It took a little bit to get the others to agree to let only Peach and myself head to Glitzville. With only two tickets we had no way to get everyone up to the floating city and me not feeling entirely comfortable leaving Peach alone for more than a few minutes, it could only be the two of us that could head up there. I had no clue when the Shadow Sirens or X-Naut goons would try to kidnap her so we had to stick together in case they decided to strike. Which meant the two of us sharing a seat on the three-hour blimp ride to Glitzville.

"Ugh." I stretched out as far as I could given my limited room, trying to keep my legs from getting sore. Wasn't working.

"Something wrong?" Peach asked, sitting next me without an issue to be had. She even ordered a cup of tea.

"Air travel has never exactly been my preferred method of travel. Getting crammed into a tight space like a sardine doesn't agree with my legs." The few times I had taken a plane, I mostly slept the whole way. But given our current mission, I wasn't exactly in a relaxed enough mood to sleep.

"We must be getting close though." Peach turned to look out the window and gave a small gasp. "That must be it." I craned my neck to catch a peek at what she was seeing. Out the window we could see a giant platform above the clouds. Even in the day, it lit up with vibrant buildings and streaming balloons. It really was like a theme park. The largest of them all sat at the back, but took up most of the space. It looked like a giant performance building, with a chain chomp on top of the roof. The entire city seemed to be supported by a jet system keeping it elevated. I could only imagine how much power that took to maintain. This was a place of decadence and nothing else. "Soooo coooool." At least Peach was impressed.

The cheep blimp landed softly onto a landing platform and threw open its doors, letting everyone off; us included. I stepped off and took a long stretch, reaching for the sky as far as I could before blowing a heavy breath and relaxing.

"Finally." I looked over to see Peaches enamored expression as she looked at every single shop and stall in her view. There were two main building surrounding the stadium building and a hotdog vendor cart parked next to it, but beyond that were smaller stalls set up along the street. Some were selling simple things like snacks and water at an inflated price, while some seemed to be selling dolls and the like of unfamiliar people.

"Step right up. We've got a genuine Rawk-Hawk action figure. The strength of the Rawk in your hands!" Even from a glance I could see the cheaply made quality. Seemed like it would break the second it touched the ground.

"This place is so flashy!" Peach yelled in excitement. "Look at that, and that! Oh, what's that? Hey, what does that do?"

"Slow down there." I said, grabbing her by the back of her jacket. "Remember what we're here for."

"Oh, right. The crystal star…I guess we can just ignore all this cool stuff…I can do that." Even as she said that, she hit me with a puppy dog stare.

"…Fine. We can check out some of the stalls while we're here."

"Yay!"

"But first. Let's find out where the star is." She nodded in agreement but kept looking around at anything that caught her eye. Geez, it's like taking a kid to Disney Land with her.

Stepping into the large building took longer than I would have liked it to. Asking around about the crystal star brought up no leads. The people here were mostly tourists, so they had no clue what we were talking about, and the vendors seemed more interested in selling us their products; of which Peach bought from three of the five we talked to. So, as we stepped in, I looked over at the girl next to me, wearing a Rawk-Hawk hat, t-shirt, and holding a Mr. Hoggle's hot dog in her hand.

"You look like a walking billboard for Rawk-Hawk." I commented and she shrugged, chowing down on her dog.

"I wonder who he is."

"Must be a big star here. I've only seen his stuff being toted out in the bigger shops." I looked around at the building we had entered. One of the tourists had called it the Glitz Pit, and based on what I could see, the name made sense. Flurrie had called this place an arena town, but I didn't expect it to be so pronounced. On the wall were posters of various competitors; Chomp Country, The Koopinator, and of course Rawk Hawk, who seemed to have multiple posters all over the place. This at least gave me an accurate look of the superstar. He was incredibly muscular, sporting a Mohawk of yellow feathers and a large beak. He wore no shirt but had a pair of shorts that showed off his muscular legs, and a gold bandana to keep his feathers out of his eyes. He definitely looked like a muscular Hawk…be he can't fly though. As I looked at it, I heard a familiar voice.

"Hmhmhmhmmmmmm. Fancy seeing you here." I turned around quickly to find Ms. Mowz standing there in full thief attire.

"Subtle. Totally don't look like a thief out in the open."

"I'm too good to get caught by the amateurs here darling." As she said that, I suddenly felt Peach latch onto my arm, as though she was ready to pull me away at a moment's notice, "Besides, everyone seems rather distracted by the matches. One could almost get away with anything if a good fight is happening." A loud cheer echoed through the room and Ms. Mowz turned to the large double doors nearby, "Seems something like that is happening right now. Till we meet again sweetie." With a quick blow kiss, she leapt into the air and grabbed onto a ceiling grate before opening it up and crawling inside.

"She's good, I'll give her that."

"Hmph!" Peach just pouted before turning to the doors. "Something must be happening in there if she felt it was a big enough distraction to sneak in." Peach was right. Guess we'd better check it out.

Inside was a giant arena stadium, filled to the brim with screaming fans gathered around it. At the center stood a portly looking man in a trilby hat and holding a microphone. But everyone's eyes were drawn to where the overhead lights shinned; the match between the Koopinator and Rawk Hawk.

"It's a battle!" Peach exclaimed.

"Yeah, against two of the poster guys." I added. This must be why everyone is so engrossed. Rawk Hawk seemed pretty famous so his matches must sell out when they happen. We moved as close as we could to watch the ensuing battle.

"That's right! Unh! I think it's about time for you to FEEL THE RAAAAAWK!" Rawk Hawk lunged forward, grabbing the Koopinator and slamming him into the ground with enough force to leave a crack in the stadium. I don't think Koopinator was going to be able to get back up after that, "Stay down, pincushion! You don't want more of this! Why'd you even show up?" Koopinator struggled to stand back up before collapsing to the ground, "Yeah, you hear me wimpy! Stay outta the ring, or feel the burn, baby! Tell you what: do about a million push-ups and then come and see Uncle Rawk Hawk! I'll give you another world-class spanking and send you crying home to momma again."

"Oooooh I get it." I said in sudden realization.

"What?" Peach asked.

"It's wrestling, but real, and without any of the self-awareness."

"Hooooo-WEEEEEEE!" The tubby announcer yelled. "Champ! That was a grade-A whuppin'! Yer thoughts on the match!" Rawk Hawk scoffed in response.

"You call that a match? Ain't there a fighter out there who can challenge me? No! No one can! Hear me? Ain't a fighter out there that can even make me sweat! They're all a bunch of little crybabies, running around in stinky diapers! You got a bone to pick?! Come fight me! Bring it! I'll take on anyone!" I looked over to see Peach slowly remove her Rawk Hawk hat and t-shirt before silently dropping them in a nearby trash can, "You might as well stick to video-game fighting, ok? 'Cause I'll hurt you. Yeah, number one baby! Rawk Hawk is the CHAAAAAAAAAMP!" As he proclaimed his greatness, he lifted his belt into the air, and as I got a full view of it, I noticed that the buckle wasn't just some champion tote of accomplishment; it was the crystal star!

"Is that-"

"It is!" I quickly responded the Peach before rushing through the crowd to try and get to the center. Peach was quick to follow, and we eventually made it right up to the arena barrier. I hopped up onto the stage, helping Peach up as I did. But before I could approach Rawk Hawk, the announcer turned to address me.

"Well, looks like you've got some challengers!" Huh!?

"What, you think you puny things can take on the Rawk?"

"No, we don't want to fight! We just wanted to ask about your belt."

"Seems they're eyeing your championship status champ. What are you going to do?" The announcer interjected.

"Soren, I think we're in trouble." Peach whispered.

"I'll tell you what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna give them a taste of the champs' power! Get ready to FEEL THE RAWK!"

Rawk Hawk rushed at us. Peach and I quickly dodged to the right and left as he tried to barrel through and grab one of us. He was quick to turn though, and grabbed me by my torso before slamming me into the ground at full force. Well, those muscles aren't just for show. I was quick to retaliate, scrunching up so my feet were on his stomach before pushing up and making him flip forward and off of me. As I got back to my feet, Peach regrouped and I pulled out my wooden blade as Peach pulled out her parasol.

"Fancy tools won's stop me from sending you home crying to your mommas!" As he rushed at us, we made the same step to the left and right, this time ready to take a swing at his abdomen. As I went for the strike, he twirled; grabbing both my blade and Peach's parasol and slamming us into one another. We were getting our butts handed to us and we couldn't seem to do anything about it. We slowly got back up as Rawk Hawk appealed to the crowd of cheerers. I rose my palm to the sky.

"Sweet treat!" A warm healing glow enveloped me and Peach, healing our wounds as Rawk turned back to face us.

"You want another taste?" He rushed at us for a third time, content to keep hitting us with the same move. This time I held my ground, moving to block as Peach readied her next move. He smacked into my sword, and I felt it well up with energy that I swiftly struck him back with, making him grunt in pain and fly back. Peach was quick to follow up, opening her parasol and giving it a spin and launching it at Rawk Hawk. It twirled around him, getting him caught up in the motion and spin with it. "Woah…stop…it's making…me dizzy…" As the parasol spun back to Peach who caught it, Rawk Hawk fell to the ground in a dizzy state. Now's our chance!

"ALRIGHT!" The announcer yelled, stepping between us and Rawk Hawk.

"Now that's just no fair. Taking the champ on after his last battle. That's dirty fighting there, partner." Rawk Hawk shook his head before standing up and glaring at us.

"Y-Yeah. I could have taken you down like THAT if I didn't just wipe the floor with the other chump." Yeah, you totally looked winded after that last fight.

"Look, we didn't want to fight." I said.

"We just need the star on his belt." Peach added.

"Sorry kiddies. You want the belt, you gotta earn it fair and square. Only the champion can have the belt." Guess they're not going to make this easy are they?

"Yeah!" Rawk Hawk spoke up. "No way you two are champ material. You don't deserve this belt. Just go home and play your baby games." You know, regardless of the star, this was well worth smacking down. Fine, they want us to become champ-

"Fine then." I spoke. "We'll see you at the championship match." A thunderous round of applause and boos ran through the stadium as I stared Rawk Hawk down, him returning the gesture with an added smirk of condensation.

"Well, looks like we've got a fiery rivalry brewing here!" The announcer exclaimed. "I'm sure I'm not the only excited to see where it goes from here!"

Peach and I were quickly shuffled off stage and through a door to the back of the stadium. After being taken down a long hallway, we were pushed into what looked to be a managers' office.

"That wasn't as easy as I thought it would be." Peach said with a sigh.

"Sorry about that. I didn't want us to have to pick a fight." I said and Peach ruffled my hair.

"Don't worry. Anyway, it seemed like that announcer guy was running the show."

"Yer darn tootin I was!" We turned to see the announcer from earlier enter the room. Getting a closer look at him, I noticed that his skin was a light purple with a white belly and tail. He wore a full tux with a green button up and red tie. On his face were a pair of dark shades and out of his trilby hat, he had a long line or orange hair that went down his neck, "And you two seem plum determined to cause trouble don't cha?" He moved over to his desk and sat down in a rather comfortable looking chair. "Not that I'm completely angry. You two really got the audience hollering and screaming with your entrance."

"So…is that a good thing?" I asked and he gave a toothy grin, which is when I noticed that one of his teeth was pure gold.

"Any attention is good attention in this business kid. Names Grubba. I run this whole Glitz Pit. Including the impromptu fight you just had with our top boy." So, he's the manager of this place?

"Weren't you the announcer though?"

"Even I can enjoy a good fight. Besides, who else could make sure the fighters follow the rules? Me, that's who." I'm not sure what it was…but there was something very unsettling about his tone of voice. He reached into one of his desk drawers and pulled out a stack of forms. "Now, normally I would have had you two thrown out of the city for that little stunt you preformed, and you wouldn't be taking the blimp home." Great, we came close to being murdered again today, "But with how much buzz you generated when you promised to take the belt from the champ, I had an idea. The audience is expecting to see you again, anxious to watch you two take on Rawk Hawk for the championship belt. But I can't just let some random nobodies challenge the champ whenever they want. They gotta earn it." He pushed two forms towards us. They were fighter registration forms, "You join our little organization here, and you can rise up the ranks and challenge the champ to an official match. Sound enticing?"

"…If we win, do we get the championship belt?" I asked.

"If your champ, you can do whatever you want with that belt." Good enough for me then. I looked over at Peach who nodded. We both jotted our names down on the registration form and signed the attached contract. It was more extensive than I was prepared for. Even including a spot for any additional way to contact us in case they couldn't find us. "Good to see fresh blood entering the ring! Now…Soren and Peach huh? Not bad names…but we can do better for a fighter handle. Something with a bit more punch."

"Punch?"

"Something we can put on a poster and catch people's attention!" Peach described.

"See, the lass gets it. Now what about you two. Hmmmmmm…hoo-whee! I got it!" He pointed at me. "How about the Black Bruiser-" He turned to Peach, "-and Pink Punisher!"

"Bruiser? Have you seen my muscle tone?" Granted I wasn't a twig but I could never beat Gareth in hand-to-hand combat.

"I'm not sure if my attire screams punisher." Peach said looking herself over. While her outfit change did make her look more adventurous…she still looks incredibly cute.

"Like that stuff matters. Trust me, those names are perfect." He straightened out our forms before placing them into the drawer he pulled them out of. He then leaned over and pressed a small red button on a black box. "Jolene? Could you come in a minute, darlin'?" Not even a second past before the door opened. A woman walked into the room on a pair of high heels, wearing a pair of red business pants and suit to match. She wore a pair of sharp angle glasses over her eyes and her blond hair was put into a bun just under a small toad hat, with a long stalk of hair sticking out between her eyes.

"You called for me sir?"

"Sure did, hon. Jolene, this is Pink and Black, our newest rising stars." Already shortened our stage names, "Be a peach and take 'em down to the minor-league locker room, all righty?" She gave a short bow.

"Right away sir." She turned to us, "Mr. Black, Ms. Pink, please follow me."

Stepping into the minor-league locker room, I was hit by two things. One being the scent of something truly beyond rotting stage, and moving into becoming a bio-hazard. The other being a man in a green cloak with a white smile mask on; we bumped into each other as he left the room. Jolene cleared her voice to get our attention.

"As you know, you are a contracted fighter now, so you must abide by some rules. First and foremost, what Mr. Grubba says, goes. Period. You must do what he says. Also, as per your contract, you cannot quit until Mr. Grubba releases you." Wait, what?

"You mean even if we become champions, we still have to fight until Grubba says we can stop?" I asked.

"Yes. You are not allowed to quit until Grubba says you can." That might be a problem. But it was either this or get thrown off of Glitzville and splatter to the ground miles below us, "There are many other small guidelines that I will explain as they become relevant." She moved over and motioned to a small display device next to the door, "You're starting off in the minor league, of course, as you've just now started your career. If you don't like this dingy room, I suggest you work your way up through the ranks. When you're ready to fight, just log onto this computer terminal here. Mr. Grubba will then decide who you're fighting. You will not have a say in this."

"Wonderful." I commented. Means he could send us up against Rawk Hawk at any time. Not sure how well we would do when he's seen some of what we can do. I stepped up and pressed the start button on the device. As soon as I did, it flickered to life, showing Grubba's face immediately.

"Well, look who'd raring to go. I like to see that kind of gumption from my fighters. Your first battle will be against the Goomba Bros.! Don't worry too much about them, they'll be a piece of cake! Just mop 'em up, ok, son?" I nodded before turning to make sure my blade was fastened correctly, "Oh, and for this fight, don't use your sword or the lass's parasol. Just go in there with some good old hand-to-hand combat and knock 'em out. Good luck!" Before I could even respond, the image faded and the screen turned off. So that's what Jolene meant by what Grubba says goes.

"No weapons?" Peach asked slightly worried.

"Don't worry. We can do this." I assured her. They're just goombas. Worst case scenario, we just kick them off the ring. Suddenly, the door opened and one of the bouncers that had dragged us off stage last time entered.

"Black and Pink, match time. Follow me bubs." Alright, we can do this!

The crowd was much less dense than the Rawk Hawk match but that made sense; this was the minor-leagues so there's not a lot of hype for it. Grubba was already up in stage.

"Squarin' off next, folks…are the Hoppin' Hardheads: the GOOMBA BROS.! Aaaaaand…some newcomers with a passion for smashin', the BLACK BRUISER and PINK PUNISHER!" We stepped up on stage as the crowd cheered and looked across at our opponents. Grubba stepped up to the goomba bros., "How do, Goomba Bros.! How're y'all feelin' today? You ready for this fight?"

"Ha! Are you kidding, man? We're always ready to bonk a fool or two! Who are these rookies? Just some cocky idiots who think they can take on anyone! They lost to Rawk Hawk and now they'll lose to us!" That's how that story got spun!? "We're gonna teach 'em how to respect fighters with seniority! Might want to call an ambulance for em now, just to save time later!" We're getting trash talked by Goombas…not something I thought would happen today.

"Hooo-wheee! That's some fire in your bellies! Now, how about you Bruiser, anything to retort?" Before I could respond, the head goomba rushed forward and jumped at me.

"Take this punk!"

I responded quickly by swinging my foot around and smack him back into his four other brothers. Guess they wanted to get the element of surprise. Too bad for them, I've been attacked by surprise more than I've ever gotten a fair fight. He shook off his recoil as the others moved in to attack us. If I could use my sword, I would have just smashed through all of them at once…but I guess I'll have to improvise…

"Peach, got a plan?"

"Hmmm…what if we threw them at each other?" Huh, not a bad plan. They were about a foot shorter than us but the few times I've had to pick up Goombella she was pretty light. As the next one rushed at me, I reach out and grabbed him by his waist, before swirling around to build up momentum and tossing him back at his brothers, sending them all crashing to the ground in a heap.

"Looks like Black and Pink WIN!" What!? Already!?

The crowd cheered around us as we stood there dumbfounded. I always knew goombas were low on the pecking order but I never figured they were THAT weak.

"Tell me, son, what was this first taste of victory like?" Grubba asked, holding the mic up to me.

"Um…very underwhelming." I answered.

"You know what I saw there, a whuppin! These kid's got skills!" I turned to Peach who just shrugged in response. Yeah…this was an underwhelming victory, and a bit humiliating considering that throw was pretty much all of my plan for that fight…I need to get better at hand-to-hand.

Back in the minor league locker room, Grubba snickered happily as Jolene stood stone faced next to him.

"Not bad you two, not bad at all. Next time make sure not to look so panicked. People like to see some confidence in their winners. Now, I'll be on my way. More fights to set up, you know. Ms. Jolene will make sure you get your cut. See ya!" As he left, Jolene placed a small bag into my hands.

"There's your fight money Mr. Black." I opened it up to find…four coins…really? "If you want to make more, keep rising in the ranks. The tougher the fight, the better the reward." With that, she strolled out of the room, leaving us with the other minor-league fighters.

"Yo, rooks! How was your first match, dog?" A koopa in a yellow shell approached us. Around his neck was a spiked collar and he wore a pair of sharp edge shades.

"Easy…too easy." I answered.

"Yeah, those Goomba Bros. put up a tough act but they got no skill. Names King K, man. Just a bush-league scrub like you." He put out his hand and I shook it, "Good meetin' you and your dame. You seem like stand-up dudes, I think we can hang."

"Nice to meet you King K." Peach said with a small curtsey. "You can call me Pink, and him Black."

"So we're going whole hog on this?"

"Come on, we're famous fighters. Those names will make us shine!" Yeah, she's overexcited again.

"Hey, why don't you two meet the gang?" King K. said motioning to the bob-omb in the room. On top of his head of hair was a fuse connected to a metal ring. He wore what looked to be blast proof helmet over it, with an armored suit around his body. "This guy here's Master Crash."

"Nice to meet you BOMB! Well. Now that we've gotten to know each other, I will give you a piece of advice BOMB! As Ms. Jolene was saying, you'd better BOMB obey Mr. Grubba's conditions. If you clear the conditions and win, you get to fight higher-ranked foes BOMB! I think you can imagine what happens if you don't meet his conditions BOMB!"

"Stuck in low tier fights?" I asked and he nodded.

"How rude. So, we're treated like dogs who are supposed to listen to their master?" Peach said.

"It's how Grubba runs the place." King K. said. "You wanna fight, you gotta follow the rules." King K. then motioned to the strange green rock man with purple shoes sitting on the bench. "This man with the sweet purple kicks is known as Cleftor. Cleftor grunted and turned away from us.

"Cleftor no make friends with couple." Why does everyone say that?

"Easy there, Celft-dog! Dude ain't the friendliest guy but you get used to him." As soon as he finished saying that, the door opened and that same green cloaked guy with the white mask from earlier stepped in.

"This guy here is Bandy Andy. Yo, Andy. We got some new contenders." He turned to us.

"Nice to meet you. I'm not in here a lot but feel free to say hi if you see me around." Andy walked past us and towards a bed in the corner of the locker room before flopping down onto it and passing out.

"Anyway, that's the core minor-league crew man. You need something, ask us." I nodded.

"Thanks, we appreciate the…mostly warm welcome." Cleftor grunted at this comment.

"No prob man. Us minor leaguers gotta look out for each other. Eventually we gotta square off in the ring so I'd rather know you than ignore you."

"Sounds like a good policy." I could use more friends. Especially around here. Seems like a cut throat place. But Peach and I had to get through here if we wanted to get the crystal star, and if that meant taking down everyone to get to the top, then we just had to go all the way.

"Don't hold back when we fight dog."

"Wouldn't dream of it dude."