Jonathan Mashack
ENTER KAZAN
Meanwhile, Herona made it to the Hikari Tribe in search of my father, Kazan. As she entered the heart of Zircon City, she couldn’t help but be overwhelmed by emotion.
She thought, ‘I can’t believe it’s been eighteen years since I’ve been here. It looks exactly the same.’
Then, Herona heard a voice from the distance cry out, “Herona! Herona! Is that you?”
It was Herona’s childhood friend Jackie. Herona’s eyes lit up, and they both began screaming and jumping like two teenage girls.
“Herona! Where have you been? I missed you so MUCH!”
“Girl, I’ve been living in the Umi Tribe.”
“WHAT? That’s why I haven’t seen you. You were practically on the other side of the world! Oh my goodness, I have so many questions for you! Okay, Okay, are your married?”
“Yes I’m married, and I want to answer all of your questions. But, I’m only here to find someone, and I don’t have a lot of time.”
“Who you looking for? Maybe I could help?”
“I’m looking for Kazan.”
Jackie paused. Then she cracked a smile and began laughing.
“Are you serious?”
Herona was puzzled, “Yeah, what’s so funny?”
“You mean Kazan Hikari of the Hikari Tribe? The one that you used to have a huge crush on?”
“Yes!”
“You mean the same Kazan who started the Hikari Playbook?”
“Yes!”
“You mean the same Kazan who won all of those Accolades?“
“YES! YES! YES! What’s so funny?”
“Kazan is no longer Kazan.”
“What do you mean?”
“The Kazan you know is gone. He is now referred to as Chief of the Hikari Tribe.”
“What?”
“How could you NOT know this?”
“I… I don’t know.”
Herona began to think about how every time she heard anything relating to the Hikari Tribe that she would immediately shut it out. She turned off radios, threw away magazines and ignored people whenever she heard that it had anything to do with the Hikari Tribe. She did it all because she didn’t want to be reminded of the pain that she felt from leaving.
Jackie smiled and said, “My goodness, why do you want to see the chief?”
“Because he’s my son’s father.”
Jackie paused and said with a determined look on her face, “Are you serious?”
“Yep.”
At that very moment, a large crowd of people began running into the streets, cheering and screaming.
“What’s going on?” Herona shouted to Jackie.
“It’s the chief! He comes into town sometimes! Whenever he does, everyone goes crazy and tries to meet him. Oh… my goodness! Herona! You have to go meet him now! It’s your best chance! Let’s go!”
They both went running into the crowd pushing through people. When they got through the masses, the first thing Herona saw was a large solar powered vehicle without a roof driving very slowly through the crowd of people. Riding in the back was Chief Kazan, smiling and waving while repeatedly being punched in the back of the head by a little old lady who was shouting, “You old-fashioned, punk! When are you going to give me grandchildren?” Despite the old lady hitting him, he continued to smile, wave and shake people’s hands.
Herona and Jackie both shouted, “Kazan! Chief Kazan! Hey, look this way!” But, the chief didn’t notice them because of all of the commotion from the crowd of people. At that moment, everything began to move in slow motion for Herona. She thought about her past with Kazan and all of the good times they’d shared. She thought of the many long walks that they used to take and the late nights they used to spend staring at the stars, just talking. Then, she remembered Kazan’s nickname that she gave him.
Herona pushed through the moving crowd and got as close as she could and shouted, “KAZY-BEAR!”
Kazan paused.
He turned around and locked eyes with Herona.
“Stop!” Kazan shouted to the driver.
The driver stopped abruptly, and the old lady fell from the back seat into the front. Tears began to well up in Herona’s eyes. Kazan reached his hand out so that he could help her into the vehicle. Before they could lock hands, Kazan leaned forward a little too much and fell.
The Hikari Tribe citizens rushed to Kazan’s aide, but he quickly hopped up and began laughing hysterically, “I’m okay! It’s not like I just sprained my ankle or anything…ouch.”
Kazan limped back on the vehicle and he reached out his hand, “Now let’s try this again.”
He pulled Herona up into the vehicle.
Jackie shouted, “You go girl!”
The old lady, now sitting in the front, said, “Grandchildren, here we come!”
Later at Kazan’s office.
“So, now that we’re alone. What brings you here after all this time? Wait! That came out wrong. What I meant is that I waited for you to come back for over 10 years, and now that I’m finally over you, you pop up out of the blue. Okay, wait! That’s not how…I meant for that to sound.” He continued to stutter. “Okay, here we go…I’m happy to see you. What brings you here?”
“I’m married.” Herona blurted.
“What? I didn’t eve-“
“I know you didn’t ask, but before you get any thoughts, I wanted you to know, especially since your grandma was talking about making her grand babies.”
“Well, that figures.” Kazan said.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Just look at you! Why would someone like you be single?”
“Someone like me?” Asked Herona.
“You know what I mean! You’ve been gone for almost twenty years, and you look even better than the last time that I saw you.”
“Thanks, that’s sweet of you to say.”
“Well, I wasn’t trying to be sweet. I was just being honest, Ma’am. I’m not one for coming on to married women.” Kazan said with a serious look on his face.
“I know, I know.” Herona said while giggling. Then, she continued, “I’m here because our son needs your help.”
“What did you say?” Kazan said with a concerned look on his face.
Herona took a deep breath, “I said, our son needs your help. We have a son together, and his name is Kazai. I’m sorry I never told you. It’s just that our last conversation made it clear that you didn’t want to be with me, and I didn’t want to use our baby to force you into something that you didn’t want to be a part of.”
“WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? I LOVED YOU TO DEATH! Our last conversation should have told you that! I was declaring my love for you!” Kazan exclaimed.
“No, you weren’t! You said that you weren’t going to be able to see me anymore!”
“Yeah, TEMPORARILY! Because I was elected as a candidate for Chief! I searched for you for years! I had to go through therapy! And it was all because of a misunderstanding? Why didn’t you tell me that you were leaving, or, better yet, why you were leaving?”
“I don’t know, I don’t know! Wait, I did! I left a letter!”
“I never saw a letter! Jackie said that you just packed up and left.”
“I didn’t leave it with Jackie! I left it with your cousin! I forgot his name, but you used to call him the dragon!”
Kazan paused, “You mean, the Hikari Dragon. He was banished from the tribe not long after you left. We weren’t exactly getting along back then. He probably destroyed the letter the moment you gave it to him.”
There was a long silence.
Then Kazan’s eyes widened, “I HAVE A SON! AND HE NEEDS MY HELP! WHAT HAPPENED?”
“It’s all my fault. I never told Kazai who his real father is or that he has a Hikari Tribe bloodline. I thought that maybe if he didn’t know, the shōkan trait may skip over him but it didn’t. To make a long story short: Kazai recently became an Umi Tribe protector as a weapons specialist, but not long after, he discovered that he has shōkan abilities. Out of fear of losing him, Princess Tuyette wouldn’t let him leave the town--not even to find a Hikari Tribe trainer to teach him. So, Kazai tried to leave anyway, and the princess had him put in confinement, and she doesn’t plan to let him out anytime soon. I think that she wants to hold him there until the Crimson Bloods attack!”
“Let’s go!”
“You mean now?”
“Yeah. Let’s go now! I know exactly how to handle Princess Tootty.” Kazan said with confidence.
“Okay, let’s go then. Can you still do that light speed thing?” Herona asked cheerfully.
“Yeah, but that may not be a good idea, saying that I actually sprained my ankle. We’ll just take the next shuttle. Besides, that’ll give us time to catch up. I want to know more about those Crimson Bloods you mentioned.”