It was a quiet night in South Town tonight, which was pretty ironic given the rampaging robot, giant monsters and 50 foot naked hottie melee yesterday. But the people of this not so fair city are notoriously jaded, and as such, things that normally stay on CNN for weeks on end receive barely a passing notice in South Town. Which is why on this fine night, people were partying down at Club Shorty's Dance Dance Rave-o-lution, which was packed and presenting a most delicious atmosphere for getting jiggy with it, shaking your groove thang, or in the case of a certain master ninja, doing your damndest to get lucky with at least two fine foxy ladies. Which is exactly what Sub-Zero, the Chinese ninja warrior with his heart SO COLD, was trying to do. To be precise, he was trying to score with both the women known simply as Frost and Nina Williams. "So ladies," he said, mustering all his skills as a playa, "how about you, me, and you come back to my place. I mean, I know that," gesturing to Frost, "you're a cold-hearted high-horsed backstabbing powergamer, while your friend here is a ruthless assassin who's been in the deep freeze and under some Mexican demon's mind control. But hey, both of you like the cold, I like the cold, so let's say you two and me head back to my place and warm things up, okay?" The two women sat there silent in their refusal, choosing to sip their drinks. Sub-Zero was about to launch into another attempt to woo their frigid hearts, when he spied the notorious batwoman Jenny in her full chiropteran glory. Which was to say, bare-ass naked save for strategically placed tufts of fur, doing the Batusi under the pulsing strobe lights. Having heard the rumors of her loose morals and attraction to older men, he danced his way over to play his masculine wiles once again. Unfortunately, he never got the chance to find out if he could pull it off this time, as he was suddenly pulled to the side and into the gaze of Fuuma. "Hey," Sub-Zero said coolly, "Nice to see you here, Fuuma. I take it you have come seeking my aid in attaining the secret arts of nookie?" "Not exactly," said the blue-haired kid next to Fuuma, whom Sub-Zero recognized as that Jack kid who Fuuma was on the side of fighting Giga Bowser. "But we do need your help." Not that Sub-Zero was listening, as he was paying more attention to the spandex-clad platinum blonde with them. Angel, recognizing the look on Sub-Zero's face, began to lay on the charm, by bending forward slightly, and fluttering her eyes. "We would really appreciate the help of a big, strong, experienced ninja like you, Sub-Zero." Sub-Zero, having had a few beers earlier tonight in addition to a rum and coke, was all ears. "No problem there, lady. After all, I swore to Fuuma that I would always be there for him when the need arose, and my word is my bond, and together, we can overcome any obstacle. After all, who was it that kicked Goro in the teeth?" "I believe that was Liu Kang," Jae replied, glancing out the club's front window. "True enough, but who was it that bested Quan Chi's deadly alliance?" "That was Kung Lao," Angel said. "With some help that is from yours truly. But Who was it that beat both Moloch and Drahmin?" "I think that was Scorpion." Fumma scratched his head in memory. "'Fraid not, my friend, I was there when Scorpy got chucked into the abyss, and it was I who avenged him upon the Oni." Jae, Angel and Fuuma applauded this oft-forgotten facet of fighting legendry, and once the clapping died down, Sub-Zero spoke once more. "So," he said, picking a martini from a passing waitress, "Exactly what sort of trouble do you guys need my help in fighting?" Jae was about to reply, when he again looked outside, and then shouted to everyone in the club "Everybody down!" as he tackled Fuuma and Angel to safety, and Sub-Zero, his reflexes honed by a lifetime of Ninja training, followed suit, as the front of the club exploded inward amidst a shower of broken glass, dust and smoke. And when the smoke cleared, the screaming began, for standing in the hole it had just created in the rave-house wall, was a Colossal arachnid composed of stone both solid and molten, a mix of steam and dust rising from it as the creature lurched forward. While closely resembling a spider, the frightened clubbers watched as a long, sinuous tail that was barbed like that of a scorpion arose from the creature's abdomen. Its great head looked about, eyes of faceted sapphires gleaming under the remaining light. Fuuma pointed at the creature from behind an upturned table. "Um, that," he said softly, answering his friend's question a little late. The Monster roared with enough ferocity to shake the ceiling, and then, much to everyone's surprise spoke. "Kim Jae Hoon," It bellowed, it's voice harsh and inhumanly throaty, "Surrender your power, and die!" Jae looked at Fuuma. "Shouldn't that be 'Or die'?" [---] Forgot About Jae Chapter 43: What A Way To End Your Weekday Syndicated weekly by Shelby 'Darkheart One' Scott Used to taunt Impro-eating tree by Jim 'Grahf316' Eperson flown by Gavin "Gavok" Jasper against the Red Baron and shot down. [---] Last time On Forgot About Jae: - Mama Mia! Luigi's a chick. Don't ask. - Dong began his career as Doom's stunt double. - Thank Dan It's Friday! But there's still work to be done. - Jae and Angel went Swashbuckling - AIEE! Togera! - AIEE! Giant robot! - AIEE! Giant monkey! - Aiee! Cerebulon Needs Wimmens Underthings! - AIEE! Giant nympho Muppet! - Angel's huge! No, the other meaning! - And a good brawl was had by all. [---] Cracker Jack was returning to the office, having completed his last task of the day, which was of course getting the beer and snacks for poker night. A harrowing fifteen minute walk out the doors of Violence Unlimited, across the street and down the block to the Quick-Save convenience store, and then returning back to where he had started from. To be precise, he was just finished crossing the street once more, when he saw Hugo returning from his assignment. Or rather, he saw Hugo's entourage. For behind the massive German, there followed a long line of many beautiful women who were fawning over him. CJ of course was dumbstruck. but only for a moment, as he then made a note to make Hugo Employee of the month. Possibly the year, depending on how things went. He also made note to try the South Town singles scene, because if a clusterfugly mass of brawn drew that much attention, then CJ's chances were through the roof. Above him, the traffic lights blinked repeatedly, with the click-whir of a Polaroid instant camera. The blinking soon halted, and Vega, master of disguise, was forced to reveal himself when he said, "Crap, outta film. Now, how do I get down from here?" By now CJ had fully regained his composure, and had dashed over to his employee. "Hugo," He said, "Great job big guy! Now, while I'm pleased with this sort of turnout, exactly which of these girls are signing up with us?" Hugo shrugged. "Hmdnnwdjstfllwmhm." Beneath his omnipresent hat, CJ's expression turned quizzical. "What do you mean, 'They just followed me home'?" Hugo turned back towards the girls, who suddenly started cheering and resuming their fawning of him, before turning back to CJ and grunting "Hmmjstrrvmshnnn." The immediate mental picture that came to CJ's mind made him visibly shudder for a few moments. "I'm going inside to take a cold shower and to scrub what you just said out of my mind. You and your..." another shudder, "groupies can go on your way, I'll just call a fucking temp agency." "Rrrvrnswknnndbsss." Hugo and the flock of beautiful women left, and CJ went inside, passing by Poison, who was still working on Angel's paperwork. "Poison," he said as he passed through," Call the temp agency for a new girl. What Hugo found wasn't, what I expected." Poison smiled. Shi and Hugo went way back. "Oh, you mean how he gets more girls in one night than you do in five years?" CJ just shuddered and left again, and Poison resumed hir work, and called the temp agency CJ wanted. "Yeah, King? We need you to send someone over to fill a vacancy. Oh? Most of your girls are busy? Yeah, I guess we can go with day temps until we find a new regular. I know the drill, call you if we've got a job. Gotcha. Thanks, and tell Chizuru I said hi." Poison hung up the phone, and turned on the TV. It was just the news, so shi got just got back to work. [---] "This," the announcer said as the company logo danced on-screen, "is BFNF. The Belmont Family News Factor." The image then changed to Simon Belmont, firmly seated behind the news desk. "Good evening," he said calmly, "Tonight's top story, a fire has broken out in the old City Cracker Factory. Reporting to our studios is on the spot reporter Nathan Graves." The camera then split the screen in half, with Simon on the left, and the feed of Nathan on the right, the blustering inferno behind him. "I'm here live in front of what used to be the Garcia and Associates Cracker factory, which at 5:00 PM, turned into the raging bonfire you see behind me." "That certainly is quite the blaze, Nathan. I didn't know the old place was so flammable after all these years of neglect." "Well that's the thing, Simon, according to an Fire Department reports, as industrial tenement fires go this is really unusual." "Care to elaborate further on that?" The feed switched so that Nathan dominated the screen, as well as the South Town Fire Marshall. "With me is Fire Marshall Roscoe Mcqueen, who's men are currently fighting the place, rescuing those trapped inside, and investigating the cause of the destruction. Marshall McQueen, exactly what happened here." "Well," Roscoe said, his enormous chin butting the mike, "my men have thus far reported that the very superstructure of the building itself has been severely compromised, like someone was driving a bulldozer through the entire building, thus completely destabilizing structural integrity. Now the thing is I was present just a few weeks ago to see that this building was up to code before the city could sell it to a new owner, and it passed the test. Second, the actual cause of the fire, which appears to have been a mix of incendiary grenades and molten lava." Nathan was about to inquire further, when a small floating robot teleported in with the burned and badly mangled body of Zappa, and thus his next words were bleeped out by network censors. "No need to be worried Nathan," McQueen said, "This is Digit, the best search and rescue unit we have." "This is the only live one Roscoe," Digit said in a vaguely feminine voice, "everybody else is dead." "Damn." "Hello?" Zappa groaned, his eyes still swollen shut," is anybody there? I'm very badly hurt." Roscoe and Nathan bent over the maimed survivor. "Tell us, son," Roscoe asked, "what happened in there?" "We were the Nightmare Committee, y'see, and we were having our second meeting when this monster bug came up from outta the ground and all Hell broke loose. Then there was the fire, and the crushing and then I blacked out." "That scared?" "No, I'm just that sick. This sort of thing happens a lot. But I did wake up to see that thing chew Scarebro up and when it spat him out, that's when I ran." "Don't worry son, you're safe now. No giant evil bugs here." "Mr. Zappa?" Nathan interrupted," Is there anything you'd like to say for our live coverage?" Roscoe looked up at the camera in Shock. "Wait. We're live?" he asked. He then punched Nathan in the face and proceeded to beat him senseless. "You son of a BEEP! You BEEP! said that this was conBEEP!ingfidencial you godBEEP! BEEP!, the public's not supposed to know about this so they don't BEEP! Riot!" [---] Fortunately for Roscoe's concerns, the public hadn't listened to a word that was said. [---] Back in the Studio, Simon laughed at his descendant's manhandling. "Well Nathan, I hope that teaches you the better part of discretion." Then someone handed him a bulletin, and his tone changed completely. "We interrupt our broadcast for this special announcement: Vice Mayor Bear has been killed! We take you live to the scene with Maxim Kischine, for Mayor Marco Rodriguez's response to this tragedy." The camera changed once again to the Mayor's tearful face. "He was a good man," he said, "with a wife, kids, a house he was planning to buy in the country for when he retired. In fact, the last time I saw him, he was planning his vacation to the mountains. You know, to see what he could see." "If it's all right with you, Mr. Mayor," Maxim said from off screen, "I was given this message by our sponsor to help console you." "It's all right. Just the knowledge people cared about him is enough." Maxim fished a card from his jacket and read it aloud. "I share your pain, but these things happen. Vote for me, Heihachi Mishima." The mayor stopped crying and scowled in anger at the camera. "Cute Heihachi, but don't think this is over yet." "But Mayor Rodriguez, elections are tomorrow night, and you need a vice mayor to stay in the running." "Indeed I do. But Bear was clever enough to plan ahead in case this happened, and I do have a replacement ready. Ladies, Gentlemen and other constituents, my new vice mayor, Ryou Szakaki." "Uuuuh," the retarded look-alike of the dimwitted yet-oh-so-likable karate master Ryo Sakazaki said as he walked into the room on cue, "Vote for my toenail collection [---] Across town, Heihachi spat out his wine as he heard Rodriguez had merged his party with Ryou's. "What???!!!" [---] "That's right Heihachi, this isn't over by a longshot! And for those viewers at home who say I'm nothing more than a puppet to that slug, Kyo Kusangai, I'd like to tell you that my party is paid for by the Garcia Foundation! So South Town, Make the right Choice, vote the Team Kyokugen ticket for 2007!" [---] Elsewhere, Ryo Sakazaki was watching the broadcast and saw the Mayor's error. "'ey, dat's not me with 'im! Dat TV is a liaw." [---] As Rodriguez was renewing his campaign to win the election, Jae was renewing his quest to find his brother and stop him from being swayed to evil, by checking the Internet for the location of Doctor Doom. And since Angel still didn't have a place to stay, she was searching as well by reading over Jae's head, her chest pressed against his shoulders. Pretty cute image, if you were asking my opinion, especially taking in the fact that Jae's blush could be seen from orbit. "So Why are we checking this porn guy's web page?" she asked. "Reed Richards isn't a porn star, Angel," Jae replied," He's one of the smartest scientists, an explorer, and as Mr. Fantastic he's leader of Fantastic Four before Onslaught said the dream was dead... "Porn star," Angel read, pointing out the line in question that said that Reed Richards was indeed a celebrated porn star. "Okay, I stand corrected. Anyway, this guy's Doom's archnemesis, so if anybody would be keeping tabs on Doom it would be him." And sure enough, on Mr. Fantastic's friend/foe update page, there was Doctor Doom listed, with the text beneath reading: *Doom's currently in the Bahamas, no doubt plotting something unpleasant. He's also been bringing some young Korean with him at all times lately, possibly as henchman, butler, or something, closer?* "Well, that settles it, Angel," Jae said with a smile, the both of them shielding their eyes as the monitor reflected the glare, "care to take a trip to the Bahamas this weekend?" "Why Jae," she said, "First you notice my eyes, then you offer to take me on vacation." A thought entered her mind. "Wait, do they have nude beaches down there?" "I believe so, yes." The next thing Jae knew he and Angel were outside by the curb, his shirt collar grasped firmly in her hand as she tried to flag down a cab with her free hand. And now he was feeling the sensation of being dragged down through his apartment building at speeds too fast for the human eye. However the taxi that did stop in front of them paused only long enough for the passenger-side door to open and for Fuuma to be kicked out of it onto the street. "Hey thanks Driver," Fuuma said as he got himself up off the ground. "Fuuma?" Jae asked, "What are you doing here?" "Well Jae," Fuuma said with a manic grin, "I was thinking about what you said during a few days ago, about doing things because they're right, and my code of ninja honor says that as a friend of yours, I should help you in fighting Doom. Besides, nothing good's on TV." "Well thanks Fuuma. You're a good friend. Is anybody else helping?" "Nope, they're all saying you're screwed, but wish you luck just the same." "I was afraid of that. Anyway we should be getting to the airport if we're going to get this done." Fuuma's grin grew in size and brightness to rival Jae's. "No problem, we can take my car." There was a brief silence before Jae and Angel spoke at once. "You have a car?" [---] Elsewhere, as Jae was beginning his travels, the great army of OOSHA had at last gathered in the destined to finish their ancient quarrel with the Dark Lord Sagat, the One-Eyed Sinmeister. For the past hour they had hurled countless taunts at the black gate of his temple, pausing only to keep their voices from rubbing raw. Then, at long last, the gate parted, and the great enemy of OOSHA and Danism revealed himself. "Who dares disturb the Dark Lord Sagat," he bellowed, "God of Curbstomping!" "We challenge you, oh One-eyed Sinmeister," Dan shouted, as His holy aura filled His forces with confidence, "for today is the day of judgment, as we rain fire and retribution upon your evil and look good doing it." The members of OOSHA cheered their God's speech. Sagat was unimpressed. "Which among you shall stand against me?" he asked, and the collected Hordes of OOSHA took steps back until it seemed as if Benimaru had stepped forward. "Go get him Chosen One!" "Yeah, he ain't so tough!" "Chu-Chu's maidenly pure hearts beats for chuor victory, and then we can chruly be wed!" Benimmaru, backed by the brave words of those who had deemed him Messiah, steeled his nerves, marched up to Sagat, looked him in the eye and quietly whispered to the Dark Lord, "Please make it quick, end the pain." Sagat cracked His knuckles. "Oh no, the pain is just starting, little man. I think I'm going to enjoy this." Now, while Benimaru was indeed searching for a way out of the responsibility Dan had given him, even if it meant death, he, like many people, had a distinct aversion to pain in all shapes and sizes. And so, when Sagat threw the first kick that by all rights would take Beni's head off, Benimaru blocked and retaliated with a shocking punch to the Dark Lord's chest. "Augh, I have fallen, ya got me!" Sagat cried out, and fell over into seeming unconsciousness. Benimaru immediately suspected intentional jobbing, while behind him OOSHA was celebrating their great victory. "Uh guys," Benimaru said, "didn't that seem just a little too easy?" "Nonsense Benimaru," Dan replied, "I prophesised that my chosen one would beat Sagat, thereby showing him the true path and gaining his help in defeating Athena." "But the real Sagat would never be dropped like that!" "Oh posh. You had a God on your side; of course you could win so easily." It was then that Sagat's great hand came to rest on Benimaru's shoulder as the former dark lord rose to his feet, and whispered in Benimaru's ear. "Let him have his moment. I threw the fight so they'd finally stop waking me up in the middle of the night with these damn crusades. Besides, Athena's church of Scrubs deserves to be crushed." Benimaru was about to reply, when Dan called for silence. "Someone's praying to me," He said, "give me some quiet so I can hear him." [---] Across town, before the altar of the Danist temple, J.P. Polnareff had his head bowed in prayer. "Dan, I know I don't really follow your church, but I've got this problem, see, and no one else has been able to help. You see I keep dying horribly all the time, before waking up suddenly alive and back in one piece. My luck wasn't like this before, and I was hoping you could make things back the way it was, with me having a normal, uneventful and without the sudden deaths. I've tried about everything else, so I figure I may as well try religion. So, here's a donation to hope you answer this lost prayer." Polnareff stood up, left some money on the donations box, and left the temple. But while he had intended to put a ten-dollar bill in the slot, he had unknowingly placed a fifty by accident. He wouldn't find out until the next day, but until then, it would be too late. [---] Several blocks away, Dan gave his reply. "Know this," He said, stretching his hand forth in divine edict, "Jean Pierre Polnareff, that with your debt repaid I do hereby lift my curse upon thee. May your life be long and fruitful, and may you always know the proper insult for your enemies. So I have spoken, so it is written, and so it shall be. However, the curse of the Infinite Continue is just too cool an example of divine wrath to not cast, so therefore I shall use it to smite my enemies, starting with..." "Look, Skullomania," Strength-Chan shouted. "Skullmania?" Dan asked in surprise, thereby accidentally placing the curse upon the superhero. "Hai! There he is, he's Strength-Chan's hero, Hibiki-Sama!" she was pointing across the street as South Town's second least-favorite superhero (the first being Battler Man, obviously) was walking along, minding his own business. Benimaru, who had met Skullomania once or twice, shrugged and said, "Meh, these things happen." [---] By this point, Jae, Angel and Fuuma were now on their way to the airport in what Fuuma had aptly described The Fuumamobile. It was not a particularly comfortable fit, as the Fuumamobile was a Mini-Volkswagon produced in a small European country that no longer exists, but all three of them were able to fit in the little orange car with red trim. Granted, Jae had to sit in the fetal position with Angel's legs tucked over his shoulders so she could fit, but they were able to fit safely inside a vehicle that was only arguably a two seater, and as said, were now on their way to catch a flight to the Bahamas. "Man," Fuuma said in a rare moment of perception, as he watched the city pass by from behind the steering wheel, "you know, this has been a really dull night. I mean, Today was pretty exciting what with all the giant monsters, but here we are on late Friday night, and there's barely a soul around. Creepy." "Yeah," Jae said with a nod, "that is kind of weird." It was then that Jae's gaze was drawn to further up the road, or rather, the creature that was crawling up from beneath the street onto the middle of the road right in front of them. Luckily, Fuuma saw it as well, and was able in time to swerve and avoid it. "Jae," Fuuma asked, "Did we almost hit a giant magma spider?" "Yes we did." Angel, her face pressed against the back window, had a good view of behind them, and as such was able to update them with "Guys, I think it's hungry!" This hypothesis was substantiated when the monster turned itself around and roared at the Fuumamobile. Suffice to say, Fuuma hit the gas and proceeded to do his damndest to put as much distance between them and Phantom. Across town they drove, cutting corners and whipping down alleyways, trying to elude the beast, whose speed belied its bulk, and who burned its way through any obstacle that got between it and the Fuumamobile. They turned a sharp right, Phantom skidding past the turn, smashing itself through a bus shelter before regaining it's footing and following them. Phantom was angry now, and decided to make them pay with a blast of hellfire from it's mouth. Angel saw the missile and shrieked, and thus Fuuma veered the car to the right and avoided the certain death of the three of them. "Hang on kids," Fuuma said, getting an idea from an old movie he'd seen. "I know a shortcut!" Another series of sharp, downhill turns, and the South River drawbridge came into view. A stretch of metal and concrete that spanned the river like a girdle, it's middle starting to be drawn up to accommodate a passing tanker's smokestacks. Jae quickly understood Fuuma's plan. "Fuuma, there's no way we can make that jump. Not in this car, anyway." It was about now he knew Fuuma was going to do it anyway. "Jae," Fuuma said with his manic grin firmly in place, "I know I'm a total screw-up, and that this will most likely get us killed in a fireball of biblical proportions, but trust me on this!" A cry from Angel confirmed Phantom was gaining on them, and that by now they were on the bridge anyway, Jae was left with no other option. "Do it," He said, and Fuuma did it. He pushed the cigarette lighter in like it was a hidden switch, and suddenly Jae learned what it most likely feels like to be shot into orbit as the Fuumamobile lurched forward at speeds that cleared the nigh-sheer vertical tilt, sailed over the yawning expanse below them, and flew down the other ramp like a speeding bullet. Not that the three of them noticed, as they were too busy screaming at their brush with light speed. They didn't stop screaming until Fuuma put the car in park three blocks away. "I, I," Jae was still somewhat shocked at the experience. "I can see the Pre-Crisis DC Universe..." Angel on the other hand, having hung with the Mean Street Posse and before that, NESTS Cartel, had an opposite reaction. "Oh that was great," She said, jumping up and down real fast, "Can we do that again? and how did you make that lemon move so fast just now?" Fuuma took pride in this brief moment of glory. "One," He said, "The Fuumamobile has a special fuel injector that pumps in a milligram of the legendary fuel they harvested from E. Honda's sweat." "TO E.HONDA!" came the distant cry of the chorus. "Second," He added, backing away from the car, which was now glowing purple, "is that we can't do that again. Y'see, Honda sweatfuel makes engines explode, so we should start running now before we die in a huge explosion." And so they did. After clearing the blast radius, they ducked into Club Shorty's, met up with Sub-Zero, and Phantom caught up with them We now return to the opening scene. [---] Jae looked at Fuuma. "Shouldn't that be, 'or die?'", he asked. "You wanna argue with him?" Fuuma replied. "Point." Jae turned to Sub-Zero, "so, can you help us out, or will you just be signing autographs?" "Tell me kid," Sub-Zero said bitterly, "When have I ever fought a giant spider. I'll tell you: Never! Why? Because like you I've been trained to fight men. My expertise lies in breaking bones and exploiting pressure points! Spiders have neither. So in essence there is no way I could conceivably fight that thing." "Couldn't you just," Angel interrupted, "Y'know, ice him up? He's a fire monster after all." "Yeah, I can do that. But looking at the size of him, I'm going to have to charge up a lot of energy for that, and I'll be needing a distraction." It was then that a distraction presented itself, as Skullomania ran up to Phantom, waving his arms franticly. "Bite me," he cried, "Oh please, please bite me!" Phantom, omnivorous demonic killing machine that it is, obliged. It sank it's massive jaws about Skullo's upper torso like one would a juicy hamburger, then leaned back to slide the rest of Skullo's carcass down it's gullet as it chewed loudly. But just as all of Skullo's body was inside the monster's mouth, Phantom spew the bloody chunks out with disgust. "Bah" it cried, "indigestible." "That's because a monster such as yourself cannot bear even the taste of goodness, monster," Skullomania cried as he leapt from out of the all-concealing shadows. "Didn't I just kill you?" Phantom asked. "Yeah, come to think of it you did," Skullo said. Then the realization struck him. "Ohmygawd!" he cried, tears of joy flowing behind his mask, "That's my power! I actually have a superpower! I can't..." "DIE!" Phantom roared as it blew a fireball at Skullmania that reduced him to ash and charred bones. But an instant later, Skullomania was back, hitting Phantom in the brow with a guard-breaking axe kick. "I cannot! For now I am Skullomania the Undying! No wait, the Undying Skullomania." He pointed at Phantom. "Hey, can you hold on a sec, I have to tell Spiderman!" Skullo got his wish, as it was then that Sub-Zero unleashed his most potent Freeze to date, covering Phantom, Skullomania, the chunks of rubble and the surrounding area in a thick coat of ice. Skullo was of course killed instantly, but he respawned a moment later outside the ice. Jae looked out from behind the table. "Wow. I'm sorry for ever doubting you, sir." Sub-zero, now completely spent, sagged back behind the table. "Don't mention it. Say, you want an 8 x 10 glossy; I can make it out pretty easy." "I'll pass." Angel walked up to the now chilled Phantom, and made a face at it. "ew gross," she said, "Y'know I'm glad this guy's on ice. I really hate spiders." "Well," Jae said, walking up by Angel, "at least it's dead now. Although that does leave me wondering exactly why it came after us." From behind the ice, Phantom's voice called out, "I am Phantom, warrior of the first circle. Master Blackheart desires both your souls, and I shall not fail him!" The ice cracked, blistering steam escaping, mere moments before Phantom tore itself loose. Jae and Angel had no choice, they started running out the hole in the wall and out onto the harbor front. But then Jae stopped, and realized that in running from Phantom, he was running from The Code The Code was a simple thing, the belief in good, justice, and other things deemed important by any hero worth their salt. If Jae were to run now, nothing would sway Phantom's wrath from slaughtering anyone between them. No, Jae thought, it was time to stop running. If Phantom wants a fight, then I'm going to give him the fight of his life! Jae pivoted on one ankle, then flung himself at the demon, his foot impacting against the stone with an audible crunch as it buried itself right between the monster's eyes. Phantom Lurched back in surprise, but more importantly pain. This surprised Jae, he was actually able to hurt this thing. No doubt thanks to Efrite, he thought. Jae then pointed at Phantom, narrowed his eyes, and in a firm voice, stated the words that were his birthright. "Obakemono, Aku wa yurushimasen!" he cried, as his foot lit ablaze. Roughly translated kids, that's "Demon, Evil cannot be forgiven!" Phantom responded by launching a fireball at Jae, who leapt over the blast to land on the creatures back and began to stomp repeatedly at it's head, before bending over and hanging on for dear life as it drove itself back out through the wall in an effort to throw him off. Jae threw himself forward in a somersault, flying off and landing feet first on the cold street pavement. He rushed towards the beast, intending to launch himself again into a Shou-Kyaku Hou flying kick. In fact he'd just got into the air as he saw phantom spit another great flaming sphere at him. There was nothing he could do, as his body finished moving into the kick and his foot struck the fireball. Jae was flung back from the explosion, but he was still conscious and thus was able to roll with the impact. The fireball on the other hand was also flung back, right into Phantom's face. The beast roared it's disapproval, lashing out blindly with its forelegs at Jae, who was again surprised by the monster's speed, and was thus barely able to dodge the swipes of granite claw. But in his focus on the claws, he'd forgotten about the stinger. Thankfully the massive barb did not strike true and impale Jae, but rather, it struck him along the side, causing the boy to cry out in pain, and slowing him down enough so that one of the claws was able to brush him aside to the ground. Wincing at the pain, Jae looked up to see Phantom prepare the coup de grace, when a number of shuriken buried themselves in its face. "Hey Jae," Fuuma cried, "don't hog all the fun!" He then dove for cover as a fireball sailed his way. "Enough of these games!" Phantom roared, before burying it's head in the ground with a cry of: "Bring out yer dead!" All about, geysers of searing hellfire spewed into the air, forcing everyone to run about in a blind panic and keep their distance. it was then that Jae noticed in these plumes were the screaming souls Phantom had consumed over the ages, their wailing shrieks silent yet deafening in their agony. "No more," He whispered, as he lunged forth at Phantom's exposed thorax. His Ki surged through his veins, filling his legs with the burning iron strength of Justice, as he cried out for all to hear: "HOUYOKU TENSHO KYAKU!!!!'" The first mighty kick brought the demon's head from out of the ground with the strength behind it (stopping the flames as well), and the following Hien Zan flip kick drove home with enough force that Jae was able to send Phantom reeling in a great squawk of pain. "This isn't over yet boy," Phantom spat," we will meet again!" And with that petulant admittance of defeat, Phantom retreated by submerging beneath the pavement as if it were water, the only signs of its passing being the heated ground where it stood, the rising cloud of steam from where it had dug, and of course the destruction from the fight. Jae was about ready to pass out from exhaustion, when he heard the familiar blare of the Violencemobile's horn, and the unmistakable twang of CJ's voice. "Jae, Fuuma, Angel," he shouted, "Get in the van! We've got work to do, courtesy of Mayor Rodriguez himself!" Jae sighed (a habit he got from his mother, incidentally), and joined the others in the van, thinking to himself that there was no rest for the righteous. That's when he noticed the temp worker sitting beside Hugo. "You?" he said in surprise and recognition. To be continued... 1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890 Well, Sorry for the cliffhanger there, folks, but I'm strapped for ideas and this baby's due all too soon. Hope you enjoyed the chapter's climax, as I felt it was time for Jae to start kicking some demon ass. See you next time...