The Arena (Book 1)

Upgrades

I wake up in a room much like an operating room. I'm laying on a table, surrounded by engineers rather than doctors, and instead of medical instruments, there are large 3D printers surrounding me. I look down at my legs, and to my unpleasant surprise, they are still gone.

"It's okay, we are rebuilding your legs. Just lie down, be still." Says one of the engineers. He has black hair and is wearing a lab coat.

"W-Where's David?" I ask, my voice very dry and scratchy.

"I said be still." He says firmer this time.

I close my eyes and breath for a while, just focusing on the light above my head. Every now and then I'll look down at my legs to see the progress they've made in rebuilding them. They've now built past my knees. I still don't detect any part there though. Finally, after hours of waiting, the door opens and I see David. He looks a bit worse for wear, with a black eye and cut lip.

"What the hell happened to you?" I ask nervously.

"Oh my god you're okay." He lets out a sigh of relief, "I thought you were dead."

"David, what happened to you?" I ask again.

"Oh, uh, well I may have gotten into a fight with Ashton, her player....cause I thought she killed you." He says sheepishly.

"You idiot." I mutter to myself, "So how do my legs look?" I ask.

"Oh, your legs. Well, I told them I had a few upgrades in mind..." He whispers something to the engineer with black hair. He nods back as David returns attention to me, "He said he added what I wanted him to."

"What? What did you do?" I glance down at my legs again, past the shins at this point.

"Well, now you can run faster and jump higher...try to lose an arm next round, I can think of 7 upgrades today that would improve your fighting skills." He jokes.

"Haha, well I'm just happy I don't have to fight her again," I say happily.

"Well....actually that's not guaranteed."

"What do you mean?" I say, nervous and confused.

"At the end of round 2, the audience votes which robot should be brought back to life to fight in round 3. She might be voted in, but there's a small chance of that happening." He explains.

"Ugh..." I groan, thinking about having to fight her again, "But speaking of round 2, who's left?"

"Oh right, the robots who survived round 1 are; you, Guillotine, Witch Doctor, 009, The Geisha, and XX. I'm shocked that Machine Gun didn't make it, that was Luke Estons robot. But then again The Geisha is Devons robot."

"I'm sorry, who's Devon?"

"Oh, Devon Chrysler, he's another player, won 2 years now. His robots are pretty powerful so I suggest you don't make enemies with The Geisha, or whatever her name is." He says, looking down at my legs again, "Oh hey look, legs are done. You should be able to feel them now. Try like, wiggling a toe or something." I look down to see my legs, brand new. I move my feet around a little, now able to feel again.

"They feel great. Thank you, really, thank you." I say sincerely to the engineers around the table. I'm glad to know that Davids not the only one on my side.