(SKETCH WRITING) The King of Monsters

Warning, this short story features graphic depictions of violence, alcohol, and cussing. Viewer discretion is advised. Also, this is a sketch writing, basically meaning this is made more so for me to get the juices flowing. Will I expand this into a further story? Maybe.

         Goji stood over the innocent college student, bloodied and beaten to a pulp. He was shivering and crying, as his teeth lay scattered about before him. Goji put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it, before shoving his hand into the mans pockets, rummaging around, before pulling out a wallet. He pulled out all the money from the mans wallet, about ¥300,000, before dropping the wallet onto the man.

         "Anything you wanna say, dipshit?" Goji said, his deep voice vibrating through his victims bones.

         "I-I'm s-sorry..." The student whimpered out, looking at Goji through the tears.

         "What'd you say?" Goji asked.

         "I... I'm sor--" Before the student could finish speaking, Goji reared his foot back and kicked the student in the jaw as hard as he could. His scream was choked down by gargles and gasps of pain.

         Goji took one last drag off his cigarette, before flicking it at the student. "Watch who you bump into next time," Goji reminded, before abandoning him in the alleyway.

         Walking out of the alleyway stood his sworn brother, Katsuhiko. The scrawnier yakuza looked to his sworn brother with a look of concern, dissapointment, but equally awe, before simply saying; "That was a bit much, dont'cha think?"

         "Kids need to learn respect," Goji said bluntly. "If they don't get taught the hard lessons, they'll breeze through life without a care in the world. Can't have that."

         "Guess so," Katsuhiko said, before deciding to change gears. "How much money did he have on him?"

         "Looks like 300K," Goji said, flipping through the money. "With the other debt payments and robbing's, it'll be a decent drop off for the boss. Maybe he'll let us keep some."

         The two began walking down the street of Kabuki-Cho. The bustling streets filled with drunkards, escorts, and all sorts of other characters allowed the two yakuza to blend in almost perfectly. The smell of stale urine from alleyways mixed with the various fried food shops around the block gave the street a "unique" sensation.

         "Maybe!" Katsuhiko said, before giving Goji a grin. "Maybe you and I could bar hop with that money, finally get you that rematch at billiards?"

         "No thanks," Goji said, pocketing the money. "I'm tired of wasting my time hearing you drunkenly gloat about a game I barely even play."

         The two would approach the corner, and see a well dressed man, with an ear piece staring out at the crowd. The mans hair was slicked back, showing off his receding hairline for all to see, and his blocky frame made him intimidating to any passerby's to not even pass a glance to him.

         "Good evening, Shimizu-san!" Katsuhiko said cheerfully, as they approached.

         Shimizu gave the two a look with his dark, piercing eyes, but gave a small nod of recognition. "You two done for tonight?"

         "Yeah. Araki, the cash?" Goji held his hand out to Katsuhiko.

         "Yeah, lemme just..." He reaches into his jacket pocket, then a look of fear slowly passes over his face. He begins patting down his person. "Oh shit... uh..."

         "Did you fucking lose it?" Goji said, his blood almost immediately boiling.

         "Nah, I'm just messing around." Katsuhiko gave a grin, before pulling out an envelope from his blazer. Goji gave him a nasty look, before snatching it out of Katsuhiko's hand, handing it to Shimizu alongside the ¥300,000 he just took.

         Shimizu opened the envelope, and stared at it, nodding along, before putting the last remaining money inside of the envelope and pulling out ¥100,000 and handing it to Goji. "Split it off however you like. That's you two's payment for tonight."

         "Thank you, Shimizu-san." Goji gave a small bow to his elder, before Shimizu returned to his post.

         As the two began walking away, Goji ruffled through the yen, handing Katsuhiko ¥50k. Katsuhiko took it with a grin. "So, Goji, what's the plan? Bar hopping? Getting laid? Maybe an arcade if you're feeling adventurous?"

         "You do whatever you want, Araki." Goji muttered, popping his knuckles and wincing slightly. "I'm done for the night. I'm getting a few drinks then I'm heading home."

         Katsuhiko shrugged, before giving a small salute to Goji. "Well, see ya later, then!"

         Goji watched his subordinate walk away, before sighing, pulling a cigarette to his mouth and lighting it. At long last, he was alone. Or, as alone as one could be within the bustling city. He began walking through the streets, feeling the cool autumn air against his skin and it seemed as if the noise of people slowly began to drown out as he made his slow walk to a bar. The few glimpses at people he took, he could see expressions of fear and awe as they took him in.

         As he reached his destination, Kuroi Yume, he stopped at the entrance, and stamped out his cigarette, before entering. The bar smelled of smoke, and a dingy orange light filled the bar. There were a few thugs in the bar, one or two construction workers talking with some beautiful women who definitely were being paid just to be in their presence, and in the corner a woman was laying on top of a man, the two pressing their bodies against each other with drunken fervor.

         Goji approached the bar and took a seat, as the bartender approached him. "So The King of Monsters decided to pay me a visit, eh? What a night, indeed. What can I get you?"

         "Old Fashioned, extra bourbon," Goji said bluntly. "Make it a highball."

         "You'll have to be charged extra for all that, y'know."

         "No shit, just make my damn drink," Goji gave him an annoyed look.

         The bartender nodded, going on to begin preparing his drink. As he waited, Goji pulled out his phone and began scrolling through news feeds. An article caught his attention;

"'DINOSAURS' SPOTTED IN SHIBUYA"
"On October 16th, a group of 4 high school students reported an unusual encounter to the police. According to these individuals, they encountered what appeared to be a large reptile fighting with local criminals. When asked to describe the reptile, each student said it appeared similar in appearance to a Ankylosaurus. Police have been unable to corroborate the students story, as the criminals the dinosaur was supposedly attacking were unable to be identified, and no other individuals that day reported any similar sightings. Although this seems like a dead end, there were similar reports on Augu--"

         Before Goji could continue reading, a hand slammed next to him on the bar. Goji looked at the source, and found a young man in his late 20s, wearing a dark blue hoodie with a shaved head and a scar along his nose. He gave Goji a mean glare, before speaking;

         "The King of Monsters, huh? You remember me, you shit stain?"

         "Nope." Goji said, before going back to looking at his phone.

         "I'm Fujioka Sumitomo, you mugged me a few weeks ago and took all my money and gave me this scar!!" Sumitomo jabbed his finger towards his face. "I was alone then, but I've got a couple of my boys with me this time. We knew you frequented this place, all we had to do was wait..."

         Before he knew it, Goji was surrounded by three other men, one of which was carrying a knife, the other pulled out his keys and wrapped them around his knuckles. Goji gave a look around, before sighing.

         "I'm off the clock, can you just leave me alone?" Goji asked tiredly, "I would much rather not have to take a shower after covering myself in you and your buddies blood."

         Sumitomo gave a chuckle. "Ohhhh, big man not afraid huh? Well, I'll tell you what, I'll gladly leave you alone if you pay me back the ¥500,000 you stole from me! And while you're at it, pay up 10K to each of my buddies too."

         Goji gave a deep sigh through his nose, before turning to Sumitomo. "Kid, either you're stupid or you're ignorant, so let me make this crystal clear for you. If you or any of your buddies try a damn thing, I'll send you all to the hospital and you'll have to come up with a hell'uva lot more than ¥500K."

         "You sure sound confidant." Sumitomo gave Goji a grin, before something in Goji's body screamed at him of incoming danger.

         Before he could react, Goji felt a chair smash against the back of his skull, slamming him onto the ground. It seemed one of Sumitomo's buddies got a sneak attack on him while they were talking. Goji's head spun, and he could feel blood pouring out from the back of his head as he laid on the floor of the bar. Hands began rummaging around his pockets, looking for his wallet, and the bar erupted into chaos from the sudden attack. As consciousness began flowing in and out for him, his vision buzzing and flashing from the pain.

         Then, he saw Red.

         One of Sumitomo's buddies raised up Goji's wallet, a pleased grin on his face; "I found the bastards wallet! I bet he has all sorts of dough in here!"

         "Take it and hurry up!" One of the other thugs said.

         As he reached his hand into Goji's wallet, a hand shot up and grabbed his wrist. The grip was so strong that almost in an instant, the poor bastards wrist shattered with a dull crunch. He let out a scream of pain, which quickly became a scream of horror as he realized what was crushing his wrist.

         A reptilian humanoid hand.

         Slowly, what was once Goji stood up, holding the mans wrist as he stood to his full height. Now a full foot taller than he once was, his body was covered in grey reptilian scales, with a short, dangerous looking snubby snout filled with sharp teeth. His red piercing eyes glared at the man, as he growled out the last words these men would hear before being mangled;

         "I warned you."

         He then flung the man he was holding onto across the bar as hard as he could, his body smashing against the wall as he crumpled to the ground. Sumitomo's knife wielding lacky ran at Goji, plunging the knife into the monsters back, only for Goji to whip him with his large, thick tail as hard as he could, slamming him into the bar and leaving behind a fractured indentation of his collision.

         "Kill him!!" Sumitomo shouted, with a look of fear in his eyes. "He's a fucking monster!!"

         One of his friends tried punching Goji in the face, only for Goji to open his mouth and catch the assaulter's arm in his teeth. He sank them in, and began shaking his arm around like a dog with a chew toy, eventually managing to rip the mans arm off. He screamed in pain as he gripped where his forearm once was, before Goji slammed his foot into the mans chest, knocking him onto his back, before stomping on his chest as hard as he could. A loud crunch was heard, and eventually the man fell silent and still.

         Sumitomo stared in horror at Goji, as he stood up straight and stared at the young thug with his piercing predatorial eyes. Sumitomo began to run away, before Goji snatched him by the neck, lifting him up in the air.

         "P-Please don't kill me!! I'm sorry!!" Sumitomo begged.

         "I'm not gonna kill you. But if you tell anyone of this, the cops, the doctors, even your fucking mama," Goji growled out his threat as he choked Sumitomo, "and I'll find you and EVERYONE you hold dear and eat all of your damn intestines. Do I make myself clear, Sumitomo?"

         "Yes!! Y-Yes!!"

         "Who am I?" Goji growled out.

         "T-The King of Monsters!!"

         "That's fucking right." Goji said, before taking two of Sumitomo's fingers and effortlessly ripping them off of his hand, before flinging him into the wall as hard as he could.

         The bar was silent now, as Goji panted, staring at the carnage he caused. He rubbed the back of his head, wincing, before looking back to the bar. The bartender was staring at him in horror, as Goji sat back down on his stool.

         "...Where's my drink?" He growled to the bartender, who shakingly put down an old fashioned in a highball glass. Goji gripped the cup, before slugging it down his gullet with one movement, the entire drink, garnish, and all, before slamming the cup back down on the table. He closed his eyes, slowly breathing in and out, as the alcohol took it's effect, and before the bartenders very eyes, Goji slowly reverted back into his human form.

         He took a deep breath, exhaling out his mouth with contentment, before rummaging in his wallet, and pulling out almost all of the money from it and put it on the bar; only about ¥100K.

         "Sorry about the mess," is all Goji said, before he slowly got up and walked out.