11

He doesn't stand a chance. And the perfect way to show that to the at most two people in here that don't already know is by letting everyone see how tough you are.

You walk right up and spread your arms out, inviting him to hit you. He looks quite surprised, but he takes this opportunity.

He brings his arm down low, then hits you in the jaw with an uppercut. Or at least, you think he did, since you feel nothing.

He, on the other hand, does. He shakes his fist around and blows on it, apparently thinking that will help ease the pain. Seems your jaw was too hard for him. He cradles his hand, then tries again, this time with a body blow from his other hand.

Once again, you feel nothing. And once again, he blows on his hand, making the crowd begin to laugh at this turn of events. You keep your arms spread out, still inviting him to strike you.

He looks at you and think for a moment. Then he grabs your shoulders and slams his head against yours.

This time, someone falls down. But it isn't you. Paper Poe falls flat on the ground without a sound, as if he were actually paper. It seems he knocked himself out.

The crowd laughs and cheers as the wannabe cowboy walks into the ring and speaks.

"Man, I don't think one feller in here ever expected to see something like that happen! Don't worry though, everyone, I'm sure Poe is okay. Let's just get him out and the next fighter in."

Round Two

It takes about ten seconds for your next enemy to get into the ring. This time, you're face to face with a woman sporting a pair of aviator glasses. She has brown hair in a bob cut with long bangs and gray roots, and she has quite the case of crow's feet. She wears makeup to hide the small amount of wrinkles spread across her face, and she appears a bit slight but tall. Her pants look worn.

"You don't look like much," she calls out at you. You can't see her eyes past the aviator glasses, but she appears to be frowning.

The cowboy walks into the middle of the arena and motions for everyone to be silent—despite the fact that no one's talking this time either—before he speaks.

"Alright, everyone, our new hotshot Candleshaper is about to compete against everyone's favorite fighter Jane! Will their winning streak go on, or will Jane show why Poe always goes first? We're about to find out!"

He walks out of the ring, and Jane motions at you to come closer. It seems she wants you to come at her instead of meeting you. What will you do?

You stand still. This goes on for a while with neither of you moving toward each other. The crowd begins to grow impatient at the lack of action going on. But Jane does not move.

It's clear she has no intention of coming at you. But you can't win standing over here, right?

You attempt to insult her by making fun of her outfit and talking about her mother, but it doesn't work. She merely shrugs her shoulders at your attempts to insult her. It seems this woman isn't easily offended, or at least you haven't figured out what exactly you could say to anger her.

Eventually, the cowboy just walks into the ring and raises a hand to silence you.

"Looks like neither of these two are man enough to come at each other. We'll just call this one a draw because our next fighter really wants to get in here. The newcomer will be going on, since we all know what has happened every other time Jane went up against who's coming out next."

Some of the crowd boos you two, and you get the feeling some of the hype has gone down.

The crowd is completely silent again, but this time, there are plenty of smiles other than the cowboy's. They know who's coming, and they're excited. You, on the other hand…

Out steps a muscular Spanish man with no shirt on, showing off his hard muscles. He has big pecs and nearly the outline of a six-pack. He wears black jeans with a big golden cowboy belt buckle. His brown, slicked-back hair is shiny, and he has a huge shit-eating grin on his face.

He takes his hand out of his pocket and points at you, then gives a thumbs-down.

"You're going down, amateur." His grin turns into a scowl, and he cracks his knuckles. He's showing off, but he looks like he can back it up.

How do you respond?