Episode 02: Breaking the Chains
Jiro invades the gang's hideout to get Kon, and some of his friends, out of that place.
But things were not going to be easy, that's for sure.
The office was completely silent, save for the groaning thug basically crushed under the broken door, Jiro standing above him with a wide, ominous smirk on his face, one of his hands engulfed in violent, sparking energy. “Well, I’m waiting.”
Clark, the doberman leader of the gang that Kon was forced to be part of, glared at the smiling wolf, his hand still holding a firm grip on the tiger’s face. But one look at the wolf told him that he needs to play his cards carefully here. VERY carefully. So, eventually, he just scoffed and released Kon who stepped back and rubbed his face. “Do you know how much that door cost?”
“Not worried about your beaten goons. Glad to know you’re that type of gangster.” Jiro jabbed playfully, but everyone around him was so tense as they felt the sharpness in each word. “But to answer your question: No, I don’t, nor do I care. I don’t deal with thugs.”
“Then why come here and cause all this ruckus?”
“I came here to pick him…” Jiro stepped forward, gesturing to Kon with a thumb. “And his friends up.” That made Kon’s eyes shoot wide open in shock.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that.” Clark replied, a confident smirk spreading on his face. “They owe me a lot of money, after all.”
Jiro turned to Kon. “How much do you owe this sleazebag?” He asked as he gestured to Clark with a thumb.
“Hey!” One of the doberman’s guards, a tall and very buff rhino, stomped over and grabbed onto Jiro’s shoulder. “Watch your tone when talking to Mr. Clark.”
Jiro didn’t say anything, just glancing down at the hand on his shoulder… then delivered a swift but very powerful punch to the man’s guts, causing him to instantly double over, coughing and retching out the contents of his stomach. “How about you let the big boys talk, yeah?” Then turned back to Kon, waiting for an answer.
“A-Around… 70k Zen…” Zen is the universal currency of this world. Almost equivalent to a US dollar if/when players exchange real life money for it.
“And your friends?”
“Around the same, I guess. Give or take.”
Jiro then turned to Clark. “And that’s without the interest I take it?”
“Indeed.” Clark snapped his fingers and one of his still-standing guards placed a calculator in his hand before he began tapping away. “We do this… add this… multiply here… subtract there… And this is the current total. Without the price to fix the door. I’m generous like that.” He said the last part with a mocking smirk.
“How kind of you.” Jiro took the calculator and saw the new total… then tossed the calculator onto the desk before producing a small , metallic stick from his pocket. A press of a button produced a holographic screen that he tapped on a few times… then pressed the head of it against his Cyber Buckle… and money was withdrawn directly from his bank and into the stick. “There, that should do it.” Then tossed the stick to the doberman.
That was a Credit Rod, it’s how players and sometimes NPCs exchanged money between each other. The number typed into the stick before the exchange procedure is the amount to be extracted from one player before given to another. Similar to a ‘trade’ between players, but exclusively for money transfers.
Clark looked at the rod… and one eyebrow shot up in genuine surprise, yet his face remained stoic. “Well then, that seems to be the correct amount.”
Jiro then turned to Kon. “Go and gather your things and friends. You’re no longer tied here.” Then made to leave with the tiger.
When two of Clark’s lackeys blocked the door. “Not so fast, my friend.” The doberman stood up and made his way over to Kon, standing behind him as he wrapped an arm around the tiger’s neck. “With this little exchange, you robbed us of our best attractions.”
“Attractions?” Jiro wanted to punch that smug face, but considering his current position, he could easily use Kon as a shield against the wolf.
“I’m sure this little kitty told you all kinds of things.” Clark started as he caressed Kon’s cheek and neck with a finger. “Like how we regularly host underground fights for our bloodthirsty, gamble-addicted benefactors and audience.” Jiro kept glaring at the canine, waiting for him to speak. “Sure, everyone loves a winner, who doesn’t? But what they love the most, is seeing the loser beaten to an inch of their life.” That earned a menacing, sadistic chuckle from the doberman and his goons. “Bruised, broken, bleeding, looking absolutely pathetic and miserable as they are thoroughly humiliated under the victor’s feet.”
He gripped Kon’s throat tightly, his smirk now spreading into a crazy grin. “And this boy has one more fight to take part in. Think of it as a… ‘final service’.” Another round of chuckles from the gangster and his minions.
“We already paid your fucking money. You have no hold over him or the others anymore.” Jiro took one angry step towards the doberman, but Clark simply tightened his grip on Kon’s throat, causing him to choke a bit and Jiro to stop midstep. “Coward.”
“Unfortunately, things have already been set in place. We can’t make any big changes and the people around these parts are as impatient as they are bloodthirsty.” Again with that crazy grin that Jiro wants nothing more than to ruin.
“Then I’ll fight in his place.” Jiro offered without a second thought.
Kon was about to complain, but another clench around his throat kept him silent as Clark grinned even wider. “Really? You’re really that confident in your skills?”
“I trained with the best. Toss and throw whoever you want at me, I’ll take them on.” Jiro then threateningly crackled his fingers. “Even better, how about you and I jump in the ring?”
“Tempting, but no. I have the perfect opponent already lined up for you.” Clark finally released Kon and shoved him at the wolf. “Next week, same day. Kon will take you there.” He then gave his goons a nod before they stepped out of the way to allow Jiro and Kon to leave. “Have a nice day~”
“That was reckless of you.” Kon said as he was putting stuff into his duffel bag. “They’re gonna eat you alive out there.”
“Hope I give them a stomach ache then.” Jiro replied jokingly.
Kon slammed his locker’s door closed. “Dude, this is NOT a joke! Do you even know who they’ve paired you up against!?”
“Nope, but I’m sure you’re gonna tell me.”
“It’s Hector.” Someone replied as they appeared from behind one of the lockers. It was a stocky boar with brown fur, black and messy hair, looking a bit bruised and beaten already. That was Kenan, one of Kon’s friends that he made during his stay with the gang. “Also known as the Gravedigger.”
“Oooohhhh, ‘Gravedigger’.” Jiro mockingly shivered in place. “I am soooo scared.”
“Dude, we’re serious.” Another of Kon’s friends, Jessie, a lean and fit calico cat with red and orange hair did as he sat beside the wolf, clearly the shortest in the group, and definitely not fit to fight in those kinds of arenas. “He’s Clark’s top fighter for a reason.”
“And he isn’t called ‘Gravedigger’ for nothing.” The third and final member of Kon’s group, Austin, a buck with one horn missing said as he poked his head from behind the lockers. “We can’t count how many fighters he sent to their early grave by the time he was done. And that was only the fights WE have seen.”
“Seems like I got my hands full, then.” Jiro shrugged, still unphased by everything he heard. “If you boys are done packing, I’ll be waiting by the door.” Then stepped out of the locker room. He made his way to the small entrance of the warehouse, relishing in the angry glares he was getting the whole time from all the thugs he had beaten into a pulp when he came here.
Eventually, Kenan, Jessie, and Austin came out of the locker room, walking cautiously among the angry thugs, but no one dared to touch them or even look at them funny in fear of getting another beating. Jiro waited for Kon to finally emerge… but when the tiger did, he was accompanied by this tall and massive kangaroo hunk who had a dark brown and black fur, his hair a golden blonde and almost glimmering under the light almost as much as his ear piercings. He was definitely easy on the eyes, and that tribal tattoo covering his entire left arm looked pretty sexy, too.
What Jiro noticed was how he and Kon were interacting with each other, they seemed to be quite friendly with each other, guess those three aren’t the only friends the tiger made in this den of scum. But after giving the tall roo a firm hug, the two sharing a quick and discrete kiss, Kon jogged over towards the waiting wolf. “Sorry about that, was just uh… catching up with someone.”
“Uh-huh.” Jiro said in a teasing tone, causing the tiger to blush. “Come on, time to head home.”
Back home, the group celebrated their newfound freedom with lots of food, drinks, and games on Jiro’s consoles. Lots of junk food was ordered and eaten, snack cabinets were cleared out, but everyone was all smiles and joy, poor Jessie even broke down in happy tears once the reality of his freedom settled in, the others following suit as they came together in a group hug.
That night, Kenan, Jessie, and Austin were still playing their games while Jiro and Kon were washing the dishes. “You can go and play with your friends if you wanna.”
“I can, but I'd rather be here.” Kon couldn’t help when his tail shifted to the side, gentle coiling and tugging on Jiro’s own. “I still can’t believe you agreed to fight Hector.”
“It was either that or have you do it. And you’ve seen the look on that scumbag’s face. He was definitely planning on you leaving that arena in a bodybag.” Jiro scoffed as he remembered the doberman. “Probably just to get under my skin, if nothing else.”
“I don’t know much about Hector, but I’ve seen him fight plenty of times.” Kon noticed Jiro’s ear twitching and turning to his direction, he got the wolf’s attention there. “He’s quite ruthless, his punches are hard as iron, his grapples are a tight vice and he won’t let go until he snapped some bones if he catches you. He doesn’t let up for anything, not until his ‘owner’ tells him to stop.”
“Sounds like a fun guy.” Jiro quipped with a small smile.
“If you like having your bones snapped all over the place, then yeah, he’s ‘fun’.” Kon paused for a bit. “He doesn’t even care about the rules. He will go for crotch punches, eye gouging, he even bit into some poor guy’s neck and tore his throat open.” He shuddered as he remembered watching that fight with Clark. “He’s a monster.”
“Good thing, then. One of my favorite games was all about hunting monsters.”
“What?”
“Nevermind. I know you’re worried, but you don’t have to.” He gave Kon’s hair a few ruffles, earning a shy grumble from the tiger, before pulling him in, pressing their heads gently together. “I’ll be fine. You’ll see.”
“Fine… I’ll trust you.” Kon assured softly, nuzzling against the tall wolf’s neck.
“By the way, who was the dude you were ‘catching up’ with?” Jiro asked in a teasing tone.
“Nothing! It was no one!” Kon quickly pulled away, his face bright red as he suddenly became too focused on washing the dishes. But he could feel the wolf’s amused smirk aimed at him, so he eventually relented. “He was… a friend…”
“Definitely looked much more than a friend. That kiss was quick, but looked quite fire.” Kon’s head basically exploded as steam was fuming out of his ears.
“Fine! He was my mentor! And… lover, I guess.” Kon calmed down a bit after the initial burst of embarrassment. “He’s also… the one I gave my virginity to.”
“He meant that much to you, huh?”
“Yeah… before the others came along, he was the only friend I ever had. We all grew up in a rough part of the city, you literally had to live day by day with blood being shed, either yours or someone else's.” Jiro remained silent to let the tiger speak freely. “You couldn’t trust anyone, even your friends you had to keep at an arm's length cause you don’t know when they’ll betray you.”
“Tyler, the roo you saw me with, he basically saved me from that kind of life, even paid for my gym membership and became my mentor and father figure. It was after the whole thing with my sick friend that I learned he was actually a member of that gang, a high ranking member at that.” There goes Jiro’s curious ear once again. “I hated him for keeping that secret for a long time… but eventually, I realized that he was my best chance of surviving.”
“Eventually, we got close once again and things… kinda took off from there.” Kon blushed slightly as a small smile spread on his lips… but then his smile disappeared as quickly as it came. “But in Clark’s eyes, that made him more ‘lenient’ with me. So he took me directly under his wing and forbade all interaction between me and Tyler.”
“Man really likes getting under people’s skin, huh?”
“That’s putting it lightly. Tyler was adamant and tried fighting back, but Clark held all the cards and we were forced to play his game.”
“Too bad for him then. I have my own deck to play.” Jiro smiled, but a dark excitement, and a bit of sadism was hidden behind it.
The day of the fight eventually came, so that night, Kon led Jiro to a seedy part of the city, even the air in the place was suffocating and filthy to breath in. “We’re here.” Kon announced as they stepped into an alley, the tiger knocked on a door of a sketchy building.
A few seconds later, the door opened, revealing this massive t-rex wearing nothing but some tight pants. He had his large arms crossed over his thick chest, wearing a smug smile on his face as he looked down at the tiger. “Kon, honey cakes~! Glad to have you back, baby~”
“I’m not here for pleasantries, James. We’re here for the fight.” Kon gestured to Jiro standing behind him, the wolf wearing a deep and threatening scowl on his face that made the large saurian gulp his nerves loudly.
“Uh, yeah, sure. You know the place.” James stepped aside quickly, letting the wolf and tiger through.
Kon led Jiro into what looked like an empty bar, way into the back where a door was hidden leading to the basement, the stairs were pretty dark, save for a few flickering light bulbs. Eventually, Jiro began hearing the distant sounds of a cheering crowd as they finally arrived at the bottom. “Holy shit…”
This was definitely something much bigger than a single basement’s worth of space. This was literally an underground fighting arena, outfitted with fully stocked bleachers, lights on the ceiling to illuminate the fights happening in the massive arena in the center, instead of ropes, the octagon-shaped arena was lined with a metal fence to prevent any attempt of escape. Jiro watched the brutal fight happening in the ring as both opponents were already bloody and beaten each other black and blue, one was even missing a couple of teeth. Yeah, this is gonna be fun~
“Kon! Over here!” They turned to see who was calling to the tiger, only to see Tyler waving to them.
Kon rushed over to the kangaroo, wrapping his arms around the large man as Jiro took his time walking up to them. “What are you doing here? I thought you hated coming here.”
“I do, but Clark was… insistent that I come this time.” Tyler then turned around. “He’s waiting for you in the locker room.” Then led the two to where the doberman was waiting.
The locker room in this place was just as rundown and dirty as the one back at the warehouse, if not even more so. Clark had one foot on a bench as a weak looking man was cleaning one of his boots, flanked by two of his big guards. “Ah, the man of the hour!” Clark greeted them excitedly as Jiro and Kon stepped in. “Thought I would have to bring someone to collect you.”
“Told you I’d be here.” Jiro replied with a casual shrug.
“Good, hope you put on a good show. Fair warning though: Hector hasn’t had a good fight in a while, so he’s quite ready to explode~”
“My, oh my, how scary. In that case, I have one more condition.”
Clark’s smile quickly disappeared as he began growling. “We already agreed on everythi-” *FWOSH* Jiro instantly cut the distance between him and Clark with a fiery dash, his fist inches from the doberman’s snout. The speedy movement caused a burst of wind that pushed the shoe shiner and Clark’s goons back.
“You do realize I could’ve always just broken you to pieces and left you to die, right?” Jiro said in a low, threatening voice. “I’m only playing along because I am bored. So don’t start thinking you’re the one in control.”
Clark, for the first time since they met, showed genuine fear as a drop of sweat trailed down the side of his face, he knew the wolf was not bluffing. But he won’t be this cocky for long, so he had to keep stroking this wild mutt’s ego for a bit longer. “Fine, what do you want?”
“Nothing much. You release this one into my care, too.” Jiro gestured back to Tyler.
“WHAT!?” Both kangaroo and tiger exclaimed in shock.
“I’m afraid that can’t happen. He’s one of my lieutenants.” Clark rejected the idea, but a glare from Jiro made him backtrack. “But, if you win tonight, I’ll consider it.”
“Good~!” Jiro gave his wide but menacing smile, just as his ears picked up the sounds of the excited. “Seems like the fight is over. Better get ready to put on a show~”
Clark just scoffed and adjusted his suit before he walked past the wolf… but briefly stopped to whisper to Jiro. “I’ll make sure Hector takes extra good care of you.” Then went on his way.
“Good, I was waiting for a worthy toy~”
“Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome once again to the Underground!” The announcer and referee, a small goblin, called out to the audience who cheered loudly. “We have quite the spectacle for you tonight, as we see your beloved champion grinding some cocky newbie’s bones to dust!” That caused a louder cheering from the audience.
“On the western corner! The hopeless newbie who is standing ready by his coffin! JIIIIRROOOO!” The audience gave a light, almost half-assed cheer as Jiro stepped into the ring, wearing nothing but his sweatpants and a plain tank top. Casually rolling his neck and rubbing shoulders. “And on the eastern corner! The reigning champion, the undertaker, the bone grinder, the legendary beast himself! HEEEECTOOOOORRR!!!” Jiro winced and had to cover his ears from the deafening cheer that the crowd gave at that announcement.
The fighter that stomped up into the ring was a behemoth of a man, somewhere in his late thirties or early forties, a large canine that looked like a mix between rottweiler and a bernese mountain dog with mostly dark brown fur and lighter shades around his arms, chest, and abdomen, his whole body covered in various kinds of scars, from scratches, to bullet wounds, old burns, and even a few bite marks, his dark brown hair styled with side and back fades while the top looked messy and unkempt. He was dressed in some fighter shorts and nothing else, save for some bandages around his hands and feet.
“Fighters, take your place!” The announcer instructed as the two fighters began walking to the center, Jiro briefly glancing up at a viewing box up above the bleachers, a special room where Clark and some other VIPs could watch the blood sports in luxury. However, this time it was the doberman, some of his goons, as well as Kon and Tyler up there.
“So, you’re the pipsqueak I’m supposed to break today, huh? And here I thought Clark finally brought me someone challenging.” Hector said as he punched his fists together.
“Well, hope I can live up to your expectation.” Jiro replied, casually.
“In that case, let’s have a nice, clean fight, yeah?” Hector offered his hand for a shake.
“Yeah, sure thing.” Jiro replied, again, casually as he took the hand into his… the instant his hand grabbed onto Hector, he was YANKED in, right before a heavy fist clashed with his face, rocking his brain as blood sputtered from his nose.
“Bad move kid!” Hector kept a firm grip on Jiro’s hand, yanking him back again to deliver another powerful punch to the wolf’s gut, almost caving his stomach in. He kept repeating the same move again and again and again, delivering a flurry of powerful and heavy punches to Jiro’s face, chest, and abdomen relentlessly.
“HEY! WHAT THE FUCK!?” Kon screamed from the box, banging on the windows. “The bell didn’t even ring yet!”
“Forgotten about this place already, kitty cat?” Clark was greatly enjoying the view of Jiro having his whole upper body rocked by Hector’s ruthless attacks. “No rules, whatsoever, remember.”
“Kon, sit down.” Tyler instructed as he pulled Kon back into his seat.
“The moment you stepped in here…” Hector smashed his into Jiro’s face again. “The moment you dug your grave!” Then followed by a powerful one to the gut that sent the wolf flying and crashing into the fenced wall, Jiro slumping down to the ground, unmoving. “Hell yeah! Tell me, what do you wanna see, people!” Hector demanded as he raised his fists in the air, addressing the audience.
“BREAK HIS LIMPS!” Someone called out.
“CRACK HIS SKULL IN!” Another demanded
“RIP HIS LEGS OFF!” And another. Clark was right, this crowd was just as bloodthirsty as the fighters themselves.
“You heard the crowd! Time to- HEY! Where’d he go!?” Hector looked around as Jiro was nowhere in sight.
“Weakling.” Hector heard someone say in a deep, monstrous voice, right before a foot connected to his chin, lifting him off the ground a bit. Then his body felt like it was being torn apart as he was set upon by a flurry of attacks that were much harder than his own, accompanied by a sizzling heat that felt like it was burning his skin off.
Jiro finally delivered one final kick to the big man’s abdomen, sending him sliding across the floor and crashing into the fenced wall. “GHACK!” Hector coughed out lots of blood and stomach acid, clutching his caved belly that had a very clear footprint on it. “What… just happened?” He looked up to see his opponent standing there, pretty casually.
“For a big guy, you sure don’t pack that much of a punch.” Jiro casually rubbed his shoulder as he rolled his neck, his once-bruised body covered in bluish energy that seemed to heal all the injuries he just received until he was good as new.
He began advancing towards the downed canine when the ref suddenly appeared between them. “Hey now! Gonna have to wait for the big guy to get up, besides, the bell didn’t ring yet, so I’m gonna have to penalize ya for that.” Jiro’s left eye twitched as he gave the goblin a ‘Are you serious right now?’ look.
“OH FUCK OFF!” Kon once again screamed as he banged on the windows harder, then turned to glare at the smirking Clark. “You said there are no rules!”
“Hey, gotta still have some level of sportsmanship around here, no?” The gangster replied snarkily, grinning mockingly at the angry tiger.
“You sonuvabitch!” Kon was about to pounce on the doberman, but Tyler held him back. “I’m gonna tear you apart you lying scumbag!”
“HEY! Calm down, K! You’re playing right into- GET DOWN!” The kangaroo pulled the tiger back hard that both fell down, just as *CRASH* something covered in blue flames burst through the solid, bullet proof windows and *SMASH* right into the wall behind them.
“The fuck!?” Clark, shocked at the sight, was on the ground as well. Once the flames disappeared, the ‘object’ was revealed to be none other than the goblin referee, his clothes burned into tatters as he groaned in pain before falling to the ground.
“No rules or obstacles people!” Jiro called out to get the audience’s attention. “You want a bloodsport people! Then why the fuck is there a ref in the first place!?” Hearing that, the audience cheered, a bit louder this time, for the wolf. “You come here, to watch- not fighters, but a bunch of ANIMALS tear each other to pieces! Putting anyone in the middle is basically tossing us a chew toy!” Clark was now shivering as he saw an absolute monster standing in the ring, not the snarky and cocky wolf he first laid eyes on.
“Now then… how about we continue this fight, eh big guy?” Jiro asked as he went over to the barely standing Hector, lifting him up by his hair… then *WHAM* delivered a hard punch to his face. “Wake up, dammit!” *WHAM* Another punch.
“GRRRR!” Hector grabbed onto Jiro’s forearm. “Cocky little PUNK!” Then headbutted the wolf, causing him to stagger back and release him. “I’m gonna eat you alive!” He warned as he lunged at Jiro, fangs bared and ready to chomp down on his neck.
But the wolf quickly put his arm up front, the bite now clamping down on his limb instead. “HAH! Not gonna eat anything with these baby teeth, meathead!” Then delivered a hard punch right onto Hector’s head, splitting a vein and possibly cracking the big dog’s skull. “Let me show ya how a real predator tears into his meal!” Once again, he grabbed Hector by the hair and pushed him into the middle of the ring. With the big fighter still barely standing, he took the actual fighting stance of his style.
“Wait… is that!” Tyler was shocked as he saw the low stance that Jiro took.
“No way…” Clark was now absolutely terrified as Jiro’s hands and feet were engulfed in blue flames. The moment he laid eyes on the wolf his gut told him not to play games, but his bruised pride didn’t let him listen to reason. He never thought in all his years that he would be going against one of the legendary trio of fighters themselves. “Fangs of Lupus…”
With his finisher move finally charged, Jiro dashed toward Hector, his prey [Full Moon Rush: Hunter Style] Instead of a frontal barrage of attacks like before, he would dash this way and that around Hector, each time striking at the large canine who couldn’t even defend himself properly. Sending bursts of flame crashing into and through the big man’s slowly breaking body, and instead of the ghostly wolves, it was silhouettes of claw strikes tearing into the big canine’s body.
The final set of attacks started with a hard kick to the chin that sent Hector high up into the air, with Jiro jumping high and after him, using Ricochet’s technique as his own as he darted all around the broken Hector like a bullet with fangs, the last attack was a cross-claw strike that sent the bigger fighter crashing into the ground, with a large set of claw marks left both on his body and the arena ground.
Jiro landed on the ground quite gracefully, rolling his shoulders and neck as he let out a satisfied moan as he licked his lips. “Thanks for the meal, beefcake~”
The audience were completely silent, including Clark, Kon, and Tyler… but then, a small slowly crept on the tiger’s face… and then… “YEAH!” He cheered out loudly, followed by the excited audience, who were in awe at witnessing such a spectacle, while Jiro struck a victorious pose.
Back in the locker room, Jiro was putting his clothes back on, just as he was glomped by an excited Kon. “Dude! That was AWESOME! HAHA!” The tiger was super excited and filled with energy.
“That was something, that’s for sure.” Tyler added as he walked up to the duo.
“Man! You were all GRRR and then all WOSH-ZWOOSH-BAM! WOO!” Yeah, the feline had WAY too much energy for some reason.
“That aside, where is our gracious host?” Jiro asked suddenly with a knowing smile.
At a nearby parking lot, Clark was impatiently tapping his foot in the back of his fancy car. “What’s taking so long!?”
“Sorry sir! The engine is busted up.” One of his goons said urgently and apologetically.
“Well, call a fucking taxi! I want to be as far away from- GAH!” He was pulled out from the back through the window by none other than Jiro.
“Oh, come now. Not even gonna say goodbye?” Jiro asked in a sickeningly sweet tone, but all that was dripping from his words was venom.
“N-No! Of course not! I w-was, uh… just going to, um… WHOAH!” Jiro lifted the canine off the ground, Clark’s feet dangling in the air. “Don’t just stand there, you useless meatheads! Do something!”
His two guards were about to charge the wolf, but Kon and Tyler were instantly between them and the wolf, knocking both done with a strong punch from each. “Thank you, guys. Now you…” Jiro now had all of his focus on Clark, the doberman sweating buckets and quivering in fear in the wolf’s clutches.
“Okay, okay! I won’t bother you or your friends ever again! I promise!” Clark quickly stated in hopes of being released quickly.
“Not only that.” Jiro’s eyes and face markings began glowing, just to add to the intimidation. “You will disband your little gang, effective immediately. And you will close down this wretched arena for good, and you will stop all kinds of nefarious dealings you’ve ever made. Got it?” Clark just nodded quickly, letting out a small whimper. “Good. And if you fail to do any of those things, I will be on you like a starving beast, and I’ll assure you…” He pulled the dog in close, their noses pressed against one another. “Not even the cockroaches will have anything to nibble on.” Then tossed the cowering dog to the ground as he turned away.
“Come on, let's get back home, you two.” He addressed Kon and Tyler.
“Are you sure you want me too, sir?” Tyler asked as he nervously rubbed the back of his neck. “I mean, I did some pretty bad things before, too.”
“Did you kill anyone?” Jiro asked suddenly, but Tyler silently shook his head ‘No’. “Sold drugs to anyone?” No. “Sent someone to the hospital?” A nervous and unsure ‘No?’. “Well, I’m sure the last part was not done cause you wanted it. Besides, this one trusts you, greatly.” He gestured to Kon, who just blushed and looked away. “That’s good enough for me.” He then turned around and began walking away.
“Come on then, tonight is another one for celebrations! So let’s go wild!” Jiro jumped excitedly in the air, pumping his fist up. Behind him, Tyler and Kon chuckled a bit… then shared a small look between them, the two blushing softly… then held each other’s hands gently, Tyler giving Kon’s a small, loving squeeze.
“Yeah, let’s go home.” The kangaroo said as he and Kon shared another, love filled look between them, nothing mattered in the world at that moment, just the two of them.
Jiro just watched the two being all lovey-dovey, feeling quite accomplished with himself. But then a strange thought crossed his mind. “Hmm… wonder if this means I cleared a side-story scenario?”