Canary Crate/Family Bonds:

The Canary Crate Gang. According to Li-Fen, they were new around town and had only recently reared their box-covered heads through-out Chinatown. No one really knew what they wanted, or what they were after, nor had they ever cared to explain. Despite the gang only being months old, they had already gathered a reputation of random violence and theft, mugging anyone at any time with numbers.

Gouten frowns as Li-Fen runs down what's known and what isn't. Despite their relatively recent emergence, they were active and were quickly going from a group to be avoided, to a group to be feared.

"I'll drop you off and handle it," Gouten says with a tone that leaves no room for argument. Li-Fen looks up from her phone and gauges his expression. His brows are furrowed and lips are set in a tight line.

"You sure?" Her question is little more than a formality, she knows. He grunts in confirmation and Li-Fen feels the air shift. His ki is a bit more intense than she feels comfortable with, even though she knows it's not directed at her. "Okay... I'll, uh, go back to jie-jie. I had fun today."
His expression softens, "That's good."

"Don't worry, I won't tell Jie-jie about the crimes."

Gouten chuckles. "Hiding things from your sister already? And people tell me I'm a bad influence."

"You are."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Returning to Chinatown is brief and light, but there are more people staring at him than before. Some people give him a wide berth while others look on in trepidation. "Where are they?"

"They're usually right on that street there." Li-Fen gestures her hand to the right. Gouten looks over.

"Okay."

Chun-Li is in the middle of another class when they get back, and senses them long before they get within her field of view. After calling for recess, she regards them with a smile. Its serenity and warmth reminds him of his own mother.

"So, how'd it go?"

"Good! Did you know that there's a giant golden pipe statue in this city? And that Mike Haggar is apparently a real life superhero?"

"So I've heard..." Chun-Li hums and glances between the two. Li-Fen is as giddy as she usually is after experiencing something new. Gouten is less so; his attention is somewhere else but his ki is as turbulent as a wild beast. It makes her raise a brow.

"'Cuse me," Gouten says politely. "I've got something to do."

"Will you be back tomorrow?"

"Who knows?" Gouten mutters mindlessly before meandering away. A few steps later, he runs into a familiar face.

"Would it kill you to dial the power back once, big guy?" Tiko says carefully. Gouten hums and she falls into step next to him, sipping from an energy drink.

"You say that like I know what you're talking about."

Tiko sighs and shakes her head, "Of course you don't. Where are you even headed to in such a hurry anyway?"

Gouten hums and wonders if he should tell her. He hadn't really found the thought to include her in his... less than pleasant endeavors appealing at all. She was strong, that much he knew and respected but... he worked better alone, anyway. His blood started to pump even at the idea of pitched combat surrounded by nothing but himself.

"No where you should worry about, Tea." Gouten settles on.

She regards him with a suspicious side-eye, "You know saying stuff like that has the opposite effect, right? Coming from you, I'm terrified. You could jump up another building. Or jump off another building. How do you even know you're gonna survive those, huh? How high is too high?"

Gouten stops walking and blinks. He reaches over and grabs her energy drink, despite her protests. "Let's just take this from you..."

"Rude."

"It's fine, really." He eases, "You can just head back to Buckler... and don't drink any more caffeine. These things aren't good for you."

"Fine, mom. But ring me if you need anything."

"I will. I'll try not to need anything."

"And don't jump up or off of any buildings. You almost gave me a heart attack."

Gouten snorts, "I'll try to give you a heads up next time I do it."

"That has to be bad for your knees."

"It's all about the landing."

"But what about -"

"Bye, Tea. Stay off the caffeine."

With that, Gouten shoos the woman away, careful to not move until she's comfortably out of his field of view. Then he turns and meanders down the street with his stance loose and ready. It's closer to a bazaar than anything, clothes and food vendors lining the streets like the trees and flora that used to line the streets of Maui.

People seem comfortable and quiet, but there's an underlying unease about it. Gouten knows better. He knows when the peace was faked. Tightened jaws, hushed whispers and people traveling in the center of the road, rather than near dark alleys. It annoyed him. He slides his hands into his pockets and tries to blend in, deep, calming breaths escape him with each step. He walks ever closer to the sides, ignoring the looks people give him. Then suddenly, someone, short and scrawny, rushes him with a faded yellow box on his head.

Gouten watches the sloppy punch fly towards him in slow motion. He slips to the side and the Canary Crate member stumbles past him and in doing so, Gouten tenses and throws a devastating kick to the man's midsection. The impact echoes through-out the bazaar so loudly, that people reflexively ducked in cover. The man is hoisted off of his feet and flies back in a quick burst of wind and the box flies off of his head. Gouten keeps his hands in his pockets and stalks forward. People in the area make audible sounds; some cheer him on, others gasp in surprise and others look at him with a bit of trepidation. His approach was predatory... lithesome. Like a wolf who had been certain that its prey was cornered and beyond escape.

He had expected many things when he approached; bittered curses, pained growling, a counter-attack or even begging for mercy. But what he hadn't expected was sobbing.

With the box removed, nothing obstructs Gouten view of a young man, barely Li-Fen's age, doubled over, clutching his stomach and whimpering. He can see tears dropping from his face. Gouten's demeanor shifts in an instant.

"Kid...?"

The boy's head snapped up and red, puffy eyes looked back at him with a mixture of shock and terror. He scrambles to his feet, stumbling with each step. Gouten feels himself freeze in place. He wants to reach out, but his arms are stiff and refusing to do his bidding. He tries to speak, but his tongue is as heavy as concrete in his mouth. He can only watch as the kid limps towards his box, weakly throws it on his head and scurry away.

It's only after the kid fully vanishes does the spell keeping Gouten in place is removed, and his body lets him react. He sighs deeply, letting out a breath he didn't realize he was holding and runs his hand through his head.

"That was a kid..." Gouten thinks to himself bitterly, pondering his next move. He walks aimlessly, lost in his own world when suddenly, he's rushed by a second person with a matching yellow-stained box on their head.

They're of similar build to the previous, if not a bit taller and more lanky, and actually manages to land a clean punch to Gouten's chest. He barely feels a thing, admittedly, but the sudden discomfort is enough to bring his attention to reality. The Canary Crate member swings at him again, yelling demands and obscenities at him all the while. Gouten frowns, dodging each of the hits until the man - boy, he realizes - over-extends and nearly trips over himself. It would be too easy to end this fight, too easy to land a punch through any one of the many openings the boy has.

"Fight back, damn it! Take me seriously!" The boy shouts, frustrated. Gouten understands.

"Why should I?" He responds, feigning disinterest.

"We're an up and coming gang trying its darndest to make it big around here, that's why! It ain't a good look if we can get beat by regular city folk!"

The boy charges at him again, more intense this time, desperate. Gouten sighs and shakes his head. A punch is thrown and meets the back of Gouten's open palm.

"It's not worth it, kid." Gouten says, flicking his wrist and chopping his attacker on the side of the neck. The loss of consciousness is instant and his body falls like a puppet detached from its strings. Gouten uses a single arm to catch him. He's barely light enough to require effort. "Another kid..."

"Hey," Gouten says, calling out to a passerby. "Watch this kid."

The man, on his phone and dressed in a suit with a half-eaten sandwich in his hand, shakes his head, but something about the intensity of Gouten's stare makes him reconsider. He storms off, his mind running a mile a minute. His nerves are starting to get the better of him and the darker parts of his mind are getting louder.

"What would drive kids to do that?"

What drove you?

Gouten frowns again. It's not long until he encounters another member of Canary Crate, but he forgoes any introduction. The second the boy sees him, he tenses up like he's being held at gunpoint.

In an instant, the box he used to protect his identity and to intimidate is cleanly removed from his head before he had realized that Gouten took a step forward. His eyes go wide and when he turns, the man is staring down at him with his mouth set in a thin line and his box crumpled up in his hand.

"What are you kids doing?" Gouten demands. "Forming a gang, attacking people? And for what? Strength? That's stupid."

The young man stumbles backwards, turning heel to run in the opposite direction.

He runs into an angry wall of muscle.

"Kid, listen to me," Gouten glares down, and the boy goes as stiff as a board. "Enough of all of this nonsense. You're what? Fifteen? You should be in school or at the arcade, not trying to start a fuckin' gang."

"I - I..." the boy stutters for a while, several beads of sweat running down his brow. "How else are we going to get respect around here?!" The boy finally shouts after regaining some nerve. "People only respect strength, and we were promised that!"

"People don't only respect strength," Gouten growls. "Strength is meaningless without direction. What, you're just gonna join this gang and get strong and think everything will be all good? That people will just respect you and your problems will just disappear?"

The boy doesn't have an answer to that, but Gouten continues on.

"You're just gonna cause more harm than good, trust me. This life is absolutely not what you think it is. Are you ready to fight? To kill? To die? Do you think you, as frail as you are, can stand up to Mad Gear when you can't even beat me?"

"Taking on... Mad Gear."

"Exactly, runt. You think preying on innocent kung-fu students means anything? Don't give me that shit."

"But - but Boluo promised me that I'd be stronger and cooler! What do you think people at school will think, huh? When they found out I joined a gang and lost. They'll think I'm super uncool!"

"Boluo?"

"Yeah, he's our leader. Tall dude, dressed in black. He's the one who told us to lurk Chinatown."

Gouten's eyes narrow. "Where is he?"

"He's up there," the boy gestures to a building across the street. "At the very top. He's strong, I wouldn't want to fight him."

"And that's why you're not cut out for this life, brat." Quicker than the boy can blink, Gouten closes the gap and swiftly chops him in the back of the neck, dropping him instantly. He lets him fall, looking at him in disappointment as he does. Then his eyes shift upwards, four stories up. A building of eastern architecture and filled with signs and lights and a flat roof. People are up there, as he can see, going about their merry day, completely unaware of the sleeping giant below them. Gouten braces his leg, crouches and leaps, cracking the concrete as he does.

Tiko would probably be mad at him for doing that.

"Whatever."

He can see the entirety of Chinatown from here, and it's beautiful, but he cannot allow himself the time to admire the view. Not when he looks over and sees a man dressed in all black with a yellow box on his head looking at two others, ignorant to the eagle overhead.

"Ugh, what do you mean, Xiangjiao and Xiyou were defeated?" Despite the box covering his face, Boluo's body language conveys his annoyance and disappointment. "Honestly, we're trying to start a gang here and we can't do that if you bums lose to anyone with hands and feet. How are we on territory, Haoran?"

Haoran, a young man with short, dirty blond hair and fat cheeks, "Uh, Mad Gear is still on the east side. They're not really moving but they're not shrinking either. The Crows are to the west still and... we still have a part of the south."

"We should take the north!" Another kid, Boqin, offers. Boluo immediately smacks across the head.

"Idiot," He spits, "Mayor Travers is in the north. We barely have the power to take Chinatown, damn the idea to challenge that monster."

Boqin rubs his cheek and grumbles, "You're strong, right? Didn't you say you knew like, twenty different martial arts styles? Including Saikyo style?"

"Of course, but I'm no one man army," Boluo corrects. "Maybe if you guys weren't so piss weak, we'd be able to take the north."

And then, like lightning, something falls to the earth and lands on the building. He exudes a power so great, so terrible, that everyone stops moving. There's an intense feeling; a surge of power so heavy and intense that it's akin to someone weighing down on one's shoulders.

Gouten lands on, crouched down and with his hair flowing over his eyes.

"Th - that's the guy who beat Xiangjiao and Xiyou...! Tall, dark, golden eyes... That's him! Boss, run! We'll protect you!"
Boqin and Haoran both scramble to put on their boxes, but it's all for nought. The second one of them had taken a step forward, power exploded outward.

"Go away," Gouten says. The two boys quiver and drop to their knees gasping for breath. The invisible force is getting stronger and stronger. Even Boluo's palm starts to get sweaty, and his knees get weak. "I'm not in the mood to teach kids like you how to breathe."

Boluo, the leader of the Canary Crate gang, takes one wobbly step back, and then another, until his hip collides with the building's safety railing. He watches in horror as the last bit of consciousness fades from his soldiers' eyes and he's left alone to face the monster before him.

"You're the leader?"

Boluo feels something strong hit him in the chest, and his eyes go wide. The man before him hadn't moved at all, yet it felt as though his gaze alone was enough to paralyze him in place. Gouten doesn't bother with a flash step. He walks, stalks, forward. When he gets close enough, his hand snaps out and wraps around the man's neck, picking him up with a frightening amount of ease. "You. You're the guy sending these kids to fight, huh? People like you are the worst."

"Wha - what's your deal, dipwad!?" Boluo chokes out, kicking his feet and grabbing at Gouten's arm in a futile attempt to break free. Gouten stares at him, and Boluo's words die in his throat. The gold that stared back is deep and radiant like the sun itself, unfortunately carrying heat to match.

"I can't stand people who take advantage of the weak," Gouten says sharply. "To take advantage of those kids..." his grip tightens around Boluo's neck, ignoring the way his legs dangle helplessly from the ground. "And for what? Your own gain?"

"Wa - wait! They - they came to me for strength! I didn't go looking for them!"

"You don't have the first idea of what strength means!" Gouten's eyes narrowed into a glare and for a split second, his eyes flash a brilliant blue. His voice sounded like a distorted echo, as though two people were speaking over each other in empty space. "People like you never do. Let me guess, you promised them strength? Power? Or did you lurk in the shadows and wait until some obviously troubled kids crossed your path and fill their heads up with delusions?" Gouten keeps his ironclad grip on the man's neck and walks over to the edge of the building. Boluo gasps and struggles. "Do everyone a favor and rot with the rest of 'em."

"Please, wait!"

"I thought I heard commotion up here," a voice suddenly says, snapping both men's attention to the side. "Seems like you're in quite the pickle, Boluo." A voice, low and feathery says in a jovial tone.

Gouten's head turns and he notices that it's another young man, albeit a bit older than the previous with a pleasant, androgynous face, long black hair and wearing a bright, almost painfully bright, neon green hoodie with an unfamiliar logo across his chest, black shorts and black shoes. He's holding a yellow box in one hand while his other is lazily gesturing to Gouten. "Uhh, you good, man?"

"Go away, kid." Gouten says. "This has nothing to do with you."

"Normally, I'd agree. But I can't really just let you kill someone, even if it is Boluo."

"Not helping, Hajime!"

"Listen, kid." Gouten tries again, "This man is not a good person. You don't have to work for him anymore. There's different ways to find strength, and joining a gang is not a good one."

"I know that," Hajime says casually.

"Then why are you -"

"Uhh, not to be rude but I'd be more comfortable talking if you weren't dangling a man five stories up. Even if it is Boluo."

Gouten gives him a look and then sighs, "What am I doing...?" He whispers to himself before tossing Boluo to the side and back onto the rooftop. The man scurries back and gasps for breath. "God, what am I even doing?"

"What the hell!? You a friend of that Bosch guy or somethin'!?"

Gouten's eyes widened ever so slightly, "What do you mean by that?"

Boluo coughs and rips his box off. There's a thin line of spittle running from the edges of his mouth and his eyes are bloodshot. His most striking feature, however, was the single scar running across the bridge of his nose. "He came at us not too long ago, just like you're doing now!"

"... I see."

"He dropped this card," Boluo says, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a familiar looking ID. The blue lines, gray stripe and blank expression staring back at him makes Gouten's eye twitch.

Bosch Waraya

Gouten takes the card and stares at it, expression thoughtful. "What did we come here for? I doubt he came to join you."

"Listen man, he only came here, pressed us for information on Mad Gear and bounced. You've heard of 'em, right? One of the gangs in this town."

Gouten's expression goes sour.

"Bosch wanted to know where they do business. I heard Mad Gear's in bed with some huge organization. Apparently, Bosch wanted to swipe whatever cash is s'posed to get passed around in the process." Gouten hides his surprise better than before, but can't help the way his eyebrows furrow.

"What did you do?"

"I told 'im of course!" Boluo proudly proclaims, "If he wants to get his ass killed, by all means, be my guest. Break a leg! Maybe even a skull! If you're going after that fool too, let me fill you in on a little something; the deal's gonna go down at night, in an alleyway on the southside of Downtown." Boluo's expression suddenly shifts into a dirty sneer. "Why don't you swing by? Might even catch a glimpse of your friend's mangled corpse -"

In the blink of an eye, a strong fist is embedded into Boluo's stomach hard enough that the concrete cracks and shatters and the roof threatens to cave in entirely. Gouten's expression is cold, even as Boluo coughs up a bit of blood and some lands on his cheek.

Hajime shudders, "Okay, I'll admit, it's Boluo and he had it coming but did you have to do that?"

Gouten slowly pulls his fist away and glances down at Boluo's unconscious form. His eyes are downcast, but not for the man before him. "...why are you still here, kid?" He asks. "You should go home, the gang life isn't good."

"I told you already, I know that." Hajime says again, putting his hands on his hips. "Honestly, I was about to fight Boluo myself but you beat me to it. Came all this way back to Metro for nothin'."

Gouten's face contorts into one of confusion, "I don't understand."

"Eh, he's an idiot," Hajime gestures to the man's body with disdain, "Not worth the effort it takes to follow. He wants to take over the city. Can you believe that? Can barely beat a bowl of eggs but wants to take over the city. He tried to recruit me, but he lost me at that. I want something more."

Gouten feels something strange bubble in his stomach; a bad, uncomfortable feeling. He sighs and runs his hand through his hair, "Is it strength? Everyone seems to be after that. Look, it's -"

"Oh, geez. You're such a bleeding heart, y'know?" Hajime cuts off with a light smile, "I'm not after strength. What I'm really after, what strength means to me, is freedom. I just wanna explore, man. The world is a nice, cool place."

"The world is also dangerous, kid" Gouten says.

"Ugh, why couldn't you just be one of those guys who just like, talks and yells and stuff? Why are you such a sap? Like you care about a complete stranger." Hajime slumps his shoulders and Gouten blinks, unsure if his arms were always that length or not. "Listen, I'm strong." The boy says, flexing his arm... which prompt deflates and curves like a wet noodle. "But if you really are so worried, I'm more than happy to fight you, if you want."

Gouten snorts, "I just don't want to see a kid make some mistakes in the name of power."

Hajime waves him off, "Nah, freedom is a bigger game than power. Power is about what you can control. Freedom is about what you unleash."

"...you're either insane or brilliant."

The young man laughs and throws his fist back; literally extending his entire arm far longer than anything that should've been possible. It was as though he was made of rubber, or something elastic. Gouten blinks once. Twice. And then a third time when the image doesn't change.

"Y'know, bleeding heart, it's remarkable how often those two traits coincide."

The fist whips back like a rubber band and slams into Gouten's stomach. Gouten lurches over and feels his feet leave the ground before being propelled backwards faster than he'd ever been before. It was nearly as powerful as Luke's perfect flash knuckle, even if it lacked the explosive power on impact.

Not that it didn't hurt all the same though.

Gouten regains his composure mid-air, rolling over just in time to land on his feet on an opposite building. He blinks, 'did I really fly that far?'

"OK!" Hajime shouts with a wide smile. "Round one! Start!" He grabs the railing with both hands and starts to walk backwards until his back hits the other side. His arms are fully stretched and seemingly getting longer until the boy jumps, "Air Shooter!" He shouts, slingshotting himself across the distance at an angle.

It reminded Gouten vaguely of that one yoga man, many years ago, but he hadn't had the time to recall the man's name as Hajime quickly gilded above him. With impressive dexterity, the boy flips himself forward once, and then twice, rolling his leg around himself until gravity kicks in and he begins his descent.

"Rolling Cutter!"

Like a coil, his foot releases all of its pent up tension and whips downward fast enough that Gouten can see a percussion wave as even the air itself frantically tries to avoid the attack. Gouten smirks and braces his legs, forming an 'x' over his head.

The impact stings, but Gouten holds strong. The roof beneath him cracks and flakes, but he pays it no mind.

"You're a weird one, kid." He mutters to himself. He quickly wraps his hand around the boy's ankle, "Rolling Cutter? Really? What are you? Fifteen?"
Hajime's expression goes feral, "Nineteen, actually! Listen, I worked hard on those attack names. You'll hear me say 'em, damn it!"

Gouten had expected many things; for the boy to panic at his ankle being grabbed, to scowl at his attack being blocked, anything. But what he hadn't expected was for the boy's foot to extend from his ankle and firmly press against his face. Not enough to hurt, of course, but it was more than enough to catch Gouten off guard and during that brief moment, Hajime's entire body - save for one arm - snaps down, using his captured leg as a base.

Gouten raises his other arm in preparation, but weirdly, Hajime's body comes to an abrupt stop at, what Gouten assumes, is his normal leg length. "Nothing you do makes sense," Gouten says flatly.

"I get that a lot."

The fist follows shortly afterwards, landing cleaning on Gouten's jaw from above and forcing the man to one knee. With his head down and hair covering his face, Hajime walks forward and begins to talk.

"Honestly, you shouldn't worry about me," He winces when he talks a step forward. A bruise was forming on his ankle. "I was about to beat up Boluo myself. He took people's freedom and I couldn't let that slide. Did y'know he tried to recruit me? Came up to me when I was with a friend, told me a whole load o' crap, let me tell you. When I turned down that crock, he tried to make me scared of him. But guess what? Let me tell you what freedom means; No. Fear."

Hajime gets closer and pauses when he sees a slight tremble in Gouten's body. Then he hears a faint chuckle.

"You really talk a lot, don't you?" He says, keeping his head down and a light tone of voice.

"O' course," Hajime concedes. "How else am I supposed to get my point across?"

"Heh, right. Well, in that case," Gouten finally raises his head and the expression he wears is that of a contented predator. His grin is true, but sharp, and his eyes are narrowed. Focused, but warm. "I guess I don't need to hold back much."

Caesar had expected many things today; to wake up for an early shift, to scroll his feed in hopes of finding a big story to cover, and head in for another busy day. What he hadn't expected was for the girl he liked, Tiko, to text him following his shift for a late lunch. The text came at the same moment a notification came from his fight group.

"Some guy is cleaning up the Canary Crate in Chinatown."

He stared at the message with wide eyes. Could this be the big break he always hoped for?

"Wow, you really should work on your spatial awareness."

Caesar yelps and nearly drops his phone in a panic.

"Ti - Tiko! Don't do that!" He admonishes, trying to calm down his beating heart. "You almost gave me a heart attack!" He turns and his heart rate speeds up to a nearly fatal speed. The woman, fresh from her work out, was dressed in a thin, pink dry fit crop top over a black sports bra with a pair of black, high-waist joggers. A thin layer of sweat graced her visible skin and exertion had turned her from a pale porcelain to more flushed red.

Tiko giggles, "It's not my fault you are so easy to scare." She takes another sip of her energy drink and looks the man up and down, "You okay? You look like you're about to die."

He was, but he wasn't about to admit that. "I - I'm fine. Just, uh, surprised, I guess."

"Oh? What's got you so frazzled?"

He hesitates, wondering if he should reveal it. "...promise me you won't laugh?"

"I cross my heart," she says, drawing an 'x' over her chest.

"I'm, uh - I want to be a blogger for fighters. Y'know the stories of the World Warriors, right? Those guys who took down Shadaloo and opened the world's eyes to the more... supernatural stuff."

"Like ki," Tiko says.

"Yeah, like ki. I've always thought they were the coolest and I've always been inspired by those guys. I'm not much of a fighter, personally. But I've always had a fascination with those who can fight, if that makes sense. So, uh, what I was reading was a message from my other group. There's some guy in Chinatown right now fighting against the Canary Crate."

Tiko makes a face, "Who would be crazy enough to do that? It's not that the Canary's are strong or nothin', but there's a lot of 'em. And I've heard talk about their leader being insanely strong."

"I don't know. All I got was someone who jumped up the building."

Tiko suddenly looked really tired.

"Up a building?"
Caesar, sensing the woman's tone shift, chooses his words carefully, "Yeah... Are you, uh, okay?"

Tiko never gets to answer as a sudden gust of wind blows and a loud thud echoes through-out the busy Metro City street. Traffic comes to a screeching halt near immediately and every man, woman and child stops in their tracks.

Hajime whips both arms out across the street and grabs a hold of two traffic lights to keep himself from sliding any further. There's a thin line of blood coming from the corner of his lip and his clothes are disheveled but the smile on his face is real and true. "You're a freakin' monster, you know that right?"

A moment later, a heavy power weighs down on everyone like a blanket of snow in a barren tundra. Tiko knows this power. It's as it was before, if not more wild like a storm, or lightning violently trapped in a bottle. She doesn't need to look when another person enters the fray; the pressure is so familiar, yet manages to run a jolt of electricity down her spine all the same. She can move, admonish him for his uncontrollable power, even. She just doesn't want to. Like if she moves, she's going to attract the attention of the great, overwhelming power.

Gouten doesn't notice the way that people look at him in awe and wonder. He hardly notices anything with the way his power feels right now. The high is back and his mind is at ease. He looks like he's drunk. "So I've been told," he says easily. Hajime prepares himself for the onslaught, but stops when Gouten makes a 'T' with his hands, "Time out."

Gouten's head turns and his eyes land on Tiko. She freezes, but tries to maintain her steady smile. His eyes - the part of him that she'd usually found herself fascinated by most - glowed back at her.

"Is that an energy drink? Honestly, I told you already, those aren't good for you."

Gouten's words were simple and light, but his presence made his voice hit like thunder. Until Tiko's mind finally catches up. She looks down at her drink and back to Gouten. She laughs. Giggling at first before getting gradually more hysterical.

"It's still you," she says between breaths. "It's still you."

"You're not making any sense."

Tiko smiles at him, "Not to you, maybe."

Gouten shakes his head and mutters, "Please lay off the caffeine. Caesar." The green haired man already struggled to breathe under the immense invisible pressure. Gouten's full attention nearly made him drop to his knees. Had it not been for Tiko bracing him, he might've. "Make sure she doesn't drink that so often."

"You just care about everyone, don't you?" Hajime teases.

Gouten makes a face, "Time in."

In that same instant, Hajime braces his arms and jumps, letting his body propel itself towards Gouten fast enough to blow leaves from trees and hats from heads. Gouten smirks and moves out of the way, letting the boy harmlessly sail by. He hadn't expected for something to wrap around his ankle and yank him off of his feet. Gouten braces himself for the impact and feels air rush out of his lungs when his back is slammed into the side of a semi-truck hard enough to tip the entire vehicle over.

Gouten recovers quickly, shaking away the pain and back flipping out of the way when a heavy axe kick comes down where he once was. To his surprise, he's forced to block immediately upon landing, as instead of denting the container as he expected, Hajime's leg bounces at an angle like rubber towards him. The onslaught continues further, as the Hajime continues to throw a barrage of punches and kicks seemingly at random only to redirect his blows off of anything and everything and making prediction nearly impossible.

Nearly.

Gouten's expression changes when he feels several strong blows land about the body; a rush of emotion he hadn't felt in what felt like years. To be fully invested in a battle like this... his heart began to race and power flooded every corner of his being. His eyes grow more distant and glow with the intensity of the setting sun. Hajime notices the change in demeanor and scowls.

"Hey, bleeding heart! We're fighting here!" He yells over his attacks. Gouten looks at him and Hajime feels a jolt of something shoot down to his very core. It's not quite fear.

But it's also not not fear.

Gouten dodges a hit, and then another, and then another. Hajime's eyes go wide and his assault speeds up, throwing punches and kicks so fast that his hands begin to blur together into nothing more than long, pale lines. But still, Gouten dodges each hit.

"What the -? Why can't I hit you anymore!?"

Gouten closes his eyes, letting the strange power encompass him in totality until he can feel nothing else. An opening, one tenth of a second long, is all Gouten needs to dart forward towards Hajime. Hajime panics and stretches an arm back, reeling himself atop the nearest multi-story building. From up here, he can see more; the crowds watching their fight with various levels of awe and anticipation, the way that man - Caesar, he recalls Gouten calling him - is trying his hardest to record the whole thing from various angles. The way the air itself distorts around Gouten.

"Okay! Play that way then! I've always wanted to use this technique, anyway. Hey, green guy!" Caesar flinches. "Watch this!" Hajime takes several deep breaths and takes a wide, sturdy stance. He throws one punch at nothing. And then another. "Bullet Hell!"

The sound of multiple pops echoes from Hajime's location. Fists, far too fast to fast to accurately see, and much too many to count rain down from the skies, casting a series of long, thin shadows over the streets and people.

Gouten watches the fists as though they were in slow motion. He jumps upward, directly towards the boy, the spot where he had just been being decimated by Hajime's flurry.

'This feeling... I wish it could last forever.' Gouten thinks to himself. While he ascends, fists explode towards him. Gouten dodges.

"What!? How - how!?" Hajime doubles his efforts, allowing his arms to bounce freely around the city block off of everything that they can. "How are you dodging in the air!?"

Gouten doesn't respond. Fists approach him from all angles and in an instant, everything stops. His arms snap up and both of Hajime's wrists are held in tight vice-grips.

It was a moment captured in time; the moment Hajime's entire world froze like someone had taken a picture. Perhaps they had. He has no words for when Gouten tugs him from the rooftop, nor when he can feel the overwhelming power coursing through the man's veins. Gouten rears back a punch and utters a single word.

"Perfect."

A heartbeat and a split second later, a crack rang out, carrying with it winds strong enough to knock people from their feet and trigger car alarms. People attempted to shield themselves from the pressure, but were still blown backwards. When the wind settles, everyone hastily looks around to see what the attack had managed. People are muttering amongst themselves about insane strength or wind-type ki, but Tiko keeps her eyes locked onto Gouten himself. Adrenaline runs through her like she's preparing for the fight of her life but she's just standing there, besides Caesar while he shakily holds his phone, her friend slowly falling from the sky like the personification of a falling star. His eyes are glowing like torches and there's a beautiful, content smile on his face.

He's like a supernova in waiting.

Hajime finds himself partially embedded in a solid concrete wall several stories up and a full block away from where the impact had happened. Consciousness comes and goes as the boy tries feebly to free himself. He groans when gravity catches up and his body relaxes fully and he melts free and begins to fall.

He never meets the ground. Someone catches him long before the cold, unforgiving ground does.

"You still with us, kid?" Gouten says with a light smirk. His power is slowly fading but the glow and air he projects remains the same.

Hajime makes a face, a small, tired smile. "I totally almost had you," He says quietly.

Gouten snorts, "Of course. Can you move?"

"Can? Yes. Want? God, no. Y'know, I'm supposed to be immune to blunt hits," Hajime complains. "But you... and your insane ki."

"Yeah, yeah. You're strong, kid."

"Thaaaanks," Hajime drawls. "Had to be. Freedom is won, not given, after all."

Gouten takes a deep breath and turns away, looking upwards at the blue sky and all of the clouds that were painted randomly across its infinite canvas. "Tell me..." Gouten shifts the boy to carry him on his back and begins to walk. Truthfully, he has no real destination in mind, but he feels compelled to move. To learn about freedom. "What are you trying to be free of?"

Hajime gets comfortable, "You a therapist, huh?" The quip makes Gouten chuckle.

"Humor me. I'm a good listener."

"You're a sap. What I want to be free of, huh? I want to be free to do whatever I want under the control of no one."

"Are you not scared...?" Gouten swallows a lump in his throat. Thoughts and memories cloud his vision and for a moment, he's no longer walking the streets of Metro, but instead finds himself stuck in a time long past. "Too much freedom can be dangerous."

"So can too little," Hajime counters. "I have a home though, and my sister keeps me grounded."

"Sister? Not parents?"

"Died when I was really young."
"Oh... sorry to hear that." Gouten frowns.

"It's okay, I didn't know them very well, anyway. And my sister is all I really need anyway. I can let you meet her if you want since clearly you're concerned about little 'ol me." Hajime taunts.

"Hmm... I guess."

"Good, because lord knows I did not want to walk home. Well, onward, noble steed."

"Don't push it."

Hajime stretches his arm forward a full two meters and points his finger, "It's that way. Hyah! Go forth, Seabiscuit!"

Gouten groans but it's missing any real heat. Hajime barely weighs anything at all, and the boy's chatter takes him back to a quaint, quiet orphanage in Hawaii. The image before him blurs back to reality; to the present. It was nice.

A/N: Long chapter. Hope you enjoyed. Feel free to leave a review if you did.