ONE YEAR BEFORE THE BLACK OUT
"Gun it, Miles!"
Miles jammed the gas pedal to the floor. His finely tuned Dodge Challenger surged ahead of its opponent. Miles laughed triumphantly.
"Only two more Miles to the finish line!" Monroe winked at Miles. "Get it? Miles?"
"Hmmph." Miles ignored the tease, although he secretly wished he had come up with the clever wordplay himself.
"No way he can catch us now!" The Dodge Challenger surged ahead of its opponent. Miles laughed triumphantly again.
All of a sudden, the opponent car started gaining. "What the hell, man?" Miles asked Monroe. "You said this would be easy!"
"I know, I know, Miles. When I heard that this Dirk Speedblood guy was coming into town challenging us (he is the drift king of Toronto) I figured we could beat him easy!"
Miles jammed the gas pedal to the floor even harder. This time the Dodge Challenger did not surge ahead of its opponent. The opponent's car, a supertuned 1993 red Honda Civic, blew past Miles right before the finish line and everyone cheered!
The Honda Civic window rolled down revealing its fedora-sporting driver. "Hi, I'm Dirk Speedblood," said Dirk Speedblood. "Good race guys. You almost won, but I downshifted at the last second and used the extra torque to give my tires the extra grip to pass you. Close call, though."
"Man, losing sucks, but at least this Dirk Speedblood guy is a gracious winner!" Miles smiled. "Let's be friends. But if you want to be my friend, you have to take the challenge of the sword!"
Dirk Speedblood locked his amber eyes on Miles, and a wolf-like smile spread across his face. "I accept your challenge," said Dirk Speedblood.
Dirk Speedblood reached into the back of his Civic and pulled out Urufu no Moru (it means Wolf's Fang in Japanese) and turned to face Miles. "A katana? Why not a dirk?" asked Bass with a smirk.
Dirk Speedblood ignored the taunt. "Do you have a sword?" Dirk Speedblood asked quizzically.
Miles popped the trunk on his Dodge Challenger and removed his military sabre. "Now," said Miles, "We duel!"
Dirk Speedblood watched as Miles paced around the pool of light cast by the headlights of their cars. Everyone watching had gone silent as they prepared to watch the duel. Miles suddenly pounced like a wolf and swung the saber at Dirk Speedblood, but was surprised when his opponent blocked his blow with a single swing of the katana. Miles recovered quickly and made a chop at Dirk Speedblood's legs, but his opponent once again surprised him by easily jumping over the blade and counterattacking with a thrust that Miles only just avoided. "That was a good start," said Dirk Speedblood, "But do you have what it takes to beat a true sword man?"
The two fighters circled each other like Alpha wolves looking for weaknesses. Miles knew his only chance to win the duel would be to use his ultimate technique. He backed away while facing Dirk Speedblood. Dirk Speedblood could tell what he was going to do and did the same and put Urufu no Moru back in its sheath. Suddenly they ran towards each other. "What is Dirk Speedblood doing?!" cried Monroe, "He has his katana sheathed! There's no way he can win now!"
At the last possible moment, Dirk Speedblood drew Urufu no Moru and swung it towards Miles, who was swinging his saber towards Dirk Speedblood at the same moment. The two blades collided but Urufu no Moru shattered the sabre like a piece of ice, and chunks of the broken saber flew and hit Dirk Speedblood in the face. But Dirk Speedblood had his sword at Miles's throat. "If this were a real fight, you would be dead," he said. "You're not bad, but a sabre isn't really your style. Why don't you try duel-wielding machetes?"
Miles was about to say something, but suddenly someone in the crowd yelled, "The police are coming! Everyone run!"
Dirk Speedblood knew he could take on the police, but he didn't want to. As he was walking back to his car, he felt blood running down his check and touched his face. The broken chunks of Miles's sword had cut his face badly, but he hadn't felt it in the heat of the moment. "This isn't over Miles!" he yelled at the Challenger's taillights as the Dodge peeled out. "We'll settle this later!"
Dirk Speedblood quickly drove off in the opposite direction, easily avoiding the twenty police cars that had been sent to the scene of the race and duel. Meanwhile, Miles drove himself and Monroe back to their house. Once he got the car in the garage, Miles turned the key to his Dodge Challenger and turned the lights off, foreshadowing what would happen to the world in just a year's time…
AFTER THE BLACK OUT
"Man, no power sucks," said Miles. He sat on a hill and threw a rock, because there was nothing else to do.
"I know, Miles, and since we no longer have an army, we no longer have that kind of power either!" Monroe quipped.
All of a sudden, the roar of a car engine echoed in the distance. Miles and Monroe looked.
"Can it be? But there is no power!" Miles exclaimed.
But sure enough, a supertuned 1993 Honda Civic drove up the hill and stopped in front of Miles and Monroe. The window rolled down and they saw a mysterious yellow-eyed man with a scar shaped like a backwards L on his face. "Hey guys, it's me, Dirk Speedblood!" He rolled up his sleeve and showed off his own personal brand, kind of like Monroe's, to prove it. "And you and I have a score to settle Miles! You ruined my face!"
As Miles and Dirk Speedblood got into battle stances, Monroe grinned and said "Then I think it's time for a face off!"
To Be Continued in Chapter 2...