“So that’s what you held us up for, huh?” Fátima shook her head as she watched Selene enter the makeshift ring. She held the weapons that Quang had given her, one in each hand, as she stood in the center of the mat. “A pair of tonfas?”

Selene twirled them around in her hands, gracefully rotating them around by the handle. She moved them clockwise and then reversed their direction immediately before stopping their movement altogether. “It’s what I’m comfortable with,” she replied with a coy smile.

Fátima scoffed. “Whatever you say. I’ve never gone up against a tonfa-user before, so at least it’ll be something different,” she said as squinted her eyes to get a better glimpse at the weapons in Selene’s hands. “But now that I got a good look at them, I can see why I haven’t.” Fátima pointed the edge of her bokken towards Selene’s face, stopping an inch in front of her nose. Selene stared at the wooden blade, her heart racing as she tried to hide her nerves.

“Distance isn’t everything,” she rebutted. Selene used one of her tonfas to nudge the weapon away. Fátima returned the bokken to her shoulder, watching as Selene put herself in a more comfortable and familiar pose; the length of each weapon traveled underneath her forearms while her body went into a semi-crouching state. One arm was raised higher than the other, much like that of a traditional boxer. Her feet moved up and down in a rhythmic manner, stomping on the ground as she tilted her head from side to side. “I’ve got offense and defense.”

“Sure thing,” Fátima said with a laugh. She took her own stance, placing one leg in front of the other while both hands held onto the bokken. The weapon was directed towards her opponent at a sharp angle. “Four minutes,” she let one hand off the hilt and held up all her fingers save her thumb for Selene to see. “If you can keep fighting for four minutes then you can call it a win. I would have made it five but you took your sweet time getting your tonfas.”

Selene continued her rhythmic motions. “Then you’ll give me the necklace and Quang the info he’s looking for?”

“Yep.”

“Sounds fair to me.”

“Alright then. No more-“ Fátima ended her sentence when she saw Quang step over the rope and huddled next to his friend.

“Selene, listen to me,” he whispered. “We can-“

“Quang!” Selene stood up straight, her arms at her side as she pouted. Quang darted back in shock from the sudden outburst. “Please! I’ve made up my mind. Let me handle this, okay?”

With both hands up, he stepped out of the ring. “Sorry. Do your thing, Selene.”

She returned to the pose she had before. The diameter of the ring was roughly fifteen feet while the two combatants had no more three yards between them. Selene looked at her opponent and then behind her. A battle plan formulated in her mind as she looked into Fátima’s somber face.

“Alright Spencer,” Fátima said, not taking her eyes off the other woman. “Looks like she’s in this. Get the timer ready.”

“Yeah. Sure, sure.” The instructor looked at his stopwatch, resetting the time before looking towards the two in the ring. “Are you ready to start, Fátima?”

“You know I am. Go ask her,” she snapped back, looking at Spencer and then at her rival. Spencer ran along the outside of the rope towards Selene.

“Are you ready?”

Selene didn’t divert her gaze away from her opponent. “Yeah. I’m ready.”

“I’ll start the countdown then.” Spencer dashed back towards the middle ring’s exterior, equidistant from both fighters. He held his stopwatch in one hand while his other arm was raised well above his head. “On my mark, the match will begin. Understood?”

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s just get on with it.” Fátima remained still, keeping her weapon steadfast while her narrowed eyes remained on Selene.

“You understand?” Spencer asked as he faced Selene. Unlike her opponent, her concentration had been broken by the countless eyes that were staring at her. The students that made up the audience of the dojo had long lost their sense of fear and were now watching on in excitement, waiting on her for so the challenge could proceed. Selene took a glance at Quang who stood behind her with crossed arms. On his face carried the same level of worry that the practitioners of the dojo did when she had barged into the room and interrupted the lesson. After a deep sigh, Selene turned back around to make eye contact with Fátima.

“I’m ready.”

“On the count of the three. One…”

Fátima kept her hands wrapped around the hilt of her bokken, spreading her fingers one by one as she kept the blade balanced in her grip.

“Two…”

Every muscle in Selene’s body became tense. She kept her legs moving. The murmuring of the audience became silent to her, overridden by the sound of her heart pumping blood throughout her body.

“Three!”

Spencer lowered his hand, cutting through the air with a chop. Selene let her gaze slip to watch Spencer back away from the rope. In that time, Fátima had taken a step forward. Once Selene had returned to look at her opponent, Fátima was in the process of lunging forward, her bokken slicing towards Selene’s left shoulder. With a quick dodge to the right, Selene was able to distance herself far enough away from the attack to parry it away with the tonfa in her left hand. The two weapons clashed, the sound of wood colliding onto wood echo throughout the dojo.

“She is done for!” Spencer said heartily. He and his fellow instructors watched the battle from just beyond the edge of the ring. Quang stood beside them with his arms crossed as he studied the fight intently. All of the instructors tilted their head towards him, each one carrying a smile on their face. “Hey!” Spencer shouted. Quang broke out of his trance as he turned to the trio.

“What?” He said in an irksome manner.

“Even you don’t believe that your girlfriend can win!” Spencer laughed as he pointed at Quang. Jake and Kiki followed suit, all mocking him with an amalgamated cackle like a group of Hyenas.

“She’ll do just fine!” Quang snapped back. “Selene’s got plenty of experience with Hapkido and tonfas.” He then scratched the back of his head. “And we’re not dating or anything,” he muttered in a low voice.

“That’s good!” Kiki butted in. She stood with both hands on her hips, her head angled up high so she could make eye contact with Quang. “Imagine taking a girl on a date where she gets beat down in front of a room full of people! If I were I Selene, I’d never talk to you again after this!”

Quang paused to come up with a response, but instead shook his head and returned to the match while phasing out the ruckus made by the instructors. He winced when he noticed Selene’s shaking demeanor. Her legs trembled as one foot remained behind her, inches shy of crossing the rope. Regret was visible on her face as she deflected another one of Fátima’s swift lunges. All the while, her opponent remained calm, slowly gaining distance in the ring with each attack.

Fátima doesn’t even look like she’s trying, Quang thought to himself. And it’s taking everything Selene’s got just to make sure she doesn’t step outside the ring. He watched Selene sidestep another vertical strike, allowing her to move further away from Fátima but remain well within the makeshift arena. Quang nodded when he saw Fátima take a few steps back, essentially putting them at the same distance that the two were when the match first started.

Fátima rolled her neck and adjusted her shoulders. She stared back at Selene while maintaining her attacking stance. “You’re not half bad,” she said in her typical calm tone. Selene didn’t respond. Instead, she positioned her tonfas so they protected the upper part of her body, her breathing intensifying as she did so.

“But that was just the warmup,” Fátima said as she lowered her bokken to her side and dashed forward.