He just happened to be bored and started a fight between two guys in the cafeteria. All it took was a punch in the back towards another's direction and great speed for escape once the victim turned around to punch the first person he sees. He did not punch very well but kids his age get angry at every thing, so...

When the fight captured the attention of all students and teachers, Hero snuck out of school by climbing the fences. He ran. He dodged villagers, animals and crept through alleys and ran all the way to the wall. He climbed up the tree near a guard's post.

He took out his notebook and took down a few notes. This was his special spot for learning. Learning how to fight, of course. The guards on this particular post would always train, fighting with plain old sticks, and they would never know of a boy observing every move, taking it down and doing it to students who piss him off.

That's what I call learning!

By watching the quick but short movements of the guards, Hero knew today would be a different skill. It was defending yourself from an attack. He observed quietly and with interest until he nearly fell out of the tree when he heard a squawk. He looked further up the tree and saw a parrot with vibrant red feathers. It leaned down and cocked its head at him.

Hero stretched his arm out, the parrot watching with beady little eyes. It spread its wings and took off, landing on Hero's arm. The claws scraped against its skin and the boy winced. The parrot just rubbed its head on his arm and crawled up to his shoulder. It then rubbed its head on Hero's cheek. The boy groaned inwardly.

"Hey! The messenger parrot's back!"

The parrot squawked loudly and Hero yelped at the loud noise right beside his ears. He stiffened when he saw the guards staring at him with their swords by their sides. One guard held his arm out and the parrot flew over, tearing Hero's sleeve in the process. From the distance, he finally noticed the piece of paper strapped to the parrot's leg.

The same guard asked, "Oi, kid. Aren't you supposed to be in school?"

Hero kept away his notebook and stood up. The guard's watched as he leaped from branch to branch, until he reached the wall. From there, he slowly climbed down and landed in front of the guard.

He shrugged. "Yeah, but everyone's distracted and there's nothing much to learn."

The guards laughed at that and one asked, "Oh really kid? How old are you?"

Hero stared at him, "I'm twelve."

The guards looked at him, each other, him again and broke out in laughter. One guard asked, thinking of the question at the top his head, "What's sixty-seven multiplied with two hundred and four?"

His fellow guards snickered as they waited for Hero's answer. Hero just narrowed his eyes and answered, "Thirteen thousand, six hundred and sixty-eight. I reckon you three have to calculate yourselves before concluding whether I'm right or wrong."

The guards stopped snickering and kept quiet, calculating. Finally, after three long minutes, one guard stammered, "H-Hey... The kid's right."

This time, it was Hero's turn to laugh. He said matter of factly, "Of course I am. That's a eleven-year-old's question. I'm twelve."

The oldest of the guards smiles approvingly and nodded slowly. He had dark brown hair and a slight stubble. His eyes were wise and dark with age though. He smiled and spoke, "I like your attitude, kid. What's your name?"

Hero just raised and eyebrow and smirked, "Irrelevant information, sir."

The guard rolled his eyes and raised the stick again. "You're interested, right?"

Hero nodded eagerly. The guard grinned at him and slapped his friend with the stick right on the face. Said friend yelped and picked up his own stick, dropping to a proper stance. He was rubbing his red nose with another hand. "Watch and learn, shortie."

"That nickname was definitely not necessary."

○

Hero grabbed his friend's collar and shoved him forward, catching up easily. His friend looked at him with wide eyes and whispered, "That was awesome, you better put some nails in the bat, it'll make you even more cooler."

Hero swung his bat as some crates, flinging them to their chasers behind them. He snarled and spat, "Really not the time to discuss this, Peter. These guys are fast..."

Peter laughed as he sped up. He stared forward and realized they were nearing a low branch of a tree. He looked at his companion and jerked his head to the branch. Hero nodded at his plan and they picked up their speed. When they neared the branch, they leaped and grabbed the branch, swinging their bodies forward and on the branch. They jumped, letting the branch hit their chasers on the heads.

The two boys who were chasing them fell to the ground, clutching their heads. Peter and Hero jumped back down, Hero gripping his bat tightly. Peter just gave his signature smirk and wrapped an arm around his friend's shoulders. Hero just gave him a look.

One of the boys backed away to the wall and muttered, "W-Who are you guys?"

Peter and Hero exchanged amused looks before Hero raised his bat and whispered.

"We are those kids your mother warned you about."

With that, he swung the bat, hitting both boys up the head. They collapsed into a heap of unconscious bodies. Peter bent down to collect whatever loot he could find and deemed worthy. Afterwards, he gave a thumbs-up to Hero, who grinned back and the two sped down the alley again.

○

"Hey, can I come over? No one's home. My mother will be back next morning," asked Peter.

Hero froze and shook his head to clear his thoughts. Peter misunderstood him and asked, "What? Why not?"

Hero stared at him and frowned, flicking some dirt off his bat. "No, I-I guess you can? My father will come back late too."

Peter gave him a sweet smile and wrapped an arm around his friend. Hero groaned, Peter was one of the three people he allowed to take advantage of his height.

"Thanks, bud."

○

"Markus! I'm home, and I brought Peter along too!"

Peter looked at his friend and raised an eyebrow before a smaller boy barreled into the Swede. Peter watched as the smaller boy wrestled, Hero grunting and trying to push him off. He leaned on the door frame, laughing. "So, who is the rowdy kid?"

Hero yelled out, "My brother!" before grabbing Markus by the shirt and pinning him down, panting heavily. Markus whined as he dragged him into the house by an ear. Peter chuckled before locking the door. Peter sat on Hero's bed while Hero threw Markus on his own, reprimanding him for his behavior.

Peter held his hands up, saying, "Now, now, tiger mom, give the poor kid a break."

Hero let go of Markus and walked to his shelf to look for a few notebooks. Markus looked at his brother's empty satchel and asked aloud without thinking, "Brother, weren't we supposed to go out of the walls today?"

Peter and Hero froze.

"Markus, that's r-ridiculous-"
"You go beyond the walls?!"

Before Hero could object, Markus ran to the shelf, shoving Hero to the floor. He snatched a few leather notebooks and threw them to Peter. "Yeah, we do! We saw lots of things, those notebooks is Hero's research books, whatever that means..."

As Peter flipped through the books, Hero sat on the floor, clutching his bat as he waited for Peter to call him crazy and leave. He looked up and frowned. Peter was staring at the drawings and descriptions in awe. Peter turned to face his friend with a blinding smile. Hero gulped at what he asked next.

"Can you bring me next time?"