The Agents

Chapter Twenty-three

"I am going to assign you a sparring partner. Each pair will go up one by one and spar until either someone taps out, someone falls unconscious, or I call the match. Understood?" The recruits all muttered an affirmative, excitement and nervousness etched into their faces. "Good, now let's see. Anna and Stacey, you two will go together. Aaron and Josh will spar, and Jennifer and Victoria. That leaves Austin... You will be sparring with either Steele or Carter, take your pick."

Austin looked over at the boys, one shirtless and revealing a ton of muscle with a smirk on his face, and the other wearing a hoodie and sweatpants while rolling his eyes. "I'll spar with Carter," Austin said.

"If you're sure?" I asked, giving him a chance to back out and choose Jaxon.

He glanced at the boys again, saw the evil smirk Jaxon gave him, and quickly said, "Yes, I'm sure."

"You're funeral," I muttered.

"What?" Austin asked, alarmed.

"Nothing," I said, sitting down next to Taylor, Drake, and Jaxon. "Let's start with Anna and Stacey." I motioned for them to get into the ring and they stood up, nervously walking towards it. They got in and faced each other, putting up their fists to block their face They started circling each other, but they were stumbling over their own feet.

I let them go for a while. They tried throwing some punches at one another, but they either missed or didn't hit hard enough to make a difference. I hid my emotions behind a blank mask, not letting anyone see how worried I was that these two couldn't even deliver a decent punch. After a couple more minutes of them stumbling around and not actually fighting, I said, "Alright, that's enough, just hold on." I stood up, climbing into the ring with them.

"What do you think you are doing?" I asked.

"Sparring?" Stacey questioned quietly.

"No. You two are stumbling over your own feet around the ring play hitting each other." Their faces fell and they cringed at my sour tone. I sighed, dropping my annoyance. "You guys can't be afraid of hurting one another. Pretend she isn't your friend. Pretend she is an enemy trying to kill you. If you don't put down the enemy, the enemy will put you down in far worse ways." They nodded along.

"Okay, when you punch you have to put more force behind it, don't be afraid of hurting one another. And when you circle each other around the ring, it isn't just to walk around and stall the fighting. You are studying your opponent, learning their strengths and weaknesses, looking for an opening for you to strike. If he favors his right side, get up to close to his left side, take him out of his comfort zone. If he has an injury, take full advantage of it, land blows on it and stay close to that part."

Stacey and Anna both nodded, and I said, "Remember, it's kill or be killed." Then, I turned and walked out of the ring. I sat back down in my seat between Taylor and Drake.

Nothing was said as the two girls faced each other again. They put their fists up and took offensive stances. They started circling each other again, with less stumbling this time. They watched each other.

After a couple minutes, Stacey went for the first shot. She sent a punch flying towards Anna, who didn't react in time. Her fist connected with Anna's shoulder. It still wasn't as much force as it could have been, but it was a definite improvement from the silly slap fight earlier.

They traded a couple more punches, trying to dodge some. As the minutes went by, they became bolder in their strikes, using more force. It still wasn't enough though.

After twenty minutes, the fight was still going and the girls hadn't made much progress over each other.

"Alright, that's enough! Come on out," I called. Stacey and Anna climbed out of the ring looking relieved that the fight was over. "Take a couple minutes to clean yourselves up. The next match will be in ten minutes," I said. The girls left and everyone started talking in their own little groups.