The dressing room light flickered giving off a dim and dry aura of the locker room. The young 18 year old professional Muay Thai fighter, Nadia Mckay nervously paced back and forth in the dressing room.
"Are you okay? Your acting like this is your first fight, you haven't even started your warm up," asked his middle aged dad/trainer.
"Sorry, the thought of my friends watching from the audience makes me feel uneasy. This is the first local match they can actually see!" Nadia said, throwing a couple of air punches.
"Once the fight starts, the adrenaline will kick in. It's normal to be nervous, but don't let that affect your warmup." His dad said.
"Right!" Nadia said with enthusiasm.
After a few minutes of light punches and kicks go by, the sound of the door is heard creaking open.
"Nadia you're on," the ref says before walking out again.
"You ready?" His dad asks.
"Hell yeah I am!" Nadia said confidently.
Nadia has a whole new look to him, a look that's more cocky and confident than before. He followed his dad out the door.
"And here comes Nadia Mckay with a record of 28-0 with 26 knockouts," said a local newscaster as he directed the camera towards the young teen.
"Mckay is looking in great shape, one more win and he has a shot for the title," another newscaster commented.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that Bill, Nadia's opponent is an incredible 6 feet 5 inches with a record of 40-3 with 37 knockouts," stated the reporter.
Nadia isn't well known around the world, but he's popular in his local town located in Japan. He expected to be the next best thing in Thai Boxing. Everyone thinks Nadia has great confidence, but in reality Nadia barely leaves his room due to being very introverted except when he's hanging out with his three friends. As Nadia headed towards the ring, he was surrounded by an ocean of cheers, but the biggest wave of them all came from… well his "fan club" that was created by his female classmates… but despite their loud cheers, his three best friends were still the loudest of them all. Nadia tried to refrain from blushing to keep his swole look, but he couldn't help it, the support of his three friends really amped him up. His dad lifts the ropes allowing him to climb through, along with the other cornermen. Nadia swings his arms back and forth warming them up. As he does this, he sees a man in the audience, the man reminds him of someone similar he saw this morning.
Earlier this morning Nadia was walking to his match with his three friends Bettina, Luke, and Oliver (The three mentioned earlier in the audience). Bettina is a short brunette girl who tends to be chill most of the time. She can also be aggressive, especially when Nadia purposely aggravates Bettina about her height for entertainment. Nadia's childhood best friend, Luke is a tall brunette who has a mature look to him. Despite his appearance Luke actually tends to be a couch potato who manages to crack terrible lame jokes. Oliver is a short guy darker skinned male who brings humor among the small group along with attacking Nadia and Luke at random moments. As for Nadia, he's tall, lean, and has spiky blonde hair. Nadia tends to get irritated quite easily which explains why he always wears an irritable look. What irritates him the most is when Bettina jokes about his hair, when Luke cracks a lame joke, or especially when Oliver attacks him out of nowhere.
As the four friends walked down the streets chatting, Luke spotted a dark like figure in the corner of his eye, sending chills down his spine.
"Um guys is it just me or has that guy been following us for awhile now?" asked Luke with a nervous laugh.
"What are you talking about? He's probably just coming to watch the fight," said Nadia, rolling his eyes, not caring to look, thinking Luke was trying to attempt a lame fright.
"I'm not lying, take a look for yourself!" exclaimed Luke with a loud whisper revealing the panic in his voice. Nadia let out a sigh, turning round, shock filled his body as he looked at the standing figure. There was a tall man wearing some type of demon mask similar to old traditional asian masks. Except the mask he was wearing wasn't like any demon mask made in this world's culture. The strange man wore a long black coat that looked like it belonged to a sacrificial cult from a horror film. The coat was covered with ancient markings painted in blood red. Nadia stood there, hypnotized, staring face to face with the stranger. Suddenly, Nadia felt something hard hit him in the ribs.
"Ow! What the fuck!" yelled Nadia.
Bettina had elbowed Nadia in the ribs.
"You idiot stop staring already, you're just gonna cause more of a scene," said Bettina.
"Okay fine, but you didn't need to hit me in the ribs!" yelled Nadia, glaring at Bettina.
"Just trying to warm you up before your fight, for a popular Thai Boxer you're pretty slow, and relax I didn't even hit you that hard," Bettina said with a half assed smirk.
The four friends kept walking, Luke looked back once more, the man had finally vanished. After a few more miles they eventually made it to Tigon Stadium arena.
Snapping from his daydream Nadia slips back into reality, realizing that it was just an everyday person coming to watch the fight. Puzzled by the encounter Nadia brushes it off as some coincidence. Finally the announcer makes it to the ring, ready to announce each fighter
"In this corner, fighting from the United States, wearing red with black trunks, weighing 170 lbs with a record of 28 wins, with zero losses, with 26 knockouts, we have the Mckay family dragon, Nadia Mckay!" the announcer exclaimed. "In this corner fighting from Thailand, wearing gold with black, weighing 178 lbs with a record of 40 wins, 3 losses, and 37 knockouts, we have Chakrii Saelim!"
Few applauds went to the fighter, due to the fact he's an unknown in the area, unlike Nadia who is fighting in his home area. The announcer had finished his role, stepping out of the ring to let the ref explain the rules.
"Alright men I want a clean fight-" the ref began to explain the rules, Nadia shifted his gaze upwards to study his opponent. This man could end the match quickly as Nadia could see that the man's muscular and bulky body towered over the lean teen.
"Alright touch gloves men," the ref said before sending them to their corners.
"Okay kid, I don't want you standing around trading shots with this guy. This guy is naturally bigger and will run over you like a train if you try to stand toe to toe with him. Go in and out fast, don't give him a chance to catch his breath," his dad said.
"Right!" nodded Nadia.
Getting into positions, the bell finally rang, silence filled the building, both fighters observed one another, Nadia observed that his opponent already looked uncomfortable.
'He's a southpaw!? I've never fought a southpaw before! Damn it, Why wasn't I informed about this?!' Chakrii thought to himself.
Before Chakrii could make a move, Nadia broke the silence and came in with a front right teep kick that landed right above the man's left hip. The kick sent the man back a bit, but Nadia knew he couldn't stop there. Quickly he followed up with a right hook punch, catching the man just above his left eye. Nadia then came in with a hard left punch, but the man raised his guard to block the punch. Nadia saw it coming from a mile away. Instantly he switched his attack to a left roundhouse kick landing right above the man's right knee, causing the man to stumble. Chakrii clinched onto Nadia trying to allow himself to catch his breath, but Nadia responded with hard knees, striking the man's ribs causing the ref to break them apart.
Without hesitation Nadia started to close the distance once again and bursted at the man with a right jab following up with a left hook to the ribs. Chakrii finally threw a lead left kick hitting Nadia's right leg following up with a mean right hook kick. The hook kick hits Nadia's left leg making him grunt in pain, but it doesn't even make him stumble. Chakrii throws wild punches hoping to land a lucky shot , Nadia just keeps dodging them as he gets closer and closer to his opponent. Nadia slips under a right hook and begins to counter with a left hard uppercut towards his head to finish the fight.
"Shit, I left him an opening, there's no way I can block or even counter this!" Chakrii thought to himself in a panic.
Luckily for Chakrii, the sound of the bell interrupts Nadia's almost victory. Chakrii let out a sigh of relief as he started walking back to his corner.
"You're doing good kid, but stop holding back!," His dad said.
"I know, I'm testing his strength, that's all," Nadia said.
"Stop being a little psychopath and quit toying with him?! As fighters we're here to show our strength and honor, you better start fighting with all your strength, do him the honor and fight him correctly," lectured his dad.
Nadia opened his mouth to reply but the bell rang, causing each fighter to stand from their stool, readying up for the next round.
"Fight!" the ref yelled.
Once the word left the ref's mouth, the two fighters quickly charged each other.
Chakrii instantly threw three left jabs, but Nadia slipped each jab like it was no big deal. Nadia threw a fast right hook kick striking Chakrii's ribs, following up with a left hook punch clipping his chin. Although it wasn't strong enough to knock him unconscious, it did cause Chakrii to drop to his knees, the ref shoves Nadia out of the way and begins the count.
"One, two, three…."
' Damn it! I can't just lose like this, I need to get up!' Chakrii thought to himself as he struggled to stand.
Chakrii was barely able to stand at the eight count.
"Can you keep fighting?" the ref asked.
"Yes." the man replied.
"What's your opponent's name?"
"Nadia Mckay."
"Alright, fight!" the Ref yelled.
Nadia instantly sprung at his opponent, throwing a flurry of hooks, trying to put the man back down. Chakrii didn't expect Nadia to attack him right away which caused him to put up his guard in a panic. Nadia kept pressuring him into the corner trying to break through his guard.
'At this rate I'm eventually gonna break. I gotta do something, but that left hook really hurt me!' exclaimed Chakrii in his thoughts.
He noticed that Nadia's groin was open, he was desperate for an opening that the man pulled a sly cheap move on Nadia.
Quickly acting like he was gonna throw a punch to grab the refs attention, but instead snuck a right kick to Nadia's groin.
"Ahh fuck!" Nadia cried, dropping onto one knee on the floor.
"Down!" the Ref yelled.
"Ref, that was an illegal shot!" Nadia's dad yelled.
The ref, ignoring Nadia's corner, began to start his count.
'What the fuck, they are counting that as a knockdown?!' Nadia thought, trying to surpass the pain as he stood up.
"Are you ok to continue?," the ref asked.
"Yeah, just hurry up and give us the go ahead," Nadia said, growing frustrated.
"What country are we in?"
"Fucking Japan!" Nadia said, raising his voice.
"Fight!"
Nadia was now furious, he charged Chakrii like a mad crack attic, allowing Chakrii to land three hard punches to his head, the impact of the punches caused his nose to burst open raining a sprinkler of blood.
"That's all you got fucking cheater!" Nadia cried, taking another punch above his left eye, this time cutting it open. Nadia kept taunting Chakrii despite taking multiple punches to the head.
The bell rings again, indicating that the second round has ended, but this didn't stop Nadia from yelling threats at his opponent as the ref forced him back to his corner.
"What the hell are you doing kid!" his dad yelled.
"That asshole fucking kicked me in the groin!" Nadia agured back.
"Nadia! First off, you shouldn't have been so careless and left your groin open. Second, why the hell are you walking in there taking shots like a fucking masochist!" His dad said, raising his voice.
"Listen I know what I'm doing," scoffed Nadia, breaking eye contact.
"No! No you don't. Even if you win, you can't just throw caution and strategy out the window, doing whatever this is won't always mean you'll win!" said his dad, trying to convince his student and child to listen to him.
Nadia stands up and pushes past his dad as the third bell rings starting the next round.
"Fight!" the ref yells.
Without a second thought Nadia charges at his opponent throwing a leaping right side kick, pushing Chakrii back near his corner. Nadia then throws a left roundhouse kick striking the man's ribs again, but that didn't stop Chakrii from responding back, instantly he throws a right roundhouse kick hitting Nadia in his ribs. Both fighters kept trading shots, back and forth they went, turning each other's faces into hamburger meat. Chakrii could feel his legs begin to lock indicating that he was getting tired and taking too much damage.
In an attempt to steady himself, Chakrii clinches onto Nadia trying to stop his blows, but Nadia instantly kicks him away and follows up with a left elbow striking directly at his jaw.
Chakrii could feel his body begin to fall, but Nadia wasn't allowing that just yet. He catches Chakrii and launches him back up instantly forcing another elbow on his chin, but before Chakrii could stumble to the floor, Nadia strikes him in the head again with a powerful left kick. Chakrii knew this match was over for him and finally let himself slip out of his conscience, everyone watched as his body hit the floor. The ref started his countdown, Chakrii could no longer attempt to move his body as the ref was nearing the number ten.
"NINE! TEN! He's out!" announce the ref.
The crowd roared with a loud cheer as the ref walked over to Nadia. "And the winner, by knockout, the Mckay Family dragon...Nadia Mckay!" said the ref, grabbing Nadia's right hand and lifting it in the air.
"KAA~ GOOD JOB! NADIA-SAN," yelled the crazy fangirls in the corner, making Nadia cringe at their cheers.
As the crowd continued to let out their load for the local idol, Nadia scanned the crowd for weird friends and once he spotted the three teens he couldn't help but smirk at them despite his beaten up face.
"Nadia, what the hell was that?!" his dad roared at him as climbed into the ring.
"What? I won didn't I?" Nadia said, extending his arm so that the cornermen could get his gloves off.
"Yeah, but at what cost? You may have won, but all I saw up there was a cocky brat who ended up with a bloodied-up face and probably a minor concussion!"
"So what!? Just be proud that I won! You don't need to point out every little single mistake, can't you just congratulate me?!"
"Congratulations! I gave you an order and you didn't listen! If you are going to continue being a brat at these matches then I won't have any choice but to postpone all of your matches until further notice."
"Yeah whatever, screw this. I'm heading back to the dorms." Nadia said leaving the ring.
The news reporters begin surrounding Nadia as they shout out questions trying to get him to answer their questions. Unfortunately for them, Nadia didn't feel like answering any of their questions as he refused to speak, making his way back to the lockers.
He quietly walks down the hallway, he swings the locker room door open taking a step inside the room, before letting the door close by itself. He approaches his locker, he places his forehead against as he lets out an exhale. BANG! The sound of the locker slowly left as Nadia retrieved his hand away from the locker he punched. He stood there for a minute sulking a bit, before he started to change back into his casual clothes and packed all his equipment before finally exiting the building.