Chapter LXXXIII: Sallone: The Next Generation

Chapter LXXXIII: Sallone: The Next Generation 

A few months go by, and Nallester is rapidly growing. His personality is set, he’s kind of a jerk to the kids at school, he’s aware the other half breeds are his siblings, and he idolizes his dad. “I wanna take Nallester on a small hunt.” Sallester tells Xorda one day. 

“Are you crazy? He’s still too young!” 

“Look, he’s been practicing with his BB gun at the firing range, and I don’t want him to go to the annual family hunt blind. I want him to expect the unexpected.” 

“Alright, fine, but I’m coming too.” 

“Fine with me.” 

“Really?” 

“Yeah, it’ll give him a chance to see how badass his mom is.” Xorda blushes. “Look, I’ll talk to Serge and have him set loose the living targets in the practice woods. I think Nallester is getting bored with the practice targets, he says they’re too easy.” 

“Alright, fine, let’s go.”  

“Hey, Nallester!” 

“Yeah, daddy?” Nallester asks. 

“Wanna go on a hunt with me and your mom?” 

“Mommy hunts too?” 

“Does that surprise you?” 

“Yeah! Cool!” 

“Come on, we’re going to talk to Mister Serge.” They pack up and head to Serge’s lab. “Ultimate Ruler?” 

“What’s up, Sallone family two point oh?” Serge asks. 

“We were wondering if you’d set up the woods in the backyard for a little family hunt. Little Nallester is getting bored with the targets, and with our annual hunt coming up in a few months, we figured we’d get him ready.” 

“Oh, this will be fun. I’ll start you guys at level one, and keep upping the ante until you either beat all the levels or you quit. And by you, I mean the kid.” 

“What?” Nallester asks. 

“It means you’ll be in charge of the mission.” Sallester tells him. Nallester looks nervous. 

“Real-really?” 

“Yup! You said yourself you were tired of targets." Serge supplies them with real guns, helmets, and armor. 

“You ready for this?” Serge asks Nallester. 

“Yeah! Let’s do this! No mercy!" 

“Hah, just like grandpa." They equip themselves. “Are you guys ready?” They all shout ‘yes!’ at the same time. Serge opens the doors to the backyard. “Level one: regular Scotts.” 

“Well, go ahead, lead us." Sallester says to Nallester. “Um, ok, follow me.” They sneak around, and in the distance, Nallester sees a couple of Scotts eating their own s**t. He takes aim, and shoots them in the head, killing them. “YES! GOT THEM!” Sallester feels a grinding on his leg. 

“Hey son?” Nallester turns around, and caps the Scott grinding on Sallester’s leg. “Good job!” They high five. 

“Level two: Fire breathing bears and more Scotts.” Serge’s voice announces over the loudspeaker. They continue wandering around until a bear starts charging at them. Intimidated by the size, Nallester stands frozen. 

“Daddy, kill it!" Nallester cowers. Sallester chucks a few grenades, killing the bear. “Thank you, daddy.” 

“No problem, but you’re getting the next one." 

“Ok.” They continue on, where they come across a Scott having sex with a bear. Nallester takes his grenades, and throws them towards the bear, but his throws were too short of the bear. The bear rips the Scott apart, and heads towards the group, not charging, but walking, breathing fire. It gets close enough that they can start to feel the heat. Nallester tries his grenades again, and hits the bear this time, with the bear accidentally eating one of them, blowing it up. Nallester cheers. He takes his gun and picks off two more Scotts. 

“Alright, son!" Xorda says, as she high fives him. 

“Level three: Fire breathing bears and acid spitting deer.” Serge’s voice says over the loudspeaker. They continue on their way, looking for the animals, when a deer charges them, spitting acid. Some of it burns through Nallester’s armor, and he winces in pain. The deer continues charging until Xorda decapitates it with a huge broadsword. 

“Wow, mommy, that was cool!" 

“I told you she was a badass.” Sallester says as he kisses his wife. 

“Eew!” 

“Don’t get distracted, here comes another bear!” 

“I got this!” He takes out his machine gun and blows the bear away before it could get close. However, as he does, he gets knocked over by a deer headbutting him. He takes his gun and shoots it in the head, exploding it. 

“You’re getting better!” 

“I feel like I was born to do this!” 

“Well, it’s in your blood. All Sallones are expert killers. Just so you know, you don’t have to pick this as a career, we’re honing your skills and giving you a chance to participate in the family hunt." 

“Family hunt?” 

“Yeah, the whole family goes hunting and we pair up and kill genetically modified Scotts.” 

“I can’t wait!” 

“I didn’t hear the announcement for level four yet, so that means we still have some killing to do.” They continue on, until bear/deer hybrid shows up out of nowhere and it spits fire and acid simultaneously. “We gotta take this one as a team, what do we do, Nallester?” 

“Mommy, you stab it, daddy, you throw grenades, and I’ll shoot it!" They charge at it, and Xorda shoves her sword through the middle of it, while Sallester shoves a grenade up its a*s, and Nallester shoots it in the head. It explodes, and they get injured in the process. 

“Are you ready to quit yet? You guys look pretty rough.” Serge says over the loudspeaker. 

“No! Take us to level four!" Nallester yells back. 

“Well, ok then. Level four: Ching!” 

“Oh no!” Sallester says. “Son, it’s ok to quit now, Chings are very hard to kill, each one has a weakness, which we have to figure out. Are you sure you wanna do this?” This makes Nallester nervous. 

“Know what? I’m having too much fun, let’s do it!” 

“Well, ok, it’s your mission. Go ahead, Ultimate Ruler!" The sound of chinging rings in the distance. “Are you sure you can do this?” 

“I don’t know, daddy, but I’m going to try!” 

“The second things get too dangerous, I’m throwing in the towel, ok?” 

“But-” 

“No ‘but’s. It may be your mission, but we’re still your parents.” 

“...ok...” The Ching comes around the corner, its giant, smiling face and razor sharp teeth moving quickly, shredding trees and Scotts as it gets closer, getting bigger. Nallester uses his machine gun, but the bullets just bounce off. He takes his grenade launcher, and a chunk disappears with each explosion. He gets zapped by an eye laser which burns through his armor. He drops the grenade launcher to hold his arm. The Ching eats the grenade launcher and starts to reform. 

“Abor-” Sallester begins. 

“No!” Nallester yells, as he grabs two grenades off of his father’s belt and chucks them at the Ching, defeating it. Sallester and Xorda look in shock. “Told you I could do it!” 

“Are you ready for level five?” Serge’s voice comes out across the loudspeaker. 

“Bring it!” Nallester says. 

“No, I think that’s enough for today.” Sallester says. 

“Daaad!” Nallester whines. 

“Look, we’ll pick it up some other time. For now, we’ll get your wounds treated. There’s a time to fight, and a time to retreat.” 

“Ugh, fine.” Nallester says as he pouts. 

“Look, you did very well for your age. In fact, you’re the highest in your class.” 

“Really?” 

“Yeah. Watch when you get older though, there’s thirty nine other Sallones in your class.” 

“i’m gonna beat them all!” 

“Yeah, ok, keep that mindset. For now, we’re going to see your aunt for a patch up. Abort mission.” 

“All right, come on in, guys.” Serge says over the loudspeaker. After awhile, they make their way back into the lab. “Congratulations, Nallester!” Nallester is still pouting, and snubs Serge. 

“Hey! Thank the Ultimate Ruler! That’s high praise coming from him!” Sallester says. 

“Thanks.” Nallester says with an attitude. 

“Sorry about my son.” 

“I get it, he gets it from grandpa.” Serge says. “But know this.” He gets down to Nallester’s level. “Once you’re an adult, you won’t get away with your bullshit, I’ll execute you on the spot.” Nallester stares back in shock. 

“Okay, I think that’s enough for today! Come on, let’s go see aunt Nyvar about those burns.” They leave the lab, and head to the hospital wing. “Nyvar? Are you busy?” 

“Not at the moment, what’s up?” Nyvar asks. 

“We had our first practice hunt today, and Nallester here has an acid burn and a laser burn.” 

“Ugh, what is it with this family and taking children out to do dangerous stuff?” She grabs two tubes of ointment, and applies each to the separate burns. 

“Well, we figured he should get his practice in before the annual hunt.” 

“Ah, s**t. That is coming up, isn’t it?” 

“Yep.” 

“So, how’d he do?” 

“Got all the way up to level four. He wanted to do level five, but I called it off, hence his attitude.” 

“Sounds like dad.” 

“That’s what Serge said too.” 

“Listen to me little man, you’re not grown up yet, you can’t do everything yet. It’s impressive you got as far as you did, but your father did the right thing, stopping it there.” 

“I could have done it!” Nallester whines. 

“Not with these burns, your dermis was slowly disintegrating. You’re lucky your father stopped it when he did. Now, no hunting for a week, do you understand me?” No answer. “I said, do. You. UNDERSTAND?” 

“Yeah.” Nallester says quietly. 

“What was that? I didn’t hear you.” 

“I SAID YES, NOW LEAVE ME ALONE!” Nallester starts to run out, but Xorda catches him and he starts squirming. 

“Thanks, little sis.” Sallester says. 

“No problem. Keep an eye on him, he might do something rash, and I still haven’t found a cure for Scott Syndrome yet.” 

“Whats that?” Nallester asks. 

“If a Scott bites you, you can end up turning into one.” 

“NO!” He cowers. 

“Don’t ever, EVER go hunting without an adult until you are one, do you hear me???” 

“Yes, auntie.” 

“Good. Here’s a lollipop.” She hands him one, which he immediately crunches and eats. 

“More!” 

“No, you only get one.” He pouts again. 

“Alright, come on, who’s hungry?” Sallester asks. 

“I am!” Xorda says. 

“Come on, let’s go get something to eat in the commissary. Since you did such a great job today, you can pick anything you want for dinner.” 

“For real?” Nallester asks. 

“For real.” Sallester nods.