Chapter 50 - Bodyguards
After the punishment that the Elite Five meted on Kyle, they all went to have dinner together. They didn't go anywhere fancy, but just at the street food at the food trucks near the park. Kyle found it quite fascinating. The food truck first came about a few years back, but now it had boomed and you could find it anywhere.
A food truck is basically a large vehicle that was equipped with an onboard kitchen to cook and sell food. It's like a moving restaurant. The trucks were not fixed in one location, but would move about. They did have their regular locations, but unless you were a resident of the said area, you wouldn't know where the food trucks would be. However, there were some that were well organised in the sense that there was an actual venue venues where the food trucks would congregate.
Luckily, one such venue was here. It was actually one of the carpark for the park. A rectangular shapped area at the right of the park entrance. By day, it was a car park. By 5 pm, however, one section of the car park was cordoned off and the food trucks would enter and start setting up. The area was rectangular shaped, and there were 8 trucks in total. Thus, 4 trucks were lined up in a row, vertically and opposite of the other 4 trucks (so the four trucks were actually on the longer side of the rectangle).
By 6 pm, the area was open for business. In the middle of the rectangle, rows of foldable tables and chairs were set up. Each table could seat 2 people, but anyone was free to move them about.
"I wonder which trucks are here this month," Xing Han said, rubbing his hands in excitement. The place was rented out to the food truck owners on a monthly basis, so there will be differences and varieties each month. There were the 'regulars' that never changed, but there would sometimes be 2 or 3 different ones as well.
Xing Han ran off to check, while the others found a place to sit. Ali and Sam took two nearby tables and chair, and placed them together.
"I'll go get yours, Kay," said Kyle as he looked all around, "What do you feel like?"
"Olio," she answered, "and some BBQ meat, if there's any."
"Gotcha," Kyle replied.
"You guys go ahead," Kay insisted to Sam and Ali, who had sat down next to her, "I will hold the fort."
"Are you sure you'll be okay all alone?" Sam asked.
Kay patted him on the shoulder and waved her hands about, "It's an open, public place. What could happen? Don't worry. Go," Kay insisted.
Kay watched them go, and smiled to herself. She made quite a picture sitting there, with her hair being blown softly in the wind. She was just in jeans and T-shirt, yet it seemed like she was wearing the most expensive designer label. She made the words 'clothes maketh the man' to mean the exact opposite ... it is not the clothes, but the person wearing them. Right now, she appeared like a fairy as she looked in front of her, a soft smile upon her delicate face.
Her reverie was broken when two guys suddenly sat beside her, one on her left and the other on her right. Two more sat in front of her, smiling as they stared at her unabashedly. They looked to be about 17 years old, all trying to look tough and menacing. Kay couldn't help but laugh inside at that.
"Hey beautiful," breathed the one on her right as he leaned close to her, "What's a chick like you doing all alone here? Let big brother here show you a good time."
Kay leaned back, her face contorted in disgust. "Euw. No. And I am not alone. Now shoo, before they come back."
"Whatever for? Just means all the more for us, isn't it?" he guffawed, eliciting more laughter from the other boys around her.
Kay didn't move to get up, for she knew that they would simply stop her movements. After all, they had surrounded her for a reason. She wasn't scared, of course, but she was annoyed.
"Believe me, boys," she said, emphasising on the "boys" part, "If you don't get out of my face in 10 seconds, you are going to be thrown out of here. If you're lucky, in one piece."
The boys laughed even louder, and the one on the left tried to reach out a hand to touch her cheek when he found his arm being held firmly. "You touch her, you die," a voice sounded from behind him.
Kay smirked, putting her chin on her palm as she said sweetly, "Ooops. Did I say 10 seconds? My bad."
Everyone of them turned to look at the owner of the voice, to find to their amusement, a young boy of only 13 threatening them. Granted, he was tall and well built - but he was alone. One of them was more than enough to smash him to a pulp.
"You alright sis?" Kyle asked, turning towards Kay, not saying her name on purpose.
"Fine and dandy, brother," she replied with a smile.
"Brother? Why, little bro, come on," said the guy whose wrist was held tightly by Kyle. He had been trying vainly to get free, but somehow, he couldn't. He didn't want to lose face, however, so he made it seem like he wasn't even trying. Inwardly though, he was getting nervous. Something didn't seem right.
"We're just here for a good time. We'll just leave with your sister here, and return her soon enough, okay?" the guy prattled on. The moment the words left his lips, the air in the area suddenly felt cold. As if it dropped several degrees in temperature. Which was strange, for there was no wind.
Kay forward and said, "Hoo-boy. Well, I would say it was nice knowing you boys, but it wasn't. Have a pleasant flight."
Before they knew what was happening, the guy that had been mouthing off had his head banged loudly on the table. Kyle had grabbed a fist of the guy's hair, then smashed the desk with the guy's face. As it was a foldable table, it wasn't stable, so Kyle did not let go of the guy's head at all before proceeding to bang on it again with the guy's face.
The guy was seeing stars and couldn't focus. Kyle took that moment to fling him backwards, but not before hitting several nerves along the guy's neck and arms. The latter movements had been very quick, his fingers and hand in a blur and was too fast for the naked eye to catch it. No one saw what he had done. All they saw was him smashing the guy's head on the table twice then flinging him back. The guy was unconscious.
Such fast hand movements is common amongst magicians, for that is their secret to all the illusions that happens. Kyle used the same technique, and the spots he hit were acupuncture points. Essentially, it knocked the dude out. Although this sounded like it took a long time, it was actually just a few seconds and the others were still just staring at him with their mouths open.
"Next?" Kyle said, as he stood up and glared at them.
The sounds of knuckles being cracked were also heard behind Kyle. Sam, Ali and Xing Han had returned, and Ali was busy cracking his knuckles and neck as he walked beside Kyle. "Kyle. Buddy. We left for a second and you're having all the fun by your lonesome?" Ali said with an evil grin, placing his arm around Kyle's shoulder.
"Fun? That guy folded in seconds. I haven't even warmed up yet," Kyle said with a scoff. He turned back to look at the unconscious fellow as he continued, "See. His bones aren't broken and no blood spilled."
Ali nodded in agreement, "Not completely true. His nose is broken, I think. But true, true. That wasn't fun at all. No struggle. No screaming either."
The remaining guys were staring at them, frozen. Four young boys, dressed like normal students, yet the way they stood there ... two of them were quite imposing and muscular, talking about beating up people like it was an everyday thing. Two more behind them looked pretty harmless - one was rather heavyset with lots of food being held precariously yet preciously in his arms. The other one appeared like a nerd but somehow, had a rather sharp look in his eye. One thing was the same though: all four had menacing expressions on them, their eyes seemingly devoid of any emotion but intense coldness. Everyone shivered.
They had already seen how quick and ruthless the first one had been, and they did not want to see what the others were like. The one that Kyle had knocked out just happened to have been their strongest fighter, and the rest of them were ... well, wimps. They acted all brave and strong but were actually just weak. It was always their fighter that intimidated people in the first move, and everyone cowered. Who knew that the tables would be turned on them and they were defeated in one move?
Without batting an eyelid, all of them quickly become subservient and started apologizing profusely, "Sorry Boss! Sorry! We were blind! Let us off, please!!"
Kyle flicked his head towards the unconscious guy and said, "Get him, and beat it."
They quickly took their boss, two of them supporting him on their shoulders before running off, not looking back. Only when they had run quite a distance away did the boys sit back down.
"Really, Kay?"
"It's not MY fault!" pouted Kay, taking the spaghetti olio that Kyle handed to her. Ali and Sam were busy taking the piles of food from Xing Han's hands. The food Kyle had gotten earlier had been placed at the far side of the table, just before he grabbed the stupid guy's wrist.
"You can't be left alone anymore," muttered Kyle, biting onto his burger, "You're like a fire that these troublesome moths fly over ... just to get burned."
Kyle then glared at Ali, saying, "This is YOUR fault."
"Yeah, yeah," Ali said in between mouthfuls, "My bad. Shouldn't have listened to Kay. I'll be on guard duty for the month."
"Two months," Kyle replied, "We'll rotate after that"
Kay groaned.