Suckered

A fight broke out in the arena. Initially, it involved just two people, but rapidly escalated into a brawl with four participants.

What made the brawl peculiar was that all four of its members were young boys, and each of their hits was aimed directly at the others' groin. Dressed entirely in black, they appeared to know each other well. Amidst their hard kicks and punches, leading to shielded blocks, they laughed and smiled while desperately guarding their privates.

Among the four, a notably short boy stood out, barely reaching the others' waists in height. He seemed to have an advantage in the brawl, landing several upper cuts at some of the other participants' sensitive areas.

Jessie and Ged watched from a distance, observing the chaotic exchange, while Zen was still grieving the death of the deceased fighter.

"Arfunk's pledges must be bored," Jessie remarked, his hand propping up his face.

In a sudden turn of events, one of the shorter boys' hits managed to connect. On the floor, a bald teenager was now keeled over, holding his groin in pain. The other three stood beside him, taunting and laughing at his unfortunate position as he rolled about in agony.

"Looks like that bald idiot got suckered out," Jessie snorted.

Two Rua officers appeared at the entrance to the arena seating platform, gesturing for the bald teen to come over. Frustrated, the teen got up from the ground and made his way toward the officers, who escorted him down the stairs. Meanwhile, his three other friends continued to laugh, as if they had seen the funniest thing in the world.

Zen having taken notice of the fours game came out from within his stupor and was now on his way over to join Ged and Jessie at their seats.

Ged confused about what just happened, questioned to Jessie about the situation.

"Those idiots just finished playing a round of 'suckered' and just pray that dumbass doesn't want to join in on the fun." Jessie pointed towards the approaching Zen. "Cause otherwise you might be joining that baldy and getting kicked out of this place."

"Why is he getting kicked out in the first place?" Ged asked.

"If at any point either during your fight or while watching the fights once your vitality gets below full, you get escorted out" Jessie explained. "Those government bastards are tracking your stats as soon as you enter in the building. It's supposed to help prevent idiots like those four from fighting each other. But, see how effective that is."

"In the arena are some of the stupidest fucking people you will ever meet on this planet, only total morons would want to..." Jessie paused momentarily, frowning he stared up at a now smiling Zen who was now standing in front of them.

Zen reached out to punch Jessie in the nuts, before quickly pulling back in a cheeky move. Jessie flinched and covered his crotch with his hands. Causing Zen to roar with laughter.

"Screw off! You do that shit again, I'm leaving," Jessie stared at Zen with a dark expression.

"Come on, Jessie, I was just joking around," Zen said, sitting down between Ged and Jessie with a mischievous smile.

Jessie had a crooked look on his face. "Hey, Zen. Did you have some history I didn't know about with that fighter Hugo? Why were you moping so long looking at those pits? By now, you should know how it is here."

Zen looked down towards the pits with a stiff expression on his face. "To be honest, I really didn't know much about him. I think I only saw him a couple of times outside of the arena. But without fail, every time I was at the arena to watch a match, he was there, either spectating or fighting on the platform himself. He seemed to think of nothing else besides ranking up at the arena."

Zen continued with melancholy, "You know, I was always curious how he did it. Getting up every day. Fighting on that platform."

"Seeing him around so often made me think... you know, that he was going to be around the arena forever... And seeing how he ended up... well... it was kind of tough to see." Zen choked up a little, finishing his sentence.

Ged and Jessie were taken aback a little bit by Zen's mourning speech.

Breaking the still air, Ged attempted to comfort Zen with some empty-sounding words. "He was truly an excellent fighter, and I'm sure he would have appreciated your words."

Zen pulled himself together, replying sarcastically, "Oh yeah. I bet he's in the great gym in the sky right now, crying his eyeballs out over my sentiments." As he spoke, he moved in an attempt to hit Ged in the nuts.

But, before his hand could reach, Ged flexed all his muscles as hard as he could, shielding himself from the attack.

"Well done, greenhorn. But, that shield of yours could still use some work; you used way too much endurance to block that hit. The power I used there was less than a tenth of what you shielded with. Now that your endurance is depleted, if I wanted to, I could sucker you out right now," Zen teased.

Ged frowned at his statement and, in quiet retaliation, he went to smack Zen's nuts.

Zen barely managed to shield as he got up from his seat. "Damn it, farmer! Hitting with your full power off the bat? What were you trying to do? Trying to make me infertile?" His face was red with anger and embarrassment.

Ged smiled wryly at his comment.

Jessie chimed in to defend Ged, saying, "Zen, since when did you start caring about having children? I thought you wanted to become the strongest fighter? I don't remember there ever being a strong queen to the strong king."

Still embarrassed, Zen replied, "Maybe I will want to settle down later in life. I just want to keep my options open."

"Isn't it kind of abnormal just how strong Ged is?"

"Yeah, it is a little strange, I can't imagine just working on a farm would result in that kind of strength either. He might just be a natural talent, but I would have to see some of the other immigrant children to know for sure," Jessie added.

"I never thought I was very strong," Ged admitted, thinking about Ross and how he could easily move a thousand kilos of produce. "Compared to the other people at the farms, I always felt I was pretty weak."

Zen, intrigued, replied, "Ged, care to swap fighter cards? I'm curious to see how I'd match up against you if we were ever to meet in the ring."

Ged

Rank: Rookie

Record: 0-0

Power: 60/60 Endurance: 40/80 Vitality: 40/40 

Zen

Rank: Rookie

Record: 0-0

Power: 40/40 Endurance: 30/60 Vitality: 50/50 

Zen furrowed his brow with frustration while looking at Ged's stats. "Was this your first attempt ever? An 80 kg deadlift and a 60 kg bench press? How old are you, even?"

Ged replied, "Yes, that was my first attempt at the holy lifts, and I just turned thirteen this year."

Jessie and Zen were stunned.

"Three years younger than me and can already bench 20 kg more than me," Zen hung his head in embarrassment.

"I thought you looked a little young, but you seem a too mature to be thirteen," Jessie commented.

Ged was examining Zen's fighter card, "I mean, your squat is pretty go-." Ged was cut off.

While Ged was preoccupied with the fighter card, Zen took the opportunity for another attack at Ged's crotch. However, Ged reacted quicker this time. Instead of waiting to defend, he opted for an immediate counter-attack, striking with full force at the unsuspecting Zen.

A wailing cry echoed through the arena. Zen was now a row down from them, clutching his privates in pain.

Jessie was momentarily stunned by the quickness of the interaction. However, he soon snapped out of his stupor and pointed, howling with laughter at the keeled-over Zen.

"Serves you right, sucker," Jessie taunted.

Ged joined in, hiding his amusement at Zen's painful lesson.

"Ged, mark my words! I'll make sure you pay back this humiliation eleven times over," Zen declared angrily.

The same two Rua officers who had taken away the bald teen now appeared, demanding Zen to leave. Holding back tears, Zen got up on his feet and made his way down the steps, shooting furious intermittent glances at the two boys.

The chatter died down among the spectators as a strange humming permeated from the center of the arena.

In response, the platform in the center began to lower down to the floor of the pits, and a glitzy, enthusiastic voice filled the arena, announcing the next match of fighters.

Ged stared at the setup with nervous anticipation. He was beginning to feel the pressure of what it meant to be a fighter at the arena, and just the thought of registering to fight gnawed at Ged's subconscious.

"I plan on fighting today in the ring, but right now, I'm a bit nervous to go and register..." Ged spoke up in a serious tone.

The humming sound returned as the platform slowly hovered into view. Two fighters were now stationed a few car lengths apart, seemingly bound in place by an invisible force.

Jessie sighed, "I'm sure you saw on his card, but Zen and I have never actually fought in any official Rookie match. Although some people our age have fought, you aren't required to until you turn eighteen."

"Further down the hallway is the practice arena. Zen and I usually sit and watch the fights here before going over there to test out combos, practice sparring, or shield training. There is no chance of death at the practice arena. The platform can be lowered to whatever height you want, and you will never need to worry about your opponent killing you by lowering your vitality beyond zero."

"Give up on fighting at the arena for now. The people who fight here are mostly adults in their physical prime; it's not a place for people as young as us." Jessie shook his head.

Ged looked out at the floating platform, watching the ongoing fight. The two fighters seemed to be in their late twenties or early thirties, with stats in the triple digits. Ged slumped in his chair, realizing what Jessie was trying to tell him.

"With only forty vitality, registering for a fight on that high of a platform is close to suicide. Although we only just met the other day, and I will admit you are certainly talented, I'd prefer not to see your corpse this soon."

"Why don't you spar a bit with me and Zen, then register for a fight another day?" Jessie suggested.

Ged sat there, feeling the weight of responsibility pressing heavily on his mind. Fighting for a meal was one thing, but to die just for a meal wasn't something he could afford to do.

He remained seated in his stadium chair, gazing out at the exciting match in front of him, lost in contemplation...