CLOUD 9INE (OG)

4

All 4 of them finally arrived in the arena after about 36 hours of waiting (time flies when you're not having fun in Cloud 9).

The short man, who addressed himself as 'Rob', was standing on a stage in front of the current testers.

"Hello Heaveners! Today is your lucky day! Or your unlucky day. There will be tests of physical ability, mental strength, and spiritual purity. If you fail any of these, I'm taking you with me through this." A red portal opened beside him, and screams were heard.

"Don't worry, those screams are from the people who just lost, they're not even being tortured yet." Tetra's fingers began twitching a bit as she hugged close to Lo.

"Any questions?"

"I have a question," Lo raised his hand and called out among the crowd. Everyone turned to look at him. "What are you? Where did you come from? You just showed up and started bossing us around, it's only fair that you explain!"

Tetra pulled Lo's hand down. "Do you want to make him angrier at us?" His eyes were frustrated but caring.

"The boy has a point, tell us!" said a person in the crowd. The rest of the masses joined in.

"Alright, alright," said Rob. "I'll tell you. You know the Devil? You could call me...his 6th in command.

"Like I said before, we're running out of people to torture down below. Everybody is being too good. So, we need more! And what a better way to do that then to scrape the bottom of the barrel for people that were really just decent human beings." He smiled and pulled out a clipboard.

"How did you get past the guards?" Lo asked him.

"Us 'Hellies' are a bit more powerful than the weirdos up here. We just don't like to bother you guys often. Maybe every couple million years or so. We do run a business y'know. Now, we begin the first trial. You must make a partnership with someone that you do not know."

Evyn and Ava hugged each other before splitting apart and looking for a partner. Lo and Tetra gave each other a look and went their separate ways. As Tetra was trying to find a partner, she was on the verge of passing out from her angst when someone tapped her on the shoulder. 

She turned around to see a curly red-haired kid that had a splash of freckles across his left cheek. "Wanna be partners?"

Tetra shrugged. "Why not? What's your name?"

"Richard, but my friends call me Rich," he stuck his hand out and Tetra shook it.

"What now?"

Rob answered their question coincidentally. "Time for the test of physical strength! Hopefully you picked a good partner, because the next few hours will be a living, well, your possible future home!"

The arena morphed into a track and field. Tetra passed out.

*****

When Tetra came to, all of the teams had lined up in the newly fashioned bleachers. The stadium had gained a roof as well. 

Rich was shaking her by her shoulders. "Tetra, wake up come on."

She sat up and blew her hair out of her mouth. "What are we doing?"

"Running? Jumping? I don't know."

Rob's voice came over the loudspeaker. "Alright, Heaveners! It's time to play something Ilike to call, 'Run for your Life'. It's quite simple really. These beasts will chase you while you are tied to your partner, like a 3-legged race of death. You have 5 minutes. Any questions? No? Good."

Magic ropes appeared to bind Rich and Tetra together, then giant lion-bears fell from the ceiling and landed on two sectors of the bleachers, crushing any participants under them. 

Tetra's spirits dampened as the reality set in that any of those people that were crushed might have been her friends. Rich pulled her to her feet and they both ran to the center of the field. The creatures were thrashing about, trying to consume any contestants that were running from them. Chaos ensued as the people clambered down onto the main field with Tetra and Rich.

Tetra heard Lo's voice among those still in the stands. She looked to see him and his partner waving their hands, trying to direct one of the creature's attention. She should've been worried, but her thoughts slurred together as Lo led the creature to run into the other. He dove out of the way as both lion-bears collided with each other in a confusing frenzy.

She almost melted into a puddle right there, but Lo and his new friend began sprinting to thecenter of the field with them. The lion-bears bounded towards the open field, causing theremaining participants to scatter to get away from them. Some people weren't lucky and got trampled. Others were snatched up by the jaws of the beasts. Tetra and Rich were cornered upagainst a wall by one of the monsters when the timer rang, and the lion-bears evaporated.

Rob appeared in a puff of red smoke in front of the two. "Well, wasn't that a close call? Looks like you and your friends get to continue-"

Before Rob could finish taunting them, an unfamiliar wail was heard near the center of the arena. The magical ropes untied themselves, so Tetra ran to the sound.

Evyn was kneeling over Ava's unconscious form. She was alive, but her left leg was shattered. Lo came up beside Tetra and the both of them watched as Evyn stood and turned towards Rob. An unusual amount of emotion, albeit normal for most people, was apparent on her face.

"You'd better be lucky Ava is alive," Evyn seethed. "If she were dead, you would feel true pain. Ava had better not get hurt, ever again."

Rob poofed closer to Evyn. "Sadly, that's something I cannot guarantee."

Evyn picked Rob up by the collar. Her cobalt-colored eyes seemed almost purple in the red light. "Don't do it again."

Rob merely touched her forehead and she crumpled to the ground, asleep. "Now that that's been taken care of, let's begin the next part of the games, shall we?"

Tetra and Lo came to Ava's aid as she woke up. Ava tried sitting up, but the pain was too much so she laid back down.

"Why isn't it healing?" asked Ava, who had turned her head to stare at Evyn.

"I-I don't know," said Tetra.

Lo hugged Tetra and inspected Ava's leg more closely. "Maybe Cloud 9's rules don't work while Rob is in control. Which means..." They all turned to survey the damage done by the lion-bears.

"They're already in Hell. For good."