The Games - A PP OUAT Fanfiction

Seven.

My parents had always asked me why I loved fighting so much. I tried to explain it to them, but they just didn't understand. So, eventually, I stopped trying to explain. If they asked me again I would just shrug. Hand-to-hand combat was my favorite thing to learn, and especially to use. I first learned self defense when I was in sixth grade, in a Gym class, and I loved it so much that I took a few martial arts classes. Of course I could almost immediately beat everyone, but it still took a very long time for me to remember the names of the moves. The few fights I got into at school were very fun. They gave me a thrill no roller coaster or dare devil stunt could give me. They gave me an adrenaline rush so strong it physically hurt. It made me strong and fast and hard to defeat. I was extremely excited to teach this to everyone. I was literally shaking.

"Gather round, kids!" I said loudly to get their attention. I stood on a barren piece of ground that had no grass or targets or weapons. It was literally just a plot of dirt in the shape of a circle. It was only about ten feet in diameter. "You're in my house tonight, and hand-to-hand is my favorite skill set to use."

Everyone but Jonathan seemed uneasy. While everyone looked nervous and a bit frightened, he was smirking evilly and had his arms crossed over his chest.

"Jonathan, would you like to help me demonstrate?" I asked, looking at him innocently.

His smirk deepened, but I could still see the bit of unease flicker in his eyes. He stepped into the ring and took up a fighting stance, which I mirrored. Our feet were shoulder width apart and our backs were hunched slightly. Our fists were up, but mine were up near my face (imagine Annie's fighting stance), while his were closer to his chest. I went first, since the person who lands the first hit 99% of the time ends up winning (everybody knows that). I went to hook him in the jaw but he easily blocked, and I shoved my fist into his stomach before he even begun to raise his other fist. He fell to the ground, wheezing.

"Do you yield?" I asked, taking a few steps back.

He growled and stood back up, both of us getting back into our fighting positions. He came galloping forward and I sidestepped him, sticking the end of my foot out as I did. He fell hard, almost falling out of the circle. His head was sticking out over the line.

"I said, do you yield?" I asked again, making myself both look and sound serious. He roared and came at me again. But this time, he was sloppy. I landed an uppercut to his jaw, and he lost his balance immediately, stumbling to the ground... right outside the ring.

I heard a lot of clapping and worked on controlling my excited breathing. "You did a good job, Jonathan. But you lost your patience, which you should never do - unless you want to get humiliated, or worse, you know, killed."

Jonathan rose unsteadily to his feet and nodded, trying to calm himself down.

"I guess I could show you all a few things," I taunted, and everyone nodded again. "Good. Does anyone wish to volunteer?"

Nobody stepped forward, not even Jonathan. I almost told Ellis to get in there when I heard a male's voice to my right say, "I'll give it a try." I looked to the voice and was quite surprised to see that it belonged to Picies. He walked into the circle and stopped a few feet away from me. I nodded and began to lecture about the defensive stance, telling Picies to do as he had seen. He did as I had perfectly, despite his disability, and I explained why each part of the stance was important.

Then I showed and described to them a few moves, just the basics so they had at least a bit of a chance against each other, and then let the four partner up. They stood by their partners outside of the ring and watched intently as me and Picies demonstrated. I tried to take it a little easy on Picies, but he seemed to be doing perfectly fine (seeing as how he nearly kicked me in the face with his injured leg), so I made it a little more difficult for him. He was having trouble up until I messed up and his fist connected with my cheek, making me fall. By the time I had recovered enough to stand he was pinning me to the ground by putting his arm across my neck. "Do you yield?" he whispered into my ear.