"Let's go!" Miyuki exclaimed, leaping to her feet and throwing her empty plates away. She took off after Alvar then paused by the entrance to the food court area and glanced back, waving impatiently at Damion and Kiki.

"Have fun watching the match." Kiki murmured as she took another bite of her Roast Duck. Damion froze, turning to her with confusion clear on his face.

"You're not coming to watch Alvar's match?" Damion asked incredulously.

"Yes; and for two reasons: One, I already let one of these delicious ducks go to waste and two, I would never watch that backstabber show off in a fight." She growled as she viciously stabbed a piece of duck with her plastic fork.

"Why do you hate Alvar?" Damion asked angrily, getting sick of Kiki's demeanor towards him. He wasn't a terrible Kitsune like she had made him out to be. He helped Damion get ready for the tournament and even bought him breakfast. Kiki glanced up from her food, her eyes slits.

"For good reasons," She muttered, then added. "Private reasons."

"Why?" Damion pressed, wanting to know why she was avoiding his question.

 "You're going to miss the match." She said with a dismissive wave of her fork, turning back to her food with her large ears pinned back and a scowl on her face. 

"Fine; but I will find out, eventually," Damion muttered as he turned away and hurried after Miyuki. Once he was close enough to her she snatched his arm and started sprinting to the tournament with him in tow. He didn't try to pull away as he was getting quite used to it. In fact, he was starting to enjoy Miyuki grabbing him with her warm soft hands. 

"They're just finishing round eighty-one! We need to hurry!" Miyuki shouted, trying to be heard over the excited crowd. They weaved their way through the crowd until they finally reached the competitor's room. Miyuki impatiently waited in the little room until the button was revealed and stabbed it with her finger, racing in and finding a small spot at one of the windows. Damion quickly raced to her side, not wanting someone to take his spot.

Alvar was already in the ring, his sleek black fur shining in the lantern's light, showing off his dark red undertones. His gold eyes were slits as a skinny black fox crawled into the ring. The skinny fox lashed seven slender tails behind him as he looked around the crowd. Damion withheld a gasp as he saw that one of the fox's yellow eyes were white with an ugly scar crossing over it. The announcer raised his arms for silence and began the introductions.

"On this side of the ring, we have Gold Kyoto!" The announcer boomed, gesturing to the skinny black fox that was shifting his weight back and forth on his haunches. He narrowed his eyes as he looked at Alvar, a barely audible growl emanating from his throat. "And on this side, we have a special treat. Let's all welcome Alvar Kukan!" The crowd roared with anticipation and excited growls as Alvar dipped his head and gazed at Gold, his face expressionless.

"Now they shall exchange a few words before the match." The announcer said as he stepped back. Gold lunged at Alvar without warning; his eyes wild. "Or no words at all; let the match BEGIN!" The announcer yelped as he leaped out of the ring and landed on the ground in an undignified heap. The crowd burst into laughter but soon fell silent as everyone's attention was drawn back to the ring. 

Gold was lashing out with everything he had, snarling in outrage as Alvar stayed quiet and dodged each of his moves.

 "I forgot to ask but what is Alvar's element?" Damion whispered to Miyuki, his eyes locked on the match. Miyuki was just as transfixed and slowly answered.

"An element that only a select few Kitsune can inherit: Void."

"What does Void do?" Damion asked, ignoring the involuntary shiver that passed through him as he said the word.

"Just watch. Alvar can do many things with his element but it's always hard to tell exactly what he's going to do." Miyuki said, turning her full focus back to the ring. Damion did the same, ignoring the clenching that had started in his stomach again.

Gold wasn't tiring as he continued to strike out at Alvar, finally succeeding in landing a hit on Alvar's cheek. The crowd was eerily silent as Alvar glared at Gold. Gold watched then snapped back with a grin, ready to launch into another volley of attacks when Alvar stepped back. 

Damion felt a strange energy begin humming in the air, setting his arm hairs on end. His eyes widened as black, shadow-like energy started sparking and swirling around Alvar's paws. Alvar's tails were slowly quivering in the air as the energy spread around him like black flames of a fire, causing two vortex-like holes to appear on either side of him. 

Damion inhaled a breath as two black foxes, identical to Alvar, stepped out of the vortexes. Gold shrank down slightly as he saw the three foxes that now faced him but straightened himself and bared his teeth.

"I still know which one is the real you Alvar!" Gold snarled, glaring at the one in the middle.

"Are you sure?" The Alvars rumbled simultaneously, staring down at Gold. Instantly they started circling and jumping over one another, causing everyone, including Damion, to lose the real Alvar. Suddenly instead of jumping and circling each other the Alvar's began to circle Gold. Gold's eyes kept switching between each Alvar as he tried to figure out which one was the real one. He lunged at one but it sidestepped and cuffed his ear.

"There's the real one!" He crowed and leaped at that one again. The Alvar behind him nipped Gold's foot causing him to yelp in confusion and whip around. Another nipped his hindquarters, causing him to whip around again. "Which one of you is the real one?!" He yowled angrily, glaring at each of them.

"I am." They all growled then pounced on him all at once. Two of them disappeared into vortexes that had appeared the moment they all pounced, leaving the real Alvar on top of Gold. Before Gold could react Alvar snatched up his scruff and the silent crowd erupted into a cacophony of cheers.

"The winner of round eighty-two: Alvar Kukan!" The announcer exclaimed, getting back into the ring. Alvar let go of Gold's scruff and carefully jumped off him. Not waiting for the cheers to die down, Alvar left the ring, his eyes glazed. He pushed his way through the curtain and headed straight to the changing room.

"Is Alvar okay?" Damion asked anxiously, knowing he'd never seen Alvar look that way before. He glanced over at Miyuki and noticed her face was etched with worry.

"I-I'm sure he's fine," Miyuki responded with a grin but it didn't help Damion's anxiety. Finally, Alvar emerged from the changing room, looking around until he saw them. Damion noticed he looked better but there was still some haziness in his gaze as he looked at them.

"We should go get some food and then head to bed." Alvar murmured, stepping over to the boards and scanning over them until he found what he wanted. "The next part of the tournament begins tomorrow morning at seven-thirty." He muttered as he stalked away to the exit door.

Damion glanced over at Miyuki, unsure what to do. She nodded and together they followed Alvar out. Soon they found themselves back in the food court area of the festival stalls. Damion glanced around the area, finding Kiki at the same table talking to a Kitsune. He walked over, taking in the details of the Kitsune that was chatting with Kiki.

The girl was slender with four deep red tails that were snow-white at the base and got very dark red toward the tips. She had short, bobbed black hair and wore a red and white floral Yukata. Her light blue eyes were sparkling as she talked to Kiki, not noticing him drawing near. 

Kiki suddenly held up her hand and angled her ears toward Damion. The girl froze for a moment, cast a sidelong glance at Damion, then stood up. 

"Good luck in the tournament Kiki; I'll talk to you later." The girl said, then turned and walked away. Damion paused, unsure if Kiki wanted him at the table because of his earlier argument with her when she glanced at him.

"Are you going to sit or are you going to stand there gawking?" She asked, a smirk crossing her face. Damion let out a sigh of relief and replied.

"I'm going to get some food at the buffet first; I just wanted to make sure you were okay." He blushed as she grinned at him, her eyes sparkling. 

"Well, I appreciate the thought but don't think I'm going to tell you any secrets because of it." Damion's face burned and he glared at her.

"I wasn't even thinking of that!" He protested, running a hand through his hair. Kiki grinned and turned back to the drink she had, taking a long sip from the straw.

"Well if you hurry back here before Alvar and Miyuki come I'll tell you a secret." She murmured, glancing up at him with a sly look. Damion hated the smug look on Kiki's face as he hurried away to get his food, but he was extremely eager to hear Kiki's secret.