NewPort Island - ship docks - warehouse #13 - evening

Ships are leaving the port in the distance. The sultry night air fills the warehouse near the docks. I can hear the sea from here, brushing against the cliff of the docks outside of this damp warehouse, where little moonlight can seep through the holes in the roof.

A kick hits my chin. The pain is throbbing like crazy. Shit, I can barely see it coming! My ass hits the ground. A laugh erupts from some dude in the back, sitting on a chair with a girl on his lap. She's laughing as well.

“How lame,” he says. His deep voice echoes inside the warehouse. “Ain’t that right, baby?”

“Yeah, it’s pretty pathetic.”

God, their voices are pissing me off. I’m gonna get past this guy, then kick that big guy's ass! I use all the strength I have left to get back up, but a round-house smashes against my head, smacking me to the ground.

“How weak,” my opponent, looking down on me with a disappointed gaze, says in a Russian accent. “You’re barely worth my best kick.” He stomps the side of my torso. I scream out as a painful jolt runs through my side. If he kicks any harder, he’ll break something. “Boss, what do you wish to do with his men?” the Russian kid asks the guy on the chair.

“Hmm… Maybe we should beat them up, too? What do you think, baby?”

“Nah, they look so wimpish.”

“Shut da hell up,” Ross bellows.

“Who the hell are you telling to shut up, chicken shit!?” the girl curses with a vulgar expression. “You’re not gonna let them talk to me that way, right?”

“Shut up,” the big guy tells her. She shuts her lips as soon as he tells her. Even I can tell she’s afraid of the guy. “Nah, I need them to do something for me.”

“Screw you! We’ll never work for you!”

“Yeah, we’d rather die than work with ya!”

“I see. Ivan, would you kindly kick that loser under your foot?”

Without a word, he ruthlessly kicks me, causing me to cry out in pain again. Ross and Jackson’s faces contort in horror. Damn it, that didn’t hurt at all, not whatsoever!

“Boss,” they both yell

“Now, I can have my Russian friend here kick him again, but you probably won’t like that. So just do me a favor and I won’t hurt your ‘boss’.”

“Don’t listen to him! Just run!”

“Quiet!”

He stomps my ribs again, but not with enough force to break them, thankfully enough.

“So, what’s it gonna be, boys? Do me a favor to help your boss, or do you wanna watch Ivan finish him off?”

Shit, if only I can stand up, I’d beat the hell out of this guy! Damnit, who am I kidding? I can’t beat this guy, and these guys better know that as well. They need to get out of here.

“Guys, forget about me! Just--”

“What do you want us to do?”

My jaw hit the ground. These idiots!

“I said run! Don’t--”

“We’ll do anything to save our boss, ya bastards!”

The big guy laughs like an annoying hyena again. “Loyalty, I like that!”

“I admit, seeing loyal underlings is truly rare,” the Russian named Ivan voices his surprise, keeping his foot on my chest.

“It’s so cute… Though, too bad they aren’t my type.”

“Who cares. Just tell us what to do.”

“Alright then. Go find me the punk named Proxy. Bring him here. Do that and you can all walk free… I expect him to be here in about 3 hours, or else.”

Of course, that’s what he wants. I want to get up, but with this guy on me, I can’t go anywhere. Even if I got up, he’d only knock me down again. But I can’t let them ‌bring him; this is my fight, not his.

“Right, we’ll bring Proxy here! But you better return our boss.”

The both of them run out of the warehouse.

“Wait, don’t bring him here! This is... this is my fight, you idiots!”

“Be quiet.”

A quick hit to the head knocks me against the ground. My head is growing hazy as my eyelids are getting heavy. Goddamnit, how can I be this weak? Maybe he was right. My dumbass should’ve listened… But, I just wanted to prove myself.

Cheddar Factory - evening

After half an hour of being seated, our food finally arrived. Everything on the table looked delicious, exciting the primal part of me, as humiliating as it is. The restaurant gives off a welcoming feeling when you enter with multiple people. The aesthetic of the interior is that of Egyptian decor, with murals of old pharaohs on the roof. I find it odd since this restaurant chain has nothing to do with Egypt. Maybe it’s for aesthetic sake?

“Daddy, may I use the bathroom?” Holly politely asks with her hand raised.

“Sure. Lauren, can you take her?”

“Okay. Come on, Holly.”

Lauren and Holly leave the table as they hold hands.

Proxy gets out of the table as well. “I’m gonna go use the bathroom as well. When the waitress comes around, tell her I want a refill.”

He heads for the bathroom with his hands in his pocket. This leaves me and Birch alone together.

“So…” Birch opens, bringing his attention to me. “...How was the food?”

“It was delectable. Thank you for taking us all out.”

“Oh, it’s nothing. But you must be excited about graduation.”

“Kind of. I’m just glad my year went by without any problems.”

“Me too. Speaking of graduation, are your parents coming?”

My breath halts, and my skin tightens at the mention of them. It’s not as if he said anything wrong, he just doesn’t know.

“No, they won’t be… My mom is dead.”

Mr. Birch’s face reflects the regret that immediately struck him.

“...I’m sorry. That was rude for me to say.”

“No, it’s fine. It happened 7 years ago. I’ve already come to terms with it.”

“That still doesn’t make it right. I should’ve known better.”

I don’t want him to get upset over a mistake because I didn’t tell him anything.

“Sir, it really is okay. I don’t blame you, so don’t get upset over it.”

His face is returning to its warmer demeanor. Thank goodness. Don’t know what would’ve happened if I caused him to fall into a depressive mood.

“Then what about your father?” he asks, cautious with the question this time. “...Is he…?”

“No, at least, I don’t think so.”

“What does that mean?”

“He went missing a year after our mother's death. Nobody knows where he went.”

“Did anyone file a missing person report?”

“I think so, but nothing so far.”

Birch folds his hands, interlocking them to each other as he puts his elbows on the table with his mouth right in front of his hands. “I see… Then, who registered you for St. Merlin?”

“My older brother.”

“Where is he?”

Truth is, I don’t know. After being admitted to St. Merlin and getting settled into my dorm room, we didn’t stay in touch all too much. Would I be able to lie about it though? Well, might as well. I don’t want to have my relationship with my brother put into question.

“He lives in--”

“You don’t know, do you?”

The feeling in my throat goes numb. My hands also go just as numb.

“H-how were you able to--”

“I can see the distress on your face when I asked where he lived.”

Yeah, he’s a detective. Of course he was going to see through me. I don’t even know why I tried to go for it.

“I’m sorry for lying. My brother and I don’t keep in touch. He sends me money, but other than that, there’s nothing else.”

Mr. Birch puts the side of his index finger to his lips. “Did you ever try to call him?”

“No.”

“Is that so…” He stares holes into my eyes. His gaze is nothing scary, but completely serious. “It might not be my business, but I think you should call him. You should tell him you're graduating as a valedictorian. Not only for that, but just to know that he’s alright.”

“That would be an awfully terse call. I don’t know if he’d even care to hear that.”

“If he’s your brother, then he won’t mind.”

“Really?”

“Of course, you two are the only family you have. Family is important to have a happy life, so you should try to reach out to him. And let me tell you, when you're the only family you two have, then knowing the other is safe can make all the difference.”

He looks over to Lauren, Holly, and Proxy, who’re coming from the bathroom.

“Those kids are the only family I have. Just being with them is enough to make me happy. As long as I’m able, I'll make ‌them happy. Even if we aren’t related by blood, I’ll do my best to fill the gap.”

I can sense two contradicting feelings from his words. His happiness shows he’s genuine about his love for them, but he’s also sad… Holly isn’t really his daughter. She became an orphan when she was 3. About 7 years ago her, parents died in a terrible fire that consumed the center part of the city, going for 10 miles. He adopted her when she was 4... The pain of losing your parents at such a young age is probably lighter, but it’s still going to hurt when she gets older.

"That family includes you too, Richard.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, over the past 3 years, you've gotten to be familiar with us, and us with you. So we consider you family. Same deal with Proxy. The both of you are special to us. So don’t think you’re alone, okay?”

I hang my head away from Mr. Birch. My eyes are tearing up. No, suck it up! I can’t cry over something like this! Not because I’m not touched, but because it would be awkward.

“We’re back, daddy!” Holly returns, happy to see her father, but she takes notice of me. “Hm? What’s wrong, glasses?”

I wipe my eyes to get rid of the tears that got out. I put on a smile to settle Holly’s concern for me. “Nothing, nothing at all.”

“Are you okay, Richard?” Lauren voices her concern, not attempting to hide it.

“You okay, buddy? Did you miss me that badly?” Proxy cracks a joke to ease the mood.

“Who would miss you?” Lauren bites, poking at his chest.

“You wound me. All the good boys and girls would miss me, right, Holly?”

“Yeah, I would miss you a lot.”

“There you have it.”

Their banter goes on, Proxy arguing over his joke as Lauren rebukes him. I have the urge to just laugh. This urge grows stronger and stronger. I can’t suppress it anymore. With little regard for how I come off, I let out a quiet but audible enough laugh for everyone at the table to hear.

“What’s so funny?” Lauren asks, not mad or irritated, but just curious.

“Sorry, sorry. It’s just… I needed that. Thanks.”

“No problem, buddy. Count on me to make you laugh any time.”

“So you wanna be laughed at?” Lauren jabs at him, laughing at his expense.

“Shut it!”

“No fighting,” Holly shouts at them.

“Come on, guys, settle down.”

Despite Mr. Birch’s request, they still bicker against one another, catching the other customers. This whole picture is giving me a feeling of nostalgia that I thought died inside me a long time ago… So this is what being with family is like? Who would’ve thought I’d be able to feel this again? I’m glad.

…

After paying the bill, Birch went with Holly to go buy some stuff in the strip mall near here. Me, Lauren, and Richard are just hanging around outside. My stomach definitely has more than a hole filled. That food was too damn good, and don’t get me started on that brown bread…

“Proxy, you gonna go home?” Richard asks.

“Yeah, but I’ll go back with Lauren and the others to their house, then go home. How about you?”

“I’ll be going with you, if that’s okay?”

“No problem. We can stay up since finals are over.”

“No, we can’t.”

Looking around, I see two guys push their way through a crowd of people. Hey, I recognize those two, they're that brown-haired punk’s lackeys?

“Proxy!”

I get into my fighting position as they close in. Hang on, where is their boss? They always walk together whenever he’s coming to fight me, plus, they seem like they’re in a hurry. They stop right in front of me, panting heavily.

“Proxy...there ya are,” the punk, whose name I think is Ross, says.

“What do you want, and where’s your boss? Is he having an off day?”

“Nah, the boss is in danger!”

The first thing that runs through my head is the image of him fighting that new punk.

“Did he go after the--”

“The new guy? Yeah, he did,” The punk named Jackson interrupts me.

I told that freaking dumbass not to go after him! Gah, what a moron! Even after I showed him the difference in power he still did it.

“That big bastard has some Russian dude, and he beat da boss up. They told us to bring ya, or else.”

They get on their knees, bowing to me, pleading to help them. God damnit, now I’m just pissed. How can a guy be so stupid? Either way, seeing them this desperate to have me help their idiot boss is too much for me to say no to. Besides, even though that idiot got himself in that mess, I can’t let him fend for himself.

“Where are they?” I ask.

“They’re at da docks, warehouse #13! We can take ya!”

Birch is still not back from shopping with Holly. Guess we’ll have to go without him, but I’ll have Lauren go get him.

“Lauren, go get Birch. Tell him to meet us at the docks!”

“On it!”

“Richard, you wanna go with Lauren?”

“No, I’ll go with you!”

“Fine, then let’s go! You two, lead the way.”

“Roger!”

The lackeys lead the way as Richard and I follow behind them. We move past crowds of people for the train station that will get us close to the docks. If we book it, we can make it on a train now, but we’ll have to do it without paying. Nothing new to me.

“We’re sorry for bothering you,” Jackson apologizes.

"Eh, think nothing of it. But why did you let him fight that guy?"

"We thought if we fought him together, we would have a chance."

"Stupid idea. No matter how you slice it, you're wasting your time ganging up on someone stronger than you guys."

"We know, but we couldn't abandon da boss, ya know? Dat's why we rushed to find ya. If we bring ya to the new punk, then he'll let da boss go."

This new guy is also a snake. What a little world we live in. Still, though, I'm dying to see what this new guy is like.

"...How badly injured is your boss?" Richard poses a question.

"Not too bad, but he got his ass kicked by the Russian dude we mentioned."

A Russian? Shit, this is getting cooler by the second. Still, I haven't heard much of this big guy fighting, and the way he's referencing this Russian guy makes it sound like an entirely different person.

"It's so pathetic!" Jackson yells aloud. "We just left our boss there, on the ground, and didn't even continue the fight! It's so damn cowardly!"

Riddled with pure disgust and anger, his voice breaks a little. He's not wrong. It is cowardly to just turn tail instead of fighting for your friend. But…

"You're right, it is cowardly, but you didn't abandon your friend for your own asses. You rushed to find me and get your boss out of danger. So you're a hell of a lot better than scum, and that makes you cool in my book.”

I can hear both of them sobbing as they use their arms to hide it.

"Hey, hey! I know emotions are high, but stop crying and watch where you're going!"

Docks - Warehouse #13 - evening

After getting from the station and running the rest of the way, we made it to the warehouse. Richard keels over, desperately taking in large amounts of air. The others barely seem tired. I'm holding up okay. A run like that isn’t gonna wear me down. Booking it here, it took us 30 minutes to reach this place. There aren’t any workers around here since this warehouse is abandoned, so it's not rare for gang fights to happen here. I peek inside the warehouse, I see a guy stepping on someone else. The one being stepped on is that idiot punk.

"Proxy…what's...you're plan...of action?" Richard barely utters in between breaths.

"Easy, this." I walk into the warehouse, into sight of the others inside here. The guy stepping on the idiot sees me, as well as a dude sitting on a chair with a girl on his lap. "Yo, yo, yo! Heard you wanted to see me."

I make my dynamic, rambunctious entrance to catch their attention and to show them who they're messing with.

"Well, ain't this a surprise," the guy in the back says. "Those goons of yours came back with Proxy? You must feel so proud, huh?"

He directs all this to the idiot, who is not even conscious. He looks beaten to hell and back.

I bring my attention to the guy standing on him. From what I can guess, he must be the Russian? He's ‌taller than me, his face is pale, and his expression is the definition of a thug.

"I'm only gonna tell you this once: let him go."

"And if I don't?" he answers me with a question.

"Simple..." I walk up to him as the others tell me not to go up towards him. "...I'll just kick your ass."

We're standing right in front of one another, looking each other in the eyes.

"Such a cocky kid. You approach me with no hesitation."

"What can I say? I already know how this is gonna go. With me kicking your--"

A kick flashes at my head. The kick is too fast for anyone to dodge… Is what I would say if I didn't see it coming. Right before it came, I jumped back, avoiding the attack altogether. His left leg rests, raised in a diagonal direction.

"Whoa, you avoided Ivan's attack. Pretty damn impressive, Proxy," the dude in the back tells me.

Big dude, like I’ve heard, and sporting that smug, punchable face. Perfect.

"It seems as if I was too slow to hit you. Allow me to rectify that."

He closes the gap I made between us, coming in with a barrage of kicks. I move out of the way of each one. They aren’t fast enough to catch me off guard or put me on the defensive. Though it's impressive, he’s able to kick like this, it has a glaring weakness, and that’s locking his leg with a grapple. Sure, he can use his other leg by having it leave the ground and delivering an unsuspecting kick, but if I guard it, he’s toast. But that’s boring. I want to beat him when he uses that high kick.

Like he’s reading my mind, he steps forward, his body lowered with his left leg forward; he’s going to do it again! Once again, he goes for another high kick, but a quicker to throw version, aimed for my shoulder. If it connect, he could break my shoulder blade. Unfortunately for him, I can still see it coming. Dodging it is the easiest thing in the world.

Bewildered, my opponent gasps, unable to process what happened. “What!? How did you see my kick?”

“You’re not that fast, and besides…” I use my left leg to hit him in the balls. His face instantly takes on a hollow expression as he lets out a ghastly shriek of agony. He sinks to the ground, covering his balls. “...You kick too high, leaving no defense where it matters.”

“Yeah! Ya beat dat Russian dude,” Ross cheers as he hops around.

“Forget about this guy. Get your boss.”

"R-right!"

The lackeys run over to me and the idiot. They carefully pick him up from the ground. Good, one down, another to go. I stroll over to the big cheese with my hands in my pockets. His girl gets off him as he stands up from his delicate ass folding chair.

He does a slow clap as I approach. "You beat Ivan, pretty impressive, man."

"I'm sure it is, but I wouldn't be concerned about him. You're about to get messed up today."

"If you think you got the guts, then come on."

"That's okay. You got more than enough for the both of us."

He lets out a disgruntled growl under his breath. "You think you're real funny, doncha?"

"Don't know. I've been told I can be funny, but who cares about that?"

I stop about 2 feet in front of him, my fists are raring to go as my opponent takes off his large jacket, kicking up dust from the ground from its descent.

"You have anything left to say before I send you to the hospital?"

His threat looms with an arrogant bravado. He probably thinks just because he's bigger, it means he'll beat me in no time at all. If that's the case, then he has no chance.

"Sure I do... I'm gonna show you who's the strongest!"