And so... let's get to know about Wei Cheng's best friend!
Oh, and be warn that this chapter may have some... gore.
"A warm heart is one of the things I need to fight the cold." - Dong Song
Dong Song to the Rescue
Wei Cheng walked on the snowy ground. He was in a northern frozen cavern. He was glad that there was no snowstorm right now so he could visit his best friend easier. He finally noticed an igloo with a white wolverine mecha-beast parked outside of it. He walked to the front door.
"Dong Song?" he called out.
A boy also in his twenties, known as Dong Song, came out of the igloo. He had short white hair, a pair of light brown eyes, a slightly pale skin and a height obviously shorter than Wei Cheng. He wore a charcoal black armour with the white thick fur of an Ice Ogre covering outside, a silver belt, a pair of black gloves. A bandolier was strapped on his chest, carrying 3 slug tubes. Another bandolier was strapped around his waist as a belt, where both sides contained 6 slug tubes each. There was a bow blaster that was similar to Gerhard Stocker's blaster strapped on his right arm and it was white in colour with light blue snowflake patterns decorated around it.
"Wei Cheng!" Dong Song was delighted to see him. "What brings you here? Don't tell me you are gonna find more Frostcrawlers here!" He laughed lightly as he invited his best friend into his ice made house.
"Oh... yeah. That time I was captured by an Ice Ogre and suffered hypothermia. You came to save me," Wei Cheng said as he sat on a wooden stool and started to warm his hands with the fire made by Dong Song's Flaringo.
(Flashback)
Five years ago, Dong Song was only a teenager. He was in a small market far away from his chilly home, just finished selling the meat that he had hunted around his home in the afternoon. He counted the gold coins he had earned today very cautiously. Then, he closed his stall and packed up. As he walked around the streets, he caught a glimpse of a slug seller. He walked to the seller.
"Excuse me, sir. I see you are selling some slugs. May I ask what kind of slugs do you have?" Dong Song asked.
"Pick one for yourself," the seller answered and showed him a slug container filled with slugs.
He looked at the slugs and spotted a slug that would be very useful for him: a Flaringo. He took the slug tube with the Flaringo in it and examined it. He gave the seller a bag of gold coins and he accepted it.
Dong Song left and continued the path to his house when he overheard a conversation between two men.
"Hey, did you hear about the tracker who just entered the frozen regions?" a man asked.
"Yes, and I heard that he was captured by an Ice Ogre!" another man replied.
Dong Song stopped on his tracks abruptly. He clenched his fists and his teeth gritted with anger. His heart pumped faster and his adrenaline rushed inside his body. He sped to his parking spot, where he placed his vehicle. He activated it and rode into the frozen regions of the cavern he lived. As he entered the tundra region, he pulled up his black mask to cover most of his face, except for his eyes. The large surface area of his mecha's feet made the ride smoother as they did not sink into the thick snow with ease.
He rode as fast as he could to save the tracker in distress. He knew exactly where the Ice Ogres lived. He sped up his vehicle as the wind was getting stronger, which was a sign of an upcoming snowstorm. In the snowy mountains, there was a large cave and he stopped his mecha-beast right in front of it. He tiptoed into the darkness of the cave and took a peak. He saw a person, hanging on the ceiling. His legs were locked up by a sheet of thick blue ice. It was Wei Cheng and he looked very tired. An Ice Ogre appeared a few seconds later. Dong Song knew the creature was going to have the victim for its lunch.
His hands slipped into the pockets in his charcoal black trousers. Then he pulled them out and placed two small pieces of wax on his eardrums. He activated his bow blaster and loaded a Slyren slug. He shot it toward the Ice Ogre. It performed Sleepytime and let out a strange trilling call, which quickly put the Ice Ogre to sleep. It turned back into protoform and continued singing.
The victim let out a yawn and he felt sleepy. The wax in Dong Song's ears prevented him from falling asleep. He fired a Hop Rock onto the ice sheet and with an explosion, the ice sheet broke into pieces and the victim fell onto the ground. The loud explosion did not wake the Ice Ogre up thanks to the Slyren's singing. Dong Song rushed to the man and tried to help him get up. He realized that the man's skin was abnormally cold and he was barely conscious.
He's suffering hypothermia. Dong Song thought worriedly. He placed him on the ground carefully and ran out of the cave. The scenery outside was blurry white because a snowstorm just struck. He returned to the victim and he knew he must save him fast, but he could not bring him to his house with the snowstorm outside.
Seeing that the Ice Ogre had fallen asleep, he pulled out his katana sword, which was hidden behind his armour. He stabbed the Ice Ogre on its heart and waited for it to stop breathing. Once it let out its last breath, he sliced open the chest and placed Wei Cheng into it. Then, he took out his fur coat and used it to wrap the man to keep him warm. Then, his newly bought Flaringo lighted up its head and the heat from its fire slowly warmed up the surroundings. He kept his eyes on the poor man while warming his palms with the fire.
Two hours had passed, and the snowstorm finally stopped. Dong Song went to check on Wei Cheng. He sighed in relief when he felt the victim's skin was slightly warmer. He pulled him out gently, still wrapping him with the fur. Taking a sight of the dead Ice Ogre, Dong Song took out his katana and sliced off its arms and legs. He froze the pieces of meat with a Frostcrawler and placed them into his handmade basket. He then carried Wei Cheng out of the cave. He secured him on his mecha and drove away.
It took about 10 minutes to reach the igloo, which was Dong Song's home. He parked his vehicle and brought the man inside his icy house. He let Wei Cheng lied on the floor with the fur while he went to the ice made shelf to get some canned food. He pulled his mask down and was glad that he could breathe better. He found a can of chicken soup and smiled. He took a pot and his Flaringo heated it up. He opened the can with his katana and poured the soup into the pot. He stirred it with a spoon, waiting for it to boil.
When the soup was boiled, he heard coughing sounds coming from the man. The man was now conscious and his brown eyes blinked in confusion, trying to make out the surroundings.
"Huh... uh... where... am I?" the man asked.
"Don't worry, you are safe now. And alive," Dong Song replied as he let the soup cool down for a while.
"Argh... I'm... cold..." the man groaned.
"I know, that's why I have prepared chicken soup for you." Dong Song went toward the man. He fed the man when he found that the man's arms were still numb by the cold.
"What's... your name?" the man asked.
"Dong Song," the teenage boy replied. "You?"
"...Wei Cheng," the man answered.
"So... what brings you here, Wei Cheng?"
"Well... I was hunting for a Frostcrawler slug when I was attacked by... an Ice Ogre..."
"Oh, so you must be the tracker I have heard from the market. They said you were captured by an Ice Ogre, so I went to rescue you."
"Oh... thank you... young man. But... why did you save me?" Wei Cheng was feeling better now and he grabbed the spoon to enjoy the chicken soup by himself.
"I do not want anyone to suffer the same fate as... my family," Dong Song's voice dropped when he mentioned about the word 'family'.
"What happened to... your family?"
"Well... when I was a kid, a group of Ice Ogres attacked our village. One of it damaged the ceiling of the cave... and it crumbled onto my family and I... I was the sole survivor..."
"I am incredibly sorry for your lost."
"Well, since then I handle everything by myself. I build a new house, make tools for myself, sell meat as a living and I even do business."
"That is very... diligent of you."
"Thank you. I hunt animals with my two Hoverbugs, which I train them very well. Sometimes I hunt Ice Ogres if I have a chance, and eat them as well."
"Wait, you can kill... Ice Ogres?" Wei Cheng was utterly shocked.
"Yes, I train myself to do it. You can say it's like... avenging my family's death."
"Oh dear."
"Yeah, I get that a lot. So... what about your family?"
"Oh, I left them when I was a teenager, which is like... around 20 to 30 years."
"Why would you do that? Don't you miss them? Or even care about them?"
"They... are quite strict with me... and I don't like that. So I rebelled."
"Have you ever want to see them again?"
"Why should I? I am free now and I can do whatever I want."
"Oh yeah, you almost got eaten by an Ice Ogre and you were about to freeze to death and I saved you! If you are always the self-centered loner, nobody is going to help you in danger. You may be a tracker and have traveled for many years, but that doesn't make you truly knowledgeable. You need people to help you, who have different knowledge for different things, and are willing to share them to you." The statement from Dong Song left Wei Cheng into the silence.
"I am going to cook the meat now. If you want to leave, then please do."
As Dong Song went to get a frozen arm of an Ice Ogre from his basket, Wei Cheng sat quietly to rethink about what he had been through all these years. Dong Song decided to ignore him for a while. He cut open the ice with his katana and sliced the meat into pieces. Then, he let his Flaringo to cook them slowly.
"You're right," Wei Cheng stated quietly. "I do not know everything, and I need friends to help me as I cannot solve everything."
Dong Song looked at him and saw the man averted his eyes from his due to guilt. "I am glad that you can see through your flaws," Dong Song replied as he touched the meat and realized that it was cooked.
"So... you need friends?" he questioned playfully and handed him a cooked meat to Wei Cheng.
"Well... you are my first friend," Wei Cheng replied and took a bite of the meat.
"Oh... that's... good to hear," Dong Song was flattered. "So... how's the meat?"
"It's... quite good. Better than the meat I cook. I usually overcook it," Wei Cheng answered and laughed.
"Oh boy, you definitely need help," Dong Song laughed even louder and the atmosphere became warmer.
(Flashback ended)
"Yes, you changed me... for a better," Wei Cheng said to Dong Song.
"That's what friends do," Dong Song replied.
"And as your friend, I kindly ask you to leave your wintry cavern and moved to a safer cavern."
"Excuse me, what?"
"Look, I need your help to save the refugees of the war right now and I have found a cavern that will be safe for them. But I need resources to help supplying things to them, and that's why I come here."
"You want to supply meat for them as food?"
"Yes, and your experience in business can help to trade some other food like vegetables, beans, canned food, packaged food..."
"Okay, stop. I am in." Wei Cheng grinned at his best friend.
Originally, Dong Song was supposed to have black hair, onyx eyes, and fair skin. But then I decided to changed it to allow him to blend in with his snowy surroundings (*spoiler alert* and because many people in the Eastern Caverns don't look Asian). And about using his two Hoverbugs for hunting is inspired by a tribe living in the mountains of China. They train endangered eagles to hunt because they cannot plant for food. I decided to make the friendship between Wei Cheng and Dong Song as a comedic relief in the story. Oh, and the scene of Dong Song saving Wei Cheng from dying is a reference from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.
I started writing this chapter in midnight when I got so engrossed that I wrote more about Dong Song's life. I realized that I would want to develop every character in this story and expand the universe of the Eastern Caverns (*spoiler alert* since not many caverns are shown in the new season, which disappoints me).
So I decided to open a suggestion box right here and my tumblr page (askwenjing)! I have planned 28 chapters for this, but I fear that it may not satisfy the readers and fans because the adventure parts are only 10 chapters (now add one more for Slug Day) If you have any headcanons for characters or suggestions for adventure ideas, then please do leave in the review section. (Note: I have accepted the request for a male member of Team Phoenix who was raised by slugs)
Guessing time: Who is going to be introduced next? Hint: crystal mines in mountains.