Welcome to Anime, Try Avoiding Cliché Take Two [FATE RPG/Original Quest]

[X] Add one last scene: A sheep wanders around in the post fade to black darkness for a few seconds.

Current Fate Points: 0

The World of Gaia has been for countless centuries under attack by the vile demonic beings of the Underworld. They, blessed by the powers of the Dark, have continuously attacked, harmed and annoyed the pure citizens of the many races that belong to the powers of the Light. The frail Dwarves, who are blessed with an understanding of nature due to their birth from the very earth, and who live in mighty oaks within the forest. The stocky and short-tempered Elves with their bulky frames and strong arms, crafted from the stones of the mountain and born to craft the greatest of blades and armors from the mightiest of forges, without once allowing them to be marred by the hands of the Dark.

The Humans, the most adaptive of races, has always been on the forefront of this war between light and dark, between the pure and good goddess Hikari and the evil goddess Yami. Most often than not, humans are found on both sides of the conflict.

Sakura Sato, a young boy, was born into a period of peace about to come to an end due to tensions rising between good and evil. The prophesied arrival of a Hero meant to defeat the Lord of Demons is also slowly coming up, and finally banish the Goddess Yami from the world of Gaia. He is a Hunter capable with traps, son of villagers, and his village, formed near a riverbank, has seen a great increase in trade in the recent years leading it to develop a budding and ever-growing economy. It's a place rife with merchants and stalls, people filled with money and inns for the would-be travelers and adventurers, with a nice cobblestone path that snakes through it and a dainty-looking brick chapel-like structure that preaches to the good goddess Hikari.

There are plans to build a large stone building that will serve as the first of many storehouses, as well as a fully blown market.

It is a happy, everyday serenity that glows through the streets and eases the hearts of the villagers.

Not that Sakura Sato could know that, since he's currently busy stalking his prey through the undergrowth of the forest. He's already collected his herbs and the wood for the day, so now all that's left is the meat.

His ears are perked up, his expression filled with concentration. He knows that if he wants to eat, or sell his game, he must ensure the beast runs exactly where he wants it to run. Straight into his trap. Go straight into my trap. The whisper is barely registered by the audience, but it comes from Sakura's own mouth. He tenses, the deer lifts its head, and finally the game is on and he runs.

He runs for the prey.

The prey runs in turn. Hastily avoiding the brambles, the patches where the wooden roots are thicker and the thorny bushes, the deer is straight in front of his vision. It's a matter of seconds, and then there's a sordid thunk, and the deer doesn't falls down, straight onto a pile of jagged rocks hidden by a bundle of rope and a grass-colored cape of sorts. What happens is that an arrow plants itself into the creature's neck just as it stumbles into the pit. Sakura grits his teeth as he understands what is about to happen.

He was supposed to bring a part of the prey home to his older sister, Himari Sato. It was just the two of them most of the time, his parents busy working in the fields. So his older sister took care of cooking the game he brought back after selling most of it off, taking care of the house, humming a pleasant tune while sharpening the knives and the cleavers and generally doing all sorts of things that made her the very best big sister in the world...in her humble opinion. He didn't know any better, since he didn't have another big sister to compare the two.

However this might be in jeopardy due to the figure that emerges from the woods.

Wearing a short green miniskirt, a bright green sleeveless shirt which shows off a lot of her porcelain skin that seemed to glow under the rays of the sun, a beautiful arrogant smirk and a pointy green hat, the figure of his childhood friend turned rival was a sore sight for his eyes. Her name was Niko, and her flaming red hair shone like vivid flames of fire. There was triumph in her voice. "Oi, stupid-Sakura!" she cheerfully said, "I hit it first!"

"But I was leading it to my trap!" Sakura replies, "That deer's clearly mine!"

"Want to go to the guards? They'd probably have us split it anyway," Niko smoothly says, the teasing smile on her face a definite proof that she had done it on purpose. Sakura's teeth grit. It was common of Niko to act like that. She always stalked her claim on his preys often, and usually ended up making him do all of the skinning and curing of the meat. She'd pay him with further parts of the deer he had hunted, until in the end she'd walk away with her dinner for the day and nothing more.

It was harmless teasing.

It also was quite annoying all the same.

"Right, right, I, the most merciful Lady Niko will allow you to take care of skinning the whole thing for me too, and once you're done just cut me a thick juicy slice all right? This way it's cheaper than going to the market," she grinned as she said that, nodding as she sat atop a high pile of rocks.

With quick, merciless work Sakura finished the job, and after handing over what he needed to, he proceeded to start hauling the rest. Niko snickered throughout their return to civilization.

His older sister was waiting for him, after all. She wasn't pleased if he came home late. Even a minute late was bound for some tear-filled eyes and sniffles of agony as if he had plunged a hot poker into her chest. Unfortunately, the smell of blood attracted something it shouldn't have attracted.

It's a wolf, only it's not just any wolf. It's a very large wolf. There are spikes emerging from its back, his eyes glimmer with intelligence, and while it's clear that he was attracted to the blood of the game, he's not interested in the burlap sack filled with meat. No, he's interested in the two Huntsmen. He's a devourer of human flesh after all. He's a creature of Evil. He is...

A Dire Wolf.

"A Dire Wolf!" Niko exclaims in shock, her bow already in hand and an arrow nocked and ready. "They aren't supposed to be here! It's too close to the city!"

"What do we do? What do we do now?" Sakura asks, his hand letting go of the burlap sack since there's no need to slow oneself down when it's a life or death situation. He has a small knife meant for skinning prey, but definitely not for fighting Dire Wolves.

The battle, thus, begins.

The Dire Wolf howls as it charges forward, its mouth filled with froth and sharp fangs rushing towards Niko with only hunger in its eyes. It knows that she's the one with the bow, it knows that she's the one armed. With her down, then the other is easy prey.

"We've got to take it down!" Sakura yells, hurrying towards a group of sharp looking rocks to throw. In that moment, Niko keeps her cool and prepares an arrow, pulling back the string of her bow and concentrating. As the wolf is about to bite on her, she let loose the arrow. The Dire wolf yips like a wounded dog, and falls down to the side, but his claws find the ground and once more he stands. A normal wolf would have already retreated. A creature of Evil knows no such thing as 'retreat'.

Sakura's first pick on throwing a rock merely serves as a mean to remind the Dire Wolf that perhaps there is an easier opponent to fight. He nimbly avoids the thrown rock, and with a swipe of his claws, which Sakura barely avoids, he opens a scratch on the boy's flank, ripping through his clothes with ease as if they were made of paper.

Niko's already gotten another arrow at the ready, "Let him be, you beast!" she yells with a high-pitched voice as yet another arrow embeds itself into the back of the wolf, forcing him to briefly keel over. Evil, however, suffuses his skin and bones and muscles. He won't fall for so little damage. He won't fall, not until all of mankind is exterminated in the name of the great Overlord.

He stands once more, proudly turning towards the source of his agony, and with bloodshot eyes rushes forward like a bullet of fur and teeth, biting down with fury on Niko's right leg. There is a (HAPPY RAINBOWS AND GLITTERING STARS) and Niko (CHEERFUL MUSIC PLAYS IN THE AIR), before Sakura nears with a large rock the now still wolf busy gnawing on (SOMETHING HAPPY LIKE A CAKE). With a final blow from the large rock, the wolf goes still.

Niko is crying on the ground, her leg gnawed to the point where it would need a healer quickly. First, however, Sakura rips out more of his shirt. It's his work one, but it's better than letting Niko die of bloodloss. She cries out, whimpers leaving her mouth and revealing just how frail of a girl she can be. The moment he's bandaged the nasty wound to the best of his abilities, she's just about ready to pass out.

There is only one thing left to do.

Leaving behind the game, Sakura grabs hold of Niko in a bridal carry, and while he hears her soft whimpers every now and then, he rushes quickly towards the village. If he's lucky, an adventuring priest will see her before the local priest.

As he hurries along, the whimpering Niko in his hands, the closest place he can come up with is the guard post. There, a couple of the village's militiamen witness him arrive with wide eyes as he drags Niko's bleeding corpse. He himself isn't without scratches, but as he barely catches his breath, they immediately force Niko to swallow a foul concoction to stabilize the poor girl.

While one guard goes off to call the priest, another takes Sakura's statement of events. There are a couple of grim faces at the mention of the Dire Wolf, more than once bringing into question whether it really was one, or not. However, having mentioned where the game, and thus the wolf is, a couple of guards head off to check and return dragging the creature of evil's purulent carcass, which has begun to rot surprisingly quickly, and the game that Sakura and Niko had hunted 'together'.

The priest arrives, his expression harrowed on his old crinkly face. The man's name is Joshua Savior an old kind man who prays to the Goddess of Light and has healed the sick and the wounded for a decade at the very least within the village. He's always been old, but at the sight of the dire wolf's carcass he becomes even older, if such a thing is possible.

Niko's leg is snapped back into position, much to the girl's (HAPPY FUN LAUGHTER). Sakura's hand is nearly crushed in a vice-like hold by Niko's grip, even though he remains close to her until he's sure without a doubt that she's out of danger.

Then, as her breathing turns even and everything appears to calm down, the priest turns towards Sakura for his own wound.

"This won't sting a bit," he remarks dryly, pulling out gauze and alcohol. "Now show me the wound."

It's going to sting. It's going to sting a lot by the time the old man is done. "Foolish youngsters," he says, "Foolish brave youngsters." He amends a couple of seconds later. "There," once he's done tending to the wound, he locks eyes with you. "You should head home and tell your sister not to worry. It's getting late. I'll tell Niko's family to come get her."

With those words spoken, Sakura stood up and left, heading back home. The sun was dying out beyond the horizon, the people were whispering about the unfortunate Dire Wolf attack, and as an air of tension filled the streets, Sakura kept dragging his Game on his back.

Finally, he arrived home.

A pair of arms engulfed him within seconds, coming from his older sister's worried and half-shaking form. "You're all right! Oh thank the Goddess of Light!" she exhales in relief, smothering Sakura with a set of quickly fired off kisses on the head and forehead.

Thus, the fade to black happens.

A sheep fluffy and white wanders in from the sides, it cries out a bit, looking around for some form of grass, and then wanders off.

Ending song plays.

Congratulations on the pilot! We've got...a total of 40 views!? And of those, 28 remarked on how cliché it was! But still, it's 40 views! Great job everyone! Great job! Don't be afraid to alter things in the upcoming updates though! Fear is the enemy of action! And the enemy of action is the enemy of the Shounen genre! Just like chaste women are the enemy of ecchi harems!

Remember your roots as Otakus! Remember your tropes! We can prevail in this damn evil business through scantily clad women and rays of light! -Shadenight123

Pick the main theme of Episode 1:

[X] Five Years Later
[X] The Next Week
[X] Meanwhile the Adventurers' party...
[X] The Evil Overlord Awakens.
[X] On the front lines of a never-ending war.
[X] Plots and charades within the court of the King.
[X] Write-In.