Pepper got his golem situated in the holding cage. It was a small ten-foot-by-ten-foot space lined by chain link fencing. There was a small workbench inside with a stool he could use while working on his golem.
He placed his bag on the workbench and began to empty its contents onto the table. It wasn’t his first time, and he knew the inspector would need to see inside it for the pre-match inspections. The area was filled with commotion as a mix of gladiators and their friends and family all moved about the area.
“Gladiators, please be at your holding cage in five minutes. Inspections will begin soon,” a voice called out over the speakers above.
Pepper was looking at his golem and making sure it was performance ready. He knew it was. He had checked it ten times at home before he had even left for the arena. But an eleventh time never hurt.
“Match bracket, kid?” a voice behind him asked.
He turned around to see one of the volunteers standing at the entrance of his holding cage. “Thanks,” he replied, grabbing the sheet.
Pepper began to look over the bracket. His mind wandered with possibilities of how each match could go. He quickly abandoned the effort, not wanting to get ahead of himself. He set the sheet down on the workbench as a tall figure arrived and towered over him.
“Pretty brave of you to show yourself here… Too bad I’m going to enjoy smacking your golem all over the arena. Heck, I might just leave it in one piece so it will be easier for you to take it home to Mommy… Just make sure you don’t cry this time.”
Pepper turned around to see the large African American man known as Reggie standing at the entrance of his holding cage. There was a slight shine on Reggie’s shaved head. His big bushy beard made him look like a biker gang member. His arms were crossed in front of him, and Pepper glanced over the dragon tattoo that wrapped around his left forearm and continued all the way up to his shoulder. His other arm was covered with a multitude of different tattoos.
“Is that a fact?” Pepper countered.
Reggie brought his arms down and tugged on the bottom of his black denim vest. A charcoal-gray undershirt was tucked into his black cargo pants, and he had finished his look with highly polished leather boots. “It’s a promise.”
Pepper smiled and started to laugh. Reggie soon lost his bearings and laughed along with him.
“What’s up, Soulless? You doing good, boy?” Reggie asked as he leaned in, and the two clasped hands, then embraced.
Soulless was the nickname Reggie had given him when they had finally become friends. It was a friendly jab at his ginger status, but it didn’t bother him. In fact, he appreciated the unique name. Reggie was one of the few African Americans Pepper had ever seen. Reggie had moved into the area years back when he was done serving in the military.
Reggie’s large figure towered over most people, but he was a rather quiet individual. He rarely spoke to people he didn’t know, but when he did speak, his voice was low and firm. It was through the club that the two had met, and for some reason, Reggie had taken a liking to Pepper.
“Yeah, I’m good. Ready to get this first match underway. Then I need to take out Sasha, then Sabrina, and then I’ll just be waiting for you at the end, big man.”
Reggie brought his hands up and started to rub them together as he smirked. “All right, all right. I been working on my technique, so I got a trick or two up my sleeve for you.”
“You going to need all them tricks to get past me.” Pepper smiled and crossed his arms as he posed in a confident stance. He reached up and grabbed hold of his chin. “What’s the record again? 3 to 0 if I recall?”
Reggie shook his head and wagged a finger at him. “That’s so messed up. I told you I had a stomach flu from eating a hot dog from the concessions stand, so I wasn’t even—”
“Ahh, come on, Reggie, I’m just playing.” Pepper chuckled and threw a pair of air jabs his way.
“All right, Pepper Walker, is it? Are you and your golem ready for inspection?” A cold and more aged voice called to him as an older man entered the holding area.
“I’ll see you soon in that arena, Soulless. We’ll finish this in there.” Reggie finished with a wink and pointed to him as he departed.
“I’m Pepper, and yeah, everything’s good to go.”
The man nodded from behind his holopad. A safety vest was over his light-blue polo shirt, and his hand dug into his khaki cargo shorts. He retrieved a piece of hard candy and placed it into his mouth. Pepper could hear it knock around against the man’s teeth. “Splendid. Let’s get started, shall we?”
The inspection lasted far longer than Pepper would have liked. But that was the case for every gladiator, not just him. The inspection process was what kept everything fair and even, though they didn’t open up the golems to check each and every item inside them. But they did their best to peer into every crack and crevice they could find to see what they could.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“You have your power core, okay… A forge hammer… very good, very good. Okay, young man, please power on your golem.”
Pepper did as he was instructed. The inspector then took his tool out of his back pocket. He connected it to two of the small wires he found exposed between the back shoulder blade and spine of the golem.
“Okay, bring it up to full power now.”
Pepper did as he was asked. His small power core hummed and energy began to surge throughout the golem. The inspector kept his eyes focused on his device while it beeped away as the meter continued until the core finally reached full capacity. The process continued for what seemed like an eternity.
A small green tag was finally placed at the entrance of his waiting cage and the inspector moved on to the next gladiator. Pepper closed the door of his holding cell and placed a pad lock on it. He then went to the same concession stand that Reggie had mentioned earlier, only he chose the popcorn rather than the hot dog.
Pepper walked up the entrance tunnel and came to the landing that stood alongside the stands. He scanned the area, and a smile appeared on his face when he saw Summer and Jackson sitting there. He made his way over. “What’s up, guys?”
“Hey, Pepper!” Jackson said with a big smile and an excited wave of both hands. Summer smiled back at him but didn’t say anything.
Pepper noticed Reggie sitting by himself and waved for him to join the group. He appeared reluctant at first but finally stood up and made his way slowly down the stands. He sat down next to Pepper and gave a friendly nod to the others.
Jackson turned and looked at them. “I’m rooting for Buck! He’s going to win today.”
A confused look came over Pepper. “Wow. Well, thanks for the support, Jackson.”
“Oh, don’t be a crybaby, Pepper,” Jackson countered.
Reggie leaned forward to get a clear view of Jackson. “Hey, what about me? I could use a cheer section too, you know.”
“I only cheer for winners, Reggie! You’ve only won one match ever.”
Summer covered her face with her hand, but it still couldn’t hide her giggling. She mouthed over Jackson, “I’m sorry.”
Pepper turned to Reggie, who rolled his eyes. “Dang… and I thought I was brutal. Mr. Jackson over here just bringing the heat like nobody’s business.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, we’d like to welcome you to the KBVS Club matchup. We’ve got a great bracket of gladiators today, and we’re ready to get underway,” the announcer’s voice said over the loudspeaker.
Pepper’s eyes were fixed on the arena until he caught sight of Andrea walking along the front of the stands. He couldn’t help but stare at her with affection as she went by with Rachel. His gaze followed the two girls until they arrived at Grant, who was sitting some way off on the opposite side of the bleachers. The warm affection turned into a heated jealousy, and he felt his muscles tense up at the sight of Grant.
“Pepper, can I have your popcorn?” Jackson asked. The question broke his mind free.
“Jackson!” Summer scolded him.
“What?”
“That is rude. You don’t ask other people for their food.”
“But he isn’t eating it. He’s just staring at Andrea.”
Pepper could feel his cheeks flush and now he just wanted to hide in a dark cave. “You know what, it’s fine. Here you go, Jackson.” Pepper practically shoved the popcorn into Jackson’s arms, and he slouched over. Pepper stood to leave, but the giant claw of Reggie’s hand landed on his shoulder and kept him planted in his seat.
“Oh no you don’t, Soulless! You ain’t getting away from that embarrassment so easily. You getting the smoke just as bad as me today. Haha! Maybe even a little worse than me,” Reggie added.
Pepper huffed and simply pulled his hat down low over his face. He had completely ignored everything the commentator had been saying over the speakers. By the time he looked up, he saw that Daniel and Terry had moved their golems into position.
The announcer’s voice rang out over the crowd. “It’s time to clash!”
The arena runes flickered to life and the containment dome’s energy rippled across it. It was very rare that the dome was needed. Weapons were not allowed in club matches, hence why hand-to-hand fighting skills were the most important thing a gladiator needed to have a chance of being promoted.
Some gladiators, however, were more hobbyists than those who pursued it as a career path. Pepper saw them more as practice, and they quickly fell to the bottom of the pool of competitors. He didn’t let his guard down, though, because every once in a while, those hobbyists got lucky and the other gladiators were reminded just how quickly people could rise and fall in the Golem League.
Terry brought his golem out swinging for the fences, hook after hook with a few jabs soon after. Daniel danced defensively around the arena. He slipped every blow that Terry tried to connect with.
Terry was quickly gassed by the volley of strikes. The window of opportunity was now open to Daniel, and he took advantage. His golem quickly brought a salvo of punches to the mid-section of Terry’s golem. Each impact thundered; the hardened golem’s blows sounded like two boulders being smashed together by gods.
Pepper quickly picked up on Daniel’s pattern. Right, right, left. Right, right, left. Right, left, right, left hook, left hook. He felt his shoulders bob and weave slightly as he imagined himself in the arena fighting against Daniel.
Terry instructed his golem to take a sidestep and changed his pattern to evade Daniel. Daniel’s final left hook missed as Terry’s golem finished performing his move. Yet Daniel realized his opportunity. Rather than returning to his current stance, he commanded his golem to step forward. A fast spin and he rotated his golem and delivered a spinning backhanded strike with its right hand.
The blow landed directly against Terry’s golems face and shattered its entire right cheek. The giant gash exposed one of the rune circuits hidden within it. The crowd pointed, noticing the opportunity at the same time as Daniel did. The gladiator sent his golem charging forward and faked another volley of punches.
Terry reacted by bringing his golems arms up to block, but Daniel didn’t go for the head. Rather, he brought a sweeping kick around and slammed into his opponent’s feet. The golem fell backwards and crashed onto the arena floor. Terry tried to get his golem to move fast enough to get out of the way, but his power core strained, unable to provide the energy needed to escape in time.
Daniel commanded his golem to leap upwards and brought it crashing down on his opponent’s head. A direct knee strike which came down with such force that Terry’s golem’s head shattered into pieces and the body went limp instantly. The crowd roared to life and cheered at the great start to the club matches.
A loud gong boomed out over the arena and the announcer came back on. “And there you have it, folks! Our first winner of the day!” The crowd cheered and applauded while a giant forklift beeped its way into the arena. It scooped up the golem and began to clear the area for the next bout. “Stay tuned for our next matchup as Buck takes on Tamin.”