Pepper was grateful that his roommates let him have some free time to himself. He spent the next couple of hours working on Nightmare Mala and was happy with his progress. The entire lower portion of the metal guides had been formed together and were ready for the clay to be shaped around them.

  It was almost perfect timing when he had finished working for the day that Marcus messaged him. Pepper had completely forgotten that today was the start of the Promina League. He closed out the message and started to make his way towards the house. His eyes immediately took in the sight of multiple color patterns glowing out of the windows.

  Now there are party lights? He mentally asked and let out a long sigh. He shook his head in frustration. Amprage on the other hand ran towards the door, completely excited to investigate what the activity was. He felt upbeat about the invite to watch the match, but the thought of being around a group of others quickly changed all that.

  His suspicion was confirmed when he reached the back door and saw the living room filled with strangers. Granted a few of the faces looked familiar, but all their names escaped him. Marcus’s friends were at least cordial and polite, but it didn’t help as Pepper noticed someone sitting in his favorite spot on the couch.

  He continued to make his way towards the back of the living room and kept going until he made his way into the kitchen. To Peppers surprise he found Wilson sitting on one of the back stools placed at the countertop. He smiled when his thin roommate actually gave him a small wave with his hand, though Wilson still refused to look anyone in the eye.

  “I’m surprised to see you out here hanging out with us.”

  “I broke another keyboard. This is the only other option I have for entertainment.”

  “MuscleMommyLover99 again?” Pepper smiled when he saw Wilson ball his tiny hands into fists.

  “I will beat him one day.”

  Pepper now saw the opportunity to let out his frustration on someone else. “How do you know they are a him?”

  The question appeared to throw off his roommate. Wilson straightened himself upward and cocked his head to the side. His hand sprang up and grabbed his chin. Pepper couldn’t help but chuckle as it was the most emotion he had ever seen his roommate produce. Well, besides unleashing his fury out upon his keyboard.

  “I had not considered this option.”

  Pepper’s eyebrow arched upward as he placed far to much energy into the moment. “Does it really matter?”

  Wilson’s shifted his heads angle to the opposite side. He then returned to his previous position. “You bring up a good point. No.”

  Pepper reached his hand up and scrunched his face. “No, what?”

  “No, it doesn’t matter who they are. I merely need to beat them. No! Wait…” Wilson then slammed his right fist down into the palm of his left hand. “Not just beat them, but completely crush their spirit to the point of them questioning their very existence!”

  Pepper could see the fmini frame of his roommate start to rise and fall as he took deep breaths. Wilson’s face appeared to change to a redder shade of anger. He reached up into the cupboard, grabbed a glass and retrieved some chocolate syrup. There was no delay as Pepper worked to mix in the cold milk from the fridge. He then slid the fresh glass of milk. His mind flashed with the thought of being the bartender serving the man at his wits end and hanging on by a thread.

  “Hey… maybe you should take it a little easy there. No need to blow a blood vessel over it. Here, my dad used to make me one of these when I had a hard day.”

  Wilson twisted in his seat and looked like he was fixated on the beverage. He grabbed the glass with both hands and lifted it up to his lips. Pepper started to internally laugh and didn’t stop as he watched Wilson chug the chocolate milk down in one go.

  His roommate turned and placed the glass back down on the counter. Wilson’s hands slid it back across the counter towards Pepper. “Fill it up P-Dub… I got a lot on my mind.”

  Pepper placed his hand over his face and bounced with laughter. “Sure, thing squints… sure thing.” He started to mix the two ingredients together, but before he stopped drizzling the chocolate syrup inside the glass he asked. “Should I make it a double?”

  “Hit me with that goodness.” Wilson replied with his monotone voice.

  Pepper continued to poor in more of the sweet chocolaty goodness when he heard the theme music for the Golem League come on. The living room roared as the group cheered for the arrival of the match.

  “Hello everyone and welcome to the Season 11 opener for the Promina League. I am of course, your host Nick Bosloe and It is great to be back with you today. What a stupendous matchup we have for you today, I mean, really… stupendous. But before we get going into the action, let me introduce my co-host, the one and only JD Glasscock.”

  Pepper had to shift his position to get a direct view of the holoscreen. He crossed his arms and leaned against the back kitchen counter. He smiled as he saw Nick was wearing a golden honey colored tie for today’s broadcast. The color was unique and really caught Pepper’s attention. The traditional professional business suit was then contrasted by a JD wearing what appeared to be a bumble bee outfit.

  The room filled with laughter as the host adjusted his high gloss black sunglasses but was beaming with a smiled. “I don’t know about you Nick, but I am ready to get this thing on!”

  Nick was clearly taken be surprise as he now was laughing out loud. He quickly worked to get his professional composure. “I think I speak for everybody when I ask. What on earth is this JD?”

  “Well, you know me Nick, I move like a hurricane and sting like a bee!” JD then air boxed towards the camera and threw a couple of jabs. “And speaking of hurricanes, that is exactly what this matchup is going to be like! Cause two of these competitors are a powerful force just like a powerful tropical storm, but not only that, they have one as a part of their gladiator interface!”

  Nick shifted his attention between the camera and his cohost. “And that is clearly a reference to our dual gladiators, R.A. Cooper and of course, L.M. Hughes. They were the first two gladiators to receive permission from the Golem League to co-compete together within a single match. As we all know, they are not the only ones who do this sort of switch style today, but they certainly opened the doors and spearheaded the initiative.”

  “Oh, 100% Nick.” JD waved his hand back and forth in front of his body as his personality continued to set the tone. “These two ladies ran full force ahead and basically told the Golem League, hey! We’re going this way.” JD was pointing off to his far side and emphasizing his point. “If y’all want to come with us cool, otherwise we’re going to go kick major tail over here. And sure enough, the Golem League listened, did the right thing, and now we have dual gladiators competing.”

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  JD then pointed towards the camera and focused on his next point. “Not only that Nick, you have to give a lot of credit to the company 7 Seas. They took a lot of risk and made a special variation of their Hurricane gladiator interface which allows both of these ladies to be logged into their golem’s controls at the same time.”

  JD turned back to Nick and opened his hand. “Granted, there are other companies that now make special dual gladiator control interfaces, but 7 Seas was the first to make that jump and create a capable platform for everyone else to build off of.”

  “Now what about their opponent JD, Lee Jin-Woo from South Korea?”

  JD’s face lit up and he reached his left hand over and placed it on top of Nick’s shoulder. “First off, how can you not love this kid. Jin-Woo has been climbing up the ladder, rung by rung, not giving up and using a super creative fighting style. Drunken master, but not just any drunken master, a drunken master with a freaking sword!”

  JD turned to Nick and leaned forward. “Because we all know, nothing bad ever came from giving a drunk guy a ninja sword. Ha!”

  Nick started to chuckle and continued. “A unique technique indeed and a unique golem design. Now granted…” Nick paused for a second and extended his hand out towards the camera. “There is a chance that Jin-Woo may show up without his beloved golem, but our current analysts have stated that it doesn’t appear Jin-Woo will be changing things up any time soon.”

  Nick then gave another reaffirming motion of his hand towards the camera. “We expect to see the golem that has really gained a lot of fandom here in Asia. A golem inspired by an old videogame assassin character with a demonically infused blade like no other. Pair that together with the extremely unique fighting style of drunken master, and you’re in for one heck of a show.”

  Nick turned back to JD who gave a firm nod in agreement. “You’re so right Nick. I mean…” JD opened up his hands and widened his shoulders slightly as if to address the elephant in the room. “Our friends, fans, and partners in Asia have not had it easy. The rift wars took a toll on them almost greater than any other area of the world. To see Jin-Woo rise up from the ashes and continue to work his way up to this level…” JD shrugged and nodded his head with a genuine expression on his face. “You can’t help but love rooting for the young man.”

  Nick raised his finger up to his ear and then nodded to the camera. “Alright folks, we’ve just been told that this match is ready to get under way. Let’s head right to the arena and watch these gladiators face off!”

  The screen transitioned to show the massive Redwood trees sprawling across the landscape. The room rose with cheers and a voice called out. “Heck yeah! The Cascade arena, this is going to be epic!” A slow zoom began and the camera view shifted to that of being immersed within the giant Sequoia trees.

  A quick rotation of the camera and there stood the South Korean gladiator. Bright red hair took everyone by surprise, seemed to fit as Jin-Woo wore pitch black sunglasses and a black war bomber jacket. The camera was just able to get a glimpse of the small vertical tattoo that ran down the back side of Jin-Woo’s neck. A dark blue pair of blue jeans and combat books finished off the gladiator’s appearance.

  Jin-Woo’s gladiator platform hovered him in a few more feet before coming to a stop. He reached into his back pocket and retrieved a pair of black leather fingerless gloves. He put them on first, but then rolled the sleeves of his leather jacket to expose the Rage Hyper Inline vambraces. Jin-Woo reached up and tapped on the metal command module which quickly illuminated in deep red coloration.

  The red light of the interface matched his hair color as it wrapped around Jin-Woo’s wrists and hands. An effect generated by the interface which looked as if he was spell casting. The light formed spinning disks and rotated back and forth as his fingers, hands, and wrists continued to work the controls.

  Jin-Woo came into the center of the screen and without warning started to move in an articulate fashion. His whole body moved more like a combination of break dance, martial artist, and wizard all in one. As the camera zoomed out Pepper could see a jagged movement occur behind the gladiator. The camera focus shifted and the background began to clear.

  Pepper first made out the bamboo sun hat. There was a cross-hatch pattern towards the edge which allowed the faint red glow to illuminate from underneath it. The golems main form was hidden behind the large tree but it looked to stumble forward and almost slammed into the giant tree. The golem had brought its arm up and braced its body against the tree bark.

  That was when Pepper saw the meticulous craftsman ship of the golem. The golems hand was chiseled into the appearance of skeletal bones. Each finger delicately crafted to the point that it looked real. Pepper was captivated, but then he watched the golem’s hand curl into a fist. How? How is it possible to get that much detail and mobility? He mentally said in amazement.

  The golem lifted its head, exposing its face which was carved in the design of a traditional kabuki mask. The eyes glowed red with power but then they all heard the blood curdling laugh. The golem’s audible effect echoed throughout the arena and a shivering chill ran down Pepper’s spine.

  That… golem is incredible! Pepper could feel that his jaw was dropped wide open.

  The golem then shoved its body back upright and then leaned to the side. Its feet stumbling forward again but then came to an abrupt stop. The giant figure didn’t stand still however, but continued to sway in all directions as if it truly was intoxicated.

  The camera pulled away to show that the golem was adorned in a ripped black garment. The color was frayed and ripped along its edges and was sleeveless, but designed with a long flowing tail. The upper torso of the golem was carved to an effect that mixed skeletal bones with a semi-muscular physique. Pepper couldn’t help but see an adaptation of a zombie theme.

  Nick’s voice then arrived in the broadcast. “What a mesmerizing, yet terrifying golem JD. Jin-Woo titled his golem as Shibito, which translates as dead person, and my, what a sight it is to behold.”

  Along the golem’s waist was a large belt with a samurai sword hanging off the side. A set of shorts dangled down and were ripped just at the knee joint. Pepper couldn’t help but appreciate the fact that Jin-Woo had even ensured the feet where chiseled and looked to be wearing traditional straw-rope sandals.

  The golem took a few staggered steps forward, leaned heavily to one side as if to catch its balance. It then stood upright and staggered back a step, its other arm outstretched as if it was trying to stop the world from spinning and that was when Pepper saw what looked to be a clay vase clutched in its other hand. Another round of dark rumbling laughter came out of Shibito, but then his joints spewed forth what looked to be steam or smoke.

  JD’s laughter came over the airwaves. “I’m loving it! I gotta say Nick, I’m really loving it!”

  “What a grand entrance JD! I know the jeepers creepers have certainly rattled my cage, but let’s see how our two ladies are handling it.”

  The camera turned around to the opposite side and showed the two ladies standing side by side on their platform. R.A. Cooper reached up and adjusted her bright green hair to one side. The ends of her hair draped just over a blue jean jacket. It was unbuttoned and showed a black graphic t-shirt which tucked into leather pants. Her black combat boots were polished enough that a bright shine reflected off of them.

  The camera panned over to showcase L.M. Hughes standing next to her teammate. Her blonde hair was parted to one side, but had bright red tips which ended along her jaw line. Pepper didn’t know if it was truly a military uniform or not, but L.M wore what appeared to be an older military jacket. The royal navy blue color had golden yellow trim with large gold buttons. A military stripe design on her upper arms and just above the wrists.

  Underneath the jacket she wore a pitch black shirt which draped over what looked to be black denim jeans. The two women quickly glanced at each other, the camera shot close enough to capture the confident smile they shared with one another. The two ladies then turned their attention back to their opponent just before they put their operator helmets on.

  The helmets powered on and immitted a teal coloration. Though Pepper was unable to see what information was being displayed within their visors, it certainly left his imagination wondering. Must be a game changer to have all that data directly in front of you. He thought.

  “Ha! Shibito stumbled into this arena trying to instill fear into his opponent. But that timber wolf looks like it is ready to tear into the zombie warrior.” Nick exclaimed while the camera panned down.

  The timber wolf appeared as if it was made of pure iron. The metal ridges for the wolf’s fur looked as if they were razor sharp. The fine jagged pieces left the impression that one could be sliced right open if it’d brush past you. The timber wolf’s eyes sparkled as if they were diamond but had an orange glow of flame deep within them.

  The wolf opened its mouth and morphed to showcase that of an aggressive grow. Pepper could see the claws of the wolf began to grow in length. The animal then pawed at the dirt and left deep imprints within the earth’s surface. The countdown timer began and JD cried out over the broadcast.

  “Let’s get it on!”