The voting goes on, but I believe the beginning of the end for Trump's reign is in sight (Knock wood).
Anyway, I had gone back through my old stories that I had saved, and I decided to dust this one off and give it some new life. This one was initially called "The Chosen One," but I decided that this title sounded less cheesy.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Yu-Gi-Oh GX or Night World. I only own some of my personal touches.
I hope old viewers remember this one and that new viewers enjoy it.
It happened at Jaden's birthday party, the day he turned five. The day his life changed forever.
"Can I go in the tubes?" He asked his mom.
His mother's name was Kotone Yuki. She had long light brown hair and brown eyes. She wore a green shirt over an orange tank top, black jeans, and white walking shoes that day. She also had her favorite black scarf around her neck, which she always wore with any outfit.
Jaden and his mother shared the same eyes, and Jaden had a light brown patch on his hair, though the rest of Jaden's hair was a darker brown. His mother always said he got that from his father.
She worked late hours as a bartender to support the two of them, but today she had managed to get the day off so her son could have his birthday at the carnival.
She smiled at him. "Alright, Little Hero, but be careful."
Those were the last words his mother ever said to him.
He didn't need to be told; he was always careful when he did anything. It was his way of putting her mind at ease.
He climbed through the tubes, looking out the small windows over where his mother was. When he got to a hall of vinyl-padded steps, he smiled at the challenge and climbed to the top.
He headed to the spider web, a big room made of rope and net. He glanced through the window and saw his mother waving to him from below. Then another woman came to talk to her, and Jaden stopped looking. Parents can't seem to wave and speak at the same time. He concentrated on getting through the tubes, pretending to be a bunny running through a tunnel.
Quickly, he got to the base of the spider web. It was in the far back of the climbing structure. There wasn't anyone around and almost no noise. A white rope with knots at regular intervals stretched above Jaden, higher and higher, leading to the web itself.
'Alright, final level!' Jaden thought excitedly.
He climbed the rope. It was harder than he thought, but it was worth it when he reached the top.
The world was a giant mess of netting. Jaden had to hang on with both hands and try to curl his feet around the cables.
He could feel the air and sunlight on his face. He laughed joyfully, leaning his head back as if tempting fate to have him fall.
After staying up there for a while, he climbed back down and through the tubes. He glanced over to where his mom was sitting.
Or at least where she had been sitting.
Jaden's stomach tensed when he saw she wasn't there. He picked up the pace and worked his way out of the climbing structure. When he got over to where his mom had been, he found her purse and black scarf, which she must have taken off due to the heat.
"Mama!" The young brunette called, hoping to see his mom come up at any moment. But as he looked around, he didn't see his mother anywhere.
He was about to look for her when the wind brushed against him, causing him to look toward a small wooded area near the fairgrounds. Like an inborn instinct, Jaden knew that was the direction his mom had gone. He headed in that direction, careful not to be seen by other adults.
The woods got slightly thicker as he went, and stories of children who wandered into the forest filtered into his mind, but he kept going. He wasn't sure how long he had walked, but he soon found an old shack falling apart. It looked deserted, but Jaden saw movement inside the structure, meaning someone was there.
Creeping as quietly as a mouse, the tiny brunette approached the door and peered inside.
Jaden noticed some cloaked figures standing around a table in the center of the room with candles lit in a similar circle. One of the men stepped toward the table, where a mass was moving around like it was trying to get up but couldn't.
Jaden moved slightly to get a closer look at what was going on. When he did, his breath left him.
The moving mass was his mother tied up on the table, trying to escape.
Jaden couldn't move, couldn't breathe. He could only stand there and watch.
The man who stepped closer began chanting in an unknown language, the other figures joining soon after. Kotone started struggling harder since the man who had started them off was now holding a knife.
"A new era will soon be upon us. With this sacrifice, it shall be done." He raised the knife and brought it down swiftly.
Jaden watched in horror as his mother was stabbed in the chest. She made a muffled sound against the gag, something akin to a chocked off gasp, before slowly falling limp.
Jaden stepped back on reflex, not seeing a small twig behind him until it made a loud 'snap.' Before anyone could turn to him, he took off in the direction he had come from. He didn't look back as he ran blindly, not wanting to be caught by those people.
He was soon back at the carnival and kept running, accidentally bumping into someone.
"Whoa there, little man, what's the rush?" Asked the man he bumped into.
He wore a uniform his dad had worn, meaning he was a marine. His father had died before he was born.
The man then noticed that Jaden was crying. "Hey, what's wrong? Where's your mom?"
Jaden didn't say anything, looking back at the woods he had just run from.
The marine put two and two together and realized something was wrong. He turned to the woman who had come up beside them, presumably his wife. "Call the police."
She nodded and comforted the crying boy while her husband headed into the woods.
Jaden and the woman sat at the table where his mom had been seated. Everything else went by in a blur, the police showing up, finding his mom dead, everything.
Jaden just kept crying for his mom, knowing she wouldn't be there to comfort him anymore.
Since he had no other family members, he was sent to live with his first foster home that evening. They were friendly, but Jaden didn't want them to hold or comfort him.
He knew what he had to do. He knew those people would come after him, and if he was going to survive, he needed to be hard and strong. He couldn't care about anyone else, trust anyone, or rely on anyone else.
Nobody could protect him. Not even his mom could have been able to do that.
He had to protect himself.
He had to learn to fight.
(Ten Years Later)
'Man, that stinks!'
Jaden Yuki had seen a lot of witch lairs in the ten years since he became a hunter, but this was probably the most disgusting. He held his breath as he stirred the tattered cloth on the floor with the toe of his boot.
He could see the story in this filth as easily as if the perp had written a confession, signed it, and tacked it on the wall.
One witch. A rogue, an outcast that lived on both the human and witch worlds' fringe. He probably moved cities every few weeks to avoid getting caught, looking like any other homeless guy on the streets.
Except for one thing; human homeless people wouldn't be hanging out at a Boston dock on a weeknight in early March.
'He brings his victims here,' Jaden deduced. 'The pier's deserted, private; he can take his time with them. Of course, he can't resist keeping a few trophies.'
He moved the stuff with his foot gently. A pink and blue knit baby jacket, a sash from a school uniform, a Spiderman tennis shoe.
All small. All bloodstained.
There had been an outbreak of missing children recently. The police would never find them or figure out what had happened to them.
But Jaden knew.
He felt his lips pull back in a scornful smile, knowing that the guy responsible would regret this.
He was aware of everything around him: the water splashing against the pier, the copper smell that was almost a taste, a night lit by a half-moon, even the light breeze on the back of his neck. He was aware of all of it but focused on none of it.
When he heard an almost inaudible scratch behind him, he moved with the grace of a dancer taking his part in a ballet. He pivoted his left foot, drawing his katana in the same motion.
Without breaking his movement, he stabbed the witch square in the chest.
"Too slow." He said, exhaling in the form of a hiss.
The witch was skewered on his sword like a hot dog, struggling slightly to escape. He was dressed in filthy clothes, and his hair was a stringy mess. His eyes were wide with surprise and anger, glowing slightly silver in the pale moonlight that filtered into the hideout.
His hands clenched claw-like, and Jaden could see a faint glow coming to them.
"Good luck with that," He said, knowing the witch was trying to muster enough strength to cast a spell.
They struggled in vain a little longer before he went still, slumping forward.
Grimacing, Jaden pulled his sword out of the now-dead witch's chest. He took a cloth from his back pocket and carefully cleaned the blade.
His weapon was two and a half feet long, delicately curved with a narrow, sharp-angled tip. Designed to penetrate a body as efficiently as possible. The sword slipped back into its sheath with a swift clink.
Jaden then turned back to the body. He bent over the corpse and reached into his back pocket once more. He pulled out a switchblade knife he'd had for years.
He carefully carved a capital 'H' onto the witch's forehead. "Not all heroes play by the rules."
It was a ritual for him to mark any witch he killed and say that one sentence. He'd done it since he killed his first witch when he was twelve.
In memory of his mother, who had always called him 'Little Hero.' In memory of his five-year-old self, the innocence he had lost.
He wasn't a noble hero fighting for truth and justice. He was more of a vigilante, wanting vengeance.
'Well, all done.'
Grunting, he grabbed the body by the back of its shirt and dragged it over to the pier's edge. He didn't feel like hauling it out to the fens, the marshes where most bodies were dumped. With a mental apology to the people trying to clean up the harbor, he gave a mighty heave and listened as it splashed in the water.
He started whistling as he emerged from the pier onto the street. 'Another night in Boston….'
He was in a good mood tonight. There was only one disappointment.
It wasn't the witch. The one he'd been looking for since he was five.
It had definitely been a rogue that stupidly prayed on kids close to human populations, but it wasn't the rogue.
Jaden would never forget his voice. When he found him, he was finally going to have his revenge.
Until then, all he could do was shish-kabob any freaks dumb enough to get in his way.
And that ends chapter one. As always, read, review, and stay tuned!
And please, stay safe, wear your mask, and wash your hands.
Edit: Yes, I combined these chapters again. I'm trying to make them longer.