caged and broken (first draft)

I showed up at the gym 10 minuets before my appointment was supposed to be and was greeted by the same guy as yesterday.

“Hi I don’t know if you remember me but you set up an appointment for me” I asked to get his attention.

He looked me up and down then as though I wasn’t worth his time said “ yeah .I remember you your one of Pauls fighters right, well head to the back office the boss is waiting for you”

He then waved his hand in the general direction I needed to head.

As I reached the far end of the gym I could see the office he meant it had large one way widows looking out in to the practice area I’m assuming that was so this guy could asses any potential fighters knocking on the door I heard the scraping of chairs being moved then the approach of foot steps. The guy that opened the door wasn’t what I was expecting he was lean seemed to have very little body fat and held himself like he was expecting an attack at any second. He was wound so tight that one wrong move he would probably try to break my neck on instinct with out realising.he had grey eyes that seemed to take in everything and close cropped hair I would amuse it was to prevent anyone grabbing it in a fight. He was the sort of guy that put him in jeans and a hoody on a random street and he would blend in but here in the gym he radiated violence.

“Come in, you must be the new talent Paul has been talking about my name’s Kane and im the owner of this gym” he directs me to a chair opposite his desk.

I wait until he’s seated before I say anything then in my most bubbly voice I say ”good morning im jess. And yeah Paul gave me a list of a few gym’s but this on definitely feel’s right”

He chuckles to him self as though I have just said something hilarious “yeah he said he sent you to a few places but I was sure you would settle for this on it has one of the best rating’s in the world. So I hear you have some experience cage fighting is that accurate”

“Yeah ive been in a few small scale matches but nothing major, im kinda looking for something a little more challenging” I was trying to stick as close to the back story I had been given, I knew that Alex would have made sure all my information would check out if they checked.

“Okay so what disciplines have you worked with before?” This threw me a little as I wasn’t expecting him to be interested.

“I know a little jujitsu, kick boxing and muay thai. But in all my previous matches ive just thrown any combo of punches and kicks together until the match ends”

“Okay get changed then meet me out on the mats so I can see what I’m working with if you impress me we will work out a training schedule did Paul tell you it will be a few week’s before I can get you a match?”

“Yeah he said between 4-6 weeks “

“Well that depends on how your training goes, these aren’t your standard cage fight’s so we need to make sure whoever we put in there can at least put on a show. Now go get changed we don’t have all day”

Stepping out of the changing rooms a few minuets later I made my way over to Kane “so how are you planning to put me through my paces”

“First I want you to to spar with a few other fighter’s from different different disciplines so I can observe you technique, your opponents are human so remember to pull your punches I’m just looking at how you fight I don’t care about you winning at this point”

Nodding that I understood I got in to the ring trying to remember what Abigail had said about giving up on defence and restraint and focus on offence, taking my stance I prepared myself for the onslaught.

*

My time at the gym turned in to a never ending round robin of various fighters from various disaplins attacking me on after another with Kane shouting out which fighting style he wanted me to use. This carried on for two hours and I was starting to get worn down I was evading and taking hits using my opponents attacks as opening’s in their defence to land my own attacks. I was on the receiving end of a fairly brutal series of attacks from a young kick boxer when Kane called the session to an end.

“Okay kid you said your name is jess right?”

“Yeah that’s right” I breathed out trying to catch my breath

“Well ill be honest I wasn’t expecting much when you walk-in here, you don’t stand out as someone that can take a hit and get back up, I was thinking you would take one or two hit’s the lose your shit and walk out, but here you are two hours later and you still look like your spoiling for a real fight, be here tomorrow evening and we will start your training”

“Wait is that it just like that be here tomorrow are you not going to go through a training plan or anything else”

“Nope the training plan is simple you do what I say when I say and if you don’t like it you can fuck off” he turned quickly and stormed off to his office slamming the door behind him.”

I stood for a moment stumped by his sudden departure, then some one cleared their throat behind me to get my attention.

“Don’t mind him he’s always in a bad temper unless he’s just won big beating on the fight’s. I’m Mal,”

He held out his hand to shake mine

“you know im one of the guys who’s ass you’ve been kicking for the last two hour’s he laughed”

“I’m sorry I was a little thrown there for a minute I wasn’t expecting him to be so dismissive, and I wouldn’t say I was kicking anyone’s ass I was just bearly hanging in there.” I was trying to be modest, and take a look at him I honestly wasn’t paying attention to the fights as they cycled through changing out to keep them self fresh so this was the first time I had a chance to really take in what my opponents looked like. He was a sturdy looking guys you could tell he was a fighter his nose was misshapen from where it had been broken and not quite sett cot erectly more than once and his body was covered in bruises and cut’s that hadn’t had a chance to completely heal.

“I’m sorry if I made any of your injuries worse” I indicated on of the larger bruises on the side of his jaw.

“Oh these are nothing they have nearly healed, he won’t let me fight again until they are. He’s really strict about that if you aren’t 100% you don’t get in the ring and he’s even more through when it come’s to the special fight’s has full X-ray’s and blood’s done to make sure your fit enough to put on a show”

“Oh have you been to one of his special matches before.?’

“Yeah but not really supposed to talk about it. My last match was a special ive been out of action for about 10 week’s doctor’s want me to rest longer but if I ain’t fighting I ain’t earning, I got a match coming up in a few week’s so if you need anyone to spar with give me a shout I could use the practice” Mal then picked up his bag and head to change.

Well that was definite informative I should head out before people start asking question.

I headed for a warm shower and change before heading out to see Abigail.