"The Leri what now?"
"The Leri (lee-ree) uk (uh-k) Iqirinsyx (eh-ker-ren-sicks) or in English the Game of Elements. It's a competition held every 100 years or so to see who is the strongest amongst the Kaiju subgroups," Belloc explained while laying on a pile of gold.
"And you want me to compete like some Olympic star for the Fire Kaiju?"
"More than an Olympic star Scarlet. The games aren't simply a competition of who can throw or run the fastest, but who is the strongest fighter amongst us."
"Uh huh," she said turning back to her homework, "and when are these games supposed to happen?"
"The coming summer."
"Oh, great I'll be training my butt off the rest of the school year for a wrestling match."
"Wrestling you call it," Belloc scoffed. "If you do not watch your back child-"
"I know...someone will try to kill me and take what's rightfully mine." She turned to look at her father whose face seemed slightly annoyed. She turns back to her little corner with a smile and says, "You're predictable sometimes you know?"
"The next to present their art project are and ."
The two walked up to the front of the class and Connor put the finished product on the easel. With a smile Connor started, "Hi everyone I'm Connor and this is Scarlet, and this is our abstract art."
Connor looked to Scarlet, and she continued, "When doing this project, we took into consideration the words of our teacher and tried to express something to our audience."
"Yeah, I'll be honest I'm terrible with abstract anything, but Scarlet really helped get this whole piece started. The animals and the stars are a representation of pass times that are near and dear to both of us."
"I like thinking under the stars."
"And I like thinking at the zoo."
"I made the stars pop with some glitter."
"And I made the animals stick out with some funky colors and rhinestones."
"And the background was kind of a last-minute finishing touch that we totally didn't do at lunch with the splatters of neutral colored paint everywhere."
Connor laughed a little before finishing, "And that's how we did this project."
"Well," said amused, "I don't think I have to ask how well you two worked together. Congratulations you both receive and A+ for using the skills I've taught you and your honesty." He said pointing his pen at Scarlet before the class gave a small applause and they went back to their seats.
Then the bell rung and released them saying, "We'll finish this up tomorrow with our last three presentations before starting the next project. Be prepared for some sculpting!"
"That was great!" Connor said with a smile, "I'm really glad I chose you as my partner."
Her cheeks were inflamed again as she awkwardly said, "Well I'm really glad you chose me."
"We should totally work together more often."
Scarlet's heart started to flutter at the idea, "Yeah sure."
"Well, I'll see you around I've gotta get to photography club." He disappeared amongst the crowd, but it didn't help that Scarlet had his cologne stuck in her nostrils. Just before she could start daydreaming, she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, you still all dopey about Connor?" It was Mi-suk, or Piper while at school.
"No, I'm not dopey!" Scarlet protested.
"Yeah, sure whatever. We think we have a lead on the stone."
"Really?"
"Yeah, talk about it during lunch?"
"Well," Scarlet thought before answering, "I usually sit with Garnet and Finn, but I can ask them if they mind you coming along."
"Hey either way we can make the trip after school," Mi-suk said before walking away to her next class.
"Trip?" Leaving Scarlet there confused as to what she meant.
"You're not gonna talk to her about it?" Finn tried his best to whisper as he saw Scarlet walking their way in the cafeteria.
"No Finn it's fine. Like you said whatever it was I'm sure it was important," Garnet whispered back.
Moments later Scarlet and Mi-suk walk over and Scarlet ask, "Do you guys' mind if she sits with us today?"
"I don't mind; how about you Garnet? Answer honestly," Finn said giving her a rather obvious look.
"No, Scarlet I honestly don't mind," she returned the look.
The kaiju girls knew something was up, but figured it was best not to butt in. Scarlet pulled out her bag of coal and a twinkie before finally asking, "Ok what's this trip you were talking about?"
"Well, the stone is a red diamond, right?"
"I knew it," Garnet said.
"Red diamonds are most commonly found in Africa, Brazil, and Australia," Mi-suk informed, "and guess who else has a pretty strong connection to Africa?"
"Afa and Aho'eitu." Scarlet then peered over at her confused friends, "They're the Earth Kaiju from Eritrea."
"Yep, and you wanna know where Afa says your dad found that stone? South Africa! And since Aho'eitu knows the tunnel from Monster Island to there and Aither can Kaiju shift we can totally go and be back before sunrise over here."
"Wow talk about jet lag," Finn commented.
"Aither can kaiju shift?" Scarlet asked, "Can everyone kaiju shift?"
"No, it's sort of a genetics things. Kinda like how you eat coal and pure sugar and I eat seafood and kelp," Mi-suk explained. "Trust me if I could, I would have taken us, but enough about business I'm starving." She then proceeded to pull out a can of sardines.
Garnet raised her hand a little as if she was in class, "I hate to but may I ask a question?"
"Yeah shoot," Mi-suk said before stuffing her face with a fresh fish.
"What is kaiju shifting?"
"Oh, it's that thing my dad does where he goes between humanoid and 120-foot dragon," Scarlet answered.
"Yeah, your brother can do it too," Mi-suk casually said.
Scarlet stopped eating when she heard that, "Um...no he can't."
"Oh yeah he can," she said matter-of-factly. "Your dad activated it before his sixteenth birthday. Kind of a weird gift if you'd ask me, but-"
"Mi-suk do you know what this means?" Scarlet asked as she put her hands on her cousin's shoulders.
"No not at all," she sounded genuinely confused.
"If Duncan can kaiju shift, and he doesn't even know he can then that'll prove that there's a part of the story we're missing! You're a genius!"
"Um, thank you? But how are you gonna get him to shift if he doesn't even know he can do it?"
"We'll save that for after our little trip."
"Ok well let me know how that goes. In other news how are you two doing?" Mi-suk looked over at the two humans who were merely background characters to the kaiju craziness.
"I just had my quince this weekend," Garnet spoke up.
"Aw how was that?"
"Yeah, Garnet how was it?" Finn tried again.
Garnet smiled before saying, "It was lovely. My parents really gave it all they had, and it was nice to have everyone there. And don't tell anyone I know this but, I think I made the spirit squad."
"What? You didn't tell us about that," Scarlet sounded surprised.
"Well, you two weren't exactly the happiest to hear it the first time."
"I think it's great and what about you Finn?" Mi-suk redirected the light tension, "Have you needed to use that self-defense book yet?"
"No, but I might soon. I'm trying out for the school play this spring."
"Peter Pan!" There was obvious excitement in her voice, "I love that story! You'd make a great Pan."
"You think so because I was gonna go for one of the brothers?"
"I know so, just like I know the bells about to ring," and it did, "and how I know that we're going to have a great trip to Africa."
"This is Duncan leave a message."
"Hey just letting you know I'm probably gonna be out late tonight. I'm with the Royal's and it's about the stone. We should be back before morning."
They took the trip to Monster Island after school where they met Aho'eitu in the tunnels. His stern usual face and leather sling greeted them at the fork right before the island.
"Where's Aither?" Mi-suk asked.
"He said there were a couple of things he needed to attend to. I believe they were about the games."
"Ugh, leri, leri, leri, all I ever hear about is that leri," Mi-suk complained. "If I weren't competing, I'd ask ahbuhji to stop talking about it so much."
"You guys are competing too?" Scarlet asked.
"Yes, but too?" Aho'eitu said and his usual sternness changed to concern, "Scarlet are you also competing?"
"Yeah, my father wants me to join."
The two full bloods shot a look at each other. "It's just," Aho'eitu explained, "the games are quite brutal. Many champions train for years to defeat their enemies in the ring and even though killing is an option many choose it."
"Some of the fighters won't go down unless you kill them," Mi-suk continued. "We've been lucky to not have to kill anyone, but I think that's just because we're children of the royalty. The fighters respect our wishes a little more than their own convictions."
"Well, I wasn't planning to kill anyways," Scarlet said crossing her arms. "Belloc will probably be pushing me to do so, but his opinion means little to me in that area the most."
"As it should!" They heard a voice coming from around the corner of the right fork. It was Aither with his blue eyes sparkling in the dark caverns. "Killing is the choice of the victor in the Game of Elements and thus your father's opinion means nothing unless of course you're competing against him. Which of course you won't."
"That's because the royals just sit there and watch us all fight to the death like a bunch of Caesar's," Mi-suk callously pointed.
"Hey, don't compare me to that guy! He was terrible and deserved what he got! Besides you guys need me today!" Aither fired back.
"Yes, we do so if you can keep your thoughts to yourself Mi-suk it would be very helpful," Aho'eitu said through his teethy fake smile.
"Hmph," Mi-suk reluctantly agreed.
"Hey Scarlet ever see a kaiju shift before?" Aither asked.
She thought about it for a moment before answering, "Maybe, I don't really pay attention when my father does it."
"Well, get ready to see something freaky," Aither said before the transformation begun. He got on all fours and before long his size began to increase, and things started appearing that weren't there before. It was all exactly as he described, freaky!
When he was finished his appearance was much different from his humanoid form. His body was long almost like a snake and his scales were layered giving him a heavily armored look. His tail was uniquely forked, and his leather-like wings sat just behind his shoulders. He tucked his wings back and lowered himself down to allow the other three to climb aboard.
"Aho'eitu," he said in a much deeper voice when everyone was on, "you're our guide."
"Right," he moved himself to the top of Aither's head. "For now, just go straight. I'll let you know when we need to turn."
"Whatever you say gwuymiw (goo-whe-mew)."
"That's brother in Kaiju," Mi-suk informed. "I can teach you some on the way if you'd like?"
It didn't take them too long to get to their destination with Aither's kaiju legs making the strides. Just as they were making their way to the surface Scarlet had to get one thing straight, "Ok so if there are two e's in an English word then in Kaiju the second e's letter, which is actually a in Kaiju, will have an n on the right and that effects the pronunciation?"
"Yes, but this is only a rule when the English spelling second 'e' sits between an 'm' and an 'n'," Mi-suk said in her teacher voice.
"How did you guys learn all of this?"
"Years and years of practice," Aho'eitu said as they slid down Aither's wings. "You ladies go ahead to the surface. I have to give Aither his clothes."
"Gladly," Mi-suk said as they climbed up to the surface.
After climbing out of the well-hidden hole Scarlet and Mi-suk were greeted with the distant site of a city. It's busselling sounds could be heard from a far and the young kaiju took in all the scenery before asking, "Where are we?"
"Kimberley," Aho'eitu said making his way to the surface, "home of the Big Hole which may or may not be the world's largest hand dug mine. Over fourteen million carats worth of diamond were excavated here. From what my mother said she believes that your father found the diamond here before they met. At the time it was the only other place that Earth Kaiju knew about diamonds."
"Wait," Scarlet thought aloud, "that doesn't make any sense. How in the world would he be in South Africa?"
"That we don't know, but hopefully we'll find out. Aither," Aho'eitu called out.
Climbing out of the hole with a new pair of pants and shirt he responded, "I'm here, I'm here." After taking a moment to take in the scenery Aither asked, "So, where are we headed off to?"
"A very old friend of the family," Aho'eitu said before shifting appearances. His scales lifted a bit in a wave motion as his skin went from deep green to deep brown.
Scarlet looked over to Aither who spotted her gaze and said, "I'm guessing you can't do that either?"
"Not that I'm aware of."
"It's genetic," Aither said looking down at his arms. "They'll look like humans and you and I will look like a tanner and a really pale European."
"Ok guys let's get a move on! We're only nine hours ahead of California you know," Mi-suk said as they began to walk into town.
The city was even noisier as the got into it. There were an array of people walking the streets some locals, some tourist, and some who seemed to be on business. Nevertheless, the streets were crowed and filled with eyes that either looked forward or stared as the group passed by. While it was unnerving the young Kaiju continued on their mission. Finally, they made it to a back alley where a lot a travelers didn't seem to go. There was trash on the ground, but nothing more. Aho'eitu walked up and stood on the little stoop for the singular door in the alley and knocked.
"Ngena!" They heard a young Zulu voice say.
Aho'eitu opened the door and invited everyone inside. Walking in Scarlet was completely surprised. What looked like a back-alley door to some place sketchy was actually the door to a jewelry store. There were gold and silver items in cases and on display everywhere. As they continued their way in the sparkle of gems was blinding. There was a young man at the register with short hair and brown eyes who looked at the strangers up and down. Then Aho'eitu stepped in front of everyone, and a smile appeared on his face.
"Mngani! What brings you here today?" He said as he came from behind the counter to hug the Earth Kaiju.
"Jordan kuhle ukukubona! I need to speak with your grandfather if he's here today," Aho'eitu answered, and the young man pulled away shaking his head yes.
"Follow me," Jordan said as he guided then to the back room. Knocking before he said through the door, "Mkhulu, unesivakashi!"
He opened the door and there was an old man sitting in a one window room. There was a bookshelf to the side and papers all organized on his desk as he sat polishing a gemstone. Looking up with his glasses a smile came on his bearded face when he saw Aho'eitu.
"Mfowethu! How are you!" He stood to greet him with another firm hug.
"Solomon ngikukhumbule kanjani," Aho'eitu said with a smile.
Then the old man looked at the rest of the bunch and asked, "Ingabe abangane bakho bakhuluma isiNgisi?"
"Yes, they speak English," the Kaiju prince answered.
"Then so shall I," Solomon said very fluently. He took a seat again at his desk before asking, "You know you don't have to wear that fake skin around me."
And with that Aho'eitu's scales shifted colors again before Solomon asked, "What brings you all to Kimberley?"
Taking the only seat in the room he asked, "Do you remember those old stories your great grandmother used to tell us about the monsters who ate diamonds?"
Solomon gave a fond chuckle, "Yes until the tribe realized that monsters were your family and that you guys were using the diamonds for jewelry."
The two shared a laugh like old buddies before Aho'eitu asked another question, "Do you remember her ever mentioning a red dragon?"
The jeweler took off his glasses and cleaned them for a second before coming up with an answer, "Yes if I remember correctly, she did. She said that many generations ago long before she, her mother, and her mother's mother were ever born the tribe saw a bright light come from the sky one night. It was there for a moment and then it was gone. The tribe sent their warriors out to see what had caused the light and that's when they found the Red Snake Man. Believing him to be a monster they attacked, but he was much stronger than they were. He did not kill them though and when the warriors awoke the next morning he had vanished. They went back to their village and the women said that a monster walked through their camp with a bright stone the color of the blood running from his wound, but they hide so he would not see them." He chuckled before continuing, "Then we come to find out that your people do exist, and they weren't just old legends of the past."
"One more question friend. Have there ever been any blood diamonds found here like in the story?"
"Well, yes in fact. Jordan, can you bring it to me?"
"Yes sir," Jordan said before scurrying out of the room to go find the rock. When he returned it was wrapped in a black cloth that he had to unravel. When it was finally revealed the room was filled with gasp.
"Scarlet, it looks just like yours," Mi-suk commented.
Scarlet pulled her necklace from inside her shirt and compared the two stones, "Yeah it does."
Solomon held out a wrinkled hand to Scarlet asking, "May I?"
Scarlet hesitated at first, but she took the necklace off and let the old man examine it. He took out a loupe and began examining the stones one by one. When he was finally done, he gave the necklace back saying, "There's no way for me to tell you if this stone is from here. Unlike other diamonds red ones are completely carbon so there's no minerals to trace it back to. What I can say though is that because an abundance of red diamonds have been found here it's quite possible that this also came from Kimberley."
The old jeweler handed the stone back to Scarlet and for a moment she looked down on it in thought, 'A bright light...what does it mean?'
She took in a deep breath before releasing a small amount of flame. The symbols lit up for a moment and as she examined them that's when she looked really closely and noticed something.
"What is it Scarlet?" Mi-suk asked.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Fire Kaiju predominantly reside in Japan, right?"
"Yeah and?" Mi-suk seemed a little confused but intrigued.
"And they read top to bottom, correct?"
"Scarlet, what are getting at?" Aither asked.
"Aho'eitu when did your mom meet my father?"
He thought about it for a moment, "Before the establishment of cities so...before 5000 BC."
"So, what if the stones been dangling the wrong way? What if I turned this way," she said turning it to the right, "and that would make what looked like a Y into a three-pointed star." She blew a couple of more flames to reveal the writing some more and held it out for everyone to see.
"A bright light from the sky," Solomon repeated.
"But why three points? Why not the traditional five or six? Three pointed stars weren't exactly the most popular until Mercedes-Benz. 1926 is a long way away from 5000 BC," Mi-suk questioned.
"Three points like the sky lights?" Jordan chimed in and everyone looked over for him to continue, "It's only a rumor, but apparently some people have seen three colored lights in the sky that seem to form a triangle. The lights are red, and people think they are stars or satellites until they do not see them again the next night."
Jordan pulled out his phone saying, "According to the conspiracy group The Disappearing Triangle many different parts of the world."
Jordan handed Scarlet his old iPhone and she scrolled through the forum site that was full of different post, pictures, and more. She asked, "Jordan how old is this website?"
"Since about the year 2000," he replied.
Scarlet played with the website for a moment until she was able to filter for the most used hashtags, "The most used hashtag is in the US, followed by Japan, Korea, Norway, and Eritrea. There's a couple of more, but not as frequent."
"Ok so what does all of this mean?" Aho'eitu asked.
"Well, it's either a bunch of humans going crazy or there's some...thing...out there related to that symbol," Aither said.
"Well, if you ask Jenna most people aren't that...crazy…" Scarlet trailed off as she thought about what she was saying. "Jenna...MEGTAF...they probably know something about it."
"Jenna? Like Coach Jenna?" Mi-suk questioned, "She's a MEGTAF agent?"
"I know she doesn't seem like the type, but she's good at her job. I'm not going to be able to get anything out of her that easily, but it's worth a shot," Scarlet said handing the phone to the young man.
"Is there anything else we can assist you with?" Solomon asked.
Aho'eitu looked at Scarlet with a knowing look before replying, "I don't believe so friend. You've given us much more information than we knew to begin with."
"I'm glad to be of assistance. Won't you stay for dinner? It's been so long since we've seen one another," Solomon asked.
"I don't know if-"
"It's 5:30 back in Cali," Mi-suk unintentionally interrupted, "I think we can stay for another hour at least. Get back by 8 at the latest."
"Great!" Solomon said with joy, "Jordan start closing up the shop and let your ugogo know that we're having guest."
After closing down Solomon led the gang to his home about ten minutes away from the shop. He opened the door to his cozy home and the smell of food was going through the air. Solomon's home was cozy; not too big and not too small. All around the walls were pictures of his family and religious emblems such as crosses and paintings.
"Lesedi!" Solomon called to the kitchen.
"Solomon-" the female voice said sternly, and she continued with what sounded like annoyance.
Solomon wasn't too shaken by it though as he motioned with his hand for Aho'eitu to follow him. The other three he motioned to sit in the living. From the couch Mi-suk, Scarlet, and Aither could see everything unfolding. The young Earth Kaiju shifted back to his natural form before arriving in the kitchen where a woman in a blue dress with a matching headdress was busy stirring.
Lesedi continued on with her annoyance in her native language until she threw her free hand up and Aho'eitu gently caught it. When she turned to see who it was her face lit up and her annoyance turned to welcoming. They hugged as they greet each other until Aho'eitu motioned his hand towards the living room where he said, "And these are my friends" in Zulu.
She quickly moved into the next room and so everyone stood and gave her a hug. She stood in front of them and with a smile said, "Uyemukelwa ekhaya lethu."
"She said welcome to our home," Aho'eitu translated.
"Ukube ngangazi ukuthi sinezivakashi ngabe ngangizilungiselele kangcono," Lesedi said as she eyed Solomon who seemed to be ignoring her by watching the brewing pot.
"She said if she would have known she was having guest that dinner would already be prepared," Aho'eitu once again translated. He then asked her to go easy on Solomon since it was a surprise visit.
Lesedi then looked to Jordan and asked him to set the dinner table and just as they both were about the leave Aho'eitu said, "I can help."
Lesedi quickly turned around and said something very strongly before continuing into the kitchen.
Aither chuckled, "What was that about?"
"Oh, she's just wanting me to be a guest today, always, and forever," Aho'eitu replied with a certain fondness in his voice. "Her English speaking isn't the best, but her native tongue? No man or woman will beat her."
It wasn't long before dinner was done, and the guest were invited into the dining room with everyone else. A large plate was sat before everyone and after Jordan said the family prayer everyone except Aho'eitu hesitated to eat. Solomon noticed so of course he explained what the meal was, "This is Gesmoorde vis. It's cod with potatoes and tomato sauce."
With that in mind everyone did their best not to be rude. Aither ate the potatoes, Mi-suk ate the fish, and Scarlet took small bits here and there knowing she'd suffer the consequences later. Then a small conversation was started when Aho'eitu asked, "Jordan where's your mother?"
"She's on a business trip. There's a large clothing convention a few towns over and so she's there."
"She's dead set on this fashion career of hers. Can't say I don't admire her perseverance," Solomon said.
Lesedi said something that gave Solomon a chuckle and Aho'eitu translated, "At least she's making money. As long as she can buy groceries and pay for her gas, I don't care what she does."
As they continued on with their conversation Scarlet couldn't help but realize just how comfortable Aho'eitu was with them. They spoke like more than friends, but family. 'Humans and kaiju living in harmony," she thought, 'Is it merely a fluke or can this be long term? If it can last, then why the fear of war so much? And if humans are all bad how did my father fall for my mother? What made her so different? How could she have not changed his thoughts on humans?'
"Not hungry?" Lesedi broke Scarlet away from her thoughts to Scarlet's surprise in English.
"It's not that it's just…I have a strange body and I can't eat certain things," she awkwardly replied not certain of how the housewife would take it.
"I'm allergic to peanuts so that's not a big deal," Jordan interjected to Scarlet's delight. "What can you eat then?" He asked.
"I can eat things high in sugar."
Lesedi seemed to have a lightbulb go off when she heard sugar. She went back into the kitchen really quickly and came back with a little glass container. She sat it on the table and announced, "Milk tart!"
It looked like a pie on the outside, but as Lesedi cut off a piece for Scarlet it was evident it wasn't an American pie. Scarlet took a bite from her piece and as she pulled the fork from her mouth it almost seemed like her whole being lit up. As she picked up another bite Scarlet put a thumbs up to Lesedi who seemed proud of her work. The conversations continued as dinner and dessert started to wrap up. The gang were escorted out of the house with hugs and promises of returning soon. Aho'eitu had the longest hugs of course and as they walked away from the home they were sent off with waves.
Walking back to the outskirts of Kimberley Scarlet was beside Aho'eitu and asked, "How long have you known them?"
"All their lives," Aho'eitu said very matter-of-factly. "I was actually friends with Solomon's grandfather back in 1889. I met him right before Solomon's father was born. "
"Wow," Scarlet said as she tried to choose her next words carefully, "that must be...hard."
Aho'eitu gave a half-hearted smile, "I suppose it is sometimes. It's why many kaiju don't get close to humans very often, but that family...they've been my greatest friends. I can't say I regret any time I've had with them. They were the proof for me that all humans aren't bad just when I started to harden my heart to them."
"Well, that's good to hear given my heritage," Scarlet said, and they shared a light laugh.
The kaiju gang made it back to the entry for the tunnel system and as they climbed down into the dark cave Scarlet begged the question to Aither, "How do you Kaiju shift?"
He chuckled for a moment, "It's not as hard as you'd think."
They reached the bottom of the entry and Aither explained, "It was a lot harder when I first started doing it, but really you just control your blood pressure."
"Blood pressure?"
"Yeah, most shifters do it out of stress usually from fighting. Or you can increase your oxygen intake which is easy for my lung. Don't you know Air Kaiju are the quickest shifters?"
Aither explained before he began his deep breathes. With his Air Kaiju lungs Aither could take in much more oxygen than that of a human. After three long, and deep breathes were exhaled the transformation began. He kept his breathing steady until finally he was in his full Kaiju form. Kneeling down to let the others on board he said, "And it's as simple as that."
"Uh huh," Scarlet said as they began their trip back. "So, just hypothetically speaking how much stress would it take a Fire Kaiju to shift?" She asked.
"The way your dad shifts on a whim and the hot headedness of your family I can't imagine too much," Aither answered.
"Perfect."