FROM THE AMAZONS ARENA BBS 702-243-7723 THE PRIZEFIGHT XIII: Sharon KO's Germany, Part 2 ------------------------------------------------ Sharon's head was rocked by the force of the blow. Instinct and experience guided her counter punch to clip Erika on the chin. Before Erika could recover, she took a left-right combination to the belly, and an uppercut that neatly put her down. Sharon squatted down where Erika lay. "Are you OK?" "Ja. Just a little dizzy. Zat vwas a good punch." "Remember, accuracy is more important than power. Especially when you're pitted against a larger, stronger opponent. Like when I'm up against a moose like you." Sharon reached down and helped Erika off the canvas. In the weeks since Sharon had beat the German champion, they had become close. Sharon, who had grown up with a house full of brothers, felt that she had found a "little" sister. Erika felt much the same way. Having started her boxing career at a very young age, and having been at the top from the start, she had never met anyone she could look up to until she met Sharon. And look up to her she did. When Sharon beat her, it had been the first loss of her career. Since they had been working out together, Erika had tested Sharon to make sure that it hadn't been luck. Lying on the canvas again, she was reassured. Bob, Sharon's husband, shook his head as he kept time and watched sweat spray and leather fly as the two amazons beat the shit out of each other. He would sooner step into the center of a nuclear reactor than between those two. The past few weeks had been a blast. Working out all day and partying all night. Germany was a hell of a lot more fun than the tourist brochures would lead you to believe. The only part that made Bob wince was Erika's propensity to fly off the handle if anyone made any unkind remarks about her American friends. She had left a string of unconscious bodies in their wake in every beer hall and disco between Frankfurt and Munich. On one occasion, she had taken offense to a soldier in a bar that looked like it was hosting the entire German army. It was the only time he and Sharon needed to step in and help her. The German army lost. Right now, Sharon was preparing to face the German men's champion, Hans Grueber. Before she had come to Germany, it had just been another fight. But since Hans had confronted her after her win over Erika and started to give her some shit, it had become personal. The two amazons were finished in the ring now and had moved on to the heavy bag. Erika was holding as Sharon pounded away. "So Hans usually likes to stand there and let his opponent take his best shot?" Sharon asked. "Ja. He likes to stand there and show that he is more man than his opponent." "Then he's going to have a hell of a time explaining what's about to happen," Sharon said as she let loose with a blow that drove the bag, and Erika, back six inches. "Ja. Maybe vwe should send him a dress." "Would you still like a shot at him?" Erika's face lit up. "Ja. Vone of the reasons I resented you before vwe met vwas zat they vwhere vwilling to give you a shot and not me." Sharon looked thoughtful for a moment. "Stick with me kid. I think I might be able to help you out." Fight night arrived, and Sharon was ready. The small crowd in the boxing club/beer hall went berserk when they saw their female champion Erika accompanying her to the ring. As they arrived ringside, the announcer was starting. "Introducing the German men's bare knuckle champion, with a record of fifty two wins, no losses, Hans Grueber!" The blonde haired German giant stepped into the ring. He was six five, two sixty, without an ounce of fat on his frame. Wearing a tight pair of black leather pants, he paraded around the ring displaying his awe inspiring physique to the crowd. "Too bad this isn't the Mr. Olympia. He'd stand a better chance of beating me," Sharon observed. "And introducing the American circuit champion, with a record of thirty three wins, no losses, Sharon Moore!" Hans didn't look pleased as Sharon received a loader response than he had gotten as she stepped through the ropes. At five eleven, one seventy five, she was a large woman, but she was dwarfed by Hans. Sharon looked resplendent wearing a pair of black silk boxing shorts featuring a golden dragon which she had picked up on her recent trip to Japan. Her physique made men's blood boil. She had broad shoulders, a thin waist, and muscular arms. But rather than detract from her femininity, these features enhanced it, making her a Goddess. Bob smiled at the reaction his wife received. "Looks like the crowd has a bad case of Sharon worship." "Yeah, these guys know a real woman when they see one." Bob nodded, knowing that this was true. More than once, they had entered a club and left the skinny little model types lonely and pouting as the men crowded around Sharon and Erika. The announcements were over and the bell was rung to start the first round. Hans strode to the center of the ring like he owned it and addressed Sharon. "You made a big mistake coming in here little girl. I vwill show you vwhat a real man veels like. Come and take your best shot." Hans spread his arms and stuck his chin out a bit. Bob swore he could hear the tendons in Sharon's right arm crackle as she balled her taped hand into a rock hard fist. "Don't mind if I do Hans." Sharon drew back her arm and sent her hardest punch rocketing towards Hans. But rather than accept the invitation to strike his granite jaw, she sent her fist penetrating deep into his solar plexus. No matter how many sit-ups or crunches a man does, this target is always vulnerable, and if struck hard enough, it can end a fight. Hans eyes bugged out and the color drained from his face. Trying to imitate his thick German accent, Sharon said, "Vwhats the matter Hans? A properly pumped up man like yourself shouldn't have any trouble taking a punch from a little girly girl like me." Hans just croaked a bit. Despite her bravado, Sharon didn't waste any time letting him recover. Grabbing his jaw with her left hand, she lined up his face like she was teeing up a golf ball. When she had the right angle, she unleashed a right that whipped his head to one side with a crack. Hans dropped to floor like an ox. The crowd looked on in stunned silence as the count commenced. Hans managed to stir, but wasn't even close to getting up at the count of thirty. There was some applause as Sharon raised her hands in victory, but it lacked some enthusiasm. "What's the matter with these guys? Where they expecting something more?" Sharon asked innocently. "Well you can't really blame them. An amount of money exceeding the GNP's of many small countries just changed hands because Hans is an idiot," Bob answered. "Not my problem. Maybe next time they'll get a smarter champion." "Zat is not likely in this country," Erika observed. "Oh really?" Sharon said, "Just keep watching Hans and we'll see about that. There they go, he's coming around now." Back in his corner, Hans had just been revived with a couple of slaps to the face. His attendants said something to him and he sat there for a second with a blank expression. "They just gave him the bad news. His brain is now trying to process it. It should click right about... now." Hans jumped to his feet bellowing like a bull. Charging across the ring he pointed at Sharon. Sputtering with rage he yelled, "You, you cheated!" Sharon blinked and put on a look of indignation. "Me, how did I cheat?" "You, you..." Hans face turned beet red as he tried to think of a reply. "That's what I thought." Sharon said. "I vwant another fight!" Hans bellowed. "I'll tell you what Hans. You want to fight me again? You're going to have to prove that you're a worthy opponent, because you haven't yet." Hans fumed as Sharon continued, "If you want to fight me, you've got to beat her first." Sharon pointed at Erika who was genuinely surprised. "I vwill vwarm up by beating her and then I vwill beat you." It was Erika's turn to look indignant. "You are getting ahead of yourself Hans. It took her twelve rounds to beat me, twelve seconds to beat you." Hans pointed at Erika now. "You, shut up. I vwill deal vwith you vwhenever you are ready." "I am ready now!" Erika started to unbutton her blouse. "Zen come and meet me. I grow tired of talking." Hans stalked back to his corner and waited as Bob hastily prepared Erika to fight. The crowd talked excitedly and wagers were placed worldwide. There had always been a lot of speculation about what would happen if Hans and Erika ever squared off against each other, but nobody had ever seriously expected to see it. Back in her corner, Sharon was giving Erika a pep talk. "You see that he can be beaten, you've got the tools, you've got the talent. You were right. You were a tougher opponent. Even if I had to fight him for real, I don't think he'd give me half as much trouble as you. But whatever you do, don't go in and try to out-German him." "Vwhat do you mean?" Erika asked puzzled. "I mean that you Germans seem to like to stand in front of each other and punch as hard as you can until somebody drops." Erika smiled and nodded, "Ja, zat is how vwe like to fight." Sharon shook her head, "Just don't try it with him. You have this nice spacious boxing ring here, use it. This guy has never needed more than three rounds to beat an opponent. Take him over that, and you've won. Remember, he's going to come charging out of that corner pissed. Use his anger against him." "Zat is a lot for a simple German farm girl to remember." "Then just get out there and kick his ass!" "I think I can remember that." The bell rang, and true to Sharon's prediction, Hans came charging across the ring like a bull. With Erika wearing nothing but a pair of black spandex exercise bottoms, the two large, blonde, muscular Germans looked like brother and sister. Erika dodged Hans and nailed him in the small of the back as he passed by. "Vwhat? Don't I get a free punch?" Erika asked. Hans's reply was to yell and start a second charge. Again, Erika allowed him to pass. Jumping behind him, she shoved him face first into the ropes. Holding him with her left hand, she sent her right hooking into his lower back and kidneys. Hans twisted around with a huge elbow that Erika had to jump back from to avoid. The rest of the round went much the same. Erika was giving Hans a boxing lesson. By the time the bell rang, Hans was covered with sweat and breathing hard. Erika on the other hand, only had a thin sheen of perspiration with a couple of droplets rolling down her muscular cleavage. "Vway," Sharon shook her head," I mean way to go Erika! If you can keep him going like that, he's going to keel over with a piece of 'wurst lodged in his heart." The second round started much like the first. Midway through, Erika made a particularly elegant move and managed to pop Hans in the nose causing a stream of blood. Hans yelled something and Erika's expression changed for the worse. Sharon didn't speak much German yet, but she had heard the phrase enough in the ring to know that Hans had just said "Fucking bitch!" Sharon watched as Erika's stance went flat and she took a step towards the giant. "Don't do it Erika!" she yelled. But Erika wasn't listening anymore. Getting in Hans's face, she smashed him with a straight right that connected with a crack. Hans responded with a right that drove Erika back two steps. A little wobbly, she stepped back in and punched Hans in the face again. Hans ripped off a roundhouse blow that spun her around. She tried to trade another punch, but her fist sailed right past Hans's head. Reaching around with his left arm as if to hug her, Hans grabbed hold of Erika's ponytail and yanked her almost off her feet. Drawing back his right, he sent it crashing into her bare midsection. From her perspective, Sharon could see that Erika still had her abs tensed or that blow might have been lethal. Another half dozen body punches followed. Erika's feet were actually swinging from the ground when Hans let her drop. But instead of hitting the floor, Erika tried to keep her feet. This gave Hans the chance to line up a punch that caught her in the center of the face and flung her back onto the ropes. Rebounding, Erika went down hard. Sharon was screaming from her corner as the count started. The bell sounded for the end of the round as the count reached ten. Erika bravely got to her knees and crawled to Sharon. Reaching the corner, she took hold of the ropes and paused for a moment. "Come on Erika! Get up! I can't help you until you get up!" Sharon's prompting got through, and Erika pulled herself to her feet, released the ropes, and stopped the count. Bob and Sharon grabbed her and planted her ass on the stool. Grabbing his cut kit, Bob went to work. Erika's nose had been ruined by that last blow and had covered her chest with blood. But it was a cut over her left eye that he started with first. If she lost any vision in her left eye, it could prove fatal in a fight like this. Looking into Erika's eyes, Sharon could see that she was recovering her faculties. "What the fuck did you think you were doing out there? If Hans wasn't slapping the shit out of you, I would be! Now you get back out there and move. Fuck the crowd. You stay away from him for at least a round." Bob looked at Sharon. She was seriously pissed. But her anger had nothing to do with winning or losing, she was worried about Erika. Erika got to her feet at the sound of the bell. Showing that the message had been received, she kept away from Hans. She had been slowed by the punishment she took, but Hans was moving even slower. Towards the end of the round, the crowd was growing restless. Hans stopped in the center of the ring and addressed Erika. "Vwhats the matter little girl? You vwanted to fight, not race. Are you afraid that I am too much man for you. Vwe vwill find out after I have beaten you and dragged you back to my room." Sharon held her breath. Erika didn't look pleased, but she didn't rise to the bait either. Sharon was relieved as Erika won the struggle against her genetic tendencies. Erika looked nearly fully recovered by the end of the third round. "Good job Erika." "I must hit him soon, or I vwill explode." "Don't worry, you'll get your chance. We just need to burn off the last of his energy reserves. Do you think you can say something to piss him off?" "Ja, it comes naturally to me." The bell for the fourth round sounded and Erika led off with her mouth. "Vwhat are you? A little girly man who can't beat a little slip of a girl like myself?" Sharon broke out laughing. At six feet, two hundred pounds, she wouldn't dream of anybody describing Erika as a little slip of a girl. Hans started for her. Erika said something in German as she pointed towards his crotch and the whole crowd in the beer hall started to laugh. Hans lost it. Jumping in front of her, he sent a roundhouse winging over her ducking form. The punch could have knocked down a small building. Erika straightened up and slapped his face with an open hand. Sharon hadn't thought Hans could get madder, but she was wrong. With a bellow of rage that rattled the windows, Hans started swinging wildly. Erika laughed and mocked him as she deftly avoided his swings. Sharon enjoyed the show, but she realized how dangerous this game really was. She could actually hear Hans's fist cutting through the air. Finally, after two minutes, Hans swung and missed again. Tired and dizzy, he stumbled and fell. Looking over at Sharon, Erika asked, "Vwould zis be a good time to start?" Sharon flashed her a thumbs up, "Ja!" Erika waited until Hans had fully gained his feet. Darting in, she delivered a right-left combination. Hans tried to throw a punch, but he was way too slow. Erika's tricep bulged as she jammed her fist in his left eye. Another punch went in his right eye. A right started a mouse on his cheekbone. By the time the bell sounded, Hans was getting a bit fucked up. Back in her corner, Sharon noted the red stains on Erika's white taped fists and the way she sat on stool fidgeting and flexing. Hans had a long round coming. At the sound of the bell, it was Erika's turn to charge. Hans had recovered somewhat, so he was able to exchange a few punches with her. It was clear that his blows no longer carried their killing force. After realizing this, Erika dropped her guard and invited Hans to take his best shot. "Go ahead Hans, show me vwhat a manly man can do." Hans was still able to hit her with a blow that rocked her. But Erika bobbed back up immediately. "Again!" Erika ordered. Hans lashed out with a punch that snapped her head to one side. The crowd was whipped into a frenzy by the display of machismo. Sharon winced when she saw that the blow had ripped a one inch gash in her cheek. "You hit like a girl!" Erika declared, "Let me show you how to punch like a man!" Erika drove her fist into the center of his face. Hans didn't move far, but he did move. Another four punches pressed his back into the corner. Going low, she hit him with a series of body blows that could be felt by the crowd. Hans tried to stagger out of the corner, but Erika grabbed his waist with her hands as if she was steadying a heavy bag. After working him over another minute, the bell sounded and Hans's attendants started to climb through the ropes. Erika shot them a look that caused them to freeze. After intimidating them for a few seconds, she wheeled around and returned to her corner. "Come on Erika, will you stop taking it easy on him. After all, you broke my fucking jaw," Sharon said. "I vwill leave him something to remember us by." At the start of round six, Hans's attendants barely got the stool out from under his ass before Erika showed up. Hans took a swing at her and stumbled. Stepping in, Erika grabbed him under his arms and held him up. "Hush little baby. Mommy vwill now put you to sleep." Erika gently propped Hans up in the corner. Crouching down, she sent an uppercut cracking into his jaw. Hans started to fall forward, but again, Erika caught him under his huge pects and pushed him upright. Holding him up with her left, she gently slapped his face with her right. "Vwake up little Hansy. Your little girlfriend vwishes to play some more." Hans's eyes fluttered open, and then bulged when he saw Erika still standing in front of him. He tried to get away, but Erika had more strength left than he did. Before he could resist anymore, she pounded his swollen jaw. Drawing her arm back, she repeatedly struck him. Hans's head flew around wildly. Stopping for a moment, Erika saw that his jaw didn't quite line up with the rest of his face. Grunting with satisfaction, she let him drop. Sharon greeted her with a hug as she returned to her corner. "Vwhat," Sharon shook her head, "I mean what took you so long?" "His damn jaw vwouldn't break." Later, after Erika had been visited by the club physician and cleaned up. Sharon and Bob picked her up in their Mercedes. "Everything check out OK Erika?" Bob asked. "Ja. Zee doctor said there vwere no internal injuries or broken bones other zan my nose." "Can't say the same for Hans. They had to rush him to hospital for a ruptured spleen." Sharon leaned over and looked at Erika carefully. She was a bit cut up, but a good doctor could keep the scarring to a minimum. "Erika, I've got something very important to tell you. Me and Bob talked to your manager. We took my prize money and bought your contract." Erika sat there quietly, so Sharon continued, "We're going to give you a choice. You can quit. Retire for real. If you need some money, I'll help you out. Or you can continue to fight for yourself. We'll sell you your contract, and you can pay us back from your winnings." The twenty two year old girl thought for a moment before replying, "Thank you for your kindness. My whole life, nobody has ever given me a choice before. Now I must ask you a question. Vwill you and Bob manage me?" "We'd love to, but we're returning to America in a few days. We can't manage you here." "Then I vwill come to America vwith you," Erika replied. Sharon and Bob looked at each other. "It isn't as if we don't have enough room in the house," Bob said. "And I've still got a couple of single brothers who would love to meet her," Sharon grinned. "And all you were going to take back was a couple of steins. I'll get her a ticket in the morning." Erika reached over the seat and wrapped a muscular arm around each of them. With a squeeze that nearly made Bob lose control of the car, she thanked them. "If it's no trouble, could I bring my dogs?" "Dogs?" Sharon asked, "You mean like a couple of those cute little wiener dogs? Or maybe a schnauzer?" "I have two German shepherds und a rottweiler at my father's farm. They used to be East German border patrol dogs," Erika replied with obvious pride. Bob and Sharon looked at each other again. Bob sighed, "It's not as if we really need to use the lawn. I guess our lives are about to get more interesting." THE PRIZEFIGHT XIV: A Day In the Life of Sharon ----------------------------------------------- Bob, Sharon, and Erika were jogging down the shoulder of an isolated country road a few miles from their estate. It had been a few days since they had returned to America from Germany where Sharon had gained Erika's respect by being the first person ever to beat her in a boxing match. Since then, Sharon had taken the twenty two year old girl under her wing like the little sister she never had. But at six feet tall, and weighing two hundred rock hard pounds, there was nothing little about her. Bob and Sharon had purchased her contract from her manager. They had given Erika a choice, and she had asked to return with them to pursue her career fighting on the same circuit that Sharon had been champion of. It was a cool fall day, and they were just starting to warm up when the still morning was interrupted by the sound of motorcycle engines. A minute later, a dozen outlaw bikers rounded a bend ahead of them and spotted the trio. Bob prayed that wouldn't be any trouble, but he knew better. Sharon was a magnet for trouble, and Erika was even worse. Together they were unbelievable. The bikers hurled some abuse as they passed, but the women didn't react until one of them threw a beer bottle. Bob didn't wonder if one of them would start something, just which one. As it turned out, they both did. "Fucking assholes!" they yelled back. Bob wasn't surprised when the bikes started to turn around and come back. Half of them cut off the road in front of them, while the other half sealed off the rear. The trio stopped as the bikers shut off their engines. The lead biker was the first to speak. "Excuse me, but what did you just fuckin' call us?" Sharon took a step forward and replied, "What's the matter, you got wax in your ears. We called you a bunch of fucking assholes." The leader looked over at Bob as the bikers started to dismount. "And what about you? Any last words before we beat you to death and rape these bitches?" Bob spoke calmly "Yeah, I've got something to say. It's not going to do any good, but I'd suggest that you get back on your Harleys before you get your asses kicked." The bikers started laughing at them. Sharon and Erika were wearing baggy warm-up suits, so the threat wasn't at all obvious. "You and what army?" one of the bikers yelled as they closed in. Erika put her fingers in her mouth and issued a piercing whistle which froze the bikers in their tracks. They looked around for a few seconds and then started to laugh again. "What? Were the fucking marines supposed to come and save you?" Just then, there came crashing sounds from the woods and three large shapes burst out of the underbrush. Erika issued a command in German, and the dogs took up guard positions between them and the bikers. The two snarling German shepherds were huge. Each would go well over a hundred pounds. But it was the rottweiler that got the bikers attention. The prehistoric looking beast had to be pushing two hundred pounds. The dogs had been trained as part of the East German border patrol before the wall came down. The bikers froze as they recalculated the rapidly changing odds. The lead biker who was closest to the dogs seemed to lose his enthusiasm. "Hey, we were just kidding around. We weren't really going to hurt you, just scare you a bit." Erika issued another sharp command, and the rottweiler jumped five feet through the air and knocked the biker on his back. The large animal stood over him and growled, its exposed teeth just inches from his throat. "Looks like the big badass biker wet himself," Sharon observed. "Hey, we don't want any trouble. Just call off the dogs, and we'll be on our way." Sharon started to remove her jacket. Erika followed suit. "Oh, we'll call off the dogs. But it's to late to stop the trouble," Sharon announced. The bikers seemed a lot less worried about the dogs as Sharon and Erika dropped their jackets to the ground exposing their upper bodies. The two boxers had bigger arms than most of the bikers. One of them recognized Sharon. "Jesus Christ! That's Sharon Moore, the circuit fighting champion." "That's right, and you're about to participate in my morning workout. Call off the dogs Erika." Erika barked at her dogs, and they backed off. Sharon, Erika, and Bob waded into the bikers. They didn't stand a chance. Sharon led off, burying her fist into the gut of a three hundred pounder. Erika hit a biker so hard that he flipped over the Harley behind him. A biker was about to whip Sharon from behind with a length of chain. Bob caught his hand and put him down with a right cross. "Believe me, you don't want to get her attention like that," he told the downed biker as he kicked him in the face. There were only a few bikers left standing as Bob looked around. Erika cornered the smallest biker and he tried to run away. Catching the hundred and fifty pound man by the belt, Erika hauled him back and hoisted him over her head. Throwing him, she knocked down two of the remaining bikers. "Show off!" Sharon yelled as she put another biker's lights out with a left. The fight didn't last much longer before all of the bikers were lying on the ground groaning. Sharon looked around for the leader. "Hey Erika, grab that one for me. I want a few words with him." Erika smiled as she leaned over and grabbed the semi-conscious biker by his leather vest. Her biceps swelled as she lifted him to his feet. Sharon walked over and slapped him back to consciousness. "Did I hear you say something about raping the bitches?" The bikers eyes bugged as Erika lifted his feet off the ground. "Answer her," she snapped. "We, we didn't mean it," the biker sputtered. Erika let go with one of her hands. The biker came down a bit, but not much. Reaching between his legs, she gave his crotch a squeeze. The biker squealed. "Ja, he could not have meant it. He is not properly equipped." "Flip him around. I want to ask this mutant a question." Erika spun the biker leader to face Sharon. "Are you sorry?" Sharon asked. "Ja," the biker shook his head, "I mean yes, yes I'm sorry." Sharon looked the man in the eyes. "Making fun of my best friend, are you? I don't think you're sorry at all. I think I'm going to have to make you sorry. I'll give you a choice." Sharon palmed her fist as she continued, "Either one in the balls or six in the gut." The biker struggled to escape, but Erika's grip was too strong. Erika leaned forward and said, "You don't have much to lose down there, but if you ever vwant to use your little vweiner again, I vwould choose the gut." The biker looked at Sharon's big arms and swallowed. "The gut," he croaked. "Good choice," Sharon said, "Erika, we'll take turns." The biker tensed as Sharon wound up. Her thudding punch cut through his abdominal muscles into his innards. The biker wanted to double up on the ground, but Erika was still holding him. "Your turn," Sharon announced as she relieved Erika. Seeing Erika's even larger arms, the biker tried to protest, but Erika's low body blow cut him short. Erika grabbed him under the armpits as Sharon took another shot. The biker started to heave. Trading places again, Erika plunged her fist under his ribcage. The biker thought he felt something burst inside of him before he lost consciousness. Vomit dribbled from his mouth. Sharon let him drop to the ground. "It wouldn't be any loss to society, but we don't want to kill him." "Vwe vwill just have to owe him the last two." "Ja," Sharon nodded. Looking around at the bikers, most of whom were now conscious, she said, "You assholes have made us late for lunch. We're going to have to borrow your motorcycles." One of the bikers who was struggling to get up said, "No way bitch, nobody messes with our bikes!" Sharon strode over and kicked his teeth out with her white Reebok. "Anyone else have a problem?" The rest of the bikers didn't say anything. "Good, I want his bike," Sharon pointed at the leader, "And his," she kicked the biker who had protested. The bikers pointed out the two Harleys. Erika didn't ride, so she took a seat behind Bob on a large touring bike. Sharon started her new Sportster, and they were off. The dogs ran behind them. They couldn't keep up, but they wouldn't have any trouble getting home. "Three days," Bob muttered, "We've only had three days of peace." Hearing him, Erika smiled, "Ja, I vwas beginning to think America vwas a boring place." Later in the afternoon, they went to the gym that Sharon and Bob owned. Sharon and Erika hit the weights while Bob talked with the manager. When Sharon had first seen Erika, she had thought that she was on 'roids. But since they had been working out together, Sharon found that Erika had gotten big the old fashioned way. Lift heavy and eat like a horse. Right now, Erika was lifting heavy. Men were staring as she benched eight reps with two hundred and eighty pounds. Sharon didn't even try to keep up. She might be able to match the younger woman, but it wasn't worth a possible torn rotator cuff finding out. Resting between sets, Erika reached out and pinched a bodybuilder's butt as he walked by. The man turned around with a surprised look on his face which turned into a smile when he saw her. Slapping his glute, he said, "You feel free to do that anytime you want sweet thing." He strutted a bit as he continued on his way. "Would you cut that out," Sharon said, "You're embarrassing me." "I can't help myself. You've got a lot of cute guys in America." "I'll tell you what. If you want, I'll hook you up with my brother Jack tonight." "Ja, I vwould like to meet your brother." "And please don't hurt him." Jack Moore was happy to hear from his sister. He told her he would be delighted to go out with Erika. That evening, they picked up the former Golden Gloves champion in front of the youth center where he volunteered as an instructor. Jack was blown away by Erika. The tall broad shouldered German girl looked great in a conservative long sleeved silk blouse and comfortable slacks. When they got to the restaurant, the foursome grabbed a secluded booth in the back. Jack was amazed as Erika polished off twice as much food as himself. Sharon caught him staring as Erika started a second desert. Answering the unasked question, she said, "Erika works out." "So Erika, what do you do for a living?" Jack asked. Erika looked at Sharon. Sharon nodded. "I'm a boxer." Jack blinked, "No really, what do you do?" Bob responded, "No, she really is a boxer. In fact, she was the German woman's heavyweight champ. We met her when we were visiting over there." Looking at Erika, Jack said, "I didn't mean to doubt you, it's just that with a face that beautiful, you don't look like a boxer. Most boxers show some scars. But now that I'm looking, your nose is a bit crooked, as if it's been broken. I like it. It adds character." Erika smiled at his recovery, "Ja, you are right. My nose vwas broken once. Your sister did it." Jack did a double take. "What?" "Your sister broke my nose when vwe fought. But not to vworry, I broke her jaw." "What have you been up to Sharon?" "Oh come on now Jack. You know I'm a boxer. I've been picking up a few bucks boxing professionally. I never mentioned it because I didn't want to worry the family." "You had me fooled. I thought you were just running a boxing gym. But it makes a lot of sense. That's why Lori was after you." "Who's Lori?" Erika asked. "It's a long story. Someday I'll tell you. Well, we've got to get going." Sharon said. "I'll get the check," Jack said. "Let me pay. After all you have done for me, it's the least I can do," Erika said. "No, I insist." "Vwhy don't vwe arm wrestle for it?" "Go ahead Jack. It seems like a fair way to decide. After all, you've got thirty pounds on her," Bob said. Jack shrugged and put his arm on the table. Erika reached over and took his hand. Thirty pound advantage? He was two thirty. That would make her two hundred pounds. How the hell can she be two hundred? Jack thought. His silent question was answered as they locked up and he saw Erika's bicep moving like a squirrel under her sleeve. As they started, her arm swelled and stretched the fabric. Using all of his strength, Jack managed to lever her arm over a bit. But Erika came right back and forced his arm back. Grunting with effort and clutching the table, he fought back. Their arms trembled as they battled. Neither of them tried to hunch over the table and use their weight. This contest would be decided purely on strength and endurance. A passing waiter stopped and his mouth dropped open. Jack stared into Erika's blue eyes. The struggle had nothing to do with the check and they both knew it. They were deciding the future of their relationship. Erika didn't have an ounce of fat on her body, but neither did Jack. They were both incredibly strong, well conditioned athletes. In the end, it came down to Jack's size advantage. Inch by inch he drove Erika's arm back. As Erika's hand approached the table, her sleeve split and Jack was treated to the sight of a huge tanned bicep. A second later, he finished her off. The whole contest had lasted almost a minute. Jack collapsed in his seat. Erika wiped a few beads of sweat off her brow with a napkin. Large perspiration stains were spreading under her armpits. Jack wasn't in any better shape. "Looks like I get to pay the check," Jack said smiling at Erika. "I think I owe you a new blouse also." "Zat vwas a good match. You are very very strong." "I'll bet you feel real good about beating a girl," Sharon said. Rubbing his arm, Jack replied, "If it makes you feel any better, I think I ripped my bicep." Erika smiled back, "Ja, it does make me feel better. Perhaps vwe can go shopping for zat blouse tomorrow. Zis one vwas a bit to small." Erika put her left arm up on the table across from Jack and flexed hard. Her left sleeve split with a matching rip. "See vwhat I mean?" Erika left her arm on the table as Jack reached over and inserted his hand into the rip to feel the silky smooth skin stretched over her bulging bicep. She felt a tingle as his warm hand caressed her arm. "How about I take the rest of my life off, and pick you up at one?" Erika looked over at Sharon. "Go ahead. We can start our workout a little earlier tomorrow." Looking at Jack, she said, "Just have her back before it's time to feed the dogs." Leaning over to Bob, she whispered, "Just wait until he finds out those blouses are custom made and cost about five hundred bucks." Later, after they where back home, Sharon asked Erika, "Did you find out what you wanted to know about my brother?" "Ja. He is strong. He does not quit. He also appreciates a vwoman such as me. I like him." "I was serious about what I said before. Don't hurt him. He had a very bad experience with a women boxer once. A woman who was looking to get to me through him. She broke his back." "Lori?" "Yes, Lori. "I vwill break her in half if she comes near him again." "Don't worry, I already took care of her." In a large storage room off of an underground parking garage in Los Angeles, a small crowd was howled with blood lust. Two opponents faced each other inside of a twenty by twenty foot cage. The first opponent was a hairy man built like an ape. He was about six one, two hundred and sixty pounds. He was naked, except for boots and a groin protector. His opponent was a woman. She was five foot nine, one hundred and ninety pounds. She was wearing a two piece black outfit made of thick studded leather. It did nothing to conceal her incredible musculature. It also served to contain a pair of huge, hard looking breasts. This was one of the many small arenas where pit fighting took place across the country. Unlike the circuit that Sharon fought on, these fights had little organization behind them. They didn't attract nearly as much money as the circuit did. Also, unlike the circuit, these fights were often to the death. The market for these fights was small but lucrative. There weren't many fighters who were willing to participate in these contests. And it didn't help that you lost half of them after every match. The fighters who did participate in these matches could usually be categorized as either desperate, sadistic, or psychopathic. Neither of tonight's fighters was desperate. The man charged at the woman. She calmly stood her ground and shot her right fist into his face. Since she had bulked up, she wasn't quite as fast as she used to be, but she was still faster than the men she faced. The blow broke his nose, but the man didn't even slow down. Diving to one side, the woman rolled to her feet. Turning to face her opponent, she sent a kick crashing into his knee. The man stumbled and went down. Leaping in front of him, she grabbed hold of his ears and drove her knee into his face. Twice more, her huge quads battered him. Stepping back, she decided that she could afford to have a little fun with him. "Get up asshole, while I'm still in the mood to let you." The man got up and started swinging at her. She easily avoided his clumsy punches and gave him a boxing lesson. With a lightning fast series of punches, she quickly reduced his face to a bloody pulp. The man tried to hit her with an uppercut, but she saw it coming and leaned back. Instead of hitting her chin, it just clipped her left breast. The breast that Sharon had destroyed... She remembered the night that she had fought Sharon. Lori had been winning, and then Sharon cheated. She still wasn't sure exactly how. Maybe her water had been drugged. Perhaps the tape on Sharon's fists had been concealing more than just her knuckles. All Lori knew was that the bitch couldn't have beaten her fairly. Lori had been in the hospital four months with a shattered ribcage and internal injuries. The first month she had to put up with that asshole brother of Sharon's that she had put in the hospital with a broken back. The indignities that she had suffered before she could get herself the hell out of there. But the worst part was what the bitch had done to her breasts. Her once proud breasts that had lured so many men to their doom had been ruined. The plastic tits she had now might still work on men, but she knew the difference. She had nightmares about what Sharon had done to her. Lori's concentration had only lapsed for a few seconds, but inside the cage, that could be a lifetime. The man rushed in and grabbed her around her blocky waist in a bear hug. Lori could feel her spine creak as he exerted crushing pressure. She tried breaking his eardrums with her cupped hands. The man shook his head and charged for one of the posts that supported the chain link fence making up the cage. Lori's breath was knocked out as she felt the cold metal post smash into her back. The man backed up a step and smashed her into the post again. He then started to scrape her naked back along the rough surface of the cage. Lori felt the steel cutting her flesh. Grabbing the man's head with both hands, she twisted it to one side and bit off his ear. To the man's credit, he didn't let go immediately. Lori had to chew on the side of his face for a moment before he screamed and threw her across the cage. Before Lori could get back up, the man drove a booted foot into her chest that flung her into a corner. Looking down, she could see a dirty black toe mark on her right tit. The man tried to kick her again. This time Lori caught his foot and savagely twisted with her whole body. The man screamed and fell as she felt cartilage rip. Getting to her feet, she circled her opponent. The man tried to get up, but he collapsed as his knee gave out underneath him. For the first time in the match, she saw fear in his eyes. This was the part that Lori lived for. This was the part when her opponent became... Sharon. Her booted foot caught him under the chin breaking his jaw. A side kick connected with his good knee as he tried to get up again. She continued to kick at her downed opponent as he tried to crawl into a corner. "You fucking bitch!" Lori screamed, "This is for what you did to my tits!" A swift kick thudded into the man's meaty chest. Some members of the audience looked puzzled as she screamed at the man. Others had seen her do this before. Lori had showed up to the pit fights about a year ago. Other women had climbed into the cage. Some had even survived. Lori was the only one who kept coming back. It was clear to everyone who had seen her fight that she was quite mad. But sanity was not an attribute that made for a good pit fighter. And Lori was quickly becoming the best. She also had built a reputation as the most sadistic. As soon as she had her opponent helpless, she would spend as long as an hour torturing him. Once, she had been pitted against another woman. She was a big tough dike who had beat plenty of men in bar fights. They weren't in the cage together for more than a minute before the woman had started to scream and tried to climb out. The woman's fingers were ripped to hamburger as Lori kept yanking her back in, all the while calling her "Sharon". The things Lori did to her are best left unsaid. Even veteran audience members were sickened by what they saw. The video tape of that match had made the promoters a small fortune at a thousand dollars a copy. Lori was finishing off her opponent. The floor of the cage looked like it belonged in a butcher shop. Most of the crowd had been splattered with at least a few drops of blood. The man had stopped struggling and lay still. His breaths were shallow and ragged. Straddling the man's back, Lori wrapped a large forearm around his neck and slowly lifted his head from the floor. As she gradually increased the pressure on his back, the man started to regain consciousness. Feeling him start to struggle in her grasp, she tightened her grip on his neck. She smiled as she watched her softball sized bicep swell. After she had gotten out of the hospital, she had started taking steroids to speed her recovery. She had never stopped. Twisting slowly, she turned the man's head until he was looking over his shoulder. His eyes bugged in their sockets. She finally felt his neck snap under the tremendous pressure. She didn't stop until his head was facing backwards. She felt the tingle of an orgasm starting as she looked at her dead opponent and saw... Sharon. A medical school dropout worked to close the lacerations on Lori's back. Lori felt the pain, but showed no outward indication as the man swabbed her wounds with an antiseptic. She just put the pain on Sharon's tab. One of the promoters came back to speak to her. "Great fight Lori. The crowd ate it up. But I'm afraid that guy was the last volunteer. We can't get you another match until somebody wanders in off the street." "That's all right," Lori said, "I'm ready now. It's time to find... Sharon." Of course, many of the pit fighting aficionados also attended circuit fights and knew exactly who Lori and Sharon were. They would also pay any amount to see a second fight between the two women. A fight in the cage. The promoters also knew this, and intended to make it happen despite the risk. Sharon had many admirers on "the Board", the mysterious body that governed the fighting circuit. The Board had many powerful connections, including ties to the mob. Dragging the former circuit champion into the cage against her will and killing her would be inviting death. But the money they would make would allow them to flee the country and retire with a large fortune. The promoter nodded. "We have reports that Sharon is back in the states. We'll get her for you." "And her brother," Lori said in a low voice, "Don't forget her brother." THE PRIZEFIGHT XV: Hurricane Erika ---------------------------------- Jack pulled up in front of his sister's large country house to pick up Erika for their lunch date. Sharon and Bob had introduced them to each other at dinner last night. Erika was a twenty two year old boxer who had just arrived in this country from Germany. They had arm wrestled for the check last night, and Jack had barely beaten her after a prolonged struggle. It might seem amazing that a six foot three, two hundred and thirty pound guy in great shape would have trouble overpowering a woman. That was, until you consider that the woman is a six foot, two hundred pound muscular blonde Valkyrie. Jack stepped out of his classic 'Vette. He hadn't made it halfway to the front door when he heard something bursting from the bushes behind him. Before he could turn around, he was hit from behind and knocked to the ground. Rolling over, he found himself face to face with the largest, meanest looking dog he had ever seen. He lay perfectly still as the dog stood over him growling. He could feel its hot breath on his face. Jack heard someone coming down the walk from the front door. The next thing he saw was two more large dogs appearing over him. They didn't look any friendlier than the first. Jack tried to get up slowly, but one of the smaller dogs jumped on his chest and snapped at his face. Looking up, barely even breathing, he saw a fourth head poke its way into view. "You are prompt. I like zat in a man." Erika snapped something in German and the dogs backed off. She reached down and offered Jack a hand. Jack accepted the invitation and Erika easily pulled him to his feet. Erika was dressed for their date in a loose fitting, long sleeved white cotton blouse, with a tight black skirt cut right above the knees. She looked damn good. "Your dogs?" "Ja." "Your idea?" "Zey vwere only following orders. You did vwell. Many men have vwet themselves upon meeting my pets." Jack dusted himself off. "If you were a man, I'd belt you. But you're not. And I suppose it's a woman's right to test a man." "I am so glad you understand. Very few men get past my dogs. At zat point, zey either respect me as you have, zey act like vwimps around me, or zey take a swing at me. Taking a swing at me is zee most common mistake. But zat is better than acting like a vwimp." "So have I past all of your tests?" Erika smiled knowingly, "Zere are many more." Jack frowned a bit, "Has anybody passed all of your tests?" Erika laughed, "Of course not, or I vwould be married to him bearing him many strong children." Jack swallowed, "Well lets get going." Erika climbed into the sports car. Her rottweiler jumped in the open door and sat down in the driver's seat. Jack walked around and opened the door. "Come on boy, get out of the car." Erika looked amused. "He does not yet speak English." She was expecting to be amused for a few more minutes watching Jack trying to coax the dog out, or worse, asking her to get him out. What came next was a shock to both her and the dog. "Really? Then maybe he speaks American." Jack reached in and grabbed the one hundred and ninety pound animal by the collar and yanked its ass out of the car. The dog hit the ground and came up ready to fight. But before it could turn around, Jack jumped on its back and knocked it to the ground. Erika watched slack jawed as the two of them rolled across the front lawn. After a brief struggle, Jack had the dog pinned and was staring it in the muzzle. The two Shepherds trotted over to watch also. "You guys want some of this?" Jack asked the puzzled canines. Grabbing the rottweiler's massive jaw, he asked, "How about you, you want some more?" Erika's dog whimpered a bit. Jack got off of him and he slunk off to join his fellows. Jack hopped back in his car. He was rewarded with the sight of a speechless Erika. "I've dated girls with tougher goldfish." he said as he kicked the 427 over and squealed out of the drive. By the time they got to the city limits, Erika didn't look too good. "What's the matter Erika, I thought you Germans appreciated a little spirited driving on the Autobahn?" "Zat vwas not zee Autobahn, und zis monster is no Porshe." It was Jacks turn to laugh, "You and your dogs learn fast." Jack took her to a small restaurant near his home where he had taken many dates before. The portions were small, the food expensive, but it was excellent. Erika smiled as he opened the door and held her chair for her. Jack winced when Erika ordered. Some of his dates had ordered the most expensive thing on the menu before, but she was the first to order three portions. When Erika found out they didn't serve beer, she contented herself with the bottle of wine that Jack had ordered. In fact, she liked it so much, she ordered a second bottle for herself. It helped wash down the shrimp cocktails that she had asked the waiter to keep bringing. When the check came, he asked her if she cared to arm wrestle for it. "Vwhat a good idea," Erika said. They locked up as they had the previous night. Jack intended to let her win and pay the bill herself. He could always blame an old injury to cover the embarrassment. On the count of three, they went for it. Jack started off using his full strength. Erika let her arm go limp. Before Jack could stop himself, he was two inches away from beating her. Erika started to pull her hand down towards the table. Jack tried to pull her arm back up, but she had too much leverage at that point. Her hand hit the table with a thump. Erika smiled sweetly, "Ouch. Looks like you get the check. You are just too much man for a little girl like me. In fact, I give up. I vwill never fight you for another check." The size of the check wasn't the worst part. The worst part was the way the staff was treating Erika. Everyone from the manager to the busboys fawned over the statuesque blonde with the easy smile. The French chef even came out to thank the beauty that appreciated his food so much. He recognized her and asked for her autograph. By the time he dragged her out of there, they were begging her to come back. Jack had been going there for five years and they didn't even know his name. After lunch, Jack asked Erika if she wanted to see the youth center where he volunteered his time to teach kids boxing. Erika readily agreed. When they got there, Jack introduced her to the kids who were working out as the German woman's heavyweight champ. As you can imagine, they had a ton of questions for her. One of the younger kids asked Jack, "Could you beat her?" Jack responded, "Hey kid, when you're a few years older, you'll realize that there are more important ways of spending your time with a woman like Erika than fighting." Erika smiled at his answer. One of the men who used the gym heard the conversation and drifted over. He was a huge bodybuilder who had been working out on the heavy bag with his shirt off. "You, a heavyweight boxing champion? Lets get real here. Women can't fight." Erika drifted up to him and started to put her hands all over his large sweaty muscles. "Vwe are not serious about boxing. It is only a vway for us girls to amuse ourselves. Vwe could never hope to compete with men like you." Running her hand down to his muscular abs, she stopped. "Vwhat is zis I feel? A soft spot?" "Hey! There isn't a soft spot on my whole body." Erika stared at his middle, "It looks a little soft to me." The man stepped back and flexed his washboard abs. "Go ahead, take your best shot." "I thought you vwould never ask." Jack watched as Erika drew her fist back and sent it blurring towards the man's stomach. It sounded like a rifle shot when her bare fist cracked into his midsection. Jack could tell that the blow had hurt him, but man managed to keep his composure. "See, what I mean. Nothing soft here." "Your turn," Erika said. "No, that's OK," the man replied. "I insist. It is a German custom." Erika stood in front of him. The man shrugged and threw a half hearted punch at her stomach. Erika looked insulted. "Just because I'm a girl, doesn't mean you have to punch like one. Try again." The man wound up and hit her with a decent punch. Erika didn't flinch. "Come on now big man. Jack's little sister hits harder." That's for damn sure, Jack thought. The man was pissed now. Stepping in close, he ripped a punch into Erika's middle. Erika just smiled at him. "My turn." Reluctantly, the man let her crouch in from of him and drive a right into his belly button. The crack was even louder than the first punch. The man was driven back a step. He stood there for a second and then fell to his knees clutching his belly. Erika walked over to him and patted him on the back. "Ja, you are right. There is no soft spot. You just had a bad meal. Men und women should not fight. You might hurt us." Jack led her out of the gym. "That's nice. Now he's going to come looking for me." "Is zat a problem?" "Of course not. But the center is having money problems. His gym fee helps keep it open." Erika felt bad for a moment, then brightened up, "I can help you get paying members." "How?" "I vwill join your gym und vwork out here." "Well, that will replace his fee. But how will that get us more members?" "I vwill vwear my cut-off tank top und short shorts and stretch in front of that vwindow zere. Und if zat doesn't vwork, I vwill stand outside the door und eat my mid-workout snack." "I can see how you might attract a few guys if we clean the window, but how is your snack going to help?" "I like to have a frozen banana which must be vwarmed with my mouth before I can eat it." Jack bit his lip at the thought. "I think we had better raise the fees around here." Jack took Erika to a small clothing store to replace the silk blouse that she had burst arm wrestling with him. Unfortunately, Erika was not an off the rack woman. But it was almost worth the four hundred dollars he spent to see the look on the face of the woman who measured her. After ordering her blouse, Jack showed Erika around the city and then took her to dinner. This time, he chose an inexpensive Italian restaurant. After what she had done to his wallet today, she could spend dinner grazing on inexpensive pasta to her heart's content. "I love Italian," Erika said, "May I order for us?" Looking over the prices, Jack said, "Sure Erika, surprise me." Erika surprised him. With a word in Italian to the waiter, she summoned the restaurant owner. They had an animated discussion in Italian, after which the owner kissed her hand and strode purposefully towards the kitchen. Jack learned three things during dinner. First, Erika had spent some time in Italy. Second, Italians do cook with caviar and truffles. And third, dinner for two could run into three figures at this restaurant. After dinner, Erika wanted to go clubbing. Cranking up his 'Vette, Jack took her to one of the hottest spots in town. As Erika got out of the car, she unbuttoned her blouse and tossed it on the seat. Underneath she was wearing a lace trimmed black top. It was the first time that Jack had gotten a good look at her body and he was impressed. "Your sister vwouldn't let me leave the house dressed like this." "Can't imagine why." As they passed the bouncer to go to the back of the line, he stopped Erika and opened the gate. He smiled and said, "You can go right in." Erika pinched his cheek and breezed by him. Jack tried to follow, but was stopped by the man's hairy hand. "Not you buddy." Erika called back, "He's vwith me." "Sorry, my mistake." But when the bouncer spoke, he was addressing Erika. She had been in the friggin' city less than eight hours and she owned it. After an hour of dancing, Jack went to the bar to get them a couple of beers. His sister Sharon had actually called him that morning before he came over to warn him about Erika. She made it sound like Erika was a natural disaster. Other than the dog attack, beating up the muscle guy, and being the most expensive date he ever had, Jack liked the way the day had went so far. His sister worried too much. Sharon wasn't pleased. It was almost Ten in the morning, and she couldn't get in touch with Jack or Erika. As she went out to get the mail, she looked towards Chicago. At least it's not burning. Returning to her kitchen, she unfolded the paper. Bob was opening a couple of cans of tuna for lunch. "You still worried about Erika?" he asked. "I'm not worried about Erika. She just starts the storm and stands in the center. Its the innocent bystanders like Jack who are left homeless." Bob grinned, "Funny, I used to think the same thing about you." "Well then maybe you'll get a hoot out of this." Sharon tossed the paper in front of him. A story on the bottom of the front page read "NIGHTCLUB RIOT: Former Golden Gloves Champ Taken Into Custody". A picture running with the story showed a couple of cops hustling Jack off as other officers waded into the crowd. "There's still a very small chance that Erika wasn't involved," Bob said. "Look closer." Bob scanned the picture again. In the background, he saw the tall blonde in the crowd. She had some guy in a headlock and was jamming her fist into his face. "It could be worse. She could have made the headline. Hurricane Erika wipes out Chicago." Sharon didn't laugh, "She hasn't even been gone a day yet. Give her time." Jack was pissed. He had spent all of last night and most of the day in a holding cell before they cut him loose. And the worst part was that he didn't even start the riot. He had gone to get Erika a beer. He came back and saw her surrounded by a dozen leather clad punks. He wasn't exactly shocked when he saw Erika belting one of them. The rest of the punks jumped on her and the fight was on. Jack didn't hesitate as he charged in and started laying punks out. He got to the pile in the center of the floor and started tossing the punks aside like a terrier shaking rats. He got to the bottom of the pile and Erika wasn't there. Looking around, he was hit from behind as the punks got reinforcements. Fifteen minutes later, he was hauled off by the police with half the nightclub patrons pointing at him. As he was being driven off to the police station he spotted Erika waving good-bye from the curb. Not exactly how he was planning to end the night. He called a cab and went home. When he got to his townhouse, he found the front door broken. Just fucking wonderful, he thought, I've been robbed. But when he opened the door, his nose was assaulted by the smell of cooking sauer kraut. Erika heard the door open and came out and gave him a big hug. She was wearing a large apron. "I vwas so vworried about you Jack." "My door?" "I had no key. I let myself in." "And what the hell was that about last night? You set me up." Erika looked hurt, "I vwas just an innocent girl defending her virtue." In truth, she had set him up. Picking fights was a talent of hers. It had taken her almost an hour to find a large enough group to mess with. She had waited until Jack was coming back from the bar and then took a swing at one of the punks. As the rest of them jumped on her, she uncharacteristically ducked them and crawled away on her knees. When she stood back up twenty feet away, Jack was in the thick of it. It couldn't have gone any better if she had paid them. Jack had been magnificent. He didn't hesitate to come for her. Punks had flown left and right as he cleared them out of his way. It was like watching a lion chase a bunch of hyenas. She was as surprised as Jack when the second group showed up. Jack was hit from behind with a beer bottle and went down. Erika started to push her way through the crowd to get to him when she saw three punks go flying through the air. Jack exploded back to his feet. Erika had never been so hot for a man before as she was at that moment. Too bad the police took him away. Grabbing him by the hand, she said, "Come, I cooked dinner for you." As Erika led him to the kitchen, he could see that she wasn't wearing anything under her apron except a pair of cotton panties. Jack bit his lip as he watched the muscles rolling in her back and ass. The woman had more moving parts than a Swiss watch. Chicken and kraut wasn't Jack's idea of a good combination, but he politely ate it because Erika told him that he was the first man other than her father that she had cooked for. After dinner was over, Jack asked hopefully, "What's for dessert?" Erika didn't reply. She hooked her thumbs around the apron straps and broke them with a loud snap. The apron fell to the ground leaving her naked except for her white panties. Jack could see for the first time just how perfect her body was. She was muscular, but she wasn't bulky. Her broad shoulders tapered to a thin waist. Erika's breasts were small for her frame as a result of her training and diet, but they would still make a handful. Her nipples were very dark and contrasted with her full body golden tan. Erika started to pose like a bodybuilder. Her muscles rippled under her skin like they had a mind of their own. Her biceps were large and round. Her pects were thick and well defined. She had washboard abs. Her legs were large, but not cut as well as her upper body. Typical for a boxer. By the time she finished, she was glowing with a sheen of perspiration. A small trickle of sweat had formed between her breasts and rolled down to her belly button. Finishing her routine, Erika started to rub up against him like a cat. "Actually, I was thinking of ice cream." Jack wasn't prepared for the knee in the stomach. He folded with a "Whooff". Erika reached down his pants. "Big Jack vwants me for dessert!" she proclaimed. Before he could react, Erika picked him up in a fireman's carry and sprinted for the stairs. Jack barely avoided smashing his head as Erika took the stairs two at a time. Kicking open the door, Erika dumped him on his bed and climbed on top. Buttons went flying as she ripped his shirt open. "This is rape!" Jack protested. Erika stopped, "You do not vwant me?" "Of course I do!" "Zen shut up und brace yourself." Jack didn't get any sleep until late the next morning when Erika left to go shopping. Halfway through the night, his bed frame had broken under the strain. They finished up and dumped the mattress on the floor. Before he lost consciousness that morning, he had two realizations. He realized that he was in love with the young German dynamo, and that she had taken the keys for his 'Vette. He drifted off with a silent prayer that his car would be returned safely. The next morning, Jack and Erika pulled in front of Sharon's house in a new Porshe. Sharon burst out the door with Bob following behind. Jack looked like shit. His face was messed up and his arm was in a cast. "Where the hell have you two been. You left for a lunch date three days ago! I called, I knocked on the door, I checked the hospitals. Come on! Right here, right now, which one of you wants to go first." "Lighten up sis," Jack said, "You should be happy for us. Erika sicked her dogs on me, emptied my wallet, got me into a gang fight, got me arrested, punched me out, broke my arm, destroyed my car, she even broke my bed," Jack smiled. "Then this shouldn't matter much," Sharon said as she buried her fist in the pit of his stomach sending him down on the lawn. Erika tried to grab her arm, "Vwait, you do not understand." Another punch put Erika down next to Jack. "You two stooges had better have a good explanation for this," Sharon fumed. "Show her," Jack gasped. Erika extended a hand towards Sharon. A large diamond caught the afternoon sun. "Oh shit. That isn't what I think it is?" "Yep," Jack replied, "You just decked your future sister-in-law." "It isn't the first time," Erika said rubbing her jaw. Sharon reached down and helped them up. Wrapping her arms around them, she smiled and said, "Well why didn't you say so." "Because you hit me," Jack replied. Sharon ignored the comment, "So what made you two kids decide to get hitched?" she asked. "Jack is a superior man who passed all my tests und vwill give me many strong children," Erika replied. "She's a knockout," Jack said simply. "Glad you two kids thought it out carefully," Sharon said. "It doesn't hurt that she's rich also," Jack grinned. "Rich?" "Yeah, she bought me this car when she wrecked my 'Vette." "Really? Did Erika mention that she owes me and Bob twelve million dollars. Since you're marrying her, your share comes to six million." "You're kidding, right?" Erika shrugged, Sharon smiled, and Bob nodded. "And I hope you have a large backyard behind your townhouse. Because when you and Erika get married, I'm going to be dropping those damn dogs off before the receptions over. That is, unless you want to take them now." Bob put an arm around Jack and steered him towards the house. "You look like you could use a drink. Lets go inside and I'll tell you what you have to look forward to." Sharon grabbed Erika. "I thought I told you not to hurt my brother." "I didn't," she started to protest, "Vwell, not more than..." Erika's silent incident count was cut short with another punch to the jaw. "Welcome to the family," Sharon said as she helped Erika back up. "Thank you," Erika replied with a shot to Sharon's gut. Bob poured Jack a scotch as the two women beat the shit out of each other on the front lawn. "Shouldn't we try to stop them?" Jack asked. Bob shook his head, "You've got a lot to learn. Lesson number one..." THE PRIZEFIGHT XVI: Erika Makes Her Circuit Debut ------------------------------------------------- Sharon woke up a half hour before dawn to start her morning workout. She checked Erika's room and frowned when she saw that Erika hadn't come back from her date with her brother Jack. Erika and Jack had become engaged after a whirlwind romance. Sharon had come to accept that Erika would be her sister-in-law after testing her sincerity on the front lawn. What was bothering Sharon was Erika's lack of discipline. Erika was scheduled to fight her first American circuit match next week and she had been missing workouts. Sharon knew that Erika wouldn't have any trouble taking out her opponent, but she also knew that the path Erika was taking wouldn't last in the long run. At twenty two years of age, the German girl had been making her way on youthful vitality. Sharon was going to have to get that idea through the girl's thick skull soon. Particularly if she intended to become family. Sharon heard Erika's dogs barking excitedly and then the front door opened. "Look what the cat dragged in. You're late." "Sorry Sharon, just give me five minutes to change und vwe can start our run. How about an extra two miles today?" Erika smiled. Ah, to be twenty two again. Truth be told, Erika looked a hell of a lot better after staying out all night than she did first thing in the morning. The six foot tall German girl was dressed in a pink tank top, black leather mini, and high heels. Her long blonde hair was mussed, and Sharon saw blood stains on her top. Sharon frowned, "You've been fighting again." Erika looked defensive, "It's your brother's fault." "How is it my brother's fault?" "A very rude drunk came over and saw my muscles. He said I looked like a man. I told him that I vwas more man than he vwould ever be. I then took a cocktail vweiner from zee bar und dropped it down his pants. I told him it might help. Zee drunk got angry und took a swing at me. I had to defend myself against him, his friends, und another guy at a club two hours later." "How in the hell is that my brother's fault?" "He should have defended my honor. After all, he is the man." Sharon shook her head, "I don't want to hear any more. You've got three minutes to meet me outside." Sharon watched as Erika bounded up the stairs three at a time. That girl was going to be the death of her. She wondered if Jack was still able to walk this morning. After all, her brother was a couple of years older than she was. Sharon took Erika up on her offer to go an extra two miles that morning. She was glad to see the German girl dragging a bit as they got home. Maybe she'd get the message. Maybe not, she thought as she saw Erika go right for the phone to call Jack. "Going out again tonight?" Sharon asked after Erika hung up. "Ja, Jack vwill be by at seven. You don't mind, do you?" Sharon smiled sweetly, "I'll make you a deal. You put in a good workout with me this afternoon, and I won't say a word." "It's a deal. Thanks Sharon." Don't thank me yet, Sharon thought as she went to prepare lunch. Sharon started to whip up a large batch of pasta. She was going to need plenty of energy to carry out her plans for this afternoon. Erika came in from feeding her dogs. They didn't eat much red meat, but those dogs sure as hell did. Sharon called Erika into the kitchen and placed a bowl of pasta in front of her. Sharon had stopped using a plate to feed the girl weeks ago. Why use a plate when you have to refill it two or three times. She now ate out of a large mixing bowl. Sharon looked out the kitchen window where Erika's rottweiler was wolfing down its food. She then glanced over at Erika. Beyond the fact that one was on all fours, she didn't see much difference. After lunch, Sharon jumped in her Bronco and took Erika down to the boxing gym that she owned with her husband Bob. The two women went in the weight room, did a warm-up set, then stretched. Sharon then started the longest, heaviest workout she had ever attempted. And Erika didn't disappoint her, as the German's competitive nature came out. Sharon benched a personal best of three hundred, Erika benched three twenty. Sharon squatted three ten, Erika squatted three fifteen. Sharon curled one fifty and was happy to see Erika crap out at one forty. After nearly two hours in the weight room, Sharon unbuckled her belt and declared the workout over. Erika started to head for the showers, but was halted when Sharon said, "Hold on there. We aren't finished yet. We've got to work on your boxing skills." Sharon led the sweaty blonde into the main hall where the boxing rings were. She then took Erika through a one hour drill on the various punching bags. By the time they were done, Erika was drenched in sweat. Her long blonde hair was hanging in strings and she was huffing a bit. She looks bad, Sharon thought, but not bad enough. "Good workout Erika! Really first rate." Erika looked relieved. "Now climb into that ring and shadowbox, while I round up a few sparring partners for you." Erika's face fell and she reluctantly climbed into the ring. Sharon went over to a group of men talking near the water fountain and asked, "Hey guys, you see Erika in the ring over there?" The men where well aware of the muscular six foot tall blonde moving around the ring dressed in shorts and a sweaty tank top, no bra. She had been causing eyestrain all over the gym since she had arrived. They nodded noncommittally. "Well she needs some sparring partners. She's been complaining that American men just can't keep up with her. She told me that if she could find a man her that could put her down, she'd go out with him. And just between us, Erika is easy. That is, once you get by the boxing part. Anybody who wants to take their chances can have one round with her. The line starts over there. Spread it around." Within five minutes, a large group of men had assembled around the ring. "Vwhat is going on?" Erika asked as Sharon returned ringside. "I was asking around for sparring partners, and the guys said that you were overrated. They said that they were more man than you could handle. They told me that any one of them could put you on your ass inside of one round. It's been a long day, maybe we should quit before you get hurt." Anger flashed on Erika's face, "Zey said vwhat?" Addressing the small crowd of men, she declared, "Anybody who zinks zey are man enough, I vwill fight here und now." Shit, Sharon thought, I could have charged them to fight Erika. She let the fourth challenger through the ropes. Erika had knocked out and bloodied the first three, but she was slowing down. The fourth man actually got in a few good shots before she ruined his plans with an uppercut to the chin. Erika had to face seven more challengers before the men gave up. She only managed to knock out two more of them, and had to go the full three minutes with the rest. To her credit, she was never in any real danger of going down herself. By the time she got out of the ring, she was dog tired and looked like shit. Perfect, Sharon thought. After they had gotten cleaned up and dressed, Sharon drove them back home. A hundred yards before they reached the driveway, she killed the ignition. Cursing their luck, she told Erika to push the heavy vehicle uphill while she steered. Within five minutes, Erika had gotten the truck thirty feet from the path to the front door. "Keep going Erika, I don't want to walk. OK, that's good." Sharon jumped out of the truck. Walking behind it, she found Erika slumped on the asphalt leaning against the bumper sucking wind. Sharon was going to apologize for leaving the emergency brake on, but she thought better of it. They were home now, and Erika looked like she still had enough energy left to sick the dogs on her. By the time they got through the front door it was five thirty. Erika excused herself and went to her room to take a nap before Jack came to pick her up. Sharon smirked as she saw Erika crawl up the stairs like an old woman. Bob came home just before Seven. He gave Sharon a peck on the cheek as he passed her in the kitchen. "Hey babe, I gave a quick visit to the gym just before I came home. Half the guys in there were all messed up. They said Erika offered herself to the man who could beat her. You don't know anything about that, do you?" "Damned right I do. I'm trying to downgrade hurricane Erika to a tropical storm. She blows in at dawn this morning, and then has the audacity to make another date for tonight. So I decided to teach her a little lesson about burning the candle at both ends. I've been working our little princess for twelve straight hours. Hell, I can barely move after what we just did, and she did most of the work. When Jack shows up in five minutes, Cinderella ain't going to be ready for the ball. And after I drag her out of bed tomorrow morning, I'm going to do it again." "Good plan honey, I hope it works for her sake." "It'll work. I hear Jack pulling up now and you don't see Erika running down the stairs, do you?" "Well, actually..." Erika's door burst open and she slid down the balustrade. She was fully made up and dressed to kill in a white mini-dress. Sprinting by Sharon and Bob, she yanked the door open before Jack had a chance to knock. "Don't vwait up," she said as she blew out the door. "Un-fucking believable. She couldn't have gotten more than fifteen minutes of rest. Not one word Bob." "How about three words honey? Hot oil massage." "It'll help," Sharon sighed. The next morning, Sharon heard Erika returning at three. At least I slowed her down a bit, she thought as she drifted back to sleep. That evening, Bob called the Board to finalize the arrangements for Erika's circuit debut. Since Erika had been a renowned fighter in Germany, and had beaten the German men's champion, Bob had no trouble in arranging a fight for her on the national circuit. Now Sharon wanted to make a few changes. Bob was on the phone with one of the Board's event coordinators. "No, no problems Bill, Erika will be there. What I wanted to talk to you about was changing the card. No, Erika will still fight him. What we're afraid of is that he won't make for a very good show. We feel that Erika can easily handle more than one opponent. In fact we were thinking of..." Sharon flashed him three fingers. "...three opponents. Of course, such an exciting event should be worth more to you, but we don't expect three times as much." Sharon left Bob to work out the financial details. She knew that Erika would have easily destroyed her original opponent, and then she might not take the circuit seriously. Sharon knew from experience that the circuit was a brutal and dangerous environment where a fighter could easily be killed if she didn't have her head together. She was hoping that Erika would run into some trouble her first time out, so that she would pay a little more attention to her training. Sharon was also hoping that by defeating three opponents, Bob would be in a better position to negotiate Erika's next fight. Erika owed them a mountain of money for her contract. Bob and Sharon were willing to call it even, but Erika insisted on paying them back. Sharon felt it was her responsibility to see that she did it in the shortest amount of time with the least possible risk. She also wanted Erika to have a few bucks in the bank before she married Jack. Bob hung up the phone and looked at Sharon. "They're willing to triple the original price." "That's damned good of them. Too damned good. What's the catch?" "Her third opponent just arrived in the States, and has never fought before in the western world. He's commonly recognized as the African champion." Sharon frowned, "Do we know anything about him?" "I'll do some research, but I didn't even know Africa had a champion. Since he is a champion, he's bound to be tough. But since he's willing to fight by circuit rules, his style of fighting can't be too different." "How about the other two opponents?" "The first is just the dumb kid that Erika was supposed to fight originally. The second is Tex." "Tex is still fighting? Well that could make for an interesting match. Erika had better be careful. She might just learn something. That's fine. But this African champion thing bothers me. Call them back and tell them that since they want to pit two champions against each other, that makes it a championship fight. We want five times the original contract price." Bob made the call. Within a few minutes he had an answer. "They made me a counter offer. They will pay ten times the original price if you personally guarantee the fight." "What the hell does that mean?" "If Erika loses, you fight the African champion for free." "Bullshit. I'd get more fighting him myself. You call them back and tell them we'll agree for twenty times the price." Bob wasn't on the phone for more than thirty seconds this time. "They agreed without even trying to haggle, and you know what that means. This guy must be a major badass." Sharon checked the clock, "Do me a favor Bob, go out and find Jack and Erika. They should be easy to find. It's time for Erika's evening feed. Haul her ass back here. If she gives you any shit, tell her I'll be waiting for her on the front lawn. She's going to bed every night by nine if I have to tuck her in with a right cross." Bob went out and found the couple right where Sharon said they would be. Jack didn't mind ending the night early, but Erika had a major problem with the idea. Bob delivered Sharon's threat, and Erika stalked out with him. He was afraid that it would come down to a showdown on the front lawn. When they arrived home, Sharon was waiting for her. "I've tried to be patient with you Erika. I've been trying to make you see my point without preaching, but we're out of time now. You're going to change right now." Sharon stood in front of Erika. She was relaxed with her arms by her side. "Hit me." Erika flicked a jab at Sharon. Sharon stepped back a foot, and it fell short. "Is that the best you can do? Try again." Erika lashed out with a straight right. Sharon moved a bit to one side, and the punch whizzed harmlessly by her head. "Again." Sharon commanded. Erika threw a combination. Again, Sharon effortlessly avoided her punches. Erika got frustrated and threw a big roundhouse right. Sharon ducked, and then put Erika down with a short uppercut. Erika sat on the grass in her white dress rubbing her jaw. "You're younger, stronger, and faster than I am. You shouldn't have missed from that range, and you should have seen that punch coming. The reason you didn't, is that you've had about five hours of sleep this week. You might think that you can keep it up for ever, but you can't. I don't care how many guys you beat up in the gym today. You try fighting on the national circuit in this condition, and you're going to get fucked up badly. Bob and I brought you back to America. I've treated you like a sister. I've never asked for anything before. Tonight we talked to the Board. I had to put my ass on the line for you. You have a responsibility to me, Bob, and now my brother Jack. That responsibility is to stay healthy for the people who care about you. Right now, you're failing us. You're failing me." Sharon wheeled around and went back into the house. Erika broke down and started crying in the middle of the lawn. The next morning, Sharon got up at dawn to start her morning workout. When she got downstairs, Erika was ready and waiting for her. Without saying a word, Sharon went over and gave her a hug. "I'm sorry Sharon," Erika said, "I never had a sister before. I vwon't fail you." "I hope you realize I'm not trying to be a hardass. I don't want to break your spirit. But I worry about you. Even if you didn't have a fight coming up, we'd have had that conversation eventually." "Nobody has cared about me like you have since my father died. I appreciate zat you are vwatching out for me, und I promise to do better." True to her word, Erika was in bed every night by nine. Sharon eased up on her training schedule to let her build her energy reserves for the coming fight. Sharon had a chat with Jack, and he didn't mind restricting his contact with Erika to lunch dates. He was actually relieved. Erika had been killing him. A week later, Sharon and Erika flew out to Las Vegas for Erika's fight. Sharon and Bob knew that it would be impossible to hide Erika's activities from Jack. So they decided that it would be best if Bob stayed at home with Jack and watched the fight off of the satellite feed. Jack was no fool. He would see how brutal the circuit matches were. But there was a major difference between seeing it on TV, and experiencing it in person. Jack just wasn't ready for that yet. The two men sat in front of a big screen television which displayed the image of a six sided boxing ring. Bob looked at Jack. He was clearly nervous. Bob was nervous also, but he was supposed to be a calming influence on Jack, so he tried not to show it. "So let me get this straight," Jack said, "Three minute rounds with one minute breaks. No gloves. No real referee. First fighter to be out for twenty seconds loses. Jesus, how can fighters survive with rules like that?" "It's a lot like boxing used to be a hundred years ago. Those fighters didn't think anything of a thirty rounder. I won't kid you. These fights are much more dangerous. Not because of the rules, but because the fighters are a lot stronger than they were back then. These fights usually don't last more than a few rounds." "How could you stand to watch Sharon go through this?" "It's not easy. But after watching her fight a few times, I came to the conclusion that she could take care of herself. Damned if I know how she manages to keep winning. Sometimes I think Sharon wasn't born on this planet." "Hmm. You might have something there. I always wondered if she was adopted when we were kids and she used to kick my ass on a regular basis. Where did you learn to box Bob?" "In there," Bob pointed to the six sided ring. "You used to fight on the circuit?" Bob nodded. "I was an army ranger. When my hitch was up, I went out into the world looking for some excitement. I was a dumb kid, and I started picking up some extra cash fighting. I didn't know a thing about boxing back then. One thing led to another, and a few years later I was a contender for the national championship. I never did get my shot. A motorcycle accident put me in the hospital for six months. I fought a few more times after I got out, but I wasn't nearly good enough anymore. I had a pile of money saved up, so I retired. One day the Board asked me if I'd like to be a trainer. I was bored out of my mind, so I took the job. That's how I met Sharon. The rest is history." Jack was stunned, and not just by Bob's background. It was the most he had ever heard the man say. On the screen, Sharon and Erika where approaching the ring. "Jesus H., Erika's not wearing anything!" Jack exclaimed. Erika wasn't naked, but she was stripped to the waist. She was wearing black spandex bottoms with a bright red sash. Oil gleamed on her torso. Her golden blonde hair contrasted against her tanned skin. Despite her muscles and her relatively small breasts, nobody would mistake her for a man. Erika's body was the ultimate expression of strength and feminine grace. The crowd went wild as Erika waved to them. "Oops. I forgot to mention that part. Tradition demands that fighters be stripped to the waist. But it can be an advantage. Sharon won a lot of easy victories over men who were watching her tits when they should have been looking her in the face. Think there's a lesson to be learned there?" Bob and Jack looked at each other for a few seconds, then they both went, "Naaaaa." That's good, Bob thought. Jack's relaxing a bit. Erika was excited. She hadn't fought for months, and she was enjoying the adrenaline rush brought on by the crowd's cheers. The announcer's voice boomed through the private arena. "Ladies and gentlemen. Tonight we have a very special series of contests. Introducing at six feet, one hundred and ninety nine pounds, with a record of thirty five and one, her only loss at the hands of her current manager, and our former circuit champion Sharon Moore, the German champion, Erika Shotze!" Sharon was pleased to note that the applause was loudest just after her name was mentioned. Can't let the girl get a swelled head just yet. "Tonight Erika will be facing three opponents. The first, at six one, weighing two hundred and twenty pounds, with a record of nineteen wins, six losses, the former Atlanta champion, Ruben Blade!" A young man with tattoos all over his body raised his hands to scattered applause. Sharon slapped Erika on the back and sent her into the ring. "Watch out for him, he's fast for a man," Sharon advised. "And take your time. Get warmed up for your next opponent." The bell sounded, and Erika's new career began. She closed on Ruben. The man was new since Sharon had left, and had never fought a woman. He proved he didn't have a problem trying to hit one as he fired a series of lightning fast jabs at Erika. She put on an awesome show of defensive skill as she bobbed and weaved. Sharon felt a lot better. The week of forced rest had done the trick. This was the Erika that she had faced in Germany. Two minutes into the round, Erika hadn't even thrown her first punch. The man was clearly getting frustrated. He dropped his hands and said something to Erika as she danced in front of him on the balls of her feet. Sharon couldn't hear what he said, but its effect on Erika was immediate. She stopped dancing and dropped her hands. Sharon had never seen that expression on Erika's face before. She had seen her pissed, but this went beyond that. Erika got right in the man's face and said something back to him. He laughed and tried to catch her by surprise with a right. Erika moved her head and let it sail past. Her next move was so fast, most of the crowd didn't even see it happen. Bringing her right hand up from her side, she slapped Ruben across the face so hard that it sounded like a whip cracking in the small arena. He staggered from the unexpected pain holding the side of his face. Erika said something else to him. Sharon made out the man's reply this time: Fuck you bitch. She didn't need to know the question to know that was the wrong answer. Erika moved in again. Ruben threw a left hook at her. She blocked his punch with her right forearm and delivered another hard slap to the other side of Ruben's face. The bell rang, but neither fighter was backing off. Sharon jumped through the ropes and moved to Erika's side. She didn't try to restrain her. You never restrained your fighter while she's still facing an opponent. Ruben's attendants weren't that smart. Two of them grabbed his arms and hauled him back. Erika darted in, put her hands on their chests, and pushed. All three men fell backwards on the canvas. The crowd roared with laughter. Seeing her opportunity, Sharon moved around in front of Erika and herded her back into her corner. "Calm down Erika. We've both been called fucking bitches before. Treating another fighter like that could be considered disrespectful to the circuit itself. Especially since this is your first fight." "He called me a nazi bitch! A nazi bitch! I asked him to apologize. Zen he called me a fucking bitch. The closed fist is for men. He is not a man until he apologizes to me." Sharon studied Erika's face. It was clear that there were some deeply held convictions involved here. Fuck the circuit. "Do what you have to do," she stated simply. Sharon could see the finger marks striping Ruben's cheeks as he answered the bell. They met in the center of the ring. Erika spoke to him. Sharon knew she was demanding her apology. Ruben made his reply and spit on the floor. Erika backhanded him across the face. Sharon guessed that he was still unwilling to apologize. Erika put on a similar show of avoiding the man's punches as she had in the first round. But this time, she was answering back with her open hand. In one particularly painful looking exchange, she ducked under a wild swing and smacked him right over his belly button as she moved behind him. The slap left a perfect red hand mark on his stomach. Towards the end of the round, it wasn't even looking like a fight anymore. It looked more like a mother beating her child as he tried to huddle in a corner. Sharon almost felt sorry for the man, but he had to live with his words. Erika disdainfully turned her back on the man and walked away when the bell sounded. Erika met Ruben in the center of the ring at the start of round three. The man said something, and Erika promptly knocked him out with an uppercut. He didn't even stir during the twenty count. "Get your apology?" Sharon asked as Erika returned to the corner. "Ja. I accepted it, even though I do not think he meant it. "You're too damn nice sometimes." "Ja. I think so to." Back outside of Chicago, Bob slapped Jack on the back. "Having some second thoughts about your fiancee?" he asked. "God, I didn't know she was capable of doing something like that." "To tell you the truth, neither did I. I don't know what the hell that guy did to piss her off, but I'm sure he deserved it. He has a reputation for being an asshole." The announcer reentered the ring. "Congratulations to Erika for her first win on the circuit. She will now engage her second opponent in a more conventional contest. Introducing, at six four, two hundred and forty pounds, with a record of twenty six and eight, the former Houston champion, Randall Tex Slobinowitz." A large man in a cowboy hat strode up the aisle and entered the ring. He had a large mustache and a roll of fat around his middle. He was clearly past his prime. Sharon leaned over to Erika and said, "Did you hear that stuff about a more conventional contest? That was the Board's way of saying cut that shit out. You're still a guest here. You shouldn't have any problems with Tex here though. This guy's a friend of Bob's. Try to take him out cleanly if you can. But watch yourself, he's got a lot more experience than both of us combined." Erika almost laughed as Tex spit in his palms and lumbered out to the center of the ring to meet her. The man was so slow it was ridiculous. Erika circled and flicked a jab at him. It connected, but he had leaned back to minimize the impact. Erika jabbed again. Tex tried to respond with a jab of his own. Erika ducked and buried her fist in his fat belly. She frowned when the punch didn't get any response from the man. She sparred with him for another minute landing blows at will. But she couldn't seem to get the opportunity to do any serious damage, let alone take him out. Was it her imagination, or was Tex a hell of a lot better than he looked? Tex answered the question for her. Erika jabbed him in the face again, hoping to set up her big right. This time the man responded faster than she could react. As her fist flicked out in front of his face, Tex chopped down on her elbow. Erika found herself off balance and bent over. Tex took advantage of her awkward position with a left uppercut to her jaw. Erika flipped onto her back like a turtle. Bob was on his feet, "Holy shit, that was a beautiful punch. Did you see that hook? Can't do that in a regular boxing match." "Who the hell's side are you on?" Jack asked. "Sorry, I got carried away. That guy's a friend of mine. We used to workout together. Don't worry, I still don't think he stands a chance against Erika. Besides, Sharon was hoping she'd learn a little respect for the circuit, and Tex is just the guy to teach her." Erika rolled right back to her feet before the count could start. She was hot. The bell sounded before she could close again. "You're lucky the bell sounded." "I vwill rip him apart for zat!" "Listen to me. Tex foxed you. You go back in there and fight him angry, he's just liable to knock you out. Now you sit there and think about what to do. You can't tell me you don't have a trick or two from Germany." Erika stood in the corner fuming. Sharon thought she could almost see the light bulb form over her head as the corners of her mouth turned upwards into a smile. The bell sounded and Erika squared off with Tex. They traded a few punches to start the round, then Erika backed off a bit. She stuck her left pointing finger in her mouth and started sucking on it. Tex's eyes widened in surprise. She then took her wet finger out of her mouth and slowly circled her nipple as she danced just out of range. Erika watched Tex's eyes following her finger down as she traced a line from her cleavage to her crotch. Tex was paying rapt attention to the show. What he didn't notice was the way Erika was slowly edging closer. Just as her left hand touched her inner thigh, her right fist rocketed up and caught him right on the chin. Sharon had shown her the punch, and it never failed. As Tex's head bobbed back down, Erika crossed his jaw with a perfect left-right combination. Tex fell flat on his face. Sharon suddenly wished she wasn't managing the blonde bombshell under her own name. Bob looked over at Jack. "I think your girlfriend just ruined the circuit. We're all going to wake up with broken legs tomorrow." "My girlfriend? You're the ones who brought her here. Don't blame me. I just wish I could say that was the first time I've seen her do that in public." "Thanks Erika. I fought on the circuit for four years. I'm not a feminist. I didn't do it for women everywhere. But I was hoping that I could bring opportunities and respect to women who chose to participate in this sport. But I was all wrong in my approach. In ten seconds you just proved that any woman with a background in table dancing, escort services, or centerfold modeling, who also possesses a decent uppercut, can go straight to the top." "So you think that I can bring even more vwomen into the sport? Zat is a big responsibility. I vwill continue to do my best." Sharon shook her head in frustration. God help you, she thought, if I ever find out that there really isn't a language or cultural barrier between us, and that you've just been fucking with me all this time. Because if I ever do find out you understand me, I'm going to kick your ass in the biggest pay-per-view event the circuit has ever seen. The announcer took the center of the ring. "Our main event tonight pits the German champion Erika against the African champion Mombollo. This fight has been guaranteed by Erika's manager Sharon. If Erika loses, Sharon will fight Mombollo. And now introducing, at six eleven, three hundred and five pounds, with an unknown record, the African giant, Mombollo!" Holy shit, Sharon thought, as she saw Mombollo enter the arena. Nobody said anything about a giant. The black man was well muscled, but relatively thin. Relative to his height that is. There wasn't a body part on him that didn't dwarf Erika. He looked more like a basketball player than a boxer. Sharon estimated that his reach advantage would be about a foot. That would be like her fighting a ten year old girl. Outwardly, she tried not to show any anxiety. Glancing over at Erika, she gained even more respect for Teutonic beauty. She didn't seem worried at all as the man stepped over the third rope. "I vwill send him back out over zee third rope," Erika predicted. The expression "more balls than brains" popped into Sharon's head. "I wish I could give you some advice in this situation, but I've never had an opponent with that kind of reach advantage on me. The ring's not big enough to dance around him. The only thing I can suggest is to get in close where he has less leverage. The rules permit it, so hit him from behind if you can." "Zat is not an honorable vway to vwin." Sharon suddenly realized what Erika was. She wasn't German. She was Klingon. And an extreme one at that. "You're going to preach to me about honor after the way you just won the last two fights?" In another classic example of Erika logic, she responded, "Those vwere not champion fights, zey do not count." Mombollo didn't move very far when the bell sounded. He didn't have to. He could almost reach across the ring and hit Erika in her corner. When Erika got near the center of the ring, she was clipped trying to avoid a jab. It wasn't really her fault. She had never trained with a man that had fists the size of toasters. Erika was having a great deal of trouble trying to get past the man's guard. Even when he missed, there was no time to get in before he was ready for her again. Patience was never one of Erika's virtues. Damning the consequences, she tried following his hand back to his body on the next jab. Mombollo was able to catch Erika coming in with a short shot to her face. Erika didn't care, she was inside now, and it was time to earn her money. She fired a pair of hard body shots to the man's midsection before she was forced to duck a fist flying at the side of her head. She was tempted to give him a quick shot to the balls, but the man hadn't done anything to deserve that yet. Straightening up, she hit him twice more in the stomach. She tried to block a punch with her arm and hit him with an uppercut, the only punch that could really hit his face. Mombollo just moved his head back and let her relatively tiny fist slice through the air. A left hook to Erika's ribs sent her skittering a foot to one side. Fuck this, Erika thought, Sharon was right. Before Mombollo could face her again, Erika ducked around behind him and slammed her fists into his kidneys. Mombollo stiffened and screamed, more from rage than pain. The man tried to turn around to face his tormentor, but Erika managed to mirror his movements while she continued to pound him. What happened to Erika next was due to her lack of experience on the circuit. She had never fought in a six sided ring before. As she circled behind Mombollo, she got dangerously close to the ropes. Mombollo twisted around again and Erika started to move. But this time, she ran right into the ropes. Before she could escape, she was nailed in the back of the head by Mombollo's swinging elbow. Erika was staggered. The ring was spinning around her. It would have been better for her if she had gone down and used the twenty count to recover. But instead, she instinctively grabbed the ropes and managed to stay up. Mombollo completed the turn and found his prey helpless before him. Sharon felt sick as she saw him slowly draw his fist back and send it smashing into her sternum. Erika was snapped back, then catapulted forward off the ropes. Mombollo caught her face first with his waiting elbow. Sharon knew it was over when she heard Erika's skull crack as if she had walked into a low pipe. So the first elbow wasn't a lucky shot, she thought. Sharon wasn't worried about Erika. She would be OK. The girl's skull was mostly bone. Sharon was thinking ahead. Since Erika had lost, she was next. "What the fuck kind of chicken shit rules allow elbows?" Jack was yelling. "You weren't complaining when Erika was hitting him from behind," Bob noted. "That's different... Erika was... she..." Jack sputtered. "I know exactly how you feel. I can't say I've ever seen anybody use their elbows like that in a circuit match, but pretty much any way you can hit somebody is legal. Erika was lucky tonight. Most fighters don't lose that easily. It's Sharon I'm worried about. She's going to have to fight him next." Mombollo was storming around the ring as Erika was counted out. He was gesturing and saying something in his native tongue. At the end of his tirade he pointed down at Erika, and then at Sharon. Sharon didn't need a translator to know that he had just told her that he was going to kick her ass just like Erika's, and why the hell couldn't he get a decent fight in this country. The man obviously didn't know her very well, or he wouldn't be shooting off his mouth like that. Sharon jumped through the ropes at the count of twenty to help Erika. She was just beginning to stir. "Vwhat happened?" she asked. "You're thirty five and two now," Sharon replied as she looked Erika over. Erika looked OK. Two large lumps were starting to swell where Mombollo's elbows had hit her. As soon as they got out of here, Sharon was going to make sure that Erika got her thick skull x-rayed. As Sharon helped Erika to her feet, Mombollo came over and started talking trash. Sharon felt Erika start to lunge for him. She quickly restrained the girl with her arm. "It's my turn now Erika." Sharon got in the man's face and started giving it back to him. "You goat humping, limp dicked, sorry excuse for a man. You think you can beat me? Do you even think you could beat Erika again, now that we've seen your wussy bullshit style of fighting? Do you know what your problem is? You're trying to compensate for the only part of your body that isn't oversized." Mombollo was getting pissed. It was clear that he was not used to being talked to in this fashion by a mere woman. Sharon illustrated her last comment with some universal hand gestures that nobody could mistake. Mombollo lost it and took a swing at her. That's when the riot started. Sharon ducked his swing. She then jumped up, wrapped her arms around his neck, and administered a vicious head butt to his nose. Releasing her hold, she grabbed the man's huge ears as she dropped back to the canvas. He had two choices. Bend over or lose them. Mombollo bent over. Sharon used her ear hold to yank his face into her rising knee. While his head was at her level, she used the opportunity to work it like a speed bag. "That's my girl," Bob said with obvious pride. Jack frowned as a memory struck him. "She did that to me on my sixteenth birthday. I was probably a foot taller than her at the time also." "I'm sure it was a real Kodak moment." Back in the ring, Mombollo's manager and a half dozen attendants swarmed through the ropes. They should have hauled him out of there. Instead, they made the mistake of trying to haul Sharon off of him. The first man to grab Sharon by the arm lost his front teeth. Another attendant wrapped her up from behind, and the other four formed a circle around her. That lasted about three seconds before Erika issued a gleeful war cry and joined the fray. Getting a running start, she hit the small group with a cross body block that sent everyone tumbling to the canvas. Erika rolled right to her feet and went after Mombollo. Running over the bodies of the fallen men, Sharon included, she caught Mombollo in the chest with her shoulder as he was getting up. The giant was driven into a corner by her momentum. He tried to hit her, but Erika was pressed right up against him. She started to rip into his body with her fists. Mombollo cursed her. Ignoring her blows, he crouched down and wrapped his long arms around her. Squeezing her in a bear hug, he lifted the woman off the canvas. Erika's feet dangled two feet off the floor as the giant tried to crush the life out of her. Erika's fists were trapped against his chest. The giant smiled a gap toothed grin at her as he released the pressure for a second to get a better hold. He then jerked his arms tight against her spine. Turning her hands so that her palms were flat against his chest, Erika started pushing for her life. Her triceps bulged and quivered. Erika cried out with effort. Mombollo's grin faded as a gap started forming between them. Sweat rolled down Erika's chest as she widened the gap further. Mombollo redoubled his efforts and managed to halt her progress. They stood there locked for a moment, then Erika started to feel his grip slipping. The gap started widening again. The girl grinned wolfishly as she felt the leverage advantage slip over to her. With one last effort, Erika managed to extend her arms fully. Incredibly, Mombollo still had his arms wrapped behind her back. Positioning her left hand in the middle of his chest, she drew back her other arm and sent a straight right slamming into his mouth. She punched the man a dozen times as he stubbornly held on. By the time Mombollo let go, it was too late. With her feet back on the floor, Erika bounced a few uppercuts off the chin of the swaying giant. Finally, the giant couldn't take anymore. As the man pitched forward, Erika crouched and let him fold over her shoulder. Straightened up with a grunt, she lifting the man's feet off the floor. Taking tiny steps, she positioned herself so that she could dump Mombollo over the top rope. The man crashed onto the timekeepers table, squashing it flat. Erika turned and saw that Sharon was finishing off her last opponent with a kick to the face as he tried to get up off the canvas. At some point during her struggle, her shirt had been half ripped off. Sharon and Erika met in the center of the ring and clasped hands. Sharon threw one of her big arms around Erika and gave her a hug. Releasing her, Sharon lifted Erika's arm in victory. The crowd gave them a standing ovation. Noticing her shirt for the first time, Sharon ripped it off with her free arm and cast it aside. The two half naked amazons stood dominating the center of the ring amongst the bodies of their defeated foes. Back at home, Bob and Jack exchanged a big high five. "Yeah! Who says there's nothing good on television anymore," Jack said. "It looks like the world got to see what happens when you mix equal parts of Sharon and Erika. It's an explosive combination." "I'm beginning to see the advantages of being married to a boxer. They train to keep their bodies in tip top condition, go out and kick some ass, bring home the bacon, and then they expect you to service them until dawn." "Yep, I've never regretted Sharon choosing me. It just doesn't get any better than this," Bob said as he sat back on the couch and popped a beer. "Wait a minute. Sharon chose you? Didn't you ask her to marry you?" "Technically, yes. But she used her body to force me into it." "You know what? When I asked Erika, I got the impression that it was her idea. That I had been roped like a wild stallion." "Welcome to the club Jack." The two men picked up their women at the airport the next day. Jack swept Erika off her feet and gave her a long kiss. "Will you look at those two kids," Jack said. "I quit trying to sweep you off your feet the first time I hurt my back." Bob grunted from an elbow to the ribs. "You're such a romantic. It's no wonder I married you. So how do you think we did?" "We might be banned from the circuit forever, but that was the most exciting show I've seen in a long time," Bob said. "They won't ban us. They still expect me to fight Mombollo," Sharon replied. "I'm sorry about that," Erika said sheepishly. "Don't loose any sleep over it. Boxing isn't one hundred percent skill. There's a certain amount of luck involved. Your luck just ran out. And even though it didn't count, you showed the world who's the better fighter in the end." "Ja. But I'm still a lot luckier zan him. I don't have to fight you." "Hey Bob, I brought you back something from Vegas," Sharon said as they were walking to the car. She tossed him a large gold earring. There was some dried blood on it. "I give up, who's is it?" "It belonged to Mombollo. I thought you might like it." Bob frowned. "I didn't see him wearing this in the ring." "He wasn't. Me and Erika ran into those clowns outside a casino last night. I understand that somebody is selling the security tape of our little encounter for a thousand bucks a copy. Make sure we get our cut." "Yes dear." Sharon gave Erika a few days off, and Jack took her out to celebrate. Back at home, Sharon was worried about Erika's career. She couldn't have imagined a worse start for her. If it had been anybody but her and Bob, they probably would have their legs broken for Erika's behavior. Bob hung up the phone after talking to the Board promoter. Sharon said, "Let me guess. Erika's banned for life. And we're going to have to work hard to get back into their good graces." "Close. Actually, they'd like Erika back as soon as possible. It's you they were thinking of banning." "Me! Those ungrateful bastards. What the fuck did I do?" "The way they see it, your the one most responsible for starting that ring riot." "Mombollo took the first swing." "Yes, but you took the next fifty. And there's the matter of that fight outside the casino. You know the Board frowns on that type of activity outside the ring. You're lucky they managed to make some money off of it. It's funny, I would have guessed that Erika started the whole thing. But do you know what that tape shows? It shows you throwing the first punch." "A minor detail," Sharon replied with a wave of her hand. "They don't think so. Fortunately, Erika's display of restraint earned her a second chance." "Restraint? That word isn't in Erika's vocabulary. She was so blitzed, she could barely stand." "But they don't know that. Anyway, they want to put her on the card when you fight Mombollo. They'll give her a shot at the number three contender. But there's a catch. That thing she did in front of Tex, they'd like her to do it for the cameras before the fight starts." "Bullshit," Sharon sputtered. "I can't let her destroy all the inroads I've made for women into the sport." "The way I look at it, she's already done it. And she's probably going to do it again - for free. Remember, you're fighting for free. If Erika doesn't do it, they'll only pay her half." "Half of what?" Bob muttered a figure. "What? I couldn't hear you." Bob said it a little more clearly. "Jesus Christ! Do you know how many times I had to fight for them before they offered me that kind of money? That little hussy flaunts herself once and earns that kind of payday. You're right, if I told her not to, she'd do it for sure. We might as well take the money." "I'll schedule the match for next month. Erika's in shape. But I think you could use the extra time to train." "Excuse me? You're my trainer. I'll be expecting to see you up tomorrow morning at five thirty. You can try to run me into the ground. After that we can lift weights, box, and play some basketball. And of course, I expect you to do all of that after you satisfy me tonight." Bob sighed, "I had better start stretching." In a warehouse on the East Side of Los Angeles, a woman worked out alone. It was a bad neighborhood for a woman alone, but that never occurred to Lori. No man ever bothered her twice. She was benching something more than the current women's world record. Racking the bar, she sat up and flexed her chest. She was pleased to see the thick cords of muscle leap to attention. The burning pain under her tits told her that she had done enough for the night. Reaching into a leather bag beside the bench, she took out a hypodermic syringe full of anabolic steroids and plunged it into the center of each of her pectoral muscles. She used another two syringes for each of her triceps. She swore she could see her muscles growing before her very eyes. On an intellectual level, Lori knew that she was killing herself. But Lori rarely functioned at that level anymore. She rarely thought about anything except Sharon. She had earned a significant amount of money in cage fights. But that was only the means to an end. And that end was Sharon. She heard one of the large metal garage doors opening and smiled. Her date for the evening had arrived. She hadn't had many matches lately. Not many men were willing to fight her anymore. So her manager would round up a likely looking candidate off the street and lock him in with her. She put on a leather mask. There were cameras positioned throughout the building that would record the action. Her manager was quite enthusiastic about it. He told her that she had carved out a whole new market niche. Lori didn't care about any of that. She was just keeping her skills sharp. She hoped her opponent tonight would provide her with some amusement. The man would have been told what to expect before he was untied and shoved under the door. She heard the man coming towards her. Good, she didn't like to chase them. The man emerged from between two large stacks of boxes into her workout area. Lori liked what she saw. He was young Hispanic male, over six feet tall, heavily muscled. He was wearing the colors of a local gang. Lori wasn't worried about that. He would have been searched for weapons. She was tough, but not tough enough to stop a bullet - yet, she thought. The man must not have liked what he saw though, because he turned and ran. And who could blame him? He had found himself face to face with a massively pumped, one hundred and ninety pound woman dressed in a black studded leather outfit wearing a black mask whom he had been told was going to try to kill him. Shit, Lori thought, I was hoping for a man with some balls. Sometimes she would use them before the end. But they had to earn the privilege. She heard him trying to scramble up a stack of pallets to reach one of the high set windows. He should be discovering the bars about now she thought. She heard him jump back to the floor and scuttle off. The gang banger must have found himself a good hiding place she thought, because she couldn't hear him anymore. After searching for a few minutes, she walked around a tall shelf filled with smaller bins and found herself face to face with the man. He swung a mop handle at her head. Only her boxing trained reflexes allowed her to duck the swing. He tried again, but this time she was ready for him. The mop handle broke harmlessly across the muscles and tendons of her raised forearm. The man tossed his useless weapon to one side and raised his fists. "I don't need no weapon for no chiquitta. Come on bitch. Lets rumble." Lori smiled behind the mask at the display of Latin machismo. He sure as hell thought he needed that mop handle when it was more than two feet long. Still, this was turning out to be much more interesting that Lori had hoped for. She raised her fists and prepared to engage the man. Lori let the man hit her first. She knew that she wasn't going to beat Sharon without taking a few punches. The man drove his fist over top of her low guard into the center of her mask. Lori was driven back by the hammering. She was slightly disappointed. The man didn't hit nearly as hard as Sharon. "Come on bitch, what's the matter, can't you box?" The man seemed to be getting into the spirit of the contest as he beat on her face. When Lori tasted blood in her mouth, she decided that she had taken enough. Adding thirty pounds of muscle had slowed her, but she was still faster than this clown. Letting him hit her again, she stepped in and snapped two quick jabs into the man's face. The man hit her with a right as hard as he could. Lori delivered a left-right-left combination to his face. The gangster snapped her head to one side with a roundhouse right. Lori responded with two rights, a left, and a right to the man's stomach. The man wasn't completely stupid. He could see where this was going, and he didn't like it. He turned tail and ran. Lori's laughter echoed throughout the warehouse. Lori heard a shoe scrape off to her left. A few weeks ago, her manager had thrown in a college boy with her. He had turned out to be a chicken shit little weasel, but he had been smart enough to take off his shoes. Lori had spent four hours just trying to corner him. She then spent ten minutes ripping him limb from limb. She didn't remember much of what she done to him, but her manager said that it was her best selling tape. Lori heard a noise above her and looked up just in time to see the man throw a brick at her head. She tried to dodge, but the brick still hit her hard enough to stagger her. The man jumped off his perch onto her back. Lori was knocked to the ground under him. The man didn't waste any time. He grabbed the back of her head and started slamming her face into the concrete floor. He didn't do it more than three times before he felt himself being lifted off the ground as she started to get up. Desperately, he snatched up the brick and prepared to bring it down on the back of her skull. But before he could strike her, she flipped over sending him rolling off to the side. Lori scrambled on top of him and plucked the brick out of his hand. "That wasn't very nice," Lori said as she smashed the brick on the floor next to his ear splitting it into three pieces. "Real men don't need bricks," she said as she tossed the pieces aside. Lori was hot and sweaty, straddling a young man who had given her an interesting night. She was in the mood. "I'll tell you what stud, you make me come, and I might just let you leave." Lori reached behind her and started stroking the man's crotch. The man looked scared. Lori frowned, there was nothing happening. She reached behind her with her free hand and undid her leather top. Her breasts nearly exploded in the man's face. His eyes bugged and she felt his crotch get warm and wet. "You mother fucking son of a bitch!" she screamed. Slapping the man across the face she yelled, "You've got ten seconds to get it up!" Needless to say, the man didn't make it. It's too bad really, Lori would never have let him go, but she wouldn't have pounded his ribs to splinters either. Lori got on the phone after she was done. She was in foul mood. Her mood didn't improve when her manager informed her that his men had missed Sharon in Vegas. "No more excuses. You bring me Sharon, and you bring her to me now!" The cheap phone cracked as she slammed down the receiver. Sharon's luck couldn't last forever. THE PRIZEFIGHT XVII: Sharon Vs. Mombollo ---------------------------------------- "I still can't believe her? She should be waking up with her rottweiler's head in her bed after the way she behaved in front of the Board. And then she embarrasses me further by losing to Mombollo. But who do they roll out the red carpet for? Erika. Who's the Board's fastest rising star? Erika. Who has to fight Mombollo for free? Me. Who did they threaten to ban? Me." Sharon was talking to her husband Bob about her recent trip to Las Vegas where she debuted Erika on the fighting circuit. "That's all true dear, but my question was, what happened to the money?" "Erika wanted to gamble." "You let her gamble all our money away?." "Well, not exactly. I only gave her a couple of grand to play with. She earned it." "Then we still have the money?" "Well, no." "Let me guess. Erika blew all the money. They extended her credit. And you had to use our money to buy her out of a hole." "No, let me explain. Erika wanted to play poker just like she saw in Maverick. So she bought her way into a private game. We get to the room and there were a bunch of fat cigar smoking Texans sitting around a table leering at us." "OK, I think I know where this is going now. They pinched Erika on the behind and you lost the money in the ensuing riot." "No, they were actually pretty polite for Texans. They loved Erika. There was nearly a riot over who got to sit next to her. Let me tell you, if that girl ever wants to give up boxing, she could make more as a mistress. One of these clowns offered her a whole building in downtown Houston if he could see her once a month. The most I was ever offered was a house." "Don't feel too bad, real estate prices are depressed down there right now. But back to the money." "Sorry. Erika was having so much fun, I decided to play a few hands myself." "Oh shit. They cleaned you out. It was probably a rigged game. They were just waiting for a pair of overstuffed pigeons like you two." "Will you please let me finish. The Texans didn't get the money. They were cleaned out also." "Well if you don't have the money, and they don't have the money, who has it?" Sharon mumbled something. "What was that Sharon?" "Damn it! Erika has the money. Is that what you wanted to know? Erika cleaned us all out. She got a little ahead on me. You know how competitive I get when I'm playing with Erika." "So Erika has all the fight money? That was a small fortune." "Not only does she have the fight money, but if you check our bank account, you might find that down a little bit." "She owes us money. Just get her to give it back." "We had that discussion on the plane. Do you remember that she was supposed to pay us back with fight money? Well she does. And technically, that isn't fight money now. Hey! I just thought of something. Why don't I fight her for it on the front lawn? Double or nothing." "You could try that. But are you really feeling that lucky? Let her enjoy the money. Maybe she'll surprise us and invest some of it for the future." "And maybe monkeys will fly out of my butt. Here comes our little princess now. Driving up in a brand new Ferrari." "Exotic cars can be a good investment..." Bob and Sharon watched as Erika took out a cement bird bath next to the driveway. "...but only if you take really good care of them." Erika drifted through the front door wearing a red bikini top and a pair of high cut denim shorts. "You didn't go out with Jack like that, did you?" Sharon asked. "Of course not. I vwent car shopping." "Sharon was just telling me how you won the money." Erika leaned over to Bob and whispered, "She flexes her arms vwhen she has a bad hand." "I heard that," Sharon said. "And I've heard enough," Bob said. "I'm definitely coming to Vegas with you for the fight next month. If only to be sure we have a house to come back to." Sharon and Erika trained hard that month. Bob thought that Erika was the best thing to come into Sharon's life since him. From the time they had met in Germany, they had bonded like sisters. Bob was also of the opinion that she was good for Sharon professionally. Though by no means over the hill, Sharon had matured as a fighter years ago. Erika's youth, vitality, and rapid advancement challenged Sharon and was forcing her to a new level. Bob was looking forward to seeing how she would deal with Mombollo. Since he had managed to beat Erika, Sharon would probably be planning something special for him just to show the young girl who was on top. Bob wasn't too worried about Erika despite her less than stellar start. The girl always managed to land on her feet. Fight night arrived. Since Erika was up first, Bob helped prepare her by taping her fists, applying Vaseline to her face, and spraying decongestant up her nostrils. Sharon was glad to have Bob working with them. He had been fighting on the circuit when she was in high school. Erika was called, and all three of them exited the dressing room and entered the arena. The predominantly male crowd cheered wildly as the blonde and brunette team made their appearance. The ring announcer started the proceedings. "Ladies and gentlemen, the Board is proud to bring you a very special card featuring our favorite female fighters, Erika and Sharon!" Sharon frowned. When the hell did Erika start to get top billing? "Our first fight tonight features a rising young circuit star, at six feet, two hundred pounds, with a record of thirty five and two, Erika!" The crowd went nuts as Erika entered the ring and did a slow striptease with her robe. Sharon winced as the girl showed off for the cameras. The Board had made this little sex show a prerequisite for Erika's fight. Sharon didn't like it, but as Bob said, the girl would probably have done it for free. The announcer continued after Erika was finished and the crowd calmed down. "Her opponent tonight is the number three contender for the circuit championship, at six feet, one hundred and ninety five pounds with a record of twenty five and six, Larry Hill!" Larry Hill was an unusual fighter. He was small for a contender. In fact, he was slightly lighter than Erika. The secret to his success was his speed. He was supposed to be the quickest fighter on the circuit. Erika was looking forward to seeing if that was true. She was about to get her chance when the bell rang. The two combatants met in the center of the ring. Hill struck first with a hard left jab that hit Erika on the mouth. Circling her, he popped her with another two in the same place. Erika launched a jab of her own, but the man bobbed and countered with a left-right that had the German girl shaking her head. Larry Hill was starting to smile now. The bitch was quick, but he was quicker. Moving in again, he snapped her head back with a hard right. It was the first time he had ever fought a woman and he wasn't impressed. He had always thought that Sharon had been overrated. Maybe he could get a fight with... Crack! Larry hadn't heard the sound. He didn't even know where he was for a minute. The first thing he noticed was the canvas. He was on all fours staring at it. The next thing he noticed was the blood. A few drops where staining the white surface. He heard the count reach five as another drop of blood spattered from his split lip. He got to his knees to see Erika in front of him. His memory came together in a rush. The bitch had put him down. He never saw it coming. She taunted him in her thick German accent. "If zat is zee best you can do, zan you had better stay down there." Even if he was inclined to take her advice, it was against circuit policy for a fighter to deliberately stay down for the count. And violations of circuit policy had been the death of more than one fighter. But he wasn't inclined to stay down. The bitch just got in a lucky shot. Erika let him get fully to his feet before she confronted him again. He hit her with a jab. She responded in kind. Another jab caught her on the cheek, and almost instantly she countered him with a left of her own. His third punch landed almost simultaneously with hers. Erika didn't wait for a fourth punch. She started initiating the action. Hill was barely able to respond before Erika hit him twice more. The bell rang to end the first round. Back in Erika's corner, Bob analyzed the situation succinctly by saying, "He's screwed." And he was. Pound for pound, women are stronger than men. And Erika weighed more than Hill. She was bigger, stronger, and now everyone knew she was faster. During the break, hundreds of new wagers were being made between people in the small crowd. They weren't betting on who, they where betting on how and when. Round two proved that the man was tough and could take some punishment. He managed to land a number of blows on Erika, but not nearly his share. As they watched the fight grow more one sided, Sharon asked Bob, "Is it my imagination, or have these fighters become a bunch of wimps? I went through five rounds of hell taking Jerry Grant for the number three spot. I couldn't work out for three weeks after that fight. Erika could have put this guy away in round one if she wanted to." "It's not your imagination. It's your fault. You forced a lot of talent out of the circuit when you took the championship. A lot of men just couldn't handle the idea of being ranked behind a woman. This is the best of what's left. It wouldn't surprise me if we could get Erika a title shot with another two or three fights. And that's all thanks to you." Erika went out for round three with her right hand held behind her back. Hill did a little better against the one armed Erika, but not much. The crowd appreciated her showboating, but Sharon didn't. "One day, she's going to pull that shit with the wrong opponent. And she isn't going to be able to say I didn't tell her about it." Erika was finishing her opponent off. Lunging like a fencer, she drove Hill back with a series of straight lefts. When the man hit the ropes and rebounded, she slid to one knee and impaled the man in the gut. As he doubled over, she brought out her right hand for the first time in the round. Timing an uppercut perfectly, she hit him in the face hard enough to send his mouthpiece flying and flip him out of the ring between the second and third ropes. Sharon would have liked to have lectured the girl, but she had to get ready for her own fight. Besides, she did admire her display of skill. She was going to face the African champion Mombollo. They had more than a little history together. After Erika lost to him on their last trip, Sharon had beat his ass twice. Once in a ring riot after the fight, and then later that night outside a casino. There was no doubt he was out for blood. And at almost seven feet tall and over three hundred pounds, Sharon took the threat seriously. Since she was still relatively fresh after her fight, Erika decided to stay in Sharon's corner and lend moral support. Sharon appreciated that, and was also glad to have Erika around in case a bit of fist support was needed. Of course that cut both ways. Erika was great backup in case of another rumble, but odds were she would also be the cause of it. The African giant stepped over the top rope. Mombollo was extremely tall and fairly muscular. They had learned in the last fight that he liked to use his elbows to strike an opponent. His huge reach also gave him a significant advantage over Sharon . She was well aware of his strengths. Unfortunately, Erika hadn't lasted long enough to discover any weaknesses. Secretly, Sharon was excited at the prospect of facing the giant. It had been a long time since she had needed to think a problem out in the ring. "Any advice?" Sharon asked her corner team. "Get inside, zen hit first, hit fast, und keep hitting until he drops," was Erika's suggestion. "I really have no idea what you should be doing with this guy. But remember, you're fighting for free. Fuck 'em and finish him off quick," Bob said. "Gee, thanks for the advice. Maybe I should tell him his shoelace is untied?" Bob and Erika looked at her for a moment. "Ja, zat might vwork." "Great idea, go for it babe." Sharon was almost relieved to get away from her advisors when the bell sounded. She reached the outside of Mombollo's range quickly and started to circle as he jabbed at her. Sharon would have liked to have traded a few punches with him, but she was still a foot too far away. Fuck it, her own idea wasn't that bad. Mombollo didn't speak any English, so Sharon stopped for a second, dropped her eyes to his feet and pointed. Mombollo glanced down and then back up at Sharon. Sharon pointed a little more frantically. Mombollo tilted his head down. Before he could react, Sharon closed the gap and clipped him on the jaw. Before she could dart back out of range again, the giant caught her with a sweeping roundhouse to her shoulder. Sharon was nearly knocked over by the blow. She virtually had to dive under his arm to avoid a second punch. She was beginning to appreciate why Erika had lost. She spent the rest of the round in a frustrating attempt to find an opening which never materialized. Round two started out the same way as round one. Erika's downfall had been her unfamiliarity with the six sided ring the circuit used. Sharon was glad for it now. If they had been fighting in a conventional square, Mombollo would probably have trapped her in a corner by now. As it was, he wasn't doing much better than her. Her skill and mobility were frustrating his efforts to hit her. Mombollo lunged in with another jab. Sharon moved her head to avoid it, and then tried to dance back out of range. But something was seriously wrong. Her front foot wasn't moving. Looking down, she saw her size nine boxing boot trapped under Mombollo's size twenty. She didn't need to look up to see what was coming next, so she started to duck. Mombollo's fist connected with the side of her head right above her ear. Sharon's head bounced off her shoulder and she was seeing stars. Mombollo swung his next punch upwards from his side. Sharon was out on her feet, swaying in front of him with her hands held high instinctively guarding her face. Mombollo's punch drove her own fists into her face before connecting like a wrecking ball. Sharon's foot popped loose as she was lifted off the canvas by the force of the blow. She arced through the air and landed on her back eight feet from her original possession. Sharon's eyes rolled back in her head and she started twitching like an epileptic. Bob was scared. He felt Erika clutching his arm. He had never seen anyone hit so hard by another human being. His first instinct was to run to her side, but that was out of the question. Sharon quit twitching after a few seconds and lay there as if she was dead. Only the slow rise and fall of her chest assured Bob that she wasn't. The crowd was absolutely silent as the count progressed past ten. At twelve, Sharon started to stir. By fifteen, she was rolling over. Bob was actually hoping that she would stay down. But he knew that Sharon would never stay down unless it wasn't humanly possible to get up. At the count of nineteen she lurched unsteadily to her feet. Mombollo started to close on her just as the bell rang. Bob and Erika leapt through the ropes and inserted themselves between Sharon and the giant. There were a few tense seconds as the parties stared at each other. Finally, Mombollo returned to his corner. Bob grabbed Sharon from under the armpits and dragged her back to her corner as Erika set her stool down. They had about fifty seconds to prepare Sharon to defend herself. She might not be able to win, but Bob had to be sure that she could keep from being killed. Bob broke open a cartridge of smelling salts under her nose. Sharon lurched and shook her head as he held it there. Steadying her head, he studied her pupils and looked for damage. Except for a cut over her eye which was probably caused by her own fist, she was unmarked. But it was damage to her neck that Bob was worried about. Being a woman in a man's sport, Sharon had trained particularly hard to strengthen those areas where she was weaker than men. These included her hands, wrists, and neck. Bob was glad she had stuck with that training as he felt around the thick muscles that would make a bull proud. With twenty seconds left, Sharon seemed to regain her faculties. "Will I live?" "That's up to you. I know better than to even suggest that you take a dive. Just be careful out there." "Any more good advice?" Bob and Erika weren't joking now as they desperately searched for an answer to Sharon's predicament. With five seconds left, something occurred to Bob. "His wrists!" Bob cried excitedly. "What?" Sharon said. "Hit him in his fucking wrists. His arms move fast, but you can see his punches coming from across the ring. His wrists are as big as logs. You should be able to catch them before he can withdraw his arm." Sharon immediately saw the possibilities. As the bell rang, she was still a little bit shaky, but filled with new hope. Mombollo almost bolted from his corner to finish her off. Getting into range, he threw a roundhouse at her head. Sharon withdrew half a step and met his punch with a right roundhouse of her own. Sharon was nearly spun around as her fist landed with a meaty thump on the inside of his upper forearm. She heard Mombollo yelp as she quickly moved to a safe position. For the first time in the match, she was smiling. Yeah pal, I'll bet that hurt. Mombollo pursued Sharon firing his long jab. Sharon showed him that she hadn't gotten lucky the first time as she nailed his wrist nine out of ten times. After putting up with Sharon's antics for a minute, it was Mombollo's turn to back off. He glared knives at her as he stood there flexing his hands. Sharon made a gesture inviting Mombollo to rejoin the fight. It was just too much for the man to stand. He bellowed like a bull and charged her. Bad move, she thought, as she ducked a wild punch and entered inside of his guard. She had been wanting inside, and now the man was rolling out the red carpet for her. Mombollo quickly found out what former heavyweight champ Matt Dyson had learned. That if you thought Sharon was a bitch from the outside, then you never traded body shots with her. Sharon got within a foot of the man, planted her feet, and got off half a dozen punches as her hands blurred. Mombollo's limbs were too long for him to effectively hit an opponent at this range. That's probably why he learned to strike with his elbows. He used one to try to take her head off. Sharon had learned from Erika's experience. She ducked low and circled to his side where she resumed her attack on his huge torso. Sharon knew she was hurting the giant as her fists sank over an inch into his rubbery muscles. Mombollo cursed and twirled with his arms held wide. Sharon waited until he was facing her again and popped him in the eye with a right hook. She looked for the man's response, and was genuinely surprised when he grabbed her around the waist and picked her up like a doll. The man's hands almost encircled her. Sharon's feet flailed three feet off the floor as she struggled to get free. The bell sounded just as Mombollo threw his tormentress over the top rope. The crowed was booing loudly at this clear violation of the circuit's rules. Bob and Erika rushed over to find Sharon getting up without help. This did occasionally happen to fighters, and an area around the ring was padded to prevent undue damage to the Board's most important assets. Even so, Sharon's safe landing from ten feet up in the air was miraculous. Sharon wasn't taking time to thank her lucky stars though, she was trying to climb back into the ring. "That mother fucker! I'm going to rip him a new asshole! Fuck the break! Get back over here and try that again! Hey, what the fuck do you two think you're doing! Let go of me!" Bob and Erika thought that they were going to be carrying Sharon off in a stretcher. Instead they found themselves hanging onto her arms as she tried to get back in the fight. Bob had never seen Sharon lose it like this in the ring before. He had seen her seriously pissed, but this time she was totally out of control. He tried to calm her down, but his wife wasn't hearing a word he said. Glancing over, Bob could see fear on Mombollo's face as the time left in the break expired. I don't blame him a bit, Bob thought, as Sharon continued to swear like a sailor and hiss like a wildcat. "Let her go!" Bob yelled as the bell sounded. They let Sharon go like a freshly tagged lioness on Wild Kingdom. Sharon was on the apron and back into the ring in two bounding leaps. She literally ran across the ring to where Mombollo was waiting in his corner. The man tried stopping her with a jab as she rushed in. Bob was half expecting her to flay the man with her claws the way she was behaving. But instead, she executed one of the most beautiful moves that Bob had ever seen in the ring. Sharon didn't even flinch at Mombollo's defensive jab. Without slowing down, she spun past his arm and continued rotating a full one hundred and eighty degrees. She finished the half circle slamming back first into his stomach as she hit him with a backfist to his nose. Mombollo was thrown back into his corner by her momentum. As their bodies were pressed together, Sharon started to piston her elbows behind her into the man's sides. Mombollo grabbed the ropes and thrust himself out of the corner. As strong as Sharon was, she couldn't hope to hold the man back. Letting him launch her off of him, she spun again and caught the man with both a left backfist and a roundhouse right in the same motion. Unfortunately, Sharon had to lift her arms so high to hit his face that she lost much of her power. But his gut was at the perfect level to receive her full force of her fury. The crowd could hear the thuds throughout the arena as Sharon played Mombollo like a log drum. Desperate to stop her, Mombollo shoved her backwards with both hands. Sharon went tumbling into the center of the ring. Mombollo didn't pursue as he panted in his corner overcoming the shock. Sharon seemed to have regained her senses as she got back up and closed on him like a sane person. Mombollo spent the rest of the round using his jabs to keep the wild woman away from him. Sharon returned to her tactic of hitting his wrists. By the time the bell sounded, ugly purple bruises could be seen lining the insides of his forearms. Returning to her corner, Sharon looked at her team. "What the hell are you two staring at? Haven't you ever seen a lady fight before?" Bob was brave enough to ask, "Excuse me my little buttercup, but what the hell happened to the woman I married?" "I never told you this before, but I'm extremely afraid of heights and falling. When that asshole threw me out of the ring, I thought I was going to die. When I landed on the mat, I was so scared I just lost my mind." "Make a note Erika, we don't ever get on a glass elevator with this woman." Erika nodded in agreement. Mombollo was showing some signs of wear at the start of round four. He got off his stool slowly and shuffled out to meet Sharon. The big man raised his arms but was clearly having trouble clenching his fists. But Sharon still respected her opponent. The man still had his elbows. And he hadn't gotten any smaller during the one minute break. But he was running out of steam. He had knocked Erika out in the first round, and she suspected that most of his fights hadn't lasted much longer. Sharon started playing with the man again as she tried to formulate a strategy to finish him off. He was too tall to hit in the face without bringing herself into the range of his elbows. And she suspected that even one of her perfectly placed punches couldn't bring him down. Sharon knew that her best course of action would be to get him to bend over to her level so she could bring her full force to bear on the problem. Now how to get him bent over? Ask nicely? Sharon didn't speak his language. Try the shoe lace thing again? No, he's not quite that stupid. Beat his guts to quivering jelly until he can't stand erect? Ah, a workable solution to the problem. With Sharon, thought was action. She darted in and started to unload on the man's abs. As he tried to swat her, she moved around him. She couldn't resist giving him a hard elbow to the kidney as she passed by. Sharon was pleased with the grunt of pain that the technique elicited. She vowed to practice it. Staying behind the giant was a lot easier now than it had been earlier. Sharon went to work on his lower back. Within thirty seconds, she had the man squealing. Mombollo finally figured out that if he backed into the ropes, she couldn't stay behind him. Sharon easily avoided being trapped as he moved into a corner. Crouching very low, she attacked his belly button. Mombollo's height was now working against him as he tried to connect with the woman who was causing him so much pain. As Sharon moved in to attack again, he tried his earlier tactic of stepping on her foot. She had been hoping that he would try that again, and she wasn't disappointed. At the last instant, she slipped her foot out from under his. With a hard stomp, she brought her heel down directly in the center of his foot. She heard bones crack as the man howled in pain. Taking advantage of his distraction, she moved back to within a foot of his body. Picking a spot just to the left of his abdominal muscles, she started to pound it with her hardest punches. No man can stand before Sharon's body shots for very long, and Mombollo was no exception as Sharon felt her fist penetrate the thin layer of muscle and tear up his insides. Sharon had to sidestep to avoid being knocked down again as the man doubled over. Quickly assessing the situation, Sharon decided to finish the man with a hammer blow to the back of his neck. Placing her left hand on his shoulder, she brought her right fist smashing down. He quivered a bit from the blow. Sharon tried again. This time he didn't even respond. Jumping up, she concentrated the full strength of her body into her fist. The blow landed with an ugly cracking sound. The man's head bobbed from the impact and then he tipped over onto the canvas. Sharon shook her head as she waited out the count. Mombollo was taking up a huge amount of canvas. Sharon had fought a lot of ring mutants in her time, but this guy took the cake. The crowd went wild as the count reached twenty. Erika was a rising star, but she was not yet a substitute for the real thing in the hearts of the circuit patrons. Sharon raised her arms in victory as four attendants worked to drag Mombollo out of the ring. Bob was relieved. Sharon had done a hell of a job, and she didn't even look too bad. She was complaining a bit about pain in her neck, but x-rays from the arena's own emergency room didn't show anything. The resident doctor thought there might be some soft tissue injury and he suggested that Sharon wear a brace for the next couple of days. Bob wanted to get a brace and take her back to their room immediately, but Sharon and Erika wouldn't have it. Both the women had won major victories and now they wanted to celebrate. Bob knew better than to even try to argue with them while they were united. After the women got cleaned up and dressed to kill, they headed for the bright lights of downtown Vegas. The two women hit the casinos and the dance floors. Bob sighed with relief when they finally agreed to call it a night. He was also amazed. The blonde and brunette team had been drinking and hadn't even come close to getting into trouble. And they couldn't possibly get into any trouble on the way back to their hotel at two in the morning, could they? Bob felt that sinking feeling as he tuned into the conversation between the two slightly tipsy amazons. Sharon was giving Erika her opinion of the little striptease she had done for the crowd. "All I'm saying is that you're a professional athlete and you shouldn't display your body like that." "Jealous?" Erika asked. "Of what? I had crowds of men lusting after me when you were still shoveling shit on the farm." "Vwell, you are a little older now, und men appreciate a young hard body." "You want to compare bodies? I've had men offer me a small fortune just to touch my tits. You'd be lucky to get a buck without having to make change." Bob listened to them argue another minute. There were a number of directions this could go, and all of them involved him. He briefly considered jumping from the moving car. Too late, he thought as Sharon addressed him. "Bob, tell her who has the better body." "He is your husband. He is not allowed to tell zee truth." "Then how do you propose we settle this?" "Vwe need some other men. Look over zere!" "Stop the car Bob." Bob didn't like the looks of this. Sharon and Erika where getting out of the car in front of a large strip club. A sign outside said "Amateur Contest Every Night". Sharon and Erika huddled for a minute behind the car. Opening the trunk, they grabbed their gym bags. "Bob, we're going in there. The woman to come back out with the most money wins. You get to count." The pair of women were stopped just inside the door by a bouncer. "There's a five dollar cover," he said. "We're here for the contest," Sharon responded. "The contest is over, go away." "Let us speak to the manager." The man shrugged and waved to the manager. A fat man smoking a cigar walked over. "What's the problem?" the manager asked. "Me and my friend Erika here want to have our own little amateur contest, and I think your customers might like it." Erika was wearing a slinky black dress that showed most of what she had. Sharon was wearing a slightly more conservative green number that displayed her ample cleavage. Believe it or not, some men don't appreciate women like Sharon and Erika. Most of them have the manners not to mention it. The manager wasn't one of those men. "I wouldn't let you two dikes dance here unless you paid me. Bruno, show them the way out." "Lets not be to hasty here. We'd be willing to pay to dance," Sharon said. "Pay the man five Erika." Erika smiled sweetly and decked Bruno. The manager yelled for help. Two more bouncers came running over. They didn't last more than three seconds. Sharon and Erika advanced on the manager and sandwiched the man between their rock hard bodies. "You were saying something about paying to dance?" "Uh, what I meant was, go ahead and dance. What's it going to hurt." "What do you think Erika?" "I zink zat he should ask us nicely if he wants us to dance." Sharon threw her arm around the man's neck and flexed a bit. "Uh, would you ladies please dance. I think the customers might like it." "We'd be glad to," Sharon responded. "Point us to the dressing room and clear the stage. You're about to see something that a lot of men would pay thousands for." Bob couldn't believe what was about to happen. He knew Erika would pull something like this even if she was sober, but his Sharon? She must have had a lot more to drink than he had thought. He couldn't believe his nice conservative wife was going to dance for dollars. After thinking about that for a minute, he realized that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Snatching his video camera out of the car, he sprinted for the club's entrance. Entering the dark interior, he came upon a small group of bruised men. The club's manager was saying something about calling the police. Bob briefly talked to the man and slipped a thousand dollars in his pocket. There was no way in hell he was going to let anyone interrupt this performance. The small crowd of men was getting restless. The manager had chased his regulars off the stage to make room for the two amazons. After waiting a few minutes, the sounds of Paula Abdul's song "Knocked Out" came booming over the speakers. Sharon and Erika leapt onto the stage. The crowd broke into wild applause. The two women were wearing nothing but silk boxing shorts and practice gloves that they had brought with them. Money immediately started showering the stage. Sharon did a little shadow boxing to the beat of the music, while Erika did a bump and grind. Glancing down at the stage, she could see that the younger girl was getting ahead of her. Erika was smiling as a another twenty landed at her feet. Time to bring out the big guns, Sharon thought. Putting her gloved hands behind her head she started flexing her pects. Together at first, then she alternated them. Her perfect c-cup breasts bounced around wildly. A deluge of money started landing on her side of the stage. Being ill equipped to respond in kind, Erika wasn't too happy. Bending over and sending her feet shooting into the air, she started doing some handstand pushups. The men hooted in appreciation and rewarded the display of athleticism. Shit, Sharon thought, I didn't know she could do that. Not to be outdone, Sharon went into a little cheer leading routine that she remembered from high school. Finishing with a couple of high kicks and a cartwheel, she was pleased to see the money flowing in her direction again. Bob could tell that Sharon and Erika were really enjoying themselves on-stage. But they were doing a little too good a job of heating up the crowd. A couple of men jumped up on stage and inserted themselves into the act. Ordinarily, the bouncers would drag them back off the stage, but they weren't about to help the women who messed them up. Of course, the boxing bombshells didn't need any help. One of the men who tried to shove a bill a little too far down Erika's trunks found himself picked up off his feet and thrown into the crowd. Sharon wasn't nearly as nice when a guy made a grab for her tits and found himself flying off the stage with a broken jaw. The situation started to deteriorate rapidly as Sharon and Erika found themselves doing more punching than dancing. What they didn't know was that half of the men at the club were in Vegas to participate in a national taekwondo tournament. A black belts who was harassing Sharon fought back as she tried to shove him off the edge. One of his teammates jumped up on stage to help him out. Stepping behind the brunette, he wrapped his arms around her back. There's no quicker way to get Erika into a fight than to threaten Sharon. Abandoning her side of the stage, she rushed over and slammed her fist into the back of the man's head. The fight quickly spread throughout the entire club as some of the martial artists went after the women while others lined up to defend them. Fortunately for the two boxers, the bodies of the combatants were too close together for them to actually use any of their fancy martial arts moves. As a result, the blonde and brunette fighting back to back started to fill a circle around them with the bodies of the men foolish enough to engage them. After two minutes of mayhem, Bob heard sirens closing in. Waving and yelling, he managed to get Sharon's attention from across the room. Sharon nudged Erika in the ribs and the two women started to clear a path for the door. Bob hustled them into the car and peeled out just seconds before the first police car arrived. Sharon asked, "Hey Bob, who won." "Ja Bob, who vwon," Erika chimed in. Looking over his shoulder at the two sweating half naked muscular women in the back seat, he replied, "You both won. The team of Sharon and Erika cleaned house. And I don't ever want to have to tell you that again." Sharon and Erika looked at Bob and then at each other. Sharon extended a gloved hand and Erika took it. The two women shook hands and hugged. Sharon said to Erika, "It's amazing how wise men can be sometimes." Ja," Erika said, "zat is a second reason to have them around." Lori had paid to see Sharon's fight on the Board's private satellite channel. She had been impressed by her enemy's courage and skill. In fact, it left a question open that she had to answer. Calling her manager, she arranged a flight for Vegas the next day. A day after they had gotten home from the fight, Bob received a phone call from the Board. He listened for a minute and then hung up. Driving out to the gym he owned with Sharon, he located her and took her into their office. "I just got a call from the Board. Mombollo was found dead in his room last night. He fought with somebody, and they broke his neck." "Shit, they don't suspect us, do they? We weren't even in Vegas." "Believe me they know. If they thought we did it, we'd be in Vegas today explaining ourselves. They just wanted to warn us." "Warn us of what?" "Whoever killed Mombollo carved your name in his chest before he died." THE PRIZEFIGHT XVIII: Gotterdammerung ------------------------------------- Sharon was cleaning up after Erika's twenty third birthday. It had been a small party. Just Sharon, her husband Bob, Erika, her fiance and Sharon's brother Jack, and Erika's three dogs. Bob had stopped off at the bakery and picked up a cake for twenty people. Two slices each for the three guests, one slice each for the dogs, ten for the birthday girl Erika, and one left over. The math had worked out perfectly until Erika and her dogs both went after the last piece. Have you ever seen four hundred pounds worth of East German guard dogs back off when a woman growls at them? Erika was still somewhat of an enigma to Sharon. If asked her age, you would probably guess that she was somewhere between twenty five and thirty five. Her large size and low body fat gave her features a chiseled look that made her look older than she was. At six feet tall and two hundred pounds, most people found the German woman to be an intimidating presence. But if you were one of the few people lucky enough to get to know her, you would find that she was a fun loving girl who possessed an almost child like innocence. Sharon had actually seen her romping around with her dogs chasing butterflies in the large field behind her country house. Sharon often thought of Erika as a girl despite the fact that she wasn't that much younger than herself. But there were large differences in their backgrounds. Sharon had been raised in a large family and had lived a relatively normal life until she started boxing seriously in college. Erika was born on a farm in rural East Germany. She had been an only child. Her mother had died when she was a baby, and she lost her father when she was ten. The state had recognized Erika's talents at an early age and had recruited her into their Olympic program. They had been grooming her for track and field, but it soon became clear that she had an aptitude for boxing. Female boxing was a legitimate sport with a long history in Germany, so Erika found herself with a career at the age of twelve. When the wall came down, the teenage Erika was taken into the former West Germany by her trainers. She quickly became the woman's heavyweight champion. She became wealthy and famous, but emotionally, she had never been given the chance to properly mature. Almost a year ago, Erika had come into Sharon and Bob's life and changed it forever. Sharon had fought Erika for her championship, and had spoiled the girl's undefeated record. In the process, they had also gained each other's respect. After the fight, Erika had taken Sharon and Bob on a whirlwind tour of Germany. Over the weeks that they had spent together, Sharon and Erika had come to love each other like sisters. When it was time to go home, Sharon and Bob had visited Erika's manager. With a lot of money and a little bit of arm twisting, they had managed to buy the girl's contract away from him. They offered Erika her freedom, but she chose instead to return with them to the States and fight under their management until she could pay them back. Sharon had introduced Erika to her youngest brother Jack. They had hit it off immediately. Within three days, Jack had asked Erika to marry him. Sharon thought that they might make a good match. She had always thought that Jack was too serious. Erika was just the girl to loosen him up. She just hoped that she didn't kill him in the process. Because Erika was also pure trouble. When she wasn't attracting it, she was causing it. Most men wouldn't last a three day weekend with her. Hell, most men wouldn't get through a handshake. So far, Jack had gotten by with just a broken arm and a few contusions. But Sharon knew that Erika had been attracted to him because he was tough. She just hoped that her brother was tough enough. In the city, Jack was just pulling in front of his townhouse. He was exhausted, his head hurt, and he could barely walk. Just another night with hurricane Erika. Jack staggered to the front door and managed to get his key in on the second try. He vowed never to try to keep up with Erika again. But he had felt some responsibility to defend his country when Erika had said that American beer was like water. His mistake. The door opened and he tumbled in. Closing it behind him, he tossed his keys on a table. A female's voice echoed in the darkened room. "Nice to see you again Jack." Jack fumbled for the lights and blinked when they came on. "Oh my God, Lori!" Jack didn't waste any time. He hit her with a sledgehammer right. Lori stepped back and rubbed her jaw. "Is that any way to greet an ex-girlfriend." Jack was about to throw another punch when two large men grabbed his arms. Lori stepped in and started to work him over. She punched him in the face and split his lip. Another punch caught him in the eye. Stepping in, she sent her fist plunging into his gut. Jack couldn't take it. All of the beer he had drunk came rushing up as he vomited all over Lori. She stood there trembling with rage. Through clenched teeth she said, "Get him out of here before I kill him." Her two henchman trussed him up and carried him out to a waiting van. The next afternoon, Sharon was alone at home preparing dinner. She was preparing a healthy meal of skinless chicken breasts and rice for six. Sharon and Bob had appetites, but she swore Erika should be eating out of a trough. Bob and Erika had gone out to take care of some paperwork with immigration. Erika couldn't possibly get in any trouble signing her name, could she? Sharon had a mental vision of Erika dragging some fat, red faced bureaucrat across his desk by his tie. She hoped Bob wouldn't be calling her for bail again. The phone rang and she picked it up. "Sharon Moore?" "Yes." "This is the Chicago police..." "What's Erika done now?" "Uh, we don't know anything about Erika. We're calling about your brother Jack. He appears to be in some kind of trouble." "Is he OK? He isn't hurt, is he?" "We received a report that your brother was seen being carried out of his dwelling by two men. We checked his house and found some signs of a struggle. Could you please come down to the station now and answer some questions?" "Yes, yes of course." "Good, we have a car on the way. They'll pick you up in a few minutes." Sharon tried calling Bob, but couldn't get through. She heard a car pulling up two minutes later. She hastily scribbled a note and went to meet the police at the front door. Bob was driving Erika back from immigration. "For a minute there, I thought you were going to grab that guy by the tie and drag him across his desk." "I vwas." "Well, I'm glad you didn't. Fighting with bureaucrats is no fun. You can't just buy them off here like you can in other countries." "Ja, zey are more expensive here." Bob laughed, "And if that didn't work, you might just have to get married to stay." Erika had a wistful look on her face as she thought about Jack. "Ja, I think zat could be arranged." When they got back, Jack saw Sharon's note and showed it to Erika. He called the police, and they told him that no report had been filed and no car had been sent. He tried calling Jack, but there was no answer. After another fifteen minutes of frantic calling, Bob gave up. "I don't know what the hell's going on. Lets go over and check out Jack's house." At Jack's, they saw that his car was still there and that there were signs of a struggle. There was blood and vomit on the floor. Erika was getting extremely worried. Bob put an arm around her and held her tight. When they got back home, there was a message on the answering machine to call the Board. The Board was the governing body of the fighting circuit. Bob had worked for them for ten years as both a fighter and a trainer until he met Sharon and quit. He called back and listened to what they had to say. He looked visibly upset as he hung up. "The Board was calling to ask if we knew anything about a cage fight between Sharon and Lori. They heard that it would be held tomorrow night somewhere in Los Angeles. I told them that Lori must have snatched Sharon and Jack." "Vwill they do anything?" "Damn right they will. Besides the fact that she probably made them a couple of hundred million, they love her. No one fucks with the Board or its people. They'll tear LA. apart looking for her. That was the chairman himself. He told me that a private jet will be waiting for us at the airport." Bob looked grim as he quickly packed and took Erika to the airport. Within three hours they were in LA. and the waiting began. After a sleepless night, Bob couldn't take it any longer. "Lets go look for them ourselves. If the Board finds anything, they can get me on the cellular." Erika nodded in agreement and they hit the pavement. Bob and Erika visited dozens of seedy looking bars and gyms. Bob spread around thousands of dollars trying to get a seat at the fight. A lot of people knew about it, but nobody knew where it was. Then, as it was getting dark, they struck pay dirt. A ferret like man snatched a hundred dollar bill from Bob's hand and told him he was in luck. He knew where they could see the fight. The man gave them a time and an address. He told them that it would cost ten thousand each. He told them that it was a bargain to watch somebody die. Erika started to lunge for the man, but she was stopped dead by Bob's arm. She was surprised by the strength of Sharon's soft spoken husband. "It's not time yet," he said. Bob called the Board and was met by a few of its "agents". They were probably rented mob enforcers. Just perfect for what they had to do. The address they were given led them to a steel door in a back alley. The Board agents waited around the corner until they got in. They banged on the door and a shutter was opened. Bob passed the money through the slot and they were admitted to a dark smoke filled room dominated by a big screen television. A small crowd was sitting and watching the image of an empty cage. Bob wheeled around and shoved the man who let them in against the wall. Erika was amazed when Bob grabbed the man by the lapels and lifted him off his feet. "What the fuck's this shit? We paid to see a fight, not watch TV." "Hey, there's no need for violence. Nobody's seeing this fight live." A man tried to sneak up behind Bob. Erika drove her fist into his kidneys, spun him around, and dropped him with a right. "Anyone else want to be a hero?" Bob asked. "You assholes have ten seconds to clear out of here." A member of the audience stood up and yelled, "Bullshit, we paid to see this fight." The crowd yelled in agreement. Bob reached in his jacket and pulled out a grenade. Half of the crowd decided to catch the match on tape. The other half decided to join them when Bob pulled the pin and tossed it into the center of the room. Bob dragged the man out with them as they ducked back into the alley. "Zat vwasn't a real grenade?" Erika asked. Bob let the explosion answer her question as the door was blown open and slammed against the brick wall. The Board agents came running down the alley. "You see these guys. They work for the Board. You know what that means, don't you?" The fear in the man's eyes answered the question for him. "Now where the fuck is that fight being held?" "I-I-I really don't know. Nobody does. We were only told about this fight yesterday. I have no idea where it's being broadcast from." Bob looked into the man's eyes, "I believe you. Erika, put him to sleep." Bob released the man and Erika knocked him out with an expert punch to the jaw. She frowned as she said, "Sharon showed me zat punch." "Come on, lets go back inside." Bob and Erika returned inside the room. Chairs and other debris littered the floor. The television screen had a bunch of tears in it, but it was still working. Bob and Erika watched in horror as Sharon appeared on the screen. She was being wheeled out in a small cage by two large men. Lori watched as Sharon was wheeled out in her cage. Lori smiled at the sight. She had been planning this night from the first day she had awoke in the hospital where Sharon had put her after she fought her for the circuit championship. She had spent months having this arena constructed in a warehouse that she had bought under a false name. Her manager had brought her a few "volunteers" to test the cage out, but this would be the first and last time that it would host an actual match. Sharon didn't know what the hell was going on. She had climbed in the back of the unmarked police car and promptly passed out. When she had regained consciousness, she found herself in a small cell. She had tested the bars, and found them anchored firmly. After waiting an hour, a slickly dressed man stopped by to talk to her. He stood well back from the bars. "What the hell's going on here?" she demanded. "Ms. Moore, my name is... Well, it's not really important what my name is. We brought you here to fight." "Then you should have contacted my manager." "I'm sorry. We're a small group. We really couldn't afford your fee." "Then I won't do it." "It's your choice. But I can give you three good reasons to fight. First, we have your brother. Second, you're going into the cage whether you like it or not," the man paused. "And the third reason?" "When you see your opponent, you'll want to fight." She had spent the last day waiting for the fight. A man had shown up a few times to feed her. At least it appeared that they wanted her to be healthy for the fight. The last time he showed up, he also dropped off a small leather outfit for her to wear. Sharon left it in the corner. Later, Mr. Slick returned with a pair of muscle heads wheeling a small cage. The cage was designed to mate with a small door in the bars of her cell. They attached it and opened the door for her. "Get dressed and get in, it's fight time." "You don't expect me to get in that thing, do you?" Mr. Slick snapped his fingers and another pair of muscle heads hauled Jack in front of the cell. He was bound and gagged. One of the men pressed a gun to his head. "Any more questions?" he asked. Sharon shook her head and stripped. The men leered as she exposed her naked body to them. She didn't give them the satisfaction of trying to cover up. The black outfit consisted of a pair of tight leather shorts and a few decorative leather straps that wrapped around her upper body. Her breasts were left exposed. Before she climbed into the cage, she looked Mr. Slick in the eye. "You know I'm going to make you pay for this." "Get in line. We know the Board is looking for us already. Let me explain how this is going to work. If you lose, we're going to kill your brother. Of course, you will also be dead. If you win, we'll leave you and your brother in the cage alive. Either way, we'll be long gone with a small fortune before anyone finds this place." Sharon didn't see any options, so she crawled in. The men locked the cage door and wheeled her to the arena. The cage was hooked up to a mating door in a huge cage that dominated the warehouse, and she was allowed to enter. The fighting cage was circular, about thirty feet in diameter, and had odd looking rectangular bars spaced about six inches apart. A number of video cameras were mounted on the ceiling of the cage, five feet above her head. It was obvious that this had been well planned, so she didn't even bother looking for a way out. Her opponent stepped up to the side of the cage unannounced. "Lori, what a surprise." "That's right bitch, we've got some unfinished business. I'm going to show the world that you cheated. That you aren't half the woman I am. It's payback time." "That weasel of yours was right. You didn't need to grab my brother to get me to fight you. I'm going to enjoy this. And by the way, they did a shitty job putting your tits back together." Lori lunged for her through the bars screaming like an animal. "I'll fucking kill you bitch. I'll rip your fucking tits off and feed them to you." Sharon fired a punch through the bars that bloodied Lori's nose. "Enough talk bitch. Get in here and get some." Lori managed to calm down a bit by the time they let her in the cage. She entered through two doors so that Sharon wouldn't have any chance of slipping out. Sharon looked Lori over as she stepped inside. When they had first met, Lori had been a muscular beauty who had used her charms to lure her brother into bed and then into the ring. She wasn't the same woman now. The bitch was huge. Though she was two inches shorter than Sharon, Lori was at least twenty pounds heavier. The signs of steroid abuse were obvious. "By the time I finish with you, you might as well complete the process and have a cock sewn on. Because after I finish with you, you're only going to be able to pass for a guy, and an ugly guy at that," Sharon said. Lori raised her fists and approached Sharon. She was wearing a black leather outfit with silver studs that allowed her fake tits to stand out like torpedoes. "So, you still think you can box?" Sharon asked. "I'm better than you ever where," Lori snarled. Sharon shot a left jab in Lori's face. Lori tried to respond, but she was caught twice more by Sharon's longer reach. Stepping in and delivering a right cross, Sharon said, "You've got a short memory bitch." Bob and Erika watched anxiously as Lori and Sharon battled it out. The Board's agents where trying to get an electronics wizard to trace the signal. "Sharon seems to be doing good," Erika said hopefully. "There isn't a better boxer on the planet," Bob said, "but this isn't a boxing match." Sharon was discovering the same thing as Lori got frustrated and charged her. She tried to step out of the way, but she was too late. Lori used her weight to drive Sharon into the bars. Sharon screamed as she felt her back ripped open by a series of spikes that she hadn't noticed before. Lori tried to press Sharon further against the bars. Ignoring the pain of the spikes penetrating her palms, Sharon grasped the bars behind her head. Lifting her legs, she wedged her feet against Lori's chest and kicked. Lori flew ten feet and landed on her back. Sharon dropped back to the floor. Lori jumped up and charged again. Sharon caught Lori by the shoulders and spun her around. Shoving her towards the bars, Sharon yelled, "Your turn bitch!" But just before Lori hit the bars, the spikes retracted. "What the fuck?" Sharon asked puzzled. Lori sent a booted foot into Sharon's crotch that doubled her over with a shriek. "My cage, my rules, bitch," Lori answered. Now this is more like it, she thought as she sent Sharon rolling onto her back with a kick to her right tit. A stomp left a huge red patch on Sharon's stomach. She squashed one of Sharon's tits beneath her heel and started grinding. Sharon's brain was just getting over the pain of the groin kick. Lori was stomping the life out of her and she wasn't going to stop. Twisting with desperation, she managed to avoid a kick to the head with only a glancing blow. Grabbing an ankle with her left hand, she sent her fist rocketing into Lori's pubic region. It was Lori's turn to shriek as two more punches followed. With a swift kick to her ass, Sharon sent Lori pitching forward onto her face. Rolling over, she got up and closed on her opponent. Lori was getting to her feet with her back to Sharon. Good sportsmanship wasn't on her mind as she sent her fists crashing into Lori's lower back. Lori started to turn, but Sharon staggered her with a hammer blow to the back of the neck. Stepping up right next to her, Sharon slapped a full nelson on the shorter woman. Sharon's triceps corded with tension as she slowly forced Lori's neck to the breaking point. From outside the cage, she heard Mr. Slick yell, "Hey Sharon, watch this." Sharon looked over to where Mr. Slick stood. He was standing next to the two muscle heads who where holding her brother. He pointed a small revolver at Jack's leg and shot him. Sharon's grip relaxed as the shock set in. Mr. Slick pointed the gun at the side of Jack's head and she released the hold. Free of Sharon's arms, Lori struck like a snake. Grabbing hold of Sharon's hand, she whipped her face first into the spiked bars. Sharon's head hit hard and bounced. She started to black out. Lori took hold of her hair and drove her head into the bars a half a dozen times. Twisting Sharon around to face her, she saw that her face had been ripped to hamburger. Blood was pouring out of a dozen deep lacerations. Lori drew back her fist and slammed it into Sharon's face until she was covered with blood also. Before Sharon totally lost consciousness, Lori stepped behind her and trapped her head between her huge forearms. Tendons strained in Sharon's neck as Lori twisted her head around. Just before Sharon's neck broke, their eyes locked. Lori had dreamed of this moment. Dreamed of seeing the fear in Sharon's eyes as she begged for her life. But now that her dreams were about to be realized, all she saw in Sharon's eyes was defiance. Blood bubbled between her lips as Sharon croaked, "I'll fucking come back and haunt you bitch." Lori screamed and let go. Sharon fell unconscious to the floor of the cage. Lori trembled with rage. The fucking bitch had spoiled it. She had spoiled her victory. Reaching down, she took Sharon by the straps of her outfit and hoisted her onto her shoulders. Standing up, she pressed Sharon's limp body over her head and paraded around the cage. "I've won!" she yelled. "The bitch couldn't beat me in a fair fight. I'm the greatest fighter who ever lived." With an explosive thrust, she sent Sharon flying towards the bars. Sharon hit hard and dropped limply to the floor. Lori posed for the cameras as she raised her arms in victory. Halfway across the city, Erika screamed and buried her head in Bob's shoulder. Bob stood there in shock as he focused on Sharon's body. "No, it can't be. It just can't be. It isn't! She isn't dead, she's trying to get up!" But before Erika could turn around, the broadcast ended. Bob stalked over to where the electronics technician was poking around. "Did you get anything?" he demanded. "Yeah, the signals being fed by microwave. We know what direction it's coming from, and the source can't be more than a few miles away. We have guys out there right now looking for the broadcast antenna." Back at the warehouse, Lori was pissed. The reality of the fight hadn't been nearly as satisfying as her fantasies. She hadn't even finished ruining the bitch's tits. Stepping out of the cage, she motioned to the two men who had brought Sharon out. "Put her back in the transport cage," she ordered. "We're taking her with us. Pack up her brother also. I want them both." Mr. Slick rushed over to where Lori was standing. "It's too risky taking them with us. Lets just shoot them right now." Lori grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off of his feet. "You do what I say. Besides, if we take them with us, you can tape me finishing her. Double your profits." Fear and greed registered on the man's face. "Great idea Lori. I'll see that the his leg is bandaged and we'll stick him in the truck with Sharon." Lori dropped him and walked away. A few hours after the fight ended, the Board's agents located the warehouse. There was nothing much left to find. All of the cameras and electronics had been pulled out. About the only thing left was the cage. Erika was close to flipping out. "Do you think zey are OK?" she asked worriedly. "There's a lot of blood on the floor of the cage, and there's a pool of blood on the floor over there. That's bad. But there's not enough blood to prove that anybody died here, and there aren't any bodies. That's good. But even if they are alive, the situation isn't good. The Board's been checking up on Lori. She dropped out of sight after she recovered from the beating Sharon gave her. It seems that she took up cage fighting. She was a fucking nasty bitch when we first met her, and now she's a psycho killer. There's no way she's going to let them go. I figure she's just keeping them alive until she's had her fun. We have to find them before she's finished." "Shouldn't vwe go to the police?" "I don't thing we have that much time. Besides, these guys can shake things loose a lot quicker than the cops. Right now they're tracking down the people who were holding her cage matches. When they find them, they'll be asking questions, and they won't be asking nicely. But don't get your hopes up. It's still a long shot. They could be anywhere. What we need is pack of bloodhounds." Erika snapped her fingers and her face lit up. "Get my dogs," she said. "I didn't mean that literally." "I am serious. Zey are not ordinary dogs. Zey are the result of fifty years of breeding und animal experimentation. Zey vwere not just bred to tear people apart. Zey must find them first." "You really think they might have a chance?" "Zey know both Sharon und Jack. Zey might be able to find them. Do you have a better idea?" Sharon woke up in a small windowless room. Jack was cradling her head in his lap and cleaning her wounds. She tried to say something, but her throat hurt like hell and all that came out was a croak. "Don't try to talk," Jack said. "Here, try to drink some of this." He slowly poured some water in her mouth. "Evidently Lori still wants you in decent shape. Those assholes gave me a medical kit and some food before we got locked in here. As far as I can tell, you're not in too bad of a shape. You have some broken ribs, a couple of dozen bad cuts, and you sure won't be getting any modeling contracts for a while. What I'm really worried about is the blood loss. Here, take another drink. You were bleeding like a pig on the way over here. I managed to stop the bleeding, but you're looking a bit pale. How do you feel?" Sharon tried to get up. She was hit with waves of pain and dizziness, but she managed to sit up. "I feel weak as a kitten," she rasped. "How's your leg?" "That asshole shot me in the thigh. I've lost a bit of blood myself, and I sure as hell won't be doing any running. But they bandaged the wound, and the bleeding has stopped. I'll live. Try to eat something. I don't know when Lori's going to come back for you, but you can bet it's going to be soon. You've got to get some of your strength back." Sharon let Jack tear the food into small pieces as she forced herself to eat. She had a few broken teeth and couldn't chew, so she just swallowed. "Where are we?" "I'm not quite sure. It was still dark when they brought us in here. But it looked like an old warehouse to me. We weren't in the truck for longer than half an hour, so we can't be too far from where we were. Sharon, listen to me. I have something serious to say to you. Win or lose, these guys aren't going to let us go. If you get the chance to finish Lori off again, you don't worry about me. Just make sure she comes with us. Do you understand?" Sharon squeezed her brother's hand. "I swear I'll send that bitch straight to hell." Lori was in a worse mood than usual. She'd like to tear the bitch in half right now, but her back was fucked up from Sharon's punches. She'd give it a day, and then drag Sharon out of her hole. She was glad she had brought her along. She hadn't hurt her nearly bad enough. Swallowing a mixture of painkillers that would make an NFL player blink, she lapsed into a drug induced sleep. It was an unusual request, but the Board would do anything to help Sharon. Erika's dogs were flown in on their own charter. Bob and Erika took a Board limo down to the airport to pick them up. A nervous looking man holding a cellular phone led the animals off the plane. He had been given the task of rounding them up at the house. They had knocked him down and nearly torn his throat out before the intelligent animals heard Erika's voice barking commands in German at them over the phone. It was the damnedest thing he ever saw. The dogs cocked their heads and listened as the woman talked to them for a minute. She stopped talking, and they got off of him and lined up sitting in a row looking at him. He then heard the woman speaking in English. Something about the dogs having their orders and that they wouldn't give him any more trouble. And other than taking his lunch away from him on the plane, they hadn't. Sharon called her dogs and they hopped into the large passenger area of the car. Bob told the driver to start cruising the city. They were going to start at the warehouse and work their way out. Sharon gave the dogs some more orders. She lowered the rear windows and opened the sunroof. Bob was amazed by the animals. They didn't look like dogs just hanging their heads out a window. They really did appear to be on a mission. Bob got a bit skeptical as the limo passed the warehouse where Sharon had been and they didn't react. But a block later, they started barking excitedly. "Vwe were coming from upwind," Erika explained. She rewarded the animals and told them to continue. Bob had never really gotten along with Erika's dogs before. But he swore if they found Sharon and Jack, he'd personally feed them steak every day. When Lori woke up, she wasn't really surprised to find her manager waiting for her. Another man might have taken the money and run, but she knew this weasel would stick around for the chance to make a few more bucks off of a second video tape. "Wake our guests. Get them whatever they need. We'll fight again in four hours." Mr. Slick nodded and scurried off. Lori went to get something to eat. Hurting people took energy. Lori smiled a rare smile. Maybe she could get on a box of Wheaties with that slogan. Bob and Erika had been driving around for almost a day. Other than letting the dogs out every few hours to relieve themselves, they hadn't stopped. As the day wore on, they changed drivers and Erika had begun working the dogs in shifts. Bob and Erika were also swapping off, snatching whatever rest they could. As day turned into night and they were approaching the city's outskirts, Bob asked, "Erika, have you ever killed anyone?" "No, of course not," she replied. "I want you to make me a promise. Don't do it unless you have no other choice. Both Sharon and I have been in that position, and it's no fun. When we catch up to Lori, you direct the dogs and watch my back. I'll do whatever needs to be done." Erika didn't say anything, she just nodded. In the small room, Sharon gritted her teeth and stretched. She knew Lori would be coming for her soon, and she had to be ready. She had asked for a gallon of her favorite sports drink, and had been surprised when she got it. The long rest had done her good. She was now doing some light exercises to warm up her joints and muscles. Sharon was thankful to find that she if she ignored the pain, she would still have most of her mobility. Her strength wasn't even close to one hundred percent, but she was hoping that Lori's wasn't either. The door opened and the muscle heads entered. Mr. Slick waited outside with his revolver. "It's show time. Lets move it." They were in the old warehouse that Lori had been using to train in. Under her direction, the men had arranged pallets and crates to form a fighting pit with a four foot high wall. Lori's manager had mounted cameras at each corner. One of the men escorting them tied Jack to a column so that he would have a full view of the fight. The other muscle head poked Sharon as she climbed over the wall. Wheeling on him, she grabbed some of his fingers and bent them backwards until they broke. The man screamed, but not nearly as shrilly as when she followed up with a crushing knee to the groin. The big man dropped to the ground with tears streaming from his eyes. Sharon looked around to see Mr. Slick standing next to Jack with the gun in his side. "Very impressive Ms. Moore. I'm glad to see you're feeling better. Try to give Lori a good fight so that I can charge more for the tape." Sharon glared at him for a moment and then climbed quietly into the pit. Lori dropped in from the other side. "My my my, if your fans could see you now," Lori said as she shook her head. "You think you can beat me without your fancy cage bitch?" "I've been waiting a long time for this. I beat you too fast in the cage. This time I'm going to do you slowly." "Then come and get it Lori. That is, if you're woman enough." Lori approached her with her fists raised. Sharon smiled. She was glad Lori was making the mistake of engaging her in a fist fight again. Even before Lori had transformed herself into the hulk, Sharon hadn't thought much of her as a boxer. Sharon didn't waste any time as the bitch got in range. She opened with a hard straight right that blew by Lori's guard. Ducking a counter, she hit Lori in the ribs with two left uppercuts. Before the woman could recover, she grabbed her by the shoulders and delivered a head butt to her face. But Lori had learned a few tricks of her own in the cages. Hooking a foot behind Sharon's, she sent the taller woman tripping to the cold concrete floor. A kick caught Sharon painfully on the thigh as she tried to get back up. Kicking out, she managed to tangle Lori's feet and send her falling backwards. Both women got back to their feet. Lori tried another punch. Sharon deflected it, but was caught in the stomach with a side kick. Lori pursued her and launched another kick that sent Sharon smashing into the wall of crates. Sharon knew she was in trouble. Most of the wounds from their earlier fight had opened again, and she could see blood dripping all over the floor. She was feeling a bit woozy. Trapped against the wall, she managed to duck Lori's first punch. But the next one hit Sharon right over her broken ribs. Sharon gasped as she felt the splintering in her side. Seeing the effect of her punch, Lori jammed her right into the spot three more times. Withdrawing her fist, she was ecstatic to see shards of bone poking out through rips in Sharon's skin. As Sharon weakened further, Lori pounded her in the face. Sharon tried to defend herself, but she felt like she was fighting under water. Lori continued to pound her face. Remembering why she hadn't gotten much satisfaction from the first fight, she turned her attention to Sharon's perfect tits. A right uppercut landed with a wet smack sending Sharon's left tit quivering. Lori's left squashed her right breast against her sternum. As Lori prepared to send a third punch into Sharon's proud womanhood, she heard a man's scream echoing through the large building. Bob and Erika were getting discouraged. They had already covered half of Los Angeles. Bob was beginning to fear that either they weren't in the city, or that the smog had killed the dog's sense of smell. Without warning, the two German Shepherds went off as if they had seen the mailman. The dogs had both moved to the same window and were barking at a large abandoned looking warehouse. Bob ordered the driver to pull over. He made a quick call to the Board's agents to get there as soon as possible. "We can't wait. Gather the troops Erika, we're going in." Bob jumped out the door with Erika and the dogs following them. The animals led the way to a side door. Bob saw light coming from around the jamb. Trying the knob, he discovered it wasn't locked. He opened it slowly until he saw that a guard on the other side had seen him. Yanking the door wide open, he dived through as the man pulled a pistol out of his belt. Before Bob could get to him, Erika's rottweiller leapt past him and clamped down on the man's wrist with its huge jaws. The man screamed as bone crunched and his hand was nearly severed from his body. Erika entered and issued a command. The dog immediately dropped the man's arm. Bob knocked the guy out with a swift kick in the head and picked up the gun. "They know we're here now. Be careful," he said. Despite the beating she was taking, Sharon managed to smile when she heard Erika's voice from across the warehouse. Looking Lori right in the eye, she said, "Bitch, no matter what happens in here, you're fucked." "You first!" Lori shrieked. Lori quickly hit Sharon in the jaw with a left-right combination. Stepping in, she flipped Sharon around and applied her neck breaking hold. Sharon fought for life. Her neck muscles knotted like steel cables as she resisted Lori's huge arms. As they struggled, Sharon saw Erika's dogs enter her view like the wrath of God. The two Shepherds both hit a muscle head simultaneously sending him rolling on the floor. The other muscle head tried to run as the freakishly large rottweiler tackled him from behind. Both men started to scream as the dogs started to rip into their prey. Sharon saw Bob and Erika come running from around a stack of boxes. Bob had a gun pointing at Mr. Slick, but the man stepped behind Jack. Firing over Jack's shoulder, Mr. Slick hit Bob and Sharon saw him go down. The man aimed at Erika, but as he squeezed the trigger, Jack leapt up in front of him and took the bullet in the back. Sharon heard a scream and realized it was coming from her. Blood welled up around her fingernails where she clutched Lori's forearm. With the strength of the insane, she smashed her head backwards into Lori's face again and again until she felt the hold loosening. Muscling Lori's arm from around her throat, she turned and twisted it around the bitch's back in a hammer lock. Sharon's biceps swelled like baseballs under her skin as she wrenched Lori's arm right out of its socket. Lori howled in pain as Sharon kept going until Lori's hand was touching the back of her head. Feeling herself grow faint again, Sharon let Lori's arm drop limply back to her side and she wrapped her own arm like a python around the bitch's neck. Lori thrashed as Sharon's arm cut into her windpipe. Sharon rammed her knee into the woman's spine and yanked backwards. As her vision started to go black and spots flashed before her eyes, Sharon gave Lori's neck one last twist as she yelled, "See you in hell bitch!" Seeing Bob fall to the floor and Jack sacrifice himself for her, Erika yelled to her dogs and pointed at Mr. Slick. The man scampered down an aisle firing wildly at the pursuing animals. Looking over the wall of crates, she saw Sharon choking Lori from behind. Diving into the pit, she tackled the bitch from the front. All three women went toppling to the floor. Erika scrambled onto Lori's chest and prepared to send her fist crashing into the woman's face, but Lori wasn't moving. Erika knew that she was dead. Crawling over the body, Erika rolled Sharon over. She wasn't moving either. "Please Sharon, don't die," she begged. Putting her fingers to Sharon's jugular, she felt a very weak pulse. Looking around the warehouse, she saw that she was the only person moving. She could hear her dogs barking and growling at the far end of the building. There was nothing but devastation around her. Reminded of a story that her father had told her when she was a little girl, about when the gods would war until they destroyed their enemies and the world ended, she whispered "Gotterdammerung". Erika did what she could for her adopted family until the Board's agents showed up. One of them who had worked as an army medic was able to apply some first aid, and direct the others to carry Bob, Jack, and Sharon out to the waiting cars. A small convoy pulled out and raced to the nearest hospital. Erika wandered the empty warehouse in a daze. She found her dogs fighting over the largest pieces of Mr. Slick. The man was spread all over the floor. Erika turned from the sight. Without looking behind her, she spoke softly to the dogs. The animals dropped what they were chewing on and fell in behind her as she retreated to the entrance. The head agent was waiting for her. Two more agents were spreading gasoline throughout the building. "This can never have happened. We're going to burn it to the ground." Erika nodded slowly and took a deep breath. "I vwant to do it," she said. The man nodded back. As the last of the agents left the warehouse, he struck a flare and handed it to her. Erika ordered her dogs out and sent it arcing towards the area where the fight had taken place. Almost immediately, flames leapt up over the stacks of boxes and spread quickly. The fire was reflected in Erika's eyes as she allowed herself to shed a single tear. Wiping it away, she pulled herself together and got in the last car as the head agent held the door for her. Her friends would need her to be strong right now. Erika would never realize it, but much of the little girl that she had been was left in that warehouse, making room for the woman she would become. FROM THE AMAZONS ARENA BBS 702-243-7723