Chapter 14: And the winner is…
The room began to spin as Steve struggled to maintain his balance. Since that last hit to the nose he's found it difficult to hold his ground while Jin remained intact. Not once did he lose focus, but he was losing energy.
"Your going down, Fox!" a brutish man hollered from the side.
Ignoring the peanut gallery, Steve bounced back and swung at Jin's middle. Finally Steve was on the offensive again and doing damage. For as long as he could he pummeled his opponent until he was barely touching the wall. He was pinned, but not cornered and to escape Jin only had to kick his way out. It wasn't hard but it did throw off Steve's hitting streak.
"Damn, don't you quit?" huffed Steve.
Remaining silent Jin made a swift uppercut combo, sending Steve airborne. He fell with a sharp thud that surged through his backside and he thought of just lying there to simmer the pain. That idea left him quickly as Jin was in plain view in the air, about to stomp. Rolling out of the way Steve made an attempt to kick but failed and then picked himself up. No longer was he full of vigor but withering with fatigue.
Reacting to the next blow was slim to none. It was extremely blunt yet was hard enough to send Steve back on the ground, this time for a while. Out of his ears he could hear the announcer and that's when he knew that he'd lost.
Opening his eyes, Steve panned around the arena to see that everyone had cleared out. Disappointment clouded his mind to the point where he became infuriated and only by the wave of a familiar hand did he calm down.
"You feeling okay?" asked Lili with concern.
"More or less…" muttered Steve rubbing his cheek.
"I can't believe you went to all this trouble for a woman who could care less about you. Why did you do it?"
"Just wanted some answers is all. My entire life was lived without knowing the truth about my past or why I was born, and the one person who may have the answers is out of reach."
"…So what are you going to do now?"
Footsteps shuffled across the dusty floor then paused. The two glanced over the other side of the arena to see Nina Williams eying them with disgust.
"Hopefully this little journey has taught you a lesson, Fox. Never pursue me without suffering consequences. Oh and by the way you can forget about trying to understand your past because I can't give you anything of value."
"I don't believe that," he shouted, "and I won't until I face you myself."
Nina's face turned even sourer. "Determined till the end, eh? Perhaps you and I have more in common than just our hair. But I've got other opponents to crush so you'll have to try your luck again."
"I'll be here." He replied while getting on his feet.
She only smirked and walked away, not turning back to see that he too was smiling.
Note: Okay, I know it's been like forever since I updated this but writer's block has really worn me down (not to mention my birthday was last week and all my relatives ambushed me with presents). Point is I've decided to do a sequel to this story soon and hopefully it'll flow a little better than this one did. That is if anyone's up to reading it, let me know and I'll get right on it!