Disclaimer-I absolutely not own any of the any of the characters/places read about in this fanfiction.

Chapter 2-Al and Nina

Aran had gotten up early the next morning and began to explore the forest he was in some more. It was a pretty relaxing day thus far though Aran knew from experience that it would never last. He found a nice quiet spot and laid down on the grass with his hands behind his head, which was lying on a tree. He might as well got some rest before Al showed up to bring him on another training run.

"ARAN!"

Aran's eyes shot open then slightly narrowed as he sarcastically thought, "So much for a nice rest."

Aran got up and threw Maha onto his shoulder. He streched a bit before seeing Al. He soon noticed Al didn't have his weight today. "Hey Al. Something wrong?"

"Yeah," Al said sadly. "My grandma is suffering from Salamander's Fever."

"Ouch," Aran winced a bit.

"Yeah, I need to find a certain plant to get it but the only place I can get it is at the Magician's village of Seron Ellinia.

"I see. Mind if I tag along? You know? To make sure you keep out of trouble!"

"Sure, just don't get their village chief angry at you for being human!"

Aran rolled his eyes and began to run with Al down a nearby dirt path. They soon made it out of the semi-open forest into a nice, hilly grassland where they came across a crossroad. The dirt path had turned to stone, and the symbols of stars and the cresent moon laid golden on the floor. A pole with three signs stood there. One sign pointed one way and said 'Seron Henesys', the next one pointed to 'Seron Perion', and the last on pointed another saying 'Seron Ellinia'. Aran commented, "I guess we know which way to head."

The heard some like squeaking and they turned to see a tiny pig with a red ribbon around him running down the pathway. A fireball suddenly shot out of nowhere and nearly hit Al, who did the matrix to dodge it but almost lost his footing. The pig then rammed into Al so hard they both smacked into the sign pole and span around it three times. Aran smiled at the chaos. He knew the peace couldn't last. The pig began to sniff a bit and, surprisingly, it spoke, "That's strange."

A feminine voice was then heard, "Why are you always trying to escape? Do you really hate being my pet that much? I've been taking really good care of you so far."

The owner of the voice was a girl about Al's age. She was about his height, too. She had purple puffy hair, tanned skin, and emerald eyes. A whitish-pink bandana made of a long piece of cloth wrapped around her head with a strand of her purple hair hanging out from the center of it right to the front of her face. She had green earrings shaped like a ball. She wore a purple shirt with the collar and long sleeves pink. The shirt stopped right under the chest area and her stomach area was open. She had a large pink band around her waist and blue baggy pants under that. She had tan sandals on her feet. But her most unique features was the fact that she had pointed ears and a purple 'devil's' tail behind her.

"She's a monster, too, huh?" Aran thought, with his arms crossed.

"Your kind of 'care' is distorted! This is just being cruel! Set me free!" the pig squealed and the girl shouted, "Be quiet!"

But the pig squirmed out of her grasp, jumped on Al's head, and scurried away.

"Hold it!" the girl shouted as she jumped onto and off a sign post which spun and hit Al, who was just getting up, in the head.

"Ow," he said as he clutched his head. They both turned to see the pig running away with the girl right behind him; actually teleporting behind him.

"Well that was random," Aran said out of the blue but in his head thought, "So she's a Magician? Interesting."

"Yeah, no kidding," Al replied to Aran's statement. Turning towards where they had went he shouted, "Who do they think they are!"

Aran looked behind Al, his eyes grew a bit wider and he said, "Hey Al. Look at this."

Al turned and saw before him down the path a small but crammed forest with large glowing gold stars on the trees.

"Woah, so this is the Magician's village," Al said amazed. "It emits a really impressive aura."

"Seeing sites like this never cease to amaze me!" Aran smiled, remember all the amazing places he had been in his time: Ereve, Edelstein, Orbis, Aquarium, Ludibrium, Temple of Time, and numerous more places all around Maple. But at the thought of all this he started feeling homesick. He wanted to get back to his own version of the Maple world, and soon, but something was telling him there was still work to be done here. So here he would stay...for now. Al looked up at Aran.

"Hey you alright?"

"Yeah," Aran said, snapping out of his thoughts. "Just remembering some things from back home."

"You must really miss it."

"Yeah, but I have a job to do here. I must finish it before I return home."

"What job?"

"I wish I knew."

Al looked at Aran confused but said nothing more. He walked forward heading to the village with Aran in tow. The trees were incredibly tall, green, and vine-looking. Bushes were all around them and there was no pathway to speak of. It was like being in the middle of a forest you had only just discovered to exist, but to Aran, something wasn't right. It was way too quiet. All that could be heard was Al's voice saying, "Even though this drawing is from the Elder, does it really exist?"

The drawing was in black ink. It looked like a triple budding flower, but instead of petals, it looked like those circle people used to hypnotize people. It reminded Aran of the time someone had tried to do that and Lilin got mad at the guy. He still remembered her line, 'HOW DARE YOU TRY TO HYPNOTIZE MY HUSBAND!', and the poor man ended up in the hospital in a full body cast for about two and a half months. He still got comments, especially from the job instructors he was friends with, how she could end up a Legendary Hero like Aran, which always got him to grin and got Lilin embarrased; which was comedical. Aran looked at him and said, "If it didn't exist why would an Elder tell you about it? I've learned to trust them, they give valuable advice."

Aran was speaking from experience, since he had had many hour or two hour long conversations with Grendel the Really Old on various topics. But it was sort of giving advice back and forth since Aran had more experience on certain subjects that Grendel did and vice versa. Suddenly, a tan puffbal with stick-like horns and orange feet appeared, floating, next to Al. It said, "What's that? Isn't that the Miminga herb?"

"Miminga herb?" said a Jr. Neckie as it slivered out of nowhere.

"Who has Miminga herb? said a Jr. Boogie as it floated in from nowhere.

A stump then appeared saying, "If you have some Miminga herbs, could you share some?"

A klock then ran over, "Even a small amount is fine."

Aran's eyes widened, "And you've been there for how long?"

"Ah no, I'm also looking for it, this Miminga herb," Al said to the others.

They all sighed in disappointment, but Al continued, "I really need this herb. My grandma has Salamander's Fever."

"That's a shame," the stump said. "That herb isn't anywhere around here."

"Salamander's Fever spreads so quickly," the Jr. Neckie said. "No one knows how to deal with it."

"Eh," Al said in a slight gasp. But before any more could be said, mutiple explosions are heard nearby and the creatures run and hide behind trees and bushes. A fireball suddenly flies out of nowhere and Al does the matrix to dodge it. It explodes nearby. Aran's eyes widen, "Deja vu."

Then the pig from earlier rolls out of nowhere and Al kneels by its side, "Are you okay?"

However, it's reply was a mumble, "Enough already, spare me."

The girl from earlier jumped over the bush the pig tumbled out of and said, "Helped me capture it, huh? Impressive!"

"Capture it?" Al said a bit angrily. "What are you talking about? It's so afraid that it's shivering!"

The girl just stared at him. Furthur back, Aran could hear the whispers of the frightened monsters, "That boy is actually standing up to Nina."

"Looks like he won't live very long."

Aran's eyes narrowed as he looked at the girl. If what they said was true, then Al would need his help soon. The girl turned slightly and crossed her arms, "So what? Do you have a problem with that?"

"Stop it already! What do you think you're doing anyway? Everyone else is scared because of you!"

"What's it got to do with you? It's my village anyway," she said and Aran looked at her with uncertainty and a bit of anger. "The Magician's village believe that power is everything. Since I'm the strongest Magician in the world, I'm Nina, the village chief."

Aran started to laugh a bit but tried to hold it in. They all looked at him as he suddenly burst out laughing. The hiding creatures grew horrified. Al grew shocked. Nina grew angry. Aran then said outloud between laughs, "Sorry, sorry please continue. Please."

Nina grew a bit infuriated but said nothing. Al then said, "So you're the village chief?"

"I already said that didn't I?" Nina smirked. "The village chief is best, therefore she is allowed to do whatever she wants. That is to say whatever I do is right."

Aran was about to say something but decided, for right now, that it would be best to let Al talk to this girl. Suddenly, the pig turned to Al and started sniffing, "I was right. You are huma-."

He never got to finish as Al put his fingers in the pig's nostrils. Nina looked at the boy curiously, "You're...human?"

Al looked on nervous as he said, "That's...That's not true. Look at these pairs of ears and this tail."

Al's fingers took their toll on the pig as his head turned bright red and struggled to get out, but Al continued, "No matter what happens, these are the features of a monster, right?"

The pig suddenly shot out of Al's grasp like a cannon and landed right in Nina's arms breathing heavily and deeply. Aran spoke up for Al, "That much rings true, besides, he only smells human because he's been around me too long."

All the monsters looked at Aran strangely and their eyes widened, "You're...You're human!"

Aran smiled and rolled his eyes, "About time you found out. I wasn't exactly disguising it you know."

One of the hiding monsters asked, "Al, why are you traveling with a human."

Al was about to answer when Aran spoke up, "I'm new to Maple Island. When I first arrived he lost a bet to me so he has to show me around the island."

Al was about to say something when he realized what Aran was doing and, to Aran's relief, shut his mouth. Nina studied them for a minute then shrugged it off. The pig smiled and said, "You're a good liar."

Aran immediately glared at the pig, "Calling me a liar?"

The pig continued grinning, "Yes."

Aran pulled out Maha which was hanging from his hand that was behind his head and swung it down into the earth in front of them, causing a slight rumble and severly cracking the ground around it. "Come on, porkchop, say that again."

The pig eyes grew wide and he mumbled, "No thank you." Aran smiled, "Good, now we have an understanding." And he picked up Maha and drove the other end into the ground so he could lean on the legendary weapon. Nina suddenly squeezed the pig and he began to struggle again. Al frowned, "Cut it out. You know about the villager's, right? Lots of them are suffering from Salamander's Fever. If you're village chief than you should do something about it."

"Even if you said that," Nina answered. "I don't have a way to deal with the problem. It should be done now, Reggie went to pick some Miminga herbs earlier and should be returning shortly."

The hiding monsters then came out into the open. "Is that true village, chief?"

"Village chief."

"Everyone should thank me properly, too."

Aran mumbled something along the lines of 'Selfish, Ignorant Brat' but only Al heard the words. But the Magician monsters did what Nina intructed, "Thank you so much, Nina!"

Al just sighed as the monsters guided Al and Aran to the Magician village, which was near the top of the unimaginably tall tree. Al was very surprised but what was even more surprising to him was that Aran didn't even look that interested. It was as if it was something he'd seen everyday. Which, awhile ago, wasn't a lie. Aran used to visit Grendel the Really Old a lot so he'd been to Ellinia a lot. Which also meant he spent a lot of his times very high up near the tree tops. Of course, Al didn't need to know that, that would be a big giveaway that he was hiding far more than Al thought he was and he didn't need the kid playing twenty questions with him, or, as he thought about it, two thousand questions. They entered this one building when there was a store counter and numerous shelves of materials and supplies behind the counter. Upon the counter was a very short monster, a Buffy monster that Aran had seen deep within Ludibrium's clock tower when he went to go fight the Papulatus Clock. The group of monsters as well as Al and Aran went over to the little guy to ask him if the Miminga herbs have been brought in yet. However, the reply wasn't what everyone wanted to here.

"I'm very, very sorry," the Buffy said. "The person who went to fetch the Miminga herbs still hasn't returned."

Everyone either gasped and groaned. Al was silent. Nina was at the doorway looking strangely at the scene. And Aran...well, Aran just rolled his eyes. He knew it was never that easy. However, to his somewhat disgust, he heard Nina say, "Why is that person so concerned about it?"

"Isn't there any other way?" Al asked hopefully.

"If you are in a hurry, why not look for it yourself?" said Nina, much to the surpise of the Buffy.

"N-Nina, that is..."

"You want the Miminga grass fast, right?" Nina said slyly.

"But that is..."

"Is that so?" Al grinned. "That's a really good idea."

Al ran out passed Nina towards the end of a wooden walkway, "Thank you!"

Al turned back to where he was running just in time to stop himself at the edge of a huge drop. He spun his arms around but ultimately feel forward, grabbing a vine right in front of him as he slide downward. Nina walked forward and pulled out a Maple Wand which she created a pink circular platform of magic which she and the pig sat on and flew down quickly to catch up with Al. Aran just looked down at the duo as he went off watching as the pig tried to tell Al something about the vine to which Al replied to keep quiet just as he got to the end of the vine and fell another good twenty to thirty feet down to the ground. To Aran's amusement, the pig then said, "-is not long enough."

Al groaned the word 'ow' as Nina floated down next to him. He got up and looked back at the village. "ARAN! AREN'T YOU COMING!"

Aran grinned, "This ought to be interesting."

Aran then looked down and shouted, "Alright! Be down in a sec."

He took a few paces back and Nina gasped, "He's not going to-?"

Aran ran forward and jumped off the walkway down a good seven hundred feet to the ground. All three people below gasped loudly as Aran came down. As he approached where Al had slid off his vine. Aran did a front flip and just barely managed to land on his feet. The impact of Aran and the ground was heard as a loud 'POW' as dust covered the area and a deep rumbling in the earth shockwaved from its epicenter at Aran's impact point. Al and Nina coughed and waved their hands to clear the dust, they looked up fearing the worst for Aran, but to their surpised, as the dust cleared, Aran was there, totally unharmed what-so-ever, kneeling in a crater of cracked earth. He stood up, swung Maha backwards a circle and placed it on his right shoulder. He smiled, "What you gawking at? Come on, we got a herb to find!"

And began to walk past them, smiling to himself as Al smiled and shouted and began running. Nina began floating right behind him, keeping up with Al's speed. Aran chuckled as he shook his head and made off after Al and Nina. They had been running through the forest for a short while when Al asked slightly annoyed, "What is it? Is this the way the village chief is supposed to act?"

Nina floated to right next to while still keeping up with him, "Don't tell me you think I'm bringing along my new pet just to play?"

"You have a twisted personality."

"And a twisted face to match," the pig commented but his reward was Nina grabbing his face and pulling it with her reply that this was his twisted face.

"It's fine if you want to follow me just don't get in the way."

"I won't get in your way."

They had reached a large river with a single twisted stump across it just as Nina had finished her sentence. With a quick burst of speed Aran jumped the entire twenty foot river and even went passed it a good six feet more. It was an immediate stop and Aran stood up the same way he did when he jumped from the Magician's village a minute or two ago. Or at least that was how long it seemed. Al didn't waste any time and jumped onto the long tree and cautiously but quickly made his way across.

Nina smirked, "Of course, I'm just saying that."

The pig then said something but Aran couldn't hear it.

Aran raised an eyebrow, "Oh boy, I have a bad feeling about that grin on her face."

Sure enough, Nina pulled out her wand and swung it forward. Magic shot from the wand and swirled around the tree Aran was using to cross the river and the tree turned into an incredibly large albino python. Al flipped and held on as the 'snake' suddenly jerked and moved its head around to face all, hissing very loudly. Aran frowned, "Yep, knew it."

The snake head launched forward and Al yelled in terror and the thing swallowed him. Aran winced, "Oh, that's gotta suck."

The snake vanished and Al shot forward, eyes wide. He was on the tree stretching across the river in the same position Aran had seen people ride horse. Yes, seen. Aran had a giant wolf mount. Why would he need a horse? Al looked around. "Wh-what's going on?"

Nina flew right beside him. She was laughing a bit to herself, "What are you so afraid of?"

"You were the one responible for that weren't you?"

"Honestly...When you were in danger, it was me who stepped in to rescue you."

"Geez, you big liar," the pig mumbled.

"Oh, is that so?" Al said as he stood up. "I'm sorry then, I missed judged your intentions. Thank you."

Aran frowned, "That kid is too gullible for his own good."

Nina looked away, "That was nothing, there could be even worse things later on.

She then got a smirk on her face and continued, "You'd better be grateful for my help then."

"Of course! Thank you in advance."

Aran sighed, "Scratch that. He's WAY too gullible for his own good."

"Eh, no problem," and with that both Al and Nina shook hands and continued on there way.

"Something's wrong here..." the pig mumbled before they went.

Soon, the were at a large cliff with multiple symbols on the cliffside; the same symbols that were on the road earlier. Al began climbing the cliffside. Aran and Nina looked at eachother. Nina just floated up and Aran froze the ground under him, creating a pillar of ice that rose more and more. She looked at him, "You can use magic?"

Aran chuckled, "No, but I have a great connection with the powers of ice. I could enchant my polearm to freeze me opponents in ice by will if I wanted."

Nina smiled a bit," Interesting."

She then turned her attention to Al, "Sorry but this thing can't hold the weight of three people."

"I'll just consider it training, it doesn't matter. Besides, you've already been helpful by telling me about this shortcut."

"You're responses are making me uncomfortable," Nina mumbled.

"Here I go!" the pig suddenly said as he jumped from Nina's arms and landed at a crack on the cliffside. With a sudden gust through his nose, he shot tens of thousands of tiny black evil eyes out of a crack on Al's side so that we was basically swimming upon it. He started to loose his grip. The pig jumped back into Nina's arms. "You're so mean."

"I'm just 'helping' his training."

"Is it just me or are those things smaller?" Aran pointed out.

"Are they supposed to be bigger?" Nina looked at him curiously. Aran shrugged, "Well, from where I come from there about this big." He held his hand flat right about stomach level on him and Nina and the pig looked at eachother wide eyed then looked back at Al who had suddenly started laughing, "They're getting into my clothes!"

Aran flinched, "Now that's just disturbing."

Nina winced too as she agreed but to both their surprise Al dived under the swarmed and climbed his way to the top, hanging on the cliff's edge. Nina floated to the top and her circle disappeared with Aran using his ice powers to shoot him on top. They all looked into the distance. It was a light grassland with trees on either side and dirt mixed with grass. Al then blurted out, "There's no Miminga herbs around here."

"Oh yeah," Nina said strangely sweetly as she turned around. "Not too long ago, everyone picked all the Miminga herbs here."

"WHAT?" Al shouted as he let go of the cliffside and fell all the way down again. Aran sighed and looked over the edge, "You'd think he'd know letting go of the cliff's edge would be a bad idea."

"Yeah, he's not too bright is he."

Al shot up the side of the cliff and went straight to Nina a bit angry, "Cut it out and tell me where already!"

"Oh yeah, there could be some in that place..."

"Could be some? Try there will be some and maybe I'll believe you," Aran said in a slightly annoyed, slightly angered tone.

"Where?" Al asked still a bit frustrated. Nina turned and jumped onto her purple 'mount' so to speak and flew off with the pig, Al, and Aran right behind her. Al shouted at her as he tried to catch up.

"Hey, Nina!"

She shortly jumped off her magic circle and looked down, "Look, here..."

Al got right beside her, "Is that the Miminga herb?"

Aran finally caught up too and looked down to a bunch of plants that looked like pea plants. "Eh?"

"These are really tasty," Nina replied as she began gathering them.

Al put his hands on his hips, "This isn't the Miminga herb."

"That's obvious," Aran commented in his head.

"I'm already a little hungry," was Nina's reply.

"Do want you want," Al began as he walked away. "Seriously you're..."

Al stopped dead as the smell of food filled the air. He turned to see both Nina, Aran, and the pig sitting around a small cooking pan over a fire, watching the bean-like food pop up like popcorn. Al screwered them on a stick and immediately dug in.

"Delicious," Al said with a full mouth. "This is really delicious. You're a really kind-hearted person."

Aran chuckled a bit at that. This kid has got a lot to learn. Nina sat up a bit, "Not really, the only reason I'm making this is because I'm hungry. If you don't want it, you don't have to eat."

Aran rolled his eyes a bit but let the two continue talking. He had to think a minute. Why did he have the feeling that there was something to be done here? He could feel the presence of evil on Maple, but it was no where near as great as the Black Mage. Surely there had to be another reason. He then overheard Nina saying something about how it was the humans responsibility for the destruction of this World Tree he kept hearing of. That had to be it! The World Tree was apparently gone and that was the reason for so much chaos in the world. If he was right and his Maple world and this one were connected then this had to be the reason for the feeling that he needed to stay, but he had to find out when all this happened.

"How long ago was that? I mean, when the World Tree was destroyed."

"Shouldn't someone as old as you know?" Nina frowned.

"News doesn't reach me fast as no one born outside my lands can enter it."

Nina and Al were unsure of what to make of that sentence but Nina decided to answer his question. "It happened ten years ago."

"I see."

Aran went back into his train of thought. Ten years ago? Aran suddenly went wide eyed. That was when the Black Mage was released from his prison! That was when the war between the Maplers and the Black Wings truly began! Around that time, the Black Mage had launched an attack as he was freed to Aran's location at Rien Island once he heard the he was still alive as well. Aran unleashed a great amount of energy to stop the attack and succeeded, but this also got Aran's attention. The first battle he had had with the Black Mage over four hundred years ago ended with a surge of power so great it imprisoned both he and the Black Mage in seperate prisons and created this Maple World. If this one and his were as closely connected as he thought then this new evil here must have been caused by the great surged caused by the Black Mage's amazingly destructive attack and Aran's incredibly buffed up Combo Barrier. He sighed and looked up and to his surprise saw Al turned around with his 'tail' in the fire.

"Hey," Nina said.

"Wh-what is it?"

"Your tail's on fire," Nina said, but when no physical reaction occured she continued. "Isn't that hot?"

Al pulled his tail and it was covered with flames. He suddenly looked up shocked and after a second jumped up quite a distance into the air.

"That's right! Hot, hot, hot! Hot!" He ended up landing in a pond nearby where he put out his 'tail'.

Aran looked at Nina's expression and read perfectly 'Something's not right here'.

Nina stood up, "You seemed so relaxed."

"That's not true!"

As the two continued arguing, Aran stood up and turned a bit and saw a green bandana whereing fox with goggles looking at him. The minute this monster saw Aran's eyes piercing his head it yelped and took covered. Aran gave a slight groan and turned to see Al running away with Nina and the pig right behind him. Aran chased after them to catch up. As they left, the fox monster stood up, "Something important? Don't tell me he's looking for the World Tree's seed."

Meanwhile, the search party for the Miminga herbs had stumpled into a bamboo forest of sorts. Al was hacking a path through the place. Aran was walking behind him looking around at the scenery while Nina and the pig floated above the two.

"Hey," Nina said to Al. "Why are you trying so hard?"

"Because a certain someone is suffering, that's why I'm trying my best to help them," Al answered as he continued making a path. "Aren't you the same? When a Magician of your village is suffering, don't you feel like helping them?"

"Definately not, I don't feel their pain."

"And yet you wonder why I laughed at finding out the fact that you were the village chief," Aran said not even looking up at her. "A real leader of their people would stick by their people and help them in any way possible. Watching your people suffer while you do nothing is nothing short of tyrany."

"Are you calling me a tyrant?"

"In a way, yes, I am."

Nina 'hmphed' at that but said nothing more to the human. Al turned to Nina with a frown on his face; there was little doubt that he fully agreed with Aran. Nina smirked, "There is still a lot of danger ahead. How about I reward you with some of the herb when I retrieve it?"

"That's not the point," Al answered. "Your idea of the village chief is very twisted."

"On that I will concur," Aran said, turning away from both Al and Nina.

"Oh it's very twisted," said the pig.

"That's enough,"Al said. "I'll find this Miminga herb myself. With Aran's help we should find it not time, right?"

"It can't be too far from here," Aran replied looking around. "Searching the general visinity shouldn't be too tough."

"Right, let's go!" Al shouted and continued hacking away at bamboo. Nina just grinned, "Why are you so angry?"

Before anyone could answer, Al suddenly tripped and fell. "Ow, ow, ow. What's that?"

He looked back and saw they same type of monster both he and Aran had seen inside the Magician's store only this one was Lazy Buffy, not a regular Buffy. Nina was a bit surprised, "Reggie?"

"Wait, isn't this the guy you sent to find the herbs?" Aran asked.

"Yes."

Al picked up the calapsed Reggie and said, "He's got a burning fever."

Aran's eyes narrowed, "Salamander's Fever."

"Yes," said Reggie weakly, "Now I've caught the Salamander's Fever, how am I going to bring back the Miminga herbs now?"

"Rest easy, little one," Aran said as he knelt at Al's side. "That is why we're here."

Nina and the pig floated down and approached the duo on foot.

"Oh, village chief," Reggie said as loud as he could in his state. "I'm sorry for making you worried about me."

"That's not the case..."

"I'm so glad!"

"Oh, is that so?"

"There should be some Miminga herbs just ahead."

Al turned, "Okay, here I go."

Al took of and Reggie shouted to his retreating form, "Thank you so much."

Nina just stared, "What an enthusiastic person."

Aran smiled and began to walk after Al, "Indeed."

Al meanwhile had continued to hack his way through the bamboo forest. Shortly after he took off, he reached on opening with a small cliff just ahead of him. He walked forward, "Miminga herb...Miminga herb."

He was looking at his paper trying to find a plant that match the drawing. As soon as he reached the end of the cliff he looked up, sure enough, right infront of him, an entire field was filled of small green plants each with three flowers shaped like red cinamon rolls. "Ah. Miminga herbs!"

Al approached the herbs, "It looks really interesting...Anyways, I'd better hurry."

He reached down to take a herb but the minute he attempted to grabbed it a pink and purple tentacle took it from him. Al looked up and saw a multi-tentacled, three-eyed, pink and purple octipus right infront of him. And it was big, twice as tall as he himself was. "What's that?"

"I've discovered the World Tree's seed!" shouted a voice an Al looked up to see a fox with a green bandana on his head, goggles, a red bow tie, turquoise pants, brown arm bands, black shoes, and three tails. "These seeds all belong to Lord Zakteman! Not even one stalk can be given to you!"

"Who are you?"

"A person with the desire to conqueor Maple Island, Zakteman, is also searching for the World Tree's seeds, which are said to possess miracle-like powers. I am a loyal servant of Lord Zakteman, my name is Alibate."

Alibate looked down to see Al collected some of the herbs. "Huh? Weren't you listening to what I said?"

"Sorry, but I need these desperately."

"I cannot let you do that!"

Suddenly, numerous more octipi floated over the hill and towards Al. Soon, dozen surrounded him. Al fell backwards and looked at awe at the scene.

Alibate continued his commmand, "All right everyone, quickly pick all of the World Tree's seeds in front of you."

They did as he commanded and pulled out numerous types of a weird looking sort of rack out of nowhere and began running the supposed 'World Tree's seeds'.

"These things have nothing to do with the World Tree!" shouted Al as he stood up attempting to punch an octopus but was ultimate deflected off its rubber-like hide. Al became unbalanced and started bouncing off all the octopi nearby like a pinball machine. Alibate grinned as he rubbed his hands together manically, "If that's the case, we might as well take them all."

the octopi continued collecting the herbs and Al was unsure of what to do until a voice came from behind, "Why are you playing around?"

The fox monster's grin faded as Al turned around and saw Nina, Aran, and the pig standing nearby. Reggie was also on his feet eating on of the herbs, he looked as good as new. "Nina?"

"After you pick the Miminga herbs you should leave."

"Whatever happens," said the pig to Reggie. "Just eat first. You'll feel better soon."

"These troublesome people have appeared," growled the fox.

"You're the one who is hindering us," said Nina as she collected some herbs. "Please do not disturb my pet."

"Don't touch the World Tree!"

"World Tree? This?"

"The World Tree?" Aran laughed as he looked over at the strange monster before him. "Wow, you really are an idiot."

An octopus tried to attack Nina but she jumped over the large creature and stabbed it but with the point of her tail, sending it into a whirlwind of running around in pain.

"Get rid of this person for me!" Alibate shouted desperately, pointing violently at Nina. Obeying his command, numerous Octopi suddenly charged Nina but Aran jumped in the way and way his polearm, sending them fly backward. Aran grinned, "Harming them while I'm around is folly. Leave now or face the power of Aran!"

"Interesting," Nina said. "But I can take care of myself. Fire Arrow!"

Suddenly, a large ball of flame appeared on her finger tip and she pointed it at the approaching Octopi, zapping them with a beam of fire, causing them to fall backward. "Fire Arrow!" she shouted and the process was repeated with three more Octopi, but in this process a Miminga herb caught on fire. Al shouted desperately as he was caught between three Octopi, "Nina, stop! You can't use fire magic!"

Nina was annoyed by this, "Don't order me around."

"Well do it!" Aran shouted at her as he used his polearm like a baseball bat and knocked an Octopus out of sight as if it were a home run. "Unless you want this whole field to burst into flames!"

Nina sighed, "Fine."

So instead, a blue and white orb appeared on her finger tips, "Ice beam!"

The beam shot at three Octopi and froze them completely in ice. Aran smiled, "So that the game we're playing now is it?"

Aran raised Maha to the sky, "Snow Charge!"

A large crystal-like piece of ice but faded into a blue shining, sparkling mist as it swirled around Aran's polearm, giving it sort of a blue aura. He grinned and looked at the approaching Octopi. He swung and as the Octopi went flying they froze just the same way as the did with Nina's cold beam.

Alibate gasped, "It can't be."

Al had just managed to get out of his tight predicament just as Nina's cold beam froze the two that were trapping him. Al then pushed them aside and let them slide away. Aran by that time had one of the Octopi up in the air and as it came down after his toss he smacked it like a baseball sending it over the horizon. He held up his hand like he was blocking the sun from hitting his eyes, "Ooh, I think that's a new record!"

The Octopi Al had pushed had then reached the one Alibate was on and began sliding the same direction.

"Wuhi...Wuhiba!" Alibate cried. "Woah, Aa-aliba! Aliba!"

The Octopi approached a cliff, "Aliba! Aliba! Aliba! Alibaah! Alibaaaah!"

They fell off the floating isle into the sea far below. Aran smiled at the somewhat comedical sight and turned to see Al collect the Miminga herbs in a bag with Nina and the pig on one side of him and Reggie on the other. Al sighed in relief, "I've finally got some Miminga herbs!"

"Yeah," Reggie shouted with joy. "Now the villagers can be saved. That's including myself. Thank you very much village chief!"

Aran rolled eyes eyes in a slightly annoyed, slightly amused way at hearing the last bit. Al then said his own thank you, "I have to thank you, too, thanks."

Nina was a bit surprised at this. She turned he head slightly and got a little pink, "I wasn't doing it to save you. But whatever. Make sure you thank me properly, the village chief."

Aran walked up to her, "Well, I still say your idea of leadership and of a village chief, but I must admit that I was wrong about your strength with magic. Normally, someone casting that many spells with little breather at your age would've exhausted them. To that I must say I'm impressed."

The all just looked up at the man in awe. Never had they seen someone so honest about their mistakes. Reggie then spoke up, "Yes, in any case I ought to return to the village as soon as possible!"

He then ran off and Al stood up. Al sighed, "I hope everyone gets better soon."

There was silence for a moment when Al said, "Alright then, my grandma is still waiting for me. See ya!"

He began to run off when Nina shouted to him, "Hey..."

Al stopped, "Huh?"

Nina took out her wand and tapped it beside her forming her pink platform. "Want a ride?

"No, that's okay. Besides, that thing can't handle three people, right?" Al then began running in place. "Besides, running is a form a training, too. See ya around!"

And he ran off, Aran smiled at the boy's enthusiasm and ran off behind him. Nina replied, "See ya."

"Is that a promise?" the pig asked.

"I guess so, probably."

"Interesting people those two."

"It's time for us to return, too," she said as she tapped her pink circle doubling its size.

Later on, Aran and Al had reached the human treetop village. It's the first time Aran had seen another human other than Al since he arrived in this Maple World. He had to admit, as much as he liked the other villages, this one was a lot better. Of course, he was human, he was supposed to say that. They soon entered a brown painted house with a small garden. Two women were there. One was younger with a blue spotted bandana with brown puff hair, a white undershirt, and a redish dress/apron type of cloth. He correctly assumed this lady to be Al's mother. The other was an older woman in a bed, with black hair, a green dress, and an orange cloth around her neck. This he assumed was Al's sick grandmother, and again this was a correct assumption. As Al delivered the Miminga herbs to his mother and grandmother, Aran leaned against the wall and looked around. It was a very nice place with a clock, some pictures, many potted plants, and a very well done wooden house. He was impressed with how clean it was. It sort of reminded of how clean Lilin wanted her house to be whenever Aran would arrive while he was still trying to regain his memories. She'd frantically gotten it picture perfect and got severly angry at anyone who messed up anything just before he arrived. However, this thought only made him miss his home and his wife more.

"Excuse me, young man," Aran looked up to see it was the grandmother speaking.

"Yes?"

"You must be the powerful fighter Al has told me about. Incredibly strong he says. I'd like to thank for keeping my grandson out of trouble."

Aran laughed a bit, "Quite honestly I'm not sure if I keep him out of it or attract it, but I appreciate the compliment."

Al's mother walked forward, "Hello, I'm Sora, Al's mother."

"It is a pleasure, young lady. I'm not sure if Al has told you this but I'm Aran."

"Indeed he has. He's also told me you don't have a place to stay while on this island. Would you like to stay with us?"

"Really?" Al said in a very excited voice. "Can he really?"

"Now, now, I don't want to hinder you-!"

"Nonsense, we have a big enough place and anyone who helps my son is a friend of mine!"

"Well, in that case, it'd be delighted!"

"Yeah!" Al shouted as he jumped up and punched air.

"Now I must ask, where did you find this Miminga herb?"

"Um, about that..."

"Don't tell me, Al."

"You went to the Magician's village, didn't you?"

Al backed away, "Of course not!"

"The only place that has these Miminga herbs is the Magician's village," his mother pointed out.

Al was silent, "Al..."

Al cringed and ran out of the room, "I'm sorry."

Both his grandmother and mother looked on, but even Aran was having some difficulty finding their exact emotions at that point. Sora suddenly smiled and giggled a bit, "I was originally going to keep this a secret, but he goes to the monster villages just to train."

"Perhaps for Al," his grandmother said. "This forest is just too small."

"Yeah."

Aran smiled, "Al's a good kid and he's pretty good at holding his own out there. I have no doubt he'll be fine."

"I'm sure of that," Sora smiled.

From outside they could all hear Al shouted, "Time to continue training!"

The three adults in the house smiled and went to the doorway waving him off yet again as he went down the many wooden walkways and houses of the treetop human village of Maple Island.

Whew, that took way longer to write than I thought it would, but well, here's chapter/episode 2. How do you like? Please R&R and stay tuned to the next chapter: Friendship is a Good Thing! Until then I see see ya, adios, and austa la bye bye!-...wow that last one sucked 0_0

~Teddypro