Alkalians (18 page)

“
Oh, he was no trouble,”
Amelia assures them. “In fact, he was a relief. As soon as he
started walking over here, all the men crowded around me scattered
like dust in the wind.”

“
Ah, in that case, we’re
glad he helped!” While Amelia waves good-bye to them, and Rose
casts a wary glance over her shoulder back at her, Sean then growls
to Matt as he leads them through the hall, “What’s the matter with
you, man, are you trying to cause a scene already?”

“
Wha-what do you mean,
Sean? Is it wrong to just say hello to her and let her teach me how
to play blackjack, at her offer?”

“
Well, no, but, do you
know what could have happened if, if, doh, never mind! The tour
must go on!” They pass through another doorway, and find themselves
in a room unlike the first three. As it is dark, yet loud, like the
dance room, it is also as big as the gambling hall, and there is a
large group of people gathered around something in the center of
the room, looking and cheering at something below them. As she and
Matt are confused by the atmosphere of the room, Rose asks, “What
room is this?”

“
Here,” says Sean, “is
another place where a student can make or break. The Casino Pit
Battle Arena!” Motioning with the empty glass in his hand, he
points out where the students are gathered. “There’s a shining pit
in the center of the room, deep-and-wide, which serves two
purposes. Provide a battle field for competitors, and contain the
pot of money from bets.”

“
The pot?” Matt
asks.

“
Yes, the collected total
of money bet! Anyway, one bets on who will win with the help of a
remote color switch. Since the arena plays host for duels only,
there are two colors to choose from, one fighter marked red, and
the other blue. All you have to do is throw in any amount of marcs,
usually only a few coins, and then select the color of the fighter
you are betting on. A machine above us…” Sean gestures toward the
ceiling. “Records all individuals who bet on what color, and after
the battle is over, calculates how many of the winning color gets
money from the pot! Oh, and the winning fighter gets a share of the
money, too, of course.”

“
Huh, really?” asks Rose.
“What’s to stop a student from taking more than his share of the
pot, after the fight?”

“
Ah, there’s actually a
very simple system for that!” Sean exclaims. He points across the
room and says, “See, the floor of the pit is magnetically charged
to attract all the marcs to its center, where they get sucked down
a vacuum tube that winds back up to a machine along the wall over
there. Once the fight is over and the amount of winnings has been
calculated, the machine reveals the money in divided distributions
until everyone’s gotten their share. And there are casino officials
nearby to make sure nobody tries sneaking out another handful of
cash before the next guy, you know?”

“
Uh, yeah. So, where do we
get the remotes?” asks Matt.

“
Either by the machine
over there, or back in the entrance hall. Ah, and one more thing I
should mention. Due to concentrated air circulation within the pit,
it is the only place in the whole building where we can enter our
battle morphs. Well,” Sean huffs as though he’s exhausted, “that’s
the end of my tour! Any questions before we are free to
roam?”

“
Yes, I have one
question,” Rose replies. “Where are the restrooms?”

“
Ah, yes, the restrooms.
Besides the changing rooms at the pool, there are restrooms for
each of the other three areas in the casino, including
here.”

“
Oh, okay. I think I’m
going to go familiarize myself with the pool room, for the next
time I’m here. What are you two going to do?”

“
Oh, we’ll probably just
stay here, watching exciting battles in the pit.” Sean hooks his
arm around Matt. “How about it, Matt?”

Matt, flustered from Sean pulling him,
mumbles, “Oh, uh, but I was thinking of heading back to the
gambling hall, and talking with Amelia…”

“
Nah, you can do that
later, buddy! After all, she works here, remember? So, let’s go get
some remotes and enjoy the shows!” Sean drags a reluctant Matt with
him across the room, while Rose shrugs a little and leaves down the
hall.

***

After Matt and Sean get remotes and
make their way into the crowd around the pit, the other students
are already rooting and throwing money into the pit for the next
fight. Looking into the pit, a deep, rectangular basin with its
walls as slanted slopes which allow one to walk down or move along
them, and of the same, gold-like alloy as the floor, Sean sees what
all the commotion is about. “Well, look who’s fighting tonight.
It’s Cain Incarein, the Invincible Warrior.”

“
Cain?” asks Matt. “Didn’t
you tell Rose and me something about him?”

“
Ah, so you were listening
to all my sage advice? I’m flattered.” Sean continues, “Yes sir,
Cain is an all-star senior and one of the boss students. Cain is
also one of the most feared, because he doesn’t let anyone get away
with putting him down. Even the other seniors think twice before
messing with him.”

Matt understands, and then asks, “So
which guy is he?”

Sean looks at him like he’s an idiot,
saying, “Are you that slow? The one looking all macho down there
and waving his arms about!”

Matt looks and picks Cain out. He
wears some sort of expensive suit that seems to shine like there is
morning dew in the threads, and he basks in the cheering from
above. His hair is finely gelled brown, and he’s shaved so that his
face is smooth and handsome. His outward expressions resemble a
humble celebrity, but Matt knows otherwise from Sean’s
tales.

Cain’s opponent morphs, trying to
intimidate him with his fearsome appearance of a Beast, Tiger
style. The crowd quiets down, and Cain turns to him, dropping the
bravo stance with a smug expression. He morphs, and out of the
flash he appears in radiant armor of green and white, his left arm
carrying a circular shield and a bright broadsword sprouting from
his right. Unlike most other battle armors, Cain also has a helmet
upon his head with a single, curved, fin-like structure on top of
it. As money keeps falling into the pit, rolling or sliding into
the center of the square floor between the two fighters by
magnetism, Sean remembers, “Oh, right! Matt, let’s throw in our
bets. You got any money?”

“
Oh, well, there’s the
twenty marcs Amelia gave me earlier,” Matt says as he fishes them
out of his pocket.

“
Hmm. Nah, don’t worry
about it. You can use some of my money.” He opens up his suitcase,
they grab a handful of coins from it, and toss them into the pit.
While Sean automatically presses the blue button on his remote for
Cain, Matt decides it wouldn’t hurt to bet for the underdog, so he
presses the red button.

The battle is on after the rain of
money ends, the accumulated pot in the middle of the pit disappears
into the floor like sand in a vial, and an intercom voice from
above says, “The battle will begin in 3, 2, 1…” before a freight
bell sounds. The Tiger bounds across the floor toward Cain, but
when he pounces, Cain’s sword glows and slashes. A shifting wall of
aurora light intercepts and shreds through the Tiger, throwing him
back across the pit and leaving deep gashes of green wounds in his
red fur. Matt, astonished by the move, asks, “What type of attack
was that?”

Sean looks at him, blinks, and says,
“Oh, that’s right, I never told you how Cain fights!” While the
battle goes along, he explains, “Cain is from a noble family of
arcane-bred Alkalians that live in Tirez.” When Matt gives him a
questioning look, he adds, “Blade wielders who can use magic.
Anyway, not only is he arcane, but Cain has legally drugged himself
to have built-in defenses against the basic attack elements. That
shield reflects gunfire back at the opponent, and his armor not
only absorbs most magic spells, but it is also impervious to harm
from physical attacks. That’s why he’s called The Invincible
Warrior.”

As he finishes, the battle ends when
the Tiger demorphs after being crushed from energy spears flung
from Cain. The crowd cheers and applauds, sucking up to the
victorious boss student as he demorphs. The machine along the wall
announces the division of prize money and begins spitting it out,
and all the students rush over to get their shares. All, except for
Matt. As the students come back to the pit, they notice Matt is the
only one left there, and they stop dead in their tracks, including
Sean.

Matt, looking back into the stunned
faces of the students, realizes he did something wrong. As they
slowly gather around the pit again with Sean rejoining his side, he
meets the gaze of Cain below in the pit, who for a moment has a
glare in his green eyes. The glare changes into a grin as Cain
speaks out, “It’s been a long time since a spectator bet against
me. It’s a rare event, I will admit, but it’s usually from a
freshman. Who are you, if I may ask?”

Embarrassed and shy with all eyes
aimed at him, Matt barely answers, “Um, I’m Matt. Matt
Calamos.”

Cain nods, saying, “Ah, so you’re the
new freshman everyone is talking about! I must say, you’re not the
first hotshot rookie to come through here. Just because everyone
else thinks you’re a Dark Warrior doesn’t mean that you can do
whatever you want. In fact, I don’t believe you are a Dark Warrior.
Do you know why?”

“
Um, no. Why?”

“
Because if you were, you
would have tried to kill everyone else around you by now! But since
you haven’t, that clearly means you are not like the Dark Warriors
we know, the terrorists who enjoy killing men, women, and children.
And therefore, we have nothing to fear from you. Now, as you
yourself have presented the opportunity, I shall prove that to
everyone here!”

Without warning, Matt gets shoved from
behind into the pit, stumbling downward on the sloped wall. Looking
back up around him, he sees the audience snickering and sneering
toward him, and Sean gazing at him in worry. He then understands
he’s being forced to fight Cain, and he pleads, “Whoa, wait, I
don’t want to fight! I don’t want to be any trouble!”

“
Well, you already are
trouble, Mr. Calamos, and you’re a whole lot of it!” Seeing Matt
bewildered by the accusation, Cain explains, “See, with everyone
scared out of their minds about you, it’s hard to keep this
community running the way I want it to. So, to get it back on
track, I have to show it that you are nothing more than the
scrawny, stupid, inferior freshman that you are!”

Too stammered to reply, Matt can only
watch as he morphs into his battle form. Under immense pressure
from Cain’s threat and the hungry crowd above him, he trembles from
anxiety, desperately thinking of what to do, of how to get out of
this situation. Then, something clicks in his mind as he realizes
this is just like with Ryan from before. If he doesn’t stand up for
himself, this other senior would become his bully and constantly
torment and demoralize him whenever he got the chance, and Matt
wasn’t going to let that happen. Boss student or not, he would not
let anyone try to tell him what he was or wasn’t, what he can or
can’t do.

No longer shaking in fear, Matt
hardens his resolve as he enters his own morph. The crowd begins
betting, the money tumbling down to the pot, and Sean, looking
unsure of how to bet, presses a button on the remote. Cain’s
expression is bright and proud, and Matt’s is dark and angry as the
two foes stare down the other within the pit. Once all the bets are
made, and the bell goes off, the battle begins.

Matt makes the first move by changing
his right arm into a rifle and aiming it at Cain’s chest. Cain
grins, knowing his shield will block the shot and reflect it back,
and holds it before him. Matt fires, the black bullet zooms for
Cain’s shield, and instead of the bullet being deflected it pierces
not only through the shield but also his torso as it bursts out of
his back. The wound sprays green, and the hit almost knocks Cain
off his feet as he staggers backwards.

Sean and the whole crowd jump back
with shock, their surprise equal to Cain’s as they stare down into
the pit. Not only is the wound solid, but it is also vital, pulsing
as it loses more health energy. As Cain gets back upright, he sees
Matt has both arms as guns and begins firing bursts at him. He
rolls, then slides on air balance out of the bullets’ path, moving
towards Matt along the sloped walls. Cain scowls with rage, unable
to believe this guy somehow penetrated his defense and wounded
him.

As Matt puts his guns away, Cain
crashes into him with his shield, sending him skidding and tumbling
along the pit’s wall with a green bruise along his left arm and
shoulder. Cain levitates into the air above him, his sword glowing
with energy. He swings his blade down, throwing a large flash of
light at him to slam him against the wall. Before the flash engulfs
him, Matt casts his own spell and becomes shrouded from instantly
formed, black energy copies of himself, some being smashed by the
flash and the others scattering down the pit’s side.

The crowd, Sean, and Cain are stunned
again. Matt has a spell that allows him to create clones of
himself. When Cain lands from his airborne attack, he finds the
clones shifting back towards him, and the real Matt emerges to
unleash an attack from the apparitions. He dispels his Blastion
spell from his right hand, the blast throws Cain across the floor
of the pit, and he comes to lie near the bottom of a slope, his
upper body radiating a dark yellow from the wounds, his chest wound
beating out lost energy.