Round One... FIGHT!

There was a time, barely more than a split second, for John to feel regret for the decision he had made...

Unfortunately, that time only came after he had given his answer.

"Yeah, I think I'm ready," he said once he felt like he had thought it through.

"Good," the old trainer grunted from off to the side of the ring, and John watched as Michel slowly walked back to the center of the ring. He was supposed to do the same, John realized and slowly followed him to the correct place.

"Gloves up!" The trainer called, and John clumsily followed Michel's example. The experience was slightly embarrassing for the young gamer. The whole atmosphere, Michel's general attitude... it felt like Michel was trying to explain these things to a younger sibling, and telling John made it feel like something that should have just been all that much more obvious. Like it had been something he should have already known.

It was kind of him, for sure. It would have been kind of anyone to treat a stranger like they were related, but in the face of everything that had happened to John over the past two days, it was also a little demeaning. He had fucking superpowers now!

In the end... John chose to deal with it, not only because Michel had been kind enough to treat him like that so far, but also because this was something that John wanted to learn. In the end, it was a much better choice for him when his other options were to either learn it on his own, or try to pick it up from Frank as he beat John's face in.

"Tap my gloves," Michel said after a moment of hesitation. "It's like a sign. Shows you respect your opponent, and lets the ref know that we're both ready."

"Oh..." John mumbled, and lifted one of his hands.

The second that John's hands made contact with Michel's gloves, a loud dinging noise echoed throughout the room...

Then Michel's hands were in John's face.

-6 hp

-4 hp

-6 hp

Michel's fists became a blur in the blink of an eye. The first one rocketed across his jaw, and John, even in all the protective gear he was wearing, was thrown off balance from the sheer of the blow. His body turned and twisted out of his stance, and John watched as he began to fall down to the bottom of the mat. It was like Michel had knocked him out from the start... then came the second hit.

Michel, in all of his trained glory, charged into John like a runaway freight train. Before John could even finish falling though, the MMA fighter slammed into John's side with a crackingly loud kick, the of the blow knocking him back upright. The third punch came like a battering ram, slamming into John's stomach so hard that John felt like he flew backwards! A loud grunt, past his lips as his back collapsed against the ropes of the ring behind him before he began to let out a series of strained, quiet wheezes from the impact.

Limiting Effect added: Winded (10s)

Naturally, with his skill, Michel followed John for each movement. Whenever the young gamer tried to move, or was in a certain direction, Michel's massive, hulk-like form just kept twisting and moving in little micro-motions for each step that John made. It was hellish, because for the few times that John did even get a chance to try and re-balance himself, Michel just used those chances against him. It was like every time John tried to right himself, Michel was suddenly there, moving with him and striking confidently right into the very spot that John tried to move into. In mere seconds, John somehow made the transition from person to personal punching bag as Michel just held him against the ropes.

"Get out of there, boy!" the trainer snapped from off to the side.

"Is this such a good idea?" He heard Grace ask from across the room. Dina, the Russian owner merely grumbled incomprehensibly.

-5 hp

-4 hp

-4 hp

Hit after hit slammed into John's smaller, almost roguish form, and with each one the seconds on his limiting effect only ticked up higher and higher. Each time, the blows he took from Michel seemed to heave his body up into the air, and it was almost as if they threw him right into the spot Michel needed for the next punch. His sides began to ache and burn with the fall of each of Michel's punches. His bones somehow groaning with strain under each cracking smash.

"If you don't move, he's just gonna keep whaling on you!" the trainer yelled again.

-6 hp

-2 hp

"Move, boy!"

The last one, John lifted his arms up to try and block, and when Michel's hand glanced off his arm and still somehow collided with John's face anyways, John contracted inwards. His arms pulled tight to his body and the next time Michel reared back to throw a punch, John felt ready.

"Get those arms up!" The trainer, who felt very differently, yelled from a few feet away. Still, John listened to him. His body shrunk slightly, and John watched as one of Michel's meaty hands swung at John again, his fist lined up on a straight path for John's already bruised and battered face. There was a slight click in John's ear, and beyond the edge of his vision... John realized that the protective gear on his head had been knocked loose.

There was a loud, slightly girly, scream that echoed across the room from John as he realized just how much more this punch was going to hurt...before it actually connected.

Parried!

A dissipating pop-up with yellowish text told him, and with a single look, John saw that Michel was just as surprised as he was when his fist glanced off the side of John's arm and the carried Michel further into John's personal space. The volume of the room, which had been nearly void of comments about the fight before, fell completely silent as they stood there. That silence carried on, even as John took his opportunity to active Fighter's Eyes.

When John finally punched back, it was with the intention to repeat what Michel had been doing to him. His gaze, powered and affected by the magic of his own abilities, flicked up to meet the gaze of his attacker.

John could see the surprise on his face... that and so much more. He could see how his eyes widened and he turned in place to try and back away, but John didn't let him. He had him now, and he most certainly wasn't going to let him go.

There was a second of genuine astonishment on Michel's face as he saw what was coming, and then the blond man grinned. His arms lifted to try and block it but, once again, John's burning gaze saw it coming, and all John had to do was adjust. Micro-movements had been his specialty after all, even in video games. It was where he had learned them in the first place.

When Michel's feet pivoted suddenly to escape John, the gamer was already moving with him, just barely slower than the martial artist and, when he lifted a foot to step back, John thrust his fist into Michel's ribs.

Images of little health point pop-ups appeared and disappeared around where John hit him, and everyone watched as that singular hit, he pushed Michel in a direction that him to step wrong, stumble, and then John followed with him.

"There you go, man!" Michel coughed and chuckled as John hit him again and again and again until the two of them twisted suddenly, and John had Michel pinned against the ropes.

"Oh, shit..." he heard someone mumble, and John stepped into Michel's stance. With his powers, John saw Michel's punch coming before the bigger man was able to rear back for it. He wasn't fast enough to get out of the range of his attacks, but it didn't mean he couldn't dodge them.

When Michel punched, with how close he was, it sounded like a whip cracking through the air to John as he twisted just enough for the glancing blow to drive him downwards.

-8 hp

The of the blast carried him down, and, for a moment, it seemed like John might have been knocked out from that last punch...

Until John's hand pounded into the front of Michel's knee, and the momentum from his last hit carried him harder into the blow. A strained grunt eked out of Michel as John's fist smashed into his leg and him down into an awkward position; everyone watched as Michel's legs gave out from under him as he collapsed onto the matt.

From there it moved from just one punch to another, first the leg, then he drove a nasty uppercut into the bottom of Michel's jaw, and the sound of teeth clacking violently in his mouth echoed throughout the room. John wasn't as fast as some boxers or major athletes, so he wasn't a blur to the rest of the room and he didn't fight like he had become the Flash or something, but he did react.

And when he reacted normally, it was pretty damn quick. Most gamers were that way, especially if they had played online. With Fighter's Eyes, John's normal reaction speed felt superhuman.

Punch, after punch, after punch, broke against Michel's cheeks and jaw as John whaled on him, and just when things began to look good for John in this fight, there came the sound of a loud ding!

+40 XP

"Alright, alright, alright..." the old man said as the match bell hummed to silence once more and John deactivated Fighter's Eyes. He was almost out of mana. "That should be good. We need his blood pumping in his body for the fight, not out of it." A silent pause cut through the rest of the gym as John looked down at Michel, and he looked back up at him, both grinning at the other through cut, bleeding lips as Michel helped himself back to his feet.

"Damn, killer!" Michel chuckled and wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of one of his gloves. "You're a natural!" Oh, he had no idea...

John merely chuckled back as the trainer ushered Grace over to them.

"Jesus..." Grace mumbled when she neared and tossed a pair of ice packs up to Michel.

"...So if you've got the channel, you could tune into the fight tonight, and see how it turns out. It's not like a big company or anything that I'm fighting for, but you can watch," Michel was saying as he handed John the ice pack, and pressed his own to his lower lip. "You should check it out when you finish up here, it's in like half an hour, but they'll replay it in a couple hours."

"I'll be sure to do that..." John mumbled and glanced over at Grace from inside the ring. He heard something about the trainer packing up for him and Michel, but didn't pay any attention to it as he was busy watching Grace set some water bottles down for them.

"Hey, Dina!" she called out after a moment and turned away from where Michel and John were standing. "I clocked out a couple minutes ago, so I'm just gonna go ahead and go. I'll see you tomorrow, girl!" There was some more grumbling in the affirmative from the giant Russian woman, but again, nothing was actually said.

The next few minutes were filled with short tributes of conversation, where people came to each other and offered little bits of words before they turned back to do their own thing. It wasn't until after Dina had come up and told John that he needed to finish cleaning and had to do some sweeping before he could clock out. She told him that she would be in her office long after he had left so once he was done, she would show him how.

"She's cute, huh?" Michel came up to him just before leaving as Grace walked out the door, a workout bag slung over one of her shoulders. "Grace," he stated for emphasis, and John started sputtering. Michel merely put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. "Oh, believe me... I know. She looks that good all the time," he said and gave John a little smile.

John simply blinked.

"Oh... Are you- are you two...?" He left it hanging. "You know..." There was a pause as Michel stared at him. Then understanding flooded his features and he laughed.

"No. No, no, no." Michel chuckled. "She is dating someone, but you don't gotta worry about me there," he said and took a second to gesture to his own hulking form. "I'm gay," Michel said with a laugh. There was an awkward pause as everything over the past few minutes flooded back into John's mind and he began to blush, his cheeks burning a deep red as he stared at Michel.

"I-uh..." He started.

"Relax, relax..." Michel said. "I know you're straight, and pretty much have figured out who it is you're interested in..." He stopped and looked over to the front door as it slowly swung shut behind Grace. "You should know, the guy she's dating... I heard he's a piece of shit, so your chances are pretty good. If you decide to go for it." That made John freeze, and his eyes followed Michel as he hopped over the ropes of the fighting ring and grabbed his heavy workout bag from a nearby bench.

"I think..." Michel continued. "...she just needs a reason to leave him," he said and winked at John. "Good luck." He chuckled once more, and John returned his smile.

"Good luck," John repeated and watched as Michel walked out the door and left for his fight.