The King of Beasts (Pop Quiz: Tiberius Ralin)

It had been a few months since Quipedalia had its first guest and Maze's henchmen needed a break. A vacation. Some entertainment that only Maze could supply. Deep in the headquarter's base, Maze had set up a large room, inspired by the Roman Coliseum. There were cages and gates all around the bottom ring and about twenty rows of spectators seats. Maze had stood in the center of the ring, alone and smiling largely, although his hat's rim still created a shadow, just big enough to block his eyes and nose from being seen. Blink, Solstice and Rail walked in and took their seats beside each other, talking rapidly, obviously excited to see what Maze's surprise was. Around the teens were hundreds of robots that would jump up and down and play cheering noises. Some of them walking around with peanuts to sell, some programmed to order peanuts, and some to seem drunk and get in fights with other drunk robots. It seemed...Maze had plenty of time on his hands...

"Ladies and gentlemen! Boys and girls of all ages! Welcome to the show of your lives!" He began, still looking down slightly. "It has long been debated...Who is the king of beasts? The lion? ...A popular choice? The ape? Strong...fierce, indeed. The cheetah? The grizzly bear? The python?" He made a soft chuckle, for a moment. "Well, I believe that I've created plenty that could best any out there, but...as of last night...I believe I may have found the greatest of them all..."

He looked to one gate for a long moment, trying to build a little suspense. "Ladies and gentlemen, may I present the notorious...Tiberius Ralin!"

The gate would then begin to open slowly. The beast's drugs would be wearing off just about right now and surely it would be confused, but, being a beast, it would lose focus and enjoy the hunt and battle between any adversary that would meet it on the opposite side of the ring. As Tib would come into view, Rail would lean forward on his seat excitedly, Solstice would gasp and cover her mouth and Blink would just stare at Solstice calmly and sadly.

Before anyone could look back to Maze in the center of the ring though, they would find that he was gone! Suddenly, he was sitting right next to his minions ordering a popcorn from one of the robots happily. "Oh, I do hope there will be blood!" He said with a large grin to the three.

Moments after Tib would enter far enough into the ring, the gate behind him would pound shut. The gate across would open slowly and, with a loud roar, the former king of beasts would emerge to face Tib. It was quite wild and seemed hungry. It was truly a prime example of a lion at its strongest, fastest and fiercest. Running would be futile as the bars to the viewers and to each beast was made of one of the strongest metals in the world and digging down would reveal about four feet of dirt and then about twenty feet of solid steel. No escaping...not anytime soon anyway...

"We'll start easy..."

As the beast emerged and came to life as it dominated the lion quickly, a startled gasp would be produced from Solstice as she shielded her face from the sight, Blink went wide-eyed in shock and Rail jumped to his feet, cheering wildly in the midst of the carnage along with stadium of robots. Nodding and smiling, Maze happily folded his arms in satisfaction as it seemed that his entertainment was giving his henchmen the thrill they'd never experienced before.

As the roar from the audience died down and the lion was devoured with the beast's gaping jaws, another larger gate slid open slowly and an uneasy aura filled the coliseum. "Now we leave the land of 'normal'. The place where man and beast call home and drift into an area of existence that is far more terrifying, far more disturbing...these are the creatures that dwell in the periphery of your eyesight...the place where reality and imagination mix. Children shield your eyes now. Next is a creature that was discovered in the deepest part of the Abraxatanian Rainforest, in the nation of Ubersterbackistan where they feed on goats, sheep and small children. Don't blink, or you may miss it just because of it's fierce speed! It has the pelt of a wolf, the venom of a snake, the wings of a falcon and the claws of a lion! Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, for the first time in the Western Hemisphere...the Vaipodingo!" The maroon suited man shouted proudly.

A shadow broke the light that was coming from the tunnel and Blink seriously doubted anything too menacing to truthfully emerge. He didn't know if it was because of the creature being from a nonexistant rainforest in a mythical country or if the name just seemed to be viper and dingo put together, but, he wasn't quite on the edge of his seat as the crowds' stunned silence filled the atmosphere.

Suddenly a high-pitched howl echoed through the arena as a creature flew through the tunnel like a blur and lunged straight towards Tiberius, claws extended. The crowd cheered and Blink fell out his chair from the shock. It was truly like nothing they'd ever seen before...

Spoiler:

The crowd was filled with robots cheering in shock and excitement as the two creature fought fiercely. It seemed to be a match of speed and strength. As Tiberius fought back with various spikes sticking out of its apparent shell, the Vaipodingo, although seemingly fast enough to avoid it, ran straight into the natural weapons, creating long, painful gashes in its fur. It would seem that Tiberius had been successful already but, as the crowd gazed at the wounded Vaipodingo, they saw that it stood tall, unwavering and strong. It was brutally wounded but...apparently...it didn't mind...

The Vaipodingo made an odd noise, a mix between a shriek and a hiss, and waved his head back and forth in anger before taking to the air. He licked his lips hungrily as it circled its competitor hungrily and silence filled the crowd as action died down for a moment. It flew calmly in a constant pattern, trying to attempt Tiberius, before finally lunging straight downward with its jaws open, leading the way. It was hungry and odd alien reptile-thing was on the menu.

Maze continued to grin widely as Solstice sunk in her seat, covering her face. Blink leaned closer to Solstice and put his arm around her, trying to comfort her as Rail jumped into the air, cheering excitedly with the other robots, all of them praying to see blood next.

As the crowd continued to roar, under the cacophonous screams, a euphonious, but, highly startling realization broke towards Maze and his legion. The beast spoke! It was intelligent! Maze's eyes widened for a moment but stayed silent as Blink came to his feet. "What!? It it can talk!" Blink exclaimed wildly.

"Bloody hell!?" Rail agreed. "Does this mean---what the heck!? He's not a beast then, is he!? He's...what even is he!?"

Solstice simply stared with her mouth ajar. They had no idea what to do! What really was a beast? Was it just something with the instincts to attack? If so, then, certainly, this...thing was a beast...but...if it had to be intelligent...was it really right what they were doing? Nevertheless, as the patrons watched in shock, the fight continued.

Tiberius unclosed its gaping maw and seemed to just devour the vaipodingo whole! It then turned on the crowd and tried to stealthily aim a dart between two robots. The needle stuck into the seat without anything in its way. The robots didn't notice...Maze and his henchmen did. Rail immediately tensed up and began to lean forward, ready to defend his master with his life.

"No," Maze spoke quickly, stopping his henchmen from mobilizing. He spoke in a very commanding, serious voice for really the first time anyone had heard. Although Solstice and the others were tense, they trusted Maze and stayed in their seats.

After a moment of silence, a larger gate opened. With a low growl and a thundering march, three beasts appeared. These specimen were slower but stronger and hardier than the Vaipodingo. Matching strength and adding numbers could prove to be a challenge that Tiberius just wasn't prepared for...

Spoiler:

The largest of the three would hang back, intimidating its foe and holding its ground as the two smaller versions would attack, fangs first, at opposite sides of their foe.

Just as Tiberius had wanted, one of the smaller beasts bit onto his talon. The creature wasn't strong enough to shatter the talon, so, it immediately began to try to turn Tiberius to its side in hopes to immobilize it. It barely had enough strength to achieve the task, but, whether Tib would allow it to be successful was yet to be seen.

As the two had their match, the second beast ran to the other side of Tiberius and tried to attack it on its blind side, attempting a strike with its fangs. The alpha, meanwhile continued to growl and shriek in satisfaction as it viewed its pack doing his dirty work. The pack leader seemed to not want to attack unless it had to, hoping that its pack would prove itself.

Meanwhile, on the bleachers, a few robots began to stand in offensive positions, seemingly adhering to the frightened attitudes of Maze's henchmen. Rail stayed on his feet, eating up the excitement, while Solstice and Blink sat in silence, thoroughly conflicted.

After a moment, Blink jumped to his feet and marched out of the coliseum. He ran out to a nearby hallway so that he could still see the rush of the fight, but, so that no one could him. He stood, his back to the hallway wall, and simply stared at the edges of the tiles. He was really divided. He didn't know what he was doing there...how could they put an intelligent creature on display...just to watch them die?

Moments later, Solstice appeared in the doorway. "I know Alex...what's going on isn't right...I'm not dealing with this well either, but, it's just one day and Rail's loving it." she said, trying to be comforting.

"You just don't get it, do you?" Blink responded angrily. "You're not okay with what? Attacking intelligent beings for our own amusement? You mean like what we do every week? If you're not okay with what we do here...what are you doing here?!"

He turned and left for his room without another word...

Solstice stood silent, shocked. Alex hadn't said more than a few passing words to her since they've been here together, and his brutal honesty was...surprising...She turned back to return to her seat. Although the robotic fans were roaring, Solstice seemed to block it all out...She didn't know what was happening with Blink for certain...but it made her feel uneasy. She was charged with watching over this corporation as an angel on earth and she hadn't thought that a little recreational activity would hurt anything...maybe...she had to think things through a little more...

"Blink has returned to his room?" Maze asked, not turning his head.

Solstice nodded solemnly.

"Well, you need to be ready. I'm not certain if I've prepared a beast that can beast our Genus Tiberius. Be prepared to restrain him, bind him if necessary..."

Maze smiled. Genus Tiberius seemed to actually be grinning in the midst of the battle. It shouted up to him and thanked him, seeming to be almost giddy in all the action. It was an odd creature to be sure...an almost perfect breed and intelligent, too. It was a valuable capture to be sure! Just think of the possibilities! What could an organization do with a creature like this? An intelligent tank. A powerful blocker. A possibility of...breeding?

Today's matchup wasn't just for enjoyment. It was to excite everyone in Maze's corporation. It showed that they were really moving forward. Every creature that Maze had created or found in the past was no match to this new creature so far! It was quite possibly the most powerful creature in the galaxy and it was theirs!

Back in the ring, the creature's two members of its pack were down. Dead. The alpha's face turned in a moment of pain and then became filled with red hot hatred. This creature just finished off its family and, any revenge or anger it understood could only be rectified through the death of Genus Tiberius.

The creature belted out a deafening roar and charged at its enemy, fangs first. It would prove to be much stronger and much faster than the other two members of its pack.