TERA Rising

By: Aubrie1234

"Here's your stop." said the fisherman, "I would be careful here if I were you. Strange things have been going on here for several months now."

"Don't worry sir." Matthew assured, "As long as we stick together and protect each other, nothing bad will happen."

"Mattie, come on!" Alfred whined, hopping onto the dock, "We've got training to do!"

"Here's the fee, sir." Matthew paid, "I hope you have a safe trip home." He hopped off the boat as well. The fisherman gave both boys a nod and left.

"Looks like we're here!" Alfred breathed in the salty, fresh air.

"Are you sure this was a good idea?" Matthew asked, "Mom and Dad didn't want us to come and we could get in big trouble for this." Alfred waved him off.

"They don't know the meaning of adventure!" he said, "Besides, this war has been going on for so long and they need more recruits."

"I know, but innocents and warriors die every day here! What if we're next?" Alfred laid a hand on his shoulder, looking up to the giant tree on the island.

"We're here to make sure that doesn't happen. Now come on!" Matthew had to walk quickly to keep up with his brother, as he had much shorter legs. They walked from the single dock and trudged up the hills and rocks until they could see a few adults watching five children, all of them from different species.

"What are children doing out here?" Matthew blinked, "Isn't it too dangerous?" Alfred shrugged.

"Only one way to find out!" he climbed over the top and went to talk with the nearest person, who seemed to be a male scholar.

"Excuse me?" The scholar turned to see Alfred coming over, Matthew following as fast as he could.

"Who are you?" he asked suspiciously, "How did you get here?"

"I'm Alfred, a human warrior, and this is Matthew, a popori archer. We heard that some of the Valkyon Federation was working here, and we wanted to be recruits. We came here by boat, having heard of this place from rumors in our village." The scholar nodded.

"I see. Well, if you're going to be recruits, we may as well start giving you a few quests to get your experience up." he said, "For starters, my name is Glennock, one of the scholars on the island, researching a power known as the Sight."

"The Sight?" Matthew asked.

"It's a strange power that some have were, when you dream, you can see into the future, predict things, or even your dreams will literally come true! We're still not quite sure yet. And those kids," he pointed to the 5 children, "were born on this island and are the only ones known to possess it." Both boys nodded.

"Well then, what's our first task?" Alfred asked.

"I'd like you to check on Anya, please." Glennock said, adjusting his glasses, "She's the little girl in the pink dress. She's more caring than the others much of the time and is the most powerful user of the Sight. I would check on her myself, but unfortunately, I don't have the time. And before I forget, here." he dug a rolled up paper from his ropes and handed it to the boys, "Until you can get one of the high-tech maps, which you don't seem to have, that's your only way around the island."

"Thank you, sir." Matthew nodded and Glennock walked away, muttering to himself. Alfred unrolled the scroll and tilted it to where his brother could see it.

"We're here, in Tangle Point on Stepstone Isle." Alfred said, pointing it out with his thumb before rolling up the paper, "Let's only use this thing to get around if we don't know where we are. First stop, Anya."

"And let's make a note to buy one of the maps he mentioned once we get to the mainland." Matthew put in before they started walking to the children. The girls and the boys looked like they stayed in their own little groups, where they couldn't see each other, or at least didn't notice what the others were doing. When they saw one of the girls crying and the other comforting her, the boys went to investigate.

"Hey, it's okay." Matthew tried to reassure the crying girl, who fit the description of Anya, "Why are you crying?"

"Zo-zo!" she sniffed, looking up at him, "I can't find him anywhere, after the boys took him!"

"Well, don't worry, we'll find him!" Alfred assured her, "By the way, I'm Alfred, and this is Matthew. What are your names?"

"I'm Kiecey, and this is Anya." said the other girl, who looked elf-ish, "Zo-zo is her teddy bear and she loves him very much."

"Here, how about I stay with you while Alfred looks for Zo-zo?"

"Really?" she asked, and he nodded. Matthew got a hug in return.

"I'll be back soon, and if not, I won't return without the bear!" Alfred promised, "Who grabbed Zo-zo, anyway?"

"I'm not sure, but you might want to ask Jerdan. He's the mischief-maker around here and the Amani boy." Kiecey said. Alfred nodded and made his way to where the boys were playing.

"Hey, you're new!" said the Popori boy, "Who are you?"

"I'm Alfred, and I'm looking for Anya's doll." The boys had the grace to look sheepish at that. Alfred sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"What happened?"

"Well, we threw it into the bushes and can't find it." Jerdan said, "What's so great about such a stupid doll, anyway?"

"What if it was something you loved very much? How would you feel if you had lost it?" At this, they looked guilty and hung their heads. Alfred crouched to their level.

"Look, I'm not punishing you or anything, I'm just saying that you have to think before you act. You could have asked Anya's permission to play with Zo-zo, not just take him from her."

"We're sorry." said the human boy, "My name's Pilt, by the way. That's Jerdan," he pointed to the other boys in turn, "and that's Niyum." The man nodded, then stood.

"Don't do this again, okay?" they nodded, "Then I guess I'll see you all later." He turned and went to the bushes, where he began searching. Soon enough, though, he bumped heads with another person.

"OW!" Alfred held his head as the other person did as well, cursing.

"Bloody h**l, you git!"

"Hey man, I'm sorry about that!" They both looked up at the same time and Alfred's eyes widened. It was an Elin Ninja, but the strange thing was, it wasn't a girl. There was no pronounced chest or feminine curves, but all the stuff that defined males. He was a white bunny Elin with shaggy blond hair, bright forest green eyes, and huge eyebrows.

"You look sexy in that outfit." Alfred clamped a hand over his mouth as both males blush.

"Ar**hole!" the Elin said before whipping out his giant shuriken and pointing it at Alfred, "And who the h**l are you?!"

"Whoa, I did not mean that! It slipped out!" Alfred held up his hands in defense, "Anyway, I'm Alfred. Who are you? I don't think I've ever seen a boy Elin before." Slowly, the shuriken was put away.

"I'm Arthur." he said, "Male Elins are very rare, but not unheard of. Trust me, it's a long story. So, what are you doing out here?"

"I should be asking you the same question." Arthur huffed and crossed his arms.

"You first, you bloody git." Alfred smirked.

"I came out here looking for a doll."

"No, I mean what are you doing on this island?" Alfred shrugged.

"My brother and I came here to train as recruits for the Federation. You?"

"I came here so I could study alchemy and get away from my stupid brothers." Alfred's eyebrows shot up.

"You actually have brothers?!"

"Four, really. All the children in my family so far have been male. Three older brothers and one younger. They're annoying as h**l, though." Alfred nodded.

"Anyway, would you like to help me search?" Arthur shrugged.

"Sure. Better than meeting up with Francis any day." They began to search again.

"Who's Francis?"

"A High Elf Mystic and an old frenemy of mine. We're friends, but we don't get along well most of the time."

"I kind of known what you mean, dealing with my brother. We get along most of the time, but then come our different species." Arthur's ears twitched.

"But you're human, so how can you have a brother from a different species?"

"Technically, we're half-brothers, but through this whole strange anatomy thing that I really don't want to go into, we were born at the same time, so we're sort of like twins as well."

"I see. And I think I've found it!" Alfred rushed over as Arthur carefully released the bear from the clutches of the bush. They both winced when they saw the state of the toy.

"How are we going to give Anya that?" Alfred asked.

"Well, I think I can help. I'm not actually what you would call an armor blacksmith, but I know how to fix clothes, thanks to my mother." Arthur looked around before pointing, "We'll need to use some of that Sticky Grass to replace the thread, as I don't have any."

"Gotcha." Alfred followed him to the large patch and they began to pick the grass.

"So," Alfred started, "how do you know how to sew?"

"Because my mother has been surround by other girls all her life, she thought teaching this to her sons would be a great skill. I'm the only one who took those lessons." Alfred nodded as Arthur began to tie the pieces of grass together, where he had to peel some of the stickier pieces off of his hands. He soon began sewing the bear back to its original state with his own needle.

"Done!" he cut the thread on his shuriken and tied the end before holding up the bear, "What do you think?" Alfred smiled, taking it and looking the doll over.

"Perfect!" Arthur nodded with his own smile, "By the way, would you like to come with me and return Zo-zo to Anya? You can meet Matthew too, he comforting her. Besides, I couldn't have done this without you."

"Sure." Arthur followed as Alfred led the way back to the girls.

"Hey, look who it is!" Kiecey said, pointing to the approaching Alfred and Arthur.

"Zo-zo!" Anya stood and ran to Alfred, reaching for her bear. Alfred chuckled and handed Zo-zo to her.

"Thanks for your help, Alfred and Matthew." Kiecey said, "I guess I'll be doing my own thing now..."

"You could stay with us if you want." Matthew said.

"Yeah, because Zo-zo and I want to play with you guys as a reward!"

"Well, Anya, I wasn't the only one who helped find Zo-zo." Alfred said, where Arthur stepped out from behind him, into sight, "This is Arthur."

"Wow." Anya looked at Arthur with large eyes, "You're a boy! I thought that all Elins were girls." Arthur chuckled.

"It's a long story, if you want to hear it."

"Sure!"

"I'd actually like to hear about it, too." Matthew put in and Kiecey nodded.

They talked about everything Arthur and Alfred had talked about before until they came across the topic of families.

"Well, of course we only have one queen, who works with the poporis to govern over several different cities." Arthur explained, "Some of these cities, however, don't like each other. I lived in the city of rabbits, Masse Leopardi, who are enemies of the city of cats, Kattus Leo."

"But with this war going on, aren't they getting along?" Matthew asked. Arthur nodded.

"They have no choice. As for how rare boy Elins are, think about it like this: 200 girls to every 1 boy." Alfred let out a low whistle.

"Then you and your brothers must be pretty rare!"

"The queen herself wanted to see us, we were so rare." he said, "She also knew that, as rare as boys were, we are as strong and ferocious as our girl counterparts, so she had us training right away." he rubbed one of his ears, "I became a ninja, Alistair, my oldest brother, is a berserker, William became an archer, Sean became a Lancer, and Alroy is still training to become a Mystic."

"Well, speaking of family, we have a secret!" Alfred said.

"Alfred!" Matthew put a furry hand over his brother's mouth, "You said you wouldn't tell!" Alfred pushed his hand away.

"They're our friends, they won't tell." he turned to the others, "Will you?"

"Zo-zo and I won't!"

"Neither will I." Arthur shook his head.

"My lips are sealed." Kiecey put a finger to her lips.

"Well, we're actually the sons to the human queen." Matthew sighed, knowing he had no choice, "Alfred's in line for the throne, as his father is the king, and I can be king despite my species because our mother has royal blood. My father, though, is the highest guard to the royal family, and I was lucky no punishment was given when things were found out."

"Yeah!" Alfred said excitedly, "Though it was a bit awkward at first. We trained together for our different jobs so much, and because we get along so well, we've decided to be together as a permanent party. I get up close as a distraction while Mattie attacks from a distance."

"Sounds like you're great fighters." Kiecey said.

"But you don't like fighting, do you?" Anya asked.

"No, no we don't." Matthew shook his head, "But we know that someone has to help end this war, which is why we're training to get into the Federation."

"If you're only doing this to end the war, not for anything else, is it alright if I join your party?" Arthur asked.

"Sure!" Alfred nodded, as did Matthew, "We'd love to have you!"

"Zo-zo says now you have more friends!"

"Yes, yes we do." Matthew smiled.

I've recently started playing an online game, called TERA. So, I decided to make this crossover with Hetalia. I'm trying to make it stay close to the storyline, but there are a few changes Also, usually parties are made of 5 members, but because there are going to be much more members to the TERA Rising group, they're going to have at least 12 members. That's what I'm planning, and they're all going to meet by the end of the Stepstone Isle arch.