Wilson had daydreamed of the day he would be celebrated onto a wrestling platform by hundreds of people. There were barely over fifty people in the crowd but he knew there were lots of eyes viewing him at home.
He could sense the eyes looking intently at him. Majorly due to his lean, muscular physique coupled with his handsome face and long hair that he had tied to a ponytail to avoid it getting into his eyes.
With his scars gone, he looked less badass and more like a pretty face but he did not think himself that way.
"And his opponent..." Horr said excitedly, his voice echoing slightly.
The wheel spun for approximately thirty seconds. It slowed to a stop.
"...Big Harry!" He yelled excitedly.
On the wheel was a face and a little profile on Wilson's opponent.
††††
[Name: Big "Stone hands" Harry.
Age: 33 years
Height: 7 feet tall.
Ability: Earth Reinforcement.]
††††
Big Harry was a huge guy; one of the muscleheads, that had won the preliminaries against a fellow musclehead.
Wilson remembered him quite vividly. He had long hair and his hands would frequently transform into some sorts of rocks, or at least that was what he thought. Now, with the name of Harry's ability written out for all eyes to see, including his, he realised that the rocks that appeared were to reinforce his hands. It caused higher damage while at the same time, protected the user's knuckles. Whichever way one saw it, it seemed like the ideal ability for a boxer and any person that did a job that often required more strength and brains.
Anyway, back to the match; just like Wilson, Big Harry also appeared on the platform; at the opposite side about 10 meters apart and in such a way that he and Wilson faced each other.
Horr stood right in the middle of both opponents, successfully breaking their eye contact. He looked at the both of them and snapped his fingers. Instantly, something fell off Wilson and Big Harry's bodies. It was a small, circular device that was attached to their waists. Wilson had no idea when or who stuck it there. As he looked at Big Harry in confusion, he noticed Big Harry smiling with an understanding look on his face as he nodded at Horr.
"Fighters ready?" Horr asked. It was obvious he did not intend to explain anything. Wilson could only conclude that that was probably what made him teleport from where he sat, directly to the ring.
"Yes!" Wilson said while Big Harry nodded with a grin.
"Alright, I will just repeat this once. Fight till one gives up or is knocked out. If hit out of the ring, you have ten seconds to return to the ring or it will be counted as your loss. And last, the winner can decide to have another fight immediately after their win or can wait till next time. You do the math however you want it. I refuse to explain any more than this." Joe finished dismissively and turned to yell at his bustling audience live and at home.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I am pumped up! We have two ready fighters, On my left is Wilson and on my right is Big Harry. You all know the drill. As soon as I poof out, anything goes." And just like that, without any appropriate ending or actions to signal the start of the fight, Horr teleported out of the ring.
*Bang* *boom*
Big Harry exploded with an impressive speed, a shockwave boomed behind him. He abruptly appeared before Wilson and with his hands covered in a brute arrangement of hard earth, he punched at his opponent.
Wilson barely caught Big Harry's movement. He raised his hands and guarded against the punch, boxing style. Before he could counterattack, another one came at him. And another and another, with increasing frequency. Big Harry hit the same places with intriguing accuracy. His plan was simple: Hit his opponent until he can't use his hands anymore and has no choice but to drop them. After that, a direct right to the face would do the trick.
Unfortunately, Wilson was a strong headed individual. Barely thirty seconds into the match, his hands were already very numb but he still chose to remain on the same spot and guarded punch after punch without moving. He, being occasionally very stupid, was having trouble coming up with any ideas and so the stupid him chose to just stand there and take punches while protecting his face. Such idiocy.
Big Harry bounced back. He looked at Wilson whose hands were still raised, guarding his face. He seriously began to doubt Wilson's intelligence. What kind of an idiot must he be to just stand there and receive those punches without making a sound, without making any moves. Or was he thinking it all wrong and Wilson was just waiting for him to exhaust his stamina?
"Heh! What a stupid strategy." Big Harry scorned not knowing that his opponent wasn't moving because his brain had already shut down.
Big Harry closed in on Wilson again who was still as a statue. If not because he could see Wilson's eyes following him, he would have begun to suspect that something was very wrong somewhere.
***********
The heart of Tiger City has always been well recognised as the dwelling place of the only ruling party of the city; the Tiger family. In a big mansion in the heart of Tiger City, sat a group of eight; one beautiful woman and seven children of similar ages, basically ranging from seven to ten years of age. They watched the ongoing fight between Wilson and Big Harry while commenting loudly. They all, in their various ways, threw insults at Wilson for just standing there and becoming a practice dummy for his opponent. The insults ranged from 'dumb' to 'cowardly' to 'braindead'.
Amidst this childish yet fairly annoyed atmosphere, Medical Director Hippo C. Tiger entered the mansion. He smiled sweetly as he made eye contact with the beautiful woman. She was his wife.
"Hello! I'm back...." He raised his voice to get the children's attention but none answered him. They were too engrossed in the brutal fight. He looked at his wife who merely smiled kindly as she shook her head.
He turned to look at the large tv screen and instantly recognised Wilson. Not often did he use his ability.
"Is that not the kid I healed earlier? What is he doing fighting not long after being healed from a near death experience? Does he even know that he almost died?" Dr Hippo asked in anger, pointing aggressively at Wilson, before stomping angrily up the stairs and into his bedroom closely followed by his wife who spoke in whispers as she skillfully inquired for more details from her infuriated husband.
By the time she got all the info she needed, she was already shaking her head in pity.
'Seems like the kid would meet his end today.' She thought.
The reason was because Dr Hippo's ability had a side effect. On one hand, it could heal any injuries no matter how grave, but on the other hand, it usually left the recipient of the ability temporarily braindead for at least five hours. The longer it took the side effect before taking effect, the greater the number of hours it took the person's brain to begin functioning properly again. What made it even worse was that the side effect would only take place when one was wide awake.
So for Wilson who had already been moving and talking quite some time before witnessing the side effect, it was very likely for him to remain braindead for longer than five hours.
***********
Wilson was currently laid on his back with a huge, heavy Big Harry sitting on his chest and pounding his head against the canvas except that Wilson's hands were still guarding his head.
*Crack* *Crack*
Wilson's hands broke and finally fell to the sides.
The viewers all groaned exasperatedly.
"Just give up!" Big 'Stone hands' Harry yelled and pulled his right fist back. The size of his fist doubled in size as more earth agglomerated at his fist, forming a rough rocky texture that was sure to cause severe damage.
*BANG*
The sound of Big Harry's punch shook the ring.
"Ooooooooww!" Wilson yelled in pain.
"My face!" He hissed his words out. As he moved his hands to touch his face, his broken hands made him wince in pain.
Needless to say, the audience and Big Harry were startled by Wilson's loud, strained voice.
Wilson noticed Big Harry heavily weighing down on his chest and his defensive instincts kicked in. His brain began spinning at full gear.
He forcefully moved his right shoulder and upper arm and whacked Big Harry in the face.
Wilson yelled in pain. It hurt him really bad while all Big Harry did was look at him, still a little out of sorts from the drastic change in Wilson's personality. Unknown to him, his weight on Wilson had shifted a little. But that little was enough for Wilson.
Wilson raised his legs as if he wanted to do a kip up and deftly twisted his legs around Big Harry's arms. Then, with all the strength he could muster, he pulled his opponent's upper body back just enough to loosen the weight bearing down on his chest.
He moved his head forward a little and without giving his next move much thought, he clenched his teeth at Big Harry's 'little harry'.
"Aaaaaaaaahhh!" Big Harry yelled. "I give! I give! F*ck! I surrender! Get him off! Off!"
Wilson released his grip and walked out of the ring; his broken hands swaying painfully while the audience looked on, not knowing how to react to such a shameless display of 'skill'.
He had won his first match quite memorably and also successfully earned himself the nickname; 'Balls Crusher!'