• Chapter 3: Travis the steel welder and the old man

    A day had passed since kin had fell ill and he now was doing much better, it was early afternoon when kin decided that he wanted to explore the city of usagi. “Let me come with you!” kyo said as she placed their lunch plates in the sink, “are you sure you really want to?” asked kin as he stood up out of his chair, “of Corse I do” said kyo “I would like to be your guide through the city, it’ll be fun!” “Oh alright!” kin said “lets go!” When they got into the heart of the city kyo showed kin all her favorite places to go. She even showed him a place called sakura field a place that grew nothing but cherry blossom trees it was a beautiful sight and kin did not want to leave, “I like it here” he said “its so peaceful.” “I know” said kyo “I came here when my mother died” she said “it helped me calm down and it made me feel at peace.” “Oh” said kin “I’m sorry about your mom, I lost my family.” kyo looked up at kin her eyes were misty and tears were beginning to fill them “you lost your entire family! But how?” she asked, kin looked away and said “in the collapse of mika the city where I used to live.” “Oh I see” said kyo “I’m sorry.” For a while they were silent then kyo spoke up breaking the silence “I’m guessing you came here to see if by some chance that some one here might know what happened to your city, our sister city” she said, “yes” said kin “that’s why ive come here.” “I might know some one that may know what happened the day your city fell” said kyo “his name is Travis he’s a steel welder in this town and he’s also a good friend of mine.” “Alright” said kin “let’s go find him.” they made their way back to the city streets and headed for the blacksmiths shop, “he should be here” said kyo happily “Travis!!!” she called into the shop as they walked in, “are you sure he’s here?” asked kin “he’s gotta be” said kyo “he works here and he works almost every day!” she leaned further in to the door and called out “Travis!!!” then finally a voice called back from the back of the shop “I’m coming, I’m coming!!!” it said “just a minuet!” just then a young man about 25 appeared out side the shop he had short light blondish hair and teal-green eyes, he was of medium build and wore a gray tattered t-shirt with worn gold suspenders and on the left leg of his pants there was a red and orange dragon embroidered on it, on his hands he wore black finger less gloves and held over his shoulder was a large sledge hammer, which he used to shape metal fragments. “What’s up kyo” said the young man as he walked out of the back room, “Travis!!!” Kyo said excitedly “there you are!” she then ran up to him and gave him a tight hug around the waist. “It’s good to see you too” Said Travis as he patted kyo on the head. “So who’s this?” asked travis as he looked toward kin, “oh! This is my friend kin!” kyo said patting him on the shoulder “I found him out side the city gates, he was very sick and I nursed him back to health!” she told Travis, “I see” he said “its nice to meet you kin and you all ready know my name.” “Yes” said kin “it’s nice to meet you too.” “So!” said Travis as he turned to kyo, “what brings you two here anyway?” he asked them, “well” kin began “kyo told me you might know what happened to the city of mika, my home.” Kin told him “wait!” said Travis with wide eyes, “you’re from the city of mika!?” he asked astonished at what he heard, “yes I’m from mika” kin answered, Travis looked down at him slowly “you’re the last one of your people aren’t you?” he asked in a low sad tone. “Yes” answered kin “I am.” “Well” Travis said “I wish I could tell you but unfortunately I wasn’t there the day the city fell, although I was suppose to do work there, but fell ill so I was unable to.” He told kin “it’s alright if you don’t know anything” said kin “but there has to be some one who knows something about what happened to my home in this city.” He said in a frustrated tone “there just has to be.” “Old man shikon might know something about the collapse of mika” said Travis “he’s been talking about it a lot lately.” “You mean that strange old man down the road?” asked kyo, “lets go!” said kin “we have no time to waste!” they headed down the street to the old mans house, “I hope he’s home” said kin as they approached the front door, Travis then reached up and knocked on the door softly, “old man shikon?” he asked “are you home?” just then a weak raspy voice answered from the other side of the door “yes” it said “I’m home, come in.” as they entered the house the floor creaked under their feet, they then entered the living room of the house and there they found old man shikon in his rocking chair by a lit fire place, “is there something wrong Travis my boy?” he asked “no” answered Travis softly “my friend here has a question for you about the fallen city of mika.” Travis told the old man, “so” said the old man weakly “you’re the last living of the mika nekos yes?” he asked kin in his weak raspy voice, “yes” said kin “I am.” “Now tell me” said the old man “what is this question you want to ask.” “Well” kin began “I was wandering if you knew anything about the collapse of mika?” he asked in a soft tone, the old man looked at kin with his kind light blue eyes and said “I know very little, but I can tell you what I know.” Old man shikon told him, “I can tell you but this, there was a man, a very powerful man, they called him master raidon and he was very jealous of the city of mika for many people flocked there and he wanted them to live in his fair city of usagi but when the people of mika refused to leave he vowed he would find some way to destroy the city so that people would come to this city instead of mika, now I can’t tell you if he is directly responsible for your city’s destruction, but I do know that he wanted usagi to be the bigger and the better of the two sister city’s.” he told kin “and if it is revenge you want its him you must find he is the only one who has the power to destroy an entire city.” “Now I know” said kin his fists clenched “master raidon is the one I have to kill, for he killed my family, he killed an entire city of people, and will get revenge for my family, for my people and nothing will stop me!!!” he shouted, “and we’re coming with you!” said kyo and Travis in unison.