The Life Of Normal-Taro

After seven or so hours of comfortable journey, the crew finally reached Trivandrum. However, their headaches weren't over as of yet. It seemed like none of the people around knew the existence of a martial arts tournament that day.

"Didn't you say that it was a state tournament?" John asked Lonappan.

"Yea?"

"Then why don't these people know where it's held? Those tournaments are supposed to be a big deal, right?" He asked.

"Well, I feel like the popularity of martial arts has been deteriorating—I believe that it generally has less fanfare. Only hardcore fans of martial arts go to watch such tournaments." Lonappan explained.

"That's bad. That's causing us immense difficulty to find the arena now." John sighed.

"Yea… Bad…" Lonappan replied. As far as Lonappan was concerned, this situation was optimal to waste time. It was pretty favorable.

Suddenly, an auto driver, who happened to hear their conversation, jumped into the fray. "Oh, are you going to the arena where the martial arts tournament is held? I know that place! I can get you there!" He said. He was the same guy who dropped Taro and the guys to the arena as well.

"Fuck!" Lonappan cursed inwardly. His plans were getting thwarted. Nevertheless, he did know about pesky auto drivers who would drive an extra few kilometers to snatch off extra cash from their passengers. So, he believed that everything was still on track.

However, he didn't took one important factor into account. "Look, we're in a hurry here! So, here's what I'm gonna do. How long does it take for you to get to the arena?" John asked.

The driver thought for a while. "Hmm, about an hour with the traffic?" He gave out a rough estimation. He planned to make it longer though.

"Okay, here's the plan. If you're able to get us there within forty-five minutes, I'll chip in an extra thousand bucks. If you managed it within thirty minutes, it would be five thousand and anywhere below fifteen minutes will get you fifteen thousand rupees. How about it? Feel like taking us there?" John asked with a smile on his face. He unleashed his ultimate power—money.

And naturally, the prey played right into the predator's hands. Getting fifteen thousand in one trip was something no auto driver could imagine. So, of course, he took up the challenge.

It was miraculous. What they saw was a driving worth appreciating. They reached the arena within fifteen minutes. One could argue that it was a minute over fifteen—and by one, I mean Lonappan. However, John wasn't a miser like him, so he decided to reward the driver for his efforts because he was sure to have a few court summons in the coming days for reckless driving.

While this made John happy, Lonappan was still nervous. However, he did his part. It was already five. No tournament lasts that long—or so he believed. However, reality was much different. He could hear two random people chatting about an undefeated underdog facing one of the top seeds in the black belt category finals. He didn't even have to think that far to know that the underdog was Taro. After all he did to waste time, they still ended up there before his final match of the night. It was as if Gaia wanted them there that exact moment!

Even though Lonappan tried persuading John of several things like getting an ice cream, with the destination in sight, John wasn't swayed. He walked up inside the arena and found out that Taro and his opponent had already started their fight.

Lonappan sighed in relief. He kinda felt that John wouldn't interrupt a match like this. However, the farther the match went, the sinister the smile on John's face grew. Lonappan didn't understand the intention behind it. It was as if John knew the flow of the match already. And finally, when Taro punched straight on his opponent's face, his expression went back to normal. "Looks like I have a felon to catch!" John mumbled as he made his way past a shocked crowd.

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"So, yea. That's what happened." Lonappan finished his explanation.

"Well, I guess I'm at the fault after all. I did punch a guy in his face clean." Taro sighed.

"That's what I don't get! You looked angry. Did he say something to piss you off?" Lonappan asked.

"Well, he said that he'll strip my master off his martial arts license if I don't punch him with my full power." Taro explained.

"Wait, was that your full power?" He asked. If that was his full power, there wasn't any case to be made about his existence as a calamity-level threat since he won't be one.

"Hell, no! That was probably about one to two percent of my power. It's not like I would punch him with my full power when someone asks of me!" Taro shrugged.

"Well, next time someone asks you to punch them, don't even use one percent of your actual strength, okay?" Lonappan requested to which Taro nodded his head. "Look, I'll be trying to salvage this situation. So, always say yes when I push a question towards you." He replied to which Taro nodded his head yet again. The circle disbanded and they headed towards John.

"So, what's up with the secretive meeting? Not that I really care though." John scoffed.

"Well, I wanted to let you know that this was Taro's strongest ever punch. Like this is the most Taro could ever do. So, there's no chance that he's a calamity-level threat, right?" Lonappan looked at Taro, who nodded without further notice.

John sighed. "I don't care if he's one or not. What matters now is that he straight up punched a civilian without restraint, if I am to believe what you said. He had malicious intent while throwing the punch and it's against the tournament rules too, I believe. Therefore, he's a felon and deserves to rot in the detention center." He replied with conviction.

Kunjan, who remained silent the whole time, headed towards Lonappan and whispered. "Wait, what would've happened to Taro if he was proved to be a calamity-threat disaster?" He asked.

"He would've been sent to the detention center." Lonappan replied.

"Shoot, no matter what, eh?" Kunjan sighed.

"Look, I said that I'm gonna salvage this situation and I'm planning to go by my word!" Lonappan assured the plankton of that. Kunjan smiled.

However, John wasn't as pleased as the plankton. "Enough! Set aside this part of the conversation for now. We'll get to it later. We gotta deal with this first." John pointed to the still shocked crowd, who remained patient throughout the entire flashback. "Lonappan, go check that guys vitals. See if he's still living." John pointed at the fallen Jai this time.

Lonappan decided to follow his orders and quickly checked Jai. "He's breathing fine. I feel like his jaw bone just disintegrated because I can't feel anything out there. It's at the very least broken to multiple pieces." He gave out a rough estimate of the situation upon squishing Jai's face.

"This guy! How strong did you punch him for the mandible to disintegrate?" Jai asked Taro.

"As strong as I could." Taro calmly replied as Lonappan asked him to.

"Sheesh. Well, I'll focus on that part later. What's important right now is this!" John took out the latest version of the neuralyzer. "Okay, let's see. Where's the script? Oh, here it is! Ladies and gentlemen. May I have your attention please? What I have in my hand is…" John read word-by-word from the script before turning on the neuralyzer.

"Thankappan! Glasses! Quick." Lonappan whispered and they were able to wear it just in the nick of time. The aliens didn't care though, since they weren't affected anyway.

After flashing the neuralyzer, John entered into the state of thinking. "How should I fabricate the story?" He looked towards the squad and asked.

"A car hit the arena from the other side and formed the cracks on the walls?" Lonappan suggested.

"Yea, why not! What about the guy on the ground though?" He asked.

"Well, he could be the only guy that the car managed to hit." Lonappan replied.

"What about the people who know about Taro? How can we erase their memories?" He asked.

"Mr. John. Will you please let me handle the situation then?" Lonappan asked back.

"Yea, why not! I've been asking you anyway!" John gave him the green light.

Lonappan cleared his throat. "Ladies and gentlemen. Today, you were able to witness the birth of an urban legend. The legend of an unnamed underdog who managed to defeat the Goliath even after many difficulties he had to face. No one remembers his face. None of you remember his name either—not even his own master. All you know is that this guy came in, defeated the opponents, won the glory for his master's dojo and silently exited the scene of martial arts, never to be heard again. Oh, and as you heard before, there was a hit and run and it managed to injure that guy over there." Lonappan ended his lore by pointing towards Jai and headed towards John. "So, how was it?" He asked.

"Well, it was filled with loopholes! If a person has doubts about our story and wants to follow up on that, they'll easily find the obvious flaws in our fake lore. However, it's a fine job nonetheless." John replied. "Now that that's dealt with, let's get to our little discussion, shall we?" He asked as he stared towards Taro.

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