Free Slum Online by Hiroshi Sakurazaka Page A

rushed forward and threw his fastest punch. Ricky dodged the punch with a crouching back dash. I pressed the A button to cancel out of the kick I’d already buffered. Move. Block. Tetsuo crouched as he moved forward and to the right, girding himself against low attacks. Ricky moved at an angle, tracking Tetsuo’s path. They spun 60 degrees, always facing each other.
    So long as he was crouching, high punches and kicks would sail right over Ricky’s head. You had to be able to reach your opponent’s back to throw him, so doing a kick-cancel throw was out too. Ricky had dodged Tetsuo’s punch in the most effective way possible. If Tetsuo had kept attacking, more likely than not he would have taken a counterhit.
    My knuckles whitened as they gripped the stick. Ricky made his move.
    His left hand darted forward in a middle punch. Cancel. Low kick. Back-dash to the left. Ricky swung 120 degrees to Tetsuo’s left. I had managed to dodge the middle punch, but the low kick hit home. Tetsuo’s health dropped by a fraction.
    I maneuvered Tetsuo forward and to the right, keeping Ricky directly in front of him. I launched a forward middle kick, but Ricky spun away back and to the left again.
    Tetsuo speed-dashed forward. As he ran in, Ricky caught him with a crouching punch. Another sliver off Tetsuo’s health. I backed him away. Tetsuo’s counterattack bit at air. While Tetsuo was recovering from the attack, Ricky moved in.
    I gave the command for a throw break. Ricky heaved Tetsuo onto his shoulder, just as I had expected. The throw break I’d already buffered sent Tetsuo somersaulting over Ricky’s head to land safely on the ground. Both characters back-dashed.
    Ricky would feint an approach, then back away, constantly circling Tetsuo. Tetsuo kept up his attacks, but they all seemed to fall just a few pixels short. Ricky was avoiding any decisive moves, favoring weak but reliable attacks instead. He was bleeding out Tetsuo’s health one drop at a time. Tetsuo specialized in midair combos initiated along with a counter, which put him at a disadvantage when facing an opponent who kept his guard up and played everything close to the vest. This was going to be a tough fight.
    A crowd of characters thronged the narrow space in front of the saloon. Row upon row of infinitely thin polygonal text bubbles floated in the air.
    > Kick his ass!
    > Don’t encourage them.
    > Picking on scrubs can’t be good for your karma.
    > Up with wolves, down with pigs!
    > Outta the way! I can’t see!
    > I think he fell asleep.
    > Who is this asshat, anyway?
    > Who cares? More fuel for the fire.
    > Good luck burning this place down.
    > I could teach you a thing or two.
    > Ugh, come on already!
     
    Bastards. They could type whatever they wanted. My hands were glued to the controls, and in this particular virtual world your hands were your mouth. If you couldn’t reach your keyboard, you were a mute.
    Tetsuo advanced in silence. Ricky spun to the left. Tracking him as he moved, Tetsuo threw back-to-back punches—a left, then a right. Neither landed. Ricky dodged with a back dash. Instinctively, I canceled out of the second punch and did a speed dash. Ricky was still mid-move, and Tetsuo was right on top of him. Tetsuo made a low sweep kick. Knowing it would send Ricky tumbling to the ground, I buffered my next attack.
    Tetsuo’s kick never connected. One of the beams holding up the saloon sign blocked his foot. I hadn’t accounted for the terrain. Things like this didn’t happen in the arena.
    The impact left Tetsuo tottering off-balance. Ricky dashed forward and delivered a sharp open-palmed strike. The sound FX of the counterhit rang in my ears. Tetsuo’s body soared into the air.
    As Tetsuo hung suspended in the air, Ricky delivered one punch, then another. Canceling, he struck again with his elbow and followed up with a crouching punch. Tetsuo was on the ground now, but instead of pressing the attack, Ricky stepped back, putting some