The Fire Within

Quick Note: Just letting you all know, I edited some of my past chapters to avoid plot holes. For example, stuff involving Poison and her history with Cody, as well as her hair color.

Cody drove out to the West Side of Metro City. He pulled up in front of "The Ten Foot Pole." The exterior was garish with its colorful lighting on the sign with a depiction of a shapely woman in a skimpy bikini gripping a brass pole. The posters on the sides of the door were pictures of featured dancers but the ones that stood out on some nights were of Poison and Roxy, whom were in skimpy lingerie but wore leather biker hats.

He walked to the door, Bill Bull, whom Cody recognized from that night at the Surf Bar stopped him but Cody flashed his ID to get in. Bill Bull nodded and let him pass. As far as Cody was concerned, he was only here on business.

After he paid the fee to get in, "Wild Side" by Mötley Crüe blared over the speakers in a dimly lit room with colorful lighting shining from the stage areas to the bar area, all the while some patrons getting lap-dances from scantily-clad women and other patrons watching a beautiful blonde dancer on stage dressed like a French maid. It wasn't long before the maid clothes were taken off to reveal a purple bikini and then undid her hair to let it down. All the while she danced seductively on stage with many patrons putting down some dollars on the edge.

Cody paid little mind to what was on stage and walked to the bar. While the sight of a beautiful dancer was nice and all, the one thing on his mind was when he would fight next. Would it be that night? Would it be later that week? There was some motivation within to see about getting on the card on Friday.

Cody locked eyes with the bartender. "Hey, got any Nin-Nin?"

The bartender gave him look like why he would want that drink. "You sure you don't want whiskey?"

The bartender pulled out a bottle that said "Wisky," which appeared to be the brand rather than the name of the drink. The bartender was confused about anybody who would prefer soda to alcohol, especially whiskey being branded as such with a misspelling of the word. Nonetheless, the bartender poured the soda into the cup.

The song had ended and the DJ announced, "Give it up for the lovely May!"

As Cody took a sip from his soda, the DJ announced the next act as there will be two women dancing on stage and announced them as Poison and Roxy.

Suddenly, Cody looked up and set his drink on the counter as "Pour Some Sugar on Me" by Def Leppard started to blare over the speakers. If that wasn't enough, he walked towards the stage having left his drink behind. Good thing he paid and tipped the bartender. Once he sat down, all he could focus on was the seductive dancing from the two lovely ladies, whom carried crops while they danced. Cody noticed how Roxy bent over while Poison stood behind and felt her bare torso and ran her fingers down to her skirt and quickly slid it off of her, revealing a thong and then playfully slapped one of her butt cheeks. Everyone in the club yelled "ooh!"

Poison gyrated and slowly pulled off her tied-up button-down and got out of her skirt.

Cody watched as the two danced and swung around on the poles. Though he watched both women, most of his focus was on Poison. He did not deny that he was aroused by her allure from the other night but he had enough willpower not to give in to her advances. He loved Jessica. He also questioned why he decided to meet with her, at this place of all places. He had always known that Kristina, as he knew her before, had a crush on him. Despite dating Jessica, off-and-on during high school before things got serious, he had always felt attracted to her despite not admitting to it. While Roxy was a looker, too, he did not feel that way about her. He knew her and had spoken to her, but there was no attraction between the two, unlike how it was with Cody and Kristina.

Cody shook his head. You're here on business, remember that.

At the same time, he had to remember his primary purpose of being here.

After a few minutes, the DJ announced who was on next to dance while Poison and Roxy collected their tips and got off the stage.

Cody sat there deep in thought. It took a few minutes until the DJ announced the next dancer and "Move Somethin'" by the 2 Live Crew started to play.

"Hello, handsome."

Cody looked up and saw the pink-haired statuesque stunner standing before him with a smile on her face in a skimpy bikini and stiletto heels. He gulped. He tried to take a deep breath but after a couple of times he couldn't catch his breath.

"You wanted to talk, right?" Poison said. "Let's step into my office." Cody got up and followed Poison into the VIP area. He didn't have money to spend on a lap dance like this but he still followed her.

Once they passed through the door, Poison pushed Cody to sit on the chair.

"So you decided to come, didn't you?" Poison said.

Cody breathed a bit. "Um, yeah, I wanted to talk about Friday, you know, for the fights?"

"Right, right," Poison said while she danced suggestively before him. "So you want in? Honey, you're already in and I'll be rooting for you."

"I know, but what about my friends?"

"They can come by, too. I know that Carlos is in after his…performance from last week." Poison winked. "He certainly knew how to get the job done." Poison moved in a very lewd manner. "And I know you do, too." Poison gave him the eyebrow gesture while she smiled at him.

Cody knew she was speaking in double entendres, but he took them at face value. However, it was hard for him to resist her charms but he had to keep his head straight in this. "My friend Guy wants in, too."

"Oh, he can get in. In fact, it's an open night. Some of our fighters are out, so we can get others in. As for you, I know you won't have a problem. I heard you fought some bikers the other night."

Cody shot her a look of confusion. "How do you know about that?"

"Sweetie, I hear about things all over town. I heard you took down six guys. That's some impressive shit. I still remember when you kicked that one guy's ass for trying to get me and Roxy in the boys' locker room."

Cody smirked. Poison brought back a memory of him witnessing a guy getting rough with her in high school and tried to drag her and Roxy into the boys' locker room to meet with some other guys, which meant they could have done something drastic to them. He was not about to have any of it. It could have happened to Jessica. It could have happened to any other girl and he would not stand for it.

"Oh, you ain't seen nothing yet," Cody said.

"You got that fire in you, don't you? I'll tell you what. This dance is on me tonight. Better come ready on Friday. Don't ruin that handsome face and don't get hurt. You don't want to waste that energy, do you?"

"I won't. I'll be ready for whoever wants to take me on." Cody smiled and Poison smiled back and nodded.

Cody walked out of the VIP lounge and saw Roxy giving some guys a lap dance and shifted his attention elsewhere and walked over to the bar. He saw that the patron tried to get a little grabby towards her but one of the bouncers intervened and told the man to leave. It's against strip club policy to touch the dancers. Cody saw that the patron tried getting into the bouncer's face and but was then escorted outside the building. Roxy then walked to the back.

The only thought on Cody's mind was not only to prepare for what's to come but also that he agreed to this meeting. He had to remember he was only here on business and that he wasn't taking Poison home, because Jessica would not like that, though her allure got him again.

He walked out of the strip club. Much to his confusion, there was no bouncer standing at the door. Was there another problem in the club? Was the process in switching bouncers slow tonight? All that he saw was an orange-haired woman lighting a cigarette. Roxy probably needed a break after that patron got a little frisky with her, but under the exterior lights, even through the darkness of night, a shadow loomed near the young woman. A tall man of about 6'4" and a muscular frame walked up to her. Cody leaned in a little closer as the light glared over the man. It was the same man from before who got touchy with her. If that wasn't enough, the man tried to pull her.

"Stop! Let me go!" the woman yelled and slapped him in the face.

"Oh, you want to play that way? Fine" the man said.

Cody watched as this man forcibly pulled her into a nearby alleyway adjacent to the club. In fact, it was right next to it near the backdoor. Cody may not have been book-smart but something told him this man didn't think that any dancer, waitress, or any other member of the staff could just walk out and witness what this man was about to do.

The man got her and backhanded her to her face and then shoved her to the ground and then kicked her in the stomach while she was down. Roxy lay there bleeding around her mouth and a minor bruise from the backhand and coughed from the impact of the kick.

"Oh, we're about to have some fun, kitten." The man had a look in his eyes like he was ready to do something. He reached for the belt of his pants and was ready to undo it until a nearby voice said, "Hey, asshole, leave the girl alone."

The man turned around. Roxy lied there helplessly after she got beat up but then looked up at who stood before the big man. Cody signaled to Roxy to get up and go back inside. Though Cody had some muscle definition on him, he saw that this man was bigger and had some inches on him.

"You're trying to start shit with me, huh? I'll fuck you up!" the man said.

Better me than her. Cody thought.

Without hesitation, the big man took a swing and another. Cody dodged each of them. Cody threw a few punches himself but the big man dodged and then grabbed him and pushed him right to the wall and punched him in the stomach and in the jaw. Cody yelled from the punch to the gut and was bruised from the jaw attack. It was no surprise to him that the punches were hard given the man's size advantage.

But Cody kicked him in the leg and headbutted him, causing the man to let go of him. When he fought Slash, Axl, and the rest of those bikers, he gave one of them a sliding roundhouse kick that he had taught himself. While he knew how to deliver a roundhouse kick, he had been teaching himself how to do the one where he slid. In that moment, he just went ahead and delivered that kick. While it didn't knock him down, he saw a beer can lying there and tossed it a bit on the palm of his head.

Cody chuckled. "Come on, I'm just getting started." He proceeded to throw the can to the man's head.

The man gritted his teeth and glared at Cody with such venom that he rushed towards him and tackled him to the ground but Cody quickly kneed him to the groin.

"AAAAAHHHH! FUCK!" the man yelled and fell into a fetal position.

"Looks like you're not getting the action you wanted tonight." Cody just had to make a quip despite the heinous act the man tried to pull on Roxy.

Cody stood there as he looked at the man lying there with a bruised and bloodied face. The man slowly got to his feet and looked Cody dead in the eye.

"You're fucking crazy, you son of a bitch. You better not catch me again or you won't be so lucky."

The man slowly walked away while Cody watched. It was not long until Poison, Roxy, and some other staff from the strip club came out.

"Cody, are you okay?" Poison said.

"I'm fine," Cody said.

Bill Bull, along with a couple of bouncers and the manager walked out.

"What happened here?" the manager said.

"Well, I-," Cody was about to say something but Roxy cut him off.

"It's okay, Rob, this guy saved my life." Roxy looked at Cody with such relief. "Thank you so much." And then gave him a hug.

"Don't worry about it. I just don't want to see that happen to anybody." Cody was right. He remembered that night when that teenage prostitute tried to make a pass at him and was behind on money that night. It was likely she would have received another beating, or worse, get killed that night.

Cody then turned around to walk away. Poison walked towards him.

"Hey, Cody, thank you for saving her."

"It's no big deal."

"Look, if you didn't step in, she could have been…you know. Anyway, don't get into any fights soon. You need to be ready for Friday."

"I will and I hope to see you two there, too."

Poison smirked at that remark.

Poison leaned towards Roxy. "Good thing Cody was here."

Roxy breathed and nodded. "That guy was so close to…"

Poison put her hand to Roxy's mouth. "Don't say it. If it wasn't for Cody, you either wouldn't be standing here. I would have had Bill or Graham come after that asshole. Speaking of which, where are they?" Poison had an angry tone in her voice when she said that.

Being that Poison and Roxy grew up together in an orphanage, the two were like sisters. When they went into foster care, while they were separate from each other mostly, the two weren't too far apart. They were still by each other's side. They also knew how to handle themselves in tough situations. Roxy knew how to hold her own but this situation was something different.

Roxy knew that Poison was sweet on Cody. While she didn't have those types of feelings for him, she couldn't be thankful enough for what he did.

Cody walked towards the parking lot where his car was. He started it up and drove along the streets of the West Side district. It was only about 9:00 PM, so he had to go back home before Jessica would start getting worried. He just remembered – he told her he was going out for a walk. Walking in the slums of Metro City usually wasn't a smart thing to do but when had that ever stopped Cody?

In the midst of glares from streetlights, suddenly some brighter glares showed up on the rearview mirrors. Cody looked up. From the looks of things, one car was behind him and from behind the other car, the headlights looked a tad higher. The lights were so bright that it was hard to make out what kinds of cars they were.

It wasn't long until the two cars pulled in front of Cody's car and made a U-turn and parked in front of him, in the middle of the street, no less. The headlights on Cody's car clarified what cars were. One was a nice silver sedan and the other was a black SUV. Suddenly, four men from each car got out. There were eight men total.

"Oh, shit, them?" Cody saw who they were but his reaction was more annoyed than scared. Out of the sedan were Bred, Dug, Jake, and Simons. The SUV had Joe, Schot, Bull, and Elijah. "Well look who we have here? Where's your leader? Couldn't deal with me himself, so he sent you assholes?" Cody said in a taunting fashion. By "leader," he meant Damnd, but it was odd to see him not with them.

At the front of this group was Bred, who approached Cody. "Shut up, Cody. Damnd wants you off of this Friday's card. That's it."

"Or what?"

"Or we'll decide for you." Bred, along with the other seven men surrounded him. Despite dealing with six bikers a couple of nights prior, it was purely luck how he managed to get out of that situation. He was outnumbered then, he was outnumbered now. He knew that if Damnd didn't want to face him head on, especially after the beating he took from Cody that one night, then Damnd only sent his main thugs to do his dirty work, especially if they only relied on strength in numbers. It made him wonder what could have happened that night he was surrounded by them and if the cops didn't intervene.

Bred looked towards Cody's car and chuckled. "That's a nice car you got there."

Bred signaled to Joe and Schot. The three men pulled out lead pipes, hammers, and such. Bull and Elijah pulled out knives and approached the car as well. Cody found himself facing Jake, Dug, and Simons. Jake and Simons were more muscular but that didn't mean Dug didn't have some definition and likely had some strength on him.

If I could take down six guys, I could take these guys down. Cody punched Jake in the face. The first attack caused not just Dug and Simons to attack Cody but also the other men to start smashing Cody's car. The window panes were smashed. They left dents on the doors and the hood. One thing that caught Cody's attention was that the two guys with the knives were ready to make their moves on the tires. Cody elbowed Dug in the gut and shoved Simons out of the way and ran and jumped up to give Elijah a dropkick to the head and quickly grabbed the knife and glared at Bull with a look of "don't even try."

Bred then whacked Cody in the back with the lead pipe. Some of the men all surrounded him until on the concrete while he lay there.

It was all strength in numbers. Though Cody managed to beat up the bikers, but there was some thinking he did in that moment. Cody just went and attacked because those guys tried to destroy his car. Cody kicked Bred in the leg and got up. The other men all pulled out some weapons. Cody could try to get out of there or he could try to fight them off.

Which would be the better option? Cody thought.

"Back off." The sound of a man's voice caught the attentions of the thugs. Cody recognized the voice.

Bred turned around. "What did you say?"

"You heard him. He said 'back off." A female voice said. There stood Maki, Carlos, and Guy.

What are they doing here? Cody was confused. Why were they out on a night like this? It didn't matter. Despite them all being outnumbered, Guy pulled some nunchucks and swung them around, Maki pulled out her tonfa, and Carlos unsheathed his katana.

"You want some? Come get it," Carlos said. The men all dropped their weapons and went into their cars and drove off. Confusion was the only emotion Cody had in that moment. His crew was now only four people. There could have been more but being the cowards those guys were, they just ran away. Better that than a big fight go down.

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

"I should ask you the same thing," Guy said.

"Hey, I just needed to talk to somebody. It's about Friday." Cody said.

Guy looked at him like there was something a bit off about this. He turned to look towards Maki and Carlos.

["You two, just go on ahead,"] Guy said in Japanese. ["I need to talk to my friend right now."]

["Are you sure?"] Carlos said. Guy nodded. The two walked away and Guy's attention shifted to Cody. "Come on, we need to talk right now."

Cody turned and saw the damage on the car. It could have been worse but this car was something he got for cheap. A junker, if you will, but it got him around. Cody went into the driver's seat. Some cracks were visible on the windshield. The window on the passenger's side was smashed completely. Guy went into the car and Cody started it up.

As the two drove, Guy broke the silence. "You didn't answer my question."

"What was that?"

"Why were you out there tonight?"

"I wanted to meet with someone about getting in on the fights this week. It's nothing."

"Looked like what happened tonight wasn't 'nothing,' like you said."

"Hey, those assholes followed me. I don't know where they came from but their leader is still pissed at me from that one night."

Guy looked closer to Cody's face. "Tell me about those bruises. Was that from just now?"

Cody shook his head. "Some guy tried to rape a girl and I stepped in. I couldn't let that happen to her."

"Why did you stop for those other guys? You could have just kept going."

"Do you know what it's like having to live every day and look over your shoulder? Something told me to just go for it. It happened the other night, it happened tonight, and it will happen again."

"You're better than that, Cody. You're my friend but you need to also know when to walk away."

"I couldn't let that guy hurt that girl."

"This wasn't about the girl. You did what you had to do but with those other guys, there were eight of them. You could have been killed. It could have happened to Kyle and his friends that night. Why should it be different with you?"

Cody sat there in silence and reflected on what Guy said. He was right. He didn't tell him how the fight with that belligerent patron escalated and he just kept fighting him. It could have been a simple fight in defense of the girl but he got more aggressive. He also remembered the fight with the bikers. He could have walked away but he didn't.

"I don't know. Maybe it's just this fire within me and it made me feel alive."

Then it hit Guy. As a fighter himself, he knew what his friend meant by "fire within," but he also knew when to use it. When he had a talk with Master Genryusai, he was told to use it when necessary, whether it's for honor and for justice. There was a time and place for it. Guy knew that Cody was a good fighter but with him, the thrill of the fight was something different.

"Let me ask one you thing, Cody. Would you ever fight for someone you love?"

"Of course, if something happened to Jessica or Kyle, I would fight for them. Would you do the same for Rena?"

"Of course I would. I would do anything for her. But don't get too carried away."

Cody nodded. "Anyway, we'll talk more soon."

The two shook hands and Guy stepped out of the vehicle. Cody started the car and headed back home. It was later than he promised.

When he got home, he walked through the door. Jessica got up from the couch with her books and notebook nearby and stood up.

"Hey, where were you?"

"I was out for a bit."

"You've been out for a while."

"I had a lot to think about."

Jessica's eyes shifted to the floor and shifted towards him. "What's with that bruise?"

"It's nothing."

Jessica sighed. "It's not 'nothing.' Did you get into another fight?"

Cody told her the same thing he told Guy earlier. However, he left out the part about going to the strip club, even though he was there purely on business.

"I'm glad you're okay, though."

Then it hit Cody. "Hey, Jess. What are you doing Friday night?"

"Why?"

"You want to come out to the fights?"

Jessica's eyes widened. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, I am."

Jessica was speechless. How could she respond to something like this? The nightlife in some areas of Metro City varied. However, she knew about the environments at some bars, especially those with fight arenas. Despite growing up with a tough guy for a father and a tough guy for a longtime childhood friend who became her boyfriend, there was a lot of skepticism on her end.

"Okay, I'll go but I don't want to see you get hurt."

"Oh, don't you worry about that." Cody then hugged Jessica.

It was another day at the office for Mayor Mike Haggar, who had started his day looking at some plans for the city's budget. Suddenly, a voice appears on a speaker nearby.

"Mr. Haggar, you got a caller on line 1. You want to take it? This person says it's urgent."

"Put them through." Haggar wondered why this call was so urgent. Who could be calling at this time with something this important to say?

The call went through. "This is Mayor Haggar speaking."

"Hello, Mr. Haggar. This is Officer Lucia Morgan of the Metro City Police Department. I want to know you have the time today so that we can talk. Actually, my partner and I want, I mean need to speak to you."

"Can't you do it over the phone?" Haggar looked at his planner to see what he needed to do. While he had some thing to look over, there was some time he could fit it in.

"Never mind, come by in a few hours," Haggar said.

"We will. See you soon."

The call ended. The one thing on Haggar's mind was what this person wanted to speak to him about. This person was a police officer and he had dealt with some cops a few nights ago. Something might not be right in the police department.

Author's note: I'm going to stop it there and will continue with it soon.

Regarding some stuff, I'll lay them down. First off, the stripper May is supposed to be the female enemy from "Final Fight 3." I read in those Capcom bios done for "Street Fighter" characters that she is supposed to be a dancer and being that she is supposedly French, I wrote that her act was of a French maid.

As for the drinks, I heard that "Nin-Nin" is a reference to Akira Nishitani, one of the designers at Capcom and because there were ads for "Nin-Nin" in the final stage of "Final Fight 1" that looked like Coca-Cola ads, I thought why not make a reference like that. Also, the drink "Wisky" is kind of a gag in regards to how some Japanese companies misspell the words for the translation and I decided to make it a specific brand of whiskey. Hey, why not?

Oh, and for the scene when Cody fought that big guy who tried to get frisky with Roxy, I was inspired by a scene from a novel I had read called "Faking It" by Cora Carmack. While it was a romance novel, the scene in a nutshell was that the main guy went to watch the main girl dance at a club (like a go-go dancer, not a stripper) and some patron got frisky with her and the guy stepped in and a fight broke out.

I also felt like there weren't enough scenes with Cody and Guy, and I thought I would do one.