Colosseum - Spectator Thread

[Storyteller]

This thread can serve as an all-purpose area for writers to let their Primes or Secondaries watch and react to the Colosseum Tournament. Posts in this thread don't necessarily have to be in the stands; it could also be interactions in the Colosseum Lobby or in the Carnival surrounding the structure.

As such, please try to read each other's posts thoroughly so you can be certain of where you all actually are.

Magnus had certainly gone to great lengths to ensure that this particular Colosseum Tournament was as resplendant as to be fitting of the Kingdom. Yes, there were certainly cheap seats...drafty stone benches located in the breezy heights of the Colosseum's bowl-like structure. For the most part, however, the amenities and myriad pleasures were vibrant and plenty.

Throngs of conversing and laughing Secondaries flooded the sandstone halls of the mythic structure, and a clear blue sky framed the entire bustling scene in an air of vivacious splendor. Hundreds of stalls selling scrumptious street fare and hand-crafted knick-knacks buzzed with the heartening timbre of humble commerce.

Inside the Colosseum proper, the Tournament was well under way, indicated by the ever swelling ambiance of a thoroughly incensed crowd. Violence was the bloody transaction that oiled the great, inscrutable gears of the Omniverse, but it was nice to see people getting hurt who were not screaming in abject fear. This alone would have been enough to draw the immense, enraptured masses, but the addition of a few big names from Dante's Abyss had only sweetened the deal.

Not to mention, aside from the voluntary gladiators, not one single person had been murdered.

All in all, the Baron could not be more pleased.

[Tearen Wover]

Rebecca had been waiting for some time for the fun to start; she was excited to see Mr. Oakie fight against other people so that everyone would know how super strong he was! At first the mean ticket lady didn't want to give her a seat, but then these two weird black things showed up and then Rebecca got to sit in the very best fancy seats!

Rebecca could see Mr. Oakie on the far side of the arena from her, and squinted her yellow glinting eyes to try and see who he was going to hurt. A big boom happened and then all the people on the ground started hitting and shooting. It looked like a girl big kid was fighting Mr. Oakie and she was really really fast but then Mr. Oakie hit her with a big hit and then she started not being as fast.

The shiny girl kept hitting Mr. Oakie with her sharp sword that made fire happen, but Mr. Oakie was too big and strong and he didn't care about the girl's stupid sword. Rebecca was shouting and cheering very loudly and she hoped that he could hear her, but she knew Mr. Oakie was busy and probably couldn't but that was okay!

[Jak Mar]

Once again, Commander Torn, the man with the brown dreadlocks and Krimzon guard tattoos on his face, made it clear he was going to watch the fight with Jak vs a strange white haired man. The Commander had asked for some time from HQ, and was in Camelot, in a seat. Torn didn't really want to bring too much attention to himself, but when he heard it was Jak's turn to fight, he'd be there no matter what. Speaking of which, where was Jak's best friend? That rat? That was odd, he should be cheering on Jak .

Torn made it clear by standing up in Jak's side of the arena and yelling loud "COME ON JAK! You can DO THIS!

The long eared commander only hoped he wasn't drowned out by Jak's various dataverse fans.

[Roger Smith]

Done with his match and being the 'lucky' victor, Adam felt anything but. In the back of his mind he was entertaining thoughts of how different things might have been if he'd ended up as a Light player. A little luck could go a long way. And all of the luck could go an even longer way. It would be nice to have a little luck go his way every once in a--

A sudden round of cheering from the crowds made Adam visibly flinch, one hand going to his head. He had a headache from his own match, and a general sense of everything being in pain, and he had been hoping he could find somewhere quiet to try and rest, even for a little, before his inevitable next match. Maybe try and do something about the bullet wounds. But he'd somehow wound up here, convinced by a nagging conscience to go and at least watch the remainder of that crazy fucking clown's fight. If he lost, after all...well, then Adam wouldn't feel bad about just throwing his next fight just so he could leave this fucking place.

Of course, when he finally managed to quell the pain in his head and find a place to park his keister, he was presented with the sight of Gamzee getting swallowed in an explosion down in the arena. Groaning in disgust and hatred at himself for what he was about to do, he took a deep breath and screeched as loud as his stress-induced tiredness allowed him to:

"GOD DAMMIT YOU FUCKING CLOWN IF YOU LOSE I AM NEVER SPEAKING TO YOU AGAIN!"

And then he coughed. And hacked. And was pretty certain he felt one of his lungs dislodge, and he was forced to sit back down and turn his mind toward not dying. With any luck maybe he could this crazy omnilium stuff to patch up his wounds or something. Get him reasonably close to fighting shape again, before his next match came a-knockin'.

[Gamzee Makara]

There he is. There’s the pajama wearing bastard. Now it’s Karkat’s turn to take the lead. With his brow furrowing, the short-horned troll stomps towards Adam Gaite, Harley human and her demon dog in tow.

So he survived.

Big whoop.

“Hey asshole,” Karkat begins, plopping down next to Adam. “Stop being such an asshole.”

Jade and her white shadow both find seats next to the troll. Jade glances curiously at the boy dressed in God-Tier Garb. For now, however, she keeps her questions to herself.

“I cannot explain how redundant it is to receive advice on how to not be an asshole from an asshole. You got a problem, nubs?”

“Now is not the time for this bullshit,” The young Vantas manages through gritted teeth. “Is the idiot okay?”


“Define okay.”

The Low-Blood watched the battle before him unfold with nervous eyes. Man, he couldn’t possibly predict how this would end. Gamzee kept getting exploded, but exploded doesn’t mean dead. The clownish asshole would just shrug it off, a couple burns and bruises the only thing indicating he had been attacked at all and-

The Knight of Blood’s reverie is broken.

Gamzee just got fucking stab-

Oh.

The short troll visibly relaxes, releasing a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. God dammit what is up with this clown? High-Bloods were notoriously tough, but he literally just shrugged off a sword through the stomach. This is kinda ridiculous.

Then again, he has to remember who he’s talking about here.

The mutant watches in a strange, twisted fascination as his jolly friend begins to laugh off all the pain he’s experiencing. He’s almost sorry for bringing Jade to such a graphic event. Kinda un-gentlemanly of him

Not that like, he has a reason to be a gentleman. Er, troll.

Whatever.

Karkat runs a hand through his raven-esque hair. This is basically the worst fucking bullshit ever.

This guy that Gamzee is fighting is weird as shit. It’s like his entire body is a living conduit for this energy that he fights with. He appears to be quite proficient and deadly with this magic, but most people around these parts are proficient and deadly.

It kind of sucks.

Then, some weird shit happens. Gamzee has this like, look on his face. His features are all mixed together, as if they were trying to convey fear, agony, happiness, and laughter all at once. To put it bluntly, it’s terrifying and weird as shit.

Things are coming to a head. A very, very ugly monstrosity of a head.

[Jade Harley]

Jade follows a bit more sedately behind Karkat than she usually would, brows drawn together as she scrolls through several new pesterchats that she has received through her Spectagoggles. At her side, Becquerel noses at the backs of different spectator's heads, quickly turning his snout away when they startle at the touch of a cold nose against their necks.

There is so much noise noise NOISE— Jade can hardly hear herself think over all of this chattering! She couldn’t even imagine what it would be like down at the center of the arena, fighting to the death or close to it with the shouts of a thousand bellowing people bearing down upon her head.

The girl settles in beside Karkat in the stands, finally paying more attention to her surroundings than her memo. Green eyes blink dazedly down at a dust-clouded, roundabout stage, which is alight with infra-black sparks at the moment. Jade thinks that she can see several humanoid shapes dancing around one another through the reeling dust, caught as if by some peculiar, deadly spell. Then— then, she catches a glimpse of a wicked splatter of purplish royal blood in the gritty dirt, a crooked grin, a lion’s mane of tangled black hair, and two juggling clubs a-twirling.

There’s the laughter, too. That horrible, twisted laughter.

So, this must be Gamzee, judging by the way Karkat stiffens slightly from beside her. Plus, the spindly candy corn horns are kind of a dead giveaway. Gosh, he’s really been beat up good! She hopes that he rebounds back from this fight okay, mainly for Karkat's sake, although getting run through with a sword prooooobably isn’t something anyone can easily get over. This juggaloco troll seems to be managing just fine, however.

Hastily, Jade turns her gaze away from the fight and onto the rambunctious crowd all around her. She worries at her bottom lip with her teeth, deep in thought.

primordialPersistence said that they had some friends here—Look for the two hovering geometric prisms and a young girl, they said. Maybe she could convince Karkat and Adam to score some awesome new seats with her? Hmmm. That description was a little vague, though— they could be anyone! She’ll have to look around for a bit before suggesting anything to her companions.

Jiggling her knee, Jade glances down at Bec to ask him if he has seen anyone fitting that particular description, only to find that her best friend is staring intently in a very specific direction. A few good questions clambering against one another to reach the surface in her brain, Jade follows the general way that the wolfdog’s snout is facing with her eyes aaand— a-ha! There they are.

They actually look just as primordialPersistence described them, and there does not appear to be any other floating geometric prisms hanging around, so Jade naturally assumes that these must be the individuals she is looking for. They seem ordinary enough. The young girl’s eyes are all funny and glowy, though, with skin almost the same dull grey as a troll’s… neat! Plus, her hands are practically itching with the urge to investigate how those uncanny, shiny prisms are hovering like that! Maybe she could sidle over all professional-like and ask?

As she reaches up to pat Bec’s head for a job well done in finding her potential new friends, she finds that his back is unusually rigid. An odd trickle of electricity jitters through her fingers, numbing them for a second or two before her Space powers kick in to balance things out. The wolfdog’s upper lip curls back a bit, a silent growl rumbling through his body and setting Jade on edge.

One of her fuzzy white ears flicking to the side, Jade gets the feeling that Bec might be about to take off after some poor, innocent people for no goshdarn reason, and that if he does he might end up getting her sorry butt kicked out of the Colosseum!

She has never seen Bec this upset about anything before, though. After a brief fit of hesitation, Jade hurriedly wraps her arms around his neck in a reassuring hug, although she isn’t quite sure who she is trying to reassure, here. Her fingers dig into his fluffy white fur in an effort to keep him still, and the lack of a steady, thrumming heartbeat is still just as disconcerting as it always used to be.

Swallowing nervously, Jade turns her face back towards Karkat and Adam, a literal ticking time bomb of fur and slobber wriggling in her arms. She grins toothily at Adam, features smoothing down into something that is passable for normalcy, although her expression is still a tad strained. “So, you’re Adam, right? I’m Jade Harley! It’s very nice to meet you, hah.”

The Witch of Space pauses, trying to think of anything else to say. Heck, to ask. There’s so much that they could all talk about, from their experiences in the Omniverse up to this point to how their game sessions went down. Unfortunately, all she can come up with is either So, how many times have you died and come back to life? or Did any of your friends come here with you?, which isn’t really decent talk, considering...

Well, screw conversation. She’ll settle for emanating a general feeling of goodwill in his direction until he says something back! Yeah, that’ll do. Good job, Harley! A++ score in the human interaction field.

Her eyes are drawn back to the fight, however, and Jade watches with baited breath as Gamzee raises one of his juggling pins into the air and slams it into the other guy. His face is also doing a weird, kind of scary thing that makes her head feel a little woozy with the amount of pure terror shuddering through it.

Oh, she thinks, unnervingly fascinated, as bones snap and bodies bruise. Seriously, she is downright disturbed by how intently she’s watching this go down. But she can’t stop watching, oh my god.

[Kopaka]

Kopaka limped slowly out of the arena floor, having been freed from the invisible walls that had contained him and his diminutive opponent. It had been a good fight, but Kopaka resisted the temptation to derive any sort of satisfaction from the exchange. That sort of enthusiasm was better suited to his brother, Tahu. He had managed to heal a majority of the damage to his bionic lungs while waiting on the arena floor, but he still uttered soft coughs every few feet he walked. Lingering secondaries gave token commendations and words of applause as the Toa trudged past, clapping slowly and attempting to congratulate him on a job well done. It was sickening. Kopaka paused for a moment, leaning against a wall for support as he ran a hand over his Mask. Memories were stirring within his fatigued neural pathways.

"Kohli?" Kopaka asked, looking at the large, rounded stone at Pohatu's feet. The Toa of Stone nodded enthusiastically and began keeping the ball aloft with repetitive bumps from his protosteel knees.

"Yeah. They say it used to be a huge deal back in Metru Nui. I'm not exactly sure how it's played though." Pohatu said, giving the immense stone a mighty kick with his enhanced feet before catching the ball in the crook of his mechanical arm. Kopaka scoffed slightly.

"Then why bother?" the Toa of Ice said, sneering from behind his mask. Despite the fact that he got along quite well with Pohatu, the Toa's flights of fancy did tend to chafe against Kopaka's more stern sensibilities. Pohatu simply laughed before continuing to trudge back down the path towards the Order's base. The island ambiance tended to go quiet when Pohatu's loud, heavy footfalls were echoing through the forest. Kopaka always found it ironic that the Toa who was the slowest of them physically had been granted the Kakama, the Mask of Speed, as his default Kanohi. Still, it spoke to the Toa of Stone's persistence that he never let any of Lewa's or Tahu's chiding, infantile ribbing phase him. Only Onua, and possibly Kopaka himself, had more patience...though in Kopaka's case, a reaction to such taunting had to be suppressed, rather than being able to ignore it completely.

Kopaka would be lying if he said he was completely disinterested in this new little tidbit of Mata Nui lore that Pohatu had been able to dredge up. The icey biomech had always been invested in intellectual pursuits, not the least of which was history and legends. Kopaka didn't exactly take many of the myths of Mata Nui to heart, but he did at least understand their importance from a cultural basis. That said, his knowledge of old world sport was pretty hazy, so maybe Pohatu would be willing to divulge a bit more information.

"The Kohli game, was it violent?" Kopaka asked, trying not to sound too interested. Pohatu, however, knew better, which elicited another chuckle from the Toa of Stone.

"No, not really. I mean, it was pretty physical, people got knocked over and stuff but it wasn't gladitorial, per se."

Kopaka shook his aching head as the memory abruptly ended, and blinked a few times as his mind returned to the present. Before him stood a young female of some sort, with large, floppy ears, big eyes and mottled grey skin. It was a species of biological that Kopaka had not yet seen before, but the eagerness in the female's eyes put Kopaka slightly at ease. She was grinning at him with a sharp toothed grin and holding a large, bundled object in her arms.

"What?" Kopaka asked in a solemn tone that lacked his usually chilly edge. The creature only beamed wider and held the bundle towards him.

"M-my name is Lorn, and uh...and I think you're cool!" she squeaked. Kopaka blinked slowly, saying nothing. There was a long, tense silence before the diminutive biological continued.

"Uh...I saw your fight! And uh, I-I saw your mask things and I thought they kinda resembled a mask thing that I have...a-and...and..." the creature said, trailing off. Kopaka took note that there appeared to be increased blood flow to her facial features. The Toa wasn't sure what this indicated, but it was clear at this point that 'Lorn' was not hostile. Her speaking of masks also grabbed Kopaka's attention. With a tentative grasp, Kopaka slowly unwrapped the mysterious parcel, and was astonished to see the grinning face of the Kanohi Miru staring back at him. There was another pause.

"How...where..." Kopaka said trailing off, trying desperately to conceal the equal amounts of confusion and elation in his voice. The small creature giggled.

"Oh, I'm just a member of the Asuran Archeological Association. We found this particular mask high in the ruins of an ancient castle in the Frozen Fields. Rumor has it that it was once a great treasure stronghold for an ancient Dwarven king, but we suspected..." Lorn said, trailing off slowly as Kopaka turned to look her in the eyes.

"Why are you giving this to me?" he asked, honestly confused. Lorn's face was subjected to another surge of blood. Kopaka conjectured that it was, perhaps, some sort of automatic response to stress.

"W-well...it had just been sitting around the archives, mostly being ignored, and when I saw your fight I drew some connections between the aesthetics of your masks and this-"

"Kanohi Miru."

"...Kanohi Miru! So I figured I could just grab and give it to you be-cause I am kind of a fan...?" Lorn said, looking down at her three toed feet. This was new for Kopaka: a fan? It was odd to consider the possibility of someone liking him, especially based purely on his combat prowess alone. This was truly an alien world. Still, this female, she was a resident of Camelot, the sworn enemy of the Empire, the society with which Kopaka had aligned himself. Even entering this tournament, he was deceiving each and every resident of the stands. The Toa of Ice did not think it was right to accept such an immense gift from someone he was deceiving, who could quite possibly loathe him if the truth were to be found out. With great reluctance, Kopaka pushed the Miru back into the Asuran's hands. For some reason, the watery expression on her face caused him a great amount of discomfort. Sentimentalism be damned; was he really buying into this creature's unconditional admiration for him?

"I am sorry, I cannot accept such a boon." Kopaka said, the longing in his voice wholly apparent. The Asuran female looked confused, and her ears drooped heavily.

"N-no! I'm sorry. I-I didn't think it would...offend you or anything I just..."

"No, Lorn, the gift is appreciated, deeply. There are circumstances that run beneath all of this that prevent me from accepting your generosity. I apologize." Kopaka said, lifting his body away from the now frosty wall and trudging off towards the main Lobby of the arena. Lorn was left pouting, alone and confused.

...

Kopaka was able to reach the raucous stands of the Colosseum just as the final matches were wrapping up. Thanks to a tip from some gamblers, Kopaka knew which match would determine his next opponent. From his place in the audience, he watched as Alexyana and the Courier brutally slaughtered one another. It was a violent match up, but Kopaka was able to learn a lot from watching the female biologicals attack one another. After some time, it seemed as though they were about to deliver a mutual final blow. The Toa turned away from the fray to get in line for the next match and finish healing himself; he didn't need to see the final gory result. As he turned, however, he spotted the grinning face of the Miru once again, sitting on the bench next to him. Lorn was nowhere to be seen, however, and there was a not attached to the smooth gray surface of the artifact. This was not the most startling part, however. The note was handwritten in the native script of his homeworld. With trembling fingers, Kopaka read over the parchment.

Dear Kopaka,

I understand there is probably much I do not understand about your ways and culture, so I respect that you didn't want to accept this gift. So think of it more as a payment! I would love to talk about your homeland at some point, and maybe also your ice abilities? I'm kind of an elemental spellcaster who specializes in frost magic. Sorry if I forgot to mention that!

Come over to the Dallaran museum some time and look me up! You owe me now, haha!

Your fan,

Lorn

Kopaka stared at the round lettering of the document for some time before letting out a long sigh. It would be absolutely foolish of him to leave the Kanohi sitting here, unattended, but it still felt wrong to utilize the mask under such deception. Kopaka's eye narrowed in frustration. This was the problem with sentimentalism. When there was a problem with sentimentalism, pragmatism prevails. With an angry growl, the Toa of Ice grabbed the Kanohi and exited the stands to prepare for his next match.

[Gamzee Makara]

The fallen clown’s chuckling gradually dies down. For a good minute, even after Strawso Rockwheel had exited the Arena, Gamzee just layed in the dirt and stared at the sky. Man, there were some pretty clouds out today.

---

Karkat stared with empty eyes at Gamzee’s rumpled up body lying in the dirt. The low-blood thinks he can see some of his dark, purple blood beginning to pool around his form.

Sigh. He’s not dead, but he’s probably not going to move for a while.

The nubby-horned troll lets his face fall into an open hand. Man, what a damn show. It didn’t have to end like that! It didn’t! Gamzee could’ve…

Karkat doesn’t know what he could’ve done.

Gamzee could’ve though.

At least he’s not dead. My god, was the mutant Troll on edge in that moment. As the mage held his hand level with the clown’s face while threatening to blow the High-Blood’s brains all over the dusty ground, Karkat was terrified. It felt like hours, watching that volatile little fuck toy with the idea of killing the shorter troll’s best friend. When the first misleading blast went off, he covered his eyes, unable to watch another friend die. Once again, the spectating alien let loose a breath he didn’t realize was being held hostage in his throat as soon as the mage calmed down.

God dammit, you can’t just do that edgy, cliffhanger shit to people in real life. That’s some rom-com plot device crap.

His crimson eyes cut to Adam Gaite. The Heir of Time’s expression was hard to read. The teenaged alien didn’t even try to discombobulate it.

Sliding a discolored grey hand across his exhausted face, the young Vantas gives Jade an exasperated look as if to say, I’m so sick of this all-my-friends-are-going-to-die bullshit.

The human girl scrunches up her features in a frown. It’s pretty obvious she doesn’t do a lot of frowning.

---

Ugh. It’s starting to smell like grape soda around here. The troll touches his fingertips to his wound, staining them with some purple blood. Curiously, he brings them up to his nose for a sniffsie.

Yep. That’s him alright.
Wiping his bloody hand on his already bloody black shirt, Gamzee pulls out his huskphone. There’s a little crack in the upper left hand corner. Probably saved his life from one of Strawso’s little magicky-hurty miracles.

Nah. His dumbass probably just fell on it.

Gamzee begins to type away, still lying in the middle of the battle site with a small smile on his face.

---

The crowd is kinda thinning out. Some folks are still looking at the fallen jester, wondering if he’ll do anything else. Nope, probably not. He’s probably not gonna move until someone makes him.

If it’s not the guards, it’s probably Karkat.

The cherry-blooded troll groans, rising to a stand. There’s room to move around now, what with all the people filing down the stairs out of the Coliseum like ants. Busy, busy, busy, always searching for entertainment, they are. Probably moving onto other gore-fests, or maybe to the carnival outside.

Gamzee was pretty unknown to the world. He had a few fans, but they were probably just people that either didn’t like that magic casting fuck or had a hard on for the whole insane clown thing. The grey kid supposes that the fool’s whole whatever the hell kind of persona it was could be considered a likeable gimmick.

Then again, some people just like rooting for the underdog.

At any rate, Karkat is pleasantly surprised to see the juggalo actually standing up of his own accord. God, there was so much blood. He’s gonna have to clean up. His wounds will kind of take care of themselves over time, but damn they’ll be sore. The nubby-horned alien kneads his bottom lip gently with his teeth. He chances a glance to the sky.

Man, there were some pretty clouds today.

---

Satisfied with his memo - even though it likely won’t get a response, not with that terrible performance - the defeated troll sighs, returning his huskphone into the unfathomable depths of his polka dot pants’ pocket. With a heave and a mild splattering of blood, he rolls onto his stomach. He lay there pathetically for a moment before pushing himself up from the dirt. My god was he tired...

And sore. That shit hurt.

Looking back on it, he didn’t have to give up. Nothing was dictating his choice; to be honest he kind of expected the torrent of rage to just execute him without a second thought. He probably deserved at least that much. He had failed his Mistress, after all, and her township. Gamz had literally no idea what he was going to go back and tell her. Nothing to be proud of today. The troll could have most definitely won this fight.

He just...

He doesn’t know. He chose not to.

Sure, dying wasn’t fun, but he didn’t walk in there planning to die. He was going to win. Or die trying. He could’ve done something else though. The clown could’ve committed to another trick, another tactic, man anything really. But nah.

This giving up shit kinda sucked, but it was necessary.

Shambling off towards the big gaping tunnel that screamed ‘EXIT’, Gamzee became lost in his thoughts, his should haves, could haves, and would haves.

Maybe he should find an adult.

With one last half-hearted chuckle, the High-Blood moans quietly to himself.

“Kaaarrr-brrrooooo,” He says, calling for his ‘adults’. “Adaaaaaammm. Eheheheh...”

Ow.

It hurts to laugh.

[Strazio Rockwell]

　　Perhaps Gamzee would be the only true survivor of the battle. Strazio’s entire body was catastrophically failing him. His bones were reduced to dust and his organs were dumping blood into empty cavities. Medics and clerics rushed to Strazio’s side, hoisting him onto a stretcher and preforming the necessary preparations to get him fighting fit for the next match. They carried him to the medical tent reserved for participants and set to work right away. There was no time for sedation and the healing rituals were almost more painful than the injuries themselves. Strazio could feel his organs stitching themselves shut and his shattered bones crawling back into place. He screamed in pain and sparks jumped across his body. So long as he had flesh his magick would come to life and the pain antagonized the sparks to show themselves.
　　
　　“There’s the champ!” the Rock’s voice pounded nails into Strazio’s head. The towering behemoth walked into the medical tent as if he owned the place. His perfect smiled was framed underneath his signature shades. Strazio groaned in agony at the Rock’s appearance, but the wrestler continued to speak.
　　
　　“You put on a great show Rockwell, the Rock ‘N’ Rock Connection is alive and well. Or at least half of it, you look like a chewed up piece of day-old bubblegum.”
　　
　　“I’ll kick your ass!” Strazio yelled, the only thing stopping him from assaulting the Rock was his shattered bones and the medical attendants restraining him. “You lied to me you bastard! I checked the roster and Gilgamesh isn’t here!”
　　
　　“Did I say that?” The Rock raised his eyebrows, “I think the people’s champ wouldn’t lie about something like that, are you sure you didn’t get hit in the head too many times?”
　　
　　Strazio’s voice was hoarse as he screamed, “I have the fucking message you sent me saved you jackass!”
　　
　　The Rock laughed and shrugged, “I must’ve meant something else. But hey, now that your here you might as well go until the end I hear that some people think your just a weak candy ass who ain’t got no bite.”
　　
　　“Get him out of here, for fucks sake get him out of here” Strazio commanded the medics before heaving up a liter of blood and passing out.

[Guu]

Why did they invite me to this thing? I was kind of glad they didn’t give me too much of a “guest of honor” treatment as they only gave me booth seats, but did they seriously think I would enjoy this mess? Seeing all this reminded me further of the endless fight, that scum will always exist in this world, no matter what the hell I do.

Seriously, I thought things were bad before, but what I saw was horrifying. In the arena were monsters beyond imagine. Demons with hellspawns attached to them, pointy horned monsters with pale skin, metal goliaths, half dragon abominations, and of the humans I saw so much self-indulgent magic use it was sickening. With this much corruption in my home verse, it's no wonder I could never do anything about that pink-haired freak in the Tangled.

I looked towards the crowd every time one of these monsters stepped into the arena. Their faces didn’t exude the disgust I was hoping for. I would have been okay if the monsters only were allowed in as canon fodder, but these people, they looked on every combatant as if each one were meant to be there.

These are troubling times.

May the gods forgive us.

[Guu]

The crowds swarmed around the coliseum. People were frequenting the stands that have set up around the place, selling food and merchandise to the random sports fans. Many were milling about, waiting for their favored combatants to take stage. Many were eagerly debating who would win the next match. However, their attention was quickly stolen from them.

Riding in from the horizon was a pink haired girl riding what must have been a cross between a stegosaurus, a giraffe, and a penguin. Onlookers were stunned at the sight of the creature as it walked into the food stands area.

The pink-haired girl leapt off the creature, accompanied by what looked like an orc dressed in stereotypical nerd apparel, down to even the pocket protector. The mount immediately evaporated into dust after singing several bars of “Friday” by Rebecca Black.

“Madam Guu.” Stated the orc, his voice nasally. “Was the flashiness really required?”

Guu sighed. This orc guy has been escorting her since she entered the verse from the Nexus. Apparently, someone high up in the verse knew she was coming. Normally she wouldn’t mind the company, but this guy just wouldn’t stop questioning her actions along the way. Really sucked all the enjoyment out of the trip.

Not that it matter much. She was deadset ever since she entered the verse. She knew that not only was Gildarts here, but Yu Kanda, Gamzee, and Desco were all here as well.

She looked around, her unorthodox arrival had long since sent murmurs throughout the crowd. News of her arrival will eventually get to the people she was looking for.

Just as planned.

Guu hath arrived!

[Schwi Dola]

Desco was a little sad. She stood there and watched as the next matches started to take place. Mami had defeated her. Despite all of Desco's strength, Mami had danced around her and shot after shot eventually took her down. Then that huge cannon she had bluffed with had knocked out Desco and before she knew it she was sitting in the medical tent being patched up.

She watched Mami for a few minutes. Desco wasn't too sad. Mami was a heroine, a magical girl. Heroes beat Final Bosses so it was okay. Desco learned something for the next time she fought a hero. Heroes liked to move around a lot so she needed to learn some wider area moves to hit them with! Or maybe homing moves to follow them. More power would always work!

Desco decided to wander off. She didn't want to think about being a mid boss now. Though, sometimes that first mid boss you fight is really the final boss at the end of the game unexpectedly or by design. Then she heard a commotion and saw a crowd of people up ahead. Desco couldn't see what it was, it stuck above the heads of the people but some big gorilla guy was blocking her view. Desco summoned Yogsothoth and floated above.

As she got above the crowd, she spotted... Guu! Desco didn't care about the Orc with her or the strange mixed creature she crowd. Desco quickly darted down to Guu. Yogsothoth desummoned, disappearing behind her as she fell the rest of the way. She landed in front of Guu on the mount. "Guu! Desco is happy to see you!"

[Guu]

With the message of her presence making shock waves within the crowds, it was time to get a new ride. The previous one was a little cumbersome with the crowds. With another 10 minute or so summon, she brought about an ostrich like creature with rainbow feathers, an alpaca head, and a lizard tail. She climbed with a single motion and then started to sweep the area with her senses looking for the lost Ambrosians.

However, just as his orc deadweight escort was climbing onto the strange mount as well, Guu’s face donned a most peculiar smile. She only saved this face for one particular person. She sensed a familiar figure floating across the crowds towards her, suddenly landing behind her on the mount, knocking the orc onto his ass on the ground.

“Guu! Desco is happy to see you!”

Guu immediately turned around in her seat to face the demon child. She pulled her into a hug, nuzzling her a little bit.

“It’s been too long.” She said, frighteningly genuine in her words, her smile refusing to go away. She pulled away, but still embracing her. She brought a noodle arm up to Desco’s cheek as she looked into the little one’s face. Memories flooded the pink enigma, as the sight of the first friend in the Omniverse once again burnt onto her mind. “I missed you a lot.”

“Desco missed you, too!”

She pulled her into a hug again. The crowd watched in curiosity. Some wondered what brought about the scene, some remembered this pair from Dante’s Abyss and thought it was too cute to interrupt. Guu didn’t care if they watched, she was too lost in the moment.


———

After a few more minutes of hugging. Guu eventually, parted from Desco and turned to take over the reigns of the strange bird-like creature.

“Let’s check out the stalls.” Said the princess.

“Did Guu come to the colosseum to find Desco?”

“Yep. You were one of the people I wanted to find.” She said calmly. “Three other subjects of my Kingdom are here. I hope to find them as well.”

Guu stopped the bird in front of a food stall. She pulled out some raw OM she summoned earlier and dismounted the bird. She bought a tray of meatball like things pierced with sticks before climbing back onto the bird, this time facing Desco again. She picked up one of the balls with one of the sticks and lifted it up to the demon girl’s mouth.

”What have you been up to?” Asked the pinked haired one.

[Bandit With No Name]

The bandit staggered up the stairs, a fresh transfusion of blood barely keeping the woman standing. A large pile of busted components, Sledge’s Hammer, and Gildarts’ prosthetic arm were piled into a cardboard box, which she carried under her single remaining armpit.

Finding an empty seat about halfway up the aisles, she dropped the box with a heavy clattering THUD and collapsed into the bench. Panting, she stared up at the sky, trying to make the world stop spinning and her nerve-addled gut from overturning for a fifth time within the hour.

“Fuuuuuuuuck,” she moaned, groggy, dizzy, and miserable.

The gladiator felt eyes upon her, and she allowed her head to roll to the side. Staring at her was a young girl in her mid-teens staring back. Two tall, canine ears atop her head twitched and the deep green pools of her eyes swam with a depth that the bandit had never seen before.

“Uh,” the woman stammered, pushing a pile of gore-soaked dreads from her face, “s’up.”

“Ah,” the girl responded, “hello.”

A long, awkward silence grew between them until the chasm was too deep and wide to venture, so the outlaw coughed and looked away. She stuffed her hand into the box, retrieving the mechanical limb. “Uh,” she glanced at the girl, waving the warm back and forth in her hand, “hope you don’t mind.” She motioned towards her bloody stump of a left arm. “I gotta, like, you know, make a new arm and shit.”

The girl’s eyes wandered down to the bloody nub with a mild look of concern. “Um, I… yes?”

“Awesome.” The woman jammed the metal husk into place with a wince, her teeth gritting as she twisted it into the right position. Blood seeped out over the edges, leaking down into the tracts that the magic had sliced.

Finally pleased with its position, she cupped her hand over the joining and focused. White light shined between the gaps of her fingers as steel fused with flesh, omnilium doing the impossible task of matching his custom fit artificial to her anatomy. She jerked with a yelp as a nerve snapped into place, the phantom pain she had been experiencing now replaced with generalized tingling.

The woman sighed a breath of relief, “Diablo’s ass crack! That feels so much better.”

As the muscle strands merged, she wiggled her new fingers and smiled. A bit of color instantly returned to her cheeks, and she plucked the tourniquet from above. She flexed her bicep back and forth, massaging the flesh around the fusion.

She looked over to the unnerved girl and laughed. “Good as new, right?”

[Jade Harley]

Oh, gosh. Poor Gamzee. Jade peered down the stands at Karkat as he latched onto the clown troll and pulled him away, probably to get him all fixed up. She had nibbled agitatedly at her bottom lip, then, trying to keep her attention balanced between so many things at once that it was all kind of overwhelming.

A loud jostling noise, like someone lugging a bunch of random junk around in a cardboard box, had drawn Jade out of her worry for Gamzee and Karkat. Some heavily-swaying person, with the most awesome armor and basically everything that Jade had ever seen, sat down beside her in the stands. Sure enough, the woman had a cardboard box with some pretty curious-seeming items tossed into it.

To be perfectly honest, Jade was plumb honored that this random person happened to sit by her—especially after fighting in the Tournament, judging by all the gore! She seemed super amazing, too, with all those radical spikes and a stream of blood trickling down the side of her scalp. If only she hadn’t seemed to be literally dying, Jade might have said more to her!

Jade had blinked, a bit shell-shocked, as the woman who had flopped down near her proceeded to jam a brand spankin’ new artificial arm into her admittedly slightly less brand spankin’ new arm stump. She had blinked once more as the multi-colored glow of Omnilium had spread around the weeping wound, face slowly twisting into an expression caught between disgust and fascination.

When the warrior lady had turned her head to ask Jade’s opinion on her quick pseudo-surgical work, most of what had been running through the girl’s head was pure white noise. Scattered throughout this white noise were other morsels of marginally more discernible noise, mingling freely with all sorts of green sparky bits. Bec had then nudged her elbow with his cold, wet dog nose, which finally recalled Jade's attention to reality.

“Uh,” Jade said, squinting a little bit and shaking her head as if to clear it of a bad memory. Then, she grinned jubilantly, prodding lightly at the woman’s new arm. “How did you do that? That was so cool! Like, I saw the whole Omnilium glowy thing going on, but, that must’ve been seriously painful! Do you mind if I take a picture and show it to my friends on PesterOmni? I’ll bet they haven’t seen anything as neat as that before, especially once I tell them how you did it!”

The woman leaned her head back a ways so that her hair spilled over the stands behind her, flapping the new arm around a little as if to garner more feeling in the newly-attached limb. “’kay.”

Reaching up to switch on her Spectagoggles, Jade focused in on the juncture between the woman’s new limb and flesh as they went about knitting themselves together. Click. She then defocused the lens a fair amount to capture most of the woman’s side and face in the picture. The gladiator even posed for the camera with a funny hand gesture! Cool! Click.

By the time Jade had all of her pictures taken and uploaded to the Dataverse, there seemed to be a new round about to start up. Hurrying to say goodbye before the next round started, Jade turned to her new acquaintance. "I'm Jade, by the way! Jade Harley. gardenGnostic on PesterOmni! I hope you'll do well in the Tournament, some of those people are preeetty hardcore.... but you're also super hardcore, so you'll probably do great!"

[Gildarts]

Gildarts hobbled up the bleachers of the stadium after acknowledging the Bandit With No Name off in some of the lower seats. She would be fine, especially after the blood transfer.

He drank in another breath and set his mind back, he had wondered how she was going to prepare for the next fight, but then realized a warrior never put too much emphasis on anything that wasn’t the fueled by the heat of battle.

The mage strolled up, past the curious expressions of the many secondaries in the audience. He grunted himself up the stairs, but other than that, did not seem utterly immobilized by the pain. His black cape swooshed behind him, and on his left arm was a new magic-traced appendage. The light in the Prime’s eyes glinted, smoldering with that after-battle glow.

That had raised his heartbeat, and despite the man’s loss, he still smiled. She was a formidable adversary. He would train stronger and take her on again. And now that the excitement was over, he could relax for a bit and enjoy the festivities. Though, he would not stay.

“Gildarts?!” he heard a distant yet familiar voice called from beyond what his eyes could see. The Prime’s head turned, only to see a young child’s head popping up and down from the crowd.

“You’re Gildarts, right?” she said. It was a young girl, about the age of eight, she had blonde hair, and her button nose reminded the mage of Molly. A sweep of disappointment flooded his stomach, but not an ounce showed up on his face.

“I am,” he said with dignity, “And who might you be?”

“My names Tabby, and I just wanted to say, that even though you lost, you did AMAZING!” she made a gesture of explosions with her hands. “There were lights like fireworks, explosions that leapt to the moon, and you both were SO fast!”

A slow grin formed on the charismatic man’s cheeks, “You think so, young Tabby?”

“I know so!” the child’s head swept around, the majority of people in their vicinity were all looking at the new show, since the battles for this round had concluded.

“Tabby, Tabby!!! How many times have I told you never to run off light that!” the whims of a desperate mother were not answered, only by the sudden look of shame in the young girl’s eyes.

“Uh-oh.” Tabby said under her breath and her chin dipped low as her once admiring eyes left Gildarts’s form.

The mother’s eyes distorted into that of shock as she saw just who her daughter was speaking to. Eventually, anger got the best of her.

A mixture of fear blended with fury and suddenly a hot mark of glowing crimson appeared on the man’s cheek. Gildarts did not wince as the mother held eye-contact with the Prime, her eyes held a threat, unspoken, as the somewhat oblivious daughter’s cheeks had both grown red from shame.

Tears bubbled in the daughter’s eyes as she was unwillingly taken away from Gildarts without a goodbye. “Tabby! Never do that again! Your daddy is councilor and that makes you a target for many people! That man could have hurt you!”

“He wasn’t like that mom! You guys told me it was ‘publicly important’ that I attend even though I can’t stand the idea of people hurting themselves senselessly. And now that I show the slightest interest, you take me away from one of the competitors! I was only congratulating him mommy. And there was pride on his face even though he lost. So tell me again that he is a bad man.”

The mother dipped low, “Anyone who joins that ruthless bloodbath has something to learn about becoming more civilized. Come now, back to your chambers, where you will remain for the rest of the competition.” There was no diplomacy in the mother’s harsh voice, the woman even scowled at the onlookers who offered mercy to the little girl, who suddenly broke free and ran back to Gildarts.

The clapping of little feet on the stone benches soon delivered the girl to the Prime, and Tabby placed something in Gild’s hand. “You did a good job, don’t let anyone tell you differently!” Tabby was adamant that she was listened to. The mother stormed closer.

“From what it seems, your mother only wants your safety, you best run back to her before you get in more trouble.” Gildarts was eager to avoid another slap.

“Awwww,” the girl whimpered, but obeyed the respected warrior, and the two vanished in the crowd.

His jagged shoulders suddenly lowered, resembling relaxation, and his smile still remained as he looked down to the stadium below. The second round was about to commence.

[Schwi Dola]

Desco bit off half of the meat ball, and then again to finish it off. She swallowed, and then pointed back to the arena. "Desco was just in a fight with that magical girl Mami again! But she defeated Desco so she is out of the tournament. She is a hero so it makes sense that she beat Desco." Desco brought her hand down, she had already gotten over her defeat at the hands of Mami. Fortunately the magical girl had elected to let Desco live. If she'd killed the final boss, Guu would hear about that instead from strangers.

She then pointed to one of the food stands. "Before that Desco was hanging out with Rachel, Ururu, and Okor. They were nice to Desco, when she found herself in this verse Desco had a sleepover with them and we ate smores! And Ururu didn't know what a gun was, can you imagine that? We almost got into a fight with a goblin but a cool guy with silver hair broke up the fight first." Desco hadn't mentioned her father yet, because she thought Guu knew about that. It was the last time they saw eachother. Guu knew that Genjuro would experiment on her.

[Gildarts]

A small pink head distinguished itself from the crowd by its luminous shine. Gildarts assumed it was simply someone who reminded him of Guu, until he got close enough to recognize the young girl’s distinguishing features, and beautiful dress.

In a moment, the powerful prime was there, and he scooped Guu up with a tremendous and loving whirlwind. Their hug soon concluded and he hoisted the girl up on his shoulders. Her hair fluffed as it was washed with wind, and now sitting comfortably higher, Guu was very relaxed. She had a normal expression on her face but her eyes seemed acutely pleased by the change in height. From up there, she could see the entire stadium. It was only now when she realized just how tall Gildarts was.

“It’s good to see you Leader Guu!” the man grinned, showing off his white teeth.

“Gildarts!” she seemed to smile as his attention snagged on the conversation he had interrupted. The small purple girl looked up to Guu’s new heightened status.

His eyes grew closer as he leaned down to Desco’s level. “You... I know you. You’re that little warrior from that island! Ah! You fought very well indeed.” Gildarts hesitated to scoop up Desco on his shoulders too, and waited for Guu’s approval as his thoughts strived for her name.

“Desmo... Final boss...” his tone was questioning as he extended a greeting to the young purple-haired girl.

[Guu]

Desco, Gildarts, Guu

Suddenly, the Princess had already found two of people she needed to find, or more like they found her. Parading around on Gildarts’ shoulders made her feel powerful. Suddenly, she began to wonder why she ever chose to be short to begin with, though that would be a silly question.

“Wow Gildarts, it’s been forever. Molly has been worried sick.”

“Wait, you’ve met Molly?”

“Oh yeah, she’s living at the palace now… In fact, time to get some things out of the way.”

Suddenly, she yanked something out of her stomach and snapped it onto his wrist. The mage inspects it carefully, trying his best not to lose his grip on the two girls. It has a button in the middle of it. Guu reached over, her noodle arms suddenly turning into hands, and presses the button. It immediately rolls out into a phone in his palm.

“This is a special phone designed specifically for you. It’s made of a mixture of adamantium, vibranium, and special crystals. Even you can’t break it. And if you drop it, it immediately turns back into the bracelet.”

The mage, curious on the new device, drops it. Within milliseconds, it coils back into a bracelet and wraps around his wrist. He cocked an eyebrow, impressed. Guu reached over and pressed the button again, the bracelet once again uncoiling into a phone. Her fingers navigate onto the screen.

“This button activates the recall station. It’s not synced to you, so the next time you’re in Ambrosia, simple be in a palace and it’ll be set. After you’re synced, you can instantly teleport to the city from anywhere. Just press the button, stand still for 10 minutes, and you’re there.”

She pointed to two other buttons. One with Guu’s face on one and Molly’s face on another.

“Those two buttons either instantly connects you with me or with Molly. I want you to keep up with us from now on. Especially Molly.”

With that explanation out of the way, she suddenly leapt off Gildarts’ shoulder.

“In fact, I have something to do real quick, so maybe get a call in with Molly right now. She’s dying to hear from you.” She turned to Desco, “It won’t take long.”

With that, she runs off into a really fast sprint, pulling the orc diplomat by the wrist, barely able to keep up. Her senses have picked up the next Ambrosian, located in the medical bay.


———

Yu Kanda, Guu

“Don’t feel bad Mr. Samurai! You gave it your all!”

“Thanks Birgitta.” Yu Kanda said, kind of surprised by the genuine complement.

“Though, that was fucking hilarious to watch.”

“Thanks…” His usual scowl returning.

Yu was in the medical bay, still recovering from his wounds from the fight. Birgitta, the girl scout parole officer was beside his bed, not helping his general mood. He wasn’t too happy at his loss, and couldn’t comprehend what could possibly make his day worse.

“Oh hey princess!” Yelled out the scout.

Yu’s head snapped forward at the familiar pink princess ahead of him. He couldn’t imagine what his face could have looked like, but Birgitta seemed to have found it priceless.

Guu stepped lightly over and stood beside his bed.

“Hello.” She said plainly. The samurai did not respond, he was waiting for whatever onslaught of embarrassment was coming towards him.

However, to his surprise, she leapt onto the bed and sat down next to him. She pointed to the out of breath orc that has appeared in the door way. Yu noticed his odd nerdy attire.

“I’d like you to meet, Gerald the Orc.” She said, continuing to point a fingerless hand at the green-skinned man.

The orc, regaining his composure, does a little polite bow.

“Greeting sir.” He said in a nasally voice.

“He works for the Kingdom as one of their advisors. He’s been my assistant in this verse, making sure I’m well taken care of on the Kingdom’s behalf.”

The orc looked surprised, Yu guessed he wasn’t used to having his work validated as such. Guu continued.

“Omniverse, is a world of potential. I don’t know how things worked in your universe, but here, every being has the capabilities for good and evil. In fact, Ambrosia is built on this knowledge. Many of our citizens have been ostracized by their former communities because people made entire judgements of their alignments because of their appearances or lifestyles. We’ve become a sanctuary for said people and we’re thriving because of it.

“I got really mad at you for killing those orc, not just for the potential knowledge we could have lost, but you immediately assumed that those lives were worth taking. Those orcs could have been simply concerned for their safety with Ambrosia around. They could have been negotiated with. We’ll never know because of your actions.”

She reached over and put the tip of her arm onto the lock of Yu’s cuff. Her skin melted into the lock and with a small twist, the cuff sprung open, freeing the phone from his arm.

“From now on, I want to think carefully about your actions and how it effects the world around you. Just as the orcs are capable for good, you are capable of evil. Remember that.”

She hopped off the bed and towards the door, she turned around to speak to him one last time.

“You’re no longer Ambrosia’s prisoner, I’m giving you a second chance. However, I do want Birgitta to stay with you, if only so you have a guide. Anyways, keep in touch. Farewell.”

And with that, Guu left, the orc following close behind. The princess was eager to get back to Desco and Gildarts. While she could go see Gamzee right now, she needed a bit of personal time.

[Gildarts]

“Molly’s waiting for you ya’know, she might even be on her way here now, but I think she wanted to stay in Ambrosia so you could come and see her new room.”

“Molly.” Gildarts stated, with words lining between the tones of his voice as his eyes held on the shining edges of the bracelet phone. He was intrigued by the device, and recognized it as something he had broken many times on his venture throughout the Omniverse.

“Desco!” That was the final boss’s name. “I’m going to call Molly, she’s a girl I met a few months ago, feel free to say hi.”

He clicked Molly’s face with his good hand and the methodical dial tone continued with the shimmering wavelengths of the young girl’s face.

A face appeared, behind her, a pink and purple room. At first, a scowl crinkled on her nose, “GILDARTS! YOU MAKE A GIRL WORRY SO MUCH!... But... I’ve missed you, ya big oaf.”

“So you live in Ambrosia now?” Gildarts inquired, the fact fresh on his mind.

“Why haven’t you VISITED ME? I finally have a house- er, share a MANSION, thanks to Princess Guu’s generosity.” Molly explained.

Both earned each other’s grin, and Molly looked curiously at the girl behind him. “Who’s that?”

“Desco is Desco!” The purple one explained.

“She’s a final boss.” Gildarts explained.

“WHOA. No way! She looks my age!” Molly seemed astounded, her eyes widened. “Wait...” Molly’s eyes then narrowed, “Why is she on your shoulders?! I should be there!!!!”

“I.. Didn’t come with Guu, because I wanted you to see my new room!”

“Of course. I’m coming there next.” Gildarts offered a smile with his promise.

“Psh, you said that a month ago!” Molly’s sass was showing.

“It’s only been a few days here?” Gildarts offered, but really, he never kept track of time.

“IS THAT CAMELOT BEHIND YOU???!!!! GAAHHHH!!!! I’ve never been there! Gildarts, you HAVE to show me all the tech stores, and that one guy, with the cabbage cart... Ohhh God. Why am I not there now??!” Molly beat herself up.

“You’ll just have to join me on my next adventure. If you recall, my last few were more dangerous. I think I could go with something more relaxing... The beach was nice but... I don’t know if Impel Down will appreciate my presence again. Heh.” Gildarts warned Molly of the dangers, though he didn’t like to take kids with them, it bothered the ‘stability’ of their growth. Kids didn’t get friends or the sanctity of home on the road.

“Hey, wait.. Weren’t you just in the tournament? And... Is that blood on your face?” Molly asked. “You don’t seem effected at all!”

"Desco was in the tournament too." Gildarts pointed out, but he had not himself seen the fight. But the girl’s impressed observation of Gil's well-being proved false as Gildarts suddenly became aware of the pain he had been concealing. The evidence, aside from the purple bruises on his eye-socket, everything along the scape of his body was covered by his cape.

“Gah...” the Prime doubled over, and Desco took a bounce up to evade propelling the mage down.

“Geez old man, you get hit by a freight train? I was watching the fight, you were really close. I think you did great.” Molly offered a smile of sincerity.

“Ugh, I’ll be alright.” the Prime winced, but anyone could tell with the continued observation of the welts all along his skin, that Gildarts was only beginning to recover from the quite fatal battle that had cursed his body with injury.