Living The Dream (Nightmares are dreams too)

Food for Thought

"You. Me. In the ring. Now." That guy snorted. Okay, he was a newbie. Everyone around us looked somewhere else. "All right, lead the way.", he laughed, confident in his skills. I almost felt bad for him. I turned around and led the way to our sparring area. We had to go downstairs for that. ATDM Cooperation had two floors, one for the offices and one for training.
"What's your name?", I questioned. "Dom. I don't need to ask who you are. You're Alex, the social outcast of this organization." I snickered. "They haven't told you, have they?" "Told me what?" I just shook my head. We were there.

The sparring area was an area enclosed by glass so everyone could watch. It was a bit higher than the normal floor so it looked as if we would be fighting on a podium. I entered. "Where do you want the fight to happen?", I asked, activating a panel in the wall. "Huh? Here?" I snorted. "You have never fought in here, have you, newbie?" He frowned at me. I raised an eyebrow at him, then turned to the glass wall. "All right, we'll fight... Ah, in an abandoned alley." I hit a few buttons on the hidden panel and our surroundings started to change. The glass got one-way see-through and the lights dimmed down. The ground changed to asphalt and a few scattered trash cans appeared. The newbie stared in awe. "And we can fight anywhere we want?", he asked excited. I nodded. "Cool!"
I went to my place in front of Dom and took my stance. "Hey, I'm not warm yet.", he frowned. First I snickered, then I started to laugh wholeheartedly. "What's there to laugh about?", he exclaimed. "Dude, you have to be ready at any time. A fight can happen every moment. So let's go, I'm not warm either."
He huffed and took his stance. I guess it was okay... Well, he tilted slightly to his right, there might be some kind of bruise or wound, I estimated. I let him attack first. He took a few quick steps towards me and did a high kick at my head. I ducked under it. It would have been so easy to knock away his right leg and see him falling on his ass. But I just stayed down. Once he landed, I started off with a few quick punches to the chest that sent him flying back. "I hope you don't mind bruises.", I huffed. He took the lid of the next trashcan and hurled it towards me. I let it hit my shoulder, as I ducked away slowly. Let him think, he's got a chance. It didn't hurt so it wasn't much of a hassle. He used the second that I was "distracted by the pain" to jump at me. I heard a lot of people outside murmuring, why I let him hit me. They knew. I grinned. Dom tried to land a hit on my shoulder to inflict more pain but I simply turned away and gave him a light kick in the ass that made him fly face first into the wall. He groaned and started to get up. I stood there and watched him. He just sat up and looked me in the eyes. "What are you?" "Well, dear that's the reason why I'm a social outcast, as you formulated so nicely. I'm a demon." He laughed and shook his head. "No, demons can't use their powers in their normal form. They need to be in their demon form to get their powers. And I don't see anything demon-like when I look at you." I smiled. "Well someone has done their homework. And what do you reckon, I am?" He looked me up and down. "A witch?"