Welcome to Vale High - Chapter 14 (Patreon)
Content
Because Yang was a lucky person, this really great phenomena plagued her on an almost daily basis. Whenever she looked forward to something - like really looked forward to something - time immediately slowed to a crawl, if not a complete stop. Minutes became hours. Hours became days. Days became weeks.
It was a superpower of sorts. A superpower she didn’t want, but apparently she had no say in the matter.
Just like the weekend dragging by, the last few classes of the day passed so slowly that they nearly moved backward in time. Really, she wouldn’t be surprised if she found herself in homeroom soon. Although...that would be a pretty sweet surprise if Blake was there too.
After nearly wearing a hole in the floor from how fast her knee jittered up and down, Yang flew into the hallway the instant the bell rang. Joining the crowds of recently-freed students, she raced to her locker so she could grab her boxing gear and leave her books behind. Once she did that, she could make her way to the locker room. And then...
“Good luck, Yang!”
“Thanks!”
Without breaking pace, she knocked fists with a member of the basketball team and waved as they headed towards the exit. When she made it to her locker a few minutes later, the lock practically flew open and her unnecessary schoolbooks tumbled inside. After pulling out her boxing gear, she slammed the door shut and resumed her speed walk to the gym.
The time had finally arrived. Boxing! Then dinner and a movie with Blake.
That second part might be way, way better than the first, but boxing was also pretty cool. Boxing would be the highlight of any ordinary day, but on this particular day, it played second fiddle to an event she was far more excited for.
She went to the movies pretty often with friends, but today felt different. Today felt special. Maybe she was the only one who thought so, but that wouldn’t keep her from having a great time.
The closest theater was part of a large shopping center, so the two of them could walk around and window shop while waiting for the movie to start. During that time, Yang could ask some of the never-ending questions that popped into her head and commit the answers to memory. Or somehow sneakily write them down since her memory was horrible sometimes.
When it was time for the movie, she would offer to buy the concessions - whatever Blake wanted, even if it was five giant tubs of popcorn or fifteen boxes of candy. Blake could pick their seats - front row, back row, the weird back corner seats, anything was fine. And then, when they finally settled in, Yang would try not to think too much about how close they were sitting, or how they could lift the armrest and be even closer, or how it was dark and intimate in that weird back corner seat Blake chose.
...but before that, boxing!
Unsurprisingly, the entire school was hyped about Salem High paying a visit. Even though the new year had just started, the rivalry was very much alive, and everyone jumped right back into the spirit of things. The freshmen didn’t seem to get it yet, but they would after one of those ridiculous chants Salem taunted them with.
Yang wanted to win because they were matched against Salem - i.e., the evilest school in existence - but she also wanted to do really well so that she could impress Blake a little bit.
Not just a little bit - a lot. A whole heck of a lot. Because Blake was a freaking genius and what was Yang? She got average grades, especially compared to Blake, but boxing she was good at. It was the one noteworthy skill she had, but it wasn’t like she had the opportunity to show off her killer techniques on a daily basis. Unfortunately for her, impromptu boxing matches weren’t a thing...so she needed to maximize her limited chances to show off.
And who knew? Maybe Blake’s ‘type’ was someone who boxed really well, with a mean left hook that stung like a bee.
Jogging into the locker room - which was emptier than usual without the track team taking up all the space - Yang threw her bag onto the closest bench and practically jumped straight out of her shoes. After tossing them into an empty locker, she shimmied out of her school outfit and tugged on her boxing gear.
Since they had a match today, she would wear her official Vale High uniform - a yellow, fitted tank top with black stripes running down the sides and black shorts that mirrored the tank with yellow stripes. And, of course, no uniform was complete without big, blocky letters reading ‘Vale High’ running across her chest.
“Where’s the fire?” someone teased her. Looking over and finding a few of her teammates filtering into the locker room, each giving her a surprised or amused glance, Yang threw her bag into the locker with her shoes and shut the door.
“Got nothing better to do!” she quipped while heading for the door.
That was a lie. She did have something better to do - which was meeting Blake before they went into the gym. Besides wanting to see and talk to Blake again, this was Yang’s last chance to bring up the word ‘date’ - casually. A date. She could throw it into conversation all nonchalant-like. Not that she had any problem with hanging out, but if she could swing this even an inch in the ‘date’ direction, she would personally find a way to jump over the moon. Seeing as how jumping over the moon had always been a personal goal of hers, she’d really like to see it happen today.
Shoving open the door, she promptly jumped backward to avoid being plowed over by Nora.
“Woah there!” she called out as the whirlwind whipped past her. “You trying to take me about before the match?”
“Salem’s already here!” Nora replied while hastily getting ready. “We can’t let them make it to the gym first!”
Chuckling at the unprompted competition, Yang shook her head and moved back to the door.
“They can’t start without us, you know,” she teased Nora - who merely huffed while dressing as fast as possible. Still shaking her head while leaving her teammates behind, Yang walked into the hall and was ecstatic to find that Blake was already there - leaning casually against the wall a little way away from the locker room door.
“Hey!”
There was no stopping the smile that sprang onto Yang’s lips, along with a bit of instant infatuation at the image of casual Blake.
“Hey,” Blake replied with a smile of her own while pushing away from the wall. “I like your uniform.”
When Blake nodded towards her, Yang glanced at her outfit and shrugged.
“They’re pretty cool. At least I look ok in yellow, right?”
For a few seconds, Blake didn’t answer the question, opting instead to slowly look Yang up and down before smiling - all while Yang’s cheeks discovered new meanings of the word ‘superheated.’
“You look great.”
“Uh, you - do too…” was Yang’s immediate, flustered response - the honesty of it only making her more flustered. “I mean, you always do - or, I mean...I like your outfit.”
“I’m glad you like it,” Blake replied with a modest smile. “I plan on wearing it tonight.”
Tonight.
“Right! Yeah, you look incredible.”
The entire response had already slipped out before Yang clamped her mouth shut and shook her head. At this rate, it wasn’t going to be a problem to call tonight a ‘date’ because she was going to slip up and say it. She’d probably refer to Blake as her girlfriend too while she was at it.
But the way Blake smiled made Yang think that maybe it wasn’t so crazy to think they had something going on between them. Because it almost looked like Blake had enjoyed that compliment...
“So…” Yang began to say before being interrupted by several of her teammates walking into the hall wearing outfits matching hers.
“Yang, you coming?”
“Yeah, I’ll catch right up!” she replied, quickly waving them away. Shrugging, they headed towards the gym while talking amongst themselves. Not even a second later, Nora burst out of the locker room and ran over to shake Yang’s arm before sprinting after them with nothing more than a delighted squeal.
“If you need to go…”
“I don’t,” Yang said, shaking her head before abruptly stopping. “Unless...do you want to get a good seat or something?”
“Weiss actually offered to save me a seat with her and Ruby.” Noticing Yang’s immediate expression of disbelief, Blake nodded to confirm that it wasn’t a joke.
“She did??” Yang asked anyway, her shocked response making Blake smile.
“She did. I’m a little worried she’s banking up as many favors as possible so she can ask me for a big one later.”
“I wish I could say that didn’t sound like something she’d do…” Yang muttered. Now she was imagining Weiss waiting until the end of the year and then asking Blake to tank a final exam. That way, Weiss would graduate as first in their class.
“But I think she likes you!” Yang added. “Obviously, she doesn’t like many people, so maybe that’s why it comes across as her having ulterior motives.”
“Well, we’ll see what she ultimately ends up asking for.” When Blake wiggled her brow, Yang laughed and nodded.
“Hey Yang!”
Turning towards the sound of her name, she smiled.
“Hey Hannah,” she said as the young girl approached them.
“Is this alright?” Hannah asked, motioning to her yellow Vale High t-shirt and plain black shorts.
“Looks great!” Nodding, Yang made sure to give Hannah a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry; we’ll get you a uniform as soon as we can. It’s just hard with the beginning of school and the fights starting up so fast.”
“That’s ok. I don’t mind waiting.”
When Hannah’s eyes briefly flitted towards Blake, Yang remembered her manners.
“Oh! Blake, this is Hannah - our freshman boxer extraordinaire. Hannah, this is Blake - she’s, uh, she’s my...we have homeroom together.”
‘Friend’ seemed like the most obvious answer, or ‘classmate,’ but Yang didn’t want to use either of those words to describe Blake. They didn’t seem good enough.
“Nice to meet you,” Hannah replied with a polite smile.
“Nice to meet you too. I’ve heard you’re learning quickly.”
“Well it’s only been a few days, but I have some great people to learn from.”
“I can imagine who one of them might be…”
When Blake gave Yang a warm smile, Hannah chuckled and waved while backing away.
“I’ll see you inside,” was the last thing she said before disappearing into the gym. Once Hannah left, Yang noticed that Blake was still staring after her with a thoughtful expression.
“That’s who Ruby was referring to?” Blake finally asked before returning her gaze to Yang. “The one you’ve been raving about?”
“I wouldn’t say I’ve been raving about her.” Nervously chuckling at how that sounded, Yang tried to think of a way to diffuse the potential miscommunication. “Besides, she’s not really my type,” she added, hopefully, a clear signal that Blake had nothing to worry about.
“I didn’t think she was,” Blake answered simply. “I only asked because one of the girls who stays after school talks about her incessantly. I wanted to know who she was referring to.”
“Oh.”
Was Yang disappointed that Blake wasn’t threatened by another girl...or relieved? Just a few seconds ago, she was worried about it, which meant she should probably feel relieved but…
Wait a second - a girl who stayed after school talked ‘incessantly’ about Hannah?
“Who is it?” Yang asked, suddenly eager to know the answer. “Can you describe her?”
“You want to tease her, don’t you?” Blake retorted with a knowing smile.
“Of course! That’s my right as a senior. I get to tell the freshmen what to do and tease them about any potential love interests.”
Even though Blake shook her head, she smiled and said, “I’ll point her out the next time I see her.”
“Yes!”
“If you answer a question for me.”
Yang’s celebration cut off mid fist pump.
“Uh, ok. Sure.”
Again, she agreed way too easily, but that was her style. Agree to anything and figure out what it meant later. In this case, it meant that Blake looked awfully smug while preparing to ask this question with strings attached.
“What’s your type?”
Yang could’ve smacked herself for bringing up the topic - and of course Blake followed up with that question.
If Yang answered honestly, she had a thing for super attractive, super intelligent, super mysterious and super witty girls who kept her on her toes and constantly had the upper hand. But that answer might be a little too revealing...
“Uh, I mean, just nice, kind people who are good for the world,” she fudged, only succeeding in making Blake grin at the obviously non-forthcoming answer.
“Maybe you can explain further over dinner,” Blake replied, in just one sentence telling Yang that this wouldn’t be over until Blake knew the truth.
Maybe it was time for Yang to drop the act. Maybe she was as obvious as Pyrrha about who she liked. Maybe there was a giant, neon sign floating above her head that broadcast her emotions for everyone to read.
Surprisingly, none of that was particularly bothersome to her.
A group of loud voices drifted down the hall then as laughter and excited chatter filled the air behind them. Turning towards the noise, Yang watched a group of students walk towards the gym while talking excitedly with each other. Bookbags still slung over their shoulders, they headed inside without even pausing to glance towards Blake and Yang.
Apparently, quite a few people were watching today. That was good - a big audience was always more fun!
“Are you nervous?” Blake asked after turning away from the steady trickle of students following the larger group.
“Naw, not really,” Yang answered with a shrug. “It’s more like...anticipation.”
“That’s good. Then you’re confident.”
“I mean, yeah. I’ve been doing this for a long time though.”
When Blake suddenly took a step closer, Yang’s heart immediately jumped into her throat.
“So no sweating palms?” Blake asked, her voice quiet while her eyes searched Yang’s. “No racing heart? Honestly, I was looking forward to seeing you a little nervous.”
Well now Yang’s palms were sweating and her heart was racing. And, as a bonus, she could feel her pulse pounding through her veins while her skin heated up from Blake’s proximity.
“I try to, ya know -” Pausing, Yang cleared her throat. “Keep it cool.”
Which was the complete opposite of what was happening right now, with Blake was nearly pressed against her. Not that Blake seemed at all affected - instead, she stared up at Yang with a hint of a smile lingering at the edge of her lips, looking quite content to remain in Yang’s personal space for as long as she was welcome.
Forget bringing up a ‘date’ - it felt like this was when they should kiss. It would be so easy to lean down a few inches...and even easier if Yang’s heart wasn’t swinging like a wrecking ball through her chest.
She licked her lips and imagined moving closer, but the moment vanished when a flash of green caught her eye. Knowing that color anywhere, she took a half step away and turned towards the girl walking past.
“Hey Emerald,” she called out, making sure to force a cordial smile.
“Hey loser,” Emerald shot back, unfortunately deciding to stop and ‘chat.’ “Ready to eat mat?”
The grin on Emerald’s lips could be described as friendly, but Yang knew better than to trust that innocent face. She still tried to be civil, but there was just no working with this girl.
“Was just saying ‘hello,’” she said diplomatically. “See you inside.”
Emerald scoffed - like she’d predicted that response.
“It’d probably be better if you didn’t show up today,” she added flippantly, again flashing that phony smile before turning to walk away.
“Wow,” Blake breathed to herself. It hadn’t been very loud, but apparently just loud enough that Emerald overheard and spun back towards them with a flash of a scowl. Immediately stiffening, Yang took a step closer to Blake - her adrenaline pumping while waiting for Emerald to respond.
“Who are you?” Emerald demanded, the force of the question only making Blake look miffed as to why it was directed towards her.
“Um...Blake…”
“Do you box?”
Laughing at the question, Blake shook her head. “No.”
“Then what makes you think you can talk to me?” When Emerald crossed her arms over her chest, Blake shot a curious glance at Yang before looking back.
“Well...you spoke to me first. What made you think you could talk to me?”
When Emerald’s brow furrowed with a scowl, Blake tilted her head like the entire conversation was interesting to her in some way.
“Just beat it, Emerald,” Yang stepped in before Emerald decided that she took exception to some non-boxer speaking to her. “We’re going to start soon anyway.”
A hostile glare was firmly in place when Emerald turned to Yang, but it quickly morphed into an amicable expression that was more alarming than the glare had been.
“Always playing peacekeeper...” she said, her tone suggesting it was a good thing while her eyes said otherwise. “You’re lucky we don’t go to school together. Otherwise, I would’ve beaten that out of you by now.”
Shocked by the unexpected viciousness, Yang let out a surprised laugh that only drew Emerald one threatening step closer.
“Do you really think you’d stand a chance in a real fight against me? I’d wipe that self-righteous smile right off your face.”
The fact that Emerald could issue threats while keeping that sickeningly-sweet smile in place was downright disturbing. No wonder she never got into trouble - teachers would fall for that face every time.
Under the current circumstances, however, the only response Yang could think of was to laugh it off - even though the idea of fighting Emerald wasn’t very humorous at all. She’d probably pull a knife or something crazy like that.
When Yang chuckled and shook her head, Emerald spun on her heel and stalked away from them - either annoyed or tired of the conversation. Still slightly shell-shocked at what was one of their worst interactions yet, Yang watched Emerald walk away before jolting from her daze when the gym door slammed against the wall after being thrown open.
“Jeez…” Yang breathed out, finding Blake also staring after Emerald with a creased brow. Leave it to Emerald to suck the joy out of a conversation, but Yang could turn this around in no time!
“Do I have a self-righteous smile?” she joked, smiling questioningly at Blake and receiving a small smile in return.
“You have a wonderful smile,” Blake assured her before scowling towards the entrance of the gym. “But it’s probably blinding to her pitch-black soul...”
Yang burst out laughing at the joke, which was the most accurate description of Emerald she’d ever heard. And her teammates had described Emerald in a lot of ways over the years - none of those ways very flattering and most of them including at least two swear words. Pitch black soul though...that was a good one.
“Well, you got to meet my lovely opponent for this afternoon,” Yang added, noticing Blake’s eyes widen in surprise.
“That’s who you’ll be fighting against?”
“Yup! Don’t worry though. If she was half as good at boxing as she is at being straight-up evil, I’d be in serious trouble. Thankfully, she’s mostly talk and serious glares.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever met someone so...unpleasant.”
It was a tactful answer, but Yang could feel the waves of dislike radiating from Blake right now - which only made Yang like her more. A good judge of character...Yang added that to the growing list of traits she searched for in someone she liked. What luck that she’d found all those things bottled up in one person.
“I’m impressed though,” she added as the run-in with Emerald faded away. “You totally held your own! Not even a flinch.”
“Well...what do I have to be afraid of?” Blake asked before sending Yang a sly smile. “Especially with Vale High’s best boxer standing right beside me?”
Yang probably couldn’t have smiled any bigger at the absolutely true statement.
“I’d have your back,” she willingly agreed. “Anytime.”
“I know you would.”
When Blake smiled, Yang felt her heart do another rapid badump badump in her chest. Shooting a glance towards the clock and finding that she didn’t have much time left before she’d be forced to leave, she licked her suddenly dry lips and shifted between her feet.
“We’re still on though - for after?” she asked. At this point, she was looking forward to that way more than facing Emerald.
“Of course.”
The affirmative response made Yang break into a huge grin while a group of butterflies swirled around her chest.
This was it. This was the last chance she’d have to change tonight from hanging out as friends to hanging out as more than friends. And, after what she just witnessed, she’d never been more certain that she wanted to be much more than Blake’s friend.
“Great!” she replied, meeting Blake’s eyes and flushing on cue. “It’s…it’s a date!”
The second the word left her mouth, her heart rate sped up to about a million beats a minute while she waited for Blake’s response. If she didn’t seem into it, Yang could always try to play it off as a joke -
But Blake took a step closer, stood on her tiptoes, and placed a soft kiss on Yang’s cheek.
“I’m looking forward to it,” she whispered before moving away with a small smile and the faintest of blushes dusting her cheeks. Meanwhile, Yang’s heart was ready to pop out of her chest. And she was pretty sure she had this horribly-goofy grin on her face.
“Y-yeah!” she stuttered. “Me too!”
Had Blake just kissed her on the cheek? That happened, right? It must have because her cheek felt like it was on fire where Blake’s lips had touched.
And they were going on a date tonight! It was official! It was a date.
“Yang, come on!” she heard someone yell from down the hall. Briefly turning away, she found one of her teammates waving through the gym door to her - but she immediately looked back to Blake.
Did she want to go right now? Hell no. She wanted to stand here all afternoon talking to Blake instead. And all evening, all night - really, she’d spend the night here as long as they could spend more time together. But there was that little thing called boxing that she’d agreed to do and needed to get out of the way first.
“I can’t wait either,” she breathed out in one rush of excitement, taking note of the smile in Blake’s eyes. It made her heart do another backflip.
Blake was looking forward to their date.
Taking a deep breath to calm her sudden jitters, Yang bounced on her toes and swung a few practice jabs in the air.
“Ready to watch me beat up a big bully?” she joked, sending Blake a wink.
“Well...I’ve already seen you do that, but I’ll watch again.”
The curious reply made Yang fall flat-footed and drop her hands. “Huh?”
“Yannnnngggggg!”
Waving off Nora’s whine, Yang stared at Blake - who gave her a hesitant-yet-intent expression in return.
“What do you mean?”
“Four of them, actually,” Blake explained, waiting for the words to sink in before turning to walk away. “Good luck - I’ll see you right after.”
Four of them? What was Blake talking about? Yang hadn’t gotten into a fight in years…
Noticing Nora stalking down the hall with a very determined look in her eyes, Yang broke out of her stupor and ran towards the gym doors.
“I’m coming!” she yelled, grabbing Nora’s arm to drag her back inside. “Sorry, I’m late!”
“We’ve been waiting,” Nora wailed while throwing her hands in the air for good measure. “We can’t start without you, and I wanna box!”
“Got it, got it, jeez! Sorry, I got caught up talking.”
“Box first!” Nora huffed as they jogged over to the rest of their team. “You can talk to your girlfriend after!”
Nora meant that as a tease, but the term made Yang beam like an idiot. If Blake agreed to go on a date, didn’t that mean that they were kind of, sort of, one step closer to being able to use that word?
“Now that we’re all here,” Coach Ironwood cut into her thoughts as the team grouped together in preparation. “Let’s get warmed up.”
Catching the glance he sent her way, Yang nodded and said, “Got it,” before waving her teammates after her. A short jog, lots of stretching, and then a few exercises to get their hearts pumping were in order. Throw in some jabs, then switch. Run through the same with hooks and uppercuts.
As they went through the same routine that hadn’t changed in years, the bleachers steadily filled with students and a few parents waiting for the fights to begin. There were jitters in some of her teammates - Yang could see it in the way their eyes weren’t as focused as a good day at practice. Excitement and anticipation filled the air, but also a fair amount of nerves.
This was the first sporting event of the year, and it showed. Even she felt edgier than usual, but that might have more to do with a certain kiss that happened right before she walked in here.
A kiss on the cheek, but that was still a kiss - the word was right there in the name! A kiss before the match and a date after...this day really couldn’t get any better than that. Well, she could think of one thing that might make it even better, but she wasn’t going to think about that until the fight was over.
Or she was going to try not to think of that until the fight was over. But Blake had promised Yang a reward after the match...could it actually be what she hoped it was?
Once warm-ups were complete, she waved her teammates over to her. With everyone grouped up, she shot a glance towards the opposing team on the other side of the ring, watching closely to see what they were doing to prepare for the match.
“Yang -” was all Coach Ironwood got out before she quickly slapped hands with her teammates and headed over to Nora.
“Their uniforms are ugly,” Nora said while holding up rolls of tape to wrap Yang’s hands.
“Don’t let them hear you say that. You know how protective they are of all that green.”
Scrunching up her face in distaste, Nora still managed to keep quiet while expertly taping up Yang’s hands. It was the only activity Yang had ever seen Nora do with any ounce of quiet and concentration - and the effort was appreciated.
Because Yang was the number one boxer on their team, she went first against Emerald. Nora would fight right after, and then they’d continue down the line until the matches were over. Best of five won the day and the bragging rights.
Of course, they didn’t want only to win a majority of the matches - they wanted to sweep them all. That’s what every student in attendance wanted too. Salem High was here - and Vale High wanted to send the green-coated school home with nothing but a big, fat zero. It was doable, but it all started with the first round. If Yang crushed Emerald, the rest should fall like dominos.
When Nora threw the roll of tape on the ground and pushed Yang’s gloves over her fists, Yang allowed her eyes to drift into the stands. Weiss was the easiest to find - with her white hair, she kind of stuck out like a sore thumb. Beside her sat Ruby, Blake, Pyrrha, and Jaune.
Raising one gloved hand, Yang sent a quick wave that direction. Blake smiled, but it was Ruby who enthusiastically waved back - having mistaken the wave for herself.
It could’ve been for Ruby! Or maybe just all of them - her favorite people in the school. Plus Weiss.
Ah, who was she kidding? Weiss was pretty cool most of the time.
“Yang.”
Looking up, Yang found her coach staring down at her with a serious expression. But Coach Ironwood was mostly serious expressions and nothing else.
The spectators in the stands grew rowdy as an announcer came over the microphone to introduce the first match. Out of the corner of her eye, Yang saw Emerald bouncing on her toes near her team and speaking to her coach.
It was about to begin.
“Yeah?” Yang asked while her anticipation and energy rose with the sound of cheers coming from the crowd.
“We both know what Emerald is capable of,” he reminded her sternly. “Keep your wits about you. I’ll be watching closely, but there’s only so much I can do from the sidelines.”
“Got it, Coach,” she replied with a quick nod.
“And remember - her left side is weaker than the right. Wait for the perfect moment and...well, you know what to do.”
Nodding again, Yang bounced between her feet and slipped a guard into her mouth - only the spit it out in surprise when it tasted overwhelmingly like bubble gum. Turning to her teammates, she found most of them giggling while Nora held up a can of something. Yang couldn’t read the words from here, but she guessed that whatever it was, they’d sprayed it on her mouth guard.
Shaking her head, she smiled and popped it back in her mouth. It tasted pretty good - definitely a step up from plain, old plastic.
Heading over to the boxing ring that had been moved to the center of the gym for better viewing, she ducked between the ropes and walked over to Vale High’s corner. This was when the jitters really started - making her shake her arms in a futile effort to get out some of the pent-up energy. It wouldn’t work because it never worked, but it was all a part of her process - the routine she’d followed for years now.
She needed complete focus. This wasn’t the time to be distracted. If she was distracted, she’d make a fool out of herself. Or, more likely, Emerald would make a fool out of her, and that was the last thing she wanted to happen.
Casting one more glance towards Blake and her friends, Yang caught a last-minute smile that was more encouragement than the screams and cheers following her name as it was announced to the gymnasium.
Four bullies though? What the heck was Blake talking about?
There wasn’t time to ponder those questions because Emerald was now in the corner across from her, prowling back and forth with a green mouthguard in place.
“Ladies,” the referee said as he waved them to the center of the ring. “You both know the rules - let’s have a clean fight.”
When he looked at Yang, she nodded. He then turned to Emerald, who smiled through her guard and nodded. It wasn’t until he turned away that Emerald’s smile fell and a scowl took its place. Lightly tapping their gloves together in a show of sportsmanship, the two of them retook their corners while waiting for the first round to start.
Staring at Emerald and faintly shaking her hands, Yang slowed her breathing while all of her attention tunneled into the match at hand. The crowd cheered, but the second the bell rang, everything faded to silence. The only sound she heard was her breathing as she lifted her arms and carefully made her way towards the center of the ring. There was no need to rush right now…all she needed to do was get a feel for how this fight was going to go.
For a few seconds, it felt like it would be a slow, methodical battle from the measured steps Emerald took - but the instant Yang made it within striking distance, Emerald came out swinging to kill. Or at least seriously maim. The aggression immediately put Yang on her heels backing away from the attacks, but she couldn’t back up too far - she didn’t want to give up too much ground this early. So after dodging the first few blows with backward hops, she planted her feet and felt the fourth land.
The first blow always shot through her like a round of fireworks - her body only thinking it was prepared for the contact up until that point. But as soon as Emerald’s glove connected with her side, she knew something was wrong. A grunt forced past her lips as air left her lungs from the impact.
That wasn’t fireworks...that was a bomb going off.
She’d fought some heavy-handed people in the past, but Emerald wasn’t one of them. She was too small to put that much force behind her blows, so she’d always been more of an elusive fighter. But somehow that had completely changed, and today she was hitting harder than in any of their previous matches.
Or her gloves were hard. Like...filled with metal or cement hard.
Dodging a few more jabs, Yang tried to create some separation between them so she could slow the fight - but Emerald pressed forward relentlessly. At the rate she was going, she’d wear out in no time, but that was probably the strategy. And with those gloves, she only needed to land one clean blow to score some massive points.
Why had Yang expected a clean fight? Emerald never understood the rules - she only understood that other people followed them and that gave her an advantage when she circumvented them.
Clearly determined to make the most of her advantage, Emerald steadily pressed forward. Left, right, left, left, right - each blow was followed immediately by another in an attempt to keep Yang on the defensive.
Unfortunately for Emerald, Yang hated being on the defensive. Watching the next three blows closely, she intentionally took a shot to the ribs while perfectly timing the gap and firing off a sequence that sent Emerald skittering backward to safety.
That’s right. Emerald might have given herself an edge, but she still knew who wielded the power here.
With temporary space between them, Yang turned and motioned to the referee. “Her gloves -” she tried to say through her mouthguard, nearly missing the fist flying towards her head. Sidestepping the blow at the last second, she raised her gloves again and sent two attacks towards Emerald in annoyance.
So that’s what Emerald was going to do today? Cheat and then force Yang to stay in the fight until the round ended? Well fine. Emerald only had an advantage when landing blows, so...Yang just wouldn’t let that happen.
Newly determined, Yang bounced between her feet and focused on the attacks darting towards her like missiles. This was one of the moments when all of that rope work came in handy. On her toes, she easily backed away from a few powerful blows before picking her spot, ducking under Emerald’s left arm, and landing one solid punch in Emerald’s side. Emerald grunted and spun around, leading with her elbow in a wildly illegal move that Yang skirted away from. Smiling through her mouth guard, Yang shook her head in disbelief while they reset.
It was incredible what Emerald got away with sometimes…
The brief separation lasted no more than a few seconds before Emerald was back on top of her with a hectic series of attacks. After absorbing a few of the blows with her gloves, Yang snapped out a quick combination that caught Emerald off guard. Jab, jab, hook.
The hook landed on Emerald’s headgear with enough force to throw her off balance and stumbling to the side. One hand touched the mat for support before she regained her posture and came back even angrier before.
The longer Yang avoided a confrontation that could get her into a world of hurt, the more time ticked off of the clock. The round was drawing to a close and with each passing second Emerald grew both desperate and infuriated that her underhanded cheat wasn’t paying immediate dividends. Pure viciousness fueled her fists now as she sent them pummeling towards Yang’s head and torso on rapid fire.
But Yang’s experience had taught her how to read the attacks...and Emerald was projecting her patterns through exhaustion and lack of calm. Lying in wait, Yang dodged what she could and suffered the rest - each punch that landed sending a quick shockwave through her limbs.
Left, left, right, left. Focusing on her footwork and flashes of green, Yang waited for the perfect opening. Emerald would make a mistake soon - Yang could practically see it coming from the unconcealed rage sparking in her eyes.
It was never a good idea to fight angry. Anger clouded judgment and led to bad decisions.
The instant Emerald’s left glove dropped a fraction of an inch too low, Yang leveled a hook into her jaw that would have ended the match if she hadn’t jumped away in time. But she wasn’t fast enough to avoid Yang’s follow-up shot that landed squarely in her ribs. Hearing the air leave Emerald’s lungs, Yang pressed forward with another jab was just barely moved away from.
Just like that, the tables turned, and Emerald was on the retreat now - conceding ground and then some as she backed towards the ropes to get away from Yang’s precisely-placed attacks. Right, left, left. She attacked Emerald’s left side and succeeded with three more shots that landed with a satisfying recoil flowing through her fists.
It was easy to lose situational awareness amid a retreat, which was why Emerald didn’t realize she reached the ropes until she backed right into them. With nowhere to go, Yang kept up a steady stream of attacks - enough that Emerald was forced to do nothing but absorb and absorb blows she couldn’t hope to defend.
DING
The instant the bell signaled the end of the round, Yang dropped her fists and scooted a safe distance away. When Emerald lowered her own gloves, she gave Yang a look of loathing unlike anything she’d received before. Unamused, she shook her head and walked back to her corner.
That wasn’t a bad start. She had to be ahead in points - next round, she could be even more aggressive and really take the lead. But first, she needed to get Emerald a new pair of gloves.
In the middle of the ring, she waved the referee towards her and said, “Her gloves,” through her mouth guard while tapping one of her gloves on top of the other. When he looked confused, she spit her guard into her glove so she could speak. “Her gloves -” she repeated.
“Really, you’re going to tattle?”
Rolling her eyes at the scornful words, Yang turned back to Emerald, only to be met by a bright green boxing glove.
Then nothing.