Across The Pond

Good people of Imperial City, I give you the Purple Punisher!

The  crowd erupted in a thunderous applause as Twilight was thrown into the arena. For a moment the bright light of the sun blinded her. She expected this having spent almost two weeks in the underground training area for the arena. Even having spent a fortnight in a large training room she spent more time trying to resist than train. Now, in the arena, she was beginning to question whether or not it was the right move but decided not to dwell on the past.

Once the initial blinding had subsided Twilight looked at her surroundings. She was in a circular clearing with sand on the ground, she wondered why that was. In the center was a large metal, square plate. It took up the center of the clearing and had hundreds of small holes in it. At the edge of the clearing were tall stone walls, standing around ten to eleven feet tall.

Behind the walls were stands going around and upward in whichever direction Twilight looked. She was told she was going to have some sort of test and the large, sword wielding creature with the wild look in his eyes clearly meant that this was not the kind of test she was used to.

A loud bell rang out over the roaring crowd and the crowd cheered louder in response. Twilight saw the creature lightly jogging towards her, a sword in each and. She backed away and started to cower. She lowered her head and closed her eyes when the creature was about half way across the field. She was scared, hungry, and tired; but she didn't want to give up.

Twilight focused what little energy she had on a teleportation spell and in a flash of light she was gone. Just as the Nord swung his swords the mare disappeared only to reappear on the other side of the arena. The Nord looked a little happy, as though this weren't going to be as boring as he thought.

Twilight looked up after teleporting to see the Nord fully sprinting now. Twilight tried a magical offensive spell but couldn't gather the energy to do so, or the stamina to simply run. Before she could find out if she was prepared to teleport again she saw two crimson figures fall from the stands. First one, then another a few seconds late.

The two unknown figures ran over to cut off the Nord. The crowd was quieting down now and for a moment Twilight could here herself think. She took this moment to concentrate and let loose a very small bolt of ice. It was smaller than the ones she was casting before but when it hit the Nord in the jaw, causing him to turn to Twilight, it was all that was needed. The weakened spell managed to distract the Nord while the first figure got within range and punched him in the gut and immediately took a sword from the Nord's hands. When the figure did this Twilight recognized him as Vallius.

Mixed feeling stirred in Twilight. Had Vallius known what he did, and if he did why was he helping now? The rational part of Twilight felt she should at least try to figure out what had happened before getting upset, after all Vallius was defending her now. Though the part of Twilight that had spent the last few weeks through pony hell didn't want to give in so easily. Though Twilight's mind raced her body just sat there, watching the events unfold before her eyes.

Vallius backed up, now holding one of the steel blades the Nord had before. The Nord and Vallius stared at each other, each holding their own respective swords up, ready to either attack or defend at any moment. However before the fight could begin the disembodied voiced boomed once more.

"Since you feel you can interrupt our little game how about we make things more interesting?"

Vallius knew there was no way to respond and having acted on impulse was going to have to abide by whatever the announce put forth. Now Vallius relaxed his sword arm but kept his eye on the Nord, who did the same.

"You wan't to protect the unicorn? Fine. But a three on one match isn't quite far now is it? No. So instead you WILL hand back the sword to our champion and will be given two weapons of your choosing, both of you!"

Vallius turned to Lurius, only just then realizing that his young friend had followed him into the arena.

"And we will bring out 5 more of our gladiators, ranging in skill from fresh on the sands to our champion! After all, you are two trained legionaries, it's only fair right?"

The crowd cheered in approval as Vallius began to think about what weapons he wanted. While Vallius was thinking carefully Lurius knew what he wanted. Lurius and Vallius may be alike in many ways but Lurius never took the time to think things over carefully.

Lurius put his right hand half up and the crowd eventually got it he wanted to say something and slowly became nothing more than a few murmurs and whispers. Lurius yelled out "I wan't a sword and a shield, nothing fancy."

By the time Lurius had finally gotten the chance to speak Vallius had decided what he wanted and spoke up right after Lurius had finished speaking, for fear the crowd would start up again. "And I will have a spear and sword" Vallius said, a half smile on his lips.

"Bring them their weapons and their opponents!"

The crowd became unruly at this point. There wasn't a chance they would settle down now.

Vallius tossed the sword and the Nord, who caught it happily. Out of the gate the champion had entered came five more gladiators.

The first was a large, bald Orc man, who wore heavy armor and carried a large hammer so big even the mighty Orc had to keep two hands on it at all times.

Next was a rather short Breton man who carried a large shield and a dagger. Vallius laughed to himself at the sight.

After the Breton was an Imperial woman, who had a bow in her hands. Vallius made a mental note of this and continued to inspect his opponents.

Next was an Argonian male who carried a long claymore. Vallius had fought many who favored the claymore and found it rather easy to take them out with the correct footing so he decided not to worry about him.

Finally was a Dark Elf who was empty handed. Lurius leaned over to Vallius, following his eyes and said "their mage" as if reading Vallius' mind. Vallius nodded in return.

After them came a small Khajiit child who carried the weapons the two legionaries had requested.

They eight fighters raised their weapons and waited for the signal to begin. When non came they all looked around in confusion.

"Has the unicorn picked her two weapons yet?" came the voice.

Vallius looked to Twilight. 'do they know no mercy' Vallius thought to himself before rolling his eyes. He knew exactly how ridiculous a question like that sounded.

Much to Vallius' disbelief he found the crowd had become all but silent, awaiting the unicorns response. Twilight looked to Vallius for help.

Vallius knew there was no way he would be able to talk them out of this, these people had paid good money for blood and they weren't leaving until they got it. So instead of arguing he simply yelled out "she will have a dagger and a shield!"

Vallius figured since her magic seemed weakened the smaller weight of the dagger would be easier to maneuver and in any case she can lift the shield up with her mouth to guard her face and subsequently the rest of her.

"Very good!" the voice boomed.

The child brought once again brought the requested items out and then retreated back off the sands. The six gladiators walked over to one side and turned, planning on doing it traditionally. Vallius didn't object to this so him, Twilight, and Lurius all walked to the opposite end. The voice boomed only once more.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Let the fight of the century, begin!"