Chapter 7: Fist and Madtaks

"I am sorry!"

"Huh!? So-sorry!"

Yang and Gantes hurriedly snapped out of their fighting mode and hurriedly tried to help the crumpled-poor looking man who ate their special moves.

But contrary to their expectation, the poor guy was actually alive, although barely.

Fortunately, the special moves of Mark and Yang seemed to help him survive the fatal landing thanks to the spinning kick that hit I'm at his shoulder and turned his head away from the ground before landing, and the palm strike from a big guy that stopped his forceful landing, though it seemed to have jumbled the poor guy's stomach.

"AggghKk~aieeegh aeigggh~aigggh!~" the poor guy, who happens to be the balut vendor - Chiko, was rolling on the ground from the intense pain.

Seeing Chiko's pitiful state, Yang and Gantes was filled with guilt and completely stopped their fight. They were panicking at what to do while hoping that the injuries were not that serious.

"Did I kill him? Did I kill him? Am I going to jail too?" Yang dazedly asked.

"Sh*t! Sh*t! Hey! Are you okay? Are you alive? Please be alive." Mark tried to shake the rolling Chiko.

However, the first struggling words that came out of Chiko's mouth were not what they were expecting.

"Agggh! Agggh!... Five thousand per month allowance! Full school scholarship program! Aggghh!!! I heard that the try out is about to end. shiiiiiit. Can you two join me for the Sepak Takraw tryouts? Pleeease?"

Seeing the latter to be still alive and seems to have different things in mind, Mark and Yang both sighed in relief. But the face of Chiko was dead serious.

"Please join my team. I have no friends who want to join me..ugh..the stupid ugly pot-bellied guard won't let me in... I had no choice but to go thru the back end, and I need that scholarship so bad, and five thousand monthly allowances of course.. agggh." Chiko mumbled in pain while pleading at the same time.

His eyes were as big as a poor little cat's while drenched in a cold rain. The two could only look in guilt and pity.

It didn't take long before Yang and Gantes replied,

"Yes! Yes! As long as you can forgive me! Let's do the takraw-takraw!" Then Yang turned to Mark,

"You! Criminal! You will join too right?! Right!?" Yang said with pleading in his eyes.

"For the last time stop calling me criminal. And seriously, five thousand per month allowance aside from a full scholarship!? That's a lot of Samgyupsal! Alright, I am in." Mark's deadly aura has long disappeared and has now changed to a drooling glutton.

"Did you hear that!? Let's be a takraw team! We will train and be the best regu of this school, no, of this island! So please forgive us and get well soon." Yang tried his best to soothe the guy in pain.

"Aggh....Do you promise to join me? ugh, it still hurts. I might have to go to the hospital later..." Chiko said weakly.

"Yes! yes! We promise to join your takraw-takraw team!" Yang confirmed hurriedly trying his best to appease the pained young man.

"I guess it's better to have something to get busy with. Wait, is that the sport uncle Cardo used to play? hmm. I guess It's time to get back in shape then." Mark mumbled while stretching his tummy fat.

Hearing that he finally got a team, Chiko's pained expression suddenly disappeared. And like a miraculously-healed bastard, he stood up excitedly and shamelessly dragged the two to the direction of the gym - as if the pain was just an illusion.

"Wait, you are fine?! After taking all that damage?" Yang asked in surprise. He was not expecting Chiko to recover that fast.

"You are a tough one. I like that Let's have a fist-fight some time." Mark said excitedly as they were both being dragged by the renewed Chiko.

"Save your chatter for later, right now, we need to secure the Sepak Takraw scholarship! My name is Chiko by the way! Let's hurry to the gym! Let's impress the world with our sepak takraw skill!" Chiko excitedly introduced himself.

Then, Chiko glanced back at the two and smiled brightly, "And since I took a full attack from you two, you now have no choice but to become my friends as compensation. Don't you both agree?- Good! Now let's move!"

And Chiko continued to shamelessly drag the pale-looking Ferdy Yang who is in his janitor's clothes and the loosely clothed bald fatty Mark Gantes. Soon, they were about to reach the crowded school grounds and Yang could not take it anymore.

"Can you please let us go? We will follow you. I promise we won't run away." Yang suddenly spoke, feeling ashamed of the people's curious gazes.

"Yeah.I hate to admit it but the pale cat is right. I will still follow you anyway since I also had plans to do the Sepak Takraw try-outs." Gantes added.

Hearing the two complain, Chiko finally let go and smiled,

"That's perfect then! I have a good feeling that the three of us will be great friends after today. Don't you both agree?"

"Friends?"

"Me?"

Hearing the word 'friend', Yang and Gantes, who never truly found a true friend in their lives felt unusually excited.

But that excitement did not last a single second, Yang and Gantes have deep wounds in their lives that have never healed. One had an Aswang curse while the other was despised by society for countless criminal offenses.

To have a true friend who would accept them completely was just a mere dream for them.

"I-I guess so. I am not sure. I might scare you guys the more you know about me. So I guess I have to pass to your friendship offer." Yang remembered his Aswang curse and knew better to distance himself from the start.

"Hahaha! You both might just run away the moment you learned who really I am. Are you sure you want to be my friend farm kid? I don't really suggest it if you want to live peacefully and healthily." Gantes said his excuse as well.

"That's great! Starting today! Will be our great friendsary! I don't really care what both your past was. As long as we get the school scholarship today, I will treat you both as my best friends-forever! No excuses!" Chiko replied energetically.

"Do you even listen to us!?" Yang beckoned at Chiko's nonchalance.

"This kid is bound for countless regret. hahaha!" Gantes could not help but laugh.

But the moment they both looked at Chiko, their uneasiness faded. There was a serious gaze hidden in his nonchalant smile.

It was a gaze so relaxed but full of trust, and at the same time, it was full of hope. It was a young stranger's smile that seems to calm their ever-troubled hearts.

Yang and Gantes suddenly stood in silence. Their heads were in conflict whether to accept the young man's offer or not.

Chiko's right hand suddenly formed a fist bump and turned it towards Yang and Gantes, inviting them to do the same.

There was a cool blow of wind in between the weird-looking trio in the middle of the school oval ground. Chiko smiled brightly and innocently. He seems to have noticed the hesitation of his two companions.

"Actually, forget about the scholarship. Can we all just be friends?"

The wind blew even harder, shaking Chiko's dark brown hair and revealing his light brown eyes.

There was a smile of pure innocence making both Yang and Gantes feeling calm towards the easy-going Chiko.

Then Chiko added, "I too have no friends since I have been living my life living alone in the forest with my grandma and the farm animals. It would be good for me to have a couple of human friends of my age after all. So why not stop prejudging each other and learn to trust some strangers just this once. Who knows, we might just become true friends who support and fight for each other's battle."

There was a long silence that followed Chiko's words. But Chiko was not in hurry and just continued to smile at them, giving them enough time to think.

Little did he knew, he was actually reaching for their closed cold hearts.

"Support and fight..." Gantes mumbled in a daze.

"Each other's battle..." Yang slowly added to confirm what he heard.

The eyes of Chiko was shining brightly while despite the hard blowing wind, his fist-of-friendship-offer remained steady and strong towards the two wounded souls before him.

Seeing the persistent friendship offer, the two could not help but sigh in surrender.

Slowly, Yang and Gantes both raised their fist and bumped it toward's Chiko.

The three of their fist connected and their fate has been sealed.

"My first name is Mark. Mark Gantes, but you can just call me Gantes. I prefer you call me that." Mark said a little embarrassed.

"Nice meeting you Gantes! And you pale guy?" Chiko turned to the embarrassed Yang.

"Yang. Ferdy Yang is my full name. I love vegetables and fruits. I hate meat."

"You hate meat!? It's the most delicious thing in the whole world!" Gantes inserted with a disbelieving expression towards Yang.

"Yuck." Yang shook his face in disgust the moment he heard the word meat.

"Yuck your vegetarian face," Gantes mumbled.

"You have a problem with me being a vegetarian pork belly?!" Yang retorted.

"Your brain has a problem. Not me. I am healthy! haha!" Gantes laughed haughtily while slapping his ballooned waist full of fats.

Hearing his active new team members arguing, Chiko smiled happily before butting in.

"I like both meat and vegetables. But right now, I want that money-I mean we need that scholarship! So let's keep moving boys and win that money-I mean scholarship!"

Remembering the monthly allowance in case they got the scholarship, Gantes started to droll again and cheered as well,

"For unlimited Samgyupsal! All the meat you can eat! Hurray!"

Hearing Gante's shout, Yang could not help imagining the unlimited meat surrounding him which instantly made him nauseated.

"I hate you both... uuhweiigh!~" mumbled Yang who was about to vomit.

The weird trio, a balut vendor, a big bald fatty, and an Aswang school Janitor hurriedly ran towards the school gym and forgot about the scattered phones and wallet at the back alley.

"Anyway, what should we call our team if ever we get recruited?" Gantes asked the two.

But Chiko, who seems to have thought about it beforehand, just smiled excitedly and shouted,

"Madtaks!"

"That's lame. What's that even mean?" Gantes replied bluntly.

"I agree. What's Madtaks anyway?" Yang added.

"It stands for Madridejos-Takraw-Legends! Aren't I a genius? hahaha!" Chiko excitedly explained, there were even fireworks in his eyes.

"laaaaame..." Gantes complained.

"So the 's' at the end stands for legends?"

"Yup!"

"laaame."

"Why not Super Trio?!"

"laaamee~"

"Bantayan Crusher? Master Beaters?"

"laaaame~"

"Let's just do the Madtaks then."

"laaam-"

PAAK!~

"ow!"

"You have a better team name?!"

"Ye- actually none."

"Madtaks it is then."