Chapter 8: "The Dangerous Desert!"

Alaylle hums as she gently stirs a pot of stew using a wooden spoon. "This should be almost done!" She dips the spoon into the pot and takes a small sip from the spoon. "Hmm... maybe a little more stock... a bit too thick..." Alaylle adds a bit more liquid into the pot and continues stirring.

"Mmm... something smells wonderful!" Father Renauld follows his nose as he walks into the churches kitchen.

Alaylle giggles. "Father Renauld! You just ate breakfast! You can't eat lunch yet!... And anyways, this won't be done for about three hours."

"Ah well, I'll survive on the smell." Father Renauld laughs. "Oh, by the way, thank you for helping me deliver that package a while ago."

"You mean... the package to that hermit?" Alaylle asks as she continues stirring the stew.

Father Renauld shakes his head, "Hermit? He has a name you know... His name is Father Yosuke, and he's contemplating nature, not just living there." He glances at the stew pot. "Are you sure it's going to take three more hours?"

"Yes... three more hours..." Alaylle stops stirring the stew pot. "I suppose I can make for you something to tide over the time, though..." Alaylle goes over to the counter and checks what is left. "By the way… speaking of names… I can't pronounce Sister Nun's real name… can you?"

"I've tried for the past three years… it's just easier to call her 'Sister Nun'… although a bit more painful…" Father Renauld looks over at Alaylle preparing more food, "Wait... you made that yummy-smelling stew and still have ingredients left over from today's lunch supply?"

"Umm... yes... if you add too much to the stew, it would lose it's flavor... Hmm..." Alaylle walks over to Father Renauld and hands him a plate and a fork with a baked sweet potato covered in honey. "Here you go!... I always make these for Daddy... he just loves honey!"

"Ah, thank you Alaylle!" Father Renauld takes a small bite. "Ooo... a bit hot... but delicious!" He halts for a moment. "Hmm... hot... that reminds me... Alaylle, could you deliver another package? It just came in this week..."

"Huh? Well, sure! Where am I going to be delivering this one to?" Alaylle removes the wooden spoon from the stew pot and puts the lid on the pot.

"Eh heh heh... Umm... well... this might sound a bit extreme, but... it's in the desert." Father Renauld takes out the package and places it on the table.

"You want me to go WHERE!" Alaylle nearly drops the wooden spoon she holds in surprise.

"I'm sorry dear... I know it sounds a bit extreme... but she really needs this package..." Father Renauld starts to look ready to bolt out of the room, if necessary.

"Oh well... I'll do it... but... I'm not gonna have to walk there, am I?" Alaylle puts the wooden spoon into the sink.

"I-I'm afraid so... we lack the money to afford a warp to Morroc..." Father Renauld calms down somewhat now that Alaylle doesn't have the spoon.

Alaylle sighs softly. "Aahh... well... I'll do my best!"

Father Renauld smiles happily at Alaylle. "Wonderful!... Don't worry about getting lost, though... I have a good map of the desert!" He places a rolled up piece of paper on the package. "But... you should take along lots of water, okay?"

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Alaylle hums as she walks south of Prontera, carrying her basket as usual. She glances at the map once in a while, but spends much of the time taking in the scenery. Oh, and identifying monsters with her book, of course. As she gets closer to the desert and finally steps foot in it, she really starts to notice how different the temperature is.

'Whew... it's so hot... How can Karian stand this sort of heat?' Alaylle takes out a bottle of water and drinks from it. She then blinks her eyes and looks north… then south. 'Okay, what's going on here! I take a few steps south of nice Prontera, and then it suddenly turns into a desert?' She watches a herd of Pecopeco run by... and several Condors circling around the desert. 'Well... at least there's plenty of life around here... so that's a comforting sign!' Alaylle pulls out her book frequently as she walks south and west...

"Chonchon... a giant fly. Flies around haphazardly in search of food to scavenge. It's wings can also be used to fly in a manner similar to it for a brief moment..." "How strange..."

"Condor... a small vulture that circles the desert in search of food. A common scavenger and also known as a source of bird meat." 'Oohh... so that's what I cook with sometimes...'

"Pecopeco... a large toucan-like bird that has lost the ability to fly in exchange for fast footspeed. Domesticated varieties are used for bird meat, and can often be ridden. Wild varieties often stay together in packs..."

"Picky... a young Pecopeco, similar to how people call young chickens a chick. Upon hatching from its egg, it is alone and must forage for itself. Although small, it is hardy enough to easily survive in the desert."

'Yeah... lots of life in the desert...' Alaylle passes a large hole lined with teeth. 'Gosh... how frightening! I certainly won't be going in there...' Alaylle walks quickly past it and continues on the path west.

'The scenery... it's kind of dull after a while... I mean... no matter where I look... there's nothing but sand... but at least the map helps out a lot... there are a few rocky cliffs that make good landmarks!... Eh?' Alaylle is jolted quickly out of her thoughts by a sudden loud buzzing sound. 'Sounds like a Chonchon... only... a lot louder!' She quickly hides behind a tree, takes out her book and flips through the pages, trying to make sense of the sound.

Alaylle's eyes quickly find an entry that mentions a loud Chonchon sound. 'Dragonfly... a green Chonchon which commands a large group of Chonchons. It can be easily identified by a... loud Chonchon buzzing from the group's unified buzzing. The Dragonfly will eat anything in it's path, from trees to animals, using it's Chonchons as an army.' Alaylle quietly closes the book and puts it away, peeking out from behind the tree... and staring in shock as they destroy a cactus, leaving very little remains.

Alaylle gulps and hides back behind the tree. 'How... frightening! If it should see me...' She startles and looks back around the tree upon hearing another noise. 'Oh no!'

Three brown desert puppies are noisy barking at the Dragonfly and Chonchons, trying to scare them away. Unfortunately, it only lures the giant flies towards them. The three whimper and start to run away from them, but the flies pursue them.

Alaylle quickly gets out from her hiding place near a tree and runs after them. "Stop it! Leave those puppies alone!"

The Dragonfly and Chonchons halt and then look towards Alaylle.

"...Uh oh... now you've really gone and done it, Alaylle..." Alaylle says softly to herself as she quickly turns around and runs away from the Dragonfly and Chonchons. She runs away from them as fast as she can, but they still gain on her.

Just as they are about to make it to her, Alaylle tries to shield herself with her arms and closes her eyes... and then hears the oddest sound...

Several loud thumps and crying buzzes... and... violin music!

Alaylle opens her eyes and turns back around to see a tan Rocker swatting down the Chonchons, while dodging the charges of the Dragonfly, and playing the violin happily in between swats and dodges. "Mr. Rocker! What are you doing here?"

The tan Rocker tips it's leaf to Alaylle as it swats down the last Chonchon. It then plays a screeching note, startling the Dragonfly long enough to make it stop flying around erratically. The Dragonfly quickly joins it's Chonchon army with a few quick swats from the tan Rocker's violin. The tan Rocker happily hops over to Alaylle and plays it's violin for her.

"Thank you so much, Mr. Rocker!... But... uhh... you look really different!" Alaylle smiles happily at the tan Rocker.

The tan Rocker falls face-first onto the sand burying itself slightly, with one free arm pointing at Alaylle's basket.

"Oh?" Alaylle quickly takes out the book and flips through a few pages. "Ooh! You're not a Rocker anymore! Hmm... Metaller... a Rocker that is strong enough to survive in the desert and has developed a heat-resistant shell from old age. They often have realized how terrible their music sounds and now only play in the more isolated regions of the desert to avoid angering anyone."

The Metaller quickly gets to its feet and nods quickly.

"Aahh... I know!" Alaylle quickly gets a red ribbon from her basket and ties it onto the Metaller's head. "There! I can recognize you really easily now, Mr. Metaller! Gosh... no wonder I didn't see you at Rocker Coast... you moved to the desert!"

The Metaller turns a bit red from having a ribbon on it's head, but then nods quickly.

"Umm... this isn't the place to chat though... it's sooo hot! Do you know a place where we can get some water and some shade?" Alaylle looks up at the Metaller.

The Metaller nods and starts hopping west, playing it's violin in a travelling song.

"Yay!" Alaylle pulls out her map and follows the Metaller west.
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Alaylle sits in the shade of a well-grown palm tree growing by an oasis north of Morroc. "Aahh... this grass and shade feels so good compared to the desert sun and sand!" Alaylle drinks from a refilled bottle of water and offers the other to the Metaller.

The Metaller accepts happily, gulping down the contents of the bottle and then playing it's violin again.

Alaylle puts the bottle down and takes out the map and the package. "Let's see... the package says... Oh! Near this oasis!" Alaylle puts the map away and looks up at Mr. Metaller. "Let's go! I really aren't made for this sort of hot, dry place..." She gets to her feet and follows the map's directions east.

"Are you Sister Matilda?... Yay! Here's the package from Father Renauld!" Alaylle happily gives the package to the woman. "Whew... I'm glad that's done with! This desert really doesn't agree with me!"

Sister Matilda smiles at Alaylle, "Well, in that case, I do have a spare Wing of Butterfly you can use to get back to Prontera."

"Umm... huh?" Alaylle looks back at Mr. Metaller, who is gently tapping her shoulder with his bow.

Mr. Metaller looks behind itself, in the northeastern direction and then looks back at Alaylle.

"...Oh! You want to go back home?" Mr. Metaller nods quickly. "Aahh... yeah... I guess I'd get homesick really easily too." Alaylle turns back to Sister Matilda. "Umm... if it's not too much trouble... could you make a warp portal just south of Prontera?"

Sister Matilda raises an eyebrow questionably, but then nods slowly, "I could do that." She opens up the package, takes out a blue gemstone from it and then creates a warp portal. "Hop on in"

Alaylle nods and giggles as Mr. Metaller literally hops into the Warp Portal. She can't help herself but hop into the portal the same way.

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Alaylle waves goodbye happily to Mr. Metaller as it hops away west, to go to Rocker Coast via Rocker Field. "Well... that was certainly different-and scary!"

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"Friends with... a Metaller?... How strange..." Sister Matilda thinks for a moment and begins her return letter and package to Father Renauld...

End of Chapter 8
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Chapter 9 Preview!

Alaylle's father: "Dear! The city... it's under attack!"

Alaylle's mother: "Oh my... another attack?"
"Keep Alaylle safe... please!"

In the Next Chapter: "The Beginning of a Dream..."

Alaylle's mother: "It's solely up to you what you wish to do..."
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