Just Another Night in Metro City

It was Friday night. Cody had prepared himself for a night of bloodshed. He was determined to go out to the Surf Bar to get into some of the fights there, because it was said that organized fights take place at that place.

Jessica had taken off with some friends of hers to go explore the nightlife. Kyle had gotten into it with Cody about staying in, but Cody had told his brother that he was only concerned because of many things that had occurred on the streets that same week. Jessica left with her friends before Cody did. Jessica had some bodyguards nearby, but they had told Cody that they wouldn't interfere with the ladies' fun.

"Okay, what if I called up Vanessa and went over to her house?" Kyle said.

"It would be fine if someone was there," Cody said. "Like her brother or her mom."

Kyle sighed in response.

"Kyle, you're my brother and I don't want you to get hurt," Cody said. "I'm going to be gone for a few hours."

"Where are you going?" Kyle said.

Cody froze for a quick second when he was asked. "I'm meeting up with Guy and Carlos. We're having a guys' night."

Kyle nodded in response, but something was off with how Cody responded. After Cody had left, Kyle reached for the phone and quickly dialed a number.

"Hey, Vanessa, what are you doing? I was wondering if you wanted to hang out. Sure, I could call Paco, see if maybe he and Celeste are up to it. Okay, I'll see you in a bit."

This had not been a good few days for Kyle, especially after Cody had been on him and also the recent development in having bodyguards accompany him to places.

Out in Uptown Metro City, Club Metro was booming as the venue had a lot of people on the dance floor with "Express Yourself" by Madonna blared over the speakers, all the while others got drinks at the bar. Jessica had gotten to the club wearing a red cocktail dress. It was enough to draw the attentions of some of the male patrons at the club. Jessica was accompanied by her friends Rachel, Cindy, and Melissa.

The ladies didn't come by themselves, though, as they were accompanied by bodyguards accommodated by Jessica's father. They went by Bishop and Forge. Bishop was an African-American man, while Forge was Native American.

"Man, what a place," Rachel said.

"Yeah, what a place," Jessica said.

"Oh, lighten up, Jess," Cindy said. "This is the first you have gone out in a while. Don't you want to have fun?"

"Of course," Jessica said.

Before the ladies could walk away, Jessica turned to Forge and Bishop, and told them to keep a distance but if things get bad, then they could do their job.

"Come on, Jess!" Melissa said.

Jessica walked through the crowded club as she was catching up to her friends. The four ladies went to a table near the bar area. It was a little quieter in that area. They all sat down.

"Does it get annoying having those guys around?" Cindy said.

"It just started this week," Jessica said. "My dad just wants to keep me safe."

"Why?" Cindy said.

"Cody has been dealing with a lot lately," Jessica said. "My dad doesn't want Cody to stress out. The bodyguards aren't too bad."

"I know what you mean," Melissa said as she looked at them in admiration. "Where's that hot bodyguard you had at school? You know, the one with the long hair."

"Carlos?" Jessica said. "He has the night off. Besides, he's staying with my dad and he also helps him out."

At that point, the DJ had started playing "Back to Life" by Soul II Soul.

"Well, we're here, let's get some drinks," Rachel said.

"You're right," Jessica said.

The four got up and went to the bar. As soon as they got to the bar, the bartender took a look at the quartet, but who stood out the most was Jessica.

"Hey, I've seen you before," the bartender said. "Aren't you the mayor's daughter?"

"Yes, I am," Jessica said.

"I was also a huge fan of your dad's when he wrestled," the bartender said. "Hey, drinks are on me."

"Thank you!" Jessica yelled.

The bartender served the four ladies their drinks as they all took sips. They were ready to have fun.

Cody had arrived in Chinatown where the Surf Bar was located. He took the subway. He walked towards the front entrance where a rather large man named Bill Bull stood at the door. This man looked to be rather obese but likely could have packed some muscle as well. He had a beard, too.

A nice sedan pulled up, blaring "Knick Knack Patty Wack" by EPMD, and parked in front of the bar and parked. While these were busy streets and likely had parking for patrons in other areas, the way this was done seemed as if these people owned the establishment. It wasn't far from the case as the people who got out of the car were Bred, Dug, Jake, and Simons. The big man let the quartet with no problem.

As Cody walked towards the entrance, he had someone say his name. He turned around and saw a familiar man with long hair and a blue outfit with jeans and a vest.

"Carlos? What are you doing here?" Cody said.

"I'm here to fight, remember?" Carlos said. Cody noticed that he had packed his katana sword with him.

"You know, I don't think you need that sword," Cody said.

"I only carry this with me just in case," Carlos said. "Let's go see what this place has got for us."

As the two walked up, Bill Bull looked up. "Whoa, whoa, are you on the list?"

"We're here to fight," Cody said.

"What's your name?" Bill Bull said.

"I'm Cody," he said.

"Not on the list," Bill Bull said.

Out of the blue, the front door opened as Poison walked out with Roxy right behind her.

"Bill, they're here to fight," Poison said. "Just let them in."

The big man looked at the two with suspicion for a few seconds before he signaled them to walk in. Cody and Carlos walked in. The place was booming as well, a little more than it was earlier that week as there was live music playing with an attractive blonde woman named Elissa singing the vocals. She wore an outfit that consisted of a red headband, a red bra top, as well as purple short shorts and purple knee-high boots. On guitar was a guy named Robert, who had on the same colors as Elissa, as well as a headband, except he had a purple vest that showed his bare chest.

The two ladies led the way for Cody and Carlos. Out of the blue, they were approached by a couple of familiar faces, at least to Cody.

"Hey, you're here," a woman said, who turned out to be Mary, the same woman from the gym, except she wore an outfit similar to what the singer on stage wore. The only difference was that her bra top was white, while the rest was green.

"Where's your friend from the other day?" Leon said, who an orange and black vest, as well as orange pants. "Who is this?"

"Oh, Guy is busy, this is Carlos," Cody said. Carlos shook the hands of the couple.

"Well, the fights are outside," Leon said.

"Come on, boys," Poison said.

From a distance, Damnd stood at the bar with Bred, Dug, Jake, and Simons, with looks of disdain towards Cody and Carlos. Jack and Schot walked up and noticed the two as well. Jack leaned towards Damnd's ear and whispered something. A smile rose on Damnd's face.

They all went towards a door that said "PATIO" on it. Once the door opened, it was revealed that this area had a large cage at the center with many people surrounding it as two men stood there ready to fight.

"Ladies and gentlemen, our next bout will be one for the books," an announcer said into a microphone. "In the red corner, fighting out of Missouri, Joe 'The Ghost' Scott!"

There stood a Caucasian man in red pants and no shirt. He posed for the crowd as they all applauded. His opponent was an African-American man in a red shirt and blue jeans.

"In the blue corner, fighting out of Oklahoma, Mike 'the Mauler' Maxwell!"

Mike did the same as what Joe did before. It wasn't long until the bell rang as the two men inside the cage started fighting. All Cody and Carlos did was just watch as the two men displayed their prowess. From what it appeared, Joe, or The Ghost as he liked to be called, displayed some skills in kickboxing, while Mike, aka The Mauler, was more of a boxer. Both men quickly started going at it, with Joe showing some swiftness with his kickboxing skills, but Mike had a size advantage over Joe. It also appeared that Mike was a professional boxer at one point, as he knew when to block, dodge, and deliver a hit when the opportunity arose.

Joe, on the other hand, landed a few kicks of his own. Joe was no slouch in the ring as he had the skills, but if Mike was a professional, there had to be some skill he had to make it to that level. Once Joe delivered a roundhouse kick, Mike quickly ducked and delivered a hard blow to Joe's gut and knocked him out with an uppercut.

"Here is your winner, Mike 'the Mauler' Maxwell!" the announcer said.

"Impressive skill, huh?" Carlos said as he watched Mike help Joe get to his feet.

"I could take him," Cody said.

As soon as the cage had emptied, the announcer talked about the next fight on the card. A Caucasian man with a beard, a green tank-top and green camo pants was in the cage. Cody and Carlos looked nearby as massive man of great height and build walked into the cage. This man had a bushy afro, wore magenta pants and a magenta leopard-print muscle shirt. He played to the crowd as he flexed his muscles.

"Oh my god," Cody said as his jaw dropped at the sight of this huge man. "That is one big motherfucker."

"I think I've seen this guy, or maybe it was his brother," Carlos said.

"Excuse me?" Cody said.

"I've seen him and his brother, they are big dudes," Carlos said. "You can't miss guys like that."

The announcer made the announcement, as one of the fighters was named "Mad Miles." The other guy, however, was named Hugo Andore. Before the fight started, Cody and Carlos saw how much Hugo towered over Mad Miles. It was not just in height, but also in width. Hugo packed on some serious muscle. As soon as the fight started, Hugo delivered a hard clothesline. It was hard enough for the opponent to drop. Hugo then got Mad Miles to his feet and pressed him against one wall of the cage and delivered a hard chop to his chest and grabbed him and slammed him hard to the mat. Mad Miles was out like a light. The fight was over quickly.

It wasn't long until the next fight started, with one man in the cage named Dean taking part in the next one. This guy had blond hair as well, but wore a black headband and a white muscle shirt. His opponent got in the cage, who was a rotund man, about as round as Bill Bull, but had an Amish beard. His name was Graham Oriber. Cody noticed that these fights were supposedly set up in advance. He and Carlos saw Poison and Roxy.

"Hey, are we fighting tonight?" Cody said to Poison.

"Yeah, a couple of other guys couldn't make it," Poison said.

"So you two are filling in for them," Roxy said.

"Who are we fighting?" Carlos said.

"You'll see," Roxy said with a smile and winked at him.

After that fight, Dean managed to win despite the man being much bigger than him. He got out of the cage.

"Good job," Cody said.

"Yeah, you really kicked that guy's ass," Carlos said.

Dean shook the two men's hands. "Thanks." And then he just walked away. The two men saw that he seemed quiet, but it seemed that he was a regular in this fighting circuit as many people cheered for him.

"Okay, boys," Poison said. "You guy are up next."

"Who's going first?" Cody said.

"Carlos will go first," Roxy said. "Come on, handsome, let's see what you got."

Carlos handed his katana, still sheathed, to Cody and then climbed the steps into the cage.

"Okay, we have a new fighter making his debut tonight, this is Carlos Miyamoto!" the announcer said.

Climbing into the cage was Carlos's opponent. He was a muscular man with a buzz-cut and a mustache, and wore tight blue pants and yellow boots.

"His opponent, the one and only Atlas!" the announcer said.

Carlos unbuttoned his vest, bearing his ripped pectorals and abdominals. Roxy smiled at the sight of that. Carlos laid out his hand to shake Atlas's hand, but Atlas wanted no part of it as he quickly punched Carlos in the face.

"Oh, you want to play that way, huh?" Carlos said.

Atlas threw punches but each time Carlos evaded them. Given that he was a karate and Kenpo practitioner, Carlos's quickness was enough to put the muscular fighter in a bind as most of his prowess was used for self-defense, as well as in a scrap like this.

However, Atlas blocked and countered some moves that Carlos laid into him. The man was clearly a grappler as he had grabbed Carlos and took him down.

"Come on, Carlos!" Cody said.

Atlas was pressed Carlos's head against the mat, ready to lay it into him, but quickly kneed Atlas in the groin. Carlos rolled and jumped right to his feet and delivered a hard crescent kick to Atlas's face, knocking him out.

DING! DING! DING!

"Here is your winner, Carlos!" the announcer said.

Damnd had walked into the fight area with his entourage. He saw that Carlos was the victor. Shocked as he was, he probably thought Carlos got lucky, even though Atlas was considered a good fighter, but not good enough to take down Carlos.

Poison leaned in towards Cody. "Your turn, big boy." She said it with a smile.

Carlos exited the cage as Cody walked into it as Poison checked him out.

"Good job," Cody said.

"Thanks, good luck in there," Carlos said after Cody handed him the katana sword.

The announcer said, "We have another fighter making his debut tonight, put your hands together for Cody Travers!"

Everyone applauded, while Damnd looked at Cody with disgust, especially after he got his ass handed to by Cody just nights before.

The next fighter walked right in had a similar style to Atlas, except he was completely bald and had a full grown beard. He also wore dark orange pants.

"His opponent, the one and only Jony!" the announcer said.

Cody had his hands taped for this, wearing his usual plain white T-shirt and jeans. Jony walked up and gave him a cocky smile with an expression of "This guy? Really?" With Atlas throwing the first punch in the previous fight, Cody was the one who threw the first punch as he delivered a jab to Jony.

Jony looked at Cody with such anger that he rushed right towards him and grabbed him and pushed him towards the wall of the cage. Before Jony threw a punch, Cody headbutted him and delivered three punches to the gut and face. Jony blocked Cody's uppercut and then delivered a hard palm strike to Cody's face and then hit him with a hard left hook. It left a bruise on Cody's face.

Jony grabbed Cody by the legs and delivered a spinebuster and then mounted him to deliver a hard punch, leaving his nose a little bloody, but Cody kneed Jony in the nuts and put him on his back. Cody quickly laid waste onto Jony's face, delivering multiple punches from both of his hands as blood squirted all over the mat, as well as onto the tape wrapped around his hands.

"STOP!" Jony yelled.

DING! DING! DING!

"Here is your winner, Cody!" the announcer said.

Damnd looked upset that Cody had won this fight.

"Next time, he won't be so lucky," Damnd said.

"Who do you want him to fight?" Bred said.

"Oh, he'll see," Damnd said.

Cody got up and left the cage and then approached Carlos.

"That was some impressive shit," Carlos said.

"Damn, playboy, you know how to fight," Poison said.

"Just did my thing," Cody said.

"You did more than that," Poison said. "You and your friend made some money tonight."

Poison handed him a sum of money. Both men won $5,000 each.

"Holy shit!" Cody said.

"Roxy and I bet on both of you," Poison said. "Maybe next time, you might get more people to bet on you."

"When's the next fight?" Cody said.

"We do this every Friday," Roxy said.

Leon and Mary walked up as well and congratulated both men.

"Tell your other friend about fighting next time," Leon said. "I remember he kicked those guys' asses at the gym the other day."

"We'll see," Carlos said.

"But I'll have to give you a number on where to reach me," Cody said.

"And me, too," Carlos said.

Cody and Carlos wrote numbers to specific payphones where they could reach them. Cody didn't want Jessica to know about this. Carlos didn't want to tell Haggar about this, either. It seemed like they had a plan to take part in fights from time to time.

MEANWHILE, ELSEWHERE…

Kyle and Vanessa met up with Paco and Celeste near the subway. Lou didn't join them this time, but it wasn't so bad as the two pairs could have a double date, even if it was just to walk around.

"So where do you want to go?" Paco said.

"Vanessa and I want to check out the Bay Area," Kyle said. "I don't know what it's like out there at night."

"Yeah, I hear that some shady shit goes on down there," Paco said.

"Isn't it like that everywhere?" Celeste said. "Maybe we should go get something to eat instead."

"I'm with Celeste on this, guys," Vanessa said. "Besides, don't you remember what happened last week?"

"We're not going out to the Industrial Area," Kyle said. "We'll see what we could find. Come on."

From a distance, a man and a woman saw the group of teens walking towards the subway. They were both dressed in red martial arts gear.

As the quartet went down the steps into the subway, they all paid their fares to await the next train. For a group of teenagers, they knew to carry money, but not too much money, especially in an area like where they were.

"Spare any change?" a homeless man said as he sat against the wall of the subway. Vanessa was nice enough to lend a couple of dollars to the man. Paco did the same thing, despite not knowing if this person could be scamming anybody who walked by.

From another end of the subway stood a tall man with a yellow ringmaster jacket and green tight pants, a top hat, and what looked like clown makeup with long orange hair. Whether the hair was real or was a wig, no one knew for certain. This man was known as Philippe.

Accompanying him were three tall and lanky men who for some reason wore crop tops and carried retractable batons as they all let the batons slide out. One wore a purple vest and purple skull cap named Elias. The other was Eliot, who wore a black vest and yellow pants. The last one was Joe, an African-American man whose outfit was primarily red.

"Well, look what we have here, chaps," Philippe said with a British accent mixed with clown-like voice. Philippe also carried a cane, which could also be used a weapon.

"Looks like a bunch of kids came to the wrong place," Elias said as he slammed his baton against the palm of his hand.

The group of teens awaited the next train. Vanessa looked around. Her eyes widened as she jumped at the sight at who approached them. Celeste saw, but she let out a shriek as the first thing she saw was a tall clown.

"What the f-?" Paco said and saw the men. "Oh shit!"

Kyle turned around and saw the ruffians approaching them. He kept quiet as he didn't want to draw any unwanted attention to any potential thugs nearby, likely affiliated with Mad Gear. Paco told Celeste to back away, and Kyle did the same thing with Vanessa.

"Listen, man, we don't want any trouble," Kyle said. "We'll be out of here soon, okay?"

"You want to use this train, mate?" Philippe said. "You got to pay us."

"Fuck that," Kyle said as he put up a stance.

"Kyle, what are you doing?" Vanessa whispered. She, along with Celeste trembled at the sight of these men. Paco, however, put up a stance, but also had a look of unease towards them.

"You think you have a chance, bloke?" Philippe said. "You and your mate here?"

Kyle trembled a little bit, but couldn't display that much fear. Although he was willing to protect Vanessa, as well as Paco wanting to protect Celeste, it was possible that these man wielded more than what was shown. Joe pulled out a glass bottle with alcohol and a rag, as well as a lighter and shook his head with a look of "don't even try."

But Kyle didn't budge as he threw a punch to Philippe, but it only escalated from there as Elias whacked him with his baton. Eliot did the same to Paco and quickly grabbed Celeste, and Joe grabbed Vanessa, covering their mouths as they screamed.

"Shut the fuck up, bitch!" Elias yelled as he delivered a backhand slap to Vanessa's face.

"You son of a bitch!" Kyle yelled as rushed towards Elias after hitting Vanessa, but was hit in the back by Philippe's cane.

Elias shifted his attention towards Paco as Philippe had his attention on Kyle. Eliot and Joe held Vanessa and Celeste as they watched their boyfriends get assaulted, trembling at the sight while tears ran down their faces.

Meanwhile, the lady in the toll booth looked on called 911 to get the police here, but as she was on the phone, she saw a man and woman in red race down the stairs and jumped the turnstiles. The woman was shocked at the sight of the two, but didn't try to stop them.

The man turned out to be Guy, while the woman was Maki. Maki whacked Eliot in the back with her tonfa, letting go of Vanessa. Joe looked up and let go of Vanessa, but before he saw who the attacker was, Guy kiaied as he delivered a dropkick. Vanessa looked up and saw the two ninja. Philippe and Elias barely noticed their comrades on the ground before they were quickly attacked by the two martial artists. It was clear that Guy and Maki had ninja training because they were not only light on their feet, but also knew how to evade and do sneak attacks. They both flipped over as they grabbed the thugs and did their izuna drops.

Kyle and Paco got up, despite being hurt. The train had arrived. The two girls got up and headed for the train.

"Come on, Kyle!" Vanessa yelled.

"Paco, let's go!" Celeste yelled.

The two boys boarded the train as quickly as they could. As soon as the train was about to take off, Kyle looked out the window and made eye contact with Guy. Guy had a confused look on his face, while Kyle had a look that said "oh shit."

Kyle and Paco sat on the seats while the girls stood before them holding onto the brass poles.

"Do you know that guy?" Vanessa said.

Kyle nodded his head. "He is Cody's friend."

"Shit, Kyle, what the fuck were you thinking back there?" Vanessa said.

"You guys could have been killed!" Celeste said.

"We tried to protect you," Paco said.

Vanessa responded, "We appreciate that, but are you guys forgetting about what happened the other day? Kyle, you really shouldn't have started shit with him."

"I could have taken down that clown if he didn't have those guys with him," Kyle said.

Celeste added, "Paco was scared, too, you know. I know you two get into fights sometimes, but these were real criminals. Think about if you tried to get into a fight with those guys that one day. They had fucking knives!"

Vanessa hugged Kyle and held onto him tight.

"Promise you won't do that again, okay?" Vanessa said with her voice cracking.

Kyle knew that he was lucky to have Vanessa in his life. With her brother being a policeman, it's clear that she had a better head on her shoulders than Kyle did. Sure, she may have been up to getting into trouble with Kyle and the rest of the crew, but they faced some criminals head on this time. Kyle put his arms around Vanessa this time as well.

"By the way," Celeste said. "Me and Vanessa appreciate that you tried to protect us."

"Thanks," Kyle said.

"I try to protect you any way I can, baby," Paco said. Celeste put her arm around him.

Back in the subway, it had been 10 minutes after the train had left. Two cops had arrived. They were Edi-E and Dave, who saw the clown and his minions tied to the pillars of the subway.

"Holy shit, what happened here?" Dave said.

"Someone thinks that they could do our job," Edi-E said.

Over at an apartment building, Guy and Maki went to the doors of their respective apartments. Guy lived next door to Maki, Rena, and their father. He was close with the Genryusai family, and while he was in a relationship with Rena, he didn't live with them out of respect for Rena and Maki's father.

"Are you going to tell Cody?" Maki said.

"What?" Guy said.

"I know that look on your face," Maki said. "I see that you want to tell Cody that you saw his brother in the subway getting assaulted by the Mad Gear Gang."

"I have to," Guy said. "He has to know."

"Good thing you saw him," Maki said. "Kyle is only a kid, you know?"

Guy nodded. "Anyway, good night, I'll be by in the morning. Are you going to that thing tomorrow?"

"I'd like to," Maki said. "The mayor invited us, but one of us has to check on my father. You and Rena can go."

"We'll see, we'll talk about this tomorrow," Guy said. "Good night."

Guy opened the door to his opponent while Maki stood there. Maki and Guy had known each other for years. She had a crush on him when she was younger and still kind of did, despite knowing that Guy was with her sister. However, she also respected him as an equal in martial arts. Maki went into her apartment and saw that Rena was asleep in the room she shared with Maki, while their father was asleep in his bedroom.

Maki changed into her pajamas to go to bed.

Back at home, it was late at night. Jessica had walked through the door. She saw Kyle sitting on the couch watching TV.

"Kyle? You're still up?" Jessica said.

"I couldn't sleep," Kyle said.

"Is something bothering you?" Jessica said.

"I don't want to talk about it right now," Kyle said.

"Your brother is here, right?" Jessica said.

"Yeah, Cody's in bed right now," Kyle said.

Jessica walked right into the bedroom and saw that Cody lied in bed.

"Cody, baby, I'm home," Jessica said as she sat on the bed and kissed Cody on his forehead.

Cody woke up. "Oh, Jessica, you're home. How did it go?"

"Oh, it was fun, the girls can get wild," Jessica said. "How did your night go?"

"Just another night," Cody said.

"I see, well, I am going to get ready for bed," Jessica said. "You want to…, you know?"

"I'm tired," Cody said.

"Okay, baby," Jessica said and kissed Cody on the lips.

It wasn't long until Cody fell asleep. However, there was a weird feeling that Jessica felt when she kissed him, at least around the jaw area. What did it mean?

Author's note: Let me explain a few things. Yes, the Surf Bar is the same as the third level in the original game. The fighting area was that same area where you fight the Andores in that level.

The two fighters were composites of Joe and Mike from Street Fighter 1, as well as the two guys in the intro to Street Fighter II. It had often been speculated that the two guys were Joe and Mike, but then it was said that the white guy was named Scott and the black guy was named Max. So I combined them by using the names as their last names. Also, The Ghost was a name of a fighter from Final Fight: Streetwise, but he looked so much like Joe from Street Fighter 1 that it was speculated that he was that character. So I made him the same guy.

One more thing, regarding Mike from Street Fighter 1, it was also speculated that he was the same as Balrog (or M. Bison in Japan; yes, I am well-aware of the different names). What's weird is that Mike's look was similar to the character Blood from the game Vendetta, a beat-'em-up from Konami. Because the playable characters were based on real-life people, like Hawk was clearly Hulk Hogan, Blood was supposedly based on Mike Tyson, who was the clear basis for Balrog and possibly Mike. Blood and Mike look the same, except Blood had shades. Coincidence? I highly doubt it!

Also, Mad Miles is a reference to the game Pit Fighter. Whether it's the same character or not, well, that's not a stretch.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to drop a comment if you want to. I'll get to more of this. Stay tuned.