So I figured I'd post some short stories and flash fictions here. That way I can boost my post count NO I can post actual fiction without waiting for it to be approved and also not blue-ball readers on Royal Road. It'll be a mixture of stuff. Vignettes from stories I'm working on, flash fics, cut bits, non-canon spinoffs (hear that, future internet archaeologists??? NON-CANON), etc.
Here's one that I wrote a few months ago. I'd guesstimate it was 40 minutes altogether I spent on it? And that was across two days (hence why it's separated). I've not written much at all about Ral Enekai at the moment— 17,000 words, altogether it looks like. All of them short little daily prompts. Several of them were inspired by kung fu movies and tropical/Southeast Asian settings— particularly east India, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Okinawa, southeastern China, Indonesia, and Malaysia. The less urban and the more Buddhist temples, the better. I've affectionately started referring to such a setting as "tropical wuxia". Silver sunlight poured off palm trees onto the emerald grass. Sparkles from the water blinded all critters who looked seaward. Low rolling clouds sat above, giving the sky volume. Gulls and falcons called against the salty breeze. At the far end of a wooden boardwalk laid a community— villagers ambled about, careful and trepid. All kept their distance from the big armored men carrying guns. All kept their eyes down. Until one called, “Ah? What a weird thing— what is that?” and all turned. Not in unison. Only as more gave their attention to the approaching tailed fighter did the mercenaries equip their arms. Along ran Ral Enekai. She charged down the boardwalk at lightning speed. She carried the Ruyi Jingu Bang and pulled it behind her back as if preparing to use it as a javelin.One thug swore under his breath, fitted an ammo drum onto his gun, and pushed the tripod down to set up a position. His eyes bulged as he and his comrades saw the staff plant into the earth and extend, vaulting Enekai hundreds of feet above. The staff bent, and the center seemed to be seconds from snapping— and yet it held without damage, carrying the bolloi so far above that she could run her fingers against a cloud. She squatted atop the pole, wrapped her tail around the shaft, shielded her eyes, and pared down upon the island. “Bolin and Iron Fan keep themselves hidden in the bodhisattva’s temple,” she repeated to herself as her irises thinned. Her head snapped along a glance. “Aha!” She stood and slid down the staff, grinning all the way to the beach. She hit like a mortar shell, fist first and sending up a jet of sand. She stood erect and saw as the villagers hid in their huts or behind the Palmyra and areca palm trees. Her ears twitched as she heard a man say to another, “A demon! A demon!” while one with a woman’s cadence cried, “Is it Sun Wukong?” “Identify yourself!” shouted a mercenary. She trained her eyes upon the black holes of a dozen gun barrels. “You have five seconds to comply.” The one barking orders didn’t matter to her. She looked upon the volcano, analyzing how the greenery faded near the silent peak. Her grin was heavier than their guns. Itchy fingers teased triggers. Buttons unfastened with a tug, letting the jacket slip off her arms. All their tired eyes fit their full-metals’ scopes. One scratched. The bullet exploded across her chest. Enekai grabbed her breast and pulled the pieces out the welt. As she did, one of the mercenaries shouted, “Hold your fire!” Enekai rubbed the puffing welt, feeling each groove of the little wound and letting off tiny pricks of pain. She brought her eyes towards the one whose voice kept on. That little golden man with black sunglasses and a camo bandana. The way he managed his body—the baggy jungle pants and the black wife-beater, the khaki boots for the brass and a platinum wristwatch— told her he thought himself an alpha badass. She said, “You. You work aside Bolin Zhang?” He pulled a knife from his vest and shouted, “You don’t ask questions, woman.” Enekai ran across the boardwalk at lightning speed, blood flying off her fists as two fighters awaited on the next island. She smirked as she felt their vibes grow within her mind. 'Yes! Stronger fighters than before. Wonderful!' She stopped beneath a palm buttress. Bolin Zhang unfolded his arms. "Well well well, if it isn't Lady Wukong." His eyes twinkled with sadism. His smirked matched her own. "I've been killing to break a monkey in half lately." Bolin's dark muscles glistened in the noon sunlight. His body was thick and well-built, the kind of figure only seen on men who wrestled wolves for fun. And if he wasn't wearing those red harem pants, his legs would have been just as bulky as his arms. Iron Fan kept her back turned, though Enekai saw her fingers run across the hilt of her blade. "Come, then! Fight me, human! I desire a thrill!" Enekai squatted and observed the two, scanning their bodies and immediately seeing weaknesses in their form. Bolin said, "So eager to die! You are so proud of your one deformity that you think yourself above mere mortals. Ha!" He stepped forward, and it felt as if the earth quaked beneath him. "Such foolishess is not new to me." Iron Fan turned, showing her porcelain-pale face. "Bolin, hold yourself. Something is amiss with this one." "You needn't direct me. I know how to handle these freaks." Bolin took a stance, lifting his arms to his face and tightening his pose. Enekai grinned. Bolin charged and swung. Enekai blocked his fist. He threw another, then aimed at her legs. She leapt over his thrust, rolled, and kicked straight into his gut. He stumbled back, collected himself, threw his fists down, and charged again with a kiai. Iron Fan stepped forward, unsheathing her sword. However, she stayed back, positioning herself near an areca palm tree. As Bolin clashed against Enekai, his face grew redder and glistened ever more. No attack made contact where it should. Then he fell back. Enekai had jabbed her elbow in his face. He crawled against the grass and found his bearing against Iron Fan's palm tree. "You bitch! You disgusting bitch!" He wiped the blood from his mouth, doing little to stop the gushing from where his teeth had broken through the lip. He stood and pressed his palms together. "You filthy whore, you have no right to embarrass me!" Enekai stood erect and threw her head back. Bolin pulled his hands apart, revealing a fiery orb convulsing upon itself. He stepped forward and threw the qi ball with his fists, sending it rifling towards Enekai at lightning speed. She puffed her chest and let it hit. The explosion threw away dust and grass. A nearby tree snapped from the pressure, sending its palms fluttering. A black haze lingered from the smoke. Bolin rubbed his mouth again, staining his entire arm. Iron Fan then gasped. "Impossible." Bolin's eyes bulged as Enekai's figure emerged from the smoke, unfazed. "This cannot be!" Enekai brushed off her shoulders and began pulling off her jacket. When it fell upon the ground, the dirt sparked from the impact. Several pebbles went flying, as if a thousand pounds had fallen. She then took off her gray undershirt, revealing her heavily-scarred bare breasts. Along with it, she tossed away her two boots. They barely moved from where they landed, but when one fell onto its side, it created a little depression. She cracked her neck and waved her tail. And finally, she removed her crown, letting her hair run wild skyward. "Alright then." She rubbed her arms, her fingers running over her bulging biceps. “That wasn’t half bad.” "That freak..." Iron Fan whispered. Bolin's eyes twitched. He resumed his martial pose, yet there was too much tension within him for him to align his qi properly once again. "Odd that you are capable of utilizing a demon spirit technique. Yet I sense no mark of the demon clan upon you." Iron Fan and Bolin gasped under their breath. Enekai continued with, "I didn't take humans to possess a high-enough vril to accomplish any such feat. But I suppose at least one of you had to." She then stood just a few paces from him, fists balled by her side. "You'd have been a very worthy opponent for Cyrus." She vanished. Both then desperately looked around to see where the bolloi had gone. Bolin yelped as he went flying face-first into the mud. When he picked himself up, he swore that he left his entire face on the ground, just from how much blood her felt leaving him. Yet upon looking back, he took a kick to the chin that sent him arcing. His spine hit a palm tree, and he slid down, unmoving. Iron Fan readied her blade. "D-don't underestimate me, freak! I've trained to use this." She readied herself for a strike. Enekai turned and stared her down, breaking her nerve. She charged forth and swung. CLANG! She gasped and felt her heart pound its way through her ribs. No matter how hard she tried, she could not pull the sword free from Enekai's grip— the blade came between her index and middle fingers, and it was stuck harder than Excalibur. Enekai retracted a fist, then pumped it through Iron Fan's gut. The lady spit a pint of blood and coughed. As Enekai stepped back, she let Iron Fan fall to the ground, using her last moments to curl into fetal. "So much for a big fight." She slipped the crown back across her forehead, causing her hair to fall. Then she went to collect her clothes. The fallen boot had done enough damage to shatter a rock, while her jacket had crushed a seagull into a gravy. Once she was fully clothed, she eyed the volcano where the yokai was said to reside. If this is the best that fool can do, I don't expect to be entertained. Yet despite her doubts, she continued onwards. She made up her mind to keep her crown on to give the demon a fair fight. Whether it would be worth it remained to be seen. She looked back at the deceased bandits and scoffed.
