The Gentleman's Code

Chapter 7 - Submission

Somewhere, on the top floor of the apartment building. Someone stood as they watched over the rest of town, smoking a cigarette. She was relaxing, enjoying this momentary bliss until someone barges in from the door to the stairs. It was Dante, Ariane's first opponent, and he seems a bit upset about something, he quickly walks towards her, just stopping a few steps behind her.

"Are you out of your mind, teacher? I know you're the one who did that to Pendleton. Those injuries... They weren't from thugs or rookies. Just... What are you planning here, Tiger Knee!?" Dante was searching for answers, he was questioning his loyalty to the Tiger Knee. He was her student, but she had standards on what he wanted to learn.

The Tiger Knee takes a last whiff of the cigarette before she throws it. She then faces Dante and snickers. "I'm provoking him, Dante." She then lays back on the metal fences, smirking. "I'm provoking Delta. He's a gentleman, he'll get suspicious of that attack. He's gonna try to find the suspect, and he knows that the suspect is in Throwdown."

Dante looks at her in awe, he then shook his head in disagreement. "There are always other ways to ask him to fight! Why did you have to"

"Cause he won't fight unless there's a good reason too! He's loyal to that stupid agency. He won't fight unless it's his business. That's the weakness of good guys, they keep throwing themselves into harm's way just to protect worthless lives." The Tiger Knee then pushes herself from the fence and approaches Dante. "And I want to curb stomp him, I'm gonna snuff out the fire of an old legend. And I'll become the very best." The Tiger Knee then walks passed him, he looks at her and walks away in nervousness.

"She's hell-bent on beating him..." Dante looks down, clenching his fist. "I'm sorry, teacher... I'll see him myself... And test my skills against a legend such as him" Dante says before he follows the Tiger Knee.

Meanwhile, Back in D's Place.

"HAARGH!" Ariane charges into D, running straight into him with his arms open. She clashes with him, slightly pushing D back but in the end, Ariane couldn't push him down, and D wasn't even putting any counterforce, he's just standing still.

"Uh... Kid? You sure you know what you're doing?" D looks downs at Ariane, she was still trying to push him down. "You're not doing any kind of damage, let alone moving me".

Ariane still tries to push him more, but D isn't going anywhere. "Hrng... I gotta... Try..!" Ariane pushes hard for one last time before her foot slips and she stumbles onto the floor.

"Hm..." D helps her up, patting off dust and dirt on her. "Alright, Ariane. Remember what I told you about your size and strength?" D looks at her, waiting for her response.

Ariane scratches the back of her head, thinking. "That I'm... Not bulky nor big, so I have to utilise counterattacks?" Ariane was unsure of her answer, but she reckoned assumed it was close enough.

D nodded. "Bingo Ariane. Your body isn't bulky nor heavy enough to push down bulky opponents, like me. What you need to do, is to counter your opponent"

"How can I do that? Do I have to settle with fisticuffs?" Ariane was genuinely confused about what she can do against grapplers. D flicks Ariane's head, making her flinch.

"Remember the first time you trained with me? When I asked you to fight against me to test out what you can do against me?" D waits for her response once again.

"Yeah! You did a super fast attack where I just suddenly found myself on the floor! And it was so simple but super effective!" Ariane says excitingly, she couldn't forget that moment.

"Well, that's your answer, a part of it, at least" D walks around the ring, assessing his words. "You see, Ariane. That attack that I did on you consisted of two... Gestures?" D shrugged. "The Point is, I did two things to you in that attack. First, I tripped you, sweeping your leg off-balance so I could do the second action, I pushed you down with a bit of force, completely knocking you down" D explained.