Dreamers

Chapter 10 - I'll lose? Nah, Alwyn.

I met up with Alwyn at Ellington's headquarters. The abandoned school building, most call the school park. We were in the basement area of the building which got turned into a gym. There was a bunch of Ellington members lifting weights and hitting the bag. "Welcome to the grand Ellington boxing gym! Doesn't it remind you of a boxing gym that came out of Rocky." Alwyn said proudly. "I don't think that should be something you're proud of." The gym wasn't in the best looking shape since it was in the school's grimy basement. "Follow me Dex, we're going up on the ring for 3 rounds, 3 minutes." I asked him "What for?" "I just want to see your strengths and weaknesses. We'll start off your training week with a tough sparring session!" I looked at him with some doubt, is he really the one who should be training me? In the corner of my eye, I saw Alwyn's girlfriend walk towards me. "He may not look like it, but he's a good coach, there's a reason why Ellington's gang is one of the biggest in the North district." Charlotte's assurance didn't help with my doubts but I had no choice, I already showed up here, It's too late to go back.

It's been a while since I stepped into a boxing ring, the one in Znyder closed down two years ago. People usually stick to boxing gyms or dojo's in their own gang/street so I never had the chance to train at a gym in a while. "Do you know how to wrap your hands?" I replied back "Of course. I'm not a beginner. So, just straight boxing? No kicks or elbows?" Alwyn responded with a confident "Yeah" I smirked, this is my advantage. I would say I'm an above average boxer compared to others. "Alright Alwyn, no hard feelings, when I knock you down." Alwyn let out a big smile, just like the one when Sam, Joseph and I fought him, it sent a chill down my spine. The bell rang, we met in the middle and touched gloves.

I threw the first shot, a quick jab, it hit Alwyn right in the face. I kept my distance, I already knew how bad it would turn out if I let him get close. I kept throwing fast straight punches at him while I stayed on my toes. Alwyn kept chasing on while weaving trying to weave through my punches. I threw a strong lead right hook to his temple but he let out a quiet laugh under his breath. For the first time this whole fight we met eyes, foreshadowing his change of pace. I looked over to the clock and it had a minute left of the round. I decided to start going all out. I threw a 1-2 right landing clean on Alwyn's face but I was too relaxed. He threw a leaping left hook at me in which I dodged by a couple of centimeters. A hard punch landed right into my chest, taking the breath out of my body. I staggered a couple steps back into the ropes and Alwyn took advantage. I had to get out of the ropes. I tried side stepping out to my side but Alwyn caught me and threw a left hook to my head and pushed me back into the ropes. He threw a flurry of hooks to my head and body, every punch Alwyn threw was a knockout punch. I tried my best to block them all but the angles each punch came from was different every time. I felt my breathing get heavy as Alwyn let out this onslaught of haymakers, I was reaching my limit. I thought to myself, why? Why am I here? Why am I doing this? Almost like my mind is trying to make me forget who I was. But I knew I couldn't, the moment I lost myself, I lost this internal conflict. I came back to my senses, there was probably around 10 seconds left on the clock but my body wasn't able to hold out for another 10. I gritted my teeth and made an attempt to leave the ropes by throwing a lead right hook and pivoting to my right. I was fast enough to where Alwyn wasn't able to close the distance and chase me down for the last couple of seconds of the round. The bell rang and I walked to my corner. I took all 60 seconds to rest. I had no clue on how I was going to win against Alwyn in the second round. This isn't a friendly spar anymore, it's a full fledged fight. I had to go for a knockout. The bell for the second round rang and we walked towards the middle.

The second round started with Alwyn being on the offensive, which is what I wanted the least. Alwyn kept close in distance while throwing hard hooks to my body. That 60 seconds from the break didn't do anything for me. If I don't do anything about Alwyn's rampage then I'll die! I didn't have Sam's brain or Joseph's mental resilience, all I had was my boxing skills. Alwyn had me on the ropes again and let out another flurry of hooks. Alwyn had me on the ropes for most of this round and shut down all my attempts to escape. The only reason I was up for this long was because of his punches keeping me up on the ropes. I made a last ditch effort to clinch which helped me shave off a couple seconds off the round. We ended up in the middle of the ring again, my punches had lost their power and I couldn't move my legs. I felt like I was chained down to the floor. The last couple of seconds of the round passed and the bell rang. I limped back to my corner and took those 60 seconds of rest to heart. I had one last resort to use against Alwyn. He wasn't a fast mover, the first and only time I got out of the ropes proved it. My plan was a mix of explosive and exaggerated movements. Alwyn might have put me in a bird cage but he didn't clip my wings! The only problem I have with this is the damage I sustained from all those body shots from the last 2 rounds. I'll have to fight with everything I have in this last round just to survive Alwyn. The bell for the last round rings and my legs barely make it to the middle. I started off the round with a wide lead hook but Alwyn countered it with a strong right hand that I had barely blocked with my glove. His punch pushed me a couple steps back into the ropes. But that was my plan. After not wanting to be on the ropes for the last 2 rounds, I had actually made an attempt to be on the ropes this time. Alwyn chased me down to the ropes and I tried to throw a right jab in retaliation. He ducked under it and threw a big leaping left hook, I was long gone by the time he threw it though. I was already on his side by the time he threw it. My plan worked! I invented a new move, an explosive leap. A jump-like side step to escape the clutches of Alwyn. A move where I pretty much jump away from the opponent while pivoting to them at the same time. Alwyn lost his balance after missing such a wide hook, I kept my distance from him, I wasn't in any shape to throw any more punches after all the damage from those body blows. Alwyn turned around and attempted to chase me again. I ended up on the ropes again, I knew my explosive leap wouldn't work again but I had something up my sleeve. I waited for the right moment for Alwyn to strike. Once Alwyn fully committed to throwing a strong punch, I took the chance to perform my explosive side step.

"Too slow" Alwyn whispered under his breath as I jumped to my right. I knew he would have caught on. Alwyn took a big step towards me for a chance to counter me. This was my chance to counter his counter! As he stepped towards me, I used the momentum from the jump to perform another jump, not a side lead this time but a forward leap. A move I saw used in the gazelle punch or Jack Dempsey's jolt. It was a more juiced up version of it though, where my movement was heavily exaggerated. A counter to end all counters! A counter punch to rival the greats in the world of dreamers! With Alwyn moving forward I took a big forward jump to his right side, I met him in the middle with a full on right straight! It was the fastest I ever moved. There was a chance Alwyn saw this coming and there was a chance there wasn't. If he did see it coming then he would have still fallen to my trap as I put him in a position where he couldn't dodge, I had him in check mate! I felt my right hand collide with the bottom half of his face. It was a perfec- My thinking stopped. My brain got clouded with pain. The worst pain I had ever felt in my life. Everything was in slow motion to me, I knew I hit Alwyn right in the face, that's when it hit me his right hand wasn't up to block. I looked down to my side and there it was, like a knife piercing my body, Alwyn landed a liver shot on me by predicting my counter. It was his counter to counter my counter attempting to counter his counter. In short terms, he countered all my attempts to counter him. We both fell to the floor at the same time and neither of us got up back in time for the 10 count.

After a couple minutes, the pain from the liver blow went away. A pain I never want to experience ever again. In the corner of my eye, I saw Alwyn get up from being knocked out and gave me a hand. "Wow, I never really got knocked out before! You got me good Dex. I knew you had potential coming deep inside you!" A bunch of bystanders who were previously concentrating on their own workouts surrounded us. This was probably a very big moment for Alwyn and his gang. All of the top dogs in this city are strong, gang leaders are known to be the strongest, most resilient members of the gang. In some gang's, seeing the leader lose a fight or get knocked out is a way to lose respect. It didn't look that way to Ellington though, it's true this might have been the first time the leader of Ellington got knocked down but Alwyn is the most respected person in Ellington, the aura that radiated from him was bright. This showed me why he's known as "The Hero." spectators threw out praise and cheers towards us. "That was a great match!" "Even though Alwyn was cursed at being only 5 foot 6, he still showed off!" "One knockdown doesn't mean anything!" Alwyn grabbed my wrist and raised it up high. "I know you were a bit skeptical of me training you, especially because of the difference in our fighting styles. But this is what I wanted to show you, this is why I fight. For the people of Ellington, for the happiness and freedom of everyone living in Ellington. You first need to find your reason. Your reason to fight. That is my first lesson I'll be giving you, the first and most important thing you need to learn to be a Dreamer.