Inner-Selves, No. 35, Part B

Macho was just finishing off a group of youth sprites that were attacking him, most of them were knocked out, while a few others dropped their rattles and ran away. Just then a baby white Siberian tiger stepped up to challenge Macho. "Don't get ahead of yourself outsider, those weaklings are nothing compared to me, I am Yuin, the 4th officer of the Asian.....Ahhhhhhh!!!" the tiger said as Macho sent him flying away with a punch. The gorilla continued onward in the direction of the atonement tower, not much further ahead, he was surprised to see what looked like a bunch of pink flower petals dancing in the wind.
"Huh, what's going on here?" Macho said to himself. Then he looked ahead and noticed a small fur with his head lowered towards the ground, he was wearing a sandogasa which kept his face hidden from view. The fur was sitting on a mat with two baby bottles and a few toys all around him. He had a light blue onesie with a red koku mark on it, and a soft yellow baby blanket was draped over his shoulders. "Welcome weary traveler, welcome to my humble abode" said the fur sitting on the mat. Macho looked at him funny as the fur slowly raised his head and lifted the sandogasa up to reveal his eyes, and so that he could look upon the outsider. "Allow me to introduce myself, I am Torei the Panda, I am known around these parts as the Overseer of Asia, what name should I call you?" the panda said as he looked on at Macho. "Um....Macho, Macho the Gorilla" Macho answered, sounding confused.
"Hmm, that's a good name, you look every bit as strong as your name suggests" Torei replied. "Uh...thanks, I guess" Macho said back. "Introductions went smoothly, that's good, this could be easier than I thought" Torei thought to himself. "Alright Rin, we've made our point, you can stop tossing sakura petals now" Torei said, Macho had no idea who he was talking to. Torei's voice was met with no reply, so he spoke again, a little louder this time. "Rin, I know you can hear me" the panda said as he turned his head to look behind him. The next thing that the panda did really took Macho by surprise.
Torei ran over to the building directly behind him and looked up at the window way up above him, upon close examination, Macho noticed the window was the source of the falling flower petals. "Rin, enough with the cherry blossoms already, you're just making a mess!" Torei shouted up at the window as he flailed his arms around. The Shih Tzu puppy then leaned out the window and dumped the entire basket of remaining petals on her superior's head, causing him to meep loudly. Macho found this both silly and embarrassing to watch, and yet he couldn't look away from the panda. Torei sighed and adjusted his sandogasa, then turned around and got ready to walk away. "I'm not cleaning this up!" he shouted up to Rin.
The overseer sat back down on his mat and tried to shrug off what had just happened. "Now then, I suppose you've been running around a lot lately, you must be tired, have a seat, share a bottle with me" Torei said as he held out one of the baby bottles to the gorilla. "No thanks, nothing personal, but I'm an adult" Macho said casually. "I understand, but there's not much else to eat or drink here in the playhouse, and I gotta say, you don't know what you're missing" Torei said as he proceeded to place the nipple of the bottle in his mouth and suckle on it. "What's the deal with this guy? He's so carefree, all the other babyfurs I encountered tried to kill me, and yet this one acts like I'm a guest in his own home" Macho thought to himself.
Torei stopped drinking midway and looked at Macho, then addressed him once more. "Have a seat, make yourself at home, there's no reason for you to just stand there all day" the panda said. "I don't have time to sit down, but thanks anyway" Macho said. "But how're you gonna play with me if you're standing up the whole time, I'm not as tall as you, you gotta get down closer to my level" Torei said, sounding cheerful, like a little kid getting ready to play a game with a friend. "I don't have time to play either, I have business to attend to elsewhere, so if you'll excuse me I'll be going now" Macho said back. Torei sighed with disappointment. "Alright you big meanie, but I hope you realize just how little fun I'll have without a playmate" Torei said, looking sad. Macho did feel kinda bad after looking at the panda's face, but he started to walk forward, aiming to pass up Torei and head to the atonement tower once more.
"Hold on a second" Torei said as Macho got closer to him. "What?" Macho said in reply. "If you wanna turn around and leave this place that's fine, but the area ahead is strictly off-limits, I can't let you through" Torei told him. Macho was getting irritated, but he didn't really wanna fight this guy, after all, he hadn't shown him any hostility. Macho ignored him instead and bolted, trying to run on ahead. "So that's how you wanna play it huh?" Torei said softly. He used quick-step and tripped Macho with his foot, the gorilla fell and hit the ground hard, Torei stepped in front of him and looked down at him. "Absolutely no one other than an Overseer is allowed near that tower my friend, for your safety, I suggest you either turn around and leave or sit here and play with me" the panda said. "How did he do that? He was way over there on the mat just a second ago" Macho thought as he looked up at the baby panda.
Torei used quick step again, Macho didn't even have time to blink, he looked over and saw that the baby panda was again sitting on his mat, he then got back to finishing his bottle. Macho slowly got to his feet and turned in the direction of the panda, watching him closely. "If he can really move that fast then it's useless for me to try to make a run for it, but it seems a shame to have to fight such a nice kid like him" Macho thought. Torei finished his bottle and sighed contentedly. "You're not leaving, I take it this means you've changed your mind about playing?" Torei said excitedly. "My answer is still no, I don't wanna play, but it's clearly obvious you're not gonna let me go to the tower either" Macho replied. "Sorry pal, it's nothing personal, but I'm just following orders, I don't honestly feel that Kat should have to die for what she did, but it's not up to me to decide" Torei said.
"Okay look, you seem like a nice kid, and I really don't wanna fight you, but if you're not gonna let me pass, then I'll just have to take you down" Macho said. "The feeling is mutual, I don't wanna fight either, I'd rather just play and have fun, but you're not going to that tower on my watch, sorry to disappoint ya, but rules are rules" Torei answered him. Rin watched them both from the window she was at a while ago, despite Torei's nonchalance, she knew that he could handle this situation. "Ugh...this whole conversation bores me, if you don't mind I'm just gonna play with one of my toys" Torei said.
The panda picked up a jack-in-the-box and slowly turned the crank on the side of it, like most toys of this manner, it played the tune of "Pop Goes the Weasel." Macho looked at Torei carefully, something about this made him feel uneasy. When the jack-in-the-box came to the "pop" part of the song, the lid to the box sprang open like all other jack-in-the-boxes, but the clown that came out looked much bigger than the box could hold, and it came flying towards Macho. Macho tensed up as the clown lifted its head and looked up at the gorilla, it raised its arms, revealing two sickles, one for each hand. It swung one of the sickles at Macho, the gorilla barely ducked in time to avoid being slashed. Macho jumped out of the way as it attempted to strike again, taking out part of the nearby wall instead.
Macho rolled away and started running around, he glanced over at Torei, who was smiling and looking on at the game of cat-and-mouse that the gorilla and the clown were now playing. "He calls this playing? It feels more like he's trying to kill me with this thing" Macho thought to himself. "Heh, you're a lot of fun, you know that right?" Torei called out to Macho. Macho dodged each attempted slash of the clown and then weaved in-and-out, readying for a counterstrike. As the clown swooped in for the kill, Macho jumped up and swung his right fist smack-down on top of its head, crushing it between his fist and the ground beneath them. The clown was defeated and moved no more.
"Aww, you broke it, that wasn't nice" Torei said, sounding upset. Macho gasped for breath, clearly this youth sprite was a force to be reckoned with. "Well since you clearly don't play well with toys, why don't we play tag instead?" Torei suggested. "Tag? Does he honestly think we're playing a game?" Macho thought. Torei used quick-step again, Macho tensed up, then sensed that Torei was right behind him. He turned around just as Torei got ready to flick him with a finger. "You're it!" the panda declared. His finger made contact with Macho, and then the gorilla was sent flying, he crashed into a wall and it was reduced to rubble, burying the gorilla underneath it. Torei looked down and noticed the state of his diaper, it was now soaked because he was getting so excited from having a playmate. It was sagging noticeably within his onesie and a slight grin came over the panda's face. "Oh well, this just makes the game more challenging..." he said.