Chapters The road to the champion.
The crowd was restless. They came knowing that a new boxer was making his debut, and that said new boxer was very cocky. Some ponies in the crowd knew him, and came to see him beaten. Others came because they thought that he could be promising. Others simply came because they wanted to see a match, and this is all they could get. The lights in the arena turn off for a moment, then turn back in, pointed to the blue corner's entrance. They saw him; the rookie. Him, In his custom robe that had the name, "catchweight", on the back. Him, and his beige coat, unruly brown mane, and stout, and burly, physique. Some ponies cheered for the rookie; most just watched him. He walked to the arena with his seconds, not paying any attention to the crowd, just to the ring. He climbed in the ring, and only then, took a look at the audience that had come to see his fight, his blue eyes giving away no emotion. The lights turned off again, then turned on again, this time pointing to the red corner. The pony that walked out was a stallion with a normal build, and normal size, with blonde hair and a somewhat light coat. His robe was a standard one; white, with black edges. This pony had been to the arena one other time, during his debut, and his first win, so he wasn't worried about the rookie. When he got to the ring, he too looked around at the audience, and waved at them; specifically to the fans he'd amassed in his knockout debut. The announcer climbed into the ring with a microphone in hand, and begun to speak. "In the red corner, weighing in at 120 pounds, from the manehatten boxing club; boulder!" The stallion, who's name has is revealed to be boulder, gets up on two hooves, stumbling as he does so, and raises one gloved hoove to the crowd, who cheer in response. The announcer speaks again; "and in the blue corner, weighing in at 126 pounds, from the specter gym; catchweight!" The rookie also gets up on two hooves, also stumbling as he does, but less so then his opponent, and briefly raises his hoof in the air, almost absentmindedly, before putting it to his side. The two ponies meet in the center and stare each other down. The referee comes up to them and talks to them, but catchweight doesn't really listen. His just focuses on boulder, who is listening to the ref. The ref tells them to touch gloves, and boulder puts his gloves up, signaling catchweight to do the same, and they touch gloves. The two then retreat back to their corner, and wait for the referee to give the ok. "BOX!" Boulder puts his forehooves close to his face in the orthodox stance and begins to dash at catchweight, but he stops when he sees catchweight calmly walking forward, slowly putting his hooves in a similar position. This confuses boulder as he thinks to himself, 'what is he doing? Is he not worried? Why does he look so calm? This is only his deb-' his train of thought is suddenly cut off as catchweight suddenly dashes in front of boulder and hits him with a heavy hook. This makes boulder take a step back in suprise, and some fear. 'Woah, he's got a hard punch! I can't get hit with too many of those!" Boulder then charges forward and begins wailing on catchweight, who turtles up in response. He gets pushed back to the ropes, where boulder continues wailing on his guard in an attempt to break it. Suddenly, in between punches, boulder sees catchweights hoof coming out to counter him, and he moves his head...and then gets hit in the stomach. Boulder doubles over in pain, and backs away from catchweight. As boulder tries to steady himself, he thinks; 'what? But I saw him punching for my head! What happ-' he is interrupted again when he sees catchweight attempting to finish the fight with an uppercut. Boulder moves his head to the side to dodge the attack, and ends up being hit with a hook instead. He nearly falls over, but manages to stay standing, albeit barely. 'But...I saw him....what's he doing?" He looks up to catchweight, who actually has a smug grin on his face. It then clicks in boulders mind. 'He's...using feints!' This was his last thought as catchweight hits him with a haymaker that drops boulder to the ground. The ref gets between the now fallen boulder and catchweight, and tells him to go to his neutral corner, which he does. The ref begins to count, but quickly realizes that boulder is comepletely unconcious. The ref stops the fight, and the bell rings. The announcer, now on the sidelines, declares that catchweight is the victor. He raises his hoof up high, and gets cheers in response. The cheers, oddly enough, quickly fade and are replaced with a loud ringing noise. The noise gets louder, and the arena, the ring, and the audience disappear.
The road to the champion.
Catchweight was having trouble keeping up with Specter, whom was flying ahead of him. Despite the fact that Catchweight can't fly, Specter insists on flying in order to set a fast pace for Catchweight. Every two miles, the two would stop, And Catchweight would stand on two hooves to shadow box. This was the pattern the two followed every morning, even when Catchweight didn't have a match coming, so that his stamina wouldn't drop from a lack of exercise.
After the tenth stop to shadowbox, Specter finally said that was enough, and that it was time to head to the gym. Catchweight couldn't have been more relieved, as he hated his roadwork. The two, after some walking, allowing Catcheight to regain his stamina, reached the gym. On the outside, it looked better then it actually was. It had two, albeit short, stories; one being the gym itself, the other being the area where Specter would set up matches, and generally manage his boxers. Above the front door, there was a sign that simply said, Specter's boxing gym. Catchweight and Specter entered the gym, and looked around to see who was there. For the most part, it was filled with ponies who came just to stay in shape. They paid for a membership, came in, worked on the sandbags, and maybe did a little roadwork, minus the shadowboxing. Specter kept this irritated look on his face as he looked around. "I hate it", he said. "I wish more ponies came here for training, and to represent this gym in the ring. But no, they just come here for exercise." Catchweight looked at him. "Hey, it's not so bad", he said, "least you got me!" Specter sighed, clearly not cheered up by Catchweight. He looked around some more, then perked up when he saw a particular pony working on the sandbags. This pony was a Pegasus, and had a dark orange coat, and a slick, short, light black mane. His cutie mark was that a boxing glove, similar to Catchweight's, only his has a pair of wings on it. Specter then gave a grin. "Yeah. We have you, and him." Catchweight looked to who he was looking at, and gave a groan. "Oh, of course you're happy about him being here. Jeez, it's almost like your in love with him, or something." Specter gave Catchweight a smug look. "Don't be mad just because he's better then you", he said, "don't get me wrong, I understand why you would be; what with him having a title shot and all, thanks to him beating you". Catchweight glared. "Hey, we both know that I should have won that match. Only reason I didn't was because of his running!" He said. "Face it", said Specter, "Speed star's going to be the one to take the belt." Catchweight seethed, as he wanted to be the one to beat the champion, but knew that he wouldn't get the chance. After all, after the champ's title next title defense, it'll be speed star's chance to fight, and everyone knew that the current champion didn't stand a chance. "So", said Specter, "how's it feel to know that you won't be able to beat Star? After all, after he's taken the belt, he'll move up to the world; somewhere far out of your reach." Catchweight snapped. "That's it!" He said, "Speed! Get over here!" Speed star looked to see who called him, and immediately rolled his eyes. He went over to Catchweight and Specter, and said in a disinterested tone; "what is it?" "You and me, Speed!" Catchweight said, fire In his eyes, "we're gonna spar! And I'm gonna prove that I should've won the match, once and for all!" Speed star rolled his eyes, and Glanced at Specter, who nodded, telling him to do it. "Fine," he said, "I could use some practice, after all." Catchweight and Speed star went off to grab their sparing gear; a helmet, and thick gloves; a red pair for Speed star, and a black pair for Catchweight. The two entered the ring in the middle of the gym, and went to their respective corners. Specter went off to the side, manning the makeshift bell. He knew that he may have been a little mean to Catchweight, but he also knew that if he never beat him, he would never be ready to take the belt, which Specter acutally wanted him to do. Speed star and Catchweight adopted their stances; Catchweight with his brawlers style, with his forehooves up, but not really close to his face, and Speed Star in his 'Detrot' style; his forehooves crossed in front of his upper body, his leading hoof close to his face, and his other across his body. They stared at each other, waiting for the bell to tell them they could start. Specter looked at the both of them, seeing that they were ready, and rang the bell.
The road to the champion.
Catchweight dashed forwards, getting in front of Speed Star. He begun to attack with hooks, jabs, straights, and uppercuts; all of which were being blocked by Speed Star, who preemptively put up his guard when Catchweight dashed. Specter looked on with a grim expression. 'Don't you ever learn?', he thought, as Catchweight continued to attack. Suddenly, Speed Star lowered his guard before Catchweight threw his next punch, causing Catchweight to throw a straight directly to Speed Stars face. He almost hit him, but his punch was dodged at the last second, and was countered with a sharp jab that caused Catchweight to stagger back, giving his opponent some room. Speed Star then threw his usual jab from his detrot stance; the flicker jab, causing catchweight to raise his guard. The punch was pulled at the last minute, causing Catchweight to lower his guard and attempt to charge in. His charge was stopped, however, by the flicker that was pulled. Speed Star then began throwing a barrage of fast flickers that Catchweight couldn't avoid. He raised his guard, hoping that he could outlast the assault, but his guard wasn't tight enough, so the flickers were getting through. Speed Star then dashed forwards right after a flicker, and hit Catchweight with an uppercut that got through his guard, and hit him in the chin, causing his guard to drop. Speed Star then began to attack Catchweight with a assault similar to the one at the beginning of the spar, but faster, and sharper. Catchweight was being hit by every one of the attacks, and was quickly being beaten. Specter considered stopping the spar, but decided against it, wanting to see if Catchweight could get through the attack. Eventually, Speed Star ended his attack with a fast combination of two hooks; one right, one left. This attack left Catchweight dazed, as he begun to fall to the ground. But right before he hit the ground, he stuck out his hoof, catching himself, and hoisting himself back up. Speed Star expected as much, as he tightened his guard, waiting for Catchweight to rush him. Catchweight did just that, and begun to hit Speed Stars guard, like he did at the beginning. Speed Star slightly shook his head in dissapointment. 'Come on, Catch. We both know this won't work', he said as he dropped his guard again, and waited for Catchweight's attack. Catchweight three out a straight, and Speed Star was ready to counter it. Suddenly, Catchweight pulled his straight back right before Speed Star countered. Speed Star was left suprised, before he threw out a blind hook, hoping to still get his hit in. Catchweight blocked it, however, and gave Speed Star the straight he pulled back, which hit directly. Speed Star was left a tad dazed from this, giving Catchweight the chance to attack once more. He lowered his right hoof, and threw it upwards in a three quarter uppercut, that was called a Smash. The punch hit Speed Star, who threw his head upwards from the impact. He began to crumble, falling to the ground due to the hit. However, right when he was about to hit the ground, he shot upwards, and used momentum to deliver an uppercut to Catcweight. The attack hit, but Catchweight managed to hold his ground, and not stagger back. Speed Star, now up and back into his stance, hit Catchweight with a one-two; a jab then a straight, which Catchweught took shakily. He attempted to hit Speed Star back with a hook, but it was ducked, then countered by an uppercut, which caused Catchweight to take a step back. He then tried to hit Speed Star with a uppercut of his own, but it too was dodged, then countered by a hook. Catchweight was getting shaky, and frustrated. He attempted to use his smash again, but it was interupted by a right hook, followed by a left uppercut. Catchweight, now angry with Speed Star, begun throwing out large uppercuts in order to get Speed Star to back off. The first one hit speed star, but the ones afterwards were being avoided. Catchweight changed to hooks, which were avoided by Speed Star getting just out of range. When Catchweight tried to get back into range, he was met with a fast straight, then a hook. Catchweight was barely hanging on at this point, and Speed Star noticed this. He decided that this was over, as he threw out an intentionally large uppercut. Catchweight crossed his hooves in front of his chest to block it, but it was pulled back when he blocked, and what came instead was a fast, and sharp, right hook. Catchweight was knocked to the ground, and knocked unconcious.
"Hey, Catch. Wake up." Catchweight awoke to the sound of Specters voice, and found himself laying down on a bench in the gym. He sat up and looked at Specter, who had a grin on his face. "Star knocked you out. You've been out for an hour." Catchweight looked suprised at this, and Specter gave an annoyed groan. "Don't act like that", he said, "this isn't new for you." Catchweight sighed. "Yeah", he said, sounding down, "but it's never been for an hour..." He then gave Specter a determined look. "This is the last time.", he said with conviction, "next time, he'll be the one that'll get knocked out." Specter sighed. "As you are right now, that'd be a miracle." Catchweight growled at this, but said nothing further. He looked around and saw Speed Star punching the sand bag. He glared at him in silence, with Specter not even needing to look to know who was being glared at. Unbeknownst to him, however, was the vow that Catchweight was taking. 'I swear', he thought, 'When I beat you, it'll be so bad that you won't even think of sparing with me again.'
The road to the champion.
Catchweight awoke to the alarm clock. He gave a loud groan and hit it, turning the alarm off. He got up looked around his apartment,looking at everything littered around. Magazines, records, and trash littered the floor around his bed, which was really just a sleeping bag for camping. He shook his head to wake himself up fully, before getting up and walking to the window. Outside, he saw his trainer, Specter, waiting for him outside. Specter was a grey coated pegasus pony, with a light black mane. Catchweight, after seeing Specter, walked outside, not bothering to lock the door behind him. 'Not like there's anything to take', he thought. He walked down the stairs of his apartment complex and aproached Specter, whom was resting his eyes. He was about to start speaking, but Specter cut him off with, "don't tell me; let me guess." He opened his green eyes and faced Catchweight. "You were having that dream about your debut, and didn't hear your alarm until the dream was over." Catchweight gave a sheepish grin and said, "ah, you know me so well, don't ya?" His manehatten accent being readily apparent. "That and it's the excuse you've given me every over time this happens." Specter replied. "You do know that's not how It happened, right? I mean, at first I thought you were just dreaming about how you wanted it to happen, but now I'm a little concerned". Catchweight stared at him confused. "Whatca mean?" He inquired. "Well, for one" Specter answered "it ended in the third round". "So? That's just two rounds off", Catchweight replied. "Yeah, but you also were really bad with your feints. Boulder only fell for the first two, then hit you every other time you tried", Specter retorted. "Yeah...well...I still won by knockout". "Oh, sure. Only after you almost lost." "I didn't almost lose!". "Yeah, you did. By TKO. You were knocked down two times in the last round, and were about to be knocked down again before you KO'd Boulder. Face it. Your fantasy is nothing like what actually happened. Now come on; we wasted enough time as it is" Specter opens his wings and gets into the air, motions for Catchweight to follow, then flies off. "Yeah yeah...just you wait, fly-boy. You'll get yours" he hisses before taking off after Specter