 Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2010 2:15 pm
Was I supposed to take a left at Albuquerque?
Keahi sighed as he roamed the streets of the Eastern Suburbs. He was lost. Hopelessly lost. In fact, he'd passed the same apartment with the rickety steps four times now. The boy groaned. Here they were in a new City, playing the Game and he couldn't even find how to get back home. Go figure.
As the chubby boy continued to wander about aimlessly, he thought back to moments from Southern. When he first learned that he'd been chosen to play, with Persy handing him a turtle shell and mentioning that she'd thought he would be greener. To meeting his god and some of the other Players. Almost getting killed by an older Player. And then onto the more recent event of fleeing Southern and settling in at Central.
Shouts drew Keahi's attention back to his surroundings. The area was unfamiliar and it seemed he'd wandered farther east as the houses around him were in worse shape than the ones before. The shouts started to distinguish themselves into various voices, with one voice pleading while the others were demanding. Frowning, Keahi followed the sounds.
"Please, I don't have-"
"Shut up! If you don't have it, we'll just have to teach you a lesson."
"Hurr, hurr. Yeah."
"No, please! I can get it. I promise, I-" The voice was cut off by the sound of fist meeting flesh and replaced by the sound of sobbing.
"You've had plenty of time. Now-"
Keahi came across the owners of the voices suddenly as he turned a corner. As he'd thought, it was a gang, surrounding one younger kid, who was crumbled on the ground, tears streaming down his face. The godling's hands balled into fists at the sight. The gang members were all at least fifteen years, if not older while their poor victim was perhaps Keahi's age.
"Scram, kid." The one who appeared to be the leader of the gang scowled. "This is none of your business and if you know what's good for you, you'll leave."
Keahi ignored the leader, walking past him to the kid on the ground. "You okay?" Startled, the younger kid looked up, unsure of what was going on. Was this part of the gang's penalty? He flinched as Keahi reached out to gently take the boy's face in his hands. "You're going to have a nasty black eye," he commented.
"I said scram, kid." Keahi could hear feet shuffling behind him. The gang was unsure of what to do with this intruder.
"You stay behind me, okay?" Keahi told the kid before standing. "Leave the kid alone," he addressed the gang.
"Oh yeah?" The leader sneered. "Who's going to make us?"
The rest of the gang chuckled, moving in on Keahi. Five against one, and that was only if the leader couldn't be bothered to fight himself. Well, they were only mortals... there wasn't going to be any shadow blades flying at him this time.
The hefty boy moved forward, catching the first member by surprise with a blow to the face, laying the older boy out cold. The others moved in, swinging blows at Keahi with everything from fists to boards they'd picked up. Keahi took a glancing blow to the shoulder with one of the boards and grimaced. Grabbing another member, one without any weapons, Keahi sent him towards the one with a board. The two crashed into one another, giving the godling a bit of a break as he turned to face the other two. Neither were armed, which Keahi was grateful for.
The turtle boy ducked a punch from the one on the right, spinning to the left to collide bodily with the gang member there. A quick punch followed before the other three regained their bearings and were headed his way again. Keahi glanced to make sure that the younger boy was still safe, earning a punch to the face from the quickest of the remaining members. Grunting, Keahi executed an uppercut, his weight and the force of the punch causing the older boy's feet to leave the ground.
The armed member came in with the board again and Keahi simply stepped to the side, delivering a blow to the back of the boy's head as the gang member passed by. Keahi took a few steps towards the last member, fists raised. The older boy glanced around, saw that he was the only one still standing and ran.
As Keahi looked about, he noticed that the gang leader had already fled, probably when the fight had started. "Hey, you okay?"
"That..... was so cool!" The younger boy proclaimed, grinning. "You were like... Pow! Bam! Smack! And they were all like Oof! Ow! Uuuuuhhhhh!!" As the excited child reenacted a few of the fight's moments, Keahi realized that the boy was even younger than he'd first thought.
"We'd better get going before they wake up," he mentioned, gesturing to the gang members on the ground. One or two were already starting to come to a bit, groaning.
The younger boy looked startled and quickly motioned for Keahi to follow him. "This way. The others went that way."
For several moments, the two boys darted through alleyways and side streets as they made their way westwards, towards the better area of town. "Here we are." The younger boy seemed to relax as the houses around them appeared to be in much better shape than most of the others. "I'm Peter. And... thanks. I think they would've really hurt me..."
"Keahi," the godling introduced himself. "I don't think they'll be hurting anyone else for a little while."
Peter frowned. "I don't know about that. That was only part of the gang. They call themselves the Crows."
"Well, you stay away from them. I doubt they'd show their faces around here." From the members he'd seen, Keahi guessed that this gang was mostly kids from much poorer families than it appeared Peter belonged to. Keahi waved. "I better get home."
"Bye!" Peter waved back enthusiastically and, as Keahi paused to get his bearings, he could hear the younger boy telling his friends about the kid who'd saved him from "at least ten of the Crows and all had bats!". The turtle boy chuckled. 'Well, it looks like my sparring practice has paid off, Honu.'
Yes, Keahi. We are proud. You have done well in your training, even if these Crows were just mortals...
Keahi frowned. 'Well, I have to start somewhere....'
He heard the strange echoing voice of his god chuckling. Indeed, Keahi. Indeed.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
