“Alright then,” James exhales, “I’m only going to say this once so you better pay attention.”

As the man sits in his hospital bed, Ronnie looks at him anticipating what he’s about to learn.

“Every once in a while, you’re going to come across an opponent stronger than you,” James remarks as he tosses an orange in the air, “They’ll be faster, smarter, and more knowledgeable than you when it comes to fighting. You’ll never be able to take down someone like that.”

“So the lesson is I’m gonna get my shit kicked in?” Ronnie sweats.

“That is… if you care about your pride,” James continues as he catches the orange, “If you know you can’t win through conventional methods, break free from them. Fighters with experience may be able to know the perfect move for any regular attack, but how do you counter an attack that no person would even consider using? The more confused you can make your opponent, the easier it is to find their weak point.”

“Their weak point?”

“No matter the opponent, there’s always some weakness they have. It just becomes more obvious the more confused they are. After all, stupidity is the greatest offense to intelligence!”

THE MIRACLE CLINIC: SEASON 2

Back in the present day, Chao is rushing toward Ronnie inside the abandoned grocery store Tatsu’s Household Needs when suddenly.

THONK!

Something hits his forehead and falls down his face, something that he catches in his hand.

A jelly bean?

THONK!

THONK THONK!

“Hey you fucker,” Ronnie grunts as he reaches into an opened bag of expired jellybeans, “You gonna copy this too?”

Chao ‘Cambridge’ Huang stands there stunned for a moment. Through all the fights he’s ever had. Has anyone ever tossed a jellybean at his head?

It doesn’t even hurt him and yet he finds it so damn infuriating.

“Wow what’s up with you?” Ronnie remarks as he tosses some more jellybeans at Cambridge, “Your mood turned so…sour.”

Rushing toward him, Cambridge goes to lay his hand on Ronnie, only for him to be greeted with a knee to the stomach. Cambridge goes for another punch but Ronnie quickly counters. Seeing no opportunities at the moment, Cambridge takes a step back to assess the situation more.

As he does so Ronnie glances around the store to see what else he can use at the moment, that’s when he sees something in the corner of his eye.

Making a run for it, Ronnie rushes through the produce section of the store, tossing the rotten produce behind him to try and slow the pursuing Cambridge. Eventually he finally reaches his destination, a large pyramid of canned fruits and veggies.

A large pyramid that he knocks over, sending all of the cans to topple over Cambridge.

It doesn’t take too long for Cambridge to get out of the pile of cans he was buried under, however as soon as he sticks his head out of the pile, he is whacked in the head by a large bag of ice.

“I always hate when ice gets stuck together,” Ronnie laments as he swings the ice bag he got onto Chao ‘Cambridge’ Huang on his head once more, “Perhaps you can break some of the chunks for me!”

As Ronnie goes for a third strike, Chao punches through the bag, causing all of the ice to fall to the ground.

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“I’m getting sick of all these stunts by you!” Chao yells as he creates the same fist Ronnie made earlier, “It’s time for you to proceed to checkout!”

Chao goes to swing at Ronnie only for it to…miss?

Chao looks down to see Ronnie has poured a bottle of olive oil he grabbed on his way to the produce aisle onto the floor. Mixed with the melting ice, the whole area around Chao is very slippery.

“I’ll make sure to wrap this fight up soon,” Ronnie yells as he makes a fist, “And when I do, they’ll be needing to clean your body up from Aisle Four!”

Ronnie goes to swing at Chao only for it to…miss as well?

In fact Ronnie almost topples over.

Ronnie looks down to see the puddle of oil and melting ice has gotten to where he’s standing as well. The two opponents lock eyes as they try to shimmy their way out of the puddle, however in order to also not topple over, they constantly have to move back and forth.

At the entrance of the grocery, the two thugs Ronnie knocked out at the beginning of the fight open their eyes to see Ronnie & Chao struggling to stay standing against a puddle of oil.

“Dude, are you seeing what I’m seeing?” one of them says as he lays on the ground.

“Yeah, I had to wink three times just to check I wasn’t seeing things,” the other replies, “Where do you think that kid learned how to fight like that?”

“I don’t know, but if I were to cast my guess, I’d say whoever taught him would’ve been the goat!”

“Yeah, but not as strong as some hamsters I’ve seen.”

“What hamsters?”

“Maybe its cuz you only moved here from Cali recently, but you wouldn’t get it.”

“I guess. You wanna help Cambridge out?”

“And get knocked out by a toaster? I think I’m good. You?”

“Yeah, I don’t want to look like I ate too many edibles so I’ll stay here.”

As the two members continue to watch, Ronnie & Cambridge have finally made their way out of the puddle, but due to some oil still being on their shoes, they can still slide around.

“Hey, why don’t we call a timeout so we can catch a breath?” Ronnie questions as he slides out of the produce area.

“And let you get away?” Cambridge questions as he skates after Ronnie, “Not a chance!”

As the two slide and skate across the entire grocery store faster than most could run, Cambridge keeps on trying to swing and punch at Ronnie, however Ronnie manages to dodge by the skin of his teeth.

Using a box of cereal called ‘Enzo-Os’ to block an oncoming hit, jumping over a grocery cart Chao slides around, grabbing some chips for a quick snack before remembering its expired after eating, using a toy lightsaber to fight against a toy sword Chao grabbed, tossing the toy lightsaber aside so he can slide underneath a currently falling can pyramid Chao tipped over by tossing his toy sword into, and taunting him all the while – Ronnie remains ahead of Chao, and still out of reach of him.

Eventually the two skid to a stop in the appliance section of the grocery store, the oil that remained on their feet has finally burned off. The two lunge toward one another as they get ready for another attack. However, Ronnie manages to dodge easily while Cambridge takes a blow to the stomach once more.

Cambridge goes for a right hook only for Ronnie to catch it effortlessly and deliver an uppercut.

“Sorry but your cheap parlor tricks won’t be fooling me anymore!” Ronnie yells, “I know your weak spot!”

While it’s true that Chao Huang is perfect at imitating his opponent, he’s too perfect at it as Ronnie discovered in their fight. Each person’s body is different from one another, and Chao’s body is both taller & has the longer wingspan by a few centimeters between the two. And yet, he’s still copying him perfectly. He’s not swinging as far or as hard as he could be, he’s stopping his fist where Ronnie would stop his. He’s making his attacks weaker since all he’s doing is an imitation of a fighting move.

A perfect reflection has no room for alteration.

“A fight against myself? Don’t make me laugh,” Ronnie remarks as he delivers one final uppercut into Cambridge sending him falling backward, “You’re not even good enough to be my fake!”

As Ronnie takes a moment to take a deep breath, he feels like his spirit’s been lifted a bit from winning the fight.

No wait, he’s in the air right now?!

“I’ll admit, I never expected to show you more than just your reflection,” Cambridge says as he just kicked Ronnie’s feet in and slams his fist into Ronnie’s liver, “You should feel proud for what you’re about to see.”

As Ronnie gags, he feels the attack completely different, he’s still not going as far as he can with his swings, but they’re definitely going further than before.

“I’ll give you just a small taste of the catalogue I’ve built up,” Chao remarks as he effortlessly grabs Ronnie by the upper jaw and slams his head against the wall.

Ronnie tries to get another attack in, but the hits are moving at a much faster rate than before. They’re swatting away each attack he goes for and countering with another.

Atl he can do is try to endure. If he slows down for just one moment, if he stops to breathe for just a second, he can strike bac-

“Let’s end this,” Cambridge remarks as his left hand grips right below his right fist.

Before Ronnie can move, Cambridge swings his right fist into Ronnie, sending his body crashing into one of the aisle shelves, sending it toppling over.

Cambridge walks over and grabs the unconscious Ronnie by the back of his shirt with one of his hands.

“It was a nice attempt,” Cambridge exhales, “But if you’re the strongest among your friends, then I’m afraid none of you will be seeing tomorrow.”

____________________

Back at the Heartbreak Motel, the last regular thug falls unconscious. Christopher, Hunter, & Marcus stand tall as they prepare for the real fight to begin.

“Good,” Worcester remarks as he stands up atop the convertible, “I was getting impatient waiting to slice you all into pieces.”

See You Next Chapter!~