Chapter 25

New friends

Once the fight had been officially called with me as the victor, my opponent and I had to be carried out of the arena due to injury. I had lost the strength to stand at some point and ended up on the ground. I tried to get back to my feet, but my body was done, and It had just given out. Once out of the arena, I was brought to a healer and paid ten gold for them to fix me up. It felt like I was being extorted, but I didn’t care at the time.

When I exited the tunnel that led from the underbelly of the Coliseum to the check-in area, I was expecting to see Janet standing there, alone. Overjoyed to see me, of course, but definitely by herself. When I arrived at the check-in area, I didn’t know how to react when maybe forty people were awaiting my arrival.

As I approached the group, they saw me and began to cheer me once more. Janet stood at the head of the group, and when I looked at her, she just shrugged. Then I was amongst them, and there were a lot of pats on the back, calls of “ well fought.” It was a bit overwhelming, and after minutes, Janet took mercy on me and dragged me away.

Janet's fight was later that evening at six, so we had some time to kill. We wandered around for a while, then got carried away again with reckless gambling. That lasted a good four hours or so, and we made some money but ended up down maybe forty credits each. Janet ended up a bit bummed out, but then we stumbled upon an incredible fight between two sword-wielders that left Janet eager for her match to come.

We watched a few more fights, and then it was time for Janet to check in for her own fight. Janet almost ran to the check-in area when it was time, and I kept laughing at her as I had to power-walk to keep up with her. Before she disappeared down into the belly of the Coliseum, I stopped her. I hugged Janet, kissed her, and wished her luck. Janet smiled at me and pinched my ass playfully before she turned. When she did, Janet's arua shifted from playful to one of potent focus.

I found my seat in the stands where Janet's fight would take place and settled in to see what I was sure would be an excellent show. The doors opened, and Janet walked out into the arena after I had been sitting down for only about ten minutes.

In those ten minutes, I had bout a beer from a roaming vendor and befriended two fellow spectators, Ben and Beard face shredder fist, a rough translation. Good guys, and apparently, they had also seen my fight earlier. They had initially seemed a bit star-struck but mellowed out as we hung out.

Ben was a rock man. It reminded me of that comic with those four heroes but Ben was smaller, more human-sized. They were fantastic, and one of them was this human who had been turned into a rock man. Well, Ben kinda looked like that. Beard face shredder fist, on the other hand, was a skinny humanoid fish guy.

Apparently, he was from a water world. He had these tattoed spell arrays that allowed him to breathe through his gills. He was a bit awkward, but his shyness faded quickly once he started talking about the fights he had seen. It was hard to get him to stop talking after that.

Ben, Beard face shredder fist, and I were cheering our hearts out for Janet when she appeared on the arena floor. She was fighting this woman named Embrra Flowerstone. She was one of the Fire Tuched races. Ben explained that they were thought to be an ancient lost race of orcs that met a being far surpassing any known power in the multiverse to this day that changed their race forever.

The thing about the fire touched was that they always burned. Their fire burned purple and didn’t hurt them or others unless they wanted it to. They could make the fire rage or bring it down to a smolder. It was pretty, if I was honest, the flames, not the lady. I wasn’t trying to be mean, but she looked like a slightly slimmer and leaner version of an orc. It was just a different species thing.

As Janet and Embrra Flowerstone stood at the center of the arena, listening to the ref explaining the rules, they both looked eager for the fight to come. Embrra Flowerstone used no weapon, and from what Ben and Beard Face Shredder Fist told me, she was some kind of pugilist. I was fucking pumped, and the fight hadn’t even started yet.

This was so much better than the last time I watched a fight. Understanding what the announcers and my fellow spectators were saying really made the whole experience that much more enjoyable.

“Oh, fuck guys, here we go. The fight’s starting.” Beard Face Shredder Fist said, but there was no need to say it. We were all already dialed in. Side note I used the word fuck a lot, and it had quickly become a popular word amongst our small group. Beard Face Shredder Fist seemed to particularly like the word. He immediately caught on to the versatility of the word. Now, back to the fight.

Janet and Embrra were not messing around. As soon as the start of the fight was called, they charged at each other right out of the gate. Janet’s muscles began to grow mid-charge, and as they grew, her speed increased. In a second, Janet and Embrra were right in front of each other, and Embrra was blazing brilliantly. Embrra had pulled back a fist as she charged Janet. It looked to be charging with Mana or just concentrating her flames or some shit. It was a little hard to look directly at.

Janet hadn’t been slacking, and while her muscles had been growing, she had lifted her axe, readying an attack of her own. Janet must have used Empower Strike to power up her attack when they met. As she brought her axe down on Embrra, Janet’s strike shot down like she had strapped a rocket to the back of her axe.

Embrra was no slouch, and as Janet swung down, she met the blow with her fist. As their attacks met, a blinding light burst forth, and I was forced to look away. When I looked back, I saw that both combatants had been blasted away from each other. A small crater was left where their clash had occurred, and the crowd was fucking loving it. Hell, I was fucking loving it!

“Go, Janet!” I screamed, then let out a whistle. Ben and Beard Face Shredder Fist were right there with me, cheering their hearts out. Janet and Embrra didn’t waste any time and collided once again. This time, when they hit, neither one was sent flying, but moments after their clash, the pressure of their meeting broke the ground, and another small crater was formed.

As the two dropped into the few inches of the crater they had just created, they broke contact. The next few seconds were a blur of blows that left both combatants parting. Almost twenty feet lay between them. Janet and Embrra eyed each other warily before slowly beginning to circle one another. It looked like Janet was in a bit of a pickle. The two could match each other in brute force, and that’s what they both seemed to excel at. This left them both a little stumped on what to do next.

They made it about 90 degrees before I think they both came to the same realization of fuck it. Even sitting in the stands, I could see them both smirking before Janet raised her axe as Embrra raised her first. After that, the match devolved into a slugfest. Neither Janet nor Embrra were willing to give an inch as they rained blows down on each other.

As they fought, wounds accumulated, and fatigue caused each combatant to falter. The craziest shit about their slugfest was that Embrra’s magic began melting the ground as Janet's Empowered Strikes dug the crater deeper. They were slowly, literally fighting them selfs into a hole.

Five fucking minutes into the brutality, the hole got to a depth that began to obstruct their footwork. Embrra was the first to make a critical mistake because of this issue. As she avoided a strike from Janet that would have cleaved her arm off, Embrra stumbled.

Embrra managed to change her dodge to a parry and punch the side of Janet's axe as it came at her. It was a fantastic move, and it would have worked, too, if she wasn’t falling over at the time. Embrra punched the axe head away from her arm and chest, but not far enough to avoid being struck entirely.

Embrra's punch indeed diverted Janet's axe, but the downward force from Janet's blow was such that the blade still remained mostly on course, ending its descent in Embrra's thigh. Embrra screamed but bit her scream back quickly. Janet was slightly surprised that her swing was blocked. Thrown off by Embrras parry, Janet barely reacted quickly enough to take advantage of her windfall. In moments, Embrra was back on her feet and landed a blow to Janet's abdomen.

I think Embrra and Janet both knew that fighting in the crater they had created was fucking them. Embrra, the smaller and more nimble fighter, made a dash for it first. It all happened fast. Janet was laying into Embrra with a particularly intense set of blows. Janet finished the set with an Empowered upward swing intended to halve Embrra. Embrra pulsed with a flash of light, blinding Janet and us spectators for a moment, and at that moment, she made a break for it.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

I think Janet felt the heat move away from her more than anything, but Janet still reacted before I knew what happened and let out a Mighty Roar that filled the arena.

“Get the fuck back here!” Janet's ability, Mighty Roar, was a taunt. This meant it was an ability that filled her words with magic that made anyone who heard them get an overwhelming need to attack her. Embrra's quick escape turned into a head-on charge right back into the crater where Janet was waiting, axe raised.

Embrra was so full of the need to fuck Janet up that she barely saw it when the butt of Janet's axe shot down. There was a brutal crack, and as the dust cleared, Janet was left standing as Embrra lay out cold on the ground before Janet. Janet was grinning like a mad woman as she stared at Embrra on the ground before her. Janet lifted her axe over her head as a roar of victory broke free. Then her eyes rolled back in her head, and she fell backward and slammed into the ground, axe still raised over her head as she passed into unconsciousness herself.

The crowd was losing it. I was losing it. Ben was cheering so hard he was actually tearing up, and Beard Face Shredder Fist. Beard Face Shredder Fist was in a state of shock. He was just looking at Janet slack-jawed, shaking his head slightly back and forth. I mean, I get it, Janet, my girlfriend. I mean, it's not like we really put a label on it, you know, but fuck, she was a monster, and I fucking loved it.

After Janet was carried out of the arena, we booked it over to the check-in area where Janet would be rejoining us, mere mortals. We had to wait what felt like for-fucking-ever, but it was only about twenty minutes before Janet finally appeared. I hadn’t realized it, but as Janet saw our group, she looked shocked. I looked around me then and noticed there were more people here than when I won my match, and that was bullshit.

Then the cheers quelled as Embrra Flowerstone walked forward with an attendant close behind her. Everyone was now looking back and forth between Janet and Embrra, unsure of what was about to happen. Some members of the group were already starting to back away in anticipation of imminent violence.

Janet and Embrra stood there and eyed each other for a moment. The silent tension was visible in the faces of the now timid crowd. Then Embrra grinned ear to ear, and Janet smirked.

“Oh, my god! That was the best. I mean, stab me in the gallbladder with a rusty knife.” I think there was a problem with the translation there, I assured myself. That couldn’t be an expression on any planet.

“Your head must be made of mithril. Honestly, we have to be best friends. Your amazing girl, shit! I just want to fight you again. No one will go at it like that with me. They all jump around and shoot magic. Ahh, it's bullshit, you know, but you, we just went at it, you know. That was honestly so fucking brutal.” And at that, Embrra actually fucking giggled a little. Yeah, she was just Janet's type.

Janet looked a bit shocked at Embrra for a second, but by the time Embrra was giggling to herself, Janet was laughing. I kind of didn’t know what to make of the situation yet. Janet seemed to be loving it.

“Fuck, your bat shit girl, you know, but your a fucking monster. You almost killed me, you bitch, but I guess I can forgive you, seeing as that was probably the most fun I've ever had.”

“Hey! What am I, chopped liver?” I said before I realized I did. More out of a habit of fucking with Janet all the time than anything else. Embrra looked over at me for the first time, a little annoyed. That might be the right word or angry. I think, seeing things might go south if left to stew, Janet stepped in.

“Embrra, that's Travis. We’ve been traveling together since the integration of our planet, and he's my boo thang.” Then Janet winked at Embrra. It took a second, but Embrra seemed to understand something. Who really knew what she thought Janet was implying? It didn’t matter because, for a moment, Embrra was all smiles again.

At one point, Beard Face Shredder Fist stepped forward and asked for both Janet and Embrras autographs. They both looked utterly shocked but happily did so. No one asked me for an autograph, by the way, and after that, the mood really picked up. Everyone looked twice as happy now with two celebrities in their midst. It only took a few words from a few group members, and the whole group made its way over to the closest tavern and kept the party going all night. It was a true rager, one for the books, as the kids would say. Embrra was crazy. Drank like a fish and was down for anything.

I think I fucking shit myself, and I think I saw Embrra and Janet do the same. I didn’t really remember much. I think there were some alien drugs involved, but I did wake up with mostly clean pants. I know cause I checked. I really could have sworn I shit myself. It was fucking with me. Ben and Beard Face Shredder Fist hung in there with us until the end, as did Embrra, much to her attendant's frustrations.

I don’t think Embrra’s attendant was allowed to do anything except stand near Embrra and wait on her needs. So, for most of the night, Embrra’s attendant stood in the corner. The most action the attendant saw was a few times when Embrra wanted something from her bag of holding. Which her attendant apparently carried for her. They had an odd relationship, and I wouldn’t claim to understand one bit.

The bar was used to this kind of thing, and as long as patrons kept buying, they would stay open, and when that stopped, they would kick everyone out. I think we made it till around 6 am, but my memory was fucked at that point. Somehow, Janet, Embrra, Ben, Beard Face Shredder Fist, and I all made it to where Janet and I were staying and passed out there, or at least that's where and who I woke up with.

Everyone was everywhere, and by that, I mean Embrra was on the bed, snoring loudly. Janet and I were on the couch, snuggled up in the comforter from the bed. Beard Face Shredder Fist was straight up, just passed out on the floor, and when I made it to the bathroom, I found Ben sleeping in the tub. I just tried to pee quietly.

Now I was hungry. I looked at my watch, and it was already 2 pm. So, I figured It was about time to wake everyone up for breakfast. That turned out to be more difficult than I thought. Janet eventually had to slap Embrra pretty fucking hard. I might add, to finally wake the woman up.

Ben and Beard Face Shredder Fist, and I had to hold Embrra back from punching Janet before she fully came around. That sucked cause, you know, she was on fire! After that, everything was fine. Embrras fire didn’t burn like a normal fire either. It was more uncomfortable than painful, and we all made our way downstairs to get some breakfast.

“Hey, that was a fucking awesome night. Good fucking friends, good fucking drink, and we woke with all our fucking organs still in our fucking bodies. Ha Ha. This meal will be on me. So, eat, please, as much as you fucking want. My new friends. Fuck!” We had taught Embrra the word Fuck last night, and she, well, fucking loved the versatility. She was using it a bit too much, however. I wouldn’t dare tell her to stop, though. It was too much fun to watch, and fuck, she just bought breakfast, and I was hungry. I was gonna get my money's worth, that’s for sure, sorry Embrra.

“Embrra, you know you're weird, right? I mean, don’t get me wrong, you're awesome. Don’t change, but you're an odd one, that's for sure.” Embrra looked at Ben, who I think might have regretted his blunt words. Even if Embrra said we were all friends now, I didn’t really know her. Maybe, she would snap and fuck Ben up for his comment. Embrra looked at Ben for maybe five full seconds, which gave the table a tense atmosphere for a moment, but then Embrra started giggling.

Ben looked even more weirded out, looking around at the rest of the table for support. Then, just as suddenly as Embrra started laughing, she stopped, turned to Ben, sitting in the chair to her right, and slapped him on the back a few times. She kept a winning smile on her face as she did so. Ben, however, looked like he was in great pain every time a slap landed.

“I think I’m going to like having friends. I’ve never had any before. My family usually doesn't like when I run off on my own. Besides, most of my time is spent training. So I’ve never had friends before. I’ve read about friends and always wanted some, but most people get mad at you when you punch them. Not Janet, though. She's the best and my first friend too. I know I’m weird, but I have friends now, so I’ll get better.” Ben looked shocked by Embrra’s words for a moment. Honestly, I think we all were shocked by her honesty. After a moment, Ben smiled at Embrra warmly.

“Of course, we're friends, and I’m glad to have a friend like you, Embrra. Being weird can be a good thing. You’re strong, confident, and now have new friends. I’d say you're doing pretty well. I wouldn’t worry about it too much.” Embrra looked like she might cry. Then she stood up from her chair and gave Ben a hug. It was quite a touching moment.

“By the way, Embrra, when did we lose your attendant last night? Are you not going to get in trouble with your family?” I asked once Embrra was seated once more.

“Probably, but I don’t care. So don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. Maybe a few lashes at most.” Embrra said nonchalantly, then got back to eating. I had to stop and think about what Embrra had said for a second, and then her words made it into my thick skull.

“Wait. You’re saying that your family is going to have you whipped?” I couldn't believe it, and Embrra didn’t look concerned at all. Embrra looked back up at me with a confused look.

“Yeah. Maybe twenty to thirty. It shouldn't be that bad. It will hurt, sure, but nothing too bad. Better than having your feet dipped into Frectoplasum. It freezes them right off and makes regrowth painful as all hell. Just a few lashes are no big deal.” Embrra finished and shrugged before returning to her food.

That seemed super fucked up, but I guess if rapid regeneration was a thing before the integration, maybe things would have been more alike than I would like to admit. After we all finished our breakfast, our little group split up. Embrra said she needed to get back, or it might be more than a few lashes, while Ben and Beard Face Shredder Fist headed out as well, mentioning something about work or something, and then it was just Janet and I once more.

“New friends, hu?” I asked Janet. She just looked at me and shrugged.

“I like Embrra a lot. She’s awesome. Ben and Beard Face Shredder Fist are good guys, too. So what the fuck are we doing today? Eikmans probably pissed we didn't show up bright and early to train. I figure we either deal with that or… We could ignore Eikman for the day. Play hooky and go watch some fights? What do you say?”

I liked Janet's idea, and I really didn’t want to get shit from Eikman today. My head still was a bit fuzzy from the night before. Breakfast had helped, but it also made me sleepy. Honestly, I think Janet was on the right track fuck Eikman for today.

“Okay, I’m down, but let's take a nap first. That food got me.”

“Fine, but only for an hour or so, then off to the Coliseum!”