Forever And Always

Chapter 20

I changed into my fighting outfit and Blake and I got into the car. I drove to the fighting place and was greeted by all the fans I had accumulated over the two years I had fought here. Blake was a bit nervous being in here. I told her to stay by me at all times, even in the training room, and she had to be front row to watch. But I knew, deep down, that her coming here was a mistake.

"Yang, so good to see you," Cardin said.

"Where's Mercury? I want to get this over with."

"Alright. He's in the ring waiting for you. Remember, a billion dollars and if you break the tie, you're heading to Atlas to fight in the tournament."

"Tournament? You didn't say anything about that!"

"Yeah. If you compete and win in the tournament, you will bring a great deal of recognition to this place. A lot of money so we can rebuild and renovate."

I sighed. I knew I was being pulled into something much bigger. I walked towards the ring and Blake made her way to the front of the crowd. I made her wear her bow and my orange crop top with my emblem in the center. I got into the ring and locked eyes with Mercury.

"So nice to see you, Yang."

"Shut your mouth, Mercury."

The bell rung and we started right at it.

An hour went by. Neither of us showed any signs of fatigue. Mercury wiped off a few beads of sweat as I caught my breath. I should have done a few more hours of training before coming here. I forgot he had robotic legs. We kind of had middle ground right now. I needed to get the upper hand. While I was thinking, Mercury grabbed my shoulders and pinned me to the ground. Instead of three seconds, it was going to be ten seconds. To see if anyone could rebound.

"Looks like you're not going to win this time," Mercury said.

I sneered at him and my eyes followed through the crowd and I saw Blake. She looked very nervous for me. I used that to push my strength forwards. I grabbed Mercury's neck and threw him off of me. I got up, kicked him where it hurts, and pinned him to the ground. I held him there for ten seconds. I finished. I got up and held my hand up. The crowd cheered and the other fighters came into the ring and tackled me into a bear hug. After the celebrating was over, I walked over to Blake and smiled.

"I thought you weren't going to win."

"Well, I had you here to push me forward."

Cardin came over, handed me the money and an enevlope, "This has your flight tickets. Only you can go."

I took it and walked out with Blake. We headed home and I went upstairs and put my money in the shoe box. Tomorrow was when I was leaving for Mistral to end the tie between me and Mercury. After that, I was competing in the tournament, which lasted two weeks.One week was the prelims, then it was the semifinals. Whoever wins from there, goes onto the finals. I told Neptune everything. He was ok with it and I went into the garage to start training. I was about fifteen minutes when I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist. I turned around and saw Blake was hugging me from behind. I wrapped my arms around her neck.

"My flight leaves in an hour. Think you'll be ok?"

"Yeah."

I kissed her forehead and cupped her cheeks. My forehead touched her's, "I'll be back in one piece."

Blake pecked my lips and smiled,"You better."

I smiled back and broke away. I took a shower, packed my things, kissed Blake goodbye and headed out.

When I got to Mistral, the fight was scheduled at 4pm. I had thirty minutes to train and get ready. I didn't know who I was going up against, but the crowd made it seem this person I was fighting was good. When I was done, I headed out and into the ring.

"Please give a warm welcome to our special guest. She came from Vale and she's got a fiery spirit. Please welcome, Yang Xiao Long!"

I looked at the crowd and smiled nervously.

"And we all know him. He beats the crap out of everyone he meets. He uses Dust, but we all know that's against the rules. Please welcome back, Hazel!"

A big, buff guy hopped into the ring and cracked his knuckles,"This should be easy."

"First one to be pinned for three seconds loses. Begin!"

Two hours in and I was already sore and tired. It seemed Hazel wasn't tired at all. I sighed. All I could think was Blake looking at me. I was knocked out of my thoughts when a fist came into contact with my face. I fell to the ground and got back up. My eyes flared a scarlet red and I ran at Hazel. I kicked him where it hurts. He doubled over and I swung upwards, making contact with his chin. He flew backwards and I pinned him to the ground.

"1, 2, 3!"

I got up and the half of the crowd cheered while the others booed.

"Yang Xiao Long won! We will see her in Atlas for the tournament."

From there, I was on the plane to Atlas. And when I landed, I checked into my hotel and started to prepare. Tomorrow was the prelims. I wasn't scheduled until the middle of the week. What I wasn't told was that Sunday through Tuesday was the prelims. Wednesday was a rest and Thursday through Saturday was the semi finals. I was scheduled for Thursday. I had already qualified for the semi finals because of my record. Since I had a lot of free time, I called Blake, told her how everything went and then called Ruby.

"Hey, sis."

"Hi, Yang. We watched the fight. You did so well! Weiss got us tickets to see the semifinals and finals. And we got front row!"

"That's cool. I'm not going to be in the prelims. Maybe we can get together and just rest for a bit."

"Sure."

"Tomorrow sound good?"

"Tomorrow sounds great. We'll come pick you up."

"Alright. See you then, Ruby."

"Bye, Yang."

"Bye, Ruby."

I hung up and placed my phone down. I wasn't ready to be in this position. In the semifinals already? I couldn't do this. Not without Blake.