Matt

Chapter 10- The Fight

It's times like this that make me think, why can't a real superhero come and take over for me? I could think of numerous heroes from the manga that I have read that would be much better suited to save the world than I could ever hope to be. I'm just a regular dude who doesn't deserve to be in the situation he's in. Whether I liked it or not, I was the only person who had any hope of stopping this dire situation.

Hope...that's about all I have going for me, right now.

For at the bottom of these steps was both my enemy and my objective. What did I have to do? Simple. Convince John not to ban his daughter from her club. How hard could it be right? He's only an ordinary human, too. He didn't possess any special powers that I'd have to contend with. So why am I so scared?

It's simple. Despite the fact that the both of us are ordinary humans, it would be foolish to say that this was an even playing field. Far from it in fact. Physically, I was completely outmatched. That point was made abundantly clear when he first brought me to the dojo and proceeded to pummel me into oblivion. So there was no chance that I could bully John into changing his mind. Mentally, I was not in much better shape. Only minutes ago, I was soundly thrashed in a contest of wits against him. No matter how hard I tried, John easily saw through my deception and countered brutally. So tricking him into changing his mind was equally unreasonable. There only one route to go. I'd have to combat him on the emotional level.

So how the hell do I do that? Do I beg him to change his mind and hope he shows mercy? I'd doubt that'd work. If there was one thing John didn't have a lot of, it was mercy. Maybe I could scare him into changing his mind. Ha! That would never work. Maybe I could convince him that if he didn't change his mind that his daughter would likely never forgive him and never love him again. I somehow doubt that'd work, either. He'd probably say "So be it!" and end it right there. Sigh, none of these ideas seemed all that great.

It doesn't matter now. I'm near the bottom of the steps now, and he's almost in view. I sure would've liked to have seen the look on his face if he had known that he inadvertently caused the murder of millions by dangerous monsters. And he's not even some over the top super villain. Sure, he might be a bit of a bastard, but he's not evil. At least I don't think he is...

You know, this day had started off so good, too...

John was sitting on the couch watching TV. His face still had obvious signs of displeasure. Clearly he was still pretty damn pissed off. Great. That'll make this easier... He saw me approach him, and I could see his anger rise even more.

"What the hell do you want?! I don't even want to look at you right now!"

Believe me, that makes the two of us...

"Hey look, can we talk for a moment," I said.

"I don't want to hear it!" yelled John as he looked at the TV again.

I ignored what he said and continued. "The club is really important to Serena, and..."

He interrupted me before I could finish. "What part of I don't want to hear about it don't you understand?!" He then moved to the edge of the couch, an obvious non-verbal cue that if I didn't shut up and go that he would get up. I had a pretty good idea that him getting up would be a really bad thing.

Nevertheless, I knew that I had to stay. I'd be lying though if I said I wasn't slightly terrified. "She'd be devastated if she couldn't go to it anymore. You have to let her keep going to it!"

"I don't have to do anything of the sort!" He then got on his feet. Oh boy... "So are you telling me that even though she lied to my face repeatedly for the last year, I'm supposed to pretend it didn't happen and be okay with it?! Well you can #&*ing forget it!" He then began to walk towards me in an intimidating manner. "And don't even get me started on you! I know now that you're a disgusting, lying piece of shit! Did you really think that I wouldn't find out about you stupid club?!"