*Bam*

*Crack*

As soon as the punch connected to the jaw, a loud sound of bones breaking travelled toward John's ears.

The bearded man was knocked out instantly.

The shock and pain coming from the dislocated jaw was enough to KO the man.

The audience cheered even more loudly as they witnessed a good fight, despite being too fast, it was quite good for a amateur fight.

John deeply looked at the fallen bearded man. The words he had spoke still echoed in his mind.

"In behalf of all the honest Protectors, I say, we are sorry..." John whispered in a low voice that only himself, and possibly the man, had heard.

John didn't even waited for the announcer to declare his victory he walked straight out of the arena.

His mood was simply terrible.

...

The moment John entered the resting room he saw that Lenny was sleeping with his hat covering his own face, again.

John sadly sighed and walked toward the freezer that was beside Lenny's couch.

He opened it and took a bottle of Goodman whiskey. It was a very expensive alcoholic beverage, a lot more expensive that the generic one he and Lenny had been drinking.

He silently opened it.

"Tough... Fight?" Lenny took his cowboy hat away from his face and glanced at the gloomy John.

"Yes..." John drank a mouthful of the beverage while grimacing. The headache had already started to attack his brain, but as soon as the alcohol kicked in, it dissipated to nothing.

"Why ssssso... Moo- *hiccup* -dy?" Lenny was already drunk. His words were almost unrecognizable, he could barely move his body, and he was hiccuping every few seconds.

"It... It has nothing to do with you..." John hesitated, but decided to not tell about it. He doesn't want others to know about... The sad truth of the Terrene Protectorate.

"Yoooou know *hiccup* I have realizzzzzed *hiccup* that you have been veeeeery sad this last couple of *hiccup* hours." Lenny lazily glanced at John. "Sometimes... *Hiccup* is for the best to speak with other people about their *hiccup* problemssss."

"I-I-I don't know..."

"Come onnnnnn. I promise I will be a good listener." Lenny spent a lot of strength to move his body closer to the freezer. He opened it and took another bottle of generic whiskey.

His movements were very awkward and funny that John slightly chuckled. He took another sip from the Goodman.

"Well... It happened a few hours ago, when I was Administrator Itsuki's office and..." John let the alcohol affect himself and said everything that he had heard from Esther and Itsuki.

When he finished the resume, he felt relived, like a weight had lifted from his heart.

John glanced at Lenny and... He was asleep.

John lightly shook his head. He looked at the watch in his PIPS and saw that the 10 minutes of rest were almost over.

He stood up and stayed by the door, waiting for the moment the robotic voice would call him over.

"Participant 0368... John Connor, please proceed to Arena 5."

John awkwardly stood up. His movements were slow and stiff.

With much effort he was able to ride the elevator. His eyes were blurry and his mind was working very slowly.

...

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the round 3 of the Amateur Tournament." The announcer walked up to the stage. "..." He spoke a few more pleasantries and about their sponsors. "Now... Let's welcome our fighters. To our right we have a female Floran with the height of 1.75 meters and weighing 60 kilograms. Fighter number 1189!"

A round of ablaze applauses resonated in the large Arena as a attractive Floran, middle-aged, female Floran emerged from the entrance. It was obvious that it was a middle-aged because the foliage on her skin was yellowish. The older a Floran is, darker is the colour of their foliage, or 'skin'.

Also, the flower on top of her head was also wrinkly and wlost its vivid colors.

The Floran John met, Peri, the foliage of her skin was very green, it means she was still young, about 15-25 years old.

"Now... To our left we have a male Human with the height of 1.85 meters and weighing 90 kilograms. Fighter number 0368!"

John slowly emerged from the door while awkwardly walking and stumbling ever after a few steps.

When John saw that his opponent was a Floran, and a female on top of that, he knew he was screwed. [Florans are the strongest warriors in raw physical strength. While the male Florans are know more for their strength, the female ones are know for their speed... I'm fucked. Speed was supposed to be my advantage, but now...]

John didn't wait for the bell to announce the start of the match and immediately placed all his focus and concentration on the female Floran.

Bullet Time.

As the time slowed down before John's eyes, he heard saw that the battle had started.

The female Floran immediately rushed toward John with a speed greater than what he ever saw before. Not even those Florans he met in the Academy had so much speed such as this Floran.

John tried to dodge the incoming attack, but he made a mistake on judgement.

Yes, indeed he was able to see the world in slow motion, but this power only accelerated his Thought Speed and gave him something like a Kinetic Vision, so, basically it only changed his senses, not his actual speed. His body couldn't move as fast as he wanted.

The power had worked against the other opponents because they were slower than him, so he was able to maintain an balance between mind and body, but against the Floran, that was faster than him... It was of almost no use.

He could only helplessly watch as the Floran's attack slowly got closer to his body that was still in dodging motion.

*Bam*

John was sent backwards while spitting a mouthful of blood.

[Strong...] John realized he was wrong. She wasn't just fast, but also very strong, probably not strong as the Apex, but a lot stronger than the middle-aged man.

*Blam*

John stopped flying backwards after he hit the barrier of the arena. He hastily stood up.

He cleaned the leftover blood on his lips with his hand.

John lifted his head looked at the female Floran that was slowly walking toward him.

[This is going to be difficult...]