• The cold city streets were quiet as the once pounding rain subsided to a dull drizzle. A lone figure clad in black street clothes wandered through the seemingly empty city. His face was shrouded by the shadow his jacket’s hood cast in the darkness. A faint pulse stirred the air as the bass from the traveler’s music reverberated off of any nearby surface.
    Arriving at a crosswalk scramble, the traveler looks up towards his destination. The large, seemingly intimidating stadium before him was simply known as “The Dome.” It was the public arena for the most taboo form of human entertainment: blood sport.
    The history of the stadium goes back to when the city was first founded 478 years ago. This planet is not Earth; rather it was a suitable planet that was terraformed to resemble Earth. As such the planet was named Bob by its first colonist, but was later named New Earth.
    The Dome itself was built on the planet’s capitol city of Plum as part of an effort to stabilize the newfound populace. At first the stadium was just for normal sporting events, but about 193 years ago, a few corrupted officials in the Senate managed to get enough public support to officially designate the stadium for blood sport. Since then the past 193 years of this technologically advanced society has been filled with violence.
    The traveler reached the threshold of the stadium and entered. The Dome was always open and had housing accommodations so this is where the traveler stopped for the night. He pulled off his hood to reveal a teenager with short black hair and gray eyes and a light skin tone. His name was Josh and his reasons for coming to The Dome were known only to him.
    Josh walked over to the reception desk and caught the attention of the female receptionist behind the counter. She had a fair complexion, possessing shoulder-length brown hair and equally brown eyes; her appearance stated that she couldn’t have been more than five or six years older than him.
    “May I help you young man?” The lady asks
    “I’m here for the tournament,” Josh replies
    “Then I’ll need you to fill out these forms,” The lady instructs handing him a clipboard and pen
    Josh took the supplies and before he could turn to go and sit, the receptionist gave him this warning, “I wouldn’t go through with this if I were you. There have been many others to sign up that are extremely intimidating as well as bloodthirsty. This time through is also seeing some hardened criminals so I would just like to say that you shouldn’t get involved.”
    “Not to sound too rude, but I didn’t ask for your opinion,” Josh replies, “I do thank you for your concern though.”
    Josh calmly leaves the receptionist in a stunned silence and proceeds to fill out his entry form. Ten minutes later he returned to the desk with the completed forms and a small pile of money.
    “Not to pry, but how did a kid such as yourself manage to get the money for the entry fee?” The receptionist asks
    “$5000 is nothing to me,” Josh says collecting the key handed to him
    “Your room is #315,” The receptionist informs, “It is located on the third floor and is the eighth door from the elevator on your right. The extra money that you chose to enclose with the entry fee suggests that you would like to stay past the tournament as well and has been taken into account with your room. You may order room service as you please with exception to alcohol as you are underage. I humbly welcome you as an employee of The Sunrise Hotel and hope that you will enjoy your stay.”
    “No need for all the formalities, I thank you for your service and bid you good morning Miss,” Josh says walking away
    “Rich kids sure have no respect but he was the first to be rude with manners and a kind undertone,” The receptionist thinks looking over Josh’s paperwork, “Joshua Kissou, age 16. He left a lot of the optional data blank but I’ve got a feeling he’ll be one to contend with.”
    Josh followed the instructions given to him and arrived at his room with no troubles. He entered to find a moderately sized room with a single bed, a spacious bathroom, a holoscreen and hovering plasma screened desktop on the desk by the window. There was a coffee table in between the bed and television and the window was a sliding door that led out to a balcony overlooking the city.
    Josh took a quick shower and stepped out on to the balcony as the remnants of the rain stopped and the sun started to rise. As the last few drops fell onto his face, Josh wiped them off and looked out towards the horizon. He returned inside and dressed to sleep and got situated into what would be his home for the rest of the summer.
    The driving rain pounded the roadside near the forest. A woman and a child were running through the woods to avoid complete drenching from the storm. Lightning flashed overhead as the thunder roared intensely. The child cringed and pulled away from the woman and hid at the trunk of a nearby tree. The woman tried to handle the child, but the child refused to move.
    A blinding streak flashed through the air surprising the woman and the child. The accompanying thunder was deafening and shook the trees of the forest. Cries from the menagerie of animals rang out at this disruption.
    The woman once again went to convince the child to move to no avail. The child’s sobs were drowned out by the storm and the woman was beginning to lose her patience. She grabbed the child and started dragging him through the mud. It was rough and dirty going, but the two of them would be out of the storm soon enough.
    They were plodding along when a bolt of lightning struck precariously close to their position. The woman shrugged it off as good fortune and continued on without realizing the unforeseen consequences. The lightning had struck a relatively small yet thick tree and coupled with the wind, the lightning’s weakening caused the tree to fall on top of the woman.
    The child was spared harm and crawled over to the slowly dying woman. The woman gave a false smile as an indicator of well being and instructed the child to go find aid. The child stumbled through the rest of forest, arriving at the destination of the town. The child ran to the house where they were headed and furiously pounded on the door with tiny hands.
    The door was opened to reveal a tall man looking down upon the child. He took the child in and told the child to calmly explain the situation. After the child’s story the man made some calls for more aid and left the child with his wife. They both watched the man leave and waited for his return.
    The next scene of the child depicts the return of the man wearing a grim expression. It was the next morning and all the man could do was give the child the charm bracelet that the woman had been wearing. The man turned away as the child cried in sorrow. And then everything disappeared in a haze as a loud beeping pierced the air.
    Josh sat up in his bed rubbing his eyes as he tried to make sense of what was going on. He slightly remembered the previous night and looked over to see a mail icon on the desktop. He groggily got up and staggered over to the computer and clicked on the envelope which opened a link to a video featuring the receptionist.
    “Good morning Mr. Kissou,” The receptionist greets, “I am sorry to wake you, but I was calling to inquire if you would like breakfast.”
    “It’s fine,” Josh replies
    “I’m sorry sir but I don’t understand your reply,” The receptionist informs
    “I mean I don’t want any food; I don’t normally eat in the morning,” Josh replies, “Thank you for your concern though Miss?”
    “Oh forgive me for not giving my name earlier,” The receptionist apologizes, “My name is Karen Handel.”
    “Well thank you Miss Handel but I won’t be eating until lunch,” Josh explains
    “Very well sir, feel free to call if you need anything,” Karen instructs
    The link closes and Josh sits back in his chair. He ran his hand through his hair as he looked out of the window. Josh then looked over at the digital display and saw that it read 10:54 a.m. He had been asleep for only four hours as usual; that dream of his prevented him from getting much sleep.
    “Man I hate that stupid dream, I wish I knew what it meant,” Josh thinks out loud
    He hastily put aside his thoughts and prepared for the day ahead. Josh cleaned himself and put on some clothes in the course of an hour. Ordering a small amount of room service, he quickly ate and proceeded down to the lobby to leave.
    Josh managed to make it as far as the front door before realizing that he hardly knew his way around the town. He had been here only once and it wasn’t even a very long visit, it was a short business trip for his father’s company and he had happened to be dragged along. Josh decided to go to the reception counter for a map or some advice to get through the city. He arrived at the desk during the worker shift change and managed to get noticed by Karen.
    “Why hello Mr. Kissou,” Karen greets, “I may be off the clock, but how may I help you?”
    “I need directions around the city so that I can find a specific weapon I’m looking for,” Josh replies, “And I thought I told you that you didn’t have to be so formal around me.”
    “My apologies Josh, it’s the way I was raised,” Karen explains, “So what kind of weapon are you looking for?”
    “I wouldn’t talk about here for fear of eavesdroppers, let’s leave before I say anything incriminating,” Josh answers
    “Then lead the way until you feel it’s safe to talk,” Karen says
    The two leave the hotel and put some distance between them and The Dome. It wasn’t until they reached a small park bordering the entrance to downtown that Josh stops and decides to talk.
    “So may I ask what kind of weapon you are searching for again?” Karen asks
    “What I’m searching for is military grade DNA plasma,” Josh quietly answers
    “Huh?” Karen asks shocked, “That’s a very difficult thing to find as the military is the only organization that currently possesses that kind of technology.”
    “If my sources were correct, then there should be a shop around here that deals with illegal or stolen weapons,” Josh reveals
    “There are many such stores scattered throughout the city and they haven’t been closed yet due to the income they make for the city, but I have no direct knowledge where they would sell DNA plasma especially the military grade,” Karen explains
    “Hmmm,” Josh ponders, “Could you at least give me a map labeling the stores you do know of and I’ll do the searching myself?”
    “No can do Josh,” Karen replies, “I told you I’d look after you and that’s what I’m going to do!”
    “Why are you helping me? Aren’t you tired from work?” Josh questions
    “To answer your first question, helping you seems like it could be fun and to answer your second question, with the shifts I work sleep is never a problem,” Karen answers
    “Oh, then I have one more question before we leave,” Josh states
    “Feel free to ask me anything,” Karen replies
    “Just how old are you?” Josh asks, “Your appearance has been bothering me since we met.”
    “Josh,” Karen says taken aback, “A gentleman never asks and a lady never tells, but that’s no fun so truthfully I’m actually 33.”
    “33! You don’t look more than five years older than me!” Josh says
    “Yeah I get that a lot,” Karen says, “for some reason I was cursed with slow-aging skin.”
    “Well you don’t look that bad,” Josh says
    “Oh, do I detect a hint of love or attraction in that tone of yours?” Karen asks playfully
    “I-I just meant it as compliment! You don’t have to take it seriously!” Josh defends
    “I’m not, I just like messing with you,” Karen says
    “Let’s just go find the plasma,” Josh says exhaustedly
    “Just follow my lead,” Karen instructs
    Karen leads Josh through the city, taking him around to the various stores she knew had illegal trading status. At just about every store though, they were told that there was no DNA plasma in stock. Just as the two were about to give up hope and just get another weapon, they got a tip from one shop that there was one that had the plasma.
    Following the directions, Josh and Karen traveled all over the city until they reached a small house in the suburbs. Josh examined the paper and the location where they were, he didn’t completely trust the fact that the thing he was looking for would be in a place like this.
    Without hesitation Karen walked toward the house with Josh reluctantly following behind. She rang the doorbell and waited for a reply. A little girl no older than ten answered the door.
    “Um can I help you?” The girl asks
    “Yes, we’re here looking for a Mr. Norman Isley,” Karen asks
    “What do you want to talk to my father about?” The girl asks
    “I’m here to buy something from him,” Josh says stepping forward
    “O-o-one second please,” The girl requests leaving quickly
    “Wow Josh, you have such a way with kids,” Karen teases
    “Shut up Karen,” Josh demands
    Just before Karen could retaliate, the girl had returned with an older man in tow. He had an air of suspicion around him and Josh didn’t like that. Josh was suspicious and Karen was completely ignorant of the intense stare down between the man and the boy.
    “How can I help you two?” Norman asks
    “I’m here to buy something from you,” Josh answers
    “And I’m his escort,” Karen says happily
    “Please come in,” Norman invites stepping out of the doorway
    Josh and Karen enter the house and follow Norman to the kitchen. Norman and his daughter prepare refreshment as Josh and Karen look around the house from the kitchen. It was a moderately furnished house with a few high tech appliances here and there. Norman brought their focus back to him when he sat at the table.
    “So what are you here for?” Norman asks
    “I’m here because I was told that you could sell me military grade DNA plasma,” Josh answers
    “I can, but what’s in it for me?” Norman asks with a serious expression
    “$200,000 cash for however much that will buy from you,” Josh offers
    “$200,000 in cash?” Norman whistles, “That’s a lot of spare pocket change.”
    “Well is my offer feasible?” Josh asks
    “It is,” Norman replies, “At best all it would get you would be about twenty pounds of the stuff. It would take at least double that amount to be truly effective.”
    “Twenty pounds is more than enough,” Josh replies
    “Alright then I shall return,” Norman says standing up
    Josh and Karen continued to look around at the house when Josh felt a tug on his sleeve. He looked down to see the little girl fidgeting with something behind her back.
    “Um hi,” Josh greets
    “H-hi m-my name is Priscilla,” Priscilla greets, “Um, take this.”
    Priscilla hands Josh a small bundle and runs off to her room. Josh looks down at the gift given to him by the small girl and tries to fathom why she gave it to him. Karen saw the whole incident and was laughing under her breath to avoid suspicion. Before Josh could open the bundle, Norman returned with a clear, cylindrical container filled with a dull gray liquid. Norman sat the container on the table as he himself sat in his chair.
    “Now where is this money?” Norman asks
    “Here,” Josh says pulling out a wad of money
    Josh waits as Norman count the money. After five minutes of counting and dividing bills, Norman was pleased to see that the boy hadn’t deceived him. He handed the container to Josh as well as a piece of paper.
    “That piece of paper has the instructions for the plasma,” Norman explains, “Do not disobey those instructions or you will die.”
    “Understood,” Josh replies, “Thank you for your business and hospitality.”
    “It was no problem boy, just make sure you don’t die in that tournament,” Norman says
    “Fine,” Josh says, “Let’s go Karen.”
    Josh and Karen leave the house and return back to The Dome. At the park from before, Karen stops Josh so that they can get lunch. They quickly eat and return to the hotel. They part ways at the entrance with Josh going to his room and Karen going home.
    Josh locks his door after getting to his room and closes the blinds. He sits his plasma tank on the coffee table and reads the directions. First he sticks his finger in the plasma for ten seconds and then lets it sit for half an hour to adjust to his DNA signature. Next he spends the next eight hours letting the plasma charge by plugging the container’s extension cable into the wall. After the eight hours were up, Josh was a little tired but he wanted to finish the process before the tournament. The final phase was to soak in the plasma and allow it to bond with his body.
    Josh poured the plasma into the tub in the bathroom and slides into the tub. He sits there for a while wondering if the process is working when he starts to get lightheaded. Josh looks down to see that the plasma had went from having a silvery type glow to having a white-hot appearance. Josh was about to jump out of the tub but he remembered that the directions said to stay in the plasma until it had completely absorbed into him or he would die. Josh stayed put as the plasma adhered itself to his skin and started to absorb into him. He continued to feel lightheaded and eventually passed out.
    When Josh regained consciousness he felt dizzy and a few pounds heavier. He staggered out of the bathroom and looked at the computer display. The date had advanced two days from when he started and it was almost time for the opening ceremonies for the tournament. Josh hurriedly put on some clothes as he ordered last minute room service. He was met at the door ten minutes later with Karen.
    “Rise and shine little contestant,” Karen greets
    “Oh great, first thing up and I’m already being attacked,” Josh replies sarcastically
    “Yeah, yeah, hurry and eat before you’re late!” Karen instructs
    Josh manages to choke the food down and runs out for the stadium.
    “Good luck out there,” Karen says
    “I don’t need luck,” Josh replies
    Josh descends through the layers of The Dome and finally arrives at the battle floor just in time for the opening ceremonies. All that really happened was that the owner of the stadium expressed gratitude to the contestants and the public for their attendance, but since the crowd was getting restless he simply moved on to the rules.
    The initial fight would be a humongous battle royale as it would take too long for individual matches between contestants. The rule was as simple as this: the last twenty four fighters remaining after ten minutes would move on to the actual tournament. While all of this was going on, Josh was slowly moving into the shadows so that he wouldn’t have to fight.
    At the sound of the bell the warriors all clashed with vigor. It was a grotesque scene in which many of the original 300 contestants were ruthlessly murdered. Some were decapitated, others riddled with holes from gunfire or stab wounds and some were just beaten to death bare handed. The fight raged on for five minutes until there were forty people left and Josh decided to make his move.
    As two martial artists worked their way over to him, he slipped from the shadows and kicked them to the ground. Josh swung out his arms expecting plasma blades to form, but nothing happened. As Josh was wondering what the problem was, the two he had interrupted turned their attention to him. With no plasma at his aid, Josh had to rely on the very little martial arts experience he had himself.
    The two fighters went on with a swift and powerful offensive, leaving Josh with no options except to block or dodge. This kept up for a while until one of the men had a misstep and stumbled into the other by accident. Josh took this opportunity to deliver a four punch combo to both of their abdomens and roundhouse kicks them into the wall behind them. On contact with the wall, both men hit their heads and blacked out.
    Josh then decided to scout the competition. He ran around the battlefield interrupting more fights and helping others succeed. After another five minutes of exceptional work, the ten minute period was over and the twenty four contestants were decided. Josh looked around at his future competition and noticed a variety of people he wouldn’t have met if he had stayed home. Part of him was glad he came, but he really didn’t care for the company of others.
    With the hour long reprieve from the fight until the next round, Josh proceeded to his room where Karen was waiting with another tray of food.
    “What’s all this?” Josh asks going to the chair at the coffee table
    “It’s your reward for making it through the prelims,” Karen answers, “I did some research on the plasma and it doesn’t seem to activate until an hour after the person wakes up as a fail-safe to prevent soldiers from going haywire with power.”
    “And you tell me this after the whole thing where I nearly got killed,” Josh says
    “It’s not my fault you were unconscious for two days and I wasn’t allowed into your room,” Karen defends
    “Tell me why you keep hanging around me,” Josh demands, abruptly changing the subject
    “What can I say?” Karen replies, “I guess I have an eye for people like you.”
    “People like me? What’s that supposed to mean?” Josh inquires
    “Oh nothing more than those seeking to lose rather than gain,” Karen replies, “then again, the levels of loss are different from person to person.”
    “Just who are you?” Josh asks
    “I thought I outlined that already, I’m just a lady in the service industry,” Karen replies, “now hurry and eat so that you can be ready for the opening matches. You should be able to use your plasma in the next fight. Feel free to do some experimenting to find your own style and you should be fine. Just remember that if your overuse your plasma it will put an enormous drain on your body so if I were you I’d just use the plasma as a last resort, but hey why listen to me?”
    And with that Karen left Josh in the same stunned silence he left her in when they first met. Josh then picked at his food since he had lost his appetite and just threw it away. He held up his hand and concentrated on materializing the plasma. As his concentration grew, the plasma’s shape began to reflect his thoughts. Josh spent a good twenty minutes experimenting with different forms for his plasma before he realized he had only fifteen minutes to reach the stadium.
    Josh hoped he had synced enough with his new ability so that it wouldn’t fail him on the battlefield. He arrived down at the stadium floor just in enough time to draw lots for fighting groupings. At this point in the tournament, the remaining contestants would fight in eight separate three-man groupings and the winners of these fights would advance to the next stage.
    Josh walked up to the box when called and pulled out a slip of paper labeled 3. He looked at the board in front of him and saw that the fight pairings were between three fighters whose numbers were in close proximity. Josh looked around at the other contestants and tried to locate the holders of the slips with the numbers 1 and 2 since they were who he would be fighting. He looked all around him and noticed that a twitchy guy had the number one slip and some little girl had the number two slip.
    “Great I have to take out a toddler and an addict, lucky me,” Josh thinks to himself
    “Fighters take your positions in your fields!” The MC announces
    Josh and the other two walk over to the area where they were to fight. As they did this, the other contestants followed suit, all of them going to their respective arenas. Josh and his opponents stood and watched as all of the battlefields were separated by titanium partitions and looked for solid ground as the field transformed from a semi-sandy pit into a welding factory setup.
    Josh immediately regained his composure as soon as the arena stopped morphing. While his opponents were distracted and trying to settle themselves Josh took initiative and jumped between the floating platforms that this arena was famous for.
    “Wait, come back!” The girl calls out
    Josh stops in his tracks and looks back at her. He has no idea why he stopped and for some reason he decided to go back. Josh had just made it back when the twitchy man had finally stopped shaking violently.
    “Thank you for listening to me,” The girl says
    “I didn’t,” Josh replies, “my body acted of its own accord.”
    “I’m sorry for manipulating you, but I felt it necessary to know the name of my opponents before we began,” The girl explains
    “Manipulate? What are you talking about?” Josh asks
    “Well my name I Marie and I am a telepath,” Marie introduces
    “Telepaths can’t manipulate people’s actions!” The man interjects
    “I am no ordinary telepath though,” Marie states, “now would you two kindly introduce yourselves seeing as I have already done so?”
    “Fine I guess,” The man says, “Name’s Julian.”
    “And you?” Marie asks Josh
    “I’m not telling my name to those who won’t remember it,” Josh says turning away
    “That’s alright, we’ll just call you Phones on account of those headphones you have there,” Julian says
    “What headphones?” Josh says confused
    Josh looked down at his pants to see that he had indeed carried his headphones with him. In all the rushing to get to this point, he had forgotten to leave them in his room. Josh then placed his headphones over his ears so that the headband would be on his head and not on his neck since he saw no harm in putting them on.
    “Now that everything’s all settled, let’s begin shall we?” Marie says
    Immediately, Julian pulls out a gun and starts shooting at both Josh and Marie. Both stood absolutely still considering Julian’s twitchiness because they thought he wouldn’t land a shot. Unfortunately for them Julian was actually good shot despite his condition as Josh found out when his arm was grazed by a passing shot.
    “Crap!” Josh thinks to himself, “This guy is no joke! I thought he’d be no problem since he was so twitchy, but this guy is dangerous!”
    Josh returns to the floating platforms and jumps between them as he is shot at. Meanwhile, Marie hadn’t moved from her starting position as if she had nothing to fear. In actuality she didn’t for she was actually controlling Julian and forcing him to shoot at Josh. Josh had already anticipated this course of action by his opponents and was busy trying to find a place to hide in order to bandage his wound.
    Josh managed to find a safe place and he ripped off his sleeve and used the fabric to wrap up his shallowly bleeding arm wound. Josh had no idea what his next move would be and he sat there thinking out all the possibilities of actions he could take.
    “Pick it up Phones!” Julian shouts, “I can’t break her control on me but I’m pretty sure that she can’t control two people at once! Now get out here and help me!”
    Josh heard Julian’s plea for help and thought the idea over. It would put him at a disadvantage to go out into the open, but this was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up. Josh continued to weigh his options and decided to help Julian.
    Josh ran out into the open and rushed towards Julian. Julian’s controlled body started to shoot again and Josh dodged the shots as he go closer to the man. Within reach of Julian’s body, Josh dived under him, knocking Julian down and separating the gun from his hand. This immediately broke Marie’s control over him and Josh continued towards her. Just as he was about to punch her, Marie caught him with her influence.
    “That wouldn’t have been good if that had connected now would it?” Marie mocks
    Josh’s interruption had left Julian unconscious and with no one to help him, it looked like Josh was on the ropes this time. Marie forced him to walk over and pick up Julian’s gun and place it next to his temple.
    “Have any last words before I make you splat your brains?” Marie asks
    “Yeah,” Josh replies, “Where is that music coming from?”
    “Huh?” Marie asks confused
    A small smirk appeared on Josh’s face as the music he had mentioned continued to grow louder, ringing off of all the metal surfaces in the arena. Marie was confused as she didn’t know where the music was coming from and her distraction allowed Josh momentary freedom from her mind control.
    Josh threw the gun away as hard as he could and then he turned around and turned up the volume on his MP3 player. Marie’s confusion increased as the volume of the music in the arena increased as well. Josh’s small smirk then turned into a full-fledged smile at the girl’s confusion. His plan had worked!
    “This fight will be over in three seconds,” Josh declares
    “How can you say such unpredictable things?” Marie asks slightly falling to one knee
    “Unpredictable?” Josh asks, “What are you talking about? This was all a part of my plan from the beginning.”
    “What do you mean?” Marie asks
    “No time to talk,” Josh says, “Game. Set. Match.”
    At the end of the last word, a small plasma whip appeared from the ground behind Marie and reformatted from its liquid state into a hammer. Marie turned her head just enough to see the handle as the head of the hammer hit her in the back of the head, knocking her unconscious.
    “That was nothing,” Josh says to himself
    The arena returns to normal and Josh walks from his position to see that none of the other fights had finished and that was the first out. Josh took this opportunity to return to his room since he knew that the cameras in the stadium had recorded his victory. He was about two floors up with one more to go when Karen joined him in the elevator.
    “What are you woman, my personal stalker or something?” Josh questions
    “I’m not here to joke around like normally,” Karen says in a serious tone, “the results from the other fights are in.”
    “And that’s all bad because?” Josh asks
    Karen turns to Josh with the most serious expression he had ever seen on her face before she told him, “There are only four fighters left in this competition, you included. The next round match ups were determined by the finishing times of the matches meaning that the first two will fight and the last two will fight.”
    “I’m still not comprehending what this all means,” Josh states flatly
    “I did some research on your next opponent and I’m pretty sure you’re not going to like it,” Karen explains
    “Who is it?” Josh asks
    “I won’t tell you their name, but I will say that this fight might actually drive you to kill,” Karen answers, “Just remember that remembering the past is good for planning ahead in the future, but sometimes the past is better left forgotten.”
    Josh looked at Karen with bewilderment as the elevator stopped at his floor. As he stepped out, she grabbed his shoulder.
    “One more thing,” Karen says
    “More good luck wishes?” Josh asks skeptically
    “No I was going to say: THIS IS SPARTAAA!!! But that’s too cliché in this setting,” Karen says
    “You have a weird sense of humor Karen,” Josh says walking to his room
    “Humor isn’t even the proper term to use in this situation,” Karen mumbles under her breath
    Josh gets to his room and flops on the bed. He turns on the TV only to screen caps of himself defeating Marie and Julian. As josh watched himself he realized just how much of his victory was luck and just how much of it was a result of his planning. The results of his analysis weren’t very heartening so he just stepped out onto the balcony for a while until the next fight.
    As Josh stared at the close to setting sun, Karen’s words seemed to drift to the forefront of his mind. The revelation she had given him had caused him to think about his life as a whole. Josh couldn’t remember much because he hadn’t found the majority of his life important after some hazy event embedded in his memory. He was just about to have a breakthrough when a message ping appeared on the computer screen.
    Josh went over to the monitor and clicked on the envelope icon to read a small message about the start time of the next fight. The message stated that the fight was to begin ten minutes earlier than the previously posted time. This left Josh with less than twelve minutes to reach the field or forfeit the match!
    Josh ran as if he had the sandals of the god Hermes. He raced all through the stadium until he just barely made the deadline for the fight. Josh panted as he took his place on the field with the other fighters. Looking up he saw a hovering holoscreen depicting the images of the final four and the match ups between them and Josh was stuck with some mystery woman dressed in a black and pink shirt-skirt combo with white ankle length boots. She carried a sword on her back and her face was covered with a light mask.
    “So what’s so special about her?” Josh thinks to himself
    Once again the arena split and changed into a random location. This time around the field was an actual grass field covered in Tiger Lilies and bathed in moonlight. Something about this area seemed symbolic to Josh but before he could think it through, the mystery woman went on the offensive after drawing her blade.
    Josh countered her initial strike with a plasma shield and noticed that the sword attacking him was a black bladed, reverse bladed katana. There was something troubling Josh about this as he dodged around the field. Something was keeping him from directly attacking and he didn’t know why.
    The struggle between Josh and the woman continued solidly for seven minutes before Josh started to become fatigued. His running to the arena had severely drained him more than he had anticipated and it was showing in his fighting. Josh was pressed for ideas of how to stop this relentless onslaught from the woman when her sword got lodged in a random tree as he dodged her attack.
    As the woman tried to dislodge her weapon, Josh took this opportunity to land a hit. Instead of going for a fatal hit, Josh instead aimed a plasma punch at her throat to leave her gasping for air and hopefully leave her unconscious. Josh would’ve been successful if it hadn’t been for the woman’s reflexes in grabbing his arm before he could punch and flipping him onto his back.
    Josh gasped as his back hit the surprisingly hard ground below him. He looked up to see that a portion of his attack had been successful in severing a portion her mask. Noticing this herself, the woman ripped off her mask that let her long brown hair flow forth once more hiding her visage. The woman pulled a black scrunchie from her skirt pocket and tied her hair up into a low hanging ponytail. When she lifted her head it revealed a face that left Josh in shock as he stood.
    “Lily?” Josh asks bewildered
    “Yeah Jak, it’s been a while hasn’t it?’ Lily asks
    “What are you doing here of all places?” Josh asks going to her
    “I’m bringing you home!” Lily says grabbing his collar
    Josh pushed away from Lily and stared at her closely as if she wasn’t herself. He couldn’t believe that his only friend would seriously resort to violence just to take him home. Then again, he hadn’t left home in an inconspicuous way. Josh’s brief remembrance of that time not so long ago had soured his mood.
    “I’m not going home,” Josh says quietly
    “Yes you are!” Lily insists, “Everyone is worried about you! Your dad is feeling horrible because he thinks this is his fault. My mom and dad are worried about what’ll happen to you, but most importantly… I missed you…”
    “None of that matters anymore, I don’t need anyone!” Josh states
    “Quit forcing everyone out Josh! What happened all those years ago wasn’t your fault!” Lily pleads
    “Don’t bring that up! I have no idea what you’re talking about!” Josh says harshly
    “I talked with my dad,” Lily says, “He says that you internalized all of that pain and repressed the memories of what happened. Just come home so we can help you.”
    “SHUT THE HELL UP!!!” Josh shouts clutching his head, “I have no idea what you’re talking about! Just go away, leave me alone!”
    Lily walks over to Josh and hugs him as they both start to cry. Their embrace is filled with emotion as both cry to soothe the other’s suffering.
    “I didn’t mean to… I was so scared during that storm, I just couldn’t move,” Josh stammers, “It’s all my fault that she died.”
    “Don’t blame yourself Jak, it’s not your fault,” Lily says, “It was an accident. It could have happened to anyone.”
    “It was my fault! I killed my mother by acting childish!” Josh says
    “It’s ok Josh, it’s not your fault,” Lily says
    “I know it wasn’t,” Josh says with a cold tone
    “What?” Lily asks
    That was the last word that Lily would ever say to Josh for at that moment he impaled her through the throat and skull with a plasma blade. The death was instantaneous and Lily felt no pain. She fell to the ground with a dull thud and a cool breeze swept through the arena as it transformed back into the floor of the stadium.
    Lily’s body lied there in a cooling pool of her own blood as Josh calmly walked away from her corpse. A single tear fell from his right eye as he walked back to the entrance of the stadium on his way back to his room. In the entrance Karen stood waiting for him.
    “I can’t believe that I had to do that,” Josh says in an expressionless tone
    “I told you that you would be driven to kill,” Karen says in a grim voice, “It’s always the toughest decisions in life we regret once we make them. And I told you it would be best to forget the past didn’t I? Now let’s get you ready for that championship match champ in the making!”
    “Whatever,” Josh says following Karen to his room