//-------------------------------------------------------// Crazy's New Experience -by unbounded- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter One- Cowardice //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter One- Cowardice A boy ran from the giant pony in his dream. He is white, has narrow blue eyes, and curly, dirty blonde hair. He ran as fast as he could from a beast which looked harmless to anybody else you would ask. It is, that's what terrified him. All he has ever known is pain and suffering, and when he sees something so innocent and different it is more scary to him than a gun to the head. That coward right there is me. My name is Chan Linniac. I am also from a family of psychopaths, its debatable whether I am a psychopath or not. You see, I was born with a curse, or at least I think I was. It's branded on the back of my left arm. Most of the time I bandage it over. I never knew what the symbol meant. But the symbol was some sort of curse of bad luck. It gets worse while I sleep, also the curse gets worse every passing day. I once had a friend whose family was assassins, all of them. One day he left me for dead though... I am currently trapped in Equestria, and having a nightmare! I have an extensive knowledge of this place! For example, I know it's name. That's it... Ah! Sleep! Once you get past the daily nightmares. Its the best! That is, until you wake up. Unfortunately for me, I woke up. Now I wish I didn't wake up, as I saw the face of a pink pony with a curly mane staring down at me. I admit it, I screamed like a little girl, and ran like I would not see the light of day again. I stopped so I could catch my breath while leaning against this tree. "What was that! I was SLEEPING! How long was she there, that's just plain creepy. I will never sleep the same again." I stopped my rambling when I saw something pink in the bush next to me. "Wait, before you jump out of those bushes and attack me in a painfully obvious way, why were you watching me sleep?" "I have not seen a human sleep before! It so exiting! My name is Pinkie Pie! I like parties and cupcakes!" She said bouncing up and down behind me. "How did you-" I turn back to the bushes and the thing is still there. I looked a little closer and was sprayed with pink confetti. I fell onto my back in surprise. Some confetti got into my mouth, I spit it out even more confused than before. "OOH! OOH! We are just going to be best friends! I'm going to go throw a party for our new friendship! It's going to be so much fun! Pinkie promise me to go!" Pinkie said quickly all while bouncing up and down. I stopped for a second to perceive what she had just said. You know what, I have some questions of my own, "Who said we were friends? What the hell is a Pinkie promise?" I thought that I would have some time to breath after my questions but she answered immediately. "Oh yeah! Wanna be friends! I'll throw lots if parties! It will be so much fun!" Yeah, I was a bit less than eager to start a new friendship in my given situation. "Umm... Sorry but, I don't need friends right now..." This was when I knew that I had messed up. I could tell that this pony was not going to take no for an answer. "What if I threw you a Party?" "I don't like parties." Right at this time, I saw my second mistake. Pinkie gasped audibly. "But everypony loves parties! Especially mine!" Everypony? What is this strange dialect? I thought at the time. Pinkie Pie stopped being surprised and went back to her overly happy and exited mood. She had a large smile on her face. "Oh! You must have never been to a party!" "I've been to parties before, I still don't like them." "I'm throwing the party anyway! You wanna go!" "Um, no." "Yes!" "No." "No!" "I see we have come to an agreement, pleasure doing business with ya'." I said, finally happy it was over. "Aw. I was sure that was going to work!" I grinned and started walking back to the literal pile of trash I had for a home. Was that pony an idiot? Or is everybody here just that gullible. If the latter is true, I will take advantage of it once this train wreck of a home falls over and dies. So I can buy, or rent a decent home in this town. Preferably on the outskirts of it. I'm not too keen on the idea of living among a bunch of talking ponies just yet. A cloud covered the sun for a moment. "Ah, finally. Some shade." I looked up and saw a pair of ruby eyes staring at me from the cloud above. We stared for around three seconds. I looked down and started walking a little bit faster. You know what, I've seen weirder things. Who knows? Maybe it will ignore me. I looked at the ground and saw the shadows of the cloud. Wait a minute... Why is the cloud so small? I stopped moving for a moment. The cloud was still above me. I moved again, the cloud started moving with me. I sighed, clearly annoyed, and looked at the cloud. "Yo, could you... Stop following me..." The cloud did not talk back. Of it won't talk back Crazy! IT'S A CLOUD! I walked next to the forest, I had a plan to escape from this strange cloud. At least, I did. That was when the strangest thing happened! The cloud talked back! "Oh hey! You are the first human I have met since the war! Nice to meet ya!" I stopped in place and did not turn around. "Oh, please don't tell me the clouds talk in this crazy world as well." I slowly turned around and saw a rainbow maned Pegasus. "Um, who are you?" I asked, currently confused. "Rainbow Dash!" "That's good for you... I'm Crazy. Do clouds normally follow people around these parts?" "Not normally." "Can I leave now? I have a shack to build in the outskirts of town. Now if you will excuse me I'm gonna go finish building it." I said cynically as I started walking back once again. "No wait! Race me!" "How about I leave and go home quietly..." At this point in time I concealed my presence with a technique called zetsu. Which means to conceal one's aura. This made me unable to be sensed by another Nen user within the area. I jumped into the woods and ran full speed ahead around the border of the forest. This would allow me to get back to the shack I was building while remaining in the cover of the trees. "Hey wait!" I heard something pass by overhead at a speed that far easily tripled my maximum running speed. Which was an estimated 200 miles per hour which came from training in the woods for two months. She's fast! I'm gonna need to keep my wits if I am gonna stay hidden for long. I saw my partially built shack. Yes! I made it! Time to build... This ugly, boring, and low quality shack. That was when I saw a bird fly over to the framework and land on it. "Hey get off of that! Shoo!" Stupid bird! Get off of my house. I heard rustling in the tree the bird came from. "OH NO!" Around, 30 more birds flew onto the structure. "Get away! Damned stupid birds!" It seemed insulting then got their attention. The birds for off of it and charged me. "OH MY GOD!" They were all coming for me, and I decided that the best solution would be to... RUN FOR MY LIFE! It was at this time that I called for a tactical retreat. I know, real manly of me. But those birds could peck! I had made it back to the shack, it was still intact by some miracle. I saw something pink pop out from behind a tree that was an inch thick. Not again. "OH HEY!" The second she said this, the logs that had miraculously survived the birds, had fallen down. "NOOOOOOOO" "Pinkie! You've killed my house!" "You wanna go to my party now?" "No." Well, I guess I can just be homeless. It's fitting for someone like me. I could make my income via odd jobs! "Okay! Bye!" Pinkie Pie said. "Wait! Do you have a pencil and paper!" "Yes!" This is going to be great! "Could I borrow those two items for something." "Sure! If you come to the party!" Damn, you know what? You win, I will go and leave right after I arrive. Fool. "You have a deal." I said to her. A moment later she pulled out a pencil and paper out of her mane. I don't even know how she was carrying to me at the moment. "See you later!" She said after handing me the paper. I looked at the paper, it seemed normal. Sort of out of place if you ask me. I looked at the thin edge of the paper with one eye closed, so I could see it better. I then saw something that made me question everything. Pinkie Pie walked past a thin tree, and disappeared into nothing. I walked behind the tree and saw nothing. What the hell? SHE WAS RIGHT THERE! I wrote something down on the paper. That there... An edit here... Aaaaaaand done! I had a plan to get to. But first, I need to steel myself with resolve for what I'm about to do. XXX I ran into town square, into a large crowd of people. "Listen up!" It seemed that I was able to get their attention on me. That is a very unsettling sight to see. Their eyes are huge! It's starting to creep me out. I started to get nervous from all of the large eyes literally every color of the rainbow staring me down. "Well... Odd jobs!... Damnit... Just read the poster!" I ran off of the stage, leaving the paper behind. This was where my career started. Well, first I'm going to need to set up shop. I thought as I looked in the area where I would do odd jobs. The area was not very populated compared to the town square. It was at the edge of town with a small tree. Not like the big liveable tree on the other side of town. There was... Citizens near my tree. Some would stare at me, while others minded their own business. A particular group of 3 children were all staring at me. It sort of ticked me off, but at the same time made me curious. "What are you looking at!" I shouted at them, acting as intimidating as possible. "Your face!" The one with little wings said at me. "Why you little!!! Damnit." I said under my breath and sighed. While I was glaring at them, it seemed my first customer had arrived. "Well hello there! How may I help you! The fee depends on the job." The pony that I was talking to had a tan coat, and was wearing a hat. It was a bit strange, but I had no place to judge. "Howdy there pardner. My name is Applejack! My fence needs to be painted over again." She asked in a southern accent. "Okay, that will be fifteen of whatever currency you use here in town." Her eyes brightened when I said this. At this point I saw that I needed more experience when it came to pricing my services. XXX I spent the rest of my day painting the fences lining an entire Apple orchard. I was a fool. "Well! Here's the pay!" She said as she handed me the fifteen coins. One by one. It would have been agonizing to watch her count every coin one by one. However, I was not really paying much attention as she put the coins in my hand. "And fifteen! Your good to go!" I averted my gaze back to Applejack and put the coins in my pocket. "Yeah thanks." I responded. "No, thanks to you sir!" Bastard! This reminded me of my failure to properly price the job, and exhaustion from the job. I walked away. Honestly though, I was surprised I even got a job on the first day. I went back to my moderately sized tree, it was probably the closest thing to a home that I could think of. This area of town was considerably less crowded from before. This was probably due to the time being sundown. You know what, I am going to sleep in this tree! I jumped on to a thick branch on the tree. I sat on the branch for a moment. Wait, I'm not even tired. I will never name my price again. Two seconds later I fell asleep, snoring loudly. XXX I woke up on the dirt, and not on the tree anymore. How do I not feel myself falling out of a tree while I sleep? I must have been really tired. I was also pretty hungry at the moment. Well, now is about as good as ever to go hunting. I got up and stretched my arms and legs. I ran into the woods, I hope that I will get a good catch. I started sprinting around the area with a rock in hand, ready to throw. I had been running for around 2 minutes straight into the woods looking for my next target. I caught a glimpse of some sort of creature. It had the body of a snake with wings. Okay, since when did snakes have wings. Then again, since when do horses talk like humans. Never mind! Food is food. I looked up and my jaw dropped in shock. A chicken! Wait what? I threw the small rock in my hands toward the creature. It looked me straight in the eyes. The second it did, I started losing feeling in my legs, starting from my toes. What is going on? The rock I threw went straight through the creature's head. I looked down at my legs and saw them slowly reverting from stone. Holy shit, I almost got turned into stone! I realized immediately. Well, I didn't. Now I have my breakfast, lunch, and dinner all in one! My stomach growled. "Alright stomach. Food now, talk later." I looked at the now deceased creature on the forest floor. It was a much bigger catch than I had expected. It was around double my height, and 3 times my width. "So it seems I have a problem. How will I carry this?" A devilish grin spread across my face. I had an idea. "It's simple, I don't!" I activated REN and looked at the trees around me. I kicked down some small trees near the corpse of the strange creature, and then I put them in a pile next to the body. By now I was breathing heavily and drenched in sweat. Crap, I really need to practice more. I kicked the leaves off of the trees, leaving me with just the logs. After kicking the trees down, it left me looking into the open skies above. Just as planned. I continued working on my creation for another hour... XXX I had tied the creature to the log and was ready to be cooked up for my lunch. I had built a log cabin, not a campfire. "Now I have a place to sleep! Time to eat." I started a small controlled fire and after letting it burn down to the coals, put the body on top of it. XXX After preparing the food and eventually eating it, I decided to go back to town. Money does not earn itself where I'm from! I ran through the forest into town. Before I got there however, I made a small wooden stand with odd jobs branded on the sign. "Alright! Business is now open!" I shouted in hopes of a customer. This will be easy! I thought to myself. But, after looking around the street was empty. XXX "OH COME ON!" I shouted out of frustration. I was sitting on the branch of the tree behind me, out of boredom. Should I leave? It's clear nobody is coming. I looked around in every direction, and saw nothing. "Well, I was bored anyway. Might as well leave." I kicked my job stand with REN activated, shattering it with multiple violent snapping noises. I deactivated REN, and went back to a contained TEN. I heard footsteps behind me. "Sorry, shop's closed today. Find me another time." I did not turn around. "Is that a human I see? Having trouble finding customers maybe?" "Yeah, I am a human. Possibly the only one you will ever see. Haven't had a customer today!" I still refrained from turning around. I was sick of seeing Technicolor ponies. If I did not know any better I would say it's bad for my eyes. "These ponies are little racist bastards in my opinion. No offense." I turned around and instead of seeing a pony, I saw a zebra. "For you traveler, I can relate. Even now, it is difficult to participate." "You caught me at a bad time... I tell you what! If you need any odd jobs done, talk to me and I'll make it half price!" I was sick of conversing at this point in time. I activated ZETSU and got ready to leave. "Well, I'm bored. See ya!" I took off a second later. Leaving a confused zebra in the dust. Once I reached my home, I decided to do something new. By that I mean exploring the depths of my NEN power. It could be because I feel that I took my power for granted. Mostly, I was just bored and NEN was the perfect solution to my problem. The first part of my training is to be able to attack from any angle. Even if doing so required something as complex as jumping off a wall to attack. For the training, I would put a log in an area surrounded by trees within a one hundred foot radius at the minimum. From this point, I would jump at the tree and kick off of it, and try to land a kick on the log that I set behind me without touching the ground. Got that? Easy right? Long story short, not only was it practically impossible to me, I still had to try and do it. The whole time, I never even reached the log in the 5 minutes I tried reach it. No matter how hard I ran or kicked it never worked. In the beginning, I was cocky and tried to attempt it while doing ZETSU. Then when my pride was hurt I started using TEN, and after that I did REN for the last of the 5 minutes before I tired out. "This freaking sucks man. I wish I could do that without the talent needed. Too bad for me, I guess." I said to myself in my fury from failing many times. Onto phase two! I said in my mind, due to my body being too exhausted to move. My plan for phase number two is going to be going to sleep right here in the middle of the forest. Nothing could ever go wrong with this situation. I sarcastically thought. I got to my feet with the help of a stick and made my way back to the cabin. I'm gonna take a nap for sure. XXX What time is It? I looked out of the window. Nighttime? Any time is time to train for me! I tried to get up of the cabin floor. I managed to succeed and I opened the door to my small cabin which fortunately I was right next to. What I saw next, shook me to the core. It was a mass of angry pink fur staring back at me. I remained composed and stood there staring. Then, I shut the door in her face. "AAAAAAHHHHHHH" I screamed as she barged my door open. "You said you would come to my party!" She shouted angrily. "AAAAAAAHHHHHHH" I screamed as I jumped out of the window. "Get back here! You party pooper!" She shouted out of my window. Faster. Faster. FASTER! Was the thought that I had as I pushed my running speed past my limits. If she captures me, I have to go to a party with a bunch of strange multicolored ponies! Most of them I don't know at all! "AAAAAAAHHHHHH" I screamed as I jumped out of the window and activated ZETSU. "Get back here!" She shouted out of my window. Faster. Faster. FASTER! Was the thought that I had as I pushed my running speed past my limits. If she captures me, I have to go to a party with a bunch of strange multicolored ponies! Most of them I don't know who they are. I don't want to involve myself with them just yet. I went back to my house after a while. I went into the floor and lied there. I thought to myself just one thing. Where did my journey start. I decided to think back to it... //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter Two- How It Started //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter Two- How It Started 3 years before the events of Crazy's wild ride... Location: New York City... Yes! It's my first city! I've never seen so many people in such a big shopping center before! I thought as I entered a mall for the first time. Look at all of those shops, and all of my next prey! I was your classic pickpocket at the time. I had never stolen in a city before though. I looked around for my first targets. Times were hard for me alone in my family. My parents, and my brother were both literally psychopaths. There was one thing that we all shared. The last name of Linniac. No, they did not kill people, they were also not crazy stalkers either. They were normal people, just without the emotions common with the working class. Okay, you caught me. They were a lot less than normal. Both of my parents are pretty smart and have a good job. The only problem is that they are chronic workaholics. I almost never see them at home. My brother Ceasar Linniac, on the other hand is a genius who dedicates himself to the pursuit of knowledge and will so almost anything for that goal. He is currently up at a well known university called Harvard. Even though he is on his 6th degree from the place. Ceasar was not always gone studying though, he used to homeschool me. Then there was me. My name is Chan Linniac. I was not as lucky as my brother and parents. I was the odd one out in the family. I lacked the insanity that they had, but instead was born a upbeat and naive child. I was pretty smart as well but due to me being so naive I had a hard time utilizing it. I was homeschooled by Ceasar from an early age. He was a role model and perfect human being to me. At least, until he left. From an early age my parents ridiculed me about the fact I was not like them, by nicknaming me Crazy, due to the fact that I had an unorthodox way of doing things, even by their standards. Everybody knew me by that name, so I figured I would accept it over my given name of Chan Linnaic. I was invited to a university in New York City 3 years early. I did not want to go on that day. I went home and Ceasar was nowhere to be found. The door was locked. Attached to the door was a note, $20, and a one way plane ticket to New York. That's how I ended up in this situation, poor and in a mall about to pickpocket someone for money. I was following a man, he looked pretty wealthy and he had stuff in his pockets. Jackpot! I was distracted at the time and did not notice he was leading me to a dark alleyway. I look around and notice my surroundings and decide to take action. I jumped over to him and pulled his wallet out of his pocket. I look up, I expected to see a look of surprise. He was grinning down at me as I noticed just in time to see a fist come down, onto my face. I got knocked back a few feet and took a hard fall onto the cement below. I was continuously beaten on the ground and the next thing I knew, I was waking up in another alleyway very bruised. Shit. I'll pay more attention next time. I walked out of the alleyway. That's strange, I'm in a different alleyway than the one I got beat up in. I knew this because there were different shops than the ones that I saw before. I looked at the new shops in the area, one in particular caught my attention. It was a shop dedicated to selling dolls of ponies. By far one of the strangest things I have ever seen. I ignored it though, I thought that staying away from strange things was one of the safest options. I felt something rustle in my pocket. What was that? I reached in my pocket and pulled out a wad of cash. Did that bastard take pity on me! DAMNIT! I took a deep breath. No use letting my emotions get the best of me, time to go take advantage of the opportunity. XXX It had been 2 days since the incident with the bastard who took pity on me. I had found a cheap apartment for only around a couple hundred dollars a month to stay. I had found the university relatively nearby and should be studying for a quiz right now. However, I had found myself in front of a strange place once more. The location alone was pretty strange. I was actually just wandering in the alleyways when I found a strange establishment. The building itself was in pretty good condition considering how deep in the alleyway it was. This place had some characters on the sign that I was unable to read. Due to the structure of the language, I assumed it was of Asian descent. I look below the sign and see the English translation. 'The Way of the Monk' what's that? Were my thoughts upon coming across the text. This could be another strange place I may not want to enter. I turned around, ready to leave. That was when I decided that this was different from before. I'm not the same person as 2 days ago, I am willing to take this risk. I turned back around and looked at the door to the building. I walked up to it and opened one of the double doors. The inside of the building was strangely decorated but still fit the theme of the establishment. The color theme was red, brown, and gold. The door shut behind me, I jumped out of paranoia. I turned around and saw an Asian man staring back at me. His 'uniform' was yellow and his head was bald. The man spoke to me. "Welcome." The way he said it was accented, but I could not identify the accent that he spoke in. I waved back at him. "You have talent." I looked at the man questioningly. This type of question peculiarly peaked my interest. "I'm sorry, but what do you mean by that?" He looked back at me, gaze unwavering in the slightest. "Only those who can be strong, may find this dojo." Actually, I just got lost... I kind of got beat up again and woke up in this alleyway... "This is a dojo, alright. I challenge this dojo to a duel! If I win I take over the dojo!" He chuckled. Despite the situation his facial expression had yet to change. "If you lose you will become a student at this dojo." I stubbornly only heard what I wanted to hear at the moment. "I accept! Wait, what was it that you just said?" "Let's begin." "Wait wait! I'm not ready! Wai-" The man bowed and I decided to stop talking and get ready to fight. I got into an attacking position. The monk spoke up. "My name is Chi Xiao Long. What is yours?" I decided to humor his request. "My name is Chan Linniac. I will win this dojo." I started running at Chi. During this time, something hit my right arm the second Chi stopped bowing to get in fighting position. I looked at Chi, he was currently getting into fighting position. Did I imagine that? I can't feel the hit anymore. I must have, am I losing my mind? I charged up to Chi with the intent to attack viciously. I tried to raise my right arm upwards to attack him when I found that I could not move my right arm, which was the one where I was attacked. I kept running towards him, I raised my left arm to attack him. Chi held still. My left arm was now inches from his face. Then, all the sudden Chi disappeared right in front of me! I felt something pull me by my right arm, at this point in time I was launched into the air and then launched face down onto the ground. I tried to move but found that I was pinned down. No.No.No.No.No.No...NO! I can not lose like this! My train of thought was interrupted by a sharp pain in my arm that was pinned down. I made a naive and rash decision in that moment. "Uncle." I said shamefully to Chi. I knew that this situation was one sided for the opponent. I could feel the anger building up inside me. If I must train because I lost the battle, then I will train! This thought came to my head due to my stubborn pride. Chi got off of me. "Finally." I said after waiting on the floor for a while. He walked to a door in the corner of the room and motioned me to follow. "Wait Mr. Chi!" I got off the ground and ran up to him. I had calmed down quite a bit an was actually curious instead of angry. "Call me Xiao." He said without turning around. "Xiao, what was that that you did to my arm earlier? Is it teachable?" He turned around to look at me. "Unfortunately for you, I am the only one capable of that specific technique. Don't lose hope, there are others." This was rather disappointing to me. I decided that I would have to pry information from him at a later date. Xiao opened the door. Inside was a surprisingly large room with training items all the way through it. "Today, we start your training in the way of the monk." That's how training with Xiao began. XXX Around a year has passed. I dropped out of college due to me not able to handle the cost. I continued the way of the monk training. During it I was nothing short of a prodigy. I robbed people in between sessions. Around six months ago I mastered the basics of the martial art, I just needed more strength and speed to continue my training. I have been increasing these things about myself for the past six months. I am currently navigating through the alleyways to reach the dojo. I keep looking around, but so far I am unable to find it in the alleyways. I sensed somebody was watching me in the alleyway. "Come out!" I shouted to whoever might be listening. There was no reply. My imagination? I might need to train my senses some more. I continued walking through the alleyway, but the feeling of being watched never went away. I tried to ignore the feeling, but after my training just being so ingrained within me, I just could not get rid of the feeling. I looked back outside if the alleyway, nobody was watching me. However, there was a particular shop which caught my attention like it did a year ago. It was a shop selling pony dolls. I decided to exit the alleyway and walk up to the shop window. They all looked so innocent and happy, but there was something strange that really got in my head. They were staring out of the window and into the alleyway. This is what created my paranoia of being watched? Weird. I open the shop door. Instead of hearing a bell when I opened the door like any other establishment. Some sort of song started playing. "MY LITTLE PONY-" I instantly covered my ears at the foreign sound. It stopped after a couple of seconds. I look over to the counter of the place and nobody was there. I started to really take in my surroundings. It was very vibrant and was directly targeted to little girls I assumed. A man approached me and seemed to be a worker at the place. "Welcome! You shopping for anything in particular?" I inspected the man, he had a pale complexion and looked like he was in his late twenties maximum. He had his hair dyed purple with a pink stripe in it. "No, not really. Just looking. By the way, what is this place?" I responded to him. "This is a place where you can buy My Little Pony figurines." Yeah, this guy's crazy. "I'm just going to look around. If you don't mind-" "They welcome you as well." I stopped for a moment. "Okay then..." I started to walk around the shop. It was larger than I expected, around the size of a supermarket despite how it looked on the outside. I found myself just wandering around the place, not paying much attention to the world around me. Eventually, I found myself making my way to the bathroom. I went and did my business despite the room being pony decorated all around. I just finished washing my hands when I noticed something strange. Of course it was not too strange compared to the way the place was decorated, but was strange nonetheless. The wall on the left side of the room had a door. This door was very out of place, it was the only not decorated thing in the store, but it was just a door. I walked to the door and opened it. I fell onto my back when I saw what was back there. You see, in the ghetto, dead bodies were no big deal, but the body of the person was of someone that I saw in the shop a small amount of time back. I could not see the figure dragging the body away. I kicked the door shut and exited the bathroom relatively quickly. I continued a normal speed walking to the exit of the shop looking as normal as possible. I was passing the register once again. The worker approached me. "I hope you enjoyed your experience." He looked me in the eyes and stared. "You saw it didn't you." I gulped as I knew, that he knew, what I saw. I bolted to the door of the shop to see if I would make it make it out before he got me as well. I made it to the door and it would not budge. I turned around to see him with a remote control in his hand, he pressed a button on the remote. All of the windows closed up and the door was barred down. "Humans, quite a peculiar species. They only bring destruction and war. You are no different. Are you?" "No, I'm not different from them. I am one of them after all. Don't take it personally, it's just what we do." I said with a grin. "I doubt I will win this fight. But I will enjoy it." I bowed. "My name is Chan Linnaic. Not many people alive know my name." "Ha! You think I would grace you with my name. I will give no human my name, especially not after that day." "Let us begin than." I decided to attack first with this opponent. I charged up to him. My speed was faster than most sprinters, but it was still not fast enough as I saw him tracking my movements. My attack started with a feint and then pulled back so I could jump over him. He watched closely as I was about to attack from behind. He hit me in the face much faster than I could attack. "Weak!" He shouted loudly. It had an effect of disorienting my senses, making it difficult to pinpoint his location. I lashed out behind me under the assumption that he tried to attack from behind. My fist did not make contact with anything. I jumped to my left just barely avoiding an attack from above. A cut appeared on my right leg. I got up off the wooden planks beneath me as they creaked. "Damn, I missed." Said the purple haired man. I slowly saw him pull out the knife. "Bastard." I said with barely contained anger. My fury growing by the second. "You had a knife!" I started taking a defensive stance. He charged at me straight on. I could see him due to his straight path towards me. He raised his knife to attack me, I could see the path the blade would travel towards me. I stomped a plank beneath me launching it into an upright position, right into the trajectory of the blade. The blade penetrated the plank of wood. His blade was trapped. Now's my chance! I was about to grab the plank when the plank split into two horizontally. The man picked up the half with the knife in it, then he tackled me down with the plank using it as a weapon. Crap! I only have one choice now! I pulled two throwing knives out of my left sock and I didn't think he noticed. I was holding the knife plank away from me with both of my legs. I could hear the wood holding the knife in place start to snap apart, I had only a limited time left. I launched my right arm forwards with the knife to stab him. He was watching my arm, and hit my knife out of my hand. I spoke some of my final words to him. "It's over." To this, the man laughed. What he did not realize was my left arm which I purposely did not move until he hit my knife away, as a backup plan. The knife impaled his stomach. The man grunted in pain. I started to slide the knife through his stomach and other internal organs. He started to cough up blood from his internal organs being pierced. I grinned a psychopathic grin as I slid the knife. I kicked him off of me and stood up. The grin that I was sporting was from the pain that I caused the enemy in the battle. I started laughing. The reason why, was the fact that my whole life was so full of pain and misery for myself. I never even thought of the fact that I could create pain for others as well. It blew my mind, that somebody else could take the pain for me. For all that time I had been alone and this was the first time I wasn't. The man on the ground was screaming in agony. A beautiful sound to my ears. A piece of paper fell out of his pocket. I stopped laughing, and went to pick it up. The note was old, it looked old enough to be in a museum. Which surprised me since my opponent screaming on the ground did not look old. I opened up the note, which was folded up. 'Three human hands reach out to the gate that laid untouched for an eternity. When they pass the gate they become the enemy. War never changes, just activates. One moon every twelve for two times. A fourth hand reaches in. Along with a part of the hand, which is another hand consisting of 4 fingers, soon to be five. Know of the time when the sun is covered.' ...What the hell does that mean? Is he into poetry or something? I crumpled up the piece of paper and threw it at the man bleeding out. "Your poetry sucks by the way." I said to him. "I will be avenged. The time will come when he will..." At this point I was getting bored of his rambling. He continued to go on and on. I walked up to him. I pulled the knife out of the wound he had. But he still continued. "You shall be punished by God-" I slit his neck. "Some God. He still won't save you." XXX I went down to the river to wash my knives off. I also dumped his body there so the fingerprints would not lead to me. I spent the rest of my day training my body. XXX It was nighttime outside. I was in my apartment when I fell asleep. Usually I have nightmares due to my bad luck. It doesn't scare me anymore. It's just how my dreams work. I had fallen asleep. Due to my nightmares being so repetitive I would usually be lucid, but unable to control the events of the nightmare. Tonight was mostly the same. Except it did not feel like a nightmare this time. The image shown was that of a tunnel with people running down it. The scene changed to a group of people walking down a desert. I tried to get a closer look but was unable to. I was greeted with some new visuals once more. It was a medieval battlefield. I stayed still to try and prolong the image but it changed once more. The last was the most interesting one. It had me staring at the sun which was almost covered by the moon. When the moon covered the sun the sky changed color. I woke up. "What was that dream? It wasn't a nightmare." I looked at the sky outside my window, well I would have if my view was not a brick wall. The wall was illuminated, so I could tell that it was day. Are dreams all that fast? I don't know. Probably? I laid back down to get some more rest. After a while I saw a glimpse at something familiar. It was the place I was at where I caused pain to another. I was inside the building but something was different. The pony dolls were all staring at me. I could feel every one of their thousands of eyes on me. They stood still. I moved around, their eyes tracked me. A voice came from all directions. "The time will come." This was when the dream cut out. I got up from the bed and hit the pipe right above me. I punched the wall in rage. Present day... Yeah... It definitely started when I killed that guy. I thought to myself without emotion. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter Three- Unlucky //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter Three- Unlucky I started to run. Run from my problems. Run from my past life. No matter how fast I ran, my past, no. My curse will catch up. It was morning when these empty thoughts ran through my mind. I was sitting on the side of the cabin. Just thinking about anything I can. I found my hand tracing up to my left arm. The area my hand arrived at was a bandaged up area. The area on my left arm was not wounded, but something was covered. A piece of the mark stuck out. I quickly covered it with the bandage. I stopped midway through to look at it. I peeled off the bandage. The mark right there, was the mark of my curse. It was a diagonal purple cube with a blood red outline of a circle in the center. Blood leaked out of the circle. "I guess my luck is not so great today than." I squeezed my marking. I bandaged it up again, the only difference being fresh blood from the mark. XXX I had made substantially more change in my NEN today. I reached the log from kicking off the tree five times today instead of zero. I got a job today and made 100 of those coins which I recently found out were made out of gold! All I had to do was move some sofas and some pens. Maybe the mark bleeding was a good luck sign. But never is. I'm terrified of what horrors are to come. All of these good things are making me even more paranoid. All this being said, I was grinning profusely at the moment. I was excited. Thrilled for what will happen next. I inspected one of the coins. On one side was a picture of the sun. The other of the moon. I flipped it in the air, which while it was spinning it gave the illusion that the moon was covering the sun. I stopped grinning and grabbed the coin out of the air. "Heads." I called as my side. This would confirm if my luck was good or bad. I opened my hand. The coin was not there. It's gone! I walked backwards and tripped over something. I fell backwards. I looked behind me to stop my fall. There was a nail sticking upward and if I did not stop my fall I would die. I put my hand down in between the nail. I stopped my fall. I rolled to my side to get out of the nails way. I laid down and looked at my left hand. It had been shallowly cut by the nail in between my fingers. I look over to what tripped me, and saw the coin wedged in between a building and the ground. I went and picked it up. I dropped the coin to grimace, as I had picked it up with my left hand. As it fell I noticed that the coin had become sharp from being wedged between the building. It cut my baggy pants as it fell and it lands on the side of the moon. Otherwise known as tails. Oh no. I'm going to die tonight. I better go hide my stuff! I sprinted back home as fast as I could. I made it there without breaking a sweat. Within two minutes as well! I charged back into town, this time I was sweating a little. I really need to pace myself sometimes. I was still charging into town with ZETSU active, when a root appeared right under my feet. It all happened so fast. I was now tumbling on the ground like a tumbleweed. I felt a sudden impact, and then a sudden cracking noise. I felt the pain immediately. "OW! Why did it have to be my arm!" As I shouted in pain I looked down at my left arm. It was fine, my right arm was not. It was completely distorted in ways I did not think was possible. I poked my mangled arm. I suppressed the noise I was going to make. Being noisy makes people angry, which will get me more hurt. I looked down at the wreckage that I had caused. It was my shop and my tree foundation toppled. Then I looked at my arm again. Last time I run with ZETSU active. I reached up to my curse brand where my bandage was wrapped around. The bandage was missing. Where is It! I looked around and could not see it anywhere. I released my ZETSU and started my TEN. I was furious at the pain and my luck. Also my brand was not covered and bleeding. Ponies started to gather around the wreckage I caused. I could hear their mumbling voices. "He destroyed that tree!" "I heard that tree was there when ponyville was founded" "That monster is destroying the town." "People like him should not be allowed here." "We should get him out!" "Get rid of him!" "Turn him to stone!" I clenched my fists. "Annoying." I spoke. Then, I started grinning. "Hate me, love me, it doesn't matter! I will still exist. Farewell." I jumped into an alleyway between two buildings. I felt a somebody watching me as I got away. That confirms it. Somebody is watching me. I clumsily made my way to the outskirts of town where nobody would see me. "Come out." I looked around me for my mysterious follower. "I thought I should have been unseen in the location where I hid. What gave it away." "..." "You don't talk much do you." "I don't usually converse with creepy people. That's all." The follower wore a mask so I could not distinguish it's identity. Not that I would know. What I did know was that they were a pony and not a human. The only other thing I knew was that they were not a Pegasus. It was wearing a small hat, so I was unable to tell if they are a unicorn or earth pony. "I am here to kill you." "What!" I was stunned. "Why would you want to kill me, Chan Linnaic? Are you sure you got the right guy?" They pulled out a piece of paper. They looked down at the paper, and back up at me a couple times. "Are you by any chance named Crazy?" "Nope." I lied. "Well okay, sorry for the trouble." I giggled a little bit to insult how easy it was to lie to them. "HEY! Stop that." I started to slap the ground from my giggling. A metal object embedded itself into my right arm. "OW!" "I'm done with you. I don't care if your my target or not! I guess it's your lucky day." I pulled the knife out of my right arm and put it in my pocket. The assassin just looked at me with a strange expression. "Did you just steal my knife?" I looked at him. "No..." I stared with a blank look in my eyes. "Most of my targets would be screaming in pain right now. What's going on?" "We going to fight or something..." I took this time to activate REN. This alerted the assassin and it charged at me. I sidestepped at the last moment and tripped the assassin. I also tripped in the process. The pony landed against the wall with the perfect angle for an attack, to my bad luck, and jumped back at me. I jumped back to a house wall and tried his trick. I tried to kick off the wall and catch the assassin off guard, but instead, I kicked through the wall. My feet were both stuck inside the wall. I had to dodge very narrowly from the assassin with very little time to breath. I punched an area around my feet to escape the wall, just avoiding another attack. I threw one of the throwing knives from my sock straight up into the air. I started on the offensive. I started with a direct punch. It missed due to the odd angle of my dangling right arm. Also I was not left handed. I tried to kick dirt into my assailants eyes by kicking the ground. I got my foot stuck in the ground leaving me wide open. The assassin took this chance to attack me with a blade. I clawed my way out of the ground with my left arm, I barely got out. I started grinning in excitement, but then I noticed something. I did not escape unscathed, the knife cut my curse mark. I looked at the curse mark in horror as it started to glow purple. "Oh, no. What is going on!" The assassin took his turn to grin. "You are finally scared? Took you long enough." "No! You need to run, like right now." "Why should I! I have a kingdom to protect!" "Do you have a life to protect?" The blood from the wound turned a dark purple. The assassin ran up to attack me. "It's too late for me." I said to him. I pulled the knife I had put in my pocket earlier out and covered it in the purple substance. Then I threw the knife at the enemy. When the blade hit the assassin, I felt the pain of the blade making impact immediately. I looked at the source of the pain, but there was nothing at the location. I came to a conclusion. This blood must make me feel this person's pain! I charged over to the assassin. I need to end this quick. I pulled one of my spare knives out of my sock. I was about to reach my target when we made eye contact. The look in the assassin's eyes was a look of confusion. I slit the assassin's neck, and jumped away. When I landed around twenty feet away, I heard a tree fall, I also felt a new pain. I fell onto the ground. I looked and saw a tree that had fallen on the body of the assassin. I shallowly spoke. "...Still alive? Just die...already." I coughed. I looked to my side and saw a boulder come out of nowhere, and land on the area where the assassin was. It felt like my spine snapped in half this time. I felt something insert itself into my right arm. I looked at my arm, a knife was now embedded in my flesh. Oh yeah, I threw that in the air. I screamed in agony. I looked over to the assassin and I saw a flash of light. I blinked a couple times and saw a new burn on the assassin's body. I started to feel the burning along with my other pain. Did he just get struck by lightning! Ow! He did! Die already! I watched the assassin as they spontaneously combusted. I was feeling so much pain I could not breath. Then the pain stopped. I jumped up and started hyperventilating, and shivering. I felt in my body all the burns, the broken bones, and that unbearable weight holding me down. It was gone now, but I would never forget it. I got up off the ground, and started to walk into town. Hopefully there were hospitals here. My knife wounds still hurt, on the upside my curse mark was no longer bleeding a dark purple. I was about to turn a corner. I stopped before I did, so I could take the knife out of my wound. I turned the corner and ran into something. A liquid poured over me as I had ran into some sort of container. My wounds started to burn. I jumped away, and gripped my wounds in pain. I looked and saw a small pony child staring at me. "Sorry mister, I spilled my family's lemon juice harvest on you!" I spoke, while undergoing intense pain. "Don't be, it was my fault. Where's the hospital?" I asked on the verge of strangling the small little pony girl. "I'm still sorry." "That's great, where's the hospital." "Are you a hoomin?" "Yes. Where's the hospital." "What's your name?" I could not hold my anger in for too much longer. "I swear, this kid is driving me crazy..." "Hi Crazy! I'm Applebloom!" "HOSPITAL!" She pointed to the way she was coming from. "It should be that way-" I tried to run over there but I ended up just tripping and face planting into the ground. I got right back up and ran off with a cloud of dirt behind me. The hospital was across the street. I stopped running when I reached the door. When I stopped, I did not have a good grip on my cheap sneakers and just ended up sliding past the building and slid right into a tree. Which impacted my arm. I walked to the door and opened it, no rushed movements. When I did, a medicine cart ran over me and didn't stop. "HEY! WATCH IT!" I shouted at the cart. I went inside the place and saw a sign on the wall the wall. I ignored it of course. I talked to the pony at the front desk. "Hey, I need help!" The nurse looked at me with a blank expression. "This is a pony hospital. We help ponies. Not humans." I looked at the mare and gritted my teeth in anger. I charged out of the hospital and into the woods. Hitting several trees along my way. XXX I was close to my house now, and I should be able to cover up my injuries when I get to my cabin. I saw my cabin in the distance. The area around my home was now a clearing due to all of the training I had done there. There was something different about my cabin. It was on fire. I stared without reacting for a moment. "Well, that kind of sucks. Too late to save it now..." I tuned around, about to walk away when I felt a sudden heat source around my right leg. I looked down and saw my pants on the right leg were on fire! "WHY AM I ON FIRE!" To be continued... //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter Four- New Allies //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter Four- New Allies I jumped down onto the ground and started rolling. I put the fire out on my leg. "Whew, that was close!" I wiped the beads of sweat from my forehead. Maybe somebody wants me dead. "Pfft, no way." I looked at the flames of my home with newfound nervousness. It shouldn't be true, the war is over after all. Is it even over yet? Maybe I was lied to? "Who cares, I guess I'll just be homeless." I ran away from the town and into the foliage of the forest. "Time to go adventure!" I said with the minimum amount of enthusiasm, and maximum amount of cynicism. "Damn it all!" I shouted while running in the forest. Then I ran. XXX I had ran for around 30 minutes now, I was drenched in sweat and blood. Sadly I can not say something cool like the blood was not mine. It probably was mine. I was outside the gates to some sort of city. It was guarded by, guards... My vision was fading. "Yippee ki-yay!" I shouted as I fell into unconsciousness. XXX I woke up around an hour later, my thoughts were fuzzy at the moment. I tried to get up from the ground that I lied unconscious on. The sudden movement made me feel sick and I threw up right next to me. I got up with the help of a stick that I picked up. I made some makeshift bandages for my injury from some plant fiber and a small animal trap due to not knowing the shrubbery. The trap was pretty complex, it was designed by me and for me. It is very efficient for others, and it has to be considering my bad luck. It would lure small animals in and capture them within a fifteen foot radius and had around one catch every four animals. At least for me. It caught a small rabbit while I was away creating bandages. It was around one meals worth of food. I cooked it over a fire and ate it. It was around afternoon when I had myself bandaged up and ready to go into town. I was preparing my second rabbit leg, but when I looked back over it was gone. I looked around me confused. Maybe I ate It? I looked to my left casually and saw a golden haired boy eating my rabbit. "Nice rabbit." "Why are you eating my rabbit?" I asked in utter confusion. "Oh, I'm Sabmad Abdul. Most people call me Sabmad the airhead." That's pretty depressing... "Um, my name is Chan Linniac. People tend to call me Crazy." "Really? They used to call me empty minded. You are a NEN user right?" "What! How did you know!" Looking him down, Sabmad was much younger than me. He was much better dressed as well. Most of his clothing was a very loose fit. His clothing looked like the gi that I wore while practicing at the dojo. Except his was yellow with the ends of the sleeves colored brown. The most significant parts of him was his golden hair, purple eyes, and a long scarf that hung around his neck. It was red in the center with brown on the edges. "It was easy, I used GYO! Your aura is not flowing away from your body, unlike a normal person." "What is GYO?" "You don't know? It's a NEN technique to see objects concealed with IN!" "What's IN?" "You really know nothing do you!" "I know the first four categories..." Sabmad ran his hands through his messy hair, making it even more messy. "So frustrating... I know! I can teach you!" I looked at him, and nodded. He spoke again. "You gonna burn that?" "Excuse me?" "Oh! I'll do it for you!" I watched as Sabmad threw my animal trap onto the small campfire. "HEY!" "Oops, I did it again. Sorry, I really like fire! Find me when your arm is less broken!" As I was shocked at what he just did and what he said to me, Sabmad ran off into the city. "Damn, that was the last rabbit leg as well!" I ran to the gates when I was stopped by the guards. "Stop! By the cohorts of-" I jumped over the two guards as they looked at me stunned. "If you wanna stop me, your gonna have to catch me!" I grinned as he tried to keep up, but I was already so far away. I ran in alleyways and navigated around the city. Or at least I tried to... Ok fine, I got lost... I found myself next to a maze. There were statues in the yard in front of the maze. One of them I found particularly odd. I could not get a close look at the moment due to a group of children ponies gathering around it. They started move away, while I drew near to the statue. A maze... That brings back memories. I looked at the statue the pony children were looking at. I looked closer at the statue, there was a visible crack on the surface. I could have sworn I heard some sort of laughter as the pony children walked away. "What a strange statue. I would not take it if you paid me." The shell of the statue cracked away. Revealing something under it. I watched as it go up and started stretching. I tried an unorthodox approach. "Yo. How's it 'cracking' weird dragon pony thing." "You don't look like an element of harmony... What even are you? Ooh I know! You are a minotaur!" "No, I'm a human." I watched as the creatures body distorted with some sort of strange stretching. I got sick of it pretty quickly and spoke up. "What are you doing? Stretching?" He suddenly disappeared in front of me. He's gone! No wait- I turned and saw him behind me dressed up in something you would probably see in some sort of Broadway film. I backed away from him, stumbling a bit due to surprise. Something whacked me lightly on the side of my head. "What's with you, you're so chaotic!" "Why thank you!" Something whacked me on the side of my head once again. I turned to look at it but I got hit on the opposite side of my head, once again. "Wasn't a compliment." I mumbled in anger. "That's not the point, have you heard of the elements of harmony?" I cracked up in the background in laughter. "What's so funny?" I started to laugh out loud now. I calmed down enough to speak. "That sounds like it was made for a show with the general demographic being little girls and strange teenagers! It's probably in some cliche place, like behind the thrones in the palace!" "Hmm. That sounds pretty accurate. You want to go and help me get the elements of harmony?" I burst out into laughter again. "I'll help, if you stop calling them such a stupid name!" "It's not that bad, they turned me to stone for a thousand years!" "No way... I did not know such colorful, and morally obligated creatures were capable of such an act..." "It's all true!" He made a bed come out of nowhere with a snap of his fingers, and laid down dramatically. Something whacked me again. I spoke, now slightly frustrated. "I tell you what, we can be mutual allies!" "What's that like! Can I call you friend?" "Man, you really are lonely aren't you... I guess one thousand years trapped in stone will do that to a person... Or in your case, a wierd dragon pony thing." "You didn't say no! Let's go get the elements of harmony, friend!" "What kind of mess have I gotten myself into-" I was whacked once again. "Hey weird dragon pony thing, can you stop that thing from whacking me in exchange." He snapped his fingers. "Consider it done. Now follow me, friend!" He disappeared once again. "Finally, he's gone." What was his name... I think it was Discord, or at least that's what the children called him. I walked into the maze, going nowhere in particular. The floor and my surroundings changed from maze to palace. I suddenly found myself in the throne room. There were seven faces now staring at me, a couple of which I had seen before. "Sorry, wrong turn." I turned around and jumped out of the window behind me. The drop was further than I thought and I started to panic. Then I fell back into the throne room through the ceiling. I fell on my face. I got up and waved calmly to the now confused faces of the ponies. I saw Discord slip through a strange door and come back out holding some sort of jewelry. Then he walked inside of a stained glass window... I rubbed my eyes and nothing changed. I shrugged and walked out of the door to the throne room. I gave myself a head massage as I could feel a headache coming. "Damn ponyland physics and confusing Discord crap..." I stopped rubbing my head and opened my eyes. I was in the throne room again. One of the ponies spoke, this one had a kind of annoyed tone as if I had done something to her. "That looked fun! But he missed my party which was more fun!" I identified this one as Pinkie Pie. "Sorry, had a tough schedule..." I kicked the wall nonchalantly. It might have looked intimidating due to the small layer of TEN shrouded around my body. What I did not realize until it happened at the time was that the wall had kicked me back. I was kicked outside the window and thrown back outside the window for around three times before I stopped myself by embedding a knife into the wall. I threw up in my mouth and swallowed it. Not now motion sickness! I scanned the room and the ponies in it. Among them, I spotted someone who scared me to the core. Princess Celestia was among them. She looked stunned while she looked at me like something had gone wrong. Then she returned to her innocent smile when she turned away. I was about to freak out when an arm grabbed me from the stained glass window, and pulled me inside. Trust me, I had no idea what was going on but I felt a lot smaller. It seemed I was inside the window and Discord pulled me in. Discord was not there anymore though. The ponies just continued as if nothing had just happened. XXX The box was empty. Unsurprisingly. I was bored of watching as they continued like I was not there. I tapped the glass between and it cracked. XXX I got bored and fell asleep for a bit. Only to wake up outside and next to the maze. "Of course! It was only a Nightmare! Oh wait no, there's Discord and the six ponies next to me" Everyone stared as I got up and walked over. The one I identified as Twilight Sparkle asked me a question. "What are you doing here-" "Don't ask." I finished before I walked inside the maze and turned a random direction. A wall rose behind me. I did not care much as I just laid down and tried to sleep. I was kicked off the ground. "Fine Ceasar, I'll get up for homeschooling..." I got up, still half asleep. I was pretty sure I was going to start hallucinating in a bit. I walked forward in the maze. I saw my parents, my brother, and allies I had made over time. They were all walking away from me. They spoke to me. "Hey, come back..." My parents went first, my brother came back to me, and touched my arm as his face was covered in shadows. My curse mark appeared where he touched my left arm. Xiao came to me from behind and moved my arm to point forwards without him touching me. I was suddenly tugged into the light. The light disappeared into nothing behind me. It revealed me in a location with three shadowy figures. One shadow I identified as Jotaro approached me and pushed me forwards with his stand. Right into Killua. He chased me for a bit with us starting slow, going to fast. He eventually overtook me and left me in the dust. I was pushed back to Jotaro. But he just kept moving. Eventually passing me. I then watched as the third figure lost his stomach and head, my hands were covered in blood. My curse mark bled, breaking the illusion. I was on the ground like I was unconscious. I got up and realized that I was still in the garden maze. I started walking into the maze. XXX I got bored of walking and started running through the maze. On more than one occasion I tripped while running, but it seemed I was perceptive today as I caught myself every time. The last stretch was not as lucky as I did not catch myself. I used REN at the last moment so I did not take much damage, my stamina did. I crashed into some sort of fountain, getting soaked in the process. I got out of the water and saw Discord and the rest. "Yo!" I said enthusiastically. I heard mumbling from the ponies mostly along the lines of 'Oh yeah, that human is here.' My mood was now ruined, to say the least. Wait a second, why are most of the ponies losing color. It's a dream come true! Finally, my retinas can rest. "So, Discord. What did you do to them?" "Oh you know, reversed the elements of harmony's personalities. The usual." "You dont have a usual, Discord." "You know me so well." "Wait, they are the elements of harmony! I didn't know it was some stupid little club!" "Hey! We're not a club!" I look over to Twilight. "You're awfully colorful today. Doesn't really matter to me. Discord?" A tiny Discord appeared on my shoulder. "What is it friend?" "Once again, we're allies! Could you get me out of the maze?" "What's the magic word?" I grunted in displeasure. "Please?" "Nope the word is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!" Discord snapped his fingers and I found myself standing on the pedestal that Discord stood on when he was a statue. XXX I had been travelling on foot for a couple hours after Discord teleported me out. The wind on my skin felt icy due to me being wet. My teeth were chattering. This is bad. If I stay like this, I could get sick. With my luck I would probably die if it came to that. Damn, I need fire. I had slowed to a walking pace. I sat down and moved a stone next to my tinder, so if I struck the stone with my knife it would ignite the flames. I knew that I was probably about to undergo the early stages of hypothermia, which I knew from the brief time that I tried a lecture in medicine. I pulled out the knife. Why is it so difficult? I've been closer to death these past few months than I ever have. Why me? I never wanted this curse. I held the knife up ready to stab the stone. Why does everyone leave me? I stabbed down onto the rock, igniting my tinder. I dropped the knife. The knife was broken, my hands were shaking. Tears were streaming down my face. What is this? Why am I crying? I wiped the tears away and put back on my smiling face to trick myself into ignoring the pain once again. I struggled to keep smiling, visibly losing my shallow grin. When I started to shiver some more I lost what was left of the grin. I was trying to not break down at the moment. I stopped and thought for a moment. Why am I shivering? I looked over and saw the fire had gone out. I also felt a cold breeze. I started to panic and blow on the coals erratically. This action sadly came to no avail. I saw a flash of black for a moment, and then my fire was lit back up again. I looked to my left to see a familiar figure. It was Sabmad, once again chewing on some sort of cooked dead animal. He broke the silence. "Yo! I said you come to me, not me come to you bastard!" "Hey, what can I say? I've always been a bit if a rebel." I said with a small smile. "Or a fool..." "What!" It faded instantly. "Oh, nothing." Sabmad threw a log onto the fire. "Did I tell you I like fire? Let me tell you some advanced NEN applications. I love fire!" I stopped for a moment. "Wait, what did you say?" "I love fire." "No before that!" He froze for a moment. "Sorry, sometimes I enjoy messing with people. Let's talk about NEN!" "Where do we start!" He pointed his finger upwards. "GYO!" What is he doing? Did he tell me to go? "Focus your NEN into your eyes. This technique is used to detect objects hidden with IN, which is a technique that renders NEN objects invisible to the naked eye." Oh, it's a NEN technique. First I started doing REN with all of my aura. I tried to focus it down to my eyes. But only got it to my head before my aura dissipated back into a state of TEN. Sabmad was sort of unhappy, his happy go lucky grin no longer on his face. "I have a suggestion Chan-" "Don't call me that name!" I shouted at him angrily. I stopped for a second, realizing my irrational anger. "Sorry, let's just move on. "Okay, I'll call you Lin! My suggestion is to compact your NEN into your eyes instead." Damn, I let my anger slip. I see that he is putting up as much of a facade as I am. There is no way he is this cheerful fight now. I threw another log into the fire. I got my aura to my head, compacting it in my eyes this time. I started to see something from his finger. It looked identical to the number two. "I see it. It's two right?" I saw Sabmad grin. Yes! I got it right. Yeah! No push ups today! "Wrong, four hundred." He pointed down. What? What is he talking about? It was definitely two! "No way! It was two! I'm sure of it-" Sabmad jumped over faster than I could see and kicked me in the stomach. I coughed up my lunch on the ground. I tried to get up, but he held me down. "Four hundred push ups, now." He took his foot off of me. I grumbled, but got in position for a one armed push up. "What are you doing? That's not how they do it where I'm from." Sabmad lifted me into a handstand with my left arm. I started doing the push ups. When Sabmad spoke again. "Now go into ZETSU." You've got to be kidding me. I did not activate ZETSU just yet. "No way! I couldn't possibly-" "Ok fine, eight hundred. You happy?" I was furious at this point, but I complied. I started doing the push ups, unsure I would get to five. XXX I was at my 348th push up, exhausted. When I mumbled. "Just my luck." Sabmad was sitting next to me placing logs in a circle around me. "One thousand." Sabmad said with a devilish grin. I would have sighed, but I had barely enough energy to move. THAT SADISTIC PIECE OF CRAP! I WILL GET MY REVENGE! XXX I was on my 684th push up when the logs surrounding me burst into flames after a flash of black light. I would have panicked but I just robotically continued with my push ups. Except now a bit more motivated to not fall over in exhaustion. I was really starting to hate this kid. XXX I was at the 1000th push up. By this point Sabmad had made a six foot wall or flames surrounding me. One of my problems I had before was gone, by that I mean that I was not cold anymore. I had just had reached my limit and now had a challenge I had to beat. Such unfortunate timing. I needed to jump over the wall of flames with my exhausted arm which I had done 1000 push ups with. The bandage covering my curse mark had caught on fire. Damn, I'm just going to have to bear the pain till I get out of here! The bandage fell of my arm. The Co2 produced by the flames had just about depleted my oxygen supply. I let myself inch down and was about to touch the ground with my face. I could feel the hairs of my arm slowly singing off. I knew I had to do something with NEN but I needed to think for a moment. Wait, that's it! GYO! I compressed my aura into my left hand. I pushed past my limits and with a bit of adrenaline, I jumped with my left hand. Yes I did it! I was above the logs with a new problem on my hand. I had jumped straight up and not at an angle. I'm going to have to do something reckless. I pushed past my limits as I pulled my fist back, putting all the aura I could into my left arm and compressing it. I punched the ground with all I had. It blasted the first layer of logs into the forest. The other layers were set in a path to fall on top of me. I can still save this! I grabbed the broken knife blade out of my pocket and cut my curse mark out of instinct. The blood that flowed onto the blade was a very dark purple. I then flicked the liquid onto the burning logs above me. I waited for the pain. It never came. I watched as the burning logs above me burned so fast that they turned into ash that was blown away by the wind. I saw Sabmad run up and stand above me with a grin. "You passed!" That was the last thing I heard. before my consciousness faded. A look of fury plastered itself on my face as I was unconscious. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter Five- A Light In The Past //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter Five- A Light In The Past Third person POV... "The time has come, hasn't it." Said one of the three figures with their faces obscured by shadow. "Yes, it has." Said the second one. The third remained silent. The first spoke again. "I will open the fourth gate." The second one spoke. "No, let three open the gate. It's only fitting." "Due to my current body I can only go out at night. I have no reason to grace this mission with my presence." Said the third. "Your no fun, DIO. I'll go." Said the first. He leaned out of the shadow, it was Hisoka. "Fun... What a useless waste of time." DIO said. I can't wait, to fight against the Equestrian nation so soon! Thought Hisoka as he fantasized about a worthy foe. The second looked around, waiting for any more dispute between the council. Then made his announcement. "The ruling class of our neighboring nation is still an issue, so when the gate is open there, don't make any foolish mistakes. Or I will have to eliminate you myself. Meeting adjourned." The three members of the council each left through a separate doorway. The second exited the door, but something had been on his mind for a while now. It's strange, out of the ten people I used my ability on, three are still alive. The strength of the ability has increased recently over the past three months. Which means that they all have access to NEN. This could be an issue. My only option is to wait another week until I venture out and encounter the three of them. If possible, kill them as well. Sad, I thought the battle royal I set up would be finished by now. I wonder who remains in the game. You still there, brother? First person POV... I opened my eyes and a flash of light passed through. I blinked a couple times. It was sunset when I woke. I looked around and saw Sabmad with a fire. He was holding something above it. It was my knife blade. It was red hot and he was walking towards me with it held between a couple of sticks. My blue eyes went wide open at this time. "Wait, why are you walking towards me with that!" I hastily tried to get up, briefly forgetting that I was exhausted. I fell off the log I was sitting on, landing on my broken arm. OW! I grimaced in pain. "You are a pony in disguise, AREN'T YOU!" Said Sabmad in terror, while he held the blade close. "Yeah totally, I've just been under your nose this whole time." I said sarcastically. What an idiot, why would he think I'm a pony. Something burned the back of my arm. "How do you explain this mark!" He pointed at my brand. I opened my mouth to speak, but closed it as no words formed. "I don't know. It's been there since I was very young. But it doesn't seem to do anything..." Sabmad stared for a moment or two more. Then suddenly he burst out laughing. "Hey! What's so funny?" "I was messing with you, of course it's not a cutie mark! It's NEN infused!" Those words had a huge impact on me, inside it felt like I was shot by a shotgun. "WHAT!" I shouted as loud as possible. There's no way! What is it than? "Strange part is its not your NEN, but is similar to it." "Wait, what?" "Now may be a good time to educate your inferior mind about NEN." Who are you calling inferior brat! I'm like six inches taller than you and two years older! Sabmad spoke once more. "If you see anything of suspicion around you, use GYO." I activated GYO and looked at the brand. I had trouble looking at it at first because I could barely move. It was hazy at first, but after focusing my NEN some more, an aura slowly flowing around the brand became mostly visible. After looking at it for a while I stared to sense it. The sense felt familiar... "Lin?" Sabmad said. I lost focus. "Yeah?" I shouldn't let the fact that I haven't figured out who it came from bother me. I'll find out. "We should leave." "Already!" "Yeah! It's to teach you about NEN." "Count me in!" I tried to jump up by focusing the aura into my feet and jump up with it, since I could not use either of my arms. However, it went badly. No... It worked well, too well. That combined with the fact my angle was off, I launched myself into a tree and blacked out. Sabmad Abdul's POV... I was laughing my head off after seeing Lin attempt to use the NEN technique of KO. "You're pretty clever Lin! I took much longer to learn KO. Well, whatever. I'll let you sleep for a couple more hours." I sat down on a log, setting up a fire. I activated my NEN and conjured my disc for my NEN ability, Lazer. The disc in question was black with a red, transparent crystal in the center going through to the other side of the disc. I infused some aura into the back of the crystal, turning it black. I let go, and a burst of flames erupted out of the front of the crystal, getting the fire started. The disc floated in the air, until I touched it again making it drop down. The faint smile on my face slowly faded away. His eyes, I know those eyes. Those are the eyes of someone who has killed. Third person POV, four years ago... "Hey brat!" A woman hit Sabmad onto the floor. He was in pain but stayed silent due to fearing her wrath. He didn't feel anything, he was used to it after all. "Go and make me some money, son." Mother is feeling extra drunk today? Thought Sabmad. His mother was tall with black hair and blue eyes. "Yes mother." Sabmad went outside of his small home, to the river to catch some more fish for his mother. To buy more alcohol from the local brewery. He pulled out a fishing rod from his bag. He knew he wouldn't be getting much game these days, so he would just wait. His eyes showed nothing but a small hint if sorrow. A hand was placed on his shoulder. "Mom loves you, she just has a hard time showing it." Sabmad turned around excitedly. "DAD!" Sabmad smiled widely in joy. "How's my tough little sandman doing!" He pulled Sabmad into a hug and ruffled his hair. Sabmad was confused, seeing his dad was a rare occurrence. "Weren't you in the middle of a mission-" "Don't worry, I should be able to spend a couple days here." He looked at his father for a bit, just to take in his appearance after his absence for so long. He looked at his father's red eyes, almost white, but still blonde hair. He had a mustache with the same color. "I wanna go to the outside world one day and be a stronger warrior than you!" His father's smile faltered a bit, but otherwise stayed strong. His smile increased a bit. "Make me proud than!" A few days later... I wish dad could have stayed longer, mom treats me the same now that he's gone. Sabmad was fishing in the same spot as normal, the sun started to set in the distance. He was staring into the dunes of the desert, when he saw a figure appear. They were nearby and looked like they could use a hand, because from that side it was just sand dunes for hundreds of miles. Sabmad rushed over out of curiosity. "Who are you?" Sabmad asked the strange man. He looked at Sabmad. "Water." The man had a small stubble of black hair on his face and a mess of it on top. Sabmad knew what water he wanted, he decide to play around a little bit though. "Over there!" He pointed to the river, the man rushed over there and tried to take a drink. He spit out the water. Sabmad walked over, laughing. "I meant fresh water. You airhead." He had no idea what that term meant so he just gave him his flask of fresh water. He took a long drink of it before speaking. "Ging, I'm a hunter." It took Sabmad a moment to respond. "I'm Sabmad Abdul! What do you hunt?" Abdul... Could he be, no... It must be a common last name. Ging thought. "I'm a fantastic beast hunter." Ging grinned. Sabmad's eyes widened in wonder. So this is what having a son is like? "I can tell you a couple stories." Said Ging, now wanting to tell his story. XXX "...and that's how I defeated the pharaoh king." "I have a question!" Sabmad was raising his hand eagerly. "You don't have to ask me every time! Go ahead." Ging said, clearly annoyed. "Can you train me?" Ging looked at the boy surprised. He hadn't expected a question like this from the boy. He patted Sabmad on the head. "Sure, I'll do it on one condition, you have to find me. To find me you must become a hunter and learn to use NEN, then track me down." "Aw, darn it- WAIT WHAT! You serious? I live in the middle of nowhere and I don't even know where the nearest town is! How am I supposed to-" Sabmad opened his eyes which he had closed while ranting on, Ging was gone. Ging was hidden behind a rock in the desert, he had got there quickly. Glad the kid is out of the way. Now I can get rid of that terrorist hide out I've been tasked to destroy. The mission says not to interact for the next two years. I'll destroy this place then. Until then I train. Two Years Later... "...according to the fact he's on a three year mission in that place, Ging never left the village I lived in." Fury boiled up inside of up inside of him. "IT TOOK ME TWO YEARS TO FIND THIS! I TOOK AND FAILED THE FIRST EXAM, CAME BACK AFTER LEARNING NEN FROM SOME OLD HAG AT A JEWELRY MINE! THEN PASSED THE SECOND EXAM I TAKE, ONLY TO FIND THIS!" Sabmad had changed a lot, he had learned all he could about NEN, he even developed a HATSU of his own. Or at least he thinks he did... He now had a short temper and trust issues after being tricked in the first round of the first exam by some dude named Tonpa when he was given a drink. Sabmad picked up his bag and ran out of the hotel angrily. A Couple of Days Later... He took his final sip of the water canister. He shook it a couple times and watched as a couple of drops fell out. Empty huh. It doesn't matter. I should be almost there by now. The sun set slowly into the horizon with brilliant colors showing in between. The night was pitch black from the new moon, with only the stars to keep him company. He saw a light getting steadily closer. Sabmad started to run, eager to see his home again. He assumed the bright light was for some sort of holiday. The light was just over the next sand dune. Sabmad charged full speed up the dune, creating a gust of wind behind him. What he saw was something he did not expect. Sabmad's village was up in flames. He could smell the acrid smell of corpses burning in the flames. He saw the homes were mostly burnt down. Except for one. The home of his mother. His eyes went wide in fury as he remembered all of those times she was cruel to him. Sabmad charged up to the house with a grin. Time to do something I wanted to do for a long time! He kicked down the door and picked up a bottle of liquor. Then went out of the home, his mother stared as he left. "What are you doing with my liquor!" She shouted. Sabmad turned around, the life that was so visible in his eyes before was now absent. "Goodbye, mother." He conjured his NEN disc, laser and poured all of his NEN reserves into the crystal. It turned pitch black. Sabmad let go of the crystal, activating it's ability. A laser of highly compressed flame spewed forth from the crystal. Making everything it touched burst into flame or melt. His home burst into a raging inferno. He raised the bottle above his head and tried to pour it. It was unopened. He was about to pull the lid off when it was swiped from his hands. He looked over and saw his father. His father slapped him. "You disappoint me son." Tears streamed down Sabmad's face. He reached his hand out to his father. "I am disappointed in myself." "Dad-" It was too late. His father had thrown himself into the blazing inferno that he had created. XXX Sabmad was walking through the dunes of the desert aimlessly. He looked down at his hands as he realized the futility of the past few years of his life. He had gone nowhere at all in life. Little did Sabmad know that he was walking into another town. He walked right into a wall. "Hey watch it-" Sabmad caught a glimpse at what he was looking at. It was a large stone building. What The hell is a building this size doing in the desert? The more Sabmad observed the building, the more he could have sworn he felt an aura signature inside. Curious, he crawled through an open window that was leading into the building. There was a shiny object lying on the floor on the other side if the room, surprisingly, it looked like the window was the only entrance to the room. It doesn't have the aura signature but I guess I will check it out... He dropped into the room. The room was well lit, almost as if there was actually another light source other than the window. He walked over and picked up the object. It was a round, Damascus patterned steel ball. Sabmad didn't see anything special when he inspected it, so he picked it up for a better look. As it turns out, that was a mistake. There was a rope attached to the back of the ball. "A trap! No way! This is the middle of nowhere!" A large sheet of metal fell over the window, it also had the same Damascus pattern. Sabmad was quick to act as he summoned his NEN ability. LAZER! He poured a substantial amount of aura into the crystal, turning it a grey color. He released it, and watched as the torrent of flames did nothing to the steel. Two more sheets of the Damascus patterned steel fell on both sides of him. He ran up to one of them and looked at the pattern a little closer, it was the anti NEN text that was just discovered recently. But this is... No, this is impossible! What the hell! The walls of the room started to close in. This is bad! If the walls keep coming towards me, I'm doomed! The one remaining wall behind Sabmad crumbled, showing a swirling blue light. He could feel NEN emanating from the spinning blue substance. Another strange part about the thing was that despite its brightness, no more light had entered into the room. Sabmad evaluated his options, he saw that his best option was to enter the substance. It was his only chance, despite how hopeless it seemed. He entered it with a look of defeat in his eyes. XXX Sabmad opened his eyes, he was not in the building anymore... He didn't know where he was anymore. Present time, Chan Linniac POV... I opened my eyes, my arm felt a lot less sore than it did a day ago. I pushed myself off the ground with it. It hurt, but there was not much pain, that and I could move. I walked over to Sabmad, he had a vacant look in his eyes. As if he was trying to recall something. "Sabmad!" I called. He snapped out of it pretty quickly. Sabmad got up and stood next to the footpath that we were going to take. "Lets go!" He shouted loudly. I'm not deaf, stop being so loud! I approached, irritated. "Maybe you could talk in a normal voice. Then I won't go deaf." I said as I walked over. I rubbed my head in annoyance. "Seriously, that hurt." "WHAT! I COULDN'T HEAR YOU!" Sabmad shouted right into my ear. This is gonna be a hell of a walk.