[4] The Waterways

[Friend or Foe]

Wizard
Ashe
Sage
Kazuya
Rose


"More sewers?" Somebody asked behind Kai Demolic as he sat in front of the monitors.

"Yes," he said, "Well, kinda of." He was zooming on the five people in the group that were walking nearby the water treatment plant. "It's a laboratory and a water processing plant. It's also a goblin camp, but that's just a bonus," he said with a smirk. "I have to make something go right after the screw-ups last round."

"Screw-ups?" The feminine voice asked, setting a soft hand on his shoulder.

"Yes," he said, irritated. "Balrog was supposed to hit that spoiled princess, Zena, but he ended taking Dimitri out of the competitions. Then Jackson refuses to take out that Oliver Nash because wants a fair fight. At least I got him to compromise on the headphones kid."

"Why did you want those two out?"

"The princess because she has a vendetta against me," Kai answered, "And it worries me that she might come close to causing actual damage to the show. The man, Nash...I don't know. Something about him makes me nervous, like he's slowly figuring things out. Tempo was removed instead, because I needed that group to know it was life or death."

Indeed, they did. Kai zoomed in on the face of Sage, who was picking up the rear of the group as they moved to the entrance of the waterways. She had clearly been told of Tempo's date and was pondering over it.

"What now?" The voice asked.

"Now, Jackson will get his fair fight. The goblins will very likely attack as soon the group is deep enough into the facility to startle their camp. When that happens, Jackson will challenge Oliver Nash."

"That Jackson, always so cocky with his strength," the arms behind Kai wrapped around him in a loving embrace. A blonde head appeared next to him, "He is so quick to throw out words like honor and justice...but he doesn't have the smarts to back them up like you."

"I know," Kai agreed, "But I have a back-up plan for the day that will inevitable come, with Jackson realizes I've been playing him this whole time."

"What's that?"

Mr. Demolic turned around to his beautiful wife. "You."
















(You guys are in a water processing plant, which doubles as a laboratory which used to experiment on goblins. Obviously, by the scene above, you now know this place is a goblin camp.

If you want me to roleplay as Jackson, I certainly will. Otherwise, good luck.)

[Sage]

“So, why that one?” Rosemary pointed at the blue haired girl on the screen with a frown. “She’s played out. Yeah, she’s obviously scared, but she can’t even defend herself. What could she possibly do for the fan base?”

“Some people are into the defenseless victim thing, you know?” Kai responded. “Vicariously experiencing absolute power over a totally helpless victim.”

“...That’s twisted,”

“So executing someone who can fight is any different? Besides, I’m not too hung up on killing her, so long as her ratings don’t tank,” the wealthy businessman replied with a smirk.

“Then what do you want with her?”

Kai leaned back in his chair, and placed one hand on the other. “I want her to break.”

- - - -

The unlikely saiyan princess slogged along behind the others, news of Tempo’s death ringing in her head, her shoes making horrible squishing noises as she went. With every step, water sloshed out of her ruined sneakers. Her clothes were so heavy, she had trouble keeping up with the group, but the girl wasn’t about to take off her sweater - she lacked an undershirt.

Rose wasn’t much more excited about the situation. She, too, clomped along, making wet, squishy noises as she went. But at least she hadn’t panicked and embarrassed herself over a tiny little crustacean, which now resided, remarkably calmly, on Ashe’s shoulder.

“Hey, uh,” the ‘stronger’ pink haired girl tossed her head over her shoulder to address Sage. “I figured I could make it back there. This island’s really screwing with my flying. It’s like you get pushed around all of a sudden.”

“It’s fine...” the hybrid scanned the ground for a moment before mustering the courage to look up at Rose. “You... were just trying to help me.”

“So, what’s the deal?” inquired the more powerful bubblegum twin. Sage tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. Rose stifled a sigh of exasperation. “You look so upset all the time. You worry a lot.”

“I...” the little heiress looked away for a moment, before returning her gaze. Rose’s expression was expectant, awaiting an answer. An answer Sage had never given to anyone - ever - except her sister. “It’s... nothing.”

“What?” came the retort. The descendent of Super Buu crossed her arms and pouted. “I’m not stupid.”

“I- I didn’t mean-”

“Just tell me!” Rose insisted. She wasn’t really terribly interested to begin with, but now that Sage was obviously withholding information, she wasn’t about to let the blue haired girl get away without talking.

What is your problem!? the girl mentally screamed, only to realize that she had telepathically demanded that of everyone around her. Sage’s eyes went wide. “Sorry! I didn’t- it’s just- it’s... hard to...”

Thoughts of the horrific events of her thirteenth birthday raced through her head, causing her to turn away from the others. Why!? she mentally projected, this time uncaring of who heard what. You should have just left me alone!!

- - - -

She was in her room. The party was still winding down, but Sage was bored. Sitting in her chair with her feet on her desk, she idly waved her hand about, causing thin trails of frost to appear on the walls, as if she was drawing with them. She traced an ‘s,’ followed by a more different ‘s.’ She closed it up real good at the top for his head, and then, using consummate ‘v’s, she added teeth, ‘spine-idies,’ and angry eyebrows. Unsatisfied, she added smoke and fire, and some wings, deciding it was a wing-a-ling dragon, and a single beefy arm for good measure. It looked really good, coming out of the back of his neck, there.

A knock sounded at the door. “Sage? Zena? It’s Aurry,” came the familiar voice. The blue haired teen went to the door, pulling it open for the man. He was not a terribly large man, but he was a saiyan pure-blood and possessed the ability to become a super saiyan. His real name was ‘Aurelius’ but he found it too formal for his position; he was the bodyguard for the children of the King.

“Hi!” the girl exclaimed with a broad smile. She’d taken an immediate liking to Aurry when he’d started his job four years ago. He was fun, and wasn’t as strict as their previous bodyguard had been.

“...Where’s Zena?” he demanded, narrowing his eyes.

“I dunno, I guess she’s still with the other kids,” Sage shrugged.

“Why aren’t you there? It’s your birthday,” Aurry retorted.

She shrugged again. “I’m bored. It’s been like four hours since it started. Do you like my Trogdor?” she pointed at the wall with a smirk.

“There isn’t any time...” the bodyguard murmured, having intended for Sage not to hear it. She looked up at him, quizzically. Her curious expression changed to a look of concern when his visage darkened. His eyes suddenly burned with malice, and he-

- - - -

“Dammit!!” Sage hissed, fighting away her thoughts. Her tears stung fiercely against her flesh. Why the hell did she have to go and drag up- she suddenly realized Ashe was gently shaking her. Her anger faded away as she looked at all the faces looking at her. Ashe, Rose, and Oliver. Guilt set in as she conceded that these people were just trying to help. Even Oliver, though he refused to show it. Kazuya, she just scoffed.

Mercifully breaking the tension, the dog who had befriended the ex-detective began to bark and growl as though it had gone mad. “Shut up,” Oliver breathed, taking another drag on his nearly-finished cigarette. The mutt continued to bellow, much to the cop’s severe annoyance. “Shut up, dog!” he growled, swiping at the animal. The animal ceased barking, but it began whining instead. “Son of a-” Oliver stopped himself. This dog was just exceptionally stupid.

Kazuya, however, hadn’t dismissed the dog’s barking so quickly. She’d learned all kinds of tricks before the advent of the technologies so many in her trade hopelessly depended on these days. Dogs, she knew, were invaluable scouts, guards, and trackers. Their senses - especially smell - were far superior to any human’s. She sneered at Oliver’s oversight. Maybe the dog had seen something. Maybe it smelled something coming. She wasn’t about to discard that possibility, and her vigilance increased significantly.

“I’m sorry,” Sage addressed Rose and Ashe together. “It’s just... something... happened,” she closed her eyes, fighting back a wave of tears as she took in a deep breath. “It happened... a long time ago. It’s... too hard to talk about.”

There was silence among the three girls for a moment. Even Rose was unsure of how to respond. “Well... we’d better keep going. This Kai guy obviously isn’t going to let us stop playing his game,” she angrily declared.

“Kai...” the coral eyed girl whispered. “Tempo was... he was... good. He can’t...” she struggled to put words together, but found only unintelligible sounds as she floundered suddenly.

“Yeah, Sage,” Ashe nodded. “We know.”

“We’ll get him back,” Rose added. “And I’ll be the one who gets him!” she puffed up, determination in her eyes. Sage wasn’t so sure, but she nodded along, offering a grateful smile. Finally, the trio scampered after Oliver and Kazuya, who had put a fair bit of distance behind them during the conversation.

You saved my life, Tempo, Sage considered as she hurried after the others. ...I won’t forget.

[Kappa]

“Tempo is dead.” It wasn’t until after saying it, that Oliver realized the irony in that … or rather, remembered it. ‘He was eaten by this world,’ the old man corrected, but it was a conversation of one, ‘and if we don’t get our asses into gear, we’re next.’ The group was being toyed with. The demons were trying to break them. Even though this was what he told himself: that they were venturing through some twisted maze in Hell, that the devil himself had orchestrated it all; there was something familiar getting in the way, causing friction against his theory—his detective’s instinct. At the moment, though, it was too quiet to be heard and Oliver Nash was still a far shot from the bitter reality of Friend or Foe.

---

After hours of trekking alongside the water vein, the group finally came to their destination: the water processing plant. It looked like any other factory or plant with rectangular structures and monolithic spires. Not to mention the overabundance of pipes and elevated filtering ponds. However, upon closer observation one might notice that the location was poorly kept. Rust was pasted on the sides of the building, while vines crawled up from its foundations. A green tinge decorated the concrete walls, which were probably white at some point, and the atmosphere was thick.

Ashe was the first to state the obvious. “Well, this is the place.” Sage pinched her nose at the foul odor that resonated from the plant. It was far worse than the stench of the sewers. Oliver scratched the untamed bristles at his neck. Considering the chemical smell and other details it was becoming more and more likely that this ‘processing plant’ was hiding something far more retched, and something about the setting was off-key. Kazuya’s expression read similarly.

The party of five took cautious steps toward the large metallic doors of the facility. Oliver, was in a battle stance and Uzamaki was hilt-in-hand, while the openly-female contestants were huddled close, Rose leading them behind the alpha pair. The white-haired human stepped forward and tapped the door. With little resistance, it swung open, with a fairly ominous creeeeeek. But after that there was only silence. If Oliver didn’t know any better, he would have thought the place abandoned. If being the key word.

“Keep together,” the samurai had said unnecessarily. None of them wanted to make this place their concrete coffin, a likely scenario if they were to split up.

Silent steps carried them forward, through a dim-lit hallway. There were doorways lining the hall, observed by Uzamaki and the pink-haired woman. ‘Ashe’ was her name, if he recalled correctly. They zigged and zagged in their scope of the area. Most of the doors led to storage or conference rooms, with a few washrooms on the way. The end of the hall forked off and its three prongs were pasted on signs: to the left was primary treatment, the right—secondary treatment, and between the two was a set of stairs; its sign was covered in a dark green sludge … but you could see the beginning of something.

“Re… re-what?” asked Rose, taking initiative to wipe away the strange matter. “Research and Development,” she read out loud. Oliver gave the sign a crooked look, while she smudged the slime against the wall. “Gross.” Rose finished.

“I… I don’t want to g-go up there,” coughed the glacier-haired sprout. By her side, pouting in agreement was the dog—that for the first time since they found him wasn’t making a ruckus. Oliver frowned, and Ashe patted the girls back. “We’re just looking for some answers. No one’s here and we’ll be out in no-time.” Consoled she who was in possession of the tear. “Oh-ok..ay.” It just doesn’t feel right! The girl projected, unintentionally. The samurai shook his head and was the first to ascend the flight of stairs. She was getting tired of the pipsqueak’s lack of control.

And so, the decision was … somewhat unanimous. They would check out this ‘R&D’ sector, in hopes of finding something—anything—that could help them beat this game.

---

When they searched the second floor, they discovered that it was much more than a place for R&D discussion and consultation; it was a full-blown laboratory, with state of the art equipment! Like the rest of the facility, an eerie silence hung over the place. “Too quiet,” muttered the ex-con as he and the rest of the crew examined pieces of machinery, scattered reports, and tables. Green stains were splattered across the walls and there was broken glass about. Something had gone wrong here.

“I sense sabotage,” the samurai suggested. Her hunches were quite good, bordering on retrocognitive.

“Or some freak acid—,” started Rose, when she was cut off.
The Wizard had silenced the girl. He was fixated on a piece of photo-paper, while her face was flushed with anger. She was getting sick and tired of this old bastard. Who did he think he was, barking orders and cutting people off? It was due time that someone put a silencer on him. Rose was on the verge of knocking some sense into him, when he presented he with the photograph, “Are these your goblin buddies?”

“Oh. Yeah… that would be them.” Rose said, and at this—Ashe gulped. “Shit, you don’t think…?”

“Wrong. That’s exactly what I think.” There were words unspoken that clearly spelt out ‘trouble’ for the Friend or Foe contestants. This was a goblin hideout. They would have to move quickly.

After this realization, they split up further, to hasten the chance of new discoveries. “If we don’t find anything useful in the next ten minutes we leave. We don’t want to be here when they get back.” Ashe had made the order; no one protested.

Meanwhile, Sage approached what looked to be an aquarium of sorts. It was filled with a cloud of murky green so thick that you couldn’t see the contents—until… dun, something tapped the glass and became visible—the head of an alien fetus! The girl screeched in fear of the pre-birth mutant as it floated about the swampy tank. “Get it away!” She cried, terror driving her to the floor; where she shook, traumatized by the sight. Oliver jogged over to her, wrinkled eyebrows narrowing at the creature. He tapped the glass and she shrieked again. “It’s dead,” he said.

Rose dove in for the save and took the girl from the ghastly display. Curious as he was disgusted, Wizard read over the scattered documents and sticky notes. There were sketches and photographs of what looked like … genetic templates? “Phragmites ambulens, also known as Saiba—Jesus, it looks like they were trying to cross-breed this thing with a goblin.” Just the kind of warped science he’d expect to see in the depths of Tartarus. In the corner of his eye, he saw a vile with two seeds. Quickly, as to not grab too much attention, he pocketed the alien specimen.

Uzamaki spent less time looking at pages as she did looking at footage: live footage of several entrances that apparently led to the lab. Security protocols, she suspected, to protect the madness that was going on in this place. While the cameras didn’t show any signs of life, she had spent more than enough time in this hellhole. “I’m sure as HELL that it’s been ten minutes.” She said this, not out of fear, but out of insight of what was to come.

Ashe, for reasons unknown was drawn to the garbage room, in the corner of the laboratory. Shock greeted her, when she passed through the automatic door. There were broken parts and shattered glass everywhere but what stunned her the most was what sat upon the heap of trash. There was a decapitated robot, sprawled out like a ragdoll. Its left arm was torn off and it was wearing what looked like a lab coat. Only four feet away was the thing’s head and this was no Mr. Handy. It looked almost human. Forged of pale-white flesh and rare alloys, it had a permanently grim expression and three prongs sticking out of the forehead. Even though fear gripped her, something about the mechanized scientist intrigued her. Slowly, she moved forward. Cringing, she bent down, picked up the head, and screwed it upon its body. Its eyes snapped open; opaque, but alive. Startled, Ashe leapt back and prepared for the worst.

On the opposite end of the laboratory, the dog barked incessantly. It was so loud that Wizard was taken out of his detective’s work, in which he had gotten lost. Annoyance was in his eyes, but there must have been something bothering the mutt. After getting the old man’s attention, the quadruped darted off outside the laboratory, towards a catwalk that led to parts unknown, beckoning him to follow. Oliver glanced at Kazuya, who had noticed this, and the samurai nodded in approval. And so, he chased the dog.

Its gaze, the color of pearls, stared blankly at Ashe as the robot was reanimated. It twitched and its neck crackled with electricity. It opened its mouth, but at first nothing came out. And then…

“LWARET noilen atesmr si htat uoy?”

Ashe cocked a brow, giving the android a quizzical look. “Uhm—“

“Deltnamsid I saw yhw?” Another question in cyber-tronic gibberish.

“What?! I.. I can’t understand you,” – “Error. refreshing. processi—kzzt--10110010 vocal.” It paused as a wave of recalibration washed over the machine. “Master … my are … you … not.” – “There, that’s getting a little clearer.” Suddenly, it’s eyes became an alarming red.

“Intruder… Intruder! Alert! Intruder! Code Red: Intruder Alert!”

“Oh Kaio.” She cursed.

“Initiating defensive lockdown,” it droned, “Establishing quarantine.”Out of the blue, thick metallic walls started crashing down around the inhabitants of the lab, closing them in. All the exits were shut off; they were trapped. Unsure of how to handle the situation, she sent a sharp jab to the metallic cranium of the droid. “Intruder alurrrrrrrrrr…” was the machine’s last utterance as it faded back into non-existence. Ashe walked out of the disposal room just in time as a steel barrier came crashing down behind her. Sage looked on with worry as the room was bathed in crimson; the light of warning klaxons.

Oliver heard the noise and looked over his shoulder, only to see the door between the catwalk and the laboratory come down with a ‘klunk’. Immediately he rushed the door and tried to break it open, with fists, knees, and anything else he could use, but it was no use. The thing wouldn’t budge.

Everyone in the lab looked around at each other for an appropriate response to the situation—except Kazuya. Her eyes were fixed on the cameras. And what she saw next wasn’t pretty. There were dozens of them, yelling and crying out for blood. “Goblins.” She warned the group. How could she forget those ugly faces? The horde moved as a united front of devastation, and the facility’s security was letting them through the blocked off areas... which meant, there was nothing stopping them: and one could only guess where they were heading. Sage backed up against a counter.

The Wizard cursed the barrier before him, hammering at it relentlessly. “God damnit!” He cursed. The man turned around slowly to face the mangy animal. “It’s all your fau—,” his sentence was cut short by the sound of footsteps. Emerging from the shadows at the end of the catwalk was a giant of a man. He was on one knee, petting the dog. “How did you get out here, boy?” asked the juggernaut of the tiny mammal. It pouted in protest. “Heh. Must have been those merc bastards, eh?”

Oliver clenched his fists, “What the HELL is going on?!”

“Ah … Mr. Nash. I’ve been eager to meet you!” bellowed the tanned titan. He snapped his fingers and the dog scurried off.

“And you are…?” growled the Wizard, demanding he get some answers.

“Jackson Pride: your endgame.”




[Requesting post from Friend or Foe please ^_^]

[Friend or Foe]

Oliver Nash hadn't seen someone move so fast in a long, long time. The man who had called himself Jackson Pride had jolted forward, practically disappearing all together and reappearing with his fists swinging. He had jabs and hooks like a boxer and the power of a rhino, which caused his opponent, the man named Oliver Nash, to bring his hands up in defensively. He blocked three swings with his forearm and ducked the fourth, rolling behind Jackson and back up to his feet.

"Come on," Jackson said as he turned around. "You can do better then that."

All that the man named Wizard could think about was getting back to his group and ensuring that they survived their obstacle. "I don't have time for you," he told the bald opponent, "You're just another tool from the Devil to slow me down. But I'm not interested."

Between Wizard and the door stood Jackson, with his K-9 friend nearby, watching. They were atop a catwalk that spanned through the entire ceiling of the main room. Under them was a large laboratory, seemingly sealed off from the rest of the facility. If Wizard jumped down, he might be able to find another way, but there was no guarantee he could escape this man.

Before Nash could continue his train of thoughts on escape, he had to once again avoid a scuffle from Jackson, using his feet to dodge left to the right as the fists rained down like bullets, until Oliver again managed to wiggle past the bald terror and move behind him.

"What is your business with me, demon?" Nash asked, annoyed.

Jackson turned around again. He was obviously hardly trying, and Oliver could tell he had more tricks up his sleeve. Considering how fast he could punch, he was moving slow when it came to turning his body, and kept his hands down in a normal position, leaving his body vulnerable. "My name is Jackson Pride," the man repeated, "I'm one of the Four Demons of Kai Demolic, the overseer of this game."

Kai Demolic... Oliver thought, Is that the name that the Devil himself chose? No, this Kai...he must be a lesser demon.

"He asked me to come here and take you out of this game by force," Jackson continued, "I could have sniped you, taken you out and been done with it. But I told Kai that I wouldn't let you go out like that."

"Why didn't you take the shot, then?" Wizard asked, backing up slightly towards the door.

Jackson smirked, "Because you, unlike the headphones kid...you look like a challenge. I lived my whole life just kicking the crap out of people, ending lives easily. I'm searching, Oliver Nash. I'm looking for somebody. I'm looking for the man who can kill me."

It sounded oddly poetic, coming from the big, hardened warrior in front of him. Oliver Nash felt sympathy. This man...he wasn't just a demon. He was a damned soul, just like Wizard. Jackson Pride was a man who was cursed with the inability to lose. He was bored of being the best, and Oliver had been chosen, like so many before him, to defeat him.

"You might be the one, Wizard," Jackson said, using the man's nickname. "I want a good fight, a clean one on one fight to the death. Maybe...you're the one who will send me out of this life proper. Not by illness, not by accident...but in battle, fighting to survive!"

Wizard backed up as an aura appeared around the giant monster of a man. His muscles seemed to grow and his energy glowed angelically through the dimly lit room, serving as a light from the catwalks.

"So what's it gonna be, Nash?!" The man shouted over his own soaring power level, "Will you accept my challenge?! Will you be the one to end this old man's life!? Or am I doomed to find another challenger, walking from battle to battle until old age takes me?!" He seemed to be fighting his own inner battle as he shouted, his eyes lighting up. Oliver backed up again. "No! I will NOT go out like that! I, Jackson Pride, will fight you with everything I have, and you will NOT deny me my fight!"

"Look," Oliver said, backing up again, getting closer to the door. He didn't know what he would do when he got there, but he was certainly aiming to get near it and find a way through. "I just don't have time. I don't want to fight y-"

Before he could say anything else, Jackson lept forward, again appearing as if he was teleporting. His super speed brought his right in front of Oliver, and unlike last time, he didn't pull his punches. Oliver Nash took three punches to the gut, one to the chest, and then a sharp side-kick which sent him against the railing of the balcony. As he tried to recover, Jackson gripped his throat, angry at the decision Wizard made, and lifted him up for a firm slam.

When Jackson looked up, however, he saw a solid fist coming down to jab him between the eyes. He rolled backwards, giving Oliver time to land firmly on the ground. The bald man stood up, grinning as he looked at the older opponent.

Oliver Nash looked up. It was impossible to tell if he was angry that he was forced to fight, or driven by the speech Jackson had made. Regardless, whether it was treated as an obstacle or a fair, honorable fight, it was clear that the Wizard was not backing down. "Alright Mr. Pride," Wizard said aloud, "You win. One fair fight. To the death."

[Ashe]

The view of the cameras was disheartening at best. She had been trying to help, but at the same time, she had to tell herself that this would likely have happened even if she hadn’t toyed with the machine. They were trapped in a live action snuff film, and there wouldn’t be any snuff if it were left entirely up to the ‘contestants’ to trigger various death traps.

She had never liked reality television.

The doors or energy barriers sealed off every possible escape around her while simultaneously cutting off their link to the direction Nash had run off in. She tried to put his plight from her thoughts - It wasn’t my fault… was it? - and immediately cleared the room to throw herself into a computer chair. Her inertia rolled her to the nearest desk and her fingertips found the keyboard.

“I hope you know what you are doing,” a voice whispered behind her.

The bubblegum dyed hair flurried in the wind as she glanced up to see Sage before turning back to her screen. “Not a bit,” she said flatly. “What are they doing?” she asked, trying to buy herself some time under the prying watch of Sage.

Pushing the worry from her own thoughts, the girl turned and looked at the two warriors behind them before answering her. “I believe Uzumaki and your sister are trying to buy us some time.” Wait, sister? Ashe was going to respond, but immediately shook herself clear of the distraction while reading over the lines. Sage continued in a near whisper. “My own sister is the stronger of the two of us as well. I hope she’s ok,” she spoke in a voice that was barely audible, shaking in worry.

Ashe reached up and grabbed her hand, feeling her jump before squeezing it with reassurance. They’d probably need to talk later, but for now… “Here,” she said, interrupting Sage’s concerns by pointing her hand at the screen. “These goblins are being experimented upon. It looks like some of the ones in the tubes were original attempts at crossing their genes with those of say… sy…”

“-saibamen,” Sage finished for her, reading over her shoulder now. “Experiments have concluded on seventeen failed attempts at splicing DNA from various warfare bred creatures around the galaxy. Additionally, there have been three successful mergers with the goblin DNA in total. Only two of these were salvageable, with the third requiring immediate extermination. This third creature will be exterminated within the week and has been stored within the facility’s tubes until the disposal plant is once more operational,” she finished reading, shaking and looking back over her shoulder.

“Why,” Ashe grumbled sardonically, “do I have a feeling that we are going to encounter all three of these bastard crossbreeds before we make it out of here?” Her fingers took a moment to run through her brightly colored hair before erratically jerking back to the screen. “This could be of use,” she mentioned excitedly.

The bio-mechanical android designated WALTER has been activated and tested for possible use during quarantine procedures. This machine will, in the event of an emergency, immediately activate a subroutine that will directly connect its mainframe with that of the macro-defense system of the facility. The first program within this subroutine is to give audible warning to notify all personal nearby of an unregistered life form within the vicinity. The second program within this subroutine will activate the floodgate procedures, using energy barriers and steel doors to funnel all uncontained life forms into the primary chambers. The blue energy barriers will only allow personnel with data on file to move through them as well as creatures with goblin DNA in order to both bring the scattered creatures into these chambers as well as all laboratory workers.

All personnel have been briefed on escape procedures from this point. Steel barriers will close off in specific choke points to prevent an epidemic from spreading, as well as close over top of energy barriers after all sensed life forms have moved through. Once all personnel have safely evacuated, or a period of three minutes has passed, the escape doors will be sealed in place. WALTER’s third subroutine is to commence the extermination of all remaining life forms within the central chamber. Its fourth and final subroutine is to immediately shut down after the primary defense grid has detected that no living organisms remain within the confines of the facility.

UPDATE: Kai Demolic has ordered that for the duration of the next few months, WALTER is to be disassembled and shut down in storage. The remaining security protocols will still be in effect.

As soon as Ashe finished reading, she grabbed the ends of her hair and slammed her face down within her palms. “That… sucks! Ugh!” she cried out in frustration, her hand swinging out and knocking a box of pens off the desk. Sage was in thought, and after a moment of no response, Ashe glanced up at her. “Anything in mind?”

The girl paused for a moment and glanced back into the direction of the room. “Think we can get to that machine?” she inquired, looking back at Ashe innocently. “Maybe we can fix it. I may even be able to try to register our energy signatures into the system so that it won’t try to kill us.”

“You can do that?”

Sage seemed hesitant. “I hope.”

Taking a deep breath, Ashe pointed at a specific metal door. “I uh… I actually had a little run in with ‘Walter’ earlier. I played around with it trying to figure out what it was saying before it started going wild and giving alerts all over the place as if the Cold War had come,” she confessed, forcing out through her guilt.

”You should have mentioned this earlier!”

Ashe jumped back nearly five feet, sprawling over a wall at the sudden booming voice of Sage within her head. A moment’s breath later, the doctor had reached her side and helped her to her feet. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to!” she began quickly, but Ashe quickly shushed her.

“We need to get Walter back up. I’ll work on that while you go take care of the DNA registration situation. You are right; this is my mess to settle,” she sighed, moving back across the room towards the computer, despite Sage’s protests to the contrary. “Hurry-” she called back, cutting Sage off. “You’re going to have to have us in the system before I can get him on, and I’d rather try to survive by keeping goblins between him and us than I would to hug the three ‘successful specimens’.” Focusing on the terminal, she shut the world out.

---

“Ouch!”

“Sorry,” Sage apologized once more as she used the DNA tracker she had found on one of the tables near the test tubes. “I have Rose and Uzumaki’s DNA scanned already. Rose’s DNA is interesting, as if it is constantly distorting and contorting itself, almost like silly putty,” she blushed, ashamed of the reference for reasons Ashe didn’t know. “And according to this, Kazuya is genetically a female, not male.”

Everything in her body wanted her to scream “I TOLD YOU SO!” across the room to Rose, but she contained herself while the two of them tried to keep the room defended. Looking at Sage, she caught her stopping in her breath before continuing. “Yours-” she began, then fell silent.

Ashe looked at her in suspicion, but closed her eyes for a moment. “So the four of us are in the system?” Sage nodded in return, still eyeing the data on the DNA tracker. “Then the Kais can help Oliver, wherever he is. Walter isn’t going to be able to distinguish between him and the goblins.”

Her fingers pressed execute, activating the android once more remotely. “There. My part's done.” Sage was still silent, provoking Ashe to finally look up at her and grab the tracker from her hand. She eyed it for a moment as the blue haired girl gasped, and then turned it one direction to the next, trying to see it from different angles. “I don’t get it,” she mumbled, looking up at the doctor. “I can’t see anything out of the ordinary. Is something missing? Was I born a guy? I think it looks pretty normal, but I’m not exactly fresh from medical school either.”

Reaching down to press a button on the tracker, Sage moved up to Kazuya’s dna. “Do you see how his- err, her’s looks?” She waited for a nod before scrolling back to one of the DNA strands on record from laboratory workers. “And this? And this?” Ashe nodded each time. “Now yours,” she whispered, loading it back up.

Ashe squinted for a moment, and then her eyes widened, eyeing it strangely. “That’s… I don’t… Huh?” she finished, confused about exactly what it was she was seeing.

Sage nodded. “I counted. The average human DNA strand looks more or less like the ones I showed you. Different races have differing strands, of course, as you saw from Rose or even mine. Your DNA, on the other hand, doesn’t seem like a single strand of DNA at all. If I’m counting the correctly, your DNA is more of a compound or complex DNA strand, where instead of a single spiraling strand, you have sixteen different strands all surrounding the others into what seems…” she paused for a moment, trying to figure out how to explain what she was looking at to the girl.

“Computers!” she suddenly burst out, causing the girl to jump again. “You know how with older forms of disks, we could only record information onto one side of it and they were larger? Later on, we developed ways to make them smaller and record on both sides of it. Soon we developed how to interlace information so that it was written in a different color laser on both sides to allow for more data. After that, we realized that we could take varying colors of light to write the information onto the same space, so that, for example…” she grabbed a sheet of paper and slid it over to where Ashe could see. “You can read everything I write on this in black. If I write enough to cover it with black ink, I can then write over that in white, even though technically my old writing is still there. Then I could even go over it in red, and yellow after that, and continue going over in different colors. And a computer could reach each layer of each color from the same sheet of paper, or in your situation, DNA strand, and use that information to accomplish something.”

Taking a deep breath, Ashe leaned back in her chair and looked up at the quasi-excited girl before her. “You lost me a long time ago. But-” she began, biting down on her lip. “There’s got to be some type of mistake. I’ve lived on Earth my entire life, and I mean, you even said that my DNA was a normal human strand, right? I mean, maybe you somehow scanned the same one sixteen times, so its replicated it around itself on the screen.” She knew her words were in vain, though, as the girl’s head shook in confirmation.

WHAM

The pair jumped and looked at the door across the room as a large dent appeared in it. “I think Walter is alive and wants out now,” Ashe called out to the entire group, not sure if they heard her over the sounds of their own situations. “Let’s hope this works right.”

SMASH


A thunderous blow was given to the door that made everyone shake from the impact as the machine fought to release itself from its confines. It had a job to do, and it would not allow even a thick steel door to prevent it from completing its task.

BOOOOM

Sage pulled her gun out and held it close to her as the door was beaten down from its hinges, but Ashe finally succumbed to the shock that her mind had been prolonging in order to get the job done. As her view moved up to the ceiling, she heard Sage call her name before the darkness closed in, enveloping her within her final thoughts.

But I’ve lived on Earth my entire life… I’m human… Aren’t I?

[Sage]

Sage hardly realized she’d been talking so much. Up until now, she had been so quiet, but... but Ashe... she was an unprecedented medical discovery! The impact such a discovery could make on the many fields of genetic engineering were incredible. The azure haired girl could have drooled over the revolutionary prospects Ashe’s genetic code had on the understanding of genetics and genetic manipulation.

She realized, though, that during her tirade, she had made the pink haired girl remarkably uncomfortable. Sage winced at this: she was essentially calling her a freak. She frowned heavily - this same designation was given to her many times. Genetics... she mused. She shook her head. It’s not worth-

The entire room thundered under the dull, metallic blow of the unseen android. “I think Walter is alive and wants out now. Let’s hope this works right,” Ashe shouted, before another thunderous crash shook the room. Sage drew her pistol, awkwardly holding it in front of herself, close to her chest.

At that moment, the door was torn from its hinges and hurled into the room as though it were the thinnest sheet of plywood. At the same time, Ashe stumbled forward, then keeled over backwards. Sage, panicked, called out her name, in vain, reaching out only to just barely brush her wrist as Ashe went crashing to the floor as a bright blue flash dazzled Sage for but an instant, so quickly she wasn’t sure it had actually happened.

The blue haired girl suddenly froze as the pale, fearsome android’s hands reached out from the darkness of the entrance way, grasping onto the metal doorframe before hauling itself into the main room. Immediately, its gaze focused on Sage, who felt paralyzed under the machine’s scrutinous eye. An age could have passed and the girl would not have known it, trapped before the android’s dead, grey eyes.

“Data on file. Female hybrid. Saiyan, human, and race not on file,” it boomed, seeming to Sage as an arbiter of some higher power, passing judgement from on high. It looked over to Ashe next. “Data on file. Female hybrid. Anomalous genetic structure - unable to identify,” WALTER turned and headed into the room, appraising the others in the same manner.

Now that the danger had passed, Sage dropped to her knees, aside Ashe, checking her wrist and neck for a pulse. Satisfied, she moved on to her breathing. That, too, checked out. Finally, the addict lifted the girl’s head to check for any obvious trauma. Not even a cut. “Okay, you just fainted...” the girl looked over at the robot, which now stepped over the massive steel door it had so easily obliterated. “Can’t say I blame you,” Sage observed, completely misinterpreting the reason for Ashe’s sudden unconsciousness.

Toppling an office chair, she spun it around so the wheeled legs were pointed toward Ashe. With a slight grunt, she lifted one of the pink haired girl’s legs and slid the chair underneath it. She picked up the other leg next and did the same. “Now it’s up to you to wake up, Ashe,” Sage frowned, looking over at WALTER, who suddenly hurled a fist into one of the few barricades separating them from the goblins Ashe had spotted on the screen earlier. “Please hurry!”

Still sitting on her knees, she twisted around to stare over her shoulder in bewilderment as the android literally dug its fingers into the steel barricade, and hefted it up into the air, pulling it off its massive hinges, before tossing it aside just as easily as he’d done the other.

From the hole poured a swarm of goblins, rushing the android while Rose and Kazuya took defensive positions. WALTER, however, seemed totally unfazed as they buried him beneath their offensive, lashing out with primitive weapons fashioned from now-ruined laboratory equipment.

The room suddenly went white, and there was a loud boom. The crystal haired girl toppled over, stunned by the flashbang effect. Seconds felt like hours as she desperately tried to blink away the white that blanketed her vision. Soon, things faded in, obscured by great spots. Sage could hardly comprehend the sight before her, not even realizing as the absolute silence around her was mercifully replaced with a painful ringing in her ears, letting her know she wasn’t deaf.

Somehow, in the seconds of blindness, WALTER had dispatched... everything. All of the goblins lay dead, charred and burned beyond recognition. Mangled lumps of horrid smelling flesh littered through the chamber. On the backs of WALTER’s forearms had appeared what looked like laser cannons.

Sage’s off-the-wall suspicions were confirmed as another gibbering, screeching goblin charged through the doorway only to be incinerated by a blast from one of the cannons. The android tromped on ahead, through the obliterated barrier, in search of other creatures to destroy.

To the right, near Rose and Kazuya, an explosion rocked the building, collapsing the wall adjacent to them. From the rubble swarmed another horde of goblins, and with WALTER gone, they were forced to defend themselves. The assassin deftly slashed and sliced through them with practiced ease, while Rose brutally beat back any of the creatures who evaded Kazuya’s blade.

Realizing they could not push past the women, the fiendish creatures suddenly...

“What!?”

“Incredible!”

“N-No!”

Voices rang out altogether. The goblins had decided to simply climb the walls. While several leapt into the fray on the ground, occupying the two warriors, many more raced up the walls, leaping down from them to deliver an aerial assault.

“No good!” Kazuya shouted, more quickly willing to trade pride for common sense than her pink haired companion. “Fall back!! We have to get out of here right now! Get going!! Now!!”

Sage trembled as the goblins swarmed into the room, armed with axes and clubs. One held scalpels in between its fingers, like some kind of twisted take on spiked knuckles. She tried to move, couldn’t.

The fearsome creatures drew closer as Rose and Kazuya fought them off as they retreated across the room, toward... her. She tried to move, couldn’t.

One leapt from the ceiling, then, landing on Rose’s back and pinning her to the floor. The assassin was occupied with too many to help, and the subdued girl fought hard beneath the creature, but was overwhelmed as more and more leapt on top of her.

Sage tried to move. Could- These people- she growled, projecting herself to the women and the goblins around her. -helped me! her growl became more feral as her hand fell back onto the plasma pistol. She lifted it up to the growing pile on top of the pink haired girl with the bizarre DNA. These people- she repeated, staring at the goblins. She rationalized what she was about to do. They weren’t human, weren’t people. She’d never killed a person before but goblins weren’t people. ...Right? Sage shook her head. -helped me!!

The girl opened fire, and a single, fiery green ball of energy raced across the room, colliding near the top of the pile of goblins. A cacophony of shrieks and screams rang out, and Sage watched as skin was vaporized, leaving only bone behind. From beneath the carnage burst Rose, freeing herself from the ones still alive.

“Help!!” Sage shrieked, motioning to Ashe. Kaz saw this, and with an immense hiss of contempt, detoured up to the workstation. The assassin hefted the girl over her shoulder, shooting a glare at Sage, before leading the way to the very back of their chamber. “We’re trapped!”

“Through the vent!” Rose declared, kicking in a large grate, revealing a ventilation shaft that plunged sharply downward. Kaz was the first through it, then Sage, then Rose. The group slid down the ventilation tube, until the purple haired one crashed through a grate and tumbled into what looked to be some kind of control room. Computer equipment was strewn everywhere.

Sage crashed onto the floor out of the vent, and Rose exited after her with a great deal more grace, and helped the blue haired girl to her feet. “Here,” Kazuya suddenly announced, dropping Ashe to the floor. “If you’re worried about her, you take her.”

Sage frowned, but said nothing, and instead withdrew a capsule, clicked it, and let it drop to the floor. From the smoke emerged her medical kit, from which she retrieved a vial of adrenaline. “Not... strictly recommended,” she observed, as she extracted the substance into a syringe. “But I don’t really have anything else for this, Ashe,” she sighed, plunging the needle of adrenalin into the girl’s neck. “Wake up,” she beseeched, pushing the plunger down.

“They're coming! I can hear them!!” Rose shouted.

[Super Buu]

Leaning back in his chair, Kai glanced up at the laboratory monitor with detached curiosity. WALTER was blasting the goblins, Ashe had fallen unconscious, and the remaining three women were doing their best to stay out of harm’s way.

“What about that other girl?” said Rosemary. “Any reason you chose her?”

Kai scoffed. “Her parents, of course.”

The woman looked blank.

“She’s the daughter of Super Buu and Violet Uzumaki,” continued Demolic. “You know, from Dante’s Abyss?”

“Never watched it,” replied Rosemary, inspecting her fingernails. “For the record, I don’t like her. She’s so …”

“Predictable, I know. But sometimes the audience like knowing what’s going to happen next. Makes them feel smart. They want her to turn out to be just like her parents – they want more of the same.”

“But too much of the same gets boring.”

Kai sighed. “I know. To be honest, I don’t think she’ll be in much longer. Male viewers prefer their damsels to be in distress, not tomboys. I would’ve captured Super Buu – now that would have pulled in the ratings. But it seems he’s fallen off the face of the universe.”

“Well, get rid of her soon,” said Rosemary. “I don’t like having another person with my name in the competition.”

“I’ll give her a chance to surprise me. If not, then, well …” Kai chuckled as, on-screen, a goblin fell from the lab’s ceiling towards Rose. “… Everyone likes to see a loudmouth get put in their place.”

* * * * *

As the goblins closed in, Rose grit her teeth. She thought they had escaped the game, if not the island. After all, they weren’t playing by the ‘rules’. The groups hadn’t fought, as they’d been instructed to, instead joining together. They’d escaped capture back in the sewers, and even infiltrated a hidden base. She’d kicked ass the whole way through, exacting her revenge just as she’d promised she would when she awoke in the abandoned town. They’d defeated all the foes that had been placed before them, and not once did she question their success.

But it was all too perfect. Like they’d been meant to come here. Had the director known what they’d do? Back when she’d been living with the Illumins, she always knew the truth. They never lied, and neither did their seeing-orbs. It wasn’t until a month ago, when Bibidi had arrived, that she’d been introduced to deception. She’d been manipulated like a puppet. How did she know the same wasn’t happening here?

Was this entire thing staged? Rose clenched her fists so hard that her nails began to bite into her skin. Have they been letting us win? She’d been so damn proud of herself. Showing off with her flashiest attack, flaunting her powers. How could I have been so stupid … so arrogant!? All along, she’d been doing exactly what they wanted her to do. Was she the only one that hadn’t realised? She cursed herself, oblivious to the danger from above.

The goblin fell onto her back, its tiny green claws sinking into her hoody. “Not again,” she hissed, raising a hand up to try and blast it off. But the other goblins weren’t about to give her the time to focus, and grabbed at her limbs, pulling her to the floor.

Is this real, or part of the game? the girl found herself thinking. They want me to fight back, but if I don’t, what would they do? Would they actually kill me? She struggled, but it was half-hearted. As she delayed, more goblins quickly began to pile on, the weight of their bodies crushing the air out of the girl’s lungs. Now real panic set in. Had she been wrong?!

And then the gun went off. A blazing ball of green energy cut through the darkness of the goblin horde. Life once again fluttered before Rose’s eyes, and she snatched at it, bursting from the remaining pile of goblins. With a roar, she spun around, her arms elongating and slapping her aggressors back, clearing a path to the back of the room.

Uzumaki was running over to the others; Rose raced after her, heart pumping. Behind the group, she spotted a vent and kicked it in, shouting something to the others and hoping it was intelligible English. Her ears were ringing, and she couldn’t even make out her own words. So she was glad when the others began to jump into the vent, and she followed after them without so much as a glance over her shoulder.

The next moment, she emerged from the other end of the shaft, and was on the floor of some kind of control room – computers and flashing lights were the flavour of the minute. Sage hadn’t exited as painlessly as her, and Rose rushed to give the girl a hand. If she hadn’t shot those goblins, I’d be dead, thought the daughter of Buu with pondering concern. But it’s weird … I’ve never seen her kill before.

And then it hit her. The others. Were they part of the game, too? If they’d lied about the objective of the competition, then what was stopping them from lying about this? What if the others were just actors, leading her in the right direction and providing the right impetus?

Rose’s heart thumped. Yes … it had all been too good to be true. That a girl her age, a normal girl, should turn up and, more than that, like her. They’d given her what she wanted most – a friend – and they’d used it to string her along. Her eyes pricked, and she felt something welling in her throat. Anger, or sadness, she couldn’t tell.

Behind her, the vents began to rattle. I’ve got to pretend I don’t know, she thought, and so yelled: “They’re coming! I can hear them!”

Sage looked up, panicked, and Rose almost recoiled at the expression. It seemed real, and yet … she’d been tricked so easily before. Her mind flashed back to the Arlutheus, her earliest teacher, who she had let die. One cannot let their mind be ruled by wishful thinking nor pessimism, he had said. Sage had saved her life … or had she ever really been in danger in the first place?

Ashe was beginning to start, gasping in huge breaths of air and blinking erratically. Rose looked down at her, eyes wide. She’s not your friend! she insisted, but no matter how many times she repeated it to herself, the sight of the girl below her grew no easier to bear.

The teenager covered her face with her hands. It was too much.

“Hey!” barked Uzumaki. “Stay focused! Get ready!”

Rose looked up at the man – or was it woman? – and for just a fleeting moment, a glimmer of hatred crossed her eyes. But then it was gone, and she was nodding silently.

Screams were coming from the vent, and as the first came out, Rose met it with her fist. If they want to have a masquerade, then I’ll play along, she thought.

They began to fall backwards as more goblins filled the room, spilling from the vent as though it were a broken gumball dispenser. Rose’s eyes scanned the room.

“Please, Ashe, we need your help!” urged Sage to the young woman next to her. The pink-haired girl was semi-conscious, apparently barely able to stand.

Uzumaki growled as the goblins closed in around them. “Let her be, help us! Fire that weapon of yours! Rose, you guard the other side!”

“Yes.” Rose’s face was blank, but around her blazed a pink aura. Uzumaki was satisfied.

The goblins had had enough. Their horde closed in, screeching and cackling like something out of a nightmare.

It’s now or never.

Just a moment before the goblins reached her, Rose kicked off the ground, her energy carrying her upwards into the sky. She heard yells reverberate behind her, but she paid them no mind, continuing her ascent with the air whistling in her ears. I won’t play this game anymore! The only person I can trust … is myself! Her eyes were set on the glass window at the top of the plant. She reached her arms out towards it … and then something made her to stop. A scream. She looked down.

It was Ashe. A goblin was holding her by the throat. “Rose!” she cried weakly. “Help me!”

Rose hovered in the air for a moment, perfectly still, her eyes staring into those of the other girl. Then her fists clenched, and she shot upwards like an arrow, through the glass window and out into the sky.

[Ashe]

Ashe’s world erupted into a blue and silver hue as she fell endlessly through the abyssal void, never feeling the impact of the cold steel floor that had been beneath her. Her eyes were fluttering back open as she fought to awaken herself, but she knew inside that it was futile. She had called Sage’s name, her memory recalling that Sage had sprung into action to grab her, and… A bright flash of light upon contact.

Feathers had replaced her body mass as she glided down, her feet finally touching down upon a crystalline stairway of a bright blue to contrast against the silver of the surrounding atmosphere. Her shoes turned in place as she gasped, looking all around her before kneeling to touch the azure stairwell. It felt solid enough that she couldn’t deny its existence as illusion, but she knew that she was either in a dream - or dead.

Oxygen filled her lungs as the girl strode cautiously down the crystal steps, seeing no end in sight but having no choice. Every step down the stair way seemed to be a walkthrough of her life, with the sky around her taking form as if a television, creating bubbles of imagery that floated by her to either cease their existence violently or to merge with one nearby to somehow interweave moment’s of her life. Her eyes widened as she reach out gingerly, a small orb landing upon her fingertips.

Taking a moment to sit down to rest, she found the sapphire platform had adjusted itself to mold around her, leaving her nested comfortably within an orb of energy as if sitting within a bean bag chair. She barely even noticed the changing of the world around her. The events within the crystal ball at her reach had her entire attention, however, and she leaned further in to lose herself to its visual grandeur…

Inside of the scene playing out before her was a small child, a young girl with a freckled face and a tomboyish grin plastered on her cheeks. Ashe gasped at the realization that this was her at the age of two. She couldn’t remember this ever happening, though, but another five year old girl was guided out of the room quickly by a man who was unmistakably Ashe’s father.

She looked around, suddenly realizing that she was now within the mind’s eye of the young girl, unable to control what she said or did, as if she were simply along for the ride. I don’t understand… What is this? Grandpa? Her thoughts rang out within her mind as the man called Gensei strode into view, guiding a woman in her mid twenties in to see the girl. Ashe felt herself smile and reach for the woman - her mom - as she received a quick hug in response. Her hands clasped at a name tag that read Lilandra Branford before she felt her mom pry her off.

Why is she worried?

Gensei squeezed her mom’s shoulders reassuringly and received a smile from her. A moment later, he looked up at a doctor that had entered the room and said something that Ashe couldn’t hear. Gah! Where’s the volume on this thing? Immediately she was sitting back on the crystal sofa, holding her favorite set of headphones. “That’s… interesting,” she mumbled suspiciously as she placed them within her ears, glancing back into the sky that was holding the scene - now paused - as if she were in a theatre. “Well, as long as I’m here for the ride, I wouldn’t mind some-” Popcorn covered her lap as her hands clumsily bumped the bag against her. She quickly straightened it up and popped some into her mouth in satisfaction before focusing on the images that had once more begun playing.

A man had strode forth and Gensei paused to shake hands with him. “Ah, Dr. Tranfield, it’s a pleasure to work with you again,” he laughed jovially, releasing the man’s firm grip to run his hand through his shorter but still lengthy white beard.

“Please, the pleasure is all mine. Lily has told me all about how much you’ve done for them. Especially the girls, I don’t know how they’d have gotten along with anyone else here. Isn’t Terra starting school soon?” the man asked in small talk.

Ashe’s mom stepped forward, a woman with strawberry blond hair pulled firmly back with a tie and eyes that radiated kindness through her glasses. Her crimson lips spread into a proud smile and she nodded, holding the younger Ashe’s hand as she spoke up. “We are hoping to send her to school as soon as possible before they close out the new entries. I think that we are going to keep Terra here on Kajin Rala though so that we can monitor her firsthand. That will allow us some advanced insight in case anything goes wrong with Ashe so we can-”

“Lily, don’t worry, we’ve got this under control. This wouldn’t be the first time we’ve done this for your kind,” the man reassured her, looking down at Ashe. The young girl who shared her mother’s hair color was peeking out shyly from behind her leg at the smiling man. “Ashe, you have a great lineage behind you, and we have a lot that we can learn from you. I doubt that you will even remember any of this, but just to let you know, we’ve taken your absolute safety into concern and the procedure will not hurt a bit.” He produced a small piece of candy from his coat pocket and handed it to her, coaxing her to step forward a slight bit. “Someone also told me that you love taffy. Is that true?” he asked, a faint twinkle in his brown eyes as Ashe leaped forward, snatching at the candy. He tussled her hair a bit and then stood up, beaming at the other two adults. “Well, at least she didn’t bite me like Terra did, haha.”

Ashe’s mom chuckled a bit and looked down at her daughter. “I couldn’t believe she did that to you, Jon, but Ashe is definitely more like her mommy, aren’t you?” Her arms embraced the triumphant girl as she chewed on her favorite candy. “Ashelia, don’t be afraid. This won’t hurt, and we’ll won’t let anything happen to you. We’ll wrap this up quickly and then you and grandpa will go to Earth so that you can live a normal life among normal humans.” She pulled back for a moment and then looked up at Gensei. “She’s so beautiful, isn’t she?”

The man simply chuckled once more, obviously confident in his talents. “Lily…” he began.

She took a breath and stepped back. “I know. Its just harder every time,” she said sadly. “I guess the rest of us turned out alright though, other than-”

“Are you ready, Ashe?” the man spoke to her, lifting her up and setting her into a comfortable doctor’s chair. “Dr. Tranfield here will watch to make sure that you are healthy and your body is working right.” Glancing over at the man, he received a nod as the diagnostic pulled up her vitals. He looked back at her and stepped away for a moment.

A warm and soothing field of energy surrounded the man as he began to unwrap a small sealed package from the table nearby, his aura building up the energy for what was to come. It was then that the image suddenly burst into static, as if the television before her had lost its reception. Ashe leapt to her feet as everything began vanishing around her.

“Wait!” she cried out, running a few steps forward into open air yet not falling. “Bring it back, I need to see what happened. What… I don’t understand! Mom? Gensei?” she cried out, having only seen just enough to confuse her as an event that she couldn’t even remember had just happened before her eyes. “What did you do-”

…to me? I’m… a normal human girl!

---

The lights burned her eyes as they were forced open, her breathing in painful gasps as the oxygen seemed to burn on injured lungs while the light attacked her eyes. Images were still happening in fleeting moments before her, only now she realized it was present events. Her eyes were flickering and wandering all around, unable to bear to her conscious that she was being ripped away from wherever she had been.

“Please, Ashe, we need your help!”

The girl’s muscles spasmed at their sudden awakening, as if they had been punched through with sheer adrenaline and had been completely unprepared for the experience. She felt herself being dragged to her feet and tried to hold herself up as her pink hair fell completely over her eyes, her head hanging low to the ground before someone straightened her up. “Come on,” a soft voice called out in a near whisper to her.

Ashe’s eyes finally began to adjust on the blurred imagery contesting for ownership before her and her breathing became normalized enough that she coughed before attempted fluent verbal thought. “Sa-sage?” That was the name she was trying to remember. It wasn’t her sister, nor her mom, nor even Gensei or her father. They were far away from here in a memory that was still halfway lost.

Had her family betrayed her? Gensei had watched over her and loved her for her entire life, and she’d visited her family every summer on that second Earth. She and her sister were close and her parents had never even come close to a divorce. She was a normal Earth girl, wasn’t she? Had that all changed? Was everything a lie, or was there more that she didn’t understand?

“Am I a freak?” she whispered imperceptibly below her breath, escaping Sage’s attention as the girl checked her all over. She tried to calm her mind using some of the breathing techniques that her grandfather had shown her, but she couldn’t help but question her past. Focus… She locked eyes onto Sage’s, matching her breaths with her own and feeling the energy ebb and flow back into her. These were her new… friends. The word felt strange within her mind, but she believed it was true.

She hadn’t known them long, understandably, but she was in a situation where she was going to have to rely on these people to keep her safe. She couldn’t exactly defend herself against these creatures, and they seemed to realize that, that she was an ordinary girl. She couldn’t use magic powers or wield ancient bladed weaponry of the past. She couldn’t fly through the air and explode energy from her palms, nor could she even fight in close combat with anymore more than the absolute basic levels of training that she had received after… After what had happened her first year in High School.

Sage and Rose were seemingly polar opposites, but they were like her. While Rose could do the unimaginable, she shared Ashe’s style of dress, even her hair color. She was wild and energetic, much like her friend Becca back home, and she seemed like she wouldn’t let anyone push her around. Rose comforted Ashe by her always confident presence, keeping her calm under pressure in the same way that Becca had always done even if she could be a bit annoying and selfish at times.

Similarly, Sage seemed a lot like her friend Claire. Although the two did not share the same timid and shy personalities, they were both compassionate about others and tended to think about helping out others and letting them enjoy things that they otherwise might not have been able to. Claire had, on many occasions, helped Ashe clean a scrape or ice a bruise after a bad fall from a tree or rough party. She was constantly seeking to involve everyone in things to keep the group close during times that they seemed to be getting pulled apart, and had helped Ashe out late into the night on some of the toughest school assignments she’d been given - all while Becca skipped out and went to a movie.

Ashe had always seemed to share a bit of herself with both of them, and she could find herself doing the same with Rose and Sage. The two may not have spoken very much with each other, but she was beginning to feel a level of trust building up with both of them that would allow her to let them in, friendships that could possibly even allow them to keep contact if they managed to survive this event.

Someone called out to them in the room, and Sage helped Ashe to lean against one of the tables in the room before turning to blast her energy gun at a group of the creatures that had scattered through. Rose was rising into the air next to Ashe as Sage ran to the edge of the room to help clear away the onslaught that had swarmed in from a hole that had been opened in the wall. Kazuya’s blade was flashing, cutting as many down as she could in the front.

It was that moment that a massive goblinish creature shattered through the rear barricade in the room as if breaking through tinfoil. A quick glance from Ashe brought a chill of terror to her heart. Sage’s words echoed within her mind as the creature bounded across the room and grabbed Ashe by the throat, lifting her into the air as its tongue flopped around outside of its gaping maw like a towel hanging loose over a set of knives. “Only two of these were salvageable, with the third requiring immediate extermination. This third creature will be exterminated within the week and has been stored within the facility’s tubes until the disposal plant is once more operational.” This had been the creature that was on the screen while they had read that part. Her feet slammed forward against the creature, but its chest was like a dragon’s, coated in a thick leathery set of yellow scales. She tried to call out for help, but her voice was being choked down in her throat. In what came to her as a mixed blessing, the creature switched her to its other large claw, releasing her throat for a brief moment as it raised her into its enormous mouth.

“Rose!” she cried out, expelling the air before it even had a chance to fill her burning lungs. Sage and Kazuya were too far away. “Help me!” she pleaded, her eyes burning with painful tears as she struggled to survive the creature’s bone crushing grip. As she tried to look anywhere but down its throat.

The two girls locked eyes from across the room, holding their breath as the explosions boomed, and Rose was the first to look away, glancing first at the floor before setting her sights on a glass window above them. Ashe’s eyes widened for a moment… as Rose’s aura exploded around her, not to help her fight the creature holding her, but to instead send her sprawling through the shattering glass and away from the group.

The world grew quiet around her, and she was lost to her thoughts as the oxygen was being drained away. Rose… You are coming back… Right? You were getting something to help… I know you were… she cried out, her only comfort being that she would be crushed by the creature before it decided to swallow her whole, and no one would even know. Mom? Grandpa? Dad?

Rose?

[Super Buu]

Rose burst from the roof of the water processing plant. Immediately the gravity field kicked in, and she began to tumble down the sloped metal. This time, there was nothing to stop her tumbling from the edge.

But there was something else. A drain pipe clinging to the side of the building. It was enough. Her right hand shot out, wrapping itself around the pole, and the rest of her body swung to meet it. She slid down, grazed but at least alive, and hit the floor.

That was it, then.

Rose burst into tears, and then immediately wiped them away angrily. She wasn’t going to let them guilt-trip her. They’d manipulated her, used her for their entertainment all along. But the worst part was that, even now, she didn’t know whether she’d been right. She didn’t know what was real and what wasn’t anymore.

I want to go home, she thought. If the Illumins were watching her now, what would they have thought about her chances, about the decisions she’d made? Surely they knew the truth, they’d have had it figured out from the beginning. Rose had come to rely on their knowledge without even knowing it, and now that she was out in the real world, it was all too confusing.

I won’t let them make a fool out of me, she thought, standing up. I don’t need anyone else to tell me what’s right!

Yes, she’d find out once and for all what was real and what wasn’t. They hadn’t let her die back there – ‘Sage’, if that was even her real name, had stopped them. But it was all to keep up the façade of danger, to make it seem real. The more she wondered, the more she began to question the decisions she’d made all along. Had they even known she would figure it out eventually? The drainpipe on the side of the building … she clenched her fists.

It didn’t matter. For now, she had to move. Rose set off at a run, uphill and away from the plant. She could make out trees, and dilapidated structures in the distance. Was this back the way towards the abandoned town? It didn’t seem like it. The island itself was like a labyrinth, always masking the way forward. Maybe, like the minotaur, she’d be trapped here forever. Going round and around, watched like a rat in a cage.

Rose fell to her knees, striking the ground. “God damn it!” she sobbed. It wasn’t fair. Even in the real world, she couldn’t live a normal life. She cursed her luck, her parents, her powers, everything that had brought her here. All along, she’d just been fixed to a train track, unable to make her own decisions.

If she listened to them, then they got what they wanted. If she tried to escape, she still ended up playing into her hands. There was no way to win. In that case, she thought, I’ll do neither. Let them come after me, let them attack me. From now on, I don’t fight back. It’s time to run.

And so she ran.

[Sage]

The fearsome, chittering monstrosities were everywhere. They shrieked in fury and cackled with wicked amusement in the same beat, as though they all suffered from some kind of multiple personality disorder - all of them evil.

Sage couldn’t help but slip into her thoughts for a moment, freezing with her pistol drawn, no longer providing covering fire for Kazuya, who was already being pushed back by the fiendish creatures.

Oliver had called them demons a few times. Sage considered this, now, her eyes wandering, as though searching for some hidden clue, a link of some sort. Demons. She had shrugged it off when he said it, thinking it was just a turn of phrase. But these... things, with their pointed teeth and their horrible screams... maybe there was more seriousness in Oliver’s words than she knew. Maybe they were demons, but then what did that mean? Had they broken loose from the underworld? Or...

...Or was this horrible game not a game at all? What really happened when she was kidnapped? Was she actually brought here or had they-

“Sage!!” Kazuya roared, taking a knee as the overwhelming hordes ceaselessly pressed against her. The blue haired girl opened fire, shooting wide and hitting a wall. She fired again, catching four of the sinister creatures in the explosion. Another shot felled three more, and the assassin capitalized on the brief confusion, rising up and slashing to pieces those nearest her.

And then Rose... left. Sage stared up at the hole in the ceiling, the hand of disbelief gripping her with icy fingers. She shuddered under the sudden chill, and something beckoned at her. It sounded as though Ashe had screamed, but... she knew she hadn’t heard it.

Still, the chemically dependent girl turned on her heel to see a hideous creature, its huge, fanged mouth opened unnaturally wide, holding its catch overhead, hungrily eyeing the pink haired girl. The thing’s tongue lolled out of its mouth, nearly touching the floor, as a slow waterfall of droll cascaded from it. Demons...

Sage’s coral eyes went wide at the sight. It was going to eat Ashe. The diminutive hybrid trembled again, but not with fear. This was anger. Sage knew anger. She was never allowed to express it; her whole life she’d swallowed herself - her thoughts, her feelings, her wants, her needs, because her self had been stolen from her. Out of obligation to her sister, who had cared for her since then, she had done these things, but, in a sense, she felt she had done it because she no longer had any right to be happy. Even her medical career often felt like a dangerous indulgence.

Sage knew anger. She knew malice and deceit and hatred and fury. These things had been used against her, but they, too, festered within her. Sage wouldn’t - couldn’t - unleash it upon others as it had been unleashed upon her, but this... this thing was about to kill a girl just as helpless as she, was going to eat her for the sake of entertainment. Even Sage could see that Ashe had been reaching out to her.

She took a moment to absorb that. A whole world had shunned her, and with nowhere else to turn, she took refuge with her sister. And yet, here, in this horrid competition, people had reached out to her. Sophia, Juno, even Rose, but especially Ashe... and it made it hard for Sage to maintain her belief that people were inherently cruel creatures.

Well, the unlikely princess gritted her teeth as tears - familiar things, now - stung the edges of her eyes. I’m not just going to let Kai win!

Her eyes narrowed and sharpened, and she suddenly noticed a dial on the side of her weapon. It read ‘Maximum Lethal Force, Precision, and Non-Lethal.’ The dial was turned to maximum. Sage clicked it over to the precision setting, and raised it up at the gluttonous goblin, her head floating upon unfamiliar thoughts.

Sage pulled the trigger, and a furious green orb of energy leapt from the barrel, slamming into the horrid creature’s chin, snapping its head upward. It dropped Ashe, who collapsed, leaving the monstrosity open for the savage barrage that Sage unleashed upon it. Blast after blast of energy crashed into the creature, pushing it backward. Thick, amber blood with the consistency of motor oil poured from its wounds as its flesh became charred and blackened by the high intensity plasma blasts. The girl didn’t care; the shrieks of agony went unheard and unheeded. She kept pulling the trigger, watching with anticipation as the brilliant green balls hurdled into their target.

Finally, the monstrosity succumbed to Sage’s deadly onslaught, keeling over backward. Its head smacked the cold floor with a dull crack, and the blue haired girl rushed to Ashe’s aid, helping her to her feet. Then she turned, and coldly leveled her gun at the dying creature. Three shots rang out, obliterating the flesh on the monsters head, until naught but the skull remained.

Suddenly, her gun arm felt heavy. Sage’s arms fell to her sides, and she stumbled, but the pink haired girl she had just rescued intercepted her. “I got you,” she murmured, her voice distant, preoccupied.

“Get out of here!” Kazuya suddenly shouted. “I’ll handle these things!”

Neither Sage nor Ashe seemed particularly capable of handling the situation at the moment, but the blue haired girl recognized Ashe’s expression. She was lost. Sage herself wore that same expression countless times. Taking in a deep breath, she tried to calm herself. Sage could be lost later. For now, she owed Ashe her attention, and so, her coral hued eyes swept about, falling on an elevator not far away.

With the assassin occupying the goblin hordes, it was easy to slip away, leading Ashe by the arm to the elevator, whose doors, to Sage’s surprise, instantly slid open. No obligatory scene of tension as they waited for it while holding off the monsters. She pulled the pink haired girl inside and palmed the ‘M’ button, hoping to find an exit on the main floor. They were getting out of here.

[Ashe]

She was stumbling forward in the grasp of Sage, her mind partially clouded on what exactly was happening around her or even within her. Rose had just left, just like that. She’d bailed on them when she could have so easily helped them. And that dead, cold look that was in her eyes was probably the most painful thing about the entire experience - minus the feeling of her ribs and throat ready to snap. Thankfully, Sage had come to her aid and Ashe’s mind shut down into a fog afterwards. She didn’t care what was happening. Her mind was taking in too much at one time.

Her heritage was pounding at her from within, her friends were abandoning her from without, Kai Demolic was toying with them from on high, and goblins were assaulting them from below. It was enough to leave her wrist aching for the soothing release of a blade. Unfortunately, she would find no such comforts here.

Here, the only thing to keep her sanity intact was the cackling laughter echoing through the ventilation shaft as Sage and Ashe spilled through it, pushing their way through the energy barriers with their newly registered DNA allowing them passage. “Get in,” Sage pressed her, pushing her quickly into the lift before turning to hold her gun forward in case more of them rushed them at the last minute. The doors shut swiftly around the pair, and they were engulfed in eerie silence.

“I need to check your vit-” Sage began, stopping midway as she saw Ashe coughing raggedly and arcing her back as pain shot through her. Setting the gun down quickly, the doctor dropped down and began placing her fingertips against various places on her to check her pulse. “Ashe. Ashe!” she cried out louder, trying to get into the girls mind. ASHE! This time, she had truly cried out into the girls mind, but she received nothing more than a stream of tears flowing from the girl’s sapphire eyes, focused on something miles beyond the elevator’s cold steel.

---

“Ashe!”

Sage’s voice cried out into her mind, but strangely, the image that embodied the voice was that of her mother. She struggled as a blue energy field had surrounded her, her eyes falling onto those of her grandfather standing a few feet away. He had a fierce golden aura surrounding himself, giving off a fierce torrent of energy that roared like a lion throughout the room.

Her mother tried to rush in to grab Ashe, who realized that she was strapped against what seemed to be a rack-like torture device, but perhaps that was just the terror that was pounding through her quickened heart as she had been strapped into a hospital bed before this. Dr. Tranfield grabbed her quickly, leaping from his chair in the lab to point at Ashe’s vital signs as they poured over the monitors. “She’s alright!” he yelled, forcing her attention from her daughter to the screens. “She’s not even in any pain, she’s just scared!”

Lily pushed against him in vain, trying to reach Ashe while tears poured from her eyes. “No, she’s terrified! She needs her mother!”

Gensei shot her a sharp glare through golden hued eyes to keep her back. He could not speak, at this moment, but the look was clear enough. Stay back. The old man’s clothing was rippling around him as if it were ready to shred at any moment, unable to withstand the raging energy rushing around them. His muscles were as tight as they could get, betraying any hint of old age.

Ashe looked down to realize that she was topless, but strangely she didn’t seem to mind. She was, after all, only two years old, her core clarified for her. Between her blue field of energy and his gold was a spinning item that seemed to be made of glass, but something told her that it was crystallized ki energy. Focusing on it for a moment, the image seemed almost as if it were a jagged image of the North Star, but each of the five points were rounded off towards the center like teardrops. Each of the five rounded off spikes essentially floated in existence to each other into the shape of a five pointed star with nothing in the center.

The Star’s Tear, as she would later come to learn of it. She stared at it, panic stricken as it slowly floated closer to her. It was then that her mind was washed over with a cooling wave of pacifism, as if all of her terror had been removed and replaced with halcyon incarnate. You have nothing to fear, girl. We are one. Her eyes would have widened if she had not gone into a state of anesthetic sleep, before realizing that the Tear itself was speaking with in her mind. Or was that simply her imagination? Could it have been one of the other’s in the room trying to calm her? Sage, from outside?

Then, in a supernova’s flare of bluish silver energy, she felt it enter into her bosom as if she and it were both made of nothing more than light and coexisting in the same point in space. Her gaze lowered to her chest and she saw through herself, watching her organs all function as her body was a strange transparent blue. Her veins throughout her system were glowing with a blue of wires within a computer, while her lightly glowing heart was beating calmly within her chest. Her lungs, her skeletal system… It was an amazing sight, as if she had been born with the spectral body structure of a jelly fish. The relic was embedded within her chest as it fade, shattering into billions of tiny shards within her before the sparkling dusty fragments clung to her internal body structure, fusing itself with the girl and bringing them together for the journey into life.

She felt calm, unnaturally placid, but it felt as if she had never had a reason to feel worried at all. Even more strangely, she could now feel the very light particles floating within the air around her, a tingling as her hands moved childishly through each spec of glowing dust. She could feel a strange energy moving within her, leaving through her pores to enter the apparitional stream around her before returning through her chakra points to flow within her. She felt hypersensitive enough that she could even feel the pressure within her mind of the other’s presence nearby, feeling a distinct signal pulsing towards her between Gensei, her mom, Dr. Tranfield… She even could feel the other lab workers throughout the building, moving around as they went about their work.

She felt alive, on a level that she had never felt. One with the life stream of the earth itself. She felt…

---

“Goblins!” Ashe cried out, coughing. “Coming! Here!” She had no idea how she knew. She was still practically unconscious and as delusional as a acid dropper. But she felt them, so strongly, as if nothing could deny their existence nearby.

Sage was trying to calmly tune out her mad ramblings as she checked over the girl, holding open her rapidly blinking eyelids to look deeply into her eyes. “Still unfocused, ugh,” she grunted in frustration. The blue light around the girl had returned in her sleep, spreading around her like a ki field before pulsing rapidly. It had scared Sage, originally, but she had no time to allow her fear to grip her if Ashe’s fears were true. Sage had already pulled the girl’s hooded jacket off of her body and had begun to inspect her for breakouts, after taking note of how heavy her breathing had become and how feverish she was looking.

She slowly lifted up Ashe’s dress above the line of her undershorts, trying to put aside the fear of Ashe misunderstanding the situation if she awoke so that she could do what she needed. She couldn’t diagnose the problem if she didn’t check for symptoms, and she needed to know if the girl was growing red blotches or rashes near her heart from the blood rush she seemed to be experiencing. “Come on, Ashe,” she whispered, lifting her up by the neck enough to pull her dress up further, looking down at her blue hued stomach as the light enveloping them grew stronger. The dress finally came up over to the girl’s neck, and Sage focused, her eyes suddenly widening as she saw the birthmark on the girl’s chest.

The birthmark was a colored marking in the center of her breastbone, slightly darker than her normal pigmentation in the area. Sage stared at it intently as the mark took a blue outlined appearance, like lines around a tattoo. Could this just be some weird form of body art?

Ashe’s breathing had begun to slow down for a moment as her eyes closed, relieved of the heat release at her clothing being loosened up for her. Sage’s deft hands covered her forehead to find that the feverish sweating had cooled down a bit and gave a quick smile before looking back at the glowing star insignia upon her chest. It was still glowing, but some of the strength of the shifting energy had receded slightly around her into a pale blue hue.

SLAM!

Sage’s vision snapped up at the roof of the sealed elevator to see a small dent appear in the top. Soon after, she heard high pitched laughter from other goblins laughing at their comrade who had fallen down the elevator shaft and struck the roof. She looked back down and saw Ashe’s eyes were once more open, staring calmly back up towards the ceiling herself at the dent. “Don’t worry about me,” Ashe spoke depressively. “I don’t want you hurt,” she breathed, pulling her clothes back into place without asking why they had been lifted up so far.

Did it bother her?

Of course it bothered her that some strange girl had partially undressed her in a sealed elevator shaft, but she held her trust in Sage that the girl would do whatever was necessary to the wellbeing of her friends. The girl was a freaking doctor, timid and yet feisty at the same time. There was no misunderstanding the situation of a doctor checking on someone that had just passed out while goblins were attacking them from every direction.

She grabbed her hoody and pulled it back down, not even realizing that she still retained the faint blue hue around her. Sage was retrieving her gun from the elevator floor and quickly filled Ashe in on exactly what had happened while she’d been out of it, lost in thought. The pink haired girl nodded, quickly hugging Sage in a display of gratitude - feeling the girl tense up in her arms - but releasing her immediately before she could do any permanent damage to the girl’s personal space.

Ashe herself had been accused of having a bubble complex quite often in her life.

The schoolgirl turned and glanced at the sealed shaft door before taking a breath. “Ready?” she asked quietly before slamming the emergency lock back into the open position. Giving them one more moment to prepare as the elevator lurched within the shaft from the creatures landing on it, she hit the door release button, running out into the darkness with only Sage at her side.

Team Red and Blue, through and through.

[Kazuya]

Cold, black eyes followed the distraught pair as they evacuated the room that held such amalgamated horror, leaving the Samurai alone against a horde of brown, furry nightmares. Her feet shuffled nervously as she weighed her sword’s hilt in her hand, her gaze darting from one side of the mass to the other. Which would be the best way to take them out? What would not get her killed? She could have just simply run, trailing the other three who’d gotten away, but then, they’d still have an assload of simpering, mangy goblins following behind them.

Iie, no, her conscious would not let her do it. As content as she would have been to let them have their way with the other contestants and further her chance of survival, and perhaps even winning, it was the centuries of harboring the conscious of a woman that didn’t have the nerve to give up the ghost, the woman she used to be.

Her eyes flashed angrily as she swatted the edge of her sword at an encroacher, effectively knocking him back as slowly, inch by inch, they pushed her back towards the elevator door. This wasn’t looking good for the Halfling, but she was the only chance they had of survival. She was their protector, the man that she wasn’t, and didn’t have all these years, this was her chance to prove that Hadoken hadn’t corrupted everything that she used to be. Kazuki was still inside, somewhere.

“Alright, you little bastards,” she chuckled wryly, the edge of her sword poised and ready as a smirk cracked across her steely face. “It’s just you, and me. God, I must have grown a pair of balls to be this fucking crazy.”

Her body tensed as the elevator doors swished open, an innocent ding! chiming behind her, as if inviting her to make the easy escape. She had a decision to make, but she knew her answer long before this. “No…I have to stay. I have to defeat you!” she raged, her body pulsing as an orange aura swept around it, her eyes flushing to the color of tangerines.

Suddenly, a wash of furry bodies rose up, and crashed against her, drowning her in a wave of acrid, slimy, moving things gnawing at her flesh and trying to rend her weapon from her hands. She’d never let them have it. Never!

Kicking and screaming the whole way through, she finally broke to the surface of the pile, her sword poised once more before it descended like Death’s Scythe into the squirming mob. Blood arced in red streamers as she sliced her way through, the air filling with the high-pitched screams of the munchkin nightmares. She had decimated a good portion, the bloodlust raging inside of her rising to a fever pitch as the liquid flowed freely from both the monsters and her; Kazuya was lost to the almost orgasmic sensation as the remaining creatures backed off, reeling backwards towards the deeper recesses of the laboratory.

Her left eye was swollen, but didn’t hinder her sight as much as it should have. She felt the cut that ran jagged from her brow to cheek, and the blood that oozed from it and down her face. Reaching upwards, she trailed her fingertips to the sticky liquid, touching it tentatively before pulling away to observe. “Little fucks made me bleed. I haven’t bled in almost a century.”

“Chigarann was the one that drew your precious blood!” exclaimed a black and yellow striped beast from the right. His face was a horrid mash of meat and blood, but the smirk he wore would have made any warrior proud. “Chigarann fight for brothers you have slain!”

The language was heavily chittery, a series of half-yelps and clicks that should have never made it into the league of spoken communication. She shouldn’t have been able to understand it, but she did. Somehow, she did, and responded in kind: “Hadoken hath slain many of your kind, creature. I am Master here, you will obey, or you will die!”

The one known as Chigarann hobbled to the front of the mob, the rest of his body just as torn as his face. She knew a warrior when she saw one, and this thing was no stranger to battle. His face belied his words, as if he was puzzled. “How is it that you understand us, human?”

“A tale for another day,” she chuckled, voice a few octaves lower than the norm. “A day, I’m afraid, you’ll never see.” Her sword blazed to life, entrenched in a sickly orange glow.

* * * *

The suited exec shook his head as he watched the monitor in distaste. The crossdressing woman wasn’t as popular as the others in her group, barely any spike in ratings since her inception into the game. He wondered why he didn’t just destroy her now, and get on with the game, but, somebody had to be the underdog, he surmised. Someone had to be the meat shield for the rest of the group.

Kai crooked a smirk as he watched the perilously outnumbered woman as she fought the mob of goblins solo. The rest of her group, sans Nash, fled. She’d served her purpose to the damn letter, but the fight was getting stagnant. Time to up the stakes.

His fingers sought a small, nondescript button nestled within an array of similar buttons. The function of said button was far from nondescript, though. As his finger pressed down upon it like a God striking a bolt of lightning to Earth, Kai chuckled ever so softly. He knew the idea wasn’t such a bad one when his gaze returned to the screen, and watched as Kazuya’s face transformed from prideful arrogance to full-fledged fear.

* * * *

Chigarann prepared for the deathblow as Kazuya lunged with her weapon towards the vulnerable and bare patch of his concave chest. A cry froze in his throat as within his body, he felt the click! of a mechanical device that had been implanted just a few days ago for this very moment. His eyes glistened in absolution, his face a mask of divine bliss as his chest exploded in a flash of blinding light and shrapnel.

Uzumaki fell backwards away from the projectile gore, bone splinters embedding themselves into exposed flesh. She covered her head as she rolled away to the protective cover of dead goblins as Chigarann rained down around her. The pain was instant, like molten lava being poured into the tiny fissures of her skin, eating away at her flesh until her mouth twisted into a snarl, biting back a scream of agony. She would not give her kidnappers any sort of satisfaction from her pain. They would sit and watch her, and wonder if they’d done their best to make her break. She didn’t live this long to fall to a bunch of amateurs.

As her gaze took in the scene of bodies, she caught a little bleeping red light in the corner of the lab, crooking a bloody smile as she raised one hand towards it, lowering one finger at a time until her middle stood proudly in defiance.

The girls were safe, the scourge was destroyed, and her lungs still burned as she took in deep, glorious lungfuls of air. The only thing missing now was Oliver. Before the floor rushed up to her face, she had a brief, fleeting thought, when the hell did I start caring?

[Kappa]

With unexpected fury, a wrinkled fist soared through the air until it connected with Jackson Pride. The titan was knocked back, and his grip on the old man had loosened. Oliver, grinning, was doing his best to hide his own surprise. That hook had come from the left—his bad arm—and he was surprised it still had any kick left. He squeezed his fist, and his knuckles cracked in protest. It was like punching a metal door.

“Alright, Mr. Pride,” Oliver trailed off, licking dry lips, “you win. One fair fight…” The weathered fighter paused as he brought his body into a fighting stance, hiding his persistent injury, “…to the death.”

The Wizard, as a gesture of honor removed a barbed weapon from his waistband—before his enemy discovered it, even—and tossed it into the air. Leaping as high as or higher than either man could was the dog, ‘Champ’, who caught the stinger in its mouth while catching some airtime. It landed on four feet, a distance away from the fighters. The creature looked on at the pair with what looked like genuine worry.

‘And I’m not going to last very long, if this god damned arm keeps up,’ Oliver whined to himself. He could try to reposition the bones, which were starting to feel vastly out of place, but he didn’t want to expose any weaknesses to the herald of might that was Jackson Pride. So he toughed it out, through blood, sweat, and locked teeth.

When Pride came at him he was like a bat out of hell, lunging and kicking with uncanny precision; likely taking from a number of fighter schools. Oliver, on the other hand, was constantly forced onto the evasive; but it beat taking actual hits from this monster. Roaring forward like a freight train, the colossus launched his right sandal on a steep arc for his elder, and that’s when the fight really got tricky. The Wizard was running out of space and to avoid the lightning strikes of Zeus-incarnate he was forced off the catwalk, onto the rafters.

‘Shit—,’ cursed the former detective, balancing on the metal beam like an inexperienced high school gymnast, ‘—what is this, the fucking circus?’

By the time he stilled his balance, it was far too late. In the distance he heard a cry, much like that of a wolf. “WOLLLLLFFFF....” The giant leapt forth and threw a school of swipes at Oliver that moved beyond the visible spectrum. With annihilating force, Oliver was knocked back through two sets of rafters; quaking the foundations a little. Pain shot up his spine and his bloodshot eyes remained open. There, stuck against a warped rafter, the onslaught on Oliver continued. Another ten punches, and at least four kicks, by the feel of it, “…FANNNNNGGG…,” and in the final act, the dénouement in Pride’s combo-breaker, he pressed his palms together and thrust them open at the chest of the ex-convict—“FIST!”—blasting him through the third rafter back into the catwalk.

The old man pulled himself up on the railing, bleeding out from all over. He wasn’t sure where he didn’t hurt, but this demon was bringing Hell and then some down on his aged bones. “Th.. that all you got… punk?” Oliver taunted, hoping some dialogue would give him a few seconds to think.”

“Old man, you are not giving me what I’ve asked of you. Fight, damnit—I know you have it in y…” and on he went, bellowing at the beaten man with a tone that would inspire Vikings and war heroes. And Wizard thanked him for unintentionally giving the ex-detective some peace of mind to devise just how he was going to beat this behemoth. He closed is eyes and provoked the part of his mind that was begging to come out.

Suddenly, and quite familiarly, Jackson Pride’s story started to play out before his eyes. That’s when he got some ideas. This was a fighter that had used his reach to conquer foes for decades. Like many tall fighters, it could certainly be his downfall. But it wouldn’t be easy… his right kick had the momentum of a freight train. Oliver would have to isolate it; and that meant taking out the left first.

Opening his eyes, the Wizard coughed out blood on the arm of the warrior. Once again, his massive digits were wrapped around his neck, squeezing the life from him. But this time, his body reacted. Oliver felt a familiar storm brewing inside him, boiling to the surface. And from his chest, emerged a white light. “Arrrrgghhh!” The heavy hitter roared as the ki blast sent him reeling, off the catwalk, where his body smashed into rafters like a twisted game of pong. Thud was the sound that his landing made; on the solid layer between their arena and the laboratory.

Fists out, Jackson Pride launched himself back toward the thin metal walkway with a fire in his eyes that had to be half a century old. But Oliver had been at the ready, and he caught the beast mid-air, in a way that to an outsider (and the Dog) would have looked like awkward puzzle pieces smashing together. The Wizard, utilizing a technical art called Systema known to all that trained in the Central City P.D., forced the monster into an agonizing leg lock.

Jackson let out a grunt that might have been a primal form of ‘Good play, mate’ as the veteran put leverage on his calf. The pair crashed back into the catwalk, but the hold was maintained. With all of his might, Oliver pressed, and the grapple conquered his attention completely … which would be his downfall. So focused on maintaining the physical resistance required to maintain the lock, he hadn’t notice the catwalk floor beneath him hum to an alarming shade of orange. And then—boom! Utilizing similar magic as Oliver’s own, Pride had charged the interwoven links of the metallic walkway. The metal erupted, shattering like glass, and gravity took the battlers downward. They smashed into a rafter and Oliver’s hold was unlocked.

Even though the pair had sustained damage, they both landed fairly well on the ceiling of the laboratory, likely causing a bit of disturbance below. Oliver had landed on both feet, while Jackson pride had rolled out of the impact. When he got to his feet, his stance—twice the height of the Wizard’s own—was a little uneasy. The weaker of his legs was now fighting to stay up. ‘Perfect,’ Oliver had thought. Now he’ll have to use the good one.

“Evening the odds, are you?” chuckled the human leviathan/ “Oh. You think I didn’t notice? Your arm hasn’t had any life for the last eighteen minutes. I’ve fought far too many men to leave a weak point unnoticed. I’ll do you one better, old man,” he said, while putting an arm behind his back, “its unfortunate that Kai’s mechanisms have left you wounded, but now the arena floor is truly swept. Without obstacles, you will fight me like you are meant to—and the fates will drive one of us out of this world, to the next dimension. Let this fight be such that every time the Earth quakes, the people will remember our names!”

---

Despite the grandeur presented in Jackson Pride’s monologue, Wizard was not taken. David did not defeat Goliath with legendary might, but legendary wit and Oliver Nash would do the same. For better or for worse, he was going to put his faith in the higher powers with this next move, with hopes that his strategy would pay off. Chi illuminated the eight foot champion before the detective, like aurora borealis. A second later, he was crossing the air between them, laughing at the forces of gravity. If there was any time to turn the tables, now was it. Oliver’s place in Friend or Foe was held here by a single thread.

Opposite the beast, Oliver Nash (a.k.a. The Wizard) faced his adversary. A canine was missing, but so were several gallons of blood. He presented a fractured stance—an accurate portrait of what he had become—as his numb arm dragged the rest of his body down. It was clear by Pride’s advance that he was about to deliver a kick. It looked like the killing blow … he could feel it in the atmosphere. And what did Oliver do?

He smiled.

The limb was going to collide with its mark, when—“SHELLBULLET!” A burst of ki erupted from his back like an angry volcano, launching him sideways outside of the kick, and his fist climbed up through the gap where it cracked into Jackson Pride’s heel, his Achilles tendant.

“Graaaahhhgghhh!”

His roar could be heard throughout the facility.

[Friend or Foe]

The door finally opened. It was a bit anticlimactic, considering there was no code to put in or a tool nessecary to break in. After everything that had happened, both in and out of the room that was now a goblin tomb, there was no reason to keep it locked.

The man named Oliver Nash stepped through the door to peer at the bodies laying around. It was a massacre of goblins just laying around. There was a bloodied blade stabbed through one of the operating tables near the center of the laboratory. He looked around, trying to find a human body, but there was none.

"Guess they made it out..." he said, but then stopped. "Oh, no," he said, pausing as something new came into view. A body that was clearly not a goblin.

There was no need to check the pulse. The samarai was dead. Kazuya Uzumaki, with her terrible power and uncanny beauty, had fallen in battle. Just how Wizard would figure she would have wanted to go out. Her body was bruised and bloody, seered with bites and scratches. Though none of the scars were fatal. It was clear that her death had come from something else.

But it was death. Something that Oliver Nash didn't realize until now. This wasn't Hell, though probably a very good simulation of it.

"I should have died like that," a voice said. Nash turned to see Jackson Pride in the doorway with his dog, Champ. "Going out in a blaze of glory. Death by while fighting. But you denied me. You beat me, Wizard, yet I still live. Why?"

Nash looked down at Uzumaki. She was weird, sure...but she was a good leader, and a fighter. She had gained his respect. Then Wizard looked up at Jackson again.

"I've got questions," he said, "And you're going to answer them for me, Jackson."















(Kazuya is eliminated, but not dead, as Kai's toxic gas only rendered her in a coma. She'll wake up after the game is over, already off the island.

Everybody else survives, but no one wins the reward)