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Chapter Four

Toggle stared out the train window, Ichigo across from him. He felt guilty for being selfish...and he felt thankful that Ichigo was so kind, and unselfish. He owed his friend more then he could ever repay. The night before they discussed the event they now traveled too with each other, and had spent a few hours arguing.

****

"Okay, so according to the fox, Ferocity is the biggest event to take place in the world ever...and once you sort thru his gibberish of excitement, it sounds basically like a world tournament for fighting." Toggle said, going over the conversation they had. "Exactly, a WORLD tournament. Not a small one in places no one knows about. This is being broadcasted everywhere. Good for you, not for me...."

They had gone over the specifics again and again. Toggle wanted to go, to be seen. Ichigo knew this, and sympathized. Toggle, did not really know who he was. From what Ichigo was able to gather in their time traveled around various places, he discovered a few facts. Toggle was found by a group of traveling gypsies, and when they found him, he had lost all memory, save his name, and an ability to fight. Around 16, he left and started traveling on his own, exploring in his own way. Ichigo had encountered Toggle when the roo was 18, and had tried to kill him. They had been best friends since. "I know Ichi, I know. If you are seen...they may find you...and if I get seen, maybe someone will recognize me..."

"Toggle..." Ichigo sighed and got up, hugging his friend deeply.

"Ichi...all right. We will not..." Ichigo put a finger on Toggle's lips, and looked at him in the eyes.

"No calling be Chibichi for a week and we go."

Toggle stared back, looking totally stricken with awe. then conviction.

"Five days is the best I can promise."

*****

The next day they arrived at a train station, and boarded for the tournament. From what they had been told, it would take day on the train to get to their first destination, and then they would go by a different mode of transportation. Everything happened so fast and all at once, which was strange, but Toggle was not one of the many fighters to think about those details. He was too excited, despite the guilt he felt, which dissipated with each passing mile; thou still remained in small doses. He loved to fight. It was never about winning for him thou, it was about seeing what he was capable of, and what others could do, and it was a dance for him. He had no intentions to win whatever this was, only to be a part of this event, and hope someone knew who he was. There was something more to it as well, but he had no need to think that far into it.

It was about seventeen stops in that they gained the first companion on their journey. The door opened with a creek that shook Ichigo to the world of no dreams. He blinked sleepily at the visitor. In walked a white rabbit about Toggle's height when he walked plantigrade. His clothes consisted of a nice button up shirt over a t-shirt that had some star shaped design on the chest. The star had some letters on it that were almost read 'NYON' in stylish letters. His pants were a tight pair of spandex leggings, which seemed a bit odd, but it did show how defined his legs were. He was clearly in good shape.

His feet were bare, but his hands had gloves on them, which were fingerless and appeared to be a fake leather that some people wore. Some chose to wore real leather still, but it was no longer being made in this day and age, except in illegal circles, and cost a fortune old or new. This Rabbit looked neither rich, nor shady. His smile was open and showed some teeth that went out over his lips, like some rabbits had. His eyes held an icy calm blue, and his hair was a light blond on top, but the sides of his hair were a dirty brown blond, and shaved to let the top part of his hair hang over it somewhat. His ears pointed upward, but bent halfway up to avoid hitting the ceiling.

He looked to both of the two and asked, "Got room for another?"

Toggle waved the visitor in while Ichigo nodded sleepily and yawned, then moved to sit next to Toggle. The visitor sat down with a suitcase by his side and held his hand out to both of his new travel mates. "M'name is Crayo. Crayo Nyon of the Nyon Family Circus"

"Pleasure to meet ya", Toggle grinned and shook Crayo's outstretched hand, then switched out to allow Ichigo the same courtesy. " My name is Toggle Xanadu. My fine leather feathered friend here is Ichigo Crimson".

Ichigo yawned and nodded again, still snapping out of his dream world. He was dreaming about a nice juicy steak for some reason. Thou a fruit bat, he, along with many others had become omnivores. Meat had become a commodity thou. Birds were the least crossed species in the spectrum, so poultry was still pretty common, but beef, pork, and lamb had all appeared in the gene pool of this era.

Their were still many a dumb animal that had no care what happened to it, but of course any bovine kin would be offended if handed a burger, regardless of the intelligence of it. Due to this, the world had adopted an ignorant state of food. Menus would not list meats under their selection, but they were there. Just ask the right questions in the right restaurant and you could get the meats you craved, but it usually came with a side of disapproving looks from other customers, free of charge. Ichigo had only eaten two steaks in his life, and enjoyed both times, and for some reason, he was craving a third.

"Pleasure to meet ya both....say, I don't suppose y'all are going east to a town called Muhn"

"Guilty as charged" Ichigo responded, his cravings quelled by curiosity for the visitor. "So, I suppose you are as well?"

"Yea, I got recruited for something called. Ferocity I think".

"See Ichi, I told you we would see others.", Toggle said, sticking his nose up some jokingly.

"No you did not. In fact we have yet to talk on whether we would see anyone".

"Well yea, cause you knew I would know the answer, and were intimidated...."

"Of what? You? Please, I find schoolgirls scarier then you, and sexier." Ichigo added, finishing their usual ritual of playful banter. Toggle acted hurt.

"I knew it, you were just toying with my feelings." Toggle held his hand to his head dramatically and fell backwards onto Ichigo, lying in his lap and giggling. " You are probably leaving me for our friend Crayo here, you whore.". Crayo perked one ear and looked to them both with a look of confusion. Then he saw both of them were smiling and caught on. They were teasing and testing him to see how he would act to their charade.

"Well Ichigo, I guess we have been found out. Our secret love affair would never last, for I am a world famous circus ringmaster, and you...." He waved dramatically to Ichigo, showing an acceptance for their act, and a want to learn more about them as well.

"And I am pleased to meet you, now get off me Toggle" he said, rubbing his friends ear nicely, but also pulling it up to get Toggle to get up. Toggle obeyed and laughed. " Sorry about my friends idiocy. I bet what he was trying to say was, if you are going to be stuck in a room with us for half a day to get to Muhn, best to be able to deal with his antics."

"Or maybe I am trying to finally get you to be mine." Toggle said, blowing a kiss to Ichigo.

"He has left you for me thou." Crayo said, smiling and laughing wholeheartedly. "And no need to apologize. We have a few people at the family circus that go that way, and I am used too it. And I can always use a good laugh"

"Oh you were serious about the circus thing?" Ichigo responded. He leaned forward, his eyes, which usually had a childish look to them, now showing a more child like interest.

"Yep. We are trying to make a name for ourselves again. Back in my fathers day, we were on the lips of everyone, and their mother...but.... well we took a blow a few years back, but under my watch, I intend too bring it back up. I figure I win a few fights at this tourney and then go home, and watch it on the tube. They see my shirt, they hear my name, and then we use that to start our come back." he said, smiling and looking quite proud.

"Well as long as we are going to be at this thing, I hope you plan on winning more then a few and leaving" said Toggle, with a slight look of concern on his look.

"Actually I have been wondering. How long is this supposed to go on. I was just told it would be seen all over the world, and I said I would be here." Ichigo shared the look of concern with Toggle now. "What....what is it?"

*****

The fox, who's name was Sam, sat with Ichigo and Toggle at a table at the bar. He had offered the two a free meal, and they accepted. They had a policy to never turn down free food, which proved useful for their nomadic type lives.

"Alright, so, Mr. Cecil and his clan have been working on many projects over the year, and have come up with one to top them all. He designed schematics for a city that is state of the art. I have not gotten the specifics, but this place makes New Anthros look like a dump. Mr. Cecil wanted to open the city up with some kinda event thou. From what I hear he is gonna run some kinda major event in this place every year from the start of the city opening, so that it keeps things interesting. And it just so happens, he has a love for reality TV, and fighting. So the idea is, set up the city, and have some fighters be among the first residents there, and run an event show tournament thingy. They live there, they work some jobs, and they fight when asked. At the end of the tournament, whoever wins the most gets some major prize" The fox finished and took a bite out of a steak he ordered. Ichigo had gotten a salad with a bit of chicken, not wanting to be rude, but still craving a little meat. Toggle was a little less shy, and had ordered a burger. There were no bovines or avians in the bar at the time, so they enjoyed their meal pretty well.

Toggle was the first to talk after the moment of chewing in contemplation they shared. "Makes sense kinda...but I got a few questions. Why us. I mean sure we fight well enough, but I have no named style. I just kick a judicious amount of ass. Ichigo has a style at least but he mostly just uses his own thing."

"As I said, it will be a show at the end of the year. Normal styles can be boring. We will have a few of them there of course, but what we want is interesting and different. I would watch a show if you guys were in it acting like you do."

"Okay, fair enough." Toggle responded, avoiding the complement. When he was serious, he dropped his cocky act. Ichigo knew if Toggle did not take complements, it meant that Toggle was being guarded, and if Toggle, who was open, was being guarded, it meant to be on alert as well. He started making mental notes of exits, and tried to watch for what Toggle would do. "So if we went, what all would we have to do besides fight."

"Well from what I was told, live. They will have things around this town to earn some form of money, and you do some odd jobs as well to get some money. I hear they will have places to stay for the duration of your stay there, and plenty of food and entertainment. It is a city after all."

Toggle thought very carefully now. The prospects of being able to stay a place for an extended amount of time sounded pleasant and painful to him. He rarely stayed a place for more then a month at a time. "How big is the city anyway"

Sam played with his fork some, chewing on it and trying to suck what flavor he could off of it. His meal was done, so all he could do is think of the flavors and try and recreate them without the food. He could order another steak, but he had seen a bull walk into the bar within the last minute and decided it would not be a good idea. He was a courteous fellow, when talking business, and this was the best business he had done.

"From what I was told, about 20 miles around." He then had a look of remembrance on him. "That reminds me, another interesting fact. The city will be working with some state of the art stuff, and some of it is beta, so in order too work out the glitches, they are keeping the city isolated from the world for the first year or so. If everything turns out well, then they take down the walls and let everyone in, and it becomes a hit. Even if it does not succeed right away, the show will for sure be a hit. Of course it does not matter too much for you all, since you get your prized regardless. And everything will be under wraps till the beta year is done.

"So let me get this straight. We get an entire city to wander and fight in. we can earn or keep, and we are being watched. And...." He looked at Ichigo to make sure that his companion heard this part, as he knew being seen would worry him "we would not be aired until a year later, meaning we could do this and go, and the rest of the world can do what they want with the footage."

"Pretty much, thou after it gets going on air you would be famous...."

"And what if we do not want to be famous." Ichigo piped in,

"Fellas, as much money as I got paid just to tell you about this, I bet you will get enough to never be seen again.... if you wanted."

Toggle and Ichigo stared at each other, thinking this over. In the end they decided they would talk about it that night, and Sam nodded , giving them info on travel they would need if they wanted to go, and got ready to leave. Before he got to far Toggle asked the final question on how long the tournament would be going on.

"Oh, that is the coolest part. A whole year."

*****

"A WHOLE YEAR!" Crayo yelled a little too loudly, his jaw dropping.

"Well yea, from what we heard." Ichigo responded, looking surprised by the shock.

"Crap....I told my Dad I was only going to be gone for a month or two tops....I am in so much trouble." he said before sighing and lying back against his seat. He spent the next few minutes being sad, but in less then ten, Toggle, Ichigo, and Crayo were laughing and joking with each other, forming a small allegiance before they even needed to have any.