He let Blitz make the first move — and Blitz immediately launched into a punch. Daniel tried to counter, but right before impact, Blitz opened his hands and grabbed the cuff of Daniel’s jacket instead. Daniel scoffed, bracing for the pain as his body froze from hitstun.

Grabs.

The one weakness to his counter.

Blitz heaved Daniel over his shoulder and threw him backwards, pressing the offensive.

Back. Forward. Kick.

He flipped forward, cartwheeling into a spinning front-flip kick. Daniel weaved aside, but Blitz ducked under his high punch and swept him from his feet. Kicks and knees were the meat of his fighting style, but he cut to an uppercut, throwing Daniel away a second time mid-air.

In the same direction. Daniel rolled to his feet and grit his teeth. His phone shifted in his pocket, still blaring music. The battlecar was shaped like a rectangle, and with every throw, Blitz had pushed him farther and farther into a corner. In an arena like this, getting cornered was deadly.

He had to fight back. Before he could hatch a plan, he had to block another flipping kick. Daniel went for a mid punish, but Blitz recovered — that special move had frame advantage! He grabbed Daniel by the arm, yanking him forward and pivoting around him before smashing a fist into his kidney.

The train rolled. Shadows intensified in Daniel’s vision as the hit recoiled through his entire body and settled as a sick feeling in his aching stomach. Blitz continued the assault, launching Daniel with an uppercut, yet not jumping after him.

Down. Forward. Up. Punch.

Blitz punched upwards, shouting as two waves of orange energy erupted from his knuckles. It hit Daniel back to back, slamming his entire body. Before he landed, Blitz crouched twice and thrust a flat palm into Daniel’s chest, blasting him against the wall.

Daniel recovered, low and health and holding the wall as his heart pounded.

He wasn’t out yet. Blitz was only two feet away. He flinched a punch, but Daniel knew the real attack wouldn’t come until he snapped into a low knee. Daniel countered, phasing through Blitz and spinning into a swing at his temple. A cobalt shockwave exploded from Daniel’s first hit, and time resumed — but he continued with a medium cross and a final heavy.

“What’s going on? I thought you liked grabs!” Daniel said.

He lunged into a grab of his own. Blitz recovered in time to grab his hand, so Daniel tried to reach in with the other hand, but he grabbed his other hand, too. They pushed against each other, grab neutralized. Daniel glared at Blitz’s grit white teeth, listening to him seethe.

…until he jerked his hands down, pulling Daniel into a hard headbutt. Stars flashed through his vision as Blitz tripped him and landed a final fist to the face, leaving him in darkness.

Shoot.

When the referee brought Daniel back, Blitz had backed away to the halfway point of the train car, tightening his bandana and the bandages around his fists.

“The only reason you’re spamming grabs is that you know my counter can't do anything about it. Right?” Daniel chuckled.

“I studied you, like anyone should,” Blitz spat. “Was that supposed to be a joke?”

It was. But, Daniel couldn’t think of an actual punchline. The settling panic took too much mental space on its own. He was one round down, and one more round away from losing the rank he’d worked so hard for. Last he checked, Blitz’s rank was far below his, let alone him not even being an S Class. How badly would this affect his ranking?

Was Carmen watching him lose?

Daniel tried to glance past Blitz, hoping to catch a glimpse of her at the door they came from. Sadly, it didn’t have any windows.

He sighed. “You’re right. That wasn’t that funny.”

“Round two! Ready?”

“But, this is!”

“Fight!”

Daniel danced.

He tapped his feet every half beat and swung his hips to the electric beat. A few steps away, Blitz watched in confusion, posted up in his fighting pose as Daniel danced right in front of him.

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He laughed. “What’s wrong? Can’t tell what I’m gonna do now, can you?”

He edged closer with every snap, letting a mischievous grin spread across his face. But, every movement was still precise; he kept at least one arm close enough to his counterpose, so he could strike it at any time.

Blitz knew. Blitz had to know this taunt was to make him think that he was open to attack, to bait a counter. Daniel kept getting closer, gaining space from the far wall behind him.

Down. Down.

Blitz drew his palm back; was he going for the same Palm Strike as before? It was a close range attack, wasn’t it?

No.

As he thrust forward, the air itself barked, blasting Daniel backwards, all the way to the end of the car. Blitz rushed in closer once he hit the wall. But, Daniel struck another dance pose, so quick and sudden that Blitz flinched into a block.

“You can’t hit me!” Daniel sang to the tune.

Blitz took the challenge and swung right for his nose. Daniel countered, phasing right through his opponent. Power built in his forearms like pressure in his veins. Blitz spun on a dime with a kick, but Daniel countered once again. As time slowed around them once again, the song in his pocket built up to the beat drop.

Down, Back, Forward, Down, Forward, Back, Punch!

Hard Punch surged through Daniel’s gleaming fist, charging with an energetic high-pitched cry as he leaped above Blitz and drew his arm all the way back.

Time resumed. Blitz met his gaze, jaw on the floor. Daniel swung right into his temple — enhanced by the counter, two punches of stored damage, and by two bars of Meter, half of Blitz’s health exploded in a single blow.

As Blitz stumbled, Daniel landed and sprang into a blockstring. “See? I’m not out yet — I can turn things around just that fast!”

Daniel struck with light jabs spaced out to not trigger his combo penalty, swinging to the climax of the song raging from his phone. The roles had reversed. He steadily pushed Blitz back against the wall. As he swung for a heavy, and Blitz tensed up to block it, Daniel instead struck another pose to the song.

“Wahh! I’m stuck in a blockstring!” he taunted, wiping his eyes. “Whatever could you—”

Blitz jumped over him.

He couldn’t pivot to the left. He couldn’t go to the right. He couldn't charge straight at him. Daniel thought he had him beat, but then he simply jumped over him. In his confusion, the song in his pocket simultaneously ended, and a commercial about soda blared through the battlecar.

Blitz took his golden opportunity, landing a frontflip kick. He continued his combo and uppercutted Daniel, taking it into the air. Every hit dropped Daniel’s health further as he kept bouncing off of the wall, right back into his attacks.

When Blitz knocked him back down, Daniel countered on wakeup, but the attack was a fake — he left himself open for the onslaught to continue. Blitz ended the first combo with a normal uppercut.

Down, Up.

“Double Upper!”

Two uppercuts, two waves of energy, and Blitz kept Daniel in the air for longer, juggling him against the wall. Just when Daniel thought he’d finally grace the ground, Blitz struck him with another Palm Blast into a third uppercut.

Paralyzed in hitstun, Daniel fell once again, and Blitz shuffled back and forth.

Back, Forward, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right.

“I’m ending this! Rush Combination!”

Crimson and golden starlight shimmered through Blitz’s eyes before he moved like a machine. Every kick and punch hit like a gunshot under Daniel’s skin, and stars flashed through his eyes. His ultimate reset the combo scaling and allowed him to skip windup frames, instantly transferring from one attack to the next.

Only unconsciousness brought the sour relief of defeat.

The referee revived Daniel, and teleported over to raise Blitz’s hand into the air. “Blitz wins!”

Daniel sat there on the floor, feeling the weight of reality itself sink in as a menu appeared in front of him to certify it all. His rank plunged from somewhere in the millions to somewhere in the top five hundred million, while Blitz took his old spot. His Class progress decreased, too, and now, he was only one match away from losing the S Class rank he just earned.

Once the referee despawned, Blitz glared at Daniel over the menu showing his own results. “Like I said. All bark, no bite.”

“No. I’m better than that.”

“Then show me in a rematch, kid!”

----------------------------------------

Daniel left the Battlecar with sunken shoulders, yet Carmen, Rafiq, and Mr. Stone were already waiting for him. When he stepped out from behind Blitz, Carmen gasped, and a solemn glare sank onto Mr. Stone’s expression.

Rafiq scowled in rage. “Nah! You’re not getting away with taking that shit from my bro, bro! I challenge you to a—”

Carmen’s eyes flashed. Chip appeared in his muscular form and clasped his meaty ghost hands over Rafiq’s mouth, silencing the rest of his sentence.

Blitz barely spared them a glance before slinging his bag over his head, continuing down the train with a scoff. “Good game, Chase. You fought hard. I think.”

Once he left, Carmen pulled Daniel into a tighter hug. “I’m sorry, Daniel,” she mumbled.

He nodded, barely able to speak. Once they pulled away from each other, Mr. Stone put a hand on Daniel’s shoulder. “It’s okay. Defeat is an inevitable part of any journey. Perhaps you can—”

Daniel’s phone went off with the ringtone he’d custom set from the one person he didn’t want to hear from — especially not now. Everyone else’s faces went ghost-white. They knew the sound, too. Daniel pulled his phone out to read the text, and his mouth went dry.

“It’s a text from John, isn’t it?” Carmen said.

“What did he say?”

“Uh…my open disrespect was interesting and brought more views, but losing made me look worse in the public eye, and they especially disliked that I wasn’t wearing my uniform.”

“And?!” Rafiq said.

Daniel gulped. “As such, he requires me to rebuild my relationship with their board. If I lose like that again, we will all be taken out of the program.”