It wasn't long before I found a one-bedroom apartment in Brixton. The area is known for its high crime rate and poverty. This was also reflected in my new apartment, which was nothing like the hotel room. The doors looked like they had been broken into several times, although I'm not sure if that's all they looked like, and the rest of the apartment was no better. There were holes in the walls and water was dripping from the ceiling in the kitchen. The apartment reminded me of our hunting lodge, I just hoped it wouldn't collapse as easily. But it didn't matter - after all, I'm not interested in living in luxury. I decided to move into the apartment because the landlady offered me the chance to move in straight away. She was an old woman with long hair that almost reached the floor and a smile that looked slightly sinister because of the few teeth she had left. The only rule she had for me was that I had to pay on time by the first of every month. I noticed during my conversations that the people here were very suspicious of outsiders, so in order to make contact I would have to live in Brixton myself at best. It would also be quite hard to explain why I live in the Royal Palace Hotel with the backstory I made up. My life as Blaze Coleman was that of a boy who grew up in an orphanage and never had a family, but still managed to graduate with top marks in Italy. Now he decided to move to London to study and build a new life, but he didn't have the money. The only question now was how to go about it. I could start by making friends in the area who are also involved with AJ or the fight club and slowly build up trust step by step. But I decided against it because you can't build up real trust that quickly anyway. So I bought some sports gear that I would need and headed straight to the fight club. When I got there I could already see the huge sign "Brixton Fightclub" from a distance. It was around 5pm when I entered the club and from the information I had gathered most people were training at 6pm apart from a few fighters preparing for tournaments. So far I had only observed the club from the outside and when I saw the interior I was a little taken aback. It was a gigantic hall with several boxing rings and an MMA cage. On the walls were various posters of old martial arts legends, but also of tournaments that would soon take place. The club also had a lot of shelves on the walls with trophies and medals. In the back, several offices could be seen through a glass window where AJ was talking to some of Wright's men. At the entrance to the club was the reception area, which doubled as a bar. There was a large number of sports drinks in the back and some guys my age were chatting away on a couch next to it. This place isn't just a fight club for the people here, it's also a popular place to hang out. I went up to the bar and said, "Hey, I wanted to train here, can I sign up?"

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The boy, who looked about 21, looked at me and asked, "I've never seen you around here before and your accent is definitely not British. Where are you from?"

"I moved here from Italy and heard about the club and as I've done martial arts in Italy I just wanted to see what it's like here. So can I sign up?"

"Yes you can, but we don't offer trial classes or anything so you would have to sign a contract for the next 6 months. And just so you know martial arts is no fun here in Brixton, so are you sure you want to sign up?"

"I wouldn't want it any other way" I replied with a smile.

"Well then, Italian, fill out the forms here and you can get started. My name is Mike, by the way, and you can always find me here at the bar." He said as he handed me the registration forms.

"My name is Blaze and I think we'll be seeing a lot of each other from now on Mike". After I had finished all the paperwork I decided to warm up before the real training started. I stretched properly and then started jumping rope. When I felt I was warm enough I put on a pair of boxing gloves and went to the punching bag. As I had spent my whole life mainly with Benjamin and only trained with him, I never fully realized how high my own abilities actually were. I knew that I could overpower most people in a fight, but I never had a comparison to other people, especially people my age, who also did martial arts. That changed after a short while though, as I was finishing my warm up after a round on the punching bag I realized that everyone in the club was watching me. Even the other fighters at the punching bags looked at me in amazement and for the first time my eyes and AJ's met through the glass. "Hey kid," a man called out to me.

"Yeah, what's up?" I replied.

"I've never seen you here before. Are you new here?"

"Yes, I've moved here"

"Do you know your weight?"

"Yes it's around 78kg. Why do you ask?"

"This must be a bit sudden, but would you like to spar with me in the boxing ring?"

"Hey Alex, what are you talking about, you can't fight a rookie before your professional debut," a slightly thicker man in a trainer's uniform called out anxiously from the other corner of the club.

"Rookie? Did that look like a beginner's technique to you? I got bored of hitting the sandbag anyway" Replied the man who challenged me, looking at me with expectant eyes.

I wasn't sure what to do at first, but a glance towards AJ showed me that he seemed amused by the situation, so I replied confidently, "Why not? A little sparring can't hurt".

"I already like you, boy," Alex replied and we both made our way towards the boxing ring.