Bāyuè 4th 250X

The day preceding the fights was slightly warmer than the one that had come before it. The rain had receded to just an intermittent drizzle and there was a humid moisture hanging in the air.

Prasong and JJ left the Vostoko residences via the front gates along with Tris and another of the fighters - an olive skinned girl named Cami. Fighters were traditionally allowed out the day before a fight as you never knew when it was going to be your last.

They started to make their way across the Tau Zone towards the food districts, keeping a mindful eye out for police patrols. None of them were currently carrying Dust but it still paid to be safe, especially given that all four of them had their ID chips removed.

Prasong glanced through the soiled windows of the shop fronts they passed. Television screens flickering with various news bulletin reports were hook-mounted on restaurant walls, drawing the attention of the customers inside.

Prasong caught half of a bolded headline beneath a serious looking female news anchor before the channel was flicked to the beginnings of a baseball game.

"Fye and Zia-li: Alien hostilities in the spotlight..." Prasong murmured to himself before frowning at the bright artificial green of the stadium now onscreen.

"JJ's stopped again," Tris grunted bemusedly to his right. Prasong sighed and turned around to spot JJ a few paces behind them, staring open mouthed at rotating roasted chickens in a grimy shop window.

"You can't be serious?" Prasong frowned. "You rejected the first five restaurants that we suggested in order to eat at a grease house?"

"I could definitely eat a roasted chicken," Cami grinned, clapping JJ on the back, "plus for five extra credits you can get one with enhanced protein."

"The fights are tomorrow," Tris shrugged at the disgusted face Prasong was making, "and we've all eaten worse."

"I don't think you understand the concept of a last supper," Prasong muttered, hopping out of the way of a speeding rickshaw. "What was wrong with the dumpling shop?" Prasong demanded at JJ with his hands on his hips. "They had discounted gyoza with honeyed meats."

"More like sugared sewer fish," JJ snorted, "come on Songbird - this place serves purse dumplings too."

"Ooh purse dumplings!" Cami laughed. "There's some high class food for you - what are the coins today?"

Prasong rolled his eyes as he went to go look at the grimy plastic menu stuck up outside the shop. Purse dumplings were one of the cheapest meals you could get on the Polis Streets without turning to food sourced from the underground waterways known as 'sewer stuffings'. The large round dumplings were filled with various ingredients known as the 'coins' and closed in a twisted clasp of dough at the top, hence the name.

"Meat medallions," Prasong groaned as he read the scratchy script, "they don't even specify what meat."

"Why bother?" JJ shrugged. "It's all the same synthesised tasty mulch, come on - all the other places were too busy, this shop's nearly empty!"

"There's probably a very good reason for that," Tris noted with a wry smile before gesturing for them to enter the eating house. Once inside, Prasong did have to admit that the place smelled pretty mouth-watering, although that could just have been the scent of frying fat after six months of only eating protein paste.

"Choose whatever you want," Tris nodded at the others as they flopped down on plastic chairs at a corner table, "I'm buying."

"Oh great!" Cami winked with a wide grin, her amber eyes sparkling. "I'll have a full extra special deluxe lunch package please."

"We can't be too long though," the other boy added, "Dane's scheduled us for some sparring training this afternoon."

A moment later, a large greasy man wearing a stained grey vest and sporting a questionable goatee came to stand beside their table. He clicked his fingers impatiently, "Orders?"

"Two roasted birds with side orders of noodles," Cami grinned, before gesturing to her and JJ, "fighters need the carbs."

"And a couple of your finest purse dumplings good sir," JJ added quickly.

The man raised an eyebrow at them but didn't question it before turning to Prasong and Tris. Tris gave Prasong a shrug before glancing up at the man and ordering, "Four of the same please." He handed the menus back to the server, laughing at Prasong's disgruntled expression.

"It will do you good to eat more," Tris stated, moving to wrap his fingers around Prasong’s slender wrist to emphasise his point.

"You guys know who you’re fighting tomorrow?" JJ asked as they waited for their food to arrive.

"Yeah," Cami nodded, "Tris and I have been named in the schedule for weeks now, we're both fighting members of the Toki gang," she paused, leaning back as the server delivered their food.

Prasong glanced up from the glistening chicken carcasses to see Cami rubbing absently at her neck, "It'll be my third official fight, I won my first one, lost my second. I nearly died, I was in a coma for like five days."

"How did you come to be a fighter?" JJ questioned.

Cami's expression brightened, "A brothel bought me from a Polis orphanage, Bobik happened to notice me there and decided to buy out my contract and train me up." Prasong chewed on his lip and wondered if he and Cami were in the Dragon District at the same time. JJ frowned, "What exactly did you do to get him to 'notice' you?"

"I killed a man in front of him," Cami looked almost wistful for a moment before glancing across the table and nodding at Prasong, "every fight is the chance we're going to die right? But the whores? They're all dead already, you can see it in their eyes, all glazed over and lifeless. I'd rather be on my feet fighting for life than on my back living for death."

Prasong swallowed uncomfortably as his mind flashed to all the Circus corner kids, the purple blossoming of bruises and the hollowness of Sakura's laugh.

Suddenly, Tris let out an amused snorting sound, Prasong flinched and followed his eyeline to where JJ was wrapping egg noodles around his fork and attempting to dangle them into his mouth in one giant cascading pile.

Prasong chuckled before reaching for his own plate, beginning to tear off strips of the heavily spiced chicken flesh. "You shouldn't worry about your opponents," Tris said after a moment, "Bobik will fix it so you're up against someone easy, it's your first official fight after all."

Prasong sighed as he stared down at his food and hoped to god that Tris was right.

"Hey, have you guys heard about all the raids?" Cami asked as she smacked her lips, grease from the meal running down her chin.

"Yeah," Tris nodded in reply, "there's been a big anti-drugs drive from the Council over the last few months. I know Bobik lost a lot of stock a couple of weeks ago in Sigma Zone. He was not pleased - cursing the name of Li Mei Chen until he was blue in the face."

"They'll never get rid of Dust," Prasong shrugged, "or any of the other drugs so why are they wasting their time?" He had found that he didn't really care about the surface level politics of the Polis. Although it was hard not to glean at least some idea of what was going on from all Council propaganda around the city.

Apparently during election time the radio announcements in the underground tube system of the Venae had been relentless. There had also been a plethora of animated posters tacked to buildings with neon lit slogans underneath.

Prasong remembered the ones campaigning for Li Mei Chen. She was a petite lady with black hair done up in an elaborate chignon and she had seemed to always be wearing very bright colours. It was important to at least know who was in charge, especially if you were part of the criminal world that had to deal with the government controlled Polis police force.

"It's all about approval ratings," Cami replied, reaching for the table's complimentary jug of peppered oat milk and filling up their cups, swearing as she spilled some of it. "Does mean everyone's got to be more careful though if they don't have an ID chip."

"The gangs aren't going to like it," Tris remarked, leaning forwards to snag a dumpling with his fork, "a lot of kids are going to get picked up this way."

"There isn't enough room in the Polis prisons," Cami sighed, "they'll just turn them back out onto the streets eventually. It's going to be such a mess."

"I'd get shipped back to Darhan," JJ frowned, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"What's so bad about Darhan?" Tris asked. "They not got roasted chicken or something?"

"Oh they do," JJ nodded, "but try earning enough there to afford it."

Cami laughed loudly and Prasong found himself smiling across the table at JJ's responsive grin.