The roar of the crowd was almost high enough that Arin could barely hear her own thoughts, much less Cherry through the comm in her ear.
This time, the arena was a set of hexagonal-shaped concrete blocks, each about a meter wide, that could rise and fall to produce obstacles across the hundred-meter-ish distance between the initial starting positions.
"Alright Mija, comms out in one minute. Remember what I said?"
"Yep. Edge-guarding's cheap and effective."
"I didn't say that!"
"Oh... Go for the nuts?"
"Lhorza reproductive systems aren't functional until purchased! Including pain!"
"Damn... what did you say again? Thanks for the lookup by the way. I wonder if he knows his first name means 'bat shit'."
"¡Ay carajo! Just don't blow everything on the first encounter! The refreshers can only do so much. You need to be in it for the long haul."
"Oh yeah. Five lives... wait, shouldn't I get nine? I'm part cat after all."
"Don't push your luck, mija. La chancla is waiting for you, and I just printed a good one."
Arin eyed the translator. What the hell was a "the flip-flop?" The damn translator had to be broken, or maybe it was a new word only Cherry knew.
Sure, the information was probably freely available in the netsphere... but part of Arin wanted to preserve the mystery and-
SCRRREEEEE!
The sound of the starting shriek signaled that the matches had started.
Okay, Arin. Five lives.
Reviewing the rules in her head, she was allowed only her armor or one weapon, and she'd gone with the armor. In a capsule match, sponsors would pay for weapons and shields and other things to be launched into the arena at random intervals. As far as she knew, one of those capsules could contain her gun and another might contain her vogels, so she had the option of holding out and-
Phoonk!
The sound of compressed air leaving a large aperture announced the imminent arrival of a capsule...
"Aaaand of course it landed over there..." Arin grumbled, knowing she didn't stand a chance of reaching it before her opponent.
The way the blocks were currently configured, Arin would need to either tisk taking the highground or-
Tink... tink-tink... Breeeee!
A bomb landed a meter away from Arin, and on instinct she leapt away at the last possible moment, only to be thrown upward as her shields took the brunt of the damage.
She reached out with her magnetic senses, but the only metal within range was in the floor. With no other options, she bound her field to it and pushed, sending herself flying away from the bomb's widening explosion until she landed on top of a concrete formation, where she hovered for a moment before letting herself drop.
"Phew... hovering's tough work..."
A moment later, the lhorza appeared around the corner. Clearly he'd gone with the weapon option because he was wearing a long chain attached to a huge ball with dull spikes, and a moment after she spotted him, that ball came flying at her.
As she readied herself, however, she found she couldn't feel the ball at all through her magnetism. That split-second realization was all it took for her to dodge out of the way, and the ball flew past her until the chain caught on the edge of the concrete, and it fell to the ground with a massive thud.
What is that thing made of, lead?
"Ah-hah-hah! You c-c-cannot use your powers on lead, little human," the lhorza Paragon shouted. Then with a mighty leap he pulled on the chain, bringing himself close to Arin, who met him with a flying sidekick to the gut. "Oorph!" his breath exploded out of him as his suit flared down from blue to green.
"I may be small, but I'm one of the densest humans you'll ever meet! Wait-"
Before Arin had time to correct her accidental self-insult, the lorzha was back on his feet and pulling the ball towards himself, with Arin in its path.
It struck her shield first, shattering it and giving her just a moment to roll out of the way as one of the spikes snapped off.
It's all on you now, nanosuit! Arin thought, hoping her battle suit would hold out.
The suit did not respond.
The lhorza started swinging his ball and chain in wide circles, adjusting the angle to keep Arin from closing as he approached.
As the floor started rumbling, he let go of the upper chain, sending the ball careening towards the spot where Arin would be if she dodged to the right, but instead she leapt backwards as a hex of concrete went sliding down.
A meter away, the ball had likewise come down from the changing floor configuration, and she used that chance to jump on it, eliciting a grunt from the lhorza Paragon as she landed.
"Lead, huh? Let's see how you like this!" Arin grabbed a link with both hands and started pulling in opposite directions.
It clearly wasn't normal lead, since it was alloyed with something that made it almost as tough as steel.
Key word: Almost.
The chain snapped with a satisfying clang, and a moment later Arin and the ball both dropped three meters to the new ground.
Arin was already swinging the ball in her own little circle as the lhorza finally came into view, a mere three meters away as if he'd been approaching when his floor finally dropped.
"Catch this Bat Shit!" she shouted as she released it, only to cringe a moment later.
Bat Shit had caught it with one hand, and a quarter of a second later, he threw it back at her.
"NO ONE CALLS ME BAT-"
"Shit." The next thing Arin knew, she was on the ground, her suit deeply in the red.
And the lorzha, wasting no time, approached, kicking her like a football.
Arin had practiced recovering from suit induced accelerations. But as she crunched her abs and tried to magnetically tether herself, she felt that bare link she had snap as she failed to cancel her momentum in time.
And then she was through the portal, landing in the darkness of a refresher pod, her ribs broken and her lungs quickly filling with blood-
But all she could think as she gasped for air was... Four lives left.
Then the refresher machine whirred to life, sounding so far from refreshing that Arin wondered if she hadn't just been tossed into a meat grinder instead.
With the voice of an angel being drowned in molten cutlery, the pod informed her:
"YOU ARE BEING REFRESHED. DO NOT RESIST."