Colosseum II C & D

C:

Ian kept lobbing insults, trying to find something to dig deep and hurt Marla. But at that point, they were no longer working. The words of encouragement I'd yelled at her, as ridiculous as they sounded to everyone else, seemed to change her mental state.

Marla walked towards Ian. He was shaking and trying to back away from her without turning around. He ended up tripping over his own feet and was crawling on the floor, even though Marla was yet to throw a punch. It goes to show Ian hadn't shown up with any intention of a fair fight. He wanted to say something to upset her, and use his Psyche magic to cause mental distress.

It wasn't hard to see why everyone in the arena wanted to beat Ian up.

But despite having the advantage, Marla didn't finish the fight. She could've run up and kicked Ian right in the chest, sending him into the upper most rows of the crowd. Instead of kicking him, Marla reached out a hand.

He looked shocked, like he thought it was some sort of trick. But he at least figured out he had nothing to lose and let her help him up. Marla whispered something in Ian's ear and then he called over a Colosseum official from the side.

There was a lot of confusion about what was going on. Both among the officials and the crowd. But one of the officials announced over a loud speaker something the crowd didn't want to hear. To a collective groan, they announced the result of the match.

"Both contestants have asked the judges to stop the match. Today's match is a draw!"

The crowd acted like they were at a funeral.

"What a bummer! She could've punted Ian's head clean off. Would've loved to have seen that."

The seats emptied as the audience poured out of the arena. The complaints drowned out the post-match conversation between Marla and Ian out.

I regretted that I couldn't hear what Marla was telling him, when Vera appeared out of no where.

"Andy, come with me."

I hesitated.

"Don't be dumb. I'm just taking you down to where Ian and Astra are."

Vera brought me down on the floor, right next to where they'd been fighting. I could hear their conversation pretty well. The first thing I noticed was how serious the energy was between the two of them. Their faces were sullen and they spoke low.

"Ian, I'm glad you're listening to me. But in order for this Dreamscape to collapse, you're going to have to—"

"I know. You want me to apologize, right? Okay, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

Ian was now looking sort of smug and Marla looked frustrated.

"Seriously? Ian like, I need you to please listen. Do you know why everyone's here? Why they all hate you so much they're willing to endure this stupid Colosseum? It's all just to get a shot at you."

"Why would everyone—"

"Because of what you say! Actually, it's more of what you type, and then put online. But you've got a nasty way when you speak sometimes too. These people are all your victims. When you go online and don the "TheKingOfTrolls" moniker, these are the people you leave behind. And they are not happy."

"What? No way. How do you know about that?"

"It's my job to know that. I know all about what you've been doing to people. You should know there's always someone on the other side of the computer. A real person with feelings, trying to hurt those feelings for 'clout' is just about as low as it gets."

Ian hung his head like what she was saying got through to him.

"Just tell me, Ian. Why do you do it? What do you 'get' out of trolling people?"

"It makes me feel powerful. That I can manipulate people with the mean things I put online. No one cares about me IRL. But online I'm feared."

"It's not that no one cares about you, Ian. But have you made time to get to know other people? With all the time you spend online, how much time do you spend getting to know new people and making new friends? That's why you think no one cares about you."

"I guess I could reach out more. I liked it when I was in the Gaming Club. But it got shut down when the Club President graduated. Maybe I should start it back up."

"You should! You need to reach out, or else you'll end up alone."

Ian clenched his fist at that line. It looked like he was holding back emotion.

"Anonymity is empowerment, but don't let it get carried away. Don't let an online identity become an excuse to mistreat people. And don't let it distract from your real relationships."

"I... I think I get it. Thank you so much."

There was some sincerity in Ian's voice.

"Now Ian, there's one last thing."

"What is it? I'll do anything for you."

"I need you to stop trolling."

"What—"

Marla gave Ian "The Stare".

"I mean, I'll do it for you, Marla. But what about all my friends? My whole life is online."

"Don't worry about that. I'll be your friend. And Andy will be your friend too."

That was when I saw my opportunity. I ran up into the ring and joined their conversation.

"Ian, you need to join the Gaia Defense Force club when we get back to school. Then I'll be your friend."

D:

The three of us stood in the middle of the ring for a few moments, waiting for something to happen. Admittedly, I'd hoped that was enough to trigger whatever we needed to dissolve this Dreamscape and go back to the real world. But it looked like we weren't off the hook yet.

Marla had the same impression and started asking Ian more questions.

"So Ian, how did you start trolling in the first place? It's not like it's something you just signup for on club signup day."

"I guess I can tell you the whole thing. At least an abridged version of how I rose to become notorious online.

It all started normally enough. Since I was a little kid, I loved browsing text and taking part in online communities. I took part in a lot of conversations about the game Duty of Honor and its near yearly releases. I made one long post on this website called Reddit. It ended up getting upvoted a bunch and making it onto the front page. That was cool enough, but what was interesting to me was the reaction to the article.

People posted all sorts of crap on the internet. They said we were 'releasing too many games' and it was hurting the quality. I suppose I should've been more understanding. I was a gamer back then too. I played DoH 50 hours a week at one point. That was what drove me to respond in the way I did. They were just so petty and their arguments were so vapid; they didn't care about the true art of FPSs like I did. So I laid into them, a bit too much off the bat.

Soon, my reaction to their reaction was more famous than my original post. It taught me something about how the internet worked. You need to move people, that's what gets attention. And when you can interact with them in person, it's that much more powerful."

Marla looked fascinated.

"I guess I sort of get it. But like, why not do it in real life? You don't have to go online to impact people."

"That's a good question..."

Ian thought about it for a moment and I chimed in.

"It's because you can't get hit in the face when you post stuff online. Guys like this do it for the thrill. But let's be real. This Colosseum showed us why it's easier to talk smack on the internet than in real life."

"It's just... people feared me. They even respected me. It will never be like that for me in real life."

"*sigh* As if. Don't think like that! You can totally be respected by people in real life."

"Sorta, it's just harder because you can't just create a new moniker every time you embarrass yourself."

Ian nodded with understanding. It looked like he'd internalized the lesson, but there was something more. Ian looked relieved to get all of that off his back. Like the guilt had been weighing down on him. I wondered if getting beaten up in this Colosseum was part of the penance the depths of Ian's mind had created for him.

At that moment, black spots appeared in the air. They started getting more numerous and I looked at Marla. The Dreamscape was collapsing. That meant we'd accomplished whatever it was we needed to satisfy the situation in Ian's head. For a second, I remember that, not too long ago, I set to be shipped off to be a slave in a salt mine. It looked like Marla had pulled through yet again.

Truth be told, I did not know what was going to happen to us after the Dreamscape dissolved. This was my first time in one and the entire concept was still hazy in my head.

Then a thought struck me. What about Vera? What would happen to her now that Ian's Dreamscape would no longer exist?

If the mission to find Ian was almost at a close. But we still knew nothing about how this level of magic came to be involved. I knew we'd ask Kimi, if we ever saw her again, but I was still baffled that this broke the pattern of the other cases. Here it looked like Augustine was attacking Ian, rather than using him as a tool like he had with Betsy and Mrs. H.

More of the fabric of the reality fractured. I held on to Marla, but I couldn't help but look around for Vera. I hoped to get to see her again.

We were at the point where the world was almost totally black, reality was breaking and we'd soon be in a place totally different. That was when Vera appeared next to us in the ring. It was like she'd teleported.

She looked at me.

"Thank you, Andy, for listening to me. Please take good care of him, Marla."

Marla narrowed her eyes to get a good look at Vera.

"Wait... is that—"

"I'll see you in school, Andy."

And with that, Vera and the entire arena vanished. That bizarre reality that had almost consumed me was gone for good.

A few moments later, we were all back in Ian's bedroom. Judging from the clock, we'd only been out for a few minutes in the real world. We talked over everything with Ian a bit. We got him on the same page with everything that was going on with Augustine. From all the forums Ian read, he knew already that there was some crazy supernatural stuff going on. Still, he was skeptical about magic, at least until he saw Kimi.

Ian thanked us and seemed to have a better attitude.

"Thank you again, guys. I'll join the Gaia Defense Force Club next time I'm at school. Now I feel an obligation to sort this out."

Marla and I called a car service to take us home since it was still pretty late. I had the feeling Paris would want to waterboard me for being out so late past curfew.

Just before Marla dropped me off, she got a text message from Betsy.

"Hello Marla. Thanks for giving me the space I needed to get everything sorted out. I'd like to have you and Andy over to the Bloomer mansion for a formal visit. My mom wants me to show you some of the designer swimsuits. You can take any you want for the Ecchi Island school trip."

Marla looked at me as I got out of the car.

"We are so going to this."