Page 3 of Gladiator's Bite
He laughed. Selt was right. I wasn’t fond of him. He seemed like a bit of a sore loser. Smelled like one too. Maybe I’d talk to whoever was in charge and get this Laken guy set up to kick his ass. Might teach the fucker a lesson.
After a few long moments of silence he said, “I’ll introduce you after the fights. Maybe you can get him to talk. None of us can.”
I made a mental note to mention this dragon to Hush. I doubted he lived on 1 because anyone in the purple district would deck him for such undertones that he implied with theword talk. Him and his buddies probably took turns asking Laken out and he probably told them all to fuck right off. I didn’t blame the guy at all. I knew some alphas like him back home. More trouble than they were worth.
A second later, Selt took the hint and made his way back to his friends. An older lady smiled at me from across the aisle.
“They’re not all as bad as him,” she said, moving to take up the seat he just vacated. “The flight link is a nice checks and balance system for guys who even consider it. Imagine him saying or thinking about doing something too much over the line and then his mother is suddenly in his ear or his friend or --- the little old dragoness at the back of the shuttle.”
I smiled at her unsure of what to say. Starscales were a friendly bunch and always treated me and the rest of the crew like we belonged here. Maybe it was because we were the best chance for those whose mates weren’t on one of the three Starscale worlds.
“Are you going to watch the walk-in matches?” I asked her.
“How much do you know about them?” she tucked a strand of silver hair behind her ear. “I’d guess not much since you don’t recognize me.”
“Uhh…. Should I? I’m sorry,” I apologized and meant it.
There was something that always squirmed inside me when I disappointed someone who was truly an elder.
“Eh, maybe if your captain had landed the Medwin 2 on Starscale 2 instead of 1. I used to compete. I mean, back when the arena was first built,” she held up her hand before I could ask what was on my mind. I didn’t need to ask after all. It was us Moonys who didn’t know how to work the flight link. “I don’t know who the nameless lady is. I’m not that old. She has to be older than me and I was one of the dragons still in their eggs when we left Earthside.”
I opened my mouth to ask more about it but she told me I could read her book at any flight library or grab a digital copy online for free.
“Not that I don’t love that story. It’s an important part of history but if I told the whole story every time someone asked, I wouldn’t have time to do anything else.”
“Is there something special about today’s walk-ins, then?”
“My grandson thinks so and maybe he’s right,” she shrugged.
I almost asked who her grandson was but realized two things. They didn’t do the whole great-great-great thing here for the most part and I probably wouldn’t know who the guy was anyway.
“Laken,” she smirked, answering my question.
“OH! You’re going to watch him wipe the arena with the alphaholes, huh?” I smirked.
“Eh, more to it than that, but it’s not something I’d ever pass up the chance to watch. He’s a good fighter. Has good genetics, a good temperament, and has trained hard to be the best. I don’t know how they do combat sports on Earthside these days, but it’s not divided up by sex, gender, or alpha/omega status. You go through a bit of a training test and then they match you up. They give you a stage or class and you go up or down depending on how you perform. Most dragons would perform fine in a real fight but there’s an art to it. You don’t want to take too many hits for entertainment, and you’re not trying to kill or maim your opponent either. You want to give up when it’s clear you’re going to lose but not too soon. Never too soon. That’s a blow to your pride and your opponent’s. Not to mention to the audience too. It’s a lot of fighting, a lot of showing off – but not too much, and a lot of good sportsmanship if you want the audience to like you. And if you want to fight for a while you want that. No matter who wins – everyone’s proud because we’re all flight. You’ll be ata disadvantage, though. You don’t read the flight link as well as those of us born onto it. Try to tune into your opponent. If you can catch stray thoughts it’ll probably help. Lots of fighters try not to have them but most do.”
“Thanks,” I said, trying to remember everything as she said it.
“You’ll have fun. That’s the important thing. Enjoy yourself and respect your opponent. Well, unless you get matched with some annoying dragon who needs knocked down a few pegs, then really give it to him, you know?” she winked at me as the shuttle pulled into the station.
Chapter Two
Laken
The second level of the Gladiator’s Hearth looked down upon those showing up for the fights today. Most of them were familiar faces that showed up every time there was an open call. Some only showed up now because they’d been denied a spot on the regular roster for whatever reason. Selt and his cronies were some of the loudest. It was a shame their bad attitudes and ‘me first’ behaviors kept them from being full timers. They put on a good show when they were team players.
None of the dragons walking into Gladiator’s Hearth glanced up at us full timers watching their entrance. Perhaps they were too caught up in how they might impress the council enough to finally gain a full time slot here or perhaps they thought the roof protected them from prying eyes.
“You’re looking for him,” Frey laughed.
Frey was two stages below me. Mostly because I outweighed him by nearly a hundred pounds. That meant we never competed against each other but were often paired together for doubles. The lack of competition between us made us friends over the last decade or so. He’d retire soon, though. His mate wasn’t too keen on him staying in the arena once their eggs hatched.
“Which him?” I played dumb.
Even on 2, if you wanted to succeed as a jock and get info that most people wouldn’t hand out freely, you learned to play dumb.
“Him,” Frey shrugged. “It’s always a him unless you’ve developed a taste of tits since we last spoke.”