A Recognition of Shadows

[Reno]

She was fine. She was fine. It was just a coincidence. She was fine!

But no matter how he sung the mantra in his head, his heartbeat was racing as were his feet, struggling to keep up with Riku who was faster than he thought. Invidia was just fine. Just fine...

They turned down the corner, hurrying down the alley. and then Riku stopped. And Sora ran into him, surprised. "R-Riku what is it?" He called nervously, looking over his shoulder, afraid of what he'd see.

But there was nothing there; the clearing was empty. The tree had no ticked off rabbit-fox hiding there. There was no little green head half hidden in the wooden bucket as she drank. And she certain wasn't laying on the ground, waiting irritably for a treat after having to suffer through the fireworks. But something was there.

Slowly, Sora pushed past Riku and walked onto the cement to where a little burgundy collar lay, white feathers surrounded it. The leather was snapped, and one of the gems broken, its shattered remains laying on the ground. He reached down slowly, and picked it up... and underneath it, around it, hidden under the feathers - on the feathers, he suddenly saw something that made his knees go weak and he collapsed, silent tears tracking his cheeks.

Blood.

[Rikugurl]

"SORAN!" Ventus cried when he saw the avatar fall onto his knees, pushing pass Riku too as he rushed to the boy's side. He gasped as he saw it too, all the blood and mess on the ground. "Oh Soran..." He whispered softly, trying not to let his own voice crack as tears started to fill his eyes. What had happened? Had... had the raptor-lion chased Vi here and got into a fight? And if so... where were they now? He knelt down by the boy and wrapped his arms around him, bringing him close. His hands started to rubbed against Soran's shoulders and back, trying to be some support as he heard some footsteps around them.

It was he rest who quickly started to look around for her, looking for any clues that would tell them where she had gone to. Some paused when they heard Terra call to look, walking over and glancing at a tree that had large claw marks on it and broken limbs on the ground. It hadn't been like that before they left. There was more blood on the bark and Axel reached out, taking some tuffs of fur that embedded itself into the tree. He looked at it closely and frowned. He had thought the same as Ventus but it was clear from the color of this fur that it wasn't Vi's or a raptor-lion. It reminded him strangely of...

Narrow eyes looked up, inspecting the claw marks and the obvious path that the chase happened. He glanced at Terra, seeing that his wheels were working too. "The cheetah-hound." They said in unison, seeing the worried faces on Riku's, Aqua's and Roxas's face. "You guys stay here... Terra and I are going to... find that ringleader." He gave Terra a nod and both quickly ran off back to the city.

[Reno]

The brunette shook in his friend’s arms laying his head against his shoulder. All he could think of was the worst. Some creature had swooped in, attacked Invidia and d-dragged her off to… to… Oh it was too horrible to imagine! He sniffled, big fat tears slipping down his cheeks, his shaking fingers gripping onto her collar. It... It was all his fault. He should have been here with her… she was his animal guide and he let her down! “I hardly got to meet her…”

What was it with all the animals going missing? Terra couldn’t help but think. Next they’d be looking for Shesha! He frowned however, dutifully looking about, noticing feline paw marks in the dust and – even more apparent – the broken and snapped branches of the Ayesha tree as well as the claw marks in the bark. “Hey, look at this!” He called, his voice drawing attention. He frowned as the other’s did, looking at the claw marks carefully. He knew they certainly weren’t Invidia’s; the rabbit-fox used her wings and powerful leaps to get to high places.

He supposed they could be the raptor-lion’s; but something just didn’t match about that story. Thinking of that little kid… and then remembering the size of the one that Roxas had saved. …What kind of parents gave their child a raptor-lion?! Then again… what kind of parents let their son keep a bull-wolf? He glanced at Axel, then blinked, seeing he had pulled free some gray and black tufts of fur. That definitely wasn’t the right color… his eyes narrowed… and then widened, remembering what happened just earlier today. “The Cheetah-Hound.” His eyes narrowed as Axel came to the same conclusion… and the next thing they knew, they were heading off back to the city.

It wasn’t a random attack… or a fight for territory… The first assumption he could make was simply the man who ran that stupid little kid’s game held a grudge that Sora won and decided to get back at him by hurting his pet. But… then why was she gone? Well, he could only think of one thing.
“Axel…” Terra called as they ran back for the alley of game booths. “Even if we find him, that gem on her forehead… they’re called Fire Diamonds. The earth kingdom used to sell them to the Fire Nation. If he knows what they’re worth… she won’t…” He trailed off, unable to finish his sentence, the thought too horrible to imagine. The red-head snapped at him, asking him why he didn’t mention that BEFORE. “Well why do you think?! Because of Sora, and you! I didn’t want to upset either you because, I dunno, I thought I was being fucking considerate. It’s not exactly common knowledge, so hopefully he has no fucking clue!”

[Rikugurl]

OOC: Guess I'll miss you today. I forgot my mom is taking me out for afternoon lunch before she goes back to work and I'm going to see the movie tonight. I'm not sure how much time I'll have between the two but if I do, I'll be on for what I can. If not, get some rest and see ya tomorrow!

"WHAT!? Why the fuck didn't you tell us that!?" Axel snapped when he learned that the pretty little gem on prissy foxes head was a FIRE diamond. "Do you know how many royal accessories are made with fire diamonds!? Even if HE doesn't know what it might be, I think a few merchants in the bazaar do! Dammit Terra!" This was bad. This was really bad. He knew these back alleys were full of thieves and bookies unlike the humble villages most of the others were from. Someone had to of noticed the diamond on the bizarre creature. It wasn't like she was an everyday thing.

They rushed up to where the game had been and undoubtedly, it was closed. They weren't going to be able to wait until tomorrow afternoon to confront the guy about it because it would be obvious that the diamond on Invidia's head would be gone by then. "Shit..." Axel frowned as his fingers passed through the cage. There was no way he was going back to camp empty handed. "Maipe, go fly overhead and see if you can find any clues." He ordered his newly found dragon hawk who quickly left his shoulder and soared over the gaming area.

He came back soon after but it didn't seem like he had found anything for he was rather silent.
"Guess we'll just have to go in." Axel frowned as he suddenly scaled up the cage. He knew if he bended the cage with his fire, melting it away, it wouldn't look good in the morning. They had try and not disturb anything that would lead back to them. He jumped from the top and landed below, staying close to the ground as he walked around the obstacles. He snuck towards the back, Terra easily following him and saw that some lanterns were lit inside a small little stand where the man would take his breaks.

Ears pressed up against the soft wood but neither heard a sound and they nodded to one another before a lanky arm reached up and turned the nob. He was quick to enter and lucky too because an alarm was about to be tripped. Skilled fingers snapped out and gripped a beak before the bird could cut a wire that was holding onto a bell. It was a warning bell that all the shops had just in case they were robbed during the festival. It wasn't abnormal but the bird in charge was. "Sadzi?" Axel frowned, examining the dragon hawk and noticing some markings instantly.

When Terra inquired, Axel's wicked eyes looked back and spoke with a poison on his tongue. "My brother's dragon-hawk."

[Reno]

"Well I!" Terra started to snap back but his voice trailed off and he frowned, feeling guilt settling in his stomach. He hadn't really... thought of it that way. And he boasted like he knew everything? What an idiot he is! Sora was going to kill him. "I'm sorry..."

It wasn't really time for apologizes now though; they weren't going to bring back Invidia. They looked around the bazaar and, once Maipe had had a look around, began to infiltrate the ringmaster's obstacle course to the little wooden stand. No one appeared to be inside, but when the door was opened, a bird was waiting for them, ready to cut the string for the alarm bell. It was to Terra's surprise that Axel knew the bird.
"Sadzi? Who is that?" Blue eyes widened a bit when the red-head told him exactly whose bird it was. He looked at Axel silently for a few moments and it was hard to tell what he was thinking. "Alright," He finally said, "Can we get in?"
The red-head nodded and easily coaxed the dragon-hawk away before disarming the alarm and opening the door. They crept in carefully, ready for a fight if it came to that - but found the room empty and a quick look around revealed Invidia wasn't stored within either.
Terra sighed in irritation - of course it wouldn't be so easy. Even still, he rummaged around the small room hopefully, unsure precisely what he was hoping to find. There was a scroll placed alone on one of the cabinet tops, so he picked it up and unrolled it. "...Well shit."
Axel asked him what it was and Terra passed it over, letting him see and when he unrolled it, his eyes narrowed, seeing it was a little diagram on fox-rabbits. It was hard to tell who had originally had the scroll; the ringmaster or Reno, but it was easy to assume that they were working together.

[Rikugurl]

"What an idiot..." Axel shook his head, looking around before glancing back at Sanzi. "Fire Lord always said I had the brains of us two but I never thought Reno was that stupid to leave his own dragon hawk behind..." He walked up to her and she got onto the other side of his shoulder and Axel became a pretty interesting sight with two large hawks on each side of his head. "Either he didn't think we'd find out so quickly... or he put her here as a trap. I think it's the first since he had her do something to help with the plan."

His eyes continued to look around, to find anything that could help them figure out where the ringleader and Reno went to. He was almost about to call it quits when he heard Terra in the back and he quickly went to investigate, seeing Terra pulling an old tarp out of the way to reveal an open back door that lead into the alley. "How did you think of that?" Axel questioned as he carefully fit through the space. His red eyebrow only inched up when he said he got the idea from a friend.

They didn't bother to speak more about the matter because both their eyes could see wagon tracks leading away from the structure under the lanterns lights. "I bet this will lead to them..." A frown came over the firebender's face, his eyes becoming dark and narrow. "Should we go tell the others to aid or... you think we can do this ourselves?"

[Reno]

"If it's just the two of them, we'll be fine." Terra said, looking at the tracks with narrowed eyes. "But if it's more than that, it could be trouble. We don't want to risk Invidia's safety, but we don't have a lot of time to lose." He crossed his arms and glanced at the red-head before looking back at the trial. He glanced around and sat down on a crate, starting to undo the ties to his boots. "Send one of the dragon-hawk's back with directions and wait for them here, I'll go on ahead."

The red-head frowned and complained why did he get to go?
The brunette tugged off his shoes, and planted them on the ground. The feeling of the ground meeting his toes was a nice one. No motion on the ground was lost to him; he could even feel the movement of several beetle-ants crawling in the trash not too far away. Sometimes he really hated wearing shoes. "Because I'll be able to feel what's ahead."
And if he gets into trouble? How will anyone know?
"Mmm... Give me Maipe. If I think there's trouble, I'll send him back to you and you better hurry your asses." There was a pause, then a nod and the hawk fluttered his wings and landed on Terra's shoulder. He stood, and with a wave headed off down the trial. The red-head watched him for a moment before hurrying into the shack to get some paper.


Back at the 'campsite', it was silent, the tension in the air strung tighter than a violin's strings. Ventus couldn't keep still, Roxas was too still, Aqua kept sharing nervous glanced towards the alley's opening for the boys return, Riku kept sparing glances towards Sora who was just sitting there, staring at nothing as he played with the little fire charm of Invidia's collar. But then suddenly, both he and Ven both jerked and looked up, feeling a disturbance in the wind.

It was a dragon-hawk! It whirled with a soft call before swooping and landing on Roxas' shoulder, making the blonde jump. He was quick to reach up and take out the letter within though, reading it silently. In the next moment he was on his feet. "Come on!"


The trial ended with the wagon. An ostrich-zebra stood at the head of the wagon, quiet as it ate some grass and seeming unbothered by Terra coming over. He glanced in the back of the wagon, but it was empty. The trial, for him, hadn't ended though. He could feel it under his toes as he continued down another alley to a small alley that opened into a square yard with tall buildings all around... movement.

Movement underground. And he realized he was really glad the other's were coming.

There was a lot of them.

[Rikugurl]

"Come on?" Riku replied as he saw Roxas suddenly run off, following a dragon hawk to the ally.
"Ah! Did they find her!?" Ventus cried, quickly helping Soran up and the whole group started to follow the warrior and their guide. They followed them down many alleys and main roads, bumping into the last of the people heading home to to their inns from the evening before. None seem to really mind that they were all in a hurry and a hawk was leading them! Was this something that happened on a normal basis!?

Either way, they came around a corner and they all recognized it well. It was the gaming corner where Invidia had won the trick against the cheetah-hound and they were shocked to see the hawk bring them towards it. She banked a quick left, bringing them around the caged arena before taking a sharp right and landed on the shoulder of a thin man with unruly red hair. They were all glad to see Axel at the end of their race but his face was oddly amused.
"Haha, maybe with that speed, you should all try out for the obstacle course!" He laughed but it was Soran's face that made him pause and sigh. "Come on, we have to hurry." He waved before they started to run again, now following tracks in the dirt.

They quickly found the carriage and this time, the ostrich-zebra now looking up as the larger group walked around it but still just stood there and ate its meal.
"Terra!" Ventus suddenly called and everyone turned to see the air master head down an alley but froze as Terra held out his hand to stop and be quite.

[Reno]

The way wasn't too terribly far, but for Sora it felt like ages before they found the carriage - despairingly empty. His heart fell to his toes - wondering how long...?
He flinched some at Ven's yell but followed him slowly down the small alley with the others, finding the brunette standing there a peculiar frown on his face as he told them to pause. They watched him for a few moments, seeing him walking in a circle, and Sora felt annoyance grow in his heart. "Well what is it?!" He snapped finally.

The brunette glanced over but responded dutifully, "They're underground. A lot of them; at least a hundred. I'm trying to find the opening." He hesitated finally as a broken carriage wheel that was on the floor, along with some other bits of trash. He shifted his feet suddenly and the ground pulled open and underneath a secret passageway was revealed, stairs leading down into darkness. He lent down feeling the top step, frowning even moreso. He had thought so.... "Earthbenders carved this... It leads down about a half mile and someone is standing right at the bottom step. Probably a guard to make sure whoever comes in isn't... well people like us."
"And Invidia is down there?" Sora said, his eyes narrowing.
"Yes, and many more."
"Well then let's go!" He snapped, grabbing his staff but Terra stood, grabbing his shoulders before he could rush down.
"Soran, we can't just barge in!"
"Why not?! They have MY friend and they are going to give her back!!"
"Yes, but if we cause a panic we'll be too busy fighting them to get to her before they cart her away!"
The Avatar ground down his teeth and shook, glaring at the earthbender.

[Rikugurl]

Ventus's eyes widened when he started to hear the news... and put it together. He could remember a horrible, terrifying conversation that they had when they were at the destroyed village...

"Hey, I think Vivi might even be worth a gold coin if we're lucky!"
"Sei, that ain't funny man!"
"The fights...?" Sora asked, his look confused.
Roxas scoffed and spoke up, looking disgusted. "It's an underground gambling ring in the Earth Kingdom capital where they find two animals to fight against one another."
"Yeah, I hear it's a great way to make some quick cash if you know where to go."
"It's also very illegal and cruel!"
"Oh please there just animals."
"They uproot and KILL thousands of animals a year!"
"K-Kill...?" Sora said, his eyes wide.
"That's how the determine who wins." Roxas scoffed. "Whoever's still standing is lucky that day. Whoever isn't... is crowfood."
"That's awful. Why hasn't anyone stopped them!" Soran said, nuzzling his furry friend.
"They can't find them." Terra spoke up. "Bei Sing Sei is an incredible city and they're always moving. And, unfortunately, it's not a very high priority on the guard's list of things to take care of."

It seemed like.... Bei Sing Sei wasn't the only place that had these horrible underground fights. He started to shake as the Avatar and earth bender argued, his knees almost becoming weak. All that blood... all those poor animals... all those horrible people...
he closed his eyes and his breathing became labored at the intensity of the images his mind were displaying. "I... I can't go anyway... I... I can't see that sort of... of... murder."
Everyone paused, looking at the air bender who slid against the alley wall and held himself. Roxas was quick to go to his side but their attention was grasped by something else.

"No problem. I'll go in."
They heard a suddenly rip and then another. One piece after the other, cloth was ripped from the fire bender's festival outfit, making him look rather poor and suspicious. A larger piece of cloth was wrapped around his face, hiding his Sun Warrior tattoos and another wrapped around his head like a turban, covering his red hair. He lowered himself and too fits of dirt, applying it to his skin and rubbing it, making it smudge to give him a dirtier look. When he stood again, Maipe landed on his shoulder and he carefully took off the Noble Fire Nation symbol, tossing it to Roxas before running his fingers UP through the hawk's feathers, making the hawk extremely uncomfortable and shabby looking. Feathers were all over, stuck up and out of place and before he could preen himself, Axel stopped him.

"Anyone can feel free to join me but be clever about it. Wait at least 10 minutes before you come down." He whispered as he passed the group, slowly passing Terra and then down the stairs.


The group silently looked around, knowing that Axel might need some help but Riku was none too happy about the eyes on him, knowing that he had two 'vicious' creatures in his possession. "I will not put the Spirits in danger..."

[Reno]

"Well I am." Came a firm, angry voice, a staff being uncaringly thrown onto the ground without a clatter. Sora had flames burning in his eyes.
"Well, You can't go down looking like a damn schoolboy. Come here." Roxas said in a tone that nearly matched dragging the other over to help him get in a 'new' costume.
Terra frowned, watching the two before glancing at the other. "I'm going as well. Aqua?"
"There isn't any water down there. I don't think I'll be much help." She said with a frown. The brunette nodded simply, before walking over to Ven and patting his shoulder. "It's alright Ven..." then he turned and walked over to the other two, helping them look the part. He knew exactly what kind of people were welcome down there.

One by one, the three headed down at well spaced intervals. Terra was the last to go, and the three left behind looked uneasily as they saw the ground get covered up by the brunette's Earthbending, feeling helpless.

Sora was the first who went down, the gold pulled free of his clothes, the necklace he wore thrown aside and the copper coins jingling at his side. A hat had been constructed from his clothes, hiding his bald head and when he met the man at the bottom steps, and he needed no acting to get past his rough attitude brought about by his fury as he snapped the man away. Unknowingly, with Terra's careful guidance, he looked like a sand bender bandit and the acting was prefect because from his own anger the air currents around him had made some sand whip about.

Roxas was next a few minutes afterwards, a long shabby red coat hiding hidden weaponry and with his flowing bandanna and some beads strung in the hair poking free of it he looked more like a pirate than a teenager anymore. He passed by easily and he, like Sora, managed a nasty enough tone to move past the 'guard'.

And then finally Terra who, like Axel, had covered himself in dust using his Earthbender, his skin several shades darker. The bands around his arms had been snapped free and though he wore mostly red, his green, Earth Kingdom bandanna was around his forehead. It was the easiest of all for him to slip by as the guard took one look at the green piece of clothing and slipped, stepping aside. Terra nodded respectfully to the other man - an Earthbender as he was - and continued on.

His blue eyes scanned the crowd, spotting Axel in a far corner his own eyes searching as he talked with some other shady characters, and Sora on the earth-bended seats quite alone, and Roxas rallying up a talk with some strangers as he leaned against the edge of the ring, looking down.

The ring was a large, earth-crafted pit, the walls several feet high. Metal cages had been built on the east and west sides - undoubtably where the challengers came out from. There was no where in the ring right now, but there was blood on the ground. Dried long ago it seemed. Terra flexed his toes. The animals were even further below.

[Rikugurl]

Down below, the area was heavily guardian by benders as they stopped anyone and everyone from coming inside a room that was full of rattling cages, howls, snarls, cries and shrieking. Amongst the creatures that were shoved in cages, some sizes too small for the beasts in them, was the captured rabbit-fox who had already tried to gnaw the bars off with no result. There were scratch marks all around and some dings from her trying to charge through the back wall of the crate. She had wore herself out and had no clue that a special tool was waiting for her when she was up. Something about whether they should clip her wings or not so she couldn't fly.

As she rested to store some energy, hoping to try again, she felt a tickle at her back feet. Being as 'prissy' as she was, she jumped up and spun around in her larger cage and barked, looking through the bars at another creature that was a bit larger than she. It had golden soft, sad eyes that peered down at her, it's chin and belly fur tan as the rest of its fur was a rusted red. It had a gorgeous small mane that was trying to fill out and the puff at the end of it's tail was what tickled her. "Yiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip?" It called softly and Vi probably recognized it. It was a raptor-lion.


"So, what's next?" A sly, rusty voice asked the small group, his green eyes brightening with greed as he heard something about a Pygmy Puma against a Platypus Bear. It was one of the highly, known, anticipated fight of the night and sometimes, the mystery fights were even better. "Sound like the match of the year... I'll put 75 gold pieces on the puma." The man said as his lanky fingers reached into his pocket and threw the coins down in the earth bended table.

[Reno]

Green ears flipped back and Invidia huffed before laying down, turning her head away from the feline. Her body was aching from the fight she had had with Tumai, and further more for her failed escape attempts. She had no time for a stupid little-

Twitch twitch.
She kicked away the tail irritably.
Twitch twitch.
She looked at the cat and huffed, barking at him. Her ears rose however when she heard a shout, and she looked out of her cage. Down the line, she saw a jackalope skittering around in it's cage as someone opened it's cage and reached in, grabbing it by an antler. It squirmed and kicked uselessly as it was dragged out. "Come on you useless rodent."
Invidia got to her feet and walked to the edge of his cage, her snout sticking out some as she watched the man drag it over to a cage where a puma was stalking around. When it saw the rabbit it's eyes glowed hungrily and snarled rushing at the cage and sticking it's paws out. But the man was a safe distance away as he shook the creature, taunting the fearsome cat.Another man stood near by and every once and awhile poked in a large stick and stabbed the cat making it yowl and hiss in fury. They were just... goading it! Riling it up!
After this went on for a few terrible minutes the man took the jackalope and threw it in another cage where a saber-tooth moose lion approached the shaking rodent and open it;s large teeth and-
Invidia howled and ran to the back of her cage curling up and hiding her eyes under her paws, shaking. She didn't want to be here!


"Aye, that so?" A young pirate slurred, his speech and grammar nothing to get a medal over. He laughed loudly when another spoke and shook his head. "Nay, you can't narry get a show like dis to match unless it's a real and true ship brawl! You shoulda seen old iron arm and Jack Flare going at it. They nearly burnt and broke me mast right off with the way they went at it."
The false tale continued to spill out, the pirate only looking away once to see who was at the gambling table and his eyes sparked.
"Ah, a moment gents. I need to make me bet before they close the deal." He stepped away wandering over with a swish to his step that spoke of a man who spent more time on sea than land and he passed by another stepping away. There eyes met for a moment, like a stare down, before he passed him. Roxas tried to keep off a frown of disappointment as he approached the table and made his bet on the bear. Axel had yet to see their culprits.

Terra circled the rim of the pit, looking bored as he looked down.
"What's your pleasure?" Another spoke to him and he paused as the man approached.
"My pleasure? Would be if this fucking thing would start already." Terra said with as coarse of a tongue as he could manage. It wasn't hard; his dad had taught him well. "They always keep you fucking waiting, trying to hike up aggression."
"Too true, too true." The other agreed, staring down at the pit, his eyes eager for it to start. "Ah, well until it does, why not stop by a drink? only a few silver coins a bottle."
Terra smirked, following. "Ah, that I can take you up on. A bottle is like a good fucking woman, except they pleasure without the backtalk!"

Still alone but not idle, Sora stared ahead but his ears were listening, the voices on the air currents flying far. He hadn't yet caught word of anything but idle, boasting conversation. Useless words and -ugh- more profanity and pornography then he'd ever been subjected to. He saw Roxas making his way back to his crowd, buttering them up into a talk again and trying to worm information from them without their realizing. Meanwhile Terra was getting buddy-buddy with the bartender and the way the brunette spoke would of set Ven into shame.

But nothing about Invidia yet...

[Rikugurl]

There was more yelps and growls, howls and crates shaking after the traumatic scene but it quickly became quiet, the smell of blood poisoning the air.
Then,
"iiiip, iiiiiiip."
Silence.
"iiip, iiiip, iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip...."
Whimpering.

The little rabbit fox could feel the tickling again, this time not so jovial as before. When their eyes met again, the golden were much sadder looking than before, some water making them glow as if they were truly made out of gold. His tail pulled away and he turned the best he could, a bit worried that he would get stuck as his fur stuck out of the cage but a large paw managed to get from the bars and moved towards the smaller creature. They opened, paws to the ceiling and it looked like he wanted to hold her hand for comfort...


"HEY! When the fuck is this shit going to get started!?" A call came over the crowd, some recognizing it instantly even if it was a bit off. It was Axel.
The whole arena started to holler and yell, agreeing with the turban stranger. Another young man growled, glaring at Axel before calling the last of the bets were to be placed now or never. Some more coin piece dropped before it was bended close and lights lit up the main floor. Everyone pushed and shoved their way to the fighting pit looking down at the entrances.

They quickly started to hear the growls from each side, the hissing and snarling of the puma and the roars from the bear.
Axel wasn't sure if the others were watching but his eyes moved towards the battle, feeling a bit of excitement.
Or was that.... his brother again....?
He swallowed before looking away, only pretending like he was interested.

It was a bloody mess and for the people sitting around just above, for them not to hear it was simply amazing as the two animals fought to the death. Large paws smacked into the other's face, throwing it on the ground but the puma was quick and hungry, moving around the bear and attacking it's side, sinking it's powerful jaw into the furry flesh. New, red blood started to stain the arena and the yells and calls almost drowned the faunas out. An eye went missing, a tail ripped off. Fur mixed into the pools of blood and panting was making them foam at the mouth.

It ended nearly 30 minutes later, the bear surprisingly claiming the championship. However, both Terra and Axel could tell as they dragged the bodies away that the bear was still going to die from its injuries and it wouldn't be a quick and painless dead either. It was going to rot in its cage for a few days until whoever owned or stole it got sick of the smell.

[Reno]

The paws moved some, looking towards the creature next to her cage in silence, regarding the paw with distrust. Maybe he just wanted her near to rip her in half. But Moomba-lions weren't often vicious...

Then again, neither were pygmy pumas. Her ears flipped back and she growled softly.

She looked up again when there were sounds of the cages being moved the bear and the puma inside were snarling, starving and ready to fight.


It was awful. Ven was lucky he hadn't come. And Sora made no true effort to part the crowd to see better as he heard the two animals killing each other. He was near sick at the smell of blood and the sounds of cheering. How... How could people... be so cruel?

Roxas faired little better, his hand clasped around a hidden sword to hide his shaking and fury. These monsters...
Terra watched with a dark gaze, a bottle dangling from his fingers, his expression unreadable.

The battle lasted long, testing the fighters' stamina and stomachs before it finally, thankfully, came to an end. But Terra frowned behind the alcohol scorching his throat, knowing the now one-eyed bear too would die. However, his eyes sparked in interest when a man walked out in the arena - and at his side... a cheetah-hound. And at his other side, a man with vibrant red hair.
Sora's heart skipped a beat.
Roxas leaned forward.
Axel's teeth grit.

"Ah, now wasn't that entertaining?!" The blonde called up, roars and howls of agreement cheering down. "DO YOU WANT ANOTHER?!" The shouts were deafening and the man held up his hands, chuckling, as he looked at the man beside him. "I think they want to know. Reno, tell them what we have lined up next for them. A real treat you'd say?"
"Oh indeed!" Came the cunning tone. "A mystery fight!"
Cheers, howls.
"But, Rufus and I are feeling generous. We'll give you a hint. It's a real cat and dog fight!!" As the crowd got riled, the two shared a glance.
"And before you consider just betting for the dog, consider the cat!" Rufus chimed in with a smirk. "Oh it could be just a sweet, little cat owl..."
"BOOOOOOO!!"
"OR a ferocious saber-tooth moose lion!"
"YEAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

"Ah, but what about his competitor?!" Reno called suddenly strutting about the pit pointing up towards some men and asking them outright. "Do you fine chaps think it's nothing more than a labradoddle?!"
"NOOOOO!!!"
"No chance! Then we're agreed right?! It must be a BULL-WOLF!"
"YEAAAAAAA!!!!"
Reno laughed and turned to Rufus. "Well, I'm with them! My money's on the dog!"
"Well, I'll roll in riches when I see your dog fall to the cat!" Rufus called and beside him his cheetah-hound howled. "Everyone you have ten minutes! Make those bets fast!"

And in their cages, not knowing the sudden plot against them, a rabbit-fox and a raptor-lion cuddled against their bars, sharing comfort in the wake of the terror above.