“I WANT TO FIGHT YOUR BIG GUY!”
Talok was on a roll. It seemed that pretty much everyone had underestimated the tiny telekinetic monster, who carried a great sword larger than she was. She’d already fought six matches and won them all handily. In fact, Talok had just beaten a Temthan competitor, having stolen their weapon and stabbed them with it. But these victories had very much gotten to Talok’s head, and as she exited the arena, she made a very strange demand to not just Tromos, the head House Fighter, but to her new best friend, the shapeshifting gladiator Tenuk.
“Uh, which big guy?” Tromos asked.
“YOUR BIG GUY!” Talok pointed at Tenuk. “Your big Rethan guy!”
“My… My big Rethan guy? You… you want to fight Retvik?” Tenuk blinked. He glanced up at Tromos, who also seemed rather surprised. “She can do that?”
Tromos got down on his knee so that he was on Talok’s level. Tromos was a Ksithan, but he was a pretty monstrous one and was still a whole metre taller than Talok was. “Darling, I know you’re doing well, but we generally avoid battles between house fighters until they are a bit more established. We have to build you up first.”
“I mean, I haven’t even done a solo match yet…” Tenuk muttered, then glanced at Tromos. “You, uh, aren’t going to make me do a solo match or anything, are you?”
“Do you want to?” Tromos asked.
Tenuk shook his head. “No, not really. It’d be a bit unfair.”
“How comes?”
“Well, in a team fight, I can be overwhelmed, I can be distracted and outplayed more easily. Can’t overwhelm me in a solo fight where I can just shapeshift into whatever counters you.”
“Oh. Fair enough…” Tromos turned back to Talok. “Little one, I can’t really let you go and fight Retvik. He is in a match right now anyway.”
Talok jabbed her sword into the ground, then bounced up and down. “Aw! But I want to fight the big guy! I can take him!”
“Uh, no, you can’t.”
“I can! Big, heavy, slow Rethan! I took out Heck! I can take out Retvik!” Talok seemed incredibly determined. “He is just like the giant Temthan but slower! I take his gunstaff, I take his shield, I hit him hard!”
Tenuk snorted. “Hah, good luck with that. After the match with the Temthans of Anarchy, Retvik added like five extra straps to Lightedge to stop people taking his beloved shield away from him.”
“Hah! I still take it!” Talok beamed. “I can fight him!”
Tromos put his hands on Talok’s tiny shoulders. “Are you sure you want to fight Retvik?”
“Yes! I want to prove my place! And to do so, I must fight your Vahrga-Prince! In this case, the Vahgra-Prince is my queen’s favourite house fighter!”
Tromos hesitated, then sighed. Clearly Talok was dead set on fighting someone 2.5 times her size. She was full of overconfidence, she could do with a lesson. With a tut, Tromos pulled out his communicator and sent out a couple of text messages, then waited. After a few moments, Tromos smiled weakly, then got up.
“Alright. Retvik’s just finished his battle. He doesn’t want to fight you but he’ll do it. Come along now.”
Tromos strode off. Talok and Tenuk glanced at each other briefly, then chased after him.
…
Retvik was wandering around the rather empty Sandblast Arena, which didn’t have any cover or anything, and was mostly just a flat, empty space. For the first time in a while, Retvik was wearing his full Lightbearer set. He was covered in beautiful white and gold armour that mostly hid his natural red plating, and was showing off to the lingering crowds by creating little motes of light and making them dance around him. Considering that it was slowly getting dark, Retvik wasn’t sure why he’d been told to wait around after his match.
As the arena gate behind him opened up though, Retvik turned around cautiously, expecting to see an old rival or something. But no, to Retvik’s surprise, a Vohra charged out, carrying a massive sword bigger than he… she… it… was. It took Retvik a moment to realize that this was the new, semi-immortal house fighter that the Raptor had hired. It took a moment longer to realize that this tiny creature was challenging him.
“Mister Lightbearer!” Talok yelled at the top of her little lungs. “I challenge you to battle!”
Retvik stared at the Vohra. “Are you sure?”
“Yes! I challenge you!”
“Are you suuuuuure?” Retvik repeated himself. “I will not go easy on you because you are new.”
“YES!”
Retvik eyed Talok some more, then shrugged. He picked up his shield and strapped it to his arm tightly, then grabbed his gunstaff.
“Last chance, little one. You can turn around now, if you want.”
Talok shook her head, then raised her sword into the air. “I CHALLENGE YOU!”
“Alright then.”
Satisfied that the Lightbearer had accepted her challenge, Talok stepped forward, dragging her massive sword behind her. She then raised her free hand and waved it horizontally in front of her, grabbing hold of Retvik’s gunstaff and tearing it from his claws. While Talok wasn’t allowed to use her telekinesis and telepathy on other gladiators, using her powers on their weapons was fair play.
“No ranged weapons!” Talok smiled, charging towards Retvik. She threw her sword in his direction, but Retvik calmly sidestepped the blade and grunted.
“I do not need ranged weapons. I have fought Thraki and Banikans with my bare hands.”
Retvik didn’t seem to do much else. He sidestepped Talok’s sword again as she telekinetically pulled it back to her, then patiently waited for Talok to come closer.
Still using her telekinesis, Talok threw herself into the air, spinning and slashing, but not hitting anything. As she landed in front of Retvik, Talok tried to rip Retvik’s shield from him, but realized it wouldn’t budge. Talok blinked, then tried again. Retvik’s beloved shield remained firmly attached to his arm.
“Uh…”
“I have also fought Vohra before. Telekinesis is strong, but I use a magnetic buckle to hold my shield in place.”
Not really sure what to do, Talok backed off slightly. She decided to throw her sword again, hoping to land a direct hit. However, while Talok’s sword was massive for her, it was a little small for Retvik. Rather than dodge it, Retvik deflected the sword with his shield, which caused Talok’s blade to bounce across the arena.
The fact that Talok didn’t quite see where her weapon went caused her to worry somewhat. While she did carry a backup dagger, she was well aware that throwing that as well would be stupid, and it would only seem to annoy the hulking, shining Rethavok. Since Talok didn’t really have any options, she rushed over to find her sword. To her surprise, Retvik let her do that.
Talok knew she had a problem now. Although she had retrieved her weapon, Talok had given up her position. Retvik controlled the centre of the arena. Talok would have to take that from him. Charging once more, Talok threw both herself and her blade at Retvik, only for him to bash her with his shield, knocking her to the ground. Talok of course rolled back onto her feet, ready to-
In the time it had taken for Talok to reorientate herself, Retik had promptly stomped over towards Talok and punted the Vohra across the arena. Talok bounced off the heavy plastic shields that protected the audience, then collapsed in a heap on the ground. After a few awkward seconds, Talok’s health meter beeped, and she was teleported out to the medical bays, where she’d wake up in about half an hour, hopefully having learned her lesson.
Retvik grunted to himself, made some pretty light motes to soothe the crowd, grabbed his gunstaff then left the arena himself, where Tromos and Tenuk were waiting for him.
“Dude, Retvik!” Tenuk seemed quite annoyed. “You didn’t have to do that!”
“Of course I did!” Retvik tutted. “She challenged me. She got the same treatment I give to anyone who challenges me. If anything, I did go a little easy on her. I knew she was going to try and take my weapons, I could have retrieved my gunstaff, but I did not.”
“But…” Tenuk stuttered, only for Tromos to pat him on the back.
“Kid, Talok knows what she signed up for. She asked for that fight, she got what she wanted.”
Tenuk frowned. “I… I guess. I’ll… go and see if she’s alright.”
“You do that.”
Tromos watched as Tenuk headed off, before turning his attention to Retvik. “Great fight as always, friend. Congratulations on the 290th win.”
“Hmph. Thank you, Tromos, but that was not a good fight…” Retvik grunted as he took off his helmet. “I just did the bare minimum to get things over with. Considering how few solo matches I get these days, I always yearn for something more.”
Tromos shrugged, then put an arm around Retvik, leading him off to the house fighter changing rooms. “Hah, you Rethans and your honour. Sometimes you should just enjoy silly challenges like that.”
“Still, I feel a bit bad.”
“Pssh, don’t feel bad. Talok got exactly what she asked for.”