***Please read!***
***This takes place about a month later than the last chapter. In the beginning of the book he was 8 weeks old, now he is 3 months old. In the book it's not going to mention time to much cause Ace doesn't know what's going XD. Now anyways, on to the book!***

I'm not sure how much time has past. Though does it really make a difference? I'm still trapped here and nothing is going to change that, end of story.

I remember promising Dogo that I would defeat Apollo and would escape from this place but I haven't even been in the arena yet! I barely know how to fight let alone the champion dog.

Dogo has been talking to me about different techniques about defense and what I should do in this situation or what if this happens to me, blah blah blah. I've been trying to explain to him that  talking about fighting and actually fighting are two totally different things but he just seems to ignore my question.

I would talk to Buck, except his cough had been getting worse and had to be moved to a different part of the building. I was terrified at thinking he might have gone to the burn pile, but Dogo reassured me that he knew exactly were he was going. Though he never told me where but he just told me he would be fine, and by fine I mean alive which was good enough for me.

Buck's kennel next to me now was empty and I was concerned who was going to be in that kennel. Until now I hadn't realized that I had lived next to my two best friends.

But now one of them was gone. I may never see him again. The thought of it made me whimper and shed a tear of loneliness that fell to the ground like a heavy brick.

I laid on the ground in sadness thinking about what happened while Dogo was taking a nap. It had only been a couple days I think since Buck left, though it had felt like eternity.

I relaxed my body and had let sleep taking over me.
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I was walking through the forest that I had once roamed in my dreams. Its been a while since I had dreamed, let alone be in this place again.

I started running, trying to find alpha. Maybe he could help me, or at least talk to me.

I ran up a hill and crawled through some bushes and went into a clearing. It was pretty ordinary, nothing special. Though one thing had stood out.

A single rose laid in the middle.

It seemed so peaceful just laying there. I walked up cautiously just to be safe. I had stopped myself right above the rose. I had sniffed it and smiled at its beauty.

Though something seemed out of place. I didn't know what it was, I just had a gut feeling that something was off. Though I took in my surroundings to find that everything was normal. Their was no scent in the air, only the natural scents of the forest.

I felt the sudden need to move but I couldn't. It felt so peaceful just to rest here though I still had a feeling as if someone was watching me or something.

I was about to lift my paws and leave but it was too late to move. A sudden pain shot up my legs and I howled in terror. I looked down to realize that more roses were growing from the ground. Except they didn't have any flowers on them at all. They were covered in thorns and they were all intertwining with my legs. The thorn plants kept on going up my body. I started seeing blood drip to the ground.

I kept on screaming but it seemed no one was going to hear me. The thorns started reaching my back and neck. I felt the blood running down my body.

The thorns started going towards my head. I was choking and I needed air. Like right now.

Though anytime I struggled the thorns seemed to only seemed to grow deeper into my fur and skin.

I finally just dropped to the ground in frustration and defeat.

'I guess this is it. This is how my life ends' I thought.

When all hope seemed to be lost, a light was shining in front of me. To my disbelief it was Alpha. Just standing watching as the thorns were suffocating me. He had seemed to say something but it was hard to hear.

I pricked my ears up to try to listen to what he was saying. His voice was very monotone and projecting.

"Remember Ace, every rose has its thorns".

"What?" I questioned "What does that mean?". His presence started to fade away. The thorns started to have almost completely taken over me. I wanted to scream or panic but when I tried I realized that I was still choking and out of breath, I let my head fall and had let the darkness and the pain taken over me.

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My eyes shot open in panic and fear and by instinct I instantly ran towards the cage door but I choked and fell over within the first few steps due to the stupid metal link chain and collar. I heard a sudden laugh which I had thought to be Dogo but had lifted my head to see a familiar face across from me. A smiled had come across my face at the instant I recognized him.

"Buck!?" my voice almost squeaked.

He continued laughing "Of course its me, who else would it be?". I had set my paws on the cage and had wagged my tail with my tongue out. He gave me a smirk with which I did not understand. Bucks eyes narrowed and his smirk became wider with my confused look.

"What is it?" I questioned. He tilted his head and had told me to look. I tilted my head and shifted my glance towards the cage where Buck used to be kept. To my surprise their was someone in there and it wasn't just a dog. It was a german shepherd. It seemed to be pretty young. Around my age.

Buck was still smirking, for reasons that still eluded me.

"What is so interesting about the german shepherd? I mean I know it's my own breed but why are you so interested in it?" I asked.

He laughed a little and grunted "You'll see soon enough,".

I decided to ignore Buck and just lay down for a little bit. I didn't want to sleep because of my nightmare but before I could think any longer darkness took over.
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I saw the flickering light of the kennels above me. Luckily no dreams this time. Though I woke up to the strangest thing. My head was super close to what used to be Bucks cage. I saw two huge eyes blinking at me and realized it was the german shepherd from earlier.

"Hi!", the cheery german shepherd exclaimed.

"Can I help you?" I stated half asleep and the other half annoyed.

"Oh sorry! Am I bothering you?" exclaimed the dog. Though I realized something else about this young german shepherd. It was a girl! No wonder Buck was smirking all cool like earlier.

Typical buck I thought. I realized that the she-dog was still staring at me. She looked so happy at me. I was surprised to see her so joyful in a place like this. I just gave her a annoyed look and I closed my eyes and had swept my tail over my face to hopefully avoid any contact with her.

"My name is Reika! What's yours?!", she said excitedly. I thought if I should respond at all but I knew if I didn't Buck or Dogo might yell at me for it so I thought I would be nice and reply.

"Ace" I grunted.

"Oh that's a really nice name! I like it! Do you know where we are? I realized your a german shepherd! Do you like being a german shepherd? Or would you prefer being something else? I don't know what I would be. Oh maybe a bird so I can fly! Or maybe I would want to be.." I covered my ears with my paws at the sound of her annoying voice.

Though no matter how much I tried her voice was still annoying as ever. Ugh does this dog ever keep her mouth shut? I thought to myself.

Her questions kept on coming, one by one until I couldn't take it anymore.

"CAN YOU PLEASE JUST SHUT UP?!" I screamed. I was huffing with anger when then all I heard was a whimper and she looked down sadly and started to walk away to the other side of the cage.

I laid my head down with relief. Finally some peace and quiet around here I thought to myself. I shut my eyes in hope of relaxing when a sudden pain shot up through my body from my tail. I yelped in pain to turn around to Dogo stepping on my tail, by the look on his face I could tell he wasn't happy with me.

"What was all that about?!" I asked now irritated with everyone.

"Apologize to her, she was only trying to be nice and your just shoving her away" Dogo demanded.

Oh great not you too, "but.....but....she....uhh...", Dogo interrupted before I could think of a good reason for me being so harsh.

"Now!" growled Dogo. That's the first time Dogo has ever growled at me. He was always so nice I never thought of him being so mean. Well I was kind of being mean to Reika so I guess I could apologize.

I got up on my paws and walked over to were Reika laid on the ground, her head down and looking sadly at the concrete floor.

I took a deep breath and braced myself but I was wondering why I was so scared.

"Um Reika?" I asked hesitantly. Her head shot up and she looked at me with questioning eyes. "May I talk to you for a second?".

"Of course" she replied calmly. Maybe this won't be so bad after all I thought.

"Well I just wanted to say that I, uhhh...am sorry for being so mean to you. I knew that you just wanted to talk to someone and wanted to know what's going on so once again I'm sorry,".

She thought about what I said and then she smiled. "It's alright I accept your apology,". I breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm glad you accepted my apology,". She kept on smiling and then their was an awkward silence.

Then I thought of a good idea that might just sort the whole mess out. "So, I guess I owe you to explain this place and what it is. Would you like to hear it?" I asked.

"Oh yes!" Reika's eyes shined with excitement, "I want to know please!" She pleaded.

I laughed a little inside at her enthusiasm, "Well then were do I start?".
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After a few hours I believed we just kept talking. I told her about the kennels and about Dogo and Buck and how they are my best friends. I also talked about the burn pile and the fighting, she whimpered any time I talked about it. Though I tried making her happy again with some stories about my brother and I when we were pups.

"Woah woah woah, hold on, your brother did what!?" Reika exclaimed, trying to catch her breath from laughing so hard.

"I already told you!" I retorted, laughing very hard as well "My brother thought skunks were dogs! Don't ask why, but he found out the hard way and was sprayed by the skunk! He smelled horrible for a long time, that taught him not to go near one again!".

Reika laughed harder and rolled onto her back, unable to control herself from laughter. I was laughing hard too, it took us a few minutes before we caught our breaths again.

"So you still haven't told me what your brothers name is," Reika panted still trying to catch her breath.

I smiled remembering the memory of him, "He really never had a name,".

Reika tilted her head to the side so her ear flopped "What do you mean?".

"Well we did give him a name but he always liked being called brother because of me so that's why his name was just brother," I explained.

"Oh that's cute, where you separated from him? Is he here with you? Could I meet him?" Reika kept asking questions as always. Though when she kept asking about brother my happiness flew south for the winter and sadness took over my body.

I guess Reika saw I was hurting because she stopped asking questions and came up close to the cage. Almost too close. I started feeling very uncomfortable. I almost didn't realize because of my unease that Reika was trying to extend her paw over mine. I pulled mine away just in time before she could lay hers over mine.

"Ummm what are you doing?" I questioned her with a weird, uncomfortable look on my face.

She pulled her paw away quickly. She lowered her head and ears "Sorry, I was just...uhhhh....trying to help. Yes! Just trying to help!" She explained quickly with her grinning real nervously.

I grinned back for a second then decided to walk over to the other side of the cage to were Dogo was at. I needed to talk to him. I had this feeling that I'm not sure what, but it was something I never felt before. Could it have been...? No. I couldn't have that feeling so soon from just meeting her not even a day ago. The thought slipped from my head as I noticed Dogo. He was laying down sleeping as usual. I went under the gap and walked over to Dogo as much as the chain would let me. Luckily he was sleeping close to the gap so it was easy to wake him up without me struggling against the chain.

"Dogo, Dogo wake up! It's me Ace!" I poked my paw at his head but he just kept on snoring. Typical I thought.

I looked around to see a bowl of dirty water in his cage. I walked over and grabbed it with my jaw and held it over his head. He is not going to like this, hopefully he won't be too mad at me I thought.

I poured the yucky water over his head. His eyes shot open. His head shot up straight into the air, cursing under his breath. His huge paw came up into the air and he slammed it right into my face as my face slammed into the concrete. His giant paw on my face, his face super close to mine, his breath hot on my fur.

"What's the big idea runt?!" He growled at me. Though when I tried to reply his grip loosened and his face changed from angry to shocked.

"Ace!" Dogo exclaimed, "I'm sorry I didn't know it was you," he said as he got off my body "Are you okay?".

"I'm fine don't worry," I replied reassuring.

"That's good, so what do you need?" Dogo asked.

"It's about Reika," I said.

"Ahhh the other german shepherd. Have you two been getting acquainted?" He asked nudging me and smirking.

"Oh no, not you too!" I exclaimed. I heard Buck laughing at my comment.

"We are not a thing Buck!" I stated sternly.

He smirked at me "You say that now pup! Just wait and see!". I just rolled my eyes and focused my attention on Dogo.

"Okay well Dogo, I'm not sure how to put this but I thought I should go to you about this. Now I know I should handle this on my own but I look up to you and I like hearing your advice so I was wondering on what I should do with..." I decided to look up for a second when I noticed Dogo was smiling at me all weirdly.

Ugh I thought Doesn't anyone take me seriously around here?

I started to march back to my cage. I didn't hear Dogo laughing anymore as he started to follow after me.

"Wait Ace, I'm sorry I didn't listen to you. I...I just," Dogo started apologizing but I tuned him out. He kept on apologizing and I just let him blabber with my paws over my ears. He kept talking until I didn't hear him, in fact I didn't hear anything. I lifted my head and turned around to see what was going on. I was about to ask Dogo what was going on when I saw it. One of the humans was walking down the aisle.

He carried a collar and chain in his hand. He was going to claim his victim for the next dog fight. Each dog was looking at the human, eyes wide with fright as they were praying that they wouldn't be taken. He finally was about to pass me when he had stopped at Dogo's kennel.

Oh no I thought He is not going to steal my friend, I won't let him! I ran as far as the chain would let me and started barking at the man. I was up on my two hind legs baring my teeth and barking with all my might.

I heard a voice that I instantly recognized, "Ace" it said.

I looked over for a second to see it was Reika.

"It isn't worth it Ace. Just let it go," she pleaded soothingly.

"No Reika" I said as calm as I could.

"But Ace...they'll hurt you,".

"I don't care! You don't understand Reika. You'll never understand what it's like to have someone you would lay down your life for!" I shouted. Reika whimpered and I regret saying those words. I was going to apologize when the human took notice of me.

He opened my cage and shoved the other collar over me and took the other one off. Wait a minute I thought He was never after Dogo, but he was after me...

He started to drag me out of my kennel. I heard a synchronized 'no' from Dogo and Reika. Dogo was barking at the human while Reika was begging the human to return me. I tried gripping onto the concrete beneath me but it was no use. The floor was too flat and there wasn't anything I could cling to.

I passed by Buck as he was just pacing in his kennel, without even bothering to look at me. I watched as my kennel and the other dogs get smaller and smaller. Dogo and Reika's faces were panicked and they looked fearful. I tried to look at them for as long as I could for maybe it was the last time I would ever see them.

I felt a shadow looming over me as I knew it was the next room. I took one last good glance at the room and everyone in it before the door was shut and my world that I have known was now gone.

I yelped at the thought but the human tugged at my chain and forced me to keep going. I walked only a few paces before I was smushed into a space only I could get into. I couldn't see a thing because it was all dark. The human took the collar and chain off me and I heard a clanking noise and realized it was a door shutting me in a tiny room. I ran around the tiny space trying to find a way out but it was no use.

It was pitch black and there was no way out. I tried finding the light of the hallway so I could get out there and back to the kennel room with my friends. For once in my time here all I wanted to do was just go back to my kennel. I whimpered and I shed a tear at the thought of it.

All of a sudden, a great orb of light had hit my eye. It took a couple of seconds to realize what it was but now I know. The was a big pit in front of me, with metal wire fences going all the way to the ceiling, humans were in the stands yelling and cheering at the pit, at the dogs, at me...

Though the most distinct feature was what was right across from me. A dark tiny area similar to mine with poles reaching from the top to the bottom and a set of gleaming eyes staring at me with a lot of intensity.

That's the dog I'm fighting I thought. Though I couldn't see who it was I knew this dog was big and strong, and a murderer...

My paws would not move but I narrowed my eyes. No. I will not be fearful. It's time I start to act like a dog not a puppy.

I recalled something Dogo had taught me when I first came here 'They will stop at nothing to kill you Ace, remember that'.

Well I guess it's time to see everything that Dogo has been teaching me has payed off I thought.

I walked out into the arena with only one thought in my head.

I must kill or be killed.
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After 3610 words it's finally done! I'm sorry KodaTala that I used the every rose has its thorns reference I'm
Sorry! But you guys should check out her channel as she does werewolf stories and there amazing! The pic in the beginning is Reika and I don't own the pic! I hope to get another chapter in before summer ends but if I don't I promise I'll get one in soon! Anyways I think that's it be sure to check out KodaTala and all my other amazing subscribers cause there awesome XD Also please comment as I love to hear what you think! Even if I don't respond :P See you in the next chapter!
~StarShepherd🐾