Beta Planet: Rise (33 page)

Allea was right. After a few minutes of constant onslaught from the cassowary around its head and neck areas, the anaconda finally slumped to the bloodied ground with one final resounding thud.

“Winner… Cassowary 2!”

“Next up is the cheetah versus the grizzly bear. After that, it’s us.”

Geon looked at Allea and felt his stomach suddenly turn. He tried to keep negative thoughts from entering into his head.

What’s done is done, Geon. Don’t worry. Have faith. Allea can do this.

The cheetah was fast but no match for the enormous and powerful grizzly bear. It easily lifted the hissing cheetah into the air and three times threw it right off the platform. The big cat did manage to get a few deep scratches into the bear’s skin before losing the battle, though.

“See the wounds,” Allea said, motioning to the bear. “They carry over to the next round. So each animal becomes weakened after each battle.”

The voice from above announced the third match.

“Next battle. Gelada Baboon 3 versus Leopon 1!”

Geon felt his heart racing as the four of them walked up next to the platform and Allea projected the controls and statistics onto the screen in front of them.

“Ally,” Geon said quietly, putting his arm around Allea as they both looked at the platform in front of them. “I want you to know that whatever happens, I’m so proud of you. Don’t worry about it. Just enjoy this.”

Allea nodded and went back to tweaking the animal’s behaviors. Suddenly, the platform lit up and the gelada baboon appeared in front of them. It was a medium-sized and portly ape and had long brown fur and a splash of pink on its chest and neck.

“It doesn’t look so bad,” Geon whispered to Sabien and Kumuki.

It sort of resembles Chiah… minus the red drink.

The baboon opened its mouth and screeched loudly, exposing its enormous knife-like fangs and teeth as it jumped wildly around on its side of the platform.

“Wow,” Kumuki said quietly as Geon and Sabien looked at each other.

“We have to avoid the fangs,” Allea said, a few steps in front of them.

Another animal appeared on the other side of the platform, as the whole room gasped in awe. It was a large feline creature, with the head of a lion and the spotted body of a leopard. Its muscular body was long and thick with a mane behind the head, and its brown and orange skin was dotted with dark brown and black spots. Geon could see it had long sharp fangs hanging out of its mouth and dark claws extending from its large wide paws.

It’s magnificent,
Geon thought to himself as everyone yelled out in delight.

“Okay, I was wrong, Allea,” Sabien shouted. “That thing is completely, utterly, unbelievably…”

“Wow!”

“Exactly, Kuki. Wow.”

“Three… two… one… FIGHT!”

The leopon crouched down on its massive haunches as the baboon came screeching and hurtling its way, its massive fangs exposed and its arms swinging wildly. The baboon hit the ground and sprung back up easily in one smooth motion, jumping straight at the leopon’s head. The leopon moved to the side and tried to swipe at the baboon with its paw, but missed completely as the baboon jumped around it. The spectators in the room were going wild at this point, screaming and shouting hysterically.

“It’s too fast!” Geon shouted. “We need to anticipate its movements.”

Allea looked to him and nodded, thinking the same thing. She changed a couple items on the board in front of her, modifying the leopon’s behavior slightly.

The baboon continued to jump wildly about, trying to mount the leopon and bite it, and the leopon kept swinging its massive paws but missing the animal completely.

“We just need to connect once,” Allea said. “Just once.”

The baboon came jumping at the leopon once more, but this time the leopon anticipated its movement and began swiping early. Just before the baboon hit the leopon, it came into contact with a large, powerful paw. The impact hit the baboon in its midsection, causing its entire body to distort as its midsection went backward and its arms and legs continued forward. The leopon roared as the baboon went flying across the platform and off the side of it.

“Leopon 1. One point. Gelada Baboon 3. Zero points!”

The four of them cheered as the room erupted in applause and screams. A random man behind them patted Geon and Sabien on their shoulder and said, “Good show, guys!”

The battle continued in similar fashion, with the leopon able to gain a second point by grabbing the baboon’s arm in mid-air with its teeth and swinging it off the platform again.

In the third round, however, the baboon somehow found itself under the legs of their leopon, and ended up biting its sharp teeth down on its front left shoulder. Blood came gushing out, but it wasn’t enough to stop the leopon, though it did limp around for a minute or so. As the leopon swiped the baboon away, it went flying across the platform but managed to grab onto the edge at the last second. The leopon came charging at it with its head down and just as the baboon jumped, the leopon thrust its massive paw at it, knocking it clear off the platform for a final point and the first round victory.

“Winner… Leopon 1!”

“YOU DID IT, ALLY!” Geon yelled as he, Sabien, and Kumuki grabbed her in a tight embrace. “That was amazing!”

“That baboon is WILD!” Kumuki whooped.

“Yea, completely wild,” Sabien added. “But you did it. Two more rounds to go!”

Allea smiled, looking relieved to get them to the next round, as the four of them watched the next few battles. The lion was easily able to overpower and slay the wolf, the rhino was able to charge the polar bear off the platform with its large horn for the win, and the boar was no match for the imposing utahraptor’s size, powerful jaws, and sharp teeth, which grabbed the squealing feral pig by the neck and slay it within minutes. Geon looked up at the board, seeing that six animals remained in the battle for the second round.

“Here’s hoping we get that crazy bird,” Sabien said as the board randomly chose the matchups for the next battle.

“Ugh,” Sabien exclaimed, disappointed by the selection.

“I was hoping for the cassowary too,” Allea said with a shrug. “But the good news is that the grizzly bear has to contend with the lion and not us. So only one of those two beasts is moving on to the next round.”

“Don’t forget that it also means we have to contend with a giant white rhino,” Sabien exclaimed as Kumuki opened his eyes wide in horror.

“Can we handle it, Ally?” Geon asked as she tapped her lips with her fingers and configured their animal.

“I think so, G. The rhino is incredibly strong and fierce with thick skin, but slow, has terrible vision, and cannot maneuver well. Once it gets its momentum moving, it can’t switch directions easily. We can use this to our advantage. I’m going to tweak the leopon to try to avoid the rhino’s charges, but then quickly try to use the rhino’s forward momentum to push it off the platform.”

Geon nodded but was worried about the outcome of the matchup, seeing the rhino’s massive size and strength in the earlier battle. The four of them watched as the second round of battle began with the lion and grizzly bear. It was a monstrous showdown, with the two large, imposing animals trading scratches, bites, and blows. Blood was splattered everywhere. They had the score tied at two points apiece when the lion finally managed to take advantage of the limping and injured bear and knocked it off the platform for the final point and the victory. Soon after, the giant utahraptor easily slayed the cassowary, grabbing its long blue neck and severing its jugular vein with one severe, swift assault.

“Next battle. Leopon 1 versus White Rhino 8!”

“Okay guys, this is it. We get through this round and we’re in the finals,” Geon said. “We can do it. Ally, we’re behind you a hundred percent. We believe in you.”

“Three… two… one… FIGHT!”

The enormous white rhino put its head down and charged straight for the much smaller leopon.

Suddenly, the leopon doesn’t look so large and imposing.

The leopon crouched down and sprung into the air, over the razor-sharp horn of the rhino, scratching the thick skin on the back of the rhino with its claws as it flew over it. The rhino stopped short of the edge of the platform and turned around, just in time to meet the large clawed paw of the leopon, directly in the side of the head. Geon and the others cheered loudly.

We’re off to a good start
.

The rhino violently shook its head and put its horn down, thrusting and jabbing toward the leopon. The leopon quickly backed off and then stood still on the other side of the platform, waiting for the rhino.

“What’s it doing?” Kumuki asked.

“I can’t have it going on the offensive when the rhino has its horn down like that,” Allea shouted over the roar of the crowd. “It’s too dangerous. One impact and our leopon would be done. I’ve programmed it to be patient and wait for the rhino’s charge.”

The rhino thrust its rear paws backward and began charging at the leopon again. This time the leopon moved slightly one way, but at the last moment, jumped in the other direction, missing the rhino by just inches. As the rhino passed the leopon, it tried to slow itself down but the leopon took advantage of the momentum and charged at the rhino, hitting it with its shoulder with all its might. The rhino bellowed out as it lost its footing and its stocky body went careening off the platform. The room erupted in a flurry of cheers as Sabien, Kumuki, and Geon all back-fived each other.

The celebration was short-lived, however, as the rhino took a point back when the leopon jumped on top of the rhino and it easily shook it off, throwing it completely off the platform.

“Leopon 1. One point. White Rhino 8. One point!”

The next few minutes were followed by more missed charges and some ferocious scratches and bites to the rhino’s front half. The injuries seemed to be slowing the rhino down as it was losing a substantial amount of blood in the battle. Once again, Allea’s animal waited patiently on the edge of the platform for the rhino to attack. It came charging at it and the leopon jumped straight up into the air and completely over the rhino. The entire room of people gasped, seeing the graceful animal spring up so quickly and high. As the rhino passed under it, the leopon came to a soft landing and attempted to push the rhino off the platform once again, but it was to no avail. The conductor for the rhino had had made some changes of his own and was stabilizing the rhino so that it couldn’t be easily pushed by an animal so much smaller than it.

“Oh no,” Geon said. “Now what do we do?”

“There’s only one thing we can do,” Allea said.

“Slay it,” Sabien said with a nod. “Go for the neck.”

Allea made some quick changes to their strategy and watched as the leopon backed off and then slowly began circling the rhino, looking for the perfect moment to strike. The rhino was turning slowly as well, but could not easily keep up with the leopon’s nimble movements.

C’mon. You can do it
.
Attack!

Suddenly, the leopon crouched down and thrust itself along the floor at the rhino like a bullet. It turned midway through the jump so that its belly was facing upward, and slid right across the floor of the platform at the rhinos head. By the time the rhino reacted, it was too late. The leopon was already under the massive head of the beast with its sharp teeth and jaws locked down on the softer neck skin of the rhino. Everyone in the room started yelling as the rhino attempted to thrash its head about and release the leopon, but its grip was unshakable. Blood poured out of the rhino’s neck and onto the leopons fur as the giant beast was slowly and shakily brought to its knees. After a few moments, the massive rhino collapsed onto its belly and closed its eyes, the leopon still under its head, wriggling until it was free.

“White Rhino 8 has been slain! Winner… Leopon 1!”

Everyone cheered with delight as the conductor for the rhino slung his head in disgust.

“You did it, Ally! That was incredible.”

“Thanks, Geon. It wasn’t me. We did it!”

“That rhino was HUGE!”

“Yeah, it was a beast, Kuki” Sabien said. “But that was truly amazing, Allea. One more to go right?”

Allea nodded but then stopped, looking up at the board. Geon looked up at the same time and realized what she was probably thinking.

“Wait,” he said. “There are three animals left. How does this work?”

“Exactly what I was thinking,” Allea added with a nod. “Maybe we choose—”

Suddenly the voice from above interrupted them.

“Because of the number of contestants at today’s Jungle Wars, there is an odd number of final animals left. Thus, there is only one way to pick the winner…”

The room went silent and Geon could feel the energy and anticipation flowing through his skin and everyone around him.

“We will have a TRINITY battle. All three finalist battle at once!”

The room exploded with delight as everyone cheered and clapped and began chanting “TRINITY! TRINITY! TRINITY!…”

“OH MY GOD!”

“TRINITY AIIIIIGHH!”

“UNBELIEVABLE!!”

The voice from above continued.