We are the crusaders! Zack short

Zack rode through Mistral without a care in the world. He was enjoying the wind that rushed past his face and through his hair, and he was content enough right now for not wanting to stop it. He'd just refuelled in the last town he passed through not too long ago, and he was currently passing through a stretch of flat land when he spotted something in the distance. Closing the distance, he could make out the sign of what he supposed was a bar named 'Will's'.

And it was open for business despite the time. Zack slowed down and entertained the thought of getting a drink.

"Ah, screw it, why not?"

He pulled towards the bar, found a place to park his motorcycle, and he noted that the parking lot was almost full of all manner of vehicles. Weird.

As he walked through the door, he saw that the place was filled with a bunch of shady-looking people (he knew he was judging a book by its cover, but sometimes even that didn't hit too far off the mark). Ignoring them, he waltzed on to the bar and sat down at one of the stools.

"What can I get ya?" The bartender said with a gruff voice.
"Do you do Hemingway daiquiris?" The bartender nodded.
"Good. I'll have that then." Zack put a Lien card down and pulled out his personal scroll to check through it.

The bartender mixed the drink and placed it next to Zack, who grabbed it still looking at his scroll, and started to drink.

On the other side of the bar, a large man stood up and made his way to Zack, reeking of ill intent. This did not go unnoticed, of course, but Zack had an unbearable urge to sigh.

Really? He'd had his scroll out for at least ten minutes! Did it really take that long for bandits to man up these days? The man stopped in front of him and spoke up in a voice that Zack supposed was meant to be a nice one. He swallowed his nausea and looked the other man in the eye.

"That's a mighty fine gadget you got there." He said, staring Zack down with a sneer that Zack thought was meant to be threatening.
"Yeah, it is, and I worked hard to earn it. Do you mind moving a bit? You're blocking my light." He replied, looking back down at his scroll.
"I'll take that." The big man said simply. Well, Zack decided, at least that was straightforward. It'd have been infinitely more of a pain if the guy decided to go the 'con-man' route. It was a lot messier and usually ended with someone being smeared across a surface like horrific strawberry jam.

As it was, Zack just sighed and stood up, slipped his scroll into the pocket of his jeans, and downed his drink in a gulp, setting the glass on the table.

"Will you now?" He said, looking up at the man with what he hoped was a bored glare and brave expression.

"Who says I can't just take it? " The man said raising his voice and causing people to look at them both, and Zack couldn't help but chuckle. This seemed to irritate the man, who slammed his fist on the bar causing the drinks on the bar to shake and making the rest of the place look at them.

"Don't mock me kid!" He shouted, balling his fist. Zack noticed this and when the man went for a right hook it was immediately dodged and countered with a knee to the man's stomach, who flew back a couple of feet and into a man that looked like a thug. "You spilled my drink!" The other man shouted, smashing the empty bottle over the man's head. While the chaos unfolded, one other person walked into the bar and watched, unfazed. If nobody knew better, said person might as well have been watching a Mistral Focus rerun.

When Zack's rational mind kicked in to let him look at the bar again, nearly everyone in the bar was fighting some indistinct person for some indistinct reason, much to his surprise.

"Well that escalated quickly!" He muttered, trying to back up, but he was stopped by something. He turned around to find 3 large men looming over him.
"Feeling alright people? Enjoying the show?" He asked.

Mistake.

"You attacked our friend." The one on the left said as another cracked his knuckles.
"Yeah, and now you will pay" The third one remarked.
"Come on guys, we can work this out right?" Zack said backing up in the hopes he could buy some time but the 3 men started to close the distance rather quickly.

"Oh, I don't think so!" The one in the middle said.
"Well I had to ask. Protocol and all that." Zack said, reaching behind him and grabbing a beer bottle that was on the table and cracking it over a head and then sending him back a few feet with a kick. The unknown person who just walked in turned toward this particular confrontation and watched with a peculiar interest.

Zack kept dodging attacks from the other two men-though not without difficulty, he managed to wear a smile on his face.

Zack looked to his right and saw the man he smashed the bottle over was now coming for him. Thinking fast, Zack went for a punch only for it to get caught by the man who pulled Zack towards him and held him in a full nelson, whilst another man began punching Zack in the face multiple times. Zack, thinking through the haze of the punches, realized that the face-puncher must've dropped his guard, and, scissoring his legs around the next punch, swung him into the man who was holding him and threw freed himself. The man he just threw attempted to regain his balance in a daze but Zack stomped his head down straight through a wooden chair, knocking the man clean out. Zack the turned to the final man and proceeded to give him a punt to the side of his head, knocking him unconscious as well. It was at this point that the person watching decided to intervene.

Zack was about to join another fight when a hand grabbed his wrist. He turned around to see a girl, a pretty one at that, who had light purple eyes and golden blond hair. Zack thought those eyes were hiding something, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"It would probably be best if we leave." She said. Looking at the ongoing barfight, Zack agreed.
"Yeah, that would be best". After leaving the bar Zack reached into his back pocket, pulled out a pack of cigarettes and put one in his mouth.
"You're a smoker?" She asked. "Only when I'm stressed. The rush makes it go away a bit, lets me think." He said as he offered her one which she waved away.
"I'm assuming you're the one who started that whole barfight" she stated. Zack threw up his arms in mock offence.
"Hey I was provoked! Why don't you have someone just come up into your face and try taking your scroll?" They shared a light chuckle. Zack then noticed it was starting to get quite dark out. "Anyway, I better get going now. But first...might I get the name of the pretty lady?" He said with a small bow. "I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours" She replied. "Zack, Zack Dreamer." He said pointing at himself with a wink and a smile. He hoped it was good enough-he didn't need to drive her away or drive her mad.
"well nice to meet you 'Zack Dreamer' I'm Yang, Yang Xiao Long." She replied. Zack chuckled. "Well I hope we meet again Miss Yang". "Me too Zack." she said with a ghost of a smile.

Zack turned and went over to his motorcycle and started it up, he gave off a quick wave before speeding off. Yang waved back and after he left her smile faltered "Well, there goes my chance of finding some information, and I'll remember this, Zack-boy." she thought to herself as she hopped on her own bike and sped off in the other way.

"Man, she sure was a looker" Zack thought to himself. "I sure hope we meet again" he thought with a smile. Zack was getting really close to Haven, and the city where Haven sat was only a couple dozen miles off. Zack might be able to stay in a hotel if he got there early. He gunned the motor, eager with anticipation for this new academy although-to be honest with himself-he was mostly excited for the girls there.