Old Habits, New Enemies

Jace jerked his body in disbelief. Looking at the crowd up and down, he could not comprehend how any human being could behave like this. His head pounded with anger. He felt his mind slipping away from him out of pure hatred. Hatred for the situation he was in, hatred for him being in this world, hatred for that man doing those things to that woman.

Without a second thought. Jace sprinted towards the middle of the field.

"HEY!" yelped Josh, "GET BACK HERE! YOU CAN'T INTERFERE WITH THE MATCH JACE!"

Jace ignored his pleas as he stumbled over himself to reach the battlers. Josh followed in hot pursuit right behind him.

The man smiled wide as he wrapped his hands around the woman's shattered neck, and slowly began to squeeze. As he squeezed harder, her eyes rolled into the back of her head. She pleaded for her life with the strength she had left.

The man teased her, "Oh... So NOW you don't want to play anymore? Goodbye, you stupid bit--"

"GET OFF HER!" thundered Jace.

Jace hurled his body towards Alvarez. Knocking him off of the woman and flat onto the ground. Both of their heads thudded against the concrete floor.

"WHAT THE HELL!" shouted Alvarez, shakily.

"WHY DON'T YOU COME AT ME INSTEAD, HUH?" responded Jace fiercely as he struggled to regain his footing.

"UHH... IT APPEARS WE HAVE A HECKLER," stuttered the announcer over the loudspeaker.

The crowd booed in dismay as Alvarez gritted his teeth.

Security rushed to the scene to restrain Jace.

"You little SHIT!" grumbled Alvarez. "Don't worry guys, I got him."

Alvarez brandished his battle axe, ready to swing.

"WA-WA-WAIT Mr. Alvarez," Josh pleaded, "I'm very sorry about my patient. And I promise you he will be dealt with accordingly. But if you kill him, the repercussions will be far more dramatic than you think."

"Dramatic how?" spat Alvarez.

"Dramatic, in the sense that you will most likely lose your battle license."

Alvarez glared scornfully at Jace. He scoffed as he trudged his way back to finish off the woman.

"WAIT, NO!" yelped Jace in protest.

Alvarez stared at Jace with intense anger and annoyance. His eyes seemed to be lethal, full of bloodlust.

"TIME OUT!" Blared the announcer over the speakers.

The announcer ran to the scene.

"What's going on here? You ruined the match!" shrieked the announcer.

"Listen here, son. If you let Alvarez kill that young woman, then you can say goodbye to your next match for today. Because I will simply NOT participate. Then that'll be REALLY bad for your ratings huh?"

Jace was out of breath and frantic. As the announcer stared into his eyes, he could tell that he was deadly serious. The group sat in silence as the crowd booed relentlessly. The announcer shook his head in defeat and spoke into the intercom.

"THE MATCH IS OVER! ALVAREZ WINS BY SUBMISSION..."

The fans erupted in anger. Throwing objects onto the field. Some stormed out of the arena in groups.

"THE NEXT MATCH WILL BEGIN IN 20 MINUTES! STAY TUNED. THIS ONE WILL BE THE BEST ONE TODAY!"

The announcer huffed in disappointment as he turned towards Jace.

"I don't know who you are, but you better make this next match good, kid."

He shuffled off without another word.

"I apologize, again, Alvarez," said Josh.

Alvarez shook wildly as he tried desperately to contain his fury.

"Eh whatever. At least I still get to keep this high-quality battle axe with me."

Alvarez smirked at Jace. He proudly thrusted his newly obtained item to the sky before limping his way to the backstage of the arena.

Jace knelt down next to the woman. She was horribly injured but still breathing faintly.

"Come with me," commanded Josh as he dragged Jace off the field to a staff bathroom.

Josh paced around the bathroom in deep thought, mumbling to himself. Jace stared at him blankly before Josh finally spoke to him.

"I know you're new here, but you need to try harder to blend in--"

"How?" interjected Jace. "By standing around doing nothing as someone gets beaten to death?"

Josh's eyes widened in frustration.

"Damn it!" he blurted. "I get why you're mad. But you have no idea where you are! You have no idea what you've just done. You just personally hurt the pockets of a massive corporation you know nothing about, and made a fool out of yourself on national television!"

Josh rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"There's only so much that I can do to protect you. But from now on, don't rush into things that you don't understand. You can end up dead, or worse. The last thing you need right now is enemies."

Jace silently leaned against the wall and folded his arms. His mind raced. He was immensely conflicted and speechless.

"And I know you're mentally like a THOUSAND years old. But you're in your real body now. You need to start acting your age."

"How do you mean?"

"HoW dO yOu MeAn," mocked Josh. "Exactly, that's what I'm talking about! You talk like you're a freaking grandpa. You called Ariel a 'young woman'? And you told the announcer 'LiStEn HeRe SoN', it's distracting!"

Jace jerked his head in defiance. A scowl spread across his face.

Josh sighed.

"This whole virtual simulation thing is still relatively new to us. The public isn't really used to people like you. We have classes that you will take to get better adjusted to society, but for now you need to realize you're a teenager. So start acting like it, and get used to your real body."

Josh placed his hand on Jace's shoulder as Jace tried his best to ignore him. A muffled female voice blared through the intercom on the other side of the door.

"NEXT MATCH WILL BEGIN IN, 15 MINUTES."

"I'm gonna go check you in," said Josh. "You stay here and warm up. And DON'T leave until I come back to get you. I can't risk you pulling any more stunts today."

Josh hastily walked out of the bathroom and shut the door behind him.