Thunda-Moo
Smash Apprentice
Woo! It's been so long since I posted here I doubt anyone remembers me. Oh, well. Criticism would be awesome, but it's not like I expect that from these boards anymore. 
Anyhoozle, shall we begin? I hope you enjoy!
The Hive
Chapter One
The forest path was bright and quiet, nearly soundless except for the chirping of birds and the quiet blow of the wind. Silent until those chirps became frantic beating wings as the wind carried the crunching sound of struck gravel from the two runners sprinting down the lane.
Even a casual observer would immediately notice this was no leisurely jog: it was a chase, and far from a playful one. In front was a young woman, perhaps seventeen, frantically stripping off the bare remnants of a large suit of plate mail armor as she ran. She was neither tall nor short, and at first glance she looked thin and frail, but a closer look showed powerful muscles rippling under her skin with every leaping step. She was quite pretty, but under the grime and contorted expression of strain and determination it was hard to tell. With a mighty jump, she snapped around, long brown hair flowing behind her, and kicked a massively heavy plate mail boot at her pursuer’s head before landing, still at maximum speed.
Her pursuer wasn’t missing a step either. He caught the metal projectile one-handed, inches before his face, without flinching in the slightest. He simply flung the item to the ground behind him and sped up. The man looked quite old, but by the incredible speed at which he was traveling, it was clear his age didn’t matter. His face was jagged and sharpened by time, but it looked capable of being among the warmest and kindest when smiling.
He was not smiling. His mouth was locked into an enraged, sneering frown that gave the impression he was about to roar. His head was tucked down for maximum speed but his eyes were locked on the back of the girl’s skull, his stare burning through his brow. This was a man severely scorned, deeply betrayed, and extremely, hurtfully, enraged.
“You can’t outrun me,” he growled.
“I know.” The chase went on. It was clear that the man was slowly but surely gaining ground. No one felt any more need to waste their breath until finally, after what seemed like hours, the girl slumped, exhausted and choking, against a tree. The man stepped in front of her and drew his dagger sadly, not winded in the slightest.
“It never should have been this way,” he sighed. The girl found just enough energy to glare.
“No,” she spat, “It shouldn’t have been. But you decided that you could be God. You played God and made demons, meeting no repercussions, until we were all so deep in your feces we couldn’t tell that someone had caused the wretched stench! And now what do you have?”
For a long time, there was nothing more then the sound of the girl’s gasping breaths and the man’s slight chin-tap of contemplation.
“I did, I think, screw up,” he admitted softly. “But it was not in what I created, or did.” His face grew hard again. “I screwed up my expectations. I overestimated people, and was let down. Then I didn’t learn. I continued to make overly gracious assumptions about others, which made problems worse as I tired to fix them. I am far from a God, my girl, but you are right in one respect.” He glared down at her, tears beginning to flow from his eyes.
“I made a demon.”
He thrust the dagger forward and pierced the girl clean through her forehead, the tip implanting itself centimeters in the tree behind her. There was no scream, and no struggle.
The girl died smirking.
Chapter Two
It was a while later that Sol found the girl with a knife through her head, and it said a lot about him that he was entirely unsurprised to not only find her, but find her alive. He wasn’t a very impressive or intimidating lad in appearance. While he was tall, his lankly build offset any benefit that said height may have provided his looks. His skin was white as milk and his clothes were plain as plain could be: the only color on his person came from his dark hair and the black-purple wrinkly bags that hung down on his face and latched around his eyes. This would give anyone else an eerie, haunted look, but it simply looked depressing and tired on him. A slight smile graced his fatigued face and seemed to use up most of the energy he could muster. He was quite convinced that gravity had a much bigger impact then muscle quantity, but it was worth the effort.
He walked up to the motionless body, carelessly pulled the knife out, and dropped it to the ground. The deep, jagged wound healed almost instantly. Sol snickered.
“Impaled through the head and she’s still alive. You’re quite impressive, no?” He wasn’t talking to the girl.
Yes, a female voice in his head agreed, I suppose we are a tad bit above average. But we are not as impressive as she thought.
“Yeah, you’re generally not.” Sol rolled his eyes, as if the action was any more perceivable then the thought to the being in his mind. “So what?”
Not like that, the voice explained. We were not close enough during the incident to prevent the entirety of the damage. She will be perfectly functional, but her memory is gone entirely.
“So she has amnesia!” said Sol happily. “Great! One less thing to worry about.”
This is quite severe, Sol. Her mind now is utterly blank. She will be re-born into this world without even the experience of living in a mother’s womb. She will go from non-existence to total feeling in an instant. The shock could kill her. And memories are not some mystical part of the soul, Sol. They’re gone, and she will never get them back.
“Oh,” said Sol glumly. “That… that is less then ideal, I guess. She’ll probably survive, though. She’s been pretty good at that so far.” Sol thought for a moment. “Those farmers will probably find her here, and they’re nice people, so it’ll work out. Let’s go now.”
That would not be very kind, Sol.
“That’s okay. She won’t remember anyway.”
Sol! intoned the voice, She was the one person who could tell the difference between them! We need her! Sol scoffed.
“No, Sachet. You need her. I just need sleep. And a little piece and quiet.” The voice thought for a long time. Though, admittedly, there was nothing else it could do.
If we get through this, it said eventually, I will let you sleep.
“Is… is that a good idea?”
No, Sol. That is a very bad idea.
“It’s a deal, then!” laughed Sol. “I still say we let the farmers take care of her, though. I don’t think I’d make much of a daddy.”
On that point, at least, I concur. Carry her to their home.
“And then?”
Make sure no one gets killed.
“You’re absolutely hilarious, Sachet.” Inside his mind, the voice grinned.
Just playing to our strengths, Sol. Just playing to our strengths.
Groaning, Sol lifted the limp body off of the bloodstained forest floor and began to carry her out of the woods, leaving his unmistakable footprints. Out of all the creatures in the forest that left noticeable trails, not one could compare to the markings Sol’s presence left behind. All around him, grass became greener, trees grew larger, and bushes expanded their thorny grip. With each step, his footprints left entire new mini-ecosystems, with each creature and plant powered with new vigor. The ants crushed under his feet showed no sign of damage, but instead renewed their quest for food with twice the vigor. Animals of all kinds stuck their heads out of their holes, slinked out of the trees, and watched in bliss, basking in his healing, energizing aura. A squirrel hopped up to him and nuzzled his ankle.
Sol kicked it into a tree. The squirrel had a surprised look, as if an acorn had just punched it in the face, but overall it didn’t seem to mind.
Finally, he reached the house. It was a pretty large house for a bunch of farmers, having two stories, and it was rather poorly whitewashed. Sol also noticed that it was made of wood, and silently hoped that he hadn’t supercharged some termites along the way. His hands were tied up, so he opted to kick the door open.
“Hey!” he yelled, sticking his head in the door. “You’ve got a visitor! Gonna greet me?” There were some mild shuffling sounds in response, the kind solicitors and bad Christmas carolers know far too well. Sol figured he should try a different approach.
“I brought a present!”
Chapter Three
There was a rule in Aiden’s household that states “whoever answers the door must deal with the person there.” It was a good rule. They had the only house for many miles, surrounded on all sides by dangerous forests, and long ago the family had found it best to make sure that the multitude of desperate stragglers that show up at their door are capable of being handled by only one family member, so the rest of them can get on with their daily business.
Aiden is pretty sure that the rule is now only used as an excuse to make him deal with Sol. This greatly irritated Aiden, but Sol was okay with it. He didn’t like the rest of Aiden’s family.
“They revere me,” Sol had explained when Aiden asked why he wouldn’t deal with them. “They treat me like a god.”
“What’s so bad about that?”
“People treat gods like intergalactic butlers. ‘Oh, great one, please cause my crops to grow!’ ‘Help me, my son is dieing!’ and whatnot. It gets pretty annoying after a while.”
Sol showed up sporadically. The only warning of his impending arrival was an increased supply of woodworms, and that was pretty short-notice. He always came to check up on Shara.
Shara was the unconscious girl that Sol had showed up in his arms. It was certainly the oddest encounter Aiden had ever had. A young man shows up with a woman-shaped bloody mess, drops her on the floor, and says “She has no memory. You should raise her to be nice, I guess. Don’t worry; you’ll have enough food and stuff. Um. Oh, yeah! Her name is Shara.” and then leaves. Aiden had just stood there for a long time, doing little more then blinking until his grandmother called down the stairs.
“What was the present?”
Shara’s learning process had been different from a normal child. This seems obvious, but even the strangest of children learn the intricacies of a toilet before the art of swordplay. Shara seemed to retain muscle memory, so she was running and jumping before she knew her name. With someone as fast and powerful as Shara, this was an even bigger issue than one would imagine. On the bright side, they could usually get her to help re-build the house.
Fortunately, Sol was true to his word, as his mere presence always ensured an unparalleled crop output. At the same time, they listened to his advice, and raised Shara to be kind. And Aiden, of course, was bound by his house rule, and ended up with the primary job of raising Shara. Shara did seem to like him best, anyway.
Aiden was a lean, powerful young man with light brown hair and about the best tan someone could get in a thick forest, though that’s not saying too much. His face was tight with the stress and his default expression would be best described as “exasperated,” but his tightly-wound strings didn’t keep him from enjoying the time he spent with Shara. Nonetheless, he was less then pleased when Sol decided that they should go on a trip.
“You and Shara are going to head for the city now,” Sol said matter-of-factly.
“Huh?”
“Apparently, you’re a crappy teacher. So you’re going to take Shara to see the world so she can learn like a normal person. Get packing.”
“What?”
“I’ll meet you in Daigon City in five days. Try not to get eaten by a bear or something on the way there.”
“Wait! What’s going on?”
“Well, see ya.”
It was rather difficult to argue with Sol. Shara seemed excited to go, and the family seemed willing to let her go, and so before Aiden knew it, they were on their way. They reached Daigon City in three and a half days. And Shara learned what a Meta was.
Chapter Four
“Wow!” Shara said excitedly, “It smells worse than the barn here!” Aiden said nothing. Shara was too happy to pay attention to him. He was a bit worried, though. Daigon City allowed Meta citizenship, and from his experience, that was never a good thing. Meta were far more monster than human.
As usual, Shara managed to directly head to his most-feared scenario.
“Look at that lady! She’s blue and shiny!” Shara pointed at a female Meta relaxing inside a decorative fountain and managing to anger just about every passerby because of this. She was naked, but this was quite normal for a Meta. Her body was covered with dazzling blue scales, but she otherwise looked quite humanoid, and would probably be extremely beautiful with the whole fish thing going on.
“Let’s go say hi!” suggested Shara.
“I don’t think we should—” Started Aiden, but she was already gone.
“Hi!” said Shara, as she approached the Meta. “I’m Shara!” The Meta turned its head slowly upward and glared at her.
“People don’t seem to like it that you’re sitting here,” Shara continued. “Why is that?” The Meta glared for a bit longer, then said “You stupid or somethin’?”
Shara frowned. “Is that anything like ignorant? Aiden calls me ignorant a lot.” It was at that moment Aiden managed to catch up to her.
“Come on, Shara, we should go,” he said, grabbing her arm.
“No, no!” laughed the Meta, “Stay a while. Your girl asked a valid question. Is’ not often someone actually talks to me anyway.”
“My girl?” asked Aiden. The Meta ignored him.
“I think you look pretty!” smiled Shara. The Meta burst out laughing.
“Let me get outta here. I’ll show you how pretty I am.” The Meta stepped out of the fountain. The instant the last bit of her toe left the water, her whole body changed. Gone were her blue scales, but more importantly, gone was her “her.” In mere seconds, the beautiful fish-woman looked like a human teenage boy, standing stark-naked in the middle of the street.
“See, people don’t like it when I’m in the fountain because they’re afraid I’ll come out.”
“Okay, Shara,” pleaded Aiden, “Now we should really go.” But Shara was like a choke collar: the more he pulled, the more she resisted. It was impossible.
“My name’s Adgito,” the he/she said. “Easy to remember. People find me agitating and I usually have toes. Nice to meet you, Shara.” He stuck out his hand to shake, and Shara high-fived it. Adgito gave a whimper of pain, and retracted his hand.
“Nice to meet you, too,” Shara said, oblivious to both Adgito’s pain and Aiden’s embarrassed, worried tugging.
“She’s quite a handful, ain’t she?” Adgito asked Aiden.
“Put some pants on!”
The crowd of the city continued with their day, doing their best to pretend that the fountain was not there.
Anyhoozle, shall we begin? I hope you enjoy!
The Hive
Chapter One
The forest path was bright and quiet, nearly soundless except for the chirping of birds and the quiet blow of the wind. Silent until those chirps became frantic beating wings as the wind carried the crunching sound of struck gravel from the two runners sprinting down the lane.
Even a casual observer would immediately notice this was no leisurely jog: it was a chase, and far from a playful one. In front was a young woman, perhaps seventeen, frantically stripping off the bare remnants of a large suit of plate mail armor as she ran. She was neither tall nor short, and at first glance she looked thin and frail, but a closer look showed powerful muscles rippling under her skin with every leaping step. She was quite pretty, but under the grime and contorted expression of strain and determination it was hard to tell. With a mighty jump, she snapped around, long brown hair flowing behind her, and kicked a massively heavy plate mail boot at her pursuer’s head before landing, still at maximum speed.
Her pursuer wasn’t missing a step either. He caught the metal projectile one-handed, inches before his face, without flinching in the slightest. He simply flung the item to the ground behind him and sped up. The man looked quite old, but by the incredible speed at which he was traveling, it was clear his age didn’t matter. His face was jagged and sharpened by time, but it looked capable of being among the warmest and kindest when smiling.
He was not smiling. His mouth was locked into an enraged, sneering frown that gave the impression he was about to roar. His head was tucked down for maximum speed but his eyes were locked on the back of the girl’s skull, his stare burning through his brow. This was a man severely scorned, deeply betrayed, and extremely, hurtfully, enraged.
“You can’t outrun me,” he growled.
“I know.” The chase went on. It was clear that the man was slowly but surely gaining ground. No one felt any more need to waste their breath until finally, after what seemed like hours, the girl slumped, exhausted and choking, against a tree. The man stepped in front of her and drew his dagger sadly, not winded in the slightest.
“It never should have been this way,” he sighed. The girl found just enough energy to glare.
“No,” she spat, “It shouldn’t have been. But you decided that you could be God. You played God and made demons, meeting no repercussions, until we were all so deep in your feces we couldn’t tell that someone had caused the wretched stench! And now what do you have?”
For a long time, there was nothing more then the sound of the girl’s gasping breaths and the man’s slight chin-tap of contemplation.
“I did, I think, screw up,” he admitted softly. “But it was not in what I created, or did.” His face grew hard again. “I screwed up my expectations. I overestimated people, and was let down. Then I didn’t learn. I continued to make overly gracious assumptions about others, which made problems worse as I tired to fix them. I am far from a God, my girl, but you are right in one respect.” He glared down at her, tears beginning to flow from his eyes.
“I made a demon.”
He thrust the dagger forward and pierced the girl clean through her forehead, the tip implanting itself centimeters in the tree behind her. There was no scream, and no struggle.
The girl died smirking.
Chapter Two
It was a while later that Sol found the girl with a knife through her head, and it said a lot about him that he was entirely unsurprised to not only find her, but find her alive. He wasn’t a very impressive or intimidating lad in appearance. While he was tall, his lankly build offset any benefit that said height may have provided his looks. His skin was white as milk and his clothes were plain as plain could be: the only color on his person came from his dark hair and the black-purple wrinkly bags that hung down on his face and latched around his eyes. This would give anyone else an eerie, haunted look, but it simply looked depressing and tired on him. A slight smile graced his fatigued face and seemed to use up most of the energy he could muster. He was quite convinced that gravity had a much bigger impact then muscle quantity, but it was worth the effort.
He walked up to the motionless body, carelessly pulled the knife out, and dropped it to the ground. The deep, jagged wound healed almost instantly. Sol snickered.
“Impaled through the head and she’s still alive. You’re quite impressive, no?” He wasn’t talking to the girl.
Yes, a female voice in his head agreed, I suppose we are a tad bit above average. But we are not as impressive as she thought.
“Yeah, you’re generally not.” Sol rolled his eyes, as if the action was any more perceivable then the thought to the being in his mind. “So what?”
Not like that, the voice explained. We were not close enough during the incident to prevent the entirety of the damage. She will be perfectly functional, but her memory is gone entirely.
“So she has amnesia!” said Sol happily. “Great! One less thing to worry about.”
This is quite severe, Sol. Her mind now is utterly blank. She will be re-born into this world without even the experience of living in a mother’s womb. She will go from non-existence to total feeling in an instant. The shock could kill her. And memories are not some mystical part of the soul, Sol. They’re gone, and she will never get them back.
“Oh,” said Sol glumly. “That… that is less then ideal, I guess. She’ll probably survive, though. She’s been pretty good at that so far.” Sol thought for a moment. “Those farmers will probably find her here, and they’re nice people, so it’ll work out. Let’s go now.”
That would not be very kind, Sol.
“That’s okay. She won’t remember anyway.”
Sol! intoned the voice, She was the one person who could tell the difference between them! We need her! Sol scoffed.
“No, Sachet. You need her. I just need sleep. And a little piece and quiet.” The voice thought for a long time. Though, admittedly, there was nothing else it could do.
If we get through this, it said eventually, I will let you sleep.
“Is… is that a good idea?”
No, Sol. That is a very bad idea.
“It’s a deal, then!” laughed Sol. “I still say we let the farmers take care of her, though. I don’t think I’d make much of a daddy.”
On that point, at least, I concur. Carry her to their home.
“And then?”
Make sure no one gets killed.
“You’re absolutely hilarious, Sachet.” Inside his mind, the voice grinned.
Just playing to our strengths, Sol. Just playing to our strengths.
Groaning, Sol lifted the limp body off of the bloodstained forest floor and began to carry her out of the woods, leaving his unmistakable footprints. Out of all the creatures in the forest that left noticeable trails, not one could compare to the markings Sol’s presence left behind. All around him, grass became greener, trees grew larger, and bushes expanded their thorny grip. With each step, his footprints left entire new mini-ecosystems, with each creature and plant powered with new vigor. The ants crushed under his feet showed no sign of damage, but instead renewed their quest for food with twice the vigor. Animals of all kinds stuck their heads out of their holes, slinked out of the trees, and watched in bliss, basking in his healing, energizing aura. A squirrel hopped up to him and nuzzled his ankle.
Sol kicked it into a tree. The squirrel had a surprised look, as if an acorn had just punched it in the face, but overall it didn’t seem to mind.
Finally, he reached the house. It was a pretty large house for a bunch of farmers, having two stories, and it was rather poorly whitewashed. Sol also noticed that it was made of wood, and silently hoped that he hadn’t supercharged some termites along the way. His hands were tied up, so he opted to kick the door open.
“Hey!” he yelled, sticking his head in the door. “You’ve got a visitor! Gonna greet me?” There were some mild shuffling sounds in response, the kind solicitors and bad Christmas carolers know far too well. Sol figured he should try a different approach.
“I brought a present!”
Chapter Three
There was a rule in Aiden’s household that states “whoever answers the door must deal with the person there.” It was a good rule. They had the only house for many miles, surrounded on all sides by dangerous forests, and long ago the family had found it best to make sure that the multitude of desperate stragglers that show up at their door are capable of being handled by only one family member, so the rest of them can get on with their daily business.
Aiden is pretty sure that the rule is now only used as an excuse to make him deal with Sol. This greatly irritated Aiden, but Sol was okay with it. He didn’t like the rest of Aiden’s family.
“They revere me,” Sol had explained when Aiden asked why he wouldn’t deal with them. “They treat me like a god.”
“What’s so bad about that?”
“People treat gods like intergalactic butlers. ‘Oh, great one, please cause my crops to grow!’ ‘Help me, my son is dieing!’ and whatnot. It gets pretty annoying after a while.”
Sol showed up sporadically. The only warning of his impending arrival was an increased supply of woodworms, and that was pretty short-notice. He always came to check up on Shara.
Shara was the unconscious girl that Sol had showed up in his arms. It was certainly the oddest encounter Aiden had ever had. A young man shows up with a woman-shaped bloody mess, drops her on the floor, and says “She has no memory. You should raise her to be nice, I guess. Don’t worry; you’ll have enough food and stuff. Um. Oh, yeah! Her name is Shara.” and then leaves. Aiden had just stood there for a long time, doing little more then blinking until his grandmother called down the stairs.
“What was the present?”
Shara’s learning process had been different from a normal child. This seems obvious, but even the strangest of children learn the intricacies of a toilet before the art of swordplay. Shara seemed to retain muscle memory, so she was running and jumping before she knew her name. With someone as fast and powerful as Shara, this was an even bigger issue than one would imagine. On the bright side, they could usually get her to help re-build the house.
Fortunately, Sol was true to his word, as his mere presence always ensured an unparalleled crop output. At the same time, they listened to his advice, and raised Shara to be kind. And Aiden, of course, was bound by his house rule, and ended up with the primary job of raising Shara. Shara did seem to like him best, anyway.
Aiden was a lean, powerful young man with light brown hair and about the best tan someone could get in a thick forest, though that’s not saying too much. His face was tight with the stress and his default expression would be best described as “exasperated,” but his tightly-wound strings didn’t keep him from enjoying the time he spent with Shara. Nonetheless, he was less then pleased when Sol decided that they should go on a trip.
“You and Shara are going to head for the city now,” Sol said matter-of-factly.
“Huh?”
“Apparently, you’re a crappy teacher. So you’re going to take Shara to see the world so she can learn like a normal person. Get packing.”
“What?”
“I’ll meet you in Daigon City in five days. Try not to get eaten by a bear or something on the way there.”
“Wait! What’s going on?”
“Well, see ya.”
It was rather difficult to argue with Sol. Shara seemed excited to go, and the family seemed willing to let her go, and so before Aiden knew it, they were on their way. They reached Daigon City in three and a half days. And Shara learned what a Meta was.
Chapter Four
“Wow!” Shara said excitedly, “It smells worse than the barn here!” Aiden said nothing. Shara was too happy to pay attention to him. He was a bit worried, though. Daigon City allowed Meta citizenship, and from his experience, that was never a good thing. Meta were far more monster than human.
As usual, Shara managed to directly head to his most-feared scenario.
“Look at that lady! She’s blue and shiny!” Shara pointed at a female Meta relaxing inside a decorative fountain and managing to anger just about every passerby because of this. She was naked, but this was quite normal for a Meta. Her body was covered with dazzling blue scales, but she otherwise looked quite humanoid, and would probably be extremely beautiful with the whole fish thing going on.
“Let’s go say hi!” suggested Shara.
“I don’t think we should—” Started Aiden, but she was already gone.
“Hi!” said Shara, as she approached the Meta. “I’m Shara!” The Meta turned its head slowly upward and glared at her.
“People don’t seem to like it that you’re sitting here,” Shara continued. “Why is that?” The Meta glared for a bit longer, then said “You stupid or somethin’?”
Shara frowned. “Is that anything like ignorant? Aiden calls me ignorant a lot.” It was at that moment Aiden managed to catch up to her.
“Come on, Shara, we should go,” he said, grabbing her arm.
“No, no!” laughed the Meta, “Stay a while. Your girl asked a valid question. Is’ not often someone actually talks to me anyway.”
“My girl?” asked Aiden. The Meta ignored him.
“I think you look pretty!” smiled Shara. The Meta burst out laughing.
“Let me get outta here. I’ll show you how pretty I am.” The Meta stepped out of the fountain. The instant the last bit of her toe left the water, her whole body changed. Gone were her blue scales, but more importantly, gone was her “her.” In mere seconds, the beautiful fish-woman looked like a human teenage boy, standing stark-naked in the middle of the street.
“See, people don’t like it when I’m in the fountain because they’re afraid I’ll come out.”
“Okay, Shara,” pleaded Aiden, “Now we should really go.” But Shara was like a choke collar: the more he pulled, the more she resisted. It was impossible.
“My name’s Adgito,” the he/she said. “Easy to remember. People find me agitating and I usually have toes. Nice to meet you, Shara.” He stuck out his hand to shake, and Shara high-fived it. Adgito gave a whimper of pain, and retracted his hand.
“Nice to meet you, too,” Shara said, oblivious to both Adgito’s pain and Aiden’s embarrassed, worried tugging.
“She’s quite a handful, ain’t she?” Adgito asked Aiden.
“Put some pants on!”
The crowd of the city continued with their day, doing their best to pretend that the fountain was not there.