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Deep in the forest, hidden among the mountains, was small peaceful valley with a crystal clear lake. In the middle of this lake however, rested a large church-like building, connected to the shore via bridge. A Cathedral. This was a new concept in the expansion of the popular MMORPG Elder Tale; Wilderness Revival Zones. Normally when a players dies, they are revived in the Cathedral of the last city they visited. Wilderness Revival Zones act are supposed to act like waypoints from city to city, reviving the player at the last zone they visited if they are unlucky along the way. The only thing was, this wasn't in line with any towns, cities, or dungeons on the map, but rather, for all intents and purposes, the middle of nowhere!
But it was not uninhabited.
"uh-Huh?" Icy, storm blue eyes flickered open to a sea of sun dappled green. "Trees?" The small six year old boy sat up and looked around confused. "Papa?"
Where was Papa? The last thing his little head remembered was sitting in Papa's lap watching him play his favorite video-game. He must have falleded asleep. But, Where was Papa?
"PAPA?!" The boy cryed out, hoping his father would hear him and come get him. A rustle in the bushes was his startling answer. He spun around. "Papa?"
However what came out of the bush was not his father. Drawn by the noise a young Dire Wolf had come to investigate the strange thing that dared to invade it's newfound territory. To it's astonishment, it discovered, not an invading threat, but a small 'venture-pup. What was it doing all the way out here? And so young? Noticing the pups lack of hostile intent or indeed, any sort of protection, the young wolf decided to get closer to investigate.
The boy meanwhile, was trapped between fear and awe. He remembered watching Papa play games were the big dogs would try to hurt you, so you had to make them go away, but the natures shows were always his favorite. He'd always wanted to see the animals up close, now that he was though, he didn't know what to do. The big dog, wolf he thought the shows called it, was coming closer, it was almost as tall as Papa! He cringed and covered his face with his arms, though he didn't look away.
The young wolf paused as the small 'venture-pup cringed and hid behind it's arms. This was definitely not standard Adventurer behavior. Normally they'd either get into a defensive position, run, or charge screaming. And where were the others? It was almost unheard of for Adventurer's to be alone away from a settlement. It looked around carefully, sniffing the air as it did. While young, it had one of the best noses among its old pack, even at it's age. Sensing no other humans near or far, it cautiously lowered it's head and sniffed the pup, giving it a gentle nudge as it did so.
While gentle, the nudge did have an unfortunate effect of pushing the boy over onto his bum, not having braced himself for the unexpected contact. However this was not the only unexpected result of the contact. When he opened his eyes from his landing, a large red window opens up in front of him bearing the message:
Direwolf Genus Now Added to Genus Slot 1
Do You Accept?
- [ Yes ] - [ No ] -
"Wha?" Still confused about what's going on, the boy looked around for some hint as to this strange message is. What happened though, is that the message followed his gaze and remained all he could see. Not knowing what else to do and being six years old, he reached out his hand and touched yes. And everything immediately changed. For one, everything seemed a little smaller all of a sudden. Then, everything seemed much...sharper. Sight, sound, smell, everything was suddenly more, there than it was a second ago. Also among the sharper things were his teeth and nails, which he discovered as he went to scratch his mysteriously itchy arms, At the same time he found his arms covered in fur from the elbow down, a brown to match his now slightly longer hair. Last on his list of new body things, was the brand new long fluffy tail wagging behind him not very different from the wolf now sitting in front of him. Also of note were his furry, wolf-like legs and furry shoulders.
Immediately thereafter, yet another large red window appears.
New Abilities gained!
Dire Lope - Now able to quickly travel long distances without tiring
Pack Leader - Now able to command Genus Wolf creatures of equal or lesser level
Wolf Tongue - Now able to communicate with Genus Wolf creatures
Part of the Pack - Genus Wolf creatures will no longer attack unless provoked (some attacks can be avoided with talking)
New Attacks!
Dire Fang Fist - physical
Canine Kick - physical
Howling Fang - magic
Dire Blast - magic
Increase Size
Increase Speed
Increase Strength
Increase Attack
Increase Health
Increase Cold Resist
Increase Poison Resist
"Hey Pup, you alright?" The question startled him back to reality.
"Huh!?" He looked back at the wolf in front of him, the red window disappearing, forgotten.
The wolf had since laid down, having confirmed that the pup was no threat to it and, judging by its sudden change, might even be an ally. He watched in mild amusement as the pup flopped around to look at his new form. Interesting, he'd never heard of an adventurer changing like that, save for mabey druids, but then, he was still rather young himself.
He decided to try and ask the pup what it was doing here, though he dreaded the game of charades that was soon to follow. Oh well. First things first though, he had to get it's attention.
"Hey Pup, you alright?" Sure the pup wouldn't understand him, but it would get his attention just fine and there was no reason to be rude, even if they couldn't understand you.
"Huh!?" The startled response was rather entertaining though. The pup stared at him for a moment before giving a nervous swallow.
"U-Uh-huh" he seemed to remember something before continuing. "I'm okay wolf-san."
"Well, that's goo-" The wolf began before something very important hit him. The pup had responded to his question!
"WAIT! You can understand me?!" Unfortunately unnoticed by wolf-san, his posture was now somewhat less relaxed, and his tone seemed to frighten the poor child.
"Y-y-yes. That's what the thing said, I thinks." By now Wolf-san had noticed his affect and the pup and relaxed again, much to the boys obvious relief.
"What thing?" Wolf-san hadn't seen the message as only those to whom the message pertained could see it.
"The red thing that poppeded up when I falled down. It had words on it." Let it be known that this is still a six year old and as such grammar is not his strongest suit.
'Well that definitely proves that he's an adventurer. Though why he wouldn't know what things are called is still a mystery.'
"What's your name, pup?"
"Kenka Hikaru."
"What are you doing all the way out here?"
"Iunno. Where is here?"
"Mountains."
"oh." Hikaru's reply was rather subdued. 'I need to find Papa, but where is Papa?' then he brighten a little.
"What's your name?"
Wolf-san was rather perplexed at this. Noone had ever bothered A: ask him his name before, and B: bother to give him one in the first place!
"I don't have one. I never needed one before."
Hikaru frowned at this. "But everyones s'pose to have a name!" The very idea that his new mabey-friend didn't have a name seemed downright offensive; not that he really had any notion of what that was yet.
"Well then give me one!" Wolf-san, oddly agitated himself now at his apparent lack said with a hint of frustration.
"Hmmm." The overlarge canine almost laughed aloud at the downright comical expression of deep thought the pup had sunk into upon attempting to come up with the perfect name.
"Whitey? No." Hikaru shot that down before Wolf-san could even open his mouth.
"Not that I'm objecting to that verdict mind you, but why not?"
"What does 'verdick' mean?"
One could almost hear the sweatdrop form on the large wolf. 'Right. Still a pup.'
"VerdICT. With a 'T' at the end. It means decision."
"Oh. Well it would be weird to call you by Papa's name."
"Oh, that makes sense I suppose." Wolf-san said thoughtfully.
"Hmm. Well, waddya do?" It stared at him, deadpanned; not that the boy noticed this.
"I'm a DireWolf pup. I hunt and kill things."
"oh. Well how 'bout Ryoshi then?"
Wolf was suddenly very attentive. "Ryoshi?"
"It was the hero of one of my favorite stories my Papa read to me. Papa said it means Hunter."
"Very well then. My name is Ryoshi."
"YAY!" Needless to say, the sudden act of a six year old direwolf-boy leaping forward to encircle his neck in a hug surprised the newly named Ryoshi terribly.
They sat like that for a couple minutes, Ryoshi in stunned silence, and Hikaru just reveling in the warm feeling of fur and new friends. After another 30 seconds of silence Ryoshi, not really knowing what to do, decided to play along and brought his head down for a close facsimile of a hug, he is a huge wolf after all.
And then the moment was ruined by rather loud rumbling growl. Immediately Ryoshi was on his feet scanning the forest for any threat to his younger charge (he couldn't just leave the pup now could he?). It wasn't until half a minute later that he heard a little giggle from the forest floor before him. He looked down in confusion at his new young friend.
"What?"
"That was my tummy silly! I'm hungry!" To Hikarus immense delight, Ryoshi then proved that yes, Wolves can facefault too, even Dire ones.
Still with audible sweatdrop on his head, he sat back up with a sigh. "Well then, eat something!"
"But I dun have any food."
"Oh." That would be a problem. He'd have to think of something for that. Wait. Back at the lake, there was a building. Perhaps there was food to be had for the pup in there.
"C'mon Pup. Let's go see if we can find you some food."
"YAY! FOOD!" The child's cry of joy reminded him of something else.
"Hey Pup, try to keep it down okay? We don't really want to attract attention. There are things out here that can really hurt you."
"Oh. Okay!" Hikaru's cheerful demeanor lessened somewhat, but shortly came back in full force. As Ryoshi was wandering towards the lake, Hikaru spent his time running around looking at various plants, animals, and rocks.
When they reached the forests edge, they were treated to the beautiful sight of the lakebound cathedral. The majestic marble building surrounded on all sides by a mile of pristine crystal blue water was truly a sight to behold. Of course that only lasted until Hikaru caught sight of what else was on the shore.
There, down by the water was a beautiful blue woman with long blue watery hair and fins by her ears. Surrounding her, however, were several large crabs, snapping their pincers at her menacingly menacingly. It wasn't until Hikaru heard the small moving figure moving figure behind the water lady that Hikaru acted.
Flashback
"Please! leamme alone!" A small, blue haired girl sobbed as she was shoved to the ground.
"What kind of kid has blue hair anyway?" One of the three older boys asked her, not really wanting an answer.
"It's too long too. I think we should cut it!" A second boy shouted getting cries of confirmation from his cohorts.
"No, please. Just leave me alone. Please!"
"HEY!" Everyone turned around to see another boy, roughly the girls age, glaring at thee group of older boys.
"Leave her alone!"
The older trio looked at each other and smirked down at the boy. "Well, well, well. Looks like we got us a real hero guys." The lead boy said. "Let's show the kid how we treat hero's."
Surprisingly, the boy took that as his cue, not to run for help, but to charge, startling all three into inaction just long enough for the boy to reach the lead bully. Bracing himself for a sloppy, five year old punch, he was entirely unprepared for the young hero to launch himself bodily at the older boys leg, holding onto it for all he was worth. The bully, being only a couple of years older, was swiftly thrown off balance and fell, unable to dislodge the boy. Be it intent or unlucky coincidence, the hero's head came down upon the leaders groin, eliciting the expecting shrill yell of pain for the older boys mouth. His friends, shocks awake by his pained scream, immediately went to assist their downed leader by kicking and hitting the boy still clinging to his leg.
It was then that the boy and girls parents arrived.
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"UMIII!"
Hikaru's angered shout and charge was enough to stun everyone present, not the least of which was the little girl, the water lady, and Ryoshi.
"Hikaru-kun?" The girls timid voice was quiet enough that not even the Undine heard her. But what really surprised everyone was when, halfway through his charge against the crabs, he fell to running on all fours, picking up speed even and at five feet away from the enemy bellowed, "HOWLING FANG!"