“Alrighty, everyone! I hope you loved that first round, because I know I sure did. To start off this second-round action, we have none other than Pepper. Now, we just want to take a moment to remind everyone that Pepper was moved on to the second round due to a forfeit from his competitor as is outlined in our KBVS rules for tournaments. So, now that we reminded everyone in case they were wondering, let’s bring out his opponent, DJ!”
The roar of the crowd greeted Pepper while the concrete walls amplified the acoustics. It was not as intense as the last match he’d been in, but the small vibrations his body absorbed reminded him of how much he missed the arena. The nervous anxiety blended with the thrill and excitement, all culminating in one explosive moment of time when one had to prove their worth in order to move on.
“Let’s do this, Mala,” he said, looking down at his golem, which was powered up and ready to go.
Pepper slowly turned to see DJ on the opposite side of the arena. His opponent’s golem was a poorly shaped figure with a paint job that looked as if it had been done by a child with craft paint. Pepper didn’t really know what exactly DJ was going for, but his best guess was that it was supposed to look like some kind of space superhero.
Pepper huffed when he took in his opponent. “Whatever that is… it’s going to be trash by the time we’re done. Sorry, DJ… but I’ve worked too hard and come too far to not win this thing.”
The countdown timer wound down and the starting bell rang out. Pepper watched as DJ’s red superhero golem came charging forward. His opponent looked like it had every ounce of energy devoted to the hasty movement. Rookie… Pepper thought to himself while he waited.
His confidence was at an all-time high. He was sure his Dark Matter Hellion Light power core was the best core out of everyone else’s in the competition. The signal response time and energy generation response time were the best he had ever experienced since starting out on this journey.
The red superhero were now mere feet away from Mala. Pepper initiated a force blast and watched as his opponent skidded backwards across the ground. Its feet left two deep lines in the arena sand. Pepper then commanded Mala to sidestep to the left, a taunt to his opponent showing that he did not fear whatever skill or tactics DJ had planned for him.
The red superhero regained its composure and started to counter Mala’s movement. Both golems now squared off like boxers in the ring. A quick step forward and the superhero attempted to launch a snapping front kick onto Mala’s chest. Pepper went to counter his opponent and was amazed by how fast the power core responded to his command. Mala raised its arm and brought an infused energy strike straight towards the kick. The golem’s fist landed perfectly on his opponent’s foot.
Pepper’s eyes grew wide with excitement as he saw chips of clay fly off the red superhero. The force of the magically enhanced strike had surged through its entire leg. DJ immediately commanded his golem to start backpedaling, but Pepper knew he, along with everyone else, had seen it.
The golem had a lean on the injured side, a clear structural issue that DJ would now have to overcome. The crowd gasped and then immediately cheered.
Pepper didn’t wait to see what DJ would try to do next. He sent Mala rushing forward and feinted a punch on his left side. The ruse worked, and DJ commanded his golem to prepare to block the impending blow.
Pepper smiled when he saw the superhero’s arm begin to lift upwards in a block. Its entire right side was exposed, and he immediately commanded Mala to transition into a swift sweeping right kick. The power core supplied the energy with ease, and Mala responded as if it was truly alive. Its kick crashed down onto the injured limb of its opponent. The impact made a loud thunderclap, and chunks of hardened clay flesh rained down on the sand.
DJ’s red superhero extended its left arm to brace itself against the ground. But it was over. Everyone knew it was over, and Pepper smiled as Mala stood over his opponent. He waited for the rune spell cool-down period to be over. The thirty-second wait seemed like an eternity.
DJ tried to conjure another spell, a trick in his back pocket. But Pepper was ready for it. He blocked DJ’s last-ditch effort and raised Mala’s right hand into the air. The command was sent for another energy strike, and Pepper directed the spell into Mala’s hand. The punch surged downward, and in one fluid motion it split the red superhero’s skull in half, finally coming to a stop in its chest.
The victory horn blared out, and the crowd greeted Pepper with glorious applause and roaring cheers. He scanned the faces until his eyes locked onto Andrea. She was smiling from ear to ear and yelling Pepper’s name.
He smiled and waved back at her, but then realized who was standing alongside her. He was amazed to see Tami Miller there, and she had brought Jackson as well. If his memory served him right, this was the first time she had ever come to a KBVS match.
Standing next to her was his mom, his dad, and Meg, who was trying her best to prop Amprage up in her arms so the familiar could see. That sight alone caused him to chuckle. But the list continued, and Pepper didn’t know how to accept the sensation he now felt inside.
Rhino was there, standing alongside Principal Stephens and Vice Principal Harvey. Behind them was his neighbor, Ryan, and Pepper couldn’t help but smile, since he towered over everyone and could easily see the action without blocking the others’ view. Ryan was sporting a Big D Energy shirt and was actively trying to pawn off free cans to those in the stands.
At the front of the group stood KT and Kyle, and his heart warmed to see them holding handmade signs that said “You got this, Pepper!” His cheering section was the loudest of the entire audience, and he waved at them in appreciation for their support.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
A slight movement at the far end of the grandstand, though, caught his eye. He quickly focused on it and saw Reggie and Freddy, who had been standing on the far side. They raised their fists in congratulatory salutes as well, and he gave them a wave of thanks before turning to leave.
“Two more, Pepper… and then we’ve done it,” he muttered to himself as he directed Mala back to the staging area.
***
The mental distractions that anxiety could bring were one thing. But Pepper now had to deal with blocking out the positive emotions of all his friends and loved ones being there cheering him on. He felt bad for not going out to speak to them, but even that sensation was one he was working hard to suppress. The only thing he put at the forefront of his mind was staying calm and collected—to erase anything and everything that could take him away from being present within the moment.
The rest of round two went in epic fashion. Freddy wiped the floor with Jeremy, but that was expected. Reggie clobbered Jake and sent him home with a pile of shattered pieces. The fact that Reggie went two for two in such a similar fashion left Pepper curious about what exactly his friend’s build was.
Pepper was thankful that the bracket coordinators selected Reggie and Freddy to face off first, before he had to meet Terry in the semifinal round. Terry didn’t feel like much of a threat either. Sasha had done a number on him, and though he wound up winning, his golem suffered far greater damage than a gladiator would wish, especially having to go into the semifinals.
Pepper looked down through the staging area and homed in on his upcoming opponent. His eyes locked onto Terry, who was relentlessly moving all around his golem. Pepper knew all too well what it was like to apply epoxy and other patches to your golem right before a match. It was clear to him that Terry was doing everything he could to be ready for their match.
With that, Pepper turned his attention to the holoscreen suspended above the staging area. The camera feed was not that great, and he missed the quality of the Golem League. But it was good enough to at least give him a sense of what exactly Reggie was using.
The KBVS announcer came over the public address system, and Pepper found himself a couple of abandoned bales of soft hay off to the side. There was a faint smell of ranch life when he plopped down onto them. Normally that would have bothered him, but a few months working at the Equine Sanctuary had changed all that. He kicked his feet up and nestled into his newly minted makeshift recliner.
Pepper watched as Freddy and Reggie took up their positions within the gladiators’ area. Both were sending hand gestures to each other that Pepper couldn’t help but chuckle at. His interpretations of them were, “You ain’t gonna make it, cuz” and “I’m gonna make you go night-night.” The whole scene amplified the anticipation of the match to even greater levels.
Freddy had built a golem that looked more like a sleeping sumo bear than anything else. The overly large round figure had some oddly shaped arms. Its giant bulging belly left Pepper thinking it could easily act as a natural shield.
The golem was odd and comical, but Pepper had seen a lot of crazy golem designs over the years. The rodeo clowns were some of the worst… like a weird creepy display of a dark and sinister circus act. He shivered and shook his head to let go of the memory and tuned back in to see Reggie’s golem finally come into view.
Pepper immediately thought of Astro Ape in the Golem League Championship match against Panda Cakes. Only Reggie had a much, much, much smaller version of that. The black gorilla came into view; it had an unusual sway as it went. It took Pepper a few seconds of intently watching the screen before he realized what it was. Reggie’s gorilla’s hands were two giant metal pounders, for lack of a better term.
Each metal cylinder had a square, flat face that looked similar to the tampers Pepper had used in the Equine Sanctuary. Two full metal solid fists or… whatever those things are. No wonder Reggie has been crushing golems to a pulp! Pepper thought.
His eyes remained fixed on the screen as the horn sounded and the two family members’ golems clashed in the arena. Freddy’s sumo bear wobbled forward, and the entire oddly fashioned strategy was almost comical to Pepper. Reggie’s gorilla started to rain down powerful punches, but to Pepper’s amazement, Freddy’s bear took them all in its stride.
The sumo bear’s design didn’t at all seem to be affected by the strong blasts, at least to the naked eye. The golem took the powerful metal punches and flew backwards feet at a time, sometimes even rolling end over end. Once it came to a stop, the golem would somehow wiggle its way onto its feet and start wobbling back towards the gorilla.
That was when Pepper shifted his attention towards Reggie. His friend was bobbing and weaving from side to side, and that was when Pepper realized he was foreshadowing his golem’s moves. He focused more and saw that there was a tenth of a second’s delay between what Reggie was physically motioning and what the gorilla was performing.
It has to be the power core and metal hands. Reggie has so much weight on the two pounders that his power core is struggling. Heck, it could even be on the verge of failing. The energy the golem needs to simply operate its arms must be the reason it’s so sluggish.
It was that thought that now made Pepper question if Reggie had any other weaponized runes he was planning to use during the match. At the same time, Pepper didn’t know how much that would matter. He had watched Reggie long enough to see that he could read every move he was trying to make before the golem performed it. Ohh, I hope you win, Reggie… because I fully plan on exploiting this.
Pepper watched as Freddy’s bear stopped charging full steam ahead towards the gorilla. It recovered itself on the far edge of the arena and then wobbled slightly as if it was lining up to target its opponent. The sumo bear glowed with orange light and then shot a beam of energy directly towards the gorilla.
Pepper’s eyes widened as he realized that Freddy was wanting to be punched. He now thought Freddy was utilizing an energy absorption rune, the strategy being that the strong blows from Reggie’s gorilla were being used to help power up the attack.
Reggie’s gorilla got one hand up in time to block while the second hand slowly followed. A portion of the energy beam clipped the golem’s shoulder, but the majority of the attack was met by the metal pounders. The beam of energy continued to surge forward for an extended period of time, far longer than Pepper was used to seeing in a KBVS Club match.
His analysis left him convinced that Freddy had absorbed as much energy as his system could handle before releasing the attack. Pepper looked down at the ground and started to consider that option—the possibility of having energy storage rather than energy generation. His mind now raced over what he could recall of the rule book specifications. Such an equipment item, like a battery, wouldn’t go against a rune slot. Rather, Pepper could create a tether device that could simply siphon energy from the power core.
Though Pepper wanted to explore the idea further, he did his best to make a mental note and returned his attention to the action. He tuned back in just in time to see Reggie’s gorilla smash the sumo bear and corner it into the side wall of the arena. The metal pounders hammered down on the golem repeatedly. It was only a few more seconds of suffering before its power core flickered out and powered down.
The victory horn sounded, and Reggie hoisted his arms up in celebration. The camera zoomed in on Reggie, and he gazed into the lens and spoke directly to Pepper. “You’re mine, Soulless!”