The doors opened and all three children were pushed through, taking a moment to look at each other and acknowledge who was who after not seeing each other for a year. They had all changed. They had all gotten taller and thinner, and Sunny’s hair was now buzzed short. Both Tigree’s and Phantom’s hair was long and tangled.

The moment of confusion and silence didn’t last long, as they all remembered their orders and started to act on them. Sunny ran forward as Phantom threw himself at Tigree, growling. The fight between the two children quickly grew vicious and violent and they both changed, growling and hissing and biting at each other’s limbs.

Sunny ran, like Dr. Xenon had told her to, and she ran until she couldn’t see or hear Tigree or Phantom, and then she stopped and hid behind a tree. The room they were in was a huge arena filled with trees. But it wasn’t outdoors, that was very clear by the ceiling and the florescent lights that hung from it. There were no windows that led to the outdoors, but there were some to what seemed to be observation rooms for the scientists to watch them through.

The day seemed long, especially to Sunny, who was tired and hungry and still out of it from just having woken up. But afraid to turn her back or close her eyes to rest, in fear that Tigree or Phantom would attack her. They had been violent to each other, she knew that, and she knew that she wouldn’t stand a chance against either of them.

Tigree and Phantom didn’t kill each other, but not for lack of trying. Phantom was ruthless, biting and scratching at Tigree without remorse. But Tigree was fast and good at retaliating, so while she was injured, Phantom couldn’t manage to get a fatal blow in. After a while, Tigree ran off, seemingly giving up for the time being, knowing that she was too injured to continue. Phantom didn’t care enough to chase after her.

Instead, the boy changed back into a human and curled up, pressing his clothes against his bleeding cuts and breathing shakily. He wouldn’t cry, he knew better than that, but he was scared and hurt and he was afraid that Dr. Trevor would be mad at him for not winning the battle by killing Tigree. He doubted that he would have been able to catch her anyway, and it was better to let her go alive than for him to die, surely. He knew that Trevor probably wouldn’t see it that way, though, and he reluctantly accepted the fact that he was going to be punished in some way.

The rest of the day was spent in the arena with the three children all avoiding each other. Eventually, each adult came and got their child and took them out of the forested arena. But unlike before, they all were brought through the same door, and into the same room. Phantom and Tigree were muttering things to each other, and shouting, and Sunny was staying silent and trying her best to stay out of the way of the other two children. Trevor and Lavender bandaged Phantom and Tigree before they were all taken to another room.

This room was cramped and dark and fairly cold, and the only things in it were two doors at opposite ends of the room and two rows of cages lined up parallel against the walls. Three of the cages had pillows and blankets in them. All three children were confused and protested as the adults pushed them into the cages. “No! No! No!” Phantom shouted, scratching at Trevor’s arms. Trevor only scoffed and shoved Phantom inside, making the boy fall and then locked the door to the cage securely. “No! Let me go!”

Tigree was making a similar fuss, and she was whining and crying and shouting at Lavender as the woman forced the girl into the cage. “I dun wanna! I wanna go to bed!” The girl cried.

Sunny cried as Dr. Xenon pushed her into the cage, but she didn’t hurt him and he wasn’t violent back to her. She looked up at him with a pitiful expression as he locked the barred door, but he only shook his head. “Sorry.” He muttered, before turning away.

With that, the three adults left the room, with Phantom and Tigree screaming to be let out, and Sunny crying in the corner of her cage, with her blanket wrapped around her.