002 - Goofballs

Jai’s head was pounding like crazy, and he should’ve took care about that instead of running to a random scream from someone. He saw the moon sliced into two! Wait, that sounded wrong. Whatever!

He heard the snowball mewled and hugged the dearie tight to his chest before hurrying his pace. Passing by the dead trees on his sides, he arrived at a path stretched to the side. The ground was different, as it was grey and looked more solid than the red dirt he had been running onto. Jai pursed his lips a bit.

‘Where to now?’ He thought.

Then he heard a faint laughter from his right. It sounded distant. He ran to his right.

It wasn’t long for him to arrive at the scene. He could see some men with weapons surrounding an older man on the ground with no weapon, and to the left of them was an upside-down wooden cart with some fruits and other things scattered around it. Connecting the dots, it didn’t take long for Jai to lunge at them.

One of the armed men—the one with a big hat and very bulky—took three big steps forward to the old man on the ground. He was about to swing his sword when a foot contacted with his face.

“YEOWWW!!” He yelled. The sudden kick sent him a few feet backwards and he fell on his bum.

The other men gasped, “Ahrush!”, as some of them scurried to help their boss got back up.

“Lor af bun?!” Yelled one of the men, then pointed Jai with his dagger.

“Ahrush shon lor bahretti?!!” One of them spoke in anger, also pointing at Jai with another dagger.

Jai ignored them as he knelt down.

“Are you okay, Sir? Were you hurt?” Jai asked the man on the ground. The man looked at him with wide eyes, seemingly still afraid.

Jai could see the man has wound on his cheek. But it was shallow and not very critical, so Jai went to check on the man’s hands and feet for any wounds.

The man looked over at Jai, and then at the men before them, and then Jai again. The old man seemed to don’t know what to do or say.

“Mhar! Hallya’khru opser kon!” The man who was kicked pushed the other men away as he got up. His eyes looking around and stopping at Jai’s back a few feet away from him.

“Greminte! Ahrush shon lor bahresoma?!” He yelled.

Jai did not respond.

The man grunted and seemed to get angrier. “Groshi kurushon lor jubraste!”

Jai still did not respond.

“Jubraste!!” The man repeated.

No respond.

“Jubraste! Greminte!” This time, it was one of the other men. But Jai, again, did not respond.

The old man in front of Jai looked between Jai and the bandits again. His expression became more frightened. He tried to signal Jai to look behind him, but Jai was busy patting the old man’s feet and putting back the sandals.

The bandit’s eye twitched. He inhaled mouthful of air and yelled, “JUBRASTE!!”

Jai’s eye twitched at the volume. He put the kitten in the old man’s hands who took it in surprise but pulled the cat close. Then, Jai stood up and turned around.

He looked at the man calmly as he tried to figure out what the man was saying. He didn’t understand what they were talking about the moment he jumped in here. He thought his head was still messed up that he temporary lost his ability to socialize.

When Jai continued to not respond anything other than blinking, the angered bandit yelled again, “Jubraste!!”

There was a buzz in his ear and Jai frowned. His head must’ve truly messed up as he couldn’t make out a single damn thing this hooligan was saying. Jai’s face turned like he was between disgusted and irritated.

“Jubraste, jubraste. Speak like a normal human person, you giant impertinent dirtball.” Jai said.

That earned a dead red look from the angered bandit and a shock mixed with fear from the rest of the bandits. The angered bandit signaled his men, “KILL HIM!!”

One of the men lunged at Jai’s left with a dagger. He swooped in his dagger from above, trying a slash down. Jai easily dodged him and sent a punch to his chin, followed by a kick to his right to counter the upcoming attack from another man.

Jai did not stop there. These hooligans were goofballs. They were uncoordinated and attacked him in fury. It would be an easy battle, but he didn’t want to let his guard down because the old man could be held hostage when he was fighting. That wouldn’t be good.

If only he could speak with animals, he would ask the kitten to cooperate with him and who knows—tell the furball to scratch the eyeballs of these flies, or, slip into their pants and do something to where the sun don’t shine.

Ugh... Scratch that last one. How could he?

Jai pulled his elbow down and hit another bandit on his crouched back. The man fell down. He was done with the eighth man. Jai stared at the man in his two o’clock who cowered in fear and ran away. His eyes fell on the last man beside the angry bandit. That man was no different. Fear swept across his face and he clutched on his scabbard to his chest as if it was a fluffy teddy bear. People do shits when they’re out of their minds. This wasn’t the first time for Jai seeing people like that guy.

He narrowed his eyes to the man menacingly, the man fell unconscious.

Jai looked to the last one, the boss.

The man’s eyes filled with unimaginable fear. But he didn’t seem to want to back down. Still with that fear in his eyes, he shiveringly held his sword.

Jai barred his teeth and growled like a pissed pit-bull.

The man squeaked and ran away, not even sparring his men a glance.

Jai snorted, “Wuss.” He then walked back to the old man.

The old man was already standing up. Jai watched as the old man put his unoccupied hand on his stomach.

“Did they hurt you on the stomach, sir?” Jai asked in concern.

“Ah... Yes... They hit me here, right on my button.” The old man grunted a bit.

“Here, let me help you turn this over.” Jai wasted no time turning the cart back and gestured the man to climb on it. The man looked confused.

“What are you doing, son?” asked the old man, looking at him unsure.

“You’re hurt. I’ll wheel you to your home with this cart. We can put the remaining things in front of you in the cart.” Jai answered casually.

The old man blinked at him, then shook his head. “No, no, I’ll just be a burden. My village is far from here, I can go—“

“That made it the more reason to help you. Besides, I’m lost.” Jai smiled sheepishly.

The old man stopped to look at him. He seemed to contemplate something as he stared at Jai with uneven eyes. But then he sighed, and nodded.

The old man climbed on the cart with Jai’s help. After the old man settled down on the cart, Jai went to gather the fruits and other things that fell on the ground during the mishaps. He ignored the unconscious bandits around them—kicking them on purpose when he neared any of them to get the fruits. He put the fruits and other things on the cart alongside the old man and making sure the fruits were not in a too bad condition. When he was done, he walked to the cart pull.

He turned to the old man with a side smile, “Are you ready?”

The old man returned his gaze and nodded. “Slowly, child.”

“Of course. Take good care of my companion back there, will you? Thank you.”

The old man almost forgot he had a kitten in his arms. He instantly look down to check, but was immediately relaxed because the kitten seemed to have made itself comfortable on his lap.