Chapter 142:

The rest of his team fought much like they had done before, winning all of their matches, although Igor got hit in the ribs. They were not broken, but most likely bruised, he had been treated as well as they could, and he had actually gone back to the hotel with the chauffeur, so that he could get some rest. They had gotten a tight, ice wrap, and tied it, constraining his ribs in place, in order to accelerate their healing. He would not fully recover in a day, but hopefully, the swelling should be minimal, and if he took a painkiller before the fight, he would be able to fight fine.

The rest were fine, and all excited to watch the senior fights. They would most likely be more interesting, due to the average skill level being so much higher. Zach went up when it was his turn, going up against another boy, that was slightly shorter than him, but a lot stockier. As Zach got into a comfortable stance, the other boy got into a boxing one, his hands up, and chin tucked in, along with his shoulders slightly hunched.

'Ok, let's see how he decides to take this matchup.', Ace thought.

When compared to everyone else on the team, Zach was a bit more special, he had been to a lot more fights. His experience overshadowed everyone else's, even when combined. He fought using street fight techniques, but they had been moulded from experience. His moves now abolished any unnecessary expenditure of stamina, and where precise, hitting where intended. His experience showed, being able to adapt on the get-go to any style of technique.

In fact, Zach was the only one that could beat Ace with any confidence. Ace had still won a few rounds, but he struggled, and it took all he had in order to achieve the wins. His techniques were just too refined, and his experience too great.

***

'Ok, so boxing, I also know that he has a background in wrestling, so ground fighting might be risky. Let's try some kicks for now, and we will evolve as we go.'

Zach went for a low kick, which connected at the thigh, but the boy did not react at all. 'Ok, so this may work, but I will need to get a few of them in. Next.', Zach got close, and went fro a jab, the boy weaved his head, and went for a jab himself, Zach dodged, and sent out a kick to the same thigh again, and this time, the boy grunted at the full-powered kick. The first time, Zach had sent out a kick at 20% of power, merely to test out the defences, now, the kick had about 70% strength in it. Of course, Zach was playing the long-game, and the boy now thought that was his maximum power output, which meant he could surprise him at some point.

The most important thing, however, was the fact that his leg had been hit, and he would be in pain for a short while. Zach feinted and went for another kick, but the boy, expecting it, dodge. What he did not expect, however, was the fact that Zach would lunge again, going for a right hand to the jaw, which the boy blocked hastily. The following knee to the ribs connected, and from there, Zach went into a combo of hits that left his opponent wincing and backpedalling.

Zach allowed him to do so, and caught his breath. He was not super tired, but he would take any respite he could get, he had already won anyway, it was just a matter of time at this point.

The boy, reeling from the hits he had taken, breathed heavily, while looking at Zach, his mind clearly working overtime to find his weakness.

***

'It's over.', Ace thought, 'His window of chances has closed, and his end is now inevitable.'

Zach's weakness was quite simple - once you found out, of course, he enjoyed figuring out his opponents at the start of the match, and so, if you could surprise him with something, and you got him by surprise, you would maybe be able to beat him, but it was a pretty acute maybe.

To be fair though, he only did this in tournaments - or so he said, when he was doing 'tasks' for his family, he would end the fight as quickly as possible, and would not allow himself to learn as much as he would from the experience if he took it slowly at the start. His safety and efficiency were more important, and of course, so was the mission.

***

"Congratulations.", Ace said, along with the others, smiling at Zach, who had won the fight and was now coming back to the stands.

Zach picked up his bag, and motioned for the others to stand, "Come on. Let's go.", at their questioning looks, he explained, "I have an idea of how they all fight already, and plus, they will send the recordings to me as soon as they finish.".

The others nodded, and then walked to the car, where the chauffeur was waiting for them. They drove to the hotel in relative silence, each swimming through their own thoughts, and as soon as they arrived, they went to check on Igor, who was resting. The nurses in attendance had already changed his wrappings. They told them that he would be fine, as long as he could deal with the pain, Ace had no doubts he could.

It was quite early, so they each went to their own rooms, Ace took a steaming shower, washing off all the blood, he removed the bandages he had put on his arm, and washed the tear properly, it looked nasty, but was quite shallow, so there would be no scar. After washing and drying, he applied a soothing cream to the bruises and cuts he had, along with some gel the nurses had given him for his cut. He applied the bandages, and was now set. With his enhanced body, along with the gel and bandages, it should all be healed for tomorrow, but he should probably wear them, just to avoid suspicion.

He put on some jeans, and a jacket, and then got his skateboard, intent on going to the arcade, wanting to get a few of the cool prizes he had seen displayed.

***

He skated the way there, admiring the buildings, the people, and the city as a whole. He weaved around the street, and saw quite a few people doing the same, he even spotted a group of people that seemed to be in their early twenties, recording themselves on their skateboards, doing tricks and just having a good time in general.

As he got to the entrance of the casino, he got off the skateboard, and grabbed it, making his way inside. As expected, the sound of machines clicking, neon lights, and the sound of cheering assaulted him, much like the first time he had come here.

He went straight to scan his casino card, he had to pay 10$ for them to allow him to keep it, which allowed him to just skip the line. As the machine beeped, letting him know that his card was activated, after his fingerprint had been accepted.

He looked around, and spotted a Street Fighter machine empty, so he went there, and placed his card on the scanner. He selected online, and then let the machine find a game with someone else from the casino. As a match was found, a ding noise was let out, notifying him of it. Even before he could look up, he heard the sound of a bet being requested.

'Easy money, I guess.', Ace thought, as he saw the one-hundred credits the person had bet. ' Let's accept.'

They entered the character selection screen, and Ace just picked Ryu, while the opponent picked Guile.

'Ok, let's do this.', Ace thought, as he selected the default settings, and his opponent agreed.

They were playing a best of three rounds, and had a time limit of two minutes, which was more than enough, to be honest.

The first round started, and Ace focused on knocking off the pretty much nonexistent rust. He ended up winning, but it was quite close. However, it was the second round that was shocking to his opponent, Ace linked combos. He linked combos one after the other, ending up with a perfect win, aka, he had reduced his opponent's health to 0, whilst also keeping his untouched.

Easy 100 credits for him.

[100Credits have been added to your card. We hope you had fun.]

'Hehehe, want a rematch?", Ace requested one, but the opponent denied the request. 'Oh well, let's just find another one.'

That night, legends told that an ultimate Street Fighter player had beaten over a hundred different people, all without losing less than 90 per cent of his health. Ace got pretty rich.