Superboy Jamie and the Ninja Guardians

Chapter 12: The Day After

Chapter 12: The Day After


I was so excited about Superboy’s visit to the Dojo that I couldn’t wait to tell Jamie about it at school the following day. I grabbed Jamie as soon as he walked through the gate of the school. I told him all about Superboy and the things he did, and Jamie seemed very surprised!

“What a pity that I wasn’t there, I would’ve liked to meet him.” He said.

“Well, he might visit us again.” I replied. “Are you going to come to the Dojo this afternoon?”

He nodded. “I can’t wait! Everyone’s so nice there, that I’m sure I’ll always have lots of fun, even if I can’t learn how to fight.”

I smiled; that way, Jamie was going to spend a good part of his out-of-school time with us and under our care, just as I had hoped.

Later, Jamie sat down in the classroom at his usual seat, with me and Hiroki sitting on either side from him. Nobody else could get near him without getting through us! That way, we had Jamie very well covered. Anyway, the day at school went by without any weird incidents, and the two of us were joined by Maska, Rasul and Raja during lunch. We let Jamie sit in the middle of the table and we all sat around him. That way, nobody else could touch him.

And things went that way during the following week; Jamie developed a strong bond with all of us, including all of my three younger brothers; in fact, he seemed to get along well with younger kids... and with whoever wasn't a bully, for that matter!

To say the truth, I had some doubts about my kid bros... Sure, on one hand it was clear they cared for Jamie, but on the other hand... I had the impression they considered him more as a cherished pet, rather than as a friend! It was especially evident with Arashi and Kenji: any time they got close to our new friend, those two were constantly busy not only tossing him around, but generally showing him how powerful they were and how powerless he was against them, as to say "You're ours little guy, we'll be nice to you but in any case, whatever we want to do with you, there's nothing you can do about it."

Well, I must admit it didn't seem like they were ever forcing Jamie to do anything: he always laughed while he was toyed with, but I suspected our friend acted that way just to please his stronger friends to not lose their friendship. I still couldn't fully believe he was comfortable, being manhandled that way; if I was him, I would've found that treatment not only humiliating, but physically unbearable as well!

However, I often allowed them to "train" with Jamie... and sometimes did again the mistake of leaving the four of them without surveillance, which usually was when something weird happened.

Like when Kenji and Arashi were left with Jamie practicing the TOMOE NAGE, the Judo feet throw... I and the others, including Isamu, had gotten busy sparring with each other, and more than a quarter hour passed before we checked on the three kids. I was annoyed, seeing how my brothers were tossing poor Jamie mercilessly, literally passing him to each other without pausing: each time our friend was slammed on his back onto the mats, he was immediately picked up by a pair of muscled arms, while a hard foot was pressed on his belly, and he was helplessly sent flying again! I exchanged an annoyed glance with Hiroki, who walked to the trio.

"You two!" he scolded them. "How many times should we tell you to not toy with poor Jamie this way? It must be uncomfortable to him!"

"But we always treat him with care!" Arashi protested.

“You’re talking of him like if he was a toy!” Hiroki accused.

“You’re wrong, Hiroki.” Jamie said smiling.

Hiroki and I looked at our small friend in puzzlement. We still weren’t able to understand how he could be comfortable being played with by those ultra-energetic kids, and even find it amusing, yet he always stated it was alright; that time, however, my brothers had gone too far!

“Come on, Jamie, do you really think that was NOT treating you like a plaything?” Hiroki asked.

Jamie shook his head. “Not a plaything, a playmate... that is far too much weaker than them to play with them as equal, so we must find other ways to have fun.”

“Oyé, they were slamming you around like a sack of potatoes!” I intervened. “Don’t tell me you weren’t feeling sick!”

Jamie stared up to me with a smirk that was both amused and defiant.

"To prove you that I like how Arashi and Kenji treat me," he said, "I want to spend a whole afternoon alone with each of them!"

"WHAT?" Hiroki and I exclaimed, pretty alarmed, while our brothers gasped in delight and asked at the same time: "Really, Jamie?"

“Really!” he nodded. “If you like the idea, just tell me when…”

Kenji was the first to propose: “I’ve been invited to my friend Chuck’s place tomorrow afternoon; we’re going to exchange comics!”

“Good! I love comics!” Jamie accepted. “And I’m sure I’m going to like your friends.”

“And they’re going to like you!” my brother replied with a smirk I didn’t like… but Jamie clearly had made his mind, and try to convince him to not put himself in the hands of those overconfident kids would’ve been useless, so Hiroki and I just glanced to each other and shrugged.

Meanwhile, Arashi was taking his chance as well. “You like videogames, too, right Jamie? I often go playing them with a couple friends of mine, in a place not far from your home….”

“I’ll be glad to join when you want!” our friend said happily, and I could just shrug.

KENJI’S TALE

The following afternoon, when I met with Jamie at the gates of his and my older brothers’ school, Miguel gave me LOOOONG instructions about how to protect our friend in the case some bully showed up, but eventually I managed to get away from him with Jamie, and we walked toward Chuck’s house; I already had a bunch of comics in my bag, and my new pal said he was carrying some in his bag as well.

Just how I had hoped, Jamie went along well with Chuck, Adel and Ignacio, and we spent a lot of time comparing our comics and chatting about them.

At one point, Chuck said: “It must be so cool, being a superhero like the one we read here… or like Superboy!”

“Yea!” said Ignacio. “Don’t you think, Jamie? Kenji told us you know Superboy… is he as cool as they say?”

Jamie smiled: “Well, yeah, he is a good boy! But I think normal people can be awesome as well… like Kenji!”

My friends nodded enthusiastically. Chuck exclaimed: “You’re right, that’s why he’s our Guardian Angel!”

Jamie looked puzzled, and I explained: “Oh, you see, Jamie… I always protect these three at school.”

In fact, all of three were little shrimps, especially Chuck, who was barely 4’ 5’’ tall, so I always had a lot of work scaring bullies away from them.

Jamie’s face lightened. “Oh, of course! You’re Ninja Protector like your brothers! I should’ve guessed that, you’re such a nice boy!”

“Is it true that Kenji is one of your bodyguards?” Adel asked, and Ignacio added: “I hardly can believe him, when he tells us he has got a 13 years old boy under his protection, like he has got us.”

Jamie turned to me smirking. “Oh, so you invited me here to prove you’re sincere!”

“Well, for that TOO!” I admitted.

“Then is it true also the story about Jamie-Ball?” Chuck asked.

“Of course!” Jamie laughed. “And I always have a great fun with it.”

At that point, obviously, my friends got excited and begged me and Jamie to show them that game. We placed some mattress on the floor of Chuck’s room, and a few minutes later Jamie was sitting on my upturned soles.

“And now… fly, my friend!” I cried, launching my pal up.

“Fly, Jamie, fly!” cheered my friends, watching the scene with fascination and amusement, and when Jamie started to roll on my feet, they jumped up and down and clapped their hands.

After a couple minutes, I stopped and let Jamie down, having promised Miguel to never stretch that game too long; but that was enough for everyone to have a great fun and congratulate me. All of the three wanted to take a turn to that, and I rolled them too, but we found out that they didn’t have Jamie’s resistance, getting dizzy after no more than 30 seconds. Jamie was definitely tougher than he looked!

Anyway, all of us enjoyed a good time…. Especially because I played with Jamie a bit more. I put him in a strong Judo hold, blocking his arms and hands, and when I had the little guy under my power, I started to feed candies to him. My friends laughed and gave some biscuits to Jamie, who smiled and said he was hungry.

Later, we prepared to go home, and my friends told me they had a good surprise meeting Jamie, since he was a cool guy, so I felt so proud of him! But then, it was Jamie who had a good surprise.

The doorbell rang, and Ignacio said: “This must be my big bro who came to pick me.”

In fact, when we opened the door, a tall dark skinned teen appeared, and Ignacio introduced him as his brother Raimundo… but there was another person with him.

“Ramona!” Jamie exclaimed, blushing. “Why are you there?”

She giggled. “I’m Ignacio’s sister, Jamie. Raimundo just picked me from Dance School.”

“Oh, I see.” Jamie watched the girl’s azure uniform. “You’re very cute, dressed this way…. It makes you look like a fairy!”

“You’re always so nice!” she kissed his cheek, making him blush even more, so we snickered. Then Ramona asked: “Why don’t we eat lunch together sometimes at school?”

Jamie nodded, his face red, and I grinned. I had found out Jamie’s secret… My friend had his first crush!

END TALE

(My POV)

In fact, during the following two days, Ramona ate with us in the cafeteria, sting beside Jamie and always laughing and exchanging jokes with him. We were happy of that, not only because our buddy had found another friend and (perhaps) a girlfriend, but because of Ramona’s two lovely friends as well! They always had lunch with her, and were as pretty and lovely as her.

While eating, we often spotted Stan sitting at another table, glaring furiously at Jamie and Ramona, a sign that he hadn’t given up on the girl… But I glared back to him and my brother and friends were like a big barrier around our protégé, so no bad things happened, save for some food tossed at him, but we always managed to catch it before it reached its target.

It was on the third day that something very bad happened, and Stan wasn’t involved.



I love to write about science fiction and fantasy.