"Help us, Boomer," Ronit's friend said.

Why is he calling me that?!

I stepped back. "Please use my real name, and no, I am not going to do anything. Handle that situation yourself. Cheating is not good."

"Who said we are cheating?" he retorted. "We just need someone professional. I am sure you have already seen how the battle is going. It is pathetic! Ronit is an idiot. I had already told him to not mess around, but he has put our crew's reputation on the line. We can't back off now."

"That's your problem, kid," I said. "I am here for work, so please don't disturb me. As for saving your crew's reputation, call someone from your crew itself. Why are you asking me for help?"

The boy's face started losing color. "First of all, I am not a kid. My name is Varun, and second, I can't call my seniors. All of them are busy training for the national level crew competition. They will kill us if they get to know what we are doing here."

"Then stop this battle," I said.

"We can't."

"Excuse me? Why are you doing this when you know you will land in trouble?"

Varun looked at his opponent angrily. "They made fun of Ronit on his birthday and even said that The Emperors must have been high for selecting us. They insulted our captain and challenged us, so how could we let them get away just like that? Unfortunately, they have two senior members among them, so we are having a hard time. I know this is an informal match, but we don't want to lose. You are TJ and Hriaan Bhaiyya's friend, no? Please help us."

Even though I got agitated after hearing what Varun had said, I couldn't help him. I would have lost my job.

I refused and moved away from him, but Varun kept following me.

"Why are you refusing? Aren't you going to help your friends?" he accused.

"Varun, don't try my patience," I scolded.

"It is Ronit's birthday. He will be really embarrassed if he lost," he said sadly. "You just need to help us in winning one round. The rest we will manage."

I laughed. "I can see how you guys are managing. Thank you for the joke. I am a lot busy, so please excuse me."

Varun grabbed my hand. "Bhoomi Didi, please."

I narrowed my eyes. "I have already been in trouble once for being Boomer. I am not going to repeat the same mistake again. Moreover, I will lose my job because of you."

If Varun wasn't enough, Ronit also arrived alongwith his other teammates. There was a small break in their dance match, so all of them decided to attack me.

"You can just hide your face," Ronit suggested. "I will tell your supervisor that you were busy with some personal work of mine, so no one will suspect you."

"Kids, you are really asking for trouble. Why should I sacrifice my salary for your mistake?" I almost yelled. "And you Ronit, are you an idiot? Don't you know how strict Tejas is? Why the hell did you accept the challenge? What will you do if Tejas or Hriaan get aware of this? You all have just joined the team. Are you preparing to get kicked out?"

None of the boys said anything. All of them were staring at me like lambs, and I kind of felt bad for scolding them.

"How much is your pay?" Ronit asked.

"That's not your concern," I replied.

"I will pay twice- no, thrice the amount you are making today," Ronit said. "Just help me one time. I promise there won't be any issue. You will not lose your job. I have to win this dance battle. I can't lose my face by accepting defeat."

Thrice my pay? That's a lot. In one night, I would be able to make a lot of money... Wait! What am I thinking?

"Bhoomi, help them, no?" Sarika encouraged after she caught us.

"I can't," I said.

"I will cover for you. I also want to see you dance, and my curiosity has just increased after watching the boys trying to convince you. Just finish off one round and return. Easy peasy."

The boys got happy after Sarika supported them. All of them were pressurising me, and Ronit again assured me that I would not land in any kind of trouble with either my employer or his captain.

I was refusing them, but a part of me wanted to go on the stage and join the guys in the dance battle. It felt like the stage was calling me towards it like a Siren.

I imagined myself breakdancing, trying to defeat the opponents, and that thought made me very excited. I had always fought with Rehman and had freestyle matches within my crew, and after that exhilarating underground dance battle between my crew and The Emperors, I knew I enjoyed battling.

The temptation was real. I kept telling myself to not accept Ronit's request even if he paid me ten times my salary, but when I looked at the stage, I felt an adrenaline rush.

It will be so amazing to step foot on it.

"Okay, I will do it," I said. "Just remember your promise."

Ronit and his friends' eyes lit up with hope. Before I helped them, I reminded them that I was not going to do anything extreme and would leave after one or two rounds. I didn't guarantee them any win because I didn't want to give them any false hopes. All of them agreed to everything, and Varun handed me a mask and his cap to wear.

I quickly went to a restroom and wore the spare baggy t-shirt in my bag. I hadn't washed it yet, so I just borrowed Sarika's perfume and sprayed myself. I couldn't believe I was going to cosplay as Boomer again.

I shouldn't worry. This is a normal birthday party, and a random dance match shouldn't create any problem. Let's enjoy the battle and make the birthday boy happy.

Ronit and his teammates were back on the stage, and their opponents were continuously taunting them. I slowly made my way through the thick crowd and joined Ronit's team.

"Who's that?" Ronit's opponent asked curiously.

"You guys have experienced battlers, so we have also brought someone. He is Boomer," Ronit replied.

His rivals started laughing, but I didn't react. I hated that stage name; still, it was useful as it distracted everyone from finding out my real identity.

"Come on, Ronit, just accept that you can't win. No matter who you bring to save your face, you are going to lose anyways. The Emperors are really on the way to their downfall," the opponent irked.

Ronit got angry, but I placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't fall for their trap," I whispered. "It is a very common tactic to make you lose your focus. Just relax and concentrate on their moves. Honestly, they aren't doing anything better than you, but they are succeeding in taking advantage of your anger. Do not react to them at all, and they will start falling off soon."

Ronit nodded. He stepped back, and as the battle began again, he let his friends handle two rounds. As I had already seen, our opponents were experienced players. They were strategically playing their parts and not wasting much of their energy. They intimidated Ronit and his team by doing complex stunts, but because of that, they were mostly offbeat.

Unfortunately, the crowd was going crazy for such stunts, and even if these routines were not polished, the audience usually got hyped by the upbeat music and humans jumping in the air every five seconds.

This is so boring.

"Hey, you newcomer," one of the rival dancers waved at me. "Are you a showpiece? Why aren't you doing anything? What was your name again? Boomer? I am sure you are pathetic just like your name. Go home and sleep."

I know my stage name is pathetic. I don't need a reminder.

"Boomer, why don't you do this round?" Varun suggested.

"Okay," I replied.

When the next round began, our opponents tried to shoo us away. They kept being childish and hyped up the crowd.

I didn't say anything and stretched my arms. When the music started, I kept my movements light and in accordance with the difficulty level this informal match was asking for.

When I ended my performance, my rival team arrogantly ignored me. I knew they were a little bit affected but were expertly hiding their annoyance. After me, Varun and Ronit did a two vs two challenge with the other team, and I was happy to see the improvement in the boys.

Sadly, our rivals put experienced dancers against the boys, and it was putting a dent in everyone's confidence.

This match was lost before it even began. I can't even go all out. I really want to, but I can't. All of them are kids except those two guys on the opposite team. They can finish off this battle sooner, but I know they are having the time of their lives. They are here just for fun, nothing else.

Why don't you show them what real fun is, Bhoomi?

What do you mean?

Come on, I know you are holding back a lot. What are you afraid of? All of you are dancers here, and no one knows your real identity. This is not an official match, but do you really want to lose? To these jerks? Look at them acting so high and mighty. Finish them off.

Should I?

Why not? Do it!

I felt a rush of adrenaline. Everything around me blurred, and I only saw my opponents.

There are five of them, and one by one, I am going to crush all of them.

The beat dropped, and I made my way from behind Varun and Ronit. They were taken by surprise because our other teammates were going to do the next round. I signalled them to move away as I didn't want them to get hit.

My team made space for me, and the stage was all mine. Unfortunately, I had to break my promise of doing just one or two rounds because I was having fun now.

(Reference for Bhoomi's round👆🏽)

I was delighted when I saw my rivals' faces getting hard. They did their best to scare me and even booed while I was performing, but I teased them back. I happily skipped back to my team and challenged the opponents to do better.

"What was that...?" Varun asked as if he was in a daze.

"Didn't you say you were not going to do anything extreme?" Ronit asked with wide eyes.

"This wasn't extreme, birthday boy," I replied. "The fun has just started."

My whole team gawked at me. I knew they didn't believe me, and I understood their situation. They were younger than me and were still training, so I got why they were so shocked.

"We can't even completely understand what you did just now," one of Ronit's friend, Ijaz, said. "That's not our style. We are a team; we need to match our styles. We are already losing, Boomer."

"Calm down," I said. "It is Ronit's birthday today. We should enjoy."

Ijaz exchanged nervous glances with another teammate named Sam.

"You are scaring us, Boomer," Sam said.

I looked at him in confusion. "Why would you say that? We are on the same team, kids."

"You should see the look in your eyes," Ijaz said in terror. "It is not normal."

Sam nodded. "We are not planning on going to jail for murder."

I laughed at their innocence. "Relax. I won't do anything to cause trouble."

"Hey, Boomer!" our rivals shouted. "Who do you think you are? You may be here with the misconception that you can help these idiots turn the tables in their favour, but you will be crushed alongwith them. We don't know who you are exactly, but it is sure that TJ has lost his mind nowadays. He is bringing weirdos from nowhere. We are actually worried for The Emperors. We think TJ will retire sooner than we imagined."

What did they say?! Did they just insult Tejas?

I glared at my opponents. Outside, I laughed at their overconfidence, but inside, I was fuming with pure rage.

"Ronit, Varun, Ijaz, and Sam," I called my teammates.

All of the kids gathered around me, and Sam repeated that I was not looking like a normal human being.

"Let's end these morons," I seethed. "Announce that I want to do a Smoke-to-five challenge."

"What?!" Varun yelled. "You want to go against all five of them by yourself? Are you crazy?"

I narrowed my eyes at him, and he gulped nervously. There was no way I was going to let those pathetic opponents get away so easily after insulting Tejas and his crew. I was ignoring them, but they had crossed their limits now.

"Are you going to do it or should I do it myself?" I snapped.

"We will do it," Ijaz replied nervously. "Please don't kill us. We are still very young."

"Are you sure?" Ronit asked me even though he also looked scared of me.

I patted his shoulder. "Trust me."

I understood the boys' dilemma, but I really wanted to beat my rivals. Ronit announced the challenge, and our opponents laughed in mockery.

I grinned when they accepted the challenge and said that they would love to see me make a laughing stock out of myself. I was waiting for this only. Their overconfidence was just increasing, and after watching them dance in the earlier rounds, I was now well versed with their weak points and strategies.

I cracked my knuckles and rolled my shoulders as I took my spot on the stage. I heaved a deep breath and motioned at my rivals to bring on the game.

As per my prediction, they sent their weakest member first, but I didn't go easy on that dancer. I was on the offensive mode since the start, and that boy started losing a lot of beats. I didn't care if he was younger than me; on the stage, everyone was equal.

(Refrence for the Popping round👆🏽)

I kept going on as the first guy kept repeating the same Popping moves, and the audience yelled at my opponent team to send someone else. My first rival was down, and now it was turn for the next one.

The second guy started Krumping and moved his first really close to my face. He smirked, and I wished he could see how much I was happy for him to choose Krumping. He glared at me when I bumped his extended fist and started my routine from that move.

Even if my stature was small, Vibhan had always told me to use the space around me to my full extent. Krumping required aggression, and I used that dance style to let my anger out creatively.

(Reference for Krumping round👆🏽)

When the audience's loud cheers roared in my ears, I knew that this round was also mine. I looked back at my teammates and signalled them to hype the crowd. They instantly did as I told, and soon, the crowd started cheering for Ronit and our team.

We succeeded in provoking our rivals, and they sent one of their experienced players against me. He was almost the same age as me, and after seeing him up close, I remembered him being a part of a crew that had participated in some dance competition along with my crew Unix.

He was swift on his feet and did breakdancing. It was my most loved dance style, so of course, I was going to show him what Boomer could do.

(Reference for breakdancing round👆🏽)

The round was so much fun! Instead of feeling exhausted, my energy was increasing by each passing second. I ran across the stage and hyped up the crowd even more.

Due to my act, the kids watching the match got more excited, and I teased my opponent by winking at him. If I wasn't wearing a mask, I would have blown a mocking kiss at him.

The guy got agitated and started doing random stunts to throw me off. I wasn't surprised. Thanks to him trying to show-off, I didn't need to put much effort. He ended up going off-beat a lot of times even if his stunts were good.

Seeing him panic, his team called him back and sent their fourth dancer. Surprisingly, it didn't take me much time to defeat him. But unfortunately, while doing a flip, my cap fell off. Varun instantly picked it up, and I grabbed it and wore it again really fast while spinning to avoid anyone seeing my tied up bun.

Luckily, there were no reactions from either our rival team or audience because of the small blunder. To avoid any unwanted trouble, I did a complex move and a happy dance to annoy the other team. This helped everyone get more distracted.

Their last dancer looked very serious, and I wondered what he had in store for me.

"I am going to crush you, Boomer," he warned.

I shrugged my shoulders. Ronit and other boys asked me if I wanted to continue as they were afraid of me exerting myself beyond my limits. I told them that I could manage; I didn't want to quit in the most interesting part.

My fifth and last rival had sharp eyes, and his moves were explosive. I was impressed by how he was trying to mend his teammates' mistakes and was catching each beat like a pro. He was good.

I liked his freestyle routine, and I would have complimented him too if he hadn't gone ahead and flipped me the bird. That ruined my whole impression of him. He was a good dancer, but his moves had started getting provocative. He always moved too close to me, and I had started getting disgusted now.

I understood his frustration, but acting vulgar while dancing, especially in front of kids younger than us was a disrespect to both the stage and our dance.

I crossed my hands in a big cross to show my disapproval and shook my head to let him know that he was ruining his image only. Instead of understanding that, he got more angry and ended up smacking me on the chest. He acted like he did it accidentally, but I knew it was on purpose.

"Boomer, you okay?" Ronit asked.

It actually hurt, but I was cosplaying as a boy, so I acted like a tough guy. Inside my mind, I was murdering my rival.

Such stuff happened during crew battles, and a lot of times, it lead to physical fights, but I didn't want that to happen. I ignored the threatening moves the rival dancer was doing. When my turn came, I showed him that we could be aggressive while being decent.

I repeated some of his moves, but unlike him, I showed him how he could have maintained the dignity of every dancer. I didn't want any kid present to get a wrong impression of dancers because of him.

(Reference for the last round👆🏽)

"Boomer! Boomer! Ronit! Ronit!" The crowd cheered.

Slowly, the whole crowd stared yelling our team members' names like an anthem.

The rival team was almost done for, and after one more minute, the audience decided the winners themselves.

The ear-piercing cheers of "Ronit! Ronit!" confirmed our win, and the battle was ended. I bowed in front of the audience to thank them, and my team followed. As the dance battle had ended now, I forwarded my hand towards our opponents to show that I enjoyed battling them.

Ronit, Varun, Ijaz, and Sam also joined me to shake hands with the other team. But unlike us, our rivals were not happy with the result. I thought they would accept the crowd's decision, but the last guy I had battled against grabbed my extended hand and yanked me towards him.

"This win is not yours, okay?" he seethed. "If not on the stage, I will crush you outside."

Ronit pushed that guy away. "You guys had challenged us, remember that. We are not looking for a fight, so stay away from Boomer."

The other team glared at us and scurried off the stage, fuming in anger. Ronit asked me if I was okay, and I nodded.

Why did that jerk grab my hand so tightly?

Ronit was very happy. While he celebrated with his other friends, Varun and Sam helped me to go through the crowd and dropped me near the restrooms. They left after Varun took my phone number.

Sarika was prepared for me and helped me get changed. As she had promised, she covered for me and teased that I was acting so strict but ended up enjoying the most.

"You were on fire, Bhoomi. I didn't know you were such a good dancer," Sarika praised.

"Thank you," I replied.

"You do dance battles often?"

"No."

"Really? You looked like a pro though."

"Actually, I have personal experience with some of the top b-boys, so I guess that helped," I said.

Sarika wiggled her eyebrows. "And who are those b-boys? Is one of them The Emperors' captain?"

I blinked rapidly. "Wh-what?!"

She giggled. "Look at you acting like I said something scandalous."

I laughed awkwardly. "Ha ha. Let's go now before our team leader catches us."

She nodded, and we joined our team back. Ronit's birthday party was almost over, so I started my work of supervising the distribution of return gifts.

After an hour, the event was over. While I was onboarding our travel bus with my team, Ronit arrived with his friends.

I was glad to see him glowing like a star. He took me by surprise when he suddenly hugged me.

"Thank you, Bhoomi Didi," he said joyfully.

I patted his back. "Happy birthday."

He and Varun gave me and Sarika a gift box each. They insisted when we refused. To not spoil the kids' mood, we accepted their gifts.

"I have your number, so I will call you about what I had promised you," Ronit said.

The payment! I completely forgot about it.

"You don't need to, Ronit," I said. "I enjoyed too, and we didn't mess up anything, so there is no need for that."

"But I promised you."

He was sulking, so I decided to agree with him. I was going to reject his payment anyways. As I was getting late, I told him to message me later. Sarika and I boarded the bus, and after half an hour, I was dropped at the railway station from where I had to take my usual train.

Finally, all of my adrenaline rush was over when I relaxed in my seat. My right arm was hardly moving. I glanced at the spot where that dancer had grabbed me earlier. It was throbbing painfully.

I really didn't hold back, did I?

I was so immersed in the battle that I even forgot about my shoulder aching. Slowly, all of my joints started betraying me, and I winced when I moved my body by even an inch.

I was in pain, but I had no regrets. After this unofficial match, it was confirmed that I loved doing dance battles. The uncertainty of the result, and the anticipation of what your rival is going to challenge you with, made me thrilled.

Oh, fuck. I think I will need a bulldozer to carry me home.

Why don't you call Tejas to help you? Remember how he had easily carried you as if you weighed nothing?

I wish he was here. All of my pain would have vanished in a go. What is his superpower exactly? He is really a human being, right?

Why don't you ask him yourself once he returns? Whether he is human or an alien, he is atleast not a zombie like you.

Tejas Jaiswal, how will you feel if a zombie confessed to you?