Head to the park for another workout

You head to the park and try jogging but you barely make a quarter of a mile before you're heaving your guts out. Apparently getting the shit kicked out of you earlier had longer-run consequences.

Naturally Jackie spots you in the middle of mid-puke. "What the fuck?"

"Yeah, sorry," you reply. "Working out probably wasn't the smartest idea."

"It looks like you got beat up."

"Yeah, that's pretty much it."

She sits down next to you. "What do you intend to do about it?"

"Figure out who's behind it and destroy them."

She laughs. "Sounds like a plan. Except I figured this beating was to send you a message, right? They want you to do something or stop doing something. Next time, they won't be so gentle."

"Gentle?" You laugh. "There was nothing gentle about it."

She brushes a finger over your bruised face. "Superficial. A lot of pain but nothing serious. Next time, they'll break bones. Unless they decide to **** you."

You sigh. "Yeah, thanks for the cheerful words."

"Sarcasm much? It doesn't suit you. Maybe you should learn to fight."

"There were two of them."

"And?"

"And they're experienced. How am I supposed to take on multiple opponents who attack me by surprise and have all sorts of experience giving beatings that they can dial up or down to five degrees of precision?"

"Training."

Yeah, you thought she'd say something like that. "I still don't have any money."

"But when you take down these assholes, you'll be rolling in it, right? I guess you can owe me."

Learning to fight seems like a sort of pointless exercise. After all, five minutes of training with a handgun can negate a decade of martial arts experience. And you have a lot to do without spending half your life learning fancy martial arts dances and breaking boards with your toenails or whatever it is that they do. On the other hand, you're enough of a nerd to have spend half your youth watching martial arts anime and reading manga.