Friends on the Ring

*“Hello, Jin. Looks like you are making progress”, an hefty man said, appearing right behind him. He had almost broken the lock successfully.

Jin turned slowly, thinking of a way to escape whatever was coming for him. He stared at the man in the eyes with nothing to say. Other armed men walked in after the man and stood there, pointing guns at him. He raised his hands up, slowly. “This isn’t what it looks like. I swear”, he said.

“It sure looks like a lot of things. Don’t it?”, the man said, smiling. “I think I’ll be the one regretting this since you are one of our bests, which is why we intentionally put you with a physical match to make the game unpredictable”

“Please. I’ll just go back to my room and I’ll never come back here”, Jin said. That definitely couldn’t set him free, unless this man wanted to keep him in the game. He hoped there was another punishment. He wasn’t only close to escape. He had multiple alternative ways to get out.

“Oh really. I still wonder what you were doing here in the first place. You said it’s not what it looks like, right? Or did I get that wrong?”, the man asked, still smiling. He waited for a few seconds. There was no response from Him, as expected. “Don’t mind me. I just like toying with the minds of people, unnecessarily…. Shoot him, guys”

Jin clenched his fist and an aura of fire swirled around his arm. He stretched his arm at them, throwing them back with a wave. He calmed down, as they fell on the ground…. But one person was still standing, too far to be affected by the wave. His eyes moved up, slowly. The man was armed, pointing a gun at his head. He shot Jin in the head.*

“Kang?”

“Uh”, Kang muttered, sharply, springing awake. He forced his eyes open, turning his head left and right, as if trying to find his way back to reality. “Uh, Jin. What’s it?”

“Wake up. The alarm sounded, five minutes ago”, the man replied him. “Wait! Did you just call me Jin?”

“Oh! Uh”, Kang smiled. “I had a kind of dream. A nightmare, actually”

“So what? There was a Jin in the dream?”

“Yea, actually, it was you. There was this man and he called you Jin”, Kang replied.

Jin walked to his bed and sat down, listening attentively. “This nightmare; tell me about it”

“You were in a kind of room- looked more like a tunnel- and you were turning a lock, trying to get it to open”, Kang said. “Then a man came over with some guards with guns. They are Larger Figures. Then the man called you Jin and ordered the guards to shoot you in the head. You did something with your arms and shot a kind of wave at them, throwing them back. One of them was still standing. He shot you in the head”

“The man in the dream; what did he say to me when he called my name?”

“He just called you one of the best fighters and he would regret losing you”, Kang said

“Just that? He didn’t say anything more?”

“No. Just that”, Kang replied. Jin got up from his bed and walked back to the mirror. “Are you trying to get out of here?”

“Eh?”, Jin looked at him.

“You seem to be concerned about the dream. You are probably trying to find a way out of here. Are you?”

That’s definitely what the dream meant. “Well, there is no way out of here. No one has found a way and I don’t think anyone will”, Jin replied. “Ignore that. It’s just a dream. Get ready to watch the fight”

“I don’t think I want to watch the fight”, Kang replied. “Watching two close friends fight to death will only make me cringe”

“You can find a way to stay back but it’s not allowed so it won’t always work”, Jin replied. “Also, you have to see how the battles work in the arena. You can’t always hide from the spin. Once they find out, you will be automatically pitched against someone else so you’ll find yourself in the ring eventually… lucky for you, I can help you get through your first fight If you are picked by chance. You’ll need to train and grow your body… and your Shin Zhu too”

“That fiery wave; it’s your Shin Zhu, right? I’ll have something like that too?”

“Yea, it’s my Shin Zhu and you are meant to have something like that”, Jin said. “But that dream sounds pretty accurate about some things. Your Shin Zhu might be connected to it or probably your dream is it”

“Really?”

“I hope not but we’ll look into it. It’s going to be pretty dumb ‘cause you got no time to dream in the arena. Your Shin Zhu has to be physical. Get up. Let’s go see what I mean”

★

‘… And here we are again to watch the Lizard King, Remi, go toe to toe against the mighty Ice Lord, Rico. It’s not a regular fight so be careful with your bets. Who will survive a fight to death; the Lizard King or the Ice Lord?! Sit back and find out’

“Ice Lord”, a voice shouted, from the crowd of Gamblers seated on the bleachers on the arena. The rest of the crowd shouted, each hailing the one they had staked on. In a particular side of the arena, the other fighters were forced to sit and watch them fight.

“Hey, Ice Lord. How are you doing?”, Remi called to Rico, who seemed to still be stunned. Remi kept his face straight, ready to get it over with. “Looks like we are in this, already. Come at me with all you got. I won’t miss any of my chances”

“You really want to do this?”, Rico asked, doubtfully.

“’It doesn’t look like we can debate it now”, Remi replied, walking around his opponent with clenched fists and punching the air. “They are going to kill us both if we refuse to fight. I don’t think I want that”

Remi ran at Rico, shapeshifting into a huge standing lizard. He turned swiftly, flipping his tail at Rico and sliding him off the ground. His tail slithered through the air and it’s sharp edge went down at Rico. Rico crossed his hands, creating a shield of ice. Remi's tail slithered back, as it only cracked the surface of Rico's ice shield. Rico flipped up and created a sword of ice, dashing at Remi with it.

Remi’s tail defended the sword and they stood still, for a few seconds, with Rico’s sword against Remi’s thick strong tail. Remi flexed his long claws and stabbed Rico in the stomach. Rico jerked back and clenched his fist, turning his full arm into ice. He punched Remi with his arm of ice, throwing him backward.

Remi stood back up, quickly, and roared at Rico, jumping at him. Rico bent on a knee and crossed his arms, creating another shield. Remi fell at him, with his knee forward, smashing against the ice and shattering it on contact. He pulled Rico up, immediately, and punched him back to the ground.

He looked at the crowd and beat his chest, boastfully. “Get up, Ice Jerk!”, he shouted. “Who’s the Lord, now?”

Rico raised his back and stayed on his knees. He created a small dagger of ice and flung it quickly at the standing lizard. Remi flinched, as the ice dagger stabbed him in the leg. He bent to pull the dagger out. Rico flung another one, stabbing him in the shoulder. Rico got up quickly and ran at Remi. He flipped and kicked Remi’s head, immediately Remi raised his back.

Remi fell on the ground. Rico walked up to him and pulled a dagger out. He bent down and stabbed the edge of the Lizard’s tail, nailing him to the ground. He created another sword of ice and placed it on Remi’s neck. “I have won the fight, Remi. Give up”

“I told you not to hold back”, Remi replied, calmly. “You are holding back”

Rico squatted over him and dissolved his Ice sword. He smiled and touched Remi’s tail. “I bet it will take some training to heal from this”, he said and pulled out the dagger. “You almost won me, Remi. We are friends. We don’t have to do this”

“What are you doing, Rico? This is not allowed”, Remi said, looking around at the surprised faces of the Gamblers and the Larger Figures.

“Yes… but they only control us so much because we let them”, Rico said and stood up. He held out his hand to Remi. “Come on. Take my hand”

Literally everyone was surprised. Jin, Kang and the other fighters were watching from their stand. “What are these idiots doing?”, one of them said. “They’re wasting our time”

Kang nudged Jin. “Remi is taking his hand. Looks like no one will be dying today”, he said, smiling, as Remi and Rico stood on their feet.

Jin stared at Remi’s huge tail which dangled behind him. “You think so?”, he muttered. “I’m pretty sure Remi is not thinking the same thing”

“How do you mean?”

They watched as Remi raised Rico’s hand to show he won. Kang cheered them, clapping loudly for the both of them. He shut his mouth and stopped clapping, as everyone now had their eyes on him. They all looked disappointed, rather than wowed.

“Rico just wasted his fucking life”, Jin muttered, calmly, and leaned back.

“What do you mean? Has anyone ever tried this?”, Kang asked and glanced up, at the bleachers where the Gamblers were seated. His eyes fell on a girl walking by. She looked pretty young but bold. She stopped in front of a seat, where the Larger Figures were, and looked his way. Their eyes met for a second and he turned, sharply, looking away. It was the same girl that had come to pick one of them, the previous day. She was in a different dress and wearing a different hairstyle. He could bet she had seen his eyes on her.

“No. No one has dared to try this, Kang”, Jin replied. “No one”

“Well, they just broke the record then. The fight was pretty great. I’d like to have Rico’s ability”

“You don’t want the lizard? He’s pretty strong”

“No. He literally just got his ass kicked”

The door to the Arena opened and some soldiers walked out and stood by the side. Rico and Remi walked to them and the soldiers led them in.

…….

The fight was over and the fighters were back in the hall. Each of them was slowly drifting back to his room. Jin and Kang were about to enter their room when a soldier walked through the passage and stood by the side, the same way the soldiers stood when the girl was coming in. Kang stayed behind, wondering if the girl was coming back again. A fighter walked in after him with another soldier behind him. They took of the golden cuffs in his hand and gestured to him to walk to his room. Jin glanced at the soldiers. They were armored and armed and both of them wore a golden bracelet. They walked through the passage and disappeared.

“What are you looking at?”, the fighter snarled at Jin and Kang, as he walked slowly to his room, almost limping. It was the same fighter that was picked by the girl and taken away, the previous day. He just got back since then.

“Come on, Kang. Let’s go inside”, Jin said and they walked into their room.

……..

“Wait! I got one. What do you call a belt with a clock on it?”, Kang asked and waited for a response.

“Uh… I don’t know. Does that exist?”

“Damn! It’s a fucking riddle”

“Uh, well. What’s the answer to that?”, Jin asked.

“A belt with a clock on it; it’s a WAIST of time”

“Uh, okay… That doesn’t make much sense. I’ve never heard of it”

“Shit! They didn’t add a sense of humor to your programming”, Kang said and turned on his bed to sleep. The lights had gone off, five minutes earlier. “Good night”

“Uh… Good night”

The lights came on, suddenly. Kang raised his back, slowly, wondering. “Why is the light on? Does this happen?”

“No”, Jin said and stood up, walking to the door. “This is the first time”

He opened the door slightly and peeped. Soldier walked through the passage and walked into a fighter’s room. Kang came down from his bed and walked to the door, staring too. Jin left him there and walked back to his bed. “They are going into a fighter’s room. Whose room is that?”, Kang asked.

“Remi and Rico”, Jin replied, turning on his bed.

“Why are they going in there? Come to think of it, I don’t think the two of them have returned after the fight”, Kang said, still peeping. “They are bringing out their clothes and items”

“They only bring out their items when they are dead. Come to bed and stop talking , man”

“What do you mean by that? None of them died”

“None of them died in front of you”, Jin replied. Kang closed the door, staring blankly at the handle in shock. The lights went out, a few seconds later. “Go to bed, Kang. There’s nothing you can do to bring them back"