(A/N: This chapter will most likely be insanely short... I'm very busy... grr! Tons of homework, School, Finals, Spanish proficiencies, confirmation... And I sure hope you appreciate the fact that I actually put down my guitar for today to write this for you! Even if it is sucky... haha. And sorry for all the author notes!)

Warnings: Teeny cursing...


(Author's POV)

Ponyboy looked up, startled, confused and scared. He was still working on catching his breath, so he couldn't exactly get up and run away. (A/N: Plus, running after track is almost impossible if it was a rough practice...)

"Yer' that kid from the paper, aint'cha?" He questioned; Definitely not in a sweet, friendly way. Almost like he knew he was from the paper, and decided to ask anyway.

"Yeah..." Pony swallowed. He wasn't sure what to do; This guy looked like a greaser... but greasers usually don't jump other greasers.

"You know Two-Bit then?" He stated more so than actually asking.

Pony inaudibly gulped, and nodded his head.

"H-how do you know h-him?" Pony stammered, feeling stupid for asking a question like that. "Who are you anyway?"

"Used to be Keith's buddy... ain't no more. Name's Blaze. Ain't important, kid." He lowered his voice, threateningly to let Pony know that he wasn't around to play "20 questions." (A/N: Special request from my biffle... hah. Love you Blaze, but you're the bad guy in here!)

"Well then... let's get back to business, shall we?" he said in a raspy voice.

Blaze quickly kicked Ponyboy's head, making Pony's hands shoot up to his head as a natural reaction. That move left his chest and stomach unguarded. So, given the chance, he stomped his foot hard into Pony's abdomen, leaving Ponyboy with little air, and his arms slinging around his stomach.

Unluckily for Pony, there was nobody in sight. Nothing but an old alley. (A/N: I know the whole "jumped in an alley" thing is used often, but there's a good reason for it; It's easier to imagine bad things happening in a dark alley for some reason... lol)

Blaze reached down and grabbed Pony's collar and dragged him into the alley. Pony struggled as much as he could; That wasn't much, considering he came back from track very tired, and was short on air at the moment.

Quick as a flash of lightning, Blaze swung Pony around, and left him to slam against the brick wall of the alley. Ponyboy sat up strait, throbbing and trying to find his sight again, which was nearly knocked out of him. When he gained his sight back, he looked up, puzzled, at a strong figure, only to find a large fist connecting with his cheek bone.

"Holy shit!" Pony cursed. (He doesn't really curse often...)

"Don't waste your breath, kid." Blaze said before kicking Pony hard in the side.

Ponyboy was about to try to run away from Blaze, only to be found pinned in the back corner of the dark alley. The only thing in sight was a dot of light coming from the mouth of the alley, and the shadowy form of Blaze, who kept getting closer and punching and kicking Pony.

Pony curled into a ball on the cold, dirty floor of the alley, gasping every time Blaze made another move on him. After a few more minutes of being pummeled by Blaze, Pony drifted into an unconscious, but pleasing, black haze as he felt the pain detach from him.


(A/N:Sorry... Not so great at fighting sequences... couldn't really find time to finish it anyway. May update this chapter if I learn to write a bit better about fighting. It's hard to explain; The ideas work in my head. But don't work when I try to write them!)

(A/N:If it bothers you that these chapters are so short, tell me and I'll simply combine the short ones for you! Thanks!)