Exiting the arena grounds, Ash was well on his way to have his break before his next match.
While walking he thought back to the fight, thinking of what he'd learned.
'So I can only use one of the core skills at a time, if I use one the other isn't active.'
Just as he was thinking he could feel his stomach making noises, indicating he was hungry.
The way the current tournament worked made it so he would have two matches each day for now. These matches were spaced out enough to allow for extended breaks in-between.
Also either thanks to his performance, or only thanks to Old Bill's presence Ash was able to get some allowence from Caesar and his gang.
It wasn't a large amount, but it proved enough to have a lunch... atleast that's what Ash had been told as frankly Ash had no sense for what the worth of the local currency was.
Back when he lived in the wasteland town of Blackheart most deals were done with Wasteland Coins which were the common currency used in most wasteland towns.
The reason why the currencies differed between the large megacities and towns was something Ash didn't exactly know. He heard it had something to do with the currencies actual value, something about metals, cores and gold though he wasn't exactly sure what it all meant.
Still looking at the papery cash called Primer in his hands, even he could tell that the difference was night and day between the two.
While walking, a single establishment caught his eyes.
'Fast & Good'
The place looked like a typical fastfood chain, though Ash naturally didn't know this fact.
The real reason why it caught his eyes was it's name.
'Fast... that sounds good.'
While he knew he had a sizeable break before his next match, he couldn't pinpoint it. So rather than worrying about being late, he would eat quickly and return to The Arena before any such issues could arise.
Stepping in the place seemed decently crowded as it was near lunch time.
Ash looking around followed the example of the others and stepped up to one of the empty kiosks.
Looking at the items he could order Ash pondered for a bit before ordering a standard cheeseburger.
Then after a bit of waiting his number got called out, he got his food and sat at one of the empty seats.
Looking at his food Ash quickly took a large bite of it.
As he bit into it the meaty cheesy texture spread around his mouth.
'This is good.'
He didn't hurry, taking his time to properly chew on his food.
This was Ash's first time eating a cheeseburger or any sort of fast food.
And if he had to be honest it wasn't bad at all. Of course not as good as what he had in Fiamma, but personally more memorable.
It was more ordinary, and in a way that made it more important to Ash than that expensive steak.
So long as he was in the city he could eat this anytime, and from what he could tell it wasn't even that expensive.
Ash was truly captured by the corporate food overlords of capitalist society.
Finishing his burger Ash didn't linger and was quick to make his way back to The Arena.
As he walked, taking turns left and right it didn't take long for him to arrive at an alley that was more deserted than the ones he'd been to before.
And that was when it happened.
As if waiting all the homeless men on that street lunged at him, with differing expressions.
Some were emotionless, while some were screaming themselves as if their body wasn't obeying them.
Still they all had one thing in common, they all had some sort of cybernetic augment.
Ash quickly drew his sword just in time to defend himself.
The combined force of four men pushing him back a few meters.
Still Ash didn't have time to rest and was quickly attacked again.
Ash was now left in a dilemma, he didn't want to hurt the men as they were clearly not in control, but he also knew just defending wouldn't help him either.
So he chose a different option, nothing exceptionally smart or stupid.
He decided to speak... or more like shout.
"COME OUT YOU COWARD!"
Upon shouting the attacks didn't seem to let up, and no perpetrator appeared either.
Seeing as his move was ineffective Ash defended once more, and as he was being pushed back shouted once again.
"HELP M–"
"You can stop now"
A voice came from behind him, a feminine one as far as he could tell.
"Wha–"
"Don't turn around!"
Ash felt something long and metallic at the back of his skull.
"I don't want to make this hard, hand me your ticket."
"What ticket are you talking about... do you need a bus ticket?"
"You know what I'm talking about, the Special Admission Ticket."
Ash's expression hardened clearly surprised that someone knew of the tickets existence.
'The old man was right... fuck.'
"Special admission? What is that?"
"Playing stupid won't work either... though I guess you aren't playing considering you just went ahead and waved it around just yesterday."
The insult, was somewhat justified, but Ash still felt hurt about being so blatantly called out.
Realising that there was noway out through simple talking Ash quickly channeled his energy changing it to the darkness attribute.
'I believe she will hesitate for a moment.'
Ash putting full faith in his ability quickly drew his sword while turning around and hitting the pistol out of the perpetrator's hand.
As the sword was hitting the gun away it also came in contact with the persons hood at the top, revealing the persons face.
As the hood fell the once concealed face became exposed.
Soon as Ash finished with his attack and was ready for what came next he saw it, the attackers face.
'...Beautiful.'
Her face was an almost national level beauty. Her short golden blond hair that didn't even reach her shoulders, help accentuate her beautiful features. All rounded up with eyes of the sky blue quality.
She was a true beauty.
Still her beauty mattered very little in that moment as she quickly got a hold of the situation, and despite everything, her beauty and her losing her gun her presence seemingly only became more menacing.
Ash was also able to get a hold of himself despite being momentarily enamored, but it seemed he was enamored for a moment too long as his opponent quickly made her move, as beam of water came rushing at Ash.
Ash quickly slashed, his action completely ineffective, unable to cut water.
Ash's entire body was covered by water now, but before he could think of his next move he felt his movements halting, as shivers travelled through his whole body.
Ash was now frozen, not completely, but it was still to the extent to where it rendered him unable to move.
His attacker slowly walked up to him.
"See I warned you kid, I said I didn't want to do this the hard way."
Ash's face was still one of the few places he was able to move.
"You say kid, but you don't look any older than me."
The figure looked at Ash momentarily, before talking about something else completely ignoring what he'd just said.
"Your core skill is interesting, is it some sort of probability or maybe reality manipulation?"
It was now Ash's turn to completely ignore her.
"Anyways where is the ticket?"
"Like I'd tell you."
In the next moment Ash felt her fist coming in contact with his face, with unexpected force.
"Where is it?"
Ash still stubbornly held on unwilling to give up the ticket.
Losing the ticket would mean losing his reason for being here.
It would mean losing his future, losing his chance to meet with Will.
Losing his chance to further understand his circumstance.
So he held on, unwilling to let go, enduring punch after punch.
All the while regretting his actions.
He didn't realise that such a small action yesterday would result in the loss of his only lead... on his of the ticket.
Still in the end it was all useless.
"It's in your left back pocket."
"Huuh...?"
Only a flustered sound came out weakly as his face was flowing with blood.
The fist came once again this time aimed lower, punching through the ice and reaching his pocket.
"Thank you."
The girl thanked Ash in a mocking way, before walking to where her gun had landed picking it up.
After picking it up she walked back to Ash.
'Is she gonna kill me?'
But unlike what he had expected no bullets came only the gun landing on his head with enough force to knock him out.
'Fu–'
...
Waking up in the alley, with the ice already melted Ash had realised the he had just been robbed in broad daylight.
Losing the ticket that once held his future, his only hope for meeting Will and for leading a normal life.
Ash angrily hit the ground, frustrated that he'd let it happen.
Unsure what his next move was, whether continuing the tournament was even worth it.
The only thing on his mind was the face of the robber. That unusually pretty face and that annoying tone she had.
'Looks can be deceiving. No matter how pretty she is, if her personlity is that bad it's pointless. She clearly thinks herself better than the rest. Truly a shitty personality.'