Jen turned to find not only Sam standing behind her, but Crapshoot and Lucky-Heart as well. Poker said to Lucky, “I was hoping you would get here sooner. No one’s better at the arena manager’s podium than you.”

Lucky replied, “I got your message right after The System sent out the notice about Dicey fighting. Before I could even close up the Inn and head this way, her mother was …” Lucky gave Crapshoot an annoyed look, then continued, “…very upset because Sam was cutting their enchanting collaboration short to find out what was going on in the arena with Tamako.”

Poker said quickly, “Here, I need you to take over now. Tamako is about to enter the arena again, and there are a ton of gambling quests coming in. I will explain everything to Sam and ‘mom’”.

Lucky stepped in front of the podium, and replied, “Deal! Better you than me. I’ve already explained the basics to Sam about the arena gambling quests.” A few seconds later, Lucky summarized for everyone, “Three recalls spent, three recalls remaining. Gold is being split equally by all the recall arena managers. Ten Gold spent on a hidden face… Nice, they got 20 gold for fighting shirtless! And their 10% share of the take so far is 124 gold.

Poker said to Tamako, “No one can get the spectators hyped about a fight better than Lucky! He used to announce all her exhibition fights in the arena.”

Lucky turned on the Arena soundwave system and said, “We have Tiny coming in from the left bullpen and Dicey Death waiting patiently on the right. Tiny is fit as a fiddle after getting recalled, but Dicey Death looks a little worse for wear. Will she be able to repeat the slaughter of Tiny with only one arm! Tiny looks mad! Ladies and gentleman let’s see if we can entice Tiny into fighting the one-armed axe-wielding Dicey Death, with her bare haaaandsssssssss!”

***

A young woman exclaimed to the old man covered in jewels sitting next to her, “Father, isn’t that Lucky-Heart announcing the recall fights!”

The old man replied with a grin, “We are truly fortunate to have been close enough to get seats before this arena filled up. The System does not play favorites when getting seats. Your brother sent me a soundwave message complaining how it isn’t fair that even he can’t get in!”

***

Tamako waved away and declined the arena gambling request before the spectators could even fund it with the gold. Lucky looked at Jen and Sam in shock, but before he could ask them why in the Seven Decks she would turn down the arena quest before it even had a chance for getting funded, Tamako said with a quiet menacing tone to herself, “Fuck that! I’m going to bash that bitch to hamburger meat with my mace!” Tamako looked up in surprise, as the arena amplified her words for everyone to hear.

Lucky and Poker did a fist pump as the arena spectators went wild hearing Tamako’s bloodlust. Crapshoot just scowled further as she looked like she was holding all her anger in, just waiting to let loose on Dicey when the recall arena ended.

Lucky announced, “Ladies and gentlemen! Who would have guessed such a tiny woman could hold so muuuuuuuch ANGERRRRRRR!”

Dicey had just finished synching the tourniquet on her arm. She smiled at hearing her dad announcing the fight, reminding her of old times. She then focused on the match, and growled in frustration, wishing she just had another 5 minutes for her regeneration skill to stop her arm from bleeding, and maybe even let her use it partially, but she thought to herself, “That crazy Tamako isn’t going to be stalled by the gambling quests. Doesn’t she realize how much more money we could make from the gambling if she would just let the arena drama unfold a little longer. Oh well, at least the fans are going nuts over the little woman’s fighting lust.” Dicey started bouncing back and forth on the balls of her feet and swinging her axe with the cocky skill of an expert, then called out, “Hey Tiny! Don’t let your anger cause you to lose your head… again!

Tamako didn’t reply, but she wasn’t angry, she was exhilarated. She loved a good fight. People almost always underestimated her because of her height, or if they knew of her strength, just assumed she was a basher. The latter misconception was understandable, she did like to bash! However, she was not so foolish to limit herself, because she liked winning even more than bashing. Tamako noticed Dicey’s injured arm wasn’t looking as bad as it should have, and she wanted to use her enchanted healing tattoo to evaluate Dicey’s true health. However, she had no intention of doing anything to expose their hidden powers and enchantments. She knew she would just need to keep an eye out for any surprises.

Dicey watched as Tamako stalked towards her. If her arm wasn’t useless, she would pincushion her with arrows, but the crossbow she had ready in her storage ring would only give her one shot, and she had to use it wisely. She continued to taunt the tiny woman. Dicey knew she was going to troll Tamako for… forever, about the name The System gave her in the arena. The System tuned out the crowd’s noises and her dad’s voice out as he continued to whip the crowd into a frenzy. She was stalling hoping her arm would improve, but she was ready when the tiny woman pulled two curved knives out and whipped them at her with ridiculous speed and accuracy, one right after the other. Dicey couldn’t pull a shield out with her bad arm, but few people were more flexible than her. She bent backwards at her knees, almost at a 90 degree angle. She then did a spend kick into a roll to the side causing both knives to fly over and miss her. Mid roll she exchanged her axe for her crossbow and let the bolt fly almost point-blank at the Tiny woman.

Tamako instinctually reacted to Dicey’s twisting avoidance of her Rang Knives. Dicey’s movement had created a little extra space between them, and instead of following up with an attack when you would expect your opponent to be out of position, she pulled her tower shield creating a wall between the two of them, that she then kicked directly at the other woman. Tamako, couldn’t see around the tower shield, but the clang of a crossbow bolt against it was well known to her ears. Tamako raced behind the kicked shield to close the few feet between the them, and as the shield fell down to the ground, she gave a mighty swing of her mace right where she knew Dicey’s head would be. The jarring of her mace against Dicey’s axe was expected.

As Dicey blocked the woman’s mace, she then quickly turned the mace to the side, setting up her axe for a counterattack. Dicey knew she was at a disadvantage with her arm, but her axe was a superior weapon for this type of fight, and she would use her mana strike to smash through any other weapon the tiny woman might try and use. Just as Dicey recognized the sneaky feeling of confidence, she only had a split-second of dread before she felt two blades, one right after the other sink into here lightly armored back. One severed her spine and the other punched through her heart. She was alive just long enough to feel the tiny woman’s mace turn her face into hamburger.

From the time a match started, the system made it impossible for a contestant to understand anything the crowd or manager might say. So, all Poker could do was watch as Tamako’s spinning curved knives flew past Dicey, continuing on up into the air before they banked back around and returned with devastating killing strikes into Dicey’s back.

As Poker cheered with everyone else in the arena at the unique attack, he heard Lucky quickly ask Jen, “What type of weapon was that?!”

Jen replied, “They are called ‘boomerang’ knives. Their shape causes them to return to the thrower, and with practice, you can use your mana to guide them with deadly accuracy.”

Lucky replied quickly, “Thanks!” and turned back to the podium and announced to the crowd, “That will teach Dicey Death to turn her back on Tiny’s boooooomerrrrranggggggg knives! Next we are going to…” At that moment, Lucky received an Arena Quest proposed by the City Lord. He immediately accepted the quest, before continuing, “Wait folks! I just received a message from the The System. The City Lord has activated Bot Battle Day!”

“No way!” exclaimed Poker as he and everyone else started reviewing a message from The System.

***

System Message

Bot Battle Day Initiated by City Lord Bankroll!

All non-essential City Workers that make bets on the arena battles will be given the day off!

All fight participants’ winnings will be tax free!

All spectators in the Dicey Death recall arena, you have 20 minutes to move to your designated seat in the main arena.

Recall settings in the main arena are activated.

Death fights start in 60 minutes!

***

The young woman said to the older man covered in jewelry, “Do you think our City Lord still has his teenage crush on Dicey Death?”

The old man chuckled, and then replied, “The only crush your brother has these days is on gold! You could have been City Lord if you had wanted to be.”

“Oh, The Seven Decks No! Not that again. You know my investments make much more gold without all the oppressive and boring details of running a city.”

“Do you think Bankroll was wrong in initiating Bot Battle Day?”

The young woman asked, “truth?”

“Truth,” replied her father.

She paused to actually give the question her full consideration, used her soundwave to contact her information chief, then replied grudgingly, “It’s still quite early in the day. The timing is right, there are no festivals or tournaments for another month or so. Dicey and this Tiny woman are certainly entertaining. The crowd is in a gambling frenzy, and there were hundreds of requests sent to the City Lord to expand the recall arena seating. It’s not a slam dunk, but it should turn a profit.”

Her father grinned, and said, “What if I told you that your brother received a gambling quest from The System to initiate Bot Battle Day, reducing the normal cost by half?”

“What The Seven Decks!”

Her father nodded in agreement, “My thoughts exactly. We will need to stay alert for whatever The System is up to. For now, let’s go get our seats. I don’t think we’re going to want to miss anything.”

***

Lucky turned to the group, and said, “Hurry, we need to go now. Sam, Jen, I’ll explain it all to you on the way. Dicey will grab Tamako and show her where to go.”

Crapshoot finally lost her patience and screamed at Lucky, “The Guild’s going to be furious when this is over!”

Lucky replied, “They can be furious all they want. Dicey and Poker haven’t broken any rules!”

Poker just shrugged to Crapshoot as if it were out of his control, and said to Crapshoot, “Soundwave Dicey if you like.”

Jen noticed that Crapshoot ignored his suggestion and just grumbled as she also started following Lucky.

Lucky said to them all as he led them through a maze of hallways, “We are insanely lucky! In all of mine and Dicey’s years fighting in the arena, nothing like this ever happened to us. We are going to make a fortune!”

Lucky’s words caused Jen to pause in thought for just a second, as she started thinking about the odds of everything that had happened… Their friends in the Arc Guild on the First Deck mentioning Bot Battle City. The ambush in Venezia City making Sam expose some of his abilities. The untrustworthy Arc Guild deck director on the Second Deck. The nosy Stone Guild. Joan of Arc’s book about the Second Deck on back order, causing Jen to search and find “The Guide to Bot City” with Lucky’s Inn. The attack on Lucky and his granddaughter the night they just happen to be at the Inn. Crapshoot being an enchanter. Dicey and Poker’s recall arena invitation. Jen thought, “Are we lucky or unlucky? Probably depends on your point of view.” Jen turned, looked at Sam, and messaged him, “How high is your Luck stat?”