Tournament part 1

At the age of 7, I was in grade 3 and again top of my class, everyone was numb to it by now and all the teachers in the school knew about it. For ego purposes, I wanted to try for once and participated in a maths competition for high schoolers around the nation. Funny how everyone who saw me didn't think I was a part of it until I started doing the equations on the board in record-breaking time. I ended up winning the competition. shock, not really, the results were sealed ever since I stepped into the hall. I even made it into the paper which didn't really help since now everyone knew my face.

I didn't really like the amount of attention I got but I seemed to crave it for some reason. I asked Drak about it and he told me that it was due to his soul's interference. He said that since he and I were connected I would gain some of his characteristics. I noticed that I was unusually calm under pressure most of the time recently, But I was getting more prideful and I needed to show that off which annoyed me. He said that If I wanted to remove the negative parts, discipline was needed before he taught me occlumency. It would stop his soul's interference and I would still be able to incorporate the traits that I wanted such as his level-headedness and calm under pressure.

It was hard though since at school that prideful part of me tried to seduce me into showing off, to show them that I'm the best of them all. It was difficult and annoying but It also served as a form of discipline to temper myself against temptations.

Over the next 2 years, I worked diligently on school, and extracurricular activities, I bested everyone in MMA and decided to quit after that. There was no point in going anymore, I had the skills and knowledge and I could even beat my teacher. I even participated in a national tournament to satiate my thirst for the title of best in the under 15s just like Leo.

Flashback--

Me, Luke and Diana made our way into the stadium where the competition was being held. I remember asking Luke to let me compete since I really wanted to, and since it was incredibly rare for him to see me wanting to do something he immediately agreed. He was also curious to see my skill since I never showed it to anyone.

Diana was the worried one she didn't want me to get hurt and was constantly telling me to be careful. This was a competition between the top 256 competitors and would go down to the final two that decide the winner. The winner of last year and the defending champion was currently 14 and was his last year before he would have to move up a division. He had been defending his reign for two years already which was incredible for someone so young. everyone deemed him a genius. It only served to stimulate my excitement.

after years of holding back my impulse to show off and restraining my increasing dragon characteristics, I finally got the chance to let off some steam. Drak warned me to not lose myself since I tend to get carried away. I took his advice seriously before registering myself and going to one of the many waiting rooms reserved for the competitors. When they saw a 9-year-old walk in they laughed and said that I shouldn't be here. even though there wasn't a minimum age requirement you did have to prove that you were qualified to participate. All I did was show them my certificate over MMA mastery that had been reviewed by many different dojo's and the receptionist gasped in shock before letting me pass.

Soon all the competitors were ushered into the centre of the stadium grounds where a stage was placed and a plump man with grey hair and a belly that threatened to rip his buttoned shirt open stood. He looked comical in his suit and I had a hard time not laughing.

"Welcome to the 50th annual MMA competition for the under 15's national championship title. We have some new faces, old faces and most importantly the 2-time reigning champion George Pavel. Everyone give him a round of applause!" he yelled as he pointed his fat hand towards the side of the stairs where a young boy with blonde hair walked up and shook hands with the Announcer. "thank you for having me, I look forward to competing with others and defend my title." he said modestly, he didn't seem arrogant and had a gentle smile that tugged at his lips. His Brown eyes scanned the other participants before making eye contact with me briefly.

"interesting," I muttered as I stared at him without blinking. George on the other hand was astounded, it was very rare to see such young participants, but he was intrigued by the short messy black-haired youth with blue eyes staring back at him. The stare down didn't last long before George broke it and looked around again. I only grinned and directed my attention to the fat man again.

"The competition like every year will start with a knockout round. from the 256 initial participants, half will pass and half will fail. the fights will consist of one round of fighting and whoever is KO'ed or taps out loses. you will be informed of the rules further by the referee before each match. I wish you the best of luck." he said smiling and waddled off the stage with George right behind him.

Me and the other participants made their way back to the waiting rooms and waited for the staff to set up the separate stages for the qualifiers. after we reach the top 16 there will only be one stage in the middle. Soon the staff had finished setting everything up and participants were called up one by one. there were 4 stages on the grounds to speed things up but not too many so that it's hard to watch all of them.

Participant after Participant went on the stage, some came back some didn't and soon it was my turn. My blood boiled as I heard the sound of music and drums that echoed the beat of my heart. My adrenaline spiked as I walked out of the tunnel and onto the stage before hearing the cheers of the crowd. It was oddly loud and as I stared at my opponent and saw his grin, I sighed disappointedly. "just some loser" I muttered under my breath but for some reason, he heard me and lost his top.

"Who are you calling a loser kid," he said with a red face as he looked at the referee for the starting whistle. The referee looked at me and then at the other kid who looked to be about 13 and back at me. I knew that look, it was one of pity. I fucking hate that, another dumbass who looks down on me. I get it my age, but fuck you honestly.

I just looked at the referee coldly and waited for the signal to start. seeing my shift in gaze the referee was stunned before being awakened by the judge off to the side. He raised his hand and yelled "start" and slashed his hand down. The older kid sprinted towards me at full force with a nasty grin on his face.

I could only shake my head. "another pig to the slaughter" I mumbled disinterestedly. As he ran towards me, he lowered his head and went for a tackle on my torso in an attempt to knock me to the ground and mount me for a ground and pound. I would work if I was an idiot who didn't know shit, but clearly, I wasn't.

As I saw the idiot make the worst mistake you could possibly make in a fight, leaving your head exposed, all I did was slightly move to the left and wrapped my right arm around his neck and into a Guillotine Choke, then I wrapped my legs around his waist and leaned backwards. His momentum plus my weight didn't allow him to stand upright and he smashed his face into the ground while I fell on my back. Still in the hold, all I did was squeeze tighter before I looked at the referee.

The referee looked a what was happening at was shocked into a daze, only after realising that I was staring at him while choking out a kid did he realise what was happening. "you should get ready to call it I estimate that he won't last more than another 5 seconds" I said emotionlessly. The referee was again shocked before seeing the Kid with a purple face and veins popping on his neck. He soon passed out and he quickly called the result. Only then did I let go of the kid and walked off the stage and back into the waiting room without staying a moment longer.

After I sat down on the seat in the waiting room with only half as many people as there was initially I closed my eyes and recreated the battle just now. I analysed what I did and what I could improve on. There seemed to be another way to do this which could lead to a better result. Simply move out of the way, sweep my leg under his and then go for the armbar. I didn't really care though since the end result was the same. Completely one-sided.

Diana in the stadium seats was shocked silly by what they saw me pull off. They looked at the replay on the screen since everything happened in the span of 10 seconds. "honey, was Tom always such a monster?" Diana asked as she turned to see a calm Luke looking at the screen. "I don't expect anything less from the Pendragon family, they have bred another monster. No wonder everyone wanted them dead, their just absurdly talented," he mumbled before looking towards Diana who stared at him questioningly. "It seems he is, not surprised though he has Pendragon blood in him remember?" he said as he looked at Diana. She remembered How strong Lance was physically and how good he was in a fight and nodded before looking back to the stage where others were fighting.