Chapter 5 - Realisation

Chapter 5

~

A couple of minutes after the last round ended the invited judges were in unanimous approval regarding the winner of the fight, however they were quite unsure of what to think of her joining the tournament. Although she has shown herself more than capable of participating regarding fighting prowess, they were a bit wary of to potential backlash due to her age, gender and weight.

They hadn't been notified of Adam intending to host any pre-tournament events, but the gym owners sponsoring the tournaments had alot of freedom in terms of how they operated.

He had explicitly notified them earlier of the challenger potentially joining the tournament but as the requirement had been winning, they hadn't paid it any mind thinking that it was actually a pretty clever way to attract more attention since young hopefuls would basically trip over themselves rushing towards any tournament doing the same.

At the time they had agreed thinking it impossible for today's challenger to win, they had given her submission a glance and they were pretty confident in their judgement, the judgement that got thrown out the window, picked up by a bird, dropped into a paper shredder and blown into the sea halfway through the first round.

Fortunately Adam preempted their attempt at dissuading him from allowing her to join by promising that if any trouble came their way as a result of this, they could just blame it all to him which mollified them enough to stay quiet.

"It seems our judges has reached a conclusion!" Adam announced loudly, standing in the ring with Nana and Jonah on his sides. Nana stood on his right her demeanor having returned to the usual dullness as she stared into nothing, the only mark the match had left being a small bandage on her lip while Jonah's sister had to support his body, his very red bruises having already gained a slight purple tint the instant his body cooled down.

Although the pain had slightly faded and wasn't as strong as it was just after the match had ended, it had gone from pulses to a constant, flaring up with every small gesture he made. Compared to being physically unable to move it had turned into something somewhat manageable, mostly due to him being used to beatings courtesy of his instructors.

Even if he was uncomfortable Jonah had been injured enough under his instructors' experienced eyes to know that it wasn't really dangerous so he decided to continue participating in the tournament despite the very visible targets now dotting his body. Someone could give one of them a slight tap and it would hurt like a bitch, but he was confident that no one other than Nana would would be able to come close to matching him, even with his movements being extremely careful and sluggish.

Adam glanced at the paper slip he received from the judges' table and put it in his pocket before looking out over the crowd.

"The winner of this pre-tournament event is...- "He paused for dramatic effect, staying silent for an unecessarily long amount time, waiting long enough for it to get awkward before he finally continued."-from Diesuldunk Gym. At 12 years of age, Nana the Tiny Turtle!~" Adam shouted passionately, raising her arm into the air as the crowd exploded in cheers.

Nana hadn't submitted a surname and he felt that just announcing her name was a bit lackluster so he decided to have a bit of fun with it, leading to him giving her a title. It was also poking fun at her weird tendency of turtling up instead of evading which she had very clearly showcased during the duration of the match.

"As she emerged victorious, she will also be allowed to participate in today's tournament properly!" Adam continued as both Nana and Jonah made their way down from the ring. When the other contestants remembered that Nana would now be able to join the next fights the majority didn't really care. They were confident in their skills thinking that the only reason Jonah lost against her was that she got lucky and was able to hit the same spots multiple times which quickly wore him down leading to him making mistakes.

They wouldn't deny that she was pretty good for her age, but there's no way they'd lose to her in the ring. Though there was also a handful of people who hoped that they wouldn't match up against her, having a very clear picture of the difference between them. Other than these two groups however was an anomaly.

"Hey, hey, she's pretty strong, right?" The young man with bleached hair that interrupted Adam before whispered to his friend with an excited expression.

"Leon... can you please not act like a battle crazed dog for just one day? Just a single day. I'll beg you, you know? Want me to beg? I will if you promise me." The black haired young man tiredly groaned into his hands. Why the hell was he friends with this idiot again?

The amount of times Leon had stirred up trouble just to get others to fight him was uncountable at this point. Cursing others out, tripping them up, aggressively getting in their faces. Even resorting to throwing all kinds of shit at people to piss them off enough to engage him, and who had to think of ways to escape from Leon's past targets when people got pissed enough to start actively looking for them? Him.

"Oh stop whining so much Ash, I'm not that bad." Leon remarked flippantly.

"No, you are. You really, really are." Ash deadpanned.

"Anyway, she's pretty strong right?"

"I can't even tell if you're too stupid to understand me and you're trying to change topic or if you're smart enough to play stupid to change the subject because you don't really care about what I'm saying right now." Ash drawled as he eyed him suspiciously.

"Uh huh." Leon sounded absentmindedly, looking at Nana as a sense of excitement started growing inside him at the thought of fighting her in the ring. Seemingly sensing his gaze, Nana looked back and stared at him for a few seconds before she tilted her head slightly and continued towards her group.

"Look, she's excited to fight against me, too!" Leon turned to Ash with sparkling eyes, an eager expression appearing on his face as he pointed at Nana.

"Are you sure? Maybe she just thinks you're weird staring at her so intently. Literally anyone other than me would peg you for a criminal, you know that right?"

"Why would I be a criminal just because I was staring at a little girl?" Leon's face scrunched up in confusion as he eyed him weirdly.

"..."

"You're an idiot."

---

"What a surprisingly exciting way to start the day, don't you agree everybody!?" Adam shouted enthusiastically as he stood in the ring receiving a loud cheer in response."I thought so! Either way, now that that's done it's about time we finally get this thing started. For today's tournament we have 16 contestants which will be divided into two brackets, bracket A and bracket B by drawing lots, please do so now." Adam gestured at one of the gym staff standing beside the ring holding a box with a hole on the top.

After Jonah, supported by his sister, had drawn a paper slip with 'B - 5' written on it he looked around, starting to walk towards a certain group when he found them a few seconds later.

"What do you want?" The lady his sister was arguing with before the match had a small frown on her face as she spotted them approaching and took a small step forwards, meeting them on the way.

"Ah, could we join you?" Jonah smiled sheepishly. Nana had roused his curiosity. As someone who always strove to improve he could feel a sort of kindred spirit in Nana, though he wasn't to the point of allowing opponents to freely hit him. Not to mention that although his instructors has repeatedly called him a genius for how quickly he picked up their teachings, he felt the title ringing hollow upon remembering Nana's improvement during the fight.

"Yeah, sure. Feel free." Chad said leisurely with a light smile while leaning against the wall next to Nana who was sitting on the ground beside him.

"Cool." Jonah gingerly left his sister and made his way towards them, using the wall to gently slide down on the other side of Nana.

"I'm Jonah by the way, Vanessa over there is my sister." Jonah introduced himself and pointed at his sister who's face was currently stuck in a scowl.

"Ouh. Name's Chad. You probably know Nana, this is Yama and the one over there silently trying to kill your sister with her gaze is Sam." Chad also introduced himself and the others, Nana remained unresponsive while Yama gave Jonah a small nod.

The three of them looked over to Sam and Vanessa just in time for them to suddenly harrumph turn their heads away apparently having decided to ignore each other for now.

"So... did you have fun going up against Nana?" Chad asked as a shit eating grin spread across his face, he had a feeling that Nana was going to be wanting to fight at more tournaments in the near future which he was all in for. He wanted to share the whole of Dieseldunk Gym's feeling of torment that was going up against Nana, something they had been subjected to since her first spar. A feeling of vengeful satisfaction having filled him during their bout.

"Ahaha..." Jonah let out an awkward laugh as a wry expression appeared on his face. "It was certainly an experience."

"It is, isn't it? I remember when she just started out, practicing some simple routines I showed her like she was possessed. Now I don't even want to get into the ring with her." Chad mused to himself, a scruffy black haired little girl appearing in his mind.

"Oh do you box, too?" Jonah asked curiously as he eyed him.

"A little bit, I first got into it because I wanted to put on some muscle and found being able to fight cool as a teenager. "

"I think alot of people do, most of them quit pretty early though. Kinda sucks that they give up so easily and everyone else eventually stagnate." Jonah shrugged, he had seen alot of people come and go while training at the Silverscale Gym and even those that stayed eventually stopped trying to improve, something he looked upon with disdain.

"Meh, shit happens." Chad started, throwing a cautious glance at Sam standing a bit further away messing with her phone to make sure she didn't hear him swear. Even if she didn't care as much anymore, she still liked to give him an elbow to the side everytime he cursed around Nana.

Chad was convinced she was just continuing to do it to mess with him at this point.

"People get into boxing for all kinds of reasons but most people I've seen don't really aspire to get into the big leagues so they don't really need to constantly improve themselves." Chad shrugged nonchalantly.

"I know, it's just annoying. If everyone just continued going at it, maybe these tournaments would be more interesting." Jonah grumbled to himself, he didn't get why they were content with being average, his upbringing essentially making it impossible for him to even entertain the thought.

"You've been to alot of tournaments?"

"Yeah, I live in the central region but there's barely any fights because all of the bigwigs wants to make them all into these grand events and whatnot which takes ages of planning. They're much more frequent here in the outer region."

"I could see that." Chad wasn't surprised, he had encountered a few of the bigger companies during his stock trading and most of them were the kinds of people to argue over the smallest of things, not all of them were the same, though.

"By the way, how long has Nana been boxing?" Jonah asked as he looked at Nana sitting beside him.

"About... 6 years by now?"

"...I see." Jonah let out wryly as his pride took another big hit, he had started when he was 4 years old.

The two continued talking idly, the first match of the tournament starting just a minute later and three rounds later a winner was decided.

"Oh, right. What bracket is Nana in?" Jonah asked as he remembered one of the reasons of why he walked over to them in the first place.

"Hmm..." Chad hummed as he rummaged around in his pocket, finding the paper slip a few seconds later. "She's in A - 3."

"Guess I'm winning my bracket, then. I'm in B - 5."

"Confident?"

"Of course."

Not long after Nana was called into the ring. Seeing her remain unmoving, Chad gave her a pat on the head and gestured to the ring when she looked up at him questioningly making her pause for a few seconds, eventually standing up and walking towards it.

Seeing this from the side Jonah raised an eyebrow as various thoughts ran through his mind, he turned to Chad and wanted to ask but hesitated, not wanting to be impolite.

"Chad... um..."

"Wondering about Nana?" Chad asked, already knowing what he was thinking about.

"Sorry, I was just uh..."

"Don't worry about it. As for Nana... She has a tendency to be a bit airheaded when she isn't focusing on anything. Apparently she takes in alot more information than the average person and despite her sharp mind it takes a while for her to process through it all. It's fine when she's focused on something because she starts subconsciously ignoring anything she doesn't think is relevant, but when she's idle it leads to pauses in her conscious reactions."

"Oh. I see..."

Nana stood opposite of her opponent who had a nervous expression on his face as he sloppily threw a few punches into the air trying to gather some sort of confidence.

"In one corner we have 16 years old Chinji Eekari from the Runner Gym!" Adam gestured at the lanky youth with short brown hair and black eyes who timidly raised his arm in response receiving a small cheer from the crowd.

"And in the other we have 12 years old Nana, the Tiny Turtle from the Dieseldunk Gym!" Even before he was done announcing her she received a massive cheer, the intense pre-tournament match still fresh in their minds filling them with excitement for another showing.

"Fighters ready?" Adam asked with his arm raised standing in the middle of the ring, and after he received nods from the both of them he chopped down and backed away to the edge of the canvas. "Begin!"

Nana placidly remained in place and entered the standard boxing stance as she eyed Chinji, her previous fight against Jonah had made her eager to fight the other contestants wanting to learn all that she could.

Unfortunately for Nana, her hopes would shortly turn to disappointment.

Chinji shuffled forward hesitantly also assuming the standard boxing stance, though even the untrained eye could see the difference between the two of them. One of them standing firmly on familiar ground from countless of hours of effort, while the other one stood apprehensive, jittery in his movements as he worriedly eyed his opponent.

He had enough sense and a front row seat, having stood at the forefront of the crowd during the previous match, to get a feel for the power of her blows and he really didn't want to be on the receiving end of her punches.

With this in mind, he haphazardly threw out a few hesitant jabs that hit her gloves before quickly backing away, eyeing her warily.

This continued for the whole of the first round much to the befuddlement of the crowd, only emerging from their confusion when the bell signaling the end of the round rang out.

*Ding*

"What the hell is he doing?" Jonah questioned, standing with the rest of the group in Nana's corner.

"He's probably a beginner." Chad guessed, rubbing his chin.

"Then what's he doing at a tournament?"

"Who knows, maybe he was just curious?"

They watched her opponent pant lightly as he fetched his water bottle and sat down on the chair in his corner while Nana remained in place.

"Hope he doesn't quit boxing after this, though." Chad hummed to himself.

"Why would he quit? He's an idiot joining a tournament with next to no training but would he quit just because of a loss?" Jonah asked in confusion not understanding what he meant.

"Ahh~ Well... Although Nana likes dragging out her matches so she can see more of how her opponents fights, that's only if she thinks she will actually learn something from watching them." Chad shrugged nonchalantly.

"What do you mean?"

"The fight's probably gonna end real soon unless the guy is hiding some surprises up his sleeves."

"Hm?"

"During your match with Nana..."

"Yeah?"

"Did she ever go for your chin?"

"..."

*Ding*

As the second round started Chinji had gained a bit of confidence due to Nana staying docile during the whole of the first round, not throwing any of the devestating punches he had been so fearful of.

He continued with the strategy he used in the previous round, thinking that she wouldn't attack if he moved away fast enough which worked for about the next minute of the second round before Nana made a move.

Chad perked up when he saw Nana subtly shift slightly.

"Guess she's gonna end it now."

"Huh?" Jonah let out in confusion, though his eyes widened the next second as Chinji once again approached to send another few jabs at her when Nana moved.

Ducking under his arm she dashed closer to his body and into his guard before she lowered her body putting her weight on her left foot and springing up, expertly transfering the energy through her body and throwing a viscious left hook hitting the side of Chinji's chin with the precision of a sniper and the force of a charging bull.

*Thack!*

A loud thud rang throughout the gym, a stunned silence lingering until Chinji's body mercilessly slammed down into the canvas prompting the audience to explode filling the gym with noise.

Adam swiftly went to check on him. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately for Chinji, he remained unresponsive for the 3 minutes allocated to allow someone knocked down to get back up.

After making sure that he wasn't in danger, seeing nothing other than the beginning of an enormous swelling and a couple of teeth knocked loose, Adam gestured with his arm making two of the gym staff carry him out of the ring.

"And we have our winner!" Adam proclaimed loudly as he raised Nana's arm into the air.

Below the ring, Jonah stood wide eyed as the last punch replayed through his mind. Although she was still rough around the edges in terms of skill, there was a huge improvement compared to their match, it was almost like he saw a shadow of himself trailing her figure. However, something still confused him. If she could tweak her technique on the fly and assimilate information as seamlessly as he'd seen... why wasn't she way above him in terms of skill?

She was good, there was no doubt about it, better than the average pro even. But she should be so far ahead she couldn't even be seen.

"What are you zoning out for, kid?"

Jonah was knocked out of his thoughts when Chad gave him a pat on the back and quickly turned towards him, asking a question as a thought appeared in his mind.

"Hey, who is the best boxer at your gym?"

"Hmm? Why?" Chad raised his eyebrow in a mix of confusion and curiosity.

"Just answer!"

"Okay, okay, I'll answer, settle down a bit." Chad held up his hands in surrender not knowing what suddenly spurred him on and though about it for a second. "I would probably say... Nana actually? Huh, I haven't thought about it before but I don't think anyone else can beat her anymore. Why do you want to know?"

"..." Jonah groaned as a realization hit him. The reason Nana hadn't long since left him behind was beause she just didn't have anything to test herself against. She didn't have instructors who had experienced hundreds of fights and their experience, she didn't even have someone that could push her further.

It was no wonder she was developing so slowly, she was being stiffled. She was a diamond in the rough with no one to polish it, no one to help shape it and no one to put it under pressure, compressing it to make it shine even brighter.

This wouldn't do, Jonah descended into thought as he tried to come up with a solution, he didn't want Nana to remain buried in the mud.

Due to his upbringing and his desire for constant improvement, Jonah had a heavy dislike for unfullfilled potential, to him, there was nothing more wasteful than not striving to be the best that you can be in whatever you chose to pursue.

Was there a reason not to aim for the top in something that you burned for?

Jonah sure as hell didn't think there was which is why he was going to try remedying this colossal tragedy.

"So... Chad." Jonah started innocently as he eyed the taller man beside him discreetly.

"Yeah?" Chad answered as he took a small step away from Jonah, getting a weird feeling from his gaze.

"Since you box too, you should have noticed the problem with Nana, right?"

"..."

"She's being held back at your gym, right?"

"...Yeah, I know." Chad sighed as he scratched at the back of his head, he already knew that her rate of improvement in terms of skills was slowing down lately even if he body kept growing stronger.

"Do you have any solutions, yet? You're not gonna let her start stagnating right?" Jonah asked with a small frown as his voice lowered in seriousness.

"Of course I want the best for her, but I haven't thought of anything yet. I'm also waiting for her to ask Sam or I herself, she doesn't usually ask for anything and I'm a bit worried she will start keeping problems to herself." Chad said as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"...I could uh... get her into the Silverscale Gym." Jonah started hesitantly, finishing the rest of his sentence as fast as he could. It made him feel kind of like a dick, it made him feel like he was trying to poach her from their gym and although he knew she would thrive at the Silverscale Gym, it still made a feeling of guilt emerge inside his chest.

"Hey, hey!? Are you trying to steal little Nana away from me- our gym!?" Before Chad could say anything in response, Sam who had also heard his proposal immediately walked over to them with a scrunched up face.

"Don't yell at my brother, you brute!" Vanessa swiftly followed after her with a shout, though when she got closer, Sam turned around to face her fiercely making her flinch remembering Sam almost punching her and stiffly walked behind Jonah, using him as a shield before she fiercely pointed at Sam. "I'm not scared of your brutish attempts at intimidation!"

"Hmph." Sam scoffed at her before turning towards Jonah with narrowed eyes. "You trying to steal members from my gym, huh?"

"Nonono uh-" Jonah coughed into his arm and turned his head, trying his best to avoid her piercing gaze. "Just uh... giving you options, ahaha..."

"Hmm..." Sam continued staring at him in discontent.

"...I'll think about it." Chad suddenly spoke up softly.

"Chad!?" Sam whirled around in surprise and stared at him incredulously with an open mouthed expression.

"Sam, the both of us, everyone at the gym really, can tell that Nana really likes fighting. It's pretty much the only thing she's interested in and I don't want to be responsible for her being unable to continue progressing." Chad closed his eyes and crossed his arms as he spoke calmly.

"But..." Sam uttered with an unconvinced expression.

"Sam I know how attached you are to Nana, but we can't always be there watching over her." Chad put a reassuring hand on her gradually slumping shoulder.

"...She's only 12 years old..." Sam protested weakly.

"Let's at least ask her after the tournament is over, alright? Plus, I'm sure Yama will be accompanying her if she decides to go."

"Of course." Yama nodded, there was no way he was letting Nana go by herself.

"Fine..." Sam reluctantly acquiesced with a sigh after a brief period of silence before she turned away, sitting down against the wall closest to them with an unwilling posture making Chad sigh slightly.

When Nana made her way back she glanced at the group and blinked when her dull eyes landed on Sam's figure and walked over, being pulled down into Sam's lap and then gently embraced from behind.

Nana looked over her shoulder with a tilted head making Sam start patting her head softly.

"It's nothing Nana, don't worry about it." Sam whispered gently in assurance as a tender smile appeared on her face.

Nana hummed in mild confusion before leaning back into her arms, her eyes slightly narrowing as she emitted a content feeling resembling a satisfied cat. The both of them stayed like this until Nana was called up again.

The match ended about the same was as the previous one since she didn't see anything interesting enough to take a closer look at, her opponent getting knocked out by the end of the first round.

Meanwhile Jonah had a bit of trouble, even if no one else in his bracket could match him he had to really work to get the wins seeing as all of his opponents went for the remnants of Nana's pummeling.

"And we have our 4 finalists!~" Adam loudly annouced as he stood on the edge of the ring, four contestants standing just below him on a small elevated platform in full view of the crowd.

"We have the little turtle who could, the most surprising participant to ever reach the finals in a Junior class boxing tournament I have ever seen, Nana the Tiny Turtle!" Nana stood quietly in place not reacting to the loud cheers she received as her gaze remained on Sam's slightly torn figure.

"We have the aggressive meathead, fighting with the ferocity of a lion, living up to his name, Leon!" Leon let out a loud, "Oi!?" scratching at his temple as his face scrunched up into a disgruntled expression. The lion bit he thought was kinda cool, mentally noting it down to use later, but what the hell did he mean with aggressive meathead?

"We have the methodical and very skilled, but also very unlucky to have matched up against a certain someone, Jonah!" Jonah had a wry expression and a twitching eye on his face due to his introduction. It was true, but did he really have to rub it in!?

"And finally, a person who has stayed as stable as a mountain through all of his fights so far, Stone Heigh!" A bulky young man about Jonah's height raised his arm and nodded simply.

"With that, let's get these finals started!"

Jonah and Stone hopped down from the platform while Nana and Leon climbed into the ring and stood in their respective corner, Adam having taken his place in the center.

"Fighters ready!?"

Leon nodded eagerly as a wide smiled stretched on his face while Nana made a small hum in affirmation.

"Begin!" Adam shouted as he chopped downwards with his arm and retreated to hovering around the edge of the ring.

*Ding*

Nana proceeded to no one's surprise to turtle up on the spot as she eyed Leon with slight curiosity. Although she hadn't been paying attention to his fights, there was a chance his eagerness was due to confidence which meant she would have another interesting opponent.

"I've been waiting for this since the first time I saw you fighting!" Leon excitedly advanced forward towards her, though weirdly he didn't seem to have a particular stance looking more like he was out for a walk.

"All of the punks I've fought before were so weak most of them went down after a couple of hits from me, I hope you're different! Try this!" When he got closer he raised his hands in a sloppy guard and threw a wild haymaker, putting his whole weight into it.

"Ora!"

Nana remained in her spot having no intentions of moving by her own volition. Leon's fist cleanly hit the side of her headguard forcing her head to the side, Leon didn't miss this chance and quickly followed up with a strong body blow that destabilized her and continued with a ferocious volley of savage punches that started pushing her back, eventually ending with Nana forced back against the ropes while Leon kept up his onslought of blows.

"Come on, show me what you can do!" Leon shouted gleefully with an excited smile not letting up for a second.

"What is she doing now?" Jonah asked with a confused frown, standing in Nana's corner as he watched her being pushed around by a flurry of hits.

"What do you mean?" Chad questioned nonchalantly, though he had felt himself wince interally with every punched that landed.

"She at least fought back when she was against me, but she's not even trying to get away from the ropes."

"I have no idea actually..."

"Did something happen to her? I know she usually does this, but then she at least throws a jab or two from time to time. She looks locked in place." Sam asked worriedly, a concerned expression making it's way onto her face as Nana continued taking a beating not even trying to block, her guard frozen in position.

Something actually had happened.

Although Nana looked and at least acted human enough to pass as one, she was originally supposed to be a 'companion'. Someone who followed whoever created her, it was the purpose of the item she was born from after all.

The thing is, Trogal was actually supposed to program her personality during her creation but didn't, leaving it a blank slate due to the desire to see her grow up and develop on her own and although he didn't know if any problems would pop up due to this, he didn't really have the opportunity it went smoothly at the time.

Nana's mind which was left a perfectly blank slate assimilated the scraps of whatever it could reach which at the time was the very faint remnants of the A.I that was designated to control the being created by the [Companion Crystal].

She essentially absorbed the the traits of a computer program.

This for one sharply improved her memory to the point of never forgetting anything, her cognition reaching a terrifying level, the speed at which she processed information and finally, the total control of her body due to the A.I being pretty much created to control every single action in the first place.

However, it also increased the amount of information she collected from the world around her which is the reason for her airheadedness, unable to process it all despite her enhanced mind. It also made her thought process more 'rigid' than the average human leading to a tendency of being locked in what she knew rather than innovating something new.

The reason Nana was so quick at learning things was a combination of her boosted cognition, her impeccable memory, information down to the smallest twitch of their muscles and the control of her body allowing her to easily mimic their movements.

Though of course that didn't magically alter her body, if she copied someone with long arms she wouldn't get their reach, if she copied someone with fast hands she wouldn't get their speed, if she copied someone fast due to their long legs, she wouldn't necessarily get any faster.

Either way the problem with this was that until now, Nana's mind had latched onto the idea that the different punches she used were like predetermined templates, the jab is this, the hook is this, the uppercut is this and so on.

Something clicked in her mind however when she looked at Leon's punches.

They weren't uniform.

No one punch was the same as the previous one, his punches seemingly having no thought put into them other than sending his fists at her as hard and fast as he could.

It changed her view of punching from rigid presets to just using her hands in a way that damaged her opponent which is the reason for her, more than usual, unresponsiveness.

Her mind was spinning rapidly directing 100% of the terrifying processing power as new possibilities popped up. She could use her hands and even arms to damage others, clenched hands, unclenched hands, wrist, forearm, elbow, shoulder. Slapping, backhands, chopping, striking with her palms open, poking for a more concentrated strike by reducing the size of the impact... and why limit herself to her hands and arms, what's stopping her from using the rest of her body?

A whole new world of ways to fight opened up to Nana's very curious eyes.

Unfortunately despite her epiphany, she couldn't use any of it in a boxing match since closed fists is the only allowed method of attack, however.

...What was stopping her from just inversing everything she usually did?

Leon eventually started feeling a bit winded having kept up his onslought of fists pretty much since the round's start. Due to his powerful hits pretty much all his previous fights ended in seconds so he wasn't used to prolonged periods of just non-stop punching.

Though as he looked at his opponent still not fighting back his previous eagerness to fight started waning, was she already done?

Where was the devestating punches she could dish out, where was the skills he had seen so quickly improving, where was the desire to fight that had aroused his curiosity?

*Ding*

"Is that all? I thought you would be able to actually give me a fight, I don't know what the fuck you're doing right now but it sure as hell ain't anything close to my expectations. What a disappointment." Leon spat in disdain as he turned around and walked back into his corner with a scowl.

As the barrage of punches stopped Nana's unresponsive body which had been previously held up by Leon's fists fell down onto the canvas like a puppet with it's strings cut as the surroundings descended into silence.

"Nana!" Sam shouted worriedly as she quickly jumped into the ring and rushed to up to her slumped figure only staying upright because of leaning against the ropes.

"Nana! Nana what happend!?" Sam asked frantically as she checked her over, she was covered in light bruises and a bit of welling here and there, an incredible feat considering that she was eating full powered punches for the last two minutes, but it was still more damage than Sam had ever seen her take.

Chad, Yama and Jonah also quickly ran up to the ring while Vanessa struggled to follow them from behind due to her high heels.

"What wrong with her, Sam?" Yama immediately asked agitatedly.

"I don't know!"

"Should we call the match?" Chad asked as a worried frown hung on his face.

"Are you stupid!? Of course we w-" Sam shouted in distress filled anger before abruptly freezing in place as Nana's face entered her sight.

"Sam?"

Sam didn't reply, too stunned to react as she entered a daze, her gaze locked onto Nana's eyes.

Nana's previously dull matte black eyes had gained a breathtakingly beautiful emerald green ring running along the edge of her irises, almost looking like they were glowing due to the striking color. However, the majority of Sam's attention was attracted by something else, namely the sheer amount of 'life' her eyes radiated.

If before her eyes gave off the feeling of the infinite depths of muddled bogland waters filled with the lurking unknown, it was now combined with an incredible steadiness, like a vast sky piercing mountain range filled with an unshakable feeling of indomitability and stability.

"Hey!"

Sam was only knocked out of her thoughts when Chad, who had also entered the ring, shook her shoulders and let out a disoriented "Huh?", blinking her eyes in confusion as she was lifted onto her feet and moved out of the ring. She cooperated on autopilot and ended up standing with the others a few seconds later as the bell rang.

*Ding*

"Why the hell is she still in the ring!?" Sam shouted as soon as her mind cleared up and started trying to climb up the side, though she didn't get far before being held back.

"Nana wanted to continue the match and you know how stubborn she can be, besides she was lucid enough to hold a conversation and she didn't look bothered by the bruises." Chad sighed in exasperation as he kept a tight hold of Sam who was struggling against him.

When he jumped into the ring Nana had seemingly come back to the world of the living and when he asked whether she wanted to continue or not she promptly nodded her head and wouldn't change her mind no matter how much he tried to persuade her.

Her eyes had also changed for some reason but he didn't have the opportunity for a close inspection since he had to get Sam out of the ring before the round started, deciding to check it later.

"..."

"Urgh... I swear she's gonna make my hair go gray early." Sam sighed deeply as her body slumped, trying to dissuade Nana was an exercise in futility.

"What happened to you anyway? You suddenly froze up and didn't move until I had to get into the ring myself." Chad asked as he tentatively released his hold being ready just in case she was bluffing, it wouldn't surprise him.

"Nana's eyes changed for some reason-"

"Change how? Was it red? Maybe she popped a blood vessel." Yama quickly interrupted worriedly.

"Popping a blood vessel isn't actually that dangerous most of the time. As long as it doesn't hurt or affect vision it'll probably go away in a couple of weeks." Jonah interjected with a small shrug.

"No, it was a green ring around her iris... I think." Sam was a bit unsure if it was just her hallucination or a trick of the light or not since, what the hell would make eyes change colors?

"We can take a closer look after the match." Chad reassured as he turned back to the ring.

"I guess..."

"..."

"Now that I think about it, what the hell was that lousy referee doing when Nana wasn't moving!?" Sam whisper shouted in outrage as she suddenly realised that the referee could have stopped the match at any time.

---

"Oh? Looks like she's back with us." Adam commented jokingly and chuckled to himself in amusement as he leant against the ropes.

"So it seems." Somchai, who was standing beside the ring also hummed as he looked at her curiously, he didn't know what caused her stupor and he didn't have any good guesses either.

"...Did her eyes change?" Adam's face suddenly gained a weird expression as he squinted his eyes trying to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

"..."

"Hey Somchai, do you think vampires are real?" Adam whispered in a faux conspiratorial tone.

"Shut up you idiot." Somchai gave him a firm tap on the back of his knee making it bend easily, Adam crumbling to the ground due to the abruptness of his action.

"Ahk-!?" Adam let out a startled noise and frantically grabbed at the robes to stabilize himself again.

"Hey, what the hell!?"

---

Leon let out a deep sigh as he scratched at the back of his head, this is the finals... really? He thought he'd check out what sorts of fights he could get at an officially organized event but so far it's just been one big disappointment.

There were only two people that caught his attention and one of them was in the wrong bracket while the other one seemingly gave up as soon as the first round started just letting him wail on her until the bell rang, collapsing down onto the canvas as soon as he let up.

"What's with the face?" Ash asked uncaringly as he browsed a few forums on his phone, glancing at Leon who looked like a kicked puppy out of the corner of his eye.

"I'm just bored." Leon grumbled in dissatisfaction.

"I see."

"..."

"Aren't you gonna say anything?"

"Not my problem. It was you who dragged me here all excitedly convinced it would be fun."

"..."

*Ding*

"Oh look, the round started. Have fun!"

"...I hate you." Leon scowled as he lumbered away from his corner, though he raised an eyebrow in befuddlement as he looked back at his opponent.

"Why did you put in contacts?" He asked as he eyed her weirdly, although they looked mesmerizing he didn't think she did it to distract himself. Did she neede occular aid? But it didn't look like it in her first match.

"Whatever. You can try all the tricks you want, but it won't help you. I've seen all kinds of things used to confuse me, let's just get this over with." Leon dismissively shook his head in disappointment before rushing at her, intending to repeat the first round.

Though even if he acted nonchalant he still kept an eye on her as she entered the standard boxing stance, the various ways she could attack running through his mind.

Throwing a wild haymaker with his right hand expecting her to continue to remain unmoving he was caught off guard when she slipped to the left. His eyes widened slightly while he instinctively raised an arm to shield against a strong right he expected to come.

Unfortunately he couldn't react fast enough to prepare himself for Nana to instantly shift her footing, switching to a southpaw stance, and sending a fierce left hand driving into his solar plexus with enough force to make him feel like her arm shot cleanly through his body.

"Kah-!?" Leon's pupils dilated sharply, resembling pinpricks. His mouth hung open into a breathless scream while electrifying agony exploded from the bundle of nerves being hit with the force and firmness of a boulder and the insistence of an unwavering stream of water.

His body went completely limp, only able to stand with the support of Nana's fist still embedded into the center of his chest. Leon could barely hear the roaring crowd, sounding like they were shouting from the aether while his vision shifted back and forth between semi-clear and being underwater.

Every single bit of muscle in his body was tensed taut in response to the massive amount of pain rushing through his nerves leaving him unable to do anything but trying not to pass out and ineffectively take small sharp breaths in rapid succession to barely get some air back into his lungs.

A few seconds later Nana slowly retracted her her fist causing him to stiffly collapse down onto the canvas with a harsh thud ringing out upon impact, his body not letting him try and dampen the fall at all remaining locked in place.

As he laid there below his opponent his wide insensate eyes unintentionally wandered over to her face and saw something that would firmly stay with him from this day onwards.

His opponent who he had eagerly anticipated fighting.

His opponent which turned out to be a disappointment.

His opponent who he had been pummeling for the whole two minutes of the first round.

She looked...

Distracted.

Her almost supernaturally captivating murky black eyes broken up by a vibrant green ring surrounding her irises were staring into nothingness with a dull expression on her face as if she just wanted to quickly finish this and go do something else.

Her eyes having never even seen him as an opponent beyond the first few seconds of the match, merely a mundane task to be performed so that she could focus on something she was more interested in.

...It shook him.

During every fight he had ever been in there was one thing that stayed a constant theme regardless of the how, when and where.

All eyes were on him.

Whether due to caution of his powerful punches, whether through rage of someone he had annoyed, even through the curiosity of finding out if the rumors surrounding him were true.

For the first time in a fight... he was one of the nobodies he had always despised.

At that moment, as he feebly laid on the canvas with his body pulsing in excrutiating pain, he decided.

He would train, he would get better, he would never again be a nobody...

He would be seen.

---

Roars exploded throughout the whole gym and even beyond as Nana's devestating fist cleanly drove into Leon's body with a whince worthy thudding noise.

"And that's the match!" Adam called out loudly after first checking on Leon and then allowing him to recover for a couple of minutes and then decide if he wanted to continue or not which he declined.

About 10 minutes later, Adam having given Leon time to rest enough to shakily be standing beside him, stood in the ring with Nana on his other side.

"Let's see..." Adam mumbled to himself as he glanced at the paper slip from the judges' table, even though he was already sure of who's name he would see.

"And the winner of the A bracket of my gym's Junior boxing tournament is...!" He paused dramatically continuing a few seconds later, gradually rising in volume his booming voice was blasting through the gym by the end of his sentence.

"The biggest dark horse I have seen to date, someone who wasn't even supposed to be here today, someone who butted head against fighters 4 years her senior, the Tiny Turtle who's shell remains unbroken, Nana from Dieseldunk Gym!~"

---

"...I have no idea." Chad eventually concluded as he sat in a crouch, Nana had returned to docilely sitting Sam's lap while he turned her face side to side to get a closer look at her new eyes, the three of them surrounded by the rest of the group.

Jonah's opponent was unfortunately able to get the win by taking advantage of the 'targets' on his body leading to him slowing down more and more until he was basically running on fumes when the third round ended, losing by scorecard.

"Does it hurt Nana?" Yama asked carefully and received a head shake in return.

"We can get it checked out when we're in the center if you want to, my family's personal doctor is unrivalled in terms of both medical knowledge and skills." Jonah proudly patted his chest and immediately regretted it as his bruises flared up in pain making him let out an agonized wheeze.

"Center...?" Nana tilted her head in confusion, looking alternatively between Sam, Chad and Yama while Vanessa fussed over her brother in the background.

Chad gave Sam a look conveying do you want to ask or should I? Which prompted her to sigh deeply after a few seconds of hesitation.

"Nana... you really like fighting, right?" Sam mumbled into her neck as she tightened her embrace around her.

Nana curiously looked back at her and blinked, gave a small nod in affirmation.

"Mhmm, well I knew that. But you've been feeling a bit stiffled lately, haven't you?" Sam softly exhaled through her nose and continued before she could answer. "Jonah proposed taking you to the same gym he goes to, the Silverscale Gym, there's probably alot more skilled fighters and better equipment over there, you know?"

Hearing a small hum of interest Sam wasn't surprised.

"Do you want to go?"

"Mn."

"I thought so. Unfortunately, Chad and I won't be able to come with you." Sam gently nuzzled into Nana's hair, feeling her body stiffen up as she processed her words staying silent for several seconds before suddenly speaking up.

"...Then... Stay." Sam's eyes opened widely at her answer. Although Sam was very clear about the familial, maybe maternal even, love she felt towards Nana, having basically seen her grow up. Gradually changing from the malnourished little girl that had accompanied Yama to their gym into an incredibly strong fighter with an almost supernaturally healthy body.

There was a certain cloud of uncertainty that wouldn't go away no matter how much time passed. It was when she started really getting attached to the little girl that she found herself wondering if Nana felt the same towards her.

Even after 6 years of daily interactions and despite getting very good at reading her mood most of the time, she still didn't know if Nana was just entertaining her by going along with her desires or not.

It wasn't that she felt that Nana was emotionless regarding things like love and affection, it was just that she was very subtle in her ways of expressing them. She had never rejected physical affection but she had also never initiated it either which lead to that small seed of doubt remaining.

Hearing her wanting to stay behind just because they couldn't come with her despite the chance of further improving in pretty much her only interest, an unbelievably warm and tender feeling emerged from her chest as she got her answer, the small seed of doubt that previously plagued her mind catching fire due to the roaring flames of her stoked love and promptly burned until nothing other than a comfortable heat was left behind.

A silly smile fueled by happiness appeared on Sam's face which she quickly hid by burying her face into Nana's firm but soft back as a small giggle escaped her.

"...Sam?"

Hearing Chad calling her with a weirded out voice, Sam quickly snapped out of it and forcefully coughed a couple of times before lifting her head again, gently resting it on Nana's shoulder and closed her eyes in contentment as she cuddled the shorter girl.

"I want you to go Nana."

"..."

"It's not like you won't see us again, I'm not letting you escape from me you know? We can get you a phone aswell, that way we can talk whenever you want."

Opening one of her eyes Sam took a peek at Nana's face and what to others would look like her usually dull expression, the small signs that on someone else would equate to a conflicted face were clear as day to her experienced eyes.

"Hey!" Seeing her still hesitating, Sam decided to give her a small push and waved over Jonah who gingerly walked over in confusion.

"What is it?"

"Nana is coming with you to the center."

"Oh, alright." Jonah blinked in surprise at the sudden news, he had a feeling that Sam would be the most against it due to her reaction when he first brought it up.

"Pick her up in three days at 09:00, you better be on time." Sam ordered, her eyes narrowing dangerously at the end of her sentence.

"Y-Yup! Got it! Loud and clear!" Jonah shouted stiffly as a cold shiver shot through his spine, instinctively performing a sloppy salute before he swiftly retreated as fast as he could, almost looking like he was running away from a demon.

"You really have to scare the kid Sam? He looked just about to shit himself." Chad watched Jonah rigidly moving away in amusement, he had apparently forgotten about his bruises in his haste and now sported a constipated expression on his face. Though his amusement didn't last long.

*Thack*

"Ah!? Fu-!" Chad abruptly cried out in pain as Sam's steel toed boots nailed him in the chin. He immediately dropped to the floor and cradled his leg carefully, she barely tapped it but he could swear he heard the clang of metal meeting his bone upon impact.

He instinctively smothered the curse about to leave his mouth, unknowingly saving himself from another kick.

"Why!?"

"No cursing."

"...Duck you."

"..."

*Thack*

"Argh- Again, really!?"