Austin had slept better than he originally thought he would have, he was after all in a stranger's place, yet for some reason he felt safe around Vlad. If it wasn't the fact that Vlad had to get up to go back to school, maybe he would have slept in for even longer.
He took a quick peek at his phone, and saw there were practically no messages from Gary. Whatever he was doing, he had to be quite absorbed in it all.
“Hey, let me walk with you to school.” Austin stated.
While walking down the streets, Austin continued to wear the mask on his face. Vlad did find it a bit strange since he had seen Austin without it when they were in his home. He thought maybe he was some type of secret celebrity from the city, but when looking at his face, it was completely normal.
Austin was thinking back to the conversation the two of them had last night.
“So, about this Phantom Brawl, how exactly do I take part in it?” Austin asked.
“I… I don’t actually know the location of it. Only those that are participants, or the local gang members, know about it. There are two ways I can think of though, one, is going back to Carvey. I doubt he would have openly told his gang, the one that was looking out for him, about his defeat.
“But you could always ask him for more information, or the news will eventually reach them. The second way is to make a name for yourself, like you have been doing. Go around taking out the top of the other schools.
“At the end of the day, they are meant to be participating in the Phantom Brawl, so if you take them out before the big tournament, a gang has to approach you, right?”
What Vlad said made a lot of sense, but Austin wasn’t from around here, and he doubted that they would all be as easy as Carvey.
“With the second option, there is another problem though. If you become a name among the schools, then that will bring in the attention of the shadow fighter.”
“The shadow fighter?” Austin raised an eyebrow. He was starting to wonder what comic book city he had entered, and who was coming up with these names. Shadow fighter, and Phantom Brawl?
Austin would have said something, but he didn’t want to dampen the excitement in Vlad’s voice as he was explaining who the Shadow fighter was.
“You see, the shadow fighter is rumoured to be the strongest fighter in this city!” Vald continued to explain.
“So is he going to be at the Phantom Brawl, and why should I worry about him?”
Vlad cleared his throat before he started to explain.
“The shadow fighter is a person that tries to clear up all the bad kids from school. If someone starts to make a name for themselves or a new top dog appears, he appears, disguised as a type of ninja and beats them up!
“That’s why it's clear that he is the strongest, I don’t think he has lost a single fight. But the identity is a secret due to the clothes they wear, and they have never bothered with entering the Phantom Brawl.”
“A vigilante?” Austin wondered. “So has this shadow fighter even beaten up Carvey before?”
Vlad nodded enthusiastically, with stars in his eyes.
“I actually thought that you might have been the shadow fighter at one point, but then I realised… I realised…” Vlad looked Austin up and down. “That you are far too big. I’m not calling you fat, it's just the Shadow fighter has a small frame.”
——
Vald went into a bit more detail after that, about how the shadow fighter would only beat up those that were wreaking havoc on those in the schools, which made sense as to why he idolised him.
However, whatever they were doing, it was quite clear that it wasn’t working, because none of the schools changed. In a way, because this person remained secret and would only beat up the top dog once, nothing would change.
Vlad did have his own theory as to why this was, most likely the shadow fighter was a high school student as well. Someone who wanted to act, but didn’t want to catch the attention of the gangs.
Anyone strong, would be forced into a gang, so this was the only thing they could do.
“Oh crap!” Vlad was heard saying out loud.
Getting out of the thoughts in his head, he looked up to see just what Vlad was reacting to.
There was a group of kids, with multi coloured hair and piercings, heading toward them. A group of five.
“It’s… it’s the Punks!” Vlad said.
Once again, it seemed like Austin was stuck in some sort of comic book.
“Hey, so this is the infamous Big Mask people have been talking about.” The man in the centre asked, putting out his tongue, revealing that it was split in two parts. “I heard you took down Carvey, which means you have to be somewhat strong right?”
Vlad was ready to move, so he was out of the way of what was going to happen next, but as he went he was grabbed by the scruff of his neck, by the split tongue man.
“Hey you little sh*t we need a witness, a witness to show that Killer was the one that took out Big Mask!” The leader, the top dog of another school, named Killer, was laughing.
What Vlad had warned Austin about was starting to happen, as others were interested in him.
“Hey, so if I beat these guys up, that’s going to increase my chance into this Phantom Brawl thing right? Then let’s take these guys out.” Austin said as he moved forward.
Those by Killer’s side were the first to move in, and before one could reach him, Austin threw out his leg kicking him with his heel, in his stomach. The food he ate for breakfast came out from his mouth and he felt like he was suffocating when falling to the floor, he had never felt such pain in his life before.
As another came forward, swinging his hand, Austin went from a fist to a slap. He knew the unnatural strength he carried, and he didn’t want to kill them. As his hand hit the person's face, their whole body lifted off the ground before they were sent to the floor.
One of the students managed to get close and threw a bunch to the side, aiming for Austin’s ribs, but when his hand hit, he felt like his knuckles and bones were broken. Austin just turned to look at him, and that caused the kid to fall over on his backside, hurting himself again.
“This guy… his body is made out of rocks or something!”
The confident Killer wasn't so confident anymore, but he still had one more trick up his sleeve as he pulled out a knife from behind his back.
“There’s a reason for my name!” killer said, as he spun the knife around his fingers and caught it by the handle.
“Oh?” Austin said, as he moved forward. “Let me ask you, Killer, have you ever killed someone before?”
*****
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