Berter Beginnings: A Ginyu Force Outlook
By Son Rhandi
Part 3
What a strange place this is, young Berter thought as he walked through the dense bush. Growing up in the plateaus, Berter had only seen a few flightless fowl and small dinosaurs-type creatures, but here in
the bush, there was a variety of different animals. He would have to learn all about this new place--its
creatures, its land, its everything--if he was to survive for the time being.
After finding his way out of the dense bush, Berter found himself at a river valley, at which several cliffs were overlooking. An alternate source of water. Good. And if I climb one of those cliffs, I should be able to see the whole area.
And so Berter scaled the cliff, wishing he could just run up it rather than having to climb. He let out an exasperated sigh when he finally reached the top. "Phew......That was quite a trek....But, what a view...!"
Berter crimson eyes widened as they took in all the sights there were to see. Several other rivers,
outstretched field of blue-green grass, herds of three-horned Razher dinos, several thickets of the
sort, and even some mountains over the horizon.
"And, hey," Berter said as he shielded his eyes from the blazing sun. "I can even see the start of the
Mountainous Regions.....It doesn't look all that far from here, but I know better than to try."
He made his descent down the opposite side of the cliff, which gradually tapered down to ground-level. On the way down, his attention was caught by several loud and animalistic screeches. Berter turned his head to the left to see what the source of the noise was. Off in the distance, two sycthe-clawed Razher dinos (think of them as raptors with miniature sycthe-like claws) had torn out the side of one of an ostrich-like creature
and were beginning to tear into it mercilessly. The young Tokage cringed at the sight.
"Sycthe-claws........It'd be my death if I ever crossed the path of one of that breed." Sighing, Berter plopped
down on his rear and takes a look at the map given to him my the Riizard Mesan. An old map, it was tattered along the edges and the paper had already begun to change shades, but still, it served its purpose.
"Let me see here......" He scanned the map to find any sign of his geographical location. "Ah, here's where I began," he said as he placed a finger on the starting point. "And there are several small drawings of rock
formations here." He trailed his finger over to that area of the map. "Good. I'm not that far off from where
I started, then--" The rumbling of his stomach interrupted all other speech.
"Ah, I am hungry. I haven't eaten anything since early this morn. Where would be the closest place in which to find food?"
Berter climbed his way back up to the top of the cliff and scanned the surroundings. Upon spying a wide river, he allowed a smile of satisfaction to creep across his face.
"Of course! A river! I can fish for my food!"
Laughing happily, Berter backed up a bit for a good running start, then with great speed, zoomed and leapt
off the cliff's edge, doing a few arial frontflips before finishing with a dive and promptly landing in the river, which, lucky for him, happened to be very deep. A few minutes later, he emerged from the water with his tunic tied around his neck in a convienient sort of knapsack (like so many of our anime bandits) and waded his way back to land.
"Ah, good catch!" Berter, after moving a considerable distance away from the river, untied his tunic-turned-knapsack revealing about twenty to thirty mid-sized fishes inside. He began to tear into the fish one-by-one, ripping the flesh with the large and fairly sharp fangs of his kind, then tossing the orts to one side, until all had been devoured. Giving off first a long and exaggerated sigh of content, the young Tokage wrung out his tunic (as well as the rest of his clothing) and continued along his way.
hr
"This place is a vast and strange one, indeed," said Berter to himself. The Hachuurui skies were already
blanketed with a deep hue of purple which was a sure sign that night was coming. "Three months of desert and dangerous beasts ...I'll have to make it, somehow. Not to mention keep count of days gone by if I'm to track a dino and make it back to the camp on time."
He watched as the flames of the fire he had set flicker about as if they were dancing. It gave Berter more of a relaxed feeling, and thought about Tage and their nightly conversations. Berter sighed as he lay near the
fire, settling for day's retirement. Glancing over to one side, he spied a small rock. Raising a brow
slightly, Berter got up to his knees and reached to pick it up. With his free hand, he trailed his finger
in the dirt, creating a large circle. He then placed the small rock in the upper left portion of the dirt
circle.
"And that makes Day 1," said Berter with a yawn. And with that, he settled down for a nice and peaceful slumber, until the dawn of a new day.