[01] City Sector

[Orion]

It was all becoming clearer now to Orion. He was duped. When he died, he wasn't granted passage to Heaven. No, his ears must've been ringing after the few bullets to the back he succumbed to. That giant pink ogre must've said Hell. It just wasn't the traditional fire and brimstone he was expecting.

At first, he chuckled at the realisation. What a unique and somewhat sadistic form of torture! Step one, make the genocidal mass murderer and destroyer of civilisations believe his name was written in the good books because he may have accidentally saved a kitten from a tree after blowing it up. Step two, load him on a plane and fly him to another world that departed from the literal infernal descriptions of the land of the damned. Step three, start him on a fruitless quest to obtain the approval of 'Heaven's' great 'Masters' to be brought back to life.

Now he knew Anitan was just a demon. A fucking chatty demon. The perfect punishment for Orion's history of sin.

After shattering the butcher store window and consuming as much aromatic meat as he could, he furthered his journey down the road, literally ham-fisted. As he took another uncivilised bite from the honey glazed leg, he heard the ever persistent telepathic voice of Anitan echoing within his skull like a whiny yodeler.

<Ooooriiiiiiiooooon!> he summoned.

If you just ignore him, he'll go away, he lied to himself.

<Heeeeeyyyy! Talk to me!>

"What!?" Orion burst, chunks of masticated meat falling from his lips. "What do you want?!"

<Hey, what's with the attitude?> the spiky haired deity rebutted, seemingly unaware of his aggravating presence. <I just wanted to give you some company, that's all. You're all alone down there and I thought you would want to hear a friendly voice. Geez, you try to help a guy...>

The one eyed saiyan gulped the chewed ham down in one go to promote enunciation. "And what made you think I was alone?"

<Well, you were with Ares all that time. Since he didn't come down with you, I figured there was a missing void.> His voice suddenly perked up. <And I'm here to fill it!>

"God! Don't you have pupils to train or something?"

<Shhh. Not so loud. Someone might hear you and sneak up on you!> Anitan's voice sounded as if it were blocked by a pouting lip. <Then no one would get to see how great of a trainer I am.>

"Yes, yes. It's all about you, isn't it?" Orion replied sarcastically, throwing away the cleanly picked ham bone in his left hand and focusing on the remaining one in his right.

<C'mmmoooooon. I bet you're anxious to try out your new abilities, right? You don't wanna leave the competition prematurely by giving away your position?>

Orion released a haughty "Ha. I don't exactly see anyone close by, do you? There's no noise, no sign that anyone has passed through here recently. Hell, maybe half of those weaklings died from that gas inhalation. I wouldn't know, would I? Besides, I want them to come to me. Cuts out all the skulking and hunting. I just want a good, clean fight." Orion paused as he tore the pink flesh from the smoked roll of ham. "Now that I think about it, just a good fight would suffice."

<Weeeell, in that case ... > Anitan started suspiciously, <you might want to look behind you ... now!>

Orion spun on his heel, involuntarily forcing the meat housed in his mouth into his wind tunnel. Coughing and spluttering, he slammed his hand against his own back to elicit the clogging to dislodge. The saliva coated morsel finally launched from his mouth, splattering on the bitumen.

He looked up. No one was there.

<Got yooooouuuu!> Anitan mocked proudly.

"I'll get you, you miserable ..."

<Hey, if I was being serious, there's a good chance you'd be done and dusted by now. Take my good humoured and impeccably timed joke as a wake up call.>

Orion's brow furrowed. "Yes, yes. But did you just say ... dusted?"

That may have been the first time the blabbering lord of speed fell silent as he thought back on what he said. <Yeah, but so what?>

The elder saiyan took one last hearty mouthful of the unfinished ham leg before tossing it aside. "Dusted? Have you never watched this tournament before?" Orion clasped the metal choke chain around his neck, shaking it only gingerly to accentuate his point. "I have to get to one of those damn ... oh, what was it ..." He stopped speaking, recalling the name of the target location from the previous Dante's Abyss ... "bunker! That's it! If I don't get there in so much time, they activate this and I get reduced to molecules."

<Oh!> Anitan was genuinely surprised. <Well, that adds an extra kick to the festivities, doesn't it?>

"That's one stupid way to put it," Orion snapped back. "I don't suppose you can provide any useful logistics on where the blasted bunker is, can you?"

The platinum haired sensei laughed suddenly as if he wasn't expecting his ex-pupil to ask such an obvious question. <Help you? I thought this was a competition of wits, strength and ...>

"A simple 'no' would suffice, you blabbermouth," Orion retorted, reaching the end of his tether. "You're not going to be in my head the whole time, are you?"

Anitan hummed. <Nah. Not when you're in a fight, at least. Wouldn't want to distract my star graduate now, would I?> Orion could just picture the moronic grin on his face.

"You're distracting me now."

<But you're not fighting.>

Orion facepalmed. "I ... just ... ugh. I'm looking for a bunker. Please, can you just shut up for a little while?"

---

Finally, the seasoned veteran came upon a small, humble domicile with the word 'BUNKER' written above its rounded door frame. Seizing tightly the ki rifle Anitan pointed out to him that he obliviously ignored upon waking up, he stalked quietly but swiftly to its entrance, swiveling the weapon blindly inside while keeping vigilant of any approaching foes. Nothing reacted to the distressing sight of a rotating rifle in the doorway, which Orion concluded to be a good sign.

Diving into the bunker, he immediately noticed the wealth of resources located therein. Food, water, basic medical supplies, and even several plush beds welcomed his presence. Having liquidated two entire glazed ham legs, there was no need for sustenance, and wouldn't be for a while, he hoped. However, he helped himself to a plastic bottle of water or two to quench his thirst before pocketing another within his garish robe.

Orion froze in deathly fear as his collar reacted to the bunker. It started beeping, small red bulbs pulsing around its circumference. What the hell did he do? Wasn't he allowed to take some water for the road? It was a surprisingly hot night and there was no breeze! That's not fair, he couldn't die before he even had his first fight! He played by the rules! He was in a blasted bunker, for crying out loud!

He winced expressly as he waited for the inevitable disintegration of the bonds that strung his molecules together, and nearly jumped out of his skin when the collar emitted a pleasant chime, indicating its refreshed status. Orion let out a relieved, guttural growl. Adrenaline was pounding in his head and he wasn't even in a fight yet. That damn Anitan put him on edge.

Taking his few weary steps outside the bunker, he was at least thankful that his ex-sensei had either muted himself for a time or, like a three year old child, grown listless of Orion's uneventful situation and wandered off to obtain something more of interest to his goldfish-like attention span.

The cycloptic warrior was almost certain that the city was deserted. He hoped Dukes was having a good laugh at the nerve damaged saiyan trekking purposelessly through a ghost town, scaring himself with his own shadow. There must be other contestants on the island somewhere.

In the far horizon, despite his impaired vision, Orion spotted vast mountains. He couldn't make out many more details from his limited vantage point, but perhaps those tall, rocky spires could offer him a better perspective of the island. Maybe he'd even run into that cocky half breed ... Zulu. Yeah, that was her name. Or perhaps it was Blondie? Orion never was good at names, but the festering grudge in that arrogant woman promised an exciting battle, especially if Ares' earlier reports of her ascending to the legend of Super Saiyan were accurate.

Being mindful of his surroundings at all times, Orion sprinted towards the naturally formed watch towers, holding his rifle upright. Things were starting to look up. He had a plan and his mind was tranquil and still, free of that overbearing, rage provoking -

<Hey buddy! Sorry, I had to take a slash. So, how's it goin'? Killed anyone while I was away?>

"Aaaarrrgh!"

Orion entered the bunker in the City Sector.

Orion moved from the City to the Mountains.