In a smokey bar room, a lonely figure sat at the far stool. Downing a drink from his bottle, the man stared blankly at the wall.
"Who's the new guy?" Asked someone at the other end of the bar.
"Dunno." Answered the bartender. "He showed up in town a few days ago. Been comin' in here everyday since. A drifter, I guess."
"Weird." They continued to watch the young man, as he gazed into nothingness. "Anybody ever said anything to 'em?"
"Nope. Guess they're all afraid."
"He is kinda' muscular for a little guy." The man got up and walked over to him. "Hey, stranger, what brings ya' to such a small place like Rudion?" The man didn't answer. "Quiet, huh? Well, what's yer' name?"
".......Kly."
"Well, good to meet cha', Kly!" The man extended his hand. Kly looked at it, looked up at the man, then turned back to the wall. "Hey, boy, I was talkin' to you! Don't you got any manners?!" Kly took another drink, ignoring the obviously drunk man. "Why....you no-good....If yer' wantin' a fight, you found it! It never lost a fight, yet!" The man swung at Kly, landing a punch square on his cheek. "Owwww!" The man yelled out in pain. Kly put his drink down and stood. "What happened?" Kly continued his emotionless stare. The man threw another punch, which Kly easily dodged. He grabbed the man by his wrist, and flung him over his shoulder, straight through a table behind him. Kly put a few bills down on the bar and headed towards the door.
"Hold on, a minute!" The bartender ran over to Kly. "Who are you? No one around here's every beat Duke. Then you come in, take one of his best shots, and whip him like it was nothing. How?"
"He's got a big mouth and a short temper. I just cooled him off a bit."
"But.....where'd you come from?"
"Nowhere." Kly turned and began towards the door again.
"Are you one of the empire's soldiers?"
".....What if I am?"
"I don't mean to be rude, but we don't want you people here." Everyone in the bar had silenced and turned to look at the two. "So far, the empire's ignored our little planet. Please, we don't want any trouble."
Kly smiled. "I used to be with the empire. I quit about a year ago. I'm not here to hurt anyone. I'm just passing through."
I am so high, I can hear heaven.....
Kly hovered high above the town, gazing down at it. "So, this is home for now. It'll do, I guess." He closed his eyes and began to think. Visions of his mother's smile and his sister's laugh filled his mind. Faintly, he could remember his father training him. It seemed so long ago. Then, it all vanished in a gigantic explosion. He opened his eyes and let out a deep breath. "God, what am I doing?" Kly watched on as the people went about their everyday business. "They're completely unaware, aren't they? They don't realize they could die at any time. They don't see how fleeting life is." Suddenly, a slight smell caught his nose. "Huh? What's that?" The smell began to get stronger. "Smoke." Kly spun around. There, a few blocks away, Kly could see a building completely ablaze. Fire trucks raced to extinguish the flames, but were doing no good.
"Oh, that's great." Kly watched on as fire consumed everything around. The firefighters had begun to stop and move away from the building, knowing there was nothing they could do. "I wonder..." Kly began to concentrate. He tried to sense inside the building. It was very small, but there was a single power inside it. A very small life force. Kly knew someone was in there. "Oh, no. That must be hell for them." Kly began to turn away from the fire, but he couldn't. He couldn't bear to stay. He couldn't bear to do nothing. Whoa, but heaven... "Aw, man." Kly powered up and darted towards the building. It didn't take long at all for Kly to shoot past the fire trucks, leaving a burst of wind behind him. He smashed straight through the wall, soaring through the intense flames. He floated around in the room, trying to locate the person. Just as he began to lock on to the spot, he heard a woman's scream.
"Help!!!!!! Please, someone!!!!! Help!!!!!!!" The voice began to cough violently. Kly swooped downward, kicking the floor down. Wasting no time, Kly zoomed through flames and into the next room. The woman was on her knees, coughing into her shirt, struggling to breathe. Not even stopping, Kly grabbed her in one arm and continued flying. As he approached the window, the ceiling caved in, raining a chunk of burning ceiling down on them. The girl screamed, while Kly held his free hand up, releasing a burst of energy, instantly destroying the debris. The girl had silenced in awe of what was going on. Kly flew through the smoke of his own blast, only to send another ball of energy at the wall. Again, he darted through the blast and out of the building. He rose up into the air, a few yards above the building. Looking down, he saw that everyone else had evacuated the area. He couldn't sense anyone nearby, either. Kly released a tremendous wave of energy from his hand. It blew like a raging wind, causing the building to implode, smothering itself and the fire. Kly continued through the air, slowing down a bit, realizing he hadn't stopped since he had first took off.
He looked down at the girl, who was holding on tight around Kly's chest with her face buried in his shoulder. He began to descend slowly towards the street. "My....my hero." Kly's eyes bulged. He began to breathe heavier. The two quickly landed on the ground, as the girl's purple hair blew into his face. He sat her on her feet and backed up a few steps.
"What did you say? What did you call me?" People had begun to gather around. They stood around the two of them, whispering amongst themselves.
The girl has wiping black soot from her cheeks and tears from her eyes. "You...you saved me. Who are you?"
"I....I...."
"I just....oh my God. I just want to thank you so much." She stretched her arms out and began walking towards Kly.
"No, stop." He put his hands up and backed away. "I don't know who you think I am, but I'm not." Kly turned his head away. His mind instantly returned to that day, around a year ago. He thought about what his mother and sister must have been thinking, just before his Kamehameha had hit. "I'm no hero."
"What are you talking about? You saved my life!"
"No!" Kly took off. He flew up into the air, quickly fleeing the people. He got a few hundred feet away before he began to slow down. "What does she mean? A hero? Me?..............No. That's not......I'm not....."
...no heaven don't hear me....
Kly flopped onto the bed of his hotel room. With his head buried into the pillow, he tried to think about something else, besides what happened earlier. Thinking there might be something on TV, he sat up and grabbed the remote. However, the only thing on were news broadcasts.
"Hello, I'm Trish Takata, reporting live from downtown. Authorities are still checking out the scene of the raging fire that engulfed a local apartment building, earlier today. The latest reports say the fire was caused by some sort of gas leak. But it seems that the major story isn't the fire, though."
"What?" The report had caught Kly's attention.
"It seems several individuals have reported a man flying in and saving this girl." The reporter walked over to the same girl Kly had rescued.
"Oh, no."
"I'm here with a Miss Tressa Lan, who was caught in the inferno, and was rescued by an unknown person. Miss Lan, could you tell us what you were doing in the building when the fire broke out?"
"Well, I was visiting some friends on the third floor. I took the elevator up, but when I got there, no one was home. Pretty soon, the fire began to light up everything in sight. It must've started from one of the lower floors, 'cause the stairwell was completely ablaze."
"What happened then?"
"I was calling out for help, but everyone else must've evacuated already. I was starting to feel faint from all the smoke. That's when he appeared."
"Could you please describe what happened?"
"I was about to pass out, when I heard a loud crash from one of the other rooms. Before I knew it, he was carrying me out. He was so fast, I didn't even see him coming. And he flew! It was amazing. Well, we were coming up on a window, when part of the roof caved in. But this guy just help up his hand and fired this huge blast! The next thing I knew, we were outside, flying up above the building. That's when he released another huge burst of wind, or something, from his hand. It crushed the building and put out the fire! He flew me away from the site and landed. But, as I was trying to thank him, he flew off."
"This isn't happening." Kly put his face into his hands.
"That's truly incredible. Did you get to see what he looked like?"
"Yeah. He was about 5' 7" I'd guess. He was wearing a leather jacket, white shirt, and jeans." Kly looked down, seeing the exact same outfit on himself. "He also wore a red bandana. Oh, and his hair! He had brown hair with red streaks. I don't know if it was dyed or not. And his eyes! He had really dark green eyes."
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but it seems we have breaking news on this man? We will now go to our correspondent, Mike Iro. Mike?" The scene cut to another reporter, this one standing in a bar.
"No, no, please, no." Kly begged.
"I'm here with local tavern-owner, uh, what's your name, sir?"
"Just call me Scruffy, son."
"Um...yes. Mr....Scruffy, you say you have key information on this unknown man."
"That's right. He came into my bar, just yesterday. Got into a fight with ole' Duke, and whipped 'em good!"
"Shut up, Scruffy!!" Duke yelled from behind. His arm was in a sling, and his hand was bandaged, apparently hurt from hitting Kly's face.
"Well, he did! I tell ya', that guy was somethin' else. Said he used to be a soldier with the empire! But, I guess you can see that don't matter none. Not after what he did today."
"Did you happen to get a name, sir?"
"Oh, yeah. Hey, Duke, what was that feller's name again?!"
"He said it was Kly!"
"They didn't." Kly's jaw hung open. "Oh crap, they just gave my name."
"Thank you for the help, gentlemen. This is Mike Iro reporting. Back to you, Trish."
"Thanks, Mike. Well, there you have it, ladies and gentleman. A young man named Kly, some sort of hero?"
"I'm not a hero!!" Kly yelled at the TV.
"If you have any further details on this man, please contact us here at Channel Nine News. We will keep you posted on further details as..."
"Kly!" Tressa grabbed for the microphone. "Thank you, Kly! I love you so much! Thank you! Thank you!" Kly turned off the TV.
"Man, what is with this town!?"
"Commander Xeron, I have news." One of the officer's bowed before the empire's head.
"What have you found out?"
"It seems that a large source of metals have been detected deep inside a small planet called Shorus. The planet's population is somewhat low. It only has one major city. A place called Rudion. The metals would be perfect for constucting weaponry and armor, sir."
"I see. Have we begun steps to obtaining them?"
"Not yet, sir. We were awaiting you're approval."
"Very well. Send an officer and a few recruits to this Rudion. Have a talk with their officials. If there is any kind of refusal or aggression, I permit them to use force in taking the planet."