As long as you are breathing

Muay Thai vs Kung fu

“Why the hurry? You can all die one by one. You just have to wait for your chance,” said the gauntlet guy.

“Hmm. Very confident. But can you live up to it,” said the old man.

“We will see,” said the gauntlet guy and started charging the gauntlet towards the old man.

Pew!

He shot the green beam. But the old man dodged it.

“Impossible! The beam is as fast as light,” said the gauntlet guy.

“That may be true. But your charging isn’t. I just need to wait till the gauntlet is in its brightest form. Not to mention that the sound of the shot is too early compared to the time of the shot,” said the old man.

“You smarty ass,” said the gauntlet guy.

He backspringed a few times to go backward. He then stood on the invisible ceiling ready to charge his shot at the old man.

The old man walked casually towards him. As he was about to shoot the beam, the old man just threw a front snapping kick to direct the gauntlet upwards.

A huge explosion took place on the ceiling yet again. This time it was directed straight upwards. The glasses from the artificial light started to drop on their invisible ceiling.

“Seems any movement will be dangerous for both of us now on this part of the ceiling,” said the old man.

A drop of sweat rolled down the cheek of the gauntlet guy as he stood 3 feet distance from the old man. “This is too close for me to use the gauntlet,” he thought.

“Wanna change position then?” said the gauntlet guy.

The old man gave a burst of slow deep laughter. “I am better off in this position.”

The gauntlet guy nervously started to take a stance.

“But…” continued the old man, “Since you asked so nicely. Let slowly go to another side of the ceiling,” said the old man.

The gauntlet guy felt a huge relief as he breathed out a long gush of air from his mouth. “This is going to be the biggest regret of his life. And probably the last one,” said the gauntlet guy.

But as he was about to cross the top of the tower, Kalil suddenly woke up and rushed behind him to catch him into a rear-naked choke.

“Finish him!” Kalil told the old man.

“No, leave him,” said the old man.

The gauntlet guy started to charge his gauntlet.

“Dammit!” said Kalil. He let go to take an evasive stance.

But the old man kicked the gauntlet again as it was about to be shot.

“Why are my preys always preying upon one another. I pray my prey would stay mine forever,” said the old man.

Both of them stared at him deadpanned. “Not funny,” they both said in unison.

“Anyways, leave the two of us alone Kalil. It won’t take that long,” said the old man.

They took a position on another side of the invisible field. They both stood face to face.

“Was it wise of the old man to take a position so far away?” thought Kalil. “No, that shouldn’t be my thought, my thought should be what I should do now. Slowly escape?”

He slowly started to take steps towards the stairs of the tower. Both the old man and the gauntlet guy glared at Kalil.

“If you try to run, we both will stop the fight here and chase you on,” said the gauntlet guy.

“And don’t have a doubt in our focus. I, at least, am always focused on my preys,” said the old man.

Kalil gave an embarrassed smile and nodded his head in apology before sitting back down.

“Sigh, I am caught in the middle of two monsters,” thought Kalil.

He took this chance to rest as his eyes took this chance to witness a battle. “I will have to fight one of them after this. So I have to analyze their attack patterns so I can have an advantage.”

The gauntlet guy charged his gauntlet and pointed at the old man with full ferocity in his eyes. The old man ran towards the gauntlet guy and cartwheeled to the left just when he was about to shoot. The beam lost its target.

The gauntlet guy charged the gauntlet again while the old man continued running towards him. When the gauntlet was fully charged, the old man jumped towards the right. But he didn’t shoot. He changed his target towards the old man.

But it still missed as the old man laid his body down totally on the ground as he landed causing the beam to go above him.

“I think I picked up a detail about his gauntlet,” thought Kalil, “He looked to be struggling to change his position the more charged the gauntlet is. And he can’t change his position at all while the beam is being shot. Interesting! The objects here are so anomalous.”

The old man came too close to him. The next beam shot was deflected as the old man threw a roundhouse kick, causing the beam to land on the invisible roof again.

He then started charging the gauntlet again. But the old man threw a jab and cross on his head and a roundhouse on his body.

The guy fell down on his knees. The old man threw a downward teep to throw him on his back after which he stomped on his chest.

“You depend too much on your gauntlet,” said the old man, “It’s a good finishing move. The only reason it was working on Kalil was that he was already finished by the time you met him.”

The gauntlet guy closed his eyes calmly, read to accept defeat as he said, “I understand the reason for my downfall.”

But to his surprise, the old man said, “Want to try again?”

What kind of monster is he!

“He already gave me opportunities twice. He could have finished me when I was busy with Kalil. He had an advantage when I was surrounded by glass,” the gauntlet guy thought angrily, “This is just an insult to me as a warrior. I wouldn’t accept this offer if this wasn’t a life and death situation. But what pride do I have to protect after death.”

“Thank you,” answered the gauntlet guy, “I want to try again.”

“Very well,” answered the old man.

He took a few steps backward for the gauntlet guy to be ready. The gauntlet guy stood up. He then made some awkward movements before turning his body into a semi crouching position where one of his legs bearing more weight than the other. The hand placement was atypical too.

It wasn’t fully a fist. It was a bit relaxed, not fully clenched.

“Umm… Are you going to do more dancing? Or are you going to fight like that?” asked the old man.

“This is my stance,” said the gauntlet guy.

“Oh! Really? I never really fought someone in that stance neither can I comprehend how one even can fight from that stance,” said the old man.

“It’s the monkey-style kung fu,” said the gauntlet guy.

Kalil barely managed to hold back his laughter seeing such a moody guy holding a childish pose. But perhaps they were too fast to judge.

The old man rushed for a roundhouse kick towards the gauntlet guy but he jumped directly towards the old man. The old man tried to lean back but he managed to hold around the old man’s neck. He then used the momentum to try to swing around the old man.

The old man almost lost balance, but he used that imbalanced momentum to slam the old man to the ground. He then pointed the gauntlet towards the lying old man but the old man quickly got up. He put the gauntlet down to get back into his monkey stance.

The old man stretched his back. “Damn, I am getting old for this. Seems age will catch up with the best of all fighters too,” he said.

“So, do you want to give up?” he asked.

“What? No way. Not after you brought something so interesting,” replied the old man.

“Your fight reactions don’t seem like you can fight me though,” he said.

“Oh, I apologize for that. I started the fight considering your stance as ridiculous. I didn’t even consider it a real stance,” said the old man, “Otherwise, I wouldn’t start a fight with such a long kick. Always start small. That’s my way.”

“And will you fight your real way now?” he asked.

“You earned my respect. So I shall,” the old man responded.

The old man took a classic Muay Thai stance and started the traditional dance around his opponent. He then dashed towards the gauntlet guy.

The guy dashed back towards the old man causing the old man to stop, but it was a feint. He cartwheeled to the side and dashed again towards the old man from the side.

But the old man pivoted his legs. However, he couldn’t compete with the agility of the gauntlet guy and was trapped again. He then headbutted the guy and also used the movement to duck underneath the grip. After which he threw a knee.

That was enough to immobilize the guy with pain. The old man unhesitantly threw all the combinations to push him to the edge of the cliff.

“You gave me a good entertainment,” said the old before throwing a hard cross that threw him off the invisible floor.

Kalil’s nervousness watching the other guy fall and more by the agility and smoothness of the old man’s combinations. Yet there was no denying that Kalil couldn’t but feel some animosity watching the old man remembering about his comments in their last fight.

“Fighter needs death, huh? What a joke!” he thought to himself, “I will give what he wished for.”