"You know guys... I was just enjoying my time in the library five minutes ago..." Saramin commented, "I really wasn't planning to get dragged all the way here against my will when I woke up earlier today..."

The rest of the kids did not say anything in regards to her remark as they kept focusing on glaring at Hugh and his small group of friends.

"How did you like it, little dude? I've been saving this place for a special occasion!" the bulky red-haired lad commented, "You should feel honored!"

Kurt just sighed at him, "I genuinely don't even know what to think right now... You honestly went out of your way to build a dungeon to fight other students?? How much free time do you have??"

"Oh, come on! You have to admit that this is really cool! Aren't you excited to play with us?"

"Not at all..." Kurt admitted.

"I am!!" Gaby shouted, drawing everyone's attention towards her.

"Gaby??"

"What?" she replied while revealing a blank expression at Kurt, "This is literally perfect! Every single dragon I hate in one place! Away from the school rules! I can just trash every single one of them to my heart's content!!"

She then cracked her knuckles and focused her gaze on the two girls on top of the platform.

"Especially those two! You have no idea how long I've been waiting for a chance to get some payback on them! And there is no way I would be satisfied with a simple out-of-the-ring victory!"

The pair of lasses reacted to her words with small giggling sounds.

"Ooooh... Nooo... We are sooo scared!"

"The fearsome Gaby has her eye on us! Whatever shall we do?"

"Yeah, yeah, keep laughing! Let's see how well you two laugh when your asses are hanging from these chains!" she stated while grabbing onto the cell bars.

"Gaby, calm down..." Saramin whispered, "You can't fight them right now, you're still drenched, remember! If you try to face them like this your lighting will blow up in your face."

The purple-haired lass was so caught off guard from hearing Saramin call her by her actual name and not using 'cloud face' like she usually does that she began to calm herself down. If Sara wasn't making fun of her name it meant things were actually serious.

"I like your spirit, miss grumpy face! I guess I should have tried to play with you a little bit more when I had the chance!" Hugh laughed.

Gaby's anger suddenly returned just from hearing Hugh's voice and getting reminded of how he defeated her on the school's rooftop, "Oh... I wanna beat them all up so bad..."

The youngster just smiled at her and continued, "I'm sure you guys must have already realized it by now! There are five of you, and five of us!"

"Oh, wow, he knows how to count..." Saramin muttered.

"We each will send someone to fight in a total of five rounds. All you guys have to do is defeat all of us and you are free to go! Simple, right?"

Something about this situation wasn't sitting right with Kurt, "What exactly determines who wins or loses?"

"Same as always... If someone gives up, gets knocked out unconscious, or, you know... Ends up dying."

"Dying!!??"

Hugh's smile began to turn wicked, as well as the smiles from all members of his group.

"That's right! This isn't just a regular fighting tournament! My friends all came here to use this as a chance to unlock their second forms as well! Think of it as a two for one! They get some revenge on people they hate and unlock the ability to turn into their giant monstrous lizard forms! What's not to love?"

Kurt and the rest of his friends all began to shiver. It was one thing to just fight with other students. He had done that plenty of times by now. But knowing they would be coming at them with intent to kill made him worry about the safety of everyone involved.

He tried to calm himself down by thinking if something happened he could always just rely on his healing flames like always.

The lad stared down at his hand in order to conjure them, but the only thing that came out was a set of metal scales.

"Huh...?"

He sent the scales away and tried to call out his flames again, but just like before, all that appeared was a gauntlet made of metal around his fist.

"Oh... This isn't good..."

Saramin noticed his distress, "Kurt? What's wrong?"

"I..." he attempted one last time to confirm it before answering it, but just got the same result, "I can't summon my flames..."

"What!?"

"My flames! They won't come out!"

Saramin began to turn pale as she looked at the spikes, axes, pit, and all these dragons who just couldn't wait to tear them apart, "Then... If something happens to us in here..."

"Yeah, we're not doing that..." Kurt quickly replied, "This is too risky! Trevor! Nala! Let's take Leon and get out of here!"

"Understood!" Trevor replied while jumping into the jail bars in order to phase through them.

But the moment they attempted to do so, Leon suddenly started to cry in agony while being lifted by the neck by Hugh.

"Aaarghh!!" he shouted as his throat kept getting squeezed.

"Hugh!! Stop!! Are you trying to kill him??" Kurt yelled.

"Sorry, little dude! My game, my rules! No cheating allowed. Ghost boy and ghost sister better stay put in their corners unless they want little Leo to turn into a ghost as well."

Nala glared daggers at him but one glance from Trevor was all it took to make her calm down and back away from the bars.

"Much better! If I see any of you trying to escape again, it will be this guy's neck on your consciousness."

"Alright... You win... Your game, your rules..." Kurt stated, "Just let him down!"

Hugh dropped the thin lad on the ground as he started to cough like a sick person, "I'm so sorry, Kurt... For everything..."

Kurt couldn't stand seeing Leon in that state. And knowing that Hugh had done all that just to annoy him made it even worse. Like it or not, Leon being there was his fault, and it was his duty to make sure he would get out of there safely.

"So... Who will be your first player?" Park asked while coming forward and stepping on Leon's back.

That was honestly a good question making Kurt consider each of his options.

Gaby was still covered in water so they needed to wait until she dried off before she could fight. She was probably going to be the last one to enter the ring.

Saramin also should wait before she went. Since her powers relied on watching a dragon using its ability, if she entered right now she would have no weapons to use.

Trevor and Nala had the same powers but Kurt wasn't really sure how good either of them was in solo combat. Trevor managed to hold his ground during their team fight against Saramin but was he still capable of winning on his own?

Kurt didn't know.

He liked these people but he couldn't deny that he simply wasn't familiar enough with any of them and their skills to know if they would be okay in that situation.

They weren't some kind of party group from an RPG game, they were just his fellow students. He wasn't familiar enough with their strengths and weaknesses to know how to manage them.

Left with no other choice, he went with the only option he could think of.

"I'll go first!" he stated.

All members of his and Hugh's group reacted with shock by his choice. Hugh himself seemed to be enjoying his decision.

"Sending the strongest fighter first? Bold move, brother!"

Kurt wasn't sure if he really was the strongest but he knew for sure he was the safest bet. Thanks to his mother's power, he had an unbreakable defense able to withstand any form of attack which could also act as a form of offense when combined with his agility.

Plus, if Sara watched his fight, she would be able to memorize his metal claws, as well as the talent of his opponent.

On top of that, it was clear that the one to fight him would be Hugh. If Kurt could take him down first, maybe the rest of his allies would get discouraged and let them go free.

It was the perfect plan.

"Kurt..."

"Eh...?" the boy suddenly turned around upon hearing his sister calling for him. For some reason, Saramin was looking at him with depressed eyes.

"Do you... Not trust us?"

"What? No! I just-"

"Little dude! Enter the ring!!" Hugh yelled at him.

Kurt wasn't sure why Sara looked so upset, he had made that decision with their safety in mind after all, but he also saw that Gaby and Trevor were looking down as well.

"Guys? What is-"

"Liiiiittle duuuuude!! Huuuryyy!!!"

Kurt groaned and just began to walk as the bars on his cell suddenly opened. He noticed a bridge connecting from the ring to the cell above the pit and began to march on it. He also took this chance to peek at how deep was the pit, but it truly seemed like there was no bottom in sight.

Upon entering the arena, trying his best to avoid the spikes and axes, he soon noticed a couple of small floating objects circling the place. They looked like spheres surrounded by a glowing green light with tiny circular lenses aimed at him.

"What are these things?" Kurt wondered.

"This is a show" Hugh explained, "What kind of show doesn't have an audience?"

"Audience...?"

"Smile to the camera, little bro!"

Kurt then understood. These objects were filming him. Hugh didn't just set up an underground dungeon tournament, he was going to broadcast it. But to whom?

"Who's watching this?"

"All the kids in our class who are pretending to listen to the teacher's lesson. You know the drill."

Kurt just rolled his eyes. He was completely done expecting anything else from the other students by that point, "Whatever... Let's just get this over with. Come down here, Hugh."

"Eh? I'm not fighting you, little dude..." he replied while looking away and cleaning his ear.

"What...? What are you talking about!! This whole thing was about you wanting to fight me!! And now you just say you changed your mind??"

"Well, here's the thing... I don't want to fight the current you... I want to fight the future you!"

Kurt simply looked at Hugh as if had lost his mind, "Have you been smoking?? What does that even mean??"

"I don't want to face nice, sweet, little Kurt. I want to face the mean, sadistic, evil Kurt! The one that only comes out after he sees others around him getting pummeled."

"Sadistic?? But... Then who-"

"I'll be fighting you" one of Hugh's teammates suddenly spoke while raising his hand. The lad with a shaved head and bulky arms.

"Are you serious??"

Kurt continued to watch as the boy jumped from the platform and walked over another bridge that was placed on the other side of the ring.

After he finally arrived, the two stared down at each other trying to guess what the other was thinking.

'Now that I think about it... I have no idea what this guy's talent even is... He never used it on me when I was ambushed' Kurt thought to himself, 'Still... I'm pretty sure I can take him, and that will still give Saramin a talent to memorize.'

Kurt began to feel like this wasn't such a huge loss even though he wouldn't be able to take down Hugh as he had planned.

He then assumed his battle stance and began to cover both his arms with metal scales in order to form his gauntlets.

His opponent didn't even move though, making Kurt wonder just what kind of power he would have to make him look so calm.

"Alright! Round one!" Hugh announced, "Fight!"

Kurt used his superior speed to close the distance between him and the shave-head lad, placing himself right behind him and about to hit his back with a metallic punch.

But the boy just raised his hand and muttered a couple of words.

"I give up!"

"Eh!?" Kurt froze in the middle of his attack just as he was about to touch him, "What did you say?"

"I told you already... I know I can't beat you. I give up..."

"Wha... Wha... Bu- But..."

"The first round goes to Little dude!! Hooray! Hooray! Applause everyone! Applause!"

The boy moved away from the arena, making Kurt do the same, walking away with an empty look on his face as he returned to his cell.

"What just happened?" he mumbled.

"They tricked you, dummy..." Saramin responded.

"What??"

Gaby rolled her eyes and replied to him, "They just used their weakest member to deal with our strongest member... They have nothing to worry about now..."

"Ughh!!! I'm such a goddamn idiot!!" Kurt groaned as he kept hearing the sound of the other group laughing themselves to death, making him only imagine how the rest of the students watching them right now were reacting as well.

Saramin began to stare at Hugh thinking that she had been completely underestimating him all this time.

As much as she hated to admit it, he had completely fooled Kurt into playing exactly as he wanted every step of the way. Almost making her wonder just who taught him to strategize like this.

"Mmm..." she mumbled, "Seems like someone has been hanging out quite a lot with dad..."