- First Combat

*Emergency Mission: Defeat your opponents.*

*Note: When facing multiple opponents, it is best to isolate targets*

*Note: You are facing armed opponents. Attempt to acquire a weapon. In cases where this is not possible, it is wise to disarm them before you engage.*

*Note: Kicks are powerful tools, but often leave you exposed if they do not connect with the target. Punches are weaker but leave less room to be countered.*

"What is this? Does this thing think I can't fight?"

"What is this?" one of the thugs repeated. "What do you think this is? Now, give us all of your things."

"Nah, we hope you fight," the second thug said. "It's more fun when you do."

Gus remained rooted in place momentarily as the two approached him. His eyes darted to either side of the alleyway, desperate to find a weapon of some sort. Seeing nothing that he could use, he allowed himself to take a step back.

'Wait. If I let myself get bullied by these people, I'll never make it out there.'

He took no more steps back.

'Okay,' Gus began to think, heeding the advice that had popped in front of his eyes. 'Isolate them: how the hell am I supposed to do that? It's like they're joined together with the way they move; Get a weapon, no chance of that, so I'll disarm them.'

Gus dropped his bag from over his shoulder, before dodging down low to the right, baiting the right thug to lunge towards him. Gus smirked as his gambit succeeded. Using his leading leg, he pushed back, sending him back in front of the two thugs. It was too late for the one who had lunged, however, as he ended up in a mess on the floor.

'Disarm them,' Gus thought, snapping a leg out in front of himself and striking his opponent's hand. The blow knocked the thug's hand back, but the thug kept hold of his blade, a decision that would have been the right one nine times out of ten.

Gus realised this was the tenth one, as the knife, set in motion by Gus's kick, embedded itself in the thug's chest.

'Damn. I didn't mean to kill him,' Gus thought, as he stared at the thug in shock.

He was brought back to his senses by a roar from the second thug. Enraged by the other thug's death, the remaining thug charged towards Gus. Reacting too late, Gus took the full force of the Thug's improvised shoulder charge to the chest. The momentum of the blow launched Gus backwards, throwing him off his feet.

He slammed into the floor behind him and instantly felt the wind rush from his lungs. Right then, Gus could think of nothing better that he would like to do than to relax and allow his breath to come back. But he was forced into action at the sight of the thug charging at him once again.

Gus climbed to his feet as fast as his empty lungs would allow him. He closely watched the charging thug, taking as long as he could to desperately inhale breath. At the last possible second, Gus dove to the side. Gus turned as he stood once more, drawing in yet more breath.

His opponent had missed him and now stood towards the end of the alleyway. While Gus had achieved his goal of dodging the monstrous charge, he was now faced with the issue of facing his opponent, who had a blade, in a straight fight with nothing but his hands.

Gus's mind scrambled to form a strategy as the huge figure of the thug lumbered ever closer.

'Keep calm, Gus. You baited the first one and put him down easily. You can deal with this one, too.'

In the corner of his eye, Gus saw the figure of a man watching the fight from across the street. Although he could not see that far clearly, especially not from his peripheral vision, it looked like the man was dressed in a suit, or in some kind of uniform. For a moment, Gus's focus waned as his brain tried to piece together who that man was, and why he was just casually watching the fight happen.

'Focus, Gus.'

Arriving quicker than he expected, the thug attacked first, catching Gus off guard. The thug swung the blade in a wide arc with his right arm, an attack which Gus barely managed to dodge. Immediately after missing, the thug swung with his left arm. Dropping the blade with his right and catching it with his left mid swing, the attack caught Gus off guard, giving him inadequate time to dodge the blade, and he shed some blood thanks to a shallow cut to his stomach.

Gus clenched his teeth as the blade pierced skin and cut into flesh. Although he had been wounded by the attack, he had been granted a golden opportunity by his opponent. In his haste to attack with the dropped knife technique, his opponent had twisted his body too far to the right, leaving himself open. Before Gus could take advantage of the window of time he had been given, however, a large foot swung towards him from the right.

The thug had followed through with his momentum, and launched a kick just as his attack with the blade finished. Gus ducked low to avoid the kick, and felt the breeze on his brown hair as the thug's foot sailed harmlessly by. Gus grinned as he realised he had won the fight.

Taking advantage of the thug's awkward position, Gus launched a fist forward. The thug's facial expression changed, now expressing genuine fear as opposed to the anger he had worn on his face before.

Gus's fist connected between the thug's legs, and instantly dropped him to the ground.

Gus instantly turned around and saw that the third man, along with the victim, was nowhere to be seen.

As he turned back to enter the road and continue onto the main road, a message flashed in front of his eyes.

*Emergency mission completed*

*Rewards: 100 EXP*

"EXP?" Gus asked aloud. "Like some old video game?"

Upon the arrival of the messages, Gus's adrenaline filled body immediately began to calm down. Trying to control his breathing, which still had not calmed down from him being thrown onto his back, he thought about the random messages he had seen popping into his mind.

"Quite a show you put on there," spoke a voice from the alleyway. "But sadly, I must say that it's finished now."