It was 11:30, my heart pounding with anticipation, I got ready for the fight with Sara in the locker room.

"You've been awfully quiet since the woods Alex." Sara said, making me jump.

"Sorry, I've just had a lot on my mind." I said weakly.

"I can see that." Then she leaned in close and whispered into my ear, making it twitch. "It's okay, this is a fool-proof plan." She stepped back and winked.

"It's not that, it's just..." My voice wavered, threatening to cry again. Determined to stay strong, I cleared my throat. "It's just that my parents said I have to make dinner for 16 after this." I lied.

"Ah, well good luck with that." She clearly didn't by it.

"Thanks." I said half-heartedly.

When finished getting ready in silence. Noon was coming way too soon. We both separated into our own sides of the tunnel. I was called first. I walked in confidently, the crowd watched silently. I waved to the crowd, and they exploded into excitement. I walked all the way to the opposite side of the arena. Afterwards, Sara was called in by the name Samuel, that hurt, but I shook it off, knowing I'd have to focus.

We nodded at each other out of respect, then waited for the horn in our ready stance. We had the same stance, Sara was just crouched a little lower. I had my feet should-with apart, on the balls of my back paws, knees bent, my right side was pointed towards her, my paws were up, my right arm horizontal to block a blow, and my left vertical to punch.

HONK!

No one moved, all muscles tense. I decided to do what I do best and break the silence. "You ready to fight Jaguar?"

She didn't speak, only nodded, her eyes trained on me.

"What's the matter cat caught your tongue?" I laughed at my own joke, easing the crowd into a polite little clap.

Again, she did not speak. She was searching me, looking for a way to beat me. I gave her nothing, careful to keep shifting in case she got any ideas. We may be friends, but the crowd does not know that, nor shall they, until the time is right. Only I knew when the time was right because I was going to act then. I decided to tempt her again. "Are you a coward? Last night you called out saying you wanted to fight, and now I have a little pipsqueak, too scared to fight. Is this the same jaguar I fought last night? If so, you're pathetic."

She shook her head no. She seemed to be struggling to formulate words. Finally, she spoke in the deepest, huskiest voice I had ever heard her speak in. "I am Samuel the decedent of the jaguar, I will fight you, but we belive not in taking the first swing, at least if it is against our kind."

That was exactly what I was hoping she wouldn't say. I didn't want to take the first swing either. "Looks like we're at a standstill, I am Alex decedent of the puma, I will fight you, but we belive not in taking the first swing against our kind." After a moment, I stepped forward. "I say we are one as cat kind, let us not fight, let us care for our young, and care for our old, let us enjoy the moments together before they are gone. I believe I am not alone in saying this, but we should also care for those who have been thought unable to act like us men, those who are women who have been told they cannot fight." I pointed to Sara. "Please remove your mask and prove my point."

She did as I asked. The crowd was in uproar. She spoke with such defiance, I was even amazed. "Silence!" The crowd shut up. "I am the daughter of Samuel, great fighter and teacher to many, including Alex, my name is Sara, and I stand and fight for those who it has been said impossible to fight. You all saw me, and Alex fight last night, you saw how I evenly matched him, you cannot say a girl cannot fight., for I have fought." The crowd was flabbergasted.

"If you wish to say Sara has been unfit for this, that this has been staged or whatever you may think, you have to go through me to get to her. I don't care if she can handle herself, she may be capable enough to take every last one of you single-handedly, but that does not mean she should. We should fight only when fought against, we should cherish the moments with the ones we care about, we should learn not how to fight, but how to live life, for example in the wild." I glanced back at Sara, she gave me her smile, giving me hope. "As my great teacher, Samuel, Sara's father once told me, 'It is good to treasure time with others, for if not, you live your life alone, and it is wasted.' Who would want to be wasted? Who would want to be forgotten? Who would want to be pointless? No one would. This is why I stand her before you, to stand for all, to stand for memories, to stand for good times, to stand for those who have been forgotten, for those who are stuck in a hole of nothing but fighting, I stand for you all!" The crowd cheered. I took another step toward Sara and stuck my hand out. We put our hands together and raised them above our heads. "We stand for all."

The crowd was happy, but we were still afraid of what was going to happen. There was easily two thousand of them, and there were two of us.