"I am going to assign you a sparring partner. Each pair will go up one by one and spar until either someone taps out, someone falls unconscious, or I call the match. Understood?" The recruits all muttered an affirmative, excitement and nervousness etched into their faces. "Good, now let's see. Anna and Stacey, you two will go together. Aaron and Josh will spar, and Jennifer and Victoria. That leaves Austin... You will be sparring with either Steele or Carter, take your pick."

Austin looked over at the boys, one shirtless and revealing a ton of muscle with a smirk on his face, and the other wearing a hoodie and sweatpants while rolling his eyes. "I'll spar with Carter," Austin said.

"If you're sure?" I asked, giving him a chance to back out and choose Jaxon.

He glanced at the boys again, saw the evil smirk Jaxon gave him, and quickly said, "Yes, I'm sure."

"You're funeral," I muttered.

"What?" Austin asked, alarmed.

"Nothing," I said, sitting down next to Taylor, Drake, and Jaxon. "Let's start with Anna and Stacey." I motioned for them to get into the ring and they stood up, nervously walking towards it. They got in and faced each other, putting up their fists to block their face They started circling each other, but they were stumbling over their own feet.

I let them go for a while. They tried throwing some punches at one another, but they either missed or didn't hit hard enough to make a difference. I hid my emotions behind a blank mask, not letting anyone see how worried I was that these two couldn't even deliver a decent punch. After a couple more minutes of them stumbling around and not actually fighting, I said, "Alright, that's enough, just hold on." I stood up, climbing into the ring with them.

"What do you think you are doing?" I asked.

"Sparring?" Stacey questioned quietly.

"No. You two are stumbling over your own feet around the ring play hitting each other." Their faces fell and they cringed at my sour tone. I sighed, dropping my annoyance. "You guys can't be afraid of hurting one another. Pretend she isn't your friend. Pretend she is an enemy trying to kill you. If you don't put down the enemy, the enemy will put you down in far worse ways." They nodded along.

"Okay, when you punch you have to put more force behind it, don't be afraid of hurting one another. And when you circle each other around the ring, it isn't just to walk around and stall the fighting. You are studying your opponent, learning their strengths and weaknesses, looking for an opening for you to strike. If he favors his right side, get up to close to his left side, take him out of his comfort zone. If he has an injury, take full advantage of it, land blows on it and stay close to that part."

Stacey and Anna both nodded, and I said, "Remember, it's kill or be killed." Then, I turned and walked out of the ring. I sat back down in my seat between Taylor and Drake.

Nothing was said as the two girls faced each other again. They put their fists up and took offensive stances. They started circling each other again, with less stumbling this time. They watched each other.

After a couple minutes, Stacey went for the first shot. She sent a punch flying towards Anna, who didn't react in time. Her fist connected with Anna's shoulder. It still wasn't as much force as it could have been, but it was a definite improvement from the silly slap fight earlier.

They traded a couple more punches, trying to dodge some. As the minutes went by, they became bolder in their strikes, using more force. It still wasn't enough though.

After twenty minutes, the fight was still going and the girls hadn't made much progress over each other.

"Alright, that's enough! Come on out," I called. Stacey and Anna climbed out of the ring looking relieved that the fight was over. "Take a couple minutes to clean yourselves up. The next match will be in ten minutes," I said. The girls left and everyone started talking in their own little groups.

"That was one of the most boring fights I've ever seen," Drake said.

Jaxon argued, "There was that one in the underground club. That one was way worse."

"Not even," I denied. "The one at the beach in Oahu was definitely more boring than the one in the underground club."

We argued the full ten minutes that we waited for the girls to get back, all of us listing different fights and arguing over what the worst fight they had ever seen was.

"Jennifer and Victoria," I called after Stacey and Anna had come back in. "You're up," I said with a smirk. I was looking forward to this fight. Victoria got on Jennifer's nerves almost as much as she got on mine.

They hopped up into the ring, climbing through the ropes. Once they were in, Jennifer wasted no time in throwing up her fists and taking the offensive stance. Victoria quickly followed suit, not wanting to catch a punch because she wasn't ready.

They circled each other in the ring, stumbling slightly. After a minute, Victoria sent a weak punch flying which Jennifer easily dodged. She came back at Victoria with a punch of her own into Victoria's unguarded stomach.

Victoria doubled over in pain for a second before lurching back to avoid another punch. The fight went on for a couple minutes, both of them trading punches. They weren't nearly as aversive to the fighting as Anna and Stacey were, but they were still uncertain about the strength they were putting into their hits.

After fifteen minutes, both Jennifer and Victoria were breathing heavily with sweat pouring off of them. The punch Jennifer gave Victoria in the stomach was the best hit of the match. Finally, I called them to a stop.

"Alright ladies. You did a good job, but you were still too hesitant with your punches. I understand you don't want to hit your friends, but you do as you practice, and if you practice hesitantly, then that is how you are going to be in a real fight." I sighed, "Ten minutes to clean yourselves up."

They climbed out of the ring and the talking started again. This time, I didn't join in.

----------

"Come on you guys!" I said, exasperated. Aaron and Josh had been circling each other in the ring for ten minutes and had yet to make a move. "If you act jittery and hesitant like this in a real fight, then your opponent will cut you down in two seconds flat."

It took them a couple more minutes, but Aaron finally threw the first punch. Josh was focused on his footwork and didn't see it coming. The punch landed right on his jaw and Josh fell backwards.

"Oh my gosh!" Aaron exclaimed, completely freaking out about Josh falling.

I shot up from my chair and went into the ring to check on Josh.

"He's out cold," I said, respect in my voice. The recruits all started talking at once, awe in their voices. Aaron looked even guiltier than before as he started slinking away.

I stood up from my crouched position next to Josh and went over to Aaron. I laid my hand on his arm, halting his escape. "I know you don't want to hear this, but that was a good job."

He didn't say anything for a while. When he did, he quietly said, "I punched somebody so hard that I knocked him out."

"Yes, you did. I know you didn't want to hurt your friend, but imagine for a moment that that wasn't Josh. Imagine that that was one of Trujillo's men. If you hadn't thrown that punch, you would be on the floor right now, not him. The only difference would be that you would be dead, Aaron, not just knocked out." He nodded, not saying anything, and walked away.

I watched him for a second, wondering if he would be okay. This life wasn't for the faint hearted. Then, I turned around and walked back over to where Josh was laying on the ground, just beginning to wake up.

----------

After we got Josh out of the ring, I gave everyone twenty minutes to do what they needed to. Aaron had come back in right before I was about to call end of break. He sat down in a far chair and didn't say a word, just looked straight ahead, lost in his own thoughts. Five minutes later, everyone came back out and sat down in their seats.

"Alright, time for the last match," I called. "Austin, Drake, you're up." Austin got up and climbed into the ring. "You really should have picked Jaxon," I told him. Austin looked over as Jaxon winked at him.

Then, we all watched as Drake stood up very slowly, leisurely making his way to the ring before stopping just in front of it. He pulled off his hoodie, revealing just how massive he was. You couldn't normally tell, but Drake was buff. His muscles had muscles.

Austin audibly gulped as he watched Drake separate the ropes and climb into the ring. I sighed, "You really should have picked Jaxon," I repeated. Then, I turned to Drake, "Don't torture him too much. It is his first sparring match."

"No promises, little sister," Drake said with a smirk. "Good luck?" he asked me.

I replied, "It's not like you need it."

"Its tradition," Drake defended.

I rolled my eyes before climbing up onto the ropes. I leaned over and gave him a kiss on his cheek. It was something I had done since we were little, whenever he got ready for a fight, which was far too often. "Be safe," I whispered.

"Always," he answered. Then, he turned to face Austin. "Alright, kid. Let's see what you got."

----------

Drake was playing with him. He knew it, Austin knew it, everyone knew it. Drake hadn't even broken a sweat. Austin was gasping for air, drenched in sweat, and practically crawling away from Drake.

A couple hits and Austin had gone down. Drake wasn't one to show mercy, though, and had taken to slowly following Austin around the ring as he crawled, trying to escape Drake.

"Come on, mate! You can't be giving up already," Drake taunted. Austin struggled to his feet, too slow to dodge the fist Drake sent flying to his head.

Austin went back down instantly, still conscious despite Drake's best efforts. Dizzily, Austin got back to his feet and sent a punch towards Drake. Drake caught his fist easily and swung him around so Austin was on his knees in front of Drake and he had Austin's arm twisted behind his back. The more pressure Drake put on Austin's arm, the more Austin's face contorted with pain. Finally, Austin tapped out.

Drake instantly let go, moving away from him. "You lasted longer than expected," were Drake's parting words as he climbed out of the ring and put his hoodie back on.

As he passed me, he ruffled my hair, repeating, "Always." I smiled, not truly realizing how much I had missed my brother until now. He was the only one I had growing up, and it didn't feel right not having him in my life.

"I think that's enough torture for now," I called to the recruits. "You have two hours for lunch. After lunch, I want you in here working on your sparring. We'll set up some punching bags and two people can be sparring in the ring."

With that dismissal, the recruits headed into the kitchen while Jaxon and Drake went to the storage room to get the punching bags and Taylor and I set to moving the ring off to the side to clear room for the bags.