==Lap 24=

Chiya groaned softly as she began to awaken. She opened her eyes into slits as she continued to groan. A surging pain was going through her back as she laid in an uncomfortable position; she was in her nightgown, but was lying across the center of the bed. She turned her head and found that she had been using Earl's rear as a pillow. She puckered her lips and rested her head back down on him.

"What was I doing last night..?"

She turned her head towards the door and gasped slightly at the sight of a massive pile of credits, she was grunting in amazement at the stockpile. Blimey, that's right; the pet shelter- she widened her eyes even more and gasped.

"That's right! We have a pet shelter full of animals right now!"

She spun around and began to shake Earl's back rapidly, Earl appeared to be locked away in a heavy slumber. Chiya was shocked to see Earl sleeping so soundly, the two were now responsible with the task of showing up at the pet shelter every day at a specific time. Seeing that Earl hadn't woken up for the pet shelter was surprising enough to her, but she was even more shocked that Seppuku hadn't woken them up for the two Throwdown matches.

Chiya continued to shake Earl roughly, "Ea-arl, wake up!" she lowered her eyebrows and looked down at her chest, her breasts were swinging back and forth as she shook him, "Calm down, girls."

Earl groaned loudly and opened his eyes after having been shook for about a minute. He turned towards Chiya and grunted with a somewhat frustrated look. Chiya beamed at him; despite the fact that he was awake, she was still shaking him rapidly.

"Pet shelter, Earl!"

Earl let out a disgusted moan and shook negatively, "Chiya…"

"Get your stuff on and let's go!"

Earl glanced over at the electric clock and shook negatively, he grasped the clock and brought it up to her face. Earl was clearly grumpy and not in the mood for shenanigans.

"Chi', it's two in the morning…"

Chiya let go of him and blinked a few times, she blushed in embarrassment and dipped her head down, "W- what- you mean, two o'clock?"

"Yeah, that's right…"

Chiya was now sitting on her knees, she had a very confused look on her face; Earl was staring at her for a few more seconds, but then closed his eyes and sighed loudly. Chiya smiled at him and grasped his shoulders.

"I'm sorry for waking you…"

Earl lowered his eyebrows angrily and made a simple nod, "Hm…"

Chiya continued to look at his face with a cute smile, "I thought it was early in the afternoon."

Earl growled somewhat and nodded, "Hm-m…"

She closed her eyes gleefully and began to giggle loudly, "Silly me! Why the bloody Hell would I think that it's-"

Earl growled loudly and threw his hands forward to grab her, "Okay! Alright! Just get back to bed already-"

Chiya nearly screamed with completely opened eyes as Earl grabbed her, Earl gasped loudly with massive eyes as well. Earl immediately began to tremble greatly as he looked down at his hands. Chiya had her hands raised up slightly with an immense blush on her face. The room had instantly become silent as Earl made a very bad blind grab. He had grasped her breasts tightly.

Chiya was trembling as well and was unable to fight off her blush, she glanced away from Earl in embarrassment and dipped her head down. Of course, Chiya wasn't resisting-as this was secretly something she was okay with. Earl had only tried to grasp Chiya and bring her back down onto the bed, but instead, he had grabbed a bit too much of her.

Earl quickly let go of her breasts and immediately flipped onto his back to hide his face, "Uh, sorry, my mistake!" he immediately covered himself up in Chiya's blanket and continued to tremble, "I meant to help you get under your blanket, n- not-"

"It's okay."

Earl bit onto his lip and hid his head under the blanket, Chiya slowly brought herself under the blanket as well. She was left with her jaw dropped at what she had just endured, she felt as if he was still holding onto her chest. She looked down at her chest after turning off the lamp, she felt very awkward, but also somewhat excited. She blinked a few times as she wrapped her arms around her chest. That was kinda'… she beamed slightly and glanced over at the back of Earl's head. Kinda' naughty..!

Chiya was feeling something many women went through. The idea of someone as soft, nice, honest, and innocent as Earl doing something dirty was overly exciting to her. She could tell that Earl was uncomfortable with what had just happened, but she couldn't help herself; the brief awkward moment made her feel very good. She bit on her finger and closed her eyes as she resumed sleep; one thing was for sure. She was beyond thankful that Seppuku hadn't seen this.

It was many hours later that Chiya had awoken; Earl had already gotten out of bed far before she awoke. The two Throwdown matches were today, but Chiya was more excited to get to Good Odds. There were already several animals in Good Odds, mostly cats and dogs, but also a rabbit. The most exciting part of the job for her, of course, was that she would be doing this beside Earl. Making money for helping animals and talking to her boyfriend all day sounded good to her.

Chiya exited her bedroom with a smile on her face, she was holding Mauser over her shoulder as she walked towards the door to the lobby.

"I can't wait, Mauser! You're going to make so many friends today!"

The cat wasn't resisting her grasp, but he did appear overly confused. It wasn't unusual for Chiya to grab him in his sleep and hold him, but this time he knew that she was taking him somewhere. Chiya opened the door, but behind it stood Seppuku. Chiya looked up at his face and grunted loudly.

"Oh, Seppuku, hi…"

Seppuku looked down at Mauser and raised an eyebrow, "Where's he going?"

Chiya patted Mauser's back and puckered her lips, "Taking him to Good Odds so he can make friends!" she slid up to his waist and elbowed him softly with lowered eyelids, "…and maybe meet a nice girl…"

Seppuku looked into Mauser's eyes and gritted his teeth, "I don't follow, do you mean meet a nice human girl, or-"

"Where's Earl?"

In response to the question, Seppuku stepped back and dipped his head down. Chiya was somewhat alarmed by this seemingly startled reaction and widened her eyes.

"He didn't want to see you, so he skipped breakfast and left for Good Odds."

Chiya raised both eyebrows in shock at this, "What? No-o, you're lying…"

Seppuku smirked, "If what he told me is true, you know exactly why he doesn't feel comfortable seeing you."

Chiya thought about this for a few moments, the answer struck her within seconds and left her somewhat disturbed, "Oh my God, is he really making a big fuss out of what happened last night?"

"Afraid so."

Chiya sighed loudly and shook negatively with an irritated look, "I forgave him and laughed, was that not a clear message that I was okay with what happened?"

"We're talking about Bendek; the guy who puts honor before his own life."

"Well, there was nothing dishonorable about what he did. Grabbing my chest was an accident!"

Seppuku chuckled loudly, "Honestly, I'm surprised that this accident didn't happen sooner…" Chiya raised an eyebrow, "I mean, have you ever looked in a mirror? How does one not accidentally grab those things?"

Chiya gasped with a heavy glare, "S- s- sexual harassment!" Seppuku shrugged, Chiya growled at him softly and pushed him aside before entering the lobby, "How the bloody Hell did such a sexual man save me from two street rapists..?" she contemplated aloud.

Seppuku turned towards her and laughed before the door closed, but this was the only response he could give in time. Chiya was left somewhat irritated, but she was too excited about Good Odds to let Seppuku get under her skin. She shrugged and continued towards the garage with Mauser.

Earl was writing down some release information down on paper as a woman stood before him. A small brown dog was now in a cage ready to leave Good Odds, Earl was the only one manning the desk since Chiya was still at the base. He finished the release form and put the paper aside.

"You're good to go, ma'am."

"Oh, thank you; how could I ever repay you?"

Earl lowered his eyebrows with a smile and tapped his finger on a donation jar; the woman immediately placed fifty credits inside of the jar. He bowed to her with a heavy grin.

"Thank you!"

The woman took the pet carrier and proceeded towards the door gleefully. Just as she exited the building, Chiya entered. Earl's eyes immediately widened at the sight of Chiya, he ducked his head down and pretended to read the release form. Mauser was now acting somewhat hostile as Chiya carried him, making her resort to carrying him over her shoulder. She stopped in the middle of the lobby and smiled at Earl.

"Hi, Earlie'!"

Earl lowered his eyebrows nervously and briefly looked up at her while waving, "Hey…"

Chiya lifted Mauser up into the air and chuckled, "Mauser's here to make some friends!"

Earl still had a very nervous fake smile on his face. Regardless of how happy Chiya looked, he couldn't get over what he had accidentally done in bed. He wasn't someone who could simply let something go, he felt that Chiya had a justified reason to be mad at him-but she wasn't.

Chiya walked down the lobby towards the play area. She turned towards Earl and puckered her lips, "Coming along?"

"Oh, I have far too much work to do…"

"But, we just opened up yesterday…"

Earl closed his eyes and dipped his head down, "R-right, so we're letting Mauser meet the gang?"

Chiya continued towards the play area with a prideful grin, "M-mhm."

Earl had a fearful look, but he followed her none-the-less. The two continued towards what was originally a storage room, now replaced with an area for the friendly animals to roam freely in. The hostile animals remained locked in their cages. Chiya kicked open the door with a smile and gazed upon the mass amount of dogs and cats. Earl slowly came up behind her and quirked his mouth.

"Isn't this beautiful, Earl? All these happy animals…"

Earl nodded, "Yeah, I guess this small room is better than living out on the streets."

Chiya walked into the room, several cats gazed up at her with widened eyes, Chiya was looking at all of the cats with a look of clear obsession, "I want them all!"

"Well, by all means, you can play around with them."

Chiya gently put Mauser down in the center of the room, his initial reaction to seeing all of the cats and dogs was that of great fright. Mauser struggled to stand tall, his paws were trembling, and his tail was very stiff. Chiya continued to smile at Mauser, but her smile momentarily disappeared.

"It's okay, sweetie, these are nice cats."

She softly bumped Mauser's rear, forcing him to walk forward. He immediately dipped his head down while trembling as a tabby walked past him. Many of the cats were taking notice of Mauser, but none seemed very interested in approaching him. Chiya rubbed her chin and lowered her eyebrows as her beloved cat cowered.

"Why is Mauser being such a fraidy cat?"

Earl looked down at Mauser and shrugged, "Beats me, I guess he has been a domesticated animal for two years now. He's probably not used to seeing other cats," he pointed at a drooling obese dog, "-and don't forget about the dogs."

Chiya scanned the room with puckered lips, trying to see if any other cats were as anti-social as him. Most of the cats were sitting, some licking themselves, and others playing with each other. The dogs were either lying on the ground or slobbering mindlessly.

Mauser retreated and began to rub his head against Chiya's leg, Chiya gave up and let out a heavy sigh as she lifted him back up. Earl cleared his throat and nodded respectfully.

"It was a good idea, Mauser must-"

"Who's that?" Chiya asked pointing.

Earl raised an eyebrow and tilted his head through the door, Chiya was pointing at a white cat with silky fur; the cat was sitting in the corner of the room with a bland expression. Earl lowered his eyebrows and chuckled softly.

"That, is a very isolated cat."

Chiya hummed, "Where'd she come from?"

"She?"

"Yeah, that's a girl."

Earl lowered his eyebrows and grunted, "Uh, how can you tell without-"

"We look alike."

Earl widened his eyes and immediately squinted at the white cat, then at Chiya; he looked back and forth between the two for a few moments. Earl couldn't help but feel stupid for being unable to understand, but he would trust Chiya's judgment none-the-less.

Chiya slowly approached the white cat and knelt down with a massive smile, the cat responded by standing up in fright-preparing to run.

"Meow, meow meow, meow meow, meow!" Chiya said excitedly; the cat was now trembling in shock, clearly unable to comprehend what Chiya was doing. Chiya began to giggle, "I'm kidding, I know that you cats can understand my language…"

Chiya set Mauser down in front of her, scaring her even more. Mauser's heart was beating quickly, as he was just as scared to be so close to another cat. Both cats were ready to run from each other, but both cats were trapped staring at each other. Chiya let go of Mauser and began to crawl back towards the door happily. Mauser and the white cat were both stunned, and neither of the two would dare to move.

Seconds later, Chiya bounced up beside Earl and clapped her hands together, "See? I knew Mauser could make a friend."

Earl squinted at the two cats and hummed doubtfully, "I don't know…" Mauser's eyes were quivering softly as he slowly dipped his head down, "It doesn't look like they're getting along very well…"

"They're speaking with each other-telepathically."

Earl rubbed his forehead as he stared at the two cats, despite how things were looking, he agreed that leaving Mauser to socialize a bit couldn't hurt. He nodded in agreement and began to quickly move away from Chiya.

"Well, back to work!"

Chiya closed the door and quickly turned towards him, "Are you okay? You seem so frantic today."

"What was that?"

Chiya lowered her eyebrows in frustration, "I said-"

Earl quickly got behind his desk and shook hands with a customer who had just come on, "Hello! How can I help you?"

Chiya stood still with a sudden surprised frown, she dropped her arms down and blinked a few times.

Hours had gone by, Chiya and Earl remained stationed at their desks the entire time. Many people were still stopping by every so often to adopt or drop off an animal, this, or merely to obtain an autograph. Almost every person who entered the building would leave them a donation, and fortunately, each donation brought in a lot of credits. What was surprising to both Chiya and Earl was that they had yet to see any bums enter the building.

Chiya was happy to be surrounded by animals, and she loved meeting fans, but her head was stuck hanging over very dark clouds. She sighed sadly as she stared at Earl, he was finalizing a deal for adoption with a customer, a black and white dog was in a cage prepared to leave with a new family.

Earl's smile as he spoke was clearly fake to Chiya, she could tell that he wasn't happy, and neither was she. Her frown grew much larger as she closely observed Earl's smile, she was waiting for the customer to leave so she could see it change.

"Thank you for the donation, have a nice day."

Just as Chiya had predicted, Earl's smile instantly faded away after the person left. He glanced over at her for a second, but quickly turned away after meeting her eyes. Chiya lowered her eyebrows with a hurt look, she wiggled her fingers around frantically while staring at him.

"Earl, are-"

"Sorry, I need to finish writing this thing…" he said quickly after swiping a paper off of the desk.

Chiya felt as if her heart had been pierced. No matter what she said, she was always interrupted by him and told that he's busy, it was no secret to her that he was avoiding her now. Studying his pen closely revealed that he wasn't writing anything, rather, he was pretending to write. Seppuku had told her that he was avoiding her because of the accidental breast grab-but Chiya simply didn't believe this was all.

Earl continued to fake write on a paper, Chiya's eyes were quickly beginning to flood with water as she gazed at him. After nearly four hours of constant interruptions, she was almost certain what was really going on. After making her conclusion, nothing was stopping constant tears from going down her face.

Earl finally stopped fake writing, but was now acting as if he was contemplating about something. He continued to pretend until he heard Chiya's slight whimpering, he widened his eyes and turned his head very slowly. Chiya now had a bright red face and was silently crying. Earl grunted and glanced away from her for a moment, but then looked at her again.

"Chiya, what's wrong?"

She sobbed and dipped her head down sadly, "I get it, okay..?"

Earl's eyes widened greatly, "Get it? Get what?"

"You were angry at me when I woke you up, and you've been avoiding me all day. I can tell that you're depressed, so I get it…" she closed her eyes and began to sniffle loudly, "Y- you want to break up with me, I get it, I get it…"

Earl gasped loudly and slammed his hands down, "No, I don't want to break up with you..!"

Chiya shot open her eyes and gritted her teeth un frustration, "You don't have to put yourself through this so I'm happy! If you want to go, just go!"

"Chiya, the idea of breaking up with you is obscure-unrealistic! Who else is out there who'd make me happy?"

Chiya slammed her forehead down onto her arms, "…Maggie..?"

"Oh my God, will you please let that go already?" he lowered his eyebrows and shook negatively, "In what ways would Maggie make a better girlfriend than you?"

Chiya lifted her head and looked down at her chest, "W- will you like me more if I go and get my boobs deflated?"

"Whoa, what!?" Earl's eyes suddenly became still, he sighed very loudly and dipped his head down, "Oh, fine; you got me. I've been scared to confront you after what I did…"

Chiya grunted, "What I did? It was no big deal!"

"It was wrong."

"It was an accident!"

Earl shook negatively, "A very dishonorable sexual act."

Chiya glared at him, "Dishonora- it was funny!"

Earl crossed his arms and looked away from her, "Not to me it wasn't. I betrayed your trust, and I have yet to determine how I will go about punishing myself."

Chiya was left with a somewhat irritated look, she was thankful that Earl didn't want to break up with her, but for once, Earl's code of honor was annoying her. The hardest part of all this was that she could solve this by simply telling him the truth; that she actually liked that he had grabbed her. If it were Chiya's choice, she would try for a baby with him.

"You're beating yourself up for nothing. If I'm okay with it, why are you still upset? It's not like you touched my-"

"How about I just move back into my room, and we'll forget-"

"No! Come on, I waited so long for you to finally join my bed!" Chiya finally exited her desk and marched towards her, Earl was shocked to see the much more aggressive side of Chiya unleash, "You did nothing wrong; yes, you should only do that if given proper consent, but this was an accident, and I forgave you!" Earl gritted his teeth and lowered his eyebrows, "You didn't even touch the special part of the breasts, you just grabbed the fat, get over it; and even if you had touched them-who cares? You have them too!"

Earl grasped his chest and quirked his mouth, "Yeah, I do, but it's different. You're a girl-"

"So what!?" she scorned loudly, "You and I have the same thing, God just decided that mine needed to be situated on two mountains!" she exhaled loudly and put her hand on his shoulder, "Last year, you gave Dark Rose a barefoot massage-because you have a fetish. You both got pleasure out of that, and cheated on me. Be ashamed of that, not an accidental booby grab…"

Earl lowered his eyelids and dipped his head down, "I really let you down last year, huh..?"

Chiya blinked at him a few times, then proceeded to hug him tightly, "I forgave you for that, and I forgive you for this. We're human, it's within our nature to make mistakes…"

Earl exhaled and nodded, "Thank you for your forgiveness…" his eyes were now only slightly opened as they watered, "…I know you'd never betray me like I had with Rose…"

Chiya's eyes slightly opened in shock at this statement as she continued to hug Earl, she slightly blushed and dipped her head down over his shoulder.

"Uh, yeah…" she lowered her eyebrows with a quivering smile.

Of course, what Earl was forgetting, was that Chiya was the typical fan girl who would always have a slight crush on Captain Falcon. While she had no relation with Captain Falcon, she knew that she wouldn't be able to resist his call if he were to get shirtless and show off his muscles.

Chiya smirked and backed away from Earl, "-and let's not forget, you already touched my bare boobs on Magica last year; and we weren't even a couple at that point!"

He chuckled and closed his eyes, "Well, we were only hours after."

The two remained beside each other for a few more seconds, Earl momentarily exhaled and crossed his arms. Chiya blinked at him a few times with a cute smile; she was beyond relieved to know that Earl was still true to her heart.

Earl grabbed her hand and began walking towards the play area, "Let's get Mauser and get going."

Chiya grunted as they walked, "But, it's not closing time…"

"Well, considering we have two Throwdown matches to do, we should close early," he smirked at her, "Besides, we literally gained money today. If we keep this up, we'll be permanently out of the deficit."

Earl opened the door for Chiya, the two entered the play area in search of Mauser. Chiya swirled into the room while humming gleefully.

"Mauser, it's time to go…" she sang.

Chiya looked around the room for Mauser, but Earl was the one who quickly spotted him. He grunted and tilted his head in surprise at what he was seeing, "Wow, I guess Mauser's even friendly towards other cats…"

Chiya turned her head towards the corner of the room and momentarily beamed. Mauser was lying next to the white cat with the same frightened look as before, the white cat, however, was sleeping beside him. Chiya gasped loudly and slapped her cheek roughly.

"Oh my God, that's so adorable!"

Mauser was staring at Chiya as he sat, the silky fur of the white cat appeared to have been messed around with, indicating to Chiya that Mauser had been bathing her. Earl didn't understand what this meant, as he wasn't a cat person.

"Earl, look at her messed up fur!"

Earl squinted and briefly nodded, "Yeah, I see that…"

"Do you know what this means?"

"That she likes to party?"

Chiya approached the two cats with puckered lips, "It means Mauser respects her. It doesn't look like she licked him back, but Mauser clearly likes this cat."

Earl smiled at her, but he momentarily grunted as Chiya very slowly turned her head towards him with a wide smile. Chiya lowered her eyelids with the same smile and raised an eyebrow.

"You know what I'm going to propose, right?"

Earl grunted very loudly and took a step back, "Uh, uh, okay! I know Mysterians have a different lifestyle, but us Earthlings are different; even if we like someone, we usually don't lick-"

"No-o, silly…" she pointed at the white cat with puckered lips, "We can't let someone take Mauser's only friend away…"

Earl grunted again and raised his eyebrows, "Y- you're suggesting that we-"

"Why not? It wouldn't be that much trouble, would it?"

Earl scratched his head and shook negatively, "I guess not. Deep inside I know Seppuku's a cat person, so he would probably welcome this…"

Chiya put her hands together and got on her knees, "Oh, ple-ease! Can we bring her home as my late birthday present?"

Earl looked over at the white cat, he wasn't condemning this very much on the account that she seemed to be a very silent cat. He closed his eyes and smiled, "Well, I guess that would be fine…"

The white cat was instantly awoken by Chiya's tight grasp, she yelped in shock as Chiya instantly shoved her inside of a pet carrier. Mauser looked up at the carrier and momentarily stood up.

"Come along, Mauser; Team Seppuku has a new recruit!"

Seppuku was pacing back and forth in the lobby with an overly nervous look on his face. He was constantly biting on his lip nervously as the scheduled Throwdown match was close to beginning. Earl seemed very enthusiastic on the idea of fighting again, but now Seppuku was left wondering if Earl had a sudden change of heart. He and Berserker had planned out too much for Earl to chicken out of the tournament. Seppuku was certain of one thing, if Earl won these two matches-Brock Blaskovitz was as good as dead.

The door to the garage opened, and Chiya came walking in with a smile. Seppuku spun around and grunted abruptly.

"Chiya! Where's Bendek!?" he grunted as Earl momentarily walked in from behind her, he was trying to fit the pet carrier through the door; Mauser walked past the two and proceeded under the dining table, "What's in the pet carrier?"

Earl dropped the carrier down on the floor and crossed his arms, Chiya knelt down by the carrier with puckered lips, "What's the one thing that can solve any problem?"

"A gun."

"Another kitty!" Chiya shouted excitedly as she opened the carrier.

The white cat immediately exited the carrier and took nervous steps forward, Seppuku grunted loudly at the cat, "Another fleabag?"

"Yep! Now Mauser will have a best friend to talk to!"

Seppuku looked over at Mauser and raised an eyebrow, "It can talk?"

Chiya began to pet the white cat's head with puckered lips, "I wonder what to name her…"

Seppuku sighed loudly and approached Earl, "Okay, fine, we'll take the cat, but Bendek needs to get to The Krush!"

Chiya nodded, "Yes, let's go get dressed," she pointed at Seppuku, "Seppuku, I'm going to entrust that you find a good name for this cat."

"Wait, you want me to-" Seppuku cracked his knuckles and pointed at the hallway door, "Dammit, Bendek! Go get dressed, we're talking about cats!"

Earl nodded, "Yes sir."

Earl immediately entered the hallway, Seppuku looked at Chiya again, "You want me to name her?"

Chiya hesitantly nodded, "I- I am, but please name her something normal…"

"Define normal."

"Isabelle, Snowball, Princess; I dunno', something regular…"

He hummed loudly as he gazed into the large eyes of the scared cat, "I'll think of something, just go get dressed…"

Chiya smiled and proceeded towards the hallway while rubbing her hands, "I get to see shirtless men fight each other today…" she muttered excitedly.

Earl and Chiya walked into the bar of The Krush dressed as their ex-Dark Million personas. Chiya's attire wasn't very different, the major difference being that she was wearing Rose's stocking boots. Despite Chiya's positive opinion of herself, she couldn't help but feel that she looked cool in Rose's clothing.

The two sat down at the bar counter, Brock wasn't sitting at his usual seat across the room. The bartender momentarily came towards the two with a smirk.

"What can I hit you up with?"

Earl hummed slowly, Chiya smiled and raised her finger, "Can I have some apple juice?"

"We really shouldn't be drinking, considering I have to fight in a few minutes."

"Well said," Chiya and Earl both grunted and turned their heads, Berserker was now sitting beside Chiya, "Contrary to popular belief here, drinking won't enhance your skills in any way."

Chiya nodded respectfully, "All it does is put your girlfriend in a near-coma."

Berserker gritted his teeth and pulled something out of his pocket, Earl and Chiya widened their eyes. Berserker then swiped two packets towards them.

"Have some coffee packets, it's better for you."

Earl shook negatively in confusion, "Uh, yeah, thanks…"

Berserker brought his hands together and hummed, "I hope you trained well, win today, and we can pull the plug on Blaskovitz this Friday night."

The bartender pushed a cup of tea towards Earl, "On the house."

Earl chuckled and swiped the coffee up to his mouth, "Oh, I'd like to think that I'll knock out my opponents today."

Chiya nodded at Berserker, "Earl's a champ, he'll win."

"No doubt, these are mere thugs who are looking for a fight. Blaskovitz is the actual challenge."

Earl smirked as he watched the ice in his tea fall to the bottom of the glass. The small cubes roughly landed against the glass, Chiya was staring at the cubes as well. Earl looked up at Berserker and grinned enthusiastically.

"Black Shadow better have Blaskovitz's funeral scheduled for this Saturday, because there's no chance in Hell that I'm gonna' fall."

The crowd was cheering loudly, Chiya stood on the edge of the ring with a nervous stance. With the match only moments away, it had only just occurred to her that Earl could very well be killed by his opponent. Earl was standing in the ring punching the air, his opponent was a fairly muscular man in blue shorts.

The crime lord, Vax, was observing the stadium from his office window. He had a mischievous grin on his face as he stuffed himself with various fats. Vax rarely made public appearances, but he watched all Throwdown games. He had a growing interest for the man he came to know as Excalibur, finding something odd about him. Something about Earl's stance and method of fighting hinted that he knew his way around a situation. Sinking his teeth into a fried piece of fish, he chuckled loudly.

Chiya bit her lip and put her hands up on the ring, "Earl!" Earl bobbed his head up, "Er-rr, Excalibur!"

Earl turned around and quickly knelt down in front of her, he looked down and nodded, "Yeah?"

"Be careful, this guy looks like he can take some abuse."

Earl turned towards his opponent and hummed, the man had much larger biceps than Earl, and his legs were very bulky. The man had a look that lacked fear, unlike Earl's previous two opponents.

"Yeah, but a bigger body means he'll tire himself out quickly."

Chiya didn't get an opportunity to respond, as Earl stood back up and approached the center of the ring. In theory, the idea of Earl fighting two more men sounded easy, but now she was having second thoughts. The idea of Earl fighting Brock suddenly sounded very frightening to her-especially since he had supernatural strength.

The announcer ran up to the center of the ring and raised his hand up into the air, "Gentlemen!" Earl and his opponent both approached the announcer, "We expect a brutal fight, no cheap moves, just true strength."

Berserker stood alone in the dark watching Earl, his dark cloak camouflaged him into the shadows. Chiya was also hard to see on the account that she was dressed in Dark Rose's attire.

The announcer backed away from the two and hit a metal bell loudly. Earl immediately dove into his opponent and swung his fist into his gut. The man slapped his hands down on Earl's back and grasped his skin tightly. Earl cringed as the man pinched his back, but this simple attack wasn't enough to break him. Earl gritted his teeth and wrapped himself around the man, he then proceeded to throw him aside.

Earl spun around and beat his fist into his palm roughly in anticipation for his opponent to strike. The man cracked his knuckles and came forth, Earl brought his fists up defensively and stomped his feet down. Earl blocked a few punches, but these punches were surging with power. Each punch was forcing a reaction out of Earl's mouth, but he was blocking every attack that came his way. Earl finally managed to throw a punch across his opponent's face, but in return was beat across the chin. Both men backed away from each other for a moment.

The man leapt at Earl and smacked both sides of his head roughly, leaving Earl briefly stunned. A series of quick light punches ensued as Earl struggled to regain control of the fight. The man punched from different directions constantly in order to confuse him. Chiya's eyes were quivering in shock at what she was witnessing. Earl managed to strike the man several times up the chin; the man's jaw was knocked into a strange position as a result.

After an exchange of punches, Earl managed to grab the man and force him towards the edge of the ring. The two men wrestled with each other while moving into the corner, Earl pushed the man against the rope and elbowed him roughly. While it seemed that Earl had the upper hand, the man was able to grab him and knock him down onto the ground. Earl looked up and found the sole of the man's boot about to come down on his face. Earl shifted his torso and head to the left quickly and avoided the stomping. He grabbed the man's foot and tried to knock him down as well.

The man was momentarily thrown a large metal rod, Earl gasped at the sight of the rod, "Oh, what the Hell…"

Earl slipped between the man's legs and immediately wrapped himself around his rear. The two proceeded to struggle with each other, Earl was trying to gain hold of the metal rod. Chiya was biting away her fingernails as she watched the very tough fight.

Earl got hold of the rod, but was unable to snatch it from his opponent's hand. The man accidentally dropped the rod moments later, both men were desperate to gain hold of this. Earl climbed on the man's shoulders while trying to pull the rod away from him. He put his knees over his head and pushed his face onto the ground-Earl had successfully gotten hold of the rod moments later. He jumped off of the man and chuckled with pride as he flourished the long metal weapon. Earl's excitement was cut short as the man stood back up with a sharp looking stone in his hand. He chuckled deeply as he held the stone up like a dagger.

"Uh, uh, s- shouldn't that be classified as a dagger!?"

The man shouted loudly as he charged towards Earl with the rock locked behind his head. Chiya gasped loudly and slapped her hands down constantly, "White towel! White towel!" she pleaded aloud.

No one regarded Chiya's surrender, Earl was now backing up towards her while spinning his rod around defensively. The man was closing in on him, Earl continued to back up towards Chiya with a look of immense nervousness. The man narrowed his eyes and licked his lips as he gazed at Earl's throat. Earl was holding his rod out like a spear, but he was beyond frightened that the man would break through this defense.

Chiya was bouncing frantically as she searched thin and wide for a solution to the predicament. She observed the man closely, and after accepting that this wasn't fair, she decided to play dirty for Earl.

Earl lunged the rod forth a few times in an attempt to scare the man back, "Back!"

"Earl!" shouted Chiya.

Before Earl could turn his head, the sight of something green came flying towards the two. The crowd gasped as the sharp object was knocked out of the man's hand by Chiya-as she had thrown the back massager. The man gasped and immediately reached down for the sharp object, Earl seized the opportunity and struck the man flat on the head with the metal rod-sending him down immediately.

A stream of blood immediately ran down the man's mouth as he roughly fell flat onto the floor unconscious. The crowd cheered loudly, and no one seemed to object to Chiya's decision to intervene. Earl was trembling greatly as he stared at his downed opponent. Chiya exhaled loudly in relief. Earl knelt down and grabbed the back massager off the ground quickly. He took one more look at his opponent in awe, thankful that he had survived the deadly match. He still had one match to win before they could leave…

Earl was wiping his face roughly as he leaned over the bar counter, Chiya was sitting beside him with a troubled look. He let out a heavy sigh of discomfort and dragged his palm down his face.

"That guy almost wiped the floor with me."

Chiya shook negatively, "You were punching him quite a bit too."

"Had you not thrown the back massager at him, I would've been cut up good."

Chiya narrowed her eyes in frustration and growled, "That wasn't even fair, he practically used a knife…"

Earl swished his hand down and sighed again, "This last guy is going to be even harder…" he growled loudly, "Don't get me wrong, a metal rod was a great weapon-but I would much rather fight a full game of hand-to-hand combat."

Both Chiya and Earl suddenly gasped as two hands grasped them, Earl turned his head quickly and exhaled in relief. Berserker looked down at Earl and pointed a strict finger.

"If you want to have an easy win, you need to throw unpredictable moves at your opponent."

"Meaning..?" asked Earl.

"Kick their upper body with your foot, and punch their legs with your hands. Mix it up and switch every now and then."

Earl raised his eyebrows and hummed curiously, "So I should include upper body kicks and lower body punches into my move-set?"

"Your opponent will never see it coming."

Chiya smirked, "Kicking, I could mop the floor with everyone if I could enter the competition."

"No girls allowed," Berserker responded swiftly.

"…sexist establishment…" Chiya muttered with a pout.

Earl later stood in front of his final opponent, he was left with a very shocked expression. In front of him stood a very muscular man in a muscle shirt; he had a tattooed hammer and sickle on his bicep. The man narrowed his eyes and growled fiercely at Earl. This was a surprising opponent, because the fact was; this was an ex-Red Star member. If Earl were to be defeated, Brock would fight one of his ex-comrades in the final match.

The announcer approached the two with the bell, the Red Star gangster grinded his teeth at Earl, "Seppuku lapdog…"

Earl's eyes briefly widened, this man could see right through the Excalibur false persona. Earl fought the accusation by swishing his hand at him, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

The announcer forced the bell up into the air and backed away, Earl put his fists up and stuck his tongue out as he concentrated on the man closely. The Red Star member had a very aggressive look, telling Earl that he would likely initiate the fight with a first strike.

The bell was rung, and as expected, the Red Star member lunged his fist forth. For once, Earl dodged the initial attack and punched his fist aside. Earl proceeded to smack him across the face several times, getting an initial edge on him. In response, Earl was struck in the gut and knocked back about a meter. Earl widened his eyes and grunted.

"Wow, those muscles really help you…"

The two began to exchange punches, many of which collided. Neither Earl nor his opponent was being struck, their fists continued to clash constantly. Earl lowered his eyebrows and gritted his teeth as he swung, finally, Earl broke the even match by kicking him in the chest. The man grunted loudly and backed away from him, Earl proceeded forward and punched him across the face constantly.

Chiya was bouncing up slightly as the two fought, wondering how she could assist Earl. She looked down at the sandwich she was holding with a look of contemplation. Would it help if I gave him my sandwich..? she blinked at the food and ultimately shrugged before taking a bite from it.

Earl was unstoppable, he continued to beat the Red Star member further back, power surged through his punches as he momentarily cornered him in the ring. The man was very confused at this point after being hit so many times. Earl concluded the punching spree by delivering one powerful strike up his chin. The Red Star member was propelled up slightly and landed against the ropes. Earl finally backed away from him while panting loudly.

The Red Star member stood back up and wiped his face, "Not good enough…"

Earl was suddenly leapt at and brought down onto the ground, he grunted loudly and groaned after being roughly tackled by the large man. Earl felt as if he were being crushed by the enormous man, he soon found himself being beat up swiftly. Each punch the man threw was very strong, Earl was trying to wrap his legs around him as he took the rough abuse. After several moments of being punched, Earl rolled the man over and began to beat on his face.

The two proceeded to wrestle, both men already exhausted from the rough beating of each other. The pain Earl was feeling was inspiring him to fight stronger, the thought of Chiya watching him made him fight even more aggressively. No objects were being thrown into the ring-something Earl knew he would need to defeat such a massive foe.

The two finally got off of each other and stood back up, both were now very shook up, but both remained optimistic about the fight. The Red Star member beat his fists together and chuckled.

"You will not win…"

Earl narrowed his eyes at him and shook negatively. Just before the two could fight each other again, Earl's opponent shouted loudly after being struck in the neck with something. A very small piece of metal was now sticking out from his skin. Earl widened his eyes at the sight of the purple metal. Without questioning what had struck him, the man took the dart-like out of his neck and approached Earl.

A futuristic blowgun was slightly visible from the shadows of the stadium, a lone glowing red eye narrowed as the blowgun was lowered.

Earl was now beating the Red Star member up with ease, the man's eyelids were lowered and he had an enhanced look of exhaustion. He was backing away from Earl as he continued to get struck, but every step back seemed to make him more and more tired. It wasn't until the two got to the corner of the ring that the Red Star member dropped down onto his knees. He ducked his head down and held his hands up.

"I- I give up!"

Earl grunted and came to a stop, the Red Star member forced his hands down onto the ground and began to tremble; but he momentarily fell flat onto his chest. The crowd was very surprised to see such a muscular man fall unconscious so easily. Earl blinked a few times in shock and looked around at the cheering fans. His final opponent was down, and it had only just occurred to him that he would indeed be fighting Brock Blaskovitz on Friday-exactly as Brock had desired.

Seppuku was eating dinner alone at the dining room table, he was eating out of the sack of chopped vegetables he obtained from the lady he rescued. He chuckled softly as he brought a potato up to his mouth. Just before he took a bite, his ears had pranced up.

"They're home…"

Just as he had said, Chiya and Earl momentarily came through the door with proud looks, Seppuku turned towards the two and raised an eyebrow, "Did you win?"

Earl sat down at the table and dug into the sack of vegetables, "Yeah, Friday night, we settle the score with Blaskovitz once and for all."

Seppuku clapped his hands together and grinned, "Well, you did it; Blaskovitz is as good as dead…" he chuckled and tilted his fedora, "Tonight was basically your final. I know that we'll kill Blaskovitz on Friday. He can chuckle dramatically all he wants, but his end is near…"

Chiya grasped Seppuku's shoulders with a smile, Seppuku responded by grabbing her arms and throwing flat onto the ground. Chiya grunted loudly, "Ouch!"

Seppuku looked down at her, then back at the sack of vegetables, "Sorry, thought you were Blood Falcon."

Chiya stood back up while rubbing the back of her head, "Did you find a name for our new cat?" Seppuku nodded affirmatively, "-and, it's a normal name?"

Seppuku nodded again, "Siberia."

Chiya and Earl both grunted at this name, Chiya raised her eyebrows and scratched her eyebrow, "W- wait, you actually found a normal name?"

"I was considering naming her MG-42, but I think Siberia rolls off the tongue a bit easier."

Earl and Chiya exchanged looks of amazement, both were surprised that Seppuku made things easy. Earl shrugged and nodded, "Siberia sounds nice…"

"Siberia and Mauser…" Chiya muttered aloud, she smiled and nodded, "Sounds great."

Seppuku stood up and exhaled, "Alright, so here's our lineup…" both looked at him and nodded, "First, we kill Blaskovitz, then we focus on the next race, and finally, we begin our hunt for Black Shadow using any information we gather from Blaskovitz's remains."

Chiya nodded, "Well, how hard could it be to track down Black Shadow with Blaskovitz's possessions?"

Seppuku crossed his arms and shrugged, "I'm confident that we'll find his tracking device, once we do that and locate Black Shadow's ship, I don't need you two anymore."

Chiya smiled and nodded, "Excellent…"

Seppuku tilted his fedora down and sighed, "But one thing is for sure…" he quirked his mouth slightly, "Black Shadow knows that I'm coming for him…"

Black Shadow was sitting at his throne with a grin on his face. Brock was on a massive screen giving a salute.

"The match between me and Excalibur is on, Master…"

Black Shadow grinned and nodded, "Excellent, killing that fool will bring me the enjoyment of vengeance, and chop down Seppuku's little organization…"

"I look forward to pleasing you…"

Black Shadow smirked, "If we kill Excalibur, we can capture the girl again, and she'll lead Seppuku right into my trap…" he chuckled very slowly, "His compassion for the girl is going to be his undoing, this, is inevitable…"

Brock nodded with a grin, "Excalibur will die at my hands, at last…"

"I have one order, however…" Brock raised an eyebrow, "I want you to destroy your tracking device. I will have Blood Falcon come to escort you back to the ship after your match."

Brock grunted at this odd request, "Of course..?"

Black Shadow nodded slowly with the same grin, "Good, do as I ask, and proceed to destroy Earl Bendek…"

"As you wish, Master…"

Blaskovitz disconnected from the chat. Black Shadow continued to grin for a few seconds, but his grin immediately turned to a look of fury, he let out a very heavy sigh.

"Friday night, Blood Falcon will be all that is left…" Black Shadow said with extreme doubt in Brock.

To be continued…