To get to Echo Valley, the three some had to backtrack from the tour boat through the Forest Agate watches.
"You truly believe Agate would want to help us?" Elise asked.
"She'll do it. She knows this forest pretty good thanks to her job." Zach said as a Grizzly Bear appeared from the brush.
"Eeek!" Elise said.
"Ah, Grizzly Bear! This make find lunch!" Shea said getting his spear.
"Actually, this is what we want. Agates pretty good with scaring predators away." Zach asid.
"Whoa! Easy there." Agate said approaching it. "Go on. The river's that way." she said as the bear moved along.
"Hey Agate." Zach said.
"Let me guess, you wanna go to Echo Valley right?" Agate asked.
"Yeah. Lead me to it." Zach said. "So what's Echo Valley like?"
"Well, its not much to it right now. So far a few necessities like a hotel and restaurant was built. I think there's also a salon and a tailors, even a newspaper." Agate said.
"Thanks for the info. What about residence?" Zach said.
"As far as I know, Echo Valley has eleven enhanced from the school building it up." Agate said.
"Thanks Agate. We'll be sure to scope it out." Zach said.
With guidance from Agate, they made it to Echo Valley.
Location and Scenery Wise, Echo Valley was something to behold. It was a large valley with a small community with houses and businesses as well as a large untapped forest behind it.
"Not a bad place to live." Zach said.
"I concur. What about you, Shea?" Elise asked.
"Nice. Plenty of nature." Shea said.
"Hey! If it isn't Agate!" a voice said as a young man with orange hair approached.
"Rod! Hey! How's it going?" Agate asked.
"Fine. Just bringing in some short hairs." Rod said pointing to a wagon with dogs and cats inside.
"You know some of these guys who live here?" Zach asked.
"I know a lotta people. I'm a pet breeder and trader." Rod said. "Hey, you're the samurai guy that travels the continent tryin to protect us from nonexistent threats. I hear a lot about you from my customers."
"So, you have powers too?" Zach asked.
"Yep. I sure do. I'll just do partial for now." Rod said as his arm transformed into a claw. "See?"
Name: Rod
Occupation: Breeder
Enhanced Ability: Animal Soul
"So you believe the threats are non existent?" Elise asked.
"We got Zexis Group to thank for that. They protect new world...even though no actual threats have touched this place. Come to think of it, a lotta people don't even know we're outside any universe." Rod said.
"What?" Zach said. "Elise, why didn't you tell me?"
"I figured you were just ambitious, not that its bad." Elise said.
"Oh. I see." Zach said. "Its not a problem."
"Of course its not. We live in a peaceful time here on new world." said a young blond man approaching with a wagon of sheep and alpaca.
"Neil, hey! Heading out again?" Rod asked.
'Yeah. I'm taking them out to the two towns." Neil said.
Name: Neil
Occupation: Animal Breeder
Enhanced Ability: Cat-Cat Fruit, Model: Leopard
"So you guys really believe that were safe here? What happens when Lucius and Black come knocking on our door?" Zach said.
"Who the hell is Black? You're just grasping at straws." Neil said.
"Yeah. And that Lucius guy isn't even anywhere near New World. Last I heard, he was sighted in the 1st Universe." Rod said.
"Face it Zach, i dont think there'll be any reason for us to fight." Agate said.
Zach sighed. "Were gonna go explore the place."
As they headed off, Shea walked up to the two.
"These people, they know only peace. No hardships of harsh jungle. They live to make better lives for themselves." Shea said.
"Its not at all like the life you had, Shea. This is our world." Zach said. "Its almost like no one wants to leave."
As they walked through some grass, they saw rustling in it. Zach nearly stepped on where the rustling was and stopped almost abruptly.
"Yipes!" Zach said as he looked down closer. "Whoops, sorry about that. I almost stepped on you."
What he was looking at was a girl shrunken down to miniature size. She wore a small kimono and had her hair tied in a bun. "What the heck? Never seen you around here before." she said.
"Oh, you dont recognize us? Youre new here, arent you?" Elise asked.
"Yup. Just arrived a day ago." she said.
"And I almost ended you before you could choose a profession. Sorry about that." Zach said.
"Oh, you werent even close to stepping on me." she said giggling. She adjusted her kimono as she had a tshirt and some jeans underneath it, and wore sneakers. "My names Corey by the way. I've been living with someone here." she said.
Name: Corey
Profession: Undetermined
Enhanced Ability: Mini-Mini Fruit
"Whatre you doing all shrunken down like that?" Zach asked.
"I was hungry, so i shrunk down to get into a kitchen to get some food. Plus, I can explore the place so different ly like this." Corey said. "Though since i tend to eat a lot, i have been taking a lot of food from the kitchen without getting caught by Felicity. She thinks I'm a rat that stealing from her boss."
"Is that her?" Elise asked as a woman in a maid/waitress uniform ran out with hair hair moving wildly.
Name: Felicity
Profession: Waitress
Enhanced Ability: Hair Magic
"Yep. And nows the time to cut and run." Corey said. "Take me to that eastern style house over there."
"Hop on." Zach said holding his hand out as the four of them ran into the house to hide from Felicity.
"Well, causing trouble again Corey?" a voice asked as a man in a pink kimono sat on the floor writing kanji. "What's this? The 6th or 7th time you were almost caught stealing?"
Name: Soseki
Occupation: Journalist
Enhanced Ability: Eastern Solid Script Magic
"Oh. Hi." Corey said nervously.
"Corey, we've been over this before. You can't just steal from a restaurant just cause you're hungry." Soseki said.
"Sorry." Corey said.
"Luckily, they didn't see you so you're good." Soseki said.
"So youre who Coreys staying with?" Zach asked.
"Yeah. My name is Soseki. I'm am or was a journalist for my worlds newspaper before retiring here." Soseki said.
"To tell the truth, Soseki's just my roommate, we arent related." Corey said.
"I'm her appointed guardian. She uses roommate to make it less embarrassing for her." Soseki said.
"So why is she wearing a Kimono over her regular clothes?" Zach asked.
"Japanese clothing is all I own and I lent that to her." Soseki said.
"Oh." Zach said.
"We want to catch you up on why were here, so is it okay if we sit down with you two for some tea?" Elise asked.
"Of course. Corey, please revert to normal size so we can properly converse with our guests." Soseki said.
"Alright then. Be right up. Get it?" Corey joked. "Rebound, comin up."
"No joking." Soseki said.
"Yes sir." Corey said going in back as Soseki poured tea.
"So, what brings people like you into Echo Valley? We're still fairly new." Soseki said.
"Well, its very fairly simple. I just wanted...to check it out." Zach said.
"Check out what? The sights...or its people?" Soseki asked.
"Uh…" Zach said, nervous.
"Don't bother trying to cover the truth. Rumors are spreading like wild fire about a restless warrior itching for a fight." Soseki said.
"To tell the absolute truth… im gathering a team." Zach said. "A team of people so we can go out to the universes and fight for New World's safety, to protect it from Lucius. Im not looking to fight anyone on this world." Zach said.
"There are a few problems with your plan. One of them being...there's no ships on New World." Soseki said.
"That… is a problem." Zach said.
"Another is that even if you gather your new friends, you wouldn't get to fight Lucius. Word on the grapevine is that he's taken Flux hostage and using him to get to the color fighting temple." Soseki said.
"Wait, how did you know that?" Elise asked.
"His henchman writes a blog about goings on." Soseki said pointing to a computer with a website up with the title "Ian's tidbits." as well as a status update that says. "Flux hostage by Color Fighter revenge man Lucius? GASP."
"We need to warn Zexi." Zach said.
"Its too late. He and his group already left to cheer on the fighters." Elise said.
"So…. what we do?" Shea asked.
"Relax. Things will work out." Soseki said.
"How we relax? Bad Man is going to destroy all people in Temple place. We go and help them, however we can. That is what we do." Shea said.
"Shea is correct. We cant stand around and wait for the results." Elise said.
"Look. You guys just need to relax. Too much stress isn't good for you kids." Soseki said.
Zach breathed out. "Youre right. I'm sorry." Zach said.
"That's more like it." Soseki said. "Not bad for New World Warriors."
"New World Warriors?" Elise asked.
"A name I just pegged for you guys." Soseki said. "Cause you live and try to protect New World, the world you were raised on, the place you call home."
"Thats not a bad name. I like it." Zach said.
"I concur. What an interesting name." Elise said.
"Shea agrees. We warriors. We stay and protect New World." Shea said.
"There we go." Soseki said.
"I didnt realize how important New World was, and we were running away from it to protect it, when we should be here." Zach said. "So after our group is assembled, we need to train and be ready to defend our home, he three of us."
"Four of us." Corey said. "I wanna help too."
"Fine. Go." Soseki said.
"You aren't...even gonna argue?" Corey asked.
'Course not. You've been stealing food. This is a bit of a blessing in disguise." Soseki said.
"Not even a little?" Corey asked.
'Nope. Have fun." Soseki said.
'Yes!" Corey said jumping up and reverting to normal size and slipped. "Yikes!:
She fell off the table and onto the three.
"Oops." She giggled.
"Have fun." Soseki smiled.
"I think he just dumped her on us." Elise said.
"Yeah." Zach said as the four of them were soon leaving Echo Valley in the wagon that belonged to Rod as he drove them out.
"Why the heck is the wagon full of owls?" Elise asked.
"They're really popular pets in the two towns. Good messengers." Rod said.
"The two towns?" Zach asked.
"They're two towns that have a rivalry between each other that are established at the base of a mountain. On the left is Bluebell, a european based town that specializes in animals and the right is Konohara, a asian based town that specializes in plants and crops. They happen to be where Licorice and Kamil came from." Elise said.
"Wow, thats pretty cool." Zach said.
"Im glad Soseki talked you into not leaving. I love this place." Corey said.
"And youre glad you finally can get out of that kimono." Zach said as corey had already took it off.
"Actually, I ripped it up when I was changing out." Corey said.
"Oh…" Zach said.
"So we not go out to fight Bad Man. We stay, and protect New World." Shea said.
"Were gonna have to train to figure out how to properly use our abilities against anyone who wants to come and disturb our peace." Zach said.
"I think we'll need to buy some land first...just so we can have plenty of space for work and for the training." Elise said. "Luckily, I can have my servants get to that.'
"Perfect." Zach said.
"Hmm. Now that I think of it, the new place will need lots of space for animals and pets. Rod, how much for the owl?" Elise asked.
"10,000." Rod said.
"Done." Elise said paying him with a check.
"This is getting good." Zach said.
"Yeah. Its like starting over a new farm or house from scratch." Elise said.
"We train together. We train to become… New World Warriors." Shea said.
New World Warriors: Founded
Leader: Zach
Members: Elise
Shea
Corey