The Harbormaster of Vale was bored. Idly, he wondered why the docks of the city even had a position that required someone to walk around all day looking at ships. The ship's crews and dock workers were efficient enough that he never needed to do anything. Not that he was complaining. He was being paid a lot to do very little, and that was always a plus.

"Hey! Stop those stowaways!"

The Harbormaster's eyes widened, and he spun around to see two young men running down the length of the docks, while several security officers chased after them. A small grin pulled at the corners of the Harbormaster's mouth, and he took out his trusty weapon, a rather short spear with a large head. "Halt!" He called out. "You shall not pass!"

The two men, really boys now that he got a good look at them, ignored him, and gave him a wide berth as they passed him. Or at least, they tried to. The Harbormaster's spearhead shot past one of the stowaways, a muscular youth with dark green hair, and embedded itself in a large wooden crate. The boy promptly tripped over the strong metallic cord that extended from the spearhead to the handle of the Harbormaster's weapon.

"Will!" The other stowaway, a slightly less but still muscular boy with blond hair hesitated, and the Harbormaster seized the opportunity, rushing toward him and laying the lad low with a kick to the chest.

"Tai!"

The Harbormaster turned to find the green-haired one running towards him, holding a large club aloft. Interestingly enough, it seemed to be a tree branch with several dust crystals embedded in one end, which seemed as though it would be as much a hazard to the wielder as whoever was on the receiving end of it. The Harbormaster shook his head as he neatly stepped out of the way of the swinging tree branch and yanked sharply with his weapon. The boy flinched back before frowning in confusion as nothing seemed to happen. Then the crate the spearhead had been attached to flattened him.

One down, one to go. The Harbormaster turned to face the blond just as he was blown back with a shotgun blast. He grunted as he struggled to catch his breath, frowning at the boy. The strange yellow bracelets he had been wearing had transformed now, turning into a pair of gauntlets that covered his arms from the elbows to the backs of his hands. The Harbormaster barely had time to observe that they must be the blond's weapons before the boy was upon him, throwing a deadly right cross toward his head.

Not giving the opponent a chance to catch his breath? That was hardly sporting. The Harbormaster leaned out of the way, wincing as the noise of another gunshot sent his ears ringing. Clearly the gauntlets fired a shot with every blow, the boy was obviously a slow brawler used to dealing out heavy damage. The Harbormaster had dealt with plenty of those in the time he'd worked as a Huntsman.

The Harbormaster caught the boy in the chin with the butt of his spear, then stepped clear as he responded with a left hook that caught nothing but air. The cable of the Harbormaster's spear wrapped around the youth's leg, tripping him. The Harbormaster stepped over to the blond, and was about to stab down with his spear to pin the lad to the dock, when the boy punched upward with both hands, creating a small explosion between them.

Blast, the Harbormaster thought as he flew backward. He had barely managed to get to his feet however, when the blond was upon him, throwing punches with wild abandon. They weren't random blows though, every single one would have connected with the Harbormaster's head or torso if he hadn't blocked them with the haft of his spear. And perhaps it was his imagination, but it felt like each strike was quicker and more powerful than the last, and the Harbormaster actually felt a little short of breath.

BANG

No, it wasn't his imagination. The Harbormaster grunted as a powerful blow connected with his stomach and sent him reeling back. It felt as though his entire aura had been drained by that one punch. But that didn't mean he was done yet. So long as he was able to stand, he would hold fast against these intruders-

THUMP

"That's for dropping a box on me." Will Verdan said to the prone figure lying facedown on the ground. He felt slightly bad for clubbing him over the head, the man had only been doing his job, but it had been a rather heavy box.

"Will..." Taiyang Xiao Long looked about nervously.

"What?" Will turned to follow his friend's line of sight. "Oh." The two boys were surrounded by police officers pointing guns at them.

"Vale Police! Don't move!"

"Let's not do that again." Taiyang shook out his tired legs. The two, upon being confronted by the local authorities, had promptly departed the docks and sprinted into the city proper, losing their pursuers in the winding back alleyways of Vale. And in doing so, had gotten lost themselves. After several hours, they finally managed to find their way back to the main streets, which were crowded with shops and colorfully dressed citizens.

"I don't know, I thought it was rather entertaining, myself." Will grinned. "This place is awesome."

"You think any place with enough trees is awesome."

"Well duh, look at all those birds!"