Free Football Frenzy by Alex Ko

their hands? And there was a commotion from the stairs as the two Chinese bouncers burst into the room, flexing their muscles.
    Seven against two. I’ve seen better odds ...
    Granny and Yoshida spun into the room like acrobats, ducking and parrying each other’s blows so smoothly they looked as if they were performing a complex dance routine.
    Eight against three. Not much better ... Granny hit one of the men in black in the back of the neck, and he crumpled at once. Except one of our three is Granny! That’s seven
to three ...
    “Fight!” Granny commanded, between spinning kicks. “We must get out of here! Head for the exit. I will follow.”
    The twins ran for the door. But the Chinese brutes blocked their way. One of them threw a punch at Josh, missing by millimetres. He dropped to the floor and crawled under the table, leaving the
bouncer grabbing at thin air. There was a crash as the table was overturned, but he kept crawling, trying to pick his spot to come back up. He saw Jessica’s feet dancing between the chairs,
trying to kick them out of her way – and then he saw the shiny leather shoes and trousers of a Yakuza approaching her. Had she seen him?
    Josh leaped, rising from under the tables like a shark erupting from the sea. The Yakuza paused, the gleaming silver blade raised in one hand and ready to strike towards Jessica. Josh aimed a
hard chop to the man’s wrist and the knife spun away.
    The Yakuza let out a scream of frustration. “You little rat!”
    He tried to headbutt Josh, but Josh ducked and got him on the ankle with a low kick. The Yakuza’s legs buckled and he went down.
    “ Nana, it’s time ,” Josh heard Granny say, her voice coming clear over his earphones, though she was on the other side of the room in the middle of a whirling tempest of
spinning kicks.
    “Hai, I’m putting in the call ,” said Nana’s voice.
    Josh didn’t have time to ask what the call was. The other two Yakuza were upon him. He tried to back away but a fallen chair caught his legs and tripped him up. He scrambled to his feet
again just in time to see Jessica thrown hard against a slot machine, making it rattle and whir.
    “ Obaasan ?” Josh called. He looked around for Granny. She was still fighting Yoshida, her style efficient and calm. Between flying roundhouse kicks, low blocks and backflips,
she was making her way over to the door. She threw a fierce side kick and knocked one of the bouncers into the wall, head first.
    “ Use your surroundings, Josh!” Granny shouted over the thug’s yell of pain. “Agility, speed – go!”
    Jessica jumped up on top of the slot machine. Josh looked back at the upset tables, understanding flooding through him.
    Those aren’t obstacles – they’re weapons! He climbed up onto the nearest one. It wobbled under him. Woah... Okay, I can use that too . He threw his weight
forward and used the unstable tabletop like a springboard, leaping across the room towards Jessica.
    One of the bouncers grabbed for Josh’s ankles as he landed on another table, but he jumped again and the brute’s hands closed on thin air. Josh brought his feet down hard on his
attacker’s shoulders. The bouncer moaned, crumpled and hit the ground in a shower of teacups and mah-jong tiles.
    “Let’s get out of here,” yelled Jessica. She ran along the tops of the slot machines and grabbed hold of a light fitting, swinging herself across the scattered tables like
Tarzan till she got to the empty doorway.
    Josh scanned the room, planning his route over the tabletops to the doorway. He jumped, dancing his way across the rickety tables that folded underneath him. He flipped onto his hands on the
soft felt of a card table and pushed off again, landing on his feet on a mah-jong board near the exit.
    “C’mon, Josh!” Jessica called. But Josh didn’t get down. He turned and waited for just a few more seconds, until the Yakuza were closer...
    Just a little closer ...
    Then he drew his