Sharjasanian Chronicles: Premium

XII: Trial One

"So... prepare yourself for trial one!", Roxy said.
Her face disappeared from the screen, and trial one appeared in large letters.

The lights in the area started glowing bright red. 
"Hey! Let me go!", Shuno shouted behind me.
When I looked over my shoulder, he was already gone, but I saw a door closing. 
Next, a bunch of robotic werewolf-like creatures jumped down from the ceiling. 
"Automaton Abominations entered. Trial begins", a mechanical voice said.
"We need to work together to beat them, Lemo", I said. 
"Right there is a hill which seems to have some type of defense. We need to beat them and get to there to pass the first trial", Lemo said. 
"Understood", I replied.
The screen on the faces of the automaton abominations turned red. 
"Wrahhha!", they growled.
I realised that I practiced martial arts since I was seven. I must be able to beat these automatons. 
"Wait a minute, where is Administrator Weraya?", I asked.
I looked around me. We were surrounded by a simulated world, but Weraya was nowhere to be found.
"Focus now, Lord Shacc", Lemo said.
We fought side by side to defeat the mechanical beasts, which was surprisingly easy.
Within five minutes, all of the beasts were gone. 

"Ahh... it's so cold in here", a toneless female voice said.
"W-Weraya? You weren't here a second ago. What are you doing?", I asked.
"The robots just didn't notice me. I don't feel like fighting, I'll just observe", Weraya said. "My knowledge tells me that these creatures are only fifty percent mechanical. I wish we could ask questions to miss Roxy".
"Roxy Marennya, what were those things?! Speak up!", Lemo said.
"Oh dear. Those creatures were just the attributes of Roxcorp that fight for me. If you really want to know, we call them Vtracheni. They don't usually look like that though", Roxy said.
"Enemy registered. I didn't quite catch that. Wathrakheni. Let's call them Wathrakheni", Weraya said. 
Roxy didn't reply further.
"Roxy Marennya, what are you doing with Sharjasania?", I asked.
"Hm. We're holding everyone hostage and some of them are also in some trial. Don't think you're the only ones, haha. Either way the outcome is in your hands. We're going to send Roxcorp's army to Sharjasania and raid it from its wealth if you don't win our trials by the way". 
"Darn you... you demon", Lemo said.
"Last wave of the first trial coming in... now!", Roxy shouted excitedly through the intercom.

A bunch of growling Wadurakani rushed into the simulation on all fours. A familiar young boy in what appears to be a spacesuit and a bunch of scarfs came in while walking on the air. 
"Is that..." Weraya began.
"Ketika!? Why would you!", I and Lemo exclaimed.
Ketika looked down while he was walking down a non-existent staircase.
"Please hear me out", Ketika said.
I signaled to Lemo and Weraya to be alert but not to attack yet.
"I didn't choose to do this. I traversed space all the way from distant solar systems beyond Carota because my kind can only eat pancakes. However, our planet ran out of those. I was the youngest of the clan, so they sent me out to space to collect pancakes. I firstly arrived at Sharjasania, however, pancakes did not exist there. Tempted and blinded, I followed a group of people you call Blinded Vassals. They promised me that in exchange for completing their commissions, they would give me pancakes that I could give to my family. And they did. I didn't want to work for such terrible criminals, but I had to because I had no other choice. After Lord Shacc defeated them all, I resigned from that place, took the pancakes, went back to my planet and then found another place, here at Afera. They recruit and kidnap a lot of people in terrific ways, but as long as I got my pancakes and could send them back to my family, I was happy. I already have the pancakes".
Everyone remained silent. It was quite a heavy story.
"Trust me when I say, Roxy is an unethical girl. The quicker I leave this place, the less traumatising things I see. She sees me as a special guest, but her army isn't treated the same way. They're all mechanically modified beasts that follow Annihilation", Ketika said. "Defeat me quickly and we'll both be freed".
"So what will we...", Weraya started.
But before I could say anything or she could finish her sentence, Lemo already raced forwards and braced his fists for a duel.
"Stop lying! We've already seen you once and now you're at it again", he shouted.
He punched away the Wadurakani and went straight for Ketika.
Ketika's face had a slight sense of fear. He seemed genuine.

"But fine. If you want a thrilling battle, I can give you one. I'll assure you that the following two trials will be more difficult than this one, so I'll use my abilities to help you test yourself", Ketika said. 
He activated the wristbands around him as he started to float up. His agility made it so that Lemo couldn't hit him at all.
"Come on, play along", Ketika said.
"I don't want to", Weraya replied. 
I ignored Weraya on purpose and joined in the fight. She just stood behind and decided to sit on the concrete floor.

Lemo brainlessly dashed forward while trying to hit Ketika, who was effortlessly moving through the air while stepping on materialised air.
"Technique, Lemo", I said. 
With a swift and unnoticed movement, I managed to land a great punch on Ketika's arm.
He fell back a few metres but then regained his powers. It seemed like his wristbands were powered by some kind of gems. 
"Hmph. Now it's my turn", Ketika mumbled.
He crossed his arms and raised his hands, which caused pillars of materialised air to fly out of the ground. I and Lemo managed to narrowly dodge the transparent pillars, though I could feel the wind of them appearing on my skin.
"Oh...", Weraya sighed.
Her ennui caused her to not have noticed the threat of the materialised air. The pillars sent her upwards, and suddenly she disappeared from the room.
"Where did she go?", I asked. 
I looked around confused, but I couldn't spot a trace of her presence anywhere. I had to think quick. I noticed Lemo also staring around.
"I understand Ketika's standpoint, but I know that getting out of this simulation requires teamwork. It would be the best if we end the battle now", I thought.
I used a special technique from my ancient village that required a paper to enhance my strength, and dashed forward to deliver that punch that knocked Ketika out while he seemed to be distracted.
"Heh? Oh, you defeated him. Nice job", Lemo said. "Sorry buddy, life's rough".
I knew that the paper had a special script written on it.

"Oh! Oh! Ketika! You're defeated!", a voice that belonged to none other than Roxy herself said through the intercom.
A few mechanical tentacles came out of the wall to grab his unconscious body and dragged him back to a dark room.
I wandered around. 
"You'll get some resting time, I'm not a monster of course, haha", Roxy said.
A few pieces of bread and oat porridge dangled down from the roof. 
"That must be sarcasm", Lemo said.
I nodded to show that I agreed with him.
Neither of us were used to eating bread as a main meal, so we tried to consume the dry pieces of wheat while evaluating what just happened.

The second trial awaited us.