[Unknown POV]
"waaa waaa"
I paced around, back and forth, despite all of the insistence and worried gazes of the castle staff, despite even the doctor's assurance that everything will be fine.
I just couldn't sit still.
Back and forth, back and forth, from one side of the room to the other, waiting for my prayers to be answered, waiting for another miracle to come true.
I had never been a religious man, but I had tried to change, using every resort possible to help alleviate my worry.
It first started when I first found out that she was pregnant. We had been waiting so long, waiting for a miracle to happen, and by God's will it had.
We had been slowly drifting apart before, always arguing, mostly because of my lack of time to spend with her as I took care of our first 'daughter' in the truest sense. She had loved Diana as well, never treating her any differently than she would another little girl, however I could tell that she still wanted more.
'I had been greedy.'
'What need did I have for another daughter when I already had the perfect one?'
Still, I had made a vow.
To keep her happy after marriage, no matter how much effort I would have to go through, I would keep her happy.
I could not say no to her pleas of wanting to have a 'family' of our own, despite knowing completely just how dangerous of an ordeal it would be for her. Still, I supported her decision, being there always, at every day when she felt sick, at every night that we believed would be it's last, at every scare of a miscarage, I had been there every step of the way.
'Except this one.'
"Please Our Father who art in heav-"
"Squeak." The doors of the room slowly opened, the parent's of my previous angle coming out with a look of absolute sorrow and despair on their faces.
I had never seen them show such strong emotion, even when looking at what they considered the biggest mistakes of their lives.
'No.'
"Please," I clutched onto their arms, refusing to let go until I got my answer, "please."
"I'm sorry Lander."
"No, please, not her too." I clutched harder as I pleaded to them, falling onto my knees with tears, grabbing onto their legs in refusal of their claims, "I swear I heard her cry please, no, plea-"
He cut off my claims of delusion, his head looking down at me as crushed my hopes with his firm refusal, not letting me escape in my fantasies.
"They're gone, Lander."
"They're both gone."
[Kuzan POV]
'It's good.'
We stayed there, in harmony, until the moment passed naturally within us.
We did not say a word to each other as we exited the building, him following me to our next destination.
'It was so simple.'
It had been so easy to convince the man that I could not help but nod at the stupidity of the other men before me.
'Those idiots.'
They had complicated it so much for no reason. It was so unnecessary to convince him to fight without a solid reason such as for food or to hunt prey, as he would already do.
'He gets bored too, you know.'
We arrived at our final destination for today, a grand arena that I had had perfectly built for us to maximise our fun.
It had taken so long to gather just the materials alone to construct this great arena, requiring me to even introduce myself to Captain Strydum. That man had been essential in helping to gather all of them, considering some of them were for strictly the use of the military or used to build space shuttles for example.
I had left it simple, not painting any of the metallic materials that comprised the entire arena. It resulted in a very 'modern' design, sleek, silver and chrome, in sheer contrast to the primitive match we would soon be having in this arena.
The arena was shaped exactly like that of the Underground arena, even being filled with fresh sand at its base, however it was composed of much sturdier materials to handle the carnage we were about to deliver to one another.
But first, we slept.
The both of us falling into a food coma after everything that we had been through, sleeping blissfully next to each other like two boys at a sleepover, our arms spread out fully without a care in the world.
[Mitsunari Tokugawa POV]
We watched them, the two beasts, as they rested in the middle of the arena after their meal.
We had followed the both of them here as well, wanting to see the fight of the two beasts ourselves, waiting for them to wake up from their naps.
We waited there, in anticipation, until finally, the boy woke up first.
"Get out."
[Kuzan POV]
"This is your punishment, old man."
"You don't get to watch."
The face he made, it was as if I had stolen the wind from right under his sails, looking as if he'd rather die than leave.
"There is one way though." I spoke to the stubborn old man after having picked him up by the shoulders as you would a child, about to carry him out of the arena.
[Mitsunari Tokugawa POV]
"Bring her to me."
The devil whispered into my ear, not being able to hide the sheer 'lust' he possessed, asking for my other half in exchange for granting my greatest wish.
[Kuzan POV]
"It's time."
I spoke my last words to the man, taking his jubilant nod as agreement to my request.
[Pickle POV]
'{awake}'
[Kuzan POV]
I woke the man of the hour-or rather the millennium up by nudging him lightly on the shoulder. He seemed well rested, the bruising around his eyes already starting to disappear as he started to stand up, ready to burn off a few calories.
I looked him straight into his eyes and refused to look away, trying to convey exactly what I wanted him to do.
His eyes showed concern, not wanting to cause such carnage to his newly made friend.
'I underestimated your heart, Pickle.'
It was truly sad really, having to use such juvenile tricks to get what I wanted, but I had no other choice in the matter.
'I'm sorry Pickle,' I lamented, as I gazed deeply into his eyes with sorrow, 'but I have no other way to convince you right now at least.'
[Pickle POV]
"{you pussy}"
[Kuzan POV]
'That seems to have done the trick.'
It didn't take any more convincing for the man/beast to respond in kind to my challenge, rushing towards me with an enraged look on his face as he tried to 'catch' me by pulling me into a bear hug.
He was furious, wanting to set some boundaries with his new friend, wanting to show him he would not take kindly to such insults.
Unfortunately for him, I had learned my lesson.
Time seemed to stop, as if awaiting my next move.
'Why make it so complicated?'
Thus, I simply placed the surface of my foot onto the center of the caveman's chest.
And pushed.
"CRASH!" The man ran away from me already, crashing all the way back to the opposite side of the arena.
I let the caveman get his bearings back together from the crash as I too went to the opposite side of the arena, now giving us all of the space needed to have our fun.
He looked more excited than words could convey when he saw the both of us using the same technique, getting ready to use the walls of the arena as a trampoline to rush towards each other.
[Narrator POV]
A fully horizontal start.
[Kuzan POV]
'Flash'
"BANG" "BANG"
[Katsumi POV]
It was a blur to the eyes, after everything was done, all we could see was the impact left by their feet on the arena walls.
The two sets of footprints that had embedded themselves into the metal, serving as a reminder of what just happened in that arena, a contest of pure strength.
"Chee."
[Kuzan POV]
'I thought that I'd broken this bad habit long ago.'
It would have been too easy to flick Pickle away, or to simply use his own momentum as him, crushing him under the stream that could break rock.
Unfortunately, I wasn't here to show off my martial arts today, nor was I here to necessarily win a fight.
I was here to train.
'And I've gotten exactly what I wished for.'
[Katsumi POV]
'This idiot.'
He was there, standing in the arena, with the biggest smile of face despite his left shoulder being crushed by Pickle's charge.
Of course, Pickle wasn't in perfect shape either, we could tell that by the way he moved his arm, but clearly he had caused twice the amount of damage that he had received.
Still, the boy looked happy, as if always wanting this to happen, despite the clear decrepit state of his hand.
He looked up, staring at Pickle who had won the arena in the exchange, standing there proudly at the center while his opponent looked on from the side.
And he laughed.
[Kuzan POV]
"HAHAHAHAHA"
"There's no need to get sad, Pickle," I spoke to the caveman despite knowing he would not understand a word of it. He stood there worried, as if he'd done something drastically wrong, worried about the health of his opponent.
Although my arm was a little bruised, it was still firmly attached to my body, just loosely hanging there while out of commision.
Still, he would not wipe that stupid look on his face, as if refusing to continue until I 'healed'.
I went nearer to him, walking slowly as he stood there analyzing me further, wondering why I was walking closer instead of running away to escape. We stood there, barely an arms length away from each other waiting for the other to make the first move.
"Really Pickle, there is no need to be worried about me."
'Chee, fine'
It looked like the only way to convince the 'old' man would be to utilize a modern technique.
'Sorry Pickle, it looks like you'll have to wait another day for your magic act.'
Although I did know how to perform my brother's circus tricks, there was no need to use them when I had some of my own, that I was thrilled to finally have a chance to use correctly.
'[Drill]'
[Katsumi POV]
"Arghh!" It was only one punch, that even the caveman himself assumed he would be able to take, to cause him to release a scream of agony as he fell to the floor holding his stomach to ease the pain.
He rolled, and rolled, and rolled, like a rolling pin on the sandy floor of that arena while clutching his stomach, until finally...
He got up.
[Pickle POV]
"{liar}"
[Kuzan POV]
'Ah, it looks like my new friend is a little hurt that I tricked him'
He seemed infuriated that I had just pulled the 'wool' over his eyes, pretending to be weak just to cause him to loosen his guard.
He wanted to express these feelings to me with his fists, as he rushed towards me, his punch now inches away from the left side of my head.
Unfortunately for him, that meant that I had all the time in the world to deliberate.
It would have been too simple for me to win through either the use of my martial arts techniques or skills. Even the caveman had gotten that memo, abandoning his attack to put as much distance between us as possible in that arena.
I couldn't blame him, even Baki would have only shown him a monster who's individual components he was familiar with.
Instead,...
I had threatened to show him a whole new world.
[Katsumi POV]
Instead of smashing his fists deep into that boy's skull as I had hoped, Pickle suddenly stopped mid-way through his attack, instead choosing to look up at his opponent as he slowly back away, never once letting Kuzan out of his sight.
Step by step, he continued backing up with a look that I could describe as absolute terror and awe, as he looked higher and higher until I could also finally make out what he saw...
[Narrator POV]
Pickle had seen many strange new things since waking up from his nap.
New sights, new colors, and even new sources of food and playthings.
He had even met a friend, who although he knew was somewhat different from him, was the closest thing that he could understand in this new strange place.
Pickle had always been different too, even during his time, feared by the rest of his group and forced to live by himself. He had assumed that his man was the same as him, the 'champion' of this new world here to challenge him to fulfil his duty, despite just being happy to have also met someone so alike him as well.
But he had been wrong.
The thing standing in front of him today wasn't his food, friend, or even his foe.
It wasn't even his family.
No...
It wasn't even human...
The thing standing in front of him today...
It was his saviour.
[Pickle POV]
'{god!}'