B r i a n
I saw Bambi's eyes widen in recognition as she stared at Richie. He and his family had just recently moved into the village, they weren't even introduced to anyone yet. However, I recognized his talent on his first day of training and realized he was just as skilled as Bambi.
I had her training alone with Fletcher now, not wanting any of the boys to know her weaknesses and strengths because they'd do anything to cripple her. She had made such tremendous improvements in just three days and I didn't want that happening to her. Hell, she made great improvements when I watched her spar with Fletcher twenty minutes ago.
I looked back up at the stage, both of them circling around each other.
"You got this Bambi," I heard Vinny whisper to himself as he bit the tips of his nails.
They continued to circle each other for ten minutes, neither one of them wanting to make the first move. I could see Bambi's eyes from here, zooming from Richie's feet to his fists, to the platform they were on and to his face.
"C'mon already!" I heard Neil Dumphy, the prick in training, yell. Bambi's head turned towards the sound of Neil's voice, which left her open for Richie's attack. He swung out and hit her square in the face as she turned back around. Her head flung back as she staggered backwards a bit, shaking her head and trying to regain her composure. He charged again, punching her stomach. She groaned as her whole body moved with the force he exerted from the punch. I could tell the wind was knocked out of her. I could hear the cheers of some of the men as Bambi quickly backed away from Richie and they began to circle each other again. I silently thanked God that she remembered that circling your opponent is a good way to stall and get yourself back together. Bambi's eyes zeroed in on Richie's feet as she slung her leg to knock him down. He anticipated this, but right as he jumped, she retracted her leg and double-fist punched his crouch, sending him to the platform floor.
Gasps were heard around us as she moved quickly, putting Richie in a headlock. She had him for a good 10 seconds before her grabbed her shoulders and threw her over him. She used the throw to her advantage, flipping in the air and landing right onto her feet. She was repeating what she had done with Fletcher earlier.
Richie's face was red with anger as he yelled and charged at her, she waited until he was about a foot away from her before she ducked. He was running at her with such a high speed that he tripped over her body, falling off of the platform all together.
Bambi crept over to look at Richie's body, which was face down in the dirt, knocked out.
There was a long silence, causing tension to fill the air, until someone yelled, "Way to go Bambi!"
This started a chain reaction; most of the young girls who were once on Richie's side ran over to Bambi's and cheered along with Tua and Vinny. I was beaming, a large smile on my face as I ran onto the platform and cheered for my niece. She looked exhausted, but she smiled weakly. She was victorious. Fletcher came onto her other side, lifting her arm into the air and whooping for his baby sister.
"How do you feel kid?" I asked her, still grinning like a fool.
"Tired, but like a champion," she grinned, hugging me tightly.
"Wait," she said as the smile left her face. She walked over to the side platform, jumping off and looking down at Richie. She flipped him over and started hitting his face so he'd wake up. Confused, I went and stood next to her, watching her revive her opponent.
He wasn't waking up from her little slaps, so she pulled back as far as she could, and slapped the shit out of him, making him jolt awake. He opened his eyes, closing them tightly again as the light entered his pupils.
"I guess you won then huh brown eyes?" he smirked, sitting up next to her. She smiled, patting his shoulder.
"Yeah, you almost had me but you messed yourself up at the end," she chuckled, standing up.
"You're not going to help me up brown eyes? I thought we were friends," I saw Richie say with feigned hurt. She rolled her eyes as she stuck an arm out, helping lift him up. Everyone looked at them oddly, and I did too. Was I missing something?
"Damn, that was some punch," Bambi exclaimed as she lightly touched her nose, slightly wincing.
"Sorry Bambi, but a fight's a fight, no mercy," he frowned, looking at her nose more closely. He was a little too close to my niece for comfort, so I decided to ask what everyone was wondering.
"How do you two know each other? And why are you all 'buddy buddy'?"
"We go to school together Uncle Brian, and he's my friend. I know he didn't exactly have all that much of a choice in whether he wanted to fight or not," she spoke, shrugging her shoulders.
I looked back and forth between her and Richie, wondering if there was more to the story than what she was letting on.
"The real question is, how did I not notice Richie here before," she asked, looking at me.
"He-"
"My family just moved to this village, we haven't even been officially inducted yet," he interrupted me. Did he really just interrupt me? Bambi must've read my facial expression because she gave me a "Don't" look before giving her attention back to Richie.
"You two shou-"
"We should head to the infirmary and get these wounds checked," he just interrupted me again. This little shit-
"Stop cutting my Uncle off, you're gonna piss him off. He already looks like he's about to pop a vein," she giggled as she pointed to my forehead. I deadpanned while un-creasing my forehead and calming down. She and Richie walked away, arm in arm. Vinny and Tua came and stood at either side of me.
"He's hot," Tua smirked as she looked at Richie's retreating figure. "His butt is nice."
"You're so gross," Vinny frowned. "Bambi did an amazing job today."
"She kicked ass, just like I expected her too!" Tua teased as she skipped around Vinny and me.
"Language," Fletcher said as he walked up to us.
"You're no fun," Tua pouted, stopping in front of him.
"Will a piggy back ride make you feel better?" Vinny asked her, ruffling her hair. She nodded her head 'yes' and jumped onto his back. He laughed lightly as Tua bounced onto his back and yelled "Giddy up!"
We walked to the infirmary, wanting to congratulate Bambi on her first win. As we walked in, we saw Ivy attending to Bambi's wounds. Her nose was slightly swollen and she had a cut on her arm. In all honesty, she didn't look that bad. Richie had a cut under his eye and on his lip. His nose was swollen too from the impact of his face onto the ground when he had fallen.
"Can I touch your battle scars?" Tua pleaded as she jumped off of Vinny's back.
"No-"
"I wasn't talking to you Bambi! I was talking to the stud muffin over here!" Tua whispered loudly, but she knew we could hear her. Richie chuckled, saying, "All of my fans are allowed to touch me."
"Just so you know, I'm a fan of your face, strictly. I'll always root for Bambi in anything else," she explained as she jumped onto his lap and began touching his face.
Richie began to flinch as she touched the cut under his eye to which she replied, "Suck it up!"
"So Richie, I expect you to work on your anger skills, you got sloppy when you started to lose," I scolded him. In the line of fire, the last thing you want to do is let rage overtake you. Leave blind rage fighting to the supernatural bastards.
Everything was nice, Bambi and Vinny are talking again and they were talking with Richie and Tua about some weird fighting technique. For once, everything seemed normal. But like always, I spoke too soon. My gaze found Fletcher who looked as if he were in deep thought, running his hands through his hair as Ivy whispered something into his ear. His eyes widened after her mouth left his ear; he turned around and dashed out of the room and down the hallway. I must'nt have been the only one who noticed, because I could hear footsteps thudding onto the ground repeatedly behind me as I followed Fletcher.
"What's going on? What happened?" Bambi asked.
"It's Chauncey, he's awake," Fletcher said as he rummaged through drawers, looking for something. He pulled out a bag of a clear liquid and hooked it onto an IV as we heard the groans pour from Chauncey's mouth and his eyes open.
"What happened to me?" he asked groggily, looking down at his hands and his surroundings.
"You're in the hospital father," Tua said, pushing her way through us and next to him. His eyes widened a bit, before it relaxed, he must have remembered what happened. Chauncey reached up and touched his daughter's face, her head leaning into his touch.
"Believe it or not, I missed you even though you're an asshole," Tua grinned as she took his hand in hers. Fletcher whispered a 'language' to her, which she ignored.
"I know Pudding Pop, I've been a shitty person and an even worse father. I love you no matter what okay? Even if you're a girl, you're still my flesh and blood," he smiled weakly, ruffling her hair as she giggled. Pudding Pop?
"Where's Bambi?" he asked as she stepped forward. "I severely underestimated you, and I apologize for the hurtful words I said to you. It was wrong of me to even have such an anti feminist view of women and I feel terrible about it. If you can find it in your heart to forgive me, I'd appreciate it."
I ... and well, everyone else were speechless. He had just admitted what a shit he was and apologized to not only his kid, but Bambi too.
"Why now? What made you come to this conclusion?" she spat, fists clenched at her sides.
"Number 1, you were strong enough to put me into a coma," he chuckled to himself at this, and then continued. "Number 2, the whole time I was unconscious I had different ... 'visions'. And there was one of you, on top of a hill with dead bodies surrounding you but you looked victorious. There was no one beside you, it was like you had killed off all of those people by yourself. You turned your head and looked down at me, and you gave off an aura of valiance and strength, one that should be feared. Then a whole group of people emerged from behind you and cheered for you, yelling 'Bambi' over and over. And if that's not enough for someone to believe that women are powerful, I don't know what is."
Bambi looked even more surprised as she thought about his words before declaring,
"Apology accepted."