Gods of Arena
Lol. Nightmare?

*Crane pushed his palm forward, throwing Kang against the wall. "Whoa!", Kang groaned and coughed. "That's one hell of a hit.... But we need more" Someone walked in, clapping. "Wow!"

"Ana?", Kang muttered. "What are you doing here?"

She looked directly at Crane, slowly walking up to him. "What is your name?"

"Crane... time flies", Crane replied, smiling back. "May I know your name?"

"It's Ana, dear... It's a pleasure to meet my uncle's biggest creation", Ana said. "I believe you are ready for the war ahead of us, are you?"

Kang stood up. "Actually-"

"Not you, Kang. I was talking to Crane. Your power is overwhelming you can tower over every fighter.... But you stay humble among mundane creatures. You even hang out with a weakling"

"A weakling?", Kang muttered, taking a step closer. She would never call him a weakling. What was she doing?.... "Ana?"

"Show some courtesy, Kang. She's still speaking", Crane retorted and smiled at Ana. "Sorry for the interruption. You can continue, my lady"

"No, my Lord", Ana said, softly, and put her hands on his chest. "I wish to hear you speak"

"Then say no more", Crane said and held her arms firmly, as he leaned closer and kissed her on the lips.

*

* "Kang!!!"

"Shut up! What the fuck!", Kang sprung up from the bed. "You could have gotten a knife and stabbed my eardrum instead!"

"Sorry! I've been waiting here for years"

"Yea, and you haven't grown a bit", Kang muttered and fell back on the bed. "I had a horrible nightmare"

"It was obvious from the frown on your face", Crane replied. "Looked like someone was giving you a visual torture"

"Pretty accurate. Why were you waking me?"

"You already missed your workout time, even though you slept before me last night."

"Yea, right", he muttered and stood up.

That dream was definitely stupid. He didn't want to think about it but the thoughts just kept breaking in his head. "You're not jealous, Kang", he muttered to himself.

"Uh?"

"Uh?"

"Sorry, I thought you were talking to me", Crane said, as he faced the ground and posed for some push-ups. "Are you going to count for me?" "Yea, go on"

He watched Crane go up and down and he counted every push, attentively. Crane probably had some potential after all. "You can try the punching bag. Your Shin Zhu must be attacking.... And destructive, hopefully"

Crane walked over to the punching bag and Kang sat on the bench, reflecting on the dream again. After the training in his dream, Crane didn't do much. Somehow, Crane had the ability to shoot some kind of wave, throwing Kang back against the wall. They should probably test that.

Crane laid on the ground, breathing heavily. "Forty minutes working out. That's an achievement for me"

"No, Crane. That's child's play", Kang replied. "Come on, get up. There's this stuff I'd like us to try" Crane pushed himself up. "What's that?"

Kang walked up to him. "You should stand straight", Kang said, adjusting Crane's pose to match the one in the dream. It probably didn't matter but they should get it first. "Open your palm and put your fingers together... just your thumb aside" "Uh, like this?"

"Like you're going to push something", Kang said, and demonstrated with his hand. "Like this"

"Right, so what?"

"Uh, breathe in", Kang said. He was making that up. He definitely had no idea how Crane did it in the dream. He wasn't even sure if the dream mattered or made any sense at all. "Close your eyes and feel the breeze around you" That was the same meditative thought he had when he survived a fight with Jae. "Alright. What-?"

"Shut up. Don't talk. Just listen and do", Kang said and continued. "Feel the breeze around you. Relax.... Now, push your hand forward and feel the breeze mimicking your move"

Crane pushed his hands forward with great effort and concentration, pressing hard into Kang's chest. He stood still for a second and opened his eyes, slowly. They both burst into laughter. "That's it?"

"Yea, whatever. It didn't work", Kang said, laughing. "Fuck! It should have worked"

"Well, the breeze didn't mimic shit", Crane replied, walking over to the bench. "I bet the breeze thinks I'm an idiot now. Where did you get the idea from?" "My dream"

"The nightmare you had today?"

"Yea", Kang said. "Doesn't matter now. It's bullshit, anyway"

"Tell me the scary part", Crane replied, leaning back. "What happened next?"

"Well-"

"Guys?", a voice interrupted.

Their eyes darted at the door. Ana had walked in. "Oh, Ana", Kang said, forcing a smile. "You're here"

"I can see you guys are training", Ana said and stepped closer to them. "Hi, Crane. I'm happy to see you here"

"I'm happy to see you too", Crane replied. "Kang was just about to tell me his nightmare. It will probably help me learn Shin Zhu well and early"

"Uh?", Kang muttered. The rest of dream definitely didn't help in anyway... in fact, he wasn't about to tell them about the kiss they had in his head. They would probably sense his jealousy. "Trust me, Crane. It has nothing to do with your ability. It's totally stupid"

"You can tell us anyway. We can probably pick out hints from it so... spill it", Ana said and sat beside them. "Come on, I don't have much time. Someone messed with the spin machine and they believe one of the fighters did something... besides, I must not be found here. I had to tamper with the cameras before coming"

"Go on, Kang", Crane prodded him gently.

"Alright", Kang inhaled. "Alright, well, the dream was pretty short. We were training in the gym so Crane did something. He shot a kind of wave that threw me back against the wall. Then you walked in"

"So what happened next?", Ana asked, clearly waiting for the part that made the dream a nightmare.

"Well, he- uh.... He just kinda clenched his fists and pulled back his elbow.... Then his eyes turned red- totally red-like blood. He pushed his fists forward and the whole place was consumed with fire", Kang said, slowly. "It was so horrible. He kinda burnt your head off. I had to wait"

Ana nodded and smiled. "Alright, that has a lot to do with his ability", she said and stood up. "Start training him on fire, immediately... there's going to be a spin before dusk. It's going to be low-tiers and mid-tiers so keep him away till he gets full control of his ability"

"You sure? They don't watch the cameras anymore?"

"Leave that to me", she said and winked at Crane. "You have no idea of the affinity between my family and the coming war. Almost nobody knows... but I'll tell you the secret when you're ready"

Crane nodded and stood up. "I won't let you down", he said. "Let me see you off, will you?"

"They must not see us together", she said, walking up to him, and hugged him. "I will check on you some other day. Don't forget to stay away from the spin" Crane nodded. "Goodbye"

"Thank you, Kang", she said, walking out of the gym. "Focus on the fire. That is the secret"

"Where do we start?"

"Uh?"

"She said we should focus on the fire. Where do we start the training?", Crane asked, laying on the bed. "I'm pretty anxious"

"I've been thinking about your name", Kang said, staring at the ceilings. "What's it again?"

"Uh. Crane... time flies"

"That's it. That last part; we still don't know what it means", Kang said and looked at Crane. "I think that is the secret to your Shin Zhu. We should figure it out" "Why don't we work on the dream first? It was pretty similar in a way"

"It wasn't similar in any way. I just made all of that up"

"Uh? What do you mean by that?"

"Well, there was no fire. When you pushed me against the wall, Ana walked in. She shunned me, walked up to you, and you kissed her"

"So that's the nightmare? You were just jealous about the dream?", Crane sprung up from the bed.

"Yea, I was jealous, so what? The point is we are not focusing on the fire. I'm sure your Shin Zhu is somehow connected with your weird name"

"You could have just told me you liked her, in the first place"

"Well, she likes you. It doesn't matter, does it?!", Kang retorted and turned, facing the wall. "Sleep. We will train tomorrow"

"That's if I'm not still angry, then", Crane faced the wall too. "Good night!"

"Hi.... Uh, hi"

"Me?", Dan turned and looked at the mid-tier. "Do I know you?"

He looked up. Everyone had their eyes on the both of them, as though they were expecting him to nail the mid-tier to the wall. They were probably expecting him to do it. He always did it.... But he wasn't going to do it. "Uh, I think so. I'm Todd... I was on the arena with Jae before you stepped in"

"Oh. It's you", Dan muttered. "You need something?"

"No. I just wanted to thank you for helping me beat him", Todd said.

"Well, there's no need to-"

A loud ring emitted from the speakers, alerting them. It's a notification for the next spin. "There's no need to thank me", Dan continued and looked up at the fighters still staring at him. "What are you looking at?"

*