Maloran slept peacefully on the library sofa with the scent of ashes in the air from the fireplace. He dreamt of a mixture of fantasies and past adventures until he finally awoke from his slumber. As he opened his eyes, his vision was still dark from an opened book over his face. He pulled the book off to find the Title was How to Deal With Women. He laughed at the title, remembering last night's events. Of course, the laughter ended and was replaced with sadness. Knowing that Jenna purposefully lied to benefit herself was unbelievable, and it even scared Zeos knowing she might do something else for her gain. He then thought about Ahsoka and the duel, if she'd win or not. He worried about her and he had good reason to.
He grabbed his cell phone to check the time; quarter past noon. The phone started to ring and Zeos noticed it was Ahsoka's number. But who answered it was to Maloran's surprise.
"What's up, Red?" He asked.
"Guess again," a familiar male voice said.
"Anakin? Where's Ahsoka?"
"At her local gym, the same as me. You should probably get down here."
"Why? Is she alright?"
"Yeah, but the equipment isn't."
Zeos parked his bike at the front of the "300" fitness center, one of the most sophisticated gyms in Eutopus. It got its name from all the spartans who trained there, but its popularity skyrocketed the moment "the alien" set foot in there almost a year ago. Now, according to Anakin, she's overworking the equipment and possibly putting the center in debt. Zeos wasn't sure of the specifics, which is why he was there.
As he entered the doors, Anakin was there waiting for him.
"Afternoon, Anakin," Zeos said, "So, what happened?"
"Not much," Anakin replied as they walked upstairs. "I came down from the rings to spend some time with Ahsoka. You could guess my surprise when I found her this upset."
"I suppose she told you what happened?"
"Actually, I kept my distance."
"Because you didn't want to interfere with her Arca-knight training?"
"Well, kind of. But mostly because she was throwing punches and kicks like crazy." Their walk ended when they were on the third floor: boxing rings, punching bags, and MMA. Iric, the local owner, waited for the two at the top.
"I'm happy you're here, sir," he said, "I don't think my equipment can take anymore."
"What's Wrong?" Zeos asked.
"See for yourself." Iric gestured to the front of the room. Zeos saw Ahsoka punching and kicking a bag like a butcher tenderizing beef. Her face clearly showed blood thirst, and the row of destruction proved it. Five punching bags were knocked down and torn apart. Ahsoka threw a massive right straight punch, making the bag tore off the chain and slammed into the wall. That was number six.
"Well...she's angry," Zeos comically said. He walked toward her, feeling the cold, "un-amused" stares from behind. Ahsoka hadn't noticed who was coming up behind her as she began to attack the next bag. She threw her leg back for a kick, but Zeos grabbed her calf. Out of combative instinct, Ahsoka twisted in the air and roundhouse kicked the head of whoever grabbed her leg. Zeos released the leg and ducked from the other.
The two stared at each other, eye to eye; one a tempered student and the other a concerned teacher. Zeos' eyes dropped to her hands and legs wrapped in gauze and spotted with scarlet and crimson.
"Are you bleeding?" he exclaimed.
"I wrapped them up," she retorted angrily.
"Yean, but the wounds are still open." Zeos grabbed Ahsoka's arm and raised it up. A thin line of blood trailed from the side of her palm to her elbow.
"I'm fine!" Ahsoka snapped. She tried to pull her arm away but failed. Zeos' grip was not too strong; Ahsoka's energy was too low. When she tugged, she completely collapsed to the ground. He was able to catch her before she slammed into the hard concrete floor.
"Iric, get me a med-kit," Zeos said. As Iric left, Zeos and Anakin picked Ahsoka up and placed her on the nearest bench. Ahsoka didn't put up a fight; she knew collapsing like that made helping her Zeos' number one priority.
"What happened, Ahsoka?" Anakin asked. She turned her head away and didn't respond.
"Jenna was talking shit about her last night," Zeos stated while removing the bloody amateurish wrappings.
"Talking what?"
"Insulting me!" Ahsoka angrily stated.
"Easy, Ahsoka," Zeos said, "Anakin is still on your side." Ahsoka remained silent as he finished unwrapping the wounds on her hands and legs. They were a stronger shade of red than her normal skin tone and multiple areas were swelled. Her knuckles and the area from knee down had multiple scrapes that caused the bleeding. She could have concentrated her mana so they would heal, but Zeos knew her mind was on one thing, and it wasn't restoration.
"Here you go," Iric said, handing the med-kit to Zeos. "I got a few other things to. Do ya need anything else?"
"Jenna's head…" Ahsoka muttered.
"We're good," Zeos exclaimed, covering Ahsoka's muttering statement. He opened up the kit and pulled out two rolls of slightly damp gauze. Anakin stared at them I question.
"What are those?" he asked.
"Stem-wraps," Zeos said. "They're dissolvable gauze soaked in stem cells to stimulate the growth of biological tissue. After the tissue is formed, the gauze dissolves into the wound, providing nutrients to aid the fixing process." Zeos finished wrapping the legs with the first roll and moved to her hands. Ahsoka looked away from her two teachers, her anger masking her shame. Zeos turned her chin so that she faced him, but she immediately dropped her eyes to the ground.
"Hey," Zeos said. "I'm really proud of you." Ahsoka then stared at her mentor in confusion as he continued to speak. "You sought out to release your anger without hurting anyone. You did a good job," Ahsoka cracked a small grin, "even though I'm gonna have to pay for the damages." Smile gone. Zeos finished wrapping her arms, so Ahsoka began to walk away.
"Where are you going?" Anakin asked.
"You heard Zeos," she responded, "I gotta go vent some heat."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Zeos retorted, "You have way too much anger to release it like this. I mean look what you did to the place already."
"Well, what do you want me to do? Bottle it up?"
"Hell no. Just find another outlet."
"And what do you suggest I do?"
Ahsoka sucked up another bong hit to go with her several while listening to Bob Marley. Her mind was calm, her body was relaxed, and her anger was completely gone. She raised her head in a euphoric state and looked around. Zeos had the idea to enter a weed house which is a public area to consume and smoke weed, similar to a bar for alcohol. Several people were already there, so no one noticed the three. Zeos had stepped outside to check on his wife and Anakin was buzzed out of his mind, not having a clue what he was smoking. The truth was that he didn't even had a hit; he got high from the room's fumes.
"Oh man," he said very mellow, "This place is sooooo great." Ahsoka began to giggle at how naive Anakin was, just like how naive she was in the beginning. After Five minutes of, "Air breathing," Anakin finally reached for a bong and took a hit. He started coughing it up moments after he took the hit. Everyone in the room started laughing, Ahsoka included.
"Oh, you take it like a bitch!" said a tanned kid with blonde dreadlocks. The teenager grabbed the bong while Anakin was still coughing.
"W-Wow," Anakin was finally able to say, "How can you smoke that stuff, Ahsoka?"
"Months of practice, Skyguy," she replied, keeping a large grin on her face.
As someone entered the door, she looked over to see that it was Zeos. He sat down right next to her a big squeeze.
"Feeling better?" He asked.
"Much!" she exclaimed while reaching for a nearby bong. "You gonna stay?"
"Yeah. Jenna's at the temple and a friend is keeping an eye on her." Zeos turned to find Ahsoka barely paying attention. She was busy huffing down another toke. Her ignorance didn't bother him as long as she was happy.
"Hey Zeos, what is this stuff?" Anakin asked as Ahsoka had another toke.
"It's called marijuana, dude," replied a skinny, dark skinned man. "And it's all thanks to this guy!" He pointed to Zeos and everyone cheered.
"Stop it, stop it," Zeos humbly said.
"Why is it thanks to you?" Anakin asked.
"Initially this plant was illegal. About a thousand, maybe two thousand years after Eutopus was established, a case was made which proved marijuana had benefits to be legalized. I alone had the ruling power, at the time, to legalize the drug."
"This drug had benefits?"
"Well...yeah. But mostly the guy's argument was based on how other illegal drugs were much more dangerous and how the government can make money on weed via taxation." Zeos took a quick puff of a joint. "The guy made a valid point; taxed weed made us millions."
"Well, what's the problem with other illegal drugs?"
"What's not the problem? They have heavy addictions, serious side effects, the body ages faster, certain body parts are damaged-"
"There's even an illegal drug that needs to be mixed with human blood to get consumed," Ahsoka stated.
"That's horrible!" Anakin said.
"God, yeah," Zeos exclaimed, "That drug Ahsoka mentioned is called So-so; short for sociopath. It makes you crave pain and destruction as you get high."
"And that illegal, right?"
"Not only illegal. Anyone connected to so-so gets a minimum of 40 years imprisonment without parole." Zeos took another puff of the joint. "But, this drug is perfectly legal. Now, that doesn't mean weed has no risks-"
"Yeah, well booze has side effects," said another man in the room, "but that's legal."
Zeos gestured to the man while looking at Anakin. "An excellent example. Alcohol can get you addicted to it and damage the liver. But it's legal."
"I see," Anakin said. He was somewhat overwhelmed; mostly because he was hit with so many facts while being high. Besides the feeling of overwhelm, Anakin suddenly had another feeling. "Hey, is there any food around. I'm kind of hungry."
Everyone stared blankly at him, but them bursted into laughter. Anakin was very confused.
"What's so funny?" he asked
"Y-You got the munchies," Ahsoka exclaimed, gasping for air. Anakin still had a look of confusion.
"It's one of the side effects from marijuana," Zeos said. "Come to think of it, I'm kind of hungry too."
"Yeah, me too," Ahsoka agreed.
"You know what this means?" Zeos said to Ahsoka. She knew exactly what he meant and smiled at the thought.
"Dirty dollar burgers."
The gang roamed the Eutopus streets each holding a burger in one hand and a paper bag full of them in the other.
"Oh man, I cant believe a place like that exists!" Anakin shouted in high spirits. "This has to be enough food to feed twenty people."
"And it was all under thirty creds," Zeos replied. Anakin barely heard him while scarfing down another burger. Ahsoka and Zeos laughed at Anakin; he was almost acting the same way both did when they got high for the first time.
"Aww, man. What a day..." Zeos said. "So, you still pissed at Jenna, Red?"
"Man, fuck Jenna!" she shouted, "I'm in a great mood!" All three began to laugh hysterically.
"Still, I wonder how her training is going?"
Blood splattered her sword and body and the arena was filled with slaves in agonizing pain. Their slavery to the Arcanum temple included training the Arca-knights, but what Jenna did was nothing less than a massacre. The only thing stopping her from murdering them all was Zeos' babysitter, watching her every move. She stared into the tiers of seats; all the spectators were gone aside from him. His face hidden within the black hood and mask
Suddenly, Jenna heard the clanging of metal to her left. A slave tried to crawl away in fear, but all Jenna saw was him reaching out towards a small wooden dagger. She slammed her high heels into his forearm and he screeched in pain. She lifted her broadsword way over her head and aimed for the slave's extended hand.
"No," he pleaded, "No, please!" His begging did not help him and his hand was impaled. After minutes of his screams, Jenna slowly pulled the blade out. Dirt, sand, and pebbles mixed within the open wound, causing more pain. After he was finally released, he held his wounded hand to his chest and rocked left to right.
Jenna's watcher jumped down and spoke, "That was hardly necessary."
Jenna wiped the blood off her sword, her back turned to him. "He was reaching for a weapon."
"That weapon was a wooden practice dagger, and he wasn't even reaching for that; he was crawling away."
"Who cares? He's a work slave."
"He's a human being."
"He's criminal scum."
"He still has rights. I'll have to explain this to your mentor."
Jenna immediately turned to the man and waved her hand in front of his face. "You will forget this happened and go away."
"I-I will forget this happened and go away." The man walked out of the arena, leaving Jenna to her playthings. She looked over to the damaged slave in anger.
"You nearly got me in trouble." Before the slave could beg, she kicked him in the face, knocking him out. Jenna returned in surveying her victory. Twelve slaves were knocked unconscious. They were fully armored and each held a weapon. Jenna had taken them all down in less than a half an hour. She was ready for the Apprentice duels and one puny, alien girl.
FYI guys: I gotta take a little break for a while. I'm having chapter 17 writers block so I'm just gonna read this over and bang out the dents. Also, any bronies or pegasisters here, I might start a MLP story as well.