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Episode
086 |
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Knightspeak
The double doors opened
dramatically, revealing Alan Vick waiting behind them. Dressed in black slacks, a red shirt, and a
black suede jacket, he stepped into the wall of music. With a nonchalant look on his face, he
strolled down the tall steps to the main dance floor. Overhead, the techno beat was kept
in rhythm by the lights that flashed in mathematical precision. Red, green, blue, yellow, and a host of other
colors melded, contrasting and complimenting, as patterns flashed over the dancers. At the bar on the far end, he could see two
knights sitting, watching the dancers.
A Latino knight and a white knight; they sat near each other, smiling
harmlessly as they admired the women move to the music. Alan hugged the side of the dance
floor, moving amongst the people as they came off and others leapt into the
fray. The solid heat of the night
fused with the sweat-soaked air in the club to create a stifling, yet
inspiring atmosphere. He came to the bar
and approached the two knights. They
looked to him and he held up his two fingers between his eyes, both returning
the gesture. “Good evening,” he called
over the music. “Same to you,” said the Latino
knight with a thick Mexican accent beneath his pencil-thin goatee. He held out his hand and Alan shook it. “Do we know you?” the white knight
asked across his friend. “I’m
David. This is Max.” “It’s nice to meet you both,” Alan
said. “I’m Alan Vick. I’m, uh, I’m sort of the organizer for all
of this.” “The club?” David asked. “The revolution,” Max connected
with a growing smile. Alan couldn’t help but smile as
well. “That’s the plan.” He tapped the bar absently before he
started away. “Have a good night,
boys. I’ll be seeing you soon.” As soon as he was turned from them, a
rushed look came over him as he practically ran towards the doorway to the
right of the long bar. He shoved
through the heavy wooden door, only to flinch when he heard a man slam down
onto matting. Alan froze to find eleven knights
gathered around two in the middle of a twenty-by-twenty square of floor
matting. Dressed in karate gis with
red tops and black pants, the knight still standing backed away as the other
got to his feet. They began to circle
around one another. Alan stared in
disbelief, then got his bearings.
Seeing Dante and Ryoko in the corner, he nearly sprinted over to
them. “What the hell’s going on?!” he
exclaimed. Dante looked at Ryoko, somewhat
confused, then at Alan. “Um, the
bigger guy there was running his mouth about how Judo couldn’t beat
Jiu-jitsu. Shorty there took up the
mantle so we decided we’d…” “I mean about there being a
sparring room in the back of a dance club!” Alan exclaimed, the walls
rattling from the sound of the music coming from all sides. “Oh. That.” “Yeah, that,” Alan said. He looked at Ryoko, but she stared
indifferently back. “Guys, I have not
spent the past weeks trying to figure out Knightspeak so that you guys could
make this club into your own playground.” “Clam down, Alan,” Dante said,
glancing cautiously to the circle of knights.
“We needed to do something.
We’ve got fourteen knights in this city, not including us or Everett
Kendall’s clowns. We needed to make a
place for us to centralize and…” Alan’s jaw dropped. “Fourteen?”
Dante stopped, confused.
“Already?” “Yeah,” he said. “While you’ve been sticking your nose into
a bunch of computer programs, we’ve all been recruiting on Knightsnet. We’ve got nineteen knights to our cause,
with another thirty who should be joining us in the next month.” “What?!” Alan said, his shout
drawing looks from a few of the knights around the mat. “We’ll have fifty knights?” “That’s the plan,” Dante said with
a growing grin. “You said we were
going to need an army. We’re getting
you an army.” Alan stepped back, rubbing his
face. “Who, uh…” His eyes went wide. “I, uh, I need you guys to go find Eliot
and Matt. The five of us need to sit
down, tonight.” “Why?” Ryoko asked. Matt sat on the barstool, looking
into the dance crowd. Watching the
women dance with their partners or their men, he sighed longingly. To his right, a lovely blonde woman in a
flattering outfit came away from the stage towards the bar. She leaned forward, her posture getting
Matt’s attention as she called her order to the bartender. He looked down at his
mostly-finished drink and chugged it in one swig. He breathed out forcibly to summon his
courage and started towards the woman.
As he neared, the bartender brought her the drink and Matt held out
his glass. “Heineken, please,” he
said. He looked to the woman. “Hey,” he said with a friendly smile. She returned the gesture with an
awkwardly polite look. “Hey.” She turned back to the dance floor. “I, uh, I was watching you
dance. You’re really good.” She looked at him with disgust and walked
away. Matt watched her go and his
shoulders sank. “Man,” he grumbled,
turning around to face the bar. With
his elbows on the neon-lit glass surface, he stared at nothing. “Why do I have to suck at picking up
girls? And why do all the pretty ones
have to be taken?” “Because they’re selfish and
stuck-up,” Dante said, sliding into the seat next to him. “And you’re in the 80s room, which is a bad
place to be picking up girls anyway.”
He clapped his hand on Matt’s back.
“You want the raver room.
That’s where the easy chicks are.” “I don’t want an easy chick,” Matt
said glumly, brushing his damp, blonde hair out of his forehead. “I want a girl who will…” He sighed.
His head fell into his hands.
“I do want an easy girl,” he lamented. “I know,” Dante said, patting his
shoulder. “But while you’re drowning
your pathetic sorrows, why don’t you come with me?” “And do what?” Matt groaned. “Go see what Alan wants.” Matt looked up, his sadness gone, replaced
with curiosity and bit of anxiety.
“Alan says we need to all sit down and chat,” Dante explained as he
stepped away from the bar and motioned for Matt to follow. “Let’s go chat.” Ryoko walked into the raver room,
bombarded by the constant mechanical hum of the techno music. Lights flashed against the sweat-covered
bodies of the dancers as they twisted and gyrated in an orgy of
sensation. They contorted their bodies
along with their perceptions, losing themselves in the music and their
motions. In her black trench coat and red
shirt, Ryoko stood out against the other women who wore suggestively
little. Her black hair drawn back in a
notch-top that spilled down her muscular back like a waterfall, she looked
through the room. In the center, she
saw Eliot sandwiched between two women who rubbed against him and each other
to the motion of the music. Ryoko
stayed still, intently watching him. It took Eliot a moment to notice,
an aware look in his eyes. His sight
fell on her and he smiled. Taking the
two girls by the hands, he led them towards the edge of the dance floor where
Ryoko waited. Arriving, he pulled the
two girls close to him. “Want to join
us?” he asked with a lecherous smile. “Alan is waiting,” she said. “Oh, will Alan be joining us too?”
he grinned, the two girls giggling.
Ryoko gave him a stern, annoyed look.
“Well, I thought you’d be happy,” he playfully pouted. “You can beat up three people instead of
just me.” Ryoko’s eyes twitched subtly as
she glared at the small man before her.
But he smiled, relenting.
“Ladies,” he said to the two girls.
“Wait here. I’ll be back
soon.” He patted them both beneath
their waists and sent them back to the dance floor. He stepped past Ryoko and headed to the bar
where his black coat waited. Swinging
it dramatically around him to slide it on, he turned to Ryoko, wiping the
sweat off his forehead. “Now what is
this about?” Ryoko said nothing. Glaring, she turned from him and started
towards the exit. Through the doorless entryway, she
led Eliot out to the main dance floor where Alan waited with Dante and
Matt. As the last two of the five
knights approached, Alan turned for the door.
“Tonight is going to be a night that we’ll all remember for a long,
long time.” “And why is that?” Eliot asked. “Because tonight, you’re entire
perception of knighthood is going to change,” Alan said as they arrived at
the doors. The two thick bouncers
opened the doors for them and Alan led them out into the comparatively cool
night air. “Tonight, I’m going to show
you the fruits of all this labor and hard work.” “Good. I like fruit,” Dante said with a grin. “Yeah, yeah, hush,” Alan joked as
they headed down the stairs. “Tonight,
though, you guys are going to learn the true secrets of Knightspeak.” |
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