-After School-
School ended with all the students leaving campus and making their way home. The news of Rakaia and Saitou had already made its way around the school. Some students were seen carrying a paper In their hands with the upcoming date and time the fight will take place.
Rakaia couldn't help but watch as the students walked passed him, carrying on with their lives; but excited to see the fight between the two actually being made official.
"I hope you give that jerk what he deserves." A female classmate spoke to him as she walked by. "Yea, make sure you pound him; but good." Another female spoke. "I'll be rooting for you man." A few male students passed him as Rakaia couldn't help but smile at the comments that he was getting.
"Rakaia!" He heard another male voice calling from behind him, stopping him in his tracks as he turned to face the source." Rakaia!" Noah showed himself as he rushed towards Rakaia, stopping in front of him as he tried to catch his breath. "Rakaia, is it true? Are you really…Going to…Fight Saitou in one week?" Noah asked him in-between breaths.
"Yea, that's the plan," Rakaia told him, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he turned to face Noah.
"What! Are you crazy?" Noah shot back at him. "Do you even know what you're getting yourself into?" Noah asked him, clearly overly ecstatic about Rakaia's decision.
"Yea, a fight." Rakaia blandly responded.
"No!" Noah ruffed up his head in frustration. "Not just a fight Rakaia." Noah pointed out. "You just got an official match with Saitou, the leader of the Viper Brothers!" Noah finished as Rakaia just looked at him for a brief second.
"So," He shrugged his shoulders. "What's your point?" He asked him again as Noah couldn't help but sigh at Rakaia failing to see the mistake that he made.
"Why don't you….Ugh, look. You just challenge Saitou, an upperclassman; to an official fight right?" Noah questioned him as Rakaia simply nodded his head with a simple yes. "Do you know what that means?" Noah continued with Rakaia simply shaking his head no in a similar fashion, causing Noah to sigh again. " It means that our class won't be the only ones watching. An underclassman is facing a upperclassman next week and that upperclassmen happens to be Saitou, a feared student throughout the school. Do you know what that means?" Rakaia just stared at Noah with a blank expression on his face as he was not following Noah's words at all.
"That I can take his spot as a upperclassmen when I beat him…What…No…Then no I don't get it." Rakaia replied. His simple-mindedness caused Noah to fall anime style with a sweat drop forming over his head.
Quickly getting to his feet, Noah jumped back up at Rakaia; still trying to explain Rakaia's actual situation. "No you idiot!" Noah shouted. "That means you're going to gain the attention of the upperclassmen and they're going to be watching your fight with Saitou!" Noah finished as two and two clicked and Rakaia's eyes quickly shot up for a moment. "That means all eyes are going to be on you and how well you do in this match, You're going to have to be on your A game Rakaia." Noah finished as Rakaia let a small smirk slide across his face as he looked at his passive friend.
"You worry too much Noah," Rakaia spoke. "Don't worry man, I'll be fine." He added. "It's one on one this time, no jumping and no one's going to help him when I get my hands on him," Rakaia assured. "So don't worry, I got this. I'm going to pound his face in the mat, raise my hand and we're going to cheer and celebrate in my honor!" Rakaia laughed as Noah gave Rakaia a dumbfounded look.
"You really are an idiot aren't you?" Noah responded.
"I really don't see what the big deal is?" Rakaia retaliated. "So some upperclassmen are going to be watching us fight, so what? That's the reason for the Dome anyway, so anybody can come and see who's fighting." Rakaia told him.
"Have you ever seen Saitou fight one on one?" Noah looked up at him as Rakaia thought about it his question for another brief moment.
Shaking his head once again, Rakaia responded. "No, can't say that I have. To be honest, can't say that I care." Rakaia bashed his fist into his palm. "Regardless, I'm going to have to win no matter what; I can't let the leader of the garden snakes scare me with his slithering arms." Rakaia joked as Noah just sighed once again at Rakaia's ignorance.
"That's some good positive thinking." A female voice came from behind the two boys causing them to turn their heads to the source of the sound. "But that alone won't be enough; you're going to get knocked on your face if that's all you got," Luna stated as both she and Cana stood in front of the boys as Rakaia gave her a look of annoyance.
"Is that really what you came to tell me?" Rakaia narrowed his eyes at her as Luna crossed her arms.
"Just offering you a bit of advice before you go off thinking that you have a chance of winning." Luna returned the gaze.
Cana, not caring enough to take in the fact that both Rakaia and Luna were glaring at each other jumped in Rakaia's face with a large smile plastered on hers. "Rakaia, you're really going to fight that jerk in an official match!" Her excitement was clear as Rakaia couldn't help but nod his head in approval. "Yes!" She leaped up in the air. "It's about time he got his ass kicked."
"Yea, it's going to be a piece of cake without his brothers being there to help him out," Rakaia stated.
"You think it will be that easy huh?" Luna spoke up, gaining Rakaia's attention again. "You sure do sound confident for someone who doesn't know their opponent," Luna added as Rakaia sent another small glare in her direction.
"I know him well enough from the last time we fought," Rakaia replied.
"And tell me, how well did that work out for you?" Luna fired back causing Rakaia to grit his teeth a bit as both Noah and Cana looked back and forth between the two fighters.
"Look," Noah intervened as he stepped in-between the two. "How about we just calm down and take a walk?" Noah suggested. "School is over and I'm sure you have some training you need to start on Rakaia," Noah stated.
Unknown to them, three students made their way towards them. "Yea, Kaia." Cana stepped in, grabbing his arm and turning him away from Luna. "Let's all go and get something to eat, then we can talk about your match against that jerk." Cana finished.
"You mean the jerk that's going to make sure that your friend gets laughed out of the entire school." Saitou and his brothers stopped in front of the group. "Or the Jerk that just might break a few bones and make sure fighting is the last thing he'll ever do." He added as the group glared at Saitou and his brothers.
"What do you want?" Rakaia stepped forward in front of the group as Saitou made sure to lock eyes with him.
"Who? Me?' Saitou pressed his hand against his chest and chuckled a bit. "I just came here to tell you that you just made the biggest mistake of your life." A slight grin formed on his face.
"Prove that to me in the ring," Rakaia responded. "As far as I'm concerned, I got you one on one. The biggest mistake I made was not doing it sooner." Rakaia's eyes narrowed.
"You've already lost too me twice kid, what makes you think a third time is going to make any difference?" Saitou tilted his head at Rakaia as he stepped to him, face to face with his future opponent. "You're clearly outclassed and outmatched; you stand no chance against me," Saitou told him as he peered down at the younger student. "You just set yourself up from the most painful day of your life and trust me I plan to make it really, really, painful." Saitou continued to smirk as his eyes slowly lifted up to look at Cana and Luna.
"And when I'm done with you small fry." His smirk widens across his face. "Maybe I'll go back to having some fun with those friends of yours." Another slight laughter escaped his lips as Rakaia's eyes shot for a second as he balled his fist and quickly pulled his arm back.
"Nu-uh-uh, I wouldn't do that if I were you." Saitou continued to taunt Rakaia, stopping him in his tracks. "I don't know if that sorry excuse of a principal told you, but since you went ahead and got our little match set up, I made sure that I put a couple of rules in place." He informed him as Rakaia tried his best to keep his composure, keeping his hand steady in the air as he was about to blast Saitou in the face with his fist.
"What kind of rules?" Luna narrowed her eyes at him.
"Oh, I'm so glad you asked," Saitou acknowledged her. "It's nothing special really, just something I made sure to have put in place just to prevent any "unfortunate." Saitou towards Rakaia for a moment emphasizing his point. "Accidents from happening." He finished.
"What does that mean?" Cana was the next to ask.
"It's simple really." Saitou turned his attention to Cana as he walked around Rakaia as he explained the new set of rules that were set in place before the fight. "You see for the remainder of the week, we are not allowed to have any physical contact with each other. I can't touch him and he can't touch me." Saitou continued to explain.
"And what happens if I do knock that ugly smile off your face?" Rakaia asked him, annoyed as Saitou continued to circle him.
"Another great question." Saitou turned his attention back to Rakaia. "If something happens and you were to attack me, then you will, undoubtedly, be…Expelled." He ended as the group eyes shot up in shock at the statement, but Saitou wasn't finished. "With no chance of being admitted anywhere else because of the rule that was broken," Saitou smirked as he stopped circling Rakaia and walked back towards his brother, who just snickered at Rakaia's annoyed expression.
"So that means you're going to have to keep that composure of yours kid, You know, keep that anger in check or it's goodbye, you're out of here." He smirked as he turned his back towards Rakaia and the gang and began to walk away with his brothers. "See you in one week kid, or…" Saitou turned his head back towards Rakaia, locking eyes with him one more time. "Probably even sooner than that." He let out a dark chuckle as Rakaia kept his fist balled up tightly as Saitou turned his back towards him again, walking off without another word.
Rakaia gritted his teeth as both Noah and Cana walked up next to him. "I'm going to kick his ass," Rakaia stated as Cana could only nod at his statement.
"Yea, you will; there's no doubt about that," Cana told him.
"We will be rooting for you Rakaia, put that guy in his place." Noah's face could even be seen as some annoyance plastered across it.
Luna stood behind the three, her arms crossed as she too felt disgusted at Saitou's appearance, but she quickly dismissed it and brought her attention back to Rakaia. "If you want to beat him, then you're going to have to do more than just train." She pointed out, causing Rakaia to slightly turn his head back towards her. "You can sit there and pound a punching bag all you want, but that's not going to help you. All you're going to get is a good beating in front of the whole school." She assured him.
"And what makes you think that?" Rakaia barked at her. "Last time I saw, you weren't doing any better," Rakaia added as Luna closed her eyes for a brief moment.
"True, I did lose my focus a bit." Her glare returned. "But, if I had fought with all I had that little scuffle would have been over." She declared as she kept her eyes focused on Rakaia. "There are a few things you need to understand." Luna began. "You won't be able to beat your opponent off of sheer emotion and strength alone, you haven't even studied who you're fighting against; you just finally got in a lucky punch, and If you think-"
"I don't need you to tell me how to fight!" Rakaia glared at her as he cut her off in mid-sentence. "This is my match and I don't need some washed up quitter to tell me how to win." Rakaia words cut deep as Luna's eyes shot up for a second in shock as Rakaia continued to glare at her, leaving her at a loss for words.
Cana looked back and forth between the two along with Noah, words no longer being a factor for anyone to know what was going on. Rakaia lets a slight Hmph escape his lips as he turned his back towards them. "I'm going to the gym." He ended as he walked away leaving the group behind.
"Uh, huh; wait up Rakaia!" Noah shouted from behind him as he ran behind Rakaia trying to catch up with him. "Rakaia hold on!" Noah stated as he caught up with him, leaving the two girls behind.
Cana looked at Luna with worry in her eyes as she saw the anger overtake Luna's expression as she quickly darted her eyes over to Cana. "Luna I…." Cana began to speak.
"Biggest Fan huh?" Luna cut her off as she turned her back to Cana as well and stormed off
"Luna…" Cana turned her head into the direction Rakaia walked off in and sighed heavily. "You…are so…STUPID!!!!" She screamed behind him, not caring if her words went unheard.
-Rakaia and Noah-
The two walked down the side of the street. The lamps where lit and a hand full of people were out at night. Some were shopping while others were in the midst of conversing with one another. Noah's eyes traveled as he took in his surroundings. A light smile crossed his lips as he turned towards Rakaia who still lightly fuming over the situation that he had previously been handed.
"You know, you should take a page out of everybody else's book and calm down a bit," Noah told him. "You can't be mad going into your next fight. That's a basic rule." Noah told him as Rakaia side eyed him a bit.
"Why don't you stick to learning how to solve equations and I'll worry about how to fight." Rakaia barked back."
"You know, she was just trying to help back there." Noah countered as they both continued to walk. "You didn't have to shove it her face, you know." He added as Rakaia didn't even bother to look at Noah again. "Plus, regardless if she did give up the XMA or not, she still is an experienced fighter; who probably knows a lot more than we do." He explained to him. "Why not take her up on her advice, it may be helpful." Noah finished.
"I'm not taking advice from some half-ass prodigy who eliminated herself from the league." Rakaia retaliated.
"Eliminated herself?" Noah repeated in question. "What do you mean?" He followed up.
The two continued to walk down the side walk, passing by tons of stores that sold a variety of things. Silence was the victor between the two for a bit before Rakaia spoke again.
"Luna Kazahaya." Rakaia spoke her name, but with a hint of anger in his voice." The Endless Fighter; She was hard to predict and her moves seemed to be endless. No matter what her opponents would do or no matter how many times they avoided her, she just kept coming." Rakaia began to explain as he thought back to the times where he watched Luna on TV and the fights that she won. "Her famous move was called the "Endless Void." Rakaia continued to explain as he had Noah's complete and undivided attention.
"I think of heard of it." Noah thought for a second, placing a finger on his chin the moment Rakaia finished his sentenced. "That's the move where she doesn't stop kicking until her opponent is down and out right?" Noah asked him.
Rakaia simply nodded his head. His hands in his pockets as he and his friend continued on their way. "Yea, but it's a bit more complexed than that." Rakaia returned. "It's not the move itself that shocks people; it's how fast she kicks and her ability to keep it going for a large amount of time." Rakaia ended, giving Noah the information on Luna as any big fan would their biggest idol.
"Ah, I see." Noah's eyes turned towards Rakaia again. "So not only does her opponent have to worry about the kicking itself, but how fast she is going and how long she can keep up, which in the end I guess it would throw anybody off since I'm pretty sure it's impossible to block them all." Rakaia nodded his head again.
"It's like she hits several different points at one time. It's never the same motion, or at least it doesn't appear to be." Rakaia added.
"So, in truth; you're dealing with a fast, highly endurance fighter," Noah spoke back.
"In a nutshell," Rakaia responded.
"So why are you so mad at her?" Noah asked him. "You seem like you really looked up to her when she was TV, now the celebrity you sat there and watched for so long shows up at the school and you berate her, what's wrong with you?" He finished as Rakaia stopped walking and sighed a bit, his eyes aimed at the ground, unable to really look at Noah.
"3 months ago…" Rakaia began. "3 months ago was in the biggest match of her career, she had a one on one with a girl named Isabella Suarez," Rakaia told the story. "A Hispanic fighter that matched Luna blow for blow. No matter what Luna did, Isabella would retaliate but stronger or better." Rakaia stated as Noah listened intently to Rakaia's story.
"During the fight, Isabella had Luna on the ropes. She was ruthless…" Rakaia's eyes remained serious as it flashbacked to Luna's last match that Rakaia watched.
-Flashback to Luna's match-
Luna was sweating, clearly exhausted from her ongoing bout with her opponent. Her Dark Brown eyes narrowed as she quickly tried to catch her breath, all the while; her opponent, Isabella Suarez; just stood in front of her, a wild smirk spreading across her face.
Luna's fighting attire was White with Black designs knitted on the side of it. Her white canvas sneakers were planted solidly on the ground as she balled her fist up, which was covered in White MMA kickboxing gloves. Her opponent, Isabella wore something a bit more, open. She wore a pair of Black and gold kickboxing boots with the same colored skirt that was slit on the side, stopping just above her thighs. Her Blacktop outlined in white and gold stopped at her abdomen with a pair of black gloves with gold writing that read "knockout" across them.
No words were said as Isabella wore a cocky grin on her face. She quickly launched herself forward and delivered a powerful onslaught.
"Luna did her best to fight against Isabella." Rakaia's voiced narrated. Luna tried her best to use her hands to try and stagger Isabella, but Isabella was just too quick. She worked her way through Luna's defenses and delivered a two-punch combo to Luna's stomach and followed up with a light uppercut, catching Luna in the chin, causing her to take a step back and glare at the Hispanic fighter.
She charged in again and tried to roundhouse kick her, but Isabella ducked under Luna's attack again and followed up with another light combo, catching her opponent in the mid-section and then finalizing her attack with a light right hook to Luna's jaw, causing the girl to stagger to the side a bit.
"She was embarrassing Luna at every turn. No matter what Luna did, Isabella was always a few steps ahead of her." Rakaia's voice rung as the fight continued on.
Luna tried her best to retaliate as she threw nothing but punches and kicks, but even the crowd could tell how exhausted Luna was as Isabella dodged all her attacks with ease, laughing at her opponent as she sidestepped her every move. "And before we knew it," Luna tried to use her trump card against Isabella, but once again Isabella had got around Luna's famous technique. "It was over." Isabella had brought her foot up towards Luna's face but stopped just mere inches before hitting it.
"End of Flashback"
"She got knocked out?" Noah asked him, completely into the story that Rakaia told him, causing Rakaia's eyes to narrow at the road ahead of him.
"No…she quit." Rakaia finally finished. "Isabella's last attack didn't even touch her, but she took the chance to embarrass her in front of the world and give her the option of being knocked out or just quit, and Luna…." Rakaia gritted his teeth.
"She quit…." Noah lowered his head as well for a moment. "I think I get it now…." Noah spoke up, turning his head back towards Rakaia.
"It doesn't matter" Rakaia cut him off. "She's done, there's nothing I can learn from a quitter," Rakaia stated.
"That's pretty harsh." Noah looked up at him as Rakaia kept his eyes forward. "You know, I'm pretty sure there was a reason." Noah turned his head towards him again.
"Doesn't matter," Rakaia responded. "I….."
"Move it, kid!" Rakaia was forced into the ground as a large man pushed passed him running as fast as he could, not even giving Rakaia a second look as he continued to sprint for all that he was worth.
"What the hell?" Rakaia was about to stand back up but was knocked down again by another man, who appeared to be skinnier than the first muscle-bound figure that bulldozed over Rakaia.
Rakaia gritted his teeth as he got up to his knees. "Rakaia are you alright?" Noah asked him as Rakaia managed to stand up again.
"Yea, I'm…"
"Hey get out of the way!" A female voice ranged as both Rakaia and Noah were pushed to the side as a female police officer forced her way through them. Noah was forced to drop his belongings and Rakaia quickly regained his composure but was pushed again as another female officer made her way through.
"Hey What the!" Rakaia shouted. "Watch it!" He shouted at the second one that pushed him away.
Noah quickly turned his attention to the two female officers as well. "The police?" He spoke, confused as to what was going on. "But I didn't hear any sirens." His head quickly turned to Rakaia.
"Come on let's go," Rakaia said without hesitation as he burst into a sprint, following the officers that forced him out of the way.
"Rakaia! Hey, wait!" Noah shouted from behind. "Argh dammit!" Noah cursed under his breath. " Rakaia wait up!" He followed behind him but struggled to keep up.
The two continued to follow the cops, but Noah was having a hard time keeping up with him. He found himself falling behind as Rakaia pressed on, leaving Noah in his dust as he turned a few corners, losing Noah completely.
Rakaia felt as if his body was acting on its own. He turned another corner only to find that there were a group of gang members surrounding the two female cops. "Hey, what the…." Rakaia barely managed to say before he felt a large arms wrap around his neck and hoist him up in the air.
"Well look at what we have here." He breathed as Rakaia could feel his feet being lifted off of the ground as the two female cops could only grit their teeth as their eyes locked on the muscular guy that held Rakaia in a choke hold position. "Some more people to play with." He licked his lips as Rakaia struggled desperately trying to break free from his grasp.