Dirty Paws

[Aikawa Kotaro]

Sounded like a frightened little kid on the phone but when Kotaro appeared at the park, he found himself facing down an old and familiar face. The one who created creatures or summoned them to this realm in order to cause mayhem. Kotaro raised his brows, not having expected to face him. Hazleton was something of a nexus for supernatural activity in the world but it was one of many--he didn't think this little place warranted the attention of somebody so powerful. He said as much, and he wasn't sure what was going on but the dragon that the kid had called about... his energy was diminishing rather quickly.

Mid-conversation, however, he found himself assaulted by a small, furry animal. The thing dropped down from a tree and grabbed onto Kotaro's face and clung to it and Kotaro struggled to pry the thing off. It made some kind of sound as it clung to him with all its strength and then a moment later there was some human kid coming charging at him.

With an ungainly motion, he threw a hand out and tried to keep the kid at bay while the other hand was still on the furry creature that doggedly would not let go.

Blue

[Kero Sima]

"LEAVE ELKE ALONE!"

Kero ran into the thick of things, finally unable to stand by and do nothing. He wasn't the bravest of the brave--not even mildly brave--but even he couldn't watch Elke struggling against a big guy like that crooked cop.

Kero's adventurous streak came mostly from being a dumb kid and not knowing better, or from his desire to be just like his brother Kinley. When Kinley did dumb things, Kero did dumb things, too. It usually happened like that. For example--Kinley sneaking off to go see the pride parade, and not even taking Kero. He contemplated taking a Greyhound out to Portland, too, but he didn't have enough money to pay for the bus fare. Thus, he was stuck in Hazleton. But good thing he was because he found Dragon! Kinley would be so thankful, he'd HAVE to take Kero along next time!

Flailing his arms like windmills, Kero tried to get the stranger--the bigger of the two evil bad guys--to stop attacking Elke. Never mind the fact that it was Elke who leapt onto the guy first! Elke was just a kid! Who attacked kids?!

"DRAGON RUN! GO HOME!" he yelled, sparing a glance at Dragon who was half-hidden behind some bushes nearby. Dragon looked weak and sad and faded, just like he told Kinley over text. His ink was smudgey; it looked like somebody took an eraser and was trying to erase him. Only the eraser was bad and didn't rub out the marks completely so he looked blurry and indistinct, but still present somehow.

[Aikawa Kotaro]

What in the spirits' name was going on here? There was this kid coming at him shouting about leaving Elk-something-or-other alone and he had to surmise that was the name of the dragon. At least, he thought as much up until the part where the kid started shouting at the dragon to run. Finally prying the little fur ball off his face but leaving stinging scratches down his face, Kotaro shook out the animal and gave it a stare. Red panda from the looks of it. A little one, too, half grown.

"You kids have no idea what you're doing," he said, and he had more to say but the panda bit him nice and hard right in the crook of his hand, where the thumb met the palm. Letting out a shout, he finally dropped the panda and it rolled onto the ground amidst dried up leaves and dirt.

He felt the magic as it occurred. Shifting took a bit of magic; it didn't surprise him that the panda was a shifter. Mostly because 1. these animals weren't native to the area and 2. they weren't known for dropping from the sky onto unsuspecting mens' faces.

And it wasn't much of a surprise that it was a kid when it shifted and pointed at himself and the man he'd met. "You two are in... cohorts with each other!"

Cohorts?

[Kero Sima]

"Elke!" Kero shouted as he ran after Elke with both arms held out, like he could stop him from rolling if he reached out hard enough. He goggled when a kid emerged from the form of the red panda—which hadn't been an exaggeration. Then he whipped around to glare at the crooked cop and at the other man, whom he recognized as the owner of the Moonlight Inn (now closed, after the fog happened).

Pointing an accusatory hand at the taller—and therefore eviler—man, Kero nodded to agree with Elke. "You're supposed to be the good guy!"

But wait. Why was Ryan hurting Dragon? Was he the bad guy or was the bad guy already gone? From what Kero knew of Ryan, he seemed nice. Kinda quiet and unassuming, and he never left the Moonlight Inn to come into town—that Kero knew of. The times that Kero saw him, he was out in the woods by the outskirts with his friends, passing by. Ryan usually stood at the door and waved at them when he saw them.

"No one's hurting... ah... Dragon?" Ryan said calmly, stepping forward finally. "We were just looking at him."

And there was something in his eyes that made goosebumps rise up all along Kero's arms, when their gazes matched.

[Elke Chan]

"Yeah!" Elke agreed, then looked over at the other kid. Wait, which one was the good guy? Weren't they both bad guys? Elke was so confused now. And where was the cop. If this was the cop then--then yeah! He was supposed to be a good guy! Yeah! Elke stared at him like he could force him into turning into a good guy. All the man did was take off his coat.

"He's changing into his final form!" Elke shouted, moving backward in a defensive stance--just as the jacket was thrown into his face.

"Put something on, kid. Nobody wants to see that."

Indignantly, Elke wrapped the jacket around himself.

"Yeah--well! Nobody asked you, anyway!"

The long haired guy looked at Kero. (Had to be Kero, right? He knew his name and everything and he was here and he called the dragon 'Dragon' and everything.)

"The dragon shouldn't be in this realm," the long haired man said. "That's what's doing this to him."

[Kero Sima]

"NO DON'T!" Kero yelled irrationally, as though the bad guy would listen to him and stop... stripping? What was he doing? Kero backed off a pace, ready to make a run for it,, until the man threw his jacket at Elke. Even though it wasn't a violent motion, he still let out a squeaky, fearful yelp.

Oh. Yeah. Elke was sorta naked.

Why was he naked?! Did he run around without clothes on all the time? Kero could've sworn he saw Elke with clothes on at school but maybe... that was at school only. He wasn't judging though. Lots of kids did weird stuff around Hazleton—now he wondered if they, too, were magical. Or just plain weird. Either way, Elke seemed unharmed and Kero shuffled forward a step again, closer to him.

"Dragon was fine before! He stayed with us for a long time! It's YOU! Doing weird stuff to him!"

[Aikawa Kotaro]

Dragon. The kid kept calling the dragon... Dragon, like it was a name. It would have been something he would have laughed merrily at had the mood been lighter. Instead, things were tense, even before the kids burst in. It was cute that they were playing protector and all but... Kotaro eyed Ryan for a brief second. In this new body, he looked so innocent and tame, a normal young man. The kids probably didn't even realize there was anything off. For all intents and purposes... Kotaro likely looked like the villain. He hadn't done anything to the dragon, though. He assumed this was the dragon the boy had called him about.

There were a handful of people like himself here in Hazleton--cops that worked with the supernatural. There was a special code in the emergency number one could call if they were privy to the supernatural world of Hazleton. It could have been anyone that got this call but it was Kotaro. He couldn't help but believe it had been fate. Or something more sinister. He barely looked at Ryan.

He turned his attention to the kid shouting about his dragon friend. Slowly, he reached out to touch the kid's shoulder but his little friend was like a yapping dog and he immediately flapped his arms in his over long jacket, jumping between his hand and the other kid. Then he pushed his hand away and stared at him, a lot like a small yapping dog. Was he sure he was a red panda...?

Slowly, Kotaro lowered his hand.

"Look," he said, "if you were taken from this realm and placed in another one, you would find the new realm... hostile to you. The dragon comes from another realm. He doesn't belong here."

[Ryan Lee]

How irritating.

Not only did one of his special reapers escape its realm, but it had made friends here and it was drawing a lot of unnecessary attention. Once the reapers disappeared--and all of the tainted humans returned to their human bodies--Ryan had intended to disappear from Hazleton. He had gotten what he came here for and there was no reason to linger. This was hampering his efforts to collect elsewhere.

As luck would have it, too, he ran into an old... friend here. Behind Ryan's smiling face, there was real annoyance. That accursed dragon--whom the kid was hilariously calling Dragon--would pay once he got it back into its rightful realm. Ryan didn't tolerate insubordination. It was difficult enough tracking the escaped dragon down, and just as he was about to banish it, all of these pests came onto the scene.

Yes, even Kotaro. Even he was a pest now that he chose to rebel against the bonds that tied them.

"We want to take him home," Ryan said softly, sparing a quick glance at Kotaro--who was steadfastly avoiding his gaze. Well, good. He had a lot to account for. "He'll only get worse if you keep him--"

"No!! Dragon can't leave!" The human child burst out suddenly, with a hand protectively curled around the shifter's shoulder. Together they looked foolish, standing up against forces that they couldn't possibly hope to understand or combat. Ryan could have swatted them with a flick of the finger... if not for the man-sized pest standing two feet away from him. "He-he can't! Not till my brother gets here!"

[Aikawa Kotaro]

Phrasing it nicely--that they wanted to take the dragon home--didn't seem enough for the kids. They were smart kids. Crossing his arms, Kotaro looked the kids over. They were passionate. They wanted to do good by somebody. Their friend, the dragon. It made his cold heart feel a little fuzzy, seeing kids like them. It had been a long, long time since Kotaro was anything like them but it reminded him of why he'd rebelled from his past life. Maybe he could find a way to help them without letting Ryan take his dragon back.

Not that he was really Ryan's, not any more than Kotaro considered himself Ryan's. And the dragon probably didn't have a strange and bumpy lifetime history with him. Ah, he hoped not. Where was the dragon now? He peered around. It might have done as it was bid and tried to run but Ryan's hold on it was strong. If the dragon ran, he wouldn't get very far.

"Your brother?" Kotaro asked with a lift of a brow. "What does your brother have to do with this? What are your names?"

[Kero Sima]

HAH! Like they were going to tell the bad guy their names.

That was a classic mistake in movies, letting the bad guy in. Kero shook his head stubbornly and kept his mouth shut. He leaned down to mutter into Elke's ear, "Don't tell him anything! He's trying to trick us!" But they were smart kids so they could see right through those tricks. Kero wasn't going to let Dragon out of his sight until Kinley got there!

From beside them, the bushes moved. Dragon uncurled slowly, lifting his head with great apparent effort. He seemed confused and made a low noise that Kero couldn't describe. It wasn't a human sound, that was for sure. And it made something in him shake a little because... it sounded like the sound that a dying animal might make. Was Dragon dying? He looked so sad, tangled up in the bushes like that, like he didn't even have enough energy to move.

Kero  grabbed his phone out of his back pocket and checked his messages, urging Kinley to hurry up--before the bad guys made off with Dragon or hurt him some more!

[Kinley Sima]

Dragon... He kept imagining him the way that Kero described him and he felt a nasty churning in his stomach. Something awful was happening and he had been dumb enough to go off and have fun. What was he thinking? Why did he ever say yes? He was a third wheel the whole time, anyway. And he spent the entire time on his phone, checking to see if Kero found out anything. And then when he did, Kinley was all the way in bum-fuck-Portland!

His heart raced and he sat on the edge of his seat, encouraging his driver to go faster. When he could see the park approaching, Kinley was practically standing (well, he was leaning forward enough that he'd kill himself by splatting against the windshield if they stopped too quickly.)

"Is this the place?" asked the older man who had been driving them. Kinley quickly paid the man and tipped him for speeding, carelessly giving him some large sum of money without thinking. Then he scrambled out of the car, running at the top of his speed for the park up ahead. He could see the small gathering of people and he recognized a few of them. Of course, Kero. Not his friend, though. And there was Ryan, just like Kero said and some tall, long-haired man. But Dragon? Where was Dragon? With his heartbeat thrumming in his veins, he nearly bum-rushed the villain--the guy Kero warned him about. But even as his fist started to connect with his chest, he saw past them all and saw Dragon.

"Dragon!"

Everything else around him melted away into the background. Everything, the creepy man, the kid he didn't know, Ryan and his supposed weird look, and even Kero. Even Kero disappeared. The only thing Kinley saw was Dragon and he looked... bad. He looked like somebody had tried to remove him from the world but he'd stubbornly left his stain here. Kinley wanted that to remain forever.

"Dragon!" he cried again, barely able to breathe or speak as he sprang into the bushes alongside him. "How did this happen?"

[Kero Sima]

"Kin!" Kero cried out in relief as soon as he saw Kinley dashing up, only to have the relief be replaced by fright as Kinley tried to attack the bad guy cop. "KIN!" he shrieked again, this time in shock. Before Kinley got a punch in, though, he noticed Dragon hiding in the bushes and all the fight seemed to drain out of him.

It was the first time that Kero had really seen his brother acting like this. Like the world might be ending--ending with Dragon's disappearance. It made him feel scared and uncertain; he was used to being the one with all the questions. Kinley was the one with all the answers, but this time it looked like he was all out of solutions. As Kinley leapt into the bushes, Kero shuffled closer, too, and peered inside.

Dragon weakly lifted his head. He half-nudged Kinley's leg but it looked like he barely connected, and then his head fell back against the leafy bushes. There was a half-hearted rustle as his tail twitched and he uttered a weak noise in response to Kinley's question while Kero gulped and tried to say something comforting--but the only thing that came out was a squeak.

"The dragon needs to go back to his own realm," Ryan said again, this time less softly than before. There was a weird note in his voice as he, too, stepped closer to the bushes. "Move aside."

[Kinley Sima]

"What?" Kinley's brows immediately drew together as he looked at Ryan. If that was the same nice guy who worked at the weird little hotel in the area, he couldn't fathom why he would speak so icily about Dragon. Couldn't he see that there was something else going on here? Kinley might not have some magic mojo and he didn't know all the supernatural mumbo-jumbo that surrounded their little town but he heard enough. There was magic here. If there was any place on Earth or this realm, he was sure this was the place where Dragon could be safe.

"No," he drew an arm protectively over Dragon, half expecting Ryan to kick him aside and pull Dragon up by his throat. Why? There had never been any kind of weirdness about Ryan that he could recall. He'd always just seemed like a nice but quiet guy, a hermit. Not some kind of homicidal maniac. Tensing, Kinley gave Ryan a look over, then the other guy.

"Are you hunters, is that it? You want to take him out because he doesn't 'belong'? Because you're wrong. He does belong here. I know it. Because I can feel it."

[Ryan Lee]

Really. It was cute, how the human had become attached to the dragon. Ryan could see the protectiveness shining from the human's eyes, and the way that he flung his arm around the dragon said plenty already. He probably found the dragon exciting and special, and wanted to keep him around--dragons were a one of a kind pet.

Too bad what the human wanted was irrelevant.

Ryan didn't smile; he barely acknowledged the actions of the human. Barely twitching, he stared the human down. Foolish human children were less quick to know fear. Adults were different--adults knew better. They sensed danger more easily than children and knew when to back away from a superior power. Then again, humans weren't all that quick on the uptake to begin with, whether they were children or fully grown.

"I don't have time to play games," he said softly, taking yet another step forward. Exerting the bare minimum of power, he forced the human aside, prying him from the dragon. "Move away before you get hurt."

[Kinley Sima]

Strange, how Ryan seemed so soft spoken but there was still an edge to his voice. Strange how he appeared harmless but the way he approached Dragon still spun a cold lump of dread in the pit of Kinley's stomach. He swallowed hard and tried to shield Dragon to the best of his ability. He couldn't imagine the things that might have already happened to Dragon to make him so weak but he knew--he swore--it wasn't this world doing it to him. Dragons could belong here. Here, in Hazleton, where magic was everywhere. A creature like Dragon, he could live here. He could thrive here.

Maybe he was stupid and naive. Maybe. But he refused to believe that.

"No," he said, emphatically. His gaze remained hard on Ryan as he took a step forward. It almost felt like they were playing a dangerous game of chicken. Kinley's mouth went dry and his heart raced but... he refused to move. He absolutely refused to move away from Dragon. Whatever Dragon's intended fate was, he was going down with him.

At least, that was what his stubborn mind said. His body, however, was pushed aside not of his accord. Kinley fought back against the push and tried to regain his spot protecting Dragon.

"I don't either!" he gasped. "Why does he matter to you? You obviously don't care about him so why not leave him with people who do???"