Escape From Underworld Battle Arena [plot]

The old man nimbly spun on his heels, rotating away and evading Tiru's reach and simply steps to the right, adding slightly more distance between them. All the while, the old man was staring at the ceiling while talking.

"And boy was that a terrible pickle. That was the worst pickle I ever had. I didn't even like pickles to begin with. I always found it odd that restaurants always pickled their jalapenos. I like jalapenos but I don't like them pickled. They're better on a sandwich if they're dry you know. Pickling them takes away all the taste. You know what's good? Deep fried Jalapenos filled with cheese. Can't eat those anymore though."

Tiru shook his head, frustrated beyond words with the old man's rambling. "Aight. That's it. I really... Really did not want to have to do this." he said before activating his semblance. A dark smirk on his face, Tiru rushed toward the man, striking with an electrically charged punch once he was in range, following up with a similarly charged left axe kick to right roundhouse.

The kite shield suddenly split in half horizontally floated around, one half blocking Tiru's fist while the other blocked his kick. Both seem to absorb the electricity from both strike and into the shield halves.

"Oh what I would've given for a child's metabolism," the old man went on, waving around his now free hand. "It is wasted on the young. They complain about food and don't even like to eat. Growing up I learn to love things I never would've tried as a child but now my but would jiggle for weeks if I so much as drink a milkshake."

The man was talking as he started stepping backwards, his legs galloping like a horse. Once a five meter distance was in place his shields flew back to him and connected together before reattaching to his arm. A beeping could be heard and once Tiru looked between his feet, he would see a small explosive the size and shape of a pill that immediately exploded.

"When I first laid eyes on a microwave, I was amazed. I was only a little boy when they came out and boy was it fascinating. There I was playing tiddly winks with an old friend when his mother offered some gumbo. Boy I love gumbo. Especially the kind with shrimp. So she takes a cold bowl of gumbo from the fridge, puts it in the microwave machine and in thirty seconds she produced a steaming bowl. I couldn't believe it so I asked her to do it again. And then I rode all the way home on my bicycle, just pedaling away until I got to my house and ran up to my father. Boy was I out of breath. Way too out of shape. So I told him all about the microwave machine."

Bad idea #1: Underestimate an old guy. Bad idea #2: Look down when a mysterious object starts beeping at your feet. The grey wolf was thrown back when the small pill object exploded at his feet. Tiru let out a yelp of pain as he landed on his back, sliding against the ground a few feet. ... I hate rambling old people. I hate them so much. he thought as he got back to his feet, drawing and igniting Boreal before taking a defensive position. "Knight? Why talk when nobody listens?" he asked, shifting Aurora into SMG mode.

"And then I said, 'That there sir, is a dead parrot!'" the old man went on. He looked at Tiru and shrugged. "Old people talk all the time just for the sake of talking. We don't have long to live so we like to recall memories. I once knew a very smart old man who can balance an eel on his nose and hunts for haddock eyes to sew unto waistcoats. Strange man he was, but-"

"GET ON WITH IT!" the entire crowd of monitors yelled down at them, but Knight continued talking.

"-Which is why you should never ride a unicycle in a typhoon. Oh that poor little pony. That's why I hate clowns."

Tiru shook his head as the man continued on his tangent, making next to no sense as he did so. Well. This is going to be the whole fight, isn't it. Dammit, I didn't get chosen to listen to an old man talk about some crazy crap. I was chosen to fight. I volunteered myself to go so that I could see if I could drain his collar. This is... This is just beyond stupid. he thought, a frustrated sigh escaping his lips. Several moments passed and the man still stood there, rambling on and on, constantly shifting from one subject to another until he barely made any sense at all. "Screw this." Tiru muttered before taking aim with Aurora and squeezing the trigger, sending a volley of roughly twelve rounds flying toward the old man.

As if on automatic, the old man's shield shifted over and blocked the shots

"Oh? Are you still trying?" the old man asked. "You young people don't know when to give up, do you? Ah well. Snickersnack."

Suddenly, Tiru's collar went off, sending volts of electricity across his body, although the numbing serum seems to be held back for now.

"Now where was I? Oh yes. Me and my friend were going out to look for a new sofa when it started raining fish, and I mean this quiet literally. Now imagine my surprise when I learned my tow truck driving country bumpkin friend was a secret agent, course it doesn't excuse him from the money he owes me."

Tiru chuckled and shook his head as the electrical energy surged through him, bringing him no harm as it crackled along his skin. "Never said that I gave up, did I?" he asked as he shifted Boreal into SMG mode, firing another volley of twelve rounds with Boreal, following it up with another from Aurora, slowly edging his way closer toward his opponent.

Knight's shield shifted over, once again protecting the old man from the volley of bullets.

"Oh, I see," the old man murmured, "You're an energy absorber of some kind. Interesting. Energy cannot be simply destroyed though. Where does it go? Your wounds don't appear to be healing and your aura is steadily decreasing. Is it temporary storage until you can find a way to release it?"

All of a sudden, the old man seemed different. He was extremely analytic and observant. Something was off about the old man. For some reason, somehow, he had caused the collar to activate its tazer effect. Although his movements were simple and small, they were effective.

"Alright. You obviously don't want to hear an old man talking so I will indulge in your youthful need to fight for three moves. After that, it's the end."

Knight pointed the tip of his lance towards Tiru and the air started to swerve around it as if being sucked into a vacuum. Suddenly the lance shot highly compressed air with the force of steel but invisible to the naked eye and racing as fast as a bullet with bone breaking force towards Tiru's chest. If he managed to dodge, the old man would be upon him at that instant, right behind him and attempting to bash him in the back with the shield.

Tiru was somewhat taken aback by Knight’s sudden personality shift, as well as how easily he could dissect the Storm. Huh. He’s the analytical type. Didn’t see that coming. Despite this, Tiru prepared for Knight’s upcoming attack, shifting Aurora into its blade form, igniting it, and sheathing Boreal. While Knight’s attack was hard to see, it was loud as hell while being created as well as fired, giving Tiru an early warning. A sly smirk on his face, the grey wolf rolled to the side, springing back to his feet. He could see movement out of the corner of his eye, as Iron Knight rushed toward him to strike his back with the shield. Wasting no time, the grey wolf turned toward the warrior and stepped to the side before lunging toward him, holding the man's shield with his free hand while sweeping Aurora in a wide diagonal arc to slash at his chest.

"Checkmate," Knight murmured.

His shield suddenly disassembled, the outer layer turning to multiple, flying squares of the metal plating it was made up of and flying pieces of circuits and wires. Several squares flew in the way of Tiru's blade and deflected it aside, but did not stop there. The flying, disassembled pieces of the shield flew about and pieced together again, circuit with circuit, wire connecting to wire, metal combining with metal, until the shield was reconstructed into four separate things, each being a thick mechanical band that attached to Tiru's wrists and ankles. Though they seemed like mere wrist and ankle shackles, they seem to hold the wolf faunus's arms and legs in a fixed position, not once budging an inch as if Tiru was bounded by blocks of cement.

Knight stepped away and as he did so, his lance started to disassemble the same way his shield did, reconstructing into a pair of shot guns. It was strange. It was nothing like transformation technology or any kind of technology at all. It was as if the shield and lance split apart to their basic components and reassembled into something else entirely all within a second a piece.

"My semblance is: Inventor," Knight murmured, raising a shotgun to Tiru's chest. "Knight captures pawn. Checkmate."

The audience was roaring now, yelling out bloody murder.

"Kill him! Finish him!"

The monitors blinked and yelled out unanimously, but Knight stood there stock still.

"How old are you?" the old man asked.

Tiru had no time to react as the shield suddenly came apart, reassembling itself as shackles that bound his ankles and wrists, holding them in place. The grey wolf struggled against his bonds to no avail, eventually resorting to attempting to drain, and later overload the binds. Nothing worked. He lost. The spectators cried for his blood. I... I lost. Now it's my end... Now is as good a time as ever to try draining the collar. Not much else I can do except wait to die. he thought, hanging his head in defeat as the man's lance shifted into a shotgun levelled at his chest.

"How old are you?" the old man asked.

Tiru paused at the man's question, confused. "... I'm eighteen. Why?" he asked, looking up at Knight as he begun draining the collar, discharging the energy through the shackles.

The old man stared at Tiru for a moment, simply remaining silent. His arm lowered and the pair of shotguns disassembled and returned to their previous form of the lance. Then the old man's eyes shifted to the braces, which started crackling with extra energy.

"You are inputting access energy into the shackles," the old man observed. "But from where? The collar? Are you a drainer?"

The old man shook his head. "I would stop that if I were you. Do you think you're the first and only drainer? Those collars won't be crippled so easily young man. The man who invented those was a genius and a mad man." With a snap of his fingers, the shackles let go of Tiru, letting him drop to the ground as they floated back to the old man's open palm. They rested atop his grasp until they disassembled again and turned back to the shield. The old man turned on his heels and walked away. He quickly received vulgar comments and loud boos and jeers from the crowd. "I should know. He was me...."

The old man disappeared in the passage he entered the arena in and the gate closed behind him. The guard from earlier walked towards Tiru and jerked his head towards the other passage.

"Come on. Match is over. Time to go back."

This old man, he's pretty good. And a little bit crazy it would seem. Aurelia watched with great intrigue as the old man dominated Tiru, and she wondered if Jacob should have went after all. She thought about the battle a bit more. No, I don't think it would have mattered. Knowing how Jacob had acted prior to the fight, the result probably would have been similar. But still, what is his secret? As the fight ended, she held her breath and hoped that the old man would spare Tiru's life. Please don't let the wolf faunus be right. Aurelia sat anxiously until the old man finally turned and walked away. Letting out a sigh of relief, she eyed him for the remainder of his televised exit. "What do you guys think?"

Tiru fell to his knees as the shackles released him. ... He... He made all of this? Why? I need answers... he thought as he watched Knight leave. Shaking his head, Tiru stopped draining the collar. Knight knew more about this stuff than he did.

"Come on. Match is over. Time to go back."

"... People here are identified by names given in the ring, correct? In that case... I am SoL. Son of Libra." he said as he stood up and left the arena. "I need to talk to Knight..." he mumbled to himself on his way out.

"The crowd decides what they want to call you," the guard stated as he escorted Tiru back. "And after that fight, they're be calling you a certain word that means cat if you get my drift. As for the old man, the only time you can communicate with other gladiators is in the yard and you only get an hour a day. That old man barely leaves his cell so good luck catching him. Why the heck talk to that dinosaur though? Most people would chop off their ears before listening to that guy talk."

Emerald watched Tiru get frustrated easily in his fight. Slightly glad that when he lost Knight didn't kill him, reducing their numbers. In response to Aurelia, Emerald said, "This is why I wasn't as eager as the others to go to fight. Better to watch and learn." Screw that! I want to fight as well! You two can't seem to drop that idea. When's the next meal? Lapis, enough with your one track mind. Almandine and Amethyst, you need to stop complaining. It's annoying and it doesn't make me want to fight more. These statements finally shut up the others in his head.

"A pussy would surrender. Run away crying with his tail tucked between his legs. I didn't. I stared down death with dignity." he said, glaring at the guard. "As for talking to Knight? Old man knows quite a bit. Beneath all of those stories could lie a few... Interesting words of wisdom." Like how to get the **** out of this hellhole. thought the grey wolf. I'm sick of this place already.

"Yeah, well, good luck with that," the guard responded dryly. "That old geezer seems about as wise as a sack of hammers. Good fighter, but he rarely finishes it and his fights are always boring so he rarely gets sponsors."

Tiru shook his head as the guard spoke. "Well, maybe it's because he has this little thing that most normal people have. I think it is called 'mer-cy'? Meh, a guy like you in a facility like this probably wouldn't know mercy if it spared your life." he said, mirroring the guard's dry tone, when a thought struck him. May be a bit of a long shot, but maybe... "Speaking of sponsors... Is Libra or any of its branches one of them?"

"I don't know. Do any of the higher ups of whatever the heck that is take part in funding illegal underworld death matches?" the guard deadpanned. "Here's your cell. If you want time out in the yard, just tap two fingers on the monitor to call a guard."

The moment the glass wall and bars slid open, the guard shoves Tiru into the cell and leaves the moment they shut.

"Welcome back, first competitor," Emerald said to Tiru once he came back into the cell. He asks right after, "So, did you test work? Or were you mistaken in your assumption?" Emerald was not being condescending, he genuinely interested. It just might sound condescending.

Tiru growled as he was shoved into the cell, barely managing to keep himself from running into Aurelia. "Well. I got my ass handed to me by an old dude who managed to dissect my semblance as well as combat style in the space of a few minutes, so yeah. Also drained roughly 70% of this thing." the grey wolf muttered quietly, so that nobody outside of the cell could listen in. "Turns out Knight is the guy who made all of this. He... Convinced me to stop. If I didn't, my torso would be scattered across the dirt. I need to step up my game."

"Ah, the champion returns." Alicia mocked, placing her chin in her hands, her elbows resting on the knees of her crossed legs. Having finished with her wings (leaving some down feathers wafting around where she sat) she was eager to find something else to do, and the smirk on her face said that her new interest was nothing pleasant. "So, how does being beaten by a walking corpse feel? I've always wondered, you know."

Tiru paused, turning to Alicia. "It feels painful. And frustrating. And slightly embarassing, though that one is lessened by the fact that Knight made all of this. You should thank me. You would have done a lot worse." he said, walking over toward the girl. "By the way? I think everyone here likes it much better when you arent running your mouth." he continued before walking over to a spot on the wall and leaning on it. I would love nothing more than to shove her face into those bars. Annoying bitch deserves it.

Alicia raised an eyebrow and tried not to laugh as Tiru tried to threaten her. "Thank you? Hey, you could have avoided all of this and let me go in. But you and the other one had to play hero." She almost laughed, and did not lean away when he neared her, refusing to give up even an inch of distance. At his 'warning', she did laugh, a short bark of a thing, more like forced exhalation than anything else. "I've never really been a people pleaser." was her only retort.
She followed him with her eyes when he moved to a wall, looking like he wanted to rip her wings off. Let him try, she thought with a smirk and a mischievous glance, Even if the collar doesn't stop him, he'll be ^$&#ing surprised.

Tiru shook his head and waved her off as she laughed. "Makes sense. Considering how you've been nothing but a useless, whiny bitch this entire time." he said with a shrug. "I'd suggest you get your shit together, or sooner or later you'll find yourself in a cell filled with people who would love nothing better than to introduce your face to those bars. But whatever. Good luck." he continued, glancing back at her. There are so many painful things I would love to do to you. I cannot wait till we're put in the arena against eachother.