Hi everyone!

This chapter is mostly about OCs and some practice for future action scenes. Please forgive any typos!

Obligatory disclaimer: I don't own ANY of the copywritten or famous works referenced in this chapter. Any resemblance to real-life people is also purely coincidental.

Thank you!


Clover left their apartment for the second time that morning around 9 am. The sun was still rising but it was already a beautiful day. The sky was painted in a deep pink and glowed under a golden aura. Similar to yesterday's, the enormous clouds drifted by slowly.

Clover gazed upwards while strolling down the sidewalk. There were quite a few people out and about already. All starting their days.

The clouds are so fluffy and dense today, they kind of look like giant cotton ba-WHAM!

Clover had walked head-first into a glass door. A bell rang.

It was a bookstore that had left its door propped open, probably just trying to get some fresh air in before the day warmed up.

They crouched down and whisper-screamed, holding their face in both hands. This caused people to walk a wide berth around them.

They then heard the universally recognized sound of an elderly woman's disapproving worry:

"Tsk-tsk," said a tiny old lady who was dressed in mostly denim. She shuffled up behind Clover, steering them into the bookstore and fussing noisily. Her shiny cowgirl boots had decorative spurs that clicked with every step.

People were staring.

"Oh, you poor thing! Bless your heart. We'll get you all fixed up. Don't you worry none," she rambled in a surprisingly strong Western-American accent.

Now everybody was staring.

Her silver curls bobbed on her head just below Clover's shoulders, who themself stood at a full height of 5'6"

Clover understood English well enough to teach in it, but this geriatric, miniature Dolly Parton was making it difficult to understand.

"Excuse me! I beg your pardon, can we please get an ice pack for this poor baby? Is anyone a doctor? Any nurses?" she prattled off in her tiny little oatmeal-advocating voice.

Did this old lady escape a nursing home or something?

"Tourists, huh?" a familiar voice lilted. Clover was still clutching their face in pain but didn't need to look to see who it was.

Clover groaned in more irritation than pain, which would have subsided on its own in just a few minutes, but everything was happening too fast to react appropriately.

"Seto, help?" Clover whisper-hissed.

"Sorry sweetie, but I have to get back to my other job," Seto replied, unhelpfully.

The register bell rang as his transaction had completed. Seto grabbed his books and receipt.

"See you at brunch this weekend," he sang and left the store.

People quickly lost interest and turned their attention back to whatever it was they had been doing before.

"Did somebody say they needed ice?" a nervous voice squeaked out from behind the counter.

It was an employee. Her pink apron had a true cross pin skillfully hidden within several other flashy pins and buttons, all surrounding a white name tag. She was holding up a small plastic ice pack. It was pink and had rabbit ears.

"It's from my lunchbox but it should w-work," her voice quivered.

"Oh thank goodness! Yes, that'll do nicely," the walking rodeo-mummy continued to babble. She reached over the counter and took it.

"Sit down sweetie, right here, there you go," she murmured, leading them over to a couple of chairs.

Clover was dying of embarrassment but gave up and did as they were told. They let the decrepit long-lost-twin of Patsy Cline personally inspect the bruised nose and chin.

"Oh there, you see it's not so bad!" she said sagely as if she wasn't the one who blew the situation out of proportion.

A different employee came to check on them.

"'Are they ok' and 'Please don't sue us'," he recited emotionlessly. He appeared to be a teenager who resented his summer job.

The grumpy adolescent leaned forward to join the inspection of Clover's face with the original Annie Oakly impersonator.

They peered for an awkward amount of time and Clover sat there, screaming inside.

"Looks fine I guess," the melancholic employee determined.

"Oh yes, I think so. We'll just have to be more careful now won't we?"

Clover swallowed their frustration.

"Yup! Sorry!" they stood and flashed a thumbs-up before escaping the embarrassing situation.

The monotone employee continued reciting something about a rewards program as Clover fled the store.


Clover stopped at a small convenience store to get some bandaids for the scratches.

The bruise on their chin would be okay but they still wanted to keep the scratches covered and clean.

Being the penny-pincher they were, they went for the cheapest box of bandaids. Yes, even if there were Hello Kitty bandaids on the bridge of their nose and the side of their chin, the saved pocket change was worth it.

They finally got to the park as the morning sun finished rising. The sky was more orange than pink now. They wanted to go out for lunch later since it was their day off after all.

Why not treat myself?

Strolling for a while, they enjoyed the songs of early birds and insects buzzing, all stumbling around in the morning dew together like a sleepy choir.

Clover soon realized that there was some kind of commotion up ahead.

The skatepark that sat inside the larger park seemed to be the culprit. They could hear many voices coming from that direction.

There's something to do.

They approached the area and found dozens of people gathered around the skatepark, cheering and chanting. A bell rang from somewhere.

There seemed to be an event taking place. People wore shirts with stylized words and symbols, and a few held up small signs.

Before Clover had gotten a good look at the actual skaters, they recognized a traitorous face within the crowd.

He had on huge square sunglasses and was wearing a pastel tie-dyed t-shirt with a cartoon drawing on the front.

Clover wove through the crowd and snuck up behind him.

"Hello traitor," they whispered.

Seto spun around in shock and tried to cover his shirt but he wasn't fast enough.

It was a cartoon-style impression of Eiko riding a skateboard, and there was a LOT of glitter on it.

He sighed dramatically and motioned for Clover to stand next to him.

"I was supposed to keep it a secret, but I guess the cat's out of the bag," he lamented.

Clover faced the same way as everyone else and saw that one of the skaters dueling, was none other than their fellow office colleague.

Only, this didn't look like that quiet accountant...this was an extremely punk young woman absolutely shredding it inside the full pipe.

(Disclaimer to Californians and mall-rats: I don't know skating terminology very well so please be nice to me)

"Oh my god, Eiko?"

"Yesss! She is literally THE rising star of the local underground skating movement- oops! You didn't hear that from me," he pressed a finger to his lips, not even trying to look the least bit apologetic.

The crowd suddenly went wild and the two turned their attention back to the duel.

Three skaters were shaking hands before Eiko stood forward from them with her fists raised in the air, much to the crowd's approval.

Seto shoved an identical homemade fan shirt into Clover's hands.

"If you're going to watch the next round you have to buy a shirt," he explained and held out a hand, grinning.

"That'll be $10 please."

Clover sighed in disbelief but the receptionist looked dead serious.

They dug around in their bag and found the change.

Clover stuck the shirt on over their current t-shirt, which was easy to do given the fan shirt was enormous.

"One size fits all."

Clover rolled their eyes.

Eiko walked over to them, her skateboard under her arm. Seto held out a water bottle for her. She unscrewed the cap and began to drink until she noticed Clover and choked.

She spat the water out and tried to wipe her face with the back of her padded glove.

The glove and the rest of her outfit had been customized with spray-painted stencils. The overall outfit was black, and the artwork was in neons.

Skulls, snake teeth, lightning bolts, and splattered sprays of paint all over the protective gear almost gave the impression that the costume was designed for a punk rave.

"CLOVER?" Eiko shouted and blushed bright red.

"Hey, I guess you never really know who people are outside of work," Clover laughed.

"They saw everything on their own," Seto defended himself.

Eiko smiled and finished the rest of her water correctly.

"Well, now you BOTH owe me a secret" She playfully punched their shoulder and winked.

Someone called out her stage name and pointed at their watch.

"Venom Strike let's go!"

"Sorry, I have to wrap this up! See you at brunch on Saturday?" she grinned confidently as she adjusted the strap on her helmet.

"Of course, good luck!" Clover called out.

"Oh please, she won't need it," Seto crossed his arms and stood proudly, much like a soccer mom on the winning team.

Eiko stood at the edge of a vert half-pipe, with 2 other contestants standing on either side of her.

"There are 5 skaters, but didn't the last round have only 3?" Clover asked.

"Oh, that was just to determine who in her guild would be entering the main event," he paused for a moment and wordlessly traded one of his shirts for cash to a fangirl.

Clover spied the books he had bought earlier. One title was "Broken Bones and First Aid".

He shoved the bill into his bag and continued,

"This is a tournament between guilds, held every month. It tours the city one guild at a time," he explained as though it made any sense to an outsider. "It never really ends," he finished just as the referee stood up.

The referee was a rugged old man, who looked more suited for an underground boxing match. He held up a striped handkerchief and blew his whistle as he dropped it. The second it touched the ground the main event began. A bell rang.


All five skaters tore off to reach the other side first.

Clover watched and gasped in horror as one of the girls tripped another on her way back down.

The girl skillfully slid down the rest of the ramp and avoided injury, but she was now in the way of oncoming traffic.

Two other girls were already coming down towards her, and it was too late for them to dodge. Eiko and a girl in orange had already positioned themselves to pin them from either side.

The two trapped skaters then did something incredible; both of them kicked off their boards and somersaulted in perfect synchronization over the felled girl. They landed on the other side of her, one stuck the landing and the other fell hard, skateboard flying out from under. The crowd roared. People were screaming something about points and skills. One man in the front started crying.

They were all three quickly pulled off the ramp and out of the way.

The remaining two were Eiko and the orange skater. Her outfit was made of recycled orange hi-vis vests.

Eiko reached the top and without hesitation, she slid backward into her next descent.

She turned herself around and narrowly dodged the clothesline that the orange skater had thrown out, passing her.

"This is it, girl! You got this!" Seto screamed through his hands. It seemed that they had something planned for this moment.

Who would have known that these two were so hot-blooded?

Clover was seriously impressed.

Eiko bent down low on her board and went straight at the other girl like a missile. It was 5 seconds of playing chicken that felt like 5 minutes in Clover's mind.

Time slowed down.

Everyone in the crowd collectively held their breath.

At the last second, the orange skater dodged and Eiko took advantage of that opening to trip her.

The referee blew his whistle and everyone clambered forward, screaming and cheering. The event was over.

The two girls quickly checked each other for injury and shook hands.

The victor remained on the ramp and was quickly joined by the referee. He gave her a small medal as several flashes from instant cameras went off, capturing the moment of triumph.

The crowd broke apart and dispersed into different directions, huddling around their respective idols.

Eiko had a good-sized entourage of 30-ish people. Most of the fans were girls of wildly varying styles. Some were in tracksuits and looked like stay-at-home moms, some wore punk street fashion similar to the Venom Strike costume, and some wore office skirts and blouses.

These were all adults, and some probably had to go to work after this. That explained why the event was being held so early in the morning. A bell rang.

Eiko signed things and worked her way back to her peers. She began to unbuckle her helmet.

"Um champion, aren't you forgetting somebody?" Seto pointed to a shy girl standing alone from the retreating crowd. She held out in both hands an instant photo of the moment of victory.

Eiko regarded the girl affectionately. She was wearing one of the giant glitter shirts over her office attire.

"How could I forget my biggest fan?" Eiko smiled politely, addressing her.

"Y-yes I hope it was ok to-to um..." she trailed off with bright red cheeks and looked down at her photo.

"Would you like an autograph?" Eiko offered.

The fangirl blushed and hid behind her bangs, before nodding profusely. Seto handed her a sharpie and she stepped forward to sign the photo.

"Hey uh, would you like a picture with me?"

The fangirl turned cherry-red and wobbled a little.

"Oh no that's not necessary! This is more than enough!" she waved her hands defensively but Eiko insisted.

Seto took the photo for them. Eiko threw up the devil horns with one hand, and the other was around the fan's shoulder. The fangirl was beaming with pride.

She thanked all of them and was getting ready to say goodbye when the orange skater suddenly rolled up.

"Is that my rival's merchandise you're wearing- OH A PHOTO? REALLY?" she wailed.

"I'm so sorry! I should have told you!" the fangirl frantically tried to explain to the three confused desk jockeys.

"My own baby sister has betrayed me? Unforgivable, Hana!" the melodramatic, muscular skater complained.

"So that's why she's shy," Clover murmured. Seto snorted.

"Yeah, that's why," he smirked and crossed his arms. Clover was confused at this response.

"Hi Kiki, you did great today," Eiko offered.

"Please refer to me by my tagline!" Kiki demanded, crossing her arms. Eiko rolled her eyes.

"Hi Caution Rage, you did great today."

"Thank you, Venom Strike," she said smugly. "Now let's go, sis! You have to get to work!"

Hana waved feebly at her idol as her shredded sister carried her like a sack of potatoes over her padded shoulder. Eiko waved back.

"Hana..." she whispered.

"Venom Strike! Whoo!" Seto cheered, grabbing her attention. Eiko jumped to action, now that the fans were gone. Most others had already fled the scene.

"Hey Clover, I'd love to stay and chat but I've really got to get out of this gear, underground illegal skatepark fighting and all that..."

Clover laughed and helped them throw their equipment and merch into Seto's car.

"Oh by the way, do NOT wear that shirt downtown, just trust me," Seto added before speeding off with the champion.

"See you at bruuunch," Eiko called out the window, disappearing into the distance.

Clover chuckled, watching them speed off toward the city.

The sky was brighter now. Clover checked their watch and realized it was already 11 am.

There was still time for a short hike before lunch, and Daisy was probably waiting to be summoned.

What a crazy morning. Surely the rest of the day will go smoothly.

A bell rang.


So that was long! We'll finally start meeting some of the real characters soon, so don't worry!

Until next time!

(Hopefully with improvements)