Chapter 39: Ready to Rumble

River

Listening to the rules would've been the intelligent thing to do. Unfortunately, River was distracted. The moment Ellie walked into the gymnasium, she was all he could think about. His eyes kept darting over to where she was sitting with Shelby and her little brothers, and by the time he tuned back in to hear what Beta Andrew was saying, he'd missed most of it.

"The objective will be to get your opponent outside of the circle or down on the floor for five seconds, on my count. Alternatively, getting your opponent to give up would also grant victory to the remaining competitor."

"Why would anyone give up?" Ulysses muttered under his breath.

"Because he can't take the pain." Blade turned and looked at him, an evil look in his eyes. Even though he wasn't looking at River, it was enough to cause a shudder to go through his body. This guy was one messed up b*stard. He did not need to win this tournament.

"Initial pairings were drawn at random. Remember, this is not a double-eliminat