The night after they won that fight was loud and filled with laughter and celebrating. The adrenaline from the fight had not completely down, but it had done so enough for the four to realize how close they had potentially come to losing, so the cell also had an underlayer of nervousness to it, but no one acknowledged it.

Kipo smiled as Fei Fei and Anne excitedly talked about the fight for the seventh time. They still couldn't seem to believe it. None of them could. And it was even harder to believe Kris when they told them that the next opponent might be even more difficult to beat.

"So... how exactly does this work?" Kipo eventually asked Kris, trying not to disturb their two friends across from them. "When we defeat the ones that you haven't defeated with you, will we have to defeat everyone else, too?"

"No," the guard from the door spoke up, startling all four of them. Kipo stared at him. Where all the guards in this place just listening into their prisoner's conversations?

Well... it didn't look like they had anything better to do. No wonder they were always so angry.

"The way it works is that this is basically a trial run," the guard explained, and Anne and Fei Fei quieted down to hear him. "You're all proving to Kris that you deserve to be a part of their team. If, at anytime, they decide they don't want you, they can either chose to kick you off their team, where you will start at zero again, or they can choose to fight you. But as long as you're on their team, their wins are your wins."

Fei Fei and Anne exchanged nervous glances, clearly far more anxious about the 'Kris could choose to kick you off anytime' part, but Kipo wasn't worried about that. She was much more thankful for the guard's answer than his warning.

The guard turned away, but the feeling of dread that he had left in the room didn't dissipate by any means. It seemed to settle like a thick fog, and Kipo could even see it on Kris' impenetrable blank expression. They were all worried, and even Kipo, despite her nonchalance, felt worry crawling up inside her stomach. It was a new feeling, she had never felt the need to distrust friends before....

The next day was basically the same as the first day in the arena. The guard came and collected them, and then they were on their way. In fact, the only thing that was different was probably the tension that had settled on them the night before. It made Kipo nervous... what if Kris was right and the next opponent was more difficult than the last one? They couldn't afford not to trust one another!

With that in mind, Kipo suddenly turned around, and brought the whole parade to a stop. Anne and Fei Fei gave her odd looks, while Kris was expressionless, as usual. The guard, however, looked irritated, and Kipo put up her hands with an apologetic look.

"Sorry, sorry!" she apologized. "This will only take a second, I promise."

"What will only take a second?" Anne asked. "What are we doing? Escaping?"

The guard stiffened, but Kipo shook her head.

"No, that's not it," she said. "I just... we can't go into the arena today like this, where none of us are sure if we can trust the person beside us. Remember yesterday, how hard it was to win even when we did trust each other? We can't have this weakness when we fight! So let's just ask point blank."

Kipo turned, finally focusing all her attention on Kris. "Kris, do you promise that you'll stick with us?" she asked, and when Kris raised their hands, she quickly continued. "And don't try any of that 'fight to the death' stuff."

Kris hesitated, looking vaguely annoyed, before they finally shrugged. "I promise."

"There," Kipo said, satisfied, but when she turned, she was disappointed to find that Anne and Fei Fei didn't exactly look convinced. Kipo sighed. "Uh... well, let's just get through this one fight, ok? We can worry about the rest of them later. Kris will not leave us in this fight."

Kris nodded, and, thankfully, Anne and Fei Fei finally seemed to relax. Kipo breathed a sigh of relief, and gave a sheepish look to the guard. "Alright. We're ready to go now!"

The guard cocked an eyebrow, but he didn't argue as he led the rest of the way to the arena.

"Hel-lo today, folks, are you all ready for the next exciting arena battle?!" the announcer yelled into the arena, and the crowd went wild. "Yes, well, I hope you're ready, because you remember that group who took the surprising win from Chariot yesterday? Yes, that's right... Anne, Fei Fei, Kipo and Kris are BACK, and they are ready for more!"

The crowd cheered, chanting their names. Anne grinned. "Wow, looks like I got more F-Annes."

Fei Fei sucked in a deep, somewhat annoyed breath, and Kipo looked back to give Anne a questioning look.

"What are... F-Anne's?" Kipo asked her, and if possible, Fei Fei looked even more irritated.

"Oh, they're my fans, like fan and Anne," Anne explained. "Get it?"

"Oh..." Kipo turned away. "That's... interesting."

"I KNOW right?!" Anne agreed, almost bitterly, but before Kipo could ask what she meant, the gate in front of them was lifted up, and the four stepped forward.

"And, their opponent today is... King! Yes, yes.... THAT King," the announcer said, and then confirmed as the crowd went wild. "She's back with her ninety-nine precent win rate, and she's looking to up that to one hundred. Now, I know we're all worried for the group of four, but let's at least give them a little bit of chance... but don't get your hopes up too high! Will the four snag another surprise win? Will they be crushed under the Tower's feet?"

As the announcer continued hyping up the fight, the gate opposite of them slid open, and something stepped out, shaking the earth as it did. Kipo's eyes widened, because of yesterday, she hadn't exactly been expecting a normal person this time...

But, still, the sight of a five-meter-tall iron armoured person with hands kind of through her for a loop. She stared up at them.

"THREE...!"

Kipo jumped, shaking out her head.

"TWO...!"

Kipo put up her fists, transforming them... but could they break through the iron armour.

"One! Go!"

Before Kipo or the rest of the could take a step, King was charging forward, the ground shaking violently under her feet, knocking the rest of them to the ground.

King crossed the arena in only a couple seconds, way before any of the rest of them could get back up onto their feet, and before they could blink, King suddenly jumped up into the sky, becoming a speck in even Kipo's sharper vision. Distantly, she heard the announcer speaking. Had he been doing that before? They must not have heard him.

"Ah, yes, King's most powerful weapon, Towering Power, which has one-shotted so many opponents before... if they can survive this, they'll be in good shape..."

Oh, all they had to do was get through this attack? That sounded easy in theory, but King was already getting bigger and bigger... how were they supposed to avoid her?!

"Kipo!"

A hand on her arm broke Kipo from her thoughts, and she turned to find Fei Fei beside her. "How high can you jump?"

Kipo's eyes widened as she suddenly got what Fei Fei was talking about. "P-Pretty high... and yes, I can carry all of you as well."

Fei Fei looked impressed, and she nodded. "Ok... but we need to time this perfectly right, ok?"

Kipo nodded, and called out to Anne and Kris. "Over here! Quickly! We have a plan!"

Anne and Kris obeyed without question, and Kipo and Fei Fei quickly filled them in. When that was done, Anne, Kris and Fei Fei latched onto Kipo, with Kipo holding Anne in her arms and Fei Fei and Kris looking over her shoulder.

Then, they waited, staring tensely up at the falling giant, gathering speed the farther she fell, and though Kipo knew it wasn't possible, she was almost certain that King would break the speed barrier soon.

"Kipo, when we get up, you should transform into your big cat version," Fei Fei told her, and Kipo, momentarily distracted from King, turned her head to her friend.

"What?"

"Is it too big?" Fei Fei questioned, glancing around the arena.

"No... I just didn't want to do it because you all would be under my feet..." Kipo told her, but Fei Fei shook her head.

"No... we'd be on your back now, right?" she asked. "We need the height... Like you said, we're under her feet right now, right?"

Kipo glanced back at King, slowly getting bigger. "Yeah, you're right. I'll do it."

Fei Fei squeezed Kipo's shoulder, maybe as reassurance, but Fei Fei's hand was shaking a lot as well. "Thank you," Fei Fei whispered, before turning her attention to Kris and Anne. "When we get up there, use your swords to get between the holes in her armour!"

"Holes?" Anne repeated, confused.

"Like, the spaces in between the sections of armour," Kipo told her. "King has to have them, or she wouldn't be able to move as freely as that."

Anne opened her mouth, but before she could reply, Fei Fei was shouting.

"Kipo! Get ready to jump! Not yet but.... Just wait... just..."

Fei Fei squinted at the falling heap of iron. They had to get this exactly right...

"JUMP! NOW!"

Kipo didn't waste time on saying anything; she forced as much power into her legs and leapt into the air, easily twenty meters. But when King came crashing down, it still shook them. When Kipo looked at the sand below them, it looked more like a chaotic sea in a raging storm, twisting and turning and chaos...

A hand squeezing Kipo's shoulder reminded her of the present, and before Fei Fei could finish yelling the word 'transform!' Kipo was doing it, and before she could blink, she wasn't on two legs anymore, she was on all four, standing a little taller than King was. She could feel three sets of legs on her back, running around, and she could hear the shocked cries of the audience. Kipo soaked it all in as King stared in shock. She always loved this part.

Unfortunately, it couldn't last long. King broke out of her surprise quickly and before Kipo could react, she punched Kipo in the jaw, sending her reeling back. It stung, but King gave her no time to recover before she was charging again.

Kipo shook out her jaw, focusing back on the fight. She surged forward with King, raising her paws to hit King in the chest. When King stumbled, Kipo jumped forward again, pushing her all the way to the ground.

From her back, Kipo heard of yell of 'Good!' before someone scrambled atop her head. Kipo saw an arrow whiz past her face, but it only bounced off King's armour.

"No!" Fei Fei cried. "I can't get a good shot-"

Suddenly, King lifted her arms, clutching at both of Kipo's limbs that were holding her down, and, in an impressive show of strength, threw Kipo off of her. Kipo was flung straight off the ground, crashing across the stadium onto the seats. Kipo grit her teeth. Her head hurt so much...

Suddenly, King was once again charging, and when she punched at Kipo, Kipo slipped under her arm, twisting around to behind King's back. But she didn't attack, instead, she was looking around, trying to find her friends.

"Kipo!" Kipo's straining ears finally found a yell, and when she looked towards it, she was relieved to find Kris, Anne and Fei Fei all safely in the stands, running around the arena. The audience from most of the lower levels had disappeared, which meant that they were free to go where ever they wanted.

"Keep attacking, Kipo!" Anne told her. "Just get her to the edge of the stadium! We'll focus on everything else!"

Kipo nodded to show she understood, and then King was after her again, punching Kipo's head down and trying to get her in a more venerable state. Kipo rolled out of the way of her next punch, and before King could do anything, slammed into her side, knocking her to the arena wall, just like Anne said. But King didn't crash like Kipo did, because she dug her feet into the ground and stopped, just moments before hitting the wall.

But it was enough. Kipo heard the whiz of an arrow, and suddenly, one of King's legs failed her, and she fell onto her left knee. Kipo heard Fei Fei cheer, but it didn't last long before King was swinging her giant fist around, aiming right for Fei Fei.

'NO!' faster than any other time in this fight, Kipo run forward, clutching onto King's fist before it could reach Fei Fei. Her feet strained against the floor, and when King's other fist slammed into Kipo's side, she faltered even more. But she grit her teeth. She would not let King do this to Fei Fei!

Thankfully, the beating stopped quickly, and when Kipo looked around in confusion, she was surprised to she Anne on the sandy ground, and King's right arm hanging loosely by her side. Anne must have cut at it, Kipo realized.

Suddenly, King fell the rest of the way, her right knee giving out just like her left knee did. Kipo relaxed a little bit, but before she could react, she was being thrown across the arena, even harder than she was before, so when Kipo landed, she was sprawled completely on the stands. She growled, shaking her head, and getting up quickly, preparing for another attack from King... but it never came.

When Kipo looked up, though, she quickly discovered why. Kris was on King's back, their sword disappearing under the space between the helmet and the chest piece. All of King's limbs were still, and she looked like, well, an iron statue.

The crowd suddenly went wild as Kipo pulled herself back to the arena, and she knew that they'd won this fight.