I woke up to the sound of fingers on keyboards and mice. As I said, people loved to immerse themselves in realities unknown to them. I stared at the ceiling- or at least tried to. My stomach still hurt a bit from the blow I took from Rumble, but overall, I felt pretty good. I tapped my phone to see that it was only two in the morning. Usually, I would wake up at five or something- depending on what happened the day before.
I hoisted myself up and made sure to wear underwear this time around. I couldn't risk my future for getting caught horny all of a sudden. I threw on a blue hoodie and solid black pants and continued out the door. The smell of greasy, takeout food hit me in the face. There were little boxes filled to the brim with slick, oiled noodles with chili sauce poured all over them. For those that preferred less intensity to go with ether gaming, plates of pasta and breadsticks were being carried in and out. The automatic doors were opening and closing, letting in the warm night air drift in. There was small talk: whispers, fingers pointing at computer screens, and racial gestures suggesting bad or good outcomes. Most of the customers were boys on their vacations since it was summer break. Many of them still wore their uniforms in case they got lost on their school trips. Cassandra made a killing every summer by hosting these in-school circuit trips, where students would pay the school to take them to a few of the major cities in Altross. The busses would be packed every year with students, teachers, and Citizen's Heroes. It was also a time when Tommy would dial down on his little fight club.
Many of these students were around my age, so I wasn't feeling too uncomfortable with the side-eyed glances they were giving me. The only thing that made me feel creeped out was how the black light would make their eyes glow when they looked at me. "Hey!" I heard someone shout. I kept walking. "Hey! You with the blond hair!"
I turned around and yelled, "It's gold, moron!"
He was a kid my age. He was about my height- maybe a few inches taller. His facial features were sharp, but they also had a humorous tone to them. His jet, black hair and hazel eyes reflected little light. He smirked when he knew he had my attention. "Do you live here?" he asked as he walked up.
"That depends on what you want," I answered.
He tilted his head as if he had not thought of me answering in this way. "Is…" he fiddled with his fingers, "Can you show me where the 'tea shop' is?" I froze. How did he know about Tommy?
'Relax,' I told myself. 'He probably just heard rumors. Or he could be asking me for an actual tea shop for his sick, old, sweet, cake-making, great aunt.' I kept a cold face and said, "Well, there are too many to count on my fingers! Is there one you have in mind?"
He looked at me hesitantly; I could sense that he was having a hard time telling me what he wanted. He looked around for his peers, and when he saw that they were not around him, he leaned closer to me and whispered, "I-I heard there was a tea shop here that….that held underground street fights or fight clubs or something. Do you know where it is?"
I stared at him for a little too long before I shook my head. "No…" I replied slowly, "I haven't heard of one like that. Maybe it was just a rumor? You know, to attract more kids to come to Greenfield?"
He nodded his head. "Yeah, you could be right. I might as well just give the Supers a heads up, just in case. You know, 'cause it is illegal"
I stopped breathing. Telling the Supers was like inviting a life sentence through your door. I saw him tapping away on his phone. He was about to press the send icon when I said a little too loudly, "Wait!"
He looked up from his phone and grinned. "Changed your mind?"
I clenched my fists together. "Fuck you," I said, "And, yes."
***
I walked down the sidewalk with the hot wind blowing at my face. I was dripping bullets even though we were right by a large river. I looked up into the sky to see a pure black sky with a small crescent moon in the corner. There were no stars because of all the exercise, bright lights blinding me from the streets. I saw the hotdog restaurant's billboard again. It made a lot more sense. "So, is this place far or what?"
I almost forgot about this twat following me. "Just follow me."
"How can I be sure that you won't beat me up in an alleyway somewhere?" he asked, meekly.
I chuckled. "I don't need an alleyway to beat you up. Just shut up and follow me."
He ran towards me so that he walked by my side. "Do you have a name?" he asked.
"Yeah." We were getting closer. I was able to retrace all the buildings up to this point. It helped that the streets were bustling with all sorts of people: people that did street entertainment like breathing fire or making a small cluster of rain clouds, people letting loose on their sixth or seventh drink, and others who were simply lost. There were no homeless people, per se. Tommy told me that when he was a child, there were a few stragglers that couldn't find stable jobs, so they stayed on the streets. But, when Tommy was around twenty, even the few stragglers were gone. He always told me the story like he couldn't believe what he was saying. He would say, "There were a few homeless in every city. No matter how rich it was. But, one day, they all disappeared! Like, POOF! It wasn't a gradual decline."
"Well, aren't you gonna tell me your name?" he asked.
"Nope."
"Well, my name's-"
"I don't want to know your name either. I think it's best if both don't become too friendly." He nodded his head and stepped inside the shop after me.
Tommy wasn't in the actual shop. Rather, I knew he was down below. The best part of this shop is that every time one platform went down another one would replace the old one. So, there were two interchangeable, seemingly identical platforms. I walked towards the closet at the back of the shop and knocked on its door. My knock would echo down towards Tommy, who was cleaning up the mess made by the fans.
Suddenly, the floor began to shake as it slid down into the ground. "Woah! Are you sure this is okay?!" the kid cried out.
"Yeah, shut up." The platform sank into the ground until we reached the bottom. Tommy was in the ring. "Hey, Tommy! I brought a guest."
"A friend?" Tommy asked without looking up from his sweeping.
"Hardly…" I replied as I turned my head to look at him. "He's one of those academy kids."
Tommy looked up and scrutinized the kid. The kid spoke up and said, "I want to fight!"
"Who?" Tommy asked. He waved his hands around the area. "Do you see anyone here? Can you not see that I have just cleaned up the ring?"
"But-but…"
"Are you blind?" Tommy genuinely asked.
"I…" the kid panicked, "I've got money!" He took out his wallet from his back pocket and fiddled with the cash inside.
"You rich snobs!" Tommy yelled aggressively, "Do you think money can solve all your problems?!"
"I-I've g-got two grand on me right now, sir!" he nervously shouted back.
Tommy stopped talking. His ears perked. He gave the kid a humble smile as he said, "If you add two more I'll let you fight with the champion himself."
"Tommy!" I yelled. This was a total rip-off! Tommy silenced me by putting his hand up.
"I don't have another wad of bills on me, but I do have this," the kid explained as he handed over the thick stack of credits to Tommy. The kid pulled out a small, sleek, silver card from his breast pocket of his navy blue academy uniform.
"What do we have here…" Tommy muttered as he grabbed the card out of the kid's hands.
"It's an Academy Card. I think it's worth at least five grand. You can access different schools with that. It's...um…. Illegal to sell it, but, I mean, we're already doing something illegal, so I didn't think it would make much of a difference." The kid combed his hair with his hands and forced a nervous laugh.
"What a beauty!' Tommy hollered. His enthusiasm echoed through the empty arena.
"So...umm...maybe...I could get my change back?"
"For what?" Tommy asked.
"You know...since I only owe you four thousand, but I paid you seven thousand….I should get...like...three grand back?" the kid visibly squirmed. He quickly added, "I accept cash?" No one made a sound. Tommy stayed completely silent as he looked into the kid's soul. The kid's neck started to show signs of sweat. He shyly suggested, "...or...you could...keep it?"
Tommy broke out into a grin. "Ah! That's the way to go, my boy! Now, for your generous donation, you will get to battle it out with the one and only LION!!!" He pointed at me.
"H-he's the champion?" the kid cried. I looked at Tommy winking at me. 'You miserable, old fuck…' I thought. 'Ripping off book-smart kids?' "I-I have to fight him?!"
"Well, of course! You'll be getting your money's worth! Not to mention, you two are the same age, virtually the same height, and pretty similar build. It should be a fair match!" Tommy encouraged me.
"If you say so...:"
"I know so! Now, you too enjoy it, and try not to get hurt!" Tommy broke out into a little jog as he crossed the metal fencing and made it to the third-row seats. "Well, what are you waiting for?" he yelled. "Let the battle commence!!!"
I looked at the kid and asked, "Are you sure you want to do this?"
The kid's hand began to glow a blue hue. From one of his palms, an ice spear grew. It was roughly eight feet long. Pretty standard. His other hand erected a small, nimble, ice shield. "I can't go back now, can I?"
I rushed at him as I would with any other opponent. However, unlike my other opponents, he was sharp. He was skilled. The kid kept me at a distance by following my every movement with his spear. While his shield hovered near his abdomen, his spear waited for an opportunity to strike. It was like a snake, waiting to sink its fangs into my flesh. "Is this what they teach at the academies?" I asked, hoping to shake his confidence.
"..."
No reply. 'Not much of a talker, huh?' I ran from one side of the ring to the other, gradually closing in on him. This is my disadvantage. 'How do I get close to him?' For one thing, I knew that I would only exhaust myself if this continued. No matter how fit I may be, running around versus standing still is on two extremities of actions.
I got closer to him, but instead of stepping back like last time, he took a step forward while extending the reach of his spear slightly. 'He's trying to box me in.'
I jumped on the fence. He immediately thrust his spear to where I was. I jumped back down to see that it took a half-second delay to retract his spear.
For ice-type superpowers, the body gets too cold to react when they abuse their powers. 'He must be reaching his limit because he conjured both the spear and the shield.'
I ran around the out edge of the ring for the next three minutes. The kid was valiantly taking steps forward, slowly giving me less and less space to move around in.
I jumped on one of the fences again and dropped back down to observe that his reaction time had slowed to almost a second. I think he could tell too because of the worry on his face.
'Now or never,' I told myself. I was also getting tired of dodging the extreme accuracy at which the spear kept being thrust. They were always a hair's breadth away from incapacitating me.
For the last time, I looked him in the eyes and leaped onto the fence. But, before he had the opportunity to strike, I scurried up the fence to around ten feet.
The kid looked at me and made a stupid move. He struck.
I lept off the fence and used my knee to slam into the shaft of the spear, splintering the ice into tiny crystal shards. The shock hit his hands, which made him drop it completely. I sprinted over to him.
Without giving him a chance to recover, I pounced on his body and chucked him on the ground.
I ripped the shield off his hand and touched his cold skin. 'He's shivering.' A sense of coldness burst inside of me as I conjured a gauntlet of ice to cover my fist.
I raised my hand once and slammed down on his face.
He didn't move.