The Underworld Isn’t Super Welcoming To All

Rambone nodded his head. "Let's go."

The two stepped in and began carefully descending the dark staircase, with Rambone taking the lead.

It was about a minute after they started the descent when they faintly heard the faint sound of the door shutting behind me.

They both looked around them in the dark and collectively sighed.

"Well, guess there's no going back now," Rambone stated.

"Gotta keep going until we get Pat his justice," Luca said while she near silently shed a tear. It was still hard not to cry for her, especially as her emotions had been practically sautéed, blended, and mixed, and it wasn't even 2 PM yet.

After what felt like an hour, the two pushed a door open to reveal the entrance to a cave cliff. The entrance was well-lit but still felt empty and creepy from the firm cobblestone walls and flooring.

Walking up to the end of the cliff, they stopped to take in the view. The town was filled with slums and a few well-made and tall standing buildings that glistened and firmly stood out compared to the rest of it. Most places from a glance were decently-lit up with lanterns and lights. The cavern ceiling was huge to boot, too. It made us feel as if it was dug out right underneath the ground.

"Woah." The both of them said, obviously in awe of the sight.

"This place is certainly is something..." Rambone commented.

"Yeah, it most definitely IS a place." She fired back, sarcastically.

They looked to their left and right. To the left was just simply a wall of the cavern. To the right, a paved concrete path led down to the town.

So they followed the path. It only took a few minutes and they were now walking down the streets of the town looking for clues and a sense of where the hell they are. The streets were thin, only about 15 feet in diameter, and made of the previously existing stone and dirt.

Rambone tried to turn around in a circle after seeing something in the distance only to have that something be nothing when he bumped into someone.

"Hey! Watch where you're going, pal!" They said, annoyed at him.

"Sorry. We're just lost." Rambone apologized while taking the chance to extract any information on the town itself from them.

Their clothes were ragged and contained some minor dirt stains. Their hair was unkempt. "You're lost? What for? Only a moron could get stuck in this god-forbidden place."

"That's because he IS a moron." Luca thought to herself.

"It's just... we're ne-"

"We're looking for some family members but weren't given any directions on where we might find them." Luca interrupted him.

"Check by the plaza. There's the arena and a map of where you can find shit. Don't know why the fuck you'd want to be in this place though, even IF it's looking for some family members."

"Why's tha-" Rambone tried to ask but was promptly cut off as they walked away.

This is the first thing they learned about this place. You don't want to be here.

Beginning the search of the plaza, they wandered already with confused aim and thoughts among themselves as passersby refused to talk or look at them.

"What could have they meant by don't know why you'd want to be here?" Luca asked the question as the thought swirled their heads.

"Is it because it's an underground town centered around its arena?"

"Hmm... possibly." Luca crossed her arms and stroked her chin, deep in thought.

"I mean what about it being a place for the rich to experience what's it like to be poor?"

"No! No way in hell!" She facepalmed in embarrassment over him even thinking that that was a good idea.

"Then what do you think, Luca?"

"I think it's a place for all the murderers in Perpinin to hide away in, personally. Just look at this place," she said with a clenched fist. "Speaking of which, do you still have that knife I gave you?"

Rambone proceeded to pat his pants and his pockets. "Uhh... no. Why? I think I lost it."

Luca went silent and stared at him in the face with a blank, cold expression.

He looked back. "What?"

There was a moment of thinking for him before it hit him.

"Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me. Welp..." He pursed his lips shut. He had completely forgotten about it.

"Good job, dumbass..." She sighed in some anger.

She pointed to the right, down an alley. "How about we start using the back alleys?"

Rambone nodded. "I don't see the harm."

She crossed her fingers on one hand as they went down a back alley. It was dim. One could faintly hear the sound of the dripping of water on occasion. Going through the alley, as they got close to the other side and back onto the brighter main streets, they heard footsteps coming from behind.

Rambone pivoted and turned back towards the sound of the footsteps. There were 3 men, all slightly taller than the both of them, walking up to them while side by side.

"Hey, could any of you three guys point us to the plaza, we'r-" He couldn't finish the statement before the one in the middle pulled a small blade on them.

"Hand us the backpack. Or else." The man on the left said.

Luca took off the backpack and quickly unzipped it to fumble through it. She handed Rambone the umbrella she had earlier and zipped the backpack up.

"Nope." She said, firmly shaking her head at them.

"'Ine, then 'ave it your way," the man in the middle said, going for a hard slash at Luca's right arm socket.

Rambone prevented the potential damage by moving the umbrella in the knife's path, causing the knife to do a small amount of damage to the umbrella's hood.

Rambone quickly nodded at Luca and they began running off to the right, now out of the back alleys.

Luca was running away with tears flowing down her face. She was fearing for her life while being reminded of the pool of blood Pat sat lifeless and helplessly in.

"No. Please. I don't want to join him," the thoughts reverberated through her head.

Rambone had jumped and pretty much ran backward with how much he had to stop and turn to deflect a hit aimed at either of them. He was already not at 100%, still aching from the injuries he had suffered from this morning while trying not to reopen the gash.

The other two men had slowed down to keep people from intervening from behind them.

When the shaft of the umbrella once again met the blade, the man had positioned it in a way to get it stuck in the cloth to outsmart Rambone. Rambone tried to yank the blade out with an immediate follow-up to swing the blade back or disarm the blade, but this failed and a hard kick met his gut. He fell to the ground and the man began rushing off at a faster speed towards Luca.

"Lucaaaaaa!" Rambone shouted.

Luca turned her head back and managed to see the man running at her. She screamed, running as hard she could. She was sweating like crazy. Her legs were beginning to feel sore and weak.

She ran for another 100 yards and then tripped. She screamed again, this time much louder.

The man went for a stab to the same spot he had gone to before, but she rolled out of the way in time and the blade got lodged into the ground. She punched him repeatedly, but it felt helpless as it only served to slow him down. He was standing and she wasn't.

As the man managed to recover the knife out of the ground, he pointed it right at her face, only two feet above it.

"Cunt," the man spat out, crouching down, moving the knife ever so closer to her.

It was then that the man was met with a hard shoulder tackle from a woman, blowing the man two meters back and knocking him to the ground.

The woman looked to Luca and offered her hand to help her up.

"Are you alright?" The woman asked her with a voice that boomed with a friendly tone.

Luca nodded, wiping off some tears. "Y-yeah."

"There's no need to cry! I'll deal with this piece of junk for you." She said, running off towards the man.

Rambone and Luca ran over towards each other, meeting each halfway. Rambone had beat up the other two men with relative ease.

"You good, Luca?" He asked.

"Yeah," she repeated. "I was about to ask you that myself."

"Oh me? Yeah, I'm in some pain but nothing bad."

"God, you're such an idiot. Didn't I just tell you to be careful before we left the clinic?!"

"Yes. But I needed to protect you. You come first, not me."

"We both come first. It's not one or the other. It's both. Got that?"

He took a moment to think about it before nodding. "Sure."

The woman from before walked towards the two, dusting off her hands. When Rambone matched eyes with her, Rambone was a little taken back by her stark appearance. Her body was fairly bulky, naturally making her stand out in a crowd and this was only amplified by her broad shoulders and outfit. She was dawning on a purple jacket over a white tee to go with a pair of jean shorts.

"I dealt with them, miss. Are you and him alright?" She asked while subtly shooting Rambone an intimidating glare. She stood a few inches taller than the two.

"Yeah, we're okay. How are you?"

"Great!"

"Hey, we were wondering where the plaza is and if you could guide us to it?" Rambone asked.

"No."

"What?!"

"I don't know this place well enough. Feel free to ask others though!"

"By the way ma'am, who are you?" Luca asked.

"My name is Cara Rochelle! I protect the people of this place the best I possibly can! It is a pleasure to meet you both!" Cara smiled.

"Yeah, as he said, we were wondering where the plaza is. Do you know?"

"Yes I do, I'd be delighted to guide you two there!"

"I just asked you that and you said no." Rambone protested. "What gives?"

"I'm sorry man, but I did not hear you clearly enough the first time! I apologize sincerely for the mistake!"

"Thank you," they both said.

She guided Luca and Rambone to the plaza, answering some of the questions they had about where they were on the way there.

"What is this place called?" Rambone asked.

"Wolfshaus. As the name suggests, it's a house for wolves or runaway and poor criminals. Some of the most unfortunate in all of Perpinin flee to her along with the sly and cruel."

"Huh. That's interesting."

Luca stroked her chin. "Is there anything else you do here?"

"I serve a big part in running the town arena. It's a great place for you two to go to if you want to get stronger!"

"What's the arena?"

"It's an underground arena. People who sign up to fight it are given equipment to train with and others to fight as they climb the ladder to the top, earning money along the way thanks to the many bettors."

"How do they fight?" Rambone asked.

"Like boxing but with weapons. Can't kill or do major damage to your opponent. The more damage you deal, the more points you get which are tallied at the end of the match."

"What happens if you lose?"

"You have to forfeit all of your money and start from the bottom."

"Will you help us sign up then?"

"I would love to!"

The three then entered the plaza, with the arena standing right in the middle of it.

"Well, would you two like to sign up and start training?"

"I'd love to," Rambone said, then pulled Luca aside to give her an encouraging look.

She was much more uneasy to join.

"Come on, Luca. Sure, we wouldn't be fighting together. But right now we're not nearly strong enough to catch the hood. We need to do this." Rambone stated.

"But why me?"

"Because I'd love some backup."

"True. But I'm going to be a tailor, not a soldier."

"But what about Pat?"

This made Luca begin tearing up.

"He always said that I was strong enough as a person to be successful in life!"

"He always said it. Do you think that you were strong as a kid?"

She took a moment to think.

"No. I cried over scraped knees and not getting what I wanted to eat for dinner."

"See?"

"But that's just mental strength."

"Luca... the mentally strongest are usually the ones who are physically strong. How are we gonna catch the hood together with our current strength?"

"What about Cara?"

"She wouldn't understand a damn thing."

"She'd help us."

"All she would do is just look around this place for them even after they've probably left this place."

"I doubt that!"

"Are you 100% certain about that?"

"I-" She paused. "I'm not."

"See what I mean? Even the brawn has his own smarts that the brain doesn't. And did you even consider that we could go investigating and searching for them in the free time we'll get?"

"I'll do one match to make you happy. Fine?" She sighed and finally gave in. "All I really want to do is search for the hood.

Rambone smiled. "That's great. I'll guide you each part of the way."

They walked over to Cara.

"We'd like to sign up." Both of them said.

Cara smiled brightly, showing off her near pearly white teeth. "That's great! I'll show the way to the registration desk! Follow me!"