Angel and Ren returned to their house to gather suplies. They decided to keep the weapons they had taken from Hina's collection. Angel was looking around the house for food when he relised that the whole house had began to slowly decay.
"Hey, you notice anything off about the house?"
Ren was in his mother's weapon shed. He quietly walked around looking at all of her work. He came apon her work desk where she drafted designs for her weapons. He had a sense of nostalgia looking through the designs of these creations that he had seen his mother work on all throughout his life. He eventually came across a strange design that he had never seen before. A heart shaped medallion, covered in scales. The title on the paper read "Crest of Valor Replica". Ren was intrigued, but before he could gather his thoughts...
*SHMACK!*
Angel smacks Ren in the back of his head to get his attention.
"USE YOUR WORDS DAMMIT!"
"I have been calling you for like ten minutes. We have a problem."
"This better be a problem worth smacking me in the head for."
Angel directs Ren to follow him into the house. Ren rolls up the draft paper and puts it in his bag before following behind. Once inside, Angel points out to Ren that all of the food in the house has gone bad. Not only that, but the roof was decaying.
"That's odd, Mom was always making sure our house was stur-"
Before Ren can finish, a wall collapses.
"Somethings tells me we should get out of here sooner rather than later."
Angel leaves the house. Before Ren follows he decides to go up to the attic to grab his flute from their bedroom. While he is pulling the flute out from under a pillow, a piece of the roof above him falls off and hits him in the head.
"OW!"
He rubs his head in pain for a moment before he experiences something uncanny. Next to him, amongst the debris that struck him in the head, was the Crest of Valor from his mom's paper. Before he could gather his thoughts, the building had began to fall apart so he ran over and grabbed the medallion before storming out of the house.
He sees angel outside.
"YOU AREN'T GOING TO BELIEVE WHAT I JUST FOUND!"
"Tell me after we get out of here."
Ren looks around as angel continues.
"I think whatever those things last night did is making this area of the forest decay, and I don't wanna find out if it effects humans so lets go."
Ren Nods. "Agreed."
Now without a home, Angel and Ren began to wander in the Peach Forest for about a week. Both of the boys lacked many basic survival skills since their aunt mainly clothed and fed them. Eventually they run into a town east of the forest. The boys are both extremely hungry and fatigued. They hadn’t eaten because they remembered that their Aunt Hisa warned them that in the Giant Peach forest the only edible food is the giant peaches themselves, which are extremely acidic. The only known creatures that can digest them are the Pink Pit Squirrels. No veggies grow there and no other creatures live there outside of the Pink Pit Squirrels and bugs because they are too intimidated to enter Pink Pit territory.
With this built up fatigue and hunger the boys are desparate for food. They soon enter a town by the water named Sharkbait. The boys notice a food stand serving fresh dumplings. With no money, they realize that they are going to need alternative methods if they want a meal so Angel devises a plan. Ren would bring the cook out from behind his stand with his flute playing and invite him to dance. Meanwhile Angel would run behind the stand and fill up his bag with dumplings. After going over the plan for a bit, everything was set in motion.
“Hey there, sir, do you like music?”
The cook responded enthusiastically.
“OF COURSE, I LOVE MUSIC!”
Ren felt a little guilty but his stomach was tuning out all of his doubts. He began to play a solo. People started to gather around and clap to the rhythm of his flute playing. The dumpling cook left his stand unattended to join them. With an open opportunity, Angel ran behind the stand and swiped as many dumplings as he could into a bag. He burned his hands in the process but was more concerned with eating. Once the bag was full he made a swift escape before Ren’s performance was done. Ren finished his solo and the whole crowd began to clap. His flute playing was exceptional since his aunt had him practice so often. While he was bowing, the cook from the dumpling stand walked up to him.
“Hey there kid you’re pretty good at that!”
Ren lifted his head.
“Thank you!”
“I actually run a dumpling stand right behind me, would you like some grub?”
Guilt was all over Ren’s face as he began to sweat profusely. He was no longer able to look the man in the eyes and declined his offer. The cook insisted.
“C’mon don’t be shy. I’ve got plenty of dumpl-”
The cook looked behind him to see that his stand was emptied out. He then turned around to see that Ren had completely vanished without a word.
------------------------------
The two young boys had found themselves an alleyway to hide in while they ate. Ren cried as he ate because he felt guilty whilst Angel was trying his best not to laugh at him.
Little did they know, that above them was a mysterious teen with black hair observing them from one of the roofs above them.
------------------------------
{7 Years Later}
We enter a mine at the eastern border of East Kazahana. The border was a supernatural one; a giant chasm that seemed to have no end to it, coupled with a heat that was strange for a northern country. There was a wall that stood at about 150ft tall and encompassed the whole facility. Here, day in and day out, prisoners would mine with little food or water.
A large long faced prisoner wearing makeup is speaking inside a mineshaft with a young man axeing away at stones.
“WHAAAAAAAAAT!”
“SHHHHHHHHHHH! You’re gonna get us caught!”
“Sorry Lil Bro, it’s just that, nobody has ever escaped the mine before. Security is tight all day and night. Anybody who has even gotten close was killed.”
“I know, but doesn’t that just mean that it’ll be way more awesome when I escape Mr. Bungo?”
Mr. Bungo smacked the young man in the back of the head. “DON’T BE CRAZY LITTLE BRO!”
A nearby guard irritated by the yelling told the two to pipe down and get back to work.
“Look Lil Bro, I know you’ve gotten way stronger since you and scary bro were locked up here all those years ago...”
“Can you stop calling Angel scary? You know he doesn’t like it.”
“...but you guys only have 4 years left on your sentence right? Why not wait until then?”
The young man sighed. “I’ve already wasted 3 locked up here. I don’t even know if Hisa and Momoko are still alive right now. After we got locked up, I’ve prepared as much as possible so that we can one day break free of this place. Angel has thoroughly studied the layout of the whole facility. We feel as ready as we ever will be. Every day I waste here is another lifetime of mental torture. I need to find my family.”
Mr. Bungo was in awe. He realised that Ren and Angel were determined to escape no matter what. He reminisced on their first encounter.
------------------------------
Mr. Bungo was the strongest man in the mine and no other prisoner who dared to test his authority would see another day. That was, until Ren and Angel came. They crossed paths in the main yard one day and Bungo had bumped shoulders with Ren. Eager to press him, Bungo grabbed Ren by the shoulder and demanded he show respect to his elders. Ren, not thinking much of his gesture, apologized but Bungo wasn’t satisfied. He was further irritated by the fact that Angel had been staring at him with his dead eyes.
“What’s so interesting about my face that this jizz haired friend of yours can’t stop staring?”
Angel quickly responded. “My white hair is something that is natural. YOU chose to put makeup on your face. How amusing.”
Ren began to giggle and Bungo began to fume.
“You brats must not know who I am so let me educate you. I’m Mr. Bungo and everyone in this here prison is my bitch. That INCLUDES YOU TWO. So here’s what I’m gonna do, I’ll spare your short ass lives under one condition; you both get on your knees right now and show how much you value your lives by milking me right here, in front of everyone.”
People had begun to crowd around the three in the jail yard. Most prisoners were familiar with Bungo’s cruel and unusual form of initiation. He was infamous for his involvement in a very prominent gang of bandits that was notorious in East Kazahana. He had gotten locked up after the whole gang was caught. Kazahana authorities had found him and his crew all beaten up after a fierce battle with a rival gang that was led by another infamous criminal; Omar the Mighty.
Ren had begun to holler out in laughter.
“ANGEL, THIS GUY’S HILARIOUS!”
Angel was not as amused. “No, he’s deranged.”
Ren’s laughter continued as he tried to respond to Mr. Bungo.
“So you’re telling me, to get on my knees in front of everyone, and suck you off?”
Bungo rested his eyes and responded in even more irritation than before, “yes, now get do-”
Before he could finish his sentence, Ren slugged him in the jaw and yelled “HELL NO!” Bungo was knocked out cold and from that day on, he devoted himself to protecting Ren and Angel like little brothers. At first the boy’s were annoyed by his constant company, but slowly he had begun to grow on them (or at least he grew on Ren since Angel was disgusted by the guy).
------------------------------
Bungo sighed. “How can I help?”
------------------------------
It was now the planned day for escape. The prisoners worked 24 hours in shifts, but when it was time for the afternoon crew to take over, they had noticed that many of their pickaxes were missing. The guards and prisoners were equally confused. Suddenly, “BOOM!” a large boulder was launched at one of the 3 watch towers. The guards began to scramble in confusion. Amidst the confusion, Mr. Bungo had made his way to the middle of the packed yard.
“SIIIIIIIILENCE!”
Everyone stopped.
“I have a challenge for you guys today! Why don’t we have ourselves a little riot! The last man standing doesn’t have to please me anymore!”
Without further explanation, chained or unchained, prisoners started to brawl. Guards rushed to try and gain control of the situation. Mr. Bungo prepared another boulder and threw it at a second watch tower.
The prison warden was standing in the last watch tower and had begun yelling orders. “SEIZE THAT MAN IMMEDIATELY!”
Ren and Angel were now on the move.
“You ready!?”
“Ren, focus on getting out of here before you get excited.”
“Can’t help it, I’m feeling way too good about busting out of this joint!”
Angel smirked, “that’s something I can understand, I want a big bowl of fried rice when we’re out.”
“THAT'S THE SPIRIT! I WAN'T SUSHIII!”
Over the course of the past 7 years, the boy's appearances had changed dramatically. They had both gotten taller, Ren had a well trained physique and long black hair. Angel’s roots had gotten darker and he showed a little more emotion than before. They were headed towards the prison walls with a giant bag of pickaxes. Once they reached the wall, Ren opened the bag and took out two pickaxes. He jumped up and jammed the pickaxes into the wall. His arms were wrapped in his old shirt fabric to avoid scraping up his hands and give himself a better grip. Angel then jumped and Ren had caught him with his legs. Ren then started to scale the prison wall. Guards on the last watchtower quickly took notice and the Warden ordered them to aim their rifles at the boys but before they could shoot, the tower had begun to fall. Bungo had thrown a boulder at the last tower. Guards that were still available on the ground had begun to take aim.
Bungo watched the boys near the top of the wall. "Go on my brothers, be free!"
Guards had started shooting at the boys. Angel provided cover fire by throwing the pickaxes they had in the bag at them. Soon enough the two had made it to the top of the wall. They both took a set of pickaxes and made their way down using the same method of jamming the tools like claws into the wall. Because the warden was so confident that nobody could escape the wall without going through the watchtowers, there were few guards stationed outside the perimeter. Once the two made it to the ground, they escaped into the forest. Ren grinned from ear to ear.
“WE’RE FREE!”
Angel smiled.
------------------------------
They made their way to to see a man named Question. He was a member of the King’s Club, a gang with a lot of influence in East Kazahana. Angel and Ren had done him a favor in the past and in exchange he hid their belongings. Angel confirmed the details or their agreement.
"You didn't dig through our bags right!?"
"..."
Question was not a man of many words.
"I'll take that as a yes."
Ren checks his bag to confirm that his mother's medallion is where he left it. Once he sees it he gives Angel a nod. The boys depart. Angel looks over to Ren.
"What should we do now free man?"
Ren looks at the sky. "Let's head west."
Angel looks over at Ren. "Back home."
Ren chuckles "Back home."
The two travel heading west for about two weeks. They eventually come across a familiar town. It was Sharkbait, only now it had became a hub for mercenaries. They enter a pub to a bunch of people stressing concerns about worrisome rumors going around. A very small man with a very large hat is standing on the table, extremely drunk, expressing his complaints.
“THIS WHOLE SITUATION IS RIDICULOUS! RUMORS ABOUT ANIMAL SKULL PEOPLE POP UP AND ALL OF THE SUDDEN PEOPLE DON’T LIKE MEAT!? THIS IS JUST UNCALLED FOR! SO WHAT IF THEY SNATCH A FEW PEOPLE, COME EAT YOUR PROBLEMS AWAY!”
A bandit in the bar cuts in.
“I totally feel you Arbie. I keep having to move my business farther east. Less people to steal from because everybody is moving away out of fear of getting snatched.”
Understandably Arbie looks at the bandit with disgust. Somebody else in the bar asks if anyone has noticed the patterns of the kidnappings. He pulls out a map of East Kazahana and points out that the attacks are coordinated. They are covering the western border and heading north to the snowy mountains of West Kazahana. Everyone in the bar begins to chat. Suddenly, a young man with a tall head of hair stands on his seat and begins to shout;
“THESE EVIL DOERS MUST BE STOPPED!
AND I SHALL BE THE ONE TO DO IT!"
The bar halts all conversation. The bandit from earlier asks a question.
"And who the hell are you exactly?"
The yong man lets out a grin.
"WHO AM I YOU ASK!?
AKIRA THE NEXT PILLAR OF FAWN!”
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