Wildale
Glades
Chapter One: Boy or Girl?
It was a normal night.
“Gwaaah!!”
Okay,
I confess; a large ferret was running top speed through a thick, deep
wood,
followed by a mob of other animals holding torches, pitchforks, and
other
peasant weapons, who were shouting at the top of their lungs.
“COME
BACK, YOU COWARD!!” the large, heavy bear in front of the mob hollered.
The
poor black-footed ferret was running and also confused.
“What
did I do, huh?!” she retorted.
“You
ransacked our village,” the bear replied, obviously angry.
“Whaaat?!”
“Don’t play dumb with me! We all saw you, a teenage, boy fe—“
“’Boy?!’” The ferret leapt forwards a
ways, ahead of the mob, and turned. “I’m a girl!” she bellowed, a bit
ticked
off. She raised her right arm. “Root—“ she began, and thrust her arm to
point
upwards, “—RAISE!”
Immediately,
a whole bunch of roots came out of the ground, exposed, in front of
her. The
mob had gotten close, but the elongated furry (slang for
anthropomorphic, furry
animal) smirked and stepped back. The bear came close—then tripped on a
root.
He fell, with others behind him. Soon, a large heap of animals was on
the
ground, dazed from the surprise move.
She
stood laughing, relishing a victory. She bent down to the now almost
entirely
hidden bear.
“I’m
a girl, got that bo—“ but she didn’t finish, because she was snatched
up by a
large, red blur. In about five seconds, she was high above the clouds.
“Quit
squirming, or I’ll drop you,” a deep, growling voice in her ear said.
She
opened her eyes, shut tight in fear and surprise, and looked, only to
gasp.
From
what she could tell from the moonlight, she was being carried by a
dragon, clad
with a shirt and what she felt with her body pants, wings outspread.
Flapping
now and then, he was holding her against his chest. Through orange
eyes, he
leered at her.
“Sheesh,
haven’t you seen a dragon before?” he asked, starting to blush
slightly, making
his already red face redder.
“OH!
Sorry, I’ve seen dragons, but never this close. Uh, what’s with the
carrying
thing, anyway?” She asked, puzzled.
“Why
else,” the dragon said, snorting, “you’re a wanted man, Jackson!” He
smirked,
but it immediately turned into a grimace as the girl suddenly exploded.
“
As
he approached the ground, he did a semi-back flip, then braked with his
wings.
“Sorry about that, ma’m,” he said in a growlish, but not as much as
before,
voice as soon as they landed and he put the ferret down.
“Yeah,
whatever, and I have a name! It’s Jessie, Jessie Suconchi,” she said,
brushing
herself off. “And you are…?”
“Hanson
Mavisco,” he replied, bowing.
Whoa,
a chivalrous dragon, Jessie
thought.
“I’m a bounty hunter—in
training—and I was trailing a bounty on a ferret named
Jessie did a once-over
of herself before replying. Her shirt, which only covered the necessary
parts,
as well as pants, brown boots, and dyed-green hair were all intact. She
made
sure her ponytail was in place, then made sure the daggers she hid
inside her
belt were still there.
“Oh, don’t worry; I’ve
been mistaken for a boy ferret before, hence the ani-pile you saw
before me
when you grabbed me…Wait a minute…”
“What?”
asked Hanson, looking up.
“I’ve
heard and seen him before in my life,” Jessie said slowly, body now
hunched in
its natural, comfortable pose of the back arching out a bit.
“Whoa,
where?! I need to get some information on him, you know, looks, etc.,”
Hanson
said, fixing the bastard sword at his side.
“He
was a bartender in a town I was in, and when my house burned down along
with my
parents, I went traveling to live life on my own. I stopped in to rest
and
order a snack with some juice. He slipped a lot of what I think was
alcohol in
the orange juice, and it sent me into an insane rampage.” She went to
sit down
on a nearby log. The clearing they were in had some stumps and rocks,
and only
a large tree nearby. Before she continued, Hanson raised a claw.
“Uh,
hey, I’m sorry, but can you do that root thingy again, but in a group
right
here?” he asked, pointing to a spot between them.
“Oh,
sure,” Jessie said, and pointed to the spot and used Root Raise. A
cluster of
roots rose from the soil, all thick and slightly moist.
“Thanks,
but I’m gonna have to dry them first,” Hanson said, and began to
breathe onto
the roots, which, after a few seconds, became dry. “Stand back,” he
said,
standing up, and when Jessie moved back a bit, he inhaled a great bunch
of air,
held it, and released a jet of fire at the dried roots.
Soon,
very soon, a fire raged at the spot, and he Hanson stopped his flaming
by
inhaling sharply, swallowing, and exhaling some smoke. “There, I
couldn’t see
you by moonlight alone,” he apologized.
“That’s
okay, I was a bit cold anyway,” Jessie, a chipped ear and
sunglassesesque mask
now visible. “Now, anyway,” she continued, sitting down, “he looked
like me,
but his hair was messy and his mask was like glasses, but with square
rims.”
“Fits
the description perfectly,” Hanson said, eyes closed, arms crossed, and
sitting
on a rock. “He’s ransacked three villages so far, and thus the bounty.
He’s
also able to use special abilities, alignment: Spirit, specialty: Sky.
He’s a
tough customer, all right…By the way,” he added, “can you use
abilities? I can,
obviously, and my alignment’s Body.”
“Yeah,
I can use abilities,” Jessie said, not expecting such a question so
soon,
“alignment: Spirit, specialty: Flora. Your specialty is Heat, I
presume. Well,
do you think you could take
“Yeah,
okay…You may be of some use. Wood doesn’t conduct electricity, and you
could
raise a root shield…” he trailed off.
“Look,
I want him no matter what. I may be physically weak, but I’m a ferret,
and you
don’t know how we work. I’m serious. I may be an outlaw, until I clear
my name,
that is, but let’s get
“Okay,
I suppose so. He’s wanted D-O-A, by the way, but preferably alive,” he
added,
seeing the manic glint in Jessie’s eyes. “Let’s do it.”