25

During those months the organizing team had done a great job, in the spectacular presentation with music, first the photo of the boy appeared, and then a one-minute montage with the best images of his qualifying fights, then the image returned to the photo but now with the height and weight data of the boy.

The public that had become a little cold after the initial presentation became animated again, all those poor souls liked to bet, but even more they liked that violence and fight for survival.

Mouse could not help but get excited when he saw himself in the video, despite the boy's spirit his reception was cold, the public preferred big and violent fighters.

"Don't worry Mouse, that's good for betting, the less they expect from you the bigger the profit will be..."

The boy noticed something, many of the fighters he could face had gained weight, they no longer had that sickly and emaciated appearance of malnutrition despite their size. Others seemed to have grown in those months, and others, however, seemed stagnant.

Mouse himself had changed a lot; he had gained height and weight, but without losing the profile of an agile and fast fighter. The main rivals that Marcus had pointed out had also changed, most for the better, but the difference in size was no longer so noticeable. However, Blacker was noticing other things, absurd details that Marcus had initially pointed out.

Which fighters had shaved hair? Did any of them have bruises on their faces? Which ones had bulging bellies or were even overweight? One of the surprises was Oso, he had grown much more than the others and had gained a lot of weight, now he really looked like a small bear compared to his rivals.

"Shit, that kid is now much worse than before, God willing you don't face him."

The presentation had ended and the spotlights were once again focused on the presenter in the center of the Ring.

"Well, the time has come for the pairings, once they are over and while the first fighters prepare for the fight, ladies and gentlemen, let's start with the draw."

A kind of virtual drum appeared on the screens, the draw began, every time a number of those assigned to the fighters came out, their photo and card appeared next to it. The first pleasant surprise was the fight between Oso and Viper, they would fight in sixth place.

Of the 32 fights, Mouse would finally fight in the twenty-first position, it was not bad at all, he would have time to prepare, his rival was a boy called Gorila. His name was the exact expression of what the boy was, big, strong and violent, he was not one of those selected by Marcus not even to keep an eye on him. Compared to the videos, he had gained a lot of weight, but both Blacker and Mouse smiled.

Although the first fight was the most dangerous, this situation was the most propitious, a not very intelligent rival, who charged like a madman to overwhelm his rival, without a hint of a thought or tactic in the fight.

"Well, it's not bad, we'll watch the videos now but if you do what we have planned you should be able to pass the challenge..."

Of all the rivals that Marcus pointed out, Bear and Viper would fight first, then Witch would face another brute in fight 12, Dragon in 18. After Mouse would come the fights of Tizon in fight 27 and Rubio in the last fight.

"Let's enjoy the food and now we'll see your rival and the most interesting fights, right?"

"Can I eat Rat stew?"

Blacker began to laugh at the poor boy, really the fact that a poor child would consider it a delicacy to eat a rat caught in a dump and that had to be cooked three times to remove the bad taste of a delicacy was not without its humor.

"Stop eating rats, since you're here, let me order you something I think you'll like more."

Blacker ordered something similar to synthetic fish, while Mouse ordered a plate of pasta with tomato and synthetic meatballs.

The boy was mesmerized by the aroma of spaghetti, it was the first time he saw that food so he didn't even know how to pick it up, it slipped on his fork. Blacker had to teach him how to tie the spaghetti so he could eat it.

Even if he lost the fight, Mouse felt in heaven just to be able to eat that delicacy, first he ate the pasta and then the juicy meatballs, although what surprised him the most was the tomato sauce, it seemed wonderful to him.

The first fight was going to start just when the boy had finished eating, Blacker let him rest for a few minutes so he could watch it.

The first two brutalized children who had to face each other were quite evenly matched physically. The first round was violent, chaotic and convulsive, but Mouse did not miss a detail. Amidst the chaos of blows, the boy could see two things in his opponents. The first of the boys, called Alimaña, hit senselessly. It seemed that those months had only served him for little more than gaining weight and some strength. His rival, however, seemed to have made better use of his time. Not only was he able to dodge some of the open blows, but he also threw a short combination of two direct blows from time to time that surprised his rival. Although there was no clear dominator, the blow count made Mordisco, that was the boy's name, win the round.

In the second round, Mordisco was the clear dominator in the count. However, at the end of the round, seeing that he could lose, Alimaña launched a desperate attack. But his rival could not move away or stop him. The first blow to the eyebrow caused a deep cut to the eyebrow. Another blow to the ribs seemed like it was going to end the boy's good fight. But Vermin made a mistake, and he charged and tried to subdue the other boy.

Drawing strength from weakness, Mordisco lived up to his name and clung to his rival and bit his ear until he tore it off, leaving him with it in his mouth. Vermin screamed and cried, but it was too late, the rain of bite blows came while the boy tried to recover from the shock. The only thing that saved the boy from a worse end was the end of the Round.

With two rounds won the fight had ended, it was the first of many similar fights, but the important thing was the damage that the winner had received, and above all the final resource that he had used when he felt trapped.

Mouse had to divide his attention between the fights that were taking place and the videos of his rival. Gorilla's style was predictable, although the boy noticed a very curious pattern, the boy, no matter how crazy he was when hitting, always ended his round of attacks with a deep right hook. It would be normal if he hadn't repeated it ad nauseam in the three fights.

The boy smiled, those habits were difficult to change in three months, especially if there hadn't been fights in between. It was, as the champion said, a vice, a move that one day went well and had been engraved in the boy's mind. Mouse already had an idea of ​​how to prepare for that guy.

The presenter gave way to the next fight, one that Mouse was very interested in, it was Bear against Viper. Viper was the fighter most similar to Mouse, that's why this fight was important to be seen.