Pepper glanced over the bracket. Tamin was currently dishing out a superior beating to Daniel. There was no doubt in Pepper’s mind that Tamin would be the main competition leading into the third round.
A smile arrived on his face when his eyes slowly moved down to the next matchup. Jake vs Reggie. Reggie had been constantly on his holodex since his first victory. Pepper couldn’t help but notice that if Reggie’s luck held out, they could be facing off against each other for the club victory.
DJ and Sabrina had the third matchup in the second round while Pepper and Sasha finished off the bracket. He crossed his arms in front of him and rolled his head from side to side. He hadn’t really seen Sasha’s fighting style. His arms rippled, alive with goosebumps. Stick to what you do, P-Dub… Don’t worry about the noise.
“And that is it, KBVS fans! Tamin with another crushing victory!” The crowd cheered over the volume of the announcer. “We’re just getting started, fans. Sit tight as we get Jake and Reggie ready for our next match.”
“All right, fam, I got to go and get this work in. You feel me?” Reggie chuckled. “You know I will. All right, all right. All love, fam. Bye.” He closed out his holodex screen, grabbed his few items, and powered up his golem. He paused briefly when he noticed Pepper watching him from across the waiting area.
Reggie smiled and sent a nod Pepper’s way. Pepper responded with returning the gesture. He then brought his fists up in front of his chest and bumped his knuckles together. “You got this,” he mouthed to his friend.
Reggie nodded and thudded his fist against his chest. He turned and began to walk towards the arena, his black mamba golem walking slowly behind him in the follow pattern.
Pepper was about to return to his golem within his cage when he heard a commotion. He turned around to see the KBVS staff standing in between Reggie and Tamin. The two gladiators were yelling at each other.
“I’m gonna smash you worse than I just did to Daniel. Loser!” Tamin mocked and continued to laugh as the staff shoved him further away from Reggie. Tamin turned just in time to see Pepper glaring at him. “What are you looking at, Peeps? You’re next!”
Pepper brought his right hand up and tapped his finger against his cheek. “I have no problem giving you another reminder. You just say the word.”
Tamin smirked and chuckled. “Thanks for playing my game. But victories go to winners, Peepers… Something you’ll never know.”
His anger rose within him so much that he couldn’t even focus on Reggie’s match. He felt guilty when his friend returned and he wasn’t able to even recall the second win of his career. Pepper did his best to cover up for his failure by asking vague questions. Thankfully Reggie’s excitement was at an all-time high and he didn’t seem to notice.
Before Pepper knew it, Sabrina cruised right past DJ, and now he and Sasha were about to begin. He was standing on the gladiator platform and the announcer began the countdown sequence. Pepper called his golem forward and was about to launch a salvo of strikes. But he stopped.
Sasha’s golem sputtered to life and then died. The large clay figure crumpled down onto the ground and remained lifeless. He watched as Sasha tried to do a quick system reboot. Then the tapping of fingers against her command interface, which finally led to them being taken off. Her head drooped in embarrassment and sorrow as the crowd gasped in disbelief.
“We have a no contest, folks. That means that Pepper is our winner and moving on to the next round,” the announcer declared publicly, and he heard a few cheers for him.
“Way to go, Pepper! You got this!” The familiar voice cut through the crowd. His eyes searched and then narrowed in on Andrea. Her smile beamed towards him, and she clapped her hands in front of her face while giving him another cheer of encouragement.
He couldn’t fight the smile on his face. The flushing of his cheeks caused him to give a polite wave and then he lowered his hat over his face. He turned and was afraid to face the onlookers. The safety of the holding cage was more comfortable than being exposed to public speculation.
It was the beeping of the forklift rolling by him that helped break his nerves after seeing Andrea focusing on him. He turned his attention to Sasha, who was shuffling her feet on the ground. Her eyes were swollen from the tears that were still fresh on her cheeks.
“Hey, Sasha. I’m sorry about that. I totally know how you feel.”
“Oh… sure you do,” she replied sarcastically, her words jumbled together through emotion-filled sniffles.
Pepper reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder. The act seemed to take her by surprise. “I’m serious. Two years ago I had a golem where the clay hadn’t been properly cured. My power core overheated, and in the middle of a club match I watched as my golem’s chest literally melted in front of everyone.” He let go of her shoulder and crossed his arms in front of him.
Sasha wiped her face with her dark gray sweatshirt sleeve. Her cheeks were red, and slight smears of makeup and eyeliner remained. She shifted her weight and rolled her eyes. “That sucks.”
Pepper chuckled. “Yeah, it did. It took me a whole year to save up enough money to get a new power core and new clay to rebuild my golem. So… I get it. It happens.”
“Thanks,” she said and sniffled.
“Any idea what the problem could be?”
“None.” Sasha threw her hands up. “I ran all the pre-combat checks and inspections and everything came back clear. I’ve never had a single issue at all.” She paused and shook her head but finally turned and looked at him. “This was supposed to be my match. I could feel it. This was going to be my first club win and then I was going to work to get my second victory and would go on to regionals.”
Pepper didn’t have the heart to be realistic with her. This was Sasha’s first year on the club circuit, and though he didn’t know much about her, he certainly knew how hard it was to compete in the club, let alone anything outside KBVS. “Hey, don’t give up. You’ll get there someday. If you need any help running some tests later this week, hit me up. I should have some time on my hands and can swing by and troubleshoot it with you.”
“Thanks, Pepper. I appreciate the offer. Good luck to you in the rest of the tournament.”
Sasha turned and left, and Pepper turned his attention back to the arena. Tamin and Reggie were in the process of getting their golems into position. Tamin’s golem looked spotless. There wasn’t even a scratch on it. Pepper had to admit that the two massive stone gauntlets Tamin had installed were nothing short of impressive.
Tamin was not the best combative fighter, but he wasn’t dumb either. Pepper would give his nemesis that much. Tamin certainly seemed to figure out a way to jump past his shortcomings and had now procured what he would need to stand out among others who had actually worked hard to get where they were.
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Pepper recalled the first couple of years the two had squared off. Tamin had gotten the early hand on him. But the last year was when Pepper had noticed his own skills improving drastically. The training with Nate at Ohana dojo had helped him be more aware of the approach and mindset he needed. The only problem Pepper now had was not knowing how he would counter Tamin’s current strategy.
The cheering crowd pulled him back into the moment and he watched as the match began. To Pepper’s surprise, Tamin instructed his golem to rush straight ahead and go charging into the fight. Reggie didn’t seem to anticipate the aggressive move and looked like he was struggling to figure out his counterattack.
Reggie’s golem kept pedaling backwards. He gave a few front kicks to try to thwart his pursuer, but Tamin’s stone fists swatted them down and away. Reggie was now backed up against the arena’s barrier. He launched a few quick jabs and punched away at Tamin’s midsection.
Tamin quickly countered with a right haymaker. The stone fist flew across with such force that it smashed straight through the golem’s head. Reggie’s mouth dropped open and panic appeared to come over him. He ducked his golem down and attempted to dash away by dipping under Tamin’s left arm.
Reggie’s evasion failed him though. Tamin was able to twist and kicked Reggie’s black mamba square in the back. The golem stumbled forward and crashed to the arena floor a few feet away. Reggie vigorously worked at the controls and tried to get his golem back into a fighting stance. But it was too late.
Tamin’s golem began to crush Reggie’s from bottom to top. Massive strikes rained down and blasted the clay into pieces. The sound of victory rang out, and all that was left for Reggie to receive, was a pile of clay shards.
Tamin threw his hands into the air. His golem mimicked the gesture, and the two bathed in the glory of the cheers from the crowd. A giant smile was plastered on Tamin’s face, and Pepper couldn’t help but grind his teeth. Don’t celebrate too early there, chump… I’m going to finish what I started at school, he thought to himself.
“All right, folks, I hope you are ready. Pepper may have gotten off easy in his last fight, but I think it’s safe to say that we are in for a great matchup. Stay tuned, for Sabrina versus Pepper is coming up next!”
The clean-up crew quickly attended to the arena. Pepper was about to power up his golem when he heard Sabrina’s voice behind him. “You think you’re ready for this?”
He turned around to see her standing behind him, her hands on her hips as she took up a dominant power stance in the center aisle. Though she greeted him with a confident smile, he was all business. “No offense, Sabrina, but you are nothing but a speed bump on the road. You may slow me down for a second, but there’s no chance you’re going to stop me from arriving at my destination.”
She shook her head. “Good. I would hate it if you thought about going easy on me. But fair warning, I don’t plan to go easy on you either.” Sabrina turned and walked off.
Pepper was tempted to watch her depart, but his mind only thought of one thing: Tamin. He quickly opened his holodex and looked back over the technical specifications for his runes.
Rune: Energy Shield
Energy Cost: 50 kW
Shield Duration: 10 Seconds
Rune Refresh Rate: 30 Seconds.
I’ve never used this technique before… and I don’t think Sabrina will see it coming, he thought. He swiped over to his next rune.
Rune: Energy Absorption
Energy Cost: 25 kW
Energy Absorption Duration: 10 Seconds
Rune Refresh Rate: 30 Seconds.
All I need to do is get Sabrina to unleash a salvo of strikes—maybe two. The energy I would then absorb from her strikes could potentially cut the time I need to power up my energy strike by half! He smiled but quickly erased the expression.
“Pepper, you’re up! Get a move on it, kid,” a staff member declared.
“All right, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls… it is time! Time to welcome in our two semifinalists. On the alpha side of the arena, you have Pepper. And on the bravo side, we have Sabrina! Let’s hear it for our two finalists, KBVS, and of course let’s… get… it… on!”
The match began, and Pepper took a few quick sidesteps to his left. He closely watched his energy levels rise as his power core worked to increase the output he would need for his powerful rune attack. His plan seemed to be working.
Sabrina brought her golem towards him. She closed the distance quickly but then paused as well. The two danced off and countered each other’s footsteps.
She’s powering up for a rune attack! Pepper warned himself.
A bright pink light appeared in Sabrina’s golem’s hand. It spread outward and strands of the glowing pink light began to wrap around one another, forming a braid. The pink energy continued to flow until the full shape of an energy whip appeared.
Pepper chuckled. There were no weapons authorized in club matches. But Sabrina didn’t have a weapon—she had an energy rune that acted like a weapon. Not only had he not seen her use it before, but she hadn’t mentioned she had this ace up her sleeve either. She’d been saving it for a moment when she really wanted it to be noticed, and my, did she get the reaction she wanted.
The crowd went wild and cheered. The roar within the small fairground building seemed to shake the whole structure. Sabrina’s golem reared its arm back and began to fling the energy whip straight towards Pepper’s golem.
The time he let her have also aided him. He activated both his energy shield and energy absorption runes at the same time. A quick snap of his wrist and his golem’s right arm reared up defensively.
Sabrina’s pink energized whip wrapped around the arm. The pink light pulsed, and there was an electrified static shock that rang through the arena. Pepper watched as his energy meter soared upwards. His defensive tactic was working, and his absorption rune continued to soak up all the energy Sabrina’s power core generated for the attack.
Sabrina soon noticed what was happening and recalled the whip. She began to reposition her golem while she waited for his defensive shield to dissipate. The two continued their dance in the arena. Pepper would take a step forward, closing the distance to defeat the whip’s effective range.
Sabrina would then take two steps backward and one step forward. The dance continued as both gladiators tried to calculate the precise movements they desired from their opponent. Pepper’s energy shield faded, and he saw Sabrina’s eyes narrow from across the arena.
There was no delay before she launched her whip into an aggressive volley of snaps. The arena cracked and reverberated as if a spring thunderstorm were overhead. Sparks of crackling pink energy danced at the end of the whip as it snapped around Pepper’s golem.
Thankfully the neon energy allowed Pepper to see the angles his opponent was working with. He was just able to dodge and dance his way around the attack. He continued to take notice of his cool-down timer out of the corner of his eye. The faint green light illuminated to inform him the cool-down had finally ended. His attention, however, remained on Sabrina. She raised her hand, and as she did so, Pepper launched his golem forward.
He cut the distance between the two fighters. The pink energy whip came streaking down towards his golem. Mala caught the attack with its clay left hand, but not before Pepper had activated the shield and absorption runes again.
His energy meter spiked. The red light of the heat warning indicator lit up on his command interface. Pepper’s heart raced as he relived the moment when he had watched his golem melt in the arena. But he remained steady and continued to command his golem forward.
Sabrina’s power core was now being drained by her movements and by Pepper’s absorption rune at the same time. Her golem’s energy levels were too depleted to counter him, and Pepper forced the two fighters against the far wall of the arena.
Pepper focused on his rune’s indicator light and as soon as it turned green, he activated his energy strike. He caught sight of his energy meter and it immediately snapped backwards. The rune took every ounce of energy he poured into it through his controls. His golem’s right fist soared straight ahead and blasted into Sabrina’s chest plate.
Her clay fighter’s upper torso immediately cracked. The pink energy of the power core poured out of the spaces, and Pepper knew the fight was close to over. His energy strike was still activated, and he brought his judo chop down and severed Sabrina’s golem’s left shoulder clean off.
To Pepper’s surprise, Sabrina did not surrender. Her golem leaned forward and landed a mighty headbutt directly on his golem’s chest. She tilted it back and began to send it forward for another strike.
Pepper had already anticipated the repeated move and countered by swinging his golem’s right leg backwards. He twisted his golem’s hips and used his opponent’s momentum to his advantage. Sabrina’s golem stumbled to the ground.
Half of the crowd gasped and the other half cheered. The roar from the stands was enough to drown out the sound of his fist strikes. Pepper continued to pound the chest plate until it finally broke free and the beam of pink light confirmed to him that the power core was exposed. Out of instinct, he slammed his golem’s fist into the chest and shattered the power core.
Once it was over, reality hit him. Oh no… what have I done?