2.16

“Umbra, are you ready?” Puppet Master asked.

“Yes of course. This fight will be easy,” the small man laughed. His arms were still concealed underneath his cloak.

“Grand Hotpot, are you ready?” Puppet Master asked.

“Yes.” Grand Hotpot’s singsong voice seemed to contrast the vibe of the entire room.

“Begin now!” Puppet Master screamed and the audience cheered. Umbra wasted no time in making the first attack. Long, shadowy tentacles shot out from the ground and cut through the air toward the giant, floating cauldron.

The tentacles lashed around Grand Hotpot, picked them up and slammed them repeatedly into the ground, like it was chucking a tantrum. The tentacles then tossed Grand Hotpot out into the grandstands. The people tried to move but they all tumbled over each other.

Luckily for the spectators, Grand Hotpot was able to stop their trajectory in time, coming to a halt only inches above and floating in place before rocketing back toward the ring.

As Grand Hotpot came flying back to the ring, the tentacles sprung forward to grab the cauldron again. Hotpot rapidly spun in the air, deflecting the tentacles. The pot spun faster and faster, the tentacles dissipating as they tried to grab the spinning object.

Umbra’s usual confidence disappeared when he realised there was no stopping his enemy. He tried to move out of the way, but Grand Hotpot was able to change course to follow Umbra. Grand Hotpot slammed into Umbra’s side.

Umbra flew like a ragdoll out of the arena. A giant tentacle shot up from the ground and wrapped around him. The tentacle moved along the ground and placed Umbra back down on his feet in the ring.

“It’ll take more than just hitting me to defeat me.” Umbra smirked, raised his arms and eight tentacles came out of the ground, they swayed around the arena, the singular large one hovering behind him.

“Okay,” sang out Grand Hotpot. Rampage noticed the eye grew mad, belying the soft song voice.

Umbra stood back and willed the tentacles to keep attacking Grand Hotpot. Instead of grabbing the pot, they bashed it repeatedly. The crowd cheered and Umbra smiled.

“This fight doesn’t look good,” said Rampage.

“It’ll be fine. Grand Hotpot hasn’t even shown the rest of what they can do,” replied Silver Fang. Rampage watched on in anticipation as the tentacles continued to belt the pot.

“C’mon. You gotta do more than just sit there,” called Umbra. He started to laugh, he exuded confidence.

“Watching,” replied Grand Hotpot. Grand Hotpot continued to float just above the surface of the arena, doing nothing.

“Watching yourself be pummelled to death.” Umbra’s laughter borderlined hysterical now as he watched his boring opponent.

Rampage watched Grand Hotpot’s singular eye start to vibrate from within the crack. It had grown brighter still, and Rampage was becoming curious as to what this fighter could do.

“What does Grand Hotpot do exactly?” Rampage asked.

“They fight like a tortoise. Biding their time, figuring everything out about their opponent and then unleashing,” replied Silver Fang.

“Yes, but what do they do?”

“You’ll see.”

The cheering audience slowly turned to boos and angry shouting. They wanted a spectacle, something bloodthirsty. Not something this boring.

“This is boring, I’m going to end it now,” Umbra called out. He yelled and Rampage watched as the tentacles merged into one great tentacle. It ascended up into the dark ceiling, nobody could see just how big it was.

Rampage looked over to Nin to see she was still laying on the ground, motionless. He was disgusted to see nobody stopped to see if she was okay. Rampage walked around the arena and approached her.

She lay there in a pool of blood. Her hand was over her stomach, trying to stop the flow, but to no avail.

“Are you okay?” Rampage asked.

“Yes. This sort of thing happens all the time.” There was pain in her voice.

“What, nobody checks if you’re all right? That’s messed up.”

“It’s the kind of job I signed up to do. Assassins don’t really make friends.” Rampage stooped down and opened up a pouch in his jeans. He pulled out a bandage and offered to wrap Nin’s torso.

“No, I’ll do it myself. If I don’t have the strength to do it myself, I don’t deserve to be alive.”

“That’s a li-” The crowd was going wild, Rampage looked up at the arena and watched as the singular, gigantic tentacle came down and slammed into the pot.

Grand Hotpot was slammed into the stage, the pot was sunken into the cement ground of the arena.

The tentacle rose up into the darkness again, ready for another attack. The lid to Grand Hotpot popped off the top of the cauldron and suddenly a great suction was pulling at everyone within the room.

Nin started to move toward the arena, but Rampage grabbed her and held her down. Umbra’s giant tentacle dispersed, and he was sucked into the pot of Grand Hotpot.

Umbra looked around him. All he could see was a wavy horizon. There was no ground below him and he couldn’t see the top of the pot above. A mesmerising aroma ran through his nose and he felt like going to sleep.

“Hello,” sang a soft voice. Umbra looked about him and was greeted by a stretched, grey silhouette. At the top of the shadow was one great orange eye and it looked angry.

“Is that what you really look like?” Umbra chuckled. His snide attitude was creeping back through the broth-like aroma.

“Yes.”

“And what are you going to do to me?” Umbra tried to will his tentacles to appear, but he couldn’t feel their presence.

“Doom.” The true form of Grand Hotpot floated toward Umbra and suddenly, nothingness.

Rampage and the rest of the room watched on as the pot sat embedded in the arena, unmoving. Puppet Master was unsure of what to do when Grand Hotpot floated back up out of the hole it was stuck in.

“And it looks like the winner is Grand Hotpot. I have no idea what happened people, but Umbra looks to be no more. It looks like I’ll be bringing out my special fighter after all.” Puppet Master, although his face was expressionless, he looked sinister.

“Start placing bets now people. You’re going to see a most spectacular fight; I can promise you that.”

Grand Hotpot floated down from the ring and Rampage ascended the few stairs to meet his opponent.