“It is time, Poloma”
The Psychopomp wakes from a pleasant slumber, this was the day she'd been waiting for. The new changes to the arena were today, and after she had been subjected to nerf after nerf, she was excited to finally get some justice. After all, the ranged M1 changes were today, and she was sure to get something nice. She and Sirius walked from the support chambers to where the changes were to be posted in silence.

Poloma hadn't had a chance to see the board yet, but Ashka had looked pretty happy about his changes, so she had hope. Obviously, if Ashka were getting buffed, she would be getting something to help deal with that little prick, right? That was her thought process, anyway.

“It'll be fine, Pomp, everyone's supposed to be getting something good today,” said Bakko beside her.

“I sure hope so, I'm just not trying to get my expectations too high,” she responded.

After a few moments of watching the others, it was her turn to walk up to the board...

…

The resulting REEEEE could be heard for miles, and Poloma accidentally let out a Spirit Rift cast in her anger. No one was fighting each other, but the distinct noise could be heard and Shifu ran in a panic. This was it, she thought, another nerf. She was finally done in the arena for sure. She felt a hand on her shoulder, but was unsure of how long it had been there. When she stopped shaking, a familiar, deep voice spoke behind her.

“It's okay, Pomp, we all get nerfs when we feel they're not justified.” Bakko said consolingly.

He continued, “When I got my nerfs, I had to change from a ranged hero to a melee hero, and it was a rough time. I got through it though, just like you will.”

She considered his words for a moment. She had never considered becoming a melee hero, but Bakko was right, it did work out for him. He was still playable in some compositions. She whipped around and yelled back, “I will become a melee hero then!”

“Pomp, that's not exactly what I meant,” Bakko said with a hint of laughter in his voice, but she was already gone, off in the direction of the gym.

…

Weeks had passed. Everyone had noticed the change in Poloma. She was bitter, angry, irritable. Her floating spirit had gone missing one day, and surprisingly, she seemed to care the least about it. When asked why she wasn't looking for it, she only gave answers like “That punkass bitch only held me back, I'm a melee hero now I don't need that noise.” The other heroes were concerned about her, afraid she was using drugs or steroids. After she got in a fight with Ashka that resulted in him needing to be pulled from the ceiling, Sirius and Bakko got together and decided they needed to intervene.

They found her at the gym, as expected. She wore her usual outfit, with some changes. The hood had long been replaced with a baseball cap that read “SWAG” in bold white letters across it. You could still see her intense bright blue eyes behind her sunglasses, way too large for her face, if you looked hard enough. The cape and sleeves were long discarded, they hid her arms that she constantly wanted to show off. Her white hair was dyed blonde a few days ago, and it seemed she enjoyed that look, so it wasn't going anywhere either.

Bakko decided to speak first.

“Pomp, Sirius and I are concerned about your new lifestyle.”

She couldn't hear them. The music in her ears played louder than anyone else's in the gym. The lyrics could be heard from where Bakko and Sirius stood.

~Boys boys boys~

“Pomp, please, we want to talk to you.”

~Gimme summertime love, gimme summertime love~

Sirius had no patience for this, and ripped the earbud from her ears.

“Hey bro, what gives!?” she screeched at the two of them.

Sirius' voice rang with echos, in a better situation it could calm just about anyone.

“We are here because we are concerned about your recent changes, Poloma, and wonder if you might be using performance enhancing medications.”

Poloma rolled her eyes, Bakko interjected before she could leave.

“Look, Sirius was a little blunt about it, but we really are scared for your well-being.”

Poloma sighed and grabbed her towel before turning back to them.

“Guys, I'm not lighting up or hopped up on jimmy juice, okay? I got a fight at 3, so if you losers don't mind, I gotta go.”

Bakko only sighed, and hoped she would go back to the way she was eventually.

Sirius had already left by the time Bakko turned around to ask him what to do, so he decided he might as well get his own work out in before heading to watch that fight.

…

“Alright Jumong, Poloma's been acting weird lately, but it's still the same deal.” Oldur told Jumong, as they sat in the pre-fight area of the arena.

“I know, I know. I'm not a baby, Oldur.” He responded, still unsure of how to approach this new patch in general.

…

“Are you sure that is wise?” The metallic of voice of Varesh asked Poloma, on the opposing side of the arena.

“Yeah bro, don't be a fuckin' lameass about this, they'll never see it coming,” she squeaked back.

…

FIGHT!

Jumong hadn't taken more than 3 steps off of his mount before the Spirit Guide hit him. Was she honestly trying this, again? This hadn't worked since they had only just entered the arena. He held his arrow back, expecting her to teleport to him and Spirit Rift. Teleport to him, she did.

His only thought before it happened was about how huge her arms had gotten since their last fight, before she delivered a powerful punch square to his crotch. He blacked out immediately.

Jumong woke up back in the pre-fight area, an unknown amount of time later. Oldur was hunched over him.

“Damn dude, what the fuck was that?”