Iron Heart (The Gauntlet #2)

Chapter 13 - One Level: Mine

 A booming right hook connected with her opponent's jaw, and Codi felt the fire in her veins as she flattened her adversary, generating an explosion of noise from the onlookers in the stands. The other fighter, a boy from Cobalt Storm, had been capable enough – average she might have said – but for an opening round fight with her it had been like pitting a badger against a grizzly bear.

He hit the ground, and not for the first time in the past few minutes. She'd felt a certain level of apprehension going into this opening fight – her first real Gauntlet match in anger for months – but as soon as she stepped out into the arena everything came flooding back to her and her body roared into gear.

To his credit, the kid from Cobalt Storm wasn't giving up. He rolled away and scrambled unsteadily back to his feet to await the next onslaught. She obliged, taking three massive leaping strides forward under the power of the exoskeleton. He lashed out; she ducked and lowered a shoulder into his stomach with thunderous force.

Keeping her legs pumping, she moved her body in an upward arc, lifting the unfortunate fighter clean off his feet. She gave one final upward jerk that left her opponent airborne, and before he could come back down to earth she whirled and delivered a spinning kick to his mid-section. The sheer force of the blow hurled the boy clean across the arena until he slammed into the boundary wall and crashed to the ground. This time he didn't get up and the klaxon blared out above the roaring of the fans to declare Codi's first competitive victory of the Gauntlet season.

She grinned, happy to have a comparatively easy reintroduction to the competition. With Battlecast's reputation, as well as her own, this was a fight she'd been expected to win and win well – Bronagh Llewellyn had made that abundantly clear.

Still, she found that the pressure didn't seem so bad now. Just that brief encounter with Kye had been enough to blunt the nerves she'd been feeling and, although they had to keep a low profile around under the watching eyes of their team mates, knowing he was there, and knowing that they hadn't lost their spark, made her feel a hundred times better than she had a few days ago. Right now she knew he had his hands full trying to introduce Zulu Forge's new-bloods to full frontal Gauntlet combat. Most of their better performers from last year had been snapped up or transferred to the three larger academies on the planet, leaving Kye and his coaching staff with an awful lot of work to do. For the moment, she would leave him to it.

More roars split the air, accompanying the other matches that were currently underway with the arena. Unlike the main contest, the preliminary tournament ran several bouts simultaneously to cram in as much Gauntlet action as they could in the time available. It benefited the viewers, giving them more bang for their buck, but also helped the academies give their new recruits as much experience and exposure as possible.

Codi was not blind to the media vultures stalking her every move and she knew she wouldn't be the only one being watched. The other veterans like Ripple and Chris probably had their own private detectives by now, but the scouts would be keeping a sharp eye out for any new surprises from the crop of rookies.

It was while pondering this that Codi rather belatedly remembered she had another match that was starting in ten minutes time, halfway across the arena, and she let out a frustrated curse. She loped out to the arena entrance and found Thradd Winters waiting for her, the grizzled old veteran lounging against the entrance frame.

"That was neatly done," he said, giving her a nod of approval.

"Glad you enjoyed it."

"Don't get cocky kid – knocking off one rookie from Luna is just a start."