Ready to Rumble M1: Conclusion Part 1

    "Whitakeeeerrrr..." A soft, sultry voice suddenly spoke. Whitaker opened one eye, and saw something that stole his breath away. It was a stunningly beautiful female Toxicroak, who smiled seductively as she slowly sidled towards him, her svelte hips swaying back and forth as she drew closer.

    "Whitakeeeerrrr..." She repeated, her voice an erotic whisper in the air. He sat up straight, lost in the deep amber pools of her eyes. She drew close, reaching out to touch him on the shoulder. However, her touch was sudden, and surprisingly rough, as she violently jostled his shoulder. "Whitaker?" She repeated, this time more abruptly, and a hell of a lot less sexy. In fact, her voice had suddenly become surprisingly masculine. It kind of sounded a little familiar...

    "Whitaker? Come on, nap time's over. I know you're awake." Patterson said impatiently, shaking Whitaker's shoulder coarsely.

    Whitaker creaked one eye open, slowly and painfully. He could make out a canvas roof over his head, the sun dimly shining through the fabric. Every inch of his body ached uncomfortably, and he felt a broad crater of intense pain right where his stomach was meant to be. He turned over to his right slowly, every joint in his body feeling like it was filled with broken glass. His gaze was met by the grinning face of Patterson, who was sat on the edge of the bed. Groaning, he closed his eye again, and vainly tried to force himself to go back to sleep.

    "Hey Lennie!" Patterson shouted cheerfully from above him. "I woke him up for you!"

    "I told you already, it's Luke!" Another familiar voice called. "And I told you not to wake him up, he needs rest! And so do you! Why are you out of bed?"

    "Eeeeeh, I'm fine." Patterson said dismissively. "And Whitaker is too, it'll take more that that to keep us down. Isn't that right, buddy?"

    Whitaker creaked one eye open again, meeting the gaze of his ignorant friend and a somewhat concerned-looking Luke. "Patterson, please." He croaked hoarsely. "If I'm gonna die in agony, I'd prefer to at least have some peace and quiet."

    "See, he's fine!" Patterson said cheerfully. "Fit as a fiddle." He shifted towards the edge of the bed, making as if he was attempting to stand. "Well, we had fun now, but I think now it's time we moved onHUURrrk-"

    As he attempted to stand up straight, his hip buckled underneath him, sending him toppling over to one side. He was only spared a trip to the floor by the quick reflexes of Luke, who hooked an arm under Patterson's armpit to hold him up.

    "Looks like neither you are in good enough shape to be going anywhere. Looks like our large new friend did a real number on both of you." He gave a small, mischievous grin. "I guess he was out of your league." he added.

    The until-then incapacitated Whitaker suddenly shot bolt-upright in his bed, his eyes burning with anger. "Out of MY league! That sucker got a lucky shot in! I could have run rings round him forever if he didn't get so lucky with his random swing-"

    "And that wouldn't have been necessary to begin with if you'd have just given me a little longer with that thing one-on-one! Five more minutes and I would have pounded him into gravel!" Patterson interrupted, looking similarly incensed at the suggestion that there was anything task that he wasn't equal to. Luke smiled broadly as he settled Patterson back down onto the side of the bed.

    "Well, at least it looks like that fighting spirit of yours hasn't been broken, even if your bodies were. And your bodies can be fixed. You might have got smacked around a bit by the statue-"

    "Wait, the statue!" Whitaker suddenly shouted, alarmed. "What happened with that? Did it tear down the city?"

    Luke shook his head no. "Thanks to you, the damage was limited to what it had already done. That's a lot, but the city will live. As for our stony new friend, the plan went off without a hitch. The eggheads' machine worked just as planned."

    "Wait, so you shut off old breezeblock-head for good?" Patterson asked.

    "Yeah, did you?" Whitaker added. "And I wouldn't call that thing a 'friend', even as a joke."

    "Erm, about that..." Luke said sheepishly. "We turned it off, alright. But, well, it kind of turned back on again."

    "WHAT?" Patterson and Whitaker both exclaimed simultaneously in alarm.

    "Woah, calm down!" Luke shouted. "That's the thing. Cassidy was all for turning the thing into pebbles, but it turns out that the big guy was friendly after all."

    "Friendly?" Whitaker exclaimed, one eyebrow shooting upwards. "That thing tried to KILL us!"

    "Well, it's not killing anybody right now." Luke said with a shrug. "And it didn't manage to kill you either, even though it tried. That's what I wanted to say. Neither of you guys got Cassidy's big speech. That's why I'm here. You guys might have got beat up pretty bad..."

    "This is nothing!" Whitaker said, puffing himself up.

    "Nothing more than a scratch!" Insisted Patterson.

    Luke did his best to ignore them. "...but you both did the job that you needed to do. You put your lives on the line for this city, and I'm truly thankful for it. Thank you, and well done. You guys have guts, and we can definitely use folks like you. You're welcome amongst the Explorers."

    Both Patterson and Whitaker fell into stunned silence. Luke wasn't sure how to interpret that quiet, but simply waited for an answer patiently. However, he was suddenly interrupted as an impatient voice called from outside.

    "Hey, Luke! Time's a wastin', we've got a lot of work to do! Let's mosey!"

    "Damn it." Luke growled to himself. "I'll be there in a sec, Cassidy!" He turned back round to face the two stunned Fighting-types. "Listen, I've got places to be, but the offer still stands. Look, if you want to get back on your feet quickly, there's a medic's joint in town called Lacey's that'll get you right as rain again. Tell them I sent you and they'll fix you up for free. Afterwards, find me if you're still interested. See ya!"

    And with that, he abruptly stooped outside of the tent once more, securing his hat to his head as he left.

    Patterson and Whitaker were both left on their own again. What Luke had said to them just before he had been forced to depart had stuck with them both. Patterson eventually broke the silence.

    "Man." He said quietly. "It's not like I did any of that out of the kindness of my heart. I just wanted to prove that I was the biggest badass in town."

    "Me too." Whitaker answered. "And both of us really did get pasted by that thing in the end. I thought I was invincible, and I just found out the hard way that I'm not."

    "Yeah." Patterson admitted, albeit with a little reluctance. "You'd think that'd make me pissed off or depressed, but I ain't. What's the deal?"

    "I ain't either." Whitaker said. "But I think I know why. It was what the big guy said. 'Thank you, and well done.'"

    Patterson gave a small smile. "Nobody's said that to us for a long time, have they?"

    Whitaker shook his head. He held out his hands in front of him, curling them into fists. He turned his right fist over, looking at every inch of it, before popping out one of his claws suddenly, and examining that too. "I've gotten pretty good at using these hands of mine, but only for getting into trouble with. I enjoy it, but I'm more used to shouting mobs of pissed-off people trying to run us out of town instead of people THANKING me for using them. It's... Well, it's a good feeling! It feels weird saying this, because it doesn't seem like the sorta thing I'd say, but..." He looked up, meeting Patterson eye-to-eye. "This is kinda cool, isn't it?"

    Patterson was quiet for a moment. "Yeah, it kinda is." He eventually agreed, in a voice that made it sound as if he was having trouble believing what he was saying, despite the fact that it was true. "So, what now? Are you thinking of taking up the big guy on his offer?"

    Whitaker shrugged. "Maybe. If it doesn't work out, then we can just move on again like we always have. But I feel like this really is worth a shot. I wanna feel that same feeling again. And who knows?" The familiar, sinister Whitaker returned for a moment with an evil smile. "I reckon that if we stick around, we'll find some better scraps to get into than ever before."

    Patterson returned the grin. "Now THAT I can definitely get behind." He banged his gloves together enthusiastically, only to suddenly wince in discomfort as his busted shoulder protested. "As soon as I've payed a visit to that medic."

    Seeing Patterson's discomfort reminded Whitaker of his own, and he suddenly winced as the overwhelming pain in his stomach returned to the forefront. "Yeah, that definitely sounds like a good idea right now. Can you walk?"

    Patterson stood up slowly and carefully, making sure not to put too much strain on it. He grimaced slightly, but stayed upright. "Just about. Are you okay?"

    Whitaker shifted over to the edge of the bed, and swung his legs over the side. He stood up, and suddenly bent double in a fit of coughing. "Yeah." He wheezed painfully once it was over. "Never better. Now, let's get to that medic's before I pass out."