Ash swiftly dodged the swing Sinon threw at him with her right hand, making him evade and cut through to her blind spot.

Thinking he was going for an attack, she immediately turned and threw a punch at him, and again he dodged it easily and leaped back from her. 

"Your attacks are weak," Ash mentioned as he brought his two fists to his chest level.

He was wearing a blue top with black trousers, and he had red boxing gloves on.

"I'm trying," she replied as she charged at him and threw several weak jabs at him. "These heavy gloves are really hard to carry along,"

He easily blocked the attacks and threw a faint swing at her, making her jump back.

"Stop complaining and attack already," Jared yelled from the bench they all sat down on.

He was sitting close to Diva, Gareth, David, and Rika as they all watched, not too far from the boxing ring.

"Shut ya mouth, damn it!" She replied angrily with her attention drawn to him.

The minute she took her eyes off Ash, he immediately dashed at her and punched her by the side of her abdomen.

This got her attention as she grunted out in shock, leaning towards the floor.

She soon got up and brought her fist that had large gloves on them close to her face.

Ash waved his upper body to his sides to confuse her before throwing another punch which she easily deflected to her side.

He threw another faster punch and this time she swiftly dodged it and countered with an even stronger punch.

As he blocked the punch with his fist, he felt the force push his hand back. 'She is starting to increase the power behind her strike.' a thought formed in his head.

"More!!" He shouted out to her.

She soon felt the urge to throw more rapid attacks at him but thought for a second.

Ash noticed her sudden pause and went for an attack. 

He leaned towards her and forced a punch on her but she already anticipated his attacks and dodged by slightly moving to the opposite side of the punch before countering.

As soon as she dodged his punch, she threw another one straight for his face.

Ash immediately caught the punch with force applied behind his block, matching hers. He immediately took her arm and turned it over his shoulder.

The minute she saw her punch blocked, she noticed her body lift off from the ground, and shortly after, she was slammed on the ring.

"Woahhh, another fast counter," Jared wowed at the sudden counter.

"Ahhh, that's harsh," Sinon grunted as she struggled to stand up.

"You have to be prepared for anything," Ash cautioned as he unwrapped and wrapped the strap on his gloves, making them tighter.

"Soon you'll be fighting not just zombies, but humans as well,"

"How are you gonna defend yourself against them?" He asked as he glanced around.

"Tsk," she clicked her tongue before going off the ring.

'This old room seems to be having life.' Ash started to ponder his thought.

'Before it was dark and in ruins but after working on it for a while, it turned out to be a useful room.'

"I guess I'm up next," Diva said as she stood up and shortly after, walked into the ring.

As soon as Ash turned to meet her, she had already taken off her blue jacket, leaving only her white tank top and black trousers with flames design at the side.

"You're next?" Ash asked from a distance.

"Yeah, don't go easy on me," she answered with a serious look on her face.

"Alright then, Ash replied with a smile.

"You see that? She asked him not to hold back," Jared said to Sinon as she walked to the bench with a white towel.

"S- shut up!!" She threw the towel at him in anger.

"Out of all of us that have gone one on one with him, you went out pretty quick," he continued to tease her.

"Unlike you gorilla, I don't have the build to face him head-on," she replied as she didn't pay any attention to his jests.

Her green high-neck bra top that matched her lemon-colored hair was soaked with sweat and could be seen from the way she sat down.

Jared noticed as she gave off a long sigh before drinking the bottle of water in her hand.

"Training with those gloves must have been exhausting, huh?" he asked.

"Yeah," she replied.

"Ready when you are," Ash reminded Diva who was putting on heavy gloves like Sinon.

The minute they were both ready, from the opposite end of the ring, they both dashed at each other.

Diva moved fast in other to quickly counter Ash's speed and throw the first attack.

The minute he threw a punch at her, she swiftly leaped to his right and evaded the attack.

Ash followed immediately and lowered his body as soon as he got in front of her, without wasting a second, he punched her heavily in her abdomen.

'First strike.' Ash calculated in his mind.

Diva took two steps back due to the force but Ash came out unrelenting with another punch.

She immediately brought her guard up and took the hit on her arms.

"They are both moving swiftly," Gareth voiced out his thoughts as he watched them exchange blows with the rest of the team.

"Swift..." Rika murmured to herself as she observed closely.

She immediately remembered her sparing session with Ash moments ago and how she failed at almost everything.

"Next time..." She murmured to herself again.

Diva immediately plunged at Ash as she evaded the series of punches he threw.

'Right, right, left, and over.' she calculated as she shifted her body to her left first, granting the punches free access, and then shifted her body again to her right. 

Following this was an overhand punch Ash swung at her which she evaded neatly.

'I can read his attacks now.' she thought as she looked for an opening.

'Found it!!' she exclaimed inwardly and then threw herself out of way. She cut through to the left side of Ash as he threw the last punch.

Ash's eyes widened as he saw her cut to his side with speed.

She clenched her fist hard with power and threw a punch at him with one thought in mind. 'Hit!!.'

Ash gave off a faint smile and immediately stopped her punch before it got close to him.

"What?" Jared and the rest of them exclaimed as soon as Ash stopped the attack.

They had been watching Diva evade every one of his attacks and were sure she would land that hit.

"Not every opening you see is real," he cautioned her as her eyes were wide open in disbelief. 

"Some of them are planned, just like this one, some are not," he raised his right hand into the air. 

"If this were an actual battle, you'd have lost since you took the bait I laid out," he continued. "You should be more careful," he then crashed his hand down on her.

Diva immediately jumped away from him after hearing those words. 'So he was luring me in while making me think I found an opening?' she questioned inwardly.

"Now, come at me like you mean it," his mood suddenly became serious.

'I have to be a lot faster and think ahead of him.' She thought as she immediately dashed at him.

'I will make him think I'm going for his leg.' she played out a scene before closing the small distance between them, and then got down and swung her leg at his. 

Ash took several steps back hoping to avoid whatever she was planning, but then...

She used her hands to propel her weight from the ground and sent her feet to his abdomen. 'I am aiming for his guts.' 

Her feet collided perfectly with his abdomen, but like a pillar of stone, Ash didn't move. He stood firm on the ground with his abdomen tightened, even after taking the hit.

"How?" Diva exclaimed due to the sudden turnout.

"You're gonna have to try harder than that," Ash responded.

"Tsk," she clicked her tongue and then leaped off using him as leverage.

She threw a backflip slowly and landed on the rope of the ring. She held on to it firmly to avoid falling off.

'He has no opening. How am I going to land a hit on him?' she pondered for a bit.

Using the swings to her advantage, she jumped into the air with her feet held high and ready to attack.

She instantly calculated the odds before crashing down on Ash.

[Bamm]

She crashed her leg on the ground as Ash swiftly moved his body to the side to avoid it and in the next moment, he crashed his foot into her body.

Her body turned in the direction Ash aimed the attack for and slowly, she was pushed off from the ground.

"T- that's-" before she could react, the force from his kick sent her off to the side of the ring.

She bounced off the ropes and was propelled back to Ash.

As soon as she got closer to him, before regaining herself from the previous attack, Ash held her by her hand and shoulder and turned both of them to his left.

Using the speed and force to his advantage, he slammed her straight into the ground of the ring with a gust of wind blowing off.

"Arrgghh," she exclaimed as she closed her eyes from the force, trying to absorb the pain. "You win," she yielded.

"Hmmph," a slight smile wore itself on Ash's face as he stood up.

"Damn!! That was hard," Jared voiced out.

"Of course it was. Ash doesn't go easy on us girls," Sinon sighed as she shook her head.

Ash then extended his hand to her and she took it. "Sorry about that," he apologized softly.

"No worries, I asked for it," Diva replied.

"Nice fight," the other congratulated and handed them towels and a bottle of water.

Diva quickly sat on the bench after receiving them.

"You tried," Sinon remarked with a bright smile on her face.

"T- thanks," she answered.

****

Shortly after the sparing session ended, Ash left the house with Jared after telling them to continue their light training.

They walked through the side of the numerous buildings that lined up along the open road.

Ash swiftly wore the white shirt that he took from the training arena moments ago before leaving. He quickly buttoned up and tucked in as Jared trailed behind.

He fixed the buttons on his sleeves and lowered the collar neatly.

Shortly after, he adjusted his black trouser to fit and then continued.

"Where are we going?" Jared asked him shortly after they both leaped over the huge hole in the floor in front of them.

"We, is not really how I'll say it if I were you," Ash answered as he comb his hand through his hair. "You are going somewhere,"

He then reached for the red bag pack that was hung on the side of a building and grabbed it while continuing on his track.

"Take this," he tossed the bag pack to Jared without stopping for a minute. "You will need it,"

"Everything there will aid you in your small quest for power," 

"S- small quest?" Jared stuttered as he opened the bag pack. He saw a red rope in it, a black sack for holding goods, a small flashlight, a pair of black leather gloves, two crowbars, one pistol, and a short gun rifle.

"What kind of quest will require me to carry along all these!!" He asked, almost exclaiming.

"I told you, a quest for power," Ash answered.

Soon, he stopped in his track, making Jared also stop instinctively.

They waited for some seconds as the wind blew past the open street before Ash broke the silence.

"I didn't think you'd make it," he said audibly.

"Well, it was hard, you know. I had to avoid those undead on my way here," a lady's voice softly rang out amidst the wind that blew past them.

****

Hey y'all, let me know how you see the chapter