Chapter 42: The Silent Boy
Drowning in the sound blaring through his headphones, Yaiko was lost in his own World. He was staring at the ground, hands in pockets, Heavy Metal playing in his ears. He gently bobbed his head along with the beat of the track. It was fast paced, double bass drums and fast palm-muted guitars, with some wicked solos. He was tapping his foot along with it too, but suddenly two shadows loomed over him and he froze. He didn't look up at them, but he knew who it was. He lifted his hands to his headphones and took them off, placing them around his neck. He looked up slowly, facing them.
"You ready to fight?" Joji asked, looking down at the boy with a fierce expression. Yaiko looked to Sofia, she was standing with her arms folded, smirking. Yaiko looked down again.
"I don't want to do this…" Yaiko muttered, almost so quiet that the other two couldn't hear him, but they did. Joji lifted Yaiko's face up so they were looking each other in the eyes.
"You have to," Joji said, threateningly. Sofia still didn't say anything, but her smirk had faded. She wasn't happy about Yaiko's apparent fear, or weakness, as she saw it. She turned her back and walked towards the door. Joji poked Yaiko in the chest, "You better give it your all."
Joji then grabbed Yaiko's arm and pulled him along to the door. Yaiko didn't fight it, he knew he would have to fight and there was no way out of it, but he wished that when he said no people would listen to him. He stood next to Sofia at the door and avoided looking towards her. Sofia glanced towards him and sighed. From Yaiko's perspective that was a disappointed sigh, but Sofia was more concerned than annoyed. She didn't understand why Yaiko didn't embrace his strength. Either way, she was ready to pull it out of him in this fight.
"I would like a challenge," Sofia said to her ally, not turning to face him. "I'm not going to hold back."
Yaiko swallowed, he was nervous, that was clear. He took the headphones from around his neck and took the music player out of his pocket, placing it on the side near the door. He would get it back afterwards. He looked up as their names were called and stepped out into the arena. Fear swept over him instantly. He had never seen a crowd that big before, let alone have them all watching him. It felt wrong. Yaiko was overwhelmed and froze at the foot of the steps leading up to the stage. Sofia turned back and took Yaiko's hand, pulling him along, but not forcefully.
The announcer started to sell something to the crowd about how these two were really close friends and worked together in fighting, but today they would be facing off against one another. Sofia scoffed at the announcer's lies, while Yaiko blushed a little, but did his best for it to go unnoticed by Sofia. They stood in the middle and Sofia turned away to walk to her end.
"Don't think about the crowd, you're fighting me," Sofia said, as she walked to her end. Yaiko swallowed hard again and rushed to his end. He didn't know what he should do and didn't move into a stance. He just stood with his knees bent a little and his arms by his side. He did clench his fists, but he really wasn't sure he could do this. Sofia said she wasn't going to hold back and Yaiko believed her, but he didn't want to think she would really hurt him, not in front of all these people.
The announcer called for the fight to begin. Yaiko made no movement, Sofia did. She shot forward, instantly smashing a fist into his gut. Yaiko was in no way prepared to take the impact and fell to his knees as Sofia stepped back. She looked down at him and grunted, kicking him up in the face. Yaiko was knocked over onto this back, hard. He slammed down and groaned. Sofia kicked him in the side, lifting him off the ground and throwing him towards the edge of the stage, but before he could fall out, she phased to his position and kicked him back onto the stage. She dropped down, standing over him and glared down.
Yaiko looked up at the girl he had called an ally and she looked more serious than ever before. This didn't feel like the training they did, this was a fight and Yaiko was scared. He slowly stood up, backing away, inch-by-inch. Sofia stepped forward.
"Don't back away from me, fight me!" She yelled charging forward, hitting with a right hook, a left jab into his gut and then another right, straight into his face. Yaiko was knocked back, stumbling and falling to his rear. He tried to shake it off but stood up and wobbled slightly. He didn't get a chance to move or react as Sofia charged in, knee first into his gut. She jumped back and instantly pounced forward again, kicking him in the head. Yaiko smashed down into the ground again, head-first.
Sofia walked over to him slowly and as he tried to move, she placed a foot on his back and pushed down. He couldn't move. He groaned and strained to push up, but Sofia wouldn't budge. She pushed down hard, laying him down flat.
"Do you like being hurt by me?" She questioned, in an annoyed manner, almost sounding like a teacher or mentor. "Do you like it when Joji and I fight with you and always beat you? Do you enjoy it?"
Yaiko struggled to move and made a pained noise, but it wasn't an answer. Sofia pushed down again.
"Do you?!" She asked, again.
"No…" Yaiko mumbled into the ground. Sofia released her foot, a little.
"What was that?"
"No… no," Yaiko answered, he struggled to push himself up but after she released her foot, he was doing a bit better.
"Then do something about it," Sofia said, releasing her foot completely and stepping away. Yaiko stood up, getting to his feet properly, but he was feeling in pain. He turned around and faced her, he didn't look happy, but he wasn't angry. He just looked upset. Sofia almost felt sorry for him, but he needed to be treated like this. All of the tough love would make him a better fighter and more in-touch with his power. Sofia knew what she was doing here.
Yaiko put his fists up but it was clear his stance was very weak, and he wasn't committed to fighting back. Sofia sighed and charged forward and kicked him up into the air, following on, showcasing that she could fly. She caught up with him and performed an overhead kick to send him crusading towards the ground. It was going to be a rough landing.
Yaiko opened his eyes and his energy reacted. He managed to stop from hitting the stage and touched down lightly. He was breathing heavily, but not from exhaustion, from fear. He was scared of this fight. He didn't want any of this. He looked up as Sofia came charging in and he jumped back, managing to avoid her attack. Sofia's fist crashed into the stage, cracking it, but she pounced towards Yaiko again. He ducked to the side and rolled to avoid another attack, but he wasn't attempting to fight back.
Sofia followed after him, but narrowly missed an attack. Yaiko was beginning to find a little bit of his confidence and ability, but it was mainly a survival instinct that was kicking in. He couldn't just sit back and let Sofia hurt him, no matter how much he didn't want to be fighting. It wasn't in human nature to just sit there and take a beating like it was nothing. Sofia was annoyed by Yaiko's constant dodging, it wasn't what she wanted from him. She'd have to move up a gear. So, she did.
She suddenly phased, Yaiko wasn't given a second to even anticipate a move as she appeared at his side and smacked a right hook into his cheek. Yaiko was knocked off of his feet but charged out his energy to stop himself and hover in the air. Sofia charged up to meet him and grabbed the front of his jacket and smashed her fist directly into his face, three times. She let go after the last punch and dropped him to the stage. Yaiko dropped down but got up to his feet right away and grunted. He was getting frustrated.
He looked up at Sofia as she descended. He was breathing heavily and glaring at her. Sofia smirked, knowing she was getting through to him. All she would need to do is keep her onslaught going and eventually it would drive him over the edge. She hoped. Sofia touched down on the stage and stared over at Yaiko. He looked serious, but she could still tell he wasn't about to fight back. Not yet. She smirked and closed her eyes. She phased from view and Yaiko had to focus to find where she would come from, but he didn't manage it in time. She reappeared and threw a Ki blast down in front of him. It exploded into a cloud of smoke and Sofia flew through it grabbing Yaiko around the throat and pinning him down on the ground.
"Fight back," She growled, staring him in the eyes and getting close to show just how serious she was. Yaiko could barely breathe, but Sofia wasn't trying to suffocate him, just push him. Yaiko struggled for air, but still didn't start fighting back. "Come on. Fight back!"
Yaiko still didn't and he started to let some choking sounds come through and Sofia groaned and let go, stepping away. Yaiko coughed as his lungs started to grab back some of the air they were missing. He moved onto his hands and knees and started breathing heavily.
"You're pathetic," Sofia said, turning her back on Yaiko. "If you can't bring yourself to fight me how will you survive a life or death situation?"
"But… this isn't life or death…" Yaiko let out, still struggling for breath. "You're not going to kill me, you're not my enemy."
Sofia folded her arms and kept her back to the younger fighter. He was kind of right, but he still needed to show himself.
"You're my friend…" Yaiko muttered as he stood up. Sofia was surprised to hear that, she looked over her shoulder and wanted to address it but decided now was not the time. She needed to keep her image and help push Yaiko to use his power. That's what they were told, that's what they would do. Sofia turned around.
"Enough. Why would I be your friend? You're weak and pathetic," Sofia yelled at him, "if this wasn't a tournament, I could have killed you already, but I just want to toy with you a bit more."
Yaiko looked up at her and she could tell he didn't believe her, but that didn't mean she wouldn't put on a show to make it seem real. She needed to convince him that she really didn't care. Well, she didn't care. Her task was to fight him and make him show his true power. She didn't need him to win, but just awaken some of that hidden power. That was her job.
She flashed forward and smashed her fist into his face and followed up by spinning and kicking him in the side. Yaiko was knocked away but managed to steady himself and gingerly get to his feet again, but Sofia followed on and started punching him around some more. Eventually she smacked a punch across his nose and there was an audible crack, and then some blood hit the stage. Yaiko fell to his knees, one hand on the floor, one on his face. He looked in the hand and saw the blood.
For a brief moment, Sofia felt sorry for him. She wanted to apologise but shook it off and as he turned to face her, she quickly kicked him in the face. She couldn't show sympathy, she wouldn't. Yaiko slowly started to make it to his feet, but there was more blood on his face now. Sofia ignored it and punched him in the face again. He dropped down to a knee.
"I've given you enough chances now," She said, implying that she would really kick it up a notch now. Yaiko was breathing heavily and spit out some blood. Sofia had to ignore the injuries and keep going. Something had to click. Yaiko was starting to get teary eyed as he knew he would have to do something or risk even worse injury. He didn't want to fight her, but if this carried on there wouldn't be much of him to do anything with. Yaiko slowly stood up and faced forward. Sofia was still stood to his left. She moved in again and punched him once more. Yaiko was knocked to the side, but time he managed to stay on his feet.
He remained still, so Sofia punched him again. He still stayed on his feet. There was progress. Sofia reeled back again and punched forward, but Yaiko moved out of the way and punched towards her gut, but Sofia managed to jump up and avoid being hit. She landed behind Yaiko and as he turned around, she jumped up, kicking him across the face. She then created distance. Yaiko looked towards her. He wasn't happy and maybe she had finally awoken something.
He suddenly charged towards her and attempted to punch her in the face. Sofia put up a block and Yaiko hit against it a few times, hoping to break through, but he wasn't successful. Sofia pushed back, knocking Yaiko's arm away and she kicked him in the chest, pushing him back. She then rolled forward and kicked up into his face. As Yaiko was hit he also flipped away to gain some distance, but upon landing he charged forward, only for Sofia to do the same thing. They clashed in the middle of the stage, but Sofia was still the better of the two, managing to knock him back.
Yaiko bounced down on the stage but jumped up and shot an energy blast towards Sofia. She was able to easily swat it away and charge in towards Yaiko again. Yaiko isn't prepared for it and Sofia's attack knocks him back towards the edge of the stage. He manages to stay up and is able to put up a block to defend against Sofia's next attack. His foot slips a little and he drops down, but that causes Sofia to stumble slightly so he gets an opening. A lucky opening. He takes advantage and punches up, connecting with her face. Sofia backs up, surprised. Yaiko is surprised too, but he continues to play on this advantage and moves forward. He punches her in the gut and then swings around kicking her in the side.
She stumbles to the side, but steadies herself as Yaiko continues in, but lets the attack happen to see how much he may have advanced. Yaiko manages to smash a strong left hook into Sofia's face and it scratches just under her eye. He drops back as he sees a trickle of blood down her cheek. He freezes up again. He didn't mean to do that. Sofia looks at him as her entire demeanour changes.
"I… I'm so sorry," He stammers out, Sofia groans.
"No, don't be, you were making progress, don't stop now!" She said, trying to keep his spirits up. She had managed to bring it out of him, to awaken some of that power, but in an instant, it all disappeared. "How could you be focussed one minute and now you're nothing again…"
"I'm sorry…" Yaiko mumbled, getting a bit choked up. He was teary eyed again. "I didn't want to hurt you…"
"But if you fight and win then you will have a real opponent in the next round and then you will be able to improve and really show yourself," Sofia explained, "That's how you'll get better, I wanted you to beat me."
"I'm sorry…" He said, again. Sofia was getting fed up of hearing that. He looked up at her, still with tears in his eyes, "I can't fight you."
Sofia groaned to herself and held up a hand, firing a Ki blast at Yaiko. The blast carried him off of the stage at a great pace and smashed him into a wall at the opposite end. He was knocked unconscious by the impact and fell to a heap on the floor.
The crowd weren't sure how to react, but the announcer confirmed that Sofia was the winner and would advance to the next round. As he did this, Sofia walked over to Yaiko and lifted him up in her arms. He wasn't that much shorter than her, but he was little bit heavier. She carried him back into the waiting area and walked to the back of the room where she and Joji had been sitting before. She lay Yaiko down on the bench and stood over him.
"He couldn't do it," Joji muttered, "He won't be happy with this."
"Get on with your own fight…" She snapped back, "And make it quick."
Joji nodded, looked at Yaiko and scoffed as he walked off to the door. Sofia sat down next to Yaiko and placed her hand on his head. She took a cloth and started to wipe the blood away from his face. Why couldn't he just embrace the power like she and Joji had.
On the other side of the room, Noca was watching the two of them. Something about Yaiko was almost familiar, but Noca really couldn't place it. It was starting to get to him. And that Sofia, it certainly appeared like there was more to her than she was truly showing. Either way, Joji was up against Goten next and Noca hoped to see what the final member of this mysterious trio was like.
Later than usual, but here it is and I hope you enjoyed it! Leave a review if you feel like it, or private message me about anything, questions or anything else. You can follow the Dragon Ball AG - FanFiction page on Facebook so you can keep up to date with everything about the story.
Thanks for reading.
Next Time... Chapter 43: A Challenge and a Lesson