Telumeus sighed to himself as he watched the final touches being added to his mech by his team of technicians and assistants. His MK9 mech wasn’t ready yet, it didn’t have all the features he wanted, so he’d been forced to use his MK8 mech again. That wasn’t too bad, the MK8 model was perfectly reliable, but there were some changes he’d wanted to make and hadn’t had time to do.
Really, Telumeus was a bit annoyed. He wanted more time. But his bosses were desperate to push things forward, to get this battle won as soon as possible. There were two reasons: the first being the more obvious one, that the Torr wanted to stop a Rethan from making gladiator history. Everyone else had failed. That was to be expected. The Torr were the superior race, most of the time, and there was a huge amount of pressure for Telumeus to perform.
Then there was the political reason. One of Telumeus’s sponsors would get something HUGE out of this if Telumeus won. Telumeus had asked what that would be, but apart from “good stuff”. “Very, very good stuff.” However, one of Telumeus’s sponsors today was the Torr For Unity Party, the party in charge of the Torr government, and the person who had hinted about the “very good stuff” was part of the TFU.
Because of this, Telumeus had asked an assistant to do some digging. He knew about the explosion on Torr 9-4, and part of this match was to decide who would take the blame for it. But that assistant didn’t really dig up anything else, apart from one strange statement: that a Torr victory would ‘bring the Rethavok to their knees’. In more ways than one.
This bothered Telumeus slightly. Admittedly, he absolutely hated Rethavok. He considered them to be dumb, dangerous brutes, and he hated how powerful they could theoretically be. If the Rethavok decided to become as ruthless as the Torr, they’d be terrifying, strong enough to take control and kick the Torr out of power.
However, the idea of threatening the Rethans in general bothered Telumeus. Right now, despite the fact that a Torr corporation had sponsored a mafia into creating clones to try and assassinate the High General, the Rethavok were… somewhat tame. Had things been the other way around, the Torr would have immediately declared war on the Rethavok, and that would have been fair. The Rethavok could be kept from power as long as they were kept sweet, and, more importantly, they weren’t pushed into a corner and forced to lash out. That… would be bad.
Someone nudged Telumeus, snapping him back to reality. It was his top assistant, Kallouhia.
“Boss, everything’s ready to go!” Kallouhia smiled.
“Including my modified dart gun?” Telumeus asked.
“Of course, boss.”
“With the fluids I asked for?”
“Of course!”
This brought a smile to Telumeus’s face. While yes, he had political concerns, they didn’t matter right now. All Telumeus cared about was kicking the shit out of the Lightbearer. And he had a genuine plan, one he was certain would work. After all, today, the Lightbearer had no backup, he was all alone, against Telumeus and his perfect mech suit.
“Wonderful. That genderfluid prick won’t know what hit them.”
…
“I thought you were going to wear your Lightbearer armour?”
Retvik grunted as he tightened his gauntlet, heavy black plates with a gold trim running up his body. After another grunt, he turned to who had spoken to him.
“Oh, hello, guys!” Retvik smiled. Nyssi, Tenuk and Kayel were all standing by the door, waiting for him. “Why are you here?”
“Special deliveries and requests, actually!” Kayel grinned as he strode in, carrying a box full of stuff. “And we wanted to walk you down to the main arena. That’s what best buds do.”
“You seem rather perky, Kayel…” Retvik eyed Kayel somewhat. “Perkier than normal.”
Kayel grinned. “Yeah. Had a nice time last night.”
“He got laid!” Nyssi grinned as well. “Right?”
“Yep. But also, we’re all excited for you. A little scared, but mostly excited. You’re going to kick ass out there!”
Tenuk nodded in agreement, but he clearly wasn’t as excited as Nyssi and Kayel were. “Yeah, you’ll be fine. Still, I find it weird that you’re not wearing that white and gold stuff.”
Retvik grunted some more. “I was going to, after all, it has been my main set of armour for years. But at the same time, General Gath offered to send me some 1000th Legion armour attachments, and General Kaiga offered me some 798th Legion armour. However, I want to wear my Xeno Dessaron One armour, because… I do not know. You three have done a lot for me. Opened me up. Yes, I carried you at first when we formed our team, but at the same time, you carried me. Yes, today, I am fighting for the Rethavok, but I think I am fighting for, well, everyone.”
“Oh, goody, that means you’ll accept our gifts!” Nyssi smiled as she rummaged through Kayel’s box. “There’s a fuckton of gladiators out there waiting to greet you, to give you good luck, but we get first dibs since we’re your team mates!”
“What do you mean?” Retvik looked confused. He glanced at the clock on the wall. He was already ready to go, all armoured up, all he needed to do was grab his ranged weapons from the armoury. He had time to talk, so his friends being cryptic wasn’t too bad.
Nyssi finished rummaging around and pulled out three items. Two sheathed daggers and an axe. Retvik recognized all three of them. Kayel put his box down, took the dark, black dagger, then presented it to Retvik.
“Retvik, this here is, uh, one of my official Phantasma blades. Like, actual, real deal shit. There’s nothing really special about it, it’s designed for Skyan hands, but it’s also meant to make one bleed, a lot. Stab and drag, for maximum damage. I… just thought it’d be cool to have, and potentially useful.”
Retvik smiled, then took the dagger. It was rather small, but he attached it to his belt, within easy reach.
Kayel stepped back, and Nyssi presented an axe and a small syringe to Retvik. Funnily enough, Retvik recognized these.
“Remember, the day you and I were just chilling, looking at weapons, and Kuta called you to arrange a date? A date that turned out to be a ruse and you got repatriated? Well, you mentioned that a specific axe looked cool. So I got the axe made, especially for you, in big muscular Retvik size! The syringe is, as you probably guessed, my antivenom. You know, just in case. ”
“Hah…” Retvik smiled. “I am surprised you remembered.”
“Yeah well, I’m smarter than I look.”
“You are both pretty and smart.”
Nyssi grinned, then helped Retvik tie the axe to his belt alongside Kayel’s dagger. She then stepped back and allowed Tenuk to approach. Tenuk was a lot more uneasy than the others.
“Heya, best friend.”
Retvik patted Tenuk on the head. “You seem more concerned than I am.”
“I am. This is, like, one of your biggest fights ever. Bigger than our fight against Retha Squad One. Like, sure, we’re already going down in history as being amazing, but you, you’re doing it again and again. And I’m scared this Torr bastard will try and take your glory away.”
“He will try, yes. But I have some tricks up my sleeve.”
Tenuk shifted awkwardly as he handed Retvik a very, very small dagger. “Well, uh, so do I. I mean, I… I took out most of the team when we fought the Golden Charge, but that’s because I’m secretly Spast royalty and have a bloodline trait, on top of my shapeshifting. But you can’t do what I can do so I kinda… made this little dagger out of a magnet. Won’t be as effective as my electric-sapping powers, but it’ll screw something up if you stick it in the right place.”
Retvik took the dagger and tucked it into a gap within his arm armour, for easy access.
“Thank you, best friend!” Retvik smiled some more as he gave Tenuk a large hug. “I appreciate your kindness. I appreciate you three. Far more than you could imagine.”
Nyssi and Kayel both joined in on the hug. However, as they embraced, Kayel slipped something extra into Retvik’s hand.
“What… oh…”
Retvik stared at what he had been given. A battered old coin with the emblem of the Panelix on it, a hole hammered into the top and a piece of ribbon tied around it. A medallion that his sibling Relkir had made for him. That Retvik had given to his poten-partner. His lucky medallion.
“Arkay pulled some strings. He spoke to Kuta. Kuta gave him the medallion, which Arkay gave to me, to give to you.”
Retvik blinked, then wrapped the medallion around his wrist. “You… you are all the best.”
“We’re the best. But, today, Retty, you’re the best. You’re gonna kick ass!”
Retvik nodded. “I will. Can you all walk with me, to the arena?”
“Of course!” Tenuk beamed as he took Retvik’s hand. “Today is going to be historic, I just know it.”