Speaker 1: I grew up at the end of the time when
Speaker 1: kids actually played outside, and anytime I spent inside, I
Speaker 1: was a clue to National Geographic I love learning about
Speaker 1: wildlife and our planet. I wouldn't say I'm an expert.
Speaker 1: I have no degrees in these fields, but I was
Speaker 1: that kid on long car rides with a million facts.
Speaker 1: As I got older, my parents got into skiing and
Speaker 1: we took trips to Vermont with some close friends of
Speaker 1: theirs who had two boys. On one trip, we stayed
Speaker 1: in a cabin between two ski resorts. It was at
Speaker 1: the midway point down a mountain that was once a
Speaker 1: skiing location. It was beautiful up there, and the air
Speaker 1: was clean, and that was quiet, and needless to say,
Speaker 1: us boys were excited to explore the area on our own.
Speaker 1: Going to this cabin became a tradition every year. We
Speaker 1: always looked forward to a nice hike up the abandoned
Speaker 1: ski slope and from there deep into the woods and
Speaker 1: up onto a bluff. It was a fifty foot rock
Speaker 1: outcropping covered in pine trees, ice and snow. It was
Speaker 1: truly a magical spot. We named it Misty Mountain and
Speaker 1: it became a big point on our checklist. Every year
Speaker 1: when we were up there, we would hike and eat
Speaker 1: and hang out and maybe do a few things our
Speaker 1: parents wouldn't approve of, like drinking beer. We packed in
Speaker 1: and packed out, and we didn't destroy anything, but we
Speaker 1: would leave apple cores and some other small food items
Speaker 1: under this one tree each time we went. We repeated
Speaker 1: that every year, leaving our apple cores and minor food
Speaker 1: scraps at that spot under the tree. One time we
Speaker 1: got up to Misty Mountain and we noticed all the
Speaker 1: leftovers under the tree were gone. Satisfied we were doing
Speaker 1: a nice thing for some hungry wild animal, we left
Speaker 1: our apple cores by the tree again. At this time,
Speaker 1: bigfoot shows were popular, and I had gotten the idea
Speaker 1: that I wanted to try a bigfoot call from the
Speaker 1: top of that abandoned ski slope, since it was open
Speaker 1: and clear of trees. So I let out my calls
Speaker 1: and listened to an echo as it ran down the mountain.
Speaker 1: But the other boys grew tired of my sili attempts
Speaker 1: and we moved on and we left our apples as usual,
Speaker 1: and just before we left, I let out my best
Speaker 1: bigfoot call ever. We started back on our hike, and
Speaker 1: as we came to the open top of the ski slope,
Speaker 1: I got a strong sense of unease. But I knew
Speaker 1: I had probably just spooked myself, and as we got
Speaker 1: down the trail past the slope again, I began to relax.
Speaker 1: The next day, I was the only one who wanted
Speaker 1: to hike back up again. It was a beautiful day.
Speaker 1: I made my way up and I stopped a while
Speaker 1: for some trail mix while lounging on the steep slope.
Speaker 1: When I reached the top, I could see the apple
Speaker 1: cores were gone from beneath the tree, but that the
Speaker 1: bread crust had been moved around but not eating. I
Speaker 1: thought maybe the deer didn't like bread. Well, that wasn't
Speaker 1: anything strange, and as my thoughts went in the direction
Speaker 1: of bigfoot, I reminded myself that it was just a
Speaker 1: scary story in something that happens at night. But then
Speaker 1: the feeling came over me again, the one that makes
Speaker 1: your whole body tingling gold cold. It was chilly outside,
Speaker 1: but this was different. It was the cool shiver of fear.
Speaker 1: As I tried to brush the feeling off, I became
Speaker 1: hyper aware of how far I was from anyone, and
Speaker 1: how alone I was. I decided I had spent enough
Speaker 1: time up there and that I would head back. I
Speaker 1: left my whole apple as an offering because I figured
Speaker 1: I could potentially use some good luck. A bigfoot were
Speaker 1: watching me, maybe i'd let it know that I had
Speaker 1: left something, so for whatever reason, I got a good
Speaker 1: bigfoot whoop and I started on my way down. In hindsight,
Speaker 1: that was a stupid idea. When I got to the
Speaker 1: top of the ski slope to make my way down again,
Speaker 1: I felt that creepy feeling. This time though it was
Speaker 1: more intense, so I picked up my pace, and as
Speaker 1: soon as I broke the tree line, I felt another
Speaker 1: sensation wash over me, one of sheer panic. I was
Speaker 1: nearly at a full sprint in my own snow shoes
Speaker 1: going down a snow and dirt path when I hit
Speaker 1: the road and popped them off and booked it to
Speaker 1: the house. And when I got inside, I felt silly again,
Speaker 1: like when you run up on a basement steps as
Speaker 1: a kid because you're scared of the dark. By this time, though,
Speaker 1: I was twenty one, so I got myself a beer
Speaker 1: and I put the weird feelings out of my mind
Speaker 1: and enjoyed the rest of my day. I stepped outside
Speaker 1: after my parents had gone to bed and had myself
Speaker 1: a smoke break. It was a clear night, with a
Speaker 1: full moon acting like a big spotlight over the whole wilderness.
Speaker 1: As I smoked a cigarette, that creepy feeling came back
Speaker 1: over me again, and out of the corner of my
Speaker 1: eye I saw movement. It was a massive shadow, moving
Speaker 1: swiftly and silently through the trees. I lost sight of
Speaker 1: whatever it was, and then I went back inside and
Speaker 1: locked the door. Could have been a bear a moves
Speaker 1: or it could have been a bigfoot. I wasn't looking
Speaker 1: to find out. Like many cabins, the one we stayed
Speaker 1: in was mainly wood and glass, and you could see
Speaker 1: three hundred and sixty degrees from any level in that house.
Speaker 1: As beautiful as that sounds, it doesn't offer much privacy.
Speaker 1: And the whole night I felt the sensation of being watched.
Speaker 1: I didn't hear anything, and I can't say that I
Speaker 1: even saw anything, really, But when I woke up in
Speaker 1: the morning and stay out to have a smoke, and
Speaker 1: the exact spot that I had been standing the night
Speaker 1: before was a neat pile of smooth rocks neatly grouped together.
Speaker 1: I picked one up and I showed it to the
Speaker 1: other guys, and I thought maybe they had collected them.
Speaker 1: They asked if I had brought them back from Misty Mountain.
Speaker 1: That wasn't the answer I was expecting and not wanting
Speaker 1: to tell them what I had seen the night before.
Speaker 1: I smiled and I said, yeah, yeah, I brought them back.
Speaker 1: Since then, I have come to believe Bigfoot gifted me
Speaker 1: those rocks. I'm sure apples are a rare treat during winter,
Speaker 1: and I still have one of those rocks. I've heard
Speaker 1: in the stories that in fact, Bigfoot are not fond
Speaker 1: of bread, and that stones, along with sticks and dead animals,
Speaker 1: are sometimes left as gifts. It creeps me out to
Speaker 1: think that I was probably followed back to the cabin
Speaker 1: and observed the whole night. I suspect I got lucky.
Speaker 1: Vice to any Bigfoot fans out there is to leave
Speaker 1: well enough alone. Who knows what my yelling meant and
Speaker 1: Bigfoot language. A smile to a chimp is a threat,
Speaker 1: but to a human it's a greeting. Gifting is maybe
Speaker 1: the safest way to communicate with these creatures. I've always
Speaker 1: had great respect for nature and these things if they're
Speaker 1: out there are no exceptions to me. I haven't been
Speaker 1: back since. Unfortunately, that's life. I suppose. I haven't told
Speaker 1: anyone about this. There's really not much to tell except
Speaker 1: my creepy feelings. Thank you for this platform. It's good
Speaker 1: to get the story off my chest to what I
Speaker 1: know will be a receptive audience. It's hard to find
Speaker 1: these days to all those skeptics. How many fishermen were
Speaker 1: laughed at for giant squid stories until everyone had a
Speaker 1: nice piece of humble pie. I'm no expert nor a
Speaker 1: seasoned out doorsman, but I know what I felt and
Speaker 1: I know what I saw. Be careful out there, people,
Speaker 1: and always trust your gut. Okay, I'm trying to find
Speaker 1: out that. I'm trying to remember back did this monster
Speaker 1: jump out in front of this guy? It was kind
Speaker 1: of vague in the story, and there at the end
Speaker 1: he just says he just had feelings. So I don't know.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure what happened to this story. I'm going
Speaker 1: to assume he saw it, and that is pretty scary.
Speaker 1: But if he didn't see it, maybe feelings are enough
Speaker 1: to confirm a bigfoot encounter. Maybe they're not. I don't know,
Speaker 1: but it was a pretty good story and I appreciate
Speaker 1: the writer. Thank you. Hey, y'all, Welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 1: It's been I think it's been almost thirty days since
Speaker 1: I uploaded a new podcast. I want to apologize for that,
Speaker 1: but I've just been busy. I've been loaded up with work.
Speaker 1: I still have a lot of work, but it's slowing.
Speaker 1: The pressure's off, and the crisis on the schedule is
Speaker 1: seems to be a little bit over, so I can
Speaker 1: drop back and do some podcasts. But since I've been
Speaker 1: gone so long, I've got four stories from listeners. All
Speaker 1: four of them are fantastic. And then at the end,
Speaker 1: I've got an hour and a half long fiction action
Speaker 1: fiction story that I think you guys might like because
Speaker 1: I've missed a couple of fiction Fridays. So I almost
Speaker 1: shutting my mouth. We're gonna get into it all right,
Speaker 1: here we go. Okay. This is a story about the
Speaker 1: little people, many people, maybe even gnomes. The story is
Speaker 1: set in the United Kingdom in nineteen ninety five in Devon,
Speaker 1: United Kingdom. My friend lived in an old quarry right
Speaker 1: on the edge of our small town where the countryside begins.
Speaker 1: He had a caravan at the time, and it was
Speaker 1: sort of an open house with people coming and going.
Speaker 1: He had a big fire pit and we used to
Speaker 1: sit around as you do, drinking coffee and shooting the breeze.
Speaker 1: It was a nice place in the summer because the
Speaker 1: steep back quarry faced north. With all the tall trees
Speaker 1: growing on the slopes and around the edges, it was
Speaker 1: shaded and cool. Winter there was pretty bleak though, and
Speaker 1: it became dark, wet and cold, with heartily any direct sunlight.
Speaker 1: But he did make the perfect environment for ferns to grow.
Speaker 1: Large bunches of ferns were clumped about from the flat
Speaker 1: floor at the back of the quarry and up the
Speaker 1: steep slopes around the curved walls. Late one afternoon, there
Speaker 1: was a small gathering of people there. Six of us
Speaker 1: were crammed into his new caravan, which had a large
Speaker 1: window on one end where the bench seats were. We
Speaker 1: were enjoying the time when someone in the group pointed outside,
Speaker 1: and within seconds each of us was staring out the
Speaker 1: window in disbelief. Only ten feet from the window of
Speaker 1: the caravan were little people standing around the ferns. At
Speaker 1: first there were just a couple, but then more came out.
Speaker 1: They didn't have wings like and they didn't look particularly magical.
Speaker 1: They were just fully clothed miniature people going about their business.
Speaker 1: Are you seeing what I'm seeing? Asked the others, who
Speaker 1: had their mouths open and awe like me. Some of
Speaker 1: them murmured yes, and the others barely managed a week nod.
Speaker 1: Those little people couldn't have been any more than six
Speaker 1: inches tall, and their clothes looked old fashioned. There were
Speaker 1: more than ten of them. I saw a tiny woman
Speaker 1: wearing a long rustic skirt and a fitted button shirt
Speaker 1: collecting sticks from the floor into bundles, and an older
Speaker 1: man with a gray beard jumped up to a sitting
Speaker 1: position on a piece of wood and started happily kicking
Speaker 1: his short, brown booted feet. We all watched him rummage
Speaker 1: in his leather waistcoat pockets, and he retrieved a pipe
Speaker 1: with a long stem and spent a while packing it
Speaker 1: with what looked like little pieces of tobacco. He rummaged
Speaker 1: in his pockets again and sparked up an ember out
Speaker 1: of something, and as he puffed away to get his
Speaker 1: pipe going, we saw his face in more detail as
Speaker 1: it glowed in the light of the burning pipe bowl.
Speaker 1: The rest of the little people were either milling about
Speaker 1: in the open or going to and fro between the
Speaker 1: ferns and the open area by the caravan, seemingly busy
Speaker 1: with chores, picking up stuff from the ground and talking
Speaker 1: with each other. The woman with a long skirt went
Speaker 1: over to the old man with the pipe and conversed
Speaker 1: with him for a while, and then after about a
Speaker 1: half an hour, they all walked back into the ferns.
Speaker 1: They were gone. The six of us in the caravan
Speaker 1: were speechless. One of the group members got agitated and
Speaker 1: accused us of drugging her tea. I had an easier
Speaker 1: time accepting it, and I was grateful to have an
Speaker 1: experience such as an amazing thing as this. My friend
Speaker 1: who owned the caravan hadmitted that he had seen them before,
Speaker 1: but didn't tell anyone because he was afraid no one
Speaker 1: would believe him. I recently caught up with a friend
Speaker 1: who thought she had been drugged and asked her if
Speaker 1: she remembered those little people. Her eyes widened and she
Speaker 1: gasped yes. All these years later, she still couldn't wrap
Speaker 1: her head around it. Okay, y'all, I love this story.
Speaker 1: It reminds me of the did you guys ever see
Speaker 1: the movie Willow? Val Kilmer was in it. It was
Speaker 1: a great movie. My kids loved it. I loved it.
Speaker 1: We watched it a hundred times. We had the VHS
Speaker 1: tape and we watched Willow over and over and over.
Speaker 1: If you have kids that are young, it's a good
Speaker 1: movie for kids to see. And it's full of it's
Speaker 1: got little people in it of all varying sizes, and
Speaker 1: it's a fantasy story. But it's a really, really well
Speaker 1: made movie. This story was just a kind of like Willow.
Speaker 1: So that's all I can say. You know, I don't
Speaker 1: usually I usually have a lot to say, but I
Speaker 1: don't say anything, So I'm gonna quit talking about this.
Speaker 1: But I love this story. Thanks to the writer. He's
Speaker 1: a good writer, and I appreciating sending me this story. Thanks. Okay,
Speaker 1: here's a short story about a desert creature. I don't
Speaker 1: I'm reading this cold. I don't know what it's about,
Speaker 1: but that's the title. Let's see what kind of creepiness
Speaker 1: we can get into on this one. I grew up
Speaker 1: near the small town of Oracle, Arizona, in nineteen eighty.
Speaker 1: I was working for one of the local copper mines.
Speaker 1: One night, I got off work at eleven PM and
Speaker 1: drove the hour long drive back to Oracle and arrived
Speaker 1: at a local bar. I only had an hour before
Speaker 1: closing and was trying to find someone who wanted to
Speaker 1: go four wheeling that night. I talked to a friend
Speaker 1: into going out with me. It was a beautiful full moon,
Speaker 1: it was a warm summer night. After I had gone
Speaker 1: about a mile out of town, I tried to go
Speaker 1: through a really bad spot in the road and I
Speaker 1: got stuck. I had high centered both axles on the
Speaker 1: ridge between the two ditches of the road. We got
Speaker 1: out of the truck, got out the jack to lift
Speaker 1: the axles off the ground, and I started shoveling dirt
Speaker 1: and rocks under the tires. After about an hour of shoveling,
Speaker 1: I thought I would take a break have a beer.
Speaker 1: We were sitting in the back of the truck when
Speaker 1: we heard something come crashing through the brush. It was
Speaker 1: about one hundred yards out and it only got louder
Speaker 1: and got closer, and I couldn't imagine what this could be.
Speaker 1: Sounded like a bull hurtling towards us, and as it
Speaker 1: got closer, I grabbed my pistol. I stood up in
Speaker 1: the back of the truck to get a better few,
Speaker 1: and I saw it come crashing out of the brush
Speaker 1: forty feet behind us. But as thick as the brush
Speaker 1: was pushed and shoved out of the way, as this
Speaker 1: thing hit the road, there was no thing at all.
Speaker 1: We could see the brush moving as it came toward us,
Speaker 1: and we could see it moving as it went away,
Speaker 1: but we saw nothing when it crossed the road. My
Speaker 1: friend and I were freaked the hell out, and we
Speaker 1: jumped in the truck and we blasted off the jack
Speaker 1: and flew out of there. I had to go back
Speaker 1: the next day to get my jack and shovel, and
Speaker 1: when I got there, I could see where the brush
Speaker 1: had been smashed and broken by whatever had torn through it.
Speaker 1: I've never heard or seen anything like it again, and
Speaker 1: to this day I have no idea what it could
Speaker 1: have been. Oh cool, an invisible monster crashing through the air,
Speaker 1: through the through the Arizona brush out in the desert.
Speaker 1: I guess it's a desert. I Oh no, not all
Speaker 1: of Arizona's a desert. However, I've got I remember doing
Speaker 1: a story like this several years ago, and this I
Speaker 1: had forgotten about it, but this kind of jogged my memory.
Speaker 1: I doubt I could ever find that story again. I've
Speaker 1: done so many but this, I have this. I've heard
Speaker 1: this before, invisible things coming through the brush, and I
Speaker 1: swear I think the story was in Arizona. Anyway, this
Speaker 1: was really cool. I don't think they had too many beers.
Speaker 1: I think they were just enjoying a few drinks and
Speaker 1: going out four wheeling in their truck. It's a pretty
Speaker 1: cool story. Be a scary story if it happened to me.
Speaker 1: I guarantee you that, thanks to the writer. It was
Speaker 1: early October in Mississippi, and my family decided they wanted
Speaker 1: to do something special for me from my nineteenth birthday.
Speaker 1: One evening, my mom called us all into the living
Speaker 1: room and told us that she had booked a cabin
Speaker 1: in Arkansas. Now, this particular cabin was located in the Ozarks,
Speaker 1: which was exciting because I love nature and the outdoors,
Speaker 1: at least I thought I did. My dad is a
Speaker 1: software engineer, but still likes activities like camping and fishing
Speaker 1: and bonfires. My little sister, who was eleven at the time,
Speaker 1: loved the idea of God going to Arkansas just as
Speaker 1: much as the rest of us, and that brings us
Speaker 1: to the glue of our family. Our pet Yorky, He's
Speaker 1: a feisty, vocal, intelligent little thing. He hates this one
Speaker 1: commercial on TV and whenever it comes on, he'll run
Speaker 1: around the living room barking and jumping around. Our family
Speaker 1: of five embarked on this journey to Arkansas with permission
Speaker 1: from the homeowner to arrive that evening so we could
Speaker 1: enjoy all four days that we had off. We took
Speaker 1: a four wheeler with us on an open face trailer,
Speaker 1: and we were dragging it behind our twenty twelve Chevy Tahoe.
Speaker 1: The four wheeler was a standard and big enough for
Speaker 1: two to ride at a time. There were plenty of
Speaker 1: trails around the cabin that we could ride up and down,
Speaker 1: and we all look forward to using it. Winding our
Speaker 1: way through the steep hills and rock ledges, we finally
Speaker 1: arrived at the property and we entered through the gate
Speaker 1: and traveled down a twisting, turning dirt road until we
Speaker 1: entered a clearing and spotted the cabin by that time,
Speaker 1: it was kind of late, and we were happy to
Speaker 1: stretch our legs. When my mom turned the car off,
Speaker 1: everything around us went pitch black. You haven't experienced true
Speaker 1: darkness until you spend the night deep in the mountains,
Speaker 1: covered by hills and trees. It was so dark that
Speaker 1: our flashlight could barely penetrate the night well. We unloaded
Speaker 1: all our belongings and placed them on the front door
Speaker 1: as we input the cabin's code. I remember thinking how
Speaker 1: quiet everything around us was. There were no crickets, bugs,
Speaker 1: or mosquitos, or any sign of life at all. It
Speaker 1: was pure darkness and pure silence, almost like a group
Speaker 1: of uninvited guests had just arrived at a party and
Speaker 1: everyone was staring at them, wondering why they were there.
Speaker 1: I also had this strange feeling that we were being
Speaker 1: watched by something in the darkness, and I told myself
Speaker 1: it was nothing, that my mind was running wild and
Speaker 1: causing unnecessary fear, that there was nothing out there in
Speaker 1: the darkness, and that we were safe and sound. I
Speaker 1: was wrong. Little did we know that the first night
Speaker 1: was the quietest out of all the nights we stayed there.
Speaker 1: We got inside and were greeted with a welcome basket
Speaker 1: placed on the kitchen table with marshmallows and chocolates and
Speaker 1: Graham crackers along with roasting utensils. It looked tempting, but
Speaker 1: we couldn't wait to get in bed and get ready
Speaker 1: for our first big day. My sister and I stayed
Speaker 1: in the game room, which was the garage with a
Speaker 1: few beds and a pool table and an xbox. I
Speaker 1: got the queen's size bed, while my sister stayed on
Speaker 1: a bunk bed. It took us hardly any time to
Speaker 1: turn in that first night, and the following morning, I
Speaker 1: was woken up by my sister pushing and shoving me
Speaker 1: to wake up, Wake up, wake up. You've got to
Speaker 1: see this, she said. I couldn't tell if there was
Speaker 1: excitement or fear in her voice, but I ran to
Speaker 1: see what the matter was. Outside the kitchen was a covered,
Speaker 1: screened in porch, and I found my mother there with
Speaker 1: a strange look on her face. I glanced out the
Speaker 1: window and was greeted with a beautiful sight of autumn
Speaker 1: colored leaves resting on the trees. In the distance. We
Speaker 1: were surrounded by a sea of rolling hills that stretched
Speaker 1: for as far as the eye could see. It was
Speaker 1: a spectacular sight. Well, what's the matter, I asked my mom,
Speaker 1: This is actually beautiful. Your sister and I found something
Speaker 1: strange outside, she said. My curiosity was peaked. It couldn't
Speaker 1: be anything too bad, right, My sister showed me out
Speaker 1: the door and escorted me to the left side of
Speaker 1: our cabin, where I was greeted by an old tombstone
Speaker 1: position on a small hill fifty feet away from the cabin.
Speaker 1: There were two cowskulls resting on either side of it,
Speaker 1: one on the left and one on the right. It
Speaker 1: was a tombstone a little girl from the eighteen hundreds
Speaker 1: who drowned in the river, just a couple of hundred
Speaker 1: yards behind the cabin. That alone wasn't the strangest part.
Speaker 1: The strangest part was when we realized that the death
Speaker 1: occurred on the same date we arrived at the cabin,
Speaker 1: October thirteen, Just like in the old horror movies. It
Speaker 1: was a clear omen of bad things to come, and
Speaker 1: we ignored it. On our phones, we looked up whether
Speaker 1: this actually happened or not, and found an article on
Speaker 1: the events that took place. They were unseddenly Apparently the
Speaker 1: girl was separated from her family somehow and was later
Speaker 1: found in the river. Upon discovering this unsettling piece of history,
Speaker 1: we decided it may be a good time for us
Speaker 1: to get the four wheeler out and do some riding around,
Speaker 1: just to scope out the area and get our minds
Speaker 1: onto something else. While my dad and I drank our coffee,
Speaker 1: my mother and sister rode up the trail behind the cabin.
Speaker 1: The trail was a steep hill that led to an
Speaker 1: over white area with picnic tables and chairs that overlooked
Speaker 1: a river, and on the other side of the river
Speaker 1: there was nothing but dense forest as far as the
Speaker 1: eye could see. We were truly in a secluded area.
Speaker 1: And thirty minutes later, my mom and sister came riding
Speaker 1: down the mountain and seemed much happier. There's a big
Speaker 1: river over this hill that stretches for miles. My mom said,
Speaker 1: your sister wants to go back and look again. You
Speaker 1: want to take her, she asked, sure, I will, I said,
Speaker 1: I took my binoculars and rode the four wheeler back
Speaker 1: up the trail to the top of the steep hill
Speaker 1: where the picnic grounds were. I looked over the side
Speaker 1: of the hill and I could see the big river
Speaker 1: that stretched all the way through the terrain. It was
Speaker 1: a massive and endless body of water. And then I
Speaker 1: noticed another path. I went straight. There was a small
Speaker 1: opening in the woods, just big enough of the four
Speaker 1: wheeler to fit through, and I went down this trail
Speaker 1: and eventually it leveled off and we were left in
Speaker 1: an area that gave us an even better view of
Speaker 1: the river. As I brought the foreheather to a stop,
Speaker 1: I noticed something in the dirt that sparked my interests.
Speaker 1: On the edge of the hill there was a flattened
Speaker 1: out area of dirt that was disturbed. I was able
Speaker 1: to make out three solid, distinct bear footprints that appeared
Speaker 1: to be heading down the water's edge by the river. Now,
Speaker 1: at first I thought there must be some campers walking
Speaker 1: around barefooted. Not a big deal to me, although I
Speaker 1: thought it was odd that when I was walking in
Speaker 1: the same dirt, my impressions did not go as deep
Speaker 1: as the bare footprints did. Well. We got back on
Speaker 1: the foe with her and I looked out over the
Speaker 1: river and we could see the forest on the other side.
Speaker 1: In the bank where the water met the land, and
Speaker 1: as we were looking, a figure in the distance caught
Speaker 1: my eye. It appeared to be on the bank, just
Speaker 1: resting field glasses out looked down in its direction. First
Speaker 1: I thought it was a black bear because it was
Speaker 1: down and low close to the water, until it stood
Speaker 1: up on two legs and looked right at us. I
Speaker 1: thought it might have been one of the barefoot campers,
Speaker 1: except that he was covered in this dark blackish color
Speaker 1: from head to toe. As it looked at me and
Speaker 1: I looked at it, I got the most uneasy feeling.
Speaker 1: And then the figure turned and walked behind the cover
Speaker 1: of the leaves, and I lost sight of it behind
Speaker 1: the tree line. And when we got back to the cabin,
Speaker 1: I asked my mother to ask our hostess if there
Speaker 1: were any campers in the area. Well, why do you
Speaker 1: want to know, she asked, Well, I told her about
Speaker 1: the tracks and the person that we saw across the river,
Speaker 1: and it got the interest of both my parents, who
Speaker 1: wanted to go up to the top of the hill
Speaker 1: and investigate it. They took the four wheeler back up
Speaker 1: the hill, and when they got back, they had a
Speaker 1: serious look on their face. As soon as they pulled
Speaker 1: the four wheeler up beside the cabin. My mom got
Speaker 1: off and she said she had to get a hold
Speaker 1: of the hostess. Apparently the tracks freaked both of them out.
Speaker 1: Those tracks are way bigger than your dad's tracks, my
Speaker 1: mom said, Well, my dad is six foot three and
Speaker 1: he wears a size thirteen. I knew these footprints must
Speaker 1: have been larger than his because they were noticeably larger
Speaker 1: than mine, and I wear a size twelve. Mom sent
Speaker 1: a text to our hostess and inquired about any campers
Speaker 1: in the area. Her response was chilling. Not only were
Speaker 1: there no other campers in the area that she knew about,
Speaker 1: but we were the first family who wanted to stay
Speaker 1: in the cabin for months. As for the land across
Speaker 1: the river, it was a nature reserve and no one
Speaker 1: was allowed into that stretch of land. Now I felt uneasy.
Speaker 1: I knew there was a person or something else across
Speaker 1: the river on that bank. There were tracks in the
Speaker 1: dirt right beside the trail where we were on. With
Speaker 1: the rain that had hit the area a couple of
Speaker 1: weeks before we got there, these prints should have been
Speaker 1: washed away if they had been made by the previous
Speaker 1: residents of the cabin. We would soon find out that
Speaker 1: it wasn't the residence of that cabin we needed to
Speaker 1: worry about, but the residence of the forest. My family
Speaker 1: and I just became next door neighbors. That evening, we
Speaker 1: decided to make good use of the s'mores kit that
Speaker 1: was left for us. We grabbed a basket and went
Speaker 1: out the front door and over to the fire pit
Speaker 1: right in front of the cabin while it was still
Speaker 1: daylight outside. I don't think any of us wanted to
Speaker 1: be outside after dark after everything we discovered that first day.
Speaker 1: So we sat and we talked, and we made somemores,
Speaker 1: all the while listening to the wilderness. A few birds
Speaker 1: would chirp here and there and fly overhead every now
Speaker 1: and then. And we finished up as the sun was setting,
Speaker 1: and we put the fire out and we went back inside.
Speaker 1: My mom called DIBs on getting the first shower, and
Speaker 1: the rest of us decided to go in the movie
Speaker 1: room and watch TV until it was someone else's turn
Speaker 1: to use the bathroom. As we were sitting and watching
Speaker 1: the TV, we heard a loud pop from somewhere, and
Speaker 1: we thought my mom maybe dropped the shampoo bottle in
Speaker 1: the shower, but then it happened again twice in a row,
Speaker 1: pop pop, one right after another. Our dog came running
Speaker 1: into the movie room, curled up beside me and hunkered
Speaker 1: down like it was afraid and warning protection. For four
Speaker 1: or five minutes, we listened to the popping until we
Speaker 1: realized it was the sound of something being thrown onto
Speaker 1: the roof. Is it raining? My dad asked, hang on,
Speaker 1: let me go see, I said. As the popping continued,
Speaker 1: I looked out the window of the front porch and
Speaker 1: I couldn't see any rain or hint of any weather.
Speaker 1: And when I got back into the movie room, the
Speaker 1: sounds came to an abrupt stop and everything went dead silent.
Speaker 1: When my mother got out of the shower, she asked
Speaker 1: us what all the popping racket was, and we told
Speaker 1: her we didn't know, and then went on watching TV
Speaker 1: a little longer before going to bed. The next morning,
Speaker 1: I made a nice cup of coffee and enjoyed it
Speaker 1: at the movie room while I waited for the rest
Speaker 1: of the family to get ready. And once we were
Speaker 1: all dressed, we stepped outside and had to look around
Speaker 1: the cabin to see if we could see anything out
Speaker 1: of the ordinary. We didn't have to look too far
Speaker 1: before we saw what was causing all the commotion last night.
Speaker 1: All over the ground were baseball sized rocks scattered through
Speaker 1: the grass around the cabin that came from the top
Speaker 1: of the hill where the picnic area was, which overlooked
Speaker 1: the river. I knew that because I remember seeing them
Speaker 1: up there. As we walked around the other side of
Speaker 1: the cabin, we saw that the two cowskulls sitting on
Speaker 1: either side of the tombstone were gone. I walked closer
Speaker 1: to the tombstone when I saw something by my feet dirt,
Speaker 1: the same tracks that I had seen at the top
Speaker 1: of the hill. We're now beside our cabin and the
Speaker 1: tombstone leading into the woods. Someone was outside our cabin
Speaker 1: last night. I said. This was concerning, to say the least,
Speaker 1: and we were all starting to get worried. My dad
Speaker 1: told all of us that we needed to stay together
Speaker 1: and we got on with our day. We rode the
Speaker 1: trails again and explored some more, but this time we
Speaker 1: decided to drive down the road to the river to
Speaker 1: see it up close. It was a beautiful sight to see,
Speaker 1: and we saw fish jumping in the stream and we
Speaker 1: watched a herd of deer make their way through the woods.
Speaker 1: We had some fishing poles with us and we decided
Speaker 1: to catch some fish, but didn't have any luck. When
Speaker 1: we got back to the cabin, we made a dinner
Speaker 1: of hot dogs over the campfire and some more some moors.
Speaker 1: After the fire was put out and we were back inside,
Speaker 1: my sister talked us into having a foosball tournament in
Speaker 1: the game room while we TV. Well. We were having
Speaker 1: a great time and it was my sister and I
Speaker 1: versus my parents. We were playing for about thirty minutes
Speaker 1: until something weird happened. We heard the front door open.
Speaker 1: We all froze and looked at each other. My dad
Speaker 1: grabbed the remote and mated the TV and we crept
Speaker 1: around the corner to see what had happened. But when
Speaker 1: we got to the door, there was nothing out of
Speaker 1: the ordinary. I was the last one inside after our campfire,
Speaker 1: and I guess I forgot to lock it. My dad
Speaker 1: closed it and locked it right, and then told us
Speaker 1: to go through the cabin to do the same thing
Speaker 1: with the rest of the doors. We searched the cabin,
Speaker 1: locked all the exterior doors that we could find, and
Speaker 1: decided it was time for bed. Tomorrow was going to
Speaker 1: be our last full day and we wanted to get
Speaker 1: some good rest. But in the middle of the night,
Speaker 1: I was woken up by something. I didn't know what
Speaker 1: it was. At first. It was dark in the room,
Speaker 1: but I could see a little bit thanks to the
Speaker 1: alarm arm clock beside my bed. Off in the distance,
Speaker 1: I heard a loud whistling noise. It almost sounded like
Speaker 1: a freight train. It happened two or three times before
Speaker 1: my parents came rushing into the room with our dogs
Speaker 1: shaking with fear, and just when our mom told us
Speaker 1: to stay put, the whistles started again, but this time though,
Speaker 1: they were coming from several different directions all around the cabin,
Speaker 1: and then we heard footsteps walking around outside. They started
Speaker 1: behind us, and then they worked their way to the
Speaker 1: right side of the cabin toward the door of the
Speaker 1: game room that led outside. My parents told us to
Speaker 1: stay put while they went to lock the dog up
Speaker 1: in the closet just outside the room so that he
Speaker 1: wouldn't get away from us. They were only gone for
Speaker 1: three minutes at the most, and I was trying to
Speaker 1: talk my sister to calm to her down because she
Speaker 1: was scared, and I couldn't blame her. Just as I
Speaker 1: started to console her, she slowly lowered herself down and
Speaker 1: pulled the blankets up over her face, and she pointed
Speaker 1: to the square window next to the door that let outside.
Speaker 1: I will never forget what I saw in the window
Speaker 1: that was six feet off the ground. I saw a
Speaker 1: giant face with bright red eyes gazing into the room,
Speaker 1: and its mouth was halfway open. Its breath fogged up
Speaker 1: the window as it watched patiently for movement inside. It
Speaker 1: watched and waited for nearly two minutes, and then it disappeared.
Speaker 1: We packed our belongings quickly, and we spent the rest
Speaker 1: of that night listening to whistles and rocks hit the
Speaker 1: house that were coming from every direction. We were ready
Speaker 1: to leave as soon as it was light outside. There
Speaker 1: was no way we were staying another day knowing these
Speaker 1: creatures were out there. When daybreak started to light up
Speaker 1: the property, my dad peeked out the window of the
Speaker 1: front door to see if we could see the car
Speaker 1: or anything else for that matter. We waited for a
Speaker 1: few minutes, and then my dad said, with a heavy whisper, Okay,
Speaker 1: I think we're good. He quietly cracked the door open,
Speaker 1: and when we looked down at the front porch, we
Speaker 1: saw a giant, muddy footprint. Actually, there were footprints everywhere.
Speaker 1: They were up against the front door and over by
Speaker 1: the fire pit, and rocks were scattered all over the place.
Speaker 1: A few had landed in the trailer with a four wheeler,
Speaker 1: and a few hit the roof of the car. Once
Speaker 1: we decided the coast was clear, we loaded our luggage
Speaker 1: in a hurry and hit the road. No one said
Speaker 1: a word for the first thirty minutes of the ride.
Speaker 1: I think everyone was so shocked at what happened that
Speaker 1: we needed some time to process it. Our dog finally
Speaker 1: calmed down, though, and when we got home again, we
Speaker 1: decided we wouldn't tell anyone what had happened, and we
Speaker 1: never did. This experience was frightening, yes, but I enjoyed
Speaker 1: telling it to you. There will be some people out
Speaker 1: there who will say the story is face and that
Speaker 1: there's no way this could be real, And to be honest,
Speaker 1: I don't blame them. If we didn't live through it,
Speaker 1: we wouldn't have believed it either. So to the doubters
Speaker 1: out there that say this could never have happened. Go
Speaker 1: on and find a cabin deep within the heart of
Speaker 1: the Ozarks. Spend a couple of nights out there. Maybe,
Speaker 1: just maybe you can encounter these creatures deep within the
Speaker 1: mountains and have a story of your own to tell.
Speaker 1: Just be sure to bring someone along with you to
Speaker 1: watch your back. Oh man, that was a cool story,
Speaker 1: as a very detailed story that culminated in a visual
Speaker 1: a sighting right outside the window that would scare the
Speaker 1: crap out of me if I was If I was
Speaker 1: those kids looking out that window, I don't think I'd
Speaker 1: ever be the same seeing a bigfoot looking in at me.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, what a great story. This was awesome.
Speaker 1: It's a family from Mississippi took a trip to the Ozarks,
Speaker 1: get away from the flat land, get up in the
Speaker 1: mountains and the all to look at the pretty leaves,
Speaker 1: and a bigfoot ruins their whole vacation. Damn bigfoots. They
Speaker 1: just can't leave us alone, can they. Thank you to
Speaker 1: the writer. I've had this a long time. I'm glad
Speaker 1: I finally got to it. Great story. Thanks Hawk two
Speaker 1: Niner by Richie Harris. There are too many monsters and
Speaker 1: not enough. He rose these Days, Part one, A rude Awakening.
Speaker 1: I regained consciousness in a combat field hospital to the
Speaker 1: sound of a nurse's voice talk to me, Captain Tate.
Speaker 1: I heard her say everything was blurry, including my memory.
Speaker 1: I closed my eyes and put my brain on replay.
Speaker 1: We had been tasked with locating and capturing Omar al Kezzini,
Speaker 1: an isis bomb maker, and we found him. He was
Speaker 1: holed up on the upper floor of a building with
Speaker 1: three hodgies on the ground floor acting as bodyguards. My
Speaker 1: team took them out and we followed Sergeant Tim Ross
Speaker 1: on point up the stairs. Contact he has a vest.
Speaker 1: Ross shouted. I switched into negotiator mode and began to
Speaker 1: inch toward him. He was a fat, little man with large,
Speaker 1: staring eyes. I recognized that look. Kazini was preparing himself
Speaker 1: to die. Aloah akbar. He began to repeat. I moved
Speaker 1: gradually closer and reminded him how the Koran addresses people
Speaker 1: of the book like me, Alua akbar. He continued to repeat,
Speaker 1: and then I watched the inner light in the back
Speaker 1: of his eyes. Go out, get down, I shouted at
Speaker 1: Ross as I launched myself at Kazini. He was standing
Speaker 1: in front of a window, and I executed a double
Speaker 1: kick in an attempt to knock him through it. The
Speaker 1: world slowed to a crawl around me. As his body
Speaker 1: started out the window, a clicking sound rang in my ears.
Speaker 1: I fell onto my right side, my feet still in
Speaker 1: the air. A bright light filled the room. He had
Speaker 1: detonated the vest. Fire licked at my legs as I
Speaker 1: watched my boots being shredded and felt the sickening crunch
Speaker 1: and tear of skin, muscles and tendons being mangled. Then
Speaker 1: a nurse was speaking to me, asking me to talk
Speaker 1: to her. I'm Captain Harrison Tate, the leader of Delta
Speaker 1: Force team tasked with capturing high value targets alive or dead.
Speaker 1: I go by Hawk to Niner. After Ranger School, I
Speaker 1: decided I would get a degree and apply to OCS.
Speaker 1: I was stationed at Fort Campbell at the time, and
Speaker 1: I managed to stay there long enough to finish my
Speaker 1: first year of college before being sent to Iraq. I
Speaker 1: came home. I was sent to Fort Benning, where my
Speaker 1: commander told me about an accelerated university program at the
Speaker 1: local college that was tailored for soldiers like me, and
Speaker 1: I jumped on the opportunity. A week later, I was
Speaker 1: sitting in class with my mindset on getting my degree
Speaker 1: and internal business, when an Asian kid sat down next
Speaker 1: to me, and he introduced himself as Tomahiro Suzuki. But
Speaker 1: you can call me Tommy, he added, with a friendly grin.
Speaker 1: We developed an immediate friendship. Tiger Tommy, as I came
Speaker 1: to know him, was sent to the US by his
Speaker 1: father to start a new motorcycle dealership. He was intrigued
Speaker 1: by the fact that I was a martial arts practitioner.
Speaker 1: I was fascinated by the samurai sword he owned and
Speaker 1: let me hold, and the mural on his living room
Speaker 1: wall that depicted samurai battles. I studied that mural every
Speaker 1: chance I got. It was a strange mix of beauty
Speaker 1: and brutality, the realities of war, and the fantasies of legend.
Speaker 1: In some of the images, the warriors were fighting strange creatures.
Speaker 1: My thoughts dissolved when the doctor approached my bed and
Speaker 1: brought me back to the present. He was looking at
Speaker 1: my chart with a expression on his face. Am I
Speaker 1: going to lose my legs? I asked, without preamble. He
Speaker 1: glanced up at me with an appraising look on his face.
Speaker 1: I knew what he was thinking. Should I give him
Speaker 1: the whole answer or should I hold back? And can
Speaker 1: he take it? It's too early to tell were the
Speaker 1: words he settled on. Right now, we need to get
Speaker 1: you into surgery. He hung my chart on the hook
Speaker 1: at the foot of my bed and walked over to
Speaker 1: the nurses station. I let my mind wander back to
Speaker 1: the past. My father was an alcoholic. He wasn't an
Speaker 1: abusive man or a mean drunk. He just lacked ambition.
Speaker 1: He was lazy. Mom never worked outside the home. Her
Speaker 1: job was to take care of me. We lived on
Speaker 1: the poor side of a poor community, in the shadows
Speaker 1: of the Smoky mountains on the Appalachian Trail. Everyone was
Speaker 1: poor in Hayesville. I was ten before I lived in
Speaker 1: a house withindoor plumbing. Vision was a premium. The only
Speaker 1: channels we got were the kind that ran constant reruns
Speaker 1: of shows like Kung Fu, or showed Bruce Lee movies
Speaker 1: interspersed with Billy Jack marathons. My bedroom wall was adorned
Speaker 1: with a Chuck Norris poster. I was obsessed with karate
Speaker 1: I spent hours practicing in my backyard we were too
Speaker 1: poor for lessons, but I studied every move and every
Speaker 1: movie or television show that I watched. I even mimicked
Speaker 1: them repeatedly for never having a lesson. I wasn't too bad.
Speaker 1: When I was thirteen, a karate instructor came to our
Speaker 1: school and gave a demonstration. When he asked for volunteers,
Speaker 1: my hand shot up so fast that the momentum nearly
Speaker 1: lifted me out of my seat. The instructor was impressed
Speaker 1: by how intently I listened and how quickly I learned.
Speaker 1: He invited me to come for a free lesson. I
Speaker 1: knew we could never afford that kind of luxury, but
Speaker 1: he cut me a deal of a life lifetime if
Speaker 1: I maintained good grades in school and worked for him
Speaker 1: at the dojo. He said he would teach me for free.
Speaker 1: When I woke up in the recovery room, Sergeant Ross
Speaker 1: was sitting next to my bed. Is everyone okay? Or
Speaker 1: the first words out of my mouth thanks to your acrobatics, yes,
Speaker 1: he assured me. He glanced down at his hands and
Speaker 1: did his best not to stare at my legs. I
Speaker 1: had an uneasy moment before I was able to look
Speaker 1: down at them myself, thinking I was only thirty four
Speaker 1: years old and this was how my career was going
Speaker 1: to end. I couldn't help the anger that welled up
Speaker 1: inside me. I had been at the tip of the
Speaker 1: spear in the war on terrorism since I was twenty
Speaker 1: years old. The number of hvts that my team had
Speaker 1: captured or killed was classified. I held top secret security clearances.
Speaker 1: Now what was I going to do? The doctor walked
Speaker 1: in and broke me away from those angry thoughts. He
Speaker 1: was smiling, and I took it as a good sign.
Speaker 1: We were able to repair most of the tendons. He said,
Speaker 1: it looks like you're going to keep your legs. Relief
Speaker 1: flooded through me, and it felt as though I had
Speaker 1: been holding my breath. Fresh cool air filled my lungs,
Speaker 1: and I smiled back at the doctor. We're sending you
Speaker 1: to Germany. You have more surgery and physical therapy there,
Speaker 1: the doctor said. Before he could say any more, Colonel
Speaker 1: Jones walked in and announced that the Army was going
Speaker 1: to take good care of me. Your days as an
Speaker 1: operator are probably over, he said, but all in all,
Speaker 1: things look pretty good for you. Some of the Grays
Speaker 1: slept back in. I was sixteen years old and getting
Speaker 1: ready to take my test for a black belt in
Speaker 1: both taekwondo and have keto on the same day. I
Speaker 1: was the first student ever to do that. Mister Tubbs,
Speaker 1: my instructor, said I was the best student he had
Speaker 1: ever had. I was fascinated by the stories he told
Speaker 1: me about the orient. I made up my mind that
Speaker 1: I would go there one day. Dad was working at
Speaker 1: the sawmill then, and on Fridays he and a friend
Speaker 1: would get off work and take their checks and go
Speaker 1: on a weekend long drunken spree. The day of my test,
Speaker 1: Mom was there, but Dad and that friend were recovering
Speaker 1: from one of those weekends. As always, they got off
Speaker 1: work and headed to the bar, and at some point
Speaker 1: they decided to head down to the creek and do
Speaker 1: some frog gigging. Both men were sloppy drunk by then,
Speaker 1: and they claimed they were having decent luck gigging when
Speaker 1: a booger with eyes like a snake came out of
Speaker 1: the swamps and attacked them. They went and got the sheriff,
Speaker 1: who took one look at their ineborated state and told
Speaker 1: them they were just drunk. Dad showed him the scratches
Speaker 1: he had on his back, but the sheriff accused them
Speaker 1: of fighting with each other. Dad swore those were claw marks.
Speaker 1: Mom was humiliated. I passed my test with flying colors.
Speaker 1: Mom was there to see it, but Dad was home
Speaker 1: recovering from his adventure. And after that day, I became
Speaker 1: an instructor at the dojo, and two years later, while
Speaker 1: a senior in high school, I joined the Army on
Speaker 1: the Delayed Entry Program Part two, Fork in the Road.
Speaker 1: I had been to Germany a couple of times, but
Speaker 1: I was always working with intelligence on tracking and locating
Speaker 1: a target. This time was different. It felt like a long,
Speaker 1: boring vacation, but I was determined to come back better.
Speaker 1: While I waited for the necessary test and exams, I
Speaker 1: spent my free time walking around town. That's how I
Speaker 1: found the dojo that taught moy Thai and Kindo. I
Speaker 1: had studied kickboxing at the Cantana, but I had never
Speaker 1: mastered the two arts, and since I knew I was
Speaker 1: stuck there for the next three or four months, I
Speaker 1: decided to enroll. Between lessons and the two martial arts,
Speaker 1: I was scheduled for physical therapy there. I met several
Speaker 1: other operators who hadn't fared as well as me. They
Speaker 1: were missing arms or legs. I was inspired by them. Somehow,
Speaker 1: I felt I needed to do my best for their sake.
Speaker 1: The Kindo and my tie lessons helped. When the day
Speaker 1: finally came for my MRI, I was nervous. It was
Speaker 1: going to determine what type of surgery I would need.
Speaker 1: I was hoping it would be minimal. I was holding
Speaker 1: my breath when the doctor came in the room holding
Speaker 1: my report, Captain Tate. He said, I don't know what
Speaker 1: you've been doing, but I don't think you need any
Speaker 1: further surgery. I suppressed a grin, and he went on,
Speaker 1: we can do some skin grass for the scars if
Speaker 1: you'd like, but there won't be any need for any
Speaker 1: more reconstructive surgery. No thanks, I answered, I'll keep the scars.
Speaker 1: He gave me an inquisitive look, sort of like tattoos.
Speaker 1: I added. He gave me a knowing grin. I'm still
Speaker 1: giving you two more months of physical therapy, he said.
Speaker 1: While I was happy with that, it meant two more
Speaker 1: months of martial arts lessons. My instructor, mister Yuzawa, was
Speaker 1: from Japan. He traveled to Thailand and China to study
Speaker 1: different styles. He complimented me on being a great student,
Speaker 1: and when I told him I'd always dreamed of going
Speaker 1: to Japan, he offered to write a letter of recommendation
Speaker 1: so I could study at a secluded mountain school that
Speaker 1: was world famous for swordsmanship and sword making. Mom had
Speaker 1: passed away and I had no real reason to go
Speaker 1: back to Hayesville. I had been studying Japanese terms and phrases,
Speaker 1: and going to Japan was beginning to feel like a reality.
Speaker 1: The morning after my PT appointment, I met with Colonel
Speaker 1: Jones and the SoC Special Operations Command. I've been offered
Speaker 1: a discharge with full pay and benefits. I asked if
Speaker 1: it was still on the table. Yes, Colonel Jones answered,
Speaker 1: but I'd like you to consider becoming an instructor. It
Speaker 1: was a thought. The earnest expression on the Colonel's face
Speaker 1: told me he'd been considering it for some time. I
Speaker 1: molded over for a minute. No, sir, I said, there's
Speaker 1: something I've wanted to do for a long time. I
Speaker 1: need to do it while I'm still young enough. I paused,
Speaker 1: before adding, I want to see Japan. If the colonel
Speaker 1: was shocked by that statement. He didn't show it. Instead,
Speaker 1: he nodded his head and wished me luck and told
Speaker 1: me he'd have some people look in on me when
Speaker 1: I got there. The next two weeks went quickly. I
Speaker 1: was at the end of my PTS sessions, which also
Speaker 1: meant I was coming to the end of my lessons
Speaker 1: at the dojo. Mister Uzawa helped me find a place
Speaker 1: to live by the school, and then we talked to
Speaker 1: a man named mister Akagi and made the necessary arrangements
Speaker 1: for me to study there. I intensified my conversational Japanese
Speaker 1: lessons and practiced every day with mister Uzawa. Before I left,
Speaker 1: he gave me a final exam in both my Thai
Speaker 1: and Kindo. He brought in some former top level students
Speaker 1: for a big sind off that left me bruised but
Speaker 1: feeling satisfied. Not the hospital, my brothers in arms threw
Speaker 1: me a party. We developed a real bond during my
Speaker 1: time there. Two days later, sixteen years, eight months and
Speaker 1: five days after I first reported for basic training, I
Speaker 1: was sitting in the Army HR office getting discharged. As
Speaker 1: I sat there waiting to be called, I reflected on
Speaker 1: my military career. I remembered ranger training the Green Beret
Speaker 1: in my application to Delta. Most people don't understand what
Speaker 1: Delta is. They don't know that Delta pulls from the
Speaker 1: best of all specops. Selectionists pulled from Seals, Green Berets,
Speaker 1: Marine recon and other elite forces. Only about fifteen percent
Speaker 1: make cut. It was the most difficult thing I had
Speaker 1: ever done, and I sat there thinking about how I'd
Speaker 1: gotten my degree and a commission. It all seemed like
Speaker 1: a pipe dream for a poor little boy from the Appalachians.
Speaker 1: Captain Tate, a voice broke through my reverie. In two hours,
Speaker 1: I would be a civilian, something I had never been
Speaker 1: in my entire adult life. The admin clerk made her
Speaker 1: pitch to get me to re enlist. She was followed
Speaker 1: by a Green Beret sergeant from the European Command. He
Speaker 1: could see that my mind was made up, so he
Speaker 1: thanked me and left it at that. Colonel Jones entered
Speaker 1: the room next, along with Lieutenant General Jackson Miles and
Speaker 1: a few more cadre that were carrying a bit certificate,
Speaker 1: a cake, and a plaque. It was a photo op
Speaker 1: that would be in the Army times and military times,
Speaker 1: while I fought back the emotions as I remembered all
Speaker 1: the great guys we had lost. My retirement check was
Speaker 1: scheduled to be deposited regularly into an online bank. All
Speaker 1: I had to do was collect my final paycheck in cash,
Speaker 1: and then I would be an official civilian. Part three
Speaker 1: a new chapter. I boarded JAL flight two nine for Osaka, Japan.
Speaker 1: I was a well traveled special operator going to live
Speaker 1: in a foreign country alone, without a team to back
Speaker 1: me up. Despite all my experience, it was scary. I
Speaker 1: settled in for the flight and I began to hear
Speaker 1: chatter in Japanese, and I tried to understand what was
Speaker 1: being said, but they were speaking so fast. I picked
Speaker 1: up a word here and there and made a mental
Speaker 1: note to work harder on my Japanese and settled on
Speaker 1: reading my English version of the Osaka newspaper. There were
Speaker 1: several interesting accounts of mysterious deaths in the mountainous area
Speaker 1: not far from where I would be studying. The deaths
Speaker 1: were attributed to animal attacks. The victims were allegedly members
Speaker 1: of the u Accusa, the Japanese mafia. A woman had
Speaker 1: boarded the plane and was now sitting center aisle for
Speaker 1: rows up from me. She was a slender and elegant woman,
Speaker 1: and her face had both European and Asian characteristics. She
Speaker 1: caught my eye because she was beautiful and because she
Speaker 1: had something stashed under her well tailored jacket. And when
Speaker 1: she stood up to put a bag in the overhead compartment,
Speaker 1: automatically keyed in on the bulge on her lower back.
Speaker 1: It was a weapon, I thought. I watched her for
Speaker 1: about an hour, and when she displayed no unusual behavior,
Speaker 1: I dismissed her as a sky marshall. Maybe it wasn't
Speaker 1: a weapon at all, maybe it was some sort of
Speaker 1: electronic device. After a while, I drifted off to sleep
Speaker 1: for a couple of hours, and when I woke up,
Speaker 1: I got up to find the bathroom. The woman wasn't
Speaker 1: in her seat, but as I passed by, I saw
Speaker 1: she was reading the same newspaper as me, only hers
Speaker 1: was in Japanese, and they of the strange deaths had
Speaker 1: been highlighted. My curiosity peaked, both for the woman and
Speaker 1: the newspaper story. I stayed in the facilities long enough
Speaker 1: to hear the door across me open and slide shut
Speaker 1: hoping it was her, and as I walked back to
Speaker 1: my seat, there was the sculpted goddess back in her seat.
Speaker 1: Pardon me, ma'am, I said, I'm learning Japanese and I
Speaker 1: notice you're reading the same story. For a second, she
Speaker 1: looked surprised, but then she smiled, Yes, isn't it curious?
Speaker 1: She said. I introduced myself and told her I was
Speaker 1: a retired soldier in that I was traveling to Japan
Speaker 1: to study martial arts. My name is akemi Estrata, she said,
Speaker 1: motioning for me to sit in the empty seat next
Speaker 1: to her. To my surprise, she knew to ask what
Speaker 1: my mos was. I told her I was in combat infantry.
Speaker 1: That wasn't a lie. I explained that I had been
Speaker 1: injured in an and nearly lost the use of my leg,
Speaker 1: and then after seventeen years, I decided to retire. How
Speaker 1: old are you, she asked, Almost thirty five. I told
Speaker 1: her you look younger than that. She said, well, thank you,
Speaker 1: I said, your English is perfect, but you have a
Speaker 1: unique accent. She explained that her father was a Cuban
Speaker 1: American who was in the US Air Force Intelligence. He
Speaker 1: had met her mother while stationed in Okinawa. She told
Speaker 1: me she had lived all over the world and spoke
Speaker 1: several languages fluently, including English, Spanish, Japanese, German, Arabic, and
Speaker 1: some Chinese. Well that's impressive, I said, and then told her,
Speaker 1: in my best Arabic that she was unique and beautiful,
Speaker 1: and she blushed. What line of work are you in,
Speaker 1: I asked, giving her a chance to recover, She told
Speaker 1: me that she did research for Interpol. Oh, I said,
Speaker 1: I thought you were an airmorl Marshall. She raised her eyebrows,
Speaker 1: looking surprised again. Why would you think that, she asked.
Speaker 1: I guess I thought you might be carrying a weapon,
Speaker 1: I said flatly. She changed the topic and I didn't
Speaker 1: push it. How many languages do you speak? She asked, English, Arabic,
Speaker 1: little Farcie also fluent. He'll billy, I said, he'll billy,
Speaker 1: she said, laughing, you mean like the Beverly Hillbillies. Well,
Speaker 1: I laughed to and explained where I came from. I
Speaker 1: pointed at the newspaper in her lap and asked if
Speaker 1: she was researching the strange deaths. She could tell that
Speaker 1: I'd brought her back into uncomfortable territory, and she nodded,
Speaker 1: just the names and connections of the victims for the database,
Speaker 1: she said dismissively. I knew there was more to her story.
Speaker 1: I glanced at the newspaper and the information about how
Speaker 1: the victims died. She had highlighted it twice. Nodded anyway.
Speaker 1: It was after midnight, so I excused myself and I
Speaker 1: told her I didn't want to wear out my welcome.
Speaker 1: I stood up asked if there was any way I
Speaker 1: might see her sometime. She smiled and wrote down the
Speaker 1: address and a phone number of the office where she
Speaker 1: would be working, and then she handed it to me. Well,
Speaker 1: I said good night, and I went back to my seat,
Speaker 1: knowing I wouldn't be able to sleep again after talking
Speaker 1: with her. Instead, I looked up the meaning of a
Speaker 1: Kimi bright and beautiful. The Internet told me it was
Speaker 1: fitting Part four. The arrival. At six thirty hours, I
Speaker 1: awoke to the sound and smell a flight attendant serving breakfast.
Speaker 1: When my vision cleared, I saw a Kimmi walking back
Speaker 1: to her seat and toasted her with my coffee cup.
Speaker 1: She stepped over to me, smiling again. How did you sleep,
Speaker 1: she asked, Not too well, I said, I kept thinking
Speaker 1: about something bright and beautiful. Her cheeks warmed to a
Speaker 1: rosy pink. She was about to respond when the seat
Speaker 1: belt announcement rang through the cabin. See you later, she said,
Speaker 1: with a smile. I smiled too, and she had gotten
Speaker 1: inside my head. During the stampede. To get off the
Speaker 1: plane and into immigration and customs, I separated from Akimi.
Speaker 1: She didn't go through the normal lines. Instead, she was
Speaker 1: met by a Japanese man who ushered her to a
Speaker 1: shorter line. I could barely see her, but we were
Speaker 1: able to exchange a quick wave. I handed my passport
Speaker 1: military ID to the immigration agent. Welcome to Japan, Captain Tate,
Speaker 1: he said, and then asked the purpose of my visit.
Speaker 1: I told him of my dream to study martial arts
Speaker 1: in Japan. Well, he smiled, and then in Japanese wished
Speaker 1: me save travels. If the luggage carousel, I scanned for Akimi,
Speaker 1: but I didn't see her. A couple of minutes later,
Speaker 1: when I exited the baggage claim, I found a young
Speaker 1: Japanese man holding a sign with my name on it,
Speaker 1: waiting to take me to my new home. He was goro.
Speaker 1: It meant enthusiasm and information. Boy was that right. He
Speaker 1: spoke English and seemed truly excited to see me, and
Speaker 1: he told me he'd heard that I was a great warrior.
Speaker 1: I'm just a soldier, young man, I told him, just
Speaker 1: a soldier. We traveled for three hours through heavy traffic
Speaker 1: in his tiny car to reach my landlord and sign
Speaker 1: the lease. I'm five foot ten and one hundred and
Speaker 1: eighty eight pounds felt like a sardine. To distract myself,
Speaker 1: I mentioned the mysterious deaths I read about in the news.
Speaker 1: Some say it's a kappa, Goro said, an evil water spirit.
Speaker 1: Do the police have any suspects, I ask, No suspects,
Speaker 1: he said, They are Yukuza. The police will not interfere,
Speaker 1: or the yakuza common here, I asked. Goro shrugged. You
Speaker 1: only know who the heads of the yakuza are, he explained.
Speaker 1: You don't know who the lesser members are, or the
Speaker 1: people who they call enemies. He said, and then went
Speaker 1: to tell me how it was not good to discuss
Speaker 1: the subject because it makes people nervous. Finally, we rounded
Speaker 1: a corner and turned into a narrow road with a
Speaker 1: row of small traditional Japanese cottages. A man named mister
Speaker 1: Kuu was waiting out front when we pulled up. He
Speaker 1: welcomed me and bowed with his hands pressed together at
Speaker 1: his chest. He spoke very little English, but between my
Speaker 1: Japanese and goros English, we understood each other well enough
Speaker 1: to get the least signed. The cottage was modestly furnished,
Speaker 1: with a loft bedroom and a sleeper sofa. We unloaded
Speaker 1: my bags and went to the Bushido school where I
Speaker 1: would be studying. We drove mostly straight uphill for fifteen
Speaker 1: minutes before we came to a huge ar gate and
Speaker 1: a pebble drive that led into a circle surrounding a
Speaker 1: huge fountain. We must stop and bless the fountain, Goro said,
Speaker 1: as he exited the car. He faced the fountain and
Speaker 1: made a prayer gesture with his hands to his chin.
Speaker 1: Being a Southern Baptist boy, I loosely emulated his actions.
Speaker 1: At the porch. We pulled off our shoes and bowed
Speaker 1: and entered the school. Master Akigi was waiting for me.
Speaker 1: He smiled and extended his hand Welcome, Gokuto harrison tate
Speaker 1: Gakudo means pupil. I gave a respectful bow and shook
Speaker 1: his hand, and then followed him He invited me to
Speaker 1: a traditional Japanese dinner and asked me questions about my
Speaker 1: military service and injuries. Seeming impressed, Where did you learn
Speaker 1: to speak English? I asked him. When I served in
Speaker 1: the Japanese Army, I worked with Americans stationed in Okinawa,
Speaker 1: he said. I motioned with my thumb towards the door
Speaker 1: behind me where Goro had gone, and mentioned that he
Speaker 1: was a good employee. Yes, he is a good kabuko master, Akagi,
Speaker 1: said a houseboy. The next morning, Goro drove us back
Speaker 1: to Osaka so I could get a vehicle. What are
Speaker 1: the car dealers like here, I asked, thinking that where
Speaker 1: I came from. The answer was hit or Miss dealers,
Speaker 1: He asked, No, the school has already arranged a vehicle.
Speaker 1: Apparently my car had already been selected for me. Well,
Speaker 1: what if I don't like it, I asked, If you
Speaker 1: don't take the car, it would be disrespectful for Shadoshi Shadoshi,
Speaker 1: I asked the owner of the school, mister Sumiyoshi. Goro said.
Speaker 1: We arrived at a small building with a vehicle sitting
Speaker 1: on the sidewalk in front of it, and inside we
Speaker 1: were greeted by a petit woman who handed me a
Speaker 1: set of keys. Goro said that he had to get
Speaker 1: back to the school, but that he would see me later.
Speaker 1: When I got back to my new house in my
Speaker 1: new car, I was exhausted. Class began at seven hundred
Speaker 1: the next morning. I knew I needed to get to bed,
Speaker 1: but I couldn't sleep. It was Akimi's fault again. I
Speaker 1: decided to drive by her office in hopes of seeing her.
Speaker 1: After thirty minute driving, another thirty minute attempt to find parking,
Speaker 1: I entered the plaza, only to find that it was
Speaker 1: a PSIA Public Security Intelligence Agencies. Entry was restricted. I
Speaker 1: pressed the buzzer and a voice responded in what I
Speaker 1: guessed was may I help you in Japanese. My name
Speaker 1: is Harrison Tate. I said in English, I'm hoping to
Speaker 1: get a message to Akimi estrata sir. If you give
Speaker 1: us your message, we will determine what to do with it.
Speaker 1: The voice responded in excellent English. It was an interesting way,
Speaker 1: I thought of. Akimi doesn't work here, so I wrote
Speaker 1: a message on a pad of paper in a box
Speaker 1: on the wall next to the buzzer and told her
Speaker 1: I had settled in and that I hoped that she
Speaker 1: was well. Then I added my number and put the
Speaker 1: note in the box and I left. As I drove
Speaker 1: up the winding mountain road back to my new home,
Speaker 1: the setting sun cast long shadows along the road and
Speaker 1: across the forest. It reminded me of the Appalachians. By
Speaker 1: the time I arrived, I was ready for a shower
Speaker 1: in bed. Before turning in, I switched on the old
Speaker 1: television set and found a news program. Thankful there were
Speaker 1: English subtitles. The anchor was talking about another mysterious death.
Speaker 1: This one was only a few kilometers away. Part five
Speaker 1: the Journey. I slept like a rock until five thirty hours.
Speaker 1: I quickly rummaged through my cupboards and found a variety
Speaker 1: of foods that I wasn't quite sure about, But there
Speaker 1: was some tea that looked familiar, and I managed to
Speaker 1: whip up some egg noodles and Japanese bacon. I arrived
Speaker 1: at the school an hour later. At the fountain, I
Speaker 1: stopped and bowed, and then sat down and meditated for
Speaker 1: a few minutes before warming up stretching my muscles. At
Speaker 1: six fifty five hours, the doors of the school opened
Speaker 1: and Goro emerged to tell me that Master Rikagi was
Speaker 1: ready for me. I was fitted for the traditional karate
Speaker 1: uniform and issued protective equipment, a bamboo practiced sword called
Speaker 1: a shinai and an oak sword called a boken. A
Speaker 1: few minutes later, I was introduced to my sense, Jonah Yamamato.
Speaker 1: We spent the morning going over the basics, and then
Speaker 1: stopped for a light ludch of fish and rice. My
Speaker 1: sense whose name means God's Grace, put his food down
Speaker 1: and nodded, you have talent gakuto, he said about in
Speaker 1: humility and thanked him. Now we go to the next level,
Speaker 1: he said. By the end of the day, I was
Speaker 1: ready to go home and crash, knowing that tomorrow I
Speaker 1: would be moving on to a more difficult class. When
Speaker 1: I got in my car, I saw a missed call
Speaker 1: and a voice message. I played the message and heard
Speaker 1: a Kimi's voice thanking me for stopping by and asking
Speaker 1: me to call her after seven pm. At seven oh five,
Speaker 1: I was dialing a Kimi. The pleasant sound of her
Speaker 1: voice caused me to pause for a second before answering, Hello, Harry. Hello,
Speaker 1: She said, yes Hi, I said, untangling my tongue. It's
Speaker 1: good to hear your voice. She asked about my first day,
Speaker 1: and I told her that I was exhausted. I'm looking
Speaker 1: forward to seeing you at your school. She said, well,
Speaker 1: I was caught off guard. I was delighted too. I
Speaker 1: wanted to see her great. I said, what about this weekend?
Speaker 1: We made plans, and she excused herself to go work out.
Speaker 1: I hung up the phone and I made dinner from
Speaker 1: the cabinet full of food I wasn't too sure about,
Speaker 1: and watched the news for a few minutes. There was
Speaker 1: yet another story about a mysterious death. Some of them
Speaker 1: had taken place close to me. Too close. I had
Speaker 1: a hard time sleeping that night. I couldn't stop thinking
Speaker 1: about a Kimi. When I finally dozed off, I dreamed
Speaker 1: about my father and his famous booger incident. At four
Speaker 1: fifteen hours, I was abruptly awakened by a shrill cry
Speaker 1: that sounded like a screech owl blowing a train whistle.
Speaker 1: Instinct took over, and I grabbed the oak boken next
Speaker 1: to my bed and assumed a defensive posture, but silence
Speaker 1: filled the room around me. After looking around for a while,
Speaker 1: I went back to bed. Later that morning, at the dojo,
Speaker 1: I told my sense about the noise that I had heard.
Speaker 1: He was interested and asked several questions, Can you describe it?
Speaker 1: What was the duration? Did it start high or go low?
Speaker 1: Or did it start low and go high? I answered
Speaker 1: his questions and asked if he had heard it himself.
Speaker 1: He shook his head. I'm only curious. Come, let's train,
Speaker 1: he said, since they taught me all the sword strikes
Speaker 1: I had learned from mister Uzawa in Germany, but with
Speaker 1: much more precision and strength. At the end of the day,
Speaker 1: he took me to a room, and before opening the door,
Speaker 1: he paused, this is a privilege, he said, speak of
Speaker 1: it to no one. I nodded and bowed. He opened
Speaker 1: the door to reveal a room full of ancient swords
Speaker 1: and samurai armor. There were murals and drawings of samurais
Speaker 1: and ninjas in battle, sometimes with each other and sometimes
Speaker 1: with strange creatures. I was suddenly reminded of Tiger Tommy's mural.
Speaker 1: I feasted my eyes on the mural and weaponry around
Speaker 1: me for several long minutes before Sinsey got my attention again. Gakuto,
Speaker 1: Tomorrow you will learn some advanced techniques, and then you
Speaker 1: will face a test, umble and honored about to him,
Speaker 1: it is not your proficiency, but your humble spirit that
Speaker 1: tells me you are right for this, he said. He
Speaker 1: handed me some scrolls and told me to study them. Now,
Speaker 1: go purify your body and mind, and stay in your
Speaker 1: home this night. It was a curious thing to say,
Speaker 1: but I agreed that I would, and I left. And
Speaker 1: when I got in my car, I checked my phone.
Speaker 1: There were no miscalls from Akimi at home. I spent
Speaker 1: hours going over the scrolls. One of them contained an
Speaker 1: image of a creature I had seen in the mural.
Speaker 1: It had snake like eyes. Another image was of a
Speaker 1: brilliant blue sword. I studied the scrolls as long as
Speaker 1: my eyes would stay open, and then decided to turn in.
Speaker 1: Before I went to sleep, I sent Akimi a text
Speaker 1: wishing her a peaceful night. At three five hours, I
Speaker 1: woke to the sound of gunfire, five or six double taps,
Speaker 1: followed by two full auto bursts that echoed down the
Speaker 1: valley from a distance. It was the first time I
Speaker 1: had heard gunfire in over four months. Japan was not
Speaker 1: a country famous for firearms, and it was unusual. At
Speaker 1: six fifteen hours, I went to my car and saw
Speaker 1: my neighbor changing out dozens of candles around her house.
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask her about the strange events of
Speaker 1: the last two nights, but my limited Japanese kept me
Speaker 1: from approaching the subject. I checked my phone again, no
Speaker 1: word from Akimi. When I saw Goro, I told him
Speaker 1: that I wanted to talk to him after training, and
Speaker 1: we arranged to meet at my car at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, and I went inside to find Sinse
Speaker 1: waiting for me in full combat gear. I sued it
Speaker 1: up too, and we squared off for some practice strikes.
Speaker 1: It was amazing how fast and fluid he was. We
Speaker 1: spent the morning sparring and I learned to defend and
Speaker 1: counter strike, and during lunch I told her I'm about
Speaker 1: hearing gunfire. He looked at me seriously and asked if
Speaker 1: I was sure. Well, I've heard enough gunfire in the
Speaker 1: military to recognize the sound, I assured him. Could it
Speaker 1: have been fireworks, he asked. I shook my head, and
Speaker 1: he suggested that it was probably a drug gang firing
Speaker 1: their illegal weapons. And we continued our lessons. Sinsey would
Speaker 1: push me to attack him and then kick my ass,
Speaker 1: repeat after repeat, and after two hours of this. He
Speaker 1: told me to stop and stand completely still and control
Speaker 1: my breathing. Put yourself in a meditative state where your
Speaker 1: mind can see what you are doing while you do it.
Speaker 1: He said. I was always good at slowing my breathing
Speaker 1: down during water exercises. I once held my breath for
Speaker 1: over three minutes. I began to breathe slowly and rained
Speaker 1: in my thoughts. With your mind's eyes, see every move
Speaker 1: you make, Sinsey said. I had never had an outer
Speaker 1: body experience, but I found myself wondering if this was
Speaker 1: how it felt. Open your eyes, Gakuto, since snapped attack me.
Speaker 1: Watch every move with your mind. I started moving in
Speaker 1: a fluid manner like my sense, and was now on
Speaker 1: the attack. My blocking and counter attacks were sharper and faster. Now,
Speaker 1: go to a quiet spot and prepare yourself, Sinsey said.
Speaker 1: Visualize your moves and synchronize your mind and body. After
Speaker 1: thirty minutes, I discovered that my thoughts and senses were
Speaker 1: suddenly heightened. Then I heard Sinse's voice. Gakuto, get ready,
Speaker 1: he said. Stand in the center of the room and
Speaker 1: put yourself at ease. The side door opened and in
Speaker 1: walked Master Akagi. In full samurai dress day, he said,
Speaker 1: signifying the moment of contact. He raised his shine eye
Speaker 1: and came at me like lightning, and I blocked his
Speaker 1: first blow, and he came at me with two more.
Speaker 1: See with your mind's eye, he said. I slowed my
Speaker 1: thoughts and breathed deeply, and on his next attack, I
Speaker 1: blocked both strikes. He began to approach me with fluid
Speaker 1: lateral foot movements while striking at opposite angles. I was
Speaker 1: in complete defensive mode, but I did not retreat. I
Speaker 1: began to emulate Master Akagi's moves. My mind's eye had
Speaker 1: photographed each action, and I began to counter with these
Speaker 1: same moves and strikes. And I landed a blow to
Speaker 1: his shoulder, making him pause and stare at me stone face.
Speaker 1: Oh oh, I thought. His sober look turned into a smile,
Speaker 1: and he attacked again. He unleashed the sinpoo on me
Speaker 1: the world when I blocked several strikes as he spun
Speaker 1: and struck and then knelt and struck again, And finally
Speaker 1: he laid back like he was doing a limbo, and
Speaker 1: he struck me with an attack across my ribs. The
Speaker 1: sword was only bamboo, but it hurt enough, he finally said.
Speaker 1: I had a bewildered look of someone who had just
Speaker 1: gotten their ass kicked. When my sense smiled at me, Shiku,
Speaker 1: he said, attention, your title is no longer Goekuto. You
Speaker 1: are now Oshigo. For the first time in the history
Speaker 1: of our school, we are bestowing this title to someone
Speaker 1: in such short time. He presented me with two bundles.
Speaker 1: I looked at Master Akagi, who nodded. The first bundle
Speaker 1: held a magnificent katana, the second held an equally impressive tantu.
Speaker 1: I dropped my head and felt my eyes begin to
Speaker 1: tear up. Harry, hold your head high, Master Akagi said,
Speaker 1: calling me by my first name. You have Musho Rai,
Speaker 1: a warrior spirit. Now you will be welcomed as a
Speaker 1: part of the family. My sinse commented that he and
Speaker 1: Master Akagi saw my brilliance on the first day, but
Speaker 1: they had no idea that I would progress so fast.
Speaker 1: They both told me to enjoy my weekend off, but
Speaker 1: to keep studying the scrolls. Part sixth The Awakening. Goro
Speaker 1: was waiting for me with a big smile on his face. Congratulations,
Speaker 1: he said. I thanked him, but not wanting to waste time.
Speaker 1: I explained the gunfire heard the night before. I asked
Speaker 1: for his help translating to my neighbor, and he agreed,
Speaker 1: And when I jumped into the car, I checked my
Speaker 1: phone again, happy to see a message from Akimi. Sorry
Speaker 1: worked late, thinking of you, she wrote. Goro followed me
Speaker 1: in his car to my house and we parked and
Speaker 1: walked to my neighbor's door and knocked a slight. Elderly
Speaker 1: woman answered the door, and Goro made the introductions for us.
Speaker 1: Her name was miss Hatachi. She was a widow who
Speaker 1: had lived there for more than twenty years. She told
Speaker 1: Goro she was happy to meet me, and I told
Speaker 1: her in my best Japanese that I was a good
Speaker 1: neighbor who she could call on any time for help,
Speaker 1: and she smiled and bowed. Goro asked if she heard
Speaker 1: the strange sounds or gunfry over the past week. She
Speaker 1: looked concerned, but she shook her head, and when I
Speaker 1: tried to describe and emulate the sound, she became frightened.
Speaker 1: I tried to apologize, and Goro asked her what was wrong.
Speaker 1: She explained that the people who grew up in this
Speaker 1: area always spoke of the mutsichi, the water spirits. That
Speaker 1: was why she kept so many candles outside. I gave
Speaker 1: her my phone number and asked her to call me
Speaker 1: if she ever had a problem. She grasped my hand
Speaker 1: and graciously bowed. As Goro and I walked back to
Speaker 1: our cars. He looked at me and whispered, she's talking
Speaker 1: about the Kappa, he said. I hesitated, wanting to show
Speaker 1: him something, but not sure if I should. If you
Speaker 1: tell a soul what I'm about to show you, you'll
Speaker 1: regret it, I said. He nodded eagerly. I let him
Speaker 1: inside my house and showed him the scrolls, skipping the
Speaker 1: image of the creature inside Kappa. He explained, and then
Speaker 1: told me it was an evil water demon that could
Speaker 1: be controlled by a human master. That night, I studied
Speaker 1: the scrolls again, looking closely at the unusual blue sword
Speaker 1: held by the samurai who fought the creature, and then
Speaker 1: I called a kimi. To my surprise, she answered, and
Speaker 1: I told her right away about my new titles. She
Speaker 1: was silent for a few seconds. Hello, I said into
Speaker 1: the phone. I am surprised to hear that a foreigner
Speaker 1: has earned that title so quickly, not knowing what else
Speaker 1: to say, I offered, can we have dinner tomorrow night?
Speaker 1: We agreed to meet the next night at a restaurant
Speaker 1: by the park in Osaka, chatted for a few minutes
Speaker 1: and then said good night. The next day, I left
Speaker 1: for Osaka wearing my best dressed casual clothes, and when
Speaker 1: I entered the restaurant a few minutes early, Akimi was
Speaker 1: standing there dressed like a movie star. We greeted each
Speaker 1: other with a hug that neither of us seemed to
Speaker 1: want to end, and when the host dis greeted us,
Speaker 1: we reluctantly let go and went to our table. Tell
Speaker 1: me more about yourself, I said. As we sat down.
Speaker 1: Akemi was twenty eight. She told me she had been
Speaker 1: recruited by Terpole from her cyber and multi lingual skills.
Speaker 1: When we both relaxed a little, I learned she'd only
Speaker 1: had one serious relationship and it did not end well.
Speaker 1: Her parents lived in Texas, and she had an older
Speaker 1: brother who was a pilot in the Air Force. And
Speaker 1: after a while I confessed to her that I had
Speaker 1: been a Delta team member. I'm not surprised, she said,
Speaker 1: you probably already knew, I said, with a laugh. And
Speaker 1: she laughed too. After dinner, she invited me for another
Speaker 1: drink at her apartment. So are you a Cowboys fan?
Speaker 1: I asked her as I looked around the frame pictures
Speaker 1: of her friends and family back home. Yes, suh, she
Speaker 1: responded with her best Texas accent. While I sat on
Speaker 1: the sofa, she made us a drink and turned on
Speaker 1: the television. I remember a movie playing, but neither of
Speaker 1: us was watching it. Our faces were locked together within seconds.
Speaker 1: Just as the night was progressing, her phone started to ring.
Speaker 1: She groaned and answered it, and then looked worried. She
Speaker 1: spoke urgently to the person on the other end and
Speaker 1: then hung up. Harry, I have to go, she said apologetically.
Speaker 1: I must have looked like a kid who woke up
Speaker 1: on Christmas morning to find an empty stocking, but I
Speaker 1: could respect that her work took precedence. I'll call you tomorrow,
Speaker 1: she promised. A few minutes later, at her car door,
Speaker 1: I kissed her goodbye and watched as she drove away
Speaker 1: and got in my own car. My drive home was beautiful.
Speaker 1: The sky was clear and starry, and I was close
Speaker 1: to my place when I saw the first light over
Speaker 1: the mountain. As I got closer, I decided it must
Speaker 1: have been a helicopter using a spot, and by the
Speaker 1: time I reached my turn off, the helicopter was over
Speaker 1: the trees down by the river, and instead of going home,
Speaker 1: I turned left to head in that direction and check
Speaker 1: it out. It was a road I hadn't taken before.
Speaker 1: On the last curve before the road dropped down to
Speaker 1: the river, I saw a car with its lights still
Speaker 1: on that looked like it had collided with the embankment.
Speaker 1: When I got closer, I realized it was Goro's car.
Speaker 1: I parked behind this car, left my headlights on and
Speaker 1: started to open my door. Suddenly, a large man appeared
Speaker 1: crouching next to Goro's door. As he began to stand
Speaker 1: upright towering over the vehicle, his face and eyes were
Speaker 1: illuminated by my headlights. His face looked human, but it wasn't.
Speaker 1: His eyes were golden, and as my head tried to
Speaker 1: wrap itself around what I was looking at, I experienced
Speaker 1: one of those combat moments where hesitation means death. My
Speaker 1: catana was in the truck, and with my eyes on
Speaker 1: the strange man creature, I exited my car, but by
Speaker 1: the time I reached the trunk and had the cantenna
Speaker 1: in my hand. He had disappeared, with my catana ready
Speaker 1: to strike. I stood there, listening in the silence, hoping
Speaker 1: for a clue as to where he went From the
Speaker 1: right side of my car. Something hit me and it
Speaker 1: knocked me to the ground, and I rolled and brought
Speaker 1: myself up on one knee with my catana held overhead defensively.
Speaker 1: My training kicked in as I breathed slowly and allowed
Speaker 1: my mind's eye to guide me. Standing just outside of
Speaker 1: the light, a faint figure stood motionless. I could hear
Speaker 1: it breathing. I readied myself as he charged me, and
Speaker 1: I moved laterally to my left and made a forty
Speaker 1: five degree strike to the right. He smashed into my
Speaker 1: car and screamed. It was the same scream I had
Speaker 1: heard a few nights before. It was trying to kill me.
Speaker 1: I wasn't sure I would survive another tax, so I
Speaker 1: moved back and put some distance between us and took
Speaker 1: a defensive stance again. I could see his face better
Speaker 1: now and it shocked me to the core. It was
Speaker 1: covered in scaly skin with features that were as reptilian
Speaker 1: as they were human. Vertical pupils, split each eye into
Speaker 1: two golden half orbs. Where its hands should have been,
Speaker 1: it had claws and blood spilled down its side. Come on, you,
Speaker 1: son of a bitch, Come on, I said, inching my
Speaker 1: feet forward into the right. When it lunched toward me,
Speaker 1: I jumped to the right, got my feet on the trunk,
Speaker 1: and struck to the left. I knew I must have
Speaker 1: hit it when it screamed again on top of my car.
Speaker 1: Now I held the high ground and the advantage. You
Speaker 1: want some more, I shouted. It looked at me and hissed,
Speaker 1: and turned away and ran toward the river, out of
Speaker 1: sight in mere seconds. It took a few seconds for
Speaker 1: me to grasp what had just happened. Reality flooded back,
Speaker 1: and I rushed to the car to see if anyone
Speaker 1: was injured. It was sitting at an angle, with the
Speaker 1: driver's side bumper stuck in the embankment. Now rounded the
Speaker 1: corner cautiously with my sword raised, and found Goro lying
Speaker 1: on the ground with his feet still inside the vehicle. Goro, Goro,
Speaker 1: It's harry, I said, dropping down beside him. He was
Speaker 1: a mess of blood and torn clothing. I turned on
Speaker 1: the interior light and saw claw marks where his skin
Speaker 1: was exposed. I had seen those marks before. He looked
Speaker 1: at me weakly, and I could see the life fading
Speaker 1: from his eyes. It was something I had seen many
Speaker 1: times in my career. Don't allow them to have my sword,
Speaker 1: he whispered, barely aloud enough for me to hear. I
Speaker 1: had a million questions, but this was not one of them.
Speaker 1: Goro needed help, and his breathing was labored. The air
Speaker 1: was escaping through a puncture through his ribs. Stay with me, Goro,
Speaker 1: I said, I'm getting help. He grabbed my arm and
Speaker 1: whispered again. My trunk, get the sword, he said. I
Speaker 1: nodded and quickly went to the trunk, and inside was
Speaker 1: a bundle of old canvas material. By the time I returned,
Speaker 1: Goro was dead. I went back to the trunk and
Speaker 1: put the bundle back and hugged my head while I
Speaker 1: composed myself. Then I got on my cell phone and
Speaker 1: called a master Akagi. He answered immediately. I managed to
Speaker 1: tell him most of what had happened, but before I
Speaker 1: could finish, five figures emerged from the trees. Instantly, I
Speaker 1: dropped the phone and was raising my katana to defend
Speaker 1: myself from what I thought was going to be five
Speaker 1: more of those monsters. I was blinded by tack lights.
Speaker 1: As weapons were leveled on me. A voice with a
Speaker 1: Japanese accent shouted to put down the sword and get
Speaker 1: on the ground face first. The zip tied my hands
Speaker 1: behind me and turned me over, and a man asked
Speaker 1: my name, identified myself. It was the first of a
Speaker 1: dozen questions. Who was I What was I doing here?
Speaker 1: What did I see? Inspector? My interrogator shouted, come over here,
Speaker 1: this one is an American. They sat me up against
Speaker 1: the car and the inspector approached. I couldn't see his
Speaker 1: face from all the lights in my eyes. Oh no, Harry,
Speaker 1: I heard a familiar voice say, a Kimi, I said,
Speaker 1: squinting against the blinding lights. Get those lights out of
Speaker 1: his eyes, she ordered, waving off the helicopter. What are
Speaker 1: you doing here? I scoffed. I could ask the same
Speaker 1: of you, I said. She reached down and cut my
Speaker 1: zip ties, but another agent shouted at her to stop.
Speaker 1: In their heated exchange, I learned his name was Agent
Speaker 1: euro Kanaka, a colleague of hers at the PSIA. He
Speaker 1: reluctantly relented and Akimi cut me free. Tell us what happened,
Speaker 1: Akimi said. As I stood up, I hesitated, Promise you
Speaker 1: won't put the zip ties back on, I said, knowing
Speaker 1: what I was about to say warranted a trip to
Speaker 1: a padded room in a straight jacket. I promise, Akimi said,
Speaker 1: Now what happened? As I spit out a string of events,
Speaker 1: leaving out the part about the sword, Akimi and Agent
Speaker 1: Tanaka exchanged a worried look. Part seven myth versus reality.
Speaker 1: So inspector, what are you going to do with me?
Speaker 1: I asked? When Tanaka stepped away. I'm sorry, Akimi offered,
Speaker 1: clearly distressed. Don't apologize, just explain. I said, You're free
Speaker 1: to go. She answered, it wasn't the explanation I wanted
Speaker 1: seeing this, she added, go home and wait for me.
Speaker 1: I nodded. She didn't give me much of a choice.
Speaker 1: When I pulled up to my house, Master Akagi was
Speaker 1: standing outside. I immediately expressed my grief over Goro. Come,
Speaker 1: he said, gently, I will make tea inside. I told
Speaker 1: him what had happened, finding the car and fighting the
Speaker 1: creature and getting the sword, and Goro dying and then
Speaker 1: getting zip tied and blinded by psia. He listened intently
Speaker 1: in his expression, telling me that he was making a
Speaker 1: mental note of every word. You have proven yourself again,
Speaker 1: he said, when I finished. But now you are marked.
Speaker 1: The capita will come after you. Where is the sword?
Speaker 1: I went back outside and retrieved the canvas bundle from
Speaker 1: my car. Master Akagi unwrapped it, revealing a magnificent catana
Speaker 1: made of blue steel. I gasped at the sight of it.
Speaker 1: It was a cloudy blue with a deep finish that
Speaker 1: I could almost look into, but there was no reflection.
Speaker 1: Before I could ask, Master Akagi explained that the steel
Speaker 1: came from within the earth, under the rivers where the
Speaker 1: Kappa live. There were only a few swords like it
Speaker 1: in existence. This is the sword of the scrolls. I said, yes,
Speaker 1: and in the hands of a master, it is the
Speaker 1: only blade that can defeat the kappa. He said, if
Speaker 1: you had not found Goro, the sword would be in
Speaker 1: the hands of the kappa now. He told me that
Speaker 1: Goro was on his way to deliver the sword to
Speaker 1: the home of mister Sumiyoshi, the owner of the school,
Speaker 1: when he was attacked. Master Akagi paus for a moment, Harry,
Speaker 1: there are things I must tell you. Mister Sumiyochi is
Speaker 1: a member of the second largest yakuza family in Japan.
Speaker 1: I leaned in my interest pique. The Yamaguchi are the
Speaker 1: largest family. They want to take over the Sumiyoshi family's
Speaker 1: business dealings. Mister Sumiyoshi left that business many years ago
Speaker 1: to buy our school and start a new life. The
Speaker 1: Yamaguchi think he is becoming weak and has because he
Speaker 1: is an easy target and all the deaths in this
Speaker 1: area were junior members of the Sumiyoshi family. They're sending
Speaker 1: a message to mister Sumiyoshi to sign over all his
Speaker 1: holdings and to persuade the rest of the family in
Speaker 1: Tokyo to do the same. They will refuse this. If
Speaker 1: Yamaguchi are caught in the act of killing a Sumiyoshi
Speaker 1: family member, it will start a war. Someone within the
Speaker 1: Yamaguchi family figured out how to invoke the Kiro, powerful
Speaker 1: evil spirits to gain control of the Kappa. Now they
Speaker 1: want to use them to their advantage. What should I
Speaker 1: do with the sword, I asked, thinking everything he told
Speaker 1: me sounded like it was some crazy plot out of
Speaker 1: a science fiction movie. Keep it, he said, flatly. It
Speaker 1: will be safe with you. Nobody would expect you to
Speaker 1: have it. He stood up and added, Monday, we start
Speaker 1: your training for the sword for fighting the kappa. Now
Speaker 1: come with me. I followed him to the trunk of
Speaker 1: his car, where he pulled out a rifle case and
Speaker 1: a tactical bag. He handed them to me without explaining
Speaker 1: the contents. He knew I was familiar with everything inside.
Speaker 1: Then he handed me an ID card with my picture
Speaker 1: on it. Written in both Japanese and English were the
Speaker 1: words personal Security seg Sumi Yoshi Enterprises Japan. He left
Speaker 1: to make the necessary arrangements for Goro and I looked
Speaker 1: over the contents of the bag, an ar ten carving
Speaker 1: with all the bells and whistles, five twenty round magazines,
Speaker 1: a tactical knife, and a CZ forty five with three
Speaker 1: ten round magazines, and enough mo for an anti insurgent mission.
Speaker 1: The clock told me it was four hundred hours. I
Speaker 1: needed some sleep. At eleven fifteen hours, a knock on
Speaker 1: my door woke me up. It was a Kimi who
Speaker 1: walked in, looking like a dream in just jeans and
Speaker 1: a polo. What no zip ties? I said. She rolled
Speaker 1: her eyes and looked at me. Apologetically. Please, Harry, can
Speaker 1: we put all that behind us, she said, holding up
Speaker 1: a bag of food. I smiled and led her to
Speaker 1: the dining table, where we sat down to eat. You've
Speaker 1: got some explaining to do, I said, bluntly. Yes, she said,
Speaker 1: looking down at her hands for a moment before making
Speaker 1: eye contact again. I hunt monsters, I'm all ears, I said.
Speaker 1: Growing up in East Texas, there were always stories of
Speaker 1: the chupacabra, bigfoot, and dog man. I was fascinated by them,
Speaker 1: and I spent hours researching, and one day I began
Speaker 1: posting about it under a pseudonym. By the time I
Speaker 1: was twenty, I learned enough about cryptids and had taught
Speaker 1: myself enough cyber skills to hack into an obscure cover
Speaker 1: for Dulcia in the Four Corners area. She paused, like
Speaker 1: she was waiting for me to laugh or ask her
Speaker 1: to leave. When I encouraged her with an odd she
Speaker 1: relaxed and went on. My father got a visit from
Speaker 1: an alphabet agency. They wanted to know if this was
Speaker 1: his doing. Her eyes widened as she looked down and
Speaker 1: her plate of food, reliving the memories like it had
Speaker 1: happened yesterday. He was furious with me. But the next
Speaker 1: thing I knew, I was sitting in the NSA office
Speaker 1: getting recruited. First I did research, and then I almost
Speaker 1: sent to a linguistic school, and after that I was
Speaker 1: sent overseas to work with a variety of agencies. She
Speaker 1: looked up with her beautiful eyes. I didn't like the
Speaker 1: direction the NSA was headed, so I resigned. Meanwhile, I
Speaker 1: discovered that Interpole was operating a secret cryptid unit within
Speaker 1: its fugitive unit, so I applied. I've been there for
Speaker 1: almost five years now, so you were packing a gun
Speaker 1: on that plane, I said, and she nodded. I have
Speaker 1: been as honest with you as I can be, she said,
Speaker 1: and I hope you will do me the same favor.
Speaker 1: I just died in my seat, rubbed my chin and nodded.
Speaker 1: I knew I could trust her. I told her everything
Speaker 1: I knew. I recapped my training and how I had
Speaker 1: fought the creature. I told her I had injured it twice.
Speaker 1: And when I told her about my conversation with Master Akagi,
Speaker 1: she nodded. She already knew about the Yukuza connection. She
Speaker 1: was unaware, however, that someone had invoked an evil spirit
Speaker 1: to control the Kappa. You're wrong about one thing, she said.
Speaker 1: This thing isn't a kappa, it's a reptilian. They've been
Speaker 1: here since the beginning of creation. I showed her the
Speaker 1: weapons Master Akagi had given me, and then I showed
Speaker 1: her the scrolls. She examined them closely while I explained
Speaker 1: that they had been given to me to prepare me.
Speaker 1: And when I revealed the sword, she was amazed by it.
Speaker 1: I have only ever seen one of these before, she said,
Speaker 1: staring into the clouded surface, and it was locked in
Speaker 1: a secured vault. This one is better, and then she
Speaker 1: looked up at me. I am obligated to confiscate the sword.
Speaker 1: Before I could react, she added, but my Japanese side
Speaker 1: tells me that it's better if you keep it. I
Speaker 1: told her about the mural that I had seen in
Speaker 1: the battle, with the creature depicted on it, and then
Speaker 1: I told her one last thing. The distinctive scratch marks
Speaker 1: on Goro's body were reminiscent of a set of scratch
Speaker 1: marks my father carried on his back. I told her
Speaker 1: the story of what happened when I was seventeen, and
Speaker 1: how no one had believed my father Akimi placed her
Speaker 1: hand gently on my chest. Harry, do you understand that
Speaker 1: your being here was faded? Before I could answer, she
Speaker 1: leaned in and kiss me. Moments lay, we were tangled
Speaker 1: up in each other and the sheets on my bed,
Speaker 1: as if a lifetime of loneliness and emptiness were finally
Speaker 1: being filled. My phone woke us up a couple of
Speaker 1: hours later. I glanced at the time before answering it.
Speaker 1: It was seventeen thirty hours Captain Tate. A voice said
Speaker 1: on the other end, this is Lieutenant Ellis with Army Intelligence.
Speaker 1: How are you, sir? Who wrote my cell number on
Speaker 1: the bus station wall? I joked, Colonel Jones gave me
Speaker 1: your number. He told me in a voice that, despite
Speaker 1: revealing a complete lack of humor, was not unpleasant. He
Speaker 1: asked that I check in on you and see how
Speaker 1: you're doing. Well. Thank you, I said, I'm still adjusting
Speaker 1: to my new life. I glanced down at a Chmi's
Speaker 1: half covered form in the twisted sheets. Well, I'm sure
Speaker 1: you'll be able to meet all the challenges you'll face,
Speaker 1: but we're here if you need us, he said. I
Speaker 1: thought that was a curious statement. He asked if we
Speaker 1: could meat sometime and break bread. Sure, I said, let
Speaker 1: me call you when things settle down. Roger that, he said,
Speaker 1: and hung up. Akimi, who had been listening to the call,
Speaker 1: noted the strangeness of Lieutenant Ellis's statement as well. She
Speaker 1: reasoned that the Yukuza deaths being in such close proximity
Speaker 1: to me, had put me on their radar. They were
Speaker 1: probably aware of what happened last night. At nineteen hundred
Speaker 1: hours a, Kimi told me she'd left her bag in
Speaker 1: the car, so I offered to go out and get
Speaker 1: it for her. As soon as I walked out to
Speaker 1: the door, and an easy feeling washed over me. I
Speaker 1: backed up into the house again, grabbed the CZ and
Speaker 1: scan the yard. Akimi, I said, over my shoulder through
Speaker 1: the open door, act alert, something isn't right. It was
Speaker 1: the same feeling I'd had walking into an ambush. As
Speaker 1: I inched toward her car, I saw a movement in
Speaker 1: the foliage. Then a creature like I saw all the
Speaker 1: night before, burst out, heading right at me. I squeezed
Speaker 1: all four or five rounds as it advanced on me,
Speaker 1: but I couldn't prevent it from hitting me. It slashed
Speaker 1: at my upper arm and I hit the ground hard.
Speaker 1: I spun around to take aim again, and from behind me,
Speaker 1: I heard the sound of the ar ten barking. It
Speaker 1: was a Kimi firing from the stoop, but she wasn't
Speaker 1: firing at the one attacking me. Another one was closing
Speaker 1: in from behind. I rolled out of the way, and
Speaker 1: the one that attacked me was now bearing down on
Speaker 1: a Chimi, and it jumped onto the stoop and slashed
Speaker 1: at her. She raised the rifle in the fence, but
Speaker 1: it knocked it from her hands. I looked to my
Speaker 1: left and the second creature was lying on the ground
Speaker 1: next to me. A Chimi was down on the stoop
Speaker 1: with that thing standing over her, arms raised and claws bared.
Speaker 1: I emptied the cz into the side of its head.
Speaker 1: It released a horrible screeching sound and fell into the
Speaker 1: side of a house and slid to the ground. I
Speaker 1: looked at the one beside me to make sure it
Speaker 1: was dead, and then ran to Akimi and grabbed the rifle.
Speaker 1: Two more rounds in its skull, assured that it would
Speaker 1: not be getting back up. You're bleeding, get inside, Akimi said,
Speaker 1: getting back to her feet. A minute later, she was
Speaker 1: treating my wound with a medical kit she had stashed
Speaker 1: in her car. I have to give you an injection,
Speaker 1: she said hurriedly as she rummaged through the kit. Scratches
Speaker 1: and bites from these things can cause deadly infections for humans.
Speaker 1: Part eight SUMMATAI kys a cold wind. That was the
Speaker 1: sexiest thing I've ever seen, I said. We were waiting
Speaker 1: for Agent Tanaka and his men to arrive. Akimi raised
Speaker 1: her eyebrows in question, and I elaborated, seeing you fire
Speaker 1: that rifle, that's the sexiest thing I've ever seen. Akimi smiled.
Speaker 1: It is no longer safe for you here, she said,
Speaker 1: you should come and stay with me. Oh, I'd love that,
Speaker 1: I answered with a broad grin, but I'm obliged to
Speaker 1: stay here and finish my studies. Our conversation was cut
Speaker 1: short by a phone call from Master Akagi. Are you okay?
Speaker 1: He asked. My neighbor, Miss Hatachi had called him and
Speaker 1: told him what had happened. You must come and stay
Speaker 1: at the school where they're a security. I agreed with
Speaker 1: that plan. I'm pleased that you have a new friend,
Speaker 1: he added, speak with her. I handed the phone to
Speaker 1: a Kimi. They spoke in Japanese, some of which I understood.
Speaker 1: A minute later, she handed the phone back to me,
Speaker 1: and Master Akagi told me that by the time the
Speaker 1: Gorutsuki the thugs cleaned up the mess, my room at
Speaker 1: the school would be ready for me. Master Akagi thinks
Speaker 1: you are some kind of a chosen one, Akimi said.
Speaker 1: When I hung up the phone. Just then a pair
Speaker 1: of headlights lit up the yard. It was Tanaka in
Speaker 1: an su. He had three men with him and a
Speaker 1: van carrying two men and hazmat suits pulled in behind them.
Speaker 1: Tanaka was clearly angry. He and Akimi got into a
Speaker 1: heated conversation that I didn't like, and I was about
Speaker 1: to interject myself when Akimi put her finger to Tanaka's
Speaker 1: face and said something to the effect of you should
Speaker 1: be happy now you have two to study. She turned
Speaker 1: her back on him and told me that she had
Speaker 1: to go, and I convinced her to stay long enough
Speaker 1: to let Miss Hatachi know that she would be safe now.
Speaker 1: Because I was going to stay at the school. I
Speaker 1: asked Akimi to tell her that I would stop by
Speaker 1: to check on her, to which Miss Hatachi bowed and
Speaker 1: said thank you. When Akimi left, I went to the
Speaker 1: school and found a new servant, Kenda, waiting to help
Speaker 1: carry my things. Kenda spoke almost no English. Master Akagi
Speaker 1: and Jonah were waiting at the front door to usher
Speaker 1: me into the dining ear where the meal had been
Speaker 1: prepared for me, your favorite no Southern fried chicken. Master
Speaker 1: Akagi said, I thank them and the cook for their hospitality.
Speaker 1: As I ate, they told me that tomorrow I would
Speaker 1: learn the kanji or bushido code that few have been
Speaker 1: privy to. It was specific to fighting the kappa. I
Speaker 1: was going to get to meet the Katana sword maker.
Speaker 1: Kenda entered the room, then bowing his head as he
Speaker 1: introduced a visitor. Master Akagi and Jonah both rose to
Speaker 1: their feet and bowed. I followed suit. The man who
Speaker 1: entered was impeccably dressed in a fine three piece double
Speaker 1: breast suit with a fine silk tie, and he greeted
Speaker 1: me in perfect English. Hello, Captain Tate, I am Alexander Asumayoshi,
Speaker 1: he said, seating himself across from me and helping himself
Speaker 1: to a piece of my chicken. He gestured to us
Speaker 1: to sit and join him. May I ask how you
Speaker 1: got the name Alexander sir, I asked, please drop the formalities.
Speaker 1: He said, my father studied Alexander the Great, more than
Speaker 1: any warrior in history, even more than the great Samurai warriors.
Speaker 1: He wanted me to be like Alexander, but it wasn't
Speaker 1: in my DNA, and your English is perfect, I ventured,
Speaker 1: not wanting to sound too intrusive. I went to Harvard
Speaker 1: in an internship on Wall Street. That's impressive, I said, Actually,
Speaker 1: he said, it is you who I find impressive. I've
Speaker 1: never risked my life in combat, nor have i had
Speaker 1: my comrades gata alongside me, and I certainly never fought
Speaker 1: and defeated a Kappa. I listened and made mental notes
Speaker 1: as he explained that Atsumasai Akades had arrived about six
Speaker 1: months ago. He had lost four family members in a
Speaker 1: loyal and noble koboku. He was referring to goro. When
Speaker 1: you fought the Kappa, you became an enemy of the
Speaker 1: Yamaguchi family. It makes you family. The ororo contenta is
Speaker 1: the key to defeating the Kappa. The metal is harmful
Speaker 1: to them. It is even more harmful when forged into
Speaker 1: a sword and in the hands of a master. It
Speaker 1: is terrifying to them. The wizard that has gained control
Speaker 1: of this clan was not able to control all of them,
Speaker 1: but he has gained control of the Alpha, and at
Speaker 1: the Alpha's direction, the clan is attacking my family. There
Speaker 1: are only two ways to stop this. Either we discover
Speaker 1: who the wizard is and force him to reverse the spell,
Speaker 1: or we kill the Alpha. He let me absorb that
Speaker 1: for a second, and then added, your new friend, Missus Estrata,
Speaker 1: is aware of this. The Psia is actively working on
Speaker 1: the wizard angle. She is researching ways to find and
Speaker 1: destroy the Alpha or the entire clan. The problem is
Speaker 1: that these creatures live in caverns under the river, and
Speaker 1: there's no way to determine their exact numbers or the
Speaker 1: exact location of the Alpha. Legend tells us that they
Speaker 1: live in groups of up to one hundred or more.
Speaker 1: About one third of those are warriors, the rest of
Speaker 1: the females and the young. I took the liberty of
Speaker 1: asking Akimi to come here tomorrow to set up a
Speaker 1: research office. I'm sure you will be pleased that she
Speaker 1: will have a room here in the house. He rose
Speaker 1: and told me to get some rest before I started
Speaker 1: my training in the morning, and he shook my hand
Speaker 1: and he thanked me and he left. Afterward, Master Rikagi
Speaker 1: looked at me with a big smile. My name is Theodotus,
Speaker 1: Please call me THEO, he said. At O six hundred hours,
Speaker 1: I was at the breakfast table. Kenda put a bowl
Speaker 1: of eggs, rice, and bacon in front of me and
Speaker 1: managed to say protein and carbs, and I smiled and
Speaker 1: thanked him. At O six thirty hours, Jonah found me
Speaker 1: at the fountain and told me to follow him. He
Speaker 1: led me behind the school to what looked like some
Speaker 1: sort of workshop, and inside I recognized the smell of
Speaker 1: forged hot steel. A plump old man was standing there
Speaker 1: waiting for us. His name was Tetxgen, which means sage
Speaker 1: or philosopher. He told a story and Jonah translated it
Speaker 1: for me. There was once a noble samurai fighting against
Speaker 1: a ruthless warlord. His men were ambushed on a bridge
Speaker 1: by a ninja clan hired by the warlord. Seriously injured,
Speaker 1: he fell off the bridge and into the swift current
Speaker 1: that swept him away. The ninja pursued him on both
Speaker 1: sides of the bank and finally completely exhausted, he sunk
Speaker 1: under the water, nearly slipping into unconsciousness. He was about
Speaker 1: to drown when something grabbed him and pulled him above
Speaker 1: the surface and into the bushes. As he came to
Speaker 1: his senses, he saw creature. There was a kappa. It
Speaker 1: had learned to speak Japanese by hiding in the bushes
Speaker 1: and listening to men talk. The kapa told the samurai
Speaker 1: that it had a cruel master who had taken his
Speaker 1: wife and made him a slave. He tried to kill
Speaker 1: his master, but he was seriously injured and barely managed
Speaker 1: to escape. The samurai said that he was fighting a
Speaker 1: cruel warlord who did a similar thing. The kappa talked
Speaker 1: about the blue steel and the caverns that could harm
Speaker 1: the kappa. He said that this steel could cut through
Speaker 1: other metals, and then he told the samurai that he
Speaker 1: had brought some with him and that he could get more.
Speaker 1: They agreed to become friends and to help each other.
Speaker 1: Over time, the samurai healed, and the kappa taught him
Speaker 1: how to make swords from this blue steel. He forged
Speaker 1: five swords, and he took them to his men. As
Speaker 1: he told this story, he demonstrated how the steel cut
Speaker 1: through their Samurai swords. He and the four best warriors
Speaker 1: led their men to the territory of the cruel Warlord,
Speaker 1: where they began to kill the warlord's men and cut
Speaker 1: their swords in half. Eventually, the Samurai sent a challenge
Speaker 1: to the warlord to do battle with five of his
Speaker 1: best men, and the warlord accepted. The Samurai easily defeated
Speaker 1: the warlord's men, who bowed to them and placed their loyalty.
Speaker 1: The cruel war Lord was put to death and the
Speaker 1: Samurai was made the new leader. He recruited his best
Speaker 1: warriors to go with the Kappa and get more of
Speaker 1: the blue steel, and many more swords were made in
Speaker 1: preparation for the battle against the Cruel Kappa. Master the
Speaker 1: Kappa taught the Samurai and his men how to hold
Speaker 1: their breath so they could go into the river and
Speaker 1: enter the cavern. He taught them the weaknesses of the
Speaker 1: Kappa and how to use blinding power from a plant
Speaker 1: against them, and when the Samurai attacked, one fourth of
Speaker 1: the Kappa were killed or injured. When they arrived at
Speaker 1: the main chamber of the cave, the Kappa told his
Speaker 1: brethren to surrender and hand over their cruel master so
Speaker 1: they could be free, and to everyone's surprise, they did.
Speaker 1: The master was handed over and beheaded by the Samurai leader.
Speaker 1: The samurai's Kapa friend was made the new leader, and
Speaker 1: the Samurai and the Kappa lived in peace. Then an
Speaker 1: evil wizard found a way to enchant the Kappa with
Speaker 1: underground plants that had hallucinogenic properties. That's what was happening now,
Speaker 1: and I realized it. I looked around and saw that
Speaker 1: Tetsujin had forged two more blue swords. It was all
Speaker 1: of the steel he had left, save one small piece.
Speaker 1: I asked if he could make a small knife for me,
Speaker 1: and he agreed. The swords, which were made for Jonah
Speaker 1: and Theo, would be ready by the next morning. Tetsugen
Speaker 1: said that we would practice together to learn the feel
Speaker 1: and the of these weapons. You will learn the kapa
Speaker 1: weakness and lead other warriors into their chamber to kill
Speaker 1: the alpha, he said. We thanked him and went to
Speaker 1: the dojo to commence training for the day. We rolled
Speaker 1: out the scrolls onto the floor and began reading the
Speaker 1: sketches and diagrams, and I learned that the Kappa had
Speaker 1: sensitive ears and their eyes were vulnerable to bright light.
Speaker 1: The skin around their small ear cavities was thin and delicate,
Speaker 1: and the backs of their legs from their knees to
Speaker 1: their ankles were points of great weakness. The ribs under
Speaker 1: their arms near their waist weren't a stick, making an
Speaker 1: easier access point to their vital organs. The scrolls also
Speaker 1: contained a recipe for a fire bomb, but the moisture
Speaker 1: of the tunnels made them almost impossible to light. Another
Speaker 1: recipe for a powder made from another plant could blind
Speaker 1: them when it was thrown directly into their eyes. When
Speaker 1: we stopped for lunch, Akimi was at the damad. I
Speaker 1: told her all that we had studied in the scrolls.
Speaker 1: She said that she had had her own copy of
Speaker 1: them and was studying them as well. And then she
Speaker 1: said Tanaka had brought some incendiary grenades. Someone tipped off
Speaker 1: the US Army about these incidents, minus the details. She warned,
Speaker 1: you should expect a visit. I took her hands in
Speaker 1: mine and looked her in the eyes. Are we in
Speaker 1: this together? I asked? She nodded. My afternoon was reserved
Speaker 1: for practicing attacks. When I re entered the dojo, mister
Speaker 1: Sumiyoshi was there. With a life sized model figure of
Speaker 1: a Kappa on the floor at his feet. Gentlemen, he said,
Speaker 1: you will practice attacking the Kappa's vulnerable spots For the
Speaker 1: next four hours. We repeated our attacks, improving and refining
Speaker 1: them until it was time to stop and the Kapa
Speaker 1: figure was toast. Meanwhile, we were to have some dinner
Speaker 1: and get some rest. When I went to shower, I
Speaker 1: discovered that Akimi's room was next to mine. Part nine,
Speaker 1: the task at hand. At eighteen hundred hours, I knocked
Speaker 1: on Akimi's door, Come in, she said. I opened the
Speaker 1: door to find her seated at her computer with papers
Speaker 1: scattered around her table. She looked up at me reluctantly.
Speaker 1: You know this is a suicide mission, right, she said, huh,
Speaker 1: I said. The only way for this plan to work
Speaker 1: will be for you, THEO agent Tanaka, and the Semiosha's
Speaker 1: security force to die. According to the Plantanaka shared with me,
Speaker 1: you're going to have to fight your way into the
Speaker 1: tunnels and get to the main cavern. There, you'll be
Speaker 1: expected to set explosives and collapse everything. She hesitated for
Speaker 1: a moment before continuing, there will be no time to escape.
Speaker 1: She leaned forward and begged me with her eyes. Please
Speaker 1: don't go. I don't go on suicide missions, I assured her.
Speaker 1: Later at dinner, mister Sumiyoshi, Jonah, THEO, Akimi, and I
Speaker 1: sat at the dinner table together. We sipped saki and
Speaker 1: toasted our health and success. The alcohol burned in our
Speaker 1: throats as we drank it down. You need another plan.
Speaker 1: You're all gonna die, Akimi said to the room. Mister
Speaker 1: Sumiyoshi and Jonah looked at her in surprise. There's a
Speaker 1: better way, she insisted. Everyone at the table began to
Speaker 1: argue with her, besides me. Damn it, she shouted. After
Speaker 1: several minutes, what good would it do for you to
Speaker 1: die in honorable death? She stood up and ran out
Speaker 1: of the room, leaving the rest of us staring at
Speaker 1: each other in silence. After a moment, I stood up
Speaker 1: and followed her. I found Akimi in her room, furious
Speaker 1: and crying, and I pulled her into my arms. What's
Speaker 1: your plan, I asked her. She told me that they
Speaker 1: had used infrared to track the kappa that I had
Speaker 1: wounded back to the river. There they located an underwater cave.
Speaker 1: I asked the US government to provide assistance with ground
Speaker 1: penetrating radar to map the tunnels and hopefully locate the
Speaker 1: main cavity. We can use you to lure them out,
Speaker 1: she said. They have your scent and they hate you.
Speaker 1: She explained that the US military has a type of
Speaker 1: seismic bomb that they can drop over the cave and
Speaker 1: panic the reptilians. It was the same one they used
Speaker 1: to flush out and kill the giants of Kandahar. How
Speaker 1: do you know that, I asked her. Everybody knows that.
Speaker 1: She said, you want to use me for bait, I ask,
Speaker 1: Don't worry. There will be back up, she said. The
Speaker 1: next morning, I was back at the dojo at o
Speaker 1: seven hundred hours. Mounted on a small platform was one
Speaker 1: of the Kappa we had killed. It was almost seven
Speaker 1: feet tall and its steink like hell. A brave man
Speaker 1: would piss himself if he ran into this thing in
Speaker 1: a dark alley. Mister Sumiyoshi and agent Tanaka were there.
Speaker 1: You have this for today, only Tanaka informed us, and
Speaker 1: then we must return it to cold storage. Tetsagen delivered
Speaker 1: our swords in my knife. Our catanas are in the scabbard,
Speaker 1: so our strikes would not completely destroy the Kappa. THEO
Speaker 1: went first, followed by Jonah. When it was my turn,
Speaker 1: I took a moment to get a feel of my
Speaker 1: sword before striking the Kappa. As we sat down for lunch,
Speaker 1: Kenda entered the room and announced that we had guests.
Speaker 1: It was Lieutenant Kobe Ellis and my old teammate Tim Ross.
Speaker 1: I sprang out of my seat to hug him, and
Speaker 1: we both teared up. I would learn that Kobe's mother
Speaker 1: was from Kobe Japan. I heard you've been catching spring lizards,
Speaker 1: Tim said. I pointed at a Kimi. It's her fault.
Speaker 1: Tim looked at Akimi. So this is the sculpted goddess
Speaker 1: you emailed me about, he said. Both My and Achimi's
Speaker 1: face turned brilliant. Shed's afraid. I understand you have a
Speaker 1: wildlife exhibiting the dojo. Kobe interjected, First we eat, THEO
Speaker 1: told him. Then we will see the kappa. As we
Speaker 1: ate our lunch. Kobe explained that a specialized Navy seal
Speaker 1: unit was dedicated to managing these humanoid reptiles. They would
Speaker 1: arrive in Osaka around zero dark thirty. Tim was tasked
Speaker 1: with liaising between us and the seal team. After lunch,
Speaker 1: we walked down to the dojo for a moment of truth.
Speaker 1: Kobe and Tim got their first look at the Kappa. Well,
Speaker 1: I'll be Tim mumbled under his breath, while I got
Speaker 1: back to work. Akemi explained the scrolls and the blue
Speaker 1: steel swords to Kobe and Tim. After a couple of hours.
Speaker 1: The Katana felt like an extension of my arm. It
Speaker 1: was light, but strong and well balanced. Remembered the importance
Speaker 1: of allowing my mind's eye to direct my movements. It
Speaker 1: seemed easier to do with this new sword. I felt
Speaker 1: as though I had a personal connection with it. At
Speaker 1: eighteen hundred hours, we reconvened at the dinner table and
Speaker 1: we discussed strategies and decided on a dry run simulation
Speaker 1: in the dojo for our attack on the tunnels. Akimi's
Speaker 1: plan started sounding better as we ironed out the details.
Speaker 1: At twenty one hundred hours, we called it a night.
Speaker 1: Back in her bedroom. Akimi clung to me tightly and
Speaker 1: we fell asleep in each other's arms. At one five hours,
Speaker 1: the dojo alarm sounded and gunfire erupted, and I sprang
Speaker 1: up and grabbed my tack vest in ar. Stay here,
Speaker 1: I told Akimi and shoot anything with scales. I entered
Speaker 1: the hallway to find Tim and Kobe already there with
Speaker 1: their weapons slung together. We entered the dojo, hugging the
Speaker 1: walls as we moved cautiously forward and began screaming. As
Speaker 1: a hissing screech echoed through the building, I motioned to
Speaker 1: Tim to slide right while I pushed forward contact to right.
Speaker 1: Two o'clock. Tim shouted. We opened up and put one
Speaker 1: down as the other ran off screaming. I heard another
Speaker 1: scream behind me and turned to see one of those
Speaker 1: things attacking Kobe. He had knocked him to the ground
Speaker 1: and was slashing at him. Before I could fire, Tim
Speaker 1: put two rounds into his ear, spraying brains and slime
Speaker 1: onto the wall, and Kobe was cut up badly. But
Speaker 1: before I could check him, another scream split the night.
Speaker 1: One of them beheaded a security team member at the
Speaker 1: dojo entrance. Tim and I opened up simultaneously and put
Speaker 1: it down. As the creature fell to the ground, I
Speaker 1: heard Akimi scream from inside the house. Tim and I
Speaker 1: rounded the corner to the front entrance to find three
Speaker 1: of the reptilians. One of them had Akimi and I
Speaker 1: darted down the driveway as the other two charged us.
Speaker 1: We put rounds into their mouths and throats, and then
Speaker 1: sidestepped and ducked and rolled, and we went after Akimi,
Speaker 1: but they were already gone. Tanaka arrived and announced that
Speaker 1: two of his men were dead. Kobe was in need
Speaker 1: of medical attention and would require an immediate injection. I
Speaker 1: started screaming at Tanaka that I was going after Akimi
Speaker 1: and that he'd better tell me where that entrance was
Speaker 1: to the cave. We will go after her. He said, calmly,
Speaker 1: but this attack was a diversion to abduct her and
Speaker 1: pull us in, to pull you into a trap. I'm
Speaker 1: sure she's still alive. He walked back inside, his words
Speaker 1: doing nothing to placate me. I followed him into the house,
Speaker 1: and a security guard lay dead in the fouryer sitting
Speaker 1: on the floor next to a dead Kappa Jonah was
Speaker 1: bleeding while one of Tanaka's men tended to his wounds.
Speaker 1: Kenda had been beheaded. Master Rikagi Jonas said, when he
Speaker 1: saw me upstairs, I took the steps two at a
Speaker 1: time and discovered theo on the floor in front of
Speaker 1: my room. Next to him was a decapitated kappa. He
Speaker 1: looked into my eyes. We fought well, he said, grabbing
Speaker 1: my hand in his, and then he breathed his last.
Speaker 1: The window frame in Akimi's room had been destroyed, and
Speaker 1: another dead kappa lay with its feet still on the sill.
Speaker 1: Bullet wounds riddled the side of its head and neck.
Speaker 1: I picked up the pistol next to Akimi's bed and
Speaker 1: I examined it, and my mind raised with guilt. I
Speaker 1: should not have told her to stay here. This was
Speaker 1: my fault. Memories of praying with my mother sprang up,
Speaker 1: and I grasped my hands together and leaned my head
Speaker 1: against them, and I started to pray. Show me what
Speaker 1: to do, I said, and then I stood up and
Speaker 1: grabbed my gear and headed downstairs. The sealed team is
Speaker 1: in a Osaka, Kobe said, as I walked past. They'll
Speaker 1: be here around three thirty, and in f twenty two
Speaker 1: is scrambling out of Okinama with percussion bombs. It was
Speaker 1: two hundred hours. I'm not wasting time waiting on the
Speaker 1: seal team, I spat, before turning to Tanaka. Where is
Speaker 1: your helicopter? I can have it here in fifteen minutes,
Speaker 1: he said, then gather your men. There's no time to
Speaker 1: waste Part ten Fukushi Vengeance. I told Tanaka to gather
Speaker 1: up the carcasses of the dead lizards and have the
Speaker 1: helicopter drop them on the bank above the underwater entrance.
Speaker 1: Texagen entered and said in Japanese, how can I serve you?
Speaker 1: Get some rope and go with a helicopter. I told
Speaker 1: him cut the kappa into big chunks and throw them
Speaker 1: in the river like bait. Jonah, bandaged and struggling, said
Speaker 1: take Master Akagi's katana and I'll join you. We can
Speaker 1: cut them up well. I turned back to Tanaka. Have
Speaker 1: your men drop flares on top of the main cavern coordinates,
Speaker 1: and then I turned to Kobe. Are we good to go? Affirmative?
Speaker 1: He replied, you got a high band portable radio so
Speaker 1: we can talk to the F twenty two in the seals.
Speaker 1: I asked, yes, sir. He snapped, Tim, you up for
Speaker 1: a little swim, I asked, turning to him, Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: he answered. By the time the chopper sat us down,
Speaker 1: it was almost three hundred. I jumped off the skids
Speaker 1: with Tim and Kobe on my six. Jonah, Texigen and
Speaker 1: Tanaka along with three of his men were ready to
Speaker 1: join us. They had sophisticated goggles. Two of them were
Speaker 1: wearing James Bond looking spear guns. The plan was for
Speaker 1: Kobe to remain there with the two security guards while
Speaker 1: Jonah chunked bait. Kobe, bring it, I commanded. He nodded
Speaker 1: and keyed the mic on his portable banger two to one.
Speaker 1: This is Angler. Make some noise, he said, Bang one. Roger,
Speaker 1: the voice answered, I said a silent prayer that the
Speaker 1: bombs wouldn't kill a Kemi. When Kobe yelled, cover your ears.
Speaker 1: Thirty seconds later, we heard an explosion, and a harmonic
Speaker 1: shock wave swept under us, vibrating the ground beneath our
Speaker 1: feet and throwing us off our equilibrium. For a few minutes,
Speaker 1: Kobe's radio cracked. Angler copy package delivered Spearfisher inbound Eta
Speaker 1: twenty five. A voice said Roger that six souls to beach.
Speaker 1: Kobe answered, take a deep breath, I said, and we
Speaker 1: went feet wet. Even with the powerful lights, it was
Speaker 1: hard to find the cave entrance. After forty seconds, one
Speaker 1: of Tanaka's men said something over the radio in Japanese
Speaker 1: that I think was several Kappa ascending. Damn they could
Speaker 1: swim fast. At that moment I got to see what
Speaker 1: those spear guns could do. The tip was a phosphorus
Speaker 1: flare that ignited on contact with the kappa. The murky
Speaker 1: water lit up, and we heard the kapa shriek. Three
Speaker 1: or four of them seemed to freeze when they came
Speaker 1: into contact with the bait lines. Tim swam over and
Speaker 1: put his tack knife in one's ear. Konnata Tanaka shouted
Speaker 1: over the colms this way. He directed everyone to follow
Speaker 1: him where he could see a cave entrance illuminated, and
Speaker 1: at the entrance he paused and fired something out of
Speaker 1: a large tube. In seconds, the passage was lit up
Speaker 1: so intensely we had to cover our eyes. I called
Speaker 1: Kobe over the cons to have the F twenty two
Speaker 1: drop round two. I started a thirty second countdown as
Speaker 1: we entered the tunnel. We emerged into an area now
Speaker 1: dimly lit by Tanaka's flare. When we had been under
Speaker 1: the water for a minute, I shouted brace. We covered
Speaker 1: our ears as another shockwave hit. This time it felt
Speaker 1: like our eyes and ears would pop. I turned around
Speaker 1: to take a head count and one of Tanaka's men
Speaker 1: was missing. We got on solid ground and slung weapons.
Speaker 1: We still had one man with a spear gun and
Speaker 1: one man with an intense light beam. I told them
Speaker 1: I would take point and brandish my katana to put
Speaker 1: fear in them, and it apparently worked. As one of
Speaker 1: them approached it froze at the sight of the katana,
Speaker 1: giving me time to slide under it and sever its
Speaker 1: legs while the others opened fire. The screeches were deafening
Speaker 1: as the remaining Kapa retreated. As we penetrated further into
Speaker 1: the passage, I heard a garbled message from Kobe, but
Speaker 1: I couldn't understand it. Above the ground, two security guards
Speaker 1: had shot several Kappa that were coming out of the water.
Speaker 1: Jonah and Texigen had managed to kill one. The combination
Speaker 1: of the bombs and the blue steel had given us
Speaker 1: the advantage. A black Hawk emerged down river unannounced, spear
Speaker 1: fisher on station. Within six minutes, six seals fast rope down,
Speaker 1: equipped with more James Bond looking type equipment. Kobe briefed
Speaker 1: them and they prepared to get wet. Below ground, we
Speaker 1: inched down the passage while pressed against the walls, using
Speaker 1: a red light. The ear piercing screeches and hissing began
Speaker 1: to hit us. It was annoying and confusing and disorienting
Speaker 1: all at the same time. It was as if they
Speaker 1: were all trying to blast us at once. So I
Speaker 1: stood there and took some deep breaths, remembering Master Akagi
Speaker 1: and Jonah's words, use your mind's eye. I turned to Tim,
Speaker 1: who was behind me. Close your eyes and breathe. Imagine
Speaker 1: a little dot of light in front of you and
Speaker 1: concentrate and breathe. Then follow me, I said. I told
Speaker 1: Tanaka that we were advancing, and he informed me that
Speaker 1: the seal team had entered the cave. So I directed
Speaker 1: one man go back to brief them and bring them
Speaker 1: to us. Tanaka told the man with the spear gun
Speaker 1: to fire at the first kappa we saw. We inch
Speaker 1: further under the onslaught of the hissing until several kapa
Speaker 1: rushed forward. The spear gunner managed to fire one round
Speaker 1: before one of them slammed into him. The phosphorus light
Speaker 1: illuminated the chamber to reveal dozens of the sobs. Tim
Speaker 1: opened up as I drew the katana off my back
Speaker 1: and started striking. Tanaka threw an incendiary grenade, and Tim
Speaker 1: followed suit, and a few of them were engulfed in
Speaker 1: the flames. It lit up two side tunnels that revealed
Speaker 1: more Kappa than I could count. The Kappa who were
Speaker 1: close enough to see the blue steel hesitated. They were
Speaker 1: afraid and confused about what to do next. I raised
Speaker 1: the blade over my head as if I were about
Speaker 1: to strike, and they backed away. And at that moment
Speaker 1: I heard a voice in my head say I'm going
Speaker 1: to kill her. I turned and shouted, Tim, she's alive.
Speaker 1: The Kappa surrounding us stayed back to avoid the flames
Speaker 1: from the grenades. Tanaka's man was dead from a deep
Speaker 1: cut to his throat. Tanaka grabbed the spear gun and
Speaker 1: started firing into the side passages as he shouted, go
Speaker 1: get her. Tim chucked another phosphorus grenade way out in
Speaker 1: front of us, and we slowly advanced. This ain't your fight, Tim,
Speaker 1: I shouted, you can lay back and wait for the seals. Well,
Speaker 1: with all due respect, Captain, shut the hell up and
Speaker 1: move out, he yelled back. I nodded, and we moved
Speaker 1: to the edge of the phosphorus light, where the passage
Speaker 1: opened into a huge cavern. With rocks and debris everywhere,
Speaker 1: and we slowly moved forward until we could see the
Speaker 1: outline of dozens of Kappa standing around what looked like
Speaker 1: a stage or an altar. I could hear that voice again, saying,
Speaker 1: enter inter. As we got closer, I could see the
Speaker 1: Alpha standing on the altar, surrounded by four other Kappa.
Speaker 1: He was holding Achimi with one hand as the claws
Speaker 1: of his other hand pressed against her neck. The other
Speaker 1: kappa on the stage were bigger than any I had
Speaker 1: seen so far, and the Alpha was over seven feet tall.
Speaker 1: He had an aura of pure evil about him. The
Speaker 1: air feels like it weighs a ton. Tim whispered from
Speaker 1: behind me, I've never felt so uneasy. The Alpha had
Speaker 1: yellow eyes with vertical pupils and was difficult to look at.
Speaker 1: As we got closer, what do you want? I shouted
Speaker 1: Somewhere in the distance behind us. Loud gunfire cracked the air,
Speaker 1: followed by minor explosions and the sound of kapa suffering.
Speaker 1: Look at the kappa around the altar. They're scared, I
Speaker 1: told Tim, get ready to toss those phosphorus grenades. I'm
Speaker 1: about to do something. The voice in my head spoke again.
Speaker 1: I want you, the Sumiyoshi family, and the rest of
Speaker 1: the worms dead. Slowly, I moved forward, displaying the sword
Speaker 1: in front of me. I know you hear my people
Speaker 1: coming there, killing all the Kappa. If you want to
Speaker 1: save your kind and keep your throne, release her and
Speaker 1: keep me. I made it to the edge of the altar.
Speaker 1: Look around you. You see the fear in the kappa's eyes.
Speaker 1: They know you're about to die. It's up to you
Speaker 1: to save them. And as I got closer, the other
Speaker 1: Kappa on the altar started to move back in fear
Speaker 1: Part eleven a faithful gamble. The Alpha looked at me
Speaker 1: with hatred and rage. I looked around as I moved
Speaker 1: my body from side to side and displayed the sword.
Speaker 1: They're afraid, I shouted. They want to live and they
Speaker 1: know it's up to you to save them. At that moment,
Speaker 1: the gunfire from the seal team drew closer. Many of
Speaker 1: the Kapa flinched and looked in that direction. Some of
Speaker 1: them hid behind each other in this now, I said,
Speaker 1: take me and let her go. The Alpha nodded, and
Speaker 1: the voice in my head directed me to lay the
Speaker 1: sword on the altar. I breathed, and allowed my mind's
Speaker 1: eye to dictate my next move. I heard the voices
Speaker 1: of the seal team calling out. I looked over at
Speaker 1: Tim and he was ready. I inched closer to the
Speaker 1: Alpha and he towered over me. His teeth were like razors.
Speaker 1: His claws were three or four inches long. I inch
Speaker 1: closer and pulled back my collar and exposed my neck.
Speaker 1: His grip on a kimi loosened. She fell forward off
Speaker 1: the altar, and the Alpha wrapped his fingers around my neck.
Speaker 1: Tim grabbed a kimi. My hands were still loosening my
Speaker 1: clothes as if to offer him my neck. I looked
Speaker 1: at the Alpha and his ugly face, and I sneered. God,
Speaker 1: you're ugly, I said. His body tensed as rage flooded
Speaker 1: his face and his eyes burned with pure malice. He
Speaker 1: picked me up by my neck. I heard a chemi
Speaker 1: scream as he pulled me close and opened his big
Speaker 1: mouth to reveal those razor sharp teeth. He was preparing
Speaker 1: to rip my face off, but I needed him to
Speaker 1: pull me just a little bit closer. His mouth gaped
Speaker 1: wider as the fetid smell of putrid breath engulfed my senses.
Speaker 1: I pulled Tetchigen's knife from inside my lapel and I
Speaker 1: thrust it into his neck. He slashed at me with
Speaker 1: his free hand, and I fell backward. The impact left
Speaker 1: me idled as blood poured into my right eye, leaving
Speaker 1: me unable to see out of it. Roll right. Tim
Speaker 1: screamed as he threw a phosphorus grenade onto the altar.
Speaker 1: I rolled as quickly as I could, covering my head
Speaker 1: as I did, and a loud bang, followed by the
Speaker 1: most hideous screeching I had ever heard, fill the air.
Speaker 1: I regained consciousness to the sound of Akimi's voice talk
Speaker 1: to me, Harry, I heard her say. She and e
Speaker 1: Medic were tending to me. She was holding me, looking worried.
Speaker 1: What happened? I asked. She told me that the Seal
Speaker 1: Team had secured the place and what was left of
Speaker 1: the Kappa didn't want to fight anymore. They had brought
Speaker 1: someone with them who could communicate with the Kappa and
Speaker 1: discovered the identity of the evil Wizard. Some people had died,
Speaker 1: but thanks to our efforts, many more had been saved.
Speaker 1: That's not too bad for a hillbilly, she said. Part twelve,
Speaker 1: Dream and Duty Tanaka had lost four men in this fight.
Speaker 1: Mister Sumiyoshi had lost four family members, three security guards,
Speaker 1: and two servants, but I had found my soulmate. I
Speaker 1: was pretty sure I'd also found my new calling after
Speaker 1: mister Sumiyoshi offered me a position Master Jonas' second in command.
Speaker 1: Three days after it was all over and we had
Speaker 1: honored our dead, Achimi and I were having dinner at
Speaker 1: the Big House. Where did you get the idea to
Speaker 1: cut up the reptilian like fish bait? She asked, Vlad
Speaker 1: the Impaler? Do you know Dracula? I told her she
Speaker 1: wasn't familiar with the story, so I explained Vlad would
Speaker 1: impale his enemies on pikes on the battlefield to terrorize
Speaker 1: opposing armies. He and his men would drink their blood
Speaker 1: so the opposing forces would see it. That was how
Speaker 1: the whole vampire legend began. Vampires aren't exactly a legend.
Speaker 1: You know that, right, she said, with a serious look.
Speaker 1: I shook my head, and by the way, she added,
Speaker 1: I've invited a few people to come for dinner, and
Speaker 1: I hope you don't mind. Why would I mind? The
Speaker 1: sides of my face were still bandaged. I wasn't going anywhere, Abby,
Speaker 1: the new servant ushered in our gifts. It was Tim
Speaker 1: Tanaka Kobe, General Edwards of Army Intelligence and Director Smithwick
Speaker 1: of Interpole entered the room. I leaned over to a Kimi.
Speaker 1: What are you up to? I asked her in a whisper.
Speaker 1: She squeezed my arm and gave me a sheepest grin.
Speaker 1: While Kobe handled the introductions, Doctor Smithwick spoke first, Bloody,
Speaker 1: good to meet you, Captain, he said, glancing at the
Speaker 1: General beside him. We have a proposition for you. Epilogue.
Speaker 1: What threatens us most is what we ignore. Thanks for
Speaker 1: joining me on this podcast. I certainly do appreciate it.
Speaker 1: It was longer than most. If you made it to
Speaker 1: the end, drop a comment let me know you made
Speaker 1: it to the end. I love to see those people
Speaker 1: who listened to two or three hour long podcast. You
Speaker 1: deserve to have your name shaved in my back. I
Speaker 1: might do that if I get enough people to get
Speaker 1: my old backshaved. Does that make sense? That make any
Speaker 1: sense at all? Does it anyway? I'll shave your name
Speaker 1: in my back hairs. If you drop a comment and
Speaker 1: say that you made it to the end, it's gonna
Speaker 1: be a little hard to get my wife to do that,
Speaker 1: but I'll try. I'll do my best anyway. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening this long. I appreciate you, and we'll see you
Speaker 1: guys on the next podcast. Thank you so