So...Venox just walked up to the Tournament sign-in center and asked for admittance?
Wrong...

ddenly, revealing a massive sprawling city. Stickpage City. Venox flapped his wings harder, heading for the gigantic arena in the city’s center. His muscles ached from flying so far, and the sweat from his nervousness and exhaustion was running into his eyes. He blinked a little, pumping his wings so that he soared above the cloud layer. No one needed to see him yet.

The sounds of the metropolis soared up to meet him, fingering their ways through the clouds and into his ears. The barks and roars of vehicles, the clinking of armor, and weaponry, the shouts of a few vendors, the sounds of children and people alike as they conversed, laughed, or swore, the hum of multiple power generators, all of them crowded into the coward’s mind, trying to find space among his thoughts. Venox shook his head, wishing he could block all the chaos somehow. He didn’t have time to think about what dangers lay below. He needed to think about how he was going to get in the arena, how he was going to learn the secrets of all who resided there, and how to get out again, all without being seen.

It’s not cheating, Venox argued with himself. It’s strategy. He had to know his opponent before a battle right? Otherwise it would be unfair. The coward grimaced. Here he was, thinking about what was fair and unfair. His past life snarled at him from the depths of his consciousness, bringing up thousands of situations where he’d just done what would have benefitted him alone, while causing all others to suffer.

He’d come a long way from there. But was this the right thing to do? Once down this road, there was no turning back. He would be stuck as a wRHG forever…right?

Troubled, he dropped lower in the sky, closer to the cloud, circling and firing streams of sound down below. He made out the gargantuan ring below in his mind’s eye, listening to its every edge and feature. There were no spectators yet, it was too early in the day. Venox frowned at the tears in his mental picture. His echolocation could use some work.

He’d gotten into it recently after reading a human book about bats. These bats had wings that looked similar in structure to his, and they could find their way in complete darkness with nothing but their voices. This idea was so amazing to him that he decided to try it himself.

It had taken a lot of courage to fly with his eyes closed, but his Darkwings had been there to make sure he didn’t crash into anything. Sure, he could see fine in the dark, but not through cloud. There were probably many other uses for this discovered talent, just waiting to be found out…probably.

Taking a deep breath, Venox plunged below the cloud cover for a few seconds, and then back up again, peering critically at the arena in his mind. No, there was no one there at all, but he was sure they were somewhere further below it. Their core energy was strong, vibrating through his limbs like a voiceless tune.

Various humans and organisms had a type of core energy they couldn’t live without. Some warrior had called it a soul…what a strange word. This energy seemed to fly away into the sky somewhere whenever its owner died, and once gone, it supposedly never goes back. Venox had already tried to follow one of these energy wisps, but it just got further away if he got closer, or disappeared before reaching him if he was close already. It was confusing.

As Venox came in for a landing, he spotted a lone figure dart away from the arena, disappearing quickly into the streets. The coward circled a little, hoping to catch sight of the creature again, but it didn’t show. Maybe that contestant was afraid of losing or something. Shaking his head, Venox angled his wings and swept downwards.

For a few moments, time seemed to slow. Venox sensed tiny little pinpricks of heat scattered all throughout the arena’s base. His wings nearly froze in mid-flight. DANGER! his mind screamed. TAKE COVER! FLY AWAY! QUICKLY!
Venox screamed in terror and flapped hard, trying to turn around and go back…far away into the protective cloud above.

But it was too late.

Multiple bursts of heat spiked into the sky, sending torrents of flame and debris flying everywhere. The blasts seemed to grow in power as they expanded. Helpless, Venox was driven hard through the air, buffeted by hot wind, force, and bits of rock, wood, and metal. A flaming shard sliced through his left wing, sending angry conflagration bursting across his skin. Venox screamed again, plummeting to the ground. He landed purposefully on his wing, trying to put the fire out, and tumbled head over heels. A chunk of stone flew for him, and he found that he couldn’t move. He was paralyzed with fear.

Everything went black.



When Venox awoke, he found that his neck and feet were shackled. He seemed to be chained on his back on stone floor of some type. The wall was part of a stone, dungeon-like room. Stray bits of metal were scattered about the cracked floor, and he twisted uncomfortably at the sight of the blood they were covered with. There were no windows, meaning he was probably underground. Sweat streamed off his face. Were there spiders here? What about ants? His body trembled.

Venox shifted, trying to get his back off the cold, strangely rough stone it was pressed against, and then noticed with growing horror that he was lying on a massive patch of crusted blood. Its sickeningly sweet scent wove into his nostrils, and he coughed for a long time before settling down again. His chest grew tight with fear. Where was he? Was this a torture chamber?

He closed his eyes tight, breathing hard, as if he could somehow wish himself away to some other, safer, place. But when he opened them again, he was still in the nightmarish room. Trembling and sobbing like the helpless weakling he was, he briefly considered summoning his Darkwings. With their help, he could probably get free of these wretched chains. The door to the room was straight across from his feet, and if he lifted his head high enough (which was extremely difficult), he could see that it was made out of wood. He and his Darkwings could set that on fire, and then they’d be free!

A small flicker of hope sprang to life in his mind. Maybe he’d be able to get out of here after all! Dark smoke whirled around him, twisting into the familiar serpentine forms of his allies. They opened their beaks wide, and he saw the growing red glow in their throats. His hope spark became a raging inferno, and a smile spread across his face.

Suddenly the dungeon door flew open, cracking against the wall with untamed force. Startled, Venox strained to see the figure that came through, but a blinding flash met his eyes. He screamed with fright, blinking to clear his vision, and the raging shrieks of his Darkwings lashed harshly through the air. Just as quickly as the flash had come, it vanished. Venox took a quick look around, and was met with an odd draft of frosty air winding across his skin. His eyes shot to its source, to his left, and with horror he saw that his three Darkwing allies were all frozen solid into a chunk of ice against the wall.

A hazy, thick-limbed stick figure was standing near them. Its hands glowed with light blue energy, and a hood cloaked its face in darkness. The hood extended into a cape with a gold lower edge. The creature turned to look at him, revealing eyes the exact shade of its hand energy.

Venox’s fear spiked higher. Who was this? What was this? Why was he here? He opened his mouth to speak, and found that he was so petrified that he couldn’t utter a sound. The coward’s mouth snapped shut, and he trembled, trying hard not to cry.

“Hello there.” the creature said in an icy voice, sending chills down Venox’s spine.

“U-um…h-hi?” Venox squeaked, trying not to look threatening. “Wh-why a-am I h-here? Who-who are you?”

The figure strode gracefully to his side, kneeling next to him. Venox stared hard at the creature’s face, but even with his superior night vision, he couldn’t make out what face it had. He shuddered as he felt the being’s breath on his face. Well, this wasn’t the death he envisioned either.

“What d-do you want?” Venox asked, and the creature’s eyes narrowed.

“You destroyed the arena.” it snarled sharply. “Why?”

Venox whimpered. Great. How was he going to get out of this?

“I did not!” Venox cried, whimpering. “R-really!”

“You’re lying.” the creature hissed, rising to its feet. It took few steps towards Venox’s Darkwings, cocking its head at them.

Venox’s eyes narrowed and anger burst to life within him.

“DO NOT touch them.” he snarled, his voice low and threatening.

“Relax.” the creature answered. “I’ve frozen them in time. They suffer no ill effects besides being unable to move.”

“MONSTER!” Venox shrieked; all cowardice evaporating. “LET THEM GO!”

“As soon as you tell the truth.”

“But I am telling the truth!”

The creature whirled to face him, its eyes burning with distrust.

“No. You’re not.” it said.

The figure then bent over, picked up a bit of metal, and scratched the blood off. Then it crept towards Venox, as if it was trying to sneak up on him in plain sight. The summoner’s cowardice returned, and he screamed, knowing there was nothing he could do to stop it.



“I don’t think he did it.”

The two warriors stood outside the dungeon door, listening intently to the screams of agony coming from within. One was a young teen, with dark blonde hair, blue eyes, and very pale skin. He was wearing a thin, light grey T-shirt, and a pair of jeans that looked worn to the threads with overuse. A small square hovered over his shoulder, spinning idly by his ear. His name was Sebastian Gladstone. Beside him stood a likewise pale-skinned individual, a 19 year old woman called Selena. Her green eyes were bright with focus, and she squirmed with delight at the mental info she was sifting through.

“Oh…” she breathed, weaving in among the prisoner’s memories. “There is so much here!”

Sebastian aimed a slightly troubled look her way. She was doing that, that thing again where she got too deep into a person’s head. He frowned and waved at her face, planting his hands firmly on his hips when he got no response.

“Selena!” he said, trying to sound serious. “Just ask it to tell you the truth.”

Selena blinked, distracted, and cocked her head at the teen. “But I’m having so much fun!”

Sebastian let his shoulders slump, letting his gaze wander along Selena’s shockingly white T-shirt. If anything, it made her look like a ghost. She cocked her head at him, trying to make up her mind. Finally, Selena let out a huge sigh and flung the dungeon door wide open.

A bloodied figure lay twisted on the floor before them, shackled by its wings and ankles. It was solid black, and stick-figure-like, with large red eyes and a red-fanged mouth. Its left wing was nearly burnt beyond recognition. It had no pupils, and was breathing quite irregularly. Huge pause, quick breath, huge pause, quick breath. Its gaze was distant, as if wandering a distant universe and the horrid slashes that ran across its body seemed to follow an eerie sort of pattern. Selena’s eyes widened.

“Oh great, now look what that hired freak did. He was only supposed to cut him up a little, not go wild with his tools.”

Sebastian’s gut clenched at the sight. The creature may have been evil-looking, but that didn’t mean that it had to get treated this way. He felt suddenly upset. What if they had been wrong? What if this being had been right about not blowing up the WRHG battle arena in StickPage City?

“Okay…Selena.” Sebastian heard himself say. “Ask it if it destroyed the arena. Quickly.”

Selena cracked her knuckles, getting that look on her face again.

“Alright. Here we go.” she replied, bending over the twisted beast.

As soon as she began to concentrate however, the bat creature convulsed violently, heaving against its chains. Its breath kept up the irregular pattern, and strangled shrieks burst from its throat. Tears flowed freely down its face, mixing with its spilled blood. The salt rivers wound among the crusted remains of thousands of other victims, seeming to cry in all types of different…tortured voices. Sebastian took a few steps backwards, excited and upset at the same time.

“NO!” the bat cried. “NO, PLEASE NO! NOT THAT ONE, PLEASE!”

It broke off into a heart-rending cry of anguish, struggling hard. Selena’s brow furrowed, and suddenly her eyes opened. She gasped and stumbled back, falling hard on her rear on the dungeon floor. Sebastian cocked his head at her, terror crackling through his body.

“What happened?” he asked, trying to keep himself from screaming. His palms got extremely sweaty, and he began to rub them together, nervous. His pixel was whirling by his ear, spinning so quickly that Sebastian felt the tug of the wind it was generating. He grabbed his precious pet and hugged it tight to his chest, trying to blot out the painful sobs of the prisoner behind him.

Selena stayed where she was, shaking her head. “He didn’t do it. I was looking through his most recent memories to find out if he might have seen anything suspicious while approaching the arena. I thought I saw him see a figure running away from the scene, but after that there was just a big bright light.”

Sebastian nodded; eyes distant. “The explosion.”

Selena closed her eyes, but this time faced away from the prisoner, covering her face with her hands.

“But then there were more memories…past ones I think. They just burst into existence quite abruptly. It was weird.”

“What were they about?”

Selena brought her knees up near her chin, putting her head down on them, silent for a few moments.

“Horrible things.” she whispered at last. “This isn’t the first time this creature has been subject to torture. Sebastian…”

She looked deep into his eyes, and he felt even more upset than before.

“…he suffered so much.”

The two gladiators stood silent, looking somewhat dazedly at their prisoner. By now, the bat had stopped writhing and was staring right back at them, shivering.

“H-hi.” Sebastian finally said, breaking the silence. His pixel had stopped its frantic whirling and now stayed hovering on his shoulder again; spitting wild emotional mixes into his mind, excited.

The creature strained against his chains, trying to get as far away from them as possible.

“Stay back!” it hissed. “I-I d-don’t want t-to hurt a-anybody…please…just d-don’t k-kill me…”

“I won’t.” Sebastian promised. “Just tell me the truth…”

“I DID!” the bat shrieked desperately, sending age-old dust trembling from the dungeon walls.

Selena began to get up, and the bat’s wings curled as close to its owner’s body as they could, its eyes wild with fear.

“NO! Don’t get in my head again! STAY OUT!”

The creature lashed about, and its left leg twisted harshly, sending a sickening crack reverberating through the air. Its mouth opened, but no sound came out, and Sebastian shut his eyes, trying to purge his mind from the sight.

Selena tensed beside him, getting slowly to her feet.

“Sebastian…he’s not breathing!”

Sebastian’s eyes