Artificial 3: The Valla Chronicles

Chapter 9: Making A Name

After my bout with another trainer and his trainee,
my coach Imani called it a day and told me to meet back up with him tonight, at the colosseum.
So I took this time to call Chace and talk, I clued him in about a possible bounty on my head,
how I've made an enemy out of two Tribes,
lost the daughters of the Ice Tribe and now I'm in the Water Tribe making a name for myself.
Chace and Sora didn't really care about the whole bounty they just asked me why I chose to make enemies rather than stealing,
so I told them not like they could harm me,
so why not?

Terra strongly voiced her opinion about how I should have gone with the option that didn't make me a blip on anyone's radar,
and that she was disappointed,
so I invited her to come and keep me in check if she wanted,
and she said she didn't even know where I was,
so I told her Capetown Africa.
After that,
Terra and I went back to the discussion of being inconspicuous.
"Sis, you know I'm not the stealthy type. I mean, I can, but it's just not as fun."

Terra brings up how I could just kill my enemies and take it without much resistance and make a stealthy getaway, but I rebuttal in my own way.
"Sis, you wouldn't blast a mere flea with a rail gun now, would you?"
She says she doesn't know,
would she as I hear a charging noise followed by Chace screaming not to fire at him and then a loud blast that made me jerk the phone away from my ear.

"There, I killed a fly with a railgun!"
Chace yells in the background,
saying he could have been hit,
and she just tells him he'd survive. All I could do was raise an eyebrow.
"We'll have to call you back, bro. Terra is busting out the lightning."
Sora says.
"R-Right, I'll call you back at a better time."
She says okay,
and I hang up and stuff my phone down my pocket,
night rolls around, and I meet coach Imani,
he tells me he signed me up for my amatuer boxing tournament,
and then after that,
the gladiatorial tournament afterward, I suit up,
and the judges check the steam pressure on the back of my exo suit.
They gave me the clear,
and bout 1 was about to begin,
I make a fist,
looking at my exo suit's brass knuckles, I'd say it's pretty sweet,
but it's actually highly impractical, the refree and commentators hype up my opponent, he enter the ring
they introduced me,
and the crowd boos me telling me to die in the ring,
some fucker even hit me in head with a soda can none open.

My coach just tells me to go wild,
so I jumped in place,
do a few jabs then motion bring it on, the bell dings and it was a knock out right out of the gates with my right hook, there was a 10 second count down but he didn't get up,
a five minute break was called before the next bout,
so I got into the waiting room and drank some water and ate some food because it would be at least another hour before my next round,
I enjoyed a good dinner and show as two Artificial Demons slugged it out with their metal cybernetic steam-powered arms.

After three rounds,
it was my next bout,
round 5,
once again,
a knockout right out of the gates, I yawned,
and as I left,
a small part of the crowd had a change in heart, mostly booos but a few cheers. The next round last six minutes before a victor was decided, he got to have 12 minutes of rest and heal up before the final round,
me vs him. According to coach Imani, the Chief was betting on this guy,
I told him to sit back and enjoy the show as I entered the ring,
the bell dings,
and I taunt.
I take a few punches to the face,
head, body, and gut,
then a left hook.
I look my opponent in the eyes as his fist remains glued to my jaw.
He backs away and puts up his guard, and bounces in place.

"That all you got?"
He approached me and then leaned back last second,
and I was intimidating him.
"Come on! I don't have all night, free hits right here!"
He decides to whale on me for five minutes but I couldn't feel a single hit, the bell rings and I go into my corner, drink some water and have my coach cool me down with a cold rag,
the bell dings again,
and this time,
I knocked him out in one punch.

The crowd went silent,
then more boos as I was declared the winner,
after my victory the ring goes under the floor and a new platform takes it's place turning the arena into a gladiator pit, I had two hours to relax so I spent it in the VIP booth with my coach,
he was reasonably worried people would come after him,
so I left a familiar with him while I went to the bathroom to piss,
I say because I knew their were Artificial Demons seeking to come in,
so by leaving a familiar with half my power, nah,
they couldn't win even if I didn't try.

In the bathroom, I picked a stall, unzipped my flie,
and waited for the enemies to find me. "Ahhhhh, that feels good."
On que a bunch of Artificial Demons come in,
one takes the stall next to me and another on my other side,
two leaning against the wall.
"Hey, rookie, you wouldn't happen to know where your coach is, would ya?" I zip my flie and flush the stall,
then look over to him.
"Depends, man, do you have cash on ya?"

They all chuckle,
and then I look into what my familiar sees,
he's already killed the guys that attempted to kill my coach,
rather than call him back,
I had him stay,
and then I zone back into the conversation.
"Smelling an opportunity to make money, yeah? Five hundred."
The man says as he flushes,
zips his flie,
then turns to me,
his hand going towards knife on his back.
"No, two thousand."
I retort back,
vasting a shadow rune on his shadow and everyone else's shadow.
"One thousand."

I start to look away and walk when he grabs my shoulder,
I activated the rune on all of them, making their own shadows take the form of their body silhouette and lock their joints,
applying intense pressure,
I could hear their bones cracking.
"You son of a bitch! You don't get to make demands in  The Don's territory!"
My blue eyes turn purple,
and I look him the eyes.
"Incorrect, your Don doesn't get to make demands from a Demon Lord."

I have his own shadow kill him by slowly crushing his bones at a faster rate,
then his healing factor can heal,
and then he falls over dead.
"Anyone else feel like picking a fight?" They all shake their heads,
and one begs to be set free.
"Please, man, I'm just a grunt! I'm just trying to make a living the only way I know how, everyone knows if you oppose the Don you'll be his target, no one tells me jack fucking crap man, just let me leave and you'll never see me again."

I undo the rune in my mind,
and his shadow returns to him.
The man bolts out of the bathroom, I look at the others,
and I could tell they would die for their leader.
"Any last words?"
They smugly grin and say in unison all hail Don King.
"Vaporize."
I reduce them into a pile of ashes with my shadow lightning,
then exit the bathroom,
returning to my coach who thanks me for leaving a familiar with him.

"For now on, until my business is done, you keep that familiar with you at all times, do you understand?"
He nods,
and I wait out my time until the matches begin,
my coach grabs a ticket from the refree and and they begin a random number generator using the numbers on the tickets,
the match list pulls up,
and I'm going dead last.
Hmm, hmm sounds fun,
I guess.
It'll definitely give me the opportunity to study my opponents,
not that I'll have any difficulty,
of course.
Let the gladiatorial tournament begin.