Chapter 14:

Ace skipped lightly on the balls of his feet, with his eyes closed. He felt every part of his body, tensing it one by one, left calf, left calf, right thigh, left thigh…. It helped him calm down, focus on every individual muscle, ensuring everything was as it should. When he first came, he was scared of fighting, he had no problem with doling out some punishment, but he was apprehensive of the pain that he would suffer - unsure as to whether it would ever end. It was an unconscious feeling, now, finally restrained from pain, his body had no want of more, but Ace knew this was one of the more effective ways of getting rid of the fright, the nightmares and the trauma.

He breathed out slowly, focusing on the air going in and out of his body, his body, mind and soul reaching their peak. He opened his eyes, observing his opponent, he was unsure of her name, but she was built in the same way as Tessa, tall for a female and with a muscled body. Nevertheless, she did not have the look in her eyes, the look that told she loved to fight, and would try her hardest to make it last, that was good, that look was scary.

The bell dinged, signalling the start of the match, there was no referee, there was no need for it, if anything happened, twenty fighters would jump into the octagon, and the one at fault would receive a punishment much worse than a fine or suspension.

The woman ran in, hands spread out lightly into her sides, her guard down, or so it seemed. Ace had fought Tessa enough times to know that as soon as he attempted any form of attack, she would attempt a takedown, so he attacked. A front kick to her face, if it landed, it would knock her out of commission for a while. She grinned, and launched herself low, attempting to grab him by the hips and floor him, however, she had not counted on him expecting that, he quickly put his leg down and quicked her in the thigh with the same leg, all the while, she was

Stretching out her hands, trying to reach his hips but the kick made her wince, and Ace made use of the second of hesitation to block the arm to his right in an upwards motion, this exposed her ribs to him, so he delivered to quick strikes and moved back not wanting to get caught in her net. She turned around faster than he expected and attempted a punch to his jaw, but he blocked, he received no damage to the face, but his biceps now ached in pain, and at the feeling of that pain, Ace's joints locked, Ace widened his eyes, it was just for a second, but it was enough for her to take him down, she attempted a riding stance on top of him, and two straight jabs to his face, he blocked them. He could not take too much more punishment on his biceps, but he had to wait for the perfect moment, and then, it came. Tired of his guard, she tried to launch a big strike onto his nose, but then, Ace reacted. He ha noticed the slight twist of the hips, the rotation of the elbow… and before she could even react, he launched an elbow into her temple, it was a perfect strike, it would knock her out but would not do any lasting damage, and he landed it perfectly. She opened her eyes in shock, then closed them and fell into the mats.

Ace was panting hard, he could have won much earlier, in fact, most of the people in the gym, knowing what he did about the attempt to grapple at the beginning of the match, would have taken her down instantly, but Ace did not have enough power to attempt to grapple, and was not skilled enough yet to attempt any other techniques that did not require so much strength - at least not in a match.

Nevertheless, he grinned, she was tough, but he had come out ahead and was able to take another win for his personal record.

"Way to go little kid!", Tessa grinned at him, and ruffled his hair, Ace had no idea when, but he had ended up becoming her mascot.

"Leave me alone grandma!", Ace stuck his tongue out at her

"Well done Ace.", a deep voice sounded out.

"Thanks Terry, but the only reason I won is because I knew what she would do.", Ace responded

"And how exactly did you know?", Tessa demanded

"Well, she had the same stance as you did, and I notice that every time you fought, she was spectating, so I assumed she attempted to use your fighting style. Well, that and textbooks.", Ace shrugged, a teasing look in his eyes.

It had been a running joke between them when he first came and fought, Terry and Tessa noticed that even if he was not much of a rumbler, every hit of his was carried out with millimetric precision and surgical control, so when the match ended and they attempted to learn where he had learnt, he just answered: "Textbooks.", this pissed Tessa off to no end, with made Terry laugh, and so they had taken him under their wing, probably interested in what would happen once he finally got used to being out in the octagon.

"Grrrr", Tessa grumbled, and tried to put him in a headlock, but Ace had seen it coming, dodged the grab and pinched her nose. Terry guffawed at that, but it made Tessa even angrier, and she started chasing him down around the gym and made Ace wonder who was the real 'kid' here.

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"So, tell me, how exactly is my grandson doing?"

"Well ma'am, when he first came, his moves were clean, scarily so, considering that you said he had received no formal training, but he was too rigid to be called good at fighting, however, he is now adapting, getting used to adapting moves and feinting when necessary."

"Hmmmm, ok keep observing, and tell me when he has reached an acceptable level.

"Ma'am, if I may, he is already good enough to take down any random robber that comes at him, if that is what you are worried about. And in his age group, to be fair, he probably has the best technique, and when it comes to fighting, he won't be beaten by anyone but a minimal group, and with his speed of learning, in a few weeks, he will most likely have fully adapted, and won't have anything to fear from anyone his own age, and most people taller than him. In fact ma'am, I think it would be even better to set him up with a private tutor…"

"No, he enjoys going to the gym, and it helps him fight people with different styles and personalities, in addition to that, they won't pamper him like a personally hired instructor might, and I know that nothing will happen to him right?"

"Of course ma'am, you have nothing to worry about."