The fighting arena looked much more like one now, or rather, what a perfectly unused fighting arena might look like. The training equipment and training dummies had been removed to reveal an immaculate marble-tiled ring, gleaming under the overhanging lights. The bridge to exit the ring was still attached, but already the moat around the ring had filled to the brim with dark murky waters, large creatures moving throughout.
Surrounding the stage were the plethora of bodybuilder robots, either flexing their machine-sculpted biceps or cheering like an actual audience might, clapping and whistling interspersed with yelling. The only difference was that it was all in electronic text-to-speech voices with perfectly timed choreography, making for quite disturbing background chatter.
Donte and I were within the ring, trying our best to eliminate the built-up fatigue from our earlier training. We stretched in the center, while Dr. C stood off to the side making scribbles on his clipboard. This was the perfect opportunity to discuss our plans on how to deal with Dr. C’s sudden proposal, but while we were talking, I found we had a pretty serious disagreement. Donte wanted to just go along with Dr. C’s plan: He wanted to just fight to our fullest. Like, what the hell was this kid thinking?
“Donte, you can’t be serious right? Why do you actually want to fight, you know, for real?” I hissed while continuing to stretch, hoping Dr. C didn’t have some sort of superhuman hearing I would unfortunately discover.
“What do you mean? We got these super cool powers, it would be a waste not to see how we do against each other.” He responded quietly, wincing as he stretched out his back.
“Yeah, but these powers are dangerous. Someone could get hurt.” I paused, but refrained from turning towards Dr. C as I finished my thought. “And have you even considered Dr. C’s goals behind this fight? He started it early on purpose, he even told us as much. And it’s all because he was worried we were getting too friendly. He could be trying to get me to wound you. Or worse, maybe I accidentally kill you. The stakes are too high right now for actual fighting, when we don’t know how Dr. C might manipulate us. I think we should just pretend to fight, so we are at least able to walk away from this battle unscathed.”
Donte paused his stretching to take a hard look at me. “You are only worried about you accidentally killing me? What about me accidentally killing you?”
I smiled, but refrained from letting out a chuckle. The kid’s question was serious, but not one I was worried about. I would not let anything in this facility kill me, much less a short kid with an afro, before I was able to complete my goals and escape. I had already sent dozens of men into Ilana’s hands to meet their end, it wasn’t going to be for nothing. It was all to escape with these kids, but more importantly, to not die before I saw my family again. If it became a life-or-death scenario between me and Donte, then…
“That’s not the point.” I said instead. “The point is, Dr. C is doing this for a reason, but we don’t have any reason to play along. We are still amateur fighters at best. He won’t be able to ridicule us if our fight looks amateurish and we aren’t able to land any serious blows.” I paused for a couple moments, trying to come up with the best way to phrase my next words without getting too close to my true motive. “You and I both know that the sooner we get to Dr. C’s endgame, the more likely it is we are going to die. Shouldn’t we be prolonging that as much as possible? Come on, didn’t we just say we were in this together?”
Donte looked at me, his face unreadable. When he spoke, it was with a tone of resolution. “You know Mao, I thought about all that already. In the end, I don’t really care what he does. We are in HIS facility. If he wants us to smile, we’ll smile. If he wants us to dance, we’ll dance. And if he wants us to die, we’ll die. Plain. And. Simple.” These last words were stated with clear bitterness. He soon continued with his resolute tone, but slowly stood up, the cheering quieting as the crowd realized something may be occurring. “But that doesn’t change what I came here to do. Nothing about what I wanted to accomplish by coming here has changed. It might mean taking a gamble on the truth of Dr. C’s words, but we all took that gamble just by joining up with this experiment.”
I ground my teeth. “But Donte-“
“And Mao,” he cut me off as I tried to interject. “What is catching my attention right now, is that you seem to be underestimating me heavily if you don’t think I could theoretically kill you.”
“Donte-“ I started, reaching towards him as I stood up as well.
But he was having none of it. “I know we just did all that heartfelt shit earlier Mao, and I’m grateful. But I’m going to be taking this seriously, so you should as well, if we really are in this. Together.” He stared up at me, awaiting my response.
“…Fine.” Was the answer I gave him, and he seemed to be satisfied with it, walking over to the other end of the arena to await the beginning of the fight.
Of course, I wasn’t really fine with it. Him not agreeing to my ‘play fight’ idea meant I most likely wouldn’t get out of this unscathed, but there was no way I was fighting Donte seriously. I needed him to trust me, to believe in me, in order for him to be willing to escape with me. To me, the idea of beating a kid black and blue like he planned to do to me was no way to gain respect or his trust. I just had to alter my plans a bit to the changed landscape.
I walked over to my corner of the field, and kept my face as calm as possible as I waited for the match to begin.
Dr. C kept a curious gaze on me for a while, but then walked to the center of the arena. He raised his hands in a grand gesture, causing the robotic cheering and applause to resume as he began his announcement.
“Ladies and gentlemen!
Boys and girls!
Robots!
Today, we have the beginning of an exciting time, the beginning of this facility’s match system! We get to have a lot of firsts here at the first ever MMI facility, but I believe this is one of the firsts worth celebrating!” Cameras abruptly dropped down from extended hooks above us, red lights appearing like a swarm as they began filming. More robots began filing in, but these robots seemed to have monitors in place of their heads. On each of the monitors was a shadowy silhouette of a person’s head, which moved about on their screens. The monitor-bots moved much like a human in an unfamiliar place might, sometimes bumping into each other and raising hands in apology.
I stared at the things with apprehension. What are these things? Are they… people? Then who? The backers of this project? Other scientists helping Dr. C? It seemed like a lot of people for a viewing of what I had assumed was a secret government project. Already around 20 of the robots had filed in, and it looks like they were still filing in slowly. If they were indeed backers of the project come to see the fruits of their investments, maybe we had been wrong to assume this had only been a government project. Maybe it was something much more dangerous.
Dr. C continued unabashedly, either unaware of our mounting uncomfortableness, or he just didn’t care. “For our opening match, we have… ahem. Drumroll please.” The bodybuilder robots obliged, beginning a drumroll where not a single one of them could be found offbeat. The body language of the monitor-bots showed various states of idleness and boredom as they waited for the match to begin. I was pretty sure one of them was even sleeping standing up, although it was hard to tell. Anyways, it wasn’t like anyone had any doubts about who the match would be between.
“Our first fighters, are Donte Laporte and Mao Talbott! Two of our four greatest fighters!” He chuckled. “Now let me get off this stage, so we can finally get the show on the road!” He shimmied off the stage, the bridge retracting into the arena behind him.
I faced Donte. Donte seemed to be scrutinizing the monitor people carefully, but eventually looked towards me, a satisfied look on his face. We stood like that, as ready as we were able, both of us a good 200 meters away from the center.
Dr. C pushed up his monocles, his shit-eating grin clear for the world –or at least these monitor-people- to see. “And... BEGIN!”
And we began.
I raised my arms and spread my legs, calmly waiting as Donte ran towards me, closing the distance fairly quickly for a kid of his stature. When he arrived next to me I admit, I was a bit disappointed in myself. I had hoped by the time we started, or maybe before he got to me, I would have a plan, but I still had nothing besides just trying to beat the crap out of each other.
Maybe I should just continue trying to reason with the kid. I considered. Kids are reasonable these days right?
A gigantic dragon claw swiped by my torso, ripping open my shirt as I backpedaled away.
“Don-“
Almost as soon as I landed a dragon-tail whipped out from behind Donte, slicing by my head. I could feel a warm sensation start to dribble down onto my cheek.
“I’m not here to talk,” Donte replied coolly, his tail disappearing into the air, “I’m here to beat you.” He charged at me again, different parts of his body shimmering, probably as an attempt to hide his true attack as he began his onslaught.
Donte’s fierce attacks left me little room to breathe, the space some of his swipes took up forcing me to utilize my super-speed to dodge. With the little air I was able to save, I kept trying to talk some sense into Donte.
“Donte… we don’t… have to…” Duck. “Fight... so… aggressively. We can…“ Weave. “Spar… without such…” Roll. “…Enthusiasm.”
“I don’t… care.” Donte said in between breaths, “Fight me… like you mean it! I can… handle it. If you won’t…” He pulled both hands behind his back and jumped into the air, a gigantic dragon tail sprouting from his tailbone to prop him up in the sky. I stared up at him, trying to prepare myself for whatever he was dishing out next. His face was still a mask, but I could see slight twitches of anger beginning to sprout from within.
“Then I’ll just beat you black and blue until you have to,” He finished. He then proceeded to pull his tail out from under himself, dropping from the sky, directly over where I was standing.
“It’s not going to be that simple.” I yelled at Donte, envisioning myself running an adequate distance backwards, then proceeding to activate my super-speed. My surroundings blurred, and I could feel my body vibrate as I traveled the distance. I soon reached a stop, but my vision was still blurry, and the dizziness after each successive use was quickly becoming more disorienting.
I have to see where Donte’s coming from next. I should be safe for awhile. Until then-
An impact to my stomach took away the rest of my considerations as I went airborne, cracking my back against the marble.
“Not gonna be that simple.” Donte parroted, his tail whipping back and forth behind him. “I know you can fight Mao, we train right next to each other. Stop being stupid and fight me!”
I struggled to raise myself off the floor. I hadn’t even been able to see that attack coming. I was reaching my limit much too quickly. I needed a plan now, or I wouldn’t have enough energy to complete it. My eyes flicked across the room, searching for answers that probably weren’t there as Donte ran back towards me. The scenery…was empty, there were no objects to help me. The floor… besides maybe cracking his skull against the ground, it didn’t give me many options. The moat… maybe, I could ‘Toro! Toro!’ him into the water. You know. Without him realizing he can fly. I sighed. Was I overlooking something? I made another sweep, my gaze landing on Ilana.
That’s it. I have nothing; except my powers. Why didn’t I think of this sooner! I smacked myself in the head, causing a small gasp of shock to erupt from the crowd.
“Donte!” I yelled across the field, wobbling to my feet as I extended my palm, prompting him to wait. I was pleasantly surprised when he did.
He scratched his head in confusion. “What do you want?”
“Nothing much,” I said slowly, using the time to let my vision properly return to normal. “I just wanted to let you know I’m going to be serious now, and also,” I lowered all my fingers until only my pointer finger remained. “I am going to beat you in one move, without throwing a single punch.”
Donte trembled, biting his lip. “…I hope your idea of beating me isn’t by expecting me to show mercy, because that’s not what I’m feeling right now.”
I grinned, my balance slowly returning as the remaining wheels of my plan started to click into place. “Nope. You can come at me full force. I will stop you, and then the match will be over.”
Donte’s expression cooled for a bit, as he contemplated my words. “…Your hypnotic vision huh.” I flinched, but I tried not to show how surprised I was by him calling my play so quickly.
“All I have to do is not look you in the eye. If you think you can beat me with just that, you have another thing coming.” He closed his mouth, and with that, the talking was again over.
I stood still, waiting for Donte to make the first move, which of course he did. He got down on all fours and almost instantly transformed, his body seeming to shimmer for only an instant before it grew to be replaced with a gigantic dragon, shining with brilliance. His transformation flickered for a brief instant, and I breathed a sigh of relief, remembering he also wasn’t in top-form. Donte recovered quickly though, letting loose a roar that ripped through the arena, causing the ground to shake and many of the monitor-bots to collapse in panic. I tried to maintain a straight face.
Mentally, I knew it was still Donte the kid on the inside, and this helped keep me from shitting my pants. But instinctually, I was face to face with a creature that appeared much more bloodthirsty than my neighbor’s dog, Steve. The hairs on my body stood on end, my limbs trembled, my muscles grew taut as my body and mind struggled between running and fighting. It was like finding myself face-to-face with a bear in the forest, while I only held a gun with a single shot inside. A gun that I wasn’t sure would even fire correctly.
Donte blinked his yellowed lizard eyes a couple times, then gave what I could only assume was a smile, but on a dragon just looked like him showing off his full set of impending death. He pawed the ground with a claw once before bounding across the field, straight towards me. A cold sweat started to drip from my forehead.
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We were about 100 feet apart now.
He was speeding towards me, but I noticed he seemed to be taking very long blinks as he proceeded. He only opened his eyes momentarily so that he could make sure my position hadn’t changed as he continued his charge.
This was good for me. Even if he knew my plan and wanted to avoid it, there was no way to completely close off his eyesight and still fight me effectively. I gazed at his big dragon face, extending my arms out as far as possible like I was getting ready for a big hug.
40 feet.
He made one last leap into the sky, before descending down towards my form in a diagonal of doom, wings outstretched.
I flinched slightly. I hadn’t expected him to make that last leap. I adjusted my position, shifting my legs beneath me and raising my arms to meet his descent.
15 feet.
Here goes something. I tensed the muscles in my arms, activating my super-speed as I brought my hands together in front of my face for a speed-enhanced clap.
“OPEN SASHIMI!” I yelled as I performed my supersonic clap of destiny.
My ears popped, both my vision and hearing going haywire.
Come on vision... Work with me…
10-5 feet?
I re-extended my arms, the world still a blur in front of me. I doubted my vision would return soon enough, but that was part of the wager. The blurs in front of me seemed to be his face, and I could make out things that could possibly be eyes, but it was possible my plan hadn’t worked. The clap was meant to surprise him as he got close enough, forcing him to open his eyes to make sure I wasn’t sending out an attack. I kept hoping it was his head, as that would be essential to the next part of my plan.
What was the next part of my plan you may ask?
0 feet.
I caught him.
Donte’s dragon snout entered my arms, and I was momentarily able to get a grasp and hold him as he pushed me backwards. I furiously tried to keep my legs planted as we rumbled through the floor and across the ring. My vision returned well enough that I could start to make out the beginnings of Donte’s yellowed eyes, wide open in surprise.
“OBEY ME!” I screamed and willed within my mind, my voice an echo over the sound of us crashing through the arena. I, unfortunately, could not immediately find out the result of my hypnotism.
You see, when I said I caught him that maaay have been a bit of a misnomer. It was more like a fumble. I had been hoping that maybe my supernatural strength had matured more than I thought it had, and maybe I would be able to bring him to a full-on stop when I caught him. The problem was I was wrong, and also that I hadn’t expected the last jump he performed. I had to rapidly adjust my position, and still hope that my super strength did its job.
So when the full force of his jump distributed itself to the rest of my body, I quickly found out that no, my super strength wouldn’t do its job.
My right leg crumpled first, bending backwards before snapping, splinters of bone decorating the marble tiles as we zoomed by. My left leg soon followed as my ankle twisted a full 360 degrees, not quite able to support me and a gigantic dragon on its own. With my legs out of commission I fell backwards, still trying to keep a hold on Donte’s head, when maybe I should’ve just let go. My right elbow made contact with the floor first, and I felt everything above my elbow shatter into pieces as I crashed into the ground, Donte’s head atop me.
Blood filled my mouth, my eyes, and my mind. I was pretty sure I heard voices, but that shouldn’t have been possible, or at least not so clear, what with me in a crater. I could still feel my left hand gripping the scales of Donte’s jaw, and I imagined he was most likely staring down at me.
“Focus.” I told myself. Or I think I told myself. I wasn’t sure if the words actually left my head. I still couldn’t see. I wasn’t sure if that was a temporary problem.
“Lift me up,” I muttered.
I waited.
Nothing happened.
“Lift me up,” I ordered again, my voice cracking, but slightly louder.
There was a stirring near me, but nothing else occurred.
“LIFT ME UP DAMNIT!” I screamed, ordered, and hoped within my mind.
At first there was nothing, again. I started smacking my gums to get ready to bellow, but instead I felt what seemed to be Donte’s teeth scratching my chest as he grasped my shirt, lifting me up into the air. It seems that Donte’s body had just been blocking the light, I could see clearly now. Donte’s eyes slightly flickered with consciousness, but otherwise he remained docile.
I took a deep breath through my cracked body, as I listened to the sweet silence of the fighting ring.
“Lay me down.” I ordered. Donte obliged.
“Bow to me, then get the fuck out of the arena.” I don’t think I meant to swear. At least I hope not, swearing around kids was a no-no. But it happened, and Donte followed my order anyways. He bowed in a way only a dragon bowing to a much smaller man lying in a crumple of his own bones could, before leaping out of the arena.
I tried to move my head to see the shocked faces of the spectators, but it seemed my body had stopped listening to my commands. I tested moving my limbs, and I was able to get just a bit of movement out of my left arm, but nothing substantial. I did this for what seemed like hours, but thinking back on it, couldn’t have been more than a couple seconds, possibly minutes. Or maybe it had been a couple hours, and everyone had just been staring at me, broken, with a smile on my face like a nut. Eventually I gave up on moving and just stared at the ceiling, the red lights of the recording cameras making for an interesting blood-colored constellation.
I continued to stare, as the adrenaline left my body.
As the pain set in.
As the screaming erupted from my lips.
***
When I woke up, I hated the fact that I almost instantly recognized my cell. I tried to lift myself up to a sitting position, but oddly, my right arm did not respond. I turned my head slightly to look at it, and I regretted seeing the mess it had become. I looked over to my left, and was glad to find my left arm still intact. I used it to lift the cover so I could view my legs.
I leaned over the bed and threw up.
When I finished, I laid back down and stared up at the ceiling, not sure what to do next. My plan had, for the most part, failed. I won the battle, no one had died, but I had also been hoping that neither of us would end up getting injured badly. That had turned out… not so well.
I wonder what happened after our match. Maybe they just stopped all the matches and let everybody but me go home. Or maybe they would walk in with cameras yelling, “You’ve been PRANK’d!”, and I suddenly would feel my limbs again. I probably would’ve taken the opportunity to laugh, if laughing didn’t hurt so much.
The door to my cell opened, and Dr. C strolled in, dragging a chair. He put it next to my bed and sat down, looking at me.
Dr. C pulled out his clipboard, scribbling some things down as he looked at me, a grin cemented on his face. “Good job with the match today Mr. Talbott. You always do seem to make things interesting.”
“What do you mean… good job?” I croaked. If I remembered it correctly, the fight should’ve been terrible for anyone watching. Just me running away like a coward before Donte seemingly bowed and exited the arena in a forfeit.
Dr. C grinned. “That’s what I love about you Mr. Talbott. Unlike the others, you aren’t completely obedient, yet. I can tell.” He took a sharpie out of his pocket, taking the opportunity to draw on my face. “You like to bend the rules. See how little you have to bend to fit my mold. At least, that’s what you seemed to be talking about with Donte before the match.”
I really hoped that he didn’t have goddamn supernatural hearing.
“What I love the most though, is that you haven’t yet realized that your struggle is futile. That you still believe you can hold onto your moral high ground now that you are here. That maybe you can avoid some fisticuffs with a couple of kids half your age. You cannot.” He lifted the sharpie, capping it and placing it back in his pocket. “There are consequences to your actions Mr. Talbott. I’d love to continue to see you try your methods, but soon enough you will fail, and I will have lost a valuable test subject. I’m sure we’d both hate to see that happen.”
I closed my eyes. “Why… me? Why are you so focused on… breaking me?”
Dr. C’s laugh invaded my eardrums. “Oh, no Mr. Talbott, don’t think that just because I seem to speak to you so much, means I’m focused specifically on you. You just seem to be the one who needs the most ‘prompting’. In terms of ‘breaking’, I plan to, as they say, spread the wealth. There’s much to achieve past all of your various flaws, and much to improve on. Introducing the phase this early was more for the purpose of ‘breaking’ someone else.” I heard him get out of the chair, and the door opened. I opened my eyes. In walked a bodybuilder robot who held in his arms, a man. The man was shivering, holding a small portable tv. Dr. C switched it on.
I wasn’t sure what I was seeing. The screen just seemed to be rocky and gray. The camera slowly zoomed out, and I started to make out more details. Eyes. The scales making up the body. Claws. The wings of a dragon. A Tail. The fighting arena the statue was in the center of, the dragon seemingly caught in the middle of a roar.
I knew the answer, but I couldn’t help but mutter, “What… is this…”
Dr. C’s grin grew wider. “Why, this is what you desperately tried to foresee. My plan. Donte got a little too hot-headed in his match against Zaida, and ended up like this. It might have to do with losing in such a humiliating way to a certain someone.”
I couldn’t breathe. “How… how could you… you killed him.”
Dr. C looked at me shocked, a palm over his chest. “Oh no, Mr. Talbott, that would be quite cruel of me to kill such a fine lad. No, he is still… recoverable. For now. It all depends on whether Ms. Chalmers can undo the effects.”
“Can she?” I pondered out loud.
“I wonder.” Dr. C beamed, shutting off the tv. “We have a couple weeks to kill, since we started the next phase so early, so we can give Ms. Chalmers a chance to recover Donte. But eventually, I assume we’ll just have to… proceed without him.” He let those words hang in the air. I covered my eyes again.
“Speaking of proceeding without, that brings us back to you. You. Are. Fired.” My eyes flicked back open.
The bodybuilder robot slammed my bed, along with me, against the wall. I suddenly felt very cold. I slid to the ground. I tried to drag myself to the door, but the bodybuilder robot just picked me up from my right arm, cracking whatever wasn’t already broken. I screamed.
The robot let go of my left arm, letting it flop down, then grasped my torso in one hand, and my head in the other. It started squeezing. I could feel my body pop. Feel the cracks of my skull vibrate through me.
Feel my life ending.
“Just kidding!” My body dropped to the floor.
Dr. C walked over, squatting in front of me. “At least for now. Fortunately, you are a vampire! They have excellent regenerative abilities, most of the time. You’ve been a bit slow getting to the regenerative parts of your abilities, so we are giving you the option of kick starting your abilities. It’s up to you to take us up on the offer, but we will only give you the same amount of time we are giving Donte to recover. I doubt your arms and legs will heal in time with your current regenerative capabilities.”
My face was still planted on the ground. I didn’t feel like getting up anymore. “What… What do I need to do,” I asked.
Dr. C snapped his finger, and the robot walked over to the T.V. man, proceeding to break his limbs with systematic precision. When the screaming started, the robot began punching the man, until his screams subsided into sobbing. Dr. C got up, brushing his pants, and proceeded to the door. When the door opened, he pointed to the man. “Eat this man. And when I say eat, I mean like a cuisine. You should recover in time if you do. There’s a lot to talk about, but I’ll tell you more. If you make it.” He proceeded out of the door, followed by the robot, leaving two broken men lying on the floor.
I used my only working arm to slowly raise myself to a sitting position, leaning against the wall. I sat there, listening to the other man’s sobs, until they stopped. I waited a bit longer, enjoying the silence, giving me time to collect my thoughts.
“…Tell me about yourself.” I finally asked.
The man lifted his head to get a look at me, snot and tears covering his face, the hope in his eyes clear. “O-of course. I-I work at a real estate firm. I have a f-fa-amily, a large, v-very large family. Uhm. Uhm. My kid, he’s almost out of highschool, says he might even want to go into r-re-real estate like me. I-I-I just want to g-get home.” He paused, trying to gauge my feelings. I waited for him to continue. “I have a couple cats, they are getting big, maybe they will even have ki-kids of their own soon. Ha. ha. I-I, um. I still have to pa-pa-pay the mortage on my home. I don’t th-th-think my family will do very well wi-without me there.” He paused again. I waited. “Uhm. I guess, I should p-p-probably introduce m-myself, my name is Mas-“
“Stop. Tell me everything, everything you want to say, except for your name.” Of course, I had already made my decision on what to do.
“I hate names.”
*******************************************************
Author's Notes:
Heyo. Thought I would put my notes at the end of the chapter instead of the beginning. I've noticed my chapters keep getting slightly longer, and also more difficult to write as I try to consider whether I'm correctly portraying the character's motivations, without just telling it like I want it to be. Anyways, it took a bit, but I got to a point where I was satisfied with the chapter, so here it is! Hooray! Thanks for reading, and hopefully the next chapter will be out quicker.