Ch 11: The bet

after a little bit of cheering for her already assumed won money which is a fact while the challenger patted Ali on the shoulder in a knowing way and look, he finally told them the location of where they should go and what his record is.

the two got into position as the challenger counted for the start :"uno. due. tre! (one. two. three!" and they started running at the fastest speed they have!

as we know, Ezio is a professional parkour performer, so she was already ahead of Ali a little by the time they got into those three steps objects.

once they got up using the woods and stuff, Ali jumped and grabbed onto a latter as he climbed up while Ezio just climbed the wall while grabbing here and there.

Ali got ahead a little as he shouted without looking :"what happened, slowpoke?! can't keep up with me?!"

but he had to swallow those words when Ezio suddenly popped out from beside him with an excited and cocky smirk :"see ya!"

and took off. she used the steady rope and ran on it as if it's the most normal thing in the world. Ali had seen it too, played it even.

but seeing it in person and in real life? nope! that's a first! he gulped as he also ran to the edge, although carefully and also ran on the ropes.

but he was a little slower than Ezio who was already reaching the other end of the rope and reaching the opposite building.

when he finally got on the steady floor again, he didn't have any time to enjoy the comfort as Ezio's mock came :"hahaha! who's the slowpoke now?!"

so he ran full speed ahead which he couldn't do because of the people down in the street. as he ran and ran, Ezio jumped on the roof and rolled to evade the damage.

but Ali jumped on those small things that are on the buildings and immediately jumped on the other roof top as he began to get ahead :"I will repeat it just for you! you! you're the slowpoke, bellissima (beautiful)! hahaha!!"

Ezio smiled as she ran after him. they laughed as they ran and tried to get in front of each other. and suddenly, there wasn't anything for Ali who was on the lead to jump on, so he slowed down and grabbed the places that he could hold on to and climbed down.

but when he looked up, he saw how Ezio jumped in a eagle like pose and descended just like one! shock took over and so did worry, but he calmed down when he saw her reassuring and calming but somehow still cocky smile and quickly looked down and saw a bale of hay on the ground!

his eyes went wide with realization as he smirked at the small leap of faith that Ezio took to get ahead.

she landed safely in the haystack and ran to the finishing point while laughing as Ali got down quickly, knowing that he had already lost and walked to the smiling Ezio who was holding up her hand :"I won.

but don't be angry, a lot of people have lost to me. both in races and money hahaha! 500 florins in a single day, baby!"

Ali rolled his eyes while feeling just a little, teeny tiny bit salty about the lose in both the race and the money but still feeling good for the experience :"yeah, yeah, you won.

we get it already. here you go, take your money. I guess that makes us even now, huh? one win for you and one win for me."

but Ezio had different ideas as she wiggled her eyebrows and index finger in denial :"Nuh uh uh, that's not how it's going to work. right now, it's one win in races for me. and one win in fights for you. that's how we will be doing it."

Ali raised an amused eyebrow at that :"oh?and why is that? just because you can't win in a fight against me but you can in a race?"

she looked away with a little guilt and gulped :"n-no. I just think that even though they're both matches, they are completely different.

a race is a race and a fight is a fight, so it wouldn't be fair to score ourselves by mixing them together. that wouldn't be fair."

Ali narrowed his eyes playfully at her, causing her to sweat a little, but then he just laughed while shrugging :"alright, fine. fuck it, it's fun anyway. now, where is that guy?"

Ezio smiled with happiness at being able to keep her dignity in competition :"it might take him a little while. we did beat his "best" record after all."

just like she said, it took a little while before he reached the finishing point. after he arrived, he took a little bit to catch his breath as he then looked at them :"so, you finished, huh?

I have lost, sigh so I won't bother anymore. here you go, damn it. you're 100 florins. now, I'll just get out of here."

but just before he was about to take away with a fast pace, Ali's hand landed on his shoulder with an evil smirk :"good job, bud, but you ain't in luck today.

now, pay up the rest of the 50 florins before I am made to take them away from you. and don't play dumb, I'm a professional at using that trick."

the thief looking challenger snorted as he shook his shoulder and tried to get Ali's hand off of him. but unfortunately for him, Ali's grip was too strong to shake off.

he tried to act calm as Ali squeezed his shoulder a bit, making him wince a little :"I don't know what you're talking about! I gave you the 100 florins, now let go of me!"

Ali's smile and smirk faded away as he stared him down with a warning gaze and then said to Ezio :"Ezio, check out the inside of the bag. I wonder if what is beside the florins is worth the missing 50 florins that aren't there."

Ezio nodded as she furrowed her eyebrows and opened up the bag and looked inside. her eyes went a little wide as she then glared at the now scared and caught red handed challenger.

she looked at Ali as she pointed at the bag and took out some of the content inside of it :"there are 50 florins inside, but the rest is just small rocks!"

Ali's evil smirk returned and was a scary factor of another level when combined with his warning gaze :"small rocks, huh?

I told you I'm a professional at using what's inside of the bag. now, you better pay up the rest of the coins, or *cracks his fingers of the hand that isn't on the challenger Kaneki style* else..."

the scared challenger tried to at least act tough as he glared at Ali. but was scared shitless some more when Ali's smirk disappeared again while his eyebrows narrowed.

he gulped and hurriedly grabbed his bag of gold coins and gave it to him :"h-here! here you go! this is all, just leave me alone!"

Ali let go of him but not before pushing him away a little after the +50f sign flashed in his vision :"Bene (alright), now get the hell out of my sight before I beat you out of it, stronzo (asshole)."

the cheating challenger didn't need to be told twice as he was already scared by Ali's look and atmosphere, so he ran away as fast as he could the moment he was let go.

Ali held up the money bag for Ezio to grab with a cocky smirk and a raised eyebrow. Ezio's hand swiped the bag of gold coins of florins from Ali's hand as she smiled at him :"thank you for that.

can't believe such a sore loser decided to challenge me. and I nearly fell for such a cheap trick too! maledetto bastardo (damned bastard)!"

Ali chuckled at her reaction and how she clenched her beautiful hands into a fist with a dangerous look :"calm down, it's alright. you were just having too much fun and let your gaurd down.

I guess I can have that kind of effect on you, huh? well, that's a good thing and I'm happy to know that. I may be able to take away some of your money hehehe."

she mock gasped with shock as she slapped his arm gently with a fake glare :"you wouldn't dare try, bello..."

Ali smirked challengingly while wiggling his eyebrows :"oh? well, we'll just have to wait and see if I would dare or not, bellissima (gorgeous)."

she narrowed her eyes dangerously at Ali who didn't let his smirk down, but they both then started laughing at the interaction.

Ezio gave a rub to his nose after she calmed down :"my goodness, it's seriously fun to hang out with you."

Ali shrugged cockily in response to that with the same cockiness on his face :"yeah, I know. no need to tell me about it. I have fun hanging out with me too."

Ezio rolled her eyes with a smile at his antics, but just before she could say anything, she saw a sight which made her have a serious and disgusted look.

Ali raised an eyebrow when he noticed her absence of reaction and her look of disgust at some place :"hey, what's wrong? what happened suddenly?"

she nodded upwards at the place she was looking at, telling him to look as well. and when Ali also did, he immediately found out just why Ezio had such a look of disgust.

nothing morally disgusting was happening or anything, since even if it was, they could just stop it.

what was happening, was that they saw a person. a person that any actual Assassin's Creed 2 player would recognize.

not because of them being an important character or whatnot, but because of the sheer disgust that everybody has for this asshole.

but even though Ali was also about to make the same disgusted expression as Ezio, he used every bit of strength in his body and mind to stop it and act natural.

he looked back at Ezio with a confused look :"what happened? do you not like that guy or something? is he someone bad?"

she sighed with a frustration as she looked back at him, making her expression softer and her mood better just by doing so :"sigh, that person is Vieri de' Pazzi.

he's an asshole who is also famous for being one along with his father. me and him were childhood friends, but as we grew up, he became more and more arrogant.

and he is famous now as an asshole who likes to make trouble. their family specially is at odds with ours.

our previous years as friends had led to him having a crush on me, but just like others, I rejected him.

but him being an arrogant piece of trash, wouldn't accept no for an answer. so he was persistent and proposed to me time and time again.

but as he got rejected each time he proposed, his patience drove thinner and thinner. untill he tried to one day actually rape me.

but because of me always being kind of boyish and athletic, I already knew how to fight. so not only was he not able to achieve what he was looking for, he also got his nose broken by me, heh.

and from then on, our families which weren't in conflict got at odds with each other because of his actions.

and our friendship has long been broken to pieces and won't be fixed again. but my disgust towards him will always stay the same.

he's probably looking to cause trouble again. and those are his men by the way. let's not get involved with him and his lackeys. my mood always gets bad whenever I see the damn bastard."