MATATAKI VILLAGE
In Toan's Atlamillia, other than the river pieces, he had a blond man named Cacao. A nervous looking guy about 20 years old probably, Toan needed someone other than that bastard, Goro in this town, maybe this guy was more respectful, along with Cacao's house, Toan placed what he had of the river. Not enough. Couldn't expect the river to be down with just one area of the forest… It was time to meet Cacao.
Cacao stood there near his house, hunched back with a stringed instrument. He looked out of place, he was a bit excitable. Toan poked his back and Cacao jumped like 5 feet in the air.
"Oh hello…uh…I'm not sure how I got here…I haven't seen you around, I'm Cacao, the gleeman. You must be Toan, I've heard of you…" What? How could a guy alive for 5 minutes heard of him? "You're the one rebuilding the world aren't you?" Toan simply nodded, how did this guy know all this? "Well I thank you, for rebuilding my house, I could thank you, please come on inside."
Cacao's house was much like Goro's house; it was a tree house of some sort with stairs leading up to the door, and fire lighting anything near his house. This guy was definitely much better than Goro already. Toan followed Cacao inside his house. All that was inside was a bed, and a bucket…How strange, could Cacao really live like this? Cacao sat on his bed with his stringed instrument. "Toan, how would you like me to sing for you? It's all I really have to offer."
It was nice of Cacao to at least try and thank him, this guy was a million times better than Goro; hell he was better than the Fairy King. Toan nodded eagerly to Cacao's offer.
"Okay, the song is titled "Legendary Hunter"…" Cacao readied his arms on his instrument and started strumming a tune.
"Fudoh, mighty Fudoh will find his prey…This legendary hunter we all admire… No fierce bear's claw nor White Tiger's fang will ever douse his raging fire. Never misses his mark, in the deepest dark. Brave legend of the hunt will never tire."
"How did you like it? It's an original piece." Well…if Toan was an honest person, than he would say the lyrics needed work…"…"The Legendary Hunter". It's a tribute to Fudoh. Cool isn't it?" It was okay? The tune was good…But Toan had more curiosity about the meaning of the song, what did it mean? Who could this Fudoh be? Toan had a genuine interest in the history of this esteemed hunter. Toan snapped out of his trance and gave Cacao a thumb up.
"Thank you. This song shows Fudoh's charisma, or shall I say his power or prominence." This Fudoh certainly sounded great or according to Cacao at least "I think it's expressed well in this song. Only Fudoh fans like myself could write it." Was that a hint of vanity in his voice? Cacao smiled and looked beyond his ceiling. "It's been 5 years now since Fudoh left. He was…awesome." Cacao struggled to find the right word. "He was the hero of our village…Oh I must be boring you…" Toan shook his head back and forth he really did want to hear some history on Matataki Village. The more knowledge he had the better he would look in a foreign village.
"No one could beat Fudoh…He was invincible. Back then, the villagers were attacked by a fearful monster called the White Tiger. Many hunters lost their lives fighting the White Tiger. But Fudoh he took down the White Tiger in a single blow. His power was tremendous. After that, Fudoh became a hero, the entire village respected Fudoh and worshiped him as a guardian God."
His tangent had ended finally he looked to Toan and simply said "Fudoh was my idol, but I knew I could never be like him…I was always so skinny and weak. But Fudoh made even a person like myself believe I could be strong, like magic, I felt like I could do anything…" Toan's eyes were wide with curiosity; the history of this place was truly interesting and captivating. "But then 5 years ago, Fudoh disappeared. There were rumors that he had been killed by a monster called the Killer Snake." These were really creative names, Toan scoffed. Cacao closed his eyes "Though injured, he still fought the Killer Snake and died bravely…" Cacao's eyes shot open and he fiercely shouted to himself as loud as he allowed himself to be "But I don't believe that. Fudoh is too strong! He has to be still alive somewhere!"
Toan was a little uncomfortable …"No half-wit "Killer Snake" could stand a chance against our hero!"He calmed down and turned to Toan again "I'm right, right?" Toan awkwardly shrugged his shoulders. Cacao turned back to nothing and closed his eyes again. "If you had seen him, you would understand, right away." Cacao quickly changed the subject "So I bet my performance made you want to try a musical instrument too." It really wasn't a question because he quickly said "Sorry this is my treasure, I can't give you this." Cacao lovingly hugged his instrument. "But one moment…" Cacao grabbed something on his bed, it appeared colorful…"Here's a flute I made myself, it has a good sound to it. That thing attracts snakes, so be careful…"
Where was Toan going to crash tonight, he certainly didn't want to hang with that fanatic, Cacao, nor did he want to hang out with that literal bastard, Goro. Xiao suggested sleeping back in Norune, not after that tearful good bye, it would seem anti-climactic …Besides he had little time to greet everybody in Norune and save the world without the dreaded Dark Genie finding out what he was up to. Going to Norune would be the worst possible idea, it was best to stay at one place at one time.
Toan and Xiao ended up sleeping near the water fall, the sound of the waterfall soothed them both. Xiao curled up near Toan, Toan drifted off in a short but peaceful sleep.
WISE OWL FOREST
What could the second territory hold for the Atla? Only after the first territory new beasts started to appear, more notably a beast made out of a barrel as a body a pumpkin as a head, and shovels as feet. It held a pitchfork, which you'd obviously think he'd use as a weapon, but it didn't, it instead used pumpkins it pulled out its "body" and threw them at Toan. They exploded and hurt Xiao once, after that Toan fought them himself.
Toan paid the lush green forest special attention, trying to find beauty in the horrible, dank, disgusting forest. Although it had its beauty it had monsters, and the monsters stole from the atmosphere. If only humans had colonized the Wise Owl Forest, perhaps the forest would be able to retain its beauty.
Toan was getting really angry at the stupid "wise" owl that kept on haggling Toan for shiny stones, when it previously took the red berry; it was now disgusted by the berries.
"I think I'll take the shiny stone today." The owl said nonchalantly, Toan called out Xiao; she could probably talk some sense into the owl.
"Come on, last time you took the berry!"
"What's the deal? I already said I'm sick of red berries. Hoot, hoot!" No dice…Xiao shrugged and Toan took over again, fine…I'll get the damn shiny stupid stone…Toan thought. Besides there was still Atla to get… according to his instincts. But if the rest of the villagers were like Cacao, he wasn't sure if he wanted them all back, a bad thought, he knew, but saving them would make up for that though
MATATAKI VILLAGE
These were crazy looking houses…Toan thought as he picked up a house shaped like a mushroom, why was it shaped like a mushroom? That has to be the stupidest design for a house ever! Toan was no interior designer but he could point out bad taste when he saw it, but this was a different culture perhaps there was some meaning behind it…
Toan had an odd interest in the culture of Matataki, it was like human interest in monkey behavior, that's what it reminded him about, Toan went to the only person in Matataki Village at the moment, Cacao.
"The mushroom house, yeah it's pretty weird, the owners are even weirder though." That's all Cacao had to say about that, so no it wasn't about "culture" it was just there to piss Toan off.
Back into the Atlamillia Toan picked up the two owners of the said mushroom house, Annie and Ro. They were short in stature and looked pretty old, they looked exactly the same yet they were husband and wife. That's the oddity of love Toan guessed...
Annie and Ro were very nice people even though they were weird as Cacao put it, they barely had anywhere to sit in their house, and it just had a bunch of boxes in it. They were actually pretty smart they deducted that Toan had been from Norune Village from his clothing alone, strange what a person's clothes could tell you. Toan and Xiao slept in doors that night on the bottom floor to the mushroom house. It was cramped but cozy, Annie and Ro had offered for them to stay the night after fixing up the house, but apparently they still had stuff missing from the house, they proposed a reward if Toan could get it back, Toan didn't know if he could find it in the Atla, most likely it was destroyed, but agreed nevertheless.
The river was coming along nicely, but there were still gaps, it was getting increasingly difficult to maneuver in the Wise Owl Forest, it was a foreign environment and the beasts there was even crazier than the Divine Beast Cave's beasts. While Toan was in the Atlamillia thinking of ways to construct the village Xiao sat in the lush grass field.
She sighed to herself wondering if she would ever get to go back home, as a cat she didn't like change, it was bad enough that she had to fight these horrible monsters, but it was a totally different thing to be away from home, at least Toan was around…Xiao just sat there waiting for her master to return, waiting for her next task, and really that's what Xiao was for, she at times felt like she was merely being used for her loyalty, such ideas rarely entered her head, but it was times like these where she couldn't escape that question. Would Toan even dignify the question with a response? Then again Toan would often play with her when they weren't saving the world, such as the first night in Matataki Village. Xiao would soon realize that the quest to save the world was much more important than frivolous emotions; there was no real time for love or play, strictly for the Earth. Anytime made for selfish desires would be the worst blow to humanity, it could mean the end of life it self.
So Xiao closed the idea of that, she figured if she was going to help Toan on the adventure, it would be best to stay quiet on such matters.
Toan finally returned to Xiao who was lost in thought, he sat down beside her signaling her that they should go towards the mushroom house. Xiao gave a blank stare, much like Toan's black stare to the Fairy King, it kind of annoyed him, he patted the cat on her head to wake it up, she finally noticed Toan.
"Oh! Sorry master, I was just thinking…" Toan motioned his hand towards the mushroom house again. "Oh that's right we can sleep indoors tonight!" Toan nodded smiling; this was going to be a much better rest than last night, sleeping on the grass with all the bugs. A small patch of assorted cloth lied on the wooden floor, of the first floor to the house, Toan made himself comfortable and laid there along with Xiao, maybe they could get a few hours of sleep, it wouldn't be too bad…
Goro sat lurched on his bed; he hadn't gotten over the devastating defeat from that strange green hat kid. He fought so well and Goro gave it all he could…The only explanation for the great strength and small stature could be that he was an evil demon! And the dark energy he leeched made him strong, how else could such a small boy defeat him? The great Goro? Some hunter he turned out to be…But why had the so-called "evil demon" spare him? Why were buildings and trees returning to Matataki Village? It angered Goro that some unknown kid (probably dangerous) was saving HIS village, for once Goro wished he could be the hero of Matataki…Like his father had been before him…Always cast into the shadow of his "great" father it infuriated Goro further.
But whatever was going on in that stupid village didn't matter to Goro, not one bit. He hated all of them anyway, they always made sure Goro knew about his great father and how he wasn't a thing like him…The village could burn the ground the next day for all he cared.
"To hell with em'…" Goro muttered to himself as he collapsed on his bed. Nothing really mattered to him anymore. He didn't give two cents about what was becoming of the world. It was almost blissful about how he didn't care. He drifted off cursing his fellow villagers, cursing them all to no end.
As the two moons started to descend Toan awoke, it was most likely very early in the morning, Toan looked at the purring cat next to him, he put on a soft smile, this cat really made the quest much easier. He decided to let Xiao sleep a bit more, he would go out to the Wise Owl Forest alone, most of the time he was the only one fighting anyway, so Toan went on his way. As he was walking towards the Wise Owl Forest entrance, he passed the gap that Goro's house was, Toan felt bad about taking the horned earrings, besides Toan had no idea what they even did…But maybe there would be a time to use it? It wouldn't hurt the guy if he kept them for a few more days.
After crossing two more territories in the forest Toan had uncovered several people's houses, one belonged to a guy named Pao, another Bunbuku, Gob, Couscous, these people's names were crazier than his own and Xiao's or anybody in Norune for that matter. Toan only managed to get two people on the trip though, Bunbuku, and Kululu, who both lived together as brother and sister. Toan decided to pay them a visit and welcome them back to the village. Toan placed the house in the middle part of the village near the crevice that led to Goro's house. Before Toan could approach the house Xiao came up to him
"Why'd you leave me behind like that?" Toan grinned and chuckled to himself, there was no point in arguing with a cat, there brains were half the size as humans, or he assumed anyway. Toan and Xiao went up the stairs on the new house, Toan went for the door knob but from the corner of his eye he saw what appeared to be a wolf peering from the corner of the house. Toan pulled out his dagger that he kept with him at all times and pointed towards the wolves head. It disappeared behind the house. Toan ran for the wolf behind the house only to find a little girl with a wolf skin over her head.
Whoops…Toan thought to himself as he concealed his dagger as not to scare the little girl any further. Xiao broke the silence between Toan and the girl, who Toan assumed to be Kululu.
"Hey there! My name's Xiao, this is Toan, my master, sorry about that…What's your name?" She stood there in silence, not moving an inch. "Uh…is this your house?" Xiao queried. She just nodded, her silence reminded Toan a lot of himself, he never really said anything, and finally Kululu spoke herself.
"I'm afraid of the dark…" she pointed to the sky, the sun was going down, and the two moons rose. Toan smiled at the girl, now she reminded him of a younger Paige. Paige had always had a fear of the dark as well, that is until Toan gave her some insight that is. With that Kululu attempted to go around Toan and Xiao, but behind them they heard a shout
"Hey! Who goes there?" The shout was from a male, Toan turned around, it was Bunbuku dressed as if he were a raccoon…What was with this place dressing like animals? Kululu ran up to Bunbuku instead and grabbed his leg. Bunbuku looked down for a moment and shot straight up again and shouted again. "I asked a question!" Toan and Xiao looked at one another somewhat confused at this guy's anger
"Uh…I'm Xiao and this is my master-"
"Aw, shaddup!" Bunbuku retorted cutting off Xiao's sentence "All I know is that you guys are outsiders! And outsiders are the ones that destroyed this village!" and the ones that are restoring it…Toan rolled his eyes. Bunbuku turned around back in his house with Kululu not far behind.
"They weren't very nice at all." Xiao simply said waiting for a response from her master, but Toan started to expect this attitude, for if an outsider had come to Norune, they'd probably be ostracized too, Toan briefly remembered when Macho and Komacho were new to Norune, some people like Alnet still resent their presence in Norune and that was okay, The Macho brothers did act way differently from regular Norune villagers so it was fair to resent them, had they adapted to Norune culture and started acting like Norune villagers maybe it would be different. So Toan would have to adapt to Matataki culture if he was going to be accepted, at least learn a thing or two about Matataki…Toan was surprised with all the hospitality that Annie and Ro had given them the previous night. Perhaps they had been outsiders at one point? They didn't ware animals on their heads, instead it was mushrooms. Maybe they knew life as an outsider and purely wanted to give the hospitality that they hadn't been given? Eh' maybe…But this was no time for that, there was still much to do.