Welcome to the Arena Ch. 4

“Why am I even here?” Blik grumbled to himself as he made his way down the stairways to the refreshment area. “Stupid place to waste a day... I REALLY need a root beer right now...” He kept on absentmindedly scanning the stands as he walked; who WERE some of these people? Turtles, monkeys, dinosaurs, things he'd never seen in any form in his life...

“What are you supposed to be, some sort of mushroom?” he asked one of the audience members, eying him (her? How do you TELL? he thought to himself) up and down with an eyebrow raised. “A mushroom with feet?”

“I am a GOOMBA, thank you!” the creature snapped in a gruff voice. “And I'll have you know that I'm here to watch the great King Bowser! If he wanted to, he could roast you like a marshmallow!”

“I'm guessing that goomba is some foreign language for 'mushroom with feet',” Blik answered back. “Why the heck is everyone here so strange looking?!”

“Speak for yourself, big ears,” the Goomba answered. “Those things are as tall as you! But then, that's really not saying much..”

“I AM NOT SHORT!” Blik screamed, attracting the attention of several others. “Why does everyone here keep SAYING that?!”

“Well, well, have I hit a sore spot?” the Goomba asked. “Look, why don't you just move along? Some of us would like to watch the show. It's starting soon, after all.”

“Like I care about this stupid show,” Blik grumbled, walking away.

“Either way, stop picking fights!” the Goomba called. “You're gonna get yourself killed! Why, if I felt like it, I'd get up off this bench and I'd-”

“SHUT UP!” Blik shrieked. Even more eyes focused their attention on him as he left, but at this point, he was truly beyond caring.
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“Threatening us... not believing me... calling me a COWARD...”

Gordon grumbled to himself the whole time he climbed down the tower, stomping with every step. “Who does he think he is?!” he shouted at no one in particular, stopping in his tracks and punching once at the wall in frustration. “Dishonorable, that's what he is, that's all he is...” Taking a deep breath to calm himself down, Gordon continued down the stairs, his steps slightly softer, but still heavier than normal. Stomping at each stone stair did hurt his paws, he admitted, but his mind was on other things at the moment...

“Maybe I'll end up matched against him eventually,” Gordon wondered aloud. “Then I can show him how much of a 'coward' I am!” An uncharacteristically wicked grin plastered his face as he fantasized in glee about wiping the cocky grin off of that hulking beast's face. Soon that Kyoto would see why one should never mess with a Highland warrior! He'd regret every single word, every single LIE that passed his lips! He'd regret ever messing with the all-powerful Gordon Quid!

“...no,” Gordon told himself as he stepped out into the sunlight. “No, that's just as bad as him...” He sighed as he turned and headed towards the snack machines he'd seen earlier. “As much as I love fighting, I must keep the higher ground... I'm the honorable one here...” A smirk slowly crossed his face as another thought occurred to him. “Besides, it's just as likely that he's going to be eliminated in his first fight. Who says he's any good at this, after all?” Finally self-assured, Gordon held his head up high and walked with his usual pride, once again excited about the coming battles. He whistled a merry Scottish folk tune as he approached the soda machine.

“Drums in my heart are drummin', I hear the bagpipes hummin'... ah hah, Burpo's! Cheer!” He put in enough money to buy himself several root beers, pressed the button a few times, and waited as the bottles were slowly lowered, one by one, to the door so he could take them. A nice supply of cold sodas, the opportunity to both watch and participate in some sport fighting... what could possibly make the day better?

“Oh, hi, Gordon! I didn't know you'd be here!”

Gordon became absolutely rigid with shock at the sound of a very familiar voice behind him. Could it possibly be...? He turned around and, upon having his suspicions confirmed, tried his hardest to conceal the huge smile he so desperately wanted to show. It didn't completely work, but at least it wasn't so bad as to frighten her...

Of course. THIS could possibly make the day even better.

“I wasn't expecting you, either! So nice to see you, Human Kimberly!”
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Meanwhile, back in the stands, Waffle listened intently as Green explained the entire concept of raising Pokemon.

“Don't they get hurt, though?” Waffle asked, still reaching over every once in a while to give Wigglytuff a quick pat. The Pokemon had absolutely no complaint about this. “I mean, fighting all the time and everything...”

“Not if you're careful,” Green replied. “As a trainer, you learn to tell when your Pokemon has had enough and you should call it back. Anyone who lets their Pokemon fight past their limit really has no concern for the poor creatures and shouldn't even be allowed to train, if you ask me.”

“I don't think they should be allowed, either,” Waffle agreed. “That doesn't sound nice at all.”

“But they're tougher than some of them look,” Green continued on. “Take a look at Wigglytuff here, for example. People who don't train may not think she looks like much, but she can take quite a bit of damage before going down. Not to mention her lullaby...”

“I noticed that last part,” Waffle pointed out.

“Most of the Pokemon I train are like Wigglytuff. Cute on the outside, but tough on the battlefield. Lulls people into a false sense of security. It's fun seeing the look on their face when my cute little Pokemon end up taking out their giant monsters with barely a scratch!” Green and Wigglytuff both laughed about this concept.

“So, how many Pokemon are there?” Waffle asked, utterly curious about the whole thing.

“Let's see...” Green looked up and placed her finger on her chin. “So far in official databases there's... 493 listed, I think? But some of them are extinct, some haven't even been proven to exist outside of legends, and researchers discover new species every once in a while. They update the database every five years or so.”

“Are there any Pokemon that look like cats?” Waffle asked a bit too excitedly.

Green blinked a few times. “Oh... is that what you are? I was kind of wondering...”

“Hey...” Waffle whined, obviously offended.

“Er, sorry,” Green apologized. “Anyway, there's a few cat-like Pokemon, yes.” She looked slightly to her right to see someone entering the bench in front of them. “Like that one,” she pointed at the white cat. “Those are called Meowth. They don't normally walk on their hind paws like that, though...”

“That's weird,” Waffle said. “My brothers and I do that all the time.”

The white cat pushed past everyone as he made his way toward an empty stretch of bench in front of Green and Waffle. He took his seat and faced forward, not interacting with anyone else around.

“I wonder where its trainer is?” Green asked no one in particular. “It probably learned how to walk like that from whoever trains it.”

“Hey, I taught myself this!” the Meowth snapped, turning to face the pair. “And I don't have a trainer! Two stupid humans I travel with, but not a trainer!”

“...you can talk?” Green said in shock. “I've never seen a talking Meowth before...”

“Well, now ya have,” Meowth said. “Taught myself that, too. Hey, you guys seen two idiots in R shirts around anywhere? James probably found a quarter on the ground or something, knowing him...”

“R shirts?” Green answered. “No, I haven't, but... R shirts? Your humans are from Team Rocket, aren't they!”

“Eh, I don't own 'em, I just travel with 'em,” Meowth said. “But yep, we're Rockets, all right!”

“I've heard of you guys!” Green said. “Some of the most skilled crime leaders in Kanto are Rockets...”

“Got that right,” Meowth said as he nodded, eyes closed and arms folded...

“...of course, most of the others are just petty thieves.”

He opened one eye and glared. “Maybe SOME of them are, but Jesse, James, and I sure ain't!”

“Wasn't Jesse James some outlaw or something?” Waffle asked. “I think I saw that in a movie once.”

“What? No,” Meowth responded. “I ain't never heard of that.” He leaned in towards Waffle and examined him closely. “You some sorta rare Pokemon? We're here to try to score some. Maybe then we can impress da Boss and I can be top cat once again!”

“I'm not a Pokemon, I'm a cat...” Waffle answered, slightly worried. “Not a cat Pokemon, either, just... a cat...”

“Eh? A cat? You sure are a funny lookin' one,” Meowth answered. “Could probably pass you off as an undiscovered Pokemon. If you'd just come with me...”

“Leave him alone!” Green snapped. Wigglytuff inflated herself and glared in an attempt to make herself appear threatening.

“Geh!” Meowth made a frightened noise. “All right, fine, fine, just keep that thing quiet!”

“Tuff!” Wigglytuff said as she deflated herself, pleased that someone for once showed some proper fear.

“I'm gonna go look for those other two,” Meowth said, shoving back the way he came in. “See you twerps later!”

“That was kind of strange...” Waffle said.

Green watched Meowth leave, fixated on the strange Pokemon. “You aren't kidding...”
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Blik stomped his way towards the snack area, still seething. “IDIOTS! I'm surrounded by IDIOTS! All of them!” he ranted to himself, still ignoring the offended looks and insults he was getting. “I came to spend time with one person, ONE PERSON, but NO, instead I get to hang around with all these FREAKS!” His mood wasn't at all improved when he made it to where he was going and saw Gordon and Kimberly, talking and laughing.

“Oh, sure...” he lowered his voice so Gordon couldn't hear. “Of course, HE gets to spend time with HER... but as for ME...” He dragged himself over to the machines, making no effort to hide his scowl.

“Hey, Mr. Blik!” Kimberly greeted, waving. Blik didn't respond and simply went to lean against the side of the machine. “You OK?” she asked.

“I'm FINE,” he spat. “You two go back to your conversation. I'm fine.”

“Would you like to come up to the tower with me, Kimberly?” Gordon asked, knowing better than to approach Blik at the moment. “I should probably get up there for now, before the tournament starts. We can continue talking up there.”

“I wish I could, Gordon, but I should probably get back to my parents,” Kimberly answered. “I just came to get a drink, they're probably wondering what's taking so long...”

“Would you like a root beer?” Gordon asked, offering one of the bottles he had purchased. “You can have it if you want.”

“Thanks!” Kimberly said, taking the bottle from him. “I'll look for you after everything's over, all right?”

“And I'll do the same,” Gordon replied. “Hope to see you then!” The two of them waved goodbye to each other as Kimberly walked away. Once she was gone, Gordon picked up another bottle from the ground, went over to Blik, and held it out.

“Here, Blik,” he said. “Go on, take it.”

“Thanks,” Blik muttered unenthusiastically, swiping the bottle.

“You're not drinking it already,” Gordon pointed out. “Something's wrong.”

“Yeah, well...” Blik sighed. “Is Katilda waiting in the same area as you?” he asked, somewhat hopefully.

“Oh, I see what's going on,” Gordon answered. “You can come up and see her. I don't know if you're SUPPOSED to, but it's not as if there's any guards or anything, so...”

“I'm coming and I'm staying,” Blik said, standing up straight rather than continuing to lean. “I came to be with her and that's what I'm doing.”

“Of course,” Gordon nodded. “Come on, it's this way.” Blik followed Gordon back to the tower, a bit more lively than before.
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“YOU WAIT UNTIL GORDON HEARS ABOUT THAT ONE! HE'S GOING TO TEAR YOU INTO LITTLE PIECES!”

“I'D LIKE TO SEE THE FATTY TRY!”

Katilda slammed the door shut and stood outside in the hall, fuming. “Big idiot...” she muttered to herself, gripping her sword. “Only so many death threats I can take before... ugh.” She looked down the stairs as she heard footsteps. “Gordon?” she called down. “Gordon, is that you? Do you have someone else with you? It doesn't sound like just you...”

“I'm here, too!” Blik called up, running ahead of Gordon and standing next to Katilda.

“Hey there,” Katilda said, smiling lightly and giving him a quick hug. “Good to see someone tolerable... er, not that you're NOT, Gordon,” Katilda added quickly as he came into sight.

“I know what you meant,” Gordon answered, chuckling. “Any reason you're not in there?”

“Kyoto,” she said, shuddering immediately after as if simply saying his name made her feel completely filthy. “The moron keeps making comments about how delicious I look...” She shivered again. “He's CREEPY.”

“Sounds creepy,” Blik agreed, looking toward the door. “What does he mean by delicious, anyway?” he asked. “If he's flirting with you I will take his throat and I'll-”

“He's a dog,” Katilda interrupted. “That dog we hit earlier, matter of fact. I think he means delicious literally.”

“Should have run him over when I had the chance,” Blik said. “Knew he would just be trouble. He's a DOG.”

“I'll wait in the room anyway,” Gordon said, going to turn the handle. “You two coming?”

“NO,” Katilda said. “I am NOT going in there. I don't care if I end up missing the first couple fights. Dealing with him isn't worth it.”

“And I'm staying with Katilda,” Blik said.

“Very well,” Gordon said with a nod. “I'll leave you two alone, then.” With that, he went back into the room to wait.

“So... we're alone...” Blik said, shifting slightly.

“Yeah,” Katilda said, smiling again.

“Exactly what I was going for,” Blik said, smiling back. “Ya know, this is even better than what I had in mind... no crowd to worry about. Sure, we'll have Gordon and that jackass coming in and out every so often, but still. This probably as alone as we're going to get.”

“I like the idea,” Katilda purred. “Just the two of us, hanging out a little before I go down for my fight...”

“You don't have to,” Blik said, still smiling. “You could just stay here with me. Or maybe we could just leave Gordon and Waffle here and go back home... Hovis won't bug us, I bet. We'll have the house as good as to ourselves. We can come back to get those two later.”

“Are you hinting at something?” Katilda asked, prodding his shoulder with her index. “Hey, after the fight, maybe...”

“Come on, Katilda, NOT after the fight!” Blik protested. “I want to spend the day with you! I can't do that if you're going to keep wandering off to these stupid fights! You can still drop out, can't you?”

“I could, but I don't want to!” Katilda yelled back. “I've been waiting for this for weeks, Blik! I'm not going to walk away now!”

“So you're choosing this stupid tournament over your own mate, huh? Is that it?!” Blik snapped, his pleased expression very quickly fading away.

“That is NOT what I said, so stop putting words in my mouth!” Katilda shouted, towering over Blik as best as she could. “Why are you so intent on getting me to stop this?”

“BECAUSE I'M SCARED!” Blik pushed back against her. “Sheesh, I'm sorry for being worried about my own mate, all right?! Should I really apologize for wanting to spend time with you? What am I supposed to say?! 'OK, Katilda, you go on, I could spend the day with you but I'd much prefer you went and risked your neck'?!”

“Need I remind you who has saved YOURS? TWICE?” Katilda screamed. “Give me a little bit of credit, at least! Just because I'm a girl, doesn't mean I'm some sort of fragile little flower! In fact, I'd say I'm a lot more capable than you'll EVER be!”

“And so you have to go out and prove it? WHY?!” Blik asked. “Why do you have to do this instead of spending some time with me?!”

“Because, BLIK, as hard as it may be for you to believe, I actually have interests outside of YOU!” Katilda yelled. “As much as you think you are, you are NOT the center of my universe, so get that idea out of your swollen ego right now, OK? If you're looking for the kind of girl who's going to drop everything she is just for the sake of your pride, you're looking in the wrong place!”

“FINE THEN! GO GET YOURSELF KILLED!” Blik screeched at the top of his powerful lungs and pointed down the stairs. “This is what's so important to you? This stupid thrill seeking?” he hissed, his voice lowering. “Fine then. GO. See if I even care anymore. Get out. Stay down there. Doesn't matter to me anymore. GO!”

“...fine,” Katilda said after a few moments of silence, her voice breaking. “Fine, Blik. I'll go. See you... or not, if you seriously don't care to. Maybe I don't, either.” She turned her back and headed down the tower, her eyes slowly starting to water. If Blik even noticed, he felt no sympathy. Rather than wait in the hall, he went into the room with Gordon and Kyoto.

“Hey, you're the shrimp who tried to kill me this morning,” Kyoto said. “What was all that just now about?”

Blik didn't respond. He simply headed toward the bench in front of the window and sat, his arms folded over the window sill.

“Blik?” Gordon asked, concerned. “Are you and Katilda OK...?”

“Leave me alone,” Blik grumbled, resting his chin on his arms. “Just leave me alone.”

“All right...” Gordon said slowly. “If you need to talk...”

“I won't,” Blik said. “Now leave me alone.” He continued gazing out the window, not really looking at anything in particular. After a few minutes of sitting in silence, he buried his face into his arms.

It was a preventive measure. If Gordon noticed that Blik had started to cry, he'd never hear the end of it.
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Chapter dedicated to Madeleine Joan Blaustein

October 9, 1960 – December 11, 2008

“Just remember – I'm the top cat!”