¶ MEGAMAN¶

CHAPTER EIGHT: Ralph's life begins.

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|At the gym|

|Few blocks from C.C.P.D|

Gbam! Gbam!! Gbam!!!

Nathan threw his hands one after the other, punching the black sandbag that was attached to the ceiling via a chain. Pedro stood behind it, resting his shoulders against it to hold it in place. They were clad in black tops and grey shorts. He kept punching as they conversed.

“Dude! Are you crazy?”, Flynn jokingly asked as he and Marc – dressed the same as Nathan and Pedro – walked in to the dimly illuminated room.

“Call me whatever you want. I ain't changing my mind”, Marc replied dropping his gym bag on the table.

His eyes swept a quick glance at the room. Various workout equipments laid dumant around the place; ranging from dumb bells to treadmills. It was a gym specially made for the Central city police.

“That punk thinks he's so invisible with such flashy showoffs and saves? Such ego!”, he added as he picked up two small dumbbells.

“Oh, now he's a punk?”, Flynn raised a brow and shook his head.

Marc paused for a second to think about what he had said, “Well...”, he sighed, “...you know what i mean”, he rolled his eyes. He then began flexing his joints and biceps as he pulled and dropped his forearms.

“But come on man, how do you expect us to do it?”, Flynn asked as he did some stretches.

“Yo! What are you two blabbing about?”, Nathan approached them as he loosened the tape around his fists. Pedro tagged along.

“Well, Mr.Crazy here got snubbed by Cloakman and has decided, all of a sudden, to hunt him down”, Flynn answered bluntly. Marc shot him a frustrated look.

“Whoa”, Pedro was suprised. He rubbed his chin as he took it in thought.

Nathan only laughed, “And you plan to do this, how?”

“And why should i tell you?”, Marc retorted with a raised brow.

“You know...as crazy and pointless as this may sound...”, Nathan chuckled, “...i want in”

“See!”, Marc glared at Flynn whilst pointing at Nathan, “Here's someone who gets it”

Flynn rolled his eyes, “Aren't you guys supposed to be the smart ones? Right Pedro?”

“Uhm...i don't know dude, they got a point”, Pedro shrugged.

“What?”, Flynn smacked his forehead with his palm.

“Flynn, think about it. Cloakman can't continue like this; appearing at the scene one second, then vanishing before one can blink. What about the casualties and structural damages caused by his fights with the bad guys, huh?

Trust me, the Chief ain't happy about this one bit. She's still cool because of what happened. But I'm pretty sure her patience will run out soon”, Pedro elaborated.

Flynn twitched his nose, “Okay. But, just to be sure, those meaningful points you listed, it was Chief Kayla that told you, right?”

“Yeah, so?”, Pedro shrugged.

“Of course. I wondered how someone do dumb could speak so wisely...Nah still sounded foolish”, Flynn whispered as walked past the latter, heading towards the center of the room.

“What did you just say?”, Pedro asked angrily, walking towards him briskly.

Marc and Nathan just scoffed with crossed arms, standing side by side.

They talk, react and act the same but always fail to admit it, all because of their egoistic nature. Pfft.

”Whoa, whoa!”, Marc briskly walked towards them as the atmosphere go intense. “You guys should chill”, he pushed them aside. Nathan soon joined in.

‘Phew’, Flynn was relieved. He heaved a sigh.

He was the smallest while Pedro was way bulky than any of them. It was as if he should hug Marc for his timely intervention. A quick thought soon dropped in his mind. He smiled.

“You know what? Let's do this. Marc and I against the both of you”, he cracked his neck.

“Fine by me”, Marc accepted and stood beside him.

“Okay”, Nathan shrugged and readied himself.

“Coward”, Pedro furrowed his eyes. Flynn winked.

They circled each other for about a minute or two, hopping and flexing their arms at intervals. After that, they launched at each other.

Flynn threw a right hook, which Nathan bent under. In that split second, Nathan used his elbow to push Flynn from behind, towards Pedro.

Flynn stumbled forward but due to his experience, he found comparison sharply and rolled away just in time to dodge Pedro's incoming fist. Pedro attempted a curved kick before Flynn would complete his roll, but the latter was quicker than he thought.

Flynn got on his knees, only to see a large foot coming at his face. He sharply pushed his hands up and caught it just in time. He grasped tightly to it as he sprang to his feet and swiped the latter off his only feet.

Pedro fell butt first to the floor.

Marc punched, Nathan blocked. Nathan kicked, Marc weaved. Nathan followed up with a punch, which Marc parried. 

They went on and on, stalemating each other.

Abruptly, Flynn stumbled on Marc from behind, causing him to stagger towards Nathan, who took advantage of the opening and struck a successful right hook to his cheek, sending him sideways.

Pedro grabbed Flynn - who he had tossed earlier - by the shoulder and pulled him towards himself.

Flynn was slim, not dumb...

He used Pedro's forceful drag to his advantage, pulling his knee up, sinking it into his attacker's torso. Pedro let go with a groan.

Flynn ran, then placed his left foot on Pedro's knee to launch himself up and then spun to deliver a roundhouse kick. But to his utmost surprise, Pedro caught the leg between his armpits. He then felt his whole body jerk forward as Pedro turned once before slamming him on a table.

In pains and amidst groans, Flynn mustered all his strength to raise himself and sit on the table. Pedro sat beside him as held his ribs whilst panting. They gave a nod to each other in respect to their breath taking spar.

They turned to see Marc and Nathan still at it.

Who were they kidding? Breathtaking spar? Pfft.

That was no where to Marc and Nathan's.

They rolled their eyes as the duo punched each other simultaneously and fell to the floor.

|Central city middle school|

“Now remember Ralph...”, Evex was in a crouched position as he handed over a school and lunch bag to Ralph.

Ralph cut in, “I know, i know. I'll mind my business and i will be cautious not to activate my powers within the school premises”

“And...?”

“Ugh!”, Ralph rolled his eyes, visibly frustrated.

“I'll call you whenever some kid continues to pester or tries to bully me. I will not fight back”, he said sweeping his eyes across the social environment; students were flooding in. It was, after all, a public school.

Evex stood up, “Just behave...”

“Yeah...sure!”, the lad was long gone, mixing with the students.

With elongated sight and enhaced hearing, Evex could see Ralph and Shane Martin exchange greetings at the school premises.

He sighed.

He now worked as a handyman and a transporter of felled logs from the woods, all under the name - John Stewart.

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