Ghost in the City

Chapter 209

“You got it?” I asked Hiromi who nodded firmly. I took that as the truth and moved away from her.

Malcolm was already shooting away. He wasn’t using his Shingen since smart rounds were expensive, but a Shigure he had pulled out of his truck.

He was firing away, which I nodded at his accuracy. He could use some work, but that was why we were here.

I hadn’t really planned on a group meeting, but Hiromi had requested it, and then the boys had joined in, and so instead of a normal weeknight doing whatever, we were at the shooting range.

“Ichi?”

“I’m going to practice with this.” He said pulling out a Kenshin of all things. I don’t even remember him picking that up. But at least he wasn’t shooting his Yukimura. Again, smart rounds were expensive.

“Sure, make sure you practice drawing it from your holster. You’re going to be in the truck most of the time, so maybe even get a chair in here and draw it sitting.” I added and he looked amused at my words, and didn’t look like he was going to listen, but I shrugged.

I turned to my aisle, and pulled up my Copperhead. I took a breath, activated my Sandy and raised the copperhead, firing as many rounds as accurately as I could into the target, before turning off the Sandy.

The score popped up shooting up rapidly as rapidly as I had just unloaded into the targets.

“What?” I looked over at Malcolm who was pointing a finger at me from across the range.

“I’m not cheating!”

“Cheater!”

What? I turned to look at Ichi who also was now pointing at me, and Hiromi looked over, looked between all of us, and then sighed, stepping away from the range, and then pointed at me. “Cheater!”

“Fuck all of you!” I shouted out barely able to hide my laughter, as all my friends picked on me.

“Who’s cheating!?” A new voice called out as Rebecca came in clutching a Carnage shotgun in her arms and looking ready to start swinging.

“Motoko!”

“Motoko.”

“Motoko.”

“I’m not!”

“Punishment!” Rebecca screamed as she charged and I yelped as the midget tackled me right then and there. The two of us went down in a tangle of limbs and curses and she started trying to pin me to the concrete.

My shock and surprise at this betrayal was complete. I grabbed Rebecca and my eyes narrowed at her as she wiggled against my firm grip on her shoulders and realized I had her completely pinned.

“Help!” She called out, but it was too late. I roared as I benched Rebecca right off me, getting my feet and holding her way up off the ground.

“Rebecca missile!” I called out my special attack and spun around before launching her at Malcolm who released a girlish scream and went down.

“Ch-cheater!” Hiromi called out, but it was disrupted by how much she was cackling.

“I can’t believe you threw me!” Rebecca called out, jumping up from Malcolm while unfortunately stepping on his stomach knocking the wind out of him.

“You deserved it!”

“You! Well that’s fair.” She replied suddenly completely calm as she started cackling and walked over to pick up her discarded Carnage.

“Ow. Why me?”

“You started it.” I answered back instantly and earned a middle finger in my direction in exchange.

“Okay! So what does the winner get?” Rebecca asked, pumping her Carnage, and then smirking evilly. “What does the loser get?”

“Oooh!” Hiromi said grinning just as evilly and I had an uncomfortable feeling about it.

“No, no bets.” I decided nipping that in the bud. “We all need some range time, and while competition is good, we are trying to work on improving not just beating others.” I called out, arms crossed and firmly giving everyone a look.

“Fiiiine. Boring.” Rebecca said and I nodded pleased.

“Alright, I’m going to start getting some practice in, don’t get distracted!” I called out, and everyone nodded. I turned towards the range and picked up my Copperhead. Right. Time to do some practice.

I reloaded, and flashed my Sandy once more, raising the barrel up and firing everything as fast as possible.

—--

*100 Handguns XP Gained.*

*Handguns skill level up!*

I blinked coming out of the zone. I had switched from my Copperhead after a while and started practicing with my Lexington, either doing bursts of Sandy, or not depending on how warm it was feeling.

But to hit a new level up!

I grinned happily as I stretched and let the knowledge flood through my neck, down my shoulders, and to the tips of my fingers.

Handguns 9 was already maxed out since my Reflex Stat was only 9 as well, so I slowly put the gun down mind already set on switching back to the Copperhead. I could use more time with Assault skill, and maybe even get my Reflex up!

Of course as I was now stopping I looked around and scowled as all my friends were gone.

Where had they gone? They were all supposed to be practicing! Hiromi had even wanted more range time!

I grabbed my stuff and headed out, only to instantly see them all outside the range sitting around a table. I pouted as I walked over and flopped beside them.

“Motoko! Finished up?” Hiromi asked and I pouted at her harder. “What?” She asked.

“We were supposed to be training!”

“We did?” Rebecca offered, looking confused. “We all shot a bunch, I burned like a hundred rounds through my Carnage. And called it good.”

“You should really be firing even more… Well maybe not with the Carnage. But you should all be practicing more!”

“Sorry Motoko.” Hiromi said, but she didn't sound sorry. “I’m just not as dedicated as you are. I can’t just do something like that for too long before I get tired.”

I opened my mouth to argue that it was really easy, you just kept going, but then again.

Before the Gamer System. Before all of this, I had been the same way. Keeping consistent in practicing something was… Pretty tough.

Huh. I guess I did have a rather skewed perspective on it, considering that I could easily practice something all day if I had to.

“Alright. You’re right. But, if we aren’t going to have a single long practice session we need to do some more short ones… Every couple of days maybe? We get together at a range?”

“Hmm.” Rebecca was the first to speak. Hands on her chin as she looked me over. “It’s pretty unusual, but practice is good… As long as I’m not footing the bill, I guess I don’t see a problem.”

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“It’s a Section 9 activity!” I argued and Hiromi nodded slowly.

“We can do that. Although ammo costs can shoot up there.”

“We’ve been collecting plenty of ammo from our gigs, are we even close to running out?”

“No, but it’s just something to keep in mind.” Hiromi mumbled, and I couldn’t help but giggle at her pout. That was our Corpo, always trying to save a dollar, even when we weren’t spending anything.

“Alright shooting practice, sounds fun I guess.” Rebecca offered and I nodded. Then I remembered.

“Hey Rebecca? Any word on those Gorilla arms you wanted?”

“Oh.” She said, blinking in surprise. “Umm. Yeah I’ve got a contact that I’m talking with. I’ve been saving up some eddies for it.”

I blinked, while we hadn’t done a lot of big gigs together. We had just recently done a huge one. “Do you still need more eddies after the mansion gig?”

“Oh! Well, not exactly. But I had a bunch of stuff I had to take care of before that.” She explained and didn’t go any further into it, I could see she was getting cagey so I shrugged.

“Fair enough. Let me know when you get them! Oh! And you should visit Vik! He’s the best ripper in the city!”

“I’ll think about it.” She said casually smirking at me, and I realized she was humoring me.

“He is!”

“Sure.”

I glared at her, and decided to steal some of Malcolms fries!

“Hey!”

I settled into the casual atmosphere. Rebecca was cackling as she prodded Malcolm about his racing experience.

Or lack thereof.

But as we were getting close to finishing up I remembered I had to mention something.

“Oh, so I’m going to be doing a Rockerboy gig this weekend.” I said, and suddenly the boy's attention was on me.

“Yeah? Where at?”

“Ooh, I want to come!” Malcolm added instantly to Ichi’s question.

“I have back stage passes for us already.” Hiromi added suddenly. “I was actually thinking of trying to get us added on as security, but the Venue wasn’t interested, so we’ll just be there to support Motoko.”

“Security?” I asked, almost laughing but Hiromi shrugged.

“Rockerboys have security, Motoko. If you keep doing gigs, I’ll be hiring Section 9 to do some of the security.” I blinked at the statement and then chuckled as I looked at the group and realized that meant Rebecca would be trying to bounce drunks or something and the idea was incredibly funny.

“What?” Hiromi asked.

“Nothing!” I answered back instantly, waving my hands. Rebecca would not react well to the thought. “But that’s… Okay, sure I’m actually okay with that. It’s actually kind of a good idea even.” I offered thinking on it further.

“Hmm! Of course it is! I can even hire out some of the SLS gang on as well if we need more security as your fame grows!” Hiromi said with a tone in her voice that made me a little nervous.

“I’m sure I won’t become that famous Hiromi…” Yep. Definitely not worried about that considering I was able to remember some of the most famous songs ever written… Yep.

—--

The clack of shinai on shinai echoed through the room as Hayato came at me with all the aggression she had in her.

But my defense continued to be a wall too much for her to break through and that was irritating her.

“This is!” She cut off a curse and glared at me.

“Sorry. I told you, duel wielding is my speciality.

“I know! But it’s still!” She argued again, glaring at the two blades in my hands.

There was something really cool about being ambidextrous, like this. I flourished the blades and put myself into a stance daring her to continue but she scoffed and wandered over to the chair next to her bodyguard and grabbed her water bottle.

“Tired?”

“Yes!” She snapped and I just laughed at her tone.

“You did really well though! I like that one move you tried.”

“I learned that from Sensei.” She reveled after a moment and then glared at me. “It didn’t work!”

“Well it would have but my wrists aren’t natural, so my range of motion is much higher.”

“Indeed.” A new voice popped up and we both looked to Sensei who walked over while we were talking. “That move will not work on someone with cyberware, as I informed you.” He told Hayato who flushed a little at the reminder.

“I thought I could surprise her with it.”

“I’ve seen that one before though.” I answered with a shrug. Musashi had done something similar.

“I asked you to teach me something I could use.” Hayato said a little too petulantly, and Sensei just raised an eyebrow at her.

“And I did. But anything taught, needs to be used correctly. And against the correct opponent.” His rebuke made Hayato look away and I could see her neck get a little red as it ran up her pale skin.

Hehe.

“Kusanagi.” Sensei suddenly spoke and I jumped as everyone's attention was on me.

“Yes?”

“A spar.” He demanded, requested, and it took me a minute to realize he meant.

A spar with him.

I wanted to glance at my system. To see how close I was to another Blades skill, but you know what would be great way to improve?

I loosened up my shoulders without hesitation and that was all the agreement he needed.

We walked over to the center of the tatami and he pulled a shinai off the wall racks.

Then he brought his shinai up to a normal stance and he nodded, which I matched.

He stepped in, a simple but incredibly smooth cut that I pushed away with more effort than just a simple move would normally take.

He knew what he was doing. Refined skill. Not something I had faced much yet. I felt my smile widen as with that the battle was on, he struck with forceful super fast blows attempting to knock me back, but between my two Shinai I had enough to parry away his blows.

The smack of shinai filled the air as we went at each other, nothing fancy, just strikes and parries between the two of us, until I proved that I was at least on this point his match.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Then he shifted, and started poking holes right through my defenses.

Even with the Parry Perk, and being level 8 in Blades I found myself nearly instantly on the back foot as he went at me with a dogged determination of someone that had dedicated his life to the blade.

I could have felt shocked at the change. Gotten outraged that this man was showing me up, but I wasn’t like Musashi, I only felt my grin grow wide as I doubled down on fighting back.

This was a spar so I didn’t use my Sandy even if it was tempting, instead I fixed my footwork and pushed into the attacks, blocking them with sharp clacks of the shinai beating into each other as I pushed him back, trying to find a weakness in him.

I could get the truest sense of the man. Old wood, hardened over time. That was what I felt as our blades smashed into each other.

And then as I pushed away another attempt to force a shinai from my hand, I felt it.

A level up.

Blades 9.

Gained almost purely through being challenged so hard by a master of the blade.

And then I pushed back, doubling down. My attacks were wild, duel wielding was tiring, if not for my physical condition I’d have slowed down. If not for Parry ensuring I was always ready for that instinctual block, I’d have lost.

If not for the combination of so many skills and tricks I would have been whacked upside the head like a foolish child.

Then the clash was over and Sensei took a step back his feet never leaving the floor as he moved almost like a ghost himself.

“I see. You adapt quickly, and you learn even quicker. It is no wonder you’ve improved so rapidly.”

“Thanks.” I replied back because what else was there to say.

“Hmm. Again. This time I will strike you.”

“Oh yeah?” I asked, taunting him a bit. “You certainly tried before.”

“Yes. I tried. Now I will.” And then he rushed in and I laughed as our weapons once more clashed. Then as if what he said was simple truth, as I went to block his blade, his blade shifted and struck and I yelped a bit as I was knocked right on the side of my head.

“Ow!” I recoiled and hissed a bit, he hadn’t held back on that at all!

“Hmm.” He offered and then bowed to me, and walked away.

Asshole! I didn’t need a lesson like that today! I know I’m not perfect!

“Wow.” Hayato said from behind me and I turned, wiping a bit of sweat from my brow as I did.

“What?”

“You forced him to use his Cyberware.” She said and I blinked…

“Wait? He cheated!? He has a Sandy!?”

“Of course. A good one too. He used to-” She cut herself off as the bodyguard beside her coughed and she blinked before nodding. “Never mind that. Sensei is a skilled warrior, even if he now teaches. You forced him into going beyond just traditional sword play.”

“Tsk. If I had known that I’d have used my own Sandy and he wouldn’t have hit me. I was playing fair!”

“Ah the feeling of losing? I know that feeling well.” Hayato grumbled and I laughed as she was still annoyed that I was winning so often.

“Forget that then. You want to grab some food? My treat?” My offer surprised her so much that Hayato actually had a moment where her jaw dropped before she recovered, and then huffed a little. As she looked away.

“I believe a meal would be acceptable.” She added and I nodded happily.

“Let’s clean up and get out of here then.” I hurried over to drop my shinai off. Some food sounded great right now!

—--

The knocking at the door had me roll my eyes as I walked over and opened it.

Alice, nearly about to smack the door again, stopped and then looked me over.

“You’re wearing that?”

“I’m wearing this.” I said back without hesitation. “Relax, I’m ready.” I offered throwing a hand behind me at the small stack of my music equipment.

“Okay. Good. Right. Let’s get moving, we need time to set everything up!” She argued and I just nodded along as I walked over to grab some stuff, but Jun was there and he hefted my music equipment up without effort.

“Show off.” I grumbled at him, but I flashed him a smile anyway in thanks. That was taken care of. I followed Alice as the three of us left the apartment.

It was gig night, and I had discovered Alice was the type to overly worry about things. I had just stopped answering her calls after a while.

But it was time. And I followed her down to her little minivan, which I rolled my eyes and walked to the Quadra. The trunk was mostly full, but there was still plenty of space for the extra stuff.

“Jeeze Motoko, stuff enough weapons into this thing?” Jun asked as I opened the trunk and I just gave him a look.

“Stuff enough burritos in your ass?” I grumbled and Jun sent me a look that had me turn away.

“Sorry.”

“You’re more worried about this than you let on. Relax.” He said calmly and I just ignored his advice. I wasn’t worried!

That was stupid, this was just a stupid gig that I was only doing because Alice had given me a guitar and that’s it. Once this was over, it was over, and I’d never do this again.

Yep.

“I’ll see you later.”

“Try to enjoy the stage. I wish I could be there, but I have a job.” Jun once more repeated and I just rolled my eyes as I slammed the trunk shut and headed to the driver seat of the Quadra. A short drive over to the bar and this whole thing would be over after a few songs.