1333

Loc Lac, a desert city. There was a time when it had been bustling with popularity, but those days had long since passed.

It was undeniably far worse off now.

Everyone struggled on with their lives. The streets were filled with abandoned children, trying their hardest to survive.

For all of them, their means of survival was different. Of the four that are important to this story: one relied on a group while another relied on just one other life, one relied on his own strength while another hid in the shadows.


Zach walked down a street, in search of whatever he could find. He thought back to what had led him here.

He had been left on his own for about as long as he could remember, he wasn't even sure how he survived the early parts of his life. But one thing was clear. He was powerless. They all were. So to survive, they had to band together.

The leader of his group was Dan. The oldest of them. He was reliable and always seemed positive. So all of them went along with that. They didn't need to worry, as long as he was there.

As you could expect, this fell apart.

It was an incredibly cold winter. They were gathered in one place, eating whatever they could find.

Zach was starving. It was obvious, no matter how much he tried to hide it.

Dan walked up to him.

"Yer hungry, aren't ya?"

"No, I'm not."

His stomach rumbled.

"Just take this." Dan handed him his food.

"But what are ya gonna eat?"

"That's not important."

"Yeah it is, yer our leader."

"It's cause I'm the leader that I'm doin' it. If I don't look out for ya then what's the point?"

"...Fine."

Dan died a few weeks later.

It was from illness, not hunger. Dying from hunger because you gave someone else food would've been far too virtuous for any person, even if they're a leader.

After that, the group ended up going their own ways. Without a strong leader, there was nothing holding them together, so a few weeks later it completely fell apart.

Zach now continued to wander these streets alone. Despite this, he still looked up.

"I've gotta become a good leader like Dan. If I was just good enough, things wouldn't have fallen apart. So I've gotta be like him. Always brave, always selfless, always looking out for others. I can't be anything else."

He continued down this road, in search of anything to lead.


At the same time, another boy continued down the road, hiding some food he stole.

Joseph had to take more than most since he was also supporting Daimyo. It was a problem, but without that monster he couldn't live, so he didn't have a choice.

Walking towards him was a boy with bruises all over his face.

Growing up here, Ben came to understand one thing.

Whoever's stronger gets what they want.

A few hours ago, he found himself getting kicked out of where he usually slept by some older kids.

He also understood that to survive he had to be stronger than everyone.

They were shocked when he tried to fight them, but his wild attacks weren't able to do anything about the advantage in numbers and size.

He was severely beaten afterwards. By the time he woke up he found he was starving, so he started to look for food, trying to ignore the pain.

He spotted Joseph, obviously hiding something.

"I ain't got anything on me." Joseph told him.

"I didn't even get to ask. How scared are ya? Though yer not wrong about what I'm plannin', hand it over."

"No, I can't. I need it."

"Look, I'm in a bad mood. But I'll be nice. Gimme half and I'll let ya go."

"No."

"Yer hiding a shitton, give me some at least. How fat are ya!?"

"Shut up!"

Ben got frustrated and threw a punch, which Joseph was too slow to dodge. Joseph was knocked back and took a second to process the situation before trying to fight back on his own.


Their battle was observed from out of sight.

Callum was nowhere near as brave as them. He wanted to stand out, to be like those heroes he'd heard about. But no matter how he looked at it, it was impossible for him.

That's what he learned after surviving this long. So, he was going to use that to his advantage here.

"Wait, stop a second!" Joseph yelled.

"No!"

"The food's gone!"

"Wait, what?"

"I said it's gone."

"..."

"That means neither of us have it."

"Ah!"

They both then started glancing around, spotting a boy running away.

"Stop!" They both yelled in unison, causing Callum to freeze up in fear. They took advantage of this to rush him.

By the time Zach showed up, all he found was three boys fighting. Two were being aggressive, the other was just sort of caught up in things.

"Hey, what are ya all doing?"

They didn't stop.

"Hey, what are ya all doing?" He repeated slightly louder.

They were still going, not even having heard him. Zach emitted a frustrated sound, his dramatic entrance ruined.

He moved closer to try and stop the fight himself, but as he did what they were fighting over ended up slipping out of the hands of the group and fell onto the ground nearby.

"It's still fine." Joseph thought aloud, before it was taken by a passing Felyne who scampered out of sight instantly.

A long silence, before Joseph and Ben started fighting again.

"Oi, cut it out already!" Zach yelled, punching them both.

Ben got ready to punch back, but realised this was a new person.

"The hell do ya want?"

"Yer names."

"No way, this one's mine." Joseph answered "Get yer own."

"No I mean likeā€¦ what are yer names?"

"Callum." The one who was currently lying on the ground answered without hesitation.

The one who had been the target from the start went along with this. "Joseph."

The most aggressive one there looked around awkwardly, before not really being able to refuse anymore. "Ben."

"Got it. Oh, and I'm Zach. Now that we're all gathered, wanna join my plan?"

"What plan?" Joseph asked.

"The plan to get enough food for all of us to survive."

The other boys didn't have a reason to refuse.

This began the adventures of the group.