Genesis was famous for its PvP arena, and as soon as I got up close to it, I could see why.

The thing was gigantic. Granted, the majority of the space was used for storage and/or unnecessary architecture, but it was still big enough to be seen throughout the whole city. Massive stone pillars held the thing up, as well as decorated, carefully carved arches and patterns.

"C'mon, dude," Nooch said, squeezing my hand and pulling me along, breaking my stare from the building. "We're gonna miss it. It was supposed to start five minutes ago, but these things always start late."

"Are we gonna be able to find seats?" I asked. These events seemed incredibly popular and I didn't doubt that it would be down to standing room only.

"Well, it's assigned seating, so..." Nooch began as we approached the entrance. "...definitely, yeah."

I was about to say something along the lines of "but we're sneaking in, how does that make any sense" but I was fairly sure the guards at the door would not be too happy about that so I held my tongue.

"Tickets?" The rather bored looking man at the door said.

"We reserved our seats online," Nooch said smoothly. "I believe it is under the name 'Pete'."

The bored attendant looked down at his computer. "Yeah, you're on the list. Ya know where your seats are?"

I gave Nooch a look, but he ignored me. "No, I can't remember which ones we reserved, can you?"

"I can't either, sorry," I said through my teeth.

"Through the door, to the left, first two empty seats," the attendant sighed. "Have fun, Mister Pete."

"No, I'm not Pete, he's Pete," Nooch pointed at me. "I'm Bobert W. Bobert."

"Alright, have fun you two," the attendant said boredly. As we walked away, I heard him mumble "I don't get payed enough for this job."

We walked through the entrance and into a dimly lit tunnel, and then up two flights of stone brick stairs. Our footsteps echoed through the tunnel, and as we got closer to the exit, loud chatter from the arena hit my ears.

"WELCOME!" The announcer's voice said, muffled by the walls of the tunnel.

"Oh shit, it's starting," Nooch said, pulling me forward. We entered the arena, and the brightness was sudden as my eyes had gotten used to the dimness of the tunnel. I made a mental note to question Nooch on his methods of "sneaking in" later.

We quickly found our seats. "Ladies, gentlemen, and people who identify as neither a lady nor a gentleman, welcome to the battle of the ages!"

The whole stadium erupted with cheers.

"On the south side, give a warm welcome to Artemis Luke - currently, he holds a winning streak equal to the number of arenas in Genesis! Oh wait...there's only one arena in Genesis."

The announcer let out a laugh that I could only describe as cold and unforgiving. I looked down to the arena, on the south side. A metal gate opened and out stepped a shaken-looking kid that couldn't have been any other than sixteen. He was wearing a beat-up mix of leather and iron armor with a stone sword as his only weapon - he didn't even have a shield.

"And on the north side!" The announcer exclaimed. The audience cheered so loud I could barely hear the next sentence. "Put your hands together for Mitchell Hughes, three times returning champion with an unbroken winning streak of ninety-eight! If he wins this match, he'll only be one away from the big one-hundred!"

The cheer that followed was deafening and made up mainly of what sounded like teenage girls. I looked to the north side and saw a man in shiny diamond armor step out of the gate, waving to his fans. A diamond sword hung at his side and he held a bow in his hands.

I nudged Nooch. "This doesn't seem fair."

"Oh, it's never fair," Nooch said. "Especially when Mitch is fighting."

"Heh, there's no clear fan favorite today!" The announcer joked. "Fighters, take your positions!"

Artemis and Mitch both walked forward and each stood on an X marked on the ground. The announcer began to count down from three.

"Three..."

"...two..."

"...one..."

"FIGHT!"

Artemis immediately backed away, holding his sword up to block. Mitch drew back his bow, aiming to kill, or at the very least mortally wound. Even from as far back as we were, I could see the look of sheer panic plastered to Artemis' face.

Mitch let the arrow fly, and Artemis panicked, letting his guard down momentarily. He attempted to dodge it, but he was too late and it stuck in his leather helmet. Mitch drew back another arrow.

Artemis gripped his sword hard, and ran at Mitch while he was lining up the shot, preparing to strike. But by the time Artemis had made it halfway across the arena, Mitch had already shot the arrow, and it lodged itself in Artemis' shoulder.

Artemis let out a cry and fell to his knees. Mitch slung his bow across his shoulder and drew his sword, stepping towards the teen.

"What d'ya think?" Mitch projected his voice through the arena, making it seem like he was using a microphone even though he wasn't. "Should I let this runt live?"

Artemis had a pleading look on his face. I turned to look at Nooch.

"This shit is recreational?" I asked.

"Shhh," Nooch said.

"Hmm..." Mitch looked at the crowd with a over-exaggerated concentrated face. "If you think I should kill him, cheer now."

Too many people cheered for my liking.

"Alright, if you think I should let him live, cheer."

I cheered, of course, though not many other people joined me, and I stood out. Nooch looked at me and shook his head, like no, do not, you will regret this, but I ignored it.

I stood up, leaned over the railing, and shouted: "HE'S JUST A KID, WHAT THE FUCK."

Mitch whipped his head around to face me. "Who said that?!"

"UP HERE!" I yelled. "What a coward you are, killing kids for fun and fame."

"I don't just kill kids, greenie!" The nickname was clearly based on my stupid ratty hoodie. "But if you want to save this guy, I say go ahead. Fight me for him."

"I accept your offer," I said.

"Dude, what the fuck are you doing?!" Nooch grabbed my wrist, but I shook him off. I was blinded by my disgust. "You're gonna regret this!"

I stood on my toes and quickly looked around the arena. There didn't appear to be a way to enter from the audience, so rather than doing the logical thing and running down the stairs and finding a normal way to enter the arena, I freaking vaulted over the side.

I landed with a thump, thankfully not incredibly painfully as the ground was soft sand and dirt. I glared at Mitch, but he only laughed.

"Artemis, can I use your sword?" I asked, not taking my eyes off Mitch.

"Yessir," Artemis said, sounding intimidated. He shoved the stone sword towards me and it landed right beside my feet. I picked it up and held it in an offensive position.

"It seems as though Mitch has a challenger!" The announcer said, over the noise of people talking.

"You bet your ass he does," I mumbled.

Without further hesitation, I lunged forward, my sword bouncing off his armor. He was surprised, and didn't react right away, but he quickly drew his sword and began slashing at me with it; though I managed to dodge or block most of his hits. I was at a clear disadvantage, as I had no armor, but that wasn't going to stop me.

As we continued to swing our swords, I could feel the stone weakening. I pointed it at his neck, and forced him to back out closer to the wall, but he swung his sword again against mine, and it broke, its pieces scattering across the ground. Mitch smirked.

I just gotta disarm him, I thought. I can do that with just my fists, right?

And then I did something I will regret for the rest of my life: I fucking grabbed his sword, his razor-sharp diamond sword, and pulled it out of his hands.

Immediately after I had done so, I dropped the sword to the ground. It was splattered with my blood, and I looked down at my hands, which were also covered in blood - I couldn't move my fingers, and there was a deep gash across both my palms.

I had won, though. No one was going to die today. At least, not at the hands of Mitchell Hughes.

I expected paramedics to be on hand, and for someone to come out and provide me with first aid, at least, but instead, the announcer ran out onto the field with a microphone in hand, and held it towards me.

"Kid, that was amazing!" He said. "I think we have a rising star in our midst! What's this rising star's name?"

"Uh..." I paused, breathing hard. It was hard to focus on anything, as my hands were still bleeding. I pressed them against the sides of my thighs.

"Pete. My name is Pete."

~~~

#Petebert OTP

Ciao!

~Lia