Rank 48?

Ren's determination grew with each passing day. He immersed himself so much in his training he began to grow more and more distant from Alex and Marissa, and they took notice.

"It feels like I'm falling further and further behind him," sighed Marissa.

"I know. I fell behind the very first day I meet him." agreed Alex.

"Do you think he even notices us anymore."

"I'm not sure, but if he keeps doing this, he will wind up traveling a path only he can tread on."

Ren just finished a run and was in his room eating when Ms. Croft entered.

"Your going to fall over dead before to long without Mr. Sandler's help." joked Ms. Croft.

"I might make that my goal. As long as I get stronger from it and don't actually die," retorted Ren. "By the way I have a favor to ask."

"What is it?"

"Could you possibly hook me up with a high rank, someone I can fight against. Training only does so much, I need experience."

"I can try."

A week later, in the evening, Ms. Croft brought Ren to a floor in the East building. The room was completely empty except for one man. He was tall, and looked to be in his upper twenties, with very short black hair, military syle. He also had brown eyes. What intrigued Ren the most was the energy he could sense from him. He was definently strong, but he was still no where near as strong as Mr. Sandler.

"Let me introduce you to William Harris, he is rank 48," introduced Ms. Croft.

"Someone in the top 50, huh? This'll be interesting." thought Ren as he shook William's hand.

"I hear you want some fighting experience. You see, I love to fight, but not many people are willing to here. They are all to scared to lose their ranks. So when I heard, Ms. Croft was looking for people to fight someone, I jumped at the chance," explained William. "By the way, you can call me Will. Ready to get started?"

"Yes sir," replied Ren. "Let's see how far I have come with all I've been through." Ren clenched his fist and allowed his energy to surge through his body, firing up his muscles.

"This kid is giving off tremendous pressure," observed Will. "This is going to be fun!"

WHOOM!

Will shot forwards towards Ren and threw a punch, but Ren dodged left and quickly got behind him, but before Ren could attack, Will spun with his leg around, narrowly missing Ren's head. Ren lept back.

"Not bad kid," commented Will. This time Ren rushed forward, then skidded to a stop in front of Will and jumped as Will threw a punch, dodging it.

CRACK!

Ren countered with a kick to Will's head, knocking Will back a good ten feet.

"This kid's instincts are sharp!" marveled Will.

Will shot back at Ren. Ren moved to the right, but Will anticipated that, and skidded to a stop and swept Ren's legs out from under him. Then before Ren knew it, Will's fist was right in front of Ren's face.

BOOM!

The floor cracked with the force of the blow to Ren's face, but Will didn't stop there, he jumped up.

SLAM!

HAK!

Will stomped down with all his weight on Ren's stomach making Ren cough up blood. Will jumped up again, but Ren rolled put of the way before Will slamed back down onto the ground.

Ren jumped to his feet as Will rocketed towards Ren again.

BAM.... BOOM!

Will caught Ren in the stomach with his fist and sent Ren flying into the wall. Dust was thrown up, blocking Will's view of Ren. Will thought he could see two green lights, then Ren flew out from the dust, catching Will of guard.

BANG!

Ren managed to sink his fist into Will's stomach, this time sending Will flying into the opposite wall.

"Amazing," Ms. Croft marveled. "Ren's not even ranked, but he's giving someone in the top 50 a rough time."

COUGH! COUGH! "Nice one kid! How about making this an official fight? What do you think?" proposed Will.

"What do you mean?" asked Ren.

"I mean that if you win this battle, you obtain my rank and everyone beneath me including me drop a rank. The one who either surrenders, gets knocked unconscious, or is killed loses. Although, let's not try to actually kill each other."

"What if you win?"

"If I win, I want you to be my servant," smirked William.

Ren thought about it for a second. "Alright, I accept."

"I better get serious," thought Ren as he began to release some of the energy he held back.

"Dang! He's giving off even more pressure now. That's ok, I was holding back too!" William released all he had and launched himself towards Ren.

When Will was right right in front of Ren, Ren disappeared, dodging Will's attack.

"Where did he go?" Will sensed Ren behind him and spun around with a high sweeping kick, but his foot didn't connected with anything. "He's gone again?" Will sensesd Ren again and threw a punch, but missed again. "Damn! I can only catch glimpses of him!"

CRACK!

Ren slamed his foot into the back of Will's head, knocking Will to the floor.

"AARRRGGHHH!" roared Will, after he stood up.

SLAM! WHACK!

Ren slammed his knee into Will's gut then claspped his hands together and hit the back of Will's neck, back onto the floor.

Will coughed violently. "Damn, he's insane! That's it! If I want to win, I'm going to have to fight like I'm trying to kill him! No... on second thought, I'LL JUST KILL HIM!" decided Will.

Will shot up into the air and came back down.

BOOM!

Ren lost sight of Will, then...

CRACK!

Will had gotten behind Ren and kicked him in the back.

BAM!

Will shot around in front of Ren and then hit him in the face.

"Ugh! Looks like he got even faster," observed Ren. "I'm also sensing bloodlust from him."

Ren caught the floor and skidded to a stop, then rocketed back towards Will and released an onslaught of attacks, as did Will.

Ren went to sweep Will's legs, Will jumped to dodge, but...

POW!

When Ren regained his footing, he also jumped and caught Will below the jaw sending Will even higher into the air.

When Ren hit the ground, he jumped up again and grabbed Will's arm.

BOOM!

Ren threw Will back on the ground, then prepared to stomp down on him.

SLAM!

Ren landed right on Will's face with his feet, cracking the floor.

Ren stood over Will, with one foot on his head. "Your fighting for the wrong reason." criticized Ren. "You don't fight to fight, you fight to protect or to bring about change."

Will just layed there motionless, blood leaking out from his head.

"I plan on doing both."

Ms. Croft gasped, "To think his body is absorbing all the training he is doing instead of breaking down. He's dangerous."

"Looks like, I'm rank 48. Does that come with any perks?" wondered Ren. "Hopefully I didn't kill him."