One hundred and fifty feet above the Detrius Pits arena, Lady Diamond and Johnny Alpha mingled with the crowd, finding only the seats with the least visibility available. Johnny Alpha dusted off a chair, so Lady Diamond could sit without muddying her dress with the residue of the commoners.
"Lady Diamond, do not diminish yourself among them. Come, you must join me." Magistrate Vellun spoke to Lady Diamond from an interrupted distance away, inviting her with his smile and extended hand. "I have an extra place, you must join us."
Lady Diamond, still wearing her royal blue cloak over her Victorian-style dress, gave a shy glance to Johnny Alpha. "I could not possibly..."
"Go," instructed Johnny Alpha with the utmost politeness. "I'll be on call if you need me." The construct watched as his manager delicately pushed through the crowd to join the Magistrate. He chose the chair he had tried to clear for Lady Diamond.
An enclosed area with an eagle-eye view of the arena was busy with conversations. Lady Diamond would be sharing the experience with a small mix of familiar faces and total strangers. Magistrate Vellun removed her cloak and offered her a chair beside Kashen. The sides of Kashen's mouth flickered like a dying flame when he greeted her. "Lady Diamond, how nice to see you again."
"And you, Kashen."
"I would like you to meet a dear friend of mine," his words were forced just like his smile, "Lord Slice."
As if Kashen was insubstantial for a moment, Slice stepped past him and stood before the blond, for whom he had decided to compete in Grakkan's Union. Slice's hair burned orange and sunk into blackness, his suit screamed red but faded into the pale. His smile bared a wall of teeth. "Ah, Lady Diamond, daughter of The Handler Extraordinaire, it is a genuine pleasure that the poets would be hard-pressed to express." His formless lips brushed the skin on Lady Diamond's hand in a kiss. Her fingers twitched as pain spread into the depths of her soul. There was no physical evidence of harm. She only exhaled in reply. "I never had the dual pleasure of meeting your father, but I fought at the same time. The Living Weapon? Perhaps you've heard of me?"
"I cannot say that I have," Lady Diamond's eyes fixed on Slice's, and could not pull away. "But I have seen so many gladiators..."
"Am I to understand that the first team we view tonight is under your management?"
"Yes," she breathed as if to say more.
"I would like to meet them if there is time. Though I will be meeting them next week, regardless, when we have our first match."
"If there's time," whispered Lady Diamond, still fixated.
Slice ran his tongue against his monstrously sharp top teeth, which would have drawn blood if there were any to be found in his tongue. "I was wondering if you would give me the pleasure to..." Slice was cut off. He glanced upwards at the speaker that produced the interruption. This gave Lady Diamond the opportunity to break away, insist they find their seats, and seek the comfort of Magistrate Vellun. One seat remained empty, as large gelatin of muscles refused to sit, taking guard from behind Slice's chair.
Gladiators were entering the base of the pit. All leaned forward expectantly, chills shaking them as Damias Harter, the voice of Grakkan’s Union announced. "Kavorkian 'Mr. Grakkan' Grantun and his team face off against Team Diamond, with none other than Captain Impressive at the hull. Captain Impressive holds the record for all-time wins within Grakkan's Union, but Kavorkian Grantun is one win behind him. Tonight's battle is not just to increase the team's standing in the union, but will also determine if the title of 'Mr. Grakkan' is deserving of Kavorkian, or if Captain Impressive lives up to his name and is destined to hold the record for another year. These two former allies have inside knowledge of each other's techniques and personal interests at stake. Will they let their teams take down their primary hindrance? Or will this grudge push the two into a one-on-one match? Find out as..." Damias Harter went on to introduce the two teams.
"You're not going to get all sloppy on us?" asked The Kid down in the Pits. "You really care if he ties your record tonight?"
"I care if our team wins, not about my numbers," Captain Impressive gripped The Kid with his cybernetic hand, and shook him a bit too roughly. The Kid eventually pulled away and massaged his own shoulder to work out the new kinks.
"Not to worry," said Gail, standing behind Captain Impressive, "I'm here to support you one hundred percent. You'll be two wins upon him, I promise."
"We're here to support each other," reassured Captain Impressive, words that meant nothing to any of them. "Remember what Dreena said, Kavorkian relies too heavily on his weapons, and not enough on the mystic, stop him from arming himself. Chrysan hides behind her minions but is relatively open to a personal attack. Nylan is a powerful psi and bio gladiator, but is extra susceptible to such attacks."
Without another word between them, the fight was underway. Like a three-leaf clover, Team Diamond was back-to-back-to-back, together with few weak points. Kavorkian, the gray-blue pack of muscles, was on the offensive. He had strapped to his chest and back an arsenal of inert weapons he had collected throughout his years. Most were antiquities that carried meaning to someone, somewhere, but glazed over with new, youthful metals. Of these options, he decided on The Sword of Arzec, which was just a normal sword to the untrained eye, and The Hook of X'lemel, which was the only tool that could be used to defeat the demon hoards of M'/strelgo, according to legend.
In response, Captain Impressive unleashed both of his concealed arm blades, crossing one over the other in a defensive move. He caught Kavorkian's sword in a pincer-like grip, keeping it momentarily at bay. Gail grabbed the oncoming hook with her bare hands and put as much might as she could to keep it from tearing apart her chest. She thought to focus a wind to push Kavorkian away, but the slightest weakness in her strength could mean fatal gouging. It was a difficult balance. Captain Impressive and Gail have unwittingly pulled away from the defensive clover.
The Kid was on his own, back exposed. Nylan, a short alien, yellow and green pinstriped, advanced on The Kid, attempting to lock eyes. The Kid could have dodged the glare, but instead embraced it, playing a rueful trick in return. He fixated the image of himself in Nylan's mind, and stepped aside, leaving Nylan to attack empty space. But The Kid's movement triggered the sensor of a Bomb Blastic which Chrysan Vortex, the female, pink and yellow alien, had brought into the arena. The discharge caught The Kid in the chest, dangerously close to the amulet hanging around his neck. Worse, this burst of movement and groaning broke the previous illusion The Kid had set. Nylan was on him again, coming at him with a foaming hand.
The Kid decided it was time for the fourth member of Team Diamond to swoop in and save the day. He rubbed the amulet to awaken the hibernating Doombringer, telling him that he was needed. The swirling dark mist inside spewed forth, solidifying into an ominous being. "I am the Doombringer. Those who see me meet death. Those who hear me know fear. Those who..." his rant was disturbed by an attacking Tramphyte. A Tramphyte is the smaller breed of a winged, wolf-like creature from the Outworlds called the Tramph. What this one lacked in size, it made up for with a cybernetically enhanced adrenaline-pumping, strength-amplifying suit, provided by Chrysan, who had given it to him when portaling him in.
The Doombringer was blindsided by the Tramphyte and was forced to the ground, where the beast continued to gnaw at him. The Kid meant to retreat the Doombringer into the amulet, to heal him, but the foaming hand he had forgotten about made skin contact through an open sore in his shirt, dropping him to his knees.
"Oiter yeah!" exclaimed Chrysan, swearing in the vulgar language of Blaunt. "Bite the gloin out of that jrell!"
She was caught off guard at the sound of the Bomb Blastic destroying itself while firing another shot.
Gail, burnt by the Bomb Blastic, torn by the hook, held herself and composed. Chrysan took a little pause and was working on another portal. Gail grit her teeth and summoned a wind. It was to be a five-point wind, forcing the opponents back, and moving her team to safety. But the wind was spread too thin. It irritated a few eyes, mussed The Kid's hair, and tickled the Tramphyte. The most it did, damage-wise, was stop the worpalite halfway out of the new portal, which closed on it, crushing it in two. "Zorvyt," exclaimed Chrysan. She opened up a new portal. Gail yelled intelligibly as she forced a concentrated wind on Chrysan, throwing her off and back, into the portal, which closed behind her. Not dead or hurt, but Chrysan was officially out of the match.
The Kid struggled against Nylan. He held in the pupils of his eyes the command to surrender. He had only to deliver it to the eyes of Nylan to force him out of the match, but Nylan's eyes were dodgy. Nylan brought his hand to his mouth and started salivating acidic juices. He leaned over The Kid, dripping. The Kid gave up his plans and focused on self-preservation. He held his hands over his face and braced against the shower. He endured it for as long as he could until finally giving up.
But before he quit, asking to be portaled out, the nearby Doombringer was wrestling with the Tramphyte without taking much damage. In the beast's final moments, it triggered a self-destruction sequence in its suit. The explosion caused the Doombringer to reel in pain, and he dashed into his amulet for a quick recovery. Inside the amulet, he left the arena with The Kid.
The opening and closing of two portals in rapid succession left an apparition of a wind. Gail jumped on it, commanded it, and shot it at Nylan. Nylan had been struck by inspiration, from where he did not know. He had an idea to give Gail a psi command so that she would surrender. He took the oncoming blast and all the hurt it brought, closed in on her, and gave the order. Gail begged to leave the arena and was granted her wish. Nylan, ruining a brilliant action with a slight oversight, swallowed. The bile used to torment The Kid now slid down his throat and burned him from the inside out. He too was taken out of the match.
This left only Captain Impressive and Kavorkian, locked weapon on the weapon, arm blade to hook, arm blade to the sword, eyes to eyes. As a joint thought, they each butted their head against the other; Captain Impressive's metal implants a satisfactory opponent to Kavorkian's solid, alien skull. Neither was the worse for it. This game of mercy had been struggling on since Gail had taken damage to get out of their way. It continued long after they had left.
"Not giving up," grunted Kavorkian.
"Not on your life," strained Captain Impressive. "Given our past together, I know I can force you down."
"Best hurry."
Time passed too quickly for these two remaining gladiators. There came a unison shout showering them. Numbers counting down the final seconds of the Stalemate Clock. "Has it been an hour already?" asked Captain Impressive.
"Time's fleeting," grinned Kavorkian, without wavering.
High above, among the VIPs, Lady Diamond turned her gaze away from the stagnate action, to the medical services being provided to the rest of her team. She was not concerned with them, though, as her attention was on the conversation behind her. "What do you think?" whispered Kashen.
"For this, you worried and brought us out here? Pshaw, I could take them alone. The little one is a one-trick magician, weak as a Bloater. The girl relies too heavily on the wind. The Captain is needlessly stubborn about his skills being his own. The Doombringer is the most worrisome, but now I know he's tied like an anchor to that little amulet, and killing The Kid leads to killing him. Your problem will be taken care of, I'm sure."
No one in the VIP area counted, but the seats shook at the synchronized, verbal arrows. "Magistrate Vellun," Lady Diamond said with the innocence of a five-year-old daughter, "When my team faces Kashen's, I think The Piztor Arena would be the perfect venue."
The numbers become smaller and fiercer. "That is an excellent idea, I have been looking for a crowd-gathering match to schedule for that arena. I'm afraid it will be closed down before the season is over."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
The numbers on the clock had run out. There was a tingling silence, and then a unison "awww" as the two gladiators were still locked in an endless battle of strength.
Next Issue: TO BE CONTINUED.
=========================================================================
GRAKKAN’S GAMES POST
Letters Page / Editorial
When I started writing Grakkan's Union Revised I inquired Chris Heffernan with a few questions in order to get to know more about the Grakkan Games Universe. And as we still haven’t got any letters our Editor Hugo Ferreira decided to start posting one more Q.& A.
Q: What are the stakes for this competition, what is it Kashen wants, and why does he seem to fear Dreena?
A: Dreena is simply trying to make a name for herself. Kashen was an opponent of Dreena's father and he fears she'll steal his thunder as her father did.
If you have any questions, comments, or any kind of feedback you can send it here to our letters page, the GRAKKAN’S GAMES POST. I hope to hear from you soon, but for now please enjoy this next chapter of Grakkan's Union.
-Andrew Powers
0 Comments