The Waiting Game

A/N: The image in the header this week is the NCC logo! Only the official banners have "National Combat Championship" written out in full. I think the logo above that text is what they'd put on swag and merch. I played around a bit with some promotional images a while back but kept forgetting to post this one. So here it is now.

There he is. He thinks he can hide from me?

"Nathan! How ya doin'?" I slap Johnathan on the shoulder. He nearly jumps out of his skin. Oh, come on, I know he saw me coming from a mile away.

"'Nathan?' I thought you went by John," Justin says.

"Shouldn't you be prepping for your next match?" I ask Justin. Round Three starts in less than ten minutes.

"I'm allowed to chat with my NCC friends, Evren," Justin replies, exasperated. Now he's turning to Johnathan. "So? 'Nathan?' Care to explain?"

"Evren's literally the only person that calls me that," Johnathan says, throwing me a tired look that mirrors Justin's. I respond with an innocent expression. "It's not going to become a Thing, Evren, no matter how hard you try."

"Nathan's such a nice name, though," I say. Johnathan drops his head between his hands. Success!

"If this is some weird psychological shit you're doing before our match, you've gotta stop," he says. "Pretty sure it's illegal to intimidate your opponent before the fight."

"You're intimidated by 'Nathan?'" I retort. Now Johnathan looks like he's ready to tear my head off. "Yes, good, hold onto that energy! You'll need it for the fight."

"You're insufferable!" he says, although I can see him grinning behind the bite.

"Good luck, dude," Justin says as he pats Johnathan on the shoulder. He's wearing an expression of pity.

Oh man, Johnathan's just too easy to tease. I should get out of here before I go too far.

I'm trying to suppress my giggles as I wave goodbye to the two boys and cross back over to the other side of the stage. I peek out from backstage and can see the crowd settling in. Maeva and Faith are there, sitting beside Iida.

"Ready?" Santeri's come up beside me and is looking excited. He's always had a soft spot for Johnathan.

"Always!" I say as I retreat back behind the backstage curtains. It's time to head up.

"In this ring today, we have a match we've all been excited to see." I hear Joe begin his usual intro as I stretch my neck and shoulders. "A fated rematch, between our Commander of Space, Evren Kinnunen-Mwangi..." The crowd cheers as he recites the same in French. "And our elusive Ghost, Johnathan Davis." The crowd cheers again, and their energy is pumping me up.

"I'll take this time to remind the competitors of the rules of this match," Joe continues, first in French. "The winner is the last person standing in the ring, unless a submission or draw is called. Keep this fight clean. Whoever wins grabs a point; the loser gives one up.

"Now... the moment you've all been waiting for..." Joe pauses for dramatic effect as the overhead lights shift onto the stage. "Fighters, onto the stage."

I step up to the ring. I see Johnathan across from me and he waves, throwing me a cocky eyebrow. I return the gesture.

"Please reveal the stage."

The ring buckles immediately and turns into an uneven lattice structure. Tiny holes the size of my foot between the lattices are marked out of bounds. The best approach to this stage is definitely going to include well-balanced takedowns.

I look over at my jiu-jitsu-expert opponent, who looks like he's won the lottery. Hey, you're not the only one who knows how to manoeuvre to a takedown.

The countdown begins. Johnathan doesn't even try to mask the fact that he intends to sprint straight at me the moment the klaxon sounds. Honestly, good move. He lost our last fight because he stood still. Looks like he's learned something.

And he's off.

I run down a line of the lattice, away from the edge of the stage. If I can just-

Crap!

He's turned himself invisible. And he's probably still running at me.

...This is going to be interesting.

Ok, Evren, hands ready, feet steady. Keep your balance. I'm listening for Johnathan's rapid footsteps but hear nothing. The smartass. No, what does Iida say? Wisenheimer! That wisenheimer, he's stopped running and is trying to sneak up on me. I have no idea where he is, how close he is. If he's changed his speed, I can't see him coming.

"Good on ya there, Nathan," I say out loud. Maybe the 'Nathan' thing will trip him up.

There's silence.

'K, that didn't work. Slow, deep breaths, Evren. We don't need to know where he is right now. We just need to react when he hits us. Or grabs us. Probably the latter, knowing him. He'll want to throw me down to the ground immediately and get me out of bounds when I try to catch myself. He knows I have the advantage in an endurance fight.

He still hasn't come at me. What's he waiting for? Maybe for me to move. No, he's not gettin' that. I'm not throwing off my balance so he can take advantage of me for a single second. He knows that. If I know anything, Johnathan's smart.

...Unless he's waiting it out for the draw.

Brilliant. If we draw, and I don't have a perfect five-win run, the Lightweights championship is anyone's game. Hell, the grand championship is anyone's game.

I can't move because if I do, he'll catch me mid-step when I'm unbalanced. I can't stay still because that'll cost me the championship.

He knows I'd rather take the risk than lose. Besides, the audience has probably been waiting too long and I need to give them a show. I just have to grab him when he grabs me. He may be invisible, but he's not untouchable.

I move, throwing a blind strike, face-level.

There he is. I can feel him grab at my waist in a football-style tackle. I know he's had to duck down a little for this tackle so his head should be... here!

The exhale I hear confirms I've just hit his head and I hope he's disoriented enough to fumble the takedown.

His grip doesn't loosen; he's trained well. All right, guess I'll have to break this tackle another way.

I let him push me back a bit, but as he does, I grab his waist and shoot my feet out behind me. I then lean all my weight onto his neck. He lets go. Smart move, because there's an out-of-bounds hole just below him.

Before he can move far enough away, I kick in his direction. I connect and use my foot position as a reference for the space between us. Time to move. The lattice on the ground curves a bit, and I keep my knee up as I bend the space around me to end up where I know Johnathan's currently standing. I stomp down and hear a satisfying curse come from my opponent.

"We're on live TV, Nathan, don't swear!" I giggle as I slip my foot behind his, not once leaving contact. He suddenly materializes in front of me.

"Pay attention to the fight, Evren," he says through a smirk as he takes advantage of my surprise and grabs my shoulders. He jumps onto me, his feet resting just above my knees, and he uses his weight and momentum to turn and take me down. I catch myself with my forearm, which is not a great move, but it does save me inches from the out-of-bounds area. I use my free hand to strike at Johnathan's knuckles and he loosens his grip. I take my chance and bring my knee up to throw him off-balance. He lets go and rolls away.

By the time I've gotten up, he's gone Ghost again.

This time I don't have to wait long before he's wrapped his leg around mine and is attempting another takedown.

He's not close enough. I only need to shift a couple of centimeters one direction or another, and he'll fail.

Which means I've only got one option.

I concentrate, using my figure to sneak my leg out of his grip, and now I know he's completely open. I strike at him, connecting with his chest, and I gauge where his head is. Should be about here, where I've grabbed. Yep, I can feel the stubble on his jaw. Now a little twist of the chin this way, and a well-placed foot behind his leg... and he should be tripped and have fallen out of bounds.

Yep. There he is, sitting in his little square of defeat, no longer employing his figure.

"I'm always paying attention," I say as I relax and lend him a hand up.

He sighs. "I nearly had you."

"Next time." I wink at him and he shakes his head, rolling his eyes. He's smiling though. That was a good fight.

"And our winner this match is Evren, our Commander of Space!" Joe announces as the crowd cheers. Johnathan and I shake hands and take our bows before exiting the stage.

"Good fight," Santeri says, beaming at me as I hop down the steps. "Not an easy one."

"No, Johnathan's gotten good, he almost had me," I say.

Santeri nods. "Aika won her fight as well."

"Oh, that's awesome! I should text her a congrats. Where's my phone?"

"Here." Santeri hands it to me and I immediately open up the text chat. hey, good job on the win. here's to one more ;)

...Is the winking face too much? "You'd better get over that crush of yours if you want to keep your crown." Why is Faith's voice echoing in my head? That can't be a good sign.

...Maybe I'll delete the winking face.

Oops, I hit Send. Ah, whatever, it's fine. There's nothing like that between us anyway. Friends are allowed to tease each other and send winking faces. Oh, wait. wanna meet up for another training sesh? Tuesday? Send. Yeah, see? Not a date, not a crush, just a simple competitor friendship. A totally normal training session to come.

"Evren." Crap, I've been ignoring Santeri.

"Uh, sorry." I look up at him apologetically. "What were you saying?"

"I said there is someone in the audience who seems to be a scout for another competitor," he says.

"There always is." I'm still amazed by his perceptiveness. "They can film what they want, I'll be ready for anything." It's no good to get anxious about that stuff. It's all on live television anyway, and I haven't been beaten yet.

Aika's face pops into my mind again, but Santeri smiles at me and I'm immediately assaulted by Iida, Faith, and Maeva's wave of enthusiastic energy. Aika can wait.