9 years ago

His head hurt; not only that his body hurt too. That was the thought that ran through Gales head as he groaned, whining as he opened his eyes. He recognized the interior of Caer anywhere the only thing was he didn't remember was falling asleep

"Your awake." Looking to the side he saw Ashe sitting beside him, a bowl of ointment in her hands as she put the final touches on it. She gave him a light smile. "I'm glad, I was beginning to get worried after the first three hours."

"What happened?" He squeaked painfully as he sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"Don't you remember?" Ashe asked curiously before getting a shake from the seven year old head.

"I remember… you said you were gonna teach me and the others something cool… after that everything gets really fuzzy." The youth admits as he gets a better look at Ashe. She just looked elsewhere, her attention shifting to her pets. A mated pair of Wulg - Aun and Oum just looked back at her. Aun made a noise as she got onto her feet and walked over, smelt the young one before shaking her head and rested it on the bed.

"I'm not that surprised you don't remember to be honest." Ashe stated as she watched Gales pat Aun's head. "I was going to teach you a special hunting art I knew, but it seems in doing so we found out something…" She made to finish that sentence but stopped, seemingly uncertain exactly what word she was looking for. "Surprising." She finished before closing her eyes. "Honestly I wasn't expecting it."

"Expecting what?"

"No… maybe I was, after all you are…" Ashe trailed off for a moment before shaking her head.

"Ashe?" Gales tilted his head in confusion.

"Nothing, never mind. I'll tell you when your older." Ashe stated as she walked over to the bed and sat across from Aun and dipped her finger into the ointment. " Give me your arm." Gales obeyed like a good little boy though he was still confused at the whole situation. "How are you feeling?"

Present

Emerald Forest

"I hurt everywhere." Gales muttered as he forced his eyes open, his attention shifting to the night sky as he took a breath. "Ashe?" He twisted his head, looking for his mentor before stopping. "Oh Ashe isn't here… wherever here is." The teen muttered as he went back to staring at the sky and watched the stars above him. "Pretty… but… where am I? Am I dead?"

"Do you feel pain?"

"Oh… you're here." Gales stated as he heard the beast growl. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm always with you.

It told him

"Even in death I'll probably be stuck with you."

"Maybe…" Gales tried to shrug and failed. Closing his eyes the teen took a breath as he felt the night air glide over him. An instant later he opened his eyes and sat up. He regretted the action immediately, but refused to drop again. "Oh shit I'm alive."

"Yeah. You're just realizing that?"

"How am I?" Gales watched as 'lightning' raced over his body for a second.

"I activated your Aura again when the King of the Skies tried to cook you."

The beast told him.

"I used it to dampen the fury for a bit. And when that failed, your physiological gifts were put to the test.

The Beast told him.

"Your lucky. If the wyvernian genes inside you weren't so dominant, your natural resistance to flames wouldn't have saved you.

"Right." Gales muttered as he stared at his arm for a moment. It was just as the Beast said; he wyvernian genes in blood - or rather the Wyvern genes he carried were much more pronounced than others. Sure it hadn't resulted in him having a tail or wings or scales, but the Wyvern in his blood gave him a few… gifts. One of them was a better resistance to flame others…

Gales shook his head as he rested his hand on his head only to pull it away to see that there was some blood leaking from it. Sitting up he looked himself over, seeing his shredded clothes and bleeding form. "Oh wow I really took a beating."

"I'm just not certain what caused you the more pain, Ashe's technique or getting batted around by a Rathalos."

"Yeah well… whatever is causing me more pain, I'll live through it." Gales grunted. "After all, if there's one thing living in the Old World does for you it's make you sturdy.

"And if there's one thing Ashe hammered into that body of ours; its how to power through pain."

Gales forced out a chuckle.

"Ain't that the truth." Gales agreed as he took a moment to look around and found his pelt still on the floor. Still in one-piece it seemed, his bag was half destroyed though, looked like Altered Song wasn't going to need some serious repairs too. Without a thought Gales just picked up his things and started walking. "Anyway which way leads me back to the others?"

"Given the hour I'd say whichever way leads you back to Beacon."

Gales just nodded his head and looked around.

"Good. Rather not have them deal with that Rathalos… or its mate." The teen shivered. "Ah man; or both." The teen muttered as he stumbled for a moment. "There's no way a Rath that strong and old doesn't have a mate." Righting himself Gales just pressed on, making his way towards a clearing as he dug into his pocket and looked for his Scroll. Well he found it, what was left of it anyway. That meant he wasn't getting a ride home tonight. "Damn guess I'm walking." The teen grunted out as he scratched his head. "What I'd give for a Feline Rescue Corp just dropping me off at camp. I'm sore all over."

"Do you still have that ointment you made?"

Gales fell silent as he looked for his pouch and ruffled through it.

"Yes, thankfully." The teen muttered as he pulled out the container and looked it over for a minute before dropping to the ground as he undid the lid. "This will definitely help… oh damn it." The teen muttered as he heard a growl. Looking ahead he caught sight of a number of red eyes glowing in the dark as he groaned. Beowolves. Quite a few of them too. "This is just what I need right now." The teen muttered as he set the ointment back in his pouch and forced himself to his feet. "Think they'll give me like five minutes?"

"Stupid question."

"Yeah I figured." Gales muttered as he reached for the remains of Wyrmsflare before lowering his arm. "Right busted… well, still got this." He reached under his pelt, pulled out his carving knife and held it ready.

"That knife isn't made for combat."

"I know." Gales grunted. "But this thing hasn't failed in either cutting or carving through anything I needed before." His mirror self just shrugged in agreement. He had a point after all.

"Just do us both a favor and don't die."

Gales chuckled lightly as the wolves charged him, and in turn he just met them.

"I don't plan on it!"

Elsewhere

It wasn't every day that she grew impressed; but seeing the young man charge the small army of Beowolves as he was, was rather impressive. He was battered from that mythological beast, he was bleeding out, his main weapon was broken, but he still found the strength to fight like he wasn't on his last legs.

That in itself wasn't what impressed her though, in her long life she had seen hundreds of individuals fight as he was. Their second wind granted them the strength they needed to hold on a bit longer.

No, what impressed her was what was missing.

A lack of fear, or worry. A lack of despair.

All she felt watching the young man was seemingly endless vigor and… acceptance?. He didn't feel like this was his last stand, rather he felt it was another battle he must go through. She frowned, resting a pale, vein covered hand on her cheek as she made a noise.

"Just who are you child?"

Elsewhere

Pines' Farm

"Well here we are." Oscar muttered as he scratched his head. Gesturing to the barn he looked at the empty stalls and then to the four that were looking around. "Sorry, it's not much, but we don't have any spare rooms."

"That's fine." Abel stated as he watched Atalanta alk into the barn and started climbing the ladder. She chose the highest part of the barn she could reach before settling down. Her spot seemingly made she looked at the others for a moment before shrugging and leaning back to rest. "Thank you for putting up with us for the night, and I apologize for any form of inconvenience we might be causing."

"Uh no problem." Oscar muttered as he watched Abel bow to him in respect as Leonidas just walked into the barn. "So uh, will you need anything? We don't have much but we do have some spare sheets."

"A meal would be nice." Abel looked to Leonidas and frowned.

"Sorry do forgive him… he's… not used to this." The youth stated as Oscar just nodded.

"Right, well uh, good night." Oscar made to leave only for Lacus to stop him.

"Before you leave." She pecked his cheek and Oscar jumped, flushing a shade of red as he looked at the young "huntress" before him. Lacus just smiled. "A thank you for sheltering us tonight."

"Uh -oh uhm.." Oscar babbled for a moment as Lacus walked off, finding herself a spot and settled in. "Y-your welcome." Abel just shrugged, already expecting Lacus' thank you and just looked at Oscar.

"If I may ask, what will you be doing tomorrow?"

"Me? Well I… I guess I'll just be doing my chores." Oscar admitted. "Why?"

"If possible I'd like to help." Abel admitted asfall he raised a hand to his heart. "It be rude to not repay our debt." Oscar raised his hands in defense as he looked at the teen.

"Y-you don't t. I mean, I'm not doing much for you here."

"You shelter us when we have nowhere to go, and we have none of your lands coin to show our gratitude." Abel states. "Working to repay you is the only option remaining."

"Well yeah I guess but…"

"Please, I wouldn't feel right if we were given sanctuary for the night and never did anything in return."

Oscar started to fall silent as he looked at the boy before him. 'For God's sake, who is this guy; some kind of prince?' Seriously, the boy was just overflowing with charisma or something. He gulped before nodding his head. "Uh… ok, I'll uh, see you in the morning."

"Time?"

"Sunrise." Oscar received a nod before he started walking off, closing the barn door as Abel made his way into the barn and looked at a nearby cow. It looked at him and he patted its head.

"So we'll leave after you help farm boy?" Leonidas asked as Abel just frowned.

"He has a name."

"One I don't plan on using." The other admitted as he crossed his arms and looked at their team leader. "It's not like it's going to matter in the long run anyway."

"That may be, but you should at least be polite." Lacus stated as she looked to Abel. "We are foreigners, traveling in a world not our own, blind to their source of money, ideas and traditions."

She folded her arms over her lap. "He didn't half to shelter us tonight. He could have let us sleep on the rocks in the woods."

"I wouldn't have complained." Atalanta admitted as she rested her legs over the edge of a walkway.

"Course you wouldn't, you grew up in the trees." Leonidas stated as Atalanta nodded. "Anyway, let's get out of here as soon as we can. I'd rather find our missing brother and head back."

"You don't want to explore a bit?" Lacus got a look.

"We're just here to find someone after that we go home." Leonidas stated. "Sure we could take this as an opportunity of founding new territory for the Order, but that's not our job." Leonadis admits. "Granted if the Kaiser wished it, I'd obey in a heartbeat, but that never happened did it."

"Yes I guess you have a point." Lacus admitted "That said, how will we find our brother?" Abel just looked at Atalanta. "Right, our tracker; but where do we start looking?"

"If hunters exist in this world, he's likely with them. It's the easiest way to track him." Abel said with a chuckle. "We find the local hubs, and ask around."

"That's it?" Abel just nodded his head and Leonidas shook his head. "It can't be that easy; if there's hunters in this world to fight those black monsters, there's probably thousands of them. You expect them to just know where one particular guy is?"

"Yes." Abel stated simply as his comrades looked at him in disbelief. "Gales has a habit of making a name for himself very easily. It's his gift and his curse."

"What do you mean?" Lacus asked as she leaned forward. "Does he tend to run with the in crowd and meet the right people?"

"At times." Abel admitted. "But beyond that… well you know about Once In A Lifetime Encounters right?" Lacus just nodded her head.

"I've read a bit about that." Lacus admitted. "That's what hunters describe running into more rare and exotic monsters correct?" Lacus got a nod. "Despite how diverse the monsters of our world are most hunters go their entire lives without running into a more rare beast like subspecies and Elder Dragons."

"Yes well; Gales has a habit of finding such rare beasts, be it intentionally or not." Abel grumbled in annoyance. "Subspecies, mutant breeds…" He shook his head. "A hunter yearning to make a name for themselves would love to have his luck in meeting rare beast, then regret it when they realize how much trouble and near-death experiences come with it." The youth admitted. "And he survives those encounters."

"I see, so that's what you mean." Lacus mumbled as she raised a hand to her chin. "He's the kind of person whose encounters and exploits stand out; gets people to notice him."

"Added with his love for hunting and actual years of experience it's no wonder he's one of the 11 Supernovas."

"Supernova?" Lacus asked in confusion as Abel blinked before rubbing his temples.

"Right sorry. It's a title given to certain Rookie hunters; it basically means a rookie hunter whose done such remarkable exploits in their short career that they can rival most veteran hunters. Essentially they're 'rising stars' in the Hunter's Guild."

"I see. So he's a Supernova…" Lacus muttered. "And there's 11 of them… interesting. They're only for rookie hunters yes? How long do they keep the title."

"When I asked some veteran hunters I found that they mainly keep the title for seven years of active duty." Abel admitted.

"I see and how long has Gales been active?"

"Officially, a year now."

"A year… he certainly has a long way to go before losing his Supernova status."

"That's if he lives long enough to do so." Abel admitted. "His luck with finding monsters might get him killed one of these days."

Vale

Hours later

"I made it!" An exhausted Gales cheered as he looked at Vale and grinned. His muscles were sore and his bones creaked, but he'd made it out the Emerald Forest, finally. Wasn't sure what helped him with that, willpower or adrenaline. One thing was for certain though, he could really use a drink at this point, and a nap. He also really needed to pee for some reason. "Ok Gales, you can take a leak when you get to Beacon, then you can nap." He muttered before swaying a bit. "Considering you don't pass out here in the middle of the street right now." He told himself as he started walking down the streets.

This wasn't the first time he had to walk back "home" after a beating, but it was still as exhausting as the first time this happened. Usually he'd black out somewhere and he'd wake up in the hospital. Thing was he really didn't want to go to the hospital at the moment, rather he wanted to just get back to his dorm room, use the bathroom and turn in for a while. He grunted as he patted his side for a moment, and looked at the blood that was staining his hand. He brushed it off on his pants, staining them red before frowning. "Keep it together Gales, you survived worse." He told himself before his attention shifted ahead, turning to see what looked like the sky cracking as someone familiar walked before him. "Oh hey Neo~." Neo for once didn't have that Feline-like smile on her face, a look of surprise and a bit of concern on her face as she looked the bleeding teen over. She didn't need to use her scroll for Gales to get the obvious question being asked. "I got my ass kicked." He admitted as Neo just looked at his wounds and then his eyes. Another question being asked as Gales shrugged. "It was a Rath, not a Grimm." He saw another question on her face before she raised a hand for stop. Right after she seemed to consider something before walking up to him, and securing herself under one of his arms. Gales just watched her point in a direction as he released a weak smile. "Thanks Neo."