Anthrak/Life in the Misfit Mansion

From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe

Meanwhile, in the Maradur Battle Chamber...

Anthrak ran up one of the steeply curving spires that surrounds the combat pit of the Maradur battle chamber and leapt into the center with a terrifying roar! "RAHHH! I'M ANTHRAK!" he cries with glee, as he brings his sword down in front of him defensively for his descent, its two-pronged blade splitting to a 180 degree angle and spinning as a staff to deflect aside the waiting blade of his opponent as he lands thunderously in the burning sands at the center.

Now you say yours!

Now is not the time.

His opponent, Xaia, tumbles to the side following the deflection of her blade -- though her father is pressing the attack and attempting to force their confrontation, he does so in a wary, defensive posture for he knows the cunning of the xaia. Rather than be lured in by his inviting stance, she ducks around a spire and swings her blade back to slap oil from a torch at Anthrak's face.

That's no fair!

The chamber is both battleground and weapon.

Anthrak sighs. "I'm still Anthrak!" he shouts as he scrubs the oil from his mask with a fur-clad forearm. With his sword at the ready he circles the spire, but Xaia is cautious, and keeps it positioned between them, inching further back with every slinking step to the side to put more distance between them. Frustrated with her evasion, he rips the 15-foot tall stone spire out of the ground and lifts it up to throw it at her!

...what? You said it was a weapon!

I did not mean--

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"^[2]

...

...

Xaia takes advantage of the earthshaking distraction! With a burst of chemically enhanced speed she rushes in, a laser diagram of her target shimmering in the air in front of her mask as she narrows her options to a single blow that will end the fight. Xaia's sword slaps against his ribs and slides up into his armpit as the spire drops behind him. His arm drops to hold the sword in place and he twirls around, groaning, with the sword pinned under his arm, and he mutters disappointedly, "But I'm Anthrak..."

You always do that! You're such a cheater!

...I am Xaia.

Xaia smirks and pulls the little translucent plastic sword away from the 8-inch tall plastic Anthrak's side, and replaces it in the grasp of the 7-inch tall plastic Xaia. Gx mutters to himself and tries to snap the spire he pulled loose back into the Official Misfits Maradur Battle Chamber Action Playset. Xaia stands up, picks her mask off the table,and starts to put it back over her face; she pauses as she catches a dirty, hurt look from the space gremlin. She has seen it before, every time she has taken part in what, to her, has been simply a mental exercise to pass the time while her sword charges. As the rightful victor, she feels entitled to ignore it. This time, she does not...only to ensure his continued participation, she tells herself. "...you did last longer that time, Gx. You're getting better."

Gx's eyes go wide, and his scaly face stretches into an excited beam, "Really, ya think?!"

Xaia's upper lip curls in distaste but she quickly affixes her mask before he sees it -- there is a soft hiss of air as the biometric seal takes hold, and the visor takes on a faint, deep purple glow. "Hrr. Perhaps merely luckier." She pivots on one heel and stalks off to investigate the disruption.

Gx looks back down at the playset, fidgeting with the button on Anthrak's arm that snaps his sword open and closed. "...oh."