The Catboy: Part 2 [Preview]

Catboy Tales:
The Tale of Autumn

         He woke up at one in the afternoon and tossed around in bed, trying to get himself to get up but his body was against the idea of getting out of bed. After laying around for fifteen minutes, he finally got up and put some clothes on and went out to the kitchen. He got himself a glass of milk and drank some of it, exhaling happily. He still had a few more hours until he had to go meet Ben, so he went back to his room, set the alarm on his clock for 6:30PM, which took him awhile because he has never set it before, and then began watching TV.
         Over at the high school, Mr. Kong is resting his head on his arm, as usual. It isn't that he's a lazy principal, he just needed to rest every now and then to prevent from snapping. He began thinking about yesterday, more specifically his talk with the catboy. He clenched his fist just at the thought of that freak accident of a birth, his sarcastic attitude, the way he thought he was better than everyone, but worst of all, the way he creeped him out. He relaxed his fist and sighed, standing up from the chair and looking out the window. How dare he tarnish the Kong family name, he thought to himself, doesn't he know who they are? Probably not if he was so willing to challenge his authority. He was going to get him back, somehow. Oh well, at least he won't be in school for a few days, that will give him some time to think.
         He looked up at the sky through the window, “Amelia,” he said quietly, “if you can hear me up there, don't give up on Teddy, I promised I'd raise him to be the best, and I plan on keeping it.” A knock on the door broke his train of thought, “Come in!” The high school football coach entered, and he looked furious.
         “DJ just told me that he got beat up by the catboy again!” he shouted, his face red, “You have to do something about that maniac before he destroys the whole football team!”
         “Stop shouting!” he ordered the coach. The coach took in a deep breath and exhaled heavily, calming down, “Good, now when did that happen?”
         “Yesterday, after school, the catfag and some kid beat him up in an alley!”
         Mr. Kong raised an eyebrow, “Some kid? A friend of the catboy's?”
         The football coach shrugged, “I don't know, but he'd have to be really stupid to befriend him.” Mr. Kong nodded in agreement. The coach asked, “So, what're you gonna do to him?” He waited impatiently for an answer. Mr. Kong crossed his arms at the coach, while he did think highly of high school football, he disliked their coach, always thinking he could boss him around.
         “I can't do anything, he got in the fight off school property and while kicked out.”
         “You're just like that son of your's, you've got a lot of bark, but no bite!” Mr. Kong grabbed the coach's collar and lifted him up, the coach began squirming in his grip and had a fearful look in his eyes.
         “Do you know who you're talking to?! I am your boss, and if you'd like to keep your job, I suggest you watch what you say!” The coach nodded and he let go of him, “Now, can you describe the kid with the catboy?”
         The coach fixed his collar, quite terrified of the principal now, “DJ didn't catch the guy's name, but he said the kid had a mullet and had some sweet moves.” He stood up straight and said quietly, “I think it might've been Ben Song, the kid who dropped out last year.”
         “Ben Song?” asked Mr. Kong out of shock, “Are you sure?”
         “Not one-hundred percent sir, but who else could it be?” Mr. Kong sat down at his desk and the coach leaned on the desk, “If it is him, do you think it's a message? He didn't just beat up DJ, but his friends too.”
         “Get out,” ordered Mr. Kong. The coach turned and left, closing the door behind him. Ben Song, of course he would makes friends with the catboy; they're both outcasts who hate pretty much everyone in the school. Oddly enough, Ben used to be one of the most popular kids in school his freshman and sophomore year. Then, sometime last year, there was a rumor spread about him and he dropped out, unable to take all the hate. He began thinking about the day he had told him he quit.
         Ben strolled into the office after getting into a shouting match with his geography teacher. He slumped in the chair and he had asked the teen, “Why are you doing all of this Ben? You used to be such a good kid.”
         “Used to, being the keyword” he had said as a reply. Ben was one of the kids he respected a lot, especially since he was ruthless in football. He broke the school record for sacking the most quarterbacks in one season, no one dared get in front of him.
         “I just don't get what your problem has been lately.”
         “Nobody gets it, that's why I'm quitting high school, so I can finally get out of this hellhole!”
         “You're going to quit?” he asked with a wide-eyed expression, it was unbelievable at the time to think that Ben Song would quit anything.
         “Yeah, I'm sick of this place! I hate everyone here, and they can all rot for all I care!” he had shouted, and he had meant it by the tone of his voice.
         “You're being irrational! You have some of the best grades in the school, why throw away your future?”
         “Let me worry about my future, and you can worry about whether you're going to get into the secretary's pants!” he shouted before standing and knocking over the chair. Mr. Kong stood, slamming the desk.
         “Don't you talk like that in my presence!” he shouted back at him. “You know what, go ahead and quit! Toss your life away!”
         “I'm not tossing my life away,” Ben said back calmly, “In fact, I'm going to improve on my life, and I'm going to do it without school. Then, I'm going to have my revenge on this place.” He grinned and walked out the door and out of the school as the principal watched, not really thinking about his revenge all that much. He went back to his paperwork, wondering if he was going to get some action with the secretary.
         Mr. Kong snapped out of his flashback as the secretary/nurse's voice came up on the speaker, “We still on for our date this Saturday?” she asked.
         “Wouldn't miss it for the world, Ms. Harpster,” he replied, winking at the speaker. He also had promised his wife to be faithful to her even after she died, but he's a man, and men have needs, and as long as his son did not know about it, it wouldn't hurt anyone.
         A few hours later, Vincent is getting ready to go meet Ben's sensei down at the sandlot by the trailer park. He does his hair, puts on his gym clothes, and grabs a bottle of water from the fridge. He gets in the car and his foster mother drives him down to the trailer park, glad for her foster son to finally be happy to be with someone outside of his foster family. He runs through the trailer park as quickly as he can, and thanks to his great speed, no one noticed him.
         He sped into the sandlot and then stopped to catch his breath, just because he can run faster than most others doesn't mean he is in the best shape. He looks up and sees Ben, chuckling at him, “If you weren't so lazy all the time, you wouldn't be out of breath so quickly.” Vincent sticks his tongue out at him and looks around.
         “Hey, where's your sensei at?” he asked, not seeing him anywhere. Ben points and Vincent looks to see an old, Japanese man. With his cat ears, he can hear him giving instructions to a kid punching and kicking at a sandbag. The kid had a weird haircut, it was basically buzzed except for the front where it was spiked up.
         The kid punched and kicked at the sandbag as the sensei instructed him. Ben motioned Vincent over and they walked up closer to the two, “The old man is Hisashi-sensei, and the kid is Davis. Hisashi used to be a famous sensei, had his own dojo and everything. Sadly, some punk set it ablaze and he lost everything. Now, he's just a private instructor, and Davis is his last student.” They stop and Ben waves, “Hey there Davis, Hisashi-sensei.” Davis delivers a huge kick to the sandbag and knocks it over before stopping and looking over at Ben.
         “So that's the town's catboy, huh?” he asked. He smiled and extended a hand, “I'm Davis Bogard.”
         Vincent shook the hand, “I'm Vincent Sage.”
         “Before you came over, Ben told me about how you fought five football players, and that you're pretty agile for someone so lazy.”
         Vincent crossed his arms and looked away, “Not that lazy,” he said. Ben chuckled and ruffled Vincent's hair. He groaned and fixed it, “Don't mess with my hair.”
         “Is it true that you're fast, or was Ben bullshitting me?” asked Davis. Vincent looked back over at Davis, did someone that young just use the word bullshitting?
         “It's true,” answered Vincent. Davis nodded and grinned, which gave Vincent a bad feeling.
         “I can't just take your word for it, and Hisashi-sensei does keep saying I should find someone my own level to spar with, fighting a sandbag gets so dull after a while,” he said while getting in a fighting pose. Vincent shook his head and walked away, leaning against a fence and looks over at Davis.
         “No way, I'm not fighting a child.” Davis' grin switched over to a frown, he hated it when people took it easy on him just because he was a kid. If Vincent won't fight with him willingly, maybe he'll do it for self-defense.
         “Well then, I guess this fight will be easier than I thought!” he said before jumping at the catboy, leg extended. Vincent blinked and dodged out of the way quickly, the kid crashing through the fence.
         “Crazy kid,” exclaimed Vincent. His ears twitched and he side-stepped another flying kick from Davis, who this time landed. He quickly turned, aiming a middle kick at the catboy's stomach. He backed away from the kick just in time to dodge it and looked over at Hisashi, “Shouldn't you stop him?”
         “I don't interfere in other peoples' fights,” replied the old man. Vincent rolled his eyes and bent back, ducking under a spinning kick from Davis. Davis grinned and jumped up, lifting his leg up and slamming it on Vincent's chest, making him fall down onto the dirt.
         “Fight back already!” said Davis, grinning and bouncing back and forth, waiting for his opponent to get up. Vincent leaped up and charged at Davis with a knee out. He jumped onto the knee and back-flipped off of it, his foot connecting under Vincent's chin and making him stumble back. Davis began to look upset, starting to think the catboy won't provide the challenge he wants.
         Vincent rubbed at his jaw, the damned kid got two hits in on him. He sighed, he didn't want to fight anyone, but he should have expected one, “Alright Davis, I'll take this fight seriously.” He started to stretch to limber up, but Davis didn't have the patience to wait for him to be ready, so he ran bent down and slid between his legs, grabbing one ankle and stood up, pulling it back to trip the catboy. Instead, he landed on both of his hands and leaped off the ground, spinning in midair so his foot connected with the side of the kid's face, making him fall on his side as he landed on his feet. Davis got back up, rubbing where the kick connected on him and grinned, so this fight was going to be fun.
         “Good kick, but don't expect to win,” he said before running up at Vincent. Vincent threw a punch aimed at the gut, but Davis quickly dodged to the side and jumped up on his shoulders and wrapped his legs around Vincent's neck before back-flipping, throwing the catboy onto his back on the dirt ground. Davis got off of him and stood next to Vincent, his back to him and he back-flipped again, but Vincent quickly lifted his knees, Davis landing on them on his gut and the air got knocked out of him.
         “Quit showing off!” shouted Hisashi. Davis got on one knee and held his stomach, stopping for a sec to catch his breath. Vincent decided to not let him rest and kicked him straight in the face. Davis stood and grabbed at his face, luckily nothing was bleeding or broken. Before he could retaliate, he was struck in the chest by Vincent's fist and then soon got caught in a flurry of attacks; hook to the side of the jaw, kick to the side, spinning straight kick in the gut, making him kneel over, and then another kick to the face, making him stand back up and stunned long enough for Vincent to strike with a charging knee, making Davis fall over, groaning in pain and holding back the tears, not wanting to be seen crying. He wiped at his nose and looked to see Vincent holding an arm out, offering to help him up. He took the hand and pulled it back and delivered a punch straight to his nose before grabbing the back of his head and flipping him over by placing his feet against Vincent's stomach and rolling back.
         “I don't need your sympathy!” he cried out before leaping up, body still in pain from the earlier attacks. He wasn't going to allow himself be beat, he had to prove that he was strong. Besides, he had taken worse beatings. He rushed up and slid at his opponent, but he rolled out of the way in time and got back up. Davis got back up and rushed at Vincent, throwing punch after punch, but each was dodged. He ducked a high kick and sweeped the leg. Before Vincent hit the ground, Davis jumped up and kicked at Vincent's side, making him roll on the ground. He breathed heavily, he was putting one-hundred percent into this, even if it was just sparring.
         Vincent got back up, this kid was ruthless, although he kind of deserved it after that combo. He watched Davis and it was clear that he is not holding back and was willing to continue. He wasn't sure if continuing was the best idea, but quitting now isn't an option. Only one thing left to do: use his max speed and end this quickly. He didn't like using his max speed as it left him extremely exhausted afterward, but Davis won't go down for less, “I hope you're ready Davis,” he told him before standing with one foot in front of the other, his shoulder pointing at Davis.
         Davis breathed heavily and watched closely, ready for what? He's probably just waiting for him to rush and then pull of a major move. He had to plan his next attack but before he could begin thinking, Vincent disappeared, a cloud of dust left where he was standing. His eyes went wide and he began looking around, where the hell did he go?!
         Vincent reappeared behind him and grabbed under Davis's chin, pulling it back and striking the middle of the spine. He let go and Davis fell onto his hands and knees, leaving him vulnerable for a Neko Pounce. He rushed at the fence and kicked off of it, getting more air than he ever had. He looked down and saw something strange, Davis was standing with his palm aimed at him, what was he planning?
         Davis did his best to calm down and closed his eyes, he had to be completely focused for this attack to work. He opened his eyes and began soaking in the sun's energy, which at the time there isn't much, but there is more than plenty for this simple attack. A ball of light formed in his hand and he watched as Vincent looked down at him, wondering what is going on. Davis smirked but before he could he could say the attack's name and fire, Hisashi popped up in front of him and grabbed his arm and flung him hard onto the ground.
         Vincent had a look of surprise on his face as he landed on the ground next to Davis' body. He could hear him beginning to cry as he curled up and looked over at the old man, “Why the hell did you do that? I thought you said you don't interrupt in others' fights!” he shouted, not believing that a sensei would do that to his own student. Hisashi looked over at Vincent, arms behind him.
         “Davis was going to try a technique that I told him he wasn't allowed to do unless I gave him permission,” he answered. Ben ran over and rolled Davis onto his back, trying to check on him and asked if he was alright, but he was pushed away and Davis sat up, wiping at his eyes and nose as he stared angrily at his so-called master.
         “What the fuck is your problem!” he shouted up at him as he tried to stand, clutching his stomach. Ben tried to help him but was again pushed away, “Don't try to help me!” Ben backed away and stood next to Vincent, hands up to show he wasn't going to try to help him anymore.
         “The true question, Davis, is what the fuck is your problem,” Hisashi said coldly. Davis' mouth went agape and then he clenched his teeth, holding back his crying again, “I clearly restricted you from using manipulation unless I said specifically that you could use it. If you can't follow a simple order, then you might as well quit being my student, it will let me retire quicker.” The tears on Davis' face flowed freely and he sniffled loudly, facing his sensei.
         “Sh, shut up! Don't treat me like a little kid!” he shouted, a bit shakily because of the crying, “I'm going to be your greatest student ever, you'll see, and then everyone will start respecting me, even my father!” He started running and Vincent was about to go after him, but Hisashi grabbed him by the shoulder.
         “Let him calm down.”
         “Wow, you've grown heartless,” said Ben, frowning at his old sensei, “You never acted like that to me.” Hisashi turned toward Ben, shooting a glare that made him shut up.
         “You know why I'm harder on Davis.” Ben sighed and nodded slowly, running a hand through his hair.
         “Yeah, I know, but you over-reacted big time. It was just going to be a harmless Sun Gun, and with it being the afternoon, it wasn't going to do a whole lot.”
         “Whether it was lethal or harmless isn't the problem, he has to learn that manipulation is a last resort.”
         Vincent stood and listened to the two, just what the hell are they talking about? He looked up at the sky and began thinking, he did remember seeing Davis aiming his hand at him, and that a ball of light was forming from it. Curious, he asked, “What the hell are you two talking about? What was Davis planning on doing?” Ben looked over at him, an odd sort of look on his face.
         “You haven't heard of manipulation?” he asked him. Vincent shook his head and Ben chuckled lightly, “Wow, you don't get out much, do you?”
         “Just tell me what it is,” Vincent said impatiently, he wasn't in the mood for Ben's playful teasing.
         “I'm not the one you should ask,” Ben pointed to Hisashi, “He knows way more about it than I do. Would you like to do the honors?”
         “You're his best friend, you tell him. In the meantime, I think I'm going to meditate,” he began rubbing at his temple, “I've got a headache.” He walked away and sat down, his legs crossed.
         “Lazy ass,” commented Ben before turning to Vincent and sitting down. Vincent sat down in front of him and Ben began explaining, “OK, so what Davis was going to do is try a light manipulation technique, a pretty weak one simply known as Sun Gun. Manipulation, to put it simply, is making energy do what you want it to. There are different types of manipulation: light, fire, body, earth, and chaos. Understand so far?” Vincent nodded and Ben continued, “The big thing about manipulation is that anyone born normally can do it.”
         “What do you mean by being born normally?”
         “It means not have any birth defects and not look like your mother fucked a cat,” explained Ben, a bit annoyed that Vincent interrupted him. Vincent crossed his arms and scratched between his ears.