Ugh I feel like death. Seriously, all cold and bony ya know. Really though I have no clue exactly how long its going to take me to write this chapter, so please be patient with me. I guess updates on the whole may slow down by a little, but that's cos I'm not feeling too good, so don't feel like writing as much as I usually do.

Magus was greeted in the usual morning fashion. Mei stirred from his chest and sat up, blinking and looking around groggily she yawned and stretched. An act which Magus avoided looking at.

"Mei? Do you think maybe you should get a small pallet to sleep on?"

She looked at him, smiling as always "Why? You're much more comfortable than any stupid pallet."

Magus sighed "That really wasn't the point, it's just, wouldn't you rather sleep on your own."

Suddenly Mei was pressed against him, holding on tightly, her fingernails almost causing Magus pain she was gripping that forcefully.

"No" She said in a small voice "don't leave me alone, please?"

Magus was shocked at the reaction that his simple question had provoked, but nevertheless he didn't question it, he simply put it down as one of her quirks and did his best to reassure her.

"It's okay, I was only wondering. You can sleep wherever you want to." Mei's grip relaxed and she nuzzled closer to him. Phew, another potential situation disarmed, Magus thought to himself. Then he was aware of the fact that Mei was rubbing up against him. He sat up quickly.

"Whats wrong?" Mei asked innocently

"Umm uhh." Magus stammered "I can smell something burning"

Mei sniffed the air, It was true, something was burning. She looked over her shoulder and saw black smoke drifting along the ceiling. It was coming from the kitchen.

"Oh that." She shrugged it off as if it didn't matter "That's just Mery making breakfast"

Moving Mei to one side Magus got out of his bed and almost ran to the kitchen. The smoke was so thick it threatened to choke him.

"What the hell is going on?" He asked, some of the demanding quality being stolen from his voice by his need to cough mid sentence. "It is not as easy to make toast as I had anticipated" Mery's reply came from somewhere within the black cloud.

"TOAST!" Magus coughed some more "How can you do this with toast!"

"I do not know, If you wish I could do some research and find out for you."

There was a thud as the toaster ejected its contents. Magus had stumbled across the room and had reached the extractor fan that was over the oven, he flicked it on and soon the smoke was cleared.

"Should I make another attempt at breakfast?" Mery asked

"NO! not now, not ever!" Magus coughed the last of the smoke out of his throat. Damned android, couldn't even get toast right.

Mei wandered into the room, still only dressed in the thin nightshirt in which she slept. Barely acknowledging the presence of the glowering Magus and the object of his anger Mery, she walked over to the toaster and snatched a piece of the completely black toast. She sauntered back out of the room taking a thoughtful bite out of the coal-like slice of toast.

Magus blinked amazed by Mei's ability to eat the stuff and not die. He was living with a very strange girl, but she was really cute. He shook his head, he had to stop thinking like that. She was his friend, and you don't act like that with people who are friends, he glanced at Mery, god he hoped not.

The beeping of his pager interrupted his thoughts. He picked it up and read the scrolling message.

PIT AREA, 3PM, GRISHDAL, BRING ONE ALLY

Magus felt a small knot of anxiety, his first pit fight. Would it be as simple as he hoped? Monsters weren't usually too much of a threat, but what the hell was a Grishdal? Who to bring as an ally though? He glanced at Mery, the android who could neither run errands nor make toast? He looked into the other room where Mei was sitting with a dreamy expression, snacking on her fully carbonised bread. The little force who forgot she could use techniques unless she was reminded? For once Magus was missing the presence of Raven, the guy was hopelessly anti-social, but he could be relied upon in a fight.

Raven wasn't even entered in the pit fights, he saw them as pathetic attempts to achieve fame and glory. What would he need with them? He would be famous enough when he won the tournament. The last mission had made sure of that. He no longer had the small metallic object. It had long since grown to maturity, and now it sat against the wall. Blinking at him.

Breakfast in Crimsons room was unusually uneventful, except for a small fire suddenly erupted in Crimsons cupboard, they ate in relative silence. As he was putting his breakfast tray away Crimsons pager beeped. Tatsu got to it first.

"Ah well Crimson, it looks like you and me are going to go to the pit later today."

"What do you mean "you and me?" Crimson asked

"It's you and I, not you and me." Alice corrected the poor grammar from the kitchen

"Me, I, same person really." Crimson replied shrugging "But anyway Tatsu what you do mean?"

"Oh its just the message says to bring one ally, so that's me." Tatsu chucked the pager to Crimson who fumbled it a bit before catching it with his elbow.

PIT AREA, 3PM, GRISHDAL, BRING ONE ALLY

"Who's Grishdal?" Crimson wondered aloud.

"Not a clue" Tatsu admitted "I suppose I should prepare my combat gear shouldn't I?"

"Why? Do you have a match too?"

Tatsu blinked "No, I'm coming with you to fight this Grishdal thing aren't I?"

"Umm well, not to hurt your feelings or anything, but I kinda thought I might take Alice? You know, for a bit of technique support."

"Oh. Right. Sure. It's not a problem, I'm totally fine with it, best of luck to the two of you." He got up from the table and went to his room, he locked the door behind him.

Alice came back from the kitchen, quite satisfied that the washing up was properly done.

"What was all that about?" She asked Crimson who was looking both surprised and amused.

"To be honest? I really don't know" He answered "You are able to help me right? I mean you don't have any other appointments today do you?"

Alice dismissed the question with a wave of her hand "It's no problem at all, I was going to spend today watching TV anyway. This sounds much more interesting."

"Okay that's good. You'll need to have your stuff ready for 3pm okay?"

"Okay. Umm do you think I should go check on Tatsu or something?"

"Nah, he'll be fine."

"Umm okay, if you say so" Alice was a little dubious

Tatsu could hear every word of this through the thin walls of the hotel. "ohh if you say so Crimson" He muttered staring at the ceiling. Wasn't it enough for Crimson that he had Ryzada swooning over him? Why did he always have to do this? Tatsu worked so hard at being nice and friendly and caring. Then along comes Crimson with his quirks and his charm and being all tall and stuff, and every girl within a five mile radius just melted for him.

Tatsu flipped over so he was now staring intently at the pillow. He should have expected this anyway, what girl would want to spend time with him? He was just some short hunter who was just, sort of, there.

There was a polite knock at his door and Alice's voice was heard "Tatsu? Can I have a word or two with you?"

"No" Tatsu said bitterly "I'm busy, but I'm sure Crimson has time for you."

There was a small bang and Tatsu's door fell off its hinges.

"Oops" Alice looked at the doorway sheepishly "Maybe a little too powerful"

Tatsu couldn't resist a smile and he sat at the edge of the bed. So what if Alice didn't liked Crimson more? She was still his friend, he couldn't be mad at her.

"What is it you want to talk about?"

Alice sat down next to him. "Well I'm kind of embarrassed about it."

"That's okay, you can talk about anything with me."

"You know when you said I was a bit reckless in a fight and got hurt more than I should?"

"Oh that, well I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say it in a bad way or anything."

Alice smiled "Don't apologise it was good advice"

"Oh, sorry"

Alice frowned "you should stop apologising when you don't have to Tatsu, it doesn't show much self confidence."

"Of course it doesn't, sorry."

Alice rolled her eyes "Anyway, umm since I'm helping Crimson in this pit fight thing, I was just wondering..."

"Yes, go on" Tatsu encouraged her

"Well umm, I don't want to ask, because I've asked so much of you already."

"No, really it's okay, you know I'd do anything for you." Tatsu could have kicked himself for saying that.

"Okay" Alice blushed a delicate shade of pink "I was just wondering if you could give me a lesson or two on how to fight?"

Tatsu was flustered at this request, he had never taught anything to anyone. "Uhh you mean give you a few tips? Like stance and tactics?"

"No no no, I mean physical combat" Alice smacked a fist into the palm of her hand "I want to know exactly what to do when something gets too close."

"I've always found it's a good idea to run when that happens"

"Come on Tatsu" Alice pleaded "I don't want people to think I need big strong friends to fight for me, I want to show them I can take care of myself."

"But there isn't enough room to practice here! We'd need a big open space"

"That's not a problem, there's a training room near the arena, you knew that already"

"But I couldn't spar with you, I wouldn't be doing it right, I'd be too worried about hurting you."

Alice was growing tired of his protestations "Okay, I guess I'll just have to get Crimson to show me how to use those guns of his"

This provoked a reaction, one because Tatsu was jealous of every moment Crimson spent with Alice, and two, because "those guns of his" were probably more dangerous to hold on to than your average cobra.

"Alright, I give up, I'll show you how to use a saber"

"Thanks Tatsu, I knew you'd understand" Alice got up and left the room turning to blow Tatsu a kiss and say "Meet me at the training room in 30 minutes, you'll need your combat gear on."

They met and the door to the training room, Tatsu couldn't help staring at Alice in her combat gear, it was a very nice skirt. They weren't alone in the training room, there was a person in black and blue armour furiously attacking the training android. Tatsu and Alice stood on the sidelines watching.

The person was displaying some impressive swordsmanship and a good deal of agility. But after a few more minutes of fencing he called a stop and the android returned to its place. He pulled his mask off and sat down on a bench. Tatsu recognised him immediately.

"It's you!"

"Oh, I didn't see you come in" Chimpus pulled his mask down to cover his face again. "Feel up to a little sparring match?"

"Of course, I could beat you senseless before you could even blink" There was a tug at Tatsu's arm. "Oh, well I would spar with you, but I promised Alice I'd show her a few moves."

Chimpus looked at Alice as if noticing her for the first time "You're Alice?"

Alice stood up and bowed her head slightly "Yes I'm Alice Arke."

"Do you remember me? I'm Chimpus Nuclear"

Alice looked confused "Umm sorry I don't remember you at all, have we met?"

"I was in your class for basic technique usage, remember now?"

Alice shook her head "Sorry"

"That's alright, I didn't exactly shine as a student, you were great though, you were always meant to be a force."

Alice blushed a little at the compliment. Tatsu got to his feet and drew his buster "Well we have some practice to be getting on with Alice, so we may as well start now." He handed her a saber.

"Mind if I help out?" Chimpus asked "I know a little about how to use sabers myself you know."

Tatsu didn't look pleased at the prospect of sharing Alice with Chimpus but he didn't object. Alice also had no objections and so together Tatsu and Chimpus showed Alice how to use hunter equipment.

It turned out that she was a quick learner and soon mastered the basics of Tatsu's fencing style. It was Chimpus who first suggested she learn how to use barriers, he reasoned that if she was going to be in close combat, knowing how to attack wasn't enough, defence would be important too. So he and Tatsu partnered up Chimpus demonstrating the most effective defensive manoeuvres and Tatsu using the standard attack patterns that it was expected to encounter.

It was all going well until Chimpus suggested that Alice try defending from some of his attacks.

"You have to be kidding!" Tatsu exclaimed, "These are weapons, not toys, you could hurt her."

"I'll be careful" Chimpus promised

"Accidents can happen no matter how careful you are."

"How about you be the one attacking me?" Asked Alice "It's not like you'd hurt me no matter what the circumstances."

Tatsu agreed to this but Chimpus didn't "You'd trust him over me? He may be your friend Alice but his moves aren't quite as polished as mine are, just one little slip would be all it would take you ruin that beautiful face of yours."

A fist connected with the side of Chimpus' face and he fell to the floor, Tatsu was standing over him "I would NEVER hurt her, how dare you even suggest that I would!"

Chimpus' lip was cut from the force of the blow "Whoa, lighten up man, I wasn't saying you'd do it on purpose" Tatsu stood back to allow Chimpus to get back to his feet. As soon as he regained his footing Chimpus lashed out at Tatsu, the sudden blow catching him off guard "Don't ever hit me again."

Tatsu stared at Chimpus, his eyes blazing "You don't want me to hit you again? What the hell makes you think I care what you want?" Chimpus stumbled back from the punches to his stomach.

"That's it shorty, I've had enough of this." Chimpus drew an autogun and fired. Quick as a flash Tatsu's buster was in his hand and Rudra chirped angrily and blocked the shot.

Tatsu assumed a back stance, holding his buster with both hands "You wanted a sparring match?" He ran forwards and slashed downwards, Chimpus jumped out of the way "THEN LET'S SPAR."

Chimpus drew a brand "With pleasure." The two fighters circled each other cautiously. As Chimpus leaped forwards to close the gap and begin combat, he was caught in the chest by a ball of fire. He got to his feet glaring at Alice as she levelled her staff at him. "Forget it, you aren't worth my time Tatsu, we'll settle things later" Chimpus left through the door.

"Hey thanks Alice, sorry I sort of lost my temper there."

"Sort of!" Alice was pretty angry "That was the stupidest, most moronic display of macho male attitude I have ever seen!" She scowled at him "I really thought you would be different, but no, you're just the same as every other guy out there."

"I'm really sorry Alice, really I am, I just hated him standing around, acting like he was so much better than me."

"That's exactly the attitude I'm talking about" Alice said exasperated "You guys just can't stand the idea that there are people out there who are better than you, even if they aren't, it digs and digs at you 'till you do something like that."

"So you are saying that he is better than me?"

"No, you idiot, I'm saying you should let things go and try to see people as equal to you, the world isn't divided into weaker and stronger people Tatsu, Its just full of people, Crimson understands that, you don't, that's why I talk to him more than I talk to you, I'm going to go get ready for the pit fight, come and talk to me when you've grown up." Alice stormed out of the room leaving Tatsu to curse himself for being a fool.

He sat heavily on the bench, holding his head in his hands. He was such an idiot! But how could he fix this? What could possibly make this right? The problem was his basic personality, maybe it was just that he would never be right for Alice simply because he was himself?

Next chapter will be along in a couple of days, probably 3 or 4. don't worry Arkkon Raven is in the tournament, I'm just saving him for later, anyone who has guessed what it is that he has got, shhh keep it quiet, don't tell the other people. T'would be interesting to see how many people can get it just from the clues in this chapter tho.