In the red booth, on the couch, Ash slides closer to sister Xiaojie, she crosses her legs. Her dress is purple under the red lights.
"What's gasoline?" Sister Xiaojie said.
Ash is taken aback. She's never heard of it. No gasoline means no dumpster fire cocktails. If there aren't ingredients for test two... then there's probably no way to put together a landfill surprise. Ash shakes his head. There must be some crucial detail he's forgetting. Sweat trickles down the side of his head.
Think, Ash, Think.
His neurons blast rapidly, combing through every single word he has learned in the past five years. If the word gasoline doesn't exist, maybe the flammable liquid goes by another name, if not maybe there is something close enough to it to basically be the same thing. Ash looks to Xiaojie, his eyes shining with hope.
"It's a flammable liquid. You got something like it?
"Yeah, a few." Xiaojie said. Ash hugs her. It does exist, he doesn't have to create some crude oil extraction operation in order to dispose garbage. Ash foresaw this possibility, and dreaded it. He's no engineering super specialist. It'd take Ash years just to produce a grossly inefficient crude oil extraction operation. Furthermore, if he starts a race for crude oil, the environmental damage would be astronomical. That's almost too much of a price to pay for the toxi-grip. Causing trash to escalate across the world so he could be given a chance to de-escalate all of it. The sheer irony of the predicament would have given Ash a heart attack, the qi in his heart said so.
"Give me a quarter barrel of the cheapest, dirtiest, one."
Sister Xiaojie frowns. This Ash comes in with a massive bag of gold and asks for cheap trash. Why is he being so stingy?
"One rat-flame-piss mix, what else?"
"What did you use to heal me yesterday?" Ash said. Sister Xiaojie smiles, that's why he was being stingy.
"Thunderblood. For Qi practitioners and below, it might as well be a full heal. Takes about ten to heal a Qi expert like me."
Are you kidding me, thunderblood? I drink that stuff almost every day.
Ash for years has theorized thunderblood potions were why Janne went to killed only the one thunderhoof back then. The near forty liters of blood it had was enough to heal him for years, Janne just kept them in the freezer and qi pulsed a botttle to form when Ash wanted one. Ash isn't sure how she mixed it, he couldn't read qi at the time. The bottles were small, containing fifty milliliters each. Janne spent weeks preparing and storing them in the freezer.
Five milliliters, a tenth of a bottle, was enough to heal Ash at three years old. A couple days ago, half a bottle. Today... Ash and Baro drank the rest of his supply. It managed to make his arms functional, but they feel as brittle as glass. Baro couldn't have healed much better. Still, it's incredible Janne knew about this healing brew. Baro asked if Janne was a doctor, she might be.
"The ten you used yesterday is on us. Experts have no desire to bid on them, so we sell openly. It's a hundred gillards per five hundred milliliter bottle. Ash's eyes widen.
Ten? It took 5 liters to heal me? I'm not even bloated... maybe the potion evaporates when it's inside the body.
Ash runs the numbers. Janne said they got about forty liters of blood. That means a thunderhoof can net up ten thousand Gillards with just it's blood. It's worth as much as all the thunderhoof meat sold together, chest, back, ribs, front legs, back legs, shoulder, butt, organs and all. The bones and leather must be worth a fair amount too. Ash estimates the total value of the beast to be between somewhere between thirty thousand and forty thousand Gillards.
"I'll take fifty bottles, now do you have anything for washing clothes?"
"But can't you just make some of those-."
"I had no idea this scent is for royalty. I want to see what other people use. Also I'm looking to shine the wood on my tree, de-rust metal, paint my room white, and kill insects on my lawn."
Xiaojie looks on with tears in her eyes. This boy has so many responsibilities and he's still in school. Gauging the market on the side, and working on his home too. It's too much.
"Some of these are dangerous to even breath, do make sure you handle them with care."
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Baro stares down at the academy atop a nearby roof, furiously eating an apple. He can't believe he misjudged Ash the way he did. Baro at six years old really thinks himself a stellar judge of character. Even while Baro was screaming at him, he looked like Ash had no intention of stopping his search for drugs and poisons. The look in his eyes said "it doesn't have to be like this. Well...You made it like this, Ash.
Baro's stomach churns like a mill. The foul odor of that rat blood-shit poison still deep in his nostrils. Ash actually grabbed onto it with his mouth, no hesitation. At first Baro thought Ash fell for the scavenger's lies, but Ash fully knew what it was he was grabbing onto. His arms were busted so he had no other choice... but he wasn't even phased. Baro, even after falling asleep in the Kireina Kami infused hot spring, can't get that vile stench out of his mind. How could Ash make him suffer through that without so much as saying a word about the noble cause behind his intent. Baro thought he'd eventually reveal the great plan, but instead it was all distractions and feasts. Things to take Baro's mind away from the truth, that he has befriended someone with a serious poison obsession, who uses trickery to hide the truth; That there is no noble cause and he seeks poison for harm. Baro chews through the apple core and spits the stem out.
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He wraps his fists in cloth as Ash walks down the street with a small bag in one hand. Ash stops. Under the full moon, Baro's eyes flash with qi.
"That bag, open it," Baro said, completing the wrap. The air thick as wax, waiting for a spark to ignite. Ash puts the bag down and Baro flashes. He reaches for the bag but Ash grabs his arm.
"No."
Fwoong
Qi rumbles as Ash's black hair rises, and strong veins emerge on Baro's shaved head. Their eyes locked on eachother. Baro steps back.
"Follow me," he said. Vanishing.
Ash understood completely. No point in going through all the effort to hide power if you're just going to go all out in the middle of the street. However, if Ash chooses not to follow, what would Baro do?
"Flaming Meteor Kick!" Baro said, coming down from the sky.
A surprise attack? I didn't sense any qi.
Ash scrambles and backs away, only for Baro to come down without a touch of heat. He grabs Ash's bag, looks to him solemnly, and vanishes away.
"Tch." Ash said. He follows.
It's too dark, if Baro gets out of sight, Baro could vanish in any direction faster than Ash can catch up.
If.
Ash glides and climbs over walls, hopping and flipping over pipes, and jumping back down to ground level, keeping pace with Baro. It's a familiar path. Baro enters a massive sewer tunnel. If it were brighter out rows of graffiti would flash amongst the walls. The floor is wet, and slimy in places. It's hard to separate trash from ground in the darkness.
Baro looks over his clothes. Still clean. Ash wasn't kidding about the Kireina Kami potency. He is a very serious man, and that means he is very serious about doing terrible things to himself. Baro places the bag down, and takes his fighting stance. Legs wide, arms high. Ash charges with a medium stance.
Hands and feet fly in a flurry of exchanges, and Ash swats one of Baro's arms aside. Baro steps back and grits his teeth.
Ash you bastard, you healed your arms.
Ash closes in with a three piece Junk Punch combo, bone breaking had they not been well guarded by qi. Ash serves fries with a backspin Junk Chop. Baro blocks it with his good arm, the other limping at the side. Qi bursts out his hand and sends Ash stepping back, stunning him as Baro's arm erupts.
"Flaming Strike!"
Baro Sends Ash flying. Even with qi defense, that's not a punch that can be ignored. Baro pulls a glowing red bottle out his back pocket.
Ash whiplashes against the wall and fumbles. It shaky block at best. Ash rises to his feet, steam on his leather hide. He's dizzy. That glowing vial in Baro's hand, it looks like the thunderhoof healing potion.
Why is it glowing?
Ash flickers and flips over Baro. Bottle flying up over him as his foot comes down for Baro's head.
Garbage style.
"Heretics Pie Tie Glide."
Poom
The clash of feet and arm echoes throughout the sewers. Baro's qi bursts out again, and sends Ash flipping back. He lands on his hands as Baro's other hand ignites.
"Flaming Strike!" Baro said.
"Reverse Saw in Two Glide!" Ash said with a twist of his arms, sweeping his feet in a circle.
Baro hits a foot, but the second gets him in the shoulder. They send eachother flying, both crashing into a wall. Neither had enough qi for a real defence.
Ash drops his scorched foot in a nearby pond, steam rushing out. It's as though a thousand scorching needles are piercing it over and over. Baro coughs, he's can't breathe fully. He snaps his shoulder back in the socket, he yells, eyes widening as veins shoot all over. A few of his ribs are busted from that kick.
Baro flickers, notably slower than before. Had Ash's foot been in working condition, he'd have easily out maneuvered. Instead, Ash fumbles and flips over his palms before kicking up over the wall, one leg high in the air. Baro ducks and bursts his qi to block, but Ash lands behind Baro. His bad foot swings like a pendulum, spinning Ash as his fist bursts with qi.
Garbage Style
"Junk Hook"
By the time Baro turned, Ash's fist was already digging his fist into broken ribs. A foul, opportunistic blow. Baro stumbles as he steps back, drops and coughs repeatedly. Barely able to hold a half breath, his vision blurs as Ash charges in. Baro grits his teeth, kicks himself up, and grabs Ash's foot.
Ash's eyes widen as Qi pulses through Baro's abs. With a step, Baro twists to the wall as though snapping a rubber band, slamming Ash at full throttle. Ash's eyes roll back as his face flays against the course sandpaper-like paint on the walls. Baro's ribs stick his lungs harder. They both cough blood and fumble on the ground, Baro barely able to breath.
Baro smacks the ground, and rises up again. His eyes flash as his arm bursts with flames. Flickers catch and spread amongst garbage slithering towards Baro's feet.
Ash spits out a tooth, and looks Baro in the eye. Veins pulse and emerge throughout his body as he raises his hand. A large pile of garbage wraps and engulfs Baro.
"Toxi-grip."
Ash coughs blood and his body spasms, his arms scream as though being repeatedly stung by a thousand wasps. Their poisons coursing through Ash's body like Baro's flames spreading through trash. Ash failed to notice the garbage already burning, an irredeemable failure for one who prides themselves for their trash handling capabilities. Sect Master Khan would be devastated. Khal Sect disciples are heroes, not tyrants who put their opposition to fire.
The qi-infused flames are growing by the second and it's well beyond Baro's control. It's going to kill him. Ash collapses as clusters of pain burst throughout his head. His arms like anchors in the sea, too heavy for a five year old to raise. Baro is going to burn, his only friend is going to burn.
Come on, move. Move, move, move, move, move, move, move.
Baro struggles to pry off the trash, but the flames are already all around. The garbage surrounding him now the only thing keeping him protected. Ash's eyes, bloodshot, shake along with his body as he rises to his feet, nearly falling in the process. The pain in his arms and the adrenaline in his blood overpowering the needles piercing his feet. He stands steady, as Baro looks on with fear.