The Ancient Master

"Miss? Miss?" The old man's voice snakes through Nikki's sleeping mind stirring her consciousness. She doesn't want to get up yet. She just wants to sleep here forever… "Miss? We're in California now. Your total is $300.64."

Still lying on the seat and barely opening her eyes, she reaches in her wallet and hands him 301 dollars. "Keep the change." She mumbles and slowly gets up. The old driver stares daggers in her direction. She was never scared easily, but his expression definitely made her a little uncomfortable. "Thank you." She says quickly and jumps out of the car. Once she's out, the cab squeals then storms away.

Nikki looks after him. It would be easy to track him down and torture him for the hostility, but Nikki doesn't have the time. She takes in a deep breath and heads to the door of the white building in front of her. Better get this over with…

Despite the thought, her pace slows. She remembers the last time she was here and she rubs her arm unconsciously. No mark was left, but the indescribable burn still left her crying in her sleep.

Everything in her wants to run away and never come back to this place. Her hands are sweating, her heart is skipping threatening to stop beating all together, and her lungs are heavy. The chains that she imagines are squeezing her, threatening to crush her into nothing but painful dust. Inevitably, the door is inches in front of her. All of her nerves are balled together and sending prickling needles through her fingertips to her toes. "I can do this. I can do this." Nikki chants to herself. She takes a deep breath and opens the door.

Cold air rushes to greet her, calming her sweating body. She breathes in the comfort and attempts to hang on to it to bring it with her through the hell that was waiting for her. Facing Beatrix was definitely not going to be this hard.

She takes hesitant steps through the door and through the waiting room. The boxing ring is where she remembered it with the same red rings traveling around the outer perimeter. Punching bags and hazardous stations were set up along the room near a few mats. She remembers the bags but the stations were a little changed. Hers were spiked, fire, and ultra-dangerous. Anybody could die in training. Now they look like squirt gun stations and paintball launchers. Paintballs definitely hurt, but there is no way they can be lethal…

"I see you noticed the new toys," The old raspy voice comes from Nikki's left. She was waiting for the fatal whisper of his and now that she heard it, the preparation and wait doesn't do any good. Goosebumps run up her arms as she turns with an indifferent face. She is good at masks. But hopefully the pounding in her chest doesn't give her away…

"Yes actually I was. What happened to the old stations?" Nikki silently congratulates herself when her voice comes out flat. No emotion detectable.

Nikki watches his face turn up like he is enjoying his own private joke. "I guess you could say that parents were complaining." He steps out from the office door and leans against his snake headed cane. Nikki looks him over and almost laughs at what she sees.

He's wearing the old robes, like he always did. Only instead of dark blue or white like the last ones that he wore, this one was black with a white belt. His feet were bare, again like always and his hair was thinned a little more than she remembers. His forehead is still square and wrinkly and his eyes still squinted in their evil set. Nikki remembers thinking years ago that he reminded her of a constipated fish. She nearly smiles, almost giving herself away.

Instead she looks back at the open area that she had trained in everyday of her life that past 4 years. Ever since Beatrix ruined her childhood, Nikki needed a place she could ease her anger and improve her skills when she wasn't 'learning on the job'. And here was the perfect place. At least it used to be. Things got a little tense with Master Chang here after his last request.

"I see you still remember this place quite well. I miss having your spirit around. None of my students today, even after years and years, can reach the level that you stood."

Nikki looks back at him, trying with all her might to hold her mask in place. The shock of hearing praise from the man that had beat her down to nothing was never anything she expected. She had even come here expecting pain and fighting and instead she gets greeted with compliments?

"Alas you were never my best. You had never beaten me in a duel. Even after so many…" His voice trailed off along with Nikki's thoughts. He was right she had never beaten him. It wasn't so much that she didn't have the skills to, it was her heart. Master was the only figure that Nikki actually looked up to and feeling his flesh so fragile between her hands was like holding his heart and holding it's beat still. But that was past. She quit his class and went out on her own a few months ago. The present is holding something more for Nikki. The present is looking to the future, to sweet vengeance on the past.

Nikki pulls her mask into a hard glare. "Why not a re-match?" Master opens his mouth to speak but Nikki's words flow on, fast at first then steadying out. "If I win you have to do a favor for me. You can't refuse. And If you win, I will come back to your class and-"

"If I win, you have to be my personal guard." Master interrupts smoothly. She squints her eyes. So it's the same request as before. That meant that he was still dealing with dangerous people that would kill her easily. His face, withered from old age, pulling up into a victorious smile.

Nikki follows him as he turns toward the ring in the middle of the room. He jumps up smoothly from the ground into the far edge of one of the ring's corners. Nikki smirks after him. She jumps up with a little more height, and turns her body in the air. When she lands without so much as a tiny bounce in her corner, she beams smugly. Obviously showing off.

She walks to the middle of the ring. Master doing the same. When they meet, they shake hands confidently, agreeing to the other's bet if they are to lose. When they bow, they each back away into their own stances; Master being more original with a small bend of his knees and his hands in front of him, beckoning Nikki forward, and Nikki switching it up with a backflip followed by a crouch that wild animals would use. She bars her teeth, getting into character.

Her master's face turns into a question mark. He beckons her forward one more time, slower than before, and she takes that as an open invitation. She gets up and runs at him with all her speed, about to ram into him. She knows he favors his right side and she waits for the last possible second before she heads right at the same time his steps take him that way. She hits him like a reackong ball and a defenseless wall. Once she's on top, she smirks and wrestles with him on the ground. But he of course was quick.

He got out of her hold flawlessly and kicks her over in the ribs. Nikki "oofs" in response. Ignoring the dull throbbing of her ribs, she gets up and kicks near his head. He of course raises a hand to block. Getting annoyed that for once, she's putting in effort at beating the old man and he's better than her, she kicks harder into his chest. He tries to block, but her speed confuses his action. He falls onto his back and hops back to his feet. Nikki knows he's unbalanced and she takes those few seconds to punch his chin upwards with the heel of her hand.

He flys upwards. When he comes back down he throws a punch to the side Nikki's face. She moves to the other side on instinct and gets hit with a hammering blow to the other side. Her head pounds audibly in her ears. She shakes it trying to clear it when she notices the ceiling above her flying further and further away. When her back impacts the mat, the air leaves in her lungs in a fast gust. Her old Master jumps and is about to crush her with his whole body. She notices the move just in time to roll away. The movement of his body slamming into the mat ripples the whole ring.

Master turns back to her and pulls her up and pins her back. He kicks her in the back and moves like the strike of a snake into her stomach. Endless strikes rumble off her torso so fast, she doesn't have time to feel. She forgot her speed on her feet, never matched the speed of her master's hands. When he wanted something down, it was face planted and imprinted into the ground. When he wanted it high, it was flying past outer space into limbo. He wants Nikki stunned, unable to move, and that's how she stands. She senses her fight failing. She never had a chance to beat her master… But being his guard after losing to him sounds beyond repulsive.

She moves with swiftness that she hadn't tried before. The speed was so fast she was almost slowly skipping into the future. She sees her master's hands moving fast, even in slow motion as she turns to stand behind him. She sees his eyes slowly widen as she reaches up, grabs his throat and throws him into the air. Nearly touching the high ceiling, Nikki flies up next to him and shoves him back into the middle of the ring where the whole fight had started.

The impact against the ground is so rough that it causes his eyes to roll back. She takes the opportunity to give him a black eye as a memento of his fight with Nikki, the Copperhead's daughter. She grabs his throat and squeezes until his eyes widen, she incapacitates him with a strike to his throat and when she waits 10 seconds and he doesn't get up, she knows she's won. The fight she had never bothered to partake in for her heart's sake of beating an old man imprints her with higher power. Her master is no longer her master any more.

Now it's time to wait. Her master would wake up and he would have to agree to her bet. The weapons that she needs to end her revenge on Beatrix, the murderer that haunts her nightmares and lives in every action Nikki does. Her actions are going to be hers again. And nightmares will be changed into sweet dreams of vengeance.