Hard Rock Stadium, Miami, Florida, New American Republic, December 15, 2036
“Are you ready for some exciting action tonight, Chip!”
“I have been waiting for this day for two weeks, Lanny! We’ve got the semi-final round of the Gold Division three versus three just about ready to kick-off.”
“The first match of the evening will pit perhaps the fiercest trio of women this side of the Mississippi against soldiers clinging to a long-buried past,” Lanny said.
“The Furies versus Stars and Stripes!” Chip said.
“In our second match we’ve got the Heartfuries taking on The King’s Chosen!” Lanny said.
“What are you expecting to see tonight, Lanny?” Chip said.
“Mayhem, blood, action! But most of all I’m looking for our guys to pull off a win!” Lanny said.
“It’s interesting how the tournament has shaken out so far,” Chip said. “You could say that two of the teams fighting to advance came into their first round matches as underdogs, yet they managed to pull it off.”
“You could say that again. I was definitely surprised to see two teams of three women each beat out what looked like more dangerous teams. I mean, the Mongols looked like real killers, they probably are too. Just like the clowns.”
“It’s a different world, Lanny. You can’t just look at the biggest man anymore. Skills and magic have leveled the playing field more than well-meaning, but misguided feminism ever did,” Chip nodded sagely.
“You can say that again, Chip! Four teams and only three out of the twelve competitors left are men,” Lanny said. “I don’t envy the odds makers.”
“Your predictions, Lanny,” Chip said.
“For the first match I’m going with Stars and Stripes. I think Death’s Dancer is a real star. The Furies are vicious, but I don’t know if they have the abilities to deal with Death’s Dancer’s speed, strength and invisibility.”
“Being able to vanish from sight is definitely an ace in the hole,” Chip said.
“That’s right! You can’t hit what you can’t see!”
“What about the second match?” Chip said.
“I have to go with the hometown guys. The King’s Chosen. They’ve got the experience of hundreds of arena fights. They seen everything that their opponents could possibly throw at them. As for the young ladies on the Heartfuries, well, you have to wonder how they’ve handled the brutal fight with the clowns. I saw Punchy the other day and she’s still got that nasty scar on the side of her face from when the clowns made her eat a knife. That sort of thing messes with even the strongest wills.”
“Can’t say that I see it any differently, Lanny,” Chip said. “I just want a pair of action-packed, fun battles. With more reversals, turns and twists than the pretzels over at Pretzel Larry’s Pretzel Emporium!”
“I love their sauces! Garlic parmesian… mwah!” Lanny smacked his lips.
“What—” Chip blinked. “oh… parmesan...”
“That’s what I said, Chip,” Lanny said.
“… alright, the producers are telling me it’s almost time to throw it down to the field for the pre-match concert,” Chip touched his ear piece. “We’ll be back to commentate on all the action. Remember to stay tuned after the second match for our expert panel’s in-depth analysis of tonight’s matches. You won’t want to miss out.”
“Live! Straight into your homes, courtesy of the king! Casey Cool and the Glitter Bombs!” Lanny said.
----------------------------------------
A blond bombshell in a tight yellow dress smiled into the camera. “This is Kandis Crawford, your host for the show that brings you expert analysis of the day’s marquee matches! Welcome to The Four!”
The screen shifted to fast cuts of highlights from the first two weeks of the Freedom Championships.
Pay close attention and you could catch a glimpse of your favorite Gold Division competitors.
The show returned with a close up of the beautiful host. “With me tonight, as usual, is Trent R. Thompson,” she gestured to her right, “expert analyst!”
“Pleasure to be here as always, Kandis!” Trent boomed.
“And please give a warm welcome to our guest analysts… Reggie Jordan, who you all know as gladiator Boo Jordan…”
“Thanks for having me!”
“And at the end of the desk we’ve got a frequent guest… Lord Hop Lochmoore…”
“I can’t wait to dive into tonight’s fights!”
“Alright, so why don’t we get right into it,” Kandis said.
“Kandis, let me start—”
“As usual… have at it Trent R.”
“Can I just say something? I cannot believe what I witnessed in that first match! It was absolutely egregious! A crime against all sense of fair competition! What we had was three absolute clowns— not those clowns and God knows I’ve said enough about them— I’m talking about those clowns claiming to be from old America! There’s no way, no way! I can’t believe I witnessed that! I’m just going to give it you straight,” he turned to the camera and thrust a finger, “Stars and Stripes quit! They just quit!”
“Well… we don’t know that for sure. Andrew tried to get an interview, but, maybe predictably, Stars and Stripes wasn’t interested.”
“That’s the shame, Kandis!” Trent R. bellowed. “That’s the streak of yellow running down their backs!”
“What do you think, Boo?”
“Uh… well, I don’t know if I’d go as far as calling them cowards. They showed a lot of grit in their first match and in the second one. From my own experiences in the arena, not all fights are too the death. I mean, watching live, I thought that they had a few chances, especially Death’s Dancer with his invisibility, to land really crippling blows on the Furies, but he pulled back every time. So, all I can say is that they weren’t going for the kill, so to speak, not like the Furies.”
“Lord Hop?”
“As someone who’s also spent some time battling in the arenas, of course not quite to the level of competition as Boo,” Hop smiled, “I’d have to agree. Stars and Stripes weren’t willing to take it to the limits. Theirs and their opponents.”
“You are being way too nice!” Trent R. pounded the table. “They knew full well that death wasn’t likely. Maybe a percent chance. A percent! Do you know how little that is! It’s like the very edge of my fingernail!” he held up a pinkie finger.
“Why don’t we go to the highlights before we break down the match,” Kandis said.
Two teams of three stood over a hundred yards apart on a dirt field.
Magic crackled around three women that appeared to be close in age. Open-faced helmets revealed a familial resemblance. Each had a whip in one hand and a knife in the other.
Standing against them was a team of two young men and one young woman. The latter was the biggest of the three while the other two weren’t that far behind. They were clothed in black with a small patch of old America’s flag in the center of their chest plate carrier. Unlike the women, their armor closely resembled what soldiers wore in the pre-spires era.
One of the young men wore a skull-faced helmet painted like the old American flag.
The two other members of Stars and Stripes opened fire with their assault rifles as soon as the countdown hit zero and the siren blared.
The Fury clad in green stepped forward and raised a hand.
Mist appeared in front of her the bullets suddenly dropped to the ground as they passed through.
The screen changed.
The two gun-wielders had spread out to opposite ends of the arena.
An orange-red magic circle appeared beneath the towering young woman.
She dived out of it just in time to avoid the pillar of flames that burst upward.
A yellow circle appeared beneath the gun-wielding young man.
He, too, dived out.
However, the burst of yellow lightning spread outward, not upward.
He convulsed while wafts of smoke streamed from his body.
Another shift.
The skull-helmed young man hurled a long spear across the field.
His target, the woman in red vanished.
His spear pierced the thick arena wall behind her.
The yellow magic circle behind him exploded with lightning.
The red-clad woman appeared in the center of it.
She waved a hand sending out a spray of disk-shaped yellow lightning.
The skull-helmed young man weaved his way through them untouched with as much grace and precision as a professional dancer.
A grenade landed at the feet of the blue-clad woman.
She appeared to absorb the subsequent explosion with a clench of the hand, but suffered injuries from the shrapnel.
Multiple circles appeared under and around Stars and Stripes.
Flame, lightning and cold filled the arena with their fury.
The skull-helmed young man vanished in a pillar of flame.
The young woman found her boots frozen in ice while the frost slowly crept up her body.
The other young man’s exposed face was singed and blistered where the lightning had struck him directly.
Through it all the gun-wielders continued to pour accurate fire that was stopped by magical cold and walls of fire.
Each highlight captured a moment of action in the violent fight.
The skull-faced young man suddenly appeared behind the red-clad woman, but instead of stabbing her in the back with his short spear, he grabbed the back of her collar and pulled her roughly to the ground.
He vanished from sight just as the blue-clad woman shot a volley of four fireballs.
They impacted the dirt floor sending a great cloud of dust into the air and leaving small craters.
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The gun-wielding young woman, slammed the butt of her rifle in the back of the red-clad woman’s helmet as the latter was about to strike the gun-wielding young man with a whip sheathed in crackling lightning.
The young man returned the favor by hurling a knife into the arm of the blue-clad woman as she was about to lash out with a burning whip.
The skull-faced young man appeared in front of the green-clad woman sending her tumbling across the arena floor with a shove. He swayed to one side to dodge a volley of fireballs.
The air around the green-clad woman grew misty as she spun around whipping in random directions. The dirt floor slowly became covered in frost.
A small puff of mist appeared behind the green-clad woman. She spun around and thrust a hand out.
The skull-helmed young man suddenly appeared with ice spreading across his chest.
He hammered the butt of his short spear into the side of the green-clad woman’s helmet. She crumpled like a puppet without strings.
The young man brushed the ice off before disappearing again.
He appeared behind the red-clad woman again. He punched her in the back of her helmet. She stumbled and vanished, reappearing inside one of magic circles a dozen yards away in a burst of lightning that caught the gun-wielding young woman’s arm.
The gun-wielding young man shot the green-clad woman in the leg.
He was trapped in a ring of magic circles at his feet and a ring of disk-shaped lightning at chest level.
He was on the ground, unmoving.
The skull-faced young man and the gun-wielding young woman raised their hands and weapons over their heads.
“We’re done,” the skull-faced young man said.
The camera returned to the analysts.
“Quitters! That’s what I’m saying. That’s what they are,” Trent R. shook his head. “They didn’t have the balls!”
“I don’t know about that,” Boo Jordan said. “They clearly took a ton of damage from all those elemental circles, I guess that’s what I’ll call them—”
“The Furies haven’t been forthcoming with their abilities,” Kandis said.
“The guy with the gun… Lt. Johnny,” Boo Jordan consulted his notes, “Rico… I thought he was actually dead for a second after getting caught in fire, lightning and frost.”
Hop chuckled. “I get the reference.” He didn’t elaborate.
“But, they also had one of the Furies down! And the other two were looking pretty rough! Swaying around on noodle legs after Death’s Dancer kept ringing their bells! Which is my point exactly! He was getting the jump on them repeatedly! But all he was doing was punching them, slamming them or hitting them with the wrong end of his short spear! Tell me, Boo, is that how you’d have done it?”
“Well… I would’ve been looking to hurt them through gaps in the armor, maybe try to disable by stabbing or cutting the hamstrings,” Boo Jordan said.
“The Furies didn’t display any healing magic,” Hop chimed in. “That would’ve been the optimal choice.”
“Exactly, Hop! Exactly!” Trent R. pounded the desk.
“We all know what Trent R. Thinks, so, let’s shift the discussion. Lord Hop, anything else from the match that stood out to you? Kandis said.
“Kandis, what struck me is what Boo said earlier. As you know, he and I have fought in the arenas… and death matches are exceedingly rare. The way Death’s Dancer fought reminded of some of that. He clearly was trying to limit the amount of damage he inflicted.”
“The lord’s right about that. I re-watched Stars and Stripes first match against Blackstar 3 and I saw much the same as in this match,” Boo Jordan said.
“Exactly!” Trent R. Cut-in. “They were out of their minds to come into this with kid’s gloves!” he shook his head. “It’s like they didn’t come all this way to win!”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Hop chimed. “They just weren’t willing to put everything on the line like true gladiators, like Boo and myself.”
“Why don’t we dive into the analysis for real?” Kandis said as she stood and sashayed to the huge screen at the back of the studio.
The other four followed her but the camera kept one focus.
“So… let’s start at the beginning.”
The screen showed a paused wide shot of the two teams separated by over a hundred yards.
“Stars and Stripes opened up with the guns courtesy of Lt. Contrary and Lt. Rico… pause it. With our projectile tracking technology we can see that the shots were clearly aimed low.”
“Yeah, they were doing that with most of their shots,” Boo Jordan said.
“Take out the legs and a man can’t move,” Hop nodded sagely.
“Now… if we replay this in slow-motion… you can see the bullets slowing down before suddenly dropping out of the air,” Kandis said. “How did the Furies do that?”
“Well, Kandis,” Hop began, “you clearly see the one in green stepping forward and casting a spell or a Skill. And we see it multiple times later in the fight. Looks, like a freezing or cold aura, perhaps a persistent area of effect spell. Although the bullets are too small to see if they got covered in ice.”
“It doesn’t necessarily have to be a visible physical effect. My guess is that Tis— Tisi— phone, am I saying that right?” Boo Jordan said.
“You’ve got it!” Kandis said.
“I’m no good with the Greek. I’ve been calling her ‘green’ or what it is in American according to my notes, ‘Vengeful Destruction’,” Hop said.
“Right, Tisiphone,” Boo Jordan said. “My guess from the way the condensation in the air moves with her then it’s like Lord Hop says. The aura or spell creates cold that’s capable of sapping the kinetic energy from the bullets. It’s in that faint mist.”
The screen switched to later in the match with the camera focus on the same green-clad woman spinning around lashing her whip in random directions before Death’s Dancer appeared behind her.
“I’m guessing it’s physical invisibility, nothing like intangibility or a ghost spell. I didn’t see it live, but when you slow it down you can see footprints in the dirt and his breaths inside Tisiphone’s cold aura,” Boo Jordan said.
“I think she must’ve heard his steps, perhaps some frost or ice had formed on the ground,” Hop said.
The highlight played out as before.
Boo Jordan shook his head with a chuckle.
“Anything you’d like to share with us?” Kandis said.
“Oh… nothing big, just that I realized what was bugging me about the Furies,” Boo Jordan shrugged. “They’re colors don’t match their abilities.”
Hop laughed.
“The one in red—” Boo Jordan continued.
“Alecto,” Kandis said.
“She uses yellow lightning magic.”
“Blue—”
“Megaera.”
“Fire magic.”
“The one in green uses cold,” Hop chimed in. “You’d think she had earth, plants or maybe poison as her main focus.”
“I get it from a tactical perspective. You can throw people off using their pre-conceived notions,” Boo Jordan said. “But, it’s not good for your branding. You’re just confusing the fans,” he shrugged.
“And us,” Hop said.
“We didn’t see a lot from Death’s Dancer’s teammates, why do you think that was? I would’ve guessed they wanted to save something moving from match to match—”
“Kandis! What we saw is exactly who they are!” Trent R. cut-in.
“They’ve got soldier-types classes, so it’s probably that they’re best Skills and abilities are geared toward that. Their best stuff is probably too lethal for this competition,” Boo Jordan said.
The Four broke down the rest of the match.
Kandis kept the discussion flowing.
Boo Jordan did his best to provide insight from someone that knew every aspect that surrounded an arena fight while Hop chimed in often echoing the more legitimate gladiator.
Trent R. interrupted often and loudly.
A commercial break took them to the second and final Gold Division three versus three match of the night.
Heartfuries versus The King’s Chosen.
“Camera on me guys, camera on me,” Trent R. said. “I’m only going to say this once… this was the match. This was the match! Both teams showed me everything you could want from people competing for all the prizes!” he whooped. “Heartfuries! The King’s Chosen! Wow! I’ll be watching this match over and over again while we wait for the Finals!”
“Why don’t we get right down to it then,” Kandis said.
“Our guys almost had it,” Boo Jordan sighed.
“Those girls were fierce!” Trent R. said. “They’re women that can roar!”
“I’m not so sure about that Trent R. The King’s Chosen are gladiators, just like myself and Boo. And we always keep the show in the forefront of our thoughts. It’s not enough just to win. We have to do it in style,” Hop said. “I can’t help but think that showmanship cost us this match.”
“I’ll push back on that a little,” Boo Jordan said. “They started the match that way, but clearly changed it up when they needed to. At around the five minute mark you could tell that the show was put on the back burner in favor of getting the win. It’s just how it goes that you come up short sometimes.”
“Why don’t you take us through the action here,” Kandis said.
“Okay, right… so,” Boo Jordan took a deep breath. “You see The Broken and Thousand Cuts working together to close the distance on the Heartfuries, while Soul Netter looks to circle around unnoticed. Shootystabby hits The Broken in the leg, but as we all know a simple bullet won’t be enough to slow her down with the way she turns damage into strength… for a time. Here, you see Punchy punching the ground to try to trip them up with an earth wall, something we saw her do in the match against the clowns. Right, so, The Broken’s amped up with the bullet wound so she plows right through the wall. Thousand Cuts then uses The Broken to leapfrog up and over Sparky as she tries to come in with her spear. Thousand Cuts comes in with her fists of fury, breaking through Punchy’s magic shield. This was where I thought for sure we’d get a knock out. Punchy isn’t that tough without her spells and Thousand Cuts can land a dozen hits in under a second. And I know what that feels like. Those spiked knuckles and bladed bracers are no joke.”
“Shootystabby really came in clutch here with an ability none of us knew she had,” Hop said.
“That’s right, Lord Hop,” Boo Jordan said. “Shootystabby, appeared out of nowhere. It was like watching someone dancing under a strobe light. You can see how she’s fast enough, maybe even faster, to keep up with Thousand Cuts’ fists as she uses a pair of long knives to deflect and parry.”
“We were wondering where the ‘stabby’ part of her name came from,” Trent R. said.
“This is where this is important. You see, the fight could’ve been over there if Thousand Cuts had gotten the K.O., cause while this was happening, The Broken powered through Sparky’s electricity and had knocked her down. One more hammer blow to the head probably would’ve been enough.”
“Then it would’ve been three on two, our guys,” Lord Hop chimed in.
“Right, Lord… but, since Punchy was in the clear, she was free to send The Broken flying fifty yards away with one of those earth pillars,” Boo Jordan said. “Which left Thousand Cuts with a one on three. She made the right call in disengaging, but that meant a reset to the field state when we had a huge advantage just a few seconds earlier.”
“The match went quiet for a few minutes with the teams trading distance shots for a—” Kandis said.
“A gun tends to beat javelins unless the thrower has some really good Skills,” Hop said.
“None of our guys are specialized toward ranged attacks. Soul Netter has his ghost net and he can throw his trident with speed, accuracy and distance, but that’s a one time thing. It was fortunate that Thousand Cuts can actually aim dodge and The Broken was still getting stronger with each hit—”
“You can tell that Shootystabby has a good tactical mind when she went away from targeting The Broken after the first few hits. It was her bad luck that Soul Netter was smart enough to hide behind The Broken,” Hop said.
“Right, they let Shootystabby use up most of her ammo,” Boo Jordan said.
“Listen!” Trent R. said. “The Heartfuries played a good shell game. They made us all think that Shootystabby was a shooter when she was actually a very fast, very dangerous cutter and stabber—”
“If I can get back to my point,” Kandis said. “They traded shots until Shootystabby stopped to reload. Then Thousand Cuts used a Skill to get right in Shootystabby’s face.”
“Yup, really caused confusion in the Heartfuries’ formation. The Broken and Soul Netter charged in with the latter using his ghost net to wrap Sparky up. He would’ve been able to pin her with his trident had Punchy not come in with a quick wall to block both him and The Broken.”
“You’ve been in his net before,” Kandis said. “Can you share what that was like?”
Boo Jordan’s easy smile suddenly dropped. He gazed off into nothing. “It was cold. Very cold… and I knew that I would never feel the warmth of being alive again…”
“I’m glad I’m not you,” Hop said.
“The feeling went away after a while,” Boo Jordan shrugged. “But, let me just say I completely understand why Sparky was slow and out of it for the rest of the match.”
“Let’s go to the end of the match,” Kandis said.
“Here you can see that both teams are sucking wind. They’re on their last gasps,” Boo Jordan said.
“I know that feeling. When you know that you’ve got to dig for something that might not be there,” Hop said.
“Both teams still had something!” Trent R. said.
“Yeah, absolutely. You can see Sparky’s armor is dented all over from The Broken’s hammer, Thousand Cuts’ fists and Soul Netter’s trident. Her clothes look soaked in blood. The only reason she’s still in it was Punchy’s healing. This is where Punchy breaks her hand and The Broken’s jaw, finally pushing my friend past the limits of her Skill. Thousand Cuts would’ve had Punchy here, but— I’m repeating myself— Shootystabby was right there in a flash. I had to re-watch in slow motion to see what had happened. Through out the fight Shootystabby was cutting and stabbing at Thousand Cuts’ arms.”
“Why do you think she went for that tactic?” Kandis said.
“She was trying to get the straps, which she finally did at that point. Then she was able to go for the tendons in the wrist. Taking Thousand Cuts’ best weapons out of action,” Boo Jordan said.
“That was two out of three down and out,” Kandis said.
“Which left Soul Netter. His net had recharged by that point, but he whiffed on the toss, which gave Sparky a chance for a bit of revenge,” Boo Jordan said. “Look, Soul Netter’s an okay guy, but I have to admit that I was kinda with Sparky there having once experienced the ghost net. So, I can’t really get too salty with how she went about shocking Soul Netter until he went out.”
“And there we have it, folks at home!” Kandis smiled to the camera. “The final for the Gold Division three versus three event is set. It’s going to be the Furies versus the Heartfuries.”
“It’s going to be a little confusing, not going to lie about that!” Trent R. said.
“January 1st, New Year’s Day! The pre-show starts at 5:00 pm. Don’t miss our comprehensive coverage! Have a wonderful night!” Kandis said.