An Unexpected Match - Jacob Vs Felina

It had been a couple of days since Jacob had passed his AFW Initiation of sorts, finally being cleared for matches and what not. He had gone through the entire roster. Everyone. Assigning them all numbers from 1-5 based on how much of a threat they were to him. Admittedly he had done a fair few of them while drunk. For the most part he had assigned people as an assortment of three’s and two’s. He had a couple four’s but the biggest issue was the five’s. Now there wasn’t a lot, only three in total, two of them were ranked five just on their ability and the fact they held titles. But there was one that he had marked as 5 with a skull. And that was Carmen Rodriguez.

Carmen was a threat to Jacob. And since Tension was smaller than its Friction counterpart. By that logic Carmen and Jacob were bound to cross paths eventually. Now there was nothing wrong with losing to Carmen. Afterall most people would expect that, but it regardless of what Jacob thought, it was coming. Now Jacob could try and deal with it early. Try and get it out of the way, but Jacob would rather be prepared. That was what, ironically had led him to Carmen’s gym. He had all the match footage in the world to analyse, but nothing bested field research. Besides, wouldn’t it be awesome of Carmen taught him and then he used those techniques to beat her?

Still, Jacob was getting slightly ahead of himself. For now, he just wanted to observe, maybe sharpen his skills and maybe even befriend her. Having an ally like her would be indispensable. For now, nothing was off, Jacob would take whatever he could get. With a small composed breath to keep himself above his nerves, he took the final few steps forward to enter the gym. No one it seemed was around. Was it shut? Well it couldn’t be as the door was open, that and the lights were on. At this point he had spotted a lone figure in the gym. He couldn’t tell who it was, but upon closer inspection he noticed that it was Felina Rodriguez. He remembered looking through her folder. He couldn’t however remember the number he had assigned her. Though 3 was the likely one. He remembered she was a kickboxer, not like the rest of her family, making her the black sheep. He had managed to observe some of her old kickboxing bouts, but nothing recent. Nothing that would gauge the sort of person she was now.

Scouting around one more time to double check no one else was around, a sigh escaped the males lips. Clearly he had made a mistake coming here. But now he couldn’t just leave, it was rude. He could make up an excuse, or perhaps even just come clean as to what his intentions were. No. That would be silly. He just had to hot the nail on the head and take the plunge. Afterall, the AFW didn’t exactly seem the place for tact and diplomacy, so maybe being blunt was the way to go. Clearly he couldn’t avoid being spotted now, so instead he just called out towards her.

“Sorry for intruding, but I am guessing Ms Rodriguez is not around hm?” Why was he sorry for intruding? Even Jacob had to doubt his own speech once his brain thought about it more “I was just hoping to catch her briefly that is all. I am new here you see. New to the AFW I mean. But I digress. I will just come back at a later time. Do you know of anytime that is more promising that this has proven to be?” Jacob couldn’t hide that British accent. It didn’t matter how much Japanese he learnt, he always sounded stuck up and rude. Typical southern boy through and through. Could be worse, he could have a northern accent. He at that point remembered that he had spoken in English and not Japanese. Another habit he was trying to kick. The woman might not even be able to speak English. Quickly he switched languages speaking back in crude and highly over pronounced Japanese “I am sorry. Did you understand me ok?”

Another day, another workout. That was the mindset of Felina as she’d headed into her cousin’s gym today. Everyone else was out for now, so she had the whole place to herself. On the bright side, that might mean she could get through her workout a bit quicker than normal. No waiting for other people to finish their stuff, no dealing with Army’s bullshit, no distractions. But it also meant there was an active, extroverted young woman with no one to interact with. That could get boring very quickly.

That was already starting to be the case as she’d started stretching. Dressed in only a turquoise sports bra and matching shorts, she took a seat on a mat with her beautiful legs stretched out and a pair of earbuds in her ears playing some Aerosmith, then leaned toward the right leg and reached out to her toes to stretch the leg out. “Maaan, it’s too quiet today.” she complained aloud to herself, though because of her music she hardly even heard it herself.

After another minute or so of stretching, Felina noticed someone out of the corner of her eye walking toward her. She reached a hand over to pause her music, then pulled an earbud out, stood and glanced at the approaching stranger. When he commented on ‘Ms. Rodriguez’ not being around, Felina was about to answer when he started speaking in Japanese. At that, Felina looked at him as quizzically and awkwardly as she probably could’ve.

“Boy do I look Japanese to you?” she asked rather rhetorically, crossing her arms in front of her, before giving him a more direct answer to his original question. “Carmen’s out right now. Won’t be back for a while. Let me guess, got somethin’ to do with that 24/7 belt, doesn’t it?”

Yeah. On second a second look, the woman did not look Japanese. But still, he couldn't help but double check. Very  quickly the woman got onto the subject of Carmen. Now more extra chit chat. That was good, in a way.

"While it does have something to do with Ms. Rodriguez, it wasn't anything to do with the 24/7 belt. For you see, I am new. I have been looking around the roster and worked out that Carmen is the one person who presents a serious obstacle to my plans. I had hoped she was around so I could observe her training and sparring. But Alas, she is gone. A small sigh would escape his lips. It looks like his plans for today were scuppered " I suppose this is directly to do with the 24/7 belt. I can assure you I had no intention of coming here and fighting Ms.Rodriguez for it. I haven't had my official Debut, I am not stupid. I plan on watching Ms.Rodriguez for a while and doing a couple more matches, before I take that title and her pride"

It sounded harsh, but it was true, Jacob wasn't going to lie, Carmen was one of his endgame goals, and he was going to confront her one day. Now ithough wasn't the time. He observed Felina closely, struggling to work out her body language, unsure if she was harmless or not.

Felina listened while Jacobe spilled his story out for her. So he was a new guy who wanted to observe and train. Understandable enough. The best way to improve as a fighter is to learn from more experienced people, after all. So that part she had no issue with. But when Jacob talked about wanting to take Carmen’s championship and her pride, that was different.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Now hold on just a sec there.” Felina said, then stepped closer to stand toe to toe with the stranger. “I don’t know who you think you are, but that’s my cousin you’re talkin’ about. You think you can just waltz in here and say you’re gonna ‘take her pride?’ Fuck that! You want a fight with a ‘Ms. Rodriguez?’ Well congratulations, you just got one.”

She didn’t bother waiting to hear his response. The latina beauty just took a few steps back and took out her phone, then dialed a number and held it up to her ear. After a couple seconds, a voice answered on the other line, and Felina spoke. “Yeah, hey. It’s Felina Rodriguez. We’ve got us a 24/7 match over here and we need a ref..... Yeah, one on one..... We’re at... ugh, what’s our damn address again? Whatever, it’s Carmen’s gym. You guys know where that is, right? ...Cool, thanks.” She hang up then set the phone down on a nearby table. On that same table lay a pair of fingerless gloves, which she picked up and began to slide over her hands.

“A ref’s on his way over. Hope you’re ready for your big debut, kid, ‘cause it starts in about ten minutes.” she said while walking back over in Jacob’s direction, again stopping to stand several feet away from him. While Felina could appreciate Jacob’s honesty in regard to his intentions, she wasn’t going to stand for what she perceived to be a threat directed at her family. As far as she was concerned, Jacob had just fucked up, and Felina was fully intent on making him pay for it.

Some people say honesty is the best policy. His own mother had taught him that one. She didn't mention the fact that it would cause you to get into fights that you didn't want. Jacob was nowhere ready for this. Before Jacob could even open his mouth to interject with the female, she had already made the call.

10 minutes was a long time to wait. He had thought about saying something for the first few minutes, but kept pretty much to himself, getting himself into the zone. He couldn't help but think that his debut was attacked heavily against him. He knew he had his mother on his side, but that wasn't exactly going to help him survive. If this fight was going to happen, he might as well engage in some talking. The ref had not arrived yet and it couldn't hurt to poke the tiger and see what  happens.

"I hadn't planned for this, so you will need to excuse the jeans. I am just glad I didn't use the the tight jeans I was going to use this morning" He chuckled  lightly "But no, in all seriousness, I  guess this fight isn't too bad after all. I mean if I do want that title, and to crush Carmen, although that is a more of a long term several year thing, I might as well start with the lowest Rodriguez and work my way up. I mean it does go ,you, Army, Carmen, correct?" It was a bitch move, but Jacob was gaining his confidence now. He had seen her file and marked her as a soild '3' so she wasn't going to be any real danger. It might hurt him to start with, but he would see  it through. Jacob couldn't help but dig a little bit deeper too, might as well poke the tiger hard if you do it at all.

"I mean, you are the black sheep right? From what I have seen you are a kickboxer in a family of champion boxers. So let me guess, didn't make the cut there so rather than quit you just carved your own little niche where no one could compete because you were a different level. Lower level mind you, but still another level"

Felina was half-convinced this guy had some kind of death wish. Strolling in uninvited and announcing that he basically planned on ruining Carmen’s life was bad enough. But now he wanted to use her kickboxing as an insult to her? Maybe Felina should’ve called the morgue to give them a heads up too.

Her whole ordeal with choosing the path of kickboxing outside of the family tradition was quite a sensitive topic. It wasn’t a decision she’d taken lightly, nor a path she’d half-assed. She’d worked long and hard to get where she was, and no one was going to tell her she was some sort of lesser being for it. Least of all some nobody who’d just shown up out of the blue.

“Shut your fucking mouth, you little shit.” Felina barked back. “The last guy who played that card got knocked the fuck out for his troubles. You already had that comin’, now you’re just digging your grave even deeper. And for your information, going into kickboxing had nothing to do with whether anyone else could do it or not. I just knew I could, so I did... And for the record, I kicked Army’s ass in my debut here, so fuck you.”

Had to throw that last bit in there too. Maybe it was just because she’d already heard the same sort of shit from so many people before, but Felina didn’t have any trouble composing herself and refraining from rushing at Jacob just now. But as soon as the ref and camera guy showed up, that was all going to change very quickly.

Jacob had hit the nerve. And although Jacob wasn't a heel, he did take a certain amount of quiet happiness at his handiwork. Sure Felina had gotten angrier, but Jacob had learnt during training that if you keep poking someone so that they keep getting angrier and angrier, they will eventually become so angry they become prone to mistakes. Felina did seem to have her lid screwed on right though, after she had her vent she went back to being composed. SO maybe she would just simmer abit. Fucking with someones anger did have a danger though, while getting them angry could cause them to make mistakes in a fit of range, it also meant they were more aggressive, and while a normal fighter, wouldn't always go for nasty, powerful moves, and angry fighter was a different kettle of fish altogether.

Thinking abit more, Maybe Jacob had pushed too many buttons. He clearly had Felina worked up, maybe he had to diplomatically bring her back down. before the ref got here and she exploded into a ball of dangerous fire "Look, alight. Maybe that was going a little too far ok. I am sorry. Clearly i touched a nerve" It was more than likely too late to recover from this one, Felina pretty much had his death wish signed from the get go. Before he could open his mouth, Someone entered the gym. It was the ref that everyone had been waiting for; even a few minutes early too. He had expected his debut to be in the ring. Nothing like what he was facing now. This was pretty much as brutal as fights got. There was nowhere to run, and everything in the entire gym was a potentially Cataclysmic weapon.

Jacob would simply turn back to face Felina, clenching his fists and raising them to cover his face, adopting a boxing stance - for someone who knew noting about boxing. Of course it was sloppy; feet were wrongly placed and his guard wasn't exactly solid or firm either. This wasn't his first ever fight. But the others had been in controlled matches where they started with a lock up or a throw. He wasn't exactly sure how to start this one. "I would say good luck, but i don't really think you need it" Again, another attempt to calm the beast,

“Going a little too far?” That was a bit of an understatement. It was clear Jacob knew he’d gone somewhere he shouldn’t have, but he didn’t yet understand just how severely he’d screwed up. That would change very soon though.

“You can take your apology and shove...” her voice trailed off when the door opened, and Felina turned to see the ref enter the building, accompanied by a cameraman. They’d made really good time in getting there, still even had some minutes to spare. Perfect.

Felina looked at Jacob again and saw him getting into a stance not much different than what some of Carmen’s newest trainees often did before learning how to actually do it. There were more holes in his guard than in a block of swiss cheese. He was damn lucky Felina wasn’t standing within striking distance right now, or he’d probably be taking a blast from one of her lethal feet right to the jaw.

“Damn right I don’t. But you will.” she replied while getting into her own stance. And just like that, it was on. Felina closed the distance in a quick but calculated move. She kept her fists up and shifting ever so slightly around, hoping to make him think she was going to try to punch him. Instead, Felina would attempt to catch him off guard by throwing a front kick at Jacob’s thigh to disturb his balance, and following with a right jab aimed at the bridge of the young man’s nose.

Felina wasn't going to take his apology. It seemed he had gone beyond the line and Felina was going to make him pay. Getting into her stance, Jacob could see how agile she was going to be. Before Jacob could even start to make a move, Felina had swooped in and beaten him to it. He has crunched his guard up, expecting some form of strike to the to the face.

The resulting strike to the thigh caught him off guard, dropping his guard and forcing him to lose his balance, a hiss of pain escaping his lips from the impact. It could of been worse though, a thigh kick he could recover from. Sadly Felina didn't give a inch and before he knew it he could seea fist heading straight into his face.

The strike was nasty. Even the ref winced from the strike. The impact made a loud thud, a yelp escaping from Jacobs mouth which developed into a small scream after a second. That was the sort of punches that destroyed noses. Thankfully it wasn't broken just yet. But he hadn't gotten away too lucky. The impact, combined with his worsening balance sent him flying down to the gym floor. His back hit with a thud, and at that moment he felt his nose get a little warm. Lifting his hand up, he could feel a warm liquid, a vessel had burst and his nosevwas bloodied. It wasn't dripping, but still. It was her first attack and she drew blood. It didn't get any tougher than this. Rolling onto his stomach. Jacob would sigh, climbing up onto all fours before trying to clamber back up. He wasn't very agile currently, the nose punch had broken his confidence. But he had made his very first match mistake too; never turn your back to your enemy.

Bullseye. Scoring that little combo right off the bat couldn’t have felt nicer to Felina. For all of Jacob’s confidence about going up against the “lowest Rodriguez,” he wasn’t looking so smug or tough after one punch from her had dropped him right on his back. But that didn’t mean Felina was going to slow down and start celebrating. Not yet, at least.

As Jacob started to pick himself back up, Felina quickly shuffled around to stand right beside him. Then, she’d fire off a lightning-quick roundhouse kick, aiming to blast the top of her right foot straight into Jacob’s sternum!