25 Puzzle

As Jack left the dojo he should be feeling proud of himself but he was not. He felt like he was in a quagmire. He could do what he had done just because he recognized all the aikido moves from the books and his superior physique so he could naturally respond faster than in a regular fight.

It was like having a jigsaw puzzle and a photo of it when it is completed. It was relatively easy to find the right pieces that fit each block. But what would happen if you had puzzle pieces of other jigsaw puzzles mixed in between? How do you know which fits best? How do you recognize from which whole jigsaw puzzle photo the piece comes from to which you need to find the corresponding one?

And if you don't even have the whole photo how do you chose which piece from the other ones fits best?

These were all questions that left him a bit perplexed. This was not even the main question he had.

The main question was: "What is this all about? What does the cube want from me? Why me?"

There was nothing he could ask anyone but the cube but it did not answer his questions.

He opened his phone and looked for lunch food challenges. The only place near enough was an ice cream place but he really did not care. All he wanted was calories anyway.

Known only as "The Monster", this sundae comes with 18 scoops of premium ice cream, 2 whole apples, 6 whole bananas, a bunch of sauces, a couple of brownies, vanilla wafers, whipped cream and, to top it all off, a pile of cherries. Eat the whole thing within the 1-hour time limit and you'll receive a free meal, a t-shirt and your picture on the wall of fame. That is, of course, in addition to a brain freeze.

It took him 39 minutes. The high endurance actually played a part and he didn't even suffer a minor headache not to mention a brain freeze. The workers looked at him like he was a monster after he ate "The Monster". Since they insisted that a picture must be taken he knew he could not come again. He was quite sad since it had been delicious.

He felt bloated for about half an hour before his new monster metabolism did its thing and he returned to normal. Well, at least the new definition of normal.

He decided to go for normal food next and walked for 4 miles since he had nothing better to do anyway. The place was a fast food/grill place and they claimed to reinvent the classic burger food challenge by serving an enormous burger on top of a bed of hashbrowns, fries, a fried egg and a mountain of bacon. Coming to a grand total of 2.5 kg or 5.5-pounds of food. You needed to polish off this skillet in under 30 minutes and you would win a t-shirt, a free meal and a $100 gift card.

Of course, Jack disappointed the waiters again and finished his meal in time.

The 100 $ gift card was for a shopping mall not far away and he decided to check it out. As he got close, he noticed a few people running in the opposite direction. After the first wave cam a second and while Jack was looking at what is going on and deciding what to do there came a mass of people trampling over each other running from the mall. He saw people getting trampled from the stampede. People behaved like cattle. When the cost was almost clear he saw a couple of limping straglers and woman helping an elderly woman up. Jack's instincts kicked in and he ran to help her.

Just as he was about to close in on her the door opened and Jack saw the reason for the stampede. A guy holding a whiskey bottle in one hand, a revolver in the other and a machine gun on his back came out the door.

The woman helping the grandma was 10 meters(30 feet) from the door and Jack was 2 meters(6 feet from them).

"Screw that.", Jack thought as he changed his direction and went towards the wall of the building.

Luckily the guy was looking towards the parking lot where most people were running to and didn't notice him. He fired a couple of shots towards the people there but all he hit were cars.

He took a swig from the bottle and yelled at the sky. When he looked back down he stumbled and turned his head towards the woman who was trying to pull up the grandma.

He pointed his gun towards them and tried to say something but he might as well be mute as incoherent as he was.

He walked closer to them as suddenly something heavy hit him in the back of the head. He dropped his whiskey bottle as he stumbled forward. This made him mad and he turned around to see his assailant when he saw a fluffy rotating shadow closing in on his nose. As it hit him he clutched it and dropped his revolver by the time he looked back up Jack was in front of him with a kick in his gonads. From a half crouching position, he fell on his knees and Jack grabbed his machine gun and pulled it off of him without much struggle, then hit him in the head with the stock.

The man passed out from the hit and the woman was looking at Jack trying to make sense of what just happened. She was also walking towards the shopping mall when she saw a couple of people running out and she ducked behind the entrance. After even more people ran out she saw this elderly woman fall and get trampled on. She tried to help her get up and saw a man running towards her who looked like he would help but when he was almost by her side he changed direction and went to her old hiding place. When she turned around she saw the reason why. She tried again to lift the grandma but she was too heavy or too scared to move. As the guy saw them and went for them she heard a loud pop and a book fell in front of her along with a whiskey bottle. When the shooter turned around there was another big pop and she saw it was another book that hit him. Then she saw the man run towards her and kick the guy in the balls jump over him while grabbing the machine gun and hitting him in the head.

Was this a movie set?

She became startled by the police sirens the next moment and the screeching of tires as the police cars came to a stop. The police officers jumped out and pulled their guns and yelled drop your weapon at Jack. She realized they have the wrong idea and she jumped in front of them and waved her hands in the air. Jack raised the machine gun slowly in the air with both hands and tossed it in front of him while stepping on the guys back with one foot.

Police officers closed in on him and the woman with guns pointed at them. One of them grabbed the woman and pulled her away while the others secured the revolver on the ground and Jack. The guy on the ground soiled himself in the meanwhile.

The woman explained what happened to the officer who took her away. She told him Jack saved her. She knew she might have died today if it were not for him. More witnesses came forward and explained the mess and more people started to emerge from the mall.

Miraculously the worst injury anyone had was a flesh wound and also the victims of trampling during the stampede only had some sprains or cracked bones.

Jack answered the questions from the officers and his story matched the woman's and other involved people's version.

When the detectives came he saw a familiar face. Robocop was walking towards him wearing a frown.

"Why is it you again?", Robocop asked.

"I got a coupon?", Jack said with a smile as he took a crumpled piece of paper out from his pocket.