Simple Sweetness

Chapter 4: The End of the Very Beginning

Five months later

Darien had kept his distance till school ended, far to busy to spend any real time with his 'Simple Sweetness.' She seemed to have found her way now, so he didn't feel so bad about basicly disappearing from her life. But the Summer seemed to have a life and agenda of it's own.

With the heat of july setting in, and the air conditioner in the gym busted. Sarge had kicked him and his four training mates out of the old brick building that housed their gym. Ranting and cursing in german that the place was falling apart and needed to be condemned. That it was rat infested, no good piece of crap that needed to be set on fire! Sarge had a bit of a temper to say the least. The space he rented wasn't much that's for sure, just some old warehouse out by the refinery, deep in the guts of the industrial sector of this city. He had it set up with a training ring, some weights, sand bags and a few bikes and treadmills.

The man wasn't known for having a cool head, barely over five foot with a shiny bald head. What was left of his grey hair was a thin ring around his saucer shaped ears. What was left of his hair he continually pulled on when stressed. He had a worn wrinkled face as he was nearing his sixties, with a rugged square jaw always dusted with stubble. Soft hazel eyes, that were sharp and clear, full of wisdom that he only seemed to share through harsh strings of swears.

He commanded that they keep up their training, to figure it out on their own. He would let them know when the cooling unit was fixed, and they could come back. Due to health and safety requirements they wouldn't be allowed back till he got the place certified once more.

So now they all stood outside the little ramshackle brick and wood building with the peeling paint on the tin roof watching the little old man blow a gasket up and down the dingy block. Getting odd looks from the warehouse workers, driving up and down the wide cement roads in tiny skiffs, hauling cargo.

The two older men he was training with took Sarge's little tantrum in stride, the tallest was a stern, sculpted man in his early twenty's. He had long platinum blonde hair he kept tied up in a single pony tail. With cool blue eyes and a fine boned face, he looked more like a model then some cage fighter.

Thus his nickname was Hollywood, Darien had no idea what his real name was and never pressed. The bane of his existence was the next oldest of the group, a nearly seven foot monster. He was powerfully build, like some adonis. Or he had been taking enhancement drugs behind everyones back...either way he lived, breathed and pretty much slept at the gym and it showed. With long thick, wavy red hair that hung around his huge shoulder's. With a strong masculine face and square jaw, and dark green eyes that seemed almost black when he was really pissed off. He went by the name of Kane, and was going to be the next Champion and no one better get in his way!

The last two were pretty much the Tweedledee and Tweedledum of the ring. Twin's only a year older then Darien. They were committed to becoming fighter's but they didn't seem to have a serious bone in their bodies. Always joking around and pulling pranks. Pretty much driving every one nuts, Kane and Sarge being their favourite targets because they were so over the top when freaking out.

The taller of the two was a soft almost elven faced young man, Zachariah. He was more soft spoken then his twin. With shaggy dusty blonde hair that hung around his ears, his bangs used to hang in his eyes, much like Darien's had. But Zac had been sparing with his brother earlier in the year, with the soft helmet on. Plastering his long sweaty fringe over his eyes, he was pretty much blinded. Ending up popping Sarge a good jab in the nose with his boxing glove instead. With a bruised face and broken nose, Sarge then enforced a rule now that all of them must keep their bangs cut short. No one really knew why Zac was at the gym, he wasn't driven to fight like his more aggressive brother. More interested in the techniques of the various fighting styles Sarge taught them. His keen green eyes usually in a book just before and soon after training. He was somber, even tempered straight man of the two.