Chap1 Part 2
After checking his watch, Griffin decided that he had more than enough time to get something to eat before he had to begin his search for a team. It was about 12:37 when he arrived at the "Iron Dragon" café that was placed on the eastern side of the massive wall. It wasn't a big place and didn't look like it made very much money. However with the traffic from the tournament flowing in, business sure was booming. Griffin left the low murmur of the outside into the noisy chaotic ambiance of the restaurant. Waiters and waitresses rushed around taking orders and delivering food to yelling fans and warriors alike. Griffin wondered where all these fans came from if the tournament was invitation only. The thought left his mind quickly when he heard a loud cheery voice yell over the noise saying "Bring me some more of that!!!"
Griffin glanced over to see where the source of the yell was seated. He noticed a huge pile of plates on a table that was surrounded by cheering onlookers amused by some spectacle. He set his bag down and set off to the wooden table amidst all the madness. A waiter brushed past him with yet another portion for the already plate filled table.
"THANKS!!!" the voice from before cheerfully called to the waiter as he rushed back to the kitchen for another order. Griffin finally reached the table and stood amazed at the feat that stood before him. The man who sat at the table ate bowl after bowl of rice, steamed vegetables, noodles, and various other foods coming up only to swallow a glass of iced tea before continuing to chow down. The man was dressed in what looked like an orange and blue ghi from head to toe. He wore black boots tied on by a simple string. Yet this man could consume so much food Griffin was amazed at how powerful a build he had. All that could be seen of his head was his hair since the bowls would cover his face at all times. He had messy black hair of seemingly long length. Griffin watched him, intrigued by this man's amazing aura and even more amazing appetite.
"Oh….that's right," Griffin mumbled as his stomach growled at him angrily. He turned away from the table and made his way to the counter, hoping that he would be served quicker there than he would at a table. He took a seat and began to order something from a smiling brunette waitress. She blushed trying to avoid locking eyes with him and set off to fulfill Griffin's order.
"Hey boy. Ready to finish what we started?" a voice growled behind him.
"Bear, how nice of you to show up again," Griffin sighed without turning around to face him. Bear stared at the back of his head for a few seconds then he spun Griffin around angrily.
"You can't ignore me boy!" Bear spat lifting the youth off of the chair roughly. Griffin looked down into the man's beet red face balling up his fists.
"Put him down," a voice said calmly. Bear looked around for where the voice was and turned around to face the man in the orange and blue ghi Griffin had seen earlier. Bear took Griffin into his right hand as he used his left hand to taunt the black-haired man. The guy simply stared at Bear, unblinking. Bear grimaced at the man's confidence, a sign of recognition crossing his face. He set Griffin down and stormed out muttering curses as he went.
"Are you okay guy?" the man asked watching Griffin carefully.
"Yeah, thanks for the help..... My name's Griffin," he said offering his hand.
The man took his hand and shook it smiling. "I'm Goku. It's nice to meet you Griffin." He began to scratch the back of his head with his other hand while stopping the hand shake.
"It's nice to meet you as well," Griffin said returning Goku's smile.
"I take it you're part of the tournament. What class are you?" Goku asked looking at the symbol on Griffin's headband.
"S-class," the teen muttered still not sure if he belonged in the elite class.
Goku's eyes lit up as he looked into the warrior's peaceful green and blue eyes. "Wow! Really?!! SO AM I!!" He bounced a bit with the excitement of a kindergartner. "You must be really powerful! I can't wait for our teams to meet." <At such a young age, he's already in my range of power. There must be something special about him. Definitely, I'm sure of it now. I can hardly wait to see him in action.>
"Yeah, well…," Griffin paused for a bit, feeling a bit better about his rank in the tournament. "We can still be friends.....Right? Even if we should meet in the ring?"
Goku looked at him and smiled his warm smile. He quickly assured him that they would and began to walk towards the double doors leading out of the café. He stopped at the door and turned back to meet Griffin's gaze with a serious demeanor about him. "I want you to do me a favor."
Griffin gave him a puzzled look, nodding slowly.
"Great.... Even though we're friends, it doesn't mean I'll go easy on you if we face each other. I need you to promise me that you'll do the same. If you don't, I won't be able to learn anything from you," Goku said slightly softening his expression.
Griffin made an effort to put the same amount of seriousness into his expression. "I don't know what you'll learn from me but, I promise I won't hold back either."
"Thanks. That's all I wanted. Catch ya' later Griff," Goku said turning around and walking briskly out of the double doors.
He waved back smiling. Goku seemed to have that affect on people, Griffin couldn't remember another time in his life where he felt so comfortable smiling so much. <But what can I teach him?> He thought as he stopped smiling. He was interrupted by the clank of a porcelain plate setting down beside him.
"Here you are sweetie," the waitress called out to him.
"Thank you," Griffin replied smiling as he looked upon the double-decker bacon cheese burger he had ordered. <I'll learn something from you as well friend> he thought as he took a warm savory bite from the cheese burger.
He would indeed, sooner than he expected.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After eating five more of the same kind of cheeseburger, Griffin finally had his fill and left the belly of the "Iron Dragon" to the warm outside world. He checked his watch and groaned realizing that he had only 3 hours left to begin and hopefully complete his mission. <I know I shouldn't have flirted with that waitress> he sighed looking around for possible candidates for his team. He saw the jumping guys from before, but decided that they must already be on a team together. He scanned the rest of the horizon noticing that everyone seemed to be on a team already as well. He was distracted when he noticed a beautiful sword that was settled on the back of a young man. The sword's design was clearly defined even from where Griffin was standing. It appeared to be a claymore of sorts and by the looks of it, the owner had to be very strong to wield it effectively. Close to the hilt of this magnificent sword lay what seemed to be a large music note emblazoned into it.
“Hmm, he's all alone…,” Griffin thought aloud. He began to approach the sword wielding teen in front of him. The wielder turned around causing Griffin to smile knowing this guy would not only be a great asset to his team, but also make him look good at the same time. After all, image is important…sometimes.
He had a fairly attractive face adorned with silver hair and lavender eyes. He wore a black jacket with a sliver cross on either arm that settled just below his shoulder and his elbow. He wore a white shirt underneath with a necklace made of 3 silver pieces wrapped around his neck by a slender string. He also wore baggy gray pants and brown shoes. Connected to his belt was a set of beads that extended into his pocket. On his left wrist, hung a silver bracelet which matched a rather large silver ring on his middle finger.
Griffin could feel that they would make a good team, he knew they would, he wanted them to…..
“Hey! Been looking for you all over,” a taller teenage guy said walking up to the sword wielder. He wore a brown jacket with white pants, which he coupled with black shoes and a skull necklace that draped over his maroon under shirt. His hair was black and messy and hardly covered the four silver studs embedded above his left eyebrow. In his right ear was an earring that was composed of two silver orbs.
“Yeah!” a girl chirped in wrapping her arm around the black jacketed teen. The girl wore a simple outfit but pulled it off wonderfully. She wore tall calf length boots that accentuated her long flashy legs. Her legs were cut off by a short denim skirt that stopped at the top of her thigh. A mid-drift tank top that revealed a lot of her cleavage caressed her voluptuous top. A cross similar to the one on the sword wielder's jacket sleeves was placed in the middle of the shirt. She wore a silver arm band just below her shoulder and a silver bracelet as well. A round object suspended by a simple string fell upon her bosom and wrapped around her neck. She wore her brown hair fairly short, barely covering her pleasant face.
“Where have you guys been?” the black jacketed warrior asked as they walked in Griffin's direction smiling. Griffin sighed as he passed the happy team slowly, not lifting his eyes to meet the group's gaze.
“Well, time to start again,” Griffin huffed as he watched his hopes fade away quietly.
A little while later, Griffin was seated a t a bench under a conveniently placed tree in the middle of the grounds in front of the great wall. He searched around, waiting for something to click. His eyes stopped again as he noticed a girl being harassed by two persistent and seemingly grabby men. She was refusing, brushing off the comments and pleas for her affection.
“C'mon baby…you know I'm good for you,” the taller man exploded grabbing her arm gently.
“Please,” the teen girl responded rolling her eyes. For the first time since he had noticed her, he got a look at her beautiful face. Time seemed to stand still as her large sapphire eyes glowed warmly in the sun's powerful rays. Golden hair fell into her face, stopping just above her eyes. The hair was held in what seemed to be pigtails that descended from what appeared to be two balls on the top of her head. It fell all the way to the bottom of her short skirt. She wore a peculiar school uniform that reminded Griffin of an old time sailor. The top of the uniform was a simple blouse garnished with a huge blue bow with a golden heart on its center. Pink trimmed the sleeves of the blouse as well as the collar. Griffin noticed that the bottom of the blouse revealed some of her stomach, more than likely lifted up by this girl's……“talents”. Her skirt was like any typical school girl's, except it had been modified so that the blue skirt stopped just above the middle of her thighs. The sight of such a pretty girl excited Griffin greatly. “I'd never go out with someone like you.”
The other man began to laugh as his partner was shot down. Griffin decided to go and help her out, get those guys off her back. Half of him wanted to help the beautiful 18 year old. His other half just wanted to have a turn to talk to her. He made his way over calmly and quickly trying not to attract attention to himself. Just before he was within five feet of her, he froze at what he saw next.
One guy made the mistake of grabbing something he shouldn't have. The girl spun around to face the man who had just grabbed her backside, her eyes flaring with anger. She quickly threw a knee into the perv's stomach, then leapfrogged over him and landed a flying snap kick to the other's temple…all in about six seconds flat! She brushed her hands together giving a 'humph' as she walked away.
“Serves you right,” she whispered heading towards the wall briskly. Griffin stared on in disbelief at what he had just seen. It took a few moments until he could call out to her.
“Hey....wait up! Are you in the tournament?” He ran after her as she turned around to face her pursuer. She sighed heavily, stretching her tight shoulder muscles slowly.
“I'm getting tired of you guys. I'm pretty, I have a perfect body, and I should be with you….blah, blah, blah….. I GET IT ALREADY!!!! How many of you do I have to hurt until you all will just leave me alone?!”
Griffin threw his hands up in defense as the girl encroached upon him menacingly. “No, it's not that……I….I was just wondering. I'm in the tournament too!”
Her body slowly began to un-tense as she ran her fingers through her long sunshine-colored hair. “Oh…well. I'm really sorry about that then…It's just that….Never mind. I'm in the tournament too,” her eyes shined brightly as she said these words.
Griffin returned to his regular relaxed position and extended his hand. “My name's Griffin Motomiya. May I ask for yours?”
“Well,” she grinned accepting his hand. “Since you asked so very politely. My name's Serena Tsukino.”
“Serena, that's a pretty name,” he proclaimed shaking her hand gingerly. He stopped shaking her hand as a batch of fresh word vomit began to spew from his mouth. “This is great. What class are you? Are you ready to begin? What kind of powers do you have? Why are you wearing a sailor's outfit? How old are you? What's your favorite food? Do you have a team yet?” Griffin panted after he finished, knowing he must've said at least one stupid thing in the process.
Serena stared back at him with a puzzled look on her face, holding her hands in front of her waving them as if to try and absorb all the albino haired boy had just said. “Whoa. Calm down….this isn't a race ya' know.” The puzzled look turned into a graceful thinking face. Griffin noticed the change immediately and admitted that this new face was definitely cuter. “Let's see. Uhm, I'm an A-class. I think I'm just about ready. I'm not really sure how to describe them…I feel pretty good when I'm wearing these….18 as of June 30th. I enjoy ice cream…that counts right? I don't have a team yet. And I think that's it….yeah.”
“Really? You don't have a team?” Griffin's excitement peaked as he watched Serena shake her head solemnly. “I don't either, uhm…want to join my team then?”
“No,” Serena answered dryly. Griffin's head sank at the word, dismayed by the utter extent of his awful luck.
“Oh…..” he breathed out. “Okay” He began to walk away slowly, but was stopped by a hand on his back. He turned around to stare at the face of a sweetly smiling Serena.
“Buuuuuuut…I will join OUR team.”
Griffin laughed greatly. “Thank you so much!!” He leaped forward and embraced her, lifting her off of her feet and swinging her around in circles. He stopped suddenly and put her down. “Uhm…uh….sorry…,” the blushing boy said shoving his hands into his pockets.
Serena said nothing, turning away to block his view of her newly reddened cheeks.
“Well partner, shall we go?” she said finally breaking the moment of awkward silence.
“Yeah, let's,” Griffin exclaimed as he walked towards the tree where his bag was.
“Uhm, we still need another teammate to enter, right? Serena asked following closely behind her new partner.
“Yeah, but that shouldn't be too hard. With the both of us, it shouldn't take any time at all,” Griffin explained as he turned back giving her a confident smile. “Don't worry about it.”
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“I can't believe this is so ****ed hard! Even with the both of us, we still haven't found anyone. On top of that it's already 5:50,” Griffin grumbled as they sat back down on the bench in front of the tree.
“Yeah,” Serena said as she watched her dreams of the tournament float away. She looked in the distance as she spoke. “At least we tried….right?”
“Yeah, and it hasn't really been a total bust I guess. I mean we did get to know each other better,” Griffin commented. As they were walking from person to person looking for a teammate, they played a game Griffin was quite found of. He called it the question game to get to know each other better. They went back and forth, asking each other questions and they were required to answer all of them no matter how intimate or vulgar they may seem.
~ ~
“Have you ever been in love?” Griffin asked gently as he weaved in and out of groups of people.
Serena stopped and stared at him with her deep wondrous blue eyes. “Yea…I was…”
“Really? Who was it?”
“I…I…don't want to say,” she whispered looking down at her school girl shoes.
“I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…,” Griffin looked at her with an apologetic demeanor. “Well…it's your turn,” He suggested trying to get off the subject.”
“What about you?”
“Yeah…. I suppose…I kinda' still am.”
“Did she come to watch you?” Serena asked even though she didn't really want to know the answer.
Griffin swallowed heavily as a lump began to quell up in his throat. He began to scratch his left elbow, “I suppose.”
“You don't know?”
“I'm just not sure…last time I saw her was about five years ago,” Griffin whispered back. He wondered why he was able to tell her things that he hadn't been able to tell even the closest of his friends, and they had just only met a few hours ago. Why was that?
“May I…Can I ask what happened to her?” Serena probed with a small frown on her face. Griffin wheeled around stopping her dead in her tracks. He locked eyes with hers then darted his eyes to the sky above them. He swallowed heavily again, then whispered hoarsely.
“She was killed.”
~ ~
“Yeah, I guess,” Serena responded cheerfully. The resentment in her voice was still clear though. It was a feigned cheer that she showed and Griffin knew it. He felt his conscious began to weigh down on him, feeling that he had kept her back from entering the tournament. He looked at Serena and struggled to say the words that he thought were right for the moment.
“Uhm, well. I'm sorry you won't be in this tourney all because of me….you still have enough time to go and join another team if you hurry.”
Serena looked into his sullen face and smiled. “No, I'm not gonna' just up and leave you like that.” She stopped as she watched a leaf float by her sweet face. “We can at least watch it together though.”
“Yeah, I guess you're right,” Griffin responded taken aback by the teenage girl's suggestion. He smiled as he leaned back against the tree. Even though he didn't get to show off his moves, at least he had made some new friends. Too bad he wouldn't have the chance to face Goku. That was his only regret.
“****IT!!!” a male voiced yelled out from behind the tree startling Griffin.” I can't believe you guys can't compete on my team! Why didn't you get invitations anyways?
“I don't know. Guess they only wanted one member of our crew or something,” another guy's relaxed voice answered back.
“I only have three minutes till the deadline….hmph…Oh well, guess I'll just have to sit this one out then,” the first voice sighed heavily. By this time Griffin had made his way around the tree to see who this voice belonged to. To his surprise, he spotted the silver haired sword wielder from before.
“Wait….what did you just say?” Griffin interjected into their conversation. The silver haired kid turned around perplexed as to what he was talking about.
“What do you me….wait? Were you eavesdropping on us?!” He stood up quietly, an angry look spread over his face.
“No! I mean yeah…I mean…Never mind! Did you just say that you don't have a team anymore?” Griffin exploded unable to contain his excitement any longer.
The boy stepped back a bit with a fearful expression plastered on his face. “Well, yeah…I don't.”
“That's great! Then you can join ours,” Serena chirped in pushing Griffin out of her way.
“Uhm, I would but….to be honest…you guys are freaking me out.” He stepped back again looking into Serena and Griffin's eager and hopeful eyes.
“We don't mean to scare you. We just really need a third person. That's all. Please, will ya'?” Griffin pleaded.
The tall black haired companion of the boy grabbed his shoulder looking at Serena. “Sure he will….ain't that right Haru?”
Haru looked up at the black haired guy and yelled roughly. “What are you doing Musica? I didn't agree to that! Besides, I'm sure Elie wouldn't like me running off with another group, would ya?”
The girl who had been quiet for this whole conversation stepped forward, placing her hand on Haru's right shoulder. “I think you should do it. I'll be cheering for you with all my heart.” She gave him a goofy smile as he cringed at the words.
“Well, it's settled then!” Serena exclaimed. “Welcome to our team.”
Haru glared back at his companions, and then shrugged. He had finally given in. “Yeah, I'm honored.”
“We'll meet you guys inside. It was nice to meet you two. Take good care of Haru for us,” Musica said walking away with Elie in tow.
“Wait up guys…you can't just….,” Haru trailed off as he watched his friends sprint away laughing.
“Welcome to the team,” Griffin said giving a big toothy grin. “My name's Griffin Motomiya and this is Serena Tsukino.” Serena gave a small wave as Haru sized her up.
“I'm Haru Glory. But most people just call me the Rave Master,” Haru said smiling broadly. “Shall we register then?”
The newly formed trio began to make their way to the registration booth embedded in the gigantic wall.
“Rave Master? He must be really into techno, or something.” Serena whispered into Griffin's ear. Griffin quickly nodded his head as he followed this dancing king.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh, and that scene with Jeffrey is a bit cruel. I wrote this part of the chapter at least two months ago and I had a different view of what I wanted from this story at the time. That view has since changed and become something far grander in scale. I'm writing chap.3 right now and polishing the end of chap 2. It should be quite a doozy. 
). So don't get discouraged if you don't get replies for a long time. Let it be a fuel to you to keep on going.