The Reconfiguring

Ch. 11 Entertainment Pt. 1

It was the day of Entertainment, and Phig and Don were sitting together on the bus. Don had a bulging black bag with her.

"What's with the bag?" Phig whispered.

"Just some projects," Don said to him, "nothing unusual."

"Sure..."

When they arrived at Arena, they were separated by profession. Of course, everyone thought Don was a Draft sorter, by her electric purple hair and clothes. Burlies directed everyone to their sections.

The Draft sorters' section was on the far right of the bleachers, which had purple seats like the ones at the movies.

"Pretty comfy for watching death," Don muttered. Phig elbowed her; Entertainment was about to start.

Grand Leader entered through the door close to the Draft sorter section and walked in front of the victims' podium, next to his weapons rack. Don tensed when he came out.

A Burly handed Grand a megaphone and left the Arena via a door on the opposite side Geand came in. Grand Leader looked at the packed bleachers, then froze when he looked straight at Don. There was an unreadable expression on his face as he looked away.

"Crap..." Don muttered under her breath.

"Welcome everyone to Entertainment! This year's 30 guys are a fun bunch, let me tell you!"

Don and Phig both groaned.

Grand Leader continued, "We may even have a winner this year! Or...not. But who knows?" everyone already knew, no one would make it out alive, "Let's get down to business. First up, Kapilarikano Initiator."

Phig recognized him. He was the initiator that told him his quiz results all those years ago.

"No..." he shook his head. Don stared straight forward, stone faced. 'Like the floor of her home,' Phig thought, remembering when he accidentally fell onto her floor. Grand Leader let Kapilarikano walk the rest of the way to the podium. Grand started off easy. He poked Kapilarikano with a fork. Then he went to butter knifes. Then his axe came out. He hacked hard enough to hurt, but not enough to chop any limbs off. Grand Leader put his axe away, and brought out the dart gun. The darts felt like you had been shot, without the hole. After the tenth dart, Kapilarikano winced. Grand smiled. Phig snarled, and Don put her arm across his seat and gave him a glare that said: 'You move, I hurt you.' Then Grand Leader raised his hands above his head and clapped twice. Two Burlies came out: one grabbed a yellow bag and stuffed Kapilarikano in it while the other one prepped the masher. Kapilarikano was thrown into the masher as one of the Burlies pressed the button. The top part of the masher fell quickly, and Kapilarikano's screams stopped.

The Butlies carried the bag with the squashed remains through their door to cremate the body. Or what was left of it. Phig just watched in shock.

"Don't act first this time, Phig," Don said, "think about your mom, your life. Don't intervene," Phig noticed a small tear in the corner of her eye. "Just don't."

Grand Leader picked up his megaphone again as the crowd started screaming with joy.

"Next up, Bobonicle Burly."

Phig almost fainted right then and there. Don tensed her arm up even more so Phig couldn't move.

"I'm serious, Phig."

Silent tears started to stream out of his eyes, slowly rolling down his cheeks. Don noticed this and looked over at him.

"Good. Let that monster know this is getting to you."

Grand Leader started his poking and prodding on Bobonicle. He held up perfectly fine until a small spikeball made its way into Grand Leader's hand. Phig's hopes plummeted.

Bobonicle was deathly afraid of spikeballs. It was why he wasn't the top of his Training class.

Why he was in Entertainment.

Even before Grand made the first swing, Bobonicle yelped and cowered down. Grand Leader put his hands over is head and clapped twice. The Burlies came out. Don stared straight ahead into nothingness, her arm still firmly over Phig, and he turned away and closed his eyes. There was no way going to watch his friend die. He heard the screams. He heard the masher plummet. He heard the cries of joy from the audience.

Phig didn't need to see it happen. He heard it.

And he was going to hear it twice more.

****************

"This was a bad idea, Don."

"I know."

"Then why'd you buy tickets?"

"Well, I thought...that I could...maybe..." Don sighed, "it's complicated."
"Soo...you weren't just trying to help me?"
"Not exactly, no. I mean, I was, but it's more than that," Don sighed. "I guess you deserve to know. You remember that Sheri girl we met?"
"How could I forget that creepy stalker."
"Well, ever since I learned she was born, I always fantasized that someday I could come in and rescue her from this terrible fate. I still do. But it was a stupid hope. It'll never happen. Still...she's my sister. I want her to actually have a chance of living."
"You know what...I support you."
"What? Really?"
"Well, obviously if she's got this major crush on me, she hasn't gotten out much."
"You've got that right." Don hesitantly pulled her arm away from across Phig's lap. "Now, if you do anything stupid, I will end you."
She turned away, and returned to her daydream-like state. Phig smiled.
Then, he did something incredibly stupid, much to Don's dislike.
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Author's Note-
Sorry it's been so long, guys. I was going to end this chapter way differently, but it didn't fit right. Especially since in my first draft, this was only going to be chapter 5.
Thanks for sticking with me! Also, check out my new story, Love is Not A Fight. It's got werewolves. And only two chapters at the moment. I'm working on it.
-Kagiemd