7 Give Up

Silence filled the space between Ray and Wu.

"Huh? What did you say again you little freak?"

They stared at each other.

"I'm Ray."

The handsome dude started grinning again.

"I am called brother Wu, the great tactician of the Menace Gang. You confuse me, um- Ray. Why would you wait until you're completely surrounded to challenge me?"

Ray: ...

The rest of the Gangsters:...

"I could have challenged you earlier?"

"Yeah…"

A bomb went off in Ray's head.

"Well I wanted to challenge you in front of everyone else..." Ray tried to cover up for himself.

Wu coughed, "So why does yours truly have to accept this challenge of yours? What does yours truly have to gain from this fight?"

Ray took a pause, looked at the ground and then looked up at Wu's eyes.

They stood like this for a while. It was becoming a bit awkward until Ray spoke out loud.

"Your dignity."

…..

Wu smiled and started patting his shoulders, looking down to his foot when he suddenly rushed in with a vicious speed. His left hand was seemingly aiming to strike Ray's stomach or chest.

Ray started backing up and dropped his hands to protect against this seemingly piercing fast strike when it shrank back.

Wu who was initially in a orthodox stance stepped forward with his foot into a southpaw stance. With his already positioned right hand he struck Ray in the temple with a swift right hook. Ray was knocked back onto the ground and his senses were overloaded with what just conspired.

"Why?"

Wu taunted him, "Why, why? Didn't you say you are challenging me? Be grateful that I am fighting you one on one unlike those other street thugs."

Ray, overwhelmed by the situation, was unable to think properly. He got up and charged at Wu. He pulled back and threw a wild punch with his right hand to which Wu responded to by simply stepping back, making Ray miss. He just front teeped (kind of like a push kick for you who don't understand) Ray back onto the ground.

["Haymaker" skill registered in the system.]

Haymaker: a simple attack where you pull back and punch. It is often regarded within the fighter community as a noob punch. It is often shown in modern media by non-fighters as a badass punch when really it is useless against fighters. That said it does generate a lot of power just not energy effective.

Ray did not take any real damage from the kick, and neglecting the damage from the punch to his temple rushed back at Wu this time determined to take onto the ground where he could stop Wu's intelligent maneuvers.

Wu with a blank smile rushed forward at Ray with a peek-a-boo guard. He peered at Ray though the crack of his guard as Ray this time threw a wide looping hook.

["Wide Hook" skill registered in the system.]

Wu stepped in so close that Ray's hook was rendered useless. Wu then dropped his guard and wrapped his arms around Ray into a standing clinch. Effectively taking control of Ray's balance.

Ray struggled and flailed trying to break free of Wu's under hooks. Wu kept his hand on Ray's shoulder in fear of Ray's special headbutt.

"Let go!"

Ray screamed at Wu as he continued to struggle to break free.

Wu turned and twisted forcing Ray to continuously move with him or otherwise fall back onto the ground. Wu being the Centerpoint barely uses any energy while Ray got more tired and tired as he continued to reposition himself as Wu turned and twisted his clinch.

Wu then proceeded to stick his right leg behind Ray's left foot and twisted the clinch toward his right side, making Ray trip on his leg, falling down on the ground once more.

This time Ray is huffing and sweating to the point that the back of his shirt is getting damped as he sits up.

"You know what? I was actually interested in you, but it seems that the only thing you got is that weird headbutt of yours."

Ray held a hand to his temple to massage as the initial adrenaline started wearing off.

Ugh. How can I get that bastard to stop moving so much? If only I could reach him and stop him in his tracks. Ugh my head doesn't feel right. Am I in what you call a daze right now?

"You're weak and useless. You are lucky that you only fought me and Guy so far. If you fought someone truly vicious and harder hitting you could be lying dead on the ground right now."

Wu the tactician is a seemingly arrogant person who does things on the bias of pride and ignorance, but beneath every action is planned. He isn't physically strong nor has he had any formal training in martial arts, but he incorporates basic martial art techniques that he saw before into his fighting style in a way that could only be described as efficient.

He not only uses physical techniques, but also knows how the mental state could affect the outcome of a fight. He is the kind of person who would lose against someone who formally trained in martial arts for a year, but would win against untrained so-called self proclaimed "street fighters" who would say that they fought in the street.

Against the one trick pony Ray, he is the worst kind of opponent for Ray to fight as of his current state. He is a street fight tactician!

"Well are you done? Just admit defeat. You held up not that bad against yours truly and that bitch ass brat Guy Law."

Hidden away from the rest of the gang, Wu, and Ray, a certain soap bar observed the fight.

"One looked down while the other looked up. Looks like Ray is yet again the underdog."

Slippy shook his head lamenting the sad fate of Ray. Despite Slippy having only arrived onto the scene, he already knew what was going due to his psychic link with Ray. The problem was that it was a one way link so Slippy could read Ray's thought, but Ray couldn't read Slippy's thoughts. Initially he was able to talk to Ray through the mind, but due to Slippy fully merging with the bar of soap he lost some of his omnipresence.

This placed Slippy in a difficult situation because as much as he wanted to help Ray, it would be going against Ray's recent growth and even if he tried there wasn't wouldn't be much he could do against a whole gang.

"Give up Ray! You can't win! Not against yours truly!"

"Give up ghost freak! You're just too weak!"

The crowd of gangsters boo and shouted.

Ray looked at his hands then at Wu's.

Slippy looked on nodding.

"That's right ,stick to your specialty. You're a punching bag. You can take a few blows to your body. You have no power, no speed, no strength, but you do have your head."

Ray thought of how Wu fought.

He likes to control the situation by doing things at the perfect timing, but he only does stand-up techniques and unlike Guy he doesn't attack me when I am vulnerable and grounded. Meaning he is scared of taking it to the ground!

Ray got up and into a low stance based on what he would imagine wrestlers do.

Wu's smile completely disappeared as he glared at Ray with a death stare.