Twilight's eyes groggily opened as she awoke to the one sound she enjoyed most. Silence. All was quiet throughout the house. She sat up lazily and rubbed her eyes to help her adjust to the sunlight flooding in through the single window by her bed.
" Ugh... what a night..." Said Twilight as she plopped down on the floor. She began to readjust the covers and tuck them as best as she could. it was the least she could do. Once deciding she had done an acceptable job, she walked over to her pack, still slumped up against the wall. Twilight opened the small knapsack, grasping the top part which closed it shut, and yanked with her mouth, causing the three buttons that binded the top covering to the rest of the backpack, to snap and come undone. She rummaged around in her pack for a few seconds, obviously digging for something at the bottom before grasping a crumpled and smushed piece of paper. She slowly exited with the piece of parchment firmly grasped in her hoof, to avoid getting it caught on something and tearing it. Finally the large folded piece of paper exited along with Twilight's hoof, letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding in.
She had snatched the piece of paper last night when Ziggs wasn't looking. As she read over it she came to a section where it mentioned him. Beside the description of Ziggs was a photo of him, but he was covered almost entirely in some sort of strange armor. Twilight was puzzled as to what the 'League Of Legends' was, but decided that now was not the best time to ask questions. She would bring it up when the time was right. For now, it was about time she do some observing. Quickly stuffing the paper back inside her pack Twilight brought out a fresh quill and notepad, and flipped open the notepad's cover to reveal a new page, just ready to be scribbled on. The small unicorn gazed out the window for a few seconds, taking in the sights of the barren desert. To most ponies it was just dead land, to her it was a whole new landscape, just waiting to be explored and analyzed. The lavender pony turned back towards her door eager to get a jump start on the day
A knock resonated out from the door just as Twilight was about to open it. She politely opened it to see a small furry yordle who was covered in various food items. Some flour covered his chest, and a strange reddish juice had stained the fur on his hands.
"Breakfast's ready." was all Ziggs before turning around with a gentle smile adorning his face.
Twilight was taken aback by the kindness of this creature, just the night before they had been intruders in his home, and now, he had made hem breakfast, giving them a place to stay, and also given Twilight a rare opportunity to observe this strange new world from his perspective. He was an awfully nice pony... or yordle, as it was.
Still a little shocked, the unicorn followed Ziggs down the stairs to his living room. It was furnished with a bookshelf, a coffee table, a shag rug and a couch which was set up so that it mimicked a bed on stilts. On the couch-bed , Twilight's brother was sprawled out across the length of it, lightly snoring as his chest rose and set.
"Should I uhh, wake him a up?" Ziggs asked, standing beside Twilight.
"No, you go on ahead, I'll get him up." replied the lavender unicorn.
"If you say so..." Ziggs said, disappearing through a doorway into what was presumably the kitchen.
Twilight eyed the yordle as he departed, before turning her attention to her brother who was still fast asleep. She placed a hoof gingerly on his right shoulder, which was connected to his front right leg which was hanging off the bed, slightly moving each time he exhaled. With her hoof in place, Twilight began to gently shake her brother awake, while craning her neck so that her head was close to his ear. Continuing to shake him, she whispered "Hey, Shining Armor, it's time to wake up. Ziggs made us breakfast, c'mon lets not make him wait, that'd be rude of us."
Slowly but surely, the stallion began to show signs of consciousness.
" Uh, what? He made us breakfast?" Shining Armor said, just as bewildered as Twilight.
"Yea, isn't he great? Anyways it was awfully nice of him to do so, so let's hurry up." Twilight said a little impatiently as the large unicorn rose out of bed, yawning and outstretching his hooves backwards, cracking his back in the process.
"What he make?" Shining Armor asked, curious as to hat he'd be chowing down on. He'd never really been picky about what he'd eaten, it just made him curious if there were any foods unique to this world.
"I dunno. How about we go find out." Twilight said as Shining Armor got out of bed and followed Twilight into the kitchen.
Twilight turned the corner and as soon as she did, she beheld a plethora of food. 3 plates were spread evenly across the large circular table. On the two plates closest to her, food that she was rather familiar with. Each plate had a heap of rice covered in a light sprinkle of daises. Another layer on top of the daises was lightly sprinkled with pepper. Twilight recognized them as eggs, but they were cooked a certain way. Eggs over-easy Fluttershy had told her one day when they were having a sleep over. Instantly, memories of the viscous yellow liquid came flooding back. The way the gooey substance had soaked into the rice underneath, the way it tickled her taste-buds. It was almost like, in a way, she had never left home.
Complimenting the rice and eggs were two pieces of lightly buttered toast, which lay neatly aligned beside the mounds of food. Finally in the center of the table there were two bowls and a large platter. In each bowl was an assortment of fruit, consisting mainly of grapes, watermelon, peeled oranges and surprisingly pineapple. A few other fruits such as a sliced pear and a few peeled banana's were also scattered in throughout the bowls. Switching her gaze from the fruit to the large platter, she spied one of her personal favorites. pancakes. There were at least a dozen of them, each with steam rising off of them, making them even more mouthwatering.
With her mouth starting to salivate, Twilight walked over to her a chair and took a seat as Shining Armor entered th kitchen, just as amazed and excited at what Ziggs had made.
"Y-You made all this?" Twilight asked, still a little starstruck as the yordle walked over to her and her brother, each placing a full cup of orange juice beside their overflowing plates.
"Yea, it's nothing special, just some breakfast. Although I am a litle surprised at how fickle ponies are when it comes to food." Ziggs replied in his usual hyper voice.
"What do you mean by that? " Shining Armor asked as he picked up his fork and popped both of his eggs open, letting the liquid gold seep into his rice.
"Well, it's just that I did a little research this morning before you guys woke up, and it turns out you don't eat any meat products at all. So that was a little bit of a challenge, but from what you see before you, it turned out pretty well." replied the yordle as he pulled up his own char, ready to dig into his own plate of food. It consisted of the same food everyone else was eating aside from one thing. Two sausage links lay side by side, easily catching the attention of the obsrvant Twilight.
"What are those?" Twilight inquired, gesturing towards the two small cylinders of meat.
"I'm not sure you wanna know..." Ziggs said, a little unsure of how they would react to him eating meat.
"Whatever it is, I can handle it. " replied Twilight, who was now eating her food as well. And she seemed to be enjoying it by the sheer amount of it she shoveled in her mouth with every spoonful.
"Alright..." Ziggs said reluctantly, " This is sausage, its made from, well meat. Pigs in other words. Sausage in particular is made of the tails, eyes, snouts, the undesirable parts that are leftover when it's divided into different cuts."
Twilight's mouth stop chewing as she and her brother fixed their eyes on the small cuts of meat. She swallowed slowly, then took a big gulp of orange juice to refresh herself before speaking.
"You mean to tell me, that you killed an animal, cooked it, and are going to eat it?" Twilight said with a hint of disbelief in her voice.
"It's not as bad as it seems. I didn't kill it personally, and they're very tasty." Ziggs replied, trying to keep the conversation from spiraling out of control. "Besides, i'm not gonna make you eat any, that is of course if you don't want any."
" No I'm good... " Twilight said as she returned to her food, contemplating over the thought of killing an animal for food. She had heard about it before. Especially in books about the Gryphons. She continued to absentmindedly take large spoonfuls of food as she continued to search for an explanation to why a creature would such a thing. In the end she decided that maybe the animals were different in this world, dangerous even, and needed to be killed for the safety of others. And that it just so happened that over time, the yordles had noticed that they were letting a valuable food source go to waste. Yea that's it, she figured as she continued on with the conversation.
"So, what's on the agenda for today?" Shining Armor asked, taking a bite of his toast.
"Hmmm.... well after breakfast I'm going to be in my lab for a while, your welcome to come and observe if you like." the yordle replied, taking a bit of his sausage, which oozed out grease as he set it back on his plate.
"That'd be great. I do need to start taking some notes on... on.... what did you say this place was again?" Twilight asked, a little embarrassed she still didn't know the name of the world she was now a resident of.
"Runeterra is what this place is called. We're on the continent of Valoran." Ziggs replied, sticking a steaming flapjack on a fork and taking a large bite out of it.
"Hmmm.... is that so." Twilight replied mysteriously as Shining Armor finished his food and moved on to his bowl of fruit.
"Well, anyways, like I said, you're welcome to come and watch me today, but don't touch anything. you'll find that a lot of the stuff i produce isn't the safest to handle..." the yordle said, finishing off his plate with a final spoon of rice.
Twilight nodded her head in agreement as she remembered what Ziggs had said earlier about making bombs. She shuddered at the thought of what he would do with the bombs, but if she was going to learn anything, she had to learn to forget all the norms of Equestria and adapt to this stange, yet exciting, new world.
"That was delicious, you gotta teach me sometime." Shining Armor thanked the yordle as he licked his lips.
" So, the way I see it is since you don't have any money, you'll have to earn your rent around here..." Ziggs said, a little mischievous smile creeping across his face once more. " Meaning that I'll have to gut you and sell your organs piece by piece on the black market. Or if perhaps I could use you as test dummies for my new bombs."
Both Twilight's and Shining Armor's faces contorted into a mixed look of shock, confusion, and fear.
"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!!!!!!!!" Ziggs laughed uncontrollably as the two ponies looked on at him having a seizure-like fit of laughter at nothing as far as they could tell.
:You shoulda seen the look on your faces when I said that. Nah, you guys just have to help out with the chores around the house, aww man, gimme a second." the yordle managed to choke through his continuous giggling while wiping a tear from his left eye.
" So you're not gonna cut or blow us up?" Twilight asked a little hesitant of his response.
"Course not, I ain't a Noxian. I would never do such a thing. Just wanted a good laugh is all. Now which one of ya are gonna dong the dishes?" Ziggs inquired.
"I will, you go on ahead and take your notes sis'" Shining Armor volunteered.
Twilight nodded, silently thanking him.
"Right-O! Let's get to it then." the furry creature said as he slipped out of his seat and nudged Twilight to follow him. Ziggs led the pony down a long hallway on the first floor. He approached a large metal door with his trademark skull insignia inlayed in sterling silver.
"Now remember, don't touch anything, I don't want anything blowing up, I've got something.... important coming up soon and I really need to do what I'm about to do. Alright, here we go!" Ziggs said as a loud beep echoed out from the door. But instead of opening in or out, it opened sideways. By itself. And what lay behind it wasn't a room at all. It was an elevator compartment.
"Ladies first." the yordle said, ushering in Twilight, as he himself then followed in boarding the elevator.
"Hang on!" the hyperactive creature said so quickly,not giving the unicorn enough time to even respond before the door quickly closed and the compartment rocketed down at a great speed, causing Twilight to smack against the roof of the elevator, remaining there until the elevator came to an abrupt stop.
"Lab is just outside. Now don't be overwhelmed by what you see, and stay close to me, it's easy to get lost down here." the yordle said as Twilight slowly peeled off the ceiling of the apartment and smacked the ground with a thud.
"Okay..." was all Twilight could mutter as she began to regain her composure after such a sudden turn of events.
The large metal door opened slowly, disappearing into a small hole in the wall. Behind the thick metal door lay a small circular room with what appeared to be tunnels laced with wiring and technology never before seen by Equestrian eyes. Four tunnels, each roughly 10 feet away from each other, looked as if they each led off into their own branch of the labratory.
"C'mon, let's go." Ziggs said as he motioned for the recovering unicorn to follow him down the hallway to the far left.
Twilight did as she was told, and followed the yordle down the long well lit tunnel. She scribbled down brief notes as she passed by certain pieces of equipment or wiring, many of which seemed to be connected to one another in a way. Truly fascinating. Her hooves clicked softly on the metal floor as they seemed to walk off into nowhere.
"Alright, we're about to enter my lab, here, put these on." Ziggs said, handing Twilight a pair of goggles.
"Thanks." Twilight responded, looking into the reflective red lenses. She could see herself.... yet it wasn't truly her, in a way.Twilight dismissed her odd thougts, slipping the goggles over her head, and adjusting the strap as best as she could.
"Hold on just a sec, lemme get my gear on." the yordle spoke as he put on a light green lab-coat, which he had found on a small table beside a e metal door that seemed to split into four sections. After which he slipped into a pair of black pants with metal shin guards, quickly slipping his black boots over part of the shin guards. Grabbing a belt with several pouches attached to it, he fastened the belt buckle around the waist of the lab-coat. He then reached underneath the small table where all his equipment was, and retrieved a large metal pauldron, fastening it to his right shoulder before slipping on a pair of light blue rubber gloves. Finally to top the whole mad scientist look off, Ziggs reached for a large helmet that had three long,thick tubes jutting out from the top. The tubes were evenly distributed around the top and were connected by a ring of metal the looped around top and sides of the hat, disappearing into a small metal cylinder on each side of the metal cap.
"Ready?" the yordle asked before Twilight nodded her head in approval, an apathetic look now dominating her face.
"Good." was the single word Ziggs uttered before pulling down an oddly proportioned pair of goggles. The left side had a larger rim than the left and had less room for the red lense that occupied the center of each goggle. However the right side had a much thinner rim, with more red lense showing. The right goggle was linked to the massive helmet by a small metal tube, and above the goggle there was another small red lense emanating a soft glow.
As the yodle flipped a switch on the side of his helmet, his pair of goggles lit up, becoming just as bright as the seemingly pointless third lense above his right goggle. At the same time his goggles began glowing, the three tubes on his helmet first sparked, and then began glowing green. As the tubes did so, they also began to contain streaks of green lightning that blasted around inside them wildly, desperately trying to break free, but to no avail. They were well contained inside the hyperactive scientist's helmet.
Ziggs mashed a button on the side of the tunnel leading up to the large door. Instantly the door began to split into four separate sections, each segment receding into their own respective corner.
"How do you do that?" Twilight inquired, curious as to how the small creature was able to open such massive doors without the use of magic. She could tell as soon as she met Ziggs that he was not a creature that utilized magic. Naturally anyways.
"How do I do that? Good question.... How about we find out?" the mad scientist replied, a wide manic grin spreadng across his face.
"Finally... done." Shining Armor said, a bit exhausted from trying to grasp and scrape the grime off of everyone's plate. The tired stallion slumped down into a chair, happy that he was able to at least partially pay back his debt. As he began to regain his strength, a knock came from the front door.
"Who could that be?" Shining Armor asked himself as he plopped out of his chair and walked over to the front door, a little hesitant of who it could be.
"Who is this?" the white unicorn asked, ready to put up a fight if need be.
No reply.
"I asked who is this?" Shining Armor repeated, a little frightened at who it could be now.
Just then the front door caved in, sliced evenly into 6 rectangular pieces.
"Take cover!" Ziggs yelled as a metal door down the hallway to the left of the front door opened and the yordle, decked out in scientist regalia , burst through, a bomb in each hand.
Shining Armor didn't even have time to react as a figure, cloaked in a purple hood let two blades slip down each of his sleeves, each coming to a rest neatly in his hands before rearing up his left arm, ready to strike. The unicorn stood rooted in place as a bomb rolled in front of him, coming to a stop right in front of the hooded figure's feet. Both opponents barely had time to eye the bomb before it detonated, sending each flying backwards. The hooded figure rocketed out the entrance, while at the same time Shining Armor was blown back onto the couch-bed.
"Damn I'm a good shot..." Ziggs quietly murmured to himself as Twilight bolted out of the elevator and immediately galloped to her brother's side.
"He's fine. The lethal blast was directed away from him when the bomb blew, he just caught the shock-wave. Also what's interesting is that for your brother's build, I certainly wouldn't have expected him to go flying like he did." The yordle said, as reassuringly as he could muster. Truth be told, he was scared too. He knew who he figure at the door was, he knew that he was back for revenge. But what scared him most was that he knew he was still here... Ziggs lifted up his goggles with his free hand, still clutching his spare bomb in the other.
Twilight wrapped her foreleg around Shining Armor's neck and began shaking him vigorously, while shouting, "Brother! Wake up! Please wake up! Please!" as tears began to form in her eyes. Small droplets of water began to roll down her cheek, staining and wetting it as they did. She held her brother's head close to hers and sobbed into his shoulder. As she did so her expression of sadness twisted into one full of rage and anger. She lifted her head from her brother's soakd shoulder and turned to face the yordle, who's jade green eyes were now showing.
"This is all your fault..." Twilight whispered so softly that Ziggs barely heard her.
"Come again?" Ziggs asked, not believing what he had heard.
"This is all your FAULT!" Twilight responded, her voice starting as a whisper but ending in a thunderous yell.
"MY fault? I saved him! You don't know what that man was about to do to him!" the yordle replied, his features overtaken by anger as well.
"Whatever he was going to do it's better than what you did to him!" Twilight boomed back at Ziggs.
"No... it wasn't. Trust me. It wasn't better than the condition he's in now. That man.... That monster will slit your throat, without hesitation, and then laugh at his kill. As if it were some trophy. Believe me, once you've seen what he can do, anything is better than what he''l do to you." Ziggs said, passionate and serious in his tone, anger no longer apparent in hies facial expression or words.
All Twilight could do was stutter as her face contorted back to normal, all signs of anger vanishing.
"Then why'd you have to blow him up?" She asked, still starstruck by the passionate words Ziggs had spoken.
"I did it to save his life. Had I not done what I did your brother would be bleeding out on the floor, with you watching helplessly. I respect you Twilight Sparkle, but you have to learn that it isn't all fun and games here in Runeterra. Look, what I'm saying is that regardless of where you come from, you're here now, and you're gonna have to learn to live with things dying all around you 24/7. Even if its..." the yordle gulped trying to keep his own personal life out of the conversation. "... even if its someone close to you."
"But he's not dead, he's just unconscious for the time being. Don't let him out of your sight. I have some unfinished business to deal with." Ziggs said before locking his goggles back in place, leaving the shocked and frightened pony to tend to her brother.
The scientist walked through his sliced entrance and stood in front of his two floor house, looking out across the barren desert that he resided in.
He took in a large breath of air before shouting in a calm voice, despite the fear that nagged at him, " I know you're here. leave them alone, This is between us and us only, don't drag em' into this too."
No reply for a few seconds before a disembodied voice replied from somewhere behind Ziggs.
"Ziggs is it? Haven't heard that name in a while. Heh. Certainly didn't expect you to show your face at the Institute Of War. By the way if you don't mind me asking, any continuation of that name?" the voice mockingly asked.
The yordle whirled around to face the voice's source. A tall man who was wearing purple cloth armor underneath small areas of armor plating. Large silver pauldrons adorned his shoulders, each coming to a point on the side of his arm near his elbow. Another metal plate, one on each forearm, gradually widened, starting as a point near his forearm and wrapping around the entirety of his lower forearm. Two brown leather straps crisscrossed his chest, both attached at the waist to a blue belt. The belt, instead of buckling into the middle created an arrow like shape as it widened and drooped from the rest of his belt. At the tip of the arrow, was a sharp piece of metal, which was most likely what was weighing it down. A section of purple cloth armor showed as it lead down to two heavily armored shin guards, which also covered his knees and encased feet in a layer of metal. Finally, a long cape that was split into six long lengths of vivid purple cloth had dangerous arrowhead-like pieces of sharp metal attached to the end of each length of cape.
The menacing figure brandished a large broad blade that was attached to his arm via three leather straps, distributed evenly along the length of the deadly instrument. He looked up from his bright purple hood that had his rank emblazoned in silver near the front, where the hood came to a point because of the stiff metal.
"Why are you here?" Ziggs snarled at the assassin.
"Because, this ain't a business trip. This is personal. When you came in, blowing up that Zaunite camp, all high and mighty, you defeated me. The General was not pleased with that at all. Do you have any idea what I've gone through because of you?" The figure said, rising from his position and pointing at the yordle accusingly.
Ziggs flinched slightly at those words.
"Yeah, as a matter a fact I do." He said, reaching up to touch his earring with his free arm.
Upon seeing this, the assassin gave a slight smirk, chuckling to himself.
"I see you still have that ring. Pity it never reached it's intended destination." The purple man said once again in a mocking tone.
"Don't you dare speak about her." Ziggs growled back.
"Very well. I suppose its high time I depart. But I have a feeling we'll be seeing each other very soon. Until then." the assassin said reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small grey orb.
"Oh no you don't!" the scientist shouted as he cocked his arm back and flung the bomb directly at the man. But it was too late, he had already disappeared into a cloud of grey smoke. The bomb impacted the roof and exploded, leaving a blast mark which now scarred his roof.
"Dammit..."
Twilight lay beside her brother, all of her tears exhausted, eyeing him over with a gentle expression. Something was bothering her though. Besides the fact that Shining Armor was unconscious. Had she really meant what she had said earlier? And if so why did she fly off the defend and start verbally assaulting her caretaker. Was she really that heartless? No. No she wasn't. But then hat begs the question, what could've made her so angry that it made her feel true hatred. Ponies hardly ever got angry to begin with, and it was even rarer for anypony to feel true hatred. But she did. Just a few minutes ago, and she could tell that she really did resent Ziggs deep down. Even now the feeling lingered. She continued to ponder just what exactly was happening to her, and possibly her brother as a yordle entered the house.
"What happened?" Twilight asked, pushing her thoughts to the back of her mind to deal with the situation at hoof, or hand, in Ziggs' case.
"He escaped. Gone in a cloud of smoke. He said that we'd be seeing each other very soon, and I have a feeling I know when and where." The scientist replied a little mysteriously.
"And, if you don't mind me asking, just who is he? " inquired the unicorn as Shining Armor began to regain consciousness.
"He..." Ziggs gulped "He's Talon."
"Why is he out to get you?" Twilight asked, pushing the envelope even further. She couldn't help it, she always got like this when it came to learning new things.
Ziggs didn't respond immediately. Instead he thought to himself for a second. Was he ready to open up? Was he ready to reveal his secret? And to near strangers at that. But at this point, he could no longer bear the burden of the tragedy that transpired that fateful day. His urge to be relieved of the great weight of the secret overwhelmed him and he began to speak.
"Do you really want to know?"
"Yes." replied Twilight, with Shining Armor now sitting fully awake next to her, listening to the conversation intently.
It was now or never.
"Alright.... settle in... this is a long one." Ziggs said, taking a seat in a leather recliner.
25 minutes later....
" And so, I turned around, and he was standing there.... holding... holding someone close to me, with a blade near her throat. He eyed me up and down with that petrifying gaze of his and spoke, ' If you don't stop, lay down your weapons and tell them to get back inside the cage, she dies.' I just stood there, frozen.... My heart ripped in half as I knew what I had to do. I really wanted to save her, but I knew what would happen if I didn't rescue the scientists. I looked up from where I stared at the ground, and pulled out a match. I struck it against the bomb on my back, and then lit the fuse. I face her and said the only words I could think of.... ' I'm sorry....' was all I was able to whisper as I hurled the bomb up into the air, and it descended upon the two. Talon's look was one of utter disbelief the second before the bomb impacted. After then, I couldn't tell where he or.... or the person close to me had gone. Everything around me burned and crumbled as I escaped with the scientists, and escorted them back to Piltover. I was awarded the title of Dean Of Demolitions for my heroic feat. Still, despite all the good I've done, I'll never forgive myself for what I had to do.... no, what I did do." Ziggs said bringing his tale to a close.
"Wow..." was all Twilight could possibly muster after listening to one of the most tragic storied she'd ever heard, real or fictitious.
"Yeah...." Ziggs spoke, slipping off the last piece of his scientist outfit and stashing it under his recliner.
"Well.... I think you should both get some rest, its already dark out. Look I'm sorry if this wasn't what you were expecting, and-" the yordle was cut off by Twilight intervening.
"You don't have to be sorry for anything. If nothing else, its us who should be feeling sorry for you. I can see you've been through a lot, but now we're here, and you don't have to face it alone anymore." Twilight said reassuringly.
"Thanks, and I appreciate your support Twi'." Ziggs spoke, reminding Twilight of her friends back home who would call her the same thing.
She nodded as the yordle waved them goodbye, letting the two be alone as he started up the stairs.
"Oh, and Twilight?" the furry creature said from halfway up the stairs.
"Hmm?"
"Your welcome to come and spectate me in tomorrow's match."
"What match?" the lavender unicorn inquired, having a feeling she already knew the answer to.
"Oh, yea that's right if forgot to tell you, there's big match tomorrow at the Institute of War, I'm joining the League of Legends."
"And just where exactly is this match being staged?"
"Summoner's Rift. 5 P.M. I'll fill you in on the details tomorrow. For now, we all need some rest." Ziggs said as he pulled a small black remote out o nowhere, pressed a button and proceeded upstairs as the broken front door was replaced by a fresh metal one that descended from the top frame of the door, eventually locking into place at the bottom. It would never cease to amaze Twilight Sparkle how any tricks this yordle had in store.
Ziggs dragged himself to bed, slipping underneath the covers, and just lay there thinking for a little while before dozing off. It was fortunate that he fell asleep much earlier than he usually did. He was going to need all the rest he could get.
It was going to be one hell of match.