Hiya! This is Chapter #10, and I'm glad I've been able to continue this series without any problems. XD
Well...technically, the chapters unable to save properly was a problem before. But now I fixed it. :)
At least, I think I fixed those damn problems.
So yeah, without further ado (is that how that is spelled?), let's get going! :D
Disclaimer: This story is rated T and it contains many things that make it that way. The fighting, swearing and bloodshed has shown itself in the previous chapters already. So, yeah. Oh, and I still don't own Pokemon. I only own 87.8% of the OCs shown in this story.
It was a Saturday afternoon like any other.
I had just come home from my piano classes, so I decided to spend some free time to finish all of the homework I was given. Now, I had absolutely nothing to do. And for me, it was another boring Saturday to spend my time doing nothing and laze around, since procrastinating seemed to be yet another thing that was plaguing me.
As I was lazing about in my bedroom, my mother calls out to me, to find out what I could possibly be doing, especially because it was so quiet around our home.
"Francis!" She yells out my name, her voice coming from the first floor of our home. "Are you done your homework?"
"Yes, I finished all of it!" I exclaimed to her in reply. I was currently laying on the floor of my bedroom, staring up at the ceiling. As I waited for a reply, I exhaled quietly. And, before I knew it, I had gotten a reply I was almost expecting.
"Well, if you aren't doing anything, how about you go up to the attic and clean some stuff up?" She started, and I groaned quietly. "You could sort some things up and throw out everything that isn't necessary!"
I rubbed my face with my paws, letting out another groan. Cleaning wasn't my favorite thing to do, especially when it came to the attic. That place was nothing but a big cmess, and going around it could take a good couple of hours.
Staring at the ceiling had made me feel, admittedly, quite content with myself. It made me think about the important things, such as life and my loved ones. Unfortunately, I had to get up and do as my mother asked, lest I get yelled at or something.
Once I finally got up from the floor, I exited my bedroom and headed towards the ladder that led to the attic. As I made my way to the hallway, I reached up with a paw to grab the string that would bring the ladder down.
I climbed up to the attic shortly after, and I turned on the lights. There were a few stacks of boxes with old knick-knacks and other things inside of them, along with tons of unsorted piles of either old clothing, books, and many other items that couldn't be seen very well. That, and I had no idea why we were still keeping those said items.
Some of the stuff that were unsorted consisted of flattened cardboard boxes, a few broken and worn down flashlights, a few old - but fully - finished colouring books, and some other stuff that I had never seen before.
I crossed my arms and sighed inwardly at the sight in front of me, knowing I had to sort the boxes and other stuff into a proper pile, while also sweeping and dusting around the attic. Nobody really comes up here anymore, minus the exception of my brother who would come up here and scavenge through the crap in the attic. I swear, I always have to clean up after him. But hey, it's something to do, I guess.
A thought came to mind as I stared at the messy attic, and mentally slapped myself in the process.
"Ugh, I should have went over to Bryce's house today." I thought aloud, rubbing the back of my head. I always like going over to his place, whether he knows it or not. Most of the time, though, I do send a quick text saying I was on my way to hang out. Even though Bryce and I are best friends, I probably should let him know that I'm coming over more often, instead of not giving him a warning.
Shaking away the thought, I reminded myself that I had some cleaning to do. The earlier I started this, the earlier I could finish this big task.
I walked over to a stack of boxes and picked one up. It was slightly heavy, but I managed to carry it with ease. Knowing the move Strength certainly had its advantages, deeming to be helpful in situations just like these. It wasn't a bother to carry heavy items because of it, but the excessive use of a certain move can tire anyone out.
Moving over to another end of the attic, I delicately put the box down, being careful not to break the contents inside of it. Once the box was set down, I walked over to the same pile, grabbing another box and bringing it over to the area where I set down the first one. I wanted the attic to look more tidier, so placing them in a corner of the room would do the trick for now.
As I kept moving the boxes, minutes kept on passing by. Unfortunately, I eventually went and made a clumsy mistake, as any average joe would do sometimes. I went to move a box, and I somehow didn't notice that there was another box above it. Moving it caused it to topple over, the contents of the box spilling out and falling right onto me.
Among the items that fell onto me, I felt something that was somewhat heavy fall right onto my head and it caused me to fall backwards onto my rump. I rub the area where this certain object landed on me and I groaned in a bit of pain.
"Ugh… t-the heck was that?" I say to myself as I shook the dizziness out of my system. Once I got my bearings back, I look to what exactly fell onto me from the box, and I looked at it with a confused look.
Finding it beside me, beneath a few clothes which were part of the boxes contents, was some sort of sword, tucked into its scabbard. The cover - or scabbard itself - seemed to be attached to a sort of belt, meaning one would be able to wear it around their chest like a one-strap backpack.
Confused and slightly curious, I picked up the sword that fell out of the box. I turned it in my paws to look at it, and I noticed something unusual about the belt of the scabbard. I could see there were quite a few tally marks engraved into it. After adding them up, I found the tallys added up to a total of seventy-eight. That was a considerably high number, but what could it have meant? I shook off that question, and I kept up my inspection of it.
Gripping the scabbard, I slowly slid the sword out and took a good look at it, holding it from the handle. Looking closely, it was clear the blade itself was dusty. Very dusty. I brushed my paw against the blade carefully, rubbing the dust away. With that, I also noticed the blade appeared to have been dulled.
Grabbing a nearby cleaning cloth, I started to dust off the blade. Once finished, I took a better look at it. It shone somewhat brightly from the light from the attic shining down on it. Unlike Tina's stone swords back at her house, this sword appeared to be like it would be shown in the movies or back then; made from a sort of metal.
"This is… strange. What's a sword doing in my attic?" I asked myself as I held the blade in my paw, turning it slowly to examine it.
As I inspected this blade further, I noticed something very mysterious. Right on the blade itself, near the bottom of the blade or where the blade met the hilt of it, I found that there was some sort of symbols engraved in it. From what I knew, it seemed to be something I definitely couldn't decipher, since it seemed to not be in a sort of universal language. Perhaps it had a deeper meaning to it, and I had no understanding of it of it.
But one thing that was for certain was that it made the sword have a sorts of history to it. A past to it. And that interested me to no end.
After examining the sword for a little while longer and finding nothing, I eventually slipped the sword back into its scabbard, and placed it down against the wall.
"I'm definitely gonna test this later. But first… the attic needs to finish cleaning." I sighed inwardly, and nodded to myself as I went on to finish up the cleaning of the attic.
Eventually I finished up, and dusted my paws off once I had moved the last box to the corner of the attic.
"And done! That took a little less time than I thought." I exclaimed to myself, chuckling as well. After doing a bit of a stretch, alongside a small yawn, I went back over to the sword I set against the wall. I picked it right up, and nodded.
"Hmm… I oughta ask mom about this. Maybe she'd know something about this sword." I said, thinking a bit. I nodded at my idea, and left the attic to go ask my mother about the sword.
After a bit of searching, I found my mother watching TV on the couch in the living room.
"Hey mom? I just finished cleaning the attic and stuff." I called out to her as I went down the stairs. She turned her head to look at me and she nodded to me.
"Ah, good. Thank you." She said, smiling at me. Then she looked down and saw the sword in my paws, and her face lit up with surprise. Before she could say anything, I spoke up.
"Oh, uh… I came across this in the attic. Do you know anything about it?" I asked her, and she nodded to me as she stood up and came over to me.
"Goodness… wow, I had no idea that this was still around." My mother said as she took the sword from me, and took her own look at it. She began talking again once she gave the sword back to me.
"This was your father's sword. He once told me that this sword was passed down for generations on his side of the family. I remember, he even wore this to the dates he took me on, back when we were your age." She explained to me, and I felt astonished and surprised. My father owned a sword that was passed down for many generations? It was definitely cool in my books.
"Wow, seriously? That's awesome, I never knew dad was into swords and stuff." I said as I took another look at the sword. My mom smiled more as she put a paw onto the sword and sighed.
"You know… your father planned to hand it down to you once you would be old enough, but…" She paused, nodding her head approvingly. She spoke once more. "I think you can have it now." She said to me as she eyed the sword for a moment once more, then looked at me with a smile.
I look at my mother surprised. I felt giddy with excitement, like a child at their birthday party getting exactly what they've wanted. I put the sword to the side and hugged her.
"Thanks, mom." I whispered to her, my arms wrapping around her in a big hug. I heard her chuckle a bit, and felt her paw patting my back. She hugged me back, and nuzzled her head with mine a bit.
"Just don't go cutting other's heads off." She said jokingly, and we had a good laugh. I was definitely glad my brother wasn't home to see me find the sword. He surely would have gotten jealous about it. Regardless, he'll see the sword eventually and have a fit over why he couldn't have it. My mother will probably explain to him why he can't have it.
Once we let go of the hug, I went back up to my room and left my mother be. I wanted to examine my new sword more.
I went into my room and sat on my bed, exhaling out of slight exhaustion from running upstairs. Once again, I slid the sword out of its scabbard. I took in some more details to the broadsword that I currently held in my paws.
The blade was probably as long as one meter, maybe a bit more. I looked towards the mysterious symbols on the blade again, and I thought about it once more, wondering what sort of meaning these symbols meant. My mother never mentioned the symbols of the sword, but perhaps I could ask her another time if she knew.
I rub the fuller part of the blade, and I felt a bit of scars and tiny indents in it, even if they weren't easy to see. To me, it proved that this sword had been used in many kinds of different battles.
I look at the tally marks shown on the scabbard belt. What was the meaning of the tally marks? Whatever it meant, it must have had some sort of importance to it. Thinking for a moment, I sigh once again and place the sword back in it's sheath. I feel I'll figure out the meaning of these tallies and symbols in due time.
At that moment, an idea runs through my head and I wonder what I would look like with the sword on me. My mouth curved into an excited grin, and quickly sprang into action.
I slipped on my purple tracksuit, only because I didn't want to get my 'sleeping clothes' dirty. Once the tracksuit was on, I slipped the scabbard's belt around myself. To my surprise, it was a perfect fit. I tightened the belt a bit so it wasn't as loose, then I looked at myself in the mirror.
Looking at myself, I see that my head fur seemed to have gotten longer, like some bangs in my fur moving downwards to cover my forehead slightly, and the fur atop my head was spiked up, looking like a sort of makeshift faux hawk. I think I might just stick with this sort of fur style, because I kinda like it that way.
I look at the purple tracksuit I was wearing. It was a snug fit and was in a good condition, aside from the small tattered parts of it from my training sessions with Tina.
I then shift my stance to look at my sword belt and scabbard. The scabbard had metal plates where the chape (the tip of the scabbard) and the locket (the area where you slip the sword in), like any other scabbard. Other than that, it seemed to have been made by some sort of strong leather, just like the belt of it. I didn't see any sort of ripped areas or places in which it was worn out, which made me a bit curious and surprised that it took no sorts of damage from its previous uses. Perhaps it had been replaced constantly.
I shook the thought away, and continued to stare at myself in the mirror. Maybe I should get myself a new fighting gi, as it would be a bit more appropriate for when I train by myself, or with Tina, or something.
Eventually, I decided to head back down the stairs to test the sword out in the backyard. When I went down to the first floor, my mother noticed me. She laughed a bit, and crosses her arms.
"Francis, you really remind me of your father when he was younger, looking almost just like you." She flattered me, and I turned a bit red from her compliments. I grinned with glee, chuckling.
"Heh, thanks mom. But I'm not a Lucario like he is." I admitted, and she just smiled more, as she came over to me. She puts her paws onto my shoulders and stares right at me.
"You have his fighting spirit, that's for certain. And you have the same ideals as he did, too. Look at you now, wearing his sword and even doing his 'faux hawk' styled fur cut." She said, running a paw through my head fur now, and I blush a bit harder, but I continue to smile.
"Aha, I'm glad I do. I wanna be just like him." I say to her, feeling a sense of pride run through me. "I'm gonna go try testing this sword out in the backyard though."
She nods to me, and gestures for me to head there. "Hehe, alrighty then, go ahead. Just don't hurt yourself with that, okay?" She said with a bit of concern in her voice, and I nodded to her as I ran over and opened the door to the backyard.
Once there, I began to setup my 'test object' for my new blade. I took a stool that was off to the side, along with a block of wood from our old firewood pile that we barely use. I put the stool down and placed the block of wood upon it. Adjusting the block slightly to be completely in place and right in the middle of it, I nod once it has been set atop of the stool properly.
I move slightly away from the stool, so I'm a few meters away from it. I take ahold of the sword's handle using my right paw, then slide it right out of its scabbard. I took a look at my sword, and it shined in the sunlight. I shifted my stance a bit, and took my other paw to grip the sword's handle.
It was a comfortable hold, almost like it was made for me to handle it. I shifted the sword in my paws slightly to look it over once more.
"Gosh… it's crazy to realize this was my dad's, and now it's mine." I said to myself, staring at the sword. I soon adjusted my stance to a more practical one, holding the sword in my paws. If I was gonna wield this, I would need to adjust my fighting style so I could use my sword alongside my usual style of fighting.
Speaking of fighting, using the sword would allow me to gain more access to other kinds of moves, such as Night Slash or Leaf Blade or something. Mostly attacks that have the words 'slash' or 'cut' or something. That's awesome, it gives me a much bigger moveset.
Guess you could say I'm gonna quite a 'cut' above the rest, right?
Anyways, I look at my sword then at the block of wood I setup. I close my eyes briefly to calm myself down as I held my sword tightly in both my paws. I gave an exhale, then jumped forward to attack the innocent piece of wood.
"Hyaa!" I exclaimed as I swung my sword with all my strength, and I gave a good horizontal slash. To me, the sword felt very well-balanced; not too heavy, but not too light either.
Once my paws hit the ground, I look to the side to see the top half of the block of wood toppled over on the ground, cut down with quite precision. Surprising, since the sword was still somewhat dull.
Being a bit dramatic, I flip the sword in my paws carefully, then slide it back into my scabbard. I grinned happily in success, even if I did just cut a piece of wood in half. Pretty sure anyone that's interested could do that.
"That was awesome!" I exclaimed, laughing to myself. I'm so glad I came across this sword in the attic, and I'm also glad my mother told me to get some cleaning done in the attic too.
Once I calmed myself down from the excitement, I began to think about how my friends would react to my new sword.
Bryce would probably think it's pretty awesome, as well as badass. Alice would probably worry about sword safety and wouldn't want me to cut myself accidentally or something. Amy probably wouldn't care as much. As for Tina, she'd definitely find it interesting, and would want to have her own swing with it.
But anyways, I decided to keep training outside to adapt to my new style of using my sword - alongside with my other moves - while also learning how to use sorts of other attacks with my sword as I mentioned beforehand.
Later this week is definitely gonna be pretty cool. My history teacher will be taking us to some monument out near some waterfall sort of area for a day to check it out. I forget the name of it, but I heard it's a really cool place. I just know Tina, Alice, and Bryce are going on this trip, but Amy declined since she said that she has a battle tournament at another place that day. We'll have fun without her, I suppose.
First the sword, and next the trip! It's definitely gonna be exciting.
Donezo, another sort of filler/plot filled chapter! :D
We'll be getting into another thing next chapter, and I don't want to say anything about it! I'm winding up for something awesome, and I'm ready to show you that...NEXT CHAPTER! XD
So until then, stay tuned! I'll post the next chapter as soon as it's all ready and stuff!
EDIT: Big thankies to Chlooepm for the help regarding the rewrite/remake of this chapter.