FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The rest of the day goes by as if in a haze. I remember getting up, eating and doing other chores but I do not really remember much more than that. I do remember going to Ingrid's and making a special order for an outfit to be made ahead of time for me. This time I do not stay and have it made for me but rather something I will wear for my battle the next day. It won't do to go to battle in that duel wearing that very simple dress they gave me. This is a special occasion and I need a special outfit to match it. And this way I could potentially get some more protection. This one, should it survive the fight I'll keep. This isn't something I will let simply go to charity. I'm crafting myself some battle armor and I'll make sure it'll last as long as possible.

The next day I accept the garment from Ingrid, sealed up tight into a clothing box and after eating a full breakfast I make my way unescorted over to the portal door. I must have faith in myself or all is lost. I reach the door and find it locked, which I suppose is not too surprising. But it is a simple enough problem to fix. I knock on the door and wait. They know I have the duel today, there should be someone in there setting up the portal to take me to the arena. After a minute the door opens a crack as someone checks to see who is on the other side and seeing me reluctantly opens the door. Everyone here knows my duel is coming, everyone is looking at me as if I've already died. But dying sucks. And if I have to die to avoid dying I will simply have to do it this one time. I step through and head towards the portal and once it is set up for me I move through without any hesitation.

I find myself on the other side but not in the place I was the last two times I went through. I guess this is an important enough venture that they put a portal room directly into the arena itself. I go up to one of the operators and sheepishly ask if they knew where a bathroom was. It takes a bit to get them to understand what I want but I am eventually directed instead to the room where I may set up. Not as ideal but it'll suffice. I enter the room, this one much less lavish than when I was going to the talk show but then again, this one is a far more serious affair. I jam the door shut so as to make sure that no one can enter and then I strip down, removing every bit of clothing, standing in this room completely naked. I sit down and with my eyes closed trigger the release, focusing on the changes to best take advantage of what my anatomy will be.

The strangest sensation would have to be my feet growing. Sitting cross-legged is extremely strange when you consider the fact that where your toes are and where your knees are is changing every second. The fur grows over my entire body like wild fire. My feet are more than partially paws at this point. I can no longer turn them enough so that I would be able to stand on my heels if I stood up. I keep my eyes closed and mentally project what my legs must look like, getting a feel for how it's shaped, how it will move, what would be the limits of what it can and cannot do. The tail growing isn't as interesting, as it is a thing only growing longer. But I must pay attention to it, know just how long it is, how much control I have over the appendage. This will become a necessity.

Though I'd rather not I even make a point of paying attention to the part of my anatomy that will have no part in this fight; in the shrinking of the thing between my legs and the opening of another, to the six bumps starting to reform on my chest. The face is a simple enough thing. Ears are changing and I move them around to see how much I can focus on what's where. It might not be as necessary as I'm fighting a single opponent but could be useful. The nose, not so much but this time I don't block out the scents.

Once I feel it having completely finished I open my eyes and look down at my body. This may not be the body I want but it is the body I'll have to deal with, at least for the next few hours. And I'll have to use it to its fullest extent if I have any hope of surviving this. I stand up, feeling my body and how it moves as I move over and open up the box. Inside is a red and black outfit. Not quite a dress but there is a large section on the leg area intentionally to both hide and protect my tail. It's designed to be loose enough fit that I have room to grow into if need be. I wanted to be as close to release at the start of the battle and didn't want to release early and give things away. As such it's not as good a fit as it could be.

But it's armor. The entire outfit is not designed for their fashion and doesn't have nearly as many colors as my suit but will work to the ends that I need it to. Every single part of the outfit is beautifully made and to that I give Ingrid a lot of credit. But every single part is covered with armor on the inside. Nothing heavy like metal but Kevlar and carbon fiber. I don't know how much this is going to ruin my bank account but if I die in it then so be it, I'll have done the best I can. It does cover up the entirety of my arms and even most of my neck so as to protect these but leaves my head completely exposed. It's an outfit designed to create the most protection possible without slowing me down or hindering my motion. And in the front of the outfit, in the center of the large black area of the chest is a red embroidered rose.

Once the outfit is on I head towards the exit of the room. As in the other room the area in front of the door is warded, preventing me from simply leaving. But in this form, I can feel the magic much more clearly so with a simple wave of my arm I dispel the ward and step out of the room and make my way over to the arena area, once again completely unescorted. If they're making me have to do this then I will make them scramble as much as possible to deal with me. Once at the arena I look and see that the seats all around the arena are filled with people already, and yet despite seeing a lot of talk going on around them all the arena is rather quiet. Probably spelled so as to not distract the fighters. And I imagine probably spelled again with something that would make it so that all of the audience is protected by any stray spell going off.

Staring at the arena, I get a feel for the general size of what I'll be dealing with and also now have a good way to see how they'll respond to my presence here prematurely. It's clear that my presence here unsettles a lot of the workers. There are still a lot of individuals walking around, some of which are from cleanup for the warmup match. Like any good arena competition, it only makes sense that there would be fights before mine, to keep the crowds entertained and make them feel it all the more worth it for whatever investment they made. Not entirely sure what that'd be though. Don't even know if they have money here or not. And if some of the smaller matches manage to make a name for themselves playing second fiddle to the main fight then I'm sure they'll be all the more open for it.

It seems they are going with a passive-aggressive approach against me. I can see a few individuals creep out of the halls and make a point of seeming nonchalant about it, but their very demeanor tells me they are far more interested in what I'm doing than anything else. So, it seems if the barrier won't work, they use guards, but not sure how effective they'd be if I tried something given how far away they are. Means either they are really good at long-range attacks or it's more of a token effort. Either way, I make my intentions known by sitting down cross-legged and rest my arms on my legs, my hands clasped and forming an O with my thumbs. My tail curls around my legs and I close my eyes. Knowing the size of the arena, I know how much space I have to move in. And though I know trusting myself will be the vast majority of my victory, it doesn't change the fact that I should still go into this with a plan of action, at least for the start. They'd be stupid if they didn't throw someone that was advantaged against everything they know I can do.

"You know, you aren't supposed to be back here," I hear a voice nearby a moment or two later and when I turn I see the dragon approaching me. Apparently, his armor from the last time I saw him was more ceremonial. For this one is drastically different than the one he had be wearing previously. Whereas that one was more gold and stylish, if anything this one looks like it could have been made at any old forge on Earth. Probably designed to just be effective armor, and probably cheap armor at that since it's expected to potentially be destroyed. And to be fair, if I had the option, I would myself rather wear cheap, functional armor to a duel than wear something extravagant and expensive.

"Eh, what are they going to do? Kill me right before the event? Throw me out?" I shrug before standing up again to see him properly. "As far as I can tell all these people don't really care what I do so long as I'm not in the way. And if I tried something, I'm sure those three armed figures would put me in my place."

Arell doesn't immediately respond to my statement. Instead he looks me up and down with a very critical eye. He even reaches forward to grab at the fabric of my armor, feeling it through his fingers absentmindedly. Though it is a risk to let him this close in case there's some underhandedness, I figure it's much more in my best interest to keep them all off-guard.

"Truly a thing of beauty," he comments after a moment and lets go of my sleeve. "Will be a true shame to have to destroy such an exquisite piece so thoroughly in a little while."

"Well, you could always just surrender, then you won't have to."

"If only things were that simple. Even if we completely ignore the fact that a duel cannot be concluded at least until one has drawn the blood of the other in the arena, given the crowds that have shown up today for our fight, the people themselves would tear me apart if I simply backed out without much of a contest. Though I'm surprised you decided to come here in that form."

"Do you honestly think I'd stand the slightest chance against you by myself if I didn't?"

"And I'm to assume that the armor is by Ingrid?"

"Of course. I had a few alterations made to it."

"Oh, I saw. Though it does also seem a bit sloppy on the fitting."

"Had to guess the proportions, which is really hard when the form you're in is always changing. But it'll suffice."

"Of that we shall see. At any rate, it'll be interesting to see what the fabled Rose is able to do when not just hiding away in some building."