"You said he only started recently?" An older man with thick wavy blond hair with rich brown eyes examined Naz from afar as he hit a bag furiously, kicking, punching, legs and knuckles red and screaming in pain as Naz's eyes light up further in passion.

A younger Asian man stood next to him nods, long black hair tied in a haphazard ponytail. The Asian man cracked his knuckles and began to stretch, making sure to keep his eyes on Naz, "Yeah..."

"Why is he starting now?" The blond one asked with an arched eyebrow, "Isn't he a Junior, close to being a senior."

"I think he's going for a bachelor's degree."

"In what?"

Mia crept up from behind them, hands stuffed in her sweater, "It was Math."

The Asian man jumped, looking back at Mia while clasping his chest, "Fucking scared me."

"You know him?" The blond man asked, hands in his pockets.

Mia paused for a moment to think, "We are... very good friends. Known each other since Middle School, that's how good of friends we are."

"So... he just started like... going to the gym or?"

"He just started doing Martial Arts in general. Personally teaching him Judo while he goes and practices other Martial Arts like Muay Thai and such. Currently, it seems he's only focusing on Muay Thai."

"He has a pretty good fuckin' form for someone who just started."

"It took him a while to get it completely right but yeah, the progress here is fast."

"Did you teach him the form?"

"I do Judo."

"You used to do Muay Thai."

"Yeah... I taught him." Mia pressed her lips together, hesitating to do something.

"He would do pretty good in a fight."

"Indeed he would. I always thought he could though since his form wasn't even really that bad before this whole new phase he's going through now."

"You think it's a 'phase'?"

"I dunno, it seems like a temporary thing right?" She gave a worried expression, hand pressed to her cheek.

"It probably isn't seeing that his hands are bleeding." He pointed and Mia immediately sprinted forward, stopping Naz from continuing by pulling him away from the punching bag.

Naz gave her an arched eyebrow and the kiss of the teeth before stopping completely, confused as to why she had pulled him away. "Jesus, man! You planning and breaking your hands as well?"

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"A little calluses never hurt anyone right?"

"Yeah, but you'll fuck up your hands if you keep doing that shit!"

"Alright." Naz blew air out from his nose, fanning his wifebeater with the tips of his fingers, giving the thousand-yard stare to the wall beside him.

"I'm very glad you want to go and defend yourself now but you can't just-"

"No, no, no," Naz sighed, scratching the back of his head all the while, "I'm not doing this to defend myself or anything, that situation is long resolved... I just... wanted to start fighting." As Naz finished his sentence, he began to trail off, spacing out once again giving the same thousand-yard stare from earlier.

"You wanted to start fighting? You haven't really elaborated on why."

Naz ran his teeth across the roof of his mouth before looking back at Mia, eyes centered onto her own, "Looked fun." A look of desperation only seen by those who had something they were addicted to taken away from the thing, adjusting the collar of his shirt as he loudly swallowed down a large quantity of spit that had formed below his tongue for a few minutes now, as if he was salivating at a massive platter of food.

Mia shook her head before grabbing onto Naz's hands, wrapping them with a thin bandage, layering over his knuckles before continuing to wrap them around his wrists tightly before looking back up at his face. "Well, we'll put you in a sparring match, I've wrapped your hands so you won't break anything, at least I hope you won't, but they'll be using MMA gloves as well so it should be fine."

Naz nodded, "Damn, you notice everything huh?"

Mia let out an exhausted sigh before moving on, "We'll pair you up with someone around your level and see what happens, you fine with that?" She holds out a white mouthguard, offering it to Naz, "Put it in."

Naz gave her a cordial smile while putting the mouthguard into his mouth, "Who do you think is best?"

"Let's put you in the octagon first then I'll choose afterward."

They opened up the gate that leads into an octagon arena sitting in the middle of the gym's room, Naz heading inside wearing headgear and gloves with some padding strapped around his legs. Naz made a sour expression before situating himself in the ring, leaning on it. "Hey! Don't fucking lean on that!" One of the men outside yelled, clicking their tongue as they leave. Naz sighed, sitting himself down on the octagon's mat, hearing a hollow *thump* as he knocks his fist against it.

A young thin man entered the octagon, wearing the same gear as he is, "Just tell me when we start sparring, okay?" He asked, hopping up and down in a stance reminiscent of Karate.

Naz nodded, going into a Muay Thai stance, hands above his head while the palm of his hands are pointing to his opponent, "Let's do this, go all out, don't do normal sparring."

"Oh, alright." The young man nodded, stopping his hopping movements and going for a more reserved, low stance.

Naz moves in, raising his front leg periodically, sometimes switching his guard into multiple variations of the same stance, making sure as to not get into his sparring partner's range. A deep breath from the both of them and with the bitting down of mouthguards, they propelled themselves forward, his sparring partner going with a quick straight while Naz dodges, maneuvering himself under his partner's arm, grabbing onto it with both hands while pressing his back against his opponent's chest, quickly throwing them over his shoulder before his opponent could properly planet their feet onto the ground below them. With a hearty slam against the octagon's flooring, Naz retreated.

Naz's sparring partner peeled themselves off of the floor, quickly standing back up while taking the same stance as before, instead, straightening his back and hopping. 'So he uses Judo? So the stance is a bait?' His sparring partner thought to themselves, keeping himself moving.

Faster than before, Naz's sparring partner launched himself forward, going for another straight. Naz attempts to jab back but his partner quickly weaved out of the way, quickly transitioning into a massive hook, slamming it into the side of Naz's face. As Naz began to fall, his leg flew into his sparring partner's side. Naz quickly stood back up, distancing himself from his opponent while his partner started feeling the side Naz had kicked with their forearm. 'He did that on purpose... it was a good kick too.' His partner thought to themselves, letting out a melancholic sigh.