Dreamers

Chapter 7 - true strength

Alwyn showed off his stance, a stance most wouldn't be familiar with. It was a Muay Thai stance, it looked different from boxing form due to the art utilizing kicks and elbows. I head in first throwing a jab, but he slips under and hits me with a 360 spinning elbow, dropping me straight to the ground. In street fights with no rules announced prior, it usually allows people to get up from being knocked down. Fights usually end when someone goes unconscious or forfeits.

Sam and Joseph head in right after I fell. Both Joseph and Sam had defensive boxing styles, Joseph had his right hand sitting beside his face while his left hand stayed away from his guard like a fencer. Sam held a Philly shell boxing stance based off of the great Floyd Mayweather Jr. They both throw a straight punch from each side but  Alwyn parries both punches and throws a push kick right into Sam solar plexus. Alwyn proceeds to grab Joseph into a clinch and sweeps Joseph's leg making him fall to his ass.  Alwyn walks over to Sam, Sam's hunched over and is grabbing his stomach in pain. "Man, I feel really bad fighting you guys, let's just call it quits."

Sam with all the wind taken out of his body musters the strength to let out the words "fuck, you." Alwyn throws a roundhouse kick to Sam's face but Sam blocks it with his forearm, just barely. He got back into his stance but he was out of breath and had trouble keeping himself up. I looked over to Joseph trying to get up but his body took a big hit from falling. My head was still in shambles after taking that hit from Alwyn. Sam tries to stall for time while Joseph and I attempt to get up.

I tried to analyze any openings Alwyn might have but I couldn't. I never fought or studied any other fighters that utilized different martial arts since they were rare to come by in this city. Alwyn had the advantage in this 1 vs 1 between him and Sam since he was able to kick and Sam couldn't. After a couple seconds of no movement, Alwyn started to charge in, I saw Sam let out a faint smile, almost like he wanted this to happen to him. Sam charges in at the same time Alwyn does which leads to them being only centimeters away from each other. Alwyn lands a rear upper cut to Sam's side but Sam retaliates with a fast left hook then to a right hook to the face. Alwyn tries throwing a powerful right straight but it only catches air, Sam is able to dodge to his left and throws a 7 punch combo at Alwyn in which all of them land. Alwyn doesn't look the least bit dazed though, as expected of someone on the same scale as Kyle.

Alwyn tried stepping back and getting away but Sam sticks onto Alwyn like glue. Sam was able to find a chink in Alwyn's armor, Alwyn was very weak in extremely close quarter combat. I completely looked over that fact, since Muay Thai fighters are great in the clinch. Looks like Sam's defense completely outshined Alwyn's offense. In the midst of their cat and mouse game, Sam meets his eyes with ours which means he has something in mind.

Alwyn takes another big step back, pretty much jumping back. He threw a roundhouse kick to Sam's head, but Sam read it perfectly, catching it in midair. Joseph and I jump on the opportunity and started throwing shots at Alwyn. With only one leg, Alwyn couldn't do too much except hold his guard up. That didn't do much though as Joseph and I landed 20-30 punches on him. This time, Alwyn looked hurt. It raised our morale but it didn't last long. Alwyn drops to the floor taking Sam with him. Sam loses his grip on Alwyn's leg, making Alwyn recover and get back to safety. We helped Sam up, a gesture I was surprised to see from Joseph but I didn't have enough time to focus on that. Alwyn stood across from us with his arm raised wide, almost like he was calling for us to go at him. I look behind to Joseph and Sam and say to them "We're on our last legs, this is going to be our last chance at winning this thing. We won't be able to take him on with 1 vs 1 we have to overwhelm him with our numbers. Let's go!"

The three of us rush towards Alwyn with me taking lead. I start the attack with aiming a left uppercut towards his chest. As he lowers his guard from his face to his body to block my shot, Joseph takes the chance to throw a sharp 1-2 in quick succession. Alwyn clearly looks hurt after that but that doesn't stop him from being aggressive. After getting hit, Alwyn gaze moves towards Joseph but before Alwyn is able to retaliate, Sam moves to Alwyn's right and lands a devastating shot to Alwyn's side making him take a couple steps back. We saw him hunched to his side and Joseph started to take advantage of this by rushing towards Alwyn. Alwyn throws a desperate kick at Joseph but I'm able to push him, making him lose balance before he is able to get to Joseph. Alwyn falls to the ground and tries to get back up but Sam throws a right hook before Alwyn even fully recovers. The three of us all start throwing shots at Alwyn for a straight minute, until we see him put a big grin on his face. We stopped hitting him and he coughed up blood "ha, that was good, great teamwork! You guys passed the test, y'all are alright in my books, but-" he coughs up a couple more times "Is that all you got?" What did he just say? He's coughing up blood! We see Alwyn take up another fighting stance and the three of us follow suit.

He heads towards Sam first and before we're able to get to them. he takes Sam on in another close quarter fight, surprisingly winning it in quick fashion, leaving Sam unconscious on the ground from a tough right hook. I was surprised, I had thought fighting close was his weakness! Unless, He was holding back during our fight. I didn't have time to think about our winning outcome. He started to come my direction but instead of attacking me, he rushed right past me and threw a kick right to Joseph's leg, making him fall on one knee. Alwyn charged a wide right hook, I tried stopping it but my head injury finally caught up to me. Joseph got hit with one of the hardest punches I had ever seen. He fell to his side with his eyes still open but clearly was unconscious. My body froze in place as I saw Alwyn walk towards me. "Hey? Why do you look scared? You guys passed my test. I agreed to being allied with DeadStone. Is it because you never fought someone like me? You never in your life went out of your comfort zone? You won't last long being a dreamer if you stay as you are now. You do have one thing though, you have trust and comrades, that goes a long way in this world. I'll show up to meet with your leader one of these days, see you then." As he walks away, a wave of anger washes over me I yell out to him, "Hey! Don't walk away! Fight isn't over yet! With all your yapping, it gave me enough time to recover." Alwyn looks back at me "Looks like that change came faster than I would have thought!."

I didn't have time to think about Alwyn's many ways of attack. All I'm able to do is trust myself.