Aquata Cove: Epilogue 02

"Mnn, oh really." Merrick says as he moves Adam's apron up to expose his hairy undercarriage and his furry belly. He slipped around and up to sit on Adam's goods. Adam grins wider as he feels Merrick gently grind his tender and very soft area against his thick bush.

"Mnnnnyeah..." Adam whispers as Merrick lowers back down, laying onto Adam's big tummy like it's his most favorite pillow. Adam's hand rubs and strokes along Merrick's back as he sensually woos him.

"Mmnnnhhhh... My big Papa Bear..." Merrick mutters as he cuddles Adam close.

"Hehehehe," He giggled, "My Forbidden Prince." He muttered back. His hand ventures to Merrick's butt as he gropes and rubs one of those cheeks.

"Nnnnhhh, I want to spend all day naked with you."

"Hhhhhh... Me too, babe... Me too..." Adam says as Merrick settles on top of him, his head resting on Adam's apron-framed fuzzy chest.

"Can't we just stay home all day? I don't wanna go anywhere..."

"I wish we could, honey, I wish we could." He rubs Merrick's back up and down, "But Naomi needs to go back to school, and you need to talk to your boss about getting back to work."

"Hhhhhnnnngggghhh." Merrick grumbled as he pushes his head into Adam's manly bosom.

"I know, babe. We can reserve a weekend at Girasol Springs as soon as we can, but for now we've got things to do."

"Mnnnhhhh!" Merrick growled stubbornly.

"Hah hah hah, come on, we need to get started."

"Noooooooo," Merrick says as he lets Adam up, but lets himself slump over lazily.

"Come on, honey, get up." Adam says with a smile as he pulls Merrick's ankles, "Get up, you're worse than your son."

~~~

"I haven't been early all year, I finally got to hang out." Jason says as he and Merrick walk into the dojo, both of them wearing seishin robes - the difference being Jason wearing a white one with a black belt, with Merrick wearing a royal blue one with the white kanji for 'moon' printed on the back of his and wearing a white belt with black tips, as well as Merrick's seishin top being longer so it reaches a little past his knees.

"Yeah. I hope you had fun catching up on sleeping, cause I'm back and so is your preemptive practice." Merrick tells him as they set their duffels down. Merrick's room is more ocean-themed than the other dojo rooms, having wall-scrolls depicting either koi fish and lily pads or else ocean waves or other various water mythical creatures, aside the merfolk and seabed décor around, "Glad they haven't changed my room at all at least."

"Yeah, I- Wait, Pop, why'd you bring THAT?" Jason asked as Merrick takes out his trident - formerly a harpoon, it's now a polished wood with synthesized stone-based metal of the ornate and symmetrical 3-pronged top and the elongated diamond-shaped spear bottom as he clicked the two pieces together.

"Well why not?" Merrick asked, as if it's completely normal to include a trident in a Mixed Martial Arts dojo, "It's my weapon of choice by birthright, it'd be inappropriate not to have it."

"But you never had it before, Pop. People'll think it's weird!"

"You make a very good point. Good thing I'm not actually people." Merrick said with a smirk.

"But are you going to teach the others how to use a trident??"

"Of course not! They're not Tritons. If they want a trident, get their own."

"Then why bring it??"

"Because I am and I have a trident."

"Pop, I- Ugh, we're just going around in circles." Jason rubs the corners of his eyes under his glasses.

"I already cleared it with Kahuna Hokulani, and she understands - she's actually intrigued with the concept of learning and teaching combat with weapons with a hook-appendage, like a Keyblade or a harpoon. Or otherwise using a kind of weapon that can pin down an opponent."

"Ok, so are you going to explain that to the other students?"

"Naw, I'm just gonna let them guess." Merrick said with a snicker as he spins his trident a few times while Jason gets his Kendo sword out, "Alright, now show me why you got the silver at Internationals."

"Yessir..." Jason says after he puts on his protective goggles and equipped the required practice pads, while Merrick is just wearing his blue uniform.

"Now."

Merrick dashes forward, flying with only a few steps touching the floor, right before he was right in front of his son. Jason's weapon appears in front to block the trident's shaft. Merrick whirled around and swung his trident, only to get blocked by the sword again. Merrick deals a fast barrage of strikes against the practice sword for a couple of minutes.

"What's wrong, old man?" Jason jeered playfully through his helmet, "Rusty?"

"I'm a fish, kid. Testing the waters is what I'm supposed to do." Merrick replies right before his trident whips around and strikes Jason's sword down harshly.

"Ah!" Jason swerves away before Merrick lunges and spins a kick towards him before the sharp end of the trident's bottom sends up an uppercut, before he turns and launches his palm forward, which is hit aside by Jason's sword, "H-Hey! Whoa! Slow down! That's sharp!"

"You think MY Father would've let me ask him to slow down?!" Merrick replies as he grapples the sword off of Jason's hands, and forced him down with his hand.

"Ow!" Jason topples back, before Merrick flips the rounded weapon with his trident, and offered the handle to the teen. Jason grabs it and gets up.

"Again." Merrick instructed. Immediately, Jason knocks Merrick away with his arm, and the sword flips back before being swiped up towards his parent, "Not fast enough! I'm not feeling your strength!" Merrick almost yells as he fights with Jason again. Jason's eyes transfix on the trident's hook-like function as Merrick prepares to make a grapple at him again. This time, Merrick's trident swings down towards Jason's armored ankles.

Jason feels the weapon pull his balance away and he falls to the floor. His arm takes the brunt of the fall before his foot plants onto the floor. He maneuvers himself around and strikes out Merrick's foot!

"AH!" Merrick knocks down, and rolls with the tumble, just as Jason whips around, and hits the trident, with the sword pointed at Merrick's face/throat, panting. "Now where the hell was that if you only won the silver?"

"It was only Kendo." Jason panted, "I can't exactly get away with moves like that. There's only so much I-" Before he can finish his sentence, Merrick knocks the sword down, and grabs for Jason, "Ah! HEY!" Jason guides Merrick's arm aside and turned, yanking the trident back to make Merrick stagger back. Their backs touch as they whirl around, Jason tumbling and rolling to get his weapon, while Merrick throws a hard foam dagger-like blade at him, "WHOA!" He blocks it off, but Merrick is already hooking onto his wrist with the trident, and making him stagger forward and landing on his side.

"Pop! I wasn't ready!" The trident then points at Jason's face.

"You'll have to forgive me. In the sea, there's no such thing as 'ready'." Merrick tells him with that superior smirk, "There's only 'if' and 'when', and this isn't just-" In an unexpected move, Jason yanks the trident, forcing Merrick to jerk forward, before Jason lands a hard jab of an open hand onto Merrick's chest, and forces him down and pins him down with his other hand pinning Merrick's left wrist down. "GHH!"

"IF you talk too much, Pop, I'll get you WHEN you least expect it." Jason gloated.

"Now you're getting it." Merrick consented, "Bear in mind though, the first time I got the upper hand on your Grandfather, he came at me even harder on the next sparing session."

"Yeah yeah, I know, 'don't get cocky'." Jason says as he lets Merrick go and gets up, "Are you going to say you were going easy on me this time, Pop?"

"I was." Merrick picks up his trident, "It's been over a year, and I can see your Kendo has gotten a little sloppy, but your other moves have been maintained. I want you to talk to Kahuna Hokulani for more Kendo practice with Rissun Sensei and only pick one other course."

"Just Kendo?? What if I want to compete with a different MMA?"

"Well, that's something you're going to have to discuss with either yourself or Hokulani." Merrick tells him.

"Ok, but for now, can I just take your class today?"

"Of course, Son, not a problem." Merrick smiled as he and Jason gripped each other's forearms and pulled into a hug, "I missed you, buddy."

"I missed you too, Pop, I missed this... Mom's not as flexible at this as you are..." He said in the hug.

"Heh, well." Merrick backed up and walked to his seat, the clock reading that it's just about time for class, "Yuri only knows a handful of rules. I only know how to get by, really." He says as he watches Jason take off his Kendo equipment, take his staff-like weapon for this class and stood up front with Merrick, and watch as the door opens and several students filing in, all wearing lighter or alternate shades and tints of blue, aqua, or cyan seishins. Most of the students are in their late-teens and young adults. Two other people wearing black belts and white seishins walk up to the front and line up, each of them, like Jason, are holding padded staff weapons.

"Alright, good to see the pod back." Merrick says as he gets up, "Half of you I know, a few I don't recognize. For those of you who are new, my name is Merrick, but as the master, you will address me as 'Triton Merrick'. I specialize in a different and stylized form of combat that's come to be known as Kaiyojira... Which literally translates to: A word I just made up for the sake a names." A few people chuckle quietly.

"My style is based on the philosophy and respect and the wonders for the ocean. Unlike most martial arts, such as Jujutsu, Aikido, or Karate, Kaiyojira doesn't have any specific stone-set rules or too many statements of etiquette. For the most part, fighting as I do establishes your own creativity as I teach you about adaptability, honor, your sense of conduct on how you fight. In other words, Kaiyojira can loosely mean to fight in improv. But let me be clear: That does NOT justify the principal of 'doing whatever it takes to win'. My style is meant to inspire you to prevail, not win. Cheap shots or cheating will not be tolerated, because this also isn't about finding your opponent's weakspot - that much is just a bonus if you're lucky."

"Now, for the most part, I specialize in fighting with a staff or spear, allowing for throwing and my personalized combatant movements. However, until recently, from now on, I will always be using my trident here," Merrick says as he picks it up, "It's... Well, suffice it to say, it's a part of my very deep heritage. Just so you know, I wanted to go ahead and clear that up for my son's benefit, because he thought I would look weird walking around with a big fancy fork." Merrick says as he slaps Jason's shoulder, making a few of the students chuckle.

"Alright, Theron Jason, Theron Quinn, Theron Eric, lets get started." Merrick says as he indicates for them, "We're going to get going with a few warm-ups."

This building is known as the Ring of Ke-Kaua: Institution of Mixed Martial Arts. A very diverse establishment where many styles of combat and practices of different cultures are taught, each having one or a few masters or teachers. Being the only one who teaches the relatively enigmatic Kaiyojira, Merrick exclusively dubs his top title as 'Triton', with Jason having just reached the title himself several years ago, with lower advanced students being called 'Therons', in secret reference to 'Theros'.

Jason takes his padded sword and hard sheath and selects a student to spare with him.

-8 Years Ago-

Adam huffs as he parks the car in front of the school, feeling rather nervous about this. "Shit, it's almost like déjà vu..." He says as he and Merrick climb out.

"I'm not worried so much as ready to throw down." Merrick tells him as they lock their vehicle.

"Easy, Merrick. This is a school, not an arena."

"We'll see about that." He frowns as they enter. They head straight for the principal's office, where they see two little boys seated opposite of each other under the supervision of a teacher. Jason turned and looked up as he sees his dads enter.

"D-Dad, Pop,"

"It's ok, calm down little buddy." Adam says as he pats his shoulder.

"We'll get to the bottom of this." Merrick tells him.

"Pop, I swear, I didn't start it!" Jason hastily said, "I'm sorry, Pop, I-"

"Shh shh, hey, calm down, it's alright, it's alright." Adam hushes.

"Save the apologies for AFTER we sort this out, Son." Merrick states with his strict but reasonable leer.

"Ah, you must be the Bryants." Says a man behind them. They turn to see a balding man with a field of short and prickly beard of pepper grey, and along with a woman with curled brown hair and wearing office attire coming into the office, "My name is Hank, this is my wife Moira, we're Tommy's parents." He introduces.

"Right. I'm Adam." Adam shakes his head for formality, "This is Merrick."

"Now look. Before anything, I want to just start off by saying I'm willing to listen." Hank says as he keeps his hands open, "I have nothing against you or anyone else from the rainbow flag or-"

"Yeah, that's fine." Adam says, "No need to bring that up, sir. We're here because we were called about our kids."

"There has been a lot of words against his, and we're ready to have it sorted." Moira says.

"For the record, I apologize in advance if my attitude gets abrasive." Merrick says as he leers at them, "In all honesty, I am very temperamental."

"Hello?" Says the principal as she looks in; a mid-aged woman with a maroon tweed suit and brass-rimmed glasses. "Everyone here? Alright, lets get started." They all walk into the office, where 7 seats have been provided. Hank, Moira, and little Tommy take a seat between them, and Adam, Merrick, and Jason take the three on the other side with him between his two parents, "Hold a moment, we're missing someone."

"No, we're all here." Merrick says, already knowing what she's going to say.

"Will Jason's mother not be coming then?"

"We are his parents." Adam tells her, "I hope that's not a problem."

"I see. We'll begin then." The principal says, "Mr and Mr Bryant, I am sorry to say this is yet another incident that your son has been instigating-"

"Our son isn't instigating anything." Merrick says firmly.

"Merrick..." Adam mutters firmly.

"Please let me finish." She tells him, "As you well know, your son has been fighting on multiple occasions, and I decided that we need to make a few calls on this."

"And when did you decide to take this seriously?" Merrick asked.

"When... Today, Thomas and Jason were in a fight, and Thomas was bleeding from the nose."

"Mrs Gyner, I agree this has been happening too many times to count," Adam says, "But as Merrick says, you should have brought this to order to begin with."

"I assumed you would have heard his version of what happened from him."

"And more importantly," Merrick says as he leans and turns to the other two parents, "I want to know just how and why your son learned the kind of words I've been hearing from this."

"We've heard a few things, Tommy has told us a few things." Hank says, "And I assure you, none of the things that are being..."

"Implied." Moira says after a second of her husband trying to find the right word.

"Implied. And-"

"Don't try and walk around the topic." Merrick says as he glares at them from his seat, "And don't even-"

"Hang on, I think what Merrick means to say," Adam says, "Is that if Tommy didn't hear these things from you, then he might have heard it from the other kids, or even from their parents. But Tommy has been the one provoking Jason."

"If there has been any harassment, Jason has been instructed to let the nearest teacher know, Mr Bryant" Mrs Gyner tells him.

"I realize that, but-"

"That doesn't work." Merrick tells him, "If the teachers were able to put a stop to this, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"Mr Bryant, please," Mrs Gyner says, "We're-"

"No. I'm cutting to the middle of this. Right now." Merrick says as the tension grows, "Several of these kids have been throwing around some very nasty words around, and this kid here is making the most noise."

"Hold on, hold on." Mrs Gyner says as she holds up her hands, "What things?? What are you talking about?"

"You really don't know?" Merrick asked, "Your own school, your system, your students getting into trouble, and you're just clueless?"

"Alright, I'll step up..." Hank says with a huff, "Couple of times... When I'm having the guys over, I tend to make a few jokes, about everyone, and... I probably said a few things about Jason's dads that Tommy may have overheard..."

"Oh, so this is about... You two?"

"Jason's gay dads, yes." Merrick said sharply, "Don't tell me this is the first you're hearing about something like this. Jason isn't the only kid in school with gay parents."

"Wait, so what are these words the kids have been saying?"

"Hhh..." Hank huffs as he gathers up the petty courage. Adam rolls his eyes as his arms crossed.

"Fudge-Packer. Flamers." Adam says with an agitated tone, "Ass-Pirates. Molesters. Cock Suckers. Oh, and a new one, Petri-Dick."

"Mr Bryant, please don't..." Mrs Gyner gives an impatient sigh, "Don't say those sorts of things-"

"Why? Are schools still pretending the topic doesn't even exist?" Adam inquires, "God forbid anyone should be aware at some point in time, right?"

"Now I didn't use most of those terms, I promise." Hank states.

"Doesn't matter. The reason Jason keeps getting into fights is because the other kids are harassing him for having two dads. And I've heard other kids getting the same kind of treatment throughout the semesters." Adam says, "And I've reported this before, I want to know why we're barely doing something about this now."

"Look, Jason is the one who is starting the most fights." Mrs Gyner tells them, "As far as I have been told."

"No. Not Jason. He knows better than that." Merrick states.

"Excuse me?" Moira speaks up, "My son was bleeding today!"

"Yes, and I'm sorry about that," Adam answers, "But Jason's been taught better than to go around and start fights."

"Hang hang, hang on second." Mrs Gyner intervenes, "You two have taught your son to fight?"

"I teach him how to defend himself." Merrick answers, "Me and his mother both. I teach at a mixed martial art institute, so naturally he attends my classes. And his mother grew up learning traditional Japanese practices, so she also has taught him several self-defense sessions."

"So you're teaching your children how to fight like thugs??" Moira raised.

"Hey, hang on now," Adam raises, "Let me explain-"

"Honey, honey, take it easy," Hank tells his wife, "I was taught to fight when I was their age-"

"That's different!"

"Well seeing as how your son gotten into this," Merrick rambles on, "And if you want know what a thug is, you should take a good look-"

"Merrick! Don't start saying-"

"Let's all calm down-"

"Alright, alright, quiet PLEASE." Mrs Gyner calls over them. Once they settle down, she continues, "Regardless, it's been stated that Jason started the fight and he injured Thomas to a degree where blood was drawn."

"He was provoked." Adam leans forward, "This isn't the first time this has happened! Did you even bothered to ask for the details??"

"Look, I want to be fair about this." Hank says before he looks at Adam and Merrick, "Now, Tommy says he didn't start the fight. But Jason did. But, uh, you Mr Bryant? You say Jason doesn't do that. Can you explain further?"

"Specifically," Merrick says, "Only myself and Jason's mother, Yuri, have taught him a couple of martial arts. Where I come from, self-defense is essential to everyday life, so that is what I established."