Swordsman's Tale - Kenshimonogatari

Episode I: The Vicious Cycle

It was a ruthless, cold night. The frigid winter gust swept the Overworld as the clear sky shimmered with many stars. There was not a single noise. All the critters were hiding and all the flowers were shut. The homes were all dark and their inhabitants were sound asleep.

Our events happened in a cozy little house in a happy, cartoonish land named Toontown. The animal-headed citizens were always joyful and carefree, except for one of them: Fleabag Khat.

Fleabag was a honest hard worker who believed that whatever you own feels better if you earned it. He was serious and did not believe in all the careless laughter that his fellow brethren were drunkening themselves in. Nevertheless, he had many friends and was very likeable among his peers. That night, Fleabag heard his father coughing from the other side of their house and quickly awoke from his sleep.

Fleabag was a 14 year old cat-boy, with the head of a feline and the body of a human. He was about 5"8 in height and didn't weigh very much. His body was very swift and agile, but his build wasn't very strong. The color of his fur was dark with a tint of green, and a beige spot was around his mouth. His side-hairs were formed as whiskers that pointed slightly upwards, and his eyes were light green. He always walked around with his white smiley shirt and his jeans which he cherished from the days of his childhood. Wherever Fleabag went, that smiley face was sure to shine as much as his owner.

He rushed to light a candle and entered his father's room.

"Max! Are you okay?"

Fleabag's father, named Maximus, looked very plain and forgettable. He was the only family member left of the Khat family as the others somehow died or disappeared. He was very old in age. His face was visibly wrinkly and his cream-colored fur was very puffy. His mouth was dry and he was laying down on a bed which was as old as him.

"Fleabag... Is that you, son?"

Fleabag knelt by his father and gently grasped his hand.

"Yes, Max. Are you alright?"

The old cat looked at his son and smiled through his wrinkled lips.

"It's so good to hear your voice, my boy... I'm dying, my time is up... Even breathing feels tiring..."

Fleabag could smell the sour stench of death and despair.

"No, Max! Please don't go now! Who's gonna take care of me after Mom!?"

Maximus sighed slowly.

"You've grown of age, now... Life is still fresh for you... After my lights fade, I want you to shine a thousand times brighter than I ever did..."

After muttering the final word, Maximus coughed. Blood spattered on the smiley shirt.

"Please, Max!! Don't die on me like this, I'm so confused! I don't know what to do!!"

The glimmer in Maximus's eyes faded off slowly as he left a trustful smile to his son. Fleabag collapsed in tears over his father's chest and cried like he never cried in his life.

"Dad..."

A dark mist piled up on Fleabag's back. The burden of loneliness was crushing him.

The night was as silent as ever.

The dawn of the next day lit upon the Overworld, and Fleabag had to face the new day as an orphan. Lonely and abandoned, he was the only child left of the Khat family. He banged at the doors of his neighbors and begged for help, but none of them really cared. After all, he was juts another small orphan boy in the big, merciless world. For days on end, he slept beside his father's corpse and remembered his words still ringing in his head.

"...shine a thousand times brighter..."

Being a teenager, he pondered over the meaning of this phrase as he tearfully buried his father and left his own home behind.

Two weeks of rain and wind passed in the blink of an eye for the poor beggar Fleabag. Fed up with being idle, he got to a desperate conclusion and gathered many people in a park. The marbled square of the Central was dotted with some people who made the effort to come.

"I'll show you that I can do anything. I'll leave this town and I'll become a hero! I'll shine a thousand times brighter than anyone ever did, and I'll make my father proud!"

But being the careless people they were, they simply laughed it off and walked away. Fleabag kept himself from crying and ran quickly to his house. He ate his last meal in Toontown and walked around looking for a weapon. He came upon a broomstick that looked just like a staff, made out of dark wood which was slightly old and chipped off.

He walked out and locked the old door. He walked a few meters and then stopped and looked back at the small cottage, isolated from the rest of the houses. His home was going to be abandoned for some time. A small tear slowly rolled down his cheek as he remembered all his childhood memories and felt them being shattered like glass. As soon as he turned back, he was faced by his old childhood friend Droopy. She was a regular orange-furred labrador with a purple skirt and a flowered shirt.

"Where are you going, Fleabag?" she asked.

The poor catboy wiped his tears and firmly answered:

"To adventure. I have nowhere else to go anyway."

He kept going forward, but the loyal labrador twirled around him in circles.

"Do you think you'll make it? Dad tells me the outside world is merciless!"

Fleabag stayed silent and marched onwards.

"What about the monsters? How can you conquer the world with a broomstick?"

Fleabag remained as silent. Seeing his lack of disposition, Droopy just waved at him and returned to her home.

The brave catboy walked and walked for miles, through the harsh winds and pummeling rainfall. He walked endlessly between the tall concrete buildings and large plains until he happened upon an enormous wall that covered the entire horizon. It seems that the sky in Toontown is artificial. He looked behind him. He couldn't see his own house from here. He looked up and remembered that conspiracy theorists always claimed that his home town was isolated from the entire Overworld by a huge bubble dome. He stepped into it and slowly faded into a golden shine.