RP Smash [IC/Conditional Acceptance/PG-16]

[Alaina]

 

Having been excited from her victory in the event, Xia more so had her head in the clouds in joy then anything else as she was moving through the city. She didn't really pay attention to any of the things going around her, and she didn't seem to actually have a clear goal in mind, merely just walking about. It was at this point that the girl realized that the day was still young, and there was still many things to do. She didn't know who to see, though. She could've gone to hang out with her good friend Angela, but she hadn't seen or heard of her at all since her fight so she was probably busy. Aurora was also busy. The only person left on her arena friend's list would then be Aria. And while Xia would've liked to hang out with the girl...she had no idea where she was nor how to actually get into contact with her. So, Xia thought on it a bit more and remembered her friend from yesterday. While hanging out with Valerie was certainly fun, the latter didn't want to actually play tennis against her again until she got better. So, resolving to go play more tennis and learn the mystical arts of racket ball combat, Xia began to walk her way towards the sports stadium. 

 

As she got there, there currently seemed to be a large crowd of people gathered around the area. The girl briefly wondered if there was something exciting going on in the area right now, given the large crowd of people that seemed to be bustling around. As she moved in through the area, the girl looked around and saw that her good friend Aria was speaking with a man that she didn't recognize. As the two made their way away before the girl had managed to catch up with them, leaving her to simply follow which way they went. After getting to the clerks, wading through the ongoing chaos, the girl asked, "hey what's down that way!" When they told her it was the "Training Gyms," the girl's eyes lit up, thinking it to be great fun where they were going. 

 

With a thankful wave, the girl barreled her way through everyone else, not really caring about what was going on, until she had made her way into the training gym where Aria and the other person were. Seeing the raw display of combat prowess going on, the girl let a out, "ooooooh," and did a small applause. Looking to her friend, she gave a way saying, "hi Aria!" Looking to the other person she said, "hi man!" Looking back towards both of them she said, "are you guys fighting?" Her voice didn't at all sound concerned, more excited or curious then anything else. 

[VCR_CAT]

Aria

 

As Aria hung up her jacket and turned around, she was met with the sight of Adonis stripping off his top. She let out an anguished sigh and run her hand down her face. Why does everyone want to take their clothes off around me, jesus funking christ! She thought, already feeling the warmth rush to her cheeks.

 

"Is that really necessary? Don't you have a change room or like, some gym clothes or somethin-?" 

 

"hi Aria!" The blood drained from Aria's face all at once as she turned to see Xia standing at the doorway. "hi man!"

 

"Xia!" Aria exclaimed. "When did you- it's not what it looks like!"

 

"are you guys fighting?"

 

Aria let herself relax a bit. "...Or maybe it is what it looks like? Yeah, uuhhh I came here to do some training or whatever, because I don't... really know how to fight that well. Are you here for that too?"

[ChampionZero]

Elijah pondered this for a few moments before coming to a decision. "I'd say a dozen'll do. And, your attitude just now makes me think you've got the wrong idea; I think I almost killed her in a fight —our job involves fighting— and I just want her to know I wasn't actually trying to hurt her." He leaned on the nearest stable object and sighed.

 

"Man, this all happened so fast. I know nothing's going to change back home because of it, but being abducted to fight in another dimension? As much of a wild ride as this is, I feel like my employer's selection process leaves much to be desired." Elijah threw his hands up in frustration.

 

"I mean for Christ's sake there a DEMON on the roster! An honest-to-god DEMON, and he's a scary mofo too. sheet, the worst enemy I've had to face before yesterday was a politician with a ridiculously unfounded grudge and his psycho daughter-- great story behind that but still, talk about rhyming drama with trauma."

[Alaina]

 

Xia hadn't noticed Aria's flustered attitude at all, instead looking in awe at what it was that Aria had described. "Training, whoa." The girl hadn't ever thought of fighting as something one was "good" at, merely something one did for

fun. She hadn't ever considered that it could be something one got better at, or that Aria would need to at that. Maybe she was bad at having fun. While the girl thought on this, she then merely shook her head at Aria's question saying, "oh, no, see. I was kind of bored and lonely and didn't know what to do, but then I saw you, and him, and then I was like, 'oh hey, hanging out with Aria would be fun,' but then you left before I caught up so I decided to go after you and see what you were doing since I thought it'd be fun. And now I'm here!" She then pointed over to the man she was with saying, "so is he your friend too? Is he also bad at fighting?"

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Aria and Xia

 

Adonis didn't seem disturbed by the girl coming in and interrupting his lesson. In fact all it caused him to do was flex more, this time with some gruff grunts to make sure they still noticed him, as they were currently having a conversation going. He didn't speak up, however, until one moment.

 

"so is he your friend too? Is he also bad at fighting?"

 

"Bad at fighting? Me? Not at all little lady!" Adonis said, barging into the conversation and standing mere inches from the pair. "I'm an expert, a teacher, I would say I'm the strongest guy around! My strength is legendary! If you want, I could include you in the lesson, perhaps you can learn a thing or two!"

---

Elijah

 

The man behind the counter listened to Elijah's words silently, though his eyebrows, which Elijah might notice were also pink, raised higher and higher as he went on. "Well that's quite the stor...Oh. My. Gosh. You're one of them, one of those fighter types, you're basically a celebrity! Well, not as much as the Plants but, who is am I right?" He laughed at his own words for several moments before clearing his throat. "Anywho, it sounds like you're having a rough time. Can't say I expected that." Elijah would hear him mutter to himself, barely picking up a few words such as "forum will love to hear this" before he whistled for the wolf. After giving it some instructions the animal moved about and gathered up the flowers that Elijah had asked for. "That'll be 4 points Mr. Fighter Man." The cashier said with a wink.

[👀 REP 👀]

 

---

 

"If you wanna live the stereotype don't let me stop you." Cyanthrax scoffed, taking a final bite off of his steak. Odine got up from her seat, presumingly to get more food. While she was away, small fairy-like girls showed up to take her empty plates away. He tossed his empty meat plate on top of Odine's plates for the fairies to pick up, before starting on his desert plate. As they were leaving, Odine returned with another plate full of food. "Don't tell me you're only eating that much, it's all you can eat, you're supposed to keep going till you're about to burst." It was almost scary how much this girl could eat. He glanced down towards his mostly empty plates. Granted, he could eat his fair share but he was also a demon; she was, as far as he knew, just a human.

"O-Of course not!" He barked at her, grabbing one of his sweet rolls and eating half of it in one bite. Truth be told, he wasn't really all that hungry for a second plate. He gulped down the chunk of sweets in his mouth. "I'll be right back!" Hastily, he got up, leaving his plate of deserts half-finished before marching towards where the meat was. Not really paying attention, he grabbed whatever meat looked appetizing without checking what they were. If nothing were to interrupt him on his way back, he would sit down at the table with his new plate, which would be notably smaller than the one he had gotten when he first got here.

[VCR_CAT]

Aria

 

"oh, no, see. I was kind of bored and lonely and didn't know what to do, but then I saw you, and him, and then I was like, 'oh hey, hanging out with Aria would be fun,' but then you left before I caught up so I decided to go after you and see what you were doing since I thought it'd be fun. And now I'm here!" Xia then pointed over to the man she was with saying, "so is he your friend too? Is he also bad at fighting?"

 

"I dunno, I jus-" Aria started, until...

 

"Bad at fighting? Me? Not at all little lady!" Adonis said, barging into the conversation and standing mere inches from the pair. "I'm an expert, a teacher, I would say I'm the strongest guy around! My strength is legendary! If you want, I could include you in the lesson, perhaps you can learn a thing or two!"

 

Aria sighed as she approached the ring. "The real expert dude or whoever it was is out of the day, so it's just this guy here. I figured if he at least could teach the basics it'd be better than nothing."

[Yui]

---

3:00PM

Points: 117

W/L Record: 1/1

"There's a basement level but...no one is allowed down there but the staff. Can't exactly let anyone who says they're helping the police just wander in it....Hey what are you doing here, anyway? You don't seem sick, and you're not visiting anyone if you're trying to get into the basement..."

 

"Ah, well I was visiting someone - one of the Arena fighters - but I finished up with that and now I'm trying to do a bit of investigating. Which... I'm not really the best at. Man, I must sound really suspicious right now. Sorry." Aurora imagined she wouldn't be getting much out of this guy. She tried, with some degree of success, to put herself in the nurse's shoes. His job was probably tough, and then out of nowhere some random girl asks for access to the basement? The more Aurora thought about it, the more she concluded she definitely sounded suspicious.

 

"Thanks for your time regardless," Aurora said, giving the nurse a friendly wave as she went on her way. There was always the possibility of just breaking into the basement herself somehow... but that seemed like a terrible idea. Heroes didn't do that, and there were bound to be cameras that would catch her in the act. She'd get in trouble for that sort of thing. A different course of action was necessary.

---

[ChampionZero]

He smiled at the cashier's recognition of him. "Oh, you're a fan of the arena fights? Well, it's good to know my commercials are doing their job. Snagging a few watchful eyes." Upon hearing something else he said, he collected his flowers and glanced at the "Plants In Pants" thing that was going on.

 

"The Plants? They some kind of boy band, consisting of plant-based people that don't normally wear clothes, hence the whole 'in pants' gimmick?" As he spoke, he shuddered to recall the last boy band he had to deal with.

 

Not eager to relive that memory anytime soon, he thought, paying for the flowers.

[Alaina]

 

Xia wasn't sure why the man sounded incredibly uncomfortable while seeming to contort his body all around, but seemed excited by his words all the same. "Legendary strength? Whoa! That sounds so cool!" Xia then looked towards Aria saying, "so there's someone even more legendary then? That sounds even more awesome." The girl then seemed to think on what else Aria said, and clapped her hands together. "Well, I've never heard of these "basics" things, but fighting is super fun, and it probably gets even more fun when you learn this stuff right? So, would you mind if joined you two to for this?"

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Cyanthrax

 

As Cyanthrax made his way back from getting his food he'd hear a crash. If he were to look over he'd see the fairies from before hastily trying to pick up large, to them, shards of glass. As they did a man, an employee, came up to them and began to shout at the pair.

 

When Cyan got back to the table he'd notice that Odine had gotten, and eaten, another plate of food. She smirked at the size of the pile of food on Cyan's plate. "Thanks, I needed a bit more to top it off." She said and swiped a bit of the food. While chewing she pointed at Cyan with her fork. "You weren't planning on eating that right?"

 

As they sat one of the two fairies, looking haggard and close to tears, came by to collect Odine's plate, slowly and carefully, with obvious trouble, taking it away.

---

Aria and Xia

 

Adonis, who had been flexing while the girls talked. He didn't seem to notice the slight on his ability that Aria gave, so focused on flexing was he. When Xia asked to join, however, he let out a hardy laugh. "Aha, very well, I can teach both of you with my hands tied behind my back!" He clapped Xia on the back, hard. Or rather what he thought was hard. For the girl it wasn't much at all and Adonis quickly tried to hide that the smack had hurt his hand more than her.

 

He went into the ring, standing beside a training dummy shaped like a man, made out of some kind of gel, and attached to the ceiling with a rope, and stood before the two, posing for a few moments, and giving commands to what was apparently a light system to get a spotlight shined on him. "Now watch closely as I show you a few of my most dangerous moves."

 

Adonis then proceeded to show them some extremely basic fighting techniques. He took a long time to do them because after every movement he made sure they were watching his muscles and would explain why he was an expert. If he weren't interrupted he'd spent thirty minutes showing just these few basic techniques to the girls.

 

"Of course, it's better to practice on a person, but I wouldn't want to hurt either of you."

---

Elijah

 

"I have never met a single person who didn't know the Plants, goodness boy do you live under a rock? But yes, that's about right. Though you fail to mention how undeniably dreamy they are." The man seemed to go into a daydream for a moment before shaking his head. "They're very popular with young women. Maybe your...friend might like to go see them with you sometime." The man said, barely hinting not at all subtly. "Well anyway, here you go dear, best get these flowers over there before it gets too dark out. I hear there's some dangerous folk these days."

[Tesability Black]

"All you'll need to know. Please enjoy."

With a lot of care to not bite through or accidentally salivate on it, she held the book in her maw by the binding before taking it out of the girl's hands, managing a "Fan kyu" around the book before moving away with it in muzzle. Watching the signs after remembering the librarian scolding her about the procedures for the place being on the walls, she finally found the one regarding taking the books out of here without getting into trouble.

Soon after getting the book checked out with due haste, due to the librarian wanting her scaly hide out of her building for the time being, she flew with haste back to her room, the door unlocking as she approached before she pulled down on the lever that was her door handle.

Putting the book on the bed, she hopped up onto the bed to open the book with a careful claw...then after a minute or two of reading remembered something she had wanted to do.

"SHUT!" she shouted as she remembered the computer tower she borrowed during the radio thing earlier that day. Turning around on the bed, she looked around to see what looked like a single two-plug outlet in the wall.

Letting out a whine as the book was likely to put her out from boredom outside of a digitized medium and realizing she would have to get the computer tomorrow, she sighed before returning to the book she had open.

Lo and behold, it did not take long for the NetMonster to begin snoring...

[👀 REP 👀]

 

---

 

"Thanks, I needed a bit more to top it off." She said and swiped a bit of the food. This caught the demon off guard, infuriating him. "You weren't planning on eating that right?" His eyes started to flare up in anger as he clenched his fist. Granted, he wasn't particularly hungry but imagine if he was! He took a deep breath.
 
"Don't test me, women!" He barked, before slouching in his seat a bit. "You're lucky I'm not that hungry..." He scoffed, turning his head towards the fairy. It was clearly struggling to take the plates to where they needed to go. Why even hire tiny fairies to do that? The plate itself looked almost as big as the fairy. With an annoyed sigh, he got up from his seat, walking up to the fairy. "Gimmi that!" Without asking, he swiped the plate out of her hand, giving a menacing glare to the fairy. "Where the fu​ck is this suppose to go?" He demanded angrily at it.
 
She looks terrified, staring at the plate. "I need to return it to the kitchen. Please sir, give it back." He paused for a second, furrowing his brows together. He took a deep breath before turning to the fairy.
 
"Please, at this rate you're going to drop the damn thing!" He said, more annoyed than angry now.  "Just tell me where the kitchen is, I'll return it. You stick to something that's more your size." 
 
"N-no! I can't let you do that, sir." She squeaked, looking nervously from Cyanthrax to the man from before, who was currently talking to another customer. As this went on, Odine got out of her seat and was watching the exchange with a neutral expression. It was pretty clear that she intended on taking this plate to the kitchen.
 
"You want the damn plate that bad?" He let out an annoyed sigh, before crouching down to the fairies level. He handed the plate towards her with both hands. "Fine, take it." His voice was uncharacteristically low, although it was more of a hiss rather than a whisper. "I don't know what you're so damn afraid of, but whatever. Next time bring your fairy friend, alright?" She thanked him and, without looking at him, went back to returning the plate. He returned to his seat, turning to Odine. "Why the fu​ck are they hiring tiny fairies to move plates around? Damn things are almost as big as they are!"
 
Odine, who was still standing, cocked her head to the side. "They Fey are a servile race. They work these kind of jobs in almost every larger business or building." She said it like it was nothing. An entire race forced to slavery? This was all sounding too familiar.
 
"Servile race..." he said, disgust in his voice. He turned away from Odine, shaking his head in rage. "Sometimes you humans act just like us." The only thing he could think about were the Holy Knights as he took in Odine's words. 
 
"Hey I don't hire em." The girl's words brought his attention back to the table. "It's been like that on this planet since...since it existed, far as I can tell. Apparently they've always been this way." She looked back at the Fey as it entered the kitchen. "It's kind of odd how no one gives it second thought. Sometimes people from off-world talk about becoming an activist, but that never lasts long." 
 
"Humans being spineless..." He turned to Odine. "Never heard that one before!" He said mockingly, before turning back to the kitchen. "Do they at least get paid for this shi​t?"
 
"Probably, I don't pay attention to the economy here. Can't imagine even they would let it slide if they did this for free. They've got magic, ya know. Don't use it for work much, probably risky or something, but all of em are magical." She narrowed her eyes. "Why so interested?"
 
"Why?!" He almost felt offended that she had the gall to ask him that. He gave a look of anger at Odine, shooting straight up from his seat. "You tellin' me you can stand here while these goddamn as​sholes exploit an entire race of weaklings?" He shook his head, his gaze lightening up. "This is the kind of sh​it we tried to prevent for fu​cks sakes!" He shouted to no on in particular.
 
"I don't even live here. You expect me to spend my life fixing some inequality on one of dozens of planets I'll visit?" Odine shrugged. "Maybe it's different for someone who didn't even know other planets existed but for me it's just a drop in the bucket." 
 
Her words calmed down the demon, although the thought was rather depressing. This one planet... thing... was already huge enough, let alone the one where the arena is in. The thought that sh​it like this was going around in a bunch of places that he didn't even know about... "More sh​it like this happens in other... 'planets'..." He let out an angry sigh before returning to his seat. It had been a while since he felt so insignificant. "I guess you're right... maybe... " His face was a bit more somber, although very clearly still angry. He turns to Odine. "To be honest, I don't think I fully understand this planet cr​ap..." He turned to the only plate in front of him, which had a sweet bun. He pushed it away from him in disgust. Any form of appetite he had is long gone.
 
Odine scooped up the bun and began to eat it. "You're different than I expected." She said, without elaborating. 
 
He scoffed "You're not." He put his feet on the table, not thinking much of either her nor his words. He leaned back a bit, still thinking about the words they had just said.
 
There was a flash of something in Odine's eye, and she laughed humorlessly at his statement. The flash went completely over the demons head. She smirked, returning to normal. "What can I say, I'm a simple gal." She checked the time and whistled. "The day slipped away on us, and I still got sh​it to take care of. Need a lift back to your mama Mauvache's house?"
 
"You ask like I got a choice"
 
"You could always walk, might do you some good, think you gained a few pounds from all that food." She said, hands behind her head as she walked backwards towards the door.
 
"Good one." He responded humorlessly, following her.
 
They left the buffet, Odine now facing forward, face and expression impossible for Cyan to see. It was, while there were still the background noises of the machines, oddly silent as they made their way towards the building's exit. The silence continued on the trip back to the arena. Cyanthrax didn't feel like talking, or saying much of anything. He was still trying to wrap his mind about what he had just experienced today. Even he knew he couldn't fix all the abuse in the different planets, and yet the thought of abusing the Fey filled him with rage.

[Alaina]

 

Xia seemed to be quite excited that the man was willing to teach them both the basics of fighting. She watched on as the demonstration was going on, a bit unsure why the man seemed to be moving so slowly each time. However, she was no teacher, so she wasn't about to judge the man's teaching process. When all was said and done, despite watching on intently, the girl wasn't actually sure that she learned anything. All the same, when it came to practicing, the girl said, "aw really?" She figured that the strong man would probably be a good person to practice on, but if he was too strong, then it probably wouldn't do good for them  So instead, she turned towards her partner saying, "so Aria, do you want to practice with me instead?" 

[VCR_CAT]

Aria

 

"Aha, very well, I can teach both of you with my hands tied behind my back!" Adonis proclaimed loudly. Aria let out a sigh, wondering if she made a mistake coming here at this time. Adonis stepped into the ring and continued to flex as a spotlight shone on him. "Now watch closely as I show you a few of my most dangerous moves." The fighter proceeded to display basic techniques, and despite the practiced and sharp form of his technique, it was marred by the time he was taking to make sure his muscles were being amply shown off with each movement. "Of course, it's better to practice on a person, but I wouldn't want to hurt either of you." Aria did her best to not only follow the movements, but to translate the moves without the added flexing and showing off; a challenge in and of itself.

 

"so Aria, do you want to practice with me instead?" Xia spoke up. Aria paused from her practice movements, and thought for a moment, but her own inner debate was immediately settled as she glanced over at Adonis flexing once more.

 

"Yeah, that sounds good to me. I need to get a hang of this stuff as soon as I can, so might as well," Aria replied with a nervous laugh from the practice dummy she was working with.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Cyanthrax

 

It was dark when Odine landed outside of the arena. There were no longer many people wandering around outside and Cyanthrax would be able to enter without any trouble. Though it wouldn't be long before the arena was closed and he'd need to head to the apartments or leave.

 

Odine leaned back in her seat and rolled her head in Cyan's direction. "Look at that, I got you home in one piece. And before curfew even, I'm sure Mauvache will be proud." There was still a teasing, though heavily sarcastic, tone. She looked away from the demon. "Hope you're not expecting anything more, up you get. Thanks for making the day...interesting."

She waved at him. "Maybe another time. You'll know where to find me I'm sure. I'll be wherever your liver doesn't want to be." She glanced at the demon. "The liver doesn't like alcohol, I'm saying. No idea what they taught you back in the stone ages."

---

Xia and Aria

 

Adonis flexed once more. "That's a good idea! I'm far above your level but two beginners sparing should not be a problem. Especially little ladies such as yourself! If you need any more instruction, or if you cannot remember my complex moves, I'll be right over there." Still flexing, Adonis twisted his wrist to point at some weight benches.

 

He went over to one and began to curl a pair of dumbbells. Moving with exaggerated motions and sounds. Clearly trying to make sure they would notice him lifting weights.

 

The ring was now empty bar for the two young women. Adonis wouldn't say more unless spoken to as he kept getting distracted by seeing himself in a nearby mirror.

 

As they practiced they'd notice a small, winged, girl enter. She was covered in soot but was carrying cleaning equipment and was going from machine to machine to make sure they were in good condition.

[spoiler=OOC]This is to all of you. Try and contact me/and or each other to get through this stuff without taking too long. This isn't a good place to get stuck on so feel free to talk. Skaia, Drew, keep me updated as you do things in case something would happen while Xia and Aria interact.

 

[Alaina]

 

"Yay!" The dragon girl exclaimed in happiness as her friend agreed to the sparring. With the strange man getting out of the ring, Xia and Aria had made their way in, standing at opposite sides. The girl looked her, now, opponent with a cheery smile, though seemed to be a bit confused as well. "Um, I've never done this whole, "practicing" thing before, so sorry if I do it wrong or something. But, here I come." The girl seemed to be pumping herself up, trying to remember what it was she was even taught. However, as nothing seemed unique about what the man from before was doing, the only thing she could think to do was flex her arm, and make strange grunting noises. With that, out of the way, the girl shrugged, not trying to think about what to do anymore, before making her way over to Aria and letting loose a single punch towards her. Xia was also not familiar with the concept of "holding back."

[VCR_CAT]

Aria
 
"That's a good idea! I'm far above your level but two beginners sparing should not be a problem. Especially little ladies such as yourself! If you need any more instruction, or if you cannot remember my complex moves, I'll be right over there." Adonis boasted. Aria stopped in her tracks, frozen for a moment, and turned to face Adonis with a face lit with a fierce, seething rage.
 
"Okay, FIRST OF ALL, I'm not. LITTLE. Okay? Just because you're taller than me doesn't mean you get to go around calling people short, ESPECIALLY women, just because! Second of all--!" Aria had started to rant, when she overheard Xia next to her and had almost forgotten about the practice.
 
"Um, I've never done this whole, "practicing" thing before, so sorry if I do it wrong or something. But, here I come."

 

Everything happened in slow motion for Aria as she watched Xia's fist move towards her own head, but she was powerless to do anything about it. Xia's fist, driving by a shaft of rippling, dragon muscle, impacted strongly against Aria's body, shockwaves rippling along her flesh. In an instant, Aria's body shot outward, as if propelled by some invisible cannon, and impacted strongly against the far wall, cracks spider-webbing from her position. Slowly, Aria slid down the wall and slumped to the ground, a low groan escaping her lips.

 

Something told Aria, in her barely conscious brain, that she might need to call practice for a day.

[Alaina]

 

As Xia had managed to launch Aria out of the ring, the girl looked confused as the girl struck the wall. Not so much that she was surprised at the result, but more so that she hadn't the faintest idea of what was supposed to happen next. As she looked to Aria to see what the girl was going to do next, the answered appeared to be...nothing. As her opponent didn't get back up, she said, "did I win? I think I won." As she realized that she had "won" at practicing, the girl hopped up a bit in excitement saying, "man, this practicing thing sure is fun. Don't you think Aria- oh," she looked as her friend seemed to be pretty groggy, just sitting on the ground. Walking over to her, the girl said, "now I know the floor can be really comfy, but it's no place to sleep. Don't worry, I'll help you out!" Picking the girl up, she looked to the man and said, "bye Mr. Man!" Looking to the side to see some newcomer she said, "bye Ms. Wings!" And with that, the girl marched away from the sports center, Aria in tow, as they made their way back to the apartments. Dropping the girl off, she bid Aria goodnight before going back to her own bed and deciding to rest up for the rest of the night. 

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

 

Mauvache let out a sigh. She had just finished a long and frustrating conversation with one of her fighters. Caleb. The dog was feeling uncomfortable with his role in all this. He didn't want to fight anymore and Mauvache knew trying to force him at this point would only result in issues. Thankfully she had a couple other fighters prepared and, while it would be a bit of a rush job, she could do it.

 

Unfortunately for Caleb she couldn't so easily send him home just because he asked but, for now, she was able to line him up with a job he was familiar with. Night security at the mall.

 

With that taken care of Mauvache prepared for the magic she was about to do....

---

Dawn of the third day (Thursday)

 

Each of the Fighters, barring Angela, would wake up in their rooms without any knowledge that a shift in the roster had happened. Angela would awake early in the morning and, after being given the medicine she needed, and being talked to by the doctor, she was sent on her way before 10 AM.

 

And at 10 each of the Fighters would receive a message.

 

"Attention. Due to unexpected circumstances Caleb has stepped down from the Arena. I urge you all too not follow his path, as it is a difficult one, but respect his decision. We have a new face to take his place. Please come to the Virtual Battlefield room A to meet with the new Fighter!"

 

Those that met up in front of the room would notice it locked. Until exactly 10 AM when the door would open and they'd walk in to see a brown haired man, looking somewhat out of sorts, wearing what seemed to be a fairly old jacket.

 

Mauvache's face was on a large screen in the middle of the room, above the man. "Hello, everyone, I am pleased to introduce you to a rather talented young man. This is Gavin, Gavin, these are your coworkers. I hope you all get along famously. Now if you excuse me I need to make a rush announcement so the fans know what is happening." With that the screen went black and the Fighters would be left to their own devices.

[ChampionZero]

Elijah nodded. "'Undeniably dreamy', huh? Eh, I could get behind that. Literally or figuratively." He gave the cashier a salute and made for the door. "Thanks for your help!"

 

As he left the shop, he ran a hand through his hair and groaned, "Why do I do this to myself." The map told him that the hospital could definitely have been closer, and as the man had said, it was getting dark. If he wanted to stay on Mauvache's good side, he'd have to make it back before lights out.

 

The trip to the hospital turned out to be less than eventful, as Angela was in Intensive Care and couldn't be visited.

 

"OK, well, send these to her whenever it's safe and have someone tell her that I'm sorry about how our match went. She'll get it."

 

"If you want we can update you when your girlfriend gets out, you can come pick her up even."

 

"Oh, really? That would be great, thank you! Oh, but uh, we're... nevermind."

 

...and that was all.

 

***

 

The Next Morning...

 

Elijah had slept poorly, awoken almost half an hour late, he'd gotten some of those corn-dog things before he could stop himself (-3 points) and as a result, decided to book his Commercial appointment for 10:30 instead. And it was fortunate that he did, because Mauvache's alert caught him in the shower. He wasn't happy, but he followed the given instructions nonetheless.

 

Elijah stepped forward to the newcomer and held out a hand. "Gavin. Nice to meet you, I'm Elijah.  Uh... welcome to the Arena I suppose.I've got a commercial shoot in thirty minutes, so I gotta go, but feel free to contact me if you've got questions." 

 

And with that, he was off.

[Super Chaos Sonic]

 

 

-The Past: The Day Prior-

 

-BGM-

 

The night sky was filled with stars, most twinkling and sparkling in the night like a precious gemstone, but others streaked across the darkness of the sky as they made a beautiful spectacle. However, on a small cliff ledge, a young man stood, watching as a mid-class starship known only as the Glory 7 was preparing to leave the planet's atmosphere. The Glory 7...bound to venture off through the stars of the Milky Way. That was his one way ticket off this rock...

 

"Gavin? You're spacing out."

 

Gavin tore his eyes away from the ship and looked down at his MOVA and looked down at a holographic projection staring at him. He let out a sigh before smiling. "Sorry VEX. Guess I'm thinking about that whole race again. That and...my one ticket off this planet is now leaving right in front of me."

 

VEX nodded. "This is true. However, the race was out of your hands, Gavin. You were favored to win, with a ratio of 100%. Unfortunately, I did not anticipate and run the data in regards of an EMP. That part is my own fault."

 

"It's fine VEX. It wasn't your fault." Gavin sighed, looking from the AI hologram before glancing back at the ship. "VEX...what are the odds of another vessel heading out to venture around the galaxy?"

 

"Truthfully? Unfortunately, the odds of this occurring are 1.5%." VEX simply said. "But that is being generous with some rounding."

 

"I don't know why I even asked..." Gavin sighed, shaking his head as he turned away from the cliff-side ledge and began to take make his stride homeward. Guess this pilot is fated to stay here on this rock forever. he thought, silently praying to whatever divine power there was that a miracle would happen.

 

 

-Present Day: Minutes Before Entering Room A-

 

That miracle he prayed for did come...but in the strangest manner. Gavin awoke from his slumber of the night, before sitting up and finding that his surroundings were not of ones he recognized. He moved up quickly and took in his surroundings. Something was off...this wasn't his room...this wasn't anything he was familiar with.

 

"VEX, rise and shine. I need you, pronto." Gavin said a bit anxious, unsure of his surroundings.

 

"I'm here Gavin. Currently running a diagnostic on our location as we speak." VEX said, his hologram appearance springing to life from Gavin's MOVA. "I am unaware of the location, however I can say without a doubt, that we aren't on Earth anymore."

 

Not...on Earth? Gavin thought, looking around in his surroundings as he kept on guard. Where...am I then?

 

-BGM-

 

Suddenly a face appeared on a screen that brightened the darkened room he was in. Gavin jumped back a bit, slightly surprised at this but only watched and listened to this figure in the top hat.

 

"Welcome to Rama-Indri. My name is Mauvache and you are currently standing inside of my Arena.”

 

"Rama-Indri?"

 

“You are now in the city of Prana, on the planet Rama-Indri. You might be confused by the latter bit. You see, Existence is made up of many, thousands and thousands, of worlds. You have been brought to one very unlike your own. In fact...It’s not even the same universe!”

 

To Gavin, this wasn't a huge stretch for him. Another planet, it wasn't too far fetched. After all, they had been colonizing moons, so there being a planet that can sustain life isn't a stretch. However... Not the same universe?

 

“I have brought you here, to a world craving entertainment, to partake in a wondrous endeavor. You have been handpicked by me to compete in my Arena. The battlefields, which you are standing on by the way, will be entirely virtual. This is to keep you from coming to harm. After all we want to entertain, not maim. You will fight against each other in many unique battlefields and earn points. You can use these posts for almost everything here. Food, housing, entertainment, and, if you gain enough, even a Wish from me. Any who doubt my ability to grant such a thing...well, I brought you here, didn’t I? Of course I cannot force you to fight. But, if you don’t, you’ll find it hard to do much of anything here. I’m afraid you’re stuck here for the time being but worry not, you shall, at the right time and place, be sent right back where you belong. So while you’re here, why not have yourself an adventure? Perhaps you’ll even strike it rich!”

 

Gavin was deathly silent for quite a bit as this Mauvache spoke and explained things to him. He was on a new world...in a new universe, or something like that, for basically fighting. While this was bad for him in a manner of speaking, one thing was for certain: he was off that rock of was stuck on and possibly doomed to. Even without the Glory 7, he was now somewhere new. And then there was even the chance of striking it rich, almost just like he was hoping to have working on the starship.

 

"Gavin. Are you thinking about this individual's proposal?" VEX asked with a bit of concern in his voice. "The odds of this person being someone we can trust are exceedingly low."

 

"Given the situation so far...do we really have a choice?" Gavin asked, shaking his head. "Alright. Mauvache, was it? I suppose I'm in, but only for a couple of reasons. One: you pretty much answered my prayer of getting off that rock. And second: striking it rich may just be the thing that will help me out, if I can't strike it rich exploring the Milky Way on the Glory-7."

 

“Very well. You have attached to you a watch. This will allow you to communicate, send mail, though you will only be able to send each other challenge requests, tell the time, and keep track of your points.”

 

Sure enough, there was a watch on his right wrist was a watch. And before Gavin could say anything, he noticed it had an e-mail on it and he felt something was being uploaded straight into his mind. He groaned a bit and held his head, shaking it before understanding what the e-mail said.

 

“Now, if you'll please make your way to the Virtual Battlefield Room A. We must introduce you to your co-workers.”

 

Gavin watched the image of the top hat individual fade, as he heard VEX speak. "I don't trust that individual. It makes my processors stand up on end."

 

"I know what you mean. But what else can we do?" Gavin shrugged, before walking out the door that was presented to him.

 

 

-Present Day/Present Time: 10 AM - Room A-

 

-BGM-

 

"Hello, everyone, I am pleased to introduce you to a rather talented young man. This is Gavin, Gavin, these are your coworkers. I hope you all get along famously. Now if you excuse me I need to make a rush announcement so the fans know what is happening."

 

Gavin stood in the room, his hands in his pockets, looking over the group that was presented here. Clearly, he wasn't on Earth anymore. These individuals, at least some, were humanoid, whilst else were humanoid in appearance, and others were just straight monsters. He prepared to speak, but someone else moved and spoke and held out a hand.

 

"Gavin. Nice to meet you, I'm Elijah.  Uh... welcome to the Arena I suppose.I've got a commercial shoot in thirty minutes, so I gotta go, but feel free to contact me if you've got questions."

 

"Um...likewise." Gavin said, shaking Elijah's hand before seeing him head off. "I suppose he's a busy body. Um, well then. Anyway, I'm Gavin Shepherd. I suppose I'm the new guy in this little thing. It's nice to meet you all."

[Tesability Black]

~Dawn of the Third Day~

 

Beep beep. Beep beep. Beep beep.

The NetMonster, who had been drooling dangerously close to the book in front of her, stirred at the beeping-at-8AM watch near one of her paws, yawning before getting up onto all four paws. Shaking like a dog to wake herself up, Tesability looked down at the book in front of her and found her eyes becoming literal spirals as she tried to look over the information again.

"Tu mush rewl," she whined, before the reminders and starting information for the day began to file in.

 

Reminder  - Photo Shoot for the Arena must be done within the next four days. Point Reward: 20 Points.

 

She tilted her head at that before putting a paw to muzzle. "Mow pint fo' fudsh be gudsh," she mused to herself before hopping off the bed, leaving the open book on the bed before lifting one side up with the tip of her snout and flicked it up to close the library book.

 

With a pain that felt out of place from what she normally felt, the reading she was made to do during the interview with...Julian, was it? gave her the knowledge needed to recognize what was happening.

 

The next thing anything knew, there was a quite-literal streak of lightning inside the building making its way to the ladies' restroom...

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

After the dash to the toilet and getting herself bathed and scrubbed with some of the workers willing to help her out since she couldn't get everywhere she wanted to herself, she began to take flight, flying low to avoid being in trouble and staying closer to the people bound to the ground while moving at quite the leisurely pace for herself. She wasn't exactly sure where this 'Photo Shoot' person was, but she figured she'd find it in due time.

 

After two hours of exploring, failing to find the person she was looking for, and finding the place that she got the chicken sub ordered by Jullian from yesterday from along with a drink in the form of something fizzy, sweet and clear (-10), a message finally came to her watch, with it becoming heard in her head.

"Attention. Due to unexpected circumstances Caleb has stepped down from the Arena. I urge you all too not follow his path, as it is a difficult one, but respect his decision. We have a new face to take his place. Please come to the Virtual Battlefield room A to meet with the new Fighter!"

 

Tesability gulped. "Dids Ai huwts 'im dat bads," she mused to herself with a straw in mouth before removing the lid of her fizzy drink and downing it as she began flapping her wings and flying back towards the Arena...

 

~~~~~

 

She was not the first to see the newest stranger in the Arena, in fact, one other beat her to it. What she caught of her commercials and in accidental peeks she got of his matches by people posting recordings on this place's Internet during certain forms of travel to get from to and fro, the one that beat her was the one that seemed to be many people at once.

 

What was the name...Elijah? Shaking the spinny eyes that began to form over her eyes from her head as a headache began to brew, she pawed up towards the new person just as the one she was trying to remember the name of zipped past her. He wasn't very fast, but the act did throw her for a moment, causing her to forget why she was there.

 

Then a literal lightbulb appeared for a split-moment over her head as she remembered why she was there and pointed her attention and snout back towards the newcomer. "Hai! I'sh Teshabiwity Bwacks," she managed with a smile on her muzzle, looking up towards the new person from the height of a dog. As she spoke, the newcomer's watch would echo her words, but without the speech impairment in them. "Wha'sh yowr naims?"

[👀 REP 👀]

 

---

 

It was dark when they arrived back at the arena. "Look at that, I got you home in one piece. And before curfew even, I'm sure Mauvache will be proud." She remarked sarcastically; the demon simply scoffing at her. He had spent most of the trip thinking about the situation with the Fey. "Hope you're not expecting anything more, up you get. Thanks for making the day...interesting." 

 

"Likewise." He responded bluntly, getting up from his seat. 

 

"Maybe another time. You'll know where to find me I'm sure. I'll be wherever your liver doesn't want to be." She glanced at the demon. "The liver doesn't like alcohol, I'm saying. No idea what they taught you back in the stone ages."

 

"Maybe your liver. Mine doesn't have that problem." He snickered slightly, waving at the bounty hunter as he exited her ship. Landing on the ground, he made his way towards the apartment buildings uninterrupted. Sleeping was a bit difficult at first, his mind still thinking about the Fey, but eventually he managed to rest.

 

---

 

The next day he did what he had done the previous two days; going to the bar to get a meal with a drink. He didn't talk all that much, his mind still lingering on the events that had happened yesterday. Breaking his train of thought, however, was an alert on his watch. It was something about a new guy joining the crew, and someone leaving for... whatever reason. "Fresh blood, eh? This could be interesting..." He shrugged, getting off of his chair and making his way to the Arena.

 

When he got there, the doors were open. Some of the other combatants had already made their way to the Arena; he even saw Eli head out as Cyan made his way in. He seemed busy, and Cyan had no real reason to stop him - there were more pressing matters at hand. The new kid introduced himself as Gavin, as the small dragon walked up to him and introduced herself. Gavin didn't strike Cyan as much of anything, although if his last two fights had taught him anything is that these kids were deceptively strong. He decided to sit back and observe the others introduce themselves.

[Yui]

---

Day 3, 10:00AM, The Arena

Points: 112

W/L Record: 1/1

These aren't that bad really. Not really any taste to them, but it beats starving. Nice and minimalist... maybe I'll try upgrading tomorrow, actually. As Aurora took down the last few bites of her simple and bland meal, her watch beeped. She knew what that sound meant! It meant she'd have to check out what was going on. Aurora checked, to find it was an announcement form Mauvache! That meant it had to be important.

 

Attention. Due to unexpected circumstances Caleb has stepped down from the Arena. I urge you all too not follow his path, as it is a difficult one, but respect his decision. We have a new face to take his place. Please come to the Virtual Battlefield room A to meet with the new Fighter!

 

Awww. Now we'll never get that rematch. Aurora was a bit upset with learning that Caleb had stepped down. He was her first opponent here, and had it not been such a recent fight, Aurora would want to say she remembered it like it was yesterday. At the same time, that was his decision. Respecting others and their choices was important, unless those choices involved doing villainous deeds. As long as he wasn't hurting anyone, Aurora would have to accept that that was what Caleb wanted, and if that meant never getting her rematch, so be it. Why was she so fixated on fighting Caleb again anyway, when there were plenty of other people to fight? Everyone that she hadn't fought yet, plus that newcomer... it was probably better to fight everyone before becoming fixated on having a rematch with any one person.

 

If I can beat most of them, doesn't that make me the strongest fighter? That's how that works, right?

 

That was a nice goal to have. Beat the majority of the arena fighters. That goal would have to start with meeting the newcomer.

"Hello, everyone, I am pleased to introduce you to a rather talented young man. This is Gavin, Gavin, these are your coworkers. I hope you all get along famously. Now if you excuse me I need to make a rush announcement so the fans know what is happening."

 

"Gavin. Nice to meet you, I'm Elijah.  Uh... welcome to the Arena I suppose.I've got a commercial shoot in thirty minutes, so I gotta go, but feel free to contact me if you've got questions."

 

"Um...likewise. I suppose he's a busy body. Um, well then. Anyway, I'm Gavin Shepherd. I suppose I'm the new guy in this little thing. It's nice to meet you all."

 

This guy... he looks kinda normal, doesn't he? Perhaps it was just Aurora overthinking things. But between Caleb and Tes - an actual dog and dragon, respectively - and Xia who seemed to have some dragon-like qualities, Aurora was expecting something a bit more eye-popping than just a guy in a jacket. Something bigger, and with four arms, and maybe a suit of armor made out of bones... that might be a bit much, actually.

 

"Hai! I'sh Teshabiwity Bwacks. Wha'sh yowr naims?"

 

"Nice to meet you, Gavin! I'm Aurora, hopefully we can get along." First impressions were important! Aurora remembered being taught that as a kid. Her dad taught her about that sort of stuff. Confident look, firm handshake, and be sure to sound professional and personable. Aurora was naturally a friendly girl, so sounding personable wasn't too tough. Sounding professional mostly boiled down to thinking of things August would definitely not say, then not saying them, and calling herself confident wasn't at all a lie. That left the firm handshake. And so, Aurora extended a gloved hand in Gavin's direction, smile on her face. If Gavin took the hand, he'd find it to be somewhat cold to the touch.

 

I want to be the first to fight you. Gotta be assertive.

 

"By the way, whenever you're getting ready for an arena fight, I wouldn't mind being your first opponent to help you get used to the place. It's actually amazing! All the technology and magic, it's like wow, I didn't ever see anything like this back home."

 

Hmmm... I wonder, does the USJ back at Mar-Vell counts as being anything like this arena?

---