After parting ways with Aaogan, Chisato headed to the armory. She filled her quiver to the brim, stocking up mostly on fire arrows as per Aaogan's request for elementals, along with some silver and regular ones. She also resupplied her dwindling stock of traps.
After a quick stop at the Kafra Corp. employee, located at the south entrance of the city, to store her surplus of arrows and traps, Chisato and Cornflakes headed for the fruit stand.
Cornflakes would not shut up until Chisato had bought him some apples. The whole way there he whined and cried, receiving stares from bypassers, making Chisato red in the face with anger and embarrassment at his behavior. She didn't want people to think she mistreated him. In fact he was quite spoiled in her opinion. He finally shut his mouth when it was too busy chowing down on apples, giving Chisato a chance to eat in peace.
After their stomachs were full, the Huntress and Poring headed west outside the city to do a little hunting. No real dangerous or aggressive monsters spawned here, but they did make good target practice.
Out of the many monsters littering the landscape, Lunatics and Chonchons were her favorites to hunt down. They were fast little critters to chase after, and a challenge was what got her going. They may not be as good as some of the bigger, tougher monsters, but for the small kills, they were always the best. She stayed away from killing other Porings since it made Cornflakes uneasy. The only times she really found herself taking one out purposely was when he would piss her off, saying he'd be next if he didn't knock off his antics.
As she shot down some Chonchons, Cornflakes bounced around quickly to pick up the loot they dropped before any other Porings or Thief Bugs got to it. She said that was the only thing he was ever good at, and sometimes the only thing he was actually good for. It saved her the trouble of rounding up her loot so she could continue to concentrate on hunting.
All seemed to be going well, and the small items that they collected would be enough to resupply the arrows she used to kill them in the first place. It wasn't till she realized Cornflakes had suddenly gone missing that she stopped to figure out where he had gotten to.
It didn't take long to figure it out. His screechy high pitched screams could be heard coming toward her, with what sounded like human footsteps trailing after him.
"Chisato, Chisato! Help me, help me! She's going to kill me," he squealed as he rounded the corner of some shrubbery and leapt into her arms.
"Who?" she asked, looking a bit concerned at the scared and shaken Poring in her arms.
"Me!" came an answer almost right away. Looking up she came eye to eye with who it came from. It was a female Blacksmith, standing almost directly on top of her. Chisato had to take a few steps back to actually see what she looked like, not just her beet red face and emerald green eyes that were shooting daggers at her. She stood about the same height as Chisato, wearing the typical clothing of a Blacksmith, boots, frayed cut up short jean shorts and a tight white top knotted in the middle. She had shoulder length light brown hair, and on her head she wore a Kitty Headband that resembled Aaogan's. But unlike him, she did not appear at all friendly. In her hands she gripped a Fire Chain tightly, ready to take swings at the poor petrified Poring.
"Excuse me, but why in the hell are you attacking my Poring," Chisato growled, not appreciating being approached like this. "It's obvious that he's a pet," she said, motioning to the backpack he wore. This was one of the reasons she had made him wear it, despite his constant moaning and whining that he didn't like it. Other than the fact he could carry some of the items they collected, it also made it apparent that he wasn't just another wild Poring.
"Because," she hissed, "your little Poring here tried to loot items out of my cart!" Her eyes shot fire at him.
Chisato pulled Cornflakes up by his backpack and held him in front of her to look at him face to face, "Is this true?" she said, looking immediately angry at him. He'd be in deep trouble if it was.
"No no! Honest! I, I just wanted to look, that's all. Just curious," he said as he quivered. Chisato stared at him for a few moments, scanning his face. He seemed to be telling the truth. Cornflakes could be a little bugger, but he surely wasn't a thief.
Chisato shook her head at him, and then peered over to the smith, "I'm sorry about that," she said as she lowered Cornflakes back down.
The Blacksmith started to relax a little now, but still looked a bit annoyed, loosing up her grip on the Chain and crossing her arms over her chest. "Your Poring could use a lesson in manners," she said sounding annoyed. "It doesn't look good when a looting monster is found rummaging through your cart. How am I supposed to know he's not there to help himself, hmm?"
Chisato let out an exasperated sigh, "I know. He has a habit of sticking his nose where it doesn't belong sometimes. Heh, and sticking his foot in his mouth," she added in lowly, glaring at the poring again.
"Now how can I do that Chisato, I don't have either," he said wittily with a smirk, but quickly frowned again when he saw the disapproving look on her face saying he was still in deep trouble even if he didn't steal anything.
"I see," said the smith. "A leash would solve that problem you know," she snickered.
Chisato smirked. She could just imagine it now; dragging him around by a leash. He'd probably whine a hell of a lot more than he already did. She rolled her eyes at the thought, she didn't need to hear it anymore than she already did.
With that she released her grip on his backpack and dropped him to the ground. "Again, I'm sorry about that," she said. She then nudged Cornflakes with her foot, "What do you have to say?"
"Sorry," he squeaked lowly.
"It's ok," the smith smiled, "no real harm done. But," she then pointed at Cornflakes and said in a very serious, deadly tone, "if I ever catch you in there again, I'll make Jellopies out of you!"
Cornflakes gasped and grimaced at the thought, looking up at Chisato for support, but only getting a deadly look of 'I'll let her do it' in return. The smith then looked to Chisato and winked, Chisato winked back.
"Take care," said the Blacksmith as she turned to leave, waving a hand as she headed off. "You too," Chisato replied.
After she was out of sight, Cornflakes looked up at her uneasily. Chisato sank down to the ground and gave him a stern look. "You wouldn't really let her...." he began to say, but saw as Chisato nodded her head slowly with an evil grin, and quickly shut his mouth.
Chisato smiled to herself. The fear he had about being turned into Jellopies saved her the trouble of having to yell at him, it was punishment enough.