Perfect School

Paublo:

I moved to stand beside Jonah, giving him a sheepish smile. "I would say good luck in our match, but you are going to wipe the floor with me." Both of us knew that my win was entirely a fluke, and I had no qualms with that. Jonah was the best in the school, or perhaps the second best. The fight between him and Kira would give that answer. I turned my eyes to the arena and to the girls on either end of it. Emily stood proud and a little haughty to me at one end, while Kira looked smaller and more attractive. This wouldn't even be much of a fight, Emily was good, but...Kira was better. There was no other way to put it. Everyone in this school was skilled for sure, but at the top of the school with no effort on her part was Kira. The only competition to her was standing beside me, and I wondered what his thoughts on the match was. "So..." I began turning my eyes from Jonah to the fight that had yet to start. "What do you think of this match?"

 

Kira:

I tightened the straps on my fighters gloves with my teeth, my eyes focused on my opponent. Emily was good, skilled even. But emotional. She had come to hate me though I knew nor cared why. She let emotions come between her and everything else. I gave a few little hops to limber up before stepping into the ring my hands at my sides. She entered as well, hands already up in a guarded position. The referee called the start of the match and neither of us moved. I waited impassively, hands by my sides, feet shoulder with apart. She made the first move, slipping forward to do a feint with her knee only to follow it with a blow from her elbow towards my sternum. I simply leaned to the side and her attack past. I used the chance to put a hand on her shoulder, stepping forward with one leg and slamming the other one into her shins while I pulled. I had the leverage just perfect and she went crashing to the ground on her face.

"Emily fight me. This isn't a show. You aren't here to perform for anyone. Not me, not the teachers, not Jonah. Fight. Me." I said to her on the ground. She growled and sprung to her feet. The next three advances from her were a flurry of motion on both sides, she using her elbows and knees to her advantage while I simply moved out of the way or deflected them. She scored some hits, and the places she hit ached faintly, but over all it was clear who the winner of this match would be.

I moved for the first time onto the offensive then, stepping into her guard and driving her to the ground with a knee into her stomach. "Enough Emily. You lost, end this now so I can fight on."

Her expression changed to one of pure hatred and rage and her attacks changed, I wasn't having to just move but I had to block, deflect, counter-attack while her words came through clenched teeth. "You are nothing. Jonah and I were the best. Then you came along and flounce about getting special treatement like you are some big shot. Know your place Kira, you are a nobody. Jonah is mine, he doesn't care for nobodies."

It was her rage that made me mistime an attack. I had meant to slam a palm into her chest while slipping a leg behind hers to slam her to the ground. But she dived towards me in a wild attack and instead my palm caught her nose. I was able to pull the blow enough to not kill her but I felt her nose break under my hit. I stumbled back from it, shock on my face as my emotionless mask slipped away. "Emily?" I asked as I took a step towards her prone form. Her legs scissored my own and she lept onto me nails raking my flesh as she hissed between her teeth. Even more than my surprise at hurting her as I did. Coldness washed through me as I felt the blood start to seep from the scratches her nails left. I froze and with a savage grin she grabbed my arm and with a wrenching twist and a well placed foot I gave a small gasp as my arm was dislocated at the shoulder.

She got to her feet then and kicked me savagely in the stomach and then the face. "Stay where you belong nobody." she spat before turning her back on me. Her words never registered, as a roaring started in my ears. She didn't even notice as I got to my feet slowly, cradling my dislocated arm. It wasn't until the crowd gasped that she finally turned around.

Paublo:

The fight was almost pathetic to watch. Emily was outclassed, sure she was getting hits in on Kira but Kira was just...better. Even I could see Emily's mistake and I had to give credit to Kira on pulling a blow that could have killed the girl. But nothing could have prepared me for the savage cheap shots that Emily dealt to her after wards.

But that was nothing, I could only watch with a sick feeling as Kira stood up and in the dead silence that had followed after Emily's attack the sound of Kira forcibly relocating her shoulder was deafening. After that, what had once been a spar to see who was better...turned into a bloodbath. I wasn't even sure Emily saw it coming, nor did the referee as he tried to break it up. Kira was methodical and brutal. If Emily didn't have broken limbs she certainly had something sprained or dislocated. Even the Referee had to be carried out on a stretcher. What chilled me most though was the cold, bloodythirsty look that lingered in Kira's eyes as she was declared the winner and moved off the arena.

Jonah:

Even I was stunned at the end of the match. Kira had not only been surprised, but she had lost control. In the eight months I had been around her, I had only seen her surprised maybe once or twice, and Never had I seen her lose control, not like that. It was possible that I was the only one who saw it, everyone else would have seen an incredibly skilled fighter who rose far above her opponent. But she hadn’t meant the match to go the way it did, I knew that. Kira wasn’t just the weapon she claimed to be, some part of her wanted to do this.

I watched them take Emily away, she would be hurting later and probably hating Kira more than she already did. While they cleaned up the mats and the fighting platform I watched kira refuse treatment and collect herself. I wondered if she would lose control in our fight as well, or if that had only happened because Emily had been sloppy and fighting for other reasons.

I went to prepare myself for my fight with Pablo. We both knew I was going to win, but I wanted it to last long enough for him to feel like he put up a worthy fight. There were moves I could pull that would end the fight within the first few seconds, but I liked to let it live longer than that. I liked to see the way other people fought against me, even when they knew they were going to lose. The longer the fight lasted the harder they usually tried and thats what I wanted. I didn’t what my opponents to give up before the match even started.

I knew Pablo would try his best. I enjoyed sparring with him because it was one of the few instances I got to fight someone who had substantially more physical strength than I had.

When the match finally started I went on defence, It was my typical move unless the other person needed me to make the first move, it which case I would start it off with standard safe moves until they were warmed up. I didn’t need to ease Pablo into fighting. He advanced and and made moves easily. His hits had more force than they had skill, but they were aimed with a practiced hand. I relied on agility more than blocking, even a blocked punch from Pablo would hurt me.

He cuffed me on the shoulder and then again got me in the ribs as I tried to swipe a kick under him to knock him over. I gave a small grunt and a grimace turned into a slight smile. That had been the exact move that had cost me the last match with him. The force of the hit had made me lose my balance and the sweaty mat made it impossible to correct it, I had slipped and in a few seconds the match was over due to my fall. This time I had seen it coming and turned slightly so he got me on the side of the ribs and I was braced not to lose my balance.

I got a kick into his side and an elbow to his shoulder. While dodging one forceful blow I caught another just under my ear on my jaw. The match had gone on long enough. I had taken enough hits to be satisfied with the fight. In the next few seconds I landed a kick to his chest that would knock the breath out of him without breaking ribs. Next I got behind him and got him in a hold that restricted his breathing. He was out in seconds and it was over.

Kira:

I watched the fight without really seeing it, my eyes unfocused as I sat on the sidelines, cradling the arm that I had dislocated close to my chest. It was only the cheering of the crowd that finally drew my gaze and focus back to the fight at hand. I blinked and watched as Jonah released Pablo, unconscious on the ground.

I lowered my head and let out a soft breath. My fight with Jonah was going to be soon and I needed to prepare. I couldn't focus on what had just happened. I couldn't let it prevent me from fighting Jonah all out. He deserved the chance, and more than that he would expect that courtesy. I forced all thoughts aside, pushing them away until all that remained was Jonah.

 

I hopped into the ring and pulled on my fighter gloves again. I didn't look at him as I worked on tightening the gloves and getting my breathing even and regular. I couldn't let this match go on forever. While the fight between Paublo and Jonah had given me time to recover a bit, it wasn't enough. I could feel my limit nearly being reached.

 
 

"I'm fine. Let's end this. We are both injured." I said pinning the man with my gaze. My eyes leaving him as I focused on Jonah. It may have been smarter to call it off, rest up. But I didn't truly know if I could beat him. With both of us hurting and him possibly misjudging my skills I had a better chance to succeed now.

 
 

"You didn't forfeit or postpone. Good." I said, moving to stand in the center of the mat. I extended a gloved hand, my face impassive as I waited for him to shake it and our duel could begin. It was the first time today that I had offered such a thing, a sign of my respect to him as a combatant.

I didn't move from my spot. While with others I had remained standing, arms at my sides. For him, I settled into a fighting stance, but I didn't advance. I gauged, watched, assessing him for what might be the first move between us. My breathing was even and slow, my eyes flicking over his form as I simply waited.

 

I didn't react at first, his reach was longer both in arm and leg. I needed him to make the first move and I assumed he knew it. So I moved one step forward into his reach, one hand snapping out in a strike towards his face.

 

I deflected his move with a hand, twisting my body as I did to turn his attack into an attack of my own. My round house was aimed for his throat, not holding anything back in the speed and power behind the attack.

 

I let him yank me, using it as a chance to throw my weight at him, bringing a knee up towards his chin. If it hit and he let go I would use it as a chance to back spring and regain my feet.

 

I took the blow but twisted my body to counter the force behind it. It still hurt but not as bad as it could have. As soon as I was on the ground I hooked his elbow with mine and scissored his legs from under him so he was down as well.

 

I was already moving after I swept his legs out from under him. I was moving away, as this exchange of blows was my loss. I had taken more than given and I wanted to reset the spar.

 

My breathing was already deeper than normal, it made me aware that I couldn't keep this fight up for long but I didn't advance. I wanted him to make the next move.