Blank Space. Black. Benny knew she was awake but she was nothing. She was in nothing. She couldn’t feel anything. It was an interesting feeling to her, not feeling. But she could still think. She knew who she was and she could remember everything that had happened to her up until everything went black.
Benny, was actually Benevola Carlon of the city of Waterchase and she had just been fighting in an underground singles Arena. Heavy stuff for the 14-year-old daughter of a coastal trade merchant. Her father of the upper-class and he never had time for Benny while he was busy planning out trade routes to the west. So, of course, Benny sought attention elsewhere.
She could never be interested in the etiquette school her father paid for her to attend and she wasn’t nearly interested in the boys in the city. But there was one thing that the city of Waterchase was famous for that Benny loved. And that was Arena fighting. Singles matches of one-on-one, doubles- two-on-two, the rumble- free-for-all, or even the majors- the all-on-one. Arena was the entertainment of the free world where all eyes were on you and Benny wanted to be a part of it. Sadly, girls were not allowed to compete. The matches were fight to the death and no one wanted to see girls being killed. But she wouldn’t give up.
The streets and docks of Waterchase had raised Benny after all. She learned combat with spear and trident from the sailors who worked the wharf. Her “fishing skills” were on par with many of the seasoned sailors. She was taught to clean humongous marine animals with the large blades the men used. She could slice a creature’s skin off with ease. Benny was born for Arena fighting. Her only setback was she looked like a defenseless girl. So of course she disguised herself.
She had been dressing in traditional warrior attire and covering her face and hair with a mask. And since only professional Arena fighting required registration, Benny stuck to the underground. And she was good. She even gained the name, “Raven,” for her dark and foreboding appearance in battle.
Now, Arena fighting was the end all be all on the Professional Level. Waterchase was the international hub for Arena and when opponents fought there, they fought to the death. This was all well and good but the professionals were never that intelligent. They just charged their way through battle with no real strategy. Kill or be killed.
On the street, however, Arena was more strategic. A fighter would not kill their opponent. Instead they would bring their enemy to an inch from death about to strike, and then the battle was over. People enjoyed the professional competitions but they were always left with grieving families in their wake. The underground solved this by creating more agile and intelligent warriors that respected each other and no one died. Perfect for the entertainment of the city but bad for the city itself. The city used the professional fights as a means to raise funds for itself and its elected officials, so when underground fights were discovered they were broken up.
But Benny wanted to fight nevertheless. She was fast, intelligent and great with weapons. The ultimate fighter. She had been braving battles against wannabe, sloppy arena fighters for weeks and had gained a small following of her “Raven” persona. Everything had been gong her way until tonight. Now she was in darkness and knew nothing of what was going on.
“Ugh… AHH!” Benny jumped at the sound of her own voice.
  Okay, so I’m not dead, she thought. “Terrific.”
Slowly, she was realizing the feeling coming back to her limbs again. Her fingers and toes were tingling and her muscles began to ache. Her head was pounding now too. She felt like someone had thrown a boulder at her.
“How did I get here?   Where is here?  I was fighting and then… I can’t remember what happened next?”
Out of nowhere a voice from the dark answered, “You really want to know?”
“AH!” Benny jumped again.
“Would you stop screaming? Already woke me up, ya git.”
“Who are you?” Benny asked the darkness.
“Its me, your conscious Raven. I’m here to set you free from your terrible ways…”
This startled Benny because she had never talked with herself like this before.
“Really?”
“No, not really ya fool. We’re locked up. You and me. I was at the fight when you got knocked out by the authorities.”
Benny thought about this for a moment and decided this made more sense.
“Oh… so who are you?”
“Names Goodyrich. You can call me Goody. I’ve been the bookie for a lot of your fights kid. You’ve got some pretty big balls for being a little girl.”
Goody laughed to himself.
“How did you know I was a girl? Benny wondered.
She had never revealed her identify to anyone at the Arena fights.
“Well you sound like a girl, you look like one even with your little disguise, and now I know ya scream like what. HA, wish I’d known sooner, coulda been tripling my profits on ya.” Benny said eagerly. “I’ll have to remember that for next time.”
“What do you mean next time? We’re locked up. And where are we anyway you still haven’t answered my question.”
Benny was getting a little scared of being locked up with this strange man in the dark for too much longer. She needed to get out of here. She needed to get home. Her father would be asking for her soon enough and if she wasn’t home or at the etiquette school he would have the authorities called to look for her. Where am I? I need to get out of here quick. Maybe if I feel around for something…
At this point Goody had heard her feeling around and answered back casually, “You’re not gonna find anything to use to break outta here. The authorities have these places swept clean everyday.”
“What?” Benny was in shock.
“The authorities have us locked up in their headquarters, ya ninny. Its seems they don’t appreciate the amount of fans the ‘Raven’ has been drawing. So after ya had flipped the fatass over in that fight they jumped in, conked ya on the head, and started knocking whoever else was around out too. The crowd ran and when I was tryin’ to stash my dough they grabbed me took my stash, and through me in the wagon with ya. Ingrates.”
Benny thought about this for a long while considering the enormous amount of trouble she was going to be in when her father found out, along with what was going to happen to his reputation when the city finds out his daughter was arrested by the authorities for being a masked underground Arena fighter.
“Well, we’re in some trouble.” She finally said.
“You said it sister.” Goody answered smarmly.
“At least I won the fight.” Benny shrugged to herself, “at least if they kill us I’ll know I died a winner.”
Goody answered slowly, “You mean when they kill us.”