Chapter 11
Don't think too hard about it.
"I don't really understand why I needed to go inside to change, I could have just done it outside," Hoy frowned as he patted his new clothing, it really wasn't anything amazing, but it would probably be far easier to fight in. Plus he looked far less androgynous though whether or not that was a good thing or bad thing was up to opinion.
Verboten let out a sigh, really it would have been bad if he simply stripped out in front of everyone right outside of the church. Then again, her modified nun outfit seemed to already getting attention, though it would have been a lie if she said she didn't enjoy wearing different outfits.
Though, while she and Hoy was there, they were missing two rather important people. As Anlage poked his head out of Hoy's new shirt letting his head just hang out for all to see. He didn't say a word as Verboten tapped her arm, annoyed.
"Pathetic, it seems that persons have trouble keeping even the most basic of times..." Despite saying such hard words Hoy actually wondered what time it was, they really didn't set up an official time, just the ambiguous morning time.
Since they have time to kill, Hoy asked a random question.
"Verboten...why do you hate people?" Hoy had to ask, he knew it wasn't really he business, and it really was just an an assumption that she hated them as Verboten sighed, almost annoyed. Like she was going to have to repeat something.
"I'm pretty sure I already told you, but just for you Hoy...I'll state it again, people...they're no good. That's all you need to know for now, I speak from experience after all," Hoy simply stared blankly at Verboten, as he spoke. Surely what he was about to say may crumble the woman's very thoughts and understand of the world around her.
"I'm hungry..." Hoy's words were direct and blunt as Verboten glared at Hoy, probably one of the first overly negative expressions she shot towards the so called young monster.
"It's pretty rude to ask something and then simply ignore the conversation completely," Verboten lips curled slightly as Hoy sat on the rocky ground simply looking around, he wondered exactly how long Decus and Alice was going to be.
Though that question was cut short as both Decus and Alice arrived on the scene, though calling it a scene was probably placing too much production that had no stage.
Verboten tapped her lip as she gained a small smile, "Oh, you two arrived, I thought perhaps the Red Card Heart Army had abducted you," Perhaps it was an in joke for Verboten, but appeared that none of them actually got the joke.
Alice simply glared at the old witch, "Me and Decus was actually doing something important, unlike you two. So I would like to...cut to the chase as some would say," The blond girl made her point as Verboten rolled her eyes, it was nice to have a goal, but small talk could be entertaining at some points.
"Fine, if you want to kill all enjoyment, I'll just get straight to it." Verboten gave a small cough.
"As you all know, Thoda docks are east of here,"
"I didn't know that," Hoy said such a stupid thing out loud, Verboten's eye twitched ever so slightly before smiling at the red eyed teen.
"Well, now you get to see it, as I was saying. East of here there are Thoda docks, which lets you ride to the Thoda Geyser, I need you to get to the island and look around. There is most likely a page underwater." It was a simple explanation, but it was still one that made Decus frowned.
"How are we supposed to do that? We aren't fish, and I'm pretty sure the page would be completely useless if it's been in sea water," Decus really didn't like the idea of Verboten wasting Alice time...actually he really just didn't like Verboten at all.
The woman sighed, sometimes she wished people would just follow what she said without thinking too hard about it. "Listen, I already have that taken care of,"
Verboten reached into her top as she pulled out what appeared to be a small capsule like object tossing it to Hoy.
"Once you get to the island toss that into the water, it should work...amazing what technology can do now," The phrase was rather vague before Verboten continued her explanation.
"Oh, and don't worry about finding the pages, they have a habit of attracting people who are looking for them, if you're in the area than you'll probably going to find it," It all just sounded like she was just giving an excuse for them to wander around until they happen upon what they were looking for.
In all honesty, Alice didn't like the whole situation, but it was something that she was going to have to deal with the hand she was dealt. And with all that said, Alice was done listening to the woman, even if Verboten had more to say Alice was preparing to leave.
Verboten grumbled slightly, reading Alice's body language. "You know, I'm just trying to help you out, plus it's not very ladylike to have that kind of attitude,"
Decus eye twitched, "How dare you insult Alice like that! She's far more ladylike than you'll ever be!"
Once again, Decus stepped in when it wasn't needed as Alice gave him a glare, she didn't need a weakling like him to defend her, especially when she was more than capable of doing it herself.
"Shut it Dumbo!"
Verboten simply sighed before smiling at Alice, she was about to make a wonderful recommendation. "I suggest you get a better dog, the one you have right now barks far to loudly,"
Of course the insult was aimed at Decus, but before the young man could responded Verboten turned her attention back to Hoy, who seemed to have engaged Anlage in a rather meaningless conversation.
"You understand what you're doing Hoy?" The voice was eerily mother like as Decus shivered, the woman in front of them really had no right sounding like that.
"Ah, sure..." Hoy really didn't know why she asked that question as Verboten smiled before stretching, her steps reveled that she was heading back into the church only to turn her head, preparing to say one last thing to the stitched together group.
"Please, try not to die...finding replacements would be bothersome," Verboten waved as Decus grumbled.
"How dare she talk to Alice like that, old hag..." Now that most tension was out of the situation Hoy had to ask a simple question.
"What did, take you guys so long to get here?" Hoy asked, Alice sighed slightly before motioning Decus to take out a large bag that was obvious filled with items.
"We were getting supplies, I'm not so shortsighted that I would just go some place without preparing. And now that we know exactly how far, I think we have the perfect amount of items to make the trip smooth,"
Hoy somewhat understood what supplies meant, so it probably wasn't much trouble to talk about it any further. "Do, you guys know anything about Thoda Gusher?"
Decus sighed, he didn't want Alice to have to explain something so simple, "First of all, it's Geyser, and to answer your question. The Thoda Geyser is a pretty popular tourist area from what I know, but I really don't know much outside of that," Decus smiled, no doubt Alice would be impressed as the blond ran her fingers through her hair.
"Seems like something worthless to know, I doubt anything interesting is happening there anyway." Alice point was blunt as she continued. "Now come on, I want to at least make it to the port before night falls,"
Alice then smiled as she started to walk away, Decus quickly following. Hoy crossed his arms, to be honest he was rather interested in the two of them, perhaps he would understand why and how persons interact with one another.
"Ah...Maybe I'm thinking too hard about this," After all, Hoy was a monster, why would he care about why and how people act around one another. He didn't hate Alice or Decus, quite the opposite, he liked the idea of being their friends...but still.
"Huh...there it goes again," Hoy started to walk, not wanting to be left behind as the small plant like creature gave a small huff. It seemed that Hoy was in deep thought, and Anlage really didn't feel like disturbing him.
"I guess I'll talk to him later,"
They were on the road, or so they called it, it was most likely closer to grass than any set road. Decus was carrying the majority of items and bags, even going as far as to carry Alice's current weapon, and the lack of monsters made it far easier to just travel from place to place.
The sun was still high in the sky as Alice looked behind her, noticing that Hoy decided to trail behind them rather than ahead of them.
"Is something troubling you my dear Alice?" Decus smiled as Alice gave a rather large frown.
"No, just stay focused," Alice snapped as she took out a small map from her dress pocket, looking at, before stopping in her tracks. This of course caused Decus to stop in an instant, the only one who didn't stop was Hoy who casually walked into Decus. Nearly causing both of them to fall over.
"H-hey, watch it, I'm carrying all our stuff!" The purple haired adult eye twitched, as Hoy turned his attention to Alice who was still staring at the map.
"Ah...what's wrong Alice?" Hoy asked casually, but before Hoy could ask anymore questions, Decus nearly pushed the monster boy over before speaking for his dear Alice.
"Are you tired?! I'll carry you!" Decus offered as Alice gave a small groan, both of them seemed to be missing the point on why they stopped.
"Like I would ever let you carry me Dumbo Decus, and that's not why I stopped, from here on there is two ways we can go. Through the forest which will probably be quicker if we just head in a straight line, or we can go around," Alice stopped for a moment, she already knew what decision she had made, she also knew that Decus would agree with anything she said.
"Hoy...was it? Which way do you want to go," Alice put on an innocent smile, Decus heart skipped a beat, he had no idea why she was asking Hoy of all people to help decide, considering Hoy was an idiot it seemed odd.
"A-Alice, why are you asking him?" Alice rolled her eyes at the comment.
"Decus, we're a team...right? It's only natural that we make choices together, so it's not weird for me to ask for his input!" Decus instantly shut his mouth, mostly due to the fact that Alice was making such a cute voice he couldn't help, but be memorized by it.
As for Hoy, he simply crossed his arms and thought for a moment before nodding to himself and looking straight at the blond girl. "We should go through the forest, it probably would be a lot more fun,"
It was the same decisions that Alice was going to make, for different reasons of course. Though before Alice could agree Hoy added something.
"But...you don't have a weapon right? It might be pretty dangerous without one," It seemed that Hoy didn't catch the hypocrisy in his statement as Alice eye twitched, of course Hoy would perceive as weak, still maintaining her light smile she looked at Decus, holding out her hand.
Decus paused for a moment, before realizing that she was wanting her weapon as Decus put down the other items before taking out a wooden pole that was obvious decorated and crafted in a certain way. Hoy simply titled his head at the item before his eyes widened, almost in disbelief.
"I didn't know a stick could be so powerful!" Alice eye twitched slightly, she really wanted to hit him, but that really wouldn't have awarded her any points, plus it was still too soon to decide if Hoy was useless or not. Though by the way things were going, she was leaning useless.
"It's not a stick, it's a wand...some may call it a staff, honestly I wanted a cuter weapon rather than such a dull boring piece of wood," Alice gave a small pout, really her entire outfit could have used an upgrade, dull and boring brown really didn't match her at all.
"Don't worry Alice, anything that you hold in your hands becomes cute," Decus pointed out, as Hoy nodded.
"Now that I think about it...Refill used something like that too, and she used magic. That probably means that Alice can do magic too," Probably the most detective skills that Hoy ever and will ever display.
"Anyway, we are heading through the forest, we should be out of it before the sunsets," Alice stated casually as Decus held his breath.
Honestly he wouldn't mind taking the longer route if it meant that Alice would be safer...though it didn't really matter since he was going to be there. And he wasn't going to let anything happen to her, it was what a knight does after all.
They continued their walk through the plains the grass beneath them got far thicker and darker as the number of trees around the area started to increase, the final sign that they were about to enter the forest was the line of giant trees in front of them that was almost like a wall of nature.
It seemed that they weren't going to exchange words, however before the three could enter the forest a voice called from behind them.
"Hmm, is it really alright for people your age to be here?" The voice was unfamiliar as all three turned around to be greeted with a strange sight.
A woman with silver hair that stretched down her back was before them, however her hair color wasn't the strangest thing about them, but rather her clothing. It was simply strange, gray and bright purple with golden trimmings, she appeared to be in her early to mid-twenties.
"That depends, is it alright to randomly ask strangers things without context?" Despite the honey her voice was dripping in, one simply could not ignore the inherent rudeness of the statement Alice just gave.
The woman paused for a moment, as if she was thinking of a response, before giving a small smile. "I suppose you are right, it's just rather dangerous around here, but you are correct, it's none of my business,"
It appeared that the woman was about to walk past them, though Hoy simply looked at her...scanning her for something that most people that was out in the wilderness without protection would have.
"Ah...where is your Exshpere?" Hoy asked innocently as the woman stopped, almost surprised. Her silver eyes looking down at Hoy.
Alice then scanned the woman herself, most of the time people wore their Exshpere's on their hand. Of course there was no rule saying that someone couldn't put it on a more extravagant area like the stomach or chest. It was just the most convenient putting it on the hand or arm.
"She might not have one kid," Decus pointed out as the woman chuckled,
"If that was the case Dumbo, she wouldn't be here at all," Alice pointed that out, after all even if the monsters in the area weren't so bad. It was still suicidal to just go out, especially so far away from the city.
"I guess it's my own fault for stopping you myself, I'm Meltia and I'm just a researcher looking around the area," It was an answer that didn't solve any of their questions, as she casually continued to walk into the forest, leaving the three with rather confused looks.
"I wonder what she's doing here," Hoy frowned as Alice simply shrugged.
"It's not really worth worrying about, older women always try to be all secretive and mature, though I personally find them pretty boring," Alice voiced her opinion on such matters.
"I agree Alice, you are the perfect girl after all!" Decus continued to fling complements to Alice, none of them paying any mind to the strange look on Hoy's face.
They entered the darkened forest, everything almost felt muted. Usually the lack of monsters was a good thing, but at the current moment it was almost eerie. The leaves nearly blocked all light that could enter the woods leaving only small beams of the sun.
Hoy's noise twitched, as if he was trying to smell something as if the smells in the forest were wrong or misplaced. The teens normally carefree or vaccinate expression turned deathly serious, he was capable of telling something was wrong.
Even Alice and Decus was feeling the uneasiness of the entire situation. Alice honestly wondered if it was too late to turn back as a strange sound, the sound of something scurrying towards them. The sound was enhanced when the sound of trees toppling over was added.
They all held their breath as well as their ground, Decus getting between Alice and the sound. Turning their back to the noise would have been suicide, considering the speed it was traveling towards them.
The final trees fell before them, causing the earth to shake, the creature was before them. As Hoy's harden expression softened as he laughed, almost as if it was all a joke.
"It's just a scorpion!" Hoy laughed, normally such a creature was cause for alarm, though it seemed that Hoy didn't notice either Alice's or Decus petrified expressions.
Hoy was right, it was a black and brown scorpion, pincers and tail. Snapping at them, though if it was just a normal scorpion it would have been easily killed, but...
"I-it's huge!" Alice tried to keep her expression steady, despite the two tree tall monster before them as Decus readied his sword, causing Hoy to tilt his head.
"Why are you guys freaking out, it's just a scorpion," It seemed that Hoy was oblivious to what's wrong with the entire situation, something Decus was going to have to remind him of.
"You idiot! Don't tell me you haven't noticed just how big it is!" The purple haired swordsmen snapped as Hoy crossed his arms, the monster obviously didn't notice the three yet as Hoy responded to Decus out burst.
"I guess it's a little big..." Decus eye twitched at the comment,
However before Decus could comment any further, the creature turned and looked at the three. Decus took a deep breath, hoping that Hoy would be capable of talking the creature down without a fight. Though those hopes were dashed when Hoy lowered his stance preparing for battle.
Before Decus could question the decision the giant creature raised it's claw aiming towards Decus and Hoy before lowing it with alarming speed.
Luckily Alice was out of range as both Hoy and Decus avoided the blow that shattered the ground beneath them. Both Hoy and Decus scanned the monster, looking for any weak spots they could find.
Without a word Hoy jammed his elbow, into the side of one of the creatures legs, as a clanging sound similar to metal. Hoy knew scorpion's shells were strong due to the one's that he fought in the desert...though a sudden realization dawned upon the young monster.
"How did I know about scorpions?" It was a good question, he saw them, but he never actually learned their names, but yet he knew it...though perhaps now wasn't the best time to think about such a pointless thing as the creature lifted its legs preparing to crush the young monster.
Hoy twitched slightly, as he jumped back, nearly avoiding being crushed. However he wasn't capable of avoiding the stones and rock that was shot towards him as a result as he raised his arm, the rocks punctured his arm causing Hoy to frown.
Decus eyes narrowed, he only had one thing on his mind.
"Alice is watching, so I can't avoid to mess up," If there was one thing that would cause him to preform better was the pressure of Alice watching, as Decus jumped from the ground, aiming for the joint that connected the claw to the arm.
After all, structures are usually weakest at the joint.
However it seemed that idea was proven false as Decus hit the creature, his sword started to shake as if he hit a metal wall. The monster then casually moved its claw, swiping Decus right out of the air and into a nearby tree.
The creature prepared to move, as a voice screamed.
"Icicle!" The blond raised her wand, as the two front legs of the scorpion were frozen to the ground.
Hoy, pulled out the rocks out of his arm casually as walked towards Decus who was already on his feet. Seeing the giant monster struggle Decus couldn't help but smile.
"Of course, Alice saves us with her endless beauty and ability," Decus once again complemented Alice who simply glared at the two.
"What are you two waiting for, attack it!" Alice gave an order as both Hoy and Decus nodded.
Hoy reached into his shirt and pulled out Anlage, setting the small plant like creature on the ground. Of course the moment Anlage feet touched the ground, it ran to the nearest tree and hid.
"Okay, Decus...lets attack the same place at the same time!" It was a crude idea, but it really wasn't one that Decus could argue against.
The scorpion's head lowered, showing the perfect spot the could attack.
Without hesitation, both Hoy and Decus rushed towards the monster, Hoy clenching his fist as Decus gripped his sword tightly, blue flames engulfing the blade. With a single motion the struck the creature's head with enough force to cause the ground to shake.
Unfortunately, the ground was the only thing that shook as the monster remained undamaged, breaking out of the ice that had stopped it's movement. Lifting it's tail, it swiped both Hoy and Decus in a single motion flinging them to Alice's feet.
Hoy sat up, as Decus followed, one was far more embarrassed then the other as Alice grumbled slightly.
"If either of you two have a plan...I would like to hear it," A mixture of nervousness and frustration filled her voice as Hoy eyes narrowed getting up from off the ground. One may say he even looked cool as Decus simply looked at him.
"Y-you actually have a plan kid?" Decus honestly seemed surprised as Hoy simply nodded, ignore his wounds.
Perhaps both he and Alice had misjudged him, perhaps he was more than just and idiot that could punch things really hard. Perhaps he was a combat genius and they just never got the opportunity to see him at work.
"We hit it harder,"
"..."
"..."
A moment of silence, even though Decus and Alice had widely different expressions on their faces, they were no doubt thinking the same thing.
"You idiot! That won't help at all!" Decus eye was twitching as Hoy scratched the back of his head and laughed.
"Oh...then I don't have anything," Hoy gave a nervous laugh as the monster crept closer towards them, readying it's stinger. At the three, however before it could even move, something strange happened. A loud thud was heard as Hoy, Deucs and Alice all simply looked.
Somehow the monster's tail fell off, or rather was cut off. It was a miracle no doubt, something that really wasn't supposed to happen, but yet happened anyway.
The creature staggered back, the area where the stinger once was dripping with green and blue liquid as a voice that each of them only heard once entered their ears.
"I already told you it was pretty dangerous for all of you here," Meltia smiled, her silver hair blowing in the breeze. It was a complicated feeling they all had about seeing the mysterious woman, and each one of them had a different one.
"Don't worry, I'll take it from here. After all, I need to check something," Meltia took a deep breath as a glyph appeared from under her feet. At that moment small machines appeared around her, some orbs and other miniature cannons. The silver haired woman whispered something to herself as the devices snapped into position, surrounding the now tailless creature.
And in a second, miniature needless came flying out of the devices, easily breaking through the monsters armor and ripping though it's skin. The creature who's armor that wasn't broken by the three's best attacks was being torn off like it was some kind of cheap paper.
Dust started to build up due to the sheer number of projectiles as holes appeared on the ground, showing how easily the pieces of metal was going through the creature. After about ten seconds the devices snapped back to Meltia's sides allowing the dust to clear.
What was left was a corpse riddled with holes missing entire sections of it's body. Curled up, like how most Arachnid die as Meltia walked towards the corpse as one of her many machines cut the monster's stomach open going inside. After a moment, the device exited, holding what appeared to be a small orb.
There was no doubt about it, it was an Exshpere's.
"This is probably what caused it to grow to such large proportions," Meltia tapped her lip, as Hoy smiled.
"Meltia, what are you doing here?" Hoy asked a good question as the silver haired woman simply sighed, dismissing her machine and turning her attention back to the three.
"Didn't I say I was a researcher? I was just taking a look at some monsters when I noticed the noise. I will say that the information I got from this little trip was well worth it," It seemed that Meltia saved them with more than just good intentions in her mind as Alice smiled her usual fake smile.
"Wow, that was really amazing! How did you do it?!" Even if her voice was false, her interest wasn't as Decus simply slumped his shoulders, once again he missed the chance to show off for Alice and probably pushed himself lower on the totem pole of her affection.
"Well it's not something I can really teach you..." Meltia voice trailed off as before picking back up. "You all, are headed towards Thoda Port right? I can take you that far and show you some things along the way,"
Alice eyes narrowed, it was an odd bit of generosity, almost strange. The woman could have easily had her way with all of them and the blond really didn't like the idea of having someone so powerful right behind them, preparing to twist a knife into their back at a moments notice.
"Sure! That sounds great," Hoy made a quick judgment as Decus snapped.
"Hey, don't go making decisions without Alice's permission!"
Hoy simply frowned as she looked at both Decus and Alice. "Aw, but she helped us right? That means she has to be good," Such simple logic honestly irritated Alice, even after everything she seen of Hoy someone having such basic concepts of good and bad grated on her nerves.
"Do you really think it's that simple, I mean do you realize how easy it would be to trick you if you keep thinking like that," Alice said those words bluntly as, but before the conversation could continue Meltia expression changed.
"Actually, I think I must take my leave, I just remembered I had something important to do." Meltia gave a soft smile as her eyes cut to Alice, it was as if she noticed something about the young half-elf girl.
"Well...thank you for helping us, I hope we meet again," Hoy said as Meltia nodded, before disappearing into the woods.
"Meltia...why did she look at me like that," Alice held her breath, did the woman know something about her, or was it a simple matter of being offended by her skepticism.
"Alice...is there something wrong?" Decus asked, noticing Alice's discomfort.
"No, it's nothing...we've lost enough time here. We need to hurry to the port before sunsets."
Author note
A long chapter? Yes, it was a pain to write and I had to start over three times. And even then the last 500 words could use a little sprucing up when I get the chance.
Also, Meltia is not an OC, though the amount of people who actually know who and reading this can probably be counted on a single hand.
Also I just realized how weird this fic is, I using DOTNW characters in a Fic that takes place during the timeline of the first came with characters from ToP, in a completely original story line.
