One of his favourite things about Stonehaven was the street performers.
As he walked nibbling on the ice cream, he delighted in the antics of jugglers tossing colourful balls in the air. He gasped at the feat of athleticism and grace demonstrated by acrobats and contortionists. He giggled at the absurd shows put on by puppeteers and dabbed tears from his eyes at the sound of beautiful songs played and sung by street musicians.
Then his long pointed ears twitched as if for a moment, catching a sound. One, he could barely familiarize.
There were often sounds he could pick up subconsciously but don't always often seem to notice. Sounds such as the click, tick and shhh of every speech, the more obscure sounds that can lead reality to a scene. But the one he'd heard now was unlike any of these sounds.
Tapping his foot incessantly against the ground, whilst beating time with his hand against his thigh like some sort of metronome, he could have chosen to let this go, but the temptation of feeding his curiosity was too much to resist. He followed the sound, looking around to seek out the source of the interruption and leaving behind Orenji who stood watching dumbfounded.
It wasn't that far off actually. The sound he'd heard came from right underneath him.
The closer he came to the bridge's railings, the closer he heard. The closer he could see, feel the tension, the panic the air brought along with it. It wasn't coming off him nor was it from Orenji. It was a chemo signal, no doubt. One of fear, he sensed.
He held onto the bridge's railings, peering down and looking around below.
It must be the same nearly-disabling fear that'd become part of his life, making itself known again, he thought. His memories were a maze of confusion. He'd tried piecing them together right from his moment of liberation or so he called it, but no such luck.
"You're a pretty weird guy. You know that, right?!" He was told.
Out of nowhere came the strange sounds again that caught his ear and Kiel realized these weren't just ordinary noises, but one of a struggle. There was no way he could have imagined it. It was far too loud and clear for that.
His eyes darted down the area, searching frantically below, and on some teenagers, three of them, his gaze locked on to. They cornered a kid not more than 8 years of age into an alleyway, something of interest curled in the latter's arms. As though he offered it protection from harm, it seemed.
In particular, the source of the interruption.
Without a seconds thought, he held on to the bridge's railing with both hands and with his mind made up, he leapt across.
He leapt right off the bridge.
"Oh no," Orenji found himself mutter in disbelief. He hurried toward the spot Kiel once stood, looking cautiously below. There was nothing but the traffic of people moving about their daily lives.
He leaned in close at the bridge. Real close. Unbeknownst to him, he stared basically into the jaws of death if not already in it, but then came the revelation. The rude awakening in human form.
"'RENJI, YOU MORON! The heck do you think you're doing?!" Came the sudden voice that startled him for a moment, making him fall back on his rear end. "What are you, an idiot...?!" The voice scolded still.
It's owner approached.
"Wait, let me rephrase that, you're an idiot!" She remarked ruefully, her arms crossed across her chest. It was the redhead Yukira, and usually she enjoyed watching him display his uncanny stupidity in full action but this was too much even for her to bear. The preposterousness of it all almost sent her into a gale of laughter. Surely, life can't be this cruel towards her having him for a partner. "Do you want to die? You just wanna unalive yourself?"
"Uh, how long were you standing there?" He asked, genuinely surprised.
"Long enough to see you try to walk the plank," She replied with a hint of sarcasm in her tone then sighed irritably, shaking her head from side to side. "Listen to me, okay? If you're going to die, if you want too at least, do it with some dignity you got left in you. Go out in a blaze of glory. Die in battle or something! Don't go taking the easy way out and doing this and taking the easy way, you're only going to make the city look even dirtier. And who's gonna end up having to clean up after you, me? Seriously... It makes things hella more difficult for me when I have a total idiot for a partner! Humph! Talk about your body being all over the place." she pouted, looking away from him as he got up to his feet.
"Haha, very funny."
"What? You think I was joking?"
"How about the mission? Any progress as of late?"
"Oh, see, the mission. Oh, so now you remember the mission?" she said in a loud voice, which promptly made him cringe, of course. "Well, while you were here dawdling your time over with death, I happen to stumble on some clues in one of the many many books at the library." She responded promptly, turning around with her back facing the boy. "I'll bring it over to your place after school, tomorrow. Shouldn't be too much of a problem." She said morosely then began walking away.
"Yeah. And wait, dawdling?" Orenji followed behind her with the words. "Hey, I wasn't dawdling!"
"Oh, yeah? Then what were you doing back there?"
"I was... I was, uh," he said slowly, "I was just... Shut up, Yukira!" he snickered, defiantly.
"Heh," she chuckled a little, "when it comes right down it... to being real stupid I mean, you never cease to disappoint, Orenji." she confessed.
**********
The Alleyway was straight like that of a drinking straw and almost as narrow. Someone had used it as a joke to him once that it wasn't a place to go waltzing right in after a big meal, but Kiel, for the life of him, could not remember who it was. He did however know it was someone he was close too once, someone he cared about, but he just couldn't remember and even when he tried, all he could see, all he could get, was a vague face.
In the dim light that oozed through a narrow gap in the alley, two of the bullies held their tortured victim, with the victim's face bent downwards as bruises lay across it and the rest of his entire body. Only now, more were about to be dealt on him. The boy had been beaten, battered.
And now, he was about to be broken, literally.
"Hey, I always forget, how many bones are in the human body?!" One of the two bullies holding him dared ask with a grin.
"I don't know," A familiar voice replied him, crunching his knuckles. "Let's count--" closing in, he threw a right hook at the boy but before a connection could be made, a tightly clenched fist from out of nowhere caught his face instead.
"That's one," Kiel uttered upon intercepting the attack. All eyes turned to face him now.
The bully he'd punched in the face grunted, staggering briefly but regained balance soon after and following through with his actions, he whipped the blood quickly off his mouth. He turned around slowly and reared his head, and that's when Kiel knew; He had just punched their one leader in the face and if that wasn't bad enough, the dreadful voice approached closer and closer to the Kaiju, finding himself face to face with the light-skinned six-footer. The bully, a certain big, mean, white Sean Komastu turned in his direction.
Of course. Just how unfortunate he had to be to punch the one guy in the group who he disliked and who disliked him in return, the one guy whom amongst all others, whom amongst all else had that look, the kind Kiel always associated with groups and kindreds like hell's angels. A dangerous tackle was one thing but beating up a seemingly eight year old, how low could he stoop? Not to mention the two others that aided in the assault....
As Kiel looked on, he realized these were the two Photonballers also that aided in Sean's tackle against him. Just how low could they all stoop?
"Let him go," the words tumbled right off Kiel's tongue. He hadn't even thought them, nor had he stopped to think truly about what he was getting himself into but nevertheless, he knew it was the right thing to do. "I said let him go, Now!!" this time he didn't ask.
"Who is this guy anyway?! Coming in here to tell us what to do." One of the bullies responded unkindly to Kiel's words. Enraged, he'd tried taking a step of confrontation forward but was stopped by Sean's calloused hand.
"He's got cojones that's for sure," Sean looked Kiel's way and began walking straight towards him, "Let's just see if I can wreck 'em." he let the words slip in a sinister tone of voice.
Up close and personal now, Kiel could see just how tall and noticeably bigger Sean truly was. Skates or no skates, the boy indeed was tall enough to look like a giant in Kiel's eyes. His expression exuded that of anger as he gazed upon a mere Kiel with furious looking eyebrows, almost as though he was going to snap at any moment. Almost. He tried intimidating Kiel with all these features of his, but Kiel on his part never broke eye contact nor showed any signs of weakness. He even had to stand on his toes just to gain an advantage of his own. Like hell that worked. Sean still had the upper hand against him and as Kiel watched, he came to the sudden realization; One that if it came down to it, if a brawl should break out eventually between the both of them, if need be, this guy right here could snap him literally in half.
He hesitated from what Kiel could see. And maybe, that was a good thing. Wouldn't want to risk coming to blows with the Sasquatch before him.
Then, he caught sight of his hands curling into mere fists. Of course being a mere 5 foot, 4 inches tall came with it's perks but in situations like these, it's usually best to turn the other way and make a run for it.
But no, not Kiel.
Never Kiel.
Because when it came down to it, to saving a life, he was no coward. Suddenly, a sly smile escaped Sean's lips which startled the latter and he watched with intent as Sean raised his hand up slowly only to then snap his fingers. In sequential motion, one as though done so long they practically understood the gesture, the bullies grabbed their victim by the cloth and flung the young boy into farthest corner of the alley. Kiel ran to the boy's immediate rescue, thinking nothing less than the boy's safety, a sense of duty insisting he try to help the little he could and that's when he noticed....
The victim wasn't a boy.
Well, okay, he was.
Just not entirely human. The Kaiju - from what Kiel could see - looked to be young about the age of eight or nine. An odd feature of his stood out and for one, his ears, which were longer than most, their tips pointed and somewhat elven-like. But other than that, he looked completely fine, very much human infact.
But the thing Kiel couldn't quite understand was what this Kaiju could be doing all the way out in the open. And how did he found himself in Sean's clutches? Actually, how had he wound up there to begin with? He didn't have time to think about it because things were getting worse. A lot worse.
Sean began to laugh, punishing Kiel with those cruel eyes of his. "You know something?" he said quietly. "You're a fool. A stupid, moronic, sophomoric, dope of a fool." the words rolled off his tongue like machine gunfire. "A fool dope! That's what you are. Yeah, I said it."
The words breezed past Kiel's ears, leaving him plundering the words. "What? A fool... dope?"
"Now, you see it yourself, don't you?!" Sean's voice rang out, expressing himself with much vigor as opposed to the last they met and accompanied too by his loud and brash personality. "Clearly he isn't human, only going around masquerading as one. So why try to help this disgusting being? This... this abomination of a creature!"
"Abomination?!" Kiel replied, a little stunned by Sean's words. He turned his attention to them, slowly facing the menacing trio. "I wonder why. So that's what you see us as truly? I mean them? I wonder... why?" In that split moment where Sean hesitated, Kiel no longer thought he'd hit him. He'd have done so already. He glanced at his friends. They might change his mind. But that of course wasn't going to stop him from saying all that needed be said. "We... we are all living beings here! We are all living creatures made into this world for goodness sake! Despite the mere appearances, how are we so different...? Just what is it that you people have against us?! Against them, I-I mean to say. YOU HATE HIM BECAUSE HE LOOKS DIFFERENT!"
"Shut up!" One of the bullies shouted. "Monsters are MONSTERS and they're like plagues to our world!"
"Easy, Maru," Sean beckoned, taking a step closer before addressing Kiel now. "you don't get it, do you? You see, these Monsters, they don't deserve to breathe the same air as us. They're nothing but vermin problems, infestations to our world. Maybe it was different from where you came from but around here, it's a matter of kill or be killed...
...now step aside squirt, or else!"
"... Or else what?" Kiel retorted in his oddly calm tone, not even letting his assailant finish. At this point, he started to feel his own blood boil from within but deep down, he knew again if it got physical, it wouldn't work in his favor seeing as the numbers were against him clearly. So he remained cool, for the meantime at least.
"Or else we go through you," was Sean's response. He was getting louder and angrier. And annoyed frankly. "And trust me, we're prepared to do just that. I for one would be most delighted to pay you back for the humiliation you've caused me at the track." he continued. His friends couldn't help but chuckle at this with evil intent on their faces, taking some couple of steps forward, ready to join in like a pack of wild dogs. If one jumped, they all would, Sean's dull eyes looking so hateful that it aspired revenge.
He aspired revenge.
Kiel's first instinct, one he'd followed all too frequently in the past, was to put his fist right between the bully's mocking eyes. No questions asked. No questions needed. But this time, "Stop this! Okay, wait, back up, what is it you guys want anyway?" Kiel cocked his head to the side in confusion, yet again speaking calmly. He'd taken a deep breath to calm himself. The pain in his head was killing him.
He was seriously outnumbered.
Kiel glanced at the people coming towards him. Intimidation was becoming something else. Things were getting out of control.
"What I want," Sean said, pointing a finger at Kiel's face, "that you can give me. What I want is for you to quit playing hero." Kiel said nothing. What could he have said? He looked at the rest of the bullies. It was blatantly obvious the odds were well against him, thoughts of self preservation screaming wildly in his head for him to leave but if he leaves now, he knew they weren't going to stop.
It didn't matter now. Halfway towards him, they moved with threatening determination. He had to stand his ground. Sean took a step his way and laughed again, more easily this time. He was close enough, so close infact Kiel could smell his rank breath as he said, "This ain't your business. It's between me and that, so why don't you get out of here before you get hurt... Chump!"
Kiel swallowed hard. A bead of sweat slid down his face. Maybe he miscalculated?!
Just then, an oddly reminiscent sound caught his ears, coming especially from the bruised baby chimp cradled in the eight year old's arms. He looked down at them with the same bored and confused glare over his eyes. Ah, I see now...! So this must be what he's been protecting-- What... can I do? What can I do right now? Move. Make a decision. Do something. Anything-- In that instant Kiel accessed the situation, he never resented his own lack of power more than at this moment. Or rather, he did think there was nothing he could do about it. He had no idea entirely of the power he kept buried within himself, just waiting to be let out. Between the boy's condition, Sean's temper, and the others' malice, Kiel, although rendered speechless by how sorry he felt for the little one, knew in his heart that there was no time. He bit his lower lip to make his body react and it worked. Although drawing blood, he moved. If he was going to give an answer, it had to be now. And his answer... I guess I'm doing this then...! Was the added thought at the end, one made solemnly. One brought about not even a second of weighing his options. Not even a moment of consideration. And so standing right there by his own fruition, he knew what he had to do. He'd made his choice.
This time, Sean poked his fat finger in Kiel's chest, hard. "The point is, I don't like Monsters. And I especially don't like 'em when they start getting cocky. Like that one over there. Such pests! And you -- The way you speak to me is so disrespectful, you miserable brat! After all the trophies and medals I've gotten, the recognition I've gained, you should acknowledge me!"
Pest, was it? My, What a cheap insult. Kiel grabbed his finger, the one that had just poked his chest, reacting quickly on sheer instinct. "Hmm. You've won medals? Oh. Were you just thinking out loud about yourself?" he spoke the words, calm and soft and collected, "Well... even if that's true, there isn't a thing about you I can respect so --" With his expression barely changing, the Kaiju faced them, the words leaving his lips in a tone not of his own oddly. His anger was starting to get the better of him. Bending the bully's finger at a bone breaking angle, he continued so. "I can't place it, but there's just something about the way you look, the way you talk, and the way you act that really pisses me off." Sean struggled from the pain but before long, with the palm of his hand, the Kaiju pushed him back a fair distance to the rest of his possé.
"Now, who finna' catch these hands!" He said the words as he watched, "Come at me!"
Shoulders squared and hands at his side, Kiel stood his ground like a boxer striding to the center of the ring, ready to start the first round, his eyes letting slip a faint blue glow in the dim light of the alley. It was what thought to be the best choice, all things considered. He'd tried reasoning but known reasoning wasn't going to at all cut it. He'd have had to leave the rest of his life in guilt if he'd chosen to leave. Why go this far for a lowly animal? For something far small and insignificant? Not only that, he wasn't even sure he could live a normal life. Also, he's had just about enough of Sean's brutish taunts. The Kaiju was never one to walk away from a fight, and he wasn't about to walk away from this one either. Seeing the boy's determined expression, Sean took on a sly smile. He seemed to take some kind of decision.
They were going to surround him like a pack of wild dogs, and as soon as one attacked, they all would, most definitely.
What had started once as an innocent dispute between them was now about to be turned into an all out fist fight - What a day it's been!
Next On Beyond The Horizon 🌄.....
Burn Taiji... BURN!