The test

Who: Nic
Where: US Muay Thai
When: Late afternoon

The night before with Caleb had helped, or so Nic had thought. Whether it had or not, she was nervous, wondering if she was going to soak the tape on her hands with sweat or choke on her mouthguard. It was the day, testing day, and she wasn't far from the proverbial chopping block. The studio was packed with more people than classes ever saw; mostly students, but also friends and family, not to mention friends of the instructors and former students who were just curious about the newest crop.

Two members of that crop were in the ring right now, giving muted grunts of exertion and agony as they fought for dominance and control, grappling each other desperately. She could see the head instructor, Dan, pacing the ring and studying the fighters' techniques, and off towards the back she could see Master Kak watching inscrutably. Nic was next, she knew it. And while she'd stretched and gone through punching cycles, taped her hands, strapped her pads on? She still didn't feel ready.

"Break!" came the call from the senior student who'd refereed the match, splitting up the two fighters and looking to Dan. "Michael, Jake, good fight," Dan said from outside the ring, "Jake, advanced classes start next week. Mike? Give it a shot next month, you'll make it." That was encouraging to hear even if it wasn't said to Nic, and she tried to take it to heart now so that it wouldn't sting if she lost. She could learn, even if she hit a snag. Just can't quit, nic thought with a nervous flutter in her stomach as the two guys cleared out of the ring.

Already gripping one rope to haul herself up and in, Nic still twitched as Dan boomed out from the crowd of onlookers. "Okay, people! Nicole?" he called, smirking as he caught her halfway up, "Eager, hey? Let's not keep you waiting. Okay, Nicole and... Sam." Nic's cheek twitched when she heard that, slipping through the ropes and into the ring. 'Sam' was Samantha, some college girl who'd taken self defense classes back wherever she was from, and everyone knew that the testing was a formality to her.

Nic took a few light steps across the ring, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she turned to look out at the small crowd of spectators. Caleb was out there somewhere, probably lurking without sparing anyone else a word, but she was trying not to look for him. Instead, her eyes fell on her opponent, Sam, as she disengaged from some guy in the class who'd tried leching on Nic in her first weeks. Sam was taller, lean with muscle where Nic still had bits of slack on her frame, and the look in the older girl's eyes was intimidating all by itself.

Nic backpedaled to her corner as Sam stepped upinto the ring, trying to force the jitters from her limbs as their referee stepped between them. "Okay, we're just fighting for points, clear?" he asked, drawing nods from both women, "Fist, foot, no low blows, and if you hit a grapple, no sustained punches. Let's keep it clean: step to the center, touch hands, and fight." Popping her neck, Nic moved in to do as directed, suddenly all too aware of the weight of her headgear and mitts. It was nerves, plain and simple, but she just couldn't shake them.

She stretched a gloved hand out towards Sam, eyes challenging as the other girl smirked and bumped her hand, then slipped her mouth free. "It'll be quick," Sam sneered at her, stepping back. Nic bristled there, letting her own guard fall free for a chance to speak. "That's what your boyfriend told me, bitch," she shot back. And then? Well, it was on.

Sam rushed in, two quick steps to cover the ring as she lashed one foot out in a chest-level kick far more well balanced than Nic had managed to get to on her own, not that it mattered right now. It was a basic muay thai manuever, a good opener, and exactly what she'd wanted to see. She stepped to the side, biting on her mouth guard as Sam's kick smacked into her upper arm before Nic lashed a foot out low, smashing it into the back of Sam's remaining leg and dropping the woman in a heap.

"Point!" came the call from the ref as Nic hopped back, hands raised and ready. She dared a glance at where she'd seen Kak watching, catching a glimpse of approval there that flashed into ire when he saw her looking. Focus on the fight, she thought, knowing Kak had drilled the lesson into her head enough by now. Nic looked back in time to see Samantha rushing her, instantly wishing she'd heeded kak's lessons as her arms raised to block a rain of punches. They came in a torrent; left and right, high and low, and she was struggling to predict her own movements after the first three.

Her forearms were already aching as she blocked the initial two, her head weaving to slip past a third and, unfortunately, line her up for the fourth. It hit hard in the shoulder that had already taken a kick, staggering Nic back as she twisted to deal with the continuing punches. "Point!" said the ref again, stepping in to end the flurry of blows with a stern look, "Fighters, break!" Nic hopped back when bidden, snarling as Sam kept pressing and taking a shot to the head before the ref got between them. "I said break!" he repeated harshly, warding off Sam as Nic struggled to breathe.

"Yeah, bitch! Get off my nuts!" she snapped at the other girl, regretting her temper instantly as Dan smacked his clipboard on the ring's edge. "Nicole! Lose the trash-talk or that's a point against you!" he warned, stepping back, "And Sam! Listen to your referee." Nic bowed quickly, drawing a deep breath as her hands came up in readiness, the ref stepping back from between the two of them. "Fight!" he said again, moving to the ropes as Nic hopped in. She was met halfway as she took the offensive, fists balled and snapping out in a series of jabs.

She caught one in the chest for her efforts, her assault disrupting whatever else might have been coming as Nic popped Samantha square in the mouth, then the cheek with a following cross. She pressed the effort, hammering the right cross in again and following with another jab, feeling a personal thrill as the ref's hand raised. "Point!" she heard before he waved for the fight to keep going, lunging back in. Nic's left lashed out in another jab, her heart sinking as it was easily intercepted and pulled into an arm-bar grapple. Samantha growled a harsh laugh as she twisted at the shoulder, trying to bear Nic down to the ground and making her bite down hard on the hunk of plastic in her mouth.

Her back locked, arm tensing as Nic kept her footing, fighting the leverage on her arm and trying to remember how to break the hold. She was a hopeless grappler, really Nic only took classes here for the pure kickboxing, but she needed the other lessons now. They weren't coming, though, and she knew she was about to get dropped down. She was going to lose. Nic rushed in, folding her arm naturally as she crashed into Samantha and used the pull of the grapple to topple both of them. Scrambling to orient herself on top, Nic raised her free hand with a growl of her own, smashing it down twice before the referee was suddenly hauling her away by the armpits.

"No point!" he snapped at her, dropping Nic once he'd pulled her off of Sam, "Illegal hit!" Nic wanted to jump him when the words made sense, hopping to her feet and looking out of the ring at Dan. Who just nodded. "Samantha, point for the grapple. Two to two, and Nic? That's a warning. We've got rules here." She wanted to bail right now, to just hop out of the ring, find Caleb, and leave. But that was the anger talking, probably the fear of losing too. You're here. Finish this shit, she told herself, raising her hands in anticipation.

"Fight!" she heard for the third time, and Nic wasn't playing around this time. She lunged like Samantha had done at the start, slamming a foot up and out to catch the other woman high in the chest and knock her back into the ropes, not even thinking about her balance as she rushed after the kick. Both of them were fighting like this was it, like it would decide everything; raining punches high and trips low, taking the sting behind every block as they denied each other a clean hit. And... somehow Nic became a spectator.

She didn't even feel the disconnect, wasn't aware of the sudden understanding about her movements, but they were there. Her wrists crossed around a punch from Sam, forcing the arm high and drawing it out, then slipping down to strike the other woman's ribs. Sam twisted in avoidance, pivoting and thundering a high kick in at Nic's face, only to have it stopped by the crossed arms again. Kicking out a trip, Nic was thinking two steps ahead even as Samantha staggered but didn't fall. She twisted in her steps, flanking Samantha as she staggered forward and, without thinking so much as doing, smashing down an elbow on the padded back of Samantha's head.

"Illegal hit!" she heard as Sam dropped face first to the ring, blinking and looking up to stern disapproval from the instructors, "Disqualification!" Nic blinked in slow understanding, hands tightening at her sides. "What?" she spat out with the loss of her mouthpiece, "For that? What the fuck!" She moved to the edge of the ring, hands wrenching at her headgear straps as Nic fumed. "Cool it, Nicole!" Dan snapped back at her, "You knew the rules here. Fist, foot, grapple. You want knees and elbows? Move to Thailand or train somewhere else. Try again next month, make sure you've got the rules straight."

There was far less encouragement there for her than the last fighter'd gotten, and Nic's face burned with a mixture of embarassment and adrenaline as she slipped out of the ring to make room for the next fight. She tore her headgear free, throwing it in a fit of anger as her shoulders rolled. It was bullshit to Nic, she'd won, but for the rules. What did rules count for in a real fight? Was she supposed to keep from throwing an elbow if she was fighting a vampire for dear life? Nic was already brooding on that and more when she heard a coarse coughing sound behind her.

She spun around with fire in her eyes, dimly aware of the new fight in the ring but far more focused on Master Kak standing in front of her. "You fought well," he said plainly as she gave a slight bow, blinking in surprise from the compliment, "Where did you learn that last bit? It was not here." Nic stood straight, head shaking in confusion. "I... I don't know," she answered honestly, thinking back on the elbow that had cost her the fight, "I, uh... martial arts movies?" Smiling uncertainly, Nic felt a touch better as Kak smiled back, shaking his head.

"You must have watched them many times," he said, "That was traditional Tai Fist, not seen much." Which was as shocking to hear as the disqualification had been, though in different ways. Sure, she'd seen 'Ong Bak' plenty of times, but... what did this mean? Had she just been lucky? "I... I think I just got lucky, or mad," Nic suggested, shoulders bunching in a shrug. Kak shook his head, smiling a touch. "But you have potential, at very least. You say before, you are not here to compete?"

She nodded dully, confused and anxious again, wondering why he was asking. "If you do not train for tournament, you will train with me?" Kak asked, smiling brighter as Nic gaped at him in shock, "Traditional ways. Knee and elbow, hammer fist, stallion stance, yes? Same times, same days, class of one." Still gaping at him, Nic needed a moment before she hurriedly nodded in agreement, bowing again to him. She wanted to ask if he was sure, but just like Caleb, Nic figured the man wouldn't offer just to offer. "O-of course, master!" she blurted, looking back at him.

"Good," Kak said with a nod, "Go. Enjoy your weekend, be young, be foolish. Monday, we begin." He turned to move back into the crowd without another word, leaving Nic staring at his back for a moment before she let herself smile. Raising a wrist to her lips, she tugged open the straps of one mitt and started over to the cubbies where her clothes were. Caleb was in there somewhere, she just had to find him now. As she moved, she caught sight of Samantha smirking proudly at her, but Nic had no problem smirking right back. Fuck you, girlie, she thought, I won. I won.