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"Underestimate me. That'll be fun."

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Rage's POV

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"Can you still hear me?" I ask Asher mentally as I stop a bit further in the woods.

"Loud and clear," Comes his instant response. "How far are you now?"

"Easily over five miles," I reply with an excited grin.

My grin falters for a second.

"You know, I never used to smile this much," I admit quietly, not even sure why I am saying it. "I used to never smile."

"I'm glad we met too," Asher says smoothly in that calm voice of his. His voice has a rough edge to it and is oddly soothing.

He understands at once what I am trying to say.

"Thanks, Asher," I reply before changing the topic. "Five miles was a lot farther than we anticipated. Any theories?"

"Well, this is all uncharted territory," Asher begins. "I'm pretty sure that we are the only people to have figured out that we can communicate this way."

Powers are to be concealed, suppressed, hidden. Few people ever experiment with their powers and they almost never train with others. There is so much to learn and test out.

I nod before realizing he can't hear it and mutter, "I just nodded."

Asher's deep chuckle echoes through my mind, sending a slight shiver up my spine.

Checking the time on my phone, I realize that I have an early fight starting in an hour. It won't take me too long to get ready, but I'm kind of deep in the woods. I didn't think we had been out here very long, but it is already eight. Darkon had left earlier—once Asher and I began to work on our telepathic communication.

"I've got to go now," I announce. "I'll see you all tomorrow at school."

"Alright, I'll leave you alone, then. Just know that you can always talk to me. Literally."

Grinning once again, I make my way home. Once I finally get there, I quickly change into an outfit that will allow me to move freely while still covering up my scars. My arms are covered so I don't have to worry about applying the game tattoos. I slip on the contacts so my yellow eyes are concealed completely. The jade green wig falls to my shoulders. I apply the makeup that Holly and Weird have me so that I am now completely unrecognizable.

I toss my wraps in my bag and refill my water bottle quickly.

At last, I am ready to go.

I jog to the gym and start stretching when I get there. It's surprisingly empty, but I know that it will quickly fill up with people.

Almost ready, I wrap my hands and feet as Flynn approaches.

"Hey, Raven," He greets me easily. "You have two fights tonight, a powers and non-powers."

I nod mutely as I finish wrapping my hand.

"How are my opponents?" I ask, wanting to get a sense of what I am heading into.

"The powers is against a poisoner. If you let them touch you, you're out. If you let them breathe on you, you're out. If you—"

"I get it," I snap. "Take them out from a distance."

"Exactly. The second right will be against Moon, a newer fighter. She's pretty good, but nowhere near your level. You'll have to draw out the victory. This fight is purely for the audience," Flynn warns me.

Instinctively, I scowl. I hate fighting for the audience. A fight isn't for entertainment. It's to survive, whether it is preventing or stopping a threat.

A fight for the audience means toying with my opponent. I prefer to be efficient, a quick knockout. I often draw it out because this is something I already know, but I don't want to enter a fight that is merely for the point of drawing it out, if that makes sense.

"Does my opponent know that I'm going to win?" I question.

Flynn rolls his eyes, "Cocky much? And yes, Moon is aware that you are most likely to win. However, she will still try her hardest to win, just like any other fight."

Me? Cocky? Never...

Okay, I'll admit that I can be pretty arrogant at times. It's something that I need to work on, especially since there is always someone out there who is better than you.

I am confident in my powers and skills. Confidence is good. Cockiness, however isn't.

Some people say that the difference between confidence and cockiness is how much you achieve. I disagree. I think it is about attitude.

And I have plenty of attitude.

"Alright," I reply. "I'm heading to the fight now, Flynn."

I head down to the lowest floor and head into the small room past the crowd where my opponent is already.

"My name is Luther," He tells me, his dark eyes flashing with danger. His voice is smooth and silky, too much so.

"Raven," I reply curtly.

Something about him rubs me the wrong way, sets me on edge.

He removes his shirt and begins stretching, his muscles in display and a smirk on his face.

Rolling my eyes, I look away and watch the crowd grow.

"So I suspect you'll be needing somewhere to stay and recover after your defeat tonight," Luther says, his eyes taking up and down my body. "My door is always open to you."

I clench my fists and then to him, fury filling every cell in my body.

"Excuse me?" I grit out through clenched teeth.

"You heard me," He replies with a smirk, drawing near.

Oh, I want to punch this motherfucker so hard... But I can't until the fight. It's against the rules.

I snort at that.

Since when have I followed the rules?

Then again, I'll have plenty of time to destroy him in a few minutes. Not to mention, I can't touch him without potentially dying.

I force a deep breath and reply sweetly, "No thanks. You look a little small to me. Plus, I doubt you have nearly enough control over your powers for that."

Luther clenches his jaw.

"If that's how you want to play it, sugar."

I lean in and spit, "Don't call me sugar unless you want me to cut your damn tongue out."

Instinctively, I form a blade of ice and hold it as I slip into a fighting stance.

"Well, it's a good thing out fight is starting now," Luther says finally, still holding my gaze. "And, by the way, you're pretty cute when you're mad."

"Thanks," I reply. "But if that's true, I'm about to get fucking gorgeous."

I storm into the ring. Despite the thick glass protecting the audience from the fights, I can still hear the crazed cheering as they see me.

They chant my name, even as Luther walks out and it's my turn to look at him smugly.

Damn, this certainly isn't helping my arrogance issues...

I settle into a simple stance as Luther approaches.

The fight finally begins and I waste no time. Combining fire and earth, I create a thin layer of lava that coats the ground and burns Luther's feet wherever he walks. He tries to get close, but I throw up a wall of ice every time he gets near.

I hurl a blast of water at him that hits him square in the chest. He falls back into the lava with a strangled shriek. I grin as I see the burns on him.

"Don't worry, sugar, I'll cool you off," I coo loudly enough for the audience to hear.

Sending out a wave of freezing air, the lava freezes and frost instantly begins to decorate Luther.

It is as if a switch flops in his eyes. All the sudden, he realizes that he is going to lose. He didn't consider me a threat.

Now he does.

But it is too late.

Desperately, he does all he can to get to me. He even tried spitting poison at me, but I send it back to him with a blast of air that knocks him back again.

Grinning, I raise my hand and make a fist, calling the air to me. The air in the room is in my complete control. His dark eyes bulge as his face turns blue. He makes these awful sounds and his eyes roll to the back of his head as he slumps to the ground. Reluctantly, I release the air, not really wanting to kill him.

I step out of the ring, victorious once again.

• • •

Storming out of there and away from the crowds, I head straight for a punching bag and begin just hitting it. Red clouds my vision as my fists slam into the bag over and over.

Stupid motherfucking asshole... Was it a mistake to let him live?

No, as much as I hate Lucifer, I don't want any more blood on my hands. I'm already bathing in the blood.

With that thought, I snap back into reality and realize that I have destroyed all the punching bags along this wall. Unconsciously, must have moved on to the next one each time. I didn't mean to use my earth powers, but my fists are pure stone and just tear through the bags.

"Well, shit," A voice laughs. "Raven, right?"

I drop my hands and then to see a tall girl with short pink hair that is cut into a jagged style. A moon pendant hangs from a choker on her long neck.

"Moon, right?" I guess.

"The one and only," She says with a grin and a playful bow.

"Well, I'll see you in the ring, then," I tell her, turning away to assess the damage.

"So where'd you train?" Moon asks in a too loud voice.

"Excuse me?" I ask, growing annoyed once again as I turn back to her.

"Well, they don't teach us to fight like that here," Moon replies.

"So?"

"So where'd you train?" She repeats.

Fed up, I turn to her with a face clean of any trace of emotion.

I lean in close, my voice as cold as ice as I answer, "In hell."

I hold her gaze as terror settles into her eyes. Pushing past her, I head down to watch the current fight.

There are two men in the ring, both incredibly strong. One is a bit on the short side, the other just above average height. The taller of the two has a slower left arm, but the shorter one keeps getting distracted by a couple in the crowd. Clearly, there's a story there.

I roll my eyes and assess their fighting styles as I remove the wraps on my hands and feet.

"Hey, Raven," Victoria greets me, coming up next to me.

Clenching my jaw, I do my best to ignore her. I don't want to snap at my best friend.

"Saw your fight. Why were you so mad?" Victoria asks casually.

My eyebrows sink even further as my glare darkens.

"Well, I'll leave you to your anger then," Victoria snorts with a reading grin as she heads off to where I see her boyfriend is talking with his friends.

I drag a hand over my face and sigh. I'm overreacting again and I know it. Biting my lip, I pull out my phone and hurry to an empty hall where the offices are upstairs. Opening the phone, I call the one person who somehow always manages to calm me down.

"Darkon, I need your help," I breathe out.

"What's the matter?" Comes Darkon's instant reply. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm just freaking out, I guess. I need your help to calm down."

"What's going on?" Darkon asks curiously.

"Um, just someone missing me off at work," I answer. "I need to calm down and I know it, but I'm just so... Mad."

"That sounds like you," Darkon chuckles.

Somehow, he manages to draw a dry laugh from me.

"Yeah, I guess it kinda does," I agree.

"Well, are they still bugging you?"

"No, not really," I reply with a sigh.

Darkon asks, "So why are you still angry?"

"It's too much," I groan, blurting out my thoughts. "All the people, the noise, the smells, all of it is just overloading me."

"And your go to emotion in panic is anger," Darkon finishes.

"Yeah," I mutter, scuffing my shoe on the ground.

"My advice would be to hang up and head outside to somewhere you can be alone for a couple minutes. Alright?"

"Alright," I agree. "Talk to you later. And thank you so much for helping me out."

"Of course," Darkon replies smoothly. "I'm glad you came to me."

Smiling softly, I do as he said and hang up. Cramming my phone back in my backpack, I slip on a pair of shoes and head outside and take a deep breath of fresh air. Well, fresher air.

I walk until I find an empty seat and sit down on the curb.

I sit there until fifteen minutes before my fight. Reluctantly, I climb to my feet and begin to jog back to the gym to prepare for my fight.

To warm up, I begin jumping rope quickly to get my heart rate up. Then I stretch and rewrap my hands and feet. Bouncing slightly on my toes, I head down to the ring for the fight.

Moon is already in the ring and the announcer is calling my name right as I enter.

Perfect timing, I think to myself with a snort.

Quickly, I climb into the ring and study Moon. She is doing the same, but she had time earlier to assess me and my form as I was at the punching bags.

We begin the fight by slowly circling each other. Without warning, I strike out with my left hand, smashing her nose in with my palm.

Her head snaps back and she staggers away from me as blood begins to drop out of her nose. I bounce lightly on my feet, waiting for her to retaliate.

She charges toward me, a surprising move, but I am able to move to the side in time. I drop to the ground and grab her ankle in an iron grip. Standing up, I hold her ankle so that she is upside down. She isn't off the ground because of her height, but that's not the goal.

The goal is a move most commonly known as the Scorpion Deathlock.

Her face is near the ground and she begins to push herself up. Quickly, I place a leg in the other side of her so that I have a leg on either side and I am facing her feet which are held tightly in my hands. Slowly, I begin to sit until her agonized screams till the room.

You see, this simple move bends the legs in a way that they are not supposed to go. It is terrible for the spine, ya know.

The referee breaks in finally and I hastily release Moon.

At least she isn't crying too much.

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Bit of a disclaimer: the "book" that Rage reads/hates on was inspired by the book Rants and Randomness. It is just that, a book of rants about the ridiculous things that occur all too often in books. It's written by suhaniuma

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Q: What's your favorite flavor of ice cream?

A: A tie between mint chocolate chip and cookie dough. *sighs* I LOVE ice cream!!

JadeQueen100