It's dawn in Tokyo. In an alley, a man in rugged clothing and an unkempt beard is searching through a trash can.
"Come on, there has to be something worth eating in here..." Man
Suddenly, he jolts out of the trash can.
"OW!!!" Man
He looks at his hand, only to find a bite mark on it.
"The heck...." Man
Suddenly, his eyes widen, and he begins to shake uncontrollably.
"AGH!!!" Man
The man drops to the floor as he continues to shake. His bones and skin begin snapping and tearing all over his body.
"AGHHHHHHHHHH!!! HELLLLP!!! HELLP!!!" Man
In the shadows behind the trash can, a pair of glowing green eyes looks over the man as he gets ripped apart.
Later in the day, at the Ghost's Dojo. Shiro walks into the living room, sits on the couch, and grabs the game controller beside him.
"Ah, what better way is there to spend your morning than a beautiful game of Battle Floor 6? Fear not comrades, your engineer is on his way"
A sudden squeal is made. Shiro's eyes widen. His eyes snap to the corner of the room.
"OH MY....." Shiro
Tadano and Hiro are on the dining table eating fish as Miko struggles to pull her head out from a pickle jar.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!" Voice
Tadano, Hiro, and Miko's eyes widen. In an instant, Hiro slides into the living room.
"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!" Hiro
Tadano slides into the room.
"WHOSE FACE DO I GOTTA SMASH?!" Tadano
Miko slides in and smashes her jarred head across the wall; the pickle jar shatters off.
"Finalmente.....so what's going on?" Miko
Tadano, Hiro, and Miko's eyes widen at the sight of Shiro latching onto the wall, with his fur standing, his eyes widened, his teeth chattering uncontrollably, and his body sweating. Shiro yanks his claws out of the wall and points at the portrait leaning on the wall across the room.
"T-T-There. B-B-Behind the P-P-Portrait" Shiro
"What's behind the portrait? Is it a yokai?" Tadano
"IS IT A DUCK?!" Hiro
"Dude...." Tadano
"ESPERAR! Is this like a dramatic way of you giving me my surprise birthday present! Hermano, you silly goober, you really went the whole mile!" Miko
"Miko....your birthday was in March. Why would he give you ANOTHER gift now?" Tadano
"Oh, Tadano, Tadano, Tadano...it's thoughts like those that make it hard for you to be at the top of my favourite persona list" Miko
"What?" Tadano
"Now if you'll excuse me, I have a presente to unwrap" Miko
Miko walks up to the portrait and lifts it with sparkles in her eyes, only to find a rat. Her eyes immediately go blank.
"Is the surprise behind the rat?" Miko
"P-PARDON?! NO! THE PROBLEM IS THE RAT!" Shiro
"Oh." Miko
Tadano, Hiro, and Miko burst out laughing.
"Hold the beans, Soldier.....let me...oh lord....let me get this straight....you a CAT is afraid of a RAT?!" Hiro
Hiro collapses to the floor laughing uncontrollably. Their father slides in.
"WHY IS EVERYONE LAUGHING?! I WANT TO LAUGH!" Father.
"Get this, Padre.....Shiro is afraid...." Miko
Miko raises the rat by its tail.
" .....of this little guy" Miko
Their father bursts out laughing.
"WAIT, A MINUTE! You're a CAT that is afraid of a RAT?!" Father
"THAT'S WHAT I'M SAYING!" Hiro
"No, really, HOW?!" Tadano
"HOW COULD I NOT?! They are UNSANITARY! They are so QUICK AND STEALTHY! Their black eyes are UNSETTLING!" Shiro
Their Father gently begins to stop laughing.
"Alright, alright.....Miko, take away the rat, Hiro, Tadano, leave Shiro, Father, and me
Miko, Tadano, and Hiro walk out of the room chuckling.
"Alright, son. Get down," Father.
Shiro detaches from the wall. Looking upset.
"Have I not faced enough humiliation, Father?" Shiro
"There is nothing you should be feeling humiliated about, my child. As a wise man once said, we all have our stupid fears, like Hiro and his weird fear of ducks, or Tadano and his fear of math," Father
"I suppose. I'm sorry, why are we communicating?" Shiro
"Because, my son, rats are everywhere." Father
"HERE!!??" Shiro
"No! In the city, and, likely, one of these days you're going to come across them during a mission, and your fear of it is going to hold you back from getting anything done." Father
"Oh...I see. But how can I possibly resist the fear.....I just can't see myself doing such a thing." Shiro
"That's very understandable. I'm not asking you to overcome your fear entirely; it's not something that can happen to everyone. What I'm actually here for is to give you some advice on how to tackle such fear when it arises." Father
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
"Okay.....how?" Shiro
"As a wise man once said, if you're hungry and can't, for the sake of all that is good, eat beans, blind yourself, and do what needs to be done." Father
"Okay...well, first of all, Father, are you afraid of beans? And second of all, I understand nothing of what you just said." Shiro
"Well, son, first of all, YES, I'M AFRAID OF BEANS! WHY AREN'T YOU?! Eating beans is like eating four nuclear cores that WILL rupture your stomach and explode out the back later. And fear not, my child; in due time my advice will make sense." Father
"Or it would make sense now, if you tried explaining it CLEARLY." Shiro
"Yeah, but where is the fun in that?" Father
Shiro sighs and chuckles.
"Thank You, Father." Shiro
"Anytime. Now..." Father
Their father picks up the TV remote and game controller on the couch.
".....how do you feel about a Tank on your team?" Father
"That would be VERY delightful," Shiro said
Their father turns on the TV, only for them to find a deformed and nearly ripped-apart man on the news.
"Ugh! Who the heck watches the news in this house?! It's depressing." Father
Their father raises the remote
"Hold on, Father. The headline... it says, poor middle-aged man dies from a rapid mutation in the body that seems to be caused by a.....RAT BITE?" Shiro
Their father and Shiro look at each other.
Moments later, Miko, Hiro, Tadano, and Shiro are at the alley where the body was found and taken away.
Shiro is wearing massive goggles with glowing yellow lenses and wires, batteries, and a hard drive wrapped around them, as he scans the area. Shiro eventually comes across little claw prints glowing green in the lenses.
Shiro follows the trail with his eyes only to find it ending at a Man-Hole-Cover. Shiro walks up to the Man-Hole-Cover and drags it off its hole. The other Ghosts walk up to him.
"Really?! The sewers?!" Hiro
"Ay, Hombre!" Miko
"When I get on that little cheese biter, imma give it a piece of my FIST!" Tadano
Moments later, the Ghosts are walking through the sewers, with Shiro leading them. Following the trail, they eventually reach a doorway with a green glowing light coming out of it. Shiro lifts his googles of his eyes and manifests his energy blades.
The Ghosts walk slowly through the doorway, entering a room. Their eyes widen as they come to a stop.
"HOLY....." Hiro
The Ghosts are standing before an entire factory machine, picking up rats from cages, injecting them with glowing green and white ooze, bloating them up and causing their veins to expand and turn green, and dumping them into a massive glass canister already filled to the brim with squirming and squeezing rats. A man, humming, is operating the machine with a control panel.
Hiro pulls out his eggs.
"HANDS IN THE AIR BUDDY!" Hiro
The man pauses and quickly turns around, revealing his thin grasshopper-like robot legs, his bulky gorilla-like robot arms, his robot abdomen beneath his human chest, his large robot neck, the wires sticking out from his head and plugged into his back, and his Google lenses for eyes.
"SWEET MOTHER OF LUCIFER, VINEGAR AND EVERYTHING SINISTER!" Hiro
Shiro falls back and faints.
Tadano turns around and begins to vomit.
"That is one UGLY BODY, senior." Miko
"WHO ARE YOU, PEOPLE?! OR WHAT are you, people?!" Man
Shiro gets back on his feet.
"WHAT ARE WE?! Buddy, WHAT ARE YOU?! WHAT'S THIS.....WHOLE SITUATION YOU'VE GOT GOING ON?!" Hiro
"And what pray tell are you doing, what all those...." Shiro
Shiro shivers
"Rats?" Shiro
"You know what? As a last wish before getting rid of you, I'll humour you. As you can see, I am an ABOMINATION. A product of the human race's vile nature. And these genetically altered rats here are my gift to them for ALL THEY'VE DONE TO ME! Calling me ugly, rejecting me because of my looks, turning ME, their fellow human, into THIS, ALL OF IT!" Man
The Ghost's eyes are widened with pity.
"Look, mister....uh....Abomination..." Miko
Tadano smacks Miko's head.
"AY! Deserved that. Look, we're sorry for all that's happened to you and for going loco over your looks, but you don't need to do this..." Miko
"Yeah, man. If acceptance is what you want, we got space in our dojo; we can accept you." Tadano
"We can?" Hiro
Tadano smacks Hiro's head.
"OW!" Hiro
Mr. Abomination chuckles.
"Yeah....no thanks, I don't hang with people who LAUGH AT ME! GUARDS!" Mr. Abomination
Three giant, seven-foot-tall rats, with spikes going around their body, red eyes, and a muscular build, fall from the ceiling and land in front of the Ghosts. Shiro's eyes widen, his fur stands straight, and his body begins to shiver uncontrollably.
"OH, RATS!" Miko
Miko chuckles.
"Really?!" Tadano
"TAKE THEM DOWN!" Mr. Abomination
The rats screech at them. Hiro glances at Shiro and finds him shivering.
"Shiro, fall back." Hiro
"W-What?! B-But....!" Shiro
"You can't help us like this, soldier. Fall back, we got this! Miko, Tadano, LET'S TAKE'EM OUT!" Hiro
Hiro, Tadano, and Miko charge into battle as Shiro runs away, stumbling.
Hiro pulls out two eggs and leaps at a rat.
"LET'S GO YOU GIANT PIECE OF....!" Hiro
The rat catches Hiro by the face. Hiro mumbles and smashes both eggs across the rat's head; they explode into green flames. The flames blow off and do not affect the rat. Hiro's eyes widen. The rat raises him and smashes his head into the ground, knocking him out.
Miko runs in, slides through the rat's legs, arrives at its back, springs her arms forward, yanks her self onto its back, wraps her arms around its neck like ropes, and begins dragging, tightening its neck and causing the rat to screech. Miko starts singing
"GO TO SLEEP, RATA! GO TO SLEEP, NOW! GO TO SLEEP, SO I DON'T HAVE TO TOUCH YOUR DISGUSTING FUR...." Miko
The rat grabs Miko's arms and yanks them off its throat.
"UH OH!" Miko
The rat drags Miko off its back, smashes her across the floor, spins her around, and flings her away. Miko flies, crashes into a wall, and collapses to the ground as the wall crumbles down, crushing her.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!" Tadano
Tadano rolls up into a ball and launches at a rat, bashing away and sending it flying and crashing into a wall, cracking it. It tries to stand. Tadano flies into it, bashing deeper into the wall, unfolds and begins barraging the rat with punches, cracking and bashing its skull, sending it deeper and deeper into the cracked wall.
"GO DOWN! GO DOWN! GO DOWN!" Tadano
The two other rats swoop in from behind, grab Tadano's arms, and drag off the third rat. Tadano begins struggling to get free.
"DARN COWARDS!" Tadano
The third rat rises from the wall, draws its arm back, and punches Tadano in the face, sending him flying away like a rocket, crashing through three walls and dropping to the ground unconscious.
Mr. Abomination steps forward, chuckling.
"Who's laughing now, you MORONIC FREAKS!? Round them up," Mr. Abomination said
Mr. Abomination turns towards his machine as the rats march towards the Ghosts.
Meanwhile, Shiro is in a tunnel, hiding in the dark, grasping his head and shivering uncontrollably. He begins to shed tears.
"WHY?! WHY AM I SO USELESS! AS IF MY FAILURE OF INVENTIONS WASN'T ENOUGH, MY FAMILY NEEDED ME, AND I RAN AWAY! YOU STUPID FAILURE!" Shiro
Shiro bashes his fist against the wall behind him.
"I have to go back! But I can't fight those things; they're so DISGUSTING I just..... No! What did Father say...When you're hungry, and you fear to eat beans, you blind yourself and do what needs to be done!..... DARN IT! WHAT DOES THAT....?!" Shiro
Shiro pauses. His eyes widen.
"I see...." Shiro
Moments later, Miko, Tadano, and Hiro are tied up together, as they hang over a giant container of boiling acid. Tadano is struggling viciously to free himself. Hiro has a tired look on his face. He sighs
"Give it a rest, Tadano. We ain't getting out of this one." Hiro
"Nah! Don't worry! TADANO, ALMOST GOT IT!" Tadano
"It's been thirty minutes, man. Face it, your muscles ain't doing the trick." Hiro
" MY MUSCLES ALWAYS DO THE TRICK! JUST WATCH!" Tadano
Hiro sighs.
"I can't believe we lost to RATAS off all things." Miko
"Of course, you did. These rats aren't just any rats, their rats engineered for war. Explosions, brute strength, or agility isn't enough to put them down. Your best bet is high-concentrated energy," Mr. Abomination.
"So we needed Shiro for this.....darn...." Tadano
"Darn, indeed. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a city to turn into freaks. Oh, and do me a favour....." Mr. Abomination
Mr. Abomination walks up to a lever on the wall and grabs it.
"....DIE!" Mr. Abomination
He pulls the lever, causing the gear holding them up with a rope to spin, releasing the rope and letting them fall towards the acid.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Hiro, Tadano and Miko
Suddenly, they stop falling, inches above the acid.
"Huh?!" Tadano
"WHAT?!" Mr. Abomination
He looks up at the gear only to find an energy blade lodged in it. Shiro walks into the room and forms his energy blades.
"THAT IS AS FAR AS YOU'RE GOING TO GO!" Shiro
"SHIRO!" Hiro, Tadano, and Miko
"Ah! So the scary cat returns! GUARDS!" Mr. Abomination
The three rats land in front of Shiro. Shiro begins shaking uncontrollably.
"Oh no" Miko
Mr. Abomination laughs.
"Are you kidding me?! You came back here, and you're still scared of these things?! YOU FAILURE! And why the heck are you even afraid of rats?! You're a CAT?!" Mr. Abomination
Mr. Abomination laughs louder as Shiro tightens his grip on his blades.
"No, seriously, what are you even doing here?" Mr. Abomination
"I'm here to put a stop to your DISGUSTING plans, because I am SHIRO, INVENTOR for THE GHOST CLAN!" Shiro
"Even when you can't bring yourself to fight RATS?" Mr. Abomination
"Is like my father once implied: if you can't bring yourself to do what must be done out of fear, blind yourself and push through, it's what needs to be done!" Shiro
Mr. Abomination raises a brow.
"I'm sorry, what are you on about?" Mr. Abomination
"Yeah, what ARE you on about?" Hiro
Shiro takes a deep breath, exhales, grabs his bandana, and wraps it around his eyes, blind folding himself. Hiro sighs.
"We're gonna die," Hiro
Mr. Abomination shakes his head.
"I don't have time for this. KILL HIM!" Mr. Abomination.
The three rats run towards Shiro, screeching. Shiro gnaws his teeth, sweating.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!" Shiro
Shiro dashes towards the rats, weaves around a rat,
flips over the other, spins around, and slashes off the head of the last rat. Shiro slides to a stop as the rat's body drops to the ground. Mr. Abomination and the other Ghosts' eyes and mouths widen.
"WHAT?!" Mr. Abomination and The Ghosts.
Shiro turns around and dashes towards the other rats. A rat throws a punch. Shiro slides under the punch, slashes the back of its leg, flips over another punch, lands on its shoulders, and pierces its shoulders. The other rat leaps at Shiro, claws first. Shiro jumps over the rat, drop kicks him onto the other rat, lands and kicks the rat away, sending it tumbling and crashing into a wall.
The other rat hops onto its feet and begins swinging its claws left and right as Shiro effortlessly dashes each swing. The rat finally raises its claw and swings down as Shiro swings his blade, slashing the rat's arm clean off into the air. The rat grabs its severed arm and screams. Shiro joins his blades, forming a double-edged sword, and begins swinging and spinning it against the rat, shredding and tearing holes into its body. Shiro finally spins around and stabs the rat in the throat, ending it. Shiro pulls out the blade as the rat drops to the floor.
Suddenly, the last rat slides in, punches Shiro in the guts, causing him to vomit, smacks him across the floor, bouncing off of concrete, then kicks him away, sending him flying, tumbling across the floor and crashing into a wall. The wall crumbles down on Shiro, crushing him. The other Ghosts gasp as Mr. Abomination smiles.
Suddenly, Shiro bursts out from the rubble with bruises all over his body, panting softly. He faces the last rat. Shiro separates his blades and growls.
"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!!!" The rat
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!" Shiro
Shiro dashes towards the rat as the rat dashes towards him. The rat, on arrival, swings its arms forward. Shiro swings down his blades, slashing its arms off its shoulders and sending them flying opposite ways. Mr. Abomination's eyes widen.
"No!" Mr. Abomination
Shiro then goes down, slashes its legs, kicks the rat down to the ground, flips into the air, plummets down, and drives his blades into the rat's head.
"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeech...." The rat
The rat goes silent. Shiro drags out his blades and raises his bandana off his eyes, panting silently. He lets out a soft smile.
"I did it." Shiro
"NOOOOOOO!!! " Mr. Abomination
Shiro looks at Mr. Abomination. His eyes narrowed at him.
"It's over, Abomination; your DISGUSTING creatures have been defeated. And your plan is being put on hold, PERMANENTLY." Shiro
"WHY?! WHY MUST YOU GET IN THE WAY OF MY WELL-DESERVED REVENGE! WHY NOT GO AFTER THE PEOPLE WHO WRONGED ME?! YOU.....YOU....
Mr. Abomination charges towards Shiro, raising his fist.
"....YOU FATHERLESS PEST!" Mr. Abomination
Shiro weaves his punch and punches him away, sending him flying and crashing into the control panel of his machine. The control panel electrocutes him, then explodes, causing the entire machine to massively explode, shattering pillars and obliterating all the rats. Shiro's eyes widen. The room begins to shake vigorously.
"Oh.....um...." Shiro
Hiro, Tadano, and Miko rush to him.
"Oh....um....later! We need to move, PRONTO!" Hiro
"How did you all get untied?" Shiro
"MUSCLES" Tadano
"A drop of boiling acid" Miko
"But also MUSCLES!" Tadano
"MOVING TIME!" Hiro
"Oh, right!" Tadano
Tadano grabs everyone, rolls up into a ball, and zooms off and out of the room as it crumbles to rubble.
An hour later, the Ghosts are back in the dojo, sitting at the dining table, eating fish with their father.
"FISH. ¡SO BUENO!" Miko
"Not as bueno as the way Shiro kicked butt today. Nice one lil' man!" Tadano
Tadano smacks Shiro's back.
"¡Sí! Si!" Miko
" You did me proud, soldier." Hiro
"Thank you. It really means a lot to hear you all say that. And thank you, Father. I couldn't have prevailed without your advice." Shiro
"What can I say? I am a great teacher." Father
"Sure, and grass is blue" Hiro
They all laugh.
"Nice, nice! Hey, Miko, could you pass the ketchup?" Tadano
"Sí, Hermano, I can" Miko
Raises the ketchup bottle, only to find a little rat beneath it.
"Oh, look, a rat...." Miko
Suddenly, there is a crash. They all look only to find Shiro gone from his seat and the window behind them shattered to pieces.
Their father chuckles.
"A cat afraid of a rat ..." Father
THE END.