Knuckle Down
Book 2
Chapter 1:
"C'mon! Get up!"
A slow thunderous pulsing sound coursed through Yun's head. Pain wracked his vision and obscured his sight. This was not good.
Was it worth risking his life? His well being? His livelihood? All over something so trivial?
No. It wasn't trivial at all. Boxing was his life and it was right, it was his duty to uphold the security and promise of moral code that was so quickly disappearing from the sport.
Yun got up from the ropes. This wasn't how it was going to do down. That man had gone over the line, and he would send a message to him, and that scoundrel who called himself a manager.
He steadied himself, and he hit the man so hard and so fast that his teeth were embedded in his glove. He was knocked out instantly.
Yun awoke to a sound of rain gently pattering down his window. A flash of light illuminated his room.
Yun leaned forward and rubbed him temples. This was going to be hard. Dealing with the league again after his last incident was going to be a pain. Especially with the fact that he had gone and taught one of the animals... No. He corrected himself. Furs, how to box.
He sighed. It was painful to think about it. If he came back now, he would face physical danger along with emotional ridicule. Yun pondered it for a while.
No. He was a man. He wouldn't let any two faced scheming punks impede on his progress. He would rock the foundation of the sport, and he would make it so that all of the bullshit just went away.
Two figures made there way through the village of Earth. One was large, massive. The other was much smaller, cloaked and nothing underneath the cloak could be seen. There was a good bit of staring, but it all passed as they made their way through the crowds to a small hut in the back of the village.
'Get 'Im on the scale now." A small rat-faced man demanded. Yun nodded, and motioned for the cloaked Cast to get up on the scale.
"Hey! Off with tha cloak. You know the rules." Cast turned to Yun ever so slightly, and Yun gave the smallest of nods. Cast disrobed, and with the falling of the cloak came the falling of the mans jaw.
"What tha hell? What are you trying to pull? We can't have one o' THEM in here!" Yun leaned over and looked at the bookie, who was obviously new at this. "Can you point out WHERE exactly it says we can't have a fur boxing in this league?" The man stood his ground.
"It's jus' not done! I won't sign him up!" Cast gave a low growl from the scale. The man turned to him.
"Sha up! You can't scare me!" At This, Yun leaned over, and picked the man up by his ear. Literally plucked him from the ground, and held him suspended in the air. He let out a terrific Shriek, obviously in a ton of pain.
"Contact who ever you need to contact, but he WILL box, in one weeks time, you understand me? If not, I'll pay you a visit. And your boss too." Yun dropped the man, and motioned for Cast to put his robe on and come on. Cast quickly did so, and they both exited the hut into an alleyway.
As they walked a few feet ahead, they heard a bit of rustling coming from behind them. Cast noticed it first, and turned halfway around too see what the upcoming commotion was about. He stopped half way as a bunch of men spilled around the corner behind them.
"Get em'! Short one goes first!" He heard a man yell.
"Two of you help me with the big one!" They all brandished bats and various weapons. Yun cooly turned around and used his left hand to open the folds of his jacket while the other hand dove in and removed a silver bold-letter engraved revolver from the left side of his body.
"Take one step closer and I'll end the one who takes it." The men stopped there rush, and looked at him coldly.
"Where'd he get one of those?" A smaller one whispered to another.
"All of you cowards go back to where you came from, leave us in peace!" He said with a commanding authority. The men turned around, and rapidly scampered around the corner back to where they came.
Yun turned around to find Cast backed up against a wall.
"You… You have a gun!" He said, frightened out of his mind. Yun regarded him for a second, then slipped the weapon back to it's concealed place.
"You have no need to fear it. It's an rare item, one I got from a dear friend. There are very few guns in the human world, and the only one who knows how to make them isn't making them anymore." Cast backed up even more.
"Why do you need it! It only hurts people." Cast replied. Yun looked at him.
"Because without it, You and I wouldn't be able to get where we need to be. Come on, and put your hood back on. We don't need any extra attention." Cast spoke,
"But!" Yun didn't even turn around.
"No more discussion about it." Cast warily put on his cloak, and continued on a few paces behind Yun.
The room was fairly dank and there was an odd smell of mildew coming from it. The light from a small kerosene lamp flickered on and off, giving off a few spots of illumination every few seconds. Near the back sat an old desk with large legs, made entirely out of steel. A man sat and shuffled his papers, a grimace on his face. In front of him, a short man looked nervously at him, cringing every time there was a rearranging of papers.
"So your telling me that Yun is back?" He said dangerously.
"Well, Ya..." The shorter man cried a little bit inside.
"Hmph. We can't tell him no. And it hurts me to say it. The guys batshit crazy too. What the hell is he thinking?" He shuffled his papers again, eliciting a whimper from the man across from him.
"And you, stop acting like a damn git. You don't deal with problems by acting like a whining fool. And by the way, your ear is a nice shade of red. Suits you." The short man turned a beat crimson.
"Well then, what are our options here? That's what we need to do. Go through our options." He looked down, and set his papers aside. He reached up and rubbed his temples.
"You know. Letting that animal fight may be to our benefit. Could raise attendance. Our profits have been waning. It could be a good hook. " The shorter man nodded.
"What about the other one, the one we were having problems with. Could we set them up? It would get rid of at least one of our problems. A fight to fight as it were. Whoever wins can fight this season. And if anything goes wrong, well we can solve that too." The grunted.
"Now Willis, I expect you to tell Yun that he'll have his fight. 3 days from now I want one of the two fighters out of our hair. Now go. And put a some goddamn tape on that ear. Thing looks like its on fire."
WIllis shook, nodded, and left.