The Arena: Ch. 8

Chapter 8: Torrin vs Blanca
The crowd cheered as I entered The Arena.

Tonight, The Arena was a battlefield- literally. Virtual tanks that completely ignored me rolled past, sending bursts of nuclear weaponry flying everywhere. I did the best I could not to get crushed by a war tank or get blown up by a fighter jet. A giant military-like base rested at the opposite end of The Arena, topped with barb wire and giant search lights. I army crawled towards this base, knowing my enemy was there.

My enemy for the night was 13 year old Blanca. During our time in the Library Infinite, Nova showed me a giant, enchanted file cabinet she called, The Archive. She stated that whenever someone was born, a complete file of their birth was magically added to The Archive. As their life played out, the files were magically written in...

So, I had learned that Blanca was an orphan. She had been given up for adoption when she was born and had grown up on the streets. Her house mother, known as Muka, had tought her how to use her first gun. From there on she went on to learn how to handle all types of guns, big and small. If you were in her red dot sight..BOOM! You were down.

As I neared closer to the base, there was a cracking sound- like a firework- breaking the sound barrier. A small, but sharp, bullet whizzed right past my ear and into the ground behind me. Whoa...this little girl was good. I stood, not wanting to get shot due to my slow crawl, and sprinted towards the base. I drew Olympic Bane, which after reading my mother's journals, I learned was the source of my smoky powers.

Blanca fired another shot from out of nowhere. It zipped past my ear, cutting of a small piece of flesh from the side of my head. The next time she fired, I would be ready.

As I approached, she made her final shot. The bullet went straight for my head and then...it stopped, wedged in a cloud of black smoke. I stared at it, tracing the line of sight back to one of the searchlight towers. So she was up there? Piece of cake.

I bolted forward, lunging up and over the barbwire fence. Inside the fence I found something that seemed like it should've been against the rules.

A dozen of tall, metal simulator droids were marching towards me, guns at the ready. As soon as my foot touch the earth inside of the fence, they fired. I dodged the first few bullets, chopped the other's in half with my katana, and sent a beam of smoky death into each droids core. They spazzed out and fell to the ground, bodies twitching like rabbid squirrles.

This time Blanca desided to use something heavier. From her spot atop the tower she fired a machine gun. Bullets rained down over me at 100 mph, but I deflected all of them. One of the bullets ricocheted off of my smoky shield and smacked Blanca across the face. With a yelp, she fell off the search tower. Lucky for her, she fell on the tarped roof of the base. She stood, wiping the blood off her cheek. Pulling a giant sniper rifle out of a giant duffle bag, she set up a tri pod faster than I could say, "crap."

The bullet fired straight at me and went straight through my shoulder. Blood spurted across the ground as I fell.

Blanca the Snapshot knocked her rifle to the side, and pulled out a rocket launcher from her duffle bag of doom. Aiming it at my face, she pulled the trigger.

Time seemd to slow as the giant rocket was released from its holder. Fire burst out of the back end of the rocket as it zoomed slowly towards me. In reality, I had about half a second to move or get blown to bits...so I did niether. I held up my hands and willed my smoke to turn the rocket around. Time sped up again as the rocket blew up the roof of the base.

I stood, wiping the blood of my shirt and walked away. But to my surprise, The Arena didn't shift back to it's usual dirt floor...meaning she was still alive.

''BANG! BANG! BANG!''

Three pistol bullets lodged themselves in my left shoulder and my right leg. I fell to the ground, blood beginning to spew from my mouth. Was this it? Was this the end? Was I about to lose? I hadn't even gotten the chance to even start thinking about rebelling the gods...

I heard a crunching noise, the sound of army boots atop ash and debris.

I turned my head to see Blanca standing over me. Her clothes were burned off, as was her hair. She carried a giant shot gun in one hand, while she covered herself with the other.

She said a word I'd never heard before, but I'm sure it wasn't nice given the intensity in her voice. She pointed the shotgun in my face and pulled the trigger back...then the gun exploded in her face. She flew backwards into the open bomb she next to me. As she began to stand I saw my chance...I willed my smoke to pull every single key of every single grenade in that shed...and it exploded with the force of 40 C4s. I flew backwards, through the fence and all the way to the other side of The Arena.

I landed in a steaming pond of blood and floating soldires which began to fade as The Arena turned back to normal. I tried to stand, but a piece of shrapnel was lodged in my foot.

The Caller ran out into The Arena, eyes wide and jaw dropped. She was followed by a tan skinned man, wearing wrap around shades and a golden toga. His blond hair hung over his face.

"Solus," she said to him. "Take Mr. Wood to the Hospital so he can be cleaned and healed."

Solus nodded silentley and raced over picking me up. The pain began to become to much and my vision began to blur red...then I blacked out.

~

My eyes peeled open to a smiling Nova. She stood over me as I glanced around the room I was in. It was a small, white hospital room with blood packets and seringes hanging on the walls.

"Morning sleepy head," she said,ruffling my hair. "Glad your awake. My fight starts in-" she looked at a mounted wall clock-" Ten minutes."

"Your fight...wait is it already tomorrow?"

She nodded. "You were out for a few hours while they healed your wounds." She showed me my scarred shoulders, arms, and legs. "See? Good as new."

I chuckled as she carressed my foot scar. "Who are you fighting, this time?"

"Some chick named Insania..."

"Insania?" I laughed. "That's an...exotic name."

She poked my stomach. "Not as exotic as Torrin and Nova."

We both laughed and I grabbed her hand. "You better win, got it?"

She bit her lip and nodded, moving the bangs out of her face.

Suddenly a nurse came in. "Mrs. Lylac," she said to Nova. "Your fight will commense in five minutes. The Arena officials would like you to be there on time-"

"Right. I'll be leaving then...Wait, can my boyfriend come?"

A wave of red embarrasment, and flattery, flushed over me. Boyfriend? Since when...well, we had kissed? But I had thought...nevermind, I told myself. She wants you, so let her have you.

The nurse looked at me at this comment. "Yes, I belive Mr. Wood will be allowed to leave to witness this match. Mr. Wood?"

"Yes please," I smiled.

"Very well," the nurse said leaving the room.

Nova leaned down and kissed me on the lips. "See you in The Arena. You better be the loudest one cheering."

I smiled. "You know it."

She ruffled my hair again and pranced out of the room. I was overwhelmed. This had all gotten so serious so fast...well, I guess in a life and death tournament, everything counts right?

Sighing, I leaned my head back in delight as the nurse came in and prepared me for departure.

Next Chapter: Chapter 9: Nova vs Insania