Dreamers

Chapter 9 - tap out

"Both of you want to get stronger? I think you two are plenty strong already." Kyle responded to our request with a hint of confusion. Sam and I showed up at Kyle's place after a couple days of recovery. "Fighting Alwyn really humbled us, even though there were 3 of us! We were just fodder for him!" Sam clearly looked upset mentioning the fight. It got to him the most. "Alright, I'll set up something for you guys. But you'll only have a week." I thought to myself, what would 1 week do for me? There isn't much to learn in the small span of a week. "Sam. I know a guy over in Cattlefield. You'll be there for 7 days. For you Dex, I'll have you stay at Ellington for the whole week." I let out a sigh, I didn't have a problem with Alwyn and his gang anymore but I didn't want to learn any kicking, punching is my bread and butter after all. "Kyle, why don't I train with someone else other than Alwyn? I don't wanna learn a whole new style of fighting." Kyle showed a more serious face compared to his usual cheery complexion "I thought you wanted to be stronger right?" I looked at his eyes straight on and realized he wasn't joking about anything he said. "Alright, fine. I'll go to Ellington." We left Kyle's house after he gave us the details of what we would be doing at Cattlefield and Ellington. Our training starts tomorrow and I felt a sense of urgency coming from that meeting. We both wanted to be better and these next 7 days are going to be important for us.

It was the next day and I just left my place to head to Ellington. I was curious on how Sam was going to do at Cattlefield. This was the first time I saw Sam serious about something in a while. During our high school days, Sam was never really focused on anything, he was known as the nonchalant charismatic kid. If you came up to him and asked him what he wanted to do or be in the future, he would just give you some vague answer. It's been a while since I saw him this serious about something in a long time. I would ask him why, but it really isn't any of my business.

"This is the place right?" Sam looked at a piece of paper with messy handwriting on it. He was in front of a run down apartment with a bunch of cups of iced coffee laying by the main entrance. Sam was in Cattlefield, known for its active nightlife and its diverse selection of restaurants. Sam walked into the building and went up to the 4th floor. He knocked on a door at the end of the hallway but no one seemed to answer. Sam waited for 10 minutes before hearing someone climb up the stairs while humming a song reminiscent of Skyfall by Adele. The figure entered the hallway Sam was on. They locked eyes at each other for 10 seconds before Sam broke the silence by calling out to the unknown figure. "Hey. You must be the guy who's going to train me." The mysterious figure responds back "yup, that's me." The figure slurped up the iced coffee drink he had, he then explosively pushed off the ground sprinting towards Sam. Sam didn't expect that, he threw 1 punch missing the target as the figure got lower to the ground. The figure attached himself to Sam's waist and charged him into the door Sam was standing in front of, breaking it. They ended up inside the apartment unit. Sam fell on his back. The person had positioned himself on top of Sam with his knee on his chest disabling Sam's right arm. Sam couldn't get his hands on the opponent.

After getting hit with a couple hammer fists to the face, Sam got lifted from the ground and his opponent held Sam up. He got thrown into a dining table. "Ahh damnn!" Sam let out a audible groan after being thrown into the dining table. He realized that he didn't have time to rest. He got up immediately with dust and pieces of debris from the broken table on him. Sam thought to himself "Who is this guy?! Immediately starting a fight with someone he just met! I can't win with my boxing." Doubt clouded his mind. "Think Sam! I thought you wanted to be stronger right?" He knew that if this person was to get into close range again, it would be over for him. He proceeded to get into a wrestler's stance, copying what he saw at the start of the fight. The figure charged at Sam again, both of them grabbing onto each other's shoulders. Sam was able to stand his ground this time. But it wasn't for long. The figure was way stronger than him despite his body composition looking similar to Sam's. All he needed was a couple of seconds to think of a winning game plan. Sam thought about his opponent, strength advantage and the use of leverage and positioning. Despite being his first time seeing this martial art in person, Sam was able to think of a plan in a matter of seconds. "This is worth a try!" Sam was losing the strength battle and the last of his strength was all in his back leg, this is what he wanted. Sam performed a back roll while holding onto one of his opponent's arms, throwing the momentum off of him and used it to throw his opponent behind him.