I am back with another chapter! So yay.

Just as a small notice that new chapters will be made on Tuesdays and Fridays and if not then most likely the day after. As a way of saying sorry should I miss both of those targets than expect the chapter to be either longer or have some extra trivia included.


THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN UPDATED RETROACTIVELY


Chapter 2: Getting introduced

"Uhh... well… yeah…" The man said blushing furiously underneath his helmet as he walked towards the fox-lady and out of the darkness while swearing under his breath at his own incompetence.

Noticing the man's considerable height even under the low light of the late afternoon the fox-lady stood up and took a defensive stance. Once the armoured man was in full view the fox-lady's expression became slightly less irritated and a bit more concerned, though not very noticeably so.

"What the hell are you?" The fox-lady questioned with equal amounts of fear and intrigue in her voice.

"I'm a person." The man explained, hoping to ease any concerns she had.

"Well obviously. But why are you in massive armour?" The fox-lady queried, slightly frustrated by the man's lacklustre response to her original question.

"I am a Centurion of the second division of the Deridian army. This is my specialised version of the standard-issue battle-rig." He answered as if she should have known about all the things he was referring to.

"I have no idea what you are talking about." The woman stated, becoming slightly more wary of the possibility the man was mad.

"What do you mean, you don't know? Every person and animal on the planet has heard of us." The man asked like he had been personally insulted.

"I don't know how but I have a lot of memories that aren't mine and in none of them has anyone mentioned any of the stuff you just said."

"How could anyone not have… wait, what planet am I on?" The man questioned with a hint of worry in his words.

"Runeterra."

"That's… hmm. I'll be honest, I was not expecting that."

He looked to the side then took a seat on the floor. The man took his helmet in both hands and pulled it off to wipe his brow.

It was only then that she got a good look at his face. He had brown eyes and black hair which was well cut with a sideways quiff at the front. His jaw was strong and angular and relatively clean shaven however it was clear he had not bothered to do anything to it for a week or so. She could not deny that she was attracted to him and by the look in his eyes she could tell he felt the same way about her, though it was very obvious he was trying to hide that fact.

She knelt down in front of him and questioned: "Why weren't you expecting to be here?"

"Basically, I'm on the wrong planet again."

"How do you just casually end up on the wrong planet?"

"Well it all started when my division was ordered to raid an enemy compound that they had disguised as a small village. I and the other officers stayed behind while the foot-soldiers took the compound. From where I was it all looked to be going well. Eventually a runner returned telling it was clear for us to move to the compound. However, as we got there I instantly saw we had made a terrible mistake. Bodies of civilians were strewn across the ground and when we got to the centre of the compound I saw the real reason we had been told to attack the town. Lined up in the centre of the town were what I assumed to be wizards. As you can probably tell any mage that is not friendly has the chance to become an enemy and that is something that the army could not risk at a time where rebellions were more common than ever. As is tradition the officers are to be the executioners in these situations so I watched as one by one my fellow centurions cleaved off the heads of the mages until eventually it was my turn. I was last to go and as I walked forward and took out my axe I looked at the man in front of me. I had never killed anyone at that point so obviously I struggled to get the will. I simply could not bring myself to kill the man. As I put the axe back by my side I was kicked hard in the back. I fell to my knees and looked up to see a fellow officer standing above me. He said 'It is high treason to refuse to kill and enemy of the state! For this offence, you shall be executed along with him.' At that point I was pretty bloody scared, but I chose to accept my fate with honour instead of trying to save myself. As I saw the shadow of another officer's axe rise into the air above me I closed my eyes and started to feel an incredible sorrow. Just as I heard the axe falling through the air I was pulled through a portal and ended up looking upon yet another scene of slaughter. That's when I saw you, well, old you. When I noticed you turn from a fox to a human I decided to follow you and ask you some questions."

"They were going to kill you for hesitating to execute someone?"

"Yes."

"I'm so sorry to hear that! Is there anything I can do to help you?"

"I usually feel better when I know what's going on so if you could help me work that out I'd owe you one."

"Ask away."

"Well, first off we should properly get properly acquainted so, uh, hi. My name is Zoh Kihn." He greeted while holding his hand out.

"It's nice to meet you Zoh. I'm… Ahri, I suppose." She replied while taking his large, armoured hand and shaking it.

"That's probably the least sure I've ever heard someone be about their own name."

"I didn't really have a name as a fox and this just feels correct."

"Yeah, that makes sense. Second question I've got to ask is: you're not going to attempt to kill me or anything, right? Cause it's starting to feel like everyone wants to give it a go."

"No, I promise I'm not planning on murdering you."

"Fantastic. Final question I've got to ask, and you don't have to answer this one, is where are you going?"

"I am headed to a place called the Institute of War. Apparently they can use people like me and you to resolve political and military issues as well as helping us achieve things we have no other way of doing without hurting people." Ahri explained with a smile a hopeful smile, adding at the end: "My guess is they have a way of sending you home in exchange for you participating in the league of legends programme for a while"

At that statement Zoh looked down in deep thought for a few seconds until he looked up and, with a sigh, decided "I don't want to go back. As I said, I was about to be executed for high treason. I quite like my head to be attached to my neck, to be honest."

"So you are going to stay here?" Ahri questioned with growing hope in her eyes.

"Yes I think I shall stick around for a while. At the very least until I can get you safely to the Institute."

"Does that mean we are going to be friends?"

"Travelling-buddies, friends, however you want to say it."

"YAY! We are going to be such good friends! Do you promise that you will never leave me? I wouldn't want to be abandoned by my first human friend would I?" Ahri yelled while jumping up, overjoyed that she had made her first human friend.

"I promise on my honour that I will not leave you for as long as we are friends." He swore with a smile as the childish woman attempted to embrace him only to realise she could not reach around his armour.

"You're not going to be as fun of a friend if you stay in that armour the whole trip."

"Well, okay then. Just step back and watch." He stood up and put his helmet on.

As Ahri backed up she saw all of Zoh's armour expand out in all directions, suspending the man in mid-air. As Zoh began to fall to the ground all the armour dissipated into the air from the feet upwards. Once Zoh was completely open to the elements Ahri looked at him and noticed he was about the same height as her and had impressive muscles all over. They were far enough above average that they were easily visible through the well-fitting suit he wore.

They both took a step closer to each other and Zoh put his hand out for her to shake but was met with a hug from Ahri which threw him of balance for a moment.

"Uh Ahri. I don't know about the customs of this planet but where I come from friends don't hug unless it is a special occasion." Zoh said with an awkward smile on his face.

"I just became a human and you just got teleported to this planet, barely avoiding having your head chopped off. I would call that a special occasion."

"You may have got a point there." As he said that Zoh finally returned to hug.

As they separated they both looked as each other and just as Zoh was about to speak up Ahri cut him off and said "I think we should probably get some sleep." As she motioned with her head towards the moon which was now making its way slowly up into the sky.

Zoh simply nodded: "We should at least get out of this place first. In case you had not noticed there is nothing but grass and trees here."

"What's wrong with grass and trees?"

"Nothing in particular, but there is an inn right over there." Zoh pointed at a building about a hundred metres away.

"Oh… How come I did not notice that before?" Ahri asked as she started to blush.

"Because you were so focused on listening out for me would be my guess." Zoh supposed, accompanied by a short giggle when he noticed Ahri's blush.

"Oh yeah. I was really enjoying the thought of making you embarrassed for following me." Ahri admitted as her face finally started to return to its natural colour.

"Well, you succeeded there. But I'm getting pretty tired so let's go find some way to get money and then we can go to the inn."

"Not necessary. I found some on the mage before I ran off." Ahri declared as she put her hands to her hips and smiled proudly.

"Well okay then, let's go."

After a short walk they reached the village that the inn could be found in. It was at the opposite end to them, so they had to walk along the main road to get there. As they made their way over to it, Ahri noticed that a few people who were standing around were staring at her occasionally. They stopped looking when she looked back, but they would immediately return to looking when she turned away.

"Zoh, why are people looking at me?" Ahri asked with a hint of worry in her voice.

"Beats me. Maybe it's the tails?" Zoh said while still looking forward at the inn which they were only a short distance from now.

"I don't like it. Can we hurry up to get inside?" Ahri pleaded as she began to hang onto Zoh's arm.

"Okay then. Shiver then speed up your pace to just slower than a jog."

Once they were inside the inn they went straight to the owner and asked for a room. He only glanced at Ahri once before he let out a quiet huff and handed them the keys to the room.

As soon as they got to the room, Zoh noticed a problem and Ahri noticed an opportunity.

In unison they whispered: "Only one bed…" The main difference being the tone which they used while saying it.

After a short silence they both looked at each other and eventually Zoh said "I guess I will be a gentleman and let you have the bed. I can sleep on the sof-" Before he could finish his sentence Ahri put her finger to his lips to make him stop talking.

"Listen here, buddy, we're both gonna sleep in that bed and it's going to be the best sleepover you've ever had! We'll tell scary stories and stay up way too late because neither of us wants to fall asleep first!" Ahri declared with the same authoritative voice she had used earlier.

"Okay, fine. I suppose we can do that..." Zoh gave in with a deep sigh.

Fifteen minutes later:

Nothing in the room was moving and not a sound could be heard.

The next day:

"Hey… Ahri?"

"Yes Zoh?"

"Why am I wrapped in your tails?"

"When I woke up you looked cold so I decided I would help."

"Well, uhh, thank you… but can you take your tails away now? I need to go to the toilet."

"Ugh! So much effort!" Ahri whined as she pulled her tails back.

Just as Zoh was about to go into the bathroom Ahri called to him "By the way you stink so have a shower while you are in there." All she heard before the bathroom door slammed shut was an exaggerated sigh.

After they had both got ready to leave they left the inn and made a b-line for the nearest exit to town. Ahri was still getting looked at by more people than she was comfortable with.

Just as they were leaving the town they overheard two guards talking.

"Hey do you remember that new guy that joined a week ago. I can't quite recall his name."

"Oh yeah the young guy. Didn't they send him on patrol alone a few days ago?"

"Yeah that's the guy. Well, turns out they found his body. From what they can tell he was killed by Noxian weaponry."

"But the battle line is still a few miles away! How can they be here already?"

From that point Ahri and Zoh looked at each other and brought out a map that they had bought in town and from what they could tell they were going to have to find a port where they could travel to Piltover.

As soon as they were outside the eyesight of the town guards Zoh pressed a button that made his armour reappear.

"Do you really have to wear that stuff Zoh? It makes you look much more threatening than you are."

"We are going to the closest friendly port. That is to the South so if we want to get there by the end of today then we are going to be about a mile from the Noxian owned part of Ionia for the entire journey. I'm going to wear my armour." Zoh explained with an uncharacteristically stern voice.

"Why are you so serious all of a sudden?" Ahri asked, disheartened by his sudden change of mood.

"I'm trying to get into a fighting mood. We'll be very close to those 'Noxians' and apparently they're nasty so I'm expecting a fight. There's no way I'm gonna let myself be caught off guard and risk letting them hurt you."

"You know I can fight too."

"Really? You should have told me earlier. Why don't you go ahead and show me what you can do?"

Suddenly, Zoh found that he was covered in fire.

"Thank god you knew this armour was fire-resistant."

Ahri stayed silent and just smiled as the fire put itself out.

"You didn't know, did you?"

"I guessed."

Zoh stared at her for a moment before concluding: "This is going to be a long trip."

"And we are going to enjoy every minute of it." Added Ahri with her usual smile.


This chapter is a bit longer than expected because I finished it at 00:15 (Points for dedication!)

But yeah I have already missed my targets that I set today. Clearly this series is doomed to always be a day late :L

Same things apply to this chapter as to the last. Please give some constructive feedback.