Stella walked angrily, nostrils flaring and her red eyes glaring dangerously. 

A dissonant bond that lead to internal dismay and impulses. To all which ends with a burn out. 

Stella walked past Carina, the usurper lowered her sunglasses for her cat eyes to be seen. The Izarian agent entered and passed by infiltrated bounty hunters, fighters, deities, and an average group of people.

But worry not. This is simply a warning. 

Stella's magenta hair swept side to side before she slowed down and walked at a normal pace, when in the corner of her eye, an elf with cobalt blue eyes walked away looking for the arena. 

Let's just hope you don't burn out like a star.

Stella entered into the waiting room to meet up with the other contestants. Patricia stood nearby as she watched over the guests.

Melon was listening to Blade's heartbeat while she traced circles on his chest and stomach. As relaxed the Shadow Soldier felt, he noticed that Grim had been gone for a while. He better not be causing any more trouble. Blade thought before Grim came back to his seat. The Shadow Soldier with the ocean blue tinged cloak propped his left elbow and palmed his chin in a bored expression.

"Well this is boring." Grim commented.

"You just got back." Blade said, slight annoyance shown on his face.

"And I'm already bored." Grim replied.

"Not my problem." Blade said.

"Your face says otherwise." Grim replied, Blade was about to stand when Melon intervened.

"Ignore him, Blade. Don't give him the satisfaction. He wants you to get riled up over nothing." Melon calmed him as she raised her head up, then leaned in to kiss him on the cheek to which Grim made gag noises.

Maori Knaiver got lost and walked around the stadium to kill time before the tournament started. She found a small kiosk full of books. Despite being a tease herself, she was a sucker for romance novels. She checked which books piqued her interest. "How may I help you?" Hayley asked, looking at her. 

"Hi, do you have any thrilling romance novels?" Maori asked. 

"Sure." Hayley picked out a box labeled romance and brought them out to the counter. "We have romance books. Rom com books, vampire/werewolf novels, lgbtq themed romance novels..."

"Do you have any steamy books?" Maori asked.

"Well, I do have steampunk and urban fantasy stories, unless you're referring to erotica."

Hayley responded.

"Yes, the last one." Maori smirked, Rax perched on top of her shoulder in mild curiosity as Hayley brought out another box with the letter E on it. She showed the books that had covers of muscular men, seductive women or an objects with elegant typography with euphemism for genitalia and intercourse.

"The cheapest one costs $25 dollars." Maori only had $20 in her pocket.

"Nevermind, I'll just take the cheapest romance book I can get." Maori took a romance novelette and a spellbook which cost $13 in total. She took the books and headed to the coffee stand that was nearby.

Octavia and Logan bought their coffee while Alexander, Tr and Ash had gone their own seperate ways to look for Astrid. Octavia took a sip of her caramel latte macchiato woth whipped cream. Logan ate a bagel with black coffee with pumpkin spice. "So the gang split up again." Octavia said.

"At least with the rest of them gone, I have more leeway to find the Rave hotspot." Logan responded after taking a sip.

Dirlu got out of the women's restroom as she fanned herself. "It smells awful in there! Haven't they heard of scented soap?" She scrunched up her face before she hiked up the hem of her dress to walk up the stairs with the swaying of her hips. 

Chris was about to find Tony when a teenage girl bumped into him. A blue-eyed brunette with a purple crystal dangling around her neck.

"Ow!" Sora recoiled when she looked at the handsome Venusian. 

"Are you ok?" Chris looked at her, his blue sky eyes boring into her soul. Sora blinked once or twice before she registered his question.

"Yeah, I'm ok." Sora put the strands of her brown hair behind her ear looking to the side. "I'm trying to find the arena before the match starts. I don't wanna be late."

"I'm actually one of the competitors, though I haven't met the other combatants yet." Chris admitted. 

"Me neither. Guess we're the only ones." Sora said. 

"The name is Chris." He introduced himself to the Arivex with a dimpled smile.

"My name is Sora Hasaki. Nice to meet you." Sora extended her arm and Chris reciprocated the handshake like a gentleman.

June sat on the chair looking at the other competitors. She watched the two winged women talk to each other, discussing something about fire based attacks of some sort. The Reptilian stayed away from the Indoraptor as far as he possibly could as he noticed the brunette with a purple cloak peering out the arena as he approached her. To her right, she saw Ryan and Breloq talking while Felin pouted.

"Is this your first time fighting in the tournament?" A masculine voice interrupted her from her daze.

"What?" June asked as she focused her attention on the blonde man with an orange gi.

"Is this your first time fighting in the tournament?" Faim repeated his question.

"Yes, it is." June replied mirthlessly. Faim took the initiative to sit next to the young teenager.

"That's nothing to be ashamed off. When I entered to my first tournament, I was really nervous at first. The combatants that I went to fight against were really intimidating until I got to know them up close. Fighting can get fierce inside the arena, but once the match is over you get to patch things up." Faim said to her.

I have to win this to have my sister back. June thought to herself. "I only accepted to join the tournament for my sister." 

"You too huh--" Faim started just as June looked at him "--my sister only accepted to come with me to the tournament for the prize money and she's usually against me participating in fighting tournaments or any kind of brawling. I don't care about the money, I just want to test my strength but taxes don't pay for themselves." Faim put his hands behind his head, fingers interlocked against the white wall with his elbows in the air, legs crossed. 

Well this conversation went nowhere. June thought as she cleared the bangs from her eyes.

"My little sister can be overbearing at times, but I love her. I was so obsessed in fighting the biggest tough guy that I hadn't realized that the one who has been by my side got taken from me. When she'd gone missing, I lost my will to fight. I wouldn't wish that on anyone, not even to my worst enemy." Faim confessed, "I'm venting again aren't I?"

"Yeah you are." June replied, this time with a smile on her face.

"What are you staring at?" Scale asked. 

"Is it just me or there are two guys sparring by the railing of the arena?" Annabell asked the Reptilian as the scaly combatant peered out at the opening as he squinted at the two Hue-Mans.

"Did the tournament start without us knowing?" Scale asked.

"That's what we're about to find out." Annabell grabbed Scale's scaly green wrist.

"We are?" Scale felt her pulling his arm.

"C'mon!"

Violet watched Herring and Piros spar for a couple of minutes before Ratu came in to watch. Piros blocked a kick and gave Herring an uppercut. Herring ducked and was about to elbow Piros by the gut when the ruddy sparring partner countered by blocking it with his knee.

"This is boring, knock his teeth out!" Ratu yelled. They stopped sparring after they heard him. 

"What are you doing here?" Herring asked the runty little thief.

"I'm here to compete, ya nitwit." Ratu retorted.

"You? You wouldn't last a minute in the arena." Herring stated.

"Show's what you know. Not!" Ratu retorted, Herring was about to loom over Ratu when Piros grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Not here, wait til the match starts." Piros adviced him when a young lady with a purple cloak arrived at the scene, bringing a scaly man in tow. Violet turned to look at the human evolution, her aubergine fan covering her face, lightly fanning herself.

She saw strands of brown wavy hair beneath the hood and brown eyes glancing at them.

"I saw you two sparring on the other side by the awning, are you two going to fight in the tournament?" Annabell asked.

Scale watched the Hue-Mans staring at them, mostly Violet who was scrutinizing them.

"I sure am." Herring started.

"Not me, I'm only here to watch him fight." Piros pointed his thumb at Herring.

"I will." Ratu responded, raising his hand. Violet was the only one who remained silent. Something about her made Scale feel uneasy. 

"Great! The other competitors are waiting for the match to start. Do you want to join us?" Annabell asked with a welcoming smile.

"Sure, lead the way." Herring accepted.

"I'll be rooting for ya." Piros gave Herring a hard pat on the back before leaving. Herring Ratu and Violet followed Annabell and Scale back to the other competitors.

Ryo was still wandering around the halls before he encountered an elderly man wearing a samurai straw hat and a long white beard.

"Looks like you're lost, young man." Yin said as he stroked his beard. 

"I have to find the arena, otherwise my endeavor would be for nought." Ryo responded. 

"I can take you there if you like." The Yamitzu master suggested. 

"Yes, lead the way, elder." Ryo accepted, Yin put his hands on his back and walked down the hall, turned to the right and past by a young Arivex and a handsome Venusian. 

"I should really get going." Sora said as Chris looked at his watch. 10:47 AM

10:48 AM

"We still have time to look for the arena." The blonde Venusian unrolled his sleeve. 

A green-eyed blonde receptionist had her hair swept up in a ponytail, sported a three colored jacket, a white button up shirt and nude stocking had approached the competitors. "Leaving so soon?"

"Yes, the match will start any minute and I don't want to be late. We're one of the combatants, and we need to get ready for the match." Chris clarified before he gestured towards Sora.

"No problem. Right this way." Patricia let a smile that is used to welcome guests before the two combatants followed her until they stopped to where the rest of the competitors were gathered.

Dirlu stretched the collar of her blouse and fanned herself as if she had gotten out of a sawna as she sat down next to her servant. "For goodness sake, Eimy. How can you stand that stench?" Dirlu asked.

"Well, I've grown accostumed to it," Eimy replied nonchalantly. "Since I have worked in a lot of unsanitary places, and I've smelled odors far warse than the stink bomb of bloody pads and gas. What that restroom needs is bleach and a change of plastic bags, whoever is cleaning it should lay off the air freshener."

"I should contact you to fill in for Renzo at the pub." Ximo offered, "He's been flaking out lately and he's not cleaning the bathrooms as much as he used to."

"If I wasn't working full-time at the D'or Manor, I'd be happy to take the job." Eimy admitted before Uiwo stood from his to seat to go buy lunch at the bottom floor, his short yet bulky frame walking out of the rows of seated strangers.

"Don't you hate it when you're enjoying the flight when out of nowhere, a fly gets squashed in your face while flying." Alexandra mentioned.

"Ugh, I know. One time I was flying on my way to the mountains of Phoenicia when a fly got in my eye. I freaked out like crazy and I had to make a quick landing to find a spring. I thought it was going to get infected. If you look closer to my left eye, it looks bloodshot, but it actually had pus when the fly got squashed." The light yellowing of Phixa's eye was not noticeable at first glance, but when Alexandra got closer she noticed little flecks on the hybrid Phoenix's eye. Come to think of it, Phixa's light red eyes nicely complemented Alexandra's olive green eyes in the reflection of her cornea.

"You should get some eye salve. My mom used to take Toni to the optometrist because she used to get conjunctivitis when we were kids." She remembered how Toni wore her glasses from time to time when she was focused on her writing.

"I did, I know a Phoenix that makes eye salves at the Lacrymosa river." Phixa blinked, as if she unknowingly broke a trance.

"The Lacrymosa river is not made of actual tears, is it?" Alexandra asked while Phixa shook her head. "Anyway, the other pet peeve I have about flying is my hair getting in the way like, I like the feeling of the wind blowing my hair, but not when it gets on my face."

"I know! That's why I like to keep my hair short." Phixa's brown hair had orange tips that hovered above her shoulders.

Stella walked into the room as she looked at the new competitors whom she hadn't seen before. She saw Shadow talking to an Asian contestant while they tried to kill time as she watched her throw the die. Stella looked at her wrist.

An EMCuff. Is she a criminal? Stella thought to herself as she looked at the model from afar, judging by its shape and size it seemed to be fabricated in the mid 2030s based by its simple design equipped with nanotechnology.

Shadow rolled a die, the red die showed 4. Then Shadow picked up the puny die with her sharp sickle like claw and scopped it before she handed it to Haeji. Then Haeji rolled the die, the die showed 3.

"So we should flip a coin, whoever gets Tails gets candy!" Hwa Hae Ji suggested before the Indoraptor nodded in agrrement.

"Sure!" Shadow flipped a coin. The coin showed tails.

"Oh, I guess you get the first one!" The Daoitu thief took the piece candy out of her pocket, grape flavor.

"Let's do it again." Shadow opened up the candy wrapper with a twist of her claw while Stella walked past them.

"My turn." Haeji flipped a coin. The coin showed tails. "Yes."

"You get it!" Shadow congratulated her before swallowing the candy in one bite.

Haeji opened the butterscotch flavored candy and ate it. "That was good!"

Astrid walked out to look for the restroom, while she walked down the hall. Alexander had past by the restroom and decided to call her through the Hologlyphic watch. When she sat at the toilet she received an incoming call from her boyfriend. Should I answer him? Astrid thought about it before accepting to respond. "Hi babe!" She responded.

"Astrid, where are you?" He asked as he looked by the halls.

"I'm a little occupied at the moment." She sat on the porcelain throne as she did one of her biological needs, mostly emptying her bladder.

"Did the match start?" He asked, frantically looking for her.

"No, I'm in the restroom." Astrid scrunched her face.

"Sorry for interrupting." Alexander blushed as he scratched his head as his blue eye darted by a vending machine.

"It's fine. I'm almost done anyway." Astrid responded while she wrapped the toilet paper around her hand.

"Which floor are you on?" He asked as his blue eyes darted around.

"I'm on the first floor. I'll be out in a jiffy." Astrid answered before she hung up. Alexander made a U turn as he passed by Glen.

Stella had spotted Faim as he sat next to a blonde teenage girl. "Hi, Faim."

"Hey Stella, you ready for a one on one?" The blonde martial artist stood up from his seat warming up for a spar.

"Sure, that is if we get to fight each other. Are we going to fight using weapons or it's just old-fashioned fisticuffs?" Stella asked.

"I usually fight unarmed, though I read at the pamphlet that you can use weapons as long as there is no magic involved." Faim replied.

"So you're in the Melee Division too? That's great! I could use a sparring partner for a warm up." Stella took a couple of steps back before taking a fighting stance.

"You read my mind." Faim took a fighting stance before Yin came in and got in the way before the two could get a chance to practice bringing another competitor along. A tall elf with raven hair, light skin and cobalt blue eyes glanced at the other combatants before he directed his gaze at the Yamitzu master.

"Thank you, elder." Ryo expressed his gratitude with a bow.

"Think nothing of it, young man." Master Yin replied, unaware that the elf was a lot older than he appeared to be.

Annabell and Scale brought Herring, Ratu and Violet to see the other competitors. "This is where we're staying until the match starts." The human evolution stated while the reptilian looked at the new competitors, an elf and a grey-skinned woman. In his infra-red vision, she had a vibrant hue, not as radiant as the Phoenix hybrid, the Angel or the Hue-Mans, but there was some different about her. In his normal vision, she looked beautiful.

"This is great, I can't wait to find out who will be my opponent." Herring started. Ratu spotted Shadow and Hwa Hae Ji flip a coin for candy. The little runt wanted to play to win. If that failed, he would steal the candy. Violet simply looked for a place to sit.

"Me too." Annabell agreed while Scale was gawked at her, without realizing that Annabell was talking to Scale.

"Scale. Scale! You-hoo! Isaeria to Scale." Annabell waved his hand in front of him before the reptilian snapped out of his reverie.

"What?" Scale asked her.

"You zoned out there for a sec. You ok?" Annabell looked at him.

"I'm ok." Though his scaly green skin was sweating a little bit of slime. The human evolution looked at where Scale was looking at and spotted two girls.

"Oh... so you have a crush on someone are you?" Annabell grinned darkly.

"No!" Scale denied it, but it was obvious that he liked her. Annabell teased him for it, to think that someone that was over a thousand years of age would resort to something as childish as teasing.