Crono's Story by Traum

Chapter 3 Cris

A sort of unreality, a kind of unbelieving had washed over me as I'd witnessed the battle between my unknown protectorate and the transformed Triono, almost like I was watching it from someone else's point of view. I'd never seen such power or speed in a single entity before, but this bald headed man possessed skill far beyond my range, or even Triono's. Never, in all my time, had I ever even thought that only a few punches would leave Triono badly injured and barely hanging onto life. Even one of my fully powered Kamehameha's wouldn't have put a dent in Triono while he was transformed like that.

I gazed warily at my defender, who was holding over the naked and used up body of Triono, looking over it like a mother protecting its young. Pain had numbed my left shoulder and arm, and I clasped them with my right arm in a futile attempt to relieve the agony that had placed itself in them. The bald fighter had landed back on the ground, and was kneeling over Triono, getting his pulse.

I slowly stepped forward, towards the pair, and came up from behind them. Right before I reached them, the conscious man turned his head and looked at me. "How are you?" He asked. I didn't reply; I was still in awe of the way he'd dispatched the transformed Triono. When I didn't respond, he stood, turned and questioned me again. "Well, you ok?"

His voice, somewhat high pitched, set me off even more. I looked at him through squinting eyes, summing him up as well as I could, before finally I replied, "I'll be ok, I just need to get to a hospital."

"Don't have time for that." He flatly stated. I was quietly surprised by his remark, but before I could question him about it, a wave of pain callously whipped over my entire body. I'd run out of energy, completely, I didn't even have the power to stand, and I would've collapsed to the ground if not for the bald man grabbing my injured arm as I was falling. I screamed out as ripples of pain shot from my shoulder, dulling my mind; his hand was like a vice-grip.

"Oh shit, sorry." He said, and quickly moved his hand to under my other arm, supporting me in a less painful fashion. "Let's see just what the problem is." He then took his free hand and passed it slowly over my injured arm, from shoulder to wrist, and I felt a sort tingling sensation throughout the arm, drying the pain slightly.

When he finished with whatever he was doing, he released my body to its own reconnaissance, and the tingling disappeared. The pain returned, but it was far less antagonistic, to the point where I could think again. "Broken forearm, bone chips in elbow, and dislocated shoulder." He said, speaking like a doctor reading a chart. He then continued, conversing in a sympathetic tone, "This could hurt a little."

He then grabbed my forearm and, without a second thought, shoved the fragmented broken bone back to the main one. The pain that he'd only recently help recede came back with a vengeance, and I screamed in ache and pain. But it would only get worse, as he then moved up to my elbow, and with a single hand, crushed the joint inwards. I clamped a fist with my right hand and was dearly tempted to swing it at this man, but then I remembered Triono's beating, and thought better of it.

After what seemed like an eternity of crushing bone fragments in my elbow, he moved up to my shoulder, and, using both hands, crammed my arm back into it's socket. When he finished he let go of me and I fell to the ground in a heap of pain.

My new MD then proceeded to drop a small green bean in front of me as I writhed in agony on the ground. "Eat that. It'll help, I promise." He said. My adopted momma didn't raise any fool though; I didn't take food from a stranger, at least not without one question being answered first.

"What is it?" I asked as I stared up at him.

He looked at me with a sort of dazed look on his face. "They call it a senzu bean, it'll give you your strength back and speed up the recovery process quite a bit."