Hizashi Chapter 1: My Net, not your Net

In the Past

“Grandpa, this isn’t working! It’s hard!” His grandpa smiled and plucked a white rose off the bush in the back garden, clasping his hands gently around it. “Never give up on anything, Hizashi. You will achieve it, eventually.” Then he looked up into the blinding sunlight (which, by the way, didn’t seem to hurt his eyes at all) and thrust his hands upward. “Oh, grandpa! That’s amazing!” A few doves had flown out of his hands and into the morning sky.

Present Day

Obviously, their relationship has wavered a little…

“Hizashi! Get back here boy! I said, come back!” He threw up his hands in frustration and ran after him. “Why do I always get these lectures? He thinks I’m going to learn just because he blows his top and yells at me? Ha! That’ll be the day!” Hizashi said to himself as he ran down the village path into a grassy meadow. The grass was tall enough to hide in, so he dropped down onto his knees and unsheathed his dagger, careful to pull it out slowly so as to not make any unnecessary noise and give his position away.
He heard his grandpa run into the field and froze, ducking down even lower. “Hizashi! I know you’re out here! Come out and the punishment won’t be as severe!” There was silence for a moment. He reached into his side pouch and pulled out a 棄Baka, getting ready to chuck it in the general direction of his grandfather.
Then, out of the blue…
“What’cha doing, Hizashi?” He looked up in alarm. “Po?!” Po was floating in the air above his head. “Baka! You’ll give my position away! Get out of here!” He swiped at him, but he only flew a little higher, just out of his reach, unless he were to stand up and surely get spotted. “Po! Get out of here before he—“
Then the grass in front of him parted and his grandpa grabbed him sharply by the earlobe, pulling him through the brush and across the field to the Sinai dojo again. “I’m lucky you’re so loud or I would have never spotted you! I have your friend to thank for that!” His grandfather chuckled.
His sensei was seated on the floor in the main hall, having just started lunch. His grandfather left him and his master spoke. “When are you going to stop this nonsense, Hizashi?” Hizashi plopped on the floor in front of him, helping himself to the tea and rice that was sitting in front of his master. “Why should I want to do that? It’s fun when you have nothing else to do.” He said with his mouth full.
His sensei gave him a stern look and he swallowed. “棄Gomen nasai.” His master seemed satisfied and picked up his bowl of rice to begin eating. “Sensei, why does he hate me so much?” His master took a bite of rice, chewed, swallowed, then said, “You know very well. If you wouldn’t persist with destroying his property—“
“But he hated me even before I started doing that stuff! How do you explain that?” His master chuckled a little. “Maybe he could already sense the recklessness and mischief in you that would have him suffer in the future, so he started his hating of you early, knowing this.” This explanation didn’t make much sense to him, but he just shrugged and kept eating.
His master, having finished, stood up and walked over to a sliding door on the far wall. “Hizashi, you would do well to apologize and make up for your wrongs.” Hizashi swallowed and yelled, “Why?! I—errr, fine. But not now. I’ll do it later.”

棄 Smoke grenade
棄 I’m sorry

His master looked back at him out of the corner of his eye. “Do as you wish. The consequences are yours to take.” Then he disappeared, leaving Hizashi to stare after him in contempt. “Just you wait, Master Stephen. I’ll show you what a true ninja is capable of!” He stood up, sending some of the dishes across the floor in his haste.
He left the dojo and ran through town, across the bridge that separated the forest from the homes and training dojos and stopped at the base of the giant tree that all of the students of the academy lived in. He cupped his hands to his mouth and yelled, “Jack! Are you up there?! Come down!” He was directing his attention to a balcony way up at the top of the tree. There was a faint scrapping sound, like that of a chair being pulled out and then Jack appeared out on the balcony and leaned on the railing. “What are you ranting about now, Hizashi?” He called down in annoyance. “You want to go to Mr. Minonatta’s and mess with his sand garden again?”
Jack waved his hand out in front of him to dismiss the matter and walked back inside. Hizashi sighed in disappointment, but yelled up to the balcony again, refusing to give up. “Jaaaaccckkk! Come on!” He didn’t get a chance to say anything else because at that moment, Jack came careening down at him on his 棄Java board and grabbed his wrist, pulling him up onto the board with him.
“Well, I see you changed your mind—“ Jack cut him off. “No, we’re not going to Mr. Minonatta’s. Unlike you, I don’t get into trouble just because there’s nothing else to do.” Hizashi put on what he presumed to be an innocent look, but it didn’t fool Jack. “Why not?” Jack gave him a stern look and continued. “I thought we might take my board and surf the net awhile.” Hizashi leapt in the air, despite the fact that he was standing on a surfboard flying hundreds of feet over the treetops and exclaimed, “Oh yeah! I hadn’t thought of that! Let’s go!”
The net was really a special road that curves and twists throughout the sky. Nobody knew what it was made of, exactly. Strange things have been said to happen while one was traveling on it, though. You best be flying, or you’re in for a load of trouble. Some people have reckoned that they saw a fire hydrant chasing them, or at times, saw millions of rats flooding the path that weren’t really rats at all, but great masses of bubbles.
“We’re coming up on the net! Are you ready?” Jack yelled behind him, unsure of where Hizashi was. “I was born ready!” He shouted, coming up on his left side suddenly and startling him, causing him to almost topple from the board. “Hizashi! Don’t do that again, do you hear me?!” Hizashi smiled sheepishly and shielded himself, apologizing. “Ah, I’m sorry! Geeze, come on! Let’s get moving!”
Jack straightened his collar and shrugged it off. “Fine. You better get ready!” They both gripped the edges of the board and leaned low to the surface as they approached the metal and chrome-like railing that made up the net. It was necessary to do this because of all the obstacles and roadblocks. Sometimes it was wind, sometimes something would be chasing them or something would have to be switched or swatted at to open something, like a door. At times, the roads opened up into whole new worlds or universes; the climate and surroundings would change so drastically, you didn’t have much of a chance at adapting to it. If you didn’t keep low to the board, you would most likely be knocked off or blown off by something. It was hard not to lose your balance with creatures heaving things at you left and right and things exploding right under your feet.
“Shiitake mushrooms! X door! Keep low and hang on! It’s going to get rough!” Jack said, bracing for impact. As they soared over it, the sensors above the door, flashing after picking up their movement, exploded. The board got jolted to one side and went sideways for a second and Jack had to hand on for his life. “Holly Hinduism! Hizashi! Flip the board upright, man!”
Hizashi struggled to right the board, but it wouldn’t budge from its current sideways position. “There’s a checkpoint up ahead! I’ll have to try and flip the board when we cross over it or it’ll flip upside down! Hang on!” The board was wobbling dangerously on its axis and jack was having trouble hanging on because of it. “Hurry up, Hizashi! I can’t hold on for much longer!” He gripped one of Jack’s hands in an effort to keep him from falling off, and Jack reached up with his other hand, grabbing hold of Hizashi’s arm, just about pulling him from the board. “Whoa! Jack, take it easy! We’re almost there!”

棄 A surfboard that flies

They were almost upon the checkpoint when a strong gust of wind blew from under them and righted the board, sending the two of them tumbling on the smooth surface, frustrated but relieved. “That was smooth, Hizashi. But how did you do it if I was watching you the whole time and didn’t see you move?” Hizashi sat upright and thought for a second. “That’s just it…I didn’t.” He said, matter of factly. “Then who or what did?” Jack asked, looking around.
“I don’t know. It couldn’t have been a Xrii wind machine because it’d have to have been on the side, but that’s not possible. The wind arcs are always in the front and back and would have blown us even more off-course…and I didn’t see anyone following us—“ He said uncertainly, to which Jack replied, “And if we were, they probably wouldn’t have tried to help us. It must have come from underneath us, where we couldn’t see them.”
Hizashi suddenly looked agitated again. “I think I know what’s going on here.” He knelt at the edge of the board and leaned over to examine the underside. “Po! Just as I thought! What do you want now?! Why are you always bothering me?” He yelled at Po, outraged. He was clinging upside down to the board as a bat would on a cave ceiling. Po just smiled. “I see you found me out. I just wanted to help out my friends, is all.”
Then he laughed and unstuck himself from the bottom of the board. Before the story progresses any further, there are a few things you should know about Po. He’s half angel and half demon; he has one angel wing and one demon wing. Some might think that he wouldn’t be able to fly, having two different wings, but he can, just not very fast; it’s more of a flutter or hovering.
He took off from the board and continued to follow along behind them. “Po! We don’t need your help, you traitor!” Hizashi shouted angrily. “I could have tipped the board upright myself. I didn’t need your help, you nark!” At first, Po had seemed confused as to the reason that he was being called a traito, but with these last words from Hizashi, he suddenly realized why. “Are you still mad because I gave your position away to your grandfather? I just wanted to know what you were doing. I thought you were ninja training or something and I wanted to play, too. I’m sorry if I got you into trouble. I didn’t know what was going on.”
Hizashi didn’t answer, then folded his arms and grumbled to himself. “You shouldn’t try to run away from your problems, Name. They won’t go away on their own.” Po said suddenly, receiving another loud reaction from Hizashi as he stood up on the board so suddenly that it just about tipped over again. Jack tried frantically to steady it again while Hizashi yelled, “Don’t you ever call me that again! My name is Hizashi! HI-ZA-SHI! You hear me?! I’m not the only one who has problems, you know! So don’t lecture me on what’s right and wrong!”
Jack nudged him to get his attention and pointed ahead of them. “Ah, banzai beans! This might get a little crazy!” They both stood up and looked ahead to where a bunch of bubbles were gathering on the road. As I said earlier, they looked a lot like rats up close, but there’s a catch. Sometimes they explode, sometimes they shoot things at you and sometimes they shout out really stupid things, things that aren’t even words. How would you like to fly through a cloud of bombs and hear somebody shout out something like “agoobafooder!” It’s really annoying, believe me.
As they approached the massive cloud of impending doom, Hizashi began thinking. “Maybe they have a weak spot. You know, like some way to disarm them so they won’t explode. What are they made of, Jack? Can you see?” Jack walked to the very edge of the board and squinted, raising his hand to shield his eyes from the sun. “Hang on s sec.” FFFFSSSTTKHHHHH! A pair of oddly-shaped glasses appeared on his face and he turned a dial, adjusting them to the right distance. “Ah, looked like some kind of jell sub—wait, it’s water! I can take care of this!” He raised his arms and chanted:

鲔龊 鲟鲴 龃鳗豸 鲐鬈鳎
鎏鎏鲟霁 蹶蹑觞 鲷鞯鲲麂
髑麽 髟鳕 鲂鲲鳔 髅躞 踝趸跖
觯謦跷 踣 豸踬 躞雯 踉跽
跬跚 踣龈 鐾躞

A long blade appeared between his two hands as he pulled them apart and he backed up, raised the blade to eye level, getting ready to attack. Po flew ahead of them and Jack lifted the sword above his head, shouting, “Don’t do anything, Po! I’ve got it under control! Just don’t go near them. Get back here with us or else you’re going to be in for a doozy of a firework show!” and Hizashi added, “and barbequed chicken, too. Yum.” Po gave him s hurt look and fell back behind them again.
“Hizashi, you are a sad, strange, little man.” Then he ran and launched himself from the board and landed right in the middle of the large mass that had been steadily getting closer. He started hacking and chopping away at them as soon as he landed.
Sudden movement spotted out of the corner of his eye made Hizashi turn his head to look down the road pass the giant mass. Then there came a series of explosions and he looked back at the mass again. One by one, the little animals were exploding and Jack was caught right in the middle of the huge oddity. “AARRRGGHHH! Hizashi—uuh!”
Suddenly something whizzed by underneath the board and flew into the blue cloud and out the other end, without so much as a scratch. Jack had caught some fabric from it and was being dragged behind it roughly. “Hey! Wait, stop—“ It stopped once it realized it had an extra passenger and Hizashi lowered the board so he could see who it was.
“One thing to know; never go into a cloud of bomb bubbles with a sword.” Jack said and fell over, black from the explosions. It was a fellow student of theirs from the academy. “Hey, Kiishi. Why are you on the net? From what we know, you don’t need any more training.” He just stared at them and said nothing. “Where’d Po get to?” Jack asked, looking around to change the subject. Kiishi lifted his head slowly and looked above him, as if in response and they all looked up. Po was there, hovering above Kiishi’s head, listening to their conversation.
One thing you should know about Kiishi; he doesn’t seem bothered by anything or anyone, ever. It’s creepy, and thoroughly annoying sometimes, but nobody dares argue with him because they know how dangerous he is. He’s usually seen with a huge arsenal, mainly chi-chis (kunai-like throwing knives) strapped to every inch of his body, as he like to keep them handy, just in case and he’s a deadly shot, even if he’s not trying. He wasn’t this time, though. Probably weigh him down too much.
Kiishi grabbed Jack’s hand and twisted it around, breaking his grasp from his clothing. Then there came a rumbling. Jack stood up, instantly alert with the others. “Po, go see what’s going on.” Jack instructed. Po nodded and flew off down the way they had come. He was back within moments with the news. “You guys better get moving or else you’ll get trampled.” Hizashi flew a little higher, surveying the road behind them. “What do you mean by that? What is it? What did you see?” Hizashi called up to him impatiently.
“Mazingers. We better get moving.” Jack said suddenly. “How do you figure that?” Hizashi said. “By the vibrations. It goes ba-bump, ba-ba-bump. They have three toes and they kind of limp when they run. You can tell.” Just as he said this, they caught sight of them. “Just great! A whole herd!” Jack said, exasperated. “You’d better get on, Jack! You, too Kiishi. You can’t outrun them.” Hizashi moved over to make room for them on the board, but Kiishi turned as if to say, “you wanna make a bet?”
“Kiishi, come on! You’ve got to be kidding! If you tried to run from them, you’d probably run into a bunch of other things! Don’t be crazy!” Hizashi argued, but Kiishi just ignored him and started down the road by himself. Jack shrugged and went to climb on, but before he could do so, the herd was upon them and Hizashi had started the board, leaving Jack running to try and catch up. He tried desperately to run fast enough so he wouldn’t be crushed.
Kiishi could run a whole lot faster than Jack and the board, so he was way ahead of them on the road. “Jeeze, Jack. You should get out more. Look at Kiishi run!” Hizashi yelled over the roar of the herd, while reaching out frantically for Jack’s hand. “Hey, he trains a lot more than I do, so it wouldn’t matter!” He huffed, not getting any closer.
I’m going to have to slow the board down dramatically for him to even have a chance to catch up, Hizashi thought, panicking. “Jack! I’m slowing down so you can catch up! Hang on a sec!” He yelled back, making a split-second decision. “Don’t bother! I’ll find a way! Keep going!” He hesitated, before asking, “Are you sure?!”
He saw Jack deliberately slow down and then shouted, “You’re not going to do what I think you’re going to do, are you?” He saw Jack grin and he shouted, “You bet I am! Yeehaaaww!” As the herd of strange creatures came up behind him, he fell back beside one of them and grabbed its mane. “Jack! Wait—!“ But the next instant he was up and over the back of the thing and gaining fast. Hizashi sat low to the board and saluted him. “Jack, you fruit loop! Come on, then.”
As he watched, Jack started doing tricks on the damn thing. He sat sidesaddle, then touched the ground with his feet, swung up over its back and touched the ground on the other side. “Jack! You don’t have to—aw crap! Jack!” Jack had stood up on the back of the pony-like thing and was waving merrily. Jack has excellent balance, in case you were wondering.
“Come on, Jack! Quit wasting time!” He knelt down as the creature came up level with the board and reached out his hand to help Jack on. “Don’t bother.” He jumped from the beast’s back and grabbed onto the edge of the board. “It’s all under control,” he said, pulling himself onto it in the next second.
Hizashi shook his head and faced forward again. “Jack, you never quit, do you?” Jack adjusted his collar, “Not for anything,” and grinned. “Where’s Kiishi?” Hizashi asked, surveying the road ahead of them. The herd had moved on and they could see Kiishi, still running, stuck right in the middle of them. “I think he might need a lift, don’t you?”
“Indeed,” Hizashi replied. Jack’s glasses appeared as they both bent low to the board and zoomed in to meet Kiishi. “Hey, Kiishi! Hop on!” Hizashi yelled as soon as they got close enough. He glanced up at them, but didn’t make any attempt to get on. “Come on, Kiishi! Quit being so stubborn! You’ll get tired just like any mortal and then you’ll get crushed!” Jack yelled, starting to get annoyed at Kiishi’s behavior.
He sped the board up and grabbed Kiishi by the collar and heaved him up just as a cloud of bomb bubbles caught the herd. There was such a commotion, they all had to plug their ears. As soon as the bubbles and the herd came together (There were about fifteen or twenty Mazingers in the herd and about a thousand bomb bubbles), everything and everybody went nuts.
As soon as the bubbles started exploding, the horses started “opening up a can of whoop-ass,” if you will. May I remind you that these horse-like things have elemental powers? As soon as the bubbles started going off, sheets of ice, flames and rock started flying all over the place. And along with that, black smoke everywhere from the explosions so you weren’t practically blind in the midst of all the chaos.
“Hit the deck! Elemental vengeance is upon us!” Jack yelled and Hizashi laughed before joining them on the face of the board. “We have to fly ahead or we’ll get hit!” Hizashi yelled over the roar of the explosions and the great beasts as they shot flames and ice everywhere to no avail. They zoomed out of the debris and smoke, away from the noise and explosions.
They didn’t see him until it was almost too late…
“Whoa! What the—“ Jack had been looking at the chaos that was behind them and had not noticed the stranger walking up the road toward them until the board was almost upon him. They managed to swerve around him at the last second and slowed down until they were hovering a few feet above the road. “Who was that?” Hizashi asked in curiosity. Jack shook his head and said, “I don’t know, but he’s just as crazy as Kiishi, walking down the damn road like that. He’s got to be—“
The stranger stopped suddenly and a staff appeared in his right hand. He waved it in front of him a few times and all the smoke, animals, everything disappeared. Just sort of compressed into a solid ball of crystal-blue energy and exploded, sounding like shattered glass. Then the staff disappeared and he continued walking.
“Extraordinary.”