Jen, Ralph, and Fern found themselves in a room tucked away within the arena's winding hallway system.
In the center of the room, a sleek, all-black rectangular casket rested. An orange towel was strewn beside it, with Ralph and Fern kneeling on top of it.
As time passed, two streams of tears rolled down Ralph's face. He opened his eyes after finishing his prayer. "An early death is truly life's greatest evil," Ralph said, using his hands to wipe away tears. "How many more young, beautiful humans must die before we put an end to this evil practice?"
"We warned Zerna. We told her that what she was doing with her grabs was dangerous and that she was going to get someone killed one day," Jen shook her head. "She wouldn't listen to us, and now she's paying the price for her actions. It's a damn shame what happened to Hugo."
"It's not enough! Has the Arena Safety Department given their response regarding my proposition about lowering the arena platform for the Bronze and Rookie divisions?" Ralph questioned.
Jen maintained her smile, but behind her mask, she sighed heavily. "Ralph, I explained this to you last time. It wouldn't be fair if our arena had a lowered platform. The reason it is at that height in the first place is to deter people from purposefully jumping off the platform and throwing matches. The arena is the government's way of showcasing and incentivizing the strength of a town. If we relax the rules here, it would undermine our efforts to create a stronger world."
"But why is it only our town that has this ridiculous death rate? Even Goodren, the town just north of here, with more than twenty-five times our population size, has fewer deaths than ours. Why is it my people who are dying? Can't you agree that something is wrong?" Ralph asked.
Jen couldn't help herself anymore and let out a sigh. "Shark Village has just become recognized as a part of the Toto-ka fighting region. We've already talked about this. Once you approve our fighter facility plans, we can provide education for new and aspiring fighters on how to safely fight in the arena. The facility is what sets this town apart from Goodren. If you want fewer deaths, approve our building permit."
"I understand that, but the people are vehemently opposed to the idea. Just the other day, I was berated for hours by the local reverend just at the mention of your 'school' for fighters. There's no way I can make the changes you have outlined. The people do not want it! We must protect the lives of the people now; later, we can talk about this facility once more."
Jen returned to smiling. "Well then, I'm sorry, Ralph, but there's nothing more I can do. Just know that immigrants are already starting to come and fight at the arena, and without proper instruction, I fear for their safety."
"Immigrants? Only eight families came here with the first wave, and most of the adults were silver fighters. None of their children are even close to adulthood either, so we won't have to worry about that either... well, at least for now," Ralph responded, brushing her innocuous statement off as nothing.
Jen's smile grew even wider. "Oh, I'm not so sure about that. I saw one of those children register for a fight just today. He was about this tall," she gestured, using her hand to show the boy's height, "and he had green eyes and bushy hair. I believe his name was Ged."
Ralph's eyes grew wide with shock and terror. "Ged???"
***
Ged was sitting between two rather burly-looking men, their attire and hair in complete disarray, their faces callous and devoid of any emotion. The room was filled with a dense cloud of smoke as most of its participants had lit up cigarettes or cigars.
He scanned the room. Near the entrance to the arena, a man with a mohawk and cowboy boots was practicing combos in anticipation of his match. Ged observed each move, attempting to mimic the patterns in the combo he practiced. However, unlike when he had seen Maurice's three-hit combo, he found it nearly impossible to visualize himself performing the same feats.
Ged pondered, Why can't I visualize his combos in the same way I could with Maurice?
He couldn't dwell on the thought for long, as every so often, an announcement would blare from the loudspeaker, announcing the next two fighters.
"Ged and Jeb, please make your way to the 'Fighter Waiting Area.'"
Ged focused when he heard his name, standing up from his seat, he made his way over to the arena entrance. There, he entered into a large circular concrete room illuminated by torches hanging on the walls, with its ceiling obscured by the fighter platform. Opposite to him was a hallway marked with a sign that read, "Exit."
To his right, there was a small glass box with a door labeled "Fighter Waiting Area." Inside, two chairs marked with red and green were placed, and leaning against the glass wall was the mohawked man he had noticed earlier, Jeb. Jeb was gazing up at the distant platform, eagerly anticipating his next fight.
Ged opened the door to the fighter waiting area.
Jeb glanced over toward the doorway, wearing a strange expression upon seeing the intruding Ged.
"You're Ged?!? Fuck me, you can't be bigger than a toddler," Jeb said, scratching his head as he looked at the small and seemingly weak Ged. "Given your age, you must be one of Arfunk's brats. This at least should be interesting."
Ged looked up at the man, and now that they were close to each other, he fully grasped the difference in size between the two of them. Standing almost three times Ged's height with bulging muscles that filled out his frame, Jeb looked to be almost 30 years of age.
Initially shocked, Ged's surprise quickly faded back to neutrality as he walked to one of the two seats in the waiting area, ignoring Jeb's question and taking a seat.
Jeb was startled and frustrated by Ged's haughty attitude.
"All you Arfunk kids fight the same way. This match should be over quickly," he bragged, expecting to get a rise from the seated Ged.
Ged remained as still as air, staring vacantly at one of the lit torches on the opposite side of the room. He paid no mind to Jeb's talking as he watched the flames of the torch dance about.
Jeb frowned at Ged's continued ignorance and moved over to sit in the opposite chair.
"AGH! I hate the silent ones. What fighter archetype are you then? I'm a Grappler," Jeb tried to make conversation with the silent Ged.
Ged finally turned to the hulking Jeb and gave a brief response, "I don't have one."
"An All-Arounder then? HA, you guys are my favorites to fight." Jeb had a big smile on his face, continuing, "I haven't been to the arena in a few days, and now all of a sudden new-faced children are coming down from the trees, begging for a lesson from this grandfather." Jeb pointed to himself in a smug manner.
Ged ignored the man's taunting, redirecting his attention back to the flaming torch.
Suddenly, a humming sound could be heard as the platform lowered itself to the pit floor. From the floor to the highest point the platform was raised towards was around the height of the statue of liberty or about fifty meters.
As the platform descended, a solitary man came into view, wearing a green pinny stained with blood on his face and hands. Beside him lay another man, dressed in a red pinny. Emerging from the exit hallway, five strange green men appeared, positioning themselves near the room's edge, waiting for the platform to reach the ground.
The platform landed with a thud, sending a cloud of dust billowing into the corners of the room. Two of the green men, carrying a stretcher, carefully lifted the injured man and moved him toward the exit. The green-clad fighter followed suit, leaving the arena and being led by one of the other green men.
Jeb stood up from his seat, and Ged followed, both making their way out of the waiting area and onto the platform.
Upon the platform, two circles were marked in yellow, labeled "p1" and "p2." These circles were positioned at opposite sides of the platform. Jeb confidently stepped onto the platform first, maneuvering over to the "p1" circle. Ged subsequently moved to the area marked "p2."
Once they both stood inside the circles, the two remaining green men hopped up on the platform to distribute the colored pinnies to the fighters.
The green man walked over to Ged, holding a green pinny. Upon closer inspection, the green man had a simple but unrealistic-looking face with dots for eyes and a semi-circle for a mouth. He wore white clothes, and his skin seemed to radiate a lime green glow, making it difficult to see his face and body clearly from a distance. He handed the pinny over to Ged before retreating off the platform shortly after.
After both fighters put on their color-distinguishing clothing, the platform radiated a strange white light as the humming returned.
Ged found himself unable to move a muscle as the platform slowly lifted them up the fifty meters to the top. Written around the top of the pit, wrapped around the arena in a repeating pattern, were the stats of the two fighters.
Ged Power: 000/060 Endurance: 080/080 Vitality: 040/040
Jeb Power: 300/300 Endurance: 500/500 Vitality: 700/700
"FORTY VITALITY?!?" The arena spectators were stunned. They stared at Ged's stats in disbelief. "How could someone even think about fighting with such low stats?"
"How did he even register? Is there not a minimum total stats requirement to fight?" Another spectator pondered aloud to the person sitting beside them.
Jessie and Zen were seated in the far back row, both wearing solemn expressions.
"To get matched against Jeb 'The Killer' in his first match, what kind of awful luck is that?" Zen said, shaking his head.
Jessie looked apprehensively at the platform. "One half-strength hit from Jeb, and Ged is gone, vanished from this world."
Zen frowned at Jessie's comment but couldn't disagree with his words.
Jeb was just as stunned as the crowd, if not more so. He looked across the platform at Ged. "Kid, do you not care for your life? With those stats... No, not even Arfunk would allow one of his kids to fight with stats like that." He raised an eyebrow in confusion, examining the numbers in front of him.
"Do you think fighters are all soft-hearted people? I might just kill you," Jeb continued, his face showing deadly seriousness.
Ged stared back at Jeb, his expression devoid of worry and emotion. "I'd like to see you try."
Jeb frowned momentarily before a giant grin covered his face. "Good! It's nice to see kids these days still have spirit."
The platform stopped moving, and a strange stillness overcame the arena as the lights keeping Ged and Jeb in place vanished, allowing Ged to move once more.
Entering the fight, Ged didn't have a plan. He had hoped to rely on his three-hit combo and quick feet, possibly squeaking out a win against an opponent who tripled him in stats. However, seeing Jeb, who had six times his power and endurance, and more importantly, a whopping 17 times his vitality, threw his ideas out the window. Despite his unfathomable disadvantage, Ged remained calm, his eyes directed at his opponent who sat across from him as he crept slowly forward to the middle of the platform.
Jeb was not as calm. Although he had the title 'The Killer,' it was not something he was very proud of. He met Ged at the center of the ring, trying to steel his resolve, because today he might just kill again.
Ged opened up first, charging directly at Jeb for a frontal attack. Jeb, not someone who liked to play defense, attempted to grab, but he completely missed the shorter and quick-footed Ged.
Jeb immediately noticed a problem with this fight, sighing as he realized it wasn't going to be as simple as he had hoped. Ged charged in at the opening, sending out a fist, using all his power to try and whittle down his opponent's large numbers. Jeb barely flinched as he shielded the small-powered hit, quickly re-establishing his footing. He attempted to go for a sweeping kick, hoping to catch the shorter Ged, but by the time his foot had fully swept across the floor, Ged had already backed out.
Jessie and Zen watched the fight intently. The bored expression on Jessie's face had now completely vanished as he soaked in every movement of the fighters and the three bars displaying their stats.
Zen piped up, "He's using the same tactic as Hugo, except instead of a combo, he's relying on just a single punch."
Jessie responded, "With that size difference alone, he has a pretty easy target to hit. The advantages of using combos lie in the lower power depletion when they miss, but with such a large gap between his stats, I think his strategy is spot on."
For the next few exchanges, it appeared one-sided. Whenever Ged's power bar regenerated to full, he went in and delivered a punch. Meanwhile, he spent the rest of the time dodging the attacks of the hulking Jeb.
Suddenly, a turning point came in the fight...
Ged Power: 060/060 Endurance: 080/080 Vitality: 040/040
Jeb Power: 150/300 Endurance: 050/500 Vitality: 700/700
"Wow, is Ged actually going to win?" Zen pondered.
"It's a bit too early to tell. Although Ged is doing well with landing hits, he's losing the battle of positioning. He's getting pushed further and further to the ledge with every exchange. If he doesn't fix this immediately, then he won't have the room to dodge one of Jeb's hits, and with him being so close to the ledge... you know how that usually goes."
Zen's face turned pale at Jessie's proclamation.
Ged went in at Jeb for another punch, and for the first time in the fight, Jeb's vitality dropped below its starting number, down to 690!
Ged didn't waste any time, quickly backing up to avoid retaliation from the slightly injured Jeb. However, unlike before, his foot slightly dipped off the platform. Ged's heart leaped out of his chest as he tried to reposition himself and avoid falling, but a pair of hands had a different idea...
Jeb grabbed hold of Ged, gripping him tightly as Ged desperately tried to escape by flexing his muscles and wiggling his body.
Zen and Jessie stood up from their seats in terror, anticipating what was about to come next. Not a sound could be heard in the arena as they watched the outcome of this deadly match.
Jeb looked at the struggling Ged with pitying eyes. "I'm sorry, kid, but you really shouldn't have expected a better outcome."
Without another word Jeb threw Ged off the arena platform...