NOVEL NEXT Chapter 5: A Nice Spar.
“Where is Zoey!?” The head coach yelled out.
Zoey looked over at the bald round-bellied middle-aged man and wonder what he wanted with her yelling like that. Usually, he was fawning over his star pupil Ben, the boxing prodigy of this generation, in his words. A load of shit in Zoey’s opinion but Ben was pretty talented, Zoey couldn’t deny that. She’d probably get worked by his arrogant ass right now even with her Status Box. But she was confident in being able to give him a challenge at least.
“She’s in the ring coach!” Someone called out.
Zoey and Zack were doing some mitt work to improve her accuracy and develop some good punch combinations with some defensive maneuvers. Zack at random times would throw out sharp punches while she was hitting the mitts, this would help her keep her mind focused on both offense and defense in the middle of a fight. One couldn’t be thrown out for the other and both should be kept in mind during a fight. Zoey usually responded by whichever defensive skill of hers needed the experience more. If she needed to raise her Slipping skill she would slip past that punch, bobbing and weaving her head to avoid it. Zack’s punches were too heavy for her to try and parry. She’d only get punished for trying to deflect his heavy-ass hands. Blocking was similar because of his gorilla-like strength, she’d only hurt herself trying to block them.
“Zach! Stop your mitt work! I got something important for the girl!” He yelled as he always does.
Zach dropped his mitts for her to stop and she listened. They went to the ropes and leaned over them to hear him out. Coach Scott only seemed to ever be in a good mood when Ben was nearby. He was pretty much an asshole but his teaching skills were great. There was one time he even gave her some advice on her footwork while she was doing a heavy bag round, which was basically doing combos after combos on a punching bag for 3-10 minutes. That one-time advice he gave her almost instantly leveled up her footwork skill to the next level. Seeing how that small teaching lesson he gave her did that, she had to look at Zach with a certain look. His lacking teaching experience was probably the reason why her skills leveled so slowly when training with him.
“Yes, Coach?” Zoey took out her mouthguard.
“Get out the ring and take a 5-to-10-minute break. I need you for something important.” He looked at her as if he hated to do this.
Zoey didn’t understand why the Head Coach didn’t like her. Even when she did something good or impressive, he still looked at her with those same eyes. Is he upset because she wasn’t his daughter or something? The future boxing prodigy Zoey Winters isn’t his to show off like a trophy? A smile showed up on her face thinking about this. Holding a big ass trophy for winning a boxing tournament or something. That was nice to imagine.
“Ben was just challenged to a spar by our rival gym down the street. You know them, right?” Coach Scott said, standing over her.
She took a drink of her water bottle.
“Yes. Those guys had a 3.7 rating online. This gym had a 4.0.” Saying that seemed to make him upset. She didn’t give a shit though.
“I’m not going to send Ben over there because the boy has some important training to do. Plus, that little bastard of theirs isn’t as bad as I thought he would be.” That meant that little Ben could possibly lose or be injured before his upcoming match.
So, she was his guinea pig huh? Throwing her out to the wolves and seeing exactly how he’ll bite her apart. Pretty fucked up but Zoey didn’t mind all that much. She was excited to fight against this talented fighter. Coach Scott never lets her anywhere near Ben in the ring or while he’s training. He says the boy has nothing but sex on the brain and she’ll be a distraction but Zoey thinks that’s just an excuse so she doesn’t embarrass his star boxer.
This fight could give her some good experience. Both with her Status Box skills and as a boxer. If this guy was as talented as Coach was making him out to be, it would definitely be a great fight for her. Zoey hoped that he was an out-boxer, swarmer, or a counterpuncher. Fighting against an out-boxer would help her gain some practice with long-ranged quick fighters. With swarmers, she could learn how to deal with people who want to get up in her face and stay there. If she fought against a counterpuncher, there was a chance she could finally learn how to counter and get the counter skill in the Status Box. For some reason, Zack was hesitant to teach her about counters and Coach Scott was always too busy to teach her anything.
“Okay. I’ll go. But do you think they’ll accept even though I'm a girl?” Zoey asked, most of the guys in their gym didn’t want to fight her because she was a girl. Why would the situation be different in another gym?
“Don’t worry about that, alright? Leave it to me. All you need to do is stay quiet and beat some ass for me alright?”
‘You’re lucky I have something to gain out of this fat ass...’ Zoey rolled her eyes behind his back.
“Okay, Coach. I’m ready to leave when you are.” She told him.
Her and Zack’s mitt work wasn’t all that extensive today. He probably had more for her to do afterward. She finished her water bottle and threw it in the recycling bin on their way out. As they made it out, a nice sexy looking expensive black car was waiting outside. Was Coach Scott rich or something? A car like that could not be cheap. Did boxing trainers make good money?
“Jog your way down there and I'll meet you there.” Rich and a fat piece of shit.
“Okay, Coach.” She nodded.
Coach Scott even had a driver and everything for himself! Ben, Zack, and the others must be making him a huge load of money. No wonder he was always so high-strung about them. She wasn’t making him as much money as they were so, that’s probably why she fell lower on the scale in comparison to them.
“I should finally go to Miles’s school tomorrow...” Zoey muttered.
It’s been a few days since she went into the main part of town and had that experience with Miles, the wannabe gangster. She hasn’t had the opportunity to go back in the city since that day because of family and school stuff taking up her time. Tomorrow was a free day from school because somebody died and the school thought it would be respectful to close down for the day. Which Zoey thought was weird because she didn’t think schools would close down just because of the death of a single student. She guessed that the student had to be someone special or related to the principal because of that.
“Get your fucking ass out here Mikey!” Coach Scott yelled from inside the building.
Everyone looked at them wondering what the hell they were doing here. The inside of this gym was pretty nice. Not one bit lesser than their gym in her opinion. Guess it made sense for them to be called rival gyms then. Even the dudes inside were just as hot as theirs.
“Is that fucking Scott at my door!?” Another voice called out.
“You know it bitch! Where is that fucking prodigy of yours at?! I wanna see if he’s worth sparring against my genius boxer!”
‘These two just love yelling, huh?’ Zoey picked at her ear.
“What the fuck is this!? Did you bring your adopted daughter here to get sympathy or something!? I’m telling everyone you pussied out and were too scared to bring your fighter to fight mine!”
“Hey! Hey! Hey! Shut your fucking trap Mikey! Like you have the right to ask anything of me! Do you know how many wins my fighter got under his belt when he just started out!? Get at least half of my fighter’s wins and then we can fucking talk about a spar!” Coach Scott gloated.
“Did you bring your fat ugly stupid ass down here to talk shit or to actually get something done?!”
“Hell yeah! Bring down your little prodigy and face off against this girl of mine! If he wins, I'll get you the spar you want. If he loses, well... I don’t need to tell you how that’s gonna turn out.” Coach Scott chuckled.
Coach Mike glared at her, looking her up and down to see what the hell was so special about her.
“Is this a fucking joke? Who is this? Why did you bring this little girl down here?”
“She’s here to kick your boxer’s ass! Now get him out here already! I don’t got all fucking day to stand in your shitty ass gym! It smells like shit in here!”
He continued to stare at Zoey. Obviously, he could see something about this situation was off. If he didn’t, Zoey would’ve believed he had brain damage. She just hoped that she could fight anyone at all. They probably wouldn’t hold back against her because she was from a rival gym and her coach wanted her to embarrass one of their fighters. Zoey’s blood secretly started boiling in anticipation of a good fight.
“Cody. Get in the ring. See what she’s made of.” Coach Mike was not stupid. Confirmed.
“Awh Coach, I don’t wanna fight a girl. Send Billy up there! He isn’t doing anything!”
“Cody, get your ass in the ring!” He whined loudly as he made his way up on the ring.
“This is good. That kid up there isn’t some no-name either. Kick his ass for me and I'll make sure to give you some more tips every now and then.” He whispered into her ear with his hot ass breath.
“You think I can win Coach?” Zoey asked.
“If I thought you would lose, I wouldn’t be putting you up there. Now go on up there and spar like you usually do.” Zoey didn’t realize the coach had any faith in her. Or watched her at all.
“Okay.” She put on some headguard and placed her mouthguard in her mouth.
Her opponent wasn’t wearing a headguard or mouthguard. He looked hesitant but Zoey could tell how confident he was about winning this. Probably thought he could beat her without even trying. This wasn’t going to turn out good for him unless he was a talent on the level of one of the world champions.
“Where’s your headgear, boy?! And get that fucking mouthguard in your mouth!” Coach Mike shouted.
“Chill out Coach. I forgot, alright?” He shrugged. Someone handed him the items and soon they could begin.
Zoey saw through his bullshit. He wasn’t taking this seriously and she wouldn’t give him enough time to regret it in the ring. At first, she just wanted a good fight but seeing his attitude pissed her off. Zoey got into a proper boxing stance with her dominant foot forward and weak foot behind her.
“Lefty huh? That’s pretty cute.” He whistled.
“Start!” Coach Mike yelled.
Zoey slowly moved in, waiting for Cody to get in some sort of stance at all. Her head instinctively moved to the side as his fist came whizzing past her out of nowhere. Zoey couldn’t stay surprised as he threw another punch from a weird angle, forcing her to block. The force behind his punches wasn’t light either. Was he a no-stance fighter or was he just toying with her?
“He’s playing with you, girl! Get in there and show your stuff!” Coach Scott shouted at her.
Okay, so it wasn’t a super genius she was fighting against. Zoey moved in while bobbing her head from side to side to dodge his strikes. It wasn’t until she got in range to hit him that he finally put up a proper stance. But by that point, it was too late for him.
Zoey gave him a good punch to the abdomen, nearly causing him to spit out his mouthguard. She didn’t give him time to start taking this spar seriously either. Her fists struck his stomach a second time and then a third time, and then a fourth time. All of these hits landed before he could drop to the ground. Once Cody dropped to his knees holding his stomach and grasping at the air with his glove, Zoey went over to the corner to give him space. She saw other boxers do this while sparring so, she figured it was common courtesy.
“What the hell are you doing, Cody?! Get the fuck up right now!” Coach Mike was turning red like a tomato.
“Gimme a sec Coach... She hits pretty damn hard for a girl...” He slowly made his way up off the floor with drool leaking from his mouth.
Letting off those shots in his gut felt pretty nice but the way he punched was interesting. She could learn something from this guy if she gave him a chance. Most of her anger from earlier was taken care of by seeing him fall like that. Zoey figured she could take it a bit easier now.
Once he made it off the ground, the match restarted with him taking it more seriously now. He was an out-boxer that focused on jabs and straights. Zoey wasn’t too good at taking hits so she couldn’t just charge right in and ignore his punches. She had to focus, watch his fists, his arms, and his legs. Not the skill, focus, because a fight on this level didn’t require that and would only be a waste. She intended to learn about this opponent not destroy him. That was eliminated from her system after dropping him to the mat.
‘Why won’t you just stay still?! My entire reputation is on the line here!’ Cody cried out in his heart.
Trying to hit this girl was like trying to punch a fly! He’s already accepted in his heart that he’s going to be made fun of for slipping like that earlier. But if he loses, he’ll never be able to raise his head in this gym again. Just what the hell is with this chick!? It's like she was toying with him instead of trying to fight him! Coach Scott always complimented him about his punches that could be fired from unusual angles but this chick could see them! She could dodge them no matter what angle he came in at!
Since his usual gimmick wasn’t working, he decided to throw a cross to see how she would react. Cody saw her pupils dilate and body lean back as if she was bending under a limbo bar. He couldn’t do anything as she was somehow able to land a blow straight towards his heart while bent over like that. His eye recorded everything as he realized he wasn’t the only one able to throw punches at unusual angles. The punch from her seemed like it stopped his heart from the amount of force he felt in his body. Those thin arms of hers were a damn lie! This had to be guy dressed up as a chick, there was just no way it could be a girl...
‘It was a smart choice keeping this little monster away from Ben.’ Scott thought.
His huge fucking ego wouldn’t be able to handle someone like her. A silent hard worker who doesn’t ask for much or say anything at all. Brings no attention to herself despite being able to pull off shit like this. Where the hell did this girl come from!?
‘If only she was born as a boy... I could take her to the world championship stage!’ Scott sighed.
She would be the perfect sparring partner for Ben to keep his skills sharp. They’re both close in age. Ben is more talented but Zoey isn’t that far behind. Her foundation is fantastic. With a little more finetuning and fixing up, she’ll be perfect. Ben is great at everything but his mind is not where it should be. He doesn’t give a damn about the basics and has his mind elsewhere.
‘That boy wouldn’t mentally survive losing against this girl and I know it. Just one of the other guys who sparred against her ending up fucking leaving because he lost to her and was made fun of about it!’
Zoey had this match in the bag. After knocking him down in the first bout, she started to learn the way he fought. Sucking everything about him out for herself to learn. Scott could see how she was just messing around with that kid up there. She took this spar seriously but wasn’t being disrespectful either. Not using 100% of her strength, being respectful to her opponent, and not being a fucking dick like Ben would be. Gloating and taunting his opponent while in a fight. The brat was a genius but god damn his personality was shit.
‘You gotta be toying with me, God. Giving me two great boxers in my gym but making the one I wish I had a girl and the one I couldn’t afford to lose a boy.’ Scott deeply sighed while shaking his head.
Causing Mike to look at him as if he was insane. He wasn’t satisfied with this?! One of his boxers was being publicly humiliated by one of his fighters that was a girl! And not one of them Amazonian giant muscled freak girls either! She was an itty bitty little thing that looked like she hasn’t lifted a weight in her life! There was no way in hell he was having prized fighter go against that thing in the ring. Even if he won, it definitely would come at a loss!
“Alright! Stop the spar!” Mike yelled. At this point, everyone in his gym was looking at the spar between the girl and Cody instead of training.
“I can keep going, Coach!” Cody yelled out.
Zoey returned to her corner and waited for the final decision.
“Shut the hell up boy and get out of that ring before you embarrass me anymore.” Coach Mike couldn’t even look at his fighter in the face.
Zoey took off her headguard and held out her fist. In his eyes was nothing but humiliation, anger, and anxiety but he returned her gesture and tapped her fist with his glove. They both exited the ring and Zoey left with Coach Scott laughing his ass off. She expected him to tell her to jog back.
“Where the hell are you going, Zoey?! Get in. I’ll take ya back.” He yelled from the passenger seat.
‘Maybe he isn’t as much of an asshole as I thought...’
“Take this towel and wipe yourself. I don’t want any sweat dripping on my seats though, alright?” He threw a towel at her.
“Alright.” She responded.
‘Still an asshole. Just a bit less of one now.’ Zoey thought.