At The Beginning...

Chapter 3

The deafening roar of the crowd could be heard all around the arena as the two men in the center circled one another. Each one had the same blood thirsty look on their faces. I grinned, when I saw Nic look my way with a wink telling me that this guy would be easy to take down. Today was the day where all the street fighters in the world, gathered together to fight for the title and honor of being the #1 ISF better known as international street fighter. To say it was all fair would be a huge understatement. Some men liked to play dirty and would hide weapons on themselves which wasn’t allowed but you wouldn’t be disqualified for it since, it made the person that beat you look stronger.

My eyes followed the two guys and I silently, cheered Nic on. I analyzed their every movement committing each flaw to memory in case I had to fight one of them myself. The bell sounded off and Nic and the other guy took off throwing punch after punch.

 There are thirty rounds in total, each time you were paired with someone and when you won you would move on to the next round. That way each person fought three matches so there was enough energy left for the final round. I saw my name flash across the score board and smirked which caused my split lip to sting but I shrugged it off. I had made it down as a finalist and Nic or the other guy would have to be my opponent in the finals, if they beat someone named Silver in the next round. I already had some pretty intense matches where I came close to losing not to mention some serious bruising, but it was nothing I wasn’t already used to. There were a lot of men cheering Nic on. This is why I loved ISF even if a person lost they still stayed back to watch and cheer on the remaining opponents. A gust of wind blew out from the roofless arena and the cool tendrils of air helped cool down my heated skin. I looked up towards the open air and saw clouds rolling in, blocking out the moon and stars. Before the last star was covered, it twinkled and I gave it a wink and ambled towards the bleachers that were set up for the crowd.

I took a seat and grabbed a bottle of water from an ice chest and guzzled it down. The refreshing droplets of water made me moan with ecstasy. I heard someone chuckle next to me and turned to see someone standing in the shadows of the bleachers. He was tall, around 6’4” and carried himself with confidence. He looked young like most of the fighters here were, but closer to Nic and I’s age. His ebony hair was tousled about and I was surprised to see that he also wore a mask that covered the area around his silver eyes that gleamed like a cats eyes at night.  He was dressed in a casual black t-shirt and dark washed jeans. On his feet were expensive well worn black boots that pulled his entire look together.  He smiled when he noticed me looking and his perfect white teeth glowed in the darkness. An image of the Cheshire cat plopped into my head as he sauntered over to me.

“You must be Ace” he started conversationally his rich voice caused a shudder to run through me. I just nodded and turned back to watch the match while drinking my water more subtly.

“Not much of a talker, are you?” He chided as he took a bottle of water from the chest and sat beside me. The air moved with him as he took a seat and I caught a whiff of leather, spice and cigarettes that rolled off him.  I scooted a bit farther away from him and shrugged. I’ve gone through most guys hitting on me at these places and honestly, I didn’t want to waste my time turning a guy down when I needed to concentrate on finding out the weaknesses in my next opponent.

“I’ll take that as a yes, unless you want to prove me wrong.” He laughed and scooted closer. I closed my eyes and sent a silent prayer up above to help me keep my cool.

“You know it isn’t very nice to ignore someone who’s trying to get to know you.” He said with mock hurt in his tone of voice.

“Well it’s a good thing I don’t care what you think about me Mr.  nor do I want to get to know you. So would you be so kind and stop talking I’m trying to concentrate.”