The Poring

2: Celebrities of Prontera

Disclaimers: Please refer to Chapter one.

"Wow… we reached Prontera faster than we should have!" said Lidia.

"Yeah! We should be happy about it! Come on, everybody, a little happiness!" Iris said nervously. Chaos, Loki and Fenris didn't reply. They just glared at the Poring she was cradling in her arms. (How she carried a big thing like that is beyond them.)

The Poring was too fascinated with the large city they just entered. Its eyes were like a little boy's eyes in a candy store… the candy being the random passers-by's items.

"Hey, look… the Pet Merchant," Sessy pointed her tails towards a guy with green hair selling little back-packs to a group of merchants.

"Oh! Thank goodness!" Iris ran ahead with the Poring. If I stay with those three any longer, they might eat me alive, she thought.

As the redhead ran ahead, Lidia said, "Well, I'll leave you three to decide whether you're gonna keep her alive or not… I'll just be around town, trying to nab—I mean, deal with somebody for a helm. Ok, see ya," she ran ahead. Sessy waved to them with her paw.

Chaos, Loki and Fenris grudgingly made their way towards the Pet Merchant. Iris was already talking with him. "So, Mister, could you help us with this? See, my pet Poring ate my friends' weapons, and they think the only way to get them back is to kill it…" she explained.

The Pet Merchant frowned. "Your pet ate them? Are you sure you tamed that?" he asked.

Iris blinked. "Tamed?"

The green-haired man sighed. "Usually, you need this to tame a Poring," he explained, showing her a green unripe apple. The Poring, shiny-eyed, looked at it hungrily. "Once you feed this, you can make it do whatever you want… unless you forget to regularly feed it, of course."

"What do Porings eat? Asides from random items, that is," she asked.

"It loves apples, but it becomes fuller with Apple Juice. You interested in buying?"

Iris thought for a while before saying, "How much?..."

"5000 zennies for the unripe apple; 150 each for Apple Juice," said the merchant.

"I'll take—…" Iris began, but Chaos cut her off. "We ain't buying. Thanks, but we'll just kill the thing, Okaaay?" he said, forcing a grin.

The Pet Merchant frowned. Another sale down the drain, he thought. But then, he recognized Chaos' face. A smile crept on his lips. "Oh… is that so? I thought that the Heroes of Prontera would act kinder towards helpless friendly monsters than that," he said.

"Wha… what?" Chaos stammered. At the mention of 'Heroes of Prontera', many random people flocked towards them. They all stared in awe at them.

"Oooh… what's that the Merchant was saying? The Great Chaos wants to kill a Poring? How cruel!" an Acolyte whispered to a Priest, who nodded his head solemnly.

"If you ask me, it's kind of amateurish, killing everything in sight. A Novice won't level up killing that thing, for crying out loud. And I thought he was a hero," a Knight whispered to his guildmates. The whole guild sniggered.

"Ooh, check out that pig-tailed chick with that guy! Wonder why she's hanging around that loser…" a Novice yelled from the crowd.

Then, "OH MY GAWD! It's Loki! He's sooooooooooooo cute up close!" a group of girl Assassins from the known Assassin's guild in Morroc squealed in delight. "Is he with Fenris? Aah, not to worry, we'll just kill her when she's not looking, then we can kidnap Loki and carry him to our shrine!" They squealed again.

Loki and Fenris sweat-dropped. Chaos wanted to pull out his hair in frustration. "No… you don't understand… We can't save the world without our weapons!!!"

"Then you have to buy my stuff," answered the Pet Merchant, rubbing his hands together.

"We don't have enough zennies… we still wanna eat, you know," he said.

"You're the heroes! You should have enough money by now," the Pet Merchant said.

"Wait a sec," Iris piped up, placing the Poring on the floor and fishing out something from her pockets. She came up with a large number of bug's legs, jellopies, and cobwebs. "How much are these?" she asked.

"Hmm…. Around 2,000 zennies."

Iris frowned. "If I throw in… uh… Chaos' Jacket?"

"Hey!" Chaos said in protest.

"OOH! OOH! I'll buy it for… 400,000 zennies!" a merchant yelled.

Chaos' and Iris' jaws dropped.

"Ah… ah… I'm not giving up my jacket for that thing, goddammit! We'll be going to Al de Baran, remember? It's cold there!" the Rune Knight protested as soon as he regained his voice.

"Ok, fine! Well, we still have around 8,000 zennies with us, so that's 10,000 zennies… If I buy the unripe apple and around 20 apple juices…" Iris did the math in her head. Fenris finished ahead of her, "We'll be left with 2000 zennies…"

"… We'll barely survive a week, the way you two have a great ability for throwing money away," Loki added.

Iris fell silent before piping up cheerily, "Aaaw… a week's a long time! I'll take 'em!"

"NO YOU'RE NOT!!!" Chaos yelled, suddenly grabbing Iris by the waist and running off with her awaaaaaay from the Merchant.

"CHAOS! Put me down! I don't have Chaos jr. with meeeee!" Iris' wail faded as they got farther away from the crowds.

Loki and Fenris were left with Chaos jr. and the Pet Merchant. "Well, are you two gonna buy?"

The Assassin gave the Merchant a death glare before carrying the Poring by himself. "We must follow them… Prontera is bigger than Geffen, so it's easier for them to get lost," he told Fenris.

She nodded, noticing how funny he looked carrying the Poring. "Are… you sure you want to carry… Chaos jr?" she asked.

"Is there a problem?"

Fenris bit her lip. "No, no problem," she said, walking ahead and trying not to smile.

People of all classes sniggered as the sight of Loki and Chaos jr. passed them by.

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Author's notes: Corny no? I can't help it if I have a rusty sense of humor. Hahahah.