--No Spoilers--

The silent office belonging to the Headmaster of Tower Prep was currently experiencing the prelude to battle.....a fight between two gifted individuals possessing countering abilities will break out at any time.

In a voice speaking with an apathetic and dangerous edge, the Headmaster (Raven) made his last inquiry...

"Be careful, Mr. Archer...who do you think taught Coach how to fight?"

In an instant, the distance between the two combatants was covered, as Ian made the first move...a solid punch empowered by perfect form and balance went straight toward the Headmaster's face, but like it was expected, the target shifted his weight, sweeping the incoming fist outward and away from his person while making a counter-attack...

The counter was the same move, the Headmaster planted his feet and threw a punch toward Ian who shouldn't be able to see the attack because his outstretched punching arm was in the way of his eyesight...however, Ian's preflex acted as his eyes, resulting in him crouching slightly, allowing the overly powerful punch to sweep by...

Taking advantage of the Headmaster's current positioning, Ian turned his feet, shooting two quick jabs to the older man's mid-section, a painful grunt was heard from the school leader but the man's telepathy was in overdrive as he saw Ian's next move...

After the two jabs, Ian raised from his crouching position, shifting into an uppercut powerful enough to take the Headmaster's head off, but the target didn't even look.....the Headmaster simply looked towards the ceiling while leaning backward slightly...

After the Headmaster felt the wind from the punch blow past his neck, he made a quick palm strike to Ian's unguarded underarm that was right in front of the Headmaster due to the young man's aggressive and reckless punch...

Ian was sent staggering back while breathing heavily...the Headmaster held his midsection, trying to minimize the pain...

"....*painful exhale*..... you're on Corvus H-40 aren't you Mr. Archer? Now that's not fair...." said the Headmaster cheekily, in an uncharacteristic show of playfulness, a result of Raven's nature seeping through the act in this high-stress situation.

Such a change would be noticeable to anyone who knew the school leader, but none of those were currently present...

This sentence caused Ian to become enraged, the young man charged the Headmaster in anger...

The incoming Ian was forced to grind to a halt, however, as his preflex kicked in mid-stride, it warned him of an incoming side kick that would severely injure him if he didn't move.....thus, in mid-stride, Ian's body pivoted, barely dodging the incoming spinning side kick...

Now within closer distance, Ian made to grapple the Headmaster, but his arms that were attempting to snake their way around the school head were met with firm resistance...

The school leader planted his feet in a front stance and opened up his guard, catching the "bear-hug" grapple mid attempt...

They were now in a deadlock, faces within inches of one another, their arms fighting over dominance...

It didn't last long as Ian's knee came upward, partially hitting Headmaster's abdomen, breaking the deadlock.....the knee distracted Ian however, allowing Headmaster the small chance of ending the fight, which he took...

A punch with every bit of strength he could muster came towards Ian's nearby head, and it would have hit if not for the performance-enhancing drugs currently running through Ian's system, which allows him to process many input sources with back-to-back "future-glimpses"...

The punch passed over Ian, who rolled to get out of the way after his preflex showed him the danger, but the punch didn't stop....it landed on the glass door of the cabinet behind Ian.....the battle had taken them far away from their original starting position, something the Headmaster couldn't take note of in the high-stress situation...

*breaking glass*

"...aggghhh!!"

A cry of pain escaped the now bleeding Headmaster, who just realized his mistake.....Ian wouldn't let this chance go to waste, however, so he acted quickly...

He went to attack the older man who was facing away from him.....but his thoughts were already read by his senior using telepathy, which was the reason behind the incoming backward elbow...

The elbow was barely caught by the charging Ian, but now that Ian's arms were tied up in holding the now captured elbow, even though his preflex saw the next move, he couldn't react...

The Headmaster made a quick turn using his now gripped arm as leverage, spinning around, driving his entire fist directly into the gut of Ian Archer...

The young man was sent back many steps while holding his abdomen...the Headmaster didn't give a second of reprieve to the injured boy...

The older man quickly attacked again with a firm sidekick, causing the now injured Ian to be slammed back into the Headmaster's desk a couple of meters away...

Ian, now discombobulated, grabbed the nearest "weapon" he could find to give him an edge....he picked up a wooden rod, a piece of desk decoration set up in the office...

He used it to block the incoming kick, and the three subsequent punches by the Headmaster...

"Hmph..."

The irritated Headmaster jumped into the air, spun three-hundred and sixty degrees generating great force, and sent out a spinning back kick that impacted the "Weapon" currently used by Ian to block the attack...

*snap*

The log shattered due to the kick's force...Ian was sent backward once again, not being able to gain the initiative in the last few attacks...

With his back against the far wall, Ian felt his preflex kick in, resulting in him dunking under an incoming round-house kick which broke the picture frame that was just behind his head...

Ian moved to stand up and attack the "in the process of kicking" Headmaster, but the older man predicted this action.....the kick that was firmly planted into the high-hung picture frame, was sent back with force.....

The roundhouse kick just turned into a hook kick which caught Ian's temple, creating a deep gash above the boy's eyebrow...

The bleeding boy fell back into the chair, conveniently placed behind him to catch his fall...

The Headmaster immediately assaulted Ian with a flurry of punches from above. The only thing the young man could do was raise his guard in his disheveled state and look for an opening...

This should have been the end of the fight as Ian was an honorable fighter that would never stoop to petty moves to win.....Rango, on the other hand, has been through too much to care about such trivial things as honor. Moreover, he couldn't think....his thoughts were all over the place and survival was the only reaction available...

When the Headmaster reared back to send another punch at the beaten down Ian whose thoughts were currently muddied, a vial act of defense was used...

"HAkkk---PUUUU!..."

A loogie was collected from the deepest part of Ian's now bloodied throat and spat right into the eyes of the Headmaster...

The man whose honor was currently trampled on did what anyone would have done....reached up to cover his eyes in reflex...

Ian took this opportunity to shove his leg into the unprotected man's family jewels, eliciting a scream of pain...

Ian jumped out of his chair, picked up the nearby tiny marble statue, and whacked the side of the Headmaster's head.... sending him to the ground in a stiff and unconscious heep...

Ian didn't even check on the man, he darted out of the room....he needed to get CJ and get out of this place.

....

Raven came to a white space, void of anything at all.... what many would consider the subconscious...

"haha....hey oh great creator, how was the fight?..."

*groan*

"....that little f\/cker.....I'll have his b@lls for this.....he thinks he can live in my---"

Minutes passed with the now recovered Raven venting out his anger towards the winner Ian, and thus his Traveler counterpart, Rango.

"Now, now...I'm sure all of this was just said in rage...but I need you to make a decision....you're now in a short-lived coma due to that hit so I took you here to talk. Do you want to go back to Dome City now that you've become comatose? You can let the previous Headmaster's AI take over from where you left off if that's the case while you head back and do your thing..."

This was a loophole in the system Vrai found, it was advantageous now because her friend could head back to Dome City without needing to "die" for real...

*scoff*

"...send me back to Dome City...I need to get my mind off of this failure..plus if I went back in, I might do something I would regret. Chastain is never gonna let me live this down if that little b!tch told her how he beat me..."

The last bit was said in a whisper but Vrai heard it all, causing a subtle smile to graze her lips...

"I'll look after Parallel from here Raven, have a good trip!..."

*deep breathe*

"Thanks, Vrai... as always."