章 680: HURRY UP AND START THE FIGHT!
25 FEBRUARY, THURSDAY, TRAINING SESSION
River first test was to throw a punch... Flynn steadied one of the punching bags hanging from the ceiling.
"Me!" I raised my hand. I love this game!
"No. Not you." Flynn said immediately, "If you break one of these, it wouldn't be so simple to replace."
Eh? I looked up at the attachment on the ceiling. A punching bag was a punching bag, right? Just hang up a new one?
"This kind of thing can't be that easy to break." Keanu ventured, "I really wonder what kind of monster you are."
"Hahaha." Yeah, I'd be first to admit, I really liked being called a monster, "I'm flattered, but you're right... This kind would probably take a long time to break."
"I wasn't trying to flatter you..." Keanu clarified.
Flynn sighed, "Sam's always been like this. Give her a punching bag, and she won't stop till it's broken."
Then he shrugged, "It was cute when she was a pup, but now..."
The humans looked like they were having trouble processing this. Even my good beta was now regarding me in a new light. I felt sure they must have misunderstood something.
"Wait, wait, wait... Don't make it sound like I actually broke a punching bag before!" I had to make things clear at this point that Flynn was giving me way too much credit.
"I mean, I hadn't shifted till this year." I reasoned.
"So you can't break it?" River asked.
I eyed the bag and considered it, "You mean, right now? I don't know..."
"Don't try." Flynn answered, "I've seen what you've done to the sandbags."
Last year, Flynn had hung up bags of sand for us to use as punching bags and I learned that I could channel just a little bit of wolf power... Hahaha, I thought my strength was terrifying then, but it was really just a drop in the ocean compared to the strength I had now.
Anyway, we didn't get to play much. Flynn did this exercise twice and then stopped because the training hall got really sandy when the bags broke, even after we cleaned it over twice, and Flynn would have to endure complaints all through the week by every group that used it after.
I kind of suspect breaking a sandbag and a real punching bag was quite different though. If I could use my hair blades, then it shouldn't be a problem, but the punching bags in the training gym looked properly sturdy. I wonder how long would it take go punch a hole in one of these black leather things?
"Don't you have a training session to attend too?" Flynn asked me pointedly.
Oh right.
"Just a few more minutes. I want to see River punch something." I couldn't quite imagine it. Maybe this would be an eye opener. Like teach me a lesson about judging a book by it's cover.
But it wasn't.
"I thought you said you learned self defense?" I asked. I mean, was there such a self defense that didn't require punching something? Would that be like the art of screaming loudly and running away?
River had a decency to look embarrassed, "Hahaha, well, it's not that I had bad teachers, but I'm really quite bad at this kind of things."
I'd say. River punched like a... I had no words for it.
Let me put it this way: you know how Dean was the omega around here, right? Compared to River, Dean was like elite warrior material.
Keanu was surprisingly just as bad.
Of the three, only Wilhelm threw a decent punch. I wondered if Wilhelm and River were like the two opposite sides of the human punching spectrum.
And on the side note, just based on the sound of Wilhelm's punch, the punching bag in the gym sounded like it was made of multiple layers including something almost spongy inside to absorb the impact. Flynn didn't have to worry at all. How was it even humanly possible to break with bare fists?
Anyway, Flynn seemed to conclude that River's best chance was running away too, "Now let's see you run."
And since I've seen River run rather unremarkably at Archery club all the time, I was done here too. Knowing Flynn, he'd probably want to include an endurance test too, that those take a long while. Well, no, probably not for River anyway. Hahaha.
"Let's go, Harvey." I waved to the three humans who had just taken their position on the treadmills, "Have fun! See you later."
Hahaha. Don't worry, my human friends, you won't die. You're in good hands. Flynn was the kind of trainer who knew how far to push you. After all, you have to stay alive to suffer! Muahahaha.
Harvey was eight minutes late for training so he had to run eight laps on HIIT, which was Hank being lenient.
I wasn't late because I was the Alpha, so I quickly slipped into my place in the first tier with Ki and Ben.
Bell didn't show up for training tonight. Boo could only sulk but I decided to ignore it. I wanted to enjoy myself tonight.
"Alright, listen up." Hank announced, "As I was saying, we have a few new trainees with us. These are wolves from the Underground Army and currently relegated to the Young Alpha's special team."
Previously, Thursday Night Training Sessions were for shifted wolves below mating age. This would have made it Harvey's last year. After that, only warriors need to continue on to Friday or Saturday Night Training Sessions. But ever since they had put us in tiers, Ki and Bell were "demoted" from Friday to Thursday Session.
And now it seemed that my Special Team suffered the same fate.
I looked at the six wolves standing smartly at attention next to Hank. I think only Fluffy and EJ were below 18.
"I've already explained the tier systems to you. You may start the ranking matches now to decide your order in the first tier." Hank instructed.
Yes! Fight! I could barely contain my excitement. The last time we did this was so fun! Boo perked up in interest, did she forget she was supposed to be sulking?
And then Hank quickly remembered the last time we did this too, so he added, "Remember, there are rules on the mat. Both parties must halt at the whistle. No firearms or and other weapons are allowed."
{Let's see what new rules my Delta will have to add to these ranking matches!}
Silly Boo, these aren't even the real ranking matches. Just training rankings.
But I had to admit, I was excited to watch the fight.
I sat down around in the semi circle, just like before. I was in Tier one with my betas, and opposite us was the girl's tier. I smiled and waved a little to Savy and the other girls. They waved and smile back, but that was it. We were all just settling down to watch.
Harvey finished his run and sat between Ki and Ben. Ki handed the good beta a bottle of water.
"Alright." Hank began again, "According to your wolves, you are all by default ranked in the first tier. Line up by your rank."
My six guys didn't move from their straight row.
Hank raised a brow.
"We're already in our rank order, sir." Barry was kind enough to explain.
Hank nodded, "Now who would like to issue a challenge?"
EJ who was last in line raised his hand, "Ooooh! Me! Pick me, sir."
"Very good." Hank nodded, "Who would you like to challenge?"
I felt Ben's wolf on alert? Was my bad beta worried? Right now, he was last place in our tier and the youngest or all of us. If any of the Special Team wolves challenged him, he might just fall further in the ranking.
"Can I really challenge anyone?" EJ asked.
"Yes. This will be your chance to adjust your rank within your training tier." Hank nodded.
"OOOOOOooooooh..." EJ's eyes went starry bright, "Then I want to challenge one of the pretty girls!"
Everyone laughed at that.
"Why would you want to do that?" Torque asked.
"Because they're pretty girls." Fluffy answered with his usual smile from the first position.
"Is this the time to flirt?" Barry scolded.
"Mou? I can't?" EJ (#6) whined.
"This is a ranking exercise." Hank said sternly, "I suggest you gentlemen take it seriously."
And to my absolute disappointment, none of the Special Team wanted to "adjust their ranking position".
"No one?" Hank asked, almost hopefully. I got the feeling Hank didn't particularly enjoy refereeing fight dogs.
The six guys shook their heads, "No sir."
"I assure you, sir, we have been fighting each other for many years." Ink said then, "Even if we fought to the death, there is less than a 2% chance of being able to increase our ranking if its just among the six of us."
"Ehhh!!!!" EJ was suddenly alarmed, "We're fighting to our death?"
"No, just chill, EJ!" Barry scolded again, "Ink! Don't provoke EJ."
"I don't want to die!!!!" EJ wailed.
I felt quite sure EJ was just clowning around the way he was always clowning in school, but Hank seemed to feel it was important to repeat, "This is just a training ranking match to test your combat strength and skills. Please exercise discretion."
"Technically, its not just restricted to us..." Fluffy smiled his beautiful smile, "Or the pretty girls. We can challenge ANYONE."
Fluffy smiled at the rest of the male population. Fluffy could be scary that way.
"You are not allowed to challenge anyone ranked lower than yourself!" Hank immediately said.
"I don't remember that rule, sir." Fluffy pointed out.
"That is..." Hank stumbled.
"That's just common sense." Ben was losing patience.
"Then we are only allowed to challenge betas?" Fluffy turned his attention to my betas.
"And me too!" I volunteered. Hank blanched visibly at that and for a moment, I thought he was going to insert another rule about not challenging the Alpha or something stupid like that.
Ben growled, "You can, if you have the guts."
"We wouldn't dare!" Fluffy's smile never wavered.
"I don't want to dieeeee!!!!" EJ wailed all over again.
The guys laughed. They were fooling around again.
But now that I looked carefully, I was quite sure Fluffy would win, and putting Fluffy's Alpha wolf aside, Torque and Barry and even Ink looked like they had a good chance. Ben was still the youngest among us, so he was also the smallest. No matter how fierce his wolf, in his human form, any one of those XXLs or XLs in the Special Team could have beaten him one on one.
Ben stood up, "Alright, come on. I know you want to hit me."
To my surprise, the six guys got quiet.
"I said, come on!" Ben growled, "Who's first? Step forward!"
The six guys all took a step backwards. It was actually funny because they did it together.
"Scary beta," Fluffy smiled, "You are not allowed to challenge those under you."
"Huh." Ben narrowed his eyes at Fluffy.
"Ben, return to your seat." Hank ordered.
"Yes, sir." Ben managed a curt nod and returned to his seat.
"The rest of you too. You may take a seat according to your rank." Hank said.
"Yes, sir!" The special team immediate came over to our tier, but because they had no where to insert themselves in the semi circle (and its not like Ben was going to move for them), they sat behind us.
I turned to Fluffy who was just behind me, {Why didn't to challenge Ben?}
{Does pretty Alpha want me to challenge him?} Fluffy replied with another beautiful smile.
{No, I mean, yes, I mean... you don't want to win?} I asked.
Fluffy shook his head, {Pretty Alpha, even if I win this fight, do you think Scary Beta would accept his loss peacefully?}
Were they worried my bad beta would take revenge on them with his beta rank later? Ben would never use his rank to bully other wolves... oh wait, no. Ben would totally do that.
But Fluffy gave me another reason, {I don't think Scary Beta would give up anything easily. And even if I defend my win every consecutive challenge he sends me this year, it would only be a couple of years before his power overtakes mine.}
But Fluffy's wolf was an alpha wolf from the Colored Mountains! Ben was just a beta from next door.
{Could Ben really grow stronger than you?} I mused.
{Pure blooded black wolves are truly frightening opponents.} Fluffy informed me, {I have killed one or two in my time, and each time, I could only hang on to my own life by a thread.}
But we were talking about a training match, not a fight cage!
"Wait, sir!" Link raised his hand, "I want to challenge someone."
Wait, what? I could hear the murmuring of voices and minklinks ripple among the trainees.
Link stood up, "Relax. This is just a training match."
And then with his usual friendly smile and good cheer, he added, "It's not everyday you get a chance to spar with a famous fight dog! Let's see... I choose you! The Red Prince!"
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