I reviewed over this chapter and I was a little disappointed at myself with my editing skills so I had to fix a good bit of errors. I didn't add or change anything in the story so if you've already read this chapter you don't have to reread it. For the people who haven't read the chapter yet, hope you enjoy it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The five minute journey to the arena went by in relative silence with both Zade and Machai trapped in their own thoughts. Every once in a while, Zade would cast side glances at Machai trying to see any emotion to reveal how he would compete in the upcoming match. Judging by Machai's smooth walk and posture, Zade could tell Machai showed no fear facing off against the top guy in that tier. However, Zade knew looks could be very deceiving so he still had some doubts about the results of the match even if he was leaning towards Machai.

Machai just strolled along next to Zade as he thought about how the match would be and how he should fight. Machai could tell by only one look what kind of fighter that brute was so he didn't think there was even the slightest chance of him losing. However, he knew nothing of their species which meant the brute could have some special ability to put him at the top of the tier. It would also be his first fight with a being outside of Earth and there was no way of telling what kind of fighting style he would have to face. Machai would definitely have to be careful when battling with him.

A wooden double door appeared at the end of the hallway ending the short walk. It definitely wasn't anything special since it had splinters sticking out like someone threw knives at it all day long from the other side. Zade led Machai to the doors and opened them up and Machai was a little surprised with the arsenal arrayed before him. It was a weapons master's paradise. There were all kinds of weapons littering the wall in a semi-organized manner and about a fourth of them were new to him. There were all sorts of weapons to choose from ranging from knives all the way to battle worn axes. There were also many long range weapons such as slings and bow and arrows. Some weapons were in better condition than others which didn't surprise Machai.

After Zade let Machai glance around the room, he said, "Since this is your first fight, I'll allow you to choose any number of weapons. Usually I would only allow two types of weapons but I want to see how you do at your best. You can also use your own personal weapons if so wish. In about 30 minutes I will call the competitors out onto the field and you will battle it out. Once I call, you will go through those double doors into the area." Zade pointed to slightly better looking doors. "All clear?"

Machai gave a nod to him and Zade quickly left to finish up preparations for the fight to come. Zade closed the doors behind him and Machai could see why the doors looked so bad on the other side. On this side, he could tell the door was used for throwing practice for all sorts of weapons, even if they weren't meant to be thrown.

Machai perused through the weapons to see if anything interested him. He tried out a couple of swords deciding to duel wield this match. He luckily practiced all forms of fighting with every weapon he could find. So, he was at least decent with every type of weapon even though he still excelled whenever it came to swords, single or dual wield. After finding a sword that was as close to balanced as he would get, he went over to the throwing knives section and found a few knives that were in good enough condition and would at least throw straight.

After strapping on a belt with the knives and a scabbard for his new sword, he started to look at and try the new weapons he knew nothing about. After the thirty minutes was up, Machai heard Zade's voice through the doors announcing the fight between Brutus and Machai. The crowd quickly erupted into a frenzy of cheers ready for a fight filled with blood and gore. Machai rolled his eyes before striding over to the door already knowing this wasn't going to be a fight like that. Even if this Brutus guy was a skilled fighter, Machai would use his abilities to prevent himself from dying and discretely win the match, even if he didn't like the cheating method.

Machai's double doors opened at the same time the doors at the opposite side of the ring reveling Brutus with just a big, honking axe. He had no armor and basically just glared at Machai. After giving Machai a pretty pitiful sneer, he put on a superior look and stepped out into the arena. The crowd instantly cheered and some chanted his name. Brutus reveled in the cheers and threw his hands up accepting the praise.

Machai rolled his eyes and walked into the arena too. He had a pretty good idea how the crowds would react to him and it turned out exactly how he thought it would. Right when he walked out, the crowds went silent until the first laugh could be heard. That in turn opened up the flood gates and the whole audience started laughing. The crowds were pretty excited for the newcomer because they heard how he bad mouthed Brutus and embarrassed him in front of all the other fighters. However, when they saw small little Machai, they couldn't hold in their laughter. They knew without a doubt that the small fighter was about to be creamed and were looking forward to the slaughter. Machai just ignored it and waited for Zade to start the match.

While the crowd was laughing at Machai, there were a select few who had doubts on who would win. The smarter fighters who came to witness the match were having second thoughts on the outcome and Zade and Cadok were actually thinking Machai was going to win.

As Machai walked out, he heard someone shouting his name over the laughing crowd and turned around. He looked up to see Cadok smiling down at him and waving. Machai gave him a quick wave and Cadok screamed over the crowd, "I bet a whole drachma on you so you better win!" Machai just chuckled having no doubt he would win and responded, "I have no plans on dying today." With that, he turned around to face the 7'7" alien orc looking brute named Brutus. Now with plenty of light shining on him, he really did have an ugly face. Machai remembered seeing an advertisement for a game named Skyrim back on Earth and Brutus looked like an uglier version of an orc.

Brutus yelled over the still laughing crowd, "Ready to die puny rat!" Brutus was smirking at this Machai kid. He had no doubt the kid was shaking in his boots under that cloak and he would take great pleasure in tearing him to pieces and seeing what ugly face was hidden behind that mask.

Machai looked at Brutus unimpressed and said, "Do you always have to yell?" The crowd was silent for half a second before the laughter switch was turned back on. However, now they were laughing at Brutus and the audacity of the kid. They had now witnessed firsthand the mouth of the new fighter and they were actually starting to like him. And if he somehow survived the match, which they seriously doubted, then they were looking forward to the next fighter that had to deal with his talk.

Brutus was furious at Machai for humiliating him in front of the crowds. He couldn't believe that the kid kept trash talking when he was about to die. Brutus growled to himself and yelled up at Zade, "Let's stop wasting time and start the match. I have better things to do than fight this midget." Machai would have pretended to be offended if he actually cared but he just stood there like nothing happened. Zade announced to the crowd, "There are no rules in this match. Let The Fight Begin!!!"

Brutus took out his gigantic axe and smirked at Machai. Machai, however, just rolled his eyes with the extra motion of his head so the crowd knew that he rolled his eyes. "Do you not know the basics of fighting 101? Big axe does not beat nimble fighter. You should know this if you're top dog." Once again the crowd roared with laughter and some started to see the logic in Machai's statement.

Brutus' eyes held nothing but fury as they gazed upon Machai while Machai looked upon Brutus with boredom. Luckily for Machai, Brutus was able to decipher Machai's emotion through his eyes and Brutus started to look a little constipated with the amount of fury. Before Brutus could be humiliated anymore, he charged at Machai quite similar to the Minotaur with his axe held high ready for a downward right swing that was one of the easiest attacks to predict the path allowing Machai to smoothly dodge even if he was a newbie. Right when Brutus reached him, he brought down the axe with all his strength, fueled by the anger within him wanting to crush the small kid. As the dust settled, he found that he missed and the axe was embedded half a foot in the ground. He looked around to see Machai getting up from a dive and tried to quickly get his axe out of the ground but found it wedged and it took all he could do to pull it out.

Machai slowly stood up and pretended to look a little scared at how close the axe came to hitting him even if he dodged without his life anywhere near on the line. Luckily, the crowd bought his act. Right when Machai saw such a basic attack from the brute, he really didn't want to show his true skill until he found an opponent worthy to fight him. He would slowly move up the ranks until he came across someone with at least decent skill so he could better judge the different fighting styles in the arena. When he looked in the crowd, he could see why they were buying his act. The crowd was too busy cheering their heads off to even have the slightest chance to see how much Machai was faking.

Machai finished getting up the same time as the Brutus pulled his axe from the ground. They both turned to face each other and Machai was pretty sure the fury in the brute's eyes went up another level. Machai inwardly chuckled at the brute and how easily it was to rile him up while he outwardly had a flustered body stance to not show the crowd how he really felt. However, Brutus looked past the mirth in Machai's eyes and decided that Machai's body really showed how he felt instead of his eyes. 'Oh the mistake of the dumb.' Machai thought being able to easily read what the brute was thinking.

Brutus smirked and said, "Took you long enough to get up kid." He knew he needed to get the crowds back on his side. He would not stand for them to support the small weakling in front of him.

Machai just laughed a little slightly shaking and said, "I thought you needed a little bit of time to get your big toy out the ground so I decided to take it easy." Machai fingers started to twitch with battle anticipation but had to hold it at bay. He so wanted to just whip his swords and slice the brute in half. He was not one for killing senselessly but the brute was getting on his nerves with how dumb he was. However, Brutus and the crowd took his body shaking as a sign that Machai was using jokes as a means to get away from his fear. Just like Machai wanted them to think.

Brutus smirked and charged again. Machai could tell he was going to do a side sweep attack since his axe was positioned a little lower than last time. Right when he started to swing Machai dropped to the ground with the axe swinging right over his body. Brutus then gained a triumphant looked and yelled "Got you!" and brought the axe above his head and slammed it into the earth twice as hard as last time since it went straight down using every muscle in his body instead of at an angle where he could only use his side muscles. But when the dust cleared, there was no Machai.

Right when the axe started its path down to smash his body, Machai rolled out of the way like he was caught on fire and the axe slammed down beside him causing a cloud of dust to cover about a 5 foot radius which he rolled out of and got behind the brute. He took out his two knives and waited until Brutus started to look for him when he simultaneously cut his Achilles tendons, making him fall to the ground screaming in pain.

The crowd knew Machai could have easily killed him with his back turned to him and were quiet in confusion as to why he didn't while also listening to the brute cry out in pain like a wimp.

Machai looked at Zade and said, to the surprise of everyone (except Cadok), "Do I have to kill him?" The crowd was silent trying to figure out who this new fighter was and why he wouldn't finish the kill. They were starting to see that he was actually a good-natured kid and shouldn't be in this fight.

Zade raised his hand and the crowd silenced with the whispers, "Why exactly do you not want to kill him?" Zade was really curious even though he semi saw this coming. He wanted to know the reason why this kid would bad mouth someone but yet still be kind to them and not end their life. It was definitely a foreign concept to those in the pit

Machai simply said, "He has done no wrong to me and I actually enjoyed teasing him so I guess you can say I see him as an entertainment source." The crowd semi saw his viewpoint because it was extremely funny to watch them fight. However, they could tell he was reluctant to kill unless he had to.

Zade thought about it but knew he had to make Machai kill him or the whole idea of the Pit could be thrown off balance and would leave to some choosing to knock out their opponent or something to that nature. He said in a commanding tone, "Machai, you signed up for this fight and accepted the terms. You know you must finish the job." Zade watched Machai sigh and wondered if he would even be able to kill a man.

Machai walked over the crying heap on the ground and said, "Your blood is on my hands. Sorry." And with that, he slit his throat effortlessly and the match was over. Machai didn't really feel any regret but he would have still preferred as little blood on his hands as he could. Machai turned around and walked through the double doors he came through as the crowd silently watched him leave. Most still wanting an actual fight and even more mad that they bet a huge amount on Brutus. Zade, however, was quite happy with the amount of money he earned on this fight. Pretty much anyone who bet on the new kid only bet a small amount except Cadok who paid 5 lols. Zade had a feeling Cadok knew Machai was going to win to bet that much money on someone.

Machai made his way back to the front desk to wait on Zade to get his money so he could go. He knew he couldn't stay in a place requiring him to kill every opponent even if he had the skill to. Cadok walked out of the stands and came to Machai. "You okay?" Cadok surprised himself with his worried tone but it almost felt natural when speaking to the kid. He never had a son and he grew up on the streets without a family or anyone who cared about him so he had never really heard his voice being sincere. He kind of liked it.

Machai seemed to grow on him and he was not looking forward to leaving him in a place like this if he had to kill everyone he faced. Cadok tried to brighten the mood by saying, "Thank you buy the way, I am now 5 lols richer because of you. By the way, you said lol meant something where you're from and when you said it, it sounded like you use it instead of saying funny or something."

Machai smiled and laughed a little, "Lol means laugh out loud where I come from. So if you say something funny, all people have to say is lol. It is more commonly used in text communication but it has started to become verbally used." They laughed and talked together for the next few moments until Zade came out of his stand back to the front desk. After shuffling a few papers around, he looked up at Machai and gave him a once over.

Zade looked at Machai with a calculating look and said, "That was nowhere near your skill level was it? I saw that twitch of your fingers and can tell that was in-born fighting instincts, not nervous twitches. And I would assume you made your body shake to make the crowd think you were afraid. Why were you holding back? The crowd would have loved to see your full potential." Zade could tell Machai would have slaughtered Brutus without any difficulty if he wanted to so he didn't see why Machai didn't.

"As you could tell, I don't like to kill or maim unless necessary. I understand why you made me kill him which is why I followed through. If I hadn't, the concept of the Pits would have started to deteriorate and you would have slowly started to lose control over the fighters." Zade was baffled with the spot on reply and wondered how he could possibly even guess that. Even Cadok was surprised at him.

Zade smiled his rare smile and said, "Well, thank you. Same as you, I don't like to kill unless necessary. I inherited this position from my father and while I respect him, I never hated a man's morals more." Zade gathered both of their winnings and handed them over and got thanks in return.

Zade looked at Machai and said, "I guess you're leaving aren't you?" Machai nodded his head. Zade wasn't to surprised but he was saddened to lose such an excellent fighter and wished he could have seen Machai fight at his full potential. He would have at least got all the way up to the first tier if he would have stayed. Cadok, however, was inwardly overjoyed but didn't show it. He was really starting to get attached to Machai.

Machai and Cadok said their goodbyes and thanks again before leaving and heading back to the bus. Once aboard, Cadok said, "So what do you plan to do now?" Cadok knew Machai didn't have anywhere to go so he was quite curious if he would come up with something on the spot. Cadok watched as Machai contemplated on a course of action but he sighed and said, "I have no idea."

Machai really had no clue what to do. He still didn't know anything about the universe outside of earth and he couldn't just wander around because he knew something would happen to him since everything seems to happen to him. However, he was brought out of his thoughts when he heard Cadok say, "Well, I'm going home before work tomorrow morning. You're welcome to stay the night." He watched Machai's head shoot up and looked a little confused. "You would let a stranger you just met today into your home?" Cadok just shook his head laughing to himself. He was surprised that he was actually okay with Machai sleeping in his home and actually felt that he could trust him. Survival instincts be dammed.

"Machai, I have watched and listened to you for the past 8 hours and I feel like I know who you are better than I felt I've known anyone before. I trust you which is why I am inviting you into my home. You look tired like you haven't slept in a long time and I can see sadness in your eyes. You need a good rest in a safe place to get your spirits back up so you can think of a plan of action. After you have a good night's rest and a hearty breakfast, you can think of the path you want to take." Machai stared at Cadok in surprise until he got up and hugged him.

Cadok stood there for a second trying to comprehend that someone was hugging him and should probably hug back. However, the hug ended as quickly as it came much to his disappointment. When Cadok looked into Machai's eyes, he now saw a little spark and twinkle in them that he hadn't seen before. He could now see hope in his eyes and he felt a little bit of pride knowing he was the one to put that hope there.

Machai snapped Cadok out of his gaze when he said, "Thank you. I would greatly appreciate your hospitality." With both of them smiling, Cadok walked over to the driver's seat while Machai followed to sit in the front row. After pushing a few buttons and pulling a few levers, they set off to Cadok's house. They rode in blissful silence for about 30 minutes on the way to Cadok's house

Little did they know that they were being followed.