Just Desserts

Just Desserts

Chapter 1: AKA The Gluttonous Gunman

A ferocious storm of sand, thunder and lightning raged in the Hepla Desert. No signs of life have been seen above ground in the area for countless years due to the constant storming weather. Trekking through the middle of the storm there was a man with a long brown coat that went down to just above his knees with brown gloves that had metal going from the top of his fingers to his knuckles.

The boots he fashioned went up to the middle of his calves. The boot tips were pointed with metal skull pieces at the end. The boots had spurs on the back that were 7 inches long with a orange metallic hue. The left foot’s skull had ruby in the eye sockets and the right had emerald. From what could be seen of the pants looked to be a mustard yellow denim. The man also wore a cowboy hat with a metal piece shaped as the moon with sapphire in the craters, a gas mask covering his just his mouth that was shaped to look like teeth holding two gray roses, a pair of black goggles with unscratched crystal lenses and a steel folding char slung on his back like a backpack. every set of jewels glistened even in the flurries of sand.

In the distance the man could see flashing lights. He chuckled to himself and accelerated his pace from a light stroll to a brisk walk. As he approached the lights more and more of a giant domed city appeared in from of him. Its entrance was guarded by two men head to toe in black bulletproof riot gear with assault rifles that stood about 6′5. The man slowly stopped his stride as he got to the door. Both guards stood firm and glared at the traveler.

“Let’s see your passport”.

Without a moments hesitation the man reached into his right inner breast pocket and pulled out a small booklet no bigger than his hand that had a bull skull on the front. He opened the booklet and showed both guards his identification. Both of the guards stood silent for a moment and then slowly turned to each other. They both quickly moved out of the way and let the man through the gates without saying a word. The man walked through the massive threshold into the metropolis that waited before him. The city was filled to the brim with assortments of buildings from humongous skyscrapers to small run down shops and houses.

The streets were filled with food carts and vendors. One cart selling fresh watermelon had a sign reading

“Organic Watermelon. Only 800 Hectels!!!!“.

Another shop selling wild game with their wares skinned and hung on hooks in the window had a sale sign reading

“Best Meat in The Hepla Metropolis! Prices start as low as 1700 Hectels!!!!“.

One vendor in the streets pedaled his product yelling out

“100% Pure rat sausage! Only 55 Hectels!“.

The man continued on through the streets walking three blocks from the entrance of the city. He stopped at a saloon with a big wooden sign on the entrance that said “Hepla Oasis”. The man walked through the saloon’s doors. The doors went back and forth on their hinges a few times before stopping.

Upon entering a bell rung on the inner top part of the doors entrance. From the bar a man washing a glass turned around to see who had entered the establishment. The man at the bar had slicked back black hair with hair coming down on his left side covering his forehead and eyebrow. He fashioned a purple vest with a black dress shirt and pants with red dress shoes. He smiled at the man in the doorway and winked.

“Have a seat my brother! You look weary.”

The man inched his towards the bar. He took the steel folding chair off his back, set it up and put it on the ground in front of the bar. He then took off his hat and put it off the counter while almost instantly sliding his gas mask down and his goggles up. Underneath his goggles he wore a blue headband with slits in the eyes to see.

He then proceeded to sit on his folding chair and kick up his feet. With most of his face wear taken off you could distinguish his face. Skin so pale he was almost gray with a few liver spots scattered on his face. His eyes had dim yellow iris’ with blood shot sclera. Cracked chapped lips with yellow and brown chipped teeth and half a shaved head with white ear length hair on his right side. The bartender starred the man in the eyes for 5 seconds before he gulped and loosened his collar.

“Mineral water. With hydration salts and coconut water ice cubes. I’ve been out there on foot for 2 days straight with no sleep, so make it a double”.

The man said in a low decibel growl. The bartender turn around and grabbed a long green bottle. He messed up the left side of his hair making sure to cover as much of his face as possible. The bartender turned around and grabbed some ice cubes from the mini fridge under the bar as well a a small glass of salt.

He grabbed a tall glass from the bar top and dropped the ice cubes in while simultaneously pouring the water. The glass filled 3\4 of the way before he stopped pouring. The bartender then took a pinch of salt and sprinkled it in the drink while at the same time taking a small drink umbrella and stabbing a piece of pineapple to put in the drink. He put the drink in front of the man and grinned.

“150 Hectels. And the pineapple is on me.”

The man at the bar let out a half smirk that cracked his lips even more causing minor bleeding.

“Thank ya kindly good sir.”

The man said as he grabbed his drink and took two generous sips. As he drank the mineral water his hair started to get a slight blonde tinge, colour returned to his skin, his lips became moist and his eyes became a bit brighter and less bloodshot. He put the glass down and let out a sigh of relief. He smiled to reveal teeth that looked like they were just cleaned at the dentist.

“Absolutely refreshing!”

The man slammed his hand on the bar letting out a howl. He looked around the bar only to see that he was the only customer at the time. The man wiped the blood from his lip with his right thumb, smearing it on his glove.

“How long you been runnin’ this place now?”

The bartender scratched his chin and looked up as he pondered.

“I’d say about 4 years in 2 months now. It sure has been a ride. Business is almost never in shortage in this place. When I first opened this place up I didn’t know the first thing about bar tending. But the best way to learn is to throw yourself into the wild. You learn quickly that way.”

The man chuckled and did finger gun motions towards the bartender.

“Don’t ya know it! It’s do or die in this world.”

The bartender smiled as he picked up another glass to polish.

“What brings you out to The Hepla Metropolis. I haven’t seen your face around here, and Lord knows Hepla is one hell of a hike to get to. If memory serves you said you walked here? In that weather? You must have some gear on under that jacket. Not to mention you probably eat on a regular basis if you have enough strength to walk through all that.”

The man picked up his glass and twirled in a circular motion before taking a small sip. The second drink made all his features a little brighter as it did the first time.

“I’m here for work. My job keeps me traveling a lot, so I get to see all parts of the world.”

The bartender slowly stopped polishing the glass and put it down on the bar. He continued to hold the rag as he crossed his arms and gave the man at the bar his undivided attention.

“What do you do for a living?”

The grinned a half smirk and sat back in his seat.

“I do odd jobs for money. Whatever work I can get my hands on. Sometimes it’s a walk in the park, but sometimes it gets real messy.”

The bartender loosened his collar again and wiped the sweat from his neck away. The man at the bar sat in place with a surprised look on his face.

“Goodness! I’m almost done my drink and I haven’t even paid you yet!”

The man reached in his left outer jacket pocket and pulled out a coin with “200 H” engraved on a bull skull. The man put on his left thumb as if he was ready to flip it.

“Heads and I get my change back. Tails and you keep the rest as your tip.”

In an instant the man flipped the coin in the air. The bartender held out his left hand to catch the coin. As the coin made its rise and descent, the man at the bar quickly reached into his left breast coat pocket with his right hand and threw a small pointed object at the bartender. As the coin came down the bartender caught it and clutched it in his hand. At the very same time the bartender attempted to grab the weapon that had been thrown at him with his right hand mid flight. The bartender managed to grab the handle of the object, but not before it was already an inch deep in his heart. A letter opener no more than 5 inches long was the weapon of choice for this victim. The bartender started to spasm and foam at the mouth as he fell to the floor, still clutching the coin and letter opener handle in his hands.

He convulsed on the ground in seizure like motions for another 15 seconds before he finally stopped moving in a violent fashion and making agonizing choking sounds. Tho the body still appeared to have minor movement. The man slid over the bar and took the letter opener from the bartenders corpse. Once removed the bartender’s body stopped moving all together.

As the letter opener was removed from the body a crackling noise could be heard emitting from the blade. The sound was the loudest at the tip of the blade and the handle where now dried red blood remained. Upon further inspection the bartenders skin was ever so slightly smoking with what looked like light burn marks all over his body.

There was a scar on the left part of his forehead that went from right under his hairline to just above his eyebrow. The man felt around under the bar until he found a folded piece of paper. He opened it, quickly examined it, then put it in his jacket. The bartender’s left hand slowly stopped clutching the coin. In his hand lay the coin with a live bull head with “200 H” engraved on the forehead.

“Tails it is. Keep the change.”

The man put the letter opener in a slender air tight pouch and put it back in his jacket. He then hopped back over the bar. He put on his hat and goggles and then went to finish his drink. After the drink was done he quickly made work of the coconut ice cubes. Crushing whole ice cubes with relative ease. Last was the piece of pineapple on the umbrella.

The man picked up the drink umbrella from the top and held it upside down while spinning examining all dimensions of the pineapple. A tear rolled down his eyes as he took a bite of it. As the man finished his drink his hair went from blond to a bright red. His iris became green, no part of his eyes were bloodshot and the liver spots were completely gone. He then proceeded to put on his gas mask and pack his folding chair before leaving the saloon.

He walked down the road deeper into the city. As the man walked down the streets the buildings started to become less and less luxurious. Every block became more and more poverty stricken. Run down houses, barrel fires with no one tending to them and groups of children that looked to be no older than 9 roaming the around with no real direction in sight.

The man stopped and took a look at all that surrounded him. He clenched his fist and grunted. He then reached into his jacket pocket and threw out a generous handful of peanuts. The children ran towards the rain of peanuts before they even hit the ground. In a matter of seconds they made quick work of the food that they had been blessed with. One little girl wearing a potato sack with wire-like black hair started crying.

“Thank you so much mister! We haven’t eaten in almost 8 months and no one comes out here to see us. We aren’t allowed in the nice part of town. We always get chased out.”

The man looked at all the children and saw how skinny they all were. Every one of them had bruises and lacerations all over their body. He kneeled down on one knee and looked the girl in the eyes.

“Darling. You can go anywhere you want so long as you fight hard enough to get there. If you want to eat, then go steal yourself some food. Rob a store by knife point if you have to. If you want to really get strong, you gotta eat”.

The little girl wiped away her tears and shook her head. The man stood up and continued to walk on his path. After walking as deep as he could down the ghettos, he reached a warehouse near an artificial harbour made inside the city. It was obvious that it was the outskirts of town from the glass wall that exposed the desert that lay outside the dome. The man walked up to the door of the warehouse and kicked it in. The door was made of steel, but came off the hinges with ease none the less and flew into the building.

The not so stealthy entrance didn’t go unnoticed. Standing at the other end of the warehouse was a group of roughly 200 men all armed with a plethora of hand to hand weapons and various random pieces of protective gear. Tucked away in the corners of the warehouse were crates of instant ramen and potato chips, of which some of the men in the group were eating. Only one man had a full set of armour on, and it was a man sitting on a throne on a platform all the way at the other end of the warehouse. The man on the throne wore full black knight armour that had a white cloud with a full yellow hyena helmet to complete the somewhat mixed theme armour set. Around his neck he wore a thunderbolt necklace that hung just underneath the cloud. The man at the door pointed at the man on the throne.

“The infamous Golden Hyena: Eddie Nitrous. I’ve graced you with my presence so that I can retrieve a couple things that don’t quite belong to you.”

Eddie shook his head in a disapproving manner at the unwelcomed guest that stand at the doorway.

“Somebody must really want the mementos of Gabriel. It hasn’t even been a week since we made work of him. What a fight he put up too! If I was truly to call anyone a hero it would be him.”

The man at the door took in a deep breath then let out a sigh. He put out his right hand with the palm facing the ceiling and in a deep stern voice he said

“The Hephaestus Key and The Zeus Edge. Now!”

Eddie let out a snort. He composed himself for a minute and let out another snort followed by a high pitch yelp. He continued to yelp and snort for a moment before going into a full on laugh attack in his throne. The laugh sounded as it was a high pitch machine gun fire with quick but deep inhales thrown in. As Eddie continued his fit in his chair, the rest of the men in the room started laughing exactly the same way as him. All of them, including Eddie fell to the floor unable to control themselves. The sounds of all of them laughing, stomping the ground and hitting the ground with their fists and various weapons almost made it sound like a poorly written song.

The laughter subsided and the men composed themselves as they stood up and wiped the tears from their faces. Eddie sat back in his throne like nothing happened. He put his left elbow on the throne’s arm and rested his head on his fist.

“I worked way to hard and lost way too much to ever give these treasures up. That son of a bitch Gabriel took out almost 1800 men that I had at my disposal. I had a mere hand full by the end of it. Do you know how long it takes me to recruit members of The Yellow Hyena Pack? I’m very picky with who I let. Only the elite may join me.”

The man at the door reached into his pocket and unfolded the piece of paper he got from the bar. He held it out so that everyone in front of him could see. On the paper was a hand drawn map of Hepla City with a yellow hyena head sticking out like a sore thumb in the corner.

“Like Alvin Arsenic? Made very quick work of him. He even gave me a drink that had an incredibly potent poison in it. I should have felt the effect in minutes and died right there, but I’ve taken measures to make sure I don’t get poisoned. I’ve eaten as much poison foods in my life as I’ve eaten spicy. When you have as many enemies as I do you have to be ready. Even an assassination attempt makes me stronger. It would have been good to have him on your side. All those melee weapons you guys have could have really used a bit of poison to sweeten them up.”

The man at the door walked 3 meters towards the men and stopped. There was still plenty of room between him and them. He took the folding chair on his back and set it up. He then proceeded to sit down and kick back on the chair with his arms crossed behind his head, balancing on just the back two legs.

“I’ll kill the whole Yellow Hyena Pack without leaving this chair. I’ll only step down from my throne when you do the very same.”

Eddie clapped his hands together and let out a high pitch yelp. As soon as he did the entire Yellow Hyena Pack ran full force towards the intruder. The man reached into his jacket with his right hand and reached for his hip with his left. With his right hand he threw three pink balls in the air just in front of where the Yellow Hyena Pack was charging. The sound of air pressure getting released came from the mans hip and in an instant three shots that sounded like a cannon being fired went through the entire warehouse.

In his left hand was a Desert Eagle Handgun with an open mouth skull at the end of the barrel that had a 2 inch blade pointing towards the sky. Right under the hammer on the side of the gun there was a rose painted on. The clip at the bottom of the gun also looked to have a 2 inch blade.

The three pink balls exploded in mid air spreading fine black specs that looked to be pepper. The fine dusting fell on the first four rows of the pack covering them completely. Those without full armour tried to brush off the mystery power, but ended up inducing violent bleeding to and scraping to the areas they tried to fix. Those without shoes that stepped in it let out blood curdling screams before falling to the ground.

After 10 seconds of the black dust falling something unheard of happened. Every grain of the black dust expanded into 5 CM caltrops. All those covered in it instantly died from thousands of caltrops piercing through their body. Those that stepped on them shared the same fate from either falling on them after stepping on them or blood loss.

The remainder of the Yellow Hyena Pack stood flabbergasted. All expect Eddie who went into another laughing fit. Eddie stopped laughing and slapped his knee as he pointed at the man on the chair.

“I didn’t know who you were till just now and I am so incredibly sorry for not giving you a warmer welcome. All the skulls, access to devices with Miracle Metals in them and a handgun that sounds like a cannon. Gentlemen! We have non other than the great Jethro “Wayne” Custer in our presence. World class mercenary and foodie!”

The Yellow Hyena Pack stood for a moment looking at each other with great uncertainty in their eyes. One member wearing nothing but blue jeans and a riot helmet wielding a pipe leapt over the corpses and caltrops that lay in his way charging at Jethro with all his might. As the soldier approached Jethro remained unphased. He continued to balance on two legs even with an enemy fast approaching. As the Hyena Pack member closed in, Jethro lifted his left hand with his gun in the air and slowly let it fall forward. As the pack member came within striking distance the bottom of Jethro’s gun landed on the top of the man’s helmet.

The blade from the clip sunk an inch into the helmet. The shock from the impact was enough to make the man go limp. He was alive, but very delirious. Jethro lined up his gun and aimed at the rest of the pack. He let out a shot that made another thunderous noise. The recoil from the shot moved Jethro back a few centimeters while simultaneously breaking the soldiers neck. The bullet made its way through another chunk of the Yellow Hyena Pack making fist sized hole from anyone that was unfortunate enough to be in its path. The bullet flew dangerously close to Eddie breaking through the wall next to him. Eddie didn’t flinch even after seeing the destructive force of the bullet first hand.

Jethro let out five more shots aiming at the remainder of the pack. All five bullets made their mark and blew holes through multiple people. Just nine bullets was all it took to take down the entire Yellow Hyena Pack. Jethro pressed and held down a button on the side of his gun. After a few second the clip shot out of the bottom, crushing the soldiers head that was still attached between the floor and the clip. The impact from the clip hitting the ground not only made the blade stick in the ground, it also cracked the surrounding floor.

Eddie stood up and reached behind his throne. He pulled out a sheathed broadsword that had a lock built into the sheath that had a thunderbolt shaped key hole. He ripped the necklace from off his neck and put the thunderbolt in the lock. As the sword’s sheath unlocked steam shot out from making a thick cloud. Eddie started to go into another laughing fit, but this time he didn’t fall or falter.

“I expected nothing less from the Gluttonous Gunman. It seems that this will be a battle between two Miracle Metal users”

The blade looked to be mostly steel, but had a bronze tinge to it. As the sword was drawn the sound of crackling could be heard. Similar to the letter opener Jethro used, except a lot louder. When the blade became fully exposed you could see crackles of electricity all over. Jethro planted all the chair on the ground and stood up. He took clip from inside his jacket pocket and inserted it in his gun. Jethro reached for his right hip. The same noise from his left hip emitted on the right side. He drew out another Desert Eagle completely identical to his other on. He pointed both guns at Eddie.

“The only difference is I’ve had all mine for more than a week.”

Jethro let go of both his guns. They fell at an incredible speed. Much fast than something of its size should. Though the speed of the guns falling was quick, Jethro’s reflexes were quicker. He grabbed them just before they hit the ground and held them both upside down. Jethro spun the guns so that the barrel was going along the sides of his forearms. The way he wielded the handguns were exactly like he was using a pair of Tonfa.

Jethro dashed in at an incredible speed. It took him less than 2 seconds to close the distance between him and Eddie. Jethro let out a series of punches and backhand swings with the guns in hand. Eddie managed to parry and dodge all of them. Eddie retaliated with a quick downward diagonal slash. Jethro blocked the sword with the gun in his left hand and then immediately delivered a punch with his right to Eddie’s ribs. Eddie braced himself for the oncoming punch, but it was a futile attempt. The impact was enough to send Eddie skidding across the room, his feet tearing up the floor beneath him creating a cloud of dust and cement chunks as he slowly lost momentum. A fist sized dent with a smaller dent shaped like the hammer of a handgun were firmly imprinted in the side of Eddie’s armour. The destructive power of the hit was enough to break Eddie’s ribs forcing to spit up blood. The red liquid oozed out of the mouth piece of the helmet.

Jethro spent no time dawdling around. He pursued Eddie immediately after he was sent half way across the warehouse. In mere seconds he had closed the distance between them and sent out left straight punch while spinning the gun so that barrel would make contact with Eddie. Barely having enough time to react, Eddie used his sword the block the attack. The barrel of the gun hit the blade with an impact so fierce it created a shockwave that sent Eddie back even further. More pavement and dust shot up from the line Eddie would make with his feet firmly planted in the ground while taking a monstrous hit. Though the attack was flawlessly blocked, Eddie still felt an incredible amount of fatigue from the hit.

“How in the fuck is a gunman have this much strength? And how come the electricity from the Zeus Edge isn’t effecting him any?”

Eddie barely had time to collect his thoughts before Jethro was right in front of him again. Jethro did a succession of spins before appearing in front of Eddie. Jethro would use the momentum from the spins for backhand chop with the length of the barrel as the primary weapon. Eddie grit his teeth and retaliated with a downward slash to intercept Jethro’s attack. As the blade met the gun another titan like shockwave was created. This time Eddie was not sent flying. Immediately upon impact Eddie dropped his sword. What started as a low decibel grunt quickly turned into high pitch screaming. Eddie’s arms lay at his sides completely motionless. Blood slowly trickled out of the armour’s hands. Jethro let out a hearty chuckle.

“You’re quite the novice aren’t ya? All this top of the line gear and you can’t even utilize it. Your problem is that your diet is shit. Diet now is sooooo much more important than in the Survival Era. Nutrients is no longer about survival! Its all about sustenance and pleasure! Of course eating cheap ramen and chips all the time will give you a weak frame.”

Jethro slowly started spinning his guns like a pair of tonfa. Every second that went by gave the guns an incredible amount of momentum. In a matter of moments the guns were spinning so fast it was indistinguishable what they were.

“You said only the elite may join you, right? Meaning you thought you were... What was that word you used to describe me? Oh yeah! World Class!”

While spinning his guns, Jethro swung his arms backwards creating even more momentum. The swinging was strong enough that it made gusts of wind that unsettled the dust and smaller pieces of cements.

“Twin Desparado Lift Off!”

Using all the momentum from the swinging and spinning, Jethro delivered double uppercut like punch with the end of the barrels of each gun making impact with the diaphragm of Eddie. The impact was so great the shockwave was created before the armour could even dent. What felt like an eternity to Eddie was only milliseconds in reality. Jethro’s attack sent Eddie flying upwards and through the roof of the warehouse. Eddie shot through the ceiling in a ragdoll like manner. His body was completely limp as he hurled towards the sky. His journey to space was halted by the ceiling of Hepla City’s dome. Eddie crashed into the ceiling, barely making a scratch despite hitting it with such a ferocious impact.

As soon as Jethro launched his attack he dashed to the corner and put his pointed boot under a crate that contained instant ramen and potato chips. He kicked the crate at the hole that Eddie had made with his body with relative ease. Jethro tossed his guns in the air. He let them spin 3-4 times before grabbing them, holding them in upwards as a gun was indented to be. He crossed his arms as he lined up his sights to hit the crate. Jethro fired both guns simultaneously. As Jethro fired the shots, Eddie fell back through the hole in the ceiling. The moment Eddie fell back through the hole he was hit with the crate. At the very same moment the crate hit Eddie, the bullets hit the crate creating an explosive rain that consisted of chips, instant ramen and blood.

Wood, food, packaging and the corpse of Eddie all fell to the ground making an incredible mess. A lot of the chips, ramen and blood formed together to make a brownish paste. Jethro put his guns back in his holsters, walked over to just under the hole was and picked up the sword. He put it back in its sheath stopping the electricity from surging through it. Upon doing that Jethro folded up his chair and exited the warehouse.

Jethro walked down the road and found the children from earlier. Without saying a word he motioned to the children to follow him. The children looked at each other with confusion and unease, but they decided to follow him anyways. Jethro led them to the warehouse where all the action had recently happened. The children stood awe and starred at the carnage that lay before them. The little girl in the potato sack from earlier started to cry.

“I don’t want to be here! Why would you bring us here?”

Jethro walked over to the corpse pile and started picking up weapons. He walked back to the children and gave each one something to arm themselves with.

“There’s enough food here to last you guys a little bit. I want you to get a taste for food so you can really crave it. Even if it is cheap food, its better than nothing. Once this food is gone you can either go back to the way you were living or you can get more food on your own. If you really want to live, get strong enough to leave this god forsaken place. Nutrition is everything kids! Never forget that!”

Jethro rustled the little girls head and walked off without saying another word. He took no time to look back. Instead he just kept walking. Retracing his footsteps, Jethro went back to the busier parts of downtown. He traveled around till he finally arrived at a building with a sign above the doorway that read “Oliver’s Fusion Bistro”.

Jethro walked into the building and looked around. The inside was incredibly luxurious with everything from diamond chandeliers with just the right mood lighting to aquariums where all the fresh fish you could imagine. A woman with black hair tied into a bun wearing a white dress shirt with a black skirt, vest and heels approached Jethro.

“Good evening sir. Do you have a reservation with us?”

Jethro flashed his passport at the women. The women looked surprised for a moment, but quickly shook it off.

“Right this way, Mr. Custer!”

The women grabbed a menu from a pile on the table next to her and led Jethro to a table that was placed right next to the kitchen. She went to place the menu on the table, but Jethro stropped her.

“I don’t need a menu. I want the 50 pound Kobe Lobster with roasted potato and sweet curried yaki udon. Give a tropical drink of some sort as well.”

The women stood with a blank face for a moment. Her face quickly lit up with a smile as she nodded.

“Right away, Mr. Custer”

The woman walked up to the computer near the bar and punched in Jethro’s order. The noise of paper coming out of a printer could be heard in the kitchen as the order was rung in. Jethro took off his gloves, goggles, mask and hat. Taking off his hat and goggle showed that once again Jethro’s hair and eyes were different colour. His hair was blonde with a red few read streaks in it and his iris a very dull green.

Jethro reached into his coat and pulled out a bib that had a slice of pizza on it and put it around his neck. He set up his folding char and sat down. Waiting eagerly for the next 45 minutes, Jethro sat with knife and fork clenched in his hands without moving even an inch for the entire wait.

The food was finally ready. Three chefs emerged from the kitchen holding a platter that had a lobster as big as two toddlers on it. The edges of the platter were garnished with the yaki udon and roasted potato. Orange, lemon and lime wedges were placed all along the gargantuan lobster A pitcher of garlic butter and a pitcher passion fruit juice with chunks of pineapple was brought out by another chef. They set the food in front of Jethro, bowed and then went on their way back to the kitchen. Jethro pupils widened as he gazed at the meal in front of him. It took all he had not to drool all over the table.

He wasted no time getting down to business. Jethro spun his knife in his hand and stabbed the lobster in the head, shattering the entirety of its head. The very moment stabbed the lobster, a flash of the Yellow Hyena Pack member that he stabbed in the head with the clip of his gun appeared in his head. Jethro dragged the knife from the head to the end of its tail, cutting it open. As he cut the lobster down the middle he thought of how the Yellow Hyena Pack member’s neck broke from the recoil of the gun. Last part of the lobster to dismantle was the claws. Jethro grabbed the meaty claws and broke the shell in half with his bare hands. As the shell broke Jethro was reminded of when Eddie broke both of his arms trying to deflect his attack. His heart started to beat faster as he licked his lips slowly.

Jethro picked up the various citrus fruit that garnish the plate. He grasped a bunch of them in his hand and squeezed the juice all over every food item on the platter. He then took the pitcher of garlic butter and very generously poured it over the food.

Jethro started to inhale the food, eating fork full after for full of the food on the platter. After a few moments he dropped the fork and started shoveling it in his mouth, eating absolutely anything he grabbed. Didn’t matter if it was shell, food or rind. Everything went into Jethro’s stomach. In less than 3 minutes the entire 50 pound lobster and all the food around it were completely gone. Not hesitating at all, Jethro grabbed the pitcher of passion fruit juice and started chugging it. As he drank it flashes of him sitting at the bar in the Hepla Oasis crossed his mind.

He finished the pitcher in 2 seconds flat. Jethro took his fork and stabbed the chunks of pineapple in the bottom of the pitcher. Every time he would stab or take a bite of the fruit, the scene of the letter opener going in Alvin’s heart would replay. Jethro slammed down the pitcher and let out a loud belch. Jethro’s hair turned from blond with a few red streaks to jet black. His Iris shared the same colour as his hair and his complexion seemed slightly tanned.

The waitress walked up to Jethro with a small menu that said “Dessert” on it.

“Would you be interested in dessert today, Mr. Custer?”

Jethro let out a half smirk and scoffed.

“Not at all dear. There’s really no point.”

Chapter 1:

~FIN~