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The chieftain scavenger sat on his high throne. His regal mask dangled with multiple colourful pearls, signifying his status as the chieftain of his tribe. The expeditions to the top of the metal mountain, once a simple pearl-gathering venture turned into a tribe-wide move to a safe and expansive paradise, where the deadly torrents below could never touch them.
Things were going perfectly smoothly, the scavkin and the kits were well fed and the militia were top-notch. It seemed like he could simply lay down on his throne and have no worry in the world. In fact, he felt a little groggy, so a quick nap wouldn’t hurt.
…
“Waaa!!!” He heard a wail coming from down below. It was nothing like the chitters of his kin. Chieftain got up from his nap and spotted a peculiar little crimson ball, a slugpup. What could a slugpup be doing here of all places? And how did it get past the guards..?
“Waaaaaa!” It continued to wail. The Chieftain climbed down his throne to inspect the little thing. It got on all fours and growled as Chieftain approached closer. “Greetings, little one. What brings you to my chambAAHH!” The scavenger shouted as the slugpup launched itself and bit his arm. The scavenger wrestled the creature out and held it still on the ground with both hands.
“I will not tolerate this behaviour, little one.” The towering scavenger said as the slugpup snarled, showing its little pointy teeth. Chieftain wondered how terrible the pup’s parents might be if it was so undisciplined like this.
“Do you know where your parents are?” Chieftain asked, but the pup just barked back. It tried to be ferocious even when pinned down. He thought the creature’s determination was… cute? In a certain way. It is against his rule to disrespect (or attempt to kill for that manner) him in such a manner, normally it would result in a swift execution then and there, but something inside him told him not want to kill the disrespectful slugpup.
He carried the pup whilst it continued to thrash in his grasp, he didn’t realise how heavy it is. Slowly, he waddled over to his personal bedroom, right inside a hidden pipe at the back of his throne room. He stashed a few sleep-bombs under his bed for those occasional sleepless nights, but this time they will serve a different use.
The crimson ball of danger still struggled in his grasp, this thing has a lot of energy, he guessed it was just universal with the young of any species. He mentally prepared himself and quickly released the menace, reaching underneath the lizard skin bed for a sleep-bomb. The little creature leapt onto him and bit his leg, making him yelp in pain as he found one of his sleep-bombs. He threw it at the little menace before it tried to rip his face off.
The blue bomb exploded into a blue mist. The pup immediately fell off him and stumbled around, before laying on the floor and dozing off. He patted himself on the back. Crisis averted! No less from the chieftain of the tribe! Hahaha!
Now the bigger problem. What will he do with the crimson pup? Finding its slugcats parents is the likely course of action. Perhaps even assemble a small search team to look for them. But… if he couldn’t find them then maybe he could adopt it..? An heir to the throne does not sound like a bad idea, he was eventually going to find one to replace him in the future anyways… Romance was not really his thing.
He adopted her, to say the least. The searches yielded nothing, no one found any slugcat who claimed the dangerous pup as their own daughter. So as he planned, he claimed her as her own.
“WAAAAA! DAD WAKE UP!” Every single cycle, Chieftain woke up to a crimson ball of energy jumping up and down on his chest. He underestimated how hard it is being a parent, every cycle the little scamp always causes trouble, eating all of the lizard steaks in the kitchen a few floors below, and setting off bombs onto the raindeer skulls atop the tolls. How could a slugpup be this chaotic? He eventually settled on the name ‘Artificer’, for her ingenious craftiness with bombs of all things. Why does it have to be bombs..?
Whenever the chieftain sat at the great hall, his daughter would always try to poke the scavenger next to her, and when he looked she went back to eating her sunny-side up vulture egg and lizard bacon, she had the cheekiest little smile. Little things like that make it all the more worth it.
“Come on, Artificer, get up!” The chieftain shouted as his now adolescent daughter was knocked down by an elite. She got up and picked up a dull training spear, she ran towards the elite before she was knocked down again. Discipline means pushing yourself to the limit, he was being hard on her because he wanted to see her be a great, strong chieftain, despite being a slugcat. She needed to have a strong will to lead his tribe.
“Dad, I can’t do this…” she whined as she struggled to get back up. “That would be the point of all this isn’t it? You need to push yourself.” Artificer looked up to the Chieftain as he continued, “Imagine my friend here is your worst enemy, and you need to quickly dispel him.”
The elite chuckled at what the chieftain said. The reinvigorated Artificer got up onto her paws and got into a stance. “No matter what it takes, I, Artificer, will strike you down!”
The elite prepared himself with his spear. She charged, but this time her tail sparked as an instinct kicked in, she emitted an explosion from her tail and propelled her into the air. She and the elite screamed as the crimson slugcat clumsily fell onto the latter. Artificer got off the downed scavenger. She was deeply surprised at her newly discovered power.
“Blimey!” The chieftain shouted, Artificer looked confused, “I-I don’t know where that came from! It simply came to me.”
“My daughter, you are no ordinary slugcat” the Chieftain started, “I see why you play with bombs so much, you are one with the explosives”
Artificer looked at her paws, then her long thick tail, which started wagging. “Yes… You’re right!” Her expression turned from shock to excitement as she jumped…! And fell face first onto the ground. The scavenger snickered at his daughter’s attempt to utilize her explosive power.
“It seems like it would take a while to hone this power.” Chieftain said as he hoisted her up. “I knew you were special the day I adopted you.” he said as Artificer giggled.
Chieftain placed a hand on her shoulder, “You have so much potential, I will help you realize it.” Artificer smiled even more, “Thanks dad! I’m gonna be soooo strong when I’m an adult!” Artificer hopped around in excitement before she accidentally exploded and face-planted against the wall. “I’m fine!” she said as she slid down.
“She is… quite the handful, sire.” The elite at the floor groaned,
“You can say that again. I love her so much.”
The princess of the tribe was a grown adult now. She was as tall as the chieftain himself. The scar on her left eye made her look very menacing, any scavenger straightened themselves in her presence than see her as a sweet little harmless slugcat. She had trained and honed herself to absolute precision in battle. Once flailing her spears around like a madscav, now every move she makes is cold and calculated.
He watched her train with the elite squadrons. Slowly, she bested each and every elite scavenger he knew; and these weren’t ordinary scavenger warriors, these were the best fighters the tribe had.
The slugcat dashed forward, utilizing her explosion pop to move forward. The chieftain blocked her strike with his own spear. Before he could parry, she already jumped backwards. He threw the spear he held, but she crouched and swiped her tail, causing a parrying explosion, sending the spear back at him. The chieftain held up his armored shoulder to block his own spear, but before he could regain his composure, Artificer was already up in the air. She exploded mid-air straight down at him, drop-kicking him straight onto the floor.
“Gonna give up, father?”, Artificer smirked as she held the spear onto the ground. She did not look tired at all. Chieftain smiled, he taught her well.
Artificer helped the old scavenger up. “You fought well, Artificer, very, very well. Even better than I could ever envision.”
“I’m glad I could beat you to a pulp, hehehe…” She snarked, the Chieftain couldn’t help but smile.
“You make this old scav proud.”
“Thank you.”
It seemed it was just yesterday the Chieftain adopted that crimson ball of fluff. He nurtured her, helped her and gave her meaningful advice at every step of her life. Now, many scavengers are gathered around in the throne room for a very special occasion. It was the Artificer’s coronation. Passing down the torch of chieftainship to the next generation.
The to-be-Chieftess entered the throne room, all the scavengers made way for her highness. She used her signature explosion jump to reach the top of the throne, where her father, the Chieftain, sat.
“Are you ready, daughter?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be.”
The Chieftain removed his mask, and picked up a new mask, fitted to suit Artificer. It was designed to not conceal her face scar, for all to see. It had the same dangling pearls her father’s mask had, and the chieftain’s mark on its forehead, signifying her status.
The chieftain cleared his throat, quelling the murmuring among the scavengers, “It is my final duty as the Chieftain of this tribe to bestow you, Artificer with this mask, marking you as the next chieftess of the tribe. One who holds responsibility for the future of this tribe.” He holds out the mask to Artificer.
She looks at it, “I will accept this responsibility with my life. This tribe has accepted me as their kin, and I will repay it as much to my ability.”
The new Chieftess turned towards the crowd before putting on her mask. The scavengers below cheered for their new Chieftess. The was-Chieftain behind her started to tear up. His little rambunctious slugpup was now the leader of his tribe. She turned and hugged her old scav, he quickly returned the hug threefold, she loved lizard-hugs.
The old scavenger walked to the edge of the metal mountain to view the sunset. His legs constantly felt like giving up on him, so he resorted to using a spear as a walking stick, it even had a pearl dangling from the top; he smiled, that was his daughter’s idea.
He sat down and put his walking stick aside and gazed at the orange sunset. This view was an impossibility down below the clouds, which looked like an eternal sea of gray. If there was one thing certain about the world, it is that the sunsets always looked the same. Like a cycle, the old sun will set, and a new sun will rise. He felt the time he finally set was upon him.
The Chieftess popped in from the pipe and sat down right beside him.
“Lovely sunset today, eh?” Artificer politely asked, staring at the sunset.
“It truly is.” he answered, “Artificer?”
“Hmm?” she tilted her head, she looked a bit goofy with her mask on, she’d never do that in a serious setting.
“Any cycle now, I will breathe my last breath.”
“Ah, now, now, do not be so glum, father.”
“Artificer, My only wish is that you take care of the tribe in my absence.”
“Of course I will. You need not to worry. I will stay with you and the colony till the bitter end.”
They hugged, this time Artificer hugged thrice as hard as him.