Mory was outside enjoying lunch with his mother and sister. The weather was good for an outdoor family meal. They roasted some salmon over a fire and had some bread and diced potatoes to go along with it. Mory knew that he would miss momma’s cooking when he was gone. They didn’t say much at the table, but they didn’t need to. Being together as a family was what mattered most.
Mory had to get to the bird base soon.
“The food was delicious, Mom. I’m gonna go meet up with some friends.”
“Okay. Have fun, Momo.”
Mory grabbed his plate and tossed it in the wash pot. Then he went to his hut and grabbed his sword before heading to the bird base. He took the same route that he did the last time – past the village, over the river, through the hills, and across the plateau. Lastly, he trekked through the dark cave and reached the hidden world on the other side. He went straight into Rubi’s mega hut. Not only did he find Rubi inside, but Sannis was there as well.
“Welcome back,” said Rubi. “You ready to train?”
“I sure am. Let’s get it!”
Rubi and Sannis led Mory outside to the area where the free-for-all match had taken place the day before. There was a group of about thirty people there who were all preparing for training in their own special way. Some were stretching, some were chatting, and some were quietly getting their minds right. They were mostly men, but a few women were there as well. In terms of age, the group looked like it ranged from young adults to middle-aged ones.
Rubi got everybody’s attention with a loud two-fingered whistle.
“Before we begin today’s training session, I’d like you all to welcome our new member to the Sporadical family, Mory. He will be joining you guys in training group G.”
Mory was caught off guard by the energetic cheers and applause that he got from the group. Besides his family, no one in Stork Village had ever given him such a warm reception, yet these strangers seemed truly happy to see him. Rubi continued speaking as the group started to quiet down.
“We’re gonna start with something real intense . . . A game of sharks and minnows!”
The group was fired up by Rubi’s announcement. Mory stood there dumbfounded.
“Are you familiar with the game, Mory?” Rubi asked.
“Yeah but . . . We’re gonna play a children’s game?”
“Game? Yes. For children?” Rubi couldn’t help but laugh. ” Good luck, kid. As for the rest of you, Sobat and Myel will be the sharks. Everyone else is prey.”
Suddenly, they all seemed a bit unsettled. Even Sannis was skeptical.
“Sobat? Rubi, are you sure about this?” he asked.
“I want to start things off with a bang today,” Rubi responded.
Mory had no clue what all the commotion was about, but he would find out soon enough. Everyone, except for the sharks, was lined up side by side, waiting for Rubi’s command. Myel and Sobat were facing them about forty meters away. They stood at the halfway point of the field that everyone had to run across. Myel was a slender woman who looked like she could run for days. Sobat may have been the skinniest guy that Mory had ever seen. He was young, average height, and had a face like a baby. He looked completely harmless, which made Mory wonder why everyone was so afraid of him.
Rubi went over the rules.
“When I say ‘swim’, you must get to the other side of the field without being tagged by the sharks. If tagged, you will sit on the ground at that exact spot. The seated people can tag players who are still in, as long as their butt stays on the ground. If a seated person gets you, then you’ll sit next to them. You’ll go until one swimmer remains. You can use your maneks however you see fit. Just don’t kill or seriously injure anyone. Also, no drilling underground and no air travel for more than five seconds at a time. Stay in bounds. Those vine ropes laid out on the sides are the boundary lines. Cross those and you’re out. Are y’all ready?”
The participants answered with a rowdy cheer.
“Alright, swimmers. Maneks on!”
They all suddenly began to change into whatever freak of nature that they were. They produced claws, tails, fur, pointy ears, sharp teeth, scaly skin, and everything else that was animal-like. Mory had never seen such diversity among manek users. Members from almost every chordate animal class came ready to play. Only the birds were missing out on the action.
Mory closed his eyes and stood still, allowing his mind to reach a blank state. He focused solely on his breathing. When everything was dark, when the only sound he could hear was his breathing, when he was within arms reach of oblivion, that was when he felt the sensation of a bomb detonating within his skull. That was when shockwaves raced through his entire body and he opened his eyes. His squirrel form was engaged, and it was game time.
“Sharks. Maneks on!”
Myel’s ears tripled in size and started pointing outward. They were soon covered in white and brown fur. Her legs bent oddly and her skin darkened to a beige tone. Mory recognized those features. She had an impala manek, convenient for chasing people.
Mory was shook, as he watched Sobat transform. He grew long, sharp horns out of his head. His shirt tore as his stick-figure frame was upgraded to a swole and beastly one. Mory could see that the man had the manek of a bull. The extra beefy bull-man looked like he was ready to kill anything that moved. Mory finally understood what all of the hype was about.
“Swim!”
They all took off, desperately trying to slide to the safe side. Mory ran with his head on a swivel. His heart raced as the thought of being blindsided by that monster ran through his mind. He kept himself tucked nicely within a small group so they could serve as a shield while he got away.
He saw Myel dashing towards them with impressive speed. There was no time to think as she closed in within seconds. Mory thought she had him, but luck was on his side. A guy with kangaroo abilities leaped high into the air, trying to jump over her. Mory didn’t know a human could even have the kind of hops that he did. It was a valiant effort, but it was also a big mistake. Myel jumped nearly as high as the kangaroo did and tagged his foot in mid-air. Mory, along with many others, ran off without looking back. He looked over to his right and saw Sobat shove a fish-man, sending him flying about a few meters.
What kind of game is this?
Mory and fifteen other people made it to the safety zone. After barely surviving round one, he got through the next couple of rounds without much trouble. People were dropping left and right. By round six, only eight swimmers remained, including Mory. He was winded and sweating quite a bit. The sharks showed no signs of fatigue. Mory stood there, wishing that he could call a timeout.
“Swim!”
And again, they were off. There wasn’t much room left for evasive maneuvers since the field was saturated with defeated minnows. They tried their best to get him. A giraffe guy tried to trip Mory with his long neck, but he was able to jump out of his reach. Right after that, a girl with gravel-patterned snakeskin shot her hand out at a speed that was too quick for Mory to react in time. The fast strike of the viper girl would have gotten him if it wasn’t for a miraculous stroke of luck. Another guy accidentally got between them, and he was tagged instead.
Mory saw Myel speeding towards a lizard man who was covered in some sort of spikes. It seemed like there was no way for him to avoid being tagged, but then he did something that caught Myel off guard. He shot a stream of red liquid from his eyes, which hit Myel in the face. It got into her eyes, nose, and mouth. The mysterious fluid looked like it could have been blood. Whatever the secretion was, it must have been bad-smelling, foul-tasting, and irritating for the eyes, because Myel showed signs of all three struggles. The lizard man got away.
Mory looked forward and realized that Sobat was rushing toward him. He could feel the vibrations of the raging bull’s heavy strides against the earth. The sound of air rushing through his nostrils grew louder with each step. He was ten steps away, then five, then three. He reached his arm out, ready to deliver a vicious tag, but the only thing he touched was air. Just as Mory was about to get rocked, he leaped over Sobat, executing a front flip in the process. He landed on his feet and bolted towards the safe zone. The minnows were amazed by Mory’s dazzling dodge. They apparently didn’t expect him to be so acrobatic. Even Sannis and Rubi looked impressed. Sobat looked furious while Myel was busy trying to wipe the lizard fluid off of her face.
“Swim!”
Sobat wasted no time going after Mory. His pride was poked in the last round. He tried with all his might to catch Mory, but the bulky bull couldn’t keep up with the speedy squirrel. Sobat constantly lashed out, but Mory dashed, shuffled, and dodged. His manek made him very agile and his ability to shift his body and change directions was well above average. Once again, Mory reached the safe zone. At last, Sobat began to tire out. This was reassuring for Mory, but he knew he couldn’t hold his manek mode for much longer.
“Swim!”
As Rubi started the round, something caught Mory’s attention. One of the players had the features of some sort of green bug. He had an insect manek. Mory was frozen. The memory of his father on his deathbed resurfaced from the depths of his mind. Anger took control, and he sprinted toward the bug with malicious intent. The young man watched with a confused look as Mory ran after him.
“You monster!” Mory screamed as he tried to tackle the guy.
The bug bent his green legs, then in the blink of an eye, he popped off of the ground with incredible force. Mory thought the kangaroo had insane hops, but this guy could jump over a tree if he wanted to. He soared high through the air for quite some time as he cleared the entire field with ease and landed in the safety zone.
“Mory, you’re out!” said Rubi.
“Huh?”
“Look down.”
An older man, who appeared to have a toad manek, was sitting on the ground about a meter away from Mory. It turned out that when Mory tried to hit bug boy, the toad man shot his long tongue out and got a taste of Mory’s ankle.
Rubi looked over at the insect guy.
“Thacris, you were in the air for longer than five seconds. You’re out. That means that the winner, for the fourth time in a row, is Lima!”
Lima looked up to the sky, lifted his arms and dropped to his knees. “You like that? I am the undefeated, sharks and minnows GOAT!”
Sannis spoke quietly to Rubi.
“He does know that he wins every time because he’s a porcupine, right?”
“A win’s a win,” said Rubi.
All of the losers stood up and disengaged their maneks.
“Mory, we need to talk,” said Sannis.
They stepped away from the group, far enough so that no one could hear them.
“What was that about just now?
“I just . . . I don’t know what came over me. I saw him and thought about the arthropods and my dad.”
“I figured. A lot has happened recently, and you haven’t had much time to let it all sink in. If this is all too much for you, then I would understand if you decided to leave the group or take some time off. There would be no consequences.”
“No. I can do this. I must.”
“Very well. Look, that grasshopper over there is Thacris. He’s a cool guy. As you can see, he’s the only insect spora here. Another thing that’s special about him is that he’s from the Land of Reptiles. Besides Rubi and I, everyone else here is from the Land of Birds. I brought him here for certain reasons. He may be an insect, but he’s on our side and someone who I believe you can trust.”
Mory nodded. He understood the situation and had nothing to add. Sannis continued.
“Return to the group and finish up training. And no more surprise attacks.”
Mory nodded and rejoined the others to continue his Sporadical debut.
Fantasy
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