^^^***Jack concept art included***^^^
Nate wandered around the courtyard looking for Rhys, he wanted to talk to him more about this arena thing. It had been about a week since he was arrested, and another event was supposed to start today. Nate finally spotted Rhys talking with Danny and Drake against the large, red brick wall that separated the males and females. When Nate approached, Rhys stopped listening to what Danny had been saying to greet Nate.
"Hey man! Are you ready to see the fight today?" Rhys asked him in a cheery voice.
"Wait, we get to watch?" Nate asked, confused.
"Yeah, haven't you wondered what that TV in your room is for? It only has one channel that works and it's a live stream of the event whenever it takes place." Danny answered.
"If you guys want, we can pile into my room and watch it there." Rhys suggested to the group.
"Do you guys know who was picked this time?" Nate asked and held his breath, PRAYING it wasn't Nyx.
"We don't find out until they're revealed live at the event unfortunately...but they almost always throw in newbies right away. Unless of course, there was a reason they couldn't be included. Like an injury or something." Drake responded to Nate. He thought for a moment, he couldn't decide if he was a horrible person for hoping Nyx would be excluded in the event this time. One thing was for sure though, he had to watch the fight to make sure.
"Okay, let's go, I don't wanna miss anything." Nate said quickly before turning and walking back towards the living quarters. The three guys exchanged a worried look before jogging to catch up with him.
~~~~~
"Come here, come on!" Nerissa playfully begged Nyx and Soul to hurry up and sit down before the stream started.
"Relax, we're here." Soul grumbled as she sat down on the bed in front of the TV. Nerissa turned on the TV and sure enough, Zachariah was there on screen.
"Welcome! Welcome again to The Battle of Odds!" Zachariah announced into his microphone as the camera panned away from him and filmed the roaring crowd. Most of them were wearing masks to hide their faces.
"Thank you, thank you. We're back for another blood-pumping event, we have a simple 1v1 for you today featuring two of our veterans. We got Nighthawk verses...The Phoenix!" Zachariah finished triumphantly as the two elevator doors on either side of the arena opened, revealing the two fighters. The camera finally panned out to view the entire arena, it resembled a small forest, and was only a little bit larger than a football field. There were many blunt weapons strewn about the arena but there were also some sharp weapons sticking out of the ground. The camera did a closeup of Nighthawk first, he had piercing blue eyes and long black hair. He almost looked like the male version of Nyx.
"Holy shit, it's Jack!" Soul said excited as her eyes were glued to the screen.
"They were childhood besties." Nerissa whispered when Nyx looked at her for an answer. Nyx nodded before looking back to the screen the camera then panned over to the other fighter.
"Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me." Nyx said as she saw Jessi standing across the arena.
"Oh damn, I'm surprised they picked her to fight today after what happened." Nerissa chimed in, "At least you can see her ability so you aren't surprised if you guys go against each other." Nyx looked concerned at that last statement.
"3...2...1...FIGHT!" Zachariah's voice boomed from the loud speaker before the two fighters took off towards each other, Jack let out a loud grunt as large black wings unfurled from his shoulder blades. Jessi also let out a loud grunt as bright orange wings of fire unfurled from her shoulder blades. Nyx gasped in a combination of fascination and fear, but watched intently. The two collided, Jack was the first to strike as he leaned back and propped himself up on his wings. He brought his legs up to send a hard, two legged kick into Jessi's solar plexus. However, she was prepared and sent her wings downwards and lifted off the ground to dodge the kick.
"Ohhh! An impressive dodge from The Phoenix!" Zachariah announced to get the live audience pumped up, which worked. The crowd roared as Jack landed on his feet again and growled. He then brought up his wings and slammed them down to lift himself as well. Jessi was waiting for him, she brought her left wing in front of her and swiped it back into place quickly. As she did so, a curved beam of fiery energy thrust towards Jack, who performed an effortless, midair back flip as the beam soared over him. The heat from the beam burned his hair slightly, but he didn't pay it any attention.
"Holy shit, these guys are serious pros." Back in Rhys' room, Nate spoke out in disbelief as he watched.
"Oh yeah, those two have been here for years. They've only fought a few times though, but every time they do it's a sight to see." Drake responded, Nate only half heard him as his attention was glued to the screen. After Jack had narrowly dodged Jessi's attack, he quickly counter-attacked. The back flip had caused him to lose altitude slightly, but he used that to his advantage and flew up beneath The Phoenix, sending a wild uppercut into her jaw as he passed her from below. This caused Jessi to flip backwards a few times, almost crashing into the ground. However, she managed to catch her footing just in time to land safely, sliding back a few feet. Jack wasted no time and rushed her more, his wings hardened into a black metal as he swung his right wing at Jessi, hard. Jessi brought her left wing down in front of her face while holding up her arms. When the wings connected, it sent a large flash of light booming out from the two fighters. Jack flinched back and Jessi used that split second to her advantage. She brought her other wing forward as her matching hand swung forward, mimicking the swing as she swung for Jack's head. He reared back to dodge the swing but lost his footing and fell down onto his butt. Jessi's wing seemed to grow in size at that point and she sent it down, almost like she was going to stab him. Jack looked scared for a moment before bringing his hardened wings in front of him, creating a shield in front of him to block the stab. Jessi's flaming wing bounced off of Jack's wings and he quickly brought up his legs to kick her solar plexus again, using his wings to push off the ground to give him extra force, this time he actually landed the hit.
"Oh! Nighthawk coming in with the amazing counter! Is this the end of the fight?" Zachariah asked the crowd as Jessi soared into the air, a little bit of blood coating Jack's shirt as she spit out from being hit in the weakest point of the center of the body. Jessi quickly started flapping her wings to regain her balance in the air, but Jack was already there with his left wing curled around his body. He quickly swiped it back into place, slamming it into Jessi's body. She was sent flying into the ground at inhuman speeds, a trail dug into the ground where she slid across before coming to a stop.
"Holy SHIT." Nyx said in disbelief at the power these two had, their skill in battle was...intimidating. She watched as Jessi tried to stand up, before falling down again, she was down.
"There we have it ladies and gentleman! Today's winner is...Nighthawk!" Zachariah boomed out as the crowd roared, Jack waved at the cheering crowd, but Nyx could tell that his smile was fake. As Zachariah spoke his closing speech, Soul reached down and turned off the TV.
"Well, there you have it. They treat it like any other weird game show." Soul said as she crossed her arms.
"Jeez, are all the fights like that?" Nyx asked, secretly hoping that she wouldn't have to fight that intensely.
"More or less, obviously it depends on what abilities the fighters have. They can't pin a C class against an S class, that just isn't fair. They typically only go about one class apart as a buffer. Those two were both S rated though." Nerissa answered.
"Okay...so, this isn't to the death, right?" Nyx asked with concern in her voice. Nerissa and Soul exchanged a look.
"No, not really, but there are a few people here who tend to go way too far. A lot." Nerissa said with a small voice. "There's Jessi, obviously. Then there's this guy, The Pyre, I don't know his actual name." Nerissa thought for a moment before her eyes widened like she had just remembered something. She looked over at Soul, who looked back at her and sighed as she closed her eyes.
"Yeah...my brother is over in the guys block. His name is Damien, and he goes for blood in pretty much every fight. If you go against him, I'd recommend trying to knock him out as fast as possible and don't let your guard down for even a second." Soul said in a serious tone that made Nyx's hand start to shake.
"He's already killed two people in the arena, right?" Nerissa asked quietly to clarify. Soul nodded with a somewhat angry look on her face. Nyx got the sense that Soul didn't like her brother. Her mind then drifted to Nate, who was stuck in the same block as Damien. Her anxiety fluttered for a moment, knowing that Nate was one to mouth off to people he didn't like.
"What's his Gift?" Nyx asked Soul directly, considering they're siblings she would probably know.
"Shadow weaving, he typically uses it for slashes and stabs. Like I said, he goes for blood a lot. Although, I can guarantee he isn't showing everything he can do." Soul explained to Nyx with a casual tone, but the anger in her voice was hard to miss. Nyx gulped, imagining what this guy was like in a fight and it made her hands shake. She internally hoped that she would never have to fight him.
Back with the boys, Nate sat on Rhys' bed, resting his elbows on his knees in deep thought. "So, is there some kind of...reward for people who win these fights?" Rhys snorted slightly and Nate looked at him with a confused look.
"If you win, you get the shit beat out of you less. Other than that, no. They force us to do this, there's no reason for them to encourage us with rewards." Rhys answered with a casual tone as he waved his hand. Nate raised his eyebrows slightly before looking off into space in thought again.
"What are you thinking about, dude?" Drake finally broke the silence.
"I think..." Nate paused and looked out the window, "I think I just thought of a way to talk to Nyx."