The Morean maiden sat down as she fanned the hot soup. Sora and the Dimension Guardians sat at a table as they brought what they ordered. Thomas had taken a bite off of the baby back ribs with barbecue sauce. Stacey used a fork to stab a defenseless tomato from her salad. María took a sip of mineral water with a slice of flatbread Mike gave her while he scarfed down his in large chunks. Sora was eating mashed potatoes before she saw Violet. She could see her purple hair stand out and her lilac garb from where she was.

A young man with a samurai hat and a uniform brought tea, one for the lady in lavender and one for himself.

"Your battle was nothing I had ever seen before." Jacinto openly admitted as he gave Violet tea.

"It's mild compared to the battles that will come." Violet mentioned before she blew the steam off the soup.

Even if you defeat me, you won't be able to stop what's coming. Sora swallowed the mashed potatoes as she recalled her match. If a skilled assailant like her was able to break through her defenses effortlessly against an Arivex endowed with cosmic powers like her. Why would she go through all the trouble to warn her?

"It's true. The fights will become fierce, but you will find a way to overcome them." Jacinto responded as he looked at her. Violet took another spoonful before she saw the tea he gave her and saw his reflection through the tea.

"I confess, I did not expect to meet someone as persistent as you." Violet looked at Jacinto as he gazed at her. "Usually, I have a clear outcome of what will come at my way. You became a rift that changed my course." She said as she looked at his icy blue eyes.

"I hope that is a good thing." Jacinto gave a dimpled smile.

Sora was staring at them before Stacey noticed the Arivex zone out. "Hey, Hasaki!" Sora looked at Stacey. "What did she tell you when you were fighting her?" Stacey queried as her green eyes gave a stern glance at Sora.

It was the way she looked at her. Violet warned her to stay alert, and Stacey knew that Sora kept withholding information.

"Nothing." Which was sort of true, they didn't say a word to each other, they just communicated telepathically.

"Yeah, I also wanna know." Zack added as he finished eating his flatbred. Sora resumed eating mashed potatoes.

The Deity of Liberty leaned on the wall after Ryan had gone with Felin to indulge her in tracking an unusual scent. Breloq was calm, still as a statue until he heard the Deity of Discipline within his empty head. "Breloq, I require your assistance." Tantetra requested in her usual professional tone.

With his jaw zipped shut, he transmitted his thought, "I'm on my way." The 10 ft wind up doll erected a door, then twisted the knob to open the portal that would leave him to ParaVi's realm.

The Deity of Realms himself had his multiple eyes on the Oculli while the images shifted and overlapped each other. One of the eyes dangling on his jester hat slowly turned to see the light that came out of the door just as Breloq stepped out of the portal. "I'm at ParaVi's place, where are you?" Breloq asked her telepathically. "Behind you." Tantetra responded personally. Breloq turned over his shoulder and pivoted to see the Deity of Discipline walk up to him, chin slightly elevated show dominance as she looked at the Deity of Liberty at his beady button eyes. "Take me to the tournament." Tantetra responded sternly as she opened the hilt of her fan. ParaVi watched them enter the portal before the door closed and dematerialized right behind him, then his eye slowly turned to look at the Oculli once more.

Breloq opened a door that lead them to the stadium, allowing the Deity of Discipline to take the first step as she arrived to the stadium and watched the mortals unaware of their presence. Though two or three passerbys noticed her by the time Breloq made the door disappear.

"Mommy look! A stilted man and a giant woman." A little boy shouted as he pointed at the two deities before the boy's mother grabbed his wrist.

"Simon, don't be rude." His mother admonished him before he dragged him out of the hall before the boy let a whine.

Breloq's exterior was unexpressive, though after he zipped his jaw open his voice elicited a laugh then it ended just as quickly when Tantetra looked at him.

"What was so urgent?" Breloq asked.

"The tournament has brought my attention and I came to ensure that this place is secure." Tantetra said before she spotted Patricia. The blonde receptionist was speaking to one of her coworkers.

Patricia had spotted Tantetra and chose to avoid her. It was perturbing enough to know that the deities could pose a threat to her plans, let alone allow one of them to have leverage over her.

Patricia adjusted her tricolored jacket and put on her best face while the Deity of Discipline kept watch and maintaining a conversation towards one of her kin. Breloq perceived what Tantetra implied.

"So that explains it." Breloq said as he slightly tilted his head.

"My stay here will be brief. I'll keep watch in case a problem arises." Tantetra clarified. Breloq shrugged as he walked to look for Ryan and Felin.

Scale brought a box of cheese pizza with cucumbers. With the first bite he chewed on the contents then gobbled the first three slices while the space cadets were down the hall as they split up, Stella headed to the foodcourt while Micah stayed and interrogated bystanders about the criminal as she showed the photo of the suspect.

Carina wore her sunglasses and ate a tuna sandwich before she spotted the Izarian at the food court, asking random strangers. Stella revealed the mugshot of Carina's original form before the bystanders shook their heads and walked away. Carina sipped on a soda, inwardly scoffing at the Izarian farm girl and her poor interrogation methods, before she saw Stella coming closer.

"Excuse me ma'am, have you seen this delinquent?" Stella asked her directly without having any idea that she was asking the same person who she was looking for. Carina lowered her sunglasses and looked at the old photo of her original form, she thought that the I.B.I. would've at least updated the mugshots by now.

"Haven't seen her."

"Oh well, have a nice day." Stella walked away from her as the usurper slurped on the soda.

Scale was taking a bite of the last slice of pizza by the time Stella came to ask him about the usurper. "Sorry to interrupt, but have you seen this person by any chance?" Scale looked at the screen to see a humanoid feline with grayish blue fur and green eyes, though she had a short curly mane.

"No." Scale responded.

"Ok, stay safe." Stella said as she was about to walk away.

"Wait!" Scale blurted before Stella turned over her shoulder to look at the nervous Reptilian. "How long has she been missing?" Scale asked, though he was having second thoughts about it.

"She's incognito. Do you have a lead?" Stella took out a pen and an electronic flipbook as she opened an application to take notes.

"I-uh. No, to be honest. If you need someone to help you track her heat signature, I'm here." Scale then shut his eyes and cringed at his suggestion. Track her heat signature!? What was I thinking?

Stella considered his offer. "Is not actually a bad idea. There aren't many species with infrared vision." Scale opened his eyes, registering her response. "It could be useful in finding criminals in abandoned sites. Do your species use electronics?" Stella asked him.

Micah considered the current method of interrogation time consuming. It was much easier sending an alert on a massive scale where civilizations with technology could have quick access to information to alert the masses about intergalactic criminals and rogue machinery with advanced intelligence, instead she had to ask random strangers who had no clue what they were looking at or couldn't grasp the severity of what the usurpers could do.

Her frustration was more evident when one of the guards scartched their heads at the inquiry. The Amoebian walked away as her stubby legs moved rapidly in a blurry motion.

Sajid was confused of what he just witnessed before his coworker returned from the women's restroom. "Did I miss anything?" Sara asked.

"Nah, not really." Sajid replied.

"They're looking for volunteers to fight tonight. They're offering food and a place to stay in case you're interested. As much as I enjoy fighting, I'm saving my energy for the Tryout tomorrow." Goung rambled.

"I'll gladly volunteer, where do I sign up?" Ximo inquired as he unrolled his sleeve to flex his bicep.

"I've been wanting to fight for a while now." Mewmi commented before she eavesdropped on their conversation about vacant bosses. "I want it!" On her way to the backstage, one of the employees removed the flyers that offered the boss positions for the Redemption Round.

While she clawed the backstge doors as the metal made a grating sound. "Sorry, it's full." Said the employee before he walked away.

"Nyooh! It's not fair!" Mewmi shapeshifted into a cat, chasing the employee, clawing the hem of his pants.

Faim heard a yell coming from one of the employees. He saw the shapeshifting feline harassing a scrawny man while he ran up to pry her off of the employee who was just doing his job. "No! Bad kitty." Faim rebuked her while Mewmi flailed angrily at the employee. 

The employee headed to the infirmary to treat his scratch marks. Mewmi whined, then laid her head on Faim's shoulder as she sobbed. "I just wanted to have fun and no one let's me fight in the Arena."

Faim unsure what to do with her, he took Mewmi to the foodstands to buy comfort food.

Stella wrote down Scale's information and contacts in case she needed his aid, the Izarian waved goodbye at the Reptilian. The Dimension Guardians were halfway done with their lunch when Stacey prodded Sora to spill what was bothering her.

"She was warning me about something." The Arivex stated.

"Like what?" María asked her, as her brown eyes were focused on her.

"That I wasn't the only one in danger and one of us had to stay as a distraction." Sora said as she heard the conversation.

"That's kinda cryptic." Zack commented.

"But who are we supposed to watch out for?" María asked her.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out." Sora said as she looked at Violet while the lady in lavender was conversing with the sailor.

The scarred sorceror had returned to Nylvalenor, some of the elves that survived the necromancer's previous onslaught, they used a magic barrier to protect the city from outsiders. Through the barrier, he saw an elven child play with a ball made out of leather and cotton. The young elf was an aeromancer, since the ball was flimsy on its own, the elven boy made a game out of it by practicing his magic. The elven boy threw the ball, and used the air to change the direction of the ball with the wind before he lost control of the ball and landed outside of the barrier. The elven boy ran to get the ball back, unaware that there was a hooded man waiting outside. The elven boy looked for the ball until he found it nearby a creek. If he hadn't caught it in time, it would've fallen into the stream. As the boy returned to Nylvalenor, he got inside the barrier, but the ball was kept out of the magic barrier. Nulekai appeared as a frail hunched man, "Young lad, you should know that once something is cast out of the barrier, it cannot return from whence it came."

"That's not true, I can bring my ball back." The elven boy said as he saw the frail man.

"Young man, this magic barrier was made to keep intruders out. How will you be able to break it?" He inquired.

"With elemental magic. The elf who can cast it can open a portal by using those elements." The elven boy responded, determined to get his ball back.

Nulekai picked up the ball and kept it under his arm. "If you cannot open the barrier, I will keep the ball and find another use for it." As he turned away and walked a few steps before the young elf shouted.

"Wait! I can prove it!"

Nulekai turned and watched how the elven boy tried to make an opening, but to no avail. The scarred sorcerer approached the boy and said, "Child, you will need to use the four elements to create a portal. Air alone won't break the barrier." The young elf however was persistent, though he made no progress since he was merely an air elemental. Frustrated, he grabbed the ball and threw it at the barrier but it bounced back. The sorceror wouldn't admit it, but he found the boys attempts quite amusing. The elven boy summoned the air, then Nulekai tricked the boy into opening the portal by condensing half of the air into water, then made the a quarter of the water to solidify on the soil and on the barrier and the remaining half of the air evaporated a light creating a small fire to burn and the wind that the elven boy used to open a portal to the barrier. The elven boy witnessed how the portal opened and stretched wide enough to make a small door.

"I did it!" The elven boy shouted before Nulekai gave the ball to him, the boy threw it inside the portal.

"Congratulations, you have served your purpose." The scarred sorcerer grabbed the boy by the nape and drained him of his vitality, the boy bled out as Nulekai dug his nails into his skin and dried the elven boy, his skin turning grey and brittle until the boy fell to the ground, his dried corpse reduced to dust. The necromancer entered into the portal, while the dust was blown away by the wind.

Nulekai arrived at the stadium as two guards stood by the entrance. The sorceror glanced at the mortal guards before one of them put a cuff on Nulekai to nullify his powers before he entered into the stadium. "Welcome to the Gladatorium." Alma greeted before the sorcerer surreptitiously looked at the elven receptionist.

Hexice was simply perusing around the stadium as he observed the possibilities that might play out related to the matches in snippets. One of them involved the scaled dogs finding a giant hand within one of the sealed doors. The most absurd possibilities could be the most amusing. Another possibility would be in which the scaled dogs being escorted out. Now that would be fun to watch. Hexice thought.

As the Deity of Fate past by a stranger who was the same stature, he saw an unfavorable future. Hexice's smile faded as the brim of his hat tilted while he turned to see the man walked past by him. The same man who could harm Ryan. The same dark cloak and frail complexion brought would be capable of bringing the elven warrior to his knees.

Out of the many outcomes Hexice saw that day, this one was the most unpleasant.

When June was unconscious after her match with Haeji, she dreamt of an underground ruin. Derek was wearing a face mask and camouflage as he brought her to see her little sister. "June!" She looked to her right to see her sister calling.

"Verona." June shouted in the dream. As she saw Verona come closer she saw two silhouetted men come out of nowhere and grabbed her by the arm and dragged her away.

"June! June!" Verona shouted, when she woke up, it was Haeji who shouted for her brother.

"Joon!" Haeji shouted before she had ran out of the infirmary.

First it was the elderly Yamitzu master mentioning the 2nd form, Junu. Now it was a sick patient who had a similar sounding name to hers. Either she was mishearing her name or someone was playing tricks on her.

She had called Derek earlier to ask how his plan was going. "Hey Derek, how is your plan working out?"

On Derek's end he had sent a drone to scout the area where the underground troops were passing through, "Good so far, I'm still tracking the master's location."

"Let me know if you found her."

"Will do." Derek replied before he hung up. June knew that their conversations had to be brief, she couldn't risk getting traced by the underground or the hackers. She couldn't stop feeling that she was being watched.

When she looked over her shoulder it was a golden yellow cat. "Mrrow."

"Hi." June greeted before the cat leaned to the hem of her jeans, the she picked up the feline. She petted her golden yellow fur, then scratched behind her ear as he heard her purr. It vaguely reminded her on how she and Verona found a stray cat on the back porch. June was 8 and Verona had recently turned 4 when they spotted a black and white cat. "Fluffy!" Verona had ran up to play with the cat while the feline had raw meat in it's maw. The stray cat ran away from her though June managed to catch the cat and petted it. Verona walked up to her to pet the cat on the cat, caressing the sullied fur. "You need a bath, Fluffy." The cat hissed at the mention of the word bath. The stray cat jumped from June's arms and ran away. Fluffy was a skinny cat that squeezed through the picket fence and escaped, and she never saw the stray cat again after that. Mewmi purred contentedly at the attention she was receiving, the strokes of gentle hands soothing her.

Eimy and Uiwo were conversing while the young blonde crossed her arms. "Aren't the matches supossed to last from up to 4 hours?" She queried, as she looked at the empty arena.

"Depends on how many contestants are participating. If there are 22 contenders, it could last from up to 2 hours." Uiwo mentioned.

"This is different from the tournaments Faim entered before. First, there are female fighters. Secondly, the tournaments usually have preliminary matches, exhibition matches, secondary matches, semifinals and final matches." Eimy noted with her fingers as she numbered the matches.  "I've only seen the preliminary matches so far."

"The Tryout is going to be an exhibition match, just like tonight's matches." Uiwo mentioned.

"Are you sure?" Eimy asked him.

"Certainly! Back when I used to wrestle with Ximo, we wrestled each other in exhibition matches for a quick buck. And that was way back when we were newcomers. Those matches were held early in the morning, late at night, or in between matches." Uiwo recalled, remembering his adolescence when he and Ximo used to wear spandex and masks and beat each other up out of sport, and fight as a duo in tag team matches as the Beauchamp Bros. The difference between them was that Uiwo stepped down from the fighting scene to find a different profession and start fresh, though Ximo sticked to staying in shape, fighting, and opened up a gym.