Raging Minotaur (Part 6 of 7)

>Whenever Dash is not helping you train, she’s trying to find you a fight

>Every day while you’re at work, she spends her time consulting “old friends” to see if one of them can find you something

>One day, As you’re sitting down eating lunch, your consumption is interrupted by more unforeseen coughing

>You bend over and hack loudly until it subsides

>It catches Jack’s attention

>“’Chokin’ on yer lunch, sugarcube?”

>You shrug in response. The coughing is a nuisance but it seems to come and go during the day so you don’t pay any mind to it

>As you resume eating your lunch, you hear your name being shouted from above

>“ANON!!!”

>Turning attention skyward, you see Rainbow Dash flying toward you

>Jack: “Hey, Rainbow. Why the visit?”

>Dash: “Anon needs to leave work for the day”

>Jack: “Why?”

>Dash: “He’s sick. I need to take him to the doctor”

>Just as Dash finishes her sentence, you begin going off on an another inopportune coughing fit, gasping for air after it finishes

>Jack: “He sure does sound sick. Alright, he can have the rest of the day off.”

>Dash takes you by the arm and drags you away

>Of course, you‘re wondering what‘s going on

Dash? Why did you take me off the job?

>“Diamondback broke his wrist during a training exercise! He‘s not going to be able to fight for at least 6 months! They‘re searching for another fighter to replace him at Raging Minotaur”

>That gives you little clarity

So why did you have to pull me out of work to tell me that?

>“Because You‘re gonna replace Diamondback. You’re gonna fight Iron Will”

>The shock brought on by Dash’s asinine demand stops you dead in your tracks

WHAAAT!?!

>“I’ve already talked to the promoter. He’s waiting for us back at the house! You don‘t need to say anything, I‘ll do the talking”

But Dash, I can’t-

>She resumes dragging you before you can object

>The two of you rush all the way back to the house and barge in through the front door

>Dash: “Here he is!”

>Standing in the center of the room is a griffin sporting a bowler hat and a outgrown beard of sorts

>Dash: “Anon, meet Gray Griffin”

>Gray: “This your fighter?”

>Dash: “Yup. Best in the land! I trained him myself”

>Gray extends an talon to offer ‘handshake’

>Gray: “Nice to meet you”

>You take his offer and make your formal acquaintanceship. Afterwards, he begins circling around you. No doubt inspect your physique

>Gray: “Isn’t he a little small to be going up against my guy?”

>While you’re hoping for Dash to say yes so that you may be removed from this whole nonsensical escapade, she has other plans

>Dash: “Nope! We have him billed at 15 stones. That’s more than enough to compete in the heavyweight bracket!”

>Gray: “He’s experienced, Right?”

>Dash: “Yup, he used to box before he came to Equestria”

>Gray: “Will he be able to put up a good fight? Wills already gone against about two dozen tomato cans. I didn’t match him up against Diamondback for an easy win, This was supposed to be the fight of the century.”

>Dash is as persistent as ever in trying to get him to buy her ploy, never minding your disdain for the whole idea

>Dash: “This WILL be the fight of the century! Think about it! Will faces off against a mysterious opponent; Anonymous, member of a gruff, rugged, alien species is going to bring his never before seen style up against your champ!”

>Gray: “You promise he’ll bring a good fight?”

>Dash gives an impossibly wide smile and nods

>Dash: “They best you’ll ever see!”

>Gray: “And what if its he doesn‘t?”

>Dash: “So what if he does turn out to be a tomato can? Worst case scenario, this is just filler until Diamondback recovers. Its not like its going to damage Will‘s career”

>Gray strokes that ‘beard’ of his while contemplating Dash’s gambit

>Dash: “You got nothing to lose by saying yes”

>Gray extends another ‘handshake‘, effectively sealing your fate.

>Gray: “Alright, it’s a deal!”

>With the deal closed, Gray adjusts his hat and leaves

>Dash turns back to you and gives a slight grin

>“Okay, you can talk now!”

>All the objecting you’ve suppressed during Dash’s coaxing spills out in a matter of seconds

>Most of it is Incoherent whimpering.

>After about 10 seconds of nothing intelligible you manage to finally form a sentence

I can’t go up against Iron Will! I’m gonna get killed!

>Dash continues to hold her grin, waiting for you to finish your nay saying before giving her rebuttal

He’s never lost a single fight! I haven’t won fight since the Amateur’s! Don’t you think I should fight a couple intermediates before I try to go up against…

>You gradually increase emphasize on every single word in your sentence in a futile attempt to persuade her otherwise

>…an undefeated…-heavyweight-… -CHAMPION-!

>Despite your dramatic showmanship, Dash is not swayed. Now that you’ve made your case, she’s ready to cut it down

>“Anon, I believe in birth by fire”

>With her resolve made, you contemplate what’s at stake in the matter for yourself

>Having Dash back for nearly three months now has gotten you to a point of taking her for granted (again)

>In your new life, you’ve forgotten how easily things could fall apart and send you back to your decaying relationship

>Never talking to one another, never spending any time with one another, living a partnership that’s only waiting to die

>You can’t have that. Not again. Not ever again.

>You have her back now and the both of you actually have something to bond over. Its not just young love running unchecked

>Even if she does view you as a means to accomplish unrealized dreams, its better to have that much progress as opposed to none at all.

>You have a choice of moving forward or moving backward. But within that choice you have little choice to do anything but meet Dash’s expectations less you want to go back to your crummy old life

>With that in mind, you stop your objecting and decide to simply go with the flow

Dash…Do you really think I’ll make it

>Her resolve is as steadfast as always

>“Of course I do, Anon”

>Upon Hearing that, you know you’re left with little alternative

 

 

Round 6

 

>You return to your stool to do the obligatory corner ritual; Sit, rinse, spit, pep-talk with Dash

>“How you feeling? You getting tired yet?”

>You shake your head. While going into the sixth round with a minotaur is certainly no minor task, you’re withstanding it thus far.

>All that excessive jogging has really paid off

>“Alright. This round’s plan is the same as last round’s; Don’t get hit and try to exhaust him. You’ve finally got the advantage”

>You nod before popping your mouth piece back in. Her plan sounds solid to you, especially “Don’t get hit”

>The bell rings and the round begins

>With a crack of your neck, you’re off to battle the bull

>As with last round, you close in ready to counter his opening jab combo

>You begin by veering off to the right to slug him in the ribs once more

>Problematically though, Will doesn’t start in such a fashion. He starts with an uppercut

>Its not a particularly difficult move to anticipate. But you assuming he would do something grants you little avoidance as you only manage to steer yourself directly into his fist

>You see it closing in on you. There’s no way to evade this one.

>There’s nothing you can do but take it head on

>For the first time of the night, you take one of his hard-hitting powerhouse punches directly with no deterrence whatsoever

>It lands slightly above your right eyebrow and throws your body to the mat

>You tumble over clumsily, partially damaged and partially surprised

>The Referee runs over to your side and begins the count

>“One…Two…Three…Four…”

>In your enthusiasm, you’ve forgotten what Will is capable of

>He may be slowing down exponentially, but he still packs one hell of a punch

>“…Five…Six…Seven…Eight…”

>Overcoming both the physical damage and the mental shock, you stand to your feet before the ref counts another number. He grabs you by the shoulder

>“You okay?”

>You nod, determined not to cave in so easily after you’ve come this far

>As the referee returns to the middle of the ring to shout for the match to resume, you feel a trickle of warm liquid running down your cheek

>As the liquid reaches the corner of your mouth, you tap it with your tongue for clarity

>Blood. Will has made you bleed.

>You retract your tongue into your mouth to let the flavor sink in. The metal-like taste and thick texture offend you in such a way that you begin to lose touch with your senses

>You crack your knuckles underneath your gloves as you resolve to return retribution

>The referee signals the round to continue and the both of you rush in

>As you charge in, you feel yourself becoming faded from your sense of perception

>Sound, touch, smell. All of it becomes drowned out by the rising rage

>You lose your foothold in reality as your anger boils over.

>Your vision becomes clouded with red, its like seeing the world through a stained window

>Upon meeting Will in the middle of the ring, you spend not a second attempting to anticipate his attacks. You instead channel all your might into your assault and begin swinging Wildly

>Your fists land in erratically placed locations across your opponents body and face, they make no sound open impact. Nothing is audible now but a deafening silence

>Will attempts to block the weaker spots of his face and body but you pay no mind to it. You simply continue attacking, punching through his defense as opposed to around it.

>With a heated fire burning deep inside, you crank your arm back for a haymaker while Will throws out a straight punch in an attempt to get on the offensive

>Your fists collide in midair.

>Inexplicably, His fist doesn’t get knocked out of the way. His arm doesn’t recoil as organic matter should

>It cracks

>A large glass like split streaks across the entirety of his arm

>His arm then detaches from his shoulder and falls to the mat below

>Upon landing, it shatters further and crumbles into glowing embers

>To a rational mind this might seem strange

>But your mind is hardly in a rational state

>All reasoning and sanity is gone. There’s nothing left but an endless resolve, nothing but the drive to persevere

>You crank your arm back for another haymaker and throw it right into Will’s chest

>His torso cracks in a similar fashion.

>A cloud of sparks flies upward and a pile of embers pours down to the floor

>You watch as his body crumbles to the ground

>Will stands quite literally demolished before you.

>But you’re not finished. This anger is far from satisfied.

>You turn around and see the Referee behind your shoulder.

>You crank your arm back and blow him away with a hook punch

>He’s destroyed in a similar fashion, cracking in blast of sparks and falling apart into a pile of embers.

>You look down at the ember remains positioned in front of your feet. They glow hot and bright before losing their flame and being snuffed out, sitting as nothing more than dull black ash thereafter

>Through all this, you’re neither shaken nor satisfied

>You leap out of the ring and hop onto the floor, landing with an earthshaking crash

>You then proceed to mow down Will’s corner team, watching in utter dispassion as they crumble into embers by the striking of your hands

>They do not move as you make your assault, they continue to look toward the ring as if there was anything more than evidence of a fire still present within the ring

>Another pile of ash lays beneath you after you tear through them

>But you’re still not finished

>You proceed to rush into the crowd and cut down every audience member in front of you

>They do not move as you carry out your assault

>They simply remain seated with attention focused on the ring as you make your way across the rows leaving a trail of black ash behind you

>You cut down one audience member after the next, with no regard for who’s a friend, who’s a foe, and who’s innocent

>All the while their attention retains focus on the ring as if the bout was still going, similar to the corner crews preoccupation

>They all remain seated with colorless expressions as you blow away more and more of them in your rampage.

>You cut down at least 50 before you feel something restraining you

>You can’t move, your body is completely paralyzed

>Your arms are being held down but by what you cant tell

>You growl and struggle trying to break free but it doesn’t do any good

>The red in your vision begins to fade, it melts away as you feel yourself  slowly coming down from your altered state of consciousness.

>As the red fades, you see you’re not running amok in the crowd as you had thought, you are in fact back in the ring.

>Your opponent is in his corner. He is intact, whole and not reduced to rubble

>As is the referee, the corner team and the audience

>You also see what’s holding you; Eight limbs. They’re not only holding you down but they’re also dragging you back to your corner of the ring. You don’t know why they are but they are and you can’t overpower them

>You’re thrown into your stool. As your body presses up against the post. You feel yourself returning to reality more and more

>Looking in front of you, you see the Referee, Dash and two ringside assistants standing over you. The four of them restrain you in your stool

>As you return to your normal state of perceptive awareness. You feel your heart pumping like never before

>You look around the entire arena, not sure of what events transpired During the round

>With you seated and calm, Dash steps down to the floor below while the others return to their respective parts of the ring

>You turn to Dash, trying to piece things together as she cleans the cut above your eye

What happened?

>“The round ended”

>That doesn’t give you much clarity

Why were you guys holding me down?

>“You kept beating on Will after the round ended. That’ll cost you a couple points on the scorecard”

What happened during the round?

>“After you got back up, you turned red in the face, snarled like a wolf, blew up on Will and beat him like a speed bag.”

>You look across the ring and see your opponent. He rests with his arms suspending his body via the ropes

>“I’ve never seen anything like it. Neither have the judges. You just kept swarming in and punching him senseless. He tried to defend himself but it didn’t do any good. Then he tried to throw some punches back at you but they didn’t do anything. You just ate through them and went on socking Will over and over like nothing even happened.”

>Upon closer inspection, you realize that Will’s face has been cut in various spots and it’s grown so swollen and puffy that he can hardly keep his eyes open.

>You didn’t even know you had such capacity for cruelty in you

Jesus…