The Amazing Galaxy-Man (Part Two) by Brent Bunn - HTML preview

Chapter 28

He went to his pallet behind the zeppelin and rested for his final bout. He didn't get much sleep that night. He kept playing out the battle in his mind over and over again. His racing heart wouldn't allow him much rest. Whenever he did manage to fall asleep he was quickly awoken by nightmares of waking up.

The next morning, Galaxy-Man was the first to rise for a change. He happened to make eye-contact with Spaceman and sure enough, the hansom beast walked over for a word.

“What's up Galaxy-Dork?” he snickered, as if it were a witty insult.

“My IQ over yours,” Galaxy-Man retorted.

“I want you to write this down, boy. After I win this tournament, I'm gonna fight the morpher on Beaverball and be the champion you only wish you could be.”

“You don't stand a single chance at beating the morpher, man, not one. You have any idea how powerful they can become?” The Destroyer of Worlds was certainly the most powerful creature in the galaxy at this point. In fact, the entire planet was evacuated. There really was no limit to how powerful one could become, and no limit to how big they could theoretically grow, which made them all the more horrifying. It's very difficult to describe their appearance as they are always changing, hence the name. They never looked the same for very long. The morpher was an ever-changing beast of death and destruction. “That thing would turn you into fine nothing,” Galaxy-Man continued.

“Keep dreaming, boy, I'm gonna pierce its heart with the Sword of Masters and save the day.” He then walked away, his skin-tight spandex stretching as he strode.

“Right this down!” Galaxy-Man yelled. Spaceman turned around. “I'm gonna be the one to destroy the Destroyer of Worlds! I'm gonna do it, or die awesomely trying. Unlike you, I've got a secret weapon on my side. It's called the Power Glove, and it's so bad. The glory shall be mine.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah!”

“Really!?”

“Yeah!”

“Is that so!?”

“Yeah!”

“Don't cash all your checks in one basket, boy. You never know what you're gonna get!” Spaceman didn't seem to understand how idioms worked. He figured he could just string together any group of words and it would have some profound meaning. He was about as intelligent as a blind man attending a silent film festival.

“Yeah, well I've had it up to here with your so called smack talk, if your talk can even so be called smack. Get bent, loser. I got a fight to fight.”

With the entire planet now deserted, the Destroyer didn't seem like much of a threat to anyone unless someone actually went to Beaverball. The government figured it was just a matter of time of waiting for it to die, and if people were brave enough to go there and try to kill it themselves, then that's their business, and probably their funeral as well, but from a governmental point of view, there was no harm in letting people try.

As usual, Galaxy-Man walked into the waiting area and waited for his name to be called. He saw Fu, but didn't say anything. Soon his name was called and like clockwork he walked down the hall and outside into the ring. This was it, the final battle, the whole reason for entering the tournament; it all ends here!

On the opposite side of the ring, Fu stood waiting, a look of sobriety and sternness in his face, not a trace of a smile to be found. Fighting to him was serious business.

“Fighters bow,” said the ref.

Galaxy-Man and Fu stepped to the middle of the ring and honorably bowed.

“Fighters prepare,” the ref continued. Fu took a flawless stance learned from his decades of martial arts while Galaxy-Man simply put his dukes up.

“Good luck,” said Fu.

“I don't need luck,” Galaxy-Man boasted.

“Fight!”

This was it, the fight had finally begun! This was it, the one battle that really counted. Galaxy-Man charged Fu without hesitation. In typical Galaxy-Man fashion, he first faked with his right and went for a jab with his left, but Fu saw this coming and blocked the attack. Fu was a very defensive and opportunistic fighter, conserving as much energy as he could and using his opponents strength against them whenever he saw the opportunity. Galaxy-Man stepped back and, feeling especially daring, went for a roundhouse kick, though, when he did this it ended up looking like a sort of awkward twirl that completely missed its target by a mile or so. This made him slightly dizzy and he wobbled a bit.

“How did you manage to get this far?” asked Fu.

“Shut up!” replied Galaxy-Man as he regained his already goofy stance. “I'm gonna kick you in the asshole! Wait, no, not like that.”

Flustered, Galaxy-Man shook his head and charged at Fu once again. Fu was fast like greased lightning and easily avoided his attack. Fu grabbed Galaxy-Man's arm and threw his over his shoulders.

“Your technique isn't doing you any favors,” said Fu calmly. He hadn't even broken a sweat. Do foxes even sweat?

Ignoring his pain, Galaxy-Man sprang to his feet and ran at Fu once again. “Why don't you say that to my fist, you DeviantArt, furry fetish lookin' son of a bitch!!” He went for a punch but Fu grabbed his fist. He punched with his left, but Fu grabbed his left fist as well.

“I'm disappointed,” said Fu. “I was expecting m-” but he was interrupted when Galaxy-Man smashed his head forcefully into Fu's snout. “Aaackk!!” yelped Fu.

“No favors, huh?”

Blood dripped from Fu's nose as he staggered to his knee. He looked up at Galaxy-Man and softly smiled. “Not bad,” he admitted.

The two fought hard for several minutes. While Fu was a much better fighter, he found it difficult to fight with Galaxy-Man because he was so unpredictable. After awhile, both were bloody and tired, though one much more so than the other.

Galaxy-Man was on his knees panting. “Just... just give up, Fu. You can't win.” He got up and staggered over to where Fu was standing. He was in tremendous pain. He was bleeding from the ears, his lip was busted, his nose was broken, and he had a cracked skull. He was a bloody mess, but kept fighting. “I'm gonna... gonna beat you.”

Fu clearly had the upper hand. He was hurt, but not nearly as badly as Galaxy-Man was. Galaxy-Man went for a kick because his fists hurt so badly. Fu grabbed his leg and flipped Galaxy-Man over and onto his back. “Stay down,” panted Fu.

“Stay down, Dad!” yelled Cherry from the audience. “For God's sake, stay down!!”

“He's gonna kill him,” said Cutty in horror.

On the verge of unconsciousness, Galaxy-Man ignored Fu's advice and got back up. He looked over to Cherry and Cutty and saw a look of horror in their faces.

“Galaxy-Man,” said Fu harrowingly. He took off his necklace. “You clearly aren't gonna give up until you get yourself killed, which is a real possibility at this point given your state, so I want you to take the damn necklace and go to a hospital before you bleed out.”

Galaxy-Man got back up onto his feet. “I don't want your necklace. I want your gamey blood!!”

“What did he say?” asked Cherry.

“It looks like he's giving him the necklace,” said Cutty. She breathed a sigh of relief as Fu threw the necklace to Galaxy-Man. “He did it, he got the dongle.”

Galaxy-Man kicked the necklace away and rushed at Fu yet again. He was full of rage and not thinking clearly.

“What are you doing, Dad!?” asked Cherry. “Just stay down!!”

Galaxy-Man, his body bruised and badly beaten, came at Fu full force, his clothes drenched in deep red blood and eyes too swollen to properly see. “Just give up!” he shouted, nearly in tears as he knew that his bitter failure was inevitable at this point. He kept fighting, giving it his all, his logic being that he had come too far to admit defeat.

Fu grabbed him and twisted his arm, forcing him to look into the crowd. “Look!” he shouted, pointing to Cherry and Cutty.

Galaxy-Man looked in horror at Cherry and Cutty watching him suffer needlessly.

Cherry was in tears. “Dad, please stay down! I know you feel like you're not good enough sometimes, but look how far you came! You did what you said you were gonna do, please stop right now! I love you so much, and I hate seeing you in so much pain! You're my dad. I-I-” but she began to sob before she could finish her sentence.

Galaxy-Man began to cry behind his shades. What a fool he had been. He slowly limped to the edge of the ring, looking at the teary-eyed faces of his friends. “I'm sorry,” he said in a hushed, nearly inaudible tone. While he gazed deeply into their faces, Fu ran up from behind and kicked Galaxy-Man out of the ring. He hit the ground hard and blacked out shortly thereafter, knowing that it was okay now.

Galaxy-Man had no grace on the battlefield. He had no special moves or strategies, but the one thing he did have, that allowed him to come so far, was his own will. His determination was truly something to be admired, even if he wasn't particularly good at anything. He wasn't good at sports, he wasn't musically inclined, he couldn't draw, he couldn't write, he had no special talents, but he sure had a lot of fight in him. When you get down to it, talent is no substitute for heart, and when you truly put your heart into something, things will always turn out great, regardless of how good you are. Galaxy-Man did what he set out to do simply because he believed that he could.

This was it – for him, the tournament was finally over. He was rushed to a hospital back home so his wounds could be treated. If you're wondering who won the tournament, it came down to Fu and Spaceman, but Spaceman, despite his low intellect, was an excellent fighter and narrowly bested Fu. He was bestowed the Sword of Masters, just like he said was going to happen.

Galaxy-Man awoke a couple of days later in his own bedroom, piled like dirt in his mountain of tangled blankets. The room was deathly silent and oddly warm. He was in a considerable amount of pain, but he was okay. He had been treated for his ills at a hospital the night before and he was covered in crusty, blood-stained bandages. He got up slowly and walked out the door.

He walked into the living room and Cherry was sitting on the couch twiddling her thumbs. She looked worried, like she hadn't been sleeping much. All the lights in the house were off because the electricity bill was unpaid. The house was stiflingly hot, and eerily quiet, dust visible in the rays of sunlight coming through the windows.

“Dad, you're awake,” said Cherry. She looked rough, like she'd been though a stressful few days.

“You know it, man,” replied Galaxy-Man. “How long was I out, an hour?”

“Um, Dad...” Cherry sounded very troubled. Something was definitely up.

“What is it, Cherry? What's wrong?”

“You remember that worm thing?”

“What, the morpher?”

“That thing's more dangerous than ANY of us imagined.” Cherry sounded oddly terrified.

 “That's Beaverball's problem, kiddo. You don't have to worry. The Breadbasket is safe.”

“Dad... there is no Beaverball.”