Turn 58

--- Maya ---

“Okay… and that should… just about… do it.” She told herself, finalizing the last few edits of her program as she optimized it as well as someone could by just cutting out everything not immediately necessary to the program's functionality. “You say that like there’s something wrong with that!”

(There is.)

(Namely that it may cause our program to detonate its target.)

(That’s not a problem.)

She rolled her eyes at both of the voices in her head. “This isn’t going to blow anything up, it’s a data gathering program not a combative one.”

(Ah…)

(That doesn’t change the danger of doing this with other programs.) Her inner reason warned.

“Yeah, whatever.” She dismissed, before going over the program once more as she updated the version on her COMP. “Hmm, you know looking at what’s left I do see a couple of things we could improve here.”

(Such as?)

“Well, we could store and update our scan data rather than deleting and replacing it every time we use Scan ().” She pointed out, having not noticed that little detail with all of the other (unnecessary) code.

(Yeah, you deleted the bit that could’ve fixed that.)

“What?” She couldn’t help but ask through grit teeth, having a distinct feeling she knew where this was going, (yet again.)

(Ah, ah, I just said you shouldn’t be deleting stuff.) Her inner madness defended. (It’s not my fault you deleted the bits the whispers left open for other upgrades.)

Inhaling and exhaling she forced herself to let it go, before taking another look at her code. “Alright, well how would we go about fixing this.”

(Without undoing everything you just did?)

“Preferably.” She nodded, teeth clenched.

(No idea.)

“Of course not.”

(Perhaps, we could try remaking the program altogether?) Her inner reason offered carefully. (We’ve made enough modifications to the program, that I’m sure we could steer the whispers into redesigning it with all of our existing modifications.)

“But that’s going to take forever!” She whined.

(Then why not add a few more upgrades to the program?) Her inner logic suggested. (That way we’ll be reworking as many of our modifications as possible into the new program.)

“Huh, that’s not a bad idea.” She admitted. “Who knows it might even make it easier to steer the whispers?”

(Oh, it’ll make it easier to steer them, but it’ll also make it harder to hit the next breakthrough for the program.) Her inner madness answered.

“Breakthrough?” She repeated.

(You don’t think we can fit a few extra upgrades in while the whispers rework our program?) Her inner passion scoffed. (Please, I’m sure we can talk them into giving us something good if we work at it.)

“Maybe…” She honestly only sort-of understood what her inner madness was talking about, but it did sound like an interesting prospect at the very least.

---

“Huh, so… you’re going to spar with us?” Izzy asked, Ying apparently a little unsure of how to handle the other girl.

“Yeah, Ying knows Kung-Fu.” She explained, as Ying gave her an amused look. “So I figured maybe mixing up some of our sparring would do us some good.”

“Mm-hmm.” Izzy frowned before giving Ying a critical look. “What kind of kung-fu?”

“Southern Dragon Style.” Ying answered easily.

“What’s the difference between Northern and Southern?” Izzy pressed suspiciously.

“North has better kicks, while southern has better hands.” Ying smirked. “Don’t worry unlike Maya I actually know how to fight.”

“Hey, I know how to fight!” She argued.

“No, you don’t.” Izzy and Ying both disagreed, causing her to frown.

(Maybe I shouldn’t have brought these two together.)

“Well, if you really know how to fight, why haven’t you brought it up before?” Izzy asked.

“Because on the few occasions I’ve been to your house there hasn’t been a reason to?” Ying pointed out with a touch of confusion. “Though if you really need me to prove it… Hm…”

Ying’s eyes drifted over to her before glancing back at Izzy as a smile slowly formed on the teen’s face. “How about a two on one then?”

“Two on one?” Izzy blinked.

“Maya and you versus myself.” Ying clarified with an amused look. “I’m sure between the two of you, you can put up something resembling a proper fight.”

(Ooh, shots fired!)

Izzy’s eyes narrowed. “Fine.”

“Uh, are you two sure about this?” She couldn’t help but interject, as Izzy and Ying both entered a stance.

“Oh, Maya, don’t worry,” Ying smirked, “I’ll be gentle.”

(I get the distinct feeling we are in over our heads.) Her inner reason warned.

(Well… Sink or swim bitch!) Her inner passion screamed.

Figuring there was nothing else to do, she (unwisely) took her inner madness’s advice and rushed Ying, before delivering a punch with her right. Or rather attempting to deliver a punch with her right, only to find the blow deflected, her arm straightened out, flipped over her head, and a foot trip her ankle, at the same time that a palm slammed into the back of her shoulder, pinning her to the ground.

“Well, that was… mildly disappointing.” Ying admitted, having beaten her even faster than Izzy. “But don’t worry it was just your first time, you’ll do better next.”

(I feel… disappointed in myself for some and I don’t know why…)

(I’ll explain it when you’re older.)

“Now then,” Ying turned her attention towards Izzy. “While the two on one thing seems to have flopped, I don’t believe that’s any reason to actually cancel our fight.”

“I don’t see why we should.” Izzy agreed as the two eyed each other. At least until Izzy rushed forward and delivered a sweeping kick to Ying’s legs, that the older girl hopped over before delivering a palm strike towards Izzy that the middle schooler blocked.

(Well, I’m feeling deeply inadequate.) She couldn’t help but think as she watched the two spar for a good three, four minutes before Izzy finally managed to land a blow to Ying’s face. At which point the two broke apart for a cautious breather.

“Hm, you’re fairly good for your age.” Ying smiled, wiping at the side of her mouth.

“So are you.” Izzy nodded, just a little more winded than the older girl.

“Suppose I’ll actually have to take you seriously.” Ying grinned, taking the time to crack her neck to each side.

“Please we both know I’m a better fighter than you.” The middle schooler scoffed.

“Correction you’re better at martial arts.” Ying disagreed, taking a different stance than her previous. “But as a friend of mine loves to remind me, there’s a lot more to a fight than your fighting style.”

“Like what?” Izzy laughed.

“Like the fact that I can punt you across the street.”

“Wait, what?” Izzy blinked before Ying- (Holy shit she just yeeted her!) (Yes, that.)

Not giving the middle schooler a moment to recover, Ying quickly followed after Izzy before placing a foot on her back and pinning her to the floor.

Izzy struggled for a moment, before eventually realizing she lacked the upper body strength necessary to throw off the older girl, and letting out a frustrated growl.

“Hmm.” Ying paused, before taking a moment to glance at the downed sisters to say, “So this is what it feels like being on the other side of this.”

---

She inhaled before beginning her trek through the late night suburbs, mildly anxious as she tried to find trouble to deal with.

(Come on it’s the suburbs, the worst we might find is someone robbing a convenience store.) Her inner passion told her.

“Look, you’re the one who suggested going out on a patrol.” She reminded the voice in her head. “Don’t blame me for having nerves.”

(Yeah, but you weren’t this nervous last time we did this.)

“I had more on my mind, and wasn’t pushing curfew with the rents. Who are, you know, kind of worried after everything with Tommy!” She growled.

(Quite. Though this is likely something we’re going to have to get used to eventually.) Her inner reason warned her.

“I know…” She sighed running a hand down her face. “It’s just this waiting is getting to me…” And said waiting continued to get to her for another fifteen minutes before something began to ping on her MAP().

(Ooh, someone’s burglar alarm is going off!)

“Right, that’s just on the next street over.” She nodded, before taking off in a run.

Quickly making her way to her destination where she found the house in question, with all of its lights turned off, and two cars in the driveway.

Frowning she double checked her COMP, (and yep this is the place.)

Swallowing to herself she steeled her nerves before looking around. (Okay, I don’t know what’s going on exactly, so how should I handle this?)