Chapter 1 - The Hopper

The forest was quiet tonight, as quiet as a graveyard. No wind blew through the branches, no sound arose from the trees, as if they were holding their breath. The creatures of the forest felt a united unease growing in them as they felt an almost electric charge in the air.

None of them had any idea how literal that would be in just a moment.

Lightning began to dance through the air, at first just sparking at random but then forming itself into a spiral, becoming more and more intense until a massive funnel of lightning appeared. It stayed in a steady form for about twenty seconds before dropping a figure roughly onto the ground nearby.

The figure landed on his feet, but was unable to stay upright. He collapsed quickly, his legs buckling like rubber bands as he collapsed on the ground, groaning weakly.

The creatures of the forest had scattered at his sudden arrival. But when the figure, which they now recognized as a young human male, didn’t move more than the occasional rolling over and groaning, they started to regain their courage… and their interest…

A single figure emerged from the shadows of the forest, a lithe, buxom female form clad in nothing save her fur. Light brownish-gray fur covered her body, black fur around her hands and feet, also forming a bandit’s mask around her crystal blue eyes. A long, fluffy tail emerged from the base of her spine, waving about curiously as she slunk towards the prone figure. In one hand she gripped a cane made of carved oak, a curving, hooked ‘C’ like shape at the top of it. She sniffed the air, her raccoon-like muzzle twitching slightly as she cautiously moved in to take a better look at him.

He was a young man, about his early twenties by her guess. He was slightly out of shape, but his arms and chest were muscular enough to her tastes. She let out a pleased churring sound, and looked him over some more.

He had light, sandy-blonde hair and green eyes the color of emeralds (the thought of the shiny gems making her shiver in delight), and a light amount of stubble on his face. His was clad in a dark blue shirt and black jeans, with white sneakers adorning his feet.

 

The raccoon-woman’s eyes fell onto his pants. There was a bulging in his pockets that she suddenly found very interesting. She crept a little closer to him and reached out with her cane, gently working the hook into his pocket. She felt around a little, freezing when she felt him groan and turn over, still unconscious, and continued when he didn’t wake up. She felt the hook on the end catch something, and quickly pulled it out of his pocket, catching it easily in one hand. A wallet.

 

Curious, she opened it and began looking through it, sitting cross-legged next to him. She pulled out the paper money in the main flap of the wallet, looking at it curiously. The raccoon-woman snorted, finding no value in the green pictures of ugly men, crumpling them up and tossing them over her shoulder. She did the same with the driver’s license and credit cards she found., although the holograms were shiny enough to catch her eye. She shook the wallet, wondering if it was even worth it to pick his pocket. Her ears perked up when she heard a jingling coming from one of the pockets. She looked and found a zipped up area, and opened it, dumping the contents out onto her palm.

 

She churred happily, the coins jingling and tinkling pleasantly to her ears. She set her cane in her lap and played with the coins, letting them jingle and jangle back and forth between her palms. As the raccoon woman played with the change, she noticed that the man who’s pocket she had just picked was starting to wake up. She watched amusedly as he groaned, rolling to his chest and pushing himself upright.

 

"Oh man… What happened?" the man said, clutching his head and brushing dirt off of his gray sweatpants and black t-shirt. The raccoon-woman looked at him a little more closely, and had to bite back a snicker. He really was average looking. Handsome, but nothing memorable.

 

"Hey… hey that’s my wallet!" the young man said, seeing his name, Aaron Towers, etched on the object in the raccoon-woman’s hands.

 

"Raccunt," the raccoon-woman said petulantly, grinning wickedly and holding it behind her back.

 

Aaron scowled at her. "C’mon, this isn’t funny. Just give it back."

 

The raccoon-woman just smirked, putting the coins back in the wallet and waving it in his face, snapping it back when he reached for it.

 

Aaron slowly got to his feet, wincing in pain from the fall, and glared at the raccoon woman. "I can make you regret this, lady. Don’t make me do it."

 

The raccoon-woman frowned at him, but her smirk quickly came back as she flipped to her feet. She then leaped up again, her muscular legs carrying her up the trunk of a nearby tree, where she perched on a branch, way out of his reach. She stuck her tongue out at him and started to make her escape, leaping from branch to branch, using her cane to make wider swings.

 

Aaron glared at her, and pulled a silver necklace out from under his shirt. Ten charms were on the necklace, five of them clutching glowing gemstones. Aaron crossed his arms in front of his chest, hunched over slightly, and concentrated, a wind picking up around him as his eyes began glowing. When he spoke, his voice held an echo to it.

 

"What’s mine is mine, and all shall see, as what is mine doth return to me!" he said, thrusting out his hand.

 

The raccoon-woman nearly fell out of her tree branch as the wallet suddenly glowed, starting to fly back towards the young man she had just robbed. She grabbed onto the wallet and tried to hold on, but the force of the spell on it was too strong. She ended up flying through the air, wailing helplessly as her loot was taken back. A few feet in front of Aaron she lost her grip, landing face first in the dirt, the wallet flying back to Aaron’s outstretched hand.

 

He smirked at her, pocketing his wallet again, and held out his hand to help her up. The raccoon-woman scowled, and pushed herself up without taking his hand. She frowned at him, the magic display making her reconsider her tactics. Her cane, which she had held in her tail when she started flying through the air, twirled idly, the raccoon-woman tossing it idly between her tail and hands as she thought. It didn’t help that his shiny, bejeweled necklace was distracting her.

 

"Raccunt," she said suddenly, her voice authoritative. She held out her hand, and pointed to the necklace, beckoning for it as if she expected him to give it over. "RacCUNT," she said, her voice firm.

 

Aaron gave her an incredulous look. "If you’re saying what I think you’re saying, then you have GOT to be kidding me. This necklace is mine."

 

The raccoon-woman frowned, and planted her cane on the ground, a thoughtful look as she considered what to do next. She wanted that necklace. It was SOOO shiny, SOOO pretty...

 

She looked him over again, and grinned. She churred softly, holding her cane behind her as she sauntered towards him. Aaron blinked, and backed away, blushing as he got an idea of what she wanted.

 

She churred softly, her fluffy tail flitting back and forth as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pressing her bare breasts up against his chest.

 

"Um… Ma’am…" he stammered, trying not to look down at the raccoon woman’s impressive cleavage as she cuddled up to him. It was a losing battle, as he felt her nipples rubbing up against his shirt. His pants started to get uncomfortable between his legs as she leaned up to kiss him, her soft lips pressing up against his own. But even as she did, her hands were at work, reaching for the clasp of his necklace and starting to undo it…

 

…An effort which was rewarded by a burst of electricity which surged through the raccoon-woman, sending her staggering back.

 

Aaron sighed and rolled his eyes. "Eh, I thought so. Still, it was nice while it lasted."

The raccoon-woman rubbed her hands, still sore from the magic blast, and glared at him. Aaron glared right back.

 

"For the record, lady, the necklace is mine and stays mine. It’s enchanted so that no one, no matter how powerful, can touch it but me, not even when I’m dead. So back off, ya thief. I’ve had a very bad day, first falling through that dimensional portal my master conjured up and by SHEER LUCK not landing on my head, and then having you try to mug me. I do NOT need any of this now, so leave and I won’t have to hurt you." he snarled, clenching his fists.

 

The raccoon-woman flinched at the word ‘dimensional portal,’ and took a step back from him, her expression fearful. She twirled her cane and took an attack posture, hunching low to the ground.

 

Aaron gave her a confused look, but took his own stance anyway, one arm held upward, the other held behind it at a ninety degree angle. "So you want to throw down, whatever you are? That’s fine. I didn’t start this, but I’ll finish… it…"

 

Both Aaron and the raccoon-woman turned, feeling a sudden presence nearby. A hulking, shadowy form that was vaguely human in appearance lumbered towards them, a low, inhuman moan coming from its throat.

 

"WHERE… WHERE IS… MY MATE…" it bellowed, shaking the ground around it.

 

That broke the raccoon-woman’s nerve. Letting out a chittering shriek, she turned and scampered off. Aaron frowned at her, and then turned back to the shadowy figure, which continued to stalk forward. Aaron bit his lip, not dropping the stance he had taken, trying to think of how to handle this.

 

"WHERE IS SHE… WHERE IS MY BELOVED…" the shadowy figure bellowed. It moaned, and reared back, its hands cupped at its hips. Dark blue energy began to gather between its palms.

 

"That’s ki… That ghost’s a martial artist…" Aaron said. The shadowy figure let out a bellowing moan, and thrust its hands forward, shooting out a massive ki projectile. Aaron barely managed to dodge out of the way, the blast just barely brushing him as it shattered the tree is struck, sending him flying.

 

Aaron landed roughly, wincing as a spike of pain shot through his arm. He then had to shield his eyes as shards from the shattered tree landed near him.

 

Aaron chuckled weakly, slowly getting to his feet, never taking his eyes off of the ghost as it came towards him again, moaning.

 

He smirked, and said, "Yeah, you’re definitely a MalSpirit. Which means you’re mine."

 

Clasping his necklace in one hand, he held out his other hand, two fingers point upward. He concentrated, closing his eyes as the ghost began to build up energy for another projectile attack. Aaron’s whole body began to glow, an ethereal wind starting to blow again.

 

"Fearsome ghost, menace to all, the time has come for thee to fall. Threaten life, and hurt no more. Serve me now and forever more!!"

 

Aaron’s voice echoed as he cast his spell. His eyes opened, and the aura surrounding him increased in intensity, flying from his body and wrapping itself entirely around the ghost, cancelling out its attack and starting to force it into a fetal position. It bellowed in rage, fighting back with amazing strength, but Aaron’s stance never faltered. His aura never broke, and the ghost slowly began to shrink. The aura forced the ghost, despite its best efforts to push its way free, into a fetal position, shrinking it down until it was the size of one of the crystals in Aaron’s necklace.

 

Aaron smirked, and spread his outstretched hand wide, clenching it tightly into a fist. In a flash of light, the ghost was transformed into a solid, pure black crystal. It floated in midair for a moment and flew to one of the empty places on Aaron’s necklace. One of the claw-like holders came alive, grabbing the gem and holding it in place.

 

Aaron smirked. "And that’s six. Four more and I go up in rank from apprentice to journeyman."

 

The black gem quivered, as if angry, but stopped after a moment. Aaron ignored it, choosing to look around and try to get his bearings.

 

"I don’t recognize any of this…" he said after a few minutes. He frowned, but then he shrugged, gripping the blue crystal on his necklace. "When all else fails, act the Knowledge MalSpirit you caught," he said, closing his eyes and concentrating again to cast a new spell.

 

"A whim, a thought, and more is sought. Awake my mind; thy will be wrought!"

 

The blue crystal flashed, a ghostly figure emerging from it, taking the shape of a long-beared old man in a lab coat, the magic of the crystal making him appear in various shades of blue.

 

"Greetings my lord. What do you wish of Sage Vorgan today?" the ghost said.

 

"That stupid portal my master made dropped me somewhere else on the planet. Bad enough that it bounced me around the dimensions, I was too weak to even stand up when I came back. Where am I, anyway?"

 

The ghost looked around for a bit and sighed. "I am afraid I have bad news, my boy. You are not anywhere on your world."

 

Aaron frowned. "Then I’m in a spirit world? That would explain the raccoon-woman, I guess…"

 

Vorgan shook his head. "You misunderstand me. That was a true dimensional portal you were accidentally sucked into, my lord. You are still on Earth, but you have traversed time and space. You are in an alternate reality."

 

"WHAT?!" Aaron said, "That… That’s impossible!!"

 

Vorgan scowled. "You are a MalCatcher. You catch evil spirits such as myself and turn them into items for your use. And you say something is impossible?"

 

Aaron frowned. He did have a point. "All right, so I’m in an alternate reality. What can you tell me?"

 

Vorgan sighed. "Very little, unfortunetly, but I will learn more as you experience more of this world. For instance, I learned a lot from your encounter with that girl after reading her soul."

 

"Oh really?"

 

Vorgan nodded. "Yes. The dominant species on this world is humans, but the majority species on this world is Pokégirls. Her particular breed of Pokégirl is called a Raccunt, a breed known for its severe kleptomania. She was once human, a girl named Candy who was already a bit of a thief. She thought at first that you were a Pokéboy, a male offshoot of the Pokégirl breed created in the year 460 AS, which stands for After Sukebe." At the surprised look on Aaron’s face, Vorgan nodded and said, "Yes, the old pervert does have an analogue here, but this one did a lot of damage before his torture and murder. All Pokéboys are designed to be subservient to ANY female, and both Pokégenders need to have sex to maintain their minds and sanity."

 

Aaron blushed. "Okaaay… That’s, um… different…"

 

"I’m afraid there is bad news as well," Vorgan said.

 

"Of course there is," Aaron muttered, rubbing his temples, "go ahead and tell me."

 

"The year is 550 AS. The current leader of the world, a powerful Geomancer by the name of Victor Von Doom, supposedly made it impossible for people to travel to this reality from another. Malevolent reality travelers, called ‘Hoppers,’ were a great problem during the last war, which lasted 50 years before the Hoppers were defeated. The fact that you are here presents a problem, that Von Doom’s supposed ‘perfect shield’ against dimensional travel has FAILED. And you, Aaron Towers, are marked for death."

 

Aaron frowned. "I don’t get it. I’m not a ‘Hopper.’ I wouldn’t harm anyone, ‘cept maybe a bad guy or two."

 

"That doesn’t matter. You came here from another reality. Which means that you’re in trouble, and we have to find a way to get you home."

 

A loud, snarling roar came from off in the distance, followed soon after by a woman’s terrified scream. Aaron frowned, and started to run in that direction.

 

Vorgan floated after him, screaming, "Don’t be a fool, Aaron! You don’t know this reality, you don’t know its rules! Aside from that, anyone who finds out that you’re a Hopper will be a danger to you!"

 

Aaron glared at Vorgan, and sucked him back into his crystal. "Whatever happens, I’ll handle it. And right now someone’s in trouble. One of the primary duties of a MalCatcher is to help someone in need, and I’ll be damned if I fail in that duty…"

++++++++++++++
To be continued…
++++++++++++++