Fighting, Surviving, & Hopelessly Lost

Chapter 16

"Alright guys. We have a fight next week which is the qualifying fight for the championships. It was hard-- choosing the fighter and the runner up. But for the qualifying meet, Jul is our fighter and Peyton is the runner up. I'll work with those two individuals while the rest of you go train," J.C ordered.

It was Monday morning practice before school and at this moment, J.C was heading towards me with Peyton by his side.

"You two need to train harder this week. I need you to win that match Jul. Focus on the technique and your diet. No fried or junk food but you need to eat. Now you see these two dummies over here? Start with a sharp right, right, left, kick combination. Peyton, go first."

Here was the thing with Peyton. I didn't acknowledge him at all when he greeted me this morning. I opened up too much yesterday and I was working on closing myself back up. So far it was working pretty well. Trying hard to ignore him while not wanting to hurt his feeling was hard but I'm pretty sure he understood so he gave me some space.

Peyton got into position and took out the combination J.C told him. The dummy got some pretty deep indents from the punches and kicks. Not too bad.

It was my turn next and as I got into position, I pictured a face on it. Pretend that I was in an actual fight and had to win no matter what. I threw the first two right punches and as I threw the left punch and my fist came in contact with the hard foam, the head of the dummy ripped off and rolled a few feet away. My kick came just as fast, sending the rest of the body flying a few yards back. I turned around to a silent J.C and a shocked Peyton while their eyes traveled from me, to the head, to the body. All I did was stare at them innocently.

"What!?" I asked, exasperated after they just continued to stare at me. I felt my cheeks burn slightly at their amazement and staring.

"I've never seen anybody do that with this combination," J.C finally said. "I mean yeah, the head was torn off. Yes the body was sent flying a foot or two but never both with this form. That right there was pure beauty and anger."

"Um, I'll take this as a compliment. But I have done that before a few times with Joe. The combination, I mean. Sending the dummy flying was a first."

"Joe never really told you, did he?" J.C asked.

"Tell me what?"

"Well, that he had a step-brother. I haven't talked to Joe since ten years ago when we had an argument. We both loved fighting so I'm not surprised he opened up his own street fighting club. But he was picky over his fighters. I can't believe he let you come here--you were making him filthy rich."

"But enough about that," he quickly added on when he saw my curious and confused face. "We are doing practice matches today. I need to see your progress though I will feel sorry for the guy that will fight you right now."

"It's not me, right?" Peyton asked hopefully.

"No it's not you. I'll spare you the humility for tonight," J.C answered as he scanned the room for my opponent.

Peyton and I walked over to the rest of the team so that we could hear J.C's instructions. I wasn't sure fighting some guy a couple of years older than me and a billion times stronger than me was good on my side. I'd probably be dead meat in the fist five minutes.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. I was strong, had access to awesome tactics, and I didn't give up easily.

"Alright, change of plans today. We are having practices matches today and first up I want to see Jul and--" J.C began as he scanned the crowd for my opponent. "Hmm, let's see. Mark, you're up. Nobody goes easy, full out performance only."