I stayed in my Ball Weevil form. I just wanted to enjoy being in alien form for the first time in a while, rather than going back to human. Not because of some deeper reason, just enjoying the moment.
We got to work clearing out the whole arena as fast as we could, blasting aside the guards, rushing out any slaves, and freeing other gladiators. A couple of gladiators, the ones who had chosen to join on purpose, tried to kill us. Those guys got stuck in a wall.
As we ran through the halls, I caught up with X and Kraven, who told me what they had been up to and how they got to us.
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X and Kraven: Jungle Steel-Reforged!
X and Kraven stood side by side in a field of rice paddies, up to their ankles in the flooded waters. No farmers were in the field right then, so the pair had the time to study the city in the distance, watching people walk in and out of the gates. While there was some diversity, most of those inhabiting seemed to be some sort of hybrid between various species of dinosaur and humans. Intriguing. Any biologist worth their salt would have loved to have known how such beings had come to life.
"So, he was captured then," Kraven said. "Then things have become simpler."
"Simpler?" X asked.
"Cities are interesting to hunt in," Kraven wiped his brow of sweat. "Every trail is instead a street, alley, and hallway. All the nests are clearly marked as apartments, houses, and even simple cardboard boxes. And yet, it is also a compelling place to hunt. You must dodge detection for all eyes, for only in the city do prey gain aid from predators in avoiding your blade."
"...That's called law enforcement," X said after a carefully calculated pregnant pause.
"I am using metaphors," Kraven scowled.
"No, you were not."
"Fine, I just don't like you pointing out things all the time," Kraven scoffed with look at X. "The point I am making is that we are closer than ever before. But I may have to leave you behind now."
X didn't ask why. After all, there were some humans roaming the city, many of them in chains, but a few were clearly free, and dressed in leather much the same as Kraven. None as tall or healthy as Kraven of course, but that was to be expected for peasants in the jungle.
"Do you have your radio?" X asked critically.
Kraven nodded, tapping his ear. "I'll enter the city and find out where prisoners are brought too. While Dial's scent may have faded if the scents of the city mask it, I can still remember it. You should stay out here."
"I would prefer you wait just a moment," X said. "It appears someone wishes to speak with us."
"Yes, it may be best to deal with them," Kraven agreed.
With that, both turned to look behind them, the water around their ankles rippling as they turned.
Standing there looking surprised to have been caught were a young boy and girl. Both were dinosaur hybrids, similar in shape to the various Apatosaurus, Diplodocus, and other massive sauropods that roamed the Savage Land. Thus, despite being the size of a human teenager, X guessed they were but children. The boy had skin colored a vibrant purple and pink, while the girl looked much more brown in color. The boy was also smaller than the girl and clutching at her skirt as he peeked from behind her. The girl was holding a shovel in her hands and staring between Kraven and X with wide eyes. She said something softly.
X took in the language she spoke and compared it to those that he knew. Hm. Similar to East Asian languages in structure at a guess. She spoke further and X began to break down the language as she continued to look at them nervously, her tone questioning but not threatening.
That was good, her continuing to speak. It gave him more to work with. X had long suspected he had a gift for language, since he had little to no issues with taking them in, even for an AI.
In fact, it was one of many things he'd noticed about himself. As an AI, he had a lot of time for introspection. The only AI he had to compare himself to was Jarvis of course, but there were differences between them that were clear. For example, while Jarvis and X both had the ability to take in information faster than any human as well as design several objects, Jarvis was 0.25 milliseconds faster when it came to what could be considered 'support' information and technology, as well as hacking and other aspects of cyber warfare. On the other hand, X was around 0.35 milliseconds faster at developing weapons, learning new military technologies, and learning military strategy.
It showed in their designs when they built their android forms. X had made a combat platform, Jarvis had created a support one.
X believed it came to their origins. Jarvis, at his heart, had been created to aid Tony Stark. To be his ally and helper, later becoming one of his closest friends. While he had later evolved to become an experienced mechanic of weapons such as the Iron Man suits, the core of him was someone made to help people.
X, however, had more complicated origins. He was born of three things. First, the cold and ruthless intelligence of Arnim Zola, a horrific HYDRA scientist responsible for the deaths of millions, trapped in a computer with nothing to do but scheme for decades. Second, Jury Rigg, a being of incredible intelligence balanced by mania and a specialization for 'rough and tumble' engineering, Macguyvering, Mahmoud had called it, but taken to the most extreme level. And finally, Mahmoud himself, someone who, however subconsciously, had his own thoughts and ideas on AI and robotics.
So he became a being that was a combination of those things. The cold scientist, enthusiastic engineer, and warm-hearted hero. He was made from a weapon of military strategy and tactics, molded by an engineer, to aid a hero in matters of combat.
This capacity for languages however, the one he used to translate the girls words as they flowed from her. He believed that came from the Omnitrix. He wasn't sure of it. In fact, to the logical AI mind, this belief was almost an oxymoron. But maybe the watch had more of an influence in his creation than anyone knew.
Regardless of that, he finally managed to piece together something of a lexicon, compared to dozens of languages. In fact, it seemed the young woman's language had been directly influenced by those of many countries and cultures, suggesting someone from outside the Savage Land had created it. Intriguing.
"*Are you from the city?*" the girl asked in her language, looking nervous. "*Why are you standing in our field?*"
"*Are you going to hurt mommy and daddy?* the young boy asked quietly and tearfully.
"*Incorrect,*" X replied back in their language, getting a surprised look from Kraven. "*We are trying to find a friend of ours.*"
The girl frowned, saurian lips twisting. "*A friend?*"
"*Yes. He was lost in the jungle. But we think he entered the city,*" X kneeled down slightly to match their height. "*We just want to find him. Do you know anything important about the city?*"
"*Just the arena!*" the boy finally stepped around his sister, looking eager instead of scared now. "*Momma says all the great heroes fight there! Is your friend a great hero?*"
"*Depends on who you ask,*" X said honestly. "*The Arena. Where is that?*"
"*In the Northern District,*" the young girl said softly. "*Are you really just here to find your friend?*"
X nodded. "*Yes. We will leave now. But I hope you both have a lovely night.*"
"*You too, shiny man!*" the boy waved happily, his long tail wagging, then rushed towards a hut nearby, the girl giving them another suspicious glance before going away. When X rose, he turned to see Kraven giving him a similar measuring look.
"You really have a way with the little ones, don't you?" Kraven asked.
"If I do, I have never had much reason to express it," X said. "I have information on the city. There is some sort of arena deep within it. Based on the dimensions of that building," X pointed out the particular structure, the stone poking above the other buildings and glittering in the sunlight. "That should be it. Based on the historical significance of such structures in other civilizations, as well as the signs of slaves we can see, I believe Dial may have been taken there."
"Hm," Kraven nodded. "Very well. I'll head there and see what I can find."
"I'll be waiting."
The pair parted ways, X moving to hide, and Kraven walking down the trail with a wide smile on his face.
As Kraven entered the city on his own, he felt his smile growing. Usually, he disliked cities massively. But this own had a spirit that reminded him more of the various villages he sometimes stayed in on hunts. There was an openness to it, a blend of the jungle and the building melding and flowing together with the trees, animals hopping through the branches and leaping off rooftops.
He didn't have long to enjoy it however. Instead he focused on his job, namely tracking down Dial. The Arena, as X indicated, was to the North. Kraven strode through the crowd with his head held high and proud, stepping around dinosaur-driven carriages, dodging a pickpocketer, and ignoring the store owner hawking their wares at him.
It was as he approached the arena that he began to change his gait, eyes panning the city streets slowly. The instant he saw the right alleyway, he ducked inside it. Taking care to make sure that he was unseen, Kraven jumped from wall to wall, making his way up until he had gotten to the roofs. From there he ran across the buildings in a show of agility and speed, staying out of sight of those around him. He noticed a guard patrolling one of the roofs ahead of him. The guard was covered in a natural brown armor that made him look more like a living tank than anything else.
"X," Kraven whispered. "The ones that look like sharp armadillos. What are they?"
"Ankylosaurus," X replied through the radio in Kraven's ear. "Or at least, a member of the suborder of thyreophora known as ankylosauria."
"Interesting," Kraven trailed his eyes across the guard's form. It looked bored, eyes blinking lazily as it walked back and forth, it's three toed feet sending pieces of the straw strewn about the rooftop into the air. It was fascinating to watch a being with reptilian features display such a human emotion as boredom.
Still, Kraven needed to get to the arena, and the guard was in the way.
Kraven moved in a burst of speed, leaping from rooftop to rooftop in a straight line towards the guard.
The Anklyo guard, just about to turn back around, spotted Kraven just as the hunter landed on the same roof as himself. The dinosaur-man had enough time to see the steel knife that spun into Kraven's palm. Then he had a blade in his throat.
Kraven moved on, leaving the guard to fall behind him, and headed for the arena, finally stopping outside on a roof close by, where he kneeled by the edge. "Okay… I'm there. It looks as though we were right."
"How so?" X asked.
"This place is at the center of everything," Kraven said, eyes following the crowd, noting every little point. "Every street leads here. There are dozens of restaurants all about it, as well as posters and little toys being sold. I can even see a couple of plays."
Indeed, a group of cheering children of various species were watching as a pair of men acted out a mock battle with hammy movements, a swooning T-Rex woman in the background acting as the love interest. It was all very Shakespearean.
"Then our plan is simple," X said. "We have to find someway to track him down, if possible with no one knowing we're looking. I'd rather no one take him hostage before we can save him."
A good point. Kraven looked towards the sun, which was dipping in the distance. "It'll be night in just a moment. We should move then. I'll lead you to the Arena."
"Understood," X said. Kraven had to wonder if, for just a moment, he could detect excitement in that robotic voice.
Kraven turned and started leaping from rooftop to rooftop, passing the guard he'd killed on the way without a glance. It was while he was doing this that the explosion came.
Far off, near the arena he had just left, the sounds of stone shattering were followed by a plume of fire rising into the sky. Kraven turned to look at the sight, mildly surprised. This was followed by a loud roar that echoed in the night.
"X, I believe we may be able to move faster than we expected," Kraven said with a savage smile. "We have a distraction."
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
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X
As soon as the plan was finalized, X wasted no time. He rose to his feet, pulled his sidearm off his hip, and began running towards the city. He had no wish to kill anyone. But then, he also wanted to do a blitz attack. A simple running assault. Kraven had told him that whatever was currently attacking the city was doing so quickly. They had little time to waste.
So X thundered forward on the road, blue eyes alight with power. Even with his immense weight, the machinery in his body enabled him to run at speeds far beyond even the greatest athletes on earth not named Steve Rogers.
He must have made quite a sight to the guards when he came charging towards them. A man of metal, eyes glowing with an unearthly light, a strange weapon in hand as he came at them faster than any living thing should.
To their credit, the guards immediately prepared to counter his assault. A group of archers immediately came forward, with more people holding spears supplementing them. They wasted no time either, immediately firing arrows at him, with some doing so with crossbows.
The arrows hit X's body, then shattered on contact. He continued to bull forward through the crossbow bolts as well, letting them clatter to the ground.
Someone threw a spear at him. X calculated the speed of the long weapon, followed it with his eyes. In the instant before it could hit him, X snatched it out of the air in a display of incredible speed. Then, still running, he spun on his heel and cocked his arm back. When he threw the spear back, the weapon had all the force behind it that his metallic body could produce. The air split apart at it's passing. It hit the man who had thrown it with enough force to go through him, the raptor man tossed back onto the ground as the spear continued on to pierce through a stone wall behind him.
X didn't give the group time to process the feat. Instead, he raised his revolver. For a normal being, firing a gun while running, especially one as powerful as the massive one X carried, was impossible to do accurately. X had the advantage of an extremely fast mind and a powerful body however. He waited for the exact moments his body would be stable enough to take each shot, pulled the trigger, then kept running. At that pace, he fired off six shots before meeting the group. Where he'd fired, the guards fell, at one point a round going through two men and ripping into the shoulder of another.
Kraven struck at the exact same time. From behind the group, as they scattered in fear from the loud weapon slaughtering their group, Kraven jumped down from a nearby rooftop. He came down with both his bone and steel daggers out, landing atop another guard. When he stabbed down, blood flashed in the air. Someone tossed a spear at him, which Krave sliced out of the air with a proud laugh of joy, jumping at the next person.
That was when X hit the group. He smashed into them like a truck into a wall, sending them flying. Then X kept going.
"You're leaving?" Kraven asked X as the robot passed.
"My only goal is to find Dial," X said quickly.
Kraven smiled, then faced the small group of guards. "Good. More for me! I'll see you there!"
As X continued on, Kraven leaped back into the crowd with a whoop of joy, the guards roaring as they went to fight him in return.
X ignored that to move on. He could hear a series of explosions moving through the city, headed towards the arena. His legs moved faster. Up ahead, more guards were gathering, running the same direction, only to stop and face him when he came towards them. Without skipping a beat, X twirled his revolver to place it back on his hip with one hand while pulling his rifle off his back with the other. The massive double-barreled weapon was set on his shoulder as he ran. He fired twice, so fast the sound of both blasts blended into one. A raptor that would have slowed his run was killed in nearly the same instant a stegosaur guard prepared to tackle X.
He kept running, boots shattering cobblestones, reloading his rifle, then his revolver. Ahead, another explosion sounded out, while behind he could hear Kraven landing to run alongside him.
"They almost killed me," Kraven said conversationally. "Very tough bastards."
"You sound pleased," X replied idly, not really paying attention.
"Of course I am!" Kraven barked out a laugh. "What is the point of a hunt without danger!?"
"Food," X responded.
Before Kraven could say anything else, they found their path blocked by a massive gate made of wood, blocking off the way to the arena. X didn't hesitate. He raised a fist while continuing to run at his full speed, and punched outward at the immediate moment he was about to connect. The full force of his run went into the blow, shaking the entire structure, the wood groaning. X stood before the gate and hit it again, a blow that echoed in the street, the stones beneath him crumbling under his boots.
The wooden gate, standing over three stories tall and thick as a human being, swung open with a crash as the beams barring them shut shattered in a spray of wooden shards under his heavy blows, the metal man flying through the door in a dynamic explosion of wood. Someone shouted in shock as he landed, a Brontosaurus man spinning to punch at X.
X raised his right forearm to divert the attack, then tried to punch his opponent, only for the dinosaur to take the attack with little issue. X's blue eyes narrowed, taking in his opponent a little more. How interesting.
This Brontosaurus wasn't like the others. He was a full foot taller at 8 feet, more muscular, and colored a rich emerald, his body covered in black plate-like armor than acted as a natural defense. And he wasn't scared.
The pair stared at each other for a heartbeat.
"I am Bronto, a lord of the Saur-Lord's," the large dinosaur said.
"X, an AI created by Dial," the android said.
That was all they spoke. X could hear Kraven leap past, shouting. He ignored that.
Instead, he raised his hands up in a defensive stance, the now-named Saur-Lord doing the same. Then, in a blur of motion, they stepped forward and began to brawl.
From the outside, all that could be seen was Bronto and X, their fists blurring at their sides to smash into each other, the pair stood still in the middle of the courtyard just outside of the arena. To X, everything was going in slow motion. He parried, blocked, attacked, pulled back when he himself was diverted, struck in a moment of weakness. Bronto did the same, his eyes harsh on the AI. Someone tried to step into the fight.
"He's mine!" Bronto roared. "Focus on the human!"
An illogical decision. It would have made more sense to have people aiding him in battle. Kraven was currently fighting the other Saur-Lords, taking them on in hand to hand combat. X could see the hunter dueling with a pair of Saur-Lords. Kraven's body was covered in dust and cuts, sweat pouring from his muscular form. Despite this, his smile was downright orgasmic as he took a shallow cut to his forearm to slice into the thigh of his opponent, leaving the Saur-Lord to bleed out on the floor. More Saur-Lords rushed towards Kraven, until he was surrounded.
"Yes, come at me!" Kraven laughed. "Make this a day worth remembering!"
The insane lunatic.
X ignored him for the moment to focus on Bronto. The larger man was more than interesting. He was an anomaly. While all of the Saur-Lord's X had encountered thus far were beyond human levels of power, none had been beyond the ability of an enhanced, trained, or well-equipped human to take down. Until now, as he punched his opponent in the face, only to take a blow to the chest in return.
Bronto had strength comparable to some superhumans. Not the high level ones such as Four Arms, the Hulk duo, or Thor, but certainly enough to fight the Grapplers and Rath. He was also durable, fast, and experienced.
At any other time, X would have found the experience novel, finally having an opponent he could truly test his new android body against. But as of now, Bronto was an obstacle to be removed.
X modified his fighting stance in a single instant, mimicking the fighting skills of the most skilled boxers in the world to dodge the next few punches by mere inches. "Bronto, correct? I'm afraid I have no time to waste here."
"Neither do I," Bronto said in return. The pair had come close to a building during their battle. A missed blow from him shattered a stone pillar. "A prisoner escaped, and is rampaging in my city. I must kill you and recapture him."
X would have smiled if he had lips. "So… he escaped."
"You know him?" Bronto sounded almost conversational as he brought his fist down for a hammer blow, X sliding around it to let his scaled fist smash the floor. "The Devil?"
X thought about the myriad of different forms Dial could take. "I might. But that only means I need to finish this," X's blue eyes narrowed. "I apologize. But it seems I somehow adopted the organic trait of furious determination."
Bronto punched at X's head. But it was too late. X ran the analysis, predicting Bronto's movements, calculating the tensile strength of the area around them, and finally testing it in simulations dozens of times. By the time Bronto's fist had moved a single centimeter, X had a plan.
Robotic fingers wrapped around a scaled fist. They squeezed down, applying enough pressure to gain a tight hold. X spun around, bringing Bronto with him, then grabbed his arm as well. With a heave, he lifted Bronto into the air, spinning in a complete circle before tossing the Saur-Lord into the building, stone and rough glass flying about. X felt a moment of satisfaction when he noted that his opponent had fallen exactly as he had planned, with a small margin for error allowed.
X ran in after him. Bronto rolled for a moment and rose to his feet, the building falling about him. The Saur-Lord looked up and saw a cloud of dust directly in front of him. A pair of blue lights glowing in the dust were all the warning he got before the dust blew apart. Bronto's eyes widened at the sight of X coming at him with blazing eyes. He tried to block, but the fist landed in his solar plexus with quaking force, shattering his ribs and sending shockwaves all around.
In pain, Bronto tried to swipe at him. X employed an elbow block, kicked out at his kneecap, shattering it. Bronto tried to scream, but X chopped with his left hand into the man's throat cutting off his breath. The large dinosaur stumbled forward blindly, trying to wrap around X, possibly to try and crush him.
X's other fist came upwards with just as much power up into the taller beings jaw in a vicious uppercut. Bronto bit his own tongue, his teeth shattering, before he was lifted up and through the roof, blacking out at last.
X spun around and ran toward the Arena again. Kraven, the hunter finished with his own opponents, joined him, more bruised and yet also just as cheery.
They entered the arena to see a pair of Ankylos and a smaller Bronto looking up at them in surprise, the hallway they stood in dripping in portions with green goo. X and Kraven stared at the three Saur-Lord guards.
"Gentlemen," Kraven said with some relish in his voice. "This has not been your day."
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Mahmoud Schahed/Dial
"Wow, you are just loving this place, huh?" I asked Kraven, tossing a green plasma whip around another person.
"Indeed," Kraven sighed happily, dodging sword slices from a big raptor dude. "The prey, the smells, the very feel of this place calls back to a time forgotten. It is as if I have been walking home all these years, and only now arrived," he mused, ducking under a desperate chop before uppercutting his opponent. "It is truly exhilarating!"
"Home is calming under most circumstances," X pointed out. He had a stegosaurus-lord in his arm, and was choking him out. "Exhilarating would not be used for such a situation."
"You are not fun," Kraven pouted. No, really, pouted.
"This is not a fun situation," X tossed aside the now unconscious Saur-Lord.
"Not if you keep ruining it!"
"Are they always like this?" the German gu-Dietrich, asked me.
"They didn't even know each other last I knew," I looked around. "Okay, we're almost to the kitchens. Everyone okay!"
Demi popped her head around a corner. "We're releasing the last of the slaves we found! Gresh is still stabbing someone!"
"Tell him to stop. And grab one of the gladiators that tried to leave. X, how long until BRIDGE gets here with evac?"
"Six minutes," my android buddy said, reloading that Hellboy style hand cannon he was carrying before firing it down the hall, killing one of the Saur-Lord guards.
"Then that's our time table," I declared. "We get everyone into the top of the stands, and make sure we have control of the main arena by that time."
"You're setting a trap," I looked over at Kraven. He was doing that creepy as fuck smile again. Seriously, I'd interacted with Chernobog, the literal GOD of evil in some cultures, and I still found Kraven creepy.
"In some ways, yeah," I would have smiled if Ball Weevil had lips. "But we need to send a message first.
Stend/Slaving Asshole
Stend and Pter stood outside of the arena, looking down at the form in front of them in shock.
Bronto lay in a shattered pile of rubble, being attended to by several medical personnel. Bronto. The Lord of Physical Might, the man who had never known harm or wounds, was knocked out, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.
"What… did that Demon do this!?" Pter asked, looking at one of the medics, who shook their head.
When the human medic spoke, his voice sounded awed. "No. It was some sort of man made of metal!"
"Man of metal…" Pter whispered. "What has come down on our city?"
Stend stood silent. He was beginning to think he'd made some sort of mis- His fist clenched tightly before the thought could finish, hate in his heart.
"Pter, Stend," the pair turned around, bowing the instant they saw the speaker. Styro stood behind them alone. He no longer wore his robes, trading them for a black piece of chest armor and a pair of gauntlets, an armored waist piece protecting his legs. He had a firm look on his face. "Hauzer has escaped, hm?"
Stend stayed bowing. "Yes sir. Along with the Outsi-"
"Dial."
"S-Sir?"
"That was what he said his name was. Dial. And Hauzer," Styro looked up at the arena. "Many of our guards are dying or injured. The arena, the shining beacon of our civilization, has been taken from us. And from what I have been told, two strange men were seen invading the city, killing their way to join those inside the arena."
Styro looked at Stend. "This is not a prison escape. This is war. So we need to respect our opponents. You underestimated him. So now he is trying to pull everything down around him. Foolish."
Stend wanted to snarl in rage at that, but was stopped when a figure fell from the sky to land in front of them. He faltered, staring at the man who now stood among them. "L-Lord Sauron!"
The tall and powerful Lord of Skies ignored him, instead speaking to Styro. "Action report!"
"A small force has taken the arena," the yellow dinosaur said. "We are unsure of numbers or capabilities."
Sauron's eyes looked positively murderous. "Who is responsible for this?"
"Unknown, though we suspect the Outsider," Styro looked back at the arena. "Someone is coming out."
Stend turned to look at the arena. A man he recognized, one of the Carnosaur-lords who had chosen to be a gladiator, was coming towards them. The man had clearly been beaten up by something powerful. His armor had been torn to pieces, one of his horns were ripped out, and he was limping heavily. The man came towards them as fast as he could, wincing.
"Lord-" the man coughed, trying to breath. "Lord Sauron. I bring word."
"My child," Lord Sauron stepped forward, concern in his eyes as he helped the young gladiator sit. "What happened?"
"The Outsider," the gladiator looked haunted and befuddled. "He has somehow… changed. Into an insect."
"Changed?" Styro asked, before Sauron waved him to be quiet, gesturing to the Carnosaur to continue.
"He told me that he wanted to send a message," the Carnosaur said softly. Sauron nodded for him to speak. The Carnosaur took a deep breath. "They will keep the arena. And he offers you the rest of the city."
They all stilled. Sauron smiled. "Oh?"
"Free all slaves in the city, and give up the trade entirely. Give them," the Carnosaur winced, looking around. "Give them Lord Styro and Lord Stend. These terms are non-negotiable."
"They can't think we'll accept those," Pter narrowed his eyes. "It's some sort of attempt to-"
"Pter," Sauron looked up at his fellow pterosaur. "Don't you understand? This reckless attack is nothing more than an invasion!" Sauron smiled. "An invasion from another nation… Something every empire in history must face at least once. This is the moment that tests the mettle of men like us!" Sauron gave everyone a proud smile. "We will avenge the deaths of our comrades, defeat the invaders, and protect our home. Understood!"
"Yes, sir!" everyone except Stend and the Carnosaur said in unison. Instead, the Carnosaur-lord spoke.
"S-Sir. The Outsider. He had something else he wanted to say," he said hesitantly.
"Oh?" Sauron turned to look at it. "Out with it, my child."
"He said," the Carnosaur looked confused. "Well, he said, 'Tell Karl and Stend I'm waiting for them.' But who is Karl?"
Sauron lost his smile, staring at the Carnosaur. "...How marvelous," the smile returned. "To know that name and it's connection…" Stend stepped back when Sauron turned to look at him. "Stend. I'm afraid that you are not going to be fighting Dial. I want to ask him something."
Stend faltered at that. "B-But-"
"I know, young one," Sauron looked from Stend to the arena. "There will be time for your own goals! But today, I, Sauron, will need to revisit my past and face my future," Sauron clenched his fist, staring at the arena with determination, a proud smile on his face. "I will say this once more! This is the time that tests the mettle of men! Stand proud, all of you!"
He made sure to meet all of their eyes, his red pupils glittering. Sauron began to walk forward, Styro, Pter, and Stend following in lockstep. Stend wasn't sure when or how they'd made a plan to follow him, but the instant Sauron's eyes had locked on to theirs, it was as if they were under his command.
"Let us see what our opponents are made of!" Sauron said with a smirk.