Heya friends! Another chapter that is written from Ziggs' point of view! Have fun!
"Forbidden woods! Ha, yeah right!" As a child the adults always told us to stay away from this forest. But did that stop me from going here? Absolutely not! And what did I find? Absolutely nothing! Well, at least no big monsters that could crush my whole body with a single blow! I did see some squirrels though! Those were pretty cute!
"Argh, what are you doing, Ziggs? Stop thinking about stuff like that! It's totally fine if you get distracted while testing bombs, but this is important!" I slapped myself and shook my head.
"Ah, much better! Now... If I were a stupid kidnapper that kidnapped the best yordle in the whole world, where would I hide?" So I continued searching. But it turns out that it's a little bit more complicated to look for two yordles in a big forest than I anticipated.
"Hmm... It's no use... I can't search through the whole forest... I need another hint." I tried looking around once more to see if I could find anything that would help me right now. And I indeed saw something that caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. It was a mark on one of these trees. And as I looked forward, I saw that all the trees behind this one also had those marks. Maybe those were for the kidnapper to know where he has to go?
"Well, it ain't much, but it's better than nothing I guess!" So I followed those marks. Man, it seemed like I walked for an eternity and they still wouldn't stop! I was starting to get impatient, and that is something that happens very rarely! But eventually the marks stopped and I was standing before a house.
"This is it, right? So, how should I go in there? Maybe I'll just explode my way in! Yeah!... Buuut what if it isn't the kidnapper's house? That wouldn't be very good. And what if Vait got hurt? That would be even worse!" I usually have no problem at all to explode my way into stuff, like the time those piltover professors got kidnapped and I saved them! But this was different. The house looks rather brittle, so I think even one small bomb from my Hexplosive Minefield would bring it down.
"I guess I'll... just knock?" Not much else I can do. So I knocked hard on the door and waited. It took a while but eventually someone opened the door. I didn't see who it was, though, because my eyes immediately darted towards another yordle that was standing in the room.
"Z-ziggs?" Aww, he sounded so surprised! He probably didn't expect me to come and save him!
"W-what are you-" But I didn't let him finish that sentence. I ran to him and hugged him tightly.
"Don't worry, cutie! I'm here now! Did he hurt you? Did he do anything to you? I'll blow him up if he did!"
"No, he-" This time the other yordle interrupted Vait.
"So, I assume you two know each other?" I heard his tired voice and turned towards him. I saw him smiling which made me even more furious.
"How dare you have the audacity to smile after you've kidnapped someone? You've picked the wrong target, buddy! Cause you don't want me as an enemy!" I sounded quite threatening, but he didn't look scared at all. Wait, now that I looked at him... he looks kinda... familiar? We yordle usually have bright fur, so dark green fur like his is pretty memorable.
"Wait, don't I know you?"
"Do you? I certainly don't remember you."
"No no, I'm sure!... Waaaait, you are that one yordle that accidentally killed his parents, aren't you? Ezyo, right?" I guess I remembered correctly judging by his silence and his now closed eyes. My memory is amaziiiing!
"I knew it! I always thought banishing you to the forbidden forest was not the right answer, but I guess I was wrong! You seem to be a criminal after all!"
"Ziggs stop!" I turned back towards Vait and looked at him with a confused face. It's pretty rare for him to get that loud.
"Stop? But why? He kidnapped you, didn't he?"
"No... I mean yes... kinda... it's... hard to say, really..." It looked like he thought about it for a moment before he sighed and continued.
"Look, yes, I guess he did kidnap me, but he didn't do it for something evil! He needs my help!"
"Well, couldn't he have asked someone el-... Oh..."
"Yep, you see why he couldn't do that, right?" I nodded silently. Man, that whole banishing thing seems even more harsh now that I think about it.
"Then he could have... done something else... Kidnapping seems a bit harsh, don't you think?" I saw that Vait was smirking now.
"Oh please Ziggs, we both know that you would blow up the entire city if it would save me from something." I raised my finger to argue, but then I realised that he was probably right. So I just grinned as well.
"Yeah, I guess that's true..." Well, maybe I wouldn't blow the WHOLE city up, but a good portion of it at least!
"Yep, it's quite funny what people are willing to do to save their loved ones, right?" He smiled at me and I smiled back.
"Agreed! Now then..." I turned towards the green yordle and rubbed the back of my head.
"I guess I'll have to apologize, eh? I can get a liiiittle carried away when it comes to Vait, so I wanted to explode stuff first and then ask questions. Sooo... sorry!" He shook his head.
"No, it's alright. It's not like I didn't kidnap him. So I should be sorry for all the trouble I caused."
"All good! Oh, almost forgot! I'm Ziggs!" I held out my hand and he chuckled quietly.
"Haha, I got that much! Nice to meet you, Ziggs!" He shook my hand.
"Great, now that we got that out of the way... What's the problem? Whose life is at stake?"
"It's my brothers... He suddenly fell into a coma and I didn't know what to do, so I asked Vait for help."
"Weeell, you came to the right yordle! There's no way that a simple coma will defeat the awesome potions of Vait! Riiight?" I looked at Vait and he nodded.
"Yep yep... But now that I think about it... Your timing is pretty good, Ziggs!" He came closer and smiled brightly.
"I know, haha! But care to explain why exactly?" He suddenly grabbed my arm and pulled me to the door.
"Because you can help me with that potion! We'll be right back, Ezyo!" And with those words we ran outside.
"Heeey whoa, slow down a little, cutie! Or at least let me run myself, haha!"
"Oh, right, sorry!" He let go of my arm, but continued running. So I followed him and asked him once more.
"So I can help you? How so? I thought I'd be too distracting to help you?"
"Yeah, but you can do something else! I have already decided which potion I'll make, and I think I should have everything at home... Well, everything but one ingredient. And that's where you come into play! This ingredient is pretty rare, but one of the places where it grows is this forest!"
"I see, and you want me to get that for you?"
"Exactly! I would've asked Ezyo to do it, but I was a little scared to let him go alone. It looks like he hasn't slept much if at all. So if you accompany him while I prepare all the other stuff for the potion I'd feel much better!" Aww, it's always so cute to see how much that little guy cares about others!
"Sure, count me in!"
"Great! But I have another question."
"Ask away!"
"Well... How did you know that I was in danger? I mean he didn't knock me out for that long, did he?"
"He knocked you out?"
"Yes, but that's not important anymore, please answer."
"Okay... Well, there were several things! The first thing was that you didn't write a letter after one day! I probably would have gone to Bandle after that already, because I know that you would never forget a promise like that, but Rumble talked me out of it. The next hint was from Neeko actually. She said that your 'Sho'ma' felt weird somehow, and at that point I knew something was wrong! Once I got to Bandle and saw that everyone was fine, you were gone and no one knew where you were I knew that you were in danger!"
"Okay, I see... Well, thank you for worrying about me that much." He smiled happily and I grinned back.
"But of course! I'm your knight in shining Armor, I would never let anyone hurt you!"
"I know... But Ziggs? You did tell Angela that you were going here, right?"
"Uhm... Yeaaah... About that..."
"You didn't?! You know what could happen if they find out, right? They could throw you out of the League!"
"Hah, no way! Up until now I have never done anything wrong in the League. One small incident won't be enough to justify kicking me out! I'll probably just have to clean the cafeteria for a week or something! Haha!" At least I hope so...
"... Still, you should have just told Angela..."
"You really think 'Vait hasn't written a letter and Neeko said his Sho'ma felt weird' are reasons enough to let me go? I don't think so... And don't forget that Angela still has to ask the big guys, which can take a little while. So I just had to do it." I looked at him, but it seemed like this answer didn't satisfy him.
"Hey now... You said it yourself, didn't you? Sometimes we do all kinds of reckless stuff to help our loved ones, right? Even if I'll get punished in some way, I'm just glad that you are save." He then suddenly stopped and hugged me briefly.
"You are adorable, you know that?"
"Eh, I try my best~ But how about we wait till we've helped Ezyos brother for that kinda stuff?"
"You're right! Let's continue!" He let go and we started walking again. It took a little while, but we finally reached Bandle. We headed straight towards Vaits house. And once we got there, we were immediately greeted by Vaits father who sounded really relieved.
"Ah, I see you found him, Ziggs! Where were you, Vait? I was pretty worried when Ziggs told me that you were missing!"
"Hi dad! Glad to see that you're doing better! It's... A rather long story... But don't worry about it! It's all good now! However, we have to do something right now, so we have no time for talking right now. Sorry!"
"I see, just be save, okay?"
"You know me, dad! I'll always try my best to not get into trouble" Vait smiled and quickly hugged his father before we went to his room.
"Now... Let's see... What could be useful for this potion...?" He dashed around and basically bombarded me with vials, equipment and ingredients. Even I had a little bit of trouble catching everything, but I managed.
"Say... Is that potion hard to make?" It looked like he got all the materials that he needed, because he was looking through his bookshelf now. Thankfully, because I don't think that I could carry much more.
"Kinda... It is one of the harder potions to brew, but it also is one of the strongest. Perfect for this scenario... Now, where is it...?" He quickly looked through all the books and then he picked one up that seemed to be the right one.
"There we go! I think this is everything we need!" He turned around happily, but once he looked at me he tilted his head.
"Uhm... Should I take some of your stuff or...?"
"Nah, it's fine! We'll just have to run a little bit slower, no problem-o!"
"Well, if you say so... Just make sure that you don't drop anything, alright?"
"Have I ever dropped anything in my life?"
"Nooo, neveeer!" Vait grinned and rolled with his eyes. After that we made our way back to Ezyos home. It took a lot longer than before, and I was not happy about that. But at least this time I had Vait to keep me company, so it wasn't that bad. But I was still glad when we finally reached our destination.
"Ugh, this took WAY too long! Next time we take the bus or something!"
"Oh riiight! How could we forget the bus that stops right at the only house in the forbidden woods?"
"Well, see? That's a market niche right there! We could get rich if we offer that!"
"It's a good thing that you choose to make bombs instead of analyzing the market..." Vait knocked on the door and Ezyo opened it.
"Ah, there you are. I was worried that you changed your minds."
"Nope, not at all!" We went inside and Vait immediately opened the book.
"Okay guys, I'll stay here and start working on the potion. You two need to get out there and get me this thing!" He pointed at a picture in the book. It looked like a beautiful red flower.
"'Red dream'?"
"Yep, that's the name of the flower. I need one of those for the potion. It's said that one of the few spots where this flower grows is this forest."
"I don't think I've ever seen one of those..."
"I've heard that you can find them if you go deep into this forest, where all the monsters are rumored to life. So that's why I think you two should go together, so it's safer."
"Hah, you really think the monsters are real? Those are just stories to keep the kids away from the woods so that they don't get lost!" I smiled brightly and nodded. That has to be the case, right?
"Well, I wouldn't be so sure about that... I've seen two or three monsters already... They certainly weren't as huge as I was told, but still. Who knows what lurks deeper inside?"
"I see... Guess they've exaggerated then. And even if there really are big monsters out there, they are no match for my bombs!"
"Sure, I know that Ziggs. Otherwise I wouldn't sent you out there." Vait smiled, closed the book and stood up.
"Now... I'll start with the potion now. It takes a lot of preparation, so I hope that I'll be finished by the time you two come back. Good luck!" He hugged me once more and then collected all the stuff and went upstairs. Ezyo and I left the house and I looked at him.
"Alrighty then friend! Lead the way!"