Title: The Wild Raptor
Characters: Kenzan, Geise, Juudai, Johan, Rune, Brron
Chapters: 1-1||Words: 2,705
Genre: Drama||Rated: G
Challenges: Diversity Writing: GX: World of Fusion: E26, K rated; Include The Word Boot Camp, YGO, #33, robust; GX Month 2021, day #17, Jurassic Heart
Notes: This takes place in the AU where Brron created Super Fusion and then fused the dimensions, creating one single world. Now he's raising Johan, Rune, and Juudai as his sons.
Summary: Kenzan doesn't spend much time around humans. But when he gets caught by the hunter Geise and taken to Brron's castle, that's all going to change.
Geise checked his traps and nodded in pleasure at the sight of the Wild Raptor struggling, legs bound together by a thick, tough rope, snapping and snarling. he expertly slid the muzzle over the creature's head, making sure not to get his hands too close to the sharp claws or teeth. This one looked fantastic, extremely robust and strong, and certainly worth quite a lot of coin.
Not everyone could make their way in this world the way that he could. Geise didn't remember the world that had been before. He'd heard stories about it, of course. Everyone had. But the world that he knew was one where he could and did make his way by capturing and selling spirits and animals to those who would pay a high price for them.
He reached out and patted the Wild Raptor on the head. "Don't worry. You're going to be sold to someone who'll take very good care of you."
The growl the Wild Raptor delivered wasn't very loud, thanks to the muzzle, but Geise didn't care. He wrapped a net around his prize and dragged him back to his base. He'd heard that Brron was in the market for a pet for his sons and Geise looked forward to the amount of reward that he'd get for this.
So the sooner he got there, the better.
Kenzan wasn't even remotely close to happy. He tried to chew the muzzle off but he couldn't get a good grip on it, and with the rest of him bound with rope and restrained by powerful netting, there wasn't much else that he could do.
This wasn't how his day was supposed to go. He wanted to enjoy running through the woods, doing a little hunting for lunch, and maybe finding a cool rock he could take back home. But he'd found himself tied up like this and that put a very bad end to all of those plans.
He understood everything that the hunter said, of course. That didn't mean that he liked or wanted to hear it, but he understood it, and he wasn't happy about it. He tried to claw at any part of the restrains he could, but he couldn't get his jaws on anything. All he could do was hang there, being extremely annoyed.
All right, he told himself. Can't get away right now. But once I'm wherever this guy wants to take me, I can explain to whoever it is and go home! Being a shape-changer had a lot of side effects. He didn't just need to eat nearly raw meat on a regular basis - he could and did speak to humans. He'd never spent much time around them, not since he'd left his home village before the age of ten, but he knew how to speak their language. At least one of them. So he'd talk to whoever this was and hope that they spoke his language and would let him go.
Only the longer the trip went on, the more he stated to wonder if that would happen. He heard a few words, mostly to the effect of 'Brron' and that didn't give him a good feeling at all. Everyone knew that name. Very few people liked it.
As far as Kenzan could tell, he'd been Geise's prisoner for about two weeks before they finally arrived at Brron's castle. He'd lost weight and muscle tone and there were plenty of bruises from the top of his head to the tip of his tail. In all that time he'd never been allowed to change back human - Kenzan wasn't even sure if Geise knew he could do that. He didn't want to tell him either. Who knew what the hunter would do if he knew he had a shapeshifter captive?
By now he'd been clapped inside of a portable cell. The muzzle still remained wrapped around his jaws, though it was removed a few times a day so he could be fed. It wasn't very good food; more like pet food than anything else. But Kenzan ate it. He didn't have a lot of options. The restraints kept him from getting away.
Truth to tell, he wasn't feeling nearly as feisty as he had the day that he'd been captured. All of the energy he'd not been able to burn off still festered inside of him, and he'd never wanted some raw meat as much as he did right now. If Brron's kids weren't careful, they'd end up on his menu. He hadn't ever eaten people before, but the hungrier he got, the more enticing it seemed. The longer he stayed in his raptor form, the worse it got too.
He closed his eyes and rested as they drew closer to the castle. He could smell a lot of strange scents around. Humans and monsters of all kinds, none of which he recognized, but he knew them for what they were regardless. There were other scents as well - including well-cooked meat. His stomach grumbled and he twitched harder, claws flexing.
Kenzan couldn't name everything that he smelled here. As they arrived in the castle himself, he heard noises, voices talking to one another and some of them to the hunter, Geise.
"I've brogue something I think Brron's sons are going to enjoy. For the right price, of course."
That didn't surprise Kenzan in the slightest. Geise had told him that more than once over the last couple of weeks. But now he heard another voice answering.
"A Wild Raptor. Interesting." A gentle hand rested against his side and Kenzan opened his eyes to stare at whoever it was. This wasn't someone he recognized. The hand was a bit chilly, and pale blue eyes stared at him before she turned away. "I will inform Brron-sama of your arrival."
She swept away, tiny snowflakes falling in her wake. Kenzan slowly sat up the best that he could and looked around. They were in some kind of a reception area - a room that had only a few chairs for furniture, tapestries on the walls and rugs on the floor, and one single wide window letting in the sunlight. There were a few others who weren't him or Geise there, but no one seemed that interested in him. Geise lounged on one of the chairs, feet up on another one, and Kenzan suspected that he was busy counting out how he'd spend all of his money once he had it.
Footsteps sounded - a quick, firm stride. All of the locals turned toward the door at once, as a trio of young people entered. All three were male, and two of them looked so much alike, they had to be twins. The third one stood a bit shorter than the twins, and was a bit more average in coloring, brown to their blue, but he exuded so much more presence that every eye in the room came to him at once.
Even Kenzan's. His tail lashed a little; he wasn't sure if he liked the feel of any of them. This one regarded him out of brilliant golden eyes, eyes that spoke of a simmering rage just out of sight, before he turned to the other two.
"He might be useful," he said. "Wild Raptors are fast and hungry - this one's been kept pretty badly, though."
Geise set his feet on the ground and pulled himself to his feet, grinning widely. "It's not that bad. Throw some food at it and let it run around for a while and it'll do anything you tell it too."
The three turned towards Geise and Kenzan wondered how anyone could look into those six eyes and still walk out upright and unafraid . Even he wasn't sure if he could, and he thought at his best he could rip any of them apart. But Geise either didn't notice or didn't care if he did.
"So you're the one who brought him here," the golden-eyed one declared, arms crossed over his chest. "And I suppose you want some money for him."
"That's how this works, boys," Geise agreed, smiling in a way that made Kenzan want to shred him on the spot. "I get you what you want and you give me what i want."
The three of them exchanged glances again. One of the blue-haired ones came closer to Kenzan, regarding him quietly, before he glanced back to his twin and nodded. Kenzan wasn't sure if he would have noticed that if he weren't so close.
Then all three pivoted as clawed feet sounded in the hallway outside and Brron himself, Mad king of Dark World, entered the room. the locals all bowed down at once, while his three sons nodded politely. Geise made no gesture of respect at all.
"He brought us a Wild Raptor," the golden-eyed brunet reported, gesturing to Geise, "and wants you to pay him."
Brron swung his head from his children to Geise, then stalked over to the hunter. "And what makes you think I'm going to pay you a single coin instead of taking what my children want and tossing you into the arena? Hunters know something about fighting, don't they?"
"Because it would be easier to pay me and have me go away than it would to put me in there," Geise replied lazily. "I can go be someone else's problem."
Brron looked almost convinced. Kenzan's. talons scraped against the bars of his cage and he snarled as best he could. The mere idea of Geise casually leaving, with or without a huge pile of money, after the last couple of weeks infuriated him!
The twin closest to him regarded him again, then murmured something to the other two. The brunet considered something, then stepped closer to Brron and whispered. Brron chuckled and ran skeletal fingers through the brunet's hair.
"My dear Juudai. Such a chip off the block you are. Truly, your father's son." He patted Juudai on the shoulder, then turned towards Geise. "Instead of paying you right away, we're going to play a game of Juudai's devising. If you can make it to the borders alive, then you can escape with your life, and we'll have a substantial amount of gold sent to you."
Geise frowned, tensing up. "And if I can't?"
"Oh, I think you can guess at what will happen then." Brron waved one hand. "Now you should get moving. You don't have a lot of time."
Kenzan hadn't ever seen anyone run so fast or look so terrified when they did. He didn't have much time to savor it, though, as the muzzle around his jaws and the ropes and net binding him started to be unbound. The cage was opened and he all but fell forward, raising his head and sniffing around curiously.
"He definitely needs something to eat," Juudai mused, regarding him. "I think Wild Raptors eat raw meat, don't they?"
The one of the twins that had been near him all this time nodded slowly. "But I think this one might have his own thoughts on what he wants." He turned back to Kenzan. "Don't you, shapeshifter?"
Kenzan tensed at once, eyes darting this way and that, searching for the quickest way out of there. He so seldom spoke to humans and never, ever told them what he was. Not after what happened when he was younger. How could these know about him?
"Are you sure?" Juudai asked, regarding Kenzan thoughtfully. "He looks a little scrawny for a shapeshifter. Don't they take better care of themselves?"
Kenzan's head snapped around at once. "Because I haven't had any proper food in weeks!" He snarled. Then he blinked - he'd given himself away. All three of them looked some variety of smug. The one closest nodded.
"I thought so. Would you like to eat in this form or as human?"
Kenzan still didn't want to trust these people. These were the sons of Brron, who had destroyed the world that had once been to create a new one. It didn't matter that he'd never known that world. His tail lashed about before he slowly shifted back to his human form. "What do you want?"
"I could go for some lunch," the other twin offered, raising one hand to rest on the head of a pink-purple cat-like creature that appeared on his shoulder. "What about you?"
Brron laughed uproariously. "Then let's eat. Come along, boys." He shuffled his way along, and Kenzan followed, every step nervous as they headed deeper into the castle. No one here seemed to really care that he was a shapeshifter, only that he was very hungry and so were they.
He did have to wonder about Geise and what would happen to him, but the prospect of food meant so much more, especially as he could scent well-roasted meat. There were other scents in there as well, and he wasn't sure if he recognized which type of meat it was, only that it smelled delicious and the more he smelled it, the more he wanted it.
One of the twins nudged him. "What's your name? I'm Rune." He nodded towards his twin. "That's Johan." He jerked his head to the third. "And that's Juudai. You probably know Brron-sama, don't you?"
Kenzan nodded a little. He didn't have quite the same sharp senses in human form as he did in his raptor form, but he understood enough with what he had.
"What's your name?" Rune asked again. Kenzan hesitated; he had few options at the moment. If he wanted to eat, he'd have to do what they wanted.
"Kenzan," he said at last. He didn't remember a lot about his parents, but he recalled his name, at least. Rune nodded.
"Nice to meet you, Kenzan. We're going to be great friends." And the way he smiled made Kenzan wonder what was going on, and what he'd have to do to find out. He also wasn't sure about the way that Rune eyed the bruises that still blossomed over his skin.
It wasn't long before he found out at least some of it. The four guided him to a dining area, with several seats placed around the table. this was where the delicious scents came from. Brron seated himself at the head of the table, with Juudai and Johan at his right and left hands, and Rune next to Johan. Rune nodded towards the empty seat next to him, but before Kenzan could sit down, Brron spoke.
"Before you eat, you're going to pledge yourself to myself and my sons - to protect them when needed, to obey them no matter what." He laughed softly. "If you don't, there are other places waiting for you. Ones you might not as like so much as being their servant."
Kenzan wasn't surprised. He'd heard enough stories about what Brron did, and it wasn't a surprise that his sons were the same way. None of them looked even mildly bothered by this. But he did catch a hint of something in Rune's eyes, something he couldn't place right now. It wasn't fear; he knew what fear smelled like, no matter his form.
There was a part of him that would forever desire to protect. He'd done it before, before he learned what he could do, before he'd had to flee the village of his ancestors. Then he'd done it when he'd guarded that small area he'd called his own, before the hunter took him. If this was what was desired here - if it got him the food he needed more than he could even think clearly about right now -
"I'll do it," Kenzan declared. He wanted to find out what they had in mind for Geise as well, and he'd not find that out if he fled or remained locked up somewhere.
The other four all nodded and Johan rested one hand on his twin's shoulder.
"Told you that we'd find you a good guardian," he said, a hint of pride in his tone. Kenzan didn't pay too much attention as he settled down and started eating. Whatever else he needed to do, he'd figure out along the way.
The End
Notes: I have further ideas for this, including what Geise's ultimate fate will be. But all in good time!