resulting whirlpool and went down with the current. He splashed to a halt on a hard floor below, apparently in the bathhouse basement. Down here, men and women worked to keep fires burning hot under the bottoms of the baths.
The employees became very concerned, as they weren’t all that accustomed to customers breaking through the bottoms of the baths. They started shouting directions at one another, going through their emergency protocol. Ash wasn’t paying attention to them. He was more concerned about his own nudity again, having lost his towel. By a great stroke of luck, a wet towel came floating by. He didn’t care if it was used; he snatched it up and wrapped the towel around his waist.
Dunger was back on his feet, smiling and cracking his knuckles as he moved in on Ash. The ruffian stepped forward readying a small fireball in his hand. He held his arm forward, palm pointing at Ash, and fired. The ball of flame blasted forward at the boy, but it was slower than the fireballs Shiva conjured. Once again Ash knew he could evade. In just one fluid pivoting sidestep with his good leg, Ash formed a comparable fireball and returned fire at Dunger before the man even knew his own attack had missed.
The bathhouse employees continued to run around hectically trying to plug up the hole in the bath but their attempts were slowly failing. More and more water was pouring down and before long that entire bath was drained. Now the employees set their sights on the two brawling strangers.
“You two! Stop fighting!”
“You’re not supposed to be down here!”
“Take it outside, right now!”
Ash realized that was probably the right move to make at the time, and while Dunger was still reeling from the fireball to his face, the teen took off for the nearest door. Employees waved him in the right direction while a couple of men moved in on Dunger. But the brute would not stop yet, and after coming to his senses again he resumed the chase.
Ash entered a stairwell and climbed to the top. The door deposited him in a hallway, and a nearby sign directed him to the exit. A smile spread across his face, feeling a moment of joy at the thought of his successful escape. He barreled out the exit unaware that it was an exit into a back alley. He immediately plowed into some garbage cans that belonged to the restaurant next door and toppled over.
There he sat in a pile of thrown out demon fast-food as Dunger stepped through the door. The giant man walked slowly, chuckling to himself about Ash’s situation.
“You really want to fight me that bad?” Ash said, picking a few strands of pasta out of his hair. “I’m injured, man! I can’t even fight right now!”
Dunger lit a retaliatory fireball in his hand anyway.
“You would …” Ash grumbled. In the tight alley his escape routes were limited. He could run towards Dunger, but that would be risky and likely not work out. If he turned around and ran, Dunger’s fireball would probably hit him anyway, unless he did a fancy dodge roll or something. Ash hesitated. That sounded painful what with his wounds.
Dunger pointed his flame at the boy. Just as Ash came up with an idea for a getaway, the idea became irrelevant. Dunger’s fireball shot forward. Ash stood. Then the mysterious mustachioed old man came back, stepping in front of the fireball with only a raised hand to defend himself. Ash was horrified for a split second as the fire wrapped around the old man, engulfing his upper body.
“ No !” Ash screamed.
Then the flames began to rotate. They shrunk and grew and swirled together, forming into a new fireball that rested safely in the old man’s hand. The surprising senior smiled, his upper body not burnt in the slightest.
“ Flame thief, ” the old man said. “The ability to overpower one’s flames with your own. Just mix in your flames little by little, and eventually the enemy’s control will weaken and their flames will become yours.” Ash was in awe of his
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