Two weeks after the conclusion of the Murder Solution Arc
The crowd was in a frenzy. The fight just wrapping up had been a brutal contest. The winner, a tall scarred tattooed Indian lion had just soundly defeated a young panther. The panther had been the crowd favorite, but now the broken black cat was lying on his back, bleeding out from a torn jugular vein while taking his last gasps. The iron scent of blood and the primal atmosphere incensed the carnivore audience calling for more violence and carnage. The victorious bare chested Lion raised both of his bloody fists pumping them vigorously in the air before climbing out of the vat that served as the fighting arena, pumping his fists a few more times once topside to bask in the glory of his hard earned win. He was slapped on the back by another lion with flowing mane and an "X" shaped scar on his face. The scarred lion wearing a black tailored suit handed the fighter a cigarette to wind down and placed a towel around his neck. They soon were joined by more lions in tailored suits celebrating the lion's victory. They likely had bet on him to win and now were on their way out of the arena to collect the earnings.
This was a Back-Alley Market arena fight.
Usually there were different arenas around the Back-Alley Market for various types of fighting like cages, boxing rings, or even just the middle of an alleyway surrounded by a crowd. This arena in particular was housed in one of the many abandoned factories that littered the rundown Market district, it was one of the more organized rackets in that it had specialized fighting areas. This night's area was "The Pit", a repurposed large industrial vat sunk into the floor with wood paneling. It gave off a very foreboding feeling, as one had to drop into the pit knowing that one might never leave.
It was cramped and made for close quarters fighting. Most fight clubs across the back alley were just bare knuckle brawls or wrestling matches with some semblance of rules, this venue however was more lawless and more lethal. Usually fights amounted to glorified death matches, where participants could fight however they wanted with barely any restrictions outside of the prohibiting of firearms and explosives. There weren't any referee or rounds. Just a no holds barred fight where you either win, die, or if you were lucky ended up injured. The temperament of the winner usually decided the loser's fate.
The business itself was a lucrative one, it not only made money from betting and entrance fees, but also from the body trade; selling the remains of the dead losers directly to the marketplace. Each fighter participates knowing they might die, so in practice, corpses left after a match were usually disposed of in any way the promotion saw fit, unless of course a grieving representative is present to object. Carnivore corpses typically were sold to fur traders or had their organs harvested for hyperdrugs, while herbivores go straight to the butcher's shop in the marketplace.
The panther's lifeless body was being lifted out of the pit, just as the next fighter landed down with a loud thud. This new combatant was a massive bare-chested Grizzly bear by the name of Mischa, bulky and built like a bodybuilder. He wore only taped hands and feet as well as a pair of red barely fitting boxing trunks. A beast of theatrics, he had purposefully jumped down into the pit and immediately began showing off his brawny physique, likely having stopped taking his strength restrainment pills to bulk up to such a size. He was undefeated here, the champion, the main draw, and right now he was putting on a show for his fans. Riddled with many battle scars from previous bouts, Mischa was a tested champion. Whenever he fought, it was a memorable spectacle of savagery. One such a fight was a particularly brutal one against a Saltwater crocodile. Typical to his wrestling style, he'd grappled with the reptile in a tense struggle before prying the lizard's jaws apart and snapping them in half with his brute strength alone. One would not wish to find themselves in Mischa's grasp.
The roar of the audience cheering for their champion was deafening and Mischa, proud of his freakish strength soaked in their admiration. He was pumped, eager, and filled with sadistic glee for the arrival of his next victim. He didn't care who it would be, he wasn't worried, he never lost. Be it a burly Silverback gorilla, a venomous Komodo dragon, or maybe a tough Rhino, he knew whoever they booked would be an excellent matchup for him and he would flatten them all the same.
"Who will Mischa crush today? Huh?!" He spoke, his speech broken, drenched in a foreign eastern accent. He began to pound his chest like an alpha male, trying to rile the crowd up with a showcase of bravado. "Don't lose money betting on wimps! Bet on Mischa! Mischa always wins!" He proclaimed.
Soon the crowd began to part, the uproar faded into whispers and murmurs. The Bear backed up towards the furthest edge of the pit to see what was approaching that had the frenzied crowd so quiet. It wasn't fear, no, no one could beat him. However he was curious, who could it be, let's see them he thought. Then he saw them, there standing at the edge of the pit stood… a small white and brown furred rabbit and a tall and slender white wool male llama, both wearing matching scruffy looking red tracksuits.
Herbivores? Here in the Market? The bear was absolutely puzzled, his jaw ajar as he stood there shocked. He had heard of herbivores fighting in the arena, but usually they were the kind that were built for combat like kangaroos, rhinos, or rams. These two were the complete opposite.
Maybe these weren't his opponents he thought. Judging from their matching suits he figured they could be janitors or something, maybe here to clean the excessive pools of blood from the last fight. Then again they didn't usually clean this place until the fights were over and they didn't seem to have any cleaning equipment.
No...something is up. He thought to himself. Maybe the llama was his opponent? He barely has the stature of a true fighter, tall yet he didn't seem the type. Couldn't be the little one, she barely came up to his shin. Can't be them. Where is his opponent? Mischa grew tired of this charade, he wanted his fight!
"What is the meaning of this?" He yelled out of the ring. "Is this some kinda Half Time entertainment?! An appetizer?! HUH?!"
"Why keep Mischa waiting?" The bear roared. "WHERE IS OPPONENT?!"
The floppy eared rabbit as if coaxed stepped forward, gazing down and cocking their head curiously at Mischa. Just some barely knee-high, cream colored rabbit with dark brown fur pattern covering their mouth and floppy ears, yet their large dark eyes locked onto his and he could sense no fear nor any uneasiness in them at all.
Did this herbivore not fear death? He wondered. This was the worst place for them to be right now. Now more than ever, surrounded by hyped up predators here to see bloodshed and carnage. They have to know how terrifying this predicament is. He had to wonder, are they that ready to throw their life away so easily? Surely even looking upon Mischa's visage alone would be enough to strike a sense of terror in such a small animal. Maybe they really were paralyzed, a trance maybe? Frozen in place?
The llama who was likewise pretty calm, crouched down besides the rabbit and began whispering something in one of their floppy ears. He began pointing down at Mischa and the rabbit merely nodded repeatedly as they listened until the camelid took one final look at Mischa before standing up. He uttered something that Mischa couldn't make out and patted the bunny on the back with an odd smile on his face. What the hell was he smiling for, the bear wondered. The llama then backed away and the rabbit took a step forward, dropping down gracefully into the pit with Mischa walking right up in front of the gigantic bear who easily towered over them.
This was for real, Mischa thought. Someone had thrown him a sacrificial lamb to slaughter.
The bear stared down at the herbivore; his strong nose got a whiff of their scent. It was clear to him now, this was a... a female…. a female?! He fumed. This was his opponent? Some soft female? She was just some barely knee-high, cream colored rabbit with dark brown fur covering her mouth and floppy ears. A rare sense of utter disgust, came upon him. Maybe it was pity, then again she did look appetizing. What a cruel and bizarre joke, he thought.
"THIS?! This is main event?" He shouted. "You expect Mischa to entertain with such a pipsqueak?! She's barely a light snack for Mischa!"
The promoter who ran the arena, an unscrupulous middle aged medium-sized grey raccoon, almost immediately came down to the edge of the pit, trying to smooth things over with the ursine champion.
"There's no mistake!" The furry promoter corrected, shouting down into the vat. "That's the challenger!"
The giant ursine stared down dumbstruck at the tiny rabbit who continued to stare right back at him as she began stretching, trying to get herself limber. He quickly looked back to the raccoon, still confused.
"I know, Mischa, I know. This is my first time seeing her as well." The raccoon nervously explained. "I thought she'd be a lot bigger, like a hare or jackrabbit, but this is the Psycho, she is undefeated, least at the last arena she came from. J-just try to make it a good fight Mischa! Alright? This crowd paid a fortune to see a bloodbath, don't disappoint your fans."
Mischa was about to lose his cool, but the raccoon was gone before he could even open his mouth, having rushed back over to the announcer's table and picked up his microphone to start the fight.
"Alright! I know you guys are a little confused by this matchup between Mischa the Bear and uh…Kyuu the er... Rabbit, but in the likely event of a quick and sudden finish... uh we are fully prepared to refund 15% of the entrance fee!"
Before the crowd could protest, the Raccoon hopped on top of the table and started screaming into the mic to start the match.
"ALRIGHT, FIGHTERS! GET READY! LET THE FUR FLY!"
The starting gong sounded.
"Are you going to complain some more or fight? Or would you rather give up?" Said a soft voice below Mischa.
The rabbit had assumed a ready stance, completely set on facing the bear.
"All the same to me, but I doubt any of these people want to see the both of us walk out of here alive." She commented, completely unfazed by the hulking brute in front of her.
Not only was the bear outraged by this farce, he had to suffer such a cocky attitude as well? His temper boiled inside him, as his muzzle twisted revealing his fangs as he uttered a low feral growl. The nerve of this snack, he thought.
"We'll see just how chatty you are when Mischa peels your corpse from his paw!" He warned as he swiped down at the insolent upstart, but his paw only met empty air.
She had dodged the attack and now was alongside him, bouncing nimbly. Mischa spun quickly to catch her with another swipe, this one nearly contacting the sleeve of her jacket. But again, he ultimately missed.
"I'll have entrails decorating walls in few minutes." He declared as he pursued her around the arena.
"Mine or yours?" The rabbit taunted as she ducked under another of his swipes. The bear took a large step forward, only for the rabbit to jink to the side, continuing to hop lightly just out of reach much to Mischa's frustration.
"Take a guess, appetizer!" He shouted, continuing his assault, merely attempting to go faster. He'd eventually catch her.
However nothing the mountain of muscle was throwing was landing. She easily was able to avoid his range. As a rabbit she was quick and nimble, typical for a small breed prey animal. Mischa hated to admit, he'd had never really faced someone this small or evasive like this. Usually his opponents were brawlers or grapplers, they would at least try to trade blows with him. That was usually their downfall, the bear being built tough enough to endure most of their assaults which he always followed up by crushing them with his strength. This one, he couldn't even land a hit on her and she didn't even seem interesting in trying to hit him. What kind of fight is this, he wondered.
Taking a quick hop forward, he stomped his foot down where the rabbit had only been a nanosecond earlier, only to be frustrated that she had already dodged yet again.
"Is this how you win fight? Running away?"
"Foolish. No time limits and you'll never harm Mischa by running away! Only submission or death will win here!" He yelled.
"I know." She replied, flipping backwards avoiding another swipe.
The crowd was becoming restless, they had come to see blood being shed. All they saw was Mischa clumsily hit at nothing as he chased the rabbit around the pit. Realistically there couldn't possibly be a way for her to do any real damage to him. Mischa had to weigh over 300 pounds and she had to weigh barely a fraction of that. It was inevitable that he'd catch and devour her.
Another swipe and another dodge, however this time the rabbit seemingly made a mistake, as she slipped on a puddle of blood and had slammed into the walls. Mischa laughed as he closed in. This was Mischa's chance to finally catch her. He was on top of the rabbit anxious to rip and tear her to pieces.
"SEE WHERE RUNNING GETS YOU!" He declared.
Suddenly she rolled out of the way and he was going too fast to stop as he collided head first into the wall, causing him to fall on his back. Whether that had been a trap or her quick thinking, was unknown, all Mischa thought was to get to his feet. How embarrassing he thought.
Just as he began to stand, he felt his wide nose cave in when the rabbit smashed her right foot into his soft nose with a flying kick. Felt like he had been pelted with a rock. She had waited till he was down to her level to strike. Damn it. She knew to strike him in his nose, one of the few soft and sensitive places on a bear. It didn't hurt Mischa too much, nothing more than a jab to the face.
While he was massaging his bruised nose, she had gained some distance and launched herself again, this time off the side of the barrier for another kick. A large black "9" stenciled on the sole of her foot was all he saw before blood spurted out of his nostrils. It took a few moments to shake off the pain, but he resumed his guard as he scanned the small pit for the rabbit. The attacks were more humiliating that damaging, this little pest making a fool of him. He'd make her suffer when he caught her ... if he could catch her that is.
Still he had to admit it was pretty clever of her to do that. She knew she was much too weak to land a solid blow on Mischa with her own physical strength, instead her plan was to become the blow. She'd launch her whole body at him, crashing into him with her body weight. The pit was cramped for his large body, but it was spacious for her to maneuver and it allowed for her to gain speed to launch herself. You think you're so clever, I'll grab you next time you try that again.
However, praise could wait until after he devoured her. He needed to focus as now she was nowhere to be found. How could she just vanish?
"See where running gets you." said a disembodied voice mocking his broken speech.
"Stop hiding!" He demanded as he looked below him. His nose was busted, he couldn't discern her scent from the crowd, not with his nose bleeding like this.
Nothing. He reached above him to see if she was on top of his head. Nothing but air. Soon he tried to rely on the audience, some of his fans were shouting something he could barely make out over the others, "BEHIND YOU!" He quickly turned 180 degrees to only find nothing, then it kicked in his head that the fur on his back was being tugged at. She was holding onto his back!
He quickly leaped backwards towards the walls intending to squash her like a bug. But the rabbit quickly dropped down and slid under the bear just before his back collided with the wall. She gracefully leaped forward under his legs and a handspring later was back on her feet, turned to face him with a solid defensive stance.
"Now, no more games little Rabbit, no more tricks. This is where Mischa show you how to fight!" The bear said, his pupils narrowing down to a predator's gaze as he readied himself to slaughter the rabbit.
The rabbit stood firm in her stance and only answered. "If you can."
Mischa shouted as he charged in with a flurry of open paw strikes. Each one more desperate than the last. Catch her. CATCH HER! he screamed inside his head. His last strike pushed her towards the barrier of the arena. Kyuu hopped backwards, planted her feet on the wall and propelled herself this time towards his muzzle with a drop kick. She crashed into his snout, putting her full weight behind it, making it feel like a solid punch from a larger animal. Damn it! he screamed at himself. He had forgotten, and she just punished him for it.
The bear losing his balance crashed face first into the barrier again as the little lapine fell on her back and quickly hopped back up to her feet with a clean kick up. The rabbit caught her breath, while Mischa clumsily stumbled about like a toddler trying to get to his feet. The bear growled and made a beeline towards her, but once again the elusive bunny rolled out of the way like a matador in a bullfight. How do I catch this damn girl?! He raged to himself. Though he'd trained his freakishly huge body to absorb punishment, he was not built to chase people all across some arena like this. This was immensely frustrating.
Infuriated the bear, the started lunging at her trying to outpace her, throwing hard hitting punches, one hit could mean her head being decapitated in one swipe. That is if they could connect. As before the rabbit was simply too agile and fast for him to land a blow. Whenever he got too close she merely hopped out of his range, using his slow mobility against him. Then he saw it, his opening, she was near the edge of the pit, cornered with nowhere to run. He was too close, no way could she go right or left, he was right on top of her. He savored this as the bear threw every ounce of his power into a punch he was sure to splatter her skull to pieces against the wall, but he missed. He hadn't accounted for the tiny rabbit being able to drop down on her bushy tail in the nick of time and crawl out from under his legs.
His over eagerness had failed him big time, though he missed her, his fist hit the wall easily. His massive fist buried itself deep within the wooden planks placed there to absorb damage and help fighters climb back out, now his arm was stuck. He savagely clawed at her with his free hand as he tried to jerk his lodged fist loose from the barrier, to no avail. She wisely kept back.
"I see now, why they chose you as Mischa's opponent. Your speed versus my brawn." The bear said as he strained, pulling his arm.
"Something like that." Kyuu retorted as she used this time again to catch her breath well out of his range.
He pulled once more; his breathing drawing shorter with each attempt. This was tiring. He usually would have won or had his opponent on their back by now, but he hadn't even landed a blow yet. Now he's becoming exhausted from trying to kill one little rabbit!
"I think it's time we finally give the crowd what they want to see, don't you agree?" The rabbit said very ominously.
The bear could sense the sheer cockiness in her words. That ticked Mischa off worse than anything.
"IT'D BE A NICE CHANGE OF PACE!" He roared as he strained to give one last pull that finally freed him from the barrier. "Maybe now you stop running away and fight me?!" He growled frustrated as he turned.
Inspecting his fur for splinters and cuts, he turned to face the rabbit. Nothing on his mind but pure murder. He was going to slaughter this rabbit, tear her limb from limb, not a trace would be left. There she was in front of him just standing there fiddling with her ears.
Did she forget she was fighting for her life? He thought. No matter, she's a sitting duck! He rushed forward; arms stretched wide to grab at her. Likewise, she made a charge of her own and dropped down to her knees in a slide using a slick of blood to zip right under his grasp.
He refused to let her get away one more time. He had just about attempted to pivot on his heels to catch her when suddenly he lost all control in his legs. Suddenly he felt a searing pain from his ankles. His mind instinctively told him to get back up, but his legs were useless. Something happened in that short span of time. Somehow, he must have torn something or maybe she had cut him. That had to be it, she severed something important! He couldn't begin to give up now, not when she was this close. He jerked his torso around to bring his paw down with a deadly swipe before another sharp and warm sensation struck across his belly. This was followed by something sharp poking deep in his back.
His fur became wet and sticky as blood, his own blood, began to flow from his wounds. She had slashed him and then stabbed his kidneys in a series of quick movements. He grunted and gritted his teeth as he tried to soldier through the pain, but it was futile. He was feeling flush and unable to continue on. The iron smell of his blood was all he could smell. Now all he wanted to do was sleep. No, he had to know what was going on.
"HOW?! Rabbits don't have claws. Somehow you have concealed weapons this whole time!" He feebly accused.
He was weak as he attempted to crawl away only to be stabbed again, coming to a stop. He couldn't go any further. He could feel the blood flowing from his body as he collapsed right there, flat on his belly. He, the champion dying here...to an herbivore. What humiliation, he thought.
"Cheatin…" he managed to mutter off as he began to pass out from the blood loss.
"Oh? I thought these Market fights were where anything goes."
She wasn't wrong, combatants were allowed to wield weapons as long as they weren't firearms or explosives. Usually carnivores however fought armed only with their fangs and claws, but occasionally items such as blades, swords, or knives were used depending on the person. The audience didn't care, they just wanted violence.
"You'd think the champion would know that. How foolish of you to forget." She said before sliding the knife deep into the bear's throat, putting him out of his misery. And like that Mischa was gone, expiring as the bunny yanking her blade from his corpse. Kyuu flicked the bear's own blood back at his body before cleaning the excess from her blade on his soft brown glossy fur.
"Hopefully you won't be needing a good set of kidneys for your trip to the market." She said before bowing before the crowd.
The slaying of the bear had brought a hush over the crowd. Their champion so easily bested by an Herbivore and a small one at that. It definitely was a bizarre turn of events. However eventually the silent crowd erupted into mostly cheers as the smell of blood began to fill the air. The iron smell brought about a frenzy. They had received what they came for, death, and this newcomer has given it to them.
Kyuu returned her daggers back into their fleshy sheathes in her ears as she silently walked away from the corpse and grabbed hold of her llama companion hand reached down to give her a lift out of the pit. The crowd was almost deafening as the pair made their way to the back to discuss their earnings with the promoter.
"See? Didn't I tell you? You didn't even need your technique. Ahahahaha" Her companion said cheerfully as he leaned down to massage her back.
"Of course not, a dumb slow brute with weak legs just like you said. All I had to do was tire him out and toy with him." She said crossing her arms behind her head. She sighed. "Let's go get paid."
As they exited, little did they know they were being watched by vengeful eyes.