Bonus: Big in Japan

"Woah, look at that neat thing!"

"Robbie..."

The flashing signs of Shibuya hypnotized Robbie, lost in the enchanting blur of Tokyo's commercial district, its cross roads, and TV towers. Well-mannered businessmen ignored the rambunctious foreigner with the oversized muscles as he stopped to inspect any manner of ephemera that caught his attention. Including, as it were, the statue of Hachiko, a bronze Akita situated outside the station.   

"Hey, Coach, check this out! He's so cuuute!" 

Mr. Iron, who drew attention more than anybody else, had to bound over to keep up with his wayward ward. "Kid, you can call me John Henry," he panted. "Or Mr. Iron."

"Aw, but you're tottally coach to me, big dude!" 

Two high-school aged boys in uniform suddenly approached the two men. In perfect, polite English they asked, "Hey! Do you mind if we take your picture?" 

Robbie felt like a celebrity. "Aw, sure, dudes!" He put his arms around the guys, who seemed a bit afraid they might get squashed, with John Henry standing tall in the background.

"Oh, wait," one of the boys said, tipping the camera up. "Um...you mind if I use my glyph?"

Robbie found it odd to ask for permission, but nodded.

The boy smiled and willed his camera into the air, his own self-made tripod. 

"Now say poutine!" Robbie said, with a big grin.

Click.

The boy willed the camera back into his hands. "Thanks!"

"Hey, you're a metal user too," John Henry said to the lad. "Same as me!"

"Wow!" The kid looked star-struck. "Laurion is a pretty rare glyph here in Tokyo, surprisingly enough. I don't run into many other users here, and not too many foreigners. Thanks so much for the photo!" The boy and his friend bowed and then hurried off (presumably to school).

"Woah," Robbie gushed. "Tokyo is awesome. And the people are so nice. It's like...even putting Canada to shame."

"See what I meant about being kind of like ambassadors! Spellbreaking isn't just about fun. It brings the world together. I don't even know if those kids knew we were athletes. I think we just stand out."

Robbie laughed, take in by Tokyo's charms--he also felt, well, pretty at peace since the whole Paris incident. "Awww, I think these guys just know cool when they see it." He flexed his biceps, to make a point. Hey, but we should head to the temple to meet up with Colt and the others. And Yuki! Man, it's amazing running into an ice-magi here on the other side of the world. Like, back home we're a loon-a-dozen, but it's hard to find many outside the cold zones. Ugh, I miss Canada. I wonder if I should pick up a souvenir for my mom. She always sends stuff to the GSA, you know. I can even ask her to make you a dreamcatcher or send some her beadwork if you want. Huh, all this walking is making me hungry, bro..."

John Henry could barely keep up with Robbie's train of thought. "Heh. You are a very excitable fella."

"Er." Rather uncharacteristically of him, Robbie's cheeks tinged red. "Okay, you like...can't tell the others this, big bro, but...I have ADHD."

John Henry had been in the business this long to tell that Robbie was not exactly comfortable with disclosure. Which meant someone had made him feel awful about it at one point or another. And in this line of work, where any sign of vulnerability could make you a target, John Henry understood perfectly. 

"Thank you for sharing that with me, Robbie," John Henry said, with a kind smile. "You'll find most of us have more than one or two loose bolts in our engines. Why do you think we got into spellbreaking? Because we're well-adjusted?"

Robbie's brief dip into the duldrums turned right around, and he was all smiles and snow showers again. He punched John Henry in the arm, playfully. "Hahaha. See, this is why you're the best." Wincing, he nursed his sore knuckle. "Damn, bro, you really are made out of metal.

"I been hitting the gym more. And hey, I'm just glad to see Deadboy's influence isn't so strong on you now. You er...sorta' flew off the hockey stick back there in Paris."

The seasoned vet and the contender dipped down a more quiet side street (still bustling with activity by most definitions), passing izakayas, news stands, and snack stalls.  

Robbie pretended not to be bothered by how things had ended (really, before they had begun) with Cian Enbarr. "Aw, I don't even care about what's-his-name anymore."

"You mean, Cian!?"

"Where!?" Robbie said, his heart a flutter. He cringed. "Okay, maybe I still care a little..."

"You know, I think you do have a big heart. But a lot of guys think you're sort of a bully."

"What?" Robbie looked genuinely surprised (and offended). He rolled his eyes. "Ugh, nerds. Look, I'm just a tough guy. I'm not exactly a heel. But I don't like being nice to people unless they deserve it."

"You're sensitive, kid. Soft heart. Hard shell."

"GRRR! I'll show you sensitive," Robbie said, his first instinct to square up with John Henry.

The giant man looked down at him.

Robbie bit his lip. "Er...eventually. Once I get bigger! You'll be swoorry you challenged the Ice-Cold Killa', Robbie The Icewolf!"

Mr. Iron laughed, though without an ounce of venom. "I stand by my point. Kid, I think you're pretty decent, when you aren't riled up about something. Let me ask you something...what is it that gets to you?"

Robbie wasn't sure he understood the question. At first, anyway. Dark, wet eyes narrowing in deep contemplation, Robbie thought about how far he'd come as a spellbreaker...and how far behind he felt, still.

"It's like a mountain."

"Huh?"

"Fighting. Getting stronger. Working on being a better person." He sighed. "It's like...I put some effort into it, and then I look up and realize I'm still at the bottom of this giaaaant mountain, bro. You get it? Or am I being dumb?"

"You're being incredibly smart, kid. Maybe you're just hard on others because you're hard on yourself. And maybe...you're so obsessed with Cian because he represents something you want." The giant man scratched his bald head. "Er...hell if I know what that is though."

Robbie shrugged, following the colorful signs overhead to a small plaza adjacent to an even smaller park and playground. He always appreciated green spaces like this, tucked away--secret hiding spots. "...I guess...I dunno. I have this thing where I find something to obsess about, and then I like, REALLY get into it, ya know? It's the hockey player in me. Always gotta' have a goal! First it was hockey, and I did that. Then it was spellbreaking. Then it was Cian...which was a loss. But right now I feel like I'm just not getting far in my spellbreaking career, ya know? I keep getting my ass kicked." He pouted. "By Spike. Ugh. Hey, what's that...?"

Up ahead, a man in a blue uniform stood at a metal push cart, staring at a glass box. The box was affixed to a small platform, with a crank handle. Next to it, arranged in a neat row, were a collection of colorful flavoring syrups.

The middle aged purveyor frowned. "Darn, this thing isn't working." He looked up at the giant foreigners approaching him, and flinched. "Huh? I...uh...don't want any trouble!"

Robbie's eyes adjusted to Gloria's ambient translation magick, reforming the kanji and hiragana on the side of the cart into French. Then English. Then a mixture of the phonetic dialect Robbie's family spoke. He blinked, forcing his brain to fix on a translation. He hadn't bothered mentioning that his attention span could affect perception of enchantments as well.

Regardless, he attempted the gist of it. "Shaved...ice?" He said.

The merchant was taken aback. "Oh, you two speak Japanese. I am very sorry, but the machine is broken. The freezing mechanism won't work for me."

Robbie looked at the glass box. He assumed it must fill up with ice.

Then, rarity of rarities, he got an idea. "Dude, I am a freezing mechanism." He already picked up on the merchant's confusion, so he conjured up a small sphere of flurries, dancing around his fingers. "See?"

The shaved ice vendor smiled. "Oh, you're a Cryos magi? We don't see many down here. Usually in Hokkaido..."

Robbie looked to his coach, who nodded in approval. "Mind if I give it a try?"

The vendor scratched his head. After a moment's hesitation, he shrugged.

"Sure...but..."

Robbie was already on the case, closely investigating the machine and trying to put the pieces together. "Er..."

"Here," John Henry offered. He pointed to tubes going into the ice machine. "Looks like nitrogen. If you were to channel your energy here, you'd basically be doing the same thing as the machine down here."

"Thanks!" Robbie said, cheerfully, placing his hands on the tube. He thought cold thoughts. "Okay, let's see here..."

The machine whirred to life. A flurry of fine bits of ice sprayed out of the generator at the bottom of the glass case, soon filling it up with chips needed for the ice.

"Oh!" the proprietor said, impressed. "It's working."

"That's not all," Robbie said, grinning. He flicked hid hands, drawing the shaved ice from the glass box, swirling it around in the air.

John Henry gave him a warning look. "Don't get too cocky now, Wolfie."

Robbie went to glare at him, but restrained himself at the last second. Big guy had a point. "Er...right. Hold on a second..."

He shaped the ice into a crude, but undeniable cute and easily recognizable shape. He then (without asking for permissions) squirted some of the blue, sweet syrup on top of it, giving it color.

A few school children watching the odd foreigners gathered around the shaved ice machine took notice. "Look at that! He's so cool."

"Huh?" Robbi turned around to see the two small children, a boy and a girl, staring up wantingly at this ice creation. "It's a w--"

"It's Hachiko!" the little girl said!"

Icewolf bit his lip. "Y-yeah! It's Hachiko!" He handed it to her.

"Aww I want one too!" the boy said.

Beaming, Robbie turned to the vendor, who both amused and a bit irritated that he was being shown up a foreigner, nodded. Icewolf conjured up another ice shape (a miniature snowman) and handed it to the boy.

"Aw, I want strawberry!" The boy pointed to the top of the snowman. "For his hat."

Robbie laughed. "Haha. Fine, little dude." 

Soon, a throng of kids had gathered around the cart, slamming down small change and begging Robbie to make more creations. 

"Wow, this is awesome!"

After the crowd has cleared (and Robbie's magick thoroughly spent) Robbie leaned against the side of the cart and sighed.

The proprietor was certainly not disappointed. "Hey, you're good for business, kid!" He closed his register til and gave Robbie a closer look. "Say, you're one of those guys who fights in their underwear. No wonder you got a knack for it."

"Aw, thanks. I love making things." Robbie smiled. "I used to get made fun of it allll the time by the bigger guys. That's why I started weight lifting and working out." Smile turning to sneer, he pounded his fist against the inside of his hand. "So I could shove them into lockers when they made fun of my ice dancing."

Mr. Iron had been watching, with great pride and joy, the whole time. He laughed, heartily. "Kid, you're a diamond in the rough."

Robbie cocked his head. "Nah, I'm Anishinaabe."

"No I mean you have a lot of potential." Mr. Iron gave the grateful vendor a polite bow and motioned the scrappy fighter along before he could somehow make a mess of his victory. "Say, you want to take some lessons with me? To be honest, I miss one-on-one training, and since I'm gonna take a step back from the whole Chalice th--"

"YEAAAAH!" Robbie shouted, startling a group of elderly women taking a stroll nearby. "What!? That's AWSOME. Iron and Ice! WOO! WOO! WOO!" He punched the fist, ignoring the looks from passersby.

Mr. Iron motioned for him to settle, but it was a pointless endeavor. "I...appreciate the excitement."

"I'll be like the BEST student ever!" Robbie said, swirls of diamond dust floating around him in excitement. "Put me in coach, you can count on me!"

Now, Mr. Iron wasn't sure if he'd made a mistake or not.  "Well, how about this for a first test," he started. "Wanna redeem yourself, kid? Help us locate the wellspring for the Chalice of Knowledge that Tiger and Deadboy picked up in Hong Kong."

"YEAAAH! So, like, where is this puddle anyway?"

"Ah, that's the thing." Mr. Iron craned his head towards the shrine up ahead, the gathering place where Yuki, Kengo, Rai, Joseph, and Colt were waiting. "It's in the Sea of Trees..."

The End