Prologue: Introductions
by Warwolf
Author's notes: Yet another Rukato!
This one done with a bit of a twist, as you no doubt can tell from the
description. ^.^
In this, you'll see a few things
you probably never expected to see, and I think you'll be pleasently surprised.
This is an alterverse, set in present day, but the technology will be a
bit further advanced, due to the technology used by Shibumi to create the
blue cards and allow Digimon the ability to Bio-Emerge.
Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon Tamers, nor do I own Werewolf: The Apocalypse. Digimon Tamers is the property of Akiyoshi Hongo, Toei Animation, Bandai, Saban, and presumably Fox. Werewolf: The Apocalypse is the property of White Wolf Inc. As are all things associated with the Garou, their tribes, and their forms. ^.^
The Usual Key applies:
Italics: emphasis
Bold Italics: Thoughts
------- : World Change (Also to open or close a fic. You will see both
happen here.)
******* : Same world, but scene change.
+ + + : Change in time (Forward/backward, etc.)
New additions to the key!
Bold Underlined Italics: Extreme emphasis. Can be either thoughts, speech, or what have you. ^.^;;;
Underlined Italics: written/electronically produced comments. You're gonna be seeing this one quite a bit in later chapters.
Bold Underline: Sign language (Both human and Garou)
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Earth 1: The World of Darkness
Gods, why can't the damned Spirals find a better
place to put their hideouts?
The thought was nothing new
to the boy known as Moontreader among his packmates. Barely three weeks
after his Rite of Passage, and he had already been sent on a mission. The
scars he bore were testament to his success. He grinned as he thought back
to the last combatant he had been sent into battle with. He found it humourous.
Almost hilariously so, in that it was his own, sadly bigoted 'brother'.
He shook his head clear of such thoughts, seeing the signal from his friend
and Pack leader, Winds-of-the-Earth. It was a typically Garou name, particularly
among his Tribe. Of course, when others learned of his unique history,
most thought he was bold-facedly lying to them. Of course, he couldn't
blame them. To believe such a thing was madness. But he didn't much care
to worry about it. He began moving slowly, stealthily, forward. In his
hands was the deadly Klaive handed down to him by his father. It was a
vicious blade, serrated at the tip, and looked like a demonic version of
the Sword of Omens which he had seen when he had been forced to sit through
a half hour of a tedious television show called Thundercats by one
of his packmates. Moontreader had his doubts to his packmates' sanity.
But then, most of the pack did. He kept moving forward, and then, with
the shifting of bones, the growth in mass, muscle and ferocity, Moontreader
and the pack leapt into action, biting, clawing, and killing. The Black
Spiral Dancers were, like them, new to their tribe, barely four months
into being a part of the deranged and unholy "tribe" who were the most
hated enemies of the Garou, save for the Wyrm itself. Moontreader knew
the history of this once proud and noble tribe. How they had been the once-legendary
White Howlers, and how in an attempt by the entire tribe to destroy a nest
of horrors, they had themselves become horrors. The Black Spiral
Dancers. As he felt the change, he grinned as much as his war-form could.
Claws flashed, silver blades flew, and primal instincts guided deadly leaps,
lunges, and evasions. The thrill went through them. The thrill of the hunt.
In a short hour, the fight was over, and despite the blood flowing from
his wounds, he loved every minute of it.
"Well done, Moontreader." Said one of his other
packmates Walker-in-Shadows. She was of the Black Furies, only 2 years
older than himself, and very easy on the eyes. If it were not for the curse
of Metis offspring, he would have been tempted to try to start a
relationship with her in another year or two. Moontreader often wondered
why the Garou were cursed with that distinctive problem. But he figured
it best to leave that to the Children of Gaia to philosophize over
"Very well done. Hard to believe he's only
just now made the change about three months ago, and just now become a
full-fledged member of his tribe. So, how does it feel?" came the voice
of Winds-of-the-Earth.
Moontreader shrugged and grinned ferally, still
in his massive war-form. His packmates grinned back, and then, as one,
the pack turned and headed away from the den of the Spirals.
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"Ruki! Time for breakfast, sweetheart!" Came the
voice of her grandmother. Ruki Makino awoke as she always did. Angrily.
But she wouldn't have voiced that fact even if she could have. she simply
dressed in her school uniform, gave a nod
to Renamon, the kitsune-like Digimon whom she had come to be partners
with. She made one last addition to her ensemble before she left, one she
hated, but was forced to wear because of circumstances she had no control
over. A scarf.
To cover the scars that had left her mute.....
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+ + + + + + +
Three days later
The pack raced across the concrete lands they now
called their home. Moontreader fought the urge to retch at being so deep
within the heart of the city. His homelands were the forests, and the small
home he had known with his parents. Of course, he could not hope to return
there. Free of their obligations to him as parents, they were now among
his elders in his Tribe, and while they had disdained his choice in packmates,
they did not stop him, though he could see that they desperately wished
to, his father in particular. His father had been the one to whom he owed
his greatest amounts of training. His mother was no less encouraging, but
she did not have nearly the amount of closeness as he had with his father.
In a way, he felt saddened by that. But he could do little about it. His
mother loved him as much as she could, he knew, but it seemed that it wasn't
the same as the affection which his father graced him with. Where his mother
took a shine to his 'brother', so did their father embrace him. Yet there
were times when he saw that look in his father's eyes. as if he wished
for something different. He honestly wished he could know his father's
thoughts.
As they say in this insidious city...life's
a bitch. Deal with it Moontreader. You are Garou, and a full-fledged one
at that, stop acting like a freshly whelped cub...
He smirked. It was getting a bit easier
to adapt to the city and the new ways of thinking and acting and even speaking.
The last he found quite interesting. He knew why it came so easily, but
he had been afraid of it for a long time. Now, simply put, it was another
of the things about him which he could no longer call untainted. But he
simply pushed it out of his mind.
He is Takato Moontreader....
He is Garou.
He is of the Homid breed of that proud and noble race....
He is....
A Red Talon....
And he too, is mute.
By birth.
Today, he and his pack had headed deep into the depths of New York City's 'little Tokyo' district, to investogate three disappearances which they believed connected to the Pentex Corporation. Pentex was traditionally among the chief foes of the Garou, and had been involved in some of the more dangerous excursions by humans into the territory of the Garou and of the Red Talons in particular. For Moontreader, this was a personal mission for the tribe as well as for his Pack.
As the pack closed in on Tomiyori Research and Development, Moontreader began to feel a deep sense of unease. Every instinct was creaming of danger, and he would have sworn that he feltthat he was being watched.
He was right.
As the pack spread out to form a perimete around
the building, a gunshot rang out from inside, clipping Walker-in-Shadows
in the shoulder. The bullet luckily passed clean through, but was also
silver in origin, so even as he transformed into his hybrid war-form, pain
shot through his shoulder again even as it began to slowly regenerate from
the assault.
Great. Just great. It's less than 72 hours
and we're being shot it! Why do humans constantly rely on these damned
toys! Why do they not face us as honorable warriors! Even the Black Spirals
we fought had more integrity than this!
Of course, his thoughts went
unanswered. Not that he expected otherwise. Having already shifted into
his war-form, he slammed hard into the door, bursting it inwards and off
it's hinges. He had only a moment's time to react, and it nearly wasn't
enough, as guards began to open fire on himself and others in the pack.
Silver bullets flew. He turned towards Walker-in-Shadows, who had followed
him in and blinked as the Garou communicated to him through sign language.
He knew the young Fury had learned how to use sign language, but this was
the first time she'd used it.
"Go. Find what you can. We'll hold them."
She 'said'.
"What? Are you insane? Talons do not desert
packmates!" He signed back with one hand, hard as that was to do
while holding onto one of his smaller Klaives.
"GO! We have things under control here. Find
out what's been happening here, and leave the rest to us."
Despite hating the idea of leaving his comrades
under fire, he nodded back to her and began slinking under the fire of
the guards by moving towards the wall, and behind various crates and instruments.
He had no true idea what he was looking for, but reasoned that he would
find it when he saw it. This was a typical thought of the Talons. They
were generally disdainful of the way humans and even Homids thought. Being
Homid himself, Moontreader was surprisingly not an exception to this. He
had melded very well into the Talon way of thinking. Perhaps too well.
He leapt to a catwalk and began running the hallways silently as he shifted
to his wolf form. Rounding a corner, he found a glowing light coming from
beneath a door. Shifting back to his War-form, he smashed his way in.
Big mistake.
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Big mistake.
What he found made no sense. It seemed to be a glowing whirlwind,
seemingly straight into the Umbra, yet the other side looked like....a
street? He had no time to ponder it, as a noise from nearby caught his
attention, and it was almost a split second too late, as a massive mechanical
arm swung with enough force to crush his skull. He leapt aside, but that
unfortunately meant leaping straight into the shimmering portal!
Not good.....no way to stop myself in time!
And then it was over. Moontreader
blinked as he flew through the glowing gateway, which seemed to slam shut
on the sight of the inside of the room he'd just been in. Before he could
compensate for his poisiton in mid air, he slammed back first onto concrete.
Wincing, he blinked a few times as he sat up. He had no clue as to where
he was. Nothing looked familiar. He seemed to be in an alleyway of some
kind, but could not hear the sounds of battle. Realizing that he must have
been transported to an area away from the fight, he reluctantly shifted
to his human form. No sense if scaring the humans of this area if he wasn't
needed to fight. Then came the big shock. As he poked his head out to survey
the area he was in, he noticed that nothing looked familiar at all. he
figured he'd just been thrown into an alleyway he'd never been in, which
made sense, seeing as he'd only been in New York for a short period of
time, but he didn't even recognize the skyline of this place!
Great Gaia....where am I? The Bronx?
TO BE CONTINUED.....
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Post notes: Why did I start this? I actually have my roleplaying on an online Muck to thank for this, along with my now long ancient Werewolf: The Apocalypse books. Plus, I wondered how to get two mutes together, and then said 'hey, what if both of them were the Tamers, and one was a werewolf?' The rest is history. I chose to make Takato mute by birth instead of Ruki because having him lose his voice in battle would be far too cliche a thing considering that in this fic, he's Garou. As for how Ruki ended up mute? You'll have to wait and see, and there'll be many twists and turns to this story I can assure you, so keep an eyeball peeled. ^.^