They were outside of the Excel Arena in no time after finishing up at Argyles.

“Randall!” Called out Ravena to a shady looking man by the door. They had skipped the line, going straight to the bouncers on the VIP side. The second time this day, following their intrusion into Club Argent to see Thaddeus. Brand was worried he was going to start getting an ego with all this special treatment.

“Ravena, what a pleasure. I thought you’d be long gone. Finally come around to my offer on fighting?” Asked the man as they approached. He had a short squashed face that was vaguely reminiscent of a lizard’s. Big eyes. Brand mentally wondered if this man would blink much at all, before dismissing the thought.

“Not yet.” Said Ravena, summoning Clerk in a lightshow. “But maybe soon.”

“Well well well! This is welcome news. Come right in, I see you’ve brought friends. I know what you want from me Ravena, there’s space left if you promise you’ll be fighting one day.”

“As always.” Laughed the girl.

“She’ll be a star one day. Mark my words.” Said Randall to Brand, winking as he did so. Not quite a blink, Brand concluded.

After a brief talk and introduction to Randall they got into their seats. The benches were mostly full but there were small gaps here and there and in no time at all they’d found some space on the benches that could fit four. Brand was squeezed in between Tommen and Rosie, Before leaving Cabletown he’d have been a little put off by being squashed between two people and feeling their legs and shoulders against his, but after even his short time on excursion he’d become much more comfortable with less personal space and getting grubby. Days out in the wilderness and fighting for your life tended to make you care a little bit less about certain things and appreciate others more. And Brand was surprised to find he was actually quite excited to go to an event. He wanted entertainment before he got on the grind again. They looked down upon the stage. Two tamers stood on opposite raised platforms overlooking either side of an eight sided cage.

They’d missed many of the fights already, but since they’d got some tickets for free, only watching four fights, including the main event, was already very generous. The announcer was already talking as they sat down.

“...Renault’s Thunderkiwi! Tamers, are you ready?” Both nodded. Two Databeasts spawned within an eight sided cage with no roof. One was a Thunderkiwi, as Brand had heard. The other was a Stonisse, a Databeast Brand and Rosie had quickly dispatched the first time they went into Silverstar Mine. It was a sort of goblin covered in hard and heavy stones and it learnt Techs early. Brand expected this to be a good battle. “Then fight!” The announcer called, and the two were off. The chain-link of the cage lit up bright blue and created a translucent barrier between the Databeasts and the crowd.

The duo both started by using Techs, the Stonisse summoned three rocks which hovered in front of it and the Thunderkiwi’s blue line on its back lit up brightly. The Thunderkiwi let out a burst of lightning directed out of its beak, but the Stonisse had already waved its hands and the stones had flattened out into a single flat piece of rock, which the lightning crashed into.

It burst the impromptu shield completely apart but fizzled out before hitting the Stonisse, which had an impish grin on its rocky face and let out an apelike laugh.

“Woah!” Said Rosie. “That was weirdly human!”

Brand had to agree. He was very surprised to hear something so regular coming from a Databeast. He knew some were capable of higher emotions, but that it was certainly rare in the Juvenile stage. Were all Stonisse so intellectually advanced, or just this one? He wondered.

The Stonisse dashed forward to engage with the belligerent bird, which pecked at him with brutal efficiency. The Stonisse swung back and managed to get some good clubbing strikes in with its heavy hands but the Thunderkiwi was clearly doing more damage. The line down its back glowed blue once again and it released a static explosion around its body that sent the Stonisse back flying. The Thunderkiwi chased up but the Stonisse had used a Tech of its own - the three rocks had appeared again, where the Thunderkiwi had been. The Stonisse sat up and pulled back with its hands sending the three rocks careening quickly into the back of the Thunderkiwi’s head, dazing it. The rocky goblin quickly stood and grabbed the Thunderkiwi by the head and beak and began repeatedly kneeing it in the head.

One, two, three, four, five as the back of the Thunderkiwi glowed a brighter and brighter blue. “End this!” Came the call from the Stonisse’s tamer. The Stonisse nodded - another display of intelligence to Brand’s eyes - and then summoned only a single rock this time - a hefty one at that, and growing in size above the Thunderkiwi. It was struggling and fighting, but the Stonisse kept a strong grip on its head and beak.

Then the Thunderkiwi planted its feet and released another static blast that broke the Stonisse’s grip and launched it away from the Thunderkiwi. The boulder above it fell at the same time, striking hard on the flightless bird as the goblin smacked into the side of the cage. Both disappeared in a soft white light and returned to their tamers.

“A double knockout! A truly formidable showing there folks, absolutely stunning! Give it up for Renault’s Thunderkiwi and Dustin’s Stonisse!” Called the announcer.

The crowd roared, Brand with them. An incredible showing. Tommen was on his feet and Rosie had grabbed Brand’s arm at some point. The excitement had already gotten to them, that fight was pure action. If they were all going to be like this, Brand knew they absolutely had to come back.

The second fight was underway in no time at all. The announcer concluded that the previous fight was a draw and that both fighters would receive their winnings, which got a huge round of applause from the crowd, and began announcing the next fight as two new tamers stepped up to the raised platforms.

“And for this next bout we have a real treat, two old timers, two legends of the Excel Arena stepping in to battle once more! You already know their names, but for the slow among you we have Steven and Emma!” The crowd went off again and Ravena joined in exuberantly. She turned to the other three.

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“I grew up watching these two!” She said excitedly. Brand thought that was the coolest thing he’d ever heard.

“This is a Vanquisher level bout. Steven has brought his Magmangel to the fight! He means business! And Emma has risen to the challenge, bringing out her Arachcannonier! This is not one you want to miss!” Screamed the announcer.

“Keep an eye on that Arachcannonier.” Ravena told him quickly. “You end up seeing a lot of them at QBEA. If you can learn a thing or two now that’d be great.”

“No chance of seeing a Magmangel then?” Tommen joked.

“That’s a rare Vanquisher evolution reached by Steven’s Flintimp. Go deep enough down Silverstar Mine and you might find one. But you’d be lucky.” Ravena said.

“Woah.” Said Brand, as the two Databeasts came out and faced each other. The Magmangel was a hovering, angelic being made of stone. It looked more like a statue than anything else and stayed still as one. Its wings didn’t move as it hovered, but had pulsing veins of red running through it all over, bleeding through cracks. Its eyes were the same bright colour of lava as the veins and they glowed against the blue of the cage. It was hard to believe that the Databeast could evolve from something like a Flintimp, given its regal majesty.

On the other side the Arachcannonier was an enormous black and hairy tarantula, with the bright sheen of metal on its abdomen. Where it originally would have something to spin a web, there was a rotating cannon mounted off the back.

The battle started quick, both tamers yelling out Techs to their Databeasts, who fired them off in rapid succession. Balls of fire and metal shot were traded constantly as the two Databeasts circled each other. The Magmangel hovered above where the Arachcannonier could reach with its legs, but its buckshot from its cannon certainly could. It had changed to that after failing to hit the flying Databeast with heavy balls of lead.

Still, the Magmangel seemed to be winning as the fireballs it launched exploded and scorched the Arachcannonier badly even as the buckshot chipped away at it.

Emma seemed to realise something had to change and she yelled out to her Arachcannonier to do so. He shot something new from his cannon - it looked like a web, but one made of hard steel. It had heavy metal balls at the corner of each part of the web and it completely wrapped around the Magmangel, bring it down. Steven shouted something out in response, having some tricks up his sleeve also.

The Magmangel actually moved. Its wings flapped once and an enormous surge of tidal lava flooded from it, completely covering the Arachcannonier. In no time at all the competition was over as the Arachcannonier faded back into Emma.

“Incredible! A ranged battle from two of our longest running competitors! Give it up for Emma! And give it up for your winner, Steven!” Called the announcer and the duo got the applause they deserved.

The third fight came quick as well, the announcer seemingly couldn’t wait to tell the crowd.

“And now, two rising prospects we’ve been keeping a very close eye on. A battle between Juveniles that promises to be nothing but thrilling! Neither of these youths have lost a single bout! But tonight, someone’s 0 has got to go!”

The announcer introduced Bellamy’s Gravener, a bipedal lizard looking humanoid with floppy ears, sallow grey skin that bordered on the translucent, and large fists that seemed too large for its body. Sharp claws tipped each finger, but it lifted its hands closed like a boxer. It was one of the strangest Databeasts Brand had ever seen. It almost had childlike proportions, with big eyes and hands and it seemed to be grinning and relaxed, having a good time. On the opposite side was Lucy’s Heatwolf, a fire based evolution of Ruffmutt. Ravena’s Clerk wouldn’t turn into that, but it could if it defeated enough fire-based things and absorbed their aether. A Ruffmutt born of a fire element stone would likely turn directly into a Heatwolf for its Juvenile stage though.

The fight was over almost immediately. Brand could tell Lucy was very good, and her Heatwolf was dangerous. Bellamy’s Gravener was something else though. He didn’t even use any Techs that Brand saw, merely battering the Heatwolf with its fists. The Heatwolf was throwing out Techs like it was going out of fashion and fireballs exploded all over whilst a mane of fire adorned the Heatwolf’s neck. But none of them seemed to hit the Gravener. If it did, perhaps it just ignored the pain.

In no time at all the Heatwolf had returned to aether and into Lucy. Brand was stunned.

“That Bellamy works with Thaddeus sometimes.” Whispered Ravena with some venom.

Brand took a mental note to watch out for him. The young man had black hair and blue eyes, like him. After a performance like that, he’d be hard to forget anyway.

The final fight was soon upon them and Brand was excited to see it. They took a break in between the last fight and this one, building the tension and letting everyone revitalise for it, but now the four were back in their seats and excited as anything. The stands were completely packed now.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your main event for the evening! In the blue corner! We have a Hy-Rex fighting under the Tamer Jessie holding a professional record of eight wins and one loss! He is TYRANT! the REIGNING, DEFENDING CHAMPIOOOON!” The crowd went wild at this statement, cheering and yelling. Brand, Rosie and Ravena joined in but Tommen was louder than them all, hooting his support and getting properly into it. “And in the red corner we have his opponent, the challenger Triffidera fighting under the Tamer Tristan. Holding a professional record of six wins and zero losses! He is a MEAN, GREEN KILLING MACHINE and his name is STRANGLEEEEEER!”

The crowd erupted after that with some making choking motions with their hands and yelling loudly in a weird sound as if they were being choked. Clearly the plant had some fans in the arena. Brand was getting excited, Rosie’s eyes were bright and Tommen was practically salivating and hanging off the edge of his seat. Ravena had Clerk out in her arms and was telling him to pay attention, while the little Instar Databeast looked up at her confused.

“Jessie! Aaaaaare you ready?” The tamer nodded. “Tristan! Aaaaaare you ready?” Tristan nodded. “Theeen summon your Databeasts!” Two flashes of pure white light and Brand saw the two Vanquisher level Databeasts. Two entire stages above Clerk. Brand couldn’t wait to see what Clerk’s Vanquisher stages would look like. He couldn’t wait to get a Databeast of his own and feel the power of the Vanquisher stage. For now he’d have to settle for watching from a stage.

Jessie’s Hy-Rex, Tyrant, was enormous. It was like a T-Rex was wearing a rodent. Or a rodent had had all of its proportions changed to fit that of a T-Rex. It was covered in thick, brown fur and had enormous back legs, a long naked pink tail, short stubby grasping mouse-hands and its head had black eyes and a short, wide snout which produced long sharp incisors and tusks. It was a strange and yet terrifying sight.

Brand couldn’t imagine what he’d do if he saw one whilst out on excursion.

Tristan’s Triffidera was an altogether different beast. It wasn’t as large as the Hy-Rex, but Brand was still amazed by it. It was a tall, singular, thick stem with a huge mass of tangled white roots. The stem was topped with a gigantic mouth with sharp serrated brown spikes. It waved around a mixture of gripping and cutting vines - the gripping vines were covered in little stems with tiny vine leaves on the end and the cutting vines were covered in bramble-like spurs

“Aaaaaaand FIGHT!” Called the announcer.