The boy crouched down, holding his hands up in the air as if telling her he was no threat. Inferno could just barely scent him over the frosty, rust-like smell of frozen metal, but his sent was laced with heather and wind, showing he was some type of wind creature, probably a mage with how he was still in a humanoid form. Most supernaturals fought in their original form, not humanoid.

She relaxed slightly, knowing that wind creatures wern’t that much of a threat to her, unless they could manipulate the air from her lungs of course. He spoke in a soft, lighthearted tone, and spoke in human-tongue. She could understand him, but didn’t have the energy to respond.
She was just about to reep closer to the male when suddenly he was soaked in water, some of it spilling into her cage. She leaped back further, her back pressed against the back of her cell while a snarl ripped its way out of her throat.

She couldn’t use any of her abilities while she was chained and muzzled, so the only thing she could do to avoid the water was try to stay as far away from it as she could. She glared daggers at the water creature, the one yelling at the soaked boy in front of her to hurry up.

She scrambled over to one of the back corners of her cell, crouching in the corner while she watched more of the water seep into her cage.

Inferno glanced up at the boy in surprise when the water was whisked away from her, dried up by a small torrent of wind. She wasn't used to being treated like this. with kindness, like she wasn't just another fighter in a game where people come to watch supernaturals fight and maim and kill for fun.

And she wasn't used to someone caring whether or not she was dry or comfortable.

At least now she knew his name. Windlock. An interesting name, but one she could remember. As he began to get up and run, Inferno opened her mouth slightly to say in a voice hoarse from being unused, in Human-tongue, "Thank you."

Once he had disappeared from sight, she shifted back into her usual form and crept into her nest, a small collection of thin, threadbare blankets that she scraped together to form her sleeping place. She curled up, trying to burrow under the blankets to get as much warmth from them as she could, allowing sleep to flow over her like a gust of wind.

Inferno's sleep was plagued with nightmares and past memories, so violent that she shook herself awake soon after falling asleep. She realized that someone was banging on her cage, and as she looked up, she got hit in the face with a stale slab of meat.

Shaking it off her head, Inferno's crimson eyes met those cold black ones of her handler. "Eat up. That's your prize for winning today." He squatted down so he was at her eye level. "Rest well, mutt. 'Cause in two days' time, you'll be fighting an ice kitsune."

Inferno froze, hating the way her body shook slightly as memories came flooding back, but she harshly pushed them down. She let out a low growl, and Axel nodded, standing up and strolling away, leaving Inferno with the demons of her mind.

Inferno paced the length of her cage wearily, thinking about her next fight. An Ice Kitsune? I haven't fought an ice creature for years. Not after the incident.

When she was younger, just a new fighter in the ring, she faced off against a Yuki-onna, or a snow woman, from Japanese legends, who was said to have perished in the snow. She creates snowstorms to freeze her victims to death, and with Inferno being young and not truly knowing how to fight yet, she almost froze to death.

The cold isn't just cold to Hellhounds. It's freezing. That's why she was afraid of water. Of ice. Of anything cold. If it weren't for Axel calling off the fight and bringing her to his home to save her life, she would have been dead, her blood frozen in her vains.

The rest of the day passed smoothly, without any interruptions from Axel or other creatures in the cages next to hers. Inferno spent the next day and a half making sure her muscles were loose, her body agile, and her mind sharp. She had thought of seventy different ways how to beat this ice kitsune, all tied to what the powers of the creature actually were.

Obviously, the kitsune would have abilities in the element of ice. There was no doubt about that. But what kind? Would it be just spreading ice across the ground? Did her opponent have to have some type of water in the ring to freeze? Could they create shards of ice? Large orbs that they would use to throw? Could they actually manage to get close enough to Inferno to freeze her completely?

All valid thoughts, and thoughts that ran through her mind before every fight, even the easy ones. But this fight would be easy. Not by a long shot.

Tomorrow's the day. Inferno thought as she rested her head on her paws, curling up to sleep. Tomorrow's the day I fight an ice creature.