Walking back to the bar, Mark say Abby already preparing to leave the restaurant. Noticing Mark approaching, she beckoned him to hurry over.
"Have you found your bird?" Questioning the whereabouts of Vanishing, Abby looked Mark over searching for the bundle of feathers.
"Yes, he was eating those gentlemen's nuts. They didn't seem to mind though, but weren't you meant to keep an eye on him?" Recalling before he went to recover, Mark had heard Abby say she would look out for Vanishing.
"I was, but I had to use the washroom and when I got back he was already over at the table. The men didn't seem to mind and didn't try to stop him, so I just kept looking for him and making sure he didn't cause any trouble."
After recounting the adventures of Vanishing, the pair left the restaurant and made their way back to Dante's shop. They didn't stop once while heading there as they were on a serious time crunch. Mark especially didn't want to be late as this could be his only lead to finding the underground fights.
Within 30 minutes they had arrived at the door of Dante's shop.
Mark gave the door a good look. The door was made out of a dark wood with intricate patterns on the engraved into it. The wood also seemed to shimmer, as if it was surrounded by a bubble of water. In the middle of the wood there was a sign that read, 'Closed for private event.'
Abby walked up to the door and knocked three times. Inside the store a ruckus could be heard as someone was running towards the door. Loud clicks could be heard as the locks on the door were opened.
As the door opened, a head poked through the gap and looked at who was knocking on the door.
"Abby, good you're here. Did you bring the kid?" Maddie had spotted Abby but was unable to spot Mark standing behind her.
"Yes, he is here." Moving aside, Maddie finally saw Mark and pulled the both of them inside the store.
"So, you still want that information?" Asking for a final confirmation, Maddie needed to find out how far Mark was willing to go to get this information.
"Of course, I am so close how could I change my mind now?" Confirming his intentions of not turning back, Mark prepared to do anything in order to get the information he wanted.
"Good, you seem determined. Come with me, Dante has prepared something for you." Leading Mark and Abby to the back of the store, they passed through a door that entered a storage room.
Maddie moved a box out of the way revealing a staircase leading down. She began descending, followed closely behind by Mark then Abby. After walking for 5 minutes, they finally stopped descending stairs and instead began walking down a long corridors.
"Maddie, where are we going?" After having walked for 10 minutes, Mark still had no clue where he was being led.
"You said you wanted to find the underground fights right?"
"Yeah, but where are we going."
"You'll know when we get there." Leaving the conversation at that vague answer, Maddie continued walking down the hall.
After walking another 5 minutes, the sound of cheering could be heard blasting into Mark's ears. The sound appeared from thin air.
'Did we just teleport? The hell! They could've warned me to cover my ears or something.'
After having recovered from the shock of being blasted by hundreds of cheers, Mark looked up and saw Maddie stepping on a stage where Dante was waiting for him. Dante held a mic up to his lips and spoke to the crowd and Mark at the same time.
"You said you wanted to know where the underground fights are? Welcome to the arena!"
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"Dante, what do you mean I have to fight?" After having been directed to a waiting room, Mark wanted to find the answers he desperately wanted.
"Well, you didn't have enough money to pay for the information so, we are making you work for the information instead." Answering the question as clear as he could, Dante went on to explain more about what he meant. "You see, in these fights competitors can make money by winning. If you make enough money then you can pay us back."
"And what happens if I can't make enough money?"
"Let's just say that you should keep winning your matches." Dodging the question, Dante stood up to leave the room before turning back to Mark. "Kid, you have a match in 15. You better win, I got some good money on you."
Left on his own, Mark began wondering how he could prepare for his first match. He needed a strategy to beat his opponent.
As he was thinking up a strategy, Maddie had walked in the room.
"How you feeling?" Sitting down as she asked the question, Maddie tried to show some concern for her 'friend'.
"Well, I am supposed to earn 10 grey to pay back the information by fighting other people. I don't know the rules of the ring, I don't have much experience fighting other people and the other guy is probably stronger than me. So, I am doing good." Reacting in a sarcastic and snippy tone, Mark snapped back at Maddie for dumping him in his current situation.
"I can tell you're upset, but I am here to give you some good news!" Shaking her hands as she said this, Maddie began to spill what the good news was. "Your opponent is new here too."
"How does that help me?" Confused as to why that was good news, Mark asked the questionably excited girl how this would give him an edge.
"People who come here are usually the bottom of the barrel, doing whatever they can for money. This means they aren't usually talented." Maddie paused as she took a breath. "Since they will be new here too, they won't know any of the rules while you will."
"But I don't know any of the rules." Replying about his lack of knowledge, Mark stood up and walked over to a cupboard and grabbed a glass filling it with water.
"That's why I'm here. I was told to give you any advantage I thought you needed. You have to pay us back soon or you won't be able to leave here." Speaking with a smile on her face, Maddie stated something that made Mark spit out his water.
"You mean I'm trapped here till I can pay you guys back!" Realising the predicament he had gotten himself in, Mark sat down once again and demanded answers.
"Well we can't just have you leave and not pay us back now can we?" The smile Maddie was wearing vanished from her face, turning into one of confusion. "Did Dante not tell you that?"
"No, he did not." Gritting his teeth as he spoke, Mark couldn't think of any reason why Dante would keep that information from him.
"Well that doesn't matter, I need to tell you about the rules of the arena." The smile returned to Maddie's face after she spoke those words. "The first rule of the arena, if you get knocked out, thrown out of bounds or killed, you lose the match. The second rule of the arena, fight as if your life depends on it, because it just might."