Battle of the Gladiators

Once upon a time, there were three gladiators, named Dust-Brother, Loose-Loose and The Joker. Most of the time, these gladiators lived in harmony. They would take walks together, eat dinner together, go swimming together. Yet one day, something happened. Something that unleashed their inner powers...

The sheer sight of this BALL OF WONDER sent those gladiators crazy. Running around, trying to be in the right spot so that when the BALL OF WONDER was thrown, they would catch the BALL OF WONDER.

Then, when the BALL OF WONDER was squeezed... That was when it all began. The Battle of the Gladiators had begun.

Loose-Loose gave Dust-Brother the first growl of warning: IT'S MINE!

 Dust-Brother retaliated with immense force, springing towards Loose-Loose and telling her what's what: NO, IT'S MINE!

 The Joker stepped in to try and become in charge and more likely to get the BALL OF WONDER, but Loose-Loose and Dust-Brother were too engaged in their own match to take any notice of The Joker.

The Joker, outraged with Loose-Loose and Dust-Brother's ignorance, forced his way into the squabble. With a soft bite on the neck, he forces Loose-Loose into surrendering, and letting him have the BALL OF WONDER But Dust-Brother wouldn't give up. He just had to get that ball. Pushing his way through the middle, he frees Loose-Loose to counter The Joker and his power.

The BALL OF WONDER was thrown! The Joker pelted towards it, only to be closely followed by Dust-Brother.

 The Joker ran with his prize, but Dust-Brother knew The Joker too well. He turned the corner, just before The joker and managed to get a mouth on THE BALL OF WONDER.

The Joker, untouched by Dust-Brother being so determined, just tilted his head slightly higher to get out of Dust-Brother's reach. Dust-Brother fell back to the ground, empty-mouthed and untriumphant.

Not touched at all, Dust-Brother pressed on, determined beyond reason to get THE BALL OF WONDER. Keeping up to The Joker with ease, Dust-Brother had time to plan his next move.

As The Joker slowed for a rest, Dust-Brother took his chance. Turning tightly to prevent The Joker from escaping, he made his move.

 With Dust-Brother lunging upwards, The Joker didn't know what had hit him. Twisting and turning his head, trying to shake off Dust-Brother, The Joker had to do something more productive or Dust-Brother was going to get this ball!

 Snorting and growling, The Joker pushed Dust-Brother into a lying position to show him who's boss: GO AWAY!!! THE BALL OF WONDER DOESN'T BELONG WITH YOU!!!.

 Yet as The Joker was doing this yelling, he dropped THE BALL OF WONDER and Dust-Brother took his chance. Sneaking underneath The Joker when he had finished his tantrum, Dust-Brother plucked out the ball and did a victory lap around the trees.

Throughout this battle of glory, Loose-Loose had been lying down, getting as much rest as she could...

...So that when the time came, she could sneak towards whoever had THE BALL OF WONDER at that time.

By that point Dust-Brother knew that something wasn't quite right. He could only see The Joker sulking in the corner because of the fact he no longer had THE BALL OF WONDER. Then she attacked. Loose-Loose leaped into the air and frightened poor Dust-Brother, causing him to drop THE BALL OF WONDER.

 

 Snatching the ball away, Loose-Loose went and relaxed. She laughed at everyone's silliness. Little did she know that THE BALL OF WONDER was rolling off and away at that very moment.

 It was a race between The Joker and Dust-Brother to get to THE BALL OF WONDER first. The Joker knew he had a fair chance of getting there, but he was older and getting down the bench was harder than he remembered.

 Slowed by this disadvantage, The Joker knew he had lost the race. Dust-Brother had yet again claimed THE BALL OF WONDER and was doing his usual laps around the garden in victory.

 But then, sure enough, everyone heard it. It could not be mistaken for anything else, NOTHING ELSE sounded like it. The high-pitched, ear-piercing shriek of THE BALL OF WONDER.  But how could that be? Dust-Brother HAD the BALL OF WONDER! He dropped THE BALL OF WONDER and ran towards the sound.

The Joker picked up THE BALL OF WONDER and followed, with Loose-Loose in hot pursuit. NOTHING would stop them from getting that BALL OF WONDER!

Screeching to a halt, Dust-Brother was gob-smacked by the sheer awesomeness of the other BALL OF WONDER. Praying, he did everything he could to just get a hold of that other BALL OF WONDER.

 Panting, The Joker came up behind him. giving just a hopeful look, he tried to look as cute as he could to get just one hold of that other BALL OF WONDER.

 Yet Loose-Loose knew the secret of getting any kind of BALL OF WONDER. Look sad.
 

 THE BALL OF WONDER was thrown up, and with a quick snap, the BALL OF WONDER was in Loose-Loose's mouth. Dust-Brother couldn't handle this. He tried everything, rolling around, lying down spinning in a circle, looking as sad as he could. The other BALL OF WONDER was rolled along the ground in the opposite direction. Bouncing around, Dust-Brother flicked up the BALL OF WONDER and wagged his tail. Doing yet another victory dance, he came back to settle with the others. The Battle of the Gladiators was over.