"I just hit Save and it should be good to go." Itzel finished going through the options on BRUTE's screen. She gave it a pat on its metal shoulder with the palm of her hand and watched it come to life. Through the visor, a pair of bright yellow lights reminiscence of human eyes lit up through the dark transparent material. A soft mechanical whirring sound emanated from every part of the robot as motion came to each of its limbs. It began to take a fighter's stance, raising two of its fists in front of its chest. BRUTE looked straight ahead before slowly turning its head in one smooth motion towards Gurk. 

Janus became fixated on the mechanical entity, slowly backing away despite the robot’s idle stance. He then looked at Gurk. He could see his entire body rattle as he stared at his soon-to-be sparring partner. Itzel walked to his side and gave him a reassuring pat on the back.

“Just think of it as a sparring session. It’s not like your rank is on the line or you’re going to be Broadcasted to a bunch of people.”

“But…” Gurk muttered. “The pain!”

“Nothing mitigates pain better than not getting hit. So stop trembling, alright? The more nervous you are the more likely you’ll make mistakes.” She went quiet for a moment as she looked into Gurk’s big round yellow eyes. “You want to do well against Siergi, don’t you?”

The crocodile replied with a nod.

“Then this session with BRUTE is your best bet at getting prepared in the little time we have. Besides, it’s not like the pain is too serious. It’s not something that you won’t be able to walk off.”

“Alright.” Gurk rolled his neck from side to side as he walked in front of the sleek robot. His trembling vanished, replaced with a firm and steady fighting stance.

"You two might want to step out of there!" Horace called out. 

"Is it going to attack us?" Janus shouted back.

"No. You two didn't pay to fight it! So hurry up and get out of there so BRUTE can do its job!" Horace then laughed, slapping his knee and stomping his foot. Janus left the ring immediately while Itzel stayed behind. She placed one hand on his shoulder and leaned in to whisper to him.

"Don't worry, big guy. Focus more on not getting hit then trying to subdue it. Remember what I said last night? Siergi's fragile. If you can avoid this thing's attacks, you should be able to keep up a good defense against that guy."

"Got it." Gurk gave Itzel a thumbs up. His entire body made one last shake as he took in a deep breath. 

"If things get too rough, I'll call it off. But you've got this!" Itzel gave her friend one last pat on the back before leaving the ring altogether. She closed the panel behind her and slid the metal latch to make sure the entrance was locked shut. Itzel stood outside, taking a spot next to Janus before activating her Implant up the Broadcast provided courtesy of the gym. Both Gurk and BRUTE were visible on the screen, both facing each other.

Gurk had gotten into the pose that he was most familiar with, hunching over with his claws low and towards his side. Meanwhile, his opponent remained silent and motionless. BRUTE’s arms dangled to its side while its legs spread apart while its glowing eyes remained focused on the crocodile.

"How's Gurk looking in there?" Horace asked without taking his eyes off the cage. 

"A bit nervous, but I think he's got it under control," Itzel said. A countdown appeared on the center of the projection. It started at four. Janus' eyes darted between the screen and the crocodile with each decrease in number. 

“Three.”

“Two.”

“One.”

“Session Commence.”

The robot sprang to life. It dashed towards Gurk, attacking with a sideways kick. Gurk put his hands in front of his face and took the brunt of the blow with them. He slid across the mat while still standing. The talons of his feet shredded the parts of the flooring as he was pushed back. The crocodile let out a groan as BRUTE used him as a springboard, crouching on Gurk's guarding hands and leaping off with a somersault.

"That thing is great at capturing personalities," Itzel said. "Using the opponent to leverage a jump? That's definitely a Siergi thing to do!"

"The big croc isn't fast enough to catch BRUTE," Horace said, leaning back in his chair and using the rear legs as leverage. "He's gonna be playing defense all day."

"That's the main reason why we brought him here," Itzel replied. "If he can keep Siergi from hitting him, maybe Gurk can make the guy slip up and land some solid attacks in. Siergi’s frail, so a decent combo should be enough to take the fight. And if Gurk can defend himself from BRUTE’s onslaught, then an upper-mid tier fighter like Siergi shouldn't be a problem at all."

Horace chuckled once more before taking a sip out of his metal water bottle. "If you say so."

BRUTE remained close to Gurk, throwing out a flurry of punches from a multitude of directions and angles. Gurk's big hands allowed him to prevent most of the strikes from connecting, but the robot's speedy nature allowed for a few punches to slip past his guard. Everyone could hear the sound of metal pounding on scales with each consecutive attack that Gurk failed to defend himself from. His stamina meter slowly decreased in several small chunks in the span of a few seconds. 

"At this rate, Gurk is going to lose in less than a minute," Janus remarked as he watched Gurk's stamina slowly melt in rhythm with BRUTE's successful punches. 

"I know," Itzel looked away from her screen to the battle inside the cage. "He needs figure out how to get BRUTE off of him so that he can get some breathing room."

Gurk lifted his right hand, ready to slash down at BRUTE. The robot's head tilted upwards slightly to look at the raised limb and quickly countered by moving both of its arms upwards. Gurk swiped downwards, only to have his arm seized by both of BRUTE's hands. He tried to free his arm from the robot's metal clutches, but despite how much he tried to tug away, BRUTE remained completely still and unfazed by Gurk's struggling. With his attempt to free his wrist a dud, Gurk raised his other hand to try and mimic his first attack. In a streak, BRUTE released Gurk's arm and using its free hands, shoved the crocodile with a pair of open palms. The force connected with Gurk’s chest, pushing him off his feet and onto the floor.

"Once you're down, it's over," Horace said as he shook his head. After taking another swig from his water bottle, he looked back at Itzel. "Think that this training session was a good way to spend your Tokens?"

"He's not done just yet!" Itzel let her attention drift towards Horace for a moment before looking back at the screen. BRUTE raised one leg, ready to stomp on Gurk's chest until he caught the robot's metal foot with both hands. Everyone could see the crocodile struggle to keep the foot from landing onto his body. His arms shook as the robot pressed down harder. Gurk let out a groan as the robot stared at him with unmoving yellow lights.

"But he's about to be!" Horace exclaimed.