Slow Descent by Shlohmo

Alright, let's get this done!

Meh

I was suddenly aware of the fact that I was standing in the arena again… when the fuck did I get back here? I swear I was just going to bed.

"And here we are folks!" I heard Rodrigo shout enthusiastically. "Here we are at the finals of the International Tournament! It's down to these last two!"

… What?

"Let's give a recap of the final rounds leading up to where we are now!" Dani chimed in. Wait, why were they still here? Why was I here? Who the fuck is that? "In the red corner! We have… the youngest participant to ever make it to the finals by a good number of years… ROUGH DIAAAAAAAMOOOOOOOOND!"

I saw the… the hell was a kid doing here? He waved to the crowd and was met with an absolute uproar from the crowd.

"Rough Diamond is a native here from Belgium, born in Charleroi. He made his way up to the professional boxing league out of nowhere and debuted at the age of 14 years old and 151 days", Rodrigo said.

"Let me tell you, there was chaos once it got out that there was a 14 year old that was professionally boxing. There was almost a protest in Brussels. And then… well, he started winning", Dani added.

"He's been boxing for a little over a year and he has an outstanding record of 24-2 at the professional level", Rodrigo said.

"By the way, those two he lost were only by TKO's."

"He's had an outstanding tournament run, absolutely dominating in the prelims and looked very solid in the final rounds as well."

"We had expected him to make it far into the tournament but certainly not being able to reach the finals."

"And of course, that brings us to his opponent for this round", Rodrigo said. Suddenly the attitude in the stadium -holy shit this stadium is huge!- shifted dramatically. Boos and jeers practically cascaded down on me.

"The absolute dark horse of this tournament, coming out of nowhere and decimating all of his opponents… CHARMING CHAAARRRRRMMMEEER!" The boos actually intensified.

"He surprised us in the first round, knocking his opponent out in one hit. Then the next. Then the next. We assumed it was just blind luck at first. And now, he's on his way to knocking out every single one of his opponents out in just one hit."

"The closest thing we got to a fight was in the last round where he was forced on the defensive by Nasty Scoundrel-" Wasn't that a local assassin? "But he turned it around in the blink of an eye with a devastating counter."

"Let me tell you, this has been a tournament where records are being destroyed. We have the youngest finalist in history and if he wins, he'll be the youngest winner by a little over ten years. Not only that, but taking in both their ages, this is the youngest finalists we've ever had sitting at 19 years old between the two. We've also had records for the fastest knockouts and the most one-hit knockouts as well. That's primarily records that these two have broken alone!"

"Alright, I think it's about time to get this fight underway. ARE! YOU! READY?!"

The stadium reached a new level of volume as I felt my own bones vibrating. I saw a referee jump onto the stage but it wasn't the same one from before. I'll miss those scathing looks he'd send me…

"I'd first like to congratulate you both on reaching this stage in the tournament. It's been a good run and I'd like a clean fight to give these folks something to remember", he sent me a look when he said that, but it just wasn't the same as before. "So, the fight will start on my mark. The fight will only end under three circumstances. The first, is if one of the contenders loses conscious. The second is by ring-out, where if one of the contenders touches the ground outside of the perimeter. The third is if the fight reaches a total length of 15 minutes, the fight will stop and the winner will be selected by our panel of judges. In the event of a double knock-out or a double ring-out, the winner will also be selected by our panel of judges. Do both of the participants understand the rules?"

I nodded in affirmation and saw my opponent do the same. A small part of me almost felt bad about having to fight a kid, but then the greed in me took that small part into a back alley and beat it to death with a garbage can lid. Then chopped up the body and used his meat to make some good meals. Then anonymously donated those meals to any of his remaining family. Then visited each family to describe with great detail what he had done. Then moved to Equestria because that's where they'd least expect him to go.

"-START!" The referee yelled, pulling me out of my thoughts. What was happening? I saw the kid walking towards me with no real hustle. He lightly bounced on his hooves time to time. Oh right, tournament fight. I began walking towards him, but he showed no change in demeanor. Brave kid. I launched myself forward to catch him off guard and threw a straight, intending to sweep through this tournament with nothing but one-hit K.O.'s. I was surprised though when my hoof sailed through empty air. I had missed? No… the kid actually dodged my punch. I saw his fist flying at me and was surprised at how fast he was moving. I leaned back to escape his range but then he followed up with his other hoof. I ducked under it and came up with an uppercut but he had already fallen back out of my range. I frowned, this kid had a lot of experience in fighting.

I didn't have long to think as he was back to assaulting me with blows. I dodged and parried most of them but he left no room to counter. I remember one of the announcers saying he was a boxer, but this wasn't boxing. The way he was rolling and shifting his weight to keep this onslaught going was different from that of a boxer. It wasn't even a martial art that I knew… it was like an advanced form of street fighting. But he mixed technique and power very well. I was actually almost impressed. But by this point I knew what to do. So instead of dodging or parrying his strike, I caught it with my left hoof. He quickly tried to throw another blow with his free forehoof but I twisted his hoof and threw off his balance, sending his punch wide. Then I introduced him to my right hook. He flew back, tumbling along the ground. I turned around and raised my right foreleg as the crowd began booing.

"Whelp that was fu-" I was saying before something changed. Something in the air changed. I frowned, this felt very familiar… what was it? Oh, it was bloodlust. Pure and unfiltered bloodlust. I turned around and was surprised to see the kid struggling back to his feet. Then I saw his eyes and felt a shiver travel down my spine and a grin grow on my face. I vaguely picked up Rodrigo and Dani shouting something but I was too focused on this kid who looked like he wanted to absolutely murder me. He suddenly sprang forward with a new speed and ferocity that surprised me. I blocked his first punch, his power still didn't change much, and went to block his second but I didn't see his other foreleg. My confusion didn't last long as I felt something connect with my chin and my head snapped back from the blow. Using the momentum, I jumped backwards to gain some distance as I rubbed my chin.

"That actually kind of hurt", I said as noted some discomfort while talking. Then, just as fast as it appeared, the bloodlust in the air vanished. I looked at the kid who was shaking his head and when he stopped and opened his eyes, every trace of murderous intent was gone. Well that was a bummer, things were just starting to get fun.

"What a turn of events we've had here in the final! Just like that, Charming Charmer's streak of one-hit K.O.'s comes to an end", I heard Dani say, which cause me to freeze. My streak… the one thing I was aiming for this tournament. Taken from my by that kid. That kid…

I focused on him with new determination and he flinched when he met my eyes. He knew he was going down now. I sprinted at him and he nervously held his ground. I threw a punch and he raised his hooves to block, but I wasn't holding back anymore. My punch broke through his block and connected with his face, sending him flying. Actually flying. He didn't stop until he flew off the stadium and crashed into the dirt, skidding to a stop. He didn't get back up this time.

I noticed that the stadium had gone silent. I looked at the referee who nodded.

"The winner of the National Honorable Combat Tournament is Charming Charmer!" He said into the mic. With that, I left the stadium.

(Several hours later)

I sighed contentedly as I reached my motel room, my cloak now 1.6 million bits heavier. I grabbed Gecko from his pocket and set him on my nightstand.

"Well that was fun", I told him, to which he blinked in reply. "No, not really. It was boring as fuck and I barely even got to warm-up for most fights. Though the last fight was pretty interesting. Of course, now there's something I have to ask… why were we here again?"

Gecko blinked several times at me.

"Oh shit… that's right, finding Royal's guild. Do we have any leads?" I asked and Gecko shook his head. "Whelp, then I guess we go to random countries and hopefully find something."

I set my cloak down on the ground and began climbing into bed. I was about half way up when suddenly pain. Pain. That's all my brain could register. I was in pain. I crumpled to the floor as my vision grew fuzzy from the pain. I quickly located its source and knew immediately how screwed I was. I looked at Gecko, my eyes beginning to water, who was looking at me with as confused as a face he could make. In a voice that reflected the dread of the situation, I explained to him what happened.

"I just pulled a muscle in my leg", I told him gravely. There was a brief moment of silence before he started laughing. "Hey! Don't laugh at my pain you little shit!"

I tried to stand to grab him but then pain reminded me why that was a bad idea. I glared daggers at him as he continued to laugh.

"You're dead when this is over", I told him venomously… then I waited for the pain to subside.

(The next day)

"So where do we go now?" I asked Gecko, who was now sporting a black eye (don't abuse animals kids!) while he rode on my snout. He turned to give some blinks. "Back into Germaney and then make our way towards Italy? Sounds like a plan."

We were on the road leading out of Brussels, probably heading east… hopefully. That is, until I saw a figure in our way. It took me several moments to realize who it was. After seeing me, he readjusted the bags on his back and galloped up to me. He skid to a stop and looked at me with deadly serious eyes.

"I want to be your apprentice", he said in German. I stared back at the kid who I had fought in the final. We stared at each other for a brief moment before I burst out laughing. Apprentice! I kept laughing until I saw that he was still serious, and then I stopped.

"Oh… you're being serious", I said, to which he nodded in reply. "I see. No."

"But I want to get stronger! And I can't do that here. Please, take me with you", the colt begged.

"Look, I'm not taking apprentices or anything right now… or at all", I told him.

"Don't worry about me, I can handle any kind of trying no matter what! I won't give up at all!" He replied excitedly.

"I didn't say… look, this story's already bs enough, we don't need a new character", I said.

"Then we'll just pretend to be old friends! We can even give each other nicknames!" He said. I stared at him and he stared back.

"I don't understand you", I told him before walking around him. I walked a good ten hooves before turning around and seeing that he was following me. "Seriously, stop. You don't even know what I do."

"Aren't you an assassin?" He asked. I paled.

"Wh-What? No, no I'm not", I said before laughing nervously. "I don't' know what you're talking about."

"Look, I'll do anything! Really!" He said. I sighed, done dealing with his shit.

"Fine, I'll take you in but only on one condition", I said, fully facing him now.

"What?!" He asked excitedly.

"Find me a fork that shoots fireballs", I said, turning around to leave.

"Oh, got one", he said, causing me to freeze mid-step. I turned around to see him holding a fork.

"... What?" I asked. He then pointed the fork skyward and… what the fuck. What the actual fuck. In the name of a higher power, how the fuck did he find a fork that shoots fireballs! I quickly rushed over and grabbed it to test it out myself. This was an actual enchanted fork that shot fireballs. WHY?!

"Where did you find this?" I asked him. He pointed over to a nearby cafe.

"Grabbed it from there", he said like it was nothing.

"I… I…" I was genuinely at a loss for words. "... Fine… you can be my apprentice."

He then began vigorously fist-pumping, which made me smirk.

"But… if you want to continue being my apprentice, you'll need to do whatever I say no matter what. Got that?" I asked him.

"Of course, Master", he replied. I was so going to call him out on this bullshit. He wouldn't last a day.

Well, that was a thing. So, to anyone reading, you can take satisfaction that we are never f***ing doing something like this again. It sounded really good in our heads and then when it went on paper, it sucked.

We regret everything! But hay, WE GOT STORY! That is just great… just great. I will be over in the corner crying with joy. Don't bother me.

So, stay tuned for next chapter as we learn more about this young apprentice!

ARC END: The Tournament

NEXT ARC: Search for the New Guild!