Short chapter.
Enjoy.
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As I pushed past the last people between me and the center of the gossip circle. I saw how Luke, completely battered, bruised, and bleeding, stumbled backward over his own feet almost falling on his ass if it weren't for the group of idiots, whom I recognized from what happened in the bathroom on the first day of class, who caught him and pushed him back toward Ryan.
Ryan, who for some reason was shirtless, had his fists and arms slightly stained with what I could imagine was the Luke's blood. He planted his foot adjusting his hip before striking hard at the side of Luke's face.
Since I was behind them I couldn't see the moment of contact, but I could picture it perfectly.
Of course Luke fell like a sack of potatoes to the ground, and before Ryan could drop to his knees to keep hitting him. "That's enogh!" I shouted somehow over the rest of the screaming in the yard, instantly killing the noise as I closed the last few steps quickly.
Just as he was about to kneel on the ground with me behind him, Ryan, startled by my shout as he heard me approaching, tried to turn at the same time he was getting to his feet only to find the sole of my shoe pushing him under his arm.
Without losing even a second, not willing to risk making the same mistake Ryan had, I checked on Luke on the ground at my feet without fully kneeling, looking for any worrying sign of brain damage. Fortunately, at least in that moment and with the practically nonexistent physical exam I gave him, he just seemed knocked out.
Noticing how Ryan's group was reacting, moving rather late to my interruption. "Stay right there fucking idiots" I warned them, spitting my words with hatred, raising a hand threateningly which made them freeze in place, nervous.
Even though at that moment my attention was mainly on the pair of idiots who tried to approach. I kept Ryan, who was already standing, in my peripheral vision the whole time, gauging his movements to avoid any sudden attack, since I knew he was capable of it.
Unfortunately. "PJ?" David's voice distracted me.
Being in such a tense moment and under the sudden silence my shout had caused, unable to help it, hearing his voice to my left, not far off among all the people in the sea of guests, subconsciously made me turn toward him, completely stealing my attention. Leaving both Luke and myself unprotected for half a fraction of a second.
Regretting it I turned immediately, stepping back into a guard stance covering my head and body as best I could just in time to take, with the side of my arm, a kick aimed at the side of my head.
Redirecting the force of the blow as best I could with the movement of my body to avoid taking the full brunt of the kick, I stepped back further dodging with quick footwork a series of wide crosses that Ryan kept aiming at my head.
With the whole crowd opening up the space I needed to move freely across the yard, I consciously moved away from Luke, drawing both Ryan and his group toward me.
Visibly agitated, not because of his 'fight' with Luke or the desperate flurry of punches he'd attacked me with, but from the adrenaline of getting to fight me again. "Come on!" Ryan shouted, planting his feet and tapping the side of his head, "are you going to keep dodging?" he asked, licking his lips eagerly.
By the way he was behaving, with noticeable hyperventilation, his eyes wide open, and how flushed his face was, it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if the idiot was under the influence of some drug besides alcohol, cocaine possibly.
Relaxing my guard a little, though no less alert to any move the drugged idiot in front of me might make. "David!" I exclaimed, keeping my face completely blank.
This time consciously choosing to avoid turning toward where the voice came from. "Yes!" my friend answered, quickly reaching my side and adopting a pitiful guard of his own.
Snorting, I shook my head. "Take the kid" I ordered in a low voice, keeping my eyes on Ryan the whole time, even as his two friends got behind him, smiling predatorily just like the half naked idiot, completely forgetting how scared they'd been earlier when they tried to approach me.
I had no plan to fight three drunk and almost certainly high teenagers, the problem was that if I had to leave the house with Luke in the state he was in, I would definitely have to carry him on my back, and because of that I wouldn't be able to avoid it. Luckily David could do it for me.
Obviously not understanding what I was talking about. "All right, which of the three?" my friend asked and, even though he tried to hide it, I could tell, beneath his bravado and slight buzz, how nervous he really was at the idea of fighting.
Unable to help it, I let out a light scoff which made one of Ryan's eyes twitch. "The one on the floor" I answered, and out of the corner of my eye I saw my friend freeze for a second, "take him to my car in front of the house, there's Diane" I added, "also take the girls."
"The girls?" my friend asked through his teeth.
Incredulous as much as exasperated with my friend. "My sister and her friends" I answered, amazed at how still and silent everything had been in the few seconds of our conversation, I understood it being like that right after I'd interrupted everything, but surely by now someone would have snapped out of the trance, right?
"But-" David tried to say.
Losing my temper, which was already frayed from the unfair 'fight' I'd witnessed. "Now" I ordered this time more forcefully, which, unfortunately, Ryan immediately took as some kind of bell to resume the fight, and with it the excited screaming around us returned.
Since Case had spent all that time drilling it into my head, with Ryan blinded by his emotions it wasn't hard at all for me to dodge and block his very telegraphed punches now that I could see them head on.
Having to take a couple of quick steps back after I pushed him off as he reacted to another attempted punch aimed at my face. "Fuck, you're a fucking pussy" Ryan shouted, unpleasantly spitting a good amount of saliva as he spoke, "figth back" he exclaimed, throwing his foot into a front kick that I easily dodged with a side step.
With my repositioning I could see David, practically invisible under the excitement of the fight happening, lifting Luke off the ground and walking out of the circle.
Moving my feet quickly to get away. "I don't think you want that" I said, shaking my head, "we both know how that ended the first time" I added, unable to help myself, trying to anger my opponent even more even though I really had no intention of fighting.
I needed to check Luke properly.
Of course, achieving my goal, Ryan practically ran at me, screaming, incredibly furious. In that moment, the mental image of Mary's father charging at me weeks earlier in the hospital overlaid itself onto Ryan, who charged the same way, with no strategy whatsoever.
Instead of dodging like Ryan expected me to do again, I stepped forward, reaching him before he calculated. Controlling his arm I grabbed his wrist and turned, giving him my back, planting one knee on the ground to drop my hip below his, I hauled him over my shoulder. With a pull and the extension of my back, I threw the idiot over me in barely a second, slamming him hard against the ground and knocking all the air out of his lungs.
With my knee still planted on the ground, I waited a moment for the noise around me to die down again, which happened once everyone noticed Ryan trying to catch his breath, stretched out awkwardly where he'd landed. "Told you so" I mocked, simply standing up.
Without the same pity I'd had for him after our first fight, I slowly moved away from the center of the circle and therefore away from Ryan.
I wasn't worried in the slightest about Ryan's pair of idiot friends, since without the protection of the psychopath behind them they definitely wouldn't dare make a move against me.
Heading back to where I'd come from, I walked slowly, scanning through the crowd, worried that either David or my sister and her friends might have stayed behind to watch the 'fight,' we needed to get out of there as soon as possible, in case I had to rush Luke to the hospital.
At any other moment I would have stopped to enjoy the fact that every time I moved, the circle around me warped, dodging me completely, everyone was moving as one to give me the space I needed to walk through.
It would have been much more useful when I first arrived.
Relieved a moment later, since I didn't see any of them there, I continued on toward the house and therefore out of it.
Before I could reach the glass door, now open with more people coming out to see what was happening. "Duncan!" Ryan shouted desperately behind me, like a trapped animal, "come back you fuking bitch" he added.
I wasn't surprised by how quickly Ryan had caught his breath, aside from his attitude and unhealthy habits, I could tell he was a high level athlete, that didn't mean I would pay him any attention.
Not even bothering to turn, since his voice was too far off to reach me in another attempt at a cheap attack on my back, I continued on toward the house.
"Come on you piece of shit" he exclaimed in a poor attempt to make me angry, "not even your sister, that slut, is that much of a pussy" he mocked, and this time, no matter how much I tried to control my emotions.
I stopped.
Laughing openly. "Yeah, that's it right" Ryan declared, "or why do you think she's at my house today?"
That answered my question about whose house this was.
"That total slut wants some of this" he went on.
I didn't need to see him to know what kind of gesture he made.
"And who am I to say no?" he asked, making a couple of people, surely his idiot friends, laugh. "It's just that it was so gross, maybe your dad, the bug-killer, doesn't shower, but your sister?"
He was practically begging for it at that point... And you know what?
Turning slowly, I nodded. "All right" I said under my breath.
Who was I to refuse?
Having him in front of me now, I saw Ryan raise his arms excitedly. "Yeah!" he exclaimed, making the people around us start screaming again.
When I'd first arrived I'd found it pretty ridiculous that Ryan, in order to 'fight' Luke, had to be shirtless. After all, with the level gap between the two of them, for Ryan it would have been like fighting someone with their hands tied behind their back, there was no way he needed it.
How ironic was life?
Walking at a calm pace toward the center of the circle, I pulled off the Shaggy shirt from my costume in one fluid motion thanks to how loose it was, and without paying it any attention I let it fall to the ground, stretching my neck and arms.
Keeping my eyes fixed on Ryan, who was taking small hops trying to fully recover from the pain in his back, I felt the cold breeze against my chest and back, and unable to help it I smiled. "I'm going to enjoy this" I admitted quietly, surprised at myself.
It seemed Ryan had completely forgotten how easily I'd taken him down, because seeing me smile, excited, he started walking toward me, picking up his pace with every second.
Controlling my emotions, I slowed down my breathing. "Now I'm going to break you" I declared with complete confidence, this time loud enough for him and whoever was at the front of the circle to hear.
Once again, as if my words were the bell marking the start of round two, the excited screaming for the fight exploded, at the same time Ryan started running toward me.
Despite all the noise around me, I was so focused I could barely hear anything besides my own breathing and, with better lighting behind me, I could clearly see Ryan advancing, who despite his speed, seemed to be moving in slow motion.
Studying the idiot, focusing on every small detail I hadn't noticed before, I braced myself mentally, from the excessive sweat forming at his hairline, to how dilated his eyes were, and especially all the blood and saliva from Luke staining his chest and arms.
It seemed, learning from his quick lesson in Judo, Ryan avoided letting me use his own momentum against him again by jumping a step before reaching my range in a poor attempt at a flying knee that I dodged again with a side step.
Not letting him catch his breath, the instant he had both feet on the ground but with a compromised base from having jumped, I threw myself at his hip, wrapping my arms tightly around his waist and, with nothing but raw strength, I lifted him, ignoring the powerless punches he tried to land on my head, and a second later slammed him into the ground.
Landing on his side instead of his back, this time Ryan wasn't left winded on the ground, definitely in pain, but still able to fight.
Taking small hops in place, moving my hands, priming my nervous system. "Come on, get up" I ordered him just seconds before he furiously did.
Definitely with the takedown I could have kept going, mounting him and, very likely, ending the fight on the ground in a few moves or strikes... The thing was it hadn't been humiliating enough yet.
It seemed he was finally understanding that charging blindly at me was a bad idea, Ryan adopted a high guard, circling around me, tense, still looking to attack, but trying to get feeling back in the side of his body that had hit the ground.
Following Ryan's movement with a relaxed but still guarded posture, without showing any kind of warning sign until I actually moved, I kicked the front of Ryan's thigh, straight into his lateral vastus, hard enough to make his leg go 'dead.' "Come on kid, haven't you learned how to check kicks yet?" I asked him, exaggeratedly disappointed.
Before Ryan could do anything, obviously annoyed at being called 'kid,' I faked another low kick at his leg that halfway through I switched to a high one aimed at his face, since that time he did react, moving his leg, exactly as I'd planned by mocking him.
In the process, thinking I'd attack low on his body, Ryan partially dropped his high guard, causing my foot, somewhat slowed by the costume pants and his reflexes, to narrowly miss connecting with the side of his head.
Annoyed by my still limited mobility, I pivoted on my foot immediately, barely managing to block another high cross aimed at my head. The idiot really was trying to cause as much damage as possible.
Instead of backing off I stepped forward, driving my elbow straight under his chin, without really being able to do much damage since Ryan moved his head just in time to take the hit cleanly.
With my arm practically over his head, without stopping my advance I lunged, hooking my hands behind his neck, forcing his head down with my weight.
With the clinch already secured and his head forced down, I didn't give him a single second to readjust his balance. Resetting my footing, I drove my right knee straight up into his side, aiming just under his ribs, right for the liver. Without any chance for him to defend himself, I connected clean.
The sound he made wasn't a scream, since the air leaving his lungs didn't allow for it. I immediately felt how his whole weight shifted in an instant, his leg, already affected by the first kick, simply stopped responding and, without letting go of the grip on his neck, I took advantage of his torso still being folded toward me and pulled, slamming him into the ground once more.
Despite being winded, Ryan avoided landing face first on the ground by turning and immediately raising his hands to cover his face.
I didn't care.
Planting one knee on the ground beside him, I struck his abdomen hard and, taking advantage of the pained movement he made, I mounted him, ready to punish him.
With Ryan trapped under my weight, surprisingly his hands still partially covered his face. A couple of short punches to the sides of his arms were enough to make him lower his guard just enough, and I took the opportunity to land the most humiliating thing I could think of in the moment, a direct slap across his face that snapped his head to the side.
The hit was enough to shake him out of his initial daze, forcing his lungs to fill with air, he started thrashing his hips violently, trying to create enough of an angle to throw me off balance forward and slip out to the side. He didn't have the leg strength to fully pull it off, not with one numb, but he did manage to make me lose a bit of my base, forcing me to plant my other knee down harder so I wouldn't fall.
"That's it," I spat with contempt, "make me work for it, you piece of shit" I added mockingly, once again hitting him with another slap.
Ryan took that instant to throw a short punch toward my jaw from below, completely desperate, with no force behind it at all. I tilted my head and torso just enough that it only grazed my jaw and, following the same natural motion of my body, I brought my weight back, this time hitting the side of his face hard enough to stun him enough to keep going.
Managing to land three punches in a row before Ryan raised his hands again, I switched my target, hitting his sides. Dodging and blocking weak attempts at hits aimed at my face, body, and even my groin, I continued my punishment, occasionally returning to a humiliating slap.
Catching my breath for a second, using my perfectly advantageous position. Ryan took the moment to try to hit my face again, and seeing how weak the attempt was, I let him hit me, only to grab his arm a moment later.
It had gone on long enough. Without further thought, I decided to end the fight, teaching Ryan the last and most valuable lesson of all.
There's always someone better than you.
In less than a second. I gripped his right wrist tightly with my left hand, forcing my knee to lever against his arm right below his triceps, and immediately felt the tension in the joint. "This is going to hurt" I told him, applying, a moment later, just enough force.
"Pop" I heard and felt the head of the humerus slip out of the glenoid fossa, right before he screamed in absurd pain, killing off the rest of the screaming around us.
Releasing the hold the instant his arm gave out, I let his arm drop limp against the ground. Ignoring Ryan's choked sobbing, which was now the only sound in the yard, I stood up and casually brushed the dirt off my pants.
I knew exactly where the line was between incapacitating him and wrecking his shoulder for good. In fact, if I wanted to, I could reduce the dislocation right then and there.
I didn't want to.
Turning slowly toward where the pair of idiots stood, several steps away from me, trying to bury themselves among the crowd to disappear, terrified at finding me paying attention to them.
I didn't doubt for a second that, if needed, I could handle the two of them with less effort than it had taken me with Ryan, it was clear they weren't trained in anything, just like Luke.
Unfortunately the two of them, even though between them they surely didn't add up to one functioning brain, had enough survival instinct to avoid the fight.
Shaking their heads, scared, they tried to take a step back at the same time, bumping into the disbelieving group of now silent teenagers behind them.
Exhaling ironically, I nodded, turning my attention back to Ryan, who was still lying on the ground holding his arm in complete silence.
Good.
Without further thought, ignoring the disbelieving stares I was getting around me, I walked back to the glass door of the house, watching how the people, all in costume, immediately parted at my approach.
Inside the house, aside from a couple of drunks passed out on the couches or the floor, there was no one left, it seemed everyone had gone out to watch the fight.
Stepping outside through the same spot I'd entered, I found, several steps ahead of me, Diane hurrying worriedly toward the house with David behind her, both of them stopped dead upon seeing me, visibly startled.
Oh, I'd forgotten my shirt.
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Author Thoughts:
As always, I'm not American, not a doctor, not a fighter, not Magnus Carlsen, not Michael Phelps, not Arsene Lupin, not McLovin, not Elliot, not Capone, not Tiger Woods, not Sam Fisher and not Greg Louganis.
Another chapter has passed, so new thanks are in order. I would like to especially thank:
11332223
Victor_Venegas
RandomPasserby96
I think that's all. As always, if you find any errors, please let me know, and I'll correct them immediately.
Thank you for reading! :D
PS: PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW.
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All the spanish gone. Sorry about that.