“How do I do this” I said as I figured out how to wrap the the bandages around my knuckles, they make it looks so damn easy in the movies, you know the one where it cuts to the main character, his jacked, beads of sweat dripping down him as he adjust his and wraps before the biggest fight of his life
Now juxtapose that with me, I skinny, malnourished twig, fumbling around looking like he’d drop from the slightest gust of wind but fear not for I have a plan. You see I am a sort’ve connoisseur of the martial arts games, so here's the plan, use my reach advantage wait for the knockout punch and take him down and ‘ground and pound till he makes no sound’
“Oy, you there head to the cage entrance oh and what's your name by the way” said the man in steel armor
“Uhh, name’s Alex”
“Okay, goodluck in there, really don’t want to drag a dead body out of there”
I gulped at those words
I stepped in to the arena
“Ladies and gentlemen today we take two men of the street and give them a chance to make a name for themselves, oh how generous are we, ha ha ha, Let’s get ready to see some blood” The announcer dressed in bright purples continued on about fighting or whatever, I could barely focus on him,okay confession time, I’ve never fought anyone in my entire, okay that was a lie, the only time I’ve fought someone was when he beat the shite out of me, I didn’t even punch back, that’s a story for another time though.
“Fighters ready, doesn’t matter anyways, Begin!!!”
He didn’t look like he wanted to be here anymore than I did
“Okay let's do thi…”, The bastard tackled me, I felt my head hit the ground as the series of punches came
“AHHHHHH”, he wouldn’t stop screaming
“Kill him”
“Fight back, I bet cash on ye sorry ass!”
You know that saying everyone has a plan till they get punched, ya life ain’t like those mma games where you can take punches like it’s nothing and can still think straight. Real life is very different as it turns out.
This bastard is going kill me!
I felt around grabbing a fistful of sand and flung it into his eyes
“Ghaaa”, he recoiled, which gave me just enough time to shake him off and for me to stand up
This time I went in for the first punch hitting him straight in the jaw, I remember reading in a fight your punches feel like feathers, this was true, nevertheless I continued with my flurry of punches and so did he until he tried to grab me again
“Not again! "This time I was able to sprawl and maneuver myself so that I was able to wrap his neck around my arm, squeezing as hard as he could to get free.
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You know what feck this guy, I shoved my fingers into his eye, the screams that followed were harrowing, thankfully, for me atleast, I was able to secure the chokehold and soon I felt his arm go limp.
I stood up and faced the crowd, bloody and beaten, I raised my hands up
“This what we came for”
“You should’ve ripped out his eyes”
“Encore, Encore!”
“Well, well folks, looks like we have a winner and in such a short time, maybe next fight will be longer but lets allow our fighter some cheers”
I won’t lie this felt good, it felt really good,
Quest completed: 1xp earned and skill: Bare Handed fighting LV1 acquired
Bare Handed fighting LV1: You have acquired the ability to punch someone with your hands and possibly injure them, use this newfound power wisely
Constitution: +1
I walked back into the fighters training area
“Good job kid, here a little extra reward for winning”
Sheila reached out here and and a golden light appeared, “Heal”
The pain I felt instantly disappeared
My look of astonishment must have confused her
“It’s just healing magic, comes standard if you win otherwise it’ll be 5 silver”
“Ahh, thanks” I responded
“Oh and here's your cash, Rick gave it to me said he thought you’d win”
I reached out and clutched the silver, Finally I can get something to eat
I noticed that my opponent was being dragged away, “What's gonna happen”
“Well, he had nothing to offer in case he lost, so probably slavery” he said nonchalantly
“What!” , this was the only response I could formulate
“Those were the terms if he lost, if he was that desperate that was on him, word of advice, starve to death if you have to but never take that deal, that is a fate worse than death itself”
“I’ll take note of that” I said as I left
‘Time to get something to eat!’, I was so excited
----------------------------------------
“I’m so happy” I exclaimed as I munched down on the loaf bread in my hand, I’m happier than when my parents took me to the game store to by the latest COD on release. Damn, I’m so happy, food is amazing
Eventually after the bread forced euphoria wore off I began to weigh my options, yes I could’ve died in there but I earned money, even though after the adrenaline wore off I almost threw up.
And now I’ve got this skill right, maybe I should try my hand at another fight.
Rick on the other hand, I don’t trust him, hell I don’t think there’s a single person in this city I trust
I’m going to need to find the heroes, my best bet is to wait for them to return from there training, then I can find Ethan or my teacher so that they can talk some sense into those bastard knights and that damn king.
Well I’ve arrived, “Home sweet home”, remember that crack/ditch in the wall I found, Well it is now a crack palace and that’s what I named good old “crack palace”, I found some old sheets in a trash can and filled it with hey to make a bed and some bricks laying around so that I could cover it up at night when I sleep or when I’m away.\
It’s weird, I’m almost happy to see it, guess it's turned into a safe haven for me, maybe I get one of those oil lamps and table, yes it's actually quite spacious, best bet it was a basement that was covered up in some later construction, Imagine that a table.
“What is wrong with me…I’m feckin homeless that's what it is, wow I almost forgot, Ha Ha Ha!”, A good laugh when things are going badly never fixes anything but hey forgetting about makes it manageable.
Yawn… I am beat, okay another fight, last one and then I’ll find another way to make cash