Bareknuckle Beatdown II - TOURNAMENT

Scanning the board of names, Jude would see several familiar ones, and many unfamiliar ones. It made sense considering that Jude never hung around the underground fighting circuit. The reason he was here now was to watch and learn from the more experienced fighters, and to see exactly what kind of power they had. The reason his name was also on the board was that this battle excluded special abilities, whatever that meant. So Jude could guarantee that the worst outcome was getting KO'd by someone in his own arbitrary weight class. Still, it was better than a surprise fight on some rooftop.

The name next to Jude's was "Maxime Verbeck." So it was a female. Jude had visions of a giant Amazoness strangling him with her thighs, but shook himself out of the reverie. He was a fairly average person in terms of physique, so this girl would probably be similar in size and strength. It would be a match of skill--exactly what Jude wanted. He got a little giddy just thinking about it.

In order to calm his nerves and pass the time, Jude would enter the training room and find an open area to stretch. He would shake out his limbs and begin to stretch his legs gingerly. If only his body was as limber as his brain...

Knuckles stood before his assigned locker, those hazel hues closing briefly before he placed all his equipment into the locker. Knuckles was down for this. It had been a long time since he had taken a spot in a fighting tournement. The last one had gone relatively well. The competition this time looked to be a little fuller though. Knuckles would eventually make it to the drawing board and scan it until he found his name and who he would be fighting.

Lexington?? Man, I haven't seen that dude since I brought him in as a piller.. He's gotta be decent if he held the title for this long. Tch, try and stop me, sucker.

Hands would lift to slick back his hair, the teen had removed everything he wore, apart from a pair of black and red board shorts with silver letters sewn in to say 'Apex'. His various Apex tattoos and ample amount of scars could be seen across his back and chest. The former School Captain would chill out for the time being, leaning back against the wall as people started filing in. A nod to those he knew and respected, a wink to the girls he thought were cute and a middle finger to anyone else he didn't care for. This was how Austin would spend his time until it was go-time.

Austin had indeed spotted Phoebe and watched her head his way. He cast her a smile and felt the elbow nudge as she settled herself near him. Knuckles had not been so silly as to not notice that his two friends, the Hollows siblings, were in the same weight class as he was. While it would be fun, it was unfortunate as well because he didn't want to take anything away from either of them. But if it had to be done, it had to be done.

"Heh, Yeah. You're cute and all, but I think I'm gonna have to give you and your brother a few bruises today."

Austin would chuckle a little, he was joking of course. Sort of. That was all assuming things went his way and the other two had the same stroke of luck. It would be an interesting night. Not only would it provide him valuable insight into who was the strongest of the strong, he could recon all the matches he could make it to. See who was going to be his biggest hurdle in the future.

Why am I here?

Lance did not need to look at the roster to know that he was utterly lost against these people. Some of the girls looked absolutely stunning. Those he dared a second glance at. But not more than that. A few of the men didn't look so scary, some even looked quite pleasant and had he had the guts, he might have talked to some of them. Tried to make friends. But every time he saw someone pleasant, he reminded himself. This was a tournament for fighters. Even the most benign looking person, had signed up with the express purpose to punch someone else in the face.

It kinda put him off getting to know these people – also that blonde haired fella who had for no apparent reason flipped him off. He'd try to stick to himself, avoid those he got some obvious bully vibes from. Like the blonde bloke. Hopefully he was not in the same league as the blonde bloke, or he'd easily be snapped like a twig. 

Why am I here again?

The scrawny kid leant against the wall. Trying to stabilize his nerves. He knew the consequence of leaving early. Or rather, he knew one of the consequences, he had no clue what the consequence would be from those organizing the tournament. Barred from future tournaments? His stomach felt queasy. Like he might barf at any moment. When he couldn't stand just waiting any more he got up and moved for the board with the other names. They had placed him in Tier 1. At least he could be flattered that they hadn't made a tier 0 for his sake~

WHAT? I'll be fighting two people?! Whose bright idea was that? Lance felt a pebble of sweat run down his face as he just stared, mouth agape. Two people? Was there an exit nearby? Or a place to hide. Was one of the lockers open? But he made move for them, only stood staring at the board.