Chapter 17——PLUVIOPHILES II
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//Funka//
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My first week as an C-Ranker has been one of a kind: Almost got killed thrice while fighting a giant, metal squid, had to solve easy riddles from a Samoan ghost, saved the day and we're not getting any credit at all? Shinobi managed to stop that thing with shurikens, smoke bombs and kicks, and they get the credit?
That's life, all right.
We're kids in this life and no takes us seriously until we grow up to be adults, until then: No one is gonna take me, Akina, Marcus, or any of us students seriously.
We managed to get out in one piece but people died because we fooled around before we even went all to the bottom of the school. Kazama was right to give us hell for singing that song; but he was way over line for being a jerk-ass. Giving us orders like that, being all mighty and shit. Just because he went to fancy school in Switzerland.....Give me a break.
All because he went to a fancy school. Can't stand prissy know-it-all douchebags like him, who think they're hot shit.
No——He's just the rest of us.
I need some air.
He was scared just like me. The fear he showed in his face; how he thought no one could see how frighten Kazama was.
He's doing it all wrong by hiding under a brave face, sweeping it under the rug doesn't make you cool: It makes emotionally repressed.
When I first met that Heart-Bond: There was a 100 hundred percent that he was shady, make no mistake. I wish I could find out more about him since he is different.
Never heard of 'Aladdin'?
It's a Disney Essential: You have to watch it back when you're a weeny little child or any age, and even if a person doesn't like it: they agree the artwork has aged decent.
The doctor, who was also Takeo's adopted dad, let us all go to be with our families for a little bit before we come back to school. He's a good man in a busy work and a bit of a workaholic when it came to healing people.
Damn.....Does this sun have to be burnin' my eyes out? I thought, shielding my eyes from the harsh sunlight before it wasn't so harsh.
My sunglasses were in my dad's car, waiting perfectly if I remember.
It made me a bit happy that we had some time to enjoy our families and the skies showed it.
Everybody except Ryoji, were walking down the stairs of our mighty school, without any worries.
Still, I kinda wish I could see Kazama one more time so I can say thanks for saving Akina's life when I couldn't.
Although I love Akina like my own sister: She shouldn't be in here in Surwick. She is smarter than me, Jordyn, or anyone with a legacy to fall back on and quick on her feet when she gets her time to shine.
It was the physical exam she failed. That day onward, I passed with a high A——the teachers think that I have such potential, that they could see me be a B-Ranker within four months.
So fast?! My dad said as mom and him were shocked about it, he went before the 'Ranks' and 'Factions' started to take effect around the world, around 2006.
On the other hand, the teachers are handling Akina so carefully as if she's made out of glass. I told her it wouldn't be a smart move for her in the long run——I want her to move forward without hurting herself in the process and this school is going to tear her guts out.
Jordyn, that asslicking bitch, is going to stand in Akina's way.
As if I'd let that happen. It sounds cliche but I'm won't let it slide; not by my hands.
She's walking so happily and not having no care in life, her smile was so big as she was talking to everyone there with Marcus.
Akina is so young—She's only eleven and she got of that fight without a broken bone. Meanwhile, my arm is still sore, but I prefer it being sore than being completely shattered.
"Hey, Funka," Marcus got my divided attention. "Are you coming over tonight? My mom's making some blondieeesss..." Now he has my undivided attention
Blondies: the only dessert I love on this planet. I would get maybe two slices of those delicious brownies, I would die for a silver or two instead of having family dinner. I'd love to have some...
"Man.....I really wish I could," I was just telling him as I felt some sort of ambience coming closer to the parking lot. "but my Dad texted me that I have to come since he-"
I stopped talking as I saw a large, orange chevy in good condition pulling up.
I knew trust Chevy and the man driving it, coming out of his truck and there he was in the public in his civilian clothes.
He was tall, about one inch shy away from six feet and had the body of a Olympic athlete. The man was quick on his feet due to his work in rescuing people, and one time he saved this women by catching this falling debris.
He broke his wrist afterwards, but he's strong enough to be known throughout the N.U.S.N. and the U.S.A. People respect him since he is gentle and kind——But I seen his rage when it comes to harming his loved ones.
A man with more playfulness and naïveté than his thirteen-year-old daughter, he was still saw the world as beautiful, even as it was underneath with so much filth.
That large man, with hair colored like a lemon and the same pink eyes I had—People call him Captain Molotov or Hiroki.
Another identity he goes by: Dad.
My dad.
"There's my Jalapeño Chocolate Swirl!" He yelled out his creative nickname for me, running towards me and getting me a superhuman version of constricting the hell out of me.
That's my dad: Captain Molotov, the one of the top ranking heroes in the N.U.S.N. and a total airhead when it comes to it at times.
Today must've have been a slow day in the streets, coming to pick me up instead of Mom usually does with her nice Tiguan. He hasn't fought anyone with his fists or his powers for years, and the way he has the highest capture rate is because he can negotiate or talk to them peacefully.
Just by talking, he could potentially make a Godzilla-sized villain stop their rampage with just a snap.
"Jalapeño Chocolate!" He continued to have me in a vice grip, I couldn't exactly breathe anymore and he didn't take notice of it.
Those two, Sanda and Cade, snickered like one of the other boys in a class, a guy from South Africa, peeking at the fourth and fifth year girls lavatory. I hate that guy for being a pervert.
"Jalapeño Chocolate! Jalapeño Chocolate! Your arm looks so much better than yesterday!!!"
They snickered even louder before I caught notice at it. "What?"
Since Cade was still a bit shy without piloting his Mecha, Sanda did all the talking for them. "Funkadelic?"
"Well, it was used to be Funkadelic until," He was telling my friend while I was hiding my face away; I was blushing wildly as he kept on explaining the stupid nicknames he has for me. "Until I realize how great that Jalapeño Chocolate Swirl nickname since she's so sweet and spicy at the same time! In actuality, we named her Funka because she erupted right out——"
"DAD!!!!!!" I barked at him, stopping him from telling him more about my story. Christ, he isn't supposed to reveal shit like that to my friends!
Much less to people I just met!
He is right, my name means "Eruption" in Japanese. I used to get angry when people used misspell it on purpose, to the brink where I would beat anyone up about it.
Now I just just let it happen without losing my cool about it. People judge me all the time and I judge them, yet I will lose it when it is told to make blush in embarrassment. Now is the time to leave and get him before supper.
I nudged his arm and gave him signals that we should go——he knew it was time to say sayonara before supper.
And we missed dinner before....Mom was pissed about it.
"Goodbye Funkadelic's Dad!!"
"Goodbye Funka's friends!!!!" He yelled out to Akina and Marcus. "Oh, Tell your dad I said 'Hi'! Oh, and tell him to leave me some Blondies for me!" They gave him the okay as I buckled in quickly in the car. My blushing stopped after he came into the car.
He was telling me while in the car, that every hero had a mandatory four day break before resuming on the hero work. For now, he was concentrating on the road.
I had a feeling he wanted to talk to me about the attack, his pink eyes looked at the road first, then he looked at me proudly
"Well," He started to wind up for a long appraisal of me . "I'm glad that you stayed out of it, Funka. I know it's in your nature: You were always the first one to jump into danger just to save a person."
I wasn't the first to volunteer and it wasn't because of that: I wanted to make sure Akina and Takeo were safe from harm. Dad's making me a saint when evidence says otherwise.
My mouth opened up slowly. "Do you think it was Shinobi or someone else who
He never had any bouts of sarcasm when he spoke, it was always direct and clear to me. "Had to be Shinobi in the first place! Who else would have
Even he doesn't know what controls the whole school: Downstairs? Are we the only ones beside that ghost and the principal that know about the foundation of the school?
How many secrets does that school have? I wondered to myself, watching how the trees moved quickly and the land became to blur out.
I love my dad so much, I wouldn't know what to do without him. The idiot who was in charge for the that interview, wrote down put that I hate my dad. That is completely false: I love my dad.
He doesn't hit me or insult me, all what he does is show me music videos that I don't even care. Or how he gives me these silly nicknames that I sorta like but otherwise—He's the the perfect definition of a "sweet but overbearing" dad.
Everybody sees me as the next "Captain Molotov" or "Molotov Jr".
I don't want to be known as Molotov Jr.
I want to be my own person.
My own hero.
I want to have my own identity. That's all I thinking of as I was enjoying Dad's smooth ride towards Vermillion Valley.
———Later———
Vermillion Valley.
Home sweet Home.
Bright red leaves were living here permanently as the creek close to my house had a large family of koi carp in it. There were about twenty-eight houses in the neighborhood and ours is a slight to behold.
Our red house with tinted windows and the fusion of an American surburan house and a maita, and the roof was still in good condition despite that rock storm he had a couple of weeks ago.
"Mom's making that ramen soup you like so much." Dad said with a big smile, waiting for me politely as I was getting my stuff out.
My dad picked up the box from Amazon carefully since it was a rare item in there.
The floors were tatami, if anyone left their shoes on, their footprints would be on them so we had to take off our shoes as it was common courtesy to do so.
I heard a couple of footsteps and my mom came out of the kitchen, wearing a dirtied plain shirt, and a yellow apron.
Ehana Burenji.
My mom.
The difference was that she had dark brown hair, brown hair like everyone else and I had my weird ass colored eyes and hair
She was my stepmom; I didn't consider her to be my stepmom——She was my true mom. The one who
I don't know what happened to my real mom, but I cannot
Her hair was a bit wild since it was her day off, but when she's in the home office—she's seizes the day.
"Hey, sweetie!!!!!" My mom greeted me, she feels so warm and fuzzy.
I was hugging a bunch of marshmallows even though she was far from being plump, being incredibly toned. They have been married for thirteen years, being lovey-dovey and hugging each other.
They were close to each other as if they only married each other yesterday. "Dinner's ready!!" She announced passionately.
"You didn't have to do that."
"I insist. I don't get to cook this all the time."
———In the Burenji's Dinning Area———
Dinner was really good today.
Whatever Mom put in the soup really gave it some kick to it: The clear body of the soup acted as a small mirror. The noodles absorbed many of the seasoning, making these babies enriched in flavor.
I couldn't hear their conversation from all the slurping I did while eating it.
Mom asked something and I couldn't hear again, responding with a 'what'.
"What is on your mind, my Jalapeño Chocolate Swirl?" My dad repeated Mom's question quickly, they both looked at each other.
I was getting ready to tell them my piece of mind. "Well, I realize I'm in a Land where I can't tell half the truth, where I see Newspapers from a state that doesn't exist, Going to a school where death is inevitable..." I was fuming. "I mean, how am I supposed to train like a hero if our principal is treating us as if we're the inglorious bastards, doing these bullshit exercises at the age of thirteen, having these faction wars!! What the fu-"
"LANGUAGE!!" They both yelled as they were surprised at me, I immediately shut my mouth.
I was caught by surprise by my own anger.
"Sorry Prince——Empress," My mom called me by her nickname, one that I always liked. Why be the princess when you could be the Empress?
Screw be the princess—I wanna be free as an empress and make my own destiny.
That's want I wanted it be when I was smaller.
Sissi is the Shit: Don't need glass sippers like Cindrella or live under the sea....
"You know what..." My mom brushed it off. "We're probably going to watch Game of Thrones and it's best that you go upstairs and watch Netflix in your TV...." She offered me, I knew what this means: A fancy offering of getting a time-out
No...I hate that show since in the first episode called those two disgusting scenes made me abhor. Why did they have to film those?
I looked down in remorse and headed up to my tomboyish room, one of the steps need to be fixed.
Right. I remembered as I walked back down and placed two dollars in the glass jar labeled 'Swear Jar', which was written in permanent ink.
There were thirty dollars in the glass jar; none had touched the fingers of my parents.
———In Funka's Room———
Why are all the lights on? I thought as I felt someone b
"Give me all your money, Hedgehog-" Yelled out a familiar face.
"Or what? You gonna pacify the shit outta me, ya fake Yakuza?" I countered before laughing with her,
Ayari Igarashi: A badass bitch who's pretty much a scaredy-ass bitch in reality. She was a short, sorta of a butterface girl (got it right everywhere except the face), and usually did Chapatsu. Her hair was a pear color, hence the name "Ayari".
Her body was a monument of tattoos she had due to her Yakuza upbringing, and she hid by wearing clothes inspired from the 80's,
She grew serious with me. "And this ink," She pointed out the dragon in the cascade tattoo. "I got after killing my rage-induced uncle. That's when I started with my pacifist ways." She held a small thing that smelt like grass, only worse.
"Wanna smoke?" She offered me a blunt since she believed in the ways of marijuana legalization, which made sense of how powerful natural remedies were compared to oxycodone. I said no to that yet I pointed at my moving fan and exhaled some smoke at it.
"I knew this is random, but you tell me more about the snow in Japan, Igarashi?" I inquired her about it, Ayari looked at me with curiosity."I like to see the snow. Like actual snow."
"Don't you have snow here?"
"It's not snow when I can wear a t-shirt and sandals."
"What if you're Canadian?"
"That's offensive to them! You know that!
"Yeah, yea," She brushed it off as she blew the smoke into my fan. "Snow's cold."
"Yeah, I know dipshit. Is there any sensation from it hitting your face?"
"Yeah: Frostbite and getting sick from it." She changed the subject "You know, I heard a rumor that you went to the generator room. Nice job."
I nodded to her, amazing her even more with my bravery and she wasn't easy to impress. "I lend you a little secret....."
———A Little Bit Later———
"In conclusion: It's a bomb training procedure?"
"Yeah, easiest training you can do in Surwick. It's in a building-"
I stopped her in her tracks, I couldn't wait any longer to sleep on my bed. "And you're say that Ryoji Dragomir Kazama is.....a mercenary student?" I was confused on she said, I just rolled with it. She nodded quickly, so defiant in her claim. "Hell yeah, Burenji. Dude came from Raven River, which was the fifth best school for Protectors-In-Training! Makes sense, considering what you told me about him..."
These days will go by fast and I need to get my sleep before the training procedure. I was just thinking on my bed while holding my head.
She stepped out of my window, and said with a
"Anyways," Ayari said her goodbyes before opening up the window carefully. "I'm going to see my own friends, Nelix and Lenora. You know: A-Rankers." She gave me the usual bye by flipping me off and jumping in that hovering car she borrowed from her friends.
When I turn sixteen—Imma get my driver's license and drive one of those...
I going to do three years of school in Surwick and get the hell outta there.
I will forge my own path.
And that mercenary student: Get ready for that bomb training, because I'm ace that shit on Wednesday.
Great, it's 11:30 already?
I looked at my hand, how my powers come from my body internally. Doctors were astonished of how my power have advanced so much: How am I supposed to be potentially stronger than everyone in the top 20 when I grow up.
What if I don't want to be in the Top 20? I just want to be respected without being brought up as the daughter of Captain Molotov.
Is that too much to ask?
I know my parents don't want me to live the legacy.
Can I stop being praised constantly??
Why am I thinking like this? I chuckled quietly.
At least my powers won't wreck my bed up when I sleep....
———Track 18 ended———
CHARACTER PROFILE:
BURENJI FAMILY: HIROKI BERUNJI (38) AND EHANA BERUNJI (34)
THE MOM AND DAD OF FUNKA BURENJI
BIRTHDAY: 9-18 (HB), 6-22 (EB)
HEIGHT: 6'0 (HB), 5'5 (EB)
LIKES: Soul food and negotiation (HB), spending time with loved ones (EB)
DISLIKES: Funka's Frequently Cussing (Both), Tomatoes (HB), Lies (EB)
THE INSIDE STORY:
The Burenji's!
One's the cuddly and overbearing who is a top-rank hero!
Another is the quick-minded and passionate home office worker.
They first met during watching a football game through friends and grew up to be lovers, and now: Husband and Wife.
They support Funka no matter what!
They are the ultimate family!
CHARACTER PROFILE:
SURWICK STUDENT: AYARI IGARASHI (17)
PACIFISTIC YAKUZA
BIRTHDAY: 11-5
HEIGHT: 5'6
LIKES: Tattoos (ones with substance), Pears
DISLIKES: Fighting
THE INSIDE STORY:
She fights for her friends through the ways of pacifism, but her powers have me her climb to the walls of A-Ranks.
Ayari has been enrolled in Surwick for four years and is due to go for the long haul.
She is on the run from her family and since Kurikami is safe from the hands of the Igarashi Syndicate.