"If you are watching this message, chances are, you've guessed what has happened. I have your precious parents; and if you wish to see them again, alive, you must listen to my demands. You do not have to guess my motives. I am a reasonable being and as long as you follow through with my request, I will not harm them. I wish to finish the business between you and me with a duel at the Universal Challenge Course on the space colony of Dweardon. You will have one month's time to train for this occasion. Once you arrive, I will release your parents. Please send a message bot back with your answer as soon as possible. I look forward to a spirited match between us," Demarin said, ending his message with another wicked grin.

“Oh no, you can’t go through with it,” I stated, after hearing the message.

“Why not? You heard him. If I don’t meet his demands, he’ll kill my parents. I can’t allow that to happen. There’s only one thing to do and that’s train for the duel.”

“Have you ever heard of the Universal Training Course? Fights that take place there are usually between criminals and prisoners. They always end with one opponent dying. I can’t let you do this,” I insisted.

“Yes, I’ve heard of it. I just don’t see any other alternative. If I don’t face him, he will kill my parents. I can’t and will not allow that.”

“I’m not saying that we do nothing. There just has to be another way to find and defeat Demarin. This is going to be a very dangerous situation, Jessie- one in which you may not make it out alive!”

“We will see about that. The first thing I need to do is send a message bot back telling him that I accept.”

“Jessie, even going to the colony of Dweardon is dangerous enough.”

“Yahn, you and I have already braved untold dangers in different space colonies. This will be no different from what we’ve been through before.”

“I should know better than to try and change your mind. If I cannot convince you to give up this challenge, I will help you train. We will have to begin the journey very soon because Dweardon is several million light-years away.”

“I knew I could count on you!” Jessie threw her arms around me and kissed me, but it was hard for me to enjoy this. I was too preoccupied with the danger that she was putting herself into. Jessie pressed record on the message bot to reply to Demarin’s message:

“Demarin, I accept your challenge. You had better train as hard as you can because I don't plan on losing. I am going to hold on to your agreement. No harm must be done to my parents!” Then, she programmed the bot to journey to the destination of the message, which we could not see. Demarin had blocked access to the information so that we could not seek him out prior to the duel. The oval message bot lit up with red and blue lights and shot out of the door of the hover house and into the sky.

"Let's get ready to depart," Jessie stated, fearlessly. I looked at my beautiful partner with both admiration and fear for her safety. Although I had no doubt that she could defeat Demarin, I wished there was a better way for her to recover her parents. We packed our provisions into our Sarceastian space fighter and prepared to leave. Each space fighter was equipped with a training area complete with most of the weapons that could be used in the challenge course. There were different types of laser guns, energy beams, fighting discs, energy deflectors, and more primitive weaponry such as spears, swords, and shields. As we took off for Dweardon, we began a daily regimen of training with these different weapons. Sometimes, I would duel with her, and other times, she would duel with a simulated opponent. Also, Jessie began to build her muscles using the treadmills and weight machines.

We began training with energy beams and deflectors because we knew that the energy beams were Demarin’s favorite weapon of choice. When in training, you could set your weapon to training mode, so that the energy beams were just simulations. First, we began to spar using the energy beams. I was amazed as Jessie jumped over me, doing a somersault in the air and charged me. I blocked every one of her beams and moved to one side. Then, I picked up a deflector to send the beams back at her. Every time I did, she managed to move out of the way in time or deflect the beams with an energy shield. Finally, I managed to hit her with an energy beam.

“Pretty good, my dear, but you will have to train even harder if you are going to defeat Demarin,” I said as I pulled her closer to me.

"Come on dear, we have no time for that. There is still so much training to do," she stated. I ignored her wishes and began to kiss her neck. Her training helmet fell to the floor and her long, brown hair fell all around her shoulders. I could not resist her. I jumped on top of her on the training mat and began to kiss her from head to toe. She pulled a wrestling move on me and soon flipped me around so that she was on top of me.

"Very impressive!" I said as she smiled down at me. We took a break long enough to make love as Jessie pinned me down and rode me like a stallion. Afterward, we pondered our next phase of training.

“You need to work with the fighting discs. Let’s give it a shot!” Fighting discs were small, oval discs that could shoot lasers and return to the person throwing them. We went to the fighting disc simulator and I watched from behind the glass as she deflected almost every one of the discs that the computer simulator threw at her, ducking and jumping out of the way when it shot lasers at her. I taught her to manipulate energy, and soon she could handle the discs thrown at her change direction and even began to learn how to throw the laser beams back in the direction of her simulated opponent. The first few times, the computer simulation won, but eventually she was able to advance to the highest level and defeat the computer. She was making rapid progress in her training.

We trained with more primitive weaponry. Soon, Jessie was able to match me in speed and strength when fighting with swords and spears. She learned to throw the spears and daggers with great accuracy. I fell deeper and deeper in love with her as I watched her gracefully master each and every weapon that she would have to choose from. She was not only gorgeous but she was also becoming a formidable opponent. Next, she moved on to the obstacle course, a simulated challenge that put together almost all of the challenges that she had been faced with before. In the simulated training, she would go up against an opponent that she would reach after going through an obstacle course. The course included monsters, large pits that had to be leaped over, mountains that had to be climbed and even pools of water that had to be crossed. She advanced up through the levels as the days went by until she faced the most challenging part of the simulation in the computer.

She managed to cross a mountain, hang glide across a valley, swim across a deep channel with monstrous fish and then face her opponent on a portion of land that was experiencing an earthquake. She grabbed a fighting disc nearby as her opponent, a huge Sarceastian fighter grabbed an energy beam. Suddenly, the ground beneath her feet began to crumble and break apart. She had to jump across the cracks and keep from being swallowed up while dodging the energy beams that the simulated opponent directed at her. At first, the opponent had the upper hand, making contact with Jessie, twice with his beam. Luckily, they weren't fatal blows. Jessie got to her feet and began throwing her fighting disc as hard as she could. The opponent dodged every one of her throws until the last one. Jessie tricked the opponent by deflecting the disc off of the wall. It ricocheted and bounced right at her opponent, making a direct hit in his chest area. This was a fatal blow that managed to defeat the hardest opponent in the training program. The opponent vanished and a message appeared on the wall:

Congratulations! You have mastered the top level of training!

“You did it! You’ve mastered the program!” I shouted as I entered the chamber. The simulated landscapes vanished as I threw my arms around her.

“I couldn't have done it without you.” We began to kiss, but we did not have long to celebrate. The next day after Jessie completed her training, we began our approach to the dreaded colony of Dweardon. Although, we had been in dangerous space colonies before, this one was known for being a haven for escaping prisoners. Sometimes, rich citizens from all over the universe would make huge bets on duels between prisoners or fighters that spent years training for such events. I had been told that the duels were similar to what the Earthlings knew as Roman gladiator fights. To me and my Karkastian perspective, the whole practice was brutal and unnecessary. I could not get my head around why beings would want to engage in such a level of barbarism.

Soon, the colony came into view. The first thing that captured our attention was a huge, round stadium that was located in the dead center of the colony. Also, there was a sharp contrast between the side of the colony were the commoners dwelt, and the side where the rich visitors stayed. To the east of the stadium, there were tall, gleaming hover hotels that looked to be fairly new structures. We knew this had to be where the rich visitors stayed. We could see several marching patrols moving like ants back and forth between this area and the most run-down parts of the colony to the west. There we saw structures in various stages of decay, crowded together not unlike what we had witnessed in Sarceastium.

I looked at the navigator to see which landing site we would use.

“According to the navigator, duel participants are to land at the port, just to the east of the stadium,” I said, as I began the landing sequence.

“Let’s get down there. I’m ready to begin this duel!” Jessie remarked, confidently.

“This is Private Jessie of Earth and Yahn of Karkast requesting permission to land,” I stated.

"Yes, we have been expecting you. Request granted," the answer came. As soon as we touched down, a host of Sarceastians dressed in the fancy robes we had used to gain access to the military complex, surrounded us. At first, I thought that we were going to be captured, but soon it became apparent that this was a welcoming party of sorts.

"This way, Private Jessie," one of the Sarceastians stated. They escorted us to our quarters, high up in one of the gleaming glass, hover buildings. They showed us to our room. It was perhaps the nicest room that we had ever stayed in together. There were sofas, chairs, all sorts of food and drink, and even a training simulation room.

“Wow, they really treat you nicely. I suppose they feel that it’s the least they can do if they are going to make you participate in a fight to the death,” I remarked. Jessie smiled at me and went straight to the simulation room. She wanted to get in all of the training that she could before the duel.