A Yuni fidgeted in his seat before the light of the cam-bot. He looked around the room, his green skin with black undercurrents was freshly polished, reflecting the light more intently then normal.
Interviewer
No need to be nervous, Mr. Skipstone. This is just an interview. Introduce yourself, please.
Juno
J..J..Juno Skipstone. Will this be on the holoview?
Interviewer
Eventually. So, your daughter, Juna, is a much beloved pillar of the people. Her accomplishments must have made you proud.
Juno
I...yes, it did. It does. I am proud of her. It's just...
Interviewer
Just what, Mr. Skipstone?
Juno wrung his hands together, producing a grinding sound.
Juno
I...I was against all of this. I mean, at first.
Interviewer
Could you go into more detail?
Juno
It started with the Coalition Carnage Competition. When Juna first entered, I didn't even know until the opening ceremony. Yon was host planet that year and when the Grand Vizor introduced her as our Superstar, I...I fainted. And I'm not usually faint of heart, mind you. But do you blame me? She could die on the holoview, the whole galaxy cheering all the while. And the so called Superstars of the other planets; nothing but beasts. All of them. Like the time, I believe it was the first, no, second time she entered. She fought this incredible monster...
PAST
Juna stood on a dune of sand, looking out at the similar landscape stretching for miles in all directions. The geodome was located in the center of Dycord's Red Sea; she could see its outline about half a mile from where she stood as winds cast the red grains against it. It didn't take long to locate the Coojur, his tanish, brown fur helped with the burgundy sand. She quickens to a meter from him as he belly crawled across the sand, eyes glazed, tail limp, tongue lolling out between sharp looking fangs.
Okanuso (weakly)
Water...
Juna
Cut it out. We just got here.
Okanuso (weakly)
So thirsty...
Juna
Drop the act already.
Okanuso (weakly)
Please... anything...water...food...
Juna
I don't wear clothes.
Okanuso seemed to sober at the remark, focusing more on her rock body.
Okanuso
You naked?
Juna
Get up before I make you.
Okanuso
Okay, okay. Just don't hit me. Triggers the big guy.
Juna
What are you, exactly?
He stood a little uneasy on the sand hill, brushing loose grains from his faded blue tunic, tail swaying behind.
Okanuso
Just the disappointing son of a demanding father. I'm sure you can relate.
Juna
Actually, my father and I are in a good place right now.
Roxy
Could you two get to it, please?
Juna turn to the hologram.
Juna
What's the big rush? The carnies are sure to get their pound of flesh soon enough. Can I, at least, get to know the person you want me to pummel into submission?
Roxy
That's what the Superstar Ratings Chart is for. Now, fire up so he can get to rampaging.
She disappears in a blink.
Okanuso
Thanks for that. I really don't want to fight.
Juna
So, what's your story?
Okanuso
Because of dear old dad, I was cursed to turn into the incredible annoyance. I'm currently in search for a way to get rid of it.
Juna
By your own father, huh?
The cat man curled onto the sand, as if to sleep.
Okanuso (yawning)
He thinks I'm lazy.
Juna
He might be right. I've met plenty of Coojurs, none as laid-back as you.
Okanuso (proudly)
Back home, I'm known as Lazy Tail.
Juna
I've heard that name before. You're Chieftain Bache's youngest. Your brother, Cahad, told me a lot of stories about you. We used to work together some time ago. How's he been?
Okanuso
Oh, he's dead. All my siblings are. Do you have any?
Juna
Uh...yeah. Youngest of twelve.
Okanuso
Cool. Well, you seem like a nice lady, if you give up, I won't be responsible for making them sad.
Juna
Not going to happen. My father would be disappointed if I did. But, if you gave up, I might know some people who could be of help.
PRESENT
Interviewer
I have to interrupt you here, Mr. Skipstone. I have read the transcript of their conversation and she actually said "My mother would be disappointed if I did."
Juno
I... I'm afraid it's you, or the transcript you read, that is wrong. She really said that. I swear.
Interviewer
Okay, go on.
Juno is hesitant again, looking around as if expecting someone to jump out and attack him at any moment.
Interviewer
I'm not questioning your account, Mr. Skipstone. Just want to make sure I get all the facts straight.
Juno
I understand. But I did ask her afterward what she meant. She didn't correct me.
Interviewer
So, what did she mean by it?
Juno
That I taught her to never g...give up.
Interviewer
Understood. Please continue.
Juno
I don't really remember too well what was said afterwards, but I do remember the chaos that followed.
PAST
A tentacle slithered out the sand behind Okanuso as he spoke to Juna and wraps around his waist before she can utter a warning. He is jerked into the desert floor in a spray of sand as a second tentacle touches her ankle. She is quick enough to burn it with fire before it could take her as well. A dozen tentacles burst from beneath the sands, all around her.
Roxy
And a leviathan to the rescue! It attacks our two conversationalists, forcing some desperately needed action!
Half the tentacles present came at her at once, each at least a hundred feet in length and a meter thick, as they simultaneously cut through the sand like they were pulled by a great force. She avoids them as the ground began to quake, followed by a great cry of the leviathan. The tentacles suddenly began to spasm, moving erratically, then drop limp to the sand. Seconds later, the sand erupts upward in a shower that rained over her. A creature with a wingspan of thirty feet now stood aloof in the darkening sky, its black fur slick with leviathan innards. She stood motionless as it gazed at the ground, then around itself, smoke curling from its muzzle, red eyes unblinking. Juna was unsure what to do, so she did nothing. It turned east to fly over the desert and its powerful wings sent it into the geodome, which it did not see. It bounces off, into the sand and skids to a stop mere feet from her.
Rampage rose to its full height, dwarfing her as if she were a toddler. It looks her over, then around like before. When the ground quaked again, she lost her balance and a huge hairy fist drew back to reduce her to pebble form. She reacted faster, dousing it with as much of her jade flame she could muster. A crystal statue of a monster about to throw a punch remained when she was done. Frozen forever in a desert, she laughs. Her mirth died shortly thereafter, as the crystal body cracked, then shattered. As the shiny, silver shards hit the sand, Juna is surprised to see Okanuso fall to his knees.
Okanuso
You turned me back. How?
Juna
I don't know! Look out! More of them!
Roxy
The big, bad wolf version of Superstar Rampage is gone, but more leviathans are showing up; attracted by the death cries of their kin! This is about to turn into an interesting battle royal, folks!
The desert appeared to Juna to rise around her and Okanuso, but when she saw the teeth, she grabbed her opponent and quickens out the maw two seconds before the leviathan snapped it shut. The sand snake was big enough to swallow her streamjet whole, maybe even a fleet of them. It was covered in the tentacles that had been accosting them, as many as a hundred, plus had nine other sawtooth maws leading to darkness. Its conical front end dove back into the sand near the corpse of the first leviathan. The dead tentacles vanish under the desert, which heaved and shook as the leviathan feasted on the easier meal. Okanuso stared at it until it was completely submerged, then turned to her, near manic.
Okanuso
You have to tell me how you did it!
Juna
I told you, I don't know! Right now, I'm trying to keep us alive!
Okanuso
Nothing can kill me! Any damage just triggers the transformation! I need to know how you reversed it!
More tentacles rose to grapple them. She couldn't sense the life force of the animal with her Awareness, since it lacked a soul, but knew it was travelling about half a mile beneath the sands, trusting in its tentacles to feed its many mouths as it passed.
Juna
If you're immortal, then I don't feel so bad doing this.
She leaves him, skating on the air, away from the tentacle attack.
Okanuso
Hey!!!
Juna
Roxy!!!
The pink hologram pops up next to her, keeping pace.
Roxy
You bellowed?
Juna
Start the count as soon as he's dragged under!
Roxy
That's the plan. But, thanks for the reminder.
She was gone again by the time Juna saw Okanuso lifted by a tentacle around the throat. Another wrapped around one leg and he was ripped apart.
Over a billion miles away, a family of Yuni cheer in unison as Okanuso pieces vanish beneath the sands. Only Juno sat in nervous silence as Roxy's voice mixed with the jubilation.
Roxy
Superstar Rampage was reduced to bloody chunks and consumed! But is this really the end of-
Family
Shut up and count!!!
Juno (voiceover)
Every second was torture. Here is my youngest, out there getting attacked by monsters for our entertainment. I didn't feel pride at that time, but horror. And it got worse.
At the count of six, a column of flame erupted from the sand to splash against the geodome four hundred feet above. Juna was skating around the fire when she spied the approach of more leviathans via the tentacles cutting through the sands like vertical, wriggly worms out for a family run. She laughs. Rampage was airborne, headed straight for her. She sent balls of green flame that miss the target and avoids the clawed grasp that came afterwards. The two newly arrived leviathans began to feast on the one Rampage just ended. Their tentacles still reached for her and one succeeds in a lucky grab, just as the monster released a repeat of the pillar of fire right into her.
Juna could feel the heat and something inside her warned that this fire would turn her molten, if exposed for too long. She was only in its embrace for a few seconds and went sailing to the desert floor like a smoking meteor. Another fleshy membrane wrapped around her upon landing and she struggled to free herself. The tentacle smoked and sizzled but held strong; too strong to rip or pry, so she called more fire. The touch of flame gave her relief as Rampage came in and it too was gripped by the leviathan. First, it was only one, then more overlapped the creature as they attempt to pull it under. Somehow, the creature's wings were unbound and they begin to move in fast, powerful swooping gestures. Rampage had as firm of a grip on the tentacles as they did on it and began to drift slowly upward.
The sight of Rampage pulling the leviathan free of the sand stuck with her for the rest of her life. The lump of flesh stretched fifty meters, Rampage almost at its center mass, and it wriggled in the air, howling. Its tentacles were surprisingly strong enough to endure the weight of its owner, even as it continued struggling against the beast that was rising higher over the desert. With an incredible heave, the leviathan went into the geodome, the sand snake stretched the invisible substance, making the simmering desert air elongate in a weird blur. The leviathan hit the sand at double its velocity, shaking the desert beneath Juna and spraying sand in all directions. Tentacles, once aiming for her to be its meal, zeroed in on their crash landed kin.
Roxy
Phenomenal! I have never seen anything like that before! Superstar Rampage had to have set some kind of record with that toss. And the leviathans are chowing down in a bloody buffet. Now, Superstar Rampage has turned his attention back to Superstar Juna who douses the muscular monstrosity in the green fire again! Oh, Superstar Rampage was turned to crystal and shattered! But, his lesser, much weaker counterpart is back!
The ground was quaking beneath the two combatants, depicting the feast on two dead leviathans, one above the sand, the other below. Okanuso looked completely unharmed.
Juna
You really are immortal. That's useful.
Okanuso
Not when it comes with a nonsensical nuisance. I think you can help me with that.
More tentacles burst from the sand, just for them. Juna bursts into flames, scorching grasping appendages. The flames soak into her skin, causing it to deepen to crimson. Okanuso fell into her, getting singed and caused her to lose her balance and both were grabbed by various tentacles and pushed together. He screamed in pain as smoke rose from where they were pressed chest to chest. Even as the smell of burning fur and flesh filled her olfactory, she felt Okanuso body start to change, his eyes were getting red.
Okanuso
Can I contact you after this? Strictly platonic, I'm not aroused. It's the curse, I swear.
His size growth and the unyielding tentacles was putting more pressure on her then she cared for, so she let loose her Yuni Fire. The explosion blinded her in its brilliance, but she was free of bounds as she lands on her feet to the sound of breaking glass. She was in a crater nearly twenty feet deep with a thirty foot circumference; her explosion had fused the sand grains to form glass. She felt like the last remaining water mite in a child's breakfast bowl; she laughs quietly. She sensed Rampage before she heard him; a great roar accompanying her dissipating fireball over the desert. He spotted her just as a leviathan rose out the sands beyond him, mouth agape and swallowed the beast , arching back under the desert. She was grabbed from behind, as well, and jerked out of sight.
Roxy
The leviathans continue to make their presence felt as both Superstars are forcibly invited to their dinner party! Hope the sand snakes like stones and hair cause they getting that in abundance! Time to count!
Juno (voiceover)
My wife threw her drink at the holoview, declaring her hatred of the Coalition Carnage M.C. She has such a temper. I hate to admit this part, but when Juna was taken under the desert, I passed out.
Juna was no longer just under the desert but in the belly of the leviathan. Her Yuni Fire technique left her body on the lower end of durable for a few minutes, thus, she couldn't burn her way free and had to avoid huge serrated teeth or risk getting punctured. Slimy things glazed over her smooth skin as she was forced down the gullet. She wondered briefly how long it would take before its digestive acids cracked her. She wouldn't be around to find out as the darkness around her retreated at her jade flame. Any contact with her fire crystalized the innards enough to halt her descent and she felt the creature shudder. She poured out more of the heatless element and made herself as light as a new born flame to make it out of the animal and into the sand around it. The leviathan moved away toward the already dead carcasses, ignoring the meal that fights back. She broke through the surface almost as flagrantly as Rampage, somersaulting in the air. She had a regretful looking Roxy beside her the second she landed.
Roxy
Glad to see your alive. Didn't beat the count though.
Juna
That's too bad. What's up with him?
She gestures to Rampage, who was high above, at the very spot it threw the leviathan, using his flame against the geodome.
Roxy
Its DNA is different from Okanuso's; the omniband sometimes has trouble locking on. Don't worry, it can't get out.
Juna
I'm not worried and I wouldn't be too sure he can't. Anyway, I want you to do me a favor.
Juno (voiceover)
Later, I woke up to my daughter's smiling face.
Juna
Hey, dad.
Juno
You're okay!
Juna
Of course. Are you okay, though?
Juno
Now that my daughter is home, yes!
Juna
Only for a while. I had the competition teleport me here. My Syncs are going to do the heavy lifting for the next couple of matches. Right now, it's more important to spend time with the one family member I know cares the most about me. That's you.
PRESENT
Interviewer
She said that?
Juno
Don't sound so incredulous. I r... really was her favorite. If she was here today, she would prove it.
Interviewer
I have no doubt.
End chapter