Dimensions Collide: Destiny Bond

Prota stared at the men who'd barged in, wide-eyed. She quickly pulled up her hood. It wouldn't do to be identified here, and if she could hide her face, then she could avoid being recognized later on. These were clearly Yakuza. But what were they doing here? The debt wasn't supposed to be due for a few more days.

"The boss doesn't think you'll pay up, both the cash and the collateral. So we're keeping you until your old man pays up," one of the gangsters said, stepping forward.

"He'll pay! Why don't you have a little decency, you filthy trash-eating sewer rats?" Briar yelled, fists clenched.

She couldn't take them on, though. She knew very well that she wasn't a fighter. Someone like her wouldn't be able to take on five guards from an organization like the Yakuza. She didn't expect Prota to do so, either. After all, what was one child against five trained men? Scholaris students or not, this wasn't something they could handle.

So she was completely caught off guard when a block of ice caught one of the men square in the chest, knocking him back and out the door. Before anyone could react, Prota fired off another fireball, pushing another of the dwarves down.

"What the- who the hell is that?"

"They never said there'd be anybody else!"

"Did they hire security?"

Briar looked back to see Prota, hands outstretched, eyes glowing bright as the hood shadowed the rest of her face. Fire formed once more at her fingertips, slowly turning from red to blue, and an arrow of flame shot forth and pierced the arm of yet another dwarf.

"Hey! Take this one seriously!"

Prota quickly ran outside. She didn't want to break the house her friend lived in, and the spell she was about to cast wasn't exactly the best for keeping furniture intact. Thankfully, the dwarves chased her out, and their battle resumed in the streets.

A barrage of magic came flying at her, but just like the students at Scholaris, there was a brief pause between their chants and the time they could cast, which gave Prota ample time to prepare and react. After fighting tons of monsters who could chant without casting or fly at her with lightning-quick speeds and reflexes, this was almost too slow.

Still, she couldn't underestimate her opponents. Their attacks were definitely strong, and now that they were ready, her spells weren't doing as much damage. They'd make the enemy flinch, but they weren't pushing anybody back or piercing through their defences.

"Blossom of Ice," she muttered, frost gathering at her fingertips.

"Wh- what's that spell?"

"I don't know! I've never seen anything like it before!"

They were professional enough to continue their onslaught, but it seemed these were just lightly trained newbies relative to some of the other employees, because their panic gave Prota enough time to complete her spell. As it flew forward, the Blossom burst and caught the dwarves off guard. Their mana reinforcement was enough to stop them from dying, but it must've drained a good amount of their energy because they looked exhausted after getting back up.

"You- do you think you can get away with this?" one of them growled.

Had John been around, he would've commented on how corny this line was. Unfortunately, he wasn't present, and Prota hadn't read enough stories to know what a corny line was.

Corny or not, though, it seemed Prota had done her job.

"We'll be back! Watch yourself, punk!"

They staggered off, running away like beaten dogs.

"What the- damn! I knew you were strong, but I didn't know you were this strong! What do you need John for?" Briar stood at her front door with a big, toothy grin on her face. "Thanks. I mean it. If you hadn't been around, I probably would'a gotten taken, and then gramps would have to give up his treasure."

Just then, John and Zuko returned, stunned to see the remnants of a fight littering the street. They stared, Zuko shaking as he surveyed the damage.

"Briar? What happened?" Zuko said, running forward.

"A fight," she said, her smile turning into a frown. "I'd better tell you about it."

"A fight?" John echoed.

Prota gave him a look, and he nodded. Great. More unexpected variables to take care of.

"John, you wanna-" Briar started, but John shook his head.

"We gotta go. Thanks for the offer, but we actually have to go. Now," he emphasized, and Prota didn't need to be told twice.

They headed toward the casino. Something bad was happening.

They were halfway down the road when Briar caught up to them, huffing and puffing. Despite her fatigue, she grabbed onto John's scarf, trying to catch her breath.

"Briar?" John frowned. "What's up?"

"Gramps… gramps is in more trouble than he lets on," Briar said, still panting. "But I can tell. He's stressed. He's really nervous. So, you gotta help him…"

"Yeah, I was already going to-"

John cut himself off as he saw Briar's expression. Her eyes were filled with tears, her lips pressed together as she desperately tried to stop herself from crying.

"I- he- he did so much for me. John. Prota. You guys… you guys gotta help him."

John was stunned. Briar was normally so carefree, so wild, so to see her like this…

"Yeah," he said, his voice momentarily catching. "We'll do that."

Briar looked up at him, trying to bring her usual grin back. "Yeah. I trust you guys."

With that, they went off once more.

~~~

"This is… um, an incident, right? Or was it… [Plot Point]?" Prota said, hesitating over her words as if she were taking a test.

"Yeah," John said with a frown. "Basically, the [Author's] way of telling us to hurry it up. Let's win the money and get the fuck outta here."

He said that, but he was mildly concerned. The things Zuko had told him were interesting, but they weren't going to help him. This new batch of information was a plot twist, for sure, but it likely wouldn't bring in any factors that would hinder them from reaching their goal.

And yet, if Briar's home had been attacked directly, that meant things wouldn't go as simply as planned. John felt frustrated, but he tried to console himself by telling himself that he should be thankful that he was at least aware that something would happen.

It didn't help.

"Here," Prota said quietly as they got up to the third floor of the casino.

She took off her cloak and handed it to John, revealing a thin chestplate with some strange markings engraved on the front. The invisibility runes that would give her a chance to escape should things go south.

More than that, though, was a pair of gloves. Danjo had some extra equipment to work with, and he'd engraved runes of invisibility on those as well. They wouldn't provide protection, but they would help with the magic aspect far more reliably than the chestplate.

"The cloak? Why not keep this on?" John frowned.

"Saw me," she said, shaking her head. "Too risky."

John was surprised, but it made sense. If someone from the Yakuza had seen her fight with the cloak on, then they'd know this was an enemy. He wasn't sure what exactly had happened during the fight; Prota had given him a rough explanation, but it wasn't enough to help. Still, he trusted that she knew what she was doing. Still, he was a little impressed. Her thought process was starting to match his own.

They made the arrangements for her to register as a fighter. The dwarf at the register seemed a little suspicious, but in the end, they allowed it. Prota was sent into one of the waiting rooms while John went back to the spectator area. She seemed a little annoyed that she was being separated from him, but there was nothing they could do about it.

The plan was simple. She would lose one match, ideally without using the devices they'd made. While it was a shame to let the devices their friends had made go to waste, it would be more of a shame if they failed to win their money. Beaten, Prota would return to her room, then cast mana recovery over and over until she was partially recovered. With that, she'd be able to return quickly. Ideally, she would still look worn out. If she did so, more people would be inclined to bet against her.

That was where she would win. It was that simple.

John, now all alone, fidgeted around nervously. He had no way of guaranteeing that everything would go to plan, and his knowledge of the [Story] didn't help here. He had no idea what kind of organization this was meant to be. Moreover, with both he and Prota being [Anomalies], it was truly a coin flip kind of situation.

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"Good luck," he whispered, flipping a coin over and over in his hands.

Eventually, she came out, dressed in a loose t-shirt and sweatpants. It was a bit of an odd outfit compared to what she normally wore, but it wasn't terrible. Either way, what mattered was that she could move comfortably.

"Everyone! We have a special kind of match today!" a voice boomed over the sound systems. "A sproutling has decided she wants to fight! Will we deny her the opportunity? NO!"

The audience erupted into a cacophony of sound. John caught snippets of conversation. Something about a little girl, the stupidity of the casino, stuff like that. He just grinned. Well, there was easy money to be made here. This wasn't match fixing. Right?

"A hundred gold coins against the girl," he told the dwarf at the betting booth.

Betting in a situation like this didn't make sense, but a good amount of money went into the fight anyway. Only a few gold coins went in favour of Prota, mainly people who thought it would be funny to bet against the odds, but otherwise, the person to be on was obvious.

There was a large amount of shouting as the match began. Prota was nimble, but she wasn't nimble enough. To everyone else, it seemed impressive. The child was quick. She was dodging attacks. She could fire off some decent magic. But it wasn't enough.

John knew better. The way she was fighting right now was comparable to the skill level of when they'd been in the Town of Beginnings. More specifically, after he'd taught her to fight on instinct. She had good movement, but her firepower wasn't enough to break through the enemy's defences.

Eventually, she got caught by a heavy blow to her shoulder. The crowd yelled in excitement as she was thrown against the cage. Yes, she had a sort of invulnerability to pain, but that didn't make her body invincible. John winced, but as he looked closer, she didn't look like she'd been hit that hard. Interesting. Did she already understand the concept of rolling with punches? He'd have to ask her later.

Regardless, he continued to watch as she got up again, that sleepy look eternally present on her face. It almost looked like she was bored. Maybe she was.

A few more minutes of dancing around, getting a couple of hits in, but mainly just getting hit instead, and the fight was finished. A couple of groans, but if you were upset over the outcome of this match, you were an idiot to begin with. Thankfully, no other incidents occured. She crawled out of the cage, refusing the assistance of the attendant on hand. John walked up and collected his payout. A whole single gold coin.

Not bad.

He popped a piece of gum as the spectators got up from their seats to use the washroom, grab some food, or just move to another part of the casino. John continued to stand in his corner, popping a piece of gum into his mouth. He chewed noisily as he opened his messaging system.

[You good?]

[Yes]

[Good. You sure it wasn't too much?]

A few years ago, he would've been worried, but now, he understood that he could trust her to take care of herself. Yes, she would sacrifice herself stupidly for his cause, but she also understood that everyone was happier if she didn't have to suffer.

[Yes]

[Alright. Rest up, and then we're ready for round two.]

~~~

"Alright, kid. One more task for you."

Destiny stood in front of Ryu's desk, waiting for instructions.

"You see, I have a deal coming in soon. A collection of debt of sorts. Now, just in case, I want you to report any suspicious behaviour. If somebody makes over a thousand gold coins, I want you to let me know, ok? And… I think I trust you enough to go on the recovery squad."

"The recovery squad?"

Ryu sighed, lighting a cigarette. "If someone makes a thousand gold coins in one go, I want you to go get it back."

"But they earned that rightfully, no? The casino's reputation-"

"It doesn't matter. You can't let this happen."

The man seemed to have let his guard down. His blade was hanging on a wall behind him. Interestingly enough, despite the Japanese style of this country, it was a thin, straight blade, not a katana like the sword Destiny wielded. That didn't make it any less deadly.

But if it wasn't in the leader's hands, then this was the best time to try and stop him from harming Zuko Hi. The man who could be called the blacksmith of the gods, the man who'd made Lupin's current blade.

Ryu was looking away. Now was his chance. His blade silently came out of its sheath.

In a flash, his blade was at Ryu's throat.

"I'm sorry," Destiny said, his voice cold. "I can't let you do that."

It worked. It was that simple. Ryu couldn't react. Still, Destiny had to admit, he was impressed. The leader of the Yakuza didn't even flinch, just calmly put his cigarette out and raised his hands in surrender.

"A spy, eh? Can't say I'm surprised," he sighed.

"Then why didn't you call me out earlier?"

Ryu shrugged. "I didn't think you, of all people, would be one. Shame. Kids like you shouldn't be out and about, doing the dirty work of us adults."

"Us adults?" Destiny frowned. "You look like you're in your thirties, maybe your forties."

"Ha. Try a couple of centuries," Ryu snorted. He was rather comfortable for a man mere inches from death. "Like I said. You kids shouldn't be getting involved in our business."

"Ho- hold on," Destiny said, shaking his head. "How do you look so young?"

"Magic. I pride myself in my appearance," Ryu shrugged again. "Now, I assume you're with them? Look. Like I said, I'll be collecting tomorrow. Just give me a day. You can force my hand, but then the deal's off. And if the deal's off…"

"...them?" Destiny frowned.

Only Lupin had sent him. What was going on?

"You're not part of their faction?" Ryu frowned.

He got out of his chair, easily pushing Destiny's blade aside. The boy didn't even fight back. Both parties were confused.

"I was sent to stop you from harming Zuko Hi. Is that what you were expecting?" Destiny said cautiously.

"You were- I see. Boy, sit down."

Destiny was hesitant, but Ryu didn't seem to be pulling any tricks. He hesitantly pulled up a chair and sat, ready for any sudden moves. The leader of the Yakuza didn't try to pull a sneak attack, though. Instead, he reached into the bottom of his desk and pulled out a bottle of some kind of clear alcohol, pouring the liquid into a small cup.

"Then, let me tell you our story."

~~~

Blinding lights. The smell of sweat and blood. A hazy, foggy feeling as the heat of dozens of people in an unventilated room pressed in on Prota.

She wasn't fully recovered. She needed to appear weak to trick the audience into believing she would really lose. She felt fine. These weren't injuries that she needed to worry about, and she'd cast mana recovery a few times in the waiting room, so she wasn't too worried.

Still, as she faced the man in front of her, she was once again reminded of how much harder it was to fight to subdue and not kill. She thought back to her previous fight. She was grateful that the man had simply let her go, but it was a shame that her friends' equipment wouldn't be used.

Well, better that than risking losing everything right here.

She shook her head. Those thoughts needed to go now. She had to focus on the match in front of her. The man was intimidating, but she could take him. There was no need to hold back now.

[Alright. End it quick. We need to get out of here.]

Prota scanned the message and nodded. Right.

The muggy heat of the arena was quickly cut through by the sheer cold of Prota's Blossom forming before her. Her eyes glowed faintly as she drew mana from her staff, immediately replenishing her core.

"What the- you didn't use this before!" the man cried out, but it was too late.

She fired it off, throwing in a few icicles to boot. This wasn't enough to guarantee victory, though. Without hesitation, she began moving, forming a few blue fireballs, firing them one by one, not giving her opponent any time to rest.

Dodge, block, attack, feint, over and over, her body going through the motions as naturally as she breathed. The pounding of her heartbeat in her chest, the blood flowing through her veins, the air running over her skin as she moved, she could feel it all. The yells of the audience felt muted. The lights weren't nearly as blinding.

She was in her element.

Still, she had to make sure she didn't do anything drastic. The first Blossom had been intentionally misaimed, so she didn't do anything that would cause permanent injury, but this guy was holding on for far longer than she expected him to. Time to end it.

She took a deep breath as time slowed down around her, and she brought out one of her new spells: Absolute Zero. She wasn't looking to kill, so she aimed it at the opponent's feet instead. The mana gathered around her, her eyes glowing as she watched the mana flow from her core, turning blue as it surrounded the man's lower body.

With that, time went back to normal. The man fell over, his legs frozen, and he raised his hand in surrender. Prota wasted no time in accepting the victory, hastily making her way out of the cage.

Time to go.

She could hear the cheers and yells of the crowd behind her. An expression of amusement entered her eyes as she pictured John's expression: smug, probably, a hint of amusement, and a fake sense of innocence as he went to collect his prize.

[Got it. Let's get out of here.]

Prota quickly changed back into her regular clothes, eager to get back to her cloak. She felt naked without it. She moved with haste, trying not to attract too much attention, but eager to be out of this place.

"You good?" John muttered as he met her at the entrance to the portal zone.

He didn't like the looks he was getting. He wasn't actually getting any looks, but he couldn't imagine that the casino was all that pleased with a customer getting such a large cashout.

"Let's get the fuck outta here," John grimaced, trying not to draw any attention to himself.

He'd somehow switched back into his usual outfit while they were walking, but Prota didn't question it. They took the portal back to the main casino and went down the stairs, and nobody stopped them.

"This is too easy," John said, shaking his head.

Prota agreed. Were they really just going to get out like this? Every time they'd gone into this kind of situation, it never ended this easily. It was perfect. Too perfect.

They were greeted by the attendant at the front desk. One last hurdle.

"Hello! Leaving now?"

"Yep," John said, smiling casually. "Gotta head on home. Fun place, though."

"Thank you, sir. Have a good rest of your day."

John nodded, heading home. He tried not to appear nervous, but that was a little hard to do.

"Anybody following us, Prota?"

She closed her eyes and focused, but there were so many people around that it was hard to tell. Still, it didn't seem like there was any one soul consistently following them. She shook her head. John let loose a sigh of relief. It really did seem like everything would work out as planned.

As soon as they moved off the main street, John pulled Prota's cloak out of his pocket dimension and handed it back to her. She gladly slipped back into it, then took her staff and slung that over her back as well. They were about halfway to Briar's home when a familiar voice called out.

"John!"

"Destiny?" John frowned, turning around.

The hero was there, panting, dressed in a fancy black suit. A suit that looked familiar. Where had they seen—

"Dude. That doesn't look good on you," John said, slowly withdrawing his baseball bat.

"Yeah? I don't wanna be hearing that from you."

"I wear this cause it's comfortable, not because I like how it looks," John protested.

Destiny laughed. "That doesn't change my point."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. And I think you know what I'm here for, if you're taking your weapon out."

John grimaced. "Yeah. And you know I'm not gonna just hand my winnings over, right?"

"We're working for the same thing, John!" Destiny protested. "The leader of the Yakuza, he-"

"I know." John flipped the bat in his hands, taking a step back. "But I don't care. I'm helping out old Zuko because he's Briar's guardian. But your Ryu fella has no connection to me. Why should I help him?"

Destiny unsheathed his blade, his smile slowly fading. Prota looked up at John nervously, but he seemed dead set on taking this fight.

"It's not about that, John, it's about doing what's right," Destiny explained.

"We've had this conversation before," John sighed. "I don't do what's right. I do what I want. So far, that's happened to be the 'right thing,' as you put it. Right now, that's not the case. I've told you. My primary interest is me."

Destiny shook his head, his blade coating itself in flames. John grit his teeth. It seemed like the hero wasn't going to just let this slide, and that wasn't good. Even with Prota, he wasn't sure if they'd escape unscathed.

"Then you leave me no choice. I'm going to take that money back."

John snorted, gripping his bat. "Yeah? Over my cold, dead body."

Prota sighed. Yet another fight between the two, simply because of a clash of ideals. She didn't get why John could get so stubborn about such things, but then again, he wasn't always thinking. Still, she'd support him. The mana in her core began to swirl as she prepared herself for combat.

"Prota, come on. Not you too," Destiny tried.

She shook her head. She felt a little bad, and in other circumstances, she might've tried to persuade John to give up. The deciding factor was the fact that she'd worked for this money. She'd had a part in the plan, and watching all of her hard work go to waste just felt wrong.

Oh. Maybe that was why John didn't feel like giving the money up. Well, fair enough.

Destiny sighed, shaking his head. He was confident in his victory. Well, a little less confident now that Prota was involved, but he still felt he could win.

"Fine. Let's do this, you two."