You make up your plans for this year. You hope you're going to make it count.

You first decide to try your luck with your fellow E-classes. They might think a bit better of you because of your legendary capture creature, but you want to see if you can really make friends with them.

The event is fairly awkward. They don't hate you, in fact many think you would be a good addition to their team, it's just that they keep labeling you as "dumb but strong, a good pack mule." You help them lug stuff around and they're grateful for it, but they don't let you get into the in-depth stuff. On the week long camping trip you and the E-classes in your year go on they have you help with dragging stuff around, building things and scaring off bigger beasts.

Everyone runs to you when they're in danger and the appreciation they give you for helping feels great.

But when it's time to forage for plants, build traps, and contribute plans you're either left behind totally or are only there to hold everyone's stuff. Anytime you ask to join in as soon as you show you need a little help with learning the E-classes pull the thing away from you and don't bother teaching you. They seem to assume you could just learn from watching others.

And......the other kids seem to be able to do that but not you. When you complain the leader of the group, and likely to be leader of your year, E-4 says-

"You're strong! You're the best at being strong! You will do the strong stuff. Trapper E-783 will make the traps cause she's the best at traps. Fisher E-99 will fish cause they're the best at fishing. You are STRONG, so you will do the tasks meant for STRONG people. If we want to survive everyone must do what they're best at. <:]"

"But what if I want to learn something new? =3"

"Then watch the other on your own time until you learn, then you can do it. Until then, you. Will. Be. Doing. The. Strong. Stuff. Understand? <:)"

You wanted to punch E-4 in the face for speaking to you slowly like you wouldn't be able to understand unless they did so. They were right up against you. Their face was inches from yours. They were much smaller than you and much weaker.....

But they had [Intimidation] on their side. No matter how [tall] you were, you felt tiny compared to E-4.

"Understood. =3"

"Good! I'm glad you understand. You'll be a BIG help if you join us in the woods, which you should. I mean I noticed you don't have any friends, and we could be your friends. <:)"

"Yeah.... =3"

The rest of the camping trip goes by amazingly. You guys are a great team. A proper E-class team. This is a team you could see yourself going through the woods with easily.

But even as they compliment you all the time for the tasks you complete, you know that you'll always be the muscle for this team. Maybe E-4 is right. You should be ok with using your talents that none of the others have.

But deep down you feel like there's something wrong with that.

After your week outing with the E-classes you head over to hang out with the Z-classes. You really want to see Z-3894 and make sure he's ok. The Z-classes are quite excited to see you.

For the first time in your life other people are asking YOU for tips, instead of you having to ask others. Not only do the Z-classes love taking care of your legendary, even though they still don't trust you to keep it tame, they're also impressed by Midnight. They want to know your training techniques, what you feed Midnight, even how you groom him. They've never seen a gwech so active and useful as anything other than food storage before.

"Wow if I knew I could train a gwech to be like this I would have caught one before! *w0"

"Such rare colors too! Do you think the genes of this gwech will pass down easily or if it's a recessive trait? o)c"

"No one in town has a wild adult female that isn't related to Midnight. I mean inbreeding might give us way more chances to get the trait but genetic bottle necks, the bane capture creature breeding. We can't go down that route. TvT"

What the ever hating Neo's domain are they talking about, you don't know any of these terms or what kind of plans they're making for Midnight. You heard that Z-classes are really hard to decipher, and that like S-classes they're way more mature than the other classes at an earlier age, but you thought that was a joke.

Despite their odd conversations about capture creature genetics you get along with them and they're happy to explain most concepts to you. Except capture creature breeding.

They tell you you'll understand when you're older.

This is what an 8 year old told you.

You're 9.


You ask the Z-classes if they know where Z-3894 is and they point you to the V-class building, the one shared by the S-classes. You know this building well because that's where you go when you get hurt. You know Z-3894 being in that building could be extremely bad.


=


Entering the building you watch as team of S-class kids have a delightful conversation with one of the caretakers over tea, and not 15 feet behind them is an older V-class wrestling an injured lizard that's bigger than her into submission, while the other V-classes chant "GUTS GUTS GUTS." The S-classes just walk around it. They don't even bother to pause for a second to look at it.

You have never seen a better representation of the relationship between S and V-classes in your life.

After asking around you finally find out where Z-3894 is. He's sitting in front of one of the recovery cages. When he sees you, he gets up. You're ready for him to yell at you.

"Hi E-2739! I'm glad to see that you're ok! XwX"

"What? I should be the one saying that! Sorry about putting you and Birdy in harms way..... =3"

"It's ok! XwX"

Seeing Z-3894 being able to forgive you after you put him and his capture creature in danger makes you second guess people. Maybe you shouldn't be as [unforgiving] as you've been for the past few years.

"How is Birdy doing? =3"

Z-3894 looks at the cage.

"Birdy is doing ok. Birdy got badly hurt, but they say Birdy is going to be back to full strength in 2 more months, that'll give me enough time to train her for the woods! XwX"

"That's good! The Z-classes have been helping me keep Slither's tamed. Slithers is going to be useful in the woods as long as I can keep them docile. =3"

"Yeah that's going to be hard but I'm sure you can do it! We'll be going into the woods at the same time. Hopefully we see each other in there, maybe we can team up time to time. XwX"

"Yeah that would be great! I was wondering if it was ok if I joined you and your friends into the woods. =3"

"Huh? Aren't you going to go in with the E-class swarm? XwX"

You think about that camping trip. Even though you didn't feel great about the way they refused to teach you anything, you did do amazingly in it and they did appreciate you......

"Uh, I just want to ask just in case I mess up and they don't want to let me in again. =3"

"Well I think my friends would be ok with you coming, they don't care that you're blessed seeing as I am as well, so if you want you can come! XwX"

"Thank you Z-3894! I'll tell you if I need to join. I hope Birdy heals up soon so you can start training! =3"

And with that you part. You visit the Z-classes and Z-3894 all the time, mainly to train and learn about capture creatures. You find yourself wishing you were born a Z-class, you feel you fit in with them more than your fellow E-classes.

This system where you have to be what you're born into was starting to get tiring to you. You've only seen G-classes complain about the class they were born into and that's only because they wanted to be "One of the special classes." Everyone else seemed so natural in their classes, was it just you who was an outlier or did people just keep their disappointment in not being in control of what their class letter was on the inside?

Maybe someone wrote the wrong letter on you and there's some Z or Lone-E out there who's feeling the same thing as you.

Either way, even though E-4 has been noticing you've been ditching camping swarms to go hang out with Z-classes they don't say anything other than "You know where you're supposed to belong. <:)"

You don't know if that was E-4 approving of you doing what you love, or a threat.


=


You investigate your anomaly capture creature and finally find a notail willing to put on the face and it......does nothing.

This is an interesting development. It seems the faces aren't meant to be put on notails. Who in the world are they supposed to be placed on then?

Midnight is being trained just like before. There's really not much to it, Midnight is your best capture creature currently in terms of listening to you and your commands.

On the other hand Slithers attempts multiple time to attack either you or others. Slithers nearly escapes one day and had a Z-class not used their bird capture creature to tie a rope around Slithers they would have surely gotten away. You can't let Slithers travel around with you in the village anymore. Slithers now has to stay with the Z-classes. They're still yours but you can only work with them in that area.

Most of the Z-classes aren't surprised. You're not a Z-class like them so while you're able to work with creatures like Midnight they don't expect you to ever have full control over Slithers.

Some gossip about how they're sure that Slithers is bound to break out of your control in the woods and gobble you up.

This is your last year with your tutors. You're really starting to pickup on harder concepts now. They tell you it's not really harder concepts, more like concepts a 7 year old should know but hey you're catching up so that's nice.

By accident, at your last tutoring session you lash out at your tutors. Both of them are pretty done with you. While it was nice of them to tutor you, the reason they started doing this still annoyed you. On the other hand you've been awfully snippy at them for years, even when they weren't trying to pick at your brain for anomaly facts.

The last thing they said as they walked out the door was.

"Can't wait to pick at your brain some more one day. ;)"

"Yeah! With a knife this time and your actual brain! We're going to find out what makes you freaks tic and stop you from messing with anyone else with your blessings! >:)"

It's safe to say you ended this on the wrong foot.

One more day.

One more day until you head out into the woods. You make sure you have all of your stuff packed and that your creatures and yourself are in good health. Tomorrow there's going to be some big speech they do for every round, hand you some starting supplies, and then they'll let you free.

Along with the supplies they also allow you to get a new face if you want it. You don't know if you want a new face, most notails do get animal faces so it might help you fit in to have one too.

You look at the face your friend left you. You could just swap faces too.


The other thing you have to worry about is if you'll be joining E-4 and their group, or Z-3894 and his friends. While E-4 would be the safest choice, you feel more at home with Z-3894. You remember one of the caretakers saying the woods is about surviving, not making friends. It's about finding co-workers who are going to have your back and hold up their end with no complaints. If you just happen to like them that's a plus.

You're not sure if you want to follow that advice though. You could also always just go in alone and either stay alone or try to form a new group if need be too.

You make plans as to what you're doing tomorrow. You think it over and over in your head as you lay down. You can barely sleep but you force yourself to. You can't risk not getting any sleep on your first day in the woods.

That night you have a horrible nightmare of Midnight suddenly attacking you. Of him ripping into you.

But this time you didn't have a friend to save you.

And you didn't die.





=




The caretakers went door to door, gathering up all the 10 year olds and helping some of them pack. Some kids had to basically be torn away from their rooms. The fear of being tossed into the woods too great. You'd hate to say it but the fact that some kids were seemingly less prepared than you made you feel a little better.

Once all the children were gathered up they were all marched to an area just outside the woods for the speech.

"This is the first day you'll truly be living. Every day before this has just been incubation. Just making sure the eggs are turned at the right time to make sure we get the perfect chick. Many of you have hatched into a wonderful and perfect chick today.

Some of you are failures. Utter disgusting failures.

We now need to sort the perfect chicks from the failures, and that's what we'll be doing today, and for many days to come. This isn't even the start of real life children! This is just the sorting room. Once you get out the woods, that's when real life starts, and I'm not going to lie to you it's.......quite bad out that. 0v0"

Another M-class caretaker chimes in.
"Yes, this truly was not a good time to be born but alas, that's what real life is, you don't get pick many of the events that happen to you, or control your situations, many times lady life is the only one who has a say in the matter. Don't worry, when we find lady life we are going to strangle her. 8)"

"Hopefully the hardships that you endure in the woods will prepare you for what you have to deal with out there.....I won't lie to you children. Nearly all the children villages are like mini tests that they compare to each other, to see what's the best situation for a child to grow up in. We're the pampered village. We get a good stock of supplies and material, there's no shortages and we even have some freakish creature who flies down from the skies and smite all that come to harm us.

In Crow's Reach they're purposefully overpopulated so that kids would have to fight for their meals among themselves. Think if anytime you went on the ration line a little late they would say "Sorry, but we ran out of food for today, try again tomorrow"? Think about if when you went to the capture creature labs they ran out of creatures before the sun even rose. That's what Crow's Reach is like. 0v0"

"Oh, and I believe this year of children had a chance of going to Albatross town? Ha! The kids in Albatross town have had real life marching in and out of their town since they got there. They already know what horrors await them and have been preparing! 8)"

The second M-class says this with a hoot and the two laugh as if upcoming horrors was a joke.

"Does pampering a child mean they get the better start for a life where they have to fight for survival? Does not telling them what's past all those thick trees make them more motivated to live cause they have tasted what a life of not complete suffering is like? We're still waiting on the results, and you're some of the numbers that's going to solve this question for us.

What I'm saying is, always remember how great this village was. Strive to bring the calmness of this village to the world out there. Make more places like Crane's Toll. 0v0"

"Also watch out for the kids of Crow's Reach, they're like animals! 8)"

"Tell me about it, I had to work as a shopkeeper in the woods two years ago due to shortages, Crane kids were little angels, Albatross kids were just dead inside, but Crow kids? Ugh. Monsters. They really should cut the Crow's Reach testing early I don't think anything good is going to come out of it. 0v0"

"Look if they're not going to stop what's going on in Hawk's Nest I don't think they're going to cut Crow's Reach out anytime soon, we should just be glad they stopped what was going on at Parrot Beach. 8)"

The other M-class hisses like she was in physical pain just hearing that. She puts a hand on her head.

"Our head M-class here came from Parrot Beach after the thing got shut down and he STILL has nightmares about what he saw I don't want to even think about how the children turned out. 0v0"

"Well, O-5 is from Parrot Beach and we all know-"

One of the kids cuts in.
"Um, when do we start? *u*"

"Oh you're all still here! We really got off track there. Yes every kid will come forward and take one of these boxes. These boxes hold supplies. Some of you will get objects you'll be using for your whole trip in the woods, some of you will be getting absolutely nothing. Just like being born you don't get to decide. Once you get your boxes you are free to head into the woods. If you're not in there by tonight you'll be forced to go in. Trust me, you don't want to get forced. 0v0"

"One last thing, if you want to check which village a notail is, just scan them! 8)"

The M-classes tell everyone that their first year they will be in the easy zone of the woods, the place where there's lots of food to gather and safe creatures to hunt. Just to get everyone used to it. After that though they'll be forced to head into the true woods for the rest of their stay and that "stragglers will be dealt with, swiftly."

You grab your box from the pile and walk away from the area, opening your box you find....

An unfilled map that outlines the woods and shows you where you are in it, a compass, one emergency ration, and one whistle. As you look around to see what others got in their boxes you say you got a fairly good haul. A map will be extremely useful. While most E-classes could make their own maps by hand by now you never learned that.

It's kind of a running theme at this point.

You look at your year of E-classes led by E-4. They look ready to take on the woods, some of them have been saving supplies and building tools in advance for this moment. The thought of doing so didn't cross your mind once.

Z-3894 and 8 other notails, 2 of them V-classes but the rest being Z-classes, come up to you. Z-3894 holds out a rope that was tied to a lease that Slither's wore.

"We were worried for a moment there that we wouldn't be able to find you. Here's your capture creature, and I suppose this is goodbye. Hopefully we're able to see each other again in the woods. XwX"

You look at the E-classes and E-4 peers over at you. For a second you and them just stare. E-4 already knows what you're going to do and does a little playful goodbye wave to you.

You felt very [intimidated] by this, like there was a darker meaning to it.

You turn to Z-3894 and the others.
"I'm coming with you guys. =3"

"Really? Well that's perfect! We'll help you keep your legendary under control and in return I'm sure Slithers will keep us safe for the whole trip. This is going to be great! XwX"

You all make plans and head out. You all feel ready for the challenges ahead.

If this is what the first year, the easy year is supposed to be like, you have deep fears for what's coming ahead. To say it was bad would be a bit of an understatement.

First off the two V-classes are doing wonderfully. Z-3894 says they're not apart of the group so much as they are "waiting for our creatures to get hurt." The V-classes seem so natural in this environment, chasing down prey with their innotail like speed. Climbing up trees like cats and snapping up prey with just their mouths sometimes. This is the life they were made for.

The rest of you suffer in the meantime while the V-classes gawk. Many attempts at foraging fail, one of the Z-classes accidentally eats the wrong plant and has to rest for weeks, and you have injured your arm for maybe the 4th time in your short life. You guys stay alive though, your health is a little shaky, hopefully the skills you used in this area will make your next year better. You can't afford too many bad years or else your health can deteriorate.

One rather bad event was when one of the Z-classes misfired a bow and head shotted one of the faces. It now wibble and wobbles as it floats around you. At first you were sadden over your face creature getting hit, but then you realized that considering that your face creatures float around you, that could have been you who got the headshot.

Midnight prances around all causally like, this is his home turf after all. When he sees that you guys are horrible hunters and cannot feed him he goes out and feeds himself.

One of the Z-classes casually slides in the fact the gweches can be used as reusable rations. Admittedly it's female gweches who do this but it should work with Midnight, he just will be extremely angry about it.

You hope it never gets to the point that you have to eat parts of Midnight.

The Z-classes and you have been working intensely with Slithers. Slithers can 100% feed themselves with no outside intervention so food is no problem as long as there isn't a famine. What is an issue is that Slithers won't share.

It takes months of work, but finally not only is Slithers more agreeable with everyone but Slithers now will sometimes kill something they grab and drop it to the floor when one of you goes under it. You can't totally rely on Slither's for food, as Slithers first needs to catch enough to feed himself before he feeds anyone else, but when you guys are short 1 or 2 meals Slithers can provide. This makes your whole group less likely to have to miss meals.

It's only a month before you all have to move on to the true woods. You guys are talking about it around a camp fire (one that took 2 hours to start because all of you are poor at fire creation) and everyone seems to be in agreement that they should either find a landlord settlement to protect the group, which would also allow the group to be apart of a bigger system, thus when failure from one person happens it's not a huge deal.

If that fails they need to locate a good spot to start up a camp and settle down. As Z-classes they're hoping to basically start a farm they can use to trade animals for goods.

You take this moment to wonder if aliens children need to worry about setting up and managing a business in the middle of the woods at the age of 11.

When you snap out of your thoughts the Z-classes are asking you to take all the extra food supplies and forage ahead. You have a map and you are the E-class, so you going ahead of the group, and plotting out some locations will make the coming year easier.

You don't want to tell them you've basically haven't done any E-class quests for the past 3 or so years so you're not totally down on the exploration business cause you can see they're kind of depending on you at this moment. You don't want to fail them. You do bring up a "Why don't we all travel together" but they tell you that everyone moving at once wastes a lot of supplies, and if something bad were to happen a single person can get away better than a group.

With that you take your supplies and get ready to trek by yourself for one whole month. Not even midnight will be able to come with you so you can cover as much ground as possible. Well, you can't remove the floating faces from you so they'll technically be coming with you but you don't count them as "people" or "Alive." You've never been alone for that long.

While you are strong you are in no way shape or form, fast. You estimate that you can move a total of 7 spaces on the map in one month. The issue is that if you run into any major problems you'll lose time. Your team can't wait for you and after the month will move on, so if you want to play it safe you'll want to only go 6 spaces on the map.


It was now time to plot your course.