《Taijitu》 Chapter 1 - A Twisted Beginning Antony I come from a rich family, my house is almost as big as the school I attend and just as well staffed. So I have no ground to stand on when reviewing the quality of a building. Is what I usually think, but I¡¯ve never seen anything quite like this. It was practically derelict, the sign was hanging off the wall and the door was neither open nor closed, just suspended in limbo. The brown paint was peeling revealing dark, tired wood underneath. There are a few bullet holes and scratches from who knows what or when scattered around to make sure that no one would ever think of going inside. And yet, here I am. Oddly, not alone. The gym that I was previously looking at was shabby, but this guy next to me is on a whole other level. He¡¯s sitting on the curb in front of me, watching the building as if it was about to take off. He has white hair and a slumped posture. He¡¯s also sitting down so for the moment I¡¯m not sure how tall he is. I wonder what exactly he¡¯s waiting for? ¡°Are you going to sign up?¡± He turned his head to look at me, it was nonchalantly done so I came to the conclusion he already knew I was here. ¡°Nah, no cash.¡± He replied ¡°No money?¡± I chuckled, truly, money was one man¡¯s trouble and another¡¯s bane. ¡°Actually I can help you with that if you want. This place is probably cheap as anything.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t want your help.¡± He said, bluntly but not rudely. ¡°Well, I¡¯m going to pay for it anyway. I¡¯ll see you inside.¡± I walked past him, his cold eyes following me as I crossed the road and entered the tatty building. Money was one of the only things I had an abundance of, thanks to rich parents and only child syndrome. I have to thank my classmates and long periods of time spent away from my family for me not growing up a complete arsehole. I may not be a stellar character but I could be a lot worse. For now, I¡¯ll pay for the guy outside, this might be more fun if there was someone to enjoy it with. He was still watching me through the half-open door. As soon as I handed over the money he got up and walked in. ¡°You really did that?¡± ¡°Of course, I don¡¯t tell lies.¡± That was a lie, I always tell lies. He chuckled in response. ¡°Right.¡± He stated, slightly sarcastically. The receptionist is now looking at me like I¡¯m a loony, I might be just a bit. Who pays for a homeless guys gym membership? ¡°I¡¯m ain¡¯t paying you back, you know?¡± ¡°Yeah, I expected that.¡± He nodded and stepped forward to take his card from the receptionist who decided to stay out of other people¡¯s business. Quite wise. We walked into the empty gym side by side. There was an eerie feeling to it. It was silent, but there was sound. It was empty but the room held expectations of the people attending, I could hear people training, coaches shouting and feet and hands colliding with various training equipment. It had standards. I heard the victory shout of strong men and women, the pain, and disappointment of the loser. The pressure of becoming the best, beating down on the heart and mind of every person that stepped inside. And it held hope. The hope that, someday, someone will come along and, just like in the old times, become big, become strong, become the best. The dusty trophies in the glass cabinets served testament to success long past.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. There were weights off to the side, some punching bags and robots that looked like sparring robots. In the centre, something miraculous. It was what provided most of the ambiance and story, the thing that made me hear all those sounds. The polished wooden floor, encased by a large red square. Magnificent fights containing miraculous moments, spectacular endings and mind-boggling upsets - All taking place on that floor. I was positively dazed by the atmosphere, I briefly looked to my left where I found the homeless guy¡¯s eyes contained the same wonder and amazement that I¡¯m positive mine also held just seconds ago. After blinking and regaining full control of my mind, the rooms aura died down and I was able to see it for what it truly was, a mess. Gradually, new sounds came to my attention, these sounds that I previously assumed were part of my wonderful delusion were actually reality. It seemed the guy next to me just tuned in as well because he looked at me and met my eye then looked to where the sounds were coming from. At first, it was just muffled shouting, as we approached it became clearer and clearer. The shoddy door that the sound was hidden behind had a slightly slanted sign reading ¡®Manager¡¯. There were windows but the blinds were pulled down, granted some of them were bent out of shape. We could see a very corporate looking suit opposite a guy in a tracksuit and a woman in a shirt and trousers. The man in the suit was the one shouting, I could make out bits and pieces but it was fragmented and unintelligible. There were some chairs to the side of the door. I noticed the homeless guy had already taken a seat. I sat down next to him, straightening my trousers in the process. ¡°Got a feeling we shouldn¡¯t be interruptin¡¯ that.¡± ¡°Good idea.¡± I replied. We waited quietly for the shouting to finish, it died down a little at this point. Finally the door creaked open. We both looked to the door and watched as the thing in the suit exited. It was very not human. I considered myself quite well-read and familiar with other races but this one was beyond me. His lower body was deceptively human-like. It turned out his head was twice the size of a human''s and he had no ears. It also turned out the sounds he was making were in fact not shouting but just the way he normally sounds. This day and age is truly incredible, surprises round every corner. As he exited the room he stole a look at the two of us and smirked. It was blatant so he obviously had no care in the world for who we were. Next came the guy in the tracksuit who was human, at least as far as I could tell. There were a variety of bipedal races that look exactly like humans when they have clothes on. The final person to come out was an old woman. Human life-span increased when we figured out how to manipulate DNA and other sciency things that I know nothing about. Now the average age of a human is around 1000 years old. Of course, with mortality rates low and the population undying, there was a very urgent need to expand beyond our planet. Which is exactly what we did. The old woman watched the big headed man as he left, I feel compelled to explain that I do not use that in a derogatory way, just a way of describing him. The world moved past anything superficial like racism thousands of years ago, when the first of the non-human races first came to visit us. With him gone the gym went almost silent. The man in the tracksuit started training, specifically skipping. ¡°Hello, Ma''am. We are new members of the gym¡± ¡°I see, well, what are you waiting for?¡± ¡°Oh, nothing, we''ll get started then.¡± I¡¯m not sure why we asked, for some reason it just felt wrong to get started without asking permission or at least greeting the manager first. I went over to the running machines and turned it on. Starting at a light jog I gradually increased the speed till I was at a reasonably fast pace. 10 minutes at this pace then 2 minutes a little faster, rinse and repeat. I am an active person, exercise has long been away to distract myself from reality and avoid certain situations. I became very good at running thanks to the variety of trouble I often found myself in. The white haired guy had other ideas, he approached the punching bag immediately, wrapping his fists in some sort of cloth and started whaling on a punching bag. I watched a few fights in my lifetime, I know the basics and this guy was demonstrating none of them. Barely any footwork and no body movement with the punch. Granted they seemed fast and solid, the bag made a very satisfying sound every time they collided. The old lady was watching him closely. She had dark brown eyes, so dark they almost seemed black. Her hair would now doubt have been the same colour if not for her age, but now, it was mostly grey. She looked like she was of Asian descent, my conclusion was drawn from her garments and the Chinese writing that surrounded the walls of the gym. With my attention eventually being drawn away from the motionless lady, I focused instead on the task at hand. 2 hours went by, in that slow and painful way it moves when exercising. The sweat dripping off me had done well to completely soak my towel and clothes. After leaving the running machine I headed to the bathrooms which were, thankfully, a lot cleaner than the rest of the gym. The showers left more to be desired but it was sufficient for a brief train ride home, at the very least I was not going to cause any innocent passengers discomfort. As I left the bathroom the white haired guy looked up from whatever his current activity was, It looked like some sort of circuit training that included push ups and more bag punching. ¡°Yo, when you comin'' back?¡± He asked, pausing briefly from hitting the bag. ¡°Everyday after school. It''s an extracurricular activity.¡± ¡°Extracurricular? Okay, whatever man. Name''s Uvo.¡± Uvo? What an irregular name. ¡°Yeah, don''t worry about it. I''m Antony.¡± I replied with my own name, significantly more common, I hope he won¡¯t hold it against me. ¡°Aight, Ant good?¡± ¡°Yeah, Ant''s fine. See you tomorrow?¡± ¡°Sure man, peace.¡± Chapter 2 - Interesting Proposition Uvo I''m getting pretty tired at this point after Ant left I''ve just kept on going. He seems like a good guy, although, rather than him doing a kind deed I feel like it was more out of pity or maybe some sort of hope that I would alleviate his boredom. When I saw the tall brown haired dude I thought he was going to kick me off the curb or something. Turns out he''s quite the bro. I was still hammering away at the bag when the old Asian lady from before approached me. Of course, I had noticed her gaze fixated on me. I was not punching blindly anymore. I was trying to copy the tracksuit guy. There are no techniques in brawling and I''ve always relied on my strong punch and calculative timing to get by. It''s worked so far. When I fight everything slows down a little for me. I see the best opportunity to strike, or, if none presents itself, the best way to avoid. Admittedly I am only fighting other brawlers and they''re not exactly highly disciplined fighters. I figured out quickly that I was not going to learn anything from tracksuit dude. He moved too quickly and it was difficult to grasp what he was doing and why he was doing it. The old lady approached me and, using her walking stick, hit my left shin. I took the hint with little resistance and moved my left foot back. Looking to her for acceptance I was confronted with a raised eyebrow and a shaking head. I stood up straight, she looked at me in eyes for a few seconds. It felt like she was pouring my soul onto a scale and measuring it against her standards. I must have passed because she took a deep breath in and took a stance. Her left leg was back and nearly straight with her foot pointing away from her. Her right leg was slightly bent and her foot pointed forward. Her arms were up, her left arm up near her left eye guarding her face and her right was slightly straighter pointing forward, both hands were balled into a loose fist. I observed for a minute at the spectacle I had just witnessed. Her fluid movements unceasing and controlled. She looked like a snake ready to strike. So she did, a quick jab with the right hand. She must have come to the correct conclusion that I was left handed. I notice that she moved forward very slightly with the punch and she clenched her fist midway through the movement. She then drew the punch back as quickly as she had thrown it out. I looked at her with undisguised awe. Despite being able to see what was happening, my body never would have been able to dodge that in time. She nodded, satisfied with her performance she turned her back to me and returned to her seat. What an eccentric woman. I nodded my head, displaying my resilience and willingness to learn. At least, I hope so. I did my best at attempting to recreate her positioning and let out my first punch. It was, mechanically very different, it felt like I lost a bit of power but that was no doubt due to it being a new technique. Another hour passed since Ant left and I learned the punch. My arm was sore and my fist was swollen. The bag was in a way better shape than I was, just slightly disfigured where I had been pounding it with all my might. I released my hands from their bandage prison and looked at my bruised knuckles. This is far from the worst I''ve seen them but it''s the first time I have felt accomplished after throwing a punch¡­ Or many punches. The woman had been switching her attention between me and the tracksuit guy. I noticed he sometimes watched me warily as well. With hesitation, I showered, washed my clothes and dried them, which, thanks to the available facilities only took around 10 minutes. This must have been the first time my clothes and I had had a proper wash in months. I walked out looking and feeling like a new man. Showers will never be replaced by modern technology for purely this reason. Construction of trust was necessary so I felt like I should talk a little more, I usually avoided it but I wasn''t one of those annoying people that stay silent just for the sake of keeping character or whatever. ¡°Thank you for your instruction Ma''am.¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. She looked up at me and nodded. ¡°You fought before?¡± She finally spoke! She had a gravelly voice, it was quite relaxing. ¡°I wouldn''t call it fighting. More like brawling.¡± She nodded her head, I had no doubt in my mind that she expected this answer. ¡°Take this, read it, if you''re interested, let me know tomorrow.¡± ¡°Yes, Ma''am.¡± I took the paper that she had in her outstretched hand and for some reason gave her a quick bow before heading out of the building - I have no idea why. I breathed in the slightly polluted and dusty air outside. I finally made it, albeit off someone else''s back. Even if I said to Ant I wouldn''t repay him, I owe him a lot. Even if his intentions were not completely pure. I''m almost certain he has no idea what secrets this place holds. Mind you, neither do I. I just know of its reputation. Years ago that is, thousands of years ago, so long that the once legendary gym for training the highest class of fighter has been lowered to a dusty warehouse with one member who looks like they were dragged off the street. I opened the leaflet in my hand. FIGHT NIGHT! TAIJITU VS ANDRAKHAN Sunday 9 March 5913 I felt a shiver run down my spine. Why had she given me this? She wants me to fight for Taijitu? The legendary duo team has stooped so low that they pick up random beggars. It was so sad I laughed a little out loud. From the looks of it, they didn''t even have a second guy for the duo team. That might have been what that big headed dude from before was here for. I folded the paper back up to put it in my pocket along with my hands and set off down the road to where I lived. Actually, maybe lived is a little too frivolous. It''s more like where I survive. Every day it''s been the same since I left the orphanage. I stay with some other squatters in a battered old mansion where none of the plumbing works and most of the rooms are damp and infested with insects. I earn a little money from fighting, people pay me to beat people up or they pay me to fight for entertainment. It''s quite a big scene and I would do almost anything for money. Of course, it helps that I am quite good at fighting. The little money I do earn is spent on food and the rest was saved so that I could finally buy a membership to the gym. I guess I don''t need that anymore. My eyes flitted over to my door which was even worse than the run-down gym I had just come from. No one owns this entire block anymore, let alone this building. My neighbour, if you will, is some middle aged drunkard. There is a distinct smell of something cooking, let''s just say it¡¯s not chicken. I open my door to find a middle aged woman lying on my bed smoking a cigarette. ¡°Hey Uvo, honey.¡± I summoned a slight smile from wherever it usually hid. ¡°¡®Sup Tracy.¡± ¡°Gone awful long today?¡± ¡°Yeah, I guess. Something happened.¡± She sat up and raised an eyebrow. I walked over and lay next to her. She was the closest thing to a friend I had. She technically lived on the floor above but ever since I arrived, I became her little brother and she stayed with me. She caressed my lips with a finger. Okay, maybe little brother is wrong. Although, we¡¯ve never done anything sexual. I¡¯m pretty sure she is a sex worker so she probably wants a break from all that stuff when at home. ¡°What¡¯s on your mind?¡± I told her what happened with Ant and the upcoming fight. ¡°Ain¡¯t that great news? I bet there¡¯s good cash in it.¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m sure there is.¡± ¡°So, what¡¯s holding you back?¡± ¡°Well, I feel bad for Ant, you know, I owe him something.¡± ¡°Ya¡¯ know how stupid that is right. This is this, that is that.¡± ¡°Yeah, I do know that, ¡®course.¡± ¡°Well then, I think you¡¯ve found your answer.¡± ¡°I guess, thanks, Trace.¡± I usually call her Trace, I always try and shorten people¡¯s names so that I can speak as little as possible. I turned away from her. ¡°Blow that smoke some other way Trace.¡± ¡°Sorry Honey.¡± She smirked and blew it in a different direction. I think she¡¯s around 100 something, still young but older than me. She had short brown hair and tattoos all over her body. Not covered in them, just in all sorts of places. ¡°You get any food?¡± ¡°Yeah, I got some stuff, here.¡± She handed me a packet of gel. This was our regular meal, it was the cheapest and provided all the daily nutritional requirements. Well, it was pretty much made for homeless people so it screamed efficiency; which is a nice way of saying it was disgusting. Not that I am complaining. She finally put out her cigarette to the side on the bare floor and lay down next to me. ¡°You doing anything tonight?¡± I didn¡¯t have to think about it but I stayed silent for a bit anyway before answering. ¡°Nah, got nothing, why?¡± ¡°I see, I got a couple of things to take care of tonight so I¡¯ll see ya¡¯ tomorrow, ¡®kay hot stuff?¡± ¡°Sure, have a good one Trace.¡± ¡°Love ya!¡± I sighed and rolled onto my back after she left the room, closing the door behind her. Despite being squatters we are still humans so we have some semblance of etiquette. Well, it¡¯s more like we know that none of us have anything worth stealing. Such is the life, I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep. I had nothing to wake up for tomorrow morning so a blissful lie in awaited. Chapter 3 - Minor Betrayal Antony Something very interesting has happened in my absence. It seems Uvo has been scouted for a fight. Not that I am surprised, he looked like he knew what he was doing, even if only a small amount. No doubt he has good judgment and a strong punch. My school day was long and boring as usual. I am not very book smart, I just use a wider range of vocabulary than most people, which serves as a sufficient deception to my intelligence, but also allows for me to perform the role of class clown quite effectively. Much to my teacher¡¯s utter despair. I also have a weird attention span. Sometimes I can concentrate for very long periods of times, other times I¡¯m distracted within 10 seconds by drawing. It''s funny, the only thing I seem to be able to concentrate on for long periods of time is drawing. Well, it''s not hugely funny considering it''s my job. I got a call from my agent last night warning me about a deadline so every second I spend away from the drawing board is a second wasted. The drawing in question is a long-running comic that I am submitting a cover art for. If I could land the job as one of the artists it would be my fast track to fame and fortune. Such a thing would be infinitely appreciated, however, much harder to actually achieve. My arms were tired and I had already given up 3 times, requiring a call from my agent to set me back on track. That, I appreciated more than anything. My teacher caught me a couple of times. I just laughed it off, most of the class was used to my name being shouted at random intervals during maths class. The only other thing I had to look forward to was the gym session in the afternoon, which brings me back to the current situation - The betrayer and the betrayed. I don¡¯t actually mind, but I¡¯ll be damned if I pass on this opportunity to spread a little bit of guilt. I¡¯d like to think I¡¯m not an evil man. I¡¯ve never done anything inherently bad, just said some things that caused things to happen that may not have the most positive outcomes. Luckily nothing serious, I keep myself on a tight leash as it were.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°So, got yourself a venue for the big debut, champ.¡± I mocked half-heartedly. ¡°Yeah, should be fun.¡± ¡°Yeah sure, if you consider being beaten to a wet, messy, bloody pulp fun, then you¡¯re going to the right place. You realise this is your second day right?¡± He chuckled when he realised that I was only a quarter serious and carried on punching the bag in a significantly more controlled manner to before. Oh well, if he wants to get his head smashed in then who am I to tell him he can''t? I left the grunting, white-haired Uvo and stopped at another bag. Might as well try my hand at it while I am here. I am quite a fit person so I was fully expecting to perform decently at the very least. That would be quite accurate it turns out, my punches were solid but the continuous collisions knackered me out significantly quicker than I thought they would. The lady watched me through the office window for a bit but stopped after a while. Turns out I''m not suited for this. I stepped away from the bag and started skipping, this was much more down my alley, I could go forever. Half an hour went by and Uvo was still training the same punch, I wonder how he stays so focused, I would have been bored by then. After another half an hour I showered and packed my things, waving at Uvo who nodded back I left the building. I chose this gym because it was quiet and separated, giving me some alone time. However, my biggest reason was that it is the one that''s furthest away from home. Home is not really a good word because I don''t feel like I''m home when I''m there. I walk up to the large gate that looms before me like some sort of boss¡¯s entrance from the latest VR game, and it scans me then lets me in. I am greeted by a barking dog and a long garden road to the main house. My room is inside, up the stairs and to the right, I''m going to need to do this journey without anyone spotting me. I calmed the dog down by scratching under its chin for a bit, he was an old dog called Charlie. His fur which was once a shiny brown coat was now wiry grey, it didn''t seem to quell the goofy grin he always had plastered to his face, happily oblivious of any problems outside or inside my giant house. I then started off down the path, making it into the house and up the stairs with no one seeing me. I could see my room down the hallway and footsteps coming from the other direction. If I hurry I can make it, cutting it close I managed to slip into my room, closing the door as silently as possible, I waited for 30 painful seconds but there was no knock. I walked to my desk and planted myself on my bed with the intention of staying there until morning. Chapter 4 - Legacy Uvo I have been training for 5 days straight. The old woman has taught me a variety of poses, punches, kicks, and blocks. The rules of the tournament are, as usual, anything goes. Whether you want to use a sword, hammer, gun, any piece of technology and well, you get the idea. Any piece of equipment and any weapon is all up to you. This also includes the use of body enhancing supplements or drugs. Of course, I stay away from that stuff and it seems like the old lady has no intention of forcing me to take anything. Ant¡¯s been coming by every day but is mostly silent, he said that he¡¯ll come and watch the fight. Tracksuit guy, it turns out, is called Tom and has been training here for a few months. He''s going to be my partner in the upcoming fight. He looks like he''s in the middle 200¡¯s. That''s the other thing, there are no age limits. He must have a regular job outside of this because he arrives and leaves around the same time as Ant. He''s taller than me, around the same height as Ant. He''s also better trained but lacks the mindset I have, I sparred with him a couple of times and despite being more disciplined I''ve won almost every bout. Tracy hasn''t come back from wherever she was going a few days ago. I hope she''s okay, I''ve known her for a few years now so it would be a blatant lie to say I didn''t care about her. Ant¡¯s been pushing himself to fight as well, for all I know he might just be relieving some stress. Hell, it works well for me. It¡¯s Saturday so there¡¯s no school and I was surprised to find Ant here before me. He¡¯s in his usual clothes, he doesn¡¯t realise it but he looks so out of place in this gym. He has these perfectly clean tracksuit trousers and a short sleeved t-shirt that has some Academy name on it that I can only assume is the one he goes to. In comparison, my shredded cotton trousers and a stained white t-shirt make me look a lot more at home in a dump like this. I appreciate the fact that he doesn¡¯t care in the slightest though. I¡¯ve met many an arsehole in my time that would jump at the opportunity to take the piss out of my attire.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Anyway, like I said, it¡¯s Saturday so the fight¡¯s tomorrow, and yet for the entire day, Tom has been missing. I grabbed some food with Antony which was an experience I will remember for a long time. It was like nothing I have ever had before. A burger. A huge slab of meat, the likes of which I¡¯ve only ever seen on the TV adverts which I could have sworn were fake. Then there was a bunch of other things with it that I can¡¯t even remember because I was too absorbed in the myriad of juices and flavours spilling into my mouth. Suddenly I found my motivation for the fight hit a high point. If we could win this maybe I could get one for Tracy as well. Winning the fight though required 2 people, and it was already well past the time where we were meant to meet for training. I gave the manager a questioning look. She hadn¡¯t told me her name yet and I didn¡¯t ask. ¡°Where¡¯s Tony?¡± Antony asked what was on both of our minds, the lady looked slowly over to Antony and closed her eyes. Suddenly, she disappeared. I felt wind rush past but I was not expecting her to move so my eyes completely lost track of what was happening. I saw that Antony was equally, if not more confused than me. ¡°What just happened?¡± ¡°She moved fast.¡± ¡°Right, I could guess that much. You think she¡¯s gone to find him?¡± I nodded, no doubt this was important for her. I still don¡¯t know what that big headed alien was shouting to her about but it was clearly on her mind. If it had something to do with the fight then Tom is vital. Antony would hardly make a suitable replacement. Even I¡¯m going to be at a disadvantage and I¡¯ve been fighting all my life. It did not take long for the lady to return. In her arms was a clearly disfigured human. The arm was bent up and around in a very unnatural manner and his knee joint was bending the wrong way. Blood flowed freely down the man¡¯s face from every feature on it. Even his eyes were bleeding. He was wearing familiar clothes though and even if he wasn¡¯t I could have guessed that this was Tom. The woman laid the body down on the floor and checked his pulse. She got up a second later and shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s faint but he¡¯s alive. Uvo, go to the office and call an ambulance right now.¡± I nodded, rushing to the office I found the phone, dialed the number and told them where I was. Thankfully after a few agonising minutes and a surprisingly wound up manager, the ambulance arrived and took Tom into emergency care. No one went with him, I barely knew the guy, same for Antony and the manager had the fight to cancel. Chapter 5 - First Fight Wen Daiyu This is a difficult situation I have found myself in. I should have known they¡¯d pull something like this. I foolishly thought that they''d be sporting enough to at least give me a chance, how wrong can a woman be? I thought people were supposed to get wiser as they age, I just feel more forgetful. My thought track gets interrupted by white hair guy. ¡°Manager? What does this mean for the fight?¡± Good question kid, I turn my gaze purposefully towards the taller one with brown hair. He stutters magnificently. ¡°W-w-wait a minute here¡­¡± The white haired kid turns to look at him, this time with surprise evident on his face. He then snaps back at me before asking the question I''m sure brown hair would be asking if he wasn''t frozen solid and didn''t already know the answer. ¡°What? You want him to fight? Ant¡¯s got no fighting skill to speak of, let alone in a tournament.¡± Ah, that was his name, I remember now. Now if only Antony would say the white haired kid''s name. ¡°Uvo¡¯s right, there''s no way I can fight!¡± I laugh maniacally in my head, maybe wisdom is foresight and it takes away memory as compensation. I wash away the ridiculous thought and looked at the two kids opposite me. ¡°Besides, why don''t you fight, you''re clearly the strongest here!¡± Me? Fight? ¡°Kid, you think I''d be allowed to fight in the International rookie league? Do I look like a rookie? Besides, I''m retired so I can''t just announce my return and start beating on new kids. And even if I did I''d have to fight in the league I retired from. So, what do you propose we do? I am only allowed to have members fight tomorrow and you¡¯re the only two that have legs intact. So, you going to man up or chicken out?¡± Both the foolish kids looked at me with wide eyes and even wider jaws. The reason for their synchronised disbelief was no doubt my outburst, probably the most they have ever heard me speak. Hilarious. Antony turned away gesturing to Uvo, he followed. Once out of earshot they began speaking in a hushed tone. I wonder what conditions they have. ¡°Alright, Manager. I have a few conditions. The first is that we split the earnings between the 3 of us equally. The second being I reserve be right to surrender at any point in time. The third is that I need to hide my face so please prepare a mask for me. The final condition is that you get me a proper pair of gloves.¡± This kid Antony, what''s he so worried about? A mask will make you stand out more than your face. I shrug my shoulders. ¡°Sure, sounds fine. I''ll have it prepared for you tomorrow.¡± The two of them nod to each other, I may have just acted as a catalyst for the creation of a brotherhood. With the fight only a day away there was no time to waste. ¡°Right, time to train, sit down.¡± They sat obediently. ¡°Cross your legs and rest your palms on your knees.¡± Again, they followed suit. ¡°Now close your eyes and stay quiet till I say.¡± I decided not to pass on the opportunity and sat down in my most comfortable pose for meditation. The kids left and eventually so did the moon, the new day bringing rays of sunshine through the holes in my roof. Underneath the gym, the grimy cellar, clearly untouched for generations was collecting dust as usual. My hand swept some off the top of one of the boxes. Nope, not the one I¡¯m looking for either. Eventually, my eyes were drawn to a frame, propped up against some heavily dusted boxes at the back. It was a green wooden frame, the glass was so dirty it was impossible to see what it contained without a clean. I unlatched the back of the frame, not needing to see it through the glass to know that it was exactly what I had been looking for. I picked up the two masks. One was black with a white dot on the forehead, the other white with a black dot. Yin and Yang, Taijitu. They hadn¡¯t been used in years. Not even I wore these, forgotten by time and therefore by the people. The only reason I remembered them was the boy¡¯s mention of masks. I threw them in the washing machine, the frame had no seal and had not protected them from the dust and grime this place has collected over the years. The final request, the gloves. This was comparatively easier. Two pairs of training gauntlets should suffice, I had nothing better on hand and while they were slightly worn and ragged, they were the most reliable things I had on hand. They were old so the technology was similarly dated. They still packed a mean punch and were made of strong enough stuff to protect you from most projectiles. With the necessities taken care of I changed and ate, an exciting and equally terrifying day lies ahead. The venue was in an uproar. People gathered from all over the city to watch these fights, considering there were around 12 per night, they provided the perfect evening¡¯s entertainment for everyone. From gangsters to gamblers, young to old. The ring was a hole in the ground so that the audience could watch from above. The two boys were next to me in the waiting room, Antony was stretching and going over some last minute procedures, Uvo was sitting next to me. He was surprisingly relaxed but then again, this was almost certainly not his first time fighting in front of a crowd of people.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Right, shirts off.¡± They both looked at me, either unsure of what I said of questioning my sanity. ¡°You heard me, shirts off. Clothing like that¡­¡± I gestured to their sweaty t-shirts. ¡°... will serve no other purpose other than to be ripped.¡± They looked at one another and wordlessly took their t-shirts off. I almost dropped my mouth at what I saw. Uvo, the least surprising, had scar marks all over his body, some large that I could tell were recent and looked like they may have been serious, others were small and had clearly been done at an early age. The whiteness of them contrasted his greyish skin tone. Then there was Antony, his back and some of his upper torso were covered in marks, with all my weapons expertise I could only tell that they came from some sort of multi-tailed whip. Some of the fresher ones were pink, while others were, much like Uvo¡¯s, white. All were horizontal. Uvo was clearly less capable of concealing his surprise. ¡°Antony? What¡¯s all that?¡± I must admit, I was rather curious as well, I had assumed Antony was a typical middle-class kid, never seeing an inch of hardship in his life. I had never been so wrong. ¡°I¡¯d rather not talk about it. Can I have the mask now?¡± I managed to pull myself together and reached into my bag for the two, freshly washed masks. I handed them one each. Yin (black with white dot), going to Antony; Yang (white with black dot), going to Uvo. ¡°Why me?¡± Uvo inquired scathingly. ¡°If he wears one, you wear one. Suck it up.¡± He grunted and pulled it over his head. ¡°Stick your arms out.¡± They did as told and I held the training gauntlets up for each of them, they placed their arms in, one by one, the gauntlet sensing the presence of an arm and snapping shut, encasing their arms in 2 inches of less than ideal metal, still, better than nothing. Antony¡¯s arms slumped at the additional weight, Uvo handled it a little better. ¡°I asked for gloves! Not armour¡­¡± ¡°You get what you¡¯re given. Now, see to it that you beat your opponents into the ground. Antony, do what you can, worst comes to worst, don¡¯t get in Uvo¡¯s way.¡± Antony¡¯s shoulders dropped. I was trying to get him motivated to prove himself but apparently, he¡¯s not the kind of person to respond to that kind of provocation. The two boys entered the arena, joining the already waiting pair representing the scummy business man trying to swipe my gym from beneath my feet. My boys were up against thugs. There was no nice way of saying it. I could speculate with almost pinpoint accuracy their background. They had done time, maybe they even met in prison. They were hired mercenaries or handymen, people you pay to do small time dirty work, like collecting debts from unwilling borrowers, or yes, something like this. Beating on two newcomers for a business they have no right to own. A loss to them would mean I may as well rub my face with faeces and oil my hands with piss and parade around the city centre screaming bloody murder. Taijitu is not just a name, and a loss to a couple of untrained thugs would be the ultimate disgrace to its legacy. The fight¡¯s bell tolled and the two thugs grinned at their competition. One had no hair and carried a sword, the other, long black hair and carried a gun. A common tactic, too old to even be labelled a classic. One range and one melee. The baldy approached first, Uvo volunteering to be the first receiver, the sword colliding into the training glove. A left uppercut from Uvo into the stomach of the baldy folded him. Before anything else could happen, the surprised gun wielder took their first shot at Uvo, he blocked it easily with his glove. Antony backed into the corner. Baldy took another swing after recovering. Uvo forced to dodge as his hands were busy deflecting the barrage of oncoming bullets. Finally, the gun wielder ran out of ammo, pausing for a reload, Uvo capitalised on the opportunity to gain a quick and ruthless advantage over baldy. The sword was very quickly on the floor, he was clutching his now bleeding nose, thanks to a straight left jab from Uvo. In a surprising moment of tactical thinking I did not expect, Antony rushed over to the sword and grasped it before baldy could recover. Using mostly the strength of the training gloves he snapped the sword in half, throwing the pieces behind him. Baldy got visibly angry, and so did the now fully loaded gun wielder. Uvo ignored the baldy, judging him as not an immediate threat. He rushed the gun wielder, deflecting bullets during his wild charge. The gun wielder employed standard tactics, kiting Uvo around the ring, although it was too small to fully utilise. Kiting is used by range attackers, it is a technique that involves attacking whilst retreating, or simply moving away from the oncoming threat, a skilled range attacker would be able to keep an untrained Uvo at bay indefinitely, like a kite on a string. However, this one was rubbish, Uvo quickly cut him off when he took a less than ideal route and was on him, raining punches most being deflected by the guns. The baldy used this opportunity to attack Antony, idiot. If he had attacked Uvo they would win a lot easier, either they were so confident in their victory that they didn''t care, or they''re just stupid. I fancy the latter. Antony was now cowering against a wall, nowhere to run he was forced into fisticuffs with the baldy. The first came close to Antony¡¯s face, I could tell that he had actively dodged it, I was just not aware of how. His experience was minimal and he wasn¡¯t exactly at the peak of physical fitness. The second punch went to Antony¡¯s stomach. It collided with something but it wasn¡¯t his gut, his gauntlet had somehow made its way between the exposed fist and the exposed flesh of his stomach. The baldy reeled back, I was as surprised as he was at Antony¡¯s impressive showcase of, well, the only word I could use would be: Instincts. While the baldy recovered Antony took the opportunity to launch a punch in his direction. It was a badly thrown punch, it landed softly, luckily it was backed by heavy metal gauntlets so it at least caused the baldy to stagger. The audience very loudly voiced their complaints at the tame punch. Unfortunately for Antony, that was the best he could do. Whilst this was happening Uvo had thoroughly dismantled the gunner. He had lost one of his weapons and was now ammoless in the other. It took Uvo a grand total of 2 additional minutes to put him into the ground. Uvo had only managed this valuable alone time thanks to Antony. I had to rub my eyes and pinch myself. Antony was, ungracefully and ineffectively dodging and parrying most of the baldy¡¯s attacks. Albeit one or two sound punches landed on the poor boys face, giving him a bust eyebrow, one also landed in his gut which will provide discomfort in the near future. Despite this, the poor kid was hanging on. Uvo¡¯s methodical offense saw to it that the gunner was defeated. If, we were speculating, Antony going down before that happening would have resulted in our loss. The fact that the gunner was on the floor unconscious whilst both of my fighters were up and running, meant only one thing. The baldy madly rushed at Uvo, weaponless and without partner he fell within a few seconds to Uvo¡¯s well aimed punches. Antony busy hanging back catching his breath. I stood up before I realised anything else. ¡°Winner, Taijitu!¡± The announcer shouted over the commotion. I felt like I could fly. I saw in the corner of my eye the two boys fist bump and head into the gate that had been reopened for them to leave through. My eyes were set on the Carnitopian business man opposite me, the species with the big heads. His eyes were narrowed but he made no move. I straightened my back and moved to join my boys to celebrate our victory. My mind was struggling to process how it had turned out like this. The two mercenaries were pathetic, not even being able to knock out Antony. True Uvo controlled the pace of the match like a professional and Antony had a hidden card that no one knew about. Of course, they must have thought that I would either forfeit, because they had taken out my best fighter when they crippled Tom. In that case all they needed was 2 people to turn up and they would have won. The other theory was that they merely underestimated us. They have never seen neither Uvo nor Antony fight so it would be correct to assume that they were novices. In that case, taking down a couple of kids would be well within the capabilities of a professional mercenary. I must admit, even I was surprised by Uvo¡¯s ruthless efficiency. Although, he is not very different in training. Still, what surprised me most was Antony¡¯s display of instinctual evasion. I don¡¯t think I have seen, or will see, a more trainable, complimentary duo. Letting them go after this would be beyond insane. Chapter 6 - New Life Uvo With the fight finished, I practically dragged Ant out of the ring. His eyes were glazed over as if in some sort of trance, a few snaps of my fingers in front of his face after we exited brought him back to full consciousness. ¡°Uvo?¡± I raise my eyebrows slightly. ¡°I can¡¯t believe we won!¡± He managed to gasp out. I smiled what I thought was a rather good smile and slapped him on the back. I knew the manager would come down any minute so I took the opportunity to pull my t-shirt back on. When Antony saw this he did the same, we removed the masks as well. I heard footsteps coming in, the rooms were on the same level as the ring so you had to take stairs down to get here. Finally, the manager came in, looking briefly at both of us, now fully dressed, our masks and gloves lying on our respective benches. Her entrance choked the air in the room, I could hear Ant inhale but never exhale, it took me a while to realise I was doing the same. My heart was in my mouth, what I was nervous for, I had no idea. ¡°Well done boys. I could make fighters out of you yet. Come.¡± Caught by surprise, it took a second for us to recover but we immediately snatched our things and followed her retreating figure. ¡°I do want to talk to you but it will have to wait till we get back, I refuse to have such a¡­ Well, this kind of conversation in the aiv.¡± The aiv, more specifically, the airborne intelligent vehicle, that we climbed aboard took us swiftly back to the gym. The AI was prattling on about the weather in the coming weeks, apparently, some sort of storm was on its way. Not that it ever affected any of us, city defence was built to thrive in this environment. When the AI finally pulled up, the doors recognising the location and rolled apart, revealing the front of the dusty gym. As the aiv parked itself we headed into the office, the manager taking a seat behind her desk. Ant and I patiently waited, she exhibited all the airs of someone in the middle of deep contemplation, while we were impatient and more than a little nervous, we were not rude and stood silently for what felt like half an hour but was more likely under 5 minutes. She opened her eyes with a snap, they were much clearer now and looked at each of us with a steely stare that bound our feet in place. Unable to move, talk or even think straight, we listened, intently. ¡°How would feel about becoming a student of the martial arts here at Taijitu?¡± Students? I thought that we had performed well but this? This is beyond what I was expecting. Ant was the first to speak up. ¡°What would becoming a student entails Mrs¡­? He clearly dragged the last word, attempting to coax an answer out to finally reveal her name. ¡°You will know my name when you accept my tutelage.¡± She looked expectantly at me. It¡¯s true, I had nothing to lose. No home, no job, no skills worth speaking of. This was an opportunity someone like me would only have once in their lifetime. ¡°I accept your tutelage!¡± I practically screamed. She nodded her head resolutely. ¡°Bow.¡± She hinted. I bowed. She coughed. ¡°Like this¡­¡± She demonstrated, her back becoming rigid and straight, her arms were parallel to her torso and she kept her legs straight. I nodded my head and tried again, earning a nod of approval from my new teacher. When I looked up I found Ant looking at me, I could see willingness and excitement but hesitance and doubt were mixed in too. I know nothing about him, he probably has a lot going for him. I nodded my head to display a simple message - it¡¯s up to you. He swallowed and bowed as I did. ¡°I accept your tutelage.¡± The lady cracked a large smile. Without noticing I did too, I was happy that Antony decided to stay on, of that I was sure. ¡°Welcome to the martial arts school of Taijitu. In my presence, you will be referred to as the 2 components of Taijitu. Yin, Antony you will take up this mantle. Yang will be inherited by Uvo. You will refer to me as Master Wen.¡± We both looked at her in awe. What was all this about inheriting mantles? Besides that, she didn¡¯t even tell us her full name. ¡°Your training starts tomorrow, on weekends you will arrive at 8 o¡¯clock, on weekdays you will arrive as soon as school is finished.¡± Antony nodded his head, I, on the other hand, was confused. I did not go to school and yet she was giving this instruction to both of us. Before I even managed to bring it up she carried on. ¡°Yang, no student of mine will be uneducated, you will start at school on Monday.¡± What? What school? I have no money, no possessions and no prior education. I can¡¯t just walk into a lesson and expect everything to work itself out. Yet again I was about to speak up and yet again I was beaten to the punch. ¡°You will attend Afalorey Secondary School. A fine public school, not too far from here. I know a teacher there who will sort you out with the proper funding, there are Government run schemes to help kids like you, although, I¡¯m sure you were unaware of that. You do have the right to attend school, no matter how hard on cash you are.¡±This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Free schooling? Not only that but regular training from the most legendary school on Earth. This has all become a little too much for me. I paced backwards, feeling behind me for a chair. When one was found I perched on it. Breathing a little heavier than before. The other two patiently waited for me to calm down. I could have said thank you but I know that she is not doing this for thanks. ¡°I will make you proud!¡± I stood back up, she smiled. Bullseye, exactly the answer she was waiting for. ¡°Yin, Yang, I will see you tomorrow after school.¡± Before leaving she handed me a note detailing my contact at school, I could only read a little so I happily pocketed the note and moved on. I would have to find the location of the school through the old fashioned method. I arrived home covered in bruises from the fight and sweat from the mini adventure I had locating the school. It took me getting lost 3 times and 5 strangers consulted before I found it tucked away in the corner, surprisingly only a few streets away from where my current residence is. My hands clasped the door knob and I let myself into the shabby little room I call home. A pleasant sight greeted me. ¡°Hey there Darling!¡± Tracy. As beautiful and happy as ever. I tried to remember that I should be angry at her for letting me worry the whole week but the relief of seeing her safe washed it away immediately. ¡°Trace!¡± I walked forward and brought her close to me, the laughed and returned the hug, he arms around my lower back and mine around her neck and shoulders. ¡°I¡¯ve missed you Trace.¡± ¡°Not as much as I missed you, lover boy.¡± We broke off the hug and stood a little further apart for a proper conversation. ¡°I have some good news and some bad news.¡± ¡°Bad news.¡± ¡°Okay, I got fired.¡± I tilted my head sideways and looked in her eyes. She was smiling, her chin up and shoulders back, the very picture of a confident woman. Her eyes betrayed her inner turmoil, and as someone that has known her for significantly longer than most others, I could immediately tell. I brought her close to me again, this time stroking her head for extra comfort. ¡°It''s alright Trace, you''re safe now.¡± I managed to whisper, not intentionally, just, with her ear right there I felt it would be unnecessary to shout. She choked back a sob but I felt my shoulder become damp and she let a few silent tears escape only to be immediately absorbed by my t-shirt. I''m sure she''s not telling me the whole story but I won''t force it out of her. After another minute she patted me to signal she was okay, I let her out of my vice like grip. I hadn¡¯t noticed but I had become slightly angry towards whoever pushed her to this level. ¡°And, the good news?¡± I gently reminded her. She smiled at me. ¡°I¡­ Get to spend¡­ More time¡­. With you.¡± She said, in between sniffs and sobs, trying her best to recover from her emotional outburst. I laughed, quietly, as she no doubts intended the comment to be a joke, however, she probably did not expect me to notice her suppressed loneliness. ¡°Thank you Uvo.¡± ¡°Stay here as long as you like Trace, you don¡¯t need to do anything, not for now. Rest till you recover, meanwhile¡­¡± I said, making my way to my bed. The aching that I had forgotten about thanks to Tracy came back with a vengeance. ¡°...I¡¯ll do the same.¡± I saw her eyes finally look at me for real, taking in everything. The cuts, the bruises, the sand and dust. While I had done a lot of fighting before, I rarely came home with anything more than bruised knuckles. The guys that I was used to brawling with were several levels below the quality of our opponents today. Her mind switched into overdrive and she rushed around my room getting anything she could, food, bandages, some alcohol for cleaning the wound. I laughed and allowed for her to clean me up, grateful for the companionship. For now, I decided against delving any deeper into what happened to Tracy this past week, I sensed the wound may still be open and I dare not aggravate it further. Most I can do is let her sort things out when she deems it necessary. We fell asleep and woke up. The sun peeking over the buildings, the sky a muffled grey, the same colour it always is. I took a deep breath, only to be choked by something. I spat it back up and identified the mysterious culprit. My hands came up and I finally realised that my aggressor was a stray strand of Tracy¡¯s hair. I rolled my eyes and began the arduous task of getting every last strand out of my mouth. Being careful not to wake Tracy up in the process, I was up, almost unnecessarily early, thanks to my nerves about attending school for the first time. I picked up the clothes Antony had given me yesterday. Smarter than anything I had ever worn and a lot more comfortable than my usual scratchy outfit. As I got finished I looked at myself in the dirty mirror set up in my room thanks to Tracy, scavenged from a room along the hall that was luckily vacant. A white t-shirt and black trousers. Not much could go wrong with this kind of outfit. Thanks to my more regular bathing schedule at the facilities the gym provides I also smell and look clean. I raised an eyebrow in genuine surprise at myself. I stopped myself from waking Tracy up and showing her how I looked but I could just show her when I got back, there was no hurry to wake her up and it was probably the first proper night sleep she had in awhile. The walk was, as I already found out, short and painless. On my way I spotted several other students, all carrying bags and most chatting away with fellow students. I stuffed my hands in my pockets and tried to not look like an outsider when I took my first steps into the school. I headed straight for the reception, a small desk that was on the left as I walked in. The man at the desk smiled as I entered and beckoned me forward immediately. ¡°You must be Uvo?¡± I nodded. ¡°Nervous?¡± He asked. I nodded again. ¡°No need to be, we have plenty of students like you, we had one join us just the other day so you have nothing to worry about.¡± I wasn¡¯t sure if he was lying but either way, I was grateful for it, a long inhale through my nose and I quickly realised that I had my shoulders and back tensed up beyond belief. I quickly relaxed my body and felt instantly more calm in both body and mind. The man smiled and got up from his desk. ¡°Follow me, I¡¯ll show you to your class, and introduce you to the teacher. If you have any questions you can ask me now or wait and ask her.¡± I nodded but realised he was walking in front of me and had no intention of looking back. ¡°Okay.¡± I managed to say. The corridors that he brought me down passed quite a few classrooms that were just starting to fill up. None of the students was paying any attention to me, most were absorbed in either idle chatter with classmates or using their various screen devices. Some had them on their wrists, other had them on a tablet. I could understand the attraction. Instant access to information and entertainment, how convenient. The holographic screen that floated in front of their faces were, for the most part only viewable by the user making it easy to use during inappropriate times. Like during class. My eyes snapped back to the man that was leading me to the class I was going to belong in. On the way, I spotted something, or rather, someone. Her hair was the first thing I saw as she had her back turned to the window. But it was the most jet black hair I had ever seen. Long and sleek, perfectly straight and slightly glossy. I saw a hand come up and tuck a stray strand behind her right ear. I blinked and moved on, the man had stopped outside a door, by chance or by some miracle, it was the door the mystery girl was behind. ¡°Thank you.¡± I gave him a brief nod as well just to make sure. He smiled. ¡°Good luck, Kiddo.¡± Whilst I didn¡¯t appreciate him calling me Kiddo I felt no desire to confront him about it. I stepped into the classroom, currently inhabited by, black haired girl and a stern looking woman with her hair in such a tight ponytail I thought she must be in terrible pain. She was undoubtedly the teacher. Other than them there was a group of girl and a group of boys, on opposite sides of the room, all had stopped to look at me. Before the silence reigned any longer the teacher stood up. ¡°Ah, you must be Uvo, please, come over here.¡± I did as told and, navigating my way through the scattered desks, found my way to the front of the classroom. ¡°It¡¯s nice to finally meet you, we have been looking forward to your arrival.¡± Whilst she said that I scanned the reactions of the room and clearly none of them was aware of my existence until I had walked into the room. I nodded at the lady, knowing that in front of all these people my voice would betray me. ¡°You will find all your necessary stationary in your desk drawer, which is there.¡± She pointed towards the black haired girl, I went into brief shock and it took me a while before I realised she was pointing to the chair in front of her. I sat down, still silent, bear in mind all the other students were practically spearing me with their stares. It was quite an intimidating atmosphere for one as unused to it as I. Chapter 7 - Aftershock Antony I woke up to a call from my agent. A quick glance at my clock revealed it was 5 AM, 2 hours before I usually get up for school. ¡°Antony, I submitted your drawing. It looked good.¡± I stretch my body out, for now ignoring the ignorant man on the other end of the phone. The aching from yesterday¡¯s fight was certainly more prominent than I was expecting. I must have been so fuelled with adrenaline yesterday that it lasted all the way till I fell asleep. ¡°Right, thank you.¡± ¡°Yeah. Also, I have another job for you if you want it. A writer is looking for a disciplined artist to draw a comic book based on his writing, you interested?¡± ¡°Send me his writing, I¡¯ll let you know after I finish reading it.¡± ¡°As usual. I already read some of it and it seems like it''s similar to the last one you did. You enjoyed that didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°To a certain extent.¡± ¡°Did you just wake up or something? You sound half asleep.¡± ¡°It¡¯s 5 AM here Jack, I wish you¡¯d check the time difference before you called,¡± ¡°Oh man, I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m so used to doing business on Galactic Standard Time, I¡¯ll keep it in mind.¡± ¡°You say that every time¡­¡± I pressed the end call button before he could say anything else, I rolled over in my bed in a desperate attempt to get back to sleep. I soon found it to be an impossible task thanks to my aching body and numerous hyper-sensitive bruises. I decided instead to have a bath, my body should completely recover in a couple of days, just one if I use the correct medicine. It stings like crazy on open wounds but it should be fine with internal bleeding. I spent the time in the bath reading the story my agent had sent me. He was right, it was similar to the comic I had drawn previously, except, it was quite a lot worse. The original premise was shaky at best and the grammar was atrocious, I would be lowering myself quite a few levels accepting a job like this. In this case, there were only 2 reasons Jack would have even sent this to me. The first being that he lied and had not actually read it at all. The second was that he had been offered a larger than the average sum of money. Either way, I cared not for badly written stories. With my bath over and my body significantly less tender, I dressed in my school¡¯s uniform and left the giant house behind. The path was perfectly cut and clean, the school itself was the size of an entire business district. If not for the fast moving platforms it would take hours to cross the grounds. My classroom was in the North East Wing, the furthest point away from my house. It took me many attempts to figure out the quickest way of getting there. The door scanned me briefly and allowed me access, sliding across and revealing the sleek classroom inside. I walked straight over to my chair and slumped across it. My classmates greeted me and I offered a nod, too tired for conversation and in too much pain for any sort of physicality. I sought to actively avoid any social interaction today. As mentioned before, my status as the class clown was recognised by my entire year, so my behavior did not go unnoticed. ¡°Antony, are you alright?¡± After talking with Uvo all weekend it was odd to hear someone speak so properly. ¡°I¡¯m fine, just tired.¡± ¡°Well alright then. How was your weekend?¡± I kicked my brain enough to at least gauge who I was talking to. I looked up to see Torlan, a member of an odd bipedal race with four jellies like arms, I believe a more accurate term would be tentacles, but, he doesn¡¯t like that. On top of that, they have a sleek, streamlined head. He told me they came from a planet where the atmosphere was as dense as water.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Riveting.¡± I answered his question with a roll of my eyes. ¡°What about yours?¡± ¡°Same as always, Dad thinks it¡¯s too stuffy out in the open so I was forced to the pool again. Really, I love it there, it feels like it''s meant for us. But, it gets boring after you¡¯ve been every day for 2 weeks.¡± ¡°You were still singing its praises last week?¡± I countered. ¡°I¡¯ve matured since then.¡± ¡°In a week? I think you¡¯re overestimating yourself.¡± As I said this the teacher walks in. Somehow with the same impeccable timing as always, when I am mid conversation. I have no doubt she waits to make sure I am midway through my sentence before entering the room. Usually, I stop as soon as she walks in but today, my reactions were noticeably more sluggish and I accidentally finished the sentence. ¡°Having a good conversation Mr. Vulta? Care to share it with the class?¡± From past experience, I should back down here, I fear I would not have thanks to my tired mind had Torlan not been able to tap me on the shoulder in time to bring me back to reality. ¡°Good, right. Let¡¯s get started shall we?¡± The day wore on as I wore out. My break consisted of sleep which was also my plan for lunch but some unwanted attention found itself pointing in my direction. Camile Hurlet, a new student and the son of an intergalactic ambassador, may we be struck by Earth¡¯s Storms lest we forget. Quite the stuck-up pretentious tool and, unlike me, definitely a major case of the only-child syndrome. The victim today? A middle-class boy, not sure of his name nor his parent''s occupation, what I do know is that his hand was a losing hand. The form of bullying here was physical, thanks for the most part to the Interplanetary Combat Tournament (ICT). Most kids grew up watching their planets representative, and, like any kid, wanted to grow up to be just like them. This Camile guy had no doubt been watching Thar Klin as a child. Earth¡¯s previous representative in the solo category. Specialist in traps and close combat. The poor kid was getting held down by some goonies and thumped by Camile. The onlookers were watching helplessly, I had no doubt that they wanted to intervene but Camile was not the sort of person to take responsibility for his problems and would no doubt unhesitantly use his father¡¯s position to threaten any peace seeking student with diplomatic intentions. I walked over to the students as casually as possible, coming to a stop in front of Camile and facing the beaten boy. ¡°I need your help for a minute kid, mind coming with me?¡± I smiled at the kid but he just looked at me like I was crazy, the rest of the onlookers were rolling their eyes. They had seen this before, I was quite famously known as suicidal for stepping out and stopping this sort of thing, then getting my arse handed to me. I didn¡¯t care, it wasn¡¯t as bad for someone who was used to the pain, this poor kid on the other hand, was going to be scarred for life if they carried on. ¡°You got some nerve. Wyad.¡± Wyad is a degenerative disease of the brain, untreatable without getting your consciousness downloaded into a cyborg body. No one but the lowest of the low used it as an insult. ¡°Right Camile, what say you we come to an agreement, you let this guy go, and I¡¯ll consider leaving you alive.¡± Straight out of left field, as Camile was new he likely had no idea who I was. This allowed for me to bluff, I looked him straight in the eye with so much faux confidence I was beginning to believe myself. ¡°Lads, this kid challenged us. What say you we switch targets for a bit?¡± The goonies nodded. I noticed hesitance so I¡¯d wager they didn¡¯t actually like doing this, they had to because their parents probably worked for Camile¡¯s father. I shook my head sullenly, after so much physical enhancement over the past thousands of years, the brain still hasn¡¯t caught up. ¡°It¡¯s your funeral¡­¡± I started way too confidently, mostly for the benefit of the expectant onlookers. It roused some giggles which are all I ask. The guys grabbed my shoulders and arms, aggravating all the bruises I had spent 2 hours this morning trying to get rid of. I watched as the boy ran away, fast as his little legs could carry him. The first punch came, this is when it usually fell into a certain rhythm. From here on out, I was powerless. But, this time, it was off-beat. The punch was slow, only by a fraction but if I moved quickly¡­ I felt my body duck without even thinking. The punch flew over me and clattered one of the goons in the face, rendering him unconscious. Camile smiled a little and unleashed another full blown punch. Before my mind could even process the situation I smack his arm away with my forearm and tore myself free of the 2 remaining people holding me down. After the brief moment of freedom the primitive, but effective fight or flight response kicked in and I took off running, never looking back until I was back in my classroom looking at my teacher who was questioning why I had returned to class so early. I made up some excuse and sat down at my desk with my head in my arms and fell asleep, I had managed to find all the things that I had originally set out to avoid, typical. Chapter 8 - Its All About Perspective Guranahan Even considering Jerefiah¡¯s vast incompetence this was a task that I could have sent my 5-year-old son on with all the confidence of him coming out of it with good news. Yet here I am looking at this stupid big head that¡¯s making every excuse possible to justify his failure. He¡¯s been on the call for only 3 minutes and I¡¯m sick of him. Without really knowing what I¡¯m doing my hands reaches out and shuts down the hologram depicting the daft Carnitopian. The irony that they have such a large head and yet so dim is not lost on me. ¡°Jeeves, find Jerefiah, and kill him.¡± ¡°Yes, Sir¡± A voice from behind me, one that never left my side. I have no clue of his real name or race, in my mind, he is illustrated as nothing but a shadow. Flowing and flickering alongside the various blinking lights and levers that makes up the captain''s quarters. The number of times I¡¯ve tried to catch him off guard is beyond my count. So, as Earth Mafia¡¯s Patriarch, it would be worrying if he wasn¡¯t sworn to protect me. But he is, thanks to my late Old Man. With Jeeves on the case, I can rest easy that the bumbling big head will be dead soon enough. I also know that Taijitu is beyond my reach thanks mostly to him, which means it should be eradicated before that diabolical woman gets any crazy ideas. I scratch my left cheek where a freshly healed scar resides. ¡°What was that swines name again, Jeeves?¡± ¡°I believe it was Lessova, Sir.¡± ¡°I want her dead too.¡± ¡°Of course, Sir¡± Jerefiah I knew he¡¯d come but not like this. My race is a funny one, very rare and with not a lot known about it, it gave me the perfect hand for faking my own death. Jeeves, however, is a problem. That bastard butler is a real menace and is the only reason I am in my current state. Five days showerless, airless and underground. In case that sounds familiar - you¡¯re right - I¡¯ve been buried. I found myself a lot closer to death than I had originally hoped for, my ability to shut down all bodily functions for a couple of hours allowed me to appear dead despite only suffering a bullet wound to the head. My guess is that he used such a crude method in case anyone found the body they would just assume it was some back-alley fight went wrong. I spent the first few hours digging the bullet out of my four-inch thick skull, I eventually found it a few millimetres from my brain. The rest of the four days I have spent digging. I have been digging up and putting the dirt beneath me so that I slowly moved up, closer and closer to sweet freedom. I¡¯ll be on the run for a bit but I have a couple of ideas for what I will do after getting out. My fingers slip through the dirt and find no further resistance. My races inability to breathe means I¡¯m not craving the air but more the light, oh, and some food. My body rises from the soil which I would imagine looks terrifying to anyone watching. Unsurprisingly there is no one. As my eyes adjust to the light I soak in my surroundings. A wasteland, a few kilometres away I see the city, a few kilometres in the other direction a cloud. I nod my head and smiled. He knew... That damn Jeeves knew I was still alive all along. I¡¯ve heard of Earth¡¯s Storms before and their ability to tear a reinforced antanite wall to pieces. My skull may be strong but not as strong as antanite, more like very hard steel. I sit down, appreciating the orange and green monstrosity approaching me. The wall of colour engulfing even the sky as it moves forwards at an impossibly slow rate which I know is actually quicker than some spaceships. It¡¯s the effect everyone is familiar with, when something is far away, it looks like it¡¯s moving very slowly. Unfortunately for me, the city is a lot further. I would get about a quarter of the way before being turned into space dust. A few hours passed and the storm was close, another four minutes I would guess, before the beautifully terrifying storm consumed me like a hungry beast, swallowing something too small to be of any real nutritional value. I had resigned to my fate as soon as I¡¯d seen the storm, but now I was certain.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. I heard a slow buzz in front of me, from the direction of the storm. My first thought was some sort of lighting storm or electrical charge that made the storm so deadly. I pictured myself being shocked to death, or maybe frazzled to dust by a voltage beyond the possible. Instead, I found an odd looking ship parked in front of me, side on it looks like a horizontal letter ¡®Y¡¯. A small glass door opened and through it an eye, it was almost comical until I focused on the eye and found no pupils, looking closer I found they were there just a very pale grey colour. ¡°For what reason are you out here, young Carnitopian?¡± ¡°To die,¡± I stated simply, my ticket out of here has arrived and I was not about to blow it. ¡°Do you have blood on your hands?¡± ¡°Only dirty blood, that was to be spilled eventually.¡± ¡°All blood is to be spilled eventually. Would you like a lift to the city, I believe in second chances, and third at that.¡± ¡°I believe this to be only my second.¡± ¡°Then hop aboard, and don¡¯t touch anything or I¡¯ll drop you right here where I found you.¡± I nodded my head amicably and climbed through the newly opened door, ignoring the flush red interior and taking one of the two seats available, my hands glued to my inner thighs. A voice from the speakers in the walls suddenly came to life. ¡°Take the other chair, sit there quietly.¡± I moved without hesitation to the other chair and sat down. ¡°Oh, and fasten your seatbelt.¡± Only at that moment did I realise we still had to outrun one of Earth¡¯s Storms. I strapped myself in with a lot of fumbling due to the nerves, just as I heard the familiar click, my whole body pushed against the chair, the speed of the vehicle reaching such ridiculous levels that I heard a crack that sounded an awful like we had just broken the sound barrier. I began trying to wrap my head around my current situation. This thing had come out of the storm, meaning even if it was for a short time, it was actually inside it. Whilst that alone is already beyond my comprehension, this ship going as fast as it is is also a little beyond what I am used to, for something this size to be able to outrun one of Earth¡¯s Storms is what I had previously believed to be impossible. After the short ride and even shorter admission into Earth¡¯s second largest city, Alavas, he parked and I got out, thanking the eyeball before moving to walk away. ¡°Sir, are you from around here?¡± ¡°Long enough to know the place, what are you looking for?¡± Giving directions is quite literally the least I could do for the man that just saved my life. ¡°It¡¯ll come as a surprise but I¡¯m looking for a small gym, quite famous in the past but has recently fallen on some tough times. They go by the name of Taijitu.¡± What a coincidence. ¡°By chance, I was heading there myself, I was wondering if maybe I could get a lift then we¡¯d both get there as soon as possible.¡± The mysterious eye blinked then replied. ¡°I believe that to be the most efficient method, hop aboard once again. Seeing as this relationship seemingly is going to last longer than both of us thought, might I ask your name.¡± I nodded, not sure if he was able to see me in the back of his ship or not. ¡°Of course, Jerefiah, and yourself?¡± ¡°I suppose that would be a good question, I have no name using vocal languages but I suppose if I were to choose the one most similar to my name it would be Flatten Mountains.¡± I creased my brow, how am I supposed to introduce someone named Flatten Mountains. ¡°I do beg your pardon but a name like that may mean a lot in your language, I¡¯m afraid it is slightly unconventional in ours.¡± ¡°And? What is wrong with being unconventional.¡± ¡°Sir, I do not mean to be rude, however, you will be taken a lot more seriously a lot quicker with a serious name.¡± ¡°Are you mocking my name, saying it¡¯s not a serious one.¡± ¡°I¡¯m afraid I¡¯m just stating the truth.¡± The ship came to a halt. I put my head in my hands, I¡¯ve insulted him, he¡¯s going to kill me. Out of the frying pan and into the fire. ¡°What would you recommend instead?¡± I released the tension in my body and chose to approach this very carefully. ¡°How about Monty.¡± ¡°Monty, for what reason?¡± I saw that coming. ¡°Itmeans mountain in a very old language, one so old most people have forgotten even its name.¡± ¡°I understand, you are translating my name. Thank you for your recommendation, I shall call myself Monty.¡± I sat back in my chair, pleased with my quick thinking. I can only imagine what it says on his travel visa, I bet the guys at Earth customs were surprised when someone came through called Flatten Mountains, then again, probably not. He starts the aiv again and after a few moments and some directions from me, we arrive outside the run-down gym. ¡°This place has not aged well.¡± ¡°Tell me about it¡­¡± ¡°It was created around 3000 years ago, founded by a man by the name of Shen¡­¡± It took me a moment for me to realise he was actually telling me about it. ¡°Oh, not don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s just an expression to let you know that I agree with you.¡± I can¡¯t see his face but I can feel his realisation and embarrassment in the way that he stopped talking immediately. ¡°Actually, it¡¯s a ridiculous expression and doesn¡¯t make much sense. I am also sure it died out a couple of centuries ago.¡± I try to reconcile. ¡°Let¡¯s go inside.¡± He ignored me. I smiled as the door opened and I got out, not knowing what to expect my mysterious saviour to look like. My lack of expectations still was not enough to prepare me for what I saw. Chapter 9 - Connections are Everything Wen Daiyu Since the fight, it¡¯s been three days. Antony is settling very well into the routine, my guess is that he has had strict schedules since he was young, I¡¯m not sure what excuse he¡¯s using to come home late every day but it seems fine so far. Uvo¡¯s doing a fantastic job of settling into the new school, if anything I¡¯m worried about his social life, he¡¯s working so hard he¡¯s forgotten that there are other people in his class with him. Though I suppose I¡¯m also thankful for that because it means he has enough time to train. On the same note, there has been a mysterious girl coming round with Uvo for the last few days, I have not asked him about it as initially I did not care. However, it¡¯s Friday now and she showed up early to help clean the gym¡­ Again. ¡°Welcome, young lady. Might I ask what it is you are doing here? I do not pay you and I am sure neither does Uvo.¡± She stopped sweeping when she saw me approach and politely waited for me to finish my sentence. ¡°Hello.¡± She said simply with a beaming smile. ¡°I don¡¯t mean to be rude but this place needs cleaning, especially if Uvo¡¯s training here.¡± ¡°You care much for the boy?¡± She looked at me oddly. ¡°Of course, the most.¡± She stated matter of factly. ¡°And to show my gratitude for giving Uvo a chance to be someone I¡¯ll help clean this place up.¡± I like this girl, she¡¯s around Tom¡¯s age but she has more character in her left pinky toe than he does in total. I smiled at her, continuing the conversation. ¡°I would like to offer you a job, it would be unpaid and relatively time-consuming but it would be something you could do for both me and Uvo. How about it?¡± She leaned against the brush in her hand and smirked. ¡°What I lack in money I make up for in free time, and it¡¯s all yours if you¡¯ll take me!¡± I break into a grin, I¡¯ve needed an extra pair of hands around here for a long time. That old bot behind the reception desk can¡¯t move anymore, let alone help with chores. I take the brush from Tracy, my new assistant and bring her to my underwhelming office, swiping some piles of paper and dust off the surface of an extra desk. ¡°A few jobs that need doing. Whilst I do the filing, you need to book me an appointment with the ICT, please also remember this. Now that you are working with me, you are safe from whatever you were a part of before. Uvo didn¡¯t say anything but I know, I even think I know who you were working for.¡± Her face is dead and her eyes are set on me, gauging my seriousness and capability. I hold my ground, easily done. She nods and says nothing more, opening one of the monitors and getting to work. I feel this may be a beneficial relationship. Ant and Uvo are coming soon, they arrive at the same time every Friday. So when I heard voices two hours early I knew they did not belong to the boys. I freed myself from the mountains of paperwork that had surrounded me to the point of near suffocation. Opening the door to the main gym I am greeted with a sight I would not have expected in a trillion years. That Carnitopian man who tried to steal my business and the most dismal looking Rel¡¯lar I¡¯ve ever seen. My arms automatically cross in front of my chest. Tracy, sensing my discomfort gets up to stand next to me.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. The Carnitopian is the first to speak. ¡°Good to see you again, Lady Wen.¡± He know¡¯s my name which is odd, this is to be taken seriously, but I already knew that due to the presence of a Rel¡¯lar. ¡°Greetings, what brings you here?¡± Our formal language comes off as hostile and awkward, which is certainly noticed by the visiting Rel¡¯lar, I¡¯d better soothe my voice. ¡°Actually I came here to provide information, for a price of course.¡± ¡°What kind of information would I currently have need of.¡± ¡°It¡¯s the kind that explains why I was so persistent in claiming your gym and its name.¡± ¡°You think I know nothing of the value of its name?¡± ¡°Then you should also know that nobody is going to allow something so valuable to slip through their fingers.¡± ¡°Guranahan?¡± I ask tentatively. Tracy shudders at the mentioning of his name¡­ I knew it. ¡°He¡¯s one of them. Luckily for you, I have his plans locked up here.¡± He said gesturing to his oversized head. ¡°The price?¡± ¡°Simple, I need guaranteed sanctuary, I was just fired from a very sensitive job, maybe you have a safe house somewhere that might extend my lifespan somewhat.¡± I do, it¡¯s not being used and there is nothing of value in it. I don¡¯t see a downside to this deal. If it ends up that he has no information I could just turn him over to Guranahan and use him to curry some favour. I see no downside. ¡°Alright, deal. I¡¯ll guarantee your safety for all the information you currently have.¡± I watched him exhale a sigh of relief, whatever trouble he¡¯s in must be pretty swampy. At that moment I feel a tingle in the back of my head, I quickly slap Tracy across the face. Her disbelief is not due to my slap but the fact that she had been almost unconscious since the start of the conversation. Tracy, with her mind her own once more, looks over to greyish-bluey-man standing before her with a new expression. I had forgotten that Rel¡¯lar had that effect on the untrained. I am also surprised that the Carnitopian is fine but I assume that is something to do with the size of his head. ¡°Greetings, Esteemed Rel¡¯lar, your presence here is a lovely surprise. What does this humble establishment have that could interest such a magnificent being as yourself.¡± Time to lay it on thick. He takes a sweeping look around the room. There are a few things I can safely assume so far, the fact that he did not know he had this effect on Tracy means he is probably new to meeting less powerful life forms, and the fact that he has remained silent so far means that he is one of the good ones. Raised by Alo and not Ola. All that aside, one look at him and I can tell, he¡¯s something else. Ignoring the current state of his clothes and the various wounds covering his body, he is no doubt the product of a high-class family, one that spends a lot of time making sure their children are the top of the food chain. There is no doubt in my mind this man could squash me like a bug. Tracy, on the other hand, is none the wiser. I can tell by her facial expression she¡¯s miffed, her lack of education, in this case, could be detrimental to my diplomatic intentions. Her gaze set upon the blue-skinned Rel¡¯lar she strode up to him, my surprise at her actions caused my reactions to falter and allowed her to approach the godly man. Her hand moves up to her waist, the clueless Rel¡¯lar looking genuinely curious at her actions. ¡°You finished with my mind, bluey?¡± He looks lost, poor guy has no idea what he¡¯s done. ¡°Tracy, he didn¡¯t mean to invade.¡± ¡°Then what did he mean to do?¡± She inquired, still staring him in his pale blue eyes. ¡°Nothing, Ma¡¯am, I¡¯m afraid I had not intended to do anything.¡± ¡°Had not?¡± ¡°It seems to me that you have some important information regarding one of the reasons I am on this planet. The other reason is to visit an old friend of my father¡¯s. Do you, by any chance know of a lady by the name of Wen Shanyu?¡± ¡°She¡¯s dead.¡± I say, perhaps too quickly, it¡¯s been a long time since anyone has mentioned my mother''s name. Tracy is still staring at the Rel¡¯lar with such an intensity I¡¯m afraid she might shoot laser beams. ¡°That¡¯s a shame, I would have loved to meet her.¡± He paused for a moment, paying respects for someone he didn¡¯t even know. My opinion is growing of him by the second. ¡°My name is Monty, recently named by my friend here.¡± He said, slapping Jerefiah on the back, stunning him briefly. ¡°I¡¯m here to lend a helping hand as part of my experience gathering, and of course to deal with the aforementioned business which I am afraid cannot be revealed.¡± My head moved slowly down into my waiting hands. The ridiculousness of the situation was not lost on the others in the room. In a matter of days, the gym has become the busiest it has been in years. The poor Carnitopian hangs his head in shame, no doubt unused to being a burden. As for the blue Alo Rel¡¯lar, I¡¯ll use him as Tracy¡¯s guard dog. If she¡¯s angered Guranahan then there¡¯s much more she has to worry about than just Uvo¡¯s livelihood. Chapter 10 - Setting Dates With her head still aching her eyes maintained the steely stare currently locked onto the breathtakingly beautiful blue man stood before her. She could hardly remember him walking in the room before the lights went out in her head. Only traces of memories were felt for a good few minutes before she was startled awake by a timely slap. She knew it was him because he was staring at her. Her initial reaction may have been counter-intuitive but her anger forced her to throw caution to the wind and approach him. After the brief conversation between the Alo Rel¡¯lar and Wen Daiyu her mind was slowly starting to think rationally again, though she was still stood in place directly in front of him. Thankfully, realising that Tracy was in a vulnerable position Wen quickly brought the conversation forward. ¡°Esteemed Rel¡¯lar, Tracy is a local resident and a very knowledgeable individual, if it suits you she could escort you on a tour around the establishment and surroundings, maybe help you find a place to stay.¡± Wen watched Tracy¡¯s reaction and was surprised to see that she was perfectly happy with it. The Rel¡¯lar was happy to be shown around the building that even the elders of his family had complimentary words for. Doors swung open and voices could be heard in the entrance where the robot was busy scanning the cards that belonged to Antony and Uvo. The new duo walked into the room together to see a rather unusual sight. The big-headed man was back, this time chatting at a normal volume with Master Wen, then there was Tracy who Uvo immediately spotted chatting to a blue man who looked like he¡¯d just come out of a blender. Uvo tried to look at Antony to confirm he had not gone mad but Antony was staring straight on without recognition. Uvo then realised the dull ache in the back of his head. It started to get more painful before immediately leaving. ¡°You¡¯re finally here!¡± ¡°Finally? we got here when we always do¡­¡± Uvo said as Antony was still recovering from being briefly incapacitated. ¡°Right, well get to work, wouldn¡¯t want to disappoint our guests.¡± Antony had recovered by this time and nodded to Master Wen before taking a seat on the mat to begin meditation. Uvo glanced at Tracy who shot him an easing smile. Finally relaxing a little Uvo took a seat alongside Antony to begin their meditation. An hour went by, Tracy and Monty had left to show him around, Jerefiah was discussing things with Master Wen in the office. Antony and Uvo stood up and started their dynamic stretches before beginning their cardiovascular warm-up. Thanks to almost 2 weeks of daily training, both of them had improved drastically, whilst they were somewhat lacking in technique which took years to fully master, their brute strength and fitness were leaps and bounds beyond the level of their first fight. Master Wen exited her office when she sees the boys warming up, ready to begin their training session. ¡°How was school boys?¡± She asked, expecting a quick answer, they both delivered sharply. ¡°It was fine¡­¡± ¡°Alright.¡± ¡°Bags first, we¡¯ll do some circuits.¡± They both nodded and when Master Wen signalled began to hit the bags, practising the basic punches and kicks they had been taught by Master Wen in the past few days. Uvo was slightly ahead of Antony as he was comfortable with throwing a punch long before this. One minute at the bags, one-minute push-ups, one-minute sit-ups, one minute two foot jumps onto a raised platform, and a minute of weighted lunges whilst shadow boxing in between each lunge, then a minute rest. This was the circuit they ran today, for five sets until they were both on the brink of collapse. ¡°Water yourselves, then we¡¯ll play a little game.¡± The duo groaned but complied, they already knew the game. It was basically combat tag except they were both ''it'' and were trying to hit Master Wen. They knew it was unachievable at their current standard but if they slacked they¡¯d get smacked in the stomach. After the game came discipline and the forming of a patient mind. The two stood in horse stance and were required to punch when a target presented itself, there were also dummy targets that if punched would shock them. The final rule was that if Master Wen shouted they would have to dodge instead of attack the target. The training session ended with a simple spar. Tom usually against Antony and Uvo fought Master Wen. It goes without saying she held back. The session ended after Antony had been put on the back foot again by Tom. Although he was still unable to land a clean hit. Uvo, Antony and Tom all stood drinking water, refuelling and recovering from another gruelling session. ¡°Ant and Uvo. I have news for you.¡± The boys looked at Master Wen who was standing with a few sheets of paper in her hand. ¡°Sign these first.¡± They did so. ¡°Now that you¡¯re official members of the ICT Rookie¡¯s League you can fight in the event this weekend, they just happen to have an open slot.¡±This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. The two boys looked at her as emotions painted themselves on each of their faces. Uvo¡¯s was a masterpiece of excitement and joy, Antony¡¯s a maddening piece of nervousness and anxiety. "The rookie league is simple, fight until you reach number 1, the people you fight this weekend are 378th. If anything I expect you to lose, I would estimate that you belong in the 400¡¯s at present, I am looking forward to you surprising me. Oh, and, if you don¡¯t want to be hassled, make sure you hide your identity.¡± The training session finished and the two walked home, Uvo with Tracy and Antony alone. The two boys were knackered and although Antony could at least return to a safe and hospitable home to recover Uvo had to live on the scraps of society in order to live. This meant his diet was definitely non-ideal and to add to that he had no baths or medical treatments for the various injuries he received whilst sparring or otherwise. As Uvo entered the classroom, he noticed a different vibe, one that perhaps excluded him more than usual, there was a classwide discussion, the excitement in there was electric, even the quiet girl with the black hair behind Uvo was listening attentively to the conversation. They barely noticed Uvo¡¯s entrance so he took his usual seat and waited patiently for the teacher to arrive. ¡°Why don¡¯t they announce the fighters?¡± ¡°Because they¡¯re scumbags¡­¡± ¡°Yeah, money grubbers just want the publicity.¡± ¡°You know, I think this new Taijitu is going to be an embarrassment.¡± Uvo stayed facing forward, trying to hide his surprise at the name of his gym being mentioned. He had agreed with Antony to keep their identities hidden, at least for now. This meant that they would go undisturbed at school and hopefully when training as well although that was looking increasingly unlikely. ¡°So who¡¯s going to watch them, I¡¯m going to pick up tickets after school, anyone else?¡± Quite a few people expressed interest, notably not the pretty girl with the black hair who was still nameless for Uvo. the loudest in the class and the one currently speaking was named Fletcher, he seemed like an alright guy, luckily there were no snobs in the school, it was a little too common for anyone worth a damn. ¡°What about you, Uvo? You interested?¡± Uvo shook his head quickly then returned his gaze to the front. With immaculate timing the teacher swung open the door and walked in, her eyes drifting across the room, demanding silence and order, the students complied and took up their seats, the buzz of the room dying down quickly expecting a long and boring lesson ahead of them. For Uvo, it meant, even more, things he didn¡¯t understand. His notebook was almost half full after just 4 days thanks to the amount of work he¡¯d done at home in a desperate attempt to catch up with the rest of the class. He flipped open to a blank page, contemplating his situation now, at some point the teacher noticed his head in the clouds and snapped him out of it by slapping his desk, accidentally scaring the girl behind him as well. He quickly apologised, for many, it was the first time they had heard him speak. ¡°Are you tired?¡± Uvo shook his head. ¡°Maybe you need some water?¡± He shook his head again. Letting out a sigh of resignation she slipped seamlessly back into teaching. Before Uvo could zone out again he felt a kick shake his chair. He looked around to see a scowling girl, she mouthed to him: ¡®pay attention!¡± He smiled at her and returned his attention to the front as suggested. His pen soon scratching away at his notebook. The anguished and mildly irritated Rel¡¯lar dropped the conversation he was having through telepathy, his angered expression was quickly wiped from his face as he turned to Tracy. ¡°Name¡¯s Monty then?¡± ¡°That is so, how do you like it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s goofy, but I like it.¡± ¡°Do you have any further opinion on me? As I understand my previous actions seem to have angered you.¡± Tracy smiled at the grey coloured man, his clothes were still in shambles but his wounds had healed and his smile was innocent looking enough. ¡°I¡¯m old enough to let bygones be bygones.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a relief to hear.¡± It was the next day and the boys and Master Wen were nowhere to be found, the current occupants of the gym consisted of Tracy and the mysterious Rel¡¯lar who had stayed at a fancy hotel the night, one that had been recommended highly by Tracy who had stayed there with a few of her clients. Monty was fixing some of the equipment, instructed to do so hesitantly by Master Wen, Tracy was dealing with some paperwork that was required in order for Master Wen to coach a team in the ICT. ¡°Boys, today we have something slightly different.¡± Antony and Uvo shared a glance, equally uncomfortable with what they were facing. It was after school and they had both gone to the location Master Wen had instructed them to the day before. For reasons they could only assume had to do with anonymity, they were at what seemed to be a dump. One tailored specifically for old robots, probably malfunctioning AI¡¯s. Master Wen was currently holding the head of one of the broken robots, her evil grin was what was making the boys so uncomfortable. ¡°I want you to learn to adapt to a change in situation, focus and most importantly, tempo.¡± The two boys had been told this a number of times throughout the week they had been training, they had not, however, been explained to what exactly she meant by tempo, and what it had to do with fighting. Master Wen launched forward, starting a fast offence on Uvo who quickly avoided backwards, dodging the attacks just as practised. Antony had manoeuvred himself behind Master Wen who had taught him that offence was sometimes a good defence. He quickly went for a low sweeping kick to take her out or just put her off balance. She jumped the kick and used the momentum to unleash a kick at Uvo¡¯s head who blocked it with his forearm. Antony tried to catch one of her extremities whilst she was in the air to prepare for a throw but she had already landed and was continuing her attack on Uvo. Antony went for a tackle at her back in an effort to stun her, Master Wen turned at struck out with a knee which was dodged immediately by Antony who continued his advancement. When the collision occurred, Uvo tried to help Antony by throwing out another sweeping kick, before he could, however, a punch landed square in his jaw. His face buckled and he was sent stumbling backwards, after taking a half second to recover he checked the attacker which turned out to be a robot, one that he had assumed to be broken. Because there was no sweeping kick, Antony was countered and pushed away to stand next to Uvo, they were only given a second to think before both the robot and Master Wen moved in on the duo. This was the first time since their fight that they had fought a 2v2. They had had tactics explained to them but not given much of a chance to try them out. Put politely, Uvo and Antony were destroyed, they were outmanoeuvred and outsmarted. They were disjointed and were not aware of each other''s presence in the slightest, they were fighting as if they were in different rings altogether. The training session ended after almost two hours, including breaks and a cooldown that involved passive stretches and meditation. The two boys were sent home with heads hanging slightly low and a new chip on their shoulder. Their pride had been thoroughly dismantled from being beaten up by an already beaten up robot and an old lady who was holding back. Master Wen smiled to herself, her hypothesis turned out to be faultless and her solution looked like it might just work. Chapter 11 - Stomped Humid and thick air, laced with the putrid smell of pundits and thugs alike made the arena feel more like a Viking''s sauna than a rookie league tournament. The fighter¡¯s ring had not been used yet so was unspoiled. The time for the first fight was approaching. Master Wen wiped the sweat off her brow and took a swig of water, glancing over at her two fighters sitting on the bench with their t-shirts off and their masks on. Now that they had a little muscle on them they actually suited the reasonably large gauntlets they had used in the previous fight. More and more Wen was doubting throwing them into the deep end so quickly, it was part of her plan to show them a hard time but this jump may be a little too severe. She watched the announcer take the stage and came to terms with the fact that it was too late now to change her mind. ¡°Get up boys, show ¡®em what you got.¡± The boys nodded and took the stage, they had an air of confidence that may be due to the fact that they won the last fight they competed in. Antony took the stage first, his black mask set off a small round of shouts from the truly passionate fans, most were only here for the big fight at the end, a rare few were there to watch the legendary Taijitu make its competitive comeback. Antony stood to the left of Uvo, both standing still, the last minute mental preparation whilst the other fighters came to the stage. One strange looking man with only one eye, he was big and frighteningly ugly. The other looked to be some kind of android, it was silver and new looking but most notably, it was tiny. The boys had been taught not to judge a fighter by their looks so they took their stance. The bell rang quickly, there was no ceremony for small time fighters like these. Uvo charged forward, looking to get the jump on the one-eyed man, letting Antony handle the small robot, assuming it''s uselessness. Before he could get there he felt a pain in his thigh, he looked to see the android pulling back from a punch. Before Uvo realised what was happening a punch launched towards him, the strange man was going for a sloppy punch to his head. Uvo was prepared for this and attempted a dodge to the right, only to find that his leg buckled under the pressure. The punch landed cleanly on the left side of his face, the mask offered very little protection as it was made of bendy material so that it didn¡¯t break. Uvo slammed onto the ground, his leg now burning and his face throbbing. Antony had been taken by surprise by the speed of the android. His immediate reaction was to follow it but by the time he got there Uvo was on the ground. As Uvo tried dragging himself up Antony went to block anything that tried to stop him, he was quickly dispatched by a well-placed knee to the stomach by the android, Uvo was finished by a kick to the head, after the brutal move, the one-eyed man moved to finish Antony who was keeled over and quite winded. With some sort of mechanically rhythmic follow up he raised his hands over his head forming a pile driver of fists which was brought down onto Antony¡¯s back, knocking him to the ground. The strange man stepped on Antony¡¯s back and leaned over to whisper to him. The announcer finished the fight by calling the winners names, Wen Daiyu came on stage and brought Uvo off, Tom hoisted Antony onto his shoulder and carried him off. The recovery took a couple of hours, Uvo was dizzy for a while and Antony was struggling to breathe for a little too long for Master Wen to be comfortable with. The punch to Uvo¡¯s face was so hard it had split his eyebrow and left a sizeable imprint of the man¡¯s fist on his cheek. There were no words spoken, Master Wen knew they had learned something, they were probably not aware of what yet, she was also aware of what the man had whispered to Antony and was worried it would hamper his spirits, maybe even cause him to quit completely.Stolen novel; please report. She¡¯d have to handle this with great care, if they came back from a defeat like this it would start a fire even she would struggle to contain, or they would back out now and let the spark fizzle out like a soggy campfire. Secretly, part of her was hoping for the latter, it hurt her watching them get beaten like that, especially with the knowledge that it was completely because of her that they had competed in the first place. Meanwhile, in the boy¡¯s minds was a whirlwind of emotions. Mostly pain, anger, and fear. Uvo had woken up dazed, with an aching like he¡¯d never felt before and a searing pain in his thigh and the side of his head where the kick had collided with his cheekbone. His first reaction was to look at Antony who looked to be panting in very tiny breaths like he was only using one of his lungs. A huge bruise was starting to spread on his back, what caused it, Uvo was not sure. They both understood one thing however, they knew when they looked at each other. Their minds racing so fast, the adrenaline pumping to dull the pain and the faint roaring of the crowd outside manifested as a manic smile on their faces. Master Wen watched as her two boys looked at each other smiling and let out a sigh of relief. The fire was lit, how big it would grow would be up to them. The next day was thankfully a Sunday, Uvo was recovering in the dojo as they at least had a functional shower and a proper bed, they had spent the small amount of money they earned on the medicine to heal him up for school on Monday. Antony was at home, his wounds were not as visual as Uvos who was cut all over, excluding the giant bruise on his back. He was lying in bed, the bruise still hurt but was smaller now thanks to his medicine. He was about to have a shower when there was a knocking on the door. His eyes cast downwards in dismay. He approached the door and opened it. A beautiful woman was on the other side, her smile deceivingly innocent. ¡°Where were you yesterday darling?¡± No matter the answer they both knew what was about to happen. ¡°Just with some friends Mum, we were working on some school work.¡± ¡°And you decided that I didn¡¯t need to know.¡± ¡°Mum, I told Dad, you know I did.¡± Without talking anymore, she grabbed her son by the hair and dragged him to a separate room. ¡°Mum, I have school tomorrow¡­¡± ¡°And¡­?¡± She questioned before instructing him to remove his t-shirt, revealing the bruise on his back. She lurched back in horror. ¡°Are you being bullied, darling?¡± ¡°No Mum! I just fell, don¡¯t worry about it.¡± ¡°You know I can¡¯t help but worry about you, why do you think I do this?¡± She stated as she brandished the nine tailed whip and struck out at Antony¡¯s back. The lash was practiced and accurate. It cut deep and caused Antony to flinch slightly, she had struck him harder than he was used to even after all these years. ¡°I¡¯m sorry Mother, next time I will make sure to let you know when I go out.¡± He went to open the door so he could shower and try to heal the wounds. ¡°Sorry darling, but I just don¡¯t feel like you¡¯ve learned your lesson yet. Come back will you?¡± Antony paused at the door, his eyes a reflection of reservation and deeply engraved sadness. He made his way back to the centre of the room. His so-called Mother whipped him a further 4 times, rounding it up to 5 total for the first time in a year. ¡°Thank you for your instruction Mum.¡± He stated robotically and left the room, the pain from the lashes being dulled slightly thanks to the painkillers he¡¯d taken for his bruise but needless to say, it was still agonizingly painful. Monty thrust his feet up onto the table of his hotel, he was bored. He was fully aware by now of the whereabouts of his brother, he just couldn¡¯t understand what he was doing on this horrible planet and why he was here. The hotel he was staying was good enough for a human but horribly cramped for someone of his status, not only that but pretending to be nice to the group of misfits in the gym was giving him the most splitting headache. The only saving grace was the charming lady called Tracy. Chapter 12 - Sinister Tidings ¡°Teamwork, Master.¡± ¡°That''s right, well, it¡¯s a good start. You lost because they formed a duo, you had no idea of each other¡¯s existence in the fight, you must remember that there are two of you for a reason.¡± The two fighters nodded, eager to start their first training session since the pounding they had received last time. They were back at the scrapyard only this time the robots that were going to be used for training were already standing at ready. Their training lasted for three hours, the focus on nothing more than timing and rhythm. In the beginning there looked to be no hope but Antony picked up on the task, noticing that there were moments of downtime on Uvo¡¯s offensive, Antony tried hopping in, parrying a couple of the fight bots attacks, giving Uvo a brief period to resume fighting stance and re engage. The moment was not missed by Master Wen who made a mental note. As it got further in, Uvo learned to take advantage of his downtime and used it to launch a peculiar attack such as a leg kick or gut punch, the fact that the robot was held up with Antony allowed Uvo an opportunity to strike at a weakness, the duo even managed to disable a robot completely when Uvo high kicked it¡¯s head off. The end of the session was called when Antony had become comfortable with the movement. Due to them being training bots they only had a set of movements, meaning, once Antony had fought with it enough he came to understand its movements, the bots stood no chance after that. Master Wen was pleased with the progress, it was actually a lot more than what she had hoped for. Not only had Uvo learned how to fight alongside Antony but Antony had learned to read, remember and predict movements, far quicker and more accurately than she had ever seen. The bots had a total of a hundred movements programmed, his ability to comprehend them so quickly surpassed even her own when at his age. Master Wen approached the boys who were toweling off at the end of the session, slipping dirty shoes on in preparation for the journey home. ¡°You did well, I see you learned a great many things.¡± They both looked up and she could tell that they had done just that. ¡°You¡¯re next fight is in two weeks and against a different, far less capable team. I have no doubt you can beat them.¡± ¡°Not the team we fought last time?¡± ¡°You may be ready for them after this next fight but certainly not right now, patience is something that I thought I had already taught you.¡± Uvo recovered from the disappointed expression and politely nodded. ¡°Continue your stretching at home, I have something to attend to at the moment, make sure you do your meditation as well.¡± The boys nodded and said their goodbyes, excited at the prospect of their next fight. Master Wen took off after the training, ashamed of calling her first ever lesson early but realising it was necessary she powered past the buildings and arrived at a towering monstrosity of a construction. Reaching upwards of three kilometres, the building was designed with elegance and class much different to most of the buildings taking up the minimal space Earth has to offer. It was the centre of the city and the only transport out if you wanted to go into space. The elevator took Wen to the 316th Floor, an executive sweet in the most expensive building in the city. She expected no less however so walked undaunted through the door, deciding not to knock in case she appeared too polite. ¡°Ah, Ms Wen, we¡¯ve been expecting you.¡± A young man dressed in a black suit sat behind a large wooden desk stated monotonously. His expression giving nothing away, the gaudy and over the top interior placed gave the atmosphere a muddled feeling. Wen scowled at the man who made no move in retaliation, only ushering her towards one of the four doors in the hallway. She opened it unceremoniously, her eyes landing on the badly dressed man sitting on some sofas on the other side of the room. He was watching the Taijitu fight on a screen the size of the wall. ¡°Guranahan¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s Mr Hedley to you. As you are Ms Wen to me.¡± He sneered violently, his teeth almost all made of some ridiculously expensive space rock. His rings had much the same treatment, he looked truly at home in the horrible decor. ¡°What did you want?¡± ¡°I want nothing, I only want to talk.¡±Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°If it¡¯s about my gym, I don¡¯t want to hear anything about it.¡± ¡°Are you sure? Listen, you¡¯re fighters are criminally subpar. You must know this.¡± ¡°They are at the beginning of their journey.¡± ¡°That they may be, but you are coming to the end of yours. You must understand you have limited time to see your name reach the highest mountains.¡± ¡°You do not have to tell me.¡± ¡°Then hear my offer, a new team, under the same name of course. Only, with my fighters.¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Oh, come on! I¡¯m not even finished. You get a paid role as head coach and the gym refurbished, all off my back.¡± ¡°As I said, no thank you.¡± Guranahan stood, flattening his trousers in the process. He poured himself a drink from a table in the corner, standing with his back to Master Wen. ¡°I know that you know what I¡¯m capable of Wen, there¡¯s not much on this planet I can¡¯t do. You definitely don¡¯t seem to have forgotten what happened last time your gym crossed me. What makes you think I¡¯ll just sit down and let you do as you please.¡± ¡°Two reasons. The first being that you have no one stronger than me, so you can¡¯t get it forcefully, the second being that it¡¯s not for sale, you can¡¯t get it financially.¡± ¡°Remember last ti¡­¡± ¡°Last time you waited for a day where there was no one but a novice coach teaching and murdered them. You can be sure that won¡¯t happen again.¡± Guranahan scoffed. ¡°Where there¡¯s a will, there¡¯s a way.¡± ¡°Sure, and where there¡¯s a dick, there¡¯s a weak spot. You leave my gym alone and you won¡¯t have your entire business torn to shreds before you can get dressed.¡± The glass smashed under the pressure of Guranahan¡¯s grip, his face contorted and his fists clenched he turned, but before he could shout he saw the door slam and suddenly he was alone. ¡°Jeeves.¡± ¡°Yes, Sir.¡± ¡°You got the girl yet?¡± ¡°I believe I may have found her, Sir.¡± ¡°Get A1 to kill her. I need you to kill Wen.¡± ¡°You know that violates the contract, Sir. If you offer the order again I am free to deny and break the¡­¡± ¡°YES, I KNOW! Guranahan thought for a while. If he killed the fighters she¡¯d just find two more. As far as he could work out, the name Taijitu was out of his grasp. His anger, on the verge of spilling out was finally subdued by the idea of finally finding the girl that cost his business millions of GC (Galactic Currency). All his businesses were running smoothly at the moment, only his internal lust for power was driving him towards Taijitu, which had affectionately named the Billion GC Gym. Even his all-powerful Father had not succeeded in overthrowing Wen. He was very eager to finish what he had started, in his honour. ¡°Jeeves.¡± ¡°Yes, Sir.¡± ¡°Is Jerefiah dead?¡± ¡°I left it in the capable hands of A1.¡± ¡°Good.¡± Guranahan sat back on the sofa, putting his arms behind his head he stretched and sighed. All the business talk giving him a headache. ¡°Brother¡­¡± A dark room echoed with voices surpassing even time itself. ¡°What are you doing here?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve come to visit.¡± ¡°Leave now, you are not my Brother. I do not want to be visited by you.¡± ¡°So rude after such a long time apart.¡± ¡°What kind of atrocious things have you learned in your time with Ola.¡± ¡°I think you would agree with their teachings more than you may think.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°I came here to bring you back, Brother. Why do you waste your time on such a backwater planet.¡± ¡°I am unwilling to tell you.¡± ¡°I am unwilling to care. Tell me or I¡¯ll reveal your location.¡± ¡°Everyone knows I¡¯m here, I¡¯m bound.¡± ¡°An honour contract? With who? Who on this planet is deserving?¡± ¡°Plenty are deserving, unfortunately not the one I am bound to.¡± ¡°You, stupid Alo, this is why I left.¡± ¡°You left because you are selfish.¡± ¡°I left because I am smart.¡± ¡°Leave now, I have Elders nearby who would very much like to tear you limb from limb.¡± ¡°Scary. Where is the brotherly love that you used to have?¡± Silence. ¡°Suit yourself. You may find that we meet each other soon. I have found a slightly interesting lady and an old friend of our Fathers.¡± SIlence again. Monty cut communication with his biological brother and slipped out of the space he had created, arriving back in the hotel room. Tracy came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her. ¡°A true gentleman, this will provide for Uvo and me for a long time.¡± ¡°It is the least I could do for the fun you provided.¡± ¡°I had fun too but I have to go, Uvo finished school a few hours ago and might get worried.¡± ¡°You haven¡¯t told him you¡¯re seeing me?¡± ¡°He knows the kind of work I do, so he knows I¡¯m seeing someone. I see no reason to tell him any more than that.¡± ¡°As you wish.¡± Monty placed his arm around her waist. ¡°You have a safe journey back.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure I will,¡± she winked at him and left the apartment in her fresh clothes, her perky backside holding Monty¡¯s gaze for the duration of her journey down the hall. Uvo had been lying on his back on the floor for some time after getting bored with work. When he finally heard the door open he shot downstairs. Seeing Tracy standing there he smiled. He noticed the shopping bags in her hand and smiled wider. ¡°Good client?¡± ¡°Great client.¡± She confirmed. They slipped upstairs and tucked into a hearty meal. Then went to bed on a real mattress, purchased with the very small amount of money left over from the fight and some of Tracy¡¯s earnings. Their little room in the squatter''s house was starting to be the envy of all the others. Chapter 13 - On to the Next One ¡°When will you let us speak to them?¡± ¡°When they are ready.¡± Master Wen shooed away another reporter, this one a perky young lady. She had been around the gym since the fight, silently waiting. Only today had she finally spoken up. Her attempt to talk to the Taijitu was unsuccessful just like everyone else''s. Master Wen slipped away finding her two boys already training outside the scrap yard that had become their new training ground. Training inside the gym was no longer an option if they wanted to remain anonymous. Her eyes drifted between the two of them. She sensed they both had something on their mind. It was difficult to meditate properly when you had something prominent in your head. It looked to be especially eating at Antony who was sweating just trying to clear his mind. He had made no attempt to cover up the new scars. The bruises on his face that had shown up out of the blue proved he was not getting much of a rest outside of his training. Master Wen¡¯s best guess was the family was responsible for the lashes, the bruises probably a result of a school bully. It looked like he was taking her instruction of not using the martial arts outside of the ring seriously, for that she was grateful. For Uvo, the pain looked to be more mental, his intense catch-up schedule for school was taking its toll. She could see the bags under his eyes where he had stayed up late studying or training. She cursed herself for only now noticing. She picked up her chin, steeling herself for a slightly different kind of training session. Uvo returned home with a new outlook, a new perspective and more importantly, some time to sleep. Training had involved a very intense 45 minutes of exercise designed to tire them out. It had worked wonders as before Uvo had even hit the mattress he was asleep. The same could be said for Antony who had completely ignored personal hygiene for once and fell into a deep and nourishing sleep. The next morning arrived as a surprise to both boys. They had slept through dinner and on through the night, waking up at their usual time they went about their usual routine with renewed vigour. Unsure of what was causing the drastic change, whether it was the workout or the enlightening words Master Wen had spoken. They were both in school earlier than usual. Uvo still had no one to talk to so ended practicing his mathematics, which was improving at a much faster rate than the rest of his subjects. Antony spent the time drawing, he was still waiting for an answer from his agent on the results of the competition so he drew a piece for a comic he was currently working on with an author on planet Effer, the next populated planet with a naturally breathable atmosphere. Uvo felt the presence of someone taking up the chair behind him. Smiling, he recalled the girl''s face from the one time he had turned around to look at her. Her eyes had no pupils betraying the fact that she was not human. He head was resting in her hands, her disheveled hair falling to one side, a slight smirk haunting the side of her mouth, her eyes fixed on his. Antony¡¯s pen brushed the screen, applying another black stroke to the action pose of the main character. Uvo¡¯s equation was approaching completion and for a blessed period of time, the two troubled boys were at peace. Guranahan paced back and forth in his office. The ICT Rookie League was currently taking place. His team was 5th and rising. The next fight was against the current 1st placers, his excitement could not be contained. Not only that but Taijitu were part of the lead-up fights. He would get to witness the fighters for himself, completely hoping that they would fail miserably. He had already bought the opposing team and provided the fighter top quality training in order to fully annihilate any hope for Taijitu to advance in the rankings. If he could not have the name, then no one could.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Tracy had finished today¡¯s paperwork. Her variety of work experience was starting to show its merits, her positive attitude and determined personality had helped her get to grips with the required tasks. She was busy cleaning the gauntlets the boys used when from a hole in the floorboards came a man she had never seen. Her immediate reaction was to fight, she raised her fists in an attempt to show her combat ability. ¡°Ms Tracy, please relax, it¡¯s me, Jerefiah.¡± The man raised his hands in surrender. Unfortunately for him, he looked nothing like the big-headed alien he had just named. ¡°Right¡­¡± ¡°No really, I am, here I¡¯ll prove it. If you get Monty here he will vouch for me.¡± ¡°So how come you have such a normal sized head then?¡± It was true, not only had his head shrunk but he had grown taller, he retained his slightly mousy face and he still had no ears. He was also very, very dark skinned. ¡°Yet another unique feature of our race. We base our appearance on what would be the best for survival, although, no matter how hard I try I can¡¯t grow ears. It has become the bane of my life.¡± ¡°Nifty ability.¡± ¡°It is barely scratching the surface, my dear. I doubt even Jeeves could track me down now, I have changed my genetic code completely.¡± ¡°So, how would Monty be able to tell.¡± ¡°He is a Rel¡¯lar my dear, and I highly doubt Jeeves is.¡± ¡°Look, would you mind waiting in a chair or something. Even if what you say is making sense, I have no idea if you¡¯re telling the truth or not.¡± ¡°Of course, I¡¯ll wait for Master Wen, I am sure she will vouch for me.¡± ¡°Right..¡± Tracy turned her chair so that she could work on the glove whilst keeping an eye on the morphed man before her. Master Wen rolled in around midday, she was equally shocked to see the new man sitting opposite Tracy, unmoving and infinitely calm. ¡°Who are you?¡± ¡°Wen Daiyu, I am Jerefiah, I have morphed to allow me some freedom from the cellar, not that I am complaining.¡± ¡°Alright. Are you ready to help then?¡± Tracy was caught off guard at Master Wen¡¯s instant acceptance of Jerefiah¡¯s transformation. Her knowledge was still very much limited. ¡°I have a job for you, now that you are liberated from your previous appearance.¡± ¡°It is the least I can do.¡± ¡°We need a sponsorship for the boys and the gym. We lack the money to expand and while they still have many things they can do to improve, eventually the facilities that we currently provide will hold them back. That can never happen.¡± Jerefiah nodded intently, agreeing with the statement wholeheartedly. He had also noticed their potential in their first fight. He was also committed to this gym thanks to the agreement. ¡°You can count on me, although, it would be a lot easier if the boys were to win a fight.¡± ¡°That should be no problem, this coming weekend will be their first official win. I guarantee it.¡± ¡°Perfect, then I can try and get one beforehand but can also guarantee one when they win.¡± Tracy kept up with her work until the gym closed. Her meeting with Monty was brief today, apparently, he had things to do, he still paid her the same amount though, for reasons she could only make assumptions about. Uvo and Antony sat next to each other, finding themselves again in the waiting room. Their hearts pacing this time in excitement rather than fear. Each of them was already changed. They both wore brown trousers with no shoes. Their bare chests revealing their scarred bodies and their mask hiding their face from the public. There had initially been slight hesitancy to retake the stage but it was quickly washed away after Master Wen instructed their meditation. They heard the announcer take the stage. Again, there were the first ones on as they were still one of the lowest ranking teams. Their initial failure was expected and therefore did not garner much attention. The disgracing of the name in the future was the real worry for longtime fans. Antony and Uvo were not the same as they were in their first official fight. The crowd outside did not know this. ¡°Ready?¡± ¡°Yeah, you?¡± ¡°You bet,¡±Antony replied. All inhibitions out the window. ¡°Please welcome to the arena, Taijitu!¡± Chapter 14 - Cohesion Feeble minds gave up under the same circumstances, but the boys were strong. Each was recalling a different sentence, and despite the words and meaning being different, they had the same effect on the two fighters. Antony had the words whispered to him in his previous fight knocking round in his brain, Uvo¡¯s sentence was spoken much more recently by Tracy. They walked on stage, stopped in the middle and fist-bumped, it seemed right to do so. Their opponents were two middle-aged men, one had a gauntlet on their arm similar to the ones Taijitu were wearing, the other had the same sort of thing except on his feet. ¡°Feet first,¡± Antony whispered. The feet were too powerful to go unchecked, you can generate a lot more power with your legs. Uvo nodded, the bell started, they charged. Antony went first, both of the opponents charged and attack, a high kick to the left and a follow up punch about to be delivered. Antony ducked the high kick, it was slow so he had time to deflect the punch as well. Uvo used the momentary downtime to launch a punch at the feet guy. It landed square in the jaw, he staggered which Uvo was not expecting. ¡°Glass.¡± He said to Antony. Antony took the hint and went to the guy with the fists, attempting to keep him at bay. Uvo moved in on feet guy, he had somewhat recovered and had raised a knee and his fists. He seemed to know some sort of martial arts. While Antony was happily batting away fists, Uvo finally caught a haywire kick and elbowed his knee, the man grimaced and then screamed, when Uvo let go he clutched at it. Uvo delivered a shattering blow to the jaw, the man¡¯s head flew back, he jumped up onto one leg and attempted to assume his stance, it was unsuccessful and was quickly broken by a rain of left jabs into an overhead punch that knocked him out cold. Uvo turned to arms guy who Antony was keeping entertained. He had noticed the situation and stopped his assault, quickly bending and tapping the ground twice which signalled a surrender. Antony lowered his fists and exhaled, looking at Uvo who was smiling over the limp feet guy with a shattered jaw. They walked off, Uvo not forgetting to raise his hand in a celebration which was met with a small round of applause. The talk of the town was Taijitu¡¯s victory, the video of the fight had even gone a little viral amongst fans the in area. Especially Uvo annihilating the poor man¡¯s leg. Guranahan was especially displeased, the victory marked the start of something he did not want to see. With each and every one of Taijitu¡¯s successes they would get closer to their former glory, and with the state of his relationship with Wen Daiyu being what it was, the idea of them being a competitor to his biggest teams and more importantly his businesses was not something he was all too eager about. He was not currently in Alavas and had no intention of returning to the city for a while, things were much nicer in his home city of Europa, medium population, lots of space, rich history and beautiful weather. He had Jeeves take over the mantle in United City, being the hub of the world and all. That being the case, his branch in Alavas had been left to take care of any situations that would or could arise. Additionally, A1 was there for a hit. Wen Daiyu wiped the sweat from her brow, she had been worried for nothing as not only had they won but they¡¯d demonstrated textbook teamwork, something she was too scared to expect of them. Uvo was a masterful duellist, and Antony provided a perfect distraction for Uvo to dismantle someone, this was one of the most basic tactics she had taught them. It was weeks since they had started training so each of their moves was tight and disciplined, adding to the fact that they were both intelligent in their own way, Uvo learning through drilling and Antony through simulation, they had figured out how to apply some key moves to their real fights. Something she was incredibly pleased about. Tracy and Monty were watching from the coaching area with Master Wen, Jerefiah was off talking to sponsors, after all the best way to get their attention is through demonstration.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Their journey home was brief as they each had to go their separate ways, the boys had school tomorrow and Master Wen predicted a few newcomers thanks to their team''s success. The gym had been busy for a couple of days after the first fight but there were no new members. Antony headed home to luckily an empty house, his father who was never there was obviously not there, his mother had taken a trip to Zanatea, a planet not too far from Earth where she was probably having a lavish holiday under the facade of a business trip. He did not complain though, his dog and his butler was enough company. Especially considering he had a lot of drawing to catch up on. He also wanted to find out the results of the competition which came back whilst he was fighting. Drawing for this comic would be big news, his father would never be able to ignore it, after all the reprimanding that he was wasting his time, he¡¯d finally be earning good money from drawing, adding that to the winnings from today, Antony was amassing a hefty piggy bank. ¡°Hey, Jack.¡± ¡°Antony, I have bad news.¡± Antony relaxed and sighed, disappointed in himself. ¡°You did well though, they sent you a message that I¡¯ve forwarded saying how difficult the decision was.¡± ¡°They probably send that to everyone.¡± ¡°No, they don¡¯t. They also put me in contact with another writer looking for a full-time illustrator, his comic series is popular on Akar.¡± ¡°Send it over then.¡± ¡°I have, look Ant, I saw the drawing. If Ken Minoa wasn¡¯t applying for the job I¡¯m sure you would have got it.¡± ¡°Ken applied?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Ant burst into a smile. If he¡¯d impressed the same writer that employed Ken then he was on the right track. ¡°This new one is slightly different though, if you get the job you¡¯ll be working with someone for the art. Is that alright with you?¡± ¡°Of course, delegation is great.¡± Antony smiled, his teamwork with Uvo springing to mind. Uvo¡¯s door creaked open, his room in the abandoned home was slightly more filled, a mattress and a small cupboard for his clothes, they were mostly training clothes but also included a couple of shirts from Antony for attending school. He opened the safe in the carbon wall that he had found accidentally when he stumbled into it after a particularly nasty brawl. The monetary gains he had made were now large enough for a big move. Tracy had been living with Master Wen for protection so he had been left alone, in that time he had done some searching, the fight was over and it was still early evening, enough time to close the deal. ¡°Hello, Uvo.¡± ¡°Hi FArIE¡± (Pronounced Far-ree) ¡°Have you come to confirm your purchase?¡± Spoke the malfunctioning robot that ran the estate agency. ¡°Yeah¡± ¡°As you have already signed the necessary forms, please provide payment in order to move forward.¡± Uvo handed over a wad of cash, the robot eyeballed it but accepted it. The apartment was tiny, it was also on the 700th floor of a complex famed for its suicide rate, or murder rate, it was hard to tell which ones were which. At least it had a lock, a bed and a shower. All things Uvo had previously lacked, and with only 7 things to bring to the apartment he was moved in before the evening news concluded, not that he knew that. With the location of the apartment being a little further from school it meant he had to wake up a tad earlier so he went to sleep, ignoring the funny noise coming from the room to his left and the constant activity from his neighbours on the right. Nothing would stop him from enjoying his first night in a home to call his own. School on Monday was much the same, Uvo avoided everyone but took every opportunity to look at the girl behind him, even if just for a second and all he caught was the crest of her shoulder. Antony was busy talking to his new friend, the boy he¡¯d saved from Camile a week ago. Camile had, for the most part, left the two alone, no doubt content with his current social status enough to not care about the antics of two loners. The surprise came when they arrived at the scrap yard to find Master Wen with their masks in her hand. Alright, boys, we have a big task today. The sponsors want to see you and so do the press. I have our usual set up back at the gym.¡± It was sudden but expected. ¡°Put these on, taken these off.¡± She said gesturing at the t-shirts. ¡°And go and impress them.¡± Chapter 15 - New Teams and Dastardly Schemes The two boys asked no questions and slipped their t-shirt off over their heads, their masks were pulled on their face and they climbed through the door of Master Wen¡¯s aiv. Their briefing took place during the journey. Neither of the boys was allowed to speak, the expectation was for them to simply observe some of the newcomers to the gym. It turned out the reporters cared more about the gym becoming popular again than the new fighters it had obtained. Especially considering their disastrous first fight. Both the boys were pleased with this, they had bothered dreaded actually doing some PR. Uvo was considerably nervous, he had no idea how to act in front of a camera, he was unsure of even being capable of walking properly so he had to thank his lucky stars that they only had to sit down. When they arrived they found a couple of other aiv¡¯s parked outside. The entrance to the gym shocked the boys to the core. It had been completely refurbished. The wood looked like new, the sign was repainted and beautifully written. The building itself was still in shambles but the addition of a presentable entrance allowed the boys to walk in with their heads held high. Their first sight when walking in was 2 reporters taking photos of Tom training 2 new students. ¡°This is not as grand as I expected,¡± Antony whispered. Uvo just shrugged. ¡°What did you expect from winning 1 low-rank fight?¡± Master Wen chimed in. It was Antony¡¯s turn to shrug. They approached the stools at the back and each took a seat. They watched the new students train for 5 minutes before doing some training of their own which was also filmed by the reporters. Eventually, after half an hour of unanswered questions and Master Wen bragging about her teaching qualifications, the reporters left and the newcomers were faced for the first time with the two boys who were currently the face of Taijitu. ¡°Anaea, Sheb. This is Yin and Yang. I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯t tell you their real names for obvious reasons.¡± ¡°Nice to meet you, I¡¯m Anaea.¡± A pretty girl with red hair waved shyly to the two boys. ¡°I¡¯m Sheb¡± A dark-skinned boy with jet black hair smiled and shook the two boys hand. The boys nodded, unsure of how to greet without speaking out loud, again for fear of recording devices revealing their identity. ¡°Lovely, now that you¡¯ve met let¡¯s get back to training.¡± Master Wen took the boys into her office, leaving Tom to take the newcomers through some basic routines. ¡°What do you think?¡± ¡°Yeah, they look good.¡± ¡°Not the students you daft boy, the renovation.¡± ¡°Oh, it looked fantastic Master Wen. By the way, where were the sponsors?¡± ¡°Oh, they came round briefly to watch, you guys didn¡¯t notice. With luck, they should be in Jerefiah and Tracy¡¯s office right now finalising the deal.¡±Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°Oh, he¡¯s done a good job.¡± ¡°Yes, I think so too. Right, enough pleasantries. You boys have your next fight this weekend.¡± ¡°So soon?¡± ¡°We need to capitalise on our victory, I¡¯ve tried to arrange a rematch with your first fight but if they say no I have another team who are 2 points behind them. Happy?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Uvo nodded. Master Wen smiled and shooed the boys out her office. They had their training already so they both went home. The rest of the members already had. ¡°Jerefiah, how did it go?¡± ¡°Perfectly, the company is a sportswear shop, they said they¡¯d provide clothes as long as they wore their shorts during fights. Well, there¡¯s some more nitty gritty but that¡¯s the gist of it.¡± ¡°Simple enough.¡± ¡°Yeah, and the best part is that they have contacts for gauntlets, proper ones.¡± ¡°That would be extremely useful. The boys need some proper gloves.¡± ¡°I couldn¡¯t agree more.¡± ¡°How¡¯s Tracy handling the work?¡± ¡°Well, the fighting licences have her round the bend but she¡¯s getting the hang of it.¡± ¡°Good.¡± ¡°How are the boys?¡± ¡°They¡¯re better than anything I¡¯ve trained before, I just hope they maintain that fire.¡± ¡°Good, seems like we¡¯re pretty set.¡± ¡°Never. How¡¯s the work on the premise going?¡± ¡°Fine, the funds are holding thanks to the new members, the fight winnings and the sponsorship. Are you sure we can use it all? Don¡¯t you need to eat?¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t eaten in 7 months Jerefiah, I can probably keep going for another 3.¡± ¡°Instead of that, how about we go to dinner? You know the place right next to the station?¡± ¡°The European one with a red sign?¡± ¡°Yeah, that one.¡± ¡°Sure, haven¡¯t been there in years.¡± A1 paused before opening the door. Dreading the bollocking he was about to receive. ¡°Come in, A1.¡± He sighed. ¡°Yessir.¡± Guranahan stared at the machine that entered. It was floating, a huge sniper mounted to its back and a blank face made it impossible to tell what it was thinking. ¡°You have good news I hope. I rarely get good news.¡± ¡°I¡¯m afraid not, Sir. The girl is being protected.¡± ¡°Protected, by who?¡± ¡°By Wen Daiyu. It took me a long time to figure out exactly who¡¯s shield it was without being detected.¡± ¡°By Wen? How is that possible?¡± ¡°She¡¯s much stronger than me, even you Sir. I am not capable of killing someone under so much protection.¡± ¡°Oh but this has made me want to kill her even more.¡± A1 did the closest thing he could do to sighing. Monty was sitting on the white sofa with his feet propped on the table in front. He¡¯d been on the planet for a good week now and he¡¯d accomplished everything he¡¯d needed to. He¡¯d found his brother, he¡¯d also worked alongside the daughter of his father¡¯s acquaintance. His baggage had been whisked away into his own fabricated space and he was just making full use of the minibar before heading home, his planet awaited his mission¡¯s outcome. They would no doubt be disappointed that his brother had entered into an honour contract. When an Alo Rel¡¯lar enters an honour contract, they are required to keep to it. Such things are only formed in extreme circumstances, so much so that there had not been one in place for centuries. A breach of the contract by the employer meant the Rel¡¯lar was free to terminate the contract, a breach of contract by the Rel¡¯lar was punishable by death, carried out by the Rel¡¯lar who wrote the contract, or a senior Rel¡¯lar. This was not something he could meddle with lightly so decided to allow his brother¡¯s employer to live out his puny lifespan, his brother could handle a couple of centuries, hell it may even convince him to join the Ola Rel¡¯lar considering they need not worry about such annoying things. He hopped off the sofa, scarfing the last shot of liquor. He made up his mind to visit the planet again soon, despite his short journey he was very interested in the future of some of the residents.