"You better watch out
You better not cry
You better not pout
I'm telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town!"
Olga finished the medley on the piano as she, Louis, Helga, Henry, Cecily and Penelope erupted in laughter.
"OK...I think we can cross 'singing' off our list of talents!" Helga grinned. "I would've thought you'd be better at it though, Olga!"
"That's why I chose an instrument!" She countered. "Now, who wants some more eggnog?" She asked cheerily, walking toward the kitchen.
"Make me one, Olga!" Cecily giggled.
"To hell with eggnog. Go get me another beer, will you?" Louis smirked.
Olga rolled her eyes. "What about you, Henry?"
"Nah, I'm fine." He gestured with his own half-full bottle of beer.
Olga walked into the kitchen. Miriam, sitting toward the far corner of the living room, peered at her daughter taking the bottle of Captain Morgan off the counter and mixing a couple of drinks. She stared down at her own, virgin eggnog. It wasn't as good.
The soft, but loud chime of the doorbell broke her chain of thought.
"I got it." Henry replied, grabbed his beer, and went into the foyer. He opened the door and stared down at a young boy with a comically odd-shaped head.
"Uh...hi!" Arnold looked up at a man he'd never seen in person, but knew who he was.
"Are you a Christmas caroler? Because we've been singing our own songs." Henry declared with a deadpan expression.
"Wh...what?" Arnold was taken aback.
Henry broke out into laughter. "I'm just messin' with you, kid!"
"Who is that?" Louis' voice blared from inside. "Oh, Arnold. Come in, come in."
"Hello, Louis." He greeted as the man closed the door, took his coat, and hung it up in the closet.
"Helga's in the living room. I can see you've already met my brother, Henry."
"Yeah...so this is the legendary Henry, huh?" Arnold smiled up at him.
"And you must be that football-headed kid that offed La Sombra in San Lorenzo?" Henry smirked and shook his hand. "Honestly...that was reckless. You really should've called the authorities so they could send us in. My teammates and I would've dealt with him quick and sure. Still, you did a great job down there. We were after that scumbag for years."
"Thanks! And well, Helga had a lot to do with our success..."
"ARNOLD?!" Helga asked awkwardly. "I...I...wasn't expecting..."
"You 'invited' me over here to watch the match, remember?" Arnold replied calmly.
"Oh...right! I did...I did...I did!" She giggled nervously.
As they walked into the living room, Arnold kissed Helga on the cheek, making her turn beet red. She cautiously glanced at the room - the six of them were all there, giving her the most sarcastic, cheesy smiles they could, making her even more embarrassed.
"Hey, Arnold!" Olga chimed.
"Hello, Olga!"
"Arnold, this is my mother, Cecily, and sister-in-law, Penelope." Louis gestured to them.
"Hi." All three greeted each other.
"Oh...and hello Mrs. Pataki, I didn't see you there!" Arnold signaled.
"Hi." Miriam waved weakly. Helga grunted and glared at her, taking her aback, but suddenly relented, as if she remembered something. Miriam turned up to see Cecily smiling and subtly nodding her head reassuringly, which made her breathe a sigh of relief.
"So...when is this thing supposed to start?" Arnold asked.
"About an hour." Louis replied. "I'm sure you guys will find something to do until then."
"Yeah! Let's go, Arnold!"
"Hey, wait!" Arnold blurted as Helga grabbed his hand and rushed upstairs.
Olga sighed with a huge smile on her face, shaking her head slowly. "Guess I better go get started on those cookies..."
"So you see? Now I can't even tell Miriam off when she can't figure out that I want nothing to do with her. It's the worst!" Helga pouted on her bed, crossing her arms.
"What's so bad about it? Shouldn't you be happy that your mom's paying attention to you for once?"
"I...I am happy...!" Helga stammered, nervously darting her head around the room. "It's just that...it's just...I don't know...it's Miriam and she's clueless again!"
"Helga...if I didn't know any better, I'd say you're afraid of success."
"Afraid of success...? Are you sure you weren't drinking a little too much of Olga's rum eggnog before I brought you up here?"
"No!" Arnold laughed. "It just seems like now Miriam really wants to improve her relationship with you. That can't be bad, right? Maybe she wasn't ready before, but why not give her a chance this time? After all, she has Louis and Olga to fall back on now, right? Are you afraid of actually changing yourself to have a better relationship with her? And remember what happened after you finally let your sister in two years ago?"
"No, Arnold. The thing that bugs me is..."
"YO HELGA! IT'S STARTING!" Louis' voice blared from downstairs like a siren.
Her frown instantly dissolved in a beaming smile. "Come on, Football Head!"
"Uh...wait!" Arnold yelped as she grabbed his wrist and whisked him out of the room.
Helga raced to the couch, Arnold in tow, as blue lasers lit up the arena. Henry and Louis sat on either side of the two, at the ends of the couch.
"There's Takamura." Henry smirked.
A tall man with a black pompadour stepped through the blue light and the fog, making a show of flapping the wings attached to his robe. He jumped over the ropes, spreading the wings wide and landing in the blue corner. He raised his fist and got the audience to cheer wildly.
The lights went out. Red lasers flashed through the arena.
"And now the champion." Louis grinned.
A man with tanned skin and blond hair, wearing a cape, spiked shoulder guards, and a winged helmet appeared, serenaded by the music of Flight of the Valkyries. Six scantily-clad women clung to his side. They sauntered to the ring alongside him. His arms were raised as if he were already victorious.
"Ow!" Arnold yelped and frowned at Helga, who growled and glared.
"Stop looking at those girls!"
"But...how? They're on the screen!" He protested with a blush, much to Louis and Henry's laughter.
"Both of these guys know how to put on a show!" Louis grinned. "This is how you draw in fans!"
"Oh yes, it's great. Great production. Look at that Hawk character coming in like he's already won. Look at Takamura standing there staring at him with murder in his eyes. It really adds to the drama!"
All four turned around to see Cecily smiling and taking one of the circular armchairs to the left of the couch, near where Henry was sitting.
"The size of the arena is perfect for those laser lights, too. They did a great job with this."
"That's interesting, Cecily." Arnold smiled. "You do something with lasers?"
"Oh, no!" She laughed. "I'm a television producer, so I can appreciate these kinds of things. I don't work with lasers, but I have worked with people that do!"
"That's cool." Arnold's smile grew. "Have you worked on Pop Daddy by any chance? That's my favorite show!"
"Er...no, but I know all the people that have!" Cecily grinned at him.
"Wow! Remind me to talk to you after this!" Arnold beamed from ear to ear, much to her laughter, as the national anthems of both men's countries started to play.
"Did this stupid thing start yet?" Penelope spat and pulled up a chair beside her husband.
"Shhh!" Henry taunted. "You're undercutting the drama!"
"I agree - it's another great technique." Cecily smirked.
"Leave them wanting it more and more until the final, cathartic release." Louis grinned in agreement.
Helga snapped her head to the right as she heard a chair being pulled up to the coffee table.
"Oh..." She crossed her arms and groaned quietly as Miriam took a seat, expressionless, simply watching what was unfolding on screen.
"Helga!" Arnold scolded in a mutter.
She also peered up at Louis, who unmistakably signaled for her to relent. She crunched over somewhat. Arnold put his hand around her shoulder to reassure her. She smiled warmly at him in appreciation. The bell ringing jolted her back to reality, instantly forcing her to focus on the television.
"And here...we...go!" Henry grinned.
The two boxers slowly circled around each other. They got closer with each step, but took their time, trying to look for an advantage.
Olga came in with a big tray full of cookies, putting it on the coffee table.
"Chocolate chip, gingerbread, oatmeal raisin, salted caramel...not bad, Olga!" Henry complimented, taking one. "Just keep it away from the vacuum cleaner before she eats them all." He grinned at Penelope, who frowned and raised a hand at him, but wound up taking two cookies instead, making him chuckle.
"So...did anything happen yet?" Olga asked, sitting in Louis' lap, putting her arms around him, and resting her head on his shoulder.
"Nope. Just started." He replied, grabbing a cookie.
"It's a much slower start than I anticipated, especially after that press conference!" Helga declared, grabbing a cookie of her own.
"Oh, but I love it! It's adding even more drama! You'd be able to hear a pin drop in there!" Cecily gushed.
Suddenly, the blond man drooped over and began undulating.
"What's he doing?" Arnold asked, flabbergasted.
"That's Hawk's attack stance." Helga replied. "Takamura's being smart to tighten his guard... Oh my...I can't take this anymore, even in here you can cut the tension with a knife!"
Suddenly, Hawk moved forward and Takamura struck with a blistering jab. Hawk ducked.
"Wow, that was a sharp left!" Louis grinned as Olga gasped. "Takamura's looking real good!"
"Maybe the cutting didn't take as much out of him as we thought?!" Helga grinned as Hawk staggered back into the corner. "Man...if that thing didn't miss...!"
"Psh. He didn't miss." Henry smirked.
"What?" Helga looked up at him.
"Watch. You're about to see." Louis smiled confidently.
Seconds later, Hawk looked up, with blood trickling down in-between his eyes.
"Oh yeah!" Helga erupted. "It landed!"
"Not bad for a graze, huh?" Louis smirked at her. "But Hawk's gonna get more aggressive now. Because now he knows that Takamura's for real. That one jab just changed the psychology of this match."
"With that in mind, there's no better time than right now for this, huh?" Henry asked, pouring the Nikka whisky into two cups. "To a new champion, eh?"
"Let's hope." Louis replied and raised his glass to meet Henry's. The brothers clinked them together over Arnold and Helga.
Miriam peered at the two glasses with the golden brown liquid, then the bigger bottle. Helga, spotting her interest, stared daggers at her. Miriam jolted her head back to the screen as Arnold frowned and elbowed Helga in the side.
"What, Football Head?" She frowned.
"Takamura's on the move!"
Helga quickly turned her head back to the screen at the sound of Louis' voice. She began beaming again, as she watched Takamura hammering Hawk with a flurry of lefts. None connected, but the assault forced the champion on the defensive and into the corner.
"You almost never see guys with hands that fast." Henry complimented. "He's obviously well-prepared, despite the cutting."
Suddenly, Takamura staggered back.
"What was that?!" Arnold yelped, confused.
Takamura threw another left, only to get hit again and sent back into the corner, suffering a flurry of hard blows from wide angles thereafter.
"Well, there it is." Henry frowned. "That's Hawk's attack style, Arnold. His team calls it 'Pure Violence.' The idea is he totally disregards boxing convention and can attack from all angles. But there is a weakness..."
Olga buried her head deeper into Louis shoulder. "I can't watch! I can't watch!" She yelped as Takamura took punch after punch.
"That guy...Takamura, right? Look at his eyes..." Penelope sighed. "They're fading. I don't think he knows where he's at."
"Look! He's starting to collapse!" Arnold pointed.
At the last second, the man in the black Pompadour, Takamura, dodged a furious right from Hawk that caved the corner in.
"Oh man...!" Helga trailed. "If that thing landed..."
Olga groaned and covered her eyes again. "I hate seeing people get hurt like this! ...Why couldn't we watch The Little Mermaid!?" She pouted.
"Because Ariel reminds Henry too much of his wife and one of those is already too many." Louis replied, much to the laughter of the whole room, even Penelope. "Now stop being such a wuss." He smirked at her. "Argh...he's gotta get out of that corner!" The smirk turned into a gritting of teeth as he looked back at the screen.
"Oh...what's he doing just standing there?!" Helga growled in frustration. Then, a hard left from Takamura sent his opponent back, even through his guard, and her mood instantly changed. "That's why they call him Japan's KO king!" Helga grinned as Takamura proceeded to land a body blow on Hawk.
"But look, Hawk's back at it again!" Arnold answered as the blond man counterattacked with another flurry of strangely-angled punches. He got in as many as he could, and Takamura staggered again, but the bell rang.
"Man...talk about being saved by the bell!" Helga sighed in relief.
"Still...no amount of strength or macho posturing is gonna save him from taking a ton of hits like that undefended." Penelope frowned. "I don't think this is gonna last much longer."
"Wrong." Henry replied. "Truth be told, that first round was Hawk's one and only chance of winning this fight. Now his cards are on the table. Takamura's gonna adapt. Hawk's problem, and the weakness I was talking about in his style, is that he relies on his unpredictability to win, but once you take that away from him, there's nothing left. That will work on most fighters, but not Takamura. He survived the initial onslaught. Now he knows what's coming - punches from odd angles. Hawk's punches themselves might still be unpredictable, but the element of surprise is gone."
Helga stared intently at the screen as the bell rang again and Takamura's fast footwork was still unable to prevent another onslaught of Hawk's wild punches.
"You sure about that?" His wife taunted.
A sudden, hard jab to Hawk's face followed her words.
"Quite." Henry smirked as the challenger now pummeled Hawk with left jabs and then threw his right.
"Man he's fast!" Helga grinned as Hawk staggered back. But suddenly, Takamura was on the canvas. "What?!" She growled.
"All it means is that Hawk's fast, too." Henry replied.
"That's the first time Takamura's been knocked down in his whole career..." Louis frowned and grabbed a chocolate chip cookie. "Are you sure the element of surprise is gone?"
At the end of another fast and furious exchange, Takamura got knocked down yet again. Helga growled, watching as Hawk, with his tongue out in a smug expression, raised his arms in triumph.
"Quite." Henry answered again with a smirk as Takamura got up at the count of eight.
"Wait!" Penelope yelped as Takamura stumbled past his opponent and to the ropes. "He might be up, but he's not fully conscious of where he is! This is dangerous!"
"Oh no!" Helga groaned.
But suddenly, Takamura dodged Hawk's punches, recovered, and threw an onslaught of left jabs which caught Hawk as he bent over backwards, sending him to the canvas. The entire room gasped.
"See?" Henry smirked and picked up a gingerbread cookie. "There you go! Now he sees through Hawk's style!"
"But how?!" Helga asked. "How could he have done all of that when he wasn't all there?!"
"It's muscle, memory, honey."
Helga turned to the right at the unexpected voice.
Miriam took one of the salted caramel cookies and continued. "That guy, Takamura...he must have thrown those punches hundreds of thousands of times. When you train to that extent, you create a strong connection between the muscle and the brain. At that point, you don't need to think anymore. Your body just knows what to do. When I was training for the Olympics, I met a lot of boxers. Most of them would spend hours upon hours for days on end just repeating one punch. Then they'd do it with another and another. So they can just throw all their punches, aware or not. Henry, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about, and not just in hand to hand combat, but in your case, diving, jumping out of planes, assembling weapons or other equipment..."
"Uh...yeah!" Henry replied, taken aback as the bell rang to end the second round. "I could do all that stuff blindfolded if I needed to."
"You see, honey?" Miriam said to Helga. "When you train your body to perform these movements so many times, it just knows. That's how he did it."
Helga looked at the TV and then back to Miriam, stunned. "So...you mean that if I were to throw old Betsy here enough times, my fist would just react automatically if it needed to respond to an emergency?"
"Yes." Miriam answered with a small smile.
"Cool!" Helga grinned evilly and turned back to the TV.
"Helga..." Arnold sighed with a smile and rolled his eyes.
"What, Football Head? Want me to try it out on you?" She chuckled just as evilly.
"Wait a minute." Cecily spoke. "You were training for the Olympics?"
"Oh...didn't I tell you? I used to be an Olympic class swimmer."
"That's really great!" She replied.
"Unbelievable, even." Louis answered, looking at her. "How come you didn't tell me?" He asked Olga, who shrugged back at him.
"Why am I only just hearing about this now, mommy?"
"Oh, there's lots of things I don't share about myself." Miriam dismissed.
"Well, maybe you should!" Arnold smiled at her.
"Yeah, I want to hear more about this muscle memory thing!" Helga replied.
The bell rang.
"But not now!" She jolted her head back to the TV.
Miriam looked at her daughter in shock, and then turned to Cecily, who smiled at her and made a subtle nod.
The two fighters rushed each other, exchanging punches.
"Takamura's dropped his orthodox stance." Louis observed. "He's fighting on Hawk's level. It's just a street fight in there now!"
"This is how he usually fights!" Helga squealed. "He's going all in now!"
Furious fighting developed for the next few rounds. Takamura got the upper hand, but at the start of the sixth round, he took a flurry of punches and fell again.
"As I suspected." Louis sighed. "He's gassed out. Hawk's winning the stamina battle."
"Alright, now we're in deep waters." Henry declared and grabbed an oatmeal raisin cookie. "Here's where the bum's lack of training and killer instinct is gonna come back to bite him."
"Are you seriously still on that?" Peneleope frowned. "Look at him, he's not even sweating! His trainer should throw in the towel. It's dangerous to his boxer's health! This is irresponsible! Look, his eye is swollen shut to boot! He needs hydration and rest, not to take more of those heavy punches!"
"No! No!" Helga growled.
Takamura got knocked back again, bounced off the ropes, and threw a combination that sent Hawk staggering, taking him completely by surprise.
"Told you." Henry grinned. "I know it when I see it - that guy's willing to crawl through broken glass to get at his opponent. I know exactly what it means. I wouldn't be what I am without that same drive. Look at him." Henry observed as the bell rang to end the sixth round. "He can't even tell which corner to go to and he's still fighting."
"But how's he doing it? How come he hasn't totally collapsed?" Helga asked.
"It's total instinct, honey." Miriam smiled, taking a gingerbread cookie. "When you train your body in these motions and you just clear your head of anything except winning, you'd be surprised how far it can take you, and the mind follows from there. Sometimes when I was swimming at high speed, and the lactic acid was building up in my arms and legs, and my mind was screaming for me to stop, I just surrendered to my muscles. It was like my muscles were angry that I would even think of quitting - I built them up and they were going to be used, no matter what. That's muscle memory. Your body just responds and takes your brain with you, ignoring any attempts it might have to do something else. That's what comes with serious, dedicated training."
"And we know how much Hawk hates to train." Henry winked at her. "What have I kept telling you?"
Helga turned her head back to the screen as the seventh round began. After taking a hard hit, Takamura responded with another blistering series of combinations, sending Hawk's blood all over the ring.
"GO! GO! GO!" Helga and Louis both yelled, while Olga groaned.
"Not much longer now." Henry declared. "Look at those punches. Shots to the liver, then the temple, liver again, open jaw, liver!" Henry grinned. "Compact, precise, all to vital points. Hawk definitely didn't know this was coming. He thought he could win easy, thought Takamura would gas out...he has no way to respond!"
"Oh, he thought his natural talent would carry him through?" Miriam asked.
"Yep." Henry responded.
"Oh...then he probably didn't train his body the way he should have. Look - he just keeps coming back with the same wild, but unfocused punches. Takamura can change his line of attack - different combinations to different points. Simply put, his body is way more adaptable to different situations. It clearly shows in his training. Hawk really just hasn't built up the motor functions necessary to fight at the level Takamura's currently fighting right now. That's what you get for slacking in your training."
Helga, smiling, turned from her mother and watched the television. Takamura's offense continued through the seventh and into the eighth round. One final push by the champion was countered, and a downward strike sent him to the canvas for the 10 count. A new champion was crowned.
Helga, Louis, and Henry erupted in celebration. The two brothers drank another glass of whisky.
"Oh good, it's over." Penelope muttered. "Still...much as I hate to admit it, it was a spectacle." She smirked.
Henry patted her on the head. "That's what I told you, and I'm always right." He smirked harder. They both laughed out loud, the happiness infecting them both.
"So what'd you think, Football Head?" Helga asked as she hugged Arnold. "Pretty exciting, huh? I can't believe he won!"
"Yeah, I guess so." Arnold smiled. "But don't you think there's someone you should say something to?" He gestured to Miriam.
Helga looked at him and sighed, turning toward her.
"Mom...you have to tell me more about this muscle memory and motor function stuff. I can use it for my report! That was incredible! It was like you were the only one besides Henry who could really tell what was going on in there! Even Louis got nervous but you just seemed to know!"
"Psh. My prediction of eight rounds was true...just in the opposite direction. I'll take it though. The bum got knocked out. It's all I wanted to see." He smirked. "Yeah, Miriam. You had good eyes on that match!"
"Tell us more about the Olympics, mommy!" Olga insisted.
"Yeah!" Helga grinned. "The night's still young, and there's so much to celebrate!"
Miriam looked at Cecily again, who stood there with her two jubilant sons and smiled at her again. Miriam looked shocked, but returned the smile, relieved.