Arcadia Underground #1 - The Dotted Line
Arcadia Underground
The Ninth Circle
Note: Deadline is April 23, 10 am GMT
Word Count: 250
Main Event
Undercard
Y’know what gets me these days? Kids with their damn devices.
They’ll break their own bones for a few likes. Set themselves on fire just to see the number go up. Whole world’s spinnin’ on screens and filters, and not a soul’s got a clue what’s real anymore.
Except me.
I know what’s real.
See, I ain’t just some bounty hunter with a six-shooter and a death wish. No, sir. I’m the one they call when the devil’s done waitin’.
When the bill comes due, and the soul’s been spent on subscribers, clicks, and vanity—I’m the knock at the door. And that brings me to lux. All lowercase. All attitude. All flash and zero backbone. Born with credits in their pocket, lens in their face, and not a clue where they are or who they’re messin’ with.
They think this is all just content.
Another trend. Another spotlight. Another way to stay relevant in a world that forgets folks as fast as it follows 'em. But what lux don’t know is…
The devil don’t follow. He waits.
And when your time’s up, when you’ve sold every last piece of your soul for the next viral moment—he sends me.
That’s right. I’m the Painkiller.
The bounty hunter brought back from the dead to make sure you don’t cheat the Reaper.
And lux?
When we meet in that ring, it ain’t gonna be pretty. There won’t be filters. There won’t be edits. Just one last post.
And a caption that reads:
“The devil collected.”
There was a moment, long ago, when I stood at the edge of the Sanctum, flames licking the sky. I thought I was too late. That all I’d been sworn to protect had perished.
But in that silence, I heard it: the whisper of the Inner Flame. It said not yet. Not while I still breathed.
I wonder, Akimitsu Itou… did you hear it too?
Did the fire nearly claim you because it had to test you? Did it strip you bare so you could choose between destruction and devotion?
You chose the latter. You let a stranger’s kindness become your new code.
But I question this: Have you risen from your ashes?
Or do you merely serve out of obligation, repaying a debt that was never asked for?
Because kindness does not demand recompense. It demands continuance.
And the thing you wield, violence, is not your gift. It is your weight. You call it repayment. But I see a man dissecting himself, piece by piece, each strike not for mastery but penance.
That is not redemption.
That is punishment.
You look backward, Akimitsu. I look forward.
You serve because of who saved you. I serve because of who I must become.
I do not fight to atone. I fight to illuminate.
Because my flame is not borrowed.
It is mine.
It burns because I will it to.
And though you have clawed your way from fire to shadow, I am the dawn that follows.
Luminous till the end.
Inside every man there is a fire that lights the way and guides them towards what is right and wrong. The danger that one finds with this fire is when it grows too bright and blinds them. Their actions become more contradictory, more reckless, and soon that fire that once helped them in the darkest of times. Well suffice to say it just burns these men alive.
Kai Lyr, far be it from me to be in a position to judge you. But I can reach out a hand and warn you. I understand what it’s like to be the last one remaining and how it emboldens you. How it tells you that you must be on the correct path or else you wouldn’t be standing here. But that is the fire blinding you. Creating illusions for it knows you will feed it. But all you are being put on is a destructive road that will leave you no more fulfilled than whence you started your quest.
I was once foolish and headstrong like you. Blinded by my own fire and I hurt so many people in my desires. It took a dosage of pain and an extended hand to temper the flames.
I will extend my own hand to you before you fall into the void blindly. I encourage you to take it before you fall down a path you can never return from.
Do you know the most annoying thing about any garden?
The fucking weeds.
No matter how well one tends the soil, the nasty little pricks always find a way to bed themselves in where they’re least wanted.
Never out in the damn open, either. They always tangle themselves around the stem of the plant yer try’na grow and strangle the Zeus-darned life outta it.
It’s a vicious process, and if yer not careful, the weeds can really fuck up yer garden.
They suck nutrients away, and kill off anything else in that garden just to get a chance to reach the light. Because that’s all they’re interested in.
Having their little moment in the fucking sun.
Look at you Jay-vee-yer, from the slicked back hair to the pathetic tuft of chest hair poking out of that damned awful floral shirt. Yer noth’n but a fucking weed.
A weed that was once pulled out of the damned garden, but as weeds do, you found yer way back - they always do.
Now you wanna call yerself a Kingpin, and have yer moment in the sun. You want you and yer Cartel pricks to outgrow everything else in Arcadia?
Well, I’m no stranger to pulling weeds.
In fact, I bloody love it.
Nothing gives me the satisfaction of getting rid of some nasty little pricks that think they can grow in my soil where they’re not wanted.
Yer no Kingpin Jay-vee-yer, yer just another little asshole.
And I’m ready to weed my garden.
“You roll up with dirt caked on your hands, Herb, like it’s holy. Like it’s pure. Like it’s got a damn soul.
But that dirt? It’s just death playing dress-up. Old. Bitter. Rotting slow. Just like you, viejo.
Now look at my hands. Hold ‘em up. See that shine? White. Clean. Flawless. This ain’t just product, man. This is power—raw, pure, divine. It’s control. It’s worship. It’s an empire that makes gods bow.
You plant seeds and whisper prayers for rain. I move bricks that make kings crawl.
Your hands dig graves. Mine build thrones.
You wanna preach purity? My cocaine don’t lie. It don’t rot. It don’t crack when the fire comes. It commands. It spreads. It owns.
Your dirt’s a dream, weak and fading. My truth cuts deeper and truth always wins.
You think you’ve got some miracle root? Some savior buried under this broken city’s bones? Dig it up, cabrón. Wave it high. I’ll crush it to dust and snort what’s left of your legacy.
You peddle hope cabrón I sell addiction because Arcadia’s hooked on me.
So keep shovelling, Dirt. While you keep praying to your sad little soil I’m carving my name into this city’s spine.
When they bury you and they will, I’ll salt your grave making sure nothing grows there again.”
"What's up buttercups!"
"Imagine living in a world with no pain! I know, sounds incredible at first but did you know that pain is essential to our survival as human beings?"
"That's right, just like pumpkin spice lattes and memes, the average human could not survive in Arcadia without pain, because pain is a grounding emotion - or maybe just the fear of it is?"
"Last year I vlogged myself trying parkour for the first time, but when I got around ten feet high I had to stop. Big sadge. I really wanted it to be a series, but I couldn't go on."
"Why?"
"I was scared. I knew that if I got high enough, that eventually I'd take a wrong step, slip, and come crashing down. And trust me, buttercups, there were no safety nets!"
"But it's this instinct to keep yourself safe that is so important. The fear of pain inspires that instinct, so imagine if you didn't have that? If falling off a building didn't make you shake 'n' quake!"
"That's why I couldn't be Novacaine. He seems like a cool guy and everything, but if he doesn't have the fear he doesn't have the instinct, and if he doesn't have the instinct he's going to get complacent."
"Just because your body doesn't feel pain, it doesn't mean your insides can't get mashed up, it doesn't mean you can't die."
"And buttercups, he's gonna die on the inside too when he realises. Cringe!"
"I've been lux - lights out!"
Yo, what up party people!? Chet Roderick is in the club, bay-bay!
Let me tell ya somethin', when you host as many parties as I do, you're bound to meet some massive pieces of shit.
One such douchebag used to frequent my events all the time, talking 'bout how he wanted to take over his papa's business. Sounds normal, until you listen in.
The fucker was one of the many pump and dumps his old man had back when he was crashing gigs himself. Dickhead resented his dad for casting him out, so he planned on entering the slave trade for himself.
What's more, he was gonna trap them in a hell they couldn't escape from. Real fucked up shit like gore porn and forcing them to eat the bodies of their friends while others masturbated at the sight.
And he said all this while trying to hit on some drunk chick at the bar.
Much like that Vinny Hargraves fellow would. Dude was just like him in some respects; he was a literal bastard, he killed the party with his gross fucking fetishes, and thought he was the hottest man in all of Arcadia.
You know what I ended up doing to the fucker?
The same thing I'll do to the self proclaimed King of Sin.
I told him that his party was over, then I snapped his fucking neck.
Ain't no party like a Roderick party, Vinny! And when we go Underground, you'll be joining daddy in hell.
Ya wanna know the problem with sin? You either go too easy like some curly headed fuck and just throw a decadent party that people will remember for a few weeks or you go to hard like the old man and all they remember is the perverted twisted shit.
Nah, the smart thing to do is to ease people in. You sucker them in with the booze, the drugs, the good times. Make it so alluring, so addicting they party till they drop, collapse in their own sick and when they wake, they need nothing more than to party again.
Like this dumbfuck Chet. Prettyboy with more credits than sense who needs to party more than he needs to breathe, he hasn’t even noticed he’s been coming to my parties more and more. Drinking my booze, snorting my drugs, hearing my siren song and they’re so much better then any shithole raver he could ever hope to throw.
Pretty soon he’s gonna be lining up at the door 24/7 just waiting for the lights to come flashing on. Just another fool who walked into my web.
See I’m not my daddy, I don’t force anyone into sin. Why would I need to when you all dance willingly into my web and when you need my sin more then life itself, then that’s when I drop you down into the darkness.
The Black Light of Sin is flickering back to life and you, little bitch, are the very first customer.
ARCADIA UNDERGROUND
Arcadia Underground #1 - The Dotted Line
Show Open:
Mr. Ash, a man with long, slicked back, jet black hair and an ashen gray suit opens the show in the center of the ring surrounded by all eight members of the Underground Roster. He announces that every last one of them has signed a contract to enter his domain and participate in this contest. However, before they get a chance at a wish, they must spill blood for his audience. As such, every match tonight will be First Blood.
lux immediately tries to argue, claiming their face is their money maker. Mr. Ash simply tells them they should have read the fine print. And because of their outburst, their match will be against Novacaine in the main event. He then clears the ring, announcing Hargraves vs Roderick to start the show off.
Vinny Hargraves Jr vs. Chet Roderick
- Hargraves chases Roderick around the ring, the Partyboy capitalizing with cheap shots, nailing an Ice Breaker Pele Kick that dazes Vinny.
- Roderick dominates the match through dirty tricks, only for Hargraves to finally get his hands on him. The King of Sin clobbers Chet with a Red Light Special big boot, busting Roderick open.
- Chet rolls out of the ring, immediately escaping to the backstage.
Winner: Vinny Hargraves Jr.
Backstage:
Javier Calderón catches Hargraves as he moves backstage to chase Roderick. Javier tells Vinny that they both want the same thing in this competition, an empire of sin. He offers a handshake, telling Vinny that if they work together, they can rule Arcadia. Hargraves smirks, telling Javier he'll think about it before taking his leave.
Herb Dirt vs. Javier Calderón
- Javier immediately pounces on Herb, mugging him with a flurry of blows. Herb barely escapes to the outside, rolling in with a chair to Javier's back.
- Calderón barely catches the chair, slamming it into Herb's gut. He cracks him with a headbutt and calls for the end as he grabs Herb.
- Herb chucks dirty into Javier's eyes! Dirty Herb nails a face buster onto the chair, securing victory as he busts Javier open.
Winner: Herb Dirt
Backstage:
Chet angrily washes the blood off of his face in the Ninth Circle's back room. lux walks in, a camera in hand as they vlog. Chet tells them to stop recording, lux simply saying back that Chet has a face meant for trendsetting, and the algorithm loves controversy. Chet changes his tune, saying that controversy is his middle name, the two conversing as we fade out.
Backstage:
Herb Dirt intercepts Vinny Hargraves as he tries to leave the Ninth Circle, telling him he heard what Javier said and has a counter offer. If Hargraves uses his credits to fund Herb's growing operation, he'll supply drugs and narcotics for his clubs that Arcadia has never seen. Hargraves tells him he's heard of Herb's plants, and that the next week he'll be willing to hear him out before we cut to the next match.
Kai Lyr vs Akimitsu Itou
- Kai and Itou shake hands before the match begins, the bell ringing as they begin to trade blows.
- Itou grabs a kendo stick from beneath the ring and nails Kai with a flurry of brutal blows.
- The Sentinel catches the kendo stick amid the assault and fires back with Veil's Vengeance, a massive stunner!
- Akimitsu bounces off of the ropes and right into a shot to the face from the kendo stick that busts the Dissection Warrior wide open.
Winner: Kai Lyr
Ringside:
As the match ends and Kai Lyr goes to help Akimitsu up, he's blindsided by Novacaine! The Painkiller tells Kai that the devil's sent him to collect as he pummels away at the knight only for Akimitsu to massive kick that only seems to piss the bounty hunter off. Nova tells Itou if he wants to interfere, he'll collect him free of charge. Akimitsu accepts, telling Novacaine he will see him next week.
Meanwhile, Kai Lyr is left wondering what debt is being collected as Itou helps the now bloodied Sentinel out of the ring, past lux who had just begun to make their entrance.
Novacaine vs. lux
- Novacaine is an unstoppable wall of force as he hounds lux around the ring with powerful slams and even stronger strikes.
- lux lashes out with a Buzzsaw Kick that impedes Nova, teeing off in a desperate attempt to bust the bounty hunter open.
- The Trendsetter slips out of the ring as Nova regains his bearings, lux sliding back in behind with a barbed away baseball bat that shreds Novacaine's leather jacket, not quite breaking skin.
- A devastating double headbutt, the Knock Knock from Novacaine, has lux out on their feet, Novacaine sending them Nighty Night with a leaping knee to the jaw that causes lux to spit blood onto the mat from the impact.
Winner: Novacaine
After the Show:
Mr. Ash sits in the Ninth Circle's main office, a strong drink in hand as he speaks to an unseen figure. He tells them that the Underground is buzzing with the brutality, but that he needs more violence. That the contract begs for blood. For the tournament to take place, he needs the roster to be desperate for their wishes to come true.
He announces that next week, every match will be steel cage. Like animals in a corner, they must fight for survival. He waves the figure away, telling them to ensure that his crowd gets the show that they paid for.