"Here we are ladies and gentlemen, this is what you've all been patiently waiting for!" Yelled the world famous announcer. His familiar voice ringing out over the electronic tannoy system, "we have for your viewing pleasure two of the most skilled fighters on the earth today, both willing to duke it out for your entertainment, and a chance to win fame and fortune here at the Word Martial Arts Championships!" The crowds roared with anticipation, the excitement in the air coming close to tangible as each fan spurred the atmosphere on. "So, without further ado, here come your two contestants. On my left, we have the loud, brash and in your face Kitti Mookjai! And to my right, is the small and fluffy Tiny the Raccoon! Both of these fighters have shown some fire backstage, and have been tipped as being perhaps the most explosive matches of our opening quarter final matches!" He had whipped the crowds into a frenzy now, reputations, money, bragging rights and a good show were all on the line now, and the announcer was sure neither he, or the crowd would be disappointed.

"Alright, I've had word from the head, we're all set to go, so lets not delay any longer! On your marks, get ready, Fight!" With a vigorous hand signal, and a quick turn to jump out of the ring. The fight was now officially, on.

The moment had come. The announcer outside was calling out the two combatants for the next quarterfinals. Tiny made his way out of the waiting area and onto the arena. At first, the much brighter light gave him problems, but after a few blinks and a bit of water in his eyes, Tiny was back to normal eyesight. It was pretty warm, or at least Tiny felt that way. Luckily, it was not hot per se, or else the animal-sapien could have been in trouble. Most people in the stands were wearing short sleeved clothes, quite befitting the general temperature. The thought of how uncomfortable it had to be, standing there in the middle of the crowd, it made Tiny involuntarily shiver.

As he looked at his opponent, he was not amused. Canvas, the annoying guy, had tried to tick him off all the time since the matchups had been announced. He had not stopped playing with that damned instrument, either. That noise would haunt the raccoon in his sleep, of that he was absolutely certain. Over time, the idea of taking a bite out of that guy had become more and more intriguing.

'I wonder if those tattoos alter his taste?' Tiny wondered and chuckled as he thought it. He must have had a quite disturbing gleam in his eyes, as the announcer gave him a look that seemed to ask whether the animal-sapien was a psycho. That look, however, was quickly gone as the announcer shrugged and looked at both contestants. Kitti made a strange gesture, one Tiny could not associate with anything known to him, then took his place to the left of the announcer, while Tiny stood to the guy's right. Upon inspecting the announcer more closely, the animal-sapien found the human to be mostly uninteresting. Had there not been that look he gave Tiny that told the raccoon that the announcer probably was very observant, there would have been nothing to him that stood out, putting aside that annoying, yelling voice of his. This was only furthered when he started to yell into his microphone, trying to stir the crowd into some sort of reaction.

As he stood there, in the arena, in front of so many humans and animal-sapiens, Tiny suddenly felt a rush of anxiety. He had never been surrounded by so many people at once, nor had there ever been a thought about showing what the raccoon had taught himself about fighting. He wondered if his skill, however small or big it should turn out to be, would hold up against other warriors.

The general noise level grew lower as the announcer was starting to talk again. The raccoon listened to the human introducing Kitti as a loud and brash person and only nodded sagely. So much he had already learnt about his opponent. The so-called in your face part, that would be something to find out.

Now, it was Tiny's turn to be introduced. Apparently, the human had a vested interest in getting hurt. “Who do you call fluffy here, Mr. Wig,“ he snarled. “I guess your hair could be used as an airbag,“ he added in a muffled grumble. The crowd apparently had taken sides with the announcer on that and one or two children were actually asking their parents if they could take Tiny home with them. Him, a pet? 'Only over my cold, dead body,' he thought.

Slowly, the anxiety began to fade away, being replaced by a feeling of anticipation. His instincts took over and they told the raccoon that whatever was to come, it would be fun in the end. Death was possible, but he would not have to expect his opponent to only go for the kill. That would be against the rules, as he had learnt. The thrill of battle that he had tried to push away. The thrill of taking the life of a sentient being, especially one that attacked Tiny in the first place. The last time he had experienced this, he had killed a brown bear who had tried to mess with him for claiming some honey. Since that time, he had met that strange woman and his life had taken a turn – for better or worse, the animal-sapien was not sure yet. He originally had no intention of ever feeling that sensation again.

Now, however, he was taking part in a tournament revolving around fighting. Pitching your own strength against others. Finding out who was the strongest among Earth's warriors. A chance to once again let out his more animalistic side, his wild side. This would be a great way to learn more about fighting in general and, who knows, maybe Tiny would have a chance to learn more about the mysterious energy called Ki. In the end, there HAD to be more to it than just continuously repeating circular motions and hoping for as much as a miracle. There had to be a way to incorporate it into his way of living – as well as his way of fighting.

Once, he had been able to feel something well up. Only once.

It had happened during one of his 'training' sessions, where the raccoon had tried to recreate what that woman had been doing. While he was trying to repeat some sort of circular motion, there been a startling feeling. At first, it itched. Then, it had felt as if his fur had been charged with electrostatic energy, every single hair on his body standing on end. Something inside him, a grain, had been radiating something. At first, the raccoon had been afraid that there was something wrong with him. Then, again, he did not feel bad at all. He just felt as he always did. At the same time, that radiating … something had felt like a comforting warmth. The animal-sapien had felt stronger than ever before.

The animal-sapien had not been able to do anything with this, for a lack of a better word at the time, energy. Aside from a flickering, hazy corona that looked like silvery fire erupting from his very skin, dancing all over his small body. That happened within a short moment, and had been gone as quickly as it had arisen. This moment, though, had burnt itself into the raccoon's mind. Ever since, Tiny had attempted to recreate that moment, that sensation, that... power. He could not get rid of the image before his inner eye, when he gazed at his arms, seeing the silvery flames dance all over them, and feeling the warmth that was radiating from within him – if only for but a moment.

The more he tried to think about it, the more solid his conclusion became. That had to be the energy the woman had spoken about. That had to have been Ki. The more he had thought about Ki, the more it had dawned on him that it had been power. A raw strength that could probably help him achieve his ulterior goal. Maybe even more than that.

And now he was in a place, where he could hope to find answers.

Tiny was not sure what to think of those others who had been in the waiting area, but at least a few of them had to have some clue about Ki. There was no chance in hell that the guy had some knowledge of it under the hood of his. Also, there was that guy who had played the instrument reminiscent of a violin. As far as Tiny knew – which is not much – those who try to hold back and keep to themselves tend to know more about mystic stuff – like Ki. It was worth a shot in the end.

“Oi, Kitty,“ he started, using his opponent's name for a change. “You are a fighter. Do you know something about Ki? I would like to learn more about it.“

It was a gamble, but, in the end, he would have to gamble in one way or another.


“I don't know,“ Kitti replied, with a smug grin on his face. “Maybe I know something, maybe I don't. If you manage to defeat me, maybe I remember something.“

The facial expression on the human's head was hard to read, despite the smug grin. Tiny was not sure whether he was being mocked, or if Kitti was surprised about something and simply covered up for that. That kickstarted the raccoon's curiosity. At times, his curiosity had already gotten the better of him and this time, he could not afford to get overly curious – at least not before he had heard Kitti's answer. First, I have to think about this battle,' he thought. 'Then I can think about what might have irritated Kitti.'

Suddenly, the announcer nodded, as if he had heard something. He rose the microphone to his lips and his other hand into the air.

Then, a signal was given and the announcer could be heard again.

“On your marks. Get ready. Fight!“


Now, it had begun. The two would be fighting and Tiny would be damned if he did not give it his all.

''Fight!''

This was the one word the announcer yelled that caused the crowd to go wild. From anticipation and silence, the attendants caused Tiny's ears to ring. Too many people in too little space, combined with those damned horns, resulted in an atmosphere that made a bee hive seem like a serene replica of heaven. At the same time, the raccoon felt the urge to let himself go, submerge in the emotions and atmosphere created by the audience, be flushed away by the collective will to fight.

His opponent, Kitti, seemed to relish the atmosphere. Seemingly relaxed, the kickboxer waved at the crowd, grinned and generally pushed the people towards cheering him on. Apparently, there was a certain mindset among humans that was able to enjoy this hell of noise. After a short while, Kitti flexed his muscles and entered a fighting stance that the animal-sapien had not seen before.

Now that his opponent had prepared himself, Tiny entered his own 'stance', his legs slightly bent at the knees and the fingers on his hands forming claws. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, the palms facing his opponent. A wolfish grin appeared on his face as he stared at Kitti.

''I don't know about you, but I am going to win this,'' Tiny said, feeling the need to raise his voice to overcome the ambient noise.

''I don't think so, Fluffy,'' Kitti replied, a smirk of his own on the lips.

The next moment, both fighters were dashing towards each other, both intent on landing the first hit in this match. The honours for that fell to Kitti. As the raccoon closed in on the human, Tiny jumped in an attempt to land a kick right into his opponent's face. With a quick side step, Kitti dodged the kick, only to spin around and slam his elbow into the furball. Hit with considerable force, Tiny was slammed back onto the ground, which felt way too hard to be real. At least that was a thought shooting through the animal-sapien's head at the time he slammed into the tiles on the arena floor. For a moment, he decided it would be best if he just stayed on the ground, gathering his scattered thoughts back together.

''Do you already have enough?'' Kitti asked, with a smug grin on his face. ''I wouldn't mind you just staying down.''

For another moment, Tiny did not reply. Then, a chuckle. Another moment passed. The chuckle grew into laughing. Sitting up, he grinned in Kitti's direction.

''That one hurt. Has been a while since I was smacked around like that,'' he replied. ''Seems like you are stronger than the brown bears back home.''

With that, he got back on his feet, still grinning, and wasted no time for getting back into the semblance of a fighting stance. Instead, he bolted forward, as if he was going for a second round. As he leapt into the air once more, Kitti attempted another Tornado Elbow, as it had worked before. This time, however, the animal-sapien did not go for a kick to the head. Instead, he spun quickly in midair, lashing out at Kitti with his – admittedly – fluffy tail. Caught by surprise, the side step did not protect the kickboxer this time and he got smacked across the face. The damage inflicted was minimal, but the fact that some fur on the tail got into Kitti's eyes caused temporary blindness and made him cover his eyes with his hands. This moment of open cover was exploited by Tiny, who, after landing, immediately grabbed hold of Kitti by the ankles... and with an act of strength one would not dare to attribute to a raccoon spun the larger and heavier opponent around, then letting go of him.

As a result, Kitti not only landed on his own back when Tiny pulled his feet out from under him, he also was sent flying. Although he had aimed this throw at launching the human out of the arena and thus winning, Tiny simply was not strong enough to make that happen, all wishes just remaining wishes. Nonetheless, Kitti hit the ground rather hard, upper part of his back first.

Immediately going with the flow of the assault, Tiny leapt after his opponent, once he realized that he would not manage to throw Kitti out of the ring. The intention had been to land on his opponent, knee first, but he had leapt straight into Kitti's feet. The kickboxer had launched himself off the ground as if he wanted to do a flip to get back on his feet, but instead kicked the raccoon in the stomach, heels first.

Coughing up spittle, Tiny was launched backwards, crashing onto the ground head first. It took him a few breaths to just gather enough of his consciousness together to open his eyes. The first thing he saw was Kitti, in the air, coming down on him one fist drawn back, ready to punch his ticket for this tournament. Based on pure survival instinct, Tiny managed to dodge the punch by rolling to the side and scuttling away. 'That one was a close call,' Tiny thought, wiping some spittle off his snout. He touched the back of his head and cringed slightly. That bump would cause him trouble for a while in the near future.

Then, he already had been pressed into the defense again, Kitti coming at him with a fercious Flaming Tiger Knee, aimed straight towards ripping Tiny's head off. Or at least, that was the first idea that came to mind. Dropping onto all fours in the last possible moment, pressing himself close to the ring surface, Tiny allowed Kitti to overshoot him, then pushed himself off the ground with all the strength he could muster, his legs extended. More or less copying Kitti's defense from earlier, the raccoon crashed into the kickboxer's back with enough force to educe a scream from Kitti, who sailed through the air in a high arc, landing on the ground stomach first and spending the next moments to hold his back.

Scrambling back to his feet, Kitti had a surprised look on his face, realizing that Tiny had not pressed his advantage. Instead, the animal-sapien had used the pause in the battle to catch his own breath. With an almost paranoid gleam in his eyes, the kickboxer got back into his stance, preparing to attack once more.

The following minutes were an example of two forces, which are almost equal and thus cancel each other out for the most part. Punches, kicks, elbow and knee strikes were thrown at each other, most of them blocked, while others were dodged. Tiny shifted from single attacks to leaping around like a bouncy ball and attacking while in mid air. The audience was reacting to this shift in pace by cheering on whichever side had just landed a hit.

As the two were trading blows, something changed. Tiny hesitated for a moment, unsure of what was happening. Kitti's stance had changed and it seemed like he was preparing something. A sudden rush of anxiety made the animal-sapien's fur in the neck stand on end. Kitti was planning something and Tiny should be damned if he just let that something happen. There were only two reactions in an animal's behaviour when it came down to fear. Retreat from or attack whatever was causing the fear. Despite being sentient, there were times when Tiny was glad for his most basic instincts. This time, he gave in to them once more, his urge to attack and prevent whatever Kitti was preparing from going off.

Leaping up to attempt another tail swipe to distract Kitti, Tiny realized that he had fallen for a trick, but only when it was too late. In a circular motion and quick succession, four punches crashed into the raccoon, who was incapable of dodging. Attempting to block the punches, the animal-sapien found out that there was a very explosive force behind the punches, as all four punches blew up on his attempted block. The force of the explosions blew the small creature backwards, screaming more in shock than in pain.

Pulling himself together, Tiny managed to stay inside the ring with a few backflips.

Upon close inspection, the animal-sapien found the fur on his forearms to be slightly singed. 'What the hell just hit me?' it shot through Tiny's mind. ''What kind of trick was that just now?'' he voiced his question towards his opponent. Not really awaiting an answer, Tiny tested his arms to see if they were still working. To his relief, he did not seem to have suffered lasting damage. He was honestly surprised when Kitti grinned.

''You wanted to know about Ki,'' was his only reply.

Raising one white bit of fur over one of his eyes, Tiny did not respond. 'If that is Ki, what does that mean for me?' he thought. ''For the remainder of this battle, nothing,'' he mumbled in reply to his own thoughts. Then, he focused on the battle once more, dashing forward to assault Kitti before the kickboxer could let loose another of those attacks again. This time, Tiny was prepared. Somewhat.

As he was dashing, the raccoon let out an angry yell and accelerated to his top speed, his silhouette seemingly blurring and a shimmer of silvery energy appearing on Tiny's fur, looking like small flames. He crashed into Kitti, who tried to dodge out of the way, but was caught by surprise at the speed Tiny could move at. For a second, the two seemed to be frozen in place, as the animal-sapien had buried his elbow in the human's torso. The halo of silvery flame-like energy was gone as well. As a reaction, after the second was over, Tiny was caught by a knee strike that send him backwards, splitting up the two. Landing on two feet and one hand, the tail raised into the air, Tiny glared at Kitti, anger visible in his eyes.

Kitti, on the other hand, was stumbling back, holding his torso. He had apparently been hit hard by the raccoon. Taking another few steps back, he got down on one knee. His eyes expressed a mixture of surprise and anger. Breathing heavily, the human tried to get back up, but fell down on his knee again.

''What the... How did you... What?'' he stammered.

''I just punched you,'' Tiny replied. 'What is he blabbering?'

The crowd, on the other hand, was freaking out. There was little that the people would want to see more than the apparent underdog prevailing. Tiny's display so far had apparently given them the feeling that the animal-sapien was the underdog. Now, they were cheering on the pile of fur.

Tiny gave Kitti some time to get back on his feet. It was not necessarily what his instincts told him to do, but he felt better that way. It also meant he would have some time to recuperate as well and to think. What had just happened? Why was Kitti so upset over being hit. He might be an annoying nag, but he did not seem like an arrogant prick freaking out over something like being hit. Before he could continue down this trail of thought, Kitti had gotten back on his feet and kicked the air in front of him. It had been a strong kick, as if he meant to break someone's ribcage. What Tiny did not understand about that, however, was that he was standing further away.

What happened next gave Tiny the heebie-jeebies.

He was hit by... something. A sudden force struck him square in the chest. At first, Tiny did not feel much. Then, the next moment, it seemed like there was sweat or some other liquid running down the fur on his chest. After another few seconds, he looked down, then gazed at his hands. They were covered in blood. His blood. On his chest, a gash had opened. It did not seem deep, but he still bled. ''If you cut me, do I not bleed?'' the raccoon said, before falling on his knees and then on flat on his front, frozen more by shock over what had just happened than by plain pain.

The crowd was holding its collective breath, while the announcer was starting the countdown to disqualify Tiny once he reached ten.

''One!''

The voice of the announcer was almost drowned out by the sound of blood rushing in his ears. As he was laying on the floor of the arena, the raccoon had a memory flash past. One he had pushed aside quite a while back. He found himself in a glade, back home in his forest. It seemed to be like always, but this time, another person was there. A woman of middle age. Tiny could not tell, neither at that time nor now, whether she was beautiful or not. Purely human concepts and ideals were lost to the animal-sapien. She, however, did not look entirely healthy, as he realized now.

She was wearing normal clothes and stood in the glade, doing circular motions that Tiny had not seen before. Then, suddenly, a branch cracked behind the animal-sapien. Spinning around, raising his guard, he suddenly boggled. He was looking into his own face, as if he was staring into a mirror. His mirror image, however, was acting on its own, not just reflecting Tiny's actions. As Tiny was still staring, his monorchid twin was moving towards her. He was not wearing anything and the animal-sapien remembered that he used to do that, not revealing to her that he was in fact a sentient animal. When she realized she was not alone, she looked around, saw the raccoon and smiled. Then, she reached into one of her pockets and pulled out something, handing it over.

''Two!''

At that time, she had gone from giving the raccoon berries to giving him cereal bars. Tiny remembered the taste as he watched his memory unfold. What he could not remember, until now, was the sadness in her eyes. She looked at the raccoon, then perched in front of him. Slowly extending her hand, she began to pet her companion who let it happen. 'Right... She was the only person who was allowed to do that so far... Must have been something in the food she gave me,' Tiny thought with a smirk on his face. Thinking of it, a cereal bar would have been perfect at this very moment.

She whispered something, then her body began to gleam in a soft, yellow-orange light. Not for long, only for a short time. The raccoon looked up, amazement in its eyes. Tiny had the same expression on his face. His jaw dropped slightly. He had completely forgotten this moment when she had shown him what she had tried to achieve here, on this glade. She must have had tried to learn more about Ki as well. Despite what she had shown off the blink of an eye ago, she seemed even sadder than before. Tiny watched as the raccoon looked her in the eyes and she apparently tried to say something.

''Three!''

''It is okay, little one,'' she said. ''I think you somehow know that I won't be coming any longer some time soon. I can see you understand.''

Tiny watched as his spitting image just sat there, legs extended and holding the half-eaten cereal bar in his hands. The raccoon had tilted his head slightly to the side, mustering her face. Tiny remembered that he had thought about talking to her, but had forgotten – had he actively tried to forget this? - when that moment had been.

''I am afraid I won't be able to bring you more of those cereal bars,'' she continued. ''The doctor says my time's almost up. I had hoped I could save myself by learning more about the very energy of life. Sadly, my time was not enough.''

''Four!''

The raccoon was looking at her and Tiny knew he and the memory had the same emotions. If that was at all possible. He felt … sadness. Knowing that someone you got to know over a time would not come back, or could not be seen again, that caused sadness and even the most basic, animalistic part of Tiny understood that concept. 'So much for animals having no soul or emotions,'' he thought, scoffing at those who proclaimed that in human society.

''I will pass on, but I know that I have tried everything. I have not given up to the sickness,'' she said. ''They always say when you stop trying, you give up. When you give up, the illness wins for sure.''

What she had said at that moment caused Tiny to think. 'She had known that her end was coming?' he thought. 'What had been the reason for her coming to the glade? What was she thinking?' It was incomprehensible to the animal-sapien how one could fight against the inevitable.

''Five!''

'The inevitable? Like me being inevitably beaten by Kitti?' Tiny thought. 'Why am I having this memory, anyways?'

''I tried so hard. I wanted to fight back against that damn pancreatic cancer,'' the woman said. Her voice ripped Tiny out of his own trail of thought. ''I have had some success, though. I have lived long past what all the doctors said,'' she continued talking to the raccoon in front of her. ''You know, I have the feeling you understand me. Let me tell you something now. I don't know how long you are supposed to live. If you have the chance to extend your life by fighting against the cause for your potential death, take it. Fight back. Do not give up.''

''Six!''

Tiny blinked, surprised by what she had just said. That woman, on the brink of death, if she was telling the truth, or had been told the truth, had tried to escape her fate. Tiny had grown up being taught that there are inevitable constants in the universe. Like life and death. If she was right, there were ways to overcome death – or defeat, which is death, only with less severe consequences – if one only tried hard enough.

''That's right. I am still in a fight,'' Tiny said, remembering the situation he was in.

The memory faded away. A last glance and he watched the woman wander away from the glade. She had put down several more cereal bars for the raccoon before she had left and she had left behind a bag. That one, Tiny had genuinely forgotten. There was no time to think about that, he only hoped the bag would still be where she had left it and the contents had remained intact.

''As soon as this tournament is over, I have to get back and search for it,'' he told himself.

''Seven!''

Opening his eyes, Tiny found the unnatural silence and the sound of his blood rushing in his ears was vanishing. It was, in turn, replaced by the frenetic shouting of the audience and the general noise in the arena. Finally back to his senses, Tiny grinned. He took another moment to gather his senses together and to slowly open his eyes again to find his chest continued to hurt. He could taste blood under him. Time to get back up and continue to fight. This was not over yet.

''Eight!''

As the animal-sapien slowly rose to his feet, his every movement was completemented by roaring cheers of the crowd. They had seen fighting, they had seen blood, and they had seen a close call. All in a day's work, it dawned onto Tiny. Looking around, he spotted Kitti, who had turned his back on him, once more relishing in the crowd's reactions. Time to shatter his dream of such an easy victory. The grin on the raccoon's face turned into a wolfish baring of teeth.

Still, attacking someone in the back was not necessarily something Tiny appreciated. So he simply stood up, looked down and tried to inspect the wound on his chest to the best of his ability. Apparently, it had not been deep at all, as it had already started to close. The blood had clumped and his body's natural healing had already set in. It also hurt like hell. That was a good sign, he had learnt. As long as there was pain, he knew he would survive. Still, he had lost blood and the loss surfaced in a general sensation of coldness. After this, he would have to eat stuff.

''Ladies and gentlemen, the fight is back on! Our fluffy contestant, Tiny, has managed to escape certain defeat!''

As the announcer yelled that, the crowd went wild once more and Kitti spun around furiously, but with a slight hint of disbelief in his eyes. ''What do I have to do to make you stay down, furball?'' he yelled over the crowd.

''Staying down first, I'd say,'' the raccoon replied.

Kitti came at him instantly, with another Flaming Tiger Knee strike. Neither did his anger cloud his judgement, nor his dedication. It was not a sloppy attack. Instead, Tiny had to dodge the technique by squatting down on the floor, attempting another kick in the back, but this time, Kitti had been prepared for that and spun around, hitting Tiny with an elbow strike before the animal-sapien could connect with his kick.

Impacting on the arena floor, Tiny felt his chest erupt in fiery pain once more. A snarl escaped his throat as Tiny went with the swerve of his impact, rolling over his shoulder and back onto his feet. The momentum caused him to slide backwards over the floor, and as he stopped on his feet and one hand, Tiny glared at Kitti, a wild look in his eyes. Another snarl could be heard and Tiny prepared for his next attack, still the wild glare being visible in his eyes. He curled his fingers into a claw position, took a solid stance on the ground, the legs bent at the knees.

''Wolf Fang Fist!'' he yelled, dashing forward.

Once more, it appeared like Tiny's silhouette blurred, due to the speed of his movement. Kitti, on the other hand, was prepared this time that the furball was capable of such speed and tried to get a little more distance between them to prepare an effective counter to the attack. This time, the animal-sapien did not go for an elbow to the torso, however, and instead started to lash out with claw strikes. The first and second, Kitti was able to block and dodge respectively, but the wild flurry of claw strikes came in too fast and from several angles as the raccoon had leapt at Kitti. The third, fourth and fifth strike landed, leaving claw marks on Kitti's skin from a raccoon's natural claws.

As Kitti was stumbling back from the furious swipes, Tiny landed back on his feet, holding his hands parallel to each other and preparing for another attack. As the raccoon dashed forward to close the distance, the kickboxer attempted to land a shin kick to throw Tiny off of his attack. The animal-sapien leapt over the kick, barely, and threw forward his palms into a double palm strike, hitting Kitti square on the chest, pressing all the air out of his lungs. A pained yell escaped the human's throat as he was flung backwards, unable to resist the kinetic force behind the finishing blow of the Wolf Fang Fist used by the raccoon.

Sailing through the air, Kitti crashed onto the ground neck first, rolling over and landing on his stomach, his feet almost touching the ground outside the arena. One more push and Tiny would win by default as the human would have left the battlegrounds. Tiny hesitated. He couldn't discern whether it was a dislike of winning by default, which felt kind of dirty, or if it was due to his wild side that wanted to fight more. That moment of hesitation was enough for Kitti to pull himself back onto the ledge. Breathing heavily, he watched the raccoon, sitting on his knees. Tiny, having giving his opponent the time to get back into the ring completely, decided to wait for and defend against his opponent's next action. 'Trying to attack so close to the borders of the arena would be too dangerous,' he thought by himself.

''Come on. Don't make me wait here. I am starting to enjoy this,'' he beckoned.

Even to his own ears, that sounded incredibly lame and somewhat cocky, but Tiny could not help it. Getting back on his feet, Kitti seemed to ponder his next course of action, which could very well decide this match. Tiny, realizing he had already shown off every last special trick in his book, tried to focus. That could not distract him or he would be in deep trouble. No matter who had watched this match, he would have to act as if he still had something up his sleeve.

Then, the short phase of pondering was over and Kitti assaulted Tiny with another four punches again. He had tried this already and the raccoon did his very best to dodge those punches. He managed it, but two of the four only at a hair's width. Then, he had an idea. He blocked the last one, suffering more pain, but it threw him back a bit, giving him the room he had hoped for. Landing on his feet, the animal-sapien dashed forward. Once more into the breach, once more into battle.

Kitti, still reeling from the Wolf Fang Fist and the apparent expenditure of stamina the last four punches had cost him, reacted too slowly. Once again, the raccoon crashed into the human, once more, the elbow made contact. This time, Tiny hit the intended target perfectly. A powerful, concentrated hit into the solar plexus that cleanly knocked out Kitti. His eyes rolling into his head, the human fell backwards, landing on his back and did not flinch any further. Tiny, carefully eyeing his opponent, listened as the crowd fell silent.

The announcer began to count. Slowly. Way too slowly for Tiny's taste. His ears were still ringing from, as he realized now, the noise all those people had made throughout the battle. Kitti was still not moving. The announcer had counted to five, as Tiny heard a voice in the back of his head.

''Surrender and stopping to fight back is never the answer. To overcome an obstacle, you have to try to break through it with all you are.''

He did not know how and why that voice was there, but Tiny realized that it was basically what that woman had tried to tell him back then. He smiled as the announcer had finally announced the number nine. The crowd fell silent, as Tiny was blinking. Then, all hell broke lose again. Ten! Tiny had won by knocking out his opponent in a last ditch effort and highly risky move. The risk had paid off. He threw his head back and laughed. He did not laugh at his opponent, but instead a relieved laughter that destroyed every last bit of anxiety that had still remained in him. The animal-sapien had won.

''Thank you, lady,'' he mumbled.

Looking again at Kitti, he realized that his opponent had opened his eyes and was looking at the raccoon.

''If I find any bite marks, I'll turn you into a handbag,'' he snarled.

''I wouldn't bite you, canvas. I think the ink spoils the meat,'' Tiny replied with an impish grin. ''On that notion, I really need something to eat. You bled me quite dry.''

He fell on his backside, looking around. After a few deep breaths, he rose to his feet again held out his hand to Kitti who was still laying on the ground, letting the human decide what to do with this gesture. The battle was over. There was no more need for bad blood, at least from Tiny's point of view. No matter how Kitti would decide, he was not a true enemy. The announcer looked at the two and blubbered into his microphone. Tiny did not care about what that guy was saying, but it probably was something about the fight, Kitti and the raccoon. Then, he told the two to get up and out, as the next battle had to begin some time soon.