A/N: Okiez… another chappie's up! You should be able to guess which two Clydesdales make an appearance here!! ^__^ Oohz.. thank u to ALL my reviewerz!! I'm really so happy!! So it's all ur faults!! Hahaz… I seriously got so much encouragement from u lot, so keep making me happy and REVIEW!! *I'm feeling all jumpy now!! :)*

However I'm sorrie peepz… this is gonna be the last chpt… cuz I'm sick of writing and I wanna ditch this fic…

…April foolz!! Haha.. gotcha there, didn't I?

-- sylver_rain

The Clydesdales

Chapter 6: Feathers and Thorns

Remy was making his way down the street when he heard a shout come from a fair distance behind him.

He spun around, and saw the silhouette of a very short and… wide man. He waited for the stout figure to come running up, and once the person's face was in view, he recognized the familiar fleshy face instantly.

"Officer Karls?? Long time no see. Gambit's surprise the police haven't sacked you yet… especially after you allowed me to escape…" Remy said with a cheeky smirk." The policeman glowered angrily at Remy and said, "Why you little punk. I'd never thought I'd see you again! You annoying little mosquito…" Remy grinned widely, annoying the officer a lot more. "Why, you know you missed Gambit… cuz I sure missed you…"

Officer Karls glared at Remy and pulled out a pair of handcuffs, "I'll take care of you once and for all…" Remy sighed mockingly and shook his head, "My, my, Officer Karls sir, when will you ever learn?"

Remy took off, jumping over fences and dodging into dark and dirty alleyways. Officer Karls pulled out a communicator, pressed a button and started yelling into it, "The menace is back!! Get all stations out!! We'll get this rat for sure this time!"

Remy felt the sensation of thrill pounding in his heart. The same sensation he always felt whenever cops were pursuing him. He raced down the narrow passage, leaping over bins and trashcans, and he finally came to a familiar apartment.

He found the fire escape ladders in the same place as five years before, and he started climbing it. After years of practice, he was well accustomed to climbing it, so he reached the top pretty fast.

Cops were milling below, on the lookout for him, and he smirked. They were still as dumb as ever, and they weren't a difficult obstacle to overcome. However, they did pose as a problem to him roaming the Capital, as now the entire Capital's police department would shoot him the minute they saw him.

He glanced down at Officer Karls talking to another policeman, "…and I'll bet it was that little rat which stole the Silver Clydesdale, no doubt about it, that mangy mutt…"

Remy felt it was about time he got out of the Capital. He leapt over the narrow cleave and over to another building's rooftop. After jumping over to a few more buildings and making sure there weren't any cops below, he clambered down the fire escape of the apartment building he had landed on, and was soon sprinting toward the entrance gates to the Capital.

He heard shouts behind him, and looked back to see a group of policemen running after him. He kept his pace, and he was definitely out-running them. Losers… Remy thought to himself.

He reached the entrance, put two fingers in his mouth and emitted a earsplitting whistle. Quicksilver materialized in front of him. He hopped on, and they were off before the cops even had a chance to say stop.

Remy felt the wind at his hair and after less than half a second, he was back in the forest. He stumbled off Quicksilver before adding, "Two more Clydesdales have been created. Spyke and Angel, I think." He had no idea what to do at the moment. He didn't have time to get to a searcher in the Capital so they were pretty much stuck.

He and Quicksilver walked lazily through the forest. They were coming out into a clearing not far from the Capital, and both of them kept on walking forward and pass giant trees that had earlier on blocked their view of a large round structure.

In front of the huge oval building was a sign reading "Tinol Arena". It was in a small deserted town not far from Milestone Capital. Remy had remembered wandering out into the forest and seeing this place. But he had never actually gone inside before, partially due to the fact that the arena was closed down. He had no idea why the building was never demolished but he had the feeling it was because no one in the Capital actually cared. Remy spotted a neat curved row of some kind of strong, hard bar-like thorns driven into the hard ground at the side of the arena's entrance, with s few stray snow-white feathers. "Spyke and Angel, huh? Looks like we've just had a meeting with lady luck…"

They made their way over to the opening of the round structure. He walked in silently, followed by Quicksilver.

At first, it was dark and both Remy and Quicksilver couldn't see a thing. But as they kept on going down the dim corridors, their eyes started to adjust to the dark and they finally came to a large stadium. But there was nothing. All that met them was an empty stage and silence.

Remy felt a tad disappointed. He had expected for at least something to be there. But he wasn't about to give up. He told Quicksilver to make a fast overall search of the entire building while he surveyed the stage.

He was just getting started when the Silver Clydesdale returned eight seconds later, shaking his head. Remy frowned but continued with his search on the large stage for clues of any kind.

After exploring almost every nook and cranny that was visible, he finally gave up, collapsing onto a chair. But he had done it with a lot of force, therefore moving the chair at the same time. But one of the chair's legs didn't budge, causing him to fall over.

He glared at the chair first, and then a thought entered his head. He suspiciously walked over to the chair, and tried to lift it up. Still, one of its legs would not come off the floor. After countless tries of pulling it off the ground, he decided to rotate it instead, and this resulted in the entire row of pews on the front row getting lifted up by mechanical devices and automated things, exposing a wide staircase going downward.

Remy and Quicksilver looked at each other and both simultaneously raised a brow.

"Jackpot." Remy grinned.

Both man and Clydesdale made their way down the steep steps as quietly as possible. Well, it was pretty tough for the four-legged Quicksilver, so he had to speed down instead. But at least not much sound was made.

It was a pretty long way down, and his view dimmed as he continued further below.

The passageway was about five feet wide, and three meters high. It was dark, almost to the point of pitch black, but after a while of feeling around and guiding the Clydesdale, Remy finally saw the dull glow of white light coming from behind a corner to the left.

He tapped Quicksilver lightly on the nose and they both moved as silently as they possibly could toward the light's source.

They turned around the corner and saw a beam of light illuminating from the crack under the door. They could also hear indistinct sounds of hoots and whistles. Remy opened the door just enough to take a peek in.

Sure enough, there were the two Clydesdales. But there was also a large glass dome and thousands of spectators sitting on the pews that surrounded the dome.

Remy was hoping that this wasn't what he thought it was.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for coming today." A voice boomed over the loud speakers inside.

"Today is a special day. Instead of the usual animal fights we have," The crowd hushed, "You get to place your bets on two of the latest CLYDESDALES!"

The crowd cheered wildly. Remy's eyes narrowed. Yep, unfortunately it was what he thought it was. Another gambling match, where they put two animals together and bet on who wins. He had heard of these battles before, but had never known that they had been held under the Tinol Stadium.

He hated these things. They were pointless and stupid, and all for the mere enjoyment of seeing two animals tear each other apart. The crowd was full of men and only a few ladies. No doubt all of them were rich.

The commentator continued, "And today, you folks have gotten yourselves seats to the Battle of the Century!!" The crowd went wild again. "Presenting, my good people, The Pegasus and The Unicorn!"

End of chapter 6