Another round is here! Remember, Shojah belongs to thedarkestprince and Vex is property of duckehluff. And Sadi belongs to Zerna!
BLOOD SPORT: ROUND 7
Shojah vs Vex
It would be nice if everyone in the universe got along. I don't mean think the same exact way...just had the same goals and the same ideas on how to reach them. What's so funny about peace, love, and understanding? Well, the way it works is like this: Life is not "ha-ha" funny so much as "Okaaaaay" funny. It's just friggin' weird. Odd. Messed up. Just when you think you understand what's coming next, JUST when it looks like everything is going to work out just fine...THIS stuff happens.
Nick gently held his beautiful daughter in his arms as he blushed, looking sweetly down at his new child. She shakingly reached up with her arms, stroking his chest slightly and cooing as May sat next to him, Bo and Ian eagerly standing near to get a glimpse of their new child. She had one of her mother's pink eyes, one of her father's green ones, and small, nubby little horns. Tears of joy filled Nick's eyes and he gently stroked her.
"You're so beautiful." He told her.
I'm...I'm the father of this beautiful, beautiful baby girl...
"No complications whatsoever." The good doctor said, nodding his head. "It was my pleasure to deliver this beauty baby." He added, looking at the two proud parents. "What will you call the little one?" He asked.
"...Nora. It means "Honor"." May decided.
"Well, we need to do some tests on her." The good doctor told May. "To make sure she's healthy on the inside AND outside."
"You take special care of her. She's my special girl!" Nick insisted.
...
...
...
..."Pick a card." Lox said, holding up a large deck of cards in his hand as he faced down our protagonists within the cafeteria. Nick was looking around, trying to find where Trik had gone to. "Where is he?" He wanted to know. "I haven't seen him around since yesterday."
"He got a call yesterday, apparently. His wife's gotten very sick. I think he went to go check up on her." Darth informed him, sipping some soda as Nick looked the cards over.
"Okay, just...pick one?" He asked.
"Yep." Lox commented. "Any one you want."
Nick's gloved hand reached out across the cafeteria table and they watched him pick a card, placing it down onto the table. It read "The Fool" and showed a person in elaborate clothes with his head looking up at the sky, eyes wide and happy, about to step off a cliff as a little dog nipped at his heels.
"You've found yourself." Lox sniggered, rolling his eyes. Nick blushed slightly. "Would YOU like to pick a card, my dear blind friend?" He asked of Darth.
Darth turned in his direction and reached out with his hand, feeling the cards. Finally he grabbed ahold of one, pulling it up and placing it down. "What is it?" He asked of them.
"It's the Pope, or "Hierophant" card." Lox told him calmly. "It seems you too have found yourself."
"HA...HA...HA." Darth muttered.
"Ooh, lemme pick one." A voice spoke up. Darth stiffened. He'd HEARD that voice before. They all turned around to see a black-eyed being with a black and white outfit, sharp claws and a large, toothy grin appear behind them.
"S-S-S-S-Sadi..." Nick gulped.
"Ooh, so YOU'RE that communications officer that got Nexus in a tiff. My, you look lovely. I'll bet you'd go great in a basil sauce with some nice chianti." She told him, licking her lips.
Nick's eyes grew to "Puppy-dog" size again and he began to nervously whimper. "Awwwww." Sadi said, grabbing her cheek and squeezing. "You're so cuuuute. I might keep your eyes in a Mason Jar just so I can look at these cute little gems."
"Uh...that's...sweetly disturbing of you?" Nick murmured out.
"Now can I draw a card?" She asked as the others all shuffled or scrambled away to make room for her.
Lox nervously shuffled the cards in his desk, then placed them out on the table so that not even HE could see what she was going to pick. "Alright, go ahead. In fact, pick three. One for your past, one for your present, one for your future."
"Alright...here." She pointed at one at the end and flipped it over. It was of...Death.
"Oh boy." May commented, shaking her head. "THAT doesn't look good."
"No, no, it's a misunderstanding that's common. The Death card doesn't actually mean REAL death." Lox informed them all. "It means a change. New replacing the old."
"Hmm." Sadi rubbed her chin. "Alright, I can understand that." She then picked another card...
Death.
"...is...that normal?" Nick asked.
"Well, um..." Lox stuttered nervously. "It-it will all become clear in the NEXT card." He assured them all. Sadi picked one final card, flipping it over...
Death.
SFX: Bum-bum-BUUUUM!
"This is REALLY strange! There's only supposed to be one "Death" card per deck!" Lox commented as Sadi looked nervously down at the cards she'd picked.
...
...
...
...Trik paced back and forth, blue eyes narrowed as he stood outside of the hospital waiting area at the front desk. He'd returned to the enormous burning ball of desert that was Sirius Minor and had spent the entire day waiting for the Head of the Hospital to show the hell up so he could freakin' TALK to him. Luckily, he was soon rewarded for his patience by seeing an official-looking man in a doctor's labcoat walking towards him.
"Sir, the secretary says you've been trying to find me to check on a patient?" He asked, tilting his goggles down to look Trik in the eye.
"Yes, I'm Trik." Trik introduced himself, eagerly shaking the man's gloved hands. "Listen, I HAVE to see my wife Dari. She's six months pregnant AND she's been placed within this hospital for having cancer of the heart, I NEED to see her at once!"
"Ah, Ms. Dari. Well, come this way, sir. Usually I don't allow this sort of breach of protocol." The head of the hospital told Trik as he led him over to the secretary's computer, typing in an access code. "But since your story has so touch-ed my heart...I'll let it slide this once."
"Really?"
"Nah, I think your reason's stupidly cliché, but I'm bored. And frankly, this is the most interesting thing I've seen all day. Most people just come in looking to check in on their little kid that got a scraped knee. BORING!" He yelled out loud, hitting the "Enter" button on the computer keyboard. A picture of Dari's yellow-eyed form appeared in a folder of patients. "There....oh." The doctor's face fell slightly.
"What?" Trik demanded to know.
"Look." The doctor told him, pointing with a single clawed digit.
"Diseased? I already knew she was sick!" Trik commented angrily.
"No...it's...deceased, sir. "Deceased". She's dead. And apparently..." He typed some more on the keyboard, bringing some forms onto the screen. "She died about...ten hours ago."
Trik felt the exclamation of protest he'd been about to say die before it left his lips. He had no rational response to the realization that his beautiful wife...and child that would have been...was now dead of heart cancer in a shitty hospital.
"She was supposed to be alive." Trik mumbled, body quivering.
"Hey, you...need to have a drink, sir?" The secretary asked as Trik fell down into a chair, eyes bugging out, tears dribbling down his cheeks.
"She was supposed to be alive..."
...
...
...
... "This shouldn't take too long." Shojah thought to himself, red eyes narrowed as he looked out at his opponent. His white jacket was well-hidden behind the bush he was hiding inside as he carefully gazed at the Irken who was looking down at a picture frame. Vex was a rather pale-colored Irken who was blind in the left eye, a large scar slashed across it. He had an X-shaped strap design across his chest of black to match his pants and the rest of his outfit was white.
He was looking at a picture of a girl. She had an orange outfit with long eyelashes and beautifully sparkling orange eyes. He was caressing her face as lovingly as if it was the real thing, his one working eye filled with sorrowful memory and loss, his three-stubbed antennae hanging low.
Shojah felt a tiny hint of regret fill him. He knew who this one was...Vex happened to be an old war hero, true, but he was mostly famous for looking after Savannah, a child who'd been born decades ago when Red had been married to another Irken named Yellow. Sadly Yellow had divorced him quite some time ago, but...Savannah had needed a babysitter since her father couldn't be there for her anymore. Vex had filled that role.
A war hero being turned into a babysitter...it really was a very touching story. Shojah sighed to himself as he readied his body to leap out and try and snap Vex's neck in a single bound, wanting to end it quickly.
Vex's body suddenly stiffened. He turned his head, eye glaring at the bush that Shojah was hiding in, sensing somebody was watching him. He then leapt away just as Shojah propelled his massive body out of the bushes and the huge vortians' claws dug into the grass of the jungle as the two of them stared at each other, Vex swinging a large metal pipe around, spinning it rapidly.
"Shojah, I take it? The Behemoth himself?" Vex wanted to know.
"Indeed, Vex. And I know of YOU." He told the Irken. "If you had stayed still, I would have given you a swift end. Unfortunately, you make this difficult." He shook his head. "Estupido."
"You're not going to...uh...martame?" He asked.
"Yes, "martame". That's the word." Shojah told him. "You know some Spanish?" He asked, looking interested as he tilted an invisible eyebrow up.
"Ehhh...some." Vex admitted. "I learned it when I was trying to impress Savannah. This whole "Zorro" phase. I'd...rather not talk about the specifics."
"I understand." Shojah admitted as he stood up, cracking his knuckles. "Now, like I said, you'd best hold still, esse." He told the Irken, rushing forward.
Vex's PAK legs shot out of his PAK, and he propelled himself upward and out of Shojah's reach, but Shojah quickly tossed something out that had been strapped to his waist, a spiked ball and chain wrapped around Vex's leg and Shojah spun the Irken around in the air, over his head, giddily whooping.
"You're gonna taste great with some parsley!" He told the Irken, sniggering as he slammed Vex into a tree, making the Irken gasp in pain as his body slid to the base. Shojah's foot slammed in front of the fallen Irken's head and Vex looked up to see Shojah cracking his knuckles.
"I suggest you stay still, esse. He told the Irken. "Or this will hurt like a bitch." He raised his clawed fist up.
BANG! Vex swung his metal pipe upwards and hit a very, VERY sensitive region.
"...OWWWW..." Shojah gasped, staggering backwards and gripping his balls for dear life. "...OWWWWWWWW..."
Vex immediately stood up and nervously put the pipe away on his belt. "Oh gee, sorry, I...didn't mean to hit THAT hard, but..."
"OWWWWWWW..." Shojah gasped out, falling to his knees.
Nick, who was watching the match in the lounge with Red and Purple, crossed his legs. Red and Purple nervously covered their crotch region with pillows as Darth gulped, crossing HIS own legs. Erin and May rolled their eyes. "Men." They said.
"Listne lady, you ain't ever been hit in the balls, EVER. Yes, I know you give birth, but you'll never be hit in the balls. So don't go sayin' "Men don't know anything about pain"!" Purple complained.
"Listen, I'm sorry, I-" Vex began, approaching Shojah to try and help him up. Shojah's eyes suddenly glinted and he lunged forth, pinning Vex to the ground below. "EY! OW!"
"Oh, don't get me wrong, that hurt...but what I'm going to do to you is going to hurt so, much, worse." Shojah insisted, whispering in Vex's ear. He opened his jaws to bite into Vex's neck...
But then he stopped. He frowned and stood up, dusting himself off. "I will NOT turn into a monster." He said. "I'd be dishonoring my esposa y sus hijos." He told Vex, folding his arms. "Get up and die like a man." He told Vex, red eyes narrowing slightly. "DEFEND YOURSELF."
"Oh, I will!" Vex yelled, leaping forward. He began slashing and slicing with his PAK legs as Shojah jumped around, avoiding the attacks, eyes turned to red slits, a devilish smile dancing on his face.
"C'mon, c'mon!" He demanded. "I'm expecting more!" He said, swerving his body around as if dancing to a flamenco tune. "Chipi-chipi, hey-yeah, chipi-chipi, hey-yeah!" He sang out, clearly enjoying himself.
SLASH!
A slice across the left side of his head. It wasn't deep...but it was deep enough. It hit his scar...and the pain traveled directly through to his brain. Immediately it felt as though a thousand knives were jamming into the right side of his head and Shojah let out a horrid screech as his body stiffened and then convulsed madly. He fell to the ground, gripping his form as he flopped around in a seizure.
Vex thought about finishing Shojah off, but he was not honestly sure if this was a trick or not. S he simply took off, bounding through the jungle. "Come and get me, Vortian!" He called back.
After a few horrible minutes of blinding pain gripping his head, Shojah stood up, gasping in deep breaths as he held his stomach, eyes alit with fire.
"CABRON!" Shojah swore, clenching his fist, red eyes narrowing in anger as he raced after Vex, leaping through the air, his muscles tense and ready to tear. This was more of an insult to Vortians and besides being a synonym for "asshole", it also meant "male goat" in the literal sense...and Vortians HATED to be called a "goat". "I'm gonna tear the flesh from your face!" He called out, the swords upon his back bouncing slightly against his flesh. He propelled himself through brush and tree limbs, but oticed that his leg was acting up, a dull ache moving through it. He slowed down and finally came to a stop, hiding behind a tree and rubbing it.
"Damn it." He thought. "I need to lure the Irken to ME before I can do anything." He mused. He wasn't sure HOW, but...
There was a scream. A horrible, frightened scream. A burst of flame suddenly shot up through the sky and horrid laughter filled the jungle. Nick stiffened.
"No." He whispered. "It can't be. I SHOT him. I shot him freakin' DEAD!" He protested, clenching his fist and slamming it into the couch nearby.
"Regulus is...ALIVE?" Darth gasped in fear, white eyes bulging in horror.
Vex held his shoulder, beating out flames as Regulus lowered his hand, his brown eyes narrowed into dark slits, burning embers of fire dripping from his hand. As the camera drone whizzed in to get a good look at this scene, Red turned to Darth. "He's a pyrokinetic? How could neither of you be aware of that?"
"The issue is moot because I shot him DEAD!" Nick snapped back. "...at least I thought I did." He muttered, folding his arms and frowning deeply.
"Trik, Regulus and I all have various abilities, but Regulus's power over fire never seemed...powerful at all." Darth insisted. "He had to come into contact with somebody to unleash his flames. I had no idea he could fire them at will."
"He's obviously gotten stronger." Purple realized as Vex used his pipe to try and bash away fireballs that a gleeful Regulus flung at him over and over.
"Oh c'mon, you can't dance forever, boy!" Regulus laughed. "Ha-ha-ha! Burn to the ground! Fire-related pun!"
"Dear GOD, he's worse than Mr. Freeze." Renee remarked as she folded her arms, sitting by Ember and Zim as they looked up at an enormous floating vid-screen in the cafeteria.
"Who?" Zim asked.
"I'll tell you later." Renee explained calmly, waving a hand in the air. "The audience will get it."
"Renee, watch it, the Fourth Wall can't handle that much pressure." Ember insisted.
Shojah stuck his head slightly out from behind a tree as he watched Vex be forced back across the jungle plain by the fireballs as Regulus laughed and laughed, a burning ring of flame slowly rising out from his body to cut off Vex's escape route. He frowned slightly. That horrid freak was just trying to trap him, trying to catch him and have his way.
"You're mine, mine, mine!. Mine to enjoy, mine to destroy!" Regulus laughed coldly.
Shojah's heart leapt into his mouth. All-too-familiar words shot through his head.
"All mine, just mine, mine, mine. Mine to love, mine to hold, mine to f—k!"
His muscular fists clenched tightly, his claws digging in deep. This monster was too much like that blackmailing little...
A horrible, sickening dark feeling rose in him. A thousand voices screaming, all of them belonging to his wife and children.
"Avenge me, avenge me!" They cry as he rushes forward. Regulus turns, his brown eyes widening. He slashes through the air, sending a wave of flame rushing at Shojah, who leaps over it. Eyes now filled with fear, Reg turns his attention on the vortian and a burning whip of fire forms in his hands. It flings through the air, slicing across Shojah's chest...
He does not feel it. He can only hear their voices as his fist finds Regulus's face. Bone cracks. Blood oozes out. Teeth shatter as Reg hits the ground, panting, a burning ring of fire surrounding him and Shojah.
"You...worm...I'll...you..." He mutters, staggering to his feet, panting heavily. The voices have fallen silent...
But only for a moment.
"Die." Shojah hisses, eyes narrowed, leaping forward, teeth bared, cold-hearted intent driving him as his fist slams into Regulus's body and his claws come down again and again.
The people want blood. His wife and children cry for justice.
They...
SLASH!
Will...
SCHLUCK!
Not...
SCHLORP!
Be...
SQWULK!
Silenced.
...
...
...
...Vex stood there, watching as Shojah calmly crunched away on a rib from Reg's body which had a fair slice of meat on it, sitting on a tablecloth he'd tucked away in his pocket. He'd already reduced most of the Irken to bones and some traces of guts, and the only thing that seemed to bother Shojah was that he'd gotten blood on his nice white jacket/vest.
"Curaho." He muttered. "This was my best jacket, you know." He told Vex, waving the rib in the air, having sprinkled some salt and pepper on it that he'd taken out of his jacket. "Ah, but...the nice part about this man was he came pre-roasted." He held up one of Regulus's hands. "Finger food?" He asked.
"...I think I'm going to be sick." Vex decided. "You don't mind if I throw up, do you?"
"Go ahead." Shojah said, pointing over at the bushes. "I'll be waiting for you when you're ready to finish this. I promise not to eat your body though. I'm full now." He added, nodding his head, speaking almost kindly. He then took a napkin and cleared the blood off his mouth, burping slightly. "Excuse me." He apologized. "Normally I'd take this back to some room, get a little wine, some music..."
"...urp..." Vex turned pale.
"But in this case, it would take too long and meat is best when properly cooked like this."
"...be...right...back." Vex mumbled, rushing over to the bushes.
"I think I'M going to be sick. What kind of man focuses the camera on this the ENTIRE FREAKING TIME?" Nick asked Red.
Purple was throwing up into a trash can, the weaker-willed of the two whilst Red frowned darkly. "That's Nexus for you." He told Nick, shrugging.
"Oooooh. That was DELICIOUS!" Nexus laughed, clapping his hands. "The violence, the drama, the epic death scene! And the awkward silence thereafter between competitors...priceless. Truly, there are just some things money can't buy." He admitted, nodding his head, rubbing his chin.
"For everything else, there's Mastercard." GIR's voice rang out, making Nexus shriek slightly as Erin, giggling, brought GIR back over to Zim's table in the cafeteria.
Trik, meanwhile, laid against the wall of the hospital. He could cry no more tears. He had dried himself out and was now weeping dryly, unable to move from the wall as he stared up at the ceiling. Some of the doctors and nurses had wondered if he was a patient in need of checking himself in. But there was no medical cure for grief.
A voice suddenly whispered, close by.
"You want them back, don't you?"
He could hear it. HEAR it. He turned to look around, but there was nobody else close enough to be whispering. It was only then that it hit him. His mind. He was hearing it in his mind.
But he didn't care. What that person had set had jolted his desires to the forefront of his mind.
"Yes." He whispered back. "I do."
"Well...I can fix that easily enough. If you...do something for me. A teeeeensy little favor..."
...
...
...
...Miyuki patted Felix on the head as they looked over the feed from some of the other fights that had occurred. "Oh, look at Frequency's face there!" She giggled at the sight of the blue-furred being trying to pull himself out of a sand dune after he'd been launched at high speed through the air by Black and Jana.
"He sure is a silly-nilly." The SIR unit agreed, nodding his robotic head.
"Hitting him actually hurt my fist a bit." Jana's voice rang out. "But it felt...satisfiying."
Miyuki's blood ran cold. She turned her chair around as she and Felix gazed at the black-wearing assassin who held up a sword handle at them. At the touch of a button, a burning-hot blade of energy formed from it as the assassin gave them a cold smirk. "You really need to work on your security." She said.
"...there were...there were at least two dozen Vortian scientists and guards out there." Miyuki whispered. "...that...that blood on you isn't yours, is it?" She asked, looking at the splattered shoes and legs as Jana slowly shook her head.
"No, no it's not." Jana admitted, grinning darkly. "Now, I imagine you're wondering what I'm doing here?" She inquired. "That's simple enough. I need you out of the way so that my glorious master Zim can...deal with Red and Purple...and not have to worry about YOU coming back."
"Zim wouldn't kill them!" Miyuki protested. "He cares too much about their opinion!" She insisted. "And he wouldn't want to break Erin's heart!"
"True, true...which is why, once SHE'S dead along with that other humanoid, he won't feel so bad about either of the Tallest being deceased." Jana explained.
A cold chill went through Miyuki's body as she stood up, eyes narrowing to blue slits. "You ARE a cruel one." She told Jana coldly. "I would NEVER let you hurt either of those two little ones. They've done nothing to you!"
"That doesn't matter." Jana said dismissively. "This is my task. My job. And my job also includes getting rid of you."
"I will fight you to my last breath, you hateful thing." Miyuki spat, claws curling.
"Fight me here? With that little guy in harm's way?" Jana asked, looking smug. "It would only take a well-placed knife to split his neck from his head. I KNOW of his true origin. It would just kill old Jelly-Eyes if his precious nephew whom he saved from Death once before died for good."
"Leave...him...alone." Miyuki demanded furiously.
"...I'll make you a deal." Jana said calmly. "You give yourself up willingly...by your honor as a Tallest...and I'll not kill the little one. Deal?"
"...I want YOUR word too." Miyuki demanded, pointing at Jana. "On your honor...if you HAVE any!"
"On my honor as a loyal servant that seeks the betterment of the empire." Jana insisted, holding her sword up into the air dramatically, nodding her head.
"...fine." Miyuki said, head bowed as Felix nervously moved backwards and away towards a vent shaft. "Do what you will to me." She murmured.
"After this." Jana commented, flicking a capsule at Felix. A gloopy, sticky bubble wrapped around him, and he was trapped inside of it as Miyuki's cyan eyes widened in horror.
"You said you weren't going to hurt him!" She yelled.
"I said I would not kill him. And this won't hurt him. But he won't be escaping from this space station...ever." Jana said, gesticulating with a hand. "And that will be YOUR fate too." She added, walking towards Miyuki, holding up what the Tallest recognized to be a freezing ray. The Tallest could do nothing though. She was bound by her word. She just hung her head, looking ashamed that she'd allowed herself to put Felix in a position of being a hostage, ashamed she could not fight back.
"You were dearest of idols to my Lord once, and did so much for the Empire...but there's simply no more room in this galaxy for mercy or diplomacy. It's just not smart to be compassionate towards other, lesser races." Jana went on, aiming the gun at Miyuki's forehead. "Your age ended many years ago. Idealism has no place in the Irken Empire."
"Somebody else will stop-"
FRRRRSHHHHH!
"As long as it's not you, and not now." Jana remarked coldly, walking away, leaving the frozen-alive Miyuki alone within an enormous prison of ice as Felix screamed and wailed, trying to get his way out of the bubble.
...
...
...
...Vex was facing down Shojah, his body in a fighting position as he narrowed his one good eye, Shojah's arms folded as he looked the Irken over.
"You think you can really beat me?" He asked calmly.
"Maybe I can, maybe I can't. But I will do all I can to TRY." Vex insisted.
"Noble." Shojah admitted, nodding his head. He then launched himself at Vex, aiming for Vex's blind spot...
But the Irken knew that was what the Vortian had planned. He ducked down and then kicked up, knocking Shojah into the air. He then propelled himself upward on his PAK's legs and slammed the pipe into Shojah's stomach.
THWOOOMPA! The Vortian behemoth went tumbling down to the jungle floor, slamming into the ground, and Vex delivered another harsh blow to the stomach with his huge pipe, causing a crater to form beneath the Vortian. Blood splurted out from Shojah's mouth as Vex jumped back, twirling his pipe rapidly as the Vortian staggered back to his feet.
Clearly the Irken was tougher than he'd thought he was. Shojah grinned, showing off his teeth as some blood dribbled out the side of his mouth. He wiped it off with a hand and then ran around and around the Irken, rushing along the ground, waiting for an opening as Vex readied his PAK legs and pipe to strike back.
Shojah launched himself at Vex over and over again, but the Irken's will and strength were stronger than the Vortian thought. Even though each attempted leaping blow at the gentlemanly fighter felt like a sledgehammer striking at his form, Vex parried with his PAK legs and Pipe, blocking the strikes over and over, eye narrowed with determination.
"I...will...not...yield!" He roared out at Shojah.
"Who said you had a CHOICE?!" Shojah roared, jumping forward, this time slamming both his fists forward. Vex's pipe and PAK legs shot forward, but they were only barely able to knock Shojah back as the black-skinned Vortian curled his claws, looking the tired Irken over.
"I'm...not giving up." Vex insisted, thinking back to Savannah. He had to win. He had to see her again. "I made a PROMISE to Savannah I wouldn't let this competition kill me!"
"...a promise, eh?" Shojah spoke softly, and his normally deep-toned voice suddenly become softer. "...I can sympathize with that." He admitted. "You've tried to fight honorably, and I am grateful for that." He said, nodding his head. "I won't torture you anymore. I'll kill you swiftly." He said, walking forward.
"You may TRY, sir." Vex said threateningly.
Shojah was genuinely impressed. The stripling was not imitating the tiger...he WAS the tiger now. But could a tiger beat a bear like him?
FWOOOOOOSH!
A burning wall of flame shot up between the two of them as they turned their heads to see...
"Rata inmunda!" Shojah gasped, eyes widening at what was hovering in the air before them. Regulus' entire body was nothing but peeling flesh dissolving away into embers of flame as a burning being made of magma and fire hovered in the air to the side of them, the temperature of the area rising up as he leered in a sickening fashion at them, lava-esque drool dribbling out of his mouth.
"Ohhhhh my." He laughed. "You didn't think I was going to be that easy to beat, did you?" He asked, his brown eyes now turned to burning coals. "Like the phoenix rising...I am reborn constantly. You can't kill flame by biting into it, cannibal." He told the Vortian. "And I AM flame!"
"You talk to f—king much." Shojah snapped angrily.
"Might I suggest we put aside our differences to deal with this...MONSTER?" Vex inquired.
Shojah nodded firmly as the two of them raced forward. A sneering Reg thrust his arms forward as burning shafts of flame erupted around them, but the two fighters leapt around, dodging the fire over and over.
"We need to put him OUT!" Vex yelled at Shojah. "If he's living flame he has the same weaknesses as ordinary fire!" He insisted as the fire spread to the jungle area, the flames licking up into the sky as dark clouds began to form from the rapidly-burning trees.
Shojah spun through the air, dodging an oncoming fireball as he landed expertly on the ground. "Yeah, so what?" He asked.
"RAIN!" Vex reasoned. "We need to get it to rain! And FAST!"
"Well how are we gonna do that?!" Shojah asked. But then an idea hit him. "Wait. I've got it. You got a jetpack in that PAK of yours?" He asked Vex as the two of them spun away , barely avoiding a harsh blast of burning lava from Reg's maw as the burning Irken hissed and hissed.
"Yes." Vex commented, nodding firmly.
The two of them rushed at each other as Shojah's hand dove into his jacket. He then slapped his large salt shaker into Vex's hand and as they passed away from each other, Vex's PAK transformed, a burning engine appearing out of the back of it. He grinned and launched up into the darkened clouds above, ripping the top of the salt shaker open and sprinkling the salt through the clouds overhead as Regulus looked up, blinking in confusion.
"What on..." He began.
A few moments later there was a thunderclap as Vex burst free from the clouds, ducked down, and with a large swoop, grabbed ahold of Shojah by his hand and tugged him away as the clouds opened up, unloading a torrential downpour of rain upon Reg. Regulus screamed and wailed, his body sizzling and turning into smoke. He staggered around, trying to get to safety but there was nowhere to hide from the rain. He hit the ground, body convulsing as it slowly dissolved away into nothing but wisps of smoke that faded on the wind as Vex deposited Shojah in a clearing far away, landing to the ground.
"That...let's not do that again." Vex gasped out, trying to catch his breath.
"You're a worthy opponent." Shojah admitted, nodding his head. "This time...I let you live." He said.
"Fine by me." Vex remarked, dusting himself off. "You were skilled as well. But tell me...why are YOU in Blood Sport?"
"...I can't tell you." Shojah muttered, looking away. "I can tell no one."
He wished he could, though. He wished he could.
...
...
...
... "BAM! Did you SEE the look on Reg's face when he realized he was beaten?" Nick asked as Erin, Ember, Zim, May, Darth, Red and Purple headed to the teleporter room. Nick was soon to participate in a match. He didn't know who his opponent would be, but he was eager to get back to butt-kicking.
"I didn't SEE anything." Darth remarked, grinning slightly.
"I really was impressed with Vex." Erin told them all, nodding her head. "He fought very honorably, and that was some quick thinking that he and Shojah came up with. It's a shame that this completion forces them to be enemies. They worked so well together..."
"Sometimes there can be something divine found, even in Hell." Darth intoned. "I've read of that in "Dante's Inferno"."
"That's some seriously good imagery, my friend." Ember remarked. "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here..."
"This competition is the eleventh circle of hell." May commented, shaking her head. "And lo and behold, people will be forced to fight cannibals, witches, and people who can melt stuff with their mind so others may be entertained by senseless cruelty. And it shall be called the eleventh circle of hell, where all the criminally cruel shall be kept. Dante then cried like a little girl and ran home to his mommy."
"What's the tenth circle?" Zim inquired, blinking a few times.
"It's too scary to talk about." May insisted.
BWOOOOOOM!
A thunderclap rippled through the air and all of a sudden an enormous, surging blast of wind rushed through the hallway. They shielded their eyes as an enormous, glowing light blinded their sight for a few moments, save for Darth, who simply blinked, unable to SEE anything, but feeling something...coming. A mental presence merging from out of thin air.
"...what...is THIS?" He asked.
A pair of hands grabbed the side of his head and a human, a woman not older than thirty four, looked deep into Darth's unseeing eyes. "You're still here." She realized. "And not dressed as...ah, I must be in 2009." She realized, standing up and stepping back. She was wearing a tight-fitting white bra and had a belt filled with various weapons, a rifle strapped to her back, a very harshly bleeding chest wound, and a glowing gem embedded in the center of a necklace she wore. Her hair was hanging down to her shoulders, and she had heterochromia, with the same colored eyes as...
"Ember?" Darth whispered, eyes widening.
"There is NO way I'd ever wear that." Ember said, looking at the ugly-looking belt.
"You laugh now." The woman said, chuckling slightly, her chuckling dissolving into coughing. "But...it's not that funny...what's soon to happen, I mean." She told them all, leaning against the wall. "It's...it's that assassin...Jana. She tries to eliminate the Tallest. She succeeds, and...and Zim takes over eventually with her help."
"I...I what?" Zim asked, walking forward.
The future Ember coughed madly, some blood bursting out from the insides of her mouth as she slid down the wall and Zim tried to hold her up. "She waited a while to get rid of Erin...but Zim still found out...and he realized I was next. You still loved me, so...so you sent me back in time with THIS." She said, pointing at the gem in her necklace. "Chaos Emerald shard...chronokinetic power...but...Head Advisor Black wouldn't let me go without giving me THIS..." She said, pointing at the wound in her chest.
She turned to Zim, eyes beginning to dim as she gripped his little hand, speaking softly, sadly. "Zim...I'm so sorry. I knew we should have stopped her sooner, but at first it all seemed so grand...so many missed chances though...so many times I should have told you how much I lo-"
But she didn't finish. Her form slumped to the ground and was still, never to move again. Zim clutched her body tightly as Nick looked at Red and Purple and Erin nervously spoke up.
"What are we going to do?" She asked.
"I say we find her..."
Zim held his head to the still future-Ember's head, tears trickling down his cheeks. "And we rip her damn heart out."
