The hustle and bustle of the city was general noise to anyone living here for a long time. They would be used to the constant tidal waves of sound crashing around them, it was a way of life. However the recent preparations for the Ceremony had driven everything up a notch, and now market sellers became energised, extra stalls had been set up along the town square, people were even selling costumes, and there were plenty of wooden-toy "Sword of Omens" being peddled to kits, waving them around in their paws eagerly.<br/><br/>It was among this milleiu of life and merchandise that the<em>other</em>noise began.<br/><br/>"Step right up! Step right up! Watch the legendary Orange Howler take on the strongest opponent in all of Cat's Lair! For only a couple of coins, you can see the risk-taking, danger-flirting, heartrate-exciting Tigrus the Maw fight his biggest challenge yet! Come one, come all, come spotted old-cats and keen little new-kits. Do you want to know if the Orange Howler still has it in him? Heck, I want to know if he's still got it in him! I don't even know if he's recovered from his last fight yet! Is the Orange Howler fully recovered, or is he walking straight to his bone-crunchy doom? Lace my paw with silver and you'll find out! Only here, only today! For a<em>very</em>limited time only..."<br/><br/>The diminuative figure had a powerful voice. Bob, the bobcat, was a small, wiry fellow with a nose for cash and a talent for getting it. He'd been Tigrus' fight promoter a year ago when he was still on the circuits, and had been the main pusher to get this fight together here, today. With all the extra people getting ready for the Ceremony, a good promoter knew when to do a bit of guerilla-advertising. As Bob said, "Nothing gets people ready to spend like a day fulla Royals."<br/><br/>Currently, in an impromptu ring set up with chunks of rock, wooden stakes and twine-y ropes, the first thing one would see is the cat-mountain. Pumal had gotten in late to the fights, which Bob cursed himself for. The huge, dappled-black-and-grey cat was a crowd draw, just for his size alone. Bob was determined to make up for it by getting Pumal out into fights like these, turn him into as big a cash-cow as possible. The puma's rippling shoulders narrowed to a V at the cat's waist that was still wider than most trees. Nothing covering him but a ragged loincloth (Bob said it would increase his "savage" feel) the gathering crowd had a plain view of this combatant's clear, ripped advantage.<br/><br/>The<em>other</em>combatant was better known to them. Tigrus, the Orange Howler, stood at the other end of the ring and flexed. Not wearing his infamous armour today (with the ring being so close to the crowd even Bob hadn't wanted to risk bringing weapons), the tiger prize-fighter was clad in an assembly of "glamour-bandages" as he called them, conveniently placed muscle supports, to make it look like he was still recovering from his previous wounds, but still<em>just</em>managed to reveal his bulging biceps, his rippling back muscles. Rus smiled at the growing numbers of his adoring public, some waving excitedly at him, some shaking their head and muttering.<br/><br/>Treating them all if they were the former, Rus flexed for them, his washboard chest exposed, the orange-and-white fur there bristling as the pumped-up abs underneath stretched to their master's whims. Now the discus-thrower, Rus pointed one arm out over the crowd and brought his other arm behind his head, as if he were throwing a grenade...<br/><br/>But he just grinned instead.<br/><br/>Now he aimed a fake high-kick over at his opponent, flicking his tail upwards as well to complete the gesture. Running his claws through his whiskers, he flicked them at Pumal in a gesture of contempt. Pumal said nothing.<br/><br/>"Silence is golden, big boy, and if that's the case I'm gonna be disgustingly rich at the end of this fight when you're on the floor and your golden silence pours forth from that big fat mouth...oh wait...I<em>am</em>disgustingly rich! Well, I'll just take those big plump whiskers as a reward. Say, reckon I can make a tech-radio out of those antennae, beefy boy? Maybe we can tune into I'MALOSER eff emm!"<br/><br/>Cue grin, thumbs-up to the crowd, quick muscle-flex.<br/><br/>Pumal twitched. And then, raising a claw, he pointed to Rus and in an impossibly deep, baritone growl;<strong>"I'm going to hurt you."</strong><em>Pause</em>.<strong>"In the face."</strong><br/><br/>Bob smacked his furry forehead with the palm of his paw. Pumal looked out quickly over the heads of the crowd and gave a faint shrug at his promoter. He'd never been good at the smack-talk. He just wasn't aggressive enough.<br/><br/>Still, the crowd cheered their favourite and jeered their opponent. Things like; "I hope he rams that tail into your mouth so we don't have to hear any more of your shit, Orange Furball!" and "C'mon Howler, we wanna see the big guy fall!" and "Your time's up, Tigrus! Pumal's gonna<em>pummel</em>you!" and "Howler, my money's on you again! Don't let me down, my kits love you!"<br/><br/>As he posed and pointed and strutted, Rus felt a flash-back to his previous, slightly more glamorous fights. This wasn't them, things were different now, some of the glitz was gone and Rus felt jaded...<br/><br/>He was bought of out of his musings as a lacey pair of bright purple panties hit him full in the face.<br/><br/>"Woooo! The Howler can make<em>me</em>howl any time! Over here!"<br/><br/>Blinking and looking around, he saw a pair of clearly drunken ladykits waving excitedly and blowing kisses. "I wrote my name on the inside! We love youu!"<br/><br/>And, just like that, Tigrus, the Orange Howler, was back in his game.<br/><br/>Exagerrating a bow to the pair, he picked up the panties and made a show of tying them around his tail. Then, marching upto the rope wall that the girls were closest to, he took a readily extended paw and kissed it.<br/><br/>"A favour from my lady!" He shouted in an over-the-top posh accent. The crowd roared. Flexing his tail again to indicate the tied-on purple panties, he smiled at the noisy mob.<br/><br/>Bob nodded and grinned from his place in the crowd as more people pushed closer wanting to get a good view and handed over coins. Good old Tigrus. It was going to be a most affluent day for them all.