Somewhere! (Hunaak!) (12 page)

Let me introduce
you to my friend Jack who does not care about fighting spirits simply because he does not feel it nor does he need it, you must defeat him before I fight you!” — Mr. Bruce added.

That sentence provoked the giant robot as he banged his chest with his fists and the place echoed with an annoying metal sound that terrified me as it did Malak.

“Mr. Bruce! You know very well the delicacy of the situation! There is no way I can accept risking Husam’s life like this!” — Malak said.

“
Would you like to fight Jack yourself so that your spoiled Husam would not get a scratch?” — Mr. Bruce asked Malak.

“
I will deal with Jack!!”
—
I interrupted them.

“
I will not allow you!” — Malak shouted.

“
OK! OK! A fight between the two of you shall decide this! The winner will face Jack” — Mr. Bruce said.

She did not give me any time to think as she held her dress
’s end between her teeth and split it so that it would not hinder her kicks. She then quickly posed like a professional fighter. A green holographic strip appeared hovering above her head and the same strip appeared above my head.

I realized that this was the health bar when Malak let out a grunt as she swung her leg in a circular motion that introduced my cheek bone to the details of her high heel and its strength forcing that bar to reduce above my head.

I was inside the game! I was facing a fighter that was even more ferocious than that cold blooded Irish killer in the game!

But I was not dealing with buttons here; I was dealing with live painful punches and kicks! What
was even harder was the fact that I was supposed to fight Malak to save her from facing Jack! This is by far the toughest situation I had gone through since I got here! In fact, it was the hardest situation I ever faced in my life!

Malak wasted no time in thinking as I did. She attacked me with everything she
’s had, thus reducing my green bar that changed into a red bar without me even touching her!

“
Come on! Finish him with the knockout… Jack hates waiting!” —Mr. Bruce shouted

Her movement was very fast just like that damned hired killer in the game!! Those were the same moves! I remembered every detail and I could even predict them. After her right leg kicked, she
spin around throwing a stab with her palm to my chest. My grip moved to block her hand as I held it and twisted her wrist to force her to bend… forgive me Malak! I had to!

I was remembering the fighter who represented Bruce
’s character in the game, I remembered the combinations by heart on the gamepad… could I perform them in reality? There was only one way to find out, I had to try them. I decided to try ten successive strikes. Two punches, a lower kick, an upper kick, three successive steel punches, then a lower rotating kick which threw her off balance and was followed by a punch that sunk into her soft body. I lifted her up a bit to finish her off with a flying side kick. Malak’s bar completely vanished and a large three dimensional K.O. appeared in the middle of the stage, I hurried towards Malak, who had collapsed on the floor after my violent attack, I raised her to my chest, she coughed and leaned towards me.

“
Husam… I am OK! Husam please stop!! Please!!” — she said with her decaying voice.

Bruce interrupted us with his slow clapping.

“Bravo! You have just proved that you are stronger than girls Mr. Husam… did you learn your fourth lesson? Malak is your weakness point! You could not face her so she almost finished you off! When you have a weakness point you lose half the battle! And if your enemy knew this, you’d lose the entire battle! To win your battles you must convert your weakness point into strength and your enemy’s strength point to a weakness you can use against them!!”

I carried Malak out of the ring and kissed her between her eyes wiping away her pain.

“I will win Malak! No one can beat me! You know why? Because I will fight for you Malak!”
—
I said to Malak.

I felt as if I was exploding in
anger. I turned towards the ring and shouted:

“
Jack! Get ready! I will send you to the junkyard of damaged scrap!
”

I think the giant who had this dumb icy face understood my comment and expressed his anger with a terrifying leap towards me, thankfully I was faster than he was, I jumped to the side as he fell with his entire weight on the ground, at that same moment the green bar appeared above both of us, I took advantage of his struggle to get up by jumping high up and falling with my entire weight on my knees in his back. His green bar only lost a sliver,
while my keen shattered with pain. He stood up and forced me to lose my balance as I fell of his back. He sent his steel foot flying towards me which covered my chest and stomach and threw me a few meters backwards. That single kick took off half of my bar. I fell to the ground shaking, just as he ran towards me. One more hit like that and it would end the fight in his favor. No! This will not end in his favor! Never!! For your eyes Malak!! I did not jump to my feet, I let him come closer and in the last moment, I jumped, more like,
flew
and flipped around him. In the fraction of a second that I had spent in the air, I conducted a complete area sweep of him. I saw that his weakness point was where his neck met his shoulders. This was the only area not covered with plates and wires appeared as he moved.

Those wires
were the only thing that I could damage in this armored machine! I took the decision in a blink as I landed on his back.  I rode him and held on to his neck and clothes. He could not get to me with his hands as I moved fast. As I gathered my strength, determination and anger in my palm, I let it loose in a sword like stab to the side of his neck, it sunk between a group of bars and wires as I felt the bones in my palms shatter between them but I did not care, I grabbed them and pulled a bunch of them out, one of his eyes made a smothered explosive sound as smoke rose from it, and the bull rampaged as he swayed beneath me while I held on to his neck. Despite the dire pain in my palms, I went back again in his neck to smash more plates and pull more wires. The rhino decided to throw himself backwards to squash me underneath his steel torso. I won in the agility battle as I leaped in the right moment. I watched his body fall while I was in the air. My brain was working so fast that I could see all the details in slow motion, this time my weight landed on the right place… right on his weakness point!

As he fell, his head slammed into the floor and I landed on the unshielded bars
of his neck shattering it. As my foot sunk into it, I made Bruce Lee’s famous cry that I had seen so many times in his movies.

The green bar vanished and K.O. appeared again. I turned towards Mr. Bruce and said sarcastically as I felt my fest that was torn in pain:

“Jack needs a lot of spare parts! You will need to buy a new mechanical bull Mr. Bruce!”

“
I like your sense of humor, it raises your moral, but that is not enough!” — Mr. Bruce added.

He removed his shirt as he came closer to me. His muscles tightened and hardened and between every two muscles on his body, a new muscle appeared. Just as if he was a bronze statue! Above him appeared the green bar that I had no idea if I could even budge! Especially while I was in this miserable shape after two ruthless fights
… No No No! I will not be beaten! I will crush him! Even if he was Bruce Lee!

His stone muscles teased me to start with a flying side kick towards his chest, but the bronze suddenly turned into quicksilver as he moved from my way with speed and ease. He returned the
bronze to slam into my back throwing me to my face and eating up a large portion of my green bar.

“
That is right! The fifth lesson: You must be flexible like mercury, yet solid like steel… But you shall never defeat me in the battle of speed!” —, Mr. Bruce said as if he was reading my thoughts.

I knew that I had to perform the successive strikes that I knew by heart. I began
… only to quickly regret it! He avoided each of them with ease. He knew the timings perfectly and all were lost in the air. The moment that my swing kick missed his face, he launched a destructive punch, I tried —in vain
—
to block it but he skillfully twisted his arm around mine and almost broke my elbow as he hindered its movement. I then punched him with my other arm. This was a dumb move as he fixated my other arm in the same way, and now I could not move and my face was directly in front of his. He looked at me as I tried to hide my pain.

“
You are mimicking my moves Husam! Lesson six: it is idiotic to think that you can beat your enemy while you imitate him, while you follow his moves and style, you must surprise him with your own style, you must invent a thousand new moves every time he figures out one of yours!” — Mr. Bruce added.

He slammed my nose
—that was already bleeding
—
with his forehead. More blood gushed and did not give me any time to feel my pain just as he slammed his forehead again and again smashing my teeth. At this point, my green bar had turned red. He was about to finish the fight with a knockout by his forehead but I used my weakness and his strength to tip the balance. As his head came forward towards me, I spat my blood and teeth forcefully at his face —surprising him
—
he let go of my hand to wipe his eyes that were now covered in my blood and were poked by my teeth, I did not wait for him to understand what had happened, I jumped onto him and threw my hook hold towards his eyes directly, I felt his two soft eye balls under my index finger and thumb. They were the only soft part of his body.

“
Surrender to me Bruce!! Surrender!” —, I shouted as I almost popped them out.

I think it was crazy to ask someone like Bruce Lee to surrender. His green bar was shrinking as I squeezed on his eyes, but he was able to punch into my right arm and forced me to release one of his eyes. His move made me hold on even tighter to his other eye and apply even more pressure with my thumb into his pupil. His pupil was my last hope to defeat him, especially given that my bar only had a sliver that would disappear if he touched me again and that
’s exactly what happened… he screamed his famous scream as he hit my arm that was holding his eye and moved back half a step and pushed forward with a side kick towards my chest. Although he did not open his eyes yet, I tried to avoid that kick, but I was no more lucky than that punching bag… I flew backwards and with that my bar vanished and K.O appeared to announce Bruce Lee’s victory… Mr. Bruce stood as he rubbed his eyes from the extreme pain he still felt. Malak bolted towards me to examine what remained of my face.

“
Husam you truly amazed me!” — Mr. Bruce said with an envious tone.

He reached out to help me stand up and I put on a sarcastic smile given that
I was missing my front teeth.

“
Every bone in my body paid a hefty price to achieve that amusement… and at the end I still lost!” — I added.

“
And who said you lost?” — he replied.

“
Ask that ugly K.O.!” — I shouted.

“
But your sarcastic smile proves otherwise…” — he said.

“
I hope next time it would be a real victory smile with my teeth!” — I added.

“
A sarcastic smile is a double edged sword, it gives you victory if you lose, and makes you lose if you were victorious! Listen Husam, the battle was yours! Your only mistake was that you did not poke my eyes when you had the chance!” — Mr. Bruce added.

“
Allow me to figure out the sixth lesson: It is stupid to miss out on any chance!” — I added.

“
It is stupid to hope that you would get more than one chance! You fought me as Bruce Lee, with everything that Bruce Lee means to you. An unbeatable fighter, a hero you had never hoped to meet. If you had considered me a real adversary you would not have hesitated to poke my eye and win the battle, and I admit that I had exploited that point to the extreme, I knew you would hesitate, otherwise I would have surrendered immediately! And that is the seventh lesson” — he added.

He then looked at me after he had stopped rubbing his eyes that had turned blood red.

“Lesson seven is that you should end a battle with the least possible losses! The best won battles are the ones you win without ever fighting them! The enemy vanishes if you turn him into a friend! And the worst battles are the ones you lose everything even if you win! Your enemy might destroy you even if you defeat him!” — he added.

“
Yet, we must prepare for every battle with full strength!” — I added.

“
Victory is not for the strongest… but for the most worthy… I could not count the times that I faced those who are far stronger than I was… yet I beat them… today you beat me Husam!” — Mr. Bruce added.

“
I will take this as a complement from the king of the art of fighting!” — I said.

“
I left your world before I even started on my path… before I achieved a fraction of what I aspired to!” — he replied.