A/N
This chapter is more of a side story, covering the perspectives of the unfortunate Humans who found themselves on the wrong end of the Monster onslaught.
It is also something I failed to address early on (apologies).
It takes place some time after Chapter 6 and will not feature Kirby and the others from Planet Popstar.
Legend
Location Name
/Flashback Start/
\\\Flashback End\\\
Saga Prefecture, Japan
Yon Rha shivered miserably as the evening air invaded his nightrobes.
He desperately willed himself to control his breathing, hoping that his inhalation and exhalation produced minimal volume as he squatted in the mud.
Huddled underneath a recently-built shelter, the elderly man wiped the sweat-soaked strands of messy hair away from his face as he listened for any sounds of impending danger.
Seated securely against his shoulder was a loaded select-fire military assault rifle, something he'd managed to obtain from a slain soldier while fleeing his home at least a week prior.
The sound of a snapping twig nearly gave him a heart attack.
"Who's there?" Yon Rha hissed, swinging the rifle's muzzle in that direction
The 56-year-old prayed it wasn't any of the Oni or Tengu or Yokai he'd encountered in the past few days.
He'd witnessed first-hand what happened to those who failed to get away in time.
He had no plans on joining them, not now.
A heartbeat later, the culprit stepped into view.
"What the... " Yon Rha twisted his wrinkled face in infuriated disbelief, eyes studying the lone Deer ridden by a Macaque.
As much as he wanted to shoot these miserable animals for this "practical joke", Yon Rha kept his finger off the trigger to conserve precious ammunition and to avoid attracting any Monsters that may be lurking in the shadows.
"Scram!" Yon Rha snarled, lobbing a loose rock lying in the mud next to him. "Get out of here!"
The Deer turned tail and bounded off into the undergrowth, carrying the Macaque with it.
The old man slumped backwards, left hand planted against his chest and feeling his heart jackhammering within his ribcage.
Overwhelmed and exhausted by adrenaline, Yon Rha's dark and baggy eyelids closed shut as his rifle gently rested silently in the mud.
/
Misery had been Yon Rha's constant companion in life, being born to a wretched, abusive mother who'd cane him the moment she so much as looked at him.
Yon Rha never knew his father, only that his mother claimed that he was a useless, drunk salaryman who "drove his car off a cliff somewhere."
Once Yon Rha was old enough, he enlisted in the Navy in order to escape from his mother's wrath and, hopefully, turn his life around.
Used to hardship, Yon Rha swiftly rose through the ranks and eventually became the proud Commander of a Navy Special Operations unit.
\\\
Piercing rays of light assaulted Yon Rha's eyes.
He squinted, using his left hand as a shield from the rising sun.
"That stupid dream again," the ex-Special Operations soldier muttered to himself, struggling to stand up due to his aging knees.
Keeping his head on a swivel, Yon Rha made sure that the coast was clear before trudging onwards, deeper into the forest.
/
Everything came crashing down quickly.
Yon Rha had already grown sick of his superiors sitting behind desks and pushing pencils around.
At one point, he made the mistake of disobeying orders and found himself court-martialled.
The military tribunal decided to strip him of his benefits and meted out a dishonourable discharge, forcing him to retire in shame.
Yon Rha had been spending the following decade or so back under the dreadful roof of his horrible mother when he first heard the news about "Yokai" over the radio while tending his wilted excuse for a garden, but dismissed it as the ramblings of a teenage prankster.
Then, the neighbours started talking, and soon after, armed soldiers and military armoured vehicles and helicopter gunships and even fighter jets showed up.
\\\
Yon Rha went prone and crawled through the bamboo just as the sounds of roars and twisting steel reached his ears.
The massive wreck of a tour bus lay tipped on its side, surrounded by at least three brutish, hulking Oni.
Ten feet tall and sporting menacing tusks jutting up from their lower jaws, one of the Oni slammed its hand down onto the bus' flanks and tore it off, side panels and windows and all.
Yon Rha coldly watched the remaining Oni reach inside and fish out the helpless, screaming passengers.
To him, it was no different from the ugliness he bore witness to countless times back in his service days.
Suddenly, a flaming fighter jet plummeted from the heavens and collided into the road a short distance behind, scattering the Oni.
Some of the other passengers decided to escape, tossing themselves out of the wrecked bus and scrambling away.
The Oni knew but did not give chase.
Yon Rha saw them gather loose boulders into their dinner-plate-sized hands to use as high-velocity, high-impact projectiles.
Of the four fleeing passengers, only one escaped the Oni's surprise long-range attack.
Her escape was all for naught as a flock of Tengu, man-sized humanoid Ravens, swooped in.
Yon Rha craned his neck as his gaze followed the Tengu lifting the young lady high off the ground.
After about 100 metres or so, it unclenched its talons, dropping the screaming woman into the clutches of a second Tengu hovering below.
The entire Tengu flock partook in this sadistic little game, deriving amusement from the screams of their helpless Human victim tossed up and down and back and forth through the air.
Finally, the last Tengu decided to conclude their play.
From roughly four metres away, it swung its claws, propelling blades of razor-sharp air towards the young woman...
By that point, Yon Rha was long gone.
He'd seen enough and successfully used the ongoing drama to sneak past the Monsters.
Numbed, he never felt much sympathy (if at all) for the others around him.
/
Yon Rha strained and heaved as his hauled his sedated mother into her bedroom.
He'd spiked her morning tea with some sedatives to ensure some temporary silence as he barricaded the doors and windows from the outside.
He didn't care what the neighbours would say or if the patrolling soldiers would show up to clap him in irons, he just wanted some peace and quiet...
Nothing prepared him for the phenomenal crashing sound that exploded from the house down the road.
Yon Rha peered between the wooden planks boarding up the windows, glimpsing soldiers scrambling back and forth and their massive vehicles trundling by.
He failed to make out what they were saying due to the thundering rotors and roaring afterburners from combat aircraft high overhead.
Then came the roaring.
And screeching.
Yon Rha hurried into the basement and locked the door behind him, spending the next few days living off canned food and Rats and Cockroaches while waiting for the world outside to fall silent.
Then, he made himself scarce, left his mother behind, and never looked back...
\\\
Yon Rha stood on the side of a mountain some distance below the peak to avoid detection.
Just as he expected, the Monsters were all moving quickly past his position in one single direction.
The nearest city, where gunfire and explosions still rang out.
Once the bulk of the Monsters had left, Yon Rha hiked down towards the small warehouse he spotted in the woods below.
The padlock was smashed off.
He wasn't alone.
Sticking to the shadows, Yon Rha made his way inside with silent footsteps.
Several looters, possibly Yakuza, were inside the warehouse.
They were a serious threat, but nothing compared to the Monsters running riot and certainly nothing Yon Rha couldn't handle...
Once the looters were dealt with, Yon Rha managed to procure himself a mountain bike as well as materials needed to make weapons in case his gun failed him.
"Winter is coming," Yon Rha mumbled to himself as he donned some thick coats.
The first snow drifted down some time after he pedalled away.
Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan
Another week passed.
Yon Rha was headed North.
Japan was no longer safe and he was running out of places to hide.
His best hope was to find a boat and try to make it to the Russian Far East.
Highly remote, Yon Rha knew he'd stand a far better chance of survival over there without other Humans around to draw any more of those blasted Monsters to him.
He passed a mound of snow and stopped, snuck over, and wiped off the snow with a gloved hand.
Underneath was the telltale wooden planking of a hull lying upside down.
With great effort, Yon Rha managed to flip the boat right side up... then jolted back and shouldered his rifle.
A Kappa was lying motionless underneath the boat.
The child-sized creature was Humanoid, green-skinned with black blotches, either Reptilian or Amphibian in appearance.
Yon Rha resisted the urge to scream in panic, keeping a close eye on the Kappa's beaked mouth and webbed paws.
He had no intention of letting them so much as touch him.
In that instant, his instincts fired up again.
Yon Rha twisted around in time, swinging his muzzle at 4 menacing Kappa emerging roughly 400 metres behind him from the frozen marsh.
"How could I be so careless?" Yon Rha didn't know or cared if he screamed that out loud as he opened fire, cutting all four of them down as they lashed out their webbed hands.
Javelins of ice knifed towards him, but a quick lean to the right made them all miss.
Unfortunately, Yon Rha had no time to catch his breath as a heavy object landed on his back.
The sight of webbed paws grasping tightly around his neck and ribs told him one thing.
The first Kappa lying under the boat had lured him into a trap.
Yon Rha saw he was facing a tree, then quickly grabbed the Kappa's wrists, spun in the opposite direction, then kicked off with his legs and flung himself backwards.
The stunned Kappa released him upon colliding against the abrasive wooden trunk and slumped in the snow.
He didn't even have a split second before Yon Rha unsheathed his blade and finished him...
Pain flaring in his upper back forced Yon Rha to drop onto one knee.
The Kappa's surpise attack had wounded him and the impact against the tree had probably been one hard knock too many.
Suddenly, the ground started trembling, toppling Yon Rha onto one side.
Earthquakes do occur in Japan, but this was no ordinary tremor.
An enormous whiskered head, the size of the Main Battle Tanks Yon Rha had seen decades ago, reared out of the frozen marsh.
A Namazu, the Catfish said to bring earthquakes, locked onto Yon Rha with its wide-set piggy eyes.
Almost immediately, an eclectic ring of Monsters stalked in from the depths of the forest, Oni, Kappa, and every other kind of Yokai he'd had the misfortune of encountering.
Eight Tengu swooped down, four landing on either of the great Namazu's flank.
One of the Tengu spoke to the Namazu. "What should we do with this Human?"
An Oni stomped in behind Yon Rha and kicked him closer to the Namazu, breaking several of the old man's bones.
The Namazu coldly regarded him for a few seconds with its tiny, pitiless eyes before speaking.
"Put this miserable worm out of its misery."
A primal scream echoed off in the distance, similar to an animal in pain.
It lasted for a few seconds, mixed in with a cacophony of inhuman vocalisations.
Then, silence.
Winter had seen yet another life extinguished, but definitely not the last.
Florida, US Eastern Seaboard
A police patrol car rumbled across the flyover, powered along by its petrol engine.
In the backseat were a trio of recently-handcuffed criminals, glaring daggers at the Police Corporal driving them down the highway.
Twenty-two-year-old Shoji, a small, scrawny, dark-skinned Japanese-American guy, was a nervous wreck and on the verge of tears. "I don't wanna go to jail!"
The Iraqi-American bruiser next to him, Hide, roughly shoved him in response.
"Quit your whining, loser!" scowled Hide, 26 years old and twice Shoji's size. "We all got pinched because of you! You just had to chicken out... "
The sharp rapping of knuckles sounded from just in front.
"Hey, pipe down back there!" snapped the Police Corporal.
"We're sorry, Officer," came the sweet-sounding, feminine voice of the third crook, a 24-year-old Korean-American named On Ji.
The ringleader.
"Eh, save it for the judge!" retorted the Police Corporal. "It's the slammer for you thr... "
The handcuffed trio suddenly found themselves flung forwards at the screeching of brakes, faces slamming into the partition separating them from the Police Corporal.
"What the... " The Police Corporal wondered aloud, then shot them a stern sidelong glance. "Stay inside if you know what's good for you."
"The heck just happened?" gulped Shoji, as the Police Corporal exited the vehicle.
The car's hood was smoking as the hood was raised up, followed by a, "What in tarnation? The engine's fried!"
"Well, there's your answer," Hide said glumly to Shoji. "Now will you... "
"Shh!" On Ji sharply shushed him. "Listen!"
The Police Corporal pulled out a radio from the trunk and turned it on.
"EMP attack... national emergency... under attack... unknown... marshalling all forces... all citizens... home and indoors... "
What scattered bits of disjointed dialogue they managed to make out prompted On Ji, Shoji and Hide to lean over in order to get a clear view of the surroundings through one of the patrol car's doors.
Off to one side, was the Police Corporal, apparently rooted to the ground, petrified.
All saw flaming wreckages of aircraft hurtling helplessly, wounded, towards the ground miles away.
Great winged shapes of Thunderbirds sliced by high above, firing lighting from their eyes.
Behind them were the Atmospheric Jellyfish, hulking pulsating blobs dangling their tentacles beneath.
Suddenly, what looked like a person with the head and legs of a Stag shot up from beneath the flyover.
A Jersey Devil.
Its vast, powerful bat-like wings pumped up and down, powering it through the air, trailing behind a long, triangular spade tail of a Demon.
The Police Corporal drew his semi-automatic pistol. "Stay ba... "
He did not get so much as half a chance to open fire before the Jersey Devil opened its horrid maw, unleashing a high-speed fireball from deep within.
On Ji, Hide, and Shoji ducked down as low as they could inside the patrol car, the sound of the screaming Police Corporal getting blasted off the flyover ended in a sickening splat.
Hide, the bravest of the trio, was the first one who dared peek out of hiding.
"What was that?" He wondered, sinuses stinging from the stench of burning asphalt left by the Jersey Devil's ranged attack.
With a mighty flap, it had already flown off to seek out its next victim, as the surrounding sky was filled by several squadrons of flying Monsters.
Next to him, On Ji had managed to pick her handcuffs. "No idea."
She inched over and got busy freeing him and Shoji, hands a blur. "But we're not sticking around!"
No sooner than when his wrists were liberated did Shoji kick open the car door.
At that time of day, there were not that many vehicles on the road.
The circumstances that be afforded a clear sightline of whole hordes of terrified civilians, passengers and drivers alike, abandoning their dormant vehicles.
"They're coming this way!" shrieked Shoji, as the screaming Human stampede charged straight towards them.
In hot pursuit a further distance behind was a cloud of low-flying, winged Monsters, strafing their helpless victims with a flurry of lethal-aimed projectiles.
"Over here!" On Ji called out, motioning them to follow her as she vaulted over the edge of the flyover.
"Are you crazy?" Hide protested. "There could me more of those... things down there!"
"It's either that or getting caught in a turkey-shoot!" On Ji answered.
Hide simply rolled his eyes, hefted Shoji under one arm, then abseiled down the freeway moments before the Human stampede barrelled past where they stood.
Once the boys made it all the way down, On Ji was already squatted next to a manhole, straining to remove the heavy metal cover.
Hide sauntered over. "I got this!"
His biceps bulging, Hide lifted up the manhole cover and tossed it away like a frisbee, smashing it into a glass window somewhere.
On Ji facepalmed in frustration.
"One of these days... " She complained internally as they entered the sewer.
There he was.
A frail, helpless-looking robe-clad old man hobbled along the forest trail.
Infirm, unarmed, and most likely deaf and blind too.
"Easy pickings." Hide grinned, observing their intended victim making his way back to his home.
An old, run-down trailer.
"Let's go!" Hide moved off, only for On Ji to grab onto his bicep.
"Don't mess it up." She told him, stressing the second word.
On Ji, Hide, and Shoji have been heading West where they knew would be a lot of farmland, with loads of farms to hole up in and wild animals to hunt.
But they haven't thrown out their old habits.
Not just yet.
Hide emerged from hiding, racking the slide on his shotgun and aimed it squarely at the old man's face.
"Reach for the sky." He ordered the old man, reciting a catchphrase he heard from that old Western show he once saw.
The old man did as told, his walking stick tipping over on the leaf litter.
But the burly, young Iraqi-American grew nervous.
On Ji should've appeared behind their victim to hogtie him while using her trademark sweet talk while he and Shoji relieved him of anything they could use.
Something wasn't right...
The old man was on him in a flash!
Hide wasn't expecting a frail-looking senior overdressed in stupid robes to lunge forwards and latch onto the barrel of his shotgun.
Wait.
Those hands...
Not the bony, wrinkled ones of a retiree.
Taught and smooth and dark-skinned, like a slimmer version of his own.
A split second's hesitation was all the old man needed to trip him up with a leg sweep, sending him crashing to the ground.
Then, the "old man" straightened up to his full height and cast off his robes, revealing a young man with dark skin and a wild mop of hair holding a cigarette between his lips.
Too dazed to react, Hide saw the other guy jab him with a stun gun before blacking out.
Hide lost all track of time when he felt the water splash against his face.
"Wake up!" Barked the person who was holding the dripping bucket.
He was identical to Shoji in size and build, donning a grungy, shoddy-looking outfit and with dark markings painted on his face.
"Heh," Hide scoffed. "What's a skinny little twerp li... "
The "guy" kicked him in a very sensitive place, cutting him off.
"I'm a girl!" Screamed his captor, jabbing a thumb at herself as Hide grunted in pain and felt like he was swinging.
A brief upwards glance proved that he was currently chained to a ceiling.
"Little slugger," Hide cracked a mocking smile.
"Why you... "
"Smellerbee!" A male voice stopped the girl dead in her tracks.
"Can't you see I'm busy, Longshot?" Smellerbee turned towards the cell door, as a fair-skinned stern-looking guy wearing a conical hat entered.
"Enough!" Longshot objected. "Jet needs him for the "plan".
Location Unknown
Jet, leader of the Freedom Fighters, was pretty pleased with himself today.
The 27-year-old had founded this militia group of his 12 years ago, after Mongke and the Rough Rhinos razed his home during an air raid.
Since then, Jet has vowed, in his own words, to become a weapon of justice, his innate charisma swaying orphans and the vulnerable alike to his faction, bolstering his ranks.
His usual opponents were other Humans.
Now, he's set his sights on the horde of vicious Monsters who have all but dominated the world.
Jet, flanked by his top lieutenants, strode confidently into the room, an underground chamber large enough to house all his loyal fanatics numbering in the thousands.
A chorus of cheers and whoops rang out the instant he showed himself, smiling smugly and waving back.
It continued until he stopped at a raised platform.
Behind him, several wide flatscreen monitors joined together to create a single gigantic display.
Jet's lieutenants remained silent, hands crossed behind their backs as he held up one hand for silence, then gave his speech.
"Brothers and Sisters, when the Freedom Fighters first came into being, we vowed to liberate the underdogs from the shackles of their oppression!
But now, times have changed.
Our enemies are no longer Human.
But our mission... has not!
We will take back our planet from these hideous monstrosities!
We will put these beasts back where they belong!
Because this... this planet is our home!"
The entire room erupted as the Freedom Fighters went wild, for Jet had such a way with words.
He held up his hand, waited for the noise to die down, then continued.
"Yesterday, I personally led a hand-picked force and captured some thieves who stuck to their old ways.
These brigands have no place in our world, but they will still be of use to us!
They will help us rid Planet Earth of the Monsters... once and for all!"
Amidst the deafening roar of the ecstatic crowd, Jet's lieutenants said no words, only swapping brief behind their leader's back...
"That was one heck of a speech," complimented one of Jet's lieutenants. "You had them eating right out of your hands!"
Jet nonchalantly ran his fingers through his hair. "Thank you, Kori. You've always been a loyal Freedom Fighter through and through. I'll forever appreciate the day you proved your loyalty to us over that traitor, Sneers."
He placed a reassuring hand on Kori's shoulder. "You made the right choice that day. Never forget that."
"I won't," winked Kori.
Nodding, Jet turned to his other lieutenant. "Jin, are Pipsqueak and The Duke in position?"
"They'll be arriving at the location as we speak," Jin answered. "It was genius of you to set up base here, all those tunnels mean that we can reach all sorts of places!"
"Great," Jet grinned, then his tone darkened. "The trap is set."
A small band of Freedom Fighters, led by the hulking Pipsqueak and his diminutive sidekick, The Duke, hauled the sleeping forms of their captured prisoners, On Ji, Hide, Shoji, and all the others, out of the concealed tunnel entrance.
Situated in the heart of a derelict coal mine, the Freedom Fighters immediately got to work, tying the prisoners to the wooden supports preventing the roof from collapsing.
The Duke had made his way to the surface, checking to see if any unwanted visitors were around.
Pipsqueak followed behind, lugging huge kegs filled with unknown contents.
Soon enough, everything was in place, and the duo crept back down into the mines.
Every Monster within a 100-mile radius saw, heard, and felt the titanic explosion of fireworks erupt from the place the Humans referred to as the "coal mines".
A Michigan Dogman clambered atop the highest point it could scale and let out a long, ominous howl.
Its numerous brethren converged on the origin of the explosion, the screeching and fizzling of multicoloured rockets a beacon which they all swarmed towards.
Any Humans they find will be weeded out and exterminated... without mercy.
The Monsters' onslaught were spearheaded by several Lizard Men, Humanoid Reptilians feared for their ferocity and savagery.
Once they arrived at the mines, several Jersey Devils and Moth Men were swooping low overhead in full view of the entrances as hot bullets unleashed by the Humans greeted them.
Flanking around, the Lizard Men climbed on top of the forested hill directly above where their enemies were holed up.
The Humans inside the coal mines must've failed to anticipate the Lizard Men's tunnelling attack, seeing how they stumbled, panicked, and fled screaming once they burst out of the rock walls.
Half that chose to stand their ground or failed to escape fast enough were eliminated with extreme prejudice.
The other half, to be hunted down.
One of the Lizard Men pursued Shoji through the mines, the young Human screaming his head off.
Suddenly, rocks collapsed on top of it.
On Ji had set a trap for it, giving her a narrow window with which to pepper the other Lizard Men following behind with gunfire.
Dozens more of the Reptilian Humanoids showed up, many entering from holes dug in the walls of the mines.
Shoji's luck ran out when a Lizard Man grabbed him.
It tossed him at On Ji with its full might.
The two Humans collided in a sickening crack and they never got up.
The remaining Human, Hide, bellowed in rage.
He grabbed another gun lying nearby and unloaded clip after clip and round after round as the Lizard Men returned fire with their stone projectiles.
Jet was in direct contact with Pipsqueak and The Duke.
"Do it." He gave the signal.
Scattered all throughout the mines were explosives all rigged to blow on his command.
The trigger was pressed.
The spark was lit.
Time to go out with a bang.
Deafening explosions jarring the coal mines prompted the Lizard Men to cease their assault and they all dashed back the way they came.
"Get back here and fight! Cowards!" shrieked Hide. "Finish what you started! Fight me! Fight me... "
The mine was shaking, rocks tumbling down unto anyone and everything below them.
Hide was laid to rest alongside his friends that day.
Jet played the entire drama of destruction on the giant display for all the Freedom Fighters to see.
"Justice.
Justice for the innocents driven from their homes.
Justice for all whose lives were ruined by these abominations.
We have showed these Monsters who belongs on this planet.
And we will make them regret the day they dare invaded... "
Smellerbee's panicked voice bawled out over the jury-rigged PA system.
"The Monsters... here... "
A wave of dread flooded into the room and into the heart of every Freedom Fighter as a creepy-sounding series of short laughs could be heard, followed by a male crying in pain.
"No... Longshot!"
The laughs sounded again.
This time, Smellerbee fell silent.
The door to the room exploded in a cloud of dust as a clan of Shunka Warakin, vicious Hyena-like Monsters emerged.
The Shunka Warakins laughed, their vocalisations forming some form of weaponised air, punishing unlucky Freedom Fighters with a lethal impact akin to a machine gun burst.
Kori acted quickly, unholstering her sidearm.
"Get down, Jet!" She planted a hand firmly on her leader's upper back, forcing him to crouch and reduce his profile.
"Follow us!" cried Jin, leading the way with her weapon drawn.
"I don't get it!" screamed Jet. "How did the Monsters find us?"
"Not now! We gotta move!"
The trio charged down the winding labyrinth of tunnels, a network which they knew by heart.
Jin opened the heavy bunker doors that lead to a line of electric bikes parked and ready for use.
"Hop on!" She pointed at one of the bikes.
But as Jet proceeded to mount up, his lower back exploded in pain at the cue of an unexpected gunshot.
He lay on the floor, badly wounded as Jin and Kori stood over him.
"You... " Jet coughed. "It... was you... you've been plotting against me all along!"
"You brought this on yourself, Jet!" Kori scowled in contempt. "I loved Sneers! I always did and always have... then you took him from me!"
"Your entire cause has been a lie!" Jin coldly added, levelling her gun at Jet. "You've never cared about justice or any of us! You're just a sad, pitiful, broken man no one will miss!"
She glanced at Kori. "Let's go."
With a quick nod, the two ladies mounted their electric bikes and sped away.
"Well, well, well, look what we have here!" An unknown voice snickered from behind Jet.
The wounded leader of the Freedom Fighters found himself roughly spun around, face-to-face with an entire clan of marauding Shunka Warakins!
"This one's their boss?" Enquired one.
"Yup, hung the others out to dry!" Said another.
"No honour among Humans, eh?" A third asked rhetorically.
The final one, presumably the leader of the clan, sadistically caressed her paw against Jet's face, chuckling as he breathed raggedly. "We're gonna have some fun with you... "
Jet, too broken mentally and physically to even scream, was dragged off into the darkness where the glowing eyes of thousands more Shunka Warakins awaited him.
A/N
Wow, finally!
I've been spending quite a long time finalising this chapter.
The chapter's title is a reference to the recent film, Jurassic World Dominion.
Just as the Dinosaurs have broken loose and spread across Planet Earth, the Monsters in this story have done the same and, for all intents and purposes, taken over.
The setting of Yon Rha's arc is a reference to Zombieland Saga, one of my favourite anime.
Here, he is a downtrodden guy who struggles to survive when the Monsters attack, drawing upon his extensive military experience to get by however he can.
But even if he was in his prime, Yon Rha would've ran out of luck and met his demise at the hands of the Monsters sooner or later.
On Ji, Hide, and Shoji are portrayed as a small gang of petty crooks.
For some reason, I've always imagined the three of them together, even though On Ji and Shoji never displayed any bad behaviour in the show proper.
On Ji is the Brains, Hide is the Brawn, and Shoji is the Lookout.
The Freedom Fighters in this chapter, Jet especially, are my way of showing what he might've become as an adult.
Even if he stayed true to the original values of the Freedom Fighters, I simply don't see how he can fend off all those Monsters with his little ragtag band.
Bluntly put, Jet has grown more selfish, cruel, and hypocritical over the years.
I've always wanted to feature more minor characters more prominently in Arrows And Stars, and Jin and Kori got just that.
Jin is Zuko's date in Ba Sing Se while Kori is from the comics.
Kori's relationship with Sneers (another member of the Freedom Fighters) is canon.
Here, it's a catalyst for her and Jin turning against Jet (sound familiar?).