The light was blinding. Goodbye to the sterile concrete rectangle, the arena of this game was oval, wide and bright. The field was still concrete but the impacts and debris were much more numerous. There was even a crater where the weight of a creature had left its mark.

  Similar to a thunderdome, a dome-shaped fence grew out of the tiered walls overlooking the arena. On either side, prison doors had been installed to add to the show side of the fight. The excitement of the crowd was palpable as a spectator tried to climb the gate. He was promptly caught by security, the video showed the crowd drinking and screaming. Ready to fight, the blood on the arena floor showed that the replay was of several fights that were cut in the editing process, the disturbing trail of blood went under the prison doors.

  The lights began to dim bringing the audience to a practiced calm, as a single spotlight was left in the arena, a woman in an evening gown appeared as a hologram addressing the crowd. Her voice resounded clear and pure in the tense atmosphere of the stands.

  -Ladies and gentlemen, we thank you for your presence in this evening, unfortunately it has just begun!

  The shouts of the crowd, their cheers were deafening.

  -After this match the bar will be hard to beat, but! I have two fighters here for you two creatures ready to make me lie in the next minute.

  A new spotlight appeared illuminating one of the portcullises with an ominous squeak.

  -A progeny of the modern world, the result of the most advanced genetic research, this creature has managed to get through all its enemies with its strength and agility. The giant with the whip, I named The Ivoryyyyyyyy! Whiplash!!!!

  Entering the arena in short strides, the creature spins his tentacle arm up into the sky to form a point. The crowd loves it and roars with delight before the presenter speaks again.

  -We come from a distant past, where we were not even in the food chain. The descendants of this creature have made it through the ages, making their way into the pantheon of the most dangerous animals even today. The latter compared to their ancestor are nothing in front of him. For here is the most powerful reptile that the earth has ever borne White Tooooth!

  The gate opened as the sounds of the alligator made the spectators roar and suddenly the crowd was boiling with anticipation. The animal could without force swallow a man with barely an open mouth, unlike smaller creatures like Stone Eyes and Two Mouth. White tooth was a superior category. The latter looked like an American alligator, its scales although white were oily and a little yellowed. Its mouth was slightly ajar and showed teeth that were healthy as well as broken or even growing. Its two pupils were observing its prey in front of it.

  Whiplash, as his name indicates, had left his arm outstretched for a moment, ready to start the fight. The latter let his arm drag on the ground, leaning slightly on his leg as if waiting for White tooth to jump to his face. The latter was standing still waiting for the start of the fight. A horn sounded and the giant alligator charged towards the creature, in one movement the gigantic torso turned on itself swinging its arm in what was to be a violent shock. White Tooth who was at pick speed stopped dead in his tracks, letting go of the attack that went to hit the arena floor. But no time to rest White Tooth resumed his charge to see with his eye the arm change direction to come back in his mouth.

  Not missing the moment White tooth reared up in its approach, presenting its body in a crescent moon shape to soften the blow. The blow was heavy, so heavy that one of White tooth's paws lifted. Coming up after the hand-to-hand fight, White Tooth opened his claw and bit into the first thing that came along. Whiplash had fixed his position to better control his blows but faced with this situation. The arm that had just struck the reptile passed under one of its hind legs and in an acrobatic move for such a creature. Whiplash jumped but not on the spot, bringing his arm back to the ground while giving himself a forward momentum. Whiplash flew over the mouth of White tooth who had opened it horizontally to bite more easily.

  Falling back on the back of the alligator, the abomination rolled to get up while keeping his grip on the leg. The predator didn't wait for him to turn around and try to put his mouth towards his meal. The abomination let go of the paw on the side where he was to pass the tentacle under the belly of his opponent who sat on it. Fortunately the member was not blocked and the abomination managed to move back in time to avoid a blow from the jaw. Showing initiative Whiplash tried to jump over the body of the not yet fully aligned alligator in front of him, passing once again in a protected angle of its jaw, it would have been perfect if the alligator was not a living being and had not destabilized the point of support by moving.

  Whiplash found himself on the back of the creature, his arm hanging without direction while his big clawed legs had no support on the beast's back. The latter instead of continuing to try to bite, began to gesticulate as if to make its passenger fall, but at the moment when it had a minimum of momentum, began to roll on him making both fall Whiplash and put himself on him, his back leg on his chest. Whiplash was in a bad position, as White tooth grabbed the tentacle on the ground and with his powerful jaw began to pull the limb of whiplash was stretched but no sign of pain was seen, no cracking or pain from Whiplash simply stuck under the weight of his birthday. Yet one could see the creature frantically moving its legs to get out of the way. The situation lasted for many seconds as White tooth did its best to chew on the tentacle. Whiplash finally managed to get one of his feet under the reptile's belly.

  In a visible effort the first foot lifted the mass of the alligator's belly, passing his second foot Whiplash pushed back with all his strength the massive body finally freeing the body but not the arm, the latter was well anchored in the fangs of the beast. Turning around the scene turned for a short moment into a tug of war with an arm in play. Whiplash took advantage of White Tooth's attempt to reposition himself to run towards the beast's mouth before jumping in a double drop kick in the face of the beast. This seemed to disorient her and open her mouth. Whiplash, however, wasn't done yet.

  Putting his foot on the skull of the creature. A sharp and sickening movement tore the tongue from White Tooth. In a bloody arc the organ flew around the arena before being dropped by Whiplash in a splotch, the latter backing away from White Tooth. White Tooth was now nothing more than pain, shaking his head and body, literally writhing in pain.

  When the moment of pain was finally over the reptile's head had blood flowing from its mouth and the alligator's characteristic growl only let the rage in the animal's body show through. Facing whiplash once again one could only notice the cracks, even cracks in several places of Whiplash's body, on his torso where White Tooth's weight had crushed him, and the part of the tentacle that had been chewed and pulled, even if these last ones were quite hard to spot when the amount of blood that now littered the tentacle, it looked like eggshell.

  Abandoning caution, White Tooth threw himself at Whiplash. This time with no thought of slowing down or targeting, he charged headfirst towards his prey. But unlike the first blow. No attempt to feint or dodge from the side, the sheer speed of the reptile would have caught any unprepared opponent off guard.

  But Whiplash obviously was. For in one motion the sword arm struck his opponent's head, deflecting his charge and disorienting him. Whiplash had to be on the defensive too. And in launched a series of powerful blows in the head of the animal now almost immobile and in its range. Fighting against the blows of Whiplash, White Tooth continued to advance towards him but contrary to the beginning of the match his opponent gave blows but by moving, that reduced considerably the amplitude of used power but the fact that White Tooth. Was literally being beaten to death while getting closer to her. Once close enough, and with amazing speed, White Tooth slammed the front of his body to the ground and in a huge move began to pivot on himself. The reptile's entire body was about to collide with Whiplash, but Whiplash couldn't back away, so busy with the offensive and the distance, he didn't realize that the surrounding wall was now just the right distance for White Tooth's tail to be inevitable.

  The scene was like slow motion for the spectators, it was too late to dodge or even take the hit. White Tooth's body was at least twice the size of Whiplash's, his tail was twice as wide as Whiplash's arm, nothing would stop the impact and the alligator knew it. As the crowd held its breath, White Tooth's tail began its destructive arc.

  Whiplash had only a second to make his decision, taking off in an amazing move. Whiplash jumped over the approaching tail. It was like the Olympic high jump. Without support or assistance, the power of the abomination's legs propelled him into the air with his head or rather his torso backwards. Again during the movement he was only a hair's breadth away from throwing himself on the object of his possible trauma.

  The movement was beautiful, but not the landing. Falling with all his weight on the ground. It took a second for Whiplash to get up. But the moment he was in position, he applied a huge vertical blow in the middle of his opponent's head who had just turned around. Bringing the head into contact with the ground, a crack sounded.

  The beast was in bad shape. But Whiplash started to move. Why did he do that? To deliver the biggest slap of the match right into White Tooth's face. An almost perfect arc, which passed at the optimal point at the level of the low jaw of his opponent. The new crack that sounded was accompanied by the reaction of the crowd that broke out in a thunderous applause. White Tooth's jaw had come off its axis, the animal was now on the ground and motionless with its giant mouth dislocated and its eyes wide open.

*****

  -Reminds me of a girl I met a while ago... she had a falling out with her boyfriend, and bam!

  Punctuating her story by tapping on the table, both were laughing.

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  -With your baby face you must have attracted a lot of girls.

  -Not the good ones, rich kids and gold diggers, nothing important.

  -You don't even talk to...?

  -No, my first time is more recent than you think. And no, it was a groupie who thought I was going to the best nightclubs 24/7, and quickly changed her mind and called me a loser. But crying when I told her to go live with a friend of hers who she said treated her better than me.

  Aahahahah. Catching his breath Leo spoke again with a sigh.

  -Damn, that alligator.

  -It's a shame but Whiplash was just better. Whether it was the initiative or the movements.

  -Did you see how he got away with it the first time?

  -He doesn't have full control yet, but he's already able to make his moves, even the veterans I knew had a hard time with the monkeys, which were similar animals to humans.

  -On the other hand, have you seen the skin of Whiplash?

  -What do you think of it? An epidermis? scales.

  -I would say more like a carapace. Did you see underneath? It was muscles, I'm sure of it, if this thing loses its carapace under its own blows exposing its muscles I find it really dangerous.

  -Did you see the violence of the fight too? But if it's a shell I should be able to fiddle with the protein dosages to add calcium, or send it back to the lab.

  -What are you talking about?

  -I was thinking, we're not going to sit around and wait for a league to open, are we? So I'm going to tell you about the tournament I found, it's rumors, but a rich clientele would like to take advantage of the monsters to have a three-beast fight. Two teams of three beasts, the first one with two wins and moves on.

  -Whooh! easy, we're not even sure I'd do with the creatures you've prepared, so a team of three with each one a creature that's really heavy, we're not there, not at all.

  -That's also why I'm talking about it. And if we offer the guys from those fights to join us. We convert the money if we screw up and become a sponsor.

  -You're thinking way too far ahead for me, how far along are you?

  -4 but that's not important. The important thing is to find the talent. You see this Whiplash, it's a fucking diament, I don't know how the training goes for them, but when I see their moves, I'm fucking pumped!

  -I wish I had your enthusiasm. Man, I have a good feeling about this. I'm telling you, The Ivory Whiplash may not be perfect. But monsters like the boar and others are bound to be interested in an offer.

  -Who would be crazy enough to join two freaks like us.

  -There's something for everyone, check it out, this game right here.

  Fat bug vs Mangle

  -Oh! Why are you showing me these?

  -Psychopaths, whether in their heads or not. They do the job I saw one of the clips from the other. It's totally the opposite of the stereotype of small versus big. But it's epic.

  -After Whiplash jumps over a giant alligator's tail followed by the slap of the century? I'd love to see that.

  -But hang on, Mangle has earned his nickname and it's graphic.

  Not sure I want to watch, it looks pretty gruesome.

  -Not all of your opponents will be beautiful creatures, the time when you were on an international stage may be over. The monsters we see here are examples of your future fights. We are in a transition, between experimentation and tradition. Already some suits want to ban experimentation, in order not to "denature" the world, but it is already done. Already creatures are used in exploitations of all kinds. And when we look at the people who make their speeches, we realize that they have hands in the companies that supply the monsters already used. Anyway.

  -Okay, let's slow down the drinking and bet a little more. What's the next Whiplash match.

  -Mystery fighter, but there's a lot of money to be made. I think it's going to be an impossible fight like the other Two mouth. Whiplash doesn't look very stable as an abomination. The fact that his shell is crumbling while fighting makes me think that the organizers don't want to take any chances with their bets. I'll bet on the mystery.

  -Not betting at all, too much risk, not enough info.

  -Okay, you bet.

  -So how much do we have to bet. The Boar is a sure thing, but what about the rest?

  -Frankly, the interesting matches are all focused on the day before the complexion, like I told you.

  The Boar against Two Mouth.

  Whiplash against a mystery opponent.

  Stone Eyes against Egg beast?

  -What? Stop, Olivier is looking at the Egg beast one?

  The image appeared on the screen and Olivier laughed, it was an egg, an egg with missing pieces or interlocking limbs of the creature. a mouth filled with fangs opening halfway, two eyes coming out of the hole in the shell, it had two arms and two legs with brown and slimy skin similar to a frog.The funny thing was that he could switch from combat mode to Egg by retracting his limbs and closing his eyes, creating a fortress around him.

  -Ahahahaha. No, they missed the name, they should have called him Super Egg.

  -We look at one of his match? We already know Stone Eyes. He had to recover to be part of the roster for the next night. but the egg. So...

  -Sorry, I already pressed play.

*****

  The scene showed the egg rolling into the arena. The joy of the spectacle surprised the members and attributes of the hidden ouelf. It looked like a simple brown rock rolling into the arena.

  In front of him stood another creature, an abomination that was anything but natural. Obese was the first description that came when one saw him. His body was made of fat and was supported by four feet of... turtle? His arms were two huge ape-like things, so big and wide that they reached the ground and were used to swing forward on his phalanges and fall back on his four feet. His head was fused to his neck, a small mouth and two vicious eyes fixed on the egg in front of him.

  Egg Beast against Banejiro.

  The members of the egg came out all at once and faced Banjiro who slammed his arms on the arena floor in defiance. Once again the arena was a circle, but without any protection for the audience. The starting horn sounded and Banjiro dashed forward like a monkey using his arms to swing his body forward. But Egg Beast was just a jump. A jump and he propelled himself head or rather body first on Banjiro who took him full force in his stomach in full movement.

  Impossible to counter Banjiro found himself thrown backwards while the egg fell back on his feet without any problem. As for Banejiro, he caught himself even if the impact disoriented him and he came back on his turtle legs. His last was scattered around his huge belly, making him extremely stable.

  Turning around, the egg wanted to kick his opponent in the head, but one of his big hands grabbed the leg in question before pulling it towards him and throwing a punch with his other hand. The blow was violent and hit right in the center with such force that the egg hit the ground, raising his free fist and still holding the leg, he went for a broken egg, his fist went down to the ground but the egg rolled to the side. Totally ignoring the normal direction a leg should be, the fist went to hit the ground in a shattering blow but the creature's skin prevented it from receiving any apparent damage. What did bring him pain, however, was the egg opening all the way to reveal the sharp jaw. The shell seemed to separate naturally as if it didn't exist, revealing rows of teeth ready to sink into the flesh. Which they did.

  The jaw closed on Banejiro's arm, even the width of it did not prevent a good part of the limb from disappearing under the shell. Banejiro immediately let out a cry of pain as blood ran down the line where the teeth had closed. He also let go of the egg's leg before bringing his fist down on the egg, which was now clutching his forearm by itself. It was then that the other limbs got in the way but Banejiro's strength should not be underestimated, pushing back the arm trying to interfere, Banejiro's fist crashed into the body of the egg. He raised it to start again but his opponent decided to get out of there, but not without bringing with him a piece of Banejiro. Using all his limbs to lean on Banejiro, the egg started to pull with all his strength. Seeing what was happening and the pain that was going through his body, Banejiro hurried to do it again. The egg finally let go and rolled out of the range of the attack. Banejiro's arm was now covered with blood, the rows of teeth were not gentle with the skin as hard as it was. The egg had the mark of the hammer blow where Banejiro's fist had landed. Of the two we could wonder who had taken more damage during this engagement.

  The two creatures are watching each other and we can say that each of them is judging each other waiting for a move from the other. If Banejiro made a move to advance he would have to use his arms but with the speed of the egg he was forced to stay on the defensive.

  Blood was flowing from the egg, it seemed like it was coming from nowhere if one didn't know about the existence of this huge toothed mouth. From the outside a line of blood appeared from nowhere on the egg shell. In a waiting position, its two eyes looked patiently at its opponent. His eyes were completely inexpressive. Banejiro only took a moment, he didn't need to think about how to strike. He just had to be within arm's reach. His four legs lifted the huge mass that he was and he began to walk towards the egg, raising his arms as if ready to stop a soccer ball. Banejiro's hands looked like troll hands - thick skin and puffy hands that were too large for the rest of his body.

  Slowly he approached the egg, but the moment he was within striking distance, he jumped to the side. Slowly Banejiro followed him, still trying to stay in front of his opponent. The egg knew immediately what he had to do. He jumped to the back of Banejiro before throwing himself on his back with his jaw wide open to bite Banjiro's head. This last one had not been fooled, in a speed that he had hidden until now he turned around the raised arm before giving a blow of full whip to the egg in the air. Sending it rolling to the ground on the other side of the arena. Even Banjiro didn't seem to realize the destructive blow he had just inflicted, he even looked around to check before seeing the body of the egg.

  Realizing that the match was not over Banejiro swung his whole body in a single swing holding on to his fists and propelled himself in the air falling back on the ground with his four feet before starting again, each movement increasing the anticipation that the egg would wake up before being smashed? Calculating his momentum, the last swing took Banejiro to the perfect spot, with a thud of impact, he landed in front of the still egg.

  Raising his two arms to finish in a hammer blow on the Egg he brought his arms down on his victim. The Egg had just reacted, finally, but too late, Banejiro's arms started to descend on him. He tried to roll out of reach but Banejiro was too close. In a desperate effort he got his legs and got out of the impact zone or the destruction would have been total. Instead, his legs came under the double blow of the monster's arms. A crack sounded at the impact, and the pool of blood where the Egg's legs had been was only a glimpse of the damage.

  The fight wasn't over, no, the Egg tried to get back to its feet, bringing its legs back into the shell but Banejiro had every intention of finishing what he had started. grabbing one of the Egg's arms, a new sound of gore sounded causing the Egg to convulse. Banejiro raised his arms once more to make a double hammer in the middle of the Egg, but then a red light came on. A foghorn sounded and Banejiro's victory was declared.

  Abandoning his gesture, he simply opened his arms, embracing the praises of the crowd.

*****

  -Come on…

  -Okay, but you follow me, right? The last of us pay up. My God, we almost had a scrambled egg.

  -This one looks flatter to me.

  -Don't worry, Stone eyes will be terry-fried.

  -Nah, it will be a hard stop at the shell station for him.

  -Will be eggs-tra.

  -He will need to egg-celerate too if he doesn't want to crack on Fry-day...

  Olivier and Leo continued for a while before betting on their favorite. And to start drinking again...