a story from the past (Sabrina's resolve)

Salt lake city, Utah 2005

Sabrina's uncle tom had just turned 27, him and his friends were celebrating him winning a recent boxing match.

"hey Tommy! congrats on the win, man!" said one of Tom's old friends from high school, he seemed drunk and totally out of it at the party. "it was nothing really" tom said as he put his phone away

"hey - why aren't ya with everyone else? I mean this is your party" "besides alot of people are curious about your 'secret technique' you keep calling it" his friends speech was slurred as he laid his elbow on Tom's shoulder. tom looked at his cup then back to his friend.

"man you've been drinking too much" tom said jokingly as he walking back inside- he had to squeeze through the large crowd of people to find the back exit.

tom liked being a boxer, he enjoyed a good match but he didnt really like the fame that came with it. he tried to take his mind off it but when he was about to step into his car he noticed something. he saw his friend Jamie being pushed into an alley by 3 other people.

Tom didnt know who the other two were but he did know the third one- it was a guy named ben. tom and ben had been rivals throughout high school and he immediately knew what was going on. ben was the type to gang up on vulnerable people- tom stepped away from his car and approached the alley.

"come on gay-boy what's wrong" "I thought ya liked being dominated" ben said as he grabbed Jamie by the collar of his shirt and slammed him into the wall. "ok that's enough" tom spoke as he approached the group.

ben turned his head to look at tom "ah come on Tommy why dont ya join us- we could use a fourth man to help us break this little bitch" ben said as he tightened his grip on Jamie's shirt.

"let em go ben- you're just being an asshole you've always been one" Tom said as he approached a little closer. "huh? what was that?" "when did you become the protector of the faggo-" Ben was cut off my tom socking him in the jaw- it wasent a punch hard enough to knock ben out just hard enough to make him bleed from his lip a little.

ben stumbled back a small bit before catching his footing "I said that's enough" tom spoke as he assumed a fighting stance.

ben wiped the blood from his lip "that was a mistake, Tommy..." ben said as the other two guys pulled out their weapons. one of the guys charged at tom "this'll teach ya not to hangout with cock-sucking freaks!" he shouted as he ran towards tom with his knife ready to tear tom apart.

tom took a sharp breath in and dodged the blade as he swung it down- he grabbed the thugs arm to hold it in place and spun to elbow him with his other arm. the thug went down and the other one charged at tom with a metal pipe but before he could swing it tom punched him in the chest twice, when the thug tried to counter tom was already behind him, he kicked him to the ground and faced ben.

ben had been watching tom carefully. "hey! tommy!" "I think I finally understand your little secret technique ya keep braggin about" tom stood as straight as he could and just stared at ben "you havent exhaled since you started fighting my boys- that's it isnt it?" "its ya breathing" when ben said this tom finnaly exhaled- when he did it looked like white steam from a factory.

"no not just the breathing itself- it's the fact that hes not breathing.." "he holds his breath so his body dosent have to focus on any other function but battling- he dosent even think he only fights hes not held back by morals or hesitation..." ben had finally figured it out in his head.

"alright Tommy you win- I'll let the little man go- I just dont wanna see him near me again" ben said as he surrendered and walked off.

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present day

Sabrina exhaled and white steam exited her mouth from the sides. her eyes were locked onto ricardo.

she quickly rushed towards him, Ricardo put his guard up as sabrina kicked, Ricardo blocked it with his forearm and sabrina jumped off him, she landed on her feet and lunged towards him again this time she went for a punch to the cheek- Ricardo dodged it and countered with his own punch, Sabrina side stepped and punched ricardo twice in the ribs- Ricardo took the hits like it was nothing- he swung his arm downwards and sabrina slid under it, she kicked him in the back of the legs, then kneed him in the cheek before ducking under him and grabbing his arm and throwing him over her shoulder, she went for a punch while he was down but ricardo moved his head to the side and grabbed Sabrina's arm so she couldn't pull back, she used her other hand to try and pull free from ricardos grip but he grabbed her other hand and slowly got to his feet while trying to push her into the ground, sabrina pushed back.

Ricardo was almost at his feet when he kneed sabrina in the stomach forcing her to let go. he went for a kick but sabrina dodged and jumped backwards to gain some distance.

Sabrina let out a heavy exhale. as the steam exited her mouth she began breathing heavily as her eyes returned to normal- she winced as she grabbed her stomach in pain. she acted like she had only just now felt the pain from Ricardos knee.

ricardo stood straight up and chuckled "I'll admit I didnt expect that but whatever that is its incredibly inefficient." "you clearly couldn't breathe while you were doing that- and are you really only now feeling all the pain I inflicted? pathetic! all your doing is delaying the inevitable" Ricardo said as sabrina slowly got to her feet.

"damn even battle focus wont be enough to beat this guy- seems we're evenly matched when I use it but that's all" "guess I cant rely on it to completely out match him... should I use it again just so I can have some even footing? no- no way, I need to let my breath stabilize- not breathing for too long could make me pass out, I cant afford that right now... not against him" Sabrina began trying to weigh her options

"I'll just have to strengthen my resolve and win!" she said as she stood up and assumed a battle stance.

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