Chapter 138:

Ace stretched lightly, and made his way to the shower, preparing himself mentally for what was to come. His mind ran through all the techniques and skills he had learnt and perfected this past month. He was ready.

***

The journey to the arena where the tournament would take place was exhausting, the atmosphere was thick with both nerves and intent to perform. Everyone was hoping for the best, and was prepared to achieve it. They got there after a short fifteen-minute drive, they got out, and while Win looked like he was about to barf, the others were seemingly calm, Ace, however, spotted their tells, the loud breathing, light sweating, rhythmic tapping of fingers, or fidgeting with sleeves.

They walked to the entrance, only to enter an area that seemed to just be an amplification of the car, a mix of nerves and anticipation to succeed, dotted with some fear of failure.

They went through the door that led to the main stage, and sat down in the chairs that had been provided for the participants and coaches. They only had to wait for a few minutes, before a man came in, he was alone, but he gave the appearance of a steady rock, standing on its lonesome, braving nature in its solitude.

The man looked to be in his early to mid-50s, but he was impressively built, he was tall, about 6 foot 4, and stood straight, with strong muscles adorning his upright figure. He had a head full of white hair, along with a hipster beard, that looked almost comical on his stern face. Or so Ace thought, until the man opened his mouth…

"Hahaha! Here we are, another year, another time! Welcome, welcome, I am Ronnie, the head judge of the tournament. I wish to thank you all for participating, I can only say that I hope you all have a lot of fun.", he laughed again in his loud, friendly voice, and then walked off stage, leaving a bunch of bewildered faces from youngsters, and smiling ones from the experienced coaches.

"Well guys, the fights will begin soon, as usual, it is freshmen who begin, so Igor and Ace, you are up.", then, he pointed to a screen where the upcoming fights were listed, Ace had a fight in ten minutes, against a guy called Trevor, but Igor was not on the screen yet. "Ok, Igor, you will most likely be fighting in the latter bracket. There is only one fight today for each person, and since it is single elimination, the herd should thin quite nicely for you guys. Welp, let's go.", and then, after a short walk, he said, "Ace, you ready?", to which he nodded. They were already at the quadrant where the fight would take place, Ace was in the process of loosening his muscles - not that he needed it, for the last few minutes before the fight commenced. Then, the buzzer sounded, and the fight was on.

Trevor was an unassuming guy, medium stature and size, but he was clearly nervous, quivering as he stood, his hands shaking lightly. It was not very noticeable, but Ace, with his superhuman perception, caught it. "Ok, so offence it is then."

As soon as the bell rang for the match to begin, Ace dashed forward, into a jump kick, that took his foot all the while to Trevor's sternum. Trevor backpedalled, and threw a loose block. The offence from the get-go had clearly taken him by surprise. He tried to step sideways, while throwing a palm strike, which Ace dodged by moving his head, and then countered with an elbow, which stopped Trevor in his tracks. He blocked the elbow, but not the low ick that was aimed at the back of his leg - it took him to his knees, and from there, a turning kick knocked him out of the competition.

"STOP!", the fight was called as Ace's win, and he walked back with his group. It had been short, lasting less than a minute, but truthfully, most fights - once rules were removed, usually were. There were of course rules, but a lot of limiting factors, such as the number of punches you could throw in tandem or the places you could hit, had been abolished, which meant a lot of freedom in styles was allowed.

His teammates and coach congratulated him, not very surprised, they all knew how he fought. He spotted openings, and exploited the hell out of them, with Ace, it was all a mind game. Now, people would think that all he did was go on the offence unrelentingly, so he would most likely make the most out of it on the next fight. Every move of his was executed with a large amount of thought behind it, and it would all unravel to his winning of the tournament.

They decided to stay around, watching the rest of the participants, of course, they did not only watch, but analyse and memorise, giving Ace and Igor insight on how to counter and beat them. It was not assured as to whether they would fight them or not, but you never knew.

Igor fought later on in the day, against a girl who much like Ace in the last match, fought by going on the offence, she built up momentum, and very much looked to be on the upper hand, well, until Igor's punch connected to her face, that was, it pretty much knocked her out. The girl was big, with a muscled body, but against Igor's full-power punch, not many could take it calmly. They had never calculated, but considering his size and strength, the power of his punch had to be considerable. Of course, the thing about his punches was that yes, they were strong, but they were also fast. He had chosen the exact moment where the girl's guard would be down, and executed a perfect right-hand to the jaw, ending her tournament career - at least for this one anyway.

They went back home after that, it had not been a very tiring day, at least for their team, but as more days passed, and their opponents got stronger and stronger, they could expect to have fights that tired them more, and even take a few injuries at one point or another. Tomorrow, the sophomores would have their first fight as well. It worked this way, so that all quadrants would be occupied - at least for the first few days, and then the finals could happen on the last day. In the older classes, there were fewer participants, which added up to the fact that Zach was on his own for the senior class, Win and Noelle were sophomores, and Nai and Brom were juniors.

Ace would have to fight six fights, before taking part in the final for his group. Each year had two groups (except for the senior one), and the goal was for each of them to win at their respective groups.

They had a hearty dinner, before going to bed, during it, Nai made fun of Win - as always, pointing out the fact that if he was so nervous on the day he did not have to fight, what he would do once he did have to fight. Win just ignored her, something that shocked everyone present at the table, but it was only after looking at his pale face, and noticing his strained face, that they laughed, as they realised what was happening, he was about to vomit!