The Arena. Chapter 2: The first fight.

'How are the fans guessing the fight?' Fred asked one of his media guys. 'So far 95 procent give it to the knight. They all say that the knight is fully armoured and has better weapons, thus the gladiator stands no chance at all.' This was something that Fred did not like to hear, still more people would be surprised if the gladiator actually won. He was much stronger then the knight after all.

It was the friday before the first fight. Social media has been working hard to get everyone hyped for the tournament, while his staff have been going on non stop to make sure everything worked well. The warriors were in top condition, the equipment worked really well and Fred had been in negotiations with the president of the United States to help make this island an foreign nation. Considering that the president was one of his two investors, that would not much of a problem. The only thing he had to do now was to chose the warriors for the next fight.

The next day, everybody was running around, everything had to be ready for the live broadcasting of the evening. Fred was clearly nervous and was drinking a lot of water. This was the most important day, the most important fight. This broadcast would have people tune in for more or his whole plan would fall apart in an instant.
'Mr. Devons?' One of the handlers suddenly appeared. The handlers were guards, who also spoke several languages and had a notion of history. Because of that, they were the perfect people to guide the warriors. 'What?' Fred asked. 'Rainarre LaCobbe is very sick.' The handler spoke. 'Who?' Fred asked. He did not know who this Rainarre was and he could not care less about the health of this person, the very first fight would begin in several hours. The handler sighted. 'The knight sir. The warrior who is supposed to fight the gladiator is very ill'
Suddenly, the world of Fred Devons came crashing down. 'Is he still able to fight?' Fred asked. 'No sir. We are not even sure if he will survive.' The handler answered.
All this preperation, all this hype and one of his fighters got sick. That was a disaster.
'Leave.' Fred said as he walked away himself, sending a text message to his wife and a few others.

'We need a solution.' Fred growled around the table. 'The knight is sick and will be unable to fight tonight.' 'Switch the fights around.' Atthe suggested. 'Now take one of the other fights and wait for for the knight to be better.' She added.
'We can't. The others still need have either armour or weapons completed.' Max countered. As head of equipment, he was responsible for the gear of the warriors and the historical correctness of it.
'What if we take the historyboomer and pick up another knight.' Alfonso suggested. This man was in charge of the soldiers on the island. Clearly he gave the best option. Fred did not like it, as this would tighten the schedule and possibly push a unprepared warrior in the arena. 'Yeah that seems the only solution. Do you have soldiers ready"He asked. Alfonso nodded when another voice interrupted. 'Sir, as you know, I am in charge of social media. As I have noted several times, people do not consider this a fair fight and where the polls gave 95 to 5 in favor of the knight yesterday, now the polls are showing a 99 to 1. ' So?' Fred asked Omar. 'What if we scrapped the knight and gave a more fair fight. According to my calculations, that would give more hype and more people watching.' 'Who do you think would work well then?' It was Atthe who spoke this time. 'Both facebook and twitter suggest that people are looking forwards to a ninja, but we do not have any.' 'How do we get weapons?'Fred replied. 'Ninja weapons are easy to come by, considering they have a hardcore fandom.' Max added to the conversation.
'Hmm Okay.' Alfonso get your men ready for a trip to feudal Japan. I want them away in half an hour.' The man nodded and left. Omar left as well, trying to think of a way to spin this change into their advantage, While Max was phoning people to collect the correct gear. Fred hoped that the new fighter would arrive on time. Altough they had a time machine, it could only travel in linear time, meaning that, if they were an hour in the past, an hour would be gone in real time.

The Historyboomer arrived at the island Koka, in Japan.  'We are supposed to find a ninja here?' Joseph commented. 'Yes.' Elmar answered. 'But aren't they invisible and stealthy and shit. How are we ever going to capture one?'Joseph asked. 'Everybody on this island is supposed to be a ninja.' The leader replied. 'Great, we just pick a random young man we find and hope for the best.' Edward  responded sarcastic. 'That is the plan.' Elmar nodded. His tone did not show any sign of humor.
The four men slowly walked around, keeping close to the historyboomer. The four had to find a ninja as soon as possible but no clue how to either find a ninja or recognise one.
After an hour of walking around, three young men suddenly appeared from nowhere. They said some words and the four soldiers created a small circle. 'These two down.' Elmar yelled and the machine guns rattled. As two of the three fell down, the leader used his knockout dart on the third person.
'Eward and Eddy, Cover.' Elmar spoke. 'Joseph, target.' He then added. Joseph lifted the knocked out man up as Edwin and Eddy kept their weapons ready. With Elmar in front, the four walked back to the historyboomer.

'One minute to go people.' Fred Devons yelled. This was it. In one minute, they would go live and this would either make or break Fred. After the disaster of the sick knight, they were lucky to have found a ninja. The social media department had turned the whole situation around, claiming that due to the demands of fans, the knight was out and a mystery warrior would enter the battlefield against the gladiator. This worked out very well and forums were full of people guessing who this mystery warrior was.
'Welcome everybody. Welcome to the first episode of the Arena. My name is Seth and I will be your host for this series' The young man spoke before the camera. 'You all want to see historical warriors duke it out and that is exactly what you will be getting,'
Fred looked on from behind the camera. 'Get the warriors down and let them pick their weapons.' He said to a handler, who nodded.
'Now it is both an honour and a pleasure to introduce the two warriors who will be duking it out in the arena today.' The smiling young man spoke. 'First off we have the Gladiator. In fact, it will be a Murmillo Gladiator.' With that said, a small clip about the gladiator began to show.
'Now you know all about the gladiator, it is time to reveal his mystery opponent.' The host said when the clip was done. 'It is the knight!'  He suddenly yelled out. At this Fred tensed.  He knows that is not the knight right?'  the owner asked the staff around them. Before any could answer, the host added: 'Just joking just joking. No we have heard your calls and read all your comments. I will now finally and officially reveal the opponent from tonight.' 'Fred could kill Seth right now but he had to admit that the young man had flair and was a very good pick to be the face of the tournament.
'You all have seen anime and have seen martial arts movies, so you will probably all be familiar with him. May I introduce the Ninja.' Seth laughed. With that, a clip about the ninja showed.

Hiroki looked at the big men in front of the door, then to the weapons on the table. The last two days had been chaotic. Yesterday Hiroki was protecting the village against strangers and then he woke up in a cell in a strange world. He did not know what happened to the village or his family or friends but from what he had gathered, the young man was kidnapped to fight other warriors. Hiroki was prepared. He had been training his entire life in the arts of fighting, stealing and assasination. The young ninja was ready to fight whoever these strangers dared to throw at him.
He looked around at the weapons before him. He picked up a few kunai, a kasumigari and a short sword.

Brennus walked into the forest. This was weird. He did not even know that they were near a forest. Not that it mattered. He was dragged here to fight and fighting was all he did ever since he was taken from his village by the Romans.
As the gladiator walked through the forest, he thought what got him here. One moment he was walking with his master though the streets of Salernum, when his master got by a strange weapon. As Brennus was charging the attacker, he got knocked out and awoke in a cell.
These strangers explained that he would keep on fighting, only other opponents and these were always battles to the death.

Hiroki slowly moved through the forest, trying to find his opponent when he suddenly saw a large man in front of him. The ninja jumped behind a tree and peaked as the large man walked around. His opponent wore a helmet and a shield but his chest was bare. That would be his weak spot.
The japanse left his kasurigama at the root of the tree as he jumped in the tree and then made his way towards his opponent.
As Hiroki was near, he jumped out of the tree and waited for the gladiator to pass.
The ninja slowly grabbed his sword and made his way towards the opponent. Just before he could attack, Brennus turned around, his instincts of battle telling him to watch out. The straight sword hit the shield of the gladiator, who then rammed the shield in the face of the ninja.
Hiroki jumped away, barely in time to dodge the sword Brennus.
Knowing his attack had failed, the ninja ran away from the fight, with the big man following.
As one chased the other, Hiroki suddenly turned around. He threw a kunai, aimed at the helmet of the murmillo, but it got blocked by the big scutum shield. This was what he was counting on, as the Japenese man ran towards his foe and attacked the swordarm. The ninja sword met the gladius and then, as Hiroku moved his hands, met the shoulder of the gladiator. Brennus was angry and smashed his elbow in the face of his opponent. Hiroku rolled backwards and threw another kunai as Brennus charged. The murmillo was just able to pull up his shield in defense, but when he looked again, his opponent was gone.

'How are the numbers?'  Fred asked Atthe. 'Very well.' His wife replied cheerfully.
As the episode continues, more people are tuning in and out website is loaded. There are all kinds of topics in several other forums about the fight as well. 'Who do the polls say who will win?'  Fred then asked. 'While at the announcement of the ninja, it was a 60/40 in favor of the ninja. After this last attack, its a 80/20 situation. People say that the ninja will wait untill the gladiator has been bled out before he comes with the kill.'  It was Omar who answered this time.
'Also, apart from the usual complains about weapons or fighting styles being not correct, everybody loves it.'  The media guy added.

Hiroki had collected his kasurigama was looking for his big opponent again. That man looked tough. Nothing like he was used to. He finally found the other man in a large open spot in the middle of the forest. There was no way to sneak up to the man so Hiroki decided to face him up front. This might work or it would be a fatal mistake, but the ninja felt convident.

Brennus rubbed the cut on his shoulder. He was used to these kinds of cuts and it did not bother him much. However his opponent was a small stealthy man who would not face him head on. The cowards attacked from behind and then fled. Now in this position, there was nowhere to hide and the only way that little man could attack him was right upfront. Brennus would show what a gladiator was made off.

As Hiroki entered the battlefield, Brennus stood, with his shield in front of him. This would be the final clash, both fighters knew that.
Hiroki neared his opponent, the ball of the kasurigama making circles in the air. The ball then flew towards the gladiator, past the shield and hit the large man on his shieldarm. another attack of the ball was aimed at the head of the murmillo. This time, the metal ball hit the shield and Brennus rushed forwards. Hiroki was about to move away to avoid a shieldbash, when the scutum got pulled aside and the tip of the gladius appeared. This time, Brennus was able to hit Hiroki in the side. The next attack met air however and with the third jab, the ninja was able to block the blade using the gama part of the weapon.
Hiroki saw blood dripping from his wound. Without thinking, he pushed his finger into his wound and threw his blood at his opponent. Altough barely any blood got into the eyes of the gladiator, it stunned him enough for Hiroki to use the gama to pull the shield away as his ninja sword went out of the sheath and into the chest of the gladiator.
Brennus felt the blade enter his chest and he dropped his shield. He was a gladiator, he could not lose. Before the large man could counter however, the ninja slashed the throat of Brennus with his gama.
First fell the gladius sword into the grass, followed by blood and lastly a near dead murmillo.
He tried to breath, tried to stand up. His body would not move. At least Brennus died in the open air of the forest.
A relief came over Hiroki. He wondered if he could go now his opponent was dead. This man was a though opponent and nothing he had ever fought before.
Suddenly the forest dissapeared and a big room appeared in its place. Then Hiroki felt something sting his arm and he collapsed.

'The first fight is over and the winner is the Ninja!' Seth cheered. 'Everybody who expected the ninja to take the win, and from all your comments it appears most of you did, congratulations. For those who hoped for the gladiator.. Next time better.' The host laughed in the camera. 'Speaking of next time. I can now announce the next battle. So next week, same time, same channel, you will be able to watch a duel between a African Zande warrior and a north American Sioux'

The Arena. Chapter 1: A new beginning

Fred Devons watched the arena through the window. 'It still has the same properties as it used to have?' He asked a small man with a thick mustache. 'Yes sir. With one push of the button we can have a football stadium, an ancient chinese tomb or even a vulcano in here.' The man pushed some buttons and the arena turned into a football stadium. 'Good.' Fred smiled as he walked away.
It has been ten years since the disaster of the first tournament. Everything had been going well and everybody all over the world had watched the tournament. However when his warriors rebelled and international armies attacked the island, everything had fallen apart. Ten years,.. It had cost Fred ten years to recover from that disaster. He had to lie low, pay off several criminal organisations and find a a way to get his island back. But in the end, Fred Devons came back on top, he always did.

Fred walked to his office, where he and his wife Atthe would have a meeting with two investers. He had met Atthe during his first island tournament and she had stayed with him all the way. Now they were married and ready to make it big again. 'Both are in your office already.' Atthe spoke as she walked towards Fred. 'How many warriors do we currently have?'Fred then asked. 'The knight and the Ronin have been brought in today, which means that we only need the Viking and Aztec warrior.' His wife answered. 'You are great.' The man spoke. He gave her a kiss and stepped into his office.

'Mr. President and Mr. Leono, it is always good to see you.' Fred greeted his two investers. 'And it is always a pleasure to see you.'Albert Leone answered with a smile. 'Yes it seems that you are almost ready to start?' Mickey Tromp asked. As new president of the United States and businessman, he had been a key figure in rebuilding the tournament. The island now belonged to Mickey Tromp and he had funded the recovery of some important pieces of technology. This also meant that Fred did not have to worry about getting invaded again but it also meant that half of the money they were making, would go straight to the president.
Albert Leone was the boss of a big crime family, which was active in both the US and Italy. He also had connections with other criminal organsations around the world. Albert had supplied Fred with most of the guards on the island.
'We are picking up the last two warriors tomorrow and will then air our first commercial.' Fred explained with pride. 'Our first match will air next week.' The two other men nodded in agreement.

Fred took a sip of whiskey as he looked at the prisoners through the security camera's. Most were sleeping or calmly sitting down, having given up their attempts to escape. Only the knight still slammed his fists against the bars and yelled in French. He would stop too. Soon he would realise that it was useless to escape.
In the first tournament, he had pitted real life historical warriors against each other in a tournament to the death. Now he was doing it all over again. With only one history boomer that had survived, it took longer to collect all the historical warriors. Now they were almost complete and could begin over. Everybody would know of Fred Devons once again.

With a hard boom, the history boomer arrived in the jungles of South America. The history boomer was a time machine, able to take the user into history and back into the present. It had place for four men and two prisoners Fourteen historical warriors had been collected thus far and now it was time for the last two.
'So what are we looking for?' Joseph asked. 'A guy who is dressed like a jaguar.' was the answer of Edward. 'What the fuck is a jaguar?' Joseph replied. 'An animal. Now shut it and come.' It was their leader Elmar, who spoke.
A man named Eddy joined the three and the small group headed further in the jungle.
Suddenly, the four men heard sounds coming from around them. 'Weapons ready.' Elmar shouted. Small spears suddenly flew from the trees towards them. The four dodged as good as possible, with only Edward getting hit in the side. They returned fire to the trees. More yelling around them and two warriors appeared, armed with wooden swords which had sharp stones embedded in them.
Joseph aimed his shotgun and fired straight in the chest of one warrior, while Elmar fired a knockout dart, which hit the other one.
As he took the man and dragged him to the history boomer, the others gave coverfire. With the Aztec jaguar loaded in, the history boomer dissapeared with a hard boom.

The familiar sound was heard as the historyboomer arrived at its next designation. however screaming and yelling overtook the sound of the historyboomer. From their vehicle, the four men saw how a small village was attacked. 'What is going on here?'Joseph asked. 'What do you think' Came the snarkly reply of Edward. 'Two groups of vikings fighing each other.' He added. 'But they have no horns on their helmets.' Joseph was clearly confused. Elmar took controll of the situation. 'Eddy and I will go and capture a viking. You two will stay here. Joseph, open the door when we come back, Edward keep your AK ready.' The others nodded and the two left.
'Be carefull, Elmar.' Said as the two walked around a corner. The two suddenly saw a viking, who had his back towards them. He was nearly naked and had a bald head. Elmar saw a chance and shot his knockout dart in the viking, who turned around. The two now saw that the man sported a large red beard. He heaved his large axe and ran towards them as Elmar hit his target with another knockout dart.
Just before the viking berserker could hit them, he fell headfirst on the ground. The two dragged their target towards their historyboomer and as Elmar had thought, the raid gave them enough cover to stay undetected.
With the viking loaded in, the historyboomer left for the present.

'Sir.' The last two warriors have arrived.' Elmar spoke to Fred as his head peaked through the door of the office. 'Good.' Fred nodded. 'Anyone injured?' He asked. 'Only Edward minor wound to his side. Nothing serious this time.' The soldier added. Fred had barely heard the last words as he stared at the security footage, where the two new warriors were locked in their prison cells.
All warriors collected and everything ready to go. As soon as he pushed enter on his computer, the first commercial would go live in all social media platforms. Then, a week from now the first episode would start. The first match where a knight would fight a gladiator. Fred smiled once again as he pushed enter.