Chapter 139 - Jim versus China.

Noise abound at the Boneyard Arena in Bones Street in Tiger City, as the crowd of spectators cheered. Several teams had already duelled it out since morning and it was not only at this arena but in every other properly accounted for arena in Bones Street, Brawl Street, the seven Major Streets and even Horr's underground wrestling platforms.

Never before had the officials of Tiger City paid attention to the wrestling competitions but now that they were planning to join in, they were more than willing to make their first intra city competition as memorable as possible. The competition hadn't even started properly, as that will only begin after the top 64 had been selected and broadcasted to the entire city. Even then, the preliminaries was already bumbling. Every body - individuals, gangs, organisations and even military schools - who dreamt of fame, recognition, money or just wanted to improve their skills, gathered a team of five at minimum and registered to take part in it. Qualifying past the preliminaries automatically meant a positive change in their fortunes because it meant they were among the city's top one thousand fighters among the millions in their age bracket. Surely, sponsorships and tantalizing job offers would stream in non-stop. The ruling Tiger Family might even take a liking to them. That was definitely the peak of recognition in Tiger City.

But that was thinking too far into the future. Right now, The Trainwrecks sat at one side of the ring, which was about the size of a basketball court. On the opposite side of the ring, sat the Forest Monkeys. There were nine of them, contrary to the eight they expected to see. The variables had increased by one. Every one was bothered by this new addition as they knew absolutely nothing about him. Or was the person a female? They couldn't tell since the person was already sitting when they arrived at the arena, and was covered in baggy black clothing from head to toe.

"I'm willing to bet all my savings that this one is China's personal slave." Danny said.

Wilson looked at him and gave his order as the ordained team captain.

"Danny, you will handle the clad-in-black."

"No problem." Danny said. His playful countenance nowhere to be seen.

"That was really cool by the way."

It was back. Danny just couldn't stay serious for too long. Fawn, on the other hand, was frowning very deeply. She was having an intense long distance staring contest with the only lady on the other team. She really was pretty and so was her name, Diva.

Dash looked around and turned to speak to Wilson who had not taken his eyes off Colt Cobain ever since he sat down.

"Where's this Jim guy? I thought he was supposed to be here by now. The fight starts in less than five minutes."

"Charlie said he'll bring him here. He will be here before the fight starts."

As if on cue, Charlie appeared and pushed Jim on an empty chair.

"He's here!" Charlie announced.

Jim was already dressed in the team's uniform. It was a flexible, dark blue, skintight suit made of plain clothing materials, mostly because the rules prohibited cloth armor.

All the uniforms had mostly the same things. Their names were written on the upper back. A small 'HH' emblem was printed on the left arm and on the right was a 'BB' emblem of the same size and on the chest, where a chest pocket ought to be, an emblem of a broken train was affixed. Wilson liked it. The others, not so much.

Each teammate chose to add their own little bits and pieces to their uniforms, to show off their individuality. Dash wrote a list of names on his right sleeve. Danny printed 'The Invisible' right above his 'Danny' name so it would read The Invisible Danny, all together and added a headband with the name 'The Trainwrecks'. He would have added a lot more to his appearance if their instructor hadn't threatened him.

Gene Chang at first, prominently wrote 'For Sofia' on the front of his suit. It looked very disturbing and Wilson was not having it. So, he got rid of it and instead let Sofia sign on his back.

Fawn simply drew small flowers all over with a marker and wrote some words on each of them. Wilson ripped off a sleeve entirely and left the other on. Why? Because it felt right!

And as for the newly added Jim, he took an expensive dark blue suit jacket and put it on.

"If it already looks like a suit, you might as well add a suit jacket to complete the look.

They would have looked like the best team in the arena appearance-wise, but instead chose to ruin the effect with their ridiculous quirks

In the end, they looked like someone had gathered a ragtag group of three local gangsters, a high school princess, a pseudo-business man, and an innocent-looking kid. It made anyone who saw them, unable to take them seriously.

Jim looked around the arena, then back at Charlie.

"Charlie, come on, man. I'm not a fighter. You know that. Look at all those scary-looking people on the other side. Anyone of them will chew me up in two seconds. Don't do this to me please." Jim begged. He turned to Wilson and went on his knees.

"Wilson, look, I know I've wronged you, but there are more hurtful ways to pay me back. Why are you sending me to fight? At least, consider the good old times, hmm? Don't f*ck me over like this..."

Jim begged on and on. Non-stop. A referee entered the ring, announced the beginning of the duels. Jim still begged. The referee, introduced both sides, the spectators mocked the begging Jim, Jim didn't care. He probably didn't even hear them amidst his own pleas for exoneration.

When China entered the ring as the team assumed he would, Wilson finally looked at Jim and spoke.

"It's time. No one said you should win. Just ensure China is unable to spew his nonsense towards us and after three minutes, throw the match." Wilson said. And with that, the whole team heartlessly grabbed Jim and dragged him into the ring.

The referee was a little stunned but soon recovered while China frowned. He had a feeling things were going to get complicated. He hated complications. They were a sign of plans going awry. He looked towards Colt Cobain who frowned at him. He better play his part well. Subconsciously, he grabbed the back of his neck.

'F*cking bomb.' He thought. Why did he ever let down his guard in the first place? He only ever loosened up once and that was all it took to become a slave to some bastard from a city in the middle of a dense forest.

"You're just going to have to do." China muttered. Whoever he was facing, he hoped the person could endure a lot because he intended to vent all his frustrations on him.

"Count yourself unlucky for facing up against me." He said to Jim.

Jim nodded as he stood up. The referee looked at both of them and abruptly disappeared.

Half a minute later, Jim was running around the ring using his wind ability to send the poison back at its sender while all the while trying to persuade his opponent why exchanging blows with him profited no one, much to the humor of the crowd of spectators and chagrin of China Chan.

China felt a sting at the back of his neck. He touches it and looked at Colt. Colt smiled back at him and nodded.

It was time!