"Rocky, Rocky, Rocky, Rocky" The crowd droned on and on until….

ROCKY 5.5

FLASHBACK

People outside of Andy's bar as well as a few more coming in from their houses or from across the street formed a large circle surrounding two brawlers fighting to the death.

"Come on dad, you can take him!" said a small boy.

The man got hit by a massive punch from the younger man who was bigger than he was. Both of them kept hitting each other. Until the more experienced man in the gray sweater turned it all around. He grabbed onto the young man's blue sport short and hit his ribs nonstop. There was another punch aimed to his face but he ducked and went to spar with him until his punches turned deadlier now.

"Go for it!" the small boy nearby yelled while the rest of the people cheered the boy's father on. "ROCKY! ROCKY! ROCKY!"

Rocky sent a punch that could have made a dent to a cement wall to the younger man, Tommy Gunn, his protégé who was like another son to him until he turned to greed and not to a man with passion and heart like he did.

He sent a second punch that could have shattered a window. 'I'm sorry I had to do this but I can't let you threaten my friends and family no more, Tommy. Why didn't I teach you well like Mick did for me, you know?" he asked himself.

Another punch to Tommy's face had him gasping and groaning in fatigue. He felt like he got hit by a train. "He can't do this to me, I'm the champion! This ain't supposed to happen!" he thought to himself and prepared for the final blow.

"This will at least teach Duke that my answer is still…" Rocky sent an upper cut that lifted Tommy off his feet and onto the grill of a bus. The whole crowd celebrated his victory with the usual chanting of his name. He was embraced by his family but not before he shot a look at the real monster. A middle aged African American man wearing an expensive fur coat and golden glasses, he was the one who took Tommy away from him and turned him into a carbon copy of Rocky but it wasn't him. "NO!" he answered only in his mind.

George Washington Duke as he was called initially wanted Rocky to come back in the ring. When Rocky refused and insisted he was retired, Duke tried everything to get him to box again so that he could make more money. Seeing Tommy Gunn trained by Rocky, he thought to himself if he had the skills as Balboa, 'He could make me an elephant --load of money.' Duke convinced Tommy to join him and offer him money and other luxuries that Rocky could never give him.

As Rocky was being led away by his friends and family, he took a glimpse of Tommy being taken away by two police officers. Apparently he did cause the whole problem. Tommy beat up four bystanders who simply wanted to defend him. As Tommy Gunn was walking towards the police vehicle, he heard George Washington Duke's voice calling out to Rocky.

"Hey Rock! You outclassed the bum huh?" he chuckled. Tommy was shocked to hear being called that and felt even more despair than ever.

He then saw Rocky coming over to Duke menacingly and immediately saw him go nervous even if he put on a brave face.

"Touch me and I'll sue." He said.

"Come on pug, touch me and I'll sue." He taunted.

Duke knew Rocky was not as intelligent as the average person, he assumed Rocky didn't know what the legal codes for being in court. He chuckled as he saw the crowd of people giving him the same stares that were making him even more scared but hid his emotions and tried to pretend nothing was going to happen. He thought wrong.

Rocky gave him an uppercut that sent him to the top of a car.

"Sue me for what?" Rocky said with a smile.

Immediately Rocky Balboa joined his family and friends. While Tommy saw the whole thing behind the police car window driving away from the scene.

FOUR HOURS LATER…

Tommy Gunn was sitting in a jail cell isolated. He felt nothing but anger and sadness. "Why did this happen? I was never beaten before even before I had that match against Cane." Suddenly the jail door opened, and in revealed a dark figure with a female companion he knew immediately. Tommy mostly paid attention to the man in the fur coat. "Yo come on boy, it ain't over yet we got work to do so let's get your ass out here." As Tommy got out, he saw a large bruise on his face. It was indeed better than what he gotten.

As he walked alongside Duke in the parking lot, Tommy immediately grabbed onto Duke's collar with both hands and roughly brought him to a pillar staring at him. "You called me a bum!"

"Come on listen listen I didn't mean…" he said nervously.

"So it was true what Balboa said…YOU USED ME!" Tommy yelled.

"I gave you money and luxuries remember? So don't back off now. Besides I have a contract on you and you still hold the heavyweight championship so don't back out now! We can still take Balboa." He said quickly. "I'm the only friend you got!" He yelled.

Tommy loosened his grip and Duke chuckled nervously. "Now let's get out of here. I got a plan."

Rocky had a bunch of ice cubes stacked in his hand and pressed them to the left side of his head, he had withstood a massive amount of pain from that kid Tommy, but he came out the victor barely. In the basement, Rocky was tending to his bruises with Paulie getting him more ice.

"At least you still proved you still got what it takes Rocko" he said a bit wearily. He had also been punched by Tommy and rubbed his jaw. "That punk got what he deserved, he wasn't no real champ like you."

Rocky sighed and felt a bit depressed. He was trained by the best and whatever knowledge was given to him would now be given to another alternative: his son. But he knew Robert didn't have the desire to be a boxer and wanted to let him follow his own dreams. So what was left then?

"Hey dad." Robert came down and went to his father's side.

Rocky smiled. "Hey kid, how you doin?"

"I should be asking you that, you know?" he said chuckling.

Rocky laughed as well. "Yeah well, I had better times myself and uh I'm sorry you had to see all that and everything, you know?"

"I told you before you were the real champ around here." He smiled.

Adrian came down with a box of bandages ready. "I thought that you should put these on for now." She said meekly.

"Yo thanks Adrian." He took her hand and kissed it. "I'm sorry you know?"

"It's all right I'm just glad it's over." She embraced him.

"Nah Adrian I don't think it's over." Rocky said looking ahead.