This would have been the handful of times that Ally is just left wondering around the city, and Jon offered to walk her towards the fighting agency much to her delight. Forcing him to lock arms with her, they walked across the S Prime city streets as shuttles whiz overhead in set air paths as some superhumans with special movement abilities or flight overtook them at the regular.
Despite this being zone six, it is still a lively and rather busy place.
The stores on the streets are all specially catered towards the needs of the superhumans. There are certain metabolic differences in their physiology, and many facilities will also have to accommodate the variety of superpowers, particularly in that of clothing shops. Back then in S city, the cheapest clothing outlet only sells clothes designed for normal human activities, meaning that Jon and Ally often got naked halfway through the fights.
However, this is unlikely to be the case anymore.
The navigation on the city-wide wireless internet took the two for a turn down an alleyway when Ally and Jon spotted the signs for the fighting agency at last.
'You have got all the documents given to you by Essex, right?' Jon asked, and Ally nodded before showing him the projections of the documents.
Letting go of her arms, Jon prepared to go when Ally pinched onto his sleeves and nearly tore a hole in one of the last remaining normal clothes that Jon had.
'No-good-bye-kiss?'
'...Do you want one?'
'YES! Pleeeeeeaaaase? For-encouragement!'
With a face that turned instantly red, Jon leaned it and gave her a big one on the forehead instead. She giggled like a little girl before running straight into and through the doors of the fighting agency, triggering a break-in alarm in the process.
'I didn't know that girl.' Turning around and murmuring to himself, he started heading towards the meeting place set for his contact.
The alarm tore through the fighting gyms and those that are training in it. The office at the ground level is nothing more than a front, and the real training areas are down a flight of stairs. Each of the cages is the size of a small arena, and fighters are tangling in the fighting rings that are shaped like cubes with side lengths of ten meters. This accounted for the maneuverability of certain superhumans in 3D environments.
Glancing over at the nearest ring, one of the fighters has a projection and construct power, where she is able to wield two gigantic projections of her fist around. Her opponent appeared to have a sort of body enhancement power as she charged forward again and again at the whizzing fists and the one controlling them.
'Can I help you?!' The man sitting at the office door got Ally's attention angrily as cleaning droids hurried to pick up the pieces of the door, 'what do you want?'
'I-want-a-job!'
'We don't take interns here.'
'I-am-a-fighter!'
'Are you now....' The man said, his eyes glancing all over Ally's body to the point that she felt like she is being stripped by his glare. Then, she noticed a slight glow in his eyes before his eyebrows rose, 'ah...you look to be an interesting one.....'
Standing up from his seat, he gestured for Ally to follow him.
'You-don't-want-to-see-my-documents?' Chasing after him with the documents projected, Ally asked.
'You are from the outside, aren't you?' The man lets out a cynical chuckle, 'pro-fighting works differently in here. If you are really good, you go fight in the major leagues. All rookies start from minors and start climbing from there regardless of where you came from, or who you were.'
'But-I-still-get-paid-to-beat-people-up?'
'That's the whole point, ain't it?'
Taking Ally to a cage all the way at the back, she saw a few of the other training fights going on, where a mix of genders, superpower types and battle gears are used. The only thing that's constant is the cube used to enclose the fight environment.
'Do-people-always-fight-in-cages?'
'At the minors, sure.' The man replied, turning around and unlocking one of the rusty cages at the back as he blows a loud whistle, 'Welcome to Bronze minors. As you rise up, you can get access to fights of your choosing, get access to better gyms, better coaching staff and other shit. Before then, just stay alive.'
Ally felt the ground underneath her shake as a gigantic muscular man walked towards them from behind.
'Go spar a few rounds with the rookie, Rock.' The man said as the big man grunted something unintelligible before ducking under and getting into the cube, 'try to stay alive against him.'
'Ok.' Ally said, walking into the ring after.
As the man closes the door to the ring behind him, the floodlights dotted in each of the corners of the cube is turned on, and the barren fighting pit is lit up.
'Do you consent to get beat up?' The big man said, slurring his words slightly and wiping his nose.
'What?' Ally replied, and the big man suddenly moved, his body possessing an amount of speed that is mind-boggling. With his entire arm already cocked back, he landed a hit directly on the stomach of Ally. With his first move, he is already going all out intending on finishing the fight as quickly as possible.
The weak and frail-looking girl should now learn a lesson about the harshness of pro-fighting here in S Prime! Imagining her body being thrown back and slammed against the edges of the cage, or better yet, splattering into pieces of limbs, the big man lets a grin escape onto his face.
There was a solid thud, and his fist made contact with Ally's abdomen.
The ground underneath Ally's feet cracked before shattering, sending pieces flying everywhere and dusts jetting through the expanding cracks.
Ally didn't move an inch. Slowly looking up at the giant man, she cocked her own fist back, and threw it upwards nonchalantly.
There was a loud, distinct and clean crack of his jaw bone as her fist created an inverted V shape into his face. The big man was sent flying backward before his body was slammed back onto the ground, nearly shattering it a second time.
There was nearly no movement from the big man apart from the occasional twitch of his legs, and Ally turned around to face the man who had a perplexed smile on his face.
'Very well.' He said, 'I am Coach. Welcome to Bronze Minor.'
The training at this level is highly individualized. Based on today's performance, Ally's first fights will be arranged in time, and she will be accessing this training facility whenever she wanted, though, from the look of things, there isn't too much to be desired from here.
Coach registered her on the system, and she simply waited for her first ranking fights coming up in a few days.
The majority of monetary gain from fights at the Bronze Minor level is from the gambling money. Of the net gain, ninety percent of the money goes to the winner while the remainder is split between the match host and the loser. So the only way to make a living through professional fighting is to keep winning. Makes sense.
'If you win the fight in three days.....You will get around one hundred units.' Coach said as Ally gave him the wide-eyed look that freaks him out, 'I know, not a lot. That's what you get with Bronze.'
'Is-there-any-other-way-to-make-money...?' Ally asked.
'Hmm...' Looking underneath his desk, Coach tossed out a magazine towards Ally who caught it with two fingers. On there is a brochure for models, 'I know a few of the girls do this on the side.'
Looking down at the magazine, lots of athletically built girls in skimpy clothes are shot in various poses. The still shots aren't even half bad for cameraman standards.
'I-wonder-what-Jon-will-think....' Scratching her jaw as she flicked quickly through the magazine with girls wearing progressively less and less clothing the further in she goes. Then, she came across an article that outlined how a girl can grab and keep a man's attention.
That settles it.
'I-will-do-this!' Slamming down the magazine back onto the table, Ally walked out of the door and set a new destination for the city, leaving the shady fighting agency behind and heading towards the shady photographer's booth.
Compared to the fighting agency with a stained sign, the photographer's location for the Fighter's Paradise magazine is surprisingly located in one of the office buildings in the central area of Zone six filled with various high risers. Following the directions and various signs positioned around the building, Ally found her way towards the office.
'May I help you?' The girl sitting at the front desk with heavy eyeliners and a purple lipstick asked impatiently as she looked at the intruder of her peace. Scanning Ally with the same look Coach and whistling provocatively, her attitude shifted immediately.
'you wanna be a model? You might be a big hit!'
'I...I-came-from-the-fighting-agency...'
'Even better!' She said, clapping her hands twice as a pair of cameraman emerged from the curtains behind her, 'do you bruise?'
'No....'
The trio shared a look before quickly welcoming Ally in.
The photoshoot was swift and quick, and Ally's accelerated learning skills meant she nailed down all of the basics of modeling in no time much to the dismay of a few of the other models scrolling through their phone at the sets.
Going through the various combat outfits and swimsuits, her natural talent shined through. With the way her body is aesthetically constructed, she can adjust it to fit whatever body types are desired, and the cameraman is actually shocking professional despite the look of the booth and the name of the magazine.
It was quick and easy pay for Ally, and she was asked to return any time she wanted.
'Can-I-ask-a-question...?' As she was putting back on her hoodie that took a serious punch earlier that day, 'you-are-really-good-at-camera...why-this?'
The older of the two looked up at Ally and lets out a sigh before the younger one chimes in.
'Things are different on the outside, right, master?'
'Yeah...' The old man looked up, 'the cameraman business was a good one here a long time ago. Then, one bad apple ruined everything for everybody else...And this stubborn boy didn't want to do anything else...'
'What-happened.....?'
The old man lets out a sigh before shaking his head. Realizing this is a dead-end, Ally knew that it would have to be something she will look up after she got back.