Chapter Four
Since moving out from the castle, the small party had reached a grassy, dry, and vast plain. The particular area they were in had some steep cliffs, and the vegetation wasn't as lush. Reno was reviewing everything they had learned so far.
"So now we know this can be related to Subspace," he said, "and that even though there's a chance they're related, the events aren't one hundred percent similar. We also know the things called Subspace Bombs sucked parts of our world into Subspace, and only when they defeated Tabuu did those places come back. There was also the Subspace Army, which I'm assuming Tabuu led." He put a hand to his face and sighed. "It's a lot to think about…"
"Watch where you're going, Reno!" Geyser suddenly hissed. Reno skidded to a stop and looked up. In front of him was a bull sized lump of lavender wool. The boy was confused as to what he was standing in front of.
"Wh-what is that?" he asked. Alvin paused for a few seconds and then went up soundlessly to investigate. He put some distance between himself and the strange mound, and he walked around it for a bit. Then he returned to the group.
"It's a Tow Tow," he stated.
"What's a Tow Tow?" Geysette asked.
"It's like a mountain goat, but with twice the viciousness…" Alvin answered. Geysette put a hand to her chin in thought.
"Well what's it doing in the middle of the road? We're stuck in between two ridges. It's not like we have any other route. Is there any way to wake that thing up?" Geysette stomped her way over to the Tow Tow, gazing over it like Alvin did. Geyser ran up to his sister and joined her. He began to gently prod the Tow Tow.
"I don't think that's a very good idea…" Alvin said. Geysette giggled.
"It's kind of cute," she laughed. "I don't think this thing is going to be much trouble." She began to poke it too. Alvin muttered something incomprehensible as he watched them continue to try and awaken the Tow Tow. He, Reno, Narcissa, and Seth sat in silence as the two wolves went on. Then, there was a faint growl from the purple heap. Geyser's ears shot up and he looked at his sister worriedly.
"Did you hear that?" he whispered.
"Hear what?" Geysette said. Then the Tow Tow stirred. Geysette's eyes went wide as it got up, shook itself, and yawned noisily. Its mouth was a cavern of stalagmites and stalactites. The Tow Tow grunted and eyed the wolves with two rather fierce looking eyes. "Oh…uh…ignore what I said before?" She squealed in fright when the monster-like ram snarled and started to charge at the group.
"Run!" Narcissa cried. They all turned tail and, running, retraced their path. The Tow Tow was pretty fast for its large size, and it slowly began to close the distance between it and the group. Narcissa looked over her shoulder. Geyser and Geysette were lagging behind, and the Tow Tow wasn't too far from them. Both of the wolves had fear in their eyes. She stopped running and whipped around. As soon as Geyser and Geysette passed her, and were a safe distance away, she punched the ground, making it shake. The Tow Tow was momentarily unbalanced and fell over on its side. As soon as Narcissa was sure it would have a hard time getting back up, she dashed after the others.
"I think we lost it," Reno gasped after fleeing. The wolf siblings had collapsed onto the ground, sprawled out and chests heaving. Seth had to balance himself with his sword, and Alvin and Narcissa had sat down. They found themselves somewhere in another part of the plains, less rocky and with much more open space.
We backtracked quite a bit, Narcissa thought. True, they did not know where they were going, but if they wanted to find others who knew about Subspace, they would have to look everywhere. All they could do was hope to come across someone. But one problem they had was that their food and water supplies were running low. If they didn't find more soon…Narcissa did not want to think about it.
Alvin suddenly shot up. His vivid green eyes were staring into the distance. Puzzled, Narcissa too got to her feet, and she looked in the direction he was gazing. Seth, Reno, Geyser, and Geysette joined them, all trying to find out what Alvin saw. There seemed to be a tiny figure illuminated by the setting sun, and it was coming closer and closer to them.
"Who is that?" Geyser asked. Alvin took several steps forward, and then began to head towards the shape.
"W-wait!" Narcissa called. "What if it's someone dangerous?" She followed Alvin, and the other four had no choice but to go along. What they found was a brightly colored boy with blonde hair, who reminded Narcissa much of candy. He had a lollipop in his mouth, along with a pouch that was overflowing with more candy, and a pink bow was tied onto his back.
"Who are you?" Reno asked. Then there was an excited gasp as Geyser and Geysette ran forward and gaped at all the candy the boy had.
"Where'd you get all that?" he asked. The boy seemed a bit overwhelmed by the sudden greeting and backed up a few steps.
"Hey, give him some space!" Reno chided. "We just met him, after all." The stranger relaxed as soon as the wolves moved aside.
"I'm Pop," he explained. "I-I don't know why I'm here. I was walking to the candy shop, then I find myself falling, and I land in the middle of a field…" Seth narrowed his eyes and frowned.
"So it's not only inanimate objects being affected, people are getting teleported too," he said. Pop had a worried, clueless expression on his face. "There are strange things happening," the Gaian told him. "Objects are dropping out of the sky for some unknown reason. I guess you were the next victim." Pop almost dropped the lollipop he was eating.
"I almost got hit by a boulder at the arena," Narcissa added. "We're all trying to figure out the reason why. You can join us if you like. None of us have any idea where to go next." Pop tilted his head and thought for a bit. Then he broke into a grin and nodded.
"Sure. It's not like I have any idea where I am either. I can take an adventure." He noticed Geyser and Geysette's attention was still fixed on the treats in his pouch. "Want one?" He dug through his pouch and grabbed two Dum Dums for the wolves. "Here!"
"Thank you!" Geysette squealed. She immediately tore off the wrapping and popped the candy into her mouth, as did Geyser.
"Do you know if there are any towns nearby?" Alvin asked Pop. "It's getting late…"
"I'm not sure," the boy replied. "I believe there's one past this plain, but if you're going to travel there today, it might be midnight as soon as you arrive. We might as well just rest right here."
"That sounds good," Reno sighed. "I'm tired from running from that Tow Tow, and I'm sleepy too. I sure want a comfortable bed to lie in…" He started to unpack several blankets and gave one to each of them. However, they had only packed six, which was solved when Geysette and Geyser said they would share a blanket, and the sixth was given to Pop. After they dined on some bread, fruit, and meat, they told each other good night and fell asleep.
That is, they all fell asleep aside from Narcissa. She did not know why; it could have been from the run in with the Tow Tow, or the fact that person was one of the things that fell from nowhere. She decided to go and gaze at the stars for a while, when she noticed that Alvin was lying in the grass wide awake and watching the moon. The moonlight was reflected in his emerald eyes and stained his hair with silver. Narcissa could feel herself blushing again, and she shyly approached. Alvin kept his gaze on the moon, but she could tell he noticed her.
"So you couldn't sleep either?" she asked him. Alvin uttered a low "mhm". After standing in silence for a few seconds, Narcissa lied down beside the green haired boy. "Why…why are you so quiet?" At first, Alvin said nothing, but then he sighed and closed his eyes.
"I…don't know," he responded. To Narcissa's surprise, she thought she could hear some loneliness in his voice. She expected that was all he would say, but Alvin corrected her by going on. "I once read in a poem why you can sometimes see the moon when it's light out… It's lonely out there in space, with only the Sun and Earth to accompany it, afraid to open up to others. It's reserved and only shows up when it's night, when the world is sleeping… But sometimes, it will cheer up and reveal itself to the morning." Narcissa realized he was comparing himself to the moon. "It's like me…I don't think I have many people skills."
"That must have been a beautiful poem…" she whispered, turning to face Alvin. "If you're the moon...then could I be the Sun? Or the Earth, whichever…" Alvin made a sound like a low, rough sounding chuckle, and then suddenly she was peering into his lovely eyes. She blushed even harder when she discovered that he had a hint of a smile on his face.
"Sure…I don't mind too much…" He closed his eyes again. "Glad you didn't get crushed by the rock…." Narcissa laughed softly.
"It-it's kind of cold," she commented, wrapping her arms around herself. Alvin glanced at her, and his eyes stayed there. Narcissa wanted to slap herself for wishing to get closer to Alvin.
"Tch…I know why you said that." Alvin's voice startled her. "I won't care…"
"O-oh, you won't?" she stammered, her face turning a rosy red again. Alvin nodded. Narcissa gulped and then moved over so she was right up against Alvin. He was warmer than her. She wrapped her arm around his and buried her face in his side. The scent on his clothes reminded her of a fresh spring breeze, blowing over massive, snowy mountains. Before she knew it, she had fallen asleep.
Alvin was still awake. He watched Narcissa resting against his shoulder. She was the only one that had ever approached him so openly, and he secretly appreciated it. He used his free hand to play with a lock of Narcissa's amber hair.
Maybe the Sky and Earth would be a better comparison than the Moon and Sun.
