NT: Chapter 110

As soon as I was finished giving Sheeva my Banking Details, I took a deep breath, prepared to head back into the arena for my final fight. I wasn't expecting one of Sheeva's muscular arms to grab onto my shoulder with a three-fingered hand. I felt another of her arms reach into the pocket of my jacket and deposit a slip of paper into my expanded pocket. As she let go of my shoulder, I turned around, cocking an eyebrow, reaching into my expanded jacket pocket, I pulled out the slip of paper, frowning as I read it. It was an address in one of the swankier apartment buildings in the rich area of Sunnydale, near where Cordy and her family lived. There was a Lampadati Dealership out that way, where Sunnydale's elite went to grab luxury Italian sports cars.

"What's this?" I questioned.

"My Address in this timeline. Come by sometime, if you survive the next fight." Grinned Sheeva.

"You have an apartment in this timeline? Giles made it sound like this place just showed up here the other day?" I queried.

"We can move very quickly with Gods on our side." Responded Sheeva.

"Right, so I don't imagine I can just show up? How do I get in to see you?" I asked.

"Tell Barney at the front desk you're here to see Miss Rendan. He should let you through." Answered Sheeva.

"Miss Rendan? Cute, but a bit on the nose, no?" I questioned.

"Not many people here speak Japanese. It fits well enough, even though the Glamour Necklace I use while out and about here masks it. Anyway, Barney knows not to ask too many questions. His previous place of employment was shut down by the government after misappropriating funds to build an Anti-Mass Spectrometer a couple of years back. Even if he did ask about it, he knows when to keep his mouth shut." Shrugged Sheeva.

"Wait, your building's security guard worked for Black Mesa?" I queried.

That was one of the things that got downloaded into my brain, simply cause it was still a fresh thing when I was created. The Black Mesa Research Facility had been a US Government Research and Development site near the town of Lucifer, New Mexico. It had opened up in nineteen-ninety-three, around two years after the Town's major source of income, a tourist trap of a played-out gold mine, had been shut down by the county, citing safety issues in ninety-one. It had puttered along in physics research until it got shut down around nine months before I came out of the tank. Turned out, the Administrator, Doctor Wallace Breen, had misappropriated government funds meant to go to safety equipment in order to source materials for a machine he called an Anti-Mass Spectrometer, a sort of scanner that was meant to work for exotic matter that had negative mass.

Anyway, the whole thing had been whistleblown to the Government when the Machine had only been half built. The Special Forces had gone in and arrested a bunch of scientists, including Doctor Breen, and the hearings had just wrapped up about a month before I'd come out of the tank in the Seacouver Zone and ran into Amanda. It'd been the main reason that the Mad Gear Gang Hearings had only just started when I'd gotten out of the tank, despite the Gang having been kicked out of Metro City and its leaders having been arrested the month before I'd gotten out of the tank.

"He did. He's also dependable enough that I see no problem with that." Nodded Sheeva.

"Obviously, or you would have picked a different apartment. I guess I'll just drop by in a week or so, does that work?" I asked.

"It will." Nodded Sheeva.

"Then I'll see you there." I grinned.

"I look forward to it." Smirked Sheeva.

Stuffing the slip of paper back into my pocket, I headed back toward the Arena. Bellona's aides were still repairing it, using some sort of Martial Arts-style that allowed wide-scale Earth Manipulation. I frowned at that, pulling a battered packet of Red Apple Cigarettes out of my jacket pocket and lighting up, watching the pair of Green and Brown-clad Chinese Men use movements that looked oddly like Hung Gar Kung Fu, if you could figure out a way to use it to Manipulate Rock and Stone, to repair the arena floor. As I watched on, taking a drag off my cigarette, I found that I had company.

"Earthbenders." Came a voice behind me.

I turned to look and saw a twenty-something woman with short, fiery, curly red hair wearing magical chainmail armor, and with a Magic Faerunian Longsword sheathed at her waist. Across her right forearm was tattooed a swirling pattern of blue waves and thorns, culminating in a blue, blooming rose design. The tattoo was clearly extremely magical, and looking at it revealed that the patterns were made of thousands of tiny glyphs. I'd honestly never seen anything like it before, nor had the Black Dragon, or if they had, Kano had obviously decided not to share it with me in the information download.

"Pardon me?" I questioned.

"They call themselves Earthbenders. Something about their home plane naturally attunes people with sufficient Chi to one element or another at Birth, giving them an innate connection with that element that can be harnessed through training to manipulate said element, in this case, Earth." Explained the Woman.

"Interesting. Is this a power that can be learned?" I queried, taking another drag off my cigarette.

"I don't know. You'd have to ask them. If you're thinking of betting them to learn, though, I'd advise against it." Frowned the Woman.

"Why would that be?" I asked.

"Why do you think these Earthbenders are here instead of on their home plane? They bet on themselves in the arena, even after being warned that the current champion of the Arena at the time was someone they couldn't beat. The two of them together fought anyway, lost, and now serve Bellona." Informed the Woman.

"So you think they've learned their lesson then?" I questioned.

"They'd have to be pretty stupid not to have done so." Nodded the Woman.

"Who was the Champion that beat them? It wasn't these three, was it?" I questioned.

"No. It was the Champion who beat me. Some sort of Wizard that could only cast magic through a wand. I only figured it out after he beat me. The man claimed to be an 'Auror' from someplace called Wizarding Britain and was consistently talking about constant vigilance. Apparently, he was called Moody." Responded the Woman.

"So how did he get beaten, then?" I queried.

"By going up against someone who was wearing an anti-magic amulet made of something called Kosch-Basalt mined by Dwarves on his home plane. He was some kind of Barbarian Raider-type, wielding a battleaxe he called a Skraja. Either way, he got defeated by some sort of fat Lizard Person named Giran, who could spit a sort of sticky gum out of his mouth. Giran left after being Champion for a night, vacating his position and leading to a free-for-all for the Champion spot, which the current team won." Explained the Woman.

"Huh, you know a lot about the arena, eh? Who are you?" I asked.

"My name is Alias of Westgate. I've been here for about a year now. I made the mistake of wagering my ability to leave for a year and a day on the outcome of my fight with Moody. I lost, so I've been stuck here." Answered the Woman, Alias.

"I see. So you've been stuck here ever since? What was it you stood to win?" I questioned.

"The ability to travel freely through the infinite planes without needing someone to cast magic to do it for me. It sounded like a pretty good bet at the time. Moody was old, with a prosthetic leg and eye. I thought it could work out in my favor." Shrugged Alias.

"Westgate, huh?" I queried.

"It's on the Dragon Coast, in a place called Faerun, on a plane called Toril." Spoke up Alias.

"I'm familiar with it." I nodded, taking a last drag off my cigarette.

"You are? Are you a planar traveler?" Asked Alias.

As I breathed out a cloud of smoke, stubbing out my cigarette, I tried to figure out exactly how to answer that. I wasn't sure how well she'd take the knowledge of my origins and the fact that Westgate, her apparent hometown, housed one of the Black Dragon's extraplanar offices. True, I didn't know her, and Westgate was a notorious den of vice and villainy. For all I knew, she could already know about that, or be part of another organization, like the Fire Knives, which was arguably worse than the Black Dragon for how their longest standing partnership had been with the Cult of Moander, and evil and sinister god of Corruption and Decay. At least the Black Dragon only allied with Ba'al out of convenience. I had no illusions that Kano wouldn't try to backstab the Goa'uld System Lord the second he got what he wanted.

"Of a sort." I offered.

There really wasn't any reason not to keep the knowledge to myself, after all. Besides, the mysterious traveler thing played well with folks, from my admittedly limited experience. I could do worse if I wanted to hide something. Ultimately, it didn't seem to matter, as Alias just shrugged at that.

"Well, I won't pretend I don't have things of my own I want kept secret. It looks like they're finished with the arena repairs anyway." Opined Alias.

Looking over, I saw that the Earthbenders had finished their task and were putting the finishing touches on the newly repaired arena by filling it with new sand. Nodding to Alias, I frowned before offering a piece of information up anyway in such a way that wouldn't link me to Kano's organization. Hopefully, anyway.

"When you're able to go back home to Westgate, if you see anyone who looks like they're sporting a tattoo or symbol of two dragons flanking a downward thrust dagger, be wary. Those are extraplanar travellers from a Syndicate called the Black Dragon, and they have access to all kinds of resources to throw at making people who annoy them go away." I warned.

"I'll keep that in mind. My thanks." Nodded Alias.

"Sure thing. Now, though, I have some aliens to beat up." I remarked.

And with that, I headed into the newly-repaired Arena to face down the Champion Team. The three of them nodded, acknowledging me as the pre-fight staredown that always tended to precede these sorts of things happened. The three of them had taken up a sort of triangular formation, each being able to cover the other in the event of combat. It was a pretty decent tactic to take, I thought. I wondered which of the three came up with it, briefly, before deciding it didn't matter all that much who came up with it, just that I would have to come up with a way to beat it.

Korg, son of Rel'gak, was the easiest to read and out in front at the tip of the triangle. Clad in brownish-black padded armor that my powers of Analysis informed me was made of impact-resistant and energy ablative materials, with the oddly shaped, crescent-bladed sword in his hands, Korg growled at me, bearing sharp, pointed teeth as he did so, trying to intimidate me. I probably would have been more intimidated if he'd decided to lead with the odd-looking energy pistol at his waist instead, but I didn't say that to his face, as he was clearly a proud sort just from the way he was standing and acting. I'd only spoken to Xander a few times, involving his various pop-culture fixations, but from what little he'd told me, that fit with Klingon Mentality.

Back and to Korg's right, Kad Bralor, the Mandalorian, was far more inscrutable, thanks to the visored faceplate of his full helmet covering his entire face. His body language too gave away nothing, a perfect poker face. However, he clearly intended to start the fight from range, judging by the energy rifle he had unslung in his arms right now. That didn't mean he'd be helpless at close range, however. Something told me that slab of silver metal he used as a blade wasn't just for show. The telltale whine of powered servoes in his armor likewise told me that. If all else failed, he had a jetpack and the air to fall back on. I decided then and there that this had to be the strategist of the group.

Meanwhile, Nak'an'uub the Yautja was likewise almost impossible to read, but for a very different reason. He was alien enough that his facial expressions were completely impenetrable to me. In one hand, he held the metal sphere with the button on top that Kad had given him earlier, and in his other hand, he had a gauntlet that had not only a retractable sword-blade that could fold out using nanotech, but also some kind of launcher built into the wrist that seemed to possibly launch razor discs or something, judging by the shape and size of the mouth of the launcher. A green glowing screen on the forearm part of the gauntlet held buttons and showed markings in a language that was completely alien to me, a series of dashes and squiggles I couldn't make sense of. He chittered at me, tusked mandibles flaring in hostility.

"Well, you lot seem to have weapons ready. I don't suppose you'd mind if I used mine?" I questioned.

"Use whatever weapons you wish. True victory will only come to the superior warrior." Intoned Korg.

"I'm a Mandalorian. I'm never unarmed if I can help it. I'd expect the same of anyone else in the same line of work." Nodded Kad.

Nak'an'uub once more let out a chitter that I couldn't figure out. Thankfully, Kad came to my rescue here, translating for me as I clearly couldn't understand the Reptilian-insectoid Alien. Though from what I was told, I wondered if it might not be better to have remained ignorant. Nak'an'uub sounded like a total psycho.

"He says that your weapon selection doesn't matter to him. Only the thrill of the hunt." Intoned Kad Bralor.

"How can you understand him?" I queried.

"Translator devices. Mine is in the form of an implant." Spoke up Korg.

"Mine's built into my helmet." Added Kad.

"I'll bet that comes in handy, though your teammate sounds a bit bloodthirsty for my taste." I frowned.

"I can understand the sentiment. There is much glory and honor to be had in overcoming powerful foes in battle. It's a sensation that calls to the blood in all true warriors." Offered Korg.

"Honor and Glory are good, but don't lose sight of the mission." Cautioned Kad.

Before Korg could muster a response, Nak'an'uub chittered again, looking between his two teammates and putting a stop to what was clearly going to be an argument, judging by the expression on Korg's face. Likely an old one, too, if the way the trio was talking about it was any indication. That was good to know, a possible fracture point to break their cohesion as a team. Unfortunately, before I could press it home, Bellona spoke up, ordering the Championship Bout to begin, before throwing in one more thing.

"This will be the final bout this evening. Should Ulysses win, he will become the champion going into tomorrow evening's bouts. That being so, I will offer him a boon, as is standard for reigning Champions. Now, if both sides are prepared for battle, you may begin when ready." Intoned Bellona, before sitting back down in her throne.

That was news to me. I had no idea about any boon, though I wasn't sure I wanted to be the reigning champion tomorrow, as well. I had to finish getting ready for whatever Apocalypse was coming down on the Hellmouth this year, after all. Regardless, I reached into my expanded jacket pocket, pulling out the Green Destiny and my Quigley Revolver. If they wanted to turn this into a weapons fight, I was more than happy to show them I was no slouch there, either. Nodding at the trio, I spoke up to let them know we could start.

"I'm ready when you are." I intoned.

"As are we." Intoned Korg, Nak'an'uub chittering in agreement.

"In that case, let's dance!" I shouted.

"Tra'cyar mav! Oya!" Shouted Kad.

As he did that, not only did Korg surge forward, swinging his oddly-shaped blade, but Nak'an'uub flicked a few buttons on his gauntlet and vanished from sight. Immediately, I was forced to parry a downward hacking cut from the crescent blade of Korg's weapon with the Green Destiny. However, before I could riposte, Kad fired a bolt of blazing yellow energy that forced me to dodge back away, the bolt hitting the sand near where my feet had been just a moment earlier and turning the sand to glass. That was a hell of a powerful weapon! Clearly armor-piercing! As Korg came in with another cut, pressing me back, I was forced to ripple Chi through my body to kick him away with a Muay Thai-style push kick that was enhanced by Chi, crumpling the tip of the triangle inward as Korg was thrown backward several feet.

A trio of yellow, rapid-fire bolts came in at me before I could follow up, forcing me to back away and bracketing me into dodging straight backward to avoid being hit. I fired back with the Quigley Revolver, only for the rounds to impact the armor the Mandalorian wore without punching through at all, literally sparking off the metal without going through. There was no way that was steel plate. Even Trinium would be dented by being hit with a bullet from my Quigley Revolver, which had been specially enchanted for power and accuracy, after all, thanks to the ability of old-school revolvers to take on enchantments more readily than modern weapons. In response, I was forced to dodge more yellow bolts.

Snarling, I leaped up into the air, using the Gekiro of Master Gen to dodge the bolts and climb into the air, the Waterfall Kicks allowing me to ascend. Moments later, a bit of mystical power, an incantation, and a mystical gesture had me casting the Third Circle Spell of Lightning Bolt at the Mandalorian. Unfortunately, that same armor that was impervious to bullets was also apparently heavily energy resistant. My spell surged into the armor-clad Warrior to little effect. Oh sure, he stopped firing at me, but as I fell, Korg shoved himself to his feet and drew his energy pistol, firing a green bolt at me that crackled as it soared up at me, forcing me to think quickly if I didn't want to be hit. Surging Chi into one hand, I fired off a one-handed Shou Ha Chi blast, the force of which flung me backward out of the path of the bolt.

As I landed in a crouch, I growled, realizing that this was going to be tougher than I'd thought. Korg and Kad alone were able to just about keep up with me, drained of Chi as I was from the Chun-Li fight. I may not be wounded anymore, but that didn't mean I had any more Chi in the tank after fighting a grandmaster-level opponent than you'd think. As for spells, well, it was clear that energy-based evocations lower than the fifth circle were out against Kad. Maybe even more than that, and physical impacts wouldn't work unless I could get him between those metal plates or could get up close to hit him with a solid, Chi-powered attack. I was going to have to conserve my Chi from this point on, which meant relying more on Magic and Psychic Powers than I would ultimately have liked.

Standing up from my crouch, I fired off a pair of pistol shots at Korg. The first was blunted by his advanced armor, but the second forced him to tuck into a shoulder roll as I sighted down at his head, diverting his angle of attack to the side. This allowed me to dredge up more mystic power and cast a Fifth Circle spell of Darkbolt, the eel-like energy lash striking Korg as he got to his feet, searing into him and constricting around him, grinding his bones as he let out a grunt of pain and fell to the arena floor. Surging forward, I rippled Chi through my body and lashed out with a Karate-style Shuto Uchi knife hand strike at the base of his skull. The Chi-powered blow swiftly knocked the preoccupied Klingon out, only for me to be hit with a dart that punched into my thigh from the side as I dealt with one opponent.

Frowning, I found the dart had been coated with some kind of poison agent that was fighting my healing factor to try to make me sluggish and slow my reaction times. Turning, I frowned as I found Kad closing with me, firing a whipcord at my legs that wrapped around them. I slashed down with the Green Destiny, cutting the cord, only for Kad to rocket into me with a Jetpack-assisted uppercut, knocking me down, as I was trying to conserve my Chi by not keeping my Chi Enhancement running the whole time. Kipping to my feet, I realized that was clearly a mistake, just as Kad rocketed into the air on a plume of burning jetpack fuel before shouting out to his now-hidden teammate.

"Now! Do it!" He exclaimed.

That was when what Nak'an'uub had been planning to do ever since he had turned invisible became clear, as he suddenly turned visible once again, cloaking device switching off as the metal sphere, which had begun rapidly blinking with lights in his hand, was tossed my way, revealing it to be a grenade of some kind. Scowling, I began to dredge up mystic power, biting out an incantation to a Sixth Circle Spell of Globe of Invulnerability. That spell just managed to snap into place around me before the arena area around me was suddenly bathed in nuclear fire as the fusion device masquerading as a hand grenade went off at my feet. Fortunately for me, the Globe of Invulnerability spell protected me from the blast. Unfortunately for my opponents, they'd chosen to use a weapon that very well could have killed me had I been less on the ball.

And that meant that I could respond in kind, as they were about to learn as soon as the flames died down. . .

XXXX

Xander, Faith, and Oz had been joined by Giles and Willow just before Ulysses had managed to knock out the Klingon. Honestly, Oz thought that Ulysses was being slow compared to how he usually fought, but it was Xander who let them know what was what on that front. Of course, he only spoke after taking a sip of his drink, some kind of sports drink from another dimension called Brawndo with weird branding that claimed it was 'What Plants Crave', for some reason.

"He's conserving Chi." Informed Xander.

"Why would he do that?" Questioned Giles, sipping at his bottle of Old Düsseldorf Beer, a brand that, as far as Oz knew, went out of business five years ago in their timeline.

"Because he fought that leggy chick earlier. He was saying something about her being some kinda Grandmistress or something." Offered Faith.

"You picked up on that?" Queried Oz.

"What? I can pay attention to shit when I wanna, you know." Defended Faith.

"Still, it doesn't seem like something he'd do." Frowned Willow, sipping a can of Buzz Cola.

"Did he happen to mention this Grandmistress' name?" Asked Giles.

"Zhang Chun-Li." Answered Oz.

"I see." Frowned Giles.

"What's the big deal with that? She some kinda bigshot?" Questioned Faith.

"You could say that." Nodded Xander.

"How big are we talking here?" Queried Willow.

"Zhang Chun-Li is possibly one of the top twenty most powerful Chi Adepts on the Planet, and if not in the top twenty, at least in the top fifty, depending on how one wishes to count certain people." Informed Giles.

"Huh, you know that doesn't sound like a lot until you zoom out." Frowned Willow.

"What're you talking 'bout, zoom out?" Asked Faith.

"There are seven billion people on earth, give or take." Answered Oz.

"And those are just the Humans." Added Xander.

"Fifty out of seven billion is less than a thousandth of a percent of the population. It's a small enough percentage that you need to use scientific notation to actually meaningfully write it down." Explained Willow.

"Oh. And Uly beat her? That's gotta make him real strong, right?" Questioned Faith.

"As far as humans go, yeah." Nodded Xander.

"We don't live in a world with just humans, though." Pointed out Willow.

"Demons ruin the curve." Agreed Oz.

"Even then, this would be something worthy of a particularly powerful demon. Beyond most Vampires outside of the very oldest, and beyond most Mid-Ranking Demons." Remarked Giles.

"No wonder he's off his game after dealing with that kinda power." Frowned Faith.

"Yeah, no kidding." Affirmed Xander.

"Wait, what's that thing?" Queried Willow, frowning as she watched the Yautja toss some kind of metal ball at Ulysses.

"It almost seems like some kinda grenade." Mused Faith.

"That's no grenade." Frowned Xander.

"It isn't?" Asked Giles.

"No way! That's a thermal detonator!" Hissed Oz as the sphere landed.

Then the entire arena was bathed in bright light as the fusion explosion lit up the section of the arena where Ulysses had been standing, bathing the entire area in nuclear flames. Oz couldn't suppress his wince as he saw that, even as the others shouted out in dismay. All of them except Xander, anyway. Xander seemed confident that Ulysses had something up his sleeve to survive that blast. Thankfully, when the flames subsided and the light died down, the entire section of the arena they'd filled was turned into a glass floor, all except for the area around Ulysses, which had been saved from nuclear annihilation by a shimmering translucent sphere. It seemed that Xander was right. Ulysses wasn't out of the fight yet.

And from the look on his face, the remaining two members of the Champion Team were about to have a very bad time. . .

XXXX

As the flames cleared and my Globe of Invulnerability winked out, I nodded at my two opponents. The Yautja even took a step back as he saw that I was apparently unaffected by the miniature sun that had just turned a whole section of the Arena into a glass floor for yet another time tonight. He reached for his gauntlet to try and slip away under the cloak again, only to find himself held in place thanks to me using Megakinesis to lock him down and stick him in place. To his credit, the Mandalorian tossed a second grenade at me, this one emitting a sonic shriek to try and break my concentration and force me to loosen my Megakinetic Grip on his teammate. I could focus through burst eardrums just fine, though, and my healing factor would deal with the consequences in a matter of seconds, even slowed by the last remnants of poison in my system from the dart earlier.

As the Mandalorian saw that, he fired his energy rifle at me, trying to force me to move, hoping to break my hold that way. It didn't work out the way he wanted it to, as with a snarled mystic syllable, a gesture, and a flex of mystic power, a Fifth Circle Spell of Wall of Force snapped into place, separating the arena into halves, with the Mandalorian on one side and myself and the Yautja on the other. The Mandalorian ignited his jetpack to try and boost himself over the wall, of course, but in the time that it took him to do so, my eardrums finished regenerating, and I took my Megakinetic hold and pulled on it from two directions.

The Yautja let out a horrific screech as I literally tore him in half with my Megakinesis. The Mandalorian snarled, firing at me with his energy rifle, trying to bracket me as his jetpack finally boosted him up and over the massive Wall of Force. Unfortunately for him, I wasn't caring about conserving my Chi anymore and swiftly moved out of the way. With my Megakinetic hold no longer occupied with the Yautja, I turned it on the Mandalorian, yanking him out of the sky with it to crash to the glassy arena floor. To his credit, it seemed the Mandalorian was able to roll with the fall enough to get to his feet and fire off a stream of flame from his left gauntlet, using the moment my vision was blocked by the plume of fire to draw his blade and charge me, powered servos in armor working overtime as he did so.

The Green Destiny leaped to meet his odd, silvery blade in a parry, and my enchanted, Chi-imbued blade met the Mandalorian's silvery, spaceborne edge, both blades striking sparks off one another. I put the Quigley Colt back into my expanded Jacket pocket, even as my riposte, a cut to the side just above the waist, in the gap between where the armored belt and chestplate met, was just barely dodged thanks to both the powered armor and a boost from his Jetpack. He soared over the blade and blasted me with another jet of flame, continuing to use the plumes of fire as cover for his next attack, this time, a swooping cut from above that I managed to parry with the Green Destiny, before shoving my left hand out and flinging a one-handed Shou Ha back at him, the Chi Blast of Master Tung Fu Rue forcing him to aboart his attack and scorching the orange paint off part of his armor.

This back and forth continued a few more times, with him using his armor's inbuilt gadgets to try and confuse me and catch me off guard, fighting tactically, and pulling out every dirty trick he could to keep in the fight, but in the end, it wasn't enough. To his credit, he did land a cut to my forearm with his blade, my left arm being slashed open, and his flamethrower caught me in the side as I was caught up in the periphery of a point-blank jet of flame, too slow and too close to it to dodge entirely, cooking my side through my mystically toughened armor and jacket. However, it wasn't enough by a long shot.

The beginning of the end came when he mistimed a jump with the jetpack, and the Green Destiny, imbued with Chi and powered by Chi-enhanced muscle, managed to slice through part of the metal casing of the jetpack, as it was made from a different sort of metal than the Mandalorian's Armor. The Mandalorian was forced to ditch his jetpack, trying to use it like a bomb to blow me up, as if that would work after it failed the first time. I seized control of the Jetpack with Megakinesis and flung it back at him, but he managed to dodge that by using his whipcord launcher as a sort of grappling hook, latching onto a beam in the ceiling twenty feet above and retracting it into his gauntlet to be pulled upward. The Jetpack exploded near where he'd been standing, bathing that half of the Arena in flames, glassing sand, and demolishing the nearby retaining wall.

I had him now, however, and a Chi-Powered Leap carried me up to where the Mandalorian was hanging. His blade flashed out, as did mine, though my own cut wasn't an attempt to parry, but was instead aimed at the whipcord. I took a cut to my thigh in the process, the technologically enhanced space-age metal of the Mandalorian's Blade capable of cutting my skin in the same sort of way that something like a monomolecular blade of Pure Trinium would, though it wasn't serious, and my healing factor would take care of it with time. The same couldn't be said for his leg as he plummeted down to the arena floor after I'd cut his whipcord grapnel, landing badly this time and breaking his leg as he fell to one knee.

I landed not long afterward and shook my head at him, sneering as I stalked over to him. He lashed out with his blade again, but my Chi-powered Parry tore the blade from his grasp. He shoved his left gauntlet forward to try and shoot another jet of flame from his flamethrower at me, but I seized hold of his arm and brought his hand out wide, the flame scorched the already glassed arena floor more, but did nothing to me, and with a surge of Chi, I bore down on the Gauntlet in my grip, crushing the steel inward and rendering the flamethrower non-functional. One last attempt, this time with a hidden dart launcher from the Mandalorian's shoulder at point-blank range, flung a razor-edged dart tipped with a neurotoxin at me. The dart injected the toxin into my bloodstream, but with my healing factor, I had enough time to end this.

"You shouldn't have gone lethal first." I snarled, bringing the Green Destiny across his neck between where the Gorget and helmet met.

Kad Bralor, Mandalorian Mercenary, was decapitated in one fell swoop, just before I ran out of Chi. I had just enough time to put the Green Destiny back in my Expanded Jacket Pocket and remove an Antidote Potion, downing it in a single long swallow, before my tank ran dry, so to speak. Fortunately, I was able to limp back to the stands after being declared the winner and new Champion of the Arena without letting on just how badly depleted my Chi Reserves were. I reached the stands and downed another healing potion, as Oz, Xander, Willow, and Giles made their way over to congratulate me. I definitely wouldn't be fighting any more tonight, however. Fortunately, I wouldn't have to.

Unfortunately, before I could even begin to socialize with the others, Sheeva made her way over. Nodding at me with a feral grin as she did so.

"I was right to see you as a potential mate. Clearly, you're strong enough to handle me." She grinned.

"You had doubts?" I questioned.

"Bellona wishes to know what boon you wish for. Keep in mind, you can always hold it in reserve to be declared at a later time." Intoned Sheeva, changing the subject.

"I think I'll do that. I also think I'll vacate the title for the time being. I'm gonna need time to fully recover my Chi, after all." I returned.

"If you do that, you will need to fight to reclaim the position of Champion all over again the next time you wish to enter the Arena." Warned Sheeva.

"I'll take my chances." I nodded.

"Very well. I will leave you to your companions, but don't forget we have an evening planned in one week's time." Insisted Sheeva.

"I'll be there." I confirmed.

Then, Sheeva walked off, heading back to presumably do whatever admin Bellona needed her to do at the end of the Arena Fights for the Evening. I shook my head, chuckling at everything that had gone down tonight, before turning to the others and nodding.

"Hey. Did you guys enjoy the show?" I asked.

"That was some show." Affirmed Xander.

"Yeah, most of us thought you were a goner when that thermal detonator went off." Added Oz.

"Did you have to kill them, though?" Queried Giles.

"They went lethal on me first, Giles." I pointed out.

"That's true, I guess. It's still not a great look, especially how you did it." Frowned Willow.

"So, you and the four-armed Chick have a thing going on, Uly? Need a third?" Asked Faith, teasingly.

"Faith, and I say this with all due respect. Ew." Remarked Oz.

"Yeah, didn't need that mental image, thanks." Huffed Xander.

"I dunno, I guess I kinda see it." Mused Willow.

"Really, Willow, and in front of your boyfriend, too? Teenagers these days." Sighed Giles.

"I'm gonna have my hands full with just Sheeva, anyway." I opined.

"I get it, ya like big chicks. It's five by five, Uly. Everyone has their thing." Continued Faith, teasing me further.

And on that note, I began heading out to collect on my wagers for the night. I had admin of my own to finish up here with Barter and his Exchange Shop, as well as at Dola's Casino. After that, though? Well, I intended to have a good time. Drink some beer, eat some food, maybe gamble a bit, and just relax after the Arena Fights. Maybe I'd even figure out what I wanted as a boon from Bellona while I was at it.

The night was still young, after all, even if I was empty on Chi. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here's the next chapter. Ulysses versus the Arena Champion Team wasn't as one-sided as it should have been, largely because Ulysses is heavily invested in being a Chi Adept, and his fight with Chun-Li pretty much drained most of what was left in his tank after the previous two fights. A Grandmaster-Level opponent will do that to you. At the same time, as soon as he stopped caring about his reserves or fighting for the knockout, he stomped them. They still weren't pushovers, mind you, and that trick with the Yautja Cloaking Device and Thermal Detonator would have worked on most Jedi, as an example, but tech and tactics can only take you so far against someone like Ulysses. At least at this level.

Other nineties stuff in this chapter includes mentions of Red Apple Cigarettes from the Works of Quentin Tarantino, Trinium, Ba'al, and the Goa'uld from Stargate, Chun-Li, Metro City, Master Gen, and the Mad Gear Gang are from Street Fighter, Tung Fu Rue and his Techniques are from King of Fighters, Seacouver, the Zone, and Amanda are from Highlander: The Series, Kano, the Black Dragon, and Sheeva are from Mortal Kombat, the Green Destiny is from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the Quigley Revolver is from Quigley Down Under, Barney Calhoun, Doctor Wallace Breen, and Anti-Mass Spectrometers are from Half-Life, Lampadati Sports Cars are from grand Theft Auto, and all the spells and Megakinesis are from Second Edition Dungeons and Dragons. Finally, Xander, Faith, Willow, Giles, the Hellmouth, Sunnydale, and all the associated characters and concepts are from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Eighties stuff, this chapter includes mentions of Alias of Westgate from the Forgotten Realms Novel Azure Bonds, Lucifer New Mexico is from Married With Children, Giran the Lizard-Person Fighter is from Dragonball, Kosch Basalt and Thorwallian Skrajas are from the Dark Eye, Klingons, Diruptors, and Bat'leths are from Star Trek the Next Generation, Yautja from Predator, and Old Düsseldorf Beer is from Magnum PI. Two-thousands stuff in this chapter includes mentions of Mad-Eye Moody from Harry Potter, Mandalorians from the Star Wars Novels and Comics, Earthbenders and Earthbending are from Avatar The Last Airbender, and Brawndo is from Idiocracy.

At any rate, the next chapter will be one last chapter to finish out this little mini-arc at the Compass and Clock, and then we'll have one more bridging chapter before going into the events of Buffy Season Three Proper.

Stay tuned. . .