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.”

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

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.