-{~Fortune Within Injury~}-

By CarbonTiger414 (Caleb Ledbetter)

Warning- Mild language, maybe a teeny bit of gore. Just a teeny bit.

Duster had slept through most of the evening, after he and his father Wess went to see Flint and Hinawa's newborn twins earlier in the day. Though it was a glorious spectacle to see new lives in the village, it left Duster very tired. As a deeper state of sleep was about to take him completely, Duster bolts awake from Wess opening the door forcefully, hitting the wall, “Hey moron! Don't fall asleep. Today's another day of training!” With a grumble, Duster rolls out of bed and hits the floor with a soft thud before standing up regretfully, “But dad..Can't we wait until tomorrow or something?”

“Damn it, son! Stop being lazy. The world can't forgive a lazy hero if it were to end all of a sudden. Now! Meet me at the Drago Plateau before dusk. That means you have fifteen minutes!”

Son quirks a brow upon his father, mostly in surprise and wonder at how Wess could possibly reach the destination within the aforementioned time limit, though Duster simply nods to him with a quiet yawn “Alright dad..See you there..” With that, the old man grabs the doorknob and slams the door shut, and Duster hears the front door slam in less than a minute, “Wow. I guess he can move pretty fast. I best do the same myself.” That said, Duster slips his shoes on and heads out of the house himself, shutting the door on the way in a more quiet and manner than his father did. On the way to the town center, he passes by Mapson at the bridge, and the man looks to Duster through his sunglasses and smiles,

“Well good evening, Duster,” Duster halts with a smile, figuring he has a little time to spare for chit-chat, nodding to Mapson before the older man continues, “Those twin boys are most adorable aren't they?” Duster chuckles and nods once more to him, but Mapson cuts him off before he developed a reply, “Flint and Hinawa are a great couple together, Alec must be proud of them to be a grandfather of not one, but two children even! Now everyone in Tazmily is debating on whether they will be as strong as Flint, or as kind-hearted as Hinawa. I personally think the boys will be a bit of both when they grow up. I was just telling Bronson a moment ago and he is inclined to agree with me on this matter. You remember their names, right? Claus and Lucas?” Duster nods yet again and opens his mouth about to protest how in a hurry he's in, but Mapson suddenly laughs and continues on, “It's the same letters, but mixed around a bit, and it's as clever as Nut Bread!”

Duster soon clears his throat, “Um..Sorry Mapson, but I'm in kind of a hurry, my father's waiting for me near the Plateau.” Mapson raises a finger, then points northward, “Ah yes, I saw Wess dash through here, had something in his hand, looked like curtain rods..” Duster quirks a brow and takes a deep breath, “Um...Alright. Thanks for letting me know. Have a good day, Mapson!” Duster then turns and dashes through the village center, making a right to the north, Mapson waving to the departing Duster, “Wait! Do you want me to mark the plateau...on a..map?” Though it seemed Duster was too far away to hear as he continues through the plains nearing the mountains.

Wess stands at the base of the mountain, arms crossed, and shaking his head when Duster approaches. The young man leans forward to brace his hands on his thighs and catches his breath, “I..I'm sorry dad..I..Mapson..” Wess simply stomps the ground hard, forcing Duster to stand quickly, “I won't want to hear your lame excuses moron! Now!” Wess cuts himself off to bend over and grab what indeed looked like curtain rods as Mapson mentioned before, the old man looking to his son once more, “See these? These are Wall Staples, don't forget now! Basically, you use strength and precision, forcing the pronged ends into a wall or rockface, and it ends up becoming a scaleable ladder, understand?” Duster simply blinks at how his father can come up with such things. Of course the Scary Mask and Tickle Stick were one thing, but this was a different matter altogether, yet all the same he nods before Wess hands Duster the Wall Staples, then points to the cliffside, “Alright, now scale this wall, and don't fall!” Wess stifles a chuckle at what he just said, mumbling to himself briefly, “I love unintentional rhymes..Ahem! Yes! Don't fall! Morons don't fall, and you're no moron, right?!” Duster nods with a light sigh before moving over to the base of the mountain, “Right, dad..”

After looking up the cliffside for a moment, Duster gulps quietly before positioning himself, Wall Staples in hand, and with a deep breath, he lunges them against the rock wall. Sh-kink! Sh-kink! Then Duster proceeds to step onto the Wall Staples, seeing how difficult it can be already without ground footing, but feels steady enough to continue scaling the wall. Sh-kink! Sh-kink!....Sh-kink! Sh-kink! After seemingly about halfway up, Duster makes the mistake of looking down to his father who calls up to him, “Don't look down here! Keep going!” Fatigue and sleep deprivation begins taking it's toll on Duster, though he continues using the Wall Staples to climb up as best as he can. Sh-kink! Sh-- “Whoa!!” Duster's foot slips off and balance is thrown, leaving him to hold onto the highest Wall Staple planted against the cliffside. Though panic and fear clouds his senses, he could barely hear his father yelling up at him, “Don't let go son, hang on!” Unfortunately the panic made Duster's palms sweat enough to overcome the grip he had on the Wall Staple, and reluctantly lets go with a fall. Luckily enough, a nearby tree absorbed most of Duster's fall, but the impact of hitting a branch against his thigh was too much as he crashes through the tree and finally hits the ground hard, yelling out in pain from cracked bone piercing through his upper thigh. Wess rushes over to him, grumbling angrily, “Damn it boy! I told you not to fall! Now look what happened! Get up!” Duster bites his lip, the throbbing pain in his hip and leg lingers as he attempts to push himself off of the ground, but to no avail. With a heavy sigh, Wess bends down and helps his son to stand with an arm over his shoulder, “I'll have to take you to the Inn then. Maybe Tessie will have a look at you. And stop crying, you moron!” Duster sobs quietly to himself as he is carried through the forest and back to the village. Once they reach the Inn, Duster falls unconscious from the pain.

Three Weeks Later

Blinking his eyes several times, Duster awaits for the momentary blurriness to pass before he realizes he's lying on a bed, likely still at the Yado Inn, and a familiar face in a cowboy hat peers over him, a deep gutteral voice fills his ears, “Hey Duster. Good to see you coming around..” “F..F-Flint?” “Yeah, it's me pal..Heard you had quite a fall, but Tessie here did the best she could on you..Everyone was worried..” Duster blinks once more before turning his head to see the lovely Tessie and smiles a bit, “Hey..Thanks..” Her face smiles lightly, but even Duster could see tears welling up in her eyes before she replies, “Don't mention it. Though you did have a compound fracture in your leg, it wasn't too bad..but..I'm afraid to say that you won't be walking normally anymore.” Tessie couldn't help but stiffle a sob before she turns and leaves with a hasty bounce in her step. Flint takes a deep breath, and places a hand on Duster's shoulder, “Hey..Don't worry too much about it, alright? Everyone in the village still loves you for who you are. Also..Don't blame Wess, and don't blame yourself either..It was just an accident. We know how pushy Wess can be, but he too has been rather sad as of late, so if you can, refrain from taking it out on him.” Duster chuckles quietly and nods, “I'm pretty much used to being called a 'moron' by now, even when I'm not. However, I can't prove my father wrong if I lie here any longer.” Soon Duster moves to sit up, grunting quietly as he does, and Flint leans forward, opting to help Duster lie back down, “Easy pal, you still have another week or two to rest.” With a shake of his head and politely moving Flint's hands away, Duster replies quietly, “I've rested long enough..Mm..Though it still hurts, sort of. Still, I'll simply have to walk it off..” Flint chuckles softly and nods, helping to move Duster to the side of the bed and stands ready to help his friend any further if need be. Only with aid of an arm over his shoulder, Duster successfully stands and limps his way toward the door. Before heading out, Duster looks to Flint with a smile, “Thanks friend. If you ever need anything. Just ask.” Flint tips the brim of his hat to Duster, “Will do, good sir. Stay well.” “You do the same..Give my best to Hinawa and the boys..”

After returning home, the pain in his leg still lingers, but gradually ebbs away since he started walking it off. A string of apologies later, Wess tells his son, “Whenever you want to continue training, you let me know. I didn't mean to push you so hard, especially since there's no potential threats as of now, but we will have to start up again sometime should it ever arise.” Duster simply nods with a light smile, “Alright. I'll let you know” With that said, Duster heads downstairs to his bedroom, wondering what his father keeps going on about potential threats and the like, but his train of thought is immediately broken off after he suddenly feels no more pain from his leg, whispering quietly to himself, “Hmm..Odd..It feels rather strange, no feeling..” A moment after standing in the middle of his bedroom passes, he shakes his limped leg a bit, indeed feeling nothing. Duster spins around quickly and watches his leg swing upward in a kick that even he could barely see with unfathomable speed. After hearing a clattering sound at his feet, he then looks down to see pieces of debris from the wall on the floor and quirks a brow, immediately redirecting his eyes to the wall itself before they widen. Evidently his blinding fast kick tore off some of the framework along with the wall, whispering in amazement to himself, “Oh shit..! I did that..? But I didn't even feel it!” A moment later, Duster hears his father call from the living room above, “You alright down there boy?!” With a smirk, Duster relocates and hangs a large framed picture over the hole in the wall, “Yes dad! I'm alright!”