Tenuk used to fear coming to the Raptor’s office, but these days, he wasn’t so bothered any more. Sure, the Raptor was an ancient Ksithan warlord who had taken over and united the Ksithan territories of Portalia, fought back the Clan Unmourned and now ran the largest gladiator arena in the universe, but Tenuk knew he could instantly dissolve the Raptor’s anger by turning into a cat. The one thing that the Raptor legally could not hit.
Really, out of all the things Tenuk had learned since he started living among other races, the ability to turn into a cat and how that affected others was probably the most useful.
“So, boss, how can we help you today?”
Currently, Phovos was snickering to herself, watching a video. She glanced up at her favourite Dessaron team and smiled.
“Ah, Xeno Dessaron One. Always a pleasure. I actually have a new… outing for you four!” Phovos glanced at Retvik, then snickered again. “I’m… I’m sorry, Retvik, I’ve been rewatching your match against Talok. You need to punt small, annoying bitches across arenas more often.”
Tenuk’s smile faded somewhat. He’d become firm friends with Talok, the newest house fighter, and she’d been incredibly embarrassed about that fight.
“Yeah no that was mean.”
“No, it was fucking hilarious!” Nyssi giggled, instantly agreeing with the Raptor. “Stupid thing got what she deserved.”
“She didn’t deserve that!” Tenuk argued, feeling the need to defend his currently not-present buddy.
“She totally did…” Kayel shrugged. “I mean, sure, Talok’s a pretty neat fighter, definitely proved herself to be good against normal challengers, but she totally deserved to be put in her place by challenging Retvik of all people. Talok’s lucky Retvik decided to go bloodless, and she’s even luckier that Retvik didn’t decide to just sit on her or something even more embarrassing.”
“But Talok’s embarrassed, everyone’s looking at her and laughing!”
Phovos put her tablet down and leaned forward. “Tenuk, little one, Talok literally begged Tromos and Retvik for that fight. Give it a week, Talok will win a few more fights and everyone, including Talok, will forget. Pretty much every house fighter has an embarrassing battle or three when starting out, right, Retvik?”
Retvik nodded, but didn’t say anything. He did admittedly feel a little bad about what he did, but he’d been challenged, he wasn’t going to let that challenge slide.
“I mean I got vomited on in my first ever solo match!” Kayel chirped. “Sure, I won, but I had three different people send me remix videos of that Torr throwing up on me to different music clips.”
“Anyway!” Phovos dragged the conversation back on track. She wanted everyone here for a reason. “Guys, I have a new assignment for you. Another off-planet trip. You are going to Thalsa Two, on a mutant monster hunting holiday!”
Xeno Dessaron one all fell silent, glancing at one another.
“Is that… in Vrekan territories?” Kayel eventually asked. “Like, one of their water worlds?”
“Somewhat…” Phovos wasn’t too happy that her team all looked so confused. “Thalsa Two is the only Vrekan-owned abandon-world. It’s actually not too far away from Kolasi. But I got a message from the Allbirther and a message from a contact I have there, and we’re looking at another couple of Corruptiids that you four need to deal with.”
Everyone else seemed fine with this, but Retvik seemed uneasy. That was most unusual, because Retvik was an experienced gladiator who was normally up for anything, and loved beast fights.
“You seem uncertain, Retvik. What’s wrong?” Phovos asked.
“Um…” Retvik hesitated. “If Thalsa Two is a Vrekan world, does that mean it is… rather wet and watery?”
Phovos nodded. “It’s Vrekan territories. They are basically giant penguins. Of course it’ll be wet. Thalsa Two though is mostly large islands though, it’s not all underwater. And from what my contact is telling me, you’ll be on the large islands, there won’t be too much swimming.”
“Too… much swimming?” Retvik was still uncertain. Everyone else quickly realized why.
“Uh, Retvik, quick question, can you swim?” Kayel asked.
“I… I can, yes, but not very well. And I can only just keep my head above the water if I am wearing any of my full arena armours.”
“Can most Rethans swim?” Tenuk blinked. “Swimming is, like, one of the first sport activities Spasts are taught.”
“We’ll get Retty some floaties, he’ll be fine!” Nyssi beamed. “I wanna go on a beach holiday. Nice hotel, swim in the sea, the proper sea, not the stupid large lakes we get here on Portalia, go on a boat ride and kill some giant monsters! Sounds absolutely perfect to me!”
Phovos shrugged. “That is basically the plan. You’ll be able to spend some time on the beach, but the intel I’ve been given suggests you’ll be spending most of your time on land, apart from some boat rides. But anything involving water, you will be given proper equipment, Retvik, so don’t worry too much about not being able to swim.”
“Which is why I asked if most Rethans can swim!” Tenuk exclaimed. “Like, you Rethans don’t seem to have many weaknesses, but the ones you do have are fucking obvious. You can’t swim and you act weirdly around cats!”
“I can swim though…” Retvik muttered. “It is just very tiring for me. I am a very heavy person. All Rethans are. We have special legions of lighter-bodied Rethans in our admittedly rather small navy because of this.”
“Rethans swim better than Banikans at least!” Nyssi continued to smile. “As in, they can swim. Water goes completely against the Banikans and their element and they get super panicky in water. You Ksithans seem absolutely fine with water though, despite being furry.”
Phovos eyed Nyssi. “What does my fur have to do with my ability to swim?”
“Means you take longer to dry.”
“Us Ksithans evolved to live in the cold. We’re fine with water and being wet. Out of the five of us here, Retvik’s the only person who struggles, and that’s mostly because he weighs 200kg with his armour on. Skyavok are generally rather agile in the water because of their long tails. Sure, none of us are as good in water as Vrekans, but still, Retvik is the only one who will have problems, and those problems will be minimal anyway since it seems that these Corruptiids seem to live on land.”
“Oh…” Retvik perked up significantly. “That is not too bad then. Will we just be killing these creatures or will we be battling the wildlife as well?”
“Thalsa Two IS an abandon-world but most of the abandon-world creatures are sea monsters out in the vast mega-ocean on the other side of the planet…” Phovos explained. “The terrestrial life shouldn’t give you too many problems.”
“Alright!” Kayel patted Retvik on the back. “When are we heading off?”
“Three days from now!” Phovos was glad that everyone was more enthusiastic now. “I’m just waiting for some special armour to come in for Retvik and Tenuk before I send you on your trip. Shouldn’t be too long a trip, no more than a week and a half. Any more questions?”
Xeno Dessaron One all glanced at each other again.
“We’re getting the same 5-star hotel treatment again, yes?” Nyssi questioned.
“Of course. That’s my bribe to make sure you four actually go.”
Nyssi grinned. Tenuk and Kayel also smiled. Retvik still wasn’t sure, but he’d get over himself eventually.
“Alright!” Tenuk took Retvik by the hand. “In the mean time, is there a swimming pool we can use? We gotta get Retvik practising!”
Phovos nodded. “I’ll speak to the Feathered Ones, I’m sure they’ll let you use their pool.”
“Cool. Come on, Retvik! We gotta build up your water confidence!”
Retvik glanced at Phovos as his team dragged him away. “Yeah… sure…”