Zoey sat in the first row seats of one of her students, Clementine, at the stadium. The stadium was small, but a few hundred people were in attendance, prepared to watch the match. Even now, the occasional flash of the cameras in her direction told her exactly why so many people were there. But Zoey stood strong as she was here to support her student. She was finally confident in getting them started in their fighting careers.
She wanted them to get into fighting in a healthy manner, unlike how Jack and Cindy turned out wanting to be real superheroes. So, she worked with Coach Scott to help them debut in the fighting world. Of course, to make things fairer for other young fighters, she had them split up across the world. They were Zoey’s students, after all.
If she had them all start in Amerika’s Youth Fighting Tournament League, no other talented young fighters in the country would get a chance to show off their stuff. Her students would just dominate the league, which wouldn’t be fair to the others. So, she and Coach Scott decided to register them into fighting circuits across the world instead of just the Amerikan YFTL branch. This included other sports and fighting paths like wrestling, boxing, MMA, kickboxing, and the YFTL.
Right now, she was watching Clementine’s debut match in the YFTL. Unfortunately, she couldn’t watch all of their debut matches as much as she wanted to support all her students. She couldn’t be in multiple places at once. Zoey decided to come to the East and support Clementine because she heard it was harder for foreigners to make something of themselves out here.
Out here, they knew her as the Black Devil. Zoey didn’t know if it was a racist thing or what. She was being stared at like she was an exotic animal in a zoo just sitting here. A brief thought popped up in her mind that she was taking the focus away from her student and that she should leave. But Zoey tossed that thought right out of her head. Just because these people didn’t know how to act didn’t mean she couldn’t be there for her students.
Since Zoey barely graduated from the 12th grade, she had until next spring before becoming a college gal. Helping her students begin their fighting careers is one of the things she decided to spend her time on while waiting for winter to be over. It would’ve been a lot of money sending her students all over the world, but Coach Scott has been making bands off of her and Dylan's fighting careers, apparently. He fully sponsored all the kids.
“There’s our baby!” Clementine’s mother, Ali Waters, excitedly whispered while pointing.
“Indeed.” Clementine’s father, Maximilian Waters, nodded his head.
Clementine's entrance into the ring was met with an unexpectedly hostile atmosphere. As she made her way towards the octagonal ring, her theme song blaring through the speakers, the audience's reaction took an unexpected turn. A growing murmur of disapproval filled the crowd. The pop song, which was trending among Amerika's youth, played loudly, but instead of eliciting excitement, it seemed to fuel the crowd's discontent. Clementine, seemingly oblivious to the shift in the audience's mood, continued to bounce her way to the ring, radiating an infectious energy with her waves and smiles.
Zoey couldn't help but notice the change in atmosphere. The stares directed at Clementine were no longer curious or intrigued; instead, they carried a hint of disdain and skepticism. It was as if the crowd had collectively decided to reject the young fighter, and the disapproving murmur grew louder as she approached the ring.
Coach Scott and the other cornermen, sensing the negative energy, closed in around Clementine as if forming a protective shield. The contrast between the jubilant music and the audience's discontent created an unsettling atmosphere in the stadium. Despite the palpable negativity, Clementine remained undeterred. Her genuine enthusiasm and excitement for the upcoming match seemed unaffected by the growing disapproval from the crowd. She continued to wave and smile, embracing the cheers she expected but didn't receive.
Zoey smiled as she saw how excited Clementine looked. Fighting should be a fun experience. It should be something worth looking forward to. She hoped she passed this on to all of her students. And fuck these assholes for not giving her student the respect she deserved.
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Clementine locked eyes with her opponent, Hiroshi Tanaka, a young Japanese fighter making his way up the ranks while. She positively drowned in all the eyes that were focused on her right now. This was like the greatest moment in her entire life. All these people, focusing on her at once. Hundreds of literal, actual people. She felt infinite energy surging through her body from being the center of attention. When the reference announced her as Princess Hellia, she couldn’t deny that a shiver went up her spine. Hearing the crowd cheer and shout stuff in a language she didn’t understand after hearing her stage persona, Clementine didn’t even hear him announce her opponent.
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As the bell rang, signaling the start of the boxing match, a transformation overcame her. It was as if a switch was flipped, and her entire demeanor shifted. Her eyes locked onto Hiroshi with unwavering intensity, a fierce determination to win evident in her gaze. She assumed a boxing stance with a natural motion. Her feet planted firmly on the canvas, slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, providing a stable foundation. The lead foot positioned forward, she angled her body to present a narrower target, minimizing her opponent's chances to land clean shots. Her hands rose to guard her face, a fortress of defense. The lead hand, gloved and wrapped, hovered protectively near her chin, ready to snap out with lightning-fast jabs. The rear hand, coiled with potential energy, nestled near her cheek, prepared to deliver devastating power punches or swift counters.
Every muscle in her body tensed as she settled into the stance. Her weight was distributed evenly as she balanced the need for mobility and stability. Something her opponent instantly moved to change. As they neared one another, Hiroshi greeted her with a front kick aimed at her torso to gain some distance.
Clementine and the others weren’t trained on how to handle kicks directly. Zoey taught them strictly grappling and striking. However, if you ask any of her students, they watched each of her fights no less than a dozen times. If Clementine didn’t know how to deal with someone who liked kicks by now, she felt like she should like literally like end her life for being so dumb.
The young socialite dropped her guard as she grabbed the incoming foot. Just barely, she managed to hang on to it as he bounced to keep his balance. She felt him pull his foot back, an action she couldn’t stop. Her grip wasn’t good enough. But suddenly, he stopped trying to pull his foot away as he looked her in the eyes.
In her peripheral, she saw his other foot leaping off of the ground to clip her in the side of the head. Narrowly ducking just in time, she rushed forward and grabbed him before he could fall to the canvas. Utilizing all the strength in her body as the body similar to her in height and size fought to resist and break out of her hold, Clementine lifted him high in the sky as the audience was screaming with cheers.
The back of her opponent’s head hit the canvas first as Clementine slammed him to the mat. Just as she was about to lift him up once more and repeat her action, the referee stopped her by pulling her arms from her opponent’s waist. When Clementine let go, he flopped to the mat like a ragdoll, and everyone was booing in disapproval of her victory.
Clementine hopped up to her feet as she started performing her celebration dance she thought of just for when she won! Initially, she didn’t even register the fact that everyone was booing her instead of cheering. All she was thinking about were those hundreds of eyes and cameras on her! She was about to be super famous! ClickClock, DigiConnect, GramShare, ChirpChat, FlashTalk, she was going to become trending on all of those websites! While she was dancing, she noticed Miss Devil staring at her with a smile. This was the greatest debut ever!
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“Is that really her?”
“According to what I was told, yes.”
“What is she doing wasting her time with crap like this?”
“That’s one of her students. She was there supporting them.”
“Is she a magjistar too?”
“No, Clementine Waters is a gully. Winters trains gullies, teaching them how to fight in exchange for money and fame.”
“And the point of that is…”
“She was expelled from her local magjistar branch. Her connection to the world of magji is few and almost nonexistent.”
“Really?! Damn. How the hell do you get expelled from being a magjistar? Did she reveal magji in front of the gullies or something?”
“No. I’m not sure of the full story. All I know is Victor Khan is dead. His only apprentice, Zoey Winters, was expelled from the magjistar branch. And she’s living her life in the regular world as a professional fighter.”
“Victor Khan is dead!? The S-Grade magjistar?!”
“Correct.”
“How the hell did he kick the bucket?! Aren’t those guys strong enough to take over countries by themselves?! Is there a daemon that strong in Amerika?”
“I’m unsure. All they reported was the confirmation of his death. There were no reports of any daemons or anything. If there was, they’d request help from other branches.”
“So tell me how that girl is supposed to help us with our problem.”
“She’s strong enough to be expelled and not have her magji gates sealed.”
“Oh…”
“Exactly. Only S-Grade magjistars get treatment like that since they cannot be subdued by anything other than another S-Grade magjistar, daemon, or an object of that level.”
“How are we going to convince her then? I don’t think she’s lacking money based on these pictures…”
“We ask her.”
“Ask her? Like, ask her nicely with a pretty, please? That’s your big plan? Really?”
“When you’re rich, there isn’t much you lack. We can only hope to appeal to her sense of empathy if there is truly nothing else she desires.”
“I can’t believe you roped me into this impossible plan.”
“It’s our only hope if we want to beat those evil bastards before they ruin everything. Hundreds of lives are going to be ruined if we don’t do anything.”
“Fine, stop screaming. I get it.” They sighed. “Let’s go see if she has a heart for the desperate and pitiful…”