Book III: Stolen Valor
Chapter XXVI
"Rafi come on!" Poppi urged as she ushered Rafi out the door.
"Why is Poppi in such rush?" Rafi asked as he looked at himself in the mirror.
Nopon are generally about three foot tall, Rafi was a whopping four foot tall. His fur was a green-blue color and his eyes were amber-colored. He had always known he was a biggypon, and every time he looked in the mirror he was reminded of that. He finally finished brushing his hair with his large ear flaps that doubled as hands, and reached from his head to his belly. His hands and feet were nothing but little nubs, and just like all nopon, his body was egg-shaped, with no neck or anything to differentiate his head from his torso, he often wore black clothing to help him look a bit smaller.
"Poppi want to see Garfont! And take big tram to Fonsa Myma, capital of Uraya!" Poppi said excitedly.
"Doesn't Poppi think it be weird that little girl walk around with big nopon?" Rafi asked self-consciously.
"It never bothered masterpon before!" Poppi reasoned.
Rafi still wasn't sure.
Poppi nodded. "Poppi can fix!"
"What Poppi mean by that?"
"Initializing Poppi Quixotic Tutelar," she said excitedly.
Her costume changed from her usual puffy shorts and red scarf to a full black and white, poofy dress. It resembled an old maid outfit. Her scarf turned into a bright red bow tie and her entire body looked less like a small child's and more like a fifteen year old's. Her blue hair also changed from one pony tail to two pig tails and her little beret changed into a small frilly headband, complementing her outfit.
"Is this better?" she asked.
"How did Poppi do that?!" Rafi asked, dumbstruck.
She shook her head. "Not Poppi, Poppi Quixotic Tutelar! Or... Poppi QT for short!"
"Poppi QT have much more power than Poppi alpha!" Rafi exclaimed. "Does Poppi QT have other forms?"
"That not important right now. Right now Poppi QT want to see city!" Poppi QT practically better.
"Alright, alright! Poppi QT win! We go see city," Rafi confirmed.
"Hooray!" she cheered triumphantly before jetting out the front door.
Rafi immediately ran out behind her. "Poppi need to wait for Rafi!!"
Poppi stopped suddenly, causing Rafi to clumsily fall into her.
"Hurry up Rafi!" Poppi QT complained.
"Sorry, Rafi not 'picture of fitness'," he laughed.
"Oh... Poppi must be excited, will attempt to cool systems, in the meantime, Rafi lead way!"
"Ok!"
https/youtu.be/ZltrcKf3NYA
Poppi pretty much led the way for the entire excursion, as she constantly asked other blades about where to go and what to do, but Rafi tagged along happily behind her. He was honestly just happy to see her not being sad or hiding it for once, and her new form definitely intrigued him. Where had it come from? What else was she hiding? Was it even any of his business?
"Rafi! Poppi QT found out something amazing!" Poppi said excitedly as she ran up to him.
"What Poppi QT find this time?" Rafi asked skeptically. The last few times she'd "found" something had all been children's playgrounds and what not.
"Big theatre in Fonsa Myma have very special show on in few hours! We must hurry to tram!" Poppi said excitedly.
"Alright, let's go!" Rafi said as they hurried and purchased some tickets for the tram.
The tram was a large, bus-sized carriage attached to a rope, which used a pulley system to pull the carriage all the way to Fonsa Myma in as little as fifteen minutes.
Poppi and Rafi ended up getting a car to themselves, as most of Garfont's residents were still working hard for the BAP. Odds were that the carts behind them would be full in anticipation of the show.
"Poppi QT never asked Rafi about Rafi's past," Poppi said in realization.
Rafi chuckled nervously. "Not much to talk about really."
"C'mon! Rafi must have some type of past! Tell Poppi!" she demanded.
Eventually, Rafi caved in. He found it hard to say no to Poppi. "Alright, alright. Rafi was born and raised in Argentum Gambling District. Rafi was always biggypon of group, even when compared to daddapon and mommapon. Mommapon has gambling addiction and made one bet too many, she murdered when Rafi was only four."
"Oh Rafi...," Poppi sighed, but Rafi kept going.
"Then Juliani took over in place of her father, who died under mysterious circumstances. We thought Juliani would fix everything, but she only hoarded beautiful women in her mansion and stepped on all men and nopon alike. Daddapon worked as engineer for Juliani, and when she cut daddapon's pay for the third time in a month, he talk to Juliani about it."
"What happen?"
"She made him take place in Argentum Entertainment House," Rafi responded.
"Poppi hold no data of Argentum Entertainment House," Poppi said.
"It horrible place, nobody except for Juliani and her entourage know what truly happen, but nobody ever leave alive, and daddapon die too, leaving Rafi at thirteen all alone."
"That awful! How does Juliani get away with that?"
"Juliani is nopon driver. Nopon drivers are very rare and always famous. Juliani is most powerful woman and nopon in all of Alrest, any illegal actions disappear," Rafi explained before continuing. "Rafi was taken in by daddapon's old boss. And forced to work for rest of Rafi's days. But Rafi not good engineer or mechanic and constantly mess up all the time! Rafi work under Juliani for many years, and it awful! One day, Rafi mess up sink and get sewage water on Juliani. Rafi had to escape and that when he came to Leftheria with Silas!"
Poppi sighed. "Well, Rafi can't be all bad, if you capable of fixing Poppi!"
Rafi seemed to cheer up a bit. "Poppi QT quite right! Rafi even compare to great masterpon Tora!"
Poppi giggled. "Don't get too prideful."
"Right, right," Rafi chuckled as the tram went to a stop.
They got off and picked up a couple tickets to the theatre. The play was called "The Rise and Fall of a Noble" and was a story that featured Vandham, the founder of the Garfont Mercenaries.
Poppi and Rafi grabbed some food. You wouldn't think, being an artificial blade and all, that Poppi would have a need to eat. However, she can actually extract fuel from food just as humans and blades did. After they finished, they went into the theatre and took their seats.
Soon, the show started. The story was about a man name Aquila Paronet Sol Esteriole, a very big man born into a very rich family of nobles. Throughout his childhood, he looked up to a man named Vandham, a freelance freedom fighter that fought for freedom of all. Uraya, at one point in time, looked down on other races, but Vandham, taught the people how to show compassion and revealed that they weren't all so different. Aquila read these books and became obsessed with helping weaker people than himself.
He often gave out lots of his own money, and some of his family's money, to help orphans and homeless people. This resulted in him getting thrown out of his own home. He wasn't deterred though, he joined with a flesh eater named Cole, and together they became freelance mercenaries, helping those in need. He even gave himself an alias, his new name was Vandham.
"Cole actually one who wrote play," Poppi whispered to Rafi.
"We almost never get paid Vandham! That bleeding heart of yours is gonna starve us both one day!" the actor that played Cole said.
"You're welcome to leave at any time old timer," Vandham's actor laughed heartily.
"Nah," Cole smirked. "I like your spirit."
The play was wrapped in beautiful displays of fireworks, loud banging sounds, peaceful music, and so many other stage props. It was breathtaking, and unlike anything Rafi or Poppi had ever seen.
Soon it showed the time when Rex met Vandham. Vandham challenged him to a fight, Rex used too much power from an actor that played Pyra, and Vandham soon taught Rex everything he could about being a driver.
"It's a driver's job to be smart with his arts, and protect his blade," Vandham counseled.
"Protect my blade?" Rex asked.
"Did that really happen?" Rafi questioned.
Poppi nodded. "Rex didn't understand how he could protect Pyra, especially when Pyra was so much stronger than Rex."
Later it showed the battle between Rex, Nia, Tora, and Vandham and Malos and Akhos. Akhos was one of Malos' associates at the time.
"They got Malos' chest piece all wrong!" Rafi pointed out.
Malos' chest piece had his dark purple core crystal surrounded by gold pieces, the one depicted in the play had just a straight purple chest.
"That because Malos lost power in Aegis War one thousand years ago, he regained power way later," Poppi said.
Poppi couldn't stop looking at the actor that played her, it was weird to see.
It was clear that Rex and Vandham were losing, with no other options left, Vandham took his blade's weapons and planted them in his thighs, and fought Malos himself using his wind blade's abilities, simulated by powerful air fans attached to his arms.
"What? Why did Vandham do that?" Rafi asked.
"Akhos' blade, Obrona, but off ether flow. It made all of us unable to fight, Vandham did that to channel ether flow through his body," Poppi said as she began to get sad and teary-eyed.
"Go Rex!" Vandham cried. "Just go! Live for her! Remember to fight your war!"
"I can't leave you!" Rex cried, but it was too late, Malos used his sword and killed Vandham.
His body hit the ground with a loud thud. Poppi had forgotten how sad that had been, and it hurt to see it again.
Rex didn't run, and Malos went to finish him off, and Pyra screamed, but it wasn't her own voice anymore.
"REX!!!"
The stage erupted in a flash of white light as a new actor took Pyra's place, but dressed as Mythra.
"Mythra!" Malos' actor laughed. "Looking good, thinks are heating up!"
"Pyra? You're?!" Rex's actor asked in confusion.
"I am NOT Pyra, she's a different self that I constructed, I am Mythra," she explained.
"Different... self?" Rafi asked, confused.
Mythra's power won that fight, but at the cost of Vandham's life. He was buried where he fell, at Olethro Ruins in Uraya. Not too far from where Poppi and Rafi were.
"And so ends the tale of Vandham, a great hero. His tombstone can still be seen in Olethro Ruins to this day," a narrator said.
After a few more words and life lessons, the curtains shut and the room was filled with applause.
"Yes! Yes! Bravo, bravo!" Poppi shouted excitedly.
As Poppi got ready to leave, she couldn't help but notice Malos up at the back, but before she could go talk to him, he disappeared into a cloud of black smoke.
Rafi caught Poppi's stare.
"Is Poppi alright?" he asked, not knowing that Malos was ever there.
Poppi snapped back into reality. "Yes, Yes! Poppi fine."
Poppi and Rafi exited to see all the actors outside, signing autographs and taking pictures. Poppi stopped and looked at the actor that had played her.
"Actor did amazing job playing Poppi," Poppi complimented.
"Why thank you!" she replied. "You have a very nice Poppi cosplay yourself, although I do admit the pigtails are a bit off, and the costume's a bit different."
Poppi looked confused, before realizing she was still in her QT form.
"Oh! This is Poppi QT, Poppi alpha look like this!" she said before turning back to her normal, childlike appearance before the astonished actor's eyes.
"Y-You're... the r-real Poppi?!"
"Poppi can't be making scene!" Rafi scolded as he saw what had happened.
"Oh right! Sorry!" Poppi apologized before turning back to her QT form.
"Oh my gosh I have to tell everyone!" the actor said ecstatically.
"C'mon Poppi let's go!" Rafi said before grabbing Poppi's arm and pulling her to the tram.
"Bye friend!" Poppi waved to the actor.
As they walked back, Poppi remembered something.
"Rafi wait! Poppi want to see one more thing before we go back," she pleaded.
Rafi nodded and she took them up a very large flight of stairs found in the middle of Fonsa Myma.
"Meh meh! So... many... stairs!" Rafi panted as they reached the top.
Poppi and Rafi both looked across at two tombstones in front of them.
"Poppi? This is..." Rafi began.
"Vandham's tombstone, this is where he died," Poppi explained.
"Who other tombstone?"
Poppi looked at it and read the name.
"Cole, it say he passed one hundred years ago," Poppi read. "He sure did live much longer than expected."
"Is Poppi ready to go?" Rafi asked.
Poppi ignored Rafi's question, and asked her own. "Rafi, do you want to be driver?"
"Rafi tried to be driver once, but core crystal not resonate with Rafi! Rafi had bloody nose for three days after trying!" Rafi complained.
"Would Rafi like to be Poppi's driver? Poppi can ask Gabriel to train Rafi, so that Rafi can help protect friends," Poppi offered.
"Was this the reason Poppi wanted to go with Rafi all day?"
Poppi nodded.
"Poppi...," Rafi said in deep thought. "Rafi would love to try really hard!"
"Oh how cute!" a voice unfamiliar to Rafi said from the background.
Rafi and Poppi both turned to see a small girl, the same size as Poppi alpha.
Poppi immediately disengaged her QT form, looking at the girl across from them in disbelief.
The girl was in a complete maid outfit, and her hair was black and went down slightly below her head, her eyes were red like Poppi's. Rafi wasn't entirely sure at first, but on closer inspection he knew that this was an artificial blade, just like Poppi.
"Lila?!" Poppi exclaimed in disbelief.
"Long time no see, sis," Lila confirmed.
"What is Lila doing here?!" Poppi asked in confusion.
Lila giggled. "Well I would personally love to beat you right here and now. To have a chance to show you how much I've grown, it'd be a dream come true!"
Poppi stared in confusion. "Why Lila not speaking in nopon dialect?"
"Oh please, Juliani would never allow that," Lila said, rolling her eyes. "You and your peon friends' presences are requested in Alba Cavanich, Mor Ardain. Be there this time next week or I'll hunt you down, understood?"
Lila then disappeared into thin air.
"What?!" Rafi said in astonishment. "Meh meh! Where did Lila go? Who is Lila?"
"Poppi is Lila's prototype, but Lila seem much different than she was long time ago, Poppi and Rafi must go warn others!"
Readability Level: College Level
Time Taken: 8 Hours