"You should take Edo's advice!" Seven yelled as she dashed towards the bull, running with powerful strides, she tackled the legs of the beast hoping to bring it down! "It will be better for you!"
"It doesn't have to end in blood." Eudoxia yelled to Lylin. "Please, call of your beasts! We can be the first people to not kill each other, form an alliance. Get the hell out of here!" "You should take Edo's advice!" Lylin's eyes burned with hatred. "I don't stay cause I have to. I do this cause I love it. And you will all burn for killing Faro!!" She shrieked. Malatos was just about to hit Eudo when Seven smashed his legs from under him. He went down hard, but the cadets weren't done. Mason had recovred from the blow he took and ran forward. He threw a grenade in the Minotaur's roaring mouth then yelled, "Get back!" The explosion did the trick and Malatos didn't move again. With the creatures defeated Shadow Squad turned to face Lylin. The magical bubble had disappeared and her tattoos had returned to normal. Instead of a haughty beast tamer, however, they saw a terrified woman edging closer and closer to the wall of the fighting pit. “No one has ever defeated my pets! Never…no one…no one.” Lylin cried as she pressed against the wall. Her silver eyes darted everywhere, looking for an escape. When she saw none she collapsed to her knees and brought her pale hands up to her face, in a pathetic attempt to protect herself. Her thin frame shook with fear as pirates in the balcony screamed for her blood. Without her pets, the Beast Tamer was nothing. Lylin didn’t beg for mercy, as if she knew that she deserved death. She simply cowered there, shivering, waiting. She would be so easy to kill, and her death easily justified. How many had she tortured and maimed before feeding them to her pets? How many innocents had died by her pets’ hands? Lylin said it herself. She didn't fight cause she had to, but because she enjoyed the sport. How many more would die if she continued to live?
For Seven it was a non issue, somewhere between kindness and hatred the android had a stark coldness. Her eye's burned with hatred. "I'll handle this." Seven sneered. She stormed up to the frightened woman. She said nothing, there was nothing too say, only action to be done. Seven grabbed her scrawny neck, and began to squeeze. a metalic python with one morbid goal.
Eudoxia: 80% Level 2 Point Amount: 190 Money Amount: 90 Eudoxia was suddenly saved by Seven and himself. After Lylin had fallen she cornered herself. Seven then gripped her neck ferociously. Edo saw this and he grabbed Seven's arm. "Seven no, do not kill her. If you do, we are no better than her. Most of us are already as bad as she." he said looking at his own hand. "One sin is held in equal standards to many. She had killed many, but we shall not kill or else we look like her in front of this mongrels." He continued swaying his hand to the crowd. Eudoxia looked at the commander and then back at Seven. "I am pretty sure her arms help her cast her spells, especially for the orb, and if it is her mouth, if I have a solution. I want you to rip her vocal cords out and possibly break her arms. If it is okay with the Commander." Edo didn't want to kill the girl, but for almost killing his comrades and he, she would suffer. He realized major steps must be taken sometimes.
Xin: 60% Level: 6.8 "Edo, there is a time for mercy, and a time to put a criminal down." Xin hissed, limping over until she was behind Lylin. Her eyes gleamed coldly, and her blade shimmered with Faro's blood as she stabbed at Lylin's exposed back. "It is life or death here, and she would end up dead anyways by the crowd. Look at them. They have no mercy!" she rasped, her breath rattling in and out of her damaged ribcage.
"Wait, Xin! Seven! Are you guys really going to kill her in cold blood?" Mason protested. Lylin's kicks became weak knee jerks as her remaining oxygen became depleted. Her eyes were full of terror and hate. "I mean...I know she tried to kill us...and she's killed other people, but like Eudo said...can't we find a way to just take away her ability to tame monsters? She'd be helpless then." "And what if there is no way?" The commander asked. "I don't believe in killing unarmed people. But in some cases...I'm willing to make an exception. Especially for one whose killed dozens before...and has no qualms about killing again. Sometimes...it is best to put a rabid dog down." The rest of the cadets only had a few moments before Seven killed Lylin. Would they try to save her or let her perish?
Through their silence, the rest of Shadow Squad had decided Lylin's fate. Her face lost all color and the light in her eyes faded. Seven dropped the beast tamer's body to the ground and pirates roared in the approval. Mason dropped his head in shame and his chest felt 10 times heavier. He'd let Seven kill her. As guards led them back to the room they had come from Mason replayed the scene over and over in his mind. In a way he agreed with his Commander. She was a murder with no qualm about those she had killed. And...had they spared her, yet another innocent life might have been taken by her hands. But in a way, he also agreed with Eudo. Had there been no other way? Did they really have to kill her? He was suddenly jealous of Seven. She probably felt no emotion over what she had just done. She just knew the facts. And the facts said, she was right. The wall closed in behind the cadets, and they were once again locked the room they had woken up in. This time there was food, water and medical supplies on the table. He sat down in the corner, appetite lost. The old man came back, smiling brightly. Three of his teeth were missing but that didn't dampen the joy on his face. "You did it! You beat her! In all my years I never thought it possible." He laughed and slapped his thigh. "The Captain will probably only make you fight one more champion because of your marvelous victory today." He looked at the watch in his hand. "You have about 12 hours to rest and heal. Just knock on that door there if you need anything else." The old man limped back towards the hidden door left the cadets to mull over what had just happened.
Eudoxia Level 2 Point Amount: 190 Money Amount: 90 Eudoxia watched as Lylin's lifeless body had fallen to the ground. Nothing else was heard in the recces of his mind but the sound of her soulless shell thumping against the ground. His eyes followed her the way down and was her fall had been interrupted by the floor, he fell to his knees. He just stared at her. The food, water, and supplies appeared, but Edo paid them no attention. He put his hands on his head, and he just closed his eyes and breathed. Another person had died, they had killed more people. They killed a girl based on an assumption. "Why?" Eudoxia asked in a low tone. "There had to be another way, why did it have to come to this?" he said again even lower, practically whispering. He didn't know this girl, hell she even tried to kill him and his friends, but no matter who, everyone is a person, and they deserve a respectful burial. He used his Strength Enhancement Chip to punch the ground over and over making a hole deeper and deeper, and laid her lifeless body in the pit, then began to cover it with dirt.
"After we get out of here how about we do to the people running this place what we did to that beast girl?" Seven said out loud as she repaired herself. "They are far more deserving of deactivation than even that girl." Seven wasn't at all bothered by her death, even though it was her who dealt the blow, but at the same time. Why should she? "might be good to kill some of that crowd too, the savages, cheering at the death of there fellow organics. digusting."
Xin: Level: 2.8 Xin collapsed against the wall, the metal armor Torg had created clicking and rolling back under her skin. It is a fight to survive. he said, and Xin nodded dully, her eyes glazed with pain from the battle. Her muscles were battered and bruised, and cuts lacerated her exposed skin. Here- don't resist it. Xin sucked in a breath as what little oxygen in the air was used to excel her healing, and her skin felt like it was covered with insects, itching for three near-unbearable minutes as the blood finally stopped flowing, leaving only dark red stains. Her body trembled and she lay on her back, what little that had remained of her strength gone. Her eyes flicked over to where Eudo was burying the Beast Tamer, and her mouth pinched. She knew that she should feel guilty, but for some reason she had no feelings about it. She had tried to kill them. There had been no other option in her mind. Kill or be killed. It is the way the world works, Torg whispered, and Xin sat up, her eyes flickering and going back to normal. It seemed even stranger now that no evidence of Torg existed outside of her body. More menacing. I know. she replied, and a tiny seed was planted in her mind.
Eudoxia Level 2 Point Amount: 240 Money Amount: 90 Eudoxia had heard what Seven said, but he did not feel like arguing with her. He kept silent. After completely burying the body he walked away from the area and stood over by the table and ate slowly, he needed to eat, he had worn himself out. The others should eat too. Edo had learned that death only needed to be used if completely and here it was not. He glanced over at the dead beasts and cringed a bit. They had murdered his best friends literally right in front of her eyes, he almost let a tear out but he stopped it immediately. He imagined himself fighting people, if they all murdered his friends right in front of his eyes, whether he was a psychopath or not, it would be traumatizing and unbarring to watch. He grew a frown across his face, he was a military soldier, with this much emotion. That wouldn't work.
Commander Tina Sharp "Just because you're a soldier, it doesn't mean you have to forgo all emotions, Eudoxia." The Commander said as if reading his mind. "You simply need to learn to control them and harness them into usable energy. It's taken me years to learn to do that." She grabbed an apple off the table, but didn't eat it quite yet. "You've all been through some rough things these past few days. But believe me when I say, it can get much worse. It's the price that comes with being a Jumper." She tossed the apple to Mason who was still sitting in the corner. He caught it instinctively and met her eye. Her eyes were sad, as if it hurt her to see what they were going through. But it also filled with pride, maybe because they had come this far already. "You guys have the courage it takes to push through whatever you're going through...to complete this mission." She continued. "Each one of you has a strength the someone else may not have. Use that to your advantage. Lean on eachother. We'll beat this next champion and get the hell out of here. Upon the completion of our mission we'll return home with a weapon, that could have threatened Earth, in hand. And home will be that much safer." She looked around at the tired faces. "Eat and get some rest. We have a long day ahead of us tommorrow." Mason took a bite of the apple. They only had one more sphere to find after they retrieved the one from Tiash, the raider queen. They were so close to succeeding in their mission. They had to remain strong a little longer. Commander Sharp nodded at the re-invigored light in Mason's eyes. "Keep that fire." She said pointing at him. "We're going to need it for the next battle."
The Beast Inside Xin: Level: 2.8 Xin looked down and prodded her wrist with her thumb, a new awareness pricking her mind. Eyes narrowing, she gasped when her vision flickered and changed until she could see the veins running through her body. The picture zoomed in by a hundred, and she saw that each of her blood cells had a nanobot accompanying it, and the white blood cells had three each, destroying any disease or harmful pathogen in their way. Wow . . . her vision zoomed out again and re-focused to the outer flesh, and she looked at her hand as her nails grew longer, sharper as she thought of it. Her hand went down and she gripped the hilt of her sword, and the muscles tightened, bulging until the hilt rattled. She let go and looked up at the roof. Gathering her feet beneath her in a crouch, she sprang, flipping upside down at the last second and driving her heels into the ceiling. The bones changed, jabbed downward into heel-like hooks, and she hung there, suspended like a bat. Her head swiveled until she looked down at everyone, but despite her exhilaration her expression remained utterly calm. "They won't get us. We will win." she growled, dropping to the floor again.
Eudoxia Level 2 Point Amount: 240 Money Amount: 90 Eudoxia listened to what his Commander had told him, and he payed close attention to her eyes. All this seemed to be getting to her too. "I guess you're correct." he said telling Tina in a low voice. He didn't have much to say. Soon after he saw as Xin jumped towards the ceiling and did a few flips. He looked at the rest of his team mates. "When did they all get so strong?" , he asked himself. "I wonder how much farther we can go." he thought in his mind.
Seven finished recharging and plopped down besides Edo, She put her arm around him and gave him a gentle shake. "Don't be sad, soon this will be over, and we can go home and be happy. I'm here for you Edo, if it feels like too much you can count on me."
Shadow Squad slept in shifts. They may have been locked in a room but that didn't mean someone wouldn't try to kill them in their sleep. Mason took the very last shift early in the morning. He was awake when the elderly man returned, pushing a cart of food into the room. "I'd wake your friends. You've only got about an hour before you face your final champion." "Do you know who it is?" Mason asked. The man's face scrunched sympathetically. He glanced up at the security camera embedded in the lights. "I'm afraid the only thing I can say is, look within yourself." "I don't get it." Mason said in frustration. The man shrugged. "Can't say no more. Not unless I wanna risk the well-being of my granddaughter." "Your granddaughter...was she the one who was in here when we first woke up?" "That she was." He nodded. "She was making sure none of you was react'in to the sleeping darts. Some people die from them." "Are you guys prisoners here to?" Mason asked. The old man seemed to think about the question. "Yes and no. See, I was a champion back in the arena when I was young. I was one of the best. But old age caught up to me. Instead of throwing me out to volcanoes like he usually does to those who aren't useful anymore, Captain Rook let me stay on as a servant and lets me keep my granddaughter here where it's safe." "Safe? This place is horrible. They make living, sentient people and creatures fight for entertainment!" Mason exclaimed, a little to loudly. "True, true. But my granddaughter and I wouldn't last on the surface or in the city for more than a few minutes. At least here, the Captain himself insures that we live comfortably. In exchange, we help folk like you as you brave the arena. But enough chit-chatting." He waved his hand. "You have a fight to prepare for. May the gods watch over you." He bowed and left the room. Mason sighed. Feeling even more down than before. Living here didn't seem like much of a life. "C'mon you guys!" Mason called to his sleeping comrades. "Better eat some breakfast. And maybe you can help me figure out the riddle this old guy gave me. When I asked him who our next champion was, all he said was, 'Look within yourself.' What do you suppose that means?"
Xin: Level: 2.8 Xin grumbled whens he woke up, but Torg had kept her mind alert enough to catch the question. "Mental attacks. Psychic, or its a sphinx that can choose our fate with riddles. If that is what comes at us, i am not looking forward to it." Xin stretched her cramped muscles, rolling her shoulders and blinking at the food. Then, with a sigh, she strode over to it and plucked an odd fruit out of the mix. No. She tossed it back and examined the food more closely, and her eyes changed again to scan the contents. Dragonfruit. Hesitantly, she dug out the bright red pear-shaped thing and bit into it. Fire poured into her body and she felt electrified all of a sudden. With a choked cry, she swallowed the piece but refrained from throwing it away. her eyes widened and her legs spread to bear her weight as she trembled all over. "Holy cow! Guys, eat some of these!" she gasped, digging out more of the fruit.
"Maybe we will fight each other?" Seven said, "That is the only thing I can think of. As for riddles I doubt that, what ever they do they'll want to make a show out of it, and no one wants to watch us solve a riddle."
Eudoixa Level 2 Point Amount: 240 Money Amount: 90 Eudoxia woke up as soon as Xin began to scream, his body raised up and he rubbed the back of his head. "what is all the commotion!" he asked. He looked over to where Xin, Mason, and the older man were. "Food!" Eudoxia exclaimed. He walked over to the table and stood over the pile. "Pass me a piece." he commanded Xin in a playful tone. He looked at the others waiting for them to awaken.
The rest of the Jumpers woke up and ate a quick breakfast before the Commander ran them through some exercises. It helped Mason feel like this was just a routine drill and that they weren't about to battle to death with another sociopath. The sounds outside were becoming louder. Apparently the crowd from last night had returned and was ready for to watch another round. The door of the room opened and the cadets followed it out into the arena once again. The bodies of the minotaurs had been removed, though their blood still lingered. The shallow grave Eudoxia had dug for Lylin, didn't even look like it was there anymore. It was prepared for the next battle. A door opened up in the arena wall across from them. Mason dropped into fighting stance and prepared his gun. He wouldn't be caught un-ready this time. The Champion that walked out, was the thing he least suspected. A child. A girl, no more than 7 years of age. Mason was so shocked he barely heard the announcer call her the "Puppet Master." Her eyes were gray and large. She looked at each of them as if she could see into their very souls; even Seven, though the child's gaze lingered upon her a little longer than the others. The little girl looked around at the pirates yelling in the stands before she walked forward to stand in front of Shadow Squad. Not a single emotion appeared on her face. Not anger, fear, happiness...nothing. It was a blank slate, unreadable. For a long moment there was silence between them, then Mason heard her say, “Do you have power over yourself…or are you your worst enemy, Mason?” He looked at the girl, shocked. Her mouth had not moved and yet he had heard her voice. As had all the cadets, except...they had heard the child say their own individual name.
"Doesn't compute how can I be my own enemy?" Seven answered, "And why is a little girl in a death arena? you can't be the one we are fighting, leave now and I will not try to harm you little human." Seven said sternly. He looked back at Mason who was in utter shock, "This is a joke right?"
Mythai Since the last battle, Mythai had remained quiet as her mind processed the events. She always had a problem with over-thinking, replaying thoughts over again until they left her numb inside. She'd taken part in three murders in the course of a day...and now they might have another. As she stood with her allies, she remembered the Commander's words about strength. Could she handle witnessing yet another death? She'd always believed in healing, to save a life. Not kill without mercy. Mythai sighed as she brought herself back to reality. She needed to get her act together, or risk getting herself hurt. As she caught a glimpse at a young girl enter the arena, she managed to push away her doubts. To her surprise, a second later another forced its way through. “Do you have power over yourself…or are you your worst enemy, Mythai?” The voice was serene, but eerie. Mythai gasped and her eyes met with the strange girl, apparently their enemy. The question seemed aimed at her very heart and mind. "I...I really don't know," Mythai answered in a whisper.
Eudoxia Level 2 Point Amount: 240 Money Amount: 90 Eudoxia was stunned by the girl's appearance. He stood there wordless, just staring at her. She stared back, and she had ominous in her eyes, she looked evil. Yet, she was child, he would never hurt a child. Though, he might have to. “Do you have power over yourself…or are you your worst enemy, Eudoxia?” Edo stopped himself and thought about the people he had killed and the anger he had towards certain people and the way he hit Seven through a wall. I won't let her get in my head, he thought. "I am my own worse enemy." Eudoxia said in his mind, hoping the girl could here. "That is exactly why I will be able to beat you, and I am not gonna kill you. Because I am my own worse anything, meaning you are nothing!" he said to her. Eudoxia had his MicroBots come out of his pockets, his body was still trembling from the affect of her mind tricks.
Xin: Level: 2.8 ... or are you your worst enemy? the word whispered almost seductively in her mind, and Xin's eyes narrowed dangerously, her wrists flicking upwards and her hands clenching into fists. A thin, thin smile quirked the side of her mouth, revealing neat, sharp teeth. "I am not my own enemy, child. I am my own defense, and it is the world that is against me!" she hissed, power flooding her veins. Her eyes flicked to black and metal coated one half of her face, dark lines streaking down her left side, pulling her muscles into the best positions for high movement speed. Red lines spread across her vision, and multiple targets appeared, numbers and letter identifying them. "Enemy. Destroy." she said, both her's and Torg's voices combining in an eerie cadence. All mercy was lost, even in the face of this seemingly innocent child. The sword slid out along her arm, and she stabbed it out sideways into the air with a high-pitched ringing noise, dropping into a crouch. Destroy. Destroy. Destroy.
Xin's sword slashed through the air but it hit another sword with loud clang. She looked up the hilt to identify her attacker. It was...herself. It was Xin, her face half covered by Torg. Though this Xin was expressionless and had vacant eyes. Suddenly, standing in front of each cadet, was a copy of his or herself. Mason stepped back a foot as he came face to face with himself. He looked past the other Mason and at the child puppet master. Her eyes had gone completely white and her expression was still emotionless. "Do you have the strength, to overcome yourself?" He heard the child say in his mind. She said it everyone else's as well. Then the Shadow Squad puppets attacked. Each of them using their own strengths against the living versions. Puppet Mason attacked Mason with pulse followed by a pull attack. Puppet Seven attacked Seven with heavy punch. Puppet Xin attacked Xin with a flurry of sword strikes. Puppet Aren sent the butt of his sniper rifle flying into Aren's head before deploying protector drone. Puppet Mythai threw 5 poison needles at Mythai before jumping behind Puppet Mason to use him as cover. Puppet Eudoxia activated tornado and sent it flying in Eudo's direction. Puppet Adwaita used Combustion on Adwaita.
