A Fighter's Respect
1433 Words
Thirty minutes have passed, and I am already here in the queue, waiting for my fight to be commenced. Then I heard, "Leonide Padine and Kara Kazan," from the woman at the speaker. "please proceed to entrance."
This is it, my first official, one-on-one fight. Although, it is not a sport, but just a display of strength in front of the gods and demigods. I stepped out of the queue, and on the drawbridge, I heard the deafening cheer of the crowd. There were whistles and hoots. as well as screams. I sensed something in the air that is coming towards the back of my head, so I tilted my head to the side and it missed. It was a tomato.
"Go home, brat!" said someone.
"You're just wasting our time!"
"Stupid boy!"
I didn't mind them as more of them booed at me. That is not where the fight is. My fight is with Kara, that is already prepared at the center of the ring, as well as the referee. She smirked at me as I arrived at my spot.
She said, "They're right to say that you're just a waste of time. I should've-"
"Ganged me up?" I said. "Sander told me what you guys did before the fight." I closed my eyes to contain my anger, as the referee signaled the fight to start. What they did was so shameful and honorless.
"So you found out, and so what?"
I pointed at her. "So I realized that you guys really are the worst people in this world! For my dream, I will not allow people like you to continue doing your worst!"
She looked offended at me, stepped to a safe distance from me, and started to draw her arrow. "I'll win this fight, and I will shut that foul mouth on your face!"
She let go of it, targeting my head, so I just dodged. "Fight? You think I will fight a girl like you?" She shot another and I dodged again.
"A lot of guys like you who underestimate women died after they said that!"
She let an arrow fly again, I dodged it as I walked towards her. Arrow after arrow, I dodged them all. "I am taught not to underestimate any opponent, and to respect them. Weak or strong!"
"Shut up!" she said as she pulled five arrows on her bow.
"Boom!" I said, using my powers, and the arrows were deflected.
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*
"Is that allowed?" asked someone from the crowd.
"That's cheating!"
"Believe it or not," said Ericka on the mic. "Using his power in this tournament isn't prohibited."
"It's not even mentioned in the rule book, yo!" said DJ.
"That's ridiculous!" ranted a man.
Ericka said, "Considering the fact that the God of Gravity is considered a demigod, he's allowed to use his power because that's what makes him a demigod!"
*
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"My father taught me to respect my opponents!" I said after using my hand to deflect the incoming arrows as I get near, while she is already at the edge of the ring. "Fighting them with your full strength." I took a deep breath, and screamed, "IS THE WAY TO RESPECT THEM!!!"
"Don't screw with me!" she screamed and noticed she ran out of arrows.
"And you!" I said, ducking after she tried to hit me with her bow, and put my palm against her stomach. "YOU DON'T DESERVE MY FULL STRENGTH!!!"
I pushed her off the ring, and she fell down, but not hurt. I looked down at her from this height. She looked at me looking pissed. "Is that all you can do?" she said with a trembling voice. "Come down here, and fight me if you're a man!"
I know that she just wants to provoke me after I humiliated her like this. I have no choice, but to do that to her. "I am a man, but I don't want to fight a weak and rotten person like you!" I answered.
"The winner is Leonide Padine!" said the funky host.
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*
She looks like she's about to cry when she said, "Referee, this fight isn't over!" But the referee shook his head. "You got to be kidding me! I haven't-"
The people in the coliseum didn't cheer, but just commented on what happened:
"Well, you can't expect much from that girl."
"There are strong amazons, but this girl ain't one of them."
"She's just not cut out for it."
"That was unexpected, I thought she's gonna win."
"Yeah, I thought she could beat this God of Gravity because he's weak, but it turns out that she's the weakest."
"She's a shame in the race of demigods."
Kara cried very hard as she ran to the exit, below, while Leo felt guilty for what he's done. Mila on the other hand, half-smiled while resting her head on her hand. She didn't notice that Damon saw her.
*
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There was no cheer coming from the people, but their whispers and rants just filled the air. I went to the exit as the drawbridge opened before me. The last guy with the spear, nodded at me from his seat as I passed by, so I nodded back. I feel a little guilty after humiliating someone like that. As I stepped out of the queue, many people were enraged as the security personnel stopped them, and tried to get me to safety.
They said,
"You brat!"
"Shame on you!"
"You cheated because you are weak!"
"You don't deserve to be here!"
"Die, you brat!"
"I just lost my money on the bet because of your cheating!"
The words they said struck me, but I have to be strong. I have to realize that what I did was right. But humiliating a person is not right. I realized that I did the same thing she did to me. I have become a horrible person.
I looked down on the ground, gritting my teeth in guilt. "O ho...," said Zol. "I thought you were better than this, Leo. I am quite surprised because I thought you were a boy with a pure heart. I guess I was wrong." He laughed. "You're a horrible person, and you know it. You caused so much pain on her, that will not heal for a lifetime. The scar you left will not be erased. You thought that she and her friends are the worst people in this world, but it turns out that you are one of them."
"That's not true," I said.
"Oh, don't get irrational now, Leo. You caused problems for many people here. Are you deaf? I think not. I am sure you can hear what they are saying. Accept it, Leo, you are a horrible person."
"You're righ-"
"Leo," said someone from behind and tapped me back.
It was my father. I also realized that my vision was about to get dark. Zol almost took over me again!
"Don't listen to them," said Dad. "You did the right thing. No bad deeds shall be left unpunished. Your Mom and I are proud of you, and that's all you need to hear." I looked at Dad as he smiled. I nodded and smiled back. "That's my boy!"
The guards took us to a safe place, and away from the angry mobs. We entered a room, and I saw Mom and Hera waiting for us, worrying.
"Leo!" said Mom as she hugged me.
"I'm fine, Mom," I said.
"Good job, my son," she said in an evil voice.
"What?" I exclaimed as I saw her smirking face.
"No punch or kick is more painful than words," she said folding her arms.
"I thought you were worried about me!"
"Me, worrying for you? You're the son of two champions, there's no need to worry!" She laughed evilly putting her fingers together. "This is like the time when I beat the crap of my challenger after she insulted me before the fight. She paid dearly, but the fight didn't end there. I insulted her that she almost died out of humiliation." She giggled.
"She's scary," said the three of us.
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*
Back at the coliseum, the last fight has commenced and ended after the spear wielder won. Ericka announced, "The last winner of this round, is Gregory Cadmann!"
The crowd was buzzing in excitement as the competitors for the third round are announced. "Yeah!" screamed DJ. "That was an exciting round! Don't ya'll agree?" The crowd applauded. "Now sit back as we give ya the dudes who will be giving us a show tomorrow!"
"For the first fight of the Block A," said Ericka. "it is Gregory Cadmann versus Leonide Padine!"
"The second fight, people, is Philip Ruiz versus Gronk Heinson!"
"In the third fight, we have Sander Baker versus Icarus Nephos!"
"And lastly, dudes, a fight of Astra Rathlor versus Darius Ozan!"
"That's all, and good day!"
"See y'all tomorrow!"
*
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- Writer
