Battle Scars

Chapter 10: A little Sherlockery

Chapter ten: A little Sherlockery
Ellie easily beat Ashley. It was to be expected. Ellie was a strong, wiry girl from the country that excelled in sport, whilst Ashley would have probably felt more at home on a cat walk. She put up a good fight, but it wasn't enough.
And now it was my turn.
Although there was only two of us remaining, the referee still felt it was necessary to announce the fact. He made his way into the ring, and consulted his clipboard for a long time. Then he raised his head.
"Abby Hernandez and Vikk Barn." Slowly I stood up, and went over to the ring. The air was so tense it could have been cut with a knife. I didn't know how the fight would go. I knew I was no weakling - I was definitely strong. Exactly how strong, however, I did not know.
We entered the ring, and prepared to battle. Then the referee told us to begin.
I locked eyes with Vikk, and we came closer to the centre. I mentally planned my attack. I opened the battle with a well aimed kick to his chest. It missed, but it was what I had expected. I was ready with my next attack with my other foot. This one hit him, and evidently caused some damage, because he yelled. However the force was not great enough to knock him over, just to wind him a little. He gave me a look that said more plainly than words, 'you're gonna have to do better than that.' I shouldn't have paused my attack, because he took advantage and launched himself at me. He used similar tactics to mine, launching a fist at my face which I easily blocked. However the block left my chest open to attack, and he took advantage of this with his foot, catching me neatly in the ribs. I fell, but managed to roll and stand up again. He looked at me critically. I knew he was impressed with my recovery, but he couldn't show it. Not now. He closed with me again, this time with the strength borne of fury. As we fought, I realised what he was trying to do. If he could get a grip on me, he would win, since  although we were fairly equal in agility, he was clearly stronger. I needed to keep a conservative distance from him if I was going to get anywhere. We broke apart, and began to circle each other again. I noticed with satisfaction that his left cheek was a lovely shade of purple. His prep team would have fun with that tonight.
Suddenly he closed in on me, and I resorted to using my elbows and knees. Whilst he was distracted I kicked him in the stomach, and sent him flying to the ground. I wasted no time, and leapt upon him, sending another punch into his chest. He fought back bravely, and tackled me around the waist, trying to flip us over, and prevent my hands from punching him. I needed to hold him down for long enough to win, and I couldn't allow him to gain the advantage. I ripped my arms out of his grasp, and pinned his own to the mat. The referee counted down, and the fight was over. Vikk's eyes met mine as I released him. He glared at me, his dark eyes angry, wanting vengeance. Vengeance which he would surely attempt to take the first second we were in the arena. I knew then that it didn't matter how low a score I got in training. Defeating Vikk was an unforgivable crime in the minds of PMS. Or most of them. It seemed that Mitch was the only one whose eyes were not boring holes in my head. In fact, as I met his gaze, he shot me a smile. But I still didn't understand why.

And now I began to see how the land truly lay. Mitch, of course, had been perfectly right in suspecting mutiny. His support of me did not go unnoticed by Vikk. It was the beginnings of mistrust between the two of them. Vikk, I realised, now had two options. The first was to kill Mitch. This obviously had it's complications, one of them being Preston's loyal support to his leader. However, I knew that although Mitch made a very good leader, Vikk was able to rally people behind him very well. And something like a suspected secret betrayal of PMS would very quickly turn the team against Mitch. Despite this, Mitch was strong, and although he gave no appearance of suspecting his teammates, he was not an idiot. He knew what was going on. He must have.
The second option was to kill me. If Mitch was supporting me, for reasons even I didn't know, I was a hazard. Not to mention the fact that I had injured Vikk's pride in beating him. It would only be a matter of time once we entered the arena. Eventually, Vikk and I would come face to face again. And next time he wouldn't be going down so easily.
One thing reassured me. Vikk was now afraid of me. Afraid of my potential. Afraid of what Mitch was planning that evidently involved me. What he didn't realise was that I was as worried about Mitch as he was. And suddenly, I realised something. What if this boy was trying to lull me into a false sense of security in him?

A/N: by the way guys... No hate to Vikk :) he's a great guy, my favourite after Mitch, Jerome, and Preston. Actually let's just say no hate to anyone in this story... I portray a lot of people as the bad guys when they're actually awesome people in real life. They're only bad for the story :)

<3 Jordyn