Blue and Suzanne exited from backstage with the V.I.P. passes around their necks, by the time they regrouped, "Five Apples," Shadow started with one of her riddles, "Five apples are in the basket. How do you divide them among five girls so that each girl gets an apple, but one apple remains in the basket?" Haeji was pensive as she thought of an answer. "And if you're feeling up to it… How many cats are in a small room if in each of the four corners a cat is sitting, and opposite each cat there sit 3 cats, and at each cat's tail a cat is sitting?" Shadow inquired before the purple striped Indoraptor grabbed a severed hand from her stash, a reminder of what happened to her victim—and bit down the flesh.

"Give the last apple to one of the girls on the basket." Haeji responded to the first riddle.
The 7 feet deity rubbed his porcelain chin, "3 cats sit opposite to the perspective of 1 cat. And they are sitting on their own tail." Hexice responded with mild indifference.
"Correct! Both of you!" Shadow declared after swallowing the chunk of human hand.

The fat Cinnabarian followed the Rave Hunters as he saw them searching for the something. As if I'm going to let them take the prize money. Ruben watched Logan search for an opening, a switch, a button, anything that would lead them to a hidden passageway but they hadn't found anything. Every nook and cranny was solid. Alexander let out a drone to scan the corridor as the location of the drone pinpointed within the hologram.

"This is pointless, there aren't any Rave parts here, if there were, the tracker would've set off by now." TR let out a whine while Octavia filed a warrant directly on her phone and sent it to home base, knowing how long the procedure would take, depending how the time would take within the dimension between the stadium and their world.

"Which it would take a while." Ash reminded him before the green eyed member of the team elicited a disgruntled snarl.

Amateurs. Ruben thought as he searched for a door that said authorized personnel only, and entered. Ever since he could remember back when he lived out on the streets, he knew that large establishments contained one of three things: a storage room, a broom closet, or a loo. The storage contained miscellaneous items, one of them being food, beverages, medicine, transported goods, cleaning products, equipment, supplies, and folded uniforms of various sizes. He took an uniform of a security guard with a randon name tag which surprisingly had his name. Ruben. The fat redhead showed a malicious smirk.

"Anything?" Astrid asked, before Alexander looked at her and shook his head.

"Oi! What are you doing!?" Ruben shouted as he stomped angrily on his way to them.

"What's it to you, fatso?" TR retorted, barring his teeth.

"This is a restricted area, Punakas b-" TR punched Ruben II in the face, breaking his nose as blood came out of his nostrils.

"Dammit Tr!" Ash shouted.

"As if I'm gonna take orders from a fat so--" Ruben punched Tr square in the jaw, "--ow!"
Octavia recorded the fight while Ash and Alex pried Tr off of Ruben, Astrid had to get in the way to separate them.

"Get outta here!" Ruben yelled, gritted his teeth while he was ready for round two before Astrid reverted the damage on Ruben's face, his bloody and bent nose and bruised face got healed.

"You're not even a real security guard." TR blew the red tips of his own hair, before his teammates let him go.

"Shows what you know. Not!" Ruben retorted.

"That's enough, let's go." Logan said before he heard the tracker beep.

"But-" Tr looked at Logan in disbelief.

"Now is not the time," the leader of the team muted the alarm on his watch, "Move out." Logan gestured for his teammates to leave the area while Tr glared at the not so covert Cinnabarian. Ruben crossed his arms, glaring back at the green eyed teammate.

Once the Rave Hunters were back in the halls,  Tr was ready to protest. "What is wrong with all of you!? Can't you see that the fat ginger ain't even a-"

"We know." Logan affirmed.

"You daft! Airheaded! Sonuva- wait, whatcha say!?" Tr backtracked to recap what the blonde leader said, Logan pressed his glasses to the bridge of his nose.

"We knew the whole time." Octavia said while she replayed the video she recorded. "He wasn't wearing a badge, and the nametag is also fake."

"Then why the hell did you make me look like an idiot?" Tr scowled at the video, then at Octavia, boring into her steampunk visor.

"Then stop acting like one." Ash responded before Tr and Ash glared at each other.

"Knock it off, the drone is scanning." Logan notified before displaying a holographic projection of what the drone recorded.

So far, the drone recorded the rooms were some of the employees were, and there was one room that lead backstage. The hostess was making an announcement.

"The tournament is not over yet. Tonight, the defeated competitors will have a second chance to prove their worth to stay in the tournament in the REDEMPTION ROUND. The rules are simple, defeat your opponent. The only difference, they will have to use all of their abilities to stay in the game. They'll have to face obstacles, dodge traps, and best of all... Take down bosses, but the round doesn't end until one of their opponents is defeated. Tonight at 8. Be there!" After Erica ended the announcement, Natalie's shoulders slackened. "How was it?" She asked as she tried to fix her hair, despite that no amount of hair conditioner could contain the dark mane that barely touched her shoulders. Erica gave a thumbs up. "I can't wait to take off the powder, I don't get how celebrities can stand to keep it on. I shouldn't bother hiding the sunspots on my nose." She commented before rubbing her neck and chin, "At least the foundation covered up the stubble." The host picked up the makeup wipe and passed it on her neck, chin and jaw revealing the stubble and a couple of folicles, then wiped her upper lip to show her facial hair.

"Do you really think it was a good idea to give ravenous dinosaurs V.I.P. passes?" Erica inquired.

"Is better to give them access to the food and keep them from eating human parts for a while than to fret over who they'll eat next." The hostess responded.

"If you don't mind me asking, where is this Round going to take place?" Erica asked before she saw Nat's mischievous dimple smile.

"The Gauntlet." There was an awkward silence.

"You do remember that a four-armed giant fell off the platform and-" Erica mentioned before she crossed her finger across her neck making a choked sound.

"This time is different, we don't have to worry about necromancers walking into the stadium and reviving fallen giants and legions. The security guards are using magic blockers on visitors to ensure safety precautions. I'm not letting anyone destroy the stadium. Over my dead body." The host declared.

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.

Maggie, one of the contestants for the Gladatorium Tryout, left her cat nearby to go to the women's restroom. Jinx what was not the type of pet to wait for their owner so she stood up and walked around the stadium, the black feline sneaked into the arena and sniffed around the sand pit and defecated much to some of the onlookers amusement, or displeasure.

"Congrats, Scale." Annabell came in to hug the Reptilian on his victory during his match. Scale felt the corners of his mouth lift up with joy, despite that his opponent was the one who resigned, regardless, he felt grateful. Especially since his friends were rooting for him.

"You hadn't eaten anything since we got here." Melon reminded him. Who can eat when many lives could be at stake when the fear of losing the match would end the freedom of many.
"Yeah, I kinda forgot." Scale said just as Annabell broke the embrace.
"What do you want to eat? I could send Eros to find a tasty pretzel." Annabell suggested before the grey haired wizard put a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm afraid not my lady, they ran out of pretzels at the moment." Eros lied, he had no problem running an errand, though he didn't want Annabell to become infatuated with someone that would exploit her generosity, including him.
"No thanks, I rather go order a pizza." The Reptilian walked around to find lunch, just then, a black cat walked past them.

Grim returned to the stadium and he saw the same black cat from earlier. He wasn't the superstitious type, though he was tempted to kill the black furball to make a new keychain out of its fur. Since the owner was nowhere in sight, he raised his scepter to levitate the dark feline in the air though Jinx was unfazed by it. "Meow." The cat's amber eyes looked at Grim and hissed at him.

"Vieni gattina." Maggie called out, Jinx turned her head to look at her. A wand pointed at the can, then the cat teleported out of Grim's sight. Then Maggie took off her top hat and tapped it with her wand, popping Jinx out of her hat. "I can't leave you alone for one minute." Maggie admonished her pet, though the black cat meowed quizzically, “Wait, weren't you the one who made me levitate?” then the black looked at Grim then hissed at him from afar.

The host had exited backstage while the drone searched for alternate routes until one of the caretakers knocked down the drone with a broomstick, Jayshree was seen on the screen. Logan had to admit that the she was kinda cute. "Jecamiah, look at this." She picked up the drone and showed it to the bearded janitor.

"Someone must've send it to scout the stadium or to gain intel." Jecamiah commented.

"Or they sent it to search for the prize money, wouldn't be the first someone tried to sneak in to steal it." Jayshree commented.

"If that were the case, they would've cut off the power by now." Jecamiah mentioned.

"Electricity isn't the only power source here, there are solar panels on the rooftops, and there are crystals that power the portals." The brunette added.

"Is better to not give away any further information, we don't know if the drone is still recording." The bearded janitor warned before the connection to the drone got disrupted. Logan groaned in frustration that he couldn't reel in any further information.

Vilma was keeping an eye on June before her target spotted a golden yellow cat as it walked to her. She patiently waited for the blonde to make a slip up, "Vilma, a word." Though the hostess called her to the office.

The receptionist looked around the office and then at Nat's serious face, which was not pretty. Vilma's superior wasn't the type to yell her head off, no! She was the kind of person that would likely glare at someone square in the eye with glacier indifference and make you uncomfortable with the awkward silence, knowing that you messed up big time. A pin could drop and she still wouldn't budge at the disturbing staring contest until she leaned in for the cringe inducing close up, eyebrows furrowed. Vilma's hazel eyes were aghast at Nat's dark, beady, lifeless eyes.

"I know you Vilma, and how you think. This is your chance to tell me the truth." She spoke to her, being eye level with her, then stood erect. The hostess was 5 feet and seven inches tall, Vilma was 4½ inches shorter than she was. "Are you the one responsible for putting an EMCuff on one of the contestants?" She inquired.

"No." Vilma responded flatly.

"How about the sick patient?" The host mentioned, as Vilma recalled Patricia injecting something on the sick patient when no one was there.

"No."

"So you're saying that you didn't put an EMCuff on him either." The hostess implied.

"Obviously." Vilma responded.

"Then you're free to go." Her expression relaxed as she saw the host give a tight lipped smile. "Since you're not hiding anything, you got nothing to worry about." Vilma smiled at this. "Unless you know something that you're not telling me, and if I have to find out by other means." Natalie put her hands behind her neck on the desk chair as she put her legs on the desk, showing her boots as she lightly swung her feet side to side while the receptionist saw the soles of the boots the host was wearing. "I'll have to get dirty." Nat added nonchalantly.

"You don't have to worry about me." Vilma hinted as she walked out of the office. Worry about yourself, she thought derisively.

The hostess looked at the ceiling thinking, “If I find out that you are complicit in keeping them hostage, or that you're plotting against me behind my back. I can be just as vindictive, or even worse than you.” Then sang, "these boots aren't just made for walking."

"I'm going to get more food." Haeji grabbed an apple and a carving knife.
"Ok then." Shadow nodded and took a sack out. "Hungry too." Severed hands spill out. I push a few to Ripper before he can eat everything. 
"Why don't you use your scythe to peel it?" June asked her before she had noticed the carving on the apple. "Oh." Haeji carved Blue and Felin into the apple.
"What?" Shadow asked before Haeji handed the carved apple to the purple striped Indoraptor. "Oh that's nice but no thanks...we're not exactly vegetarian…" Sje gesture at the pile of limbs. "But you're welcome to take a hand or two if you like. The dragons roasted them."
"Oh," Hwa Hae Ji took some of the severed hands, "I'll save these for my bro's magic." Haeji put the hands inside a satchel that she found. Apparently, there was a stand that displayed lost and found items.

Herring was at the men's restroom urinating before he put on his trousers, as he exited the restroom. He saw Faim talking to Piros, assuming that he already made a new friend, he walked away, grumbling.

"That's a shame, you're a really good fighter. I would've loved to fight you in the arena." Faim mentioned.

"Thank you." Piros replied before he heard a female voice call out to the blonde martial artist, Faim gave a peace sign at Piros then parted ways.