Solar Flares

God, the fresh air was such a good idea. I am feeling pumped!

"You look like you're ready to take on literally anyone," Faith says. She sounds excited, like she's expecting a grand spectacle.

Well, then I'd better give her one.

"Honestly, she looks more like she's ready to fight the sun. You should stand back, Faith."

"Maeva! You don't trust me?!" I call back to Maeva as I adjust my sleeves.

"No!" she calls back immediately. Tsk.

"Listen, I'm not going to fight the sun."

"You're literally fighting against a dude named Sun."

"Bite me."

"Ok, ladies, settle down, I know I'm dazzling." In walks the Sun himself. Faith giggles at his quip. I can't lie, I'm smiling at it, too. Even if it's cheesy. Sometimes the cheesy jokes are the best jokes.

"You ready for me?" I say confidently as I finish adjusting my sleeves.

"You ready for me?" he throws back.

"The sun's a tiny little speck in the grand canvas of space; you've got no chance," I click back. He just laughs and gives me a lazy wave as he walks off to his end of the stage.

"Smartass," I hear him call back before he skips out of earshot. A few of the people sitting up front look worried and confused.

"How many swears have been on live TV this year?" Maeva sighs. I shrug and give the crowd a smile and wave to check on them. They seem to deflate a little when they see me. I always say this is like my second superpower.

"Handled," I announce proudly. Man, though, I really do feel like I could fight the sun and win right now. I'm probably boiling with more fire than that giant star in space could ever hold.

That's the power of fresh air and zero crowds.

Santeri joins us up on stage. That's Maeva and Faith's signal to go sit down.

"Ooh, this is gonna be a good one, I can feel it," Faith squeals as she hops down the steps.

"Kick the sun's ass," Maeva adds in her usual saucy tone.

Now they've both disappeared into the crowd.

Santeri pats my shoulders and is giving me his focus speech. I've noticed he's started doing that ever since my frustrating training session a week ago. It's helped. I need to keep my eyes on the goal, and my head in the now. I need to relax.

I loosen my jaw, and it's all over in less than a minute.

We circle each other.

We pop off some matched strikes.

We back up.

Then Sun hesitates for a moment, looking like he's readying to run at me, and although I usually wait, give the crowd a little show, something comes over me. I'm focused and everything seems so clear to me. I see the opportunity and go for it. I warp over to him, across a good twenty metres of convoluted stage mess, and I catch him off guard. A little twist of the foot and he goes down.

He's tall. His shoulders reach out of bounds.

This is the furthest I've been able to move in NCC competition, and I even managed to bend this weird jagged terrain.

The crowd is silent a moment, but with the call of the Out of Bounds, it erupts. I can't help but smile my widest smile as I hear the cheering. The room's filled with celebration and excitement. This is why I do this. I live for moments like these.

Sun gives me a very sportsmanly pat on the back that's a little harder than it probably needed to be, but he seems satisfied with the Out of Bounds call. He hasn't challenged it. "I did not expect that, Evren, Jesus," he laughs.

I laugh a bit, too. "Honestly, I didn't either." It only now occurs to me that short matches are probably not very interesting to watch from the audience's perspective, and I should probably not make a habit out of this, but once in a while a quick and decisive victory can be just as satisfying, right? The crowd here loves it, at least. I think I'm happy enough with that.

"I think you broke the NCC record," Santeri says once I come off the stage. I'm getting a sense of pride in his voice, and that's made my mood shoot up even higher. "Good fight. Focused," he says, patting my shoulder for emphasis.

Maeva and Faith come out of nowhere and now Faith's blabbering on and on about how badass that all was. I let her. My ego is definitely swelling.

"Really, that was over so fast we could probably still watch another fight!" Faith says.

"Yeah, actually, that's true," Maeva says. "Aika's on today. Wanna go see her?" She looks directly at me as she says this.

She knows. I can see her trying to hide her shit-eating grin. Her eyes are sparkling with that weird scheming sparkle that pops up when she's onto you.

"I think that would be very good," Santeri says before I can answer. "Evren has been worried about Aika lately."

"Oh really?" Maeva replies, with an innocent tone that's just a little too innocent. I don't think Faith's noticed, because she's already descending the steps and babbling away about whatever. Santeri just nods solemnly before following Faith. I give Maeva my 'I know what you're trying to pull' squint but she just shrugs and looks up at the ceiling.

I'll deal with this later.

Aika seems to be holding her own. The four of us are crammed in the back because I don't want to distract anyone in here from the fight.

"Your ego is showing," Maeva whispers to me just after I make that call.

"Listen, this isn't the ego, this is me being responsible," I say. I know I'm a big deal. That's not me galloping atop my high horse, that's me understanding reality. So what if I'm confident about it? Ok, but back to the fight. "Stop distracting me and pay attention." Maeva doesn't say anything so I assume she's actually listened this time.

Aika's up against Matt Brown. He's a tough opponent. He came out on top in the American Juniors for Tae Kwon Do before he moved up north and joined the NCC, and he's got wicked fast kicks. I saw him at one of the MMA Opens in the U.S. that Santeri dragged me to some time ago, if I remember right. He's also definitely knocked me in the face before. I remember that one for sure. The black eye wasn't a great look at the closing ceremony, but I did at least win the fight. Luckily I had some good makeup.

Oh, there it is. His heights figure. He's gone in for a flying kick – his favourite, he's told me, because he feels like a bird. Aika's dodged it. I almost forgot. She's wicked fast by nature; that's her whole figure.

She only barely got out of the way, though. Matt's gotten better, I see.

Matt's still going at her, and I can see that Aika can't get the timing right to move in closer so she isn't in Matt's kick range. She's going to have to counter at some point and her arms aren't long enough to get a jab in from where she is right now.

Aika's still dodging. She's got good reflexes, especially considering she's still not at 100%. It's tense, though. The crowd's completely silent, barely breathing, as Aika barely misses another back kick to the gut.

They're moving in a circle as they fight – good footwork on the both of them. Neither of them is getting pushed to the danger zone near the outside of the ring. They're fighting on a rare flat surface, like a traditional ring, so that's probably why they're doing well staying in it. None of that weird mountainous crap I just had to deal with. Just good ol' traditional fighting.

"Ooh! That was close!" Faith hisses as Aika finally moves in close enough to land a punch but misses. Aika's not the only one with fast reflexes. Her guard is better than Matt's, though. I think she should win this, as long as she gets past him again and keeps her defense as rigid as it is now. I should take note of that. Getting in close is precisely where she's most comfortable, contrary to many of the other fighters here, especially Matt.

Another kick, another dodge. A followup punch by Matt this time, not something he usually does, but it doesn't faze Aika at all. She slaps it away. Punches are much easier to redirect than kicks – you want to stay far away from those.

Oh shit, Matt's going for a roundhouse! Right in Aika's blind spot. I want to get up and yell a warning but it'd be too late anyway. React, Aika!

Ouuuch...!

She was forced to block the kick to protect her face. I imagine she's very protective of her head right now. Matt definitely knew that – he's been gunning for her head for most of this fight. Oh man, Aika's wincing and pulling back. Matt isn't following; it looks like he's cringing. Did he break her arm? The med team's getting up.

The fight's not over yet, though. I highly doubt Aika would surrender this, she's just not that kind of person. Her fire's probably even greater than mine.

Yep, she's signalled she's staying in. Some of the crowd is chattering.

Aika's basically fighting one-armed right now. That's a huge disadvantage. But she's still got her speed. And her power. If she can get just one good hit in, rattle Matt enough, then she could still take this. I've seen her throw a mean uppercut in training. No one could stand up against that. Not even me.

Aika's changed tactics. She's zooming around with her figure a lot more now, probably to distract Matt enough to get him out of the center of the ring. It's working. He's slowly inching toward the edge. Looks like Aika's going for an Out of Bounds win instead of risking the K.O. I would've gone for the K.O., personally. I guess she doesn't know Matt as a fighter as well as I do, though.

Oh, now she's going for it. I can see it in her posture – she's telegraphing. She's desperate. I would be too if I'd just had my arm broken in my fourth points fight. She's so close to the final fight. She's kept a perfect record so far. No one wants to drop that roll. It's submit or win – there's no draw to have in this situation – and Aika will never submit.

Everyone's on the edge of their seat, me included.

Aika swoops in with the help of her figure. Matt's kick overextends and Aika has the perfect positioning for a trip or takedown onto the – oh! She went with a straight punch to the gut. Confident. That's knocked Matt right out of the ring. Gotta be the worst way to get winded.

I forgot just how much force this girl can command.

The Out of Bounds is called. The crowd in here erupts just like the last one, and I can just barely make out the med team scrambling onto the stage to deal with Aika – and Matt now too.

She did it!

But at what cost? A broken arm could land her out of the competition.

Oh my God, I might have just watched her last fight.

"That looked bad," Santeri says.

"It was such a great fight, though," Faith says, though her tone isn't as enthusiastic as it was a few minutes ago. She sounds worried. Santeri sounds worried. Matt looks worried. I'm worried.