“Kieren d-do you want to um go home t-together?”

“Sorry Kai, I already promised Aaron I would meet him and help him out with one of his schemes. If I don’t go now I won’t make it in time. Besides you guys have ultimate Frisbee practice today, we’ll go back together next time.”

Ash and Kai looked a little crestfallen but they couldn’t think of a sufficient reason to hold him back so they could only watch his back as he left.

As Kieren walked down the hallway to the courtyard, a group of students were following him while another group was walking in the opposite direction. He could tell the group following him was about to jump him but just as they were about to grab him all of a sudden an arm shot out in the direction of Kieren’s face, noticing that the attack only had the intention to threaten and not harm he didn’t bother to dodge. Then, the arm started to talk.

“Moonfury. Come with us for a minute, we are going to give you your welcome back gift.”

Still facing the direction of the courtyard, Kieren responded,

“No need to be so polite, we aren’t even friends why would I accept a present for you.”

Looking at the owner of the arm his eyes were met with a handsome young man with slicked back hair similar in color to his own. His eyes were covered by sunglasses and his uniform was spotless. If he could be described in one word it would be sleek.

“That’s right, we aren’t friends. There’s no way WE could be friends with a person who is so pathetic they have to depend on Aaron Soleon’s coattails to get through life.”

“Good. Since we already established that we don’t even like each other’s presence there’s no reason for us to be talking. Good bye.”

Kieren tried to side step the arm blocking his way but before he could get past, he was stopped by the a wall of muscle.

“Good job Donald.”

“No problem Nico”

Donald Ernbrecht came from a family that dealt with the military. For generations his ancestors were leading armies and training cadets. To succeed the family a successor needed to defeat his or her siblings with either a sharp mind for strategy or a strong body made for combat and unfortunately for Kieren, Donald had both. In addition he was the quarterback of the academy’s football team and was covered in muscle. Nico and Donald were best friends which wasn’t surprising as the Ruger family business was dealing in arms internationally. Nico’s family supplied weapons to the Ernbrecht family for generations and unlike Donald, Nico did not have siblings to compete with so it was almost certain he would inherit the business.

“Let’s go behind the gym Moonfury.”

“Fine, fine, let’s go. I’ll be gracious and accept your little present. I’m in a rush.”

“You should have just come when I said so the first time.”

“WAIT! We wanted to talk to Moonfury first!”

Sheryl the leader of the group that was following him suddenly called out. Sheryl was Aaron’s self-proclaimed fiancé and one of the prettiest girls in school. With luscious blond hair, emerald eyes and fair white skin covered tightly in her chest and hip areas she knew she was a beauty that all the guys in school vied for, as a result she was used to men following her every whim.

“Sorry Sheryl we really need to discuss something with Kieren. But don’t worry I have a feeling that what we have to say is exactly the same as what you want to say and I’m confident that Donald here will be able to get the message across just fine.”

Nico winked at Sheryl while Donald cracked his knuckles as casually as possible.

“Hmmmm well when you put it that way~…I’ll be nice and let you have him this time.”

“Thank you very much for your consideration! Virtue and modesty adds such luster to your already sparkling charm.”

The group moved quickly without saying a word. The atmosphere around them made the other students steer clear out of their way. When they reached the gym Nico spoke up to the rest of his group.

“You guys keep watch outside, no peeking and make sure nobody comes close so they don’t find out what we are doing.”

“You got it Nico; we won’t let anyone come save Moonfury. Donald make sure to give him a few bone breaking punches for us!”

“Um do you mind just letting me go for today? I really am busy and need to return home or else my bodyguards will get worried.”

“Haha shut up Moonfury, and don’t worry guys by the time I’m through most of his bones will probably be broken.”

“Look at the coward! He was so cheeky earlier but now that he knows a beating is coming he became so scared that he’s actually shaking! Careful Nico, you might need to bring a rag with you, it looks like he’s about to piss himself. Hahaha!”

Nico and Donald pushed Kieren towards the gym almost causing him to trip over.

“Come on! You were in a hurry right? Go!”

“””Hehe”””

Once they got to the middle of the gymnasium, Nico suddenly slapped Kieren on the back.

“Man that was close! If we didn’t happen to walk your way you would have been caught by that prissy shallow harlot!”

“Yeah Kieren that toff would have cut into you if not for us.”

“Thanks Nico, Donald, I owe you guys one.”

“No problem. It’s always a riot to see you pretending to be so weak and scared but looks like you can’t leave here unscathed now that everyone knows you’re supposed to take a beating from me. Let’s have a quick match before you have to go.”

“You make it sound like your giving me a choice but in reality you aren’t going to let me leave without a fight first are you?”

“Of course I’m giving you a choice! You can chose to either fight me willingly or you can chose to do so unwillingly. I’m fine with either one really.”

“Haha give it up Kieren, since you were absent for so long it’s obvious that Donald’s fighting spirit would need some release.”

Kieren sighed in exasperation.

(Even for me it would be hard to escape from these two without hurting or binding them for hours which would make my acting completely useless.)

“Fine but like I’ve been saying over and over. I’m in a hurry! Aaron dragged me into one of his plans again and the last time I was late he slipped pictures of hairy fat sweaty men in tights huffing and puffing into the intelligence report I asked him to get. There are just some things that you can’t unsee and even if you don’t have photographic memory.”

Donald and Nico shivered at the thought.

“Damn it Kieren! Why didn’t you keep that to yourself! Why did you go and give us that mental image?!”

“It’s so you could understand my dilemma and you guys better hope I make it in time because if I have to suffer another visual attack I’ll make sure I spam your computers with the exact pictures!”

“…I’ll risk it.”

“Donald!”

“What? I haven’t had a good match in so long and I want to try out some new MMA moves my dad taught me.”

Nico scratched his head in frustration. He didn’t mind a good fight but just the mental image was disturbing enough, he definitely didn’t want to see the actual thing. An idea suddenly sprung into his head so he proposed to Kieren hoping he won’t have to see the pictures. After all, if Kieren wanted to slip in some intel it would be near impossible to guard against it when the security was owned by his corporation.

“If I don’t fight can I be exempt from having to see the pictures?”

“Nope. It’s buy one get one free but if you don’t fight it might make this match go faster so I can actually make it in time.”

“Hey, we aren’t like some McDonald’s Big Mac promotion! Hahhhh in that case I’ll opt out this time. A pity because I wanted to have a match with you too.”

“We can fight him next time”

“…You said ‘we’ that means you intend to fight next time as well. Ah whatever! Just hurry up and start!”

“Of course!”

Donald charged full speed at Kieren before he could even finish his sentence but Kieren had been ready ever since they walked into the gym. When Donald got into his range he stretched out his arm to grab Kieren’s shoulder while expanding his wingspan to prevent Kieren from escaping, but just before he could Kieren’s hands landed on Donald’s wrist and used them to support his weight as he flipped over his body. When Kieren landed he let out a high kick to the back of Donald’s head.

*swish*

At the last minute Donald glided to the left and avoided the kick, using the momentum from his charge he rotated his body and countered with a hook to the solarplex. However, just like Donald he was able to narrowly avoid the blow with a backflip, effectively dodging and putting some distance between them.

“As always you are such a cheat to be able to move that fast with a body that big.”

“I wouldn’t be worthy of the Ernbriecht name if I wasn’t able to do this much.”

Donald once again went for a charge to get up close to Kieren.

(Since he’s trying to get into close combat position so badly his dad probably taught him a grappling or wrestling move. Then again he might just be doing that to lower my guard against a long range attack. But either way he’s not giving me many options to attack since I don’t have the power or physique to go up against his charge full on.)

This time Kieren decided he would this opportunity to attack. Before giving Donald the chance to come close, Kieren performed a low spinning sweep kick to try to get his opponent to slam to the floor.

(Damn! It was a feint!)

Donald took a step back avoiding the leg and press down on Kieren using his knee, he then proceeded to break his stance and moved perpendicularly over Kieren and exerted pressure using his shoulder and torso to pin Kieren to the floor, his legs pressed to the side to prevent movement and his arm hooked underneath for control.

“My dad taught me this new locking position, it’s called the side control it doesn’t full control over the legs but it controls the upper body and gives you minimal power in your arms. It stems from the judo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu style just start tapping when you’ve had enough.”

“As if. Is that all you wanted to show me?”

“Says the person who can’t get out of it.”

Kieren tried to rock his hips to get more room to work with but Donald didn’t allow it. He pressed more of his weight onto Kieren so he couldn’t even lift himself up but it was just a distraction. Kieren snaked an arm passed his torso, grabbed onto Donald’s elbow which he wedged close to his body. He then quickly shifted his body away to create space to squeeze his legs in between them. Donald immediately tried to sit up as his elbow was hurting from Kieren’s maneuver, not letting this chance go Kieren went back on guard.

“…”

“HAHAHAHA! Donald you should see your face! You look like an idiot after all that boasting!”

“Shut up Nico! You’re supposed to be the referee not the commenter!”

This time Kieren took the initiative to attack first seeing how unfocused Donald was. When he got up close Donald still hadn’t react yet before his attack hit Kieren gave him a fair warning.

“Pay attention Donald you don’t have the luxury to be distracted.”

Kieren went for a roundhouse kick to the ribs. Donald finally reacted and instinctively and took a step back. Seeing the momentum forced Kieren to turn his back, Donald took the opportunity to get a punch in so he could put an end to the match but before he could do that he realized he was on the floor. In no time Kieren was on top of him and grabbed his legs so they bent behind his body.

“Holy cows of India! That hurts!”

Donald tried his hardest to get out of the hold but whenever he tried to put strength to reposition his legs Kieren would bend his back even more.

(At this rate my spine is going to be snapped in half!)

“Ding Ding Ding! Ladies and gentlemen! The winner of this and every other heavy weight match he’s had so far’s champion is…Kieren Moonfury! Wohoo! ~ Yay~ *whisper: Donald is a weak ass bitch who can’t beat someone half his size*”

Kieren released Donald before he passed out from the pain. It would be troublesome to try to hide him to avoid others seeing him passed out after he was supposedly beat someone up.

“Nico I heard that! How dare you call me weak ass bitch when you can’t even win against me in hand to hand combat?! And you, the hell just happened? One minute I’m about to attack you and the next thing I know I end up face first on the floor.”

“It’s been a while since we had a match. You didn’t notice I was moving half a beat slower than normal. So although my back was turned for only a split second and you thought I wouldn’t be able to react based on the speed I was moving throughout the fight so inevitably I was able to catch you off guard with an elbow to the side of the head, more specifically an elbow to the ear which hit your vestibular organ and caused you to lose your balance. Once on the floor I used the sharpshooter hold more famously known as the scorpion hold, it allows me to have better control than the side control especially against a physically stronger opponent. Satisfied now?”

“Yeah, yeah, go ahead. We won’t hold you up anymore”

Donald offhandedly waved Kieren away as he rubbed his sore back.

(Finally!)

Without even saying goodbye Kieren left the two behind. He only had a mere 3 minutes to get to the rendezvous point and he had to make sure he did it without being seen. Having no other choice, Kieren decided he would have to run on the rooftops and hide within the trees to allow him to make it in time while preventing discovery. He hid within the dark shadows projected by the strong afternoon sun as he flinted across the rooftops and trees. Soon enough Kieren saw Aaron sitting alone on the courtyard bench mumbling to himself.

“5…4…3…2…1”

“I’m here.”

“Cutting it close there. You had exactly one second left. A pity, I had thought up of a few punishment ideas during lunch.”

(That was close! I dodged a bullet…no more like a mace; a bullet would at least be quick and not so painful.)

“No wonder you looked slightly happier this afternoon even though Sheryl was hanging all over you. It was because you were in your element at least in mind. Enough about punishments let’s hear about your new scheme.”

“Sure, come here this one’s going to be grand.”

Aaron leaned into Kieren’s ear and spoke in a voice so soft it was as if the devil was speaking directly into his mind.