The crowds gathered in droves to watch the seemingly mismatched pair spar off in the ancient Ler ritual of LumLar. The dance floor seemed to drain like water from a basin into the side room which held the LumLar pit. Soon the room was full, forcing spectators to gather around in other rooms to watch the imaging projectors.

The LumLar pit was a circular dirt ring 5 units from one end to the other, with no obstacles, weapons or cover to hide behind. Both combatants stood on opposing sides of the circle, eyeing one another carefully. Ler Tonga pandered to the crowd in a colorful throatal display, making low guttural grunts and clicks to intimidate the slender, tall Titan, who looked back with icy blue eyes and a stern, unimpressed face.

Her skin was smooth and white; she had a small, lithe frame and long, dirty blond hair, tied back neatly, out of her way. She was focused and stood ready, giving at least the slightest indication that she was familiar with the basics of the game. Her posture seemed right, her movements were slow and methodical, and her eyes were never still. She watched the Ler, his triangle of motion centered at his solar plexus, From there she could tell if he was going to move his arms, his legs, rear his neck back to spit, or rotate his pelvis to swipe at her with his tail.

“Tonga will have her out in 2 minutes.” An older man spoke, he was bald and had piercing velvet eyes, he stood near the back of the room but was tall enough to see over the heads of the gathered Ler.

“Puny Titan woman is weak and her skin is soft! But she is tall and has long arms!” A short stocky Ler with a long snout spoke up, looking to the old man. His long crocodilian teeth were bore as he grinned, menacingly. LumLar brought out the savage in the Ler, they took it very seriously.

“She will lose!” The old man spoke up now that he had the Ler’s attention.

“She is focused! Look how she moves, she is cautious!” The stocky brown scaled Ler motioned to Aisell, the combatants had not met yet, as it was customary for both combatants to excite the crowd before engaging.

“She’s nervous! Look how she watched Tonga, she isn’t being observant, she is afraid!” The old man laughed.

“You would bet against your own kind!?” The Ler asked, almost laughing.

“I would bet in favor of common sense!” The old man laughed back.

“The woman has reach; she will be able to avoid his strikes with ease!” The Ler offered back, not so much voting for Aisell as he was voting against the old man. LumLar had a tendency to make the Ler exceedingly argumentative and competitive.

“Tonga has strength, and thick skin. He has teeth and claws and his tail is strong and thick!” The old man shouted back, motioning angrily towards the two circling fighters.

“The Titans are durable and have endurance! She will outlast her foe!” The stocky Ler’s reptilian eyes closed to narrow slits as he looked back to the match.

“We will see!” The old man said, also turning back.

The house champion, Ler-Tonga slapped his tail against the dry dirt and stood legs spread with his arms before him, his center of gravity rendering him solid and ready for any attack. His sharp teeth were bore and his long slick tongue moved along the outer surface of his teeth in a taunting gesture.

“Puny little kit, go home to your soft bed and your warm clothes. You are going to get hurt. This is where the monsters are.” Ler-Tonga said in a quiet voice to Aisell.

Aisell reaction was near nonexistent, she wouldn’t allow her competitor to slither his way into her head, and she didn’t have the luxury of getting distracted. The Ler were shorter but stronger, they had thick skin that was hard to break, and hard durable frames that were like boulders when they set their feet to the ground and centered themselves. They had long strong spiney tails, and the strength and speed to use those tails to stun their prey.

If she allowed Tonga to distract her, she could lose the match before she even got a chance to strike back.

Tribal drums began to beat, drowning out the shouts and jeers from the crowd, the drums beat seemingly in unison with her heart, which beat hard and fast as she watched her opponent plant himself, lick his teeth and dare her to approach. He wasn’t going to charge her, he wasn’t going to allow her to use her advantage against him, and he wanted her to come to him.

He wasn’t the House Champion for nothing.

***

Tapp sat on the other edge of the back handbag, her feet dangling over the edge. She narrowed her eyes and cupped her hand over her brow to block out the light and perhaps get a better look off into the far distance. “Where did they go? They just left us!” she said, sounding appalled.

Degu was the next to climb out of the purse, and also took notice to the two absent Titans who moments ago could be heard conversing amongst themselves. He looked around for a bit before lowering himself from the purse strap to the floor, cracking his neck and squinting his eyes to adjust to the brighter light level.

“They can’t be far.” Degu looked back impatiently to Tapp before looking around once more in search of Bedra.

Darren was the last to eject himself from the hand bag, and was in no better a mood than when he had lowered himself down in the first place. “What’er you two whining about now?” Darren had been napping but had been woken when Tapp and Degu both used his shoulder for leverage to hoist themselves out of Bedra’s hand bag.

“They’re gone.” Tapp spoke up once more, as if she had been slighted.

“They’re not gone!” Degu spoke up in defense of his friend and master. “There just not here right now.” Degu’s voice trailed off slightly, his confidence waning.

Darren slid down the long black leather strap landing on his feet; his coordination was a bit off from the strong titan liquor so it took him a few tries to stand. Before reacting to either of their comments he took a moment to look around. Sure enough all chairs were empty, there was no body sitting at the table.

“They prob’lly just went to get something to drink. Cool yer jets. They’ll be back.” Darren yawned and took a moment to stretch and wake up.

Tapp leapt down from the lip of Bedra’s purse, landing swiftly and neatly on her feet. She stood straight and took a few steps away from the purse. “Do you know how irresponsible that is? How can they just leave us here like that?” Tapp crossed her arms and huffed loudly.

“Bedra isn’t irres…irresp…re…Bedra isn’t what you just said, okay! She wouldn’t leave us! She probably isn’t very far!” Degu stepped out in front of Tapp, getting in her face.

“Do you even know what irresponsible means you dullard?” Tapp’s voice was arrogant and tight as she stood her ground.

Darren rolled his eyes and kept quiet as the two bickered amongst themselves. As he half-listened to them bicker, he took notice of something very peculiar. Bedra and Aehzay were not the only ones who were gone. Most of the tables around them were empty now as well. The thundering and quaking from the dance floor had stopped, the deafening music was silent, and there was a dull roar of voices and cheering coming from the far distance.

“The hell’s going on?” Darren muttered, daring to step out from under the table, to the scarcely populated room that was once crammed with occupants.

“I know it wasn’t nice! You’re never nice to her. She’s given you a lot you know! She didn’t have to take you from that place; she didn’t have to buy you all the things she did. You whine and you whine and you complain but you could have it a lot worse than Bedra!” Degu tried to intimidate Tapp by pressing his face into her’s as they argued.

“You’re right, she didn’t have to, and I didn’t ask for it either! I was bought you dullard…against my will. I never asked to be taken to that wrenched place to begin with, and I sure as the sun is blue didn’t ask to be bought by her and forced to live with you three clods in that prison cell she calls a residential unit!” Tapp pushed back against Degu, not one to be intimidated easily.

“She rescued you from that place! Be a little thankful!” Degu shot back, his voice a low growl.

“Oh thank you master Bedra! Thank you for rescuing poor dumb helpless Tapp! Thank you for giving me a place to piss and a little Tupp bed to sleep in! Thank you for NOTHING!” Tapp balled her fists at her side; her voice raised a few octaves.

“Will yew both shaddap.” Darren groaned, rubbing his temples.

“How can you be so thankless? She could have left you to rot in that damn shelter! I wish she had!” Degu yelled back. “You’ve been grumpy since you got here, all you do is complain, all you do is yell at everyone! You’re mean, you’re spoiled and you make everyone around you miserable!” Degu’s face twisted into a cruel frown.

Tapp was quiet; though shaking with rage she said absolutely nothing as she pulled away from Degu and began to storm off.

“Princess, where are ya going?” Darren groaned as Tapp moved out from under the table, blasting past him with a shove.

“Get out of my way!” Tapp snapped at Darren as she stormed on.

“Good! Let her go! Maybe Bedra will be happy and things will go back to the way they were!” Degu shot back at Tapp as she furthered the gap between them.

Darren turned his head quickly and belted out in his “Sergeant” voice. “Shut yer yap mop head!”

“What? She’s just going off to pout again, like she always does!” Degu yelled back.

“Great, and this is the perfect place fer’ her t’wander off, right?” Darren groaned as he jogged after Tapp, taking a good look around to make sure there were no oncoming Titan Feet heading his way first.

“Just let her go!” Degu shouted.

“Fine, and you can explain to Bedra why she ran off then!” Darren shouted back as he picked up his pace.

Tapp noticed Darren on her heels and took off running as soon as Darren was close enough.

“Go away! Both of you just go away! I’m sick of you, I’m sick of her, I’m sick of this whole place!” Tapp screamed as she took off at an alarming pace.

“Slow down Princess…this ain’t the place’t go fer a walk…yer gonna get yerself killed!” Darren grumbled as he ran after.

Degu paced back and forth as he watched his two companions get further and further away, he hesitated for a moment before groaning, running his hand down his face and sprinting after them both. “Wait up!”

***

“We have to get her out of there!” Aehzay shouted to Bedra as they both tried to squeeze their way through the crowed. “She’s going to get herself killed! What in the hells does she think she’s doing?” Aehzay pushed past two cheering Titan’s and side stepped past a crowd of Ler, but they were still quite far back from the LumLar pit, and the crowd only seemed to get thicker and denser the closer they got.

Bedra could hardly hear Aehzay as they screamed to one another, but responded as best she could as she struggled to keep up with the frantic Maris. “I don’t know…the crowd is too thick…we’re not going to be able to get to her!” Bedra looked around, biting her lip; to the side, she caught a glimpse of a red haired Titan woman pushing her way through the crowd as furiously as Aehzay was.

“Lezah!” Bedra shouted and made her way over to the elder Maris Sister.

“I’m gonna kill her! I’m going to strangle her and then I’m gonna kill her!” Lezah’s eyes were wide, but rather than anger she looked concerned, and afraid.

“Where’s Eyrn?” Bedra asked, looking around for her friend.

“I’m right here….” Eyrn shouted as she shoved her way through the hips of two Titan men who had at least a foot and a half on her in height. “What’s going on? I can’t see anything but asses and backs!” Eyrn leapt a bit but it didn’t do very much to help her see over the crowd.

“Aisell…she’s doing something very stupid.” Bedra sounded as if this was no big surprise.

“What did she do?” Eyrn grumbled as she was shoved by an unknowing Titan, nearly falling over in the process. “Watch it you oaf!” Eyrn mumbled, her hair was still wet from her dip in the Dunnermac tank, but her clothes were dry.

“She challenged the house LumLar champion to a fight that’s what she did!” Lezah shoved her way past a group of Ler, who were to enthralled in the match to even notice.

“Oh…well alright then that totally explains it all.” Eyrn spoke dryly and rolled her eyes. “Let’s pretend I don’t know what a house LumLar champion is for a moment ok?”

Bedra took Eyrn’s hand to insure they didn’t get separated and followed Lezah’s wake, shouting back to Eyrn as they went. “It’s kind of a wrestling match.”

“That doesn’t seem so bad…” Eyrn held on tight as she was pulled through the dense thick crowd, bumping against hips, bums and hard grumpy Ler, who stood at the tallest just taller than her, but on average a hair shorter than her.

“Well her opponent is a Ler…and not just any Ler, the House Champion.” Bedra added, nearly losing Eyrn when a gap in the crowd closed.

“Oww…you’re gonna pull my arm off if you’re not careful!” Eyrn squeezed through and rubbed her shoulder.

“Don’t get separated!” Bedra half smiled and followed after Lezah again.

“So she’s fighting one of these lizard people? What’s the problem there, they’re kinda teeny.” Eyrn shrugged and then yelped as she was pulled through the crowd again.

“They are a lot stronger then they look, have knife like teeth, sharp dagger claws and armors, scaly skin?”

Bedra stopped as the crowd before them was far too thick and impenetrable for them to get past.

“Don’t forget the poison darts,” Lezah added.

“They wouldn’t use them during LumLar, at least. It’s unsporting, I guess. But yeah, poison darts too.”

“That doesn’t sound good.” Eyrn looked onward, but all she could see was back’s. “Is she doing ok?”

Bedra could see over the crowd of mostly Ler and winced as she looked down to Eyrn. “Define…okay?”

“That bad eh?” Eryn frowned and stood on her tippie toes, still she couldn’t quite see what was going on, only hear the jeering and the commotion, and the loud bass drumming.

“Here.” Bedra crouched down and motioned to her back. “I’ll give you a boost!”

Eyrn eyed her friend for a moment. She’d never been small enough for a piggy-back ride, and squeed at the very notion of it! “Really! Oh yay! I’ve never had a piggy-back ride!” Eyrn nearly leapt onto Bedra’s back, wrapped her arms around her friends neck and her legs around Bedra’s waist.

Bedra groaned at the sudden weight, adjusted herself, and the stood. “Let go of my neck!”

“Sorry.” Eyrn released.

Bedra hoisted Eyrn up so that the tiny Titan girl was sitting on her shoulders, and then put her hands on Eryn’s thigh’s to steady her. “Can you see now?” Bedra spoke, her voice slightly strained by the weight.

“Yup!” Eyrn tittered as she could easily see what was going on now.

“If you fart on me I’m dropping you, just saying.” Bedra laughed.

***

“Aisell…Aisell Maris! What in the hells are you doing!?” Lezah had forced herself to the front, her determination and resolve as sold as the Ler Aisell was fighting.

Aisell had no choice but to oblige the champ’s taunt and charge, which had gone over poorly for her for as soon as she had, Tonga swung his tail out and struck her aside her torso. The impact had nearly floored her, but Aisell managed to stay on her feet. Still, Aisell had come away with a series of deep gashes from her pelvis to her chest where the thick, rigid scales had dug into her skin from the impact. Her flesh was red and sore at the point of assault and, kicked up dirt and mud mixed with her own blood trickled down her side. Aisell’s resolve, however was iron strong. She had closed the gap between her and Tonga, and had managed to stay standing. She was close enough to react to his next series of tail swipes, and more importantly she could do so from a standing position. Had she have fallen, the game would have been over.

The next tail swipe came fast and as strong as the previous. Aisell was close to her opponent now and more easily able to avoid his swipes. First she lept over the sideways whip, and on the next one she got low and ducked under as it was a bit higher due to Tonga’s positioning after his missed attack. The third strike came from above and was caught at the thick base of the tail by Aisell, who stood and braced herself against the dirt and pulled as hard as she could to throw Tonga off balance.

The angry Ler hissed and snapped his jaw and spat as he felt the base of his tail lock from Aisell’s hold. With her legs she kept the tail from swinging, and with her arms she pulled back every time Tonga attempted to turn to swipe at her.

“What’s the matter you little mud-kip? Arms to short?!” Aisell, snickered.

Tonga’s response was a snapping growling guttural angry shout as he struggled to remain afoot. Every time he moved Aisell tugged him back, nearly pulling him off his feet. His tail was immobilized, his arms were too short to reach back and slash at her, and if he unplanted even one of his hind legs she would have him off his feet and at a significant disadvantage.

“Grab a lizard by the tail…that’s how momma taught us to catch em!” Aisell mocked as she pulled harder, straining to off put her opponent as much as she could.

“What is she doing? She can’t win that way!” Aehzay had managed to squeeze her way next to Lezah, who was no longer shouting, but watching carefully, studying the fight. “She’s not strong enough to pull him out of the ring…she’ll only piss him off this way.”

Lezah’s face remained sullen and concerned; she spoke without turning to face her sister. “That’s what she’s trying to do.”

“What? Piss him off?” Aehzay frowned.

Lezah just nodded.

“What good will come of that?” Aehzay began to chew on her finger nails anxiously.

“She needs him to go on the offensive; if he stays on the defensive she has no chance.”

“Puny Titan! Let go of my tail and fight me! Face me like a warrior you cowardly whispering skeet!” Ler-Tonga hissed and growled as he flicked his tail in a furry to shake Aisell.

“Then when we catch em, do you know what we do with them?” Aisell’s breathing was hard and fast, it was taking everything she had to hold onto the Ler’s tail and keep him from moving. But her arms were long enough to wrap around his tail nicely, and her legs long enough to give her leverage. She held his tail at such an upward angle that all his focus was on staying afoot.

“I will kill you!” Tonga hissed.

“We gut em! Gut em and cook em! Lizards make good over the fire!” Aisell laughed, raising one foot, she planted it on the Ler’s backside and shoved him forward, letting go of his tail and leaping back out of swing distance.

Ler-Tonga stumbled forward but stated afoot. Swiftly he turned and smacked his tail against the ground angrily. His scales snapped and rippled as he flexed and let out a guttural snarl. His neck fin extended in a bright display and he stomped the ground in a rage.

“I will gut you like a fish puny pink-skinned Titan!” Tonga hissed and spat, and barreled forward at Aisell like a mad bull.