The Final Challenge

By Max

I hurried out of the car and waved good-bye to my mom. I hurriedly changed into my tae kwon do uniform, because I had just 1 minute. Yet, I never could have imagined the events of the class would change the way I think forever.

I entered the small, wooden room just in time. The room was a converted dance floor with mirrors on every side. The floor was slick, but I had long since adapted to that.

"Jumbii! " called Tarius, the instructor.

We ran to our places, because we got hammered if we were late. First we stretched, and began to spar. As I was the last one in, I had to start. I blasted through the young white belts with ease. I then defeated the yellow ranks with some difficulty. In a long, vicious fight I defeated my superior in rank, Sho. Actually, I accidentally kicked a bit lowš but that's a different story

Then, I had to fight Tarius. Physically he was huge. His hair had gone to long brown dreadlocks. Mentally he had a great sense of humor, but also a heavy sense of honor and discipline. He omitted an aurora of greatness and power. He was also very strong, and he proved that by having a kid hold a focus pad and kicking it. The kid flew. Not a guy you want to run into on a bad day. And so the fight began.

It started fine, trading kicks and warming up. Unfortunately, he had every advantage possible. He kicked me, but let down his guard for a split second. So I kicked him in the face. Quite ignorantly, I must say, I lunged thinking I had already won. I could nearly taste the cold, acrid stench of sweat on my face. My mouth went dry as I heard the short, sharp shriek I knew so well. He had mimicked my move. I didn't stand a chance. He hit me like a truck and my body crumpled as I fell to the ground. As I fell, time itself seemed to slow. The world spun, than went black I hit the ground, and the fight was over. I was out cold.

When I opened my eyes a sharp pain ran through my arm. Everyone was silent. The eerie quiet was soon broken by my mom coming in to pick me up. There was a lump sticking on of my arm, and it was bent in an odd position. Immediately we went to the doctor. My arm was broken. When the doctor looked at it once and said "how did this happen?"

"I got hit." I responded.

"Hit! Gees! They must have hit you pretty hardš" he said.

"Yes," I interrupted grimly, "Very hard."

I had learned my lesson. Never try to end a fight before even 30 seconds have passed. I still want a rematch.