"Hey, cub... wake up. Are you alright...? Cub?" A voice called to me from the darkness. Everything aches and I can't move. "Wake up, cub." I can't. "If you are the child I think you are, you will wake up. You must be the cub that can take on anything..." I can only twitch in response. "Wake up, Shadowclaw." Someone knows me, a burst of energy shoots through my chest and I painfully open my eyes...

"They're awake, guys! They're okay!" I can finally see my waker; a scruffy leopardess with many scars and a ragged ear. She had scratches running down her face and across her noze. To be honest, I didn't look much better myself. She began to gently lick the bullet wound on my right shoulder. It stung allot. I flinched at the pain. "Now now, cub you've had a rough day. I can tell you, it's only going to get rougher. Welcome to the leopard games."

I look around, unsure of what to make of my surroundings. We were in separate cages next to eachother, and there were many more leopards, each more injured than the last.
"Here come the camera men, either look cute to the rest of the humans, or show your fighting spirit." The she-cat warned. In came more humans with the same black boxes over their shoulders as before. This made my spine tense. Still, I made myself look as small as possible, laid my ears back and made my eyes wide. If this didn't get pitty from the public, I don't know what will. Then I launched myself to the front of the cage and batted at the camera.

Another human made his way over to a cage on my right and put this long pole with a loop at the end around a leopards neck. This cat was no bigger than the leopardess next to me. It kicked and thrashed as it was dragged away to a door that opened into an arena with many other humans watching. A second leopard was brought in and they were both locked into a fight to the death. The leopardess shuffled over to me...

"There is no such thing as mercy here, kid. Just kill." I watched in horror as they each tried to rip apart the other.

"My guess is that now you're awake... you'll play the next winner." I looked into her eyes with an expression that had a mixture of anxiety and defiance. "Winner stays on around here. It looks like the next shows about to start... ok here's the schedule; the two biggest cats start the whole thing off and the winner then plays the smallest leopard for a celebratory grand-massacre. The winner of this then plays another fight and then that's it for the evening." I nodded my thanks for the information before a human walked over to my cage. I tried to avoid getting the loop round my neck, but this man had gotten much experience with stubborn cats. The loop burned as it cut into my skin. I choked while I dug my claws into the ground. I took what could be my last chance to see at the she-cat who had been so kind, my expression only fear now.

Bye.

Author's note: Don't worry, the story is not over yet!