Chapter 8

Laying bruised and beaten on the ground, I finished my reflection. This series really used to be a power fantasy?

“To be the best, is that really why I became a hero?” I said to the sky.

I seemed to have found the answer to my question, and yet, it didn’t feel like the answer. I became a hero to be the best? I doubt that, it may be what I said and what I believed, but that doesn’t feel like the complete answer.

I sat up and looked towards Roku.

“Well, isn't that convenient.” I said with a sigh as I noticed their battle was finally about to start.

Roku’s opponent was an old man with a well-kept white beard and some crazy eyebrows, and he wore nothing but an old grey tattered Gi. He may have been old, but his body was in tip-top shape, I could tell he wouldn’t be a pushover….at least in normal circumstances. His opponent is Roku, and he stands no chance.

The man may have trained his body to perfection, but Roku’s strength was beyond that. Describing it as superhuman would be an understatement. We may both be side characters, but he’s the one that gets all the cool scenes. He’s the rival character, the one whose strength is second only to the protagonist.

He’s the Vegeta, while I’m the Krillin. That should illustrate the gap pretty clearly.

“Let’s get started, you wasted my time long enough with talk.” Roku bared his fangs and prepared to pounce.

“As you insist.”

Suddenly, the old man snapped his fingers, and what seemed to be a box made of energy formed around them. Above each person was a green bar with their corresponding names on them. The box was see-through so I could tell what was going on.

A fighter on each side, no escape for either, and really only space to fight face to face. Oddly enough it seemed to resemble what you would see in a Street Fighter or any other 2D fighting game. Though I doubt that was intentional on the old man's part.

“This is my ability, True Combat. Combat can only be at its full potential when it is between two evenly matched opponents, on an even stage with even stakes. True Combat is not so much a battle of the body as it is a triumph of the mind. That is my ability, that ........is True Combat.” Chikara explained.

“You...are a disgrace to us all.” Oh no, here it comes.

“You once tread upon the lives of man as if they were ants. You were known by all...feared by all. Your sins were vast, the blood of your victims painted the underworld red. But you......you are redeemed? I say no!” It’s as he says. Roku used to be a villain.

It’s a taboo topic to talk about, but it’s true. Roku used to be a bad guy. I don’t call him the Vegeta of the group for nothing.

But it changed when he faced Diran. He has worked to make up for the mistakes of his past. He may not show it as much, he may not make a big deal out of it, but he has changed. It may be cliche, but it’s true.

“Redemption is a funny thing. Like the lottery, only a select few get it. Lady luck is about to pass you bye.” Roku shrugged off his provocations.

“I shall correct her mistake then. You are undeserving of redemption. All that awaits you is condemnation. ‘Luck’ and ‘fate’ are fickle, and wrong. To leave things in their hand is a sin itself. I will set things right in True Combat.”

From what he just said, I can tell that he knows all about Roku. And since he knows him, he knows what he can do.

For him to come into this battle and claim they are evenly matched either means this old man is senile, or he is prepared.

“Strange choice of last words.” Roku responded.

“What do you mean by ‘last words’? Our fight hasn't even started. I just told you you’re under the effects of my ability, how is that cluing in on my defeat?” Chikara grunted.

“It doesn't matter. The results will not change because of some 3rd rate ability. You'll fall in the face of my absolute power all the same.” Roku responded with a crack of his knuckles as he began to approach Chikara.

“I don't think you're understanding me, do I need to dumb it down for you?” Chikara asked with pity.

“Probably, I don't think he's getting it.” I shouted.

He sighed before explaining.

“Alright, I do desire an even battle. So right now, while we are in this box I created, we are both under the effects of my ability. Our power, speed, defense, everything is equalized.” He paused before pointing up.

“See the colored bars above our heads? They represent our life. When yours goes all the way down, you die. Simple right?” He said as if explaining it to a toddler.

“It's just like a fighting game!” I shouted to Roku.

He stopped in his tracks and turned to me.

“The only fighting game I've played is Smash.” Roku responded while looking at me.

“Well, have you ever played stamina mode?” I pleaded.

“I think so.”

“...”

We are so screwed.

“Screw all this waiting and explaining,” Roku interrupted the silence.

Roku lunged at Chikara with a strong right hook, which Chikara ducked under Matrix style. As Chikara fell back, he aimed a kick at Roku’s face. Roku blocked the kick, before throwing Chikara back. Despite the fact that he blocked the attack, Roku’s health bar still went down a

little bit.

“Oh shit, there's chip damage on block?” I exclaimed.

“There's what on what?” Roku responded cluelessly.

“Even if you block his attack, you’ll still get damaged a little bit!” I shouted to him.

My observation was correct, this was just like a fighting game. What a strange, peculiar, unique, actually a little cool, ability. I’m sure it would be fleshed out for a very interesting fight, if the one fighting him wasn’t a

dumbass.

“Then how the hell do you suggest I beat this guy!?” He asked angrily.

“How should I know!” I yelled.

Roku’s straight forward, little thinking required style wasn’t well suited for this type of battle. Fighting games are less about who's stronger, and way more about mind games. Be it micro-spacing, neutral, movement, reads, or conditioning, there is a lot at play, and all of them are about outsmarting your opponent.

This wasn’t a fight of strength, or even skill. This was a contest of whit and understanding. Knowing how an opponent reacts to attacks. Knowing how to safely punish risky attacks. Fights like these are all about knowing how to exploit an opponent while staying as safe as possible. The cards weren’t in Roku’s favor.

“I thought you played these kinds of things!” He asked. I did know a thing or two, but I couldn’t explain it all in a way he could understand here. You can’t learn it all in the middle of a match.

“And aren’t you supposed to be a fighting expert? They're called fighting games! Fighting! as in that thing you've done your whole life!” I retorted.

Roku and Chikara exchanged blows, Roku was hesitant to block as a result of last time, and his attacks weren’t well orchestrated. Chikara on the other hand had a firm understanding of the inner workings of his ability. His attacks flowed like a dance, slowly and carefully chipping away at Roku’s health bar while leaving little room for a counter attack on Roku’s side. Things were not looking well.

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“Fighting game logic only partially applies to this situation!” Our best bet was just having Roku follow his instincts.

“Then what do you do to win in fighting games!?” He asked, as he dodged Chikara's attacks. He was beginning to adapt to Chikara’s attack pattern, but he still hadn’t landed a good hit. Chikara was mainly using safe attacks. Attacking in a way so that if it missed, Roku would have no way to punish.

“Um......Just don’t get hit!” I blurted out

“Ah geez why didn’t I think of that!” He said with angry sarcasm.

“If you didn't want my advice then you shouldn't have asked!”

“Quit bickering like an old couple and fight me!” Chikara interrupted as he swung at Roku and nailed a hit to his jaw.

Roku quickly responded with a swift kick to Chikara's chest, knocking him away. Roku had finally adapted enough to land a good hit, maybe things aren't as hopeless as they seemed.

“What? How did that not kill him? A full power kick like that should have broken all of his ribs and punctured his organs.” Roku asked, exacerbated.

Scratch that earlier statement, this really is hopeless.

“You buffoon, we just went over this! Your strengths are equal, you can't beat him in one hit! His health bar signifies, you guessed it, his health!” I shouted annoyedly.

“Oh!” The realization finally hit Roku.

“I just have to hit him until he dies!” He shouted with vigor.

At that moment, I facepalmed hard enough to transition to the next volume. But inconsequentially, in that next volume I also facepalmed hard enough to transition back here. Truly equivalent exchange at play.

Roku was holding his own against this guy pretty well. But compared to this old geezer, Roku’s martial arts skills were significantly weaker. Roku mostly won his fights by overwhelming them with pure strength, not with skill and technique hardened over countless hours. The cracks were starting to show through Roku’s fighting style as it became more sporadic and desperate as his bar began dropping at a faster pace than Chikara’s.

Strength is one thing, but skill, talent, strategy, and a firm grasp of the fundamentals are another. This man was a master of those. He wasn’t winning through flashy combos or long attack strings; he was winning through sheer understanding. Every time Roku threw an attack, Chikara was barely out of range, but close enough to land a counter hit. This was no coincidence; it was all through the man’s skill in footsies and spacing.

Roku may have started adapting to Chikara’s fighting style, but that doesn’t mean he could suddenly beat it. It seemed like Chikara knew Roku’s next attack before Roku even knew. His spacing was perfect, his attack and defense flow was immaculate, and his taunts were clearly getting to Roku. He was winning, one hit at a time.

“What happened to your usual bad ass composure!?” I asked, slowly losing faith in the situation.

“That’s only while I am winning, not while losing to a filler villain!” Roku angrily shouted back while blocking Chikara's attack.

I paused.

“That's supposed to be my bit, you bit-biter!”

Chikara’s stance suddenly changed, and the air seemed to shift as a result.

“Dragon’s Dance!” He shouted.

He struck first with a right palm strike, which blew through Roku’s guard. He followed it up with a left back handed strike, which was too fast for Roku to put his guard back up in time.

The following combo flowed like a raging river, blow after blow, with no room for Roku to do anything. We could both only watch helplessly as his health bar dropped from yellow to red.

“This is bad, this is bad, this is bad!”

At this rate Roku would actually die. There is no way this guy was a filler villain, even Diran might have a little trouble beating him due to his troublesome ability. Splitting into two groups was a huge mistake, we really were helpless without Diran.

The guy I fought wasn’t a filler villain, so this guy probably wasn’t either. Both of us would die, Diran wasn’t here to save us. It’d be the biggest plot twist, both of us died off screen while Diran could do nothing about it. Damn those writers for finally thinking of something original!

Once this guy killed Roku, I would be next. With the way I am now I could hardly walk, there's no way I could do anything against him. Only the Gods of asspull and plot armor could save us now.

“Throughout my time as a side character, not once has plot armor saved me, if there ever was a time for the plot armor and ass-pulls to kick in, now would be it!” I pleaded to no one in particular.

Chikara finished his attack and sent Roku into the air and against the wall of the box. It looks like Roku’s life would be finished by a corner combo.

“No one can save you now, it's over!” Chikara shouted as he readied his final combo.

But that sentence, that blessed sentence, that was the trigger. In his preemptive declaration of victory, he raised a flag. Whenever a declaration of victory happens before the match is over, an ass-pull happens. Every time without fail, someone gets a power up out of nowhere, someone awakens the power that was sealed deep inside them without their knowledge, someone reveals that this was all according to their plan, all because of the preemptive declaration of victory.

And sure enough, the ass-pulls did kick in. Sadly, it wasn’t me awakening my hidden demon powers, it wasn’t all according to Roku’s plan, and neither of us had a power up. Instead, it was something completely different.

A gunshot suddenly rang out from my left as Chikara suddenly got launched back with blood spurting from his chest.

“Don’t worry guys, I defeated my guy just in time.” The mysterious figure said as he pulled back the bolt on

his rifle.

Chikara began to rise back to his feet, visibly enraged. He seemed to glow red with rage, and blood. Lots of blood.

“How dare you! This fight was-” Chikara was interrupted as another shot was fired, this time hitting him right between the eyes, blasting a mist of blood and brains right onto Roku.

Chikara fell to the ground, as his health bar dropped to zero, signifying his defeat and death....... even though the gaping hole in his skull was enough to tell that much already.

The box containing him and Roku vanished as did Roku’s health bar. He was no longer under the effects of that guy's ability. Roku stood up as if he had sustained no damage. I guess those attacks may have been harmful while under the effects of Chikara's ability, but once the ability was deactivated and Roku’s defense returned to normal, they were nothing but love taps.

“Threat eliminated.” The mysterious man said while pulling back the bolt yet again.

Roku ran up to join us, the stranger on a knee next to me, and me lying on the ground still in extreme pain.

“Glad I made it just in time! You sure were in a pickle, eh Roku?” He said cheerfully.

Roku gave me a hand and helped me to my feet. We both glanced at each other wondering the same thing.

“Who is this guy?” Roku whispered to me.

“I have not the slightest idea.” I whispered back.

“Come on gang, I can see you guys whispering to each other.” He said with a joking tone.

“What should we do? Is he an enemy?” Roku whispered again.

“I’m not sure, he’s acting awfully familiar. And if he is an enemy, why did he save us?” I whispered back

“Hey! I’ll have you know that I was perfectly in control of that situation.” Roku quietly retorted.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.” I responded.

“And what about you? You look like you got hit by a train?”

“That was you last fight!” I retorted angrily.

“That was a truck! There's a difference!” He spit back.

“Come on guys, all the whispering is starting to hurt my feelings.” He interrupted our whispered argument.

“I have an idea.” I whispered to Roku.

“Yo, um, I got pretty messed up back there and got hit pretty hard on the head and, uh, I have no idea what's going on.” I lied as naturally as I breathed.

“This is why we need a healer.” Roku mumbled while shaking his head.

“Oh, you poor thing.” He said with a disheartened look on his face. “I'll fill you in!” He then said cheerfully.

“So, after that crazy guy attacked you and Roku in the hospital, we split into two teams to track him down. Your brother, Shai, and Useless, as you always so kindly call her,” he Chuckled. “Split into a team, and you, Roku, and I were the other team.” He said with a smile.

“Is this guy for real?” I leaned in and whispered to Roku.

“This is sketchy, I don’t like this.” Roku whispered back.

“After we faced that ice lady,” He continued. “We ran into 3 enemies in this field, we each faced one and managed to defeat them all, and now here we are.”

“You see, I can mostly remember all that, but I can't seem to remember, uh.... you.” I said awkwardly.

A wise man once told me, “If you start bullshitting, never go back on it, ever, no matter what. No matter how obvious you may think it is, never give in, never go back on it take it to your grave.” I don’t know if he was bullshitting about that, but I’ll follow it either way.

He frowned, before regaining his composure and continued to explain to what he thought was an amnesia victim.

“It's me, I'm our team's sniper......Maybe you don't remember me because I'm never in the forefront of the action. I've been a part of the team for years.” He explained.

“Oh, right, you. Ah yes, I remember you now. It's just still pretty hazy, I'm just blanking on your, uh....... name.” I responded with a look that made me look deep in thought.

“Oh yeah, I guess I didn’t mention it. My name is

Mack, Mack Ina the second.”

“...”

“...”

“Your name,” I paused in disbelief. “Is Mack Ina?”

“You bet!” He said super cheerfully.

“That is the most obvious naming convention I have ever heard in my life.” I quietly responded.

“Mack Ina.... I don’t get it.” I guess Roku didn’t get the very obvious pun.

“That's your actual, birth given name, not some nickname or code name?”

“Yup!”

“Wow.” I gasped.

We’ve had a lot of pretty obvious ‘in your face’ jokes so far, but this is definitely the most obvious.

“Well then, enough about my name, let's be on our way, gang! We are almost to our destination!” He said as he led the way.

“That man is going to change our world.” I said quietly.

“It's unbelievable, really.” Roku said, finally understanding the meaning of his name.

“What's more unbelievable is that a teammate we’ve apparently known for years, who neither of us can remember, suddenly appears out of nowhere to save us, and his name literally means ‘contrived plot device’!”

“Yeah, what is up with that?” Roku questioned.

“Maybe this is some kind of trap? He did save us, but maybe it was to earn our trust?” Roku added, thinking for once.

“Or, maybe he really is a contrived plot device used to save us and is now being used for a comedic bit?” I thought aloud.

“Eh, doesn’t really matter.”