I must've startled them, because even the ones I didn't attack stopped hitting me. But not for long; soon they attacked me with more fury, more than they had ever shown before. Especially from the ones I had hurt.
Soon enough I was being attacked from all sides relentlessly, but I let the attacks come, I didn't care anymore.
I had found a way read my opponents, and it was now deeply set in my mind. The foundation I had searched for finally began to form.
They were done soon enough, and I was once again lying on the floor, looking up into the heights of these titans. But this time the feeling that this sight gave me was motivation, the motivation to go beyond what I was seeing right at that moment, and climb above this cage that still held me, but not much longer.
Then I would know what the sky looked like, what fresh air would feel like when it would cruise through my lungs, not this dusty, dirty, disgustingly stale gas.
Then I could get Mara back.
I stood up again and went buying some groceries. I knew how I would spend my next few months, and I was looking forward to it.
In the following two months my daily routine was the same with little difference. The first two weeks after mom died I had never attacked the others but practiced predicting their next hits, and I was pretty good at that. From then on, until where I was now, I did fight back, getting some hits on them, but never winning, as my fighting experience was no where near theirs, and I had only just started with it. But I was getting extremely close.
I had achieved great lengths with my training, and even upped it after the first month to train some more explosiveness with the bit of experience and knowledge I gained about my body in recent times.
What surprised me though was that the boys also started getting better. An obvious turn of events, if you think about it. I noticed that the tall guy and some of the others some times had bruises where I hadn't hit them, so they had to be sparring with each other. Fine by me.
At that moment I was just getting finished with training. By now it was like a drug to me, as was fighting.
My schedule had changed in the past weeks, me going to the market first before fighting, as they didn't care about that, they just came to fight too. I just set it down at the side of the alleyway. Going to the market first is a better option because some of the good ingredients are still there, not like when I came there right before the market closed.
Alas, I was now going to the market.
There I took my time looking for ingredients, for cooking had become the thing that eased my mind and kept me at peace.
When I arrived, the smell of various fragrant herbs and vegetables hit the air, a sensory stimulation I had grown fond of. Yet the atmosphere was a little different today, quieter and more nervous than before. I had not spotted the cause of that yet.
After walking through the familiar stalls and seeing a few faces I recognized, I noticed what I believed was the source of the commotion; there were way less recognizable faces, replaced with unknown ones plastered onto bodies of large men that gave off an unbecoming feeling.
I did not know what they wanted, nor why they suddenly appeared, but it was obvious they all belonged together. The fact that this was disturbing my normally relaxing market trip gave me a bad mood.
Bit I wasn't the only one with a bad mood. A dozen paces in front of me two of the newcomers were arguing, the conflict between them increasing by the second.
"Why do you always bring that up, man? Do you really wanna provoke me that bad?" A bald man blurted at another wearing a cap.
"So you're admitting to being a total pussy, huh? Don't want to be beaten up again? Scaared?" The other one taunted with a grin.
The people around didn't intervene, not even the others from that group. It seemed as if they knew better.
The baldy looked at his acquaintances, hoping one would defend him or at least try to calm the other one a bit, but they kept a slightly noticeable distance to both.
I guess this situation peaked my interest, as it might turn out to be a little show.
The baldy kept trying to keep his ground: "I'm not scared of you! Lets have a fight when we get back!"
He could barely finish his sentence before a boot had hit his chin. The one caught by surprise had a load of shock in his eyes, only registering the pain when he landed on the floor. The people around quickly made some space between the stalls, and I came closer to observe. As the startled baldy stood up with rage the one with the cap waited patiently. He had delivered a frontal kick with extreme power, a move I would remember.
Adrenaline was now coursing through both bodies, and it was clear that the one who started off the fight was waiting for the other to strike. The enraged man stormed towards him, arms guarding his face in case another kick could find its way there again, and as soon the attacker was in range his fist shot forward towards the others face. To give his punch even more power he had also used the force generated by his legs as he hammered them into the floor to maximize the outlet aimed at his opponent. Before the strike was even halfway executed I had already branded that too into my memory as something to build on later.
Just a millisecond before the punch landed the capped guy countered it magnificently. His right hand punched into the inside of the elbow of the incoming attack while turning his body sideways to the bald man and dropping a bit in his knees to then launch his elbow, which was already a breath away from the other's teeth, into them with full force so that the taunted one had to stumble back a few paces. I was already amazed, but it seemed as if his attack wasn't over yet. He swung his elbow to the right, giving him momentum as he turned while stepping forwards with the left foot. He then proceeded to twist his foot on his heel so that the direction of his feet formed a triangle with the automatic reaction that he bent his knees, only to then launch his back foot in the direction of his opponent with his back facing him with incredible power.
The power in that kick was so extreme that as it hit the baldy in his ribs he flew a few paces backwards.
I was speechless.
There was a lot I could learn from this, as these few seconds had just widened my horizon by miles and miles. The crowd let out a few gasps and murmurs travelled from ear to ear. An unbelievable tension was in the air with an impeccable suspense even though the fight was clearly over. It was obvious who held the authority here, and no one dared to move even a finger.
Yet for the man who was still standing it was nothing special. He had a satisfied look on his face, an arrogant demeanor to him.
"We already have what we want!" He shouted at the crowd, his words meant for the ones he was with. "Let's go, the boss doesn't like to wait."
Right after that a lot of people moved in the same direction, following that man. They must've been over 20 people. One of them had an unconscious man over his shoulder.
The capped man walked right past me.
"What are you looking at?" He spat at me, and I looked away immediately. He gave off a strong enough authoritarian aura that suppressed me, making me uncomfortable.
I was no match for him, so much was clear. His people followed him out of the market, and the gap that the crowd had formed for them to pass stayed for at least a minute after. What an impression, I thought.
That must be a gang, then.
Not that I cared.
As I finished buying things for the next few meals I played that fight over and over in my head. I realized that with the correct movements and body control there could be brought out much more power with the same strength. I was excited to try and copy the moves I had seen today, and use them to broaden and harden my foundation to build on.
On the way back as soon as there was no one around on my path to my next appointment I tried what I had seen a few times, and through my special condition I had the basics down pretty quick. Of course I had to perfect them over a long period of time, but I would do so anyways.
Before long, I arrived at the familiar alleyway who's floor was tainted by old and new blood alike, and would be tainted one more time soon enough.
Until the boys arrived I let the new moves go through my head countless times.
They arrived later than normally. The tallest amongst them, their "leader", looked pretty roughed up. I must be getting better. Although I didn't look any better if I was honest.
"You look pretty bad today" I told him.
"Better than you." He replied, a mad expression spreading on his face. I guess his mood was sour today. Not my problem. Far from that: I invited it, as it would make for a better fight. And by now, I loved a good fight.
As soon as we were close enough to each other, the one I called Pickle attacked first. Why pickle? Well, he reminded me of one. Don't ask.
He stood on the left of the group and punched with his right arm which I evaded by stepping back. He used that forward motion's momentum to circle around my left while the two others who weren't the leader, Red and Nose as I called them, tried circling around my left. But I didn't let them. I had learnt from experience that being surrounded never was a good option, so with the kinetic energy I still had from dodging the punch I jumped between Red and Nose, catching them by surprise and crashing into their facing shoulders. With that I created distance to Pickle and the leader while throwing the other two off balance. Not letting a second slip by I punched Nose into the stomach with my left and turned to Red to give him a right hook.
Instead he kicked me into the stomach to create some distance.
Luckily I had tensed my muscles because I had seen the kick coming, but wasn't fast enough to dodge or counter it. I stumbled back a few paces until I was between Nose and Pickle, turned around to see what would be coming in, but just a moment too late. An uppercut was already on it's way to my chin and I couldn't stop it.
Of course it hurt, but I had to focus. I barely managed to get a hit until now, and I didn't like that. I guess it was time to try what I learnt today.
I decided to first try and beat Pickle rather than all of them bit by bit. He was rushing at me again as I bent my knees a bit trying to make it seem like I was hurting, only to use the power from the tension in my legs to enhance my punch the moment he was in range.
He himself was prepping a punch, but I was quicker. My knuckles hit a devastating blow to his face, making him stop mid-movement and his fist miss my face.
My knuckles were now full of blood, and so was his face that soon hit the ground.
Knocked out.
I exhaled. This was a surprise to me. This was my first time knocking someone out, and from here on out I knew that I couldn't go back to just standing still and just punching. Dynamic movements were a must, I realized, and the way it felt was etched into my mind.
Red and Nose were absolutely shocked at that outcome and hesitated a bit, but not the leader. I too had let my guard down and payed for that with a kick to my back, throwing me on the ground. Now I had trouble breathing as I tried getting back up, and right as I was standing up again another kick hit me in the ribs, throwing me on my back. Although the pain was bad, I got back up directly with a roll and stepped back a few paces. Quickly I caught my breath again and got my head back in the game. No time to worry about the pain.
The three remaining guys all came towards me, some more careful than others, and the leader was the first to strike. He threw a straight punch with his left, blocked by my bruised forearms in front of my face, followed by more. Nose then began hitting me too and I was being pushed back. I couldn't let this continue. Gritting my teeth I leaned back to avoid punches to my head and kicked Nose to his hip to get some distance between us. Stepping out of the leaders range I circled to the right, in front of Nose to kick him again right into his stomach. He bent forward, and using that automatic reaction to pain I launched my knee right onto his nose, a move that was inspired by the way the capped man had used his elbow on the baldy earlier.
Although the blow was devastating to Nose, Red used that opening to hit me hard on my cheek, knocking me out for a second as I fell to the ground.
All the focus I had built up was gone. Only that little fluctuation in concentration made my performance drop significantly enough that before I could get up again a kick had hit me on the head.
It was obvious that if I didn't get my shit together this would be the end of my winning streak.
I could not let that happen.
The moment the leader took a second to breathe I rolled away and got back up. My entire body was aching, blood smeared on my face, dripping onto my clothes so that they would cling to my body. I bet the smell of blood would be extremely penetrating if someone were to walk by.
Before continuing the fight I quickly checked my surroundings. Pickle and Nose were now both on the floor, unable to get back up. The Leader and Red were both furious. What worried me the most was that both of them
Still had plenty of energy and didn't look tired at all, whereas I was panting and aching all over.
They held the absolute advantage.
Red furiously started talking. "Look at what you did to them," he said as he looked at his friends. "You will pay!" He shouted as he stormed towards me, starting off a sideways kick aimed at my right ribs. I saw it coming a mile away, so I had a little time think how I would counter it.
I noticed that Red wasn't such a good kicker meaning that the kick wouldn't be too strong, so I let it hit my side while tensing my abdomen and caught his leg with my right arm. Ignoring the pain I stepped closer to him and pushed his leg up, making him loose his balance.
As I was doing that, the leader went for a punch with his left to my face, but I saw it coming at the side of my field of vision and managed to duck backwards, avoiding it.
I didn't have much time before Red would get back up again so I rammed into the leader with my left side to create a small window where I could hopefully finish off Red.
As he was getting up, on all fours, I delivered a hard kick into his stomach, making him lie on his back, and kicked his head.
It wasn't long before the leader then tackled me to the floor. Before I could react he had climbed onto me, his eyes filled with rage now staring holes into mine.
I put my forearms in front of my face to block what I knew was coming.
He started punching me wildly, a bombardment I couldn't get out of. Soon he resorted to fewer but stronger punches, but still quick enough between them to not give me a window of opportunity to fight back.
He punched at my face constantly, and with every strike he screamed at my face:
"You!" He punched me.
"Fucking!" Another punch.
"Piece!" Another.
"Of Shit!" He said, punch me once more.
My head was throbbing, a headache the least of my worries yet strong enough to impair my focus. I was reaching my end, I knew that, and was desperately looking for a way out of the situation.
The furious kid on top of me was slowing down as he was also getting tired, his breaths rushing in and out, sweat running down his face.
There it was. My chance.
I pushed him off of me to the side, making his back crash on the dirty floor. I got up on my knees and punched him with a straight strike to the nose, then sloppily got back up to my feet. Stepping back a bit I leaned on the wall, catching my breath and getting a pause, also allowing him to get up.
I was close to collapsing as I had never gotten a beating as bad as today, and my mental fitness wasn't no where near peak performance. So this last move would decide the fight.
When he got back up I got my back off the wall. Neither of us were ready to attack yet, we both knew that our next moves and reactions would decide the fight.
Circling around each other we waited for the other to move first.
And then he stepped towards me.
My reaction was immediate. As soon as he was in range I plunged my left foot forward, twisted my body with that movement as I shifted my foot towards my center, leaned forwards to lift my foot off the ground and with the full force left in my body I kicked at the leader with my right using my standing left as a powerful anchor to deliver a devastating blow.
A powerful anchor that slipped.