Disclaimer: I do not own Fantasy Life or Level-5, just my OC.
Parts of the story are slightly inspired by "Saffron's Fantasy Life" (Original and Rewritten) by Miko 2495.
SMASH!
SLAM!
"Azura! Azura! Are you alright?" Flutter asked as the brown-haired girl came out coughing.
"What *ACK* the heck *ACK* happened?" Azura asked, before noticing something in the roof. "And what the heck is this?!"
Tales of Lunares Part 1: Starting with a BANG!
"Azura!"
"Flutter, are you alright?" the girl asked once she got down the stairs. She had only finished changing into her Castelian clothes when a GIANT ROCK crashed into the roof. Well, not giant, per se, but…
"Am I alright?" Flutter replied with a huff. "I'm fine. Are you alright?"
"Yeah… yeah…"
"Stand clear!"
Azura and Flutter turned at the sound of the voice. Suddenly, a number of guards showed up, and a few went inside. Accompanying them was a man with grey hair, wearing something like a lab coat.
"Hm…" the man muttered.
"Who are you?" Azura asked. "And why are guards suddenly entering my room without permission?"
The man regarded Azura with a sniff. "Oh, so you own the attic room? Shame. I am the Professor Hughes, the official researcher for the Crown."
He works for the king? Azura thought. "And working for the king means you can barge into people's homes whenever you want?" Hughes just sniffed again. "Fine… pretentious prick…" Seeing as she was outside, there wasn't anything she could do to stop the guards. Not that there was any point to. Soon, the guards came out of the room carrying the smoking black stone.
"Ah, yes. The Doom Stone. Perfect."
"Doom Stone?" Azura asked. From what she could tell, the black stone gave off this eerily dark aura. It certainly didn't seem safe.
Hughes sniffed. "You needn't worry about it any longer." He went off, saying that there was supposedly another Doom Stone that landed in the Grassy Plains.
Once Hughes and the guards left, everyone else went off, and Pam came forward, worryingly. "Are you alright, my dear?"
"Yes, Pam, we're fine," Azura replied, brushing off the remaining dust on her clothes.
"What about that girl on the roof?"
"Girl?"
"A girl I often see on the roof, chatting to the stars. You don't know her?"
Azura shook her head. "No…"
"Not you either, Flutter?"
"N-no! I don't know what you're talking about," the butterfly said nervously, which did not go unnoticed by the brown-haired girl.
Why is Flutter so nervous? Azura thought as Pam talked about scolding the girl for tramping around on the roof.
"Hey, Azura," Flutter said, catching the girl's attention.
"Yeah?"
"Why don't we check out where this other Doom Stone landed?"
Azura just shrugged, while Pam went off to pack some food for their journey. "You're bound to get hungry," she said. About ten minutes later, Azura and Flutter were out the gates and on their way to the Grassy Plains.
"Flutter, something about that stone bothers me."
"Hm? How so?"
"I just… get this feeling… that it might actually be… evil."
The butterfly was silent for a few moments, Azura was slightly worried that she might brush her off, but Flutter's next words surprised her.
"You're right. Honestly… that's why I wanted to check out the other stone."
"You know something about it?"
"N-no! It's… just a feeling..."
Their conversation was cut short when a boy wearing a blue cap ran towards them. "Hide me!" they said, before jumping into a bush.
"Huh?" Flutter asked. Not moments later, a bunch of guards, accompanied by General Mustang, arrived. Azura knew it was Mustang from his strange moustache.
"You there," Mustang said. "Have you seen a tomboy… I mean… a boy wearing a blue cap nearby?"
"Blue cap… oh!" Azura replied. "I did see him. He went back towards the town."
"He double backed, eh? Thank you. Men, let's continue the search!"
With that, Mustang and the guards marched off back towards Castele. After a few more moments, the blue capped boy came out, and Azura got a good look at him.
Pinkish hair with blue eyes, the boy wore a purple shawl like a jacket, and dark blue pants that went outwards slightly. It made Azura seriously question the boy's identity, and gender for that matter.
Is he really a boy? She thought, before mentally shaking her head. Questions for later.
The boy thanked the two for helping him and explained that he was going to investigate the Doom Stone as well. The boy introduced himself simply as "Blue Cap", he decided to accompany the pair to the site.
"WAKE UP!"
The guard jumped awake at the boy's shout. "P-Princess! Please forgive… huh?" He looked around. "I could've sworn I heard the princess…"
Really starting to question the identity of this 'boy', Azura thought.
"I'm sure you were dreaming," Flutter said. The three of them had travelled through the plains to try and find it and decided to ask the guard at the bridge. "Where's the Doom Stone?"
"Oh, it's just across the bridge over there. Please don't snitch on me for sleeping on the job."
"Okay."
"Wait, why is a butterfly talking to me? Ugh… nevermind…"
Azura, Flutter and the boy crossed the bridge and met with another guard, who explained that the Doom Stone crater was there, while there was a 'crater' of a person falling from the sky.
"Yeah, right!" the boy scoffed. "I've never heard of anyone living in the sky. You?"
"R-right!" Flutter stammered. "A p-person… falling from the sky! Unbelievable! As if!"
Flutter's acting way too nervous about this… Azura thought, keeping silent.
"Anyway, where's the Doom Stone?" the boy asked.
"Oh, Professor Hughes' helpers already took it."
"Helpers?" Azura asked. "What did they look like?"
"Well… one was tall and had a pompadour, and the other was short and a bit chubby…"
Azura facepalmed. "You're an idiot. You were tricked." I doubt those two would head back to Castele… and the paths to the Elderwood, Mt. Snowpeak and the west are guarded… ah!
She turned to the boy and Flutter. "I think I know where they might be."
"You do?" Flutter asked. "Then let's go!" With that, the trio rushed off, just as Hughes showed up and began scolding the guard.
About ten minutes later, the trio arrived outside Haniwa Cave, where a sign was propped up.
"KEEP OUT," the boy read. "It's almost like it's advertising it."
As soon as they entered, they heard screams.
"AAAAAHHHH! CHOMPY!"
"Yep…" Azura muttered. "Butch and Pierre. Of course." The trio progressed further into the cave and met the two 'desperadoes'.
"Mind ya own business, Hawk!" Pierre snapped, before passing by the trio. Butch followed soon after. Shrugging, the trio moved on further.
Once they got to the bottom, they saw "Chompy", only to find it was shadowy with glowing red eyes.
"What is this?" the boy asked, taking out his sword. Azura put a hand out.
"Wait!"
"What is it?"
"The stone… it's emitting the same aura that's around this… Chompy."
Flutter immediately understood. "The stone is the source! We'll need to destroy it! It might get rid of the aura!"
"What?!" the boy cried. "But it's a-"
"Does that really matter?" Azura asked. "My arrows won't be much help, so you'll be best for this. I'll distract Chompy, you destroy the stone. I'll help when I get close." With that, she put away her bow and started waving her arms about.
"Hey, ugly! Over here!"
The shadow Chompy looked at Azura and growled, before immediately flying towards her. At that moment, the boy and Flutter rushed to the stone, with the boy hitting it with his sword as hard as he could, over and over. After a few minutes of Azura dodging swipes and being chased around in circles, she got close to the Doom Stone. Pulling out an arrow, she quickly slammed the tip into the Stone. The force of impact cracked the stone, and it shuddered, before it shattered into large shards.
As soon as it shattered, Chompy cried out as the shadowy aura rushed out of it, turning it back to normal. It was left utterly confused, but relieved. As for the stone, it changed into a glass-like colour.
"Huh…" the boy remarked. "Guess you were right, Flutter."
"Eheh… I guess so," the butterfly replied. "Just powers of deduction…"
"Where is my Doom Stone!"
The trio were startled to see Hughes with some guards standing there. "That sign was just screaming that the Doom Stone was here. So, where is it?"
"Right here. We broke it and it became this." Azura pointed to the shards.
"What?!" Hughes asked, immediately coming forward and picking up a piece. "I would be annoyed at you destroying a priceless research artefact, but that hardly matters now. This is a great discovery!"
"CHOMPY!"
Yet another startle for the trio as both Butch and Pierre rushed in. Well, more like Butch rushed in and Pierre followed. Butch was overjoyed to see Chompy back to normal, before grabbing Azura in a tight hug after finding out she saved it.
"Yeah, yeah… get off please…" Azura said, before she and Flutter explained to Hughes how Chompy was changed by the Doom Stone then returned to normal when it shattered. The researcher was surprised, before ordering the guards to transport the shards, then clear the wreckage blocking the path to the West Grassy Plains.
"Good day," Hughes said, before he went off.
"Listen, Hawk…" Pierre said. "This doesn't make us even."
Azura folded her arms. "Do I care?"
"Prolly not."
"Good. If that's all, we'll leave you to your… bonding." With that, the trio left Butch, Pierre and Chompy in the cave.
The boy then thanked Azura and Flutter for their help. "Nice of you to help out a gi- I mean boy like me, heheh…" With that, the boy went off, with Azura once again seriously questioning the boy's identity. Flutter, oblivious, turned to the girl.
"Hey, Azura, we should probably go home and see if the roof's patched up."
Once they got back to Castele, the hole in the roof had been patched up. Pam then gave her 1000 Dosh as gratitude from Hughes.
"I'll fix up dinner. Do you have anything else you can do?"
"Not too much, no. I'm a little bit exhausted from chasing those hooligans around…" Azura said.
"Yep… me too…" Flutter agreed.
"Well, it shouldn't take too long." Pam replied. "I'll fix up a pot of tea and some sugared water as well. Sound good?"
"Oh, yes please!"
Tales of Lunares Part 1 - Completed
"Hey, you there! On the roof!"
"Huh? Oh! S-Sorry! I'll get down right away!"
"Hee hee! Oh my! No, no! Stay as you are. Just don't go falling off and breaking your neck, okay? By the way… I often see you up there. Where are you from?"
"Oh, uh, well… someplace… other than here…"
"Oh, I'm not trying to interrogate you. But can I ask you two things?"
"Er… what would they be?"
"Sometimes I see you talking up to the sky."
"Oh… you heard me…"
"Does anyone ever… talk back?"
"Yes! Yes, they do! They speak… right to my heart!"
"You talk very eloquently, my dear. It's strange, but… I felt like I've met you somewhere before… Here's my next question. What's your name, my dear? I only ask because… I don't want to keep yelling 'hey you!' up at you…"
"Um… Yuelia. My name's Yuelia!"
"Well then, Yuelia, my dear… Why don't you come down and have a nice cup of tea with me?"
"Oh, yes please!"
The girl hopped off the roof and into the house, not noticing that the attic room's door was slightly ajar… with the sharp eyes of a certain brown-haired girl looking out.
"Yuelia, huh?"
