Category: Anime/Manga Style

100 Word Story – Combo

Left, left, right, left.

Kai repeated those words in his head as his fists pounded away at the punching bag in front of him, it lightly swaying back and forth every few strikes. Every few punches, he would weave around the bag, dipping and diving as if it could retaliate against his assault. Through calm, slow breaths and timing, his heartbeat managed to stay in a relaxed state and his body barely feeling fatigued.

Finish it.

Pulling his fist back, Kai launched forward and punched the bag, his fist going straight through to the other side.

“I’m gonna destroy him.”

— Follow Luka on Facebook and Twitter for more content and a look into Luka’s life!

Monster Madness – Knight of the Red Scale – Part One

There’s well-found honor in accepting a duel from an opponent. Whether one uses a spear, a sword, or mace, a warrior with the heart for battle never lets an opportunity to test their skill go to waste. In this instance, a wandering knight in search of supplies for repairs stumbles upon a resident from a mountain landscape.

With an opponent with unusually red skin, the knight openly accepts the invitation to a duel. Should the knight win, they’ll get the supplies. And if they fail…? 

She follows the red sky and can see where it transitions into the calming blue sky above the forest, “Just a bit further now.”

The figure’s barely covered in any clothing, seeming to only be dressed in armor created from red and brown scales that resembles a raging flame.

Pages: 1 2 3

Unexplained Powers

History has shown that magic had some kind of influence on the events in the past. Even if people couldn’t see it if a certain person acted a way that wasn’t deemed “normal” for that era, magic would be the explanation. Often executing or put to exile, people were outcasts for even the simplest of things that could easily be explained in the modern era.

However, in some of those cases, people were lucky when the person they killed or exiled actually did use magic, whether the public knew it or not. Now, as society has developed to a new age, there are some things that science just can’t explain.

Such as how this woman is floating high in the sky below the streets.

Calezia raised her hand towards the clear night sky. Somehow, even though there wasn’t a cloud in sight, a large bolt of lightning struck down, colliding with her hand.

One of the policemen screamed out, “Spread out, she’s about to fire!”

Pages: 1 2 3

Story Preview: Kazumi (Working Title)

For those of you who read my little sum-up of February so far, you saw this coming. For those who didn’t it’s just a bigger surprise!

As promised, here’s a sample of the story I was working on before I became sick. Feel free to leave your opinions and ideas in the comments or email them if you’d like. All feedback is appreciated!

*****

“Hmm. I have a feeling that the main character is going to be put through something that will require him to sacrifice something. That’s how the plot seems to be leading itself.”

The tiny girl flipped the pages of her obviously over-sized novel. In comparison to her tiny body the book could have acted like a small divider that protected everything below her neck. Book propped up against her legs and her narrow fingers traveling along as she read the words Violet carefully read her novel: The Unfortunate Life of Mr. Takeshi. Those who knew about that book we’re at least the age of twenty-one, legal adults who wouldn’t dare pick up the book unless they wanted to have nightmares for the following month.

Young Kazumi kept her excitement for such horrors on a tight leash as he eyes darted across the aging pages. She was the sole collector of the unedited edition before it was released for a general publishing first edition.

As she lost herself in the vivid description of graphic gore, shredded limbs and torn body parts Kazumi had to constantly regain her immersion into her horrific novel after hearing all of the other children running around and having fun.

Kazumi tilted her head to the side to see the dozens of children running on the playground, “What’s so fun about running around a yard and screaming your head off? If anything, you’ll just get a sore throat and a headache afterwards.” She hid back behind her book and let out a disappointed sigh before continuing her reading.

Kazumi was obviously different from the rest of the elementary school students. While most of them enjoyed burning out their absurdly high amount of energy, jumping across imaginary lava pits, playing fake gun wars with their fingers, or just climbing across the massive jungle gym like actual animals, Kazumi would prefer to find the darkest corner of the sun-lit playground and read horror novels aimed towards older crowds. Kazumi had purposely made herself the “black sheep” of the entire school, but it allowed her to avoid unnecessary conversations from other students.

However, seeing such unusual behavior caused her homeroom teacher, Mrs. Honomura, to call her parents in for a one-on-one meeting. It was futile as her parents approved of Kazumi’s high desire to read, regardless if it was a children’s book or a violently graphic novel. They were just happy that their child actively wanted to read.

Nonetheless, Kazumi thrived in her alone time.

Today, as she read about her favorite main character having to choose between losing a leg or an arm, a group of children on the playground thought it would be a good idea to disturb her daily reading ritual. Many of the school children felt like Kazumi was unusual, almost like she was a robot sent into spy on them like their imaginative playtime sessions. In their sessions robots possessed supernatural reflexes, able to dodge anything within a matter of milliseconds.

To see if she really was a robot, one of the fifth-graders grabbed a red rubber ball and launched it with all of their strength. This particular fifth-graders was known for hurting other students during a game of dodgeball: he was rumored to have knocked out an entire row of teeth from another student who got hit in the face with a ball. With a quick wind-up the student launched the ball with all of his might, his target seemingly unaware of the red sphere flying towards her.

It took no more than a second for the ball to travel across the playground. Right as the ball was about to crash into Kazumi’s book it came to a sudden stop. The only thing is, nothing caught the ball nor did it hit anything: the ball was suspended in mid air. Confused about if they should be scared or amazed the children kept their eyes on the ball to see what would happen next.

Noticing the sudden silence on the playground Kazumi put the book down and immediately saw the dodgeball just a few inches away. However, from her point of view, she could clearly see the reason why it never hit her. Her eyes darted up Kazumi saw a familiar arm extending out from over her head.

The arm was muscular along its entire length, veins lightly protruding on the forearm. The skin was an unnatural color, an off-gray color with faint hues of blue patches. The hand tightly gripping the ball was large and had talon-like fingers that could shred anything to strips within seconds. The hand occasionally squeezed the ball like a beating heart.

To many, seeing something so dry, so dead-looking would throw them into a fit of panic and fright. For Kazumi, she knew the body that the arm was attached to and felt no such fear. She didn’t have to look back to see who was behind her.

“Thank you, Ogaki. I was just finishing up this chapter when that ball was thrown.”

Kazumi brought her attention to the group of students bundled together across the playground. They’re still in shock about the ball, but she could see a growing fear in their eyes; she knew that they were unable to see “Ogaki,” but that was only because Kazumi didn’t want to cause an uproar as it would further disturb her reading.

“Throw the ball back, Ogaki,” she said as she picked her book back up and went back to her reading.

Following the young girl’s words the arm gently tossed the ball back across the playground. It quickly fell and went rolling along the gravel ground. The other school children didn’t dare touch the ball, thinking there might be something cursed on it. After a moment of complete silence one of the children breaks out in a sprint, screaming at the top of their tiny lungs. Many more follows behind in the same manner.

Kazumi took one last glance at the other school kids, “Idiots.”

— Follow Luka on Facebook and Twitter for more content and a look into Luka’s life!

Eye for Danger

Geez, could tonight be any more boring? I’ve been sitting around waiting for something to happen, but I’ve got nothing. What a waste of my time.

I walk back over to the edge of the roof and peek over. All of the people on the ground look like tiny bugs from the up here. It feels like if I took a step over the edge, I’d crush half of the block to death with ease. I kill some time by acting like I’m crushing a few people between my fingers. The fun sadly only last for a minute until I get bored and sit on the edge, my legs casually dangling over thirty stories in the hair. I could feel all of the blood in my legs rushing down into my feet, leaving behind a warm, tingling sensation. I like it.

I let out a sigh and rub the corner of my eyes to get rid of the crust and gunk build-up. When I lie back, the bright, night sky fills my vision, numerous stars gleaming like the bulb of a flashlight. There’s one that stands out to me; it rests dead center of all of them and shines the brightest. I even extend my hand out to see if I could block out its glow, but its edges seem to reach farther past the palm of my hand.

“You must be a strong one,” I compliment the star as if it could hear me. I clutch my fist acting like I could capture it in my hand, “I wonder which star you belong to if you’re glowing so intensely. Perhaps my next target? Ohhhhh, if that’s true, that means I’ll be having one good time of a fight.”

In the middle of my thoughts, I could feel my blade vibrating meters away on the floor. I lift my head up and see it shaking in place, a red hue surrounding its black and blue scabbard casing. Somebody strong is approaching. After taking a few seconds to shut my eyes and rest, I prop myself up and take another glance at the ground below my blood-filled feet.

Just like before, nothing but normal civilians fill the cement and pavement walkways. Many of them taking leisurely strolls, while a handful try to squeeze through whatever opening they can find in order to rush to their destinations. A small number of cars cruise through the street, but it’s at a snail’s pace since the street is mainly a pedestrian walkway. And in the mass crowd of pedestrians walking through, there’s one that sticks out to me.

I can barely make out the finer details from this heights, but all I can tell is it’s a male wearing a navy blue colored suit. However, the thing following behind him is as clear as day. Behind him stood a massive figure, at least six feet in height. Its skin was blue in color, completely devoid of any natural, human tones. It’s physical structure would easily place it as the winner of a muscle building competition, every muscle flexing and protruding from its body. It lacks any body hair, including head hair, so it has a slight shimmer on it, almost like metal in broad daylight. It even walks with a confident stride as if it could take on the world and win in a matter of seconds.

There’s my target. Time to move out. 

Catsuit Yakuza

It’s always a deadly game when wanting to rob somebody or something. There’s always the chance of getting caught and being thrown in jail to serve time behind bars. However, if one is able to get away with such an act, they can live a life of luxury and knowing they’re able to fill their pockets without getting caught.

However, if one of those places that’s being robbed turned out to be a den of a notorious and violent gang, it would be a better idea to hope that you don’t end up dead should you get caught. Even then, who would be stupid enough to even attempt such a foolish act?

Those who don’t have a choice.

“Hiro,” Masane began speaking, “what do you think this man’s reasoning is for breaking in? Think he’s in debt with another clan? Wanted to support his family?”

She crumpled up the lottery ticket, “You’re taking too long to answer. I got tired of waiting. Somebody hold him down.”

Pages: 1 2

On-Call Sharp Shooter (Part Two)

I swear, I hate when things don’t always go my way. First, I get an assignment that should have taken no more than twenty minutes and the next thing I know, it took me an hour. Thankfully, I was a bit drunk half of the time, but still, it was extra time wasted!

H.R better have some kind of way to repay me for that lost time. I mean, overtime pay would be nice, but it’s not enough! I should see if they can throw in an extra case of beer…

Regardless, I’m sure that once I speak to my boss, everything will be all settled out. She’s a pretty reasonable person who wouldn’t just drop things on me without a heads up, so she should already know that I want something out of this.

“What?!” I yell as I slam the door behind me when entering the room. “The only reason why I even came here was to complain about my last job!”

Yumiko ties her hair into a ponytail as she adjusts her desk chair, “What the hell happened with the last job? Did Takeo get away? Do I need to send a clean-up crew?”

“No. And if I needed a clean-up crew, I would have called it in beforehand.”

Pages: 1 2 3 4

On-Call Sharp Shooter (Part 1)

It isn’t easy being me. My entire job revolves around customer support, fulfilling calls and orders from my boss and other bullshit clients who don’t have the balls to do the job themselves. Then again, the pay for my line of work is pretty damn high, so I can’t really complain.

But when one of the calls I get involves shooting down a well-known cop hellbent on trying to crack down on crime and drug trafficking in the city, it makes you realize that the city is a lot more dirty than what the public can see.

Thankfully I have my trusty rifle in hand ready to shoot down whoever I’m assigned to.

Plus I get a bonus pay of beer along the way, so that’s a win for me too.

Blindly, I stick my hand in the bag and feel around until I can get a grip on what I was searching for.

“Sweet, I still got one left.”

Pages: 1 2 3 4

Wings, But No Hands

We continue on with the living situation with Mr. Takiyama, our normal day-to-day human resident, and his mystical creature roommate, Rei the Harpy. It’s that time of the year for Rei to being the usual changes for birds, but it seems more complicated than it should.

Normally, if she was around other harpies, it would be no issue because any problem they have would be solved in a matter of second. But since she’s with a human instead, things don’t turn out how they usually should.

And with feathers constantly falling off, Mr. Takiyama’s trying his best not to see certain things that he shouldn’t see.

“I don’t care what you say.”

“Does this mean it’s okay if I look at you while we’re talking right now?”

In case you forgot how things started, read their fated encounter in Winged Friend.

Pages: 1 2 3

A Brother’s Forgiveness

Family is one of the strongest bonds a person can have in their life. It’s both their reason for going on and their motivation to better themselves. However, family can also lead to a person’s downfall.

Sometimes, comparison between family member’s status in life can lead a person to lash out in rebellion, leading to damaging results. And sometimes, even awakening the inner demon within.

A light mist has slowly drifted down upon the entire forest. The woman suddenly comes to a stop. She begins to take deep breaths and her voice starts cracking as if she’s holding back tears.

“None of this would have happened if I…”

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Confessions Against the Rules

Many romance novels and stories often have a forbidden love feature: a Romeo and Juliet style situation that prevents the two lovers from ever truly showing their affection. Some end in tragedy and some get the happy finale that was expected.

Regardless, if there’s a forming bond between two and they’re both willing to go to secret lengths to keep the relationship alive, then it was meant to be. Same goes for a bond between a student and their teacher.

As much as I should be panicking right now, I’m completely calm; I know who grabbed me.

“Took you long enough, Kyouko.”

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5

Woman in the Mirror (Part 3)

I’ve lost track of exactly how many people have suffered from my experiments. A handful, a dozen, a few dozen most likely? All I know is until I get the results I want, that number will continue to climb.

It’s been a few days since I’ve checked up on the condition of my current subject; perhaps he has some new findings for me that I’ve been wanting for some time.

“Ms. Tanamura,” Yuuka calls out, “the current subject is about to wake up. His vital signs are beginning to change.”

“Unlock the doors so he can proceed,” I answer.

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