Riki has asked me to write the story as follows, he tells me of a journey he took when he was young with his father, during this journey he recounted many childhood stories, so he would like to "Kill two Quadwings with one stone" and recount both his epic teenage journey, and the childhood accounts...

Now Riki was fifteen years of age, he was already considerably rounder than most of his older cousins due to a vivacious appetite, but otherwise, he was very much the small Nopon that his parents adored.

"Mamapon...where am I going with daddypon?" Riki asked as his mother continued to shove food and sleeping gear into the little Nopon's rucksack.

"You and your daddypon are going on a trip for a few months, you will be going to the mountains with daddypon first, then you'll be riding on the back on one of those Armu with daddypon through the swamps to the Hom colonies." Furor rustled the tuft of fur on the Nopon's head.

"Why won't Mamapon come too?" He asked, his eyes large watery pools.

"Because littlepon, I have things I need to take care of." She knelt down beside him. "You will still be able to talk to Mamapon."

"How?"

"With this." She hung a whistle around his neck.

"How do I talk to Mamapon with this?" He asked, tugging at the whistle made of fossil monkey which was secured around his neck using the hair of a Feris.

"You'll see littlepon..." She kissed his face and tried to hide her sadness.

She couldn't bear to tell her littlepon the real reason he had to leave for a little while. She wanted stuff to cool down between her family and her father. Since, ever since the incident involving Dunga's beard, things hadn't been very comfortable. She had a friend who lived in the Hom's colony 9, it was a good distance away from their home in Makna, and she hoped that by the time they had reached her and bought her and her 10 year old Nopon daughter back to Makna the heat may have died off a little.

"Why does Riki have to go to mountains?"

"Because Riki needs to help dadapon get some rocks needed for the Hom Homs in colony 9."

"Why can't Riki stay with you mama?"

"Cause she can't Rikipon."

Soon, they had saddled up the transport out of Makna, a rather calm and mild Eks which one of the many Nopon monster trainers had caught.

"Here we go Riki." His father pulled the towering monster towards them.

To an adult Nopon, an Eks was a sky-scraper monster of a beast but to a small boy of a Nopon like Riki, the clattering of the hoofs was enough to strike fear into him. Still, as a training warrior, he would have to be able to stand his ground against the Eks.

"Up you get." There was a small rope tied to a saddle on the side of the Eks, Riki assumed he must climb that. As he took hold of the rope, his father climbed atop a different Eks which was saddled with most of the camping gear. "Now Riki, don't move once you're up there?"

"What?" Riki asked as he took hold of the reigns and slipped down the saddle slight, causing a reaction from the Eks and making it charge into the forest.

"Riki!" His father was soon after him.

Riki wasn't sure how long it was before he managed to gain control of the beast, but it was long enough for him to become disorientated.

"Are you ok Riki?" His father asked.

"Y-yes, Riki's fine, just a little sore..."

"Haha, look Riki." He held the reigns of his Eks loosely and hooked his legs into slots in the saddle. "Now you won't slip."

Riki nervously shuffled forward in his seat and pushed his feet into the slots.

"Now take a grip of these reigns and tap gently." Now the Eks was under Riki's control. As they crossed the forest, the midday sun quickly descended into the night before they reached the opening into the mountains.

"Dadapon, I'm tired, can we stop?" Riki whined.

"Not for a while yet, we need to get to the mouth of the mountains first."

"...fine..." Riki had adopted the typical teenager attitude.

In the evening, once they reached the opening to the mountains the small Nopon was set the task of starting a fire, a task his mother would not be happy to see him doing after he nearly burnt a time mushroom down the last time he was asked to light a fire back home.

"Yooow!" The accident-prone Riki yelped.

"Is something wrong?" His father emerged from a clearing carrying some special leaves from the Gummy-what trees to use as kindle for the fire.

"I think I burnt my wing!" He cried.

"Stupid Nopon." His dad slapped him lightly around the head. "Here, I'll finish the fire, go wash the wound and get us some pollen orbs."

Riki couldn't help but sneak in an extra pollen orb for himself when he collected enough food for him and his father.

"No eating food." His dad scolded.

-x-x-

Late in the evening as his dad relaxed under the stars, he watched his son as he swung around one of the biters he had made himself. The device had many fatal errors, the main one being that the pole that supported the whole thing had been snapped in half twice after Riki hit a column with it during practice and was only taped together using weak glue made from Ash Fox fur. Riki had built the device based on one of his father's biters, although admittedly, his dad's was much more durable.

Riki's was called 'Queen Frog' since he had caught a frog in a little glass jar and suspended it to the top of two hooks like fangs from the main pole. He knew it wasn't built to last, and he had to be careful not to shatter the glass or his frog would escape, however, since he had added the frog he had been a lot more precise with his swings.

"I remember when you got my biter that time..." His dad mumbled lazily.

"Really? When did Riki do that?"

"When he was...two...I think..."

"What happened?"

"You don't remember?"

"Nope."

"Fine, take a seat and I'll tell you..."

Riki was two, and it was his first day of education with all the other Nopon. The first thing the Nopon youngsters had to be taught was the dangers of Makna. Most baby Nopon would never leave the forest, in fact most Nopon would not leave until they were at least 18 years of age.

"Now, children, there are lots of dangerous monsters, even on our doorstep..." The teacher began. The point of the lesson was not to frighten the children, nor was it to force them into protecting their homes, after all, the youngest Nopon (Riki) was only two years of age. It did not have the desired effect on the young Nopon.

Riki rushed back home in the desperate hope to find his parents, to help him prepare for the impromptu attack of all the Eks, Feris, Orluga and Nebula in the entire forest. His mother was nowhere to be found, as normal at this time she would often head to the flower groves in order to pick flowers to make the fragrances she sold to visitors for a little extra cash. His father was most likely at work.

Riki needed to find something to protect himself! All he could find in his bag was his ruler, a strange wooden contraption designed after one a Homs visitor had once left. He didn't want to break it as they took ages to craft. He slammed his way through the house, eventually stumbling across the brand new biter made from the horn of the monstrous dinosaurs which cruised around the main entrance to the village.

Riki was still small, and stumbled as soon as he lifted it. He fell back into a table, dropping the heavy biter straight onto his head.

"Ooof!" He shook himself back to reality and tried to lift the biter again, this time he braced himself for the extra weight and managed to hoist it above his head.

He began to swing it around above him, feeling empowered. Despite still being underdeveloped, the wings were still the strongest part of a Nopon. He swung harder and faster, until he let go unintentionally, and the biter flew into the vials his mother stored her fragrances in with the same strength as the force of Thor's hammer crashing to the earth.

The oils burnt his nostrils. These were concentrated fragrances, still, he tried to block out the burning sensation as much as possible to clutch the now slippery biter. He swung again, hearing a scratching at the door. Riki was now on high alert.

"How could the monsters have found Riki so soon?" He cried out. He then bit his lip for making the monsters aware of his presence.

Riki's father was walking back to the modest little hut he shared with his wifeypon and child. It was then he spotted Riki's uncle, the young Drara at the door.

"Drara? Something wrong?" Rara asked.

"Riki ran away scared from class today, I wanted to fetch him back!" Rara often forgot that Drara was only a couple of years older than his nephew, so was still a child himself and still attended school.

He could hear a disturbance getting closer and closer to the door as he approached Drara.

"Drara, move!" Rara rushed forward and rolled Drara out the way as the mighty biter smashed straight through the door frame. Fortunately, Rara managed to catch it in his strong arms.

"Drarapon, are you ok?"

"Uh-huh." Little Drara nodded.

"Rikipon!" His dad screamed, clutching the biter tight, which stunk horribly of scented oils.

He was mad at Riki, until he saw the mass of fur lying in the middle of the floor, his nostrils and cheeks bright red from the burning of the oil, and crying over the fear of the monsters.

"Dadapon! Dadapon! The monsters!"

"Monsters? Rikipon, teacher didn't mean to scare us, no monsters attack village!" Drara declared.

"R-really?" Riki sniffled.

"Really." Rara ruffled his son's hair.

"Dadapon, my nose is itchy!"

"Riki's face is bright red, let's take you to doctor." Riki sniffled again and nodded, wiping his tears away. "And Rikipon, no playing with a biter, ever!"

"Riki plays with biter all the time now though!" Riki pointed out.

"Yes, Rikipon always play with biter. But Rikipon is also very careful now, so he doesn't break mamapon's vials and give himself illness!"

"Dadapon, is that why Riki's nose always itches when he fights, cause of oils in nose when babypon?"

"Something like that." His dad shrugged. "Now sleepytime!"

A/N Happy holidays to all! And will be updating when was your before Christmas too!