Let me just say as I was writing the first line I had thE strONgest gosh darn urge to have Eliza answer him with, 'I'm about to change ur life'

But I JUST managed to suppress it
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Zach
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"Where are you taking me?" I asked, after we had been walking for a while.

"I guess you'll just have to wait and see." Eliza purred, flicking her short fluffy tail at me.

"All of this mystery is a bit daunting." I admitted, still unsure.

I suppose if she knew her way around this wasteland where everything was shades of black and white, I should follow her. Then again there was the possible serial killer option, I definitely wouldn't put it past her though. Eliza seemed like the type who might lure cats off to their doom to kill them, I don't think she would like, eat my guts or anything though. This made me question whether or not the serial killer thing was still on the table, I mean it she wasn't going to use my body for some sort of purpose in this dump then what was the point of killing me? Could I even be killed in this place?

"Hey what happened? You went quiet." She persisted, stopping atop a hill to check her surrounding briefly.

"I'm just considering how likely it is that you'll murder me." If I tried to lie it would come out all wrong like it always did, and I did not need another awkward situation thank you very much.

"Oh, well, I don't actually like killing people so you don't have to worry. Plus, no one's died here, not yet at least." She replied in that soft yet sweet tone of voice that she had.

"You attacked me." I pointed out.

She flashed an amused look back at me. "Well, no one's ever come here in a really long time, and you looked weird, so I figured I would just knock you out and drag you back to my home."

I was about to reply with something equally witty, but then I realized just how far we had gone, and how fast we had traveled. I was barely winded, the normal constricting feeling around my lungs was gone. I panicked for a bit, if all my physical defects were gone did that mean... I lift my right paw up and extended my claws. I had all five of them, the claw that I had lost when I first met Zara trying to open a screen door was gone.

Something uneasy stored in me I realized I missed the absence of it. It was something I used to always be able to look back on and remember Zara. Now there was nothing keeping my memories from slipping away just like they had done with Eliza.

"Have your paws turned green? Are you just going to keep staring at them all day or do I need to actually drag you." Eliza hummed impatiently.

"Right." I snapped out of my thoughts, I least I didn't have to worry about my asthma anymore I guess.

After a few more minutes of walking she finally stopped me. Only there still appeared to be nothing anywhere, I frowned.

    "Okay, the creepy vibe is slowly returning..."

    She laughed. "Look down."

I glanced at the ground to see there was a hole. Oh, there you have, they must live underground. Makes sense, kinda. Maybe they were Ice-claws? I was pretty sure only White-claws didn't live underground, so I guess there was a chance some were Blood-claws. Wait, none of this reasoning makes any sense, never mind.

    "Ladies first?" I raised my brow at Eliza.

    She shrugged, then crouched down and dropped into the darkness. "Come on Zach."

    I really hoped I wasn't about to regret this. I slowly lowered myself down, and scooted off the edge. I watched the ground soon enough and when I did I noticed color flared out beneath my paws, a short wave of bright green light in the pitch black darkness. On the ground a few feet in front of me were four orange spots, Eliza's paws.

"Cool right?" She purred, I could just make out her smirk.

"This is amazing!" I agreed, it reminded me of the Cave of Time.

"Follow me, I want to introduce you to all of my friends. Then you can learn how to rumble." Her paws prints started to move, so I followed her.

"Rumble?" I asked, nervously flicking my tail around my legs.

She lets a short laugh. "You won't believe how boring it get's down here, so we make up our own games."

"Oh, sounds fun."

We were going down a tunnel I think. I had no idea where to go so I just followed the orange in front of me. Eventually my wing tips scraped against the smooth sides of the rock walls. As soon as I noticed this, Eliza stopped walking.

"This is the rock." She explained.

"Yes." I agreed, leaning forward a bit and sensing thee was a wall there with my whiskers.

"We know there's a tunnel behind it but nobody's been able to move it, yet. I just thought I'd show you."

She started walking away, only faster, as if she was more sure of where she was going in the pitch black darkness. I leaped after her, the immediate fear of being lost down here fresh in my mind.

    She appeared to turn a corner of some sort and suddenly it began to get lighter, I could see my paws in front of me, they stopped glowing. The walls turned into more of an earthy color. Then all of a sudden it spit us out right in the middle of a huge cavern. Right in the middle of a battle.

    Okay so it wasn't a battle, two claws were fighting each other and crowds upon crowds of other claws were clustered around and were cheering profusely. My eyes widened in surprise as I took it all in.

    Eliza smirked. "Welcome to your first Rumble."

    I followed her along the outside of the ring, watching as a huge tabby he-claw, leapt into the air and slammed down against the small pale ice-colors she-claw. At the last moment she darted out of his his claws as he cashier against the ground, rolling and tumbling.

    "It's so violent!" I marveled, giving her a frightful look.

    She shrugged. "You can't get hurt here, so you play it rough."

    My eyes bugged out. "Then how do you win?"

    She fell back a bit to converse with me. "You have to stay in the air, first one to hit the ground three times looses."

    The tabby let out a wild battle cry, before launching his bulk back into the sky. The she-claw smirked before ducking under him and latching her claws into his hind legs. She jerked, back, upside down, and the tabby fell once more. The whole crowed screamed and I felt my heart rate increase dramatically. The roar was so intense.

    "Those are actually my friends." Eliza announced, sitting down and yelling above the rest of the crowd.

    The two claws seemed to be congratulating each other, Eliza stretched out a wing and the two of them saw her and started coming over.

    "Hey Lizzy who's eyepatch here?" The pale white one asked, she had darker gradients around her face, paws, and tail. Her eyes were a crystalline, pale lavender.

    "His name is Zach, I just met him, Zach this is my friend Nala and-"

    The huge brown tabby with unkempt feathers and icy blue eyes interrupted her.

    "Name's Ransom, rhymes with handsome." He flashed a smile at me.

    "Uh-" I started.

    Nala slapped her paw against her face. "Ransom! I swear if you use that cheesy pickup line one more time..."

    "Hey, I know everyone here so I never get the chance to introduce myself, you gotta give a guy a chance." He shrugged, plopping down on a nearby rock and pulling a small grey fish from...who knows where, then started delicately chewing on it.

    The he stopped. "Wait, that's right. I do know everyone here, where did you come from?"

    I was tempted to tell them I had just showed up after I seemingly died, but then I caught Eliza's gaze. Her amber orbs were fixed on me such an intense glare I felt like she was trying to burn my fur off with her superman lasers.

    "He's always been here." She lied easily, "just shy, right Zach?"

    Nala looked unconvinced. "You look familiar, I gotta say, but I don't think I saw you around here with the Rumblers..."

    I was confused, why was Eliza lying about where I came from? That's didn't make much sense. I mean why not be honest and just tell them I got here like the rest of you did, I just don't know why. It seemed like it would lead to unnecessarily dramatic confrontations and easy betrayal, but that's probably just me.

    Man, the more I hung out with her, the more layers this onion of a claw seemed to have, I just hoped the deeper I got I wouldn't regret it and start crying. I like onions but not raw I have to say. I'm sorry I'm going off on another tangent.

    "You know what Zach, the arena's empty let's rumble." Eliza offered, flicking her short tail and turning me around with her wing.

    I seized up. "I don't know how."

    Eliza raised an eyebrow. "I just taught you, it's not very hard."

    "Oh dear." I gasped, as I tumbled into into the middle of the open grey sand in the middle of the clearing. There was a whole in the ground above us, that's why the light was so bright.

    Oh dearie me indeed. I had no idea what experience Eliza had with battle, I knew I was pretty good and I definitely didn't want to beat her up lest I be stuck in this unknown and frightening knew world without a friend. I also didn't want to be beat by her. One because I am somewhat prideful and two because I was apparently supposed be acting like I had always been here?

    "Ready?" She asked loudly, and the crowd roared softly.

    "I think so." I replied, unfolding my wings loosely.

    Another claw walked out, a silver tabby she-claw. She counted to three, and suddenly Eliza shot into the air. I followed mainly because that's what I thought I was supposed to be doing.

    Until Eliza flipped over in mid-air before my eyes and dropped down on me.

    My eyes must've been as large as dinner plates because that's definitely not what I was expecting. I barely managed to doge her. By barely I mean she slammed into my hind quarters and nearly flipped me upside down. I flapped my wings up, gaining higher ground like she had done to me.

    Eliza was circling low around the arena, brushing the tops on the crowd's wings. It looked like I could try to hit her now.

    I timed it, then dive bombed her. When she didn't try to switch direction I knew I had made a mistake.

    I kid you not, just before I full on freight trained her, she tilted her tawny, gold streaked wings and went straight up over my head. I of course fell to the ground like a dead partridge.

    The crowd let out a scream as I tumbled around in the dirt before gaining some grip, without stopping, I used the momentum to shoot myself back into the air, twisting my wings like I never had before. Great Glamora was Eliza agile! Now that I think about it all of these strange claws moved through the air with grace unseen before. I guess when you've been waiting this long you manage to perfect something.

    I had lost her, before I knew it she had swooped up from below me and latched onto my back, folding in her wings, and creating a ball of solid dead weight on my back.

    Down I fell again, she opened her wings at the last second and shot up. To say the least, by the third time I had touched the ground, I was beginning to think she had another pair of wings I just couldn't see.

    I shook the dirt out of my fur and gave it a good lick. Eliza had swooped back down to say good game.

    "I can see you've done some air combat before, we'll make a Rumbler out of you yet." She shoved my shoulder playfully with her wing.

We walked back to join her friends, Nala was yelling at Ransom, who was eating another fish. I got a funny feeling in my chest. It was kinda warm. I liked it here, I definitely didn't dislike it. I wouldn't mind living here. What about Zara, birdbrain?

I could almost feel the warmness disappear and that gnawing at my heart continue. Zara, Great Glamora I still missed her. It wasn't fair that I had ended up here, away from any contact with my home. This made me think a bit. I decided, I was going to see Zara again, even if sent me somewhere much worse. If Glamora got to break the rules, so did I.

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*spastically throws self onto chapter*

I dID IT. 2222 WORDS EXACTLY
BUT WHAT IS ELIZA HIDING
WHAT SIGNIFICANCE DO THESE NEW CHARACTERS ADD AT ALL
AND IS ELIZA SECRETLY AN ONION

THE WORLD MAY NEVER KNOW