"Okay guys, what's the scoop?" I asked my teammates. We were en route to Ghardhen, some testing facility now turned tournament battleground. Boris was with me again, and so was my doppleganger. We had a new member to our little group, Mariana, and she was the one to spill.
"Othello is a killer, he's taken part in bloody matches to the death since the mysterious demise of his wife." Mariana started.
"Matches to the death? Pfft." Boris jumped in.
"Matches without the aid of the new respawning technology." I replied. I had heard about such things.
"Oh." Boris said, then he seemed lost in what he should say next.
Mariana continued. "Azure has had training from the best fighters of the New Age and physical engineering to make her one bad bitch. Aryss was formerly a pilot, sounds to me like she's bitten off more than she could hope to chew joining the 'tourney. Malcom is the interresting one."
"Interresting? How?" I had to ask.
"The report said he was taking chemical enhancements to improve his natural abilities in battle." Mariana stated.
"Oh, drugs. Great." Boris moaned. "I have to go get killed by Xan Kriegor himself and I hafta fight all these sons-of-bitches on the way there. As if my sentence wasn't enough." He then muttered. "Damn you Liandri."
Mariana apparently heard him. "Don't get me started on the shit it's done to me, too. Greedy fucks don't want to let go of their money." Mariana turned to me. "What's it done to you?"
"Me? Well... My boyfriend in high school before was..." I paused, struggling to remember the name. Has it already been a year? "... Kent. Haven't heard from him for over a year now."
"Kent? Kent Liandri?" Mariana asked.
"Yeah..." I managed. It was only a name now, whatever affection I felt towards the bearer of the name was either long gone or in hiding.
"Shit girl, not everyone gets to cozy up to the head honcho's son!" Mariana exclaimed. "Hey, next time you see him could you ask about my family? I haven't seen them for over four years..."
"I just said I haven't seen him in over a year!" I shouted, more to my own surprise than anyone else's. Maybe I don't even remember what Kent looks like, but obviously I still have feelings for him. "Just... Leave me alone on that subject, okay?" ... Is his name even Kent? "Look, when we get there, we'll prolly have about half an hour with the arena to ourselves. I say we see if we can't get some 'spawning devices from someone and practice a bit. Like Mariana said, we've really got to watch our asses in this match, and we can't be going in all wound up." I looked out the window of the hovercar. "We'll be arriving soon, I think."
Maybe he still has feelings for me, too.