“General Kaiga, thank you for meeting with me and bringing your top gladiators here at such short notice, but I see that there are a few vok missing?”
Kaiga blinked, then inspected the three Rethans they had brought with them. Vel was the leader of Retha Squad Three, Gathin had recently been put in charge of Retha Squad Two and the unusually named Kayess-En was the long-time leader of Retha Squad One. All four of them were present to meet with the High General, who requested advice and some training from them all.
“Who… who am I missing?” Kaiga eventually asked.
“Where is Abius?” Rethais asked.
“Uh… Abius is not a member of my Legion…” Kaiga muttered. “They are a House Fighter, they do not work for me, they work for the Great Arena directly.”
“Are they not a top Rethan fighter?”
“They are, yes, but…”
“Why are they not here then?”
Kaiga glanced at one of their captains, who was standing by the door. The captain quickly got the hint that Kaiga wanted them to go and fetch the Bare Guard, so that was what they did.
“So?” Rethais wanted their question answered.
“Um, Abius is a good gladiator, but we do not really… interact much. Admittedly, Abius has only recently become much more popular since they are they only Rethan House Fighter left.”
“I see… And I assume, because Abius does not work for you directly, they are not in the 789th Legion and are in fact Legionless?”
“You are correct, yes.”
Finally, Abius appeared, alongside Kaiga’s captain. However, they spotted the High General and immediately bowed.
“It is good to see you again, Kyr Rethais!” Abius smiled.
“Good to see you too, Abius!” Rethais smiled back.
“Wait, what do they mean, “again”?” Gathin whispered to Vel and Kayess-En.
“The Fluffyvok gladiator was invited to General Gath’s and General Relkir’s wedding…” Vel muttered. “Abius went with them as protection.”
“Are we… allowed to call them Fluffyvok?” Kayess-En asked. “I know young Spasts do not mind the word, but I thought older Spasts did not like it?”
Abius shrugged. “I asked Levik, he says it is best to avoid it until old Spasts start using it too, but Levik does not mind if we call him a Fluffyvok. He is very fluffy.”
“Have you touched him?” Kayess-En was curious now.
“Um… Levik and I have done Thirteenth Night and Big Bad matches together… I once threw Levik at someone…” Abius frowned then changed the subject. “High General, why have you requested my presence?”
Rethais smiled some more. “I do not know how… common knowledge it is yet, but I plan to… fight someone. Specifically, a Torr.”
Vel gestured at Abius. “They would know a lot about that. Abius gets challenged by them a lot. Lately, the 798th Legion has only really faced the Golden Charge, they wanted some form of revenge against Retha Squad Three, since they could not get revenge on Xeno Dessaron One, and they fell with relative ease.”
“Since their teamwork is mediocre…” Gathin muttered. “Torr are strongest in solo matches. Normally because they have a lot of tricks hidden in their armour. And they cheat a lot.”
Kayess-En nodded in agreement. “Torr do not consider cheating to be immoral or anything. The last time I fought a Torr, when I fought Tornado from the Golden Charge, they attempted to use a taser against me, even though such weapons are not allowed. May I ask, who will you be fighting and why?”
Kaiga glanced at Kayess-En. Kayess-En tutted. Having been raised by Skyavok, she was less bothered about speaking to authority compared to most other Rethans.
“It is a valid question. We need to work out a game plan for the High General, and that does involve knowing who the High General will be facing. And knowing the reason why will help us assess the opponent better.”
Again, Kaiga glanced at Kayess-En, but they knew she was right. Rethais simply shrugged.
“It will be public knowledge soon anyway… Prime Minister Panos challenged me to a fight, claiming I was weak. I accepted that challenge. We have agreed to essentially a fist fight.”
All four gladiators looked at each other nervously.
“They will definitely try to cheat!” Vel exclaimed. “The more cowardly a Torr, the more likely they are to cheat! And the Prime Minister is indeed rather cowardly. I would bet they will at least try to carry a blade or something. Probably some sort of projectile weapon if they can manage it.”
Abius grunted in agreement. “They may also try to cheat beforehand, perhaps by drugging you in some way.”
Rethais blinked. “Pardon?”
“Torr that work with gladiators tend to also have access to dark market Temthan toxins…” Abius frowned. “When Retvik fought Telumeus to become the Triumphant Champion, Retvik told me he was injected with a huge number of toxins, and the only reason he did not instantly keel over was because he had access to the anti-toxin venom that gladiator Nyssi produced and was able to give himself a life-saving dose before passing out.”
“That was an extreme rules match though?” Gathin frowned. “The rules are not the same.”
“You think Torr care about rules?” Kayess-En tutted. “They only care about winning. And if it is their Prime Minister fighting? Against Rethais? They will do anything to win.”
Rethais did their best to not look too concerned, but they were clearly slightly worried now. “So… what do I do?”
Abius, Gathin, Kayess-En and Vel all muttered to each other, before letting Kayess-En take the lead.
“You stay with us and train with us, up until your match. You also avoid any food and drink unless it has been tested in advance. As you are a General and are of a Bloodline, you are probably already a worthy fighter, but we do wish to offer as much advice and training as possible. Doubly so because the Prime Minister is almost certainly doing the same.”
Rethais bowed. “I appreciate your assistance.”
The gladiators all bowed back. “It is the least we can do, High General. Do not fret, you will win this battle. We will make sure of it.”