Chapter Text
(Note: Hiya guys! It's been a while since I made a fic on Wattpad. So this fic is on a crossover between Baki the Grappler and Poppy Playtime. Without a further ado, enjoy this chapter!)
Neon lights reflected off the pavement as Yuujirou Hanma walked casually through the nightlife of Tokyo. Hands in his pocket as the blackened clouds hidden stars away.
Those who didn't know a sliver of knowledge of his existence gave him a weird look. Onlookers slowed their pace when he passed by. People who stood in his path didn't just take a step to the side. They gave him a wide berth.
Those who knew him didn't need to take a step back; they were already afar. Their bodies did their own thing to avoid him.
No one could explain why this phenomenon occurred, it can be said as a holdover to men's primitive natural instinct to avoid imminent danger. The most skilled of warriors couldn't give a better answer than that.
'Not a single drop of rain has fallen.' He thought to himself. Looking up at the massive clouds. They shared colors with the night, blended in perfectly with the atmosphere. Easily the telltale signs of a storm awaiting the signal to initiate.
As of why it hasn't started couldn't have been less of a concern in the eyes of the Ogre. That matter to put it simply was beneath him.
The air pricked against his skin, and for a moment his hair abruptly stood upright.
Lightning fell from the heavens above. It struck him head on as thunder roared in the distance. It illuminated the surroundings as people gasped. The ground rumbled by the sheer force of the impact.
For a split moment, bystanders thought they saw his true form underneath his unsettling appearance beneath those muscles. Like a mirage, the lightning faded away.
The light died down alongside with the croaks of thunder. Shock spread quickly as the realization hit them of what transpired in front of them.
The man vanished from their eyes. It was as if he was nothing more than a false memory inside the back of their minds. Fighters who were there didn't fare any better than them trying to understand where he disappeared.
Riley stayed quiet as she followed the man in the lab coat. Out of everyone in Playcare, he didn't wear a nametag. She gave one more look behind her as kids waved their goodbye at her from the distance before returning the favor with her grin. She held a little journal, tucked under her arm.
She'd seen him only a few times, around the Game Station at the top of those weird catwalks above everything on the ceiling with some of those people wearing lab coats. He didn't wear a nametag like the rest of the adults do.
Why they thought watching her and other kid's playing games is a good use of their time instead of doing something like...finding a cure for cancer is beyond her.
"Dr. White, can I ask you something?" Riley spoke up. The man in the lab coat gave her a glance as they continue to stray further. "You can ask me anything Riley." That smile he gives off looked rehearsed.
Riley paused for a second before opening her mouth. "Do you think my parents would have wanted me to be taken in by someone else?" She asked.
The man tilted his head slightly at the question. "Oh, what makes you think that kiddo?"
Riley looked around as if she was trying to find her words before starting again. "I'm not afraid of being taken in by anyone who wants me. I'm afraid they wouldn't love me as much as my parents did." She spoke softly.
He nodded his head along to the conversation like he cared. "Right, right, and you're scared they might not like you?" He inquired.
The child shook her head slowly. Bobbing her pigtails before eying to her shoes. "It's not that they might not like me. I just want to be happy and be true to me without needing to change who I am."
Dr. White hummed in acknowledgment with a polite expression; he looked interested enough, navigating through various hallways. "Huh, that's neat Riley. We don't get to hear that often with many kids like you around your age in Playcare. Most would be nervous getting chosen or leaving Playcare, and it's natural to be that way."
Riley let out a sigh slowly, her expression unsure. Her words came out slower, if not more careful. "That's because most can't remember what they lost."
In that split second, Dr. White came to a halt. She continued to speak. "Don't get me wrong, I don't hate them, but I pity them. Really, I do my best to be nice, but I'm not sure what I can say to them. Most of the kids have been here for nearly their whole lives or are too young to remember to know what it was like having those things. I did."
Riley looked at the man in the eyes, her voice slightly wavering. "And that scares me more than anything. Anything can happen to anyone in a second and leave them with nothing. My parents lost their lives, but a part of them lives in me because of what they did for me. They did their best to teach me their values and because of that, their lives mattered. That makes me happy."
"As long as others remember what they lost even when their bodies change, that's all that should matter in pushing you forward."
When Riley stopped talking, she saw the look on the man's face. He was taken aback; she'd never seen this from a scientist before. Did she say something wrong?
Then, Dr.White began clapping his hands slowly. His voice returned to him.
"Wow, I need to admit, but that's the deepest thing I've ever heard coming from a kid. That's the type of thinking that would make someone a leader who inspires others."
Riley's eyes sparkled with surprise. "Really? Some kid like me leading? But I don't think I could be a leader." She spoke truth. Not once did she hear someone saying stuff like that about her.
The man let out a short chuckle. "Your counselors have said otherwise about you. Whenever a couple kids get upset over something, they'd go up to you first before your counselors."
He placed his hand on her shoulder. "Be more confident in yourself and open up. Let's keep walking for now, shall we? You wouldn't want to be late for your checkup, would you?" He ended his sentence there.
Riley slowly nodded to Dr. White before continuing onward to their path. It didn't feel like they were going up though, or wherever they were going in the first place.
Whenever she tried to bring up where they were going in the first place, all he would say is that she needed a 'checkup' first before she could meet whoever chose her, so she could be healthy.
But she did have her checkup a week ago, and there was nothing wrong with her then. So why did they need to check up on her now if she was proven healthy last week? This didn't make any sense to her head, none of it did! The gut in her told her something is very wrong.
Either way, she couldn't get an answer out of the scientist who kept reassuring her that it's going to be 'quick', and relatively painless like every other checkup she had. So, she stopped talking after asking him for the third time.
Every minute felt like an eternity. At one point, she thought her ears caught the sound of a faint rumble in the distance, but maybe it was just her nerves getting to her. Sweat gathered at the back of her neck.
The two of them arrived at some location, deep underneath Playcare, she couldn't tell. Everything about it looked high tech, she couldn't even get a chance to look around her surroundings as the man ushered her inside the lobby quickly.
There were people wearing hazmat suits, and a few who wore lab coats. One of them tried to get his attention, but he ignored their presence and waved them off saying he needed to take care of something. One of them glanced at another person wearing a lab coat, and they shrugged.
Passing through multiple corridors and hallways, they came to a room, and he smiled at her. His hand wrapped around the doorknob and he opened it, leading her inside as her confusion grew, looking at him. "Please excuse me for a moment Riley. You can be in the room in the meantime. I'll be right back."
Riley was about to open her mouth, but Dr. White promptly closed the door shut. Hearing the hurried sound of his footsteps fade quickly into the ambience. She blinked once, then twice to confirm that this man did not ditch her here.
'What was that about?' Riley wondered with a raised eyebrow. She turned around and looked around in the room. It looked too clean with a scent of antiseptic; it stung her nose. It was too white. The light hurt her eyes. 'Where did Dr. White bring me? It feels like I shouldn't be here.' She thought.
This room looked like you would be in prepped for surgery, not a checkup. Then her eyes focused on the center of the room. From there she didn't move, only stared, eyes too wide for her face.
There's a table in the center of it; thick clamps surrounded the metal thing along its sides. They looked built in instead of supposed to being added in for later with machinery nearby, and tools on a separate table. 'Is...Is that supposed to be for me? Who's that on there?' She clutched her notebook tighter.
There is someone lying on the table. A man whose build appeared massive before her. He wouldn't need to stand up to tower over her, he already does by default.
She couldn't look away from this sight even though she can feel her heart pounding out of her chest. She'd never seen a man with a body built as much as this person. Vast shoulders, a big chest, and apparently long legs. The black shirt he wore barely restrains his athletic physique.
'I don't think he's awake, but why is he in here?' Riley pondered as her eyes loomed over his chest rising up and falling slowly peacefully. Everything else about him felt wrong. Even if he's asleep, it felt like he didn't need to be awake to be dangerous even if he's restrained.
Riley started to pace herself slowly around the room as a million thoughts went rampant through her mind, trying to make sense of everything. 'My body's shaking. I don't know why, but if I stay here, something bad will happen to me.'
Her eyes landed onto the figure strapped down onto the table, and from there she halted in her tracks once again. A realization blipped through her mind and connected the dots. 'What if I let him free? Would he help me?' She wondered on the thought.
She turned around and briefly glanced at the door, expecting Dr. White or one of those weird people in hazmat suits to come inside. They didn't.
She focused her attention back onto the man on the examination table. Putting her journal down, before taking a hesitant step forward, then another. The further she got to him, the heavier her unease got. Yet, she pressed forward, her time was getting limited.
Getting close enough to see the man up front, there were several straps wrapped around his limbs keeping him there. Wasting no time, her hands grabbed onto one of them tied on his left arm. With a mighty tug, she undone the first one.
It took her a little bit to get every one of them off his limbs, but she glanced upon his body once again. Muscular wouldn't cut close to how solid he looked, even though she hadn't touched him.
He looked less of a man and more of a mythological creature carved out of marble that eats people like one of those subjects she learned at her previous school about Greek History, minus the red hair though. 'Would these even do anything to keep him there?'
After undoing the final one near the top of his other arm, she took several cautious steps away. Observing him for a second before turning her head away to look at the door.
Still, no signs of Dr. White returning nor did she hear anyone walking by. The tightness in her chest did not abate. There is no way of knowing when he will come back. It's not like she can just run out and hope she'll find somewhere to hide.
She let out a sigh, and she eyed at her journal on the floor. The face of the nice counselor who gave her the notebook flashed through her mind. At the very least she could calm down her nerves, if she ever sees the nice counselor, Riley needs to thank her.
Bending down and picking it back up, she took out a pencil intending to put in. It seemed a bit redundant to add in another entry just after a couple of...hours? The poor girl couldn't tell what time it is. It felt warranted enough. Turning a page, she drew her pencil close to the paper-
A groan coming from the bed made her jump before going still. Riley's body to put it shortly, stopped moving without knowing why, her grip laxed.
She didn't register the sound of her journal and her pencil falling onto the floor. Heartbeat picking up speed till it pounds against her chest in mere moments.
Hesitantly, she turned her head around steadily, as if doing it any would do anything to hinder the dread rushing down to her spine. She locked a glance with him who stood upright.
The man's eyes opened like blinking into the abyss.
And it blinked back.