The Scallywag Play Park was the premier drop-off spot for kids at the Cricket Creek Mall. It had a twin plastic slide in the shape of a waterfall gushing out of a faux rock-face, an island-themed sandbox that employees buried little treasures in the sand in the morning for kids to find, a jungle gym styled like the ropes and masts of a ship, and a big, fake pirate ship in the center for kids to climb all over, crawl through the insides, and pull levers and push buttons to make noises.

Ai Li remembered running around the play park when she was younger. The place was a nice little ground for fun and injuries, which was probably why the nurse station was literally right next to the place. She liked the place, liked to watch kids enjoy it, and hated whenever she got asked: ‘where are your mommy and daddy, sweetie?’

But the place was dead quiet right now, with people gathered around and staring, murmuring to one another in concern and curiosity at the cursing that came from the center mast of the big pirate ship in the middle.

“—let me go RIGHT NOW or I will rain fucking death and ruin on you, your household, all your stock investments, and whoever is dumb enough to want to be associated with your lame, stanky ass!”

Ai Li breathed a sigh of relief; Jessica was alright!

Slowly she approached the play park, which was surrounded by a bunch of people that looked like they spent their Saturday evenings eating special brownies and pondering the deeper meanings in Rick and Morty episodes.

“Nobody’s allowed in, missy.” A guy in really bad dreadlocks tried to hold a hand up to stop her, but her fingers flicked against his stomach, as well as the other girl in front of the play park’s gate, and both crumpled, groaning at the loss of feeling in their bodies as Ai Li stepped inside.

“Would you please just shut up?! You’re killing my vibe!”

“Oh I will kill MORE than your vibe you unwashed Post Malone-looking motherfucker!”

Jess was definitely talking to Bernard Bucci…

Ai Li stood at the bottom of the gangplank leading up to the ship, and shouted: “BUCCI! I’m here!” She held up the note he’d left, and she heard a commotion from the top of the ship.

“Ai Li! PLEASE kill this guy and—” Jessica suddenly went silent.

At the top of the gangplank, a guy emerged to stare down at Ai Li. A tall, lanky looking guy with some thin muscles, wearing a loose tank top with the neck and armholes cut real wide, as well as a pair of yoga pants. He wore no shoes, leaving his big, sturdy looking feet exposed.

He had dirty-looking brunette hair pulled back in a tight ponytail behind his head, with a full mustache connecting to a pair of full sideburns, with a bald chin. He looked just as greasy and unwashed as Ai Li remembered.

“Hey hey, the little lady Li made it! Welcome to my ship, girly.” He threw his arms out in greeting, wearing a big, almost friendly smile full of gold teeth. “Glad you got my calling card, I woulda hated having to get serious here.”

“Oh shut up.” Ai Li snapped. “You can’t do anything to her; harming a non-combatant is strictly illegal in tournament rulings!”

“Well this ain’t an official tournament fight.” Bernard snorted, arms crossing over his chest. Despite his somewhat laid back posture and tone of voice, Ai Li could sense the steel and anger behind his eyes. “This is personal.”

“Seriously? You ambush me, lose, and you’re taking it personally?”

The man’s eyes narrowed. “I’m aiming for the top, baby girl, and I ain’t letting anything get in the way of that. There ain’t no rules; I’m king here, and once Wangui recognizes that, the whole world will. I’m ready for your tricks this time.”

“Then let Jessica go and fight me.” Ai Li glowered at him.

“I’ll let her go on the off-chance you win.” Bernard smirked, pulling his hands from his pockets to show a steel lighter, and a small, tightly wrapped blunt. “But if I win? She’s gonna join the fold.”

“Fold?” Ai Li asked. Glancing around at all the men and women enclosing the play park, all dressed in loose clothing depicting the letters ‘BB’ prominently, and all dressed in that same hippy-ish, greasy style. “Is this a cult?!”

“Tch, I’m just a man looking to bring people to the next level. Call it what you want; once BB is king, it won’t matter anymore.”

He walked back onto the ship, and Ai Li quickly ran up the plank to chase after him, only to dramatically duck underneath something swinging for her head, then something snagged her by the shoulder and threw her forward onto the deck.

She and Bernard weren’t alone. He stood at the other end of the big model ship, and other members of his dirty little entourage were jumping out of hiding holding baseball bats or switchblades. In the center, Jessica was tied to the mast, her glasses askew and a gag stuffed in her mouth, but her eyes clearly communicated her desire to see Ai Li kill somebody on her behalf.

Somebody raised the gangplank of the ship up, and Bernard raised a hand. “Light up my court! This ship’s settin’ sail!”

Ai Li glanced around quickly, hands held up defensively as each member of his group took a long drag from their drugs, and as one, blew a long, voluminous cloud of marijuana smoke that drifted around the ship, filling the play park as the watching crowd coughed, complained, or took deep, pleasantly surprised breaths.

The smoke stung her eyes, but it settled around the ship rather than on top of it, filling her nose with the pungent smell and making her mind swim a little… What tricks was Bernard hiding down there?

“You really have no shame…” Ai Li growled.

“There’s no shame in winnin’, love.” Bernard insisted with a grin, entering a low, bicep-bulging combat stance as his followers moved to surround them both. From the poop deck and the fore deck, more of his cronies jumped down, and Ai Li glanced around in silent concern; fifteen of ‘em or so? And then there was still Bernard.

But, she had a plan, and with a release of breath, she focused.

She was water; she flowed through and around all obstacles, boring through them with time. She flowed, she could not tackle them head on…

A bat swung at her head, threatening to split it open, but without even looking her hand swung back and caught the assailant’s weapon around the middle, not fully stopping the momentum as she swung them ahead of herself into a girl charging with a knife.

Another man jumped high to try and fall on her with a claw hammer, only for her to shift towards him and thrust her fingers at the tip of his chin. He hit the ground in a heap, groaning as numbness flooded his body, and she weaved around a girl thrusting a knife towards her, quickly kicking her leg out as she passed and moved straight towards Jessica.

“HARD TO STARBOARD!”

Ai Li barely registered the shout when suddenly the entire ship creaked and groaned, and her feet slid out from under her as the ship suddenly rolled to the left, leaving Ai Li scrambling and yelping as she slid downwards towards the rising cloud of drug smoke until she slammed her hardened fingertips against the plastic planks, hanging on and staring down in surprise, Bernard’s cult members hanging onto whatever was near, though one yelped and fell into the cloud below.

Bernard, on the other hand, slowly and calmly strode, standing horizontally on the keeled boat, the crowd shrieking, jeering, and clapping as he knelt down to where Ai Li was hanging, almost face to ninety-degree face with her.

“When you got the power to shape reality,” Bernard took a long drag of his blunt, and blew it across Ai Li’s face, making her squint and her nostrils curl, “you belong at the top.”

“Nng… your breath stinks…”

“And you’re about to stink it up in the loser’s bin.” He snorted, raising a fist.

“W-wait…” Ai Li gasped out, before giving a short cough. “Your power only works on the smoke?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know, shrimp?” He snorted.

“Guess I’ll find out…” Ai Li grumbled, pulling herself upwards. A fist slammed through the plastic where her face rested against, Ai Li briefly airborne as she punched her fingers through the ship’s hull again, and swung her foot directly into his crotch.

He stared at her blankly, blinking at her as she swung the other way with a duressed glare, and he quietly tumbled off the boat towards the smoke below.

Ai Li watched with relief, up until the ship rolled back up straight, tossing her onto her face and Bernard rolling across the deck before colliding with the other side.

She sprung to her feet and charged the center mast, pulling the gag out of Jessica’s mouth.

“Jess, are you—”

“HGBLAOAGH.” Jessica interrupted with a stream of vomit at her feet.

“... Ew.” Ai Li winced.

Jessica panted, looking utterly miserable. “I… am going… to use that man’s ballsack as a coin purse…”

“That’s gross Jess…” Ai Li raised a hand, bearing all her ki at her fingertips as she aimed for the knot keeping Jess tied, only to yelp as a heavy body tackled her to the ground.

The burly posse member drew himself up off of Ai Li, raising a meaty fist to slug her in the stomach, a shriek escaping Ai Li from the pain, but his next fist was stopped by a golden acupuncture needle straight through his middle finger, drawing a scream as he backed off, shaking his now numb hand.

Ai Li drew herself up and lunged, jabbing his chest and leaving him floored as he gasped for breath, and more drew in on her.

She slid underneath knife swings, broke a baseball bat in two with a snake strike to its center, and speared a dirty-looking lady between the eyes with a needle, leaving her on the ground slurring curses.

A hand grasped her shoulder and whipped her around and she thrust her hands out to repel the attacker, but a cloud of smoke blasted across her face, filling her nose with the acrid scent and leaving her coughing.

She spun wildly, throwing out strikes as she tried to blink out the sting in her eyes, but when she opened them wide, she found herself… lost.

She was alone in an empty black void, staring as irritated tears dribbled down her cheeks, all sound and stimulus gone…

“Don’t you see?” Bernard’s voice echoed around her from all directions, leaving her whirling to try and find him, her body shaking. “I should have won. Your perception is mine to manipulate; everything you see, everything you hear, I and I alone give you that permission.”

A fist hammered between her shoulder blades, knocking her forward, making her shriek as she hit the… floor? She couldn’t see the floor, but she felt something beneath her hands and feet…

“I took pity on you during our first fight. I decided to take you out before you even knew what was happening. But no, you stopped me by a fluke. I should have done this before, but now I have to be your trauma, your nightmare, your devil in the dark…”

She tried to draw herself up to her feet, only for what felt like a foot to swing up into her face, sending her stumbling back, tripping over something onto her ass and leaving her panting, gasping…

“A small price to pay. When Master Wangui takes me, I’ll have the resources to take the world as I was always meant to.”

“N-no…” Ai Li grit her teeth, forcing herself to her feet, yelping as a kick thrust her backwards, but she kept her stance and glared around. “I can’t let that happen!”

“You don’t have a choice. You’ll fall in line in time too.”

“I’m not going to let you go all Jonestown on me or anyone else!” Ai Li snapped.

“How the—you’re like eleven, how the hell do you even know about Jonestown?!” Bernard sounded offended… “I’m not some crap-for-brains religious freakazoid, I’m the real deal! Reality changes at my whim! I’m a god, I’m a—”

Ai Li’s fingers flickered out, a needle flying into the darkness, and she heard a yell of pain.

Smoke poured out of every hole in her face, leaving her sucking down fresh air as the world, blurry but colorful once more, came back into view. Bernard was clutching his thigh, ripping her needle out and tossing it to the floor, only for it and the other to fly into her hands between the crowd of surrounding cronies.

Bernard’s eyes almost glowed with hate as he stared down Ai Li, and he roared: “HARD TO STERN!”

Ai Li tried to quickly remember where the stern of a ship was, when the whole boat suddenly began to lean back, the bow rising up in the air as the whole vehicle threatened to go vertical. Ai Li felt herself sliding straight towards Bernard as he sucked in a deep breath from his blunt and whipped a butterfly knife out of his pocket, flipping it open as his feet remained planted against the deck.

She kicked off the deck before she could completely lose traction and landed on the mast, directly above Jessica, panting in relief.

“Okay, Ai,” Jessica piped up, looking a little green, “one, that skirt makes your butt look great from this angle; two: GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE!”

“Trying!” Ai Li squeaked, glancing back as a pair of feet landed on the mast ahead of her. Bernard stood there, glowering at her as his knife flipped around his fingers, slowly walking towards her as Ai Li straightened up, trying to keep her balance on the curving pole.

“I’m officially annoyed, shrimp!” Bernard shouted at her, sprinting forward. Ai Li deflected a knife stab with a shift of his wrist, and he slid around a striking jab to his belly. He tried to grab her limb, but she slapped against his chest, forcing him to fight against gravity and regain his balance as she retreated a step.

He struck, she dodged; she struck, he deflected; back and forth, finger strikes and knife stabs trading between the two as she tried to keep her footing without trampling Jessica behind her, but his longer reach was keeping her from closing in too easily.

She needed the damn ship upright again…

He blew a cloud of smoke at her, and she swung her arm to disperse it from her face, only to squeal in pain as her elbow cracked against something as solid as brick! Her entire arm pulsed with pain, the cloud pressing against her torso with an absurd density, and she pushed it aside as Bernard closed in.

The knife slashed at her side, her teeth gritting as a thin line of blood wept from the new hole in her shirt, and he stabbed again, her wounded arm unable to raise quickly enough to stop it, but her other hand raised, her fingers striking the knife blade tip to tip, and the metal blade shattered.

Bernard backed off with a grunt of annoyance, tossing the knife aside as Ai Li slid a golden needle into her wounded arm, a gasp of pain escaping her as she sent ki to soothe the ache.

“HARD TO BOW!”

Okay, that meant forward!

The ship began to tilt, Jessica shrieking as Ai Li suddenly bolted up the mast, Bernard swinging a smoke-covered fist down at her, but she baseball slid between his legs and charged up towards the crow’s nest.

His fist missed her, but it crashed into the mast, making a ghastly cracking sound that only grew worse as the draw of gravity changed.

The mast went unstable underneath Ai Li’s feet, shifting awkwardly as it split in two. The ship briefly turned upright again, Ai Li hopping into the crow’s nest and hanging onto Pirate Pete as the mast tipped forward, and the whole ship began to tilt with it.

She jumped onto the lower mast as the crow’s nest felt into the cloud of smoke below, and she sweat as she heard Jessica’s cursing increase above the crowd’s howling encouragement, cheering for the fight.

“AI LI!” She heard Jaquan yell over the crowd. “BELOW YOU!”

She threw herself backwards into the ship’s deck a second later as Bernard flipped up onto the mast, his fist slicing through empty air and staring her down with lethal intent.

“Losing steam, girl?!” He asked furiously. “It’s only gunna get worse from here!”

Ai Li’s head exploded in pain as something hard bounced off of it, and she quickly scampered forward a few steps, rubbing her scalp as a welt threatened to form. Some of Bernard’s entourage were up at the poop deck, grabbing whatever weapons and toys they could find to chuck down at her, though their aim wasn’t the greatest…

“WATCH YOUR AIM, ASSHOLES!” Bernard yelped, backing away nervously as a knife stuck out of the mast less than an inch from his foot.

“Sorry m’lord!”

“You could have just taken the loss gracefully, y’know!” Ai Li shouted at him, skipping forward a step to avoid a plastic barrel. Bernard simply glared at her… “I know it sucks to lose, but it happens! I lost a fight recently too, and y’know what happened?! I accepted it! And they fed me afterwards! I don’t know what kind of ego trip you’re on, but you’re being a huge asshole about it!”

He padded forward a step, his toes curling around the handle of the knife and tossing it up into the air, letting him catch it as he glowered. “You wouldn’t get it. The more people around me, the more I can change things; do you understand what kind of power that is? You don’t, you’re not a visionary like me. I could end wars and feed the poor with this power, I can bring harmony.”

“And you can also not kidnap my friends over your wounded ego.” Ai Li smoldered.

He scoffed. “A small price to pay. If everyone thinks they can roll over Bernard Bucci and get away with it, what kind of power do I really have?!”

“Humility?”

Ai Li deflected the knife flying for her face and braced herself as the bigger man charged her. She couldn’t move quickly nor easily with her back to the vertical deck, so she shrank down and focused on avoiding each fist he swung at her, wincing between blows and trying to get a knife strike at his belly, but he kept his distance and relied on his longer reach.

He spread his arms and closed in, but before she could duck down, his heel crushed into her stomach and slammed her against the plastic wall behind her, and his hands clapped against the sides of her head.

A ringing filled her ears and her vision blurred, a splitting headache forming from the discombobulating blow. She could barely feel herself breathe as her entire body rang, and could barely feel his hand grab her by the hair, and throw her off of the mast towards the clouded floor twenty feet below.

Her mind was still disoriented but her body flailed, she could vaguely hear the shrieks from the crowd around her, and suddenly it was all silent, all black.

She didn’t know why, but she felt… comfortable, warm, and slowly she pulled her head back and blinked as she found herself nestled against Hanabi’s side.

“H-huh?” She glanced up at the bigger girl, hanging onto a loose rope attached to the poop deck. “Hanabi!”

“Sorry I’m late Ai-chan.” Hanabi blushed a little bit. “There was a bit of a line.”

“Line?” Ai Li blinked.

“Who the hell is that?!” Bernard yelled from above, and Hanabi grinned.

“Had to go get some things first!”

“Right the ship! Light up my court!”

“So, is this drugs?” Hanabi asked, glancing around at all the people blowing smoke around the ship, which was leaning back towards normal.

Ai Li shrugged. “I have no idea. This isn’t anything like the guys at my school said it was like.”

Hanabi’s feet hit the deck, Ai Li untangling herself from Hanabi’s side as the two stood side by side, Bernard’s cult quickly scrambling from their perches and secure positions to surround the pair of girls, drawing weapons and glaring as Bernard landed on the deck, stepping around a new puddle of sick Jessica left behind.

“I AM GOING TO GO GREGOR CLEGANE ON EVERYBODY HERE IF I DON’T GET UNTIED SOON!”

Ai Li took up a fighting stance, feeling winded, while Hanabi reached behind her back and drew a black metal pan. Ai Li turned to stare, her expression bewildered.

“Wh—? You—!”

“I saw a sign saying they had a limited time sale!” Hanabi insisted with a gleeful smile.

“Hey!” Both girls glanced up at Bernard’s growling shout. “You, with the pot! This is between me and the shrimp! If you get involved, I’ll be stepping over your body just the same!”

“Just give it up, Bucci, she’s stronger than me!” Ai Li shouted back. “You don’t have a chance!”

Hanabi piped up. “Also, this isn’t a pot!” She held up the black metal cookware, grinning. “This is a wok!” She spun it in her hand, drawing back in a wide-spread fighting stance, the wok hovering near her head as she grinned with equal enthusiasm and joy.

“It’s technically classified as a type of frying pan! Pure carbon steel, with a soft-rubber handle for ergonomic hand-grip for long cooking periods. Sturdy, light-weight, non-stick, with a quick heat-up time and an even warming surface area for fast and efficient cook times! Fourteen inches in diameter with a four-point-two inch depth that can serve up to six plates of food! Fifteen-percent off if you fill out the accompanying survey at Cutting Edge in store-number thirty-two!”

The action around her stopped, everyone staring at her in palpable confusion as she spun the wok in her hand.

“I’m going to make soooo much bitchin’ stir-fry with this!”

“Oh my god…” Jessica groaned. “Please just kill them and get me down from here.”

A hairy man from the surrounding posse suddenly broke into a sprint at her, throwing a punch with all his weight behind it, only for it to bang loudly against the wok’s concave bottom. His expression twisted in pain, and Hanabi slammed the pan over his head, then brought her fist down like a hammer on the bowl, a loud, metallic ‘clang!’ filling the air as the man dropped, squealing as he tried to hold both his ears and his rapidly purpling scalp.

Another ‘CLANG!’ filled the air as the pot cracked against some woman’s face, leaving her stumbling until it smashed against her belly, and then her knee, and Hanabi twirled towards the next opponent, reaching into her pocket to pull out her second acquisition: a small plastic container of Xtreme Chill mints.

She chewed voraciously as she slapped the wok over another combatant’s face and breathed an icy cloud against the metal, leaving the man squirming to try and unstick the frigid metal from his head as Hanabi whirled and rained a series of bone-breaking punches at a pair of girls that tried to rush her from behind.

Ai Li felt her second-wind blow through her with inspiring relief. Her head was still a little heavy, still swimming from everything she took prior, but she dismantled attacker after attacker with quick finger strikes. Two men fell clutching their groins as the muscles below their bellies tightened up into painful knots, and a woman stumbled and fell holding her knee before a golden needle flew back into Ai Li’s hand.

She flew through the air, kicking a bat-wielding man in the side before he could take a swing at Hanabi’s back, and she ducked low as the bigger girl threw a handful of crushed mints into another woman’s face, leaving it covered in ice before a fist shattered through it and threw her to the floor.

Ai Li disparaged her height sometimes, but in this case, she was grateful; sliding below Hanabi’s swinging arms as they all but danced around one another fending off their assailants, keeping above and below each others’ strikes as the combatants thinned out.

“Everyone, on deck!” Bernard shouted. The posse surrounded the play park jumped the fence to climb up the ship, and Bernard raised a hand. “Inhale! Light ‘em up!”

Everyone but Bernard sucked deeply on their blunts, and the rank smell of marijuana smoke filled the air as their combined exhalation formed a swirling cloud around the two girls, blocking their vision and making them both waver from light-headedness.

Hanabi yelped as she felt a needle sink into her temple, Ai Li running her finger around the needle’s end, doing the same with one stuck in her own head. The steady supply of ki washed away the increasingly relaxed feeling falling over them both, keeping them both alert as the smoke swirled around them.

“Don’t breathe any of it in.” Ai Li warned in a low voice, staring warily as dark shapes moved around the smoke.

“Wasn’t planning on it.” Hanabi kept her back to Ai Li’s, quickly grabbing a handful of mints and tossing them into her mouth, her face tightening in disgust. “So, is this like a tournament thing?”

“Huh?” Ai Li whipped her head back. “I—no, it’s an unofficial thing! I’m pretty sure at least.”

“Yeah but it’s anything goes, will the referees count it?”

Ai Li opened her mouth to answer, but found herself uncertain. “Can we focus on the fight?!”

“I think I’m a little high right now, so no.”

“Hanabi, seriously.”

“I am serious! I’ve never done drugs before! Is this what it’s like being ‘baked?’”

Ai Li made a face like she regretted the past two minutes, only to freeze up as a figure suddenly burst through the smoke running straight at her. A wok smashed through the smoky figure's head and caused its form to fall apart, but the clang the pan made still rang in her ears…

More bipedal shapes sprinted from the swirling smoke, Ai Li and Hanabi bashing through them. Every strike made them burst, and smoke flew into their faces, while the girls inhaled instinctively as they threw more attacks out to defend themselves.

Ai Li found herself coughing, her vision blurring as darkness crept at the edges of her vision. She could feel the smoke trying to push down her throat and up her nostrils, her sense of bodily control feeling shaky.

She gave an ugly cough, swinging her arms desperately in front of her to defend herself, squeaking in pain as a bat struck her stomach, then smashed her to the floor with a second cry.

It was hard to focus, and her body was pulsing painfully from the blows she’d suffered, but she needed to save Jessica… stop Bernard…

She weakly got onto her side to push herself up, and gasped as she saw her assailant raising their bat to bring down on her head. She shut her eyes and held out her fingers to try and stop the blow, heard the sound of the bat impacting flesh, and grit her teeth as she expected pain to bloom from her hand…

… but no such pain came.

“You need to stop.”

Ai Li opened her eyes and stared up at Hanabi, the baseball bat mashed into her stomach. Her belly was distending around the bat like she was made of rubber, and the cult member holding the bat’s eyes widened before a punch to the jaw sent him onto his back.

Somebody suddenly tackled Hanabi from behind, pulling a dagger and jamming it into her kidney, but like with the bat, it simply sank into her skin without punching through.

Hanabi sighed. “Okay, this is getting really aggravating.” Was all she said, her elbow cracking against his nose, sending blood everywhere as he felt back, holding his face.

She turned to face Ai Li, smiling an easy-going smile, her eyes unfocused as a puff of chilly smoke escaped her mouth with each breath.

“When we’re done here, we should definitely go get some pizza.”

Three of the ragged, dirty looking minions jumped on her, punching, kicking, grappling, one of them biting, but Ai Li couldn’t see a trace of care on Hanabi’s face as her body took each impact like a loosely fit drum.

“Like the really region-specific ones, like New York style.”

Hanabi pondered out loud as her arm constricted around a girl’s throat and squeezed until she hit the floor, unconscious.

“I think I’m most interested in a Chicago-style deep dish,” the other two guys yelped for help before she slammed their skulls together and tossed them aside like ragdolls, “but I always hear New York-style is something you have to try once.”

Ai Li’s mouth opened, her head swimming a little less as she was overcome with worry, confusion, and growing annoyance. “Oh my god. Hanabi, are you high?”

Hanabi shrugged, her cheek pressing against her shoulder as another bat collided with the side of her head. “Y’know, probably?”

She caught the next bat swing and whipped the weapon out of the guy’s hands, and swung it so hard against his stomach that he was sent tumbling across the ship’s deck.

“I’ve never been around drugs before so I can’t really say yes or no…” She tossed the bat aside. “Anyways, pizza?”

Ai Li stared up at Hanabi, looking unweathered and unphased by the entire fight, smiling calmly and sweetly. Ai Li had been fighting for her life, her friend’s life, and to pop Bernard’s ego like an overinflated balloon, and here was Hanabi, smiling like a goof waiting for an answer.

She had never been so deeply attracted to somebody she wanted to strangle before.

“After we rescue Jess.”

“Jess… Jess—Jessica!” Hanabi smacked her forehead and laughed. “Right! Sorry about that. You go do that, I’ll keep them off you.”

Ai Li bobbed her head, and forced herself unsteadily to her feet. She sprinted towards the center mast, pulling her shirt up over her nose as she ran through the smoke, a flying wok smacking a guy out of her way, and she stumbled to a stop in front of Jessica.

The redhead looked out of it; Ai Li guessed the combination of motion sickness and marijuana smoke was playing havoc with the girl’s head. She needed to focus her ki to her fingertips, and think through the fog weighing over her thoughts.

“I am sick and tired of you!” She heard, and raised an arm to shield herself, but it wasn’t needed.

Bernard stared pure hatred into Hanabi as the bigger girl squeezed his fist, and he threw all his weight against her to throw her back. She hung onto him, dragging him with her as they lumbered away from Ai Li and Jessica.

A hand thrust Hanabi back a few steps, and Bernard flexed his arms furiously as he glared at her.

“I don’t have beef with you, lady.” Bernard spat on the floor. “Walk away from this.”

Hanabi’s brow furrowed. “Nah.”

“Tch. Isn’t she fighting to prove something? All you’re doing is fucking her over.”

“Man…” Hanabi groaned. “I don’t need to hear this. She doesn’t need a lecture, man, she was kicking you and your weird friends’ asses without me, I’m just here to make sure we go get pizza instead of taking her to a hospital.”

“I am going to rule this world and bring it to a new age of enlightenment!” Bernard snapped at her. “It’s my goddamned destiny to be king! You won’t stop me! You can’t stop me! When I get my revenge—”

“You’re getting revenge on a five-foot tall teenage girl.” Hanabi interrupted him with an annoyed look. “You’re lame, dude, and would probably end up getting guillotined a week in.”

“SHUT UP.”

“Bite me.”

Breathing heavily in outrage, Bernard exhaled a heavy cloud of smoke over his body, his legs’ bulk increasing as the smoke swirled around him.

A second stream joined in, adding more smoke to wrap around his torso, swirling around his neck, then his head, his muscular arms swelling, his torso expanding, his height building slower than the smoke was rising.

He was growing into a monster of a man, grinning in triumph until he saw where the second stream of smoke was coming from.

Hanabi was emptying her lungs, her head, and her stomach of smoke, adding onto the cloud building around him, a bitter cold building around his feet and rapidly rising upwards.

Bernard’s feet wouldn’t move as ice formed around him.

“N-no! You fucking bitch! I will—I’ll—” He grit his teeth as his knees, then thighs, then his groin lost all feeling as the ice built around him, rising up his expanded torso.

He weakly swung a fist at her, but to no avail, not even disturbing the current of frigid mist blasting from her mouth until his arms were locked in place, and his grunted and yelling came to a stop as his head froze with the rest of his body.

Hanabi walked forward with a grumble, pressed a hand to his chest, and pushed, knocking the Bernard sculpture onto his back and walking over to join Ai Li by Jessica’s side.

“Is she okay?” Hanabi asked, kneeling down.

“She’s heavily nauseous and inhaled a lot of marijuana smoke.” Ai Li explained, one needle sticking out underneath Jessica’s left breast, the other in her forehead. “She’ll be okay, just needs some time.”

Heavy footsteps turned their heads, ready to protect themselves, but both were relieved to see Jaquan running in, and kneeling down with a brilliant grin.

“That was awesome! Damn, being this close to a fight was great!”

“I’m just glad we won.” Ai Li shook her head. “He was even worse this time.”

“Ai Li is the winner of this match!” A voice thundered from above them.

The three teens stared up at a black-robed proctor standing on top of the broken center mast. Black, orb-shaped cameras hovered around him, keeping a respectful distance but trained on the gathering on the deck below, including the still frozen Bernard Bucci.

“Where did…?” Hanabi tried to ask.

“The Patient Mantis has not only defeated Bernard Bucci again, but fourteen lesser-enlightened by herself! The Reffe clan sees it fit to award her TWO points!” The proctor’s arms swung into a dramatic point towards Ai Li.

The little girl hastily stood up straight, looking up at a camera with a red light around its lens, and gave it a friendly wave, trying to smile as big a smile as she could.

“This makes up for her loss a few days ago!” The proctor announced, making Ai Li glance up at him with a gasp. “However, because her opponent was an unregistered combatant, that footage cannot be shared with the public! Her stats have been updated accordingly!”

The proctor then hopped down, striding over to her, standing out like a sore thumb amongst the casually dressed teens, and he gave Ai Li a fiery stare through the thin slat in his headwear.

“Ai Li, this is the second time Bernard Bucci has attempted to subvert the order of battle to gain an advantage over you, and the second time you’ve won. What is your secret to overcoming his underhandedness?”

“W-well…” Ai Li blushed, a nervous smile crossing her face as the cameras all focused on her. “I knew what I was getting into when I signed up for this competition, so I’ve been training as much as I can. His enlightenment makes him really tricky, but he actually has really poor hand-to-hand skills.”

“He’s rated at a C in martial arts.” Jaquan brought up, and the proctor gave a curt nod.

“That is correct! But enlightenment, power, and combat is more than hand-to-hand, power-to-power.” The proctor bowed his head low. “It certainly takes more than surprise to take your opponent down as well! Congratulations, Ai Li, I look forward to your next fight!”

“Th-thank you Mr. Reffe!” Ai Li squirmed in place, and without another word, the proctor stepped away to face a camera.

“The tournament will continue!” He howled to the cheering crowd.

Late that night, Rudolph watched with a furrowed brow as Hanabi finally returned to Goro’s Four Bowls of Fire, looking tired, but cheerful.

He reached for the car door’s handle, but paused, and considered for a few moments.

Tomorrow would be another day, and the tournament wasn’t over until Master Wangui declared it was. He had time to approach her, and she would likely be more receptive at a more normal hour of the day.

Besides, the world got a good preview of the girl today, it would stir up talk and interest, and he could easily assign somebody to record her out-of-tournament bouts until he could get her to sign on.

‘Anything Goes’ made for a wonderfully ambiguous rule…

He rolled down the road to head back to headquarters. He was thankful his uncle was a patient man, because Rudolph had no intention of disappointing him.

Hanabi padded into the back room, walking as lightly as she could to not disturb Mr. Goro. The restaurant was dark, and still dirty from what she saw, but she didn’t feel like getting to it tonight.

The back was also dark, other then the light coming from the upstairs room.

Goro was curled up in his bedroll, his TV off, sleeping as far as she could tell, so she climbed up the creaking stairs as lightly as she could to not disturb him.

“Girl.” She suddenly heard in a groggy voice and froze.

“Sorry for being late, boss!” Hanabi spoke in a low voice. “A buncha stuff happened, so—”

“Come here.”

Frowning, Hanabi walked downstairs, watching as Goro sat up in his futon and squinted at her in the low lighting. He looked even grumpier than usual this late at night, and Hanabi was readying herself to weather a squawking dress down about the state of the restaurant.

She tried to explain herself. “Yeah, so, things got a little out of hand at—”

… but…

“I don’t care about that!” He snorted, scratching one of his liver spots. “Word going ‘round the block is there’s some coo-coo crazy tournament going on in this city.”

Hanabi blinked, but nodded at him. “Yeah, some sort of enlightened tournament. Ai Li’s a part of it.”

“Huh. Dunno why anybody would wanna take part in some stupid fighting tournament; disturbs the peace, I tells ya!” Goro furiously shook his head. “You don’t plan on joining it, do ya?”

“No sir!” Hanabi gave a tired half-smile. “I get enough action just trying to buy groceries, I don’t really wanna go looking for more.”

Goro was silent for a while, blinking at her, almost like the answer surprised him, but after a few seconds of hmm-ing and haw-ing, he hung his head and shrugged his shoulders.

“Good! It’s a waste of your youth chasing bruises and stupid prizes! Now get to bed, you got a lot of cleanin’ to do come morning!”

“Yes sir!” Hanabi smiled, hopping up to her feet to race upstairs.

Down below, Goro curled back up in his futon and closed his eyes, but his old body wouldn’t let him sleep. He grumbled and turned over; he sure as shit hated making promises.