Smash!
"Ah, sorry!" a brunet teenager exclaims reflexively, backing away from the stocky person he just ran into. Then he gets a look at the person.
'He must be ten feet tall!' the teenager thinks. In reality, the burly man is around 6'4. Nevertheless, he's towering over the 5'6 Jaden Yuki, and the furious look on his face made him seem even bigger.
Jaden swallows. "Uh, hiya," he says weakly. "I like your…"
Jaden studies the man up and down but can't see a thing that he could imagine anyone liking about him. His clothes are dirty, he smells like cheap whiskey and rancid body odor, and he's as big as a planet (although it seems there's just as much muscle as there is fat). With his hesitation, it seems that Jaden's attempt to get on the stranger's good side has only made things that much worse. It doesn't help that Jaden's probably the reason there's whiskey all over the front of his shirt. The man is actually growling. 'What is he, a bear?' When the man smashes a glass bottle and lunges for Jaden, Jaden dodges his attack and makes a run for it.
"Sorry, gotta go!" Jaden yells over his shoulder.
"Get back 'ere lil boy! You gotta buy me some more fuckin' whiskey!" a voice calls after him.
"I can't! I don't have any money!" Jaden calls back. And he really doesn't.
The man yells angrily. Then, for a long moment, it's quiet and Jaden slows down some. 'Is he gone?'
He looks over his shoulder and slows down to a stop. "Huh. Guess he's not so tough after all."
"Hyah!" the man's voice yells from not-far-enough away. It's followed by a horse's whinny.
"Shiiit!" Jaden whines, dashing to the left towards the forest in hopes of shaking his pursuer. "Shitshitshitshitshitshit." Jaden takes a deep breath and uses his abs to run faster.
He scurries through the trees, trying to go a path that's hard to follow on a horse. He runs over a mile with the constant sound of hooves trailing him before a glint of metal catches his eye.
It's like a miracle from heaven - a sword lodged into a stone, just waiting to be wielded. Not that he's ever wielded a sword, but there's a first for everything. 'Hey haven't I heard something about this in some legend? Aw, who cares, I don't have time to think; I've gotta shake my tail, or he might kill me!'
Jaden tries to catch his breath for a second before he pulls at the sword with all his might.
There's a blinding light. "Wo-oah!" Jaden exclaims as he falls on his bum, shielding his eyes. He thought it would take more effort to take out the sword than it did; it just slid right out! And what's with the light?
Jaden's eyes slowly adjust enough to see that there's a beam of light shooting up from the boulder into the sky. Jaden looks up in awe. The light goes up and up and up.
Jaden laughs gleefully. "Sweet!"
He looks down at the sword. It has a fancy, golden hilt and something written on it with gold lettering. It's too bad he can't read.
Oh, right, he's being chased. He rises to his feet and takes a defensive position, facing his enemy.
He waits.
And waits.
'Hey, the light's going away.'
He waits more.
He sits on the stone, which is no longer glowing.
"Hmm… maybe the light scared him off."
Jaden takes some experimental swings with the blade like he's seen knights do at sporting events. Swords are much different than sticks. They're heavier, for one; yet somehow holding it just feels… right .
"Your Highness," a deep voice says, and Jaden tenses. The voice is close by.
'Highness? Is there royalty nearby? Shit, did I steal a royal sword?'
When Jaden faces the source of the voice, he's about to come up with an excuse as to why he's holding the sword when he realizes that there's a group of knights bowing in his direction.
"I am Sir Zane Truesdale," the man in the front says. He has long, dark blue hair. "We are the knights of the Round Table, and I am the leader. It is an honor to finally meet you."
Jaden blinks dumbly at the bowing knights, looks behind himself, and looks back at the knights in bewilderment. "Are you talking to me?" Jaden asks, pointing at himself.
Zane's already intense expression intensifies. "Yes, Your Highness. Are you aware of the legend of the sword in the stone?" he asks.
Jaden hums in thought, picking at the ground with his sword. "Oh! So if I pull the sword out of the stone, I get to be king?" He sticks the sword in the soil and claps his hands together, grinning sheepishly. "Sorry about that, I didn't know the sword was so important. You see, I was just running from this drunk guy who I ran into on accident, he was like super pissed - I thought he was going to kill me! And I saw the sword, I thought I could defend myself with it. Oh! But I wouldn't have killed him with it; I'm not that kind of guy, I promise."
The knights stare at Jaden in shock and bewilderment. One of them, with spiky black hair and skin as pale as a vampire's, looks irritated. His right eye and the corner of his lip are twitching. Zane's expression is stony as ever.
"So, umm," Jaden says, pulling the sword out of the dirt. "I'll just put this back so you don't have to have a street rat orphan as a king," he says with a sheepish laugh.
The knights' shock intensifies. A boy with pale blue hair looks actually frightened. The spiky black haired young man is looking at Jaden like he's the stupidest person he's ever met, another black haired man with smoothed hair sticking out to one side is looking at him like he just grew an extra head, a man with long brunette hair looks like he's about to laugh, and Zane has a sour expression.
"You can't!" a man with dark blue hair that's slightly lighter and shorter than Zane's calls out. Even Jaden can tell that he said it impulsively, but he continues nonetheless. "Excuse me, Your Majesty, but only someone worthy to become the next king of Camelot can pull Excalibur from the stone. Only one person can, and didn't you pull the sword out?"
Jaden laughs in surprise and nods. "Well, yeah, but it just slipped right out. I think it was loose."
"That means that you are the Once and Future King, and that you are destined to become king of Camelot," the blue haired knight says.
Jaden takes in a deep breath to try to level his head. He plops down onto the boulder. "So, if someone else tried, they wouldn't be able to take it out?" Jaden asks in disbelief.
"That's exactly right, Your Highness."
Jaden laughs. "Sweet."
Jaden stares at the knights, who are all still kneeling.
"Okay, my knees are hurting just looking at you guys," he says after a moment. "I mean if you're comfortable like that, then good for you, but you don't have to be all formal with me. I know I'm supposed to be the king and all, but… honestly, it just makes me uncomfortable."
The knights stand up.
"Do you accept your destiny as king of Camelot, Your Highness?" Zane asks.
Jaden rubs the back of his head. "Well, uh… I think so. But I don't really know, you know, how to be a king."
"You can get all the instruction you need at the Camelot Palace. If you would please follow us there, we can show you the way."
"Ah, okay, sure," Jaden says.
On the way to the palace, Jaden tries to make small talk. "So, what are all of your names?"
The not-Zane, blue-haired man bows. "Sir Jesse Anderson at your service. It's an honor."
The brunet who was smiling earlier follows his example. "I am Sir Atticus Rhodes. It is an honor to meet you, Your Highness."
Next up is the spiky-black-haired one. "My name is Sir Chazz Princeton. I'm honored to make your acquaintance."
'He sure doesn't look honored,' Jaden thinks, a little scared. 'If looks could kill…'
Like all before him, the not-Chazz, black-haired one bows and introduces himself. "My name is Sir Bastion Misawa. I am honored to meet you."
All eyes are on the pale-blue-haired one, and it's like he snaps out of a daze. He bows hastily and says, "I-I am Sir Syrus Truesdale. It's an honor."
Jaden smiles. "Truesdale? Are you related to Zane over here?" he asks, gesturing to the leader of the group.
Syrus blushes from the attention and nods. "Y-yes."
"He is my younger brother," Zane explains, his voice as unreadable as ever.
"Ah, cool. It's nice to meet you all, too. I'm Jaden Yuki."
"Yuki?" Jesse says thoughtfully. It's mostly to himself, but Jaden hears him.
Jaden laughs. "Well, Yuki isn't my family name, but you see I was raised by a Winged Kuriboh who couldn't speak English so I didn't even learn how to talk until a monster named Yubel came along and named me when I was about, umm… three years old? We met when it was snowing outside, and she thought it was a miracle that I was still alive, so she named me Jaden Yuki. You see, Jaden means 'Jehovah has heard' and Yuki means 'snow.'"
"Wait, so you're saying you were raised by monsters?" Chazz asks in judgemental disbelief.
Jaden huffs. "Yes, I was. When people think about monsters, they think they're evil or something, but many of them are really nice. I wouldn't be alive right now if it weren't for them."
Many of the knights stare at Jaden in awe.
"Wow," Jesse says. "That sounds pretty neat."
Atticus nods in agreement.
"Neat?" Chazz exclaims. "Who created this legend anyway? We can't let this peasant who was raised by monsters become king! It's unheard of!"
Zane glares at Chazz, pulling out his sword. " Chazz, what you're saying is treason."
Chazz is frozen in fear.
Jaden puts himself between them. "No violence!"
Finally, the cold, serious expression of Zane is contorted into shock.
"I'm just as surprised by this as all of you are, if not more. I never thought in my wildest dreams that I'd be a king of all things; in fact, I keep thinking that I might just be dreaming. But if I am to be king, I will do my very best to make this kingdom a better place. And that means you don't hurt someone physically just for speaking their mind. That's how wars start, isn't it? Isn't it better to just talk things through instead of beating down everyone with a different opinion than you do? I mean, it might sound idealistic, but... I want this world to be a place where everyone can be happy, and I will do everything in my power to make my ideals into a reality."
The knights are all thinking one thing. Jaden Yuki is absolutely crazy, but… he has the heart of a great ruler. Maybe Excalibur chose the right person after all.