The young man took the remainder of the day to relax from the insanity he slogged through, then slept like a baby that night. He still wasn’t registering any of what had happened. It was sad, sure, like when he lost his cat, but he could get through it just fine.
When he awoke the next day, his side felt perfectly fine as long as no one punched it or he didn’t land on it so hard again. He knew it would be uncomfortable for a while, but he figured he could just deal with it. He didn’t have any trouble dealing with it before.
The young man grabbed his curtain and his swim gear so he could go and retrieve his gi this morning. He so badly wanted to go and get it right now, he could practically feel the brushed canvas rubbing against his skin. A lot of people found gis to be uncomfortable, but the young man loved his, especially the pants. If it wasn’t weird, he would have worn them all the time.
He had already left the house when he realized he woke up early in anticipation of going to get his only personal items from the car. It was weird to think, how right now, he actually only had a curtain to his name. When he finished up this morning, the only things he would own would be his gi, his obi, and his sparring gear if he could recover it. He was technically in poverty.
The young man held the dive gear in his right hand and held the curtain in place with his left. He hadn’t put much effort into keeping it in place this morning, figuring that it would have to come off for him to go swimming. At first he considered not wearing it at all, but leaving and returning would bring trouble if he was running around bare as the day he was born.
As he walked toward the trees, villagers started coming out of their homes to start their days. They noticed him heading out with the dive equipment, and a few cared enough to nod to him as he passed and wish him luck. Most of them just wanted him gone, though, which was probably why they wanted him to have good luck.
The young man just nodded back and went into the trees. Once he was on the other side and nearly impossible to see, he let the curtain fall to the ground and stood naked before the lake. Before jumping in, he would have to do several things. He needed to check the dive gear to ensure it was good, have the curtain nearby so he could quickly dry off, as it was rather chilly without it and being wet would be worse, and he had to make sure no more mercenaries showed up to come after him.
The area was pretty obviously clear, so the young man started checking the dive gear. The fins were the first item to check, and they were pretty easy. They didn’t fit very well, but it was easy to adjust. The young man tore a little bit of the curtain away to tie them more securely to his feet, and they felt pretty secure. He would just have to untie them afterwards.
Before he could check the mask, he heard a rustle in the trees behind him. The young man spun around, paranoid that a mercenary or bounty hunter would come after him, but breathed a sigh of relief when it was just Colm Winds. Colm struggled through the brush, getting his legs caught every which way, but the young man couldn’t help him with the fins on his feet. They were wood and uncomfortable, and the less he did in them, the better.
“What brings you out here?” the young man asked.
“Checking on you, making sure ya ain’t hurtin’ yerself,” Colm replied.
“Well, thank you,” the young man replied. “I appreciate that.”
“Is it all good?” Colm asked as he walked up to the young man. He realized the curtain was off to the side and looked away. “And, uhh, why don’t ya have yer curtain?”
“That’s a death sentence, keeping that thing on in the water,” the young man explained. “Too much drag and weight.”
“Ah. Well, Ah guess you’d know more about it than me,” Colm replied.
The young man grunted in agreement as he tried out the dive mask. It was surprisingly well-fitted to his head, and only needed a slight bend to it in order to make it work perfectly. The mask was made of wood, glass, and rubber, and was nothing like the silicon masks the young man was used to.
“Ya plan on keeping that swim stuff?” Colm asked.
“Nope,” the young man replied. “After this, I’m gonna sell it as quick as I can, get a quick buck.”
“Hey!” Colm shouted suddenly, causing the young man to flinch. “We don’t like that kinda language here.”
“What?” the young man replied.
Colm blinked. “Oh, right, ya don’t talk like ponies do,” he said. “Sorry.”
“That’s fine,” the young man said with a sideways glance at the pony. He could guess what buck was supposed to represent. “Cultural barriers, right?”
“Right obnoxious,” Colm said. “But Ah gotta get used to ‘em if Ah’m going to live in Equestria.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” the young man said. He had gotten the mask and fins on and fitted well, so it was time. “Alright, Colm, you’re my lifeline if this goes horrifically wrong.”
“Ya got a rope?” Colm replied.
“Nope,” the young man said. “Just come in after me.” Before Colm could offer a counter suggestion, the young man rolled to the water’s edge and hopped right in.
He instantly regretted this decision. The water was incredibly cold, and when some of it got into his mouth, he could sense the faint taste of gasoline. It only mildly stung on his side, though, so that wouldn’t be a hindrance. But he knew he couldn’t be in the water too long, not without some consequence.
The water was extremely clear, minus the rainbow hue from the gasoline, so locating the car was easy. It wasn’t smack in the middle of the reservoir, like he had come to believe, but it was about fifteen feet down. The young man swam about ten yards into the reservoir before looking down and going for the dive.
Shoving his head under that water was the hardest thing he had yet done in this world. His body screamed at him to vacate the wet, frozen world it found itself in, but he fought it and fought it hard. As he dove down, various spots across his body whined about the cold more than others, particularly those that weren’t usually exposed to the elements.
It only took a few strokes of his legs and arms to get himself down to the sunken Subaru Forester, and he didn’t even feel winded yet. The cold would accelerate the feeling, though, and he quickly looked through the window for his uniform. The stark white stood out in an instant inside the car; it had gone from sitting on the front passenger seat to sitting on the window, as the car was on its side under the water. He tended to wrap the gi in the obi to keep it together, and he never liked that decision more than he did now.
With the windows shattered and all over the place, he was able to simply maneuver himself into the car and reach down to grab the gi and obi from the right side of the car. It was easy enough, even if he felt himself being poked by the torn glass and metal of the car, and when he got his hands on it, he shoved his hand in between the obi and gi, effectively tying the gi to himself.
With a moment to spare, he looked around the car for his sparring gear. He spotted the gloves quickly, floating against the not-quite-shattered back window, and the boots weren’t far. The helmet was nowhere to be seen, and that was the only piece he cared about, so he abandoned the gear and went back topside with his spoils. The gi and obi were the important parts, anyway.
Blowing bubbles in his ascent, the young man shot to the surface like an arrow. He actually propelled himself out of the water a bit on the way, and was able to get up to his belly button out of the water. Off on the side, by the water’s edge, Colm Winds looked on with interested but caution, as he had no interest in seeing any lower on the young man.
The cold was starting to really sap at the young man’s strength, so he made a beeline for Colm on the edge of the reservoir. His swim form was positively horrendous with the gi tied to his arm, and it looked like he was just flailing about in the water and miraculously moving forward toward his end goal.
When he made it, Colm Winds ignored his avoidance of seeing the naked human and grabbed him by the armpits to drag him out of the water. The young man started to cough from the cold and exertion on his lungs, but it was a good, dry cough with no signs of real trouble. In a moment, Colm dropped him to the ground and rushed to cover him with the curtain the young man left on the ground.
“That was a right impressive feat,” Colm complimented.
“Somewhat,” the young man said. “Scuba certification makes us do harder than that, and it’s nothing compared to divemaster work.”
“Well, ain’t you just a real tough guy,” Colm said with a poke of the young man’s head. “Maybe you should just go fight a war.”
“That was the original plan,” the young man said, wrapping himself further in the curtain. “But all plans are on hold for now.”
“True that,” Colm replied. “Now, let’s get you back to the house, where you can warm up properly and get that outfit dried up right.”
“Sounds like a plan, man,” the young man said.
Colm Winds helped the young man to stand up and half carried him back to the village. The small trek through the trees took substantially longer than it should have, but the young man didn’t care now. He got what he wanted, and in just a short time, he would be on his way home.
When Colm helped him through the village, the residents all halted what they were doing to observe the shivering young man with a death grip on an outfit like they had never quite seen. Stark white with a single black cloth length, the kind one might wrap around the waist. On the gi top, there was a patch traced off of a human fist, with impressive embroidery of a woman in a stormy sea, a dragon overhead, three stars on the side, and a serpent coiling through the water. No one there except the young man knew what it meant.
As the young man came hobbling up to the house with the aid of Colm Winds, little Gibby came out of the front door with a look of wonder in his eyes. The wonder was gone after a moment, though, when he saw the apparent suffering of the young man.
“Did you already get your stuff?” he asked.
The young man held it up. “Dang right,” he replied.
“Awww,” Gibby whined. “I wanted to watch.”
‘It’s better ya didn’t,” Colm said. “There was nothing very impressive, honestly.”
The young man turned his head to look at Colm. “Oh, so you have the experience to judge?” he asked. Colm chuckled. “Nah, it was nothing to watch.”
“Yeah, sure,” Gibby said.
Sherry came out soon after. “Gibby, don’t go out-“ she was saying until she spotted the young man. “Ah, I see it already happened. Well, that means you can just go do your chores.” Gibby tried to whine his way out of the work, but to no avail, and soon went off to work.
“And the true intentions are revealed,” the young man said.
“Anything to avoid a bit of work,” Colm said in agreement.
“Kids,” Sherry said with a sigh. “You must be freezing. Come in, let’s get you and that outfit of yours dried off.”
“I’d love that,” the young man said.
“Well, you can go in on your own power,” Colm said, releasing the young man. “Ah want to go do something right now.”
“Sure, dude. Thanks,” the young man said.
“No problem,” Colm said.
The young man carried himself into the Gibbs household and Sherry led him to a fireplace with a nice little fire going. She took the gi and obi and undid the little package, then set them on a drying rack that went over the fire. She then went and got an actual towel for the young man to use to dry off a little before warming up by the fire.
“Thank you,” the young man said.
“Don’t worry about it,” Sherry said. She observed the patch on the gi top with raging curiosity. “What’s this image?”
“The Megami?” the young man asked. “It’s a symbol of my martial art. There’s a lot of stuff going on in there.”
“I’d say so,” Sherry said. “And this embroidery is something. I’ve never seen something so intricate on a patch. Where did you get it?”
“My teacher gave them to us,” the young man said. “I don’t know where he got them.”
“Very impressive,” Sherry said.
“I guess, if you think so,” the young man said. “People can be good at about anything.”
“Anything?” Sherry asked. “You don’t have predestined talents?”
“What?” the young man asked. “I mean, some people are particularly good at one thing or another, but there usually aren’t super restrictive limits on what we do.”
“Oh, okay,” Sherry said. “What are you good at?”
“Well, I’ve always been quick to learn thing involving my hands,” the young man said. “My martial arts, finger work, dance, anything that needs me to be agile, really.”
“Are you dumb as a rock?” Sherry asked bluntly.
“Uh, no?” the young man replied indignantly. “I’m an engineering major, thanks.”
“Oh, a big student?” Sherry asked.
“Yeah,” the young man said. “But like I said to Colm all plans are on hold for now.”
“Makes sense,” Sherry replied. “Well, I’ll leave you to your recovery for now. Try to relax.”
“Well, that’ll be way easier now,” the young man replied. Sherry smiled, then left him alone in the room to recover from his brief morning trip to the reservoir.
It hadn’t taken long, which was nice. By the end of the day, he would be able to wear his gi, and he could stop wearing a curtain dress everywhere. It was intensely uncomfortable, and he had no idea how the Romans did it back in the day. The outfit felt ridiculous, too.
He was so close now. He had everything he could want out of the car, so he was done collecting possessions for his travels. He figured he would use his position as a human to scavenge food and supplies from towns he passed, so money was no object. If push came to shove, he could do favors for ponies, too, since he wasn’t willing to steal from or strong-arm any ponies. He would be desperate, but he wasn’t a jerk, and there were places he wouldn’t go just yet.
He sat there for half an hour before checking his gi to see the progress. It wasn’t exactly dry yet, but it was only damp to the point where it could be felt in the fabric, at least on the torso. The sleeves were still dripping, but the torso was nearly dry, so it was almost done. It would be good by the next day. But just as he was about to sit down, and chill out until he was good to go, he heard a series of screams from outside. He spun around to look out the window and see what was going on.
There was a real sight to see out there. Two ponies like the first bounty hunter, and what appeared to be a bird’s head on a lion’s body with wings. The ancient, legendary griffon. Now he was really starting to see it all.
The young man could see them abusing villagers, grabbing them and throwing them about. He could just stay in here, let it happen, be safe. It would be the best route for him to take, and would give him the least trouble.
Until he heard the griffon speak up.
“Our buddy came here the other day and didn’t come back,” the clearly male griffon cawed. “What’s happened to him?!”
“He just stopped by!” Gibbs’s voice shouted.
“Total crap!” one of the ponies shouted. “We want our stallion back. Where is he?”
“Maybe we need to show them what it’s like to lose a community member,” the other pony said.
“I agree,” the griffon said. “Let’s see… Let’s start with… you!”
The young man knew that they were with the bounty hunter, and no doubt had come to find him and the young man. They were clearly an aggressive and nasty lot, and it was only a matter of time before the villagers gave the young man up.
If he was going to be found out, then it was going to be on his own terms. The young man looked to his gi above the fire, then grabbed it and threw it on. When he tied up the gi top and tied on the pants, he took an extra moment to wrap the obi around his waist as he tied it as well. With a deep breath, he relaxed himself and mentally prepared for the intense battle to come.
“Either this whole thing is crazy or I am,” he said.
The young man turned it face the door and walked onward, unsure of what he was about to face but confident that whatever happened, he would be able to come out on top. He had to if he was to see his family again.