In the grass on the outskirts of the Fighting Center’s running track, Cedric thrust his spectral snake forward, and Daniel pivoted past the grab, weaving closer to connect a medium cross to a heavy left hook. Cedric recovered from the hitstun before him, but Daniel threw a quick jab to keep him blocking, spacing out more light jabs afterwards.

They had activated the Frame Meter for their training round. A segmented bar floated at the corner of Daniel’s vision, showing him the exact colored timing of his jab’s startup, active, and recovery frames, and exactly how much of a frame advantage he had over Cedric.

Mr. Stone timed how long he kept Cedric in pressure with a stopwatch, standing in the grass outside of the boundary line. It was part of their practice to help him learn how to counter Grapplers — keeping them in pressure was key. But, Daniel’s mind drifted past Mr. Stone.

Carmen finally passed Rafiq on the running track.

Yes!

Distracted, he applied too much pressure with his next sloppy jab. Cedric recovered faster, and his spectral snake covered his flexed hand. Daniel backpedaled, dodging, and punished the whiffed attack with a punch to the kidney.

Cedric exhaled loudly in pain, doubling over. Mr. Stone snapped. “Twenty seconds. New record, Daniel, but you got distracted and lost the advantage.”

Daniel nodded, panting. “Yeah, I noticed.”

“I can confirm, though, you are improving at aiming for weak points in the body to increase your damage. Aïe,” Cedric groaned, holding his side. “Can you name them all?”

“Kidneys, liver, solar plexus, ribs, chin, temple, jaw, and the throat.” Daniel counted off of his fingers as he listed them all, but one more came to mind. “And the groin. Especially that one.”

“If you hit me there, we’d have a real problem,” Cedric said with a strained smile.

“I also doubt Jazz Hands Insurance would allow you to continue their program if you went for such a dishonorable move during a live fight, too,” Mr. Stone said. “But, let’s take a break. Referee, cancel the training round.”

The referee appeared in front of them, swiping her hand down as the blue lines marking the edge of their impromptu arena faded away, taking Daniel’s frame display with it. “Training round canceled!”

Cedric rose to his feet as his wounds disappeared, but Daniel still felt exhausted from their training. He collapsed onto their bench and chugged his water, watching as Carmen and Rafiq continued around the running track.

“Mr. Stone, you know what people around the millions are like,” he said. “Do you think we’re ready?”

Mr. Stone sat down beside him, stroking his beard. “Well, Rafiq must still learn to become less susceptible to mixups, while Carmen must work on trusting her instincts more instead of stopping to think.”

“And that’s what I’m here for,” Cedric said, holding up a thumb.

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Daniel chuckled. “Yeah. But, you know, your moveset would be perfect for teaching them that stuff, Mr. Stone. You’d have the mixups for Raph to practice on, and the speed for Carmen to practice on, and—”

“Daniel, please.” Mr. Stone cut him off.

Daniel’s heart skipped a beat; as soon as the words left his mouth, Mr. Stone’s shoulders slumped. His eyes darted to his cane, feeling as stupid as ever.

“I tell myself that enough every night. Haruki took that from me.”

Crows chirped overhead, blissfully unaware as they skimmed across the gray sky, passing their conversation.

“Is that the real reason Cedric’s here?” Daniel twiddled his thumbs. “Carmen told me about how she overheard you guys talking. That you had really just invited Cedric to hang out with us for protection. In case…”

“In case Haruki returned to finish her mission.” Mr. Stone gave a solemn nod. “You pick up quickly.”

“It’s true,” Cedric said. “It’s even why I secretly followed you two when you fought Bullet Fandango, or around the carnival. I’m more mobile, so I have to keep tabs on all three of you.”

“But we haven’t heard anything from Apex in a while. Aren’t we safe?”

Mr. Stone’s grip tightened on his cane. “Haruki’s still making her moves. Another member of the Fifty has been left dead at her hands. It was Prophetoid, this time.”

Cedric gasped. “Adrian?”

Mr. Stone nodded. “He specialized in Illusion techniques, so we can assume that’s part of Haruki’s arsenal now. There is truly no telling who she can become, nor what she’s planning on doing next. I rediscovered her Fighter profile last night.” He swiped his menu open and navigated to his Fighter menu, searching for Apex’s name.

An entry came up, but the profile was completely blank. No headshot, no clips, not even a record.

“Everyone has privacy settings to opt in and out of certain details being visible. She’s opted out of everything, and she keeps her rank low.” He sighed. “A monster of my creation, and there’s nothing I can do.”

“But you aren’t totally powerless, Mr. Stone. I mean, that agent from the SRB wouldn’t have all the info we gave her about Apex’s identity if it wasn’t for you.”

“True.”

“And even if she’s taken your ability to fight, she can’t take away everything you know. You were still one of the Fifty! I don’t think we’d be doing this good if we didn’t have a source of info like that,” he continued, shrugging.

He nodded, a smile spreading across his face. Mr. Stone turned his face towards the sky, as the rain clouds began to draw away. “Equally true, Daniel. Thank you.”

“Speaking of that info, you forgot to tell me what I gotta get better at! Come on. I won’t take it personal if you just say I suck.”

“Well, you must continue learning how to deal with your archetypal counter. I was a Stance Rushdown, but I still had my strategies for when I faced Zoners. You, on the other hand, had nothing when you first faced Cedric. And of course, with your restriction on combos, you need to aim for weak spots more, to maximize the damage of your combos.”

Cedric raised a finger. “I also think you could benefit from learning how to condition your opponent.”

“What?”

“Mind games. Against a moveset like yours, your enemy’s mind is their real weakness. By repeating the same pattern and rhythm on how you deal or take damage, you can force your opponent to believe it, and trick them at vital moments.”

“Oh! Like when I know someone’s always going for an attack on wakeup, so I time my Counter for that moment.”

Mr. Stone nodded. “And you would be that someone. The moment they believe they know how to punish your pattern, you’ll punish their punish with a Counter of your own.”

Daniel couldn’t fight a grin from spreading across his face. “Now that’s what I need. When can we start on that?”

Cedric waved a hand towards him. “Right now. Conditioning’s my game, and we have two days for you to get it down before Friday.”