The gang stood around Jack who'd placed a single board on a pair of cinder blocks. "Alright, guys, stand back." He broke the board, crossing his arms smugly.
They looked at him with unimpressed expressions. "What's the big deal, Jack? You've done that a thousand times." Jerry said voicing everyone's thoughts.
"Wait for it." He blew on the blocks, causing them to come crumbling down.
"Woah." They awed.
Eddie looked the most impressed. "Man, I'd give you a million bucks if you could do that to my cello. Players don't play the cello," he said popping his collar.
"Well you're not a player," Milton said mocking his friend's actions.
"I will be when I get rid of that dang cello. I'm going to get a smoothie." Eddie walked out leaving the others in confusion.
Rudy's shouting and the ruckus he was making from inside of his office increased their confusion. "No. NO! Don't you die on me! IT'S NOT YOUR TIME!"
"What's going on in there?" Milton asked.
Jack rolled his eyes. "Rudy's toilet's clogged again."
The sensei came out of his office, dressed as though he belonged on a fisherman's boat except for the hard hat and plunger. "Poor Myrtle. I almost lost her. Twice I had to plunge her back to life."
"How do you know if the toilet's a boy or a girl?" Jerry asked curiously.
"You take the top off the tank, you reach your arm in and feel around-"
"Stop!" Milton cried out traumatized. "I think I'd rather hear about this in an awkward conversation with my father!"
"Rudy, focus! The new owner of the mall is gonna be here any minute," Kim tells him getting them back on track.
"Hey! You guys gotta check this out!" Eddie called out waving some pamphlets around. The crew walked over, hoovering over his shoulders to read the paper. "These brochures are all over the place. This new owner's making some big changes."
Kim gazed over the pamphlet. "Wow, they finally moved the baby changing area out of the food court. And if you ask me, that was a big step in the right direction." She wafted her hand in front of her face. They all nodded in agreement to that.
"No way! They're bringing in a Captain Corndog!"
Jerry snatched the paper away. "Oh snap! That's a classy joint! My sister got married in a Captain Corndog. The captain walked her down the plank himself."
"Look at that huge new parking lot!" Milton pointed out.
"Wait a minute, where's our dojo?" Rudy asked gesturing to the lack of dojo information in the brochure.
"There's a parking lot where our dojo should be."
"Woah."
Still in shock of the news, they cleaned up the cinder block rubble and Rudy changed into a more appropriate get up. The kids were kept busy with training while Rudy made introductions with the new owner, Mr. Turner and his son Arthur.
Asa was helping Milton with the bo staff when her attention was caught by Arthur waving to his father. "I'll just be out here with the gang!"
"Hey, I'm Jack. How ya doing?" Jack greeted politely, holding his hand out for a shake.
Arthur's "good boy" façade dropped once his father was out of hearing range. He turned snarky, glaring around at the place. "So what do you losers do all day around this dump? Sit around and pretend to know karate?" He flailed his arms in mockery.
"Yo, "pretend to know karate"? Check this out." Jerry said confidently, getting into position. He stepped back the last second. "Jack, Asa, one of you go ahead and show him."
The two of them rolled their eyes. Jack backed away from a sparring dummy, his friends cheering him on. He kicked the dummy's head off with such force that it bounced all the way out of the dojo and into the nail salon.
Arthur scoffed over their cheers. "That was nothing. You guys wanna see some real karate moves?" He snatched the bo staff out of Milton's hand. "Watch this."
He let out some sort of war cry, actually doing decent at moving the staff in his hand until he used it to whack all of the trophies off the ledge. The Warriors used the headless dummy as a shield from Arthur's antics. "Uh-oh." He threw the bo staff back to Milton just as Rudy and Mr. Turner exited out of the office.
"What was that?" Rudy asked about the commotion.
"I can't believe it, sir. This kid just busted up all your trophies."
"Milton, you are in big trouble."
Jack cut in defending the boy who looked as frantic as a newborn deer. "What? It wasn't Milton, it was Arthur."
Rudy's expression flipped like a light switch. "Oh well. Accidents happen." They stared at him, mouths dropped and eyes wide in shock. "Thank you for showing us what a dangerous place it is to keep trophies. Now, everyone give our newest member, Arthur, a big Bobby Wasabi welcome!" He, Arthur and his father all clapped.
Jerry joined in, receiving glares from the others. "What? I love clapping. Woooo!"
Asa pinched his underarm, making him let out a shriek. "Shut up."
*＊✿❀ ❀✿＊*
It hasn't even been a full twenty four hours with Arthur as the newest member, and Asa was already plotting his death.
For the entire rest of the day he kept calling her shorty and little girl, as well as mocking her movements. The gang kept on having to keep an eye on her from doing something she'd most likely not regret later.
In order to keep her away from him, they practically made her hide out in Rudy's office with him.
Asa was meditating with Rudy in his office, sitting criss cross on his desk or at least attempting to. Meditation was never really her thing.
Jack stormed into Rudy's office furiously, shooting out rapid fire questions. "I don't get it, Rudy. Why does Arthur have to join our dojo? Why do we have to be his friends? Why are you in here?" He pointed over to Asa before turning back. "And why are you sitting on a toilet?"
Rudy looked up from his meditation with a grin. "This new high tech toilet is a gift from Mr. Turner."
"So you're just throwing Myrtle away? After everything you put her through?"
"Oh please. Myrtle's just an old flush bucket. The magic was gone years ago. We were just going through the motions."
Asa stood up from the desk to stand next to Jack eyeing their odd sensei. "To put it bluntly, he sold us out for a toilet."
"I saved our dojo," Rudy said defensively. "When Mr. Turner was saying that Arthur was having a hard time making friends, I jumped on it and said he could make friends right here."
"Rudy, there's a reason why he can't make friends. He's a pompous spoiled brat who wants to be treated like royalty." She told him straightforward.
Jack sighed. "We don't wanna be friends with him. Friends are loyal. Friends have your back. Even Asa's got full marks in comparison to him."
"Thanks... I think."
"Come on. Just, promise me that you'll try and make this Arthur thing work," Rudy pleaded.
"Fine. If it means saving the dojo, I'll give the spoiled little brat a chance."
He looked over to Asa for her answer. She rolled her eyes sighing. "Fine, but if he touches or mocks me again, he's getting a poisoned apple for lunch."
"See that's the spirit. And you, are to keep her in line," Rudy said mainly to Jack. "Hey guys, check this out!"
He waved his hand in front of the toilet, words coming out of it. "The Evacutron 5000 is now ready for boarding. Would you like your seat warmed?"
Rudy looked about ready to cry in happiness. "If this thing could cook I would totally marry it." He was now hugging a toilet.
"Apparently it can cook." Jack pressed a button on the side, waffles popping up and him having to play hot potato with them. Rudy grabbed a plate off his desk for the boy to put them down. "Your uh, toilet waffles are ready."
"You really want to eat those?" Asa asked mildly disturbed.
"No. Not without syrup!" The damn toilet even had a hose that Rudy used to pour syrup on his waffles. The two kids gagged, looking away.
*＊✿❀ ❀✿＊*
Arthur sat in the dojo dressed in his gi and waiting for the Warriors to finish changing, eager to present them with a gift.
When they all came out of the locker rooms, it was no surprise to see them look skeptical at the punching dummy with a red bow on it. "What's this?"
"It's a gift. I know I've been a little bit of a jerk." Arthur says in an almost apologetic manner.
""A little bit of a jerk"? That's like saying Jerry's a little bit confused," Jack states.
The latter proved his point by asking, "What? What'd I miss? I'm confused."
"Look, to show you that I'm not all bad, I got you guys this brand new, state of the art punching dummy!" The rich boy says enthusiastically.
They actually looked convinced. Arthur had them played oh so easily. Someone's personality can't be flipped around like a simple light switch, and Asa knew that.
"You know what, Arthur? Maybe I had you wrong. That's a pretty cool move." Oh how innocent these young teens are.
"Alright, that's more like it!" Jerry cheered. "Now, I think I should be the one to break this bad boy in. Wooo!"
Directly after the first punch, a spring loaded boxing glove came out of the dummy. It hit its target full force in the stomach that sent Jerry to the ground in pain.
They cringed in surprise at the amount of pain he's bound to be in. Arthur cackled with laughter. "Oh man! That was good. See I told you guys it was a punching dummy. You get it!"
Jerry crawled away. "It's on, dummy. It's on!" Asa helped him to his feet glaring at the brat.
"That's it!" Jack advanced forward all for the brunette girl to stop him.
"Jack, wait, he's mine." She took a step, only to have the boy grab her by the waist and lift her off the ground. The girl was although almost as light as a feather, that didn't stop her from squirming in his arms. He knew how Asa worked, and as much as he would have liked to see her fight Arthur, he was also aware of her levels of extreme.
Kim stepped in front of them. "Jack, Asa, you both promised Rudy. But I didn't."
This time Eddie stopped her, followed by Milton sizing Arthur up instead. Though he just turned back around to them. "Wait why can't Jack or Asa do this?"
Jack put Asa down, her huffing in annoyance. "Let's just start practice."
"Woah woah woah, Jack." Arthur tutted. "I got this. Since Rudy's not around and I outrank everyone, I'll lead the class."
"Are you nuts? You don't outrank Jack or Asa," Eddie exclaims.
"Really? See, I don't know if you notice, but I'm a green belt!"
"Yeah, because your daddy bought it for you." Kim sassed.
Asa lifted up the end of his belt to show off the tag. "It still has the tag from a prop shop on it."
"Jack, don't know anything about karate. You're nothing but a scrawny little skate rat," Arthur says poking at him.
He looks down composing himself before saying, "And you're nothing but a spoiled little poser." The rest of them laugh at his comeback.
"Poser, huh?" Jack turns to walk away. "That's it." Arthur lunges forward all to have Jack throw him into the wall he himself crashed through upon his first day in Seaford. Laughs broke out that just could not be kept in. Arthur was fuming. "You're gonna be sorry you did that!"
"What is going on?" Everyone went dead silent at Mr. Turner seeing the damage. Rudy gave his students a questionable look.
"It's a good thing you're here, dad. I was just saying my prayers and eating my vitamins, and Jack threw me into this wall." Arthur half hardly lied through his teeth.
"I thought we had a deal, Rudy. You said this was a warm and safe environment where Arthur could learn karate and make friends."
Rudy nervously laughed despite the situation. "Jack, did you throw Arthur into our Wall of Friendship?" He emphasized the last bit in attempt to make it not look as bad as it looked.
They all nodded going along with Rudy's plan. He assisted Arthur out of the wall continuing his cover up. "They don't do that to just anyone. They must really like you. Don't you, Jack?"
The boy just helplessly shrugged. "Rudy, I didn't wanna fight him. He just came right at me."
"He came at you, you came at him, it's like a big coming at ya party in here." Turner was not amused. "Alright, back to practice, you loveable scamps."
Thinking that Mr. Turner would just let this all go away, they had just began to stretch when Turner said, "Rudy, this is unacceptable. I want Jack thrown outta your dojo."
"What?"
"Buh-bye, Jack," Arthur hissed.
Rudy didn't even need to think twice with his reply. "I'm sorry, Mr. Turner, but that's not gonna happen."
"Okay, then. You have two hours to get out. You're standing on the sight of my new parking lot. Come on, son." The Turners stormed out of the dojo, and the Warriors breathless at everything.
A light hum caused everyone to see the Evacutron wheel into everyone's line of sight. "It's time for your 3:30 appointment."
Rudy frustratingly shouted, "Oh shut up!"
"I get it. It's because I'm a toilet isn't it?" The toilet turned back around to wheel itself into Rudy's office.
"Ouch, lover's quarrel already."
*＊✿❀ ❀✿＊*
"Jack, put your stuff down. You're not leaving." Rudy orders when Jack shuts his locker with duffle bag in hand.
"If I don't leave, you're all gonna loose the dojo. I'm not gonna let that happen." He says shaking his head.
"No, no, no. You're not going. Sometimes in life a man has to decide what's really important." When two men came out of Rudy's office carrying the Evacutron, the sensei shoved Jack forward exclaiming, "Hey, not my toilet! Take the boy instead!"
"Rudy!" Milton shouted.
"I'm sorry but you've never sat on her."
"We're not gonna take this man! We got to fight the power, yo!" Jerry encourages, standing his ground.
Jack drops his bag. "Jerry's right. We've got to fight back. Like that guy on Myer Avenue. He chained himself to that old oak tree so they couldn't cut it down."
"He stood his ground and saved that tree," Kim said.
"Till it fell in a storm, destroyed my Aunt Verna's house and she had to move into my room." Milton shivers. "I've seen things no boy my age should see." He looked out into space, traumatized.
"You know what, you guys are onto something. What Turner's doing is wrong and we got to fight back."
"What are you saying, Rudy?" Jerry questioned.
"I'm saying they can't tear down the dojo if I'm chained to that post. And I will fight the good fight for as long as it takes. So chain me up."
It didn't take long for Rudy to start panicking and squirming around from his spot. "Get these chains off me! I can't take it anymore! I'm going crazy!"
"RUDY!" Asa shouts, slapping him in the face. "It's only been three minutes."
Jack looks down at her pointedly. "Was slapping him necessary?"
She innocently shrugged.
"Yeah? Well if it's a good story, why don't you cover it yourself?" Kim angerly shuts her phone ending the call. She sighs from the mini outburst. "That was Margaret trying to give me another lame story to cover."
"What was it this time?" Milton inquires.
"Big news in the cafeteria. Apparently, Taco Tuesday is becoming Fajita Friday." She said with sarcastic enthusiasm.
"Yes!" Milton cheered, startling Rudy. "You slip the lunch lady a box of chocolates and a cat calendar, oh you can move mountains, baby!"
"All of this talk of food is making me hungry. I'm going over to Honey Buns to hook us up." Eddie ran for the door only to get pulled back by Jerry.
"You can't go out there, man. That's just what they want. You go out that door it's like we've given up."
"Well eventually we're gonna need something to eat."
Eddie looks up at the ceiling to point out, "You know, our air vent connects us with the nail salon. Those ladies are always snacking on something."
"Yeah he's right." Jack agreed.
"But who's skinny enough to fit through that vent?" Jerry asked looking to Eddie who looked at Kim who looked at Jack, then to Rudy, to Asa and finally Milton on the end who looked to see open air next to him. Realization dawned on him at the others' smiling faces.
"I went up there last time. You're turn, buddy." Asa patted him on his back in encouragement.
Milton threw is shirt off to the side, tying a black belt around his head, slipped on some knee pads and drew on some black lines under his eyes with a marker. "Let's do this!"
Jack and Jerry assisted Milton up similar to how they did with Asa, just without having to lift their friend almost above their heads due to Milton being taller than her. There was a slight hum to have Jack say, "I think the exhaust fan just kicked on."
"What makes you say that?" And right at that moment, Milton was sucked up into the air vent, the guys now empty handed.
They looked up awkwardly at the power of the fan. "No reason."
Time had passed by and Milton still wasn't back. Commotion began to stir in the courtyard, Jack pointing out, "Check it out. Turner just showed up with some people."
Outside the dojo was a now empty area, clear from and chairs or tables. Mr. Turner was standing out there with a megaphone and his security reinforcements placing up barricades. "Attention, dojo squatters, you have five minutes to get out. We are bringing in a wrecking ball."
"You don't scare us, Turner!" Rudy shouts from his post. "That whole bringing in a wrecking ball routine is the oldest trick in the book."
The crew looked back to see Turner guiding a wrecking ball to the front of the dojo. Their eyes widened. "I don't know what book you're reading, but they just brought in a wrecking ball." Asa tells him.
"What? Unchain me you, fools!"
"Yeah, about that." The brunette said slowly. "You gave Milton the key."
"What? It can't end like this! I never sat in a hot tub full of pudding! No wait, yes I did. No, that was custard." The image alone made the kids grimace.
Amongst the commotion, pedestrians began to file in to watch. "Nothing brings out a crowd like a wrecking ball. They're totally on our side." Jerry hums. "You can feel the love!"
The crowd cheerfully chanted, "Knock it down!"
"Oh I'm feeling the love alright." Asa sarcastically smiled.
"Why don't you guys shut your pie holes!" Jerry snaps, making the crowd quiet down.
Kim looked up in realization. "Y'all, I'm right in the middle of a really big story. Five kids from our school fighting a great injustice."
"Kim, you better get out there. Your friend Margaret just showed up." Jack nods his head to their main school reporter, followed by a cameraman.
"Oh no she didn't. Not today, Margaret. NOT TODAY!" Kim exclaims storming out.
"In two minutes we're turning this place into a parking lot." Mr. Turner announced.
Jerry sighed with a weary look. "I'm going out there." He exits the dojo, and just improved with that he had. "Alright I got some demands people! Alright now we're gonna need a big bag of cheeseburgers, some fries, some juice boxes, and uh, and throw in some of those glow in the dark straws! Yeah, they make drinking fun, yo!"
"Your demands stink." A guy in the crowd said and the rest agreeing with a "Yeah."
"I wasn't finished." The four who were left inside merely ducked their heads. "And I'm gonna need a couple of helicopters flown in by supermodels."
"Now those are some demands!" The crowd cheered and began to chant along with Jerry. "Wasabi!"
Unknowing to his father, Arthur had snuck his way into the wrecking ball's main control to lower the ball. The chanting ceased, and people quickly backing away from the premises. The more clueless one was Margaret who was too busy giving the news to notice.
"Margaret, get out of the way!" Kim calls out.
Through grit teeth she replies back, "I'm on the air, Kim!" Even the cameraman had more common sense to run away once the ball began to swing.
Just as Margaret turns to see the wrecking ball coming straight towards her, letting out a scream, Kim ran in to shove her out of the way.
Jerry scurries back into the safety of the dojo. Panicking, "Yo, Arthur's lost it you guys. A few more swings and this dojo's history."
"What are we gonna do?" Eddie cries out.
Asa looks up to Jack with a smirk. "Time to kick some spoiled brat's ass!"
She ran out and ducked into the crowd that for some reason didn't think about evacuating the area. Asa peeked up to see Jack had done a more unorthodox method by jumping onto the wrecking ball.
Just as he'd jumped off to land above Arthur who flinched from his seat at the controls, Asa popped up next to Arthur leaning on the machine's side. "What's up, Arthur?"
Arthur smirked at the two. "Jack, Asa, you're too late."
"I don't think we are," Jack said.
Taking the keys out of the ignition and jingling in front of their faces he taunts, "Neither of you can do anything without the keys." He shoves Asa back, tripping over the leg she jutted out.
Asa kicks the keys out of his hands and Jack catches them after he backflips off the machine. Arthur threw some punches towards Jack, the latter successfully dodging each one. In attempt to grab the boy, Asa grips onto his sweater vest for Jack to swing him around and kick him away from the two.
Arthur grabs onto a wooden plank, cutting off Jack's advance to put the key in. He keeps jabbing and swinging the board, causing the two to dodge with the little room they had. "Say goodbye to your dojo you two!"
They looked up from Arthur, vividly seeing the wrecking ball gain speed, nearing closer to the building.
Jack caught the plank under his arm, punching it in two with the force throwing Arthur to the ground. Asa hops off the machine to pull him to his feet, twisting his arms back into a lock position. She looks up to see that Jack had inserted the key, using the lever to kill the ball's momentum.
Rudy, Eddie and Jerry huddled into one another bracing for the impending impact.
Though it never came as the wrecking ball simply tapped the dojo's doors, swinging to a stop. Rudy and the kids let out breaths of relief and the crowd cheered. Mr. Turner breathed out in shock as he'd seen the whole thing. Arthur stomped his foot as that was all he could do with Asa holding his arms back. She increased her grip, forcing him to walk.
"I'm live on the scene here at the Bobby Wasabi Dojo. We have an eye witness at the action, our own head report, Margaret Bort." Kim reported to the live camera, taking over since the other girl looked like a mess as she was rapidly twitching from her near death experience. "Margaret, in your own words would you tell us what you saw?"
"So big! So round! So coming at me! Coming at me!" She twitched walking away.
"Well said, Margaret! And there you have it folks. I'm Kim Crawford, and I have a feeling y'all will be seeing a lot more of me."
Mr. Turner ran his way in to see that no harm had come to those inside. "Is everyone okay in here?"
"Look, Turner, you win." Rudy breathed in surrender. "Alright, just go ahead and take your dojo back. Put up your parking lot, but you know what? We're proud. And we will hold our heads high." Rudy lifts his arms up to have the chains fall at his feet. He gave a look of disbelief. "Really? Hands over the head, that's all it took."
"I think this belongs to you." Asa says, shoving Arthur in front of his father. Jack stands next to her with an arm nonchalantly resting on her shoulder.
"Arthur, how could you do something like this? I've given you everything." Turner questions in disappointment.
"Maybe that's the problem," Rudy said.
"What do you mean?"
"This dojo might not be much, but it's built on the principles of discipline and respect. A couple things Arthur obviously doesn't have."
"Blah, blah, blah. Look, can we just knock down their little dump now, dad?" He snapped proving Rudy's point.
"No! He's right." Turner's firm scolding made Asa's lips lift into a smirk. He turned away from his son with a more apologetic voice. "I'm sorry, Rudy. Your dojo can stay."
Whoops and hollers echoed amongst the Warriors at their victory.
"Arthur, get in the car. You're grounded."
Arthur, never having heard such a word before asked slowly, "Grounded? What does that even mean?"
"I think you're about to find out. Buh-bye, Arthur." Jack waved smugly, cuing the Turners leave.
"Jack, Asa, what you two did was incredible," Rudy praised.
Asa dusted off some non existent dust from her shoulder. Jack scoffed in a more humbling manner. "It wasn't just me. We all did it." It took Jack a minute to remember, "Wait a minute, has anyone seen Milton?"
They looked up to the air vent. "I'm sure he's fine."
*＊✿❀ ❀✿＊*
I gots nothing. Laters!
-H