Friends

After that quarrel with Shandy Yamato became cold towards her. Zack tried to reconcile the two but Yamato is not a forgiving person so the situation only got worse. He felt that Zack was meddling in others business so he stopped hanging out with him too. Whenever he bumps into anyone of the two he would pretend like he doesn't know them.

Yamato had been the linking point of the group so without him the other two didn't have any reason to talk to or even stand each other so the three party group broke off like that.

Shandy had wanted to apologize to Yamato and ease up the tension between them a bit but she hesitated when she realized that she would have to come out clean to him about her secrets to show sincerity. She wasn't ready for that yet.

It became a battle of wills so the cold war stretched for days.

On another front Yamato's training with Katrina continued smoothly. Using his anger at his friends to drive him on Yamato became more focused. And as usual Katrina would spar with him every week. She claimed it was so she could see his progress, but Yamato suspected that it was so she could trample on his ego and remind him why she's the boss.

It was effective on keeping Yamato in line because he had thought that he could hold his own against her in a few weeks, but the stronger he got the more she seemed like an insurmountable mountain.

Katrina also told him a lot of stories about Alrer. The warring planet held a fascinating glamour that Yamato couldn't get enough of. He heard so many stories of the place that he wished to visit it one day. Though from what Katrina said he'd rather he doesn't. She said Alrer are only interested in conquering other planets so wishing to go there might be a bad omen.

Today was Saturday Yamato fought Katrina again in her backyard. This time he succeeded on exchanging a few moves with her before she subdued him. However he was not discouraged because compared to the first time when she defeated him in one move there was progress.

'One of these days I'm going to defeat her!' He swore.

xxx

A few weeks passed yet again. It was a month after Yamato's quarrel with Shandy, and all this while the two hadn't said a word to each other. Yamato was starting to feel bad about it, feeling that he had probably dragged things too far... But whenever he remembered that Shandy still hasn't apologized despite it being her fault his heart firmed.

As he was walking to class one particular day someone approached him from behind. He looked to see that it was Shandy. "I want to talk," she said.

Seeing her cold attitude Yamato scoffed coldly too. "What do you want?"

"It's Zack," she said. "He seems to be in some kind of trouble, maybe you should check on him,"

"Why should I care about him? He's not my friend,"

"Fine," Shandy muttered then walked away.

Yamato shrugged uncaring and continued heading to class. He forgot all about that encounter until he caught sight of Zack walk into a black jeep after school. He didn't think much of it though as Zack occasionally gets picked up in fancy cars - even if he tries to hide it - but just when the car was closing he suddenly spotted Mr Leonard in the back seat.

'Is this related to what Shandy was saying?'

Yamato watched the car drive away then turned to the set of bicycles arraigned beside the school gate. Without thinking much of it he grabbed one of the bicycle, hopped on, and started chasing the car.

Behind he heard someone shouting at him but didn't look back. The must he did was shout out to the person, "I will bring it back!"

Because of the traffic at this hour, following the car on a bicycle was not easy. However Yamato is an old hand on riding bicycles, plus his physical prowess cannot be underestimated. So he successfully tailed the black jeep across the city.

Fifteen minutes later the car finally went into the High district, a place of the wealthy. Yamato continued following the car till it stopped in front of some shops.

Yamato stopped the bike opposite the shops and hid in an alley. He didn't move until he saw Zack and Mr Leo step out of the car and walked into a flower store. He waited for five minutes then he left the bicycle by the side of the street and walked to the store.

The chubby man at the counter smiled at him when he entered and asked, "What kind of flowers do you want young man?

Yamato calmly looked around the store seeing different kinds of flowers and potted plants on display, but saw no sign of Zack or Mr Leonard. The easiest way to know where they are is to ask the chubby kind looking man yet he hesitated. His instinct told him that's a bad idea. And thinking of it, for all he knows this is some safehouse for the Axel guild. After all if the Axel guild really deals with underground fights that isn't surprising.

Being from the streets Yamato had often heard stories. The underground fight clubs couldn't operate in the open so they usually hide their arenas in plain sight. Like a flower shop. Eluding the authorities.

For that reason Yamato didn't dare look suspicious. He bought a few flowers for his fictional girlfriend and left the shop. However he didn't immediately leave the area but his back in the alley intended to wait for Zack to come out of the shop.

He was sitting on his stolen bicycle for five minutes when there was movement from the shop. Two big men in casual cloths walked out and started walking towards him menacingly.

Yamato scoffed then quickly adjusted on the bicycle. Before the muscular men could cross the street he'd already pedalled the bike away and stopped at a distance to watch. The men didn't follow him but just gave him warning looks before returning to the shop.

'Thanks for helping me confirm my suspicion that this shop is shady!' Yamato said in his mind.

Inside a secret room under the flower shop Mr Leonard looked at the TV screen. "Isn't that Armor?" He asked.

Sitting opposite him with his legs on the table between them Zack shrugged. "He's he might have followed us here,"

"Do you think he'll give me trouble?"

"He's just worried about me, I'll handle it,"

"Good, now let's talk about your fight this night... what did you want to say?"

xxx

Zack came out of the flower shop a few minutes later looking weary and anxious. He looked at both sides of the street, not spotting the person he's looking for, before heading the opposite direction to Yamato. So Yamato drove after him. "Hey," he said as he closed the distance.

Zack turned around in surprise but his face soon soured in annoyance. "What are you doing here?"

Yamato stopped the bike beside the other boy and replied, "I saw you get into Mr Leonard's car. Didn't we agreed not to join his fight club?"

"You and Shandy agreed not to join, not me," Zack scoffed and resumed his hurried walk. Yamato jumped off the bike and started pushing it as he walked along.

"What's going on Zack?" He asked seriously.

Zack lifted an eye brow. "What do you mean?"

"You look depressed bro,"

Zack sighed and stopped in his track. He gave Yamato a tired look. "Which idiot borrowed you that bike?"

"The idiot that didn't want me to borrow it"

"Can it carry two people?"

"Well it has a back seat, what do you think?" Yamato gave the blond boy a disgusted look.

And so Yamato found himself driving the bike with Zack on the passenger seat. "What's happening with you and Mr Leonard?"

"Well I joined his guild," Zack sighed.

Yamato whistled, "I guessed so,"

"Damn Shandy was right these guys are bad news! Tell you what, I only agreed to do only one fight because I wanted to experience how it feels. However after my first fight Mr Leonard wasn't satisfied and wanted me to keep fighting for him. I naturally refused but then he threatened to tell my foster father that I had fought for him,"

"So what?" Yamato asked not seeing any problem with that.

"My foster father is not kind. He's also a man with some reputation.... In short he'll kill me if it ever spreads that I fought in such a shady place,"

Yamato didn't get why Zack's father will be mad at him because of some minor mistake. Hell his parents won't care even if he killed someone as far as he didn't cause them problems, so he didn't know much about ordinary parents. But he understood that Zack and his foster father didn't have a good relationship.

"Hey bro I need your help," Zack said after a brief silence. "Mr Leo wants me to fight today but I can't because I have to be somewhere with my family so..."

"You want me to fight in your place?" Yamato asked grimly.

"Do you read minds or something?"

"So it is really true..." Yamato took a deep breath. After all this was no small matter as it could ruin his chance of going pro if something amiss happens. Street Fighting is okay as they get ignored most of the time by the law but underground fighters are treated like criminals.

"I am sorry if I am asking for too much," Zack said.

"It is fine, how do we do it?" Yamato asked.

"You are serious?"

"Just tell me!"

"Okay you don't have to do much. You just have to be at that flower shop at 8 PM tonight then they'll take you to the venue of the fight. Drop me here,"

Yamato slowed and looked around. They were halfway towards school. He just realized he hadn't asked if the other boy wanted to head somewhere else and just kept going forward, anyway since the other person didn't say anything it was alright. He stopped the bicycle by the side of the street and the blond boy hopped off.

"I am going to make it up to you," Zack said.

"Sure," Yamato hesitated. "I can help you today but you know you'd have to tell your father eventually right? Or Mr Leonard will turn you into his slave!"

"Yeah I know," Zack said sourly. His usually bright personality nowhere to be found. "I will come clean, but it's about timing you know?"

"I get it, then see you later,"

"Right, thanks again,"

Zack waved as Yamato drove away. Yamato started ridding back to school to return the bicycle then remembered he'd have to be at High town in time tonight and decided to keep the ride. So instead he drove to Katrina's place to lay low until the night.

He always have a change of cloths for his trainings in her place so he didn't have to worry about that. The real problem was convincing Katrina to let him skip today's training.

Atleast he thought so, but his Master was surprisingly understanding; she gave him the day off as soon as he told her he had a fight tonight.

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Authors Note; Asking for support...