The Marine

Waking up early, Bill got out of bed and did his customary stretch and ten-minute pushup.

His goal today was clear, he would meet Ranse sometime in the morning. They would then prowl around looking for lawbreakers until a couple hours after noon when they would sit and wait at the fruit stand that the ‘ninja’ always targeted.

Having got himself ready, Bill left the room, ate breakfast with his mom and nanny, and got up ready to leave.

“Oh, and William” Ms. Angie called out as Bill was already to the door.

Bill: “Ma’am?” he said, unsure what else could be said after they had spoken during breakfast.

Ms. Angie: “Be careful and remember what I told you yesterday” she said with a smile before adding with a more serious tone “also, when in doubt, duck and weave!”

Set with the momentary picture of his nanny ‘ducking and weaving’ Bill only shook his head and laughed: “Yes ma’am!”

Leaving the apartment, Bill proceeded to walk towards the officer lift. The lift was relatively close to the hospital, but due to the massive size of the base, that meant it still took him more than ten minutes of walking while taking a few turns.

Turning the last corner Bill saw a familiar figure running hard.

Bill: “Hey Ricky! Good work!”

Hearing Bill, Ricky turned his head and ran over. Running in place he said with slightly deep breaths: “* huff* Hey Bill, wanna go swimming today?”

Shaking his head slightly Bill replied: “Nah, I can’t. I’m meeting a friend in town.”

Confusion showing for a brief second Ricky replied back: “Wait, you’re allowed to go to town now? I thought you had to wait until you were ten.”

Bill: “Yeah, I thought so too, but yesterday I was told it was ok. Then I met a kid named Ranse and we became friends.”

Upon hearing this, Ricky stopped running in place. He looked at Bill weirdly and said: “Ranse? Ranse McGrew?”

Answering on instinct, Bill looked back at Ricky and said: “Yeah, that’s him. Do you know him?”

Answering with a “Buhahawha” Ricky began to laugh before asking: “Let me guess, the kid had you dress in whatever you’re wearing now to work on a ‘case’ as a junior lawman?”

“Well, that about sums it up.” Bill said, somewhat annoyed by Ricky’s attitude.

“Well, let me tell you something” Ricky said in a dismissive tone before continuing: “That kid is annoying and makes things up. When Sasha and I first went to play in town he tracked us down as suspects. Then to prove we were innocent he forced us to be his junior-junior deputies.”

Rolling his eyes, Ricky continued: “Well, at first, I thought it could have been fun, but you can imagine how well Sasha took to wearing that hat you have on now.

But that wasn’t even the worst of it! The kid makes things up, he claimed to be on a case where he had to find the person who was throwing Super Ship Worms all over the piles of lumber.”

Now talking with his hands, Ricky continued: “We spent three whole days looking through stacks of lumber, following various people, and all while looking dumb. For what? Nothing!”

“Plus” he said finally: “On the third day Ranse and Sasha got into a fight. He had the nerve to say that she had been responsible for letting the culprit get away!”

Thinking as Ricky spoke, Bill thought that whatever had happened, Ricky would have taken Sasha’s side even if she had been wrong.

Of course, even though he didn’t know the whole story, he knew Ricky wasn’t flatly making it up. After all, he had met Ranse in the same way they had. Except, there had actually been a ‘fruit ninja’ whereas if there really had been someone sabotaging the lumberyards it would have been way more than any junior lawman could handle.

Bill: “So after that you and Sasha never went back to play in town?”

Ricky: “Oh, we do sometimes, but never with Ranse. Ranse is a junior lawman, so Sasha said she’s a Marine and Marines do things our way.”

Shaking his head, Bill replied back: “Hm, well, you guessed it, he and I are working on a case. Except this time, it’s real. I saw the thief myself and we’re gonna catch him today.”

Hearing this Ricky started running in place again, he finally said: “Well ok Bill, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.” As he turned around, he looked back and said “Hey, haven’t I got way faster? I don’t think Sasha will be able to catch me now! Buhahawha.”

Without waiting for Bills response, the curly haired boy with glasses took off in the distance.

Shaking his head again, Bill turned around himself and headed for the officer’s lift. Soon enough he saw Ranse beside the fruit stand.

It was still a few hours before noon, the shopkeeper had just finished filling his stall with the days produce. He said some words to Ranse, and after he went inside the store the junior lawman turned in time to see Bill jogging toward him

Ranse: “Hey Bill!”

Waving his hand in greeting, it didn’t take long for Bill reach the boy: “Hey Ranse, what’d the shop-keep say?”

Narrowing his eyes instantly, Ranse took on the form of a theatrical lawman and replied seriously: “Things are bad deputy. If we can’t solve this case soon the shopkeeper won’t be able to keep a stand outside anymore. He’ll have to take all his wares inside and the town will rot that much more.”

Seeing the boy turn like this, Bill decided that he liked Ranse. Maybe when Sasha got back, he would get all of them together, but today, he would help the junior lawman solve his case.

Bill: “So what’s the plan for today? I figured we could patrol around until a little later”

Nodding his head in agreement, Ranse replied: “That’s the plan, Deputy. We’ll stay away from the beach in hopes that the Fruit Ninja doesn’t know that we got him figured out.

And later, if we can’t catch him here then you will chase him down while I run to cut his escape route off at the beach.”

Looking unsure about this Bill replied: “Shouldn’t we stay together, what if you need backup?”

Shaking his head in disagreement Ranse then explained: “This is how Wyatt Holiday always does it. The key is to hit the bad guys fast and not give them time to prepare.

We can’t let Fruit Ninja get suspicious and take another route. So, the plan is for you to chase him to the lumberyard and then backtrack around like yesterday. Once he appears on the beach I will be there waiting and ready for him.

Trust me, this’ll work. All my years as a lawman are telling me that.”

Shaking his head at the dumb catchphrase, Bill decided to just go along with Ranse’s plan.

‘After all, even if they fight, how much harm could two kids do to each other?’ Was Bill’s final thought on the matter.

Bill: “Ok, we’ll do it your way, Sheriff. After I chase the ninja into the lumberyard I’ll backtrack around to the beach as fast as I can. Hopefully we can then corner him off together and drag him to the shopkeeper.”

Seeing Bill go along with his plan the freckled face boy lit up: “That’s the spirit, Deputy! Remember, we have to stick to the plan, and as long as we do, the good guys always win!”

After the plan was set the two boys started patrolling around the town. From time-to-time Ranse would bend down to inspect ‘clues’ but most of the next few hours was Ranse telling Bill stories about his hero and asking Bill about the Marines.

Ranse had apparently never seen a giant before, and so Bill decided that after a while he would bring the kid on base to meet one while somewhat hoping to frighten him.

In this way it wasn’t long until the sun stood high in the sky, and it was time to stake out the fruit stall.

Ranse: “Ok it’s time. Remember, when we get to the stall we can’t talk. We may need to stay silent for a long time.” He said before going back over the plan “Also remember to make noise as you chase the Fruit Ninja, so he doesn’t think about where I went.”

This time, the boys hid under the stall and waited for their target in silence. Bill had to give it to the kid, unlike the day before, Ranse never jumped up to look around and stayed silent.

On Bills part, he partially listened to the sounds of customers coming and going while also looking at their feet when he could. He figured that the kid stealing oranges would probably walk up lightly before snatching and running off.

And on this point, he was right. After sitting and waiting for around three hours he heard light footsteps close together. Elbowing Ranse he lifted his pointer finger upwards.

Seeing this motion, Ranse jumped to alert. While Bill did think the kid was praiseworthy, asking a boy barely ten to sit and concentrate for several hours was a bit of a stretch.

*Rustle rustle*

Hearing this noise Ranse jumped up and gave a shout: “STOP IN THE NAME OF THE LAW!” before bounding forward.

But not to be outdone, the kid dressed in a black outfit and face mask dodged to the right and took off running. Ranse had only missed by a hair.

By now Bill had also jumped up and yelled out: “FREEZE!” before following the plan.

At some point during the chase, Ranse had split away, and Bill kept chasing while shouting: “Stop!”

On queue the ninja kid jumped over a fence to the lumberyard, and Bill gave a final shout before turning around and sprinting off to the beach.

Hoping that he could run several times the distance of the ninja kid in roughly the same amount of time Bill ran top speed around the large lumberyard and sawmills.

Cutting around the final corner to the beach Bill saw Ranse had cornered the kid dressed in black.

He was surprised that the kid hadn’t dropped any of the oranges he’d taken, and instead was running in circles, just outpacing Ranse’s best effort.

Drawing closer, he could hear Ranse shouting: “Stop in the name of the law!” while the other kid replied in a girl’s voice: “Go away!”.

As he crossed around the halfway mark, Ranse finally spotted Bill and yelled: “Deputy, cut her off!”

Hearing Ranse's yell, the girl also reacted by shouting: “Leave me alone! These are just mine!”

With that said, she pulled down her face mask and one by one, began shoving the fruits, peels and all, in her mouth.

Still roughly fifty meters away Bill strangely felt that he needed to hurry. Had nothing have happened, this feeling would have gone as quick as it had come.

Stopping suddenly, the girl dropped to her knees. Gagging and coughing, she held her tongue out like she had drink soiled milk.

Forty Meters

Looking up just as Ranse ran closer, the girl gargled: “Stehey A’hai!” before scrambling back up while grabbing the last fruit.

Twenty-five Meters

Tripping in the sand no sooner than she stood up the last orange went flying out of her grip; Ranse yelled something indiscernible.

Five Meters

Raising her hand, palm pointed towards the freckled boy, the girl’s wrist seemed to form a hinge. In one quick motion her hand fell downward like a door on its hinges and a dull *boo’ng* spewed out a round wrist-sized ball followed by twenty centimeters of flame.

Zero Meters

Bill dove on Ranse, pushing him out of the way. with less than a millisecond to spare. Acting without thinking, Bill pivoted on his wrists before the rest of his body could touch the ground, and in one inhuman move swung his feet down before lunging at the girl who was wide-eyed.

Tackling the girl down to the ground Bill felt his heart beating a mile a minute, the first thing he had felt at all since Ranse called out to him from a distance.

Mounting the girl, Bill held her firmly by both forearms while screaming: “STOP!”.

Looking at the girl, Bill could see the abject fear in her eyes, but a strange feeling told him again he needed to duck.

In the same moment that he weaved his head down and to the side, the girls jaw fell down, like her wrist, and an explosion of metal and fire blew Bill back off her.

Inexplicably unshaken, Bill got to his feet just in time to see the girl sit up in one motion. Her jaw and wrist still hung down as if they were on a hinge.

As she looked to Bill, who must have been a frightful sight, she reeled back as her mouth let loose another blast.

Weaving to the left then dashing forward, Bill was on the girl even before the fire had subsided and in one move punched at the girl harder than he had hit anyone in either of his lives.

With a nasty *THUNK* Bill planted his fist directly on the girl’s forehead. Hard enough that he knocked off the black bandana she wore and whatever consciousness she had.

*Huff Huff*

For the first time in a long time, Bill was exhausted, so exhausted it was painful.

Slumping down, he continued to breathe heavily. In only a split second he heard footsteps running toward him: “Bill! Bill! Are you ok!?”

Still breathing heavily, Bill replied with a pained: “Ranse, go get my dad. Run to the base and tell them we’re here.”

Looking shaken, Ranse replied in a rush: “We’ll go together, I can’t just leave you here with… THAT!” pointing to the now-snoring girl.

With a pained expression Bill said back: “You have to hurry before she wakes up. Go get my dad. His name is Commodore Aramaki Ox. Tell him that I’m here.”

Ranse: “o’Ok, I’ll be right back!” the junior lawman then turned and dashed away.

After Ranse ran off, trying to feel the areas in pain and adjust his body. For a minute Bill tried to calm himself down in the same way he did his morning pushup.

Although it somewhat helped, he was too tired to do much of anything and instead looked at the ‘fruit ninja’ without her face mask. She had a somewhat pretty face, with coarse sandy brown hair, and dark tanned skin. Her jaw and arm appeared normal, and Bill only had one thing on his mind:

‘Well Shit”