Full contact. 6-ounce gloves. Two minutes. Victory by points, KO, or submission. No biting, gouging, groin shots, or intentional blows to the back of the skull or the spine. Simple. Brutal. Seth sometimes wondered how they didn't have toned down rules for the teen division. Then again, Ms. Tull and those close to her--including the head coach at Grand Island--expected no less from their black belts below the age of eighteen than they did from their black belts in their adult years.

Seth's name had been called exactly two seconds ago, and the world had gone silent to him since. He didn't even hear the name of the other kid getting called into the ring. He only saw him once they stood two feet apart at the center. Vinnie. Appropriate.

When Seth fought, he was able to let out every demon he kept carefully caged within him. It was their playtime.

Maybe it was wrong of him to be like this rather than dealing with them, figuring out a way to let them go. But as he saw the smirk on Vinnie's face when the ring judge asked if they were ready and they both nodded...

Seth didn't give a damn.

Seth blazed off the line with every ounce of speed his legs had in them. His heel smashed into Vinnie's stomach before he could even begin to move to deflect it. As Vinnie bent over at the impact of the kick, Seth's right leg followed up in a vicious knee strike into Vinnie's face.

Vinnie rolled backwards, blood streaking out of his nose. He rolled twice, throwing his hands up in a desperate defense. Seth hadn't fought like that last year. Seth had always been a defensive fighter.

Seth shuffled forward, faking a kick upwards and instead coming down on Vinnie's collarbone with a descending heel strike. Bone crunched. Vinnie fell to the ground screaming as his arm became unhinged and useless. Seth turned around and knelt on his side of the ring, facing away. Coach John was watching from the ring he was supposed to be judging. He made a face that distinctly said 'Hell, yeah', and turned back to actually judging the fight.

"Victory, technical knockout!"

Seth turned his head right to look at the clock. 1:53. Seven seconds. He stood and looked across the ring to Jayson, who was watching with his arms crossed and a stony expression scrawled across his face. Seth let the demon show.

"You're next," he mouthed.

The ring judge stepped into Seth's view. "Hey! Blackwell!"

Seth looked into the judge's eyes.

"Keep the grudges away from the ring, or you'll be disqualified for unsportsmanlike conduct."

Seth looked down at the patch on the judge's jacket. South City Sandou. Right. Seth looked back at the judge. He knew him. He was an instructor there. Seth nodded. "Of course."

He turned and left the ring, the adrenaline of the fight leaving him. Claire was standing there, wide-eyed. Seth swallowed as she stepped up to him.

"That was... Wow. Everyone has been saying you've been training hard but..." She looked at Vinnie walking out of the ring with one of the medics present, his arm cradled the whole way. She looked back at Seth. "You're really out for blood, aren't you?"

Seth sighed and nodded. "Yeah. This whole thing is ending today."

She touched his arm. "You have that look in your eye."

He shook his head to clear himself and then looked Claire in the eyes. "You win your first fight?"

"Yeah, but it wasn't much of a competition. Girl made black only a month ago. She's from upstate."

"Usually good competition from around that area."

"Yeah. They have more girls in the bracket. Tracy is back."

"Hey. You win your fights, I'll win mine."

She looked over to the competitors currently the ring. "There's something else, Seth. I know you. We tested out together. What's up?"

He ran his hands through his hair. It wasn't even sweaty. "Nothing. I don't know. Something." He smacked himself in the face. "I can't be thinking about it right now."

Concern wrote itself across her face. "It's something with Madeline, isn't it?"

"I don't know. I really don't."