Spark and Pitch had began the second round of their fight. Pitch had the last round won on points. Spark, however was serious about winning, lashing his static-whip fro yard away. Pitch was barely managing to dodge so she threw three chi waves at hit him. All connected but Spark still stood. Using the whip, he wrapped it around her boots while she caught off guard.
"Shit," she cursed under her breath as Spark swept away her balance.
"One point, Spark!" Sonya shouted.
Pitch broke his whip with a chi blast and stood ready for battle.
Spark materialized another whip so Pitch went in closer, thinking a whip is only useful at long range. Close up it would lose leverage so she used that to her advantage.
"Got you!" She said, beginning a series of five punches.
Spark had gotten a bruised eye, but managed to land an enhanced counterpunch, literally shocking her. She didn't see it coming, hit in the temple.
Everything went black for a moment, then her eyes opened realizing she was on the ground. She angrily punched the ground as she stumbled to her feet woozily.
"Round two, Spark!", Sonya yelled.
"What!? He only knocked me down twice!" she protested.
"You were down for about two minutes, you're lucky I was being generous and didn't give him the fight. An opponent could've and would've killed you while you were down!" Sonya clarified over the distance.
Matilda scowled, but said nothing to her C.O she simply rubbed the large lump on her head, winced, then resumed her fighting stance. Spark made another whip of electricity and began to whirl it as he got closer to her.
I need to watch that damn whip, she thought. She launched a barrage of chi as she got closer. Spark dissipated his whip now believing himself to be the stronger of the two. The two stood a few feet apart for only a moment before both rushed in. Spark threw a few jabs to test out his range. He missed as Pitch dodged and landed a punch to his gut. The pain made him hunch over only for her knee to meet his nose. Her camo cargo pants now blood stained was sight that made the young woman smile.. Spark fell but quickly stood. Sonya gave Pitch the point and the round ensued once more.
"Close quarters combat is a lot more fun to watch then them just throwing shit at each other, right?" Atir asked Sonya.
"What works for some, may not work for others." She replied. "Spark clearly had the upper hand at a distance. Even that last round, he only won because of a lucky punch. Now he's being overzealous, thinking he can win up close. He's mistaken sadly"
"Overzealous?"
"Yea, like a pride filled with impulse. He thinks that because he took her down with one punch last time he can do it again...he might, but I doubt that" She said looking on.
"Speaking of overzealous, where did Kenneth, I mean Lasair go?" He asked.
"Don't know, maybe somewhere thinking about that loss, what went wrong how to improve. Then again he might be thinking 'how did that idiot beat me?', or something like that. I hope he learns discipline soon because if not, he'll be Tarkatan food in no time."
"Tar-what?" Atir said confused.
"You'll know one of these days. Point! Pitch!"
"Is that all you got!?" Pitch taunted her downed opponent.
She was still dazed and dizzy from being knocked out but, she was able to stand her ground against the more poised Axel.
"Ha! Not even close? I won't lose to some, some chick. Not with my pride on the line!" He shouted charging towards her. He conjured up a ball of electricity in his left hand and threw it. Spark thought she would dodge. The last thing he expected was for her to throw it back at him. He was stunned in more ways than one. A well placed head kick, and Pitch was declared the victor.
"Shit! Shit! Fuck! I can't believe I lost to a girl. A girl!" He exaggerated in despair back on the mainland.
Matilda grabbed her teammate by his throat, "I'm not a girl, I'm a woman. You'll do well to remember that, okay?" She spat.
"O-kay," he responded with little air escaping his throat.
Matilda let go turned to face Atir. She put two fingers up to her eyes, then pointed them at him. The classic 'eyes on you' gesture. It wasn't the friendly face he had grown to know over the past few months. She reminded him of Sonya only for a split second, yet that was enough for him swallow the lump in his throat.
"She's good at intimidation," he said to the air.
"No, you're just afraid" Sonya said.
"Afraid... of what?" He scoffed.
"Her, obviously. But don't worry you won't fight until tomorrow 09:00. Gotta make sure she doesn't have any head trauma. So for now practice, you'll need to."
The next morning, the group had assembled to see who would be their team leader, Matilda or Atir. Atir had somehow managed to convince Sonya that the call signs should only be used during missions, and being on a first name would help establish some much needed camaraderie between the team. He didn't expect it would work but he'd rather be called his birth name rather than 'Lumen' all day.
The two kombatants had talked before the fight. To make things more interesting they made a wager with one very specific condition whoever loses must do what the winner says for a two weeks. When Matilda stated that, Atir thought he was mistaken, but those were the words that came out of her own mouth proving her confidence.
"Kenneth. So glad to see you didn't go A.W.O.L, if you did I'd have you court martialed" Sony said with the utmost seriousness.
"I signed up for this shit and I'm getting paid so there's no reason to run away."
"Except for your pride man. Your pride!" Axel overexaggerated.
"At least I didn't lose to a girl," Kenneth snickered.
"She's a woman." He clarified, " A strong, independent, bookworm, that's probably never been laid before" he mocked before chuckling.
In the ring the two had finished warming up.
"Your head still hurt?" Atir asked.
"I'm fine!" She snapped at him.
"Damn, all I did was ask a question okay, no need to get butthurt"
"What the hell did you say to me!?"
"No need to get butthurt," he repeated slowly.
"What the hell does that even mean? My butt is perfectly fine you idiot I was hit in the head you idiot." She defended
"Ugh. It's just a phrase we say back home in the bay. It translates to because something is stuck in your ass, you got your feelings hurt or developed an attitude. I guess the closest thing is saying 'ants in your pants'. But it's just a phrase not anything to take literally"
"You, you pervert! Nothing is going up my ass! Nothing!" She shouted, ignoring the rest of his explanation.
"Wait! That's not what-" he stopped his words as she rushed at him in fury.
Blocking and dodging her attacks he tried to redeem his words with little success. Now realizing he had to deal with this enraged kombatant he decided to fight back. He blocked her punch with his forearm and went to knee her in stomach. She was more nimble than he anticipated. As his knee went upward she turned her body to the side he missed her gut but grazed her bosom. In her prime position on his side she swiped his grounded foot causing him to fall on his back. She received a point from Sonya, but just as Atir went to get up she sent him back down with her combat boot.
"You damn pervert," she said through grit teeth, " my breasts are not for you to touch," she pressed down on his chest hearing a faint crack before letting him back up.
"It was an accident, I swear. I was trying to knee you in the gut. You're the one that moved."
"So it's my fault?" She mocked.
"Yes!" He said
"You perverts are all the same blaming women just because you can't control your own damn urges."
"What are they talking about?" Axel asked Sonya.
"I don't know, but she looks pissed, really pissed" she replied.
Kenneth sighed, "He better not lose because that means she basically beat me too"
"Wouldn't you want her to beat you?" Axel said nudging kenneth with a wink.
"Well..."
"No sexual innuendos on duty" Sonya said.
"But are we really on duty" Axel asked.
"You're always on duty, Sergeant"
Axel sighed on that comment.
Kenneth sighed as well but for a different reason, "Is it me or his Atir doing more dodging than fighting one more fall and... nevermind"
"Point, Matilda!" Sonya shouted
"Sounds weird saying our real names, isn't it General."
"Slightly but Atir had a point, It feels like I'm yelling at my a friend rather than just a subordinate."
"Is that good or bad, General?" Axel asked.
"We'll see, we'll see. Round One! Matilda!"
"I'm sorry, okay? Can you please stop turning everything I do into sexual harassment. It's making this fight awkward"
"You're the one doing perverted things. Not me"
"This is a fight! How do you expect me to fight if everytime I touch you, you overreact? What are you some bipolar feminist." Atir said.
"Fight? You've done nothing but dodge, run away, and be a pervert this whole time."
"I'm not a pervert!" He defended.
"Pervert." She repeated.
"Fine, you want me to be a pervert so bad. Then so be it."
With that he rushed not thinking or caring about what she thought of him.
"Looks like he finally got his nerve back" Sonya said with a half smile.
"What took him so damn long?" Kenneth asked.
"She was playing mind games with him, getting under his skin. A good strategy is to distract the mind so the body won't be fit. Both have to be in sync in order to be effective."
Axel ever the curious one said, "I guess that makes sense but I wonder what games she was playing."
Atir was now the aggressor, punching kicking doing whatever he could to push her to the edge. He realized all she needed was a few points to win the fight. To make things even he needed a ring out otherwise he'd be at a serious disadvantage.
Matilda was swift at dodging, not something she wanted to do but Atir wouldn't let up his attack.
"You sure you're not a pervert," She laughed, "because, you're trying really persistent, on touching me" she panted.
"I'm not a pervert!" He yelled.
Atir accomplished getting her close to the edge of the ring, but Matilda already knew his plan and because it was part of her own. She maneuvered under his punch, grabbed his arm and threw him over the edge. A decisive victory for young lass... or so she thought.
She turned towards the others and bowed as if she finished performing a play.
"Please hold your applause" She told her imaginary crowd.
She rose up to see unimpressed faces. It was also at that moment that she realized Sonya never said was the winner. She turned around and saw Atir nowhere on the platform. She turned back to Sonya with a confused expression. Sonya's blank expression was enough of an answer for her.
"Where are you, you damn pervert!" She roared.
"Not... a pervert..."
She heard it just over the edge. He saved himself from falling just in time but, he tired himself out with all of those missed punches so he didn't have the strength to pull himself up.
Matilda walked over to the edge where he was, "How's it hanging, perv?"
"Seriously...? Bad puns at a time like this."
"There's never a bad time to be... punny" she laughed at her own joke while Atir died a little inside.
She took a knee next to him, "You can relax, I know you're not a pervert... at least not as much as those other two idiots. So after I win you do as I say for two weeks, right?" She said flashing the friendly smile he was used to seeing on her face
"That's if you win" he replied.
"If...but you're already on the ed-?"
Atr took advantage of her confusion and used the last of his strength to grab her shirt and bring her down with him.
She screamed as gravity sent the duo down into the depths of the water.
"What's wrong, scared of heights?" He asked
Her mouth was only silenced when the finally hit the water.
"You asshole! What the fuck is wrong with you?" She said after spitting out water.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`.
"Congratulations" Sonya putting an arm on Matilda's shoulder.
"What?!" Atir said in disbelief. "We both fell into the water, it should be a tie, right?
"You're right you both did fall. I commend you for your effort but you fell into the water first so by the rules Matilda wins."
"Fuck! I thought I would've at least won the round." he said as he palmed his face.
"Relax, you lost no big deal. I'll just make you do stuff for my amusement. Dishes, cleaning my rifle, I might even post silly videos of you on the internet. Who knows you might get famous because of me. One thing I'm definitely having you do is my laundry."
"I'll do it" Axel said giddily.
"No, It's fine I can do that myself"
"You're doing everything yourself. This isn't some high school game this is the military. You're discipline will slip in that case. You think I brought you out to the middle of China so things could be easy after. Hell No! No freebies and no slacking off. Got it?!" Sonya Commanded
"Yes, General Blade" her team said in unison.
"This isn't over, Atir. A deal is a deal" Matilda said
"Get to the heli, we're moving out." Sonya commanded
"Already? Our clothes are still wet." Atir said.
"We're moving out Sergeant. You have one hour to pack your things."
"One hour!" They shouted simultaneously.
"59 minutes and 52 seconds is the ETA. If I were you I would hurry.
The team managed to pack everything and arrived at the helipad with 22 seconds to spare.
"So where are we going now? And why are the monks going to?" Axel asked.
"We're still staying in china for now! We have a meeting with with the other half of our larger organization!" Sonya answered over the whir of the heli.
"Wait! Now I'm confused." Matilda said entering the vehicle, " Lemme get this straight. We're Marines part of the US military nominated for the UN's Earthrealm Special Forces to protect it's people from advanced organized crime and alien invasions. Okay, I got that. We're also apart of the much smaller Outworld Investigation Agency to monitor the Emperor, his regime, and make sure he complies with the rules of the Treaty of Z'Unkahrah. And we're also members of some other secret organization... is it the illuminati? Because I didn't sign up for that", She ranted.
"No, of course not" Sonya replied, "The Special Forces Is only one of the Four Corners. A group of organizations dedicated to protecting Earthrealm. The White Lotus Society is also apart. The other two are actually the founding members, we just jumped on board with them."
"So who are the other two?" Kenneth asked.
"Two former ninja clans, the Lin Kuei and the Shirai Ryu. They-"
"Ninjas?!" Axel interrupted. "We're gonna be working with ninjas... is it too late to switch teams?"
"Shut up Axel!" Sonya and Matilda said together.
Been awhile since I've updated anything so I figured I would start with this so people know it's not an abandoned piece of work. Anyways I hope you enjoyed it and I'll try to add new chapters every few weeks or so.