Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Contrast: Blue ❯ Throw Down ( Chapter 4 )

CHAPTER FOUR: Throw Down

The two blonds stood in their places, their eyes locked on each other and their hands primed and ready for the impeding match.

The opposing platinum blond moistened his lips. Jounouchi cracked the vertebrae in his neck. The crowd remained silent, their cigarettes slowly burning away. A woman clad in an oversized coat removed her cigarette from her crimson lips. She then gave the two contenders a fleeting glance and flicked her cigarette away.

The instant the small stick landed onto the asphalt, the two immediately rushed towards each other, thus initiating the fight.

Jounouchi struck first with a series of jabs. "Platinum" had blocked the first two, then parried the third jab and immediately sidestepped Jounouchi as he threw out a fourth jab and grabbed him by his right shoulder in an attempt to throw him. However; Jounouchi spun on his heels and managed to break the throw attempt.

The two were once again standing in front of each other, Jounouchi taking on what appeared to be a boxer's stance and `Platinum' in an Aikido stance.

"So far, we're even," Jounouchi stated.

"Don't jump to conclusions just yet. After all, I'm only playing around with you," his opponent reminded.

"So am I." At that moment, the platinum-haired opponent showed a hint of confusion at the statement. Jounouchi took advantage of this moment. He crouched and immediately dashed to close in on his rival. His right fist, which was held knuckle-side down, was held close to his side.

However, the leather-clad contender quickly regained his composure and immediately realized that Jounouchi had attempted to confuse him just long enough to land a "free" hit. Jounouchi began to strike, swinging his fist upward-an uppercut strike. "Platinum" was one step ahead of him and immediately grabbed Jounouchi's wrist with his left hand but then he instantly released the hold as he shoved his right hand upwards, landing an open palm uppercut on the brawler's chin. The combination of Jounouchi's momentum and the sudden force used in the blow launched him into the air.

The platinum blond's lips curled into a smile as he stepped forward and thrust out his right elbow to land an elbow strike on the gut of his airborne opponent. The force of the elbow knocked Jounouchi a few feet back. He landed on his back, sliding an extra foot due to the impact of his landing.

"Your ruse betrayed you," `Platinum' taunted. "If you concede now, I may just let you leave with your limbs intact."

"Funny, I was gonna say the same thing." `Platinum' was shocked; surely such an attack would have almost completely immobilized him. Jounouchi sat up, leaning on his left hand as his right wiped away the blood from his lip.

"Those attacks hardly fazed me! Yer gonna have to do a lot better than that if ya expect to win this!" Jounouchi taunted.

*Shit! I underestimated his stamina*, the platinum cursed as he tried not to show his anger in his face; instead he guised his anger under a false smile. "Hn! My skill is easily superior to yours and I also have speed to my advantage. You use your attacks in a clumsy manner, thus any boasting that you do about how `great' your strength and stamina are is meaningless!"

"I wasn't bragging, though," Jounouchi pointed out matter-of-factly. "Displaying and bragging are two different things. See; I was displaying. You're the one that's bragging."

The platinum clenched his fists so hard; his knuckles matched the colour of his hair. *He's really starting to piss me off. It's time I turned this around.* He lowered his arms.

Jounouchi nearly lowered his own arms in surprise as he lifted a perplexed brow. "Hey…are you givin' up already?"

`Platinum' rested a hand on his hip. "No. I'm just bored. This isn't your best effort, is it?"

Jounouchi's arms and shoulders lowered. "What are you talking about, `boring'?! You keep parrying my punches, and all your `hits' are more like pokes. If anyone's the boring one, it's you!" His index finger homed in on his opponent.

`Platinum' shook his head and heaved a sigh as he crossed his arms. "Why would I want waste my more useful attacks against some boring punches, hrm? I've fought opponents of lesser significance that gave me a more interesting fight than you're giving me right now." *Take the bone, puppy;take the bone…*

Jounouchi's clenched fists rapidly rose. "Oh; so is that how you want to do this?" He rammed his fists together as he cracked the vertebrae in his neck, and briefly hopped about on his feet like his feet and performed a swift one-two punch like a boxer. "Alright; fine! You wanna take this to the next level? I'm game!" *That's right; get confident, ya arrogant dickweed…*

"Well, come on," `Platinum' coerced as he made a "come hither" motion with his left hand. "Come on; show me what you got." As he said this, he brought his left hand up to his chest as his right went outwards then brought his left outwards as he brought his right to his chest in a fluid, circular motion.

"I'll show you what I got, ya punk-ass bastard!" Jounouchi instantly lunged forward, and literally did not hold back his punches. He furiously threw out one punch, then another, followed by another, and so forth. `Platinum' was doing his best to block each oncoming punch; he was stunned by how fast someone like Jounouchi was able to unleash each blow.

"Come on; you wanted this to be more interesting!" Jounouchi jeered as he continued his assault. "All you're doing is blocking!"

*He's right. I need to get out of this position and turn this around*…'Platinum' narrowed his eyes as he put forth his best efforts to evaluate a strategy that would enable him to fully dodge Jounouchi's relentless attacks and use an effective counter-attack, though the effort to concentrate was rather strenuous as he was using much of his strength just to be able to withstand the amazingly forceful impact of Jounouchi's blows.

Jounouchi continued his strikes, his fists landing on the metallic wrist guards his opponent wore. His sweat-drenched bangs stuck to his forehead and temples; the rest of it waved with each movement he made. He unleashed another punch but this time he didn't feel the impact of his fist pounding into the metallic wrist guards. This moment's confusion slowed the dirty blond's punches down.

The moment was just enough time for `Platinum'. He took advantage of the delay by swaying backwards, and as he lunged forward he immediately thrusted his palms towards Jounouchi and struck him in the torso. The impact forced Jounouchi back several feet and succeeded in knocking him down onto his back in the process.

*Christ; that one actually_hurt_* , Jounouchi thought with a painful grimace on his face. Before he could elevate himself using his elbows, `Platinum' had already closed the distance between them, standing over Jounouchi like a wolf over it prey. He smiled.

"Your effort to make this fight more interesting was certainly valid, but I'm afraid it will have to end here for tonight," `Platinum' stated as he rested his foot upon the fallen blond. *And it's about time this ended sooner. I'm starting to feel tired…*

Jounouchi snickered. "Oh shit; laughing kinda hurts…you know, you're something else, man. You think you can declare a match over whenever you see fit to do so."

`Platinum' replaced his arrogant smirk with an annoyed look. "And just what do you mean by that?"

"Just sayin that it's not over `til it's over." Jounouchi immediately grasped the platinum-blond's ankle in a tight grip and twisted, causing `Platinum' to slip off of his downed opponent and fall. Jounouchi rolled to the side and stood up as quickly as he could; `Platinum' one-upped him by performing a handspring to quickly spring back onto his feet.

Jounouchi raised his fists once again. "I guess we're right back to where we started, huh?"

`Platinum' sneered. "Stop being so sure about yourself. Your heavy breathing indicates that you're clearly winding down. I'd say we're about finished with this."

*He should talk. The way he's hunched over like that is a sure sign he don't have much fight left in him either*, Jounouchi thought. *This definitely has to stop.*

Jounouchi smirked. "Allright! If you want this to end, then what say we give this last round our best? Whoever's better, wins. Simple as that."

`Platinum' scoffed. *It's about fucking time this thing ended…* "Hn. I hate doing my best, but I'll certainly be the winner here." Once again, he assumed his Aikido stance.

"Whatever ya say, pretty-boy. Haaah!" Jounouchi instantly lunged towards `Platinum', his fists at his sides and ready to deliver the bout's final blow. `Platinum' remained still as always, studying his adversary's every movement and waiting for the right moment to make his counterattack and thus take the victory. Jounouchi's dash instantly slowed down as he made a spin on his feet, raising his right arm and immediately whipping his fist out in a forty-five degree arc at the end of the spin.

Despite the surprise change in tactics in the last second, however, his attack had failed him. Jounouchi made the fatal error of slowing down enough to perform his Turn Knuckle that `Platinum' was easily able to read his movement, use a combined duck and backwards sway to evade the attack, and use an effective counterattack. `Platinum' grabbed the extended arm, pulled Jounouchi forward, and then swung Jounouchi's arm over his platinum-topped head to drag the disconcerted Jounouchi so that they stood back-to-back and finished the throw by tossing Jounouchi over his shoulder, slamming the boy onto the ground stomach-first.

"Fuck…oh fuck; that hurts," Jounouchi groaned through ragged breaths. He weakly lifted his head to get a look at the victor of the bout. He smiled.

"So…that's the end of that," `Platinum' stated. "You put up…a much better fight than I had expected, and perhaps…perhaps that would have gotten the better of me were I less honed in my art…" He stumbled for a moment, but he quickly regained his balance. "So…have you learned…your lesson from all this?"

Jounouchi slowly rolled onto his back, and winced in pain before returning his gaze to `Platinum'. "Sure…whatever. I'm not sure how much more…how much more punishment my ass can take!"

The leather-clad victor smirked. "Then I shall take my leave. I'll be watching…you…" He quickly turned around and sprinted from the parking lot. A few of the punks immediately rushed to Jounouchi's aid.

"Shit man; that was a hell of a beating you took," one of them stated as he helped Jounouchi to sit up.

Jounouchi grinned. "Well, it don't matter what happened…the platinum blond fell for it." Jounouchi sprang to his feet, much to the surprise of the people that crowded him. "Higashi! You see which way he went?"

Once again, Higashi pointed towards the opening of the fence with his thumb. "Left."

"Great. Then I can still catch up to him!" Jounouchi immediately dashed towards the exit. He took a moment to glance over his shoulder. "I'll see you guys next week! Let Toyama know he can take a rain check on that fight!" He grinned as he managed to catch a glance of Toyama as he finally regained consciousness before returning his focus on the impeding chase.

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