"What's with these rules!?"
A loud yell rang across the atrium. Some of the more belligerent participants turned around, trying to spot the violater. Jake quickly ducked his head as low as possible, realising that his outburst had managed to provoke most of the contestants who were walking past.
Seeing the frowns on their faces and even hearing knuckle cracks, Jake covered his head with his jacket. The Catnis receptionist perked her ears up, intrigued by this young specimen before her. "Oh, quite the feisty one, are you now?"
Arching her body like a snake, she stood up from her chair and leaned forward on the counter. Jake gulped slightly, but it was still audible to her well-trained ears. Smiling coyly at the sight, a low chuckle escaped her lips. "Why don't you tell big sister here what you want, hmm~"
Steeling his last remaining thread of dignity, Jake answered back, "I want to sign up for the arena." Now more interested in this young man before her, the scar-ridden Catnis took out her holotab and started recording his information.
"Now that it's come to this, I should mention that in addition to the fees collected from sponsorships, we also collect a small percentage of your earnings from your fights. These act as both commission fees on our end and as insurance for you as well." Struck by this new revelation, he asked, slightly nervous, "I-I do still get to make some money, right?" Chuckling at his naivety, Catnis simply laughed.
Enchanted by the scene, a slight drool escaped from his mouth, which was quickly wiped away.
After the very laborious process (thanks to Catnis' very revealing attire), Jake finally managed to sign the submission form. He then asked tentatively, "Um, miss? Is there any possibility of arranging a match now?"
Raising an eyebrow, she asked, confused, "We can arrange one for today, but it will be very late at night." Jake corrected her misunderstanding. "No, I mean right now."
Still confused, she started typing away on her pad, distracted by his need for a fight. The poor child must have been suffering so much.
Just then, in Jake's schedule, a match was immediately found, confusing her even more. "Huh, that's strange. You're a very lucky man. You already have a match. Go get changed." Just before she left, she turned around once more, asking, "Do you want to use your real name, or..."
Jake stopped in his tracks before answering. "Please call me: Anonymous."
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Above the arena lay a small pocket of space. Here, a small garden was found, inside of which lay nothing except a large bed, matte black in color, except this time, dreamy swirls of white dotted the sides, twisting, writhing, spinning in solitary motions.
Above the silken mattress lay a woman of near perfection. Her many disjointed attributes gave a sense of chaos, yet harmony. She lay meditating, using the motion of the swirls as a guide. A ring rang out from her holophone.
She opened her blue and red eyes, picked it up, and smiled.
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Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in...
Jake, using rudimentary meditative techniques from sketchy sites, tried to calm himself down. Though this was his debut, and intentional murder was prohibited, he still felt queasy.
Despite his nervousness, he still forced himself to his knees, walking out with as much bravado as he could. On the way, he put the cloth-like mask over his face, feeling it move, tiny cuboids oscillating as it adjusted to his face.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, species of all wonders, today, for our first match..."