8 Vi Stands for Violet

The Lanes, for most, was a place in the heart of the Undercity where people come and go as they please. But for Violet, it was a place she called home, the place where she grew up.

However, unlike other orphans, Violet was one of the lucky ones. Every day she woke up with a roof over her head, although it was a bar for adults and the place she slept was down in the basement rather than a proper room. Still, it was a place to keep her safe and she was grateful. It was far better than living in the very depths of the Undercity where the poor, malnourished and diseased ridden were living.

Moreover, her adoptive father was also a prominent figure in the Undercity. She could practically get away with almost anything, as long as the trouble she caused wasn't too big.

The reason for this was because her adoptive father was the owner of The Last Drop, a meeting place for his gang, the strongest gang in the Undercity. Under his protection, she was safe and better off than most where even chem-barons, people with power and influence, didn't dare to touch her.

She could live a happy life, but she did not want that and wanted more. Just like people her age in the Undercity, despite having all this privilege compared to her peers, she found it unfair those above prospered while those below lived on scraps. She wanted to change.

Waking up early in the morning, Violet got up from her bunk bed, and carefully climbed down the ladder. She did not want to wake her sister and foster brothers sleeping. She then changed into a white linen shirt, a dark-purple crop hoodie with a leather shoulder pad, blue pants and a pair of leather boots before wrapping her hands with gauze.

All of her clothes were worn out, but in the Undercity, none of that mattered.

In a place where people were starving and barely making ends meet.... clothes, fashion was the least priority in people's mind. She was already grateful enough to have some clothes, not rags to wear.

After getting changed, Violet went to check on her little sister and seeing her sound asleep, she gave her a kiss on the forehead before leaving. She walked upstairs, and it was there, that she saw a man behind the bar cleaning a whisky glass with a cloth.

He was a large beefy and pale-skinned man with grey eyes and black hair. Signs of aging could be seen as grey hair was starting to appear as well as wrinkles on his face. He wore a leather jacket on top of a white shirt, blue trousers, leather boots, and a leather pauldron.

The mans' name was Vander, the same man who led the uprising a few years ago, which killed Violet and her little sister's parents.

Despite knowing this, Violet did not blame him. She was already old enough to understand why her parents chose to follow Vander that day. They were fighting for the future of the Undercity. And now that she was in her mid-teens, she was also prepared to do the same.

She was discontent with the state of the undercity, believing the topsiders were selfish and evil. She wanted to be like Vander and create a better future for her little sister. She learned how to box and even began stealing from rich topsiders just like him when he was her age.

And for today, Violent wanted to enter the fighting tournament to see how strong she has gotten. But, this was only her secondary goal. The real reason she signed up was to test her luck and get an expensive present for her little sister's upcoming 9th birthday.

"Vi, where are you going?" Vander asked as he put the glass on the shelf.

"To the hideout. I'm going to get some practice for today's tournament," Violet replied quickly.

"What about breakfast?"

"I'll eat at Jericho's later," Violet shouted as she ran out the door.

It was early in the morning when she left, but the stores starting to open and the streets lit up by neon lights were already bustling. People of different races could be seen, a common sight for Violet who has lived in the Undercity her whole life.

Violet put her hoodie over her head and walked through the crowd. She was careful not to bump into anyone. Most people who came to these streets were dangerous, and provoking them was troublesome enough. Although such troubles could easily be solved by running to Vander, she preferred to take care of her problems on her own.

A few minutes later, Violet arrived at her hideout, a place to hang out. It was a place filled with arcade games and an abandoned automated sparring partner machine. All of these machines were once broken, but thanks to her little sister, her own little genius, all of them were repaired.

She crossed the ropes and entered the ring with the machine. She did some simple stretches to warm up, and once she was done, she put on a pair of boxing gloves. She tightened the string with her teeth and turned on the machine with the lever on the side.

The machine came alive. The tubes in the wall were pumped with green liquid as its mechanical parts roared and started to move vigorously.

"Let's do this." Violet punched her fist together and stepped in before the machine.

Immediately, a punch to the face came straight at her. She ducked and weaved to the left to dodge. She threw a hook at the left bag and then dodge another punch with a tilt of her head. A quick one-two hit the right bag before dodging a punch to the right, followed by an uppercut to the right bag.

A ringing sound came from the scoreboard, meaning that she had just landed a good combo on the machine, but Violet did not stop to check.

Sweat dripped down from her beautiful face as she kept going. She kept dodging everything that came at her, her punches were lightning quick as the scoreboard rose over 4300. It was a very good score but she was dissatisfied when she saw her final score.

"Again!" Violet panted heavily. She caught her breath a few minutes later and decided to go again for another round... She kept sparring with the machine for the next hour and only stopped when she heard her stomach rumble. She did not eat breakfast and was only feeling it now.

Taking off her boxing gloves, she tossed them to the side and was about to go out. But, it was at that moment when things quietened down, that she heard voices right outside the hideout.

"Mylo, Claggor? No, it doesn't sound like them."

Curious, Violet went out to see who was outside and headed for the door. She walked around the corner and was surprised to see two handsome boys; one had pink hair much like herself but with a single cyan highlight while the other had blonde hair.

They wore clothes no different from herself and from the looks of it, haven't showered in days. The strange thing was that they didn't smell at all.

"Who…"

Violet found them suspicious… It wasn't every day for her to see two handsome boys loitering around her hideout.

She wanted to ask who they were, but before she could do so, the two began fighting. The blondy grabbed a rock from the ground while the other tried to stop him from smashing the window.

"Stop, what are you two doing?"

After being called out, the two stopped fighting and turned their heads around to see the person who spoke.

Violet stood before them, and upon seeing her, Art, who had a slight fetish for tomboys couldn't help but be attracted to her.

She was the embodiment of cool beauty, standing at a height of 166 cm (5'5″). She had a slim figure as her short pink hair was combed back. Her skin was milky white and her eyes were similar to the colour of the sea, a beautiful light blue colour. A little makeover and she was a rare item any man would want... at least in Art's cultured opinion.

"Nothing," replied Ezreal with a guilty smile. "I was just admiring this beautiful rock."

"Really?" Violet raised an eyebrow. "Seems to me you were about to smash my window."

"What, noooo, I would never," Ezreal hid his hands behind his back before dropping the rock.

Can't you be any more obvious… Seeing this Violet shook her head. The way he was acting reminded her of Little man, a family friend as he would always act like this when he got in trouble.

She knew she was not going to get her answers anytime soon and so, she turned her gaze toward the other handsome boy. At that moment, their eyes met and she couldn't help but breathe out a small sigh of disappointment… 'Where did all these good looking boys come from?'

Violet calmed herself and asked. "So gonna tell me what happened? I don't have all day."

Upon hearing this, Art took a step forward. He wanted to make a good impression as the two of them were lost and needed Violet's help to find the venue for the tournament, nor did he want to miss this chance to be acquainted with such a beautiful woman.

'Sorry, bud,' Art thought before pointing to Ezreal. "It's his fault."

"Art!" exclaimed Ezreal.

"Is that so?" Violet cracked her knuckles,

Seeing this, Ezreal hurriedly hid behind Art to use him as a shield.

Of course, Art was not cruel enough to sacrifice his friend although the blondy was the person responsible for this mess. He thought about what to do and thankfully, an opportunity presented itself before him.

He heard Violet's stomach rumble and an idea suddenly came to mind. From what he knew, the way to a woman's heart is through her stomach with good food. "Let's not get violent here," he put his hands in front of him, "how about we treat you to lunch?"

"Violent?" Violet replied with a smile. "Who said I was going to be Violent? I was merely cracking my knuckles, but sure, I'll take you up on that offer."

"So your not going to hit me?" asked Ezreal, peaking behind Art with puppy dog eyes.

"Of course not," Violet chuckled. "However it would have been a different story if you had actually smashed my window."

Ezreal flinched but still felt a little relieved as he stepped out behind Art.

Art wiped the imaginary sweat off his forehead seeing them made up, and decided to change the subject. "So, where do you wanna eat..." he paused, not knowing what to call her.

"Violet, the name's Violet," she said with a smile, "but my friends call me Vi."

Art was caught by surprise after hearing his name... 'Oh shit!'

There was only one person he knew with this nickname and with bright pink hair that came from the Undercity, aka Zaun.

Vi was one of the 157 characters in the game, but just like Ezreal, Art only knew a few things about her. He knew that she was a hotheaded, impulsive, and fearsome woman who would later work with the Enforcers and that there was a relationship between her and Jinx.

All of a sudden, Art became more nervous than before but with his acting skills honed by 9 years of acting like a kid, he was able to hide his emotions quite well. He cleared his throat and introduced himself. "My name is Art, and he's Ezreal. So, where do you wanna eat Vi?"

"Have you been to Jericho's?" asked Violet.

Art turned to Ezreal and saw him shake his head. "No, I don't think we have," he said.

"Really?!" said Violet in surprise. "You've got to try it, your missing out. It's pretty cheap too."

"Sure," Art immediately agreed, "lead the way."