Let it be known now that I am a major slacker.
Whenever I have off, you can find me doing one of two things. Sleeping, or fighting.
Whenever I have class, you can find me doing one of two things. Sleeping or fighting. Really, I’m as simple as can be.
My room was one of the many glorious spots I loved to stay in. It was perfect for sleeping since Fluttershy never caused any uproar. The only thing I had to work with was her animals.
Being a Huntress is hard work, and since I’m not a fan of hard work, I barely do it. Luna never gets off my back about how I’ll never be as great as my classmates, or something like that. Why do you need to know how many weak spots a Grimm has if you could just punch it?
I laughed every time a student thought to challenge me. “See if you can beat the legendary Rainbow Dash!” they’d say. I ain’t into fighting any girls, but if some guy wants to scrap… heh. Good luck.
“Rainbow Dash?” said Fluttershy cutting into my sleep. “Um… I don’t want to interrupt you, but our Grimm Studies class is about to start and I didn’t want you to miss it.” Living with Fluttershy gave me more benefits than just sleeping comfortably. She’d also wake me up and get me breakfast, if she’s feeling nicer than normal. Sometimes, I even found her regular shyness kinda cute.
“Thanks Shy, but I’m probably not gonna go,” I said. “I mean, it’s not like the class is important or anything, right?”
“Well... it is a class,” she said quietly like she always does. “And this is technically a school.”
“Yeah, it’s not important,” I said laying back down. “Tell me if there’s homework or something. I don’t think I’ll do it, but still.”
“Okay…” she said quickly leaving the dorm. I sighed when she left, slowly slipping back into unconsciousness.
Or I would if my Scroll didn’t start beeping.
Pulling it out of my pocket, I could look at the ID of the person calling me. I frowned when I saw the name. I thought about not answering the call, but the more it beeped on the more I felt I had to. Finally, I just pressed the button.
“What do you want, Dio?” I asked.
“You know exactly why I’m calling,” said Dio. His voice was always low and gravely, but not intimidating to me. “I got somethin’ in 20. You there?”
“Dio, I swear if you call me with something dumb like this again, I’ll punch your face in,” I answered. “I said what I said, okay? Bye.”
“Hold up, Rainbow,” he said quickly. “Ray’s gonna be there. I hear he’s calling you out.”
“Why should I care about what he does?” I asked. “I’m already over the whole thing. Just leave me alone.”
“When’d ya turn into such a pansy?” He asked, pissing me off. “The Dash I knew would come down here and kick some ass.”
“Get your head outta the clouds,” I said. “Look, I’m done with the business and with you. Tell Ray to go shove his ego up his ass.” I clicked the end call button and laid the Scroll onto the floor next to my bed.
I put my arm over my eyes and sat there for a few minutes. Ray Calderon: the first person to ever beat the mighty Rainbow Dash was calling her out again. I clenched my fists in anger. He’d given me no choice. I’d lost before, but if I didn’t show up now, I’d definitely be known as a huge coward.
Slowly, but surely, I sat up. I reached for the weapons tied to my bedpost and untied them. I slipped the leather gloves onto my hands and clanked the metal atop each hand. I checked to see that the small SMGs were still attached to the bottom of the leather on the bottom and got out of bed, picking the Scroll up with me.
I couldn't believe I was going back.
The door looked the same from the last time I stormed out of the place. Blue, chipped paint gave way to an unsuspicious rusted door leading into an apparently abandoned facility. From out here, you couldn’t hear anything. No one would be the wiser. I pushed the door open and hid from the sunlight.
Still, I couldn’t hear a thing. I walked forward down the narrow hallway until I came to another door. A seemingly drunk man was laying his head on the wall, looking up at the low ceiling. A bottle of vodka was barely hanging from his fingertips. Anyone would ask him if he’s okay, or just ignore him. If you wanted in fight club, you knew what to do.
“Get on the streets, ya drunkie,” I said. The man’s head slowly rolled forwards, his brown eyes meeting my magenta ones. “Where’s Dio?”
“Booth,” he said taking another swig. “Match’s goin’ on right now.”
“Thanks,” I said walking past him. The next door was the last one, the one that I remember getting sent flying through back then. I slowly pushed it open.
Now I could hear things. People yelling out bets, cursing and spitting at losers, and the loud pain-in-the-ass that was Dio Brandy, founder of the club and personal “friend” of mine who set up and announced the matches.
The arena itself was just a large, square room with high ceilings, lots of empty space, and a small arena in the middle of it all. I looked around, seeing no familiar faces, which was good. I found Dio up high in his booth opposite the door all the way on the other side.
I walked through the rest of the crowd, completely ready to push anyone out of the way that was drunk or too rowdy. I finally made it across to the other side where there was a staircase going up. I slowly climbed the staircase until I reached the small booth overlooking the entire arena. Up there with me stood a short, pudgy guy dressed in a suit. I always hated the thing because it made him think he was a real business man. This time, he wore black.
“Rainbow, glad ya could make it,” he said, much to my annoyance. “I trust the Huntress life is treating ya well?”
“I didn’t come here for the small talk, Dio,” I said. “Where’s Ray?” He pointed behind him towards the ring. In the middle, there was a tall, muscular person wearing a yellow t-shirt and black sweatpants. He was using his left arm to hold back some Huntsman and using his right to tote his weapon. It was a massive pipe covered in blood and slightly bent. As he held the guy back, I could see that, through his moppy black hair, he was smiling.
The bastard was enjoying this.
“I’m gonna kill him,” I said, my anger seeping through. Although he didn’t seem like it, Dio was strong enough to keep me back. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Did you forget what happened the last time you let your anger overcome you?” he said, bringing the image of my last match against Ray to my mind. I bit the bottom of my lip and backed down.
“Okay, okay. I’m gonna bash his face in next match.” The huntsman couldn’t land a single on the guy. His sword was easily blocked by Ray’s pipe and any other attack bounced off of his body. Ray looked down at him before raising his pipe above the Huntsman’s head. He watched in enjoyment as the metal cleaved through the Huntsman’s Aura and maybe even cracked his skull. When the huntsman fell, the crowd screamed in mixed voices about the matches conclusion.
“Get down there if you want next,” said Dio. “Someone else is bound to take your spot if you don’t hurry.”
“Don’t have to tell me twice,” I said pushing through the door and entering the crowd. It took no time at all for me to pull myself through so I could get my match. I jumped into the ring next, the people around it heading for the betting table.
“It’s you,” said Ray in confusion. “Didn’t think you’d actually be back or show your face.”
“You’re the one who called me out here,” I replied. “I’m not gonna back out of this, Ray.”
“That’s good,” he said, smiling. “Do me a favor and make it painful.” Dio’s voice cut through our conversation.
“Alright everybody,” said Dio. “You’ve got a few minutes for betting left. Make it good.”
“I don’t have the time to wait a few minutes,” he said. gripping his pipe. “Let’s make his quick.”
“Quick is my middle name.” I launched forwards, pulled back a punch and hit Ray’s chest as hard as I could. The impact sent pain through my own hand, but I followed up with another punch. They were quick and could probably knock out a boartusk in a matter of seconds, but to Ray, they were bites from a flea. I backed up and loaded my SMGs with explosive dust rounds, and fired bullet after bullet into his body. “Why aren’t you taking any damage!?”
“Hey!” said Dio over the mic. “The match hasn’t started yet!”
“Heh,” he said, basically walking through my rounds. “Still as pitiful as before. Now, you’ve got less spunk.” I clipped the SMGs back and lunged towards him. I swung my right leg into his neck, making it snap to the left. As he turned back, I saw his smile grow a little.
“Damn. What’s this guy made of, titanium?”
“Might as well be,” he said. “Got an Aura thicker than a tree trunk. You ain’t punchin through this.”
“Watch me.” Again, I went off. Punch after punch, I started to lose strength. Nothing was working! The frustration took a hold of me, pushing me to punch harder and harder. Still, nothing happened. Had I been paying attention, I would’ve been able to dodge his downward strike completely. It clipped my shoulder as I escaped. It felt as if I didn’t have my arm.
“Quick on your feet, but that’s not enough.” He slowly started walking towards me. “Now stand still like a good girl.”
“Screw you, asshole,” I said, dodging his strike. “Eventually, you’re Aura’s gonna run out. When that happens, I’m gonna beat your face in!”
“You ever heard that the weakest dog barks the loudest?” he said, mockingly. “Well, you’re a good example.” I dodged another strike, this one harder to evade. I was getting closer to the edge of the ring.
“Shut up,” I said as I nearly feel of the ring. “You’re the only one who keeps talking.”
“But it’s obvious-” His swing smacked me in the stomach, Causing me to lurch sideways. “ I have-” He swept my legs with a pipe, making me fall, my Aura shattering. “ The advantage.” He grabbed my legs as I scurried away.
“Let go!” I said kicking away. He lifted me into the air from my leg, leaving me to wriggle in the air. “Let me go so I can bash your face in!”
“I thought so,” he said grabbing his pipe tight. “Once a loser, always a loser, huh Dashie?” He swung his pipe into my chest, knocking all the wind out of me. My strength disappeared. He swung again, hitting me in the back this time. The crowd was loving my torture and Ray loved it even more. He kept swinging until I was nothing more than a sore bag of pity. He dropped me to the floor, my body and head going numb. The crowd’s shouts and screams were melted together, everything going blurry.
“No… way...” I thought, looking at Ray. “I can’t lose now. I just… can’t.” I pushed myself off the ground and steadily onto my feet. My muscles ached and my head was dizzy. Ray looked at me with the same look he gave me at the beginning of the match.
“You going on?” He took the pipe in both hands. “I guess I should learn to kill my prey.”
“That’s not gonna happen,” I said, getting into a shaky stance. “I refuse to lose to you.” My Aura started coming back very quickly. I watched while a rainbow colored circle surrounded me, healing me and bringing back my strength. I’d never seen this before, but it was hella awesome.
“Nice lights,” said Ray with a sneer. “What, you gonna blind me?” I felt light. So light, I could move at anywhere in an instant.
Turns out, I wasn’t too far off.
In what seemed like a single step, I appeared behind Ray. Before he could even think to turn, I threw what seemed like 5 punches. I felt as if I was the only one who could see what I was doing. I zipped in front of him and launched 3 more punches.
After that, it was fun. I moved around him, throwing blows quicker than I ever had. In the middle of my assault, a loud crashing sound rang through the air.
“Wait!” I said. “His Aura! I can end it!” I backed up, ran forwards, pulled my fist back as far as I could, and thrust it right into Ray’s face, bringing it down to the concrete floor, an explosion of rainbow light came from my fist, lighting up the entire arena.
For a few seconds, not even I knew what happened. After I could see, Ray’s broken pipe was enough to make me smile. For the first time since I’d been fighting, all those years ago, the arena was silent. No one could believe I’d won. Not even I could believe I won. I looked at my fist, closed it tightly, and punched into the sky.
“Rainbow Dash is the best fighter in here!” I yelled. “And don’t you ever forget that, got it!?”