Jen's POV
Something didn't feel right. I was expecting the sensation of being on a mattress, sand, or hard rock. Instead, something big, fluffy and . . . breathing. My eyes shot open to be greeted by brown fur and green scales.
I nearly had a heart attack before remembering that I fell asleep on this thing. It woke up with a rumble. Large, yellow eyes blinking, with a third eyelid going sideways beneath like a normal crocodile, revealing a large slit of a pupil. Thick jaws split open in a skull cracking yawn, revealing rows of pure, white serrated knives before snapping shut, leaving just bits of teeth poking out. The nose and whiskers at the top of fearsome jaws wiggled, taking in the scent. The lips split . . . and gave me a careful lick on my cheek with its huge, pink tongue. 'Eeurg! Slimy!'
Using my shirt to clean my glasses and wipe the drool off, I stood up to get a better look at this beast. Thick brown fur all over except for the paws, and bottom jaw going down the neck to the undertail. Long, thick spines poking out from along the tail, and a long ridge from the back of the skull going down a thick neck.
The ears were at least five inches long, with large tufts of fur spouting out. The outside of said ears was covered with thick scales. The feet, paws? had five large digits, with a long claw on each, with webbing in between. There was padding on the bottom. Speaking of scales, they were all dark green. Just that. No mottled pattern.
The last detail was that this beast was HUGE! I am a mere five foot, two inches. The head was larger than my torso. My head fell a few inches beneath where the ears began. And the length! It must be three or four times longer than my height.
With observations done, I mentally decided that this was indeed a crocadog. 'I dub thee POOFY. The fluffiest one of all!'
Turning around, I saw the next step of the day. Greeting the King, who was facing someone by the doorway, and see what is to happen to me next.
I don't want to face reality. I really don't. My bag was nearby, so I took a moment to root out my blade and loop it on my belt and kilt. (Yeah, the moment I saw it last night, I chucked it back on)
Steeling my nerves, I walked over to Damas. He was busy talking to someone who looked way too familiar. Tall (am I forever the shrimpy sized one here?), dark skin, metalhead armor, long weapon hung on back. Is this Sig?
Being the polite woman my parents raised me as, I stood a short distance away, waiting for them to finish.
The maybe Sig turned around, yep, I was right. Lo and behold, he has two eyeballs. "So, you're the one behind all the rumors flying about." What? The look on my face must've relayed what my thought was, "different ecos and taming the . . ." Sig froze and looked over me. Quickly turning around, I saw Poofy still as a statue, back legs bending, staring back. Ignoring that I could very well lose a limb, I placed my hand on top of Poofy's nose and started scratching. Gone was the stiff, ready to pounce, here we had a big panting, furry dinosaur lowering his head to get more scritches.
"Most . . . temperamental, how?" Barely holding back a smile, I turned my attention to Damas, whose knuckles gone white gripping his staff, "What happens now?" His attention snapped over to me, "You have a match in the arena tonight. Sig will bring you to the training area shortly." With that, Damas left. Well, he is the ruler of Spargus, things need to be done.
Sig pointed to the back, "Dolly wants to see you first. When she's done, we need to see that this big guy is brought back to his holding area." Still scratching away, I nodded. Poofy couldn't stay here in the med bay. I carefully led him over to an empty corner, where he'll be out of the way.
Normal POV
Jen refused to look at Dolly's face, guilt blooming up in her chest. She really shouldn't have snapped yesterday. Dolly didn't say much, just instructions on turning here and hold your shirt up. When the poking around was finished, Jen stole off to the bathroom. It was a just a deep hole in the ground with a seat built on top. Before she could have a chance to ask where Sig was, Dolly pushed a water skin and a plate into Jen's hand before going off to attend to someone else.
Several strips of dried meat, a white apple thing that was red inside and very juicy, and what looked to be a hard-boiled egg. The yolk was green and the 'white' was clear. It was simple, yet the most fulfilling meal she had in a long while. "When you're finished," even Sig is as quiet as a mouse, "lead that crocadog of yours out the door. I'll show you where the holding area is." After dropping the plate off in a sink Dolly pointed to and attaching the water skin to the belt, Jen coaxed Poofy to his feet and led him out the door. His holding area was only on the other side of the 'street' from the med bay. Once Poofy was secure, she took a moment to look at what could be her future.
Sand, stones and spikes. Big lizards with saddles were scattered, some staying in whatever shade available. Those, Jen tried to keep distance from, for they reminded her too much of the raptors from the Jurassic movies.
Plenty of people were out and about, finishing their morning errands before the midday blaze made it impossible to be out without risking a major sunburn or heatstroke. Almost everybody had a large weapon slung on their back and wore some sort of leather armor. Their clothing was simple and slightly faded from the suns.
"C'mon, let's go." Jen yanked her attention back to Sig, who already started walking down the road. "We're going to have to be quick. It's almost noon."
As much as she wanted to keep looking around, Jen kept her eyes straight on Sig's back and kept a certain distance. Not too close to step on his heels, not too far to get easily distracted.
It took about 30 minutes to reach the large stairs up into the volcano. Go up the steps, walk to the right, there is a doorway to a large space with some equipment and obstacles. "It doesn't look much. But here, you can climb, run, lift. Dummies are over there. Have fun." And he left. Just like that. Well, that's hospitality to you.
Jen spent the afternoon mostly using her eco to get around the obstacles. Might as well make sure she can balance and jump. It was dark out when Sig came back and showed me which platform to step on. It looked like all of Spargus' people were in the stands. It was loud. The platform lowered to my first test.
Jen's POV
It's like stepping into an oven. The metal must have treated or something to withstand the lava. And the metal is hot. Like the hood of a car on a hot, summer day. Blast it! I'm using my eco!
There were floating balls of . . . something. "You must collect all the tokens!" Tokens, right. A few jumps ahead of me. More like the edges were up to my head. Red eco boost to the legs and up I go. Dummies up ahead, toss a few rounds of yellow eco. In the game where you use L1 and a jump to get up very high, I just use red eco again. I may have put down some yellow eco because I heard a small boom beneath me. Oooh, that's a nice view of the ocean. I'm not putting too much description into the obstacle course. It was too bloody hot, I just want to finish and get out.
The roll jump spot, blue eco sprint for head start, then a red eco jump. Jump and bash down spot, yellow eco to blow cover off before jumping down. That was a bit of a drop. Remember to bend your knees upon landing and roll to prevent too much shock to the joints. One last big jump and a token. There's the platform, which will take me up to the platform in the King's view. Yup, he's sitting in a throne. With no extra gun in sight. That's fine. I'm fine fighting with just my knife and eco.
"Anyone can make a few measly jumps, now let's see how you rate against the living!" That's what was said in the game. Is this a script he gives to all newcomers? "Prepare the arena!" Wait, no matter-formers? Was that also just another word for Maurader prisoners?
Jump onto platform and go down closer to the lava. It's official. I'm gonna get a heatstroke down here.
Large containers surrounding the arena opened and metal head grunts dropped down. Whipping out my knife and calling forth all four main types of eco, I went for it.
It took me what, ten minutes or so to demolish the twenty gem heads that were sent down. I could have gone faster, but I had to watch my step as to not slip off the edge into the lava. Hmm, the alarm never went off . . .
BREEEEE! Never mind, there it is! Get on top of a box and wait. Wait! The lava is coming up too high! I need out!
Damas watched from above. The lass seemed to be able to hold her own. She managed on her own out in the harsh wasteland. She was able to survive the storms. A good asset to "are fried!" Yanking the communicator from the air, "What did you say?"
"I said the controls are fried! The whole thing is going to submerge!" Damas swore. This couldn't happen at a worse time. "Send the anti-grav platform! Get her out . . ." The crowd suddenly went quiet.
Getting up and looking down, Damas searched for burnt husk but didn't see anything. What is the flapping noise?
Head snapping up, Damas' eyes widen. The lass was flying. She had large wings, twice as long as her height, protruding from her back. Feathers falling off with every flap, floating down a few feet before crumbling. Her entire body was glowing. The scene was interrupted by a platform rising hovering nearby.
Jen awkwardly flapped her way over. Upon landing, she let the light eco disperse. Talk about timing. "Is there anything else?"
"Your talents have earned you your place here in Spargus." The crowd started muttering amongst themselves. Receiving citizenship that fast was a very rare case.
"Here is a gate pass to allow free passage in and out of the city," Jen barely caught the pass tossed over. Her vision was getting blurry and her knees were about to give. "But beware, there is no true refuge outside our walls; the desert is less kind than I."
"I'll keep that in mind." With that, she passed out once more.