Taiga woke up in a pool of his own sweat. His eyes were greeted by the sun's bright rays and the persistent chirping of birds flying from tree to tree.
'Is it finally over?' he thought to himself.
He slowly pushed himself off the floor and felt the back of his head and lips to see if any physical injuries remained from the night before. His scalp was throbbing relentlessly, but the deep cuts he had sustained the previous night seemed to have disappeared.
Despite the aching pain, Taiga immediately began running out of the forest—he had only one goal in mind.
'I need to talk to Shin,' he repeated in his mind as he darted through the woods.
Emerging from the forest, Taiga was met with a long, winding road that appeared to serve as the entrance to Berry Town from the Emberstan M5 Highway. Finally knowing roughly where he was, the boy resumed his run, now heading in the general direction of the Kurosawa residence.
Running along a thin stretch of grass beside the road, Taiga made his way into the local market that occupied most of Berry Plaza, located at the heart of the small town.
"Hey, Taiga! How've you been?" asked a plump, middle-aged man hosting a fruit and vegetable stand.
The rotund man was Taiga's old tutor from when the boy had struggled with seventh-grade algebra. All of his students called him Mr Whitebeard because of his prominent and unique facial hair, so no kid in town really knew his actual name.
Taiga forced a smile at the old man before scanning his surroundings.
The plaza was packed with all sorts of stalls, ranging from electronic gadgets to fast food and clothing.
"Excuse me, mister!" said a cute young girl holding a large bouquet of flowers. "Would you like to buy a couple of flowers from me for a few Embers?" she asked with a massive grin.
Embers were the currency of the nation of Emberstan and were considered one of the strongest and most valuable currencies among the thirty nations. The currency was backed not only by the countless tonnes of gold Emberstan mined every year, but also by the immense wealth of the Don in the neighbouring nation of Aria.
Taiga opened his phone case and emptied all the notes and loose change he had stored inside into the girl's hands before darting off.
"Excuse me, sir! You forgot the flowers, and this is way too much money!" the little girl shouted at the top of her lungs, only to be drowned out by the bustling nature of the plaza.
Taiga weaved through stalls and past persistent vendors before reaching the network of alleyways branching into different parts of town. After remembering the correct route, he eventually made his way down an empty alleyway that would take him to the front of Triple Bite, which was only a few minutes away from Shin.
Unfortunately, he was stopped by a man in a hooded cloak.
All Taiga could make out were the dark blue trousers the man wore. Beyond that, only his old-fashioned, well-polished formal shoes were visible.
"What's up, Taiga? I haven't seen you since... um... well..." The man appeared to lose his train of thought before suddenly continuing. "I guess I haven't seen you since 3:21 a.m."
He finished with a cheeky grin.
Taiga's heart skipped a beat, but before he could truly process the man's words, the hooded figure lunged toward him while moving his fingers in a truly hypnotic fashion.
The man spawned a small light-blue electric cube in his palm and hurled it straight at Taiga.
Luckily, Taiga had started moving the moment the man leapt forward and was able to narrowly avoid the projectile. The cube still managed to clip the side of his shirt, leaving a small tear in the fabric near his ribs.
"Who the hell are you?!" Taiga shouted while continuing to dodge the man's relentless onslaught of cubes.
The man stopped and slowly pulled down his hood, revealing scruffy bright-pink hair.
He appeared to be around the same age as Taiga but was much shorter, standing at roughly 5'6". He had sharp, pointed teeth that gave him a distinctive look that was difficult to forget. His fringe hung over his eyes beneath a mess of unkempt, textured fluorescent-pink hair, while his eyes reflected a vivid shade of green.
"I take it you didn't have much fun in the forest earlier, did you?" the man asked.
"Listen, I hate tormenting people as much as the next guy, buuuut there's not much I can do when the big Don himself asks for a favour."
"Noctis?" Taiga asked.
"Yeah. Last time I checked, there was only one Don, idiot."
The man laughed.
"The big guy asked me to test you a little with my Fraze, 'Behind Bars,' a couple of days ago, so I made my way to this rural town. Luckily, I didn't have to do much preparation because you aimlessly wandered right to my feet all on your own. Good job, man!"
He congratulated Taiga while giving a double thumbs-up.
"Haven't you finished your test? What are you attacking me for now?"
"Oh, that's because the Don told me to. It wasn't part of the original plan, but he notified me this morning that something came up and that you were to be captured—effective immediately."
As he spoke, another cube formed in his hand.
'Shit. How am I supposed to beat this guy in an isolated alleyway? I could run, but I don't like my chances if I turn my back on this psycho. I'm going to have to think of something fast because I have somewhere much more important to be right now.'
The mysterious man resumed his barrage of cubes while Taiga continued barely avoiding contact.
'From the looks of it, he can only generate small cubes that fit comfortably inside his palms, and he can only create one at a time with each hand.'
Taiga carefully tried to close the gap.
'I can't keep dodging forever. The cubes are starting to graze me, and they hurt like hell.'
The edges of the cubes began clipping Taiga's body, drawing blood that dripped onto the alley floor. Taiga could feel the static burn from each cube travelling throughout his body, no matter how shallow the cuts.
"You can't keep dodging forever, ya know?!" the man shouted. "But by all means, keep getting hit. Oh, how I love a bit of squirming for your life!" the man said while licking his lips.
Looking around, Taiga noticed something about the alley walls.
'There's scattered debris from where the cubes missed and struck the walls instead. The holes are shallow, meaning the actual penetrating power of these cubes isn't very high and can be stopped by relatively thin layers of rock. Following that logic, these chunks of debris should be strong enough to at least absorb some of the damage.'
With that, Taiga grabbed large chunks of rubble from the floor between dodges and carefully threw them at the incoming cubes.
As expected, the cubes burst upon impact, sending fragments of debris flying in every direction.
'Nice! It actually worked. If I keep doing this, eventually one of the fragments will get close enough to distract that pink-haired bastard and give me an opening. In close quarters, this guy's no stronger than a normal human.'
After several more explosions, a thick cloud of dust polluted the alley, providing Taiga with the opening he so desperately needed.
"Good enough," the pink-haired man said while disarming the cubes he was about to send Taiga's way.
Using the smoke as a distraction, Taiga was able to charge and tackle the man to the ground. Taiga immediately began wailing on him, repeatedly smashing the man's face into the hard concrete below.
The ground cracked little by little with every punch until Taiga finally stopped.
His fists were coated in blood pouring from the man's nose, and the attacker appeared to have been knocked unconscious, unconscious with a ginormous grin melding uncomfortably on his face.
"What a masochist," Taiga muttered to himself before standing up.
A sharp jolt of pain coursed through his spine as he rose. The cubes had left their mark. Standing once more, Taiga noticed the rough outline of someone waiting at the far end of the alley. With the sunlight shining behind him, the figure appeared as little more than a shadow.
Yet the voice instantly struck a memory buried deep within Taiga's mind.
"Good morning, Taiga. I've come to collect you a little earlier than we agreed. I hope that's okay with you."