ONE

‘Aww man, I’m so bored, what made you think this was a good idea, Jay?’ whined Adonis Bouyka.

‘I don’t know man, I thought this would be more fun…’ replied his best buddy Jason Serra.

They were sitting on the roof of an average-sized, one-story house, licking slightly melted ice-creams and watching the streets.

‘Yo Jay, you ready for the Warrior 2^nd tier exams?’

Jason’s eyes widened, ‘OH, CRAP I FORGOT ABOUT THAT! Oh man, I gotta start trainin’ soon, or else I’m doomed!’

Adonis giggled, ‘No time! It is tomorrow!’

‘…’ Jason started sweating.

‘By the way, Jay, what’s your combat like?’

‘It’s pretty good, I guess.’

‘Alright! Remember, we’re gonna be up against some of the best Warrior first tiers in Canton.’

Jason shrugged, ‘Got it.’

They both continued to watch the streets. It had been around fifteen minutes until something caught the boys’ attention.

‘Someone, please stop them!’ a woman yelled in panic. Two Orc had broken out of their chains and run wild, causing a panic. All the people in the area ran for their lives, screaming until they reached the evacuation containers, which were almost indestructible capsules, each the size of a two-storey house, that teleport citizens to the “gathering hall”, which is located inside a mountain at the north edge of Canton, during emergencies.

These containers are located every third house, and can only be operated by it’s designated operator, who will usually be waiting outside, in-case of emergency.

Orc are armoured creatures, who, despite their intimidating appearance, are usually relatively caring and peaceful, around the height of a normal adult. Despite their peaceful nature, they are extremely powerful; it is said that one strike from them can destroy a full town, and that their armour can survive being hit with multiple nukes.

‘Not good.’ Adonis and Jason got up and started running across the roof-tops, following the two Orc.

They kept running, until the two Orc came to a stop, causing them to also stop.

‘Adonis, look!’ Jason pointed at a beautiful, red-haired girl who had fallen on the ground from the scare of the Orc.

The Orc slowly walked towards her, as if ready to kill her. The two boys jumped onto the ground and sped in front of the Orc to protect the girl, who had gotten up.

‘Don’t worry, we’re he-’ Adonis was cut off by the girl flying past them and slicing the two Orc into pieces faster than their eyes could see.

‘What the…’ Jason looked with his eyes widened.

‘Thanks for the… “help” boys. The name’s Ellie, by the way. Ellie Hudson. Tier 1 Warrior.’ The girl giggled.

‘H-hey! What’re you laughing at, huh!? Ya little shi-’ Adonis snarled.

‘Nothing. Next time, leave this kind of stuff to the Warrior, got it?’ Ellie giggled more.

‘We are Warrior. Tier 1.’ Jason explained. ‘We saw the two Orc walking towards you and got worried, so we came down to help. Though, it seems you don’t need any, haha.’

‘Right… Thanks, I guess.’ Ellie shrugged.

‘Umm, guys…’ Adonis pointed behind them.

One of the two Orc seemed to be rising from the dead, except they seemed much stronger.

‘Crap! It must’ve tapped into its Chamber of Darkness!’ Ellie pulled out her sword.

She jumped into the air and swung it down, creating a large slash in the ground, about fifty metres long and lots of smoke. After a few seconds, the smoke cleared up, revealing the Orc with only small scratches on their armour. The Orc moved towards Ellie so fast that it seemed as if it teleported and grabbed Ellie’s face, throwing her through several nearby buildings.

‘ELLIE!’ Adonis’ eyes widened in shock.         

The Orc turned towards Adonis, his eyes glowing blue. It charged up a ball of what seemed like lightning and shot it at him. Adonis jumped into the air, dodging the lightning bolt, which hit the ground, destroying several buildings.

Ellie stared in amazement *Hmm. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so quick to judge him* she thought.

Adonis landed on the ground, causing it to crack and vanished, reappearing behind the Orc.

He made like he was holding a sword and created a large hammer in his hands using his black flames. The hammer was around his size. He swung the hammer down, but the Orc turned around just in time to block it.

The hammer hit the armour around the Orc’s forearm, completely shattering it, and shattering the ground underneath them.

Adonis then landed back on the ground and jumped at the Orc. He grabbed its face, slamming it into the ground with so much force that he cracked a quarter of Canton, causing the Orc to finally pass out and die.

‘Heup’ Adonis backflipped off its back and landed safely on the ground, tired, but smiling.

Ellie walked up to him, blood dripping from her mouth. ‘Wow, that was amazing.’

‘Hehe, thanks!’ Adonis made a huge grin and put up his right thumb.

Ellie blushed.

‘Hey! Are you kids alright!?’ A full-fledged Warrior had arrived on the scene.

He had spiky, black hair and a blue jacket, with his left arm missing.

‘Oh, yeah, we’re fine. Couldn’t you have arrived earlier? You know, when the threat was still… a threat?’ Jason raised an eyebrow.

‘Uhh… Sorry? Anyways, my name’s Himura. Himura Kagatsuchi.’ The Warrior smiled with embarrassment.

‘Make way, make way!’ A deep, loud voice yelled. The Kaijuu clean-up team’s 4^th  unit of ten people had arrived to take the unconscious Orc to a containment centre to be tested and contained until it was back to normal.

One of the men, the leader, checked the Orc’s neck and walked over to the kids. ‘Does this Orc belong to you?’

‘Nope. It belongs to some old lady with black hair and a blue eye-patch.’

‘Hmm. Ahh, Miss Hannigen.’ The leader rubbed his long, Santa Claus-like, black beard. ‘Alright, I’ll have to talk to her.’

‘What’s going on, sir?’ Ellie asked.

‘This hiring facility has provided an unlicensed, untrained Orc. We would like her to come with us, so we can take you to the police station and get your statement so that we can open up an investigation on the hiring facility.’

‘I see.’ Adonis replied.

The other members hopped back onto the ship and flew off. A large bell rang, and suddenly all the people who had evacuated started teleporting back into the containers.

Suddenly, a group of women ran appeared in front of Adonis. ‘Hello, Donnie.’ A woman with a nice, soothing voice called. It was Adonis’ older sister, Rin, who recently started working in the Warrior Repair Crew who would repair major damages to buildings and such using their special Mekas-powered repair tools, which in seconds, can return a whole street back to normal.

‘Hey, Rin!’ Adonis’ face lit up.

Rin walked over, laughing. ‘Wow, that Orc really did a number on you, didn’t it? I saw the fight from the gathering hall. Great job.’ She ruffled Adonis’ hair.

‘H-hey, Rin.’ Jason said, blushing.

‘Hey kiddo. Nice to see ya again.’ Rin smiled. ‘Well, better get to work. You kids should probably go home. Jay, you’re sleeping over again, right?’

‘Yup.’ Jason looked away.

Adonis smirked, ‘Bro. Do you like my sister? She’s four years older than you!’

‘NOT TRUE. SHUT IT.’ Jason smacked Adonis.

‘Whatever.’ Together, the boys started walking to Adonis’ house.

Ellie also went the other way and started walking home. After twenty minutes of running on roofs, the boys finally arrived home.

‘I’m home, mom!’ Adonis announced.

‘Welcome home, Donnie! Oh, and Jason!’ A beautiful, brown-haired woman in her 40s walked in her right arm and left leg, completely made of metal. She was holding a plate filled with sweets. It was Adonis’ mom, Mira Bouyka.

Adonis’ mouth lit up with joy, ‘Oh my god, those look great! Thanks, mom!’ Adonis said.

‘Yeah, thanks, Miss Bouyka.’

‘Ahah, it was nothing.’ She smiled, walking upstairs. ‘I’m gonna take a nap, my arm and leg are hurting a lot. You boys have a good time!’

‘Yup!’ Jason said.

‘So, what’re we gonna do now?’ Adonis asked.

‘Watch TV. What else?’

‘Fair enough.’

They both dropped onto the sofa and watched TV together until they both fell asleep. While they were sleeping, Adonis started having a dream. No, a nightmare. It was of that fateful day. The day that ruined his family's life. 

Adonis finally woke up from the nightmare, gasping for breath, sweating waterfalls.

‘Just a bad dream. Thank god.’ He sighed.

Donnie got up, drank some water and went back to sleep. The next morning, Adonis woke up to see his sister, Rin, watching TV with Jason, who was sitting next to him. He thought about the dream and then shook his head.

‘Imma go brush my teeth. We better get ready for school.’

‘Yeah, alright.’ Jason got up and stretched his back, while Adonis went to the bathroom to brush.

‘Hey, Jay!’ Adonis smiled.

‘What?’

‘It’s finally the day. We’re gonna become Tier 2 Warrior! Let’s do this!’

The boys got dressed and left the house, more ready than ever for the exams.

‘You ready, Donnie?'

'Sure am! Let's do this!'