It's Not Over Until It's Over

Rambone shifted his stance, his left leg back, right leg forward. Same with his hands. The man came charging at him, lunging a bit for a punch to Rambone's face.

Rambone reflexively swerved in response and countered with a hard punch to his jaw.

It made the man stumble back a few steps. Then he pulled the man back in with a grab by the neck collar. He pushed him back out, still holding him, and then kicked him in the gut towards a wall.

He recoiled back against the wall in pain.

And, the second man continued to foil and frustrate Luca. A jump to avoid a hit to the legs. A duck. Swerve right, swerve left, right, left, right. Then down and a missed chance. Her entire body was shaking from rage.

As she missed yet another punch, the man grabbed her by the shoulders and hard kneed her stomach. She coughed up blood, falling to her side on the floor. The man kicked her in the back.

It made Luca roll over on her stomach. He put a leg up over her belly. Then blood came out.

Rambone kicked them in the face. The man spit out blood on the cold concrete.

The other man came charging in and kicked Rambone in the liver, with a much harder force than he was expecting. It sent him flying into the wall. He fainted instantly, falling lump as he sat against it.

Luca screamed in panic and rage. She quickly got up and aimed for another punch in the face to one of the men. As she extended the arm, they dodged and the other man gripped her by the side and her extended arm, throwing her down on the ground. She bounced once before firmly laying on the ground.

"Heh. You two are fucking pathetic." One of them said.

Luca jumped back up and went again for a punch to the liver. Her hand got trapped and the man elbowed her arm out, nearly breaking it.

She fell to the ground again. She got up again. The men were starting to walk away. One of them turned back and threw over the other man.

She screamed once again, her face keeping to show her unbridled rage.

The man on the right offered a hand to Luca. She took it and tried to use it as leverage to go in for another hit. The attempt failed and the man instead slammed her into a wall a few meters away.

As she back on her once again, she was stumbling and tears welled up in her eyes. She tried to dash forwards but tripped and fell to their feet.

The men stopped and looked down at her, giving her a cold look. She fixed herself and sat, holding her legs in with her arms, and began to cry. Even after all that, she still wasn't still strong enough. They weren't strong enough. They weren't good enough.

The man on the left offered a hand.

"It's not all that bad. Just don't go around fucking with people you shouldn't be."

Luca took their hand reluctantly. She got up.

"How are you two so strong?"

The two men began walking away.

"I SAID HOW ARE YOU TWO SO STRONG?!" She yelled, still in anger. When they didn't respond, She grabbed them by the back of their hoods.

They turned around incredibly fast and punched her at the same time. It sent her flying back more than a few meters, right about to where Rambone laid unconscious. And she, similar to him, was beginning to fight for consciousness.

Then someone in a uniform fell down. Then a series of kicks and punches sounded out and the two hooded men were sent running.

A voice unlike someone like they had ever heard began ranging out to them, "Hello? Hello? Hello? HELLO?! HELLOOOO?!"

The voice became louder as it moved closer to her. Her eyes were barely open and her vision was very blurry.

The voice offered her a hand up. She accepted. This time it wasn't a trick.

As she got up, she wiped off her tears.

It was a boy about her age. He was noticeably taller than her, with short and messy blonde hair, and hazel-colored eyes. He wiped off his hands on his uniform and they shook hands.

"Uhh... thanks for me saving... I guess?" She was so surprised by his sudden appearance she didn't know how to respond.

"Yeah, you're welcome." He said, oddly calm. "How are you feeling, though?"

She rubbed her back and groaned in pain. "I think I'll be fine... hopefully."

"You know the clinic has a licensed chiropractor, right?"

"Oh, shit... for real?"

He nodded.

"Fuck yeah."

"Is your friend over there fine?" He pointed to Rambone, who was still lying unconscious.

"I think-kkkkk... he isss?" She grimaced. "Let me go over check his pulse."

She ran over to him and place her index and middle fingers on his wrist. She took around a minute in uneasy silence before speaking up. She nodded at the boy.

She got back on her feet and started talking again.

"All that aside, who are you? Name's Luca Pasteur. It's nice to meet you."

"Yeah, probably 'shoulda done this earlier. I'm Ganodo Howell. Great to meet you!" He smiled.

He moved to pick up and start carrying Rambone.

"Y'know I coulda done that too?" Luca objected.

"I'd prefer helping you out more than you having to help yourself out."

"Nah, like, I'm good."

"I managed to catch you two getting your asses whooped and decided to step in." He said. "And, follow me, I'll show you the way out."

"Cool." She gave him a thumbs up. "This place is a fucking labyrinth me or him can navigate through."

He laughed. "It was like that for me, too originally. The longer you stay here, the more you know."

"Oh? How long have you been here then?"

He took a second to think. "Hmm... probably a few months. I've lost track of since when I first got here."

"How good are you at fighting then?"

"Not very. I think this uniform's pretty old because I retire and unretire from being a member of the arena constantly."

"Wait, you can do that?"

"Of course you can."

"Then what do you do?"

"That's a tough question. I'm just working on some personal projects, I'd say."

"Oh oh oh... can you show us?!" Her face lit up.

"Nah, not really. I can show you two a snippet of one later, though. That sound alright."

"Yeah, that'd make me feel great."

"Hahaha, great! And by the way, I just remembered, how are you so good with medical stuff? That stuff never sticks to my head and I really wanna dig into it."

"To be honest, it's a really long story."

"Can you tell me then?"

"Nah. Too personal."

"Have you told the story to Mr. Unconscious over here?"

"Nope. How about I tell you about my match from earlier?"

"Aww... I can understand that. I'd love to talk about matches with you, though."

"I'd like that too."