Die Ankunft Wolf

Die Ankunft Wolf

Author's Notes: Here it is; after this, I go back to writing PsychoEd. Yay! This chapter will start off our heroes' quest and also begin the first story arc. You ready? No? Good! Here it comes!

The non-reviewers are a lie.

Ed opened his eyes tiredly and sat up. He had been lying on a mat in the backroom of the Bat's Path School all night but, after two months, he was pretty used to it. He yawned and stood up and began his daily ritual of having a staring contest with the wooden door in front of him.

To Ed's surprise, the wooden door blinked. Or, to be more appropriate, it was opened by Qi. The Naga wasn't wearing his vest that morning.

"Are you ready to start your quest, idiot?" Qi asked. "Some of the king's guards are waiting outside to escort you to the palace."

"All the king's horses and all the king's men?" Ed asked hopefully.

"No such luck." Qi responded. "All of your stuff's been packed, and I can see that you still haven't taken off your training outfit, so I'd say it's about time for you to go."

"What about breakfast?" Ed asked. "There are bound to be taverns and the like scattered about." Qi answered nonchalantly. "You can get your food and drink there. The king's going to give you plenty of gold."

"I sure do love mold!" Ed exclaimed as Qi led him through the door and into the training room, where a few students had begun training already.

Qi pointed to a backpack and a pair of nunchaku sitting near the door. "Everything you need is over there. There's a tent, sleeping bag, and other items you may need. I want you to practice with the nunchaku every day, understand?"

Ed smiled widely and grabbed the items his teacher had prepared for him. He happily walked out the front door and, once outside, found several knights waiting for him.

"You are the Destined One Ed?" One knight asked, his helmet covering his entire face. "Your fellow Destined Ones await you at the city gate."

"Mom's home?" Ed asked.

Two of the knights grabbed Ed forcefully. "Our king has asked us to escort you to the gate." The knight whom Ed had named Chicken explained. "We will drag you, if necessary."

"Nope; I don't smoke." Ed responded. "I am fond of chickens, though! Chickens are why God invented eggs!"

The knights dragged Ed down the road as he continued to rant about chickens. After several minutes, they arrived at a giant pair of wooden doors in the wall surrounding the town. Double D, Kevin, and Eddy awaited them.

"Open up the gates! The Destined Ones are prepared to begin their quest!" Chicken yelled as the knights dropped Ed and marched off.

"Clarence?" A male voice asked from behind the gate. "Is that you, Clarence?" "Oh… Theodor." Chicken realized awkwardly. "I didn't know you were guarding the gates today. Look, I'm sorry about—."

"I already told you, Clarence! It's over!" Theodor yelled. "I told you to never talk to me again!" "But I love you!" "That's not good enough, Clarence! That's not good enough!"

Chicken ran away, almost crying. "That was weird." Eddy muttered. "Usually ex-couples don't fight until after mid-morning… or so my brother tells me."

"Look, do you want to get started on the quest or not?" Kevin asked angrily. He walked up to the gate and knocked on them loudly.

"I already told you to leave, Clarence!" Theodor yelled.

"I'm Kevin." Kevin corrected. "I'm a knight in the king's service. Me and some friends need to get through."

"Kevin, eh? How tall are you?" "What? Just shut up and open the gates!" Kevin ordered.

There was a sound of gears creaking together and ropes being pulled, and the wooden gate opened. Theodor wore a suit of chainmail with a red sunrise on the breastplate. He had brown hair, brown eyes, and a scar going down the side of his face.

"Oh, you're adventurers!" Theodor realized cheerfully. "I sell discount swords to adventurers! And they might not be stolen, even!"

"I'm sure your parents must be proud, Theo." Kevin said sarcastically as the four teenagers walked through the gate. They continued walking down the path, leaving Theodor alone as he closed the gate.

"At least I don't have something living in my chin…" He muttered to himself. "Short little bastard…"

MEANWHILE…

"Listen, your majesty, we have come from another plane to battle great evils!" One of the Destined Ones yelled at King Lawrence. He and three other warriors in gold and silver armor had appeared from nowhere just a few minutes ago.

"The four of us were spawned from the Plane of Mana." A warrior with a magic staff explained. "We are not living beings as you know them; we have been born to fulfill the destiny of defeating the Council."

The king scoffed. "You can't be the Destined Ones; I already decided that those other four are the Destined Ones." He explained as guards entered the throne-room. "There will be no contradicting the king! Think about that in the dungeons."

The guards dragged the 4 Destined Ones away as the king sat in his throne proudly. "I'm a good person."

ON THE ROAD AGAIN…

"My legs hurt." Eddy whined. They had been following the road for an hour straight and were in the middle of a large field. Tall grass grew to the left and to the right, completely obscuring their sight.

"We'll take a break in a few minutes." Double D said to his friend. "I need to read the spell book Leopold gave to me."

As the four walked down the path, each of them weighted down by bags given to them before the journey began, they saw the grass come to an end a few yards ahead. They hurried up and ran towards the end, though a sudden voice worried them.

"I'm not sure children should be out and about in the open, Rudolph."

A brown-haired man in his twenties stepped out of the tall grass behind them. He wore simple, brown clothes and carried a dagger. An identical man stepped out in front of them, flanking them.

"I agree, Adolph." The man in front of the four agreed. He had a voice that Double D likened to a German accent. "Perhaps they would like some protection from the Legion der Reinheit?"

Double D was shocked to recognize what they said as a German word. "Legion of Purity?" He translated.

"Oh, just a small group that's growing in power." Adolph explained as he drew a short-sword. "The land of Spatzburg is losing its power, and we've decided to reinstate the old ways; get rid of anyone who's not pure. They're the problem, after all."

"That's Nazism!" Double D exclaimed.

"I'm not sure what you just said." Rudolph responded. "Now, give us your gold and we'll protect you on your long journey."

"We don't need any protection." Kevin said stubbornly as Ed stared forward blankly.

"No, my young friend, you don't understand; the payment also protects you from us." Adolph threatened. "Quite honestly, you're going to need our help. Once night arrives, those that are truly impure come out."

"Do you mean your mom?" Eddy asked mockingly. Unfortunately, he hit upon a soft spot.

"What are you saying about our mom's?!" Rudolph asked. "Do you think it's funny that we've got two?! Huh, punk?! You're gonna die! Die right here, right now!"

"No need to kill them yet, brother!" Adolph pleaded, trying to calm him down. "The Legion is still small! We need their money to expand!"

"I don't give a shit about money from people who mock our family!" Rudolph responded. "Besides, with all of the raids from those freaks every night, we lose twice the money we earn!"

"There's still no need to kill them." Adolph pointed out. "None of their insults can disgrace our family!"

"Not even if we said that you two would make a nice couple?" Eddy asked.

Adolph angrily gritted his teeth, glaring at Eddy angrily. He thrust his sword into the thief's side, opening up a bloody wound. Eddy staggered back and fell to his knees as he bled, clutching the wound.

"Adolph, you idiot!" Rudolph yelled. For once, he was the voice of reason. "If word gets out what you just did, we could get kicked out of Spatzburg!"

Realization dawned on Adolph as he stared at the bleeding Eddy. Unfortunately, before he could run away from the three young men a filthy, yellow fist found its way to his face.

"Nobody drinks my friend's blood, foul vampire!" Ed yelled as Adolph fell to the ground. "Prepare to be staked by VanHelsing!"

Adolph got up as if nothing had happened. "Don't we know a guy named VanHelsing, Rudolph?" "Yeah. We burned him to death just last month. I believe he was one of… you know. Them."

Adolph chuckled as he wiped his blade off on his sleeve. "Won't be long until they're all but rooted out, eh?" He asked, admiring the silver on the blade. He seemed to have forgotten about Ed, Edd, and Kevin. "What spell did you use to destroy the last one? Feuersturm?"

Rudolph smiled wickedly. He tossed his dagger into the ground and began chanting something. In mere seconds, balls of fire flew from the dagger's hilt and into the sky circling above them.

"You're a mage?" Double D asked fearfully. "Don't associate me with your kind!" Rudolph ordered. "I am a sorcerer!"

"Guys…" Eddy said quietly. "I'm still bleeding… God, I think he hit something…"

One of the fireballs crashed down to the ground, dangerously close to Kevin. "These things are difficult to steer by pure force alone." Rudolph observed as the fireballs danced. "Still, if I only miss by a few inches, that's still enough to kill, isn't it?"

"Make this fast, Rudolph." Adolph ordered. "We have a meeting in a little while, remember? The rallies keep getting bigger and it'll look bad if we don't show up."

Rudolph chuckled as he pulled on his collar. "I'll be quick, then." He said. All of the remaining fireballs flew down on the four adventurers, smelling of smoke and burning fur.

Double D's mind raced as he tried to remember some sort of spell to block the fireballs. No avail. Before doom could arrive, however, a miracle happened.

Black, grisly spikes sprung from the ground around the children. The spikes drove through the fireballs, holding them in place as if they were solid objects.

"What in the Abyss is this?!" Rudolph yelled out before Kevin drew his sword and sliced at him.

The man's shirt fell off, revealing three, long scratches on the front of his chest. The scratches looked infected, and the veins surrounding it were red and visible. While it simply disgusted Double D and Kevin, it horrified Adolph.

"You're one of them." He whispered in shock. Rudolph's eyes were nervous and full of fear, as well. "Please… it's not what it looks like, Adolph." Rudolph pleaded. "I'm just infected! I'm not like them!"

Adolph turned tail and ran, leaving his brother behind. Rudolph stared after him sadly before falling to the ground in sobs.

Kevin angrily kicked Rudolph in the side, turning him over. "Mind telling us what just happened?" He asked as he put his sword to Rudolph's throat.

Rudolph's eyes showed a bizarre mixture of despair, rage, and animal bestiality. "Just kill me!" He roared in his sobs. "You had the chance to simply kill me, but instead you've ruined my life forever!"

"Don't tempt me; I'm more than happy to kill you." Kevin bluffed. "Tell us why he freaked out when he saw the scratches on your chest."

"I was clawed by a wolf three months ago!" Rudolph explained sadly, crying. "I should have known; it was a full moon, after all. I thought nothing of it until a month later, on the full moon!"

"Oh, no!" Ed exclaimed, for once being the only one knowing what was going on.

"I was infected by a lycanthropy." Rudolph explained in despair. "The Brother Beasts turned me into a monster."

Author's Notes: Sorry this took so long! I haven't been able to write every day like I usually do. Regardless, this introduces the first story arc. Expect to see a familiar face soon…

Next Time: Bad Wolf