Episode 3: A Life Anew

“Coming where?” asked Arson. Troy just rolled her eyes and smiled.

“Asking too many questions isn’t going to put you in my good graces, nor get you any friends if you come with me. So are you or not? If not, just leave my sparking things alone and we’ll be just fine.”

“Ok,” said Arson. He accepted the fact that the girl didn’t want her things touched. It was a trait of all the kids who grew up in the orphanage, but Troy mistook his acceptance of this for eagerness to come along.

“Well then, hold my bag until we get there. This thing is heavy and you look like you need some physical training.” Troy dropped the bag and it hit the ground like a bag of bricks. Arson tried to explain himself, but Troy was already climbing down the fire escape at full speed.

Arson gripped the bag, struggled to lift it, and momentarily wondered if it was actually a bag full of bricks. Before he could manage to say a word about not going, the girl was already yelling about how slow he moved and how much they had to get done.

Arson fell on his face after he barely managed to pull the backpack through the window. He cursed as he rose to his feet and thanked the Maiden that moonlight filled him with energy. He normally only needed 3 hours of sleep a night to be fully satiated, but with how much the moonlight seemed to thrum with power as it touched his skin and filled his body, he wondered if sleep would even still be necessary.

“You’re going to have to get a lot faster if you're going to work for me, kid.” Troy turned and walked off before Arson could once again attempt to hand her the bag. He rushed after her near seven-foot frame. He was two feet shorter, and he ran at the pace that she easily walked.

“What do you mean work for you?”

“As my corner kid, I don’t have time to explain, I’m almost late for my first bout of the night and don’t want to pay fees. Come on!” Arson and Troy ran. It got to the point that Arson was almost half a block behind Troy as she walked. He knew she could run and probably make it on time, but he appreciated that she waited on him.

At first he’d been angry that she had simply assumed he wanted to come and pulled him along. Then he realized he might be about to witness his first live fight with Cultivators and decided not to complain. Instead, he ran until he wheezed and his mouth was dry to the point he felt his lips would flap off his face into the wind.

After an entire hour of winding paths and seemingly endless sprinting, they stopped at the front of a dirty nightclub named The ManaWell.

“Come on, kid!”

They rushed through the back door and into a locker room. Troy signaled for her bag and told Arson to turn around as she changed.

Before he knew it, he followed Troy into an area with a circular arena surrounded on all sides by fans. Across from the side they entered on was another young man who appeared to be Troy’s age, accompanied by an older gentlemen who analyzed Troy’s physique and whispered in the boy’s ear.

“What am I supposed to do? That guy seems to be breaking you down for your opponent. He thinks you don’t have any fundamental training, you probably rely on kicks far too much, and wants that guy to feint often before he sweeps your legs,” said Arson as he read the man’s lips from across the stage. Troy froze in her warm up and looked back at Arson.

“How do you know that?”

“Same way I know that bartender keeps lying about the price of drinks to people, I can read lips,” said Arson. Troy nodded and smiled.

“Looks like you might be a valuable corner to have. What else is he saying?”

“Something about stick to the plan, end her career tonight, if she has no legs, she can’t come back and beat you in the tournament next month,” said Arson.

Troy laughed and nodded once more. “Thanks kid. What’s your name anyway?”

“Arson. Nice to meet you, Troy,” said Arson as he stuck out a hand. The girl lowered her hood for the first time and Arson was struck by how beautiful she was.

Incredible dirty blonde curls framed what Arson thought to be perfection carved around heterochromatic eyes, one green and the other blue.

“Nice to meet you kid, now grab a bucket and fill it with water, find a rag in case there is blood, and if you can manage to find an extra pair of hand wraps before the match begins shortly, bring them back here ASAP.” Arson nodded and was on the move. It didn’t take him long to find the bucket, or the rag, but the wraps proved impossible so Arson returned before the match had a chance to begin.

Troy bounced throughout the ring and performed a dazzling amount of aerial kicks and flips to put an emphasis on her kickboxing prowess. Arson smiled as he felt she knew what she was doing. He had warned her.

“Ok folks, this is the one we’ve been waiting for, it may not be the main event but we all know who this is, make some noise for… The Queen of Troy!” The crowd erupted and Arson clapped as Troy flipped around the ring.

“Across from her we have the unrivaled prodigy, Lucas the Elemental!” The crowd once again erupted into celebration over the match and Arson managed to boo Troy’s opponent. The young man bobbed in place and kept his eyes on Troy at all times.

Then the match began, and Arson’s life was changed forever. He’d seen many Cultivator fights online, but this experience for him was paramount.

“Beat the sparks off him, Troy!” Arson looked around after he cursed and realized any adult that heard him, supported him rather than scorned his use of profanity.

Troy moved like a shadow, or flickering light. Arson couldn’t tell what happened as the girl moved, but he knew more was behind how quickly she bobbed and weaved through Lucas’s attacks than the average person’s eye could catch.

“He’s scared, push ’im, woman!” Arson yelled his lungs out while Troy boxed her opponent to the edge of the ring. Her opponent was not doing well and it was obvious. Troy hadn’t thrown a single kick the entire match and Lucas now paid for his coaches assumptions.

“Sparks! That looked like it hurt!” Lucas slowly came to his feet and roared after Troy hit him square in his jawline so many times Arson knew he had to be a Cultivator. Regular people would have been either asleep on their feet or dead after the amount of savage hits the young man took.

His entire body lit with flames and Troy grinned as if she was waiting for this moment. Arson couldn’t see anything but excitement on her features as she raised her hands again.

Before Lucas could charge her, the bell rang and the first round ended. Troy walked over to Arson and she smiled.

“Thanks kid. That fool watched my legs so hard, I almost punched his sparking eye out of its socket,” said Troy.

“No problem, from what I can tell, they’re assuming that you are going to come in kicking this round and they will be able to counter you with a lightning slap, or clap, can’t quite tell on that one,” said Arson with a shrug.

“Wipe me down and give me some water, wait, are you saying these idiots are about to do the same thing as last round?” Arson laughed and nodded.

“Seems like it, if you see an early sweep, crush em, the first one is fake,” Troy grinned like a devil and Arson tried not to match her sneer.

The second round began and Troy was in the air with a head kick long before she closed in. Arson smiled as he felt he knew what her plan was. She initiated with a kick, to let her opponent feel his plan would work this time, while she simultaneously closed the distance.

Then Troy threw a whole bunch of punches. Arson winced as Lucas came off the ground after a particularly gruesome uppercut. His body caught flames, only for them to be snuffed out by a combo of body strikes.

Then Troy swept the leg, Lucas found himself finally being kicked more than any person should deserve in a single lifetime for any crime Arson knew of—and before the match could end another bell rang.

“What’s the scoop kid?” said Troy as she approached.

“I have no idea, the old man has his mouth covered so I’m only getting half of the plan really, something about shoot far, then charge close, I don’t know what the sparks that means,” said Arson with a smile.

“Me either. Maybe a ranged attack before a movement skill. Seems like a lot of mana for his level though,” Troy suggested, but Arson felt the thought was more her own hypothesis rather than something for him to give his input on. Regardless, he spoke up.

“He’s all flash, he’s caught on fire for flair twice now, and he’s called Lucas of the Elements, he can’t be all fire, right? I suggest go big or go home, you got five rounds, end it in the third with something flashy of your own, this kid is garbage,” said Arson.

“You say that kiddo, but I’ve lost 11 times prior to him. He always outthinks me. For the first time I feel confident in a way that I haven’t before, so for that, I appreciate you, little man, and I think I will take your advice and put it all on the line.” Troy came to her feet. In that moment, Arson felt like he mattered. After using one of the many skills he’d gained that some called useless or childish, he’d helped someone. Yet another factor that solidified the importance of the night for Arson.

“Beat the spark plugs off him, Troy!” Arson yelled in the silence before the match started and the crowd erupted into laughter. Troy only closed her eyes and rolled her neck. She waited until the bell rang to take her stance.

A bolt of lightning snapped out of the air above Troy and she had already moved out of the way with the slightest step forward. She dodged the bolt entirely and Lucas was caught off guard by a completely ready Troy, who capitalized on his forward momentum and his shock.

The spin kick that Troy delivered was beautiful. Not only did she manage to time her kick perfectly at Lucas’s jaw, she’d somehow cloned herself.

A mirrored projection of hardened light both formed and performed an identical kick to Troy’s. Two heels slammed into Lucas’s face at one time, and Arson saw the young man lose consciousness.

Arson felt like he’d captured the entire fight in his mind and a new star would be able to be visited in his mind as he jumped in celebration with the rest of the crowd around him.

Troy ran over to him and gave him a high five. The two danced with the nearby crowd. Troy then led Arson out of the room.

“Then you kicked his leg out from under him and I thought it was over, not going to lie, I think they ended the second round early to keep Lucas in the fight longer. I heard someone say something about betting odds being real bad if he lost in the second round or whatever that means,” said Arson as they entered the locker room. They spoke on the fight, and Troy thanked Arson over and over for his assistance, which made him excited to come to her next fight. He hoped she would allow for him to come again, and was about to ask when a knock came on the door.

“Yo, Troy my Queen, I got your winnings and an offer my dear.” A man walked in the room and Arson scowled and raised his arms wide to try and cover the view toward Troy as she changed.

“Yeah, Seven, what kind of deal?” asked Troy, apparently unfazed by the man’s entry.

“Down, boy,” said Troy as she finished up and walked toward the man named Seven.

“I think you will love it, how does 1500 credits a fight sound?” said Seven. Arson felt Troy about to accept, excitement in her eyes and the moment froze for Arson.

An image of the crowd popped into his mind, and he counted the occupancy. Followed by the cost of drinks on the board above the bar. The entry fee sign at the front door, and the minimum bet the house allowed per match, and cut in before Troy could accept.

“Spark no! Get out of her face with such a garbage offer! She just beat an elite and you know it. I bet you would even try to sign her at that pitiful amount too, wouldn’t you? Considering how much you’re going to make with a powerful female fighter.” The room was silent. Troy couldn’t believe that Arson would turn down what she believed to be such a large amount of money, while Seven couldn’t believe a kid was the one to point out how small an amount it truly was.

“Well I mean, I am allowed to offer a little more per fight I guess,” said Seven. Arson nodded and Troy’s entire demeanor shifted. Those words weren’t what she expected to hear, not for a second.

“Let me guess, anything she doesn’t push for, you get to keep right, well let me tell you something buddy, with a house capacity of 10 thousand, and entry price of 100 credits per person, anywhere from 3 to 4 drinks per person with an average drink cost of 50 credits, the millions your people are getting for her fights won’t keep coming if we advertise at different arenas, right?” Arson let his words hang for a moment as Seven did the math himself, and Arson wondered if he began to contemplate his own pay.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, kid name your price,” said Seven.

“100k a fight for as long as she wins, with a 10k credit pay cut for every loss, or 10k pay increase for every win when her rate is below 100k, consecutive victories have a 15k pay increase, but she still caps out at 100k a fight, and we all renegotiate in a year,” said Arson. He guessed on the averages prominent fighters were paid and shot for the stars, only to realize in the end, he could have shot higher.

“Hmmm, not bad kid, looks like I will only make a few hundred thousand a fight off getting her under contract, but credits add up.” Troy dropped her jaw in surprise and Seven left without another word.

“I was going to take pocket change for fights, kid, and I would have been happy,” said Troy.

“Yeah, but 100k isn’t really a lot of credits, especially with how long it may take you to recoup after each fight,” said Arson. It wasn’t until that moment that Troy truly took in Arson. She looked at him from head to toe and frowned.

“Hey, is your crown real?”