Echoes of Strength

[roninnuren]

upon walking to my car at the midnight hour to leave my house for a party, I then felt a sudden thud upon on the back of my head, &then darkness.

I awoke who knows how many hours later, finding myself wearing only a white t-shirt, sports shorts, &in a concrete cell, without windows &some-how without a door, I had urged to move, but sadly I only find myself chained to a table, yet I am able to move myself enough to look around to my new surroundings my likely prison if you will.

under the only camera in the room, was a strange emaciated looking figure with jet black with what appears to be a halo shine hairstyle, &from this angle seems only to be wearing a black trench coat, black gloves, bell bottom jeans,& white Beatle boots.

it speaks: well Watson I have deduce that the person who has abducted us did not do it for personal reasons, although the planing for it must have taken them weeks.

James:what the fuck does that mean?

sorry been playing Sherlock all by myself for days now, however are you here because you pissed somebody off? or is it just because your face is familiar to the one who abducted you?

James: I don't know?

that's nice to know though, honestly helps that you have no idea,
but as a amateur profiler; I have reason to believe, that we not rule out this might be the work of something that's organized.

James: you're the profiler not me.

how nice of you James.

James: how the hell do know my name?

lucky guess as J &M names are the most common names in the English speaking word. &from here your measurements add up to, gawky yes? &if you dare call me skinny that is just, kettle calling the pot black.

James: OK somehow I believe you, wait I don't know your name?

my katana is named battle without honor or humanity why not call me that.

James: can it be something smaller, or even your real name?

you alright with cricket then? it is somewhat my name, you can even a it?

James: fine then, well cricket who do you think did this to us?

cricket: German mafia.

James: what!?

cricket: you heard me.

James: how'd you come to that conclusion?

cricket: I was awake when they levered you down; FYI, I never sleep.

James: levered?... wait all this time you did know! what the hell is wrong with you?

cricket: if you have a problem with me, I dare you to come over here &try to strangle me.

James: you monster!

I try to move& move but the damn chains, chains that only give me an inch to move, &now it looks like the table was bolted to the floor the whole time.

cricket: feel better now?

James: fuck you!

cricket: I take that as a yes,

James: god... too... tired.. to.. argue...

cricket: nightly, night, James.

James:...mon.. ster...
and out like a light,

cricket moves toward him, removes the black gloves &starts to caress James,

cricket: dare I tell you that, the whole truth is for now? how that your father's gambling &drug debts, have now thrown you into the underground world of pit fighting, let alone at this very minute I am technically poisoning& feeding you hormones with mere osmosis?
dare I scare you with the fact that I am so toxic; that when I was once sea sick, that when I vomited on a hammerhead, it floated up to the surface like a gold fish.
cricket puts its lips next to James's ear.

cricket: know that upon hearing me count to three I will want to see the side of you that craves blood &hungers for battle.

cricket: 1, 2, 3.

his eyes open &cricket jumps back to its corner.

cricket: know that what some would call; the metamorphosis, has now began James. you have four hours before your first pit fight, know that your current blood lust would only keep you alive longer then your conscious self, at the moment lets practice.
come over here &either hit, or kick me,
cricket stands against the wall,
within the four hours he has tried &tried, but with what avail,

cricket: hmm.... within the last fours, you haven't made it pass your limit of an inch, however you somehow haven't even broken a sweat this whole time I might take that as a good sign,

cricket: I will sit here, lets wait& see if you can come back alive.

all the time the doorway out was above him, but one could only get out via a ladder,

the men leave James chained but let him climb up the rope ladder
(speaking in German) if he lives, we might put back in this cell, plus maybe give him food& water if we feel like it,

it looks up, &is able to speak only one phase in German to them(I might just hold you to that you know)

within eight hours his cellmate in it own way, worries over if he is at the brink of death it self,
when they return with him &just drop him down, like he was a lifeless corpse, his cellmate worries over how blooded, bruised, &possible broken he is, but all is calmed when, the cellmate see the breath coming from his mouth,

as they said, they gave them food of chicken, cooked rice, water,& medical supplies for the wounds
then, both again have to try &tolerate each-other

cricket: while you out nearly getting killed I was thinking about what to use for your activation code, involving your consciousnesses, couldn't decide between two songs, however I felt that might dangerous, so I thought a lyric from a Japanese song would be better then nothing
here goes nothing
whispers into his ear, know that whenever you hear this lyric, "Wasure wa shinai Kimi no koto wa" the you side of you that craves battle, will come out to play, only hearing the lyric again will snap you out of your fighter state, now awaken the real side of James, "Wasure wa shinai Kimi no koto wa"

he then opens his eyes, finding himself cleaned &bandage, with all that comes out his mouth being

James: what the hell happen to me?

cricket: you either got back from your first round of being use for intimidation purposes, or being a snack for the pit fighters, if you don't remember which, it might be because you might have repressed the memories already, as a coping device.

James: like that makes any sense, secondly if this keep up, think I might get killed? kidding I know I might die at this rate.

cricket: maybe but not necessarily, as you are no longer chained you can now train yourself with kicking, hitting, striking,& grappling if you wish, secondly I can work as either a shadow like in shadow boxing, or your as a punching bag.

James: I think I'd feel better if I just called you a sparing partner.

cricket: nice to know that you still have a moral compass,

James: hey!

-five weeks later- -give or take-

somehow I feel that I gained strength over the time I've been here, one being I feel thicker &bigger, with a how I gained height of 6'5" over my past 5'2" according to cricket, it might have had something to do with how one time when I was sleeping, the mob had my, leg &arm bones extended surgically as a joke, the joke being how painful it can be that the screams would never match the pain from the victim,

still other then practice by both myself, with a very lesser extent my strange training lessons with the one I call cricket, I still find myself wondering why exactly is cricket here? let alone how I have gained sized, &yet it has not, why have not the same effects have happen to it, this whole time I begin to question, how is possible?

cricket: just ask me already if it really does bother you that much.

James: can you honestly read mines too now?

cricket: you know I can't. but you did give the title of monster remember. that might be what I very am.

James: then what are you?

cricket: I think, you think that at some point, do I really need to tell you the truth.

James: like you fucking think you could talk your way out this?

cricket: sorry, guess I may as well either show or tell you one truth, which would you like first?

James: tell me why are you here &are you even real?

cricket: although technically that's two, I can answer both, one: being that you aren't the only one being held by this mob, so the first truth is I was hired to find four other people including yourself, that could in fact the cell neighbors;& two: does this say that I'm your imaginary friend?

&to James's horror he sees it phase through the solid matter of the cell.

James: I should have known, it now makes sense, it's lack of sleep, the lack of eating, drinking, the outrageous stories you'd come with, &all those times, when I'd blink &there you were something different, why on earth did you have a fish lower-body?
(flash back sequence;
unknown character: please he's been missing for four hours now I know who abducted him, &they say that if I go to the police they'll him back in pieces, a lot have indeed vouched your skills for these sort things,
the figure in black takes out it cigarette, puts it out in the ashtray,
figure in black: teach a man to fish you feed him for life, I'll do this as I have reasoned that the ones who had abducted your son are also the same ones who have four others I was asked to find.
flash back sequence ends)

but then a sudden explosion, looking up to see the sun light, for him the first time in weeks, then hearing a somehow familiar voice,
you coming up or what?

making it up to the surface I see now that I was held hostage at a abandon what ever, in a desert area, I then look to see the familiar face &with four others.

James: all this time you weren't imaginary were you?

cricket: I hope this counts as a apology then.

James: guess so, but who are your other charges then?

cricket: one being another pit fighter like yourself, Nikolai thought dead for trying leave, his five younger brothers in their rural village will be happy to know he's still alive,
these two females right here, Angelita here taken so they would sell her new born& then get raid of her, guess she finds it hard to believe that the baby's daddy was the one who hired me, Ms. Claire right here abducted because she saw the ones who killed her husband, thought they would brake you for fun, FYI your sister sent me, ah little David after seeing what they did to your parents they thought the could raise you to be a hit-man, but your grandparents are the ones who have say over how you'll be raised from now on.
also there's a bus stop right there, can use it to go the nearest police station.

James: &me what did I do to piss off the mob?

cricket: I think you might want to ask your father about how you spent your summer, also I feel that everyone here should make plans to see a psychologist

James: wait

cricket: if you're looking for closure, fine then.

opens up it's trench coat to reveal a gray turtle neck, then lifts up it's shirt to reveal a 12-pack ab,

cricket: happy now? to know that I just wear slimming clothes? secondly my toxic skin is what has been known to cause hallucinations.

James: actually mind telling me, are you a man or woman?
~the end~
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A/N as this was my first story I hope that if I keep writing I might get better