145 Chapter 145:

Ace went back to the hotel after that. It was still quite early, but he had been out and about the whole day, and so he wanted to just relax for what was left, maybe watch a movie or something.

He skated the way back, going through a different way, so he was able to watch more of the city. To be fair, he would have plenty of time to visit, since they would be here for an extra week after the tournament pretty much. This meant they would all have time to enjoy the city and relax before going back to school.

***

He put down his skateboard, and had a shower, getting changed into some sweatpants and a hoodie. He then went to check on Igor, he found him in one of the treatment chambers, just relaxing, and watching what seemed to be a Russian movie. It was a comedy of some sort, and Igor laughed at what a character said, his loud voice indicating to Ace that he was indeed there.

Igor was sitting in the sauna, his body steaming, "You all good there?", Ace asked, Igor paused the movie, looked at him, nodded, grinned, and then said, in Russian, "Can you understand?", Ace nodded, and Igor gave an even bigger grin.

"Let me take a cold shower, then, I'll get changed, and come out. Wait for me in the common room, today, I will show you what Russian comedy is.", and that was that, his afternoon plans had been decided for him.

***

When the others got back to the hotel, they found Ace smiling, and Igor crying of laughter, slapping Ace's back heavily, a loud sound coming out every time a slap landed. They collectively winced, wondering how long this had been going on for, but before their thoughts could truly lead them astray, Ace turned around, "Hey guys, how were the fights?"

Igor stopped, paused the movie, then turned as well, giving them a toothy grin. "Hello."

***

They spent about an hour just going through the fights, and who their opponents could be. In Ace's bracket, there were two girls and another boy, which made a total of two girls and two boys. One, used a soft style, reflecting hits and using her opponent's momentum against him. The other was a beast. She was slightly taller than Ace, and a lot heavier as well. She used a boxing style, and so far, she had not been budged by a single opponent. Her stances focused on stability, and ability to deliver strong hits, which meant that when she hit, she hit hard.

The boy had a more mixed style, no real strengths, but no weaknesses either. He used a mix of strikes, and dodged more than he blocked. He was as plain as a wall, but as hard to get through as well.

All three had their own ways of fighting, momentum, stability, and foundational strength. Now, it was up to Ace to crack each and every one of their styles, finding ways to exploit and beat them.

***

"Ladieees adn Gentlemen, we have, our first fight of the day, Aaaace vs Patriciaaa!", the commentator bellowed, and the people cheered. There were two arenas now, one for each of the freshmen brackets, and once the four matches ended, the other brackets for each year would resume as well. Ace stepped up to the arena, where a girl was waiting for him, 'So reflection day it is, ok, I got this.'

Ace smiled softly at her, and then bowed. They could not hear anything anymore, the rest of the noise had been blocked off, now, it was just him and her, her and him.

The bell dinged, and they leapt into action, Ace dashed towards her, and she got ready to counter-attack. He went for a front kick, she grabbed and pulled, just as he thought she would, he had noticed her carry out this manoeuvre multiple times. 'Now, the elbow will come', Ace thought, and instinctively ducked, dodging the elbow, and getting even closer. Before she was able to react, he punched her in the sternum, and kneed her in the ribs. The sternum punch was blocked, but the knee - the true damaging hit, landed, and she grunted loudly in pain. Ace backed up calmly, there was no reason to engage even more.

Ace knew Praticia was good in prolonged engagements, and a hit to the ribs would not deter her. She breathed heavily, but Ace was not making any noise, he just looked at her, and suddenly, acted. He went for a jab - slapped away, and a left-hand palm strike - redirected again. Ace now appeared to be slightly off-balance, and Patricia went for the attack now, she kicked at his knee, while simultaneously punching forward.

Ace bent his knee, and instead of a soft leg, Patricia's foot found a strong knee, she felt the impact. Ace grabbed her punch, and used her slight distraction of the pain in her foot to take a rule out of her own playbook, and throw hair over his shoulder, then instantly went for an arm-lock. There was no other solution other than surrendering.

***

"Good fight, I'll be leaving in less than a minute, oh yeah, Linda already won, it was not even a contest, his attacks just did nothing to her.", Igor, said, and he went away as he was called to fight.

'That must have been a quick fight, considering how fast we ended, even if they did get called in first. I guess his foundation was just not as strong as Linda.', Ace thought, as he took a long drink of water, and relaxed, watching Igor's fight.

Igor devastated his opponent.

It was a pound for pound fighter, and from the first time they clashed, it was clear he was going to lose, it took another three clashes for that clarity to become a reality.

***

"Good fight, now we rest, and tomorrow, we win.", Ace said, as he and Igor congratulated each other, and just sat back, watching the rest of the fights.

When they got back to the hotel, they went straight to their rooms, ready to study their opponents. Ace just went to his room, switched on the computer, and opened the file Igor sent him the other day. 'This sh*t is actually hilarious.'

***

In another part of the city

"So, how are you feeling about the fight?", a man's voice asked, it was deep and gravelly, but somehow sounded quite pleasant.

"I believe I will lose, but I will still try my best.", this time, a girl's voice sounded out, "He has not given it his all yet, and still beaten his opponents without an issue."

"Hahaha. So have you, dear, so have you.", the man said, as he laughed.

"Yes. And yet, I get the feeling he will beat me. But we shall see."

"Of course, my dear, we shall see."