Fuck this damn, dusty, slippery floor.
I did not dare to panic as I didn't hit my target while my foot had slid forwards. I twisted my upper body to the right to see the leader and noticed that due to the slip I at least managed to evade his his punch in which he had put all his strength.
So the fight was not lost.
I retracted the leg I had kicked out towards him to dampen my fall and roll onto my back. Turning over my head, I pushed myself off the ground with both hands to then land on my feet right next to the leader, who was still imbalanced.
This was my last chance, I was fully aware of that, so without further hesitation I launched my left knee into his face which I held with both hands, again and again.
He fell on the floor, groaning, unable to get up.
I had won.
I was bruised up and had severe internal damages, but I won.
Without a single word or look back at the defeated kids I picked up my groceries and walked back home.
On the way back I played the fight over and over in my head. I analyzed it, realized what I had done wrong, worked on solutions and kept in mind the situations I had used to my advantage which I could use again.
Now I knew for example that I had to pay attention to the location, be it blinding lights that could hinder my sight, or slippery floors.
I knew that I could also use that to my advantage through good positioning and reacting correctly to the other's attacks.
I was sure that the next time we would fight there was a 70% chance of me winning.
As soon as I arrived at home I bandaged and treated myself, cooked dinner and lied into bed.
Yet I couldn't sleep.
How come I was learning so fast yet the others barely improve? The leader is the only one getting visibly better, but the others I found weird.
Their muscles seemed the same or bigger than mine, yet their strikes were not as fast and explosive as mine.
Maybe there are different types of muscles?
[A/N: I want to explain a bit about muscles and training. As some of you might know, there are generally two types of muscle fibers, at least for the skeletal muscles.
Muscle fibers are a key defining property of what kind of sports you can excel at in your future. They are decided through genes.
Those are:
1. Slow twitch muscle fibers (STF): these fibers have high endurance but aren't too fast. These are commonly found in professional long- distance runners (e.g. marathons) or people who climb mountains, etc.
2. Fast twitch muscle fibers(FTF): as the name suggests, they can bring the highest explosiveness and speed, and they are found in sprinters, and, well, martial artists. I doubt any professional MMA fighter today has more STF than FTF, as that would simply be ineffective for the most part.
What makes the FTF superior, literally, is that depending on the training you do, those can switch into STF and back.
Life is unfair, I know.
I, for example, have mostly STF, so I had no future in the short Karate that I did.
What's also good to know is that you don't have only FTF or STF, the percentage varies from each individual to another.
I also want to clear up why his training is quicker than that of the others. Obviously he's talented and all, but scientifically when one just starts to train the results are the best, and slowly become worse and worse, just like Y approaching X=N in a ln(x) function.
The others are a bit older than Kaan, and have been staying fit for a bit longer than him.
But yeah, Kaan is the MC, so obviously he has to have some talent and stuff.
I decided to clear this up now because it doesn't have a specific place in the plot or a need to reveal it later on. Plus, it might have been interesting for yall.]
I had not slept too well this night as the previous fight flashed through my mind over and over again.
The moment I stood up all my injuries started to hurt, but ignored it as pain was no big trouble for me.
In truth, I was a bit worries about my health. Although I was mostly thinking of training and fighting, especially my abdomen had been continuously hurting for the past few days.
Oh, the consequences.
Today I skipped training as I did not feel like it would be a good idea. My body had to recover a bit. I realized that this was my first day off in a long time.
Well maybe not completely a day off as today I would end up going to fight again, but it felt good to just do nothing for a day, even if my need to train made me slightly jumpy.
After going to the market once more and buying groceries I found myself standing in the familiar alley once more, waiting for my opponents to come.
But they didn't. At least not for a while; I stood there getting more and more impatient with them, asking myself if they were even coming.
It got to the point where my stomach was grumbling, I was getting hungry, and I was already turning back.
Did they become such cowards that once they were beaten once they were too scared to fight again?
I didn't expect that, but maybe their balls were just that small.
If I couldn't fight them I would have to find someone else, someone hopefully stronger.
I didn't mind.
Right before I walked out of the alley I heard somebody panting heavily, then stumbling.
It was the leader.
I was surprised to see him panting and trying to get up, but when I saw his face as he got back up I was shook.
He almost had the same expression that Mara had when she was being taken away, and I was subconsciously getting angry.
I walked towards him casually, but the closer I got the more did he signalize not to come near.
What the fuck was going on?
"So you are the one who used my little brother Will as a punching bag." A deep voice said, about 12 paces behind me.
When I turned around I saw three tall and bulky figures calmly walking towards me. It was the middle man speaking, and I went directly pale. The closer he got, the more I felt uneasy and an almost terrifying aura coming from him. There was a similar aura emitting from his two followers, but they weren't as strong.
I didn't know how to reply, I first had to analyze the situation and somehow stop some panic from rising even more.
Easier said than done, as I felt a similar aura behind me. I twisted around, first looking at Will but then quickly realizing that behind Will there were another three large men, one with a cap.
My eyes went wide. I immediately focused on their faces, and all of them except Will's brother were faces I had seen in the market the day before.
Before I could do anything the titanous boss started talking again, this time with a hint of anger in his voice.
"You think you can use my personal punching bag as yours?!" He had yelled the last word, yet that angriness did not show in his movements whatsoever.
An incredible control over his body, I recognized it immediately. I gulped.
Looking at the state of Will, I realized that there was always bigger fish to fry.
I directed my gaze back at the one I called the titan.
"Now, I suggest we proceed like this: we will forget what happened yesterday. Things happen, I know that too well, so what do you say about this?"
Without me realizing it he was already barely 30 centimeters in front me, my eyes reaching his belly button. He set his hand on my shoulder.
"With a simple handshake, this matter will be dealt with." He continued. By now I was trembling with fear. Although his eyes looked kind, I had sweat running down my body like an endless waterfall.
He stretched out his hand.
I hesitated.
His huge hand was still in front of me.
I felt like I had no other choice, so I joined hands with him, although they were shaking heavily.
He smiled. "Easy, right?"
But something had changed in his eyes.
What? When? I spat out a load of blood.
Only then I realized that his fist had landed deep in my stomach and I couldn't breathe.
I panicked. All strength left my body as I sank to the floor.
Did he sweet talk me just to get near? No, he could've struck me anyways, I was no match. That was clear.
With almost no air in my lungs I asked the towering titan standing on top of me.
"Why?"
"Why you ask? Hmm, well, you see, I didn't break any deal. I forgot what happened yesterday." He turned to the guy on his left.
"What happened yesterday?"
The guy played along, with clearly no intention of doing a good job at it.
"Uuh, nothing. Well, I fucked that one girl at around midday, she was a real-"
"We got it, thanks Klaus." The titan turned back to me. "See?"
In the meantime I had managed to at least catch some of my breath.
"This punch was not for something that might have happened yesterday, no. It was for the past few weeks!" As he screamed that last word at me aggressively he kicked me in the ribs, probably breaking one.
The pain was terrible, more than I had ever felt in my life, and the force mead me slide all the way to will. He crawled away from me. Great.
The titan was walking to me once more, an evil grin spread over his face from ear to ear.
When he was right next to me, my back glued to the floor as if all power had left me, he crouched down to me.
His grin was clearly scary, filled with yellow and brown teeth, some missing. His eyes were bloodshot and spread open wide, excitement shining from them. What a psycho, I thought.
In a split second his facial expressions changed again, now dead serious.
"Get yourself another punching bag."
I saw that he was going to punch me but I had no chance of blocking it as it went for my head.
I passed out.
Oh, the consequences.