Hidden City High, 6 years ago:
"Hey Richie Rich, lend me some money."
River pushed his skinny legs to walk faster, pretending he never heard them. The bigger kids caught up to him easily. One of them, an ogre yokai, leaned a heavy arm around his gangly shoulders. The 13-year old's growth spurt made him almost as tall as his seniors, but his bulk is a different story entirely, as he stumbled under the added weight. The freshman turtle yokai whipped his head as they snatched his wallet off him, "Give that back!"
The three bullies simply laughed as one rifled through the contents while the other two held the yellow-spotted turtle back.
"Learn some respect, you spoiled brat!" Danny grinned as he leaned close, whiskers twitching, and tightened his grip, "We're your senpais, yanno?"
Trying to defuse the situation, he spun to free his pinned arms and reached for his wallet...
ROOOOAAAR!
The sheer force pushed the slight turtle back as a stocky polar bear yokai knocked the ogre right off his feet, sending the wallet flying. River leaped and caught it in mid-air. He turned to see the white bear getting kicked in the stomach by the rat yokai. He could only keep his white paws up as the three punks wailed on him relentlessly. River managed to throw two off him when he cried out at a painful hit of lightning.
"Take this, fatso!" his savior was slapped by a broad-finned tail to the face. Danny guffawed, "Nice one, Mickey!" as he watched his eel friend electrocute the bear.
"OI! What?re ya up to??"
"Oh shit, a teacher! Let's scram," the ogre ringleader yelled to his cohorts, "Golden boy's wallet doesn't have much anyway!"
"Maybe he's just faking being rich?" the eel named Mickey jeered as he quickly followed his two accomplices.
"All the more reason Mister Better-Than-Everybody needs to be taken down a peg," Danny glared, exposing a rat fang in disgust.
After watching the teacher chase away the three delinquents, River turned to the white furred ursine with a look of awe, "You saved me."
"No, the teacher saved both of us," the bear muttered sullenly, shaking off the last of the electric shocks as he crawled around in search of his glasses, "They're right, I'm just a fat loser playing hero."
"Then you're playing pretty well," he perched the glasses on the bear's nose and offered his hand, "My name's River."
The bear shook his offered hand, "Isaiah," then chuckled when he saw the turtle jolt at the remaining electricity.
"Aish-...? Aise-..." embarrassed by his Japanese accent, River gave up, "Can I call you Ice for short?"
"Because I'm a polar bear??" his white furred face frowned into a snarl.
"Because you're cool."
Isaiah's tense jaw slacked in incredulity, "Don't you dare-"
"Literally."
"Ugh, that's so lame!"
The two freshmen laughed as the yellow spotted turtle helped the white bear off the ground, straightening their gakurans as they walked to the lockers for their bags.
