Last Man Standing

Chapter 26: Improvements

We pushed on. Nothing had changed since our encounter with Camilla and Valoria, so we could only hope that they had kept our secret.

The scruffy man had put us in groups of four to practise our hand to hand combat. I was partnered with Bash, Theo and Newt.

The goal was to work with your partner to take your two opponents down. We mixed things up every so often by changing pairings. For the moment, I was partnered with Newt.

"We need to play this smart and use our heights to our advantage."

"Agreed. I'll attack low, you come at them high."

"Theo has a killer drop kick, so we need to get him on his back to eliminate that threat."

"Bash is fast with his fists, but he pays little attention to his lower body and stance. If we rush him low with a tackle, we could catch him off guard."

"Alright, I'll take Theo and you go for Bash."

I nodded in agreement.

We turned to face our opponents. They seemed to have a plan too, but hopefully ours was better.

Quintus called for the fight to commence.

Theo came running at me. I tumbled to the left, but I wasn't quick enough to stand. Theo jumped on my back and wrapped his forearm around my neck to hold me in place. He didn't squeeze tight enough to do any real damage, but he still had to make it hurt enough to keep me down; to make sure I lost.

Newt was blocking an arsenal of punches from Bash, unable to make a move of his own. He was too tall to tackle Bash properly, and I was too little to break free from Theo's monster grip. Newt and I had to switch partners fast.

I wiggled both of my arms into the minimal space between my neck and Theo's forearm. I pushed against him with all my might until there was enough room for me to slide my head out. I quickly dropped away from his grasp, spun on my knees and punched him in his manhood.

I wasn't above playing dirty.

As he recovered, I took the opportunity to tackle Bash while he wasn't looking. My chest collided with his thighs as my arms wrapped around his knees, forcing him to crumble to the ground.

Newt turned his attention to Theo. He used his hands and forearms to block every kick Theo hashed out, and then found his chance to grab hold of Theo's ankle mid-kick. He pulled it towards him, forcing Theo to spin to regain his balance. Once his back was turned, Newt wrapped his arms under his arm pits and placed his hands on the back of Theo's head, trapping Theo's arms. He then placed his feet just inside Theo's stance to better support him. Newt dropped to the ground and took Theo with him; Newt was on his back with Theo resting on top of him. Newt then wrapped his legs around Theo's to keep him locked in place.

Theo was completely trapped.

Newt had accomplished this in a matter of seconds.

As I was glimpsing this interaction, Bash was fumbling on his hands and knees to break free from my grasp. I realized that the best way to subdue Bash was to follow Newt's tactics. I struggled to keep him face down, then slid my arms under his arm pits, bent my elbows out and pressed my hands against the back of his head. I sat on top of his back to keep him down. Without his arms, he had no way to push himself up.

Bash was now completely trapped as well.

Quintus called for the end of the fight.

I released Bash and helped him to his feet. He punched my arm playfully. "You getting better, yes?"

I smiled, "Seems that way."

Theo and Newt joined us.

"You're a quick learner, kid." Newt said.