"How did you find us here?" Saanvi said, abruptly standing up and glaring at the group.

"Easy. Being friends with Ghost comes with certain privileges, one being him telling us where his dog is."

"The black uniform has access to this school's security system," hissed Ryland.

"Bingo! And he doesn't really want his little puppy losing everything because of his arrogance, so he sent me to give you a warning tap."

Something wasn't adding up. Ghost and I both knew I could take this guy. He wasn't as strong as he acted. So what was his reason? He didn't want me to win? Why would he be against me winning all of a sudden?

Suddenly it hit me. I thought back to Rio's explanation of a permanant switch earlier.

"Ghost is scared that I'll fight him for his spot, isn't he?"

It was silent for a minute before Thrasher flipped a finger gun towards me signaling it was time for the fight. The numbers had raised from seven to fifteen and was now twenty. 

It was a total beatdown. A crack to my jaw, three jabs in my ribs, bent over a knee and elbow smashed into my back. Bam! I hit the wall and leaned forward, struggling to grasp at absolutely anything, and instead got my arm wrapped around my back and my face to the floor. Feet were smashing into my back and sides as I struggled to breathe. My body felt heavy and limp as I got slammed into. 

Suddenly there was a deafening roar, and the bodies on my were knocked off. Rolling over I saw a hulking man with a buzzcut and huge, inked arms smashing heads together with his bare palms. Behind him stood the tallest man I'd ever seen with long arms and giant hands choking two people at once before using their limp bodies as a weapon. A muscular woman with long blonde hair brought a chair ontop of Thrasher's head again and again before dropping it, pulling her arm back, and knocking the heavy man out and across the room with a single punch.

By now Ryland had fallen unconcious and Saanvi was bleeding from the top of her head. The strong lady picked her up and radled her in one hand while gently laying Ryland on the couch. Rio was still awake and relatively unharmed, but still shaken up. He went to sit next to his brother, kicking one of the unconcious assailants in the eye and wiping the blood off his boot. I felt myself get lifted by the armpits and slung onto the couch on top of Ryland.

"Do you know who I am?" asked the tattooed man, "my name is Punisher. This is Charlie," he turned to the red head, "and this is Vanilla." 

Vanilla was still holding Saanvi in one fucking arm, but whatever.

"You the guy tha-that fought uh.. whatsitname? Mmm, Ghost." I cringed at the mess that came out of my mouth.

Charlie nodded. "That's Punisher. Vanilla and I don't often get into these kinds of fights."

Rio had gotten over his initial dizziness and was adjusting the three of us around on that tiny couch. I noticed then that out of everyone here, including sleeping beauty, I was most definitely the target. I also noticed that of the bodies lying on the floor, there were only six, including Thrasher.

I was sure there were twenty before.

"So, why did you rescue us?" Saanvi asked. I groaned at her use of rescue.

It wasn't as if I couldn't have dealt with them on my own.

"We rescued you today so that you would owe us in the future. As a price for surviving today, I want you to challenge me to a permanent switch. Not Thrasher, me." Punisher said, staring down at me.

"Tough luck, buddy. If you didn't notice, I got my ass handed to me. I'm not going to be ready for a fight for about a month."

Punisher shrugged, "then you get a month. Next month there is one day off of school where the cafeteria will be open. We fight then." 

With that, the three of them left, Vanilla finally letting Saanvi down on the other couch. Ryland still hadn't woken up, but Rio and I carried him to our shared rooms.

There was only a week left of the cafeteria, and I had it all stolen from me. I had to demolish Ghost, and the first step of that would be to talk to the information guy, Lucas. Lauren. Whatever.

Punisher, Charlie, and Vanilla were all walking in the hallway. The giants attracted a lot of attention as people swerved to avoid their path.

"Why does Ghost believe that scrawny kid could ever beat me?" Punisher grumbled.

"His fights look good, and he can take a hit. I think that's what Ghost was thinking." Charlie said.

"Ghost doesn't think with his brain, only his dick. Especially with that plan of his. What the hell was he thinking sending us to fight off Thrasher and challenge Whitey?"

Vanilla shrugged, day dreaming about her new bunny.