OZ - Starring Cody Ch. 2
By Dan

"Hey Cody, got your letter. I hope you still realize that this doesn't change things, though. I told you to stop fighting after we defeated Mad Gear, but you didn't listen. You've always been a hard-headed s.o.b. But, you're still my bro, so I'll help you out when neccessary. I'm sending fifty dollars and a new pair of those shell-toe adidas that you always wear. Make sure you stay out of trouble, 'cause Haggar has seen the judge, and the council is deciding on whether to put you on probation. With that being said, IKUZO. I must attend to my duty as Bushin. Hang in there, man...

Your friend,

Guy."

Cody finished reading the letter. He had been out of solitary for two days now, after being in the box for two weeks. He thought he could handle it, but they broke him anyway. When they finally opened the dark cell, they found Cody huddled in a corner, singing the lyrics to "Darkwing Duck". He lost the respect of the other inmates after that. The warden moved him to a different part of the prison, cell block d. So now here he was, with a new set of losers that most likely were going to test his mettle and see if they could punk him.

Cody got up from his new, flat-as-a-board bed, and asked the guard if he could take a shower. "Sure, but don't take any more than five minutes. Got it, Cody?"

"Yeah, sure." Cody got his blue towel and was escorted to the shower. He noticed most of the other cells only had one or two guys in them when he remembered that today was "Field Day". Another prison about seventy miles from this one always came once or twice a year to have various competitions with them. Weightlifting, basketball, all that stuff. Or so he heard. Cody finally got to the shower. As he began to take off his prison jumpsuit, he noticed that the guard was still there, watching him, at that.

"Uhh, do you mind? A little privacy, please.", Cody said.

"Oh! Oh yeah, sure." The guard turned his back and began walking down the hall.

"If you need anything, give a holler.", the guard called. "*Yeah. A pipe to bash your skull in.*", Cody thought evilly. He turned on the water faucet, and let out a discontented sigh when the shower's stream of water came out lukewarm. "*Guess this'll hafta' do.*" Cody got his soap, and began to lather up his hair. Before his face, his hair was one of his treasured assets...and Jessica.

Once again, Cody sighed. He missed Jessica like crazy. Jessica hadn't even came up to see him, because on the day he was handcuffed, he told her not to see him this way. He wondered if she missed him as much. He also wondered if she found someone new... "*Nahh, not Jessica. She's faithful. I can trust her.*", Cody reassured himself. But the idea crept back into his mind. "*You haven't exactly treated her in the best way possible, Cody.", his subconscious said.

"*Remember the time you two got into an argument, and you enraged her so much that she flung a vase at you? Do you remember it hitting you and shattering against your chest? Do you remember smacking her...watching her beautiful face contorted in shock as she began to cry?*"

"*I...I didn't....mean to...do that to her. It's just that-*"

"*Just what? That when you trounced Mad Gear, you promised her to get your life in check? And you lied to her?*"

"*I didn't mean to! LEAVE me ALONE!*"

"*You don't deserve her, Cody. It would serve you right if she left you...heyyy. Maybe she's seeing GUY!*"

Cody slammed his fist against the shower's wall. He tried to soothe himself. After all, this wasn't real. But he just couldn't stop the hallucinations. "*Jessica always had a thing for Guy, didn't she? Picture it, Cody. Jessica, clutching to Guy's back, her legs locked around his waist... screaming his name in ecstasy. Both of them, sweating, moaning...*" Cody couldn't take it anymore. All his pent-up anger was released without him even realizing what he himself, was saying.

"That's not REAL! Get the f--k out of my head, d*mn you! Guy is my friend! Jessica is MY life! They'd never do that! They both love me, and I love them too! So just stop it, brain! F--K OFF!" The guard came running back. "Yo, Cody! What the h*ll is wrong with you?" Huh? Cody slowly regained his senses. It was obvious he just had a mental breakdown. "Nothing... just a little p*ssed that the water's, um, so cold. Yeah."

"Oh. Well, your time's up. Hit the cell." Cody turned off the water and dried off his muscular frame. As he was doing that, he could've sworn someone was checking him out. He turned around. Sure enough, from the cell across from the showers, was that weirdo Claude. Claude eyed him, and blew him a very deliberate kiss. Cody quickly zipped up his prison suit after drying off, and was gone back to his cell fast as lightning.

Cody was now the only person in his cell. He flicked on the t.v. 5:32 pm. "*D*mn, Baywatch doesn't come on until 6.*", Cody thought bitterly. Maybe he'd go lift weights, that is, if the new guard would let him. He then quickly realized he'd better not ask the "new" guard for anything, for the new guard was no other than Eddy E. Cody flipped through the channels boredly. He began thinking about Jessica again. But instead, he focused on the good times. Like the time him and Guy enlisted Dan and Ken, and they all sung to Jessica, Dan's girlfriend R.Mika, and Ken's wife Eliza, an impromptu version of the Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way", for Valentine's Day. Needless to say, all three got some that night. Cody remembered all the long, passionate nights they shared... the love they proclaimed would always bond them together forever no matter what the cost or sacrifice... He also remebered what she once said to him one day after they made love...

"Cody. I love you so much. But there is something I really need to know. Am I important to you? I mean really important."

"Of course, Jessica. Why do you ask?"

"It seems as if you care about your fighting against Mad Gear than me sometimes..."

"Wha...? You actually think that? Jessica...I love you. And I'm not just saying that to get you into the sack again. I cherish you. I mean, if you do have a problem about me fighting, we can always try and find a solution. I want to make this work, girl. Besides, your dad would kick my white *ss if we broke up." They both laughed.

"Alright then Cody. It's settled. You aren't going to fight anymore?"

"I'll do my best not to..."

...But he didn't try his best. In fact, he didn't even try. Cody kept on fighting, even after Mad Gear was derailed and Katana (Sodom), Rolent, and Hugo all parted ways, with Hugo being imprisoned. Another illegal bout after another, his rap sheet kept getting bigger. Guy didn't want to hang around a criminal, so he left. Haggar tried to help, but soon left Cody to his destructive path. And finally, he got caught up. A brawling bunch of guys whose specialty was unofficialized street fights, challenged Cody, and before they even threw a punch, the cops rounded them up. Little did Cody know, these guys were also drug and arms dealers as well. Some of them were Mad Gear gang bosses trying to reform as a small group. So the police identified Cody as one of Mad Gear! That's how it all began...

Cody sighed as he finally turned the t.v. off. As he sat on his hard bed, he turned the t.v on to see what time it was now. "*7?*", Cody thought, amazed. He had been thinking for nearly two d*mn hours? That's a record for him. Cody finally decided to get some sleep. The inmates wwere beginning to file back in. It'd be noisy soon. "I should've listened to Guy, but no. Now I'm here*", Cody thought depressingly.

"*I saved a city, I saved a girl, but I couldn't save myself.......*"