Gym

Beiber was on his back, struggling to get Johan off him. Johan hugged and held him close to the ground refusing to give him room to breath or strike out. He controlled Beiber's arms by holding his wrists at the side of his body with a powerful grip that had been developed through continuous climbing. It was clearly giving Beiber difficulty. Beiber managed to wrap his legs around Johan's stomach squeezing them, making it hard for Johan to breath. Johan realised Beiber was not a novice at grappling. Before Johan knew what was happening he found Beiber managed to break free of his grip, bump his hips up, and destabilizing Johan's balance and with one swift movement. Next, he sat up while shifting his weight pushing Johan over onto his back while mounting him. Startled, Johan found himself staring up at Beiber.

Their positions had been reversed.

Beiber didn't give Johan time to comprehend what had just happened. He flattened himself on top of Johan, putting his weight on Johan's face and chest and immediately started holding down Johan's left wrist at a 90 degree angle as his right arm snaked under Johan's left shoulder grabbing onto his own left forearm. Following this, Beiber exerting an upward force using his right arm that threatening to pop Johan's shoulder out of its socket.

"Arrrgggghhhh!" growled Johan resisting the submission.

"Bieber got an Americana on the new kid!," laughed a man.

Johan groaned and struggled but couldn't get free.

"Give up?," asked Beiber whispered in Johan's ear as he strained the shoulder joint more.

"You wish!," said Johan struggling stubbornly as his face turned red.

Beiber let out a laugh as the pressure on Johan's joint increased ten fold.

"BZZZZZ!"

The buzzer went off ending the round.

A voice suddenly boomed stopping Beiber in his tracks.

"THAT IS ENOUGH! ROUNDS OVER."

It was Chris.

Beiber released his hold on Johan standing up, laughed cockily and walked away.

Johan stood up rubbing his shoulder thinking about how he could possibly handle Beiber at this point. He had been dominated at stand up fighting and on the ground. His situation was looking grim.

Outside the ring, Chris and Guang Hui whispered to each other energetically. Guang Hui seemed upset and gestured for Johan to come closer.

Chris looked at the people who were curiously watching the fight, frowned and yelled, "YOU HAVE ALL SEEN ENOUGH! BACK TO TRAINING! THE TEST IS OVER!"

When Johan walked over to them, Chris said, "Sorry kid, we only take people who are winners here. You simply aren't good enough to join us. We are too full up to take fighters that don't even have solid fight foundations."

"YOU THINK I SCAM," said Guang Hui, "BUT NO! I NOT SCAM! NOT THIS TIME!"

"If you scammed me again after this," said Chris, "no more business ever. No way this kid came from the pit. He is too weak and slow."

Guang Hui's face turned red frustrated.

"I find boy good trainer! He win! Beat everyone! You regret!," yelled Guang Hui.

Chris let out a loud laugh, "If that boy wins the national tournament this year, I'll give you all the money I'd have bought him for ten times over, even without buying him! I swear on my reputation"

Men from the gym began to whisper surprised by Chris's bold comment.

"YOU SAID IT!," yelled Guang Hui angrily as spit sprayed from his mouth. "ALL MEN HEAR! KEEP WORD! YOU BREAK DEAL TO PAY ME NOW! YOU KEEP DEAL YOU MAKE NOW! YOU WASTE TIME OF ME! TEAM GUANG WILL WIN!"

"Listen Guang Hui, I was a fighter, I train fighters," said Chris, "and I know natural talent when I see it. That kid has got none, especially, if he has already trained for several years."

Guang Hui grabbed Johan's arm and pulled him away from Chris.

"Come!," said Guang Hui, "We go see brother Guang Chong."

Johan pulled away, grabbed his bag, and followed Guang Hui.

-- Ø --

Johan followed Guang Hui with a feeling of failure settling in his stomach.

Guang Hui walked forward silently. He was noticeably disappointed and upset.

Johan couldn't shake the feeling that all his time training with Neil had been for nothing. He reminisced on his vision of his future self and wondered how he'd ever amount to being something so great if he couldn't even win a fight against the worst fighter at Chris's gym.

"I'll learn from my losses and train much harder from now on," muttered Johan to himself.

Guang Hui overheard Johan's whisper and said, "You train like dog with brother Chong. I want money! I want pride! We team and we win!"

They left the hut. Guang Hui led Johan through a series of vortexes that brought them a residential area. Tall dusty worn down buildings towered over them. Ravens perched on dirty window sills gazing down with their red eyes for eatable trash people left out or dropped of the streets. The roads were dirty, cracked and unmaintained. The sky was yellow and filled with smog. Dogs and poor dirty children wearing rags for clothes played on the streets, old men with broken dreams and hearts sang and played jazz music with saxophones and harmonicas on street corners. Weeds grew out of cracks in the poorly paved road and potholes littered the streets. It looked like the slums in 70s documentaries.

Looking back at the vortex they'd come from, Johan realised that they'd walked out of a large black factory more massive than any building he'd seen in his life. It made the buildings around him seem tiny. It pumped out eerie green gas into the environment in copious amounts.

Through the smog ridden yellow sky he could see the outline of what seemed to be three dim yellow suns.

"What is this place?," gasped Johan.

It was the first time he'd been outside the pit and the factory. It was clear that this place, while similar to earth, was very different as well. The mana in the residential area had thinned due to the large factory behind him absorbing and pulling it in continuously.

"Follow," said Guang Hui. "Be aware, stay careful. Dangerous people.."

Johan followed Guang Hui through a maze of dirty alley ways and roads. Eventually, they got to an old worn down gym that had a sign above the door with crude writing on it. The sign said,

SLUM BOXING GYM

From within the building the sound of rhythmic skipping could be heard.

Guang Hui nodded at two people who stood outside the door to the gym smoking cigarettes, they nodded back at him and opened the door for them to enter. In the middle of the room single boxing ring in stood. The gym's concrete walls were painted brown and the paint was peeling. Near one of the walls a series of boxing bags which sweaty men were hitting. Some men doing push ups, some hit boxing bags hung up near the furthest wall, some skipped, others hit pads held by trainers and others sparred. Once again Johan noticed the phenomenon of how inside the gym, he felt heavier.

"I GET NEW CLEANING BOY!," yelled Guang Hui.

Johan looked at Guang Hui curiously.

"What do you mean cleaning boy?," asked Johan.

"You need food and training," said Guang Hui. "Here you pay with work."

Out of a room, at the back of the gym, a short pudgy white balding man came out.

"Good," said the man. "Guang Hui, here is your recruitment payment."

"THANK THANK BROTHER GUANG CHONG!," said Guang Hui taking an envelope from the man.

Guang Hui looked at Johan and said, "I go, you stay here with brother!"

Guang Hui, then left.

Guang Chong looked Johan up and down.

"Seems like you got in a fight and lost recently," said Guang Chong, "you are bruised up everywhere."

"Yeah," said Johan.

"I see," said Guang Chong, "well, you can take advantage of the resources at this gym as long as you keep it clean. Make sure that the washrooms and showers are cleaned, mits and weights are put back in their proper place and floors are swept clean every night after closing. Most people don't stay long because of the rough crowd in this neighborhood. You can sleep in the storage room where the cleaning supplies are."

Johan nodded.

"I'll pay you in food items," said Guang Chong.

Johan nodded again.

"But today," said Guang Chong, "Since you haven't worked yet, you get no food."

Johan nodded.

He wasn't worried because in the bag he'd gotten from the labyrinth, he'd stored food.

"I want to enter the fight tournament this year," said Johan.

"You?," said Guang Chong. "Well, I don't really care, I'll put in your papers. Just do your job as a cleaner. It is your life in the end."

Johan nodded happily and went to the storage room. Now he had a place to train and get stronger. He decided to make sure that Chris and his gym regretted rejecting him and making a fool out of him.

-- Ø --

Later that night, Johan quickly cleaned the gym after everyone had left.

He copied the workouts he'd seen people doing. Lifting weights, skipping, push ups and squats followed by hitting the heavy bag. After his workout, he collapsed in his in the storage room exhausted wondering how a boxing gym could possibly prepare him for a fight tournament where kicking and grappling were most likely allowed. He needed to win to get back to earth and find the guardian spirit.

Johan concluded that while this place would make him stronger, it simply would not be enough. Sitting down on the storage room floor, he closed his eyes, and observed his surroundings using his senses. He realized that the area he was in was densely populated although the streets seemed sparse of people. In the gutters below, people and animals were surprisingly wondering around in large amounts. But what caught his attention more than this was that in the area, there were other rooms that had several boxing bags hung up.

There seemed to be many other fight gyms in the area he was in.

"I guess I know what I am going to be doing tomorrow," muttered Johan to himself.