Arena Diplomacy

    There was something about the Radditsu district that made Tatsui feel abnormally at home. Perhaps it was the lingering scent of blood in the air or the sharp tingle of light in the eyes of every Saiyan that promised a quick brokerage and then a hefty delivery of pain. The quaint little shops made of rotted wood and poorly spelled signage that was sure to attempt to steal from you rather than actually deliver on any of the multitude of absurd promises the sellers were making. Even how the dirty apes had begun to sequester themselves into gangs based on neighborhood reminded her of small corporations with entrepreneurs looking to better their community.

    That was it. I reminded her of herself and the life within a company. How often had Father broke someone over his metaphorical knee with economic dominance and then sent Mother to do the same, quite literally, to cement the point? The fanciful by-play of financial dominance meeting physical force. Tatsui despised that part of herself she inherited from those two but she could not deny her nature made her adore the gangs like little children playing dress-up.

    Perhaps she would exploit them for the mines one day.

    Her feet had about to take airborne and back to the much quieter and less filthy Tarbel Village when she heard it. A challenge? A call? Some brackish thug who had come to the slums of Sadala to challenge the destitute?

“Oh. I quite like her.”

    Tatsui said aloud to herself as she listened to the distant echoing noise of the ‘Tuffle Chancellor’ sending such a challenge out across Raditsu. Would someone so important really be HERE of all places? In the slums to duke it out with what must be her lessers? Perhaps it was a sort of Tuffle classism where they would pick sacrifices from their weakest population centers and skewer them on their mechanical monstrosities to reinforce the hierarchy of strength? It was a tad dirty compared to just erasing a handful of apes but the Tuffle were always the oddest things.

    What she admired was the gall to do it in Sadala for surely it would earn the respect of the people if she kept it less-than-lethal. Tatsui would have the mind to make it much more than lethal to show why another war was ill-thought but then there were so many of those golden haired freaks about that who cared if a few slum-driven Saiyans died in the grand scheme of warfare?

    All those things aside. Tatsui had already decided to exploit these people with fair thirteen hour work days. Letting this Tuffle grind them out would be horrible for her business.

“Fine. So be it.”

    A quick about-face and Tatsui was soon hovering over the massive bowl that the Brawl Hole had been carved from. A quaint little thing that made sense to have in a place as violent as Radditsu and the soft carmine sand collecting along the bottom gave the hole an almost ethereal presence when someone as powerful as Cheri stood in the center of it. Small dust storms of it whipped into frenzies as the Tuffle let her power go loose and Tatsui felt her stomach drop out from the bottom.

    As far as business practices went this sort was her least favorite but the chances of death when compared to potential profit made the sudden bout of anxiety at Cheri’s power fade into an odd sort of glee.

“A formal announcement of your arrival could have been precipitated with a stable of fighters but this grandiose entrance is valid in its own way. If you want to market to a population of apes then it would be best to ‘fling shit’ as some would say.”

    She fell from the sky to stop a dozen or so feet from Cheri, arms folded beneath her shawl and eyes locked onto the Tuffle, searching for any of those terrible weapons they like to employ.

“Very well. Tat Choy Heavy Industries could hardly stand aside and allow another race to make a challenge without answering. It is good to make your acquaintance. I am Tatsui. One of your, hopefully many, opponents.”

    Tatsui enunciated her wish for more challengers quietly so as to not flag her own image but she held hopes that some other fool would arrive to aid in satisfying Cheri and her need to prove herself lest she be left to suffer the brute force of the Tuffle. Was she not equipped with something called an Ape-Buster? Tatsui was beginning to recall this only moments after accepting and felt that anxiety return. What was an Ape-Buster?!

    There was always work to be done for that maverick that was Rye, people to speak with or things to see to. Right now he was working on his project to locate the remains of missing, or dead, Saiyans and Tuffles. It was a goodwill project he birthed up while on a solitary night with his own thoughts, thinking about those he had lost. Old friends, and rivals, to whom never got decent burials befitting of their valor and courage. It irked him, annoyed him like a buzzing in the back of the skull, to the point where he was forced to take action. That was what 'morals' and 'decency' got you. That was why he was in this shithole of a district but that mission would soon be sidetracked by an exciting and intriguing prospect. 

    It appeared the Chancellor of the Tuffles had decided to grace them with a visit. With the intention of spreading some respect via the dispensing of battle pleasantries. Immediately the politician part of his brain began to rumble with approvement at what she was doing, and the dots being connected. He was no stranger to the Council Chambers and the debates had within it. His own presence further inflaming those debates with his own radical reformist ideas. But few of his ideas actually held any positive, or negative, views towards the Tuffles. 

    The war was over in a relatively favorable conclusion. That fifty-year quagmire revealed much of their weaknesses as a nation, as a species. The lessons learned from it, Rye had internalized. In teaching his people hard-fought lessons they could use to improve themselves he held an immense respect, and even gratitude, for the Tuffles. Not that such a thing would stop him from committing all manner of atrocities upon them if another War was declared for whatever reason. Unlikely but never off the table. He was a patriot, what could he say? 

    None the less he would pivot immediately to the arena, his flight slowing down gradually as everything came into view. Already he could see one person whom he knew well, that being Tatsui. The Tuffle needed no introduction, her reputation proceeded her. But he did not know this other male Saiyan, perhaps they had never crossed paths in the war. Or maybe they never fought in it, he had no idea. Gradually he would lower himself towards the arena, letting a thin smile come on his lips. 


"Well, it seems I'm a bit late to the party. But this seems exciting, Tatsui! I'm surprise to see you slumming it here." The male would remark throwing a look towards her, then focusing on the other male Saiyan then the Tuffle. "I suppose introduction are in order, and what not. I'm Rye." He'd lift up a gloved hand towards them, some in the audience already knew of him. Some looked at him with begrudging respect, others disdain, and some outright talked amongst themselves in a positive manner. He was definitely a polarizing figure with his 'reformist' ideas and what not. 

"We waitin' for more or...?"

    A weight lifted from her chest at the arrival of two more Saiyans. A small weight but relief nonetheless as the fight was brought to three versus one. Mayze was stronger than her but was still dwarfed by the miniscule Tuffle and Rye was even weaker than her but he had the bite of a particularly rowdy macaque.

“Mayze. How surprising for you to end up here. I wish I had time to call on Delia but something tells me the Nova CORP might not take such a job.”

    She joked toward the mercenary before nodding at Rye.

“Can I not see how the least of us live? You might be surprised I actually quite like it here. The apes are very vicious and duplicitous. It reminds me of the villa growing up.”

    Tatsui felt her muscles go rigid as Cheri finally announced the start. The odd technology of the Tuffles pulling matter from what seemed to be nowhere and materializing a missile of all things to begin spinning towards them. No doubt as formidable as the one who summoned it.

    This would suck. Just a little. Of that Tatsui was sure when she saw the missile begin its frantic race down on the three of them and her mind searched for a quick answer. She could ignore it and hope Cheri aimed for one of the others which was very much counter to her own possessiveness over other Saiyans. Another option was summoning a blast shield and hoping not enough of it would get through to smear her into paste which seemed a bit foolhardy.

    The third option was to rely on the lower-class apes to pull their weight after she spent nearly everything on just avoiding the opening blow. Tatsui mentally corrected herself-Rye was a close childhood friend and Mayze had been friendly and helpful in their last encounter-thus she labeled them both as at least just Apes.

“As if I’d ever let my features be marred by some Tuffle BOMB!”

    Power coiled in her hand as the maroon sand buffeted and twisted in the bowl-like arena beneath her. Veins popped along the length of her arm as Tatsui drew back and let loose a violent flash of energy up towards the missile. Tatsui was both surprised and yet not when the missile and one of her strongest attacks collided in a brilliant flash of colors.

    Tatsui huffed in the aftermath of the explosion as wisps of energy washed off of her extended arm like smoke, flexed muscles softening and the sudden use of power having drained nearly all she had for a moment of relief.

“Still alive. Unharmed. That wasn’t so bad after all. See that, Cheri!?”

    It was never wrong to say Tatsui had a big head. She was born and raised a noble and had far too much confidence in herself to the point she was blind to threats or the potential consequences of her loose words. She had felt powerful when she struck down such a superior foe’s blow! Exalted in the fact her power was this worthy! Her body was winded as her max power left her teetering on a moment of exhaustion and black bit at the edge of her vision but that was fine.

“Superior opponent? Maybe but you’re the one who decided to go three on one! Awful cocky to think you can fight this many Saiyan’s at once!”

    Tatsui had said this moment before Rye and Mayze engaged Cheri in classic close-quarters combat and the CEO could feel her heart dropping into her stomach. It was a bit like watching a mining asteroid implode in slow motion.

“You’re kidding me…”

    Mayze was definitely stronger than her by a decent bit and Rye was not so far beneath her for their power levels to be incomparable. So that the two of them were so easily swatted down even after Cheri had put out such a powerful attack already. It was like watching a child play with their dolls as the more powerful Saiyan was met with an energy beam that could eclipse her own power entirely and the less said about how she had ripped the energy from Rye’s fist the better.

“Make me regret it? I’ll regret it in hell you midg-!”

    It was a meteor. A cataclysm in action as it impacted her stomach and yet more horrifying was that it could not be all that Cheri could summon. This was the finale of a four part act in which she had utterly humiliated three Saiyans. Cheri’s fist curled into her stomach and Tatsui felt bile and blood well up in her mouth as the air turned still.

    A crack-thoom of activity and Tatsui was sent spinning away and down into the dust and sand below. Flakes of rust-colored dust shooting about in a twirl and a hack as she finally let loose everything the hit had conjured up. Some part of her was amazed she was still alive as that one blow had left a clean mark straight through clothing and robes for a bloody stain of burnt skin and muscle on the center-mass of her abdomen.

“Urk-!”

    Her fingers clutched into the sand and Tatsui was rising again, lungs trying to take in great gaspfuls of air and clutching futilely as her body worked out the convulsions in her diaphragm.

“All that for…a drop of blood?”

    She taunted. Her lesson clearly wasn't learnt.