First Impressions Are Everything - Lee Meets Shiro

The opening gambit paid off far better than anyone could have imagined, catching off-guard both combatants and their growing audience. Shiro couldn't hold back his desire to gloat and smiled boyishly at the delirious Korean. The blue-headed boxer dared to smirk him at the start of the round; having the chance to demolish that expression so quickly and resoundingly sent Shiro into a convulsion of glee. "You look good decorating the ropes, Lee!" mocked the German-Japanese fighter, who was now cackling uproariously. Privately, he marveled at Lee's resilience for he was still standing, albeit with a wobble, after Shiro's impeccable haymaker.

Shiro charged headlong into his severely weakened opponent, on the prowl for a pivotal knockdown. He didn't believe caution was needed here as the blue headed tiger seemed more like a kitten at present. Tempted by the symbolism of succeeding where Lee had failed in the latter part of round one, Shiro aimed a right armed jab into Lee's gut before trying to nail his head with a left handed hook.

He fails for the first time ,his hesitation steps no longer save him from Shiro's big and devastating punch. It might worked for the first time but not with the second time and the result is ugly ,Lee as what Shiro said before is decorating the ropes pretty well but the blue headed demon is struggling to shake the cobwebs out of his head as fast as he could before the handsome redhead comes with an evil grin on his face ,face that shows how much he wants to destroy this blue headed demon badly even without a real logical reason except to boast his irritating ego.

Lee face shows how much pain he had to endure but the guy never give up as Shiro jabbed his right arm like a bullet into Lee's gut and nailing his strong as an ox head with a serious left handed hook that makes him to spurts out some saliva out of his mouth when the punch impacts ,increasing the cobwebs and his blurry vision at the same time before he stumbles a step or two to the left and almost losing his equilibrium but still standing and ready to fight.

The aggressive redhead's left hook swerved right into the center of its target. Accidentally, the powerful strike had expelled some of Lee's spit right onto Shiro's face. "How the hell are you still standing?" Shiro demanded, enraged and stunned by the saliva and Lee's refusal to fall. His perfect haymaker, a powerful jab to the stomach, and a left hook into his head performed in rapid succession could not fell the Korean. Shiro was aware that this was quickly becoming embarrassing. Even if he was winning overwhelmingly, in a way, failing to score a knockdown on the younger, smaller boy after expending all this energy made him look weak.

Determined to, at least, attain that elusive knockdown, Shiro invested all his strength and anger in a left cross, launching it back at Lee's face. Even if his combo had failed to achieve the desired outcome, his victim did seem worse off, far more so than before. It seemed as if Lee was propped up by only a few invisible strings. Just a little bit more, Shiro hoped as his fist rocketed towards its traumatized destination.

Although Lee is ready to fight ,he is standing like a puppet controlled by strings. His arms were heavily dropped and his gloves are just like becoming two hard to lift heavy irons by itself after that last hook punch nailed his head in a perfect way. Another punch with a little bit power might be able to knock the experienced underground fighter to the canvas for good.

Shiro tested Lee's body to its maximum ,the blue haired guy had nothing left under his skin at least for this round except for gasping breaths ,agonizing pain ,terrible dizziness and complete exhaustion as his chest is seen pumping his breaths in and out of his lungs in an unsteady quick pace. Shiro saw Lee's toughness and persistence in fighting with his own eyes which are giving him shock at first. The guy is amazingly still standing after taking one hell of a beating during the round but it doesn't stop Shiro from what he is doing ,his mind slaps him on his face and brings him back to reality where Lee is nothing but a fresh meat for him to be devoured in this round.

Instead of torturing the smaller guy with more relentless beatings ,Shiro decided to finish him with a very special left cross which he invested all of his strength and anger he developed for the humiliation Lee gave him as he stood unwavering despite the beating he took.

"THUDDD!!!!" The whole gym turns silent ,the sound of the heavy thudding sound is the only voice which is audible to the entire gym's visitor. It's so hard and heavy that Lee's vision goes white entirely when he takes the punch and doesn't feel a thing except some memories from his past keeps flashing inside his mind. It reminds him of fighting a big British guy who nearly killed him a while ago in the underground fight. Without his knowledge ,the mouthpiece already leapt from his mouth and here he is ,hands above the head and legs spread eagled a bit with trail of saliva with a mixture of small amount of blood can be traced flowing from the right side of his mouth as his head dropped to the left.

Just a moment later ,people who are behind Shiro's back jumping and cheering happily for his spectacular knockdown while Cathy watched the terrible tragedy from a close distance with dropped jaw and shocked looks on her face.

Ms. Mazaki immediately begins her approach on the downed fighter ,begins her counts which determines his fate in the match.

Every single second counts and The Demon is struggling ,struggling to awake from a small dream of his while the counts are increasing.

Shiro, rooted firmly to the mat, was stuck in the pose of his after throw, not yet withdrawing his fist from the successful punch. Lee had remained standing after so much that it felt a bit surreal to see him finally fall to his fist. Slowly, his slightly dazed expression grew into a brilliant grin. He turned to his supporters and bowed gracefully, positively preening at this point.

He turned back to survey his handiwork, evident all over the demon's battered body. Even from his distance, it was obvious that a few places where he had struck had begun to swell violently; tomorrow, he'd be contending with an extensive patchwork of ugly bruises. The Korean's breathing was labored and uneven, his small body, rising and falling almost as if he was struggling to stay alive. To his side, lay a trail of spit and blood, leading to his ejected mouthpiece. That last punch was certainly overkill considering his state but Shiro reminded Lee obnoxiously, not caring if he could even hear, "I did warn you to quit before something like this would happen." He shrugged, as if to slough off his responsibility in this matter, and returned to his corner to lean casually against the turnbuckle. Lee's sister's despondent face did churn his conscience but he pretended to be unperturbed.

As far as the German-Japanese boxer was concerned, Ms. Mazaki's countdown was a mere formality. There's no way anyone could get up after being so brutalized. And if possible, who would even want to? Shiro looked up at the ceiling, ruminating on the best tea to have after returning home, which he surely would be doing in just a few short moments.

Everyone might think Lee is done already ,all of the spots where Lee was seriously attacked at is swelling intensely while he wrestles with his mind to wake up and saves his pride. He was utterly defeated ,swelling and bleeding at some point. Ms. mazaki's counts were unclear to his ears but he could count the fingers ,it's already showing "5". Ready or not ,he had to break the count or facing another lost in a boxing match.

With the remaining strength he built the very last seconds ,he throws his right arm up and hooks it on the middle rope ,trying to pull himself up while he hooks another arm to the middle rope and the count is rising. Her sister watches him in sheer panic from the ringside but cheering her brother the best she can do while the count reaches 8 already. His rubber legs are the biggest hurdles to leap over but he manages to defy what people think about him and what Shiro thinks about him. He gets up in the very last second of the count which is 9 before he is going to be counted out.

People were astounded by his determination but definitely not Shiro who has been expected Lee not to get up after taking the beatings. Lee looks so heroic and masculine at the same time in certain point of view for standing with rising guards and a trail of blood on the right side of his mouth. Not to mention ,his thick layer of sweat coating the bruises and his entire body. All eyes are on him ,enthralled by his masculine body covered by bruises. Cathy notices his body is still shaking a bit during his approach on the tall redhead fighter but he is undaunted ,moving forward to the jaw of death with shaking steps and delaying the time for Shiro to have his victory tea.