"Hey. Hey, you're the new kid, right?" I'm startled by a voice. I turn to see a skinny man standing there. He's an older guy, I'd guess, with a few tattoos along his neck and legs. He's bald.

"Hey kid, you deaf?"

"No, no. Sorry," I apologize. "I was just thinking, and-"

"That's your business, kid," the man cuts me off. "I'm just here to deliver a message. I'm guessing you don't know about Qualification? Or Quality Testing?"

"No," I reply. The man sighs, clearly annoyed.

"Ugh. I hate newbies. But it ain't my job to explain that to you. Just head over to that glass dome thing, okay? And pronto. Nobody wants to wait for you." He points, and my eyes follow his gesture to see a large glass dome. There's metal forming a base, and then glass forms half a sphere on top. I can't see inside, but I'm far away and can only see the top half.

"Got it, kid?" The man taps his foot impatiently.

"Yeah, I'll get going," I assure him. He nods and walks off.
He didn't seem too friendly, I think as I head toward the dome building. And I wonder why they need me in there? Maybe there's a registration type of thing. But didn't the guy mention quality or something? I decide that there's only one way to find out.

Once I reach the dome-on-wheels, I notice a few things. It's much bigger than it seemed from far away, probably bigger than any tent I've seen so far. The sign by the door reads Free Entry. Expect activity any time there's a new arrival, or sign up yourself. I wonder what that means as I head through the door. Inside, there's a large but empty hallway to my left. To the right, there's a much smaller hall, also empty. Both are made from a dark wood. A head peeks out from the smaller hall.

"Ah! Are you the newbie?" The speaker has a deep voice, and a few scratches along his face.

"Yeah. I was supposed to come here?"

"Yes, yes. Just come on in, and I'll explain everything." I obey and go through the small hall. I find a open door, and through it, a room. Inside, there are many weapons, racks of armor, and other battle-ready items. It looks scarily similar to a torture chamber. The head from earlier is sitting on the shoulders of a large, muscular man. He notices me and waves me over.

"Come here, come here." I walk over, and he lifts my arms out to the sides.

"Ah, I see. Hmm... got it." Then, once again noticing me, he exclaims, "Oh, sorry. I best explain what's happening." He heads over to a rack of dark brown metal armor.

"Well, you see, Axle believes that anything living should be able to fight, which I personally don't agree with. But anyway, to make sure all her living collections are worthy to be used for... well, whatever she wants, she's set up a test." He grabs a helmet and inspects it.

"What kind of test?" I ask. The muscular man walks back to me and plops the helmet on my head. It's too big, and slides around on my head. The man takes it off and returns to the armor shelves.

"It's a fight. Not usually deadly, luckily. Someone will just need to see enough to be satisfied, so no death. Most of the time, anyway." He grabs another helmet and returns to me. This one won't go down past my eyebrows. Much too small. The man sighs and returns to the rack.

"What will I be fighting?" I ask. I've fought people with powers and mini rockets launchers. Hopefully that experience can get me through the test.

"Not sure," the man replies. "They'll try and find something close to your skill. Of course, that could still mean something deadly..." He selects a third helmet and puts it on me. It's a nice fit, and through the eyeholes, I see him smile in satisfaction.

"Sorry 'bout the rush, by the way. We're behind schedule." He sticks out his massive hand. "Name's Gop. Oh, and what weapon do you prefer?"

"Probably a sword," I reply, shaking his huge hand. He practically crushes mine with his handshake.

"Short or long?" he asks.

"Do you have medium?" I reply, and I breathe in relief as he releases my hand. I pat my belt, remembering Mareth, but the sword isn't there. Must have been taken, probably by Axle. Gop hands me a sword pretty similar to Mareth.

"How's that?" he asks.

"Fine," I reply, thrusting and blocking a few times.

"Great. That's all you need, then. Good luck out there!" Gop leads me to a door, opens it, and I'm momentarily blinded. Sunlight pours in through the glass dome ceiling, and my ears are stunned too. Cheering, lots of cheering. I see that the center of the arena-thing is a oval, with me at one of the far ends. Surrounding the oval is a sea of stands. People and creatures cheer in the stands, tons of people. A solid hand pushes me forward, and the door to Gop closes. The crowd's cheer gets louder as they notice me. But I can't let all this noise distract me. I have to fight something in here... And then a door on the other side of the oval opens, and another armor-clad figure emerges. The crowd silences immediately. A loud voice rings out.

"Attention, everyone! I want to say a few things before we begin. One: Try to keep this death-free. Axle doesn't want her collections being killed. Two: You must stop when I say. And three: Please actually fight. Standing around isn't going to go well with Axle. Okay, that's it from me. May the participants please go to the center?" I nervously walk to the center. Behind all the armor, I can't see my opponent's expression. Or if they're human. They're human-shaped, anyway. We both reach the center, just paces away from each other.

"Okay, here we go. On your mark... get set... BRAWL!" My opponent takes out a dagger and dashes at me. I take out my new sword and wait. As my attacker has nearly reached me, I step to the side. My opponent flies by in a flurry of punches and slices. I know what to do. Axle needs to know why I'm worth anything? Well, here we go. I put my sword in my belt and raise my hand. Small black sparks begin to fly. My opponent barely has time to turn before a shadowy blast sends them flying. My opponent lands on their back and the crowd cheers.

"Would you look at that! Looks like someone has some kind of shadow attack!" I smile. This test shouldn't take long. I bet I've already proven myself! But suddenly, a thought hits me: For the battle to end, we both need to prove ourselves. What makes my opponent special? Regaining their footing, my opponent rushes again. I step aside as before, but my challenger stretches their arms wide. I'm brought to the ground by a tackle. My attacker presses their weight on top of me.

"Wrive," a voice whispers. My opponent knows my name! "Go to the help tent at sundown. Until then, make it look real. No- make it real." And then my attacker jumps off of me. I blink in surprise. What is happening? My opponent knows my name and wants to meet up?

"Come on, shadow-kid!" the test-manager complains. I get back on my feet. Whoever this is, they know we have to both pass. And now, my mysterious attacker takes the dagger back out. Almost without thinking, I swipe my sword. My attacker rolls under the attack and pops back up with a ferocious upward stab. I spin out of the way, and we continue on for a while. I slash, they duck. They kick, I dodge. After a minute, when backing up to avoid a punch from my opponent, I feel a wall against my back. I'm trapped. My opponent approaches slowly. I blast a wave of shadow, and my attacker jumps incredibly high, over the blast. They land right in front of me, and I grin. Now it all makes sense.

"Hi, Cass." My friend slips her helmet off and grins.

"Hello, Wrive," she replies. Then she delivers a blow that shocks me, throws me off the wall, and blasts me to the ground. If that's not a passing grade in fighting, I don't know what is. Moments later, I've been dragged back to Gob's room.

"You okay, kid?" he asks. "That was a vicious last move." I slip my helmet off and grin at him.

"I'm okay. In fact, I'm great. And then exhaustion, hunger and more exhaustion make me slump on the table, smile, and close my eyes.