Never the Same - Team Crafted Stories (DISCONTINUED)

Part I Chapter 2: The Outcast

Jerome's POV

You probably already know who I am. My name's Jerome Aceti. I'm twenty years old, a member of Team Crafted, and I'm not human. I'm a chewbacca.

Chewbaccas, or baccas for short, live in the forests, far away from humans. We have a ton of fur, we love using axes, we only eat raw meat, and we love to hunt. I'm covered in dark brown fur, have black eyes, and I wear a business suit. Don't ask. I'm different.

I grew up in the Keate Jungle, south of the Canadian Taiga, west of the Nexus gaming hub. The Keate Jungle is amazing. As far as you could see, trees, trees, and trees. I had so much fun as a kid; I would sneak out with my friends, and we would climb vines on the huge trees and jump from tree to tree, often injuring ourselves in the process. It's steaming hot there, but you get used to the heat after a while.

Our little bacca village - which I think was called Newark? I'm not sure anymore - was in a valley, near a lake that lead to a river, which lead to a ocean, and near a set of caves in a mountain. It was perfect. I grew up hunting, learning how to use an axe, how to track prey, how to climb trees, how to run away from predators. My little sister Sylvia and I were the best hunters in our entire village, and we became famous for it.

One day when I was seven years old, I decided to leave the safety of Keate Jungle and explore the great beyond, where no bacca dared to go: the Nexus.

I remember being amazed at the number of people, and the games you could play. I got real good at the games, Hunger Games especially, really quickly. But since I was a bacca, and I was different, all the humans laughed at me, made fun of me. They said I couldn't win a game, that I couldn't get anywhere on the Nexus. Well, look at me now, suckers. I'm a member of the most well-known Team in the world, and I partly own the Nexus now. Sucks to suck, doesn't it?

I went to the Nexus once a week, and I made up a new excuse every time. No one caught me until I was twelve years old - and by that time, it was legal for me to go anywhere I wanted, as long as I had a person I knew and trusted with me.

So I met Mitch at a Hunger Games tournament when we were nine, and he was the person I used as an excuse for "knew and trusted." We were the youngest in a game full of thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and even sixteen year olds. We were nine. But we were every bit as good as them, even though we were so much younger.

I got good gear off spawn - stone axe, chain and iron armor pieces, and a tiny bit of food. I went to the in-game shop and bought some raw fish with my points, my favorite. I left the shop and wandered around, looking for someone to kill.

On my own, I killed three people, and nearly died six times. Back then, I wasn't very good at PvP. But when Mitch and I became good friends, well, together we got much better.

That's when I saw the boy. He looked half dead, nearly starved, and scared. He was the youngest player in this game - other than me. He bought some food at the shop I had just been at. I saw a gang outside the shop, ready to pounce and take his loot.

I just couldn't let them do that. I felt a strange sense to protect the boy. Maybe because he was helpless to do anything, or maybe because he was just like me. I never knew the answer. I just followed my instincts, and they were right, because if I had let Mitch die right then and there, we never would've seen the beginning of a great friendship.

I killed two of the guys, and sent the third guy running. The boy stayed behind me, and when it was over, I let him sort through loot because I already had everything I needed - iron and chain armor and a stone axe. I mean, I could use another diamond or iron. I already had two of each. I could make myself a better axe. But otherwise, I was good.

The boy left for spawn, and I was on my own again. Night fell. I stayed in the little village when the chests refilled, and I looted the whole village. I got more food, better armor, and other stuff like TNT. But no diamond or iron. Just then, I heard a sound like a ringing bell. A parachute floated in the sky. First I checked to see if anyone was around me, then I stopped to look at it. The parachute had my name on it. It floated down next to me. I opened the package attatched to it. Inside was a brand-new, shiny diamond axe.

I was amazed. I had just gotten sponsored a diamond axe. Someone had just spent a lot of points to buy this axe for me. No one ever did that for me. I just stood there for a few minutes, looking at the axe.

Then the gang came. Five people, in decent armor and holding decent weapons, charged at me. They were yelling things about baccas which weren't very nice. Seriously?

I thought that was the end of the game for me. But Mitch charged in to save my life. He killed three of them, and sent two running. Just like I had done for him earlier.

I looked up at the clock. Two minutes until the forced deathmatch began. Mitch saw it too. He wanted to team, so I accepted. Why not? I wanted to win. There were five older, more experienced players against us. If we teamed, we had a chance of winning.

When the deathmatch started, Mitch and I ran to a higher tier of the colosseum. He asked me if I could shoot a bow, I shook my head. He ended up shooting two guys to death from up there. It was hilarious to watch. They would spin around in circles, wondering what was hurting them, and by the time they figured it out, they were one shot to die. And the fact that they were all older than us made it even more funny.

It was me and Mitch - I still didn't know his name at the time - against an older team with much more experience and skill, as the final four. Mitch shot them a few times, and I swooped in and finished them off before they had time to react. All in all, a great fight. For us, anyway. They got owned.

I asked for a fistfight, just a few pieces of armor, no weapons. But I had a few tricks up my sleeve. We fought. He was a really good fighter, even back then. I was going to die, so I took my axe and I threw it at him. He dodged it, and threw it back at me.

The last thing I saw before I respawned in the lobby was the axehead flying at my face.

Mitch won fair and square. I talked to his friends, Mat, Rob, and Preston, afterwards. They really weren't that open to me at first, but with Mitch around, we got more friendly. Together, we watched Mitch win the quarterfinals, come in second at the semifinals, and seventh in the finals, which was pretty good for a nine year old boy in a tournament for thirteen to sixteen year olds. I was proud to call him my new human friend. My first one.

We ended up talking a lot after the tournament. I used to be scared of humans. That was, until I met Mitch. That was a day I would never forget, because that day, I gained a lifelong friend.

~Anna