Chapter 4: The Greatest Bait
Poga watched as Jack prepared to fight the insectoid. Poga watched as Jack laid a trap. Poga watched as Jack fought and killed his enemy. It was rather interesting. He understood why the Cosmic Arena was so popular across so many civilizations. He himself had never had to fight a creature like that bare-handed, without enhancements, cybernetic or otherwise.
He had considered intervening, because he wanted Jack alive to serve as bait. But if he did, he'd be exposing his position, which would ruin his purpose. So Poga would have to gamble and hope Jack would survive. If Jack died, Poga would just move on and hunt normally.
And then Jack won! He stood tall and triumphant! It was a dumb thing to do to lose himself like that, since the creature had been screaming for the whole fight now. Jack was pretty exposed, and a shot fired out at him. This was what Poga had been waiting for! And luckily, Jack was still alive to distract the other hunter. Poga marked his position, and slipped away...
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Jack dived behind under a mushroom cap. It was basically a large bush, gigantified as it was. As Jack looked where he had just been, he saw grey vapour being released from the melted tree, moss and whatever else had been there. This mushroom cap wasn't going to save him, and was likely just going to block his vision. Springing out from his position, he moved again to another mushroom. Not a moment too soon as another shot rang out, and the mushroom began to melt.
This new mushroom he was running at was the size of a small bush, and he was able to quickly rip the whole thing off its base! He thanked his lucky stars this came off so easily, or he'd really have some trouble. While running, he turned the mushroom over so the cap was facing the ground, and he jumped on it. This running jump gave him the momentum he needed to slide down a slight decline covered in moss! He had to get away as soon as he could!
Another plasma shot just missed him as he tobogganed down the wet, mossy surface! There were still bits of soil and rock that could slow him down, so Jack's full concentration was on steering this damn mushroom! He found a deeper incline and started to move away even faster, but he was still out in the open. He heard another shot, and his body tensed up!
But nothing came at him, and he was able to slide into some tall grasses on the actual jungle floor. He quickly began crawling, and fearing death would take him in an instant.
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Poga was quite pleased with how this turned out. The fool had stayed on Jack, exposing his position several times, as Poga slipped behind him, just a few metres away. He was tempted to try to sneak even closer for a silent kill, as his prey had been wholly concentrated on Jack. However, if someone else was getting closer, they'd just end up starting to hunt Poga if he exposed himself like that. He fired his shot, and quickly moved to a new position. He kept an cybernetically enhanced eye on Jack though.
"This humanoid might still be useful to me...", Poga thought happily. Smirking as his infrared vision showed him Jack's every move, he felt strong and in control. Poga planned to be a career Gladiator, slowly and carefully contributing points to the eventual freedom of his race. Not like all these reckless rookies, that dreamed to make it big and be hailed as a hero. He wouldn't burn points on some pointless upgrade like they would, and just die in the next round. He had joined the Arena to make a difference, small as it may be. Since that was better than his younger days, when he couldn't have made a difference at all.
Alert and careful, Poga settled into a new position, and began to wait yet again.
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"Tade! I just got some interesting news! There is FRESH MEAT in the arena today!"
"Jek? What are you talking about? This arena is rated for 3-round rookies and up. Fresh meat would barely survive the local wildlife!"
"True, and VERY true! More true than you know..." Alluded Jek mysteriously. "But it remains there's fresh meat! Yesterday's roster list has 103 gladiators for this round, but the leaderboard shows 104! And who is the 104th contender? None other than the fresh meat!"
"How in a white dwarf did that happen?! Dear audience, for once this humble Tade is caught unprepared! I'll have to get back to you on the details! For now, we have an upcoming replay of an encounter involving this newbie that happened just a few minutes ago!" Tade hadn't been unaware regarding a gladiator in YEARS. Most gladiators were begging to be mentioned, and gave him lengthy LENGTHY biographies so he'd have material to chat about them. The more he talked about them, the more fans they'd get, the more tips they were given, and the more wealth they'd accumulate. Not only was that beneficial for the gladiator's race, but it wasn't as if information couldn't be traded here and there in the Cosmic Arena...
Jek opened with a movie narrator's voice, intending to add a little flavour and fun to the quick replay. "In a world, where-", and then he immediately stopped as an insectoid crested some edge into view and switched straight into the play-by-play. "He strikes once! Twice! Got a good hit in th- OOO! Straight in the eye! The insectoid is fleeing, I think it's probably going to get awa-! WOW! He clipped the leg and the whole thing went tumbling down! He did it!"
"He's even standing tall and giving us a rare victory pose! Oops! And that's why we don't see victory poses, folks." Tade jumped in after he thought the fight was done, but it suddenly resumed and surprised both of the commentators.
"He's ripped off a mushroom cap and is making a quick escape! How many times is he going to dodge? Whoever's sniping at him must have limited options to be using a plasma rifle at this distance! Wow, the human is really making this diffi- AND THE HUNTER IS HUNTED! Can we see who was involved?" Jek was loving this. He was caught by surprise after surprise, and he could feel his excitement rising! "Oh! Looks like the replay of the death is just coming up! Looks like Tosk was the one shooting at the fresh meat! There's the second shot. Wow, he isn't aware of his surroundings at all! And there's the kill, by Poga the Patient! What a clean shot!"
"Poga is one of the most experienced gladiators in this round, having survived SEVEN previous rounds! This brings his kill count up to 14, which is pretty respectable. He hasn't made waves, but there's a decent chance he'll eventually make it to a higher league. I'm just checking his movements during the beginning, and it's pretty clear he's been using the fresh meat as bait!" Tade was pretty pleased to see such action early on. Normally in the Jungle round, it was slow to start as it was such a large arena. However, with this early kerfuffle, fights would start breaking out as everyone came to see the fuss.
"Tade, something's strange here. That cold weapon the new gladiator is using... That's not from the points store. I'm looking at his purchase history, and he hasn't gotten anything at all!"
"You're right, Jek. He was given the standard starting amount of points, 10 for the new viewers at home, but he hasn't used any of it. Oh, his profile is finally coming in. We'll finally get some answers!" Tade was surprised this had taken so long. Normally everything was prepared before the start of the round, days in advance. Especially for a large and popular arena like this. Usually rounds were only between 10 and 20 people, but even those normally had few last minute additions.
"Incredible! Seems this contestant's name is Jack Cho, one of the newly enslaved slave races: the humans! This explains why he isn't using the points store, or any of the gladiator tools. He hasn't even had a chance to learn common yet!"
"I'm shocked, Jek! I know the Cosmic Arena has never really been fair, but this is extreme! How's Jack ever going to put up a fight?"
"I'm not sure, Tade. We'll have to look into it and get more details for you, the audience, later!"
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