Being held down and trapped by Biscuit, Lex could do nothing as the young Beastmen shot a fearsome punch right at him. As the fist was coming towards his face, Lex’s entire life flashed before his eyes. He saw the many years he trained from a young age to be a good little soldier because he was the perfect product of both his parents. All the blood, sweat, and tears he put into his training, the scars and broken bones he received as testament, all the sacrifices he made—did they all mean nothing in the end?
As Lex was lost deep in his own thoughts, Biscuit’s fist collided with Lex’s face. The force of the punch was so strong that it sent the buzzcut young man flying straight out of the ring. Even if Lex still had some fight left in him, there would be no way for him to make it back into the ring. But if he did have some fight left in him, Lex wondered if he would have found a way to do it, if he would have found a way to push forward and keep fighting. But soon, Lex let go of all the what-ifs.
As he was falling to the ground, as he neared closer to the ground, Lex had only one thought running through his mind, and it was of his parents. He wondered, he truly wondered if they’d be proud of how far he made it. After a moment, a loud thud was heard as Lex had landed outside of the ring, losing the match.
After Lex’s body touched the ground outside of the ring, the referee, T.K., shook his head as he said, “Okay, that’s it. The fourth match has been decided. The winner is applicant 7980, Biscuit.”
After being announced as the winner, the Beastmen started to rub his eyes. “Man, he got me good,” Biscuit said to himself. “If I didn’t use my trusty sniffer, I would have lost for sure.” After a while and after all the eye rubbing, Biscuit was finally able to reopen his eyes. “Ahh, good as new,” he said cheerfully.
After being announced the winner, Biscuit was smiling, and his tail was wagging in happiness. He retracted his claws, but that cheerfulness dropped as he caught sight of something with his freshly opened eyes. He saw a small crowd of assistants hovering over Lex, who was still lying out on the ground. One of the assistants that was hovering had a worried look on their face. “He doesn’t look so good,” they said. They turned to another assistant as they told them to hurry, “Get some nurses here stat and tell them to bring a gurney.”
Hearing this, Biscuit’s ears dropped as he too felt worried. “Oh no, I… I hope I didn’t hit Lex too hard,” the Beastmen jumped out of the ring, rushing to his former opponent.
After Biscuit exited the ring, T.K. looked at the statues of said ring. After only four matches, the ring was cracked and broken. Chunks of the ring were missing after Biscuit slammed down his heavy foot. “He damn near split the poor thing in half,” T.K. murmured. “Even though now there are only two matches left, I’m sure that the ring wouldn’t be able to last that long.”
The referee shook his head as he exhaled. “Time for a new one.” T.K. pulled his walkie talkie out as he spoke into it. “Hey boss… boss, you there?” On the other end of the walkie talkie was nothing but static until a loud scream was heard from the other end. “Holy crap, T.K. my man, that fight was totally wicked!” the announcer, Moon D, screamed loudly into the walkie talkie.
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T.K. exhaled again, but out of annoyance this time around. “Please calm down, sir, and you don’t have to yell.” “Calm down? How dare you tell me to calm down, T.K.! How dare you try to stifle the pure excitement that’s burning in my heart right now!” Moon D started chatting on and on, not letting T.K. get a word in. The bald assistant held his head as he rubbed his temple. “I need to get a new job,” he thought, as his boss flapped his gums a mile a minute.
As that was happening, Biscuit had made his way to the downed Lex. He pushed assistants out of the way as he dropped to his knees and screamed at his former opponent, “Lex, Lex, are you okay? Please tell me you’re okay. I didn’t hurt you that bad, did I? Move, MOVE, LEX, SPEAK TO ME!”
The young man was laying flat on his back with his eyes open, staring at nothing. But as Biscuit screamed in his ear, his voice full of worry, Lex’s eyes began to refocus. “Would you please stop barking at me, you mangy mutt? I’m fine, I was just thinking, that’s all,” Lex said as he started to lean up.
Biscuit’s tail started to wag more as Lex was okay. He was so happy that he didn’t pay attention to the mutt comment. “Oh, thank goodness, you had me so worried there.” Then quickly, Biscuit’s ears perked up. “Oh, you said you were thinking. What were you thinking about?” Biscuit asked, all curious. His puppy-like demeanor was annoying Lex as he tried to get to his feet, as he struggled—he realized his body was in worse shape than he thought.
“But he didn’t struggle for too long,” as Biscuit and an assistant helped him to his feet. As he was being helped, Lex answered Biscuit’s question, “I was just thinking about my life and everything that led me to being here today. I thought I had this match in the bag, but you proved me wrong. It seems that I still got a ways to go until I can surpass them.”
As Lex was finally standing upright, Biscuit couldn’t help but cock his head to the side. “Surpass who?” he thought. Lex then turned and looked at the wolf beastmen as he smiled a very soft smile. “You know, I could have easily gotten into the academy off a recommendation from my parents, but I simply wanted to test myself. And I ended up losing to you. But that won’t stop me. I’ll come back next year, pass the exam, and then I’m going to find and beat you, you shitty wolf,” Lex’s smile had grown, and in return, Biscuit smiled back. “Okay then,” Biscuit said. “I’ll be waiting for you then, Lex.”
After that, Lex departed, being helped by some assistants. After he was gone, Biscuit was approached by Zack and Jake. “Well, well, well, look who won their fight,” Biscuit turned and looked at the two applicants that approached him. Zack was smirking while Jake was marveling. “Wow, I’ve never been this close to a beastmen before,” Jake thought as he looked at the tall wolf man standing in front of him.
Zack came closer to Biscuit as he landed a light playful punch on his stomach. “Who would have thought that the dick who interrupted my fight with a beastmen was himself a beastmen,” Zack chuckled as Biscuit laughed awkwardly. “Yeah, I am, and sorry for getting in the way of your fight with Mr. Angus,” Zack simply rolled his eyes as he said, “It’s fine, we’re cool now, water under the bridge.” “Oh, that’s nice,” Biscuit responded. Then he perked up again. “Oh, back then in the first phase, things happened so fast I never introduced myself.” The beastmen bowed his head to Zack and Jake. “I am the second son and youngest child my mama ever had. I am the gray half-wolf beastmen, Biscuit, and I’m from the 7th canine pack.” He then lifted his head, smiling.
Both Jake and Zack were thrown off by Biscuit’s formality, so much so that they had to look at one another in disbelief but also thinking the same thing. The two smiled at each other, then turned to look at Biscuit, then bowed to him. “My name is Jake Gree… I mean Sullivan. I’m an only child, I’m originally from the northern slums.” “I’m Zack Truesdale. I’m the youngest child myself, and I was born and raised on the mainland of Gardenia.”
The two then lifted their heads and looked at Biscuit as they said at the same time, “It’s nice to meet you.” Biscuit’s tail started to wag again as he responded, “Yes, it is very nice to meet you as well.”
As Biscuit was speaking, he felt something grab him. When he turned around, he, Zack, and Jake all saw the little girl Gabby holding on tightly to Biscuit’s tail. His continuous wagging drew the girl in like a moth to the flame; she simply couldn’t help herself. She held his tail with both arms as she had her face pressed against it. “It’s so fluffy,” she said as she smiled with her eyes closed, beaming with pure joy.
After the awkwardness had passed, the three young men busted out laughing. In this moment, all of them, especially Jake, were having a good time. Everything felt right. It all felt so peaceful. But eventually, soon, this feeling would melt away and be replaced with a chilling reality.