Chapter 4: The Test of Potential

Mrs. Sire looked in fear as both Stinky and Woody continued to glare at each other with fearsome eyes.

"Please stop this nonsense, you two!" Mrs. Sire demanded. "This is not the time to fight."

"Don't stop me, madam," Stinky told Mrs. Sire. "I want to prove just how strong I've become over the past few years."

"He's right, Mrs. Sire," Woody sarcastically agreed. "I want to show him just how dangerous the outside world can be with this fight. Please don't interfere."

Woody turned to Stinky. "Let's go outside."

"You don't have to tell me what to do," Stinky grunted as both headed their way outside. Mrs. Sire followed them in silence.

The wind howls swiftly as both Stinky and Woody faced each other. In Woody's mind, he knew that it was just a waste of time fighting Stinky, but he had to fight the stubborn Stinky to prove to him that he wasn't competent enough to go along with him. Stinky, on the other hand, was fighting Woody to prove that he wasn't just a pushover.

"Why are you all doing this?" Mrs. Sire cried in anger. "This isn't the time to pick up a fight!"

"It's not just a fight, ma'am," Stinky told Mrs. Sire. "It's a fight to prove my worth!"

"What are you talking about?" Mrs. Sire yelled in confusion. "Why don't both of you go find my sons? Even though I'm uncertain of your abilities, I'm sure both of you can gather together to find them!"

"No, Mrs. Sire," Woody turned a deaf ear over what Mrs. Sire had just said. "It's too dangerous for Stinky to go along with me. It is better off that Stinky stays with you in case something might happen to you. I can find them myself."

"You have a point there," Mrs. Sire pondered for a while. "But won't it be too dangerous for you to go alone?"

"Trust me, Mrs. Sire. I am stronger than what you think."

"Nonsense!" Stinky shouted at Woody. "You think you're strong, but two are better than one!"

"Then what about Mrs. Sire?" Woody shouted back at Stinky. "Haven't you even thought what might happen to Mrs. Sire if both of us would go?"

"Oh… Trying to twist what you've just said, eh?" Stinky snorted. "I think it's more like because you think I'm a weakling and that's why you don't want me to go along with you!"

"That is total rubbi-"

"Enough!" Stinky demanded as he got into his fighting stance. "Today I'm going to show you that I'm not a weakling and I'm going to beat you! You're clearly underestimating my fighting abilities!"

There was silence for a while. Mrs. Sire could not believe what was going on at the moment. Stinky had his stern eyes locked on Woody. Woody's head was down.

"Stubborn as always," Woody mumbled before lifting his head to face Stinky. "This would not have been necessary if you had heeded my advice. I have not even a single idea why you have this kind of attitude."

Woody took a step forward as he continued, "And I would not tolerate this childish behaviour. Since you've pushed it to this far, I have no choice but to show you my powers. The same ones I've used to aid my friends ten years ago. And I'll show you the meaning of pain."

Woody took two more steps forward and faced Mrs. Sire. "Oh, and don't worry, Mrs. Sire. I'll make this fight real quick. It'll be over in five minutes. And I hope he'll learn his lessons after being beaten by me in such a short time."

"Don't get cocky there, Woody," Stinky growled. "Overconfidence will lead to defeat as quoted by my teacher, Davis himself. If you have let me joined you to find Davis and Dennis, none of this would have happened."

"Well, I think it's more like if you aren't so stubborn, none of this would have happened. And since when am I cocky and overconfident? I think stubbornness will lead to defeat!"

Woody took four steps forward before getting himself into his fighting stance. "Enough chatting. I don't mean to be mean here, but when someone makes it intolerable for me, I have to teach him a lesson."

"Hmph!" Stinky smirked. "More like the other way around!"

With that, Stinky started the first strike with a swift punch towards Woody's face.

Woody was caught by surprise, but it wasn't enough to get hit by Stinky as he narrowly blocked his attack. Woody then jumped back and away from Stinky.

"Oh…" Stinky chuckled. "Already starting to become a coward? This will definitely make things easier for me!"

"Think before you speak," Woody warned. With that, Woody suddenly vanished in a flash, leaving Stinky in total confusion. Before Stinky could even react, Woody was behind him.

"Too slow!!" Woody roared as he does a 180 degree flip-kick on Stinky's back, sending Stinky face down onto the ground.

"That's cheating, you idiot!!" Stinky yelled as he got back up.

"Hmph! Too much whining and all. And since when does fighting have rules? This isn't a fighting competition! Oh wait…are you saying you're giving up?"

Stinky stared with what looked like fire in his eyes. "Whatever. My whining doesn't mean I'm stepping down from this battle!" Stinky lunged forward again with his right fist heading towards Woody.

This time Woody wasn't as surprised as before. He easily dodged Stinky's fist and sent a kick towards Stinky's face. Stinky barely dodged Woody's kick but was totally stunned when Woody delivered a flip kick with his other leg into Stinky's stomach, causing Stinky to fly upwards and collapse onto the ground.

Woody approached Stinky and stretched out his hand towards him. "I'm not a bad man. Give up now. I don't wanna cause any trouble."

"Yeah, right," Stinky bellowed as he got back up and sent numerous punches towards Woody. Woody avoided all of them with ease, all with the movements of his head and body. As Stinky stopped to catch his breath, Woody took this opportunity to send two orange arc-shaped energy blasts towards Stinky, both hitting Stinky. Stinky started to spurt out blood as he crashed to the ground again.

"Please," Woody pleaded. "Don't force me to use my ultimate move. I don't want to put you into serious injury because no one would be able to protect Mrs. Sire if you are as good as dead. Wake up your senses!"

"Yes, please," Mrs. Sire cried. "Both of you stop this, not just Stinky. This is totally unnecessary!"

Woody ignored Mrs. Sire while Stinky totally ignored what Woody had just said and got back up. As blood trickled from Stinky's mouth, Stinky wiped it away. "I'm just gonna show you that I am no weakling!! I am NOT A WEAKLING!!!" With the cry of the wolf, Stinky produced a mini tornado around his fist, which in turn launched into a power tornado fist and lunged forward at Woody.

"Eat this!" Stinky roared as the fist closed in on Woody.

Woody, stunned by Stinky's attack, managed to barely avoid it, leaving a deep cut on his left arm in the process.

"Impressive," Woody mumbled. "But I'm sorry that I'll have to do this."

Woody started to bend down. Orange light started to glow around Woody's right leg as he prepared to launch what seemed like a powerful attack. After a while, Woody sprang forward with the speed of a tiger, his right knee heading fast towards Stinky.

Stinky, exhausted from the attack he just launched, could not react in time as Woody's knee came into contact with Stinky's stomach, blasting Stinky far across the pavement before crashing down hard to the ground.

Woody approached Stinky, who was lying down on the ground, blood on the side of his lips and flowing from his nose. The impact of Woody's kick on Stinky's stomach was just so great that it made Stinky bleed. Stinky was motionless and in an unconscious state.

"You're lucky I didn't use my Tiger Dash right on your face, or you would have been dead by now." Woody grabbed Stinky's motionless body and carried him towards Mrs. Sire, who was so completely stunned that she was speechless.

"I'm very sorry, Mrs. Sire," Woody apologized. "But I had to use force to stop the stubborn Stinky. It was, by no means, intentional."

Mrs. Sire could not believe her eyes. It took her a while before she finally opened her mouth, "Still…you shouldn't have hit him to unconsciousness!"

"Once again, I'm sorry. I had to knock him out so that this stupidity does not continue." Woody shook his head. "Stinky is pretty talented and has potential, but he's just too stubborn and hates to be weak."

Woody paused for a while before continuing, "Stinky was supposed to look after you, but now it looks like it has to be the other way round. Would it be okay to take care of him and treat his wounds?"

Mrs. Sire nodded her head reluctantly and Woody carried Stinky into Mrs. Sire's house.

"You can put Stinky on Davis' bed," Mrs. Sire said as Woody did what Mrs. Sire had told him. "Now to find medication…"

"While you're at it," Woody reached into his pants' pocket and took out a small bottle of milk. "Take this and let him drink this. It can heal his wounds."

"Well…" Mrs. Sire pondered as Woody handed her a bottle of milk. "Thanks, Woody."

Woody looked at Stinky one more time before announcing, "Now, I must be going. Are you sure you're gonna be all right here with Stinky?"

"Oh, don't worry, Woody," Mrs. Sire assured Woody, "We will be all right. Nothing can really go wrong."

Woody nodded in agreement. "Just be careful, okay?"

Mrs. Sire nodded. "Oh, is your cut gonna be all right?"

"No worries, Mrs. Sire. It's just a small cut." Woody started to feel slight pain in the cut.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Thanks for your concern. I really must be going now."

"Okay then. Take care now, and hope you can find my sons as quickly as possible."

"Will do."

With that, Woody walked out of Stinky's house as Mrs. Sire searched for medication to treat Stinky's injuries…