#Lychrono

[lychrono]

15: Lychrono Prologue 4/6

Now before you read this, I just wanted to say I’m sorry. It should not have taken this long just to type this part. I have multiple reasons for taking this long to write this part:First off, I’ve been distracted by many things, such as finishing up high school, graduation, getting my final college forms finished, and other hobbies. Secondly,writing this part was a nightmare for one major reason: Writer’s block. I just wasn’t very confident with what I did write for this part. Finally, I’ve been losing a bit of confidence in this blog, seeing as of now, I only have two followers, and I’m pretty sure both of them are robots.

Regardless, The part was finally finished last Tuesday, and, since I’m out for the summer and don’t have to leave for VCU until the 18th of August, I will have much more time to work on this blog. Besides that, there wont be any pit stops after this post, We’re going straight from part 4 to part 5. After part 5, we will have two different pit stops, and finally, we will be going to the final part of the Prologue.

Finally, once I am done with part 6, there is something I have planned for this blog. You’ll have to wait and see. Regardless,here’s part 5:

And so, this is part four of the Lychrono prologue.

      And so,This part starts with Hunter in the bed of his room, trying to get some sleep as he is still severely jetlagged, even after two days since his arrival. Hunter is still trying to get used to living in Mystacine. What’s worse, today is the day he is supposed to start his 9 month long training regiment.

     His alarm clock goes off. As Hunter gets up, he realizes that he doesn’t remember ever setting an alarm. Still being dark out, he checks to see what time it is, caught off guard when he see’s that it is five in the morning.

     Agitated and wondering whether this is correct, he check’s the schedule that was given to him by the package. Indeed, it was correct, he was supposed to meet up with Aspen by the entrance to the rec center in approximately 30 min. At this revelation, Hunter Begrudgingly gets out of his bed, changes into the gym clothes provided to him (wearing a hoodie in order to keep warm through the early hours) And makes his way to the rec center. All the while, he struggle to keep his balance, as he is still struggling with sleep deprivation.

     Through the twists and turns, trying to navigate Meerstadt’s streets in order to find his way with the map provided to him, he manages to make it with two minutes to spare. As he makes it, the sun starts to rise up, barely visible through the ocean floor.

     When he makes it, he checks the time. Two minutes until the deadline. With nothing else to do, he sits on a nearby bench outside of the front entrance.

 As Hunter Tries to stay warm in the early hours, a figure walks up beside him, slightly hunched over. It's Aspen, this time not joined by Amethyst, as he’s letting her sleep in after last night. Aspen leads Hunter around the side of the Rec center to the back. A track and field takes up a big part of the center’s outdoor area, empty in the early morning hours.

 At the center of the field, Aspen finally explains why Hunter had to get up this early in the morning: in order to see where he is physically, Hunter is to take a physical exam. Hunter, trying to stand at attention, takes a gulp of nervousness,not excited for what comes next.

 After a 3 hour physical exam, we see Hunter and Aspen on the bleachers.While Aspen is scribbling notes on a clipboard, Hunter is laying down on the bleachers next to him, struggling to catch his breath. His cheeks are red and puffy, his chest is expanding and contracting rapidly, and his arms lay down beside him, rapidly pulsating.

 After what feels like an eternity, Aspen finally finishes the evaluation, stating that overall, Hunter comes out to be slightly above average. Intrigued by this, Hunter sits up and asks to see the clipboard. After looking it over, an exasperated smile comes onto Hunter’s face. He falls back to the bleacher, hands Aspen back the clipboard, and gives him a thumbs up.

 “Are we done for today?” Hunter asks Aspen. As Aspen stands up, he tells Hunter:

“No, not even close. For now, get a shower and some breakfast. Meet me at the Holo-domes in two hours.”

 Aspen leaves, leaving Hunter alone and panting on the bleachers.

 From there, we go back to the mess hall where Hunter is having breakfast, his fur and hair damp from a recent shower. Suddenly, as he goes for another bite of his cereal, he see’s a the reflection of a rabbit in his spoon, who appears to be trying to sneak up on Hunter. In retaliation, Hunter rapidly twists his body around to look Wimple dead in the eye, making an Boo sound as he does so, causing wimple to jump back.

 “ Well, um…” Wimple starts up “I just wanted to say hi. As the new meat, i-if you ever need any advice, just ask me. That is, if you want.”

         Although flattered by the offer, Hunter politely declines.

 “Oh okay. I’ll just go get something to eat then.” Wimple says, and walks away.

     As Wimple walks over to the mess hall’s line, Hunter starts to think over what Wimple meant when he said “Meat”. In his head, he starts to wonder how the next nine months are going to go. He gets up and goes to Wimple, who’s picking out a tray.

     “Wait, Wimple. I have to ask. You were the last one to join The Rhamsin division, right?” Hunter asked, trying not to put down Wimple.

     “ Well, not the last to join, but with how the last guy excelled passed me-”

     “ I wanted to ask what you remember about the training regimen.” Hunter asks.

     “Oh, that. Well, I don’t remember the finer details, but it was certainly intense. I don’t think I ever been more sore. Couldn’t feel my left leg for a week, and at some points, I just wanted to give up, but worst of all, there was this one unit I could never get the hang of, and I feared I would never.” Wimple started.

 “A-an entire week? My leg?” Hunter said to himself, not realizing that Wimple was still going on, and even going on a rant about how it was all worth it in the end and he’s really proud of how far he’s come.

 “ And that’s why you sho-, are you okay?” Finally realizing that Hunter was just looking off into the distance.

“Huh? Oh yea, fine. I think I can handle it.” Hunter replies, finally snapping back to reality.

 “ Oh, well that’s good.” Wimple replies. “ And even, if no one show’s it, every one in rhamsin division is rooting for you.”

 “Yeah.” Hunter softly replies, still looking into the distance.

  Go ahead about 30 minutes. Hunter, Aspen, and now Amethyst are all in a dark hallway, in front of what appears to be a closet door. Still thinking about what Wimple said earlier, Hunter doesn’t hear what Aspen says.

 “Hunter!” Aspen snaps.

 “WHAT?” Hunter says.

 “You need to get your head out of the clouds, son. Now, what I need you to do is to go through this door and climb down the ladder. Once you're down there, we’ll tell you what to do from there.”

 “Yes, sir.” Hunter replies, saluting him.

 “And please, call me master.” Aspen replies.

 “Yes, Master.” Hunter says. Turning back to the door, he puts his hand on the knob and turns it. As he goes through the door, he is met with a black void. Nervous, he turns around only to see that Aspen and Amethyst are no longer there. He shuts the door behind him, leaving himself in a void of nothingness.

 Suddenly, up above him, the sound of hydraulics turning can be heard as the ceiling opens up, revealing a glass ceiling over head as light pours into the room, giving Hunter his first true look of the room he is in. from the light he is given, he can tell that the room is huge, easily 100 feet from the side he’s on to the other. As he looks down, he realizes that what he was standing on was a small square platform, raised easily 30 feet above the rest of the room. Noticing the ladder Aspen mentioned, he uses it to descend to the lower level. Stepping off of the ladder, he takes his time to look around the room. From what he sees, floor of the room has a grid pattern, with each square being much bigger than he is. Additionally, they appear to be dark blue in coloration, and made of a strange metal, though that could just be an illusion from the lighting.

 Suddenly, over head lights come on, bathing the entire room in light. For the first time, he is able to see the room in it’s entirety. The room took on a tetradecagon shape, with several squares being cut off by the walls. Speaking of the walls, they also have a grid pattern. The sheer size of the room causes Hunter to feel overwhelmed.

     Suddenly, a click is heard, not loud, but definitely coming from all around him.

 “ Can you hear me.” a voice said. It was Aspens voice, talking through a microphone.

 “ Yeah” Hunter replied “Where are you?”

 At this point, the scene shifts from Hunter’s perspective to Aspen’s perspective. Both he and Amethyst are sitting in a room overlooking the pit Hunter is in. In this dark room, a ten feet tall one-way window separates Aspen from the atrium, allowing him to see everything without giving away his position. Inside the room, all sorts of computers can be seen, each with a different purpose, making the room rather cramp.

 “ All you need to know is that I can see you, but you can’t see me.” Aspen says into a microphone, sounding all kinds of Cryptic. “Now, what I need you to do is to go stand on the glowing platform.”

 (back to Hunter’s perspective)

In the distance, one of the squares lights up with a bluish glow. Without Hesitation, Hunter runs over to it and stops on top of it.

 “Like this?” He asks inquisitively.

  “Yes, perfect.” Aspen answers. “Now, answer me this, Hunter: Do you have any experience with the augmentation of reality. To bend the world to your whim and re create it in your own image, only limited by your imagination?” Aspen asks with passion in his voice.

 “ Um, not that I can remember.” Hunter answers, slightly terrified by Aspens questions.

     “Well then ‘chuckle’, prepare yourself.” Aspens says, a slight sense of crazy in his tone.

 Suddenly, the room around Hunter fades away into nothingness, sending Hunter into a panic as he fears for his safety. He falls to his back, still and motion less within the black void.

 Then, as if opening his eyes, a new room fades into view. This room, while it has a floor, white and patterned with flowing code, any idea of a wall or ceiling was foreign to this room, as the floor goes on forever into a white void.

  With everything around Hunter, he had to take a few steps back just to take in the sheer scope of what he was seeing. The white void was absolutely breathtaking, astonishing, humbling. After looking all around, he started to become giddy like a schoolgirl.

 Then, just seconds after the void came, it went, returning Hunter to the grid room he never left in the first place. Still, the very size of the room left him with a cold sweat and goosebumps.

“Alright, with that out of the way, it’s time to start the real simulation”, said Aspen.

  Once again, another simulation started up,  stretching the room into rectangular prism, leaving Hunter at the far side of the room, away from the ladder and exit. Then, the room stopped stretching, and proceeded to morph before his eyes. When it finally stopped morphing, it resembled a military style obstacle course, complete with a climbing walls of different heights, rope courses,  a balance beam, several  other obstacles, and most prominently, a tower all the way at the end, made up of only beams and flat walls.

     “Welcome to obstacle course 7B, Hunter. Everything you can ask for in a basic training course. What do you think?”, Aspen asked over the intercom.

     It takes Hunter a few seconds to answer back, as he’s still taking in the scenery.

 “Well, It’s certainly- intricate.”, Hunter replies, still looking at everything.

 “Modest answer.”, Aspen replies. “Now then, course 7B is going to be a major part of your training regimen.  When your finals arrive 9 months from now, the judges will expect you to do every one of these obstacles efficiently with minimal difficulty. Now, before we start for the day, Look to your left.”

 As Hunter looks to his left, a white light manifests out of the corner of his eye. As he turns, he sees a blob of static come into existence, growing arms and legs much like his. In fact, exactly like him. When things calm down, Hunter is face to face with… him, or rather, a white, static silhouette of himself.

     “Impressed? Meet your digital doppelganger, a test dummy ma-”

 Hunter was too busy reaching his hand through the doppelganger, watching as it passes right through it’s chest, stomach, and esophagus.

 “HUNTER!!” Aspen yells into the intercom, greatly startling Hunter as he pulls his arm out.

  “S-Sorry!”, Hunter replied.

 “Just watch your copy. You are to follow it’s example.”

 The Doppelganger went to work, effortlessly weaving and winding its way through each of the individual courses. Hunter kept a close eye on his digital clone, constantly taking mental notes on each action it made. He felt a knot in his stomach as the mass of sparks executed each obstacle without hesitation or flaw. After the second time around, it was finally time for Hunter to join in. He followed his the doppelganger, taking a slow, cautious pace as Aspen coached him over the intercom. Not once did Hunter even come close to what his doppelganger was doing.

 By the time he finished his 30th run through of all the courses (excluding the tower), Hunter was a panting, shaking mess, who could feel his own heartbeat echo throughout his body.he couldn’t even talk, as he was too busy trying to breath.

 “Alright, overall average for your first day.”, Aspen said over the intercom. “Before we finish up for today, there is one more course I’ll need you to run through. Just once will be enough.”

 Hunter looked up at the tower, knowing exactly what he was talking about.”You’ve got to be kidding me.”, Hunter murmured to himself. However, knowing that he was almost done for the day, he convinced his body to press forward, hopeful of going back to his room to rest. As he got closer, he noticed a bell at the very top.

 “I have to ring that?”, Hunter asked rhetorically.

 He didn’t get a response.

 Knowing he was almost done with the day, he started to climb, which was much harder considering most of the tower was flat walls and the occasional bar. About halfway through, he reached an area where he couldn’t go any farther. His arms we’re on fire, and he barely had the strength to go farther. When he reached for the next pole, his grip had slipped.

 If it had not been for the thick mats covering the ground, Hunter would have had multiple cracked bones and a concussion. Even still, he felt his heart race faster than ever as he picked himself up, a steady stream of tears rolling down his cheeks. As he tried to stand up, he could feel his entire left side burn with pain, so all he could do was lie there and try not to break anything. The room around him swirled and changed as he was returned to the grid room he had started out in.

Above him, the door swung open as Aspen and Amethyst rushed to his aid. They both had to help him up the ladder, with Amethyst doing most of the heavy lifting, while trying to be as delicate as possible. After they got him out of the room, Aspen inspected his wounds. The flesh under Hunter’s fur had gone red like an apple.

 “Thank goodness it isn’t very serious.” ,Aspen said, trying his best to keep Hunter calm “With the right supplies, it should be fully healed by tomorrow. Until then, let’s get you to the medical wing.”, Aspen helped to support Hunter’s left side as they walk off.

  By the time Hunter made it out of the medical wing, the sun had almost set and dinner was about to rap up. The only people who were sitting at table 17 were himself,his hands shaking as he tried to eat his meal; and Lula, who was busy trying to eat and polish her helmet at the same time.

 As she finished up polishing her helmet, she set it aside and admired her work, Awkward silence manifests in the mess hall.

 “So- was this your first day?”, Lula asks, trying to break the silence.

 “Uh… y-yeah.”, Hunter replies.

     “Nice, so, how did it go?” Asked Lula.

     “Pretty well.” Hunter replied, trying to sound confident.

     “You seem to be shaking a lot. Are you sure about that?” Lula asked.

     “Well, it was going fine until I fell off the tower.”, Hunter replied

     Lula did not say anything, only showing shock, then sympathy for Hunter, which started to bug him.

     “I just don’t get it”,Hunter started up. “Of all the people in this world, all those more qualified for this line of work than me, and I’m the one they chose. It doesn’t make any sense.”

     “Well, to be fair, Mystacine isn’t in the best condition either.” Lula replied.

     “Huh?”, Hunter said.

     “Tell me, when you first stepped foot onto Janachu, did anything catch your eye?” Lula asked inquisitively.

     “Well, I guess the derelict town was kind of interesting. All the black marks kind of make it look like it was burned down. What about it?”, Hunter asks.

     “Believe it or not, THAT town used to be the old headquarters for Mystacine, three decades before I joined up.” Lula says. “Care to know what happened.”

     “YES. What happened?”, Hunter replied, desperate to know the story.

     “Alright, storytime.” Lula, adjusted her seat and faced towards Hunter. “Long ago, Mystacine used to be the greatest mercenary company on Ellin, With an entire naval fleet to navigate the world in pursuit of contracts. They had amassed such a reputation for themselves that fugitives would cower in fear at the very thought that one of their members were hunting them down. Mystacine was to be feared and respected.”

     “So it used to be known all around the world? Then how come I’ve never heard anyone talk about it.”, Hunter asked.

     “Simply put, they were an elusive bunch. The accepted the contract, carried it out, and left without leaving a name for themselves. All they left was a piece of cloth with Mystacine emblem and instructions for how to contact us if they ever required our services again.”

 “That’s ominous. So, why is it in such bad shape now, when they have something like THIS”, Hunter asked, bringing emphasis to the underwater dome around them. “Seems like they’re doing better than ever.”

 “Well, from what I was told,Mystacine grew stubborn. As the world advanced in technology, Mystacine was more interested in keeping traditions rather than making use of new tools and techniques.  Not only that, but they were pretty picky with who they let join Mystacine, only accepting the best of the best.Pretty soon, the requests they got went from a river to a trickle. They soon reached a point of stagnation. A stagnation that would be their downfall.”

 “Oh, well-”

 “Hold that thought, this is where it gets interesting: So. one day, as the sun rose from the east, a group of militants, clad in black plating and wearing emotionless masks rose from the ocean with one goal in mind: Destroy Mystacine.”

     At this point, Hunter was completely engrossed in the story.

     “The black army stormed the beach, making their way up to headquarters. An alarm rung out, warning everyone of the black army’s approach. While those who were not qualified ran for a safe zone in the mountains, the Mercenaries stayed behind to help evacuate before the black army could make it to their doorstep. With the last person safely evacuated, it was time to confront these intruders. They stood side by side, ready to fight. Then, the black army had arrived, a path of destruction left in their wake.”

     Lula took a moment to pause, taking a deep breath.

     “It was absolute carnage. What started out as a dozen turned to a hundred, their numbers never running dry. Barely anyone made it out with their lives, and those that did retreated to the safe zone, tales between their legs.”

     Lula took another pause, letting the message sink into Hunter’s skin.

       “Looking back on it, most people believe it was their outdated equipment and technology that became their downfall. You can choose to believe that. It’s what I believe.”

     “So, why did the black army attack?”, Hunter asked.

     “Nobody knows. I’ve heard things like revenge, money, competition. It could be any number of reasons. I choose not to think about it.”, Lula replies.

         “That’s horrible.” Hunter replies. “So then, how did they bounce back?”

     “Well, little one: After days of waiting, the survivors left the safe zone to see what was left of Mystacine. They found the town burnt to the ground, all the ships had sunk to the bottom of the bay, and… and the… the remains of a funeral pyre, of those that didn’t survive.”

     Hunter was horrified at what he just heard.

        “Anyway, they radioed for help, and after two weeks, helped arrived in the form of a representative of oracle industries. They offered to help build a new base for mystacine, as a gift. The survivors knew that at this point, it would either by the death of Mystacine- or a new beginning.”

     “I can see which one they chose”, Hunter replied, his meal now finished in front of him.

     “Unfortunately, they still suffered a major setback: A lack of mercenaries. Ever since then, they’ve been taking what they can get in order to return to their former glory.”

          “So that’s why they accepted me. They were desperate. That makes more sense than actually expecting potential out of me.” Hunter said.

     “Hunter, is it. Why did you join Mystacine?”, asked Lula.

     “ I was desperate. No one else would hire.” Hunter replied.

     “Why’s that?”, Asked Lula.

     “Well, you see, I was born with a rare condition that left me with unusual fur, for a wolf anyway.”, Hunter said, showing Lula his arms.

     “Is that what that is?” Lula replied in intrigue. “I thought you just had a terrible dye job.”

        “Nope. I was born like this.” Hunter replied.

     “Well, just know that you’re in good company. We’re all freaks in our own way.”

     “Yeah” Hunter replies.

     So, Lula wraps up her conversation with Hunter by telling him that even if he feels he’s the worst (which she assures him, he’s not), it means he only has up to go. She gets up and leaves the table, leaving Hunter alone in the empty mess hall.

 “I can only get better…”, Hunter thought to himself.

         As Hunter’s training regimen continues onward, Hunter starts to feel himself loose track of the days. What started out as days turned to weeks, then months. As time progressed, he found his regimen branching out from the standard obstacle course, each came with its own set of challenges for our poor wolf protagonist. On the second day, he had to go through strength training, and by the end he felt nauseous and sore all over. When he started sword training, the sword bounced off of the dummy and hit him square in the face. During tracking, he got himself lost on the island. For wilderness survival, he had to survive by himself for 5 days on one of the distant islands. Halfway through day 2, a thunderstorm rolled in. suffice to say, it was not a good few months.

        However, the worst of his training was when he went back for review in the obstacle course. Every time, the day ended with the tower, and although he became better and better at everything else, the tower curbstomped him, no matter how many times he tried. To try over and over again, yet never succeed; whittles away at someone's spirit, huh.

     Regardless, we meet up with Hunter again one evening, in the dark hallways of the rhamsin division’s living quarters, mopping up the hallways on the male floor. Since janitors are very busy with the rest of Meerstadt, it falls on each division's residential mercenaries to clean it up. In order to divide up the work, the Rhamsin mercenaries, at least, set up a rotation based on week.As one would guess m, it is Hunter’s turn in the rotation.

       As Hunter moves his mop back and forth against the floor, the constant motion  gets him thinking; For the last few months, he has been constantly training for his new life as a bounty hunter, repeating the same trials of training over and over for hours each day, all to prepare himself for the day he will take the test.

     And yet, as he stands there, with his aching muscles and heavy eyelids, he can only wonder if all of this work is worth it. Is all of this training truly making him better? Will he be ready for the test? Or is he only being told he’s getting better.

     Realizing that the mop is running dry, Hunter dips its head back in the bucket. As he raised it out of the bucket, he heard a voice from behind him, coming all they from the common room all the way from the Rhamsin common room. Curious, he puts the mop back into the bucket and  makes his way down the hallway to see what’s going on.  Peeking into the common room, he see’s both Cindrix and Anji sitting together on the couch, engaging in small talk together. In the darkness of the deep ocean at night, the glowing radiance of a hearth of glowstones casts light on the two.

     As the small talk between Anji and Cindrix went on, Hunter found himself losing interest in their conversation. With nothing to hear, he turns around to return to mopping the floor, when he catches this out of the corner of his ear:

 “So, what do you think of the new guy?”, Cindrix asked Anji.

 Hearing his mention, Hunter decides to stay and listen to where this goes.

 Needless to say, what he hears is not very favorable of him.

 Heartbroken by what they say, Hunter hangs his head in shame. If even his own colleagues believe his struggle to be in vain, then perhaps he truly doesn’t stand a chance. Perhaps this was all a mistake.

 “Then again-”, Anji started to say, Hunter turning back again. “who hasn't struggled with basic training.”

 And so, Hunter listened to how the talked on, he heard about how they all went through basic training in a same manner (with a bit of variation). Though it was hard, they all had to push on, and in the end, all their work was worth it. A smile formed on Hunter’s face as their conversation turned to chicken wings. But was what they said true. Perhaps a second opinion would be what he needed for self-confirmation.

     The office of Aspen held an atmosphere similar to the common room, lit by a the flame of fire place behind his desk. Aspen sat alone at his desk, reading a book while at the same time reviewing paperwork. As he sets aside the last of the paperwork,his eyes catch something at the edge of his desk. Bringing it forward, it is revealed to the audience to be a portrait, with what looked to be a younger Aspen, sitting on his lap was a child Amethyst, and standing next to him was another ferret, their identity blocked by the lighting. As Aspen looks at the portrait, melancholy overtakes him. As he begins to focus on the unknown ferret, a knock can be heard at the door, prompting him to put it back in its position. He calls to the person to come in.

     “H-hey Aspen.”, Hunter says at the door, “I was wondering if I could talk to you about something.”

     “Come in and take a seat.” Aspen replies, motioning Hunter to come in. “Something on your mind?”

     “Well-” Says Hunter as he sits down. Before he starts again, he pauses to think about how he should say what he want’s to say.

     “ You feel training is taking it’s toll on you?”, Aspen says, beating Hunter to the Punch.

 “How did you-” Hunter asks,surprised by Aspen.

 “I’ve been training recruits in my division long before you were born. At this point, it’s become a cycle.”, Aspen replies. He stands up and starts looking through the objects over the fireplace. “ Elaborate, please.”

     “Well, I don’t believe I’ve ever had this much stress put upon me. There are so many different aspects that I haven’t considered. It’s all too much, I guess is what I’m trying to say.” Hunter says to Aspen, who is still looking through the old photo’s over the fire. A momentary pause falls between the two.

     “You wouldn’t have lasted a day with my Father.”,Aspen says in a chill tone. He takes a portrait down from the shelf and hands it over to Hunter. In the picture, two white ferrets, a father and son are seen standing in attention, stoic and serious, as the father places his hand on the son’s shoulder. The photo itself was  horribly worn.

     “For 15 years, my father trained me to be an assassin like him, 12 hours a day, I had to constantly train at both his mercy, and the sun’s. Heat stroke came closer to killing me than any crazed lunatic or warmonger ever did.”, Aspen told Hunter before taking a pause. In a more depressed tone, he continued “and I swore he loved every minute he berated me. Must have made him feel powerful.” Aspen fell back into his chair.

     “Oh. Well now I kinda feel bad for complaining.”, Hunter said, handing back the portrait to Aspen.

     “Don’t, what I put you through is plenty straining  in its own right.” Aspen says. “ But, that’s not the point. After those 15 years, I thought I had learned everything he could teach me. However, as I was about to leave for my very first mission, he pulled me aside to tell me give me one final lesson, not on killing, but on life.”

     “ And what was that?” Asked Hunter, leaning over as if expecting the answer to be whispered into it’s ear.

 “ He told me ‘that life will be constantly throwing new problems into my  face, but if I can learn to face each problem one at a time, then I won’t have much to worry about.”

 “That’s- nice, but I don’t know how that’s supposed to help me.”, said Hunter, disappointed.

 “I’m not exactly a therapist.”,said Aspen. “I’m not sure what you were expecting.”

 Hunter watches as Aspen gets out of his chair. He twists a knob over the fireplace, the flames grow weaker as he turns the knob. After finding the right setting, Aspen sits back down into his chair.

 “Well,why do you think you’re struggling?”, Aspen asks Hunter.

 “Well, I don’t know. I’ve done everything you’ve told me to, but it still feels impossible.”

 Aspen sits up in his seat, a smile stretches across his face, as if he just figured everything out.

 “I believe that’s your problem.”, Aspen says.

 “Huh.”

     (Ok, this conversation has been going on for too long, so I’ll shorten it. Aspen tells Hunter that relies too much on other people for what to do. If Hunter were to take the time to come up with his own way to solve the problem, and if a solution is not obvious, get creative. It’s how people survive in this line of work. Before Hunter can ask another question, Aspen tells Hunter that he’s going to retire for the night. As Hunter leaves the room, Aspen tells him one final line of encouragement, that he’s probably better then he gives himself credit for.)

      “One problem at a time.”, “get creative.”:These lines keep on repeating in his head as he makes his way back to his room.

     He as he enters his room, he goes for the his bed, still repeating those lines to himself.

      And so, the montage continues. It seems he is still struggling, but as the montage goes on, we see him gradually solve his problems. Before he knows it, he is no longer struggling with what used to drive him crazy. He has finally conquered the challenges in his way. Except for one.

      He goes through the digital obstacle course again, once again racing his doppelganger. At the end of the course, he is once again stands at the base of the tower. As his copy elegantly makes its way to the bell at the top, Hunter lags behind, trying his best not to fall. Like his first time, he loses his grip and falls. However, he is able to catch himself before he hits the ground. Aspen instructs him to attempt it again over the intercom. He tries again but fails the same, and Aspen tells him to try again. He fails again, and again, and again. He has lost all patience for the tower at this point, and kicks it in annoyed anger.

 “Kicking it isn’t going to make it easier. “, says Aspen over the intercom. “Now get back into position. You are not leaving that room until you make it to the top first.”

 “Fine then, old man.”, Hunter whispers to himself. “You want me to get to the top, I’ll do that.”

 As he gets back onto the starting point, he notices something behind the tower that wasn’t always there: It was the ladder that led out of the room. Every other time, the ladder left when the simulation was loaded, so something must have happened to keep it here. Whether it was an oversight or an error, Hunter didn’t care.He had a plan.

 The starting countdown had begun, Hunter prepared himself for the dash to the ladder.

 As the starting bang rang out, Hunter dashed into a sprint. While his doppelganger went straight for the tower, he ran around it and went straight for the ladder. As fast as he could, Hunter climbed up the ladder. As he reached the top, he looked back down to see the progress of his doppelganger: Not even close to the top. From that platform, he jumped for the tower and grabbed the ledge and pulled himself up onto the top of the tower. With nothing between him and the bell, he walked to ring it, stopping the stopwatch with a time far shorter than what can be legitimately obtained. The doppelganger evaporated into thin air  underneath him.

 Hyperventilating, Hunter sat down in order to try to catch his breath. Knowing what was to come, Hunter waited for the scolding to start. A click echoed through the room, signaling the activation of the intercom.

 Aspen began to say over the intercom,“ Do you mind explaining to me wha-”

 “Before you say another word, yes I would to explain myself.”, Said Hunter. “ This tower is evil.  I can’t get closed to this deathtrap without having something broken or bruised or emptied onto the floor. Despite my best, it beats me just for trying. I want to succeed, but I can’t, I just can’t. Do what you have to, I’ll accept it.”

 A momentary silence fell in the room as Hunter turned away from the observation window.Both Aspen and Amethyst entered the room.

 “Well Hunter.”

 Hunter waited to receive his punishment. Perhaps he would have to mop the floors for a year, go through another year of training, lose his mess hall privilege, or perhaps even exile. He was ready to receive it.

 “Congratulations.”

 “Huh?” Hunter asked in confusion. He turns to look at Aspen, wanting an explanation.

 “ Do you remember what I told you that night, when you came to me for advice?”, Aspen Asked.

 “Yeah, you told me about solving my problems one at a time, and getting creative with my problem solving. To be honest, I haven't thought about it much recently.”, Hunter answered.

  Aspen then tells Hunter all about how, although he learned to solve his problems one at a time, he still hadn’t shown any sign of learning to become creative with his solutions. However, by cheating on the tower, he has finally solved a problem by using his own solutions. If you  can’t solve a problem the way someone told you to, then make up your own solution. Outsmart your target. However, because completion of the tower is mandatory for training completion, Hunter is required to complete it (legitimately) once, has to go back to the bottom and start once more. Hunter obliges, climbing back down the tower and getting back on the starting point.

 The starting bell rings, and the race is on. Both Hunter and his electric doppelganger race up the tower, with Hunter doing everything he can to keep ahead. However, his grip slips, giving his copy a chance to get ahead. However, Hunter does everything in his power to catch up. At the top, both the original and the copy meet on opposite ends of the tower’s top. They both race for the bell. In the end, Hunter beats his copy by a finger’s length. The stopwatch stops, and Hunter’s copy evaporates into thin air. He has finally beat the tower, and within the required time as well.Hunter collapses on the platform, a sweaty, smelly mess, yet smiling to himself, proud of what he accomplished.

  With his basic training complete, Hunter meets up with Aspen in his office for congratulations, as well as discussing the next part of Hunter’s training.

For the next part of Hunter’s training, he is to work under the supervision of a veteran bounty hunter to fulfill a contract of his very own. As an added stipulation,the contract he is to receive will be outside of Rhamsin, in order to take away the homefield advantage.

 At the air strip, he meets up with the bounty hunter who will be in charge of him, a bearded dragon named Boris. With his low budget equipment on hand, he takes one last look back before boarding the plane.

[lychrono]

11:Prologue part 3/6

Hello everyone, welcome back to the blog. It is now time for part 3 of 6. In the hero's journey, this part is entering the new world. So part three starts out in a very similar way to part two, with Hunter waking up from the previous night. Understandably, he is hesitant to get out of bed this morning, just getting comfortable after last night, as well as having bags under his eyes. However, it doesn’t take long for the alarm clock to get to him, and he finally gets up, letting out a groan while sitting up straight over his bed. After once again doing his morning routine, he goes over to his kitchen table, where he left both the eviction threat and the envelope of bounty he acquired from last night. After reading over the letter one last time, he picks up the envelope of pins and puts it into his backpack. We next see Hunter getting out of the apartment elevator, and goes over to the reception desk. After a short exchange with the person at the desk, Hunter asks if the landlord is currently in, claiming he needs to see him. The Desk person says yes,tells hunter to wait there so they can go into the back room to see if the Landlord is busy. He comes back a minute later and tells Hunter to go right in.Hunter feels nervous as he makes his way to the landlord's office, taking a deep breath before entering his door Hunter steps into the office and closes the door behind him. The entire office looks like a detective's office straight out of L.A noir style stories, with a messy desk, a damp and depressing atmosphere with smoke or steam covering the ceiling, and broken, bent window shades. The seat behind the desk starts to rotate, revealing Hunter’s landlord: A gopher in both species and stature. He is short only being able to Come up to the wolf’s chest, with stubby little legs that barely reach the floor. He is overweight to the point where his belly slightly bulges out from under his sports shirt, his wrist watch leaves a crease in his skin, and his gold chain appears to be covered in sweat. His teeth are stained yellow and have an overbite that puts Hunter’s to shame. Finally, his eyes always have an appearance of never opening, and grey hair that wraps around the back of his head. Despite his appearance, he welcomes Hunter in with open arms and invites him to sit down. After Hunter sits down, Mr. Nicholson(that’s what his name will be,I’m getting tired of calling him the landlord) asks Hunter what's on his mind. When Hunter brings up the eviction notice, Mr. Nicholson lets out a sigh and goes off on a tangent about responsibility and equal treatment among tenants, which Hunter tunes out after a while. When he finally stops, Hunter chimes in, telling him, that he’s here to pay off his rent, pulling out the envelope and neatly laying enough money onto Mr. Nicholson’s desk to pay off this months rent plus the rent for the next several months. Mr Nicholson is absolutely dumbfounded by what he just witnessed in front of him, and after regaining his bearings, immediately asks Hunter where he found this money, to which Hunter replies that he’s not exactly comfortable with telling him. Trying to find an excuse to leave before he believes things will turn sour, he looks at the clock and says that he has to get to work soon, bolting up out of his seat and fast walking towards the door.However, before he can leave the room, Mr. Nicholson says: “Well, as Long as what you’re doing isn’t illegal, I suppose I won’t bug you about it.” To this, Hunter replies “I don’t think it’s illegal.” After that, we head back to Hunter's apartment, where he’s resting up before he has to go to work for his afternoon shift. Suddenly, there’s a knock on the door. When he goes to answer it, he finds a donkey in a purple uniform, who says he has a package for him. After he signs it the form, he thanks the delivery boy and brings the package inside, placing it down on his kitchen package. Sitting down at the table, he takes the time closely inspect the package. It's a small, light package, able to sit comfortably on his lap. Upon inspecting the top, he notices that their isn’t any kind of return address, in its place was a stamp of what appeared to be a bat insignia. Finally, the quality of the cardboard is much higher than what is usually made. Using a pair of scissors, he cuts the package open. Inside, he finds what appears to be letter sealed with candle wax, a few pamphlets,an airline ticket with some strange markings, and a small tablet. Before he is able to look any further into the package, his watch goes off, signaling him that he should leave work soon, so he puts everything down and rushes out the door. On the train ride into the city, he starts thinking about what the package could mean for him, letting him have new opportunities. However, he brushes it off, feeling that the he is doing just fine for himself, obviously reluctant at what this could mean for him.(in other words, he’s afraid to step out of his comfort zone.) Well, this is quickly shot down when he arrives to work. He rounds the corner only to see his boss taking down the store’s sign, with Hunter obviously confused, he goes up to ask his boss whats going on, who even from a distance, has a look of despair on his face. When he asks, his boss tells Hunter that he sent out a message to all employee’s last night.After Hunter tells him that he was distracted by other things. With a sigh, Hunter’s boss tells him with a heavy heart that because of family and financial problems, he can no longer afford to keep the store open. At this revelation, Hunter is unwilling to accept it, trying to reason with him, saying that he’s the only one who would hire him. His boss is patient with him at first, but eventually snaps at him. Regaining his composure, he apologizes to Hunter before placing his hand on Hunter’s shoulder, wishing him well before returning to taking down everything else, leaving a distraught Hunter standing there.. The door on Hunter’s apartment starts turning, and a down Hunter opens the door, slowly walking into his apartment, closing the door behind him, dropping his bag next to him, and then just stands in the middle of the room. Out of the corner of his eyes, the Package catches his eyes, still in the exact same place and layout he left it. With now way to fall farther, he tells himself “what the heck.” And turns on the tablet. Immediately, the screen flashes on with a glowing blue aura, with the same bat insignia seen earlier. A prompt comes up requesting a fur sample, with Hunter obliging. After placing a tuft of his fur on the tablet for scanning. The tablet takes a bit to load, and then, and audio message plays: “Salutations Hunter facchine, Before this message continues, please note that this is a private message for your ears only. Are you currently alone?” Hunter sarcastically looks around the room and answers yes. “Then please take the time to hear of this work opportunity. Through our sources, we have caught word of your capture of the criminal Duo known as the sceather brothers. Through analysis of your work, we believe you have the potential to become a part of Mystacine as an employee. However, before we can officially employ you, you will require basic training and equipment, as well as the passing of a test. First, a simple question: do you accept? Before you answer, let us warn you that this profession is not for the faint of heart. In our company, you will confront many dangers and will often have your life put on the line. However, if you can make it pass that, you will find the ups are just as numerous as the downs.please take time to think this over before you choose. Thank you for hearing of our opportunity. We look forward to your decision. Mystacine admissions office.” A prompt comes up on the tablet. Yes or no. Understandably, millions of thoughts and questions are running through Hunter's head right now. However,he accepts the terms. “ excellent, you have chosen yes. In 3 days, a cab will come to your home to pick you up for the airport. A list of what you will need to pack has been included in the package. We also recommend that you bring any equipment that you have used in your work. Also make sure to say goodbye to your friends for the time being, for it will be a while before you see them again. We look forward to working with you.” Before, Hunter has a chance to lean back, a message comes up on the tablet. “T-minus 10 seconds til motherboard self-destruction.” The tablet explodes into sparks, leaving Hunter’s face black with soot. Later on, we meet up with Hunter who is halfway through packing up. While packing up, we see him calling, his friends about how he’s going away for a while, making sure to not tell them about where he is going, only telling them that he’s got a job offer, and that he’s going to be gone for a while. They all respond about the same. However by the time he gets almost finishes, he gets to Scarlett. Upon answering, she tells Hunter that she managed to find two jobs that could suit him well, only to give a sigh when she hears that it was all for nought, but picks herself after realizing how good it is that Hunter found a job on his own. However, she becomes suspicious when she asks Hunter what it is, only to have him reply that he doesn’t know himself. She’s about to say something when her alarm goes off as a work warning. She says bye to Hunter and hangs up. Early the next morning, a black car pulls up out front of the Apartment complex. A knock is heard on Hunters door. He rushes over in his pajamas and opens the door to find his escorts waiting for him. After rushing to get his clothes on, he brings his stuff down to their car, and the head off to the airport.He at the airport, he shows the clerks the tickets that were provided to him in the package. When she gets her manager, they end up leading him off to a secret runway for this purpose. A small plane similar to a Cessna 421 can be seen. Hunter gets on to see most of the seats removed, and places himself in one of the few remaining seats. The plane soon takes off, and Hunter falls asleep. 36 Hours later, an announcement comes on saying that they will be landing shortly, waking Hunter from his nap. A wide view of an island can be seen under the plane, After landing in on a runway, Hunter gets out of the plane. The entire area around the air strip is covered in forest, with the heat of the sun almost unbearable. Waiting just outside of the plane is another person, who tells Hunter that he will be his guide to their office entrance. With his stuff in hand, Hunter follows the bear on foot to down the dirt trail. After a while, with Hunter panting for air, he comes to a clearing. In the clearing is the remains of a village, vintage in look with wood as its primary building material as if it were an old western town, or at least, what was left of one. The ruins of the town was not just crumbling down, but parts of it were blown apart and forever seated with fire, as If a grueling battle had taken place here long ago. Only one building seemed untouched by the rest of time: the admissions office, or as it was known back then, town hall. It was a two story building made of the same wood as the rest of the town, with a balcony, a patio, an outdoor set of stairs straight up to the second floor. The windows on both sides of the front door were in pristine condition, and yet were covered in a fine layer of dust. Letting his eye’s take in the scene in front of him, Hunter wasn’t sure what to expect. Inside the building, the scenery took on the waiting room of a doctor's office left neglected, with the carpet being ripped up in several spots on the floor, a fern lay unmoving in the corner of the room behind a front desk, covered in glowing berries. The rows of leather couches and chairs all had black splotches covering them in erratic patterns. The air was thick with some sort of fog, visible through light from the partially opened blinds. Finally, the front desk was a mess, covered in loose leaf papers and the circular stains of coffee. However, what was even more peculiar than the desk was the person at the desk; A skink, carefully studying the morning paper. Hunter was absolutely dumbfounded. A real Hachurui, right in front of him. Hunter’s mind quickly cycled through everything that he had heard about the Hachurui, all of the talk of how they were meat headed savages that would trample over you if you even looked at them funny, talking of how you were a disgrace to the very air you breathed- and yet here was one sitting in front of him, acting like any kegawen he would have met to the street. Just analyzing every scale on his face, leaving him in a trance. “SLAM” the door behind him went, snapping him back to reality. The guide had left him there at the front door with his three bags of luggage on hand. Not sure what else to do, Hunter slowly creeps his way toward the front desk, giving an awkward smile to the skink. “Can I help you?” The skink at the front desk said. “Um, yes, I’ve received an offer to join this organization.” “New meat, huh? Alright, let me see the papers. Hunter, just remembering the papers he was given in the package, reaches into his backpack and pulls out the paper, politely giving them to the skink. “Hmm, yes. Alright, just sit down and I’ll take care of it.” Hunter makes his way over to the closest couch and sits down, never taking his eyes off of the front desk person. The front desk person presses what appears to be an intercom, and asks for a person named Aspen. He tells him that his new recruit (Hunter) has arrived, than returns back to his paper. There Hunter is waiting, the suspense is killing him. If he could, he would be sweating nervously. Every part of his body told him that enrolling in something like this was not worth it, that he should just back out and go home. And yet, one part of him told him to keep going. Waiting for who ever this Aspen person was ended up being more of a slog than expected. Even though it was only about 20 minutes of waiting, it felt like it took the entirety of the day. Finally, after what felt like hours, out of a door from the corner of the room, a door slowly opened, stepping out was a ferret who looked to be ancient, his snow white fur covered in gray strands of fur. He wore spectacles as old as he was, a red vest held together by three rows of dangling straps, below the vest was an old style of button up turtleneck. A pair of suspenders fell to the sides of his thighs, and his pants were baggy knee up, and sliding under his sort of shoes knee down. Finally, he had an unusual cane, made of what appeared to be the recycled pieces of an ice ax. From behind him came out another ferret, looking much younger than the one in front, yet still older than Hunter.She had a black mask of fur over her face. Her hair was tied into a bun, silky looking, yet slightly messed up. She wore a grey button up sweater with sleeves that went beyond her hands. She too had glasses on, but these looked much more modern than the white ferret’s. The white one started scanning the room until he locked eyes with Hunter's position. The two make their way over to Hunter, who stands up in sight. The white Ferret introduces Himself as Aspen, the head of sector 17, and that the ferret behind him is Amethyst, his daughter. He leads Hunter out of the room, asking him to tell him about himself, which Hunter does. After a few twists and turns, they come to gondola, its wire’s leading down into the darkness below. Before loading, Hunter asks about the village, as well as where they are going, with Aspen giving a vague answer for both questions. All three load onto the gondola, and it begins to move at a slow pace. About 10 seconds in, the gondola comes to a halt, leaving all three in the echoing darkness of the caverns, a single lightbulb in the cart creating illumination. Out of the corner of his eyes, Hunter saw aspen counting down on his fingers. When he reached zero, the gondola started moving, but this time, its speed was unregulated, sending all three into freefall. Hunter’s screams echoed throughout the caverns, desperately holding onto the pole in the middle, scared for his life. Aspen looked like he was having the time of his life, and Amethyst looked completely unimpressed as she sits in her seat. Then, in the darkness, a new light grew bigger until Hunter was blinded. Then, when the light stopped blinding him, and as the gondola started to slow down, Hunter’s jaw dropped as he took in the scene of what was in front of him. Below him was an entire city in an underwater dome, the likes of which he had never seen before. “Welcome to Meerstadt” Aspen said, looking over at Hunter. He was too busy taking in the scene to reply back. The next scene, all three are in Aspens office, a fireplace creating the room’s lighting sitting just behind Aspen and his desk. The appear to be discussing what the plan is for Hunter’s employment here, going over topics such as training, experience, and which of the three main career they have: Bounty Hunter, Assassin, or thief. Based off of the warehouse incident, Hunter decides to go with bounty Hunter. After that, Aspen asks if Hunter has any previous combat training, with Hunter telling him about the self defense classes he had as a kid. Finally, Aspen asks to see if Hunter has any equipment with him. After rummaging around his luggage, Hunter finds the outfit he threw together that night, as well as his old katana, pushing it onto Aspens desk. Adjusting his glasses, Aspen gets to inspecting it, whispering his thoughts under his breath. “Well, if I had to say anything, it would be that you must have incredible luck to get those two with equipment this terrible.” Aspen proclaims as his final verdict. Hunter feels a bit insulted at this, but knows deep down that he’s right. Aspen turns his chair around, intent on disposing of the old clothes by throwing them into the fire. When Hunter realizes what he’s planning, he jumps out of his chair and yells no. Aspen shows curiosity, asking why he would want to keep such old clothes. Hunter says they still mean a lot to him. A small smile comes up on Aspens face as he turns his chair back around, as if he started to see a spark in Hunter for the first time. “That’s what I like to see in new recruits. Respectful to superiors, but can stand up for what you believe when you need to. I believe you have the potential to do well in this business.” He says, carefully handing the outfit back to Hunter. “However, you're still going to need a new suit. Rags will only go so far.” He says, pulling out a pen and notepad. “Do you have any preference on Color?” “Color?” Hunter asks. “Yep, color. Mystacine likes to keep an individuality between our mercenaries. We don’t believe in standard issue.” “Well, I do like red, and gray is also nice, also black, and maybe-” “Alright, good. Well get a sketch going later for your suit and equipment. It should be ready in several months.Alright, I believe we're done here, thank you for having this discussion with me, Hunter.” Aspen cuts off Hunter with. “B-but I wasn’t finished” Hunter replies in objection. “Do not worry Hunter, we’re professionals with this, everything will be fine. Besides, you still need to get your room key, and dinner should be right about now.” “W-what” “Well take care of this.Now go to dinner, I think you should meet your dorm mates.” W-well, okay. What, where do I go. “Here’s a map, take care.” Aspen says, getting Amethyst to push him out of his office. With nowhere else to go, Hunter takes a look at the map he was provided, his tummy growling with Hunger. Once spotted, He stuffs the map into his hood jacket and goes off into Meerstadt. At the mess hall, Hunter is seen with an entire tray full of food, looking around for where he needs to sit. Taking out his pass, it says that he is designated to sit at table 17.Looking around the huge hall, he finds a large 17 printed above a small, 15 person round table. At the table in the distance, he sees a group of figures already there, their species being hard to decide at a distance. Making his way over, he’s able to make them out much better, seeing a virginia Opossum, a white tailed deer, a jack rabbit, and a rather Muscular looking Skunk. As Hunter inched closer and closer, one by one they put away whatever they were doing, whether it be reading, eating, or some card game two were playing in response to his presence. Soon, they were all looking at him not saying anything, as he stood over the table, his food in hand. “H-hi, is this the table for sector 17?” Hunter asks in a timid voice. The Opossum quickly looks up at the seventeen above their heads, looks back at Hunter, and says “No” in a low, sarcastic tone. “Oh, ok. I’ll just l-leave you be.” As he backs up, he see’s the possum and deer start to chuckle, the rabbit seem just as confused as he is, and the Skunk groan in disbelief. The Opossum tells Hunter that he was being sarcastic, mentioning how nervous he is, then invites him to sit down with them, which Hunter begrudgingly does, not sure if their making another joke or not. They then introduce themselves in order: Cindrix, the Virginia Opossum; Lula, the White tailed deer; Wimple, the Jackrabbit; and Anji, the Skunk. They also mention that their two others, ones away at home, while the other is, well... “So you're the new recruit We’ve been hearing about?” One of them asks, which Hunter answers yes to, telling them that his name is Hunter. When they ask where he's from, he tells them pelzitreff, and they tell him that their all from Rhamsin, which is what sector 17 is meant for. They continue to talk until they one by one start to leave, leaving Hunter alone at table 17. After getting his key, he breaths a sigh of relief as he comes up to the door to his room, with his bags in hand. He sets his bags down at the door , taking in his room he’ll be staying in for who knows how long. He makes his way over to the bad and gets on it, not tired enough to go to sleep. Instead, he looks out his window at the ocean floor, waiting for tomorrow to come. I'm so sorry this took so long to post. I had a lot of other things to worry about in my life. Regardless, it's time to start getting serious.

[lychrono]

#10: Aurora the Cat

Hello everyone, welcome back to the blog. Here we go again

Aurora the Cat

Bio:

Name: Aurora Smith

Species:House cat (Felis catus)

Height: 5’ 9” (170.18cm)

Weight: 165 lbs (74.8427kg)

Hair Color: blond

Eye color: Turquoise

Age: 48

Backstory:

Aurora was born to a single mother who had cancer, and had to help look after both her sick mother and her little brother Charlie, only getting sparing help from her uncle.

Ever since she was young, Aurora wanted to join the Pelzitreff enforcement units.

One day when she was 16, her mother finally lost the battle to cancer, leaving Aurora alone to take care of Charlie.

The pressure of having to take care of her younger brother and attend school at the age of 16 got to her.

Even still, Her teachers were impressed by her grades, although she was always tired.

After graduating high school, she joined the police academy as a cadet, while still taking care of Charlie, who at this point is eleven years old.

One day she was too busy with training to pick up Charlie, so he had to walk home from school, deciding to take a shortcut through a back alley, only to be mugged and killed by a crook.

While Aurora’s on patrol, she and her superior in the car get a call about the murder. It is only after she arrives at the scene only to discover then that it was Charlie. This revelation brings her to tears, and in the days leading up to his Funeral, her superiors tell her to stay at home in order to regain her composure.

Unfortunately, the killer was never found, and after few years, the case was put on a hiatus.’

Ever since the day Charlie was murdered, she vowed that one day, she will find the one who killed Him, and she will personally send him to the afterlife in a broken, bloody state.

Her personality seems to have shifted ever since the incident. She has become more protective of people she is working with to the point where she would take a bullet for people she just met. She has also become quick to blame herself for problems.

Over the years, she has worked her way up to the position of Assistant chief, her only superior being Corvo, a German Shepard at the age of 55 (yet he has the body of a bodybuilder in their 30’s)

Personality:

Aurora has all the traits of an amazing leader.

She’s supportive, a good listener, confident, and very smart.

Her fatal flaw is that she is very protective of people she is working with, and is quick to assume responsibility.

Other then that, One more thing that is worth mentioning is that she doesn’t have much of a sense of humor. In fact, I would say that she is one of the most serious characters in the entire series.

Hello everyone,

holy crap, did it really take me three weeks to finish this one and put it up. I’m incredibly sorry for this delay. It’s just that I’ve been really distracted by other things that have been going in my life, Such as second semester, colleges, and other parts of life that I don’t really feel comfortable telling people online.

Also, you probably noticed that character bio’s have been much less bulky. Short and to the point, I’m going to purposefully leave them succinct for two reasons: 1, so I don’t have to spend 5 hours at the computer feeling my eyes start to burn(Damn you scarlett’s backstory). secondly, in the event that I look back at these bio’s and don’t like something, I wont have to change much.plus it lets readers make their own ideas.

regardless, next week, we are going to be focusing on part three of the prologue. See you then.

[lychrono]

#9:Arson the Wolverine

Hello everyone, welcome back to Lychrono. This time, where taking a look at Hunter’s other friend, creating the Three Musketeers of stupid assholes: Arson the Wolverine.

Arson the Wolverine:

Basic info:

Name: Arson

Species: Wolverine (Gulo gulo)

Height: 6′1″ (185. 42cm)

Weight: 223lbs (101.15 kg)

Hair color: blonde

Eye Color: violet

Age: 25

Backstory: Arson was born as an only child in a country far north of Rhamsin. Unfortunately, while he was still an infant, both of his parents were out in town for a date, when their car was struck at an intersection, killing them both.

From there, Arson was put into an orphanage. The foster parents always noticed him to be the silent one, always preferring to be by himself instead of playing with the other children. As he grew older within the orphanage, he started to develop a strange obsession with fire. This led other children to relentlessly bully him until one day he snapped and decided to get revenge on them by lighting their leader on fire, leaving him with horrible 3rd degree burns on 60% of his body, leading him to die of his injuries.

Not wanting to face his foster parents after killing someone, he ran away without telling anyone, and is considered a missing child within his home town.

after a while of running, he found a train station and decided to board it. after a while, he found himself getting off at pelzitreff city when the conductor found out about him and told him he couldn’t stay on the train forever, So he gets off the train.

After a bit of wandering around, Arson finds himself in the trailer park inside of Pelzitreff’s residential area, where he was found by a couple who’ve been having trouble having a child of their own. soon, They adopted him in the spot.

For the next 7 years, Arson is raised by these two in their trailer, being sent to public school in a more run down neighborhood, having to walk to and from school every day.

Thanks to his adoptive parents, life is starting to look to be going up for him, That is, until one night when he was 16, Arson wakes up one morning to find both of his adoptive parents have disappeared from the mobile home. Looking around for answers, the only thing he could find was a note on the dining table that read  “ Dear Archie, Something unexpected had come up and we had to go somewhere. Unfortunately, we don’t know how long we’re going to be out, or if we’ll ever be coming back. Therefore,  the house is yours.”Although asking the neighbors around the trailer park, he was not able to get any information on where they had gone.So for the next few years, he was once again alone(except this time, with a house).

However, That wasn’t the end of strange things to come For Arson. every once in a while, He would receive a letter that contain a good amount of money and a written note with no name or return address. over the years, he has saved every one of these letters

Because of his lack of funds, he was never able to scrape together enough money to afford college, and to this day, relies on low paying  part-time jobs in order to make it.

It is murky as to how Arson had met both Hunter and Rougue, but one thing is for sure:Ever since then, the 3 have been inseparable.

Character traits:

Cynical.

Brutally honest.

Peevish

Arson is a loyal friend even if he doesn’t seem like it at first

Although he appears to have average muscle mass, Arson is ridiculously strong for his size, able to rival many well trained bodybuilders. This is in reference to a real life wolverines, who are said to be incredibly strong for their size.

Arson is not his real name, but rather a nickname given to him by Rougue when Hunter and Rougue first met him. To this day, not even he knows his birth name.

As his name suggests, Arson is shown to have an unusual obsession with fire. Know one really knows why

His lighter was given to him by his adoptive father.

Despite his personality, Arson is a pacifist, only showing signs of aggression if his friends are in trouble.

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17F: Tether Rope

Refer to post 17 for more details

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17E: Flash bang

Refer to post 17 for more details

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17D:Smoke Bomb

Refer to post 17 for more details

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17C: Tranquilizer pistol

Refer to Post 17 for more details

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17B: Hunter’s blade and utility knife

refer to post 17 for more details

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17A: The Interloper Armor (Hunter’s suit)

Refer to Post 17 for details

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17:Tools of the Hunter: Hunter’s equipment

Hunter’s equipment

           Within the realm of combat, a solitary warrior will trust their life with two factors: What he is, and what he has.

What he is comes down to a matter of body and mind, the two greatest weapons a man has at their disposal. With mind, they think, they observe, they strategize, and they problem solve. With Body, they execute, they react, and they endure. Apart, they are useless, but together, they have the potential to create legends.

           However, a well-toned body and focused mind will only go so far. To go even farther, he must depend on what he has.

From the dawn of time, war has always, and will always be an arms race. Both sides struggle to create newer, better, more efficient weapons of mass destruction to gain the advantage over the other side. Could the same not be said about a skirmish, or even a simple 1 on 1 match? If two men enter, equal in mind and body, but different in equipment, is it fair to say that the one with better equipment has the upper hand? Even if victory is not certain, it is more likely they will prevail over their opponent. With superior tools, to a man’s odds are raised.

           And So, what makes a warrior great and deadly, comes down to his self, and his equipment to compliment his self.

           Now why did I go to the trouble of creating this high school essay of what makes a warrior a warrior? Well, I believe that the same could be applied To Hunter. Even if he was perfectly toned and had a supercomputer for a brain (Which he does not have either of), He wouldn’t want to fight a Crime Syndicate with nothing but long johns and a spork. That would be dumb on his part and uninteresting for readers, who would have nothing of note to look at.

           So, because he’s not Saitama, who can part the sky with a single punch, and do it in a superhero costume, He’s going to need equipment, I’m talking high quality, military grade, custom made for him, right proper equipment; And lucky for our furry little wolf protagonist, he has received just that from Mystacine.

           Although I went over a bit of his equipment in my description of part 5/6 of the Lychrono Prologue, that was but a sample. Here, I will go through all of Hunter’s equipment in further detail, including specs, appearance (With concept art to boot), Utility, origins within the lore, and even some trivia about each piece.

           First, why don’t we start off with what is the biggest, and arguably, the most important part of Hunter’s Equipment: His suit

Hunter’s suit

Designated name (By Mystacine):Interloper Armor

Designer:Unknown

Manufacturer:Goswit-dou

Weight:25.56 lbs.

Armor rating:3/5

               Forward

Hunter’s suit, AKA the interloper Armor, Is Hunter’s bounty hunter suit, designed by a member of Mystacine and produced by Goswit-dou, a prominent gear manufacturer within the World of Ellin.

Description

    The interloper armor is comprised of two main layers: the functional outer layer, and the reinforced inner layer, both working in tandem to assist its user (In this case, Hunter).

    The outer layer is, rather than being one big piece of gear, a set of smaller pieces of equipment, Including reinforced leather gauntlets,knee high combat boots, a helmet, a full body under suit, An infinity scarf, a series of utilitarian belts wrapping around his thighs, and to tie it all together, a vest reminiscent of real life naval uniforms, complete with a back flap covering his tail, a hood, and a pair of shoulder pads and pauldrons.

The outer layer of the Interloper armor is colored with an assortment of greys and dark greys, crimson red, brown, and silver metallic pieces.

The entire outer layer of the Interloper armor is made using a series of synthetic material designed to be breathable, waterproof, insulating, tough, lightweight, and flexible, to keep damage to the materials down to a minimum while not weighing down the user. Additionally, the outer layer comes with it’s own leather padding to add protection to risky areas the inner layer could not reach. On a side note, the shoulder plates and pauldrons are made of a material not used on any other part of the suit: A titanium alloy grafted to the vest. Additionally, the helmet is made of primarily of a plastic material, with the individual plates being sewn together by a layer of cloth

Overall, the outer layer was designed with functionality, adaptability, and storage in mind.

The inner layer, on the other hand, was designed with one major purpose: Protection.

The Inner layer, unlike its sister layer, is comprised of only one piece: A flexible, one piece zip up bodysuit, cut off at the knees and elbows. However, what makes the suit special is how it is padded. Rather than rely on Kevlar, the entire body suit  is stuff with a curious, gel like substance, similar to the kind used in padded mouse pads, but much more resilient. This gel substance is spread out on the suit in a muscle pattern, with padding located on the pecs, abdominals, shoulders, trapezius, serratus anterior, shoulder blades, glutes, hamstrings, biceps, triceps, elbows, crotch,knees and thighs.

    The point of the inner layer is to provide protection WITHOUT sacrificing agility and flexibility, which is why the entire suit is made of stretchy material, with the exception of one part: The neck. This section is made using a rigid material to protect against strangulation( If not for the infinity scarf, this section would be completely visible).

Features:

    The interloper has several additional features to make sure the user has a few advantages. For example, the helmet is equipped with:

A built in microphone and headset to keep in touch with those around him, as well as Mystacine headquarters.

A voice modifier, to keep your identity protected from friends, enemies, and loved ones, as well as to make you less recognizable from any database.

WiFi and service compatibility to keep you connected to both Mystacine headquarters, as well as the rest of Ellin.

 A tracking chip, so Mystacine can keep in touch in case you become lost or are in dire need of Rescue

Several sensors to keep track of body vitals, as well environmental conditions such as temperature and air density

An infrared mode

Finally, a charging port, as the Helmet runs on a lithium ion battery, with a max charge of 48 hours (the tracking chip can last for several years with max charge).

(These features come standard with all equipment given to Mystacine personnel)

For features that don’t need a battery, the suit comes with several storage pouches to hold most of Hunter’s equipment.

Finally The Boots, Helmet, inner layer, and outer layer each come with a zipper to allow for easy suit-up and removal. Additionally, both the gauntlets and boots use laces for adjusting size.

    And that is it for Hunter’s suit. Overall, a fine, well rounded suit for Hunter that can get him through just about anything thrown his way. However, that’s only on the defensive, and there is no point to defense if you have nothing to retaliate with, after all, some say the best defense is a good offense. He’ll need something to work with the defense of his suit, something to give him an offensive edge, and lucky for him, he’s been gifted an edge; about 27” of edge:

            Hunter’s sword

    Hunter’s sword is a two-handed traditional Katana, manufactured by Zanzo blades. While similar to many other katana’s, it also has a few key bits to differentiate itself. While mainly to be used for two handed combat, it is light enough to be used for one handed combat.

    Durability is one of the highlights of Hunter’s blade. Through testing, researchers have discovered that the blade can withstand over 2000 pounds of pressure without leaving a mark, can strike a steel beam without dulling. Even still, the blade has been speculated to withstand a temperature of over 5000 degrees fahrenheit. While we can speculate, it is unknown to both Hunter and his colleagues what gave the Sword such fortitude.

Besides durability, the sword is still a katana, a high quality katana, but a katana no less.

Description:

Hunter’s blade, as stated before, is a two handed katana, following the modern day katana design of Shinsakutō. The blade is made of carbon steel with a 1.0% carbon content, folded several hundred times and dipped in a chemical coating to protect from humidity and weather. As a bonus, the protective coating gives the blade a crimson red sheen; although unintentional on Zanzo’s part, this mistake gave the blade both an intimidation factor and style points.

As for the hilt, it is comprised of two major sections both wrapping around a lightweight, wooden core( which is molded around the tang). The upper section of the hilt, located just under the fuchi (hilt collar) is a curious handle reminiscent of the grip of a gun.It uses a two part plastic mold that is screwed together; the mold itself is black in color and uses a cross etching pattern.Parallel to the blade, the black part has 4 indents to fit Hunter’s fingers. most curiously, a red button runs partially down the both sides of the grip, which unfortunately, does not do anything but glow.

For the second half of the hilt, it is a simple strip of leather wrapping around the rest of the hilt to the sword pommel.

The sword weighs in at roughly 2.5 pounds (1.14 kg) and has a total length of 38” ( 96.52 cm), with blade being 27” (68.58cm) and the hilt taking up the remaining 11” (27.94cm).

Additionally, the first 3 inches of the blade, just past the habaki (blade collar), is what is known as a Ricasso, or an unsharpened length of blade. In addition, a guard is located along the back of the blade,starting from the tsubasa running slightly beyond the ricasso. Like the grip, this segment is comprised of the same material making up the upper grip.

The pommel of the hilt is trapezoidal in shape and has a section square section cut out of the middle.

One last note: The tsuba, or guard, has a simple compass like figure carved into it, just for decoration.

Sheath

To go with the sword, Hunter has been given a sheath. The sheath is comprised mainly of brass, leather, plastic, and wood. The sheath is  located along his back, horizontally resting just above his glutes. The hilt of the katana is pointed toward the right side of Hunter’s body, or his right hand. This is to allow Hunter to draw it with his left hand, his dominant hand.

    If needed, the Sheath can be disconnected from his backside to allow for a more quick draw style of combat. Also, in the event of being disarmed, the sheath can be used as a non lethal bludgeon.

Closing statements

    Like a light saber for a Jedi, Hunter’s sword is the most important member of his arsenal. Over his journey, he will learn to love that blade as if it were a part of him.

Unfortunately, his sword will not be enough. The drawback of being a melee weapon gives him a disadvantage to any person with a firearm out of range. To combat this, he’ll need some fire power of his own.

Tranquilizer Pistol   

Spoilers from here on out:Hunter’s sword is his only weapon that can be considered “fatal” when used in the traditional sense.

    The tranquilizer pistol is Hunter’s answer to any long ranged fire fight situation he might find himself in. However, rather than act as a standard handgun, killing the intended target, it will instead incapacitate the target. The reason incapacitation is preferred is because Hunter is a bounty hunter. The simple fact is that when Hunter is asked to apprehend someone, the client will want their target brought alive. Even if they say dead or alive, it’s best just to be safe.

    With that out of the way, why don’t we check out the gun’s specifics. First of, the gun is not semi automatic, nor does it use any kind of bullet. Instead, the ammunition is loaded directly into the chamber, and instead of bullets, it uses darts. That’s right, it’s a dart gun.

    Like traditional dart guns, it uses a .50 caliber dart that’s fired using compressed air. Because it’s an air gun, it has the natural advantage of silence, allowing stealth to be on Hunter’s side. The gun can shoot a dart a maximum of 200 yards before deceleration.

    The darts provided to Hunter are traditional darts with Hypodermic needles, rather than glass, the Syringe is made of metal to prevent breaking. However, if syringes are to be reused, safety regulations requires that they be cleaned with a powerful solution, to prevent the spread of HIV.

However, a dart is but a mild sting if empty. What gives a dart it’s punch is the agent inside it, and for Hunter’s sake, he has been provided with two different agents: The first is a comatose agent, capable of putting the target into a deep sleep. The effects of the dart last an average time of two hours, with the longest observed time being six hours, depending on the targets body mass. The second agent is a paralysis toxin, which causes the target to go numb and go rigid. The effects of the toxin last much longer than the comatose agent, with an average time of twenty four hours.

Thanks to the space in Hunter’s pouch, he is able to carry a maximum of six darts.

In case the pistol is not usable at the time, one can simply jam the needle into the body of the target.   

That’s about it for Hunter’s tranquilizer gun. What’s next?

Smoke Bomb

    The smoke bomb can get Hunter out of most Sticky situations, or even set him up for a stealthy take down. It is a small sphere, roughly 1.5” in height, that can be stored in Hunter’s back pouch.

    To activate the smoke bomb, you first have to pull the pin. Once the pin is pulled, you have five seconds to roll or throw the bomb at your designated target. Once the five seconds are up, 3 emitters along the equator of the bomb will open up and start emitting a powder based smoke. The force of expulsion will cause the bomb to start spinning around wildly like a top, all the while spreading smoke around even further. While the bomb is spinning around, it will create irritating white noise to muffle sound, allowing for quick approach or getaway.

    Finally, once the bomb has run out of powder to expel, the emitters will close up and the bomb will cease activity.

    If a quick cloud of smoke is needed, the bomb can simply be thrown on the ground and crushed underfoot.

    Hunter can hold up to three of these bombs in his back pouch.

    Flashbang

    The second type of bomb Hunter has at his disposal is a flash bang, or stun grenade. It is a traditional, manganese based flashbang; designed to create a blinding flash of light and an intense sound of over 170 decibels.

    Once the pin is pulled, one only has three seconds until it explodes. The effects of flash bang can last anywhere from 15 seconds to 15 minutes, depending on distance from the explosion and whether they were looking directly or not. For Hunter’s safety, he is to look away, close his eyes, and cover his ears to prevent vision or hearing damage.

    An additional note: While the flashbang is considered a non-lethal explosive, exploding within proximity of exposed fur and flesh can cause 3rd degree burns and even ignite the victim in rare cases.

        Utility knife

    If you thought that Hunter’s sword was his only form of melee combat(besides hand to hand), you’re… partially right. While the utility knife has the appearance of a standard combat knife, combat is the least of its priorities. Rather, the main point of the utility knife is just that:utility. Unlike his sword, Hunter’s knife is a double edged, stainless steel knife, with one edge being a standard edge, with the other edge being a serrated edge. As a bonus, both flat sides of the blade have had a cross etched pattern scratched into it, to be used as a heavy duty file. Even the pommel of the knife has been reinforced for use as a window smasher.

    So why can’t it be used as a combat knife. Simply put, both the point and the edge have been dulled to prevent self injury. Additionally, because the blade is composed of carbon steel, it is not the most durable of blades, quickly dulling if used on metal.

    Use as a weapon is only advised as a last resort.

Tether rope

    At this point, we have gone over many different toys Hunter will be in possession of: The interloper armor, a sword, a tranquilizer gun, a smoke bomb, a flash bang, and a utility knife. While all of these are very useful tools, most are designed for one specific purpose. The next, as well as final major tool we are going to cover is not only a multipurpose tool, but perhaps the most versatile piece of equipment in Hunter’s arsenal.

    The tether rope is truly a thing of beauty. In simple terms, it is but a length of rope containing special properties. Made of a special microfiber, the rope is incredibly durable, yet lightweight, Allowing it to hold several people without snapping, as well ais also very flexible. An interesting point, thanks to the microfiber, allows the rope to be cut with ease, but it can also be reconnected by putting two ends together, allowing the ends to fuse back together without making a mess. This property is caused by magnetic properties within the microfiber.

With this rope in hand, what can Hunter do with it? Well:

Knot work

Lashing

Rock climbing

Reppeling

Tightrope walking

Pulley

Bear bag

Pulling objects toward him

Lasso

Tying people up   

Tripwire

Anything that you can think of, it can be used for.

Besides the rope itself, there are a few extra parts that can be used with the rope

    Tether hook

    To the tip of a length of rope, a three pronged hook can be attached. This hook has a pointed tip and three retractable prongs. When thrown, the prongs will be retracted in order to be streamlined. When it hits solid object, the prongs open up to help grapple onto something.  In addition, there is another way to launch the tether hook.

    Tether Launcher

    To achieve shots faraway, or if you want to launch the tether hook straight at someone's face, this is just what you need. The tether launcher is gas powered, and can be gripped like a standard handgun. To use the tether launcher, open up the top of the chamber and slide the rope inside( with tether hook attached). Next, pull the rope until the tether hook is just outside of the chamber. Pull the pressure switch back, locking the rope into a vaccum, then you’re ready to fire. To fire, just pull the trigger and prepare for recoil.

In simple terms, the tether launcher is similar to many other devices like it, such as the hookshot from the Legend of Zelda, the grapple hook/batclaw from Batman, and the 3D maneuvering gear from Attack on Titan.

Rope container

All of the rope  Hunter has at his disposal is safely contained within this plastic container, which works to spool the rope like fishing line. Additionally, the container has a mechanism similar to a tape measure, where it automatically retracts slack unless locked in place.

The container hangs off of Hunter’s right hip.

And that's it for Hunter’s main equipment. However, there are a few minor things that Hunter keeps in his pouches, just as extra things.

Other:

Within Hunters back pouch, he has:

Fire starting kit

Medical gauze

Painkillers

Food capsules

A small water pouch

Survival books

Bandages

Antiseptic wound cleaner

Signal mirror

Spare gas tanks

Washcloth

Pouches for bombs and syringes (puncture proof)

Spare money.

All of this is to keep Hunter from dying from something common like infection, Hunger, or dehydration. Most of these are only used in jobs that take him far away from civilization into the unforgiving wild.

For a place to keep things too large for a pouch, Hunter uses a shoulder bag for clean clothes, street clothes, a rain tarp, and several repair kits for his equipment. The bag itself is waterproof, to keep Hunter’s equipment free of water.

There is one last item Hunter has, special in its own right. On the inside of Hunter’s vest, there is a special pocket meant for one thing:Hunter’s mercenary license. Through this sheet of plastic, Hunter tells others that he is a certified bounty hunter of Mystacine. This slip is identical to a driver’s license, containing a portrait of him, his date of birth, eye and hair color, fur sample, date of certificate retrieval, and mercenary ID number.

There we have it, these are all the basic items Hunter requires if he wants to have a good chance at taking down his targets. However, there is something unaccounted for: Something that is not an actual thing, but a service.

Repairs, replacement, and cleaning

    Whether you want to accept it or not, no item is perfect. Things get lost, broken, damaged, waterlogged, or otherwise are in a state where use is not possible. For that, there is a very simple solution.

    Within Hunter’s foot locker, the very same that Hunter received his gear in, a multitude of Repair kits can be found. For the interloper armor, a sewing kit and leather-works kit can be found. For Hunter’s Blade and the utility knife, Hunter has a sharpening kit that includes a whetstone and polish, as well as a cleaning cloth. This is to make sure the blades stay nice and sharp for use.

    But say that an item takes damage beyond what Hunter is capable of fixing, such as fire damage. For cases like this, Hunter must send his armor back to Mystacine for them to repair, which will take several days at most. Until Hunter get’s his equipment back, he will have to make do with a substitute.

    For replacing consumable items, such as bombs, needles, comatose and paralysis agents, and gas tanks, Hunter must ask for them from the source. If he finds himself running low, he can notify his divisions Elder (In this case, Aspen), and they will set them up with a new supply. If Hunter wants, he can set up a subscription to automatically have replacements sent to his apartment every three months, with a small subscription fee.

For cleaning the Interloper armor, the inner layer,bodysuit and scarf are all machine washable, while the vest is dry cleaning only. For leather items such as the boots, gauntlets, Belts, and tail guard, this must be hand washed with soap and water. For the Helmet, only a specialist in the area should be trusted to clean the helmet do to the complex design.Mystacine requires that Good care must be given to all equipment, which is why they require every member outside of Meerstadt to come once a year for equipment inspection.

Conclusion/ Final notes

    Well, there we have it, We went through all of Hunter’s equipment, gave specs in each of them, and even gave a few alternate uses for each. However, through all of this, there is one question that I did not answer that I feel I should: What is Hunter’s style, and how does his equipment help him with this? Well if I would have to describe Hunter’s style, it could be boiled down to three words:

Apprehension

Utility

Survival

What do I mean by this? Perhaps I can explain in a later update. That’s it for this time, and holy crap, I can see the light at the end of this tunnel; We only have two more minor pit stops before we head into the final chapter of the Lychrono prologue, where Hunter will be given the ultimate test to see if he is ready to become a bounty hunter under Mystacine. Till then, take care everybody

[lychrono]

16: Lychrono Prologue part 5/6

      At the start of part 5, it has been ten days since Hunter left Meerstadt for his trip.

Within the walls of the Rhamsin division, the mercenaries are trying to make their way through a slow, uneventful day. With nothing to do, the ones off duty are spending the day sitting in the common room, trying to find ways to occupy their time. Both Cindrix and Wimple are sitting together playing chess in an attempt to pass the time.

    “So, How are the wife and kids?” Wimple asks, trying to start a conversation.

    “Good.”

Before they can continue their “conversation”, they hear a familiar voice coming from outside Rhamsin Divisions entrance. It’s Hunter’s voice, and he appears to be talking to someone. Their voices grow more audible as both Hunter and the person he’s talking to approach the entrance. Their silhouettes stop outside of the door and continue their conversation. As their conversation comes to an end, the two silhouettes bow to each other, and then the larger one disappears into the distance, with Hunter waving it goodbye before turning around.

    “WOOH, glad to be back.” Hunter shouts out with great enthusiasm as he steps through the main entrance.

    The lounge fills with the stench of wet dog and corn chips as Hunter steps back into the common room. Just by looking at him, everyone in the room could tell that he hadn’t taken a single shower during his trip. From head to paw, he and his clothes were covered in dirt, shedded fur and blood stains, among other things. His clothes had received rips and tears all over, his left pant leg received a rip going from his hip to his knee, completely exposing his thigh. Both his hands and feet were covered in dried up mud and had multiple cuts, sealed up by dried blood. His nose had dried snot  coming out of his nostrils, his eyes and cheeks were covered in a black oily substance, and an assortment of leaves, bugs and a twig had found their way tangled into his hear. If they hadn’t grown accustomed to appearances (and stenches) like that years ago, everyone in the room would have shown visible revulsion towards him.

    And yet, despite being in a disheveled, disgusting state, Hunter was happier than he had been in years. Although the reason was not certain, the most likely conclusion is that the trip gave him a rush of adrenaline more intense then he had ever felt. Whatever the reason, he was so upbeat it was sickening, how he hummed to himself and made his way over to his fellow mercenaries.

    “Hello, you two. How are you doing this fine day?”, Hunter asks Both Cindrix and Wimple. As Hunter approached, the odor he gave off became so intense, both Cindrix and wimple had to try their best to not gag in disgust. “You won’t believe the trip I had.”

    “That’s nice.”, Cindrix replied, still trying not to gag. “Maybe you can tells us after unpacking.”

“Aw, you two don’t seem busy, I don't see-”, Hunter stopped himself, as he finally caught onto the faces of his two comrades. Curious, he lifted up his arm and smelt his own armpit. He cringed as he realized how bad he smelt.

“Huh, I guess it has been a few days since I got a shower. I should get one, shouldn’t I?”, Hunter asked both Cindrix and Wimple. Both nod in agreement.

    With that, Hunter goes off to take a shower. When he turns off the faucet, the drain is covered in dirt, leaves, soap suds, and a stick. A beetle is seen crawling around  on the floor, evading the streams of trickling, soap filled water. With his shower finished up, Hunter steps out, feeling newly refreshed after his long trip. With a quick drying and a new change of clothes, Hunter returns to both Cindrix and Wimple in order to tell them both his tale of triumph.

Hunter starts with his story:“So, after Boris and I beat the information out of the drug dealer, he spit out the location of our guy’s drug Cartel. Unfortunately, his base of operations was two towns over, so we had to trek through 20 miles of swampland and jungle, and I had to carry most of our supplies. But we-”

“Wait, what became of the guy you beat up for info?” Wimple asks, interrupting Hunter’s story.

“Oh that guy?”, Hunter starts up: “ To be honest, I’m not really sure.  I think Boris let him go when I had my back turned, but for all I know, he’s still tied up in that shed, screaming for help and suffering dehydration induced delirium. I'm sure he’ll be fine, we weren’t that far away from the town.”, Wimple looks over at Cindrix in worry.

“ So anyway, after another 9 miles, we found ourselves outside of our guy’s base of operations, which looked more like an abandoned crack mansion surrounded by barbed wire, and the only things he had guarding his house were 3 mongrels in the middle of a weed infested yard. I looked to Boris for a plan, but he insisted that I should be the one to make up the plan, after a few minutes of scoping out the front lawn, I-”

    “Mr. Facchine? Your presence is needed.”, A familiar voice called out. Hearing his last name, Hunter turned around to see who called him: It was Amethyst, standing by the front entrance.

“ Well, looks like I’m needed elsewhere. I’ll see you guys later. Maybe I can finish my story then.”, Hunter said. He stood up from the sofa opposite of His two comrades and left to see what Amethyst wanted.

“Your last name is Facchine?”, Wimple asked, but it was too late. Hunter was already too far out to hear him, leaving him to answer his own rhetorical question.

“ Hello Amethyst. Is there something you want from me?”, Hunter asked.

“Yes. I’m going to need you to follow me.” Amethyst said in her usual gray tone.

A pit grew in the bottom of Hunter’s stomach. “I-I’m not in trouble, am I?”, Hunter asked, fearing the worst. Had it been anyone else who said this, He would not have worried so much about this. Unfortunately, when it came to Amethyst, there was something about her demeanor that put Hunter into a nervous corner, as strange as it sounds.

She looked up from her clipboard: “Well, it appears that a package arrived for while you were out getting some on the job experience, so you’ll have to come with me.”, Amethyst told Hunter, before turning back to the entrance and motioning Hunter to follow her.

With Her statement, Hunter’s worry had been, for the most part, had been replaced with confusion. “I’m sorry, there must have been a mistake. I haven’t ordered anything recently, or at least, nothing that I remember.”, Hunter told Amethyst. Perhaps it was a package that wasn’t his, perhaps there was a mix-up, at least that is what he hoped.

Amethyst stopped in place, her face buried into her clip board. She was at wits end with this puppy. “No there was not any mix up, this is your package. Now follow me.” Looking back, Amethyst saw that  Hunter was still confused. “This isn’t any ordinary package that has arrived for you. You see, your bounty hunter equipment is here.”

With those words, Hunter’s face lit up, like he had just been told that he had won the lottery, or that he was becoming a grandfather. As far as he felt, no news he had gotten could give him a feeling quite like this.

    Is it so hard to believe that Hunter had forgotten the promise of custom gear he would get. After all, it was his very first day that he had been promised new gear from Aspen. Since that day, not one person had made mention of it, as for him, he had been too caught up with his training to even give it a thought.

And yet, as Hunter sat with Amethyst in an empty conference room, He acted like he had been waiting anxiously for this delivery all throughout these long months. So many questions raced through his mind as he waited for the delivery person to come: What will it look like? What kind of weapons will he receive? Will there be only one set? Will it come in multiple sets, to match different scenario’s? All these possibilities and so little information given to him left him left his imagination to soar through the stars. It was a big moment for him; and yet, it felt like someone was missing.

    And then it came to Hunter: Aspen wasn’t here. He had been there for every part of his training, yet he wasn’t here now, at what seemed like the biggest moment of his training. Perhaps Amethyst would know the answer.

    “It’s a shame that Aspen couldn’t be here to see this.”, Hunter declared, trying to throw a subtle hint Amethyst’s way. “I wonder why He couldn’t be here.”

    “Aspen has been busy the past few days, so he trusted me to help you retrieve your gear when it arrives.” Amethyst says. “  You’ll just have to do without him.”

    Hunter thought it was strange; the way she said that last line made it seem like she was relieved he wasn’t here. Could it be that that she feels resentment for her father in some fashion. Perhaps He was looking too deeply into this, for all he knew, it could just be a small disagreement they were having, Hunter felt somewhat tempted to ask. However, before he could formulate a question within his head, there was a knock on the door, prompting Amethyst to answer it.

    It was the delivery boy, and he had arrived with Hunter’s package. With a single signature from Amethyst, he went off, leaving both, Hunter and Amethyst with a wooden crate that came up to their knees. They both carried the box into the conference room and set it down in front of their chairs. Amethyst then pulled out two crowbars from behind her chair and handed one to Hunter. They both pried open the wooden crate to reveal a smaller box, this time a foot locker. It’s surface was covered in a black, hexagonal pattern, and both its corners and edges were covered in a gray padding.At Amethyst’s instructions, they both reach into the crate and lift the foot locker out, placing it down next to the crate. Upon further inspection, the pattern on the top was also repeated with it’s four sides.

    The foot locker was sealed with two latches and a four digit combination lock. Amethyst hands Hunter a slip of paper that had the combination on it: 2-7-0-3. Combo in hand, Hunter kneels down and inputs the combo. As the last number falls in place, a click could be heard from within the box. Hunter then undoes both latches and opens his footlocker, laying his eyes upon his gear for the first time.

    Upon Amethyst’s instruction, Hunter emptied out most of the foot locker’s contents, taking care to neatly place them onto a folding table by them. As he did this, Amethyst rattles off the info regarding Hunter’s new gear.

    “Well, that should be the  of it.”, Hunter said, taking a look at the table on which his gear spread across the table. There were multiple pieces of Clothing, an under armour suit, several pouches, and a helmet. Sadly there didn’t seem to be any sort of weaponry on the table. Perhaps they expected him to use his own weapons.

    Amethyst double checked her clipboard, and shook her head in disagreement. “I wouldn’t jump to conclusions. According to the receipt, there should be a few more items you missed. Check the box again.”, Amethyst said.

    Hunter looked back into the box, and saw that the box was completely cleaned out. However, Hunter noticed something strange about the bottom of the box: it didn’t go all the way to the bottom. Additionally, the supposed bottom had a few holes in it. Curious, Hunter leaned down to further inspect the bottom.

    “Huh. looks like there’s a panel here.”, Hunter said. Feeling around, he felt the panel shift as he applied pressure. Placing his fingers through the holes, he lifted the bottom up, revealing a second set of items. This new set included several boxes and… BOOTS! Hunter yanked the boots out of his foot locker and gawked at them as if they were christmas presents he always wanted but never got.

    “My new gear includes a set of shoes?!”, Hunter asks Amethyst.

    “Uh huh.”, Amethyst answered in an unamused tone.

    “And, these are mine to keep?”, Hunter asked very  anxiously

    “Do you have some kind of Boot kink?”, Amethyst asked, somewhat put off by Hunter’s fascination of boots.

“N-No. It’s just that I’ve never had my own pair of shoes. From where I come from, only the wealthy have a chance to get shoes.”, Hunter explains to Amethyst as he set them upright on the table, making sure to dust them off. “I’m going to take special care of you.”, he said to the shoes, almost forgetting that the box still had treasures to discover.

        From out of the corner of his eye, he noticed one of the boxes in the foot locker. This box, however, was long and thin, which caught his attention. Curious, he slowly reached back into the box and cleared away the other boxes. Grabbing onto its handle, he pulled it out of the box and placed it onto the table.

    “What’s this?”, Hunter asked as he carefully inspected the inscriptions. The side of the box had the label ‘Zanzo blades’: “Is this-”

    “Oh, that must be your new sword.” Amethyst said while Hunter opened up the box. He could feel his hands tremble as he lifted up his new sword to his eyes, amazed at every little detail the sheath and handle offered. However, this was mere poultry in comparison to what Hunter truly wanted to see. He wanted to see the blade in all it’s glory.

    Placing his left hand upon the grip, he slowly pulled the sword out of its sheath, taking in every inch of it’s blade, and what a blade it was. The blade had a certain grace to it, a strange beauty, yet also a sense of wickedness buried below. Once the last inch had left the sheath, he placed it down to his side to wave the sword around in a careful manner. The balance and weight of his sword felt perfect, as if the sword had a mind of it’s own, with which he shared a special connection with. Even greater, as he let the light reflect off of it’s blade, he saw that the blade had a red sheen, looking magnificent.

    Amethyst took a step back to stay out of swinging range, telling Hunter about interesting details regarding the blade. Once she was done, she had to remind Hunter that they still had work to be done. It took every bit of willpower Hunter had to put the blade back in it’s sheath.

    With the sword back in its sheath, Hunter got the rest of the items out. This time, the box was truly empty.

    “Well, that’s the last of it.”, Hunter said, more confident this time.

    “Good. Now according to today’s list, all you have left to do is to put on your gear, Just to see if it fits well.”, Amethyst says.

    It’s a bit of a struggle to put on the equipment, but Hunter manages. With everything else on, all that’s left is his Helmet. Before putting it on, he takes time to look into his visor. With his last look, he opens up the back and places the helmet over his face.

“How does it feel?”, Amethyst asks.

“A bit of a snug fit, but I think I can manage.”Hunter said “I can’t see a thing out of this helmet.”

“Allow me.”, Amethyst says. Feeling around Hunter’s helmet, she wiggles around with one side, all while muttering to herself. Finally, she grabs ahold of a switch and flips it on. “There, better”

    And better it was. The inside of Hunter’s helmet lit up as the Helmet sprung to life.

With his helmet turned on, He gets to work on testing out all of it’s functions:the voice modifier, the earpiece, the microphone, and the heads up display all worked optimally. All finished up, Hunter took off  his gear and placed it back in the foot locker.

“Welp, that’s all for today. Tomorrow, We're going back to the holo domes so you can you can get used to using your equipment, and remember, you will be able to use your new equipment on the test. Dismissed.”, Amethyst said.

“Wait, test?”, Hunter asked.

    “Yes, the final test.”, Amethyst states.

“Right, the test.”,Hunter said. Not wanting Amethyst to ask further questions, he scrambles his way out with his foot locker.

With nothing left to do that day, Hunter finished unpacking, as well as getting other errands knocked out. When next we meet him, he is at the dinner table with the rest of Rhamsin division. After an entire day, he finally gets the chance to finish his story. Once finished, those who are listening ask how he feels to be back. In response, Hunter says that while it’s great to be back, the fact that the test is only a week away, and that he completely forgot there was going to be a test, mentioning how he’s never been good with tests. In response, they tell him not to worry too much about it, and how “If Wimple passed the test, then it can’t be hard to pass”. Feeling like he could use pointers, Hunter asks his friends if they have any pointers. However, they say no, telling him that information about the test is to be kept from new recruits, so to keep them on their toes.

    Suddenly, Lula gets a notification. She opens up and reads it, her eyes widening up. After finishing, she tells everyone that Dawn is coming over for a day for some business, and in response, everyone around the table becomes visibly stoked, with the exception of Hunter, who’s in the dark. Curious, he asks who dawn is, and almost immediately, the others fill him in, calling him the chillest, most laid back person they’ve ever met. In addition, they mention how how he’s around the same age as Hunter, and that perhaps the two could find a lot of common ground.

    And so, we skip to the next day. Hunter,as per instruction, meets up with Amethyst in the holodome to test out Hunter’s equipment. First off is Hunter’s

assortment of non lethal bombs:

Flash bang: releases a blinding light and intense sound. Hunter pulls the pin and throws it on the ground. After a few beeps, the entire room fills with a white light and an irritating ringing in Hunter’s noise. Within a few seconds, Hunter’s senses are come back to him.

Next is the smoke bomb: Hunter, holding the spherical pellet in his fingers, carefully inspecting it. Looking to the ground, he throws it down to the ground. Immediately, the smoke bomb opens up and releases a powder smoke, spinning wildly and letting out a shrill beeping sound. Within seconds, a large portion of the room is covered in a thick smoke. It takes a few minutes to air out, leaving everything with a coat of white powder.

Next up on the list: The tether cord, a special length of rope that rests on Hunter’s Hip. Reinforced, flexible, and with 150 ft at his disposal, it is perfectly reliable for a multitude of tasks. He uses it for climbing, repelling, tightrope walking, and other.

Second to last is the tranquilizer gun: A gun that shoots sleeper darts with a max range of 200 yards. He is given targets to shoot. He shoots them… That’s it.

Lastly is Hunter’s sword; with ferocity, he slashes away at the targets and dummies provided, slashing with grace like a knife through warm butter. By the time he finishes, the ground is covered with wooden slices and dummy parts.

With that, Hunter is done for the day.

    Back in the Rhamsin Common room, Hunter is sitting in a chair, writing things down he might need for the test. Then someone asks when Dawn is supposed to arrive. Then someone says that Dawn is here, Hunter is a bit preoccupied with trying to write things down for the test, So preoccupied that he doesn’t notice someone grab onto the back of his chair.

    “Well, I think I’ve seen your face before.”, someone says, overlooking leaning right over Hunter. In an instant, Hunter recognized the voice. It was a voice that he had listened to for years, a voice that, for all those years, brought him comfort and security. Could it really be him?

    To see if his suspicions were right, Hunter leaned backwards and looked straight upward. Inches from his face, he saw a slender snout, with brownish-gray fur, a black mask surrounded his visible eye, and bangs long enough to cover the entire left side of his face. His suspicion was confirmed: This “Dawn” character the others spoke of was Rougue.

    “Well, Are you happy to see me?”, Rougue asks. Hunter finds himself able to do nothing but gawk with an open mouth, temporarily forgetting what words are. To say that Hunter was happy to see Rougue would be a step in the wrong direction.

    “Wait, you two know each other?”, Lula asks, very curious and excited to learn about how they know each other.

    “You kiddin? We’ve been best friends since-”, Rougue’s words trailed off as Hunter went into deep thought.

    How could Rougue be a part of Mystacine? How long has Rougue been in Mystacine? Why?What?. So many questions and doubts ran through Hunter’s mind, and how could they not, the simple fact is that Hunter’s best friend is part of a group of mercenaries. Hunter needed the Money. Why would Rougue ever need to join.

    “Wanna come?”, Rougue asks, snapping Hunter out of his inner tangent.

    “Huh?”, Hunter asks, having not heard what Rougue says.

     “Do you wanna come with me on an errand?”, Rougue asked again.

     “Oh, sure.” Hunter said. With that he got off his chair and followed Rougue to his destination.

   While following Rougue, Hunter started thinking: just because Rougue was part of the company doesn’t necessarily mean he worked as an assassin or anything like that. Perhaps he in Meerstadt as a doctor or a kitchen worker. He didn’t have to be a killer.

  “ you’ve been quiet since I got here.” Rougue pointed out.

 “Have I?”, Hunter asked.

 “Yeah, even for you. What’s wrong, I thought you would be happy to see me. Best friends, working together?”,Rougue said. He seemed so excited about the whole thing.

  “Well, I guess I’m more shocked than anything. What are you doing here.”, Hunter asked.

  “Had to come by for a checkup.”, Rougue said.

 “NO, I mean why are you working for Mystacine?! How did you learn about Mystacine?” ,Hunter asked, more frustrated.

 “Oh. Well do you remember that Diary I was reading. The one back in high school?”, Rougue asked Hunter. It took Hunter a bit to think, but as he thought, he recalled that he did see Rougue reading a diary.

“Yeah, but I thought that was your journal.”, Hunter said.

 “Nope. It was actually my grandfather’s diary. He used to work for this company long ago.” Rougue said.

Before Hunter could say anything in response, they had arrived at their destination. Rougue started talking with the person at the front desk. After they were done, the front desk person called someone forward just to send them to the back room. With that, Both Rougue and Hunter sat down in the a waiting room, the perfect opportunity to continue the conversation.

“So anyway, after I realized that I wasn’t getting any satisfaction out of grad school or my part time job, I decided to go back to my grandfather’s diary, and that's when I decided to follow in his paw steps.”, Rougue said.

“And then you found Mystacine.” Hunter said, thinking he had connected the dots.

“Oh you silly little wolf. As great as I am, one does not simply find Mystacine. Instead, they found me, and that is a rather unpleasant story for me.”, Rougue said in a smug way.

“Oh… well, what do you do. Hopefully nothing dangerous or-.”, Hunter says, tittering.

However, an answer for Hunter’s question will have to wait, for out of the corner of his eye, the front desk person ushered Rougue back over, with Rougue eagerly complying.

“I have to take this.”, Rougue said, getting up to go to the front desk. The front desk person pulled up a briefcase from behind the desk, a very long and slender brief case. Once he took the case in hand, he gave the clerk a handshake and brought the case with him to Hunter.

“So what’s in the suitcase?”, Hunter asked.

“My Sniper rifle. The crowning jewel of my assassin setup.”, Rougue replied. It was at this moment that Hunter realized his worst fear had been realized. His face went pale under his fur, and his eyes shot forward with his pupils shrinking in size.

In reaction to Hunter’s expression, Rougue became confused. Wondering if his best buddy was okay, he leaned forward and waved his hand in front of Hunter’s face, only to receive no response. He scratched his head in confusion as he thought about what could have petrified Hunter. Was it something he said. All he said was that his sniper rifle was the crowning jewel of his-.

    “Oh, is this because of the whole ‘assassin’ thing?”, Rougue asked rhetorically, his cheeks going red with embarrassment. He didn’t expect Hunter to answer, and he was right, he only continued to look forward, his face shriveled up as if he was chilled to the bone. Wanting to be a good friend, he sat down with Hunter and wrapped his arm around Hunter’s back.

    “Guess it’s only natural to feel this way.  Imagine me, your best friend, gets money for killing others.”, Rougue says.With that, Rougue begins to lecture Hunter about he was afraid to tell others for fear of vilification, and that the only person he told was Arson, who took it his own special way. However, despite what he does, he is still the Raccoon Hunter grew up with, and no job will change that. With his words, Hunter begins to feel a little better about the whole thing. While not completely okay with it, he is able to turn his head to look Rougue in the eyes and give a little smile.

    “Don’t worry, after a while here, you’ll be able to look past it all. Hey, if you're up for it, We can go to the firing range and I can show you my rifle.”, Rougue said, trying to lift Hunter’s spirits as he extended his arm. Hunter looked down at his hand, reluctantly thinking, but grabbed it anyway. They both stood up out of their chairs.

    “Great.”, Rougue said, happy that Hunter was willing to join. “By the way, why don’t you tell me how you joined Mystacine.”

    And so, Hunter told Rougue about everything that transpired on the night as the two walked to the rifle range, with Rougue leading the way, knowing this place better than Hunter. As Hunter followed, he used a series of colorful words to add pizzazz to his story. As Hunter flailed his arms around to add body language to his story, Rougue couldn’t help but chuckle to himself, as if he know more about what happened then Hunter realized.

“So with both of the criminals in hand, I drove them over to the police station and collected my reward.”, Hunter said.

    “Really?”, Rougue asked rhetorically.

    “Yeah. Then a day later, I got a package from Mystacine, and now I’m here.”, Hunter said.

    “Well, that’s much more interesting then my story.”, Rougue said.

    “However. Something still doesn’t add up.”, Hunter said, thinking to himself. “How exactly did Mystacine know of my escapade? Nobody knew of what I was doing, and even if they did, how would Mystacine learn of it?”

    “Well-”, Rougue said, with Hunter perking up in response. “I wouldn’t say nobody knew.”

    “Wait, so you knew?”, Hunter asked.

    “Yep.”, Rougue replied, turning around to face Hunter. “You see: after I forced you out of my apartment, I started to worry about what you would do, so I called up Aspen to ask him what he thinks, and while he was giving a lecture about responsibility and friendship, or something, I told him I would just follow and watch you from a distance. So I suited up and waited outside your apartment building for several hours. And before you ask, I’m a sniper, waiting in the background is a thing I’m good at. Any way, when you came out and got in the taxi, I pursued you all the way out to the shipping yard, making sure to stay as silent as possible. As I followed you around, I made sure to keep in tab with everything you did, and Aspen watched as well. Once you were finished, I asked him what he thought, and he said that you might have potential. Best part is, it was recorded and saved in the archives, so we can rewatch it any time.”

    Hunter was absolutely flabbergasted. His friend had been watching out for him this whole time, and he didn’t know.\

    “So, that throwing knife I found was your’s?”, Hunter asked as he put the pieces together.

        “Yep.”, Rougue replied. “By the way, thanks for not taking it. They’re kind expensive.”

    “Huh. Guess I should be thanking you for your help.”, Hunter said, rubbing the back of his neck.

    “Don’t worry. It was my pleasure.”, Rougue said. With that, they had made it to the rifle range.

    Inside, Rougue took Hunter to an empty range and put on a pair of headphones and safety goggles. With that out of the way,pulled out his Rifle(or his mistress, as he called it):The Pavlich.She was a standard looking Hunting rifle, semi-automatic, used a magazine, had a bipod, scope, silencer, and was a nice shade of blue and black. Although she looked underwhelming, she turned out to have the same power as most sniper rifles with less recoil to boot, easily reaching a range of over 2000 feet. After a few rounds, Rougue turned back to Hunter and asked what he thought, With Hunter giving a thumbs up.

    “Hey Hunter, where are you in your training?”, Rougue asked.

    “Well, I just got my gear, and I’m several days away from the test.” Hunter answered.

    “Oh cool! Have you gotten a chance to try it out yet?”, Rougue asked.

“Well, I have been trying out my gear, but it’s mostly just been target practice.”, Hunter said.

“Oh. Well, what if you were to have some real experience, I think I have an idea.” Rougue replied.

With that, Rougue drags Hunter over to the holo domes. When Hunter asks what they’re doing, Rougue just tells him that it is a surprise, leaving Hunter feeling nervous. Once they get to a dome, they are  climb down the ladder. With both of them down in the atrium, Rougue finally tells Hunter what they’re going to do: they’re gonna fight.

Straight across from Hunter, Rougue stands with his hands at his waist. Before he can say anything, everything goes black, leaving him in a black void. It’s so dark that Hunter can't even see his hand in front of his face. Not wanting to trip over something, Hunter stays completely still, waiting for something to happen. Then, over head, a light comes into being, gradually growing brighter and brighter until the center of the room is completely lit up. When Hunter looks at his arm again, he sees himself wearing his gauntlet: Is he in his suit?!?

Wanting to know what's going on, he calls out to Rougue, asking to know what’s going on. In response, Rougue tells him they’re fighting.

While Hunter stumbles around in the dark, Rougue takes this time to completely screw with him. In the end, this is to show how much of a skill gap is between Hunter and Rougue.

Just when Hunter thinks he is able to trip Rougue up, he starts to hear footsteps behind him, rapidly closing the gap between the two. Before Hunter can turn around to see what's going on, he feels an intense, sharp pain in his back and chest. He looks down to see what is causing such an unbearable pain, what he see’s is a hole in his chest, blood streaming down his stomach onto his thighs, down his legs, and pooling at his feet. Most disturbingly, a few drops of blood are floating in midair, dropping off the sides of a transparent blade, Coming out of the whole on his chest. Letting out a silent scream, Hunter falls to his knees, clenching the area around the hole. He could feel his body go into shock, and all he could think of was if this is where he would meet his end. Will he even know he was dead? Will he dream?

As he lay there, he could see something in the whole come into existence: a blade, gently curving downward. The blade then retracted back into his chest and back out of his back.

Then, just like that, the hole in Hunter disappears, as well as the blood, and his suit. The lights come on over head as the simulation ends.

The sound of Rougue cheering to himself is only background noise,  as all he can do is curl up into a ball on the floor and try to catch his breath.

As Rougue cheer’s to himself, he remains completely ignorant to the condition his friend is in. Wanting to wish Hunter good game, he turns around to face his friend with confidence.However, as he see’s the situation that his friend is in, he retracts his arm as his confidence makes way for extreme worry.

“Hey, Hunter?”, said Rougue, leaning over his curled up body. “A-Are you alright?”

Hunter didn’t answer, as he couldn’t hear Rougue’s words over his own hyperventilating. Wanting to make amends, Rougue extends his hand out to Hunter as a sign of peace, as well as to help him up. Rougue’s face was one of remorse and embarrassment, and yet, he was hopeful that Hunter would forgive him

Noticing Rougue’s hand out of the corner of his eye, Hunter looked back at Rougue, a sense of frustration in his face. Without taking his hand, Hunter picked himself off of the ground and walked out of the atrium, leaving Rougue without a word or a glance. All Rougue could do was stand there, looking his friends way as he stormed out.

It had been several days since Rougue had tried to help Hunter. Since then, Hunter has been avoiding Rougue as soon much as possible and hasn’t said a word to him since then, leaving Rougue to fear for the future of their friendship. With only Hunter’s test being the next day and Rougue’s ride back to pelzitreff departing later tonight, the window of opportunity to mend this wounded bond is slowly closing.

The evening of before Hunter’s test begins, Rougue is having one last dinner with the gang before he has to go back. While eating, He see’s Hunter in line. This is it, Rougue thinks to himself, this is where everything can be made better.  He looks over at Hunter and yells if he wants to join them. In response, Hunter takes one second to look over, scoffs, then turns back, continuing on his way back to Rhamsin division, bagged dinner in hand.

“Wow. At this rate he’s going to rival mamba in reclusiveness.”, Cindrix said as he ate his sandwich. His words dug into Rougue’s conscience like knives, making Rougue feel even worse about situation. Slowly, Rougue buried his face into under the table, sighing in defeat. Everyone around the table looked at him in pity, with the exception of Anji, who just looked at him in disappointment.

“At this rate, I’ll never have a chance to make up for it. I’m horrible.”, Rougue said to himself in self pity, letting out a sigh of defeat to close things off.

“I can’t take this anymore.”, Anji said in a deadpan tone. Putting down her fork, she got up out of her seat and walked around the table to where Rougue was sitting. With a heave, she lifted Rougue’s face up and turned him around so he faced her. As She looked down upon Rougue, she said, “This is what you are going to do: You are going to go back to Rhamsin division, you are going to confront Hunter, and you are going to apologize for what you did. And you are not going to leave until you two make up.”

All the while, everyone else scooted as far away from the side of the table where Anji was. From experience alone, they knew how ugly an Anji lecture could get if things didn’t go as planned.It was all a matter of whether the right things will be said.

“Well, I guess I could, but-”

“NO, no buts. This is something you must do, NOW.” Anji said. As soon as she finished, she took a deep breath to calm down. Once calmed down, she continued. “Look, things like this are never pleasant. However, think of it this way: You can either spend the next few minutes in unpleasant anguish, or the rest of your life filled with regret and guilt.”

“And what if he doesn’t forgive me? What then?”, Rougue said as an argument, showing how little confidence he has that he can make this work. All Anji could do was facepalm herself as she thought of what to say next.

“Listen. If what you’ve said is true, the two of you are closer friends than any of us here, and have been since you first met long ago. You two have been through alot together.” She paused to take a breath. “ If what you say is true, He’ll forgive you. And if he doesn’t, then maybe you two weren’t as close as you thought.” Everyone just looked at her in silence and shock. How could she have said such a thing.

“But-”, Rougue said. However, as he looked up at Anji’s face, he knew it would be most unwise to continue. Through her expression alone, it was as if she said “Nothing you can say invalidates what I just told you, so just cut the shit and do it.” he looked down, then looked back up at Anji, a new spark within his eyes.

“Anji, I am so glad you’re the blunt one here.”, Rougue said.

“ Anji looked off to the side; “Someone here has to be.” She said in an embarrassed tone, her face going red with Blush.

    “Wait, but he’s probably locked his room so he can be alone. How am I going to get in to talk to him.”, Thinking to himself, he suddenly gets an idea, and looks back over his shoulder towards Lula. “Hey Lula, do have your burglary kit?”

“In my locked room.”, Lula replied.

“Oh.”, Rougue said.

    For a few seconds, both kegawans sat there looking at each other, as Rougue gave Lula a variety of facial expressions as if it were a form of silent communication. It took Lula a bit to understand what Rougue was doing, but then she caught on: He still wanted to get use her kit to get into Hunter’s room, he just needed her to get it for him.

    “Fine, I’ll come with.”, Lula begrudgingly said. At this response, Rougue’s expression perked up into glee as both kegawans got up and left for Rhamsin division, leaving their dinner trays behind for the rest to clean up.

        Within Hunter’s room, it was almost complete darkness with the lights turned off, the only source of light was the trickle of sun ray that could reach his room at the bottom of the sea. There, on the bed, the silhouette of Hunter sat criss-crossed, eating his simple dinner in complete silence, facing away from the door. Only the sound of chewing and the subtle hums of distant machinery could be heard.

    Then, A rattling noise could be heard coming from behind him, as if someone was rummaging around with something just outside of his door, or more likely, his door. With a click, it was apparent to that someone had unlocked Hunter’s door from the outside. If this had been any other situation, Hunter would have leapt from his bed and used his body to keep the door shut. However, the events of earlier that day had left him weary and tired, All he could be bothered to do was his ear up, showing whoever was entering that he had took attention to their intrusion.

    As the door slowly opened, a golden light began to fill Hunter’s room, leaving A shadow of Hunter on the wall that he was facing, along with the shadow of Someone else.

    “Uh, Hey Hunter.”, Rougue said in a timid voice. Just from his tone, it was obvious that he was feeling a great amount of stress. Hunter didn’t even bother to turn around to face him eye to eye.

    “Listen, I just wanted to say a few things, before I leave.”, Rougue said, as he closed the door behind him. With the room once again a blackened void, Rougue stumbled his way over to Hunter’s desk chair, so he could have a place to sit while talking to Hunter. “About what happened the other day. I-I just wanted to say that what I did, I did because I thought it would help you with test preparations. Fighting against a live opponent, of course it’s a great way to get experience.”, He paused to see if Hunter was listening. Hunter hadn’t even looked away from the wall, making it very hard to tell.

    “But, Now that I think about it, It was one of the worst things I’ve ever done to you. It was reckless, irresponsible, egotistical, But worst of all, it made you think that your life was at risk.” Rougue said in a soft voice, constantly taking pauses so he could think of the next word to say. “So, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for being an idiot, and putting you in danger like that. If you refuse to forgive me, I’ll take it. I don’t think I deserve to be forgiven. But hopefully, You’ll understand what a dumbass like me was thinking when he set you up for that… Please Hunter, any kind of response is all I ask of you...”

    For a solid minute, silence had fallen between the two, As Rougue waited to see if Hunter would allow him just a single response, he could feel himself choking on anticipation, as a solitary tear rolled down his eye. Just as he feared that he wouldn’t get a response, He saw Hunter’s head slowly twisted his way, then stopped.

    “Rougue, you’re an egotistical, impulsive, attention seeking dumbass… And that is you’ll always be my best friend in this twisted, chaotic world”, Hunter said. Rougue couldn’t be happier to be alive listening to that.

    “So you forgive me!?!”, Rougue asked Hunter, hugging him in the process.

    “Actually, I moved passed that part a few days ago. I didn’t tell you because I wanted to see if you’d grovel.”, Hunter said, a sadistic smirk stretching across his face.

    “I dont care, Im just glad you’re- wait, then why does it seem like something’s still bothering you.” Rougue asked inquisitively.

    “Well, it’s the test that’s bugging me.”, Hunter said, back in the slums.

    “Oh, is that it?”, Rougue said. Hunter scowled at him. “To be honest, it’s not something to worry about, I mean, I passed it.”

    “Listen, even if I haven’t seen what You can do, you made it this far.”

    It was obvious that Hunter still didn’t feel good about it. Looking around the room, Rougue took notice of the foot locker by the end of Hunter’s bed. Curious, He opened it up to see Hunter’s suit. He asked if it was Hunter’s, and Hunter replied yes. Looking through everything, he took note of the vest, especially the big brown button that stood over the other ten. Suddenly he got an Idea. He set down the vest and ran out, telling Hunter to put on his suit.

    By the time he comes back, Hunter is putting on the last pieces of his suit.

    “Why did you want me to put this on?”, Hunter asked.

“Because I have something for you.”, Rougue said. Out of his back pocket, Rougue pulls out what appears to be a golden pin with various engravings on it.

“What’s that?” Hunter ask.

“It’s the exact size of your big button.”, Rougue says.

“Doesn’t answer my-.”, Hunter says, but is then interrupted.

“It’s a pin I got as an extra reward during one of missions. When they gave it to me, they said that it was an emblem of good luck and prosperity within their culture, and that I should keep it as a good luck charm.”, Rougue said as he delicately removed Hunter’s old, boring, brown button, all the while Hunter looked away, trying not to get hit by Rougue’s hands as he worked. Once he was done, The emblem fit perfectly in place of where the button was.

“You could probably use it better than me.” Rougue said.

Hunter’s face red and relaxed as he looked down at the new centerpiece of his suit.”Thanks Rougue.”, He said, giving him a quick hug.

“Your welcome. Listen, my ride leaves in a few hours, so I gotta get ready for departure.” Rougue told. As He turned around, Hunter realized there was one last thing he wanted to say. With no time to spare, Hunter rushed over to Rougue to grab his shoulder. “Hey Rougue.”, Hunter said.

Rougue looked back at Hunter, waiting for him to continue. “Next time we battle, You won’t win so easily.”

Rougue smirked “I’ll hold you to that” he said, before turning back and heading to his room. With that out of the way, Hunter returned to his room, got out of his suit, and went straight to sleep. With his test being the very next day, he’s going to need every bit of sleep he can get.

[lychrono]

A theme of growth

Hello everybody. Now While working on part four of the Lychrono Prologue, I encountered a roadblock That I had become all too familiar with: Writer's block.

Seeing this, I decided that I needed to step back and ask myself one question: What did I want out of this series.

I can’t believe it. Through all the time I spent thinking over this, I had made so many different ideas developing around my idea that I couldn’t keep track of how the overall story should be handled. Should I have it be dark and serious or a more lighthearted spin.

Yesterday, all of these points were circulating around my head, and it was all overbearing. So I decided that now was the time to take a look over everything that I had come up with and ask myself “What was a common theme I wanted.

And after a while of thinking, I believe I’ve got it. Even if it seems rather cliche, I believe that this theme fits better than any other: Growth.

Now when I say this, I’m not just talking about a growth in physical strength or pushing your boundaries nonsense.

More of what I mean is a growth of understanding, ideals, character and morals.

How can I think of a way to break this down?

Ok, let us analyze the main character Hunter.

What is he at the start? Well:

he’s young

He doesn’t have a lot of confidence in himself.

He believes people don’t like him because of his condition and that it will be what defines him for the rest of his life (and someone else down the road doesn’t help)

He has spent his entire life sheltered with loving parents in a nice, wealthy neighborhood in shadow of one of the most important cities in the Kegawan world.

He has spent what has so far been his entire life living in the shadow of Pelzitreff, never going anywhere or meeting anyone who could be considered impoverished.

He has never had interaction with lizard people(or bird people. Then again, who has).

And finally, he has never been put into a situation that could be considered life threatening.

All of these points are defining points of his character at the beginning of the story. However, as the story goes on, many of these points, I feel should be addressed and changed.

But here is a question that I want to ask you if you're not already asking it to yourself? What does any of this have to do with the idea of growth?

Well how do people grow, and how has Hunter grown so far?

The most obvious answer is that people grow up in terms of age.

From the jump of part one of the prologue to part two, Hunter went from 17 to 24, as well as graduated college and got his own apartment, so he’s become an adult.

A growth in power and physical strength.

While he certainly does as the story goes on, but that’s not the kind of growth that I want to focus on. Plenty of stories both new and old already focus on that idea.

A growth in character

For the theme of growth, this is one of the two specifics that I want to focus on. As of typing this, my main hopes for Hunter’s growth is to overcome his lack of self confidence, which he will break through naturally as time progresses.

However, the more important part of his growth in character, and one of the most important aspects of the story is who he is and what he wants.While this is a feeling that everyone experiences, to say that Hunter would have a harder time understanding himself because of his affliction would be somewhat appropriate.  

The kid has grown up having everyone acknowledge him not for his personality and interests, but for a part of his being that he never asked for, never wanted, and has had a great impact on his life. Gave him trouble making friends, getting a job, fitting into society. Because of this disease, everyone has defined him before they even knew him, and because of that, he started to believe that from a young age that it is defines him. If you think about it, his childhood experiences and difficulty making a living is what drove him to fulfill that bounty on that fateful night, and through a chain of events, is what led him to Mystacine, because of something unfortunate.(Actually, this reasoning is shared throughout the Rhamsin division’s Mercenaries; Something made life difficult, forced them to take drastic measures, and led them to Mystacine, which is why they're so welcoming to him: they’ve been through similar things.

Now how is he supposed to grow from this: By coming to the realization that even though he will always be what he is, the greatest aspects that define a person is what they do. To quote Mewtwo from the first pokemon Movie

“ I see now that the circumstances of one's birth are Irrelevant. It is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are.”

And that is what Hunter learns, not just from his experiences, but from the people he meets. In all of his friends, a common trait, no matter who they are, is that they looked past who what he was and not only accepted, but also appreciated him for who he was. A quote that I will make up right now:

“ The truest friends in life will appreciate you for who you are over what you are. While looks can be important, it is what you do as a person that will make them care the most.”

I suppose in a sense, this whole talk about what he is vs who he is is why I named the project Lychrono, and have not changed it.

A growth in perspective and Understanding

And finally, the last point I want to bring up. While the last subject I brought up dealt with the idea of growth in a personal level, this side of things deal with what experiences that he will have on the bounty hunter side of the story.

So what do I mean when I say understanding? Well, perhaps understanding is not the best word for what I mean. Perhaps a better word to use is to learn. To learn from an experience, and use it to create a better understanding of the world around you, to more easily sympathize with those around you, and to create a better you from said experience.

With Hunter, my aim is to use his newfound bounty Hunter status to challenge both him and his view on the  world. He will be brought out of his comfort zone, pushed to new places, have his life put on the line, learn what it means to mess up on a grand scale, have his morals challenged, and have to choose between two hard decisions that will mean something bad for him. He will feel pain, turmoil, heartbreak, betrayal, derangement, downfall, and what it is like to be on the brink of death. However, through all of this, he will come out to be a better person, and to develop his own philosophy.

The world is an absolute mess of a place, both complicated and fantastical. Many people exist in this world. Hunter will have to go around meeting these people as part of his job. To learn from them and their experience, and make of it what he will.

I believe that using a theme of growth for Lychrono would be an interesting idea to use for Lychrono. That isn’t to say that I am completely done with brainstorming themes for the comic series, for there are still a few questions that I need to ask myself, such as:

Will I keep this idea

How far can I go with this idea, and how much can I get out of it

Specific themes for individual story lines

However, these are questions that I can only answer as time progresses. For now, I bid you all good day.

[lychrono]

#13: Mystacine

Hello everybody, welcome back to the blog(all two of you so far, which I’m pretty sure are bot accounts)

Last time, we went over the group of characters that Hunter will have to spend the next nine months getting along with. But what is Mystacine? Quite simple, really.

Mystacine

Mystacine is a private Mercenary organization specializing in the training and employment of Mercenaries around the world. Once considered one of the most advanced companies of it’s kind, it is known as a philanthropic company rather than a group of terrorists and Warmongers.

History

The captain and the pirate: division

A long time ago before the world was united, a group of wandering kegawen soldiers had lost their way from their main platoon, sailed out into a storm. Although death seemed certain, they were able to survive the maelstrom under the leadership of ferret captain Cedar Carlo, but were lost at sea when it was finally over. With no knowing of which way to go, they wandered the ocean for 5 days until they came upon an island. Rejoiced, they dropped anchor and got off on the island to set up camp. However, it wasn’t long until another boat had also come ashore, this one filled with pirates, but not just any pirates: Hachuri assassin pirates, lead by captain Black horn.

At first, it looked like another battle was going to break out, leaving both sides in ruin. To keep a bloodbath from occurring, the leaders of both sides stepped out and met in the middle of the field. After both explaining their sides of the story, as well as what they wanted. The Kegawans wanted to find out where they are so they could make it home, and the Hachuri wanted to use the island as a base of operations for their pirate purposes. Upon reaching a negotiation, the two decided to split the island in half and to leave the other side alone, and so they both went their separate ways.

The pact went well at first. While the Hachuri would go voyage out into the seas to pillage other ships, the Kegawans stayed back on the island and used the island’s resources to survive, while at the same time, orienteering, star charting, and calculating their location.

As time passed, both sides had made reports of Feral white bat Kegawans residing within the Jungles of The island. However, no physical evidence of these creatures was ever discovered. Two conclusions were drawn: either both crews were experiencing coincidental hallucinations, or these were apparitions of whatever previously inhabited this island before going extinct.

     After a month and still not sure where they were, the Kegawans began to get desperate, slowly running out of clean water and food, their numbers began to dwindle.

At the same time, the Hachuri were not in the best condition. The constant raids had taken a toll on their men. What had once been a crew of 60 had dwindled to 25 from casualties, hypothermia, and curable diseases.

The Captain and the pirate: unity

By the end of the month, realizing the futility of being aggressive against the other side was pointless, as well as realizing how each side had something the other needed, they began to open up to each other and set what texture they had upon their skin aside. Not only had the two sides come to set up a proper settlement , but they had become brothers at sea, the K.S.S Innervate and The Splinter Scale. Brother ships upon the seas, an unstoppable force.

Within time, these ships had made a name for themselves in the  towns far from the island, not only for their raids, for the cooperation between kegawans and Hachuri. Together, their resources had reached new heights back on the island, which as this point, had been renamed Janachu Island. As their reputation became more and more known, new crews began to seek them out in order to join up with them, either that or the surrendered their ship to the two ships. What started as two  ships became five, then ten, then twenty, then fifty. All ships of Kegawans and Hachuri, and even one of the tsubasa.

By the time the original crew of Kegawans found out their way home, but had made their own home on the island.

The new fleet, realizing they needed a singular flag to be united under, took inspiration from the supposed ghost bats of Janachu island, took it up as an emblem: the white bats.

A new flag sails

However, with newfound fame and fortune became a breeding ground of fear. With a newly established navy under the newly formed Military of  United Nations (MUN), a fear that they would become a major target under their radar sent crews into a paranoia. Cedar, Realizing that they were done for if the MUN sent an armada after them, went to talk with Black horn about discontinuing their raiding practices. Black horn was obviously enraged at first, but after a great deal of persuasion, Cedar was able to get Black horn to see things from his point of view. However, they would need a new way of making a living with all their men and ships. Blackhorn, remembering the assassin part of assassin pirates, pitched the idea to Cedar.

Low and behold, he thought it was a great idea, And so, they went from the white bats sea pirates to the white bats assassins.

While some left after the change, most stayed, and even some new groups joined up.

With the introduction of the new assassination jobs aspect to the fleet, a renaissance was under gone. What was once a but a set of tents and poorly made huts turned into a small city, new way to organize leadership was implemented, the technology used was improved among their new mercenaries, and a newly established philosophy among their mercenaries. From then on, they were no longer known as the white bats. From this day forward, they were Mystacine.

Both Cedar and Blackhorn have come up with new ideas for the organization, such as the ranking system, the categorization of mercenaries.

However, before the plans could be fully completed, Blackhorn died at sea caught in a maelstrom. Mystacine took a heavy hit that day, felt especially by Cedar. Despite this, Cedar continued his work, caring for both the company and his newly born kid.

Eventually, he reached his end, and on his deathbed, he had his five closest advisors and friends, including his son, who is now an adult with his own child, meet him on his deathbed, for which he gave his final words and wishes to before dying, words which many of these people brought to their graves, not sure what to make of it.

Stagnation and downfall

With the death of Cedar, Mystacine had reached a point of stagnation. Those that were placed in charge didn’t know what to do with the company, and his closest companions had argued over what his he meant when he told them his final wish. Not only that, but the technology around mystacine had stopped evolving, with technology in the Kegawan world advancing rapidly, Mystacine couldn’t keep up with the change, and became to fixated on past traditions over new innovations. With advances in technology, the MUN had ended up taking most of their jobs.

Still, life on the island continued with tranquility. Cedar’s grandchild, a young ferret named Aspen, had taken up the mantle of an assassin, following in his own father’s footsteps. He even had a life long best friend accompany him as another assassin, a raccoon named Hammel.

Growing up, Aspen became began to notice his father had straining relationships with one specific advisor of Cedar, a black wolf by the name Hex. Hex would constantly argue the meaning of Cedar’s last words with Aspen’s father, to the point where his father was getting fed up with his crazy ideals: his constant philosophy that they should not fight for the weak, as they will not learn to care for themselves. It kept getting more and more violent until one day when Hex had excluded himself to a corner of the island.

Years later, Hex had come back and murdered Aspen’s father in the dead of night. Through the window to the basement, Hammel saw the whole thing. He tried running in to stop Hex from escaping, but was beaten and slashed out of the way by hex, who ran off into Janachu’s Jungle. A search for Hex was conducted, but he was never found, as was believed to have left the island via a commandeered boat. The death had hit Aspen the hardest.

Years went by without any sign of Hex. Aspen is now more grown with his own wife and daughter.

And then, Ruin. one day, when the sun was setting, shots were fired, and an army of individuals clad in black, looking like something out of a nightmare, came ashore, the Island was under attack. While Personnel we’re evacuated, many of the veteran mercenaries stayed behind to wage battle on these assailants. However, despite their best efforts, they were no match for the black army’s firepower, and many of them lost their lives, the ones who were left retreated to the safe area. The black army, after killing those who were still out of the safe area, fire bombed the village, burning what had once been a prosperous town to the ground, and for ever leaving a scar on Janachu island  that would never heal.

And so, Mystacine had been brought to it’s knees. It’s headquarters now a pile of smoldering ash, it’s fleet now at the bottom of the ocean, and what was left of it’s members had huddled together in the dark, damp caves of the mountain side, afraid to come out. After 3 days in the caves, they opened the door to find the black army gone, and all of their boats sunk. Hope seemed lost as they used the primitive technology they had to send out a distress signal, hoping someone would find it.

As they waited, a question rung around those who were left: Who was behind this attack? Almost immediately, the question was answered by connecting the dots: None other than Hex, for he knew the location of the island, the location of the town, how they would be powerless under enough fire power, and his growing resentment for the company leading up to his disappearance. Later on, a discovery was made on the beach leading up to what was once the town: A small red emblem, forged of metal. The emblem was heavily line based, and displayed what appeared to be waves rolling upward, with a setting sun over the horizon. The only conclusion that they could make was that could have been left on the island by a member of that black army, either accidentally dropped, or left as a warning.

Renaissance

It had been 16 days since the distress signal had been sent out, and hope that any rescue would come becoming feint, to the point that some members still alive had decided on a suicide pact after a set amount of time. On the other end of the spectrum were those who couldn’t give up, Like Aspen and Hammel. In regards to potential ships that have set sail before the attack, no response was heard from them, meaning that the worst could be assumed. Before long, night had come once more.

Then on the 17 day, just as the sun was rising, a miracle had come. Across the yellow horizon of sunrise, a silhouette of a ship could be seen. At first, those who were up to see it believed it to be one of their own, but this theory was quickly debunked Even from the distance, those who saw it could tell it was massive, much bigger than any ship they ever had on the fleet. After fifteen minutes, every survivor had went down to shore to see the ship, crying for joy that salvation had been found. Then, at the horizon, another, much smaller boat could be see coming toward them. As the boat came closer, they realized it was not a boat, but a raft, housing two individuals: a gazelle steering what appeared to be a motorized life boat, and a tiger standing at the bow, looking upon the island. He was dressed in a nice looking dark grey business suit, giving off the idea of a professional business man. As they came ashore, the tiger got look around. Everyone was too nervous to go out and see, unsure he wanted to save them, or something else.

Then, the tiger called out to people, telling him that they had received their distress signal, and were there to help. One by one, the survivors slowly crept out of the bushes they were hiding in and went to greet the two entrepreneurs, too overjoyed with the idea of salvation to tell them what had happened. The tiger, after getting to meet everybody, asked for the one in charge. Aspen stepped up as the one in charge, with Aspen stepping up as the one in charge, he told the tiger of everything that happened, the tiger visually moved by his story. As he relayed what had happened, Aspen led both men up to what was left of the Mystacine headquarters.After his story, the tiger and gazelle excused themselves for one moment.

When they came back, the two had given a speech to the mass of survivor’s. First, he had told that he was a representative of Oracle industries, sent to investigate after their headquarters picked up the distress signal. Secondly, that if they wanted to be rescued, Oracle would be more than happy to.

After the speech, the tiger took the leaders aside for something else. He told them that another option that they could take would be to have Mystacine’s foundation rebuilt, to give it another chance at life, with the most current technology at Oracle’s Disposal. When they asked what the catch was, he chuckled and just told them to consider it an act of philanthropy.At first, they were foreign to the idea, arguing over which to take. While some wanted to escape the island, others didn’t saying that Mystacine had become their home and family.To them, they would be leaving behind everything, to go out into the world that they wouldn’t have the experience to survive in. They had a second chance at what they loved, Mystacine had a second chance at life.

And so, the final decision was made, Mystacine would be reborn into a new age.

Over the years, cargo ships with the Oracle logo would constantly dock at shore. First, construction started on the island, with the building of a new port area and several airway strips for ease of land and air transportation. Next came the excavation of the mountain side, creating a series of tunnels through it. Finally, Oracle started on a top secret project, to create a dome underwater which could be accessed from surface through a series of gondola’s going through the mountains. It was to be a prototype for a new project they wanted to test, to create an underwater series of domes large enough to protect a small city from the crushing depths of the ocean. After being started, it took years until it was finally finished: The underwater city of Meerstadt.

And so, as Oracle put on the last finishing touches, they left the newly revived crew of mystacine with an armada of ships and supplies as a final present. With new weapons, armor, and a new home, Mystacine had thanked Oracle for their help.

Modern Mystacine

And now, Mystacine had entered its modern era. While their new home was finished,their work force was still crippled by the black army’s attack years ago. To fix this, a new call was sent out, inviting potential mercenaries to join their family. While the call reached mercenaries, their work force was nowhere near it’s size in it’s glory days. Perhaps with time, it will reach new heights.

And so, that is the story behind Mystacine, and how it ended up where it is today.That’s good and all, but where

Mystacine is lead by four mysterious leaders, who oversee the entirety of the organization. What that job entails is shrouded behind closed doors.

Within Mystacine, the each country has it’s own division dedicated to it separated into sectors, a total of 35 sectors. Within each of these divisions is an overseer, who, rather than act as a mercenary, manages the recruits and looks over the general welfare of their division’s mercenaries.

The amount of mercs in each division can vary greatly. For example, while sector 17 has one of the lowest mercenary counts at 7, sector 23 is infamous for housing around 200 individual mercs.

Class System:

as with anything, to say that all the mercenaries can fit under one category would be absurd. in order to keep better track, a class system, similar to any seen in a role playing game was implemented.

The type of mercenary you can be is separated into three major categories:

Bounty Hunter: Specializing in the locating, tracking,apprehension, and delivery of specified targets.

Assassin: trained in the art of silent elimination, they specialize in the killing and disposal of targets.

Thief: specialize in the retrieval of not targets, but things. This includes infiltration, pickpocketing, hacking, sabotage, and stealth.

Disputes their differences, all three groups receive the same basic training in stealth, free running, hand to hand combat, weaponry, interrogation, and many more.

All three groups also are enlisted in basic mercenary work, like body guard, rescue missions, etc.

Within these groups, there are also subsets of unofficial titles based off of a mercenaries technical specialties or the type of work they are best with, for example:

Sheriff

Infiltrator

Ranger

But more importantly, Mystacine strives to have individuality within its workforce, with each new member being tested to see what they are best with, and their armor being custom made for their individual needs and preferences. In the bigger picture, the class system is just to help keep organization between the members.

Ranking:

within Mystacine, each mercenary has a ranking to determine their skill level and what work is best for them. The rank is done by a long ribbon tied around their waist( or when they wear their ceremonial uniform, where it is worn like a sash), and goes as such:

White ribbon: these are the mercenaries who are given jobs too menial for higher up ranks. Often considered a joke rank

Yellow ribbon: a bit higher than white ribbon, this is where jobs with slight danger are given. This is also where most mercenaries start out.

Orange ribbon: a moderate danger risk, those that start with this rank will most likely have great potential as a mercenary.

Green ribbon: the midpoint of the totem pole, this is where most mercenaries lie.

Blue ribbon: those that have great care and skill for their job earn this rank through perseverance

Brown ribbon: not a rank to be taken lightly, those that achieve this rank have done so through years of experience and wisdom.

Red ribbon: those with this elite rank are considered the best of the best. Only those with a mixture of raw talent, determination, experience, skill, and gifts have hope to achieve this rank(however, androids probably wouldn’t have any trouble)

Black ribbon: a legendary rank, in the entire history of Mystacine, only around 15 have achieved this rank, a 1 in 2000 chance. It is commonly believed that those who achieve this rank could be considered inhuman.

The ranking is based off of traditional martial art belt rankings. Like with martial arts, successful work is what is needed to reach the next rank.

Instead of automatically starting off at white ribbon, you are given an entry exam after nine months of training. How well you do determines what your starting belt is, with at least 50% being required to pass.

Jobs

Jobs in Mystacine  are acquired in one of two ways.

Either they scan the area’s most wanted list for wanted lists

Or a commission is sent out, requesting help specifically from Mystacine. Either for any of the mercenaries within the commission's division, or a mercenary specified

When a job is received and accepted by a member, one of two things will happen depending on where the member is located.

If the Mercenary is operating outside of Mystacine boundaries( not on Janachu island), then they will be given the coordinates and be asked to find their own way to where the commission was issued.

If the Mercenary is taking up residence within Meerstadt, they will be provided transportation based on the target’s distance, with their options being by boat, plane, or remote controlled high speed stealth drone.(once a mission is completed, a new vehicle will be sent to pick you up unless otherwise specified).

Once the mission has started, the game is on

With all the possible dangers that could occur on every mission, a mercenaries life is constantly on the line. Weapons and armor will only go so far to save your life. Therefore, For every mission, constant communication  between Mystacine headquarters and the mercenaries is paramount.

This communication has three major purposes

To keep a constant surveillance on the Mercenaries vitals.

To send information between both parties for data purposes, so that both parties can keep up to date with information on their target

To analyze the actions of the mercenary for assessment purposes

To keep in touch with as all the active mercenaries at once, Mystacine invests a great deal of time into monitoring and caring for the servers that allow them to keep in touch with active mercenaries.

In order to keep in touch with a mercenary, multiple electrical systems are brought into play.

Around the mandatory under armour of each mercenary’s suit, a system of wiring and sensor nodes are implanted, too small to feel or see. These sensors keep a constant, passive track of their:

Heart beat

Brain activity

Blood pressure

Oxygen levels

Toxicity levels

Radiation levels

Body temperature

Blood sugar

Etc

Should any of these reach dangerous levels, an alert is sent out both to headquarters and to the mercenary in question.

Additionally, every mercenary is provided an earpiece, either built into their helmet or its own thing if the mercenary does not use a helmet. This earpiece comes with a microphone and a mini projector screen to flash information.

A mission, depending on the planning, budget, execution, and any other unforeseen complications, a mission could end up taking an average of anywhere from 2 days to 2 months.

Once the mission is finished, either with success or failure, payment is to be collected. Once that is finished, the mercenary performance is to undergo a short evaluation. While that is being processed, a pickup vehicle is sent to the mercenary’s location( or if their base of operations is away from Meerstadt, make their way back on their own).

Additional jobs

Besides the Mercenary jobs, Mystacine has plenty of other ways patrons can help out. With an organization of this caliber, many jobs are needed in order to keep it working the organization operating at maximum capacity. Jobs might include helping out mercenaries, keeping Meerstadt and Janachu island in top shape, and others.The work force needed to take care of these jobs takes up ⅓ of the total Mystacine workforce, not to mention about ½ of the residency of Meerstadt.

With so many jobs needed, mercenaries can volunteer their time in Meerstadt to lending a hand, whether it be for a little extra pay, to make up for a bad string or total lack of accepted missions, or for a number of other reasons.

Within Mystacine, a set of general rules and laws have been set. Most of these laws are the standard laws you find in any workplace.

The Code of Mystacine

Along with the founding of Mystacine, this set of Codes were created as a set of tenets for its mercenaries to follow.

We are a philanthropic brotherhood, to better the lives those we work for. To protect the weak and place judgment upon the corrupted.

Our brotherhood is only as strong as our weakest link. To strive for our best potential is paramount.

We do not work with those who seek to harm the innocent. To topple governments and strike terror into hearts of civilians is to forsake what is right in the world for personal benefit. Terrorism is below us

With the power we gain, responsibility must be taken to not give in to temptation. Self control must be exercised at all times.

Though the world might see us as nothing more than a tool, we are more then that: We live, we breath, we fight, and we struggle.

Misc.

Every patron gets a 3 types of cloths upon arrival

Ceremonial uniform

Recreational gear

Mercenary gear

Did you know that, even though Mystacine is one of the most well known Mercenary companies on Ellin, it is still fairly unknown, even being seen as nothing but a myth to those who’ve heard it’s name.

well, that is it this time. See all none of you next time

Modern Mystacine Logo

The White bats

[lychrono]

12: The Mercenaries of Rhamsin division

Hello everyone, welcome back to the blog

this week, to make up for all my previous late updates, I only posted this one a day late

Aspen Carlo

Gender: Male

Species: Ferret  (Mustela putorius furo)

Age: 79(As of prologue)

Height: 5’ 9” (175.25 cm)

Weight: 163 lbs (73.9356 kg)

Eye color: turquoise

Description:  At the age of 79, Aspen is a ferret who has seen much in his life. Born on the island before Mystacine even existed, Aspen grew up training to be an assassin under the eye of his father, he had grown to become one of the greatest assassins of his age. Besides this, most of his past life is shrouded under a mysterious veil.

Now that he is too old to continue his profession, he has taken on the role of the head of Mystacine’s Rhamsin division, looking out for the all the new recruits that join up in the division. Because of his welcoming personality, gaining the nickname of “Uncle Aspen”.

Among the recruits, he has a reputation of a cunning yet kind father. He wants to push them to be the best they can be, having some questionable methods when pushing his recruits, but he is always  willing to sit down with them and talk to them if he ever needs to.

For his age, he is rather well rounded, still showing hints of his past agility and strength from the days of his youth.

Equipment and abilities:

Twin Ice pick axes( modified into a walking stick for old age)

Elderly wisdom and experience

Remarkable strength and agility for his age

Master in hand to hand combat techniques

Master of weaponry both meter and long range.

Cunning, resourceful, and strategic

 Amethyst Carlo

Gender: Female

Species: Ferret (Mustela putorius furo)

Age: 34

Height: 6’ (182.88 cm)

Weight: 157 lbs (71.214 kg)

Eye color: Amethyst

Description: As the Daughter of Aspen, she has a great amount of respect in the Rhamsin division. Growing up under the care of her father, she has received an amazing education under Mystacine and has shown genius levels of intellect, tests shows that she easily has an IQ of 170.

Amethyst, like her father, shows cunning, resourcefulness, and strategic thinking. However, while Aspen shows an inviting personality, Amethyst appears cold and emotionless, trying to keep her distance from other people. From what is said about her, she views the mercenaries of both Rhamsin division and mystacine in general as nothing more than people she is obligated to work with. Nobody knows much about her besides the fact that she is Aspens daughter.

 Cindrix

Gender: Male

Species: Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana)

Age: 32

Height: 6’ 2” (187.96 cm)

Weight: 183 lbs (83.0074)

Eye color: dark gray

Description: hailing from the marshlands of southern Rhamsin, Cindrix took on the mercenary and Sheriff of his home town in order to provide for his family. After several successful missions, his achievements were picked up by Mystacine, who invited him to be a part of the family, becoming the first member of New Mystacine’s Rhamsin division.

Because of his expertise in archery and quick movements, he is often seen as ranger class. To go along with this, he displays a laid back, calm attitude, usually giving a chuckle to lighten the mood. Do not let the attitude fool you, as he is just as deadly as any other, even becoming downright ruthless if pushed too hard.

Equipment and abilities:

Compound bow and arrows

His own ranger outfit

Enhanced strength and agility

Survival gear

Tether rope

Decoy body

Ranger hat

Combat training

Combat knife

 Lula

Gender: Female

Species: white tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus)

Age: 31

Height: 5’ 8.5” (173.99 cm)

Weight: 142 lbs (64.4101 kg)

Eye color: burgundy

Description: At first, she used her burglary to rob indiscriminately for her own selfish gain. However, as she learned more about the corruption of the business tycoons, she had become more of a robinhood figure, robbing the corrupt for the less fortunate. This catches the attention of Mystacine, who invites her to join Mystacine. At first reluctant, she joins up as the second recruit behind Cindrix.

  Lula is quite the extrovert and a social butterfly. She is quite the mischievous deer, loves pulling pranks on others and stealing things out of people's pockets when their not looking(not forever). She is also into gossip, always looking for new things to learn about people.

Equipment and abilities:

Electroshock gauntlet

Lock picks

Communications jammer

Infrared goggles

Survival gear

Silenced tranquilizer gun.

Laser cutter

Hand to hand combat training

Enhanced strength and agility

Bolas

 Wimple

Gender: Male

Species: Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus)

Age: 27

Height:5’ 6” (167.64 cm)

Weight: 128 lbs (58.0598 kg)

Eye color: peach

Description: Not exactly the kind of person you’d expect to be a mercenary. Wimple came from a household where expectations of masculinity were wanted. When his alcoholic father disowned him, he went out searching for something to beef him up so his dad and brothers would accept him. After a bit of travel, he heard about Mystacine and decided it was perfect.

Among his peers, Wimple was always seen as sort of an oddball. With a frail build, a girly, modest, lacking of self confidence personality, and a love for anime. It's a wonder what kept him alive through his jobs. Because of his persona, he has become the butt end of jokes among rhamsin division, even though they love him like family.

Equipment and abilities:

A weaponized shovel/ mini shovel…

His own suit

Survival gear

Tether cord

A pistol (which he lost on his first mission)

Incomprehensible dumb luck which goes bad then good.

Questionable agility and strength.

Combat training

Anji

Gender: Female

Species: Striped Skunk (Mephitis mephitis)

Age: 30

Height: 6’ 4” (193.04 cm)

Weight: 207 lbs (93.8936 kg)

Eye color: hetero chromatic ( red and green)

Description: Hearing about Mystacine when she was out traveling Rhamsin to find her own purpose, she decided to put her years of martial arts training to work and joined up.

a proud and honorable assassin, she is proud of the work she does, and becomes pouty when someone gets to her target first or tells her that she did not do the job well enough

Equipment and abilities:

Twin tonfas

Armor suit

Survival gear

Tether rope

Caltrops

Needle darts

Combat training

Enhanced agility and strength

Mamba

Gender: Female

Species: northwestern wolf(Canis lupus occidentalis)

Age: unknown (believed young adult around 22)

Height: unknown

Weight: unknown

Eye color: unknown

Description: one day, while a group of Mercenaries were sent to investigate the freshly smoldering ruins of an outskirts village, they came across an unusual and tragic sight: a female wolf, wearing a mask of scrap and old rags. She couldn't have been older than 22, and was crying to herself. Figuring that she was an orphan with nowhere to go, the group, after discussion and argument, decided to adopt her and bring her back to Mystacine.

When introduced to aspen, she silently shook his hand, Aspen feeling uneasy as he looked upon her cold expressionless scrap mask.

At the exam to test her abilities, the test started: she ripped apart the most advanced practice dummies without taking a single hit, absolutely dumbfounding Aspen and the other judges. After performing all of the other tests above and beyond flawless, she was granted the highest level of mercenary available: the black ribbon. Only a select few mercenaries are even considered for the honor, and even fewer get it. Once word spread of this accomplishment, discussions arose of whether she was even a normal kegawen. Many different emotions arose about her, of fear, jealousy , and scorn.

Some began to bully her, until after five minutes of teasing when she lashed out, slashing his face up with claws and nearly killing the poor bastard. Since that day, extra attention was placed on her by surveillance, and people started to take caution around her. As for her, she has become a shut in recluse, only coming out of her room to retrieve food and for missions.

Nobody knows why she wears the mask or what's under it, and everybody is too scared to ask.

Equipment and abilities:

Self made snake scale armor

Twin Jian swords forged from obsidian steel

Tether rope

Survival gear

Blinding strength and agility

Combat master

Throwing stars

 Dawn

Gender: Male

Species: Common Raccoon (Procyon lotor)

Age: 23

Height: 5’ 7” (170.18 cm)

Weight: 165 lbs (74.843 kg)

Eyecolor: Blue

Description: According to the words of the other mercenaries, Hunter’s not the only member from Pelzitreff. Supposedly an assassin is currently living there going by the name of Dawn. Although he usually stays there, he occasionally returns to Janachu for one reason or another. Perhaps Hunter will have a chance to meet him.

Equipment and abilities

Sniper rifle

Twin wrist blades

Light refraction stealth camo

Survival gear

Tether cord

Enhanced agility and strength

Combat training

[lychrono]

Aurora the cat concept art