“I can imagine how devastated she must feel. I want to see about taking her to a nightly stroll in Central Park.”
“That may be hard. She hasn’t set foot there ever since she found out her mom died. That place was where Gail’s body was found.”
“I can still try.”
***
At a deli in Brooklyn, Jody is having a cheese sandwich on wheat. After she finishes her lunch, she pays the man upfront.
“Thanks for lunch, Harry,” she says to the man.
“My pleasure, Jody,” the deli man replied.
She leaves out the door and is about to walk home when she sees Kaynon sneaking around. Jody wonders why Kaynon would be here when he should be training. Jody decides to follow him to see what he’s up to. She follows him to a dangerous part of the Bronx that is covered with graffiti and has shady types who are dealing drugs and weapons. Kaynon goes around the corner into a nearby alley as Jody quietly follows him. He sees Kaynon taking another jar of Waspite from Pirhanascine who is one of Psikes’s men.
“Psikes says this new batch of Waspite will heighten your strength and protect you from your weaknesses,” the dealer said, “Just remember to win at the next fight.”
“You got it.”
The Pirhanascine walks away as Kaynon leaves with his new batch. Jody ducks into a doorway to make sure Kaynon doesn’t see her. Kaynon is about to walk the opposite direction without noticing her when he gets a whiff of her scent. He walks toward to where she is, surprising Jody when he has her cornered.
“What are you doing here, Jody?” he demanded an explanation.
“I saw you with that guy, Kaynon!” she angrily said, “What did you just buy from him?”
“Just a new protein shake,” Kaynon lies to her.
“Protein shake my foot! Kaynon, we already know you’ve been taking Waspite!”
“You know?!”
“You were showing the signs, especially after you viciously attacked Tegro! I can also take a guess on who your supplier is!”
“So you still care about me!”
“Kaynon, this is serious! You could get into trouble taking that stuff! Not to mention its side effects!”
“Jody, I’m fine. This Waspite is the only thing that could help me become champion!”
“You were once the top jock of our school! What made you take Waspite?”
“I wanted to give more to the coach than just one-hundred and ten percent. Psikes came along and gave me the Waspite. He said it would do wonders on my muscles that only years of body building on machines can do. With the Waspite, I can not only be the Best Fighter in the Intergalactic Fight Tournament but have you!”
“Me?”
“Jody, out of all the girls of our school, you are the one I want. You understand me more than anyone. Once I win, we can finally get married like we talked about.”
“Kaynon, we were just teens when we talked about that. Besides, I’m not gonna be with someone who wants to win so badly, he’d turn to dangerous drugs to do so.”
“It’s because of Don Kobra, isn’t it?!” Kaynon angrily roars, “He’s stealing you away from me just like he stole the spotlight when he and your bug pal rescued Tegro!”
“Leave Don out of this! He has nothing to do why we broke up!”
Kaynon grabs her by both arms and pins her to the door as Jody struggles to get away.
“Kaynon, stop!” she commands, “You’re hurting me!”
“I’m not letting you go until you agree to marry me!” Kaynon says.
“NO!”
“Jody, don’t do this to me! Say you’ll be mine!”
Jody struggles to get away, but Kaynon is too strong from all the Waspite. He holds Jody tightly in his arms and tries to kiss her until a familiar voice calls him out.
Let the girl go, Kaynon!” the voice demanded.
He turns around and sees Lock Claws and Minos glaring at him and standing ready to fight him.
“Think a tough guy like you can take two fighters by yourself?” Lock Claws threatened him.
“Leave now, and we won’t hurt you!” Minos threatened as well.
Kaynon knows that if he gets into a scuffle with them, he could wind up hurt before the tournament or arrested. Either way, he can’t make Psikes angry, so he whispers something into Jody’s ear.
“Think about my proposal,” Kaynon whispers before he ran.
Jody catches her breath as Minos walks up to her.
“Are you alright, Jody?” Minos asks in a concern tone.
“I’m fine,” Jody assures him, “He just caught me by surprise.”
“So this is the girl Kaynon is obsessed with,” Lock Claws says as he approaches the two, “What’s your name, young lady?”
“Jody Terrance.”
“Terrance? As in John Terrance, first human to compete in the Intergalactic Fights?”
“Yeah. He’s my father.”
“What were you doing in this awful neighborhood, Jody?” Minos asks.
“I was going home when I saw Kaynon sneaking around,” Jody explains, “I followed him, and then I saw him buy something from this shady dealer.”
“He bought more Waspite, didn’t he?” Lock Claws asks with suspicion.
“He did, and it looks like he already taken some today, as you two already noticed,” Jody says.
“A Waspite addiction? I thought as much,” Minos stated.
“That dealer didn’t see you?” Lock Claws inquires.
“N’ah. I’ve always been the quiet one of my class,” Jody jokingly says.
“My suspicions are correct. That means Rex Psikes is behind this.”
“And calling off the fight won’t do much good if a few of the board members are on his payroll,” Minos added.
“I’m more worried about Kaynon. He’s getting more obsessed with me and more vicious,” Jody says.
“It will be worse for him. That Waspite can even cause enormous stress on the heart muscles, leading to heart failure,” Lock Claws says.
“We better warn Mannie since he will be fighting him next,” Minos says, “Where is your friend, Jody?”
“Mannie is training at my dad’s gym,” she tells them, “I was gonna ask you guys to walk me anyway. I don’t want to take any chances of Kaynon stalking me.”
“I understand, Jody,” Lock Claws accepts the offer.
The three walk back to the gym as Psikes watches them from his limo.
“Give our former dealer our “severance package”,” he calls on his phone.
***
At John’s Gym, Jody, Minos, and Lock Claws are already telling John about everything that is going on, including Kaynon’s Waspite addiction, shocking John.
“I can’t believe Psike’s would give Kaynon Waspite just to fill his own pockets!” says an outraged John.
“Somehow, we gotta get Kaynon out of the tournament before his heart gives out,” Jody says.
Raven is at her desk overhearing everything. She is growing nervous because she recently got word from Psikes that he made a “special” new batch of Waspite for Kaynon’s next fight. Raven is starting to worry for Mannie as she watches him workout on the rowing machine.
Mannie continues to row using the machine as he looks at a picture of Raven in a red cocktail dress as Raven’s tip works.
“I’d…do…anything for you…Raven,” he grunts as he continues to work out.
“Take a break, Mannie,” John says as he stands next to him, “I’d say you have done enough training for today.”
“Thanks, John,” he says as he takes the picture of Raven.
Mannie walks over to Raven to thank her.
“Raven, I want to thank you for the pictures,” he says.
“My pleasure, Mannie,” Raven replied.
Mannie walks back to his apartment as Jody walks with him.
“Mannie, where’s Don?” Jody asks.
“He forgot something in his locker back at the arena,” Mannie informs her.
***
Don walks to the locker room through the arena seating.
“I better get my gift for Jody,” he says.
He is almost there when he sees Athena sneaking around.
“Athena? What’s she doing here?” he wonders.
Don follows Athena backstage without being seen. He hides behind the curtains as she contacts someone through her comwatch.
“This is Athena. Have you analyzed the sample I sent you?” Athena calls on her comwatch.
“We have, Athena. Your suspicions have been confirmed,” a voice explains, “The orange stuff you found in Kaynon’s locker is Waspite. We’ve also hacked into the bank records belonging to Psikes. Money has been transferred from his account after our champion’s violent outburst. We tracked the wired money to members of the Board of Chairmen who oversee the Intergalactic Fights. Apparently, they are taking bribes to keep Kaynon in.”
“He’ll need Kaynon not only for his gambling operation, but as his demo for the drug. Keep me posted. I’ll see if I can find more evidence against Psikes, but we have to hurry. Kaynon could collapse at any moment. Athena out.”
Athena turns her comwatch off and is about to leave when Don accidently kicks a nearby paint can. Athena hers the clunk sound and gets out a laser gun. She sneaks over to where the sound came from very slowly until she opens the curtain and quickly points her gun at Don, terrifying him.
“Don Kobra? What are you doing here?” Athena interrogates him.
“I just came back to pick up a present I got for a friend,” Don explains himself, “The question is what are you doing here? What was that about a sample and wired money?”
“Guess I do need some help on this case.”
Athena digs through her bag and gets out her PDA as it shows a badge and identification. She is really Athena Carson of NYPD.
“You’re a cop?!” ask a flabbergasted Don.
“Athena Carson. I’ve been working undercover trying to find evidence to convict Rex Psikes on. I want to finally bust him after what he did to Sergeant Terrance.”
“You knew Jody’s mother?”
“She was my partner. She was infiltrating one of Psike’s drug trades, and it was my fault she got killed.”
“Why you?”
“We got information on where the trade took place from an informant I knew, but he double-crossed us and ratted out our undercover assignment to him. His thugs ambushed Sergeant Terrance and me. Sergeant Terrance got me out of there, but she got shot to death and all because I trusted the wrong guy,” Athena sadly explains.
“It’s not your fault, Athena,” Don comforts her, “Psikes obviously has eyes and ears all over the city. Anyway, perhaps you can help with another problem. When I was putting Jody to bed last night, I thought I saw a shadow outside her window on the fire escape. When I looked outside, no one was there, but I found something else.”
Don gets out a plastic bag with the tuff of hair he found and shows it to Athena.
“That looks like a chunk of Kaynon’s fur,” she states.
“I know,” Don says, “I think Kaynon is stalking Jody. The Waspite is causing him to become obsessed with her.”
“Sounds like our champion is getting worse. You do what you can to get him out of the competition. I took a bio-reading on him before his fight with Tegro, and his heart rhythm is in the red.”
“I hope Mannie wins for his, Kaynon, and Jody’s sake. If there’s anything I can do to help…”
“You’ve already helped enough by giving me the information I need. Just be careful around your friend’s ex.”
Don walks to the locker room to get his present to Jody.
***
That night, Jody is called to Mannie and Don’s apartment. She arrives at the apartment and knocks on the door.
“Come on in, Jody,” Don told her.
Jody opens the door and walks in as Don sits at the table with a small gift box.
“Dad and Mannie told me you wanted to see me,” Jody says, “What’s going on?”
“I wanted to give you this,” Don says as he present her his gift, “I got this for you last week after my fight. I hope you like it.”
Jody takes the present from his hands and opens it. Inside is a small silver locket in the shape of a twinkling star.
“Oh, Don, it’s so beautiful,” she says softly.
“You can put in whatever picture you want,” Don says while rubbing the back of his head. Your dad told me about you and Kaynon today. I’m sorry for not being there for you.”
“It’s not your fault. I shouldn’t have followed him by myself.”
“He also told me he proposed to you. You still don’t have any feeling for him, do you?”
“No. The Kaynon I fell in love with is long gone. Anyway, I heard of the motivational exercise Raven is using on Mannie. I thought it’s a great idea. That’s why I wanted to give you one of my pictures. Like Raven told Mannie, don’t focus on the winning or losing, just the living.”
Jody kisses Don on the left cheek as she gives him a picture of her standing in Central Park during autumn ten years ago.
“Thank you, Don,” she whispers as she leaves for her apartment with her locket in hand.
Don is left wondering whether she thanked him for the gift or everything else that happened. He also feels bewildered by the kiss as he looks at the picture, leaving him to wonder if he is falling in love with Jody.
Chapter 16
Over the next two weeks, Mannie and Don’s training intensified. John has raised the level on the simulator, intensifying their holographic fights. Don fought off a whole cave of bat aliens without throwing a sweat. Mannie took on a bigger Kanite and won.
***
The two fighters have also continued their training on the weight machines. Mannie is on the lat pulldown machine while Don is on the bicep curls. Each has a picture of the girls who gave them, motivating them to train as hard as they can. Mannie kisses his picture of Raven blowing a kiss. Don just smiles and nods as he continues. He sees something familiar about the spot in Central Park where the picture of Jody was taken in.
“I know that spot,” he says to himself, “I’ll take Jody there after the next fight.”
Mannie is just finishing up when he sees Raven at the front desk. She winks at him the same way he winked at her during his last fight, making Mannie blush and realize that Raven is warming up to him because he treated her the way a girl should be treated.
Raven, however, is very distraught. Psikes has given Kaynon a new batch of Waspite, but she can’t warn Mannie. She is reluctantly loyal to Psikes since he is the one who picked her off on the streets. Buzz is stocking shelves when he see Mannie and Raven together.
“Psikes is not gonna like this,” Buzz says to himself, “Hopefully, for Raven’s sake, Kaynon won’t kill Mannie during their next match.”
***
During the last two days before the match, Don and Mannie have been sparring with each other with Jody, John, Buzz, and Raven watching them as the sun goes down. After their sparring match is over, the six went back to their van. Don sits between Jody and Buzz while Mannie sits with Jody. Each fighter wrap an arm around one of the girls as they drive back. Jody smiles a little, but then looks away from Don and looks out the window. Don could tell she’s scared of what Kaynon would do to him if they ever have a relationship. Instead, Don holds Jody’s hand while Mannie and Raven cuddle together.
***
Meanwhile, in Psikes’s private gym at the casino, Kaynon is doing his own training. He is hitting the punching bag hard, pretending it is Don. He hits and kicks it repeatedly when Psikes comes in.
“Are you ready for the semi-finals?” Psikes frustratingly asks.
“Yes, Psikes,” he says while wiping himself with the towel, “You sound tense today.”
“Because Buzz reported that the bug has been flirting with Raven. You need to take that new batch of Waspite tomorrow. I want that girl-stealing pes
t eliminated!”
“With pleasure, Boss. Just one thing though. I keep getting a fluttery feeling in my chest every time I take the Waspite. Should I worry?”
“That’s normal, Kaynon. Your heart muscle is just building up. Just make certain you defeat Mannie and his cobra friend if you want Jody to be yours.”
Kaynon smiles maliciously at the thought of finally making Jody his girl. What he doesn’t know is that Psikes plans to have him eliminated once sales on his Waspite are final.
***
The day of the Semi-Finals have finally come. Everyone gathered in the arena in Madison Square Gardens, filling the seats. Psikes is above, waiting for the fight in the comfort of his private luxury suite. He contacts Buzz on his cell phone.
“Buzz, are you near the Equalizer?” he asks.
“Yes, Boss,” Buzz replies, “Ready when you say sabotage.”
“Good. Wait until Kaynon’s match and then shut the machine off.”
“Right, Boss.”
***
In the locker room, the boys are getting ready for their match when Kaynon comes in, glaring at Don Kobra.
“Once I beat that bug, you’re next, Snake!” he threatens Don.
“Remember, he’s the friend of your ex,” Don warns him.
“Jody won’t be my ex for long. Psikes will make sure of that.”
“Kaynon, I know about your deal with Psikes and your Waspite addiction. Psikes is just manipulating and using you to sell his drug. Let us help you.”
“I don’t need any pity or help! I just want to win and have everything I want.”
“Not if I have something to say about it,” Mannie says while peering behind a locker door.
Then, he hears someone coming in through the side entrance of the locker room: Raven.
“Raven, what are you doing here? This is the Men’s Locker Room,” he warns her.
“I just wanted to tell you to be careful,” Raven replied, “Kaynon may be full of surprises tonight.”
“How do you know?”
“I’ll tell you after your fight. I have to go.”
Raven leaves in a hurry, leaving Mannie to scratch his head and wondering what Raven knows about Kaynon.
“She’s hiding something,” Mannie whispers to himself, pondering.
Intergalactic Fight Club: Don the Champion Page 7