“Tenuk, are you sure all those energy drinks are good for you?” Retvik asked as Xeno Dessaron One prepared for battle. They should have been nervous, but ever since Retvik and his team had taken down Retha Squad One, fear and anxiety before battle no longer seemed to be a thing any more. Sure, losing was always a possibility, and the team had been training hard to avoid that. But their unpredictability and sheer brute force had kept them aloft so far, to the point that the thought of facing the Fangs of the Whenvern, the number two Dessaron team made up of four terrifying Thraki, didn’t bother any of them. Especially not Retvik, who considered himself a bit of a specialist when it came to battling the winged, fire-breathing lizards.
“I live off pure sugar, and this is pure liquid sugar, so it’s fine!” Tenuk beamed, downing a third can. “And caffeine is like, the second biggest part of a Spast’s diet. Honestly though I only started drinking these since you guys introduced me to them. Normally we just eat honey and syrup and stuff. But I need it. For the plan.”
“For the plan!” Nyssi beamed, attaching a pistol to her hip, before grabbing her shield and gunstaff. Everyone apart from Tenuk was carrying extra ranged weaponry, and Retvik was carrying a large quiver full of spears on his back. Kayel holstered a gunstaff, before picking up his rifle and a shield as well. “We ready, boys and girls?”
“Remember, friends, hard and fast!” Retvik growled, clutching his shield and gunstaff in one hand and a spear in the other.
“Hard and fast!” Tenuk repeated as he finished off one last energy drink, then began to change form. Where a tiny Spast once stood, a large, sapphire True Thrack, standing at 4m tall with a 7m wing span, now roared menacingly. Nyssi climbed onto Tenuk’s back, and the four warriors charged out of their spawn room, onto the battle field.
They were immediately met by the four Fangs of the Whenvern, Grahkulaak, Laasonik, Morokah and Nauvahzul. All four Thraki were considered almost holy beings, with bright, white and silver scales running across their bodies, pale blue stripes running down their backs and piercing ice blue eyes. Not that you could see much of those stripes underneath their silver armour and the gem-speckled helmets covering their faces.
However, Xeno Dessaron One didn’t take the time to admire their opponents. While Tenuk and Nyssi took to the air, Retvik and Kayel readied themselves against the larger of the Thraki. Because of their heavy armour, it took the Thraki a few seconds to flap their wings and get off the ground, but in the time it took the largest Thraki, Grahkulaak, to get off the ground, she suddenly found herself falling back down as a spear pierced one wing and a sniper shot tore through the other. Morokah rushed to Grahkulaak’s defence, clumsily crawling over the rough, debris-littered terrain, only for Retvik to charge into him, stabbing Morokah in the wing with his gun staff, while a barrage of bullets from Kayel kept Morokah from taking off.
Up above them, Laasonik and Nauvahzul were focusing on Tenuk, trying to tear the shapeshifted Spast from the skies, but being unable to do so. While the Thraki were more manoeuvrable than Tenuk was, he had a massive, spiked tail which he was using as a club to keep them at bay. At the same time, Tenuk’s fireballs were matching the ferocity of the Thraki, making it impossible for them to get too close. As Laasonik flew past Tenuk, trying to catch him with the blades attached to the Thraki’s wing tips, he suddenly felt something heavy. Nyssi had leaped off of Tenuk and landed on Laasonik’s back, wrapping a chain around his long, slender neck, while repeatedly stabbing him in the side and back with her gunstaff, perfectly avoiding his armour plating.
“Fall, bitch!” Nyssi couldn’t help but laugh. She began to tug at Laasonik’s wings, slicing into the membrane of his right wing using the blade of her gunstaff. The Temthan deeply wanted to be able to control Laasonik’s flight, but the Thraki was flailing and spinning, desperately trying to stop Nyssi from hurting him.
For Laasonik though, assistance was on the way. Grahkulaak had managed to get airborne, despite her injuries, and was now flying towards and over Laasonik, breathing a torrent of flames in his direction. Nyssi was forced to use her shield to defend herself, but she still had her arms wrapped around Laasonik’s neck.
Below, Morokah was out for the count, with Retvik having wrestled the wyrm to the ground, before stabbing him in the throat, one of the few places where the Thraki lacked armour. Sure, Morokah had attempted to set Retvik on fire, but the seasoned gladiator knew exactly how to deal with the fiery blasts. After all, fighting Thraki was something Retvik was well known for, and Morokah was reminded of that fact as he was teleported out of the battle. That being said, the Fangs of the Whenvern were well aware of Retvik’s tactics, and now the rest of the team remained high in the air, minimizing the effectiveness of Retvik’s ranged weaponry. Sure, Kayel was taking potshots at the Thraki, but that would have made the battle last for far too long.
It didn’t matter though. Xeno Dessaron One had a plan, and they were sticking to it. Retvik and Kayel ducked out of the way of a fiery flyby from Nauvahzul, before making their way to the centre of the arena.
“Ready, Tenuk?” Kayel telepathically called upwards, before grabbing on to Retvik’s arm.
“Ready!”
With a pained growl, Tenuk flew upwards, above the Thraki and above the arena, before growing in size, blocking out the sun with his colossal body. With the arena now engulfed with shadow, Kayel pulled himself and Retvik through the ground and out of the shadow that Tenuk was casting over the Thraki. Two hundred kilos of armoured gladiator landed on Grahkulaak’s back, sending both the Thraki and the Rethan tumbling downwards. Grahkulaak crashed into the ground, very nearly taking Retvik out with her, but Retvik only just managed to cling on with a slither of health left on his health meter. The mighty Thraki disappeared, teleported out of the arena into the medical bays.
Unfortunately for Kayel, he kinda missed his intended target, with Nauvahzul having rolled out of the way, but that was fine. Kayel simply allowed himself to fall, aiming for the nearest, darkest shadow, which he immediately fell through, shadowjumping back to the shadow Tenuk was casting over Nauvahzul. This time round though, Kayel was going way too fast, and there was no way he could land on the Thraki’s back. He drew his dagger and stabbed it into Nauvahzul’s wing, completely tearing his wing membrane and cutting through one of Nauvahzul’s tendons. To make matters worse, Laasonik had somewhat decided to crash into Nauvahzul in a bid to get Nyssi off his back, and now all four beings were in free fall above the arena.
Disorientated from the spinning and falling, Nyssi let go of Laasonik’s neck and tried to kick herself upwards, a bid to make sure that the Thraki hit the ground before she did. Amazingly though, Nyssi never made it to the ground, Tenuk had swooped down and caught her just in time. The two Thraki weren’t as lucky. Both of them crashed as they hit the rubble coating the arena, snapping far too many bones, and unfortunately taking Kayel with them.
The arena teleporters kicked into gear, teleporting the remaining injured out of the arena. Tenuk glided back down to the arena proper, dropping Nyssi haphazardly on the floor.
“Sorry… I couldn’t save him…” Tenuk stuttered, turning back into his normal blue Spast self.
“Eh, he’ll be fine!” Nyssi awkwardly smiled, waving at the crowds who were cheering a little too much. “He’s just in the recovery bay now!”
Retvik picked up his gear and started making his way out of the arena, pausing only to briefly wave at the crowd as well. “We had better go and see him then, before he gets too upset that we did not catch him…”
The happy Temthan wrapped her arms around both Retvik and Tenuk. The gesture was sweet, if a bit awkward due to the size difference between the tiny Spast and the hulking Rethan. “Don’t sweat it, boys. We just beat the second best team around. Kayel will be pretty happy, I’m sure of it!”