First Bloody Ballroom (Introduction)

--- Maya ---

“I guess I’ll do the Bloody Ballroom.” She answered the guard.

“Alright.” The figure seemingly nodded as the glint of their eyes bounced. “Uh, you need help bringing your, what’s it called, bike in or do you got it?”

“Uh… I’ve got it?” She answered, pretty sure she didn’t want anyone touching her bike even if she wasn’t sure she could get it through the door on her own.

“Cool. Just let me open the door.” The guard told her before closing the eye hole as she heard what sounded like several locks being undone.

(Are we sure this is a good idea?) Her inner survival instincts asked. (We’re about to walk into a criminal stronghold.)

(Well, they apparently think we’re here because of Decker so unless they want to start a war with the guild I think we’re safe for now.) She tried to assure herself silently in case the guard was still listening.

(So our defense right now is a lie…) Her inner reason mentally grimaced.

(Well we’ve also got the dakka if we need it.) Her inner madness pointed out.

She cut off her own response as the door swung open to reveal something that brought her up short.

(It’s rude to call people somethings.) Her inner passion reminded her, because despite the fact that the person in front of her was most definitely not human they were still a person. (Right.)

“What first time seeing an Inferni?” The man in front of her laughed.

“S-sorry.” She stuttered out.

“Don’t worry about it, someone watching me in awe is far better than watching in fear.” The man assured her a clawed and tattooed hand wrapped around his angular jaw as he gave her a grin with very pointed canines. “Still we should get moving if you don’t want someone else to claim”

“R-right.” She nodded, as the man stood and she realized that he was not her height but instead had been half crouched on a set of digitigrade legs, with his real height being almost a full foot on her.

Swallowing, she walked past him, just barely being able to get her bike through the door without any assistance.

As the man locked the door behind them she glanced over her shoulder and found herself coming up short as she found a long tail shifting through the air behind him.

“Now with that taken care of, let’s get you taken care of.” The man clapped two hands -larger than a human’s now that she saw them up close- before moving to head deeper into the building.

(They’re not that big.) Her inner Madness told her as she moved to follow. (His muscles on the other hand…)

It just now occurred to her that the man in front of her was shirtless save an open vest, one that gave her a solid view of his abs and pecks which regardless of his species were (interesting…)

(Have we been lying to ourselves this whole time? Are we actually straight?)

“Got another one?” A woman’s voice asked when they stepped through an open doorway to a much more open room.

“Ah, mon cherie!” The traveler smiled as he spotted a woman walking up to them.

A woman who wore a sports bra that left a (very interesting) view of her own abs, as well as a number of tattooed rings going up and down her arms.

(Have we been lying to ourselves this whole time? Are we actually gay?)

“Aye, and there a new one to the pits!” Her escort nodded, unaware of her internal crisis. “Recommended by that one musician fella from the Gamer’s Guild.”

“Meaning you’ve got that power up all of them have?” The woman asked, giving her a once over. “You lack the muscle for a warrior’s build so I’m guessing you’re going mage?”

“Um, uh, um…” She swallowed for a number of reasons before finally being able to sputter out. “I’m trying for a, uh, mix?”

“I see…” The woman nodded, before turning to the man. “Which entree test is she taking?”

“The Bloody Ballroom.” The man answered.

“Alright, well I’m better at magi-tech than you so I’ll run her courses. You take her bike to the vehicle pen.” The woman told the man.

“On it, love.” The man agreed quickly picking up her tech bike and carrying it over his shoulder. “Oh, but before I go.”

The Traveler leaned forward and kissed the woman, before nuzzling her cheek and neck, something that brought them both extremely close as the woman smiled seemingly unaware of their spectator.

(Okay. Whatever we are, we likey this.)

(Yes, we do.) Her inner logic agreed as they stared at where the couple’s abs touched.

“Alright, that’s enough of that you flirt.” The woman laughed pushing the man away.

“Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong, that will never be enough for me.” The man assured her, a huskiness to his voice that when combined with those contracted cats eyes and muscles-

(Oh, ye- Wait, no… that’s a little much. No. Bad Maya!) Her reason chided. (We can see those thoughts chica! This place is filthy enough as it is!)

(No it’s not!) Her inner degenerate argued. (We need MORE FILTH!!!)

She coughed into her hand, feeling more than a little heated by the things her mind was cooking up.

The woman rolled her eyes with a smile before flicking the man’s nose and sending him back a step. “We’ve an audience, one a little young for this.”

“Ah, right…” The man glanced at her before coughing. “I’ll uh, I’ll just take this, uh, bike to the storage place.”

“You do that.” The woman smirked as the man fled with her tech bike.

Once he was gone the woman turned to her. “Come on, the Bloody Ballroom is over this way. You know how this works, right?”

“Um, I… may have forgotten a couple things.” She admitted following the (hot, hot, hot) woman.

“Okay, so the Bloody Ballroom -as it was explained to me- is an Arcane Spell Engine that creates a hard light projection for the user to fight.” The woman told her.

“Right, this is that… sport thing a lot of Arcane do isn’t it?” She asked, starting to remember what the Bloody Ballroom was despite her complete lack of interest in anything involving the Arcane. (Unless they have muscles like that.)

“Yeah, that’s the one.” The woman nodded. “Much more humane than Yggdrasil's coliseum.”

“Uh, what’s coliseum?” She frowned.

“Ah, something from my homeland.” The woman grimaced before gesturing to the space around them. “It’s like all of this but… worse.”

She glanced around a bit and found that they were walking around a large pit in the ground filled with sand and two guys fighting with their fists.

“Right, this place is a fight pit…” She remembered, her reason for being here, cutting through her… distracted state.

(Boo! You’re no fun!)

“Aren’t you guys worried about a hero or something showing up?” She asked, hoping to fish some information out of the woman. “I mean, I’m sure you guys got a fair few fighters but with how easily…” She realized she didn’t actually know anyone’s names. “He let me in, one could easily walk in here.”

“And why would that be a problem?” The woman in front of her wondered curiously.

“Uh, aren’t fight pits illegal?” She pointed out, feeling a little silly in the fact that she had to do that.

The woman seemed confused for a moment before snapping her fingers as she realized something. “Ah, I know what you’re talking about. Tru told me something about this, um, the local law is different from the rest of the… kingdom? This is apparently one of the few territories, er, states to allow mutual combat as long as no one dies.”

“I see…” She didn’t actually know whether or not that was true, or if this Tru guy was someone just lying to the travelers but she also wasn’t sure she was willing to jump the gun on this given how many things Decker had thrown her around with his own legal knowledge. (What was the point of reading all that legal stuff if it doesn’t help when I need it?)

(To make sure we can arrest people when we need to?) Her inner reason answered.

“Right…” She nodded, glancing around the room once more. “So all of this is supposed to be legal?”

The woman gave her a smirk (that made her feel things.) “Aren’t you a bit young to be wanting to break the law?”

“Uh, teenage rebellion?” She offered, getting a laugh out of the woman.

“Well, there are worse rebellions than a legal fight club.” The woman admitted before stopping in front of a large circle near the back of the warehouse. “Alright, this is it.”

The woman ran her hand above a much smaller circle just outside of but still connected to the bigger circle, causing a small blue screen to appear above it. “So first I’m going to need you to step into the circle to get a physical scan of you and your health.”

She was a little iffy about that, but at the same time from what little she could remember of the few Bloody Ballrooms she’d seen that was part of the standard process.

(And as much as I don’t like it, it would also be suspicious to back out this close to the end.) Her inner logic pointed out.

Stepping into the larger circle, she stood there for a minute as the outer circle sparked before a round blue wall rose into the air marking the edge of her fighting area.

“And that… should… do it.” The woman told Maya as she messed about with the little airborne console. “So just to remind you, this is an entry test for the club. The longer you last the better you’ll do, but at the same time we want winners and people who can put on a show so don’t just… what’s the phrase, ‘turtle up’?”

“That, uh, that shouldn’t be a problem.” She had enough in her arsenal that she was pretty sure she could handle whatever they threw at her.

“Good.” The woman nodded. “So we’ll do this in escalating rounds. You win five rounds you’ll get to a… boss stronger than the rest, while the following rounds will add an additional enemy for each boss you’ve defeated. Since this is your first time, I’ll be starting you as a beginner and we won’t be bothering with the timer.”

“That sounds fair.” She admitted when it became clear the woman was waiting on her to respond.

“Mm-hmm, lastly the game will automatically end itself if you fall below a certain threshold determined by your scan, and should you wish to end it early you just need to touch the outer wall and count to ten. Can you repeat that back to me?”

“I’ll be kicked out if I take too much damage, and I can end it early by touching the wall.” She summarized.

“Alright, you ready to begin?” The woman asked.

She took a deep breath before rolling her shoulders and nodding. “Yeah, let’s do this.”