Episode #12: Meeting at Midnight
Or, How I Spent My Weekend Kicking Crime Butt
Kick. Jab. Punch. Jab. Block. Kick. Kick.
The man moved with the grace of a shadow, the speed of an eagle, crushing his enemies with his strong fists, ready to defend the forces of justice. Executing a magnificent backflip, he lashed out with his feet, hitting one thug in the neck, the other in the forehead. With muffled groans, the thugs slid to the ground, soundly defeated.
Seeing that it was over, Flip wiped his brow with the back of one sleeve, and reached for the remote, turning off the Jackie Chan action flick. It was time for him to do his own fighting.
* * *
The phone rang, disturbing the place of quiet meditation. There was a moment of silence, and it rang again. It rang again and again, harsh and annoying amid the sounds of the indoor fountain and the wind through the open window.
A hand closed on the receiver, and crushed it easily.
The silence resumed.
A few moments later, something beeped. However, it only got a chance to beep once before its owner slipped it out of his pocket, flipped it open and placed it to his ear. "Hello?"
"What is wrong with your last phone? The ringing was cut off."
The apparently scrawny man in a black body suit ran one hand distractedly through his tousled hair and peered anxiously into the main room of the dojo. "Um, well, it was apparently crushed."
" . . .I see. Well, then, tell Number One that I have a request for him."
"The Black Dragon does not like to be disturbed during meditation—"
"That’s not my problem. I’m on the safe end of the phone."
The man had a distinct feeling that the Boss was smiling. Fighting down his fear, he said, "Yes, sir. Right away." He walked into the room where the one called the Black Dragon sat meditating, a crushed phone nearby. "Sempai, our most eminent leader is on the phone and wishes to speak with you—"
The Black Dragon opened one eye and turned it on his student. Even seated so delicately, his legs crossed indian-style, he was a bulky type, muscles tensed under his gi. "My meditation must not be disturbed."
"Yes, well, he’s very adamant, sempai—"
As happened frequently in scenes like this, there was a long pause. The dojo was dead quiet, the only sound being the omnipresent cicadas in the background. For a long time, nothing moved. Although the man holding the phone was afraid that he would start shaking if the dread silence continued.
"Very well," came the long-delayed reply. He lifted one hand and extended it, palm-up.
The student placed the cell phone in the master’s hand. Let us meditate upon this wisdom.
"Speak."
"Number One, I have a—"
"I am the Black Dragon."
There was another trademark pause. " . . .as you wish. Black Dragon, I have an assignment for you. You’ve no doubt heard about those called the Argonauts . . ."
* * *
The dormitory known as Large Ditch had been named after just that: set back in the woods, in a little corner of the campus, it sat alongside a large ditch—a ravine, if you will. The dormitory was divided into several towers, and unfortunately had a reputation of being near-impossible to navigate. Rumors tell of several students who were lost forever in an attempt to get from one tower to the next, and just last month a student had to be escorted out by security after spending a week trying to find the exit.
Keibert looked again at the map he had hastily scrawled from the last time he had navigated the bowels of Large Ditch. Strange, he had sworn he’d passed this corner at least four times. If only he had some landmark to help him…
Relying on luck, he pushed open one door and entered a lounge. It was empty, so he couldn’t get anyone to help him—but as he was turning to leave the room and try again, he noticed something. Pawprints. He grinned.
Following the trail of pawprints, it wasn’t too long before he came to where he was looking for; on one of the girls’ floors, one room was opened, and littered with half-filled cardboard boxes. And pacing across that room was a certain blond-haired bounty huntress.
Of course, the moment Keibert saw her, all of his carefully-planned speeches flew out of his head, and he was reduced to a drooling simp. Then again, Linnea tended to do that to people.
"What do you want?" she asked imperiously, hand on hip. Her pet wolf, Fang,
lifted his head from her stripped bed mattress and growled at the intruder.
"Uh…umm…." Keibert said, eyes darting from Linnea to the wolf. Well, first thing’s first. He put one hand on Fang’s head and scratched it behind the ears. It immediately quieted. Well, that was a start; his life was no longer in danger.
Regaining his composure, he finally managed to focus on the situation. "What if I told you…that I can help you get your bounty money for the Argonauts? And you won’t have to worry about anyone killing you off afterwards." He nodded at the half-filled boxes. "Then you wouldn’t have to worry about packing."
Linnea stood there a moment, stunned. Then, after blinking furiously a couple of times, she smiled. "Have you finally come to spill it about the Argonauts?"
"Meet me at the corner of Tenth Street and Park…and I’ll tell you everything I can about the Argonauts." Smiling his trademark Mysterious Smile(TM), he slipped out of the room.
Linnea’s smile widened into a grin, and she resumed her pacing, although this time, her steps were lighter.
* * *
Charlie was in the Wise Guys Center, the latest reason why Algainy tuition was so high. It was a recently-built fitness center filled with all the latest in fitness center technology. Like stairs, and doors, and drinking fountains. Oh, and lots of exercise equipment and practice rooms. It was in one of these practice rooms that Flip was pounding and kicking a punching bag into an indistinct mass of fluff. Several other indistinct masses of fluff already surrounded him.
You must focus.
The punches became more severe.
Focus is the key.
He swung around with an axe kick—
Never forget your mission. Your purpose.
—and the punching bag was pulled off its support rope and went flying across the room. Part of the mirrored wall shattered, spraying the reflective shards onto the floor.
Charlie walked over to pick up the totaled punching bag (which could now more accurately be described as an indistinct mass of fluff) and regarded the shattered bits of glass. Fragmented parts of his own face were reflected from the mirror, scattered in pieces about him.
The mirror wasn’t whole. It wasn’t focused.
His attention was diverted when someone opened the door to the practice room. "I don’t know why," came a voice, "you keep insisting on practicing with most of the lights off—" The voice cut off when its owner saw the remains of the mirror, and was replaced by an impressed whistle.
"I work better in the dark," Charlie said quietly, more to himself.
Josh raised an eyebrow, and flipped on the lights. "I hope you have the money to pay for that mirror; the college is not going to like this." He stepped into the practice room. "Here, I brought you someone." He held up Kuni-chan.
"Hweet!"
"Kuni-chan!" Charlie squealed in delight, and hugged the tiny winged hedgehog mascot.
"Anyway," Josh interrupted a scene that was fast becoming overly saccharine, and checked his watch, "the others are meeting in McFinley’s for dinner. Are you coming?"
"Kawaii!"
"Um…Beth will be there…she said she’s going to return the volume of Preacher that you lent her—"
Lightning flashed dramatically, and the lights flickered, sending Charlie’s face into shadow. "I will be there," he intoned darkly.
"Geez, you have to stop doing that."
* * *
"Old shoes in a light rancid gravy."
"Nooo…." Beth said, smiling.
"Last night’s biology experiment?" someone else offered.
"Nope, try again!" she said in a sing-song voice.
There was a long pause, then finally Brian shrugged. "We give up." He poked the indescribable brown mass on his plate with a fork. "What is today’s dinner?"
"Well…" Beth said, drawing out the tension as long as possible, "do you remember those two students that disappeared last week?"
Brian groaned. Jen made a face and pushed her dinner plate away.
"They have nothing to do with this," Beth finished, winking. "I just thought it would be funny to mention it right then. It’s really chicken chow mein."
Jen’s eyelid twitched. Brian blinked, and scratched his head.
Right then, Josh and Charlie appeared with their own trays and slipped into the available seats. "So," Charlie began, "does anyone know what they’re serving us today?"
"Don’t ask…" Jen groaned.
"That bad, huh?" Josh asked.
"Hey Josh, would you like to play ‘Guess That Meal’ with me?" Beth asked.
"Um…"
"Just say ‘no’, Josh," Brian said.
"Hey Charlie," Beth chimed up, reaching into her bookbag, "I brought you something!"
"Oooh!" he exclaimed as she pulled out his copy of Preacher.
"It was sooo awesome! It rocks!" She flipped to one page and held it up. "See, Jen, this is my favorite part! Look!"
Jen looked up, and immediately turned away. "You know, I did not need to see that while I’m eating…"
"But how can you not like it?!" Charlie demanded. "It’s cool! See, this is the part where he pulls out his gun and—" When he saw that nobody was paying attention, he frowned. "Oh, come on, guys. You have no sense of cool!"
"Believe me, I know what cool is," Brian said. "Tamahome going Super-oni. Ryoga using the Shishihokudon in the second Ranma 1/2 movie, that was cool. But there are some cool things we just don’t want to see when we’re eating."
"And the corollary to that," said Jen, "is that there are some cute things some people just don’t want to see when they’re eating." With that, she pulled out a Ryo-ohki, which wiggled its nose and said, "We have to get back to the magic kingdom now!"
"NOOOOOOO!!!" Brian exclaimed, falling to the ground and twitching.
* * *
"These…" said the Black Dragon, flipping through the reports of the Argonauts, "are my targets?" He raised one eyebrow. "They are hardly worth the trouble." He closed his eyes and thought for a moment.
"Um…sempai…?"
"You shall go after them. And take them with you." He gestured to another room of the dojo.
"Um…yes, master!"
* * *
Charlie crawled through the mess that was his room and opened up the closet. "Those guys don’t know what it means to be a cool lone crime-fighter," he said. Inside the closet was nothing but a banister. He sighed. "See, this is exactly what I mean." Looking carefully and not finding any other way to get down, he climbed onto the banister and slid down into the darkness. "Batman doesn’t have to slide down a banister to get to the Bat Cave…"
At the bottom of the banister, the Dungeon was in its usual state of disarray. Charlie walked towards the main section, but each step became slower and more cautious. Something…wasn’t right. The Dungeon was always a mess, but this time, there was something oddly—intentional about it. It was hard to spot; it was like trying to see if someone had ransacked a dump. But it was there.
He peered around a corner, and his eyes widened. Torn up bits of paper were scattered all over the place. He picked up one bundle, and realized with horror that it was a copy of Ranma 1/2, volume 3, torn to pieces and barely hanging together by its binding. No, none of the others would have done this. Then, that could only mean—
He followed the trail of ripped up comics and gasped, seeing some colored pages. He picked one up; though it was only a small piece of a page, he could barely make out a man holding a gun to a woman’s head. Another piece nearby showed a picture of a demon.
No…
He turned over some more pieces and found a ripped-up piece of binding. And written on it—
Preacher.
They had destroyed his Preacher collection.
Hand slack, he dropped the destroyed comic, and began to glow with a battle-aura, shaking with barely-contained rage. He walked over to the main room to call the others via the Crime Computer, but stopped dead when he saw something pinned to the door. Kuni-chan, who had followed him down into the Dungeon, squeaked in curiosity, but for once, he ignored her. Ripping the piece of loose-leaf off the door, he read it slowly.
To the Argonauts;
This is an open challenge; we shall meet in the open field in Woodcreek Park at midnight. We know the location of your headquarters now; there is nowhere else to hide.
Signed,
Wasabi-san
Charlie crushed the challenge letter in his hand. How dare they….He would accept their challenge. And he would show them—even the Argonauts—just how much of a mistake it was for villains to mess with Flip.
* * *
Somewhere across town, a certain scrawny man in a black bodysuit sneezed.
* * *
Later that evening, Brian arrived back at his dorm-room. However, something was not quite right. It could have been the Charlie-shaped hole in the closet door, indicative of a hasty and extremely determined exit. Or it might have been the odd smell coming from beneath his bed—oh, wait, that was just his dirty laundry. Okay, back to the Charlie-shaped hole. He scratched his head, examining it from different angles, and sticking his head in it to peer in the closet.
"Hmm…I believe this begs further examination." He opened the door—which quickly fell off its hinges. He peered inside: there was a long winding staircase that disappeared around the corner. Sticking out of the wall was a large lever, next to which was a sign that read ‘Super Fun Happy Slide’.
"Wow, a Super Fun Happy Slide! I’d be an idiot not to do this!" Brian yanked on the lever, and the stairs abruptly slanted to form a large slide, sending the Argonauts’ intrepid leader to the bottom rather quickly.
A moment later, a scream resounded long and loud from the bottom.
Josh and Jen arrived on the scene shortly afterward, after a blinking watch and umbrella had alerted them, respectively. They found Brian twitching in a pile of torn-up mangas.
"Oh the humanity!" Jen exclaimed, then fell next to the pile of Ranma 1/2’s. "No, my poor Ryoga!! The Charlotte Cup was my favorite story arc, too…Oh, why did they have to tear up Ryoga?!"
"How do you think I feel?" Josh said. "Jen, I was the one who owned the Ranma 1/2 collections!"
"Oh yeah…"
"Hey, Brian," Josh continued, "are you all right?" He picked up a convenient stick and began poking their twitching leader.
"The horror…the horror…" Brian groaned.
"Yeah, I know…it’s bad. But we’ve seen worse." Josh began pushing aside rubble and made his way to the Crime Computer. "Look, if we can survive seeing Apollo Smile, we can deal with this."
Brian shuddered, then stood up. "You have a point."
"But who did this, anyway?" Jen asked. "Was it an enemy? That would mean that they’ve tracked down this place." She followed Josh to the computer. "The only other solution is Keibert or Charlie; but why would they ransack this place?"
The screen flickered to life, and Josh quickly typed several keys. "I don’t know, but look at this. There seems to be a large congregation of evil at the Woodcreek park."
"Think it might be connected?"
"I don’t know; we can’t jump to conclusions."
"Hey Flip, are you there?" Brian had flipped open one of their pocket communicators. He noticed Josh and Jen looking at him. "What? Contacting Flip would
seem to be the next logical step." The mini-screen merely flickered. "Hmm…seems like he’s not picking up."
"He might be in danger! It’s possible he found out who tore this place up, and went after them."
Josh looked around. "Does anyone know where Keibert is?"
"You know, I haven’t seen him in a while," Jen said. "We can only head off to Woodcreek and hope he shows up; he usually manages to come right in time."
"Right! Let’s transform!" Brian slapped his trademark dragon sticker on his baseball cap. "Well, I’m ready."
Josh and Jen had just changed into Seeker and Super Jen, respectively. "Let’s go!" Super Jen said triumphantly.
"To Woodcreek!"
* * *
Linnea stepped into the pool of light at the corner of Tenth and Park, Fang right behind her. She checked her watch; it was almost midnight. She began pacing. Not that she was anxious; well, maybe a little expectant. But it was her norm to pace, so we’ll leave it at that.
A moment later a certain figure joined her in the light. It was Keibert. Wearing a medieval green shirt and his Indestructible Velvet Pants.
"Y-you—"
"No, it’s not," Keibert quickly butted in, putting one hand over her mouth. "Let me explain. I’m just—dressed as the Argonaut called Pouch. Here," and he pulled from behind him six manila folders, handing them to the bounty hunter.
Linnea took the folders and flipped through them. "But Keibert, these are—"
"That is correct. I’ll explain the purpose of the sixth one later. Right now, I want you to listen carefully. This is what we’re gonna do . . ."
* * *
Flip stepped out into the clearing in the chill night. Overhead, the stars glittered coldly. It was well into spring by now; exams would be on the way. But he couldn’t worry about that right now. At this moment, he had a mission. He had to focus.
A twig snapped on the other side of the field. He examined the edge of the forest carefully, and was surprised to see that several men in black bodysuits had already appeared silently before one had slipped up. Not bad at all.
Something tiny fluttered into the clearing; it was Kuni-chan. She fluttered around Flip, but his focus didn’t move from the warriors gathered on the other side of the field. She even landed on his shoulder and pulled on his ear, hweeting and trying to get his attention, but this time she might as well have been trying to get the attention of a statue. Worriedly, she flew off. Flip’s muscles tensed, ready for action.
Finally, one of the men stepped forward. At first he appeared to be short and scrawny, but on further notice, his lean muscles seemed actually rather strong, like wiry steel cables beneath his bodysuit.
"I," he began, "am Wasabi-san. I come before you as—"
There were various snickers behind him. He turned around, annoyed. "Quiet! It’s not like I knew what the word meant when I chose it! I mean—" His face went beet red. "I mean, well—I just wanted to sound Japanese, you know?"
Flip’s face was stoic. "These things happen," he said quietly. "You were the one who sent the challenge; you are the root of the evil I must tear out of Moadville."
"I," Wasabi continued, "am the First Ninja Master of the Black Dragon! Prepare to meet your doom!" He got into a battle stance.
Flip’s muscles tensed even more; it seemed like he was gathering the night to him.
Wasabi launched himself at Flip, uttering the not-quite-meaningful battle cry of "Haikiba!"
Flip held out an arm to stop him. However, he wasn’t prepared for the unexpected strength of this small man and was pushed back a couple of feet. Flip’s eyes narrowed. Well, then, he’d just have to compensate.
Wasabi gathered himself for another attack, and charged. However, by the time his fist got to where his opponent ought to have been, Flip had launched himself in the air. The young ninja master looked up just in time to see a black figure falling quickly towards him. The wind caught Flip’s cape and flung it outward; against the moon, he looked like some dark angel of vengeance come from the heavens.
Wasabi’s scream was cut off as Flip’s outstretched hands hit his shoulders, slamming the ninja into the ground. The Argonaut easily rolled to his feet, followed a moment later by a shaky Wasabi. The First Ninja Master of the Black Dragon gathered all his strength, and launched himself for a final attack. Flip charged back; Wasabi swung.
And missed.
Then Flip’s fist landed in his gut.
Wasabi opened his mouth to scream; only a gargling escaped, along with a couple of drops of blood. The so-called ninja master sank to the ground.
There was a moment of silence. Flip sighed, the satisfaction of justice served filled his body.
Then, from the shadows, one of the other men stepped forward. "Haha!" he said. "You may have defeated the First Ninja Master, but can you defeat the Second Ninja Master?"
Flip raised one eyebrow.
The man screamed some odd battle cry, which resolved itself into a declared attack, "Fist of the Dancing Dead!" His hands and feet lashed out in a blurry haze as he leapt at Flip. The Argonaut sidestepped, then the side of his hand chopped down at the base of the man’s neck. He fell to the ground without a sound.
"Too much style; not enough substance," Flip said to the prone ninja.
"Haha! You may have defeated the Second Ninja Master," said another man from the shadows, stepping forward. "But can you defeat the Third Ninja Master?"
Flip looked at the men. "How many of you are there?"
"The Black Dragon has Forty Ninja Masters. But," said the Third Ninja Master, "after you’ve faced me, I don’t believe you’ll need to meet the other thirty-seven."
Flip punched him in the face. He fell over. Flip sighed.
That was when another man stepped forward and said—you guessed it. "Haha! You may have defeated the Third Ninja Master, but can you defeat the Fourth Ninja Master?"
Flip sighed, and resigned himself to taking out all of the evil in its entirety. He launched himself forward, ready to take out the Fourth Ninja Master, and the Fifth, and the Sixth, and any others that he needed to. That was all he knew; that was his mission.
He heard sounds at the far side of the clearing. From the dirt road that led to the entrance to the park, Brian, Seeker and Super Jen appeared. "Hey, Flip, you need any help?" Brian called.
Flip punched out another ninja. It might have been the Tenth; he wasn’t sure. "I fight my own battles," he growled.
"Umm…okay," Brian said. "Just…let us know if you need anything. We’ll be right over here…"
Flip continued to cut through the ninjas. When, out of the corner of his eye, as he got closer and closer to the fortieth, he saw Wasabi groan and stand up shakily, then jump off into the night as ninjas were so wont to do. Momentarily distracted, Flip watched in which direction he escaped—when the Thirtieth Ninja Master’s hand came down on his neck. Flip fell forward, and struggled to recover.
You must focus.
He stood up and launched an upper-cut at the Thirtieth, who quickly fell. Focus. He saw the other ten, watched them warily. Then, he focused on each. One by one. A roundhouse kick to this one, a triple-punch combo to the next, a double-axe kick to the next . . .
Until he was finally standing in a pile of forty now-unconscious Ninja Masters of the Black Dragon.
"Wow, great job, Flip!" Super Jen cheered.
"Not bad," Seeker whistled.
Flip straightened his cape. "Nothing more than a training exercise," he growled. Turning in the direction of Wasabi’s escape, he disappeared into the night.
"You know, guys," Brian pointed out, "we might want to follow him before we lose him."
* * *
Wasabi leapt from building roof to building roof, occasionally glancing over his shoulder to see if he were being followed. However, the night showed only shadows; he breathed a sigh of relief. Climbing down a fire escape, he turned down one street and into a smaller park at the edge of a sprawling complex. Once he got inside, he should be safe….Pulling out a small device from his pocket, he found what appeared to be a small cave recessed behind some bushes and jammed the device into a keypad next to the entrance. Typing in the combination and placing his hand on the fingerprint i.d. pad, he waited one long, nervous moment until a hidden door just inside the cave entrance slid back. He stepped inside and ran into a wide, dark corridor, with an echoing, high-vaulted ceiling. He knew the Black Dragon was here; he usually was, at this time of the week, giving his report to the Boss. He hated to have to go for help, but the student’s job was to tell the master when he needed it, wasn’t it?
The door started to slide shut—but was abruptly stopped by a crowbar. Wasabi was so far into the corridor by now that he didn’t notice.
Standing in the shadowed entrance, Flip smiled to himself, and stepped inside.
"Master!" Wasabi called, seeing the hulking form of the Black Dragon walking towards him in the corridor. "You must come quickly! One of the Argonauts—Flip, I think—is wiping out the Ninja Masters!"
The Black Dragon stopped, and regarded Wasabi for a long moment. "Foolish student," he said eventually. "You have betrayed us. You have lead that opponent right to us."
Wasabi looked startled. "But he wasn’t behind me—" he began, looking over his shoulder. He ‘ulp’ed, and turned pale. "F-forgive me, Master! It was a terrible mistake on my part! I thought I had lost him—"
"It does not matter now. I will simply defeat him, and that will be the end of this matter."
"You won’t be able to defeat me so easily," Flip growled.
The Black Dragon smiled. "I was about to say the same thing."
"Let’s get started—"
"Hold it right there!" Triumphant music started up as Brian appeared at the end of the corridor, with Seeker and Super Jen on either side, and Kuni-chan fluttering behind them. "We are the champions of justice! Prepare to meet your doom!"
"I can handle this—" Flip began.
"Leave this to us!" Super Jen said, leaping forward with her umbrella and swinging out at the Ninja Master.
One rock-hard fist caught the umbrella as it swung down. Super Jen made a tiny, surprised sound. The Black Dragon leaned forward and stared her right in the eyes. "I don’t fight women," he said stonily.
Super Jen growled. "Don’t underestimate me!" she exclaimed, pulling her umbrella free and attempting to hit the Black Dragon across the face. One muscle-bound arm lifted to block the attack, and the other arm swung around and hit Super Jen instead, sending her flying. She landed on the floor with a groan.
Lifting up her head, trying to clear her vision, she muttered, "Your turn, Seeker."
The Black Dragon waited patiently while Seeker, now in the Gensokaze, stepped forward. Wasabi turned and saw Brian standing in the background, with Kuni-chan hovering in the back. "I’ll take this one for you, Master!" he said, and headed for the Argonauts’ Leader.
Brian blinked at Wasabi, then he lifted up one hand, as if reaching for the young Martial Artist. Staring him right in the eye, Brian intoned dramatically, "Sleeeeep!"
Wasabi sagged, and fell to the ground, snoring gently. Brian looked at his hand, and shrugged. "I really didn’t expect that to work," he said.
Seeker’s armor-encased arm came down on the Black Dragon, but was easily caught and stopped, just like Super Jen’s umbrella. The Black Dragon frowned. "Are you going to fight me hiding behind your armor?"
Behind the blast shield, Seeker smiled. He stepped back, and with a simple command, the Gensokaze came apart and reformed, this time with him outside of it. He got into a battle stance. "I know a little bit of martial arts myself," he said, smiling.
"Let’s see what you can do, then."
Seeker leapt forward with a roundhouse kick. He didn’t remember what happened next, other than a flurry of punches and blocks, followed by a sudden flash of red pain followed by the world turning black. He remembered hitting the ground, followed by the sound of Brian stepping forward—
"Sleeeeep!!" Brian repeated the same process he’d used on Wasabi. The Black Dragon didn’t blink. "Uh….sleeeeeep!!" No effect. The Black Dragon raised one eyebrow. "Huh, it worked before," Brian thought out loud. He pulled out a mirror and tried it on himself. "Sleeeeep!" This time it worked; Brian fell asleep on the spot.
The Ninja Master allowed himself an amused smile.
"Time for me," Flip said, stepping around Super Jen’s and Seeker’s prone forms and around Brian, who was literally asleep on his feet. He gathered all of his strength; this would be a formidable opponent.
The Black Dragon stepped forward and faced off with Flip. For a long moment, there was silence. Then, both their fists came up; Flip’s punch landed on the side of the Minion’s face, but the ninja was faster than he’d expected, and managed to graze the Argonaut’s cheek as he was trying to dodge out of the way.
Flip launched himself forward, trying to get in as close as he could. His fists became a blur of punches and jabs. At first, the Black Dragon defended against the attacks quite solidly, but even his defenses began to fail, and after a moment Flip could feel his attacks were starting to get somewhere. The Black Dragon had to be taking some damage.
Confident, Flip pressed his advantage, but soon noticed that so many attacks were beginning to tire him. His fists began to slow down—
And that was when the Black Dragon began his own attacks. Tired from attacking, Flip’s defenses were weakened, and he could only block a few. The majority of the punches were getting through, and he was beginning to really feel it. The punches impacted hard against his chest; he was being pushed back.
He had to fight back! He couldn’t just let himself be defeated like this! He jumped back, avoiding the Black Dragon’s swinging punch, and launched himself forward, readying his own fist for a terrific punch to the ninja’s gut. But his stony opponent merely caught the fist and launched his own attack. Flip managed to barely hold it off with his free arm. But then the Minion’s knee came up hard, knocking Flip in the chin and throwing him back to sag against the wall.
There was a moment of blackness. Then, a voice.
You must focus.
Flip tried to raise his head, but his vision was swimming. Everything was in pieces.
Never forget your mission. Your purpose.
"My purpose . . ."
A defender of justice. The shadow in the night, ready to stop evil in its tracks, and instill fear and awe into the hearts of his enemies.
"My mission . . ."
The strength to complete his mission was inside him. It was there all along, ready to come to the surface and defeat this Minion at a moment’s notice. He drew himself up, gathering his chi to himself. The world became suddenly clear; and the Black Dragon was right in the center of it all, standing in front of him. That was his target; that was his focus. "You…cannot stop…" Flip began.
"…the Bat!"
An anvil landed squarely on his head and fell to the ground. He didn’t notice; he was focused.
"…Flip!" he corrected, and launched himself forward.
This time, the Black Dragon wasn’t prepared for the sheer amount of force behind Flip’s attack. He tried to block it, but the dark avenger was too quick, and his attack slammed into the Ninja Master, pushing him back several feet. It was followed by several more punches, each more powerful than the last, until finally Flip let loose with a strong lightning uppercut, sending the Black Dragon flying.
He landed on the ground with a loud thud. There was a moment of silence, broken only by the sound of Flip’s heavy breathing. Finally, the Black Dragon got shakily to his feet.
"You…have defeated me." He bowed his head. "I concede to a worthy opponent."
Flip was expressionless. "Take your Forty Ninja Masters and leave," he growled. "And do not trouble the good people of this town again."
The Black Dragon walked past Flip. But as he did so, he said, "Our eminent leader awaits you. All of you." With that, he disappeared into the shadows and was gone.
Flip stared off into the depths of the shadowed corridor. At that time, the others were coming to, and joined him.
"This is…the entrance to the Boss’s headquarters?"
"It must be…" Seeker said, getting back into the Gensokaze. Kuni-chan gave a frightened little hweet.
"Looks like we have no choice, then," Brian said.
"If we are to defeat this evil, we must go forward." Flip’s eyes didn’t move from the darkness in the distance.
"Shouldn’t we wait for Keibert?" Super Jen offered.
Seeker was attempting to contact their fifth member with his pocket communicator, but wasn’t getting a response. "I can’t get ahold of him. And we can’t afford to leave here and try to go looking for him. Besides, they know where our headquarters are now. We have to take care of this enemy now." He thought for a moment. "I say we should just go forward and hope he can catch up."
Flip nodded.
"Let’s go then!" Brian said dramatically. "To wipe out this evil once and for all!"
And with that, the four Argonauts and their mascot stepped into the darkness.
* * *
At that moment, in a distant corner of the complex, an underling was running towards the Boss’s office. He ran into the room just as the Boss turned off a video display.
"Sir, I have some important news—"
"If you’ve come to tell me that my fourth Minion has been defeated," the Boss said icily, never turning to look at the underling, "you’re a bit late."
"No, sir, not that. It’s actually good news."
"Good news?" Now the Boss was interested. He turned and faced the messenger. "What is it?"
"A bounty hunter is at the front entrance. She has one of the captured Argonauts with her, and detailed information about the other four!"
The Boss was silent a moment; then a smile crept over his face. "Well, well. What are you waiting for? Bring them both in…and escort them to my office."
Author’s Notes
Looks like we’re finally back on schedule for the episodes! Believe me, no one is happier about this than me. Anyway, I hope you liked this episode. I tried to do justice to the grimmer and grittier genre of super heroes.
"Wasabi" is a type of Japanese sauce.
"Haikiba" is taken from Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Apparently, in one of their earlier episodes, some guy trying to be a martial artist kept yelling "Haikiba" as a battle cry whenever he attacked, as some faux Japanese phrase. It became an MST3K tradition to yell "Haikiba" whenever someone in a movie makes a pathetic attempt at martial arts-type combat.
Another MST3K tradition is holding out the hand and yelling "Sleeeep!" like some phony, overly-dramatic hypnotist.
Preacher is a very dark and gritty comic book that Charlie is rather fond of reading. For those of you who like the grim Batman-esque anti-hero types and don’t mind a bit of violence, it’s a series worth checking out, and Charlie will vehemently vouch for it.
The idea for the unending supply of Ninja Masters comes from an idea one of us had for a role-playing module: an annoying Goblin King with 500 ineffective Ninja Masters, who keep attacking one at a time.
Now things are going to really heat up for the Argonauts. The finale of Season One is on its way in just a few more episodes! Stay tuned!