Chapter Text
"Next up! Silver Pearl!" The announcer booms, the crowd screeches in excitement, like a bunch of wild animals. The smell of cigarettes and sweat is prominent. The darkness of the room I'm in being penetrated by the light coming from the door. I stand hunched over slightly, getting ready to kick my opponents ass. My long hair loosely pulled into a braid that reaches my mid-back. My shirt has been tossed aside, even when its dark I can feel the glare of my scars. I grab my fingerless leather gloves, I can still feel the dried blood on them. As I slip on my gloves a voice catches my attention.
"Pearl, you'll be up in 2 minutes." I turn around to my semi advisor Alana. Young woman, her white braids seem to pop out in the dark, I only see the silhouette of her. I lean against the door, crossing my arms trying to be nonchalant. I can feel Alana glaring at me, "Take this seriously Mr pearl, the guy is slightly taller than you and has a bit more muscle compared to you." She remarks.
"Yea yea." I roll my eyes, only slightly? I could basically win that shit. How am I supposed to take that guy seriously. Why would she warn me?
"Only trying to help." She says irritated. The crowd screeches again the roof of the room shakes. She peers down at her wrist at what I assume is a watch. She glances back at me, "You'll be up in ten seconds. Get ready. now." She orders. I immediately move from the door and stand in front of it, clenching my fists. Alana begins to whisper the count down, I tense up. I pull that confident me out of the back of my mind. A grin crossing my face, my face sharpens, "3....2....1" she finishes. The door creak open, light pouring into the once dark room. It's brighter than I thought. I walk out and begin to wave, Grinning like a cocky bastard. The pit is deep, and a thin layer of sand covers it. I look around the round ring, feeling like a bull. I lean my head down towards the middle, I see the shadow of my opponent. I look up, some guy who I couldn't care for stands before me. He's only an inch taller, and has a tiny bit more muscle than me. Black hair and pale skin, he looks like a vampire, he has a tattoo in his collarbone, a viper wrapping around them. Seemingly snarling at me.
"Greetings. ready to get your ass kicked?" I challenge. He stares directly into my soul.
"Not if I do it first" he replys. We both walk backwards to our respected places. I get my stance ready and he does the same. I notice his weak point immediately, his left arm is being constantly adjusted. My confidence is going through the roof. My employer goes onto the microphone, tapping it a couple times before speaking.
"Hello everyone! Welcome to the start of the championship!" The crowd screams again, I can see bodies being packed like sardines, "today we witness, Viper and Nirvana fight." He explains, he keeps going but that blurs into the background. Nirvana. That's my fighter name. I got it after calmly kicking a guy's ass so bad he needed hospitalization. Now I wonder how this "Viper" got his. My employer, Aaron cox. It's obvious why he uses his stage name, Mr bell. Begins to sit in his VIP area. The round is about to start. He pulls out the pistol, I lock onto Viper. The gun shoots, I got head first. He doesn't dodge fast enough and eats my knuckles. He quickly swings at me, hitting my side, a shot of addicting pain goes through my body. I recovery almost immediately. I need to exhaust him then I'll get the weak point. I somehow swiftly dodge his attempts of trying to knock me out. I go for his jaw, giving him an uppercut, he make a hoarse sounding cough. I stumble back before getting my balance back. He spits on the sand, Blood mostly making it up. I go for his waist, dragging him down, the dust of sand rolling into me. We wrestle until I punch him in the gut, he makes an ugly screeching sound. It pisses me off.
"SHUT UP YOU BITCH" I belt. I don't hesitate to punching him in the side, he squirms in pain like a maggot, I punch him straight into the nose, a crunch of the bone is heard, a waterfall of blood slides down his weak face. I get off of him, as he lays there miserably , I scoff, "Done already? Thought you'd be more durable" I mock I look down at my knuckles, a new stain added to them. I didn't even get to the weak points and he's already fucking down. Great. The bell goes off, signalling that the round is over. I won. I flip him off.
"The first round has ended, Viper has been eliminated, Nirvana moves onto the next round" The announcer says. The crowd goes wild small portion of the crowd chants my fighter name "nir-vana, Nir-vana!" I wave towards the section. They scream even louder. Although I do see people disappointed in viper, probably because their bets didn't win. I see a couple of signs, "Go Nirvana!", "KICK HIS ASS!" They say. I blow kisses before I go back into the dark room, the door close behind me, Iet out a sigh, I'm very sweaty. Alana hands me a rag, I wipe myself and throw the rage onto the floor.
"Nice job out there" She praises, "The stocks have spiked and Mr Cox is quite happy, he even considered getting you a raise!" She rejoiced. I slide my shirt back on, with my leather vest too. I grab my sunglasses, placing them on my head.
"Uh huh.." I reply, Cox always says he'll give me a raise then he never does, I've gotten used to that fact. Everytime Alana says something along the lines of that I don't care. Alana slouches slightly, obviously a little disappointed by my response. Can't blame her though. I hear the shuffling of the crowd leaving the ring. I turn towards Alana.
"When's my next showing?" I ask, I hope it's around 12 or 1 AM so I can do other activities for the rest of the day. But it's not like I do much anyway. She looks at her clipboard, and flips a page.
"Your next showing is..." She pauses for a second, "3AM." Better than 9AM.
I grab my phone out of my bag, "12:32 AM" the screen flashes. I hang my bag onto my arm before shoving my phone back in. I've got 2 hours and around 20 minutes until my next showing. Not sure if I can really do much in that time. I could probably just chill outside the ring for a couple hours.. maybe train a little. I push the doors open into the ring, "Cya Alana" I wave goodbye, she's waves back excitedly.
In the ring i climb onto the bleachers, and head towards the exit. Before I open the exit door, I observe the ring one last time., the lights have been dimmer and are making this buzzing like angry bees. The place seems more dessert than ever. Usually I'll see people stick around for the next round. A heavy open of a door catches my attention. Perhaps there were people in here. I look towards the noise to see the a silhouette of a person leaving, the door closing with a click. I shrug it off, it's just a person leaving.
I continue outside, the smell of cigarettes greeting me, I pull the hood that I poorly stitched onto my vest over my hair. My hair is what people know me as, Silver. It contrasts with my darker skin tone, making it feel like a sore thumb. I grab out a lone cigarette from my pocket, along with a lighter. The lighter nearly burning my fingers off. I inhale a bit of it, a dose of relaxation washes over me as I exhale a waterfall of smoke appears. Only the end of the cigar remains, I throw down to the floor, crushing it with my boot. I grab out my phone, seeing a notification pop up from Cox. I instantly click the notification.
"Silver get here at 3:30 AM to prepare" the message read.
"Okay." I reply dryly. Another notification pops up from Severin. "Meet @ Alleyway x" I read the message, before shoving my phone back into my pocket. I begin my way towards the Alley.