Ever since Shiro had injured Matt at the gladiator ring however many planets ago, he had been listed and trained for other fights. He was now at least twice the size he was before the Kerberos mission, he was sure.

But every day, he would undergo the same routine.

And it was getting old.

Wake up on the cold floor of his cell, have two disgusting ration bars thrown into his cell which he would eat (hesitantly but gratefully) then dragged by the guards to the training room then do his workout. 50 pushups, 150 sit-ups, 100 pull-ups, and then another 50 crunches.

He would then be dragged away again to either the testing room, where various steroid formulas and potions would be tested on him as well as magic and/or quintessence exposure, or thrown back in a dark room which he knew to be the cell right next to the Gladiator Ring to be searched and dressed properly before being let out into it.

Even though he had no idea who he was fighting or how to fight them, it was all the same. Run to the right. Distract them. Attack then watch their retaliation, their patterns and fighting style. This was how he earned the name, Champion. They would most likely win the first round but that was on purpose. He went easy on them the first round, let them underestimate him. It was the other two rounds that mattered most.

He hated doing this to other beings, which were mostly just prisoners and abused creatures.

But it kept him alive.

He had to stay alive. Had to. He had to warn Earth about what was happening beyond the solar system.

But now, here he was, getting prepared once again to head into the Gladiator Ring.

Same old, same old.

…"and presenting our Champion!" The announcer shouted over the speakers in the ring.

The doors opened and Shiro stepped out from the shadows.

"Champion! Champion! Champion!" the crowd chanted his tag name.

"And his opponent, the infamous _!"

The crowd cheered for his challenger, but there were quite a few haters in the crowd, booing and jeering.

A small figure—well, smaller than most Shiro's fought—emerged from the doors on the opposite side of the ring.

The figure looked human, more human than the humanoid creatures he has defeated in past matches, and female. He would normally not jump to conclusions but the shape of the person and the fact they had breasts were kind of a giveaway.

She wore a scarf over the lower half of her face and the entirety of her head. She immediately tore it off and discarded it, throwing to her right, revealing raven back hair that shone hues of blue and purple pulled up into a ponytail. The woman wore a face mask that looked almost like a muzzle that covered the lower half of her face…not exactly like a Galra muzzle for prisoners, but more like it was designed to intimidate others.

He could see it had a mouth of snarling fangs carved into it.

Shiro really did not want to fight—it was a human female!—and maybe try to plan together and get out of this hell hole. What were they doing out this far in space anyway?

He took a lighter approach to the girl, saying, "I don't fight girls."

"That's a shame," she replied, Her voice dripping with mock sympathy. She took a decent sized knife out from its sheath holding it down (improperly if you ask Shiro) almost like it was a sword. She paused as the knife glowed a bright purple color and flashed—

When Shiro could look at the girl again, the knife had turned into a magnificent silver sword, hints of a bright violet swirling around the blade as it entered its final stage of metamorphosis.

She then tore the muzzle from her face and flung it behind her as she finished her sentence, revealing the rest of her fairly attractive face, fury raging in her violet eyes. " 'Cause I fight boys."

She began staking toward him in a slow, threatening walk. Then she began jogging, then running, then she jumped, pulling her sword high over her head as Shiro grabbed out his own weapon and ran across to the right.

Just run your routine, Shiro.

Her weapon slipped out of her hands as she fell to the ground and somersaulted back to a standing position.

Shiro had managed to grab her weapon and held it to attack with it. But as she stood, it immediately went back to its smaller form of a knife, the violet reminisces returning.

The girl smiled at his surprise and was able to walk up within three feet of him where he finally regained part of his senses then slashed his working weapon at her. She ducked once, twice, then grabbed Shiro's wrist and twisted it, making a sickening cracking sound and resulting in Shiro dropping the small knife.

Pleased, the woman let go of his fist and picked up the small weapon from the ground, twirling it in her fingers with satisfaction. She turned her attention again to the man she was fighting and paused. Shiro looked up at her face but didn't have much of an opportunity to see it, mainly because her fist was met with his face, triggering a cry of anguish to escape his lips.

Shiro expected her to use this as an opportunity to end him once and for all, he was vulnerable, but she simply paused and stepped aside, waiting for him to gather his bearings.

He did, but it wasn't long before he was under attack again.

The girl had run toward him and jumped, reactivating her sword in midair. Shiro braced as she came down over him.

They locked their blades and she knocked him flat on his back. He used one arm as a stand to help support himself as she used all her weight to try and pressure him into giving up as she was standing over him. Shiro was able to let his blade slip against hers to where she almost fell on top of him. She only stumbled to the side, then paused, letting Shiro stand and gather his bearings.

Once he did, she lunged again, where they locked blades. They stared at each other, Shiro looking into her eyes, where he noticed something different about her, something that set her apart from all of the other creatures he had fought—aside from the fact she was (at least partly) human.

This woman had no intention to kill him.

He was snapped back from his thoughts when she kicked him in the middle, causing him to stagger backwards. He also found out something else about her:

This woman had no intention of going easy on him, either.

Shiro looked up and expected to see the girl with a deadpan look on her face but saw nothing.

No one was there.

Nothing was there.

He stood up and looked around, above and behind him. He wasn't sure where she had disappeared to.

He cautiously walked backwards, then turned to run into the center of the stadium where he could get a better view of things. But as he turned he saw his opponent—

"Aahh!"

Shiro was immediately blinded by a searing pain across the bridge of his nose, and he immediately fell to his knees, covering his face with his hands.

After about a minute and a half, he was able to take his hand off the bridge of his nose and saw blood.

He looked up, tears in his eyes, where the girl was standing over him.

He looked back down and squinted at her sword deactivated. He could barely hear her replace her knife back in its case and then she kneeled down in front of him.

Get back up. Follow the routine, Shiro, follow…

She grabbed his chin and forced him to look up at her. "Sorry, Champ," she said, a semi 'apologetic' expression on her face, "I gotta take your place."

She let go of his chin and stood up. Shiro could see out of the corner of his eye the woman execute a perfect roundhouse kick, but barely had time to register it because he had just been knocked out.

Hey guys! So, this is has been in my head for a little while now. I have a little bit of an idea of where this could go, but I'm not 100% sure. Let me know if you want me to continue!

~WA3