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.

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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.”