Beginnings
Mak
It had been a pretty normal day. Woke up. Hunted. Cooked. Resisted the temptation to steal from the family eating a nice picnic lunch. Normal stuff. It was becoming harder everyday though. I was getting hungry; not enough prey, and a very low supply of berries in this part of the forest, mostly because of the approaching winter, which raised another problem. My home was a small cave. This isn't exactly the best place to be in the winter. Unless you're an ursaring, after hoarding a bunch of food for yourself, and getting ready to sleep through the winter. But I refused to eat any sentient Mon. I'd seen some that had sunk that low, and barely escaped with my life. They'd stepped so far over the line that it no longer existed in their eyes. They were no longer civilized; they'd become, monsters. I shivered, the things I'd seen in life, they kept me up at night; or made me wish I'd never fallen asleep. I found myself wishing, as I had many times before, that there were others who'd come with me. Members of my tribe or my brother even. He blamed me for the fall of our tribe and, by extension, the death of our parents. I touched my face when I felt warmth there, and realized I was crying. Whoever said "zangoose don't cry" obviously wasn't a zangoose. That day had been traumatic for a lot of 'Mon, and I knew I'd never be the same again.
I dashed through the trees; three seviper followed me on the ground. I checked the bag. Good still here. Each one contained plans of attack against four separate zangoose tribes. I sensed an incoming attack, and leaped just before a poison sting obliterated the tree I'd been perched in. I looked back, the three seviper were getting closer. While they couldn't climb, they could attack me with their fangs and tails. I slipped suddenly, my body fighting against exhaustion. I hadn't rested in… How long had it been? Twenty minutes? Thirty? I didn't know. Point was I was completely drained. So you could hardly blame me for missing the branch. I fell to the ground, immediately the three seviper slithered out of the bushes behind me. The way in front of me blocked by multiple trees that had grown extremely close together, the only way over was by the very same branch I'd missed. I turned back to face my pursuers. They hissed happily, and why wouldn't they be, they had their target basically gift wrapped in front of them.
I swung the bag over my shoulder, knotted the strap, and unsheathed my claws. The seviper hissed mockingly at me, as if I was a rattata trying to put up a fight against Dialga. I growled in the most menacing way possible, which admittedly wasn't very scary coming from a 13-year-old. The seviper began hissing in a way that sounded like choking. I decided that they were amused chuckles. One of them, some guy with a scar just above his eye, flashed his tail near my face. I backed up, wary of the poison I knew could be instilled in me by just a touch of his tail. They laughed harder. When the tail came near me again, I struck with a claw, scoring a hit right below the bladed edge. The Scar-Face hissed loudly and retreated. He stared at his tail then glared at me. I shrugged as if saying, I warned you.
He hissed something to his friends; they nodded to each other and sprang towards me. I dropped down to all fours and used the power in both my legs and arms together to soar upwards. The seviper crashed into the tree below me, and I was barely able to grab the branch I'd missed earlier. I pulled myself up and looked down. Once I made it past here, the seviper would either have to retreat or try to find a longer way around. I chuckled, calling down, "That was fun! But I gotta go!" I held up the bag. "Giving this to the council so we can kill your scaly hides and sell them as purses."
"Gah! Thisss isssn't over whelp. It'sss jussst beginning." He said slinking off. Something unsettled me about his eyes, as if he'd known he already won. I checked the bag, apart from the flap sliding off a bit, everything was fine. I readjusted the flap and was about to move on when my nose detected a weird scent. Suddenly my knees felt weak and my eyelids dropped. I mentally slapped myself. Now wasn't the time to give in to exhaustion. I adjusted the strap over my back, and set course for my village.
"Let me make sure I understand what you're telling us."I winced; it'd been hard enough getting the council out of bed. With them finally assembled in front of me, I nearly lost my nerve.
"You claim that you went on a solo quest, without permission from the council, into the heart of the Jusskar to find the plans of their next attack." I nodded, reluctantly.
"Let us see the plans."
I stopped the memories, what happened next was much too painful for me to bring to my conscious mind, not so soon at least.
Tor
"Pull!"
The log arced up into the air. I readied my blade, watched its angle, and sliced. Unfortunately, I was off my mark by about an inch.
"Pull!" Ricky pulled the rope again. A new log arced towards me. I waited, focusing as much power as I could into my blade. It glowed a faint silver color. I lunged forward and slashed. The log exploded, showering me with splinters.
"Darn it!" I yelled, frustrated. I had to get this thing under control. Keep it from activating at times like these. I heard muffled warbling coming from a small pile of wood chunks. I rushed over, throwing my blades off. "Ricky? You okay little buddy?" I unearthed the little pidgey, who chirped in response. I sighed in relief. Reaching for my glove gauntlets, I could feel his eyes on my back.
"Don't give me that look, it was an accident."
I knew how he'd respond to that.
"I don't want to learn how to use it! I want to get rid of it!" I yelled, then whispered to myself. "I just want to be… normal." My rage boiled over.
"I don't want to be 'special' or 'weird' or 'strange!' What legend do I have to yell at to get rid of this?
We were both silent for a while. My thoughts drifted to my days as a young scyther in school. A time before I'd created my gauntlets.
He shoved me in the mud, boasting about it as if it was cool.
"You freak," he mocked. I stood up, trying to walk away. He shoved me again. "What's the matter, can little 'Freak' not fight without his blades? You wimp."
My blood boiled with his words. I shoved him away from me, and kept walking.
"Oh so the freak does have some fight in him." I kept walking. "Yeah, you'd better run. Or I'd have to kill you." I didn't turn around. Yeah, you and your whole family of freaks." I stopped. It felt like something physical had snapped. As if there'd been a switch in my head that been set to kill mode. I turned around and walked back to the tyrogue.
"Take it back."
He looked confused. "What?"
I shoved him. "Take it back." There was something wrong, my mind was screaming at me to walk away, but I ignored it. I leapt at him, but he jumped away.
"Take it back!" I yelled.
He smiled at me, finally understanding what I meant, and happy to get a reaction out of me.
"Yeah, your family's full of freaks. I bet they—" He didn't get any farther. That was the first time I'd felt such power rise up inside me. His eyes widened at my state, and I was later told that my body was giving off a silver energy. I leapt at him, intent on tearing him apart with my bare hands.
"Pull!" The log tore at me, forcing me to stop thinking as I slipped into routine, I readied my blade behind me, trying to time and pinpoint my strike at the same time, and my mind went blissfully blank. One of the downsides of ADD, your mind never stops racing unless you found something to well and truly capture your attention. For me, that's training. I timed it perfectly, and struck the log with my blade right down the middle; breaking it in half without splintering it.
Kyle
I adjusted the pack; the strap had dug into my back too much to feel comfortable. I groaned as the weight shifted around, forcing me off-balance for a second. I resumed walking, my stomach growling, but I knew that if I sat down to eat, wouldn't be getting up until that morning, and I wanted to cover as much distance as I could before the sun went down. Well… an apple couldn't hurt. I slid my bag off my shoulder, just enough to reach in for an apple and a brown gummi. I looked inside. I was running low on rations. Better stock up at the next town. I threw the bag back on my back, and resumed my hike. My belly thanked me for the food, especially the gummi. I heard some branches snapping and looked around nervously. I brandished my claws hoping it wasn't some wild ursaring, or bouffalant.
"I told you we should have doubled back at the river, here's the road right here!" a voice yelled from the left.
"My way would've worked too," mumbled a voice in reply.
I turned, catching sight of the two figures exiting the forest, and stepping on the path. A graveler and a buizel, strange traveling companions. But I guess, not everyone travels alone. I swiped a claw down my snout, while nodding at the two. A traditional sandslash greeting.
"Hi," I said warily.
"Hello there, you wouldn't happen to be heading to Treasure Town as well would you?" asked the graveler.
I nodded. "Yes, I'm heading there to restock on supplies."
"Would it be alright if we came with you?" The buizel this time. "My friend here has no sense of direction."
I nodded again. "Of course, the more the merrier."
They smiled at each other, and started walking beside me. That's when I made my first mistake.
