, thinking every bump and creek was an attacker coming to finish off the one who had foiled his plans at murder. ------------------------------------------------------------- For those who don't read the feedback thread, GlooMi wrote this and emailed it to me. She says she would like anyone who reads it to post something on the feedback thread so she knows who's reading it because I guess it takes a lot of effort? She would also like to give everyone a hug. Don't ask- I can't explain her crazyness :?