Dimas steps into Scott's locker room carrying a semi-conscious Scott in his arms. Scott's team look afraid and in awe of Dimas but fully concerned for Scott. They all awkwardly stare at each other in silence. None of them, Dimas included, expected him to help Scott.
Lilee barges in with her bag of medicine. "Dimas! What were you thinking?! You don't hit your friends that hard!" She clears the table and turns off the display. "Put him right here."
Dimas places Scott on the table. "First off, he's not my friend. Second, he technically asked for it and besides I held back."
[Still, I'm not sure if I held back enough. I need to practice with this ability. Don't want to end up killing anyone by accident or I might get banned from the tournaments.]
Lilee tenderly inspects Scott's chest and ribs. "Okay, some ribs are fractured but it's probably the tumble that took it out of him."
"We have a pellet for that." One of Scott's team members pulls out a white pellet the size of a golf ball from his pocket.
"May I see that?" Lilee takes the pellet. "White coloring, probably from a Huestitch flower. It'll be difficult for Scott to chew right now." She crushes it in her mortar and tastes it once it's a fine powder. "Just like I thought, it's practically nothing but Huestitch, his ribs would heal in less than a day but it's going to hurt. A lot."
"Wow. Does nobody test their own medicine?" Dimas says.
Lilee pouts. "I'm going to add something for the pain without diluting the Huestitch, it should also turn the pellet dust into a goop that'll go down easier." Lilee adds what looks like a small purple tomato into the mortar and begins mixing it with the pellet dust.
Scott's team members crowd around Lilee, praising and thanking her. Lilee begins to blush but seems to enjoy the compliments.
Dimas can see the mixture becoming thicker and thicker. He imagines having to swallow it and grimaces. He turns to Scott. "Sucks to be you."
The duo are back in their locker room after having Scott take his medicine. Dimas wants to wait until the crowd leaves the stadium to avoid being caught in the wave of people that will soon be flooding the streets.
"Scott really did a number on you, huh?" Lilee pulls out an ointment and a couple of berries from her bag.
"You just realized that?" Dimas could barely feel his face and the parts he could feel were throbbing with pain. "Good to know my opponents get priority healing."
Lilee laughs. "Don't be like that, you know that if it was Scott carrying you I would've been there a lot faster." Lilee places a handful of small berries on the table in front of Dimas. "Eat these, they're super sweet and they'll keep the bruising from being too bad." She begins to carefully apply the ointment on Dimas's face, it immediately lessens the pain.
Dimas eats the berries, Lilee wasn't kidding, they're super sweet like a thousand pounds of cotton candy squeezed into a single compact ball. Lilee begins to hum the calming melody once more. Dimas downs the rest of the berries while Lilee continues to apply the ointment. Waiting for Lilee to finish, Dimas closes his eyes.
He thinks back to the many fights back on Earth when he would have to clean his own wounds with nothing but a rag and a stolen bottle of alcohol, he didn't steal it, someone else did and Dimas bought it off them. He doesn't miss those nights one bit. It's a welcoming change of pace to have someone more capable working on his wounds.
Dimas's head leans forward but Lilee catches it. He must've drifted off without realizing it. Lilee smiles, finishes up, and places a blanket under his head to use as a pillow.
Dimas sits up feeling a lot less sore than he thought he would be, Lilee is writing in her journal.
"That fight must've taken more out of me than I thought." Dimas stretches his arms.
"I'm pretty sure it was the berries." Lilee doesn't look up from her journal. "One of their side effects is drowsiness. How are you feeling?"
"Sore but at least it's bearable." Dimas stands up. "Come on, we need to talk to whats-his-name."
"Who?"
"The guy who lost to Sebastian."
The duo stand in front of a rowdy tavern tucked away from the major streets, a majority of its customers are the eliminated fighters who are old enough to drink where they can sulk freely. Or a place for losers in Dimas's opinion.
"This place stinks." Lilee pinches her nose.
"The stench of defeat. And vomit. And tobacco." One of Scott's team members suggested checking this place. Dimas hopes they can find their man here because he is not looking forward to checking all over town.
Dimas and Lilee receive a couple of dirty looks while heading inside, a few of them simply stare at Lilee's scar. Dimas heads for the counter. The bartender is already shaking his head.
"I don't serve minors." The bartender points them towards the exit.
"Good for you, I'm looking for…" Dimas looks at Lilee.
Lilee ignores the obvious stares. "Ruben."
The bartender crosses his arms. "I don't allow mockery of my patrons, this is a safe place."
"I just wanna ask some questions, that's it."
The bartender scrutinizes Dimas. "He's over there." The bartender gestures towards the back of the bar where Ruben sits alone. "If you cause any trouble, I will throw you out."
"Yeah yeah." Dimas walks over to Ruben's table.
Ruben sees him approaching, he has an interested look on his face. It's obvious to Dimas that Ruben knows why he's here, the question is whether Ruben will talk or not.
"You're wondering what happened." Ruben takes a sip of his drink.
"Yeah, I am."
"Why should I tell you?"
"Because I'm the only one who can take down Sebastian at this point."
"Pretty big talk but you won't win. You're both close-range fighters and all he needs is to punch you once."
"Humor me."
Ruben sighs and shakes his head. "It felt like my mouth was on fire. It burned like nothing I've ever felt before and it got worse with every second."
"But you were fine afterwards. No marks or nothing."
"Yeah, the same thing with everyone who fought him."
Dimas thinks it over. All it takes is one hit and his opponents are done but they're left unscathed. Yet, according to Ruben it almost feels like he was burning but there wasn't any fire. At least none that Dimas saw.
Something nagged at the back of his head. Something Sebastian had said when they met. And with that, Dimas has his answer.