The Migration.

*Wishhhh*

The wind brushing against my face felt very relaxing, Slowly opening my eyes, I lazily took in the surroundings.

It was mid-day so the sky was blue and the sun was hovering right in the middle of it. It was very calming… If you only looked at that, No one would ever even think the world experienced Nuclear Fallout.….

I opened my mouth wide, covering it with my clawed hand…. The position I was in was actually very comfortable… It was the closest thing I've had to a bed in years. However, I felt my 'bed' suddenly shift, almost making me fall to the ground.

'Hey! Watch it! Try and move a bit more smoothly, you're making relaxation needlessly difficult.'

A feeling of rage boiled up through the other side of my Mind Link, but with my next few words, it vanished almost immediately.

'I guess we'll just have to find a new cart puller….'

The beast I was on top of gave a noticeable shiver. Immediately it changed the way it walked. Its movements becoming more graceful, more smooth…

The mutated animal I was currently lying on was none other than a Yao Guai… A large mutated bear… Its bottom half had almost no fur and numerous scars were etched across its body. There was no doubt this huge animal had been through many battles…. Yet, The fierce beast was reduced to pulling a large red cart, filled to the brim with supplies…. The thing that stood out the most though, was a large suit of unmanned power armor.

A week has passed since our group started 'The Great Migration.'

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Deciding not to open the bunker 'yet' Marcus, mother, and I headed back to the camp. The others already knew what we left to acquire, but their eyes still lit up when we returned. The shock and awe on their faces when Marcus walked through the broken gates with the suit of T-60 power armor was amusing. Quickly though, the overall atmosphere of the farm turned jovial… I felt my tail twitch here and there…. Everyone was in a festive mood… Not too long after, Bert and surprisingly somebody else, Tommy, came up to me and started rapidly firing off questions.

I was Answering some and dodging others. Eventually however, everything seemed to calm down and the morale of the ghouls was at an all-time high. At that time, I suggested we start on building the Bamboo cart… It was still early in the day and growing Bamboo was quick and easy so making the cart would be simple. Cut some Bamboo, slap them together with the correct structural integrity and we're done…. What's more, we just received an abundance of nails so keeping everything together wouldn't be too difficult.

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And so, They got started. It took a few days but before long it was already finished. A blood-red color... Same as the Bamboo… I had to admit, the cart looked amazing. After it was done, both Marcus and I snuck back into the AutoJoes facility and took all of the equipment and supplies... It took multiple trips, but because most of the Utility Protectrons were destroyed, It was easy getting everything in and out... All it took was some time. We had to worry about being caught by the Mr. Handy but I used the opportunity to increase my stealth skill by quite a bit… By the end, we took what we wanted, and then we got the hell out of there.

Soon after, I asked Mother if she could go and bring back a Yao Guai…. She did… It was half dead though. Unfortunately, we had to kill it and find another one. This time, I specified bringing it back in one piece. It took quite awhile to find another one… I honestly felt a bit bad for the first… I made sure to cook it well. And with the ghoul's help, I had my first actual cooked meat in this life…. It was even seasoned. Mother made an interesting face when she tried it for the first time. She enjoyed it.

And sooo. Here we are in the middle of nowhere traveling southwest. The radiation levels have been gradually decreasing… Not enough for regular people to survive but lighter nonetheless.

I'd say we've moved around 100 miles, or 160 km since we started our journey a week ago. The cart took awhile to traverse the terrible terrain, so we ended up being slowed down significantly… There were many bumps, debris, and hills we needed to go over or somehow get around, Doing so always took a bit of time…. Even so, we were still moving about 15 miles every day…. If it was just Mother and I, we would have already arrived at our destination… but we had to slow down and wait for the cart… She had no problem with it… She wasn't really pressed for time so moving slowly didn't bother her… It's not like she couldn't go out and hunt… Her leaving and tracking us down 20 or 30 miles away wasn't difficult at all… On the other hand, I felt antsy. This trip was taking a long time, and I'm not sure exactly where any of the vaults were or when they opened… They could open up tomorrow, or even today! All I know is that it isn't going to stay closed for too much longer.

I wasn't talking about a player vault… I don't think any of those will open for another 18 years or so… No, I'm talking about the various NPC vaults scattered around the wastelands… Some of them I'm sure have already been opened. But, Besides a very few like Vault 96. I'm positive most of the vaults that appeared in the various games are still closed… What's more, I'm sure it won't be long before the vault holding the ancestors of the NCR opens up. I also know that many of them end up becoming raiders…

'I still hadn't thought of a way to deal with them.'

*Scrreee*

Before I could continue my thoughts a small horde of mole rats exploded out of the ground.

*Bang, Bang.*

Raising his gun Marcus fired two rounds. Both found their mark. Both of the mole rats slumped to the ground dead. The others immediately started charging. Standing up on top of the Yao Guai who was snarling at the uninvited guests, I inspected the enemies in front of me…

'You poor, poor things.'

Stretching my hand out towards the charging mutated animals. I activated my skill.

[Soul Flame]

*Skriiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!*

Instantly three of the rats were covered by the reddish-orange flame, all that could be heard over the sizzling flames were agony-filled whimpers and screeches. The other three mole rats woke up from their shock and were beginning to scamper away but they were too late. I cast soul flame again and the rest of the invaders turned to ash.

Everything went quiet again. After a short silence, the group began walking forward as I sat back down and closed my eyes.

Some of the members still seemed to be unnerved by my 'seemingly' magical abilities. I've already activated my Soul flame skill multiple times since our journey began. They weren't as shocked or frightened now as they were when I originally started training the ability.

Speaking of training, I could train my Mp much faster than my HP and SP. This was because I discovered meditation. It took a few days to acquire the skill but after I did, I was able to increase my Mana regen by 3x. I originally learned that my MP regenerated the same amount as my SP, so I regained 5 Mp per minute but when I'm meditating I regain 15 Mp per minute. This was the reason I was just lazily sitting on top of the Yao Guai…. It was leading the small caravan and its fur was also comfortable. It was the best place to meditate, and when any enemies appeared I'd just have to stand up, activate the skill and then sit down again… I could continuously train my Mana like this. Unlike stamina, where I needed to allow my body to rest, I wasn't forced to wait an entire day when I overtaxed my reserves… Instead, I just had to wait until it was full again before reusing it. Because of that. Raising my Mp was much faster than raising my Hp or Sp. In a single week of nonstop training, my Mp rose up to 230.

As for my physical training, If the area was relatively safe, I would just let the others travel ahead of me, and when I was done, I would catch up to them… On that note… Marcus pointed out that my way of exercising wasn't correct… Just running around and doing some simple exercises like I've been doing wasn't very effective even if I increased the amount I did… So he gave me some suggestions and I decided to change up the routine…. When using the professional methods, I noticed that the increase to my Hp and Sp was greater. So overall, I was raising all of my stats faster than before…. Well, not much faster, but a noticeable increase was definitely there.

"Bal"

"Hm?"

Opening one of my eyes I stared at the one who spoke to me… It was the ghoul named Tommy. It was my second time speaking to this one. He didn't really interact with me as much as Marcus, Bert, or Carly…

"Sooo, What's with your name?"

My name?

"Elaborate?"

"Well, Why did you choose that name?"

I thought for a moment…

"I just wanted a strong name….Bal means fire… But Setherog is original without any meaning."

The ghoul seemed to pause for a moment before continuing. 

"And your mother's name?"

"Mother is white… It's a good name…"

The question made me curious whether or not my mother liked her name. Though, I was already certain of the answer.

I turned to look towards the back of the group.

"Mother… Do you like your name?"

Mother turned to us for a bit then nodded her head.

"That's good."

Turning back, I looked towards the sweating Tommy.

It seems I scared him.

"Mother also likes it."

"You were mistaken, I never said it was a bad name. Just your names are very different."

I shook my head…

"Why would I give my mother an intimidating name?"

"You have a point…. Sooo."

Another question?

"Why exactly are we heading towards California? What would we gain by going there?

I thought his question over for a bit before answering…

"Well, I don't see why I shouldn't tell you or the others… You'll find out soon anyway...."

"Right."

I could practically feel everyone's ears perking up….

"I'll just come out and say it….. I plan on starting a proper settlement…. I'm not sure exactly where I plan on taking it, or whether or not it will be my end goal. But it's a move that needs to be made."

End of chapter.