They Rely On Hope. What Do I Rely On? - Tommyinnit Adoption AU

Chapter 106

TW: mentions of blood, pain, mild gore and gambling

Tommy POV:

When Tommy woke up the next morning, all he could feel was agony, but it didn't stop him crawling to his feet and silently following Mask 17, resignation filling him. He had no idea what would happen next but he could sense it wouldn't be good.

Mask 17 walked with a purpose, straight towards the training room, and Tommy had to suppress the shudder that almost came when he realised where they were going. He knew better then to show weakness or fear here, but that didn't stop him feeling absolutely terrified.

"Alright. We have one week until your first fight and right now I don't know if you'll win. That is not acceptable. I want to be certain, so you are going to have to put everything you have into training. You are going to be the best warrior the world has seen, understand?"

"Yes sir."

"Good, now fight," Mask 17 snapped, and with that, he threw a weapon to Tommy, which Tommy caught instantly, hissing slightly as the blade dug into his hand. Instantly his grip was rearranged, holding the shaft of the spear. He hadn't used one before, but he knew how it worked.

When the attack came from Mask 17, Tommy's instincts pulled him to the side, smoothly dodging 17's attack, and then, without a second of hesitation, he retaliated, diving forward, hitting the man's stomach. As it hit, the shaft smashed into splinters and the blade fell to the floor, thudding against the dirt ground.

Mask 17, hummed to himself thoughtfully, walking around Tommy, examining him. Tommy on the other hand was petrified, the realisation of what he had done hitting him. He had attacked. Was he supposed to? 17 said he was supposed to be a fighter but Tommy had no idea if he had done the right thing. He knew that this would all go very, VERY badly if that was a mistake. Tommy had gotten lucky, 17 was wearing armour of some kind, but still, what if he thought Tommy had been meaning to rebel? Tommy hadn't. He had simply reacted.

"Very good Theseus. Very, very good. Fast reflexes, strong attack, you could well win a fight in the arena nice and quickly. Clearly you are well versed in using a spear. Although, if you get a spear in the arena, I don't want you to do that. We don't want people to know your skill set. You need to make mistakes. Small ones, purposeful ones. Ones that won't get you injured, but will make the crowd less likely to gamble on you, and therefore my high stake gambles on you will get even more."

Tommy nodded, understanding what was expected of him. He needed to put on a show. Needed to make people think he wasn't as good as he could be, but he also needed to be careful. Needed to make sure 17 would believe the mistakes were intentional. A real mistake was dangerous. The lack of a fake mistake was dangerous. He had to be careful, but he could do it. He would do it.

"Let's try some other weapons," Mask 17 decided after he finished another thoughtful circle around Tommy. This time instead of throwing it at him, 17 handed Tommy the weapon, although it didn't seem much like a weapon to Tommy. There was no sharp blades. Nothing that would slice cleanly through the skin. It was simply a chain with a heavy weight at both ends. 17 pulled out a sword for himself, then motioned to Tommy's weapon.

"That has reach, if used correctly you can stay out of range of my attacks with the sword and still hit me. There are a few options for how to use that, you can use it to disarm, ensnare, or simply whip your opponent. Plus, in the arena you will have things to hide behind which you can attack from without being exposed. However, if you're not careful, you could get yourself tangled in it, or it tangled in something else, leaving you open and potentially weaponless. Understand?"

"Yes sir," Tommy nodded, his head reeling with the information, do this, avoid that, advantage, disadvantage, strategies and tactics, and Tommy could tell this was simply a beginners guide.

Still, with what little information he had, Tommy readied himself for an attack, and when it came, he danced back out of reach, pulling the chain up and around, snaring the blade. He almost cheered at the sight, before he felt his whole body being pulled forward as 17 pulled his sword back, dragging the chain, and Tommy, with it.

"If you're going to attack your opponent's weapon, get it off them, or you leave yourself open. That chain connects you, if they have more strength or preparation, which they probably will, you will end up face down like that," 17 snapped, dragging Tommy to his feet and once Tommy was upright, he slammed a fist into the boy's face, "Don't make another mistake like that."

Tommy nodded, not reacting to his now bleeding nose, instead stepping back into position and readying himself for attacks.

The next few hours continued like that, some victories, some loses, and a lot of hits. At first it was punches, then it moved on to an attack from whatever weapon 17 was using at the time. It was never anything bad enough to stop his ability to continue, but still, by the end his arms were covered in blood, and he was sent to first aid.

When Tommy arrived there, he was met by plenty of other kids in similar situations. Some worse then him, some better. One kid who was being helped looked to have his arm cut so deep you could see the bone. It was horrifying, and Tommy didn't blame the nurse for the wait. He did blame her for her sneers of disapproval about the mistakes everyone's injuries represented, but he didn't say anything, he just silently took the bandages.

Words: 1000

A/N: I do not know much about gambling, or fighting, so don't trust the info I'm giving u for accurate knowledge on those two subjects (I try to be accurate in general but I'm struggling with those two. The issue is, to find out how this system would work, I'd have to look at gambling on dog fights, and I don't want to see the horror of that (this is fiction so it's ok, but dog fights r very not ok) and so I don't have much idea, I'm just going off my vague knowledge, feel free to comment if u notice something that's not right, I want it to be accurate if possible, but I rlly don't know how to make it accurate-