Angel Of Clinia

22. Ezra's Challenge

The ding of the bell rung in our ears. An echo so loud it almost seemed quiet. I could soon only hear my breathing. The stress catching up to me.

"Fight!" The referee calls.

We merge inward towards Ezra, and he lacks emotion on his handsome face.

Sparrow sneaks in from behind and leaps from the ropes to Ezra's back. He twists around and simply places his hand outward causing Sparrow to fling and hit the pole holding the ropes. He stays on the ground. Dean who at first shied away fought for revenge as he attempted to pummel at his back because it was facing away from the middle.

He once again twisted back around and grabbed his thin arm. He laughs slightly and launches Dean forward at the rest of us. We all knock each other like bowling pins or dominoes. I hop back up and try to uppercut Ezra. I manage to do so but it only fazes him for a minute. "Unfortunate I have to hit your pretty face." He grabs my cheek and headbutts me.

I see stars.

Dizzy.

Confusion.

Blackness.

I wake up at some point and Sparrow is on Ezra's shoulders beating at his head, Dean is holding onto his ankles while punching the back of his knees, and Taylor is kicking at his stomach before trying to flip him out the ring. "Make him submit!" I yell, disoriented and unsure of what is happening.

Taylor looks at me a moment and nods, pulling him down, signaling to the others to remove themselves from Ezra. She puts him in a submission position on the ring floor. The referee counts but he kicks out.

"I've let you play long enough." He throws Taylor out of the ring by her leg and immediately after yanks at Dean, spinning him around before tossing him out, piling on top of Taylor. He then grabs at Sparrow who is once again standing on the ropes, but pulls his hands back and just shoves him instead. Sparrow's arms flail and spin before he falls back on the pile. He walks over to me with his hands behind his back. He carefully lifts me up and sets me down on the pile.

The bell rings and the referee whistles.

We lost.

They escort us out and we are sat outside. "I'm sorry I wasn't helpful." I sniffle, a single tear rolling down my cheek.

"It wouldn't have mattered, it's like Dean said, he's impossible to beat, he gave us false hope." Taylor comments.

"Not impossible," Ezra comes outside, "Nearly improbable. I do appreciate your efforts, so I will give you the map." "You'd be that generous?" I ask kindly. "Indeed." He hands me the map. "Thank you!" Taylor, Dean, Sparrow, and I yell in unison.

"I'd like to join you four, I wouldn't like the world to end, that would be really bad for business. I'm Ezra Young, a sixteen year old entrepreneur."

"We'd appreciate the help." I smile nervously.

"You would be good for fighting purposes..." Dean shrugs.

We begin to follow the map to the station.

Sparrow starts to hum and Taylor joins him happily. They skip off together.

Ezra stays ahead of us all, he is our guide.

"So, is your name really Mar, or does that stand for something?" Dean asks awkwardly as he walks beside me. "It stands for Marlow, but I didn't like that as much." "Sparrow is convinced my name stands for Deannigan, which I find ridiculous." I laugh. "Deannigan?" "Yeah, I know." He laughs with me.

"So what was life like, you know, before the whole world thing happened." He asks me.

"Well I always knew that the government was up to something. My brother Leo wanted to become the new CEO- an important position in Clinia. My parents were revolutionary leaders. They all got abducted by the way. Then I made a friend, Emara, she got taken too, and so did my old best friend Jenny." "Rotten luck, I'm super sorry." He goes to pat me on the back but hesitates. I smile at him to let him know it's okay, and so he sets his hand on my back and pats it lightly. The whole situation was awkward but adorable.

"What about you, aren't you like fifteen and a mechanical genius or something? You own a shop." He nods. "My dad owned it before me, he taught me everything I know. My mom worked as a car washer to help the business since he worked with the parts. A little stereotypical but we made it work. My mom and dad got sick with a terminal illness and they didn't make it, it was when I was ten. Also yeah, I am fifteen, what about you?" "A weird way to order that but I'm fourteen."

Getting to know each other helped. We all kind of grouped back together after a while.

"It'll be a few days so we best get to know each other." Sparrow cheers. Taylor nods in agreement. "I hope this isn't like those weird introductions they had us do as little kids." I groan. "Yup." Sparrow laughs.

We do the basic introductions and we find out like our ages and favorite colors. I like blue, Dean likes red, Taylor likes pastel purple, Sparrow likes cyan, and Ezra likes neon green.

I also found out that Sparrow is sixteen, which is strange because he seems younger than Dean.

Ezra's rather dramatic. He, Dean, and Sparrow put on small little plays as we walk through the outskirts. Maybe life out here wouldn't be so bad, you know, if the world wasn't going to pieces.