Reality Sucks!
Chapter 3
*Disclaimer: No need for another disclaimer. There's already one on the first and second chapters. You know I don't own Bloody Roar. I know I don't own Bloody Roar. What's the big problem?
*Shin is also Sabre 220's character, used with permission.
*Notes: Last chapter was more of a chapter 1.5 instead of a real chapter 2, as things were simply explained and such, so without adu, the long chapter 3!
Silence dominated the car. Jackson wasn't asking any questions because he was waiting for Konai to explain things, and Konai was waiting for Jackson to ask some questions.
Jackson wanted to break the silence.
"So what's with Tylon-"
"That Tylon group is-"
They said at the same time.
Jackson blushed. "Sorry, go on."
"No, you ask your question."
"Um, Ok. What the fuck am I? I mean, what's going on? And who the hell are Tylon and why did my sister call them?"
Konai heaved her shoulders.
"You're a Zoanthrope. A person with the innate ability to transform into an animal. I can change into a Komodo Dragon. The person you first contacted, Yugo, can change into a wolf. There's a whole group of us who are friends - and sometime enemies."
"I knew that, but how?"
"Alice is better off explaining the medical junk to you, so ask her when we get home."
"Ok."
"Second, Tylon is an anti-zoanthrope group, wanting to destroy all of us, no matter who we were. There has been reports of anti-zoanthrope propaganda in North America, so I'm guessing that's why your sister called you in."
Jackson felt sort of relieved.
"I showed my sister my 'beast form' and she flipped. I knew of reports of other zoanthropes in Japan, so I went around collecting data and leaving messages on the net. That's when that Yugo guy contacted me and told me to get out. He told me he sent money, so I went to the bank, took it all out, and caught the first plane outta there. And not a moment to soon, because the taxi took me past my house, which was swamped with Tylon vans."
"You're lucky. Most North American zoanthropes never make it out of their city, let alone country. Where are you from, anyway?"
"Thunder Bay, Canada."
"Well, take everything you remember about Thunder Bay, about Canada, even about North America, and forget about it. Push it out of your brain."
"But why?"
"Oohhh! Young AND innocent! I like that! Lemmie put it this way, kid. Your never going back. Ever."
Jackson was visibly saddened.
"Oh. I... understand. Tylon's really that bad, huh?"
"No. Much worse. I can't even begin to tell you the horrors that there're involved in" Konai, said, shuddering.
Jackson took this oppertunity to change the subject.
"So, tell me more about this little group of yours."
"Well, there's me, Konai. I was adopted by them a few years back. There's Uriko, my sister, Kenjii, her boyfriend... Alice, she's a nurse, Mitsuko, our mom. There's Yugo, the guy who contacted you and is also Alice's boyfriend, Long, our martial arts master... um, Jane, who's Long's boyfriend. Alan, who's Jane's dad and Jenny, who's Alan's girlfriend. And finally, the newest addition to our group, Shin, who's my boyfriend."
"Woah, lotta relationships going on there. But you mentioned enemies.. like who?"
"Besides Tylon? There's three in particular you should watch out for. Uranus, Xion and Shen Long."
"Got it."
The car went silent for a little while longer while Konai navigated Tokyo's packed roadways. Then Konai's shortcut turned into a traffic jam, leaving them stuck. Konai noticed that Jackson's expression was one of mixed sadness, anger and excitement. But instead of trying to pry into his life even more, she asked a neutral question;
"What fighting style do you use?"
"Fighting style?"
"Yeah, you know, Kenpo, Kung-Fu, Tai Kwon Do, stuff like that.."
"To be honest? I've been in one fight in my life. And it was the one that caused me to first change, meaning I kinda just tore 'em apart than used an actual style."
"I see. Master Long can help you with that. What style would you like to learn?"
"I've always wanted to learn plain 'old street fighting" He said sheepishly.
"You say that like it's meant for just gangs, like a teenager thing.."
"Well, isn't it?"
"NO! Yugo uses that style - and yes, it's an actual style - and it's very effective. He may not be the brightest crayon in the box but oh well.."
"Hey! That Yugo saved my life, and you just go dissing him behind his back?"
Konai blushed, as she was getting scolded by someone 2 years younger than him.
"WOAH!!"
Konai snapped to attention, looking left and right to see what was wrong.
"What? What?"
"You're blushing BLUE!!"
"Oh yes, that. I do that. You have a problem with that?!"
Jackson put his hands up in a gesture of innocence.
"Oh no! I think that and the silver hair and eyes are the coolest thing I've ever seen!"
She was taken aback by his compliment.
"You really think so? Wait a second, are you coming on to me? I have a boyfriend, you know!"
I give up He thought, leaning back on the headrest.
As if on cue, the traffic jam broke, and it was clear roads all the way home.
"Jackson, kid, wake up. We're here!"
Jackson opened his eyes, not even realizing that he had dozed off in the car.
"Hey, sorry about that, it's just that I'm soo-" He said, stretching his arms, "tired" he finished.
"I understand. It's in the middle of the night where your from. Jet lag, plus traveling takes a lot out of you."
He shook his head to clear it then un-buckled from the car. He stepped onto an ashfault drive and found a large group of people infront of the house.
They all started saying things in Japanese at him, so he just closed the door of the car and stood beside it.
"Hey guys" Konai called out "You gotta speak English, he's from Canada!"
They all stopped talking for a moment, then started speaking in english.
"Hey kid!"
"So, you're a zoanthrope?"
"How old are you?"
"HOLD IT!" Jackson said. "How about some introductions first?"
"Sorry, Jackson. I'll introduce you." Konai said.
"Everyone, this is Jackson O'Brian. He's a very lucky zoanthrope from Canada, as North America is crawling with Tylon. He'll tell you the whole story later. OK: That's Uriko and Kenjii"
A pair of teenagers held up their hands. The girl winked and grabbed onto the boy's shoulder.
"That's Jane and Master Long."
Jane simply flicked her wrist in a waving motion, while Long bowed politely and said hello.
"That's Alan and Jenny."
Two of the older adults smiled and waved, then started making out.
"Um, ok... Well, there's our mom, Mitsuko,"
A taller woman with tied back hair smiled at him.
"Shin, my boyfriend"
A well built man nodded, if merely acknowledging his presence.
"Finally, there's Alice and Yugo."
Alice waved, but Jackson walked up to Yugo and gave him a hug.
The rest of the group nearly facefaulted.
Yugo backed off, shocked.
"Dude, what's that all about?"
"Yugo. You're the one who contacted me first. Without you, I'd be dead or worse back home."
Yugo's expression went from one of shock to one of pride.
"Well, I guess I did, huh? But there's one thing we all want to know..."
"WHAT DO YOU CHANGE INTO?" They all asked at once.
"An Arctic Fox."
"WHOHOO!!" Yugo yelled, jumping around. "I win, I win, I win!!"
"Win.... what exactly?" Jackson asked, eyes twitching.
"Well, we knew you were zoanthrope, so we all kinda bet on what you transformed into, and I WON!"
"What did the others guess?"
Uriko walked over and gave him a small piece of paper with many different people's writing on it. It was titled "Bet" with an animal written beside each person's name. It read:
Uriko~WildCat
Kenjii~Beaver
Alice~Bird
Jenny~BigFoot
Alan~Squirrel
Long~Bear
Jane~Moose
Konai~Allagator
Shin~Penguin
Mitsuko~Hare
Yugo~Fox
Pot~ 6,000Y
"Beaver? BigFoot? SQURREL? MOOSE? PENGUIN?!" Jackson exclaimed. "Man, there's some real stereotypes there.... KENJII!"
"C'mon, just 'cuz I'm from Canada doesn't mean I'm gonna be a totally Canadian animal, geeze!"
Kenjii stared at his feet while Yugo went around collecting the pot from everyone.
"At least Uriko, Long, Konai and Yugo picked something COOL, even if Yugo happened to be right. Now it's time to tell ME what YOU turn into!"
"A half-cat" Uriko said.
"A mole" Kenjii said.
"A rabbit" Alice said.
"A wolf here" Yugo said.
"A lion" Alan said.
"A bat" Jenny said.
"A lepordess, and damn proud of it!" Jane said.
"A tiger" Long said
"Komodo dragon" Konai said.
"A dragon period" Shin said.
"A wild boar" Mitsuko said.
"Woah" Jackson said.
"Oh, Jackson, Konai tells me you're untrained in martial arts... would you like to learn?" Long asked.
"Thanks for the offer Mr. Long, but I think I'll learn street fighting from Yugo."
Uriko ran up to him and pressed her hand to his forehead. Jane came in a second later and laid him on his back.
"What the hell are you guys doing!?"
"You said 'learn' and 'Yugo' in the same sentence. You might be delirious! Tell me, what color is the sky? How many fingers am I holding up? Where are my keys?" Uriko asked.
Jackson flailed his arms to get the two girls away from him.
"The sky's blue, you aren't even holding up any fingers and I don't know where your keys are! And unless anybody else uses the same style as Yugo, he seems the perfect person to learn from."
Everyone blinked, except that Yugo was blinking tears from his eye.
"He's defending me, he's actually defending me!! Oh thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou! We can start right away!"
"WAIT!!" Mitsuko yelled. "There will be nothing of the sort. The boy must be starving and tried by now. We'll go make lunch. Everyone else, you can leave if you wish"
"Uh," Jackson started.
There was an unanimous 'later' as Long, Jane, Shin, Alan and Jenny left.
"Goodbye?" He said to car fumes.
"Hey, Jackson dude, c'mon in!" Yugo called from the door.
In less than a half-hour, Mitsuko and Konai had whipped up a very large amount of food for everyone. Everyone sat down at the table and started asking Jackson question, although in a much orderly way this time.
"How old are you?" Uriko asked.
"I'm 18, last year high school."
"Got a girlfriend?" This one came from Kenjii.
"No, and even if I did, it wouldn't matter anymore, 'cuz I'm here"
"How exactly did you find out you were a zoanthrope?" Alice said.
"Some gang tried to mug me, but when I didn't cooperate, they shot me, which caused me to change."
"How did Tylon find out about you?" Yugo asked, as he was the one who saved him from Tylon.
"Well, after I found out, something terrible happened. The surviving gang members killed my mom. So when my sister and I were dividing the property, and I really didn't care, she suspected something, so I showed her my beast form. Then I went searching for information on the zoanthropes in Japan, found Yugo, then found my sister on the phone with Tylon. So Yugo here wired me some money to get out of there, and here I am."
"Why would your sister sell you out to Tylon?" Uriko asked.
"I think I can answer that." Konai said. "It's because Tylon has flooded North American media with 'If you know a zoanthrope, call us and we can help' type messages. I bet she thought that she was doing him a favor"
"Yep, that explains it. Now, Alice, I have a question for you."
"Uh huh?"
"How do I change? I mean, what's the biological science behind the whole transformation process?"
"I don't know too much about the whole thing, but from my own research, I do know that the source is a gland in the brain. It can only be triggered after the age of 14, and the first time is always triggered by extreme trauma or anger, a gunshot wound, in your case. After that, it's under your control, all you need to do is think of that very first moment or thing that caused you to change the first time. Again, in your case, thinking back to the moment when you were shot."
"So you mean that I can change simply by thinking about it? Like right now?"
"Yes, but it's not a good idea to simply change whenever you want. Transforming releases a large amount of energy from the body, knocking whatever or whoever happens to be within half a meter of your body. Your clothes are shredded by the physical changes, as you must have found out. That means that it's best to wear either skintight or really baggy clothes when you think you might get into a fight."
"I see. When I first changed, my shirt was torn to shreds, but my baggy pants stayed on. I think I'll wear those. Oh, one more thing; why a specific animal, like me being was a fox, or you a rabbit?"
"That's more of a spiritual thing, like an animal that you made a special connection when you were young. But that's just my theory."
"Sounds like a sound theory, 'cuz the only time I ever came into contact with any kind of fox was when I was on vacation up north, and rescued an arctic fox who was caught in a bear trap."
"Well then. I guess that's one more mystery solved."
"Hey, can you guys stop talking and start eating? It's really quite good."
Alice and Jackson looked around and found that everyone else was already almost finished. They gave each other the 'man-there're-pigs' look, then dug in.
After lunch, Jackson found himself almost falling on his face, and Yugo looked about the same.
"So, where's he gonna stay? I mean, there's simply no more room in this house." Konai said.
"What about with Jane and Long? They have plenty of room." Uriko suggested.
"Um, I don't think that Jane likes me too much."
"But Master Long would love it. He's always wanted a full-time apprentice."
"Uh.. I'm not going to be learning from Master Long, remember?"
"Oh yeah." Uriko said, head hanging down.
"What about at Alan and Jenny's?" Kenjii said in a half-joking voice.
"Dear god the boy's been traumatized enough already! Are you trying to kill him?" Alice yelled.
"I was only joking.." Kenjii said.
"Well, since I'm going to be teaching him, why doesn't he stay with Kenjii and I?" Yugo offered.
No one could find anything wrong with that.
"I can teach him and Kenjii could help him with his Japanese. After he learns a fair bit, I can get him a job."
"That's my little wolf!" Alice praised.
Yugo beamed, still happy about winning the pot earlier that day.
"Well, how about we go now, so you can get settled in, and we can start training."
"Good idea, Yugo."
"Kenjii? You coming?"
"No, I'll gonna hang out with Uriko today, and Konai said she'll give me a ride later tonight."
"Fine with me. Jackson, let's go."
At the door, Jackson paused and turned around.
"Thanks for lunch, and it was nice to meet all of you."
"Welcome" Came from everyone.
"Oh, and guys?"
Everyone looked up again.
"Thanks for caring."
Jackson walked out the door, closing it behind him.
A half-hour later, they had reached Yugo and Kenjii's apartment. Yugo parked, then helped Jackson bring his stuff to the door. He juggled the luggage around while trying to dig the keys out of his pocket. He managed to, unlocked the door and led Jackson in.
The apartment was a mess, and it seemed that most of the room was dedicated to gym equipment. Loose weights and dumbbells covered the floor, and dirty dishes were on top of the furniture. A radio had been left on, and was blaring Japanese music. Yugo shut the thing off, via a universal remote that was near the door.
"Welcome home." Yugo said, bringing him into an empty room with sparse furnishings. There was a bed, a closet, dresser, lamp and not much else.
"Yugo, if it's just the two of you, why is there a third room?"
"Well, I bought this apartment after I met both Alice and Kenjii, so I got one with 3 rooms so that there would be a spare room for our girlfriends when they came over. I never expected a third person to be staying here, so I put our punching bag in here." Jackson looked over to a corner and found a large punching bag hanging from the ceiling, secured to both the roof and floor.
"Also, I needed the extra room to keep my equipment."
"Yugo, I really need to thank you. You got me out of my country, sent me money, and now you're letting me stay with you? Most people wouldn't even think about helping me like this. And I haven't finished school yet. I still had 6 more months."
"Ah, you see, I was in kind of a similar situation when I was younger. And we zoanthropes need to stick together, you know? It was either help you, or let Tylon get another member to it's unwilling army and such. It's really no problem."
"Yugo? Why does everyone diss you behind your back?"
Yugo closed his eyes and let out a sigh.
"It's because I didn't finish high school either. So they say I'm all brawn and no brain, strong, but not to bright, that sort of stuff. And so far, I haven't been able to prove them wrong."
"But why did you quit school?"
"The ZLF recruited me to lead them, and I couldn't say no. We fought against Tylon, and I'd rather not talk about it, except that's where I met Kenjii, Alice and the rest."
"Hey, school doesn't measure one's intelligence. You may not be book smart, but you must be a tactical genius if they wanted you lead them at such a young age."
Yugo smiled.
"You're all right, kid. You're all right. Now go take a nap and I'll wake you for dinner. You still need to adjust to Japan time."
Jackson yawned. "Fine with me. And I'll unpack later, and maybe help you clean up, if your up for it."
"Good plan. Now get some rest, you've had a long week."
*What do ya think? Good? Bad? You'll see that I make Yugo a main character in this, and I'm nice to him. Why? It's because I'm the founder of B.N.T.Y, or Be Nice To Yugo, because I'm tired of people dissing Yugo. He deserves a ::little:: credit here and there. Tell me if I said something wrong, got some background wrong, or spelled Mitsuko wrong. Thanks*
Chapter 3
*Disclaimer: No need for another disclaimer. There's already one on the first and second chapters. You know I don't own Bloody Roar. I know I don't own Bloody Roar. What's the big problem?
*Shin is also Sabre 220's character, used with permission.
*Notes: Last chapter was more of a chapter 1.5 instead of a real chapter 2, as things were simply explained and such, so without adu, the long chapter 3!
Silence dominated the car. Jackson wasn't asking any questions because he was waiting for Konai to explain things, and Konai was waiting for Jackson to ask some questions.
Jackson wanted to break the silence.
"So what's with Tylon-"
"That Tylon group is-"
They said at the same time.
Jackson blushed. "Sorry, go on."
"No, you ask your question."
"Um, Ok. What the fuck am I? I mean, what's going on? And who the hell are Tylon and why did my sister call them?"
Konai heaved her shoulders.
"You're a Zoanthrope. A person with the innate ability to transform into an animal. I can change into a Komodo Dragon. The person you first contacted, Yugo, can change into a wolf. There's a whole group of us who are friends - and sometime enemies."
"I knew that, but how?"
"Alice is better off explaining the medical junk to you, so ask her when we get home."
"Ok."
"Second, Tylon is an anti-zoanthrope group, wanting to destroy all of us, no matter who we were. There has been reports of anti-zoanthrope propaganda in North America, so I'm guessing that's why your sister called you in."
Jackson felt sort of relieved.
"I showed my sister my 'beast form' and she flipped. I knew of reports of other zoanthropes in Japan, so I went around collecting data and leaving messages on the net. That's when that Yugo guy contacted me and told me to get out. He told me he sent money, so I went to the bank, took it all out, and caught the first plane outta there. And not a moment to soon, because the taxi took me past my house, which was swamped with Tylon vans."
"You're lucky. Most North American zoanthropes never make it out of their city, let alone country. Where are you from, anyway?"
"Thunder Bay, Canada."
"Well, take everything you remember about Thunder Bay, about Canada, even about North America, and forget about it. Push it out of your brain."
"But why?"
"Oohhh! Young AND innocent! I like that! Lemmie put it this way, kid. Your never going back. Ever."
Jackson was visibly saddened.
"Oh. I... understand. Tylon's really that bad, huh?"
"No. Much worse. I can't even begin to tell you the horrors that there're involved in" Konai, said, shuddering.
Jackson took this oppertunity to change the subject.
"So, tell me more about this little group of yours."
"Well, there's me, Konai. I was adopted by them a few years back. There's Uriko, my sister, Kenjii, her boyfriend... Alice, she's a nurse, Mitsuko, our mom. There's Yugo, the guy who contacted you and is also Alice's boyfriend, Long, our martial arts master... um, Jane, who's Long's boyfriend. Alan, who's Jane's dad and Jenny, who's Alan's girlfriend. And finally, the newest addition to our group, Shin, who's my boyfriend."
"Woah, lotta relationships going on there. But you mentioned enemies.. like who?"
"Besides Tylon? There's three in particular you should watch out for. Uranus, Xion and Shen Long."
"Got it."
The car went silent for a little while longer while Konai navigated Tokyo's packed roadways. Then Konai's shortcut turned into a traffic jam, leaving them stuck. Konai noticed that Jackson's expression was one of mixed sadness, anger and excitement. But instead of trying to pry into his life even more, she asked a neutral question;
"What fighting style do you use?"
"Fighting style?"
"Yeah, you know, Kenpo, Kung-Fu, Tai Kwon Do, stuff like that.."
"To be honest? I've been in one fight in my life. And it was the one that caused me to first change, meaning I kinda just tore 'em apart than used an actual style."
"I see. Master Long can help you with that. What style would you like to learn?"
"I've always wanted to learn plain 'old street fighting" He said sheepishly.
"You say that like it's meant for just gangs, like a teenager thing.."
"Well, isn't it?"
"NO! Yugo uses that style - and yes, it's an actual style - and it's very effective. He may not be the brightest crayon in the box but oh well.."
"Hey! That Yugo saved my life, and you just go dissing him behind his back?"
Konai blushed, as she was getting scolded by someone 2 years younger than him.
"WOAH!!"
Konai snapped to attention, looking left and right to see what was wrong.
"What? What?"
"You're blushing BLUE!!"
"Oh yes, that. I do that. You have a problem with that?!"
Jackson put his hands up in a gesture of innocence.
"Oh no! I think that and the silver hair and eyes are the coolest thing I've ever seen!"
She was taken aback by his compliment.
"You really think so? Wait a second, are you coming on to me? I have a boyfriend, you know!"
I give up He thought, leaning back on the headrest.
As if on cue, the traffic jam broke, and it was clear roads all the way home.
"Jackson, kid, wake up. We're here!"
Jackson opened his eyes, not even realizing that he had dozed off in the car.
"Hey, sorry about that, it's just that I'm soo-" He said, stretching his arms, "tired" he finished.
"I understand. It's in the middle of the night where your from. Jet lag, plus traveling takes a lot out of you."
He shook his head to clear it then un-buckled from the car. He stepped onto an ashfault drive and found a large group of people infront of the house.
They all started saying things in Japanese at him, so he just closed the door of the car and stood beside it.
"Hey guys" Konai called out "You gotta speak English, he's from Canada!"
They all stopped talking for a moment, then started speaking in english.
"Hey kid!"
"So, you're a zoanthrope?"
"How old are you?"
"HOLD IT!" Jackson said. "How about some introductions first?"
"Sorry, Jackson. I'll introduce you." Konai said.
"Everyone, this is Jackson O'Brian. He's a very lucky zoanthrope from Canada, as North America is crawling with Tylon. He'll tell you the whole story later. OK: That's Uriko and Kenjii"
A pair of teenagers held up their hands. The girl winked and grabbed onto the boy's shoulder.
"That's Jane and Master Long."
Jane simply flicked her wrist in a waving motion, while Long bowed politely and said hello.
"That's Alan and Jenny."
Two of the older adults smiled and waved, then started making out.
"Um, ok... Well, there's our mom, Mitsuko,"
A taller woman with tied back hair smiled at him.
"Shin, my boyfriend"
A well built man nodded, if merely acknowledging his presence.
"Finally, there's Alice and Yugo."
Alice waved, but Jackson walked up to Yugo and gave him a hug.
The rest of the group nearly facefaulted.
Yugo backed off, shocked.
"Dude, what's that all about?"
"Yugo. You're the one who contacted me first. Without you, I'd be dead or worse back home."
Yugo's expression went from one of shock to one of pride.
"Well, I guess I did, huh? But there's one thing we all want to know..."
"WHAT DO YOU CHANGE INTO?" They all asked at once.
"An Arctic Fox."
"WHOHOO!!" Yugo yelled, jumping around. "I win, I win, I win!!"
"Win.... what exactly?" Jackson asked, eyes twitching.
"Well, we knew you were zoanthrope, so we all kinda bet on what you transformed into, and I WON!"
"What did the others guess?"
Uriko walked over and gave him a small piece of paper with many different people's writing on it. It was titled "Bet" with an animal written beside each person's name. It read:
Uriko~WildCat
Kenjii~Beaver
Alice~Bird
Jenny~BigFoot
Alan~Squirrel
Long~Bear
Jane~Moose
Konai~Allagator
Shin~Penguin
Mitsuko~Hare
Yugo~Fox
Pot~ 6,000Y
"Beaver? BigFoot? SQURREL? MOOSE? PENGUIN?!" Jackson exclaimed. "Man, there's some real stereotypes there.... KENJII!"
"C'mon, just 'cuz I'm from Canada doesn't mean I'm gonna be a totally Canadian animal, geeze!"
Kenjii stared at his feet while Yugo went around collecting the pot from everyone.
"At least Uriko, Long, Konai and Yugo picked something COOL, even if Yugo happened to be right. Now it's time to tell ME what YOU turn into!"
"A half-cat" Uriko said.
"A mole" Kenjii said.
"A rabbit" Alice said.
"A wolf here" Yugo said.
"A lion" Alan said.
"A bat" Jenny said.
"A lepordess, and damn proud of it!" Jane said.
"A tiger" Long said
"Komodo dragon" Konai said.
"A dragon period" Shin said.
"A wild boar" Mitsuko said.
"Woah" Jackson said.
"Oh, Jackson, Konai tells me you're untrained in martial arts... would you like to learn?" Long asked.
"Thanks for the offer Mr. Long, but I think I'll learn street fighting from Yugo."
Uriko ran up to him and pressed her hand to his forehead. Jane came in a second later and laid him on his back.
"What the hell are you guys doing!?"
"You said 'learn' and 'Yugo' in the same sentence. You might be delirious! Tell me, what color is the sky? How many fingers am I holding up? Where are my keys?" Uriko asked.
Jackson flailed his arms to get the two girls away from him.
"The sky's blue, you aren't even holding up any fingers and I don't know where your keys are! And unless anybody else uses the same style as Yugo, he seems the perfect person to learn from."
Everyone blinked, except that Yugo was blinking tears from his eye.
"He's defending me, he's actually defending me!! Oh thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou! We can start right away!"
"WAIT!!" Mitsuko yelled. "There will be nothing of the sort. The boy must be starving and tried by now. We'll go make lunch. Everyone else, you can leave if you wish"
"Uh," Jackson started.
There was an unanimous 'later' as Long, Jane, Shin, Alan and Jenny left.
"Goodbye?" He said to car fumes.
"Hey, Jackson dude, c'mon in!" Yugo called from the door.
In less than a half-hour, Mitsuko and Konai had whipped up a very large amount of food for everyone. Everyone sat down at the table and started asking Jackson question, although in a much orderly way this time.
"How old are you?" Uriko asked.
"I'm 18, last year high school."
"Got a girlfriend?" This one came from Kenjii.
"No, and even if I did, it wouldn't matter anymore, 'cuz I'm here"
"How exactly did you find out you were a zoanthrope?" Alice said.
"Some gang tried to mug me, but when I didn't cooperate, they shot me, which caused me to change."
"How did Tylon find out about you?" Yugo asked, as he was the one who saved him from Tylon.
"Well, after I found out, something terrible happened. The surviving gang members killed my mom. So when my sister and I were dividing the property, and I really didn't care, she suspected something, so I showed her my beast form. Then I went searching for information on the zoanthropes in Japan, found Yugo, then found my sister on the phone with Tylon. So Yugo here wired me some money to get out of there, and here I am."
"Why would your sister sell you out to Tylon?" Uriko asked.
"I think I can answer that." Konai said. "It's because Tylon has flooded North American media with 'If you know a zoanthrope, call us and we can help' type messages. I bet she thought that she was doing him a favor"
"Yep, that explains it. Now, Alice, I have a question for you."
"Uh huh?"
"How do I change? I mean, what's the biological science behind the whole transformation process?"
"I don't know too much about the whole thing, but from my own research, I do know that the source is a gland in the brain. It can only be triggered after the age of 14, and the first time is always triggered by extreme trauma or anger, a gunshot wound, in your case. After that, it's under your control, all you need to do is think of that very first moment or thing that caused you to change the first time. Again, in your case, thinking back to the moment when you were shot."
"So you mean that I can change simply by thinking about it? Like right now?"
"Yes, but it's not a good idea to simply change whenever you want. Transforming releases a large amount of energy from the body, knocking whatever or whoever happens to be within half a meter of your body. Your clothes are shredded by the physical changes, as you must have found out. That means that it's best to wear either skintight or really baggy clothes when you think you might get into a fight."
"I see. When I first changed, my shirt was torn to shreds, but my baggy pants stayed on. I think I'll wear those. Oh, one more thing; why a specific animal, like me being was a fox, or you a rabbit?"
"That's more of a spiritual thing, like an animal that you made a special connection when you were young. But that's just my theory."
"Sounds like a sound theory, 'cuz the only time I ever came into contact with any kind of fox was when I was on vacation up north, and rescued an arctic fox who was caught in a bear trap."
"Well then. I guess that's one more mystery solved."
"Hey, can you guys stop talking and start eating? It's really quite good."
Alice and Jackson looked around and found that everyone else was already almost finished. They gave each other the 'man-there're-pigs' look, then dug in.
After lunch, Jackson found himself almost falling on his face, and Yugo looked about the same.
"So, where's he gonna stay? I mean, there's simply no more room in this house." Konai said.
"What about with Jane and Long? They have plenty of room." Uriko suggested.
"Um, I don't think that Jane likes me too much."
"But Master Long would love it. He's always wanted a full-time apprentice."
"Uh.. I'm not going to be learning from Master Long, remember?"
"Oh yeah." Uriko said, head hanging down.
"What about at Alan and Jenny's?" Kenjii said in a half-joking voice.
"Dear god the boy's been traumatized enough already! Are you trying to kill him?" Alice yelled.
"I was only joking.." Kenjii said.
"Well, since I'm going to be teaching him, why doesn't he stay with Kenjii and I?" Yugo offered.
No one could find anything wrong with that.
"I can teach him and Kenjii could help him with his Japanese. After he learns a fair bit, I can get him a job."
"That's my little wolf!" Alice praised.
Yugo beamed, still happy about winning the pot earlier that day.
"Well, how about we go now, so you can get settled in, and we can start training."
"Good idea, Yugo."
"Kenjii? You coming?"
"No, I'll gonna hang out with Uriko today, and Konai said she'll give me a ride later tonight."
"Fine with me. Jackson, let's go."
At the door, Jackson paused and turned around.
"Thanks for lunch, and it was nice to meet all of you."
"Welcome" Came from everyone.
"Oh, and guys?"
Everyone looked up again.
"Thanks for caring."
Jackson walked out the door, closing it behind him.
A half-hour later, they had reached Yugo and Kenjii's apartment. Yugo parked, then helped Jackson bring his stuff to the door. He juggled the luggage around while trying to dig the keys out of his pocket. He managed to, unlocked the door and led Jackson in.
The apartment was a mess, and it seemed that most of the room was dedicated to gym equipment. Loose weights and dumbbells covered the floor, and dirty dishes were on top of the furniture. A radio had been left on, and was blaring Japanese music. Yugo shut the thing off, via a universal remote that was near the door.
"Welcome home." Yugo said, bringing him into an empty room with sparse furnishings. There was a bed, a closet, dresser, lamp and not much else.
"Yugo, if it's just the two of you, why is there a third room?"
"Well, I bought this apartment after I met both Alice and Kenjii, so I got one with 3 rooms so that there would be a spare room for our girlfriends when they came over. I never expected a third person to be staying here, so I put our punching bag in here." Jackson looked over to a corner and found a large punching bag hanging from the ceiling, secured to both the roof and floor.
"Also, I needed the extra room to keep my equipment."
"Yugo, I really need to thank you. You got me out of my country, sent me money, and now you're letting me stay with you? Most people wouldn't even think about helping me like this. And I haven't finished school yet. I still had 6 more months."
"Ah, you see, I was in kind of a similar situation when I was younger. And we zoanthropes need to stick together, you know? It was either help you, or let Tylon get another member to it's unwilling army and such. It's really no problem."
"Yugo? Why does everyone diss you behind your back?"
Yugo closed his eyes and let out a sigh.
"It's because I didn't finish high school either. So they say I'm all brawn and no brain, strong, but not to bright, that sort of stuff. And so far, I haven't been able to prove them wrong."
"But why did you quit school?"
"The ZLF recruited me to lead them, and I couldn't say no. We fought against Tylon, and I'd rather not talk about it, except that's where I met Kenjii, Alice and the rest."
"Hey, school doesn't measure one's intelligence. You may not be book smart, but you must be a tactical genius if they wanted you lead them at such a young age."
Yugo smiled.
"You're all right, kid. You're all right. Now go take a nap and I'll wake you for dinner. You still need to adjust to Japan time."
Jackson yawned. "Fine with me. And I'll unpack later, and maybe help you clean up, if your up for it."
"Good plan. Now get some rest, you've had a long week."
*What do ya think? Good? Bad? You'll see that I make Yugo a main character in this, and I'm nice to him. Why? It's because I'm the founder of B.N.T.Y, or Be Nice To Yugo, because I'm tired of people dissing Yugo. He deserves a ::little:: credit here and there. Tell me if I said something wrong, got some background wrong, or spelled Mitsuko wrong. Thanks*