GeneX - Shatterverse
Chapter 8 - Enter the Ring
A massive coliseum, full of cheering spectators, underneath a towering statue depicting armored versions of Knuckles and Punchy crossing blades. An ancient concept made modern, with bright lights illuminating the battlefield, huge screens displaying the action for those in the cheap seats, and robot guardians stationed at checkpoints throughout the facility to ensure the violence stays in the ring. Daisy the skunk, after being taken from GeneX Prime, had been facing fierce battles daily. Today the screen showed off her struggle as an Iblis Giant threatened to smash her flat. She was dressed in ninja attire, a green band tied around her head to keep her bangs out of her eyes. Her katana clutched tightly, she faced down the beast. "I will not fall... I'll make it back to you, Patch... I swear!" she declared. The giant hurled a fiery ball of earth her way, but with a flash, her blade sliced it in two, and she leapt between the pieces, soaring toward the monster's head! Copter watched the action from inside a cell full of prisoners, a screen being across from the cells so that the prisoners could watch as well. The voice of Zim the Zeti could be heard, the commentator for the coliseum matches. "Beast versus blade! Action like this you can find only here, in THE RING!! For centuries, our world was drowned in the chaos of such battles, as castaways from other worlds arrived here through the portals, the unstable openings in space leading to us here, the HEART of the Paradox Prism!" An image of a colorful gem appeared onscreen, the Paradox Prism. Arrows went from the colored pieces to the center, where a heart was displayed. "Thanks to our great leader, the Ringmaster, the chaos was ended. Roving troopers now collect these castaways, and since they are so prone to violence, we make them battle it out here...TO THE DEATH!" As Zim wrapped up the backstory, Daisy's blade plunged into the Iblis Giant's head, and the beast collapsed amidst the cheers of the audience. "To the death, huh?" Copter asked the main guard, who happened to be Doyle in Centurian armor. "You'll learn, castaway. Or you'll perish..." he grunted.
Libra was also in the same cell, and she was trying to talk their other cellmates into attempting escape. Among their cell mates was a "Sheriff Lucky," their cat friend wearing cowboy attire, an Eggman who was a literal sentient egg, the gun-crazy Vortex from the Backwards World Copter visited a while ago, a knightly version of Silver called Sir Galahad, and a silent black-and-white version of Sonic, who looked like an old timey cartoon character. "Pardner, I'd love to stage an escape from this here hoosegow, but I reckon it's impossible." Sheriff Lucky sighed. "I haven't been here much longer than you," Vortex stated, "But I've heard the stories of escape attempts. They're quite...graphic. And they took my good guns." he grumbled. "What's the deal with the Knucklehead statues?" Copter asked as he watched the screen. "Did you skip orientation?" Sir Galahad asked, "Stone-fist Knuckles and Power Punchy were the greatest, noblest warriors to ever grace this coliseum. They were undefeatable, never backing down from a foe. Legend has it, when they faced off against one another at last, they battled for three days straight, neither yielding to the other. Ultimately, they both perished from exhaustion, neither giving up their undefeated status to the other." he explained. "That's nice. Do you all wanna die like that?" Libra asked. Toon Sonic just shrugged. Copter turned to face the group. "Imagine if those champions had fought the jerks in charge here instead of each other! And we got a small army right here, so we can do better than they would have!" he said. "Or have a great fall trying..." Humpty Eggman mumbled. Toon Sonic jumped excitedly, suggesting he was on board. "Beats dying in here..." Vortex said, "We got a plan?" While they started to discuss plans, Libra glanced at the screen. "Know thy enemy..." she murmured, planning to watch a few matches to gain an understanding of the Ring.
"That last match was LAME!" Zim shouted at Fera, who was armored similarly to Doyle. And also wearing an eye patch... over her left eye. The wolf growled at the zeti in irritation. "I can only work with what we have..." she complained. A robot fired a shot between them, frightening both despite it being a mere Crabmeat. "You commentate, and you choose the combatants. Both of you will get that crowd entertained...or you can enter the Ring yourselves..." said the Crabmeat with a disguised robotic voice. The pair saluted. "W-we will not fail you, Ringmaster!" they stammered as the robot scuttled away.
Libra wasn't pleased with what she was seeing. The matches could be quite brutal. She watched as Cowboy Shadow gunned down a Pirate Punchy, then in the next match, a space-suited Tails was devoured by a ravenous, feral version of Dulcy the dragon. A winged Divine version of Conan the raccoon and a vampire Mia the cat impaled one another with sharp objects... Mia stabbed with a wooden blade, ending the match in a tie that no one won. "Okay, from watching this I've learned a couple things. First, there's no bloodless escape during a match... Second, you do NOT want to be a cuddly fox or bunny or such, because they deliberately pit you against something monstrous. It ends up a massacre and the crowd eats it up..." Libra said, tugging the collar of her school uniform anxiously. "That's okay, 'cuz we're gonna bust outta here before we get into a match." Copter told her. "Yee-haw!" Sheriff Lucky cheered, while Vortex smirked, "I'll have that lock picked in no time, just gotta distract the guard!" he stated. However, they wouldn't get the chance as Fera stepped up to their cell. "Listen up, new meat! The crowds are bored, so we're going to introduce you all with a Free-for-all match! Hope you aren't attached to each other, heh..." she sneered. "...By Merlina's staff, this is vexatious...." Sir Galahad sighed.
Everyone in the cage was led by robotic guards into the arena, where weapons were scattered about and a few weak structures were erected to use as cover. Copter and Libra glanced at one another uneasily as the crowd cheered to see them. Zim's grinning face was shown on the big screen as the event was preparing to get underway. "Weeeeeelcome to the Ring! We've got a good event for you today, folks! It's time for a FREE-FOR-ALL!!" the zeti proclaimed! "Let's stick together, Libra. I'll watch your back." Copter whispered. "Oh, man, I hope I can access my dark spells in this world..." Libra murmured. Zim resumed his announcements after a short ad for the concession stands. "You know the rules, but our competitors don't! Once the timer begins, our new gladiators must battle one another TO THE DEATH! And yes, you must fight! Any pacifists will be dealt with by the Ringmaster's robotic guards! Furthermore, if no gladiator is killed by another before the timer expires, all competitors lose and will face the PIT of SPIKES!!" he declared. Sheriff Lucky spit onto the ground in disgust. "They're fixin' to kill us all if we don't play by their rules..." he growled. "On my honor as a knight, I shall not raise my blade against the weak, only to protect them..." Sir Galahad declared. "See how long you last with that attitude..." Vortex grumbled. "We should stand in solidarity!" Libra shouted, "They're obviously bluffing about killing us all!" she said. Unfortunately, several people in the group started heading for the weapons anyway. "Not the bravest bunch..." Copter muttered, "We'll fight in self defense, but let's try to avoid killing for now..." he told Libra. Zim gave a sadistic chuckle. "Alright, everybody! Prepare to start the timer... I'm your host, ZIM; Let the Free-For-All BEGIN!!"
To be continued...
Egg Memo X7
Finding a Paradox Prism (or similar source of ultimate power) isn't going to be simple. Even Sage is unable to pinpoint the exact location of such a thing from our own dimension. We'll have to search from within a world that is likely to contain such power. One without an active Eggman; I can't get much through these small ring-portals and as such, I'll need to rebuild my army on the other side. I can outwit most opponents, but myself? Only with prep time. If I never see me coming, I can't stop me, right? ...Right. Now, where to begin?
