Chapter Twenty-Nine

Damian walked down one of the tunnels out of the main arena. Nathan, Ryu, Scarlet and Ross followed along, as they arrived at the stairwell they were met by two soldiers who opened up the door and directed them upstairs. The five of them walked around the food court, Nathan and Ross insisted on doing a once over before they bought anything. They eventually stopped at a soup kitchen that Ross swore had the best vegetable soup in all of Atlas. The restaurant had two small tables left that they were able to cram around. Damian was relieved when his bowl of chowder arrived, he had been hesitant that soup could fill his gut. Ryu drank his rice soup strait from the bowl and was finished within a manner of seconds.

"Hungry?" Nathan asked chomping on some bread. Ryu whipped his mouth with his sleeve and let out an appreciative burp.

"That was some damn fine soup!" The table nodded in agreement.

"How'd you know about this place?" Damian asked.

"I came here with Amber not too long ago to see a concert. she doesn't eat meat ether though I think she just does that to accommodate me." Ross replied.

"So... I don't mean to pry, but are you and that lovely little girl an item?" Scarlet asked. Ross blushed as red as his hair and started to gain an intense appreciation for the floor.

"Don't tease the guy Scarlet, they are clearly a thing right," Nathan said nudging him in the shoulder. His long hare ears drooped down to cover his face.

"What are you blushing about? it's a simple concept." Ryu said

"Ryu some of us have these things call emotions, they can boost and inhibit out decisions." Nathan said sarcastically.

"What are you implying?"

"That you are a robot who can't feel love or joy."

"Well that is just wrong I'm happy all the time."

"Beep Boop I am Ryu, is no working please reboot." Nathan said robotically. Scarlet and Ross laughed and Damian chocked on his soup adding to the hilarity.

"I'll reboot you!" Ryu shouted.

"Okay guys cool it, public place and all, don't make a scene or ironwood will come down on us like a ton of bricks."

"Very true." Scarlet added.

"Can robots feel love or joy?" Ross asked.

"Excuse me?" Nathan replied.

"You know you said Ryu was a robot who could not love or feel joy. Does that mean there are robots who can?"

"I'm gonna need something a lot harder than soup to start answering those sort of questions." Ryu said leaning back in his chair.

"Squee!" The table whipped around to see a short white haired girl running towards them with a tablet in one hand and a camera bobbing from her neck.

"I think I've found me a scoop I have!" She said as she arrived.

"And you are?" Ryu asked, eyebrow raised. She leaned in and whispered to the table

"I'm a girl who may have just struck gold if you are the competitors from today's fight, am I right? Am I?"

"Uhhh yes, yes you are." Ryu said still looking a bit dumb struck.

"Who are you?" Damian asked filling in for Ryu.

"Oh 'ow rude of me, I'm Blush Alva, amateur junior ace journalist. At your aquatints."

"I think my brain just melted trying to process that." Scarlet said rubbing her hand against her forehead.

"How can you be three of those things simultaneously?" Ryu asked.

"You know, I'm an amateur because I still haven't had my first."

"Story?" Damian said attempting to fill in her blanks

"And a junior because I'm a minor and I think junior sounds better than miner, there I go twisting words again. Oh and I'm Ace because I think I'm a pretty Ace journalist."

"Never mind it got worse." Scarlet said sounding very resigned.

"Okay name and impressive title aside what do you want?" Damian asked.

"To interview you?"

"Why?" Damian replied. Blush's face sunk,

"Look help a gal out, I'm just trying to get my foot in at," Sniff "and I thought I could write an article about this big 'ol event we're 'aving," Sniff "but that's cool I'll leave."

"Oh please don't cry. I, I'm sorry." Blush whipped her face with her excessively long sleeves.

"So you'll help me?"

"Y, yea sure. But you'll have to be quit I'm pretty sure we need to get back soon." Damian replied. Blush's face immediately lit up.

"Those are not amateur Grimm tears, girl is a natural." Scarlet said sounding something between surprised and impressed. Blush pulled out a pair of glasses.

"So Mr Carmine? 'Ow about I start with you as you were first." Blush said with a dramatically more serious tone.

"Yea sure, I guess." He replied, now feeling like he should have sent the girl away.

"So Damian, let's start small, where did you come from?"

"Torchlight."

"Okay and you lived with...?"

"My mum and dad, I haven't got any siblings or pets."

"So Damian, what was it like when you entered that stadium down there, the lights, the sounds, what ran through your mind?"

"I mean it's pretty big and intimidating, there were a lot more people there then I thought there'd be."

"Ooh, very interesting, you wouldn't think a big guy like you would be scared of nothing."

"Nah I'm only faunas, I have fears like everyone else."

"So is this your girlfriend?" She said pointing to Scarlet.

"I feel like this is getting off topic." Damian said a little defiantly.

"No we are just friends, not even team mates, if you want his team you want these guys." Scarlet said pointing to Nathan and Ryu.

"Yea but those two clearly only have eyes for each other." Blush said sounding uninterested. Nathan sprayed a mouth full of soup over the table and Ryu recoiled to stay out of direct fire.

"What?" Nathan shouted

"What!" Ryu shouted once he got off the floor.

"So Damian who else is on your team? Oh and what is your team name?" Blush said ignoring them.

"I, we have a girl called Gagana and we are team DRGN."

"I see." Blush then turned to Scarlet, "So what team are you in?"

"Yea, I'm the leader of team STRM, which consists of myself, Timothy the Cool guy, The impish Mary and her stoic guardian Richard." She replied

"Interesting. So was that your first time in the spot light, cuz you seemed pretty confident?"

"Nah, it was my first time, though I've seen a few of these sorts of events thanks to my brother."

"You have a brother?" Damian asked.

"Yea he's a couple of years older than us."

"Looks like we're all learning things t'day," Blush said excitedly. "What's your home like?"

"I live in a farming estate where we rear cattle for the people of atlas. It's run by my grandfather and his three children, one of whom is my father."

"Very cool!" Blush turned to Ross but was unable to start another conversation dew to the arrival of two soldiers. One lowered his visor.

"You lot should probably head back down to the arena, we'll be starting up again in a moment. If you follow us, we'll take you." The students quickly finished what was left of their food then got up and followed the soldiers back down to the arena. Halfway down the stair well Damian noticed that Blush had followed them, he was surprised that none of the soldiers had stopped her but at this point he didn't want to say anything in case she or the soldiers got in trouble. The six of them sat down were they had been previously and found that Crimson had been moved along to join them. As soon as the soldiers returned to their post Blush began the interrogation of the other participants starting with Ross. His attention was shortly taken by the fact that Amber was next to be called up. Timidly as normal she crept forward and took a shaky stance. Amber shortly exceeded expectations though as she quickly got into the flow of her fight, ducking, dodging and skewering her enemies. Until she tripped, rolled and got dog piled by a group of robots. Spikes erupted from the pile but she remained stuck under the heap of metal until her aura drained and she got disqualified.

"Aww so close Miss Meadow you only needed to last another thirty odd seconds, but with a score of four hundred and two you could have definitely done worse." Marcus announced from his speaker as Ross and Ulrik pulled her out.

"Our next fighter is quite an anticipated one from what I hear, it's Yuki Inari!" The crowd seem to cheer extra loud. Is he a known person? Damian thought to himself. Yuki strutted onto the stage, sheaves held in his hands. With a flick of his thumbs he launched his swords in the air and grabbed with a jump and a flip.

"And I thought he was the subtle type." Damian said.

"Yea, fame and recognition really can change people." Nathan said

"Wouldn't that imply he was famous or recognised."

"I think he at least one of those things with his bright white hair."

"Touché." Damian replied before his attention was brought back the fight that was moments away from beginning. Yuki stood like a statue as the robots advanced around him, he waited until they were within arm's length. Then the slashed out with his twin blades, cutting through them as if they were paper. He stood there in the same spot, unflinching. As the robots marched forward, wave after wave, he didn't move and inch, he barely even turned. As he reached the two-minute mark he changed his stance and combined his blades into a single, longer blade. He ran his finger down it and left a read glowing trail from tip to hilt. With a mighty swing of his weapon he sliced through all the robots surrounding him and ignited them to boot. Their smouldering remains were quickly trodden over by new units. Damian caught a glimpse of his face as he went for another circular slash. Boredom was written across it clear as day. He entered his stance as he prepared for a third attack. This time though, as he took a step forward he slipped and his attack went up to the sky, impacted with the blast shields and shattered them in an explosion of sparks and blue light then darkness. A siren sounded and all the robots halted. Muffled static came from the speakers before the quickly petered out and then a sigh could be heard from the commentator's box. Pine and his two allies stated talking on their radios before jogging off out of the arena.

"Well look what you've gone and done." Ryu said to Yuki as he walked over and took a seat.

"My bad," he said with a smirk, "I slipped on some loose fluid."

"What do you think happened?" Scarlet asked.

"Blow fuse?" Nathan suggesting casually.

"Most likely." Yuki replied.

"We are currently experiencing some technical difficulties please stand by." A feminine voice called over the speakers.

"That was quick." Nathan said looking up to the closest speaker."

"Fights have been suspended for the next five minutes while we fix the shields, in the meantime please draw your attention to the soldiers of the Atlesian military performing out National anthem." The voice said again. Moments later the sounds of drums and brass could be heard from the south entrances. Pine marched out, helmet in on hand and his rifle raised in the other. A group of thirty odd soldiers, carrying and assortment of musical instruments followed behind him. Then a solider came from the east and west gates, each held a flag and marched forward. They crossed flags as they waited for Pine to match up the field - a symbol that represents the crossing of the military and huntsman academy -. Pine stood now in the center of the stadium, he slung his weapon to his side and placed his helmet on the ground and formed a salute. The band of soldiers began to play and rumbling sound could be heard in the distance. A squadron of fighter jets flew across the stadium leaving a trail in the sky as they looped around. The crowd, who at this point were all saluting, screamed and whooped. As more of the systems returned to life, the lights reignited and the holographic screens flickered into view. As the fighters came back again for another run past the arena Pine dropped his arm from a saluting motion to a point one. The jets roared overhead and each unleashed a volley of missiles into the arena. There where cries of terror as people jumped for cover, trying to avoid the flaming rubble.