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"Challenges"

The sky overhead was soft on Talon's eyes as he watched the clouds pass by; an ocean of blue with a land of white, whispy puffs flowing past his eyes as he laid out on the ground staring up into them. The tile under his head felt like stone, but to him, it was a brief respite of comfort from the past few weeks of confusion. The panther reached a claw up over his head and imagined trailing a line of scratch marks in the sky; to his surprise, the clouds seemed to be obeying his outreached talons. For a moment, they began to swirl around; and then in the next moment, the image of a face over his head looking down at him broke the mutant's concentration.

"Hey, kid. You alright?" The bear asked in a gruffish manner.

Talon groaned and sat up, turning his gaze to the man. Kumatetsu was one of the few people in this land that seemed to not be unnerved by his presence. The bear was well built for an older warrior with a spit of youth in his demeanor, the curl of fuzz on top of his head fluttered in the wind as his reddish brown fur was sharply broken by the bright red gi top he wore. The sword hanging from its hilt on his hip wobbling slightly as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other and crossed his arms. His dark blue pants were loose, but not loose enough to keep Talon's imagination from running wild at what could be under there. The bear cleared his throat at Talon's lack of response and quickly, the panther's eyes blinked to meet Kuma's own.

"I'm fine. And don't call me 'kid'." Talon answered. "I've already told you--"

"Yeah, yeah." Kumatetsu responded lazily before picking up a broom and shoving it into Talon's hand. "You ain't a kid. Got you, but you've still got chores to do around here."

Talon rolled his eyes; a part of their agreement that he live with the bear was to clean whatever Kumatetsu had no time to clean. Little did he realize at the time was how little Kuma actually did outside of his training. He jabbed the broom handle into the ground and glared at him. "I didn't ask to be your maid." He said.

"Sure you did." Kumatetsu said. "Now you can either honor your word, or you can hit the road. I don't have time for freeloaders."

Talon scowled at the bear's attitude, but realized that he may not find another home willing to take him in until he could find a way back to his world. This world was strange to him; filled with animals with human traits and no apparent knowledge of the human world. Aside from his own set of wings, he might have been able to get by as another creature of this world, but it appeared that flight was also a very rare trait in this world. He inhaled and slowly let the air from his nostrils. "Fine." He said with a growl.

"Don't worry.... Derek Maza... I'm sure we'll find a way back to your world any day now."

Kumatetsu had been saying this for almost two weeks now, and had been seemingly making no effort into helping him find a way back home. The only thing he remembered was taking a wrong turn when heading back to his home base on Earth; the winding, twisting paths of the New York sewer system weren't as cut and dry as one would think. He eventually found a labyrinth of tunnels he didn't recognize, leading to an alleyway out into the central market. Everyone who spotted him screamed in his presence and scattered; a lion even attacked him with a sword, forcing Talon to defend himself until Kumatetsu arrived and talked some sense into the situation; by far, that was probably the man's most redeeming moment. "Don't call me that." He said. "The name is Talon."

"The card in your wallet...the image looked nothing like you, but you state that was you before you...became this..."

"Yeah?"

"The name on it was Derek Maza....yes?"

"That was my old name. With my new face came a new identity!" Talon snapped. "I'd appreciate it if you would acknowledge that."

Kuma chuckled, his shoulders shaking as he tried to hold in some of his amusement. "Well then, perhaps you should give me a reason to call you 'Talon' then."

Kumatetsu then made a sweeping motion toward Talon, the panther growled and clutched the broom handle so tightly that the sound of wood splintering suddenly sounded out, and before he realized what had happened, the top half of the broom fell flat to the ground beside him. "Heh. Good luck with that." He said as he turned and left Talon standing there, the look of surprise still on his face.

Talon found a small vial of glue on a work bench and squeezed a portion of it onto the end of the broken broomstick. Pressing the other half of the stick onto the end, he waited several seconds and then let go, only to have it fall to the ground once again. Talon tried again, and again the broomstick fell apart. He let out a growl of frustration.

"Perhaps wood glue would be more appropriate for mending broken wood?"

The voice startled Talon who jumped and turned to face Kumatetsu's monkey-faced roommate leaning in between the open shutters of the window. Tatara was the one who initially suggested Talon to live with Kuma until he could find a way to return home. After three weeks, it became apparent the two of them were nigh-inseparable, and though Tatara seemed about as contented and lazy as Kumatetsu, he also had an air of friendliness that Kuma tended to lack from time to time. Tatara's smile was infectious, and Talon smirked back at him. "Perhaps that would." He said.

"That...'wood'!" He cackled and rolled back slightly. "Talon, you have a way with words."

"I didn't intend the pun, but thanks." He said. "Do you...ahhh happen to have any wood glue lying around?"

"Nope." The monkey shrugged. "Unfortunately, that's a human invention."

"Right. And we found out the hard way that Shabuya isn't the same as the one in my world." Talon recollected. "I'm still not sure how I got here, but I'd like to return home."

"Then you'd have all the wood glue you'd like." Tatara said with a light grin. "But for now, I guess you'll have to use the short-stacked broom there."

Talon looked at the tool, then let out a slow sigh. "Yeah. I guess so." He said.

It was getting dark by the time Talon finally finished his chores; having gone most of the day on his hands and knees, even for sweeping the back patio, he slumped down at Kumatetsu's table with a groan of pain as his back twinged in response. He looked at Tatara, who drew a pair of chopsticks to his lips, plucking small clumps of rice into his mouth, while Kumatetsu was ravenously devouring the contents of his bowl. Talon took his portion and began to eat as well. "So, have you been diligent today?" He asked.

"Have you?" Talon smarted back, getting the expected rise in the bear's fur, who glared at him angrily, Talon simply smiling as he took a bite of his food.

"I have been busy training all day, I don't need the attitude, kid."

Talon growled, slamming his fist into the table and making both of the others jump. "Quit calling me a kid! I am a full-grown fucking hu--beast..." His voice trailed off. "Just a beast. Like you."

"It sounds like you two have a lot in common." The monkey attempted to intervene.

"You know ever since you got here, you've been pretty ungrateful to my hospitality." Kumatetsu said.

"Your hospitality? I'm nothing but slave labor to your laziness!"

"T-Talon?"

"You're about ten seconds from being booted out of my home!"

"If this is how you treat your 'guests' then I don't fucking want to be here anyway!"

"GET OUT!"

The sheer violence of Kumatetsu leaping to his feet and hurling his table across the room was enough to get Talon's attention. The mutant jumped to his feet and hissed angrily at the bear as he slammed his chest into Kuma's own; their heights were roughly similar, though Kuma still had two or three inches advantage on him. The sheer look on his face was that of untapped anger seething from deep within. The look on the bear's face was enough to give Talon a bit of amusement as he watched the color red practically climb the beast's scalp and fill his face. "You think you can tak--"

Talon's voice was cut off by a sudden tackle from the bear; he grunted as the ground came up on him quickly, his back cracking hard across some of the wooden furniture as he was wrestled to the floor. He didn't expect the old bear would have such a temper; at least not one that he would actually act on. Talon growled and grappled Kuma's face and forcibly flung him over onto his back. He brought his hands down on Kuma's and the bear grabbed his fists as they tousled and fell about the room. Tatara let out an 'eek' of surprise and flung himself back like a maid avoiding a mouse. Talon tucked his legs under himself and kicked Kuma hard in the chest, knocking him back into a bookcase at his far wall; Kumatetsu's back went rigid as he struck it, the case suddenly exploded in a mess of books and wood and he slammed to the ground with an agonizing grunt.

There was a long pause before he moved again, doing a pushup to set himself back upright once again. He glared at the panther for a moment before Tatara helped him to his feet once again. "You wanna leave? Fine, I ain't gonna stop you." Kuma said. "But if you want to call this place home until we can get you back to wherever it is you came from, I suggest you pick up this mess."

With a violent shrug, he managed to push the monkey off his shoulder and with a stiff-but-pained stride, he made his way to the door and exited the room, leaving the others in silence. "What a dick." Talon said. "How do you put up with him?"

"He likes to put up a wall, but once you get through, he's genuinely a good guy." The monkey responded. "Give him a chance, he might surprise you."