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Josh moved silently through the crowd, four men behind him. He spotted a mountain of a man at a bar and nodded to his comrades, who started walking away in different directions. Josh quickly sat beside the man and struck up a conversation with him. The man didn't seem to care, he just kept on drinking. Josh suddenly pointed out something on the TV, the man's attention suddenly fixed on it. For a brief instant, Josh's hand went over the giant's next drink. The man gave Josh a quick smack on the head for getting him worked up over nothing, then took a big gulp. He seemed surprised as an odd aftertaste overcame him, but he ignored it and got up, slinging his twin sledgehammers over his shoulder. Josh quickly pulled out a cell phone the instant the man was out of earshot.
"My job is done. What are the statuses of the next possible contenders?"

Silence was suddenly pushed out of his room and onto the battlefield, landing face-first. Not exactly graceful, but he got up like nothing had happened. He heard someone else get pushed out, a giant of a man who had twin sledgehammers. But he was obviously drunk, he dragged them like they were far too heavy for him. He lifted one and lazily swung it, Silence having an easy time dodging it, considering it went way above his head. The second one hit next to him, the third actually made him sidestep, the man falling over.
I should put him out of his misery...
Quickly, Silence walked over, and stood on his back. The man didn't even know he was there, and kept laying down. After ten seconds, a bell rang, signaling a KO. Silence wasn't even breathing hard, hell, he could have done that a million times and still not be breathing hard.

Carter Richardson, son of one of the Governor in this state, just finished with his opponent next to Silence's arena. He lifted his rapier into the air, the crowd cheering. He was tall, his clothing portraying an open, modest person, his body lean and tough, his face handsome. He represented what his father hoped the state could become, and joined the tournament to show his strength and to gain confidence for his father from the public. His foe had been quite easy, his style so full of openings he thought they were traps. After a while, he started to play with his opponent to show off how courageous and strong he was. He certainly was a crowd favorite now. He spotted a man on his cell phone, one he could have sworn he had seen talking to his opponent before the match...
he was suddenly pushed off of the stadium, out to where hundreds of people were asking for his autograph. he politely said no to them, but signed a few to make the crowd happy. He quickly walked out into his room, given to him by the owners of the arena that he had refused initially but they had insisted. He wiped off a bit of the grime on his face, but when he put the towel down, Josh was standing in front of him.
"Listen...I gotta way to make things easier for ya on this tournament. That is to throw it. We aren't disinterested in the winner of this fair tourney, but we decided to give ya a chance to save yourself."
Carter angrily threw the towel away, standing, trying to be intimidating.
"And if I REFUSE your offer?"
Josh didn't even blink.
"Then you go down. Hard. Understood? It won't be through trickery or anything either. It will be so humiliating because you lost fair and square."
Carter wasn't even moved. He knew right from wrong.
"I don't care, I'm going to win my father's favor from the public and show you I can win this with the odds against me! You don't scare me!"
Josh sighed and shook his head, waling away slowly. He called over his shoulder ominously.
"I tried to warn you. I'm wasn't even asked to do this, I could get in trouble for it. Looks like you turned down your only hope for salvation..."

Carter tried to push the man's words out of his mind, try to get a little rest before his next match. But they still hung there....

Silence was getting annoyed. He was constantly being pushed into the arena, and he was always booed. So far, he scared a boy into quitting as soon as the match started, injured a man so bad so he would stop swinging so crazily he would kill himself, and beaten a soldier who practiced swordplay as a hobby yet acted as if he was holding a sword for the first time, and only a skilled warrior as Silence was able to spot his skill which he never used but instead almost let himself lose. He smelled a rat, and he was associated with that rat, no doubt. He noticed that a son of a governor had 'happened' to be rising through the ranks as well, making it clear to Silence what this tournament was truly meant for.
It was an example of what his group will do to anyone who tries to do justice or look for the good in others. Silence was being used, not showing his skill. It made him furious. His next opponent better watch out, because he....was a she.
Silence blinked, and could feel his cheeks get fiery. The girl wore a very...unusual outfit, men whistling and hollering all around. She had long brown hair, very light skin, and her clothing was a combination of skintight wear, skin showing everywhere, and accessories. Obviously she either made it herself because she knew how good she looked, or she had an artist who did. Maybe is was this universe had a very perverted guardian who controlled what was going on... or maybe he was getting carried away.
Last but not least, she had several daggers in each hand. She struck a pose, winking as she licked one slowly. Silence felt his body get very rigid and hard...in places he never realized could go so hard. How was he going to fight like this?

Suddenly a bell chimed, and the girl slowly walked up, her hands behind her back as if she was nervous or shy. Silence didn't move a muscle, just kept staring. She gently reached up and touched his face, feeling the sweat coming off Silence in bullets. She leaned in close, and Silence felt something on his stomach, his hand instinctively grabbing it. He was able to look down to see a dagger partially buried into his abdomen, blood on the visible edges. He looked up to see the girl wink and say,
"Oops, I thought it would be easier..."
Silence couldn't think straight. He was going only by instinct, moving back and blocking left and right, the girl doing a series of overly complicated moves, always giving Silence an eyeful so he couldn't focus. He blocked one strike, then another, tripped, and instinctively held out his arm blades defensively. The girl instantly tried to stab, but with his blades the way they were she ended up locking weapons with him. He leaned close, Silence turning his head away and faltering somewhat, slowly losing the battle.
Desperately, he threw her off him and dived, trying to knock her over, but she was already falling back. He landed on her, his face feeling something soft. The girl suddenly went rigid, and boos from men were all around. Silence opened his eye to see he was looking up at the girl's face while his own was on her chest, the girl's cheeks tomato-red, her eyes filling with tears. She reached up and started slashing wildly, Silence in too much shock to even block. he landed in a heap, smoking from the head generated from the attacks as the girl ran out of the stadium in tears, screaming and crying. Silence slowly got up, blinking. A bell chimed, signaling his win. Hell, he got his butt kicked and still won.
I sure hope Stacey isn't watching this...oh no...
Suddenly, Silence realized he was being videotaped and it was being broadcast all over the country. If she saw what he had done in ANY of the battles, she would be scared, no, angry with him. He felt ashamed, slowly walking off the field as jealous men threw their food at him.

Carter sighed in the streets, his job done for the day. His last match would be tommorrow, so he could spend a few minutes out here. He tried not to attract any attention, but couldn't help but notice a few kids crying. he slowly walked up to them, concerned.
"What wrong?"
One of the kids looked up at him, snot dribbling down his face, his eyes wide and filled with tears.
"We wanted...wanted..."
He burst into tears again, until Carter patted his head gently.
"You guys wanted what?"
Several kids stopped blubbering and turned, a few chiming in until they started yelling. Carter quickly said,
"Quiet, now, whats wrong?"
One kid seemed to have a better grasp on reality than the others.
"We all wanted ice cream...but the man at the bar won't let us have any!"
Carter sighed, but smiled for the kids.
"Follow me little guys!"
He headed to the vendor nearby who sold ice cream, the man half-asleep. Carter banged the table, the man suddenly falling over in surprise comically before getting up.
"W-what'll it be sir?"
"About four ice cream cones please."
"What flavours?"
Carter pointed to the kids, who stared wide-eyed as if they couldn't believe what they were seeing. Finally one squeaked out,
"I-I wanna chocolate scoop...pwease!!"
The others all started yelling their favorites, until the man just scooped up the four he heard, handing them to Carter, who gave the man a few bills and handed the kids the flavours they wanted after they stopped yelling, a smile on his face. They all laughed and licked happily, all but one who seemed a bit unhappy still. Carter was about to talk to the boy when the man nudged him.
"Your change, boy."
Carter shook his head, still smiling.
"You keep it, don't worry."
The man just shrugged but smiled secretly to himself as Carter knelt down to the boy who was the only one not overly happy with his ice cream.
"What's wrong? Didn't get the flavour you wanted?"
the boy shook his head, tears welling up again.
"No, I was with these guys cause I couldn't find my mommy!!"
Tears spilled down his little cheeks, but Carter just wiped them away.
"Listen, let';s go look around. We'll find her, right?"
The other kids all raised their cones, shouting happily,
"Right!"
And so, several hours were spent looking. One by one, each kid left because they had to go home, soon leaving Carter and the lost boy. They wandered close to the arena, figuring the mother must have thought her boy went inside. Suddenly, a man with a hood on, his face almost invisible, bumped into the boy. He kept moving without apologizing, making Carter angry.
"Hey! You gonna apologize?!"
The man turned around slowly, an arm blade extending on one arm.
"You want to fight or something? Quit shouting. I'm sorry, alright?"
He quickly started walking again, though he seemed to just use a route to go back inside due to how packed the arena still was. Carter was about to muble something about what a jerk the man was when a woman called out and grabbed the boy, who in turn shouted back happily. It was obvious from the resemblance it was the boy's mother, who was worried sick about him. Carter walked away, simply satisfied that he had done a good job.

The mother quickly asked the child,
"How did you get here? Did someone help you?"
The boy nodded and pointed to Carter, shouting,
"He helpteded me!! He a nice guy!"
The woman quickly walked over and shook Carter's hand.
"Thank you! Thank you so much! How can I repay you?"
Carter shook his head yet again, simply saying as he started walking off again,
"No need, just doing what's right."

Night came. Carter was in his room, the arena deathly quiet. Most of the contestants were eliminated, leaving him and one other, said to be a scumbag from a gang. Should be easy, right always triumphed over wrong. But he still remembered the words of the odd man...
"Looks like you turned down your only hope for salvation..."