Chickboxer

"THOUGHTS"

Chapter Three

"Whew! That training Master Pak put me through was brutal! Now I need to see how... What the?! What happened here?!" Upon her return, Babette found the place that had been her home for the last few years burned to the ground.

"No! No! No!" Babette ran towards Madam Pai at the speed of light when she saw that her mentor was on the ground dead from gunshot wounds and a stake through her heart.

"Sifu!" the young girl called out as she took hold of the woman who had been both mother and trainer for most of her life and cried so loudly that the forest resonated with the sound.

XXX

"There was nothing you could have done for her, Babette," Pak explained to the distraught young girl who had come back to the crippled Thai-kickboxer after burying her teacher and friend.

"I'm going to get revenge on the people who killed her!"

"If that's the case, we can help each other out." Babette looked at the man quizzically for a moment. "Do you know what Udon and Sagat did to my wife and daughters?"

"No, I don't," the girl said, still teary-eyed.

"After Sagat supposedly maimed me for life, his best student raped both my wife and my daughters, forcing me to watch. Then Udon sold my daughters into the same life you had when Pai found you. At the same time, he let his henchmen have my wife; she didn't survive the experience."

"Well. I..."

"I know Pai wanted you to be her heir, something you can still be. But it would be better if you learned Thai-kickboxing to the fullest. You already have what it takes. I normally don't think women can handle what I do, but Pai's training which was great for women will allow you to master what I can teach you that much sooner."

"All right. Let's do it."

XXX

For a year, Babette thrived under Pak's training. During the downtimes of her training, she adapted everything she had learned recently to what she already knew, making herself a great all-around fighter. "Huff! Huff!"

"That was pretty good," Pak commented as Babette struck a large tree with her shins and tops of her knees. The tree was a huge oak, reaching high into the sky. The diameter of the tree was six feet, making it a lot thicker than most.

"Where did you find such a huge tree, Sifu?"

"Everone knows of the existence of this tree, Babette. I'm astounded at how invulnerable you are to all but the most powerful of attacks. Those mad scientists increased your durability to an inhuman level."

"Yeah. I guess they did but they weren't doing that to help me. They simply used me as a guinea pig in an experiment to make me even more beautiful than I was, developing at a much faster rate so they could make more money off of me as a sex slave. I simply lucked out. But there's one thing that bothers me."

"What's that?" Pak answered.

"Isn't there a chance Boss Nobo and his gang might catch up to me? Shouldn't I make a pre-emptive strike against them?"

Pak paused for a moment.

"Boss Nobo is closer to us than Babette thinks. That's why we've kept moving so much. The beating I suffered at the hands of Sagat and his henchman, Adon, has created such injuries that I don't have much time to live. I was all but ready to die until Madam Pai showed up at my home to ask me to train Babette in Muay Thai. The pain keeps increasing daily so I don't know how long my body will hold out. I don't know whether or not Babette is ready to take on Boss Nobo and his crew but I've already figured out who Babette's family is and have contacted them so they can come and get her. Babette's a nice girl. She's suffered enough; she shouldn't have to die here in Thailand. Thanks to Madame Pai's previous training Babette has learned as much as I can teach her. Sooner or later she will realize we're going in circles. As it is she has what it takes to be a great kickboxer."

"Boss Nobo doesn't know this area too well."

"But we're right in front of this big tree here. It wouldn't take much to track this thing down."

"Never mind all that! Attack the tree again! Keep at it!"

XXX

Later the next day, Boss Nobo had a phone call.

"Who is it?!" the large, powerful gang leader demanded.

"It's Jong!"

"You better have some good news."

"I do, Boss Nobo. My men have told me Babette is training under Pak Ten. They're pursuing them now. Sooner or later we'll catch up to them," the henchman answered from the other line of the phone.

"I'm glad to hear that, Jong. It's about time you've made yourself useful. How soon will you be able to get to them?"

"It will be any day now," the tracker answered.

"It better be soon. You don't want to know what happened to the last tracker who failed me. Inform me when you've captured her. With that, he hung up the phone.

"Are you sure you even want Babette now?" Ping asked, walking into the main room of the large palace-sized building which surpassed what the people who worked for the government of Thailand lived in when it came to pomp and splendor.

"What are you talking about? Of course, I want her back! Why wouldn't I want her back?!"

"She's over six feet tall and has been training in several martial arts for years."

"What does that matter? I'll still be able to put her in her place when I get her back."

"That will be extremely difficult. I've recently been in contact with the scientists who did the treatments on Babette to make that beautiful little girl even more beautiful along with making her more desirable than what was normally humanly possible."

"Why did you spend so much time talking to them?"

"It was in the hope that they might have given us a clue to helping us bring Babette back."

"I see. What did you find out?"

"When the scientists and cosmetologists operated on Babette they decided to try something new."

"Yeah? What was that?"

"A new treatment designed to make her even more healthy than before. That's why Babette had such a sexy figure at such a young age."

"Hmm. So they had a successful experiment. Why is that so important?"

"The success was limited to Babette. Every other subject after Babette died within days of the treatment."

"That's why we need Babette back so badly; she's one of a kind."

"True. But after the scientists did autopsies on the dead bodies they found out that if the girls had survived they would have acquired enhanced agility, strength, endurance, and durability possibly to a superhuman level. And when you take into account all the martial arts training that girl must have gone through, we're looking at a powerful fighter. So if you think she's going to come back here and be a mere whore..."

"Shut up! No one leaves me, no one!"

Ping paused for a moment. "Then she will have to die."

"You may be right, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

"Oh?"

"What the... What are you doing here?!" Nobo demanded the man dressed in Muay Thai garb despite the cold weather which didn't seem to bother him in the slightest.

"I thought I'd find out what was going on around here." Adon was lazily leaning his shoulder against the wall, facing Boss Nobo and his right-hand man. Adon struck an imposing presence being six feet six inches tall, weighing an impressively well-built 250 pounds, his well-defined muscles, bulging menacingly.

"How did you get in here without us knowing about it?!" the boss demanded to know.

"How did you get to be so much bigger and stronger, keeping your speed and agility?" Ping asked, curiously. "The best steroids in the world aren't that potent."

"I have more abilities and knowledge than either of you can imagine. Am I not the God of Muay Thai?" Adon announced, practically making a grand pose.

"Wouldn't Sagat be offended by such words?" Ping replied. "Isn't he the Emperor of Muay Thai?"

"Good questions, little man. But I shall answer your questions in due time as I see fit. But first, hear this. I'm going after Babette and Pak Ten myself. And neither of you will get in my way, understood?"

"What?! Are you mad?! Babette belongs to me! You may be a great fighter but I'm the boss around here! No one defies me. Nobody!"

"I've had about enough of your boasting, blowhard! What you are is old news, nothing more."

"You dare mock me? I'm the most powerful man in all of Thailand.

"Are you? Despite the common sense of your right-hand man," Adon said, giving Ping a quick look. "You've still managed to make a lot of mistakes. I'm not just talking about the escape of Babette. You've bungled a lot of other things like incurring the wrath of Interpol with your overly aggressive slave trading and kidnapping operations. Then you waged a war with the police of adjacent countries. You would have been taken down a long time ago if you weren't so feared."

"I'm feared for a reason, Adon; you best remember that."

"Is that so, Boss Nobo?" the Thai-Kickboxer said with a sneer. "You've had your best days behind you, Nobo. You're finished just like Sagat."

"What?!" Ping gasped.

"That's right. I killed him myself right after he had lost the last Street Fighter Tournament, not to Ryu Hoshi but his much less skilled American friend, Ken Masters. That overrated American had beaten Sagat pretty badly. After we argued over trivial things such as honor, I decided to make my move and challenged him. He fought back bravely but he was no match for me, never was really."

"It figures a coward like you would wait for your master to be at his weakest before you attacked. I had a lot of respect for Sagat; he had a sense of honor you lack, Adon. But what's this about my best days have been behind me?"

"First, let's bring in some of your other men." At the click of his fingers, most of Boss Nobo's highest-ranking men walked inside the main room with several of Adon's henchmen behind them, guns poised.

"What is the meaning of this?" Nobo protested.

"I want everyone to see how I kill you myself!"

"What?!"

As Adon moved towards him at an inhuman speed, Boss Nobo fast drew his nine-millimeter gun in the twinkle of an eye, surprising the fast-moving god of Muay Thai with his hand speed as he fired the specially made, unusually powerful cannon he carried. However, it was Nobo who was even more surprised when the gunfire seemed to bounce off of his assassin's chest, leaving only blotches of red in their wake.

"That's right. Babette isn't the only one who's had treatments. I, of course, am a whole lot stronger and faster," Adon said upon kneeing Nobo in the groin and then using the other knee to strike his chin. Then Adon struck Nobo's chest, disabling his heart for good.

"Ungh!"

"I told you you were going to die, Nobo, and I meant what I said." As the crime boss's lifeless body slumped to the ground, Adon turned towards Ping who had an expressionless look on his face.

"You've done a good job here, little man. So have some of the rest of you!" Adon stated, regarding the rest of Nobo's former capos. "Therefore I'm going to let you run everything here as you've been doing, Ping. Do you still want the job?"

"Yes." As Ping answered in the affirmative. All of the other men who had worked for Boss Nobo in the past nodded their heads affirmatively as well.

"Good. Now have someone clean up this mess." With that, the God of Muay Thai made his way to the door.

"Oh, yes. One more thing. It's not that I don't believe in your competence, Ping, but I would feel better if I left a few of my men here just to keep an eye on things. Biko! You and your squad will stay here for a while and keep me informed of what goes on around here. Help Ping as he needs and don't get in his way unless necessary."

"Yes, boss!"

"It's obvious that Adon has become stronger but I know for a fact that he's not as invulnerable as he would have everyone believe. He's simply resistant to gunfire. He didn't walk away from that battle unscathed." Ping thought to himself as he noticed the tall and strong Muay Thai fighter walk away, rubbing his chest.

XXX

The next day Nobo's trackers had nearly caught up to Babette and her mentor when Adon and some of his henchmen caught up to them. "You guys find them yet?"

"Who are you?" Jong asked with a sense of arrogance that irked the self-proclaimed Muay Thai god.

"Listen, little man. Tell me where your quarry is or you're gonna get hurt."

"Is that so? This is for you!" the thug said as he shot the kickboxer full in the chest, the bullets bouncing off of him.

"What the?! But how?!"

"Ouch! Now you're gonna get it." Faster than the eye could follow, Adon moved in on the four men, knocking the guns out of their hands and beating all of them to death with shin strikes to the head except for the leader of the group.

"Ungh! How did you move so fast?"

"Shut up! Now tell me where Babette is?!"

"They're just beyond the clearing in front of that huge tree. You can't miss it!"

"You better be telling the truth."

"I am! I swear!"

"Good." Then Adon snapped the henchman's neck, killing him instantly.

"Ungh!" the henchman moaned as he slumped down with his head askew.

"Now we're going to go up to that huge tree. I should have known that Pak would train there eventually. Follow me!"

XXX

While Pak put Babette through her paces, he sensed something. "The ki signature recognition training I learned at the temple in which I convalesced while I was healing from my injuries has come in handy. Adon's on his way here, and he's even more powerful than he was before, even more than Sagat. Adon's physical abilities are nearly at a superhuman level much like Babette's. I could not beat him at my best with the way he is now. It's time I send Babette away."

"That's very good, Babette. Now I want you to go on an errand for me."

"Really? Where do you want me to go?"

"Here's the address."

"Is there a store there?"

"Yes, that's the address where I want you to buy some things for our next camping trip. Here are the money and the list of things we'll be needing. Now go quickly and make sure no one notices you until you get there. Ask for Monsieur Bertrand. He's an old friend of mine and will be ready for you with everything on that list. You still can speak French, can't you?"

"Yes. I'll always be able to speak French. Why does that matter?"

"Bertrand speaks French as well so when you buy the products for our training trip you can speak in a language no one else will know what's going on. This will keep what we're doing a secret."

"Oh. I get it now. Gee, there's a lot of stuff on this list."

"You're a strong girl; you can carry all of that back here easily enough. While you're gone I'll be preparing for another level of your training. Go now and be quick about it!"

'Yes, Sifu."

As Babette took off at near superhuman speed, using her super leaping ability to get over trees and anything else in the way, Pak saw her off.

"Goodbye, Babette. You were a great student and a fast learner."

A few minutes later. "Pak Ten!"

"Greetings, Adon. Where is your master, Sagat?"

"Master?! He was never my master, fool. He was a tired old man much like yourself so I killed him."

"I see. And why did you acquire so much power? You weren't so strong before."

"I have my ways. Power is everything. No one can beat me now, not even M. Bison."

"Won't Bison be upset when you've killed one of his lieutenants?"

"Who cares what that military parading fairy thinks? If he wants to do business then he'll have to do it through me."

"Ah. So why have you decided to bother me again? Haven't you done enough to me?"

"I'd say yes except for the fact that you have something I want."

"And that would be?"

"Quit playing dumb! I want Babette. Where is she?!"

"She's gone and you'll never see her again!"

"Is that so? You guys, get him!" Adon's four henchmen came at Pak, attacking with rather impressive kicks and punches, but all to no avail as Pak despite his injuries make quick work of them.

"You fight well for a cripple."

"I fight very well indeed. I don't fear you, Adon. Come now and let's see how strong Sagat's star pupil really is," Pak said, motioning his opponent forward.

"Stop comparing me to that old man! However, you will see how powerful I've become."

XXX

As Babette arrived at the address she saw, "a French flag? What is that doing here?" Babette checked the address once again, confirming that it was the right one. Bewildered, she made her way to the entrance.

"Excuse me, Madam," the well-dressed doorman said in bad Thai with a French accent, cautioning her to stop. "This is the French Embassy. So I need to see your passport."

"French Embassy?! I'm a friend of Monsieur Bertrand. Is he here? I'm supposed to show him this list of things I need for a training trip," Babette answered back in French." "This guy's Thai language skills leave a lot to be desired."

"Who are you?" the doorman asked, interested all of a sudden.

"I'm Babette Trois."

"Wait a minute," the doorman said, reaching for the phone. As soon as he was finished talking, he turned back to Babette. " Monsieur Bertrand will meet you in the lobby. This way, Madame."

"Are the supplies I need inside?"

"Monsieur Bertrand will tell you everything you need to know."

"This place is huge! It's so nice; it's like a palace almost," Babette thought to herself as she walked inside after the doorman who directed her to sit down in the middle of the lobby.

"Who is that woman?" some of the people inside whispered to each other, staring at the statuesque amazon.

"She's gorgeous!"

In a few minutes inside, a plump, balding man appeared in the lobby. When he saw Babette he walked over to her. "Greetings, Babette. I barely recognized you. How you have grown!"

"I have the money right here. Where are the supplies you're supposed to sell me?

"Supplies? You misunderstand, dear girl. You're here to see your grandfather, Pierre Trois; he'll be here in a moment. He had all but given up on ever seeing you again so he'll happy to know you're OK."

"Grandfather?! My grandfather is dead. The only family I have is Pak Ten, my trainer. I'm here to buy some supplies for a training trip and..."

"Oh, him. Pak Ten informed us of how he had been taking care of you. He said he'd send you to us as soon as your grandfather showed up here."

"That doesn't make any sense! How is my grandfather still alive?"

"Your grandfather disappeared for a while on a trip to the Himalayas from before you were kidnapped. Everyone thought he was dead but through his courage, strength, and resourcefulness he managed to survive after being swept away by the unexplained avalanche. When he returned and found out that you had been kidnapped he spent years trying to find you and here you are! It's such a relief knowing he's found you. You have no idea how much pressure he put on the Foreign Service. He even put out a reward for the one who found you. Ah, there he is!"

"Babette!" A tall, rather muscular, virile old man with short-cropped white hair called out, running towards the young girl.

"Grandfather?!"

"I had given up on you until Monsieur Bertrand informed me that someone here had told him you were alive and well, here in Thailand," her grandfather said happily with tears in his eyes.

"Grandfather!" Babette returned the hug of her long-lost relative. Then something occurred to her. "Oh! I want you to meet my trainer, Pak Ten." I'll be right back!"

"Wait, Babette. This country is very dangerous for a young girl like yourself. I owe Pak Ten a great deal for taking care of you all this time but I don't want to lose you after finally finding you," Pierre Trois said, reaching out for the fast-moving Babette.

!WOOSH! I've lived here for a long time, Grandfather! I'll be right back!" The speed of the young kickboxer impressed both men who ran outside after her, watching her practically move at superhuman speed, leaping over several other buildings.

"Sacrebleu!"

"I knew Babette had some agility but I never knew she was that agile. Maybe I should resume teaching her the family's savate kickboxing style," the old man thought to himself proudly as she got further and further away.

XXX

While both Pak Ten and Adon faced each other, standing in their respective Muay Thai stances Adon attacked first. "Heee yaaagh!" the chemically improved Adon zipped over towards the older man with such speed that Pak was barely able to avoid a powerful knee attack. However, he couldn't avoid the follow-up leg sweep that knocked him off his feet.

"He's faster than I would have thought possible! I'm going to have to Ciao Ken ten if I'm going to survive." "Aaaaagh! Hyaaaagh!" Pak's battle increased in power, knocking his surprised opponent away.

"So you still have fight left in you, old man," the red-headed warrior called out. "Try this out for size. Yahoo! Hoo hoo hoo!" Before Pak knew what was happening Adon was upon him, striking with countless punches, most of which Pak failed to block.

After his punch barrage had spent itself, Adon found himself being picked up and thrown into the air. And before he could land, Pak was upon him, nailing him with a powerful kick that knocked his opponent back a little. Then Pak followed up with a powerful punch and kick combination that ended with an elbow strike to the chin that rocked Adon's head back. Then Pak struck with a knee to the groin, followed by another knee to the chin as his opponent lurched forward.

"Yahooo!" In less than a second, Adon attacked with dozens of somersault kicks, striking Pak from his groin to the middle of his forehead again and again and again, knocking the older man into the air. While his opponent was still in the air, Adon leaped up, grabbed Pak, and slammed him into the ground.

"Huff!" "It's not over yet." All of a sudden, Pak was up, hitting Adon with several roundhouse kicks in a helicopter fashion, floating in the air while seeming to do the splits.

"Ungh! That might have worked well enough against Sagat but it won't cut it against me. I don't see how you're still able to fight as well as you do when you're crippled," Adon said, getting ready for another attack.

"You really shouldn't spurn things like ki and chi meditation. I control my body to the point that I'm no longer crippled."

"What?! But that's impossible!"

"I had help from Western medical science and Eastern mysticism. Seeing how you've also benefited from both as well, you shouldn't be too surprised."

"I guess I was surprised. But that doesn't matter. I have benefited from science and Eastern philosophy but it was me who made everything work. I did this!" Adon stated, pointing to his puffed-up chest.

"Nobody can do it all alone. Your pride will be your undoing, Adon. You lack the little bit of honor Sagat had."

"Don't compare me to that tired old man! I'm the most powerful warrior in the world!" Then Adon stopped for a moment.

"Wait a minute. You've been stalling me so Babette can get away. Blast it! Tell me where she is or die!"

"Even if I were to tell you where she is you would simply kill me anyway. So I might as well die defying you."

"Yahooo!" At speeds that defied physics, Adon zipped over to Pak, hitting him with countless blows, finishing the barrage off with one hand which circling up and down as he struck Pak dozens of times, stunning him. Then he struck Pak with a powerful roundhouse kick followed up with a leg sweep, knocking him off of his feet. While Pak was in the air, Adon struck him with an autofire barrage of reverse somersault kicks, striking from the middle of his forehead on down.

"Aaargh!" !WUMP!

"You're finished, old man," Adon announced, walking over to the downed fighter. "Now tell me where she is or I'll make you suffer worse than your daughters did before they died."

"What?"

"That's right. They were young and ripe when my men and I attempted to break them, but they didn't go along with the program. Since they were so rebellious they had to be made an example of."

"Huff! What do you mean?"

"My men killed them, horribly torturing them in the worst way imaginable."

"You monster!"

Adon ignored the crack and kept on talking. "The other whores were so frightened that they were never a problem to deal with after that. Broken and obedient, the way women should be. Too bad your daughters were so independent. Did you train them in Thai Kickboxing?"

"Yes. They were all I had."

"Now you know you have nothing."

"Wrong! I have Babette. She's my legacy and you'll never see her again until she's strong enough to defeat you!"

"You think that whore could ever have a chance against me?"

"Yes, she's getting stronger every day. And one day she'll surpass even you, you Sagat wannabe!"

"What?! Don't you ever compare me to that tired old man!" Adon grabbed Pak and kicked him hundreds of times in the head.

"Aaargh!" Pak screamed, flying into the air and crashing down to earth, dying before he even hit the ground.

"Blast it! He never told me where Babette was. Shoot! There's no point in staying around here. Time to get my worthless henchmen and get out of here."

A couple of hours later, Babette arrived at the large tree where Pak had recently been training her. "Pak? Pak!" Running towards the dead body, she held the dead body of her trainer and cried. "No! No! No!"

XXX

"Babette! Where were you and who is that?!" he said about the man his granddaughter was carrying.

"This is Pak Ten the man who called you and has been training me. The other person who trained me before that was named Madame Pai. I would appreciate it if we can have a funeral for him. He was a good man. Sniff!"

"All right, Babette. But after that, we have to leave this country and return to France. You have a lot of schooling to catch up on."

"Yes. But I'm going to keep training. A lot has been invested in me and I won't let any of it go to waste."

"About that, Babette. do you remember how I started training you in my savate kickboxing style when you were a little girl?"

The statuesque woman turned to her grandfather and nodded her head.

"Good. If you insist on training, then you should become a Saveur! Let that be your main style."

"All right, " Babette gave in, sad over the death of yet another mentor.

"Grandfather! Is it time for us to go back yet?!" Everyone turned to see a young woman who stood at five feet eight inches tall weighing around 135 pounds. She had long, straight blond hair and a striking figure.

"I've done some shopping but this place is getting boring.

"Charlotte. I want you to meet your cousin, Babette. Babette, this is Charlotte." The two women eyed each other for a moment before saying anything.

"So how much did those things cost you?" Charlotte said, regarding Babette's large, well-rounded bosom that stood at attention.

"They cost me getting raped and abused," Babette answered roughly, already not liking the young lady.

"Oh. You do look like such a barbarian, much like the people of this country. What's that piece of garbage you're carrying? Yuck! Gak!" Before Charlotte knew what was happening, Babette had grabbed her by the throat, lifting her four inches off the ground and choking her.

"This man suffered so much in his life. And despite that, he was kind enough to train me after Madame Pai was killed. Then he sent me away, sacrificing himself so that I would live. Sniff! SO DON'T YOU DARE DISRESPECT HIM!"

"Babette! Let her go! Your friend will get a good, respectful funeral but you can't kill your cousin!" Pierre ordered, failing to break his larger granddaughter's ironclad grip.

"All right," Babette said as she dropped the other girl on her but.

"Gasp! Ow! You are a barbarian!" the smaller, more sophisticated girl said from the ground, getting up.

"Charlotte. Do not antagonize your cousin. You have no idea what she has been through."

"She's an uncouth bitch! No amount of schooling can change that!"

With that, Charlotte grabbed her stuff, did an about-face, and stormed off.

"Dear heavens!

XXX

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Be here next time!