System Nullification

Chapter 28

"Can I like, not do the hand to hand combat?" Zephyr groaned.

"What, why?" Austin asked. "You change your mind and decided you just wanna be a gold rank?"

"But Skylar ranked up only with hand to hand combat!" Zephyr whined.

"Zephyr," Austin sighed. "You're trying for two ranks, and plus, you were only close to tying with Iris."

"Zephyr, did you eat too much?" I asked.

"Maybe..." Zephyr nervously laughed.

"It's the year 2100 AD," Austin narrated, taking out a bottle and tossing it to Zephyr. "Take care of yourself for the sake of your promotion."

"Gah, okay, I forgot about those things," Zephyr caught the bottle and began chugging down the contents.

The bottle basically contained ginger ale that was made to be at least five times stronger than it was decades ago. If it was really high quality, it was double that. Once Zephyr was done, I asked, "So what are the rules for this? I feel like it'll take too long to beat each other to oblivion, and we definitely don't have that much time."

Zephyr threw the bottle into the trashcan once he was done drinking, saying, "Ball is life."

"But... you don't play ball," Nora blurted out.

Before I could break out into a laugh, Austin said, "Good point, Iris. Let's go with... one person pinning the other down for at least ten seconds for a legitimate victory."

"Ooh," Zephyr looked at me, wiggling his eyebrows.

I giggled. "Damn it, Zephyr," Austin sighed, facepalming. "You two... I'm just... okay. Let me get this straight. In a real battle, you two cannot be passionately making out with the enemy."

I sighed in turn of that line, praying I wasn't blushing. "Dang, I got called for more training. Reed, you're recording this too, right?"

"Yeah," Reed kissed her on the cheek. "Good luck, Brianna."

Brianna and Charlotte were gone for the second time, and everyone got back to their usual training regime. "Okay, you guys ready?" Austin asked.

We nodded as I looked at Zephyr up and down, sizing him up for the first time in a while instead of admiring him. Zephyr is taller than me, weighs more than me, and overall had more strength than me (sidenote, his biceps are absolutely gorgeous). He had a bigger chance of pinning me down than I did with him if I made a wrong move. I'd have to take him down with sped alone, hoping to wear him out first so I could take the chance to pin him down. Hopefully, Zephyr wasn't becoming a better fighter than me. "Ready... go!" Austin commanded.

I charged at him and he blocked my first punch. I was about to hop back, but I didn't expect him to grab me. Next thing I knew, I was being swung above him. I quickly flipped backwards and kicked him in the face, causing him to lose his grip on me, and we both fell onto the ground. We both stood up and charged at each other again, and this time, I stepped back before he punched me. Then I shoved his arm out of the way and tried to punch him in the stomach. He inched away far enough to avoid the hit, and I tripped him. He fell down, and I attempted to pin him down. He rolled over and nearly pinned me down instead, but I dug my heel into his chest, so he fell backwards, heaving as he sat on the ground staring at me.

I decided to try and pin him down before he recovered. So I tackled him and kept him in his place, my arms and legs pressing against his. Austin started counting to ten seconds. I looked at Zephyr weirdly, because it usually took more to wear him out. I started to calm down. I was finally beginning to relax for probably the first time today.