Corrupted Hopes

-[5]- Edge to Edge.

His glare already pierced through, as he'd grip tightly. His eyes narrowed. This is complete bull, he thought.

Looking at the price of a bag of chips, they cost $ 5. Kai place it back on the shelf and continued walking, with a basket under his arm.

It passed a week since the visit to the blacksmith, where all Kai could think of is his weapon. He'd always visit and ask how close it is to being done and thanking him.

After his shopping and dropping his groceries off into his home and his sister's, he head towards the blacksmith and walk through the doorway. The bell chimes, as the man came from behind to the counter.

"Hey Kai, what's up? Wanting to know how much it's done?" The man asked, leaning over to the counter.

"Yeah. I may need it soon. Can't handle guns really well, which is a pain when it comes to training," he lean against the counter as well, with his back facing away from him. "Thank you too, Mitch."

The blacksmith's name was Mitch Sherman. He lived in the same district as Kai and Ember before the raid of Vancouver started. "It's fine! I do this for you guys for free, and still gets paid from your school," he dig into his pocket and pulls out a cigarette. He flick his lighter in front of it, creating a steam of smoke. He inhaled, then exhaled. "Want one?"

Kai laugh, as he wave his hand. "No thanks."

"But yeah, back to the topic," Mitch put his cigarette to the side of his lips. "Your original sword? Really strange. It's no ordinary sword I tell you," he'd take his cigarette off his lips, holding it with his fingers. "The creator of this sword is hardcore. I can't even loosen the blade off of it, so instead I'm trying to make the blade itself plasma, which is tricky."

"But a blacksmith like you can do this type of stuff. Your good."

"Aw stop it, your making me blush."

"...." Kai stayed quiet, as his face express the emotion of confusion.

"HA-HA! The look on your face!" He'd slam his hand on his back, patting him. "Nice one, kid!"

"But seriously," he'd put his cigarette back to his lips. "It's gonna take time. You may have to live with it for a while. You could say I'm only at 50%. Sorry kid."

"It's fine. Thank you."

Knocking on the door, the one who answer was Ember. Her hair was in a ponytail and was wearing a tan-top. Yet, she shows slack to Kai.

"Oh hey-" She paused for a moment, glaring at her clock. "It's 23'o clock. Why are you here?"

"I want to borrow a sword. You have any?"

"Are you going to that course again? What about the one from the blacksmith? Is it done yet?"

He shook his head. "No. He said it's halfway to completion. And yes, I am going to the course again. I want to practice and get up to your level."

She'd walk away from the doorway. "Come in while I get you something," she didn't say anything else about him wanting to get to her level or anything. Just turned away.

He followed her, yet to see her house looking luxurious. The place looked clean, like she cleaned it recently. Entering the living room, he sees an L-Shape couch in front of a coffee table, facing towards a flat screen TV, that is on, showing the News. He sees a bowl of soup on the coffee table.

"Such luxurious. Except the soup," he joked.

Entering the room, Ember held a sword, with a one curve edged blade. It was sheathed away in a red sword case. "Don't say bad things about Mr . Soup."

"You gotta make some decent meals, you know? Get rice, get eggs, you know what i'm saying?"

"Cook for me next time," she hands him the sword, looking down at the sword.

"Where did you get this anywhere?"

"Magic. Now shoo, get out of here. Don't want to show you my sleeping skills," she joked, pushing him towards the doorway.

"I got it, I got it. Thanks!" He said, heading out the door.

Walking in the night, seeing street lamps on the dirt road, he dug his hands into his pockets, with his sword against his hip. Entering the school grounds and at the court, he tug the loose strings, opening the hatch- yet something felt odd.

Entering the staircase, he sees the lights on, yet slowly thinking it was his because of him, of his motion, until he was caught off-guard.

Hearing a bang in the course, he jumped as soon as he reached the bottom of the staircase. The bang sounded more like a gun. The course was made out of thick stone and steel. No sound shouldn't come from inside or outside. 

Slowly concluding that someone is inside and knows the place as well.

Slamming his back against the wall, he drag his sword out of the sheathe. The blade was multiple material, as the sharp edge was a single steel, and the flat side of the blade would be black titanium. He flip the sword, holding the grip reversed. Slowly sneaking, dragging his back against the wall, he follows the gunshots.

Following the shots towards a free-run course where its a course where targets are everywhere around the room, and your in the middle, he only sees a figure dashing across the room, shooting at the targets that are attached to the wall or the ground. 

What surprised him is to see the person holding the sword reversed, swinging it across the targets they pass through, shooting at only at distant target. A sword slinger.

The person would leap over fallen mattresses and counterweight, swinging their sword mid-air at targets and shooting. They'd twirl and shoot their gun, while front flipping over a mattress. 

As soon as the person landed, they aim their pistol directly at the entrance of the room, where Kai is, behind the wall.

Kai notice the person's movement and gunshots stopping, as he knew he has been found. Gripping on the sword, he can hear footsteps getting closer to him. Seeing their feet at the doorway, he'd jump onto the wall and kick the pistol off their hand. A black G17 flew out of their hand, yet he landed in front of the person, jabbing their sword towards the person. Not realizing it, the person did the same. Both of their blades were against each other's neck.

The person was a woman, where she had loose long black hair, with black eyes. She was around his height, and almost had the same skin tone as him. She was wearing blue ruffled jeans and a black parka. 

Looking at her appearance, Kai catch to remember she was the one that took the chair back from him the other day. Her eyes narrows at him. "Who are you?"