Can't Live Without You

Crushing Guilt

After being dragged out of his cell, Blinky had been taken back to his evil sibling. Sensing his brother's fear, Dictatious grinned ferociously and said, "Unfortunately we cannot play together today little brother. It has been requested that you entertain one of our honored general in the melee's arena." Blinky growled, and Dictatious tapped him the forehead. "Now now, you must play nice with the other children. You will be armored, and you will fight. Do not embarrass me, or you will pay dearly."

A short time later, Blinky was in the arena. As Dictatious had promised he was given armor and a short sword, but the arena supervisor had ordered a doctor to make him ready for battle. The doctor had done nothing but strap Blinky's broken arm securely to his chest. It ached in its new position because the doctor hadn't set it, and was likely making the break worse. Blinky simply grit his teeth and tried to prepare for the fight ahead.

Steam issued from the opposite end of the arena, and a hulking figure stepped through, pumping a sword up and down to the cheers of the crowd. Blinky's stomach rolled sickeningly as the figure strolled across the large arena. Huge muscles rippled under red skin, short thick horns protruding from the oval skull. Everything about this troll was power. Blinky took a step back, only to hit the wall; laughter erupted from the crowd to let him know this hadn't been unnoticed. How could he possibly fight this beast? A voice from the stands above introduced Blinky's opponent as 'The Crusher'- great, he had a fighting name.

It wasn't that Blinky couldn't hold his own in a fight; seriously, you can't train trollhunters for centuries and not learn something. Even so, Blinky was not a very strong troll; he could beat Draal or Aargh, but he always suspected that they went easy on him But now The Crusher was advancing, so Blinky would have to fight his hardest. He gripped his sword and stepped forward.

*Jim pov*

Back at the caves, Jim told his friends what he had learned from Basal. It was going well until Jim got to the part where he killed the changeling. Claire put her arm around his shoulders, comforting her trollhunter. Jim was upset, but he knew that Basal wasn't their biggest concern at the moment. He could do something about that later. Aargh had found a map somewhere, and Toby produced a large marker so that Jim could show them where the melee sector was. "It's going to be hard to get to him. Basal said that Blinky will either be in the cell area, the arena, or in Dictatious's private interrogation rooms. There's also going to be tons of guards, so we need to watch out for that. Any ideas?"

*Blinky pov*

It felt like the fighting went on forever. He was holding his own, but just barely. With every block and counterattack Blinky could feel his arms getting weaker, shaking with the exertion. His mind was racing; he was going to have to find some other way to win. Blinky's hulking opponent flung him across the arena once more, where he skidded on the dusty floor, scrambling to get back up again. The Crusher pressed the flat of his sword against Blinky's throat and shoved him back down on his back. He leaned close, his breath stinking in Blinky's face, and growled, "Why don't you just stay down? This must be the fifth time I've knocked you over." Blinky shoved against the sword so that he could breath, and replied, "If I stay down, you kill me. Please stop fighting me. If neither of us is defeated, neither of us die."

Crusher looked shocked, but then his mouth curved in a sadistic grin. "Seriously? Weakling, I will crush you. I will win easily!" Blinky rolled his eyes. "I thought you would say that. But you're wrong." He brought up one of his legs that was somehow unpinned, and brought it quickly up into Crusher's gronknuks, hard. The audience roared their approval. With Crusher incapacitated on the ground, Blinky looked up to see a shadowy figure- probably the general he was entertaining- step to the edge of a balcony and hold out a fist. Much like the ancient romans, the audience quieted and raised their fists, giving either a thumbs up or a thumb down. Blinky felt dread rise in his stomach as he saw mostly thumbs down; Blinky knew enough history to recognize what it meant.

The general surveyed the crowds, and gave his own answer. A bloodthirsty cheer rose from the spectators, roaring in Blinky's ears. Blinky set the point of his sword over Crusher's heart, and the red troll looked up at him, defeat in his eyes. Blinky shook his head, silently begging for some way out of this; Crusher grinned and grabbed the hilt of Blinky's sword, gripping the blue troll's hand to it. Blinky tried to yank himself away, but his opponent only gripped him tighter and forced Blinky to push the sword through his own chest. Crusher turned to stone almost instantly, still grinning up at Blinky.