System Nullification

Chapter 25

 "How about in a fight?" Wyatt asked.

 "Uh, what?" Reed fidgeted, sizing Wyatt up and instinctively backing up a little bit. "A fight? How come?

 Wyatt was much bigger, build wise, than Reed was, and Reed had absolutely no fighting experience. The only physical things Reed did was go into the track team, and his speed was only about average in there. "Why not? You're still in initiation, right?" Wyatt grinned. "I'll help the system decide it by fighting you."

 "Oh, come on, Wyatt, that's cruel!" Dylan said.

 "Yeah, I only have so many healing bands on me right now!" Charlotte agreed.

 I laughed a bit at everyones' lack of confidence in Reed until I saw the look on Reed's face. Reed stared at Wyatt nervously, and Austin decided to interrupt. "Now, now, Wyatt, calm down a bit. Take a moment to hush, or rather, shut up, I should say," Austin interjected. "You're a gold rank- er, platinum now, I guess... because promotions, sorry. Reed needs to start smaller, and I think you should know that."

 "Aww," Wyatt whined as Reed breathed a noticeably big sigh of relief. "But Zephyr took down a silver rank on his first day. Can't we see if Reed could start bigger than Zephyr or at least at Zephyr's level?"

 "Dude," Zephyr chimed in. "I knew how to fight before Reed did, and Reed has no idea how to fight. If we're in a school fight, it's usually me, Iris, and sometimes Will and Skylar to increase our numbers even though that's really not needed. Reed isn't much of a fighter."

 "Oh, come on, thanks," Reed groaned.

 "Sorry man, I'm just telling the truth," Zephyr said.

 I sighed. "Can we continue my initiation now?" Reed asked, a hint of impatience and irritation in his voice. "Please?"

 I chuckled a bit because I knew how badly Reed wanted to get things over with. Somehow my process was actually a lot faster than Reed's, because I instantly chose to fight and exercised each day to reach that goal. "Sure. Bronze rank?" Austin turned to Reed. "And I'm talking about, like, the newer bronze ranks. Ones that were just recently promoted or is new to the whole thing."

 "Sure," Reed reluctantly agreed. "I guess..."

 "Uh... Couldn't he find a no-badger?" Charlotte asked.

 "None of the members of my team started with a no-badger initiation," Austin grinned proudly. "Reed may or may not be a temporary member of Team Austin, but he's part of it now and he's definitely going to start big."

 "Right, then," Reed sighed, following the rest of us to a random bronze rank team room.We turned down a few corridors and I saw Reed getting more antsy with each turn. I felt bad for him. He was so determined to do this kind of thing, and now he was getting nervous right at the moment. He was one of those ambitiously self aware people, and I really wish I could give him a drop of the confidence my entire team had. Once we reached one of the bronze rooms, Austin barged into it. "So, any fair opponents in here?" Austin requested. "For a person basically completely new to the entire concept of the fighting division?"

 "Oh, sure, I'll go," a tall, slightly thin build but broad shouldered guy said. "I'm Nate. Who am I fighting right now?"

 "Uh, okay, you're fighting me," Reed spoke up. "I'm Reed. Nice to meet you."

 "Get ready," Nate said. "I'm not going easy on you."

 "Alright..." Reed positioned himself.

 I took a moment to analyze Reed's position. Surprisingly, it was pretty well formed for being new, and it was similar to my beginning stance. He must've paid close attention to me and Zephyr's spars. It was a light-footed stance, but the issue that he somehow needed to solve was the following: he was extremely tense. "You nervous?" I asked.

 Reed nodded, breathing in and out. "Don't be," I replied. "You have nothing to lose. Always take chances like these when you have nothing to use. After all, remember the times before you dated Brianna? You overcame that. Think of Brianna. She'd cheer for you if she knew this was going on. I'm sure she has hope for you right at this very moment."

 Reed nodded again, but this time with a more relaxed position and with a smile on his face at the mention of Brianna. He ran towards Nate first. Nate assumed Reed was going straight for him, so he lunged forward with a relentless punch. Reed put a serious expression on and stopped in front of the punch, and Nate didn't punch far enough to reach Reed. Reed stepped back, away from Nate's arm, and pulled his arm back to try for a big punch. Nate blocked the punch too, but Reed stepped closer to Nate and punched him right in the gut. Nate flinched a bit, but retaliated by trying to punch Reed straight in the stomach. Reed blocked it but ended up nearly falling over anyway. Right when he regained his balance, Nate punched again. Reed slapped the fist away, shoving himself to the side, then stepped forward, turned sideways, and elbowed Nate below his chest. It was an impressive tactic for a new fighter, and I was instantly already proud of Reed. Having brains like Reed was a fortunate thing, even though I could kick his ass any day.

 My one second moment of joyful pride for Reed instantly ended when Nate grabbed Reed's arm with his free arm. Then, Nate proceeded to haul Reed right over his head. Reed's body flailed with the force of Nate slamming Reed right onto the floor. "Shit!" Reed gasped at the sudden impact on the floor.

 Just in time, Reed desperately rolled away from Nate's attempt to stomp right on him like a bug. Reed stood up, wobbled backwards, and tried to regain his balance. In all fairness, you wouldn't really wait for your opponent to be ready in a real fight. So Nate proceeded to punch Reed really hard, and Reed blocked, but the punch made him stumble back. So Nate dished out a series of more punches on random places on Reed. "Damn it," Reed breathed, falling over on his hands and knees from one last solid punch on the chest.

 "Good tactics," Nate said. "But your punches are weak, and you're a fragile fighter."

 "Fragile but speedy fighters can make it," I butt in. "I mean, look at me. With some training, Reed should get better."

 "Yeah, but we don't see new people like Reed flipping over people like some of you platinum ranks," Nate scoffed. "Reed's attacks would've been more effective if he had a bit more physical strength. And getting that physical strength is gonna be hard. To be honest, Reed is just weak."

 "Reed would kick your ass in a weapon fight simulator, then," Zephyr pointed out.

 "Oh really now?" Nate sneered. "Wanna do it, Reed?"

 Reed stood up wincing, probably from the fight. "Let's just go," Reed urged.

 "What?" I asked.

 Reed frustratedly walked out of the room with the rest of us following behind him. "Come on, Reed, you could've tried that!" Dylan said.

 "Maybe tomorrow," Reed snapped. "I feel really sore in more ways than one because I lost."