The Final Crusade

by Enfield

Aggressive Defence

The next morning was relatively normal, Sweetie Bell had recovered a little and Katherine was out on the back porch Skyping the rest of the family. She then thought that she would take the laptop around the house to show everyone over in England what their house looked like.

“And here’s the den,” Katherine said taking the laptop to the den. She opened the door to James dressed in his new Enforcer gear and Sweetie Bell sleeping on the couch, James waved at Katherine and pointed to Sweetie Bell.

“Keep quiet,” James hissed, “She took some more medicine and fell asleep.”

“Is Samantha alright?” Nan asked.

“No she isn’t,” replied Katherine, “She got stung by a jellyfish in North Carolina and it didn’t go well.”

“She getting better though,” James said, “The veins and swelling went down yesterday.”

“Where was she stung?” Uncle Isaac asked.

“On her foot,” said Katherine, “Show them James.”
James looked up at his mother and shook his head in disgust.

“No,” he said, “No I’m not going to do that. Shame on you wanting to see this poor girl’s ailment for you amusement, you leave now.”
Katherine backed up and shut the door to the den, James looked down at Sweetie Bell, she was still asleep and looking rather happy. It was only few more days until she would be back up on her feet again.

Another day passed and James had begun to trust the Crusaders in going out of the house by themselves, after all he didn’t want to be fiercely protecting them every second of the day. More good news came in the form of James' hand and arm fully healing before expectations. July 4th celebrations started and James couldn’t let the Crusaders miss anything, Debra and Seth had brought sparklers for the Crusaders to use and James helped the neighbors set off a barrage of fireworks. The Crusaders had the best day and night of their lives. July 5th and James was still making sure that Sweetie Bell, although fully recovered, was in perfect health, her foot was now better and she no longer felt tired, sore or hot. Debra called James and asked if she could have her fire lighter that she loaned to Katherine yesterday, James sent Scootaloo out because she could make a short trip up the street even shorter by running.

“Is all the swelling gone now?” James asked Sweetie Bell.

“Yes,” Sweetie Bell replied, “You’ve asked twenty times in the past four hours.”

“Just making sure,” said James.

“You really care about us,” Apple Bloom said, “Why do you care so much?”

“Because I want to make sure that you’re alright when you get home,” said James.

“Doesn’t hurt to care a lot about someone,” said Sweetie Bell.

“I’ll do anything for you three,” said James.
Just then the front door swung open, James turned and saw Scootaloo standing in the doorway.

“Hey Scoot,” James said, “Did you give Debra the firelighter back?”
Scootaloo gave a loud sniff in response, James clearly knew something was wrong.

“Something up?” James asked. Scootaloo ran over and buried herself in James then started crying.

“Hang on, what happened?” James asked shuffling down so he could try to calm Scootaloo down.

“Scoot,” Apple Bloom said, “What’s up?”
Scootaloo said something but was crying too hard and she spoke too fast for anyone to understand.

“Say again, I didn’t catch that,” said James.

“That kid hit me,” she said through raking sobs.

“Which kid?” asked Sweetie Bell.

“The one from the house next to the old people,” Scootaloo said, “That kid, he hit me and stole my necklace.”

“Rod?” James said grimly, he felt Scootaloo nod.
James let go of Scootaloo and had Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell calm her down as he went upstairs. When he came down again he was dressed in his Enforcer gear and pulling on a pair of black leather gloves. James opened the screen door and looked down the street.

“Where are you going?” asked Apple Bloom.

“I’m going to have a little chat with Rod,” James said, “I’ll be back in a bit.”

He shut the door and marched his way down to the Zecomecks house where Rod lived. Once James reached the front door he literately started hammering it.

“Open up!” James yelled.

“Oh hi James,” Rod said mockingly through the door, “Here to fight me because of that girl?”

“I’m not here to fight you,” James said fiercely, “I’m here to kick your ass.”

“Good luck getting through the door,” Rod said and walked off laughing.

James wasn’t going to give up now, he was so close to his goal. He was going to make sure that Rod was going to get what was coming to him, but first he was going to have to find a way inside. Close examination of the door revealed the hinge and door handle screws were exposed and easily accessible. If only he had a screwdriver. James miraculously stood on one as he was searching for an open window.

“This’ll work,” he said placing it into the screws and finding it to be a perfect fit.

Several minutes later James had successfully removed the hinge screws and the outside door handle. James once again knocked on the door and Rod showed up.

“You still can’t get in here,” said Rod. James gave a rather nasty looking smile and gently pushed the door with one finger, the door teetered then fell to the floor. Rod now went from being cocky to downright terrified.

“Now where was I?” James said walking inside, Rod still stood frozen in fear as James replaced the door and turned back to Rod.

“I didn’t mean it,” Rod stammered out.

“Yeah right,” James said striding over to him.

“Look I don’t want any trouble,” Rod said slowly backing away.

“You should of thought about that before you hit that girl,” James said.

Rod turned to run but James grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him back, James span Rod around and punched him in the middle of his face several times. James then lifted him up and threw Rod onto the kitchen table which snapped in half, Rod got up and rushed at James swinging his fists around, James blocked the attack, grabbed Rod’s head and kneed him in the face. Rod flew back from the impact and landed on the broken table, James hosted him up again and hurled him over the banister to the living room in which a sickening crunch was heard as Rod landed on the hard floor. James leaped over the banister and was a little surprised to find that he hadn’t landed on Rod. He looked around and then saw Rod running at him with a metal baseball bat, James kept his cool and dodged each swing, James blocked one hard swing with his arm which almost broke it. James staggered back a foot and rubbed the bruise.

“Give up?” Rod said wiping blood from his nose.

“You should have finished me,” James said, unto which he delivered a powerful side kick to Rod’s neck. Rod dropped the bat and grabbed his throat, James seized his head and again gave Rod a powerful knee to the face. James felt something like one of Rod’s eyes exploded as his knee connected with his head. Once more James had a hold of Rod and then charged him into a wall, James then started battering Rod until he sank to the floor.

“Now you leave those kids alone,” said James, “If you dare try and hurt them again in any way I will come back and finish the job.”
James walked back to the door and removed it so he could leave.

“What the matter?” came a sort of damaged and slurred voice, “Can’t be the better person?”

James span around and saw Rod limping over, James had to end this now before anyone suspected anything. James sprinted over to Rod and gave him the most painful kick to his groin. Rod dropped and hunched over moaning, James rubbed his shin against the back of his leg.

“It’s over Rod,” said James, “I’ll always be the better person, no matter what happens.”

James turned back around and saw the seashell necklace hanging on a hook mounted to the wall, James grabbed it, went outside and placed the door back into it’s hinge. James sighed and walked back down the street. He opened the door once he got home and saw that Scootaloo hadn’t moved from her spot when she told James what had happened, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell were still trying to comfort her. Apple Bloom was the first to see James.

“Did you talk to him?” she asked.

“Sure did,” James said happily, “And I don’t think he’ll trouble you again.”

“You did it?” asked Sweetie Bell.

“He’s taken care of,” said James, “Also I managed to get something from him.”
James held the necklace out for Scootaloo to see, once she saw it she stopped crying and looked up at James.

“I take good care of my friends,” said James. Scootaloo took the necklace then hugged James, James couldn’t help but return it.

“Thank you so much dad,” Scootaloo said quietly. James was taken by surprise a little when he heard that.

“Did you just say ‘dad’?” he asked.

“No I said thanks for that,” Scootaloo said.

“I thought you said dad as well,” Apple Bloom said.

“It might of sounded like it because you didn’t hear me,” said Scootaloo, sounding irritated..

“Well it’s official now,” James said, “I’m going to have to teach you CQC.”
The Crusaders were a little confused.

“What’s CQC?” Sweetie Bell asked.

“Close Quarter Combat,” replied James, “Something that I should teach you now after what Rod did.”

“How will it help us?” Apple Bloom asked.

“With a little training I can have you kill a person with almost no effort,” James said, “But for now I’ll just teach you strikes, grabs, holds and escape techniques if you want.”

Scootaloo immediately said yes, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell had no choice but to have James teach them one of the most deadly fighting styles known to man. The following day James took the Crusaders outside to the backyard because of the fake grass being softer and that no-one would see them.

“First thing to teach you is the origin of this kind of fighting style and who used it,” James said.

“Where did it come from?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Soviet Russian Spetsnaz commandos,” said James.

“Who were they?” Scootaloo asked.

“Communist commandos trained to kill through the most intense training,” James said, “Now all I need to show you what I’ll be teaching you is a volunteer.”

After a few minutes Scootaloo stepped forward, James instructed her to stand in front of him.

“Is this going to hurt?” she asked.

“Trust me, it won’t hurt too much,” James said, “Now charge at me.”
Scootaloo did as James said, she charged forward at him. James sidestepped and grabbed hold of her arm then in one motion put her in an arm lock and pinned her to the ground.

“This move is pretty easy once you get the hang of it,” James said letting Scootaloo get up.

“I hope this all pays off,” Scootaloo said.

Comments

[Friend]

0.o I dont think Rod deserved alll that....

did he?

[Th3 Torx]

2137918 Maybe not, but he wouldn't learn. Besides I think he have been a pain in James ass for a long time, and will probably continue until he can't be one anymore.

[Th3 Torx]

2293929 Upon my re-reading I now say that he didn't deserve all that, not at all. And frankly I feel like James should have kept away from Rods face and gone for more subtle attacks focused on inflicting pain rather than actually causing damage. Still James was probably so fed up with Rod that a beat-down would be unavoidable if Rod kept annoying him.

Unfortunately this story don't live up to my memory of it. The plot is still good but there are parts that don't really make sense. For example the barred door, why don't he question it? And Sweetie Belles silver blood, why didn't the doctor hold her for observation and contact the CDC? People seem to be ignorant in order for the story to progress. In my opinion the story would benefit greatly from editing and additions to explain plot holes. I also think the writing could be smoother somehow, although I can't pinpoint what's wrong with it.

Edit: I think I know what's wrong with the writing, or at least part of whats wrong. The conversations ends before they should, and as a result I often want a question along the lines of why, how and what while the characters don't really seem to care. Also the vocabulary could be more varied. In a future chapter three sentences in a row starts with James, and before that there are two more in a row. That means five out of six sentences in a row starts with James, it messes up the flow of the story for me.

[Godiswithus3]

A good and well deserved flank wuppin always feels good.

[theshinobistallion]

If I was there I would 've kicked Rob in the nuts a lot of times

[pvzMLP]

................Maybe just a kick to the groin would have worked.

[Fa-18]

Friend...yes