After the after party, The BigBad Crew went to a cafe in another corner of the hotel to relax and recover. Of all of them, Neely was the one that needed to recover the most. He loved fruit drinks especially the sweet ones. He had no idea what the clear liquid was they added, but it gave the drink an extra kick. After more kicks than he remembered, he was quite finished.
He sat in the booth with them. However, the way that he stared passed Liana on the other side of the booth, they were uncertain he was with them at the moment. He had a large black coffee in one hand and an empty plastic bag in the other, just in case.
They each had a coffee of their own. Most of them were infused with chocolate. Liana and Catlin, wealthier from their casino exploit, happily paid for the drinks. As they sit Jaquan tells them about the visit from Justice. Justice had offered him a chance to fight better warriors. In turn, Jaquan could become better than he ever was. It was very tempting, but he had time to think since then.
After an hour, the thought of throwing away everything for a chance at a possibility sat very wrong with him. This was a life changing decision. Something like this required the honest opinion of the people he trusted the most. “So, what do you think?”
After a brief period of silence Catlin was the first to speak up. “The fans won’t like it,” she said seriously, “They’ll think you’re running from Chuan and forget about you,” she said looking at him knowingly. “They’ll be hard to win back,” she sung pointing at him knowing she was right. Though he ignored most of the public and treated news crews like garbage, he did enjoy being famous. “Chuan will use this as a platform to claim you’re scared to fight him too.”
“Orien Chuan,” Jaquan almost spit out his name with venom. “Gettin’ tired of him. Oh and five and still claims he’s better. Need to shut him up for good.” Jaquan was stared into his coffee, elbow on the table holding his head in his hand. How could anyone get through to a fighter so full of himself?
Liana decided to use the pause to step in. “This… Justice, what do we really know about him?” she said deciding to change the subject, “He just pops in out of nowhere and tells you all this stuff. How’d he get into the party anyway?”
“He’s always been a tricky,” Jaquan chuckled to himself.
“What if he changed while he was gone? He could be trying to trick you now,” Liana continued. “Are you sure we can trust him?”
“If you’re going to shut Orien up for good,” Catlin entered, “we’ll have to train harder than ever. You’ll have to humiliate him repeatedly for the whole match.”
“We tried that once,” Jaquan said pointing at her to accent his point. “He stuck me with that lucky shot.”
“What about a quick fight,” Liana suggested, “make everyone think he wasted his time talking to himself.”
Jaquan lifted his head looked at Liana and smiled. Now there was a good idea. Shut up his hype by sending him home early. Everyone would laugh at him the next time he opens his mouth.
“BAMP!” There was a sudden slam against the table. The sound of the silverware and empty cups bouncing off the table got the attention of everyone in the cafe. They looked and saw that Neely, though still intoxicated, had heard and understood everything. “I can’t believe what I’m hearing,” everything about him rung of someone insulted by pure witlessness, “Your friend uses the Holy Talents. The Holy Talents!” He paused between the words making sure they understood him. “How could you doubt him? Do you doubt me?” It took a little while for him to continue but they all waited. “If he says this will help, it will help.”
They listened on knowing that arguing with him was useless at this point. “You can be the greatest! The very best! What you trained for!” Neely was reeling but his argument made real sense. “Those promoters don’t give two Silicon coins ’bout you. The crowds would just as well see you broken. They’ll find someone else. They always have another fight.
“This is about You. You can be the greatest, the very Best! Why you care ‘bout what Orien says?” He said the name with disdain. Orien Quan had proven to be a nuisance, but that was all he was. “Let him talk. He’s a publicity hog. He wants to be the champ. Let’s see how long he can keep it.” Neely leaned forward holding himself as steady as he could. With no small amount of concentration he lifted his hand. Pointing at Jaquan staring at him he said, “You want to be the best, in the world? You have to travel the world and become the best.” He leaned back into his seat lowering his hand. “It sure ain’t coming here. Now if you excuse me,” Neely said turning to his right, still reeling, “I have to go to the toilet.”
Catlin got up from the booth to let Neely out. He rose slowly and shambled his way to the toilet; bag in hand, just in case.