THE ONE CALLED J

The Warm Welcome

Adams had an innocent look on his face as he looked carefully at the men before him, each of them had their entourages brought out. His had fully formed; it was roughly seven feet tall, had brown skin with different colors of poker dots around its chest.

"There are five of us and there's one of you," Dave begins. "And I don't mean to be brag or anything, but two of us are primordials."

"In other words!!" Leon growls. "Move your lame ass before we move it for you."

"Come on, children," Adams smiles pleasantly. "There's no need to be feisty, it's not like you are on your periods."

"Forgive my comrade," Max says as he makes a polite bow to Adams before bringing his head back up. "But we are here to rescue one of our comrades who was abducted and brought here, it will do us a lot of good if you can tell us where the Madame is."

"You are a strange one," Adams stroked his small beard. "And here was I thinking America was full of mannerless brats."

"Max," Joshua begins, still looking sternly in Adams' direction. "Do you always have to be respectful to the bad guys?"

"Respect should always first be shown to the elderly," Max replies. "It's when they still decide to be difficult that other methods can be employed."

"While I would love to help you," Adams sighs. "I have a kid, he's about your age," he motions in Max's direction. "The only way I can help him is by eliminating you and taking the two primordials from your midst to her, I wish it didn't have to turn out like this."

"So much for a warm welcome," Hendrickson snickers.

"Ooh yeah, where are my manners!" He exclaims as suddenly, the atmosphere got exponentially hotter.

"What the f**k!" Joshua exclaims as his body dropped to the ground, his skin was melting, he looked at his other friends, turns out he wasn't the only one experiencing that dilemma, they had all gotten to their knees and were on the ground; sweating and melting.

"My entourage enables me to manipulate heat at will," Adams grins as he begins to move in their direction. "Not just heat, I am also capable of producing flames, once while I was in a NASA spaceship, I had exponentially increased the heat in their contamination chamber that I reached supernova and destroyed it."

"What the hell is he talking about?" Joshua thought to himself. "Why the hell would NASA capture him." Joshua gritted his teeth as he looked up at him. "I don't know if the f*****g heat has ruined the last functioning brain cells you've got left in that retarded skull of yours but NASA don't have the jurisdiction to capture a Russian citizen."

"Oooh, did I say NASA?" Adams sighs. "I meant the Mir, I have watched so many American movies I have forgotten the actual name of the space stations, there are CCTV cameras everywhere and it was picked up that my body was immune to flames."

"I don't recall asking for a sobs story," Joshua had a puzzled look on.

"Shut up," Max whispers to him. "He's talking."

"A great fire had happened fourteen years ago when my nephew, Ralph had just turned 4, he was involved in a fire, I summoned my entourage, went into the fire to save him when I put on my aura cloak, I am immune to all form of flames, I found his parents dead and also but Young Ralph was still alive, I was excited but I knew something was wrong with him, I came out of the burning house, everyone was surprised I didn't have a single burn on me but Ralph even though, he didn't have direct contact with the fire, he had inhaled a lot of smoke and hadn't inhaled proper oxygen for over two minutes, that was what doctor said, he said Ralph was even lucky to be alive but he wasn't completely lucky as he now had a condition, he called it intellectuals disability..."

"I think the word the doctor was looking for was Mental retardation," Joshua grins with an unkind snicker.

"No one talks s**t about my Ralph like that!" Adams grunts as he dashes over to Joshua, Joshua tried his best to make his entourage move but it didn't, it remained in a static position. As Adams's entourage was about to hit Joshua, a silver hand stopped him, everyone looked at the owner of the hand, it was Leon's entourage.

Leon was standing on his feet about 1.5 meters away from his entourage, his body wasn't melting but it was covered in ice.

"No one is going to kill J but me," Leon grits his teeth. "I am owed that at least for all the time I had to keep up with his crap."

"How are you doing it?" Adams was visibly shocked. "I have raised the heat in a 15-meter radius to 60 quadrillion °C, the only reason your friends are still alive is cause of their aura cloak, look around, even the buildings have melted."

All of them looked around, sure enough, the ground was melting, the place that was once full of buildings were gone, and even Joshua's vehicle had melted to nothingness.

"You useless piece of s**t," Joshua gritted his teeth when he saw the new development.

"When I heard your story about how the heat of your entourage doesn't affect you, I remembered that the ice of mine too doesn't affect and even extremely cold temperatures in general, that's why I enclosed my body in ice, the ice on my skin on my body counteracts the extreme heat, based on your range, you are a middle-range entourage, this will be over quick," Leon ends as he ran towards Adams. His entourage jumped towards Adams, it was about to punch him but Adams was smiling creepily.

"I think you might wanna take a chill pill," Adams grins as he points at Joshua who was a few centimeters away from Adams' entourage. "Anything happens to me and your homeboy gonna get it."

"Like I didn't account for that," came Leon's voice as he suddenly came behind Joshua and punched the entourage away. The entourage and its user flew several meters away. Leon walked forward, he was quite pissed as his entourage appeared at his right-hand side.

"I am here to rescue the only man who ever there for me," Leon begins. "I can't say I completely abhor you but my family threw me out so really, I always hated them but Kronk taught me something, it's not blood that makes the strongest bonds, it's love," Leon ends as he dashes towards Adams. "And that's why I will keep fighting till he's rescued, he's the one who first loved me, and now, it's time I return the favor," Leon's entourage suddenly dashed towards Adam's entourage.

"What an i***t!" Adams thought to himself. "I am a middle-range entourage user, I can manipulate more things in the environment than any short-range user, I deliberately didn't move when he had punched my entourage away, I wanted him to think I was down so he would feel this was the time to push on, that was his mistake, I was just waiting for him to put such a distance between he and his entourage so much that his entourage won't be able to retract fast enough to rescue him, with him gone, taking the two Primordials to Terry will be a piece of cake, now, I can take care of my nephew, he would never have any need to be hungry again in his life."

Suddenly, from below the ground where Leon stood, magma spurted out, it was about to hit him, his face was contorted with fear as he saw the magma about to hit him, his face suddenly twists in fear but as the magma makes contact, Leon vanished.

"You aren't the only middle-range entourage user," Max gritted his teeth. "Don't forget me."

"Fuuuck!!" Adams gritted his teeth. "If he isn't at my front, then where the f**k is he?"

"Right here," he heard Leon's voice who appeared behind him, his entourage kicked his entourage with so much force that it caused Adams and his entourage to propel in the air at an amazing speed.

Leon partially immerses himself in his entourage as he suddenly appeared to levitate in the atmosphere, getting to Adams' position, he summons a club entirely composed of ice, he hits him on his head sending him crashing to the ground.

Leon landed on the ground as he ran towards where he had landed. Before Leon could get to his position, Adams had suddenly turned in his direction as he threw a flaming dagger at him.

Leon's reflexes took over as he sharply dashed to his right.

"Missed me," Leon smiles maliciously to himself.

"Who said I was going for you?" Adams grinned back at him. Leon turned behind him and to his amazement, the flaming dagger was impaled in Max's chest.

He was dead, Leon was about to lose his s**t but then, he remembered Dave's time restore ability.

The illusion suddenly crumbled, Adams couldn't help but smile to himself, apparently, the buildings around had not melted, the people, vehicles, buildings, and practically every object was cloaked in a blue miasma (Joshua's entourage).

"I use to think it was impossible to cloak objects in entourage aura, I had tried that severally, it always fails," Adams grins as he turns at Joshua. "You must be one of the Primordials Terry was talking about, thanks for advertising yourself, I was beginning to worry how I'd find which one of you is."

"I just need to be calm," Leon tried to calm himself by breathing slowly. "I just need to defeat this bozo, Dave can always bring back Max."

"It's time I take this serious," Adams smirks as he moved towards Leon, he stretched his two hands causing fiery daggers to materialize around it. "Ice guy, I doubt you will be able to survive this wave."

Adams' entourage suddenly dashed towards Leon, Leon's entourage blocked it but the entourage punched it causing it to stagger backward. Magma suddenly flew up from underground but Leon's entourage enclosed himself in ice, the magma lands on the ice melting it till water splashed. Immediately, it had melted, the entourage dashed towards the ice entourage, it gave it a round-house kick causing it to fly backward.

"People always make this mistake of thinking having an entourage in a fight is always an advantage in battle," Adams began, he was suddenly behind Leon, Leon could feel sweat breaking off his forehead, he was struggling his hardest to control his entourage from escaping the brute attack from Adams' entourage which was mentally tasking. Adams grinned as he walks towards him. "If you are fighting against just an entourage or a human, it's an advantage as it's two versus one but if you are going against an entourage and its user, and you aren't accustomed to multi-tasking, then that will put you at a shitty disadvantage," he ends as he runs towards Leon, he swiped his dagger at him, Leon narrowly dodged but immediately he did, he felt a kick to his tummy.

He spits out blood as he turns towards his entourage which was in combat with Adam's one, Adam's entourage had grabbed Leon's one, it was repeatedly kicking him on his tummy but Leon's entourage suddenly held Adam's one by the leg he was using to kick him, it flipped it's body in the air, using his two legs to bash Adams' entourage on its face knocking him backward.

Adams staggered backward due to his connection to his entourage.

"This is my chance," Leon thinks as he sighs, he ran towards Adams. "I have to win these, if I lose here, I will never be able to rescue Kronk," tears fell from Leon's eyes as he flashed back.

THE FLASHBACK(9 YEARS AGO)

Leon lived with his family for the first nine years of his life, they were a very poor bunch who lived in a small apartment, Leon was the only child of a bitter drunk and a drug addict.

Leon came back from school one day, at that time, he was nine years old. He was really hungry as he hadn't eaten anything throughout the entire day, he found his Mom who was the drug addict. She was by the only table in the house, there was cocaine on the table which she had separated into six portions.

"Mom, I am hungry," Leon cried as his stomach growled. His mother ignored him as she sniffed one of the portions of the c***k on the table, she immediately passed out as she fell to the ground.

Leon could feel his stomach growling as he moved over to the table, he looked at the c***k on the table, it was enticing, he wanted to try it, kneeling by the table, he was about to take his first sniff when he suddenly felt a palm hit the right side of his face vehemently.

Leon fell to the ground, tears in his eyes and he saw his angry mother who was now staggering.

"You idiotic runt!" His mother began. "Do you know how much I bought this, it cost more worth than you'd ever be."

"But Mom, I am hungry," Leon kept crying.

"I don't give a f**k!" she told him. "I never wanted you, I told that useless drunk to put on a rubber but he didn't, now," she stopped as she knelt as if to take another portion. "Look at you, an unwanted mistake who just keeps eating my food, crying, and being ungrateful."

Leon burst into tears but almost immediately, his father barged inside, he was holding a bottle of beer as he staggered inside.

"You b***h!" He shouted at Leon's mother. "You took my last cash and used it to buy your s**t, you better give me back my money, you crackhead."

"I will give you your money when I get back my virginity," she tells him as she proceeds to sniff another portion of cocaine but the man suddenly rushed at her, he gave her a deserving blow to her chin. She collapsed to the ground, he sat on top of her as he began to repeatedly hit her; punching her face with all his strength and vigor.

At first, she tried to fight back and push him away from her body but he kept overpowering her as he returned all her efforts with devastating blows until finally, she stopped fighting back, her face was now a bloody mess, even his hands had begun bleeding but he didn't relent, he kept punching her face with all his strength.

"Dad!" Leon cried as he got to his feet. "Stop! You are going to hurt mom," he said as he ran towards his father, he held his father by one of his arms but his father who was a tall and burly man easily pushed him away causing him to fall back to the ground.

"I see you want to join the b***h in hell," the father said as he got to his feet, he took the beer bottle that had dropped to the ground while he was about to beat the woman, he used it to hit the ground, breaking the bottle as he approached his son. "How about I give you some help."

Leon crawled backward as he struggled to get to his feet but his father covered the distance between both of them in one leap, he lifted Leon by his neck as he threw him to the ground, raising the bottle he held, he brought it down speedily as he tried to pierce his son.

Leon closed his eyes as he began to cry, he then saw a silhouette amongst the phosphene, he focused on it and he wished with all he was worth that something or someone would save him.

He opened his eyes and immediately, he saw his father frozen right in front of him, his once vibrant, drunk father now looked like nothing more than a splendid work of ice sculpting. Leon screamed at the top of his voice as he pushed his frozen Dad away causing it to drop to the ground as it broke into several pieces. Leon crawled backward in fear, sweat dripping from his forehead but then, he saw a silver figure emerge from underground, it was his entourage but it was quite small, about his height. Leon wished whatsoever figure was directly in front of him would vanish and immediately, the entourage vanished.

Leon got to his feet as he quickly ran out of the house, he got downstairs as he began crying, without realizing it, Leon had cloaked himself in the miasma of his entourage, he screamed as he looked upwards. His entourage suddenly formed at his right-hand side as it shot something towards the sky.

Soon, the clouds vanished and the weather state of North America changed as it had transformed from summer to winter. Snow had begun to fall everywhere and there was an intense blizzard that began to show at multiple places freezing many people to death due to intense cold and the unexpected sudden change in weather. Leon was unaffected by the cold even though he wore a light T-shirt.

Many people had seen him crying but he was ignored. Everyone was trying to find shelter but poor Leon just knelt on the ground crying until suddenly, he saw a Shadow before him that wasn't there before.

He looked up and before him, there was a tall man with a kind smile on his face; Kronk.

He stretched an arm towards Leon.

"Madame sent me here to investigate the reports of one of our scouts who said he had found a young boy with a diamond birthmark in his right arm who had suddenly released his entourage and destroyed a truck with its driver," Kronk thought as he looked tenderly at Leon. "But I can't watch by and see a young sorrowful boy ignored by everyone and do nothing, it's just wrong."

Leon took his arm, Kronk had treated him like his son and from that time, Leon had never known lack or neglect.

THE PRESENT

Leon dashed towards Adams, the tears falling from his eyeballs had increased. "I can never forgive you or your Madame, Kronk was the best man I knew, he treated me like I was his own," he ends as he punches Adams on his face, he repeatedly kept punching him as he kept ranting and crying. Eventually, he stopped, tears were still dropping from his eyes.

"Normally, I wouldn't give a f**k," Adams sighs. "But I can see you are in pain, lemme give you an advice, kid if maybe by some stroke of luck, you manage to live, learn this. There's a time to be logical and there's a time to be emotional and the battlefield is certainly one of those places where being all emotional will guarantee you a fast ticket to a nice bed in the mortuary."

Leon felt the tears from his eyes drop, he could hear Adams entourage coming up behind him, it was about fifty centimeters away from him, there was no way he could recall his entourage to protect him, this was where he was going to die. The rest of his comrades were presently incapacitated by the extreme heat so Leon doubted anyone would come to save him.

As the entourage was about to hit him, it was stopped by a hand, Leon looked back, it was Joshua's entourage, roughly a meter away from the entourage was Joshua whose body was scalding rapidly.

"That's why he's with his friends," Joshua grits his teeth. "That's what friends are for, to lift you when you are down, to correct your mistakes, and to always, have your back."

"J!!" Leon was crying. He hadn't expected Joshua to risk his life for him.

"Leon, what are you doing getting all soft with that dumbass!" Joshua shouted at him. "Take this more seriously, will ya? Beat his ass so bad he's gonna beg for an early retirement to go to the nursing home."