Nothing ever changed in the town of Charm. Everyday the villagers woke at the crack of dawn and began the odious task of tending to their chocoboob and KATTLE herds in the dead of another Opal League winter. As the sun rose higher into the sky the few merchants in the heart of the town opened their stalls and harked their meager wares. The sun would continue its long trek across the sky, seeming as miserable and pale as the poor souls that labored under its paltry heat. As it reached the zenith of its climb the villagers would inevitably pause in their labors for a hearty meal and maybe catch a short nap before returning to the work that had to be done this day and every day that would follow. Finally the sun would sink below the horizon and the average people with their average families would return to their average home and sleep before starting another day exceptional with its mediocrity.
“I’ll never understand the thoughts of these poor people,” a tall youth with red hair muttered as he leaned against a wall.
“It’s not like they aren’t happy Dom,” another red headed boy said to his twin. “When your whole world is as small as a place like Charm you learn to settle”
“Sucks for them Damien. I’ll never settle for a life in the mud. I’m going to get the hell out of here and never look back.”
“Yeah okay. We’ve heard it all before, you’re just going to walk into the clinic and magically take the tamer test that between the five of use we couldn’t afford. Then after that you are be given an Angel or Megami as your starter and together you will roam the world seeing sights the rest of us mortals could only imagine.”
Dominique grimaced at his brothers words. He knew that he would never be able to afford to take the tamers test. In a league like Opal where seventy percent of the wealth was help by five percent of the population an orphan like him could never hope to find the money to avoid a fate destined for manual labor. That, coupled with the fact that terrorist acts in the north were quickly escalating to a civil war, practically guaranteed Dom’s life to become one of a draftee.
“But that’s why we’re doing this right?” a small mousy boy said with a squeaky voice that suited his appearance perfectly. “We’ll knock over this convoy and then we’ll all live like kings!”
“Damn right Rat. As soon as they leave we’ll follow them out of town and…well lots of bad things happen in the woods around here,” Dom said with a sneer. “That is if Alex ever gets here. I swear if he makes us wait any longer I’ll-“
“You’ll do what I wonder?” a voice interrupted. Walking out of the shadows deeper in the alley came a lean, wiry boy no older that 16. Curly black hair was pulled into a ponytail and tied back with a piece of dirty blue cloth. In fact everything the boy wore was covered in varying layers of filth. From the muddy boots he wore to the stained tee-shirt, the boy looked like he had just climbed out of a sinkhole.
“Alex!” Rat squeaked, surprised. Everything surprised Rat.
“Why you so dirty?” a fat boy sitting on a box asked.
“Because genius, if they see a group of people walking around this late they are going to be suspicious” Alex responded slowly, choosing his words with care. Jake was slower that a Bimbo and needed to be walked through complex ideas. “If we look like a bunch of farm hands coming home after a long night then they will just drive right on past. Like you said Dom, these woods can be dangerous, they will be on guard.”
Dom snarled at the newcomer. As much as he hated to admit it Alex was right, he usually was. Always finding the small details that Dom and his brother missed and planning down to the last meticulous detail. Without Alex the whole plan would have failed, he always seemed to be one step ahead of everyone around him. Dom hated him.
“You’re late.” Damien growled. He shared his brother’s dislike of the quiet boy. “Any later and we would have done it without you. It would have sucked to been cut out of your take.”
“I’m sorry,” Alex replied flatly as he hung his head. He knew what was coming next. The twins never missed a chance to try and humble him. Though they ran the gang, Alex knew that he was the only one with enough foresight to prevent the lot of them from being turned over to the police.
Lighting quick a hand lashed out and slammed into the side of his head. Their blood gifts of speed made the twins formidable enemies, particularly when Alex had no combat gifts of his own. Cool Headed wouldn’t help him against a pair of pissed of bullies that moved quicker than he could see. Hands and feet pummeled him relentlessly, but he took his beating without a word of complaint. He never complained.
“Enough,” Dom panted as he whipped a strand of hair from his face. “Pick yourself up and lets go. We need to get moving before they pack up and leave.”
Alex spat out a clot of blood and climbed to his feet. Dom wasn’t the only one with dreams of leaving the spec of a town. If working with these assholes would get him out of here and duck a life of military service then Alex would take as many beatings as it took.
Mouse snickered before heading up the road. For his part Jake simply looked at Alex with a look of confusion before he started to follow the greasy blonde. Jake didn’t understand why Alex had to be punished but something must have happened. After all Dom only had their best interests at heart. Plodding behind Rat, Jake distracted himself by thinking of the things he would buy when they robbed the circus that was passing through the town.
Charm was bisected by a single road. To the North was the heart of the league with great cities like Frostfall and White Cross. Traveling the southern road would lead to the Sea of Scylla and eventually to Stormgale. The traveling circus had come down from the north road, taken one look at the dirtball of a town and promptly announced that they would continue their trek to the south. The bastards hadn’t even stayed a day to put on a show; they knew there was no money to be made in a town like Charm. The villagers, too used to abuse from league officials and soldiers, just shrugged their bowed shoulders and returned to work. They had been slighted before and would be slighted again.
I hate them all, Dom though to himself as he hid in the brush at the edge of the road. Weak people who accepted being kicked around and the stuck-up pricks that think that they are too good for us poor village folk.
Further down the road Alex tried to lie in a way that the branches of the downed tree he was behind didn’t stab into his bruised body. The twins hadn’t held back like they usually did. It wasn’t his first beating from the two of them, they often vented their frustrations or boredoms on him. Rat usually just sat back and enjoyed the show while Jake was just too dumb to understand what was really going on. Once they did this job though Alex was going to leave, and he would kill the two of them if they ever crossed paths again.
The squeaking of wagon wheels froze Alex where he was. This was it. Two of the wagons had passed before Alex jumped to his feet and began stumbling toward the last one as if drunk. Leaning heavily on a thick branch he had picked up, Alex approached the tailing wagon and started singing in a slued voice.
“What the hell do you want?” one of the caravan guard growled as he drew closer. Alex quickly sized him up as he pretend to stumble on a dip in the road. No taller that Alex, the guard was dressed in an ill fitting blue and grey uniform. Two pokeballs hung from his waist, but the guard’s hands were tucked deep in his pockets to avoid the chill of the night. It was a cold night too, Alex finally noticed as his breath steamed around his head. His hammering heart and shot nerves had prevented him from noticing it earlier, but now he shivered hard and had to clutch his stick to prevent from falling over.
“What the hell man?” Alex slurred out as he walked closer to the guard. “You guysh jusht walk into town and don’t even do a show? What are we to shtupid for your shtupid tricks mister….shtupid head?” Alex continued to stumble around until he was in front of the wagon before he promptly fell on his face. The Ponytaur pulling the wagon stopped dead in her tracks lest she trample the drunk man. Looking back at the guard with a look of disgust on her face, she waited for instructions.
“Dumbass farmers,” the guard said to no one in particular. “Should just let Justine run you over”
Before he had taken more than two steps however, he stiffened and shrieked. Twirling around, he grabbed Rat and threw him off. Clutching the bloody dagger in one hand, Rat jumped up and tacked the guard before stabbing him repeatedly. The Ponytaur pulling the wagon screamed and shot an ember attack at Rat, but her attack went high. Before she could attack again though, Alex smashed her hard in the head with his walking stick. Alex swung again and again until the pokegirl fell over with blood streaming out of her cracked skull.
Further up the convoy shouts and screams broke out and flashes of light could be seen. Alex turned around and cursed before he grabbed Rat and drug him off the road. The small boy was shaking hard and mumbling under his breath too quick for Alex to follow. Leaving Rat, Alex ran back at the column and snatched up the bloody dagger lying in a widening pool of blood next to the dead guard. The screaming continued and Alex ran a fast as he could to reach the front of the column.
There was something wrong. The screaming hadn’t stopped and Alex found it hard to believe the Jake and the twins could be causing that much trouble with the pipes and knives they had. Rounding the last wagon Alex froze in his track and nearly pissed himself when he saw the carnage before him. People and pokegirls were torn limb from limb and standing over a pile of bloody parts was a horror Alex never hoped to see.
Strangely, the first thing he noticed wasn’t the blood dripping from her fanged maw, nor was it the wicked claws that were buried in the chest of some unrecognizable hunk of meat. It wasn’t even her large breasts or hourglass figure that his usually lust chocked mind would focus his attention on. No, the first thing he noticed was her eyes, two crimson orbs that rose from her meal and froze him in his tracks with a primal sense of fear he had never before felt. Those same had pierced him, bored a hole to his very soul and found him lacking. Only after she dropped her meal and began to laugh did he notice the gore splattered across her impressive chest. Only after she took her first step toward him did he notice her blue scales and massive wingspan. Only after he started to scream did he notice the spiked tail that swished behind her in excitement.
Alex tried to move. His mind screamed at his body to move as his mouth screamed into the night. His muscles began to burn and ache as he tried to run, but still he was unable to even tear he eyes from her crimson gaze. Those eyes had him rooted in place. They filled his mind with promises of pain and death, shutting down his mind until all he could see were two glowing eyes on a sea of black.
Suddenly his body was moving, flying to the side. As he hit the ground he mentally cringed at the crippling pain he expect to feel any second. However, as he lay there, eyes squeezed close, the only pain he felt was a dull throb on his side followed by a stinging slap to his face.
“What the hell are you doing? RUN!” a familiar face screamed at him. Opening his eyes he almost cried at the sight of Rat’s greasy face so close to his own. “Hurry up we need to- URK!”
Rat’s body jerked suddenly and his face twisted in a grimace of pain. At the same time, Alex felt a sharp pain in his chest. Looking his friend’s shoulder he saw the Pokegirl’s tail sticking out of his back; the barbed spike had impaled Rat. Looking down he realized that the sharp pain had been the end of the spike ripping out of Rat’s chest and cutting his own.
Rat and Alex both looked from the bloody spike and for a moment locked eyes. Rat then did something that would burn its self into Alex’s mind for as long as he would live, he shrugged. He shrugged and grinned.
“Well, that sucks” Rat gasped, blood flecking from his lips. Then he was flying trough the air back toward the shadow of death. Right before his body struck her she lashed out with her claws, stapping them through the back of his head and out his face in an explosion of gore.
Adrenaline pumping through his veins, Alex pushed himself from the ground and sprinted back down the road. He was a mile and a half from the edge of town, he would never make it. Still he ran, what else could he do. If he stopped he would die, he knew this with ever fiber in him. He ran until his legs burned and his breath came in gasps. He ran until he saw the lights of the town fill his vision. Only then did he stop.
He looked around frantically. He was next to the pokecenter, the only building open all day and night. Its warm, inviting glow spilled out the glass doors and illuminated the road. For a moment he dared to hope he had escaped the pokegirl, that he had somehow ran so fast that she lost him. That hope was crushed the moment he heard a thump behind him and felt displaced air breeze past him.
Slowly he turned around and saw the avatar of death behind him, bloody maw stretched in what Alex could only assume was a smile. She had followed him. Rather than finish him and feed on the caravan, she had taken to the air and followed him back to where she knew there would be more hunting. As Alex realized this, cold dread filled his body; whatever happened tonight would be his fault. He was the one who led her here to a place that had a problem with a buzzbreast swarm let alone an engine of destruction.
Spinning he ran into the pokecenter and the symbolic protection it offered him. As he crossed the threshold he heard the terror laugh with a voice so seductive he felt his blood stir in spite of his terror. Leaping over the counter he barreled through the back door and into the storage room. Hiding behind several large boxes, Alex curled up into a ball on the floor and waited to die. For a long moment nothing happened, the only sound was his own breathing echoing in his head.
Then, from outside, the screams began.