Garu knocked loudly on the red door. In quick response, it opened.
"Ah, Garu, please come in." It was Linguini.
He rushed inside. He looked for Pucca.
"She's in the living room."
Garu stepped into the living room. He saw Uncle Dumpling holding washcloths over Pucca's hands. From yesterday, she had received frostbite. Garu unwrapped them and checked her hands.
"It's alright, Garu. She's feeling better," Uncle Dumpling assured.
He put them back on and held them tight. They were very warm. Pucca looked curiously at him.
"Where did you run off to last night? You could have stayed here," Ho said.
He sighed. It's nothing, he thought.
"I've been thinking," Linguini interrupted, "We still need to find out who this girl belongs to. She must have parents looking for her."
"But she didn't even have a name," Ho said. "She wasn't taken care of."
"I'm still not sure," the tattooed man crossed his arms, staring at the floor. "Maybe she doesn't remember."
Uncle Dumpling hushed them. "We'll do what we can for now. Take one step at a time." He looked back at the girl. "Do you have any parents? Do you remember where you came from?"
She hesitated. Pucca shook her head.
They stood silent for a moment. Even Garu was upset.
"I believe we should bring her to Bruce. I think he knows what to do better than we do," Uncle Dumpling concluded.
The other two nodded, agreeing. Garu nodded as well.
"Come on, Pucca. We'll help you find your parents, ok?" Uncle Dumpling reassured.
She nodded again, slower.
"You can come with us, too, Garu."
Pucca put on the scarf Garu gave her the night before.
"Pucca, you can wear my gloves," Linguini offered.
"And my snow hat," Ho proceeded.
"And my jacket," Uncle Dumpling finished.

Though the outfit was large, Pucca was warm walking through the snow, holding Uncle Dumpling's right hand, and Garu's left. Though Garu was cold, he only cared if the girl was warm.
"Don't be afraid of officer Bruce when you meet him. He's a kind man. He'll help you."
The snow jacket covered Pucca largely enough that she was unable to nod along. She looked around as she walked squinting at all the snowy buildings and trees. It was hard for her to see.
Garu turned his head around as if he heard something, but he kept walking. Again, he turned his head and saw a figure. He released Pucca's hand and stood still.
"Come and get me, Garu."
And he ran toward it.
Pucca reached out her arm and tried to pull toward him. The three turned around to see her distressed at his absence.
"It's ok, Pucca. Wherever Garu is headed, he'll come back."

"Ho, Linguini," A call from the path spoke. "I heard you found a lost girl."
As the four approached closer, Pucca began to notice another man.
"Chang," Uncle Dumpling called, "Is that you?"
"Yes," he nodded. "Bruce made sure it wasn't my daughter. She's fine," he turned to look behind him. There was another little girl in a winter coat.
Pucca perked up in curiosity. She approached the other girl.
"Hi. My name is Ching," she said. "What's yours?"
She hesitated. The adults started talking. "Pucca."
"Pucca? That's a pretty name. Nice to meet you." She reached out her hand.
She shook Ching's hand. Pucca looked around, searching for Garu. She wanted to show him that she learned what he showed her, but he was still absent.
"Oh, I almost forgot," Ching said. "This is my chick, Won." She took off her hood to show a little yellow chick peeping out.
"Ah!" Pucca smiled. She reached out her thick glove to the animal. She gently stroked it.
"...We have to keep moving. Come on, Pucca."
Ching waved at Pucca as she carried along, her hand being held by Uncle Dumpling. Pucca could only stare, curious of new faces.

Garu moved in the snow quickly, following a familiar figure. He was cold, weaponless, and alone. However, he was determined.
The figure jumped up and landed behind him. It started after him. Garu held his fists close to his face in an X position. The figure's attack was blocked.
"Now that we're alone, I can fight you, Garu."
Garu reached his arm out. He waved his fingers. Come at me, Tobe.
They started to brawl in the street. The kid in blue threw his fists at him. Garu was focused on blocking his attacks and staying warm. He fell into the trap, but he was determined get himself out somehow.
"You won't be blocking my attacks! Not if I have this!"
Tobe drew out a sword from behind him. It was shiny and silver. Garu gasped slightly, surprised.
"What did you expect, Garu? My papa gave me this sword, and soon he'll get me a crew of ninjas!"
He swung his sword in front of Garu, who barely dodged its path in the air.
"And all you have is your own plain hands, huh, Garu?"
When Tobe swung again, Garu slipped and fell down.
"When are you going to get a sword from your Papa?"
When Tobe swung down, Garu slapped his hands in the middle of the sword. Tobe pressed down harder.
"Oh wait..."
Garu kicked himself back up and stepped to his right, dodging the swing.
"You don't have a papa anymore, do you?"
Garu gritted his teeth at him. He wanted to scream at him.
"If he couldn't beat my father, why shouldn't I be able to defeat you?"
Tobe swung his sword again. He knocked a slick scar onto Garu's cheek. A few red drops fell onto the snow, but Garu showed no signs of weakness toward his enemy. As he picked himself up, Tobe swung again at his right arm. His bandages came clean off as he fell face-first into the snow.
"I'll bring you dishonor, Garu."
He huffed as he lifted his face up. He was starting to feel colder.
"Dishonor to your family!"
Garu expected to be swung at again. He rolled himself back up and reached his shaky hands in front of him, but Tobe did the same with his sword, facing away from Garu.
He blocked another figure's sword. He was much taller and prepared. Garu noticed he did not attempt to strike Tobe, but defend himself in front of his attacks.
"Oh my, are you ok?" came from behind him.
When Garu turned his head around, he saw a girl around his age reach her arm out for him. He grabbed her hand and stood up. He shook the snow off of himself and watched his enemy fight the tall man.
"Don't worry, Garu, my dad will fend him off."
The boy looked at who was speaking. He did not realize it was his friend, Ching. He then knew Chang was fighting his enemy.
Tobe attempted to pass Chang, but he reached his sword to prevent him from getting close to his daughter and Garu. The grace of his techniques inspired Garu, almost to the point where he wanted to get involved himself, but he did not realize he was on the verge of breaking down. He only marveled at Chang's sword fighting skills.
It came to a point where Chang swung the sword out of Tobe's hands and onto the ground. Chang stepped on the sword, then aimed his as Tobe.
"Take your sword and leave. If not, I won't be afraid to strike you."
Tobe reached up his arms. He fell onto the snow and reached for his sword, keeping his eyes on Chang.
"I'll be back, Garu." He pointed at the boy, "Just you wait." and he ran away.
Chang turned to see Garu, who was looking at the ground in embarrassment. How much of that did you hear?
"Garu..."
He crossed his arms.
"I know what you're thinking about."
You can't read my mind.
"You're thinking about your father."
Garu closed his eyes hard. Not only was he cold, he felt ashamed.
"Garu, you don't have to hide how you feel. He was a good man."
He clenched his teeth and wiped his tears. His chest felt as if it was going to collapse.
That darn Tobe.
He clenched onto Chang's coat and buried his face into it. He began to slowly let out his tears. Though he barely made a sound, his feelings could be stretched out to cover the entire village.
Chang wrapped an arm around the boy. Ching decided to place her arm on his shoulder.
"Garu, I can tell you one thing."
The ninja still held his grip, but he pushed his head away to show his squinting, tearful eyes.
"Your father and I were very good friends. We trained a lot together."
I know that. I already knew that.
"And he wanted to teach you many skills, Garu."
He can't do that now. He can't
"I can train you," Chang whispered.
Garu ceased his whimpering. What?
"I can help you fight Tobe. I can teach you self-defense."
Clenching his coat even harder, Garu gave wide eyes to the man. He nodded, attempting to pull himself together. Chang placed a hand on his cheek, noticing his slim scar.
"Garu, you can come with us. I'll get you cleaned up."
He noticed how much of a mess on the outside and inside he was.
Please.

The police station was open any time of the day, but Uncle Dumpling insisted on knocking.
A man in navy blue opened the door. He first caught his attention to the girl who made shy eye contact.
"Hello. Is this the girl you told me about? Over."
The three nodded.
"Does she have a name? Over."
"She said she didn't have a name," Linguini said.
"She doesn't remember her parents either," Ho added.
"That's what she told you? Over."
"We've called her Pucca," Uncle Dumpling mentioned.
The girl nodded.
"Well then, Pucca, by law I am required to have you stay here to make a list of your physical descriptions and send them out. I'm sure someone may be looking for you. Over."
Pucca still gave him a puzzled look.
"Pucca, you're going to have to stay with Mr. Bruce for awhile." Uncle Dumpling released Pucca's hand.
When she tried to reach for it back, he reached down to hug her. "I'm sorry, Pucca. You're gonna have to stay with him. We'll be back soon."
The other two felt strong remorse. They bent down to reach an arm around her as well.
"This is... heartwarming... Over."
"Don't worry, Pucca."
When they stood back up, they waved one last time at her. She reached for them, but the door was closed. Bruce kneeled down and put a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry Pucca, but we need to get this done. Over."
She lost Garu, then her guardians. She shrugged her shoulder away from Bruce, then moved away from him.
"I'm going to need to write a description of you. Over. Would you please sit there, Over..."
When Pucca walked over to the seat, she leaned her head down to the floor. She wiped the tears away from her eyes. She took off her gloves, unzipped her jacket, and threw her hat off, but she kept Garu's scarf on.
"Black hair. Over. Possibly six years old. Over. Blue eyes. Over. Red clothing. Over..."
She could only try to remember who she was. She did not give it much thought before, but she could not touch any moment before waking up frozen and frightened, and in Garu's arms...
"And by the mountains... Abyo? Over." Bruce seemed to turn his head to look behind Pucca. "Son, you can come meet the girl if you want. Over."
Pucca turned her head around to see a boy around her age. He had messy black hair and tan skin.
"Dad, who is she?"
"The chefs called her Pucca. She doesn't remember much. Over."
"So... you're Pucca, huh?"
She looked at the floor again.
"He's my dad, and I'm Abyo! Don't worry about anything. My dad will help you. He's a hero!"
He smiled brightly while Bruce muttered what he wrote down on paper. Pucca looked at Abyo, comfortable with his friendly attitude.
"We could be good friends!"
"Son, I'm going to need you to step aside for a moment. I need to take photos. Over."

Pucca was invited to stay in Abyo's bedroom. She was drained of energy, but it did not stop Abyo from keeping his.
"What about this, Pucca?" Abyo pulled out a colorful comic book. "It's a comic about heroes. He's called the Slammin Ramen Swordsman. He's a superhero."
Pucca remained silent.
"A superhero kicks butt! They protect the world from evil! Pow! Pow!" He made motions with his hands.
Pucca was not interested.
"Don't fret, Pucca. My dad will find your parents. Or, parent..."
She now looked at Abyo curiously.
"Mom left, but it's no big deal. Someone must be there for you."
She grabbed Abyo's pillow and hugged it tight. She lied down. She missed Uncle Dumpling. She missed Ho. She missed Linguini. She yearned for Garu...
"You don't talk much, do you?"
He waited for a response. She only stared at the ceiling.
"Just like my friend Garu."
Pucca perked up. She stared at Abyo, tilting her head.
"Garu? Do you know him?"
She nodded quickly. She wanted to hear more.
"He's my best friend. He's been sad lately. I wonder where he is."
Pucca frowned. She remembered the scarf she was wearing. It was Garu's. She clenched onto it hard. She started to cry again, tears painting spots of the scarf a darker color.
Though Abyo felt remorseful for her, all he could do was watch her cry, unable to help or control the event of missing someone dear and wanting that person back, like he had seen it all before.
Because he had.

~End of Part 2~

Thank you for reading! Let me know what characters you'd like to see in Part 3!