"These are the kids from Starling Gale?"

I scowled immediately at the voice. It was a woman's, but it had a rude and obnoxious tone.

"Yes, is there a problem Aria?" David demanded, crossing his arms. The woman, who wore a frilly baby blue crop top and shorts, with tight knee-length combat boots, lowered her sunglasses slightly to get a better look at me and Ashton.

"The boy looks alright," she said, "I'm having doubts about the little girl. Is she even 13?"

"Almost 14," I responded, crossing my arms. David glanced at me warningly. Ashton frowned, obviously not sure what to say.

"You sure don't look like it runt," she scowled, and then looked at David, "she can't seriously be a representative."

"She is," David responded, "if you have a problem with it, take it up with the school. Come on you two, I'll introduce you to everyone else."

I shrugged, Ashton nodded. We both followed him into a larger room, with 4 other groups of people. To my dismay, the only other girls were a pair at the end, the only group of two. Aria walked over, and stood beside them.

"David, who are these two?" A man who had been standing in front of everyone walked up to us.

"Representatives from Starling Gale," David replied, "and before you ask, I know the girl is a runt. I have my doubts about her as well, but she was picked."

"What's the word for discrimination against people's size?" I turned to Ashton. He paused for a moment.

"Sizeist?" He suggested finally, and I snorted. The man glanced at us, and frowned at me, before sighing.

"You know we have the right to deny representatives if they don't meet our standards during training," he said.

"I know Troy," David sighed, "I just hope that's not the case..."

I coughed loudly. They both looked at me.

"If everyone is so against me for my size, why don't I just fight someone?" I asked, crossing my arms. Ashton facepalmed. I glanced behind me, and saw a puddle behind some crates. I thought for a minute, and then remembered that Pearl was actually able to make herself into a puddle with the water inside her body. That's why she was always drinking water.

Both men stared at me for a moment, before the other nodded, and smirked.

"You got spunk Kid, I can respect that. Unfortunately, spunk means nothing if you can't follow up," he said, walking over, "The name's Troy, and I'm sure it'll be a shame to see you go."

"Only if I lose," I shrugged, "Who am I fighting?"

Troy looked around, and his eyes landed on the group of girls at the end.

"Let's keep you with your own kind. GALE!" He barked the name, and the tallest girl, wearing a simple black tank top and brown shorts, quickly straightened, and ran over. Her long black hair bounced in a braid behind her. She stopped in front of us. Troy pointed at me, and then to the fighting ring in the center of the area. Her mouth curled into an ugly smile as she looked down at me.

I scowled, and unzipped my coat, shoving it at Ashton, and then pulled the flower that Pearl had made me wear out, and handing it to him.

"Hold my flower," I grumbled, and he grinned.

"I got your flower Ell, go kick her ass."

That was all the encouragement I needed to bolt to the ring, and jump in, jumping onto the platform and pulling on the ropes to propel me in. I turned back to see nobody had moved.

"Well? You coming?!" I yelled over, smirking, and the girl, Gale I think she was called, scowled and ran over, climbing in normally. She glared at me, and I frowned. Different thoughts ran through my head.

I've never met this girl before, but judging by her build, she's physically strong. Her hair is long, and only in a ponytail, which I could use to my advantage. Depending on the rules, I can use pressure points, but otherwise I'll have to rely on my speed and gymnastics. Just focus on dodging for now, until I know more about her fighting-

"The rules are simple! No pressure points, weapons, or low blows! That includes chest blows for you ladies," Troy called, "Pin the other for 3 seconds, and you win! I'm refferee!"

"Ready?..." I got into a fighting stance, and so did she. We stared each other down.

"And... FIGHT!"

She launched herself at me, aiming for an uppercut. I rolled to the side, and blew a raspberry at her. Taunting always has been one of my specialties.

She glared at me, and tried another uppercut. This exchange of me dodging her attacks went on for a few minutes, until I sighed.

"Geez, can you do anything but an uppercut?" I asked, planting my foot on the ground and doing a roundhouse kick, hitting her in the face. Gale coughed, and stumbled. I used that to my advantage, punching her in the gut, and pushing her to the ground, forcing my weight on top of her.

Troy quickly ran over, and started counting. She kneed me at two, forcing me off of her. I yelped, and quickly jumped back, avoiding a kick.

"So you can do more than just uppercut," I muttered, going back to dodging. I heard people shouting.

"Seriously?! All that, and she just goes back to dodging?!" One guy yelled.

"What the hell?! Give us a fight shortstack!" Another exclaimed.

"All of you shut up!" Ashton retorted to them before I could.

Gale went up to me, and we both stopped for a moment.

Then I slapped her. She scowled, and slapped me back.

We started a bitch slapping fight. That was fun.

At least until I ducked down, and swept my leg under her feet, knocking her over. I jumped onto her, and tried to pin again.

This time, I got to three.

I smiled, pushing myself off her, and standing. Everyone stared at me, then at Gale. Her friend from her school seemed almost worried.

Even I was surprised when Gale started laughing.

"What's so funny?" I asked, frowning a little.

"That was fun!" Gale smiled, sitting up, "Honestly, I haven't had a good fight like that in forever! You have skill runt."

I smiled, and offered her my hand, "I appreciate the compliment, you did pretty well yourself, giant."

She snorted, and took my hand. I helped her stand up. She grinned, and patted me on the back.

Ashton snickered, before tossing my hoodie and flower at me. I caught the hoodie, and threw it on over my tank top without zipping it up, and picked the flower up off the ground, putting it in my hair.

"Thanks Ash!" I called, and he gave me a thumbs up. David sighed in relief, and Troy grinned.

"Guess I was wrong about you Runt, good job," Troy shook my hand, and I smiled sweetly.

"Don't worry, it's not the first time I've been underestimated for my size," I responded, "My entire class did it once."

"That literally happened last week!" Ashton called, and I smiled at the memory.

"Yeah, and I kicked her ass!" I replied, and he snorted. Troy laughed.

"Alright everyone, with that out of the way," I hopped down from the ring, standing next to Ashton as Troy spoke, "This is the training area. You're welcome here any time to hone your skills until the tournament. Family members are allowed to come, but only if you're here with them!"

"What about friends?" Ashton asked.

"Nope! Family only!" Troy replied, "Sorry!"

I shrugged, "I can get Hunter in, don't worry. He's my cousin, remember?"

"Nah, I was actually thinking about Isabelle," he replied, "Oh well..."

"Oh, I'm sure we'll figure something out for that." I shrugged, "Maybe she can pretend to be someone's girlfriend."

He snorted, "Yeah like she would actually agree to that."

I snickered, as training started. David came over and told us to find a dummy and start hitting it. That wasn't hard. There were straw dummies all over the place. About half an hour later, David drove us back to town and said that he would be there to take us after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Every other day we would have to arrange our own transportation.

All in all, after that first fight, it was pretty boring.