Rukh and I followed our new opponents through the doorway. For about ten seconds we were walking in complete darkness down a wide corridor. Without warning the floor was gone.
Time seemed frozen as were suspended i midair before plummeting like in an old cartoon. I tried to pull my wings out of the cloak but they kept getting tangled. I perform pretty well under pressure most of the time, but now I was in a complete panic But I didn't scream. That wouldn't help anything.
And just as suddenly as it started the falling stopped. We were suspended in midair, floating in an infinity of darkness. Then lines started to appear. Green lines. Drawing items into the room. Chairs, carpeting, a high ceiling roughly forty feet off the floor. It was like being inside some kind of four dimensional etch-a-sketch.
Then color settled in. We were in some kind of auditorium, like you would see in a school. All the chairs were facing a large screen at the end. Near the front were Arnold and Ani apparently waiting for something. Then a cool female voice said "Please be seated, the presentation is about to begin." Still stunned Rukh and I sat down in the third row of chairs. Almost immediately a video started. A young guy, maybe 19 was standing on what looked like a roof top in New York.
he was about six feet with red hair fashioned into a military style cut. He looked nice enough standing there with a grin, wearing a pair of comfortable looking jeans and a T-shirt. Then he started talking. "Hello my name is Phoenix, and this is the battledome" Ah Phoenix, he was always my favorite mod. Probably because both our names involve fire, wings, and flying.
He raised his arms gesturing to the city around him. "Of course this isn't the only place to fight in. Not by a longshot. You can choose practically any place, real or fictional, to brawl, in. This just happens to be one of my favorites. Here's a few more to give you a few ideas for your first match." With that he combusted. The guy was on fire, completely burning right before our eyes. Arnold let out a high pitched yelp. Tough guy.
The fire stopped and in the place of the jolly guy was a bird, It was if you took the feathers from my wings and put them on a combination of a rooster and a parrot. It was a tall bird about up to my knee with the same feathers that I had. The thing was beautiful, with glistening black eyes, a razor sharp beak, and of course the amazing colors. Then it took flight.
The camera followed the Phoenix curving at an angle that showed it from the top. We could easily see the bird in flight and the city under it. Then without word the terrain changed. Instead of an endless city it was mount everest absolutely massive, covered in snow and dominating a mountain range surrounding it.
Then it was...Venice? Yes definitely Venice Italy with canals running alongside the streets. Then the scenes began to shift real places, different time periods, places I had only seen in movies and games. Paris, Gettysburg, Rome, Pokemon stadiums, The Hindenburg, and a dozen others. All flashing by as Phoenix flew over.
Then he was back in New York.. He landed on the Stature of Liberty and burst into flames again. When it died out the bird was gone and the red head was back. He smiled at us and said, "Now that you've seen a few places It's time to show you how your going to fight."
