Downstairs only seconds earlier - The Show Arena
"Hailing from the breathtaking faraway exotic land of Brazil, swinging in with an impressive record of 15 wins, only 1 draw, and 0 losses. Give it up for the arena's number one lightweight contender! Pao the Cyclone!
"See what I mean Gus….place isn't so bad. They say we come from a breathtaking faraway exotic land. Eh?" Pao said, jokingly looking over his shoulder as he practiced a bit of shadowboxing.
Gus just shook his head and grumbled. "Shut up and stay focused."
"And his opponent… Tearing through the competition with almost a flawless record of 13 Wins and only 1 loss...
Huh? 13? 1 loss? That didn't sound right to the simian fighter. It didn't sound like the rabbit's record at all.
The Rampaging Ratel…. RASHIIIIIIID!
Stepping into the cage with them instead was a tall but muscular and fierce-looking male honey badger accompanied by a vulture manager. Pao's cheerful mood dropped considerably as he got a good look at his surprise opponent.
The black-furred mammal with his beady black eyes wore matching purple knee-high trunks and padded gloves. The long claws on his fingers looked exceedingly sharp, and his mouth seemed lined with a row of jagged teeth.
"That's not a rabbit…" The bonobo observed, whispering in his young protege's ear. "I thought you said it was a rabbit."
"Yes, it was a rabbit, Gustavo. The Psycho is a rabbit, I fought a rabbit. That's who busted me up."
"Well, that is a honey badger…"
"I know Gus! I have eyes! Something must be wrong."
"I told you s-"
"This time!" The spider monkey growled at his manager. "This time! This is like the one time you were right!"
"Not so confident now, huh?" The chimp said with a sneer as he rubbed Pao's tense shoulders. "Should have packed on a few more pounds for this guy. Definitely. Honey badgers ain't no joke, that guy could fight a lion if he wanted to. We got to throw out our strategy completely now."
Pao looked around the arena, hoping to catch a glimpse of the rabbit, where ever she may be hiding. Trying to see if this was a prank, but she was nowhere to be found. The only familiar thing he caught sight of was the raccoon promoter seated by his announce table. " Um momento Gustavo. I'm about to sort this out," he told his coach as he walked over to the side of the cage by Baraki.
" Ei, raccoon!" Pao called out, resting against the cage mesh. " Ei! C'mere. I got a problem, big problem! C'mere!"
Baraki looked around the announce table to the wild and crazy crowd and made his way down to the arena, none too pleased.
"What do you want?" He asked. "Don't tell me you're weaseling out of this. You signed up to fight, no second thoughts!" Baraki barked.
" Não sou covarde! I'm not a coward I'm not runnin'! I just want to know where the coelho fêmea? Or as you say, the rabbit, yeah? não, eu deveria estar lutando contra o psicopata esta noite? " I should be fighting the psychopath tonight, No?
"All I understood in that mumbo jumbo you just said was Psycho . Look, if you are asking about the Psycho, she's out with an injury from what I heard. So you and him are going to scrap tonight, got it? I don't want to hear any lip out you tree crawler! It's your problem, not mine." The raccoon jabbed his little fingers at the simian.
Pao glowered at the penny-pinching stripe-tail through the cage fence. " Idiota falastrão. " He cursed under his breath.
The crowd was getting restless with vicious jeering chants and boos. Something that caused the raccoon to start sweating and fearing of a potential riot. He turned his back to the monkey and walked back to his table, waving off the fighter's grievances as he gripped the microphone to start the match. "Stop holding us up and get ready to fight!"
" Sim, sim tanto faz. I'll give you your stupid fight." He said as he headed back to his corner. Gus wasted no time trying to give him a proper strategy.
"Paulo, I want you to feel him out, you hear? No way you're going to outlast him in a slugfest. You're lighter and nimble so keep your speed up and dance with him. Keep that head moving, keep your hips moving. Watch your kicks too, only really commit when you know you got him. You don't want to get taken to the ground by that guy, not with those claws. He catches you and this goes to the ground... Vá com Deus, my friend. "
"I got it, Gus." The monkey said as he stretched his arm and started throwing some mock punches.
The badger across the cage violently thrashed and beat his chest like a gorilla, either trying to intimidate him or insult his species. His beady eyes locked onto the monkey with a murderous stare, something Pao was sure worked on a lot of his foes.
Not him, though. Pao stared right back at the ravenous-looking mustelid, growling and revealing his own sharp fangs in a fierce display, and raised his clenched fists. It would take a lot more than some ripping and snorting to frighten him off.
Annoyed, the ratel gave him his white striped back and stretched on the cage, cracking his neck. The vulture manager was flapping his beak in frustration as it seemed like the guy wasn't even listening to his pre-fight instructions. A guy like that probably didn't even need a trainer, probably just went out with the urge to kill and not much else.
With the badger not looking, Pao dropped the tough act and sighed. His head depressed down, looking at the mat. He wanted to fight that rabbit again. He had been anticipating the rematch all week just to get stood up, it was frustrating.
His coach patted him on the shoulder, concerned. "You okay? You nervous?"
" Um pouco , a little. I'm more disappointed. I wanted to see what that fiery girl had to show me."
" Eu tenho fé em você garoto . I have faith in you boy. This will be your Jaguar story, it will." The bonobo grinned and slapped Pao encouragingly against his cheek.
The monkey chuckled at the ape's joke. " Sim , this will be my jaguar. Then when I have a pupil of my own, they can call me a hipócrita , huh?"
The bonobo shook his head and smiled. "Esse é o espírito, Paulo. You got dis." That's the spirit, Paulo.
"Fighters, ready up!" The raccoon ordered.
The two of them met in the middle of the ring where they continued their little stare down. The cage doors slammed shut behind them as their respective managers left, sealing them in.
The heavy breathing from the ratel blew down upon the spider monkey like a powerful gust. His breath smelled horrible and was almost an opponent in and of itself for Pao. It reeked of his likely meat-related diet, given his impressive abs and pecs.
To make matters worse the big bruiser started talking trash to go along with the smell. "I heard you trying to talk to the booker. You shouldn't even worry about that rabbit. Once I stomp you into the ground that contender spot will be all mine. Then I'll rip her little head off myself."
"Say, Snow-Top , you dança by any chance? Huh ?" Pao asked, getting loose.
"Dance? You're in the wrong kinda club, punk." The heavier fighter answered. "Dancing is for sissies anyway."
"I was just wondering. You know...cuz I was expecting a dança partner tonight. But she didn't show, so I got you. I'll make due I guess."
"You should have been expecting some broken bones. Because you got the beating of your life in the next few seconds, pretty boy."
" Arrogante, arrogante." Arrogant, arrogant. Pao commented, clicking his tongue and shaking his head. He adopted a proper fighting posture and raised his fists waiting for the gong, "I hope you can keep up with the rhythm, friend."
"Just shut up already, or your mouth's going to be the first thing I break." The ratel growled,
*Bwoong!*
The gong sounded and the two fighters came in close. Pao began circling the ring cautiously. Not yet dancing, but keeping his guard up while Rashid followed him, leading with his left hand. The ratel was slow and methodical as he stalked the monkey. Pao also noticed that his fists were closed, the ratel was relying on his knuckles rather than his natural claws it seemed.
A few minutes in, the ratel made the first move. Rashid lurched forward in a straight trajectory, coming in with some hard swings, but Pao smoothly swayed out of their arc with his flamboyant ginga or shuffle. The samba had begun playing inside the monkey's head as he began dancing out of the way of the badger's offense. It only took three misses for Pao to get a good idea of Rashid's style; the typical brawler trying to knock his foe out fast with their brute strength.
I'm the rabbit in this fight, ironically, Pao thought.
After the third swing, Pao went in the direction of the mustelid's blow and struck him upside the face with a go-for-broke wheel kick. Baraki could be heard on the microphone hyping up the move as Pao's Tornado Kick. The crowd ate it up.
The nimble monkey landed on his side but just as quickly hopped back as the ratel shook it off almost unfazed. The honey badger raised his guard once more and started encircling the monkey, who again relied on his ginga dance style as he rocked back and forth and shuffled his feet behind him.
Annoyed, Rashid moved in for another assault, this time with a combo of jabs and hooks, but the monkey's dexterity was proving to be an issue.
Pao could bob-and-weave and with the grace of a dancer no less, he was able to leap into the badger's blindspot and started laying in further offense into his back with kicks and punches.
The spider monkey had chained in a good amount of fluid combos; Brazilian roundhouse, somersault kick, butterfly, windmill kick, but they all felt ineffective against the brutish black and white monster's tough skin. The ratel just took the damage and faced him, no worse for wear.
Amused, the honey badger rammed into him with a hard shove that knocked him slightly off balance. Stunned, Pao stumbled back some paces while Rashid huddled up and closed in, starting to hit him with a series of stinging jabs to the midsection.
The shrieking raccoon on the microphone was already going berserk with the commentary and the crowd, ever so fickle, were cheering on the ratel now.
The monkey could hear his manager screaming at him, "Paulo don't let him corner you! Get away from him! Get-away-from-him!" That's easier said than done, Gus, he thought as he tried to guard himself to little effect.
His teeth rattled as he took a hard blow to the jaw. The force sent him falling against the wire-mesh cage for support. The honey badger closed in, hiding behind his purple-tinted padded guard. Hard-hitting punishment started laying into the monkey's torso as he tried to move. He could hear the loud roars the crowd made whenever a blow landed. Part of him was disappointed, not so much in himself, but the fact that he wished it was the rabbit giving him this trouble. He wanted her to see what she was holding back.
Gus was right next to him on the other side of the cage yelling at him in their native tongue. "Acorde e saia daí seu idiota! Wake up and get out of there you idiot!" He was right, he needed to focus on the task at hand, the rabbit would come later. He was fighting this guy.
The monkey managed to raise his guard and blocked an incoming hook and fired back with a strong jab into the ratel's snout. Rashid's eyes closed briefly as his head jerked back. When they opened, Pao had dropped and rammed his shoulder into the mustelid's gut. Rashid stumbled back and allowed Pao to slide out of the corner. The simian fight swung a hard kick to the ratel's side, but once again the honey badger absorbed the blow like it was nothing.
Now he had the ratel in the corner, but no matter how much punishment he threw at him, nothing was going to keep Rashid from brute-forcing his way out. The silver-topped mustelid charged forward with a tackle. The ratel only caught thin air as Pao cartwheeled to the left, departing cleanly from the carnivore's path.
Frustrated the ratel jerked right after him, Pao answered back the aggression with a fast butterfly kick to the head that stunned Rashid good. Long enough for Pao to try some more body shots so he could go upstairs.
He accomplished in getting in only three solid strikes to the jaw before Rashid was back on the offensive. The ratel clipped the side of the monkey's cheek with a fast right and then began kicking for his midsection, striking Pao a few times in the ribs, before he could get a decent guard up. The final blow stunned the flashy fighter so much, it knocked the built-up saliva clean from his mouth.
Rashid then swung a really hard kick that sent Pao sliding across the mat. The dark-furred monkey got up on all fours and avoided a sudden stomp by the black brawler. A slick windmill dancing spin got him back to his feet, but unfortunately, Rashid was right upon him as soon as he stood straight.
The badger's purple padded knuckles slammed right into the simian's face, flattening his small nose. Pao could smell the blood filling his nostrils as he wobbled on his feet. The next thing he knew he felt were the arms of the badger wrapping around his waist and lifting him off the ground with a bearhug.
Rashid's pungent natural musk added to the already unpleasant smell of blood and sweat surrounding the two of them. His legs kicked frantically to no avail as the mustelid began shaking him violently like a tree, sapping him a lot of the energy with each shake.
Pao was at a loss of how he could escape this hold. He couldn't weasel his way out and the badger was much stronger, preventing him from bursting free. The badger's fang-filled grin bore down on him as Pao could hear his insides giving and cracking.
Then an idea struck him. Pao concentrated all he could on communicating with his lower half. On command, his thick tail coiled behind him and swung like a whip up against the ratel's face.
Eyes! Go for the eyes!
His tail arced back and shot for the ratel's beady black eyes like a scorpion's tail. BULLSEYE!
The honey badger shrieked in pain as the tip of Pao's tail hit him right on the mark, blinding him in one eye if only temporary. Pao used the confusion in an attempt to wrestle free, but the badger was still much stronger than anything he could muster. He stabbed his tail again, going for the other eye, but Rashid wasn't falling for the same trick twice.
"Fucker!" The raging ratel shouted as he tossed Pao aside like a ragdoll into the cage wall.
The monkey collided back first, sliding down the wire mesh completely lifeless. Pao was seeing stars as he sat there almost concussed, a sitting duck. The ratel closed the distance and yanked him up by the scruff of his neck fur.
"Gonna fuck you up!" The now one-eyed brawler roared as he shoved Pao into the fence, trying to knock more of the fight out of him, but Pao gave him a hard kick to the calf that seemed to hurt him. The honey badger grunted sharply in pain and retaliated with a fierce left hook that missed its mark. The spider monkey then gave him more strikes aimed at the same area. Each giving him a similar result.
Pao could see Rashid's upper torso was tough, but his lower limbs weren't as defined. They couldn't take the same punishment.
He kicked Rashid again even harder, causing him to falter and clumsily drop to a knee. The grimacing badger, still gripping the monkey by the chest, fell right down to punching height for Pao who began smashing his fist into his opponent's face attempting to coerce him into letting go.
Pao slugged the ratel in the face with two quick and vicious right and left hooks that bruised and bloodied Rashid but were nowhere near good enough to put him away. The honey badger was like a tank. Pao slammed his knee into Rashid's snout when the ratel tried to pull himself up by grabbing his arms.
Blood squirted from the mustelid's nose like a freshly opened champagne bottle as his head jerked back. That was way more effective, Pao thought.
Rashid lost his grip and Pao promptly kicked him away. Frustrated, the badger shot forward like a bull, desperately trying to tackle the simian and ram him against the fence again.
Pao however was a lot quicker witted and wrapped his arm around the silver-headed mammal's neck and put his feet up against the wall. Climbing up the fence backwards, Pao flipped over the badger, his arm hooking around Rashid's neck in a form of a chokehold.
This didn't last long as the honey badger started swinging clawed-filled swats with the razor-sharp daggers he called claws. Pao wisely released his hold and promptly kicked the badger in the small of his back to get some distance.
Back on the offensive, the ratel swung down on the monkey with a vicious bear-like swipe that would have made a grizzly blush. The simian fighter sank low and rolled like a ball on the mat to avoid it. Pao considered himself lucky that the ratel hadn't led with those earlier. As sloppy as he had been fighting, he might have been disemboweled by now. The ratel chased after him, swinging wildly and more focused on clawing.
Using his flexibility once more, Pao came to a halt and went for quick and fast low kicks, which Rashid basically waded right into. Swinging his long limbs out for Rashid's weak calves, Pao performed an impressive-looking rotating slippery kick that swung both of his legs while he balanced on his palms. He swept the badger's legs hard, causing Rashid to drop again, allowing Pao to transition into a handspring kick to the jaw that finished sending him crashing to the mat.
The crowd was definitely back on the Cyclone's side again with his flashy moves as he skillfully balanced on one hand like a circus act.
Despite this, Pao wasn't really in a silly or playful mindset, he knew he needed to finish this. He rushed over to his fallen opponent to try a knockout, but the still conscious honey badger lunged at him, trying to catch his legs.
Pao backflipped out of harm's way and then leaped back at the badger with a roundhouse.
Rashid took the hard blow to the chops like a champ but stubbornly kept coming. He swung on the monkey with some scary-looking claw sweeps, nearly decapitating him, but Pao fell on his back and bounced back up with a kip-up.
As soon as Rashid turned to face his elusive opponent, he was met with a punishing Brazilian spin kick to the skull that threw him off balance. His heavy body lurched forward aimlessly, but despite his clumsy posture, the honey badger stayed standing.
Punchdrunk, the ratel lured Pao in, but it was a ruse as Rashid swung another claw strike once the monkey took the bait. Nimble, Pao avoided it all the same, ducking with his rocking back and forth, but Rashid rushed in with a fast set of combos trying to overwhelm him.
*Whap*
The loud slap echoed through the cage as the ratel's heavy fist made contact, however, it didn't land where he aimed it. Instead, his black fist rested within Pao's foot. Rashid's beady eyes widened as he saw that the monkey had caught the punch… with his foot. Pao's primate feet were prehensile, capable of grasping.
Grinning like a devil, the monkey began slapping the badger viciously upside the face with his tail, before violently yanking Rashid down to the mat.
He attempted to wrap his hips around the badger's waist for a mount, but the weary badger shook him off and reversed it, pinning him. Now Pao was under the badger and in the worst place. He could practically hear Gus lambasting him from the sidelines as the badger began laying in some hard-hitting blows to the face.
He tried to roll the both of them over again, but Rashid's heavy frame was able to keep the simian's shoulders pinned to the mat. Then an idea struck him. He called on his tail once more and wrapped the furry serpent around the badger's throat, constricting like a boa. The badger answered the attempt in kind by trying to strangle Pao, wrapping his enormous claws around his throat.
Rashid's hardy nature at first staved off the throttling attempt, but soon the airflow in his windpipe became restricted. He had no option but to pull the tail free, allowing Pao to breathe and get his revenge by pummeling the mustelid with some stinging punches to the face.
"Damn, go to sleep already!" Pao demanded, punching the stubborn brawler in the face over and over, all the while continuing to squeeze. "How long can you hold this up! Don't you want to breathe?!"
Rashid eventually slipped his fingers through the fuzzy noose. "Well, you know... what they say... about us honey badgers! We don't give a shi-" He shouted, chomping his jaws down on the monkey's tail.
"AAARGH!Porro!" Shit! Pao screamed in agony as he slugged the badger in the eye. "Desgraçado!" Bastard! Des- Des- Des- Desgraçado! He shouted, laying in more furious punches until the badger finally loosened his jaw and let the likely mangled tail loose.
Pao's first thought was the state of his tail, but this distraction was all the battered mustelid needed to grab the simian and powerbomb slam him hard to the ground. Exhausted, Rashid caught his breath before attempting another slam but got both feet from the monkey thrusted right into his gut as soon as he leaned down.
The honey badger winded, dropped to his knees in pain, unintentionally giving the nearly dazed primate enough time to recover.
The monkey bounced back up with a rough and ungraceful kip-up, and almost fell back down flat on his face. His wounded tail wagged erratically behind him and hindered his balance considerably. The badger rose to his feet and both of them locked eyes again.
"Bet you won't try that shit again. Hahaha" Rashid taunted, standing up straight, his mouth bloodied with the blood of Pao's tail.
"You'll be lucky I won't kill you for dat, Desgraçado!"
The crowd had suddenly grown silent as they could sense the climax was drawing near. Both fighters were winded and running out of gas.
Despite the bravado he was boasting, Rashid looked worse for wear with the swelling Pao had put on his face. His eyelids had swollen purple and were now resembling his ring attire. Though the fact that he was still standing was impressive and a testament to his race's hardy nature.
Pao wasn't feeling so tip-top himself. His fists were throbbing and fatigue had set in and his tail...his poor tail. It was still intact, but it was inflamed, bleeding, and stiff. Both of them knew this had to be it.
They both came in and squared up for what was probably the last time.
Rashid took the first swing, nailing Pao in the cheek. Pao answered back with a roundhouse to the liver. The kick made the badger falter, but it wasn't enough. Rashid traded the blow with a hard-hitting hook to the ribs that made the monkey grunt but followed it up poorly with a sloppy cross punch that Pao managed to slip under.
Taking advantage of his placement, Pao swung a hard kick for the badger's head, but the badger caught him by the ankle.
The whole arena was in suspense as this seemed to be it for the simian as the ratel reared back to knock the monkey's block off.
Then it happened.
Thinking fast, the spider monkey twisted clockwise and jammed his other foot, balled like a fist, as hard as he could, right into the badger's exposed snout.
*Crack*
Rashid's head shot back violently from the kick, or rather punch. Pao spun around, ready to follow up when he saw the ratel's eyes rolled back in his skull. The bulky badger looked as if his brain had shut down as his arms flopped to his side, and then his entire body took on a one-way trip to the floor. The monkey got himself some distance as the badger crashed with a loud thud.
Pao stood there, running on fumes, absolutely exhausted as he waited for the juggernaut of a badger to get back up once again, but the black and white mustelid remained right where he was; face down, ass up. Not moving a muscle.
He was done.
The badger was finally defeated.
Suddenly the gong sounded. The crowd erupted and the raccoon's shrill commentary started booming through the arena's speakers and he announced Pao the winner. It was over.
Pao unceremoniously collapsed to the mat, absolutely exhausted. His body ached, his lungs were on fire. His chest heaved up and down with the tempo of a fast samba. And all he wanted to do was rest. The fight had been a chore. Pao's mind wanted for him to get up, but his weary body felt fine just where it was.
He was just happy it was over, but he still felt disappointed that his date had stood him up. It was probably his fault too. While he was showing off, he probably sidelined her and missed out on an easy win. So...in a way all the pain he was in now, was his fault.
Suddenly he noticed something up there above him. He saw what looked like an adolescent male herbivore gazing down upon him from a windowed skybox. An alpaca or llama, he reckoned. It was high up, but he recognized familiar features about the boy. He wore a jacket similar to the rabbit, and he swore he had seen him around here before.
Suddenly the aged and darkened face of his excited trainer eclipsed into his field of view. The Bonobo had an ecstatic look that faded slightly as he started to give Pao a more cursory look over.
"Gustavo… Heh heh." Pao was happy to see the grizzled ape, but his curiosity about the herbivore made him try to look past him. Just his luck, the boy was nowhere to be seen anymore. He knew wasn't seeing things through. Somehow the boy was connected to her.
"Well... looks like you got that story to tell your aluno pupil once you become an old fart huh?" He heard the dark chimp say as he tried to pick him up. "You finally put him down. You did it."
"Jajaja!" The spider monkey laughed. His sides hurt like hell, but he couldn't help but chuckle as the ape squatted down next to him.
Pao mustered up the strength to raise his head slightly and tried to inspect his damaged tail. "Say, Gus. Is my tail okay? It didn't fall off did it?"
"What you too proud to be an ape?" The bonobo joked, trying to check for him.
"Não, obrigado Estou bem." No, thanks. I'm fine. He was so tired, he didn't even feel like speaking in the land's tongue, falling back on his own.
"It's still there. I got my work cut out for me, but it's still there. You look worse than it though, so don't worry.."
"Jajaja! Isso é bom, eu acho." This is good, I think. He let his head rest back on the floor. "You know... we are going to dat spa…. Like I promised Gustavo, Sim. Dats for sure. Just I think I'm gonna be the one to see da Masagista ." He said, finally passing out from exhaustion.
"Sure thing, Paulo. Sure thing." Gus said, throwing the monkey's arm over his shoulder and lifting his young friend up to his feet.