Gods of Arena

Jae stepped closer, more than willing to start a fight. He still had the fight they had in the gym on his mind. He was really prepared to smash Finn's head into the wall. "How about we start from here, eh? Are you scared now?"

"Calm your nerves", Finn replied and stepped closer. "I swear I will take your head off"

'Fighting outside the arena will no longer be tolerated', a voice made the announcement and they walked away from each other. 'Every fighter found in the act will be punished. Keep in mind that your moves are being watched and every unwarranted violent act against one another will be severely punished........'

Finn walked away from him, staring fearlessly. "Be careful, Finn", Jin said.

"Don't worry about me. I'll beat him", Finn said, confidently, as they walked down the stairs. The scene from the gym replayed in his head and he was pretty confident he could have won the fight if Jin didn't show up.

"Are you sure about that?", Jin asked. Kang walked up to them, smiling.

"Hi... who are those fighting?", Kang asked.

"There will be two fights. Dan and one other guy. I think his name is Roy; one of Roku's friends. The second fight is between Jae and Finn"

"Finn? Are you joking? We have to help him", Kang said quickly and looked at Finn. "Don't worry, man-"

"YOU should not worry about me", Finn replied. "I almost beat him, once before, and I'll beat him, this time"

Kang and Jin stared at each other for a few seconds. "Ok, Finn.... But we should keep the stunners in place, then.... You know- in case, things get out of hand"

"I said I don't need your help, okay?", Finn retorted. "I don't want your stunners or any kind of interference. I will take care of him myself"

"I can't fall asleep", Kang muttered. The lights had just gone out. He was expecting a response from Jin but he didn't get any..... yet.

The light seemed to have swallowed up some heat. He clenched tighter on his blanket and curled up. "I can't fall asleep!", he said, a bit louder, this time, trying to get Jin's attention. How could he have slept so fast. "Uh.... I can't fall asleep!!" "Stop thinking about Finn then", Jin replied. "It's him, isn't it?... Or Romeo?"

"No. I think I'm just cold", Kang said. "And probably scared too." "Scared of what?"

"It doesn't seem like anyone lasts long in this hall", Kang replied. "But I'm still here and I've not even had battles yet... it makes me scared that something will happen to you... something will happen to you and I will be alone and they will come against me, like they've already started, and I will not have my Shin Zhu to defend myself.... And that will be all"

"Well, uh, listen. That's not going to happen", Jin said and exhaled. "I am still here and I will help you find your Shin Zhu so you don't have to worry about anyone" "Thank you, Jin"

"You should sleep now", Jin said and turned on his side. "It's late and I'm pretty sleepy"

"Do you think Finn will win the fight?"

"Am I supposed to think he'll win?"

"So you think he'll lose?"

"I'm not thinking anything, Kang", Jin said. "Finn is pretty confident that he'll win. He fought with Jae in the gym and he believes he would have won the fight. He's pretty out of his head but... maybe we should just believe in him. Romeo defeated a mid-tier fighter, right?"

"Yea but Finn is going against a top-tier", Kang replied. "I think we should offer him the pills. They'll probably do the same thing they did for me and he will win"

"You can do that but it doesn't actually make you win or work in the way you think", Jin said. "That's why you still have to hide from the spins"

Kang raised his back and sat up. He grabbed a torch and switched it on. "I still wonder what will happen when the Gamblers ask that they see the Blank fight on the Arena again", Kang said and laughed at himself. "They think I am just holding back my power and using the physical, instead"

"Well, it's good for business. If they don't ask for it, King can probably make it happen", Jin said, casually. "The Gamblers will vote for you and they will watch a top-tier beat you to death. Then they'll lose money. More money for King" "That's bad", Kang said, staring at him. "You say it like it's a good thing... or a normal thing"

"Then you better hope King doesn't think that way. He probably believes you are holding back your power too", Jin said, as Kang got up from his bed. "Don't make noise" "Ok", Kang said and walked out the door.

The hall was as silent as nothing. Kang walked sneakily on his toes but he could swear he heard his own footsteps, he heard his heartbeat, he heard his nostrils exhale warm air and he was definitely sure he heard the flying insect hovering around his ear. He slapped himself to chase the mosquitoes away. That was a lot louder than he expected. The mosquitoes moved around freely, from his ear to his nose and back to his ear again. "Hey, Finn", he whispered, as he got to the door. "Finn"

That was definitely hopeless. There was no way Finn would hear that through the closed door and there was an high probability that he was already asleep. He knocked gently on the door. That was pretty loud too... for anyone who was still awake. He knocked repeatedly.

The door opened and Finn was standing there. "Kang? What do you want?"

"I didn't wake you. Did I? I'm so sorry", Kang apologized.

"It's alright. What do you want?"

"I just wanted to give you this", Kang said and pulled out the small nylon from his pocket. "It will help you"

"What is that?"noveldrama

"They are pills. I used a pill during my first fight and it helped me win", Kang said. "Trust me. If you use these pills, your fear will go away, your strength will grow rapidly, and you will find yourself doing stunts you'd never do on a sober day. You just have to take a pill tonight and you will wake up as a new man"

"If I decide to laugh at this, I might wake Romeo up. I don't want a fight", Finn said and tried to close the door. "Get some sleep, Kang"

Kang held the door open. "I'm serious about this, Finn. You watched my first fight and you see how amazing I was. I am not so amazing. This is me... but I won that fight. I won that fight because of that pill, Finn"

"First, you said something about my fear vanishing; well, I'm not afraid. I am already strong and I am not willing to do stunts that are inspired by a drug", Finn said and held the door again. "One more thing, that drug didn't help you win the fight. We helped you win the fight. If not for those stunners, I bet you'd be already dead by now. Well, I have a Shin Zhu and I am not as weak as you. I will win this fight and you will watch me win"

Finn slammed the door and Kang just stood there with the torch on, for about ten minutes. Before walking back to his room. Jin was already sleeping. He closed the door behind him and walked to the bed.

****