"Lilith and Florate, take your stance," the voice of the sensei came again. Lilith and Florate were already within the circle and bowed to each other, waiting for the sensei's order to begin.
Florate was already not himself because of what happened to Rain earlier, and so was Lilith. Left to them, they would have canceled their match and made sure she was well first before fighting.
He sighed deeply, with his attention turned away from his competitor Lilith to his girlfriend Rain.
He really wished he could at least accompany her to the clinic and be there with her while her wounds were being tended to. He wanted to be the first person she would see when she regained consciousness, and hoped he would still be. But first, he had to go through with the match and with Lilith as his competitor it would definitely not be an easy win.
"Hey," she called to him from where she stood.
"Get your act together, she will be fine, I promise. She is a very strong girl," she cheered him up with a smile. "Besides, I don't want this to be an easy win, so concentrate and give me all you've got." She stretched her leg in a leg raise while she spoke.
"Oh please, Lilith, don't make me puke at your meaningless brags. Just plead with me to go easy on you," he smirked at her.
"Yikes! I'm scared already," she mocked. "Please, Florate, don't go easy on me."
"I honestly don't plan to, Lilith dear." He took his fight pose and so did Lilith.
"Just like in the last combat, you have just five minutes for this combat, the winner will be judged by the results of your stats, not the fight itself. Get ready... Fight!"
At the last command of the sensei, Lilith attacked first, aiming to give him a butterfly kick but he caught her leg mid-air and gave her hard blows on it, earning him an uproar from the other rangers and senseis but a deeply pained face from Lilith.
"Just some piece of advice," he spoke to her while getting ready for her next attack, whatever it may be. "You know your circular skills in fighting are weaker compared to mine. How about you let things get dirty a bit?" He winked at her.
Lilith could not believe how naive Florate was proving to be, or was it Rain's current condition affecting him. She knew she was the most skilled when it came to ground styles among all her mates but she didn't want to use that advantage against him. But here he was, asking her to have her way. Did he purposely want her to win or was this a trap? No, Florate would never do that, she had a rethink. He only wanted the fight to be fair: him using his greatest strength and her using hers.
Nodding to his advice, she thought of ways to bring him down and then settled to let him take the first step. He attacked her with a few punches which she dodged, aiming to land one on his abdomen but he blocked it and gave her a sharp uppercut which got her staggering and whimpering in pain, and this got him another uproar.
"What was that for?" she cried, obviously very hurt.
"I said let things get a bit dirty," he repeated, staring at her in such a way that seemed like he was talking in a code that he was very sure she would crack. She looked at him utterly confused.
'What do you mean?' she asked herself but was answered with a back kick she received from Florate, followed by another crescent kick.
"Two kicks! All at once!" everyone yelled in astonishment. Florate was really scoring high points and getting famous right now.
Lilith fell to the floor at the crescent kick with her whole body in serious pain. She knew Florate was very skillful but never knew he was this strong. Well, she had never fought him before and he really did beat her expectations. She was about to get back on her feet before she recalled what Florate had told her earlier, 'Let things get a bit dirty.'
What did he mean, she thought within her. If he really meant she should use her ground skills, then why was he not falling on the floor for her? He should at least make things easy for her if he really meant that she should win.
No! Something just did not add up. 'Let things get dirty a bit,' she pondered within her again still crouching on the floor. She looked around her and saw that she was almost outside the circle, and falling out accidentally could get her dirty from its rough sand. Within the circle was smooth and suited for battle but without it was all dirty and rough.
Wait! Dirty! That was it. It was then she realized what he meant all along. "Let things get a bit dirty," she whispered to herself with sudden joy. He didn't mean she should use her ground styles, he meant she should get him disqualified by sending him out of the circle so that he wouldn't have to wait for a whole five minutes to elapse before going to see Rain.
'As you wish Florate'…