Chapter One – “Treximea : A Parkour City”

“Can I take your order, sir?”

“An olive tuna mayo footlong with, uhh… American cheese. You don’t have to call me ‘sir’ every time, Mason.”

“It’s store policy, Sharkz.” The shopkeeper gently laughed, his blue eyes bloodshot from working overtime shifts.

“I mean, I’m basically the one keeping you guys in business, and you know my order— so why’d you make me say it again?”

His slightly jaundiced shark tail waved in slight irritation.

Mason’s tired eyes carefully followed the tail. “I know. I’m just trying to get a raise from this dick of a boss! Every time, I’m the one who covers for others. I’m the one who’s willing to work an extra shift. Nobody ever shows up!”

His anger slowly dissipated as he sighed. “A Sprite and two chocolate cookies?”

“Yeeep.”

“I’ll get right to that, sir— I mean, Sharkz.”

Alright, you’re probably wondering who the fuck this dude is.

No, I’m not talking about the Mason shopkeeper dude.

I’m talking about the guy who has a literal shark tail.

Well, I’m just your average shark person or whatever. I never thought about what I was, and I was never asked, so it isn’t really a problem. I do sometimes get some questionable looks. It’s probably because of the hair and, well, the tail and stuff.

I mean, I swear it’s natural— I was born with blue hair. Something your average anime protagonist would say, right?

Well, here’s a bit of background : I came to this island a few years ago, and it’s pretty chill. The mayor gave me a free apartment in exchange for protecting the city, which is pretty easy. I mean, it’s not the best apartment, but I’m not complaining— I’ve lived in worse conditions.

I collect a nice amount of cash for doing jobs like rooftop delivery and maybe being a hitman (depends on who’s asking).

I guess I’ve said enough. It wouldn’t be nice to lore-dump about me to our new reader, right?

Back to the shooowww!

“How’s surfing for you, Mason?”

“I haven’t had time for it,” he said sadly while wrapping his footlong, his blond greasy hair shining under the yellow lights of the shop.

“You know what, Mason? Go surf.” He handed him a 500 bill.

“Dude? For real?” Mason’s face lit up.

“Nah, I totally get you. I hate when I can’t do what I want. Plus, I do agree—Ray is indeed a ‘dick.’”

“Thank you so much, man. I really needed this. Rent’s been ti—”

“Blah blah, finish your 9-to-5 B.S. and give me my shit.”

“Of course!” He hastily put Sharkz’ order in a bag.

“Well, thanks, Mason. Enjoy your week, man.”

“Thank you so much, dude. I can’t thank you enough.”

His tired face was now full of energy, returning to his usual youthful appearance.

While exiting the store, he checked his phone.

“Shit. Carias called.”

He fumbled with his phone, trying to call her back in a hurry.

She picked up.

“Where were you!?”

“I was getting my footlong.”

“Another Sandwich? Are you fucking serious?”

“Chill out. I can’t even eat now? You know I’m always hungry.”

“Anyways, that wasn’t the fucking point. I found Ashwin in your room. He’s talking about something you guys were gonna do near the crane.”

“Shit, I forgot about that. Well, tell him I’ll be there in two.”

“You lazy cocksucker, you could be here this instant!”

‘Aaaaand now.’ he thinks to himself.

“Also, before you leave, could you get me some shrimp noo—”

“Nope, ain’t doing that.” He stuck out his tongue as he ended the call.

“Splotch, wanna have a bit of fun?”

A petrol-smelling speck of goo came out of Sharkz’s pocket.

“It wouldn’t be cheating anyway— I left my gear at home,” he says as he winks to the alien-like being. It latches onto his left arm, making a noise that sounded like a cat’s purr but much rougher and louder.

“And away we go!” he sarcastically said while attaching himself to a streetlight.

He swung from light pole to light pole, then to a building swinging himself up high above the city.

He dived back down and used all the momentum to launch himself forward, a half baked “dash”.

“I’ll never get tired of this, man. It feels like cheating. But I feel like Spiderman, it’s so damn fun.”

Sharkz had arrived at his apartment, or at least on the apartment roof. His apartment was… typical. So were all the other buildings in the city, but that wasn’t the point. It looked like a cluster of a bunch of the same buildings— all of a similar shape but different sizes. His apartment window was close to a smaller building's roof, so it was easy to access.

He jumped down onto the blood-red crashpad (not that he needed it) and entered his room by the window to find Ashwin laying on his bed.

“Sup, dude?” he waved at Ashwin while stepping in from the windowsill. “Carias told me you were posted up here so I came.”

Sharkz grinned, his sharp teeth visible along with his singular mismatched tooth that stuck out of his mouth and always jutted on his lip.

“Yeah, you told me to come here at 4. How you doin’?”

“Fine, n you, twin?”

They shook hands.

“I’m aight, I guess. The dojo’s paying off pretty well and my sister’s doing well in school. So you down?”

“I’ll always be down, man. It’s just a little bit of paint on a wall. I’ve done much worse after all.”

******

They were in an alley, the red color of the bricks surrounding them.

“Maybe we should have chosen another wall. The little gaps between each brick are pissing me off, and the paint keeps dripping.”

He paused for a brief moment, the distinctive spray noise breaking the silence once in a while.

“Why am I always the one who has to finish it? I feel like the outlines are gonna be a hell of a job.”

He showed a hint of annoyance while roughly shaking the can. “Pass the black, man.”

Ashwin, who was scrolling on his phone, threw him the can.

“Catch!”

Sharkz easily caught the can without looking back, but just as he grabbed it, it burst.

“Fuck! It’s all over my hoodie! Damn it, my favorite hoodie.”

His black eyes were now blue and quickly flashed red. He sighed while Splotch cleaned his hoodie— the seemingly live goop enjoyed its meal.

“Thank God it was black paint, but I don’t know why that happened. I can usually control my strength just fine.”

Ashwin wasn’t on his phone anymore and was alert, as if he had just avoided an incoming threat.

“Maybe it’s because the wall was pissing you off and you got angry? I don’t know.”

“That’s a pretty… Stupid reason to say the least”

They sat there for a moment, the only noise being the noises Splotch made while getting the last of the paint off of the hoodie.

Ashwin broke the silence : “You know what, man? I’m hungry. Let’s go get some food.”

Splotch finished getting the rest of the paint off the hoodie and Sharkz nodded. They walked out of the alley, leaving their cans behind, wandering into the busy streets of the city.

“What you feeling, Chinese? Sushi? Thaï?”

He stayed silent for a moment, obviously annoyed by their little ‘incident’ back in the alley.

After a minute of the city’s ambient noise, Sharkz answered:

“I would have said Subway, but Mason closed the shop for the day, and I’m too lazy to get the footlong I bought earlier. Plus, knowing Carias, she prolly ate it because I didn’t get her noodles. Soooo sushi I guess? I just wanna eat something with fish in it, and sushi seems fine.”

”Alright sushi it is then!” Ashwin said, but he felt uneasy.

Sharkz turned his head quickly. Looking at the building’s rooftop

”I saw something in the corner of my eye I swear—“

”It’s probably just a runner, we’ve gained more traction so obviously there’s going to be more people running around on rooftops.”

”Yeah I guess, cmon lets go get sushi!”

They both walked out of the alleyway into the busy streets of Treximea blending (or at least trying to) into the crowd. Ashwin still felt something was off, as if they were being watched.

They walked for about five minutes amongst the crowd, Sharkz’ tail sometimes bumping into a person or two.

People jumped between buildings over them, it was like there was a whole other city on the roof tops.

“Finally we’re here!”

His disappointment was completely gone, and he was back to his energetic self again, his tail wagging wildly like a happy dog.

“Man, I can’t wait! I had to walk five grueling minutes to get to this place. I am gonna suck ’em dry, I’m telling you, just like last time.”

As they entered the sushi place, they sat down and looked at the menu.

As Sharkz’ eyes browsed the options, Ashwin was looking around, visibly stressed, gripping the menu and punching holes into it.

“They’re not customers,” he whispered to his best friend.

“I know.” He replied with the same calm look as before, visibly not caring.

“Vro, we’re gonna have problems again unless—”

“Unless it’s a raid then we won’t have an issue with the police,” he cut him off.

“Listen, if this were just an attempt to capture me, they wouldn’t have radios. I can hear those. They would be using Morse code, buuuut they aren’t. I’ve gotten used to their shitty tricks.”

His voice grew louder and louder, slowly gaining the attention of the disguised men.

“Wanna know what they just said? Target confirmed, neutralisation in 10.” He was shouting now.

The men all got up, some from their tables and a few out of the kitchen, their coats bloodstained, and pulled out their hidden guns.

“NO! Mister sushi man! How could they! “He always picked the freshest sardines for me and even gave me a whole swordfish as a gift once.” He had a frown on his face, not really sadness, more like deception mixed with a little bit of disbelief. He was looking at the back of the counter, blood trickling down from the singular hole in the middle of the old man's forehead, his grey hair now stained red while he lay motionless in the corner.

“It’s silly honestly.” He stood up “They think they’re gonna be heroes for some fake shitty cause but they never told them I’ve killed everyone they’ve ever sent.” ‘Man that sounded corny as hell.’ He thought.

He sighed while the men reconsidered their choices, murmuring to one another.

The squad leader yelled at his men :

“Would you believe him!? An uneducated being, filth! Not even human, devil’s spawn! Would you believe him over scientists, researchers that are trying to save humanity—”

“Save humanity? From me?” Sharkz cut him off, visibly offended.

“Pffft, you guys are the ones killing civilians and terrorising this city, and I’m not doing anything illegal. Wait— I do… that’s not the point. Everyone has to get by somehow right? But I know for a fact that humanity doesn’t need to be saved from me.”

He took a break, processing a thought.

“You really are an annoying piece of sh—”

“Fire!” The squad leader cut him off, angry.

They were surrounded by a dozen men, guns pointed towards the middle of the room. The distinctive click of each trigger was followed by the burst of their automatic pistols. They emptied a magazine, each.

The squad leader yelled:

“First round, clear!”

As they waited for the smoke to dissipate, they noticed two figures still standing, with all of the bullets on the ground. Sharkz waved the smoke away while coughing.

“Regular bullets AND pistols? Not even a rifle or some special tech gun? I caught these bullets like some bouncy balls.”

The squad leader’s expression slowly changed from a serious face to a quote-on-quote : “shitting his pants” type of face.

The shock only lasted a second before he ordered a second wave:

“Second round, fire!”

But the shooters couldn’t find the guns previously in their hands. A neat pile of metal clattered in front of Ashwin’s feet, who had been silent this whole time, but present.

The squad leader seemed to catch on to what happened: “Did you just take our guns?”

One of the soldiers didn’t understand and asked: “Sir, what do you mean? They just vanished.”

“No no, I swear I saw him move. The human.”

He replied to the squad leader: “Yeah I took them. Didn’t they tell you that he wasn’t the only problem?” His eyes pulsed bright green then went back to their original darker green.

He looked away from the squad leader, and turned to his best friend : “Man, can’t you just ice up the place and get it over with? You’re not the only one who’s hungry.”

“There’s no fun in that thooo. And maybe if I give this organisation a bit more info on me and how my supposed powers work, they’ll leave us alone for a while.”

The leader’s bodycam appeared in his hand. Then, out of thin air, ice appeared in the shape of a tripod, just the right size for the bodycam.

The squad leader, shocked and lost for words, looked down on his chest to see the body cam gone.

“Ho…” He stopped mid-sentence.

“Why did they stop moving?” Ashwin asked.

“I iced their nerves. They’re stuck in place. It’s irreversible damage, but I was gonna kill them anyway.”

“And why aren’t they talking?”

“I iced their tracheas.”

“You really do think about everything, do you?” Ashwin smiled warmly.

The shark chuckled before starting his “vlog” :

“Alright, hello there scientists! Apparently, you guys are after me for some reason and for quite some time, so— I’m guessing it’s because of my overly cool abilities? Anyways, first question: How can you make things disappear and can you teleport?” He pinched his nose to sound even more annoying.

In his regular voice : “I don’t teleport or make things disappear. I’m just really fast, around fifty times the speed of sound I think. Second question: How do I manipulate ice? I can’t explain how exactly, but there’s this thing called energy, and every single living being has it. Once a lifeform doesn’t have energy left, they die. Every human or whatever I am is born with a type of energy that’s linked to your soul. So for me, it was ice. Humans can’t access these powers unless some conditions are met, which I’m too lazy to explain. Find it out for yourself. Bleh!”

He stuck his tongue out, looking at the camera then turned to Ashwin.

“Alright, that should be enough, now let’s clean up.”

He scooped up all the bullets on the ground and put them in his mouth.

“What are you doing?” Ashwin asked, puzzled.

Sharkz signed with his mouth full : “You’ll see.”

Suddenly, a bullet shot out of his mouth hitting a soldier in the stomach, blood splattering on the ground while it filled his mouth slowly dripping out, drop by drop. Another bullet shot into his shoulder.

He continued till he shot 10 bullets at that soldier, continuing the cycle, each finishing bullet hitting them in the head. Then he reached the squad leader.

His eyes were red, a scowl on his face.

“You said you needed to save humanity from me, why so? Is it a crime for me to exist? I’d say it’s quite the opposite, I mean, look at you.”

The leader was on his knees, paralyzed, his eyes looking up at Sharkz. Every tear drop that came out of his eye instantly froze. He was mute, but you could clearly hear it— he was pleading for his life.

“Ashwin, point the camera here.”

Ashwin looked bored as if he was used to this.

“Sure,” he said while he turned the ice tripod.

“This is gonna happen to every single one of your men, watch carefully.” Sharkz looked at the camera, his eyes flashed between red and blue.

He walked in the now blood-soaked room. Each step he took splashed blood, his white trainers now red. The shark walked towards a fallen shooter and ripped out an arm easily as if ripping a small branch from an old dried-up tree, the body now fragile because of the ice.

He returned to the squad leader and picked him up by his hair, lifting him into the air.

He stuck the arm through his stomach ; intestines getting pushed apart came out the other end. He threw the corpse violently, his eyes now fully red, pupils like a cat's eye. The body laid on the ground without its head. Sharkz had eaten it right before it hit the ground.

“Delectable.” His voice was deeper and raspier. He turned to Ashwin, his eyes back to the usual black while wiping off the blood from his mouth.

“Let’s go, shall we? After all, there’s probably a raid waiting for us outside.”

“I forgot about that, damn. Let’s get this done quickly. I’m hungry.”