King of Creatures

Chapter 5

Amari woke up, blurry-eyed and almost falling out of his bed. He took a quick shower, put on some fresh clothes, then got some breakfast. He sat by himself, then he headed back to his room to brush his teeth and sit at his desk until Max came.

He laid his head down on the desk, playing with the pop socket on his phone. He had woken up at seven-thirty. It was only ten twenty-three. With a bored sigh, Amari sat up, stretched, then stood up. First going to the window, pulling up the blinds, then he went to reach for his book bag, which still held his clothes, but he froze. Sitting outside the window, looking directly into it was an orange, overweight cat.

Amari let go of his bag before pressing his face against the window in disbelief. "No way." He muttered before turning and dashing out the room. He ran around the building until he found him. Buster meowed before trotting over to where Amari stood.

"Hey buddy, what're you doing here? How'd you even...?" Amari muttered as he knelt down and pat Buster, who purred happily and rubbed against him. "Oh man, they're gonna kill me." He said, thinking about the owners of Lovely Pets.

Buster sat down and placed a paw on Amari's knee. Don't worry. I'm here for you.

Amari blinked at the cat, confused if it was the cat who spoke or if he was overhearing someone else's conversation. Buster then stood up, still purring, and continued to rub against Amari. He heard someone cough and looked up to see that a couple of people had stopped to stare at the two. Amari looked away from the watchers and picked up the heavy cat before turning on his heel and walked back to his room.

Max was waiting outside his bedroom door, despite the door being left wide open. He made a confused look before noticing the cat in Amari's arms, then he nodded. "Ready?"

Amari just nodded before setting Buster inside his room and picking up his key card. When he went to shut the door, Buster quickly zoomed out and sat down staring at Amari. "Fine." He conceded. "It's it okay if he comes with us?" Max looked at the cat and nodded before turning and heading towards the end of the hallway.

Amari hastily closed his bedroom door before following after him, Buster in pursuit.

The gym was a huge area. About twice as large as the cafeteria and two stories high. The upper story had gym equipment like a pull up bar, treadmills, weights, and other machinery to help keep you in shape. While the lower story just had a bunch of blue mats covering the floor, a wall full of remotes, and another wall with rows of mannequins. Amari and Max got situated in a small area on the bottom floor, taking off their shoes and doing some stretching. Buster had also done a stretch, only to curl up into a ball and go to sleep.

"All done?" Max asked, straightening up. Amari nodded and watched as Max grabbed a remote from the wall behind him. It looked like a walkie-talkie except it had a screen and a few more buttons. "I'll give you level three since you have s-some experience." Max told Amari quietly. Amari simply nodded and watched as Max pressed some buttons.

Suddenly, one of the mannequins that were standing on the far wall began to move and make its way towards the two, a digital three on its chest. Amari went wide-eyed and took a step back as it came closer, it was as of his worst nightmare had come true. The mannequin stopped in front of Max and held out its hand.

Max gestured for Amari to come closer. Amari looked around before tentatively stepping forward, a few inches away from the mannequin. "You need to shake its hand before you can begin." Max explained.

"Begin what? For why?" Amari asked alarmed.

"Boxing? To assess your level. T-the doll has like, f-finger print s-sensors. I-its so I-It know it's o-opponent." Max explained. He scratched the back of his head before turning and heading towards a pile of boxes. Amari looked over at the mannequin, who was still standing frozen with its hand out.

Tentatively, Amari stepped in front of the mannequin and grasped its hand. He yelped as the mannequin's fingers tightened around his hand. Its face began lighting up, numbers and letters popping up on its face. Then it let go. Amari stood there with his hand still frozen in the air wondering what had just happened.

Max reappeared with two pairs of boxing gloves and handed a pair to Amari before putting the other pair onto the mannequin, who turned its now blank face towards Max. Amari held back a shutter before looking away and putting on his gloves.

He used to have a necklace that had a pair of golden boxing gloves that his parents had gotten him for his fifteenth birthday. He didn't get to take it with him when his mother kicked him out. It wasn't packed in the bag. In fact, Amari was pretty sure it was still hung up on the hook where he also hung up his keys. He wished that he had thought to take it.

"Okay, ready?" Max asked, walking back against the wall. Amari looked nervously at the mannequin, who just stood in an awkward stance, its legs straight and arms stuck in the air. Amari nodded and went into a proper boxing stance, hands in front of his face, knuckles facing the sky, hands level, elbows tucked in. His feet at an angle, heels raised, knees slightly bent. He took a deep breath.

He saw Max nod in the corner of his eye, then he pressed a button. The mannequin immediately sprung into a similar position as Amari. "Round one. Begins in three...two...one..." The mannequin announced in a robotic voice. A ding sounded and Amari began to move.

He had forgotten what it felt like to box. He hadn't been able to box since, that incident. He was glad that everything still came naturally. He was a bit rusty for a few punches but quickly warmed back up to it. His heart began pounding with excitement and for the first time in a while, he felt happy. He remembered considering becoming a professional boxer, but then life had taken an abrupt turn and he had to find a job quick and since he was still in school, he found he didn't have much time to go to the boxing gym anymore.

Before he knew it, the mannequin was on the ground and a resounding ding echoed in the room. Or maybe it was just resounding and echoing to him. He was kind of in the zone. Breathing heavily, Amari looked over at Max with a smile on his face. "That was fun." Max simply nodded with a slight smile.

The mannequin suddenly stood up, causing Amari to jump and shield himself . He thought he heard Max laugh but when Amari looked over at him, he was focused on the remote. "Do you need a break? Or do you want to keep going?' He asked.

"We can keep going." Amari said excitedly.

After each round against the mannequin, Max moved it up a level. By the time they were done, which was when the mannequin finally beat Amari, knocking him in the stomach and causing him to fall over, they were on level nine.

"Are you okay?" Max asked, handing Amari a Gatorade. Amari, who was still sitting on the floor, simply nodded before downing the Gatorade. Max nodded before placing a bottle of water next to him as well. "Looks like nine is your max. We should probably get lunch. U-unless you'd wanna shower first."

"Shower. A shower seems nice." Amari said standing up. Max nodded before pressing a few more buttons on the remote. The mannequin straightened out of its pose before heading back over to where the other mannequins stood.