Note: A huge thank you and kudos to Meian16 for writing this chapter as this is his field of interest and the fact that Jun the Tiger is his creation!
Thank you so much!
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Fight Club Topside
Englewood.
A neighbourhood and community area located on the South Side of Chicago. Notorious for its high crime rate, it eventually became abandoned by the people who once called it home.
Soon, more crime arose, and it had become a haven for criminals of all kinds.
It had gotten so dangerous that even the police wouldn't dare step foot in it.
Jun walked down one of the many alleyways nestled amongst the buildings, his hands in his pockets as well as his hood on over his head and cowl around his mouth to hide his identity. Looking around, he narrowed his eyes at the condition of his surroundings and his nose wrinkled as he picked up the scents of various drugs, Marijuana being the most prominent.
'Man, talk about a little piece of Hell on earth,' the tiger thought as he rounded a corner. 'Looks like what I heard was true. If there's a place where underground fights are gonna go down, no better place than somewhere like this where even the cops won't show up.'
As he continued walking, Jun looked up above him at the sky. There were brief flashes of lightning in the distance as he saw clouds beginning to move in. At the same time, he saw the stars that hadn't been covered by the clouds yet.
'Looks like a storms on its way.' The tiger's face softened as he thought of his family who after over two years had no idea what had happened to him. 'The times we'd all just watch the rain, even go out in it sometimes. Dahlia too. We'd all have so much fun, back before me and Dahlia were...'
He stopped walking and leaned his back up against the side of a building, his mind wondering as more memories of his family came to him - the times he and Dahlia would spend with them long before their mutations.
'Mom, Dad, Big Bro, Lil' Sis...' he clenched his fists tightly and frowned. 'One day. I don't know when or how, but one day...'
Jun was suddenly brought out of his thoughts and his ears perked up from under his hood at the sound of oncoming voices. Squatting down a bit, he watched as a few people walked by the alley he was hidden in and heard the conversation they were having.
"You guys ready to see the fights tonight?"
"Oh hell yeah! Been looking forward to this shit for days!"
"Word on the street is that whoever wins gets a lot of dough. Heh, that kind of money you never know who will show up."
"Well let's hurry up and get to the spot! Make sure we get some good seats!"
The group continued to talk amongst themselves after walking past the alley. Jun stood up and walked out onto the sidewalk, watching as the group walked across the street to a particular large boarded up building.
Looking up, Jun saw the remains of a sign and could barely make out what it read.
'Team Englewood Academy High School. I heard a little bit about this place. Used to be the high school of this area and was once known as just Englewood High School. A shame that this is what became of it.'
The tiger walked across the street to the abandoned school and his eyes went to where the group he saw earlier went.
'So, this is where the fights are going down huh?' A smirk appeared on his face. 'Time to go see if the fighters here and the ones who came from out of town are really about that life.'
Grinning with anticipation under his cowl, Jun turned and walked down the side of the school.
Jun continued down the alleyway until he came to a line of people waiting to get into the building. Seeing another flash of lightning in the air and hearing thunder in the distance, the tiger readjusted his hood before taking his spot in line, just behind the ones he saw enter the alleyway before him. Looking to the side, he could see that it was quite the turn out for the fights.
'If there's this many still waiting, I wonder just how filled up it is on the inside.'
The tiger scrunched his nose up a bit as once again, he got a whiff of drugs, this time coming from the ones in line. Ignoring it as best as he could, he waited patiently until he eventually reached the entrance to the building, which was being guarded by two muscular watchmen, one white with blond hair tied back in a ponytail and the other black with cornrows. The white one looked down at Jun and crossed his arms over his chest.
"What's up with you?" he asked, leaning a bit towards the hooded tiger.
"Got a problem showing your face or something?"
Jun met eyes with the guard, narrowing his eyes at him while restraining himself from saying something back.
"Got a problem with talking too?" the guard spat, going as far as to get into Jun's face.
"Don't waste your time on this scrub Forrest," said the black guard.
"Lil' git here's probably another of the junkies around here, looking for some action. Remember, what the boss said - as long as they got the cash."
"Yeah yeah, I hear you Quintin," said Forrest as he looked back at his fellow guard before looking back at Jun.
"This ain't no free ride, kid. You want in, you pay the toll."
Jun frowned behind his cowl, getting more irritated with the guard.
"How much?"
"Well, I'll be damned," Forrest said, smirking.
"You can talk. Fifty dollars."
Jun pulled one of his hands out of his pocket, full of dollar bills and placed it roughly in Forrest's hand before pushing past him and Quintin, walking into the building.
Forrest counted the money before turning to Jun and yelling.
"Hey, yo! You gave too much!"
"I don't give a flying fuck, keep it!" Jun called back, not turning around to face them.
"I got better things to do than sit here and fuck around with you two steroid abusing crackheads!"
Some of the others in line snickered and held back laughs.
Forrest frowned and stuffed the money in his pocket while Quintin looked as if he was going to go after Jun but refrained from doing so, staying put to do his job with Forrest.
"Little shit..."
Walking through the abandoned building and looking around, Jun could see the remnants of what remained of it from its days as a school.
Lockers adorned with graffiti, chairs, tables, and old textbooks strewn about, some of the doors either ripped off or barely hanging on the hinges to the classrooms.
'What a mess." He thought "Can only imagine what this place looked like back in the day. Was probably the opposite of the shit-hole it is now.'
The sound of music and loud voices made the tiger's ears perk up.
'Must be where the fights are happening.'
The tiger continued his way towards where the sounds were coming from and along the way, he walked past some humans who were either smoking together, getting high from various drugs, and some who were even engaging in sexual activity with one other either in the hallway or in the empty rooms.
Disgusted at what he'd seen, he kept his composure and ignored it all as he continued walking, the sounds getting louder and as he looked ahead, he saw a large room illuminated. Reaching the room, he looked around the area.
From what Jun could tell, the area used to be the school gymnasium. There were remains of what looked like sports streamers hanging from the rafters and there were broken basketball goals at opposite ends of the room.
But now, it was anything but; in the centre of the room was professional wrestling ring and surrounding it were numerous people who were dancing to techno music coming from makeshift speakers that were set up around the room. There was a barricade set up that surrounded the ring, keeping the people a few feet away from the ring and Jun saw that there were bleachers where many of the other people were dancing as well.
'It's practically a mosh pit in here,' the tiger thought to himself. 'I'd best find somewhere to sit and chill until the tournament gets started, which should be soon.'
Heading to one of the bleachers, Jun made his way up to the top of it and saw an empty spot in one of the corners.
Going over, he had a seat and had a clear view of the entire area.
'Think it's safe to say I got the best seat in the house. And I promised Dahlia I'd be careful. Looks like I'm gonna be sitting this one out and just watching.'
"You must be new here."
Hearing the voice beside him, Jun turned his head and saw a Black woman who looked to be in her early or mid-twenties.
She had straight black hair that went down to her upper back, dark brown eyes, and was adorned in a white tank top that showed off her midriff, black Daisy Duke shorts, and red sneakers.
"You got any smokes on you, by any chance?" she asked as she had a seat next to him.
"Nope, I ain't got nothing," Jun replied as he readjusted his hood and cowl.
"Oh, well damn."
The woman looked down at all of the other people partying on and dancing.
"Looks like you had the same idea I did. Up here's the best place to be so you can see everything."
Jun nodded his head in response.
The woman looked at him once more and got a better look at him.
"Say, I know you. You were in front of me in line. You're the one who told off the guards at the entrance."
"Yeah. What of it?" Jun asked as he propped his legs up on the seats in front of him.
"Nothing. Just recognized your voice is all," the woman replied, looking him over once more.
"And it looks like I was right, you must be new here. Don't know anyone who would say what you said to those guards back there. I'd watch myself if I were you. They're not the kind of guys that take disrespect like that lightly."
Jun shrugged his shoulders. "I ain't worried about them. Not even worth my breath."
"You got balls, I'll give you that," said the woman as she crossed one of her long legs over the other, showing off the tattoos she had on them.
"My name's Miesha, by the way. You got a name?"
Jun was silent for a few moments, looking to her briefly before turning his attention back to the partying people down below them.
"Call me Sam."
"Sam, huh? Alright then." Meisha leaned back so that her back was up against the wall and crossed her arms under her chest.
"So, what brings you here?"
"Heard about the tournament going down and wanted to come check it out," Jun answered.
"That's what's up," said Miesha.
Many underground fights are held here. Seen a good bit of them. Tonight though, it was such a big deal and word got out about it to pretty much the entire neighbourhood. Brought out everyone and their mamas."
"Pretty sure the money was the reason for it, be it to either win it or watch to see who wins it," said Jun.
Miesha nodded.
"True that. Or maybe there's people who want an excuse to party hard or just love to watch people beat the shit out of each other."
The tiger shrugged his shoulders once more.
"Some people just live for chaos."
"Big facts, big facts," Mieshia replied.
A few seconds of silence went by between the two before Jun looked over to her.
"I take it you live around here?"
"You'd be right," said Miesha.
"Used to live on the North Side of Chicago. Had a pretty good life for a while. That is until one thing led to another, found myself getting kicked out of home, and next thing you know I'm here. Have been for about a year now. Been getting by every day doing whatever it is I have to do in order to survive."
The tiger narrowed his eyes a bit as he heard her, curious as to what she meant but decided that it was none of his business.
"Sounds rough."
Miesha nodded and shrugged.
"Yep, but it is what it is."
Moments later, the lights in the room dimmed and everyone watched as a single spotlight shown down on the ring, igniting cheers from everyone.
"Looks like it's finally getting started," said Miesha excitedly.
Jun watched along with her and everyone else as the music stopped playing and another spotlight focused on a section that was positioned just above the bleachers on the other side of the room.
It looked to be what could be considered the V.I.P. section.
In the room was seated a few individuals and one of them, a Black male wearing green attire, stood up and got the attention of everyone.
"What's good everyone!?" he said into a microphone, his voice full of authority.
"Looks like we had one hell of a turnout for this thing and hope you're all enjoying yourselves tonight!"
The crowd cheered loudly, some of them who had even snuck alcoholic drinks in holding them up above them.
Miesha leaned over to Jun.
"That's Kamaru, leader of the 95th Street Families, one of the biggest gangs in Chicago."
Jun nodded as he watched and continued to listen to Kamaru speak.
"Now I'm not gonna hold y'all - we all know the reason we're here tonight!" said Kamaru.
"We're here to watch some motherfuckers bash some skulls and break some bones and see who the baddest really is!"
The crowd cheered again.
"And whoever manages to come out on top is gonna walk away with this!"
Kamaru turned to one of the others seated beside him, a White female who was also dressed in green. She stood up with a suitcase and opened it, revealing a large amount of money inside, which got a loud reaction from the crowd.
Miesha's eyes widened.
"Holy shit..."
Even Jun had to admit that the amount of money was more than he thought it'd be.
"After counting up everything from y'all, the fighters, and even a little bonus we decided to throw in there just for shits and giggles..." said Kamaru. "...the total amount up for grabs is fifty thousand dollars!"
The crowd responded with more cheers as well as shocked gasps at the large amount.
"So yeah, whoever wins this shit is gonna walk out of here with a new man or woman, you know what I'm saying?" said Kamaru with a smirk.
"Oh, and because I know some of y'all might try to do if you're that stupid, boys if you will, please and thank you?"
The others seated with Kamaru stood up and revealed that they all were packing guns.
"We understand each other, right?" Kamaru asked.
The crowd responded positively.
"Alright, then everything's all good," the gang leader said, smirking once more.
"All of you get nice and comfortable because we're gonna be in this for the long haul and it ain't gonna be over until the last man or bitch is standing! So, kick back, relax, and let's get this shit started!"
The cheers from the crowd got louder as the spotlight on the ring began to flicker a bit and music played.
A referee and several ring girls dressed in revealing bikinis also made their way through the crowd and to the ring, the referee entering and the ring girls surrounding it, waving to the crowd and some of them even pouring the contents of the drinks they had on their tops.
Others took it a step further and lowered their tops, flashing the crowd which got even louder cheers from those in attendance.
"Sure do know how to throw a party, don't they?" Miesha asked.
Jun didn't respond, just simply waited for the start of the tournament, part of him a bit wary and staying on guard and another part anxious and excited to see how the tournament turns out.
The White female that was holding the suitcase filled with the prize money set it to the side and began to speak into the microphone Kamaru was holding.
"Alright, now that that's out of the way, how about we get this party started!?"
At her words the crowd cheered in response.
Miesha looked over to Jun.
"And that would be Valentina, second-in-command to the 95th Street Families and Kamau's woman. She's got a rep around here as being the toughest chick around. And she's just as much a savage as Kamaru. Definitely someone you don't want to cross."
"I see," said Jun as he continued to watch.
"Yours truly will be in charge of the bracket and announcing the fighters tonight!" said Valentina.
"And to let everyone know, we're not doing any of that minute round and judge's decision bullshit, not tonight! All these fights are gonna go until someone's ass is knocked out or they tap out! And first up, we have Diego and Clay! Come on out boys and let's do the damn thing!"
Two individuals began to make their way towards the ring from opposite sides of the room. They walked through the crowd until reaching the ring and entering, both of them going to opposite corners.
One of them was Hispanic and had short black hair and the other was White with long flowing brown hair that went just below his shoulders.
Both of them were adorned with tattoos, some of them looking like they could be gang related and they were both shirtless with their fists taped up.
Their physiques of the men also got them loud screams of admiration from the women in attendance.
"Both of these guys look like they could be tough customers," said Miesha before looking to Jun.
"What do you think?"
Jun closely observed the two fighters, his eyes narrowing as he did so.
"Can't tell right now. From first glance, both of them look to be in good condition, definitely fight ready. But you can only tell so much from first impressions. Until the actual fight starts, that's when you can get a better grasp of the situation."
Miesha raised an eyebrow. "You talk as if you know a thing or two about this."
Jun smirked underneath his cowl.
"Maybe." He replied.
The crowd started up numerous chants in anticipation for the fight. At the same time, Diego and Clay eyed each other intensely, both looking like they were chomping at the bit to get at each other.
"Look at them," said Miesha.
"They look like two dogs staring at one another from their cages."
"Well, they're about to be let loose in a second," said Jun.
The referee made sure both fighters were ready to fight and a few seconds later Valentina's voice rang out from the speakers.
"Fight!"
So Jun has gone topside and he's gone into the Fight club at an abandoned school!
Again a huge thanks to Meian16 for writing this, and for those wondering what's about to happen next that relevent to this chapter, stay tuned as the plot points will make themselves known!