The Brutes Prompt 2

As the trio reentered the arena they were not surprised to see the stands were even more full than yesterday. The excited haedians were crammed into the stands like sardines and when the surface dwellers entered the excited murmuring of the crowd turned into a small cheer. Erimia waved to the crowd as they walked in, enjoying the attention while her two runner companions awkwardly nodded to the crowd. Waiting for them across the arena was the announcer and three of the competitors from the previous game, including the previous champion Lo’Nock. As the surface dwellers approached they all noticed how serious the competing haedians looked. Anue glanced between the competitors and the crowd and the bad feeling he had in the pit of his stomach got a little worse. The competitors waiting for them were definitely the best of the best among the Brutes, and the crowd was definitely more excited than yesterday as well. If they didn’t play this right it could result in a civil affairs nightmare in the future. Candy Queen had also picked up on this hazard and was grumpily staring at the back of the oblivious tyrian's head. 

The male runner chuckled and gently touched Candys shoulder, reassuring her and pulling her attention away from some of the negatives of their situation. “All we can do at this point is our best.” He smiled warmly at the female runner who relaxed a little and nodded her head. As the trio reached the opposite side of the arena from the Haedian competitors, the announcer smiled before clambering up from the competition area up to his ledge. “With the arrival of our surface dwelling friends  we’re almost ready to start folks!” The announcer called out to the crowd who was practically chomping at the bit to witness the action that was about to unfold. As the trio waited in their starting position they noticed that the Brute leader they had met yesterday, Zarod, was missing from the line of competitors. Just as Candy Queen started to ask where the massive haedian was, the crowd around them suddenly started roaring in excitement. Startled, the surface dwellers looked across the crowd and saw them all looking up at some of the crystalline stalactites hanging over the arena near where the trio had descended from the previous day.

Staring down into the arena from the stalactite was the barely visible form of a haedian, they were perched upside down on the crystal with their head facing the ground and their back claws firmly dug into the crystal above them. When the haedian on the ceiling acknowledged that they had been seen by the crowd, they let go of the stalactite and plunged head first toward the arena. The crowd’s cheer briefly turned into a gasp of concern as the haedian seemingly plunged toward sudden death but when the haedian snapped its wings open and managed to pull out of the dive the crowd exploded into even louder cheers than what the surface dwelling trio had heard yesterday. The dare-devil haedian turned out to be Zarod who easily landed in the center of the arena before turning to greet the crowd, hyping them up even more. “Woo, what a rush!” The brute leader exclaimed, she flashed a cocky smile to the trio. “When I heard about your entrance yesterday I had to try it for myself.” Erimia bounced excitedly, clearly impressed by the Haedians' reckless display while both Candy and Anue wondered about how bad their entrance had been exaggerated already.

The announcer began hyping up the crowd now that all the competitors were on the field, “You know what time it is folks! I won’t waste time explaining the rules, today’s match is truly one for the history books! Who will win?! Our spunky newcomers? Will one of our long time competitors finally snag a win? Will our reigning champion defend his title? OR will our former undefeated champion, and beloved leader reclaim her title only a month after retiring from the sport?!” The crowd screamed and leaned against the railings of the stands barely able to contain the fervor of their excitement. Anue and Candy Queen exchanged a nervous glance, ‘Undefeated?’ the male runner nervously mouthed to the female runner who could only shrug helplessly in response. After finally wrapping up their speech the announcer exclaimed, “Without further adieu~ Let the competition begin!” as they finished speaking they slammed the gong on the wall behind them as hard as they could. The loud blam of the gong was barely audible over the roar of the crowd but as soon as it sounded all of the competitors launched into action.

This time all three of the surface dwellers dashed across the arena in search of golden stones. None of the competitors chose a head on collision off the bat unlike the day before so even Erimia was able to quickly snatch up two stones. All of the competitors focused on collecting as many unattended stones first before turning on one another to compete. When the surface trio reconvened they had already managed to collect six stones off the bat. While they were passing the stones to Erimia to guard, Candy Queen caught a glimpse of Zarod sprinting full force at one of the other competitors. She watched as the haedian powerfully slammed into the other haedian, much to the crowd's delight, and snatched three stones in one go. As the runners turned to dash off to try and collect more stones they both realized that Zarod didn’t have a pile of stones anywhere to be seen. Even the three she had just stolen and seemingly disappeared, the moment they had glanced away. Extremely confused, the runners decided to focus on the other competitors since their piles could easily be seen but also decided to keep an eye on the Brute leader in case she set her sights on Erimia.

Working as a team Anue and Candy Queen rushed one of the competitors and easily fended off the massive haedians powerful strikes and swipes. Anue acted as the main distraction, taunting the haedian and darting in and out between its legs while Candy Queen sprinted around from behind and snatched up as many gold stones as she could carry from their pile. When the haedian realized he was being robbed he roared in anger and launched a rapid tail strike at Candy, hoping to knock her down and scatter the stolen stones. Thankfully Candy saw it coming and was narrowly able to dodge the haedians whip like tail. Before the haedian could launch another strike, Zarod appeared seemingly out of nowhere and slammed into the other haedian. As Zarod and the other haedian clashed, Anue and Candy Queen took the opportunity to scamper away with their prizes. As Anue passed the Brute leader he overheard the faintest sound of clattering rocks coming from the haedians back. Confused, he stared at Zarods back as he followed Candy back to Erimia. As far as he could tell there was nothing there, but then he realized something. Unlike the other haedians who were using their wings for intimidation displays or to attack, Zarods wings were pinned to her back.

Anue whipped his head to Candy Queen while shouting, “Hey! I figured out where Zarod’s pile is?” Candy Queen breathlessly looked back at Anue and exclaimed. “What? That’s great! Where is it?” The duo managed to reach Erimia just as Candy queen finished speaking and as they placed their spoils in their pile Anue finished conveying what he had figured out. “Her back! She’s holding onto her pile as she’s fighting, that’s why we couldn’t spot her pile earlier.” Erimia and Candy Queen stared in shock at Zarod from across the arena, as they watched they witnessed the haedian snatch a stone from the haedian competitor they had also just robbed. The brute leader flicked the stone back over her shoulder while continuing to fight, with expert precision the stone landed on the tip of her curled wing which dexterously uncurled slightly and guided the stone into the folds of her wing. “What the actual…” Erimia cursed as Candy Queen stepped forward and made a proposal. “Do you think we could do something like that too? That way Erimia could help collect the stones too?” to which Erimia vigorously shook her head. “I don’t have crazy extra membranes or pouches like them! I wouldn’t be able to move freely if I had to hold all of these stones in my wings, let alone fight one of these jerks off!” 

As the tyrian finished the crowd suddenly erupted into cheers startling the trio. They looked up and saw that Zarod had finally set her sights on them and was sprinting full bore straight at them. “Oh crap oh crap!” Anue yelped as he scrambled to get out of the way as the haedian slammed into Erimia. Erimia let out a strangled cry as she was knocked off her feet and laid flat by the powerful haedian. Thankfully when the tyrian fell she landed right on top of the trio’s golden stone pile so Zarod was unable to snatch any of their stones. When Erimia realized her body was the only thing blocking the Brute from their hoard, she spread her wings and started lashing out with her tail and hind legs. The two runners had managed to get out of the way of the initial assault but they knew Erimia wouldn’t last long by herself against the significantly stronger and heavier haedian. Together the vayrons charged at the haedian and slammed into her side, making her stagger back from the tyrian a little winded from the impact. Zarod smiled a vicious grin as she faced off with the trio, she paced a slow circle around them as Erimia scrambled to her feet. The tyrian bared her fangs and crouched low over the surface dwellers' stone pile, so low her chest scraped against the smooth stones.

“Not bad,” Zarod mockingly laughed as she stalked around the trio. “Don’t disappoint me.” As she finished speaking she launched herself at Erimia again. The tyrian was too low for the haedian to get under so Zarod jumped onto Erimia’s back, grabbing her shoulders, and tried to forcefully roll the tyrian off the stone pile. Erimia realized what the haedian was trying to do and resisted with all her might. The vayrons didn’t stand around and quickly launched themselves at the Brute again, attempting to stagger her like they had before. Zarod was expecting this though, and whipped her tail around striking Anue down before he could make contact with her. The strike narrowly missed Candy Queen but by herself she couldn’t generate enough force to move the beefy haedian. The female runner spared a glance to check on whether Anue was alright and caught a glimpse of the male runner staggering to his feet before having to jump back to dodge yet another tail strike from the thrashing Haedian. Candy Queen landed awkwardly and gritted her teeth in frustration. She quickly looked around on the ground and spotted some small rocks and pebbles scattered across the arena floor. 

Candy Queen mimicked Zarods wicked grin as she activated her magic, levitating the small pebbles and sending them flying into Zarod’s side. Candy specifically aimed for the areas of Zarod’s body where the bones were just under the skin, trying to inflict as much pain as possible to stagger the unrelenting haedian. At first it didn’t seem to be working until Candy managed to strike one of Zarods elbows, making her flinch. Right when the haedian flinched and lost her balance Anue sprinted in and slammed into her side, fully staggering the brute. Once she was free from the pressure, Erimia used all of her strength to shove her body upwards, fully dislodging the haedian and sending Zarod tumbling off to the side. A few golden stones clattered to the floor as the haedian landed, knocked free from the impact. Not missing the opportunity Anue dashed in and snatched up the stones and tossed them to Erimia who added them to their pile. The surface dwellers smiled victoriously at Zarod as it was the haedians turn to awkwardly scramble to her feet. Zarod turned to them and snarled before charging at them once more, right before the enraged haedian could slam into the trio once more the sound of the announcers gong rang out.

 “Time’s up!! What a nail biting finish huh folks?! Everyone was fighting so hard even I couldn’t tell who was winning! Everyone to your corners, it's time to count our winners!” the announcer could be heard screaming over the sound of the roaring crowd. All of the competitors had been fighting so hard that at some point the ear splitting screams of the crowd had been drowned out entirely. Now that their attention was on the announcer all of the competitors visibly flinched at the sheer volume of the cacophony echoing throughout the cave. The surface trio panted heavily as the same officials from the day before came to count everyone's stones. When the officials reached Zarod, the Brute leader gave a cocky grin and unfurled her wings, sending her load of stones clattering to the floor. The surface trio’s mouths dropped open when they saw how many stones Zarod had managed to collect. Even though they had stolen a few, the Brute leader easily had twice as many stones as they did. The exhausted trio groaned and flopped down on the stone floor of the cave in defeat, they had tried so hard yet didn’t even come close. After the officials finished counting all the stones they paused in the middle of the arena for a few minutes. The announcer eventually left the huddle and tried to quiet the spectators down until the unrelenting cheers were reduced to a low rumble of whispers. 

By the time the officials had come to a decision the surface dweller trio had recovered somewhat and were sitting around their pile of golden stones. The officials turned and walked over to stand between Zarod and the reigning champion Lo’Nock. They raised their wings and called out to the crowd, ”Both Zarod and Lo’Nock have managed to collect twenty four stones! In an unprecedented turn of events we have a tie between our reigning champions!” The surface dwelling trio’s mouths dropped open in astonishment and they all whipped their heads around to get a look at Lo’Nock, who they hadn’t seen the entire competition. Sure enough he also had a massive pile of stones gathered at his feet. The haedian had his chest puffed up proudly as he basked in the raving cheers of his fans. “Third again…” Erimia grumbled sadly, she had enjoyed the games a lot but it was still a little bitter that they hadn’t won both times. Candy Queen and Anue chuckled and comforted the depressed tyrian as Zarod approached them once more. When the Brute leader reached them, she gave Erimia and Candy Queen a rough smack on the shoulder and smacked Anue in the back of the head (totally on accident by the way) with her tail. “Now that’s what I’m talking about! Hey I like you guys, come and drink with me!”