" Ryo, pleeease! Pleeease! I’m soooo bored! Can we, can we? Huh? Huh?" Uli pleaded with Ryo, pulling on his sleeve.
It was the next day and Uli wanted to go to the park.
"It looks like a good day to go to the park. Sure, why not?" Ryo said.
"Yeah!" Uli yelled in joy.
"Hey, me and Uli are going to the park. Any of you guys want to come?" Ryo asked the Ronin Warriors and Mia.
"No thanks" was everybody’s answer.
"Okay. How ‘bout you, White Blaze?"
The tiger roared a no.
"All right. Guess it’s just me and Uli. Hey Uli, are you ready?"
"Yep, let’s go!" Uli said.
The park wasn’t that far from Mia’s mansion so the pair walked. When they arrived, Ryo sat down at a bench and Uli ran off to the playground.
Uli dashed around the monkey bars, past the slide, and right to his favorite part of the playground: a green climbing thing shaped like an ‘M’. He called it ‘The Caterpillar’. But there was someone already there when he reached it.
It was a small girl about his age who had her dark brown hair in a ponytail through the back of the denim cap she wore. On the front of the cap, there was a red fox patch. She was wearing a blue T-shirt and denim overalls with a ladybug on the front pocket. Her blue eyes sparkled with laughter. She was wearing a tiara that was made out of pipe cleaners. It went on her forehead with gold bands and met in the middle with a red plastic jewel.
In one hand she had what looked like a cardboard paper towel roll painted red with gold glitter sprinkled on it. A cardboard crescent moon painted gold was glued at the top of the stick. In the other hand, she held a stuffed animal. It was a black cat with a paper crescent moon colored yellow with a crayon taped on its forehead.
"I am Sailor Moon! I am the champion of justice! I will right wrongs and triumph over evil! And that means you!" she said and did a Sailor Moon pose at an invisible foe.
Uli thought the sight was so funny, he burst out laughing.
The girl noticed Uli and scowled.
"What’s so funny?" she asked angrily with her hands on her hips.
"You are!" Uli said through giggles, "You look so stupid doing that silly pose!"
"Uli, stop laughing right now!" the girl demanded.
Uli did stop and looked at her with a puzzled look. Then a look of recognition came across his face.
"Hey, I know you! You’re Aiko and you’re in my class," he said.
"You got that right," she said.
"But you still looked stupid!" he cried and let out another burst of giggles.
"Why you...." Aiko said and jumped off the Caterpillar.
She began beating him with the paper towel roll.
"What the heck?" Uli cried as he was being pummeled by the girl’s fists.
Aiko had ditched the wand because she saw it had really no effect. Uli began to hit her back. Soon, it was a full out brawl.
Elsewhere....
Ryo gratefully sat down and watched Uli run off. The kid had literally dragged him to the park in his excitement. He let out a sigh of contentment and put his hands behind his head.
I’m so glad everything’s back to normal. Now that Talpa’s dead, we can all just sit back and take a breather, he thought.
Then he heard a yell from the area that Uli had run off to.
Or not.
Ryo stood and dashed over to the Caterpillar. There he found a small girl sitting on top of Uli, pulverizing him with her little fists.
"Hey stop that!" Ryo said and grabbed the girl from behind. He turned her around and held her up by her armpits.
"What’s your problem? Why are you hurting Uli? And who are you?" he asked.
To all his questions, the girl’s only answer was a scowl. Then she kicked him in the stomach. He took a step back and his jaw dropped more in surprise than pain. Although the little girl had given him a good kick.
"Hey! Let her go! What do you think you’re doing?" a voice came from behind Ryo.
He turned around. Standing with her hands on her hips was a girl about his age, maybe a little younger. She was wearing a ¾ sleeve baseball T-shirt with dark blue sleeves and a light blue body. The girl was also wearing jeans and sneakers. Her long dark golden brown hair was tied in a braid. Her piercing dark brown eyes with gold flecks looked and acted like a hawk’s, taking in every detail of the situation. A gold chain hung around her neck. Dangling from the chain was an amulet with a purple stone in the middle surrounded by what looked like to be diamonds.
"Well, she was attacking my little friend here and I was just asking her why. But if you want me to put her down so much, I will," Ryo said as he set the girl on the ground.
She ran to the older girl and flung her arms around the girl’s legs.
"Are you okay, Aiko?" the older girl asked.
The child nodded.
"Ugh," Uli groaned as he sat up.
Ryo kneeled down next to Uli.
"You okay?" he asked.
Uli smiled and nodded. He gave Ryo a thumbs up.
"What happened anyway?" Ryo asked Uli.
"Um....uh....heh....heh," he said and put his hand behind his head.
"He made fun of me so I punched him," Aiko said.
"He what?" the older girl asked.
"She what?" Ryo asked.
"Well, he had it coming," the teenage girl said to Ryo.
"Well, that was no reason to punch him," Ryo said.
"I guess you’re right. Aiko, apologize," the other girl said.
Aiko put on her regular scowl and walked over to Ryo. She hesitated for a moment and then kicked Ryo in the shin, pulled her lower eyelid down with her pinkie and stuck her tongue out at Uli. Then she ran off past the older girl.
"Aiko!" the girl cried.
She pointed at Ryo and Uli.
"This is all your fault!" she yelled.
"Our fault?!" Ryo asked.
But the girl had already run off after Aiko.
Ryo scratched his head.
"Strange," he said.
"Uhhhhh," Uli groaned.
Ryo turned back to his little buddy.
"I think it’s time to go home. What do you think Uli?"
"I think so too."
"So what do you have to say for yourself?"
"Ouchie."
Ryo picked Uli up and put him on his shoulders. The two started off towards home.