Chapter 63: Combat Season 2
The referee starts counting somewhere: One, two, three, four... five, and when neither of the boys stand up again, he announces the updated stats.
Silver Fangs four down.
Moon-Crest five down.
Adrian’s eyes snap to the board in shock. The referee is right. Silver Fangs is winning.
---
Adrian looks around. Five of his fighters are down. Five! And there are still six other fighters left, fighting aggressively, as if they have nothing to lose.
And maybe they don’t.
He doesn’t hesitate. Spotting two Silver Fang fighters cornering one of his teammates, Adrian charges across the ring and crashes his body into them with enough force to send both stumbling onto the floor.
When he looks down at the fighter they pinned, it’s no other than Jason.
There is blood running down the side of his face, his breathing ragged, yet the stubborn fire in his eyes hasn’t faded.
Adrian quickly offers a hand, giving him a signal so they can fight together. "Get up!"
Jason looks at it for half a second, and for a moment, the entire arena holds its breath. Everyone is familiar with the animosity between the two fighters recently, and for a moment it looks like this might finally be the end.
Jason just slaps the hand away with a scowl. "I don’t need your fucking help."
He pushes himself upright, blood dripping from a split eyebrow. One eye is already swelling shut. "I’d rather lose this fight than owe you anything." He spits on the sand.
Adrian grits his teeth. "This isn’t about us, Jason! We’re fucking losing. We need to work together--we are the best fighters on the team!"
Jason doesn’t answer. He slams his shoulder into Adrian and walks away.
Before Adrian can blink, the two Silver Fang fighters lunge back at him, completely disregarding Jason now.
One comes from up. The other from down.
Adrian ducks before the first clawed swipe can hit his throat. But it leaves too much time for the other one to dig his claws into his ribs.
The pain is so intense that his back hits the fence, another loose wire bitting into his back. He hisses in pain, trying to shift away from the fence.
From the bleachers, Nyra is almost in tears. She wishes there was a way she could help--it’s because of her the captain is imprisoned anyways.
She tries to reach Adrian through the bond, at least take some of his pain, but Adrian has blocked the bond completely, carrying all the pain alone.
"Don’t worry." Julian’s voice comes up beside her. "He’s a great fighter. A couple of wounds aren’t going to bring him down."
Nyra shoots him a suspicious look. "Since when did you and Adrian become buddies?"
Julian smiles sheepishly and shrugs. "Just..something tells me they’ll win today."
Nyra sighs and nods, but deep down she’s scared. So scared.
---
Adrian in the ring stops fighting human. His entire body aches, and if he keeps going like this he’ll eventually slump from the exhaustion.
Even wolves need rest too..
He the sound of bone cracking fill the space, clothes ripping, as a huge black wolf stands in his stead.
Adrian’s massive black wolf slams into the two boys before they even realize what’s happening. In their human form, they are no match for him.
Still, one of them manages to claw into Adrian’s shoulder as he lifts them cleanly off their feet. He hisses in pain as blood and stains his fur, still he doesn’t stop.
He slams the two Silver Fang fighters into the wired fence. The wire bends inward, the two boys groaning loudly in pain, as Adrian throws them back onto the mat.
Neither of them moves again.
The referee dives between them, and when the countdown reaches five and neither of them get up, the scoreboard is updated.
Silver Fangs: 4
Moon-Crest: 5
The red and black team around the arena starts to cheer and celebrate happily, waving the flag higher.
Adrian’s wolf licks the blood off his paw, breathing hard, blood trickling from the several cuts all over his body onto the sand.
Across the ring, Jason is still fighting alone, but the other fighter is also one of the strongest fighters in the Silver Fang team. And he is fighting very rough.
He slams Jason into the ground and stomps his stomach with the heel of his leg. Again. And again. Until onlookers are screaming for them to drag the fighter off him.
The referee blows his whistle. "Back off!"
But the fighter completely ignores him, smirking with his bloodied teeth. He slams his heel into his ribs one last time before stomping toward Jason’s head, claws out.
The coach amd other students are all screaming at him to stop, the coach already rushing into the ring. But before they can reach him, Adrian flies across the ring, and using his massive wolf form he slams into the other player, hurling him away from Jason’s battered body.
Three officials have to rush in and hold him back as the referee raises a red flag.
"Silver Fang Number Eight--disqualified for excessive force!"
The Moon-Crest students boo him, but the disqualified fighter only laughs as medics rush Jason away, pressing a cloth over his stomach to reduce the bleeding.
The team takes a short break as the substitute fighter steps into the ring. He looks really familiar, but Nyra can’t pinpoint where she’s seen him before, only that she doesn’t have a good feeling about him.
He rushes in, curly hair falling into his dark eyes. He doesn’t even wait for the referee’s signal. Unprovoked, the new fighter shifts mid-air, bones snapping as an enormous grey and brown wolf replaced the boy on the arena floor.
A few students shoot to their feet."What the hell? He shifted before the whistle, is that allowed!?"
Still, the wolf ignores everyone, red blazing eyes locked onto Adrian alone.
Leah grips Nyra’s hand. "Is it just me...or he looks like he wants to murder Adrian?"
"It’s not just you," Naya whispers worriedly besides them. "I think this was planned. He doesn’t look like he’s here to fight at all."
Julian beside them is quiet, staring at the new wolf with narrowed eyes. Something about him seems very off.
Julian’s expression hardens as recognition flashes across his face. His eyes remain fixed on the enormous wolf pacing the ring.
"...Wait! I know him! Ronan’s younger brother," he says grimly, looking worried. "What’s he doing in the ring? I didn’t know his brother was in the team too..."
Nyra’s heart skips a beat. She knew he looked kind of familiar--the brother of the boy who’s currently sitting in jail right now.
And judging by his murderous gaze and the size of his wolf, Adrian is in big trouble.