"Hey," Tempest, asked, "You knew the guy that won right? Do ya... Do ya wanna go see how he's doing?"

From the looks of things, that arm wasn't going to be functioning anywhere near what it was supposed to be. Her spine tickled with the sensation she had learned to associate with being watched. There was nothing a thief dreaded more, and one as good as she had learned to be cautious and accurate with gauging whose eyes were upon her.

Hazel green eyes darted through the crowd, landing on some girl with white hair and a hood on. Spazzy's eyes narrowed. The girl was staring at Piper's arm like it was some kind of shiny new toy in a store window. Her first instincts were to guard and hoard, like she would when some other up-and-coming newbie would think that he could hit a mark before she could.

She couldn't stifle a chuckle when she saw the girl run right into the back of the guy she was supposedly following. Serves her right. She looked back at Piper and frowned a little.

"Look, I, uh, I know you said that you wanted to fight... I feel like I owe you something for not only ruining your mechanics but taking that away from you too. Is there... Is there anything I could do to fix this or repay you?"

Her pride screamed in protest of the offer, but her honor wouldn't be swayed otherwise. There wasn't much else she could do at this point except throw herself onto a stranger's mercy and pray that her sponsor wouldn't find out. If he knew, he'd surely pull her funding and send her right back to her family. She couldn't do that to them.

And if it meant brown-nosing this girl to keep her instability under wraps, then so be it.

"Yeah," Neku said just as excited as Kaine. He was surprised his master had forfeited, but that kid was strong. Neku wondered about him, and the way he acted. He couldn't be the evil Neku sought, Zhu cawed in agreement with this thought apparently. He was evil, but he did have issues, Neku hoped that maybe he would be able to test the kid himself.

Evan saw Zaku go sit down, and had to see what was up with him in the match. "I'm gonna go talk to my friend real quick, I'll be right back Allison, you can trust that!" he said smiling and walking away casually. He was about halfway across the ring and started to raise his hand to wave to his friend. Suddenly Zaku was grabbed from under the bleachers. He didn't have time to make noise before he was thrown to the dark ground. Suddenly Evan was pulled up and punched hard in the face. He was on the ground again now, but his head was against a post. Suddenly a foot came kicking him full on. He face hurt bad now, his right eye was definitely bruised and his nose felt possibly broken. His good eye had adjusted to the darkness now, and he saw it was three robed figures, two where familiar. They where the same men from the stands. Evan could only groan, and received a laugh from the bearded man. He said something about Evan's bluff of being a chairman's son. "Now we're gonna go cut up that girl, funny how we don't even know her name, she lies about it all the time, maybe even to you boy." Evan could only reply with, "You mean Allison?" in a dazed tone.

"Oh Allison, that's an old one, one of the first she used to avoid us haha," the man started to walk away, leaving Evan to go try and ambush 'Allison' if that even was her name. Evan didn't understand, and he couldn't think straight, all he knew is that his new friend was in some kind of trouble. 'Get up,' Virgil voiced. "You?" Evan thought, the voice had returned from whatever it had gone off to do. 'Get up you idiot, the girls in danger' Evan did as it said, his body and head hurt but this voice was right. 'Ok, now we're gonna kick their asses.'

"Wait what? we?" Virgil sighed, 'just fight and you'll see, I can help you. Evan wiped the blood from his lip and yelled at the thugs, "Hey bastards, finish your damn job." The thugs turned around and the bearded one said something about him needing to stay down, Evan couldn't hear it right because his head hurt. The thugs rushed and Evan thought, "okay can't use magik because of their gauntlets, so help out here Virgil. The first guy threw a punch and Virgil yelled 'duck!' Evan did so, and Virgil didn't even have to speak anymore, it was like they where almost one mind, Virgil could give commands with no downtime in communication. he ducked under the punch and grabbed his arm. He rose with a knee to the guys gut and then sweeping his leg. Once the guy was on the ground Evan stomped hard on his face. One down. The other man came with a bit more skill, and threw a few more punches. Evan dodged all but the last and blocked that one. He had a direct kick to the side of the guys knee and forced him down. Evan's style was a bit mixed with Virgil's influence as could be seen by the obviously more brutal moves than before, as Evan took the downed mans neck in hand and slammed him against the post he had his face kicked in on moments ago. two down. The bearded man came before Evan could turn around, he slashed with his knife at Evan, but missed and cut his shoulder through his shirt. Evan grabbed his arm that missed and started pummeling the mans chest. He kept punching harder and harder in his chest. Virgil spoke, 'Now, one big one.' Evan threw one last big punch into the guy and heard a rib or two crack, something he'd never done before. He let the man go, and watched him cough up a small bit of blood. "Leave her alone, or I'll do worse."

He started to walk away when the man spurted out, "We won't promise that, but the boss might just have found a secondary interest." The bearded man pushed himself up and limped away as fast as he could. Evan just limped back to the ring, not even saying hi to Zaku, just heading over next to Allison and sitting down with his head against a bleacher post. His forehead was covered in blood, his right eye was somewhat bruised, his nose wasn't broken, but badly bleeding and he had a cut or two around his lip besides his shoulder cut. 'Trust me now?' Virgil asked. "Yeah, mostly, questions later," Evan thought. He looked at "Allison" and said, "So 'Allison', why?"

Allison gave Evan a slight glance as he got up and left. "And I don't care. You can trust that." she said as he disappeared, more to herself than to him. She looked back to Kaine, now that her new 'friend' had left her alone for the time being. He was beginning to get a little too friendly with her, to her discomfort. Once she did what she came here to do, she didn't plan on staying, that much should have been obvious by now, so why was he trying so hard to get to know her...?

After a few short minutes, she felt a spike in energy coming from the bleachers further back. She turned her head in its direction, naturally, but didn't see nor hear anything that could back it up. That being said, feeling something like that didn't mean it was nothing just because one couldn't see or hear it as well. Turning her head back to her target, she sighed and readjusted her seating position, becoming rather bored. Her boredom would then be relatively gone, however, once Evan came back shortly after having left. She didn't look at him, but felt him sit down beside her, breathing somewhat heavily as the sound of something connect with the metal bar in front of them as he asked her a question.

"Why what--" she began to ask, finally looking over at him, sensing something was off based on his tone of voice; the state he was in having startled her train of thought, cutting her off. "The hell happened to you...?" She spoke with her usual tone, as though something rather drastic hadn't just occurred. She leaned to the side a bit, so as to see the rest of his injured face, finally revealing her deep blue eyes to any who had the availability to see them from that angle. "I think you need a new 'friend', if that's how they respond to you saying hi..." she paused, sitting back up, no longer looking at him. She scanned the area, already searching for a way out from where she was, in case the sudden attack on the boy next to her was what she thought it was. Her brow creased, annoyed once more; she told this idiot that it would come back to haunt him, and now she felt in danger once again... He obviously managed to fight them off and win, or else he wouldn't be so calm right now, but unless he killed them, there would simply be more trouble later...

Piper blinked at Tempest and smiled gently. "Oy... Chill out." She smiled softly. "I got my own issues with magic... While I got near perfect and precise control of my earth magic..." She held up the crude replacement arm she'd made from rock so she could at least fix the other. "My light magic flares out of control it's wicked powerful like white fire but... I loose control so easily..." Piper looked at her metal arm in defeat she'd just give it to one of her friends when it was her turn to fight. "So point is don't worry bout it..." Piper turned her head and gave a grin. "Now let's go find one of my friends so I can tell them to hold my arm while I beat up some rich kid."

Piper stood tall and proud and spun on her heels as she marched into the crowd leading Tempest. As they walked through the crowd Piper called out a name once and awhile. She was short as hell so really her search required people looking for her instead of her looking for them. "Oy! Kaine! Scarlette! Neku! Zhu! Blondy!" Piper looked around growing more and more frustrated as people nearly ran her over and pushed her about with annoying ease. Oh how she wished she could simply use some of her earth magic to make a tour or light magic to force people to notice but those would be much to disruptive. Dang it all! The woes of a short person!

Scarlett was surprised when Zen surrendered. She really wanted to know why did he give the victory to Zaku just like that. "Maybe Zaku needed it more than Zen for some reason... and Zen knew that..."

"Oh my goodness! Did you hear that, guys? Did you? Did you?" After each sentence Scarlett's voice was raising more and more in excitement. "I'll be back!" She didn't seem to use her class power, but she still quickly disappeared in the crowd.

"Hear what?" Saphire asked in confusion. "W-why did the master surrender?" She asked, apparently not being able to receive answers trough her extra senses.

"LOOK WHO'S HEREEE!" Scarlett came back to the others while holding Piper trough the waist like she was a puppy.

Evan ignored every other thing "Allison" said, but did understand all of it. 'Ask her now,' Virgil suggested. "Why'd you lie, about your name." Evan stood and wiped away some more blood that leaked from his nose. He took his right glove off and pinched his nose and leaned forward to try and stop the bleeding. A birthmark in the shape of a shining sun could be seen on his hand, though slightly covered by a line of blood coming from a bruised cut on his knuckle. "You called it on those thugs, but they're gone for a while, and I heard them talking about you though, about how Allison is an old cover."

Neku smiled at Scarlett's energy. She was eager to learn, and seemed to have the spirit of an adventurer. Neku considered that maybe she was apprentice material if he did become a sage. "Well long time no see Piper," Neku said happily. Zhu cawed with joy, "You've missed a few things, and wait," Neku looked around her, "Where's Evan, didn't you go looking for him why didnt he come back with you?"

'Allison' creased her eyebrows into a slight scowl at Evan's words while looking across the ring. It was obvious that those two would have been the only ones to tell him that the name she gave out was a fake one, as they were the only group she ever had to be mindful of with aliases. There were very few people in the world who knew her real name, and she wasn't about to raise the number any higher... Not in this kingdom.

"I gave you something to call me; what does it matter if it was my real name or not? All you have to know is that my name, right now, in this kingdom, is Allison. It's what I used to register myself in order to gain entry to the tournament, it's what I used to buy a hotel room last night, and it's what you will call me either way, so telling you my real name now would only serve to get me into trouble once you let it slip out by mistake." she finished her quick, calm rant and finally turned her head to him. "Understand...?" She waited for his response patiently, not taking her eyes off of him this time.

Kaine's eyes lit up when he saw Piper hauled over to them by Scarlett. "Awesome! You found Piper!" he shouted. "And yeah, where is that guy...? Last we ever saw of him, he was escorted away by that guard... Hope he's alright..." After wearing a bit of a worried expression over his thoughts on Evan's whereabouts, he looked around a bit, hoping to spot the young fighter. Kaine was relatively tall, so he had a pretty good view over most of the fighters that were around, but even then, it was difficult to spot anyone specific in the larger bundles of people, due to the poor lighting that was anywhere but the ring itself. His eyes rested across the ring, onto a woman who was taller than even him; Mei-Ling, another potential friend he hadn't seen for some time since his match. He gave her a big, happy wave, and kept scanning around beside her. Evan was no where to be found. All that was on Mei-Ling's side was her, a couple of guys talking excitedly with one another, and what appeared to be a young woman masked under a long, dark cloak. She seemed to be talking with someone who wasn't sitting up, because Kaine simply couldn't see anyone else beside her...

Turning back to the others, Kaine shrugged. "I couldn't spot him anywhere in the crowd... Maybe he was arrested?" he said, pausing for a moment before getting excited once again. "I saw Mei-Ling, though! She's over there on the other side of the ring!" He pointed his thumb behind and over his shoulder, indicating her location.

(( I had my English Exam today so my brain has the capacity of a boiled pasta so be patient with me sil-vous plait~ ))

Piper barely had time to let out a yelp when she found Scarlett dragging her back to familiar people. Piper folded her arms over her chest and listened. "Yeah no... I was busy getting shot by lighting thanks so I haven't had time to babysit blondy... Though I will admit I am starting to worry." Piper showed off the crude replacement for her metal arm before looking around. "Mayhaps I ought break blondy out from wherever he is... I mean... the ring and ground is mostly earth..." A mischievous smirk crossed Piper lips. "And it's not the first time I'd be breaking someone out so eh." Piper put her hand over her eyes to shield away the sun as she looked around. "Ok... This isn't working I'm to short..." Piper huffed puffing her left cheek while making an annoyed face. Breaking someone out of jail or just breaking the whole arina was an appealing idea the long she sat here. (Course she'd be exhausted if she use'd that much magic in one go but hey that's what naps are for.)

"Well it sounds like you have problems," Zaku said from the side, he was walking toward Evan's other side away from the girl. Evan was surprised by his sudden appearance, "She kick your ass?" Zaku asked him. Evan smiled and shook his head.

"How long have you been there?" Evan asked in surprise, "and how the hell do you keep sneaking around so easily?"

Zaku gave a careless 'hmph' and said, "Long enough to understand that you got beat up like usual, and that she's in deep shit if whoever did it knows her name and she's using it for her hotel room." He looked at the arena as he spoke, obviously not caring about her situation, merely coming over here because he had some curiosity as to Evan's bruises, "and the second part doesn't matter.

"Like usual?!" Evan said angrily, "c'mon Zaku it's been a long time since I fought you, let's go right here." Evan's small outrage at the doubt of his abilities had him clenching his fists. Zaku just gave a singular laugh and told him to "wrap his current wounds before he goes looking for new ones" which had Evan walking off a little hotheaded at his friends words, heading for the medical tent. He and Zaku had this banter a lot, Evan always saw them as friendly rivals but was still vulnerable to Zaku's teasing. He left Zaku silent with the girl that he could care less about. She could be running from an army of soldiers for all he cared

Neku quickly hoisted Piper onto his shoulders, "Here, but I don't think we'll need to break him out of anything," Neku thought back to the burst of energy from his match. Neku still didn't understand how he could go from fighting fully without holding back, using most of his energy and then gaining dozens of times what he should have been able to hold right at the end. It was unheard of, not even Zen had ever spoken of such a thing. Today certainly interesting, the adventurous girl, the strong friendly fighter, the mysterious boy, the darker and more mysterious man winning by forfeit against his master, and even this half metallic girl on his shoulders.

'Allison' nearly jumped out of her seat when she suddenly heard another man's voice sound behind her, but all she chose to react with was her head, which snapped to him immediately, unsure whether he was friend or foe. Then again, in this case, it was neither for her... This new visitor apparently knew Evan well enough to show up and ask about his injuries, so the two of them must be familiar with one another on a friendly basis, although their exchange seemed all but 'friendly' at the moment.

'Who the hell is this guy...?' thought Allison, eying the stranger while holding a scowl. 'I didn't even feel his presence at all...even now, it's like he's just a floating voice...' For someone to get the jump on her, this person must be quite skilled indeed. Just then, she realized who he was; the last competitor, whom won his match by default, thanks to the old man forfeiting. She couldn't remember his name... Zack? Zeke...? That's when Evan chose to name him for her. Zaku... Allison didn't know what to think of him as she watched him carefully, until his and Evan's words suggested something a little more heated than she was ready to be in the middle of, forcing her to focus more on that than what this person was about.

Zaku blew Evan off in a rather haughty manner, which must have annoyed Evan to no end, as he gave up on challenging the guy and walked off to the medical tent without another word to either of them. It seemed this was a regular thing between the two of them, and Zaku didn't appear to be a threat at the moment, so Allison chose to slowly take her eyes off of him and look back across the ring once more.

Neither of them said even a single utterance to the other, which satisfied Allison greatly; no more annoying idiots trying to bother her, whether it be for friendship or assassination. Still, she was slightly intrigued in Zaku's lack of presence... She was the same in terms of stealth when she wanted to be, but she was no where near as...non-existent...as this guy made himself out to be... Despite that minor interest, she remained silent, acting as though he truly weren't there standing beside her.

"Evan was taken away by guards?" Scarlett curled her brows in confusion. "When did he wake up? What did I miss while I was a living corpse? I hope he's alright..."
"Hey..." Saphire approached Scarlett. "I don't want to sound crazy, but you should be careful..."
"Why? What's going on?" Scarlett asked.
"There's something after you... something holding an unhealthy amount of wrath... something... reaching you fast..."

Scarlett was already sick of the girl, who was mad at her because of the lizard, but they met again. Scarlett's long black locks were grasped and pulled violently by the other woman.
"AAH! LET ME GO!" Scarlett grabbed the other girl's hands, so she could defend herself.
The other girl shoved Scarlett and prepared to throw herself onto her. Scarlett's instincts led her to slapping the girl in the face with such force, she fell violently on the floor. This would be nothing, if there wasn't a piece of glass on the floor, which was now a part of...
"MY EYE! MY EYE!" The girl was screaming in pain.
"Oh my goodness, I'M SO SORRY!" Scarlett was helping the other girl get up. "Be right back!"
Scarlett rushed to the medical center with the girl. "Bleeding eye! BLEEDING EYE!" Scarlett hysterically told the case. She didn't notice anything else in the room. Even if Evan was already there, she wouldn't notice... yet.

"I don't know what he sees in you, or knows about you, but he didn't come back bruised up and mad, he looked like he was satisfied to settle something," Zaku said, "he likes you, definitely sees SOMETHING, so let me tell you something." Zaku kept his expression and looked on. "When he first met me he forced his presence until I gave up and let him bother or accompany me whenever he wanted, and once I happened to complain about how many weaklings challnged me everyday and disappointed me with a lack of power." Zaku turned his head just a little to be heard better, "I saw him the next day covered in bruises and cuts," Zaku looked back at the arena, "he had fought all of the challengers lined up to challnge me, and when I asked him why he'd do a stupid thing like that, he replied with 'that's what friends are for'." Zaku grunted with a thought and continued, "He's stronger than just the average fighter because he doesn't give in to limits or to fear, and because he fought average fighters for three years as I brushed them off."

Zaku looked directly into her eyes and said in a somewhat darker tone, "He can be your best friend or your worst enemy, but as far I'm concerned he's a challange in training, and if you end up breaking him before he's ready to fight me, consider yourself broken too." Zaku started walking away. He looked back and added, "But if you're going to abandon him, do it quick, before you get to know him to well," then disappeared once more.

Evan was in the medical tent when he heard Virgil once more. 'Nice fighting back there kid,' he said, 'although you DID have my help.' Evan chuckled a little, "I thought you where holding back though." 'That and the fighting are two different things, this is more like something primal, and far far back in your mind.' "Speaking of how exactly did you get there, you must have been that strange feeling from before right?" Virgil sighed, 'Yeah but I can't explain it all right no-' Scarlett rushed in with a girl who seemed to have glass in her eye. Evan didn't want to take any attention from something as dire as that, so he left the tent briskly and forgot to say hi. He was safely away from the tent when he noticed his stomach growling. He took that as a note to go looking for food, so he headed outside of the arena tent for a bit.

Neku let down Piper and sighed. He noticed Alois preparing to make an announcement for the next match, and noticed that the delay had been due to many of the Balcony residents having a quick snack. Neku realized his own hunger now and said, "Hey guys, anyone else want some food?"

Evan quickly returned eating a long somewhat thick piece of meat on a kebab stick and holding another in his other hand. He noticed that Zaku wasn't around and paused. He figured Zaku had somewhere to be as usual. He looked at 'Allison' and gleamed, before extending the second kebab out to her. "I got hungry and though maybe you where to, sorry if it isn't your prime choice, it's all I could find this late at the fair." 'Good kid, you're doing good,' Virgil said, Evan didn't understand it, but he'd been saying things like this ever since the idea to get her one ran through his head.

Allison merely looked up at Zaku with her eyes as he spoke, choosing not to say anything at all back to him. It wasn't long before he was suddenly threatening her -- or so it came off to her at least, as he looked her dead in the eye. She wasn't afraid of him in the slightest, even despite his change of tone. That being said, she didn't feel like upsetting someone as skilled as he; that would make for some annoying confrontation later on, and that would give her a headache. Finally finished with saying his piece, he walked on back into the darkness, seemingly becoming one with it. Her eyes lingered on the place he vanished from for a few seconds, still thinking about his words before she looked back to the man across the ring from her.

It was true that everything and everyone she got involved with ended up meeting a swift end in some form or another, so it was safe to say that even this kid Evan might become 'broken' because of her... But that wasn't her problem. He chose to insert himself into her life, not the other way around, so why was she suddenly responsible for him? It was quite unfair, and Zaku seemed rather childish to say something like that. Her eyebrows formed into a scowl as she thought all of this through. 'I don't give a crap what that asshole thinks; I am not going forsake this opportunity just because some freak is afraid I might break his toy...' she thought to herself as she stared at Kaine with unfocused eyes. But maybe Zaku really was fond of the kid, and was only looking out for him... No, forget that crap; Evan is his own person. He obviously doesn't need someone else protecting him. That much was shown by his wounds just now, and backed up by his creepy friend's little story, so if this dumbass gets hurt because I don't wanna be his friend, then so be it. NOT my problem...' Satisfied with her decision to stay for now, she crossed her arms defiantly even though Zaku was no longer there.

Another 5 minutes and Evan had returned holding a partially eaten stick of meat in one hand, and an untouched one in the other. It was obvious where he was going with this, and it made Allison's stomach turn upside down out of disgust upon noticing the gesture... Evan looked about the area a bit, likely wondering where Zaku ran off to, but then turned back to her and offered her the food.

"I'm not hungry..." she said with slight hostility, quickly turning her gaze away from him and back to the ring. As luck would have it, her stomach then decided to make a relatively loud grumbling sound right after she refused his offer, which instantly made her expression drop and her eyes widen as her cheeks turned slightly red out of sudden embarrassment. Despite the truth having slipped through the walls of her middle section, she chose to stay silent and sort of recede into her being a bit, hunching over and holding herself close as she looked forward.

Kaine quickly responded to Neku's offer with the utmost glee.

"I DO!!" he said, waving his hand high in the air. "I'm STARVING!! I was just about to mention it myself, but that match distracted me!" Kaine wore his biggest grin yet as he placed his hands on the back of his head in a relaxed manner. He hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast, and that was almost 12 hours ago, so for him, he really was practically staving. Kaine loved food almost as much as he enjoyed fighting, and it was otherwise second to nothing in his mind. He was blessed to have been taken in by a couple who knew how to make an excellent meal, that's for sure. "Hm...? ...... Where's Scarlett?" he asked, just now noticing she was no longer there.

"I’m back, you guys!" Scarlett cheerfully greeted her friends. "The girl, who attacked me several times is now treated in the tent. Also, I hope you like noodles, because I bought a box of noodles for all of us!" The box was big enough to contain noodles for the whole gang. "Let’s munch! Come on!" Scarlett gave chopsticks to Mykeisha, Neku, Saphire, Kaine and Piper. She would have taken a pair of chopsticks for Tempest too, but she didn't know her yet. She did'n even know she knew Piper. "I hope I didn't miss giving chopsticks to anyone. If I did, I will go back and take some more! Unless you don't have problems with eating food with the same copsticks as somebody else. At least I don't! And this will be fun! Eating while watching the game!" Scarlett scooped in the noodles and gave food to Neku in an attempt to feed him. "Open wide!"

"No," Mykeisha answered upon the offer of food. She had already eaten before she had left. Well, correction; she ate before she had prepared to leave, which took a little under an hour, so therefore, she wasn't hungry. Besides, it was not like she was going eat such low quality food such as noodles. Okay, not so much as low quality, so much as she ate much higher quality eateries. That's really all she'd ever eaten anyhow.

"Madam!" A voice called, her guard, "Tres Chancuex, tu as!. Mykeisha turned her head to see him make his way through the crowd, with a book in hand, and when he approached, she turned her head back onto her book. "I see you've made some... friends." He said, looking from her hair to the other people around her. Alek lowered his head to her ear and spoke softly, placing the book on her lap. "You're very lucky somebody happened to have found it, of higher class. However, it also seems that they aren't after you, it would seem. They were after this woman, whom apparently is also on their watchlist. Let us hope her luck doesn't cross with ours, hm? Anyhow, it's still probably in our best interest to leave, for we don't want to take chances ourselves."

Mykeisha pondered this a moment. Some woman is being targeted by Horizon, so she's likely to be killed. Well, there wasn't much else to that thought, but the same could be thought about herself and she was alive. Besides, who knew what kind of journey she had been through.

"And she is alive?" Mykeisha asked in her language. "Yes," he responded. "So why are they still here?" Alek went silent for a moment, then stood up straight. "Looks like I'll have to get some answers," he said, cracking his knuckles and gazing into the crowd.

Piper blinked thankful when she was re-deposited on the ground. She thankfully and silently accepted the food eating it rather quickly. As Piper ate she blanked out seeming to forget about who was around her and what was going on. She was to busy thinking about the food passing into her mouth and what she was going to do if she got called up. Looking up briefly Piper looked at the arena questioningly... There was much she could do... But... Should she ask advice? Looking over at Scarlett Piper finally smiled. "Hey Scarlett... Thanks for the meal."

Evan laughed and said "You're stomach says otherwise, come on, just take it." He said still holding it out. He saw her blush and recede and responded, "You don't have to be embarrassed, you wouldn't be human if you didn't get hungry." He smiled and added, "and it's not like I'm going to judge you for something so trivial."

Neku chomped down on the noodles and exclaimed, "Rurishioush." He kept stuffing his face as Alois stood up and spoke, "The next match is ready." The crowd cheered in excitement. He waited for them to quite down. Neku stopped eating and focused with an even bigger smile than usual from his sense of wonder at who the next competitors would be.

Alois spoke loudly and clearly with his usual friendly smirk. "Last years champion Hark Vallin," he puased for dramatic suspense as the crowd cheered. The cheer was long as Hark was considered a local idol in Gallus, known for both strength and looks. "versus Piper Bandenged." The crowd had a final little cheer before he sat back down.

Allison eyed the stick of meat Evan was holding out for her to take, finally reaching out and accepting it. She chose not to look at him directly as she took a bite out of the delicious food. Her eyes perked up slightly upon satisfying her taste buds, secretly happy to get something into her stomach after all this time. After taking a few more bites, she finally spoke.

"I'll pay you back for this later..." she said, taking another bite. "And don't even think about saying 'No, no; this is my treat.' or some cheesy crap like that. I don't like being in anyone's debt, so you will accept repayment. Got it?" Finally shutting up once more, she ate in silence as the next two competitors were called. Hark Vallin was quite the renowned warrior. News of his triumphant feats had reached all corners of the globe, and knowing what she did of the man, Allison wasn't surprised to hear that he would be attending this year's tournament as well. That being said, she didn't really care one way or the other. This 'Piper Bandenged' would surely lose, if she was to face that beast...

On the other side of the ring's competitor stands, a tall man with black hair was stuffing his face full of noodles, not unlike his ally Neku. Now finally sitting down on the bleachers with the others, Kaine spoke to Scarlett words of thanks as he continued devouring his share of the food she brought, although he could hardly be understood with his mouth so full at the moment. He continued eating until he heard the next match's announcement, by which his head snapped up from his box of noodles, his cheeks bulging out due to the food; a noodle could be seen between his puckered lips. "Deh he shay Paipur?" he said, slurring his words a bit. Finally swallowing all that was in his mouth with one large gulp and a slight slurp of the single noodle, he turned to the short woman who was eating meekly beside him.

Piper looked up at Kaine with a bored expression. "You bet your bucket he said Piper!" She broke out into a grin. "Piper Bandenged!" She tossed her broken metal arm at Neku. "Hold onto that for me will you genius? I've got a stuck up winner to pound into the ground!" She grinned wider slamming her (rock) fist into her other hand and without waiting for anyone's 'good luck' speel threw herself over the edge of the stand and landed softly onto the arena floor. She immediately stiffened feeling everyone's eyes on her staring her down assessing her small stature. She turned and death glared the crowd as she moved toward the center of the ring. She could feel her magic trying to flare up and go wild but she kept it compressed making her seem weak, docile even despite her glaring. She would not let everyone feel her magic until she was sure they needed too after all surprises were the best thing to have on your side when fighting and Piper had several... Her amazing ability to manipulate earth, her light magic, her bow, the amount of magic, her knowledge. Yeah all that jazz would come in handy!

Evan laughed a little at how forceful she could be even though she was offering a reward. "It's almost reward enough to see you show some gratitude, but thanks anyways." Evan heard the match being announced and sort of jumped at Piper's name being called. 'Whoa, why so antsy, who is this girl?' Virgil asked. "A friend, sort of, she was one of the people I met in that big group today, she ran after me to help me after my match, I hope she does good." He had less silly smile on his face now, more hopeful than happy. Then he remembered something Virgil had said before, a pressure he was holding back. Virgil answered to Evan's thoughts without him trying to speak to Virgil, 'It's hard to explain, but yeah there is something in here, and it definitely surprised me. For such a young scrawny kid you sure have a lot brewing inside,' "Hey!" Evan thought, "I'm not scrawny you-" 'sorry sorry, bad choice of words I guess, no need to be such a baby.' Evan was visually a little grumpy after that.

Neku heard the name and looked at Piper. "Hey Piper be careful, this guy is a military tactician nowadays, so he's gonna be really tricky, you have to be on your toes." He said this a friendly smile and vigor just as she threw the arm at him and jumped into the ring. He couldn't wait to see this girl fight, he imagined that with the strong powers over light she was talking about, she at least had a chance. "Good luck," he said, only heard by himself.

Evan looked at 'Allison'. Though she didn't say it, he could tell she liked the food, her eyes were less dull and her focus seemed a little better, though a little diverted to the food. He though about what Zaku said, about how they knew her name now, and she used it for where she's staying. What if those guys actually had good enough connections to find that place. "Hey," he said more seriously, "What Zaku said earlier, if you did use that name for where you're staying, then they might be able to track you down, but," he paused, if he did offer this then he was really taking a risk because just the fact he even thought about this meant he trusted her more than she did him. "I know a place if you want, it's pretty secluded not public, and not far from the center of the city, in case you need to get around, but I can't really get you there unless I know your name, your real name."

Hark stepped into the ring, he was the hooded figure from before. He took off his hooded robe and the crowd went wild. Women could be heard screaming and cheering louder than anyone else. Without the hood he was just wearing some brown trousers and a blue military jacket with silver lined sharp shoulders open over a plain white shirt. He had a handsome statuesque face like Alois, except it was a little longer and his hair was bleach white, as well as the blonde scruff on his chin. "Well a one armed opponent," he said aloud to Piper, "the wounded beast is the most dangerous one, I like it." He rolled his left arm and then snapped his fingers. He put his right arm up and a giant ethereal boomerang formed right under his hand resting between it and the ground. "Here's my gimmick, what's yours'?"

Scarlett gasped in surprise when Piper was called on the ring. She started stroking Piper's hair before she went to the arena. "Good luck, Piper! We believe in you!"

As Scarlett heard, Piper's opponent was a champion last year. "Piper, be careful..." Scarlett murmured to herself in a worried manner. Then she turned to the rest. "Hey! Everyone! I want you to save some noodles for Piper! And what else do we know about Hark, except he's a last year champion and he can make women scream?" Scarlett's innocent mind didn't realize that whatever she just said sounded slightly wrong, so she casually continued eating the noodles, while looking at Piper and expecting an answer to her question. Right in that moment, Saphire, who was also thankful for the food was about to throw up, but by covering her mouth with both of her hands, she managed to hold the noodles inside her dygestive sistem.
"Are you alright?" Scarlett sympathetically held the red haired girl's shoulders.
"Yes... I'm fine..." Saphire replied. "I hope that the girl on the arena will be alright too." She thought.

Allison continued eating in silence for a while, watching her target eat his own food. Suddenly, the girl known as Piper jumped into the ring. Her appearance surprised Allison, as she recognized her to be the young woman fixing that metal arm, which was nowhere to be seen at the moment. Upon being drawn back to her surroundings thanks to Evan's voice, she, without hesitation, responded to Evan's newest offer under complete conviction.

"Evan, I'd encourage you to stop thinking that I require your assistance in any matter involving those men in black. You think I'm stupid? Think me incapable of dealing with a couple of jackasses simply because I'm female? I am not a damsel in distress who needs a heroic young man to save her, and I'm two steps ahead of you." she said, pausing for a moment to take another bite out of her food. "They now know that I'm using an old alias, meaning they have likely already begun ransacking the place I am currently staying at; or else they will be soon. I had no intention of returning there either way. After tonight, I'll have the answers I have been searching for, and will be leaving this kingdom without a second thought." Allison chewed silently while still looking ahead. What she said was completely true, feeling that she should set the record straight for Evan once and for all. She didn't need him to protect her, shelter her, or even feed her. The only reason she accepted the food in the first place was because she'd be paying him back in full later on. She owed him nothing; not her name, not her reasons in being here, nor why those men were after her. It was none of his business, and she intended to keep it that way. She finally turned to him after swallowing the food in her mouth. "I have my own methods of alluding those people. Worry not." she finished, turning her attention back to the ring. Or so it appeared.

Kaine had continued eating the moment Piper jumped up to the ring. He was very excited to see what she was made of, and that of last year's champion, but the food was keeping him relatively calm at the moment. He held a simple expression as he ate; not even cracking a smile. Blinking a few times, he realized that she was an arm short. His eyes moved onto her metal arm which was now in Neku's hands. Kaine blinked a few more times before looking back up at Piper, who was now being greeted by that Hark guy. Kaine swallowed his food and kept looking between the two of them until he finally spoke up, still holding a simple expression, along with a calm tone to boot.

"Hmm... This might not be a very fair fight... Without two arms, Piper can't use her class power. All she has to rely on are her two elements, and one of them can only be taken so far as she is now... And she doesn't appear to be a martial artist, so I'd say she's going to focus on using mostly Earth magik throughout the course of this match." he said, not taking his eyes off of the girl. Sure, Piper had a lot of heart, but her opponent was not to be taken lightly in the least. Kaine had never even seen the man before now, but that much was apparent to him. He had a pretty powerful air around him, and if Piper didn't think of something to compensate for her current disability, it was likely that she would lose...

Piper smirked. "My gimmick?" She seemed pensive for a moment. "Hmmm I prefer to leave things as a surprise but..." She lifted the makeshift arm she'd had to make from rock. "Guess this gives away a little bit what a shame I really do prefer surprises." Piper grinned from ear to ear and held out her rock hand. "I might be just a blacksmiths forge rat but hey I still shake hands with my opponent before I beat them up." Piper kept on grinning all the while keeping a firm clamp on her light magic... She knew very well she was at a disadvantage with the lack of her arm. Piper turned back to analyze her group hoping Neku was taking good care of her limb... But the makeshift one was still made out of her element that meant if she really pushed she might be able to get it to do what the metal arm usually did in a combat situation... Though maybe it would allow for an easier out-let for her light magic considering she could blend her two elements together rather well...

Piper thoughts were interrupted as she felt her opponent grab her hand. She blinked and realized just how small she was... But what was that old saying? 'The bigger they are the harder they fall?' or some smart sounding thing like that. Besides... Her... Small-ness might actually be an advantage... A strange gleam entered Piper's eyes as she thought over several tactics she could put into action... She refused to go down... And if she did she fully planned on taking last years champion with her!

Evan heard her talk about how she didn't need his assistance, and she made it sound as if he was intending to be a knight in shining armor. "That's not what it is he said," he looked at her, "female, male, old burly man, little kid, it doesn't matter I'm not concerned about that." He felt that maybe even Virgil was listening, "Something on the wind of fate brought me to find you , you where interested in someone I know, and you seemed like whether you needed it or not, I could assist, and that's what I do." He began watching the match more. "I'm not as shallow as you think I am, I'm still here because I care bout my friends, and because I hope that maybe you're not this grouchy all the time." He left it at that and felt that maybe let her start next time would be better than saying something and having her spout about how little help she needs.


Hark easily flung the giant boomerang over his shoulder and changed his foot stance a bit and crouched down low a little, he was ready to react to anything. "Okay, come on then," he said. He gave a little 'come on' gesture with his hand, "Let's see just exactly what you got. He intended to let her strike first, and watch her moves, this would give him a better idea of the wy she fought, and a glimpse of how to get in her head.

Piper arched an eye brow. "Please tell me this isn't because I'm a girl... I've never believe in the whole 'Lady's first' jazz." But Piper smiled anyway. She could choose to do many things... Attack weak, but she could get caught. Attack strong, but give herself away. Choose to not attack directly but help set up for a future attack. Or she could just whip out the light magic now... Piper stayed silent for a moment before deciding on her plan of action. Without so much as another word Piper lifted her foot and slammed it to the ground. As soon as her foot touched the ground spikes shot out from the earth more specifically at Hark but Piper was not too specific instead she ensured the spikes shot out from everywhere all over the arena thus changing the playing field... With her arm causing a disadvantage she decided to give herself an advantage by making the playing field bend to her needs. Calmly Piper jumped and scaled a spike seating herself on the tip of it to inspect the now spiky arena that was now covered in a cloud of dirt and dust. She also wanted to see if Hark had actually gotten hit by any of her purposefully lazily aimed spikes. Like a bird of prey she watched silently ready to pounce at a moments notice.