The sky was beautiful a brilliant blue, streaks of white clouds peppering the realm above. A planet could be seen in the sky, Munera's uninhabitable twin planet, Sicilia. Though uninhabitable and dangerous in itself, it's existence only made Munera's skyline all the more majestic. 0RG0-N coughed up blood as he laid in the sand staring up at the sky. The old Humani gladiator rotated his head in soft sand to look around, the Lynx Ludus laid scattered throughout the sands, dead. Near the bodies roamed their killers, who were they again? Ah yes, the Taurus. Softly the battered man chuckled as he found the throwing knives extending from his chest like a dart board, they were tough ones indeed, he chuckled again but stopped to cough violently and spit up more blood onto his chin. He could hear the crowd's cheering, and strained his head to see them. They were doing something with their hands, ah, the turned thumb, he was getting the turned thumb. He turned back to the sky. Orgon the Invincible himself lying in the sand defeated and about to die The Humani thought to himself, That's right. This is the way a deserter like me is supposed to die. Something blocked out his view of the sky. A black silhouette, his vision obscured by the sun, he could see clearly, however, the axe the figure held in its hands. "Make it quick, sir, a Humani like me could only hope for a death with a view of the sky like this." The figure raised his axe and brought it down with quick force. The champions had fallen, the Taurus had achieved the impossible and had defeated the unbeatable Lynx without a single loss.

Confucius sat in a meditative posture among the scattered prisoners in the dark unlit cargo bay. The cargo bay was hot and stuffy with poor ventilation, yet Confucius remained unmoving, his breathing controlled and his mind clear of excess thoughts. The glowing blue energy cuffs let off a soft light that illuminated his large figure within the darkness. Some prisoners paced back and forth nervously through the bay, tripping over their own feet and shaking with anxiety. Their fear was understandable, the rumors revolving around the Humani gladiator games were nothing less of scary. If one listened carefully they could hear a prisoner crying quietly or another praying to whatever deities they worshipped. All noise and movement stopped as the transport ship began to rumble and shake, they had landed. A loud hiss and crank echoed throughout the cargo bay as the door opened, the light of day and the loud noises of cheering forcing its way into the dark and quiet bay. The door opened completely and became a ramp that led off into a tunnel. Above the tunnel was a glass roof extending all the way down it. A wide crowd of an assortment of races from all over the galaxy stood by the glass expectantly watching the figures of the prisoners reluctantly staying inside the cargo bay, the audience. A door opened in the back of the cargo bay as a group of Humani Legionnaires in full armor stepped into the bay, armed with energy rifles. The commander raised his magnum and fired it into the head of a prisoner. "Go. Now. One at a time." He commanded as the Legionnaires raised their rifles at the group of prisoners, their eyes wide with terror. Confucius stood up silently and softly stepped onto the ramp. With a serene expression he walked into the hallway as the audience above began to cheer. The glass roof lit up and showed a profile of sorts on him to the spectators above, his race, weight, height, the such. A robotic voice resounded through the tunnel as he walked, Confucius the Yeshou, you are now a part of the Lepus Ludus, please go right at the end of the tunnel and enjoy your stay at Venationes.

A Humani guard at the end of the hallway gestured to the right pathway with his rifle. Tiredly, Confucius turned to the right and began to walk until he reached the end of the dull,dark, and narrow hallway. A dead-end? He thought to himself as he inspected the wall quizzically. Beneath him the floor opened and he fell. Surprised, he landed clumsily on his feet in a large circular room. The room had 7 round raised platforms arranged along the edges. The most notable feature was the weapon rack in the center of the room, a large assortment of weapons of all types all neatly organized. Though a large variety, each weapon was definitely the simplest form of whatever weapon it represented. The same robotic voice played echoed throughout the room, "Greetings, Gladiator. Please select your weapon or weapons from the rack in front of you. When finished,please take your place on one of the platforms presented before you and wait for your teammates to enter. Once all teammates enter, the platforms will be raised, anybody who fails to go up with the platforms will vaporize along with any unrecognized material within this room. This message will be played on repeat for every new arrival, Thank you! Confucius observed the weapon rack, he had to hand it to the Humani, nobody made giving weapons to prisoners safer than they did. The old cat cracked a smile to himself as he grabbed a basic sword and weighed it in his hands. It was heavy, much heavier than any normal sword that was made with alloys, this blade was made from one solid piece of metal and its weight definitely said that as well. He picked up an energy rifle and set it to burst-fire, it had been years since he held one of these in his hands, he was but a young kit then. He laughed to himself as he slung it over his shoulder. He climbed onto the platform and sat down, examining his sword.

Kra'gth stood with the other prisoners in the cargo bay. It was quite dark, but Kra'gth just used his other senses to tell where he was. They had managed to put him in cuffs, on all four of his arms and some shackles n his legs, much to his displeasure. His tail had been made so that it was shackled to his feet shackles, and he didn't like this one bit. He tossed and turned, shoving other prisoners and moving around quite a bit. Being a Ezu'ku'rash, he had primal animal instincts instead of any itnelligence, and didn't understand language. He heard what was talked about the Humani Gladiators, but he never knew what it was, because he didn't even understand the words. His race spoke in grunts, moans, and roars, not words. Suddenly, the transport ship landed, and it was still. He grunted, as a ramp opened up and Humani aimed their weaponry at the other prisoners. They said something, more gibberish he didn'tt understand, and shoved hs way forward through some of the other prisoners, and walked off the ramp. The crowd of people that were protected yelled out, sounding like a war call to Kra'gth, and suddenly a voice and he appeared. "Kra'gth the Ezu'ku'rash, you are now part of the Lepus Ludus, please go to right at the end of the tunnel and enjoy your stay at Venationes." Obviousy, he did not understand this robot's words.

Kra'gth saw a Humani at the end of the hall, moving his rifle in a weird motion, towards the right pathway. Pissedly, he walked through the passageway and to the edn of the hall. He grunted, and tried to slam his fists against the wall, with his cuffs, but before he could even try the ground opened up from under him and he landed in a circular room with a rack of weapons in the center and seven platforms around the edge. Another prisoner seemed to be in here too, but all he did was give a grunt and then go over to the weapons rack. The weapon that caught his eye was a club, his favorite type of weapon. It was a little small, but it would do for bashing the enemy. As he was looking through the weapons to make sure there wasn't anything else, a voice rang through the room. "Greetings, Gladiator. Please select your weapon or weapons from the rack in front of you. When finished,please take your place on one of the platforms presented before you and wait for your teammates to enter. Once all teammates enter, the platforms will be raised, anybody who fails to go up with the platforms will vaporize along with any unrecognized material within this room. This message will be played on repeat for every new arrival, Thank you!" More words he didn't understand. He grabbed a club and went over to a platform, and stood on it.

Terrum was blind, and he was hungry. He could smell blood of the fearful and the breathing of maybe dozens. They were all prisoners taken from whatever world they once loved by metal demons, and the heathens had shoved his head in some sort of mesh and cloth bag. Terrum hated the bag, as it only seemed to constrict more to his form as he tried to expose his proboscis. Probably just for insurance. Terrum was hungry after all, and many of the voices he hear seemed anxious for death.

The first sign of things changing was when Terrum heard a door finally open, revealing light. He couldn't really make out features or any recognizable shapes, but he did see tall blobs and the glow of light. And then a gunshot rang out.

"Go. Now. One at a time," ordered an obviously Humani voice, the metallic range of his tone matching that of an engine.

Terrum let lose a nasally growl, his hatred for the metal beings so intense that he could kill their women and children with pride...if they even had them. Terrum swayed towards the light stepped out of the dark hole he had been trapped in. As he marched forward, the sound of a fairer and faker voice spoke cheerfully.

"Terrum Jyka the Genachromian, you are now part of the Lepus Ludus, please go to right at the end of the tunnel and enjoy your stay at Venationes."

"What?" Terrum replied in a confused tone, "what are you Humani bastards doing to me? Take this drakking bag off me now and reveal yourselves you iron cowards!"

Suddenly, the butt of a rifle slammed against the aliens back and forced him forward. Terrum showed little weakness, and motioned forward.

"Turn right idiot," a Humani voice ordered. "R-I-G-H-T!"

Terrum followed the order reluctantly and entered a darkened hall. He moved slowly, taking cautious steps until finally he found himself at a dead end, with only a wall remaining. The first assumption was that this was where he was to stand, and that a firing squad now was positioned behind him ready to fire at an unarmed, injured, and starving prisoner of war. Wouldn't of been the worse thing the Human have done, and it seemed truly merciful of the metal bastards.

But suddenly, the floor underneath Terrum's feet vanished almost in an instant and sent him crashing down below to an even darker and bleaker room. The alien fell hard onto his back, groaning more irritatedly then in pain. He could smell two other beings in the room, both pure organics from what he could tell.

Then, suddenly, the bag finally release from his face, and he could remove the accursed rag with a simple flick. With sight restored the same fake voice from before reappeared and announced, "Greetings, Gladiator. Please select your weapon or weapons from the rack in front of you. When finished, please take your place on one of the platforms presented before you and wait for your teammates to enter. Once all teammates enter, the platforms will be raised, anybody who fails to go up with the platforms will vaporize along with any unrecognized material within this room.

Terrum turned and found the rack spoken of, and found a pair of handheld pistols close to ones he'd taken during the war. They were heavy to hold, and felt shaky as he could hear things rattling inside of them. He then noticed the two other beings in the room with him and eyed then up quickly. Both prisoners like him, restrained and holding weapons like him. Terrum was more then confused, and still very hungry. Slowly the Genachromian made his way into one of the spoken of platforms and waited with a single thought.

"What the drak is a gladiator?"

They had broken through their defenses easily. The Dracs were known for their technology and these invaders wiped out most of their fleet within an hour of fighting. The invader ship began to land and waves of them poured of their ship ready for battle. The Dracs readied their defense on the planet. "For the home world!" A Drac shouted. Fire erupted from their rifles. A wave of the invaders fell. A cheer rose up from the Dracs. Then silence. Wave after wave of the invaders poured from their ships and more ships were landing constantly

Osis fired his rifle. Head shot after head shot taking down one invader after another. No matter how fast he shot though, he couldn't break their numbers fast enough. Soon a whole group was upon him. He threw down his rifle and unhooked his spear from the back of his armor. He let out a guttural scream and stabbed one after the other. They fell in record numbers. He had slain twenty when one ran from the side, knocking the spear from Osis' hands. Osis growled and stabbed his claws into the invader's throat. Then took out another. Then another, Seven, eight, ten he took out with his bare hands. There were too many of them. They soon overwhelmed him. Osis' vision drifted to blackness.

He awoke with a start. He was sitting on a hard metal surface. His hands were bound together. He began to panic. He went to stand up, but the vehicle lurched to a stop and sent him to the floor. He shielded his eyes as a door opened and harsh light filled the metal container he was in. As his eyes adjusted to the light, he saw he was not alone. Many other creatures shared the small metal container with him. As he looked out beyond the new door he saw one of them. One of the invaders. He yelled and rushed forward to attack. As he left the metal container, another of the invaders to the side of the container struck him in the head. The invader leveled his rifle at Osis and motioned for him to get walking.

As Osis stood and began walking down the ramp the very sky opened above him. Thousand of the invaders were yelling and chanting far above him. He was in some sort of arena. Osis quickly reasoned he was in some sort of public execution of some sort. He began to formulate a plan to escape when a voice seemed to surround him: "Osis Mandium the Drac, you are now part of the Lepus Ludus, please go to right at the end of the tunnel and enjoy your stay at Venationes." Despite his confusion, Osis obeyed. He would figure out something. He always did.

As he was trying to come up with a plan he suddenly looked up at a wall. "What the?" He began as the floor dropped out from underneath him. He fell, uninjured to the ground, his cuffs coming off in the process. He quickly looked around. He saw a weapons rack and a few creatures. He ran right for the weapons rack. Before he could grab anything the voice came back: "Greetings, Gladiator. Please select your weapon or weapons from the rack in front of you. When finished,please take your place on one of the platforms presented before you and wait for your teammates to enter. Once all teammates enter, the platforms will be raised, anybody who fails to go up with the platforms will vaporize along with any unrecognized material within this room. This message will be played on repeat for every new arrival, Thank you!"

Osis had seen what these invaders were capable of and decided not to press his luck. He would comply and once he was in the arena he would make his escape. Surely that would work. Osis looked at the weapons rack and selected an odd looking spear. It was light and sturdy. It had four barbed points that protruded like a square at the end with a medium length of chain connected to the middle. Luckily the invaders had left his Draconian armor on. It wasn't incredibly strong, but offered a little protection. He secured the spear to his back and picked up a long rifle looking object. He looked down the scope and went to fire a few shots, but nothing happened. "Probably won't work until I'm topside." Osis though walking towards the platform.

Oriell Kathune made low growling sounds from her lips, upper lip tugging up every now and again in annoyance. Her black eyes peered into the darkness of the cargo bay, standing still and stoic. She’d normally be quiet and taking in the others around her, but she was too busy scolding herself for getting captured like a common hazerblatt (a kind of slug on her planet).
Everytime someone near her stumbled, she would cough lowly and glare, annoyed that they couldn’t keep still. Pacing and worrying would do nothing. Wasting energy was stupid. They should just accept their fate and get it over with, while she planned an escape for herself in the meantime.
Her mind was filled with these thoughts as the door opened. Her eyes narrowed to the light, hissing in protest until they adjusted. She could sense beings behind them and whipped around as the door behind them opened, Humani with weapons threatening them to move them forward.
Oriell tugged at the shackles on her wrists and feet, a weighted chain hook at where her feathery wings met her back to keep her from flying, or at least flying swiftly. She didn’t struggle for more than a second before she realized the energy it would waste to fight while restrained, and she gave in. Her stance still showed defiance and pride though, as she walked forward, refusing to be hassled about it, head high.
Oriell the Illume, you are now a part of the Lepus Ludus, please go right at the end of the tunnel and enjoy your stay at Venationes.
Oriell was more and more irritated by the second by the loud crowd. She needed silence! “By the kings of Illume my honor shall be restored with my victory and your destruction!” she yelled to the crowd in anger. The jeers drowned her out though, her cheeks red hot with anger.
She turned right and continued, heart racing after yelling, and reached the dead end. Hesitating with a curious eyebrow raised, the floor fell out below her. Her natural instinct was to fly and she did fall slower than most would, but the weights were too heavy and she landed softly but quickly in a circular room.
Glancing around her now, Oriell saw various alien races on platforms, weapons in their hands and more weapons on a rack in the center of the room. The robot voice came on again to tell her to select a weapon and stand on a pedestal, for these were her teammates who she would be raised to the surface with. Scoffing at the idea that she needed help to win whatever kind of sick contest this was, she stomped forward and grabbed all the sheaths of arrows she could find, hanging them off her back and hips and strapping one to each leg. She grabbed the long bow that went with them and walked to her pedestal and stepped on, head never lowering. Her eyes would look down, but her chin was always straight out. Now, as she was on the platform, she stood as if the shackles weren’t there, her eyes taking in those around her and what might be about to happen.

The Slider Kael'ite had already been announced by the electronic monotoned voice. That mechanical echo resembled that of the Humani, or their voice changeibg masks. Anyhow, this annoyance troubled Kael'ite, he was unsure of what would happen next.

He stood on the platform down the right hall he was instructed to go down. For a second, he just stood there, staring at the guard eyeing his every move. But during that time, there was absolute silence, no dialogue at all between the two races. Suddenly, the ground underneath the Slider opened. Reacting to the sudden pothole, Kael'ite jumped to the side, evading the drop. "Into the hole prisoner!" The Humani yelled fiercely with his gun pointed at Kael'ite.

The Slider had his hands raised as he was targeted by the loaded rifle. "Please..." Was all he managed to say as he slowly walked towards the intended drop. Then without further ado, he jumped down, landing on his two feet very gently. Once the Humani system recognized his arrival, it instructed Kael'ite to arm himself and proceed to a nearby platform after choosing weapons from a rack.

Before moving towards the weapons rack, he looked around at the other species already on their own platforms. All were different with unique qualities. The unfortunate truth was that this little meet-together made Kael'ite very wary. In his home planet there had been rumors of these Humani and their games. All over the universe the stories spread of the bringers-of-death. These Humani were like a plague, spreading uncontrollably and destroying everything in their path. But in addition to all that, it was said they held tournaments out of pure delight. They entertained their race by watching interracial fights to the death - horrific.

Therefore, having some knowledge of his whereabouts, Kael'ite believed he had the upper hand. But there was one problem, he refused to kill. Fortunately for him, his own personal weapons hung in that rack. As he strapped on his sheaths, he eyed all the contestants yet again. Each of them seemed to have a specific weapon that resembled their racial attributes. That revealed that the weapons weren't at random, but placed within the rack according to the member of the Ludus.

After preparing himself, he sat on the platform he was assigned and meditated - clearing his mind and preparing for what was coming.