ExFic 1: One Horse Town

How long had it been? A month? A year? It had been too long, as far as Katrina Arden was concerned, since this brown-eyed, black-haired girl successfully became an adult through the Rite of Initiation. Too long since she first met her MultiPet partner Wearwolf, the transforming canine that lives up to the pun in his name. Too long since they first merged bodies to combat the hunter that threatened to kill them both. Too long since, at long last, Katrina felt her destiny to become a Chimera Knight was forged.

And all she had done since then was pull weeds.

The first thing Katrina had wanted to do as soon as her wounds healed was travel to the Chimera Knight academy at Neo Olympus Mons, the highest mountain on Planet Ares. While her parents no longer had the authority to force her to stay, it was hard to say no when her father asked her to at least try out other vocations around the village. Since then, she has been hopping from job to job, narrowing down her purpose by process of elimination.

With Wearwolf as her armor, Katrina could combine her strength and agility with his, so there were plenty of menial jobs available. Many of them put their united power and endurance to test, but towing, hauling, and plowing left her feeling as though her full potential was under utilized. There were cattle to tend to and flocks to herd, but those were less than captivating occupations. Hunting had its charms, especially when she let Wearwolf’s instincts take over as they pursued their prey through the forests, although the actual killing of weaker animals left her feeling a little… dirty. And not in a good way.

Although, there was this one incident with a Bearzerk. A certain deer came up with a rather clever ploy to elude one predator by leading it into another. What exactly provoked the grizzly creature to combat was never apparent to Katrina, but it was not going to take “I’m sorry” for an answer. She must’ve fought that beast for hours, but she reveled in every minute of it. The rest of the hunting party was not exactly thrilled that she let the Bearzerk live, but she had too much respect for it to end its life. That deer was going to get it next time, though.

That night, Katrina could not help but wonder why she was still living in this village. Did her goals not lie outside these forests, beyond the lands she knew? Was she not raring to skip town not to long ago? Was she going to let time slip through her fingers before she could grasp destiny by the horns?

“Wearwolf, are you happy here?” Katrina asked, staring up at the ceiling above her bed.

Wearwolf lifted his head from where he had curled up on the floor and replied, “I guess. It’s not exactly like living in the forest, but… Why do you ask?”

“I think I’m finally ready to leave,” Katrina said, her voice lacking certainty. “I mean, I want to leave while I still can, before I lose track of time and wind up married with two kids, you know? But, at the same time, I have so many friends and stuff here that I don’t know if I can leave them all behind. You know what I’m saying?”

“Yes, Katrina,” Wearwolf responded. “I know exactly what you are going through.”

“You do?” Katrina inquired, sitting up a little to look at her partner.

“I do indeed,” Wearwolf confirmed. “Do you not recall my mentioning of my pack the morning after we first joined? Even though I had friends and family waiting for me in the forest, and despite the strong pack instincts I feel as a wolf, I sacrificed my relationships with all of them to be with you, my human partner. Do not misunderstand; I feel no animosity from anyone or anything in terms of forging our partnership. I may miss my pack, but I do not regret my decision to leave them.”

Wearwolf stood up, propping his forelegs on the bed with one paw on Katrina’s hand.

“I believe now that my purpose is to form a new pack with you,” he said. “Even if it is just the two of us.”

Katrina stared deep into Wearwolf’s soulful eyes and asked, “You’re not about to kiss me, are you?”

“I beg your pardon?” Wearwolf asked.

“Never mind,” Katrina giggled as she slipped out of bed. She silently trod over to her closet and began rummaging through it. “I’m gonna follow your example, Wearwolf. I’m gonna follow my dreams while my future’s still fresh and tastey. We’re leaving tonight!”

Katrina eventually dug out a backpack and pranced over to her dresser to fill it with various undergarments.

“Should we not leave in the morning?” Wearwolf asked.

“I wanna leave before I change my mind,” Katrina explained while musing over some less practical articles. “Besides, if I leave in the dead of night I’m less likely to run into someone who will make it harder to go. Do I really need a thong?”

“I believe you can live without it,” Wearwolf replied. “Katrina, I do not wish to make this any harder than it must be right now, but it would be remiss of me not to remind you that you can still do something that I did not. I never said goodbye to my loved ones. Are you sure you do not wish to take this opportunity to…”

The closing of Katrina’s dresser drawer was followed by silence. She stared at her dresser, trying not to think of everything. There was still that part of her that wanted to remain at home. It was the same part of her that didn’t want to take the Rite of Initiation, to remain a child forever. It was the same part that keeps people from waking up in the morning, the same part that prevents them from leaving dysfunctional relationships and keeps deviants in their closets. The part that fears change and closes the mind to anything outside the comfort zone.

This part of Katrina was speaking louder right now than Katrina had ever experienced. It spoke not words but doubts. Katrina had little knowledge of the outside world, but she knew where she lived now was safe and sound. Ares was a big and scary place, and mother said her dreams might not come true.

Katrina felt imprisoned by this part of her. It restricted her body and soul. Thus, she engaged that other part of her. The part that was starved for adventure and things you can’t just learn from a book. The part that put Neil Armstrong on the moon, that got Bill Gates into computers, that convinced John McKinney to sire the Anti-Christ, which wasn’t nearly as successful as the other examples, but the point still remains. Right now, this part was telling Katrina that if she doesn’t leave she’d never see wonders Ares has to offer. There’s a big, scary world out there, but it is filled with thrills and mysteries that Katrina won’t find in this one-horse town. She may fantasize about them now, but she will always wonder if they were real if she didn’t try to find them, because they sure weren’t going to try to find her.

“Positive,” Katrina answered. She opened the dresser again and gathered up a few changes of clothes, basically a couple shirts and a few pairs of pants. A skirt? Hey, why not. A bathing suit might be a good idea, too. Better get some towels, too. Who was it that said that you should at least know where your towel is? Never mind, it’s not important.

After getting dressed, Katrina considered climbing out the window to make her escape, but she realized she was going to need some food for the journey and snuck down to the kitchen instead. Then, for the sake of romantics, she climbed out the kitchen window. She had to help Wearwolf out first, which proved to be a little awkward, but she was sticking to that principle. Then she got a few supplies from the tool shed, just in case she would need them.

As they after crossed what Katrina considered the point of no return, which was about where the village ended and the forest began, Katrina thought she was finally breaking free from the ties that bound her there.

“Running away? Isn’t that a little immature for someone your age?”

Aw, crap.

Katrina turned around. Rion and Jaime Chardonnay stepped out of the bushes and onto the road leading out of town. Their expressions were surprised and more than a little hurt.

“Are… Are you really leaving, Katrina?” Jaime asked.

“You said you’d come with me on my Rite of Initiation,” her brother reminded. “Or did you forget again?”

“You’re a big boy now, Rion,” Katrina said, almost in a warning tone. “I think you can handle it by yourself.”

“But, Katrina…” Rion started.

“No buts!” Katrina snapped. “I’ve made up my mind! I’m leaving and no one’s gonna make me change my mind!”

“Then let us go with you!” Jaime blurted out. In the dim moonlight, Katrina had not noticed until now that both Rion and his sister were wearing backpacks of their own.

“You’re… running away, too?” Katrina inquired, quite surprised.

“Why not?” Rion challenged. “Our parents don’t want us anymore. They never did.”

“That’s not…” Katrina started.

“You know our parents were going to leave as soon as we both became adults,” Rion explained. “For sixteen years, they’ve been planning to return to their lives of piracy. They were going to leave us, so we’re leaving them before they get the chance.”

“They only wanted what was best for you,” Katrina said. “They wouldn’t have stopped being pirates in the first place if they didn’t.”

“Katrina, we appreciate what you’re trying to do, and we thank you for it,” Jaime said. “We’ve made up our minds, and this is what we really want to do. Our Rites are just around the corner anyway, so we figure we are old enough to make our own decisions. There’s nothing in our biology that says we have to perform the Rite when we’re exactly sixteen or that we need some sort of big ceremony.”

“We’re going to hit the road and see what happens,” Rion added. “And we want you to come with us. Or us to come with you.”

Katrina smiled at them, and then turned around haughtily.

“You two can go where you want, I don’t care,” she said. She kept one eye open to look back at them. “I’m not gonna claim any responsibility for stupid kids who happen to be walking behind me because we’re on the same road.”

“And we’re not going to bother any Chimera Knight wannabes who just happen to be walking ahead of us,” Rion agreed.

“And we’re not going to share our almond clusters with you, either,” Jaime teased.

“Right, then it’s settl-did you say almond clusters?” Katrina replied with a mock superior air that young girls hold over younger children, which then dissolved into child-like glee. “I love almond clusters! Can I have one?”

“Nuh, uh,” Jaime denied, again in a teasing tone. “These almond clusters are for kids, and you can’t have any.”

“Silly wolf-girl,” Rion added.

“Aw, c’mon!” Katrina pleaded. “You can spare just one, can’t you, please?”

“Katrina, if you wish to leave without meeting anyone else, I suggest we depart before sunrise,” Wearwolf interjected.

“Right,” Katrina said, regaining her composure. “Let’s get going. The farther we get from here, the better.”