Diana stood alone, the thought of something or someone or… Maxwell being right under her nose always in the back of her mind. She tried to shake it away, figuring the best way to do that would be to get busy. Diana walked out into her garden and began plucking the juiciest Berries she could find. Once she got a decent amount, she went back inside and started a fire in the fire pit, placed a pot on top of the stone, and filled the pot with water. Diana sat down and enjoyed the heat of the fire, closing her eyes and allowing herself to relax.
'Should I have told that to Rio this soon?' She thought to herself. 'He's hardly had enough time to adjust, he doesn't need to worry about something like that monster.'
Diana took in a deep breath and let out a sigh, slowly opening her eyes. She was focused on the fire, but after a moment, she drifted her gaze upwards to see Zen sitting on the other side of the pit.
"Sweet Arceus!" Diana exclaimed, clutching her chest. "By Arceus' name, Zen! Why are you so good at sneaking up on me?"
"You were distracted. Even a hunter can be caught by surprise with something on their mind." Zen crossed his arms and grinned.
"Well, how did you get back here so fast? I wasn't expecting you so soon," Diana asked, crushing the berries in a large bowl with a cloth inside. "You were probably hiding around outside until Rio left, weren't you?"
"Hmph, you are still as sharp as they come, Diana," Zen answered with a light chuckle. "I overheard what you were telling Rio while I was waiting. Do you actually believe this Maxwell is to blame?"
Diana shrugged, adding a stick of cinnamon and a couple of yellow flowers to the crushed berries, tying off the cloth and placing it in the pot of boiling water. "I can't think of anything else. I'd love to be proven wrong, but since you can't really remember anything that happened last night, I have nothing to go off of."
Zen closed his eyes, tapping his arm as he thought. "I can vaguely remember the berry I ate before I blacked out. It was dark, unfortunately, so I couldn't really see what it looked like, but it felt just like an Oran Berry. It was weird for such a plump berry to be growing in that almost dead section of the forest, so I broke it in half, and this... indescribable aroma overtook me! I wasn't even hungry, but I devoured the fruit the moment it's scent got a hold of me… It's taste is still on my tongue, there were… so many flavors."
"Really? Why didn't you tell me when you were here earlier?" Diana questioned, causing Zen to clear his throat.
"M-My behavior during that event was... shameful. I've never lost myself over the scent of food before, and since I assumed the Outlander and his companions would be arriving soon, I didn't want to risk them hearing about it..." Zen cleared his throat and turned away, getting a giggle from Diana.
"It's adorable how you still get embarrassed over little things like this," Diana said, giving Zen a warm smile. As the tent was full of the scent of tea, Diana put out the fire and sat beside Zen. "They wouldn't think any less of you, you know. If anything, they'd start to see you as one of them. Kora and Minerva always get like that when they go down to the Bakery."
"Diana, I am not 'one of them,'" Zen said firmly, his cold demeanor returning for a moment. "Besides, them seeing me as an equal goes against the reason I decided to come to Sunset Valley in the first place."
Diana grabbed a cup and filled it with the tea from the pot, downing it in a couple sips before getting some more. She offered some to Zen, who politely declined. "I thought you came here to honor Orion, then stayed when you realized how wrong your old life was?" She asked, sipping slowly at her second cup of tea.
"Yes, I did come and stay for that, but I also stayed because I wanted to see how close to Orion Kora was, both relationship-wise and personality-wise. Surprisingly, he seems to have inherited Orion's sense of humor..."
"How unfortunate," Diana sighed sarcastically, managing a chuckle from Zen.
After a moment of silence, Zen thought it was time for him to leave, remembering that he may have left Kane and Eva for longer than he planned. "I'll be off, I have some things to discuss with Eva and Kane in regards to forming a team." He waved as he made his way to the exit. "I'll see to it that I don't eat any more berries I find in the forest."
"Good. Also, be sure to have fun, Zen. I know working as a team isn't your cup of tea, but you can at least try to enjoy it," Diana waved goodbye to the Bisharp, giving him a sweet smile as he left.
Diana looked at the entrance for a little while after Zen left, half expecting someone to walk in and keep her company. With nobody showing up, she sighed and stared into her cup, softly spinning the liquid within it. A frown fell upon her face before she downed the rest of it.
"... I think I might need some better soil for my flowers, this isn't as strong as it used to be..." Diana shrugged, getting another cup of tea.
On his way to Kora and Minerva, Rio passed by Eva and a pissed off Kane along the way. He waved to them, but Kane walked right past him, muttering something under his breath and clutching his arm. Eva looked worried and concerned, but something told Rio it might not entirely be towards Kane. Rio would have gone after them but already saw his friends entering the Bakery, and hurried to join them.
"Hey guys!" Rio said once he caught up to Kora and Minerva, then noticing the glum mood they both had. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"
"We ran into Kane and Eva on the way here," Kora sighed, the mention of the two making Minerva grumble and cross her arms. "They, er, well... Kane said some scummy stuff to Minerva. It kind of looked like his arm was busted too, which might be why he was so angry."
"It's not my fault he fell wrong... Don't see why he got so pissed off at me for..." Minerva muttered.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Rio said in an effort to comfort Minerva. "If I knew he did that, I'd have punched him for ya! Or maybe just thwack him with a branch, since that's the most I can do, hehe."
Minerva shot Rio a weak grin, turned towards the Bakery, the normally uplifting aroma of sweets barely granting the Meowth a smile. Kora put on a smile and was about to head in first, when Kai and Mia trotted out the tent and bumped into his leg. They were each carrying two adorable pink goodie bags in their mouths, and as soon as Kai recognized his brother, he dropped his bag and gave the Zoroark a warm smile.
"Oh hey bro! Where've you guys been? Did ya get in another fight?" Kai asked, hopping in place. Kora cleared his throat and knelt down to the two kids.
"Actually, we did. And we're hungry and a bit upset because of it, so I'll have to cut this little convo sho-" Kora said, getting cut off by Kai and Mia running past him to talk to Minerva.
"What happened, Minerva? I've never seen you so upset before..." Kai whined and Mia's tail sank.
"I-I'm not upset... I'm just hungry, is all," Minerva replied, hoping Kai couldn't tell she was lying between her teeth.
"You can have one of these goody bags if you'd like!" Kai offered, pushing one of his bags towards the feline. "There's just a bunch of biscuits in it, but I think they're awesome!"
"Thanks, kid, but ya can keep it. I prefer the pies more than the macarons." Minerva politely declined, patting Kai and Mia on their heads.
"Ok! I hope you guys feel better!" Kai said as he ran off with his friend. "And hi Rio!"
The trio entered the Bakery and were welcomed by the sugary-sweet smile of Clara, and the surprising vacancy of the Bakery. Normally, there'd be someone here this close to noon, but that just meant there'd be more treats for them! The three went up to the counter and waved hello to the Slurpuff behind it.
"Ah, good morning you three!" Clara happily greeted them, but gained a worried expression when she saw that Minerva was upset. "Oh, what happened to you dear? Kora didn't go too far with one of his jokes, did he?"
"Ok, ouch…" Kora winced at the accusation.
"No, it wasn't the twerp. It was that scaly prick Kane…" Minerva growled, but shot a smile at Kora. "This doofus couldn't hurt me if he tried."
"I'm sorry dear, I'll be sure to teach him a thing or two when I see him again. How about I let you three try a brand new pie, free of charge?" Clara's offer caught Minerva and Kora by surprise, and was music to Rio's ears.
"I-we couldn't! An entire pie?" Minerva stammered.
"F-For free?!" Kora exclaimed.
"I'll take it if they won't!" Rio said, unaware of his tail wagging excitedly behind him.
Clara giggled and nodded, pulling out a berry basket from behind the counter, revealing a bunch of dark berries that none of the three had seen before.
"Don't worry about it, you'd actually be a big help to us this way! You see, we found these strange berries in the back of our yard this morning." As Clara explained, she grabbed a berry and split it open. They looked like Oran Berries, but the outside was much darker, and the inside was blood red. "I ate a few this morning, I swear I've never had a berry that was sweet, sour, bitter and tangy all at once! We wanted to test them out in a pie, and if you three were the first to test it, we'd know if it'd be alright to sell them!"
"So, we're gonna be testing this... Dark Berry pie?" Rio asked, holding one of the dark berries in his paw. Clara nodded.
"I hope it's alright with you three. Trying the berry on it's own is one thing, but if it turns bad once heated or when mixed with ingredients, that'd be bad for business!" Clara said right before a loud DING sounded from the kitchen. "Oh! The pie must be ready! I'll tell Benny to bring it out to you in a moment. Thank you for your help!"
The trio took a seat and waited for Benny, also grabbing a few of the Dark Berries as they left the counter. The fruits had a bit of heft to them, surprisingly. They were so dense you could potentially convince someone it was a really dark and round stone. Rio tried to bite it, but it was a lot tougher than he thought. While he gnawed away at the berry, Kora and Minerva started chatting.
"This is one weird lookin' berry," Minerva rolled one around the table.
"I think it looks cool!" Kora said as he split it open, getting a surprising amount of red juice on his claws and paws. "Look at it, it's so... so..." Kora looked at his paws, drenched in the thick, red juice of the Berry. He watched it flow down his forearms and drip from his elbows onto his lap, unable to draw his eyes away from the crimson fluid.
"Hey, Kora?" Minerva asked, snapping Kora out of his trance. "Ya alright, twerp? Been starin' at ya lap for a bit."
"Y-Yeah, I'm good!" Kora answered with his usual energy, quickly tossing the berry aside and shaking the red from his arms and lap. "Like I was saying, it's a really weird berry, right?"
"Didn't ya say it was cool?" The Meowth asked.
Kora chuckled and shrugged, turning towards Rio for a second and freezing up. The moment the fox laid his eyes on the canine, Rio managed to bite through the berry with a powerful chomp, and splattered the juice all over the table and some of it on Kora himself. Seeing Kora staring at him caught Rio's attention, which led to what was left of the berry's juice to drip from Rio's chin and onto his chest. Rio was about to ask what was wrong, but became blissfully distracted by the swirl of flavors hitting him. It was just like Clara described, spicy and sweet, savory and bitter, and they mixed so well together, it was unreal!
"Oh wow~! This is amazing!" Rio exclaimed after swallowing the rest of the berry. "You guys should try it!"
"It's just a berry, Blue. It can't be that great, at least compared to the pies they sell here." Minerva scoffed, seeing Rio get so giddy over a berry driving away some of her sadness from earlier. "Right Kora?" When she turned to the fox, he wasn't there. She looked around, but he didn't even seem to be in the Bakery anymore. Right as Minerva was about to go and look for him, Benny came out with their pie.
"Here ya go! Nice and fresh! I tried to make it like I would for an ordinary Oran pie, since it looks so similar to an Oran. I wasn't able to try any myself, I was too excited to throw it in a pie and see how it'd turn out! Enjoy!" Benny said with a smile almost as sweet as Clara's.
"Thanks, Benny!" Kora said happily, suddenly appearing right next to the Mr. Mime, startling him. Kora quickly apologized. "S-Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!"
"It's alright, Kora. Kai does the same thing every now and then, but it's usually on purpose from that lil jokester. You go on and enjoy your pie!" Benny replied, leaving for the kitchen, leaving behind a knife and three forks.
Kora sliced two slices from the pie, keeping himself from downing the entire thing. The crust of the pie was a velvet red and had a satisfying, flaky crispiness to it as Kora sliced through. As the fox lifted a slice out, the three were met with an almost alarming sight; a viscous, gooey, dark-red jelly that shared the same color as the berry's insides, and perfectly cubed chunks of said berry. The scent it gave off wasn't like anything either of the three had experienced before, it was mostly sweet and tangy, but there was definitely something else to it.
Rio, having already tried the fruit, was excited to taste the pie, Minerva didn't know what to expect but she still was looking forward to taste-testing a brand new pie, and Kora seemed more alright with trying the pie than he was the berry.
"It definitely doesn't look like any pie I've seen before," Rio picked up a piece of the pie with a fork. "But I'm not complaining, I'm super excited!"
"Me too!" Minerva agreed, now in a much better mood. "It's like a nightmare turned into a dream!"
"Y-Yeah... nightmare..." Kora said with a nervous chuckle, now somewhat on the fence about trying it out.
Kora cut off a piece of the pie and fed it to Minerva first as Rio ate his bit, and the two froze. The pie was so rich, it felt entirely unfair that they got it for free. The crust soaked up so much of the jelly that it actually felt like eating a velvet cake, and the jelly itself was almost too much to handle at once! It was so smooth and almost had a creamy texture to it, and the berry chunks were just the right amount of soft, having the perfect level of firmness that it would almost melt in your mouth, but not entirely. The actual flavor packed into the pie was leagues above anything Rio or Minerva could ever dream of, blending every flavor that was inside the berry, but somehow focusing on what they specifically enjoyed.
Rio felt the sweet and sour dance along his tongue, with a hint of savory singing in the background, meanwhile Minerva was struggling to handle the battle between the bitterness and the sweetness, as the spiciness came in to turn up the heat when they were done. Despite this experience being countless times more intense than the pies from yesterday, Minerva and Rio managed to stay in this plane of existence. That was indeed a surprise to Kora, who watched them both go through their divine experiences and debated whether or not to give them some macarons.
"Kora eat the pie," Minerva said bluntly, staring into the Zoroark's eyes.
"Is it really that good?" Kora asked, taken aback from Minerva suddenly demanding he ate it.
"Kora, I swear to god, if ya don't eat a slice of this pie, I'm gonna eat all of it," Minerva replied, moving her gaze from Kora.
"Trust us, this is beyond amazing~" Rio sighed, melting in his seat. "I actually can't describe it..."
As Kora was still hesitant, Minerva jabbed him in the side and put the rest of their slice in his maw as he opened it. In an instant, Kora's eyes widened as he too felt the rich flavor of the pie. It was a roaring flame of spice upon his tongue, with it's embers scorching the roof and sides of his mouth, but the pain was soothed by a powerful sweetness, and followed by a sprinkle of tang to tide him over. A tear came to the Zoroark's eye as he finished the slice, already missing the flavor it almost seemed to tease him with. Kora was so caught up in his personalized experience that he didn't realize Minerva still had her paw basically in his mouth.
"I..." Was all Kora managed to say.
"Right?" Minerva asked with a pleasant grin.
"Unbelievable..." Rio sighed.
They quickly sliced up the rest of the pie and finished it, with each bite more intoxicating than the last. They didn't even bother with their forks this time. In a moment the pie was gone, and Minerva snagged the tin and licked it clean. With no pie high to come off of this time, they went to the counter to congratulate the bakers for creating an actual substitute for heaven.
"R-Really?" Benny was surprised at the three's adoration and praise. "I-I don't think it was that-!"
"Benny, don't you say another word!" Kora interrupted. "That pie is the absolute best thing I have ever eaten. Don't you try and be humble about this!"
"Yeah! Ya basically turned gold and jewels into a pie!" Minerva added, standing on top of Kora's head. "I'd give up all the pearls we collected for a single slice of this!"
"I'd also pay loads of money for another slice! Makes me wish I... had some money, really..." Rio added, saying that last part mostly to himself.
"P-Please, you're too kind," Benny gushed, his face turning bright red. "Aw, you sweethearts spoil me too much! I'll go give Clara the good news."
Benny went back into the kitchen with a bright smile on his face. Kora, Rio, and Minerva looked excitedly at each other, each wanting to stay right here and wait for another batch of pies using the Dark Berry. But alas, responsibility decided to rear it's actually quite pleasant, but mostly disliked, head. Rio remembered that he planned on getting used to his body, and the first place that came to mind was Jax's Gym. Begrudgingly, Rio grabbed Kora and tugged him towards the exit.
"C'mon... we gotta go," Rio said, disheartened.
"B-But... what about the pies?" Kora whined, although Rio wasn't actually able to move the fox anywhere. Minerva hopped out of Kora's mane and groaned.
"Yea, we should probably get goin'. We got some stuff to do, twerp, let's go," Minerva said, grabbing the end of Kora's hair and pulling the fox outside.
"N-No, wait!" Kora pleaded, trying ,and failing, to stay within the Bakery. "The pie! I gotta have more!"
"Even if we wanted more, we'd have to wait for them to bake it, and chances are we'd also have to pay for it!" Rio said. "And with how much we loved it, I wouldn't plan on it not being expensive."
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Kora sorrowfully exclaimed. "The price of the pie will be my downfall! Curse you, you deliciously deceiving desert!"
"Props to ya for the alliteration," Minerva giggled.
"Even if it doesn't really fit…" Rio sighed.
Once Rio and Minerva (mostly Minerva, honestly) were done dragging Kora to Jax's tent, the fox pulled himself together. Sitting in the middle was Jax, along with Zeke and Nate. The three older Pokemon waved hello, but Zeke and Nate had a somewhat worried expression on their faces.
"Afternoon, dudes!" Jax greeted the trio, a bit of excitement in his tone. "What're you guys up to? We weren't doin' anything important so feel free to borrow us for whatever!"
"We were trying to get you to actually join the guild, Jax..." Nate deadpanned.
"Well if you guys weren't up to anything, how about training me!" Rio suggested. Jax's eyes lit up and he jumped to his feet, and Zeke and Nate let out a groan.
"Hell yeah! Trainin' means fightin'! And fightin' is what I do best!" Jax declared, pounding his fists together. "Speakin' of which, have you had your first fight yet, Novice Puncher? I'd love to be your first!"
"Zen beat ya to that one, Musclehead. Zen went to town on Rio yesterday. He was so beat up and bruised it looked like he was dead!" Minerva said with a laugh. "Maybe ya could be a bit gentler on 'im."
Zeke and Nate were snickering to themselves behind Jax, but snapped back to being serious when they noticed Rio was looking at them.
"Anyway, I still made it back in one piece!" Rio said proudly, puffing out his chest a bit. "I mean, I'm getting the hang of this body at least. Maybe I just gotta keep fighting?"
"Well, duh," Jax scoffed. "A Fighting Type doesn't get stronger by sittin' around and talkin'. The only thing you should be doin' is fightin'! Now, before we get to the good stuff, how 'bout you try punchin' one of these again?" Jax stood beside one of the punching bags.
Rio nodded and faced the bag, getting into the fighting stance his body naturally went into. He closed his eyes and steadied his breathing, both a good sign of Rio's improvement according to Jax. Rio allowed his mind to wander for a bit, hoping to think of something to motivate him. For some reason, it was increasingly difficult to remember things, and the only thing that came up was someone beating two other people up. He couldn't tell who was who, but he felt a lot of anger from that thought alone. He threw his palm forward and struck the bag with a loud SLAP, causing it to swing back a bit. This time, he didn't hurt himself!
"Impressive, seeing where you were yesterday," Jax congratulated the Lucario, patting him on his back and letting out a hardy laugh. Rio felt a bit of his soul leave his body with how hard Jax patted him; like a brick wall just walked forcefully into him. "Alright, what say we get on with some trainin'?"
Before Jax led Rio to the exit at the back of the tent, Kora cleared his throat and stopped him. Jax turned to see what was up, a small part of him hoping that Kora would want to join in on the fun as well.
"H-Hold on..." Kora sighed, being nudged by Minerva. "We wanted to see if you could train us as well, since we're gonna be joining the guild together, as a team."
Jax could hardly contain his excitement. He joyously picked up Rio, Kora, and Minerva and held them in a tight hug, which hurt a whole lot more than anything either of them felt in the past two days.
"I'd never pass on a chance like this!" Jax said cheerfully, finally letting go of the three now-crushed Pokemon. "But I only got two sets of arms, so..." Jax slowly looked back at Zeke and Nate, a devilish grin on his muscular face. The duo in question both looked quite against whatever Jax was insinuating.
"Hey! Don't drag us into your training business! They're your students!" Nate exclaimed.
"Oh come on, 'Gatr Boy! I can only do so much by myself! Besides, it's not like you two have anything goin' on for the next week or whatever. Training these three could be fun!" Jax said, putting an arm around Nate and Zeke's shoulders. Once they were both locked into this, literally and figuratively, Jax turned towards the three trainees and grinned. "Whoever you spar against will be your teacher for the week. We'll go by the only way to fairly pick who fights who is with some good old-fashioned Rock Paper Scissors!"
"Ok, so that plan sounds perfect, but there's only one problem," Kora said. "I'm the only one who can shoot scissors... or rock." Minerva and Rio both punched Kora in his arms, but admitted anyway that he actually had a point. The Zoroark stuck his tongue out and snickered, rubbing his hurt arms afterwards.
"How about... oh! What if you guys just shouted out what you were throwing out!" Jax said, snapping his fingers. The three trainees shrugged, it was better than nothing. Jax grinned triumphantly why his two co-trainers sighed at their friend.
"Alright, so when a trainer and a trainee throw out the same thing that no other trainer or trainee throws out, they get paired together for the week!" Jax said, preparing one of his four arms to throw out something.
"That isn't how rock paper scissors works..." Zeke groaned. He was ignored by the others, and let out an aggravated sigh. Jax started to count down after making sure everyone was ready.
"3..." Each Pokémon looked at each other.
"2..." Kora, Rio, and Minerva started breathing faster with anticipation.
"1..!" Each pokemon raised a hand into the air, even though that didn't really matter for this.
"Rock!" Kora and Jax shouted at the same time.
"Paper!" The other four shouted all at once. Jax and Kora stepped out, whispering something to each other while the remaining four got ready to throw again.
"3..." The trainees looked between each other, thinking of what to throw.
"2..." The trainers both thought of what kind of pies would be sold today at the bakery...
"1..!" Jax and Kora are both filled to the brim with anticipation!
"Scissors!" Minerva and Nate shout out.
"Rock!" Rio and Zeke blurt out at the same time. On the sidelines, Jax pounded a fist into the ground and Kora cheered.
"I was right! I knew it!" Kora laughed, pointing at Jax with a smug look on his face. "You're buying me a pie when we're done today!"
"Wow, they're like brothers," Rio tittered.
"They both act pretty much the same. Jax was Kora's friend before I showed up," Minerva said.
"He pretty much copied Jax's whole persona, and added in some bad jokes to make it his," Nate nodded, getting a nod from Zeke.
"Maybe having them be together for an entire week isn't such a good idea?" Zeke questioned, imagining that the two would goof off during their time together. They were interrupted by Jax and Kora butting in on their conversation.
"If you four are done with the chatting," Kora started to say before being pushed aside by Jax.
"Then we got some fights to start!" Jax finished, getting pushed back harder by Kora. They started to push each other harder and harder until Minerva and Nate stepped between them.
"If the two of ya are gonna keep actin' like kids, then you'll have to fight last!" they both shouted pointing at either of their goofball friends' faces. Jax immediately shut up and sat to the side, and Kora backed away from Minerva. Rio and Zeke chuckled a bit to themselves.
"Alright, so how do we decide who fights first?" Zeke asked, crossing his arms.
"Seein' how the twerp and meathead combo are goin' last, why don't me an Nate go second, an you two go first," Minerva suggested.
"B-But you said 'if' we don't stop acting like kids!" Kora and Jax whined, getting glared by Minerva and Nate respectively.
"When the hell are the both of you NOT acting like kids?!" they both yelled, quickly shutting the pair up.
Behind the tent was a large, open area surrounded with forest, giving them a good hundred feet or so to spar in. In the middle of the field was a sand covered battle ground that has seen many sparring matches in its day.
"Man, I've been aching for a good fight! I'm also lookin' forward to how strong you got since we last fought, Kora!" Jax exclaimed, stretching each of his arms and legs. Kora did the same stretches, probably without realizing he was mimicking his burly friend. "Those two rarely come over to fight anymore, they're always busy doing... I dunno, stuff." Jax huffed, pointing at Nate and Zeke.
"It's not our fault! Maybe if we had, oh, I don't know, a third member to help with all the tasks we gotta do, we'd have more free time!" Nate huffed back.
Before an argument could arise, Kora shut the conversation up by pointing at Zeke and Rio, who had just entered the ring and were facing each other.
"Ok Rio, this is gonna be a quick sparring match alright? We'll go until one of us calls it quits. What do you say?" Zeke asked, cracking his knuckles and getting into a fighting pose.
"Sounds good to me!" Rio agreed with a smug grin, getting into his stance as excitement and adrenaline pumped through him. "Just don't expect this to be easy! I am very good at not knowing when to quit!"
Zeke smirked in response to Rio's confidence. "Hey, it'll be on you if you get too roughed up. I won't stop until you call it," Zeke clicked his tongue, a fiery aura covering his body. Rio could feel the heat and excitement from across the field, which got him even more excited. Jax stood in the middle of the area, two of his hands on his waist.
"The first fight is between the Rookie Outlander, Rio, and his opponent, Zeke!" Jax said, with an authentic announcer-y tone. "This fight will end when either of them gives up, or until I say it's over!" No one could deny the anticipation building in the air, especially not Kora and Jax.
"Let the fight... Begin!" Jax shouted promptly, jumping to the side of the arena and slamming his hand on the ground in place of hitting a bell. Rio and Zeke charged towards each other, their blood boiling for battle. Kora and Jax leaned in, watching with anticipation. Minerva and Nate, even though they kept themselves contained, were just as excited to see this fight to the end.