Chapter 1: The Courses

Welcome to our interplanetary nature documentary. Today, we observe the findings from a distant, and remote planet called Yusha. Most do not know of its existence, and fewer its location, but this planet holds such fascinating beauties and dangers beyond comprehension. 

Somewhere in the forest outside of Lakrun village, lurked a large, and ravenous creature. A young Yushian, the most dominant, and intelligent species of the planet of Yusha. Though still in his adolescent years, the Yushian remained a powerful, and resilient predator. So cunning. So majestic. 

"OUCH! Goojh it!" 

He, um, stubbed his toe crawling through the mud. He peered over a log. Intense focus in his yellow slit eyes, and thick drool coated his large fangs… “Majestic” indeed. 

The Yushians often wore special armor made from the metal Yukrai when they would go hunting. But this one’s mission did not seem to require that. He wore only a leather vest, tattered cloth trousers, and the traditional net-like sleeve that adorned nearly his entire body. He had thick, scaled skin, large feet, with three sharp toe claws that could rend flesh with ease. The only hair on his body grew atop his head, and fell down to his shoulders in thick gray dreadlocks. Though it was not hair as such, rather some form of added appendages, with nerves running through each one of them. To cut a Yushian’s hair would be excruciating, and permanent. 

The young Yushian spoke in his native language, translated here in Earthian English for your convenience. 

"And the fearsome hunter stalks his prey." He whispered to himself. "He assesses the field. 17 hostiles, 4 meters apart. Unarmed. Green. Sick green. They make me sick too. Must destroy with extreme prejudice. The unsuspecting fools won’t know what hit them.” The young Yushian retrieved a long serrated blade from his tool bag. And he crept around to flank his opposition. 

The preferred opening attack for any seasoned hunter is to lure their prey to their most vulnerable position. Then it is only a matter of patience, subtlety, and swiftness.  

“OORAKKA FRACKLE!!!” Or not. He swiped at the bean stalks and cleaved 5 in one clean slice. “KYAH!” he took out a few more, striking a cool pose. “BRRAH! HOOHAH! TAKE THAT!” The Yushian had a remarkable technique to increase his own strength, by indiscriminately shouting incoherent battle cries. With savagery rivaling that of a Fang-Bull, the Yushian cut through 16 bean stalks before they had a chance to fight back… or at least sway in the breeze one last time. One remained. “And you’re the leader, I take it. Well you shall suffer a worse fate than your disgusting brethren.” He stuck his machete into the dirt, and gripped the stalk with both hands. He struggled to yank the 12 foot tall plant down. “Hrrgrgrgrgrrrrrrrr You vile vegetable! Your v-vitamins, Grrgh, and minerals, umph, are… no match… for my… carnivorous… WRATH!” the top half of the stalk snapped off, and he stumbled back, then the bottom half violently whipped back and hit him in the face. He fell down. Still, triumphantly, he hopped back up and raised the severed stalk of Ganso Beans towards the sky. “Yes! I have vanquished you all!” 

Suddenly the Yushian froze as he heard the sound of Dishards existing in the ground. Slowly he turned to see his next targets poking their stems. “What-ho? Another foe? hehehe well, today you’re about to get Jomified.” He said, holding two garden trowels. 

“RATATATATATATA!” One by one, Jom aggressively jabbed his trowels into the dirt and flung the vegetables up and behind him. 

“GORE! GORE! GORE!” He attacked a small tree with an ax. 

“DEATH TO YOU TOO!” At full running speed, he slammed his head into a larger tree, causing many Bell-Berries to fall from the branches above. 

His eyes briefly glazed over, but as he saw the last few fruits fall, he got another brilliant idea to… do whatever he was trying to accomplish. Once again he bore his machete and began to monologue to himself. “Now the mighty hunter unleashes his most secret, and most KILLIEST technique. The Thousand Tooth Slash.” He kicked the tree with all his might and swung at every fruit that fell. “KYAH! HI-YAH! WATAAH!” no matter how he screamed, he missed all of them, but cut the top of the very last one. “Yes! First try!” He sheathed the blade in his belt. 

With Jom’s job of… very aggressive crop harvesting now completed, He stood and reveled in his victory. 

“Your lord and Master Hunter does it again! Another flawless victory! And he soaks in the undying praise from his adoring audience!” 

He gestured to a Gumnut, wearing a green foliage wig, resting on a stump. After a moment’s waiting, it’s only response was to gently roll to the edge of the stump, and fall to the ground below. 

“Thank you, Thank you. Hold your applause. For My only reward is not your praise, but eternal glory. Fed to me by my prey, and fueling my ascension into Rankashir. My might and terror shall be echoed through the ages, and serve as an example to those with inferior–” 

“HEY JOM!” A voice broke through the ambient sounds of the jungle. “Have you finished your haul yet, or are you too busy talking to a nut again!?” 

“Uhh…” Jom hurriedly kicked his gumnut spectator as far away as he could manage. He took a seat on the stump, attempting to seem casual. “Yeah yeah! Everything’s ready!” 

Jom seemed to have a companion of sorts. Another Yushian around Jom’s age arrived in an eight wheeled, roofless transport vessel. “Alright, I got the meat. You got the crops?" 

"Of course. And my haul's bigger than yours, Harker. I won our challenge again!" 

"Yes yes, good for you. Long as it makes up the weight. Let’s get this in the crawler, and get back home for lunch.” 

“Good. I’m starving.” 

Together they loaded up the vegetation haul into the crawler, with the disproportionately smaller haul of meat, closed the trunk and sat in the cockpit. 

"Belt please, Jom?" 

"Bah. You're not in charge." Jom Said. 

"If you say so." Harker replied, igniting the engine. He drove off into the woods. 

The crawler had such agile wheels, it could move seamlessly over and around any obstacles in their path. 

"He hasn't asked yet." Jom thought. Yes, this broadcast can translate thoughts. "If I just keep acting like nothing happened, perhaps he'll never ask what happened on my hunting exam on Zokarria." 

"So Jom. What Happened on your hunting exam on Zokarria?" 

"Goojh! He asked!" He thought frantically. "Oh… you know. I have been known to deliver such stirring performances, which some have described as… indescribable. So–" 

"Yeah you failed again, huh?" 

"I… Yes. Yes I did." He said, resigned. 

"What were the cited reasons this time?" 

"(Sigh) You know, the usual. 'Failure to follow procedures, inadequate hand-to-hand combat prowess, shoddy trapsmanship, zero concept of stealth, poorly calibrated language algorithm', Y’know nonsense like that." 

"But I heard Fayda passed that exam. She'll be getting her shoulder gun and becoming an Alpha today. You’re not?" 

“Psh! She cheated! I had ‘em all down for the count, then she swooped in and took the kills which were rightfully mine!” 

"So you didn't kill anybody?" 

"Ah. As a matter of fact I did! My first kill!" 

"Oh, bang up job then, 'Alpha'. Let's see the prize." 

Jom pulled a burlap-like sack from his vest. Opening the bag, he reached in, rummaged a bit, and removed a skull which belonged to a foreign alien species. 

Harker glanced at it puzzled, while trying to maintain focus on driving through the jungle. "Why is it in a bag?" He asked. 

"Ahh, you know. Pulling a prey's spine and skull out in one go is a bit harder than it sounds." 

"Wow. A fledgeling collecting a prize in pieces. I think you've just done a first, Jom." 

"Don't you go calling me dumb again." 

"Oh no I'm not gonna call you dumb." 

"Thank you." 

"We both already know you're dumb." 

"Fuck you." 

"But this is like the fourth time you've tried and failed at the final exam. And we're only in our second year. Don't you want to wait until you, you know, get good?" 

"What's to wait for? Fayda's the same age and she's graduating." 

"Well Fayda's a try-hard glory hound, who's annoyingly got the skills to back it up. But you yourself, man, are a bit rough around the edges. No It’s more like your edges have been bit off, chewed up, and spewed back onto you. You suck. If you want to be a hunter so bad, you gotta wait till you’ve properly honed your skills.” 

“I can’t be waiting! Those teachers are grinding me to my bones. They’ve got it out for me, I tell Ya! If I keep listening to them, they’ll just go ahead and sort me, I’ll be stuck in the Gatherer’s clan picking vegetables for the rest of my days! I must strike while the Yukrai is hot. And I’m hot. Hot as a mighty Magmapede! I’m boiling mate! And I’m liable to burst and douse the world in a flaming ball of 

glorious dea-” 

Just then the young Yushians dropped off a steep cliff and Jom was flung from his seat into a nearby tree. And now we witness the remarkable ingenuity of this race’s craftsmanship. Harker quickly extended the Crawler’s 8 wheels on hydraulic arms in all directions, exposed claws from its hub caps, and gripped the trees around it, suspending it in air. 

Harker looked up to see Jom stuck to the tree trunk. Clearly in some pain. 

“Oh yeah, Jom!” he said, sarcastically. “I can just feel the heat of your excellence radiating off you!” 

Jom fell from the tree and hit a few branches before dizzily landing back on his seat in the crawler. 

“Wanna apply your seatbelt now smart guy?” 

“Oh shut up.” Jom said. 

Once Jom regained his senses, He latched his seat belt around his waist(Because HE felt Like It! Not because Harker said so!), before Harker continued on climbing across the trees. 

“What about you, anyway?” Jom asked. “Your grades ain’t so great either. You talk to me of improvement, but maybe you should worry more about yourself becoming a hunter.” 

“Well…” Harker hesitated. “My grades are fine enough that I can graduate without the exam in 2 years. But being a Hunter ain’t all I can do, you know.” 

“Spoken like one pathetic loser. What greater glory is there to strive for than being a Hunter? The popularity, the fear, the respect, the money, the ships, the feasts, and the org… and the SHOULDER GUNS, HARKER! They get really cool Shoulder Guns!” 

“Riiight…” Harker said, indignantly. “(Sigh) Look, Jom. Do you ever wonder if there is … more than this? More to our lives than killing?” 

Jom’s only response to this question was to stare at him blankly, blinking twice. 

“I’ll take that as a no. I don’t know. Maybe my mind’s getting all junktified from the tests. It’s such a pain in the arse.” 

“Then you must use that anger to fuel your conquest!” Jom said “Just like me! Yura’s got a place for us all. And mine is at the top. With ALL the Hunter Elite. You’ll see, this is our year. I can feel it in me nads. Nothing’s getting in our way.” 

Harker stopped, because something got in their way. A most fascinating creature, native to these tributaries. 

“Uhh, Harker?” Jom asked, worriedly. “What is that?” 

A most interesting question. That is a Magmapede. Jom knew it from data files, but he had never seen one up close. Identified by its ten long orange legs, white body, and protruding pores along its back. They exhaust scalding mucus when they are in heat.

“IN HEAT!?” Harker asked in response to a disembodied voice. 

Yes, in heat. And it just so happens that the crawler machines constructed by the Yushians are based on the Magmapedes. Which often confuses the males into thinking they are females of their species. 

“Uhhh….” 

Now this specimen is likely to demonstrate its mating ritual. Which begins with a violent grapple, combined with a lathering of its lava-like mucus. 

“FLOOR IT!!!” 

Now the young Yushians flee through the trees, as the magmapede gives chase. 

Now unfortunately, since the speed and dexterity of the crawler is significantly lower than the magmapede, what happens when it catches them is quite unsightly. So we will return to the pair when they feel safer. 

(ONE UNSIGHTLY OCCURRENCE LATER) 

The pair of fledglings finally pulled their smoldering machine through the gates of Lakrun village. A modest settlement, surrounded by a stone wall. Structures lining the main road are frightful fusions of animal hides, bones, and hand forged metal. As if each one was a mouth that can open up and bite. 

The village had all the natural amenities. From the fledgling’s school, to the vendors, to the training courses, to the drinking hall, to the post-drink vomiting hall(enter at your own peril) and of course the proving ground. Where the Elite members of the Berserker's court will arrive from the capital to witness Lakrun’s newest Alpha Hunter Graduate. 

Jom and Harker pull what’s left of their crawler up to their school’s vendor, and hand the remainder of their haul that wasn’t burnt or eaten to the shop keep. The older female Yushian Had a Hunch in her back and a Helmet on her head. She calculated the haul by the items’ type, quantity, and weight. 

“That’ll be 60 Yukrai, I think.” she said, with some rasp in her voice.

“Great. (cough).” Harker replied, with some soot in his throat. 

“You realize this will all have to cover the repairs to the cra–” 

“YES! We know.” 

They took the bag of metal pieces, and went to push their machine to the school’s mechanic. 

But Jom got distracted as a ship, with the Elite’s golden symbol, passed overhead. Low enough to hear the engine roar. It was there for someone else. Not for him.