The world flashed between dull city streets of grey and some lush forest with huge trees and fertile soil, the images overlaying each other like corrupted film on a silver screen. That must have been one hell of a KO if she was seeing the god damn Amazon Rain Forest when she closed her eyes. She scrubbed at her eyes with her taped-up knuckles and shoved herself to her feet, sweat dripping along her skin. Damn was it humid. Of course they never put ACs or fans in the arenas, the fighters themselves were trained to deal with it. Still damn annoying though. She blinked through the blood dripping into her eyes, trying to regain the upper hand she had only moments prior, but the image of the forest around her only grew clearer while the dirty inner city ring she'd come to know as her eventual end faded away. There were no opponents here, just the sounds of bird calls and bugs in the leafy foliage. Her instincts screamed at her that this wasn't real and she'd finally snapped; someone had landed a hard enough hit to her brain that she couldn't see reality anymore. Her guard stayed raised, waiting for another blow to land as the scenery around her sharpened and came into short focus, like playing with the lens of a video camera. She held her stance, the fully-formed world around her alive with sound and even a slight breeze that tickled her hair across her cheek. Slowly she began to lower her hands to look around, brain wheeling to try to figure out how she got from the ring to this vastly overgrown jungle. She could smell the ocean as well. Not the polluted river that ran through the center of the city and was definitely the dumping place of multiple fighters like herself, but the true blue ocean. She turned, looking in every direction she could manage. She didn't think that there were still places like this left on the planet. After the government burned down the last of the rain forests, most people had given up and were just waiting on the world to end. That was the world she'd been born into, the one she'd hated being a part of for as long as she could remember.
"Hey! Watch out!" The cry dropped her back into her fighting stance, catching sight of a blue blur as it launched in her direction. She sidestepped it, knuckles cut upward in her signature rocket uppercut. The thing that had lunged at her reeled back and staggered, it's legs wobbling as it peered at her in startled confusion.
"Tranq it!" Called the voice she'd heard before, one of a young woman. A cloud of red burst forth in the face of the beast and it wavered on the spot before plopping onto the ground and not moving again. Two cheers shouted out in joy. One of them belonging to a young woman with vibrant red hair who had been just behind whatever the hell that thing was. She grinned brightly at the stranger.
"Hey, nice work with that punch!" She reached to clap the fighter on the shoulder, then seemed surprised when said woman stepped away from her distrustfully. "Uh… sorry, we've never met. I'm Quill, with the Fifth."
"The fifth what?" The fighter's taped hands balled into fists tightly. This woman was built like a fighter, and the impossibly huge weapon at her back was no joke. "What is this place?"
"Uh… the Ancient Forest…?" She spoke as if the answer was obvious, then turned to look behind herself as small footfalls sounded. Another girl appeared through the foliage, a large book at her hip and a grin on her face.
"I can take down all of the-" she spotted the fighter's angry face and halted in her tracks, "Uh… h-hi?"
"What the heck is this thing?" The fighter motioned to the animal on the ground, which was far too big to be normal. It was like the strange mixture of a wolf and a snake, if she remembered the pictures properly. Was it the result of some weird science project?
"That's a Tobi Kadachi," the small girl with the book explained, "it's a thunder-type monster the Chief Botanist asked us to help him with. Do you… work with the Chief Botanist?" The fighter shook her head.
"I have no idea who or what you're talking about…" she growled out in frustration.
"She's not dressed like a hunter or scholar…" the red-haired woman pointed out to her companion, shoving her impossible locks away from her face, a scar shining in a sharp line over her left eye. It wasn't until then that the fighter noticed her odd, two colored eyes. She wondered if it was because of the scar or if she'd been born with it. Neither color looked natural, either way.
"You're right," the small brunette girl clutched the book at her hip in nervous thought. "Are you with one of the fleets? You shouldn't be out here without your armor and a weapon. It's not safe." The redhead laughed at this.
"She doesn't need a weapon," she chortled, "she nearly knocked out Tobi with a single punch. It was so cool!" Her hands fist pumped simultaneously like an excited child. "I wanna try that too!" The other girl made a face at her.
"That's probably not a good idea, Pard," she pointed out, "you've been trained with weapons, not fists…" she looked the newcomer over. "You must be really tough if you managed to do that though. I've never seen you in Astera…"
"Look, I have no idea what you're talking about or how I got here, so…" the fighter dragged a hand over her face trying to wipe the blood from her brow, her hand coming away without anything but sweat. She blinked and tried again with the same results. "Am I dead?" The two others stared at her in confusion.
"You're the alivest dead person I ever met if you are," the redhead - What was her name? Quill? - said with a laugh.
"Maybe we should get you back to headquarters," the smaller girl suggested, "you might have gotten heat stroke or something out here. At least back in Astera you can get some water, and we can figure out what's going on there." She looked to the redhead, who nodded and raised her arm. The - thing? - on her arm shot what looked like a flare into the sky, sizzlingly red-orange and leaving a smoke trail behind.
"They'll be here in no time and you can follow us back to meet the Commander," Quill's grin was infuriating pure. The two seemed carefree and happy, the little brunette looking over the sleeping beast with curious eyes. Quill looked to the stranger again, her own eyes curious. "Have you got a name or title?" She asked with interest.
"Name's Bragi," the fighter half spat the words, "title's The Bloodpunch."
"Your title is…" Quill drew back slightly.
"Accurate…" Bragi motioned to the beast laying on the ground. "I've never fought anything that wasn't human, but I've been training for years, so a punch from me isn't going to leave most people on their feet."
"You fight...people?" the tall woman stared at her while the smaller one was creeping around the beast with wide eyes. "Why?"
"Because that's what I was trained to do…" the fighter put her hands on her hips, "we don't have anything like this where I'm from. We fight other fighters."
"Fighting people sounds awful…" the redhead cringed. Bragi couldn't argue that. She hated it.
"They were this way!" Came a voice through the trees. All of them turned to see several short people with pointy ears headed their way with a large wooden cart, presumably for the sleeping wolf snake thing - the Tobi. Another 'hunter' dressed in armor was with them, this person greeting Quill and her partner cheerfully.
"Another successful hunt, eh?" He laughed, clapping the redhead on the shoulder heartily, "expect nothing less from our Star Hunter." Quill beamed.
"I don't plan on letting anyone down," she pointed out, "just keep the quests coming." They laughed together. Bragi looked away. She didn't trust such open comradery. There were always lies underneath it, fake smiles and backstabbing.
"You ready to go then?" Quill looked to Bragi with bright eyes, no sign of falsehood in the slightest. "Astera awaits."
"Yeah, whatever," Bragi rolled her eyes, "lead the way." She wasn't in a hurry to get back to the ring where she would probably end up being killed and tossed into the river anyways. Best to see what she could do with this new opportunity. She followed Quill through the forest, tailed closely by the girl with the book. Bragi scrutinized the little thing carefully. She was obviously the brains of the operation, but she seemed just as dreamy-eyed as the hunter with the blade on her back. Were they both idiots who'd somehow managed to survive this long? Bragi couldn't tell.
Soon they were on a beach, or at least overlooking one. The waves were blue and clear, crashing gently against the shore. Bragi had to pause for a moment to take it in.
"What's up?" Quill stood at her side, seeming nonplussed. "Something wrong?"
"It's the ocean…" Bragi couldn't make her tone less angry, it was her nature at this point.
"Yeah?" Quill agreed. That was definitely the ocean. "What about it?"
"I've… never seen it before…" the fighter admitted. The two girls stared.
"How have you never seen the ocean?" The smaller girl asked, astounded.
"We sailed across it to get here…" Quill pointed out, her partner giving an affirmative nod.
"There are no oceans near where I'm from," Bragi started simply, "I didn't realize just how… forever it was." Quill tapped her on the shoulder.
"We should move," she said, "there's a lot more dangerous things here than that Tobi." She lead them through a small wood gateway onto a path enclosed by rock on either side. "We're almost there." They followed the path, the shade of the trees making the sun dot the path and cooling them somewhat. When they turned a sharp corner the path opened up to reveal what looked like a very small city, an epic gate of gigantic bones greeting them from above. It seemed ominous to Bragi, but the two leading her smiled as it came into view. Beyond that was a wood floored dock that was covered in shop stalls and the hustle of people with much work to do. To the left was a cliff face that they'd built the city right into, stairs leading up to another section that she couldn't see clearly and waaaay up on the top of the cliff was a large, old-fashioned ship, mostly broken in half and anchoring the top end of a pulley system run by a gigantic water wheel. The wheel itself was built into the cliff's inset waterfall, an efficient and clean method of powering such a large contraption.
Bragi followed the red-haired hunter along the edge of the dock that faced the open ocean, which had no railing despite being well-above the actual water line. She supposed they didn't have a history of falls or they would probably have one installed. There were so many small boats down in the water, and boxes for ease of access when at the water's edge. Maybe they were shipping things somewhere? Actually, now that she was looking more carefully, everything here seemed to be made of broken down old ships; even the tapestries that hung to shade the shopping area were dangling from what looked like the half skeleton of a once huge boat. The housing on the far side looked like a stack of floors from historic books about boats. These people apparently didn't waste anything. She supposed she could respect that.
"Welcome back!" Called a deep, masculine voice, pulling Bragi's attention from her surroundings to where they were actually headed. Jutting out from the dock was a full ship's prow, the helm still fully intact but surrounded by supplies and a mishmash of items that Bragi couldn't readily identify. The voice was that of an older, white-haired man with very tanned skin standing in front of a low, wide table with an old fashioned map on it. He wore armor like his hunters, but carried no weapon on his back. "Good job with that Tobi Kadachi, now it's time for Anjanath." He looked between those he knew and his brow creased when he saw Bragi. "Who's this?" He seemed surprised to find a face he didn't recognize.
"Uh… we found her in the woods, Commander," the smaller girl said, "while we were going after the Tobi. She came out of nowhere…"
"She clocked him right in the jaw and nearly knocked him out," the red-haired Hunter raised a fist, looking excited, "captured him right after. Never seen anything like it." The Commander addressed Bragi now, fixing her with a curious gaze.
"How'd you manage to get out in the middle of the Ancient Forest?" He asked. The young woman gave a half-hearted shrug.
"Damned if I know," she answered frankly, "last I knew I was back in my city in the middle of a fight. She got one good shot on me and suddenly I'm here. I thought it was the knock to the head makin' me see things." The term 'commander' being thrown around made her leery. If they were a military unit, weren't they a little too lax by just letting her walk into their compound without even a frisking? Maybe these people saw the world differently than where she was from? She couldn't imagine how they looked at things if they were okay with some stranger just appearing there.
"Are you a hunter?" The man asked. She stared.
"I have no idea what that means," she told him plainly, "I'm a fighter, and I basically live in the ring. We don't fight big ol' animals like you guys seem to. We fight other fighters."
"You fight people?" The brunette girl beside the hunter looked terrified, just like her red haired partner. "Why?" Bragi shrugged.
"It's considered a sport, I guess," she didn't understand the other's concern. Most people ignored that fighters existed, even though everyone knew it. So long as you weren't taken young you had nothing to worry about. "People place bets on who wins or loses…" something told her to omit the part about purple betting on whether or not they would kill each other or if either of the fighters would die. There was something so naive about this place.
"You must be one hell of a fighter if you can knock a monster like that off balance even as thin as you are," the man crossed his arms in thought, looking to the hunter and her partner, "you two have more missions to complete so I won't hold you up any longer. Keep up the good work!" The two agreed almost excitedly before heading away from the table and Commander, the smaller girl talking animated about their next mission. "As for you, I'm not sure what to do about your situation here." The older man sounded apologetic. "Without knowing where you came from or how you got here we can't even begin to try to get you home. If you think you can make yourself useful you're welcome to stay as long as you like." Bragi stared.
"That's it?" She asked, unable to hide her own surprise.
"You were expecting more?" He tilted his head at her. She tugged on the wraps around her knuckles, her adrenalin still too high for how calm he was being.
"Where I'm from I would have been dragged off and interrogated by authorities, not calmly questioned and welcomed to the city…" she gritted her teeth slightly, her brow still furrowed. Most people where she was from thought she looked scary. These people didn't seem to think twice about whether or not she was frightening or trustworthy.
"We're not where you're from," the man stated simply, "you're our guest. On that note, feel free to grab something to eat at the Canteen. We'll lodge you in the commons until you decide what you want to do next." He looked at the young man just behind him over his shoulder. "Take her on the usual tour." His words were an order, not a request. There was no malice in the words, and no rebellion or resentment in the man he gave the order to as he stepped forward.
"You got it, sir," he agreed, offering a grin to Bragi as he moved past the older man. "C'mon, after fighting a Tobi Kadachi you gotta be hungry." He headed away from the big table and - since she couldn't think of anything else to do - she nodded at the Commander with an almost harsh word of thanks and moved to follow. The young man was laden with a similar armorto the old guy, but carried an impossibly huge sword on his back. Weapons of unusual size seemed to be the norm around here. She couldn't help but wonder how the dude carried the damn thing so easily. It didn't seem to hamper his movements in the slightest and he motioned to a curtain only a few yards from the council table.
"This is the common room," he offered, "it's where you'll sleep and store your stuff. You'll have roommates, but they're all good people so I wouldn't worry."
"I don't have any stuff…" she said simply, spreading her hands to show that she literally carried nothing on her, just the clothes she was wearing and her dispassionate disposition. He chuckled.
"You'll collect things as you go on," he pointed out, "everyone does." He moved past the common room and up a flight of stairs to one side. "You probably won't need to see the smithy very often since you're a fighter, but if you ever want to go hunt monsters with our people he's the man to see. He would probably be interested in trying to make something new to help you too." The flight of stairs led up and up, the young man talking almost the whole way there. He was free with his smiles and looked her way as he spoke, his blue eyes full of amusement. He was a pretty boy. Most of those where she was from were assholes. She'd never met one who actually seemed to like talking to fighters, but then again, they didn't seem to have those here. Maybe he didn't know that people like her were garbage and were likely to just die and be tossed in the river…
"This is the smithy," he pointed into a metal building that clanged and boomed, heat radiating out the door. Bragi couldn't help but peer in, though she didn't enter. It looked like one of those old grandfather clocks had been made giant and filled with lava, a large man with an eye patch giving a sour look from behind a conveyer belt that was regularly shifting forward wares and then pushing them out of the way again. She supposed that was one way to advertise.
"He looks pleasant," she commented dryly, drawing an easy laugh from her tour guide.
"That's just his face," he explained, "he's a nice guy, but I think after a certain number of years over the fire your face just looks like that. C'mon, the canteen's next." He continued across a bridge that led alongside the waterfall, giving a clear view of the water wheel and the pulley system, plus the previously overlooked residences that lined the stone channel that the waterfall had created over time. It was picturesque, like a fantasy book come to life.
"What the hell is that?" Bragi halted in her tracks as she spotted a tiny figure standing at the entrance to the residences. She'd thought it was a child before she actually got a good look at it. The young man glanced in the direction she was looking.
"That's a Felyne," he stated as if the answer was obvious. "Haven't you ever seen one before?" The creature lifted it's large eyes to her and tapped its paws together like it was nervous. It had soft looking fur that was such a light shade of grey that it almost looked white. It stood on its hind paws and wore a little blue vest.
"Good afternoon, meowster," it said in a gravelly little voice. She stared.
"It… talks…" she crouched down to get a better look at the thing, it's triangular ears twitching slightly as it looked at her. "Looks just like a cat, but… if cats were people…"
"You've really never seen one?" The young man grinned in amusement, "they're all over the place, how could you miss them?" She reached out to touch the top of the little thing's fuzzy head, then stopped. This little guy could talk and seemed to carry on like a tiny little person. Maybe they didn't like being petted? Especially by strangers. She stood again.
"The cats where I'm from are smaller and walk on all fours," she pointed out, "and they don't talk or wear clothes." Mind, the last time she'd seen a cat it was an alley cat trying to steal her hard earned meal… she didn't dislike them, but she really didn't feel much for them in the first place.
"Well you'll be seeing a lot of them here," he motioned her up another set of stairs, this one only barely tall enough that she couldn't clearly see what was happening beyond them. When she got up the stairs she realized that the canteen he'd been talking about was entirely run by these cat creatures, and the one doing the cooking on a gigantic rock turned flat grill was huge. They were all wearing little bandannas of different colors and aprons and oven mitts. They happily brought food to humans at the barrel tables and carried boxes of supplies to and from the cooking area. Even the gigantic oven behind the grill was a boulder that had been carved out and shaped like a cat head. And the good they made was huge too. It smelled amazing and her empty belly let out a very loud growl at the sight of it. Her guide laughed.
"Good thing we got here when we did," he commented, "your stomach is starting to sound like an Anjanath."
"A what?" Bragi couldn't begin to understand what that was.
"Uh, a big angry lizard that spits fire and mucus," he explained. She wrinkled her nose.
"Gross."
"It's roars are intimidating, I promise," he motioned her to follow him, "let's get you fed." As he approached the grill the cat behind it crossed his arms.
"Yer lookin' scrawny, boy!" He growled out, his strangely meowing voice much lower than the other cat voices Bragi could hear around the canteen. This thing was a beast. "You'd better be here lookin' fer GAINS!"
"You know it, Chef!" The two conversed like old friends. "But I'm here to show this newcomer around too. Mind giving her something to fill her belly too? It's on me." The Chef looked Bragi over like he was sizing up a horse.
"You look like you haven't eaten in your whole life…" He set his little assistants to making a meal of fish and soup, four rolls, a cheese wedge, a kebab, and a mug of something to drink. "Eat up!" Bragi's stomach growled louder than ever, but still she hesitated, looking to the man who'd led her here.
"I have no way to pay you back," she stated flatly.
"It's fine, like the Commander said, you're a guest," he smacked the table lightly, grabbing a roll for himself. "We don't expect you to go hungry just because we don't know you…"
"Why?" She couldn't help but be suspicious. This was too nice. There were always ulterior motives when people were this nice.
"Because that's how you're supposed to treat guests?" The dark haired young man seemed confused. "Is this a trick question?"
"Maybe it's a culture difference," the Chef offered from the opposite side of the grill. He looked to Bragi. "See, when we've got guests we treat 'em like they belong. It's just how we do things here. Now eat before it gets cold." Bragi sat at the stone table lining the grill, looking over the meal and wondering where to start. Her stomach loudly demanded that she shut the hell up and eat the damn food already, so she grabbed the fork sticking out of the fish and picked up the whole slice, biting from that and chewing heartily. She had no idea what kind of fish it was or what they'd put on it, but it was the finest food she'd eaten in her entire life. She'd always heard that fancy food was flavorless and bland, but this was better than she'd thought food could be. When she finally halted to take a breath after gulping at her drink she looked to the young man at her side.
"You eat like this every day?" She couldn't help the astonishment in her voice. He laughed.
"Yep," he dusted some bread crumbs off his hands, "with the Chef and his assistants around nobody goes hungry."
"Why would anyone ever leave?" Bragi wondered aloud. The man laughed again.
"Good question," he chuckled into his mug, "here's mine. What do you plan to do now?" She paused and thought about it.
"No idea," she said honestly, "you got any need for someone who can punch really hard?"
"Not that I know of, but we can chat with the Commander and see what he thinks," he drained his mug and stood. "When you think you're ready just come back to the table you met us at and we'll see what we can come up with. Till then, I've got work to finish."
"Wait, what do I call you?" She hadn't heard anyone refer to him as an actual title or name. His expression became mischievous.
"What would you call me if I didn't tell you?" He asked. She gave him a deadpan look.
"'You there with the face'," she answered blandly. He laughed good naturedly and patted her on the shoulder.
"I'm the Field Team Leader, but most here who didn't raise me just call me Chief," he chuckled as he explained, "'you there with the face' might be a little too broad a description." He chucked again. "See you later!" And with that he was gone, leaving her with her empty plate and finishing off her mug of drunk.
"If you don't know where to start I'd say to offer help to the scholars," the Chef said as his assistants cleared her plate and cleaned the table. "They always need help with something or other, and they can answer just about any question you can come up with."
"Okay," she stood from her seat and looked to him curiously, "where will I find them?"
"Down the bigger set of stairs and to the right where the gigantic piles of books are." She almost turned away when the large cat growled out to her. "An' don't think yer gonna get away with not offerin' gratitude. Yer food is paid for, but thanks to your servers and cleaners is a necessity!" She halted in her tracks. She'd stopped using please and thank you when she'd begin her training as a fighter so it hadn't even occurred to her. Her coach said etiquette was for people better than her, so there was no use trying now that she was just an entertaining piece of garbage.
"Uh… thanks," she muttered out, tugging at her hand wraps and feeling awkward. "I've uh… never eaten food that good in my whole life." The smaller cats seemed fine with this, though the Chef's lone eye followed her as she moved to continue down the stairs to follow his directions. She hadn't considered the fact that these people didn't seem to see her as less than them. If that was the case then it would likely help her if she remembered the old 'Ps and Qs' from her childhood. She certainly didn't want to go back to where she'd come from, that was for sure. She'd have to be more aware of that, despite the fact that she was pretty sure this was all some hallucination her mind had come up with after being punched in the head too hard anyways.