The Arena. Chapter 5: Aggression versus peace

It had not taken long for the fans to figur out that the next match would be Viking versus Shaolin monk, especially considering that the social media department had published the fight the day after.
If the first matches had caused endless debates, these were nothing compared to the debate that this upcoming match. Little time was spend at arguing about how realistic the fight between the Koa and the Aboriginal was, as most people were yelling at each other on the internet. Whole fora were full of discussions on who would win and many youtubers tried to give their own expert opinion on the matter.
Fred read one of the discussions with a broad smile. He had tried to read and watch as much as possible on the subject and it was all very entertaining. He had hoped that people would take these matches as serieus but only now could he see the effects that his show had on people.
The fans of the Shaolin Argued that the monk would win, because he was an expert martial artist who had trained his entire life to fight and was much smarter and calmer. Concensus was that the monk would get his opponent mad and then punish the warrior for the mistakes he was going to make.
The viking fans on the other hand thought that the small monk would surely be overpowered by the bigger and stronger berserker.
Fred looked at the camera displaying the cells. The monk had been silent the entire him he was inprisoned and now sat calmly in his cell. He had been no problem at all and would do whatever told with a simple nod. Fred could not say if he had just accepted his fate or was planning something. The viking on the other hand was a polar opposite. He had been aggressive when he was first captured and had tried to break out of his cell multiple times. Altough he now was less aggressive, Fred still did not trust him and always made sure that there were extra guards around if the viking had to be moved.
The big viking reminded  Fred of another problem that they were having recently. Several female staffmembers and a few males ones had asked for some alone time with a few of the warriors. Fred had said no every time but a few members of staff had been caught trying to get into some of the cells.
Fred was not sure what to think of it and did not fancy his warriors being used in such a way, but he understood peoples needs. Everyone on the island was forbidden by contract to leave without direct permission from either him or Atthe. He was so worried that people found out about what actually happened here that he did not allow it. Ofcourse there had been speculation on what happened was real or not and the fact that nobody on the show answered any of these questions made it more myserieus. He did not want people to actually find out. That would not only hurt the ratings but chances are that soldiers would enter the island again. First he needed to have ths island become its own little nation, under the protection of the US, then maybe it would matter less that people found out about the real fights going on.
'I should talk to Atthe about the urges of people on the island, maybe something could be arranged.' Fred spoke to himself. Then he could figur out the rest.

'Have you researched the possibilities?' Fred asked. At the table with him sat his wife Atthe, John, Omar and the maffiaboss Mr. Leono.
'Yes.' John answered.  There are a lot tv shows that once aired and that we could air. Some shows we even could continue. We can make it in some sort of warrior history channel.' He added. 'We also found some youtubers who could potentially host some of the shows, altough we either have to let them do that at home or bring them to the island.' Came the comment of Omar.
'How about financiall?' Fred inquired. This time it was his wife who answered. 'Looking at everything,  it would not be too costly and in fact would gain us money in the second year'
That was all that he wanted. 'What is your opinion?  The man asked the don. As one of the two moneyshooters, he also had a say in what was going on.  'Yeah I will cover the cost, sounds like a good plan.' Was the answer. Fred had expected the answer to be as such, but he still wanted to ask.
'Well then Atthe. Will you set it up with John?' He asked. His wife nodded, knowing that now she was full responsible for its creation.

'Fight four is about to begin and the warriors could not be different.' Seth started in the new episode of The Arena. 'Our first fighter comes all the way from the frozen north. He has been known as a pillager and a rapist. A destroyer of towns and a wildebeast against innocent people.' Seth allowed a moment of silence to fall before he yelled. 'It is none other then the Viking Berserker.' At moments like these, Seth would like to have an audiance as he wanted to see the reactions from the people watching. However they only could look at him, not the other way around. Not that it was a bad thing that they could look at him, he was dashing and handsome after all.
'Where the viking likes to kill monks, our other fighter is a monk who fights back.' The host started his introduction of the opponent. 'From the beautiful east, this monk is a martial art master who trains his entire life in the arts of kung fu. Fighting raiders and protecting the weak, this man of peace will be a deadly opponent. If you have not guessed it, I am talking about the Shaolin monk.


Han Liu looked at the weapons before him. Altough everything around him was weird ever since he had been kidnapped from the temple, at least these weapons were familiar. Han was no killer however and did not like to take another man's life. He had only killed bandits when the man had no other choise and had punished himself every single time. Now it seemed that fate had brought the young Shaolin in this arena, where he had to kill his opponent to return to the temple.
The monk did not know who is opponent would be and therefore was unsure what for weapons to bring. Han Liu decided on a spade for medium distance combat, a broadsword for close fighting and finally a Emei dagger for very personal combat.
With the weapons chosen and mentally prepared for what was to come, Han Liu stepped through the door and onto an open field.

A quick peek at the guards and their weapons discouraged Einar to attack them. It was so tempting with the weapons here but he knew that there were more of these guys and they all could kill from a distance without a bow. Growling, the warrior looked at the weapons displayed. He would kill this enemy and look for another good chance to escape. One thing was for sure. Einar would not die a prisoner, but as a warrior so he could join his father and brother and he too could dine in valhalla.
After picking the Dane axe and a Seax, Einar stepped on the grass of the open field,

A big brute, this could be interesting. Han Liu thought
The viking smiled. 'A monk, this would be easy.' He spoke to himself. With his axe ready he ran towards the smaller opponent.
The two met at the middle of the field and the weapons hit each other. Monks spade versus dane axe. Han Liu was able to hit his opponent several times, inflicting light wounds as he danced around the axe. As the axe hooked around the spade, Han Liu was able to move his weapon away and hit the chest of the viking, which was covered with wolfsfur and did little damage, The back of the axe however, flew towards the monk and hit him straight in the face, breaking the nose of the shaolin and sending him rolling in the grass. Seeing an opening, Einar charged at his target and moved his axe in a downwards arc. Before he could hit the monk, the other guy rolled away and jumped on his feet. Using the spade as pole, he kicked the viking away.
The weapons clashed with each other again. As Han Liu was able to dodge most of the attacks of his opponent, Einar was able to block the attacks or endured minor wounds on his arms and legs. Once the berserker overextended and Han Liu was able to hit the head, only for the spade to glance off the helmet.

'These two are really well matched.' Fred said to everybody in the room. The two have been going on for a short while now, with neither getting a good edge on the opponent or really dominating the battle. The viewer count was also on a alltime high at the moment as everybody tuned in to see this battle.

Han Liu had hoped to tire out his opponent by this point but the man might have been made of stone as the warrior did not show any sign of fatigue. Han himself was still ready to go as well but he feared that he might tire earlier then the other guy. If that happened, the Shaolin knew that he would lose.
The two clashed again and dealt blows but either blocked or dodged the attacks of the opponent.

Einar leaned a little bit too farwards, which have Han Liu the idea to smack the side of the head of his opponent. That helmet would stop damage, but the Shaolin hoped to disorientate his opponent enough to finish the fight. Just before the monk's spade hit the viking, Einar pulled his head backwards and blocked the attack with his dane axe. This did give the viking an idea.
He overextended his next attack on purpose, which the Shalin took advantage off.
The spade came in but the axe blocked the attack. At the same moment, Einar stepped in, grabbed the weapon of his opponent and pulled.
Instead of pulling back, Han Liu releashed his spade. The viking almost lost his footing due to this. Reacting as fast as he could, Han Liu pulled his broadsword and ran towards his opponent. A swift kick to the chest send Einar to the ground and the broadsword hit the helmet as the berserker tried to stand up. Only now Einar felt how tired he was, with the multiple smaller wounds burning. His opponent was holding a sword close to his throat and Einar was prepared to die. He was going to valhalla.

Han Liu was about to kill his opponent. His sword was close to the throat of the big man. He only needed to make a swift strike to kill. But Han could not do it. Years of living in the temple, praising life had its effect on the monk once again. He had already won. Why would he need to kill this opponent who could not fight back anymore. Then again, it was made clear that he had to kill the other man to claim victory and the Shaolin did not know what would happen if he did not kill.
This moment of struglle was enough for Einar to see a chance. Valhalla had to wait as he pulled his Seax and smashed the sword away. Einar then threw the monk on the ground and attacked with his seax.
Han Liu was suprised as the sword got knocked out of his hand. This opponent still was ready to fight it seemed. He then got thrown on the ground and saw his opponent above him holding a large knife. With only his emei dagger left, he thrusted the small weapon into the fur covered chest of the viking, as Einar stepped the chest of the Shaolin several times.

The viking lay on top of the small monk with neither moving and total silence in the room. 'Did they kill each other?' Someone asked. 'What do we do if they are both dead?' Someone else wondered.
Fred just looked at the screen intensly. People would think a double death would be a cop out even if this was not planned at all,
'Give them one more minute. If neither moves, declare a tie and they both lose.' Fred spoke. He hoped himself that one of them would move or give a sign of life.
A small movement could be seen on screen and then slowly someone rose. It was the viking who stood ip, a wound very close to the heart could be seen on his chest, with blood covered fur around him.

'You have seen it here people. Brawn won out against brain this time and the Viking Berserker continues to the next round as the Shaolin monk joins the losers.' Seth spoke. He still had to recover from the event he had just seen and was not prepared at all for this.
'The two were matched really well and I feel this fight could have gone either way.' The host then added.
'Now we have a victor, it is also time to look at the next match up. Who is your money on as the Inuit meets none other then the Aztec Jaguar in combat.' Seth smiled his usual self. 'Do not miss it as it will be another epic match.'

The Arena. Chapter four: A sandy duel

The second episode had been watched very well again worldwide. Tensions on the internet had flared during the battle and the kill had surprised almost all of the watchers. Again the tournament got praised for its authentic weapons and warrior and again there were people complaining. Some fans of the Sioux complained that a real native american warrior would not react like that. He would not have missed with the bow and arrow the first time and would have won instantly. He would not have thrown his tomahawk that way and would bring more of them to begin with and lastly they complained that he would have been able to either dodge the kpinga or stop the Azande from throwing it.
However these complains were a few among the masses and as before, Fred could only laugh at it.

'Fred.' Atthe suddenly entered his office, followed by John. 'What is wrong?' He asked. 'Several stations around the world caved in to demands and are cancelling showing the Arena.' John stated bluntly. The English man knew that it was always best with Fred to just come forward directly instead of dancing around the subject. He as overseer of the show on tv and it was his responsibility to make sure everythig aired correctly around the globe.
'Why?' Fred asked even though he already knew the answer. 'Some stations are stopping it because not enough people look at it, while others felt too much pressure from parental organisations who call the show distastefull.' John explained.
'But there is a solution.' Atthe added quickly. After a questioning look, the woman continued. 'We can start our own network.' 'Continue.' Fred spoke. 'The only thing is with getting a network that sends out world wide, that we either need to find one channel who does the same and where we can air everything or get a channel of our own.' John spoke up.
This idea intrigued Fred and he asked John to continue. 'Well we would be in full controll of everything ourselfs and we would not have to find a channel who would both be willing and cheap enough. We can fill it with historical docu's and matches If we can buy the rights to things like deadliest warrior and weapons that made brittain, we can fill it up more.' He added.
Fred thought about this for a second. This was a huge step, but then again could be very usefull, especially in the future. 'Very well. Atthe look into the financial side, is it profitable? John see if you possible shows we could purchage and air.' The two nodded and left.
This day had become rather more interesting all of a sudden.

'How is everything looking?' Fred asked Omar. 'Very good.' The Turkish man smiled. 'This next match is hard to decide. In Hawaii we have a high vote for the Koa but in Australia everybody goes for the aboriginal. The rest of the world seems evenly devided.'  This next match could go either way and Fred looked forwards to it. Not only would two of the same type of warrior face each other, both also would have some weird weapons.

Kanunu looked at the men next to him. All armed with strang weapons that he would never be able to  imagine in his wildest dreams. Now he looked at the weapons available on the table. At least he was familiar with them and knew how to use them. Kanunu had been explained that he was to kill his opponent on a battlefield. The Koa would just do that. He wanted to go home again. He wanted to fish and sail for days when he finally would get back home. He was fishing when these strangers ambushed him. He heard people yelling, turned around and got knocked out. It was later in the cell that someone explained that he had been kidnapped and the purpose of his capture.
Knowing he had to make a choise, Kanunu take a look at the weapons before him. First the warrior picked up a pikoi and wrapped it around his arm. That rope could be rather usefull to distract the opponent. Next was the sharktooth club, this nasty weapon could destroy the opponent from up close. As for the last weapon, Kanunu picked up the polulu. This spear was by far his favorite and the weapon that the koa was most used too. If there was any weapon that would win the battle for him, it was this.
Kanunu nodded to the men that he was done and one opened a door. When the warrior stepped through, he stepped in the sand. Surprised, the Hawaiian looked at the the sun in the sky. Then at the ocean next to him and lastly the sand around his feet. It looked like the warrior was home, yet it felt different. There was something, he could not explain. This was not his home island, that was for sure. A mere imitation. It was at that moment that he spotted his opponent.

Kuparr was ready to fight. He was nervous but ready. Having been dragged here from his people had been surreal. These strangers landed on the beach and Kuparr had watched as all the other warriors got killed by powerful sticks of the gods themselfs. The warrior was prepared to die himself, only to lose conciousness and wake up in this godly world. Still a bit fearfull, he was going to fight for their pleasure because they requested that.
For this battle Kuparr had picked a war boomarang, a boomarang shaped club and a deathstick. This spear was barbed along the sides and the only way out of the body, was right through it. Just before giving the sign that he was ready, the Australian warrior took a shield. You That might work well with the club.
The Aboriginal stepped through the door and felt the seabreeze hit his face. Surprised, the man looked around. He stood on a beach. Kuparr had not long to look around as he saw a man standing opposing him.He threw the shield on the ground, as his club and armed with boomarang and deathstick walked towards his opponent.

Both warriors walked towards each other slowly, weary of the attack of the other. Kuparr started off by throwing his boomarang. The weapon flew through the air but missed the opponent. This was not a boomarang which would come back so the warrior continued to walk forwards holding his spear.
The two spears met in midair as they tried to push the other away, Both had barbing and tried to wound the opponent with either the point or the barbs but the two were matched and failed to hit each other. Kanunu yelled out and managed to push his opponent backwards, hitting the leg slightly and the upper arm of his opponent.
As Kuparr got pushed backwards, he knews that this was not working. Unable to land a good blow, he had to change tactics. Allowing himself to be pushed back further, the man guided his opponent untill they reached his weapons. There he he gave a hard jab that rammed at the stomach of Kanunu. The other flinched for a second, which gave the Aboriginal enough time to pick up his shield and club.
A jab of the spear landed on the shield and the Australian warrior acted fast. Using the curving of his club, the warrior pulled the spear aside and stepped in. The Koa recieved a hard smack in the face with the wooden club and both blood and teeth flew everywhere. The spikes as the side of the club rammed in the side of his opponent but did not much damage now. Another hit to the head followed and Kanunu got dizzy.
A howl brought him back and he headbutted his opponent. This gave the Hawaiian enough time to get out of range of the club. Just when he was far away, the club flew towards him. Trying to dodge and failing, the man got knocked down in the sand.

Kuparr had thrown his club with succes. That was the reason he had picked the boomarang shaped one. Now picking up the deathstick again, the warrior looked to finish the battle. As he walked towards the koa, Kanunu looked up and saw his opponent coming near. Thinking fast, he took the pikoi and threw it at the legs.
The string wrapped itself around the legs of the aboriginal, who fell in the sand. Not sure what just happened, he tried to untangle the ropes but before the man could succeed, the Koa stood above him, holding the sharktooth club.
Kuparr tried to protect his face and both of his arms got slashed by the sharkteeth embedded in the club. This Leiomano then slashed the face of the Australian Aboriginal, followed by several smashes to the head. Kuparr was dead.

'It looks like we have a winner.' Seth said with his trademark smile. 'Who could have guessed that a rope would be that usefull. I really thought that the Koa was a goner.' The young man added. 'Congratulations to the people of Hawaii. Also keep that sharktooth club very far away from me.'He winked as he said that.
'Now I am supposed to tell you the next match but I am not going to do that.' Seth continued. 'Instead I am going to provide hinds.'  He found it boring to just announce it and thought that this might be more entertaining. Seth hoped that his boss would not be mad.
'The first warrior is big brutish and would not wish to visit Valhalla soon.'  The host said. 'The other is a calm kung fu master who will make the opponent see orange.'

Fred looked at the sea and allowed himself to calm down. Halfway through the match, he had left. The staff knew what to do now so there was no need for him. If there was something Atthe would still be there. Soon he would have his own little nation and a tv station. Things happened so quickly now that he was afraid the same thing would happen as years ago. No he was not allowed to think like that. He was now better prepared and had powefull allies. Thinking he should give the president a call, the man walked back.
On his way to his office, two men were walking past him with a stretcher. On it was the dead body of the Australian warrior. So the Koa had won then. This body would be thrown into a cremating oven, removing all evidence that the man had been here.

The Arena. Chapter three: Makrigga and Tomahawk

The first fight had been a major succes. All around the world, both fans and critics had jubeled the Arena for historical correct weapons and realistic looking fights. Milions of people around the world had tuned in to watch the ninja fight the gladiator, even in the countries where the show was in the middle of the night.
There had also been haters ofcourse. Religious and family groups who found the content of the show inappropriate and wished the show off the air. Fred did not care about those holier then holy people. They just did not understand the beauty of the concept. There had also been complainers. People who found that the weapons and techniques were not historical correct or that there had been the wrong type of gladiator brought to the battle. These were fans who always found something to complain about and Fred could only laugh at them and their stupidity.

The week leading up to the next match was uneventfull. The health of the warriors got checked daily and they got to exercise and train every day as well. There was a special little building set up on the island, in which the warriors could train. Fearing a breakout, only one warrior would be allowed to train at a time and the warrior would be guarded by three soldiers and two handlers.
the warriors were not allowed to contact each other and they ate in their cells.

With the next saturday coming closer, more and more forums were full of people speculating the outcome and more polls were set up. Where in Africa almost everybody thought that the Azande and his ferocity would win out, in the US it was almost split in the middle, with slightly more votes for the Sioux. Fred had made it a habit to check different social media every night and read about the next match.
As he was reading comments on the website of the Arena site itself, Atthe entered their living room. 'Just got a call from the president, he is going to lobby next week to give this island autonomy.'  She smiled as she said it, 'Good news. Everything would go as planned.' Fred smiled. If this island got autonomy and protection from the US, most laws would not be able to touch him and chances of getting invaded would be slim. This would attract criminal organisations to use the island and more profit for Fred.

'A new saturday, a new battle.' Seth laughed into the camera. 'Last week, we all saw how the ninja took the victory and let us see what will happen today.' With that, clips of last week were shown. 'Now do we have something special for you.' The young host said with a big smile. 'A battle between Africa and North America, as the Azande warrior faces off against a Sioux native american.' He continued. 'According to world wide polls, victory is given to the Azande, with 65 procent of the votes while the Sioux only recieved 35 procent of the total votes.'
Altough Seth himself was not allowed to play favorites, he hoped that the Sioux would win, due to a love for native americans. He was even allowed to see that native american in his cell. Not allowed to speak to the warrior or take pictures but seeing the man was enough.
'Now to introduce the warriors, let us start with the Azande.' Seth said. When the clip about the Azande warrior was done, he introduced the Sioux to the world.
'With the warriors introduced, it is time to see who will win this fight and join the ninja in the next round of the tournament. It is time to fight.' Seth yelled.

Afolabi stepped through the door. Where he first was in a room, with all different weapons, now the African warrior stood in a large sandy field, with big rocks in two rows. Now Afolabi knew that he would never see his home country again.
The man slowly walked over the sand and it did not take long for him to spot the opponent. This was the man he was supposed to kill if the Azande would want to survive. 'Very well.' Afolabi grinned. His grin changed in worry as the opponent aimed a bow at him. He hates opponents with bows. Cowards. The Azande jumped behind one of the big rocks to avoid an arrow.

Ohiyesa saw the large black man standing and took an arrow. He had been hunting when strange white men appeared. They had killed his horse without mercy as he charged the men with his lance. Just after hitting the ground, he got knocked out and awoke in the cell. These men were different then the other white men that the Sioux had seen before and all these strange rooms were alien as well.
However they said that he had to kill his opponents in a tournament to be allowed to go home and Ohiyesa was just about to do that. He wanted to see his tribe again. He had dropped his gunstock warclub and now tried to finish the fight with one arrow.

The arrow flew towards the target but hit the rock as the black man dodged behind it. Ohiyesa ran to the other side of the row of stones as well and got another arrow off. This time, it hit the sand and broke. Running back, the Native American was unable to spot his African opponent and slowly walked past the stones, his bow ready.

The Zande warrior peeked from behind the stone and saw his Native American opponent move carefully around. 'I'm gonna throw.' Afolabi yelled as he threw his kpinga. No matter what the enemy, he would not show cowardice himself.
Ohiyesa turned around and saw the weapon of the opponent coming near. The Sioux used the stone near him to jump away from the strange weapon but lost his footing and fell on the ground.
The African warrior took his makrigga and leather shield and ran towards his fallen foe, who grabbed a tomahawk of his own and threw it.
Tomahawk hit the leather shield and Afolabi was pushed backwards while he covered himself. He looked up again and the native american was gone.

Ohiyesa slowly climbed up on the large rock as his opponent was looking around on the other side.
He saw the black man walking underneath, still holding the spear and shield, which gave the warrior an idea. He jumped down, on top of his opponent. The two fell down and the Sioux was able to wrestle the shield away, then the two began to fight over the makrigga spear. Afolabi got the upper hand and with a headbutt, followed by a kick to the chest, he was able to send the native american in the sand. The Azande charged his american opponent, who rolled on the ground and grabbed his gunstock warclub.
The two warriors cirkeld each other, both now holding a weapon again. Afolabi thrusted his makrigga as Ohiyesa blocked the attack. Using the spike on the gunstock club, the Sioux hit the hand of the Azande. The larger man howled in pain and attacked again, only for the attack to be blocked.
The gunstock warclub flew towards the spear and knocked it with force out of the hands of the African warrior. Another attack to the head missed but the spike slashed the shoulder of Afolabi.
The Azande stepped backward and he grabbed his backup weapon, the makraka.
Ohiyesa on the other hand dropped his gunstock club and grabbed the spear of the opponent from the ground. He knew that a spear would be a more useful weapon at the moment and he had regretted it, not taking one with him at the beginning of the match.

Afolabi stepped backwards as he avoided the jabs of his own weapon, using his makraka to swipe the point away if it came to close. He knew the damage a makrigga could do. He had destroyed many opponents with that weapon. As the Zande avoided his own weapon, he peeked backwards and got an idea and started running.
Ohiyesa saw his opponent running and followed. This match was as good as over and he would be one step closer in seeing his tribe again.
It was too late when the Native American saw that his opponent grabbed the kpinga. He tried to pierce the Azande before the weapon could be thrown but Afolabi was faster and with no chance to dodge, the kpinga pierced the chest of the Sioux.
Ohiyesa breathed with difficulty as he tried to remove the big weapon but before he could, Afolabi stood in front of him and the makrigga pierced the chest several times. Ohiyesa could only think of his family as he died.

'After a bloody battle, we have a winner.' Seth yelled. 'The Azande goes on to the next round' He added. As Seth talked into the camera, the warriors got removed from the battlefield.
'Next week, we have a sunny duel as the Hawaiian Koa faces the Australian Aboriginal. See you next week.' With that, both Seth and the episodes finished.