XSYS Arena

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Preshow Nov. '24: A Wyvern is a Kind of Bird

22 Nov 2024 - XSYS Team

Open on the arena floor. The whole place is blanketed in nearly knee-deep snow. In the back of the shot, Loa is carrying sensitive equipment out of the arena and off underneath awnings and tarps. Magus walks out into the snow, hands on his hips… and starts laughing. The otherwise-untouched nature of the snow implies no one else is around.

MAGUS: Holy hell, it really snows here! I guess I shoulda built a roof.
LOA: [clearly stretching to understand the concept] Does it not, where you’re from?
MAGUS: …You’ve really never been outside the city, have you?
LOA: Sure, I’ve been a few kilometers out.
MAGUS: Bah, that doesn’t mean anything. We should change that, sometime.
LOA: …I don’t think Marlow would approve of that.
MAGUS: [claps Loa on the shoulder] You’re right. Which is why we should do it anyway.

Loa seems concerned (through body language, since they only have a camera for a face), but is kinda going along with it.

LOA: Actually, I was going to ask you about a different kind of project…
MAGUS: Oh?
LOA: Well, Unification Day was a month ago, but they had to delay the combat festival, and submissions are due soon! …Exime always beats me, she always comes up with something cooler to fight.

Magus’s eyes sparkle.

MAGUS: Don’t worry, buddy. I got your back. What’re you thinkin’…?
LOA: Well, the winner last year was this big gecko with an inverse-kinematic joint system so it could dynamically crawl over uneven terrain…
MAGUS: Perfect! You want a big lizard? I know exactly where we can get you a nice, big lizard. We’ll run a test fight against it in the arena, even!
LOA: Oh! That’d be perfect!
MAGUS: Great! Now, go run out and get me some floodlight fluid, would ya? I gotta refill ‘em before this big fight.
LOA: Sure thing, boss!

Loa jets off using their natural thrusters. Magus waits for the shutter to clang shut, looks around suspiciously for surveillance, then swings his wrist out– his forearm-mounted RCP snaps open and lights up.

MAGUS [to himself, quietly]: Someday, kiddo, you’re gonna have to learn how to look your mom straight in the eye and say “no, you’re wrong.” …Your parent? Does Marlow even have a gender under all those bandages-or-whatever…?

Magus shrugs and holds out the hand wearing the RCP. With a sound rather like a massive, weighty hole-punch, something tears a ragged-edged hole in spacetime, to a distant tropical forest… and he hops through, letting it flutter shut behind him.

Loa returns to the now-empty snow-filled arena, carrying a large jug labeled ‘floodlight fluid.’

LOA: You want regular or diet, Magus? …Magus…?

Hey everybody! I’m gonna be gone for a bit, but I left this note on how to start the battle. This month’s fight is going to be a celebration of Thanksgiving– a holiday from back home where we kill and carve birds, and eat their delicious flesh!

And when carving comes up, only one thing comes to my mind… That’s right, this month you’ll be fighting the king of the skies, Rathalos!

This one’s got a tricky gimmick to it– he’s so huge I think we’re gonna have a hard time fitting him in the arena. Make sure to check out the class Blazing Wyvern to see what you’re up against– then Scorching Wing Left/Right and Searing Tail, too!

Our festive barbecue begins at 7 PM!