Shredding It

Komazawa wasn’t that bad of a skatepark, not that Tam had that much to compare to. Back home she had to make her grind rails out of rusty nails and balsa wood. You had to go a long mile to find concrete and steel this good where she was from, and Japan just used it to let people tear asphalt. Supported her weight a hell of a lot better too. Tam took one last run up the half-pipe, floating gliding left and right down the curve as she gained speed and finally took flight off one side. She clutched the head of her board and threw herself into a back roll. Once, twice, three times she flipped on a dime just in time for her wheels to kiss the surface again and glide her way back down.

As she came back down the half-pipe, she suddenly hard-turned to the right and finished with a quick ollie over the pipe that was so close to the exit it was like it was custom-made to trip people up. The ‘Fuck You Pipe’, as it was legendarily regarded.

"Nice." Shun said simply as he watched her ride towards him. It always amazed him how someone that never smiled could seem so into tearing up asphalt. Tam kicked her skateboard back up and leaned it against the fence. Wiping a line of sweat from her brow, she turned and leaned back against the mesh. Her hand reached down into the cooler and plucked out two bottles of soda with one hand between her fingers. She took one bottle in her other hand and took a closer look at the label.

“Lychee?” Tam looked at Shun, personally offended. “Just bring some tap next time.”

“Ay, step off. You're the chick that thinks Mango Ramune is just orange soda.”

"Yo, Tam!" A boy called out as she skated across the park on his longboard, kicking off a few steps from the pair and flicking the brim of his hat to the back of his head.

Tam nodded his way as she took off her helmet. “What's up, Kento?”

“Not much. Hey, when’s your next match? You said you’d get me in the front row.” He squatted down next to them. Tam took a swig from her soda and watched him with one eye.

“Hard to say, man. I'm a busy woman. Nail Tony Hawk’s 900 and maybe I’ll give my agent a call.”

“Bet.” He stood up and whistled to the other teen. “Shun. Board, dude.”

The smirk Tam was hiding behind the rim of her bottle thinned a little bit as she watched her buddy swap boards and ride off. She did need to figure out where she stood with the AFW. Not well, for sure. It was getting hard to ignore the impression that she was getting sidelined by Friction after a less than glamorous debut in Kyoto. Getting your face smothered by a used towel full of man sweat just does that to ya, she supposed. Regardless, sitting around was honestly getting her pretty restless. Finding some fights underground was always an option, even if it was a little dangerous to do that without somewhere to retreat to after.

Maybe she should just get an agent. When she could afford one.

Yeah right.

"...and for a mere thirty percent of your earnings, Japan Sports Agency guarantees-"

"...Aiko called out of work tomorrow with the flu, so I'll need to you show up at the arcade three hours earlier-"

"...is your brother, Goto. I'm calling because I cannot find the extra sparring gloves we had in the closet...oh wait, nevermind. Here they are. Oh, don't forget to buy some dog food on your way home. Now, how do I end a call on this cell phone you bought me-"

Natsu~...:

Well, this was most certainly the last time Natsu forgets to charge her cell before heading out the house. A friend of hers from school and frequent boarder at Komazawa thankfully allowing the forgetful schoolgirl to use her friend's portable charging station to get back to around 20% so Natsu could begin combing through all of her voicemails. She surely didn't expect this many though. A metric ton of them just being sports agencies wanting to have her sign her name on some dotted lines, which her older brother told her to just ignore for now and let him handle the business side of the family. Still though, life was just spinning waaaaay too out of control for her at the moment. The Tension General Manager laying a bombshell on her yesterday with Natsu's inclusion into the Showdown PPV. And that her opponent was a princess from a foreign nation, and now she has to do the early shift tomorrow at the Taito Shibuya Arcade tomorrow, and she has to get dog food on the way home, and...

"PHEW...Finally~..." Natsu beamed with a bright smile once all of her voicemails were deleted, and with that, her responsibilities briefly erased as well. Typically she spends her afternoons in the graffiti-laden skatepark to take a break from RL...and today was no different as she pocketed her cell phone and took in the sights of scores of other teenagers playing basketball off in the distant courts, spitting rhymes in assorted rap battles, or more to Natsu's preference, getting some gnarly shredding in on the half-pipes. Natsu currently standing on the table of a huge half-pipe with her board in hand, this skate sesh finally beginning as she went rolling down with honed efficacy and gaining more velocity until she'd done a few Fakie's with a tossed in Blunt Stall 180 out. Unaware of the chattered rumblings going on from random passerby's recognizing the free-spirited boarder whose bandana was fluttering in the wind.

"Yo, she kinda cute. Might try to hit her up when she hops off..."

"Nah, man. Best think twice. That's the girl who fought off those dope dealers an street thugs who kept hasslin e'erone around here. Like da whole lot of em, heard she fought off like 15 members of the Mad Machine Gang. Think she out your league, man..."

Natsu's attention would suddenly be diverted to the side though, noticing a cooler and realizing that was actually kinda parched. She'd twist her board and start rolling off of the half-pipe and towards all of the people huddled around it. She come to a complete skidding stop and ask jovially exclaim "Heya guys, you mind if I bum a drink? I'll pay you for one, no problemo~..."

Something was wrong here.

Tam didn’t know what it was or where it was coming from, but she didn’t agree at all with what was happening or what was going to happen. The atmosphere around the park had changed in a way she didn’t like. The Vietnamese girl chomped on her ice pop in the most menacing way possible.

“Whoa. The Sakura Girl.” She looked at her friend and followed his gaze to the only girl in the park tearing it up on the half-pipe. The only other girl, that was. Kento didn’t need to look at Tam to tell how lost she was. He nudged Tam with his elbow and pointed at the new girl. “That’s Natsuko. She’s, like, a total babe. On top of being crazy cute and crazy cool, she’s like a karate black belt and fuckin’ badass. A buddy of mine said that she got jumped by like five gangsters at once and left without a scratch. While she was eating a hot dog.”

Tam raised an eyebrow at him before she turned attention back to the flowery girl making her final run around the ramp. Truth be told, Tam found all of that a little hard to believe by just looking at Natsuko. Tam had been in her fair share of troubles in the past. She’d been around less-than-worthy company and made friends with what most countries worth their pinch of international aid would call rogues and cutthroats. She knew a heart of steel when she saw one. This ‘Sakura Girl’ didn’t look like she was capable of stepping on an earthworm let alone some dumbass’ face.

Her hopes that the both of them would go ignored died the moment she saw Natsuko skating her way and parked in front of them. Kento was too enamored to talk, while Tam just didn’t talk at all. Her eyes were concerned with the small details she noticed around Natsu’s outfit. The headband, the fingerless gloves at her hip, a few calluses around the knuckles. Tam still wasn’t one to buy into rumors even if the evidence was making it difficult to refute.

“Sure. Help yourself.” Tam reached into the cooler and pulled out one of the Lychee drinks. Wasn’t like she was going to have one of them anyway. She craned her arm back looking for all the world like she was just about to toss it over to the Japanese girl. That might have been the intention. It was only at the last second anyway that Tam’s eyes narrowed and her arm cracked like a whip, slinging the bottle straight at Natsu’s pretty face. “Whoops.”

Unbeknownst to certain chatterboxes exchanging hushed dialogue between eachother off to the side, faint utterances of their conversations were still overheard thanks to Nattie's absurd hearing range. Honed from years of silent meditation sitting cross-legged beside her brother who'd nudge her with his elbow whenever she started nodding off. After years of practice, eventually she did indeed learn to center her inner chi in this manner without giving in to the temptation of checking her phone for texts. Although all it did for her now was remind herself just how much the truth can become distorted after it goes through the ears and out the mouths of several people. The rumor mill kinda has a habit of contorting the facts when it comes to stories shared through word on the street.

Actually, there were only seven of those gang bangers slinging that junk in the skatepark. Natsu floored four of them before the others saw their friends teeth on the pavement and suddenly started to hear their mother's calling them for supper. Plus Natsu didn't finish eating her hot dog during the fight but actually flung it at the back of one of their heads as they scurried off. But for now she figured it's best to let the legend of "The Sakura Girl" live on if it dissuades any other gang members from even thinking of setting up shop here again. Plus people offer her drinks all the time now as a way to sorta thank her and ingratiate themselves to the "hero", which got her to thinking maybe she could ask these random fellas by the fence for one. Besides, they all seemed harmless enough~...

"Oh, thanks bunches." Natsu expressed her gratitude to the lady in the back who went cooler diving, now casually chatting it up with the other members of the group. "So hey can you guys recommend any decent talent agency's? I just got these sports agents lighting up my phone and it's kinda becoming a drag. But if you don't-" The whishing motion of a small object hurtling though the air jostled the eardrums of Tam's friends but aside from that were incapable of seeing the can being pitched straight towards the innocently wide-eyed face of The Sakura Girl, briefly recognizing her own gawking reflection in the metallic silver of the can. Careening straight at her with the velocity of a major league pitch, but was nevertheless caught in the palm of Nattie's bare hand that was raised in front of her face in a miraculous catch that was one hundred percent instinct."-it's cool. I'll figure it out somehow~..." Nattie whimsically wafted her free hand in their direction before raising the can up to her scrutinous eyes.

"Hmm, Lychee huh...You guys wouldn't by chance have any Tap or...Heeeeeey, wait a sec...This is so cray. I'm gettin serious Deja Vu vibes here. Don't I know you from some place? Have you wrestled in Tension before? Cause you look like you could seriously put some jokers down for the count if you ever wanted to." Natsu brightly remarked with a wholesome smile directed at Tam, deciding to crack open the can flung to her in a move she immediately regretted once the carbonated refreshment fizzed up and splattered her in the face. Tacking off any cool points she may have garnered as she started wiping her face off with the sleeve of her jacket.

Really immature of her to even think about throwing that can at an innocent young girl, right? Sure, but Tam never claimed to be a mature person. She was a walking hundred pounds of fist with family issues. She got a free pass out of maturity. That went for subtlety too.

Count her surprised though to see how quickly Natsu managed to snag that flying can out of the air. Tam curled her fists on instinct, expecting a brawl that never came as she watched Natsu crack open the drink in her hand like nothing happened. Tam even forgot to laugh at her expense when the contents of the can sprayed all over her pretty face. A couple of the boys around her were all too quick to pull a rag from their back pocket and offer it to the Japanese schoolgirl. Kento included. Tam didn't even see him get up and nearly rolled the eyes right out of her head.

The question caught her off guard though. She hadn't expected anyone to even remember her first match by now, let alone recognize her. It wasn't like she wore anything particularly, well, memorable. And it's not like anyone remembers the person that lost. 'Written by the victor', as it went in her experience. Part of her should have been flattered when Natsuko brought it up. Appreciative, even.

Should. Maybe. Tam just gave the girl another quick look over as she wiped her face. She could still see that polished smile and rosy cheeks behind the rag she used to clean herself. At the very least, she knew how to look genuine.

"Yeah. Once. Some sexist, muscled-up fuckhead with a shitty haircut didn't know when to shut his mouth so I tried to shut it for him. He fought like a little bitch though and got me down just long enough to get a win off." Tam just loved to mince words. She felt her forehead start to throb just thinking about it. She needed to get back in that arena one day and settle the score. "My business is with Friction, but I guess my tits aren't big enough to fast track a match. Their loss."

Tam took another swig from her ginger soda while she looked off to the side with a not-entirely pissed-off gaze. It wasn't like she gave two shits about what a bunch of horny nobodies cared about. The same went for her bosses for that matter. She cared about getting paid and they seemed happy to do anything but that. The last thing she needed was a little Ms. Perfect rubbing her nose in it.

Phew...whoever that snarling lady in the back was sure put some pepper on that pitch. Natsu's palm still felt some prickling soreness after catching that soda drink that was unknowingly intended to brain her, not present her with a frosty beverage to quench her thirst. If she were still a part of a softball team like she was back in high school, she'd ask the neighborly stranger if she'd like to come onboard as a starting pitcher for them. Her team sure could have used that arm of hers when they went to the Championship Game against the Yokohama Dragons. Natsu's sports-fueled reminiscing being upended by the spritzing of soda splashing across her face, though no sooner was she sprayed than a multitude of napkins and tissues were offered to her from all of Tam's companions huddled around her.

"Oh here let me!!!"

"Oh, I-I'm good guys. Thanks though~..." All of whom being cruelly denied with chipper innocence as Nattie dried herself off with a small cloth rag she kept on hand for whenever she thought she might work up a sweat. They were all soy sweet for offering though. Natsu's brimming smile shining through as she began lowering her guard somewhat amongst what seemed to be a pretty chill groups of guys and gal. That certain gal in particular being exactly whom the schoolgirl concentrated her attention on when Tam started affirming her Tension suspicions. Natsu drinking down some of the fruity beverage while listening intently. Practically transfixed and hanging off every word being said, although quirking her head to the side with a furrowed brow towards the end there.

"Hm? Wait, why would yer boob size matter? Did they not have a sports bra in your size or-OH!!!" Natsu stopped herself with gawking eyes and her index finger pointed straight at Tam, the realization striking her like an electric epiphany energized by pure enlightenment. "You're Tam!!! Tam Nguyen!!! You had that match with Dasher Inoba!!! People online say you've come the closest to breaking that challenge of his. You were so freakin badass. You were mixin it up with him, fightin on his level...and he's never had a challenge since, so what's that tell ya?" What should have been the end of her admiration and fawning was regrettably followed up by..."...and you were so close to winning and cashin in on all that fame and notoriety too. But than he tapped you out in that dang Inoba Clutch and made yer face bloat up like a puffer fish. Ugh, and than before he did that thing with the sweat rag and...*shivers*...Get grossed out just thinking about how rank that must have smelled. Bleh, Uck." Natsu cringed from the thought and took another swig of her carbonated drink, hoping the sugary taste will help get her mind off it.

Tam was catching on to the schtick now. In hindsight, it wasn't much different from the rich girls she used to dust on the shoreline when they got too big for their britches and thought they could take Tam seven-to-one.

It was admittedly nice at first. The Vietnamese girl relaxed unconsciously against the kind words that met her ear. Her eyes lifted from the ground to meet Natsu's awestruck gaze and had a moment of weakness where she wasn’t sure what to say or how to react. She’d never had a fan before, at least one younger than herself. The concept was somewhat lost on her assuming she wasn’t misreading this. At first, Tam didn’t believe she was. Who else would take this kind of interest in her? Hell, even Tam didn’t believe that match was anything worth remembering.

Then she just had to go into details…

...and keep going…

...and kept going…

...ugh…

At some point, the Viet just felt her eyes starting to glaze over and her sour mood return tenfold as this girl’s very presence sucked away her will to go on, akin to a high-pitched black hole in a skirt standing five feet away from her.

Honestly, Tam just hated being patronized. It reminded her too much of the dojo and her naive youth. When compliments from esteemed masters and fellow students actually meant something to her. As if they were speaking honestly. As if she couldn't see through that mask Natsu seemed so interested in hiding behind. Tam didn’t come to a skatepark to be made a fool. Contrary to how people believed they spent her Saturdays.

"Yeah. I was there. Thanks for the reminder." Tam didn’t even try to conceal the venom in her voice. She sat up from the floor and dusted her hands off, leaning her back to the fence as she folded her arms with naught but a sharp gaze towards the Japanese girl. “You seem pretty in the know for some schoolgirl. Do they even let people your age into Tension shows?”

Being unapologetically optimistic, alongside being wholesomely naive, were typically all attributes that caught people's attention. In social circles, it was akin to becoming a conversational sun that folks tended to gravitate towards and revolve around in order to bask in the warmth of their presence. Natsu, unknowingly, becoming the life of the party on most occasions with an elongated friends list on her phone serving as factual proof of that. All of the boys in the group centering their transfixed attention upon the peppy school-girl being further evidence as well. However, with nary a filter to sieve it all through, nor the mental acumen to realize whenever she's perpetrated any social faux paus, Natsu can end up making her fair number of enemies alongside any newly acquired friends. Without her even knowing it, even. Her jabbering ways mayhaps amplified by the fruity alcoholic beverage she took another swig of, although lowering it in blank eyed curiosity at from Tam's question.

"Ohhhh, I hope they do. If it's against the rules, they might not let me wrestle their anymore!!!" Natsu exclaimed, aghast at the possibility she'd been wrestling there illegally all of this time from some clerical error or something. The bevy of skater boys all laughing at the same time from the adorable innocence on display and no sign of maliciousness behind their guffaws...but quieting down once noticing the virulent glower on Tam's face. "Well, you know, I subscribe to the newsletter and junk. It helps me keep updated on all the talented fighters being signed into the league. It also helped past the time when I was dying of boredom backstage from not getting booked for matches after I kinda screwed the pooch in my first match and lost big time. But like, no joke. Reading up on you when I was down in the dumps, watching your match, seeing a fellow martial artist go the distance. It really inspired me, ya know...Ha, s-sorry. That sounded a lot less corny in my head." Natsu playfully bonked the side of her with a sunny smile before taking another refreshing gulp.

Not the reaction she was expecting.

Years on the high seas butting shoulders with gruff necked mercenaries had taught Tam the value of ending conversations with a punch to the face. It settled a lot of arguments and got straight to the point for how she often felt about a lot of them. An unfortunate side effect of that was that she wasn't left with many friends. She spent more time reading in her cabin than she did above ground clinking bottles and wasting her hard-earned funds getting high on exotic "spice" so potent it reminded her to never visit the Philippines again.

So yeah, call her a skeptic that some random girl decided to start fangirling her of all people. Tam hadn't gotten so much as a retweet from her debut. She was supposed to believe that she was someone to be idolized now? It just pissed her off more than anything.

Kento was all too quick to notice the furrowed brow creased deep across Tam's forehead. He ended up skipping a breath and taking a couple of steps back from the group around Natsu still oblivious to the carnage headed their way. It wasn't often he saw Tam get pepped up like this. The Vietnamese girl's eyes were laser-focused, slowly narrowing to sharp slits as she looked the newcomer up and down...

“Wait a fuck…” Tam leaned forward and got a better look at the unassuming Japanese schoolgirl. “...You’re that girl from Showdown. Yeah, I saw your match. You beat Gai Burger King or whatever with a comeback out of nowhere. I heard the first time you beat him with a single punch.” Tam’s voice betrayed a moment of fascination when her enthusiasm for combat got the better of her. Then she remembered who exactly she was talking to and her face promptly became dour.

“How much did you pay him for that flop?” Quite a bold assumption. Tam curled a fist underneath her lap.

Skimming through the AFW newsletter and browsing the website on her phone were all invaluable time killers for Natsu. Whether it was when she was strap-hanging on the subway or whenever business had gotten slow enough at her job as an arcade hostess that she could thumb through some articles while propping her other hand on a mop. She didn't want to come off like a wrestling hipster or anything, but she tended to appreciate less mainstream grapplers a tad more than the top tier stars in the federation. If anything maybe it was because she herself was considered bottom rung talent and became sympathetic towards those still struggling to make a name for themselves. Her days of carting mountains of laundry as the locker-room lackey were not particularly fondly reminisced, so she figured why not pay it forward now that she came across someone who was apparently in the same booking rut and she truthfully admired for their strength, pride, endurance, and really nifty bandana.

"Hm? Pay him to flo-*burp*..." Natsu cutely blurted out an exhale of carbonated air in mid-sentence, immediately covering her mouth with an embarrassed giggle and an apology that the other guys waved off. "Ahem, sorry about that. Pay him to flop? Where's the fun in that? Sheesh, you'd haveta have like, zero appreciation for martial artists if you even think to do anything that lowdown and dirty." Unknowingly accusing Tam of being that lowdown and dirty, Natsu finished her canned beverage with a final gulp before crunching it up somewhat. Eyeing a far off trash can before pitching her trash at it with blistering velocity and a direct clanging crack off of it's rim, the can popping up into the air for some mesmerizing airtime until dropping square into the bucket for two points. "Thanks again for the drink guys. Oh, but hey Tam, if ya liked that Showdown match than keep an eye on this year's. I'll be kicking off the show when I face off against some dictator's daughter or sumthin." Natsu picked up her skateboard after kicking down on it's tail-end, indicating she was about to head out.

"I can probably score you some pretty wicked seats if ya want, just hit me up sometime. Maybe we can even get some spars in and we can think of some ways I can help give your career a kick in the pants, heh. Well, laterz everybody~..." A chipper wave goodbye and gracious departure taken on Natsu's part, as several skater guys in the group started bugging Tam if she could score them some seats to Showdown too.