In another alley, Ilinca was provoked by two twins, both were wide and small, with simple clothing, except one of them had his jacket and shirt dropped near him, which revealed his entire chest and belly being covered in some kind of shiny and pale-yellow colored material that looked like it was burnt into his skin, while the other one had a hammer bigger than him, a hammer so big even Ilinca didn’t know how such a small person could carry it, but it seemed that he could handle it well.

As twins, the two completed one sentence, both saying a few sentences at a time.

“Ilinca Adam-”

“We provoke”

“You to a”

“Challenge”

Her outfit was changed. Pale-purple sports bra, a hat with “Todo” written on it and pale-purple baggy pants that get only until over the knees, and white sneakers on her feet, as well as the 2D dog necklace made out of gold, and one earring in her left ear made out of metal, with a four-point star tattoo. Now we can easily see that she has a few thick tattooed lines, drawn in a vertical position surrounding her neck.

Both masked small men with masks on their faces, showed a cherry leaf which they ripped in six, according to Swordkick rules and ran towards Ilinca.

The one with the hammer was so fast that he almost broke Ilinca’s entire shin, but she was faster than that, luckily she got that athletic soul inside her.

“You’re pretty fast with those small legs”
Chuckled Ilinca, taking out the sword from inside her toque, while being in-air, wanting to cut the hammer’s user back, which would finish him in an instant.

Close to the moment of impact, the other one, with the shiny material on his belly, jumped in at a high speed, blocking the attack, making Ilinca’s sword slide down on his belly, doing no damage whatsoever to him

*What?! No damage? What is that, plastic?!*

She thought to herself, narrowing her eyes, trying to dodge an upcoming anger from the hammer user.

“Good one, tweenie. This girl cannot win this one, she’s too fragile for this”

Giggled the one with the hammer, throwing his hammer towards Ilinca

The two of the twins were really fast for some reason which Ilinca couldn’t really believe. The use of her sword was useless because the “plastic belly” as Ilinca liked to call him, always jumped whenever she wanted to cut the one with the hammer. She knew she had to take him out, first, but how.

Ilinca’s breathing was beginning to be shallow, because of how much she had to duck the moves, and not because the twins were formidable fighters.

Her sword was too sharp, she totally needed the hammer to break through the hard plastic, since her sword would just slip from the thin top and sharp edges.

The hammer user laughed like a girl, shouting

“Devious grab! Tweenie!”

Like a command was told to an officer ranked lower, the plastic belly grabbed Ilinca’s arms from behind, holding her in that position and the other one, closed one of his eyes, inside the mask, and looked at the trajectory, needing for the throw to be good enough, but Ilinca, giving up the struggle, thought out of a good plan.

“No, wait, please, please don’t do it!”

“It’s too late for that, Ilinca!!”
He screamed, throwing the hammer

Ilinca gave out a slight smirk, and even though she had the bandana over her eyes, the senses she used to move her head in the last moment, was trained in her.

The plastic’s belly hands let out Ilinca from the grab and fell down on the ground, with the mask broken in more bits, yet it still remained on its face, as blood was flowing intensely from inside the broken skull. His eyes were rushed all the way to the top, unintentionally making them unseen. He was slightly gasping, and faintly moaning, wheezing the few last breaths. His fingers and arms were curling up, and the tip of his his toes as well.

Ilinca narrowed her eyes, cockily looking towards the hammer user that was just a feeble small man, with only his hands to be protected.

“TWEENIEEE!”
He screamed, clawing his fists in, with the need inside his heart to hurt Ilinca as much as he could, but that plan ruined when Ilinca kicked his teeth in with her move “the flying knee”, bashing his entire mouth with his own blood. Afterwards, she wildly used her two fists to turn his face into mush while the groaned ragefully tone covered all her hearing. She just couldn’t stop herself. 

In the end, Ilinca left no teeth inside the man’s mouth, and blood was all over her and her fists fully colored in pale-red with many cuts on them.

She raised herself, shocked about the sight, like she came out of a control over her senses.

“DAMN IT!”
She screamed, while looking at her fist and the man’s face which even professionals could not recognize.

Pushing her back against a wall, she let her knees bend, sitting down near an industrial dumpster, resting her forearms on her knees.

Many feelings went through her body, but the most dominant one was her greed whenever she’s fighting, having the need to always finish the fight, yet she understands that this is not normal, but she just cannot control her feelings whenever she challenges someone or when someone challenges her. 

Her breath was also very shallow, with Ilinca taking deep breaths inside her nose, while exhaling through her mouth to try and calm down the heart and lungs. The fights are getting harder and harder.

Her phone showed a colorful screen with a confetti effect flying from the lower part of the screen, all the way to the upper screen, after which it quickly flew right back down.

A robotic voice came from the phone

“Congratulations, Ilinca Adam! Wins: 1-5-5. Credits. 2-5-0-0-0-0-0-0-0”

*25 more wins, dad, mom, and I’m gonna have enough to pay for the treatment*

Whispered Ilinca to herself.

“New notification. From “that-annoying-college-guy”.

“Open message”
Sighted Ilinca

She raised herself, took the toque in which she placed her customized toque, strapped it to her waist afterwards, and left the alley, stopping herself right in the border between the real world and Swordkick with a saddened reaction on her face, and continued her exit to the normal world.

The robotic voice of the phone sounded again.

“Hii, Ilinca, I wanted to ask if you wanted to go out today, you know… just the two of us “inserts smiling emoji” “

*This guy again… can’t he accept no for an answer? You know what, let’s see what he’s about*

Though Ilinca, scoffing, giving out a slight chuckle of annoyment, as well as a sideways move of her head.

“What’s up, Derek, for sure. Wanna go eat or just take a walk?”

Derek continued writing in small two word sentences, which showed his nervousness online, while Ilinca replied with vocal messages.

“I saw this”

“Restaurant near our”

“College”

“-You know the one where they serve on those goofy plates with cheap food and massive quantities”

*Oh my… this guy (chuckles, close to a laugh), how can you say that to a girl (nods her head sideways and starts laughing).

“Really?”

Asked Ilinca with a judging voice.

“What? I thought you wanted someone honest”

“Saturday at 6PM is okay with you?”

“IT’S PERFECT!”

“See you then”
Recorded Ilinca with her last message, with a slight change of joy in her vocal tones.

She almost laughed and placed her phone inside her pocket.

She went and bought herself a drink, while checking voice messages from her colleagues that were thanking her for sending the homework to them, and that they couldn’t wait for her to come back to classes after she gets well from being sick

Ilinca scoffed and placed her phone back in her pocket, after which she guided herself towards home, from touching the walls of shops and houses, feeling the same material that will guide her closer, and from the noise from the background.

A few meters away from the stairs that would lead her to her apartment’s door were left, and that’s when she heard two loud and girly screams.

“Ilinca! We were waiting for you”

“We are sooo late for your birthday!"

“Exactly, me and Gina thought about taking you to the mall”

“Or to a movie…”

They said this while they clawed their arms around Ilinca’s, dragging her back into town, willingly.

“Awhh maan… and I was just about to take a nap”
Sadly said Ilinca

“We are your two girl best friends, of course you HAVE TO come with us"

“EXACTLY!"

Joyfully exclaimed the girls, filled with energy.