A Second Chance

Part 18 - It's definitely an ambush

I wandered the city streets, looking for Shockwave.

Streetlights were flickering like crazy. Guess the electricity still flowed through these parts.

With Abyss and Venom defeated, I had taken care of the double-digit ranked Vipers.

Those two last fights were going to be insane, however.

Abyss was more of a mental challenge, but it was still insane. He trapped me in some shadow dome and I had to watch that bastard Blur kill Senator Red and the SWAT Team, while I was fighting The Trickster. That scene showed me just how cruel The Vipers were.

Venom was an intense physical challenge. Had I not gotten out of the sewer, I wouldn't have been alive by now. Venom himself was tanky as hell. No matter how many times I hit him, he never went down. I had to use Spinjutsu on him two times straight, plus hit his pressure points and injure him to win.

There were still nine more fighters to deal with, and Deathstroke was the grand finale.

Still, I wonder how strong Shockwave is compared to the two. She is ranked 9th, so she is stronger than them, meaning she's gonna be an actual challenge.

"Hey, Jay," Mark's voice cut in. "The Swordsman won't be there this time to capture Shockwave if you beat her."

"Is he taking on the fighter ranked 13th?" I asked.

"Yeah," Mark confirmed. "I'm putting my money on The Swordsman, but you never know."

The Swordman was ranked 12th in The Vipers, I'm pretty sure. In my opinion, he was ranked 12th, because he was an all-rounder, while the other guy was ranked 13th. So, if all goes well, The Swordsman should come out on top."

"True," I said. "He is stronger."

Suddenly, I got a message from SWAT Headquarters.

The Swordsman had crossed paths with the fighter ranked 13th and The SWAT Team crossed paths with the ranked 13th fighter. Looks like they met at this "Hotel Avenue" place or something. They're all about to face off.

"Mark, it's going down. The Swordsman and the fighter ranked 13th are squaring off," I reported.

"Sounds like it's gonna be a show," Mark replied. "Any sign of Shockwave?"

I looked around, but there was nothing.

"Not yet," I told him. "But I'm pretty sure she's close by."

"Think it could be an ambush?" Mark inquired.

"It's definitely an ambush," I said, but before I could continue, a new feminine voice chimed in.

"No, there's no ambush," the voice said.

I looked to see a girl with black hair, wearing a black flack jacket.

"Are you-?" I began, but she shot some sort of a blast at me.

I barely dodged it.

"You guessed it," she replied. "I'm Shockwave,"

So she's the 9th-ranked fighter of The Vipers?

"First single-digit ranked fighter, huh?" I muttered to myself. "This could get interesting."

She launched another blast at me. 

I swerved and dodged it - I was used to countering blasts.

She then went for a kick.

I managed to block it, but then she did something shocking. She switched to a backward elbow to my face, catching me off guard.

She then followed with a kick, knocking me back.