Airson's Story Part Four (19)

Airson walked around town for a while. He checked out the markets, and chatted a bit with the locals. The vibe there was super positive. But all of the civilians were ignorant to what was about to go down.

"WOW!!! WOW!!! A REAL KNIGHT!!!"

Airson looked around to see who was yelling. Turns out it was just a little girl behind him. She looked no older than ten. Airson scratched the back of his head and laughed nervously. "Hey, what's up?" he said.

"You're a real Knight right?! What order do you come from?!" The girl was constantly yelling excitedly.

"The First Order." Airson said.

"THE FIRST ORD-mmmm"

Airson held his hand over the kid's mouth. "Shhh, I'm on a secret mission, you can't just blurt out stuff like that."

She blushed. "Oops, sorry."

Airson bent down to her level. "What's your name?" he asked.

"Pachi." she said with a big smile.

"Pachi huh? That's a nice name, I'm Airson."

"Oooooh," she said in awe. "You're the first Knight I've seen here, I've always wanted to see a hero in person."

"A hero? I'm no hero Pachi. I'm just trying to do my best."

Pachi's smile left. "But...a hero is someone who puts their life on the line to save others, that's the meaning of a hero right?"

Airson stood up. "The meaning of a hero..." He thought about his time in Cell City, sitting in a cell, hoping someone would save him from that hell. He put a hand on Pachi's head. "I'm still trying to learn the answer to that question myself."

Pachi's expression darkened. She moved Airson's hand from her head. "You're no hero. You don't act like one!!" Pachi yelled with tears streaming down her face. She ran away in the opposite direction.

Airson stood there, cursing himself. "*Why did I have to say that to her*?" he thought to himself. He groaned, facepalming. "That was stupid." He looked at his hand. "*The meaning of a hero, huh*?" He kept on walking.

Meanwhile, Nigel was standing on top of the town's clocktower, it was the tallest building in town. He used it to scout the area, watching for any signs of the enemy.

"Hey!!" someone called out.

Nigel looked down. A man was down there. He had a small group of six people behind him.

Nigel jumped down. "Yo."

The man was well built, tall, and muscular.

His group was built similarly. "You're one of those Knights everyone keeps talking about right?"

Nigel nodded his head. "Yeah."

The man stepped forward until he was face to face with Nigel. The man was taller by a few inches.

Nigel looked down.

"I don't know where you came from, but we don't need you here. Me and my gang is enough. We don't need children with a little power to save us from whatever. Leave. Now."

"I'm here on a mission." Nigel said softly. "My squad will gladly leave when it's over."

The man punched Nigel in the stomach with a loud cracking sound. Nigel coughed up some blood and fell to the ground, coughing and catching his breath.

"Did you hear what I *said*?" The six people behind the man started laughing as he cracked his knuckles. "You'll die playing with us."

Nigel stood up. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. "You caught me off-guard. I didn't think you'd actually fight." His body healed itself in an instant. Nigel's body covered itself with wood. He looked up at the man, eyes glowing a fierce blue-green. "You wanna try that again?"

The man looked annoyed now. "You think covering yourself like a twig is gonna save you from this beating?"

The other men crowded around Nigel.

Nigel's gaze remained unwavering, fixed on the man.

The man threw a punch. "How about this?!"

Nigel easily ducked it, forcing his elbow into the man's gut in one sweeping motion.

*thoom.*

The man's eyes nearly popped out of his head. He fell on his knees.

*crack!*

 Nigel gave the man a knee to his chin. He fell backward, unconscious.

The other guys closed in on Nigel. "You think you're tough eh?" they said.

They charged him at once.

*boom, smack, thoom thoom, fwoosh, crack!*

Nigel easily took on all the thugs. Most of them couldn't even move anymore with their broken bones.

Nigel's wooden armor disappeared. He wiped his hands. "Well that's that. I guess even towns like this has their rotten apples."

Nigel jumped back onto the clock tower and then jumped away to find another vantage point.

--

Pachi walked up on a house. The street was dimly lit, as it was a place where the sun couldn't reach the ground, and the houses were built with no spaces between. She opened the door to one of them. She flinched at the smell of cigarette smoke and bad alcohol.

A woman sat in a large, red, lounge chair. Her pink eyes almost shining in the dark. "So? Did you find your hero?" she asked.

Pachi replied sadly. "No, mother."

The woman smiled. "See? I told you heroes didn't exist in this world. Now, how much did you get from those fools?"

Pachi pulled out a pouch from her shawl's inside pocket. She gave it to the woman.

She opened it up, counting the coins. "One, two, three, four..."

Tears started streaming from Pachi's face, as she knew it wasn't enough.

The woman stood up in anger. "1,400 Credits is all you bring me after a day's work?! You worthless brat!!"

*pow!*

She backhanded Pachi to the ground. "You are not to step foot in this house again until you have at *least* five thousand!!" She picked the girl up by her shirt and threw her out onto the street, and slammed the door shut.

Pachi started crying on the roadside as she heard the door lock. "Heroes don't exist...I was stupid to think otherwise."

It was getting dark outside. Niwea met back up with Airson.

"You find something?" Airson asked.

"No." Niwea said. "But the sinister energy is getting stronger. I can feel it coming from that way." He pointed towards the bay.

"The water?" Airson asked.

Niwea nodded. "But I can't tell you exactly where from. There's nobody in the water, I checked."

Nigel ran on a rooftop and jumped down to Airson and Niwea.

"What took you so long?" Niwea asked him.

"Nothing really, just a scuffle with some random thugs. The usual."

Airson stared out into the waters. "*The meaning of a hero...*" Those words really stuck with him. He didn't know the answer. But he was determined to find out.

"We're gonna wait here near the coast. Carnage will show up eventually, we have to stay alert." Airson said.

The other two nodded.

The sun finally set as the moon rose from the horizon. It looked larger than normal at Mount Vulcan.

The three of them had never seen the moon this big. It cast a soft white light on the town.

Nigel and Niwea were not too far away to the left of Airson, searching.

Airson felt at peace for a moment. He closed his eyes.

Seconds pass. Then minutes.

All of a sudden a sharp dull pain hit Niwea's head, he sensed the most dreadful energy he ever experienced from his right.

Airson immediately noticed too. "But when did he-" He didn't get to finish his sentence.

A familiar shape walked through the moonlight in the middle of town. Pachi was out on her own, struggling to find money.

A dark figure shrouded in a hazy mist of blood red appeared in front of her. It was happening too fast.

The figure swung an arm her way.

It echoed once more through Airson's head. "*The meaning of a hero...*"

*fwoosh.*

Blood splattered the ground.