Pride

Ajax knocks on the door of a small bungalow and starts to rub his forehead out of frustration and exhaustion.

The door is opened by Kaelen who hasn't aged badly & just put on a bit of weight due to his lack of activity.

"Hey how've you been you grumpy bastard?" Kaelen says jokingly while lightly punching Ajaxs shoulder.

"Ive been worse potato sack" Ajax says lightly smacking Kaelens belly.

"Hey we've been over this I'm not fat just bulking" Kaelen says.

"Yeah whatever you say man,is my mom around?" Ajax says hanging his jacket on the hanger.

" she just went out to grab some groceries she should be back any minute" Kaelen says organising the table.

The front door opens and Elena walks in carrying a few bags of food the former woman of royalty hasn't aged a day.

"Good evening honey sorry about there being no lunch some pig decided to go on a rampage in the fridge" Elena says shooting Kaelen a dirty look.

Kaelen laughs nervously while looking away.

Elena makes the lunch while Ajax helps out organising the table, Elena finally brings the lunch and they all eat and after they finish they begin to chat in the living room.

" whew your mother surely knows how to cook" Kaelen says while leaning back on the couch.

" and you surely know how to eat" Elena says crossing her arms and giving Kaelen the side eye while ajax covers his laugh with a cough.

"Ajax help me out here your mother can't give me a break" Kaelen says desperately

" Hey I'm not involved" Ajax says while looking through letters on the table.

" anyways I'm off to bed don't stay up to late boys" Elena says as she gets up and kisses Ajax on the forehead.

"Night mom" he says as he's still reading through the letters.

Elena walks by and kisses Kaelen as she heads off to bed.

"Night honey" Kaelen says to elena as she walks off.

"Soo did you get a acceptance letter at any of the colleges?" Kaelen asks Ajax.

"Nah their all rejecting it seems they don't take kindly to club fighters" Ajax says tossing a handful of letters back on the table.

"Why do you still do it anyways? I'd understand if you were making some decent money but you're making scraps cause you keep messing up the agreements heck I earn more than you and I'm a part time blacksmith" Kaelen says sitting up straight.

"Well what choice do i have? I really-

"Oh come on respectfully your chatting rubbish young man ill bet you're a sadist of some kind" Kaelen says cutting off Ajax.

Ajax looks away frustrated as he leans back on the couch.

"I got a fight coming up tomorrow its against a prospect I was told if I take the dive I can make 100k and I honestly don't know if I wanna take the dive" Ajax says looking up at the ceiling.

" why don't you? That's alot of money that'll actually help you and your mother out" Kaelen says raising an eyebrow at Ajax.

" cause I can't lay down and let myself get beaten up,every time I'm in there I'm in autopilot,most of the time and my body refuses to just not put up a fight" Ajax says while rubbing his temples.

" As an expert in listening to my body young man whenever you can't find answers inside your head follow your gut" Kaelen says seriously.

Ajax chuckles thinking it was a joke.

"What are you laughing at I'm being serious" Kaelen says annoyed.

"Well that doesn't help your case!" Ajax says laughing harder.

The next day...

Ajax walks into the locker room of the compound hosting the fight and changes into his fight gear as he does a group of large men followed by a short bald man with mustache enter the locker room.

"You must be the kid ehh? Jackson was it?" The short bald man says.

"Ajax" Ajax responds while wrapping his hands.

"Well kid I'm Fontaine,Stones manager and I'm hoping you follow through with our agreement and can promise there will be no funny business in there" Fontaine says as he lights a cigar.

"Listen if you wanna talk about the technicalities and contract bullshit take it up with pops I'm not really a talker" Ajax says annoyed.

"nows not the time to be a smart ass kid I'm not fucking around here ya understand?" Fontaine says staring down Ajax.

"Hey there Fontaine I've been looking for you we've got cage and maroon in the back wanting to talk to you about the bets placed?" Pops says nervously.

"Tsk those asshats, anyways make sure you get that kid to understand the severity of him not following through the deal" Fontaine says as he walks away with his men.

"Hey hey what are you doing? You tryna antagonise him?" Pops asks Ajax

"Even if I did soo what? All these managers are the same giving me empty threats and tryna jump me in the back alley if I either kick their guys ass or put up more of a fight then I should've" Ajax responds unfazed.

"Listen I don't think you understand -" Pops is cut off as a woman enters the locker room.

"Mr Solomon you're up literally right now could you please hurry up?" The woman says annoyed.

" See ya in a bit Pops" Ajax says walking off.

Ajax walks into the arena and steps into the cage, as the ring announcer announces both of the fighters.

" standing in the red corner with a record of 10 wins and 0 losses and all 10 of those victories by way of knockout Kennedy Stone!" The arena roars in excitement.

"Now standing in the blue corner with a record of 5 wins and 100 loses and two of those victories by technical knockout Ajax Solomon!" The arena boos with a few distant unnoticeable cheers here and there.

The ring announcer steps out the ring and the bell is rung and Kennedy rushes at Ajax opening with a flying knee that misses.

"Haha this guys really going for it, anyways maybe I should let him take the victory,not gonna lie that money would set me up for a good business and I wouldn't need to go to college" Ajax thinks to himself as Kennedy throws flurries of punches at Ajax as Ajax simply covers up.

Kennedy notices Ajaxs body is wide open and begins to rip blows to the body making Ajax drop his hands setting him up perfectly for an elbow to the jaw.

"Make this more interesting for me motherfucker!" Kennedy says as he pins Ajax against the cage.

"Nah" Ajax says dismissively pissing off Kennedy who rips into his body again trying to set up the elbow to the face yet this time Ajax blocks it and counters with a right hook.

" you sure you're 10-0 bro? Ain't no way you got this far being a one trick pony." Ajax says smiling at Kennedy.

Kennedy rushes at Ajax once again pinning him against the cage, Ajax suddenly notices outside his cage his mother and Kaelen standing outside as he in the moment begins to feel shame and anger as Kennedy notices him looking at Elena.

"What a joke you letting yourself get beat up infront of your mommy? Hell since u don't look like you take shame in this we'll see how you feel when i make your mother my bitch afterwards" Kennedy says smiling sadistically.

Ajax suddenly stares directly into Kennedys soul as the referee jumps inbetween them as the round ends.

Ajax walks back to his corner as Pops tries to give him advice on how to follow the script.

"Okay kid the agreement was to take the fall in round 3 soo in this round maybe show some pushback but don't go crazy" Pops tells him pouring water in Ajaxs mouth.

"..."

"Hey kid you listening?" Pops says wafting a towel in Ajaxs face.

".."

"Seconds out round 2!" The ring announcer yells as Ajax gets up without saying a word and walks to the center of the ring.

Kennedy attempts to throw a roundhouse kick at Ajaxs body but Ajax catches the kick and begins to ram elbows into Kennedys knee. Kennedy begins to scream in pain as each elbow drills deeper and deeper into his knee when suddenly a loud snap is heard.

Ajax then rams an elbow into Kennedys face as he is knocked out.

Deafening silence in the arena is interrupted as alot of people scream in excitement as they witness an upset take place.

Ajax walks out of the ring without the ring announcer getting a chance to announce the winner.

" oh my god honey I'm soo proud of you!!" Elena says as she gives Ajax a bug hug.

Ajax says nothing but lightly chuckles as he gives his mother a hug back.

"I'll go back to my seat to grab my camera boys be right back!" Elena says as she walks off.

"Soo then that's 100K down the drain you sure you're good with that?" Kaelen says intrigued to know.

"Definetly am old man" Ajax says rubbing his temples and lightly chuckling once more.

"Well then I'll be heading to the bathroom looks like that chilli I ate is gonna tear me apart" Kaelen says as his stomach growls before jogging off.

"I definetly didn't needa hear that" Ajax says to himself shaking his head.

While Ajax is changing out of his gear and packing his things Pops barges into the locker room panting.

"What in the hell were you thinking kid! Do you have any idea as to what you just did??" Pops says while panting aggressively.

"What's gotten into you? This ain't the first time this has happened" Ajax says shrugging while shaking his head.

" Fontaine is no joke that guy is a-" Pops gets cut off as two large men wearing suits walk through the door behind him and start walking towards him.

" Hey Listen please you gotta atleast hear me out he's just a kid you know how these youngsters-" Pops immediately gets his neck snapped by one of the two large men.

"Pops!" Ajax shouts out he tries to run at the two large men infront of him but he is knocked out with a bat from behind.

Hours later...

Ajax wakes up and tries to rub his face but realises his hands are chained up behind a pole.

" Soo kid you got the win how does it feel?" Ajax looks up and sees Fontaine and a large group of men in suits around him with one table on the right side with a large black box in it.

"The wi... you chained me up in a... Pops wheres Pops?" Ajax says finally gathering his thoughts.

" your friend Pops is no longer with us due to him not being able to control you" Fontaine says as he checks his watch.

"You gotta be joking right? This has to be some kind of joke right? Pops! Pops you can come out now! I get it I won't mess around with these deals anymore!" Ajax shouts out while squinting his eyes due to the overhead lights practically blinding him.

The guards around Fontaine start to chuckle lightly.

"Ahh looks like you still don't take me seriously". Fontaine says as he snaps his fingers and a man in a black suit walks over carrying a woman over his shoulders. The man in the black suit drops the woman onto floor and Ajax realises it's his mother.

"What the fuck are you doing? She's not involved in me beating your guy in any way what the hell is this!" Ajax screams out violently tryna pulls his hands out of the handcuffs.

" you cost me alot of money kid I have mouths to feed people to take care of and because of you fucking around with the deal I'm in heavy debt the organisers of this event placed all their bets on Stone prior to you filling in for the other guy and I was pretty hesitant on grabbing you as replacement but hell I had I no choice the event couldn't be cancelled soo we had to go through with it. Now I had hoped your friend Patrick would've got the message through to you about the kinda man I am and the gravity of the situation, and man he did a great job of explaining things to you! Fontaine says pacing back and fourth.

"Listen ill do anything please just let her-

Ajax is cut off as Fontaine punches him in the face.

" to put it simply you little shit I owe alot of people alot and I mean alot of money that I haven't made back because of you and now im gonna break you, put the woman on the chair" Fontaine says as he walks behind Ajax grabbing him by the hair and pulling his head back soo he can't look away from his mother.

Elena remains unconscious as shes placed on a chair and one of the guards starts to pour oil all over her.

"Mom wake up please get out of here!" Ajax screams out as tears begin to well up in his eyes.

The guard lights a matchstick and throws it onto his mother instantly igniting her and the chair in flames.

Ajax is frozen in shock as he's forced to watch the whole thing which seems to go on for eternity as the fire finally dies out and he sees the charred remains of his mother.

Fontaine walks over to the desk with the black box and pulls out a small silver pistol and loads it before pointing the weapon at Ajax.