My first month as a chick had come to pass now.
The monotony of a monster chickens life had begun to get to me for a few days, the most intense feeling I felt during my time in the bushes was loneliness. Hell, I even missed that old chef's frantic rambling!
During the week after I was scammed out of an evolution, I broke my promise of never eating another one of Ol' Raph's fruits, since he is my only real human contact in this world and my biggest benefactor due to his gracious offering of the godly nozzle and the previous provider of my meals, I must act familiarly with him right?
I broke my promise and once again had a meal from his garden... this time with a heavy heart and a noble purpose in my goals!
My 'meal' wasn't enough to destroy the fruit in question, I merely carved out a slice with my beak ( which was extremely sharp, as expected of an otherworldly chicken! ), and then placed it face down on the cut onto some leaves I had wet in the pond, ensuring that the fruit won't get oxidised or dirty. It was a shame to leave the fruit a quarter eaten, but this must be done in the name of my future progress!
This surgical precision was needed to severely annoy the man without making him loose too much of his fruit capital or his mind. Both of those seemed dangerously close to being destroyed because of a few of my less chivalrous actions.
Sure enough, he came back the next day.
His very predictable rambling and screaming began, all the while I made my preparations...
Sitting right behind one of his beloved fruits, I got to watch his tantrum in 4K HD! I felt like I should be paying more to be given the opportunity to see such a show. Without failing my expectations, Raphael reached behind his apron and pulled out a completely full bottle of "Anti-monster spray", complete with a nozzle, just as beautiful as the one tucked away in my home.
The chef's light brown skin had turned a deep purple as he held his breath and began spraying wildly, his fingers were moving with such speed and precision! As expected of a fancy chef.
The longer I waited, the less I would have to work with for my plan. Wasting as low amount of time as I could, I positioned myself, pulling my body out from behind the safety of his fruits and saw his huge back loom over me.
I closed my eyes.
I stomped my foot.
And using every ounce of bravery I had in me, I let out my loudest and most resounding "YEEAAAAACCCHHHIIIIIIPPPPP!!"
The frantic spraying stopped.
Raphael's arms hung low, his neck slowly turned and faced me, his body followed soon after.
I finally got a good look at the man I had been antagonising as of late.
Raphael stood at a height of about 6'6, of course it was hard for me to judge as a result of my own small stature, but I had a feeling that even by human standards this man was huge. After my chirp, Ol' Ralph's face turned into one of shock! His mouth hung agape, extending his already long salt and pepper beard towards the ground.
Heh, I could almost hear his internal monologue of confusion, how could a measly chick withstand his godly repellant?
I didn't stand on ceremony and used his confusion to the fullest extent, I ordered the system to power up my legs as much as possible with soul power, my head receiving the same treatment soon after.
Raphael may be human, he may be able to defeat a hundred of me without breaking a sweat, he may be able to cleave my head off with the butcher knife so badly concealed in his apron right now!
But my opponent was a man. And all men have one fatal weakness.
Two to be exact. Three if you were feeling exceptionally evil.
I took a moment to fix my aim, making sure I wouldn't whizz past his legs and smash into the trees and foliage behind him, my wings extending to either side of me; making myself appear as big and mean as possible!
I jumped.
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The new recruit straightened his chef hat and looked at himself in the mirror, his wonky smile and his signature chipped tooth could be seen in it's full glory, he cared little for that however. His entrance into the kingdom of Kuru's kitchens after hellish years at the academy and running away from there to learn cooking all seemed like a nightmare he experienced before waking up and living his dream life! Chef Raphael's teachings were a goldmine of information and technique he had hoped to exploit- ahem, *use* to its fullest extent!
Hokey felt like every word that came out of that man's mouth was either one doused in venom and tempered over hell's flames or a valuable piece of knowledge he would carry for the rest of his life, Hokey was in a state of utmost happiness, with only a few small details he could hope to improve upon.
Hearing his teacher's screeching from outside yet again, he sighed and made his way to the door. If Raphael kept pissing off the Head and got booted out, what other chef here would spend so much time teaching him?! Hokey had to protect Raphael from that fate for his own sake, even if the old man's stubbornness might've made him quit before such a decision was even made by the Head.
Hokey quickly tapped the pin-code into the wall, turning the metal door away.
*GRROOAANNNN*
It's hinges kept creaking whenever he went through this area! He made a note to oil this door up as soon as he calmed down his teacher. Of course this note had been made plenty of times, never had Hokey actually been responsible and done it! At least the thought that he would do it later gave him the illusion of responsibility, and for a young man like Hokey that was good enough for now! The door's creak wasn't heard by Raphael, his own voice trumped the old hunk of metal.
Before he could make his way to comfort Raphael and let him vent, he saw the most peculiar scene.
"What in gods name..."
Hokey squinted through the sun's incessant rays, was he seeing what he thought he was? His teacher was screaming his lungs out, probably damaging his throat in the process; all the while a small Chick was hiding behind one of Raphael's prized Pixie Fruit! The young chef opened his mouth to warn Raphael but before he could bring any words stumbling around his head together and string them into a proper sentence, the beast already made themselves seen!
The chick had made a resounding chirp! Even from where Hokey was, the chick's chirp was loud! That small thing's body must be at least 70% lungs to reach that level of volume!
Hokey's mouth was identical to his teachers. It hung agape, his muddled brain also imitating Raphael at that moment.
Hokey quickly broke out of his stupor and reached into his pocket, fishing out his phone. With one swipe, the camera was open and recording, he needed to capture this unbelievable sight; his brothers and sisters at the kitchen wouldn't believe him about this if he hadn't!
Surpassing all of his expectations of what a great video this would turn out to be, something unbelievable happened.
*hop*
Looking at the recording, the yellow chick was replaced by a similarly coloured blur. The chick had taken a moment to prepare itself and had jumped!
"OOAHHHGGGHRAHAAAAAA"!!?!?
A scream filled with pain, confusion, anger, fury, rage, deep rage and rage shot across the kingdoms walls. Hokey's massive brute of a teacher lay down on the ground in a foetal position, clutching his nether regions and cursing out with every opportunity he got. The repellant spray he had been wildly using before had been flung out of his hands into the depths of the woods, the yellow blur quickly followed it. Did someone accidentally fill the bottle up with a monster attracting potion?
Hokey immediately turned off his recording and stuffed his phone back into his apron, he saw that his teacher was in pain, physically due to the chick's attempted home run with Raphael's baseballs and mentally because it had worked! One of the weakest creatures living in this forest had somehow brought down one of the strongest men in the kitchen! It was common knowledge that Raphael used to be an adventurer, his temperament was ill-suited to the career and he quit soon after. However it took guts to take that man head on, even more so if your head was barely above his ankles.
Hokey knew that if confronted about this, his teacher's shame would increased twofold and so would his pain! Raphael's screams had been reduced to a slow whimper, seeing his normally assertive and powerful teacher be reduced to this state was really pitiable, Raphael had done so much for him... the best thing Hokey could do now was turn around and pretend this never happened! Luckily Raphael was whimpering with his back to the kitchen doors.
Hokey punched in the pin quietly and pushed the door open.
*GRROOAANNNN*
'Oh no'
Hokey pushed the door open as hard as he could, slipping through quickly, the metal door groaned as he pushed it open and once again when he tried to slam it shut. Metal doors were hard to move okay! Magical Beasts lay beyond Raphael's pet project of a farm, without reinforced metal doors, the kitchen staff would become the food as opposed to those who helped make it!
-------
Raphael's now tiny body quickly turned when he heard the kitchen door open, he could only see a flash of white before the door shut. The white which was a signature of his own crew.
Someone had seen him.
The whimpering continued, that night, Raphael walked with a limp. While a very cruel chick paid his respects to Ol' Ralph's sacrifice.