Chapter 69. Boss quickly ran

Boss quickly ran up to the teenager and threw out a punch.

“Left punch!” Boss shouted as the punch flew at the teenager.

The teenager quickly reacted and blocked the punch stopping the 10-year-old Boss completely in place.

“Huh? He’s weak!” The teenager couldn’t believe he even remotely thought the boy before him could be strong. The teenager became completely angry that this boy before him was super arrogant thinking he could beat everyone at the Festival. “I’m going to beat you up so hard.” He thought to himself.

“Right punch!” Boss was unfazed that the boy caught his left arm and threw out his right fist.

The teenager reached out to the hand of Boss’ fist and grabbed it, stopping Boss completely in place. With both of the boy’s hands under his control, the teenager smiled menacingly as Boss struggled to pull himself apart.

“Let me go! I give up'!” Boss exclaimed as he struggled to remove himself from the boy.

“Give up? Hell no!” The teenager shouted. “Huh? I didn’t say that!”

Bam! The teenager pulled both hands of Boss tossing him face first onto the surface of the stage causing Boss to cover his face.

Bam bam bam! A barrage of punches landed on Boss who was curled up into a ball trying to defend himself.

The entire audience gasped; they didn’t expect the teenager to be so violent to continue to attack after the boy had given up.

“Wait? What’s going on!? I can’t control myself!” The teenager exclaimed inwardly. “My body! It’s moving on its own!”

“S-stop him! Stop the match!” Someone in the audience shouted, he didn’t want to see someone’s kid get brutally attacked even after giving up. However, Gran remained silent staring at the two battle off on the sideline with no intention of stopping the match.

“Ahaha! Take that this is what you get!” The teenager laughed and got up and started to kick at Boss who was helplessly laying on the ground. “I didn’t say that! That’s not me!!!”

Everyone didn’t know why Gran didn’t stop the match. However, since Gran was the Chief, those near the fireplace glared at the father who was keeping silent. Their piercing gaze was truly frightening to behold. At first the father was completely happy that his son was winning. However, when his son continued to attack after the boy gave up, he completely froze.

“M-Mitchel!” The father exclaimed all the way from the grill. “STOP!!!!”

“NO!” Mitchel’s voice was loud enough for the whole audience to hear. I can’t! It’s not me! I’m not doing this!

“STOP YOU STUPID SON! THAT’S ENOUGH!”

“AHAHAHA!”

Bam bam bam

“Stop damnit stop!” Mitchel screamed inwardly. “STOPPPPPP”

Mitchel’s body abruptly stopped in place, but not before the damage was done. “Wha-what have I done!?” He looked down at the crumpled up unmoving boy.

“A-are you o-okay?” He asked, his voice, quivering, he didn’t know what became of him, his entire body and even his voice was not under his control the moment the fight started.

The body of Boss laid at the center of the stage, unmoving.

Gran walked up on stage and softly pushed the distraught Mitchel out of the way to inspect Boss who was curled into a ball. He rolled the boy over only to see bruises and blood all over from the attacks of the teenager. It was a grisly sight; blood covered the boy from head to toe as a pool of blood slowly formed beneath him.

“B-boss!” Arthur exclaimed; he quickly ran up on stage and looked down at Boss who laid there motionless.

“B-Boss!? Chief Gran is Boss okay!?” Arthur pleaded to Gran who in return sighed and shook his head.

Gran’s action left Arthur distraught, the blood and bruises on Boss’ body from the vicious attacks of the teenager was clearly shown before his eyes.

Gran carefully picked the lifeless body of Boss up and walked off the stage. “Remember what I said, this is a stage for demonstration, not to bully others.” He shook his head again and sighed. His performance was truly spectacular.

Gran’s silhouette disappeared off into the distance as Mitchel remained standing still on the stage.

“Y-You!” Tears trailing down Arthur’s eyes he angrily pointed at Mitchel and exclaimed. “I challenge you!”

Mitchel was completely frozen in place. “I-I didn’t mean to, I-i-couldn’t control myself! He-he made me angry you all saw that! He was the one that challenged me!” Mitchel tried to defend himself.

The audience was becoming more and more angry at this situation. “Just because you’re angry doesn’t mean you should brutally beat up a boy smaller than you!” They inwardly complained. Some kids wanted to throw their stuff at teenager but controlled themselves with their parents around.

Pebble got up on stage and looked at the two boys. His face was expressionless as he repeated what Gran had said and began the countdown.

“3”

“2”

“1”

“Begin”

Arthur quickly ran up to the teenager and threw a hard punch at the unprepared teenager’s face knocking him down onto the surface of the stage. Arthur then took advantage of this and ran towards the teenager on the ground and raised his fist.

Everyone in the audience assumed this was going to be a revenge beating on the teenager for what he did to the Exotic’s friend. However, to their surprised the fist that was raised remained in the air as the silver haired boy remained still with tears flowing down his face.

“This is the person that messed Boss up! I should hit him and do the same thing he did to Boss!” Arthur inwardly thought to himself. “It’s so easy, he’s right there! But… I can’t.” His tears continued to flow, dropping on the boy and the surface of the stage.

“You can’t or you won’t?” A voice that completely resembled that of Boss asked. “B-Boss!? Arthur couldn’t believe he could hear Boss’ voice.

“You can’t or you won’t?” The voice repeated.

“Are you okay!?” Arthur exclaimed out loud.

Everyone in the audience was confused, was he asking Mitchel if he was okay?

Mitchel was equally confused as he looked up at the shocked Exotic before him. Mitchel was ready to take a beating for what he had done to Boss. He knew whatever he says will just look like excuses in front of everyone. However, he didn’t expect that after getting punched once by Arthur that Arthur would stop hitting him and instead ask him if he was okay.

Tears welled up on Mitchel’s face as he started to sob uncontrollably. Too many different kinds of emotions struck him tonight that he didn’t even know what to do anymore and began to cry.

“I-I’m sorry!” Mitchel shouted.

His sudden apologetic outburst brought Arthur back from his thoughts only to look down and see Mitchel crying.

“I-I know what I did was wrong! I completely regret it! I-if I could, I-I wouldn’t do it again!” Mitchel continued to cry. How was he supposed to know that he was going to lose control the moment started and the life of the boy he fought was hanging by a thread?

“Y-you can keep hitting me I-I deserve it! I’m terrible!” Snot flowed out of Mitchel’s face as he continued to cry and talk to Arthur at the same time.

“You can’t or you won’t?” The voice repeated again in Arthur’s head.

Arthur saw the crying teenager beneath him and sympathized he sighed.

“I won’t.” Arthur calmly spoke out loud.

“No matter how angry I am, I won’t do something I don’t want to.” Arthur stated flatly and got up. He closed his eyes trying to calm himself and prevent his tears from falling.

He looked down at Mitchel who was laying underneath him. “Are you okay?” Arthur reached his hands out to Mitchel who was hesitant on reaching for the hand. “Am I such a person to have someone be so nice to me?” Mitchel thought to himself.

“Come on, take my hand. If you’re sorry, you should apologize to my friend.” Arthur tried to remain calm and kept his hands extended out to Mitchel.

“I-I” Mitchel weakly raised his hand closer to Arthur.

Arthur reached out and grabbed Mitchel’s hands pulling him up standing in the process.

“Let’s go say sorry.” Arthur pulled the tearful Mitchel along with him. Leaving behind a completely stunned audience. A small little puppy quickly followed behind the two as they entered the back.

…

Cobble looked down at his younger brother who had witnessed the entire scene. “Boulder are you crying?” he asked.

“N-no! I-I’m practicing my telekinesis!” Boulder wiped away the tears from his eyes and responded.

“You’re definitely crying, that’s not how you learn telekinesis.” Poe remarked as he watched the back of the two boys walk to where Gran and Boss was.

“Fight me Poe!” Boulder exclaimed with tears rolling down his eyes.

Poe completely ignored Boulder’ exclamation and asked Cobble “is Arthur’s friend okay?”

“Don’t worry we had already prepared a medical room in advance in case accidents happen, Dr. Galil will make sure he’s fine.” Cobble assured.

“That’s good… why did he challenge someone when he’s so weak though?” Poe muttered quietly.

Cobble raised an eyebrow and remained silent. “Boss? Weak? Yeah, right.”

…

“Did you see what just happened to Boss and Arthur!?” Seth and his friends along with Michael and Julie ran up and shouted in unison.

Shelly turned her head to the direction to where Gran had carried Boss away, “Let’s go see if they’re okay.” Shelly calmly replied and took the lead with Silver in her arms. Everyone else quickly followed suit. They didn’t know why they went up to Shelly and ask, for the past month Shelly was their commander during training, it just felt natural to follow her orders.

…

“How is he Dr. Galil?” Julie asked as she looked down at the half wrapped up Boss.

“The attacks on him was vicious, he lost a lot of blood, but I managed to stop the bleeding, so he should be okay after he wakes up. However, I don’t know when he’ll be awake.” Dr. Galil calmly replied.

His response caused both Arthur and Mitchel’s eyes to brighten up with hope.

“I-I’m so sorry!” Mitchel exclaimed and bowed to Arthur.

“Shh, keep your voice down, he’s asleep. If you’re the person, apologize when he’s awake.” Dr. Galil calmly quieted Mitchel down.

More and more people gathered around huddling around the bandaged-up figure. They also expressed their concern for Boss and asked Dr. Galil some questions and concerns they had.

Shelly remained off to the sideline as she calmly observed the figure underneath the bandage.

Cough cough

“Boss!?” Arthur exclaimed “Are you okay!?”

“Arthur… is that you…?” Boss weakly replied.

“It’s me, I’m here!” Arthur exclaimed. “I brought Mitchel to come and apologize!”

“Who…?”

“I-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to—I couldn’t control myself, I-I-I—.” Mitchel stuttered; he didn’t know what else to say.

“Oh…you…apology accepted…I need to sleep…” Boss weakly answered followed by the sound of some snoring afterwards.

Mitchel was stunned alongside everyone else who had come to peek and see if anything else was going to happen. After a moment of silence, a second bout of tears trailed down Mitchel’s eyes as he squeezed out a “thank you” to the sleeping Boss.

Everyone’s heart softened as they looked upon the three boys who were engaged in conflict forgive each other. Some of the ones who were planning on berating Mitchel and his father gave up all ideas, it wasn’t something that they should get involved in. Especially not after the three parties decided to forgive and forget.

“Everyone, please return and watch your kids show you what they’ve learned.” Gran instantly cleared out the crowd of people who had come to watch. Only those that journeyed with Boss remained in the back with the door completely closed.

“How long will it take for Boss to be okay?” Arthur asked.

“How long will it be, Boss?” Gran looked at the snoring boy half wrapped up in bandages.

“Mmm…tomorrow?” Boss answered nonchalantly. His calm voice caused Arthur to be completely wide eyed.

“Boss! You’re okay!?” Arthur exclaimed.

“What? Did you think a kid was going to beat me up?” The bandages tore loose as the little boy with his wig and sunglasses intact sat straight back up. His once beaten up body was completely pristine and healthy.

“Uhh…”

“Arthur, that is what you call acting. I acted weak, faked getting hurt and then everyone around had already forgotten about me, see?” Boss opened the door slightly only to see the entire audience back on their seat with their eyes glued to the stage watching their kids demonstrate their abilities, as if the grisly battle between Boss and Mitchel had already went to the back of their mind.

Pebble remained back on the stage serving as a referee for any other kids who wanted to challenge each other.

“Wh-why would you want to do that!?” Arthur stuttered.

“Hm? Why? If I put attention to myself as an incredibly strong normal boy that could beat up everyone on stage. Am I still a normal boy?” Boss asked

“I’m not an Exotic at the moment Arthur, I’m not invincible. Right now, I’m a 10-year-old normal boy in front of their eyes, you gotta pay better attention to your surroundings and choose your words carefully next time. I don’t want to keep getting beaten up when you praise me in front of everyone.”

“I’m sorry I caused you trouble…” Arthur apologized.

“Hm? Nah, it’s better for me to not show up on stage beating up kids, now I can relax and watch you guys fight.” Boss smiled at Arthur.

“How was it? Your first fight with someone around your age?” Boss asked.

“Uh…”

“Go out there and enjoy yourself. Remember, this is a Festival, have fun and demonstrate what you’ve learned. I’ll watch you all from here. Don’t let almost 30 days of Gran’s training and mine down. Right, Chief?”

“That’s right, my trainees are not weak.” Gran calmly answered.

“Okay!” Arthur exclaimed and left the room.

“Shelly, you don’t have to if you don’t want to.” Boss spoke to the girl who was about to follow Arthur out of the door.

“Mm.” Shelly nodded her head and walked out.

“What about you two?” Boss asked Michael and Julie who was quiet.

Sigh

“Fine, I’ll go participate.” Michael answered.

“I’ll go as well; I challenge you Michael!” Julie exclaimed.

“Go easy on me…” Michael weakly replied.

“No!” Julie energetically responded with a smile as she pulled him further away.

After everyone else had left the room Gran looked down at the boy who was watching the Festival from afar.

“Boss, what are you doing?” Gran asked.

“Hm? I do whatever I want.” Boss replied.

He continued to watch young kids, young adults make their way up to the stage one at a time demonstrating what they’ve learned or challenging a friend or rival of theirs.

“I mean… why are you here?” Gran changed his wording.

“Hm? Like on your planet? Or this medical room?” Boss asked.

“This…planet?” Gran asked after a couple seconds thinking about it.

“Oh, I’m on a vacation.” Boss replied. “Do you know what vacation is?” Boss asked.

Gran shook his head. Vacation isn’t a word that existed on this planet.

“I’ve been wandering around the entire universe with my crew looking for entities and civilizations powerful enough to contend with us and forming peace treaties with them. Sometimes they’re friendly other times they want to kill us immediately. With those who harbor villainous tendencies and overwhelming bloodlust we’ll engage war against them on a galactic scale usually resulting in the destruction of galaxies and solar systems…”

His words confused Gran even more. “Galaxies? Universe? Solar systems…? What is that?”

Boss immediately noticed the confusion in Gran’s face and calmly spoke up. “Fights you can’t comprehend currently, maybe one day I can show you it.”

“Okay…” Gran answered.

“Anyways, a vacation is a break from doing what I’ve been doing for centuries. I’m going to be on your planet until my crew returns to pick me up.” Boss answered.

Gran wanted to ask, “how long is that?” but before he could the boy quickly continued.

“Anyways, get out there and do your thing, you’re the Chief go show them you do more stuff than just making Pebble do everything for ya.” Boss shooed at Gran to leave.

“Alright. But, can you stop being so unpredictable? I don’t want another case like my daughter…” Gran asked. He knew the boy was unwilling to say anything else.

“No promises.” Boss answered nonchalantly.

Sigh

Gran slowly exited the room leaving Boss sitting all alone on the beside.

“What do you think of my performance?” Boss asked the empty room.

Two shadows hidden in the corner gradually walked out.

“It was so-so” Samuel calmly replied.

“What do you think of Arthur’s?”

“Spectacular, I raised my son right.” Samuel answered.

“We raised our son right.” Angel corrected. She then looked down at Boss who was currently watching a kid demonstrate his meditation on stage. “There’s a reason why you’re sitting here, what is it?”

“Do you want to see?” Boss asked.

The two nodded their head as Boss quickly created a portal within the room and within the portal, they were high above the skies looking down at people walking below.

Angel and Gran was flabbergasted at Boss’ ability to do this, was this what he meant when he can let them see what Arthur was up to? It was amazing as they were able to have a bird’s eye view of the entire scenery. However, the two quickly turned their attention to what Boss was pointing at.

Five hooded figures, two in green and three in purple were making their way towards Boulderville. Their pace was slow, as they walked on the road to Boulderville from Asmar. The most curious thing was those five completely stood out, but no one walking around even noticed their presence.

“Who…are they?”

“Don’t know, but with millennium of experiences under my belt, usually people who are completely covered like that are either evil, monks, or evil monks.” Boss replied as the group calmly walked further into the village.

“Do you know why they’re here? Are they going to hurt Arthur?” Angel asked.

“How the heck would I know that? I’m sure you two would intervene if they do.” Boss replied.

“What’re you going to do then?”

“Nothing. I’m going to watch. You two can join me and see what happens, if you want to intervene you may.”

“Come come, sit let’s watch.” Boss patted the spots next to him.

The two knew they were incapable of changing Boss’ mind and sat down beside him. They looked into the portal watching the robed individual’s every step.

“Oh wait, Michael and Julie are fighting.” Boss quickly changed the view from above the five robed figures to Michael and Julie on stage.

“Boss—”

“Shh, they’re gonna start.”

“…”