Chapter 1: Unexpected Happenings

The hospital's sliding doors barely opened in time as a figure clad in a pink hooded jumpsuit came barreling into the lobby, barely skidding to a halt before he could collide with a passing nurse.

The figure pulled its hood back to reveal a young man with bluish-black hair and blue eyes that scanned the room hurriedly.

"Oh my god! You're – " the nurse gasped, only to be halted by a wrapped hand clamping onto her shoulder.

"Jerome Louis, is he here?" the man blurted out, ignoring the concerned stares of the other occupants.

"Y-Yes! He's here! He's in the emergency ward right now!" the woman answered.

The young man said nothing and continued down the hall, bobbing and weaving passed a few startled onlookers before taking a sharp left turn down the hall and ignoring the protests of a security guard as he shoved his way through a set of double doors and into the emergency room.

"Doc!" he gasped in horror.

Laying before him in the hospital bed was a rotund dark-skinned man with a heavily bandaged face and hooked up to a number of machines. He could tell the man had been savagely beaten.

"Doc...who did this to you?" he whispered collapsing to his knees and feeling fresh tears stinging at the corners of his eyes.

Doc Louis, the very man who had taken him under his wing when no one else would and became like a second father to him. He too had been a top heavyweight boxer back in his prime, but now here he was, lying in a comatose state.

"But who could have done this to him?" he asked himself, clenching his fists as his sadness gave way to fresh, unbridled anger.

"I'm gonna find who did this and make them pay," he vowed, rising to his feet.

"Count me in, Mac Baby," a familiar deep voice boomed from behind.

He whirled around to find a familiar hulking figure clad in an orange hooded sweatshirt and black track pants reclining against the doorway with his tree trunk-like arms crossed in front of him.

"Mr. Sandman," Little Mac gasped in surprise, but then clenched his fists as he wondered if this could be another set up. "This wasn't your doing, was it?" he demanded.

"Heck no, Mac baby. I ain't no rat sneakin' up on people like that," Sandman said uncrossing his arms and walking over to him, "But I heard about what happened and figured I'd find you here. Lots of shady things have been happening and I wouldn't be surprised Doc getting jumped like this was connected to it."

"What do you mean?" Mac asked, his brow furrowing as he looked the bigger man up and down.

"Didn't you hear? The WVBA ain't no more," Sandman answered.

The news hit Mac harder than any blow he had ever taken in the ring.

"What?! What are you saying?" he demanded.

"I'm saying the WVBA went outta business. It just up and closed its doors from outta nowhere. 40 years of history, just up and gone like that," the former champ answered, his tone darkening as he stared upon the comatose Doc Louis.

"But how can that be?" Mac cried out in disbelief.

"I ain't got no clue, Mac baby. But it's left all of us outta work, from Glass Joe all the way up to me. Not only that, all our fight records have been deleted...including yours," he said, his tone lowering.

"No...that can't be possible!" Mac blurted out before looking back to Doc, "All that hard work...for nothing..."

"Well, somehow it's happened and word is, there's a new game in town...the Cyber Boxing Federation. The owner is some guy from over in Eastern Europe nobody's ever heard of and his 'champion' is some ghost...I mean, nobody's ever even heard of the guy or ever seen him fight," Sandman continued.

"This is all too weird," Mac replied shaking his head.

"It gets even weirder. I tried applying myself, but I've been blacklisted. It's not just me – it's all the other guys, except for one...you," Sandman said pointing at Mac.

Mac felt his blood freeze in his veins at the revelation.

"Everybody except for me?" he whispered before looking back to Doc, "A new promotion starts up with a mysterious owner and a champ nobody's ever heard of, then Doc gets assaulted...Could it be?"

"It's got me wondering if someone's out to get ya'" Sandman replied.

"But who?" Mac asked before looking back to Sandman, "Do you think this could be some kind of set up?"

"I'm just as clueless as you," the former champ replied, shaking his head and throwing up his hands in defeat, "You beat a lot of guys on your way to the top, but I doubt none of them are that ticked off to do something like that to you and Doc."

Mac let out a heavy sigh as he looked back down to his fallen mentor, "This is all just too weird."

"I hear ya,' Mac baby, but if ya' ask me, this is just too big to ignore," Sandman replied.

Mac clenched his fists again as he returned his attention to Mr. Sandman, "You're right. I have to find out what this is all about. Somebody wants something from me and I have to find out what it is. I need to find out more about this CBF...but where do I start?"

"If ya' ask me, I think ya' need to sign up," Mr. Sandman answered.

Little Mac stared hard at his former rival and then back to the bed-ridden Doc.

He thought of all the time he had spent under Doc Louis' careful tutelage and from there, his rise up the ranks, up until he defeated Mr. Sandman to claim the world title. It had been a long, arduous journey for the young man, one he couldn't have pulled off if it weren't for Doc's guidance.

He owed it to that man to find out what was behind his attack and to bring them to justice.

The only way he would accomplish that was by heeding Mr. Sandman's advice.

"You're right. I need to get to the bottom of this and the only way I'm going to accomplish that is if I get in there and see it for myself...but I'm gonna need to watch my back," Mac said aloud.

"And that's where I come in," Mr. Sandman proclaimed.

Mac looked up to him and cocked and eyebrow, "You? Are you serious?"

"Mac baby, I know firsthand what you're capable of, but you don't know what's lurkin' around the corner waitin' for ya', that's why you're gonna need so back up," Mr. Sandman spoke before smirking and winking, "Plus, I could teach ya' a few new tricks," he finished, raising a fist like he was about to execute one of his famed skull busting overhead punches.

Mac remained silent as he again turned his attention to his fallen mentor.

For as long as he could remember, Doc always stood in his corner. Could he move on without him?

"I have to," he told himself before returning his attention to Mr. Sandman.

"So whadda ya' say, Mac baby? Time ta' wake up?" he asked extended a massive fist.

"Let's do this," Mac replied and bumped fists with his former rival.

"Comeback time," Mr. Sandman exclaimed.

Author's Note: There's something I'm sure a lot of you wouldn't have seen coming, Little Mac partnering up with a former rival. This is inspired by what happened in "Rocky III" when Rocky befriends Apollo Creed.

What happens next? Stay tuned and find out!