Powers Ch. 03

Em yelled, "I want a clean fight! Nothing with intent to hurt, that means no knees to heads!" She stared me down and I nodded. "On my signal --- GO!"

There was a loud shrill and chaos erupted. Luke and Tom rushed towards their opponents. Karateka and I inched forward until he was in my kick range, and I threw out a low kick. Just like his younger brother he stopped them by stomping on my shin, and, if you've forgotten, that hurts like all hell. It was expected, but I had to check.

I inched a little closer and tested his defense against jabs, but he waved them off like it was nothing with his front arm.

This wasn't going anywhere and I couldn't break this dude. So I jumped back and touched both the girls behind me, giving back their energy. Karateka was surprised for a second, before he pressed forward, but that was enough time. I was back in defensive position and jabbed forward, keeping him at a distance, but without the extra juice I was struggling to keep up and he could push me back.

I made sure to lose slowly and danced around him. Eventually I couldn't keep up and he caught me with a drill punch, smashing my face in and Popping me.

Reality shifted for a second and everything grew hazy. My lungs pulled together and made it hard to breathe. A tremble went through my body and all the strength left my body. My throat hurt and my stomach rumble.

Reality shifted back and there were stars in front of my eyes. The rumble in my stomach turned into a nauseating bubble.

Karateka fucked me up and that's from him holding back. That fucker was a real Ranker and I was nowhere close to his level. Standing next to a star makes you realize how small you are.

It didn't matter though, with their energy back, both of our Batteries had made quick work of their opponents and helped the brothers take down theirs. Finally all four of them ganged up on Karateka and he went down.

Tom picked me up, gave me a huge bear hug and twirled me around in the air. His laughing sent vibrations through my body. He put me down and Luke did the same, but higher and faster.

Em came up and got them to put me down just so she could hug me close, ruffle my hair and whisper in my ear, "That'll do, Partner, that'll do."

I went through all that and was still bitter for losing. I made a great tactical play, but it felt wrong to get all this praise when I was the only one that got Popped.

Karateka was swearing in Japanese, all I understood was bits and pieces, but it brought a smile to my face when he went, "Fucking White!" Someone had to tell him 'racism wasn't cool.' Wait --- I wasn't a Red, they hadn't known that. I was giving away my advantages.

The rest of that morning was spent practice fighting with the brothers until I was out of juice. I never once got a good hit in on them. Either Karateka's hit had taken more out of me than I thought or I wasn't on their level yet. Was the only reason I was a Ranker that I could abuse Jarred and his lack of striking?

We went for food and Em was sticking with me. You could hear the sound of the duo fights from the stadium. Em and I were enjoying the free wins from our combined rating.

"So what happened to your normal Captain? I'm not stealing anyone's spot, right?"

"Oh, this first year went in and rattled his brain so bad he had to stay overnight in the hospital and got a week suspension from fighting."

I had the good nerve to look guilty, Jarred was their point man, of course. That's probably how he met Jenny after all.

"Serves him right." Tom cut in, "He has to learn some striking or people will keep taking advantage of him, that flying arm bar was neat though, never seen that before."

"I fought a lot against Jenny."

They all looked at me like I was stupid before Em jumped in to my rescue. "She likes to tackle, and either you learn to defend or it hurts." They all looked at her like it made perfect sense.

The food was delicious but pricy. I would stick with my normal pasta and chicken at home. During the meal they went through what teams we were looking out for and how to fight against them.

The brothers were both manipulators. Like the rest of top ten. Tom could create a second layer around his glove. That meant his glove was heavier and he could hit harder. It was cool, but Luke could create spikes anywhere and he bragged about it a lot.

"So there I was, hopelessly out numbered. I went for the first guy. Popped his shield with a spike punch. That left me open to the second guy and he went for it. Just to punch straight into a spike. His face, as he discovered what I had done, was priceless. His glove went pop and we won. It was amazing."

It left out the part where the second guy must have been exhausted. Why else would you punch the spike head on and why would a glove lose to a manipulation? You needed Alex level of strength to crush a glove.

I tried to get the brothers to tell me embarrassing stories about Em, but they threw glances at her and then shut up. Mum's the word.

Em and I headed to the fights, we were almost two hours early for our first fight but we watched the first years struggle and she told me things I hadn't considered.

Half the people lost the first round, but on average people still won two matches each. So if you lost once you just needed to do the average next month to score some good points. The system was nice that way. It was less nice in the way that the bottom people just kept losing.

Lot of people gathered around Em. She gave them a tip or two, mostly just kind words. She brought them to my attention. I had totally ignored them until then. I could do my part and help some of them train. She saw my face and she understood.

There was something new to spend my time on, instead of manically training until I couldn't stand.

Half an hour before our fight we got to our warm up location and started running. Em was a ray of sunshine to work with, I had a big goofy grin on my face when we got out there.

There was a loud yell as we walked into one of the cages. "You go, Sis!" Em nervously waved. Both her brothers were sitting in what looked like a throne. Next to them were four other thrones. Only two of them were occupied. Karateka and the battery, that wasn't Lucy, was in one, and the other was two different blond versions of Kendolls.

Tom and Luke waved enthusiastically and Em waved backed reluctantly, this was too good.

"So, are they always this embarrassing, or do they try extra because of guilt?"

She looked at me with ice in her eyes. "Always like this. Now focus."

There was two of the low tier third years up against us. They knew what they were doing and we danced around for a bit. Then Em got her chance to be the disruptor and I played the bull.

They tried to punch back, but when you're down on the ground it's very hard to get your weight behind the punch. So I laughed it up and ended the fight with two quick elbow strikes.

Em hugged me and two very loud brothers cheered as I twirled her around. One match down, only six left to the cut.

Our next opponents were heavily beaten up and they conceded.

Our third opponent were two beautiful fourth years. I got a bit distracted by their extremely well developed assets and Em's elbow hit me in the side. She whisper yelled, "You can grope them after you beat them." She was clearly too loud and both the girls laughed, checking us out, there was a light in their eyes as they pointed to me and their giggling was replaced by a game face.

They got to their positions, starting the clock and then they split up. I threw Em a quick glance and she shrugged. I pointed to the taller one and we split up.

My opponent was a blonde European with probably the biggest boobs I had ever seen. They were straining against the fabric of her protective suit.

She was a bit taller than me, so I inched forward. When I threw out a testing low kick, I got a kick to the face in return. She was a fighter, some kind of weird not kick boxing but mostly kicks fighting art.

We traded kicks, hers hit higher on my body, but the Power trade was fine for me. After a couple of kicks to her support leg she grasped my plan. I wasn't going to break her shield that way, but the pain and damage would eventually make it impossible for her to kick.

So she did a 130 twist on me and her other leg was the support leg. All my work was useless and fighting against a southpaw is infuriating. Her kicks all of a sudden hit first, disrupting my balance and not letting my kicks connect with full force.

I was trying to figure something out when there was a loud roar behind me and I jumped back. Em was on top of her opponent and that was that, her brothers were the ones screaming in joy.

My opponent tried a desperation play, to save her friend, but I was fast enough to stop her and get her down. I was trying to mount and finish it when Em walked over.

"I told you, no fondling until after you beat them. Hurry up! Slowpoke!"

Em's voice distracted Blondie, allowing me to finally get a leg bar and she tapped out. I got up and then reached out to Blondie, helping her up. She gave both me and Em a hug and then she walked over to her friend to help her up. "He's not much of a groper."

Em got a good laugh before she answered. "He's well trained, only gropes on command."

There was a loud roar from one of the cages so I couldn't hear her answer but she made the call me sign and winked. Em was the best wingman ever.

Then it was time for the break. Cages went away and up came the octagon. We were drawn very late in the round, meaning we would have little time between matches but we could eat a little now.

The next match was against a guy that I recognized from the show match and a girl I didn't. She clearly was a battery and not a fighter. They kissed before the game, good to know, boyfriends usually lose their cool if you target their girl.

When they walked to the cage he reached up, opened the door and lifted the girl up. The crowd 'awwed' and she made a show of kissing him. So, was it a trap? Was she a decoy?

It didn't matter much to me and Em, we had to take her out either way.

We walked up, they did the same, they jumped back and we took the middle. Then we stood there while they were watching us, cautiously circling, and we were waiting.

When thirty seconds passed they got a warning for passivity. We held the middle so they had to do something. He cautiously advanced into range of Em's jab. There was a snap sound as she hit him straight in the face. I went for the battery, but the guy anticipated this and got in my path. So I turned around and danced. Em and I traded his attention back and forth. Once he was focused on one the other would smack him. Never hard enough to risk anything, but our strategy was clear, after three minutes we would win on points.

He charged me and I dodged the first charge with a sideways roll, but Em wasn't there to help since the battery engaged her.

Perfect! Just fucking perfect!

The second charge he came at me with arms wide open. It was like they never fucking learnt. Amateurs.

It was more reflex than anything. My knee snapped up but the violent snap back didn't happen. My knee hit all right, but then he had me in a bear hug and I went down. Somehow his neck held for the violent thrust. How? Just --- what? How? Ignore it and think about it later.

He was on me, bigger, heavier and with a hell of a lot more Power. I was going to lose, it was just a question of time. I put both my feet in his stomach and pushed him away. He held strong and hailed blows over my legs. One blow, two and my shield wavered, as my legs trembled. It was too much, the final blow was about to land as the most beautiful sight I had ever seen came raining down.

Two feet just crushing into the side of his face. Followed by the most perfect legs in history. Long, muscular, with a nice bronzed tone. Em, the beautiful bastard, had made quick work of her opponent and saved me.

Mr. Gorilla popped and I laid there, breathing heavily. I had to wave away the EMT as they came to check on me. I was bruised and ready for bed but not in need of assistance.

Em pulled me up and then she put me on her shoulder as we jumped of stage.

"I'm sorry Em, I'm done."

"No worries, thanks for getting us this far."

"What? It was all you."

"Yeah, right."

It wasn't worth arguing with her when she got like that. "I need ice cream."

***

"Is this how you seduce all you women? Bring them to the ice cream shop and mope over delicious vanilla ice cream?"

"It's worked so far." I shrugged.

"What's the next move?"

"I ask them up to my place for a movie."

"And they fall for it? Must be like shooting fish in a barrel."

"It took some talking, and it was just a movie. Then I walked Arianna home and kissed her goodnight. I walked away and she stopped me. I was a perfect gentleman."

"Umhum." I had to figure out how to make that sound. "Well, come on then, partner, but I'm picking the film this time."

"Sure. Soon, I just need a little more ice cream."

"You've already had five bowls, enough is enough."

"Bite me. Gorilla dude almost emptied my Power, and I had a light dinner."

***

We were halfway through the movie when Em sunk down on my knee and I played with her hair. The film was a RomCom and of the actually funny kind.

There was just one problem; my little fella woke up from the warmth and the contact. I tried to shift so she wouldn't notice, but that made her shift her head and just made it even more obvious.

She paused the movie and I tried to find the words but was brought out of it when her eyes welled up with tears. I kept running my hands through her hair.

"The one guy I don't want to date is the only one that finds me attractive." She sobbed out.

"That's not true. Lots of guys find you attractive."

"Why don't they hit on me then?" Her sobbing got worse. "All the other girls tell stories about how annoying it is to get hit on all the time. No one hits on me, ever."

"Well, you're not the same as other girls..."

"No, I'm ugly."

"We both know that's not true. You have something else here that the other girls don't have." She looked up at me quizzically. "A very overprotective family." She looked at me like I was dumb. "I hear it all the time in the locker rooms." I did a gruff manly voice. "That Em girl is hot, but her brothers would kill me."

She actually laughed, then the crying came back. We sat there in silence as her tears dried up. "Is that actually true?"

"Scouts honor."

"You never were a scout."

"On my mother's name then." It just slipped out and the pain followed.

Em sat up, hugged me, and now I was the one crying. "You're a wonderful person, Emily Miller. They don't deserve you if they let your brothers scare them away."

"I would still like to be hit on from time to time, maybe."

"Well, my beautiful, best and only friend, would you like to come to bed with me and end this fine evening with a bang?"

She pulled back, did a fake gasp and slapped me. "What kind of girl do you take me for?"

The laughter bubbled and Em soon followed, her giggling just got me laughing harder. It felt good to let loose and she hugged me tight. She laid down again and restarted the film. I tried to shift my erection away from her but she looked up at me. "Less moving, more hair cuddles, work slave, work."

Several quips traveled through my head, but she was laying next to my erection and there was a risk of inviting harm onto my member.

That night pictures of Em shifted through my head as I took care of Business, and as soon as I was done guilt wrecked me. She was my only friend and I did perverted things to her memory. I was a terrible human being, but, on the other hand, this was the first time I didn't think about Jenny, it was progress, somehow.

***

There was a knock on my door early next morning. I opened and was greeted by Em in her Sunday finest. I hugged her and she hugged me back. "Em, you look beautiful today. We have time for a quickie, right?"

"Mr. Hansson, we most certainly do NOT! Now put that thing away." She said in her offended English Lady voice.

I took a cold shower, and when I got out there was sandwiches ready for me to devour.

"You see how people might think we are a couple, right?" I said in passing as I jumped into my room to put on my church clothes.

"You blamed my brothers, but it's you --- You're the one keeping the guys away?"

"I would never." I lied.

Church was the same as always, except for one thing, the hot blonde from last night was waiting for us, Em hugged her and then she sat with us. Her name was Jackie, short for Jacqueline, and Em was the best wingman ever.

We met my new team out for brunch and then headed off for practice, leaving Em and Jackie alone to gossip.

Our practice consisted of them telling me what to do against different teams. When you were this close to the top it all came down to preparation and, sadly, we had none.

Luckily I changed our team dynamic as well, so our opponents had no preparation either. We had the maximum amount of free wins so we only needed four wins to make the top four cut.

The amount of information was overwhelming, and Luke noticed it. He got up and the rest followed his lead. Most people warmed up at the arena, but we didn't. Information is power, and there was no reason to let people know I was on this team earlier than we had to.

When we got to the arena Team Asia and the Kendolls were sitting on the thrones, looking down on us. Now that I noticed it, it was so clear; they were the champions waiting for our challenge.

Our first game we got a third year team and we went with the 'make me look flashy' tactic. It would make our next opponent focus on me. So I was the bull and the brothers set me up to smack some faces. It worked perfectly.

Then we were up against a very aggressive fourth year team. All five of them were very Powerful girls and as soon as we took our spots they charged. A quick knee put a stop to the charge in the center. Then we had the numbers advantage and I saved both our batteries from their opponents. By then the brothers had shown why they were rankers and finished theirs.

The third game we were up against a very tough team. My teammates winced when they saw them. The only one I recognized was the cloak dude, and he was easy pickings for me last time. They were all manipulators, apparently, and the brothers had a bad affinity with them since their energy band had less range.

I shrugged. I spent a year fighting Alex and the cloak guy hadn't impressed.

Grace and Trixy charged me up. Then I took the middle. The people attacked me. Cloak guy went for blocking my sight while a lasso girl tried to catch me. The third one seemed to use his as a trampoline to jump high in the air and do an axe kick. It was almost too easy.

I let my glove touch the cloak, stealing its energy as I rolled to the side. When I got up I could see the cloak guy so I charged in. He wasn't a close combat fighter. I already knew that much. He went down by a quick kick to the neck. The it was time for lasso girl. She threw it at me and caught me. Which just gave me free reign to steal her energy. She dropped the lasso and looked at me with a shocked expression. She wasn't pleased when I brought her down and crushed her shield with two quick elbow strikes.

Tom and Luke were taking a beating. Neither of them looked critical though. Trixy was down, so I ran after the trampoline guy as he was hunting Grace. I blind sighted him and crushed him against the wall. He went down, hard.

I touched Grace and gave her energy back, then I ran towards Luke. He was down and his opponent, a somewhat chubby girl, was on top of him, using what looked like chains to beat him. I caught the chain as she prepared to swing and pulled her off him. I put my foot on her throat and she tapped out. With Grace's help Tom took care of her girl. Only one win left.