Spark

Stepping into the forest, nothing felt amiss at first. The deeper he walked, though, the stranger things felt. The grass and trees felt almost alive; as he leaned down to touch them, the grass around his finger moved away. He placed his whole hand onto the ground, and a few blades of grass wrapped around his fingers or hand; it was eery but also amazing.

He turned back and could still see some of the field behind him, but he could easily get lost if he wasn't careful. However, he could climb a tree and try to find his way out. He tried to use the claws of the gauntlets to leave a mark for himself, but the tree trunk slowly began to heal. It seems he was going to have to risk getting lost.

Everything in the forest must have Chi coursing through it; while eating the wood sounded easy, he pushed the thought aside. It was probably this way so animals could gather Chi, and that tree in the center must no doubt be involved with the process. He would gather Chi into his head to increase hearing, the sound of thumping reaching his ears. 

He carefully made his way over, and what he saw made him freeze.

"What the..."

Hiding a few feet from him was a rabbit, not just any rabbit. It was the size of a pig, and its fur stood on its end. It was eating some grass and didn't seem aware of his presence yet, but this was incredibly jarring.

He watched the beast eat grass for a few seconds before his belly reminded him why he was there. He carefully spread Chi through his body and crouched before sprinting towards the rabbit. He closed the distance in two giant steps; the rabbit turned to look at him as soon as he moved.

He was going to attempt to catch it as it tried to run. Instead, the rabbit turned to face him. Sparks shot off its fur before its very fur turned into lightning, and then it spread throughout its body. He lifted his hands to cover his face; the rabbit disappeared from where it stood, leaving only cinched grass.

He heard the sound of a thunderclap before he was sent flying back and colliding against a tree. The rabbit turned back to normal as the sparks slowly receded; it seemed to believe he was out of commission. He might have if he hadn't been wearing his armor and if his body wasn't as rigid as it was. 

There was a black stain left where the rabbit had collided. He stood up, and the rabbit took a few steps away, and its body slowly turned into lightning. The blow was fast and had packed quite the punch, primarily due to the rabbit's speed.

He needed to dodge the rabbit and attack it before it could do another attack; it didn't look like it could attack multiple times. He might be wrong, though; of course, there was a third option, which was to counter the rabbit.

He moves his hands to guard his chest just as the rabbit turns into lightning. As soon as it disappeared, his hands were already moving up to his head as he tried to grab the rabbit. He felt two things at once; the first was his body being shot back against the tree, and the next was having his body tense up and spasm. He had managed to catch the rabbit, But it tried to escape his grip. It maintained its lightning form and increased its voltage.

Sadly the only effect it had was making his arms and body cling even tighter to the damn thing as he screamed out in pain; he didn't know how long he was stuck like this. Eventually, he felt blood running down his hand, and the voltage of the weaken.

Even after it had long passed, his body refused to move. He was having trouble breathing and moving his body. He was still alive, at least.

Although he might regret it as he could hear footsteps getting closer and closer, and as much as he wanted to believe they were friendly. He didn't want to have his kill stolen once more, especially in this state.

He felt someone nudge him with something on the side of the head as he struggled to move his head. He was barely moving enough to see the familiar students from before. With him looking down and poking at him with a stick, Charlotte could see his eyes. He had a light brown eye on his right and a bright red eye on his left. Was that the reason he had such long hair? Wait, the better question was, why did he show up?

He smiled slightly, crouched down, and tried to let go of the rabbit. He glared up at him; he didn't want him to take his food away. They tilted their head and let go of his hand as they stared at him, and he stopped glaring and stared back. He stayed like this for a few more moments, mostly because he couldn't speak yet.

"D-don't take my food..."

He managed to get out; his voice sounded raspy. They nodded, and he relaxed as best as he could. He pulled both of the gauntlet claws out of the rabbit's body and removed the gauntlets, gently placing them aside. His fingers and hands had smoke coming off them and looked terrible. His skin was burned and was almost like charcoal as he tried to spread his Chi into his hands, but his control felt funky, and he had to recall it quickly. There was no point in wasting his Chi.

They opened their mouth in a gasp and looked at Charlotte and back at his fingers; he seemed to be freaking out as he reached into the pockets of the tunic to take out bandages and begin wrapping them up.

It made him chuckle a bit, watching him worry so much. Although it was terrible, his body would heal eventually, and even more so when he could use his Chi correctly. He was starting to relax slowly, and his entire body was in pain. It was most likely from having tensed up for so long.

"Thanks...My name is Charlotte. What's yours?"

He tried to get up, but they held onto his head and held him down before returning to work on his hands.

"Alright, sorry, I'll stay still..." 

He was strange, but he seemed kind. He was also very aggressive, especially with how hard he pushed him back on the ground. Still, having someone help was always lovely.