A/N: Back to Takuya. And introducing our favourite duo from Frontier: Bokomon and Neemon.

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Wish Journeys 1.1
Three Brothers

Chapter 3/Takuya

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The kettle-shaped structure had called to him and he'd gone to it.

There had been a monster there. A vicious dog, black and firing green beams all over the place. He'd lost his sword trying to fight.

Thankfully, there'd been another Chosen in there as well. Probably also after the sphere. He beat the monster dog.

But when Takuya grabbed his sword again, he found a red sphere with it.

I don't deserve this, he thought, but the other Chosen and his rabbit companion were gone. They'd been a strange bunch too. The rabbit talked more than the boy.

Who'd ever heard of talking rabbits anyway?

He'd give it back when he found the other again, he decided. And he'd find the spheres he needed to after that. Or during that. It wasn't fair to take something someone else had earned. That boy probably had his own wish too, but he'd still helped him.

And he'd become stronger so that he didn't need to be helped.

Because how would he protect his little brother if he was always the one who needed protection?

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He stood on the platform and pulled the sword from the scabbard, giving it a few experimental swishes. Nothing fell. There was no enemy around him to fall. He slashed again. It was hard to know whether he was accomplishing anything at all.

'There he is! There he is!'

He started and whipped around as two…creatures skidded to a halt, wary of the sword.

'We're good,' the one in yellow cried. 'Don't make us go away.'

Takuya stared at them, then sheathed his sword. They looked harmless, and he hadn't drawn his sword for them anyway. They looked almost like children. Young and torn between excitement and fear.

Hero worship, he recognised, and that image suddenly made him sick to his stomach.

He looked away.

'You destroyed the monster, didn't you?' the white one said. 'We're ever so grateful.'

'No,' he said flatly. 'That was the other boy.'

Credit went where credit was due.

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'Didn't you hear me?' Takuya asked. 'I said it was the other boy.'

'But the other boy's not here,' the white one explained. 'And you look like a Chosen. It's good luck to look upon a Chosen.'

'I need lots of luck.' The yellow one skipped about energetically, then tripped over… Was he wearing red pants?

Under normal circumstances, Takuya would have been rolling on the floor, laughing. But these weren't normal circumstances. 'Why is it lucky?' he asked. 'And what do you know about Chosen?'

'Very few humans come to this world,' the white one began, and then stopped. 'Actually, why don't you come for tea? That's a much better place for a conversation.'

Takuya regarded him, then nodded his agreement. Truthfully, he hadn't had any dinner or breakfast, so the food was a wonderful idea.

And if guilt decided to try and trip him, he could always point out the usefulness of more information.

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Apparently, the white creature's definition of tea was loads of scones and some fried fish, but Takuya ate it all up. Now that he'd started, he realised he was starved.

The only bad thing about them was that they were sweet.

And that reminded him of how he was planning on spoiling Shinya with sweets once he woke up.

'Do you have a recipe?' he asked.

The white creature started at the question. He'd been staring at him since they'd come in, but said nothing.

'I have.' He pulled out a book from…a pink pouch? – and flipped a few pages before stopping. 'I can copy it down for you if you like.'

'Thank you,' Takuya said, staring at the book.

The yellow one snatched a scone off his plate. That was almost something Shinya would do.

'Is it for someone?' the white creature was looking at his face. Something must have shown on it, he supposed.

'Yeah,' he replied. 'My little brother. He loved sweets.'

'Loved?'

Takuya caught the slipup too late, then he sighed. He supposed it didn't matter. 'He's in a coma now. I'm here so I can save him.'

The white creature studied him a moment longer, then closed his book. 'That's a noble goal,' he said. 'I expected no less from a Chosen.'

Seeing the confusion, he continued. 'Chosen all have noble goals, noble wishes. That's what grants them passage here. Whether they reach the Goddess however is based on the strength of their hearts – what lines they cross, what they sacrifice… Or so the legend goes. I am a book-keeper,' he added. 'Bokomon, at your service.'

'Neemon,' the excitable yellow one said. 'I'm Neemon.'

'Bokomon and Neemon,' Takuya repeated. 'I'm Takuya.'

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He needed to start looking. Luckily. Bokomon had a map. And knew there were five types of spheres he had to find. 'There's the fire one, which you have.' Takuya decided not to mention right then it didn't rightfully belong to him. 'There's the water one, the wind one, the earth one, and a light or darkness one.' He dropped his voice. 'There's a rumour going around that the darkness one is bad news, so best to go for the light one.'

Takuya nodded, committing the warning to memory.

'Tales of past Chosen also tell that the spheres tend to be where their element is strongest. For example.' He cleared his throat. 'Our boiler.'

Takuya nodded again. 'Then this ocean area would be a good bet for a water sphere?'

'Yes, exactly.' Bokomon bobbed his head up and down. He looked a little like a dwarf. 'It's a bit of a travel getting there though. You might find the wind sphere before that. Forests and mountains are good places for that and on the way to the ocean, there's both.'

Takuya nodded. He'd been doing a lot of that today.

Usually he wouldn't have bothered strategizing, but he was saving time. Trying to save time. Not wander aimlessly while his little brother slept his youth away in that hospital bed.

And he had some food and a map and a weapon. All he needed now was a few lessons on how to swing a sword so he could take care of the next creature that attacked him by himself.

And a way to thank these two for the food and map and information.

'Thank you,' he said, one last time, getting up to go. 'I wish I could repay you somehow –'

Neemon latched himself on to Takuya's leg.

He blinked.

Bokomon stepped forward too. 'Can we come along?'

'Wait…what?'

'Can we come along?' Bokomon repeated.

Takuya couldn't imagine why anyone would want to come along on such a selfish adventure. 'I'm trying to fulfil my own wish,' he said, carefully.

'We won't get in the way,' Bokomon pleaded. 'I've heard of Chosen, but I've never met one in person and it's always been my dream to chronicle the journey of one.'

'Please, please please?' Neemon begged, tightening his grip on his leg.

'I – ' To his embarrassment, he choked up. He swallowed and continued. 'I should have protected my brother. I didn't. I probably won't be able to protect you.'

Bokomon hummed, then said: 'why don't you practise?'

'Practise?' Takuya repeated.

'You can practise protecting us,' Bokomon clarified, 'then you'll be in a much better position to protect your brother.'

That was a fair point. Takuya agreed.

He just hoped he didn't mess up trying to protect these two.

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They left the place called Flame Terminal after lunch. Bokomon told all sorts of tales he'd learnt from other book-keepers along the way. Takuya listened with half an ear. He learnt there were only two classes: warrior and mage. The other boy must have been a mage.

There were also levels. Bokomon didn't know the exacts but some mages had a wider range of spells than others. Most were specialised to one element. Some could use multiple. Rare ones were proficient with multiple. And it was the same with the warriors. All had a sword but there were different types. Some looked like steel. Others like white gold.

Takuya's looked like wood. That meant he had a long way to go.

But Bokomon didn't seem concerned. Neither did Neemon. The yellow rabbit-like creature skipped ahead, more excited than any of them.

'It's a few days walk to the Forest Terminal!' Bokomon yelled.

Takuya was struck again by how energetic the little creature was, how like Shinya.

These two were in his care.

He'd be damned if he didn't protect them.

And he'd be damned if he didn't find the spheres he needed…for Shinya.