"Pleeeease, Mr. Fix!" the young boy begged.
"The Name's Josuke, kid. Say it with me, 'Joe's-kay'. Besides, that cut ain't that bad. Put a little antiseptic on it and wrap it up, it'll be all healed up in a week. Besides, I don't fix for free."
The child in question had a mild cut on his knee, likely from exploring somewhere he shouldn't have in this junkheap of a city they all called home. Josuke had once made the unfortunate mistake of reattaching a young girl's severed finger when her mother had rushed out in the dead of night to call for help. The actions of a drunkard husband. He had dealt with the finger, then he had dealt with the drunk. Now it seemed every other request that came into his shop was a request to fix some cut or booboo. Well, as long as they paid, it wasn't a problem.
The boy, who couldn't have been more than six or seven, started to tear up before taking a 100 jenny coin out of his pocket. "Pa-Please Mr. Fix, my mom told me not to play at JunKanyon. She'll be so mad if I have to e-explain….please help!"
"Outta the way you runts!" Shouted a voice from outside. "I'm an actual paying customer here!"
Josuke could make out the sounds of children yelling and scurrying from outside. Likely the boy's friends. Seconds later, his door burst open. It was Horso. A large fat man, with a bushy white beard, and shaved head.
"You won't believe it Joe, but look what I found! Eh, who's this pipsqueak?" Said the large man.
Josuke sighed before reaching down below his counter and grabbing a can of antiseptic spray and shaking it. Tsk, almost out.
Making his way to the boy, he bent down and sprayed his knee before touching the wound with his hand. To the naked and untrained eye, Josuke's hand would have seemed unchanged and as normal as any other person's hand. But if one had the appropriate skills, they would have seen that a second, more muscular pink arm covered in blue armor had enveloped his hand to shoulder, almost like a second skin. As soon as Josuke's hand contacted the boy's knee, his wound began to stitch and mend itself together.
"W-Wow!" Yelled the boy in disbelief. "It's like there was never a cut in the first place! Thanks, Mr. Joe!"
"Its Jos-, never mind. Keep your money, kid. Just be more careful." I really need to be less of a pushover, Josuke silently thought to himself.
"I will! See ya, and thanks again!" The boy yelled as he left the small shop to reunite with his friends.
"Har!" Horso laughed, "Typical kids with their one-track minds. Mark my words, Fix. Those kids'll be back, and if you don't make em pay, they'll walk all over you."
"Oh, shut up, Horso!" Josuke yelled. "You better not have come here to bother me. I was just about to close up shop"
"Whaaaa. This early? Horso cried, before smiling in understanding. "Oh. Oho. Closing early to see your lady friend, ehh. I get it."
Josuke's cheeks turned a faint shade of crimson in embarrassment. "Horso, if you don't tell me what you want soon I'm gonna pound your face so hard you-"
"Bwahaha! Relax Joe, I'm just pulling your chain." The hairy man interrupted. "As for what I want, I was hoping you could restore something for me."
Of course, Josuke thought.
Horso stepped outside before coming back into the shop, this time wheeling in a motorcycle.
"A genuine Formos Co. Serpent II!" Horso said, ecstatic. Some salvagers found her beaten up in an ol' Shipping crate some five or so miles east. Got it off of 'em fer 10,000 Jenny. Bwahaha! What a steal, amiright? Suckers thought I was crazy! But they didn't know I had a guy like you, ha!"
Beaten up was an apt description. The cycle had been covered in rust and dents, and the entire back tire had been bent 90 degrees, likely from a fall. Still, most of it was there, which meant Josuke wouldn't have a problem restoring it.
Let's go! Crazy Diamond!
Invisible to Horso, an extremely muscular pink humanoid being appeared between Josuke and the bike before proceeding to attack the hunk of metal in a barrage of punches.
Horso watched in awe as the Serpent II slowly contorted into pristine form. Rust seemed to disappear right into the metal, the hole in the gas tank patched up, while the bent wheel unbent itself back into its round original shape. When it was done, what lay before Horso was a near out-of-factory condition motorbike.
"Ha! I never get tired of seeing you do that. How much do I owe ya, Joe?"
"You're lucky most of the bike was still intact. That'll be 10,000 Jenny."
"Te-Ten Thousand Jenny! What do you think I'm made out of, Gold?!"
"You just said you paid that much for that heap of junk and that it was a steal, you lousy crook!" Josuke yelled, now slightly annoyed.
"Bwahaha!" Horso laughed. "Twas a joke ma'boy!" Horso said before reaching into his pocket to pull out a wallet with several 10,000 jenny notes sticking out. If anyone could afford Josuke's services, it was Horso, who owned a good-sized bar smack dab in the middle of Daggertown. Handing Josuke the bill, he also reached behind his back pocket and brought out a plastic bottle.
"I-Is that what I think it is, old man?" Josuke said, mesmerized.
"Of course, it is! Do you think ol'Horso doesn't still have contacts on the mainland? Consider it extra for a job well done. Premier Ohana Hair Gel, just for you! Bwahaha!"
"You're the best, you old coot!"
They both laughed, overjoyed at what they had received before Josuke shooed the older man out of his shop. He had plans after all.
First locking the front door, and hanging a closed sign, he went into the back of his shop which doubled as his home, and took out a large pail of water which he used to dampen a towel before he proceeded to clean himself. Water had to be conserved for use between drinking and hygiene after all. Though he had heard it was extremely abundant in the world outside Meteor City.
When he was done, he used some of his newly acquired hair gel to style his hair back into his signature pompadour. Ahhh, completion.
Exiting from the back, Josuke made his way through the ramshackle hovels and makeshift houses that made up most of the housing in Daggertown, one of the 14 districts of Meteor city. Not that housing anywhere else in the city was much better.
As he made his way to the main street several familiar faces greeted him with a "Yo, Fix!" or a "Hi, Joe!", or even the occasional "What's up, Josuke."
Fix wasn't his name. More of an unasked-for nickname, given his…abilities. Most people who knew Josuke took to calling him Joe or Josuke Fix. Why not by the last name he was born with, you ask? Well, there was a simple answer to that. Josuke didn't know his last name.
Almost two years ago Josuke had awoken in a junkheap several miles out of town. Coming to in the scorching heat of the Meteor City summer, He knew little else save for his name and a few bits of other scant personal information. Unfamiliar with his surroundings, and accosted by cutthroats, vagabonds, and scavengers, for weeks he became little more than a wandering beast in the backwastes of the metal hell that was Meteor City.
Had it not been for her, I wonder where I'd be now? Josuke silently mused to himself.
He rushed through the zig-zagging streets of the neighborhood, barely acknowledging the greetings from passersby and blurred faces around himself, only slowing as he neared his destination. A small house several blocks from any other building.
Like most buildings in the city, it was jerry-rigged from most of the materials that could be salvaged from the immediate area. Tin, cracked concrete walling sourced from who knows where, and iron from every source imaginable, cars, telephone poles, you name it. Still, like with most buildings, the people made it work.
This particular house, however, had a very special use for the people of Daggertown.
As Josuke neared the building a bell in the distance announced the start of midday, which was quickly accompanied by the sound of cheers and whoops of relief from inside the building.
"All right kids, that's the end of the day." A feminine voice called out over the cries of children, "I want you to all be safe as you walk home, and to practice the tables we went over, all right?"
Soon after the front door to the building opened as several dozen children rushed out to enjoy the rest of their evenings, saying only "Goodbye Ms. Abelnite" amongst a variety of other farewells. Some who passed by Josuke waved at his familiar face. After all, not too long ago he had been forced to sit through more than one class to learn all the letters he had forgotten. Though a part of himself wondered if he had ever known the alphabet with all its crosses, triangles, and dots.
As he drew closer to the building a young woman exited to wave off the departing children. Upon seeing Josuke, her face brightened, and she began to walk enthusiastically toward him. This was Coco Abelnite. The residential schoolteacher, and the person Josuke felt the closest to in all of Meteor City. She, of all residents of this city, had been the first to treat him like a human being, and not just some foreigner.
"Josuke!" she called out. She wore a typical beaten-down blue pinafore, over a light-yellow long-sleeved shirt. She had light pink hair, the color of azaleas, that she wore down to her shoulders. Green eyes you could get lost in like an ocean of grass, and a face that was ovular, carved by cherubs, enhanced only by the imperfection of scattered freckles on her cheekbones.
"I uh-eheh, came as soon as I could, Coco." Josuke replied bashfully.
"I'm so ashamed to have called you on such short notice, Josuke. It's just that it rained yesterday, and you were the only person I could think of who coul-"
"Oh no, say no more Coco," Josuke interrupted," I'll have every hole patched up before you can blink, just show me the way!"
"Oh Josuke, thank you…"
The repair turned out to be more than a couple of holes in the roof. Upon closer inspection, Josuke found that a portion of one of the walls made from the concrete had a deep, almost unnoticeable crack that had allowed rainwater to seep through into the classroom. Not that it was a problem.
Within 10 minutes he and Crazy Diamond had patched up every hole and crack in the building, that is, the ones they could find.
"I think that's the last of them, Josuke. You must be hungry after so much work, why don't you come over for dinner today?"
"Oh no, I wouldn't want to intrude," a demure Josuke began.
"Nonsense, Jojo. I'm sure grandma and Sen would love to see you after so long."
That crone? Want to see me? Josuke thought in disbelief. No way. She'd sooner see me hang!
Said crone was the grandmother of both Coco and her younger sister, Sen. She was also one of the 14 elders of Meteor City, Daggertown being her district of authority. What was more, she was also the person who had captured Josuke several days after he had awoken with no memory of his identity.
Like most memories of his earliest days in the city, his first encounter with Gran was hazy, he only knew that it was the intervention of Coco that had spared his life. Something for which he would be eternally grateful.
"I mean, I'd hate to intru-"
"You're not intruding, Jojo. You're coming to our house for dinner tonight and that's that!" Coco said with a tone of finality.
"Right, I-I mean…if you'll have me."
It's cute that he's so shy, Coco thought to herself before shaking the thought away. He'll make a lucky girl very happy.
They were walking through the market now to purchase something fresh. Josuke had insisted he be allowed to buy something to add to tonight's dinner despite Coco's attempts to dissuade him. He was always like that, wanting to help her out, or afraid he was being a burden. It was one of the most charming things about him.
"Oho, out with your young repairman, are you?" a woman's voice called out. Blushing heavily Coco looked rapidly around herself to find the voice, a wave from a familiar face in the bazaar's crowd alerting her to the culprit. It was Mrs. Polpo, an old friend of her deceased mother.
"A-Auntie, no it's nothing like that!" Coco exclaimed, flustered. Luckily for her, Josuke had moved over to a stall out of hearing range to haggle for a large Silver Crab-Tuna.
"Oh, well you could have fooled me." Mrs. Polpo replied, clearly unbelieving, and more than a little cheekily.
"Auntie Po. Josuke is far too young for me. He is a very good family friend. We are just two very good friends. I'll thank you for not spreading any rumors. Good day, madam!" Hmph! the nerve of her!
As Coco speedily strode away, she tried her best to ignore the older woman's giggles. What did she know? Josuke had, Josuke was…a very dear person to her.
Almost two years ago, rumors of a monstrous man who had attacked several citizens in the nearby badlands had surfaced, putting many in town and the surrounding districts on edge. It didn't help that many whole swaths of people would be found beaten nearly to death. Yes, most were bandits, scoundrels, and scavengers, but that hadn't made the threat any less potent.
Her Grandmother had issued a bounty on Josuke, and a curfew for most residents of Daggertown, but like with all laws or ordinances in Meteor City, they were more of a suggestion than a demand. The bounty attracted the worst from every district, but worst of all, several of her more adventurous students had attempted to find and slay the Badland Beast, as Josuke had been known then.
What's more, they had found him. But not before being taken hostage by several of the mercenaries who had hoped to use the children to draw out Josuke.
Coco had been a witness then. To Josuke selflessly saving her students. To his heroism even as he savagely defended himself and the children from gunfire. When he had finally dealt with the last of the kidnappers, he had even been able to magically heal some of her students of their gun wounds, like magic…like her grandmother.
Eventually, her grandmother had shown up with no less than two other Elders in tow. Coco didn't know much about what had transpired after, as she had been bid to see to the safety of her students and had corralled them back to the safety of Daggertown. But somehow, her grandmother and her colleagues had been able to capture Josuke alive.
Kept in a local Jailcell under heavy guard, Josuke's fate was to be decided in the Livingroom of the Abelnite household. When Coco had overheard one elder bring up the possibility of simply executing the savior of her students, she had rushed into the private meeting to give the man a piece of her mind. What ensued was a loud argument in which her grandmother simultaneously scolded her, whilst taking her side. In the end, though, the beast had been captured in Daggertown, and to its Elder, the final decision as to his fate.
Gran ultimately relented to Coco, but only on the condition that she would take responsibility over Josuke. She did so gladly.
The first few months were the hardest. Josuke's strange accent, while intelligible, easily outed him as an outsider. While time would fix that, it was but the least of the problems Josuke had in his uphill battle in gaining the trust of so many residents who had previously been terrified of the supposed animal in human skin.
It helped however that the children he had saved decided to champion his cause, and after a year, many parents had even come around to the notion that he could attend school and learn his letters and numbers. Though, many raised a brow that one so old lacked even that rudimentary knowledge.
Still, Josuke's gumption, positive nature, and willingness to use his…strange abilities for the benefit of others had gone a long way toward making him a valued member of the community. In a few more years, no one would even remember the badlands incident. Josuke was too good to be remembered for something as foolish as that. He was patient, stalwart and….and…. very compassionate.
Oh geez, what am I thinking? Coco thought to herself. You're 23, at least half a decade older than him, he'd never be interested in a girl like you…would he?
Shouting in the distance interrupted Coco from her musings.
"You got a problem you punk-ass piece of shit!" a bald man in a black suit surrounded by similarly dressed goons yelled at Josuke.
Instinctively, Coco looked toward Josuke's hands. In his right hand was a soda bottle, expensive, fizzling, and ready to burst from what a close observer would have seen looked like faint orange electricity.
Oh no, Mafia! Coco thought in panic. He's going to hurt them!
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