Crazy Women are closer than they need to be

RJ and Senior Hippie stared at the veteran's strange posture, confusion clear on their faces. RJ had a bit of an idea to his posture, while the skeleton was just... incredibly confused.

"What the hell is he doing?", Senior Hippie asked, "Why is he just standing there like a weirdo"?

"I think he's...powering up", RJ answered after a moment of thought.

RJ had watched a lot of anime shows and movies growing up and was familiar with the concept of..."unleashing one's hidden potential" and "suddenly turning blonde", but it was a little weird seeing it happen in real life. Especially from an old bearded guy who had almost killed him a couple times over.

"That...sounds bad. Shouldn't we be interrupting him or something? I can try firing off another power chord", Senior Hippie said as he readied his guitar. RJ just placed a hand on his guitar neck and lowered in response.

"See, on the one hand it is considered rude to interrupt one's power-up sequence", RJ explained while holding up an open palm to add emphasis.

"???"

"On the other hand", RJ said as he pointed in the direction of the approaching chain, "This next part is going to be rather hilarious".

"Huh? Oh", Senior Hippie said once he looked at the pointed direction, "This gonna hurt ain't it"?

"Only him and a lot, yes".

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{The following is best enjoyed with rock music playing. I recommend Sturgil Simpson's Good Look}

[INCOMING]!

[Took you long enough Tony! I was beg-Wait, what]?!

Donnie was a little too focus on powering up and recalling the iron tanuki daruma that he failed to noticed that it was a tad slower and heavier than when he usually did so.

So when the iron tanuki daruma got within eyeshot of him, he was very surprised to see that crazy hunteress from earlier crouching in top of it like a frog on a tetherball.

The slightly manic, battle-crazed look on her face did not help Donnie process this in the slightest.

[Oh shit! Tony, stop]!

Running on a mix of instinct and panic, Donnie commanded his familiar to stop returning to him.

Following his command to the letter, the iron tanuki daruma immediately stopped and became suspended in midair. Unfortunately, physics was not on Donnie's side.

"Banzaaaaaaai"!

Using the sudden change of momentum, the mad huntress launched herself directly at Donnie at an unprecedented speed. Donnie was so thrown off but the reckless action, that he failed to think about counter attacking.This gave Tatterhood ample opportunity to do something incredibly dumb/awesome.

"TATTER KICK!", she exclaimed while correcting her forward dive into a flying side kick.

"What the-OOF"!

The hunteress' kick connected with Donnie's skull, the sound of bones crunching as foot met jawline. However, she wasn't done yet.

She followed up her kick by latching her other leg around Donnie's neck and rapidly spinning around until she was firmly riding his shoulders. Once she had done, she manifested a golden arrow and notched it into her bow.

"Bye-bye", she said in a sing-song voice as she pulled it back and prepared to fire. The golden arrow in her hand began to glow a sinister red color.

Donnie was a bit disoriented but his instincts to live kicked in once it was clear once he felt the dense energy gathering at the top of his head.

He couldn't think of any strategy, any tricks or items that could help him escape at this moment...all except one.

At the same moment he thought of what to do, the arrow was let loose.

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"I surrender!", Donnie exclaimed as the arrow was just about to pierce the top of his skull, "I do not want to go around that bend again".

The moment he said those words, the arrow stopped midair and began to hover just as it was about to pierce the flesh and bone. The very tip of the arrow nearly scratching the head.

"Well...that was impressive", RJ complimented.

"Holy shit... where'd she learn how to do all that?", Senior Hippie asked aloud.

"Aww, too bad", Tatterhood said as she relaxed her fighting position. Acknowledging his surrender, Tatterhood proceeded to nimbly flip off of Donnie's shoulders and landed back to where RJ and Senior Hippie were standing.

Once the trio was reunited, Tatterhood's armor and bow turned back into a set of tattered clothes and wooden ladle, respectively.

"Much more comfortable", she said once her clothes went back to normal.

"Wait, you're a storied?", Donnie asked he once he saw Tatterhood changed back, "then how come it felt like-".

[The Winner of the duel is RJ the Geomancer], the game's voice suddenly announced, [Due to this being RJ's first official victory, the user has been credited 5000 coins and sent a special prize package. Please open at your earliest convenience].

"Wait, Geomancer? First victory?!", Donnie exclaimed in confusion, "When did you start"?!

"Uh... yesterday?", RJ answered sheepishly.

"You have got to be kidding me...", Donnie groaned as he fell onto his knees in a slump.

[The users will now be disconnected from the Arena. Prepare for reality return in 3...2...1].

"Uh Oh. Hope you don't get motion sickness", RJ stated.

"Wait, what? Why- AYAYAYAYYAAA!"

In a blurry of movement and a surge of Mana, the people and storied in the arena were sent back to reality.

With no longer needing to host a duel between mages, the arena rapidly crumbled, turning back into the formless aether of the World Between the Lines.

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In the literal blink of an eye, Donnie, RJ, Tatterhood and Senior Hippie had returned to that small segment of pavement on Haight-Ashbury. Nothing appeared to have change, except for the addition of a slightly greener tree where once a dirt plot stood.

"AHHHHHHhhhhh.....wait, that wasn't to bad", Senior Hippie said once he had his wits about him. He was expecting horribly painful warping nonsense...or the return of the dog teeth...

"Yeah, just wanted to mess with you a bit", RJ said once he made sure all of his limbs were still present, "You seem easy to mess with".

"Hey", Tatterhood suddenly interjected in feign offense, "That's my job"!

"Ughhh", Donnie groaned, "Great. Not only do I get my butt whooped by a noobie, but I also have to listen to them banter". Evidently, he did not get up once he was warped back to reality, so he was still groaning on his knees.

"Oh yeah...sorry about that", RJ apologized, "didn't mean for Tatterhood to get so...rough".

Donnie gave RJ a hard look as he scrutinized his sincerity. After seeing that he was being serious, Donnie let out a sigh.

"Oh forget it. The blame is technically on me", Donnie said as he got himself back up, "So what brings you to the Haight anyways"?

"Well...it's a bit weird...", RJ said, beating around the bush.

"Do you happen to know the name Reya Nakamura?", Tatterhood asked in his stead.

A strange look came on Donnie's face as his back suddenly straightened from the mentioning of the name.

"Why do you know that name"?