Dauntless Initate ||Eric Coulter||

|VIII|

Even the Dauntless-Born initiates were watching the fights today, since it was the last day before the rankings showed up and everyone wanted to hopefully watch Eric get knocked off of the pedestal.

The pedestal that he had been put on from winning every fight, that he had so far.

Except for one against Four, the fight that had boiled down to Eric insulting Four with the threat of using his name in front of everybody.

That had dropped him into second place for the matter of a day, before he was back on the top of the list after beating the Candor boy, Jack, who had been in 1st.

"You have to beat him. You have to Tempest. This cannot keep going on like this. A stupid Erudite transfer in spot Number one on the list? No, it can't happen." Shauna stated as they all walked into the training room.

"It has been almost three weeks and he has only been toppled once and that was by your brother. You are the last hope of toppling him off of the throne." Zeke stated to her and Tempest rolled her eyes a bit.

"Yeah, okay. Whatever you guys, I'm gonna do my best." Tempest shot back and was feeling more unsure about her fighting abilities, every second that ticked by on the clock on the wall now.

Thomas, a Candor initate, was the first fight with Jack the other Candor that had been in second place, while the next fight, was Mia and a Candor girl.

"What chance do I actually have against the guy who has only ever been truly beaten by my brother?"

She thought to herself, as the doubts began to slowly creep back into a part of her brain that she needs to fight.

She saw that Four had beaten Jack once again. "Good luck." Zeke said and nudged Tempest's shoulder, and they all looked at her.

Tempest inhaled a little bit, as she walked up to the ring, as Mia and the Candor girl had been fairly quick to fight and Mia had won.

She flexed her fingers and clenched her fists and released them again. She walked up into the ring and Eric came into the ring as well.

Four hadn't even shown up yet and that was concerning to Tempest, who knew that her brother was usually on time.

"Your brother too scared to be here, to watch your fight?" Eric asks with a rather taunting tone, as he was circling the girl who stood quiet, calm and collected in the center of the ring, she seemed on the outside at least and actually on the inside, she was very panicky and worried.

"Why? You scared that he will beat your miserable ass to a pulp, if you beat me?" Tempest shot back and the crowd of initiates 'oohs' and Tempest smirks a little, as she felt her familiar confidence returning, bit by bit. "Hey, maybe that is what you're scared of. A person who can beat your sorry ass."

Eric lunged forward and Tempest's hands shot up, and she ducked barely in time, feeling the breeze from his punch and she swung hard, catching him with an uppercut to his chin.

Eric stumbled back and Tempest's eyes were moving quickly, studying his body language, as fast as she was able to. She shifted her hands quickly and his kick crashed into her ribs, and she growled in pain.

She blocked the next kick and kept one hand down lower to protect her ribs, and the other was up higher to be protecting her face.

Eric tried to elbow her in the head and she blocked it with her hand, as her right hand that had been on duty to protect her ribs, smashed into his left jaw hard.

She punched him again, this time hitting him in the collarbone and Eric managed to yank his arm away and dodge back, before another hit could land.

The smug smirk that he always wore to fights, the familiar face and facade that he was always wearing. It began to fade after he realized, that maybe a broken girl from Abnegation, could be a tougher person than he thought.

He seemed almost hesitant with his attacks now, and out of the corner of her eye now, Tempest spotted the fact that Amar was checking his watch for the time, and that, Four had stumbled in, lookin' like hell and very much like a hungover teenager.

She had barely enough time to register all of that information, before Eric's punch crashed into her face and she staggered back, feeling her eye swelling.

"Come on, Tempest!" She heard Zeke, along with Shauna, Four and many of the other initiates. They all cheered for her, none of them liking Eric even remotely.

She even saw Amar giving her a thumbs-up, and she knocked Eric back and started up with a barrage of kicks and punches, that Eric was not expecting from her.

It took her a second to realize, that she was probably overdoing it on his ass. She stopped and realized, that he was holding up his hands in defeat.

She looked at her knuckles and they were split along with slightly bloodied from hitting him, and she looked over at Amar, who nodded quickly and she looked back over at Eric, who was on the ground.

She walked over and stuck out her hand to help him up. His eyes narrow a bit and she shrugged her shoulder a bit. "I'm not doing this, just to hit you again." She said and he accepted the hand up, as she helped him back up to his feet. "I got lucky I guess." She said and Eric narrowed his eyes a little bit.

"Good fight." He said and she raised her eyebrows. Her eyes dropped down to his outstretched right hand and her eyes went back up to his, and he looked surprisingly... not rude, or mean about it.

Tempest shook hands quickly with him and Amar helped Eric out of the ring and toward the infirmary, while she was hailed as a hero in the group for finally knocking Eric off of the big pedestal.