An Owl's Rise

"Yes, we understand that you do not want to stand out too much and we already agreed that it was fine that you only use wind magic." Rehni said, accepting Evelyn\'s decision to act as support.

"I still think you should be showing off everything you have so that everyone else can see how great you are. But I will follow your decision to keep some of your powers hidden." Bylur said.

"Thank you. I have my reasons and am grateful that you are fine teaming up with me despite the fact I will not be using my full power."

Once the three of them had everything squared away, they moved up the large counter in the center of the area and began the registration process to solidify their new team.

"That is everything. If you will just give me a few minutes I will have Evelyn\'s Team registered in the ranking hall." The receptionist that was helping them said.

While waiting around the three of them suddenly felt their identification cuffs start to rumble and a message appeared.

\'Huh, guess it has something similar to a pager function.\' Evelyn thought as she looked at the message that had appeared.

Their three cuffs now showed that they were part of a team and had added things like a team balance which they could all put and take credits out of.

"Now as you are a new team you are currently unranked. Would you like to register for a random match, or have you already agreed to a bout with another team?" The receptionist said.

Evelyn got ready to turn her down and was about to say that they would come back another time, when Bylur jumped in and asked for them to registered for a random match.

With shocked expressions, both Rehni and Evelyn were on the same page about not fighting today, but Bylur had jumped the gun.

And before either of them could stop the receptionist she had already begun signing them up for a match and got a hit.

"Looks like the lowest ranking team currently waiting for a match is rank number twelve thousand forty-three. You have been successfully assigned to battle them thirty minutes from now. Should you win, you can take their rank, but if you lose you will receive the lowest available rank which is rank fourteen thousand six hundred ninety-seven. Oh yes and if you win your team will also receive ten thousand credits."

After receiving these instructions, the receptionist told them that they would be able to wait for their match to begin in room number two hundred sixteen and directed them to where it was.

"Um could we actually cancel the match. We were not actually planning on fighting today and just wanted to register. It seems that Bylur just got a bit excited and acted hastily." Evelyn said wanting to get out of the bout.

Unfortunately, things would not be so simple.

The only way to cancel the match would be to forfeit and, in that case, they would be dropped down to the lowest rank and receive a fine.

"Also, perpetual forfeits can lead to being banned from the Ranking Hall. I am sure you can understand that we do not want teams simply scheduling matches and canceling them. The Roost has quite the vest interest in our hall."

Sighing, Evelyn thanked the receptionist for her help and began flying towards the room they had been designated to.

When they arrived and the door was closed, both Evelyn and Rehni fixed Bylur with cold stares.

"What were you thinking!? We have not had any time to practice together and barely even know what each other are capable of! This is not the time for us to just start taking on other teams that know how to work with each other already!"

Bylur lowered his head and apologized to Evelyn as she went off on him.

He had just wanted them to go ahead and start ranking up and figured that one match would not be a big deal.

Of course, Evelyn could not be too mad since she had not made her intentions clear enough, even if Rehni had picked up on them easily enough.

"It is what it is. We are just going to have to do what we can. In fact, this will be a good chance for me to see what the two of you can do. I will not step in unless you both are going to lose." Evelyn said.

"Yes, allow me to make up for my mistake by winning single handedly. I will show you exactly how strong I am." Bylur said, bouncing back quickly.

Rehni could only grumble a bit since she was being dragged into a mess that Bylur had made.

Still, she agreed to fight as well and allow Evelyn to witness her abilities.

The three of them continued to wait in the room until the thirty minutes were nearly up and began to worry about what was going on.

They had already checked to see if there was some other exit out of the room that would lead to an arena of some kind, but there was only the door they had entered through.

At first, they figured that someone would come to get them before the match started and lead them to where it would be, but that did not seem to be the case as time counted down.

"I will go ask one of the receptionists what is going on." Evelyn said when there were only a few seconds left.

However, before she left the room began to glow and in an instant, they were whisked away.

When their vison came back to them, they found themselves in what looked to be a lightly wooded forest.

\'Was that a warp portal!?\'

Seeing as how they were in a completely different area Evelyn could only think that they had been teleported.

And as she figured this out, it was clear now why she had not seen any sort of area designated for the matches.

They had simply been teleported to a separate dimeson like the Roost where they would fight against another team.