“Hey we have an event.” Manny stood in front of the door and Abra looked up. “Get up, you’ll like this one.”
“Thank you, but I respectfully decline. I doubt I will.” Abra looked back down at his book.
“Weren’t you reading that book last time I came to get you for the physical? You read slow.” Manny crossed his arms and simply gazed at the man lounging on the couch.
“Actually since then, I read my entire collection of books. I am simply now in the process of rereading them.” Abra sighed as he turned the page, his eyes constantly moving as they scanned across the page then jumped to the next line, Manny swore he could hear the mundane noise of a type writer clicking and then the ring of the bell as he watched his clan mate read.
“Oh yes that sounds like so much fun.” Manny groaned and gave a deep bow. “I’m so sorry for interrupting your oh so fascinating book that you would rather read again then do something actually fun.”
He turned to leave but was stopped by the clap of a book closing. He turned to see Abra setting his book on his end table, a golden feather stuck in to save his page. “Enlighten me oh great clan leader.” Abra smiled as he got up, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “What is this fun event you speak so highly of?”
Manny said nothing and simply walked away, forcing Abra to follow who did so begrudgingly, gritting his teeth as he held back his temper. The two walked down a flight of stairs and Manny gave Abra a small tour, “That’s the gym, that’s the medbay, and here’s our destination, the training room.”
“I know all of this.” Abra sighed, not taking his eyes off the cards he was playing with in his hands. “Why are you telling me again?” He held the deck in his left hand and pulled cards off with his right index and thumb then flipping it across the rest of his fingers before balancing it on his pinkie then repeating the process back to his thumb.
“Oh no reason, just thought it’d be wise to refresh the memory.” Manny opened the door and walked through, letting it go behind him so that Abra would have to open the door for himself. Abra stopped it with a card and walked into the pure white room. Square panels covered the floor, roof, and three walls while the other was dominated by a shiny mirror. He didn’t see Manny inside and he walked around in curiosity, running his fingers against the walls.
Suddenly Manny’s voice blared from a hidden intercom. “Welcome to the holodeck, where we can run battle simulations to your heart’s content. Here in the observation room we can manipulate the program to behave more robotically or more realistically.” Manny looked at Abra through the one-way mirror, lounging in a chair alongside Kizu and Mallory, who both sat stationed in front of the computers. Taking his finger off the mic he asked, “Are we sure he can’t see us through this?”
“Yes, nor will we be in any danger during the fight, the mirror is very resilient.” Mallory stated, her two tails swishing slowly side to side.
Manny stared at Abra and flipped him the bird. Satisfied by the lack of reaction he continued talking in the intercom. “We have on our database every gladiator who has participated in a fight. So take your pick, choose up to two gladiators, or hell you can even fight yourself. I’m sure I’m not alone with wanting to punch that smug face of yours.”
“No you’re not,” Abra rubbed his chin. “But you’re joining a list of a lot of jealous boyfriends.” He smirked. “So I’m sorry but I’m not very knowledgeable on gladiator’s names. Can I have a list or something?” A camera came down from a slot in the roof, projecting upon the wall opposite of the mirror the list one would find in the Hall of Warriors and Abra whistled. “Well look at you, oh great leader, you’re high up there.” Abra scanned the list as it scrolled down and held his hand up. “Stop I got my choices. Number 1. Our wonderful leader and 2. We’ll deal with when we get there.” He waved his hand dismissively.
Manny laughed, “Trying to prove something are we Abra?”
“Of course not!” Abra gasped dramatically, placing his hand against his chest and forehead as he feigned insult, tilting his face as if he had been smacked by the accusation. “I’m simply taking advantage of the advanced technology to see if it can do your image justice. But let’s make him more robotic and simple, wouldn’t want to confuse him with our illustrious captain.”
“Yea yea, no need to be a kiss ass.” Manny watched Mallory and Kizu begin inputting the information as to create his hologram and he watched the battlefield with a slight amount of curiosity. Abra had been off the radar for a long period of time and now he’s back, no longer wearing his iconic mask. Manny had heard rumors, the man who can summon a troupe from hell, who can control humans like puppets, and whose performances ended with him in an auditorium full of corpses. Yet rumors were rumors, and Manny was always a skeptic.
Lights projected down, drawing out an outline that began to fill out, gaining color and texture as the system created Manny Ken. Abra whistled and wrapped his other hand around a sword handle that manifested from the deck of cards. As he drew the weapon from the deck, cards folded upon each other to create the blade and soon he had a long sword in his hand. The remainder of the deck he slipped back into his pocket. He teleported in a puff of black mist and reappeared behind Manny, piercing the mannequin’s chest with his blade. The doll was unfazed by the attack and reaching behind him, grabbed the magician and chucked him over his shoulders. Abra flipped through the air, twirling as to land on his feet. He turned back to see the doll look at the sword pointing out of his chest and then the cards simply peeling apart and fluttering to the floor. “Huh well that’s not what’s supposed to happen.” Abra drew another blade out of his deck and charged. Manny’s pickaxe materialized from a cloud of pixels and the two fighters clashed. Abra blocked the wide sweep to his left side, his right foot stuck between the handle and pickaxe head while the flat of his blade protected him from having the point being gouged into his stomach, one hand on the handle and another resting against the blade’s face. He kicked out, pushing the weapon back. Manny let go of his pickaxe with his right hand and grabbed Abra’s leg, tugging it to unbalance the magician. Abra tugged back, being stronger than the doll he freed his foot from Manny’s grasp and went to stab the mannequin through his stomach, pinning his left arm but as soon as the blade touched Manny’s skin it fell apart in Abra’s hand. “What the hell?” The magician grit his teeth in annoyance and tumbled back as to avoid another swing from the pickaxe.
It was convenient that the program was so simplistic and it allowed him to constantly dodge the puppet’s wide swings as he contemplated how to kill the thing. He needed a weapon… He smiled, and he knew exactly where to get one. As the mannequin swung again, Abra grabbed the weapon and kicked out, shoving the doll back and wrenching the pickaxe out of its grasp. With the new weapon in hand, he began pulling apart his opponent, smashing the weapon into the mannequin’s body and wrenching it out, tearing apart his enemy at the seams and stitches. Every now and then the tool got stuck in chunks of wax that the magician simply stomped flat. Shoving the pickaxe into the mannequin’s head, he clapped his hands clean as he watched the thing’s body dissolve into pixels. He sighed and stretched, relieved he was done. “Man that was a work out! Well thanks for dragging me into this.”
He readjusted his suit and began heading to the exit. Then Manny’s voice crackled over the intercom. “Wooh wooh wooh, you can’t leave yet. You still have one more enemy to fight.”
The magician groaned, “Do I have to?”
“Yes, I did it, Zalgo did it. You should do it too.”
Abra groaned, “Alright let me think… it can be anyone right?”
“Yea if they have a battle on record we can bring their information up.”
“Oh he had a battle alright. Give me Vant Raslan.” Abra crackled his neck and fingers. Mizu and Mallory quickly searched up the gladiator in question and soon the holodeck began forming the gladiator’s body. Abra didn’t waste any time, as the body began forming, he quickly materialized blades and shoved two through the crusader’s legs to pin him to the ground and as the torso formed he shoved three more blades through the man’s stomach. He prepped one more blade, pointing it directly at the man’s heart and he waited until the gladiator was fully formed then he smiled. “Hey remember me?” Abra lunged and pierced Vant’s heart as the man stared at him in disbelief.
The look of disbelief turned into one of rage as flames leaked out of his wounds and the cards turned to ash. “Demon.” He growled, flames wrapped around his body and he pulled his sword out of his scabbard, letting flames gather on the celestial steel. “Demon!” The berserker chopped down and Abra teleported out of the way. The knight chased Abra about, every swing of his blade unleashing a wave of fire that splashed across the walls before dissipating into pixels. “Fight me coward!” Vant demanded but the magician simply continued playing his game of tag, using his power to teleport and his own physical prowess to evade the knight.
Manny watched in boredom. “How long has this been going on?”
Mallory checked the timer. “Only about ten seconds since Vant Raslan set himself on fire.”
“Who is this guy anyways?”
“He’s some type of crusader, hunts demons.” Mallory scrolled through Vant’s data. “Only has one battle on record, and it was against Abra, back when he was known as the Genocide Magician. Seems like Vant won too.”
“So this is revenge?” Manny looked at the battle. “Pretty petty.” He shrugged.
Mallory continued reading. “Seems like Vant possesses the power to deny death for thirty seconds and if he kills his foe within that time he comes back to life.”
“So how much time has passed since then?”
“It’s almost thirty, seems like Abra’s going to win.” Mallory looked up to watch the conclusion of the battle.
Abra checked his watch and seeing the battle approaching its end he stopped moving. Vant took the opportunity and stabbed, gutting Abra. Flames began curling around the wound but suddenly they died, his smile of triumph froze as Abra looked up from his watch and smiled back. Pulling a sword out of his pocket, the magician placed the blade against Vant’s neck and whispered. “I win this time.” Then with a simple flick of the wrist, he lobbed the man’s head off. The corpse and its weapons exploded into a shower of pixels and Abra placed his hand over the wound, it wasn’t bleeding due to the berserker’s flames but the magician stumbled, pressing himself against the wall as he began making his way to the exit. “Hey Manny, where’s the medbay again?” He called out.
The mannequin walked out of the observation room and letting Abra lean on his shoulder, began leading him. “You have fun?”
Abra chuckled softly then grit his teeth in pain. “Sure I guess a bit. Just a bit."
