I-I...am SO sorry, you guys. DDDDD8 I didn't mean to take a whole year to finish this chapter...I'd just written a lot of notes for the upcoming dungeons, and wasn't sure how to go about writing it all...not to mention, schoolwork, art-stuff and my usual procrastinations got in the way. But here it is, finally! I've got a lot of people encouraging me to keep writing this one, so hopefully it won't take fourteen billion years to get the next one out. XD Enjoy! As usual, reviews are very much appreciated~
Level 3 - Sindain, Firbits, and a Butterfly Wood
"Awww! Stopped by a rock. Gonna take some work to move that one."
We stood outside the halted train, examining the gigantic boulders that had oh-so-conveniently fallen in our path. Cedric sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. Monica just smiled pleasantly and shrugged.
"That's fine with me. I've got things to do here," she said, looking towards the forest. Her expression turned slightly serious.
"This place is the spirit forest, Sindain. But it's…different than in my time."
As Max asked what she meant and she explained it to him, I skipped close to the edge of the forest and inhaled deeply, beaming.
Trees! Wonderful, glorious, tall, green TREES~! I loved trees so much. The place where I spent my childhood was filled with them. But when we moved, we ended up in a flat place that only had the occasional twig planted in the ground by the city, and not the big, luscious oak and pine trees I'd been used to.
But THIS…I was going to like this place. Definitely.
"—and if we could restore the Great Elder's origin point, he could tell us who Griffin really is!"
"The…origin point?"
Aurora walked up beside me.
"Hey, princess. Whatcha doin'?" she asked, a hand on her hip. I looked at her and grinned.
"Au-ror-aaaaaa~ Look at the trees!" I said, excitedly pointing at the forest like a little kid. She rolled her eyes.
"You're such a weird little girl."
I laughed and looked back towards Monica and Max. Monica was explaining the situation to Max with a serious look on her face.
"Griffon has sent my henchmen to this time, altering the origin points of my time. And now…now he's rewriting history as he sees fit," she said, frowning. She motioned to the forest again. "In my time, this forest was where the Elder of the Spirits, Jurak, lived. He was very wise and powerful, and his great power purified the forest and gave vitality to all the living things in it. But Griffon erased Jurak from existence! "
"Damn, that's gotta suck," Hades muttered, and Ragnarok elbowed him.
"And not only Jurak," Monica continued, ignoring him, "All those with the power to challenge Griffon are being erased from existence, too. I don't think he'll stop until he's wiped out the entire world! So…someone has to stop him. Even now, my comrades are fighting Griffon in the future."
She grasped Max's hands suddenly, a determined and still-serious look on her face.
"And Max, I need you to help us."
Max blinked at her, bewildered.
"Huh? Me?"
Monica nodded a few times, with even more determination in her eyes.
"Yes! You have to!"
"…what a convincing argument," Aurora said, rolling her eyes. Max glanced at her, then looked at Monica again and nodded.
"…okay. I'll do it."
Monica beamed and let go of his hands, bouncing up and down happily. I punched Hades in the arm before he could say anything about the way her boobs jiggled all over the place.
"Alright! I knew you'd say yes!" she exclaimed. "Guess we're a team now, right?"
She held out her hand and Max stared at it for a second.
"You're supposed to shake her hand, smart boy," I snickered. He blinked at me.
"Oh…right."
He took her hand and shook it. Monica grinned and stepped back, turning to look at the forest again with her hands on her hips.
"Let's start with Sindain," she said, in a very leader-like fashion. Max was about to ask about Sindain when Cedric waved at him from the train.
"Max! You go on without me, y'hear? I'll just stay here and work on gettin' Blackstone runnin' again. If y'need my help, just holler," he said. Max nodded. Borneo also waved at him.
"Bring back anythin' good you find in the forest, and let us know if you need a hand. Take care of yourself, Max!"
Eric tilted his head and winked at Monica.
"You too, li'l girly-pie~"
Monica, totally oblivious, just smiled and waved back.
"You bet!" She glanced at us and nodded. "Okay, let's go."
We headed through the only clear path into the forest. After walking for a little while, under the branches of the tall trees that sort of made a canopy over our heads, we reached an enormous clearing. It was almost completely empty, save for a few boulders, logs, and random pine trees scattered around the area.
Oh, and a cute little house, randomly plopped there in the grass, off to the side.
Max blinked at the house, bewildered.
"What's that?" he asked, probably just out of immediate instinct. Hades snorted and put his hands on his hips, squinting at the house sarcastically.
"Y'KNOW, I dunno. It looks like another tree, but I could be wrong," he joked.
"It's a house, all by itself…" Monica noted, tilting her head a bit, "That's kind of weird. Let's check it out."
"Yeah, that's great thinking. 'Oh, something out of the ordinary in a strange, enchanted forest. Let's go closer!'" I said, rolling my eyes. Monica grinned and shrugged, with one hand on her hip.
"Well, what's the harm? This area seems pretty peaceful, so there can't be anything TOO bad," she replied. We nodded and walked closer to the house.
Max suddenly stopped and pointed up at the roof of the house.
"Look! Someone's there!" he exclaimed. We all looked where he was pointing. Sure enough, there was a tiny…elf-like man lying back on the roof, looking perfectly content. At least until he heard voices; then he jolted into a sitting position with a surprised "Whoa--!" before jumping down gracefully onto the ground. Max stumbled back, even more surprised than the "elf" was. The tiny man squinted analytically at him, then at the rest of us.
"What iiis it? What do you waaant?" he asked, with a very thick Irish accent. Hades, Aurora and I all exchanged glances, trying very hard to conceal our snickers and giggles as we realized that we were all thinking the exact same thing.
Monica gasped with glee and skipped forward to the elf…man…person… …thing.
"Hey, you're from the Firbit tribe of Sindain, aren't you??" she asked. Before the poor Firbit could respond, Monica reached forward and began tugging on his impossibly large red-orange mustache. "Ohhh, it's so cute! All curly and everything…~"
"H-hey! HEY!" the Firbit protested, flailing. Monica smiled cheerfully, tilting her head as she examined the stretchiness of the Firbit's mustache.
"—oh, that's right! There's something I wanna ask you, okay?" she asked.
"Y-you…!" the Firbit sputtered, face turning bright red from fury, "THIS IS HOW YOU ASK FOR A FAVOR!?"
Monica blinked.
"Oh, right. Sorry."
She gave the Firbit's mustache one final tug before letting go. He whimpered pitifully and rubbed his (probably very sore) face. Hades and I both stifled a snicker.
"So, have you heard of a being here named Jurak?" Monica questioned, deciding not to waste any time.
Apparently that was the straw that broke the Firbit's back (or whatever the Sindain equivalent to that saying would be). The Firbit let out a frustrated yell and stomped off, going up the steps to the house and slamming the door behind him.
"…huh. Wonder why he got so mad," Monica pouted.
"Yeah, couldn't possibly imagine the reason," I snorted.
We walked up to the front door and Max knocked.
"Nooooobody's home!!" the Firbit from earlier exclaimed, his voice muffled by the door.
We stood there for a moment, pondering a way to get in. Then, Monica snapped her fingers.
"I've got it! I hear the Firbits are just CRAZY about grape juice," she said with a wink. Aurora looked at me with a quirked eyebrow.
"I thought it was cereal," she muttered, and a small "fffahahahaha" escaped me before I could stop it. I looked at Monica after my giggles had subsided and nodded.
"S-sounds like a good idea. Try it."
Monica grinned and cleared her throat.
"Oh, and we brought ALL THIS GRAPE JUICE, too!" she said loudly, "Now what are we gonna do? If they don't let us in, I guess we'll just have to throw it away~!"
We heard frantic shuffling from inside, before the door cracked open and the Firbit's hand poked out, beckoning them inside. Monica beamed and turned to us, whispering, "Hey, it worked!" We grinned back at her and headed inside the small house.
The inside looked just like it had in the game, but there were smaller details I noticed now that I hadn't before – like the small bowl of fruit sitting in the corner, or the colors and texture of the pillows resting in the hammock on the lower level. I couldn't resist grinning at how familiar it all was.
I snapped out of it when Monica suddenly exclaimed, "Well, look at that! Three of them!" I glanced down at the lower level, where the green-clothed Firbit we'd met first had joined two others – one with black hair and orange clothes, and one with graying hair and reddish-pink clothes. I could never remember the name of the black-haired one, but I definitely knew who the old one was. I kept my mouth shut for Max and Monica's sake, however, as this was their first time meeting him. (however, Ragnarok nudged me and we both grinned at each other)
The green-clothed Firbit walked up to Monica and impatiently held out his hand. Monica blinked, confused for a brief second, then made a silent "oh" with her mouth and grinned mischievously.
"Ohhh, you want the grape juice, huh~?" she asked, and when the Firbit gave her an irritated look and nodded, she crossed her arms and looked coyly off to the side. "Well, it'll cost ya~"
The Firbit growled at her, shaking his fist threateningly. I buried my face in Hades's jacket to try and stifle my laughter, while he and Aurora didn't even bother trying and cracked up simultaneously. Max also let out a small chuckle, with a sigh.
Monica pretended to think for a second, then looked at the Firbit.
"Well, our price…I heard you Firbits have a mysterious magical power to make things like houses and plants."
The Firbit stopped growling and narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her.
"What're you getting' at?" he asked. Monica just grinned.
"I want you to use that power to help us."
"Help you?" The Firbit gave her a look of disbelief. Monica nodded.
"You probably know better than we do that something strange is going on. The whole world has become like one big deserted island! Everything's disappeared, and at this rate, there won't be anything left in the future." She shook her head a little, then frowned slightly at the Firbit. "I want you to use your building power to rebuild a town in this time."
The Firbit had started shaking his head before Monica even finished her sentence.
"No way. It's too much work. Besides, we got no time for that, so just run along, will ya?"
Max frowned.
"What do you mean, you don't have time for it?" he questioned. The Firbit snorted and crossed his arms defiantly, turning away.
"Hmph. Even if I told you, it wouldn't change a thing."
The old, graying Firbit stood up from his chair, raising a hand towards the green-clothed Firbit.
"Hold on, Rococo," he said. Rococo, the green-clothed Firbit, pouted and walked back to his seat. The graying one turned back towards us.
"…okay, you lot. I think I understand. Come on over here and have a seat."
We obliged, walking down the steps to the lower level and pulling up a few chairs to sit in – it was a bit of a tight fit for Ragnarok, who was the tallest of the six of us, but he managed.
"The name's Conda," the old Firbit said once we were seated, and I felt myself grinning like an idiot again. Conda gestured toward Rococo and the black-haired Firbit. "This here's Rococo, and this is Tobo."—oh, so the black-haired one is Tobo. Now I remember.—"Pleased to meet you. So, who might you all be? Don't see too many humans around here, especially in a big pack like this."
We introduced ourselves and got right down to business.
"You know there's something wrong with the world, right?" Monica said, frowning. "A great darkness is trying to distort the flow of time."
Conda nodded and also frowned.
"Hmm. I was beginning to wonder about what was happening to our forest…" he muttered. He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Of course, I'd like to help you out, but…to be honest, we're in a bit of a fix ourselves. Even if we wanted to, we can't help you till we solve our own problems."
Monica tilted her head with a sympathetic look.
"What's wrong? Tell us about it," she coaxed. Aurora rolled her eyes and leaned towards me, speaking in a low voice.
"This has turned from 'recruiting-help-to-stop-the-end-of-the-world' to 'Firbit-trauma-therapy'," she muttered. I smacked her shoulder lightly, trying hard to bite back a giggle with a hopefully scolding-sounding "s-stop that!"
Conda pursed his mustached lips a bit.
"It's a long story, but…it must've been about a year ago or so…"
He told us about Holly, the beautiful human woman who got lost in the forest and wandered into Sindain. They loved her dearly as she stayed with them, but one day she just up and disappeared. They sent the other four members of the Firbit tribe to go find her, but then they disappeared as well.
"So, basically, at this point in time, I'm afraid we can't help you out," Conda sighed again, "You want us to use our special powers to help you, but the thing is, all seven of us have to be here in order for it to work. Besides, we're…not really in a helpin' mood, as I'm sure you can imagine."
"That's…quite a story," Monica said, looking bewildered and sympathetic at the same time.
All was quiet for a few seconds. Then Conda looked back up at us.
"I have a proposition to make," he said.
"—WAIT, WAIT, lemme guess. You want us to help you find your Lucky Charms, right??" Hades interrupted, with a big white grin. Aurora and I cracked up, while the other five in-game characters gave us a confused look.
"…er, if he means the other four Firbits," Monica said, turning to look at Conda, "Then yeah, we can do it."
"You mean you'll help us?" Conda asked, face lighting up. He paused before adding, "…could you also keep an eye out for Holly? Each day without her brings us nothin' but gloom…"
The three Firbits in the room all looked down miserably at the same time, and it was all I could do to keep from jumping up and hugging them until their mustaches popped off. Hades must've sensed it, too, because he grabbed the back of my collar to keep me in my seat.
Monica smiled and sighed.
"I understand. Four or five, what's the difference?"—("One person," Ragnarok muttered with a sarcastic eye roll that resulted in an elbow in the ribs from Aurora)—"So, what does this 'Holly' look like, anyway? Any special features?"
The Firbits blinked and all exchanged glances.
"Special…features…" Conda muttered, scratching his head and thinking hard, "…lemme see…musta been somethin'…"
He snapped his fingers suddenly with an 'aha!' and looked at us again.
"Her hair! It was long!" He paused, then scratched his head again. "…I think. …no, wait. Maybe it was short…I think…"
Hades groaned.
"Oh, THAT'S specific," he said. Max chuckled lightly.
Conda snapped his fingers again and looked to his leprechaun-like comrades for confirmation.
"Wait, I remember! The potato pies she used to make were the greatest!" he exclaimed. The other two Firbits made pleased sounds and nodded in agreement.
"That's right, they were mighty tasty…"
"Yeah…incredible…"
Monica sighed heavily and facepalmed.
"Oh, forget it…" she muttered. Max, meanwhile, had suddenly straightened up at the mention of the potato-flavored treat.
"Potato…pie?" he repeated slowly. As Monica tried getting more answers out of the Firbit, I knew Max was having another flashback of his mother, so I didn't interrupt him.
Finally, when the interrogating and the flashbacking was over, Conda led us outside of Sindain, through the "station", and over to the second entrance, which was still blocked by gigantic red and purple flowers that you would only be able to find in a video game.
Conda waved at the pathway.
"It's just beyond here. Lately there've been some nasty monsters living in these parts, so watch yourself now!"
He lifted his cane and waved it at the flowers, striking a dramatic pose.
"DAAYAH!" he exclaimed, and I nearly died laughing. The giant flowers disappeared, and the road leading into Rainbow Butterfly Wood was clear.
Conda turned toward us again.
"Legend has it that in these woods lives a mysterious rainbow-colored butterfly. And anyone who lays eyes on that butterfly never leaves the woods again," he said. He paused, tilting his head and thinking. "You know, I wonder if Holly and the search party we sent out went and accidentally found themselves that Rainbow Butterfly. Just be careful not to run into the Rainbow Butterfly."
Monica gave him a look of disbelief.
"What do you mean, 'be careful'? What could we possibly do to prevent it?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.
Conda pondered it for a second.
"…if that happens…"
We all leaned forward in anticipation.
"…if that happens?" Aurora coaxed.
Finally, Conda shrugged.
"Just pretend you didn't see it."
We all groaned and shook our heads.
"Well…whatever. We're off!" Monica said. I looked towards Aurora, Hades and Ragnarok.
"Okay, so I'm going in again. Who else is coming?" I asked, looking at each of them for an answer.
"Trees mean humidity and bugs," Aurora said, making a face. "I'm opting out this time."
"Me too," Hades shrugged. When I gestured toward him, indicating I wanted an explanation, he just blinked and shook his head, waving his hand. "—oh, no, I don't have a reason. I just don't want to."
I rolled my eyes.
"Psh. Fine. Looks like it's you and me again, Rocky," I said to my youngest brother, who nodded like a good little boy and prepared his twin blades.
Monica nodded to us, and looked back at the other two.
"Okay. You two stay behind and help the other Firbits out, okay?" she said, "I'm sure they could use it."
Hades shrugged again and Aurora nodded. Conda snapped his fingers and started digging through his bag.
"—ah, before I forget. Take this with ya, boy," he said, pulling out a green bottle with some kind of purple substance in it and handing it to Max. Max blinked and examined it.
"What's this?" he asked. Conda grinned toothily.
"It's the Firbit's favorite thing in the world: grape juice! If you have this with you, those guys might just smell ya and come runnin'."
Max chuckled and nodded.
"Okay, I gotcha. Thanks, Conda."
The four of us headed down the dark path, waving at Conda, Hades and Aurora until they were out of sight.
We crossed over a dead tree to get to the other side of a small stream, and I looked around as the territory suddenly became all kinds of familiar.
"Well, so far so good!" Monica chirped, putting her hands on her hips and gazing around the forest. "This'll be a piece of cake!"
"Yeah, that's what YOU think…" Ragnarok muttered.
I suddenly and randomly thought back to when Conda had cleared the path for us and promptly burst into giggles. When the others turned and gave me a weird look, I struck a dramatic pose, held out my baton and yelled "DAAYAAAAAAAAH!" All three of them cracked up, and even Max joined my imitations for a bit.
"Th-that—what was UP with that??" I asked, still laughing uncontrollably.
"H-he really overdid it!" Monica laughed, gasping for air, "All he had to do was move the flowers…!"
"Yeah, and did anyone else notice how much he kept saying 'Rainbow Butterfly'?" Ragnarok piped up. Max nodded and pointed at Ragnarok.
"I thought I was the only one!" he said. I grabbed a few leaves from a nearby bush and stuck them to my face, making circles with my fingers and putting them up to my eyes like glasses to imitate Conda again.
"'Oh, right, and then there's the Rainbow Butterfly. The Rainbow Butterfly is bad, very very bad. If you see the Rainbow Butterfly then you die. I wonder if the Rainbow Butterfly got the others? Pretend like you never saw the Rainbow Butterfly or heard me talking about the Rainbow Butterfly'," I mimicked, and then, for comedic effect, added a dramatic, "RAAAAAAAINBOOOOOWWWW BUTTERFLYYYYY" at the end, which made us all crack up again.
Finally, after several loooong minutes of laughing, we calmed down, but not without a few chuckles still.
"Ohhh…that butterfly better be dangerous, for Conda's sake," Monica sighed, shaking her head and smiling. I grinned and nodded.
We continued on, making sure to keep our eyes out for any monsters that might show up. We also managed to find a few treasure chests along the way (thankfully none of them were Mimics), and we found the Map inside one.
I stared at the map as we walked and sighed.
"…you know…I remember complaining about how useless the map was in this game…but…now…" I gave Ragnarok a pitiful look and he snickered, nodding in understanding. Monica looked over my shoulder at the map.
"Well, it looks like the exit is all the way over here…" she said, prodding one spot on the map with her index finger, "…so as long as we find the Gate Key soon, we can probably get out of this area quickly!"
Max nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, so let's--"
There was a high-pitched, almost…cute-sounding snarl to our right, and we all turned our heads to look. A pair of green monsters, with leaves for hands, roots for legs and giant sunflowers on top of their heads were waddling towards us with the most evil expressions they could muster.
Himarras!
I looked at Monica and grinned.
"You 'n me, I think we can take these two. What do you think?"
Monica grinned back and pulled out her sword in response. I pulled out my baton and we both closed in on the flower-themed cuties—I mean monsters, making sure to step back or to the side every time their gigantic flowers started spinning. We finally managed to defeat them both (I'm always forgetting how difficult new monsters are at the very beginning), and collected the ABS, Gilda and items they left behind.
"Let's see…" I muttered to myself as I took inventory of our new loot, "We got 25 Gilda, 20 ABS, a Forest Dew and a Pri—EW A PRICKLY." I quickly dropped the fat, squirming worm covered in spines which was oh-so-well-named. Max picked it up and stowed it in his bag, along with the other loot (excluding the ABS, which we distributed among ourselves).
Monica glanced over at me with an impressed smile.
"That was some pretty good fighting just now!" she complimented. Before I could thank her, she added, "Especially for someone so young, I never would've guessed you had that kind of fighting power inside you!"
I frowned.
"…'for someone so young'?" I asked slowly. Ragnarok started snickering, and I looked at him.
"…c'mon, seriously, what's up?" I asked, looking back at Monica. She seemed confused.
…it was then that I realized I was looking UP at her.
I hastily ran to a nearby pond and looked down at my reflection, hoping and praying that it wasn't what I thought it was.
But I don't have that kind of luck. A cute, wide-eyed, maybe 10 or 11-year-old girl with pigtails tied up in pink ribbons looked back at me. I shrieked and fell backward, scrambling away from the pond. By now, Ragnarok was laughing so hard he was keeled over, clutching his stomach. I stood up and pointed at him, glaring and feeling my temples throbbing with fury.
"YOU! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME I LOOKED LIKE THIS!?" I yelled, inwardly cringing as I noticed for the first time how high-pitched my voice sounded. His face started turning purple and he shook his head, still laughing uncontrollably and waving his hand at me. Max and Monica, who still looked confused, exchanged looks and shrugged. Monica looked back at me and said, "Uh…Frosty, is everything okay?"
I took a really deep breath, pulling in as much air as my [now much smaller] lungs could hold, then exhaled slowly, relaxing but glaring at Ragnarok still.
"…yeah. I'm okay," I replied finally. Monica looked a bit weirded-out, but nodded.
We found several more monsters in that area, and while we ended up struggling with the increased difficulty, no one died and we didn't plow completely through our supply of bread (thankfully this level had the giant pink squishy…mushroom-like…thing…that healed us).
We finally found the Gate Key – a tiny, flimsy-looking saw with sparkles around it – and headed for the exit. There was a gigantic tree in our way, and I remembered that we had to use the saw to cut down the tree, but…that was looking more and more impossible.
"There's no way this flimsy little thing is gonna be able to cut down the tree!" Monica groaned, holding it up and looking at the tree. The saw suddenly leapt from her hand, making all four of us jolt with surprise. It sparkled more and spun around the tree rapidly, finally disappearing when the tree was almost completely chopped down. The tree fell (thankfully AWAY from us) across the stream behind it, and, after recovering from our surprise, we climbed up and walked across it.
This continued for about three or four levels, until the atmosphere started getting darker and the air became more humid.
We crossed one more tree-bridge and walked into an area that looked much different from the others. The sky was blocked by a canopy of moss-filled, dark-colored trees, and there were ponds scattered everywhere. The ground made an odd squelching sound as we walked, and there was the odd smell of mud and dead fish lingering heavily in the air.
I scrunched up my nose and pulled the poofy cloth of my skirt together to keep it from getting muddy.
"Swamps…fun times. Yay."
Max looked at the map, then around at the rest of the swamp.
"This must be Fish Monster Swamp…I can't really imagine what else it would be," he said, and I nodded in agreement. Monica, who was also busy looking around, suddenly pointed towards one of the nearby ponds.
"Hey! There they are!" she exclaimed, "The whole lot of them!"
We looked in the direction she was pointing in to see three of the four missing Firbits, flopped out on the shore by the pond. We started to walk over there until Max stopped us, with a thoughtful frown.
"Hold on, you guys…something's up."
We looked back at the Firbits. Yeah, they looked pretty out-of-it.
"They've probably had too many of the Lucky Charms, if you know what I mean," I said, making hand motions like I was drinking from a bottle. Monica pursed her lips and shook her head.
"No…no, I don't think that's quite it. Something weird's definitely going on," she said, "Let's try talking to them."
We walked around the edge of the pond to the three short bearded men. Monica stepped up and leaned forward, examining them closely.
"Yoo-hooooo…" she said, waving a gloved hand in one of their faces. The Firbit in question groaned loudly and swatted her hand away, rolling to the side so his back was facing her. Monica pouted and crossed her arms.
"Hey! Don't ignore me!" she complained. Ragnarok lifted his foot – a foot that was adorned with a large, heavy, painful-looking boot, I might add – and said, "I could kick him to get his attention, if you want."
Monica, Max and I, in unison, looked at him, then at his boot, then shook our heads.
"Uh, no, that's…"
"Yeah, let's not."
"We don't wanna KILL him…"
Ragnarok jutted out his lower lip but shrugged and put his foot down. Max went over to the other two to examine them, and frowned.
"It's the same with these two…man, I wonder what happened?" he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck and shifting his hat.
"—DAG-NABBIT, BITE, YOU DUMB ANIMALS!"
The four of us jumped nearly three feet in the air at the sudden shout that pierced the thick silence of the swamp. We turned to see the fourth Firbit – who looked perfectly normal as opposed to his other three companions – sitting on a log with a fishing pole and swearing colorfully at the pond in front of him.
"Aaaaaah, RATS…everyone's gone all weird, the fish ain't bitin'…what a drag," he muttered. Max tilted his head.
"'Gone all weird'? What happened to them?" he asked. The Firbit, apparently unsurprised by the sudden presence of four humans in the middle of an enchanted forest, just glanced our way once before tossing his line back in the water.
"It beats me. I got separated from my three buddies for not even two hours, 'n when I saw 'em again, they were all loopy like that," he said, "They won't go anywhere, y'see…so I'm just killin' time with a little fishing."
He pulled the line back and grumbled when he saw the bait still hanging innocently off the hook. He cleared his throat and looked to us again.
"Although, y'know what? I AM pretty thirsty. You wouldn't have somethin' to drink, now, wouldja?" He paused and sniffed the air, sighing contently. "Mmm~ Somethin' smells good, that's for sure!"
Monica elbowed Max.
"Max, the grape juice, remember?" she whispered. Max blinked and nodded, then pulled the green bottle from his bag and handed it to the Firbit. The Firbit's eyes lit up and he grabbed greedily at the juice, popping off the cork and taking a long swig.
"Ahhhh~ Just what I wanted. Thanks~"
He took another swig and made a giddy sound in the back of his throat, then handed his fishing rod to a bewildered-looking Max.
"Here, you can have my rod. Take some time for fishin', it'll clear your head," the Firbit grinned. Max blinked a few times and looked down at the fishing pole in his hands.
"Uh…'kay…" he said, for lack of a better response.
We went to another nearby pond to watch while Max practiced fishing. It took him a while to get it right – on one cast, as the line flew backward, it caught onto the front of my skirt and I ended up flying into the pond and getting a mouthful of icky swamp water. After apologizing over and over and over, Max resumed fishing and eventually got the hang of it.
An hour or so had passed before Monica finally yawned and said, "Max, maybe we should move on. We still need to figure out how to fix the other three Firbits."
Max pulled his line in and looked at her, nodding.
"Ahh, you're right. Okay."
He stowed the fishing rod in the item bag (I was still trying to figure out how it managed to fit in there), and we walked across a small wooden bridge nearby to get to another section of the swamp. This area was much bigger, with a dark, ominous lake rather than just a dingy old pond. There didn't seem to be any activity in the water, so we continued to another clearing through a small path of trees. There weren't any bodies of water here, but there was a giant ape-like creature slumped against the far side. I saw him and squeaked loudly, scurrying to hide behind Max.
"W-w-w-w-w-what the hell is that thing is he gonna eat us I don't wanna go over there—"
"—whoa, isn't that Master Utan?" Monica interrupted, squinting at the creature. Max blinked and looked at her.
"You know that thing? Is it safe to go closer?" he asked. I squeaked again and shook my head, but my protests went unnoticed as Monica nodded and said, "Yeah, it's all right. He's a pretty well-behaved monster, he doesn't hurt people.
She paused and looked back over to him, frowning.
"But it looks like something's wrong with him…is he okay?"
We started to walk over to Utan. I clutched the back of Max's suspenders and peered over his shoulder at the monster. Yes, he was a big softie in the game, but up close, he was a gigantic 20-foot ape with 3-foot claws and a mullet. I had a good reason to be freaked out.
We approached him cautiously, all except for Monica who walked up to him like it was nothing.
"What's wrong? Are you hurt?" Monica asked. Utan peered curiously at us.
"Humans, hmm? Don't see them every day…" he said, in a smooth voice that betrayed his appearance. Then he added, with a thoughtful look, "Now that I think about it, there was another half-pint bumbling around earlier. This forest is startin' to get nice and crowded these days…"
Monica groaned at his straying off the original subject and shook her head in frustration.
"Nevermind that, you look like you're in pain! What happened?!" she asked. Utan let out a low rumbling chuckle and shook his head a bit.
"Ahhh…it's pitiful, really…but I was awful hungry, and I got my hands on a Forbidden Fruit. When I did, my whole body just up and froze like this, and I couldn't move." He made a movement with his head as though he were shrugging. "My fault for messin' with the Holy One's food. I bet the Holy One's pretty ticked off right about now."
We looked around at the red-and-purple fruits that were scattered around Utan.
"So you ate one of these, huh?" Monica reached down to pick one up and examined it. She sighed and shook her head, almost matronly. "It's a poison apple! No wonder you don't feel good!"
Utan chuckled again, only to let out a slight groan as one of his frozen joints unconsciously tried to flex.
"Well, never mind. Don't worry, you'll feel better after you rest for a while," Monica said, nodding.
"Who's the Holy One, by the way?" Ragnarok piped up, and I gaped at him for actually NOT remembering this part of the game.
"The Holy One is a great fish who's brought happiness to this forest," Utan replied. Monica also gaped.
"A…holy…fish?" she asked with disbelief. Max snapped his fingers and turned to the bewildered redhead.
"Monica, maybe this Holy One has something to do with the three Firbits back there!" he suggested. Monica's expression turned from disbelief to that of slightly smug realization.
"…ahaaa…I think I'm starting to understand now. The Holy One must've bewitched those three somehow!" she exclaimed, face lighting up with excitement rather than the shock or disapproval it should have been. "I bet the 'Holy One' is really a big fish monster!"
Ragnarok gasped.
"Oh, you mean THAT gu—" he began, but I quickly hurried over to clamp a hand over his mouth before he could finish. Monica and Max gave us a confused look, and I forced a nonchalant laugh and waved my free hand.
"He's just a little slow, don't worry," I explained. They both relaxed and nodded. Max turned back to Utan and asked, "Where can we find this Holy One, Master Utan?"
Utan raised one of his hairy, larger-than-life hands toward where we'd just come from, waving it a bit.
"Didn't you see a big ol' swamp on your way here?" When all four of us nodded, he continued. "They say the Holy One lives in that swamp. I haven't see him myself yet."
Monica paused, looking thoughtful.
"Let me see…a big fishy monster named the 'Holy One' that hangs out in the swamps, bewitching people?" Her face lit up in a wide grin and she seemed to bite back a laugh. "This oughta be fun!"
"Ohhh, yeah. Definitely," I agreed, also resisting the urge to laugh (but for a different reason).
Max nodded in agreement.
"Right, let's go check it out!" he said, and headed back towards the other section of swamp. As the rest of us departed, we could hear Utan call out after us, "Hey! Don't forget to mind your manners when you're dealin' with the Holy One!"
As we walked, I still had my hand over Ragnarok's mouth. It must have bothered him, because he suddenly gave it a long, obnoxious lick. I recoiled my hand, letting out a squeak of disgust, and pulled the saliva-soaked glove off my hand, stowing it in my bag and glaring at him. He just snickered and pretended to look innocent.
We got out to the large lake we passed on the way to Utan. We stood around the edge, staring at the water and willing for something to happen, but it stayed as calm as when we'd first seen it. Finally, Monica seemed to get an idea, and she turned to Max.
"Hey, Max, why don't we try fishing it out?" she asked casually. Max jolted and did a double take at her as Ragnarok and I promptly burst out laughing.
"What?! FISH it out?!" he repeated incredulously. Monica shrugged and nodded.
"Well, yeah. I mean, we've got a fishing rod, you've got some experience fishing now, we know the Holy One likes poison apples…and after all, we've got plenty of bait!" With the last bit, she held up a makeshift bag filled with the poison apples that had surrounded Utan. She handed the bag to Max and nudged him forward.
"Go on, try it!" she said, flashing an irresistible smile. Max flushed just a bit, and Ragnarok and I exchanged looks. Well, THAT certainly wasn't in the game…
"Uhh…okay…" Max finally agreed, looking down at the rod uneasily. He took out one of the poison apples and stuck it on the hook, then cast the line out into the large lake.
While we waited for "The Holy One" to bite, Monica, Ragnarok and I sat down and talked for a bit (Max joined in occasionally).
"—decided to come here after I found him that night…" Monica was saying, explaining what had happened the night her father died. I nodded, and Ragnarok grunted as a sign that he was listening.
"That's…rough, Monica, I'm really sorry," I consoled, secretly cursing my noticeably high-pitched voice. Monica merely shrugged.
"Well, can't stay stuck on the past forever, y'know? I loved Father, I really did, but…he wouldn't want me to sit around moping and mourning."
"—YEAUGH!!"
We jolted and whipped around to see Max struggling with his fishing rod, the line tight and being yanked violently by something in the water.
"NOW we're talkin'!" Ragnarok exclaimed, jumping up. Monica and I got to our feet and the three of us ran over to Max, who was sweating and gritting his teeth as he tried to keep a firm grip on the handle.
"Come on, Max, you can do it!" Monica cheered.
"G-gah, it's—the line's gonna break, there's no way I'm gonna be able to--!" Max gasped out. Monica moved to stand behind him and wrapped her arms around his to grasp the handle with him.
"We'll all help! C'mon!" Monica nodded for us to join her, and we moved to form a sort of conga line behind Max, each one tugging on the one in front of them's waist to add to the strength that was pulling the line out of the water.
A few more tugs, and the water was suddenly splashing all over the place, and in a flash of bright magenta and purple, the hideous drag-queen-esque mess of a giant fish monster that was King Mardan shot to the surface.
He…looked…even worse in real life.
He shuddered, and his fins jiggled all over the place.
"Oooh, what's going on here?! There's a h-h-h-h-hook stuck in my be~autiful lips!" he exclaimed snootily, shaking his head…body…self furiously and getting water all over us. His eyes rolled over to us and I squeaked, scurrying behind Monica this time.
"Was this YOUR doing? I won't forgive this!"
Monica, unfazed, clenched her fists and pointed at him.
"You! You're the one that made the little ones act so strangely! You must change them back!" she demanded.
"M-M-M-Monica I think th-they prefer to be called 'Firbits', 'little ones' is a l-little bit ins-sulting…" I managed to stammer out, watching the gigantic creepy fish (not that he could come out of the water and get me, but he was still terrifying up close!).
Monica made a 'tch' sound and looked at me.
"We don't have time to be politically correct!"
King Mardan's eyes rolled back and he sighed dramatically.
"Ahhh, yes…more victims of my beauty," he said, "Beauty can be a curse, you know." His eyes flicked to each of us. "…anyway, why are you here?"
"I already told you! We want you to change those little Firbits back to the way they used to be!" Monica flailed.
Another sigh from King Mardan, and we all exchanged looks. This was going to take a long, LONG time.
"Such a thing is so very simple~" he said, and we all inhaled to breathe a sigh of relief until he added, "But nothing comes for free, you know~ Business is business, and eeeverything is business!"
We all groaned and facepalmed, and Monica muttered something under her breath. Max, innocent but determined as ever, ignored the groaning and asked, "So, what do you want us to do?"
King Mardan giggled – yes, you heard me right, he GIGGLED – and pursed his gigantic lips at Max with a wink.
"Ooooh~ The little boy understands~!" he said gleefully, and Max visibly shuddered at the tone of voice King Mardan used to say 'little boy', "Now, listen carefully, because I won't say this again."
He paused to randomly blow a kiss into the air, and Monica and I shrieked as the tiny pink heart produced from it came flying towards us. Once we'd recovered, King Mardan continued.
"As everyone knows, I'm very fond of beautiful things." He winked at Max again and Ragnarok snickered when Max shifted uncomfortably. "But, here's the thing: recently, you know, I've become a bit…well, dirty."
"He needs to stop making everything he says sound dirty…" I muttered.
"Oh, it's so embarrassing!" King Mardan grieved, oblivious to my comment, "But listen to this! There's a fish in these ponds called the Priscleen Fish that can clean up aaaall of the dirt from my body~ So, what I'd like you to do is to go over there and…catch it for me~! You've got all that fishing gear, so you may as well use it, don't you think? Do you get my drift? Eh? Eeeeh~?"
Monica faux-sobbed and facepalmed, but Max nodded.
"Okay. And when we get it, you gotta turn those three Firbits back to normal," he reminded. King Mardan huffed.
"Yes, I know, I know, you don't have to tell a man twice."
Monica suddenly snapped out of her slump and gaped at King Mardan.
"…WHAT? YOU'RE A GUY?" she repeated incredulously with wide eyes. Ragnarok and I cracked up, while Max covered his mouth to stifle his chuckles. King Mardan seemed to pout, then winked and disappeared under the water with a sly "I'll be wa-aiting~".
We all exchanged looks again.
"…well. Guess I'd better get to work, then," Max said sheepishly, with a small laugh. Monica sighed and nodded.
"What a pain…to think, that a FISH would make us go to all this trouble," she muttered.
We made our way to the first clearing with the two ponds and the Firbits. Max set up his fishing gear while Monica sat nearby on a log and talked with him. Ragnarok wandered around the treeline to see what sticks he could find, and I sat by the higher-than-life Firbits, boredly trying to get a response from them.
"Soooo…what are your favorite colors?"
"…muuughhhh…"
"Animals?"
"Shattaaap…"
"…do you have any like…baby Firbit pets at home? A green rabbit with pink eyes and deer antlers, maybe?"
"Go awayyyy…"
I huffed and turned my head to look at Max and Monica, who were engaged in a rather cheerful-looking conversation, and felt myself grinning like an idiot. So I ship them! Sue me!
I saw Max suddenly jolt and start pulling the line back in. About two minutes later, he had the most adorable little fish hanging off of his line. I stood up and ran over to get a closer look. Its scales were crisp, silver and sparkly, and its big, shiny eyes darted all over the place.
"Aww…it's so cuuuute…can we keep it, Max?? Mardan'll never know the difference, I promise!" I tugged on Max's sleeve like a four-year-old and he laughed.
"No, we'd better get it to him now…the sooner we can help these Firbits, the better."
With the fish still on the line, we gathered up Ragnarok and headed back to the lake, where King Mardan was waiting with anticipation.
"Well??" he asked impatiently. Max beamed and held up the fish, and King Mardan let out a pleased giggle.
"You caught it~ Excellent~ This lovely Priscleen will kiss aaaall the grime off my body and make me lookstunning again~!" he exclaimed.
"At least buy the poor thing DINNER first…" I huffed, and Monica bit back a snicker and elbowed me. Max handed over the fish and gave King Mardan an expectant look.
"Now, come on, you promised. Return those three back there to normal," he reminded calmly. King Mardan siiiiiighed dramatically again.
"Oh, yes, of course," he said, "Is this what you were after?"
He winked and blew another kiss. The four of us immediately started exclaiming in disgust and flailing to keep the produced heart away from us.
"OH GROSS!"
"NO NO NO THAT WASN'T WHAT WE WANTED EW!!"
"UGH, YUCK, I THINK I GOT IT ON ME!"
Once we saw the pink heart fly over our heads and into the clearing behind us, we calmed down. Max looked to King Mardan again.
"So those three are back to normal now, r-right?" he asked, trying to sound calm despite his voice cracking from the outburst a second ago. King Mardan shrugged.
"Well, why don't you go have a look for yourself~?" he suggested, "Please excuse me. I wish you all the best!" He let out another girlish giggle and disappeared under the water.
"…well, he's certainly…cheerful, I'll give him that…" Monica said, after a few seconds of silence.
"Yeah…cheerful…one could almost say he's really ga—" Ragnarok began, but I elbowed him and he snickered, not bothering to finish his remark. Max chuckled and looked towards the clearing.
"Let's go and see if they're okay," he said. We nodded and headed back to the clearing.
The three Firbits, along with the fourth that was still normal, were all standing in a group, talking to each other excitedly. The fourth one saw us and waved.
"He-ey!"
Max waved and walked over with us.
"How is everyone?" he asked. The Firbit laughed and gestured to his companions.
"Oh, they suddenly returned to normal! I can't tell ye how happy I am!" he said, beaming. The other three Firbits seemed confused, and were looking to each other for some kind of confirmation.
"Ohh…what in the world have I been doin'? I cannot remember a darn thing…"
"Last thing I remember, I was thirsty and drank some of that swamp water…"
"I can't remember anything past that, either! What in the world happened to us?!"
"Well, DUH, you drank swamp water, what did you think would happen?!" I cut in. Monica nodded slightly in agreement.
"You've all been under the 'Holy One's' spell," she explained. The Firbits seemed confused, so she continued. "He's a fish monster that lives in the swamp…you guys almost ended up trapped here forever!"
The Firbits all gasped in unison, and I nearly fell on top of Ragnarok laughing.
"Whoa! That's crazy!" one of them said.
"—well? What are we gonna do about Holly?" another asked, completely changing the subject.
"Oh, sure! We gotta look for Holly!"
I facepalmed, and Monica laughed a bit, trying to calm them down.
"Hold on, guys, hold on. I think we should come up with a plan first. Let's head back to Sindain to regroup," she suggested. Everyone nodded and gave their vocal approval, and we walked as a group back to the entrance of the swamp to head back to Sindain, where the others were still waiting for us.
MEANWHILE…
"…got any twos?" Hades asked boredly, looking around at Aurora and the remaining three Firbits seated at the table with him. Aurora groaned and threw down her cards.
"Oh, COME ON! We're playing POKER, Hades!"