Black Market Merchant

It was over in a matter of seconds. The five slightly drunk men didn't even stand a chance. Everyone in the bar was startled at the sudden commotion and turned about only to find every single one of the men flat on their backs.

"That ought to teach you some manners." Lisa said standing above the five men laying on the floor. The first guy she punched was out cold. While the other four were nursing their jaws or guts and struggling to sit up. A chair had also been crushed by one of the men as he fell.

"Hey, Queen!" Someone yelled from the back of the room. It was the bartender. "Quit starting fights in the bar and breaking everything each time you come in here. Take your business outside! Next time you’re paying for all the damages twice over."

"Sorry!" Lisa said apologetically. "I just can't control myself every time there are idiots messing around me." She looked down at the men by her feet. "Get out of my sight. I don't want to hear anything like what you said around me ever. Got it?"

The four conscious men nodded vigorously and scrambled to get up. They dragged their unconscious friend out the door and disappeared into a building further up the street.

"S-sorry Lisa! I caused you trouble." Sadie pouted as she quickly tried to collect the spilled document papers.

"It's alright. Accidents happen." Lisa replied dipping down to help clean up. Then mumbling aloud, she said, "You would think after a few hundred years men would be more civilized."

"What did you say?" Sadie asked sounding confused. Then inwardly she though, “Did she say, ‘a few hundred years’?”

"It was nothing." Lisa replied nonchalantly.

Sadie shook her head to clear her thoughts and they both continued cleaning up. The scattered document was soon collected and reorganized. They sat back down at their booth to continue their conversation. The rooms atmosphere in the meantime had returned to normal now and Lisa was the first to speak.

"So, where were we? Something about the restrictions and conditions listed in the Match Fighter Regulation and Rulings." Lisa said while adjusting her ponytail in her Yankees hat to fit more comfortably.

"Ah, I think so." Sadie said sounding a bit calmer now as she scanned through the document. "Let's see... Restrictions and conditions…"

"Ah, there it is." Sadie said pulling a sheet out of the document. "Conditions that are of any major importance are these. A Match Fighter must participate in one match per month. Failure to do so, including due to injury, will result in an immediate rank decrease or if at the lowest rank possible, expulsion. However, a Fighter can, rather than drop in rank, count a missed month as a permanent loss recorded on their record. Each additional week missed will count as another loss."

"Hmm, harsh but fair. I guess." Lisa said aloud while comprehending what Sadie had said.

Sadie continued. "Next, all contenders must adhere to the basic rules listed on page 19-30. Do you need me to read those to you?"

"I might know them. I heard about them from a merchant named Frank Sellers." Lisa replied. She then reiterated the four broad rules Frank had told her.

Sadie nodded slowly as she listened to Lisa's explanation of the more basic rules. "Good, that man seemed to have given you a proper set of the rules. There are a few others, but they aren't much different than those four. The more advanced set of rules are for political match's or military affairs. So, we can ignore them for now."

"Alright. What about the conditions for advancement to the next level?" Lisa asked.

"Well, as I said before, you are ranked as a Shadow League contender. In each League there are twenty tiers in it. To move from tier twenty, the lowest, up to tier one. You need to have ten consecutive wins in a single tier to advance; or have a total of twenty wins, if you had incurred a loss, to advance." Sadie said tracing the lines with her finger as she read.

"Geez! That sounds like it's extremely hard to advance at all. How do Fighters even have the time to do all this fighting?!" Lisa said shaking her head. She took another sip of her beer as Sadie gave an answer.

"Well, as you know, you can fight more than one Fighter at a time and if you beat each individual Fighter it will count as an individual win. Also, as long as you are in the same League as your opponent it doesn't matter what tier you are in. A tier one can fight a tier twenty. If the tier one was to win it counts as a single win. However, if the lower tier beats a higher tier then it will count as two wins." Sadie paused and looked up at Lisa.

Lisa was staring at her with blank, lazy grey eyes and almost looked ready to fall asleep. "Is this making sense to you?" Sadie asked.

"At the moment, yes." Lisa replied giving a nod and blinking twice.

“Good.” Sadie answered before giving a stern expression. “For any of these fights you participate in, I must be present. Otherwise it will not count. Even if another official MFA manager is present, I cannot count a win for you by hearsay or through video evidence either. Understood?”

Lisa shrugged her shoulders, “That is perfectly reasonable.” Though inwardly Lisa thought it still sounded like the Mad Dogs were using this ruling as a leash to keep tabs on her. Yet tossing those thoughts aside, Lisa asked, “What about if they are in different Leagues?"

"These kinds of fights are normally forbidden for obvious reasons." Sadie replied without even consulting the document. "If it were to happen only tier five to tier one of a lower League can challenge a higher tier and be considered able to compete. The same win or loss ratio will be applied to those fights. However, these fights nearly never happen."

"How about a League advancement? How does that happen?" Lisa asked seeming satisfied with Sadie's reply.

"Let me see…" Sadie said scanning the next page. "It will be officiated by an MFA qualified official. So, someone like my boss, Rickshaw, or another higher-ranking manager. We too follow the League system, based solely on our highest-ranking Fighters capacity and number of people we manage currently. Also, only tier one Fighters are allowed to fight against each other for it to count as an advancing match."

"I see. That sounds fair. It would be dumb if someone could fight a tier twenty to advance." Lisa said. "Now what about restrictions? There sounds like there could be a lot."

"Actually, there are not as many as you would think. Nor are they too complex." Sadie said pushing her black glasses up her nose, and while flipping through the document looking for the right page.

Once she found it, Sadie continued. "It says here that, basically, a Fighter cannot kill the referee, officiate, or official presiding over an official Match. Additionally, managers, ranked military and political personal are also not to be killed by Fighters or through any bets made in a Match. Unless both sides have agreed that they will equally face the same punishments as their Fighter. Those types of bets will have to be over seen by an even higher ranking official or military member. Another restriction to take note of is that there are no limits to the number of match's a Fighter can participate in, in any given month." Sadie stopped reading and took a large sip of water and grimaced once she finished.

"Well, all that is good to know." Lisa said looking at the last bit of beer at the bottom of her mug. She swished it slowly around before tossing it into her mouth. "What about money? With all these fights and tiers we must go through, there has to be compensation."

"Well there is pay, but not exactly money every time. Only the Sun League and Mountain League tier five and up get an actual paid salary directly from the Association. Everyone else makes money through betting on Match's or by betting goods or contracts. There are no limits on the amount of such bets either. However..." Sadie started to speak quietly and leaned forward. Lisa leaned forward as well a bit interested. "The bets are not always legal. Lots of illegal goods and products are traded through the MFA fights. I even hear that some politicians still commonly bet their votes on policy and laws too."

"That's all I needed to know." Lisa said grinning as she leaned back in her seat. "Money is a very important objective of mine to get."

"Well I hope I explained everything well enough. I feel like I got a bit too excited explaining all of the rules and stuff. I’m just excited to finally have a Fighter to work with!" Sadie said shyly. “Unless you have more to ask, I think we covered enough information.” She then started to regather and organize the document to put it back in the envelope.

"You did seem excited, but that's not anything to feel bad about. It made joining the MFA sound like it was worth joining after all. The explanations you gave were sufficient." Lisa replied sincerely. She then waved to the waitress and asked for a check. When the waitress left to tally up what they owed Lisa had another question to ask.

"So, since you’re going to be my manager and you need to be with me so much, how are we going to meet up for a Match? Just meet here or something?" Lisa asked Sadie.

Sadie lowered her gaze from Lisa, and she could feel her face flush. "Well that's going to be a bit embarrassing to explain. I technically was told I had to stay with you. Since you’re not with the Mad Dogs gang or any other group, I need to physically stay with you in case a fight happens and needs recording or if someone at the Arena wants to challenge you."

"Seriously?" Lisa said a bit taken back. "Can't you just stay at the Arena, in your current residence?" Lisa wasn't willing to take her to the hydroelectric dam just yet. She still wasn't totally sure if Sadie wasn't a spy from Jackson to keep tabs on her. Besides, she might leak information about the electricity to the town. If anyone found out, there could be a riot at the dam and things might get messy.

"I don't think they will let me." Sadie replied still a bit embarrassed. Letting out a big sigh she continued, "You see, I'm not exactly well liked there. Everyone sees me as a giant mess up. I can't do hardly anything right, like with these papers earlier. I mess up everything."

Lisa sighed inwardly and looked carefully at the small woman sitting across from her. Sadie looked rather pathetic. It wouldn't be easy to fake that look on her face. Lisa really didn't have any kind of excuse she could give her to turn her away either.

"Fine. You can come with me. However, there will be some rules you have to follow. Otherwise things between us will not work out." Lisa said giving in.

"Sorry. I will try to follow them." Sadie said as her brown eyes brightened. "What are they?"

"Well first, we need to go back to the compound and get your things." Lisa said looking out the window. The sun was just reaching the peak of the mountain. They only had slightly more than an hour before dark. "I will explain my conditions along the way."

"Sounds good to me." Sadie replied giving a small smile.

The waitress came back and handed Lisa the tab. Her heart sank as she saw that the bar owner had also added the price of the ruined chair. Grudgingly Lisa payed for her tab as it was her fault. Putting on her coffin, Lisa and Sadie then headed for the door.

Lisa was leading the way and went through the door first. Suddenly from behind she heard a small shriek! Turning around quickly she saw the cause, just as it was happening.

Sadie's foot had caught on a floorboard that wasn't level with the rest. Her arms flew up as she fell forward and then landed flat on to her stomach. Just like a character in a cartoon. Her envelope skittered along the ground and stopped when it hit the back of Lisa's boot.

Lisa sighed inwardly to herself. "Now I am starting to see why Jackson sent you."