Andrea’s cheeks were covered in tear streaks as she gave him a final kiss. She squeezed him as tight as she could a final time and then let go and turned towards the gate to board her flight. She hated leaving him, but was also torn internally as her heart filled with more guilt. The longer she had stayed with Pepper, then longer she remained further away from her dad. She knew his time remaining on the planet was getting less every day, and the balancing act between him and Pepper was one she worked hard to be mindful of.

  Pepper crossed his arms and walked over to the large window. He stayed there and watched her plane until it lifted off and faded into the scattered clouds floating high above. Brent had tried calling him earlier, but he ignored the call and texted him saying he would call him back later.

  Once he climbed back into a new buzz podz, he tapped open a video call and clicked on Brents name. To his delight, he saw his best friend beaming with joy and excitement. “P-Dub! Dude… you’re crushing it down there. Ha! But… I had no doubt!”

  Pepper smiled and nodded, “Thanks man. I appreciate that.” He noticed a different kind of aura which seemed to surround his friend. “You seem to be doing good, like really good. I haven’t seen you this excited since Summer agreed to go out with you.”

  A sorrowful expression quickly formed on Brent’s face. “Uhh… dude. Don’t remind me of that man. My heart is still a speedbump.”

  “A speedbump?”

  Brent shrugged. “Yeah, you know… getting run over again, and again… up and down, tires crushing me-“

  “Okay! Okay… I get it. Yeesh.”

  His friend glared back at the screen. “Well… you brought it up.”

  “That’s fair. But, what gives? Did something happen at work, or is there… a new love interest maybe?”

  Brent waved his hand in front of his face. “Oh whatever P-Dub. Any nobody giving me the time of day. But… someone is making me very rich! Haha!” Brent lifted his hands up and started to rub them. A smug expression of greed formed on his face.

  “Damn it Brent! You’re betting again?”

  Brent beamed. “Heck yeah I am! And I just killed it, with my parlay bet on you.”

  Pepper reached up and clawed at his face, stretching his skin out in frustrated resentment. “I don’t even know what that means dude!”

  His friend leaned closer to the screen and present his hands as he used them to explain it. “Okay, so… my bet was, 1. That you would win your first two matches. 2. Your overall score would be higher than Tamin’s, and 3. There would be at least five gladiators knocked out of the invitational before the start of your cohorts third round.”

  Pepper’s eyes widened more and more with every detail of his friends wager. “You’re insane Brent!”

  “Heck yeah I am… or… am I just a mad wizard who can see into the future!” Brent leaned back and let out a diabolic laugh. “Let’s just say… winner-winner, lobster dinner. And, cheesecake for desert.”

  Pepper shook his head in disbelief. “Do I even want to know how much you wage-“

  He didn’t even finish as Brent cut him off with a cocky response. “A whole month worth of wages from Rocket Burger.”

  “Brent!”

  His friend didn’t even hesitate as he continued. “Let’s just say Big Daddy Brent is rolling with some deep pockets now. A nice cool 20,000 Flex in my bank account.”

  Pepper took a deep breath. He knew there was no point in continuing the argument and did his best to move on. “Well… if there is one thing that is clear. I am never calling you Big Daddy Brent.”

  Brent snapped his fingers and finished with pointed hand guns towards the screen. His eye brows lifted up playfully. “What about BDB?”

  “Eww… gross. That sounds like something Ryan would put on a Big D Energy drink can.”

  Brent’s face beamed with a smile. “Hey! That’s not a back idea, P-Dub. You think he’d give me my own flavor?”

  “What would BDB even…” Crap I should have said anything.

  “Well it could stand for Big Dark Berry… or Black Dragon Blood… maybe Bloody Dungeon Berry… Oh yeah… I kinda like that last one.”

  Pepper was cringing at every suggestion his friend offered up. He was at least happy to move the conversation forward. “Well, you could always call him or swing by the house and see what he thinks?”

  “Not a bad idea. Ha! Thanks P-Dub, you’re the best. So, what are you up to?”

  “Andrea is on her way back home now, so… I need to fix up this bucket of bolts over here.” Pepper tilted to the camera to showcase the giant indent on Amprages head.

  “Ouch… That looks like it hurt.”

  “It did.” Amprage chimed him and ended with a slight whine.

  Pepper turned and gave him a side glance of judgement, knowing clear well his bonded didn’t feel a thing. “Sure… Anyways. We’re about to pull up to the arena. I’m gonna fix this guy up and then do an inspection of Nightmare Mala before I call it a day. You take it easy bud, great seeing you.”

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  “Heck yeah P-Dub. We’ll talk soon. Hey, whenever you get the notification of your next opponent, let me know so I can look over and plan out my next bet.”

  “No! Bye.”

  He cut off the call before his best friend could protest any further. They walked through the facility and could hear the roar of the crowd. They were being entertained by the matches being put on by the other cohorts.

  A quick deactivation of his security keypad and the bay doors started to roll upwards and his eyes looked over Nightmare Mala standing in the back-center area of the bay. “Alright bud, let’s get you patched up.” He lifted Amprage up and placed him on top of workbench on the left side of the area. A quick search of the tool chest underneath the workbench and he retrieved the items he needed.

  It took longer than he liked, but that was mostly due to the fact that Amprage wouldn’t stay still. His head slightly moving and shifting around as he started up a conversation. “Dad… did I do good last night with that golem?”

  Pepper chuckled. “Uhh, you did good champ. You tried really hard.” He immediately felt like a father who was overseeing his kids pop warner football game. The helmet too big for the tiny head and the kids just wondering around the field with no sense of discipline or any real skills.

  “I did, didn’t eye. Ha!” He was grateful his familiar didn’t pick up his sarcasm, but was caught off guard slightly when Amprage continued. “Just imagine what I could have actually done if I had real runes to utilize. I wouldn’t just be any old fighter dad… I could actually be… a champion!”

  Pepper had just finished removing the final bolts he needed to unsecure the head and facial piece of his metal familiar. He gently removed the faceplate and exposed the interior metal structure. He was surprised to see that the yellow glowing eyes of Amprage remained in place and gently hoovered in place.

  The skin on the back of his neck crawled and a cold shiver ran down his spine. He couldn’t suppress the eerie sensation that remained within him. It didn’t make sense to him, yet the only thing that came to mind was Amprage looking like a metal zombie. A metal skeletal design that was still animated and speaking to him.

  Pepper had turned his gaze to the facial plate that was still firmly in his hands. A second later and he was spooked and dropped the metal piece as a horrified cry echoed throughout his bay. “Ahh! What the… oh gosh, that’s Amprage isn’t it?”

  The plating clanked down on the concrete floor and Pepper snapped his head to the side and noticed Zeklor was hesitantly approaching. He turned his attention back to Amprage who opened his mouth and made his yellow eyes grow slightly wider.

  “Well, hello there… don’t you look tasty!” The metal hound chomped his metal jaw closed, the metal clanking out.

  “Dude… that looks freaky as all get out.” Zeklor commented as he closed the distance and stood off to the side.

  Pepper bent over and picked up the facial plate he had dropped. Amprage turned his head down and commented. “Good going dad.”

  He huffed, “Give me a break, it’s not like I made it any worse.” Setting the face plate off to the side, he turned and looked at Zeklor and gave him a nod. “What’s going on man?”

  “I was wondering if you’d be willing to help me out?”

  Pepper was hesitant to respond right away, and he had warning bells going off in his head. “In what way?”

  Zeklor shrugged and titled his head slightly. “I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind watching my last match and giving me some pointers. What sticks out to you and how I might be able to improve? That… and I was hoping you’d also be willing to watch my opponents match and maybe tell me what stands out to you? What I should be mindful of?”

  “Oh…” Pepper sighed and took a second to think it over.

  He could see the disappointment and timidness form on Zeklors face. “You know, I’m sorry man. You’re clearly busy working on Amprage and… I shouldn’t have asked.”

  Zeklor was starting to turn and head off when Pepper lifted his hand up. “Wait… you know what.” The reminder of the phrase he had come to know flashed through his mind. ‘When a friend asks you for help, you help them.’ He sighed and then smiled. “Sure, I can help you out. Let me patch up this knuckle head here and then we can head into one of the lounges and watch the matches together.”

  Pepper’s suggestion immediately turned Zeklors demeanor around. “Really?” He smiled and then outstretched his hand for emphasis. “Seriously, Pepper, you don’t have to if you want to just focus on what you have going on.”

  “It’s totally fine. Happy to help. I’ll come get you in a little bit.”

  His bay neighbor departed, and he went back to repairing the damage Amprage had sustained. He hammered away on the metal and pounded it back into place. He did his best to mend the indentation, but there was still some smaller divots he couldn’t get out of the metal with the small amount of time he had allotted for the repair job. He finished with doing another quick analysis of the frame but felt everything was as good as it could be. A quick tightening of the bolts and Amprage’s face was back in place.

  “Rughhh! I feel so much better!”

  Pepper merely rolled his eyes and headed out to link up with Zeklor. They found a small couch in the corner of one of the lounges and loaded up Zeklor’s match. Pepper watched the match unfold but then asked Zeklor to load up previous matches he had done in his club circuit. Pepper could see the curiosity behind his friends eyes, but there was nothing said.

  Over the next hour Pepper remained intently focused on each of his friends matches. They took a small break and Pepper grabbed a few snack items from the vending machines, but couldn’t help but laugh when he saw the vending machine filled with Big D Energy drinks. He chose the Quackariffic Red and sat back down.

  “Alright, let’s load up your first match of the invitational… again.” Zeklor appeared more intrigued than before but did as Pepper said without delay. The match had started, and Pepper leaned forward on his chair and pointed towards the screen. “Okay… right here. You just told me you were going to throw a 1-2 punch combination.”

  Zeklor remained glued to the screen, though he knew what happened in the match. Rewatching it again with Pepper had him trying to analyze every small detail that Pepper shared with him. “Okay… so your golem’s hip shifted to the right, just before you swung… that and from all your other matches, you primarily do a 1-2 punch combination.”

  The match continued to play out and Pepper then leaned over. “You’re relying too much on the water canon rune. You come in strong and if you don’t land your punches, you fall back and throw that out.”

  “What should I do instead?”

  Pepper tilted his head from side to side. “You could start with it.”

  “What?” Zeklor titled back. “It has a 30 second cool down.”

  “I know it does. But… right now you follow the same pattern. You rush in, you’ll throw a front kick, followed by a spinning back fist or a right haymaker. You then do your 1-2 punch combination and if you can’t connect you back out and throw your water cannon.”

  Pepper then shifted to his seat. “Look, at the end of the day man, you just need to switch it up. Start with the water cannon, see if you can catch someone off guard. Then you hit them with that lightning bolt rune, try to get a stun on their controller card and then rush in and use your melee that you feel so comfortable with.”

  “Man… I just wish I had the funds to swap out my rune cards.” Zeklor sighed and then cracked his knuckles. “I was talking to some of the Promina League Gladiators in the exhibitors hall. They were saying how that was a big tactic they used back when they came to the invitational. I mean… its like every match for them now that they swap something out. But for us low totem competitors… it could mean a make or break in getting accepted to regionals.”

  Pepper didn’t know why, but when Zeklor mentioned the exhibitor hall, he felt a burning sensation to go check it out. He opened up his schedule and realized that neither he nor Zeklor had a match for two more days. By the time he closed his schedule he saw the curious expression on Zeklor’s face.

  “Let’s go checkout that exhibitors hall.”