Chapter 15: First Day

I munched on some bread covered in jam as I sat alone in the early hours of the morning, reflecting on the previous night. There was a lot I had been thinking about, and after a quick dinner last night, Strongfang led me to a small room that I would be staying in for the time being. It was simple, with nothing more than a small bed, a desk and a dresser, but it was more than enough for me. Once he left, I was able to bathe, tend to my injuries and get some much needed rest after a difficult day.

I didn't sleep well, but once I was up I was able to make a decision on what to do. After considering all of my options, Strongfang's offer was unfortunately the best one. Even though I wasn't excited about it, I didn't want to lose my chance at a guaranteed meeting with the council. I sighed as I took another bite of my breakfast and watched as a few others began to trickle into the hall for food.

So far no one had been interested enough to sit with and talk to me, and I wanted it to stay that way. I was still having issues with nightmares, leaving me tired and not in a talkative mood. All I wanted to do right now was eat, talk to Strongfang, and then do whatever was necessary to make it home. I scarfed down the rest of the breakfast as a few apes that I recognized from the caravan entered the room, and then I hastily left my table, put away my dishes and made my way back to Strongfang's office.

The door was closed when I arrived, and so I knocked to see if anyone was inside. I was met with silence, leaving me disappointed, but I found a bench where I could sit and wait further down the hallway. Once I sat down, I leaned back against the wall to get comfortable and began my wait. It didn't take long for my eyes to grow heavy, and before I realized it, I fell asleep. The short reprieve was nice, and it wasn't until I heard someone knocking on a door that I realized I had dozed off. I snapped to attention, my body jolting forward, and looked to see who it was.

The same cheetah that I had seen yesterday was standing by Strongfang's door, with a thick folder of papers in his paws. He knocked once more before he gave up and turned, making eye contact with me as he did so. He had the same curious expression as before and walked over to me without making a sound. I was impressed with how quiet he was, despite his size and noted that he was easily a foot or two taller than me.

"Good Morning. You haven't chanced upon Strongfang, have you?"

I shook my head no.

"Ah, I see. Well then, you wouldn't mind if I sat here to wait for him, would you?"

I shook my head again as I scooted over to make room for the cheetah. His name was… Gunter, right?

"No, I don't, I'm actually waiting for him too."

The cheetah furrowed his brows slightly and brought his paw up to his chin as he sat down.

"We'll, he's usually here right at seven, and it's not like him to be late… Or perhaps I'm early?"

The cheetah shook his head and smiled.

"Regardless, I'm here until he arrives."

I leaned back against the wall and shoved my hands into my pockets.

"Same."

Hunter took a moment to look me over, but his expression remained neutral.

"My name is Hunter, what's yours?"

"Kiran."

"Mm, interesting."

We sat in respectable silence for a few minutes, and Hunter started to look through some of the papers he had in the folder. I was curious as to what he was rifling through, but I wasn't going to be rude and try and look. Instead, I asked a question to give me something to focus on.

"So… why is my name interesting to you? Do you know me?"

Hunter's ears perked up and he smiled.

"Not directly, but Strongfang has mentioned you a few times. I'm glad to finally have a name to associate with the face."

"Oh. So… what are you working on with him?"

Hunter sighed as he leaned back against the wall and motioned towards the papers in his paws.

"There's more than one report of attacks that are similar to the one you faced a few days ago. Creatures that have never been seen before are appearing and attacking without warning or cause, and I'm beginning to think there's a common thread between them. I don't believe in coincidences, and now that there's been four attacks, my suspicions are all but confirmed."

I felt my shoulder ache as he talked, and I resisted the urge to reach for it. If what he was saying was true, then I would bet that there had been dark crystals involved with the other attacks as well.

"Should I say something…? No, I shouldn't say anything just yet, all I have is a personal theory. I'll keep it to myself for now."

"I'm sorry to hear that. I'm not sure if I can help, but I hope you're able to figure it out."

He nodded and looked at me from the corner of his eye, causing me to flinch ever so slightly and avert my gaze. I cursed internally at myself for reacting, but I was never the best at lying or keeping secrets. Hunter looked ready to say something, but Strongfang turned the corner and slowly marched down the hall, a hot drink in hand. He caught the sight of both of us and raised an eyebrow ever so slightly.

"Not even the crack of dawn, and I already have visitors."

Hunter greeted him with a quick "Good morning." while I gave a small wave. He grunted and unlocked his office before ushering us both inside. We all took a seat and waited while he sipped his beverage and got comfortable in his chair.

"So, Kiran, have ya made a decision?"

I sighed and crossed my arms.

"Yeah. I'll do it."

"Wonderful. Let me get the proper paperwork and I'll send ya on yer way."

He then turned to Hunter as he pulled several sheets of paper text from his desk. I couldn't read anything on them, but I was pretty sure it was some kind of contract or form.

"I suppose yer here because ya have more questions for me, right Hunter?"

"I do, but I'm not in a hurry. You can finish up with Kiran first."

Strongfang gave a quick nod and slid the papers across the desk while handing me a pen.

"This is a standard contract that I give out. It has a bunch of legal jargon that clears me and the guild of any liability as a result of yer fights, states that we get a direct cut of yer winnings, confirms that ya understand the dangers of the arena… ya get the point. Ya need to read through it before I have ya sign, and then ya will be good t' go."

I looked at the papers dubiously and felt my cheeks heat up a bit.

"I… can't actually read them. The writing is different from my home, which is… odd. I'm surprised we can understand each other if the written language isn't the same."

Hunter leaned forwards, his ears twitching forward.

"Oh? And where are you from Kiran?"

I couldn't help but internally groan.

"Great, now I have to explain this to someone else. Why did this have to happen right now?"

Strongfang must have seen something on my face because he interjected for me and gave me a wink.

"Don't pester the boy Hunter, he's got enough on his plate already. I can explain some of his story t' ya after he's done here."

To his credit, Hunter actually seemed genuine as he sat back and apologized.

"Ah, I didn't realize it was a sensitive subject. My apologies Kiran."

"…it's alright, I understand the curiosity."

Strongfang picked the papers back up and cleared his throat as he prepared to read.

"Well, if ya can't read them, I'll have to do that for ya. I want to make sure ya know what yer signing."

"Can't I just, y'know, trust what you're saying and sign where I need to?"

"If this were in another guild, ya might get away with that, but yer in mine. I want everyone that signs t' understand what they're lookin' at so that there's no problems or regrets."

I nodded and slunk back into my seat as Strongfang lifted up the first piece and began to read.

"Section one, Article one. Liability and Responsibilities of all parties and associates to the signatory must be…"

I felt a part of me start to die as the monotony of the words settled in. I looked towards Hunter for some kind of help, but he just sent me a cheeky smile, as if he was finding joy in my suffering. Strongfang cleared his throat to get my attention, and I knew that I was in for a long morning.

Once Strongfang had finished reading through the contract, he let me sign them and then gave me directions to the arena. It was about nine o clock by the time we had finished, and I was expecting to find Shimmer waiting for me, but she hadn't shown up yet. I figured she was still sleeping since it was still early, and decided to go without her.

The streets were mostly empty, and that made my trip much faster than it would have been otherwise. The arena was close, and with the directions I was given it didn't take me long to arrive. I was a bit skeptical of the building itself, because it didn't look anything like I would have expected, but I didn't let that deter me. The main building was a giant bland rectangle of stone that didn't have any defining features on the outside, apart from various statues of competitors near the entrance and banners splayed on every side of the building that promoted fighters or events. There was also a large sign right above the doors to the entrance that had a picture of two swords clashing, with some text right underneath, but I had no clue what the sign actually said.

It was surprisingly quiet right now, which further doused my expectations, because I was expecting there would be cheering or yelling mixed in with the telltale noises of combat. As it stood though, it was just as quiet as the rest of the city and from what I could tell, it was empty inside.

Despite my misgivings, I made my way inside through a large entryway that led to an open hall with booths built into the walls. Most of them were empty, but a few had people inside preparing food or setting all sorts of prizes and paraphernalia out on display. Realization hit me hard, when I saw a small plushie of what I could assume was a fighter, that the arena must have been a hotspot for other activities as well, and I felt my entire body wince.

"They really treat this like some kind of show… This is just stupid…"

I looked around, unsure as to where I should go, and let out a heavy sigh as I decided to ask someone for help. I walked up to a booth with a mole that was checking over some paperwork and got his attention with a small cough.

"Excuse me, where's the fighter's wing?"

The mole gave me a quick glance, smiled with a small chuckle, and leaned over the counter with a wink.

"Well whaddya know! A fan scoping out the arena early in the morning. Who are you hoping to see? Is it the Shadow Princess perhaps? Or maybe Goliath?"

I could feel my brain pause as it tried to figure out what he was saying.

"What?"

The mole laughed as he continued to arrange some plushies of dragons and cheetahs.

"Kid, I know what it's like. You want to get an autograph or two from the fighters before all the fans swarm them later tonight. It's not a half bad idea, but you'll have a hard time catching one of them unless you're willing to camp out and wait. Regardless, registry and facilities are in the west wing, but don't loiter for too long or you'll make Icey over there mad. She's a bit grumpy."

I felt a bit insulted that he was assuming that I was a fan, but I wasn't going to bring it up. At least I knew where to go now.

"Yeah… thanks."

"Anytime kid!"

I rolled my eyes and hurried to the west section of the building. It wasn't hard to figure out where to go from here, because I had the choice between a small desk with a young dragon that was rifling through stacks of papers, or a door that was being watched by a big, mean looking blue dragon that scowled at me as I came into their view.

That was probably Icey, and I gave her a wide berth as I stepped up to the desk. Icey gave me a killer stare the whole time, but I ignored it and watched as the pale yellow dragon sitting at the desk looked for something in a panic.

"Where is it? Where is it?!"

"Uh, hey."

The dragon didn't hear me and started looking through the drawers of the desk.

"If I don't find the key, Miss Ruby is gonna be so mad!"

"…is this the registration desk?"

Somehow he still didn't hear me and picked up a small trash can. He then dumped everything out onto the desk and sifted through it desperately.

"And after she yells at me, she's gonna fire me and then I won't be able to come back here again! Agh, I can't believe this is happening!"

"I just need to register as a new fighter."

He laid his head down on the desk and put his paws over his eyes.

"Maybe I could run now… She couldn't catch me if I ran, right?"

I caught a glint of metal and saw that a key was hanging on one of the horns on his head, just outside of his view. While he began talking about the merits of fleeing Warfang versus finding a hiding place down in the sewers, I plucked the key from his horn and dangled it in front of him.

"Hey, this key was on your horn."

He lifted a paw away from one of his eyes and squealed with joy when he spotted the key.

"Oh thank the ancestors! You found it! I'm not going to die today!"

I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at his reaction.

"…What's so important about this key? Is it really that serious?"

He nodded vigorously before explaining.

"Heck yeah it is! It's the key to Miss Ruby's filing cabinet! If I don't have it, I can't do my job and I don't even want to think about what she would do if I lost this key too… I think it's her last one…"

The dragon smiled sheepishly and I wasn't sure if this kid was dumb or forgetful, but I didn't really care as long as he was able to help me. I tossed the key into the counter and he clutched onto it for dear life before putting it back onto the same horn that I found it on. He then smiled at me with a big goofy grin while I did my best to keep my mouth from falling open.

"Are you freaking kidding me?! He's just going to lose it again!"

"Thank you so much! You're a lifesaver!"

"..."

"Don't mention it."

"You got it! I won't mention it to anyone, I promise!"

"It's not a literal phrase…"

I stopped myself from losing my patience by taking a deep breath while the kid sat up straighter and tried to organize the papers that he had haphazardly thrown everywhere.

"So, uh, is there something I can help you with?"

I dropped the papers I had onto the desk and nodded.

"I'm registering as a fighter today, this is my contract with Strongfang."

The kid's eyes widened and he looked at me with a bit more scrutiny.

"Oh wow, you were endorsed by Strongfang? That's great! We don't get too many competitors from his guild, and it's always nice to see a fresh face around here."

He picked up my paperwork and looked through it quickly, and nodded to himself as he finished.

"Everything looks good, all the info is there, but I have one question. Did you mean to put down…"

He looked back at the paper, squinting slightly.

"…human as your race? I've never heard of one before… don't you mean ape?"

I wasn't going to deal with that today and gave home a glare, and replied a bit more harshly than I meant to.

"I'm not an ape, I'm a human."

He seemed to visibly wilt and tried to look anywhere but at me.

"Right! Right, of course! I didn't mean to assume, I just- Yep, ok, moving along to the next step. Normally we don't allow applicants in the youth division that are under sixteen, but we can make an exception because of your endorsement. Give me a few minutes Kiran, and I'll have you ready to talk with Ruby!"

A tiny pang of guilt darted through me as the kid shrank back. He didn't deserve to be on the receiving end of my frustration, so I sucked up my indignation and tried to apologize.

"Alright, thanks, and… sorry for snapping at you."

He perked back up at that and smiled, and relief washed over his face.

"It's ok, I didn't mean to insult you either."

"Thanks… Uhm… What's your name?"

"My name? Oh, it's Jolt!"

"Jolt. Ok, thanks Jolt."

"No problem, Kiran!"

I stood by the desk awkwardly and waited while Jolt filed away the papers I gave him. He then prepared a small badge and a folder that I was supposed to give to Miss Ruby and gave me both items while pointing to his chest.

"Make sure to wear that badge somewhere that others can see it, and don't lose it! It's what gives you access to the other areas in this wing. You're all done here, so you'll need to head to Miss Ruby's office and talk with her, she'll get you through a few things and decide whether or not you'll get to stay."

"Get to stay? What do you mean?"

Jolt's eyes widened a bit and he started poking two of his claws together nervously.

"Well… every applicant has an interview with her. She is in charge of all of the fighters and has to approve you first. If she doesn't, you'll have to try again… I mean, if she lets you. Sometimes she doesn't let people come back."

"Great. I wish Strongfang had mentioned that earlier."

"Oh… he didn't…?"

I held back a sigh and shook my head no.

"Well… I'm sure you'll be fine! Just don't make her mad, ok?"

Jolt pointed towards the door that the large blue dragon was standing next to.

"Just head through there and go straight until you make it to the door at the end of the hallway. That's her office, but make sure to knock before you go inside. If you interrupt her that's probably the last time you'll be here…"

"Alright, I'll be careful, thanks."

"Mhm, good luck!"

Jolt gave me an excited wave as I left and I walked up to the door. The blue dragon sitting there snorted disapprovingly at me but didn't stop me as I walked by. The hallway I entered was fairly long, with old carpeting and a cold atmosphere, but I quickly made my way down to Ruby's office. I knocked a few times until I heard a harsh female voice tell me to enter.

Once I was inside, I was met by a middle aged female cheetah who was several inches taller than me. She had lighter tan fur with dark brown spots and white tufts on her ears. She was wearing a necklace with a small ruby, red ringed earrings, a form fitting, silky red dress with long sleeves, and red high heeled shoes. She barely bothered to look up at me as I walked in, and her voice was not what I would have expected from someone that looked so regal. It was strong, aggressive and it sounded like she was going to rip me in half if I did anything stupid.

"What do you want, kid?"

I offered her the folder that Jolt gave me and gave a slight bow.

"I'm an applicant to the arena, Jolt sent me here to talk with you."

Ruby eyed me quietly for a moment before rolling her eyes, and an amused smile crossed her lips.

"You're joking right?"

I frowned slightly, but shook my head.

"No, I'm not."

She sighed and stood up to pace around her office as she looked at the papers.

"Look, I don't think-"

She paused and looked closely at something before shuffling through the rest of the papers while muttering under her breath.

"Dammit Strongfang, what are you playing at?"

She glanced at me out of the corner of her eyes before setting the papers down, and then put one of her paws on her hips.

"I don't know what Strongfang is up to, but I'm not going to let someone secure a spot for free. Everyone that fights here earns the right to be here, and it will be the same for you."

She stepped up to me, towering above my small stature and took a much closer look as she poked and prodded me. I wasn't really sure what was happening, so I stood still until she finished and then looked straight up to meet her eyes. They burned with a distinct, determined passion, and I knew that she was harshly judging me.

"Strongfang's has high hopes for you, but I don't really see why he decided to endorse you. You're small, young and probably have no idea what you're getting into, so you'd better prove to him that you deserve to be here and put in your best effort, got it?"

"Isnt that the whole point of being here…?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Good, then I'll have a preliminary fight ready for you tonight. If you win, you're in, but if you lose, you're gone. I expect you to meet me back here around seven in the evening to go over the rules and expectations for the fight. Don't be late."

I was startled by how quickly she had made her decision and rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly.

"Is that it? Just show up? Aren't you going to wake me some questions or something first?"

Ruby whipped her head around to stare daggers at me and I did my best not to flinch.

"And why the hell should I waste my time with that if you may not be here tomorrow? That would be idiotic, don't you think?"

"Uhm… right, dumb question…"

"You're damn right. Now get out of here before I change my mind, I don't want to see your face again until tonight."

I didn't waste any time and hurried out of her office, making my way back to the registration desk. Jolt gave me a wave as I walked by and leaned over the desk, scattering papers around him.

"Hey! How'd it go, Kiran?"

"Honestly? I have no idea. I have a preliminary fight set for tonight, but I'll have to win to make the cut."

"Oh wow, that's great! Usually she's a lot… stricter than that. She must really like you!"

"I'd hate to see what happens when she hates someone then, sheesh..."

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair.

"Maybe, maybe not. Regardless, she doesn't want me around until seven, so I guess I should go back to the guild and figure out where Shimmer is."

Jolt squinted at me suspiciously when I mentioned Shimmer, and hopped over the counter, sending the rest of papers tumbling to the floor. He then pelted me with several questions, stepping closer with each one.

"You know Shimmer? The Ice dragon? A bit taller than you? Super nice and peppy? From Farleigh? Has a drakefriend?"

I held up my hands to prevent Jolt from invading my personal space and to stop the flow of questions.

"Yes, yes, yes and yes. Do you know her?"

Jolt's eyes lit up and he smiled wide with excitement.

"Yeah I do, she's one of my friends at school! She always sits with me at lunch and brings me candy, even though I'm like, four years younger than her. She has all sorts of awesome stories about stuff that happens outside of Warfang, and she's helped me practice my lightning skills when she isn't busy! She's the best, but she always has to leave when school finishes for the semester…"

Jolt sighed dejectedly but then perked back up with a smile.

"So are you one of her friends?"

Feeling unsure of how to answer that, I avoided answering and tried to think of a way to change the subject. Remembering that Shimmer came back to Warfang for classes, I latched onto that and prayed he wouldn't notice.

"Well… that's a bit personal… And I'm curious, aren't you supposed to be in school? Why are you working right now?"

Jolt gave me a quick shrug.

"Classes don't start until Monday. It's only Friday."

"Oh good, it worked."

"Ah, gotcha."

"Yep, I have one more weekend of freedom before I'm stuck sitting in classes all day. Eugh."

Jolt groaned softly and I couldn't help but let a small smile creep onto my face.

"It can't be that bad. It's a nice break from work and family at least, right?"

Jolt's face turned into a sad frown and he poked two of claws together while looking down at the ground. He glanced up at me for a second before looking away and spoke with a quiet voice.

"Not really, I'm an orphan, so I still work even when school is in session."

I sucked in a deep breath, feeling like an idiot. Jolt looked terribly sad now, and I felt like I had to do something to fix my mistake. I forced a smile and gave him a pat on the back, in an attempt to cheer him up.

"Sorry, uhm… I didn't know. Shimmer will be at school though, so you'll have time with her, right?"

That seemed to help cheer Jolt up because he slowly looked up at me with understanding eyes.

"Yeah, that's true, I can't wait to see her… she's like the older sister I never had."

I nodded and took a step back, clearing my throat as I tried to figure out what to say.

"So… I don't have much going on right now… want to come with me to find Shimmer?"

Jolt scrunched up his face and thought with me for a few seconds before he poked his claws together again. Why did he keep doing that?

"W-well, I can't really leave right now because I'm working…"

"Crap, that's right. Way to make a kid sad and then not do anything to fix it…"

"...but you could always stay here with me, y'know, until tonight. I have a break for lunch soon and I could show you around the arena. If, uh, that's ok with you, but you don't have to! I know you're probably busy."

I still felt awful for accidentally touching on his lack of parents, so I didn't hesitate to go along with his suggestion. I could meet up with Shimmer later and deal with her nagging if it meant that I could fix this first.

"That's not a bad idea, but we need to make sure that I don't run into Miss Ruby. I get the feeling that she wasn't joking when she said that she didn't want to see my face."

Jolt waved a claw dismissively at me.

"Don't worry about Miss Ruby, I know her schedule, so we could always just avoid her. I promise you won't see her at all!"

I gave him a slight glare and crossed my arms.

"Alright, I'll stick around, but you have to promise that we'll stay out of trouble."

Jolt shook his head eagerly.

"Promise! I'll get this paperwork done in a zap and then we can-"

Jolt looked at the papers that he had scattered everywhere and his eyes went wide.

"AH! If I lose those Miss Ruby is gonna fire me! Quick, grab them before they get away!"

After Jolt had scarfed down his lunch, we embarked on an unofficial tour of the arena. We started with the east wing of the building, where the shops and entrances to the spectator seats were.

"Soooo… If you're ever hungry, there's plenty of places to eat. There's also a lot of stores with all sorts of stuff, but I dunno if they'd interest you."

"They don't, and I probably won't be buying food from here either."

"Ok… Well, this is also where most of the non fighters will be while they're waiting for a match to start. You can get to the stands of every arena from the entrances behind the shops."

"Really? I thought there was only one arena?"

"Oh, absolutely not. We have a lot of stuff going on all the time, so there's actually ten in regular use. They're all different sizes and have different features to change things up between fights. If you're lucky, someday you'll fight in the main arena where the best fighters duke it out!"

"Yeah… hopefully I won't. If I'm lucky I'll be long gone before that happens."

I definitely confused him with that comment.

"What? Why? Don't you want to become one of the best?"

"That's not really why I'm here, I'm doing this as a favor for a favor."

"Huh… Well, I guess everyone has their reason for being here. Anyways, that's pretty much it for the east side though, it's kinda bland. There's a lot more to see on the west side!"

It was a short walk back to Jolt's desk and from there he began to point out what the different entrances led to.

"So, you already know about the administrative halls straight ahead. To the left of them is a gym that all fighters are allowed to use, and it has pretty much anything you could need. There are weights, tracks, dummies, obstacle courses, small rings to spar in… it's pretty cool."

"And what about to the right?"

"That leads to the locker rooms, and behind those are the halls that go to each arena. We could go check them out if you wanted, they're almost always empty during the day."

"Sure, why not? I'd like to know what they look like."

"Cool, follow me!"

We made our way past Icey again, who didn't bother wasting energy glaring at me this time. I followed Jolt as we went into the locker rooms, and I stopped for a quick second as I tried to rea the signs above each door. I had no clue which way to go, but Jolt went towards the right door and opened it, before turning back and waving for me to follow.

"C'mon!"

"Ok, right behind you."

I hurried after him and as soon as I was through the door, heat from the room hit me and I noticed that the air was filled with a thin layer of steam. This made it harder to see, and I had to hurry to keep up with Jolt as we hurried through the dimly lit room. It was empty, aside from whoever was in the showers, so I was caught off guard when I ran into someone that was furry and damp. They slipped and fell, losing their towel, and I had to flail my arms to keep myself from falling over. Embarrassed, I turned to apologize and reached out my hand to help them up.

"Sorry about tha-"

I froze when I realized that I wasn't looking at another guy. The female cheetah in front of me looked back at me in shock, but that quickly turned into unfettered rage when she realized who I was and saw the blush forming on my cheeks. She covered her chest with her arms and hissed at me with a fierce scowl.

"Oh, you're so dead."

I took a step back and shouted in panic.

"JOLT!"

Jolt turned around in confusion as he squinted to see where I was.

"What's up?"

"RUN!"

"Huh?"

I didn't bother waiting for him because I didn't want to die. I barely moved fast enough to escape the hand that shot out to grab me, and bolted out of the locker room. Jolt must have realized what was going on, because he came barreling through the door shortly after, shouting apologies as his cheeks burned a bright red. I wasn't going to stick around and ran back to Jolt's desk and jumped over the counter before ducking down low, and I was joined by the knucklehead a few moments later as he hit the counter hard and flopped over the edge. He curled up and groaned loudly, making me wince as we both waited and hoped that no one would come after us. I heard the cheetah from before grumbling angrily and cursing somewhere by the entrance to the locker rooms, but she must've given up because it eventually was quiet again. Jolt and I both let out sighs of relief and looked out from behind the desk. Aside from Icey giving me a killer stare, no one else was there.

"Looks like we're clear."

Jolt let out a heavy breath.

"Oh thank the ancestors, I thought we were dead!"

I couldn't believe Jolt had walked us right into the women's locker room, and I was more than exasperated.

"What the hell were you thinking?! How did you not notice!"

"I-I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention…"

I sighed as I smacked myself in the face and slunk down against the desk.

"It's fine, I guess. I just hope we don't get into any trouble because of that."

Jolt gave me an apologetic smile and shrugged.

"As long as Miss Ruby doesn't hear about it, we won't."

"Then I hope for our sake she doesn't."

After our little mishap, I decided it would be best to just wait out the rest of the afternoon until it was time to meet with Ruby again. It was boring as hell, but that beat getting into more trouble, and after a few hours of boredom, along with a few snacks, it was almost time for my match. Various dragons and other competitors had passed by while I waited, and Jolt had spent this entire time chatting to me about various things and going about his work, which mostly involved giving directions or handling various paperwork. It wasn't what I would want to do, but it was an easy job, so I could understand why he was placed here and he seemed to manage it well. As the clock neared seven, I stood up from the extra chair Jolt had managed to get for me and stretched my arms and legs.

"Alright, it's time for me to go, Jolt, so I'll see you in a bit."

"Ok, good luck!"

Jolt gave me a sheepish grin and I managed a half smile for him as I waved goodbye. Icey continued to glare at me like she had all day, but I ignored her and made it to Miss Ruby's office quickly, knocking before I entered. She was sitting on her desk with her legs crossed, and she sighed before frowning at me.

"I heard you had a busy day today, going places that you shouldn't have."

"Oh crap… I'm done for."

She sighed, her frown deepening, and slid off of her desk.

"But we can discuss that later. We don't have much time and I need you to change before your fight. Since you already know where the locker room is-"

Ruby shoved some kind of uniform and a key into my hands, pushed me back, grabbed onto my shirt, and snarled as she spoke.

"-go get changed, and don't bring anything else with you. Also, if I find out you were in the wrong locker room again, I'll personally see to it that you never make that same mistake again. Got it?"

"Y-yes ma'am."

She rolled her eyes and let me go with a small shove.

"Meet me on the other side of the locker rooms when you're ready, and hurry. You have five minutes."

She didn't give me the chance to reply as she moved back to her desk. I dashed out of her office and to the locker rooms, making sure to give the female's entrance a wide berth as I went left this time. Inside, there were a few others mulling about, but I didn't bother paying attention as I found the old, beat up locker and slipped into the brown boots and old white shirt and shorts that had blue stripes on the sides. The outfit had a few stains on it, but it smelled clean and was comfortable enough. I stashed the rest of my equipment and clothes inside of the locker and went out the back, where Ruby was waiting for me. She was tapping her foot impatiently, and motioned me to follow when she spotted me.

"Alright, listen up. This is a standard fight, so there are no extra rules, and your goal is to show me what you can do. You don't have to subdue your opponent, but if you somehow manage to do that I'll be impressed. You will be given the opportunity to choose a weapon before you enter the arena, and I'm going to remind you once that there are no lethal blows or anything of that manner in any fight."

I nodded as we walked and she continued.

"A referee would normally be inside of the court with you to judge the match, but I'll be there so you won't need one. I'll stop the fight if I deem it necessary, but if at any point you wish to end the fight yourself, you can tap the ground three times."

I gave her another short nod and she took a deep, calming breath as she led me down a flight of stairs that connected to the entrance of an arena labeled ten. A table was by the door that led to the arena, prepared with a variety of weapons, along with a familiar, young cheetah woman who was twirling a staff in her hands as she waited in the same uniform that I was wearing. She took one look at me and all of the fur on her face became frazzled. Her face was consumed in an angry scowl and she brought her staff to a stop by firmly planting one end into the ground. She pointed accusingly at me, and it was in that moment that I realized exactly who she was. The rage in her eyes made it evident that she would tear me apart if given the chance and I silently cursed Jolt for getting me into this situation.

"Mom, you've got to be kidding me! This is the pervert that was in the locker rooms!"

Hey Everyone! Here's the next chapter and I hope you enjoy! Please leave a review, and as always, if you'd like to help me beta read the chapters, I'd be super thankful!

The Silent Insomniac - Yeah, more things will be going on now that we've made it to the city, so pay attention to everything that is mentioned. If you've forgotten what's happened so far, it's probably because it's taken so long just to get here! It's something that I've been thinking about as I've been writing, and it will be an adjustment I make with any future stories I write.