Hope's Torment Part 1

Hope's Torment

Prologue-The annoying little Monkey
There rest inside everyone the Spirit of an animal and of the earth they live on. Though some people do not sought after the companionship of these inner spirits there are a lot that do, creating a world where the humans become the animal of their spirit and have control over the forces of elemental energy. It became part of their lives. No one paid any particular attention to a particular little monkey boy. Despite showing great promise as a ninja-type guardsmen he is, and always was, labeled as the annoying monkey, and even in a time where animal tails and ears are common ground, he is a freak, and a showoff. He is the hope for the future.
It is a clear and warm night. The stars twinkle softly surrounding a large moon over a never ending ocean. The water ran calmly brushing against the sand erasing all past footprints and leaving room for new ones. Coral reefs and fish could be seen clearly in the crystal lite waters only disturbed by the waterfall of a nearby mountain, slicing the coast away from the rest of the dream like environment. High up beside the raining waters of the fall sat a marble Shrine.  Cyan and blue crystals decorated it and there were comfy looking pillows sitting around a crystal fountain reflecting a marble statue of a woman with lovely swan wings, holding a diamond star.
Dispite the pillows inside there on the roof sat a boy, laying on his back looking at the stars. He was wearing black shorts and had his eyes closed, thinking about the strange voices he was hearing in his head. He had light brown skin and light grey hair. He had a thin but athletic build, a few imperfections, his toes were rather long, his arms were long, and he has a rather thick and ugly scar under his right eye. He was focusing, trying to hear the conversation as clearly as possible.
"The seal is weakening. I can sense him, just bearly. He's in the forest. Are you sure the girl is pure enough?"
"Yes my lord. She is of a pure heart, so pure I believe she may be blessed with light very soon. She also has position of the Amp Gem. If my theory is correct it should affect his dark powers."
"Don't fail me. I've spent the last 13 years looking for him. He's the last one I need to connect to before I can carry on with my plan. You have only one chance."
The rest of the words were mumbled and the boy could no longer hear what they were saying.
"Can I borrow your book?
The boy looked behind him. He swore he heard something. SLAM!!!
Just another day
"AWWWW FUCK!!!" The class was laughing as a boy jumped backwards out of his seat, a long grey tail popping out of his pants. He had light brown skin, light grey hair, and pure red eyes. He wore a sleeveless black shirt under a red vest, blue jeans, Wrist protectors and a black headband. "Aww man, I wanted to see his ears" "Stupid monkey" The boy gave a goofy smile and sat back down. His teacher, put his hand on top of the book he slammed on the boy's desk, "Tech, this is the 3rd time you fell asleep this week." Tech scratched the back of his head and gave the same smile he did every time he got in trouble, "Sorry Mr. Ryans, I haven't been sleeping well." "You could have fooled me. Max, why don't you keep better control over your brother?"
Sitting beside Tech was a big guy with his head in his hand looking a little annoyed. He was tanned, with dark grey eyes and a short, light brown Mohawk. He wore black cargo shorts and a snug A-shirt along with 2 thick metal gauntlets on his arms. He had an Old World tattoo on his right shoulder that he said stood for Metal and 2 piercings, a stud under his bottom lip and a small nose ring. "Sir, He sleeps all night then passes out during the day. If you have a good way of keepin' him entertained he'll probably try harder to stay up." Max had a western accent and a deep voice which clashed with his brothers who had a rather high pitched voice for a boy that made him sound excited all the time.

"I'm trying to go back over the lessons for your brother's sake. He's been sleeping a lot and when he's not asleep he's not paying attention."
"But I already know all of this." Mr. Ryans looked a bit more than annoyed, "In fact, I'll let you test me right now. So I don't have to worry about the test.
Mr. Ryans sighed, "Mr Mankoteku, it doesn't work that way."
"Well you said you were going back over this for my benefit, so if I ace you little quiz can we go outside and do combat practice instead?"
Mr. Ryans didn't like being challenged and Tech was usually the one that did it the most. It's worse when the class starts agreeing with Tech because then he always hears how boring he is, "Fine, you get one chance. If you miss one question we won't go outside and you will receive a failing grade for today for disrupting my class."
"See, I know you wouldn't back down from a challenge."
Tech started focusing, not on what the possible answers could be, but on wanting to talk to a monkey till suddenly a voice appeared in his head. "Hey buddy, you know all of this stuff right?" Tech asked silently in his mind so no one heard him but the voice.
"Tech, you're not going to learn anything if I keep giving you the answers" The voice said. IT had about the same pitch as Tech's voice, but a different accent, kind of a bit softer.
"I know, but come on, what does any of this stuff have to do with fighting in the guard. And if we ace this I get to bring you out today."
The voice sighed, "You better have bananas for lunch"
"Dude, I always eat bananas." Tech and the voice laughed as Mr. Ryans looked for the questions he'd ask.
The class was walking outside to the training grounds, Tech leading the way with a wide cocky smile. "You cheated again didn't you?" Walking on Tech's right was his older brother Max and on his left his best friend Daniel. Daniel had a bigger build than Tech but wasn't as big as Max. He wore a white tee under an open button up shirt with orange flames on it, blue jeans, a black hat that he wore backwards, and glasses. Around his waist was a big belt with a bunch of pouches and a pistol. He wasn't the only one with a weapon at school.
Tech, Max, and Daniel were students of the Guardsmen academy in the Forest region trying to get into active service in the military. They were currently in their basic training, but after they graduate they would be split up into their specialty training, Tech chose the Ninja route, Max was interested in Mixed Martial Arts, and Daniel was in Weapons mastering.
"Gasp! Dan, I do not condom cheating of any kind" Tech said acting insulted.
"Fine, you asked your spirit for help didn't you?" Daniel said a bit annoyed.
"Sure did, I don't know any of that crap," Tech said with an even wider smile.
Tech was a rare breed. In his world everyone had an animal spirit and an element. Tech was a lightning Monkey and he was way more skilled at using them than people twice his age, him barely being 20. Few people even find out what their animal is till they are around 25 except for some cases where the human and the animal are born intertwined, but that usually happened with small animals like squirrels and rabbits and few people learn how to control their element at all, especially one as wild as lightning.
Tech is the only monkey in the forest region. As it turned out monkeys aren't liked that much due to their free and generally annoying nature. Tech heard all the monkeys left their regions and built their own region somewhere else, but Tech had little desire to go see if it was true, he loved the forest to much despite everyone calling him a stupid monkey. Tech never minded being a monkey due to the bond he made with his monkey spirit. His name was Tino and he was the best spirit for someone like Tech, always hyper and eager to do something, sarcastic, playful and nice, they had a strong bond together, one that allowed them to actually communicate with each other, most people don't even think their animal spirits are living things.
They all got to the training grounds. The students grabbed their weapons. "Hey Tech, do you want your Shuriken?" Max asked. Max has a metal element and was usually the one holding Tech's weapon, a giant shuriken sense he can compact it so it's easier to carry and it won't stab him. Making Metal weapons was his specialty which is why he always wore his Gauntlets in case he needed the metal, but usually he's content with his fists. "Naw, I doubt I'd need it."
"Ok, you guys know the rules. Your goal is to knock your opponent out by either making them unable to fight or putting them in a situation they would have died from. No fatal wounds, all sharp weapons must be exchanged for the training weapons provided and each battle will be a maximum of 30 minutes. Any questions?"
A student raised her hand, "Can Tech go first? I still don't get how Spirit Mode goes."
"Good idea. Tech, Max, you're first."
"Why do I have to go against Max, we fight enough at home," Tech argued.
"Because you're the strongest spiritually and he's the strongest physically. It would be good for the other students to see why they need to develop both a strong spiritual and physical foundation."
"Or he just wants to see how hard Max punches you," laughed another student, Alex Crasher. Tech and Alex have hated each other sense second grade, the same year he met Daniel. He was a rich snob that hated Tech because he was stronger and more skilled than he was, Tech hated him because he was stuck up and annoying.
Tech and Max got to their starting places on the field and faced each other.
"Come on Tech, try to look a little bit more excited."
"I'm sorry Max, but do you really think this is going to be any different than the other hundred times we fought?" A vein popped out of Max's head. Despite being way stronger than his little brother he was never able to win in a fight. Mr. Ryans pulled out a stopwatch and timed it. "Ready? Set. FIGHT!"
Max charged straight for Tech. Max's spirit was a bull so naturally he can run fast, but he can't change directions and has a problem with tunnel vision, something Tech exploited, being a monkey with higher speed and agility than average. Tech moved slowly out of his way watching Max charge past. Tech never fought his brother seriously, he always tried teaching him what he knows, and he knew Max had a problem with anger and gets reckless when fighting.
"The goal is to win the fight Max," Tech laughed.
"The same goes for you Tech," Mr. Ryans sighed.
"Oh yea," Tech laughed climbing a tree and teasing Max some more, "I have at least 25 more minutes, no rush." Tech suddenly had an odd feeling. He looked behind him  off into the trees. "A storm?"
Without Tech noticing Max made a giant axe and with a powerful swing ripped off the bottom of the tree. Tech couldn't react fast enough and fell. He tried landing on his feet only to be caught in Max's charge who grabbed on tight and continued running straight for a wall. "Shit shit shit!!" Tech said jast as both of them collided with the wall in a blue flash of light. Max crawled out of the hole he made panting a bit. "Someone finally beat that showoff!" a student shouted as the rest kinda started cheering for Max who didn't share the same enthusiasm.
"OWWW!!!" Tech's voice rang out. It was even higher pitched than normal, "That was a little excessive, you didn't have to tear down the wall." Tech also crawled out of the hole and stretched out his back. He had a long monkey tail and grey fur all over his body except for his chest. His beard and hair grew out quite a bit and he had a red outline around his eyes. He was pulling at his shirt. "We can continue, but I got to take this thing off, it's itchy and hot" Max tried punching Tech but he easily dodged and jumped back far enough to take off his shirt and put his vest back on.
"Students, this is known as Spirit Mode. It is when you increase your physical attributes by taking those of your spirit animal which in turn alters your physical appearance. Because the human takes on the animal spirit even the weakest human can become powerful if they have a powerhouse animal such as bulls, rinos, and bears, and the slowest person can become blindingly fast if their speed is increased by a monkey, most cats, and other such spirits. Because of this most humans can't beat Spirit Mode humans as it's like fighting 2 people in one.  You can tell how bonded the human and animal are based off of their appearance, Tech having a relatively good bond with his keeps a human structure and few animal traits such as his tail. If the human is stronger your structure will change but you won't get animal traits other than fur or scale patches and if the animal is stronger your structure will change dramatically, making you look more animal than human."
Tech rolled his eyes at Mr. Ryans, "do you always have to lecture about me?"
"I'm sorry. I thought someone of your stature would love to have the spotlight," Mr. Ryans said smirking a little. "Showoff" "Stupid Monkey" Tech sighed. Deep in his head he was saying how retarded his peers were. "HEY! Were still fighting!" Max yelled giving Tech enough time to move out of his way. Tech quickly grabbed Max's arm and ran his finger down his spine, feeding a low stream of lightning, enough to limit Max's movements without hurting him. Max being metal is naturally weak to Tech's lightning so it didn't take much for Max to fall. "Come on, I wanna fight someone else."
Max couldn't get up until Tech took out the current meaning he met the goal of making his opponent unable to fight. "Finished, Max wins." Mr. Ryans said.
"Wait. What?" Tech said, Max had the same displeased face he did earlier.
"Well Max had a handicap considering you not only have spirit mode, but you have an elemental advantage. You lost most of your points when you got cocky and were caught off guard and continued losing them when you didn't end the fight knowing you could," Mr. Ryans lectured.
"What? Seriously? Your mad I didn't beat him within the first 5 minutes?" Tech yelled, "Man he's always sowing off. I don't think he's going to be a good guardsman." "Monkeys shouldn't even be allowed to join the guard, they always play around." "I bet he's not going to get far when he's active." Tech was getting mad as the students mumbled their opinions to eachother.
"HEY! SHUT UP!" Danial yelled, "Just because he gave Max a chance to fight doesn't make him a showoff, and just because you guys aren't as good as he is doesn't give you the right to make fun of him. If you worked even half as hard as this "Stupid Monkey" does at developing his spirit you'll probably quit because it's too hard." Most students are intimidated by Daniel. He's the smartest of the class and is the hardest worker despite not having any connection to his element or his animal.
"Of course his lackey would defend its master," Alex laughed. Daniel and Alex used to be friends until Daniel noticed how cold he was with Tech. "Mr. Ryans, I challenge Alex Crasher." The smile vanished off of Alex's face as Mr. Ryans gave the go ahead and Daniel replaced the bullets in his pistol with paint pellets. Max and Tech left the field and Daniel and Alex went on.
"You guys know the rules, FIGHT!" Before Alex could even grab his sword Daniel had his pistol in his hand and shot a smiley face into his chest and ended with one in the middle of his forehead. "STOP!" Mr. Ryans shouted as Alex held his forehead. "Hey look. I'm a showoff. Tech laughed and Max smirked.  Mr. Ryans sighed, "I hate all this drama."
The Storm
"Tech was still tired as they were waiting in the lunch line. "Seriously bro, what's up, your never this tired," Tech looked back to see Max staring hard at him like he normally does when he's worried about nothing.
"Oh, don't worry about it, just been having some odd dreams that's all," Tech said trying to make light of an already light situation, knowing that one wrong word will make Max interrogate him. Tech quickly grabbed a couple sandwiches and a lot of bananas, Max grabbed the pathetically small stake they served him and salad, and Daniel grabbed the largest slice of pizza he could. When they sat down Danial looked at Max's and Tech's plate. "You guy make me feel fat, you know that?"
Tech dropped the peel of his 3rd banana on his plate. I'm saving room. We got paid so I'm going to the noodle house later. Besides, the food here sucks."
Max just stared at his plate, "This steak is pathetic. I think I'm going to get a REAL one before the storm hits."
Daniel looked over at max with a long string of cheese falling from his mouth then looked at the bright and cloudless sky, "What storm? We haven't had much rain lately and it doesn't look like were getting one today.
"You don't feel it? It's huge and is coming straight for us from the Plains Region." Tech said inspecting the contents of his sandwich before plopping it down and started peeling another banana.
Daniel was slightly annoyed, "Sorry I don't have the ability to read the environment like you two do."
"I don't sense it, I just feel it," Tech said, "a huge very dark lightning storm" Max grunted. He hated thunderstorms. He didn't like the thought of being a lightning antenna.
"Well in that case I think you're crazy. We would have been warned by now, especially if it's as big as you say it is." Daniel said taking another bite out of his pizza.
Right after class when they were going to go home the clouds were already thick and dark, a light sprinkle already started, "Shut up," Daniel said as he walked off towards his house. "Love ya to buddy," Tech laughed, "You have 2 hours to get your steak big guy," Tech said patting Max's back. "Where are you going?" Max asked. "Didn't you hear me earlier? It's sushi night. I'm eating till they kick me out." Max made a gagging sound as Tech smiled and walked off. Tech walked off to the edge of the forest just as a siren went off. "Wanna try getting some practice in buddy?" Tech asked listening to the distant lightning as he walked deep into the forest, avoiding the guards forcing people to their homes.
In a clearing deep in the forest metal targets were set up. Tech came here often to practice using his lightning skills. Someone brought him here often, but he didn't remember who. Tech looked up at the sky darkened even more and strong lightning bolts started crashing out of them. Tech absorbed some lightning energy and tried shooting it at the target. It went a couple feet before fizzling out. "I still can't long range?"
Tino spoke back like he normally does, "You'll get it eventually. I'm surprised you can control lightning so well already."
Tech kept trying, but the lightning wouldn't go that far at all. "I know that I don't really need to practice long range sense I'm fast enough to take away their advantage, but still, I know I used to be able to do it."
"As far as I know you were never able to get it right."
Tech sighed. He knows he remembered doing it, he just didn't remember how or when. He absorbed a significant amount of energy and tried again. It got further but still cut out. Tech got a bit annoyed. "How did I do it? I know someone taught me how"
"No one taught you how to use your lightning; you've always been good at it." Tech knew Tino was lying to him. He knew full well that someone taught him how to use his lightning. Just not who, and the fact he couldn't remember was annoying him even more. More and more energy he forced himself to absorb till it felt like his energy network was going to rip yet he couldn't produce a single bolt, "FUCK YOU!!!" Tech shouted as his entire arm glowed blue with lightning and he struck the target causing an electrical explosion.
Tech was panting hard. He went overboard and now wasn't able to move his arm until his energy returned. His anger vanished when he heard a shout. He looked behind the target into the trees and saw something white; as he got closer he realized it was the hair of a girl, and that he accidently electrocuted her. "Oh crap" Tech said as he quickly took the electricity out of her and covered her in his vest. She was barely conscious, and Tech had to get her out of the storm. Tech ran with her on her back. She was mumbling something Tech couldn't understand. "Don't worry; I'll make sure your safe," Tech smiled and noticed she started turning red, "Crap….Did I do something wrong?"