The United Forums of Neptune Circle

Chapter 7: Fight Club

BearFrog pushed open the door of the tattoo parlor and began walking towards the back steps in the narrow building. The room was dirty and yellow, with supplies scattered everywhere, but BearFrog ignored them. He was a perfect picture of focus.

"Hey, you're not allowed to go back there!" yelled the tattoo artist as he jumped up, dropping the needle (which slipped on the customer and caused him to scream in pain).

BearFrog didn't pay much mind to the nuisance, swatting away the large man like a fly. The man was by no means weak, but BearFrog was much stronger. Kicking down the door at the end of the room, BearFrog walked down the thin, but slowly expanding, staircase.

The staircase led BearFrog into a large, dark and dirty room. It would have been empty had it not been for the huge crowd of thugs standing in a circle. Some were cheering, others were booing, but they all were loud. They were all paying close attention to the fight, but as soon as BearFrog stepped onto the ground the entire room was dead silent.

The entire crowd turned to face BearFrog. Each of them stared at the intruder with anger, except for a certain gangster who was smiling as he twitched with his can of spray-paint in his hand. After a few seconds of silence a small gap in the crowd formed. Slowly a muscular man in red pants approached. He was shirtless, shoeless, and more blonde than an ear of corn.

Extending both of his arms out as he walked, as if to hug someone, the man spoke as he reached the front of the crowd.

"Welcome, Mr. BearFrog. I am Radd Zit. Welcome…to fight club!!"

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Jade and Twait sat alone in the study, with the only light in the room coming from a curving lamp just above them. Jade had been struggling to read the book she had picked out. She had a limited knowledge of English and this book was by far advanced reading. She trudged along though and was getting through the story.

Though something seemed oddly familiar about this mister Sherlock Holmes. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but it seemed as if that she actually had met this Mr. Holmes in person. But that was impossible. He was just a character in a book.

Or was he?

The story was heating up and getting ready to climax. Jade was on the edge of her seat, waiting to see how the current chapter would end.

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"Do I know you?" asked BearFrog curiously as he poked his head forward, his hands in his pockets.

"You should! I was one of the few members of the Clock Crew to escape after you busted our smuggling operation!!" yelled Radd.

"Hmm…nope. Not ringing a bell. I stop a lot of smuggling operations," replied the detective innocently.

"You put my brother in prison, you bastard! Now you're going to pay!!"

Radd charged forward at BearFrog in fury. BearFrog simply kept on his innocent expression on his face as he dodged his head backwards. Standing in one place, BearFrog dodged all of Radd's attacks. He mostly swayed out of the way of most of the punches and kicks but when Radd went for a trip-kick BearFrog jumped up in the air and flew over Radd. While landing on the other side of Radd, BearFrog gave Radd a karate chop to the neck and knocked him out cold.

BearFrog was facing Radd, now knocked out, and then turned around to face the crowd of angry fighters. However, this time he had a stare of solid stone, no more innocence or humor in his face. It was time to take care of business.

"I'm going to only ask this once! Where is Gado Lion?" yelled BearFrog intently.

"I ain't tellin' you nothin' copper!!" yelled Graffiticanclock as he charged forward, spraying his can of spray-paint at BearFrog. BearFrog sidestepped out of the way and then countered with a powerful left kick to Graffiticanclock's gut (while Graffiticanclock was still in mid-air).

Graffiti wasn't the only one in the room though. BearFrog was seeing more and more members of the Clock Crew come forward and attack him. After taking out a few of them, BearFrog charged forward with a right kick, which took down about fifteen of the men. Now BearFrog found himself in the center and start fighting wave after wave of Clock Crew cronies.

A quick dodge, countered by a right punch. Bam! BearFrog blocked a kick with his left forearm and countered down with a spinning sweeping kick. Finishing off his little combo, BearFrog charged up in the air with an uppercut, knocking a rather large member of the Clock Crew.

Gleam!

A knife was tossed at BearFrog, who would easily have been able to dodge it. But he didn't. He dodged it only slightly so that the blade cut him in the arm as opposed to the chest. Although tempted to let that arm rest for a few seconds, BearFrog used it the knock out a few of the teeth of the one who threw the knife.

BearFrog was strong, true, but he was fighting an entire room full of people. He was beginning to get very tired, considering his lack of sleep recently, yet he kept fighting on.

Boom!

A hard punch to the right sent BearFrog's hat flying off him, landed on the ground to be stomped on by approaching thugs. Not only was BearFrog's hat stomped on, but BearFrog himself. The gang began to beat on BearFrog, giving him their own personal opinions of the work he has done in law enforcement.

Struggling, BearFrog managed to slowly pull his arms off the ground from being stomped. Then he quickly pulled them together in an x shape over his chest, letting his arms take the pain that the stomps were causing. After a few moments in this position, BearFrog charged upward, pushing back those stomping him.

"Haaaa!!" yelled BearFrog, charging forward with a right kick to the head.

Bam!

His opponent should have fallen to the ground, but BearFrog punched him in the gut very quickly a few times, his punches actually supporting the man enough for him to stand up.

Swish! Someone tried to attack BearFrog from behind, but he dodged the punch slightly. He grabbed the gigantic man's arm and tossed him over his shoulder, using him as a human cannonball to successfully defeat a large portion of the men in the room.

BearFrog turned around to face the mob charging at him and quickly got into fighting stance, ready to attack.

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Fargoth and Agent X had finally arrived at the tattoo parlor after deciphering the code left behind in the previous hideout. Fargoth cocked his pistol. He was reading to for just another typical bust. But for X this was different. For X, this was a confrontation with the past.

Taking a sigh, X looked toward his partner with a hope that he'd get some sort of comfort, but his face showed no such exasperation.

"Ready?" asked X.

Fargoth twirled his gun and then suddenly stopped it with his arms extended, holding the gun tightly and one eye closed, as if he was aiming at the tattoo parlor.

"Yep. Let's do this."

Fargoth and X walked into the tattoo parlor, surprised to see a man knocked out on the ground. Stepping over him, they walked down the stairs together, and saw a gigantic pile of men, with more jumping on by the second.

"What the hell…?" asked Fargoth to no one in particular.

Then, suddenly, the men flew in all directions as if a bomb had exploded. BearFrog stood in the center, arms spread and breathing heavily. He looked like he had been run over by a truck, but he still had fight in him, and soon began fighting the next attacker.

"B-B-BearFrog!!! That bastard!!" yelled Fargoth angrily. "He's always one-upping me! I can never solve a case before he does!!"

While Fargoth was angry, X stood in shock. Here he was. The famous BearFrog. His hero. No. BearFrog was more than that. He was like an older brother that helped guide him. BearFrog's speeches were always inspirational, and his achievements were legendary. But what X took from BearFrog was the stories of his never-ending kindness and determination.

And then X noticed something. BearFrog had a sword and a gun with him, yet he didn't use it. Why would he do that? Unless…BearFrog didn't want to kill anybody. BearFrog had these weapons with him, yet he was willing to take a beating as opposed to killing any of these people who considered him their worst enemy.

X looked at BearFrog with pride. Here was his hero, bravely fighting an army. Here was his hero, going against the odds and refusing to murder people who he considered misguided. Here was his hero who had taken cuts and bruises to save lives. And yet X didn't know the half of it. BearFrog had taken that knife attack to avoid having the man behind him getting stabbed and killed.

X's awe was quickly destroyed when he remembered where he was. The time for running was over it was time to confront his past. Slowly he put his hand inside of his suit and pulled out a gun. He slowly raised it up in the air and then BANG!! The bullet whizzed through the ceiling, and all of a sudden the room went quiet. Everyone stood looking at X, even BearFrog, who was holding a man by his collar, about to punch him.

Slowly, very slowly, a clap was heard. The clap slowly got louder as it closer to X. The leader of the Clock Crew, who had simply stood back and observed the fight, moved through the crowd and reached the front, staring at X with a smile.

"Well, well, well…The prodigal son returns…" Scotty said with a devilish grin.

"Scotty…" X said quietly.

Scotty stopped clapping and slowly walked up to X, who now had his head down in shame. Stopping right in front of X, Scotty stood looking at X for a moment. Then, raising his arm, he gave a huge smack to X, sending him falling to the ground like a brick.

"You got a lot of balls comin' back here you…you…" Scotty said as X slowly got up onto his knees.

"TRAITOR!!" yelled the leader as he kicked X in the head, sending him flying backwards against the stairs.

"E-E-X!!" yelled Fargoth, turning around quickly to face his partner.

"What would old Strawberry think now? Seeing his son go traitor! Have you come to beg?! Huh!? Well, Orange Clock!?"

"That's not my name…" grumbled X.

"Hmm…?"

"That's not my name," he said louder.

"What?" asked Scotty, shocked.

"That's…not…my…name!!" yelled X as he slowly got up and surprised Scotty by charging at him, punching him in the stomach a few times before finishing off with an uppercut, sending Scotty to the ground.

"I am not longer a clock. I am the former clock. I am the X Clock."

"Y-you…" struggled Scotty as he clutched his gut, slowly rising.

"I have no more allegiance to the Clock Crew. My only allegiance belongs to my country, which I proudly protect from scum like you."

"Scum!? We are the same, damnit!!" yelled Scotty as the onlookers stared at the intensely, never blinking.

"No. We may be from the same place, but I changed. I made a better life for myself. You go around kidnapping billionaires."

"You…dirty little bastard!!" yelled Scotty as he charged forward with a punch.

Swish. X Clock managed to dodge the attack easily. Another punch from Scotty, easily blocked by X. Swish Swish Swish! Three punches to the head, all dodged. Bam! X grabbed one of Scotty's punches in his hand. Then, lowering Scotty's arm to his knee which he charged upwards, he broke Scotty's right arm.

"Argh!!" screamed Scotty as his arm fell limp to his side.

"It's over Scotty. Just give yourself up and tell us where Gado is," demanded X.

"Now, now, now, where is the fun in that?" asked a voice from behind X.

X quickly turned around, but he sawing nothing. He then turned to face Scotty but saw someone standing between them.

Kyo Kusanagi, the skilled Japanese martial artist, was standing in front of him. Kyo Kusanagi, the wanted terrorist, stood in front of him. Kyo Kusangi, who was by far considered one of three biggest threats to NC's nation security, was only a few feet in front of him.

"Kyo Kusanagi…" stuttered X.

"Kyo!! Where is Blessranger?!" asked Fargoth with a sudden passion.

Ignoring Fargoth, Kyo continued speaking; "You are quite impressive, X Clock. Your skill is quite surprising considering you came out from a breed like this."

X looked at Kyo in disgust at what he had just said, but Kyo continued talking.

"I wonder…could you perhaps be worthy of fighting me? I just CANNOT resist a challenge…" said Kyo with a grin. "Tell you what? If you can defeat me I'll give you back your precious little billionaire."

Fargoth had known there was some sort of connection between T3h Sp4mm3r 3 l33t and the Clock Crew, but he had no idea that the Clock Crew were being used as hired thugs.

"Are you up for it, little man?"

"Sure…why not?" said X Clock, tossing Fargoth his pistol.

"Okay…on three, go. One, two, three!" yelled Kyo.

In the blink of an eye Kyo appeared on the other side of X. After a few seconds of no motion from either of them, blood spat of of X's mouth as he fell to the ground.

"Hmm…well, that was no fun. I thought I'd finally found a worthy opponent. Oh well…I guess killing you won't be as fun as I thought it'd be," said Kyo, lifting up X by the neck.

The light emanating from behind X came from the stairs, but it looked like the light of heaven. It seemed as if it was time for X to die at the hands of the vicious terrorist. X hadn't wanted to die here, where he started, but at least he was dying on the side he wanted to die on. He served his country. He was to die with pride.

Bang!

A bullet whizzed across the room, zooming past the people in the crowd until it swished through Kyo's hair, barely missing his head. Kyo slowly turned around to see BearFrog the detective, his arms extended and the gun still smoking, staring intently at him.

"Let him go, Kusanagi. Next time I won't miss," yelled BearFrog.

Grinning, Kyo tossed X to the ground with a thud. Fargoth immediately ran up to X and held his head up, asking him if he was okay and giving him light motivational talk (like "Stay alive, damnit!")

"Hmmm…yes, YOU look like you would be a worthy opponent. If you were fully healed, of course," said Kusanagi.

"I can kick your ass right here and now," BearFrog replied calmly.

"Really? Well then…" said Kyo with a bow, "Be my guest!!"