Do you know how to drive?

The title is pretty self-explanatory. Do you know how to drive, how long have you been driving, and do you drive standard or automatic?

I know how to drive, kinda. I'm not a good enough driver to drive on a road with other cars (XP) but I can drive. I've only driven standard before, so I actually have no clue how to drive an automatic. I've been able to drive since age thirteen.

How funny are you?

So how funny do you think you are? I'm not really too funny most of the time, unless I can have a bit to think about what it is I want to say. Which will naturally make me too late in answering to be funny = P I can usually be pretty random though, and it's kind of random to hear me say something like 'Transforming flower pots of horrible doom' while writing a math test XDDD

So on a scale of one to ten I'd have to give myself about a three. What would you say you are?

Garou

Rating: Some swearing in later chapters, violence

Alright, I know some people have wanted to know about Garou... and it's finally up.

As I promised, I put this one up the second I posted the last chapter for the War of Time.

I'll try to update this once a week.

List of chapters:

1. Encounter
2. Hospital
3. Promises
4. Fear
5. Hunters
6. Missing
7. Cahoots
8. Hoax
9. Garou
10. Hate



Chapter one: Encounter

There was nothing Emera liked as much as the serene, peaceful forest that was a short walk away from her house.

Every now and then, a club organized by one of the local adults called the Nature club, would take some hikes through the woods. Emera always tagged along, helping out with the younger kids, she was one of the oldest after all.

Being among the oldest children in the group had its advantages and disadvantages. You got to have privileges the little kids couldn’t handle, like learning how to chop wood or start a fire, but you also had to help pull your own weight in the group, watch after the littler kids and make sure they stayed out of trouble.

Emera had been a trainer, for three months. Heartbroken after her first gym loss, she walked back home with intentions of training at home for a bit. What was supposed to be just a month at home turned into two, and then three and eventually all those months morphed into a year.

Emera did train at home, but could never pull herself away from her home again. Not alone anyways, the friends she had left with were now touring another region.

So, she just hung out with the Nature club and spent her weeks learning how to identify Pokemon footprints, which berries were edible, and Pokemon-watching. The forest was a semi-popular place, it was near a large mountain and the valley around it was a favourite for picnics. Hikers and campers made the forest into their second homes, several shelters had been built in case anybody wanted to camp, or got caught in a storm.

On the Nature club’s hikes, Emera didn’t bring her Pokemon. She had the first few times and it hadn’t been a good idea. The younger kids had begged to play with them, including her very grumpy Sandslash who didn’t like that idea at all, and her two noisier Pokemon, Magby and Scyther, had made Pokemon-watching impossible.

It killed her sometimes, when even Sandslash seemed to get upset when she left, but she tried to explain to them that she needed some alone time every now and then. Of course, they didn’t understand, but when she talked to them they seemed to realize Emera still loved them and wasn’t abandoning them.

Mr. Walton-Rossignol, a man in his mid twenties, tried to get all of the kids to quiet down, his shrill voice snapped Emera out of her recollections. Emera jumped out of her thoughts and watched as the younger kids kept talking, oblivious to all.

Mr. Walton-Rossignol reached into his pocket and pulled out something small, shiny and maroon red in colour. Emera used her hands to cover her ears as Mr. Walton-Rossignol blew into the whistle. If anybody could kill your eardrums with just a whistle, it was him. Sure enough, as soon as she thought it was safe and took her hands off her ears, kids were groaning and covering their ears.

“Alright, everybody find two buddies and get into groups of three.” he ordered. As soon as he said it kids turned around and pointed at their friends and gave hand signals, trying not to get stuck in a group they didn’t like. “Hey, I didn’t say you could choose yet. First, we have important stuff to talk about.”

“Alright.” a few kids mumbled, Emera couldn’t be sure whether they were agreeing with Mr. Walton Rossignol, or whether they were talking to their friends.

“Good. Now, you can explore the path with your buddies but don’t stray off the path! Now, I know you might see a Pokemon and want a better view, but don’t walk off into the woods. And, don’t litter, we want everybody to see this beautiful forest like we do, if we all litter that beauty will disappear.” he warned them.

“Ok!” the children chorused. Mr. Walton-Rossignol nodded and looked at the group with pride.

“Good. Now you can choose your groups.” the children remained silent, they had chosen their groups a few seconds ago. “Alright then… so who doesn’t have a group?” he asked. In every hike there was one or two kids that didn’t have a group or sulked because they couldn’t be with their friends, so they had to be told where to go.

Emera raised her hand, along with three other kids.

“Alright, Tyler you go with Amy’s group,” a dark haired boy named Tyler seemed to pale as he saw the eight year old Amy grinning demonically. “Emera, you go with Kabecka‘s group.” Emera shot Kabecka a glance and tuned out what Mr. Walton-Rossignol said next.

Kabecka and Gemini, they were twins. Both eight years old and only a slight height difference could determine which one was which. They both had round, sweet, innocent faces, but would cause enough trouble to send you to the asylum. It seemed that Emera was always with their group, good thing she was too, without her they probably would have done something stupid, like hitting a Combee nest.

“Yay! Emera’s in our group! Hear that Gemini?” Kabecka asked mockingly, elbowing his twin lightly.

“Yup! I did Kab, we always get the pemissist.” he stuck his tongue out at Emera. They both laughed hysterically at Emera’s look of confusion.

“Pemissist? What’s that, some type of secret code?” she asked, sending them into fits of laughter.

“No stupid! it’s somebody sad… and minusive.” Gemini threw his arms out and rolled around on the ground while laughing, drama queen.

“Minusive? You mean negative… and oh… you mean pessimist.” she figured it out finally. They both looked at her like she had suddenly grown another head.

“No! We mean pemissist.” Kabecka insisted. Mr. Walton-Rossignol walked up from behind the two and said,

“No, you mean pessimist.” he laughed as they pouted, angry to be proved wrong. That anger disappeared instantly as they saw one of the other groups leaving on one of the many paths, their faces lit up and they sprinted away.

“Be back here in one hour!” Mr. Walton-Rossignol called to everybody that could still hear him.

Emera dashed forwards after the two twins and cursed her rotten luck. Why couldn’t she have been with Paul or Tanya? Those two never got in trouble, they just looked around with curious faces and asked questions. Kabecka and Gemini on the other hand, were more likely to blow something up than ask a question.

Emera was just getting a cramp in her side from running when she saw the two boys ahead of her slow down. Thank Mew for inactive youth. She slowed down to just a jog and watched them pick up two sticks and begin to fight with them, turning them into swords.

“I win!” Gemini shouted.

“No! No you didn’t! I killed you!” Kabecka hollered. Swinging at his brother with his stick.

“No! You cheated! it didn’t count!” Gemini yelled back, dodging his brother’s attack.

“I didn’t cheat! You cheated!” Kabecka swung his stick again, hitting his brother in the shins.

“You hit me!” Gemini shouted, throwing his stick away in favour of his clenched fists.

“HEY! Knock it off!” Emera ran over and tried to separate the two. They both gained evil grins and hit and kicked her.

“Ow! Stop it!” she cried, even though it didn’t really hurt, it was just annoying. This was going to be a long hour.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


The next hour was torturous, as she had predicted. Of course, even three minutes with those two would be sheer and utter torture.

Finally, they heard a whistle off in the distance. That was Mr. Walton-Rossignol, they were supposed to come back. Finally.

But, the terrible twins had plans of their own. They looked curiously at the direction they should have been heading to, and then swiftly jogged away.

Emera froze, caught between a rock and a hard place. What should she do? Stay with them and get in trouble for not coming back, or leave them and get in trouble for leaving two eight year olds to wander around a forest alone? No contest really.

“You two, get back here! I’m warning you! I’ll tell Mr. Walton-Rossignol!” she hollered, chasing after them. Gemini, or it might have been Kabecka, bent down and threw a handful of loose gravel at her. Small stones stung her knees and dirt got caught in her eyes.

She coughed and rubbed her eyes, she could just barely make out them running off the path. Maybe she was going crazy, but didn’t Mr. Walton Rossignol say not to do that?

Boys. Her brother was this troublesome at age eight too. Now he was off on his own Pokemon journey and not nearly as much as a pain as he had been before.

She followed them through the forest, shouting threats and various names. She was faster than them and caught up quickly, but there was nothing she could do, really. Carry them away? Yeah right, put together they weighed more than her, probably.

She followed them into a clearing where a lone building stood. The building had probably seen better days. It was supported by four pillars, which were covered by graffiti and had one single picnic bench inside, which was turned upside down and filled with carvings and inappropriate words written in permanent marker.

She thought it was a dump and would have normally avoided it, but Gemini and Kabecka seemed to think otherwise. Their faces lit up and they ran into it, looking curiously around and, to Emera’s horror, trying to figure out what was written on the picnic benches.

“If you don’t get back, Mr. Walton-Rossignol will be so angry with you,” she warned them, crossing her arms and trying to look like she was older, smarter, and much more responsible than they could ever imagine.

“He’s not our mum! And neither are you! Kab and I should just leave you alone in the woods. We’re letting you follow us.” Gemini stuck his tongue out.

“Yeah right.” she said, but didn’t challenge them. She didn’t want them to really try to run away, that would be nothing short of a disaster. “We should go back, look at the sky, it might rain.” she pointed to the horizon. They definitely weren’t rain clouds, but it might persuade them to go back.

“So? Gem an’ I, we like the rain! An’ we like the mud an’ insects and stuff.” he laughed. Emera rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, well I like insects too. I have a Scyther. Maybe if you come back I’d show him to you.” she said coolly. They exchanged looks and both shook their heads.

“Nah, we don’t need to see it. We could probably go find one stronger if we looked for one that was half-dead.” Kabecka laughed.

“Yeah. When we get Pokemon they’ll be real strong.” Gemini promised. Emera frowned, this was why she hated these two. They always found the perfect way to tick you off.

“We’re supposed to leave and you two can stay here. I’ll just go to Mr. Walton-Rossignol and tell him I couldn’t get you and that―” Emera’s words were caught off as she swivelled her head to the side.

Something had moved. That something was now about ten feet away from them.

It was just taller than the twins, but the way it carried itself showed it was self confident and not afraid of anything. Its limbs were thin and out of proportion compared to its paws, which were massive. It walked on two feet and had a tear shaped head, also rather large considering how small it was. The fur around the Pokemon’s face was black, as were the paws and feet; the limbs and body were snow white though.

Gemini and Kabecka turned to look at the Pokemon too. The Pokemon seemed upset it no longer had the element of surprise, it opened its mouth. All three children gasped, long sharp teeth filled the mouth, and claws slid out of its paws. They seemed to be retractable, just like a Meowth’s.

It walked towards them, it walked gracefully but slowly. Emera had never seen or heard of this species of Pokemon, and that was saying a lot.

All Emera had to see was the claws to know this Pokemon was bad news. The Pokemon’s claws were long, and a rust colour. Emera’s eyes widened, was that dried blood underneath its claws? She took two steps back and tried to remember all that she knew about what to do when facing a dangerous Pokemon.

Emera became nervous and slowly put her hand in her pocket and pulled her pocket knife out, and held the blade out. Compared to the length of the Pokemon’s claws, the knife was useless, but just having it made her feel much better than before, stronger.

The Pokemon raised its claws to around the height of its elbows and made a strangled hissing sound, like somebody choking.

Gemini and Kabecka screamed loudly, Emera fought not to scream as they had. The Pokemon didn’t care, it looked at Gemini and he was quiet for a mere second, before it turned its gaze to Emera. it was now really close, three feet at the very least and Emera could see into its eyes.

Its eyes were splashes of colour. There was some grey and then brown, green, blue, red and yellow. Emera’s breathing, which had been rapid moments before, slowed down and she kept watching the Pokemon.

Emera had seen a lot of Pokemon, and every Pokemon had a softness about their eyes. No matter what, sometimes it looked like curiosity, sometimes it looked like there was just a little bit of it; there was none in this Pokemon.

Gemini and Kabecka screamed again loudly, but they didn’t run. Their voices seemed so far away, and out of key. Like something played their voices on the wrong notes. She wanted to calm them down, to tell them it would be alright, but she couldn’t bring herself to do anything at all.

Then, she was intimately connected with it. She could feel around its mind, but it couldn’t feel hers. She saw its eyes look quickly to the two screaming twins. They were smaller, they’d put up less resistance, but there was more to eat on the big one.

She should have been terrified, but she felt oddly disconnected from the world. Like it wasn’t her life, just somebody on television, on a movie. Nothing important, nothing to care about. Live or die, it didn’t affect anybody in the long run. Even though a small part of her screamed to fight whatever spell she was under, she didn’t.

The world around her began to blur, and stretch. It looked so strange, everything was wrong. The trees weren’t that tall, the clouds didn’t stretch out for miles.

It wasn’t afraid of her, or that blade she had in her hand. That’s why it was moving so slowly, it knew that it could take her down… why hurry? She wasn’t going anywhere, it hadn’t lost any prey before and this prey was young and not resisting at all.

More screaming, even farther away now. But surely she should try to help them? She had a weapon, she’d protect them, the logical part of Emera’s brain said.

“Don’t worry.” she heard herself say. Her voice seemed so slow, and it didn’t seem to belong to her. She was aware that she was still holding onto the knife but she couldn’t see it.

Se could only see its eyes, those colourful orbs…

It paused. Which one to eat? The older female was its first choice, but there was a chance it would put up a fight. One of the little ones would be easier to carry away, but the bigger one would be a larger meal, and it had already made sure she wouldn’t run away.

It chose Emera

It walked up to her and put one claw, incredibly long, the length of a ruler at the very least, on her neck. The cold touch of it seemed a shock, mostly because it seemed so alien. Her neck seemed numb, like she was retreating farther into her mind, like she wasn’t herself.

“Doooooooon’tttt leeeettt itttt kiiiilllll yooooouuuu!” one of the twins shouted, his voice so far away. Even the words didn’t make sense to her confused mind. Kill? Who? What?

Suddenly, there was a shrill blast. Oh the pain! Where was that horrible noise coming from? It pulled its claw back in shock and grimaced. Oh that noise! it was so loud, it made her ears ring. Emera was vaguely aware that this hurt the Pokemon more than it hurt her, and since she seemed to be connected with it, she could feel the Pokemon’s pain.

Whatever this monster was, it was extremely sensitive to high pitched sounds.

Emera felt like somebody dunked her in cold water. She was awake. Her arm muscles twitched and before she knew what she was doing, she jabbed the knife into the thin arm of the monstrous Pokemon. it roared, the open mouth boasted teeth that seemed longer than before. Emera pulled back the knife, not looking at the wound, and aimed higher. Just underneath the huge head and at the side of the neck.

This humanoid creature, whatever it was, had to be destroyed, Emera’s brain told her. She didn’t listen to any sympathies or concerns over stabbing something. The creature was no longer linked to her, it no longer could dull her thoughts and confuse her mind.

It swung its claws as Emera pulled the knife out and jabbed upwards. Emera could feel blood on her hands and began to feel sick. The knife reached its neck first, it slid in with a sickening sound.

And then, the claws dug into her stomach. They slid through her shirt and made thin cuts through her stomach, thin but deep she could tell. Emera gasped in pain, but somehow remained upright, she couldn’t move. The pain was so intense…

Gemini and Kabecka were crying now, afraid and uncertain. They looked at the Pokemon; they were sure it had already killed Emera and that it would come for them too.

The creature pulled back, dislodging the small knife from its neck. It turned and ran… now why would it do that? Emera wondered. The twins were screaming and crying again, they all watched it go away.

A dull thud. Emera fell to the ground, tears stinging her eyes. Her back hurt where several sharp rocks were digging into it, but the pain in her stomach overpowered everything. Her stomach was on fire it seemed. That creature got stabbed in the neck and still walked away from it… what was it?

“Gemini! Kab― Emera!” a voice yelled frantically. it was Mr. Walton-Rossignol. The entire group was emerging from the trees. They must have all started to search for them when they didn’t come back when they were supposed to.

Emera’s mind seemed to be floating away again, she vaguely felt somebody press something onto her stomach to stop the bleeding. Ow, didn’t they know her stomach hurt? Emera took deep breaths, somebody was speaking but she didn’t care what they were saying.

Where was the creature, what was it going to do? Would it follow her, would it be back? Would it attack Mr. Walton-Rossignol?

She just barely saw a cluster of kids in the distance wide-eyed and all looking at Emera. They all looked confused; what happened to hurt one of the oldest kids in the group? Several of the younger ones cried in their confusion, scared that the same fate would befall them.

“Wake up! Stay awake!” Mr. Walton-Rossignol waved his hand in front of her eyes.

“Did― you see it?” Emera’s voice was cracked and sounded like a sob.

“See what?” Mr. Walton-Rossignol asked. Emera almost laughed for some reason she couldn‘t understand, he didn’t see it. Nobody did. Just her and the twins… great. But that meant it was gone, gone for good.

But now nobody would believe her, they’d think she was lying… if she survived. She was so cold, surely just this intense cold would kill her.

Emera didn’t care, couldn’t care. She floated away.

Hunting

Now, in the perfect world, humans would be vegetarians and couldn't even imagine eating another creature, nevertheless hurting one and animals would skip happilly along, left alone to live.

But it isn't a perfect world. We're omnivoires. We hunt. We eat. We kill.


SO I wanted to know, what's your opinion on hunting?


Before you post here; I know everybody wants to save the helpless animals, but keep in mind that hunting is not always murder, even hunting for sport and to watch what you say, it could seriously offend some people.

What do you think of hunting?


I think that hunting for food, is perfectly acceptable and that I could never really see myself having a problem with that. If you need to hunt say... deer for food, and you do then that's good as long as they're in season and you're allowed to hunt them. If you're lost in the woods, starving, I say to save yourself you could kill any animal you have to kill to survive, endangered, threatened, whatever.

But, if it isn't an emergency where you will die very soon if you don't kill said animal, I know you should never kill an animal out of season or, heaven forbid, on an endangered or threatened species list. They have, believe it or not, specific seasons for hunting things for a reason other than to annoy hunters >.>.

The types of hunting I think are just cowardly? Anything that the hunter is guaranteed to win. Some people will lock up, say a lion, in an environment where it can't escape and the hunter will be sure to win. That's cowardly. If you're going to stalk through the woods with a bow and arrows, or a gun and you'Re hunting for sport, you are actually working to get that kill, not walking up to a cage with a machine gun. You've got to actually have knowledge to really hunt, not just poach endangered animals. Killing something in a cage and bringing back the head is just sad.

I also don't agree with most snares. Most of them that I have heard of just leave an animal to die very painfully.

What do you think, remember, try not to offend anybody.

Trick?

Alright, I don't have a screenshot, maybe I'll be able to get one.

Sometimes when I log onto my computer I get this pop-up. It says something about Hewlett and packer security certifcate. It looks like somebody used a photocopier and then put it on a pop up on my desktop.

Normally I wouldn't think twice about it, but what it says at the bottom worries me.

"Expires June 2005"

I noticed that a while back and was suddenly glad I kept exiting it instea dof downloading something like it wanted me to.

Anybody know what this is? Or maybe what Hewlett and Packer are?