There, across the arena, was a gryffin dressed in a green hooded outfit complete with pale tights and sturdy brown boots. He walked on his back legs and had a large, well-crafted longsword that glowed with some sort of power, as well as a very strong-looking shield. The twinkling noise was a blue parasprite by his shoulder, shouting into his ear.

“Dear Celestia that’s awesome! I say we keep that sword when we kill him!”

“Now for the challenger! He has a defeat count of 47 and a kill count of 36! An up-and-coming hero rivalling Sharky himself, Rinku!” A bunch of angry twinkles started up. “Oh, and his parasprite Vain!” The crowd cheered for him almost as loud as they had cheered for me.

“Now, FIGHT!” The king shouted once again. I quickly took a defensive stance and started edging my way towards Rinku. The parasprite began shouting again.

“I already fucking know how to lock on to my opponent!” Rinku shouted angrily. The twinkling continued regardless. We kept slowly approaching each other carefully, making sure to not lower our guard. Then Rinku put his shield on his back. Seeing a potential opening, I rushed forward. Then Rinku was suddenly holding a boomerang.

“... Where the fuck did you pull that from?” Rinku seemed to think for a moment.

“You know what? I’m no--” More twinkling started up. “I already fucking know how to hit multiple targets with t-- You know what? Forget it! Catch!” He threw the boomerang at me and it flew with astounding speed. I leapt over it as it came to me and ducked as it came back again. An arrow suddenly imbedded itself in one of the leather flaps on my armor.

“Whoa! ... Why is this arrow bee--”

*BOOM* The arrow exploded right after I noticed it. I flew back about twenty feet and landed, winded and burned.

“Well, I guess I have to give you props for recommending the bomb arrow Vain. Yes, I know. Yes I should li-- Oh dear Celestia! Shut the hell up! I already know how to perform a finishing strike dammit! Kyaaa!” I rolled to the side quickly. Rinku landed where I had been only moments ago, plunging his sword into the ground. I jumped to my feet and kicked him away from the sword.

“Nice try, but nothing will stand in my way!” I shouted. I grabbed the hilt of his sword and yanked it out of the ground. He looked afraid for a moment as he slid to a stop from my kick. I threw it along the ground to him. “I also don’t fight unarmed opponents though, so here.” He grabbed the sword with a confused look and sprang back to his paws.

“Well, that’s honorable, but stupid! Luckily I don’t have the same limits!” Suddenly he had a grappling hook on one of his talons. It shot forward, aiming for my gladius. I lifted my arm slightly and the chain shot by harmlessly. I quickly grabbed it with my left hand and Rinku shot towards me as the chain retracted.

“Then I guess you need to be taught a lesson.” I muttered as he flew towards me. He hefted his sword and aimed it at me as he flew. A bunch of tinkling started up once more.

“He didn’t mean from you Vain!” Rinku shouted. I lifted the gladius and held it at an angle to block his strike. His sword sliced clean through my inferior weapon and into my chest. Luckily it was only about an inch or two into me, so it was only--

“OH GOD THE PAIN!” I punched Rinku in the face with the now useless hilt of the gladius, throwing him back and dislodging his weapon from my chest. Blood poured out of my new wound freely, adding to the small rivers now running out of my body from my shoulder. I clapped my left hand over the wound, trying to stop the blood flow. I swung the now useless blade around in pain, then I heard a little slicing sound. I looked around in confusion until I saw two halves of a parasprite next to my feet.

“Sweet Celestia...” I heard Rinku murmur. “... I’m free! Oh thank Celestia, I’m free!” He pulled two bottles out of nowhere. “Thank you so much! Here, it’s not safe to continue the fight in your condition, take this!” He tossed me one of the bottles. It had a little ball of light inside it. “Consider it a thanks for freeing me!” I smiled.

“Thanks, but I think I’ll save it for later!” The bottle vanished from my hand. I blinked confusedly. As soon as I thought about the bottle again, it appeared in my hands. “Oh, so that’s how his equipment works!” I willed the bottle to vanish again, and it disappeared.

“Suit yourself! Let’s finish this!” Rinku blasted himself towards me with a flap of his wings. He raised his sword for a horizontal slash. I ducked as he approached, causing him to slide his sword on the top of my helmet. I came up with an uppercut right into his gut as the sliver of metal he had cut off my helmet fell to the ground. He flew straight up into the barrier and was flung right back down. I stepped slightly to the left and roundhouse kicked him to the side as he fell. He flew about 6 feet before he landed.

“Thundraga!” I yelled as I pointed at him. He happened to roll to his paws as the lightning bolt fell, just barely dodging it.

“What the hell was that?!” He shouted.

“Thundraga!” This time Rinku raised his sword up and the bolt struck it, causing the sword to crackle with electric energy. “We’re fucked.” With a swing of his sword, Rinku sent a huge disc of lightning at me. It was moving too fast to possibly dodge, so I did the only thing I knew to do in the situation. I swung with my broken gladius and hit the disc as it approached me, sending it flying back to Rinku.

“What the buck?!” Rinku shouted as the disc flew into him. He managed to block it with his shield, but the impact threw his talon back, leaving him wide open and shocking him a little as the electricity ran through his metal shield. I ran over and repeatedly punched him in the face, careful to avoid breaking his beak. Since he was off guard I managed to pin him on the ground and beat him wildly. “S-stop! I surrender!” He shouted. I jumped back. I turned to the king to see his judgement. He gave me a thumbs up, much to my relief.

“Whew, good fight Rinku!” I smiled to him as the crowd went nuts once more and held out a hand. He grabbed it with a smile of his own.

“Yeah, it’s been quite some time since I’ve had to fight like that...”

“Heh, me too. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’mma get back to my cell and try and keep my chest from bleeding out.” Rinku seemed to just now notice the increasingly large flow of blood from the stab wound on my chest.

“Oh... sorry.” I tapped him on the cheek where I had just been beating him and he flinched as he hissed in pain.

“We’ll call it even. Now, I really need to go so I can rest before I crush my next opponent.” Rinku frowned.

“What makes you so confident that you can crush an opponent in your current state?” I grinned.

“Isn’t it obvious? I ain’t even trying yet. Duh. We had a sword the whole time you know. We coulda just killed you right off the bat without all the theatrics.” Rinku’s jaw dropped. “C’ya later!” I turned and walked back to my gate and was escorted to my cell once more. I sat down in the cell and the guards didn't even bother to lock the door this time. I guessed they knew I wasn't going to bother to run away. Then I had a thought. "Hey, can I get a guard!?" There was some tapping from down the hall and a guard appeared in front of my cell.

"Yes hero? Did you need something?" The guard asked readily. He looked eager to help.

"Uh, yeah. Why did Rinku have all that equipment? I thought contestants were supposed to be stripped of all possessions and dignity."

"Well you see, Rinku is a paid warrior. He gets to keep his things. You are considered a prisoner. Prisoners are sent here to die horribly. In theory they can win their freedom if they are victorious for ten straight rounds, but nopony has ever succeded."

"Well why am I being treated like a prisoner?"

"The king wants you to prove yourself a hero. If you can beat the arena as a prisoner, even he'll have to respect you."

"So I'm expected to do something that isn't theoretically possible?"

"Well... to be honest it has been done once before..." The gryffin seemed to finally notice the blood running down my chest. "Uhh... you do know you can get bandages, right?"

"I... I can? No wait, don't distract me. Who won the Arena before?"

"Isn't it obvious? The king did! ... Let me request some bandages for you." The gryffin walked slightly out into the hallway as my jaw dropped in surprise. Then I closed my mouth as I realized it actually wasn't that surprising. "Hey! You! This prisoner requires bandages! Fetch some!" There was more tapping down the hall as another guard left to get bandages. The gryffin returned to me.

"So, that's why the king wants me to win this way, huh? To prove that I'm at least as strong as him?" The guard shrugged.

"I guess so. Well, if that's all you needed, I have duties to return to. The other guard shall return with your bandages soon enough. Farewell." The gryffin turned and left, once again leaving me alone. I started applying pressure to my wound on my chest again. I was sure that it didn't really matter, but I figured it was better to keep as much blood in my body as I could rather than idly sit by as it flowed away. In a matter of minutes, another guard came stumbling into my cell. He was blushing through his feathers as he handed me a white roll.

"There you go hero need anything else!?" He blurted without pausing inbetween the words. I had to struggle to not groan. I could tell from his elated expression that he was a fan. I shook my head 'no' and he back out of the cell with an awkward series of bows. I sighed loudly.

"Why. Just... why." I muttered as I started wrapping the gauze bandage around myself. Because of the placement of my cuts, I was able to wrap the bandage around my shoulder and across my midsection to cover both injuries. I tied it around myself and left the rest of the roll in the corner of my cell. Making sure to place it in the opposite corner that Esmerelda had clopped in. I was left alone for nearly an hour, but before I could really relax, another set of guards appeared. "Fight time already?" I sighed. "Fuck yes! Bring on the next bitch!"

"Yes hero, time to fight once more. Don't worry, you only have three more fights after this." One of the guards offered, clearly trying to make me feel better with the knowledge that I still had four more fights today. I stood up exhaustedly and walked with the guards to the Arena once more. I stepped into the sun and the thunderous cheers of the crowd started up again. The king started his introduction once more.

"As you all know, this is the warrior trying to prove himself a hero, Sharky!" The crowd went nuts once more. I tapped my foot impatiently as the king waited for the audience to calm down. "His competition this time is no warrior, instead he shall face..." The king paused momentarily for dramatic effect. "Carnifax! Slayer of Champions!" The Arena gave a mighty shake and a huge square in the middle started to rise. The square gradually lifted out of the ground and was revealed to be the top of a cage. The cage was massive, each bar was thick as a small tree. "Get ready Sharky, this one is a killer!"

"Good, it's hard for me to find decent competiton these days!" I shouted back challengingly. The top of the cage's occupant came into view as I shouted. I gasped a little in disbelief as the cage rose all the way out of the ground. Inside the cage was a massive crab, rivalling an Ursa Minor in size. The cage door fell away and the crab stepped out of the cage with an eager series of claw snaps. I backed up nervously as I realized that nopony had even given me a gladius for this fight. Then I heard a shrill whistle.

"... What is that?" The king boomed. Apparently I wasn't the only one hearing it.

"Look up dumbass!" I looked up and I could see a small dot beside the sun. I shielded my eyes and looked back down to see that the crab was approaching me. I backed up nervously even further as I immediately started recalling every single thing I knew about crabs, which seeing as how I was going to become a marine biologist, was a lot. Then the crowd started muttering and pointing up as the whistle only grew more shrill and louder. Then, when it seemed that the whistle couldn't get any more annoying...

*BOOM* The crab's head suddenly erupted and a shower of meaty bits covered me and the floor of the arena. Something had just crashed into Carnifax. The king looked furious.

"What is the meaning of this?!" He seethed. A deep voice boomed out from inside the crab.

"Ain't it obvious? I'd like to take this thing's place as a challenger for Sharky!" The voice sounded oddly familiar and cheerful.

"What makes you think you have such a right?!" The king shouted.

"Well, partially the fact that I just killed your previous competitor..." The source of the voice leapt out of the crab. I gasped as I realized who it was. The large hammer and black armor made it all too obvious. "Partially because I've been wanting to spar with the REAL Sharky for some time..."

Steel Boulder was my next opponent.