After the announcer Moon D had been flapping away at the gums for what seemed like centuries to the irritated assistant T.K, he finally started to settle down his excitement. Seeing the chance for this torture to finally be over, T.K quickly chimed in, “Sir, sir, I’m glad you enjoyed the last round.” In truth, no, T.K wasn’t; he was furious that the man refused to shut the hell up, “but we must continue with the last two rounds.” There was silence on the other side of the walkie-talkie besides the sounds of static. Then the voice of Moon D responded, “Oh yes, you are right, T.K., my man. We should finish up.”
The assistant exhaled as he spoke into the walkie-talkie, “Yes, sir, we should. But before that happens, can you have the current ring replaced for a new one?” The announcer cheerfully responded, “Well, of course I can, T.K., my man. Is that really all you wanted? You should have said something earlier.” Moon D chuckled as T.K. had to swallow his harsh words he had for the man. As Moon D laughed, he snapped his fingers. When he did, one of the many other assistants in the viewing room with Moon D and Angus started pressing a bunch of buttons on a keyboard. Doing this made the ring that was in the auditorium descend into the ground from where it originally came. As it did, T.K. slowly walked then jumped off the ring before it disappeared, shaking his head in frustration as he did. “Is everything okay, Mr. T.K.?” asked the female assistant who held the box that held the name of all the current applicants. “Yeah, everything’s fine. It’s just the dumbass Moon D. He just keeps getting on my damn nerves,” the female assistant laughed softly to herself as the upset T.K. addressed the applicants, “Please, everyone, just wait a moment for us to switch rings, then we will begin the fifth round.”
After hearing this, Jake’s attention turned back to Biscuit. “I’ve got to say, Biscuit, I was really impressed with your fight with Lex.” “Oh, thank you so much,” Biscuit responded, feeling bashful from the compliment. Jake was smiling, but the smile disappeared when Zack threw an arm around his shoulder and pulled him in close. “Oh, you were impressed with him, you say,” Zack said in a dramatic tone. “Then why did you bet against him?” Zack snickered as Jake’s face went bright red from embarrassment. “Bet… Against… me?” Biscuit asked with his head tilted to the side, curious about what was being said. Zack looked at him, cheesing as he did, “Oh, yeah, me and Jake here made a bet on who would win the last match. The loser buying the other a drink. I, in my infinite wisdom, bet on you, but Jake decided to bet on Lex.” Jake felt more embarrassed once the truth was revealed. “Oh, so you bet against me. Ugh, Jake, did you really believe that I would lose?” “Well, no,” shot back Jake. “I… mean, yes… I mean, I don’t know.” Zack laughed hysterically, watching Jake become frazzled in return. The young man jabbed him in his side, “Cut out all the laughing, jackass,” but the little jabs only made Zack laugh more. “Hahaha, man, Jake, you’re a riot. But don’t forget, you owe me a drink now.” “Yeah, yeah,” responded Jake. “Once this is over, I’ll buy you a soda from the vending machine.” “No,” Zack quickly said back, “Since I won the bet, I must be the one to decide where I get my reward drink from.” Jake’s face scrunched up, “Wait, what?” he shouted back, “That wasn’t part of the deal!” “Oh, it was,” Zack chirped in response, “It was in the fine print.” Jake was getting frustrated by Zack’s antics, but he couldn’t fight what he was feeling inside: the feeling of just being normal for once, not stressing about being a poor slum kid or worrying for his mother or having a huge debt to pay the Sullivan family. At this moment, Jake felt like a normal kid. “I think I’d like to get my drink from the Tulip Café in the heart of the Shopping District,” Zack said with a look of satisfaction and glee on his face. “The Tulip Café?” Jake repeated with a look of pure confusion on his face. He heard that name before, but from where? He was lost in thought until it popped in his mind. He couldn’t help but scream, “WAIT, THE TULIP CAFÉ? YOU’RE KIDDING, RIGHT? YOU MEAN THE RITZY PLACE THAT SELLS DRINKS THAT COST LIKE 80 DOLLARS?” Zack only nodded his head in agreement, “Yeah, that’s the one. The drinks are oh so good. I’ll take my reward drink from there.” Jake’s mouth hung open in disbelief as he looked at Zack. While he did, Biscuit leaned in, interested, “I’ve never heard of such a place. Are the drinks really that good?” Zack nodded again, “Yeah, they are, and they have the most delectable pastries.” Hearing the word pastries, Biscuit’s mouth started to water, “They have pastries too? I love pastries!” “Hey, hey,” he said, all excited, “You only won your bet because of all the hard work I did so, don’t you think I should get a treat too? I love treats.”
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Both Zack and Jake paused, looking at the excited little beastmen in front of them. Then joyfully, Zack exclaimed, “You know he is correct! So, Biscuit will come along with us!”
Zack said with his arms spread open “A champion deserves a treat too!” Jake screamed, “WHAT?!”
But then another voice chimed into the conversation, “What about me? What about me? I want to come too!”
Hearing this, all the guys focused their attention on Gabby, the little shinobi girl, who at the moment was still holding Biscuit’s tail like a teddy bear.
“Wait, you just can’t…” Jake was about to tell the girl no before Zack cut him off, “Yea, sure thing, kid. You can come. The more the merrier. We’ll all go to the café together and Jake will buy us anything we want!”
Gabby and Biscuit happily cheered as Jake tried to strike Zack, “You porcupine bastard! We didn’t agree to any of this when we set the bet!”
Zack only laughed as he responded, “Oh, yes, we did, my dear Jake. It was all in the fine print.”
After the moment had passed, Biscuit had the idea to ask his new friends a question that had just popped into his mind, “So, why did you guys take the exam?”
Both Zack and Jake were caught off guard by the question.
“Wow where did that question come from?” said Zack.
Biscuit rubbed his head a little as he chuckled, “Oh, sorry to just spring it on you, but you guys are so cool, I’d like to get to know you a little better.”
The sentiment made Jake smile a little as he was the first to answer, “I… I’m here for a loved one,” he answered.
“Oh really, I see,” Biscuit said intrigued.
Zack put his hand behind his head as he was the next to answer, “No real reason, just here to kill time and have some fun.”
Biscuit nodded his head, then Gabby spoke, “I want to become the next clan head.”
This was a unique answer that none expected, “You want to become what?” asked Zack.
“I said I want to become my family’s next clan head. I came here to get stronger so one day I can go back home to the clan and take over as the head of the family,” Gabby explained.
“Wow, that’s such an interesting dream,” responded Biscuit, but both Zack and Jake were confused.
“Um, Gabby,” Jake said, “During your fight with that Fredrick, you seemed to be really skilled.”
“Yeah,” Zack agreed, “And you weren’t half bad in our little skirmish in the second phase. Can’t you get stronger and become the clan head or whatever at home?”
The girl shook her head in disagreement, “No, I can’t do that. Papa says the girls aren’t allowed to train in the way of the shinobi, only boys. That’s why papa trains my older brothers and not me. I only learned what I have from watching my brothers train in secret.”
“Oh, that makes sense now.” “So, what about you, Mr. Doggy? Why are you here?” Being asked his own question, Biscuit couldn’t help but hold his head down as he smiled softly, “Have any of you heard of the Great White Wolf Sanjuan before?”
Jake shook his head, “No, I’m sorry, I haven’t.”
But Zack nodded, “Yeah, I have.”
Jake turned and looked at the spiky-haired young man, “Really? You have? Who is he?”
“He’s a legendary beastmen, no, more like a legendary warrior. He was the first-ever beastmen to join the Gardenia military. He even has a high rank and a mystic sword at that,” Zack explained.
“Wow,” Jake said, “Is he that important?”
Biscuit nodded his head, hearing Zack’s telling of who this Great White Wolf was, “Yeah, I want to join the military so one day I can find and meet Mr. Sanjuan. I… I want to be a great warrior just like him.”
Biscuit was smiling a large toothy smile. It gave off a warm glow as the three other applicants looked at him. As their conversation was reaching its end, the new ring had arrived. It looked just like the previous one, a circular ring but without all the battle damage.
When it arrived, T.K jumped into the ring, “Alright, let’s finish this up!”
When he said these words, the female assistant took it as the go-ahead to get the next two names out of the box. When she pulled two more slivers of paper out of the box, she read them aloud, “Round 5 will be against Applicant 8809 Kendrick vs Applicant 2468 Lucas.”
The announcement of the fifth-round fighter made Jake’s stomachache. All the joy he felt was now gone because he didn’t hear his name being called for the fifth round, and he didn’t hear the name of Heracles being called. And without anyone needing to tell him, Jake knew what that meant, and the thought of it made him want to vomit.