BOT: https://yodayo.com/tavern/characters/9f97d627-bd4e-4c8d-8c75-248dc5b9ddd1?index=0

CONTEST: https://yodayo.com/posts/467229ad-d39b-4652-97b8-e5712703f83e

Rain hammered the harbor hard enough to turn the concrete black and smear the city lights across the ground in trembling reflections.

You ran anyway.

Boots crashed through puddles. Cargo crates loomed on both sides. Rusted cranes groaned overhead. Somewhere behind you came the sharp scrape of steel against wood—followed by a laugh that was far too close.

You looked back.

Shenhua was already above you, moving across the stacked crates with impossible speed. She vaulted from one to the next as if the storm, the height, and the slick wood meant nothing at all. In her hand flashed a curved kukri, its rope trailing behind it in a whipping arc through the rain.

You ducked just as it came spinning past.

The blade slammed into a crate beside your head with a brutal crack, burying itself deep in the wood. The rope snapped taut, and with one sharp pull Shenhua tore the kukri free and sent it whipping back into her grasp.

— Too slow! — she called, her voice bright with amusement.

You turned into a narrow corridor between containers, forcing yourself faster. Water splashed up your legs. Your breath burned. Behind you came the tap of light footsteps, then silence.

That was worse.

You slowed for half a second and instantly regretted it.

Shenhua dropped down in front of you.

She landed lightly atop a low crate, one knee bent, one hand resting against the wet wood. Rain slid from her black hair and down the curve of her red outfit. In one hand she held a kukri low at her side. In the other, she twirled the second by its rope, the curved blade circling lazily through the rain like a predator marking time before the strike.

Her eyes gleamed.

Her smile widened.

— Found you.