Rynk had been still on the ground for a good thirty minutes now. No one had discovered her yet. She had tried to get up a few times now but to no avail. She was still too weak. They would find her if she did not get away. But what could she do? She felt just as weak as before.
{Oh… wires…} The wires were still inside of her partially. They must have been keeping her body from tensing on their own. She had to get them out. Her arms would only flop upward an inch or so. One hand still held the collar itself. She would need to reach it somehow.
Slowly the small lynx curled her body inward. It strained her to do so, and her head became dizzy. Her legs shook slightly with the pressure but they eventually pressed up against her arm. Now she needed to move her hand to her mouth.
Moving her legs was hard enough but now Rynk had to push her arm over. There was something blocking her however. She could not feel anything at the moment so whatever it was could not be measured.
No matter how she pushed, the item would not let her pass. The lynx looked about for anything that could help her. Nothing… Her dress… it was attached to her legs through a strap to keep it from flying off. If she could pull that, it would help move her leg, and in-turn her arm.
Shakily, Rynk began to raise her neck up, inching her mouth towards the side of her dress. She wouldn’t have to pull back, just hold on. Her teeth dug into the fabric just before she became dizzy again. She fell back, biting down as hard as she could. At the same time, with all the strength she could muster, she pulled her leg back, as well as her arm.
The combination became enough to move her goal a good three inches closer. Her arm was still a little ways off but she could do the rest with her mouth. Rynk moved her head to the side, and reached toward the wires. Her teeth would not reach, but her tongue managed to weave into them. She could not bite into them until all the wires were in reach.
Slowly Rynk inched the collar and wires closer to her face. Finally she had all of them directly between her teeth. She chomped down and felt a mixture of pain and energy blast through her. It was incredible and excruciating.
The lynx blasted upward to her feet, screaming and flailing about. She took hold of the wires in her hand, ripping them from inside her body, causing herself to scream even more loudly. She could feel the blood in her neck bursting, but at least it was something she could feel.
Tearing off a piece of her outfit, Rynk fastened a cloth-brace around her neck. The blood-loss would be minimal. Her body would create a sort of foam soon to clog the wound before healing naturally. {Another thing that’ll take a month…}
Still, her energy had returned, and it was time to make use of it. The city looked quite beautiful from atop the roof. Rynk couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight of the dozens who seemed to be searching for her but had failed to realize her location. They would notice at one point, especially now that she was standing up. It was time to go.
Leaping from rooftop to rooftop, the young lynx found that the white and grey city had more than just tall buildings and maze-like streets. In fact, it had tall black buildings as well. These seemed more populated, with more colors and windows. This did not look productive however. What she wanted was an escape from this country.
A chanting sound caught Rynk’s ears as she began passing the dark buildings. Following it on her way onward, she discovered a large lot with a circular arena inside. A flickering dome-field was noticed around it, for protection no-doubt. A strange wing…like symbol floated above it. It looked strange but perhaps it was worth investigating.
Rynk walked down the side of a building and made her way across the street to the entrance. Two fully-armored guards stood at the sides of the large pentagonal doors with a non-masked on at the center. The receptionist? The armor was very sleek. Rynk found it most intriguing. It almost looked molded on to the guards with glowing slits around the arms and eyes.
The unmasked guard, a very tall white dingo, gave the lynx an odd stare considering her attire. Rynk couldn’t help looking aside, flushed with embarrassment. She started to speak in Russia but the guard interrupted her “You aren’t Nekaian.” He stated in a strange flat-sounding accent.
“You… speak Singskrit?” Rynk asked wide-eyed.
“I speak English.” He corrected.
“English? … Okay… What… is this exactly?” {How was that ‘English’? What is English? It sounds like Singskrit.}
“What is a Banshee-girl doing in an exotic dress in Nekai?... Come to think of it, are you a special breed?” The guard mentioned.
Rynk shot the man an offended glare. “… It wasn’t an insult. Do you want me to assume the worst?” He asked.
“I didn’t have a say in the matter. Not really- wait…”
The guard raised a confused eyebrow. “… What?”
“What Nation are you anyway?”
“Glatorian.” He informed bluntly.
“… Aaaaaaas in Gladiator?” The lynx guessed.
“In a sense.”
“I’ve… never heard of that. That can’t be a nation.”
“… You think we’re Mobocanian.” The guard guessed.
“… You aren’t?” Rynk questioned, becoming more and more confused.
“No, we’re a multi-dimensional Nation. We travel from zone to zone, recruiting members, hosting games, trading, and so on.”
Rynk held back a chuckle. “Multi-dimensional? Travel? How exactly is that possible in Mobocan?”
“We have a worldwide pardon to move about as we want. We provide aid to various countries, though not Supreta as you’ve probably guessed.”
{“guessed”?} It made… a bit of sense. It was the Supretan way after all to say “No, I don’t need your help. I’ve just lost both of my lungs” but a completely alien nation to this zone being allowed to appear and leave, even taking people with them? How did they get a pardon for that? The whole planet said no to anyone coming in from off-world, at least as far as Rynk knew. Sure there were no doubt some kind of exception here and there, but…
… did it really matter? The more Rynk thought about it, she had a better chance trusting non-Mobocanians in the first place, and if they were lying about the governments being fine with their events then didn’t that mean they were on the same page? It did seem plausible both ways. They were here after all, and it wasn’t like they were hiding. Rynk certainly didn’t happen to come across them via super-secret-spy-tech. Either way this looked like her ticket home.
“… So if I win at this I can hitch a ride to… anywhere?” She finally spoke up in a sly tone.
The guard looked her over with a disapproving stare. “How old are you exactly?”
“Fourteen.”
He did not look convinced. “I am!” She crossed her arms to match her expression. “I didn’t pick out my height. Look, I don’t want to stay on this stupid planet. Can you help me or not? The stupid Emit people are probably almost here.”
“Emi-“ The guard yanked Rynk over and darted through the doors before setting her down. Rynk had nearly sliced off his arm in retaliation, barely stopping when he placed her back down.
“S-sorry.” He apologized. “Emit, as in Emit’s Domain?”
“What do you know about it?”
“Why do they want you?”
“To brainwash me probably. They stuck a collar on me so I couldn’t escape. Wanna see the holes?”
“No- I believe you, but… Okay,” He walked a ways further into the hallway. “Stay here. I’ll be back in a minute.”
“B-“
“You two, Emit people might be near. Guard.” He directed to two other guards at the right and left hallways before vanishing through another set of doors. Rynk stood there feeling a bit guilty. She didn’t expect protection. She just wanted to get out. Was this going to get these people into trouble too? They looked formidable but would Emit do something… wouldn’t he?
The guard did eventually return with a more decorated one, wearing yellow instead of black for his armor. He was a tall black jaguar. “What is your name?” He asked.
“Rynk.”
“Can you fight?”
“Yes.”
“Can you endure?”
“Yes.”
“Follow Acts. He’ll get you prepped. Don’t expect a simple fight here.”
“I’m grateful.” Rynk gave the man a short Supretan Bow before Acts, the white dingo apparently, led her through the right hallway. It made the young lynx chuckle a bit as they passed. She did not expect a working soda, and snack, dispenser, or a bathroom with the men and woman pictures to boot. It was… quaint; charming almost. It was friendlier than most things she’d seen so far.
“I… would like to imagine you’re all work up just for my benefit, I… guess,” Rynk began, “but I think it would take more than that to get you scared about Emit people. I mean, you guys certainly look like you can handle them.”
“Easily, yes, but we’ve lost members to them before.” Acts replied. “They steal random people through stealth, and if they’re looking for you that means you might lead them here.”
“Oh… sorry…”
At the end of the hall was a locked door that stated “Members and participants only”. They went through and found a prep-room inside. There was exercising equipment to the immediate right, measuring machines at the middle-right, armor and weapons at the far right, what looked like an operating table and medical supplies to the immediate left, water dispensers and tables of food at the middle left, and a platform with caution tape at its base at the far left.
“This is… pretty cool.” Rynk murmured. “Wait do I just use all of this?”
“Some of this has limits, but yes.” Acts informed. “There’s something specific you’ll need though.” He strolled over to the weapons area and returned with a yellow collar. Immediately this triggered a knee-jerk reaction, with Rynk jumping backward with a shaking head.
“Wh- !” The white dingo recalled her mentioning the collar from Emit’s Domain. “Oh… Sorry I forgot. This isn’t a slave-thing, it’s a protection-gear… If the fights get too dangerous it will create a protective barrier around you, and heals any fatal wounds if required… Wait didn’t you say there were holes in your neck?”
Rynk held the cloth-covered wound, looking a ways off. “Does that mean I can’t fight?”
“That depends on the wound. Can I see it?”
Rynk felt reluctant but she decided to push aside her caution for the moment. She sat down on the medic table and took off the cloth. There wasn’t much blood around the wound because of the clogging, but the holes were still noticeable. “Alright, we’ll need to clean that first.” Acts took a fresh cloth and soon the blood was no longer visible. He observed the wound and sighed. “It doesn’t look like it’ll hurt your chances but are you sure you want to do this?”
“I can fight, dude.”
“… Okay.”
Acts left the collar with Rynk. “You have a half-hour.”
“Alright.” She was alone now and the collar haunted her. It was a nice gold color with a triangle-shape at the right end. It looked almost like jewelry. The large-eared lynx was not fond of putting it on at first considering the recent events, but the more she thought about it, this was like an irony. Instead of hurting her, this would help her.
She strapped it to her neck and instantly began to feel a tingling sensation. Startled, she began to tug at it, but then realized it was healing her. The holes in her neck would take time but this was more than helpful. She could take off the collar later. She’d need it for the time-being.
Rynk snacked briefly, not wanting to get a cramp in mid-battle, and decided to rest for a short while before the fight began. She could wake up and get into the fray almost immediately after waking if required. This would simply help her store energy.
A hissing and clamping sound woke the lynx abruptly. She gave a large yawn while stretching out her legs and rose up. She looked to the door, then to the weapons. “Guess I should have picked one already…”
Rynk quickly scanned over the choices. A pair of spike-less whips caught her attention. The handles were a bit of an issue, but if she were to strap them to her arms it would help to keep her aware of anything happening to her hands and biceps.
The lynx could hear someone calling for her to come out, so she quickly placed the baton-handles of the whips just below her outer-shoulders, and wrapped the whips around, tying them while leaving a good five feet of length left for use.
She entered the arena, which was a large concrete lot, circular, with crowds all over the edges. It was somewhat humorous seeing the actual city-floor being used with its cracks and such. An announcer tuned in, sounding like the organizer though he himself didn’t appear outside of this voice.
He went over the regular introductions as Rynk’s opponent arrived. It was a medium-sized female echidna, red, with a masculine build, wearing cargo pants and a tang-top. It was a bit surprising seeing another woman in these fights, while at the same time refreshing. Was this because of Nekai’s standards or Glatorian? No doubt the Glatorian would have to abide by Nekaien rules to allow this in the first place, so that was probably the case.
The woman held twin-katanas, which she immediately dropped upon seeing how small her challenger was. “Darya” was the name affiliated with her.
She began speaking in Russia, yelling angrily at the announcer. Rynk could make out the word “детеныш“ which roughly meant “cub” or “youngling”. She was complaining over fighting a child.
The announcer replied in Russia to Darya, and the two began complaining. This was incredibly annoying. Rynk did not have time for this. Emit could pop up at any moment, or something else could possibly go wrong. Things needed to get moving.
*CRACK-A* The rubber-covered leather sizzled against the echidna-woman’s arm, demanding her attention. “Это мой выбор , чтобы бороться здесь, и если вы не собираетесь бороться , а затем оставить”(It's my choice to fight here, and if you're not going to fight, then leave).
In truth, Rynk did not want to make more enemies, but she needed things to get moving. “I can fight.” She repeated, this time in Singskrit.
The woman remained silent at first. She kept her stare at the side of the ground. She then turned to the young lynx and spoke in Singskrit “You think you can fight? Alright; let us fight.”
The woman yanked her swords from the ground, dashing at Rynk while keeping them low to the ground. Rynk quickly caught on that the woman would plan to dig up any dirt from the floor to fling up at her, or simply to use an upper-strike. The lynx did not have a chance to counter-strike at such a close-range, so she scuffled back a bit before backflipping, waiting a moment to fling her arms up to ward off the attacks. She knew she would not hit with such poor aim, but the echidna would be forced to maneuver away from the hit-box.
Rynk landed in a front-crouching position, with both feet and hands poised for motion. The right blade swung down while the left up, both going in a swerving circling pattern. The echidna knew how to use these weapons. This would make an opening for attack small. “You don’t talk in battle?” Rynk asked before pouncing with a knuckle-launch aimed at the woman’s chest.
The woman would be caught off-guard for a split-moment, allowing Rynk the hit, which knocked a small bit of air from the echidna, stunning the opponent for a moment. “No.” She replied with a brief cough.
“Good; me neither.” Rynk smiled. “Just thought I’d ask.”
“Hm-CGH!” The woman cleared her throat and the two returned to their brawl. Rynk continued to dodge attacks while the echidna continued to clip the air around her. It was far from impressive considering this was mostly Rynk moving backward with the woman following. This was not a fair fight; Rynk knew this, so she decided to add spice.
She knew the echidna would be aware of a second frontal attack, and charged her arms forward at the woman again, slower this time. The woman attempted to clamp against Rynk’s arms, but Rynk had already passed her hands downward and was currently leaping into a leaping hand-stand. The woman swiped at her arms while the lynx was in the air, which was the one flaw in the lynx’s plan.
Her arms clanged against the blades, paining briefly as she was hit off-track, but she salvaged the situation with a side-ways slam against the echidna, hitting the woman on the side-head and shoulder. Rynk collided very sloppily however, and was not able to recover.
They both landed sideways on the ground. While the echidna was far more bruised by the impact, she had a much more able position to strike, with her sword laying atop her hip which was near Rynk’s head.
Rynk knew this, and thrusted an arm upward, not being able to see where it would land. She heard the clanging, then tightened. At this point she looked up and realized it was the blade clanking against the ground as the echidna got up, not hurting Rynk.
The lynx rose as well, understanding this as a sign of honor, not taking the easy shot. Unfortunately, despite the liking she was taking to this interesting individual, the fight needed to end soon.
{These weren’t going to help anyway…} Rynk tore off the whips, and cupped her fingers before charging at the bladed-woman. The echidna slammed the swords at Rynk, but the lynx simply knocked them away with her arms before brushing her foot against the woman’s stomach. Realizing that a kick from that area would do more damage than intended, Rynk slid her leg up to the mid-chest of the woman, and slammed her foot forward just as the blades cut across her ears. “Sparta!”
It was never an even fight. Regardless of how skilled this woman was, Rynk’s exoskeleton bones were hardly damageable by the given weapon. Rynk preferred to play it fairly, but perhaps now an opponent with a skill-set able to counter her could take the echidna’s place; one that used arm-locks or heavy weapons perhaps.
The echidna was knocked unconscious from the impact of her head bashing against the concrete floor. Rynk felt worried that she may have killed her. Fighting aside, she seemed like a very decent person. Thankfully the collar on the woman began to glow yellow and the notable bruises on her arms were healing. The head was most-likely doing the same.
A scattered cheer arose, mostly from confusion and indecisiveness, but the announcer crowned Rynk the winner of the brawl regardless. Rynk grinned slightly, but asked quickly “So do I fight someone else now?”
Behind her, Acts walked up. “No, that’ll be it for now. You wanted a ride off this planet, right?”
“… Well yeah, but…”
“But…?”
{I kind of wanted to earn it more…} “Never mind. Er… she’s gonna be okay, yeah?”
“I’d assume so.” Acts walked to the echidna and gently lifted the head of the woman. “She’s fine.” Two Glatorian members came out and carried the opponent out, and Acts led Rynk inside.
This time they went through a series of hallways that were not familiar to the norm of this arena. The cheering that had previously been gnawing at Rynk’s hearing was completely gone. “Where are goin’?”
“The break room… well the victor’s break room that is. You can hang out there until one of the ships is ready to leave.”
“Okay; cool. Are there other victors there?”
“Yes. Currently seven are inside. If you prefer to go rest that’s also fine. There are some empty break-rooms you can use.”
“You’re… pretty generous.”
“… Does that make you suspicious?”
“Well, no- not really. I just, don’t really get why the pampering is happening.”
“You don’t have to feel weird. We do this for all the victors. If this were a favoritism thing we’d have people with their pitchforks banging at our doors for blood.”
“That make sense.”
“Good.”
The door opened into a large white room with various arcade machines, television sets, (most-likely Mobocanian stations) an indoor-bar, and a great deal of talking. Two male victors were arm-wrestling. Rynk decided to go watch that.
Acts walked off, closing the door behind himself. Rynk kept silent for most of her time here. She cheered on the arm-wrestling a bit, and a few times confirmed that she had won a battle, which most of the others shrugged off, and decided this was the only time she would be able to try a beverage.
The drinks were free so she asked for whatever was some form of an alcoholic beverage. What she received, she could not pronounce, and it tasted like urine. She promptly spat it out and hoped it would never meet her tongue ever again. It took many glasses of milk to get the taste out, and soon after she required a restroom break.
The victors pointed her in the direction she required and soon she was relieving herself. Upon exiting her stall she was greeted by a familiar face before blacking out. The original collar came back on, and Tella gave a triumphant scoffing chuckle.
{Oh… wires…} The wires were still inside of her partially. They must have been keeping her body from tensing on their own. She had to get them out. Her arms would only flop upward an inch or so. One hand still held the collar itself. She would need to reach it somehow.
Slowly the small lynx curled her body inward. It strained her to do so, and her head became dizzy. Her legs shook slightly with the pressure but they eventually pressed up against her arm. Now she needed to move her hand to her mouth.
Moving her legs was hard enough but now Rynk had to push her arm over. There was something blocking her however. She could not feel anything at the moment so whatever it was could not be measured.
No matter how she pushed, the item would not let her pass. The lynx looked about for anything that could help her. Nothing… Her dress… it was attached to her legs through a strap to keep it from flying off. If she could pull that, it would help move her leg, and in-turn her arm.
Shakily, Rynk began to raise her neck up, inching her mouth towards the side of her dress. She wouldn’t have to pull back, just hold on. Her teeth dug into the fabric just before she became dizzy again. She fell back, biting down as hard as she could. At the same time, with all the strength she could muster, she pulled her leg back, as well as her arm.
The combination became enough to move her goal a good three inches closer. Her arm was still a little ways off but she could do the rest with her mouth. Rynk moved her head to the side, and reached toward the wires. Her teeth would not reach, but her tongue managed to weave into them. She could not bite into them until all the wires were in reach.
Slowly Rynk inched the collar and wires closer to her face. Finally she had all of them directly between her teeth. She chomped down and felt a mixture of pain and energy blast through her. It was incredible and excruciating.
The lynx blasted upward to her feet, screaming and flailing about. She took hold of the wires in her hand, ripping them from inside her body, causing herself to scream even more loudly. She could feel the blood in her neck bursting, but at least it was something she could feel.
Tearing off a piece of her outfit, Rynk fastened a cloth-brace around her neck. The blood-loss would be minimal. Her body would create a sort of foam soon to clog the wound before healing naturally. {Another thing that’ll take a month…}
Still, her energy had returned, and it was time to make use of it. The city looked quite beautiful from atop the roof. Rynk couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight of the dozens who seemed to be searching for her but had failed to realize her location. They would notice at one point, especially now that she was standing up. It was time to go.
Leaping from rooftop to rooftop, the young lynx found that the white and grey city had more than just tall buildings and maze-like streets. In fact, it had tall black buildings as well. These seemed more populated, with more colors and windows. This did not look productive however. What she wanted was an escape from this country.
A chanting sound caught Rynk’s ears as she began passing the dark buildings. Following it on her way onward, she discovered a large lot with a circular arena inside. A flickering dome-field was noticed around it, for protection no-doubt. A strange wing…like symbol floated above it. It looked strange but perhaps it was worth investigating.
Rynk walked down the side of a building and made her way across the street to the entrance. Two fully-armored guards stood at the sides of the large pentagonal doors with a non-masked on at the center. The receptionist? The armor was very sleek. Rynk found it most intriguing. It almost looked molded on to the guards with glowing slits around the arms and eyes.
The unmasked guard, a very tall white dingo, gave the lynx an odd stare considering her attire. Rynk couldn’t help looking aside, flushed with embarrassment. She started to speak in Russia but the guard interrupted her “You aren’t Nekaian.” He stated in a strange flat-sounding accent.
“You… speak Singskrit?” Rynk asked wide-eyed.
“I speak English.” He corrected.
“English? … Okay… What… is this exactly?” {How was that ‘English’? What is English? It sounds like Singskrit.}
“What is a Banshee-girl doing in an exotic dress in Nekai?... Come to think of it, are you a special breed?” The guard mentioned.
Rynk shot the man an offended glare. “… It wasn’t an insult. Do you want me to assume the worst?” He asked.
“I didn’t have a say in the matter. Not really- wait…”
The guard raised a confused eyebrow. “… What?”
“What Nation are you anyway?”
“Glatorian.” He informed bluntly.
“… Aaaaaaas in Gladiator?” The lynx guessed.
“In a sense.”
“I’ve… never heard of that. That can’t be a nation.”
“… You think we’re Mobocanian.” The guard guessed.
“… You aren’t?” Rynk questioned, becoming more and more confused.
“No, we’re a multi-dimensional Nation. We travel from zone to zone, recruiting members, hosting games, trading, and so on.”
Rynk held back a chuckle. “Multi-dimensional? Travel? How exactly is that possible in Mobocan?”
“We have a worldwide pardon to move about as we want. We provide aid to various countries, though not Supreta as you’ve probably guessed.”
{“guessed”?} It made… a bit of sense. It was the Supretan way after all to say “No, I don’t need your help. I’ve just lost both of my lungs” but a completely alien nation to this zone being allowed to appear and leave, even taking people with them? How did they get a pardon for that? The whole planet said no to anyone coming in from off-world, at least as far as Rynk knew. Sure there were no doubt some kind of exception here and there, but…
… did it really matter? The more Rynk thought about it, she had a better chance trusting non-Mobocanians in the first place, and if they were lying about the governments being fine with their events then didn’t that mean they were on the same page? It did seem plausible both ways. They were here after all, and it wasn’t like they were hiding. Rynk certainly didn’t happen to come across them via super-secret-spy-tech. Either way this looked like her ticket home.
“… So if I win at this I can hitch a ride to… anywhere?” She finally spoke up in a sly tone.
The guard looked her over with a disapproving stare. “How old are you exactly?”
“Fourteen.”
He did not look convinced. “I am!” She crossed her arms to match her expression. “I didn’t pick out my height. Look, I don’t want to stay on this stupid planet. Can you help me or not? The stupid Emit people are probably almost here.”
“Emi-“ The guard yanked Rynk over and darted through the doors before setting her down. Rynk had nearly sliced off his arm in retaliation, barely stopping when he placed her back down.
“S-sorry.” He apologized. “Emit, as in Emit’s Domain?”
“What do you know about it?”
“Why do they want you?”
“To brainwash me probably. They stuck a collar on me so I couldn’t escape. Wanna see the holes?”
“No- I believe you, but… Okay,” He walked a ways further into the hallway. “Stay here. I’ll be back in a minute.”
“B-“
“You two, Emit people might be near. Guard.” He directed to two other guards at the right and left hallways before vanishing through another set of doors. Rynk stood there feeling a bit guilty. She didn’t expect protection. She just wanted to get out. Was this going to get these people into trouble too? They looked formidable but would Emit do something… wouldn’t he?
The guard did eventually return with a more decorated one, wearing yellow instead of black for his armor. He was a tall black jaguar. “What is your name?” He asked.
“Rynk.”
“Can you fight?”
“Yes.”
“Can you endure?”
“Yes.”
“Follow Acts. He’ll get you prepped. Don’t expect a simple fight here.”
“I’m grateful.” Rynk gave the man a short Supretan Bow before Acts, the white dingo apparently, led her through the right hallway. It made the young lynx chuckle a bit as they passed. She did not expect a working soda, and snack, dispenser, or a bathroom with the men and woman pictures to boot. It was… quaint; charming almost. It was friendlier than most things she’d seen so far.
“I… would like to imagine you’re all work up just for my benefit, I… guess,” Rynk began, “but I think it would take more than that to get you scared about Emit people. I mean, you guys certainly look like you can handle them.”
“Easily, yes, but we’ve lost members to them before.” Acts replied. “They steal random people through stealth, and if they’re looking for you that means you might lead them here.”
“Oh… sorry…”
At the end of the hall was a locked door that stated “Members and participants only”. They went through and found a prep-room inside. There was exercising equipment to the immediate right, measuring machines at the middle-right, armor and weapons at the far right, what looked like an operating table and medical supplies to the immediate left, water dispensers and tables of food at the middle left, and a platform with caution tape at its base at the far left.
“This is… pretty cool.” Rynk murmured. “Wait do I just use all of this?”
“Some of this has limits, but yes.” Acts informed. “There’s something specific you’ll need though.” He strolled over to the weapons area and returned with a yellow collar. Immediately this triggered a knee-jerk reaction, with Rynk jumping backward with a shaking head.
“Wh- !” The white dingo recalled her mentioning the collar from Emit’s Domain. “Oh… Sorry I forgot. This isn’t a slave-thing, it’s a protection-gear… If the fights get too dangerous it will create a protective barrier around you, and heals any fatal wounds if required… Wait didn’t you say there were holes in your neck?”
Rynk held the cloth-covered wound, looking a ways off. “Does that mean I can’t fight?”
“That depends on the wound. Can I see it?”
Rynk felt reluctant but she decided to push aside her caution for the moment. She sat down on the medic table and took off the cloth. There wasn’t much blood around the wound because of the clogging, but the holes were still noticeable. “Alright, we’ll need to clean that first.” Acts took a fresh cloth and soon the blood was no longer visible. He observed the wound and sighed. “It doesn’t look like it’ll hurt your chances but are you sure you want to do this?”
“I can fight, dude.”
“… Okay.”
Acts left the collar with Rynk. “You have a half-hour.”
“Alright.” She was alone now and the collar haunted her. It was a nice gold color with a triangle-shape at the right end. It looked almost like jewelry. The large-eared lynx was not fond of putting it on at first considering the recent events, but the more she thought about it, this was like an irony. Instead of hurting her, this would help her.
She strapped it to her neck and instantly began to feel a tingling sensation. Startled, she began to tug at it, but then realized it was healing her. The holes in her neck would take time but this was more than helpful. She could take off the collar later. She’d need it for the time-being.
Rynk snacked briefly, not wanting to get a cramp in mid-battle, and decided to rest for a short while before the fight began. She could wake up and get into the fray almost immediately after waking if required. This would simply help her store energy.
A hissing and clamping sound woke the lynx abruptly. She gave a large yawn while stretching out her legs and rose up. She looked to the door, then to the weapons. “Guess I should have picked one already…”
Rynk quickly scanned over the choices. A pair of spike-less whips caught her attention. The handles were a bit of an issue, but if she were to strap them to her arms it would help to keep her aware of anything happening to her hands and biceps.
The lynx could hear someone calling for her to come out, so she quickly placed the baton-handles of the whips just below her outer-shoulders, and wrapped the whips around, tying them while leaving a good five feet of length left for use.
She entered the arena, which was a large concrete lot, circular, with crowds all over the edges. It was somewhat humorous seeing the actual city-floor being used with its cracks and such. An announcer tuned in, sounding like the organizer though he himself didn’t appear outside of this voice.
He went over the regular introductions as Rynk’s opponent arrived. It was a medium-sized female echidna, red, with a masculine build, wearing cargo pants and a tang-top. It was a bit surprising seeing another woman in these fights, while at the same time refreshing. Was this because of Nekai’s standards or Glatorian? No doubt the Glatorian would have to abide by Nekaien rules to allow this in the first place, so that was probably the case.
The woman held twin-katanas, which she immediately dropped upon seeing how small her challenger was. “Darya” was the name affiliated with her.
She began speaking in Russia, yelling angrily at the announcer. Rynk could make out the word “детеныш“ which roughly meant “cub” or “youngling”. She was complaining over fighting a child.
The announcer replied in Russia to Darya, and the two began complaining. This was incredibly annoying. Rynk did not have time for this. Emit could pop up at any moment, or something else could possibly go wrong. Things needed to get moving.
*CRACK-A* The rubber-covered leather sizzled against the echidna-woman’s arm, demanding her attention. “Это мой выбор , чтобы бороться здесь, и если вы не собираетесь бороться , а затем оставить”(It's my choice to fight here, and if you're not going to fight, then leave).
In truth, Rynk did not want to make more enemies, but she needed things to get moving. “I can fight.” She repeated, this time in Singskrit.
The woman remained silent at first. She kept her stare at the side of the ground. She then turned to the young lynx and spoke in Singskrit “You think you can fight? Alright; let us fight.”
The woman yanked her swords from the ground, dashing at Rynk while keeping them low to the ground. Rynk quickly caught on that the woman would plan to dig up any dirt from the floor to fling up at her, or simply to use an upper-strike. The lynx did not have a chance to counter-strike at such a close-range, so she scuffled back a bit before backflipping, waiting a moment to fling her arms up to ward off the attacks. She knew she would not hit with such poor aim, but the echidna would be forced to maneuver away from the hit-box.
Rynk landed in a front-crouching position, with both feet and hands poised for motion. The right blade swung down while the left up, both going in a swerving circling pattern. The echidna knew how to use these weapons. This would make an opening for attack small. “You don’t talk in battle?” Rynk asked before pouncing with a knuckle-launch aimed at the woman’s chest.
The woman would be caught off-guard for a split-moment, allowing Rynk the hit, which knocked a small bit of air from the echidna, stunning the opponent for a moment. “No.” She replied with a brief cough.
“Good; me neither.” Rynk smiled. “Just thought I’d ask.”
“Hm-CGH!” The woman cleared her throat and the two returned to their brawl. Rynk continued to dodge attacks while the echidna continued to clip the air around her. It was far from impressive considering this was mostly Rynk moving backward with the woman following. This was not a fair fight; Rynk knew this, so she decided to add spice.
She knew the echidna would be aware of a second frontal attack, and charged her arms forward at the woman again, slower this time. The woman attempted to clamp against Rynk’s arms, but Rynk had already passed her hands downward and was currently leaping into a leaping hand-stand. The woman swiped at her arms while the lynx was in the air, which was the one flaw in the lynx’s plan.
Her arms clanged against the blades, paining briefly as she was hit off-track, but she salvaged the situation with a side-ways slam against the echidna, hitting the woman on the side-head and shoulder. Rynk collided very sloppily however, and was not able to recover.
They both landed sideways on the ground. While the echidna was far more bruised by the impact, she had a much more able position to strike, with her sword laying atop her hip which was near Rynk’s head.
Rynk knew this, and thrusted an arm upward, not being able to see where it would land. She heard the clanging, then tightened. At this point she looked up and realized it was the blade clanking against the ground as the echidna got up, not hurting Rynk.
The lynx rose as well, understanding this as a sign of honor, not taking the easy shot. Unfortunately, despite the liking she was taking to this interesting individual, the fight needed to end soon.
{These weren’t going to help anyway…} Rynk tore off the whips, and cupped her fingers before charging at the bladed-woman. The echidna slammed the swords at Rynk, but the lynx simply knocked them away with her arms before brushing her foot against the woman’s stomach. Realizing that a kick from that area would do more damage than intended, Rynk slid her leg up to the mid-chest of the woman, and slammed her foot forward just as the blades cut across her ears. “Sparta!”
It was never an even fight. Regardless of how skilled this woman was, Rynk’s exoskeleton bones were hardly damageable by the given weapon. Rynk preferred to play it fairly, but perhaps now an opponent with a skill-set able to counter her could take the echidna’s place; one that used arm-locks or heavy weapons perhaps.
The echidna was knocked unconscious from the impact of her head bashing against the concrete floor. Rynk felt worried that she may have killed her. Fighting aside, she seemed like a very decent person. Thankfully the collar on the woman began to glow yellow and the notable bruises on her arms were healing. The head was most-likely doing the same.
A scattered cheer arose, mostly from confusion and indecisiveness, but the announcer crowned Rynk the winner of the brawl regardless. Rynk grinned slightly, but asked quickly “So do I fight someone else now?”
Behind her, Acts walked up. “No, that’ll be it for now. You wanted a ride off this planet, right?”
“… Well yeah, but…”
“But…?”
{I kind of wanted to earn it more…} “Never mind. Er… she’s gonna be okay, yeah?”
“I’d assume so.” Acts walked to the echidna and gently lifted the head of the woman. “She’s fine.” Two Glatorian members came out and carried the opponent out, and Acts led Rynk inside.
This time they went through a series of hallways that were not familiar to the norm of this arena. The cheering that had previously been gnawing at Rynk’s hearing was completely gone. “Where are goin’?”
“The break room… well the victor’s break room that is. You can hang out there until one of the ships is ready to leave.”
“Okay; cool. Are there other victors there?”
“Yes. Currently seven are inside. If you prefer to go rest that’s also fine. There are some empty break-rooms you can use.”
“You’re… pretty generous.”
“… Does that make you suspicious?”
“Well, no- not really. I just, don’t really get why the pampering is happening.”
“You don’t have to feel weird. We do this for all the victors. If this were a favoritism thing we’d have people with their pitchforks banging at our doors for blood.”
“That make sense.”
“Good.”
The door opened into a large white room with various arcade machines, television sets, (most-likely Mobocanian stations) an indoor-bar, and a great deal of talking. Two male victors were arm-wrestling. Rynk decided to go watch that.
Acts walked off, closing the door behind himself. Rynk kept silent for most of her time here. She cheered on the arm-wrestling a bit, and a few times confirmed that she had won a battle, which most of the others shrugged off, and decided this was the only time she would be able to try a beverage.
The drinks were free so she asked for whatever was some form of an alcoholic beverage. What she received, she could not pronounce, and it tasted like urine. She promptly spat it out and hoped it would never meet her tongue ever again. It took many glasses of milk to get the taste out, and soon after she required a restroom break.
The victors pointed her in the direction she required and soon she was relieving herself. Upon exiting her stall she was greeted by a familiar face before blacking out. The original collar came back on, and Tella gave a triumphant scoffing chuckle.