Bludd and Webtro suddenly yawn after sipping their nectar. They look tired like they did a long run. Slowly, they went to sleep in front of the Vidscreen, making Jody and the other curious.
“What caused them to get tired?” Jody wonders.
Jody suddenly hears someone whisper her name. She turns over and sees Lock Claws.
“Lock Claw!” she ecstatically calls her name.
“Shhhhh,” he quietly says.
Lock Claws quietly walks in, and one-by-one, cuts the ropes of the hostages, freeing them. They quietly get up walk away slowly so they don’t wake Bludd and Webtro up. Each of them made out the door. Jody hugs Lock Claws and Buzz.
“I’m so glad to see you two okay,” Jody says with relief.
“But how did you two get Bludd and Webtro to sleep?” Mannie asks him.
“Before their drinks were delivered to them, I slipped some Reptarian sleep flower pollen in their drinks,” Buzz replies.
“Did you…say…pollen?” Mannie says as he sniffles.
“Oh no!” Raven whispers, “Don’t tell me you’re allergic!”
“Who…isn’t? Ahh! Ahhh! Ahhhh CHOOOO!”
Mannie’s sneeze is enough to wake Webtro and Bludd from their pollen-induced slumber. They see the prisoners outside the door.
“They’re escaping! STOP THEM!!!” Webtro screams as he chases after them.
“Run for it!” Lock Claw yells.
Their former hostages run before Bludd and Webtro can grab them.
“Bludd, you call Psikes and tell him what happened,” Webtro instructs, “I’ll go after the hostages.”
Bludd contacts their box as Webtro gives chase, sighing in relief.
“At least I won’t get the blame,” he says to himself as he wipes the sweat off his head.
***
The fight between Kaynon and Don continues. Kaynon swipe kicks Don away from him, but Don grabs his leg at the last second and throws him to the mat face down. Then, Psikes signals to Don that his time is up, tapping on his watch, Don stopping for a moment to waits for Kaynon to get up.
“THAT HURT MY LEG!!!” he screams as he charges Don, grabs him by the shoulder, and pins him against the bars of the cage.
Don wraps both arms around his neck and tries to reason with him again.
“Kaynon, listen,” he pleads with him, “Psikes told me to lose this fight. He has taken Jody and the rest of my friends hostage. He threatens to kill them unless I do as he tells me.”
“No! Psikes has Jody waiting for me! He convinced her to come with me!” Kaynon puts himself in denial.
Kaynon flips Don, causing him to fall on his back. Kaynon gets on top of him and attempts to bite him. The crowd gasps with fear as they watch this. The Ref and MC become angered by this action.
“He’s trying to bite his opponent?!” the MC exclaims, “That’s against the rules!”
“I’m putting a stop to this fight and disqualifying Kaynon immediately,” the Ref says strictly as he walks to the cage.
Unfortunately for them, Psikes and Cru get in front of them with laser pistols.
“You won’t be interrupting my champion, fellas,” Psikes says.
Suddenly, Rex’s cell phone rings.
“Hello?” Rex answers.
Bludd is on the other line telling him what happened, infuriating Psikes.
“What do you mean the hostages are gone?!” he screams on the phone, “Find them right now!”
Psikes hangs up and gives Cru a new order.
“Bludd and Webtro lost our hostages,” he informs his bug henchmen, “Go and help find them before that Jody girl gets here. If she tells Kaynon I’ve been lying, the police will be the least of my problems.”
“Right, Boss,” Cru said as he rushes over.
***
In a hallway not far from the arena, the others are coming up with a plan to evade their captors.
“Jody, I want you to go to the arena and stop Kaynon,” John instructs her, “Don will try and reason with him, but because of the Waspite, he may not listen. However, he will listen to you.”
“I understand,” Jody says, “but what are you guys gonna do?”
“We’re gonna distract Psikes’s stooges. Just be careful, hon.”
“I will.”
“Mannie, I want you and Raven to go with her. I’m counting on you to protect them.”
“No problem, John,” Mannie assures him.
Raven, Jody and Mannie run to the arena whilst the others stay behind for Psike’s henchmen.
***
Back at the arena, Psikes in enjoying the fight as it continues. Kaynon is slugging it out with Don and throwing punches into his face as it becomes covered with bruises and cuts; his nose starts bleeding; and he gains a black eye. All Don could is take his beatings and miss a few blows with Kaynon, thinking only of Jody.
“Come on! Fight back!” Kaynon demanded, “It’s like you don’t want to fight!”
“I’m not supposed to,” Don says as he breathes heavy.
“Huh?” Kaynon says.
***
John, Lock Claws, and Athena stand ready in case Psikes’s goons try to attack whilst Buzz hides on the ceiling. They suddenly hear sounds of footsteps coming from different directions. Webtro suddenly appears from the pipes, surprising Buzz and wrapping him in a cocoon of webbing. Buzz falls down to the floor, and Webtro jumps down after him. Then, with full, violent force, Bludd burst through the wall and charges at the heroes. Lock Claws tries to fight back with his pincers, but Webtro spits out his webbing and quickly ropes them, making Lock Claws helpless. Athena and John try to fight back against Bludd, but he grabs them with his claws and starts squeezing them real tight, making them squeal and squirm. The henchmen are about to harm them when a loud screech causes them to cover their ears and scream, letting go of their captives. They both look up and see Myotis fluttering at the ceiling. Lock Claws takes some of Webtro’s webbing and jumps him. Then, Minos and Tegro appear from behind Bludd and grab both his arms and legs, tripping him.
A few minutes later, both Bludd and Webtro are tied in his own webbing, unable to get out.
“That should hold you two until the police get here,” Lock Claws states.
“Now, we have to find the others and rescue Don,” Minos says.
***
Mannie, Raven, and Jody are almost at the entrance to the arena.
“We’re almost there,” Mannie says.
“Think again, Mantoid!” says a familiar voice.
Cru jumped down from the wall and onto Raven. He holds her in a headlock very tightly.
“Surrender, Human, or I will break the little lady’s neck,” he threatened.
Raven elbows the Antion in the lower abdomen he forget to cover, causing Cru to let go of her. Mannie charges at Cru and puts him in a mantis-style bear hug. Cru struggles to break free, but his arms are bound by the hug.
“I’ll hold this loser!” Mannie says, “You girls get to Kaynon and Don, but be careful of Psikes!”
Raven and Jody continue running to the ring with Raven looking worried about her new boyfriend.
Mannie and Cru continue their fight. Cru manages to break free from the hug, by using his pincers to pinch Mannie, causing him to let go whilst wincing in pain. Cru then punches Mannie right in the face.
“That was for beating me at the fights!” Cru yells, “And this will be for pleasure!”
Cru kicks Mannie in the abdomen, grabs him by the shoulders, and slams him against the wall. Mannie kicks him off with his right foot and punches him in the face.
“That was for using Raven to threaten me!” Mannie yells back as he grabs him by the neck, “and this is just for fun!”
Mannie punches Cru until he is knocked out cold.
***
Back at the arena, Don is on the floor breathing heavily with blood dripping from his mouth as Kaynon proudly stares at him, ready to deliver the final blow. He awaits Psikes signal of whether to finish hi
m off or not. Spikes gives a thumbs-up for a second, and then he gives Kaynon a thumbs-down signal. Kaynon is about to pick Don up and deliver a deadly blow when the flutter in his chest suddenly gets worse enough for severe chest pains. Don opens his eyes and sees what is happening.
“Kaynon, what’s wrong?” he asks as he slowly gets up.
“It’s my chest! The fluttery sensations are now feeling painful!” he gasps.
“The Waspite is weakening your heart! Call this fight off before it becomes fatal!”
“Listen to Don, Kaynon!” Jody yells out as she comes down the stairs and runs to the ring, “Are you alright, Don?”
“I’ll manage the pain,” Don responds.
“Kaynon, Psikes was never intending to convince me to marry you. He and his gang took me and my friends hostage. They were using use to threaten Don into throwing the match. After the fight, he told his thugs to take us to Central Park where they can shoot us to death and make it look like a gang war happened. He even wanted you dead because all you are to him is a loose end. Please! You have to believe me!”
While Jody reasons with Kaynon, Psikes pulls out his laser gun, sets it on kill and points it Jody, ready to pull the trigger. Kaynon and Don see Psikes pointing the gun at Jody. Psikes pulls the trigger slowly.
“Jody, LOOK OUT!” they both shout as Don quickly pulls her away, causing Psikes to misfire.
“BLAST!!” Psikes screams as the crowd goes into shock for what he tried to do.
“SEE!! Psikes tried to kill Jody!” Don pointed out, “Why would he do that if he said he was planning to marry her off to you?!”
Kaynon now sees the truth and suddenly gets angry enough for a loud growl while showing his teeth fiercely. He breaks the bars, creating an opening out of the cage for Don and himself. Psikes becomes fearful of his behavior enough to run up to Jody, grab her and point the laser gun at Jody’s head.
“Stay where you are or your girl will die!” Psikes demands.
Don and Kaynon stand with fearful looks in their eyes, not knowing what to do next.
Chapter 21
Psikes continues to use Jody as a shield against Kaynon and Don. Neither of them want to see Jody hurt.
“If any of you follow me, the human girl dies!” Psikes threatens as he slowly walks backwards up the stairs with Jody.
As he slowly reaches for the nearest exit, which is where Jody and Raven come out of, Raven is behind a door, waiting to pull an attack on Psikes. Just as Psikes reaches for the door, Raven pops out and gives a karate chop on his neck from behind, causing him to let go of Jody. Jody runs back to Don and hugs him.
Psikes gets up and sees Raven. He angrily grabs her by the right wrist and throws her to the floor into front of him. Psikes is about to punch Raven when suddenly, his forearm is grabbed by a familiar hand. He turns his head and sees an angry Mannie behind him as he punches him in the face.
“Nobody hurts Raven on my watch!” he yells.
“Give up, Psikes!” Raven says, “We know what you’ve been doing to Kaynon since high school! You gave him that first batch of Waspite to help him win! You made him buy more from you and caused him to work for you and pay off his debt while helping him cheat his way to the fights just to make money off him and use him as a lab rat for your drug!”
“And then you took us hostage to make sure Don loses both the match and his life!” Mannie added.
“All in the name of profit!” Psikes said gruffly, “That dog was easy to tame and trick! He wanted to win to impress that human girl, so I gave him the Waspite and kept supplying him with it despite the “side effects” it contains. He helped me with not only my gambling operations, but provided the demonstrations for my Waspite to my investors.
“And you bribed a few members of the board to keep him in the game! Not to mention you killed my mother because she was a cop investigating your drug drive!” Jody added.
“Sometimes, you have to make a few sacrifices in order to make it!”
“That’s all we needed to hear!” Mannie said as he gets a microphone and recorder out.
Raven and Mannie, in truth, have tricked Psikes into confessing his crimes. Not only did Psikes confess to the audience on a microphone given to Mannie by the MC, but everything he said is on a vid recorder that was given to Mannie by Athena before after they escaped. Mannie can give Athena the recording since she will need hard evidence against the sleazy reptile.
“You two tricked me!” Psikes realizes.
The audience are now booing and throwing their snack foods at Psikes like a bad act. Athena suddenly appears with Psikes’s fighting henchmen in electronic restraints colors that zaps them of their strengths. Mannie gives Athena the vid chip.
“I hope this is enough evidence to put this creep behind bars for life, Officer Athena,” Mannie stated.
“It’s all the evidence I need, Mannie,” Athena says, “Thank you.”
“It’s all over for you, Psikes,” Don tells him off, “Your drug trafficking days are numbered.”
“That’s what you think, Officer Athena!” Psikes says as he gets out a vile of his last batch of Waspite.
Psikes muscles slowly grow as his eyes turn red and bears his sharp dinosaur teeth, except Psikes is not three feet taller than Kaynon. Psikes lets out a huge T-rex roar, scaring the entire audience as they all run screaming to the nearest exit before them. Psikes grabs two members of the audience and throws them to the wall. He keeps doing this to every audience member he can get his claws on. Lock Claws and the other fighters are shocked to see this from the top of the seats.
“Psikes has taken some Waspite!” Minos exclaims.
“And he’s attacking the crowd to make his escape!” Lock Claws added, “You guys get the people to safety while I get Don and Mannie and try to stop this raging dinosaur!”
Tegro, Minos, and Myotis salute to Lock Claws as he runs down the stairs. Then, the three fly down as Tegro and Minos hang onto Myotis to save the people.
***
A newly, powered Psikes rampages toward the screaming crowd until he sees Raven helping an old lady up. Raven turns around and sees Psikes jump behind her. She is about to run for it when Psikes grabs her and cradles her as a frightened Raven screams for help.
“Raven!” Mannie screams as he is about to run to her rescue.
Lock Claws sneaks behind Psikes and pinches his tail, causing Psikes to holler in pain while dropping Raven into Mannie’s arms.
***
Don and Kaynon both run to the back where they keep the fog machines for special effects. Don sees two canisters of liquid nitrogen and grabs them.
“Come on, Kaynon!” Don commands, “I got an idea.”
They each take a canister and run to where Psikes is now.
***
Meanwhile, a large group of people are trying to get out and head to safety, but the doors to the exit are stuck tight, causing panic.
“The doors are locked! I can’t get them to open!” one patron said as he tries to push the doors open
“We have to get out now!” a panicked patron shouts!
“Allow me!” Minos said as he is ready to charge.
Minos bows down his head and charges at the door like a raging bull and forces the doors open, allowing the group to escape. Myotis is flying some patrons down to the exit from the high seats when he hears Tegro calling for help. He flies to him and sees Tegro trying to lift a column that has a woman’s ankle trapped.
“I need help! This woman is trapped!” Tegro said as he tries to lift the column.
“I’ll help,” Myotis says, “Cover your ears!”
Tegro and the woman did as they are told as Myotis unleashes his sonic screech, breaking the column into pieces.
“Good move, Myotis!” Tegro congratulates him as he picks the woman up and runs to get her to safety.
***
Psikes, now crazy continues to hurt whoever he can get his hands on. Lock Claws and Athena each grab an arm and try to hold Ps
ikes down. Jody is hiding behind the seats to stay out of their way and to serve as back up. The two are holding Psikes tightly when Don and Kaynon came with the canisters of liquid nitrogen. They point the hoses to the canisters at his feet, but Psikes uses his tail to knock the four down away from him, causing them to fall to the floor and making Kaynon and Don drop the canisters. Psikes takes one of the canisters and freezes the four in a block of ice that covered their bodies. Jody gasps as she sees her friends in peril when she suddenly finds the canister Kaynon dropped earlier. She quietly picks it up and carefully aims it at Psikes’s feet.
“Now to finish you off, and then Raven and the Bug!” Psikes said as he is about to crush them with his tail.
Jody sprays the liquid nitrogen at Psikes’s feet and tail in the nick of time. She freezes him until the bottom half of his body is covered in ice, making the super dinoid completely immobile. Lock Claws uses his claws to free themselves from the ice. At the same time, John shows up with a pair of cops.
“Your perp is right there, Officers,” he says as he points them to Psikes.
The cops walk to a frozen Psikes and cuff him while reading his rights.
“Rex Psikes, you’re under arrest!” one of the cops says, “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You also have the right to an attorney. If you can’t afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you by a court of law.”
“You fools haven’t seen the last of me! I’ll escape, and I will have my revenge on all of you someday!” he furiously pledges as the cops take him away.
Don helps Jody up from behind the seats and hugs her.
“I knew you are strong,” he says proudly.
Kaynon is about to approach Jody and Don when he suddenly feels violent chest pains and begins breathing heavily like before. Jody and Don see this as he faints on the floor.
“Kaynon! Kaynon! Can you hear me?!” Jody worriedly shouts to him as he sees a blur of her before blacking out.
“Someone get an ambulance over here!” Don says as Kaynon falls into unconsciousness.
***
A few minutes later, paramedics have placed Kaynon on a stretcher as he breathes through an oxygen mask. He is taken to an ambulance outside as the crowd watches and gossips to each other. Jody is crying on Don’s shoulder as he, Raven, John, and Mannie comfort her.
Intergalactic Fight Club: Don the Champion Page 12
