To Butterfly: Goota-Lolaa is not a pleasant individual…

To yellow 14: I mean, this is Kim we're talking about…

"Unleash the hounds!"

Cadaabta Ey held his arms out to either side and flexed them with a roar as the red light of his transformation washed over him. Even though he had only ever transformed or used his power when Popo and Goota-Lolaa told him to, the power and strength that came with his transformation still brought with it a level of pure exhilaration. After watching his village ransacked, his family and friends killed, his sister dragged away as a child war bride, he had wondered if he would always be the helpless little boy who allowed those things to happen. For the first week of his captivity, he had been that helpless little boy, huddled in a tent next to Popo's own – close enough to hear his sister's nightly screams, which turned to whimpers each morning – with a dozen other new "recruits" and waiting for his fate to be decided. But then Popo had summoned him into his tent and shown him the ring. And with his sister's blackened eyes on him, pleading for help, he had accepted; he couldn't have done otherwise if he had wanted her to live.

Of course, now he wondered if Aisha wouldn't have preferred that alternative. For that matter, almost certainly the people of this village would have preferred if he hadn't accepted Popo's offer. After all, now he was one of those causing the horrors and pain. He was the one breaking any opposition a village might throw together to oppose Goota-Lolaa's men. Maybe he was no longer helpless, but perhaps what he had now become was something worse.

But what other option did he have?

If anyone had asked him that question two days ago, he would immediately have said there was none: Popo's could not be opposed. Now, however, he wasn't so sure. Looking at the woman who had stood up to Goota-Lolaa's questioning, Abdi had been reminded of the old woman who had defied Popo. That old woman had known what would happen, and she had accepted it to deny Popo his goal. These people were not afraid of Popo's power, and they were not afraid of death. But now, if he was going to continue to keep his sister alive, Cadaabta Ey would have to teach these people fear; otherwise the thing he feared would happen. And what was worse, it would not happen to him.

On the far side of the village market, Hassan let out a scream, firing his rifle pointblank at one of their unexpected attackers, the one in blue. The bullets, however, deflected off of her face in all directions. She grabbed Hassan's gun, crushed the barrel with one hand, and ripped it out of his hand before backhanding him across the face with the stock. She spun around in a kick and launched him into the side of a building. The metal sheeting bent under the impact, and he slid down to the ground, slumped against the wall. A thin trail of blood ran out the corner of Hassan's mouth.

Cadaabta Ey drew his whip and brought it up over his head. "Fear–"

Cadaabta Ey never finished the phrase as a long, slender staff struck him in the back of the head and ricocheted off. He spun around, one hand rubbing the sore spot on the back of his head, searching for the source of the attack. Someone in a bronze bodysuit with tall red hair leapt from the roof of a building across the square. The black staff deflected off a stall and back to the newcomer's hand, and he swung around in midair, aiming his foot at Cadaabta Ey's chest. Before he could react, Cadaabta Ey was knocked to the ground, landing flat on his back. He rolled backward to his feet, cracking his whip to one side.

"Who?" Cadaabta Ey gasped, staring at him.

"The name's 'King Monkey'," the other replied cheekily, holding the staff behind his back and flexing his biceps on his free hand. "And your name is 'One Who's Gonna Get His Ass Kicked'!"

Cadaabta Ey leapt back to avoid a kick to his abdomen, ducked under the swinging staff, and punched King Monkey in the ribs. The hero braced his abs and grunted with the impact before jerking his knee up into Cadaabta Ey's gut. Cadaabta Ey sprang back away from him, flicking his whip at King Monkey's face. The hero twirled his staff as a shield, blocking the repeated lashes, and dropped one foot back in a defensive stance.

Again and again Cadaabta Ey cracked his whip, searching for an opening in King Monkey's defense, but his opponent's shield was impenetrable. He kept up a steady stream of attacks with his whip, the air cracking all around them, holding the hero at bay without connecting once but driving him to the side of the street on the far side of the square, pressing him away from the village entrance. He backed King Monkey closer to the nearest building, just outside of the main market area, until the hero's back was against the wall. But as he did so, Cadaabta Ey tried to regain his bearings. He had never faced another miraculous user before! For that matter, he'd never had any idea that other miraculous even existed! Popo had never mentioned the possibility, and Growll had avoided the question whenever Abdi asked him about other creatures like himself. Before now, Cadaabta Ey had only ever fought regular people – mostly poorly-armed and untrained villagers who were trying and failing to protect their homes and families. Those villagers had never stood a chance against Popo's band of militants, even without Cadaabta Ey's Fear-y to impel them away. But this time… This time the villagers were protected by champions. Someone had come to save this village when it was in need.

So where were these champions when Abdi had been forced to watch his village burned? Where were they when he was taken and pressed into Popo's army? Where were they when he'd been forced to stand guard outside Popo's tent and listen to his own sister sob through the night and beg for death?

Cadaabta Ey steeled himself and glared at King Monkey. These heroes were here for this village, but they hadn't lifted a finger for his village! If they had been there, perhaps his village would have survived! If they had been there, none of this would have happened. He wouldn't be here, terrorizing this village, if only someone had stood up for his village. He took in his surroundings with a quick glance and struck out, not at King Monkey but at the base of the building they were standing beside. His whip cut through the thin metal, which shuddered and trembled as the wall resettled. He struck again, this time lashing the support holding up the metal awning covering the stall outside the building. With a rending screech, the awning gave way and collapsed. King Monkey looked up in surprise and dove to the side, narrowly avoiding the swinging awning. As he landed, Cadaabta Ey flicked his whip and hit the back of King Monkey's hand. The hero hissed in pain, shaking the hand as it started to seep blood from a cut that had bitten into flesh through the miraculous glove.

"Why are you here?" Cadaabta Ey demanded, fury in his eyes, one fist trembling at his side, the other raised and holding his whip ready to strike. "Why protect this village?"

"I was asking myself the same question before," King Monkey admitted, snorting. He placed one end of his staff on the ground and pushed himself up to his feet, glaring at his injured hand in annoyance. "I mean, I'm sure the people who live here like it, but compared to my home it isn't all that much." He gave his staff a testing swing. "But that's not my business. I'm here because people like you don't want to let these people live their life!"

Cadaabta Ey scoffed and charged forward. "And what did this village do to earn your protection?" Why didn't you protect my village? He dropped to the ground to sweep King Monkey's leg out from under him, but the hero jumped over his leg to avoid the move and punched Cadaabta Ey in the face. Cadaabta Ey raised his arm to block it, dropping back a pace.

King Monkey shrugged. "I'll protect this village because the people here need my protection. Because that's what heroes do."

"Not all the time!" Cadaabta Ey spun into a roundhouse kick. King Monkey ducked below the first kick and blocked the second. The moment he landed, Cadaabta Ey flicked his whip, cracking it centimeters from King Monkey's face as he bobbed to the side to avoid it.

"Maybe we can't be everywhere at once," retorted King Monkey in annoyance. "But I'm here now, and I'm going to stop you and save these people!"

Cadaabta Ey snorted. "You won't be able to while you're living out your worst nightmare: Fear-y!" He cracked his whip above his head as he felt energy course through him and out into the atmosphere.

King Monkey froze in place, his eyes twitching and fists clenching and unclenching. His breathing turned shallow and finally his eyes shut tight. A collective gasp rose up from the small crowd of villagers standing around them that built in intensity until it became a scream. Cadaabta Ey stalked closer. "Uproar," King Monkey whispered weakly. A small doll appeared in midair and dropped into King Monkey's hand. His eyes came open, and he tossed the doll at Cadaabta Ey, who dropped back in confusion. The doll hit his leg, and Cadaabta Ey cocked his head in confusion: the Fear-y energy dissipated. He frowned. The few villagers standing near them gasped, wide-eyed, and relaxed. He looked down at his ring, which hadn't beeped once to indicate that his timer was about to expire.

"You like that?" asked King Monkey, grinning at him in exhilaration. "One minute you've got all the power in the world, and then… poof: it's all gone!" He threw his head back and laughed uproariously. "Isn't that the most hilarious thing you've ever heard?"

Cadaabta Ey glared at him darkly. "We will see if you are still laughing when I get through with you!" He pounced on King Monkey, arms spread wide, fingers extended. King Monkey's eyes went wide in shock, and he raised his staff to block Cadaabta Ey's furious attack. Cadaabta Ey clawed at his face, punched him in the gut, kicked him in the side of the knee. All of Goota-Lolaa's combat training went out the window; all he could do was throw wild, uncoordinated strikes. King Monkey blocked each of his wild attacks, pushing him off balance, slowly pacing backward, leading Cadaabta Ey away from the city center. Cadaabta Ey punched recklessly, King Monkey sidestepped, and Cadaabta Ey's fist drove straight through a house's wall. He shook his fist in irritation, warping the rough corrugated metal. He had to keep fighting; if he didn't, he knew what would happen to Aisha.

King Monkey dove forward while Cadaabta Ey's fist was still stuck, catching him around the waist and picking him up off the ground. Cadaabta Ey pounded him in the back over and over again with his fists, but King Monkey would not release him. He slammed him hard into the ground and Cadaabta Ey gasped, all the breath knocked from his lungs. He flicked out his whip at King Monkey's head, and it wrapped around the hero's staff. King Monkey wrenched the whip out of his hands and sent it skittering across the street and out of reach. Cadaabta Ey tried to punch him, but King Monkey caught his fist and pinned it to the ground, placing his knee over both it and Cadaabta Ey's chest. Cadaabta Ey's head was pushed back by King Monkey's staff laid across his throat.

"You're done terrorizing these people!" King Monkey declared, grabbing the clawed ring on Cadaabta Ey's finger and prying it off.

"No!"

The ring slid off, and the red light covered Cadaabta Ey again, leaving him as just plain Abdi.

King Monkey's jaw dropped open. "You're just a kid!"

"And you just murdered my sister!"