"Go Katt!" The audience roared as I stepped out. I looked around at the audience, searching for a sign that Rand might have been telling the truth, and saw the usual blend of rich folk, bums, and foreigners come to see the show. Of course, there were also the guards hired to keep everyone in line. Tapping my feet a bit, I felt the log, beneath me. It was as firm as ever. It wouldn't shake underfoot.

"Baba, you're dead!" Someone shouted over the loud boos as the other door opened.

Strange. He doesn't look half bad. Not at all the weirdo I expected. I stared at him for a moment, as he came out, dragging a huge axe. He looked as if he were weaker and slower than I, but something about him seemed to be different from most people. Shaking off any doubts as the lights outside the ring dimmed, I picked up my staff.

"Katt, there's going to be a poisoned needle shot during the fight. I can't ask you to take an antidote, but at least be careful!" He said.

"You're a liar. You're just trying to mess me up and break my concentration. Fight!" I charged him, angry. I hate liars. Almost as much as I hate cheaters, in fact. Still, I couldn't stop a part of my mind from wondering if he might be telling the truth.

He managed to jump back and avoid my attack, but it cost him. I connected solidly with the axe, knocking it out of his hands and into the water below us. I smirked for a moment, sure that I had won, but he drew a sword from his back, and I barely managed to dodge his counterattack. I could tell, from the way he held it and his confidence, that this wouldn't be as easy as I had thought.

He actually knows what he's doing with that thing! This should be fun! I thought. I was wrong. As he swung at me, the blows coming close, and then closer, it only confirmed my suspicion. I had a real fight on my hands.

Finally, he connected. It was a small cut, but it hurt. Badly. As the tip of his blade opened my lower arm, my grip loosened and I faltered. A moment later, I recovered. Lashing out in pain, I dealt him a savage blow, knocking him a good distance back.

"Come on! Fight me!" I taunted him, hoping that he would make a stupid move. It worked, and as he darted in, I smacked his sword cleanly out of his hand. It landed with a loud, resounding thump, embedded by the point in the log.

He didn't give up yet though. He shook his hand for just a moment, trying to get some feeling into it, I assume, and charged me. It was such a completely ridiculous, laughable idea that I was caught totally off guard. As he leapt over my hasty attempt to hit him, he swung his fist around, connecting with my jaw quite nicely.

Uh-Oh. What if he was ri... I thought, as everything faded.

* * * * *

I woke up horizontal, but most definitely not in the coliseum. I knew that immediately. For one thing, they had never before left the unconscious lying on the log there, and there was no reason to begin then. For another, there's a very large difference between the feel of a wooden log and a cloth-covered bed.

I sat up, and looked around the room. The first thing my eye fell on was Rand.

"So where am I? I understand that's what I'm supposed to ask about now, since I just woke up." I said.

"You're at the inn. I brought you and Baba here after he was hit by the poisoned needle."

"So you weren't lying after all?"

"No. Why would I lie about something like that? Anyway, I'd better get going. I need to have a little 'chat' with Augus."

"Wait a minute! I'll go too."

"No. You stay here and wait for Baba to wake up."

"Say what?! You said he was hit by a poisoned needle! You don't just "wake up" after that! He needs a priest or something of the sort."

"No, he doesn't. He took antidotes before the fight."

"Oh."

As he left, I looked around the room again, and took everything in. For some reason, Though there were two beds, Baba was on the ground. I tried to move him, but without success. I still wasn't quite balanced right. Sitting down on the nearest chair, I ran over the events of the past few hours, trying to figured out what exactly had happened.

* * * * *

Swish! My staff flew through air as I warmed up for the coming fight. Flipping in the air as I leapt backwards, I speculated on what my opponent would be like.

All of them. Even the Director had been dubious when I had come to try and enter last year's tournament.

At least they were willing to give me these quarters, so I can warm up properly. Even if it did take them a while.

A while. I had to win the tournament before they would give me what I asked for.

Wandering around while I rested, I stopped in front of the mirror. Before I could even begin to look at myself, though, I heard the door open.

Spinning around, I recognized the intruder, and stopped in my preparations to attack him. It was Rand, one of the workers rebuilding the Coliseum.

"What're you doing?" I demanded.

"Listen to me for a moment! Augus has rigged the fight! He's going to shoot you with a poisoned needle while you fight Baba!"

"No, he's not, you liar. You just want to keep me from concentrating on my fighting! Get out!" I said, ending my sentence by introducing him to my staff. They met, but didn't get along very well, he left rather quickly.

Stupid Ox. Why would he do that? He should know that I don't fall easily for lies like that. I thought, as I left for the arena. But still, I wondered. It made no sense for him to try to trick me like that. What if it was true?

* * * * *

And then came the fight. I looked down at my arm. Sure enough, the mark was still there, but at least it had stopped bleeding.

"What shall I say to him? Sorry for not trusting you? Thanks for saving my life? Or..." I trailed off as he opened his eyes and sat up.

"Uhh..." He said, clutching his head as he staggered to his feet.

"Before you even bother asking, you're at the Coursair Inn. Rand brought you here."

"Oh. Where is he now?"

"He went off to have some 'words' with Augus. Are you ready to come with me? I don't know about you, but I'm going to go punch his lights out for that."

"Just a minute. Where's my sword? And whose lights?"

"I don't know about the sword. If you don't have it, it's probably still stuck in the log back there, so that's one more reason to go. And... Augus's lights, of course! Who else?"

"My sword's there? Let's go!" He said, and took off running down the stairs. I leapt over the railing, and still didn't catch up to him until we got to the arena.

* * * * *

"Geez. You certainly stuck it in here thoroughly." He said, struggling to detach his sword from the log.

"Yeah. Sorry about that, but... I couldn't afford to have you swinging that thing around any longer, and you were wide open there. What about the axe?" I said.

"Come on.... There we go!" He said as his sword finally came out. "Don't worry about the axe, I'll get it later. Let's go!"

* * * * *

"I'm sorry, there are no fights scheduled for today." The clerk said as I approached her.

"I know. I want to talk to Augus."

"I'm sorry, but he's busy right now, talking with a worker named Rand."

"Look, this won't take long."

"I'm sorry."

"Can't you at least ask him?"

"No. I have strict orders not to let anyone in."

"Give me the key or I'll..." I began through gritted teeth.

"It doesn't make much difference whether you give us the key or not." Baba interrupted me. "If you don't, we'll just have to break the door. Wouldn't it be much easier to cooperate?"

"Oh! Well if you put it that way..." The clerk said, relieved to have an excuse.

She passed us the key, and as we opened the door, I heard her run out to hide outside.

* * * * *

I looked around at Augus' office, though I had seen it often enough before. It wasn't a terribly small room, but it wasn't large either. The walls were lined with bookshelves, which were filled with books, and at one end, near Augus, was a large desk completely empty of paper. I thought that was strange, until my gaze locked on the pile of papers that sat on the floor nearby.

"All the actors are here." Augus began, interrupting my thoughts. "It seems that none of you cared for my show."

"No. The Coliseum is a place for fighting, but not a place for killing." Rand said.

"Especially not with dirty, under-handed tricks like poisoned needles!" I added.

"We make you fight yourselves, and the pleasure of your warped minds becomes the strength of God!" Augus continued, ignoring us, as darkness surrounded him so that we couldn't see.

"God? What God?" I demanded. "What God could gain anything from this?"

"It's such a terrible pity, that we can't make this fight into a show." Augus said, continuing his oration even as the vague shape that we could see in the darkness writhed and contorted. "Then, at least, you would die with style!"

The darkness disappeared, leaving a monster where Augus had stood. To describe it simply, it was a giant wolf with two heads. To go into more detail... It was a giant wolf with two heads, a stone club in each hand, and a bad attitude. Swinging one of his huge clubs at us, he forced us to move back, away from him. Even though he was much stronger than any one of us, we had him outnumbered three to one, and we used that advantage.

The fight was brutal. I fought hard, but served primarily as defense, defending Rand while he healed Ryu. I never knew that he used magic! We raged all over the room, knocking over shelves, overturning chairs and the desk, and leaving holes in the wall. Finally, I grew tired of serving defense, and charged.

As promised, I punched his lights out. Sort of. The first blow I landed was a barehanded punch that caught him full in the face and mutilated that head, making it completely useless to him. Unfortunately, that was also the last blow I landed, as he immediately spun around and smacked me, batting me away from him so that I slammed into the wall, and stayed there, barely remaining conscious. Baba, however, snuck in and impaled him, shocking everyone, but none more than Augus himself!

"Ha! You may have defeated me, but we have already begun! It is too late. Our day is coming, closer and closer. Before you know it..." He trailed off as he disappeared.

* * * * *

"What was that all about?" Rand asked, looking at the place where Augus had just been. Now there was nothing but a small puddle of blood to show that he had ever existed. "No wonder he was so evil! He was possessed!"

"Right." Baba said.

"What a mess, let's get out of here!" Rand said as he looked around the room. There were books scattered about, the desk was overturned, and most of the chairs had been reduced to splinters.

"Wait! What about me?" I asked as I stood up shakily. "I can't stay here!"

"You can go home." Rand said.

"Home... I don't have a home." I said. "I want to go with Baba."

"Umm... All right. We can always use help repairing Bow's hideout." Baba said.

"What? You have a hideout?" Rand said. "That's great! I'll come too. If you're repairing a house, you'll need more people."

"I can go with you too, right?" I asked. "You saved my life, so I want to come help you."

"Right." Baba said.

"Let's make this clear now, though." Rand said. "As long as you're tagging along, you're expected to work."

"I know, I know. On repairs, right?"

"Right."

"That's easy! Repairs... They're something like this, right?" I said, smashing the desk with my staff. It immediately shattered, becoming a heap of splinters and sawdust.

"Uhh... Right." Baba said. "Anyway, lets go."

"Wait! What about the axe?" I asked.

"Oh... I don't know, how would we get it out of the pool?" He asked.

"Don't worry. I left it at the inn. The fishermen were quite happy to part with it, after they pulled it up. They saw your name on it and nearly panicked." Rand said.

"Then lets go!" I said.

* * * * *

"Hey Ryu! You're back!" A man came running from the door of the "house" that we had come to. A Plainsrunner. "But who're they?"

"I'll explain in a minute, let's go inside for now, ok?" Baba said.

"Oh. Right. Ok. Come in!" Said the Plainsrunner. Turning around, he led us in, and to the table inside.

Once we were seated, we began the introductions.

"Katt, Rand, this is Bow. Bow, the same, just backwards." Baba said, gesturing to us in turn.

"Pleased to meet you, I think. But why are you here? How did you meet Ryu?"

"Ryu? What's a Ryu?" I asked.

"Oh! Sorry, I'm Ryu. Not Baba, I had to pretend to be Baba to get into that fight." Baba (Ryu) said.

"Oh. Baba, Ryu... They're both weird names."

"Anyway... How did you meet him?" Bow interrupted, getting back to his question.

"I'll explain. Might as well get everything clear all at once, right?" Ryu said.

"Right."

"Ok, to summarize things up to this point... Bow has been framed for a crime that he didn't commit. He's hiding out here and helping Niro repair his house while I search for the real thief. The real thief is a woman with black wings like a bat, but that's all we know. I went to Coursair searching for her, and when I heard about a female fighter, I thought it might be her. That's why I was in the fight, so I could find out."

"It wasn't me!" I interrupted.

"Anyway, when I found out that Augus was planning to kill you, I wanted to stop him, because it wasn't 'fair play' if you will. And then, you know the rest, but Bow doesn't, so I'll tell him." He then went on to tell Bow about our fight, and the fight with Augus.

"Wow. You've sure had a hard time, haven't you? Could I speak to you... err... alone for a minute?" Bow said, when Ryu had finished.

"Sure." They went off to a corner, and whispered back and forth for a minute. Bow pointing at either me or Rand as he spoke.

I wandered over slowly. "Hey Baba... Umm... Ryu, I mean... What're you talking about?"

"The repairs on this house."

"Oh. Repairs. Those are easy!"

"No!" Bow said. "We think you should go help Ryu hunt for the thief."

"Oh. Ok. That sounds like fun." I said.

"Ok! Let's go, Ryu!" I said, and turned around, grabbing him and nearly dragging him out the door.

* * * * *

"So what was that all about?" Ryu demanded as we climbed up a hill on Mt. Fubi.

"What was what all about?" I asked.

"Dragging me out of the ruins like that. Why the hurry?"

"Oh! That. I didn't want them to change their minds."

"You didn't need to worry. Bow was in no danger of changing his mind."

"And why not? Are you saying I don't repair things well?"

"Umm... Err... Uhh..." He said, looking around.

"Don't answer that!" I said, cutting off his search for an escape route.

"Phew..." He said, visibly relaxing.

"So where are we going from here?" I asked.

"Hometown."

"Hometown? What's that?"

"It's the town I come from. Don't ask why it's called Hometown. I really don't know."

"Why are we going there, if you've already been there?"

"Because Rand told me about a girl at the magic school that has black wings, and I need to see if she's the thief."

"Oh."

* * * * *

"So this is Hometown." I said as I walked past the guard. "Small town, isn't it?"

"Not really. Coursair is bigger, of course, but that doesn't really say much."

"So which way to the Magic School?"

"This way." He said, and began leading the way. "But I don't really know how we'll get in. The entrance is barred by an iron gate that keeps the outside world from getting in. And, so I hear, the inside from getting out."

BOOM! As we rounded the corner, we were completely knocked off our feet by an explosion, and the gate that Ryu had spoken of was literally torn off the hinges.

"Ouch! You numbskull! Lay off the explosives next time! They aren't cheap you know!"

"Sorry!"

The source of these voices was, of course, near the gates. A group of four men dressed in rags. The primary similarity in these "uniforms", besides the bad state of the cloths, was a red scarf or bandanna that each one wore on his head.

"Jokers!" Ryu hissed, jumping to his feet beside me.

ZAP!!! Bolts of lighting shot from inside the gates, and struck the men. They were followed quickly by the source, a woman with long, golden hair, black wings, and a blue dress.

"I'm sorry, gentlemen. Are you hurt?"

"Hurt?" Asked the leader, incredulously. "Are you trying to kill me?"

"I'm sorry. You're just too persistent! I'm afraid that if you continue, I'll have no choice. I will not hold back again!"She replied. The steel in her voice at those last words obviously terrified the Jokers, who immediately turned and ran.

"We'll be back!" One of them shouted over his shoulder as they fled.

"I was afraid of that..." She said, shaking her head.

As she turned slowly, and walked back inside the School, I turned to Ryu.

"Say... This is a Magic School! Do you think I could learn some tricks like those?"

"I'm not sure. I've heard that it takes a long time to learn magic, and you need to have talent, too."

"Let's find out! Besides, that was the girl you came to see, wasn't it?" I asked.

"I think so. Not many people here have black wings."

"Let's go!" I called over my shoulder as I ran around, and to the door. I was on the other side, with the door shut, before he even rounded the corner.

So... What did you think? If you like it, let me know, the email address is carilakhelri@hotmail.com. If you didn't like it, let me know why please, same address as above. I can't write better if I don't know what people want.