Chapter 2
The sun was shining, the streets were crowded, it was a beautiful and busy day. People of all sorts were passing by here and there. Restaurants were packed, full of chatter and laughter. Parents hurried their children across the street, away from traffic, and in and out of stores. Mothers would push strollers, through the crowds. People everywhere were bobbing and weaving as what Marnie, Kat, and Kenny could tell.
"Where's the arcade again?" Kat asked, craning her neck over the crowd looking at the stores lining every corner of the street. Stores for clothes, jewelry, shoes, stores for clothes, jewelry and shoes, candy stores, pet stores, toy stores, and many more.
"I think it's down that street," Marnie said, pointing towards a street to their left while holding Kenny's hand.
"Can we go to the arcade now?" Kenny asked, looking up at his sister expectantly.
"I don't know," Marnie said, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "You've been really good today." She winked.
Kenny laughed at his sister's joke and pulled her along the street. The arcade wasn't hard to miss. Children shouted, laughed, and ran around inside. Flashing lights could be seen and sounds from the games could be seen and music played, barely heard over all the other noises. All of this could be practically heard down a block. Kenny's face lit up at the sight of it all. Marnie and Kat laughed as he ran off after Marnie gave him twenty dollars to be turned into tokens.
"Twenty dollars?" Kat questioned.
"What? He's hardly been here. Plus, ten dollars' worth of those tokens are ours," Marnie replied with a chuckle.
The two girls walked in to find the little boy that ran off away from them when a man walked by shoving them to the side rather roughly.
"Hey!" Kat shouted after him.
He turned around giving the girls a glare making them flinch. He turned back heading outside, but not before they saw what he looked like.
He had pale skin and white hair. He was built strong; he certainly didn't look weak. He wore mostly black, although, he didn't wear a shirt under his black trench coat.
"Geez, he was rude," Kat stated with a huff.
"Wonder what his deal was," Marnie said.
"Who knows, but I know I'll beat you in Street Fighter," Kat teased.
"You're on!" Marnie said as they ran towards the indicated game.
For more than three hours the three spent at least thirty dollars on games. Kat mastered the claw machine the first go, winning Kenny a blue stuffed dinosaur. Marnie and Kat played the arcade's dance game, Marnie and Kenny raced each other in one of the many racing games, and Kat challenged Kenny to a shooting game, Kat going easy on the six year old by just a bit. All in all the three had fun and were now hungry.
"Let's go to Papa John's," Marnie suggested.
"Sounds good to me," Kat said.
"Alright pizza!" Kenny cheered.
They made their way across the street only to find that the Papa John's was on fire!
"Oh my God!" Marnie cried.
ooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOooOO ooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOooOO oo
"No this is inexcusable. I refuse to take this from you any longer! Do you have any idea who I am? This means war, war I tell you!" a white haired man dressed in dark clothing roared at the top of his lungs.
"I-I'm sorry man, I didn't know," the acne faced teen whimpered.
"A cheese pizza with mushrooms, pineapple, and anchovies is not the same as a cheese pizza with mushrooms, pepperoni, and sausage! This is the third time I've been up here…James!" the man said straining his eyes to look at the boy's nametag pinned to his orange shirt.
Kravous Grey had been trying to order a pizza from the Papa John's across the street from where he was currently staying. First, he had ordered on the phone, but no one ever came. Then, he tried ordering up front, but they had gotten his order wrong. Now he was taking out all of his frustration and anger on this poor, uneducated teenager, who didn't know the difference between a small fish and a tangy fruit.
"L-listen dude, I'll give you a drink with no extra charge and a-" James started, but was cut off when Kravous raised his hand.
"I'm not done yet, so keep your mouth shut until I'm finished!" Kravous growled, his icy blue eyes staring James down. "I also wanted to know why little children keep coming into my lair! I mean, I bought it with my own money!" He pointed over across the street to an arcade that had been recently fixed. Kravous had rented out a room in the back of the arcade as a base while here in Central City. He had started to renovate a broken down castle that was located on a cliff near the ocean, but it wasn't finished yet, so he had to stay here for the time being.
"W-well sir, it's an arcade, um, kids go there to have fun and play video games," James stuttered, Kravous towered over the pizza boy and gave him the death glare. He stood an impressive six foot eight, so as you could imagine Kravous could be pretty intimidating when he wanted to. That, plus the outfit he wore and the way he looked screamed 'I'll kill you if you mess with me.'
He had on a black, tight overcoat with a hood. The coat was closed up by five white straps of an elastic fabric. His chest was slightly visible at the top opening of the coat, indicating that he wasn't wearing a shirt underneath it. He wore a pair of black leather pants and some wicked looking shoes, which were a crimson color and curved upwards at the ends. His skin was as pale as a ghost, and he had a long fringe that went completely over his right eye. In a sense he was a very attractive man, but he scared most people he came in contact with, so he was currently single. Kravous had no time for love anyway; he had a life goal to complete!
"So what you're saying is that my lair is linked with a child's play area?!" Kravous said through clenched teeth.
"Um…yes?" James squeaked. Kravous slammed his fist against the counter top, which made a large dent in it. James's eyes widened and he backed away slowly. "W-what a-are you man? T-that's not normal!" he exclaimed; his voice filled with terror.
"Oh me, I'm the cold shiver that runs down your spine. I'm the demon that haunts you in your sleep. I'm the killer waiting for you in a dark alleyway. I'm your worst nightmare come to life, my dear boy," Kravous paused for dramatic effect, and then grinned down at James. "I am Fear."
Moments later people were running out of the restaurant, screaming and flailing their arms around. Kravous stepped out of the Papa John's and let out a wicked laugh.
"No one messes up my order, hahahahahahaha!" he shouted, and then threw his hands up into the air triumphantly. Just as he did, the Papa John's blew up in an eruption of fire and smoke. He may or may not have 'accidentally' turned on the gas and left a burning match near it… Kravous's psychotic laughter grew louder and soon had him bent over holding his stomach. After a few minutes Kravous had calmed down and sighed, still baring a satisfied smile on his face.
"Yuki, did you see that?! Wasn't it just the funniest thing you've ever seen?" he yelled over to the arcade. A small girl with brown hair and lime green eyes ran out of the arcade, while giggling playfully.
She was wearing a short, pink kimono with cherry blossoms sewn onto it and a pair of tight black pants that went a bit past her knees. Her hair was tied up into two buns on the sides of her head. Her high sandals made a clomping sound as she ran towards Kravous. She skidded to a stop and looked up at her caretaker. Yuki Neko was this girl's name, and rightfully so. Her name meant 'snow cat' in Japanese, which matched her personality and her species. A pair of hazel brown cat ears tipped with white twitched upon the top of her head. A cat tail, the same color as her ears, swished from side to side in the back of her. She was a Neko being; a cat like humanoid who had belonged to a clan of high ranking assassins.
"Yes sir Master Kravous, I did! I was just playing Pac Man while you went to wage war against the pizza place," she beamed.
"Sometimes I find it hard to believe that you're sixteen years old… I mean look at you, you're four foot six and act like a child!" Kravous said.
"Yeah, but being short makes me faster and more agile…right?" she sniffled and let her ears fall back.
"Yeah, sure it does," Kravous scratched her behind the ear. She purred and let out a small giggle. "Okay, enough talk we need to get to my castle before they start moving my things into it. I don't want another vase broken…they're very expensive and bring out the color of the walls," he said.
Kravous and Yuki quickly walked down the sidewalk and around the corner just as the police and firefighters arrived. Everything was going according to plan…