Opening Files: Legends of the Old Country
There are numerous hero stories, fights, famous people, and unbelievable legends in the Old Country. One legend speaks of a man in a wolf costume tried to steal and eat sheep. Rolf, the Son of a Shepard once witnessed a giant Swedish meatball stalking Wilfred in the dead of night. Another strange tale is the story of how his Great Nano crossed the ocean in a canoe made from the soles of his shoes while fighting a giant sea cucumber in an attempt to immigrate to America according to one of Rolf's stories.
Because the Great Nano was lost at sea in this battle people of this culture would dress in a tight-fitting sea cucumber suit and prepare a box of sea cucumber balls for the neighbors to feast, but it is considered an offence if someone throws one of these balls. Also, around the holidays, this culture family worships a woman named Yeshmiyek who lives in the center of the earth preparing the holiday feast for good males and females.
During the holidays they would sing a tribute to her:
Deep below the dirt and rocks
There lives the bearded maiden fair
Whose kitchen pot is bigger than
Her size of underwear…Hey!
Yeshmiyek who peels the root
And grinds the sausage with her boot!
Yeshmiyek who cures the meat
And stuffs the fruits and sugared beets!
Yeshmiyek who salts the pork
And stabs it with her silver fork!
Yeshmiyek who cuts the cheese
And gives the loaf of bread a squeeeeze!
But should your chores be never done
Your feeble arms too weak to toil
Yeshmiyek will surely come…
And throw you in the pot to boil!
Yeshmiyek who smokes the fish
And lays a slab on every dish!
Yeshmiyek who guts the hare
And seasons it with special care!
Yeshmiyek who bastes the lamb
And spits the glaze on every ham!
Yeshmiyek who bakes the strudel
Pickles feet and strings the noodle!
Rolf also celebrates the guardian pigeon. Another thing this culture does is dueling, he would dig a hole and make a bridge of a tree and then he would put on war-like suit with an ox skull on it and battle his enemy with dead stiff fish. Regardless of the many strange legends Rolf has shown to be veteran of many battles, showing that the people of his village was home to great warriors, though Rolf himself has no wish to become an official Huntsman. It is yet unknown as to why his family migrated to America but his closest friends believe that his family has many strange secrets.
Close File
Xxx
"A Shepard protects his flock but does that apply only to animals? What do you picture a Shepard as? A simple farm boy attending to his animals." TOM closed the file. "It does not take a soldier or a warrior to be a protector. Sometimes all it need be is someone willing to step up and do what is right."
Xxx
Peach Creek Estate was not normally this quiet.
The reason simply being was that the three main reasons why there was so much noise which was usually accompanied disasters including personal injury and property destruction had been reduced to a simple two and none of them were the brains of the operations. Said brain was currently away on some trip, leaving the two behind with little to do. Ed diverted his focus on reading his comics and even on Huntsmen articles while Eddy simply spent time his friend, seeing nothing better to do. The two of them hadn't had much to do since the tournament where Eddy had lost in the first round and Ed had simply forfeited in his fight against Olga Astronominov.
Nazz had lost in the first round as well but continued to train, determined to become even stronger while Johnny…
The simplest thing to say was that Johnny 2x4 was simply Johnny 2x4.
The rest of the cul-de-sac kids weren't interested in training as Hunters as much as the first four. Peach Creek didn't endure many Grimm visits aside from the occasional few and Rolf had been ever vigilante in protecting his flock like any true Shepard did. And right now the only form excitement it had was the rainy day that had suddenly appeared.
"Man, I am so bored." Eddy leaned back on Ed's chair as they hung out in Ed's basement. "When is Double D getting back?"
"Double D is not back yet, Eddy?" Ed simply asked, painting one of his models.
Eddy simply groaned, feeling that he should not have been surprised by Ed's answer. Since Double D had left the two of them on their own hadn't had much to do except for when they reported over to Rolf's for training with Nazz and Johnny. Eddy spat his tongue, scowling a bit since he had been a little disappointed by the ability of his Semblance that allowed him to stretch his tongue out like a frog even though it was also made much stronger than a normal one. Rolf had surmised that his Semblance had been formed by Eddy's love of jawbreakers, doing almost literally anything to savor the sweet taste of the candy flavored orbs that they had learned to love in their early childhood.
Still Rolf stated there could be more to it than simply what they knew already since it has been known for Semblances to evolve over time, given enough time gaining experience through combat and training but Eddy hadn't felt much better. He had been inspired to become strong after the abuse that his brother had brought on him so he'd never feel that way again.
Speaking of sibling abuse…
The room began to shudder around them…in fact the entire house was shaking as something made its way down the stairs to Ed's basement bedroom. Eddy, who had learned what to expect in instances like this, sighed and walked over to the currently locked door, slowly sliding the metal bar to unlock it just before it was kicked open, flattening him against the wall next to it but leaving the door itself intact.
"ED!"
Years of living with the 'Child of the Netherworld' had taught Ed almost as much as Rolf had taught him about being a Huntsman. In this case it taught him to immediately be at attention for when his baby sister, Sarah, came storming in.
"Hello Sarah!" He replied with a bright smile.
"Don't 'hello' me!" Sarah grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and pulled him down to her height. "What did you do with Jimmy's Soldier Man?!"
Ed blinked several times, staring at Sarah in blank confusion. "Who?"
"I SAID WHAT DID YOU-" Sarah's shriek was cut off when Eddy's tongue pulled her away from Ed and spun her around to face Eddy, who was still partly pinned by the door.
"Ed hasn't been out of this room all day, so he sure didn't touch one of your stupid toys, Sarah." Eddy deadpanned. "Odds are Jimmy lost it in the same place he always loses those dolls of his, so how about we end this while I'm only half deaf and you check his basement instead?"
Once upon a time he would have gotten into a shouting match with her until she pounded on him with that…inhuman strength of hers. But now Eddy had simply learned to point out the obvious, which tended to elude Ed's younger sister in the midst of her rage.
And when that failed: use the tongue and she'd become too grossed out to seek revenge until her next little episode.
"Ew, keep your tongue to yourself!" Sarah gagged. "You and that stupid Hunter Wannabe Training!"
Eddy rolled his eyes. "Okay, yep, I'm done. Ed, sorry for this but…"
Suddenly Sarah was sent flying out through Ed's window by another whack of Eddy's tongue. Eddy stuck his head out after her and shouted. "And again: check Jimmy's basement! This'll only be the eight or ninth time this month he's lost something down there."
He spoke from experience. Whenever Sarah's friend lost something and grew distressed Sarah was…quick to blame her brother or his friends.
"Yeesh." Eddy climbed back down. "Ed, why do you put up with her? That brat's got more rage in her than any Grimm in the world. At the rate she goes I'm surprised we haven't been swarmed already."
"Aw c'mon Eddy, Sarah just watches out for Jimmy like I watch out for her you know." Ed replied, resuming painting his models.
"Yeah, except Jimmy doesn't beat on her, insult her or yell at her twenty four-seven." Eddy pointed out. "Heck, she's almost as bad as my brother used to be only she doesn't steal everything in sight."
"My baby sister would never do that, Eddy." Ed insisted.
"No, she'd just get you to steal and then laugh alongside Jimmy as the cops drag you off." Eddy rolled his eyes.
Given the time Eddy had with his brother, it had helped him to identify just how far some people would go when it came to getting their kicks. And Sarah, at her absolute worst…came a close second to his own brother, hence why he was trying to make Ed aware of just what kind of a 'perfect angel' she really was.
Unfortunately even having a literal house or two slammed down on top of Ed wouldn't convince him that Sarah was anything more than his lovable little sister.
It was occasions like this that made Eddy almost wish she would just be snatched up by a Grimm just so she'd be with something that would enjoy her endless rage.
Almost…
Xxx
As Eddy had predicted, Sarah had been too disgusted by the use of his tongue to storm back down into Ed's room for the time being. Instead she came to the conclusion (entirely of her own volition, of course) that Jimmy must have simply forgotten his Soldier Man action figure down in his basement. Whenever his family had guests over Jimmy had to clean up the house of any toys and store them downstairs in his toy chest.
Between the rarity of these visits and Jimmy and Sarah's habit of focusing on a particular toy or set of toys for months at a time, there would come a period where Jimmy would simply forget that he'd stowed them away to begin with. As a result he would grow upset after an immediate search didn't turn out results, leading to Sarah then getting upset and the previous scene occurring…though not as often as Eddy would have someone believe.
After making her way to his house, Sarah relayed this idea to Jimmy, who reacted…strangely to it this time.
"Oh, right! The…the toy chest." The younger boy looked nervously towards the door to the basement. "Silly me."
Sarah, always being quick to notice when something was off with her closest friend, frowned. "Something wrong, Jimmy?"
"Oh, no! No, I just thought I heard something the last time I was down there." Jimmy hastily explained. "But it was nothing, just me hearing things."
He moved towards the door and reached out, momentarily hesitating before he opened it to reveal the dimly lit staircase. He quickly fumbled along the wall to his right, looking for the light switch.
Just as Jimmy's fingertip found it, he thought he heard something from the bottom of the stairs, something so soft that he could have confused it for a breath of wind.
Jimmy…
Jimmy froze up, feeling his heart begin to pound against his rib cage. He quickly flicked the light and illuminated the entirety of the room, revealing nothing but the laundry machine and dryer along one wall, his father's tool box, several assorted boxes of old memorabilia and finally the old play corner where he and Sarah used to sit all day. Now it only served as a convenient place to put his toys in lieu of piling them up in his bedroom until his mom shouted at him to clean up.
Jimmy exhaled, convinced that he was allowing that one late night from several days ago to get to him. He had personally searched every corner of the basement and even managed to get his dad to check to see if any creepy crawlies had gotten in, only to find that it was sealed tight, as most suburban basements were as a precaution against subterranean Grimm.
"Jimmy?"
Sarah's presence had gone entirely forgotten, causing Jimmy to jump when she spoke to him. "I'll get it Sarah! Be right back!" He quickly scampered down the stairs and crossed the basement, taking comfort when he looked back and saw Sarah standing near the light switch, looking on with an expression of mixed puzzlement and worry.
Opening the old toy chest, Jimmy leaned down and hummed a tune as he sorted through the amassed army of stuffed animals and action figures he had built up over the years. When he finally found the green clad figure he stood up and beamed. "Got him!"
And then the light overhead flickered and died.
Jimmy gave a small panicked gasp and scrambled back towards the steps, coming to a halt as he tripped and just barely got himself on the lowest steps.
"Jimmy, are you okay?!" Sarah hurried down towards him and helped him up.
"Y-yeah." Jimmy looked up. "Just a blown light bulb." He gave a short nervous chuckle. "Silly me, right?"
Sarah held a hand to his forehead. "Jimmy, you're really acting weird today. You sure everything's alright?"
"Yes!" Jimmy answered too quickly. "I mean…sorry Sarah, I guess I'm just…feeling jumpy about this creepy basement."
"Well then let's get you back outside with Soldier Man." Sarah smiled and helped Jimmy to his feet. "Okay?"
Relieved by the presence of his closest friend and protector, Jimmy nodded and began to move up the steps with her.
Jimmy…
Jimmy was momentarily able to convince himself that he was hearing things…before he realized that Sarah had stopped on the stairs behind him, her eyes wide with surprise.
She couldn't have heard it too. It was in his head, a superstition born of his young mind creating phantoms where there was nothing…right?
"Sarah?"
She looked up at him. "Jimmy…did you hear that?"
Jimmy sucked in a breath. "Y…yes."
Jiiiiimmy…
Sarah scrunched her face up in rage and spun around. "ED! Is that you?!" She demanded, looking around the darkened room. "Are you and Eddy playing a stupid-"
She stopped as she saw it in the corner, just a few feet from where Jimmy's toy chest lay open. A pair of white lights side by side, like a pair of eyes staring at them.
"Sarah?" Jimmy began breathing heavily. "Sarah, let's go!"
But she instead took a step down as she noticed in the corner of her vision the switch for the secondary lights, the ones set over by the tool box and laundry area. Whatever the basement was now it had been something different before Jimmy's family redecorated it, and someone had built it with another set of lights for illuminating that wall. If she was not so focused on the two white dots in the corner she would have remembered that it had been a man cave for the previous owner.
Reaching out, she found one of the switches.
Saaaaaraaaaaah…
The toy chest's lid suddenly slammed shut, causing Jimmy to give a panicked yelp and call out to her again.
Sarah!
She flicked the switch up and a pool of light appeared a few feet from that corner, casting enough of a glow to illuminate it…and reveal that the two white dots had been nothing more than lights from a Tablet which had been propped up on a shelf. Upon looking at it she recognized it as an old one belonging to one of Jimmy's aunts or uncles, the ones who bothered with all of that Hunter business.
Exhaling, she looked up at Jimmy. "Let's go."
They didn't turn off the lights as they left.
Xxx
Rolf stiffened, looking up from his meal and out the window, seeing the cul-de-sac in the middle of rainy weather. "Rolf senses a presence…A very familiar presence."
He immediately rushed over to the fire place, staring into the flames and pulled out a pouch, containing a strange powder that he threw into the fire. The fire reacted to the powder by growing in size and releasing azure colored smoke that formed into many shapes.
One shape resembled something that looked to be human but had antler like horns sprouting from its head and glowing eyes.
The second took the form of a massive whale swallowing entire ships.
The third appeared as a giant bear with huge claws, a misaligned jaw and long sharp teeth.
The forth was a massive winged muscular demon with yellow glowing eyes, jagged fangs and horns growing out of its head.
The fifth was giant beast, armed with axe-bladed feet, tail and head.
And the final one had a muscular humanoid with the head of a beast, resembling a cross between a dragon and a Wolf!
"NO!" Rolf jumped back as the fire returned to normal and the shapes vanished. "These shapes…Rolf knows them…"
He remembered his past life in the Old Country before coming here to America. In the old village he grew up, listening to the many legends and myths of the world and how his people had fought against many monsters such as the Grimm and other demons.
And Rolf had faced one particular demon that had plagued his village, a monster with body of a man and the head of wolf and yet resembled a dragon at the same time. This demon had attacked Rolf's village, leading the Grimm and battles with Rolf's family for years.
The Wolf howled to the moon, holding up a dead sheep in its bloody clawed hand. Rolf was holding a pitchfork, his armor and clothing torn with deep cuts and slashes all over his body. All around him fire consumed the village, Grimm attacked, woman and children fled while the warriors fought back. The Wolf stared at Rolf, its pure white eyes showing complete emptiness, completely befitting its soulless nature.
Rolf let out a battle cry as he charged at the Wolf. "IN HONOR OF MY ANCESTORS!"
The Wolf dropped the dead sheep and charged at Rolf, running on all four like a true beast and barring its sharp teeth.
The two enemies collided as Rolf thrust his pitchfork into the Wolf's mouth.
Rolf was panting as he remembered that day.
His village burning, Grimm attacking and the Wolf leading them to wipe out all of the line of the Shepherds once and for all.
He placed hand on his chest, running his hand down and feeling all the scars underneath his shirt. "The Enemy is here." Rolf whispered, eyes narrowing as he stood up. "Rolf must prepare. May Yeshmiyek protect us all."
Xxx
"Say Ed, what's that book you got? I've never seen you with a book before." Eddy said, taking a break from watching TV.
Ed smiled. "It's a book on Grimm, Eddy. Double D got it for me because it tells us about special Grimm."
"Figures it had to have something to do aliens or Hunters. What do you need to know about Grimm? They hate us, we hate them, all we need to know." Eddy dropped the remote.
"But this talks of special legendary Grimm." Ed said excitedly before his tone turned ominous. "Like the giant whale Grimm that eats entire ships called Monstro…
Xxx
Sarah and Jimmy were walking down the street, wearing their raincoats as they walked back to Ed and Sarah's house. Since their parents were out Sarah had free reign of the house with her idiot brother and his stupid friend sitting in the basement. Ever since they were young their mother had left Ed in charge of looking after Sarah, dealing with her temper tantrums even as she got older. It wasn't that she actually hated her brother…
She despised him for always babying her, despised him for being an idiot, despised his stupid friends even though Double D was kind of cute, and despised him for wanting to be a Hunstman since their father died fighting Grimm. The death of their father had caused their mother to become depressed and disconnected and to cope Sarah took of their mother's habit of bossing Ed around and got angry whenever Ed tried to baby her.
"Come on, Jimmy. We're almost there." Sarah said, covering her face with her arm to keep the rain out of her eyes.
Xxx
"Or the monster bear of Scotland called Mor'du."
Xxx
"Coming-WHOA!" Jimmy slipped and fell into a puddle. "Sarah, owie!"
"Jimmy, are you okay?" Sarah knelt down and looked her friend over. "You are all soaked. You'll have to change into something dry when we get to my house."
"Okay." Jimmy got up, his face and hair dripping. "I thought I tripped over something."
Sarah looked down and saw Jimmy's toy Soldier Man being carried down the stream to a sewer. "Jimmy, your toy!"
She quickly rushed after it.
Xxx
"Or the demon wolf called Fenrir."
Xxx
The toy was just mere inches as Sarah jumped forward, reaching down into the sewer and grabbed it. "Got it."
Sarah was about to pull it back out but she froze, seeing something in the dark. A pair of flashing lights, much like the one Sarah had seen in Jimmy's basement. They were staring directly at her, instantly paralyzing her.
"Sarah?" Jimmy called out behind her.
Xxx
"Or the bladed beast of Japan known as Badaxtra."
Xxx
Sarah tried to pull her arm out but something latched onto her, making her scream as she pulled into the sewer.
"SARAH!" Jimmy screamed out as his friend was pulled into the darkness.
"What is going on here?!"
Xxx
"Or even the winged Grimm Chernabog."
Xxx
Jimmy jumped, seeing Rolf behind him, wearing some sort of battle armor with a skull on the chest. "Something grabbed Sarah!"
Rolf looked down at the sewer, hearing Sarah scream out…Before becoming silent.
Xxx
"Are we sure any of those are real? Don't think someone would have seen them?" Eddy asked skeptically since he believed Double D had only left Ed the book to entertain him with pictures of these make-belief Grimm.
Xxx
Rolf slid down into the sewers, looking around warily and sniffing the air. "Rolf smells fowl and not the two week old rotten deserts flushed down the toilet."
Rolf spotted something ahead and froze when he the eyes… "No."
The white eyes stared at him as a growling noise was made.
Rolf…Son of a Shepard.
"This cannot be." Rolf gritted his teeth. "Rolf slew you!"
Last of the Shepherds.
"Last Rolf may be but defenseless Rolf is not." Rolf clenched his fists. "Face me, coward."
Soon…Only after I devour your flock…Again.
"NO!" Rolf shouted, lunging at the eyes but they vanished and Rolf only ended up punching the wall, leaving several cracks and a bloody fist. "COWARD!"
Pulling his fist back, Rolf took a few heavy breaths and knelt down, attempting to find evidence of a trail.
"Sarah?" Jimmy's voice came from the sewer opening. "Rolf?"
Rolf's eyes fell over the small toy Sarah had been retrieving when she was snatched. He felt his rage dissolve, leaving only shame for his failure…the failure that had followed him so far and claimed another innocent.
"Not today." Rolf vowed, picking up the toy. "Not. Today."
Xxx
Deep within the Darklands, staring out the window of his sanctuary Sammael didn't react as the glowing eyes of Moloch appeared behind him. "That hideous wolf is here."
"Fenrir." Sammael noted. "So they failed to kill him after all."
"And now he's here on a blood trail of the Shepard family."
"So, he failed to wipe them all out as well." Sammael smirked slightly as he turned away from the window.
"That furball always liked to play with his food. He was trusted with wiping out the Shepherds and even after a hundred years of hunting he has still failed." Moloch sounded disgruntled. "Something must be done."
"Adopting a zero-tolerance for failure, are we?" Sammael chuckled as he walked over to his throne and sat down. "If I adopted such a rule I'd have no one left working with me for every little mistake, avoidable or not. Besides in the grand scheme of things the extinction of the Shepherds matters very little."
"The Shepherds were a family of mighty warriors that would have been a threat. That was why Fenrir was sent to wipe them out in the first place. And yet he failed to kill one boy, making him a disgrace to us."
"It's amusing for that to come from you of all people, considering more than one boy has slipped through your fingers." Sammael pointed out in amusement, earning a glare from Moloch. "We can deal with Fenrir's grudge against this Shepard boy later. We still have the matter of the Cipher to deal with, along with the matter of other familiar families currently involved."