The match

We couldn't see Jasper until the opening, which I wasn't surprised about. But Mali was quite nervous and still wanted to go find her old friend. However, despite her attempts, the guys guarding the entrance to one of the main buildings down here wouldn't let her go. They couldn't.

After a long time, the long-awaited start of the matches began and the three of us found ourselves in front of one of the few rings that were down here. It was empty so far. That is, without two competing opponents who were supposed to come there at any moment. Until then, only a tattooed guy with a buzz cut was talking on the screen on the building above the ring.

My brain completely shut down for about a minute, because I didn't want to listen to it, and I only came to my senses when they announced the names of the first two opponents. I didn't know either of them, but even so I couldn't not to let myself watching the match with a bias.

On one side was a rather young boy who could just have barely finished the school. He couldn't have been more than seventeen, which made me sigh. His longer black hair was tied back in a small ponytail and he watched his opponent warily, his hands clenched into fists in red boxing gloves.

Opposite him was a guy in his thirties with a mocking expression on his face, as if he thought he owned this place. But that wasn´t true, otherwise he would be in the later matches where the main stars of the evening were competing. This was just a kind of prelude to entice the audience where some kind of first-timers participated.

When the match started, there was a bit of whistling around and a few people even cheered. However, many spectators were not very enthusiastic, as they obviously didn't know the contestants and wanted to see a proper match, for which they had to wait a little longer.

After a few minutes, the guy with the originally mocking grin was lying on the ground with a completely different expression on his face, while the kid above him was smiling a little happily while looking exhausted at the same time. He had won, but it didn't mean it was the end.

The first match was finished, and after a short break, the guy with a short haircut came back on the screen and announced the names of the other participants. This time I already caught a familiar name, which caught my breath for a moment. Jasper Blake.

Mali put her hand on my shoulder, which she then squeezed, forcing me to look at her. She looked almost as nervous as if the match was waiting for her in person. But that wasn't true. I raised my eyebrow in question at her and Elias just shrugged beside her.

So I let it go and looked back, my eyes locked on the scene in front of me. New fighters were already entering the ring, which again caused some cheers, whistles and an applause. However, it was still nothing in the audience's expectations, so the reactions were still not spectacular.

I watched Jasper go up against a guy in his thirties again. However, this one already looked scarier than the one in the previous game. I surveyed the scene in front of me with an interest as I crossed my arms over my chest.

The match was started and the two engaged in a duel. At first, they were just circling each other before a guy, unknown to me, attacked his opponent. Jasper dodged him, but the latter didn't seem to mind the missing. He looked more like he was scanning Jasper's steps.

Speaking of my so-called friend. I had to dwell on a few things. He didn't seem too nervous when he entered the ring, as if it wasn't his first time here. And he fought just as well as if he had been here before. This made me a little more curious about the time we hadn't seen each other. A few interesting things seemed to happen.

The evening went on until the main matches of the evening, when people were finally chanting quite loudly for their well-known favorites, ended. I had to admit that I also enjoyed it a little more than the matches before them. Or maybe it was because Jasper was done and I could enjoy it here without any worries.

Jasper lost against his opponent. However, even though it seemed from the perspective of his opponent that our friend had no chance, the match almost ended in a draw. But the stronger and bigger guy gave the blond one a hard time towards the end, and so he won.

Short haired guy on the screen began to report something again. Who was the winner, in which match, wishing pleasant entertainment for the rest of the evening and so on. However, I didn't listen to that anymore, because Mali pulled my arm and together with Elias she led us to the door of the building where Jasper had disappeared a while ago after his defeat.

We waited a moment before Jasper finally came out the iron door with some graffiti on them. He looked a little beaten up, but one couldn't tell much, and I suddenly wished that his opponent had broken his nose in their match. He deserved it, after all.

With my arms crossed over my chest, I eyed Jasper. He must have felt it because he then looked at me, a little confused, and I just raised my eyebrows in a question: "You have financial problems?"

Mali gave him a curious look after my mention of money while Jasper let out a deep sigh. So I had hit the nail on the head, probably. There weren't many other reasons why he would fight here in the ring, though.

"So?" I urged him to turn everything out. The blond guy looked around and urged us to move:

"What ´bout havin´drink somewhere?"

I rolled my eyes, but I wasn't surprised he didn't want to talk about it out here. Stand in a circle during the interrogation. In addition, it was teeming with people and at any moment someone could bump into us. Especially the drunk ones were not very pleasant.

After walking for a while, we reached a pub, in front of which guy was sitting on the ground with his head on his knees, drunk. We walked around him and went inside, where there were quite a lot of people, but we still managed to find a place to sit.

There was noise around us as many groups were having loud debates about the previous matches and various social issues. However, the radio at the bar wasn't very quiet either, so Jasper had to raise his voice for us to hear what he decided to say over a glass of beer that was imported from a little distant planet that was famous for its production.

"My father started gambling, so I had to help mom somehow."

I sighed at the mention of Jasper's father's actions. I hated it when parents dragged their families into such trouble. When we were still in school, sometimes a problem like this occurred with one of our classmates. This kind of problems then led such families even lower. Or to break up.

"Did your mom stay with him?" asked Mali.

Jasper shook his head: "She put up with it for a while and talked for him, but I had talk with her and they the got divorce."

"Then why do you continue doin´ this?" I raised my eyebrow in question. If they got rid of the problem, he could be done with this. But there could always be something else.

The blond haired guy drank his beer with a sigh and circled the pint on the table for a while. He seemed to be thinking about how to continue his explanation or how to tell us his another problem.

"Mum was fired from her job because of him, so she had no money and we absolutely needed to pay the rent," he sighed and then continued: "It wasn't even enough when I moved back."

We spent the rest of the evening in the same pub, and Mali made sure to remind Jasper several times that the next time he had a problem, he should let us know. Then we discussed more pleasant things. For example, the upcoming hovercar race. However, one thing I didn´t understand didn´t happen - Elias was with us the whole time but it seemed like they already have known each other. Well, maybe was Elias with Mali when they had the talk a few days ago.