So, I'm actually kind of proud of this one, but also kind of concerned. For one, this chapter was not supposed to exist: I had my next chapter mostly planned out, but then I realized there was an empty week in my timeline...so...enter filler. I'm proud because while it's filler, it doesn't feel like filler...I think? The reason I'm concerned is that what was supposed to be a brief intermission outlining Scar's travelling practiced got bigger, and bigger, and bigger...and last night I realized that this chapter should not be 7k long and barely halfway done...so I cut out half, which you will now read and enjoy (you have no say in the matter).
September 6th
"We stop here," Scar said, coming to a halt, "We can camp in the thicket, to the right of the road."
Scar veered of the road, batting aside bushes with his free hand, with Robert and I right behind him. Surely enough, in the center of the thicket there was a small patch of bare Earth, well obscured by the shoulder high brambles, with an open view of the sky.
Rui jumped off Scar's back, and the four of us fell to the ground, glad for the respite. No sooner had I tossed Scar's bag aside did Scar bark more orders. "Shoes off, both of you, lets see the feet", Scar removed his own shoes, Robert quickly following suit, and I quickly understood why.
Scar's feet had seen better days but- given the extensive callouses-they had seen far worse days, and there was little that this hike could do to weather his feet further. Robert's feet, on the other hand, had some callouses -no doubt the result of marching in his heavy boots- but were still an angry red that belied concern. I yanked off my shoes and took a look at my own feet, and found myself frowning, finding the bottoms of my feet bloody and blistered. Scar grumbled, Robert winced, and Rui-being blind- raised an eyebrow.
Scar rose and rooted through his sack, pulling out bandages and alcohol. Scar poured alcohol on the bandages, then wrapped them around my feet liberally, giving plenty of padding.
"That will slow the callousing, you shouldn't baby it." Robert commented offhandedly, watching carefully.
Scar payed him little heed, "This is different than military marches. Should they be infected, we cannot treat it well. Better to prevent injury now than rehabilitation later."
There were several premises there that I didn't quite understand, but Robert nodded, and proceeded to rub his feet. Scar finished the wrapping not long after and inspected my shoes, "You need new ones. The plastic in the heel is broken and will cut your foot. The sole is worn, and your feet rub against rubber. The laces at least are functional." Scar inspected the tips of the laces, "Though the ends should be waxed, or glued. Now the bandages will hold long enough to find adequate replacements."
Scar turned, inspecting Robert's shoes next, "Military, hardy, good condition… but not very comfortable."
Robert shrugged "Works well enough for me."
Scar nodded, and set them aside, "What do you have in the bag?"
Robert reached over and opened it, showing Scar its contents, "Not full ruck, and nothing fancy like you trounced us with back in the day. Looks like a flashlight, ear protection, binoculars, batteries, fire starter kit, a Kevlar piece-ballistic, not stab protection- basic aid kit, extra pair of fatigues, two extra magazines- along with the two in my harness- I think…forty-eight rounds of ammunition- along with the twenty in the gun- utility knife, half box of MRE's, and 2/3rds liter flask half full of water."
"It's light and little." Scar noted, "No helmet?"
"I didn't have it when the attack started, and someone swiped mine while I was face down in the dirt."
"That's six MRE's? Eat one each tonight, and one again in the morning. Anything we have left I will throw out before we leave tomorrow."
Robert looked at Scar, confused, "These are packed with calories, we could ration them, eat one tonight and one the day after tomorrow."
Scar shook his head, "No, they are safer in your stomach than in your bag. Your body rations everything you put in your body. We ration water, we eat food." Scar stood up abruptly, picked up his axe, and dragged it around the camp, drawing a line in the dirt. Satisfied, Scar began to leave, batting aside branches as he made his exit "Eat now, I will gather wood for the night."
September 8th
It had been almost thirty-six hours we finished the MRE packets at Scar's insistence, a fact that my stomach protested loudly as we settled down for the night, my mouth protested as well: something along the lines of, "We could have food in our stomachs if we hadn't eaten it when we weren't hungry."
Scar's response put my words in place, "And then you would be hungry yesterday, and you would be hungry tomorrow."
The complaints died in my throat with the realization that I was the first to complain of hunger, before Robert and before Rui, and Scar himself had not eaten any of the packets. I ripped my eyes from Scar, who excused himself to collect more wood for the night. Robert and Rui spoke quietly, but I left myself to brood.
But not before I drew the knot that Scar seemed obsessed with around the camp.
September 9th
On the road, Rui complained briefly about being hungry, to which Scar simply nodded sympathetically. She did so again after we set camp, and I concurred. Scar ignored Rui, but stared at me as if I had grown a second head, and responded simply, "You have only just begun to starve. Leave it be a day, and you will feel no hunger." Scar then drew the knot around the camp, and then laid against a tree.
September 10th
The sound of gagging woke me up before dawn. I pushed myself up from the ground and listened, "Ugh, that smells awful."
"You have not yet begun…now take the skin and pull it, continue skimming the fat with the knife, once you reach the neck, then we can begin in earnest." I felt Scar's attention turn to me, even though the rest of him didn't, "Good, you are awake. Come and watch and learn from this."
I got to my feet and wandered over to where Scar and Robert looked over the body of some sort of mammal with a long body, brown fur, and a striped tail. Robert deftly skinned the animal from its ankles, while Scar-bloody and muddy- watched and pointed at the various parts of the animal, mumbling as he did so. I looked between Scar and the animal a few times, "What happened?"
"A lucky find." Scar said.
I looked long and hard at the mud, no less confused"And the mud?"
"He went out for a walk this morning." From the other side of the camp, Rui made herself known, "He probably decided it would be fun to sit in a pile of mud, saw the furret walk by, and decided to break its neck."
"You flatter me." Scar replied, "Watch the genitals, you'll want to cut around, then pull them out and cut them off."
Robert gave an appropriate one-syllable answer, "Fuck."
I examined the mammal as Robert pulled up on it's skin, "It's a large rodent."
Scar nodded, "It is."
Rui had more to say, "Furret, the long body pokemon. Max size of five and a half feet long and seventy pounds." Everyone stopped what we were doing and looked at Rui, in a silent curiosity that she was able to pick up on, even blind. "I had a pokemon journey too, you know? Wes captured one."
I nodded, and examined the furret more closely, "It has some nice fur, do you think we have some use for it?"
Scar was still, his body language muting itself again, "I cannot say. It would need to by dried and spread, and would be heavy. Winter will soon arrive, and the fur could be useful, or valuable, but that is in winter. I would say no. Ah, that is good enough, now it begins."
And then came the filthy task of the gutting, the castration, removal of the anus, and the cutting of tendons. Limbs were brutally twisted and torn free, Scar removed the head with a masterful swing of his axe, and then carved away long strips of meat from the back, using the edge of his axe like a saw. Scar, using a stick, then rolled a large rock out of the fire, and laid the strips of meat on it. The meat began sizzling the minute it hit the stone, and when the sizzle began to slow, he pulled another stone from the fire, slapped the meat on it, and rolled the used stone back under the flames. The process was repeated three times, before Scar took the meat and pulled it apart in the hands, divvying it up in three amounts and offering it to the three of us, before turning to the rest of the meat.
The feasting lasted an hour: first the strips of meat came from the back, then the haunches, then meat scraped from the ribs. All in all, there must have been almost twenty pounds of meat, and we did not leave a scrap of what Scar provided, until, before we knew it, there was no more. Scar put his fingers in his mouth, briefly, then wiped them on the ground and stood. "We leave immediately."
It was only once Scar wiped his hands on the ground that I noticed that he had not eaten anything, too busy preparing the food for the three of us, and after that too occupied watching us eat. "Did you-"
"Immediately, Crescent." Scar cut me off again and began packing. I followed suit.
"You can sleep of you want Rui. There is nothing so pressing now you must exhaust yourself."
From her place on Scar's back, Rui squeezed her eyes shut several times and shook her head, "I'm not tired at all, just a bit bored."
"A lie." Scar responded, "It is better you sleep now while we are aware, than at night."
"I'm not tired!"
"A lie."
Rui mumbled and grumbled, but slumped against Scar's back, her eyes beginning to droop, and within five minutes her eyes were closed, and she was breathing softly, sound asleep.
"You had a question."
I looked at Scar surprised, and began sifting through my memory of that morning of which specific question he was referring to, "Right, something that was kind of eating at me, I didn't see you eat any of the meat this morning."
Scar- as was typical- did not look in my direction, but I could feel his words being directed to me, "It is true, I have not eaten in far longer, and as one ages a day without food is forgotten within an instant. Ranger training though…it prepares one well for these trials."
"You didn't have to completely starve yourself though," I reasoned, "you could have eaten something."
"Quiet now." Scar commanded, something catching his eye. He approached a tree that was knocked down on the side of the road, with its bark parted in large gashes about chest level with myself, if it were upright. Robert's attention was peaked by this.
"It's an Ursaring marking." Robert recognized, "We should hurry, and leave the area, ASAP."
"Hold." Scar commanded, "It's gash is shallow, and the paw print is small…this is Ursa minor."
"What's the difference? Ursaring are ursaring."
"Not quite…they are less social than some Ursa, but Ursaring still have social hierarchies. Ursa minor…they are…beta males, lesser ursaring, lower on the hierarchy. Less aggressive, more meek and prone to flight. If we do not fear it, then it will fear us."
Robert opened his mouth to speak, but I beat him to it, "I don't know if they're meeker but…something knocked down this tree. No matter where it is on it's social hierarchy… it's dangerous."
"And what do you suggest?" Scar countered, still examining the marks.
Robert opened his mouth again, but then shut it, deep in thought, "There's no other paths… we could split into two groups. Spread out a bit to increase our field of vision."
"We are not doing that." Scar responded, "These marks are fresh, from after the rain days ago, it is a new arrival, a stranger here. It will want easy wins to cement its presence here. Alone, or if any of us appear alone, we might appear an easy mark. But if we remain together, our group size may be enough to dissuade it from approaching."
"I don't buy it." Robert argued, "the rules have changed. Rui told me about the Corphish disaster in Goldenrod, that wasn't typical behavior. We need to be in a position where we can locate it and act aggressively as quickly as possible."
"Let us put it to a vote then." Scar countered, "Rui sides with me, this I know. But if Crescent sides with you, you may both split from us. If not, you remain with us, in our group of four."
"What makes you say Rui will side with you? Doesn't she have the right to speak for herself?"
"No, he's right." Rui mumbled groggily, "Whatever Scar said."
Robert turned to me, his face stern "Alright then, what do you say Crescent?"
"I would side with Scar on this one."
My mouth opened on its own, agreeing, "We should stick together. There's not much I could do if I did spot one, carrying Scar's bag around, and I don't know how quickly Scar could drop Rui."
Robert clinched his fists, but otherwise managed to hide his frustration. But Scar took notice of this, and surprisingly, chose to console him, "I do not ask that you like me…or even trust me, but trust that I know what I know."
"Whatever you say.", Robert sighed, "Let's just get out of this place, the more distance between us and here the better luck we'll have."
Scar stopped earlier, hours still to sunset, and drew a jagged circle around place for camp: a rare little patch of greenery in the autumn woods, with a small ring of water that wrapped around the half of the grove, welling up from the ground. As soon as the circle was drawn, Scar hurried about the camp, collecting stones, wood, and pine needles for his fire. We all drank from our water, and Scar filled a metal thermos with water from the ground-filtering out the debris with a wad of clean bandages- and tossed it into the fire. Scar glanced around camp, then stood up. "Robert, you're with me, we're going walking. Crescent listen exactly to what Rui says. And switch the water…once it boils, pour it into one of our bottles."
Robert shrugged and spoke, with a voice that was… empty, "Sure, let's go."
That just left Rui and I.
I peaked into the metal thermos in the fire.
Completely flat.
I leaned back.
"I don't like her. Something about her just…I don't like her. Have fun."
'Fuck you too.'
"So… we haven't really talked since the camp." I started "How are you doing?"
"Uhhhh, fine I think. You?"
"Fine."
That damn water was still flat.
"How exactly did you find us?" I tried, "Back in the woods."
"Well, I didn't find you and Scar so much as I found you specifically… but it's a secret.
"A secret huh…let me guess." I scratched the side of my face, absentmindedly, "Did you smell smoke from the fire?"
"Nope, but nice try."
"Did you…smell me? I mean, come to think of it, I haven't bathed in a while, but it hasn't gotten that bad."
Rui laughed, "Ew, gross, no."
"Okay… Can you see?"
"Yeah, totally."
I flinched, surprised, "Wait, what?" I got up and walked over to Rui, waving a hand in front of her face. She tolerated this for several seconds, before blindly swatting my hand away.
"No, that's not it. I think I'd remember to mention something like that." Rui emphasized her opinion of this by sticking her tongue out, childishly. "The water is boiling."
I walked back over to the thermos and peered in, finding that it was indeed boiling.
'When did that happen?'
I reached into the fire to pull the thermos out, but jerked back when- predictably- it burned my fingers.
"Fuck…" I muttered, shaking my hand.
"Language!" Rui chastised. I remained silent for a moment, then turned, surprised.
"Seriously?"
"What?" Rui asked, as if one ought to chastise one for swearing under duress, "Respect your elders and all that."
"Elders? You're what, sixteen? Seventeen? How old do you think I am?"
"Sixteen?" Rui laughed, "Now that's a stretch. I'm twenty-one!"
"Your pulling my leg."
"Nope, turned 21… four months ago? Yeah, that sounds about right." She smiled widely, showing teeth, and pointed to her cheeks, "Scar says that some families of native Orreans age more slowly, and that stress and such doesn't show as much on their faces…but I've never seen it before. Good genes, I guess. Here, let me see that burn of yours."
I nodded, and offered the slightly singed hand, but Rui just sat there and stared off into space. Several moments passed before I realized what had happened, leaving me scratching the back of my head, awkwardly "Pulled a fast one on me, huh?"
Rui shared none of my tact, and laughed loudly, "Yeah, yeah, rub some dirt on it or something. Spit on the other hand and cover it in dirt, then grab it."
I did as Rui said, and used the glove of dirt to grab the canister from the fire, finding the heat uncomfortable, but not unbearable. With my other hand I groped the ground for the cap, and quickly screwed it onto the thermos, and held it from the plastic handle, "I'm going to take this down to the stream, maybe cool it in the water before I try to pour it into the bottles."
"Alright, well, see you then…well, you know what I mean."
I stopped where I was standing, and stared at Rui, "Are you really okay with this, I mean… you know what I mean."
Rui's smile fell a little bit, and the look on her face became a bit more thoughtful. After a second of deliberation, she answered, "Yeah. I mean, I've had worse."
"Worse than being stranded in the wilderness with a bunch of complete strangers, not being able to see, as the world falls apart around you?"
Rui's smile fell a little bit further, "Well, when you put it that way…no. I mean, I've seen some crazy stuff, but nothing like this. But hey, the whole blind thing is only temporary, I trust Scar, and I know you won't hurt me, so it could be a lot worse."
"I wish I could share your optimism…oh well." I gestured to the thermos in my hand, "I'm going to see to the water, I'll be back in a minute, and maybe then you can tell me about some of that crazy stuff you mentioned, I could use some good stories under my belt."
"Hey, brick eater, destroyer of worlds." My hands left the sledge hammer I was holding, though it remained suspended where it was, wedged deep in the stone wall- a peculiar case, a decorative wall made of limestone that was porous, and later took on mold from the water, weakening the structure. I faced the man that spoke.
"That's enough for this wall, we think we need a more scaffolding supporting the roof before we take the wall out. That being said, there's a bunch of scaffolding in the big building across the way that needs to be taken out, I'd get on it if I were you."
I nodded, and ripped the hammer from the wall completely, pieces of stone pelting my ankles as I did so. I had been to the large building before, a cathedral turned museum of some sort, I had helped to put up the scaffolding they spoke of, though after that I had been sent away. The building appeared to be relatively undamaged though, the scaffolding was centered only around the central dome. That being said, if the scaffolding was just now being removed…it would be a weeklong task, at least. Not to mention that, unlike this building, which was new and fully equipped with air conditioning, it would be sweltering inside the museum.
Not that it mattered, no complaints.
Taking the hammer in hand, I found myself out the door, then on a small bridge, then inside the museum, looking up at the looming mess of metal scaffolding, piled nearly to the ceiling. It was metal, thankfully, and each piece would fold together with a little effort, but as if the sprawling towers of scaffolding weren't chaotic (or dangerous) enough, separate wooden planks lay across different towers to walk about. Workers were already dismantling it from the top down, removing the planks, then the metal propping them up, handing down the pieces.
I shrugged, and found myself slowly clambering up to the top of one of the towers with fewer people, shuffling across various wooden boards at a slow but steady rate.
But then the floor was gone.
I looked down, seeing a six foot drop between me and the floor, and I curled up, bracing for impact, but when I met it, I was greeted with a sharp crack, and I found the floor gone again. And then again, and again, and again, until I felt a blunt 'thud' pass through my body, and I allowed myself to uncurl, and rise to shakily rise to my feet, every inch of my body bruised and protesting as I removed myself from a pile of broken boards, and limped away from the scaffolding.
An old man -short and portly saw me amidst the chaos- and rushed over to help me, to which I gave a shaky smile and held out a sidewise thumb to signal I could be doing better. Then there was another crash, and I turned back to the scaffolding, raising my hands just barely above my head to catch the great mass of metal that had tilted and now threatened to crush me. My knees buckled, but my elbows did not, and my hands wrapped around a metal bar to hold it above me.
There was a commotion around me as workers from other towers scrambled down to help those that had fallen. I tried to let go of the scaffolding so I could scramble out from under it, but my fingers stayed glued to the bar, unwilling to relinquish their death grip and their feud with gravity.
Then old man was in front of me, helping to hold up the metal, seemingly understanding my predicament. But as he stood next to me, wooden planks came free from their resting places, sliding down towards the two of us. I ducked the first, allowing it to fly past my ear, and then the second, which I allowed to crash against my arms, to which I responded with a grunt, but not with one inch given.
Two more planks fell down, these ones spinning wildly in free fall, and I knew I would not be able to dodge these. In what felt like a great feat of strength, I freed my left arm from its death-grip, and swatted just in front of my face, knocking the first plank to the side, and wound up to knock aside the second, but froze- with where my hand was now, to swipe against would knock the plank directly into the face of the portly old man.
I grunted again, and instead ducked my head, away from the board, earning myself a resounding 'crack' as the board glanced off the top of my head. I shook my head wildly in response, and faltered for a moment, but when the scent of blood filled my nose more fully and the pounding of my heart in my ears became louder than the chaos around me, I found my footing, and continued holding with my one arm.
Eight planks fell now, and I wound my arm up to bat them aside again. The first two fell away from me harmlessly, and I ducked away from the third without injury. The fourth fell way from me, and I batted aside the sixth. In the moment I handled the sixth, I discounted the seventh, until I realized almost too late that while it would not hit me, it was on a collision course for the bald dome of the old man's head, who barely seemed to notice. I followed through with my strike, knocking aside the seventh with the same movement.
And then I turned my attention back to the eighth, noticed it was at most two feet from my face, and then saw stars.
September 11th
"Awaken."
I did so as I felt a boot connect with my ribs, jolting upright until I looked up at Scar and the dawn sky. I rubbed my eyes clean of sleep, and then shook my head until the fright from the dream subsided, I groaned and rose to my feet, "What is it now?"
Scar nodded and shouldered his pack, "We are going for a walk… scouting you might say, or pathfinding. Hunting, if the opportunity presents itself."
I scratched my head, a little puzzled, "Why do you need me to do it? I don't have any experience with any of that, I'd just slow you down. Besides, didn't you say we should stick together, to frighten off the ursuring?"
"Robert and I handled the bear yesterday." Scar answered, completely and utterly stoic, "It will not pose a threat to us anymore…Rui, do not wake Robert, but when he awakes inform him that you are in charge. I recommend not moving unless absolutely necessary."
From where she sat, Rui gave a nod, and then a thumbs up. Scar began to leave the camp, carefully stepping over the line he drew in the ground leaving me to scramble him
Not far from our camp, Scar initiated, and promptly ended conversation, "Today is a foul day…I would avoid unnecessary questions."
"Why is i-" I bit down on my tongue, stopping myself, but the question already hung in the air.
Scar didn't dignify it with a response, at least, not at first, but after a few awkward moments he spoke, eyes still facing forward, "A hunch."
And so, we were silent for a while.
"Stop." Scar spoke, ending nearly half an hour of silence. Scar looked over his shoulder quickly, sniffing the air, and then unbuttoning his shirt.
"What are you doing."
"There's an Ursuring nearby."
"What? I thought you said you took care of it!"
"I did." Scar finished unbuttoning his shirt, and resumed walking, "I would remain quiet, it may not find us, or may not confront us."
More time passed in silence, but within ten minutes Scar's hopeful prediction was proven wrong as bushes parted, revealing the hulking form of an Ursuring.
'Ursa MINOR my ass, that thing is way taller than Scar!'
"Behind me." Scar stepped forward, holding onto the edges of his shirt, and then roared, so loud and with so much power that I almost fell over myself in surprise, and the Ursuring stopped advancing, looking Scar in the dead in the eye, cautiously, and then roaring in response.
Scar stepped forward, roaring even louder, if that we even possible, and puffing his chest out, making him appear far larger than he is, and his bravado made him seem even larger still.
The Ursuring grunted, and then stepped forward, roaring. Scar, in what was either a display of great courage or great foolishness, roared and dashed forward several seconds, lowering his body to the ground as he did so, as if he were poised to strike. Scar halted almost ten feet from the bear, and then threw out his arms, his jacket-with it's ends still clenched in his hands- swung wide open, it's flaring out seeming to make him even larger than the bear and seemed to surprise it.
Beneath his jacket I noted that his chest was also covered in bandage, as was the left side of his ribcage (fitting, as it was his left arm that was also bandaged). His moniker was well earned, as even the small patch of skin that WAS visible had four noticeable scars: two vertical ones on his right ribs-parallel to one another, one horizontal one that poked out from under the badanges on his left side, near his hip, and one particularly large, angry looking Scar that stretched from below his right ribs across his abdomen, continuing on underneath his bandaged left side.
Given the option of fighting either relatively fresh and somewhat cowed Ursuring or the badly scarred Scar-posturing and roaring like a madman- I wasn't entirely sure who I'd pick.
Evidently, a similar idea occurred to the Ursuring, evidently, because no later than Scar flared out his jacket did the bear pokemon fall to all fours and scrambled back, turning around and scampering off as it snarled at Scar, almost daring him to follow. Scar did not rise to the bait, rather, he saw fit to button up his shirt, once again stitching his body into the background of the woods with its splotchy camouflage patterns. "It should be sufficiently cowed now, there is no more need for concern."
Only when I tried to speak did I realize that my jaw was hanging open. I did a quick mental inventory of myself, suppressing the tremors in my hands, closing my jaw, and tried to stop asking myself what the FUCK just happened.
"What the fuck just happened?"
'Well, I tried.'
Scar evidently thought little of the incident, and continued walking, but at least dignified my question with an answer, "It had the brain of a loser, it always expects to lose if challenged. I reminded it of its place."
'Was that…what, a line from a self-help book?'
"Where did you learn how to do that?"
"I lived and I learned." Scar deadpanned, deciding not to be helpful. He sniffed, rubbing his nose, and then continued walking, only to come to an abrupt stop after a few steps, turn, and then spit on a small tree that encroached onto the road, watchingd as it ran away screaming, then continued on without a word.
'See no crazy, hear no crazy.'
I followed him.
Eh? Eh? Eh? Not bad, right? Or maybe it was, in which case, I politely dare you to scream at me in the review section. Or maybe it wasn't in which case I also politely dare you to tell me in the review section.
Well, I doubt that anyone that knows little old me knows everyone else in the pokewars community, but given everything that's gone on, I feel like I ought to update y'all on what everyone's up to: Titanic X: updated her weapon's file, for all you military nerds (why are you reading pokemon fanfiction again?), Nobodies Hiiro FINALLY (HALLELUJAH!) updated his story, which was edgy and brought about a satisfying conclusion to his arc, Cornova updated yesterday, killing that stupid Turkey, Ivec. Captain Kanto has kept more military stuff coming with his (again, check this dude out) new story... oh, and for those of you that habla espanol better than I do, Janus updated his story.
Well, good news for releasing the next chapter is that it's about a quarter of the way done. The bad news is I'm DEFINITELY going to update my "Orrean Rangers Guide to things you shouldn't be fighting" Story (I'm thinking about changing the name, honestly, just doesn't seem to fit), and I might try to update my Fire Emblem story (Fire emblem: Between changing skies), but there is a point of indecision that I can't seem to quite figure out, so I might put it off again.
At any rate, have a good one.
