Author's Note:
Hello everyone! Here's the next chapter for Earth's Mightiest Huntsmen! But first, let's answer some reviews!
Blackmetalzane22: It's...sort of a hint I guess, given who this character is. But you'll see who it is shortly.
GothmogOnslat: It's never too late to get a seat for what's sure to be the greatest fight Sakaar's seen in years!
SuperSaiyanFever: Yeah, Thor and Hulk together are pretty much unstoppable. As for this Champion, there were several characters I considered, but the one I went with was one they could reasonably defeat in the end. I'll explain more in my post chapter discussion.
EndriRigs: Spider-Man already appeared way back in the first few chapters, though his suit is his classic comic book suit we all know and love rather than based off the Spider-Man games. Agent Venom as well has appeared in the previous arc as a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy. As for Robbie Reyes...we'll see.
Thank you all for your continued support. Now, let's get back to the story.
Sakaar—October 26th (Earth Time)
The roar of the crowd was already deafening by the time Pyrrha met the others in the arming room. A few other gladiators were there, but they mostly stayed back from her and her allies.
"This is everyone we could convince to fight with us?" Pyrrha asked.
"Aye," Hercules confirmed. "Many are too scared to go up against the Champion, whoever he might be."
Nebula leaned against the wall, twirling her shock batons. "I still say this is suicide."
"You want—tik—out?" Bug asked her.
"I didn't say that."
Pyrrha spotted Blake at the rack of weapons, slowly running her hand over all the various weapons. She crossed the room over to her. "Are you ready?" she asked.
Blake shrugged. "I…guess so," she said quietly. "Just…trying to find a new weapon."
Pyrrha nodded. "The Badoon didn't leave you with Gambol Shroud, did they."
She shook her head. "They took it the first day."
Pyrrha felt bad for Blake. Most huntsmen and huntresses trained for years with their signature weapons. Losing Gambol Shroud without any chance of recovering it was sure to be a huge blow for her—especially with the biggest fight either of them had ever faced just around the corner.
"Well, how about these?" Pyrrha suggested, picking up a pair of what appeared to be small, sickle-like weapons attached to chains. "These look similar to what you're used to."
Blake took them from her and swung them around in her hands. "I guess these will work," she decided.
Before Pyrrha could give any sort of response, the arena doors began to open. "Showtime, everyone," Chris announced, his armor forming around him.
"If this be our last battle, know that it is an honor to die alongside all of you," Hercules added.
"Yeah, I prefer fighting alongside all of you and living," Chris said back to him.
The group of gladiators stepped out into the arena to the cheers of the audience. "And there they are, ladies and gentlemen!" the Ringmaster announced. "This brave group of crowd favorites is about to embark on what could possibly be the greatest battle Sakaar has seen since the fall of the Red King! For today, they will all be fighting against our reigning champion!"
The crowd's cheering got even louder. Pyrrha looked up at the Grandmaster's box, barely making out her captor standing there. He stared coldly back down at her, watching her every move. She stared right back at him for a few seconds before turning her attention to the door on the other side of the arena, awaiting the arrival of the Champion.
Suddenly, the ground began to rumble, throwing everyone off balance slightly. Large metal bars were rising all around the arena, enclosing them all in. "And that means that today's main event will indeed be a cage match!" the Ringmaster added.
A loud humming sound rose from above. The crowd began to stamp their feet and clap their hands as a large platform floated down from above. "And here he comes, ladies and gentlemen!" the Ringmaster yelled. "The undefeated Champion of Sakaar! You know him, you love him—and his reign over the arena remains unchallenged! I give you your reigning champion…"
A huge, muscular figure leaped off the platform, landing right in the middle of the arena with a loud BOOM! He slowly stood up and raised his hands up, egging on the crowd. He was blue skinned, much like a Kree, but even from this distance, Pyrrha could feel the power radiating off him. His red hair stuck off his head in spikes, and his eyes bore a silver malice to them.
"Tryco Slatterus!" the Grandmaster revealed as the crowd exploded with cheers.
Chris cursed. "Damnit. That's not good."
"You know him?" Blake asked.
"Yeah," Chris told her. "Tryco is the Grandmaster's brother. He's known as the Champion of the Universe."
"In other words, he's unkillable."
"We don't necessarily have to kill him," Chris responded. "If we can do enough damage to him or incapacitate him, that might be enough to get the win."
Tryco stopped pandering to the crowd and turned to face down Pyrrha and the others. He let out a loud snort. "These are the warriors who thought themselves worthy of facing the Champion of the Universe? Pathetic. Not a worthy opponent among them."
A few of the other gladiators were backing away nervously from the huge man that they were expected to fight. Hercules, however, strode forward confidently, cracking his neck muscles. "I've been itching for a fight with you, Slatterus," he said. "Are you prepared to match blows with the mighty Hercules?"
Tryco let out a laugh. "You are no match for the Champion of the Universe!"
"Let the championship battle begin!" the Ringmaster called. Hercules immediately went on the offensive, running straight at Tryco. Unfortunately, the Champion instantly threw a punch that rocketed Hercules all the way to the other side of the arena, slamming hard against one of the cage bars.
Pyrrha was stunned. Hercules was easily the strongest out of all of them combined. And he had just been tossed aside like he was nothing. Clearly, this was going to be even harder than she had first thought.
The other gladiators aside from her small group, seeing Hercules knocked away so easily, instantly started backing away in fear, scrambling back to try to avoid the fight. But Tryco, seeing their fear, started marching towards them. "Cowards!" he yelled. "Face the Champion and die on your feet, not wallowing in fear before me!"
One of the braver of the bunch moved forward, swinging his sword wildly at him. Tryco caught the blade with his bare hands and twisted, snapping it in half. Before the terrified man could even blink, he grabbed him and hoisted him into the air before snapping his neck with a simple flick of his wrist.
"Let's move!" Chris yelled, taking to the sky and firing an energy blast down onto Tryco. Unfortunately, this didn't even seem to phase him. In fact, he just kept on going, breaking off into a sprint towards the gathered group of gladiators.
Pyrrha rolled to the side as the others managed to get out of the way. However, one of them was too slow, and Tryco managed to grab his arm. He pulled, and the arm detached itself from the poor man's body. As he screamed in agony, Tryco swung the arm straight into his head, causing it to explode into a shower of red mist.
The crowd roared in awe as Tryco tossed the mangled arm aside, moving back towards the others with incredible speed. Mantis tried to move in for an attack, but Tryco batted her aside with ease, focusing in on the remaining three gladiators outside of Pyrrha's group. The three of them were scrambling back, screaming in terror at the monstrous man running at him.
"Tell me everything you know about Tryco," Pyrrha called up to Chris, who was still uselessly firing on him.
"Like I said, he's like the Grandmaster," Chris explained. "An Elder of the Universe. His specialty is combat. He's tried for millennia, building his body up to be the ultimate warrior."
"How do we beat him?" Blake asked.
"Best we can hope for is that we can trap him somehow," he answered. "Either that or knock him out. But that's going to be even more difficult with how powerful he is."
Tryco smashed through the three other gladiators as they tried to swing their weapons into him, knocking them all to the side. He raised a triumphant foot over one of his victims and stomped it down on his neck. The CRACK was so loud that even Pyrrha could hear it over the roars of the crowd.
She had to get Tryco away from the others before he could kill again. She hefted Akoúo̱ and threw it with all her might at him, using her Semblance to propel it even faster. The shield ricocheted off Tryco's back, flying back to her, where she then caught it.
Tryco turned to face her. "Little girl," he said simply. "I've seen you fight. They call you one of the best that Sakaar has seen. But you are still unworthy to fight the likes of me."
"This guy certainly takes arrogance to a whole new level," Pyrrha thought. He reminded her a bit of Cardin Winchester, one of the bullies that had been bothering Jaune and her other friends back at Beacon. For a brief moment, she wondered what had become of him in the past month. If he was even still alive.
But this only lasted a moment. She had to focus on the task at hand. "You may not find me worthy to fight," Pyrrha told him. "But I don't care. I have to win to protect my friends and get off this world."
Tryco let out a laugh. "Don't make me laugh, girl. Do you really think the Grandmaster will let any of you go? Not that you have a chance of beating me, of course. I—"
Bug leaped onto Tryco's back, drawing two knives that he began to drive into him. Tryco grunted in pain and shook Bug off, sending him sprawling back several yards. As he moved to after the stunned warrior, Nebula slid in, stabbing both of her shock batons into his legs and barely having time to roll out of the way when he tried stomping on her.
The other two remaining gladiators not with Pyrrha's group, seeing their chance, surprisingly managed to summon their courage and attack. Both charged wildly, swinging their swords for Tryco's neck. However, he easily ducked under this before punching both in the chest. He then grabbed one, lifted him up, and tore him in half. As the blood trickled down onto his face, Tryco spun around and advanced on the other one, beating him again and again with rapid succession until he was nothing more than a bloody pulp that fell to the ground.
The fight had only been going on for a few minutes, and already it was down to just Pyrrha, Blake, Chris, Nebula, Bug, Mantis—and Hercules, who was still picking himself up from the far side of the arena. He cracked his jaw and grinned.
"Oh yeah…now this is a fight!" He ran back towards Tryco, grabbing his fallen mace from where it lay on the ground before smashing it directly into Tryco's side. The force of the blow sent a shockwave around the arena and actually moved Tryco back a few paces.
Tryco himself gazed on Hercules with disgust. "You are no match for me, son of Zeus," he warned.
"We'll see about that." Hercules tossed his mace aside and the two began to brawl, grappling hands together and attempting to shove one another to the ground.
"Come on!" Bug yelled. "We have to—tik—back him up!" He, Mantis, and Nebula ran towards Tryco, circling around him and trying to land blows whenever they had a free shot while he was focused on Hercules. None of them seemed to be doing anything, as Tryco continued his focus on the bigger threat.
Pyrrha and Blake hung back for a bit, watching Tryco fight. Pyrrha was busy trying to analyze his fighting style, figuring out the best way to combat him. From her perspective, the Champion seemed to have more of a brawler style of fighting, surging forward and trying to overwhelm anyone fighting him with brute force. "He's relying on his strength to give him the edge," Pyrrha realized. "That's why he's focusing on Hercules rather than going after one of the others. He wants to take out the strongest one here."
With a final push, Tryco managed to shove Hercules aside. As he did, he spun around and backhanded Nebula, knocking the shock batons from her hands and smacking her all the way to the other side of the arena.
"We've got to get in there and help," Pyrrha said to Blake, starting to move towards Tryco. Blake followed close behind, twirling her new weapons around her hands.
Bug slashed at Tryco's legs, trying to throw him off balance. But Tryco was ready for him, grabbing him and throwing him into the air, smashing him into Chris. Both crashed to the ground as Pyrrha ran at Tryco, stabbing Miló at him. He easily sidestepped and threw a punch that she blocked with her shield. CLANG! His fist severely dented Akoúo and forced her back.
Blake leaped over Pyrrha and took a few swipes at the Champion with her weapons. Tryco tried to pound her into the ground, but she quickly used her Semblance to escape, leaving behind nothing but a shadow copy for him to hit.
"Ooo, and there's some fancy moves from Blake Belladonna!" the Ringmaster called as Blake flipped over Tryco and swooped down onto him, landing on his shoulders and trying to use the blades to slice at his throat.
"Get off me, girl!" Tryco grabbed Blake by the arm and threw her aside. She landed on the ground hard, skidding several feet away and her aura flickering weakly.
Mantis ran in, making several precise jabs with her hands at Tryco's joints. He blocked most of the strikes easily, but eventually, one of Mantis' attacks hit a precise point in his left shoulder. The arm instantly went limp, causing him to grunt in annoyance.
"That won't save you!" Tryco advanced furiously, dealing out rapid blows in quick succession. Mantis tried to block them, but they were coming too fast. She was hit with blow after blow. Tryco finished her off with one final punch that drove her into the ground, creating a small crater around her.
"No!" Hercules let out a roar, smashing into Tryco and hammering him again and again. "You won't hurt my friends!"
"I can do whatever I want!" Tryco shouted back, throwing Hercules off him and kicking him so hard that when he hit one of the metal bars, he dented it.
Chris's armor surged with power, sprouting more and more weapons. "Everyone hit the deck!" he yelled, unleashing a barrage of energy blasts and missiles aimed directly at Tryco. The area around him erupted with explosions, and the Champion disappeared in a cloud of fire and smoke.
"Is he getting him?" Blake asked, crawling to her feet.
"Hardly," Nebula answered, also getting back to her feet. "He's only buying time. If anyone has a plan—"
"We just have to keep hitting him until he falls!" Hercules shouted, running straight into the explosions to continue the fight.
"Get out of there, you idiot!" Chris yelled down at him. "You're going to get—"
Tryco took a flying leap, emerging from the dust cloud and grabbing onto Chris, hurling him into the ground. He then smashed onto him, punching him again and again with his one good arm and sending pieces of metal flying in all directions.
"NO!" Hercules lunged at him, but Tryco was ready for him this time, grabbing his fist and twisting. He let out a howl of pain, sinking to his knees before Tryco kicked him aside once more. This sent him straight into a charging Nebula, sending them both sprawling and knocking Nebula herself out cold.
Pyrrha exchanged a worried look with Blake. They were quickly running out of allies, and Tryco wasn't even slowing down. They had to find a way to stop him, or they were all going to die.
Pyrrha cautiously moved in, keeping Miló and Akoúo̱ aimed at her opponent. Tryco studied her arrogantly, smirking at her slow approach. "Yes. Come meet your doom, girl." He suddenly moved in, swinging expertly at her. Pyrrha rolled to the side and tried to stab her javelin into his side. He batted it aside and sent a punch directly towards her face. She barely had time to raise her shield, causing it to bend back with another huge dent.
"Do you think your weapons will save you?" Tryco shouted. "I'm the Champion of the Universe! There are none stronger than me! You will all—gack!"
Blake had appeared behind him, using the chains her new weapons were attached on to wrap around the Champion's neck, starting to choke him. He let out a gagging sound before throwing his hand back, grabbing Blake, and throwing her into the air before trying to punch her. However, Blake's Semblance once again helped her escape injury, letting her easily dart behind him and try to slash into his back once more. This time though, Tryco was ready for her tricks, throwing his arm out and smashing her all the way across the arena.
While his back was turned, Pyrrha stabbed Miló straight into his good shoulder, trying to take it out much like Mantis had done. However, this time it didn't seem to affect him much. "Pathetic!" Tryco pummeled her so fast that she couldn't bring up her shield in time. His fist connected with her chest, propelling her straight into another one of the cage bars.
Her body exploded with pain as her aura flashed, nearly shattering from both impacts. She struggled back to her feet as Tryco let out a laugh, yanking Miló from his shoulder. "Was that the best you could do?" He brought his knee up into the shaft of the weapon, shattering it instantly.
Pyrrha could only watch as the pieces of Miló fell to the arena floor. But she couldn't dwell on that. She had to keep going.
"This is pathetic!" Tryco shouted. "These are the best warriors on Sakaar?! They haven't even come close to defeating me?! Where is my true battle?!"
"Shut up about your true battle!" Blake shouted. "There are more important things happening out there off this planet than fighting you! Innocent people are dying on our home planet, and all you care about is defeating everyone in a fight!"
Tryco laughed. "That's my job, girl. I'm the Champion of the Universe! I've spent my entire life becoming the best fighter out there! And now you see me at my full power!"
"Shut up!" Blake ran at him, spinning her weapons and throwing them at him. Tryco plucked the blades out of the air and yanked on the chains. Blake, taken completely off guard, was pulled off her feet, being dragged right towards him. She tried to escape using her Semblance, by Tryco tracked her movement this time, grabbing her out of the air by the throat and starting to choke her.
"No woman tells me what to do!" he sneered. Blake struggled, hitting at his arm to try to free herself, but to no avail.
A surge of emotion began to swell up in Pyrrha. She was watching one of her closest friends die right in front of her. Flashes of seeing everyone in pain, getting destroyed by Ultron on Remnant, ran through her head. All the destruction. All the chaos. And it was starting to happen again.
She clenched her fists and slammed them on the ground. No. She wasn't going to let Blake die. Not after all this. She closed her eyes, concentrating as hard as she could on anything metal she could detect. The pieces of Miló and the nearly inverted Akoúo̱ rose off the ground and were flung directly at Tryco's arm. The pieces stuck in, forcing him to drop Blake, who instantly scampered away.
But Pyrrha wasn't done. She raised her hands and the cage bars began to groan and creak. Sweat began to trickle down Pyrrha's forehead as she concentrated harder. She hadn't really used her Semblance on anything this large before, but she had to try.
With massive, metallic cracks, the bars around the arena snapped off, beginning to float slightly off the ground. The crowd instantly got quiet, stunned at the display of power Pyrrha was now showing. Tryco also looked surprised, but he quickly recovered. He ran at Pyrrha. "You're mine, girl!"
Pyrrha thrust her arms forward, and the large metal bars flew at Tryco. He batted aside two of them, but they were just too massive and coming too fast at him. One managed to whack him across the chest, knocking him to the ground. Pyrrha directed all the metal bars from the massive cage down at that spot. When Tryco managed to throw the bar off him, dozens more suddenly slammed down on him, burying him under several tons of metal.
Tryco let out a massive cry of rage, struggling to get back up. "No!" he yelled. "No, no, no! It's not going to end like this, do you hear me?!"
Pyrrha staggered forward, using her Semblance to call the bottom half of Miló back to her. She climbed on top of all the metal bars she had managed to move on top of him and looked down. The only part of him that was still free was his head.
"You!" he yelled. "You cheated! You must have cheated!" He struggled to lift his arms to raise the metal off him, but to no avail. He was caught.
The crowd was stunned silent. Then, with a massive roar, everyone got on their feet, applauding and cheering and chanting Pyrrha's name.
"THEY'VE DONE IT!" the Ringmaster exclaimed. "THESE BRAVE WARRIORS HAVE DEFIED THE ODDS AND DEFEATED THE CHAMPION! IT'S OVER! IT'S ALL OVER!"
"Ha ha!" Hercules cheered, staggering over and standing over Tryco's immobilized body. "Not so tough now, are you?!"
"I'll make you all pay!" Tryco roared. "You cannot beat the Champion—"
Hercules swung a fist down into his face several times until Tryco's head slumped to the side, finally beaten unconscious. He then let out a laugh. "You got him!" he exclaimed to Pyrrha. "You actually got him!"
Slowly, the rest of their team limped over to join them. Chris's armor was only half intact. Mantis was clutching her leg in pain. Bug was supporting Nebula. And Blake was holding her side, breathing heavily from exhaustion.
As Pyrrha looked at her friends, there was a sudden flash of light, and the Grandmaster appeared before them. "Well done, champions," he said, giving a long, slow clap. But she could tell by his face that he was furious. "Well done."
Pyrrha summoned up what little strength she had left. "We beat your champion," she said. "The deal was you'd let us go."
"Yes…it was. But, seeing as you are now the reigning champion, Miss Nikos, I'm more inclined to keep you around." The Grandmaster's lips curled up into a sinister smile.
"What?!" Blake cried. "That wasn't the deal!"
"The deal has changed." The Grandmaster pulled a remote out and pressed a button. The disc on Pyrrha's chest pulsed, causing her to cry out in pain. She and others sank to their knees.
"You've cost me quite a bit of money, all of you," the Grandmaster told them. "But don't worry; I'm sure you'll pay off your debt after a few hundred more battles."
Pyrrha grit her teeth. "We're…not going to fight for your entertainment anymore," she gasped, fighting back tears of pain.
"And why not?" the Grandmaster challenged. "If you don't—"
"You'll what—kill us?" Pyrrha stared defiantly up at the Grandmaster's face. "It seems to me that we're more valuable to you alive than dead. But if we don't fight for you anymore and we die, that's more money you've lost. You can torture us, but are we really worth the time?" She raised a weak hand, pointing at where Tryco was still trapped. "You still have your champion there, and you still have most of your other gladiators. You have no reason to keep us if we're going to be more trouble than we're worth."
"You think I'm not willing to kill you?" the Grandmaster asked. "Because I assure you—"
"I don't think your fans will appreciate you killing the new champion of Sakaar right here in front of everyone," Pyrrha interrupted. The Grandmaster looked around the arena stands, which had gone quiet the moment he had appeared within. Everyone was staring at him, wondering what exactly he was going to do.
"But," Chris added suddenly, his armor collapsing into his amulet. "Think of how much of a bigger audience you could bring in by showing mercy to those that triumphed in the greatest fight your sick game has seen. Think of the willing fighters that could come here to try their hand at this. You could gain a lot more here than you could by keeping us hostage."
The Grandmaster seemed to ponder this. Then, with an exasperated sigh, he pressed another button on his remote. Instantly, the discs fell off the group. "Go," he said. "Get off my planet and go." With another flash, he was gone.
Pyrrha let out a huge sigh of relief, quieting her still racing heart. Her gambit had paid off. They were free.
Pyrrha stared out at all the various ships that were in the shipyard of Sakaar. Blake stood right by her side, equally marveling at all the various ship types. Neither one of them had seen ships like these before.
"Do you really think one of these ships can get us back to Remnant?" Blake asked.
"I…don't think we can go back yet," Pyrrha admitted.
"Why not?"
"For one thing, we don't even know how to find Remnant," Pyrrha reminded her. "And…we still need to find our friends."
"How do we do that?"
"I don't know," Pyrrha answered. "But we have to try. If Jaune and the others are in trouble, or wound up on a world like this, then they'll need our help."
"Do you even know how to fly one of these things?"
"I do." Chris appeared, walking towards the two girls. Behind him was Hercules, Mantis, and Bug. "And I know where we're going: Earth."
"Ultron's home planet?" Blake asked, her cat ears folding down slightly. "Is that really such a good idea?"
"I promise it's more than just that," Chris told her. "It's probably the safest planet in the galaxy, considering there's probably hundreds of superheroes there. If anyone can help you two, it'll be the Avengers. I'm happy to take you there."
Pyrrha looked around. "Where's Nebula?"
"Already gone," Bug answered. "She—tik—was never one for long—tik—goodbyes."
"And we must be moving on as well," Hercules added.
"You're not coming back to Earth, Herc?" Chris asked.
"Nay. I have decided to travel with Bug and Mantis for a while." He held out a big, meaty hand and shook Pyrrha's hand. "It has been an honor to fight by your side, Pyrrha Nikos. Know that should there come a time where you need my help in saving your world, I will be there."
Pyrrha winced at his bone crushing handshake, but nodded. "Thank you, Hercules."
"Goodbye, friends," Bug added. "It was—tik—nice meeting you."
Mantis bowed. "It was indeed a pleasure and an honor." With that, the three of them walked past, heading for another row of ships.
"I already got us a ship," Chris told Pyrrha and Blake. "It's an older Kree ship. Should get us to Earth in a few days. Are you ready to go?"
Pyrrha looked down at the small satchel that she had gotten. Inside were the broken pieces of Miló. The severely dented Akoúo̱ was strapped to her back. She hoped that she would be able to find a place where she could make repairs to her weapons. She had a feeling she was going to need it.
She took a look at Blake. She was rubbing her arm silently, weariness on her face. The untold horrors that she had been through still seemed to weigh heavily on her mind. "At least you're free from the Badoon now," she thought. "At least we're both free from this place."
"Yes," Pyrrha finally answered. "We're ready."
Hopefully, wherever her friends were, they were doing a lot better than she and Blake had been doing.
Elsewhere
Ruby choked back a sob, sinking to her knees into the pool of blood around the limp body of her friend. She clasped her blood-soaked hands around her friend's own.
"I'm—I'm sorry," she sobbed. "This is all my fault."
Ooo...yeah, that didn't look good. But I'm sure it's nothing to worry about.
But yeah, talk about a battle against the Champion of the Universe! In terms of who I wanted this fight to be against, I had several different characters I considered. The final three candidates for this job were Tryco, Gladiator, and Beta Ray Bill. I eventually decided to go with Tryco for one reason: if Gladiator or Beta Ray Bill were the final boss, everyone but maybe Hercules would've been torn to shreds. Tryco is certainly strong, but he's not invincible, especially since he doesn't have the Power Stone. I felt like they would have a reasonable chance against him.
And now, Pyrrha and Blake are on their way back to Earth. But will they be there for the next arc? Only time will tell!
Speaking of the next arc, I'm really excited to bring in these characters. I'm happy to announce that this arc will introduce my all-time favorite Marvel character into the story! But I won't say who it is until he or she is revealed. As for what's exactly going on in the next arc...it's going to be very interesting, especially with the villain I've chosen.
But anyhow, that's all from me. Until next time, this is Guest 1138, signing off.