"Sora!" Thomas called out to her before she walked up to him and smiled.
"I finally found you. Where are the others?" Sora asked.
"Stacey and María are at the second floor, while Zacn..." Thomas paused just as Zack came out of the men's restroom.
"Sora!" Zack ran up to her.
"Hi Zack." She greeted as the teenage boy got jumpy from the excitement.
"Tell me that you're gonna stay for the tournament, please. Thomas is being a real party pooper!" Zack begged her.
"I'm not staying--" Zack whined as she said that, "--I'll be fighting in the match." Sora added.
"Yes yes yes! I can't wait for the fight to start." Zack cheered, getting hyped.
"About that... I don't know where the arena is, much less know who I'm going to fight." Sora admitted.
"Sora, are you sure that you wanna fight?" Thomas asked her.
"Definitely, I just wanted to see you guys first before I go." Sora clarified.
"Oh yeah! I'm rooting for ya." Zack slung his arm around Sora's neck which was more of a brotherly gesture as they walked up to the second floor with Thomas being 3 paces behind them.

Alexander, Ash, Tr, Octavia and Logan had already exited the infirmary, looking for their teammate. "Is really disheartening seeing a patient in that condition." Ash started.
"Why would a sick patient be wearing an EMcuff if they could just keep him on quarantine if his condition was contagious?" Tr questioned.
"Some hospitals use medical cuffs to check the blood pressure of their patients. Nothing new." Logan recalled.
"If that were the case, they would've removed it a while ago." Tr commented.
"At least Astrid is ok." Alexander added as he looked around. 
"Of course she is, Al." Octavia said before she saw that there was a coffee stand. "Ooh, coffee."
"There she goes." Ash said as the crew watched her go.
"Don't you find it kinda off putting that there is not a single Rave in sight?" Tr asked.
"For once, I agree with you." Ash admitted.
"That's why we're here, to investigate." Logan reminded his crew. 
"What about Astrid?" Halt asked.
"Don't worry, she'll come around." Logan assured him before he walked to the line to order a coffee.
"If we're gonna look for Astrid, we have to split up to cover more ground." Ash suggested. 
"Get to the point, Ash." Tr sneered.
"Shut up and listen. We need a checkpoint so that we can regroup later." Ash finished.
"How about the reception?" Halt suggested.
"No, too far." Tr interjected.
"Next to the vending machines." Ash decided.
"The abandoned kiosk down the hall next to the restroom, it's discreet." Tr implied.
"No way." Ash disagreed.
"It's not a bad idea." Alexander admitted, Ash crossed her arms angrily before accepting. 
"Ugh, fine. Let's split."

Chris was already near the backdoor of the stadium. As he considered what his brother told him. I know you signed up for this event to clear your head about daddy dearest. Multi-tasking is not gonna keep you afloat, on the contrary, it's gonna give you a lot of setbacks.
"Simon! Get back here!" Chris's sky blue eyes darted to a mother calling out to her son. The little boy ran back to her. She crouched down to Simon and looked at him in the eye. "Simon, how many times do I have to tell you to not run off?" She asked him.
"But Mom..." the boy whined. 
"But what?" She raised her voice.
"But the fight hasn't started yet, I'm bored." 
"Simon, we talked about this. Be patient, the fight will start in the next 15 minutes." She reminded him, "You wanted to go watch the tournament, these things happen, the wait will be worth it."
"Okay... Mom, can I get some popcorn?" Simon asked. 
"Yes, I'll go get you some popcorn, but stay out of trouble." The mother complied.
Chris watched as he saw the mother and child walk away. He walked out of the hall before he looked at his watch.

10:45 AM

"Shouldn't the show be starting by now?" Baci Llus asked. 
"Honestly, I'm just as clueless as you are. It's nearly an hour since we got here and I see no sign of the tournament starting any time soon." Micah responded before a yawn escaped her.
"Already bored?" He asked her, his elbow laying on the armrest.
"It's time for me to sleep, I've been awake since 5 in the morning. Usually Amoebians like me stay awake between 6 to 9 hours, but with space travel and Stella's training simulations I have to stay awake from up to 12 hours or more, which is not healthy." Micah explained as she let out a drowsy drawl.
"And I thought Mitis was just being lazy and she was using that sleep cycle of hers as an excuse."
"Most of us are workaholics by nature. We like to be productive." Micah yawned. "Wake me up when it's Stella's turn to fight." Micah adjusted herself into a comfortable sitting position for her to sleep.
"Fine then." Baci Llus said before Micah took off her goggles and closed her eyes shut. Baci stood up from his seat to throw away the paper bag and plastic soda cup into the trash. By the time he returned to his seat, Micah was already fast asleep with her mouth slightly open, snoring.

Stacey and María sat at their seats, Stacey was on her phone, scrolling on a shopping app to kill time while María had plugged in her air pods, listening to her playlist. "Hi girls." Stacey's head cocked to her left when she heard Sora's voice. 
"Hey Sora." Stacey responded while Maria's head shook like a bobblehead from side to side, listening to the music when Stacey nudged at the blue Dimension guardian. "What?" María asked, pausing her playlist. When she looked up she spotted the Arivex. "Hi Sora." María greeted as she smiled sweetly. 
"Excuse me." Zack scooted his way to his seat.
"I'll be fighting at the tournament, wish me luck." The Arivex said.
"Break a leg." Stacey stated.
"Thanks." Sora said as she headed out.
"But not literally." María added. Thomas then sat down on his seat.

Dirlu stood up to go to the ladies room. Her fan covering the lower half of her face as she reached the stairs. On the 1st floor, Eimy got out of the restroom right before Dirlu dashed past her. "Typical." Eimy simply shook her head before walking back up the stairs to the 2nd floor. As the noblewoman sat on the porcelain throne, she pinched her nose while she fanned away the stench.

Annabell looked out on the arena to look where Eros was amidst the rows of spectators until he spotted his white attire contrasting the colorful people that sat there. She saw him sitting to a magician, a black cat curled around the magician's lap. Three pairs of yellow eyes staring. "I knew it!" Annabell's teeth gritted as she glared at them from a distance. "I knew there was a cat in the audience." Annabell said as she glared at Jinx while the black cat craned her neck and turned to where Annabell was. The black cat squinted at Annabell. If looks could kill. Annabell thought to herself as she glared at the black feline.

Stella walked angrily, nostrils flaring and her red eyes glaring dangerously. A dissonant bond that leads 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 towards 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 replied.
"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 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 with 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 of. When I got into 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 led nowhere. June thought.

"My little sister can be overbearing at times, but I love her. I was so obsessed fighting the biggest tough guy that I hadn't realized that the one who had 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 advised 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 out a smile that she used to welcome guests before the two combatants followed her until they stopped to where the rest of the competitors were gathered.