Chapters Author's Note
The chapter beings..... and soon will the flames of the roasts will soon cometh!
Please be gentle...... it’s my first time 🥲
Chapter One
Huffing and puffing, I continue on. Nothing is stopping me from achieving what I want. Once I feel my heart rate go down I go into a full sprint. Five minutes of a full sprint go by and I slow down to a jog. My heart pounding in my ears as sweat slides down my hoodie covered face. I take deep breaths in and out to get air circulating in my lungs, keeping myself from getting winded and gassed. I continue my jog and bring my hands up to the sides of my face. I stop jogging and start throwing a combination of jabs and straights, pivoting in place as I lean back, duck, and roll under imaginary punches being thrown at me. I throw jabs at my imaginary opponent and quickly lean back a bit and bring up my left shoulder up to let an imaginary straight right hand slide to away harmlessly away from my head. I then roll under to my left to avoid a right hook. I spring back up pivot to my left and throw a right uppercut to my imaginary opponent’s chin. Imagining his head getting knocked up, I throw a straight right to his exposed chin.
I keep on with my shadow boxing for ten minutes, throwing combinations of jabs, straights, hooks, and uppercuts. Once those ten minutes were up I continued on with my road work. A couple miles into my run, my phone rings. I stop my road work and pull out my phone.
“Richard? The hell does he want?” I tap the green answer button and put the phone up for my ear. “Yo! What’s up?”
“Tatsuo! Whatcha doing right now champ?” A energetic old man says through the phone.
“I’m doing road work right now, why?”
I hear my old manager sigh. I already know what he’s going to say. Every time he sees or hears that I’m continuing with my training he always disapprovingly sighs and always tells me to give up on boxing, that no one will want to fight me. I always hate it when he does that, but I know someday someone will want to sign a contract. I know it.
“Kid, I’ve told you this a thousand times already. No guy wants to fight you! You’re just outta of their league. Not even the guys in the heavy weight divisions wanna fight you. Stop wasting your ti—“
“What are you calling me for, Richard?” I interrupt him, already having enough of his bullshit talk.
He sighs again. “I just wanted see how you were doing kid, I haven’t seen you in awhile. Thought I’d call ya and see if you wanted to go get some lunch, maybe chat a little.”
“I’m kind of busy right n—“ I’m then interrupted as the old man starts to yell into the phone.
“Busy my ass! What your doing is pointless. I’ve told you over and over, no one wants to fight you! Why can’t you get that through your head?! Your just too good! Insanely! Once people knew that, that’s when you boxing career ended. It ended, Tatsuo. Stop fantasizing that someone with equal skills as you will come. They won’t. You know this.”
I move my phone away from my ear and tap the phone to end the call. I let my arms loosely dangle by my sides lifelessly. My mind starts to repeat those last words of the old man’s. I knew that nobody with equal skills as me are out there. I knew that very well. But... I didn’t want to give up. Boxing is all I knew. Boxing is everything to me. Boxing is what keeps me going. Sure it sounded a bit obsessive, but it’s what I enjoy doing. It’s like a drug that I’m addicted to.
Richard’s words started to run through my head. Maybe he’s right. Maybe I should just give up. It’s pointless. Negative thoughts started to flood my head. Not thoughts of suicide or hurting myself. Just thoughts of being cursed with just being too good. Thoughts of just giving up on everything about boxing. These thoughts started to get me out my mood of running as I prepare myself to walk back home.
But then....
Something unexpectedly started to happen. Something that would make anyone trip out from the sight. As I walked, everything started to fade away and start to fade into something different. One minute I was in my hometown walking back home on a concrete sidewalk, and next I’m in the middle of town with anthropomorphic mythological animals walking around the small town, chatting away happily with one another.
Unicorns, Pegasi, Dragons, Minotaurs, etc! My mind couldn’t comprehend what the hell was going on. I was so lost and bewildered that I didn’t know what to think, or even how to act. I just stood in the middle of the town, looking around dumbly with my mouth agape like an idiot. This all felt way too real that I started to panic a little in the inside. I had no idea where I was, or how I even got here. My heart started to race as my palms got sweaty, knees weak, and arms started to get heavy. Full panic was about to hit me.
Until...
A strong gust of wind blew through the small town and something, what sounded papery, ends up covering my face. I shakily grab whatever is covering my face and pull it off. I look upon what looks to be a flier that’s advertising something.
“What’s this?” I said under my breath as I read the advertisement. “Boxing World Champion Belt is on the line. Who will be the first, the fiercest, the most skillful, and the best pound for pound king? Will it be you? Come on down to these selected gyms to sign up.” I finish reading the flier and as I finish it my fear started to slowly fade away as excitement started to slowly fade in. My body started to shake, heart started to race, and my hands started to sweat. This was a sign of my boxing career coming back, I thought. Also, a change to fight opponents who will mostly be on my level, maybe even greater than mine. The very thought of that got me the chills.
In my state of excitement I failed to notice a couple of the equine folk that live in the small town walk up to me ask me something. I shake myself out to calm myself and look towards the small group. The three being a deep red coated stallion with fiery mane with no horn or wings, a jet black scaled dragoness with parts of her being purple, and a female wolf with a stark white coat and blue markings on her fur. Their appearances would have shocked anyone, but not me. I was more excited then ever as I saw that all three had boxing gear hanging around them.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch what you said?” I said, trying to hide the excitement in my voice.
“I said, are you looking for the boxing gym that’s around? I asked cause you looked lost and you look like your not from around here” the stallion said as he curiously looked at me.
I looked down at myself, “Is it really that obvious that I’m not from here?”
The dragoness grunts in annoyance as she cross her arms across her chest. “Considering you look rather odd, yeah. It’s pretty damn obvious. Like, who wears hoodies and sweats pants, and whatever those are” she points down at my shoes “in the middle of a hot day when Celestia’s sun is blazing the hottest.”
“I gotta agree with her, your pretty strange one” he says with a chuckle. “But hey, I’m not here to judge I’m here to see if you want to tag along with us to get to the gym” the fiery red stallion holds out his hand towards me with a smile. “The names Fury Steel, care to join us....” he pauses to get my name.
I grab hold of his hand with strong grip and he does the same, which gets his smile to widen. “Tatsuo, Tatsuo Gracia” I replied with smile equal to his. My name got mixed reactions from the stallion and dragoness.
“Uh... strange name for a strange guy like you. Suits you very well!” Fury says with a nod.
“Strange clothes, strange character, and strange name. Now we just need to see what you look like. You might look strange too” the dragoness chuckles.
“Chill with the heat throwing Kayda. Why do you always gotta flame the newbies?”
“Newbie?” I ask, almost offended.
“You got boxing experience? Like as in, you fought in the ring before?” The dragoness now named Kayda asks as if I didn’t have any experience. “You don’t even look like you box at all?” she scoffed as she sized me up.
“It’s probably the baggy sweater I got that makes me look off” i grip the ends of my sweater. “Here I’ll show ya.” I lift my sweater over me and sling it over my shoulder with a grin. “Do I look like a bo—... are you guys ok?”
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. Third person p.o.v
Once the whole gym got a little glimpse of Tatsuo, they go back to what they were doing. The trio of new friends Tatsuo made come striding up to him, two of them giving him impressed looks while the other one holds up her unfazed look.
“Jeez, man! You did a real number on that bag. I didn’t think you’d be that fast with the bulk you have.” Fury states with amazement, Kayda, nodding in approval. Then, Fury’s eyes narrow in thought. “You might have speed and power, but that won’t help if you go up against an opponent who’s a pegasus or a gryphon. Your power is almost on par with those races who are grounded, but your speed is nowhere near fast enough for those who are fliers, and if they are the aggressive type... you might be in trouble. Even the grounded races have trouble with them.”
Kayda nods her again, even getting a nod from Winter. Kayda points a fingered claw at me and smirks. “To put it in simple terms... your fucked if you’re put in the ring with a flier. They’ll just be dominating you with speed.”
Tatsuo waves a dismissive hand to make them stop worrying. “Chill out, I’ll be fine. I like a challenge” he says with much confidence.
Fury shakes his head with a smile, but still worried about who Tatsuo will be going up against. “Just don’t get too cocky in the ring, don’t wanna get bad rep after talking all big.”
Tatsuo gets a jump rope and starts to hop from one foot to the other. “Geez Fury, you sure are worrying about me a lot. You catching feelings for me bud?” He say’s teasingly.
Fury’s face turned red from embarrassment as the two girls giggled. Tatsuo joins in on the giggling which furthermore embarrassed the fiery colored stallion. Tatsuo apologizes and tells him that he was only teasing and thanks him for looking out for him. He then reassures him that he’ll be fine, and with a confident smile. Fury nods his head and the three new friends closely watch their human friend practice in different parts of gym. Watching while they wait for his opponent to be picked, the three took notice of things of Tatsuo that no normal boxer has done. His head movement and foot work were of a different caliber than the ones they’ve seen from some of the best veteran boxers they’ve seen. When Tatsuo when up to the speed ball and set up his jab to start his combinations, the combo kept on going. Not a single punch missing the ball, and when he’d stop punching he’d lower his guard and swiftly move his head from side to side as the ball just misses his face by centimeters. Once he got his head movement in he’d roll under the ball and pivot to different angles and continue the onslaught of combos.
When he finished with that, the trio watched him step back a little ways away from where he was and bounce in place, preparing himself as he takes in some air into his lungs. He brings up his guard, but then he did something that caught them off guard. He wasn’t in his orthodox stance. He was in a southpaw stance. Just as swift and smooth he was in his orthodox stance he was just as clean in southpaw. Tatsuo started to shadow box. Three quick jabs were thrown and he swiftly steps back and throws a hard straight and rolls under an imaginary right hook. He then pivots off his lead foot and throws a flurry of jabs and straights, but no hooks or uppercuts. Tatsuo’s foot work was so bizarre to them that it could’ve ben mistaken for dancing, yet it fit him for being a bizarre being himself. As the trio watched on with stunned amazement, failing to notice a small crowd forming behind them. Flashes and the clicks of cameras bring them back from their stunned state, but to be even more stunned from the small crowd. Some of the crowd are taking pictures of Tatsuo and his flashy foot work. As if his foot work wasn’t fantasy enough, Tatsuo then throws a combination in his southpaw stance but quickly changes his combination, smoothly transitioning it into orthodox punches. A lot more flashes went off as the crowd behind the trio started to get rowdy at how he did that.
The way he threw those combinations in his southpaw stance and then smoothly switch to orthodox was unbelievable, and yet so perfect. Never have they seen someone do that. Actually, they’ve never seen anyone do the things Tatsuo is doing. It was like it was his own boxing style.
The three friends had one question in their heads, and one question only. A question that needs an answer to and only Tatsuo can answer.
Who is he?”
Tatsuo has said he has experience, and it shows that he does, no doubt. He’s also said that he’s been in the ring, but why have they never heard of him. Why was his name never in the papers, or broadcast over the radio? It didn’t make sense to them. Just who exactly was this guy? This... human.
Fury’s eyes are narrowed in thought as he licks his dry lips to prepare to ask the question the three have been thinking. His eyes souly trained on his new human friend, not once looking away from him as he’s afraid he might miss something amazing. “Guys...?” He softly calls out to his two friends. The two don’t turn his way, also afraid to turn away, but reply with low hum.
“Just... who exactly did we befriend?”
Tatsuo’s First Person P.O.V
After an hour of nonstop warming up, I let out a sigh of relief as I feel my body finally warmed up and ready. “Aaaah, that felt good. Feels like I can go twelve rounds with no water breaks!” I exclaim confidently. Before I can go and grab some water, flashes disorientate me, as I bring up an arm to block the onslaught of flashes that sound like that they might be from cameras. Cameras mean reporters, and reporters mean good/bad. Good cause I can get recognized from good boxers to fight. Bad cause they’re annoying with their flashes and stupid questions.
“Hey yo, ease up with the flashes guys. Your gonna blind me!” And with that said the flashes ease up, but still go on.
“Hey mister! Hey! What are you? I’ve never seen anything like you before?”
I turn to the voice that asked the question but can’t quite see the person asking me from flashes of cameras still going off. “I’m a human. The one and only you’ll ever see too.”
“A human?! What exactly is a human? And what do you mean “the only you’ll ever see”? Does that mean you’re the last of your race?” A voice said from behind me.
“Two many questions, geez.” I rub the back of my head in annoyance. “I’m a human” i gesture to myself. “This is exactly what a human is, and I am the last of my race/species.” I say with a shrug of my shoulders. Not entirely true but not entirely a lie either.
“Mr. Human! How is it that you can switch from orthodox stance to southpaw? That’s unheard of, how do you do it?”
I cross my arms across my chest and shrug my shoulders. “It’s not all that hard if you just train yourself to get used to the other stance. Anyone can do it really. Nothing too amazing.” I answer honestly. “By the way, the name’s Tatsuo. Tatsuo Gracia.” Through the sounds of chattering and clicking of cameras, the sound of scribbling of a pens on a notepads can be heard. Every answer I was throwing out was being written down with gusto. Then another question was thrown my way. A question that I have been patiently been waiting for to be asked. The question that will get my name out there into this unexplored mythical world I was suddenly thrown into. The question that will get all the boxers in the world riled up and the boxers that hold championship belts.
“Mr. Gracia, what is it that you want from boxing?”
I turn my head to the one who asked the question and a large grin plastered on my face, as my sharp canines shine from the flashes of the cameras. The reporters suddenly looked on with fear, but a fear fueled with excitement as they await my answer.
I open my mouth slowly, preparing to answer the question that was asked. Every reporter that is here is at the ready to write what I’m preparing to say. Some nervously swallowing and sweating from the suspense.
“I... “ with that one word, the scribbling started. “I want to fight ever powerful boxer that holds a championship belt. I’m going to— no. I WILL become the next pound for pound champ for four weight classes! Starting at lightweight. Who ever is the champ for lightweight...” my grin widens even further, looking almost crazed. “I’m coming for ya.”
Author's Note
Pretty late coming out with this chapter. Myyyyyyy bad! Caught the rona when I started on this chapter so I wasn’t feeling up to typing up this chapter when I got it. Buuuuut, then after I healed up from the rona I..... simply got lazy *shrugs shoulders*. Sorry. But I’m coming back! But don’t be surprised if there isn’t another long ass wait for an update to this story XD. But if this story gets a lot more recognition, then I’ll probs will work on it more.
No promises!!!!
Hope you enjoyed this overly short and probably grammar/punctuated errored chapter!
Duces!
⬇️
Author's Note
Felt like typing up a chapter today. There might be some grammar errors, but don’t mind them. I’ll look over the chapter later on.
For now... enjoy!
Chapter 사
The reporters got all the info they needed and went on to talk with other people around the gym, trying to get some extra scoop on their newspapers. I’m pretty sure I’m going be on the headlines, smack dab on the front of the paper that will have uppercase letters and be heavily bolded to make it stand out. If I wasn’t stared at enough here, I’m pretty sure I’m going to be getting stared at and recognized more now. That’s what I want anyways. Got to put out my name and face somehow.
Once that was all done, I was about to go and hit up the speed bag but I’m stopped from a pair of black scaly arms wrapped across my chest. I feel a soft, yet firm pair of orbs push up against my back as a small moan rumbles in my right ear. I freeze in place as I feel my face flush a little. I look over my shoulder to find the reptilian eyes of Kayda staring back at me with lust.
“Did you just m-moan into my ear?” I stuttered a bit with shock. I feel Kayda press up against me more as her scaly hands start to rub around my chest and stomach.
“I sure damn did stud, but can you blame me? After what you did and said? Mmm, got me all excited!” She says with heated breath blowing against my ear, making me even more flustered than I already was. Before anything can be said or done, a low growl catches our attention as both I and Kayda tense up from how deep and low that growl sounded. Kayda let’s go of me and giggles into her hand.
“Chill Winter, I’m only teasing. Don’t get all growly on me girl.”
I shake my head to rid of the thoughts going through my head. I flick Kayda’s forehead for that little stunt she pulled. She yelps out and rubs her forehead and looks at me with confused anger.
“That was for the teasing. Can’t rub up on a dude you just met. The least you can do is buy me dinner first” I say with a disapproving shake of my head. I go on scolding Kayda about it and fail to notice Winter coming up behind me. I see Kayda look over my shoulder and find small smirk forming on her lips. I narrow my eyes at her.
“What are you looking a— what the?” Another pair arms wraps around behind me and another pair of orbs start to squish up against my back. Only these orbs felt a lot more bigger. Already knowing what they were, my face flushes up again. I look over my shoulder and find Winter hugging me as her icy blue eyes are narrowed in on Kayda.
Kayda holds her hands up and backs up. “He’s all yours...” she then pauses for a bit and looks back at Winter with the same look she’s was giving her, but with teasing smile, “for now.” she then walks off to another part of the gym with her gear in hand.
I feel Winter’s grip on me tighten around me possessively and hear her ’hmrph’ out in annoyance. I look on with bewilderment while my face still being flushed red. I scratch my cheek in awkwardness, trying to figure out what the hell just happened.
“Winter?” I call out to the white coated wolf. I feel Winter’s body tense up against me as I called out to her. Taking that as a sign that I have her attention, I continue. “Don’t wanna assume wrong, but judging from how your acting....” I pause for a bit and look over my shoulder to get a look at her and find her eyes averted from mine, shyly looking to the side as a blush can be seen through her white fur. “Do you have feelings for me?” Her hands grip around my stomach as she nods her head. She hides her blushing face against my back, my heart skipping a beat from how cute that was.
’That was fucking adorable!’
I let out a chuckle. “Love at first, eh?” I asked. She nods her head again. “You weren’t like this when we first met. What’s the sudden change?”
She shrugs her shoulders as her face is still hidden against my back. “You don’t know?” I chuckled again. “Maybe it’s just a little crush you have. You’ll get over it.” I grab hold of her arms to pull away from me to get back to a little bit of training, but her grip stays strong. “Ok Winter, come on, let go. I got to get back to some training. Can’t train if your still wrapped around me.” I try to pry her arms off me again, but to no avail. Now I’m starting to get annoyed. “This is getting ridiculous Winter, pl—“
“You don’t like me... do you?” She asked, almost sounding about ready to cry. My shoulders slump down as I let out a sigh. This caused Winter to loosen her grip on, but not let go. She started to softly shake as I felt my back start to feel damp.
’Damn, way to go you idiot! You made her cry.’
I rub the back of my head awkwardly trying to find the right words to say to her. “Look Winter, it’s not that I don’t like you it’s that—“
“It’s because I’m not pretty, right?” She says, cutting me off.
“Well... pretty is an understatement. You’re actually beautiful” I nervously say as I felt my face heat up embarrassingly. “Look, it’s not that I don’t want to date you, it’s just this is happening to quickly. At least let’s get to know each other first, maybe go on a few dates. Then, see where it goes from there, yeah?” I wait for a response, but feel her unwrap her arms from me. I turn around to look at her but I wasn’t prepared. Her icy blue eyes didn’t hold that look of seriousness anymore but was replaced with with teary puppy dog eyes. Her eyes looked up at me and then glanced away every few seconds as she played with a strand of her white hair. My heart stopped every time she glance up at me. It was painstakingly cute that I had an urge to hug and pet her head. But I held myself back and held strong. This was going to be tough.
I didn’t know she had this side to her. She looked so stoic and serious when I met her, and so quite. Never would have I thought that she’d have a side like this. I’m not complaining though, it’s was fucking adorable.
“S-So, what’s your answer?”
She starts to fiddle with her hands as her ears splay back against her head. She nods her head slowly, agreeing to my terms. Before I can say anything else, she speaks up.
“You won’t let Kayda get to you, right?” she asks, glancing up at me, eyes begging me to say no.
“Nah. Kayda’s pretty cute too, but she’s really not my type” i lightly chuckle. “So don’t worry about her” I say, reassuring her. She nods her head, a small smile forming on her muzzle as a small ‘okay’ escapes her lips. I then see her tail start to lightly swish side to side happily. I shake my head and unconsciously put my hand on her head, lightly petting her. “Geez, never would have thought you’d have a side like this Winter. Not that I’m complaining though. It’s very adorable.”
Winter’s face flushes a deep red. Her hands cover her face as the starts to further spread to the tip of her ears. Her tail then starting to happily swish faster behind her.
“Hey, new guy!” I turn to the voice that shouted out towards me and find the old stallion waving me down. “Come over here to show you your sparring partner!”
I nod head towards him as excitement starts to build up within me. “Come on, let’s go see who I’ll be going up against.” I feel Winter grip onto my compressed shirt as she nods her head, quietly following behind me.
Me and Winter stand next to the old stallion as he points up at the guy that I’ll be going up against. “Aight kid, that there is Steel Dawn. He’s an earth pony, which we call grounded fighters an—“
“Yeah yeah, I know all about that already” I wave that off as I look at the silvery coated stallion with a two toned mohawk mane. The old stallion huffs out in annoyance and looks up at his guy. The guy is currently shadow boxing in the ring and he’s a hefty looking dude for being a lightweight. He was slightly taller than me, which meant he had a longer reach than me. No biggie though. But what caught my attention was that he was pretty fast for having a long reach. You don’t find many guys who are fast that have long arms. But as I watched him shadow box for a couple rounds I spotted some things that only a rookie would do. The main one being his hands dropping for a few seconds after finishing a combination. I already knew how I was going to win this sparring match, which in turn made me sigh in annoyance. The old stallion heard me sighing as I can hear a smirk forming on his face.
“What? Getting cold hooves on me kid? Was that all talk that you were spewing out?” he cackles out, further adding to my annoyance.
“Do you coach these guys? Cause if you do, you’re pretty bad at coaching. Not terrible, but just bad.” I honestly said with an unamused look.
The stallion’s eyes narrow in on me as his chuckling stops. “Don’t get me wrong, this guy s’good, but I already know I’m gonna win this sparring match.”
“Pfft, your all talk now! Steel Dawn is one the best I have. His record is 20 to 1 in the lightweight division. He’s goin to—“
The silvery stallion stops what he’s doing and leans against the ropes as his arms dangle down lazily. The stallion looks down at me with eyes that said ‘this is a waste of my time’. Once he’s done looking me over, he looks towards his coach and points a thumb towards me. “This the newbie I’m sparring with?” The old stallion nods his head. The silvery stallion looks back at me and spits down at my feet. This got Winter to growl at the disrespectful action. I look over Winter with a calm smile, which in return to got to relax. He then continues.
“You better be able take more than three hits, if not, don’t waste my time” he cockily says with a lazy look.
I shrug my shoulders. “We won’t know if we just stand here looking at each other” I said with a smile. The stallion ’tsks’ and goes to put on his gloves, headgear, and mouth piece.
Fury grabs a clean mouth piece for me and pops it into my mouth. He goes to put the headgear on but I stop him. I push it away from me and tell him that I won’t be needing it.
“It’s cool, this fight will end in the second round.” Fury looks at me with shock and horror at my nonchalant attitude.
“Are you sure? How can you be so sure?” He starts to worry about me again as a flurry of worried questions start flying out of his mouth. I lightly punch him in the chest to stop him.
“Have a little faith me bro. I’ll be fine, I promise.”
Third-Person P.O.V
A small crowd started to form around the ring, bets being betted on which boxer was going to win. So far, their money was going to Steel Dawn. No bets were being placed on Tatsuo. Many of the different races surrounding the ring were laughing at how over confident Tatsuo was being. Many voiced their opinions, trying to under Tatsuo’s skin.
“Who in hell does this guy think he is? Psssh, I bet this guy will be knocked out in the first round.”
“He probably won’t even last a round. He’d probably get tired first and then get knocked out.”
“This guy doesn’t know what he’s getting into.”
No one was on Tatsuo’s side, expect for the three friends he had. Both Fury and Kayda were loudly cheering Tatsuo on, while Winter silently looked on, a bit worried for Tatsuo. She didn’t want him getting hurt.
“You guys are actually going for that guy? Do you even know who he’s going up against?” A pegasus stallion says to the trio.
Kayda looks at the stallion with a toothy grin. “We know who that is, but that guy has noooo chance up against that stud.”
A dragon snorts out arrogantly which catches their attention. “Doubt it. Steel Dawn has a farther reach than that friend of yours. He’s also faster than some who have long arms like him. Sorry to say, but your friend has no chance.”
Winter has had enough of the bantering and sends a glare towards the ones against Tatsuo. They freeze in place at the icy stare of the wolf and away from her. “Just shut up and watch” she growls out threateningly. Her sweet and shy aura vanishing and a dark icy one replacing it.
Her two friends look at her with fear and new found respect for her as they silently watch their friend’s sparring match about to start. The two boxers stand at one corner of the ring waiting for the bell to go off. Steel Dawn stands in his corner throwing some flashy combinations which started to rile up the small crowd. Flashes then started to go off, catching the combinations. Tatsuo in the other corner lazily hobs from one foot to the other, his arms lazily dangling at his sides. His eyes then suddenly widen as he looks down at his compression shirt. He grips the shirt with his gloves and pulls it over his head and throws out the ring and on a bench where his stuff was at. He sighs out in relief from the tight shirt feeling more freely without it on. Many flashes went off as soon his shirt came off. Many didn’t expect to see what Tatsuo was hiding under that shirt. His body had many markings on him that looked so alien to them. Many thought they were some sort of cutie marks, but how wrong they were. The markings on him were very eye catching, but the three large grizzly looking claw marks that ran across his chest had the crowd talking. Every reporter around the ring started to write what they saw as more clicks go off from their cameras.
Tatsuo impatiently pounds his gloves together, making everyone in the room jump in fright from how loud it echoed around the gym. “Yo come on, sound the damn bell already! Let’s get ball the rolling, yeah?” Once that was said, a the old stallion walks into the middle of the ring. He points two the fighters with open hands and points them to the middle of the ring where he stands, signaling to us to come forward. The two boxers do as instructed and both meet in the middle. The old stallions arms blocks the two from coming any further towards each other. Flashes of cameras go off again as two stare down. Their eyes never leaving each other. The old stallion starts up.
“Alright you two, I want a clean fight. I want you both to protect yourselves at all time. Listen to my every instruction I give you. Lastly, I want a clean fight. Touch gloves!”
Tatsuo sticks his gloves out to touch with Steel Dawn, but he the silvery stallion walks back to his corner. Many ‘ooo’s’ go around the gym as other cheer loudly at the stunt. Tatsuo back peddles back to his corner as he stares down the stallion, nodding his head on his way back. “Aight, keep that same energy!” Tatsuo is riled up now, and ready to rock.
Few seconds go by as the stallion in the middle looks at both fighters. He then backs out from the middle and as he steps away the bell rang.
DING DING DING
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. Author's Note
*Random wild chapter appears!!!*
Enjoy. If you want.
If you didn’t enjoy well… chupapi-munyayo. ._.
Chapter: سِتّة
I look back towards Fury and Kayda and find them stopping a feet away from the train that’s suppose to take us to where these two celestial gods, or whatever, who are currently await my arrival. That’s what the unicorn mare said anyways.
“You two ain’t coming with us?” I ask them both. Both Fury and Kayda shake their heads.
“Nah. Canterlot is not a place I really like to go to. To many uptight and snobby richies live their” Fury says with dismissive wave of his hand. I look to Kayda for her reason as she shrugs her shoulders.
“Same thing as Fury. Nothing but dick heads and racists bigots up there. You and Winter be careful there” she says as she waves us off.
Me and Winter wave back and board the train with the four guards. We take a seat but the guards stand by the entrences of the cart that we’re in. The unicorn guard in purple armor looks at that the two of us.
“What your friend said isn’t a lie, but I assure you that the two princesses aren’t like that. So there’s no need to worry” she says in a monotonous voice.
“She‘s right. The princesses are very kind compared to the ponies who live in Canterlot.” Kayda says to reassure me and back up the unicorn mare’s words.
I wave a dismissive hand to the both of them. “I ain’t worried about nothing. I’ve dealt with people just like them. This ain’t nothing new to me” I said with a chuckle. “Best way to deal with them is smile and blow them a kiss. They get pissed when you do it.”
This got smiles from the three other guards and chuckle from one of them. The one who chuckled spoke up.
“Just might try that” he said as he chuckled some more, but soon stopped as the unicorn mare cleared her throat. All three stood at attention as they stayed beside the entrences of the cart. The train then slowly started to move. It’s destination to a city called Canterlot.
The unicorn mare speaks up once again. “You two better sit tight. It’ll be an hour and a half to get there.”
“S’all good, I got my phone to keep me entertained” I said as I swiftly pulled it out a pocket from within my jacket. As soon as I pulled it out all eyes were on me. I tap my phone to turn it on and it unlocks itself as the Face ID kicks in. I quickly swipe twice on the screen and open up my favorite mobile game. The music to the game sparks up loudly through the speakers of my phone which made everyone in the cart jump. It put everyone on edge as the guards lifted up their rifles and looked straight at me. I looked back then with confusion.
“Damn, what’s got all you jumpy. I’m just playing a game on my phone” I say as I show them the game as it loudly continues to play the music. They all lowered their rifles as they looked at my phone with child like curiosity. I then start to play the game as I continuously tap on the screen so the little character with the mini-gun jetpack doesn’t get killed from the various obstacles. I glance up from phone to find the guards and Winter closely watching me play the game with wide fascinated eyes.
“If your curious on what this is, it’s called a smartphone. It’s a device that can let me communicate with others with the same device or similar too from around the world. I can also watch videos, play music, and play videos games. This isn’t a magical item, it’s made up from tiny techy parts. It’s made by science. I wish I can explain to you guys in greater detail, but I’m not all that smart. I’m a boxer, not a scientist. And if you have questions about what I’m talking about, I’ll just show you through this device” I casually say as I kept my eyes on the screen.
Winter tugs on my sweater to get my attention. I pause the game and look over to her. “What’s up?”
“You said that device can play music, right?”
I nod my head. “You wanna hear some?”
She nods her head excitedly. This gets a smile from me and tap my phone a few times and the. tap on the Spotify app. I scroll through the downloaded music on the app and find a good song that everyone might enjoy.
“Alright everyone, lemme play some music that will get everyone in some good vibes!” I tap the song and it slowly started to play .
As the song played their ears perked up and started to nod their head’s to the beat of the song. The guards nodding and tapping their hooves on the floor. Even the most serious guard nodding her head as a small smile forms under her helmet.
Few minutes go by as the song slowly comes to an end. Everyone in the cart looks my way with disappointed looks, but soon the smiles return back to their muzzles as my playlist shuffles through.
“Hey Tatsuo, is it ok if I can play that game you were playing on that?” she asks shyly with her ears folded back. The sight of her made my heart skip a beat at how adorable she looked. So there was no way I was going to say no. I tap on the game I was playing and hand over my phone to her. Before she can grab it though, I quickly move it away as I look at her.
“Please be careful with it, ok?” She nods her head happily as she grabs my phone and looks it over curiously. She then starts to copy what I was during the game. On her first go she did pretty good, but once it started to speed up she lost and started over again. She continued to play has her face started to scrunch up as she concentrated on the game, her fingers tapping furiously on the screen to avoid the traps.
My eyes slowly start to move away from my phone as they slowly look Winter over. Seeing her winter white fluffy coat was pretty hard not to run my hands through it. Also, seeing those fluffy tips of her ears was really hard on me but I had to take the chance. I unconsciously reach out to her ears without a second thought and with my index finger and thumb I gently grab one of her ears. Winter tensing up goes unnoticed to me. I gently start to pet her ear as a smile spreads across my face from how soft and cold they felt. I then start to gently run my fingers through her fluffy fur and notice how unbelievably smooth and silky it is. I couldn’t help myself. I really couldn’t stop myself at this point. I had to hug and pet her.
I bring an arm around her and bring her head against my chest. Winter didn’t seem to mind, but I couldn’t tell how she was reacting. At this point I didn’t care. I had to keep petting her. I’ll let her pummel me later.
I gently hug her close as I start to gently scratch her ears and head, even combing my fingers through her fur. My fingers then slide down under her chin and then lightly start to scratch there. The moment I did that her tail started to lightly thump against the seat. Her right foot slowly started to thump against the floor as my scratching started to speed up a little. I feel her lean her head into my chest as a small groan escapes from her mouth. I quickly stop and look down at her worried that I might have scratched her to hard, but all worry is washed away she looks up at me with an annoyed pouty look.
“Mmrr, why’d you stop? That felt nice” she says drowsily as she shifts around and lays her head on my lap. She grabs my hand and lays it on her head. I then continue with the petting.
I let out a chuckle. “I honestly thought you’d be very pissed at me. Didn’t know if I was crossing some boundaries by doing that, but I had to risk it. Your silky fur was screaming to me to be petted.” She lets out a satisfied groan as I massage her head.
“You kind are. I’ll let it slide though because what your doing feels amazing. Never felt anything this good before” she says a bit tiredly as a yawn escapes her. “It’s even making me sleepy.”
“Heh, my hands tend to have that effect on someone when touched. Makes everyone go night night.” She just smiles and nuzzles her face into my stomach as she slowly starts to drift off to sleep.
“Wooow, look at you. Who knew a tough guy like you can have such a soft side” one of the male guards says.
I shrug my shoulders and look up towards the guard. “To be honest, I’ve never had a side to me like this till I came here. Don’t know what the sudden change was, but there’s change alright.” I look back down at Winter and softly pet her. “For some reason I feel different around her. Never felt like this back home with anyone. It’s a warm feeling that makes me happy but I’ve only felt this way with my mother. But there’s something there that I’ve never felt with my mom, but I feel for... her.”
“That’s something we call love, kid.” I look towards the female guard and find her looking at me with her blank look as always.
“Love?” I think about it for awhile, but can’t really tell for sure. “Maybe. I really don’t know yet. Like I said, I’ve never felt this way for anyone.”
“You’ll figure it out sooner or later bud. If she has this much of an effect on you now, just wait till you two start getting more serioussssssss, if you know what I mean” another guard says as he wiggles his eyebrows. The other two guards chuckle softly as the female guard shakes her head with disappointment.
We all soon start to get to know each other all the while Winter snoozes away on my lap as every few minutes she snuggles her face into my stomach. All four of them make little comments about how nice it would be for us to be a couple. I quickly turn those down as I tell them that I’m not ready for that commitment yet. The stallion’s shake their head’s in disappointment at missing a good opportunity and scold me for doing so. The mare in control of the group of guards quickly shuts them up and understands where I’m coming from. She told me its better to let things settle in before rushing into anything. I thanked her for understanding, but this got little remarks from the stallion’s. They quickly went silent the second she sent a piercing glare their way.
The mare then looks my way. “Anyways, so your trying to become a boxing champ, eh?”
You nod your head. “That’s right.”
The mare gives me a hard look and sighs. “Kid, no offense, but you don’t even look like you take on a dragon!” I just smile at her which confuses her.
“Probably not, but that ain’t gonna stop me from claiming belts in the four weight classes that I called out. Plus, it’ll be fun to fight a dragon, I just know it” I said with excitement in my voice.
All four looked at me as if I was insane and then then one of them snorted and started to laugh. “That’s the most craziest things I’ve ever heard coming from someone!”
Winter started to stir a little in her sleep and the guard quickly quites down. She softly groans in her sleep as she shifts uncomfortably on my lap. Her muzzle and face scrunch up as if she was in pain. She then wraps her arms around my waist tightly as droplets of tears run down her face. I didn’t know what was going on and I didn’t know what to do in this type situation. So the only thing I could do was softly comb my fingers through her white hair and shush her back to sleep. I did this for a couple of seconds and she soon laid still on my lap with arms still wrapped around me.
“Hm, wonder what that was all about?” I asked myself, to which one of them answering my question.
“She could be remembering a bad memory she had when los— OW! What was that for?!”
“Shut up you idiot. That’s not information we should be giving out to someone we don’t know.” The guard who butted in then looks my way. “No offense though. We take our job seriously, unlike this dumbass over here” he points a thumb back to his friend.
“Ruuude!”
I chuckle softly. “It’s cool, no—“ I pause for a bit as a big yawn escapes my mouth “…worries.” I rub my eyes a little. “Jesus, guess that little spar wore me out a bit.”
“Go ahead and catch some zzz’s kid, we still got about an hour to go. We’ll wake you guys up once we get there.”
I give a nod and rest back against my seat and get comfortable. I rest a hand on Winter’s head, softly petting her as my eyes slowly start to close. The last thing I see is a small smile on her face as my mind slowly drifts off to sleep.
