They decided to hide. Unable to escape the school, Rama knew that the next best thing was to ensure his assassin didn’t find him anytime soon. They were in the gymnasium located on the other side of campus, trying to think up a plan.
“Ok ok let’s think this through.” Rama began. “There’s an insane armed woman on school grounds who wants to kill me.”
He paced back and forth while Jet sat in the bleachers.
“Sounds about right” Jet concurred.
“She can use magic, which explains the weird gravity thing and why we can’t leave.”
“Yup”
“And we can’t use magic, and don’t have any weapons.”
“Also true”
“So…we’re screwed.”
“Ugh….pretty much.”
“Shit.”
“Well it’s not completely over. We can hurt her but she has a tough skull, my hand still hurts.”
“Right.”
Rama’s leg still stung a bit from the kick. The girl indeed had a hard head.
“And you sure your phone has no signal?”
“Given that I tried to call about 5 times bro, I’m going with no.”
“There has to be some way we can get help. How come we haven’t seen anyone?”
“Magic?”
“Like to isolate us? Wouldn’t she only isolate me since I’m her target? Why would you still be here?”
Jet shrugged.
“I can’t believe those girls left me to put everything away!” a new voice interrupted, coming from the gym’s entrance. It was Lorraine, carrying about a dozen wooden kendo swords, mumbling to herself. Jet and Rama stood up, running over to her.
“Lorraine!” they said, surrounding her.
“What are you two doing here?”
They started speaking quickly, trying to relay everything that’s happened only for it to come out as incoherent babble.
“Ok you two shut up!” she cut in. “What’s happening?”
Jet was the first to recompose himself.
“Assassin from another world is trying to kill Rama and used magic to make the sky weird and make everyone disappear plus we can’t leave school.”
“What?”
“It’s the truth” Rama concurred. “That’s why you can’t find anyone. No one left you, we’ve been isolated.”
Lorraine stared at them thinking they were lying but the look in their eyes made her realize they were being earnest.
“Ok….so now what?” she asked.
“We win somehow. Best plan I got is that we jump her.”
“Another worldly assassin that you told me can use magic is going to get jumped by the three of us?”
“Uh huh.”
Jet snapped his fingers.
“Great plan bro! It’s genius!”
“That is the dumbest freaking thing I ever heard” Lorraine chastised.
“It’s the best I got ok?”
“With what weapons?”
Rama pointed at kendo swords in her arms.
“You can’t be serious.”
“It’s the best we got. Now come on, it’s time to strategize.”
Josephine was surprised by how troublesome this job has been. This world had next to no magic, and she was trained to be a vessel of her god’s will yet here she was having trouble killing a simple boy. He was truly impressive, being capable to withstand her attacks and her magic. But it mattered not, her god wanted him, so she will deliver. She ran across the school grounds, blade in hand. It didn’t matter where he went, she was drawn to him, for he emitted magic though he didn’t know it. There were other traces of magic as well which was strange. Her spell was only supposed to isolate Rama but others appeared to have been dragged through as well. To her surprise multiple people had traces of magic in them. She had underestimated this world but it made no difference to her. If others tried to get in her way, she would deal with them. She stopped her search, having found her target. He stood in the middle of the gymnasium, his back towards her.
“I see you’ve stopped running” she declared, stepping towards him.
“Are there kung fu movies in your world?” he abruptly asked.
She stopped, raising an eyebrow.
“We have…plays”
“Plays huh? No movies?”
“No.”
“And I suppose you never heard of Bruce Lee.”
He turned around, recreating the martial artist’s iconic fighting pose. He slightly bounced in place, his arms raised.
“No.” she answered. “But we have actors that are surely on par with whoever you speak of.”
“That’s not true.” he smirked. “He wasn’t just an actor. He was the greatest man to have ever lived. No one in your world can compare. Because of that, I can’t go with you. Gotta have my Bruce Lee.”
“Such a puerile reason to reject your destiny”
She raised her sword, entering a fighting pose of her own.
To Josephine’s surprise, it was Rama that approached first. He jumped in, launching a high kick. She blocked it with her forearm, sliding slightly back, surprised by the strength of the kick. She quickly recovered, stepping forward and launching a sword thrust. He dodged, launching another kick. With her free hand she caught his leg but instead of showing concern, he smirked. While his leg was held, He jumped up, launching another kick. It connected, forcing her to drop him. He fell to the floor, quickly rolling back before getting back up. There was no time for respite, she rushed forward, unleashing swing after swing, He backed up again and again, his eyes wide at the flurry of attacks. He was barely able to keep out of harm’s way, taking slight cuts here and there, cutting up his uniform. Suddenly he leaned in, hitting her with a quick punch to the stomach. She fought through the hit, hitting him with her own punch which sent him flying back, sliding across the gymnasium’s floor. She ran to him, eager to end the fight once and for all. Before she could get to him, he stood up, beginning to run away once more.
“Gravitas!” she exclaimed, forcing him into the ground.
She continued to run to him when Rama blurted out “Now guys!”
Josephine pivoted around to block an incoming kendo strike with her forearm. Her arm stung as she saw her assailant be a girl she had only briefly recalled seeing during class.
“I don’t think I’ve introduced myself!” she said. “Name’s Lorraine. Captain of the kendo club”
Josephine only grunted, stepping to the side and launching a horizontal sword swing. Lorraine ducked but got part of her hair cut. Before Josephine could follow up, she got struck in the head by another kendo sword. She whirled around, seeing that it was Jet wielding the weapon. She quickly brushed him off with a swift kick which made him step back. This opened a brief opening which allowed Lorraine to attempt another strike but Josephine was cognizant of it. She stepped up towards her, picking Lorraine up by the neck.
“Don’t interfere!” Josephine screamed, slamming Lorraine into the ground so hard the floor cracked.
Josephine straightened up, finding herself surrounded by Jet and Rama.
They closed in on her from both sides. Rama unleashed a straight kick while Jet swung his sword. Josephine dodged both attacks, making the boys hit each other instead. She aimed her freehand at Rama, exclaiming “Gravitas!”
“Not again!” Rama grumbled, being forced into the ground once more.
While she was focused on Rama, Jet smacked her in the head with the kendo sword, then put the girl in a chokehold. Josephine attempted to resist but Jet was surprisingly strong, his grip getting tighter and tighter. She began to choke.
“Ok I feel like this has escalated a bit too much don’t you think?” Jet reflected. “How about you let us all go and we forget this ever happened? Sounds good? I think that sounds good.”
Josephine tried to say something but it only came out as a gargled noise. Realizing she could be surrendering, Jet slightly loosened his grip. Able to speak again, she pointed a finger at Jet, saying “Gravitas!”
“Should’ve seen that coming!”
Together they fell to the ground, Jet getting crushed between Josephine’s body and the wooden floor. His insides felt like they had been squeezed. He was forced to let go, allowing Josephine to get up. She focused her attention back on Rama who was rushing to her with Lorraine in tow. She raised her arms up in defense as Rama kicked her in the chest, knocking her back. Lorraine spun around Rama, then hit Josephine in the shoulder with a vertical slice, bruising that part of the body. Lorraine raised her sword once more when it was met with Josephine’s real blade, cutting the wooden sword in two.
“My sword!” Lorraine cried. “That’s club property!”
“Gravitas” Josephine said, forcing Lorraine down
Rama leaped over her, hitting Josephine’s face with a jumping kick. She flung back, almost falling over in the process as she stepped back due to the blow.
“I’m finishing this.” Rama declared as Lorraine and Jet got alongside him, still recovering from the damage they received. “It’s time to release the dragon.”
Lorraine and Jet gave him confused looks.
“Really?” Lorraine deadpanned. “You really just said that out loud?”
“..It sounded cooler in my head.” Rama admitted.
“I liked it” Jet added.
“Idiots” Lorraine grumbled.
“You three can do it.” Josephine commented. “The strength is within all of you. It’ll be an honor to transport you all to my world”
She pointed a finger at Rama who knew what was coming next. He pushed his friends away from him as their opponent shouted “gravitas!”
Jet and Lorraine ran around, blocking Josephine off from both sides. She became harried by both sides, putting her arms up to defend herself. Lorraine broke through her defense by kicking her in the shin, making her lean forward. Jet took advantage by grabbing the arm which wielded the sword, pulling it back in an attempt to disarm Josephine. Meanwhile Lorraine grabbed Josephine’s other arm, pulling it back, exposing her chest. Josephine cursed as she realized that her center was defenseless. She looked ahead, seeing Rama sprint towards her. Using the momentum he unleashed a massive kick to her face, making her head jolt back. Her body immediately became limp, indicating she’d lost consciousness. Jet and Lorraine released her, the body plopping onto the floor as the three of them panted heavily, the adrenaline from the fight wearing off. The three of them sat down around the unconscious assassin, gasping for breath, completely enervated.
“Did that really just happen?” Rama wondered aloud, in a state of disbelief.
“I…think so?” Lorraine answered. “But if it’s revealed this was all a weird fever dream, I’ll be more inclined to believe that. This was insane!”
“My body hurts.” Jet complained. “Bro, never get a letter from a girl again.”
“Agreed. 2D women is where it’s at.” Rama concurred.
“That’s the lesson you two got from this?” Lorraine asked, annoyed.
“There’s no other takeaway.”
“Fools.” Josephine grumbled. “This is not the end, merely the beginning. No matter what, we will get our hero.”
Beneath her a purple portal opened, her body falling through it into an unknown void. The three friends looked on in confusion. Rama leaned onto his back, not caring that the strange woman had disappeared. Through the gymnasium’s windows he could see that the weather had returned to normal. Voices were heard outside the gym, indicating that the other students were not too far away.
“Can we agree today never happened?” Jet asked the others, ready to sleep on the floor.
“I can try to forget, but I think this is gonna stick with me bro” Rama said, getting up.
“Rama you need to take what happened seriously, what if more people come after you?” Lorraine warned him.
“If it happens, I’ll follow the advice of Bruce Lee.”
“Which is?”
“‘Take things as they are. Punch when you have to punch. Kick when you have to kick’”
“You make it sound so simple. We need to report this to someone.”
“Who? The police? I doubt they’ll believe that a god sent an assassin to kill me. There’s nothing I can do. Do you have any ideas?”
Lorraine reluctantly shook her head. Rama got up with the others following suit. They exited the gymnasium, ignoring the looks they got due to how beat up they all looked. They left the school grounds, standing in front of the large gates.
“Thanks.” Rama relayed. “I would’ve died if it weren’t for you two.”
“Bro that’s what friends are for. We fight weird assassins together.” Jet mentioned.
“Sure, my pleasure.” Lorraine grumbled. “My parents are gonna be pissed. You two take care, never approach me again. I’m going to the hospital.”
She flounced away from them, her body aching, leaving Jet and Rama alone.
“Bro, today sucked,” Jet remarked.
“Totally”
“So we are gaming tonight?”
“In order to forget what happened today, hell yeah.”
They gave each other a fist bump before going their separate ways.
Rama Leeroy was lucky. He evaded death multiple times in the span of one day. He was called to be a hero, and had rejected it wholeheartedly. Yet fortune is a strange mistress; one that does not like to be spurned.
