Chapter One: Shu'Ah Forest

"Hey! Vader, wake up!"

Vader was violently thrown from his hammock following this scream. With a small yelp, he collapsed all over the ground. Opening his eyes lazily, he was able to make out his sister's grinning, mocking face, blurrily.

"Wake up!"

"I'm up, I'm up."

Vader picked himself up, still in his pajamas. His sister was fully dressed, with her red skirt, yellow shirt, and all. In her hand was a small, yellow razor blade. The yellow complimented her brown hair he supposed, which were spiky as if she spent all her time testing various brands of cheap hair gels designed for teenage boys.

"Only about a month left in Summer…. Christ Vi, can't you leave me alone?" said Vader.

"No, you promised we'd go out and kill an Orange Shroom today! You promised" whined Violet.

Vader sighed. He did indeed, promise his little sister Violet that they would go out and kill their first Orange Mushroom that day.

Vader lived in a rather sleepy village on Maple Island. All villages on the small island were sleepy, but even by the high standard of sleepiness set by the colony, this one merited the status. The village was inhabited by about four other families, other than Vader's own. Like Vader's father, and most everybody else on Maple Island, they were all ex-Guardians, retired from their life as Guardians, come to Maple Island to settle down peacefully. Vader and Violet were kept company by Dreidel and Vulpes, their neighbors. Dreidel and Vulpes were both older than Vi, but neither of them were as near as energetic as eleven year old Violet. She first started hacking up snail, using sharp tree branches, on her eight birthday. Unlike Vader, she did not show a moment of hesitation when she began screaming and charging at the shelled menaces, easily destroying them in two hits or so. Vader didn't kill a single snail until he turned thirteen, a source of much teasing from Vulpes.

"How do you intend to become a Guardian someday, if you're too scared to kill Spores?", Vulpes would ask.

"Maybe I don't want to become a Guardian. Maybe I just want to be left alone." Vader responded.

"But you're always talking about adventures, and traveling around the world, seeing better things."

"I know. Who says only Guardians can travel and see the world?"

"Guardians are the best. Everybody knows that. Someday, I'm gonna become an ass kicking Dragon Knight, and fight Jr. Balrog and all those Dark Followers! Then everybody on this island will have to respect me!"

For all his bravado, Vulpes was not as nearly as powerful as one may expect. He was certainly in better shape than Vader, and he was certainly more fearless (although one could argue most of this fearlessness came from his adrenaline induced bravado). But his aiming was off, which was problematic when one was fighting faster monsters, like Spores. For his fourteenth birthday, Vulpes got a small Spear from his father. Excited, Vulpes used it to kill a few Red Snails, a feat he was incredibly proud of, and carried it to the Academy everyday. During lunch time, he showed the spear off to everybody, swinging it, stabbing in the air, and performing all kinds of moves with it, until he accidentally stabbed Vader's lunch, which carried some fish that he caught last weekend. He stabbed it with such force, it did not come off. Vulpes angrily threw the spear away, until Vader showed him that the spear could be used as an extremely effective fishing tool, as well as a hunting weapon. Since then, Vulpes and his spear were inseparable.

Maple Island was peaceful, for the most part, but it did have its share of monsters. Snails, of course, were there. Snails were mostly impossible to eliminate, as they dwelled underground and reproduced faster than rabbits. Another tolerated presence on the island were Spores and Orange Mushrooms, both monsters considerably stronger than snails. Orange Mushrooms were small monsters, about the size of a dog, with white stems and orange caps. They had small eyes, and a slit below their eyes, which appeared to be a mouth of some sort. They were mostly pests, but their caps were often made for delicious, high quality cooking. Maple Island was famous for its high quality orange shroom caps, its main export to other nations of Victoria Island and Ossyria. Orange Mushrooms lived in packs, and every pack was controlled by a Mushmom, a massive, monstrous beast of legendary deadliness. A Mushmom was formed when a large group of Orange Mushrooms fused into one. Maple Island had its Mushmom, but it was tamed and kept in captivity by Mai, the village's local warrior. Using control over Mushmom, they were able to control the Island's Orange Shroom population, but recently, people began complaining about a large influx of shrooms. Vulpes, being the wannabe Guardian he was, had an idea to go out and kill some Orange Mushrooms to help the villagers.

"Don't be stupid," Vader said, "You've never killed anything stronger than a Red Snail before. How do you figure we'll kill an Orange Mushroom?"

"It's not so hard. I checked out this book out of the library the other day, 'The Anatomy and Functions of an Orange Mushroom'. I've been reading it for about a month, and I think I know everything there is to know on Shrooms. We can do this."

Not too long after Vulpes declared his mastery over all things orange and fungal, Violet was overtaken by his bravado and began to boast on about how many orange mushrooms she would kill. Dreidel, being Vi's pet, started agreing with her, and pretty soon, Violet forced a promise out of Vader. That he would come with her to join up with Dreidel and Vulpes to kill Orange Shrooms.

"It'll be fun. Maybe we can even convince Mai to let us see Mushmom." Said Vi.

Vader highly doubt that Mai would let them see Mushmom. They were all just Beginners, below normal Guardians. Yes, they were all technically above non-users, or people who were not Guardians at all. But still, Beginners? In Victoria Island, Beginners' duties involved mainly following around full-fledged Guardians and helping them out, picking up items left by fallen monsters, carrying their lesser items, stuff like that. Rarely did Beginners get to kill anything, even snails were considered too uppity by some Guardians.

"You run too slow! Come on!" Vi shouted at Vader. Vader gasped for breath. He couldn't keep up with his sister's level of energy, at all.

"Hold up, where's Munchkinz?" Vader asked, trying to keep his mind off the exhaustion.

"Meow!"

With a loud meow, a cat popped out of Vi's backpack and latched itself on to Vader's face, causing him to fall. The cat then took itself off and began licking Vader's face.

"Vi! Get this thing off of me!"

"Shut up, meow! Stupid nooblet! I should feed you to Mushmom, meow!"

Vi barely got Munchkinz off me, and even then, it got off shouting all kinds of curses and death threats at me. Munchkinz was Violet's Guardian Pet. Guardian Pets were different from normal pets. They weren't normal animals. They were specially manufactured, enhanced dolls, equipped with various features to help their owners, brought to life with the Water of Life. Vi got Munchkinz for her tenth birthday. It manifested itself in the form of a cat. It had a violent personality and loved nothing more than tormenting Vader. The only thing it seemingly obeyed was Violet herself, and even then, it took Vi almost two years before it finally warmed up to her and accepted her as a worthy master. Vader always thought this as weird. When Violet received Munchy, she also received a Pet Owner's Manual. Vader often sneaked the guide away and read it when Vi wasn't using it, which was always. The manual clearly stated that a pet would not accept its owner as a master until the owner proved himself, or herself, worthy as a powerful Guardian. Vi wasn't a Guardian yet. She was barely a Beginner.

After about five whole minutes of running like crazy, they reached the outskirts of Shu'Ah Forest, or Mushroom Forrest. As far as anybody was concerned, it was Mushroom Forrest. Just the name alone should tell you a lot about this place. The Mushroom Forrest is banned from anybody under the age of 25 in the village, and for a good reason. The place is completely infested with Orange Mushrooms. On the other side of the field was a tomato farm. It was rumored among young students that the forest was also inhabited by Pigs, but this was unlikely. Vulpes and Dreidel stood before the forest's entrance, before the dusty trail that ominously led its walker inside if one kept walking through it.

"Just in time. You guys ready?" asked Vulpes.

"Hell yeah! Let's kill some Shrooms!" Violet shouted.

"Don't be so loud. If anybody knows we're here, we're dead." Said Dreidel.

Vader looked at his sword. It was an old, hand-me-down given to him by his father, Mandraken. He used to use it when he was a Beginner, long before he became a White Knight, then retired. It was beaten up, thin, and looked about ready to snap in half any time. Not like Vi's razor blade. Though it was short, Vi's blade was sharp, thick, made of powerful steel, and, according to Mandraken, have an extremely smooth shave. Vulpes' trademark fish spear was hanging from his back, looking ominous, and ready to kill any poor mushroom that stood in its owner's way. Dreidel carried a small club. Vader bitterly envied the club. It looked infinitely more durable than his sword. After getting their spirits up, Vulpes led the way into the forest, followed by Vi and Dreidel. Vader sighed, and followed them inside.