Narrated by John
"Match number nine! John Will from Stronghold City, against Rich James, from Mira City!" Jimmy announced, as I did a last minute warm up at the arena entrance.
"That won't be needed." Rich said, walking behind me,"You know that you'll be wiped out in the first ten seconds of the match, by yours truly. So why exercise?"
I scoffed, and walked out to the ring.
A thrill filled me up as u walked in front of the huge audience covering me from all sides. So many people, cheering, chanting, and enjoying. Some cheered for me, but most cheered for Rich. It was his home ground, after all.
As I entered the ring, the crowd erupted in a huge cheer. I looked back, to see Rich, walking out with his hands raised in the air with pride, as if he'd already won the match.
He entered the ring, and looked at me, grinning, as if to say, All these people are with me. Whatcha gonna do now?
I closed my eyes and took a calm breath. I felt excited for the fight. This guy was a bully, and I'd be more than happy to humiliate him by defeating him in the first round itself, that too, on his home turf.
Jimmy looked towards me,"Ready?"
I nodded. So did Rich.
"Begin!"
Neither of us began. Both of us stood there, stance ready, assessing each other. I decide to go on the defensive first, as I wanted to analyse his fighting pattern, and launch counter attacks based on that.
Apparently, Rich was thinking of the same thing too, but he dropped it, and stepped towards me, ready to attack.
Right hook, left uppercut, kicks to the legs, and a spinning kick. That was the pattern he adopted for some time, with slight variations. He hit a few times in the first, but I began dodging them, and soon, I moved away as soon as he went for the attack, and hit him with punches of my own.
"John has begun counter attacking! Can Rich do something about it?" Jimmy said from outside the ring.
Rich saw through my moves soon though, and deflected my attacks away. He also randomised his moves, attacking through any opening instead of planned moves.
The guy was fast, and had me down on the floor sooner than I expected. I recovered quickly though, and decided to begin attacking.
"And John goes down! Has Rich gained the upper hand from that attack?" Jimmy commentated.
As he marched towards me, I turned, and hit a sweep kick, knocking him down. I jumped on top of him, and hit him with punches straight to his face. He caught one of them, and punched me hard enough to send me back staggering.
"What a punch! John's groggy, it may be the perfect time for Rich to capitalise!"
Rich ran towards me, and hit me with another direct punch to my face, sending me even further back. However, I recovered, and headbutted him back in response. This time, it was Rich, who was staggering. He went down, after I hit him with a dropkick.
"John comes back with a headbutt and a dropkick! Is this the turning point of the match?"
Rich got back up, a small stream of blood now emerging from the corner of his lip.
"Blood! Rich is bleeding!" Jimmy said from the outside.
Rich wiped off the blood, and said,"So you've actually got some fight in you! I'm gonna have to go full on now!"
He willed his energy out, cyan in color, and fired blasts towards me. I stopped them with blasts of my own, causing small explosions in the ring.
In the midst of this, Rich lunged at me, and caught me off guard with an uppercut straight up my face.
I landed at the edge, a few inches away from elimination. Rich fired a blasts towards me, but I rolled away and evaded it.
I went for the offense again, and hit him with quick strikes to his chest and abdomen. He blocked a few of them, but was hit by most.
He caught on though, and easily dodged and blocked whatever I threw on him. The guy was definitely skilled, and he had me on the defensive again soon.
We constantly switched between offense and defense, drove each other to the edges, and traded strikes. Both of us were on par with each other, though I was slowly gaining the upper hand.
And I did gain it. Right, left, right, and I dropped him down to the ground. He was pretty exhausted, and so was I. Both of us had to win, however, and had enough willpower to continue.
He got up, a new stream of blood running down his right nostril. He panted,"You.... scum... Want to... contend with the best? SCUM LIKE YOU?!"
He swiftly hit me with a punch, throwing all of his power into it. He'd caught me off guard again, and I collapsed down. My ears rang from the force he'd hit me with, and my eyes were closing.
"John is blacking out! Will this be the end of his tournament run? Keep in mind, he qualified for the tournament, only because of the sacrifice made by his fellow student, so we don't really know if he is worthy of qualifying!" I heard Jimmy's voice growing faint.
Sacrifice
The word echoed inside my head. Anne had sacrificed her chance, to make sure that I qualified. And I'd promised her that I wouldn't let her sacrifice go in vain....
My eyes flew open, and a newfound energy surged through my body. Red flames blazed around me, and I got up instantly, much to the astonishment of Rich, Jimmy, and the audience.
I looked at Rich, and said,"So, you went full power on me. It's high time I went full power of you too."
Rich laughed,"Scaring me? That won't work, you know."
I sensed a twinge of doubt in his voice, and laughed back at him,"Let's put that to the test."
"You-" he angrily said, and lunged at me, going for a kick.
I caught his leg in the air. He went for a kick with his other let, but I caught that too. He fell down on his back, both of his legs hooked into my arms.
I flipped him over, and squatted over his back, still holding his legs, so that his lower back arched out, and I applied pressure there.
"What's this? John's put Rich into a Boston Crab submission hold! Can John make Rich give up?"
Rich shrieked in pain, and I grunted. I bent myself even lower, so his abdomen stretched even more, increasing the pain. Rich was screaming now, and it wasn't long until I could win.
I squatted further lower, and now his lower back was compressed in a bad way, and his abdomen stretched out.
Rich was overwhelmed by the pain, and couldn't take it anymore.
"I give up! I give up!" Rich screamed in agony, and I released him from the hold, sitting down from exhaustion.
The crowd went silent. No one spoke, for their best shot had given up.
"The match is over! John Will wins via submission!" Jimmy announced.
No cheers.
I was satisfied, though. I'd defeated Rich on his home turf, and that was enough for me.
I extended my hand to him, and nodded. He reluctantly grabbed it, and got up.
"Told ya," I said, tired,"I'd win."
Rich laughed,"You lucked out. I'll win next time."
I laughed too,"Sure, you will."
And we walked back together.