Thread: The Shadow of South Carolina (True Grave & The Unusual Panda)

Brandon Price sat quietly on a bus as it moved along the oceans of roadways that it had to cross between New York and South Carolina. He was a young man, only 21, but felt like had lived ten times that in lifetimes. He was a fifth degree black belt in Fang Karate, a school founded by his father, Thomas Price, who was a Karate Master and current Heavyweight Champion in the Ultimate Fighting Championships, or UFC. The Price family was full of warriors of many disciplines, but Brandon's path at 18 had been unorthodox and illegal, going underground to pit fight with dangerous and ruthless men. His father's manager, Roger Adler, had coached Brandon through it, and the two had made a bundle of money. He had fought constantly, racking up an incredible five hundred straight victories in the arena to become its champion, earning his nickname, the Dragon of the Underground. Brandon fought five hundred more times, all straight victories, and retired undefeated with a record of 1000-0. It had been harder than anyone could imagine, and he had suffered devastating injuries at times. Even after all that fighting, Brandon was never truly sure that he was the best, because it was a huge world out there, and he was just the underground champ of one city. Though he could have toured the world, he wanted to be sure that he was really as good as he could be in the United States first. Moreover, he wanted to do it alone, without Roger's good but greedy coaching. So, he began his own tour of the country, fighting his way to the top in ten states at multiple clubs and arenas. Brandon had returned home recently to visit with his family and Roger, letting them know of his progress and what was going on in his life. Then, he packed up his few belongings and hopped on a bus to South Carolina. He had not visited a southern state before, and he wanted to see how different it was from northern fighting circuits. The bus was supposed to reach the city today, and he smiled as it pulled into the station. When the doors opened, he stepped off with the other passengers and began heading through the terminal. As he stepped out of the terminal, the bright sun almost blinded him, forcing him to cover his brown eyes with his hand. He whistled to hail a cab, having perfected the way to do it in his home borough of Manhattan. When the cab stopped, he handed him a fifty and asked him to take him to the nearest bar, since bar patrons always know where stuff goes down. The cabbie was not very talkative, but he was friendly and courteous enough to ask him some basic questions and be sociable. Brandon got out at the first bar he saw, a place called the Georgia Snake Pit, which actually sounded promising for what he wanted. When he stepped inside and saw a big MMA cage in the center of the bar, he knew he had struck gold. There was a woman working the bar, and he strided over to her. The place was pure country bar, with guys wearing cowboy hats and women in tied shirts riding mechanical bulls. Some of the men eyed him curiously, but not in an unfriendly way, it was just different to see a young man in a hoody, track pants, and sneakers around here. The air conditioner next to the bar caught his hair, forcing him to brush his brown hair from his eyes. He sat at the bar and gave the woman a nice smile. Hey, there. If you could tell me how to enter into that cage fighting event, I would appreciate it.