The Arena (Book 1)

Round 1

As we near the stadium, I see huge crowds and people waiting in long lines just to get in. I even see a few tents being taken down, people have slept here overnight. I scowl in disgust, this is so inhuman.

"Okay, here's your weapons." David hands me a large bag, holding both the swords, my gun and a few other gadgets, "Look it'll be okay." He says, reassuringly.

"Easy for you to say," I say harshly, speeding up trying to move away from him. All of the anger I felt towards him is coming back now that we've reached the day of the tournaments. I walk through the gates and down the same hallway we were at a few days ago. This time guards escort me to an entirely new room. One the wall is a screen, showing a round currently being fought. It looks like it's Guillotine versing another robot. I see on the corner of the screen it says, Guillotine vs Tigris. So Tigris is her name I guess. I hear the door shut behind me, then I feel a hand on my shoulder.

"Look, I'm really sorry. Once you enter in, you can't back out...if I could I would've but it was too late." He sighs, "Please believe me."

"I do believe you, but this is inhuman-" Suddenly I hear the crowd cheering a few levels above us. I look on the screen to see Guillotine standing in victory, as Tigris has been decapitated...I shiver and starred wide-eyed at the screen, "Oh my god." Suddenly guards walk into the room.

"Time to go. Do you have all your weapons ready?" They ask as one grabs my arm, another grabbing David and pushing us towards the door.

"Yeah, she's ready," David answers for me. David is escorted down a different hallway as I'm brought to a new gate, one which I'm assuming leads into the arena. The guards step back and the gate opens in front of me, the sun blinding me as it finally opens fully. I step out into the open rink, seeing across the huge area is another girl. I hear an announcer say over a loud intercom,

"004 verses Teddy Bear. The match begins now."

The audience booms with excitement, people screaming and stomping their feet. I look across to see that the girl is gone. Suddenly I feel something hit my back, throwing me forward. I let out a small cry of pain as I hit the ground again. I turn to see her smirking at me from a distance, holding a gun that I'm assuming just hit me. She starts to walk towards me, and it dawns on me that I should probably get my weapons out now. I grab my two swords and press both power buttons, sending sparks running through them. Then I press the fire button, both are aimed correctly towards her, but only one fired. I don't see her through the cloud of fire and smoke, but I hear her scream, but then after a moment of silence she emerges from the fiery wall, I see her face...she's smiling.

"Is that really the best you can do?" She laughs as she walks towards me. I fire again but it merely slows her down, not even leaving a dent.

"Damn David, you've really screwed me now," I whisper to myself, turning and running across the arena to put some distance between us. She holds up a large gun and fires again. It flies past me, hitting a wall on the other side. I know if that had hit me, I would've died. She reaches behind her back and grabs duel pistols, each is connected to a generator on her back. Sitting on top of her generator is a small red bear, "So that's where she gets her name." I look behind her and see David sitting up in a private part of the stands. Next to him is another boy, who is Teddy's creator. I look back to see her, standing a few feet away from me, holding another gun. She pulls the trigger and it sends an electric shock running through my body. I can't move, but she still sends more volts flying at me.

"Come on! Fight back!" She taunts me, reaching down and taking my sword from my hand, "Nice sword, it'd be a shame if it broke-" Suddenly she starts bending the sword, after a moment, it finally gives and snaps into two. That sword was titanium. I manage enough strength to press the fire button on the other sword. It fires right at her generator. On contact, it freezes her entire body.

"Jesus!" I say, not expecting it to be that effective. I realize I can move again, so I slowly get up. Right as I do, she breaks free from the ice I trapped her in.

"You bitch!" She screams, firing her gun at me. I dodge and manage to fire another shot of ice at her. She freezes again and I decide to take my window of opportunity. I run up behind her and start to rip off the generator, piercing my sword through the back of it. Once it's finally off, I grab the gun a took last night, "No don't!" She screams but I pull the trigger, firing at the generator. It explodes, sending me flying backward. I hit the ground roughly, and after looking around, I notice she's not there. Instead, there's a pile of ash and metal scraps. I notice the crowd is going crazy, I slowly say to myself,

"I think I won." But something feels wrong, I can't move. I feel my hands and my chest, but the problem is that I can't feel below my chest. When I finally find enough strength to move my head, I look down in horror, both my legs are gone.