<strong>Name:</strong>Sagawa Bunji<br/><strong>Location:</strong>The Sake Garden Bar & Restaurant - Streets of Tokyo<br/><strong>Tagging:</strong>Zombies, Open<br/><br/><hr/><hr/><br/><br/><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;">One hand held a spatula, the other a wok, as he stirred and tossed stir fry. His blue eyes were distant, lost in the mechanical task of food preparation that had become like a second nature to him. A toothpick was clenched between his teeth, his tongue rolling it idly along his bottom rows as fire spouted from the pot. Through the loud hissing of cooking food, Bunji was unaware of the chaos that had occurred in the dining area. Customers were running, screaming, and beating back zombies with chairs. His manager had already bagged the restaurant’s funds and abandoned shop.<br/><br/>Cutting the stove, Bunji lifted the still simmering shrimp and vegetables off the burner and turned to dump the contents into a dish next to him when he came face-to-face with a man whose face was gaunt, peeling, and eyes pink with irritation. From a mouth black with old blood and rot, the zombie hissed on a putrid breath, and Bunji reacted by sending a pot-full of searing oil and stir fry into the creature’s face.<br/><br/>“Jesus Christ!” Bunji exclaimed, scrambling backwards only for his back to meet the chest of another undead. Just as the creature was throwing its arms around him, the knight whirled with the iron wok to send the zombie’s skull ringing with the resonation of bone meeting metal. After knocking the zombie aside, the chef bolted for the exit, raising his left leg up to have his foot Spartan kick another zombie in the abdomen and send its floppy form to the floor.<br/><br/>“It’s a fuckin’ zombie apocalypse!” he yelled in disbelief. “I can’t believe that it’s a fuckin’ apocalypse!”<br/><br/>Who’d a thought that all those zombie otakus were right for predicting the end of the earth? Before he reached the fire exit, the knight quickly triggered the fire alarm unsure if the customers were aware of the epidemic. Grabbing his bike, he shouldered through the exit door, the door slamming into a zombie and throwing it into some trash cans. Bunji glanced to his left and right down both ends of the alley and saw nothing but zombies. How long had this been going on? Why hadn’t anyone warned him?<br/><br/>His bike collapsed upon its side when he released it to turn sideways so that he could keep track of the walkers closing in on him. His heart was racing and his pits were already damp from his anxiety. Was this how he was going to die? Being eaten alive by the dead? His back met the brick wall, his grip growing tighter on the wok. No…he had to stay alive to protect his mother.<br/><br/><em>Matsumi…</em> Bunji thought. She was all that he had left and he feared the apocalypse having reached her. She would be safe if she stayed in the house but for how long? He was uncertain. He needed to get to her.<br/><br/>Frowning in determination, Bunji leaned off the wall and untied his apron to let it melt to the floor at his feet. Setting the wok between his knees, he reached into the pockets of his dress pants as he remembered the gloves being there and removed them to adorn them. He slid each one on, one at time, and curled and uncurled his fingers surprised that they had fit. Grabbing the wok, he pinched the toothpick in his mouth and removed it to flick it at the forehead of the nearest lumbering zombie.<br/><br/>“Good, I won’t have to hold back because you’re already dead,” Bunji noted with a smirk.<br/><br/>The knight whirled on the zombie, bringing his right leg around in a roundhouse kick. His heel struck the side of the zombie’s head and slammed it against the brick wall as it met with a sickening crack. Lowering his leg, he ran up on another zombie, opting to escape the alley in one direction. Leaping into the air, he thrust out both of his feet into the zombie’s face, crushing its nose and snapping its head back. Throwing out his arms to break his fall, Bunji safe fell to his back and pushing off the ground, swung his legs over his head into a backwards roll away from the walker. One after one, he took out each zombie in his path with the ringing strikes of his wok, hip throwing the last at the mouth of the alley and dropping it onto its back with its wrist still clutched in his hand. Bunji stomped his foot down on the side of the zombie’s neck and stepped over its body to finally reach the sidewalk.<br/><br/>With already a sheet of sweat on his brow and body burning from his exertion, Bunji regarded the streets in awe when he saw that there were still many more. Grasping his tie, he tugged it loose and unbuttoned the first button of his dress shirt. People were running and screaming, others in cars speeding recklessly down the road, and there were zombies <em>everywhere</em>. He wasn’t sure how he was going to make it to his mother at this rate. Snapping out of his stunned stupor, there were two zombies closing in on him and he lunged ahead to dodge their grabs.<br/><br/><em>I need to stay on my feet</em>, Bunji thought nervously. Just a moment ago that had been the most opponents that he had ever fought at once in his life and his body wasn’t used to it. His back met the side of a van, and strangely, the zombies had seemed more interested in him than the other people. They were drawn to him like moths to a flame…or a bug zapper. With them clustering around him, there were too many to try and takedown without a sufficient weapon. Facing the van, Bunji ditched the wok to reach up and climb on top of it. He managed to swing his legs up and over before a zombie managed to get a good hold of his pants leg and he sat in the center so their pawing hands couldn’t reach him.<br/><br/><em>Why do they want me?</em> he wondered and sniffed himself absently. He wasn’t wearing any fancy body spray.<br/><br/>The van began to rock as the zombies began pushing up against it. It lurched suddenly to the left and Bunji snatched the shake handle and pulled himself to the right to avoid the hands that slapped and clawed for anything that they could reach. The van was then pushed onto its right, and Bunji reached across to the left shake handle, to repeat the same strategy.<br/><br/><em>If I stay here, they’ll flip this van on its side and get me!</em><br/><br/>But where could he go? One false move and the zombies would grab him. Above him, the sky was growing dark with storm clouds. As the zombies continued to hiss and rock the van, a white burning “4” appeared on the right side of Bunji’s neck. His heart was hammering in his chest. The clouds began to flash with lightning and rumble with thunder. His eyes were suddenly fixed upon the sky as a serious expression knitted his brows and turned his lips. His pocket was crackling, shocking his leg like small pops of static. The action was involuntary. His hand dunked into his pocket to grasp the buckle tightly before he raised the yellow and green jewel into the sky.<br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;">JUPITER!</span><br/><br/><em>What the?</em><br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;">POWER!</span><br/><br/><em>Why the fuck am I-</em><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><br/>CHA~RGE!</span><br/><br/>A spear of lightning shot down from the sky and struck the van. In a fiery blast, the zombies were repelled covered in smoke and flames as a young man transformed into a great warrior. His clothes had disintegrated as he stood bare with the belt buckle hovering before his abdomen. Green flames wrapped his hips and descended down his legs to his feet. The flames then cleared revealing a pair of armored boots, black pants, and the buckle that was now joined at his hips by a belt. Spreading his arms, chains of electricity met at the center of his chest and danced, flickering violently until they formed an “X.” With three thunderclaps, massive gauntlets appeared on both of his arms and belts flashed across his chest holding the weapons in place. Tongues of lightning flickered from his eyes as Bunji bore his teeth in anger.<br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;">“You gone and done it now. You have awakened the wrath of the Storm Lord, the Knight of Jupiter, and in the name of my glorious planet, I will bring down a hell of pain!…</span>” He brought his fists crashing together twice. “<span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;">On you!</span>”<br/><br/>After a full ten seconds, Bunji blinked as a stupid look came over his face. “What…the…fuck…”</span>