Planning Stages

Roxanne woke up without any bad dreams in the hotel room. It was early, still dark outside. But as hard as she tried, she couldn't get back to sleep. She woke up alone, making her way to the hotel reception for breakfast. Everything there seemed to be made for building muscle or keeping energy, nothing that really focused on the taste aspect. She just got some yogurt with fruit, hoping that would carry her for a while. As she sat down in the corner of the room, a short girl with messy black hair that looked like it had never been styled approached her.

"Is that good?" She asked nonchalantly. She looked at Roxanne with her dopey brown eyes, dressed in a black sweater with a necklace like hers, only with a white gem in the centre. Fairly common type. Other than that, black sweater and jeans. Really skinny, too.

"It's pretty good." Roxanne said back.

"Cool, know what I'm getting." The girl nodded. Roxanne watched her order her yogurt, then sit with her table of two other friendly looking guys. The guys looked familiar.

Then it hit her. They were the Lumps, the fourth ranked hero group. Or at least the two guys were. The girl she'd never seen. She knew all about the two guys. The blonde muscular one was Ryland. Leader, fighter, expert in grappling. The skinnier man with perfectly styled black hair was Rodrick Santiago. No nonsense master of every tool needed for every situation. Both of which could make excellent boyfriends, but finding love was on hold. Not finished, for whatever Kazumi or Julian were saying, just on hold. She just needed to know what it was she really wanted.

"Hey, what's up there?" The girl with the lumps asked, looking at the TV right next to Roxanne. It was playing the message she and the others saw yesterday to the public.

"I'm sorry, are they just giving away the gauntlet?" Rodrick asked.

"It's like a heroism test, probably." Ryland replied quickly. "Seeing as Sandala gave their axe away to help fight the Legion, maybe Fightston wants to do the same thing."

"I thought that some scouting ship stole the axe while Sandala was being invaded."

"I mean, it worked out. And Zach probably wants to repeat the success, you know how he is."

"Well, I think it'll be cool." The girl with them nodded. "Besides, Ryland and I could probably clean out the whole legion with it." Rodrick just sighed at the end of the sentence.

"Look, as long as the winner isn't some legion spy or one of those Battlestorm assholes, I'm fine."

"Gee, thanks."

Caoimhe walked past them as she got her food, also yogurt. Makes sense, it's high quality yogurt. She sat next to Roxanne afterward.

"So, you ready for the first round?" She asked.

"Totally." Roxanne lied.

"That's good." Caoimhe sighed. She knew it was a lie, but whatever. Not like she'd get hurt in some major way. She tried coming up with another conversation topic by glancing around the room. Yogurt? Nah, that's dumb. What kind of moron bases their identity around yogurt? TV shows. They definitely don't have a single show in common. The lumps?

"So, ignoring your own, what's your favourite hero group?"

"I guess…the Stones? Julian seemed to like them."

"The eternal underdogs, huh? Makes sense. What about the Kerobons?"

"The clown ones?"

"Okay, how much do you know about the hero groups?"

Roxanne stopped for a second. "Basically nothing."

"Makes sense. Well, you got this far. Good luck during the weeding process, I guess."

Just as Caoimhe was about to leave, Cutter walked in. He briefly looked around the room, and gave what seemed to be a sign of disbelief. He quickly handed out dark blue noise cancelers to everyone in the room. before flashing a devilish grin. He grabbed a megaphone, and immediately started shouting as loud as he could.

"EVERYONE GET TO THE GROUNDS ON THE DOUBLE! THE ARENA OF DEATH! IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE IT IS, FIND OUT, CAUSE IF YOU AIN'T THERE IN TWO HOURS, YOU AIN'T IN THE TOURNAMENT!"

Roxanne and Caoimhe both got texts on their phone.

'whats going on why is cutter yelling' from Julian.

'Tell me why exactly tattoo man is screaming?" from Luca.

'We need to go to the Arena of Death? No clue where that is? Cassandra probably does.'

'Arena of death. Get dressed so we can follow Cutter.'

"Gotta say, dint expect ya to be up 'fore the others." Cutter said to Roxanne as she gave the noise cancellers back.

"Well, a hero's always gotta be up early, right?"

"You'd think." Caoimhe replied calmly.

The others appeared soon afterward. Most of yesterday's important names were up, if slightly grouchy looking. Cutter looked around, nodded to himself, and started whistling a merry tune to himself as he led the early birds to the arena of death.

The Arena of Death was just an ordinary sports stadium. It was bright blue, with nothing to indicate the 'of Death' part of Arena of Death. Not even a black banner draped over the entrance or something. As the competitors entered the reception of the Arena, Zach stood proudly in front of them.

"These the guys, Cutter?"

"Should be." Cutter replied.

"Great job as always. Anyway! And to any newcomers, welcome to the games. Before I explain how this round is gonna work, I need to introduce one more contestant. Introducing the next in line to the Vannana throne, the ever lovely Willow!"

Zach stylishly moved his hand towards the chair Willow was seductively lying upon, where she slowly got up, her countries lance in hand, towards the group.

"Greetings, heroes and other miscellaneous oddities of wonder! I, miss Willow Vannana, have decided to enter the Fightston games, bringing with me the Relic weapon of Vannana."

"Is that also a prize?" The girl with the lumps asked.

"No. My mom is probably planning my murder, and I'd at least like my body to be somewhat identifiable."

"Also should mention, but if you do use a weapon, it's the blunt stuff only. Healers here aren't miracle workers." Cutter interjected quickly, already ready to end Willow's tirade of valour. "Zach, you wanna explain the first round?"

"Certainly, Cutter!" Zach nodded, as peppy as ever. "Put simply, there are over three hundred people here. So, we're putting you in one arena, and having you fight it out. If you get knocked out or put outside the safe zone, you're out! The thirty-two remaining will progress to the next round!"

"Alright, ya got twenty minutes to pick out your weapons and figure out group plans." Cutter interjected. "Now get to it."

The players were shoved into the stadium's field to discuss strategy. In the changing rooms was a selection of training weapons for anyone who needed them. Cassandra took both an axe and a shortsword, just in case.

"You sure you wanna do this, Roxanne?" She asked, looking worried. "I mean, your legs still busted."

"It's not as busted." Roxanne added. "Besides, I need something to work on now that my journey for love is on hold."

"Right." Roxanne gave an uneasy nod.

"Okay, I have an idea." Julian added. "Zach is getting my bear for me, so why not have Roxanne ride it while we protect her, then carry her to the next round? Could buy some time to eliminate a problem for later."

"And then I fight for real in round two?"

"I'll be honest Roxanne, you are getting eviscerated in the second round if this works."

"Hey, I got an idea."

The girl with the Lumps was smirking behind them.

"If you want, I am a wielder. I can boost people's reflexes. So we can work together on this."

"What's in it for you?" Julian asked, crouching down to her level.

"Easy. You think about the main reason the gauntlet is up for grabs? It's probably to lure anyone from the Legion over to steal it. So tell me anyone who looks sus and I'll help you to the next round. We got a deal?"

The three glanced at the girl, her facial expression still unchanging.

"Name's Siena, by the way."

"Didn't even think of the Legion part." Julian whispered as he turned the other two around. "I say we take it."

"But what if she's in the Legion?" Roxanne asked. "She's with the Lumps, and I've never seen her with them before now."

"Well, she's a support, so even if she is with them, cornering and grabbing her shouldn't be too hard." Cassandra added.

"Yeah, we'll take your offer." Julian said with a flourish back towards her, shaking her hand.

"Right!" Cutter yelled in the rooms. "'rena time! Find a spot and stay there!"

The four stood where Julian suggested, just shy of the middle for safety, but also away from where the action will be most intense at the start. The other Lumps joined up with them, not saying much. Cassandra boosted Roxanne onto the bear, just in time for Cutter to barge into the centre.

"Okay, errone ready?" He asked. Without waiting for any answers, the next phrase emerged.

"Round one, begin!"