Read The Adventures of Kid Combat Volume One: A Secret Lost for Free Online Page B

out loud. And for weeks now, Kid Combat had done exactly
that. Before that day, it was nothing more than small blurbs on
page seven of the local paper. Or, maybe a quick comment nestled
between the weather report and the town’s daily gossip. That day
was different. Kid Combat stole the spotlight from him. This did
not sit well with Jones.
    “I own this town, not him,” Jones said in a
low mumble. The rage was beginning to build inside his fragile
frame.
    A few awkward, silent moments passed as Jones
once again began to pace the room. He was visibly upset, and Two
just stood there in obvious horror waiting for instructions.
    Jones’s fist clenched at his side. He hated
Kid Combat. He hated him since the first time he heard of the boy.
It had been a few years earlier during an incident involving the
town’s favorite park, Maple Forest. Jones saw the park as an
excellent opportunity to make money. As a park, it was nothing more
than wasted land, in his opinion. A few trees, a baseball diamond,
no real value to anyone, he thought.
    Jones wanted that land. He wanted it bad. It
was acres and acres of unused land. He could take that land, chop
down all the trees, plow the baseball diamond, and build acres and
acres of wealth for himself.
    To Kid Combat and the rest of the kids in
town, it was a place to be a kid, something a greedy man and an
evil corporation knew nothing about. During the summer, the boys
would play baseball from sunup to sundown. The girls would have tea
parties and take long walks through the forest, picking wildflowers
and talking about the boys. It was a state of bliss, and no one
would take that away from Kid or his friends.
    Jones didn’t care about any of that. He had
to have that land, at any cost.
    He went to work schmoozing city hall
officials and council members to approve the proper permits for
Jones Industries to acquire the park. He even started hiring crews
and drawing up plans for his new purchase. It would cost him
dearly.
    Closer and closer Jones came to getting the
park. Then Kid Combat happened.
    It took some time, but eventually, Jones
learned that it was Kid who had blocked the deal. Envelopes full of
documents showed up on the final court day and blocked the purchase
of the park to Jones. If that wasn’t enough, it was deemed that no
work was to be done on any part of Maple Forest for the next ten
years.
    Jones was furious. All the time and money he
had put into the development of that forest were now gone. And it
was all because of this boy.
    How he hated Kid Combat. Jones became
obsessed with finding out his true identity. He would spare no
expense and exhaust every resource. Then he would expose Kid and
end his reign of fame.
    The previous night, he came close. But, once
again, Kid Combat slipped through his fingers. That thought only
enraged Jones more.
    He turned to Two and looked him dead in his
eye. The lines in his forehead became more pronounced as the anger
consumed him. His teeth grinded together from the rage, and then,
he said in a deep and disturbing voice, “This town is becoming a
rash. I’ve built this town from the ground up. What was this town
before me?”
    Two just stood there in dread as Jones
angrily threw the remote control across the room. It crashed into
the side of an aquarium, splashing water over the sides.
    “Nothing!” Jones shouted. “That’s what this
town was before me. Nothing! This town owes me for everything it
has! And this is the way they treat me? By taking me off the news
and putting some kid on instead?”
    He paused for a moment, then walked to the
window. He looked upon his backyard, the same yard Kid Combat used
to escape from his clutches.
    But then, Jones chuckled. It was a chuckle
that would haunt anyone who heard it.
    “Kid Combat. Nothing more than a child who
helps out other children,” Jones muttered to himself. The chuckled
disappeared.
    “How I hate him. How I hate them all.”
    Two stood there cluelessly. He didn’t