Chapter 2: Collision! Boom Boom Pow!

The week went by without any major events, just the usual dozen or so fights a day (and that's just the freshmen). But today was Friday, and the first weekend was near. Today was also Johns match with an unknown to him opponent, up til now all he had done was light training at the Boxing club after school.

Cray really didn't seem to understand the lives of those in their mid-teens. He still had a lot to learn about life in high school. Yet, Ivan, Leo, John and their friends were all nice people with their own quirks. Nothing would ever change that. As usual, Cray had been playing video games rather than any studying during the mornings. His work didn't suffer in the least, though this high school seemed to have a little too much focus on violence.

Yet, hanging around with his new friends made Cray feel more at home at school than he had in previous years. He felt that he could trust them better than he could trust any of the other students, given what he'd had to put up with from his peers during middle school.

His thoughts were interrupted, however, by the bell for last hour ringing.

Weekend time was on, and so was his game face.

But he knew better than to relax. After all, he wanted to see John's match against his unknown opponent. That meant he'd have to keep on guard, since he wasn't getting home just yet.

Not to mention, Ivan was about to get into something impromptu of his own...

Not that anyone else knew that. We're the narrators, we can know too much.

the final bell for the day rung and the students couldn't be any happier "guess I should do some warm ups before my match today" said John as he packed up and made his way out of class. during the walk John caught sight of Leo who was with Savannah but as he walked up to them he was knocked over. John looked up to see it was the same guy who's been messing with him the whole week.

the guy gave a laugh and walked away, Leo and Savannah walked up to John who got up and dusted off his pants "what was that about?" asked Savannah "I don't know, guys been on my case all week" said John not really caring for the reason. "why don't you just size him up?" asked Leo "meh, if he ever pushes me too far I'll deal with him but for now I just want to get ready for my match" said John and so be continued his way to the boxing club room.

Ivan walked out of class with Amara, both his hands in his pockets. He yawned, and walked to his locker.

"So are you doing anything after Johns boxing match?" Amara asked him, taking things out of her locker which was next to him.

"You should know me better then that." Ivan replied, looking at her as he closed his locker.

"So nothing? Wanna go to McBeefs after school?" Amara replied, closing her locker as well.

"Sure." he replied, and the two began to walk.

Leo and Savannah followed John until they reached where the fight was going to be held.

Leo crossed his arms. He and Savannah stayed where spectators could be.

"What do you think?" Savannah asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean about the match. Who do you think will win?"

"I'm not sure. I don't know who his opponent is. Plus I've never really paid any attention to how John's fighting prowess is..." Leo replied, continuing to turn his head, looking at the place. He hoped that the only fight(s) there would be, was the ones scheduled in the ring.

Ivan and Amara were almost out of the schools main building, still on there way to the boxing clubs building, when a man steped in there way.

"Damn girl, how I take you out tonight..." the black man said. Ivan didn't really react, then looked to Amara.

"Excuse me?" the girl said, putting her hands on her hips.

Cray continued towards the boxing club's building, trying to sneak his way past any potential bullies or lazy dogs along the way. A theme from one of his favorite games started to play in his head as he continued.

"There's two on the left...one on the right...armed with all the laziness and muscle to make a close encounter a nightmare..." grumbled Cray in response to seeing three bully-like figures close to the boxing arena. "I will not pick fights. What to do, what to do?"

The young boy looked to his left, to see a discarded cardboard box. A shrimp like him could probably fit underneath it, but Mr. Green willed himself to ignore it. There's no way it could work in real life, could it?

"..."
---------
"So dawg, you see the game last night?"

"Yeah dude, sucks that the preseason is going poorly for our team."

"Hey guys, what's going on?"

"Nothing much. GAWD, I have so much homework to do it's not even funny!"

"The hell?"

"What?"

"Is that a...walking cardboard box?"

The cardboard box immediately took off into a sprint, towards the boxing club.

John had changed into the boxing gear giving to him by the school which consisted in boxing shorts, boxing shoes, a mouth piece and gloves but he used the pair his dad gave him instead of the pair the school gave him. "well I guess I should warm up a little" said John as he walked over to a punching bag till he caught sight of a box with legs "what the...." he said as he followed it.

"Come on!" the man said, grabbing Amara's arm. She quickly shook him away and stepped back. "Stupid bitch..."

He took a step forward, apparently about to hit her, when Ivan casually stepped between them.

"She said no man, come on..." Ivan said, looking at the black man. His hands were behind his head.

"Who the fuck are you?" the bully replied. Ivan looked up for a moment as he thought.

"The friend."

The man stepped forward, and raised his hand again for a punch. Ivan noticed this, and smiled.

Ivans hair fell into his eyes as he looked down a bit, still smiling, and the fist struck his face and sent him to the ground.

Think I managed to slip past them... Cray thought to himself, finally halting his running. He stood still, and removed the cardboard box from atop his head.

"...Cray...?" John's voice asked. The young boy turned around to see John in his boxing attire, staring at him. "Why were you under the box?"

"Apparently, it does work..." he mused. "Wanted to give potential aggressors the slip, so I decided to try it out. I play WAY too much Steel Cog Plasma."

"Ivan-" Amara gave a small shout, before stoping. The bully just laughed, and pointed at the boy on the ground.

"What kind of little bitch would go down with one little punch." he laughed. Ivan stood up, and wiped a bit of blood off his lip.

"Haha, yeah. I guess that punch shouldn't have knocked me over, even if I let it connect."

"Let it..."

"Yeah, what?Did you think I wouldn't be able to dodge it-"

The black man punched Ivan once again, and he hit the locker.

"Why don't you shut your mouth, and I won't pound you!" he yelled, angry. He stepped back, and began to walk towards Amara.

"Hey..." Ivans voice came. The bully turned around, and was immediatly kicked in the face.

"You...hit back..."the bully said. He had a broken nose, and was on the ground himself.

"Of course. Back in Middle School it was after getting hit twice, its self defense to fight back." Ivan spoke up. The bully stood up and wiped his face.

"What kind of pussy would use that-"

"Its not that, I don't care if I throw the first punch, or kick, I just..." Ivan looked at the bully and smiled,"Don't want to get in trouble my first week of school, you know?"

John lead Cray to the another spot where he could watch the match with the other club member "I pretty sure no one here would bully you so just relax and enjoy the fight" said John while match 25 was still going on. while the previous match was in play John began to warm up on the punching bag "I wonder where Ivan and Amara are" he asked himself.

Leo and Savannah continued to watch the matches, waiting for when John would be up to fight. Leo noticed Cray on the opposite side of the room, "Let's go..." Leo said, grabbing Savannah's hand.

Leo and Savannah got to Cray, "Hey there Cray." Savannah said as she and Leo stopped.

"Just got here..." Cray announced as he turned to see the other two.

"So that just leaves Ivan and Amara then?" Savannah questioned rubbing her hand through her hair.

over the course of Johns warm up the match before his had ended with and the bell was run, the crowd cheered from the knock out "they sure do love a fight in this school" said John as he walked up to the ring. as the ring was cleared the was an announcement "the next match will begin in 5 minutes" said the referee. John looked around but still saw no sign of Ivan and Amara "sure hope they make it to see my match" said John.

Ivan dodged hits left and right, ducking and turning against the bland punches.

"You know what, you do look familiar..." Ivan spoke up, turning to the left to dodge a hit.

"Hmmm"

Slight tilt of the head to dodge,

"I can't put my finger on it..."

Duck to avoid a lick aimed at his chest,

"Thats it..." Ivan came to a conclusion. He threw yet another punch, which Ivan dodged so the bullys fist collided with the locker behind him

"Your the guy Leo beat the other day."Ivan finalized mater of factually.

"GAAH!" his opponent finnaly screamed in rage.

"5 minutes..." Cray mumbled to himself. "I wonder who his opponent could be..."

"Cray, do you know where Ivan and Amara are?" Leo asked.

"No."

In a flash five minutes have passed and match number 26 was ready to begin and John walked up to his corner waiting for his name to be called. the referee walked into center stage holding the microphone "alright Student of Canis Acedemy, I hope your enjoying the show because he have one more for the day" said the referee and the crow cheered.

"alright in this corner we have first year John Vasquez" said the ref and John walked up next to him and the ref looked at him "Vasquez?..." he asked noticing Johns light skin "yeah I'm Hispanic, yes I know I don't look it...continue" said John and the ref moved on. "alright and on this corner we have Craig Steal" continued the ref and John was surprised to see who his opponent was. the person John was suppose to fight was the guy who's been on his case the whole week.

"John's Hispanic?" asked Cray. "...Well, he just said he doesn't look it...so..."

"His opponent looks like the kind of guy you don't want to let bite you..." Leo noted aloud.

Craig Steal walked onto stage, chewing on something.

"Oh hoho...its this guy." He said, clensing his teeth revealing the chunk of metal h had been chewing on. His shorts were grey and green. His muscles were roughly the same size as Johns, and his dark grey hair was spiked up

"..."

Craig visibly swallowed the metal and smiled again. "Alright buddy, wish you luck in the match..." exposing his sharp teeth in another grin.

OOOOO
Black Bully Man threw his punches, and Ivan dodged. Finnaly, Ivan sidestepped, and went for a punch to the bullys jaw.

"Directe!" Ivan exclaimed as he made contact.

John and Craig bumped gloves as is custom before the match can begin and each went to their corner "alright everyone, let the mach...Begin!" said the referee and the bell was rung. In response both John and Craig moved in close to each other until they were in striking distance. Craig was first to attack as he threw a punch for John almost too fast for him to side jump to avoid it.

John then threw his own punch that Craig dodged by ducking down then countered by uppercutting at John causing him to throw himself back in order to dodge it. the momentum from John dodging Craig's caused him to lose some balance but before he could regain it Craig was able to hit John in the face with a right hook.

"...Was he just...chewing on metal before the match...?" Cray asked. "No...that can't be...I've only seen people like that...in video games I've played..."

Cray was sure John still had a chance, given that the match barely started, but if what he just saw was real, then John would be hard-pressed.

Ivan dodged more attacks from the bully, who seemed to be slowing down. He eventually stopped, and began to shake as he panted.

"You..what the hell is wrong with you..." the bully panted.

"Nothin." Ivan replied.

"Ivan, we're gonna miss Johns match!" Amara called out, not worried about the fight anymore.

"Oh jeez, almost forgot..."Ivan replied, hitting the side of his head with his palm. He turned to the bully and laughed a bit, "Sorry, we're gonna have to finish this another time."

Ivan put his hands behind his head, and began to walk away. Amara joined him, and the bully looked at him in anger.

"No...you fucking jackass!" the bully yelled

OOOOO
The bully lay on the ground, Ivans foot raised in the air from the kick he had just delivered. He was obviously knocked out as Ivan turned back around and continued walking.

"Cya bro..." Ivan said without turning back.

John took a hard hit to the face and was knocked down to ground as the crowd cheered from someone finally being hit. the ref began to count but John was back up on the count of 2 "god that guy can hit...." said John as he wiped the blood from the side of his lip.

the match began and John ran up to Craig and threw a right hook that was dodged. Craig then tried to punch John with his left arm but John bobbed right avoiding the punch. with a turn of his body John hit Craig in the gut with his right arm. Craig then punched John in the head with his right arm and the two stepped back a few times to gain some ground "Jesus, with gloves his punches shouldn't hurt like this" John thought to himself as he shook off the pain from the hit.

Cray watched the fight, not really knowing exactly what was happening, since it was too early to tell if the match was going one way or the other. However, it was easier to tell now that John would be hard pressed to pull a victory.

"It seems like he's taking more damage than usual from a punch...one punch did just knock John down..." Cray mumbled to himself.

The two boxers traded punches for the next two minutes. Craig was smiling all the while, and John was really starting to feel the hits. John bobbed to the right, and went threw a right hook, but Craig ducked down.

As his opponent went back up, his fist clearly going for the uppercut, Johns world moved in slow motion.

Damn...

Craig's fist struck Johns face in an uppercut, and John was made air born from the impact. John landed on his back as what seemed to be the entire freshmen class continued to scream around him.