Chapter 4- Problems, Ponies and Pikmin
"Where do I begin?" asked Zero, being unfamiliar with telling stories himself. "Where ever you want, just make sure it's relevant somehow." Explained the vagrant. "Well then I suppose I'm going to have to go all the way back to my late teens." Zero sighed "See the country I live in is nice enough, but it's pretty capitalist, the exact opposite of this place, the government runs or supports everything here right?" The man simply nodded, Zero went on "Well in the country I come from the government owns nothing, everything is run by this gambling organization that keeps most of us chained to the country with gambling debts, of course my parents were the same, so I had to live with 2 parents that were knees deep in this mess. One day we'd be having steak dinners when they got a few jackpots and the next we would be begging the debt collector's for a few more days, it wasn't easy but it was a life at least." Zero stated with a near blank expression on his face. "But one day we didn't get a few more days instead they decided to collect our debts another way, mom was suppose to go to the whore house, she killed herself before they got her to some clients notorius for their "odd" ideas of pleasure, I don't even blame her for it." The man had seen alot in his days but even he was put off by the traveler's cold emotionless expression. "Dad followed suite soon after, he didn't have much choice either, the woman might've made enough bucks but whos going to pay to see a middle-aged man in the buff?" Zero said with a cynical chuckle. "Then there was me, I was old enough to be indepent by that point, but their debts fell upon me and whereas my dad wouldn't have "sold" well I would've been far too popular on the market just like the rest of the young men and woman that go for auction to pay their debts." suddenly Zero's face brightened "That was one I met Kurohime, she was blessed with uncanny luck, a jackpot every time she hit the slots, she paid off my death and offered me a room in her house, I took it." Zero's face looked as if it were daydreaming at this point. "At first I was just thankful to her, but after a few months we got closer, after a year or so we tied the knot, sure she was a few years older then me, but it was close enough, and she wasn't paid for like most "wives" were. We made it a point to keep away from those slots since our debts were non existent now."
Now Zero's head drooped "We should've moved, shouldn't have stayed in that damned country, but we did, and a few months after the wedding we had debt collector's at our doors demanding we pay them their dues. Apparently I had been gambling frequently, and quite badly too, because they said I owed them at least 10 times as much as we had, we obviously tried to explain to them that neither of us were gambling anymore, but they had pictures of some guy that looked close enough to me that they didn't buy it. Remember what happened to my mom? Well that was just the low level debt payment option, with the debt "I" had they went to one of the more extreme options." "They turned her into a horse?" the man asked clearly baffled. "A racing horse." He corrected the bum. "Now normally I would be the handsome steed for the venue, but the big wigs back in the country hated Kurohime, she was one of the few people costing money, and this was the chance they had been waiting for. They turned her into the horse, we didn't have a say in the matter. I had to watch as she was transformed into what she is now, altough the minute they left me alone to say my good byes until she "paid off" "my" debt I took her and ran, we jumped the border and now we're hunting down the punk that framed us with his bill, take him back to the country get them to undo the spell and be done with them once and for all." He was gasping by the end, his face drenched with sweat.
"Your looking for somebody then?" The man surmised "and he's somewhere in Camaradatate?" he continued. "Yes" Zero simpy said answering both questions at once. "Then I would wager he is in professer Sherstein's database, c'mon i'll take you." the vagrant said getting up. "i'll even tell you the second part of my story on the way there." "Just so you know Kurohime doesn't let anyone other then me ride her, so your gonna have to have your own transportation." Zero said narrowing his eyes as he followed the man out the tavern door into the now dark, starry night. Zero petted Kurohime and gingerly got on her, he still wasn't used to mounting his wife, as the man stretched and whistled with his fingers summoning forth a few dozen white creatures with bright red eyes. "What are those?" asked Zero. "Pikmin, white ones to be specific, most resedents have a few on them, they are the nature we Camaradatations are intertwined with, it's also one of the few things that isn't taxed." As the man said this he fell backwards on top of them, to Zero's surprise instead of being flattened they actually caught him. "To the professor's lab please and thank you my dear comrades." he instructed to the pikmin who began to move surprisingly fast. "Follow me!" The man shouted. Zero simply looked at Kurohime who went into a gallop after the storytelling bum who now had little white minions. "What else is going to happen to us eh Kurohime?" Zero wondered.
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Authors Note
Hello everyone, hope you enjoyed this recent developement nothing much for me to say that I haven't said before - my factbooks- read them, this story- reveiw it, your ideas- give 'em
on a side note we will be seeing more of Donnel and Olivia, altough I doubt any of you will see how it'll happen.
NATURE AND SOCEITY INTERTWINED