Outside the Fighting Center, Mr. Stone leaned on his walking cane, taking a seat on one of the benches outside. “So, students, here are the rules for this competition,” he started, holding up fingers as he went. “One. Starting in one minute, you all have thirty minutes to reach a numbered rank and return to me, and whoever returns first gets to pick where we eat lunch. Two. You must stay within a few blocks of the Fighting Center and the Maroon Sports Bar. I don’t want any reports or calls that you need a ride because you went all the way out to Main street for a Fight. Three. Do not interfere in each other’s matches, or follow each other to use trash talk to prevent someone from winning.”
Rex scoffed. “Come on, teach. I only did that once!”
“Twice,” Daniel said. “You’re probably forgetting about that time at Blue Lobster that Carmen challenged that one dude.”
“I was eating! It was like a whole show of entertainment. Of course I’d get into it!” Rex said, gesturing wildly with his arms. “Besides, it ain’t my fault she couldn’t see that low kick coming.”
“But it was your fault that he knew I couldn’t move and control Chip at the same time,” Carmen snapped. “You literally told him!”
“Enough,” Mr. Stone said. “Though they do have a point, Rafiq. I specifically thought of you with that rule. Any questions?”
“What counts as a numbered rank?” Daniel asked.
Mr. Stone, Raph, and Carmen all turned to look at Daniel at the same time.
“Daniel, bro, sometimes I really gotta resist the urge to give you a dumb answer when you ask a dumb question.”
“Right?” Carmen chuckled. “Now you know what I mean?”
“Unlike others, I don’t forget your otherworldly origins,” Mr. Stone said. “The System doesn’t display a Fighter’s rank in exact numbers until they reach the top third of all Fighters in the world. So, with about three billion Fighters total—”
“About three billion and two hundred, to be more precise,” Carmen said, raising a finger as she adjusted her glasses.
“You three have thirty minutes to reach the top nine hundred million. If you remember correctly, your current rankings are only an estimate of being within the top two billion.”
“And that’s all completely separate from our Class,” Daniel said, nodding. While their ranks were their exact positions on the worldwide leaderboard, their separate Classes only raised or lowered after a certain amount of matches, to reflect their actual skill levels.
Daniel clenched his fists at his side. Defeating Replay in the South City Beginner’s Tournament brought him up to B Class, and every other morning, they went out for ranked matches ever since then. All three of them had reached A Class, but after all their matches, he was one loss away from dropping down by a Class.
“I get it now,” he said. “When do we start?”
Mr. Stone glanced at his watch, nodding before shrugging. “About two minutes ago.”
His words sent jolts of energy through their footsteps. As a group, they dashed away, and Daniel clumsily bumped into Carmen.
“See y’all!” Raph sprinted down the sidewalk in a different direction. “I’m gonna go find a King of the Hill!”
Carmen, too, took a different direction — she turned back towards the Fighting Center. “Later, Daniel! I’m gonna matchmake in here!”
Daniel paused for a moment on the sidewalk, caught between walking off to Street Fight or to follow Carmen, to take the less-interesting route. Behind him, Mr. Stone crossed his arms, tapping at his watch, passing an unspoken message.
Decide.
“Carmen, wait!” Daniel said, fast-walking to catch up with her. “You’re gonna do this by just matchmaking for ranked matches?”
“Yeah?”
“I…” The words caught in his throat, unable to come out in plain english. “I think Street Fighting would be better. A more strategic option.”
“But why would I wander around the city to look for a Fight? The system can match me with someone else in the Fighting Center, can’t it?”
“It could, but what if no one’s around your level in there?”
“Then I can specifically set it to instead match me with other opponents matchmaking around the same Class in the surrounding area,” she said, crossing her arms.
“You could, but isn’t that boring?”
“What?”
“I mean…” Daniel took a deep breath.
This won’t work if I chicken out of it.
“Wouldn't it be boring if we aren’t doing it together?”
And so, Daniel’s brain racked through every single curse word in the human language. Carmen stared at him for a moment, dumbfounded in belief. But, he caught the way her hand twitched for a moment, the same hand he held so long ago.
It wasn’t immediately a no, either.
“Are you asking me…” She cleared her throat. “Are you asking me to go out fighting with you?”
“What? Me? Asking you out?” Daniel chuckled, hoping the bead of sweat rolling down his forehead wasn't obvious enough. “No! Come on — this isn’t totally about me. I just think, strategically, as rivals, it would be better.”
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“As rivals?”
Mentally, Daniel ran down through another curse word. “No, I didn’t mean it like that. I mean, I did, but only kinda, not completely, just a little. You know?”
Carmen stared at him for a moment before her chuckle became a full laugh, covering her mouth with the palm of her hand. “That sounded a lot less awkward in your head, didn’t it?”
“Did it work?”
She sighed, smiling. “Well, as your rival, I saw online that 33rd and Oak is a popular spot for Street Fighters. We can start there.”
----------------------------------------
“And see, the entire concept of Street Fighting started back when Mage County was first wished in by King George the fifth. You remember me telling you about that, right?”
Daniel nodded, watching as, high above, a man was thrown out of the window of one building, crashing through the window of another nearby building. “Mmhmm. Wait, what? That’s how they got here?”
Carmen nodded. “King George the fifth was such a fan of fantasy novels and their settings that, once he became The One, he used his wish to bring his ideal fantasy setting into reality. It’s why they worship him as a god.”
“Oh. I get it.”
“Great. So, once the Mages were brought in and they started witnessing fighting for themselves, they were hesitant to incorporate it into their culture, but they inspired other Fighters by what they defined as honorable. They believed that the most honorable way for a warrior to claim his strength was by wandering the lands, so more people started taking that same approach to Fighting, wandering the streets to find opponents. It became so trendy that Street Fighting became the term for it!”
“Who’d you say was the first most popular one, again?” Daniel asked.
“Well, actually, it was…”
Though she continued, Daniel’s attention bypassed her words, hooking onto the enthusiasm she spoke with, the happiness with which she went on about something she loved.
Love.
It was a strange word, one that had plagued his mind ever since that fateful night after the tournament, after their lives were on the line — when he’d confessed the biggest secret of his life. Challenging Apex and her ten underlings was one thing, but to so directly confess to Carmen during the fire, and then to hold her hand?
It was a wonder he didn’t die from that. Daniel chuckled to himself.
Carmen took that as a response. “Exactly, right? I mean, she let her career drop so suddenly just ‘cause of one drug scandal. How could he be so reckless?”
Carmen continued, but Daniel felt his mood sour, and his heart pound in his chest. The days after were the worst, even to today.
Because she never proclaimed anything in return.
She hugged him tightly during the fire, and she held his hand back, too, as he squeezed hers softly. Even now, the sensations still tingled along his hands, begging, urging him to do it one more time, to really find the truth on whether or not she felt the same.
Daniel cleared his throat, but Carmen spoke before he could open his mouth. “We’re here! This is 33rd and Oak!”
Chaos.
Chaos was everywhere Daniel looked, between every Fighter along every roof and along the sidewalks. The air buzzed with anticipation. Across the intersection, as two Fighters battled along the sidewalk, leaping over each other’s attacks, two more fought on the rooftop to their side, and another group tore through a nearby corner store as pedestrians watched from the windows. Some leaned against walls and loitered on benches, tightening bandages around their arms, warming up, searching for the next opponent like hawks.
“Whoa…!” Daniel gasped, taken aback — the sudden shift in energy vblew away his last train of thought. They had been Street Fighting before as a group, but never alone with Carmen like this — let alone at such a chaotic place. “This is awesome!”
“I know, right! You were so right about Street Fighting being a better idea. Here — let’s go this way!”
Daniel followed Carmen down the sidewalk, his head on a swivel. “Why didn’t Mr. Stone want us here, again?”
“Something about it being a dangerous area, or whatever. Because there’s so much betting and gambling, it attracts a certain crowd, and some people take it really seriously.”
Daniel stopped in his tracks, glancing across the road. The fight inside the corner store had ended, and a wad of cash returned to a man’s raised hand. But, Daniel knew what would come after the stiff, angry posture from the guy next to him,. Before he knew it, he tackled him, beating the other man savagely on the ground. The men weren’t Fighters — they were dressed too sloppily for that. But, the energetic crowd nearby didn’t care, and they continued cheering as the men fought.
“What? Then, why’d you bring us here?”
“Because we’ll be fine! The strongest Fighters flock to the most dangerous places — that’s what makes them strong,” Carmen said.
Daniel crossed his arms, glancing at her as she stopped, too. “Are you doing that thing again?”
“What thing? I—” Carmen paused as the realization set in. She sighed, folding her hands behind her back before shaking her head. “No. I told you I’m done with that — I didn’t come here to prove something to Mr. Stone. I’m here because I want to be, and I think it’s the fastest shortcut to reaching a numbered rank.”
“You promise?”
She nodded. “Pinky. Can we go, now?”
Daniel’s heart pounded in his chest. She was so close, he could easily slide an arm around her shoulder. His heart took hold of his mind, forming a bubble against the chaos around them, retrieving the thoughts from earlier. “Sure, but…there was something I wanted to ask.”
“What?”
“I—”
The world moved in slow motion. Carmen had stopped in front of an alleyway. As Daniel tried to piece together the words, a man came flying from the dark alley and crashed right into her. Every second became a minute — her glasses flew from her head as the man’s body knocked her to the ground, like a string of hay in a thunderstorm. They both tumbled off the sidewalk, right into the road.
Daniel’s heart turned to ice as an oncoming car barely screeched to a halt.
He rushed to her side to help her as she reached for her glasses. A panicked breath later, Chipp had been reflexively summoned in his muscle form, glaring left and right for the nearest threat before staring down the stopped car.
“Are you next, little girl?!” A grimy voice rumbled out from the dark alleyway. “Come and challenge the emissary of darkness! I control this alley!” a man bellowed. He was rough and scraggy, a picturesque stereotype of the homeless, but the shadows around him formed armor around his baggy jeans and torn hoodie, drawing a ghastly build.
Though she shook in Daniel’s arms, Carmen grinned. “Fine, then. What’s your name?! Let’s do this!”
Carmen rushed into the alleyway, leaving Daniel behind as the lightning along Chip’s skin brightened the tight corridor. The random man who’d been tossed picked himself back up, taking a single step before collapsing at Daniel’s feet.
“I’m sorry, I just…I need a rest…”
The stopped car continued afterwards — such chaos must’ve been usual, even expected. But, now he was alone. Daniel sighed and blew a raspberry to himself, and a door slammed close behind him.
A little girl with a white, hospital-like eyepatch strolled out of a candy store, adjusting her dyed blue hair. The end of her blue and green dress caught on the door handle. She pulled it off, but froze in place, holding a croissant to her mouth a her eyes darted between Daniel and the man sprawled out on the ground.
“Are you a Fighter, too?” Daniel asked, his voice low, a symptom of his downtrodden tone.
The girl stared at him for a moment longer before simply turning back into the store, still holding the croissant in her mouth.