Kevin went with the barman, following him through the back streets of the city. He had no idea where he was being led, but given the state of the streets round about, it was clear that it was far from the best area of the city, something he kind of expected given what went on there.
"You look familiar kid." The barman told him. "What did you say your name was?"
"Kevin." He replied.
"Steve." The barman replied, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "I swear I've seen your face somewhere. Do you go to the local gym?"
"I did." Kevin replied, looking round as a cat rushed out of hiding, scurrying away and knocking over a trash can. Given his build and athletic ability, Steve had presumed that he worked out a lot. While most of his training involved swimming, Kevin was also required to do a lot of cardio and resistance work as part of his training. He had used the gym at the pool many times. "I haven't been there in over..."
"A year." Steve cut him off, turning back to him. "I remember you, you're that kid who ran out on the..."
"Yeah, I ran out on that meet." Kevin replied. Steve just smiled.
"I guess some guy shooting arrows at you would freak anyone out." Steve said with a little smirk. "Steve Barnes? I was a prospect for the boxing team."
"Steve..." Despite the alcohol, Kevin seemed to recall something as he heard the name. "Wait, you were tearing it up in the ring. You won forty matches in a row!"
"Yeah, that seems like a lifetime ago." Steve told him. "You were pretty hot stuff yourself. Everyone was sure you'd make the team."
"You too." Kevin replied. "So...mind if I asked what happened?"
"I had a hand injury a few months before the local qualifiers." Steve told him. "I went to a doctor to see if there was some way I could compete. It turned out he gave me a little something stronger than a vitamin shot if you get my drift. It turned up on one of my tests."
"Oh." Kevin responded. Just like him, many athletes knew that they were on a restricted timetable if they were to actively compete in the games. While he was taught that the use of steroids for a competitive edge was cheating, and that those who took such short cuts were deserving of nothing but disdain by those who got to where they were purely by effort, discipline and sacrifice, he knew that occasionally athletes that were injured or otherwise impaired sometimes resorted to desperate measures to keep training and competing. Steve was obviously just one of those people whose desperation to compete got the better of him.
He was a little taller than Kevin, and even now had a fairly impressive build. He had been a light-middleweight when he competed, and it looked like he still trained to some extent. He had sandy blonde hair, and bright blue eyes.
"So what about you?" Steve asked him. "What made you run out?"
"I...uh...hurt myself when I ran out of the pool." Kevin said semi-truthfully. He had sustained a few minor injuries in his first Ranger battle, but nothing serious enough that he would prevent him returning to training; indeed he was training in the Shiba House the following day. However, even in the situation he was in now, he had not forgotten his duty completely, and could not bring himself to tell Steve the true reason he had not returned after that meet. "I didn't get back in time."
"I think I can probably guess why you went out tonight." Steve sighed. "The notice in the paper?" Kevin just nodded.
"That must have been a real kick in the nuts." Steve said sympathetically. "I have to admit doing something similar when I got my disqualification notice. Still, I did find something that gave me the rush of competing again."
"What?" Kevin asked him.
"This." Steve replied, knocking on the door to an apartment building that looked to be in a somewhat sorry state. The door opened ajar, held shut by a couple of chains, at which a woman peered out through the gap in the door.
"Who is it?" She asked.
"It's me Claudia." Steve said with a little laugh. She just rolled her eyes.
"Steve, what the hell?" She asked as she opened the door, looking to him like she was less than amused.
She was a lot shorter than both of them, around the same height as Emily, with deep red hair and green eyes. She was wearing dark blue jeans and a black t-shirt, with a picture of the Samurai Rangers on it. Kevin just had to rein in a laugh. He had seen a fair amount of Ranger merchandise since the Nighlock had shown up.
"I told you I'd be back." He told her.
"Yeah, the fight's tonight!" She reminded him. "The marker's already been taken, if you don't get in the ring, we're down..."
"Claudia, I told you, there's no way I'm ready for the fight after that last one." Steve assured her. It was only then, as Steve and Claudia made their way inside that Kevin noticed he was limping quite badly. He had seen a lot of injuries between his swimming and Samurai training. It looked like he had damaged his knee, quite badly by the looks of it. He could walk, but he doubted it would hold up to the abuse of a fight. "We need to talk to Reynolds. I need to switch out."
"Whoa, hold up." Claudia called out, stopping him in his tracks and looking to him in disbelief. "Switch out? You expect Reynolds to switch out fighters on the night of a fight?"
"We don't have a choice Claudia; I'd be crippled out there." Steve told her. "You know what Brutus is like in the cage. Even at full strength it'd be a hard fight. The moment he knew about my leg, he'd be all over me."
"Steve, you know what this fight is worth!" She yelled. She then just breathed a deep sigh and ran a hand through her hair. The way she was acting, and the look in her eyes indicated to Kevin that she cared about him in some way, but in exactly what capacity he couldn't guess. "Alright, we'll talk to him, but you know he's not going to be happy."
"I didn't think he would be." Steve replied.
"So who's the sub?" She asked him. Steve just gestured to Kevin. Claudia looked like she'd been punched in the gut when she saw him.
"The walking toothpick here?" She asked him incredulously, before looking to Kevin. "No offence man, but you do realise this is a fight club right?"
"He can hold his own." Steve told her. "I saw him fight off three muggers without breaking a sweat maybe an hour ago. He doesn't have a mark on him in response."
"Great. So we're meant to tell Reynolds that he needs to allow a substitute fighter, an untested, unknown fighter to replace you in his main event with less than an hours' notice?" She complained. "God, this day just keeps getting better."
"OK, for one thing, would you both mind not talking about me like I'm not here?" Kevin asked them a little belligerently. "Secondly, I can hold my own out there."
"Ah Steve, I was beginning to worry that you weren't coming." A casual drawl came from behind them. A man came over, a short, slightly rotund man, balding, and wearing a gaudy shirt, with way too much gold jewellery and smoking a big cigar. He looked to Steve and smiled. "So, how's the leg? I trust I'll get a good main event..."
"Not from me you won't." Steve told him. "I'm sorry Reynolds there's no way I'll be able to compete tonight."
Reynolds just shook his head.
"You know, that's really disappointing to hear Steve." He replied. "You know what this means. I'll need to call in your marker. You did already lay a rather sizeable bet..."
"I'm fighting in his place." Kevin stated. Reynolds just looked to Kevin, then back to Steve.
"Are you serious?" Reynolds asked him. "I'm looking for a main event! Brutus is on a hot streak right now that's just about filled the free clinic every night for the last month! You want me to put an untested fighter in there with him?"
"I can handle it." Kevin told him. "Do what you need to. Make it happen. Give me another fight first if you want."
"Alright, now I know this is a joke." Reynolds replied, looking to Kevin and laughing. "Kid, don't go messing up that face of yours on something that isn't going to happen. Brutus would snap you in half. You wouldn't make it through two fights..."
"What have you got to lose?" Kevin asked him. "Put me in a fight. If I win, I get Brutus. If I lose...Steve's still here."
"Kevin..." Kevin just silenced Steve by holding up a hand.
"You want to lay a bet on yourself?" Reynolds asked him. Kevin just shook his head.
"Just show me where the fight is." He replied. Reynolds just laughed.
"Steve, you've got yourself a real piece of work there." He commented. "You know where to go."
Meanwhile, out in the city, the Rangers were looking frantically for Kevin. A while ago, he had entered the old commercial district, following which the GPS signal started to get weaker. A lot of the old buildings had a lot of metal in them, which hampered the signal a little, meaning that the effective range of the locator was now a couple of blocks as opposed to a few feet.
As they made their way through the streets, Serena and Emily checked down an alley, while Jayden and Antonio started looking in another direction. Emily stepped in some kind of sludge, with a sickening squelch.
"Ew." She complained. "Why would Kevin come down here? It's totally gross."
"Emily, try to concentrate." Serena told her. Just then, a rat ran out of a darkened corner across her path, chased closely by a cat. Serena shrieked and jumped about three feet in the air, causing Emily to giggle.
"You were saying?"
"God, I HATE rats!" She yelled loudly. "I swear, when I find Kevin..."
"My sister, the big brave Samurai." Emily teased her. "Scared of an itty bitty rat."
"This from the girl who ran screaming from the neighbour's sheep." Serena reminded her.
"Well...at least I could tell Mike I liked him." Emily shot back. Serena just stopped in her tracks and turned, glaring at her sister.
"Emily, we talked about this." Serena told her. "That subject's off limits."
"Aw, is big bad Serena a wittle newvouws." Emily said in a little kiddy tone as she pouted.
"I told you Emily, what's the point?" She asked. "Sure he's cute, but he's going back to Japan..."
"And he's smart and wouldn't be interested." Emily groaned. "I've heard all these excuses before."
"They're not excuses Emily." Serena shot back. "Now if you don't mind, we do have a Ranger to find."
Emily ran up to Serena, and shoved a leaflet into her hand. Serena just stopped and glared at Emily, before looking to the flyer. She started to read it, furrowing her brows.
"Online courses?" Serena asked her.
"That's how I got my diploma." Emily told her proudly.
"Emily, I've got two hopeless Kendo students to teach." Serena replied as she shoved the leaflet away. "Not to mention I have to visit Peter..."
"That's the thing about the internet; it's there whenever you want it." Emily told her.
"Emily..."
"The one thing I kept hearing from you was that you didn't think you were smart because you don't have any fancy diplomas or anything." Emily reminded her. "Do you remember what you always told me, when I was down on myself?"
"Emily this is different." Serena told her. "You know you shouldn't have to change yourself for someone to like you. I never told you..."
"Serena, I think we both know that this is now about more than Peter." Emily replied. "You've always been the strong one, but since you started going on about this, you've started to become...well...me! You're really self-conscious about this education thing, and it's obvious it's really getting to you."
She then put a hand on her arm as she looked to her older sister.
"The way I can see it, you can either sit and whine about it, or do something about it." Emily put down flatly. "I don't know if you'll ever tell Peter you like him or not, but it's obvious this is something you should do. Not for anyone else, but for yourself."
"I guess you really are the smart one." Serena said with a little smile, putting an arm around her sister. "I promise I'll have a look when we get home."
"And you'll talk to Peter?" Emily asked excitedly.
"One step at a time squirt." Serena replied. "One step at a time."
Back at the fight club, Kevin was sitting on a crate by the edge of a cage, waiting to be called. He watched a couple of the fights as he waited for his turn. Mike was heavily into MMA, and he watched a few of the fights in that time. There were some similarities to the fights he had seen on the TV, the fights were held inside a cage, but as far as he could see, the fights here were a little more brutal.
From the matches he watched, the few rules of MMA events didn't apply here. He had seen more than one guy helped out of the cage after their bout.
He looked around as the crowd called out for more, and the web cameras planted all around the cage broadcast images to paying customers. Steve came over to him.
"Alright, you're up next." He told Kevin, gesturing for him to remove his shirt. Kevin did so, handing it to Steve. "Alright, this guy Jesse's got a right hook that could shift the Great Wall. You need to keep out of his reach, and go for..."
"I'm on it." Kevin interrupted as he stepped into the cage, the door being shut behind him. Claudia came over to Steve as she watched him starting to stretch out.
"I really hope you know what you're doing bro." She told him. "That marker..."
"I know what it's worth Claudia." He interrupted her. "Trust me, if Kevin loses, the money we owe will be the least of our worries."
Kevin stepped up to the middle of the cage as the referee called them over.
"Alright, you both know the rules, once a guy's knocked out; goes limp or taps out, the match is over." He told them. "Alright, give each other hell, the crowd will love it!"
Kevin heard the crowd start to cheer, and admit that he felt a rush as he heard them calling out for action. This was the feeling he had always thought he would feel when he stood on the podium, hearing people chanting for him as he competed for his country.
His opponent was a monster of a man, almost twice Kevin's size, with a massive girth, and a scarred face and a few missing teeth that indicated this was far from his first barn dance so to speak. He came across, smiling as he saw his comparatively small opponent.
"Don't worry kid; I won't mess up that face of yours too much." He assured Kevin, grabbing him behind the head as he drew back his fist. "This'll all be over..."
Kevin snatched away his hand, before grabbing the man's head and leaping up, driving his knee hard into his jaw. The man fell backward to the floor, his head rolling to the side, and some blood leaking from his mouth.
The crowd fell silent as he stood, looking over to the man's unconscious body.
"Um...your winner..." The referee moved closer to Kevin. "What's your name kid?"
"Kevin." He replied. The man just rolled his eyes.
"Well that name will be memorable." He grumbled. "Kevin!"
As the crowd continued to stare silently into the ring, Steve came in, handing Kevin his shirt.
"Alright, that was great and all." Steve commented. "But...uh...people come here to see fights. They don't really dig it when some guy's staring at the lights eight seconds in."
Kevin followed Steve out of the cage, to where Claudia was standing with Reynolds, a couple of gorillas standing either side of her. She looked more than a little bit sheepish, clearly uncomfortable about the proximity of the security personnel.
"Alright, you got your fight." Kevin stated.
"No, I got an eight second massacre." Reynolds put down flatly. "Can you hear the crowd? I sure as hell can't! People pay to see these fights!"
"You wanted a fight, you got one." Kevin told him. "I'm ready for this Brutus guy."
"All in good time kid, but we need to renegotiate." Reynolds stated. He handed Kevin a few hundred dollars.
"What's this?" Kevin asked him.
"Your cut of the bets." He replied. "Usually the fight purse is five percent, but I cut it to three because...well...you can't expect a full payout for that."
Kevin just looked at the money. He didn't really know what to do with it, or what to say.
"Now, beat it for a moment kid. Get yourself a water or something. The grown-ups need to talk." He turned to Steve as Kevin left, seeing Steve shuffling a little uncomfortably. "You're changing the fighter, so I'm changing the deal."
"What are you talking about?" Steve asked him. "You saw him; he's easily as good as me. Better even! He'll get you your..."
"The odds are twenty to one." He said, ignoring Steve's protests. Steve and Claudia looked horrified.
"But...that's twice the odds you offered before!" Steve complained. "If he loses...!"
"You just better hope that he doesn't." Reynolds warned him. "You're already twenty grand in the hole. Lose this fight, your marker's up to fifty."
"I can't possibly cover that!" Steve told him. "Please, you have to..."
"You have to just start praying that kid can pull it off." Reynolds told him as he flicked his eyes in Claudia's direction. "For her sake."
With that, he walked off, and the gorillas dragged Claudia with them. Steve just leaned back against the side of the cage, and let out a huge sigh.
"Trust me, I'm praying alright." He muttered.