Nailo's Emergence: Distress in a Neighbour City!

Nailo was walking home from school, his tail securely wrapped around his waist hidden under his too-high school pants. Once again he had another boring day at his boring school, and to top it off, he had to do some homework he really would rather not do. He was about two blocks from his house, so not too far one could easily make it home in a brief time. He decided he would run the rest of the way, why not? He had nothing else to do and the sooner he got home the sooner he could go out and train. He pulled the straps from his backpack tight and then started to jog towards home. The extra weight of the books in his back pack was a nice little bit of training already. His mother would be furious that he would be sweating in his school uniform. She would scold him and he would listen, nodding and consoling her as to how terrible he was for doing it. In all honesty Nailo was growing very bored of his mundane existence in this stupid city, with the same stupid people. It was strange though, the other day he could swear he felt something he hadn’t felt in a long time. It was like there was a fear that overcame him, like there was some great power nearby that could very well destroy everything around him. Come to think of it, he had felt like there was more than one of these forces around him. It scared him, yet excited him at the same time.

As his thoughts were racing, so was the terrain around him and to his surprise he soon saw his familiar home. The place is a nice cozy, one level building with two bedrooms. He lives with his mother still, as he is in high school now. He had just recently decided he wanted to become a doctor and to his utter dismay, he now needs reading glasses for his studies. He slowed his pace to a walk just before the door and entered his house. He flipped off his shoes and as a sign of courtesy as he always did to authoritative figures; he bowed when entering the same place as one, this time being his mother. “Hello mom, I’m home! School was great, I’m going out now! Some friends from school want to play soccer!” He casually lied as usual. He couldn’t exactly tell her he was going to go shadow box outside the city now could he? He quickly dropped off his book bag in his room and he heard the television going on in the living room. The news reporter was speaking quickly and in a very frightened tone, “This just in! We have reports that West City has been totalled! I repeat West City has been totalled! The numbers of deceased is not confirmed but many have been assumed dead!”

Nailo’s eyes went wide with utter shock. These things he had been feeling, these forces... could they be responsible for the destruction?! Something inside of him wanted with all his might to go to West City and see just exactly was happening, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to do anything like that. His mother would in no way allow him to just leave like that, not a chance in hell. Nailo quickly rushed towards the door and his mother yelled quickly “You’re not going ANYWHERE Mister! They say that attack was caused by terrorists! You are staying put where I can keep an eye on you. If anything happened to you Nailo, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.” Nailo had his hand on the door and turned with a pleading look to his mother. He knew he was already beaten here; he couldn’t have a hope of persuading her to let him go. He sighed and admitted defeat, turning towards his room. He went into his room and uttered “I’ll eat later.... I’m gonna go study now.” Once he was in his room, with the door closed he changed into his ‘play clothes’ which consisted of his orange track pants with a hole for his tail and a white muscle shirt with a dragon symbol on the back. He sat down on the floor and began to do some of his training in his room. He imagined someone fighting with him, envisioned them striking out at him, and envisioned the play through of each encounter. As Nailo envisioned each event happening in his mind, he attempted to make them happen with his own body outside of his mind, in the physical.

Today he was at the World’s Martial Arts Tournament, his opponent was one of his class mates. Nailo and his classmate bowed to one another and then the fight began. His class mate unleashed a quick left jab towards his jaw. Nailo quickly moved his head to his own left dodging while thrusting his right foot quickly at the gut of his class mate. His kick was blocked by the right hand of his class mate, who quickly closed the gap between the two boys. The other boy then attempted to thrust his knee into Nailo’s gut, which if it connected would be a devastating blow. Nailo had less than seconds to react and he raised his arms in an ‘X’ over the intended contact site. As the knee connected with the attempted block, Nailo allowed the momentum of the blow to push him back. He turned that momentum into a roll, performing a backwards summersault and landing in an offensive stance similar to that of the Wolf Fang Fist. He honestly knew nothing about this technique in reality, but loved to imagine using it. When Nailo performed the roll in his mind, he tried in his room as well, bumping into his bed. This caused a loud bump and Nailo quickly hid his tail and seconds later his bedroom door opened.

His mother looked furious! “What is going on in here Nailo!? Tell me!” Nailo avoided eye contact and said, “I turned around too quickly and fell... I’m sorry mom. I didn’t mean to scare you. Honest!” She seemed dissatisfied with the answer and left the room uttering something about boys. He sighed a breath of relief and sat down at his desk. Maybe he should just do his homework. Oh joy, integration by parts. What a fantastic topic for today. The monotony began once again.

(1080 Words)

Nailo sat up from his homework and made a plan that he was going for a walk, with or without parental consent. He needed to work on a plan to get out of here without her wondering anything. He went into his closet and took a variety of tools he would use. He put his soccer ball on his pillow, stuffed his blankets with things and shaped them to look like he was sleeping. He then opened his door and said “Mom, I’m going for a nap. School really wore me out today!” Upon finishing his sentence he closed the door and walked quickly to his window. He opened the window and climbed out, his tail wrapped around his waist to look like a belt. He had a long shirt on to cover up where the tail would come out on his backside. “I am going to find out exactly what is going on in West City. There feels like there is so much power, and terrorists launching a missile to take out the city? Give me a break! That can’t be true. There is something strange about all of this and I intend to find out what!”

In his haste and lack of self control Nailo found himself noticing a somewhat weakening of the power levels that he was feeling. He let his own spike up to its fullness, a measly 960. This caused the gap between his own power level and the ones he was feeling to drop, but not too dramatically. He wondered what had caused this drop, but for fear of his mother finding out he had just snuck out he felt it was best to leave immediately. He started to sprint away as fast as he could, which also was abnormal compared to those around him, especially with his power level at its maximum. He stopped for a second realising how much ground he covered in such a short amount of time. He felt it would be best for him to go to the outskirts of the city to not be watched by anyone. He knew there were some cliffs near the edge of the city and he was going to go train at the base of them. There was a nice little green patch of heaven there. He took off, again at a sprint and was clear across town in less than an hour. That was only possible in a car usually. Nailo was both shocked and impressed saying, “Mom, what aren’t you telling me...? I’m not human...?” Of course, his question was only asked to himself and he couldn’t truly ask his mother about it.

He took off his large sweater and let his tail unwrap itself from his waist. He stretched his whole body; tail included, and then started to jump around slightly. He was warming himself up for some training, which always seemed to allow him to think better. He couldn’t seem to shake the thought of those powers near him. They were just in the other city! If only he could get there he could prove to himself that there was a lot more to everything than he was learning here and now. To prove that aliens really do exist or something, that he wasn’t normal. He started to do some sit-ups and push ups performing each motion with practiced effort and power, trying to push himself further and further. After he finished his last set of sit-ups he decided to lay back on the grass and look up at the sky. He longed to be able to know what is out there. He hated being confined to this city because he couldn’t drive, or walk to the other city without it taking days, maybe weeks! He focused his breathing and his power level also started to shrink as well, going back to his basic power level equal to that of your everyday human. Suppressed to maybe ten or eleven power level, though he didn’t do this by choice, rather by a natural ability to do it. He had gotten so used to being ‘normal’ that he was habitual in making himself so. He flicked his tail and held it in his hands. He wondered how he got it, where it came from, and why he has it. Particularly why his mother hates it so much.

(726 words)

Feeling that she had done enough housework for now, Mayu had decided to take a break and venture outside yet again. Papa’s grave may not have had any weeds left growing around it, but the flowers she had planted had long since died off. The small android wanted to go find some new ones to plant. Maybe she could even wind a flower chain around the wooden grave marker to make it look extra special.

And so, off she went in search of some suitable flowers. Not just any bloom would do, mind you. They had to have big, bright red petals. Those were Papa’s favorites. Mayu had fond memories of him coming home from various expeditions outside and bringing her back large bouquets of such flowers with a smile on his face. The only problem was that Mayu didn’t know where she was supposed to get flowers like that. The only thing she could really do was start wandering and hope for the best.

Quite a bit of time had passed and still no luck. Mayu wasn’t even on the mountain that the abandoned village stood on anymore. She had seen lots of pretty flowers and interesting looking plants, but nothing anywhere near what she had been looking for. “Mmm, why are they so hard to find? I bet Papa never had this much trouble getting flowers like that,” she mumbled quietly to herself. Feeling dejected, Mayu plopped herself down near the edge of a cliff and stared up at the sky.

It only took a few seconds of sitting there on the ground before Mayu got the strange feeling that she wasn’t alone. The child tensed up and looked around. Was she being watched? She definitely didn’t see anybody. It wasn’t until she peered over the edge of the cliff that she saw the figure of a young man lying below her. The android blinked curiously as she looked down at him. Normally she would have high-tailed it out of there at the first sight of someone else in the area. However, her earlier dealings with Rain had fueled her curiosity. Rain hadn’t seemed like such a bad guy. Maybe the person lying at the bottom of the cliff would be the same. Besides, there was the possibility that he knew where she could find the type of flowers that she had been looking for.

Mayu took a deep breath and mustered up all of her courage. She then crawled over the edge of the cliff and began to hover in mid-air. She then began her slow descent to the bottom of the cliff. “Umm, uhh, e-excuse me,” the small android called out as she continued to lower herself with her flight ability. Her voice was meek. As curious as she might have been, all those years of being scared of people wasn’t easy to ignore.

[478]

Nailo saw a girl up on the cliff above him and instantly his own curiosity was peaked, however it was mixed with intense fear. Someone saw him with his tail. He had to fix this somehow; he had to come up with a lie. He had time, as the girl had to go down the mountain to get to him or so he thought. The girl then did something that was completely shocking and made Nailo eager beyond words to talk to her. He had to find answers and it just so happened she might be able to give them to him. He didn’t care about his tail being seen by the little girl, she was maybe ten or eleven. Not many would believe her anyways, Nailo could convince them otherwise. He sat up quickly and was watching her descend from the cliff above. He had never witnessed anything like this before, nothing near this magnitude of an event. He couldn’t control his excitement very well and as a result his power level also rose, working its way to the top of its calibre, now maxing out at 1400.

Nailo felt there was something odd about this girl; she had no power around her. None, not even a small one. It was unique! Every person he had ever met had a power level of some sort, but this girl had none, not even a little bit like most humans. That was the second sign that she wasn’t normal and either was he. He could possibly have just met someone who would be a friend to him, someone he could actually be himself around. The girl then said in a timid voice her words and Nailo was left to respond, he wanted to not appear too excited, but not too cautious either. He had to play his words carefully here and compose himself. Once again the power levels of those around him, the ones in West City seemed smaller by a margin. Maybe he himself was fluctuating in his, which was why theirs were changing. He focused his breathing and relaxed before answering the girl.

“Hello, my name is Nailo.” The young boy bowed, despite her being much smaller and appearing to be younger than him. He felt it was the appropriate thing to do to display he meant no harm to her. “I’m not going to hurt you, I promise. I am curious to know how you did that. It is amazing. Is there anything you needed help with? Oh my gosh I have so many questions I want to ask you” Nailo’s tail was moving, not wagging like a dogs, but moving in quick jerked movements, almost like it couldn’t be controlled. He was so excited to finally have met someone who wasn’t, or didn’t appear to be normal. She could fly! Not many people, if anyone to Nailo’s memory, could do that. He stopped and tried to compose himself once again, but just couldn’t manage to settle his excitement. “I’m sorry... I’ve never met anyone who can fly before. As I said, my name is Nailo, I am 15 years old and I am going to be a doctor so I can one day help the world!” Nailo felt it would be best to tell more about himself as he had just asked so many questions. He felt kind of foolish and could feel his face warming up, as he was starting to turn red in embarrassment now.

(580)

Not a nanosecond after Mayu had landed, the young man had hopped up and started asking her numerous questions. The child’s eyes widened and she took a couple of cautious steps back. It definitely wasn’t the response she had expected. All she had wanted to do was ask him about flowers. “I-I, umm…” she stammered, unsure of what to say to him. She was starting to think that this wasn’t such a good idea. He didn’t really seem bad. The girl simply wasn’t sure how to handle so many questions at once, or how excited this random stranger was to see her.

The small android decided to take things step by step. Since he didn’t seem dangerous, she might as well try to answer his questions. “Nailo? My name i-is Mayu,” she returned to introduced herself while mimicking his bow. Mayu had never greeted anybody like that before, but figured it was best to just copy what he was doing.

That wasn’t so hard. Next came trying to answer his question. Mayu had never put much thought into her ability to hover like that. It was just something she used to reach things around the house that were too high for her. Papa had programmed it into her to make her chores easier to finish. The girl had no idea how she was supposed to explain how she was able to do it. “I-I dunno. I just do it,” Mayu finally answered after a long period of thought. It was the best answer she could come up with.

Nailo had also asked her if there was anything she had needed help with. Mayu’s face brightened up. “Oh! Actually there is!” she exclaimed. Her new chipper tone was a drastic change from the shy one she had just carried. “You see, I’m looking for a bright red flower with big petals. It smells really sweet. Have you seen any around that sound like that?” It was then that the child saw that Nailo’s face turn a shade of red that was similar to the flower she was looking for. “Yah, kind of like that… Umm, are you okay Nailo? Are you getting a cold?” Mayu tilted her head to the side and studied his face carefully. That’s what Papa looked like sometimes when he got sick. It seemed like the weather was too nice for it to be a cold though.

[400]

Nailo saw the little girl’s face light up as she said she is looking for a certain type of flowers. They were bright red, apparently like his face had turned. He decided to turn the conversation back to flowers; this girl had apparently had very little communication with other humans, as she seemed very timid and cautious about any and all interaction with him. “No Mayu, I’m not getting a cold. I am just a little embarrassed about how I reacted to you coming down here. You know how when you get embarrassed your cheeks turn all red? It’s amazing; I have never met anyone who can fly. I would love to learn how to!” Nailo once again was getting carried away by his own excitement. He paused for a moment and started to think. As he always did when he was thinking, he pushed his glasses up, as they had worked their way down the bridge of his nose. He was trying to recall where those flowers usually were. “Wait right here, I will be back”

Nailo turned around and walked, more of a light jog, towards the base of the other cliff, the one opposite Mayu had just entered from. He went around to the other side and saw there were three flowers sitting there. There was a white looking daisy, an orange orchid and a group of three brilliantly red flowers with five point petals. He picked the three flowers and walked back towards Mayu. “Are any of these the flowers you were looking for? Wild flowers grow around here all the time. The brighter coloured ones tend to be on the side with the most sunlight, this time a year that side of the mountain gets more sunlight.” Nailo was once again babbling, which he had a tendency to do around women in particular, especially when he wanted to know something really badly. He had rather poor social skills when he thought about it, again a result of his mother’s over bearing constraint on his life. She continually tried to keep him in her sight at all times not wanting people to know he was a weird child with a tail. She couldn’t bear the thought of humiliation such as that and Nailo was very disturbed by her apparent hatred of the tail he had gained. If Nailo had to guess, it had something to do with his father, whom he wanted to one day meet.

Embarrassed? Now that she thought about it, Mayu had never really seen anyone be embarrassed in front of her. Papa had certainly never shown such an emotion when she was around. The child would have never guessed that looking embarrassed looked a lot like appearing to have a cold. She shrugged her shoulders dismissively as she watched Nailo run off.

It took less than a minute for the boy to return, and Mayu’s eyes lit up as soon as she saw what he was carrying. ”Ooh! Those are the ones! They’re Papa’s favorites!” Mayu exclaimed excitedly. She was glad she hadn’t come all the way out here for nothing. Now alol she had to do was take them back to the abandoned village and place them on her creator’s grave.

Right as she was about to hold her hands out to receive the flowers, something peculiar caught Mayu’s eye. There was a furry brown tail sprouting from Nailo’s back! The small android blinked a few times as she watched it twitch with wide eyed curiosity. ”Is that a kitty tail?” Mayu asked while looking back up at Nailo’s face. It reminded her of the cats that used to wander around the village. Occasionally they would sit on the window sill and say hello to the child before curling up for an afternoon nap.

[223]

(410 last poast)


Nailo was happy to see the little girl so happy that he had found her the flowers she was looking for. “Who is your papa? Does he know where you are? Aren’t you kind of young to be out here by yourself?” As he asked this, he offered them to her and noticed that she paused about mid-way through taking them. It would appear that she noticed his tail, and his own eyes went slightly alarmed. He hadn’t been hiding it at all in his distraction of meeting her. He would have to think fast and quickly try to come up with a way to convince her that it wasn’t a tail, but that it was a prop of some sort, he had to think fast, very fast. Nailo quickly analyzed the girl’s look of curiosity and figured it was too late, she saw him walk away and she knew it was attached to him and that he wouldn’t be able to convince her otherwise.

Nailo looked kind of defeated after she had noticed his tail, no longer could he go on with lying about it, but for once he would have to come clean with the truth of his tail, and how he knew absolutely nothing about it. “No, it isn’t a kitty tail, but it is more like a monkey tail, you know.... kind of like how people believe humans evolved from monkeys. I figure I am some sort of missing link, who still has their tail. I don’t know that’s the simplest theory I can muster up about it.” Nailo shrugged, his glasses slipping down his nose slightly. He reached up to push them back up his nose and sighed slightly, “You’re the first person who has ever found out about it. It is kind of liberating to be able to share it with someone.” Nailo noticed still, no power level, even in the spikes of emotion this girl felt. Her energy didn’t seem to change or even exist. “Tell me, why don’t you have energy like other people? I’ve always been able to feel people’s energy around them and when their emotions get carried away their energy seems to fluctuate. I don’t know if energy is the right term, but it is how I understand it.”


(380)

“Papa’s not here anymore, but I’m okay,” Mayu said quietly. That was the second time today that she had to explain where Papa was, and she had been vague both times. Mayu continued to watch Nailo’s tail as he spoke to her. It looked really soft; she had to resist the urge to poke at it. That would be rude. The tail may not have been a cat’s tail like she had first thought, but monkeys were good too. She may have never seen one up close, but she had lots of picture books back at home with images of them.

Mayu finally pulled her attention away from Nailo’s tail when he started asking more questions about her. What did he mean? She remembered Papa always saying she was so energetic when she was doing her daily chores. Or was he talking about something else? “I dunno… Papa always said that I was different from other people, that I was special. Maybe that has something to do with it?” As they were talking, Mayu got the feeling that Nailo was similar to her. They were both different than normal people. He had a tail. She was made of metal. Wait… Maybe that’s what he was looking for! The child was so used to not talking about the fact that she was an android that she had completely forgotten that it might have been the reason Nailo had so many questions for her.

The child hesitated. She wasn’t sure if what she was about to do was a very good idea. Papa would certainly punish her if he had ever found out. However, Nailo was really easy to talk to and seemed to be a good guy. It should be okay just this once. Mayu’s voice got really quiet. “I think I have an idea. I’ll show it to you for a second, but you have to promise not to tell anybody about this, okay?”

She took a deep breath and lowered her head so that Nailo could get a clear view of the back of it. It looked like she was bowing again. While staying in that position, she placed both of her hands on the back of her head. Mayu pressed down on a small patch of her skin until a small click was heard. The back of Mayu’s head swung open like a car door! Inside were various wires, flashing lights, and computer parts rather than flesh. Her head was only open for a few seconds before she closed her head and straightened herself out again. She was still nervous about doing that. She didn’t know how Nailo would react to seeing what he just saw. Not only that, but the only times she opened herself up before that was because Papa needed to perform the occasional maintenance.

[471]

Nailo noted the sombre attitude that Mayu took on when speaking of her ‘Papa’ and decided it would be in his best interest to not bring up questions about him anymore. It appeared to be a sign of great pain. He noticed her eyeing his tail like she wanted to touch it or something. He took a step forward and moved his tail out towards her as if to use it like a hand in a handshake. Nailo had pretty good control over his tail most times; he liked to think of it as an extra appendage, it obviously wasn’t too strong and did cause him a lot of pain when he pulled it. It was a very sensitive part of his body and he tried not to hurt it as often as he could. He saw no harm in letting Mayu pet, or play with it if she wanted to. After all, she seemed innocent enough.

Mayu’s answer as to her being special was certainly true. Nailo couldn’t fathom why she didn’t have energy like other people. Mayu then went on to say she wanted to show Nailo something but he had to promise not to tell anyone. “Mayu, I won’t tell anyone anything you don’t want me to. My tail is a secret too; I don’t let anyone know about it. You keep that a secret and we have a deal.” Nailo smiled, his face turning gentle and consoling to try and show the genuine intent behind the words he spoke. He then watched what the little girl was doing and he saw the machinery, the circuit, the wiring, the machine, and it all made sense. She didn’t have energy like other humans because she wasn’t human. She was some sort of machine, an android perhaps. Nailo thought all androids were eliminated earlier in history, but alas, he before him, was a standing functional android. Nailo was stuck between excitement for making a friend who wasn’t human, and fear of where she came from and why she was here. Surely she was more powerful than she looked and could easily be the cause for great destruction. But she seemed so innocent and pure, that the thought was quickly vanished from his thought.

Nailo bowed himself, “Thank you for trusting me enough to show me that Mayu. I am glad to know I’m not the only different person in this city.” Nailo smiled once again, trying to affirm Mayu that she was safe with him, as was her secret. Nailo was hoping the two could become friends and help each other out every once in a while. They could adventure together, and perhaps, she could teach him how to fly if she could figure out exactly how she did it. “Mayu, do you want to be my friend?” Nailo asked, for the first time ever, with honesty in his response. He would be able to talk to her, tell her about himself, and share who he was with her, not hide his tail and fear discovery.


(507)

Nailo stood there, silent awaiting a reply from the android. There was none, and he felt kind of foolish. Perhaps she had malfunctioned or something. He couldn’t stand around forever, it was getting dark and his mother had probably checked in on him since he had been gone. He turned away from her and decided he would try to do what she did. She could fly, why couldn’t he? He focused his power level all around him. He felt energy inside of him, something that he had felt before, but it was always dormant. He focused this energy all around him, his power level soaring to its peak. His power level then grew even more, to more than half of his maximum capabilities. He had reached a power level over two thousand. It was like his energy was unlocking, like he could gain access to more in him than others could. He wanted to push it even further. He felt heat in his hands and around him. He opened his eyes and saw an orange aura around himself. He was actually seeing his ki, something he never knew he had before. In his hands, there was a ball of this stuff. Focused in his hands there was ki, and it was amazing. He felt it swirling and reached up his hand. The ki that was in his hand shot like a bullet and hit the cliff near him. It left a large crater, but was not large enough to shake the structure.

“What am I? Certainly this isn’t normal for people to be able to do!” Nailo knew there was a man on Earth, he was a great martial artists, at least used to be, according to the textbooks. Nailo knew he had an island, and if he as a great fighter, then strong energy would also be there. Nailo had to learn how to fly. He focused his energy around him and imagined himself being lifted up into the air. He felt a surge of power around him as his aura also flickered slightly. The next thing he felt was an upward push. He was being lifted into the air. Slowly, very slowly, Nailo was floating above the ground, only a foot or so off the ground. He was shaky, and had no idea how to control it, or move forward, or even stay in the air for a long period of time. In his excitement of getting off the ground he fell back to it, hitting his backside rather hard on the ground. Nailo turned back to the android girl, still seeing no response. He chose to head home, he had no more time to wait for her to move or do something. He had to get home before his mother was ready to kill him. In his haste, he didn’t bring his power level back down. It was at its peak and that could lead to a very dangerous turn of events for Nailo. Find out what happens, next time in the story of Nailo!


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