Defenders of the Universe - SU/VLD (Adopted by jorge.Fuentes18)

Chapter 2: The Gladiator

Kerberos. Two Years Earlier.

"Ugh..." Matthew groaned as he struggled to open his eyes, as his ears rang. Unable to detect anything through hearing and sight. Every time he tried to open his eyes, the ringing in his ears would grow to the point of deafening. Not to mention that every part of his body felt like jelly; being unable to move anything, not even a finger. Although three of his five senses had gone numb, Matt still felt that his body was being dragged somewhere by someone; neither of which he knew or wanted to possess knowledge of for that matter.

"Commander Sendak." Matt heard an unfamiliar voice respectfully address. His eyesight was slowly coming back to him; however, his hearing remained distorted. Despite the hindrances; he could, although barely, make out what was said. "We found ourselves some stowaways."

"Very good Haxus, these three should be of use to Emperor Zarkon." The voice, whom Matt assumed to be Commander Sendak, said in a harsh militant tone. As soon as the young man's vision fully returned, his eyes widened in disbelief at what he saw; the two men standing before him weren't even human. They were taller than the average adult male; with purple, fur-like skin and heads shaped like a mixture between a human and a cat, with devilish amber eyes.

The tallest of the two, whom Matthew believed to be Sendak, was equipped with red and black body armor with yellow highlights. He had a gigantic robotic left arm of similar, yet darker colors that was way too big for his body; however, he heaved it like it weighed nothing at all. In place of his right eye was a crimson, cybernetic one. Standing across from him was a slightly shorter man, who must've been Haxus. He wore armor like Sendak's, but his gear was black and grey with violet highlights, instead. Matt could tell he was the Commanders right-hand man by his respectful posture towards a superior officer.

"And what should be done with the old one?" Haxus asked humbly. Matt stared at the aliens with confusion; was he talking about his dad? If so, then who was the third person they spoke about earlier? Matt tried turning his head to find the shuttle pilot, Shiro and his father, the Kerberos missions leader.

"Send him to one of the labor camps; he'll work there until death claims him," Sendak commanded.

"No!" Matt unintentionally shouted with raw emotion; garnering the attention of the two aliens.

"So, this one's awake," Haxus stated with a smug smile as Sendak approached the imprisoned human; his artificial crimson and natural amber eyes stared directly into Matthew's own; as if they were gazing directly into his soul.

"Why are you doing this to us? We mean you no harm!" Matt questioned the military leader, only to scream in pain upon getting electrocuted by jolts of energy from the alien's mechanical arm.

Matthew's body began growing weaker from the violent shocks but tried his damnedest to remain conscious long enough to hear Sendak's orders. "Take the three of them to their holding cells and activate the hyperdrives; I expect us to arrive at Castle Doom in the next two varga!"

"Vrepit Sa!" Haxus shouted, beating his fist on his breast as some form of an honorable salute. Matthew tried to remain awake a little longer; but as his eyelids grew burdensome, and the ringing in his ears returned; everything eventually went dark and then silence.

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"Ugh..." Matt groaned again as he slowly opened his eyes; sitting up and massaging his throbbing forehead. "Wh... where am I?" Matthew asked himself, as he looked around the room; it didn't take long for him to figure out that he was in a cell; one big enough to store several people and was probably heavily fortified. Turning to his left, Matt found an unconscious Shiro laying against the wall. "Shiro!" The young man scrambled over to the unconscious pilot; gently shaking his body. "Shiro!"