[Monday, October 4th, 1993 6:35pm]
The sun had set in the quiet little town of Angel Grove, and there was a cool, crisp chill in the air. With his hands in the front pockets of his sweater, Tommy Oliver walked down the street on his way to the construction district. There was a lot of heavy machinery and equipment scattered everywhere. Tommy, simply lifted up the yellow caution tape warning people to stay out, then continued. Year after year, the Angel Grove carnival was usually held here over the summer, but this summer would be the last time. Some rich, overzealous business man had purchased the land and was planning to build some sort of soulless company in it's place. But that wasn't Tommy's concern. In the distance, he could hear what sounded like electrical equipment overloading. A quick glance upward and there were some flashing lights, but it quickly passed, and Tommy dismissed it.
As he walked through the mud, which had dried to the point that it felt as though he was walking in paste, he could hear noise coming from one of the tents at the far end of the site. He continued on, and the voices got louder. After a few moments, he arrived at the source of the disturbance, where there was a rather large man guarding the entrance.
"Get outta here, kid," the man groaned, never unfolding his arms.
Tommy didn't even bother to take his hood off. In what seemed like one, effortless motion, he caught the man off guard with a leg sweep. As he fell back, Tommy grabbed hold of his wrist, and by the time the man hit the ground, Tommy already had his arm securely behind his back.
"You want me to break this? Or do you wanna move aside?" Tommy asked calmly, never once expressing any sort of emotion.
"Go ahead," the man grumbled. It could have been the fact that he was face down in the mud that made it difficult to talk, but it wasn't as though Tommy was listening away. For good measure, Tommy twisted the man's arm, and there was a heart wrenching cracking sound just as Tommy let him go, walking inside.
Inside the tent itself was a large cage, or at least what was constructed to resemble a cage. It was simply chain linked fence being held together by chains and padlocks. It wasn't very sturdy, but it was secure enough to serve its purpose. Inside the cage were two men who were pounding away on one another, each of them drenched in blood and extremely fatigued. Outside the cage were men in business suits, no doubt some corporate wall street, silver spooned suits who were paying the construction workers after hours to beat the hell out of one another for their amusement. Scattered through the crowd appeared to be simply bystanders who were interested in seeing the fights. There was the faint smell of gasoline and burned rubber, more than likely from the construction.
Just then, directly in front of Tommy, one of the opponents slammed up against the inside of the cage. His face was pressed against the cage until finally, his opponent kicked him in the back of the head, and the man fell to the ground.
"Winner!" a man announced into an old style microphone that seemed to lower from the ceiling, entering the cage and raising the fighter's arm in victory. "Is there anyone man enough to step inside the cage with the undefeated Buzzsaw? Last 5 minutes and win $500. Win and earn $5000. Any takers?"
Still refusing to remove his hood, Tommy stepped inside the cage with his hands still in his pocket. As onlookers pulled the unconscious fighter out of the cage, the announcer walked over to Tommy.
"You're in the wrong place, kid. This isn't the Angel Grove karate tournament. These guys are killers and will rip you half. Go on, get out of here," he told him.
Tommy remained still and silent, never moving a muscle.
"Alright kid, it's your funeral. You know the rules, five minutes gets you five hundred. A win gets you five thousand. The only rule is survive. What should I call you?" he asked him.
"My name is Tommy," he said softly.
"That name isn't going to strike fear into the heart of your opponents kid, but I admire your moxie!" the man stood in the middle of the cage. "Our next… victim hails from… oh what do you care? We all know Buzzsaw is going to mop the floor with this guy. Lock the door, ring the bell, let's do this," he said, exiting the cage.
As the door closed, someone wrapped a chain through the fence and locked it, trapping Tommy inside. The bell rang, and his opponent simply stared at him with amazement.
"Is this the best you could do? This pipsqueak? Are there no real challengers for Buzzsaw?" he snarled.
Buzzsaw himself was no slouch. He was easily a few inches shy of seven feet tall, extremely muscular and covered in tattoos. He wore a pair of white shorts, which had been stained by dirt and the blood of his opponents. Still, Tommy didn't seem very impressed with his opponent's size.
Buzzsaw swung a quick right hand at Tommy, but he avoided it. Buzzsaw swung again, but Tommy ducked, this time swinging around behind him and kicking Buzzsaw in the back of the knee. He fell to one knee, and did a spin kick, kicking Buzzsaw in the back of the head. Buzzsaw hit the ground hard, but quickly got back up, wiping the dirt away from his eyes.
"Your ass is mine, kid," he groaned, rushing at Tommy.
Tommy, even before Buzzsaw knew what happened, pulled the drawstring out of his hooded sweater, and as Buzzsaw swung at him, Tommy used the rope and wrapped it around Buzzsaw's wrist. Buzzsaw grabbed Tommy, lifting him up and ramming him into the side of the cage. The entire structure shook, but Tommy raised his arms, sliding out of his sweater. As Buzzsaw tried to turn around, he realized Tommy had tied his wrist to the side of the cage. With him momentarily distracted, Tommy began to unload with kicks and punches. Buzzsaw fell to one knee and continued to attack, and the crowd howled with vicious approval.
Finally, Buzzsaw snatched his wrist free of its restraints, stood back up and charged at Tommy. He connected with one good punch to the face, busting the area over Tommy's right eye wide open. Blood began to pour from the open wound, and sensing a victory, Buzzsaw rushed in to finish Tommy off.
Tommy taunted him, motioning for him come after him. Buzzsaw obliged and charged in after Tommy, but Tommy hit a crescent kick to the side of the head, dropping Buzzsaw to both his knees. Tommy moved in, but Buzzsaw grabbed Tommy, wrapping his arms around him and began to squeeze.
"Go to sleep, little boy," Buzzsaw groaned.
Tommy grabbed Buzzsaw by the head, and with one quick twist, Buzzsaw released his hold and fell to the ground and the crowd roared with approval.
The cage door opened as the announcer and paramedics on hand rushed into the cage, checking on Buzzsaw. Another paramedic hurried over to Tommy to tend to his eye, but he swatted them away, refusing help.
"Here is your winner… Tommy!" the announcer said, raising Tommy's arm in victory as the crowd began to chant Tommy's name. "I don't know how you did that kid, but you're a natural. I've got a couple of guys who would love a piece of you. You in? There's some big bucks involved."
Through the blood, Tommy glanced over at the cage door, where three more fighters stepped in, each of them with a look of determination on their faces.
"It isn't fair," Tommy said softly. "They should have brought more guys," he proclaimed as he picked up his sweater, putting it back on as he got into his fighting stance.