Shilo stood by the ring and watched match after match continue. His human opponent showed up to let him know his fight with Chip was coming up. The man went so far as posing for a few camera shots with Shilo before leaving with a smile. It really did seem like the guy, Han, was pleased he wasn't fighting the next round.

  As for Spencer, he sat by himself for most of the fights but had some conversation with an older female Frost Bear.

  Shilo leaned over to a sowbu fighter that was now warming up for a fight against Han. "Watch his left. He always pulls it before he comes in with a right. You can hit low twice and still do a couple of upper shots. Having four arms seemed like more cheating to Shilo than a stab proof under armor. That and lightning quick reflexes.

  "Thanks."

  "Who's the female Frost Bear? That one who pops in to chat with Spencer?"

  "That's Cleo. She's a legend here. Spent her life in the ring. Top-notch. Spencer's just following the family business."

  "Anyone else hang around Spencer?" Shilo knew they did. Plenty of people stopped in to check on him or get an autograph.

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  The sowbu shrugged and kept warming up, trying a combo like Shilo suggested. "Little focused on my own lane right now, pal. But yeah and nah. Spencer doesn't like the spotlight. He loves the fight but hates the buzz outside the ring."

  "Odd sense he's pulling in such big names."

  "You heard about that. It's obvious to everyone here. Spencer is trying to rush his career. My guess is that he has something chronic, a disease or something, and Spencer wants to go out in a bout of glory."

  Looking at Spencer, Shilo didn't get that. The Frost Bear looked in great fitness. There was no hint of pain or fatigue. Assuming the fights were fair, there was no enhancing drugs. But what about drugs to slow someone down? Would they monitor that as closely? Something fast acting would be hard to detect. But that meant drugging him here and being consistent with it.

  Shilo watched Spencer like a hawk. No one did anything unusual to him. He ate nothing and only sipped water from one bottle that he kept by his side. It was unique and Shilo didn't see anyone else carrying a sports bottle with Spencer's brand of colors of a blue base and green diagonal lines. It matched his shorts and seemed unique enough. Plenty of fans had bottles like his but nothing exactly. They were missing his name, and the colors were a few shades off. New branding? The coloring seemed familiar, and Shilo ducked back into the locker room. He'd seen that shade of blue somewhere. There it was, the locker was bolted shut, but it was easy to see through the cage opening that, behind a towel hastily covering it, there was a duplicate of Spencer's water bottle.