Xeno Dessaron One VS Temthans of Anarchy
Hey, remember that week where I posted fiction from the Phoviverse? You know, that silly story arc of four adventurers, dubbed Xeno Dessaron One, killed some big, scary monsters? Well, these guys are normally gladiators, and, in the Phoviverse, they just got their first proper match in ages. Let’s see how it goes.
Finally, after weeks of nothing, someone had finally stepped up to challenge Xeno Dessaron One. The problem was, the team that had stepped up was the Temthans of Anarchy, demanding a rematch. They were the team Xeno Dessaron One managed to beat just before the Whenvern crashed into the Great Arena, and, originally, they had been fine with everyone forgetting that they had lost to the mixed species team that was insane enough to take on a corrupted monster from outside the universe, vengeance had been on Jalark Taintclaw’s mind for the entire time. The rest of his team weren’t so sure, but after some intense training, tactics planning and persuasion, Mauvrir Blackscale, Forikos Toxispit and Hekki Mountainborn, known by most Arena fans as simply Heck, had finally agreed to step up too.
Of course, the chance to see Xeno Dessaron One fight again had drawn large crowds. While this did somewhat bother Jalark and Forikos, not wanting to lose in front of a massive audience, Mauvriir was content to just do his best and put on a good show, and Heck always wanted a chance to fight someone big and strong, since he was an utterly colossal Temthan, standing at the same height as the average Rethavok.
Really, their initial tactic against the current top Dessaron team hadn’t even been that bad. The Temthans of Anarchy mostly worked around the fact that Jalark was capable of creating a poison that would cause victims to hallucinate, and they’d use this to turn opposing teams against each other, while picking off the stragglers. In fact, Jalark had managed to infect Retvik, the leader and heavy hitter of Xeno Dessaron One, and the hallucinations had convinced Retvik to take out Tenuk, who had repeatedly proven himself to be the team’s wildcard. However, Kayel and Nyssi had managed to redirect Retvik’s rage back at the Temthans, and Heck had been unable to hold Retvik back on his own after Retvik took out all three other Temthans.
This time round, they were going to infect Retvik straight away, before he could get close to the Temthans of Anarchy, but they also planned to borrow a trick from the Tainted Claws. Sure, the Tainted Claws had met a fate similar to the Temthans of Anarchy, but three of the four members of Xeno Dessaron One were not immune to sedatives. Once their plan was in action, managing to tranq Kayel would almost certainly stop Xeno Dessaron One from being able to redirect Retvik. The only problem was managing to land a hit on the slippery Skyavok.
As everyone stepped out into the arena, this one being rather small and cramped, but with only large, stone pillars for cover, the crowds went wild. But more importantly, Retvik was very, very happy to be there, wearing his brand new team armour and finally being allowed to use his beloved Lightedge in a Dessaron match. The entire time Retvik had been running Xeno Dessaron One, he’d been forced to use default green House Fighter gear, but the Raptor had given her favourite House Fighter team custom armour and whatever weapons they wanted. Nyssi now had a personalized axe, which she kept hanging from her belt, but Tenuk and Kayel hadn’t picked anything cool yet. Their armour was even better. Pure black armour plating and a golden yellow trim and a bold, off-centre stripe running down their chest armour, in a colour matching their own skin and plating tones.
Either way, Retvik was pretty damn happy.
While he was vaguely aware that the Temthans of Anarchy were about to specifically target him, Retvik didn’t know how bad his day was about to get.
The announcer introduced both teams, and a heavy bell sounded, starting the battle. The crowd had gone eagerly silent, waiting for someone to make the first move. The first move turned out to be a little anticlimactic as Tenuk just shapeshifted into a blue Temthan and he and Retvik stepped forward, with Nyssi and Kayel covering them with their ranged weapons.
Among the Temthans of Anarchy, only Heck stepped forward. Heck knew he only had one job, to get that shield out of the Lightbearer’s hands. Honestly, as he abruptly charged forward, doing so wasn’t too hard a task. Heck had fought Retvik before, they’d fought a few times, and while Heck had never beaten the Lightbearer, he did know that his shield was heavy.
Heck threw himself at Retvik, coming in from the right so he could push Retvik away. While Retvik did cleanly disarm Heck, the heavy Temthan’s weight caused the tip of Retvik’s shield to bend awkwardly, allowing Heck to pull the shield off Retvik’s arm. Retvik didn’t like this at all and retaliated by punching Heck in the face and stabbing him in the side.
Didn’t matter. Heck shrugged off his injuries and did everything he could to distract Retvik and stop him getting his shield back. In fact, he didn’t even notice the bright blue Temthan that had tried to attack him and he’d just flicked off like an insect. Didn’t even really care that he was somewhat losing this impromptu 1v1 in the middle of a 4v4. Heck had one job, he was doing it.
Behind him, Jalark, Mauvriir and Forikos had all prepared their main weapons. Normally, they carried sniper rifles, modified dart-gun pistols and a sword each. However, today, Jalark and Forikos had forgone their swords in exchange for a heavy weapon, what was essentially an assault rifle, one that fired syringes of Jalark’s hallucinating toxin, the other firing sedative darts. An absolute downpour of syringes rained down over the tiny arena, focused on both Heck and Retvik, and while Retvik did manage to dive for cover, it was already too late. At least seven needles had managed to puncture Retvik’s skin, although none of them were sedatives. And, amazingly, they’d also managed to land several shots on Nyssi and Kayel, although Jalark was pretty sure no hallucinogens had hit them.
Immediately, Heck backed off, returning to his team. Nyssi raced to Kayel’s side, as the small Skyavok had taken a huge dose of sedatives. She hesitated for a moment, then bit Kayel’s left hand, plunging her rounded fangs into his palm.
“The fuck, Nyssi!” Kayel’s words were already slurred.
“Sorry, sis, but Retvik got hit again, and I can’t have you passing out on us! My personal venom is, uh… kinda weird…”
Nyssi stopped talking and dragged Kayel away, hiding behind a pillar. The Temthans of Anarchy were circling, watching and waiting, and Nyssi knew that her antivenoms needed a little too long to kick in.
It took a moment for Retvik to really do anything, but the first thing he did was stare menacingly at Tenuk, who had one again realized he had shapeshifted into something Retvik didn’t recognize. Tenuk glanced around the arena, looking for the four Temthans they were supposed to be fighting. The big one, Heck, was nearby, and had drawn ranged weapon, but Retvik, who was now spitting, growling and snarling, was kinda somewhat between them.
Taking a deep breath, Tenuk decided to do something very stupid. Retvik was going to attack him anyway, so maybe Tenuk could at least use the Temthan of Anarchy’s trick against them in the process.
Picking himself up and running as fast as he could, Tenuk charged at Heck, who loaded what looked like a (specially arena-only modified) shotgun and aimed it at Tenuk. Tenuk leaped into the air, shapeshifted himself and let Heck shoot him.
The arena fell silent as a small, blue cat collapsed in the middle of the arena.
Something else also fell silent. Retvik couldn’t move his eyes away from the blue cat as it lie there, motionless and bleeding. It remained there for a little too long, before being teleported out of the arena.
“Uh…”
That stutter made Retvik snap to attention. Heck was as startled as Retvik was, and that feeling turned to utter horror as he realized Retvik was now staring at him.
“YOU HURT THE FLUFFY KITTY!” the mighty Rethan roared. But Retvik’s voice sounded off.
“I, uh… didn’t mean to.”
“YOU HURT THE FLUFFY KITTY!” Retvik repeated himself as he charged at Heck. Heck did have a brief opportunity to stop Retvik, but he fumbled the reload of his shotgun. Had he managed to reload a second sooner, Retvik wouldn’t have taken that shotgun and beaten Heck into the ground with it. Retvik continued to smash Heck until he was teleported away.
The rest of the Temthans of Anarchy immediately began to panic, and Forikos immediately fired every single remaining sedative syringe he had, while Mauvriir wished he had more than a light pistol and Jalark realized he was out of ammo completely. It did absolutely nothing. Once Heck had been teleported away, Retvik turned his attention to whoever had just shot him.
As Retvik tore the Temthans of Anarchy apart, he kept on repeating the same phrase, screaming about how they had hurt the fluffy kitty. It didn’t matter that Mauvriir had emptied two pistol clips in Retvik’s direction and Forikos had filled him with sedatives, Retvik was now running on pure adrenaline and defensive chemicals forcing him to attack anything he considered a threat.
Mauvriir was the second to fall, with Retvik grabbing him by the throat and smashing him into the ground, breaking both his legs in one go. Forikos had tried to run, throwing his sword at Retvik in a bid to escape, but he met the same fate Mauvriir did. Knowing that he was utterly fucked, Jalark gave in and submitted himself, kneeling on the ground and letting Retvik approach him.
“WHY DID YOU HURT THE FLUFFY KITTY?”
“He didn’t mean to. It was a mistake.”
Jalark had no idea if Retvik heard or even understood his answer as those massive, armoured hands smashed into his skull.
The audience was still rather stunned. Retvik though didn’t seem to be done. He got up and stomped directly to where he had seen the fluffy kitty get shot, then just stood there, staring at the small puddle of blood. Retvik remained in place, unmoving, even as the audience began to empty out.
Kayel and Nyssi also remained where they were, hovering at the the gate at their team’s arena exit. While Kayel was desperate to try and help Retvik, Nyssi insisted that he stay put.
“He’s in his Defensive State, he’ll attack you and maybe get even worse.”
“But-”
“Just… just wait for a bit.”
After a little too long, something appeared at the gate. Tenuk was shaking somewhat, and he was still shapeshifted into a cat. Behind him were three Rethan medics, one of whom was holding a tranquillizer gun. Nyssi pulled Kayel out of the arena, then let Tenuk pass.
Tenuk skittered across the arena, approaching Retvik from the side. He meowed loudly, grabbing Retvik’s attention, before speaking properly.
“Hey, Retvik, it’s me, Tenuk, the fluffy kitty.”
“You are not dead?” Retvik’s words were painfully slow and hollow.
“I’m alright. You forgot that we’re in an arena.”
“Did not protect. I fail.”
Tenuk purred, then approached Retvik, putting himself in arm’s reach. Retvik hesitated, then crouched down so he could better see the cat.
“It’s okay, we all make mistakes. But I am fine. You got revenge. And now you can pet the fluffy kitty.”
“I pet?”
“Yeah. You can pet me. You should pet me. I’m fluffy.”
Retvik awkwardly reached forward and did as he was told. This was enough of a distraction for the Rethan medics to fire a single dart, which immediately caused Retvik to stumble. He never recovered and quickly collapsed in a heap, falling unconscious.
Tenuk watched as the medics carried Retvik out on a stretcher, utterly horrified by what he had accidentally done.