A/N: Lalala~ breaking up my chapters in half again! Also, I got some kickass fanart of my version of Kimora by tumblr user 2dcandaceflynn, I can't link to the blog directly because of spam warnings, but just google search the blog title or whatever.
"You just let her run off?"
"She seemed like she knew what she was doing!"
Kimora was in hot water. Possibly less so than Nadia, but the boiling hot sensation only seemed to rise with every single stinging word that Ezra shouted. I mean, it wasn't like he'd tried to get them separated, it had just happened! But, the Nature Specialist barely let him get a word in out of her own rage-induced paranoia.
"In case you weren't fully aware, this not a cutesy little sightseeing vacation! This was supposed to be a serious diplomatic meeting, and you've gone and lost one of our own! You should have known better. Ugh, even I should have known better, never should've let you come…"
The Bronze-Arm Tribesmen seemed just as concerned for the loss of the child, even if they didn't quite understand what exactly was going on with anything, really. Then, they stood aside as a dull thudding of feet and rustling of trees made itself more apparent. And from the bushes emerged a creature made of of wooden totems and a green humanoid elephant with massive sheared off tusks.
Kimora recognized these two as Chief Thorn-Bringer and Mighty Shouter respectively. Out of an almost assumed obligation, he knelt down in reverence, while Ezra stared at this action with amused confusion. Mighty Shouter glanced over the two and snorted, unamused. Chief Thorn-Bringer moved a bit closer to examine both of them.
"Outlandishly clothed Snow Sprites," He started. "You are both miles, leagues, vast passages away from your land of origin. What brings the two of you here in our wood, if not to arrive unwelcomed?"
Master Ezra, not one to argue at the current time, cleared her throat and said "We were hoping to find a sort of common grounds between you and the Wild Veggies. It pains our hearts to see you both in such strife, and we were wondering if there was anything we could do to help you, if not end this senseless conflict." She nudged Kimora, obviously motioning him to get back up, which he quickly proceeded to.
"What you wish to end is not a major concern," The Chief said. "It is merely the claims of a dark order that is plaguing their kind as well as ours, and they believe that they can catch these dark beings, by apparently trespassing on our lands. But we know better, that it is our enemies from the fire and Darkness realms that are playing a violent sport."
"Either way, you do realize that there are still these little disputes playing out?" She said, gesturing all around herself. "Please, let us come with you to the Wild Veggie's settlement. We can all explain our mutual problems there."
Chief Thorn-Bringer scratched below where a normal being's chin should be. "Very well. Mighty Shouter and I will be the only ones to accompany you, however. I do not trust that they will act so kindly towards the ones that they so violently assaulted."
And thus, the elephant, the talking mask, and the two 'snow sprites' proceeded on another bout of walking. Granted, this time wasn't nearly as long as the previous romp, but it still bears some repeating that it wasn't exactly seven minutes from forest. And all at once, thing started to click into place when Kimora saw a very familiar face smack dab in the middle of the Veggie Village.
"Nadia!"
"Kimora!" Nadia yelled back. She'd been placed in a wicker cage that was almost too small to fit her when she was standing up, and suspended from a tree, dangling slightly from a small breeze and her own violent shaking of the bars. Kimora rushed towards the cage, but was stopped by Bad Apple and a rather dapper looking scallion.
"Not another step, my boy! The scallion cried, brandishing his leek broadsword in front of him. "What you see before you is an extremely dangerous criminal. Avert your eyes at once before her devilish gaze bewitches you!"
"Alright, what is the meaning of this?!" Ezra shouted, pointing at the current possible starting of an altercation. "That girl right there is my student!"
"Oh, ho, is she?" Bad Apple asked, coking a fruity eyebrow. "Then explain to me why she fell for my little test of character? Stalking an innocent fruit while her guard was down, tsk-tsk." Bad Apple's own rapier was drawn, and she stabbed in Ezra and Kimora's direction a few times.
"See, I knew this was a big misunderstanding!" Kimora said, looking between the veggies and an extremely annoyed Nadia, who was giving him a look that warned him not to make 'I told you so' lines at the current time. "She's not part of the Injured Order, she's just my friend! Look, I'm sure we'll laugh this off-"
"There will be no laughter!" screeched the Scallion. "There wasn't been. Not since p-poor Warrior Melon was… c-cubed…" He took of his hat and sobbed loudly into it. He plopped his hat back onto his head, still sniffling away his tears. "And I, The Great Rapscallion, will not have a single one more of my brothers or sisters to fall by the likes of this Order."
Ezra had had just about enough of this nonsense, and it seemed the Chief wasn't too wild about it either. "We have lost some of our own," he said, stabbing his spear into the ground. "But we have not acted out in trespassing or in violence as you have, have we?"
"Which is why we're here to help!" Ezra added. "I, specifically, wish to speak to your leader. Field Marshall Cornucopia, is it?"
"Yes, indeed!" A booming voice bellowed forth. Out of a rather large carved out tree emerged a man made purely out of sown flaxen seed, with eyes, bracelets, and a belt resembling emerald orbs. His body had his kind's symbols carved into the front and back, and he wore a long cape made of underbrush. "What do you wish of me?" He asked in an almost cartoonish way.
Ezra sighed deeply and mumbled something about it going to be a very long peace talk ahead of her. He walked into the carved tree, the two wild veggies and the Chief following suit while Shouter remained with the children. And before Bad Apple entered, she whistled towards a robotic looking veggie, and motioned for him to stay put in front on Nadia's cage with a quick nod.
Kimora sighed deeply, hating to be left out of things again, but it wasn't like he had a choice. He walked up towards the cage and put his hand on the bars, awkwardly attempting to show a sort of solidarity or empathy for her. She mostly understood what he was getting at, and also awkwardly placed her hand on the same bars as his.
"I'm gonna get you out of here, don't you worry," he whispered. "I'll prove your innocence."
"I'm sorry, what?" She whispered back. "How are you going to do that? I don't exactly think you can just magically find a member of the Order strolling down the street."
"Maybe not," He said with a grin. "But I can find one of their creatures! They'll be sure to listen to their own kind!" He walked from the cage, and to Mighty Shouter's side, straining as he attempted to climb up him. Mildly concerned, Mighty Shouter lifted the boy up onto one hand, still a bit unsure of what exactly he was trying to accomplish. Kimora then climbed across his arm and onto the creature's left shoulder.
"Just stay calm!" He said, knowing that he was probably the one that needed that advice more than her. "We're taking this creep to justice, and we're clearing your name! Alright, Shouter, let's find some ne'er do wells!"
Shouter internally shrugged and then trekked onwards. If anything, he would discover what was hurting his fellow beastkin, ad this tiny creature obviously had his heart in the right place. Kimora then looked back at the rapidly disappearing Nadia.
"You'll be free, I'll tell ya! Free!" He shouted, before the pair went back into the deep woods in search of evil.
Half an hour had passed since Kimora's little declaration. Nadia sat in the wicker cage, gazing at the ground, bored out of her mind. She didn't have time for waiting, she needed to help Kimora before he got himself hurt. But, there didn't seem to be any conveniently sharp objects around herself, or any loose links in the cage's bars.
But, there was one other possible escape attempt that still hung in the air, much like her cage. Her guard was the heroic Lotus Warrior, a machine originally created as a form of 'Trojan Horse' from the Fire Civilization that ended up defecting to the veggie's side in a great stroke of irony. His rockets could easily shatter the cage asunder, and all she needed was the proper motivation. Clearing her throat to get his attention, she smiled gently.
"Brave warrior, I've heard of your amazing fighting abilities!" She schmoozed in a saccharine tone. "What with your expert… kicking and punching, as well as your rocket power. You should be very proud of yourself for being so talented." She punctuated the last word with a sweet wink.
The robot sheepishly covered its metallic face, possibly blushing underneath all the metal obscuring his face. His petal-like metal wings flapped a bit in bashfulness. Nadia got up from her position, and rose up onto her knees, fully intending on milking this flower for all it was worth.
"Especially your rockets, err… I'd love to see them work. Is it true they can fell a mighty oak tree?" The robot, eager to show off, brandished its turrets and knocked down a tree a few meters off in the distance. "What about disrupt a pond?" Another rocket, a bit faster than the other, quickly jettisoned straight into a pond, causing a massive splash and disputing a few smaller water creatures.
"What about wicker?" Nadia asked, quickly reading her gauntlet to shield. Lotus Warrior did not yield as he aimed and fired a rocket directly at the top of the cage, causing it to come crashing to the ground. Nadia, still a bit shaken from the shield's recoil, stepped gingerly out of the crumbled remnants of the cage.
"Thank you very much for your demonstration, sir!" She curtseyed in front of the bot, and it bowed back in polite reverence. And then she was off, bounding off in the direction that Kimora and Mighty shouter had traveled, careful to summon Rusalka only when she was sure she was out of view from the settlement.
Meanwhile, Bad Apple had crawled out of the main tree to get a breather from all the intensely boring political 'action' that she had to sit through. And what a shock it was when her assumed suspect was nowhere to be in sight, and a destroyed trap with a certain Lotus Warrior's name written all over it.
"You fool! You don't know what you've done!" She yelled, scrambling like a squirrel all around the wreckage and onto the robot in a frenzied rage. "What do you have to say for yourself?!" A low pitched buzz caused her to roll her eyes and claim "Well, maybe you'd get more compliments if you didn't let our prisoners get away!"
Kimora sat atop Mighty Shouter, surveying the view of the entire civilization from a much less tiring vantage point. Plus, there was the added addition of having a massive powerhouse of a creature right there when you needed him. As soon as he got a little better with dueling, him and this guy were gonna be thick as thieves, he just knew it.
And then Mighty Shouter abruptly stopped, nearly tossing Kimora off his shoulders. The boy kept a strong grip and then asked "Did you see something?" Shouter did not speak, but pointed towards a cluster of bushes in the distance which appeared to be shaking violently. A very low and soft whimpering could just barely be heard from where Kimora sat. He carefully climbed down and off of Shouter, lighting up his gauntlet as a quick precaution.
Pushing aside the bushes, Kimora found a Fear Fang, in worse shape than usual. Massive patches of its fur were torn out, and a good bit of its teeth had been pulled from its mouth, which oozed a thin trickle of blood. Massive wounds across its upper chest and legs were also visible, though dry. Kimora gasped and gently knelt down next to it, casting a basic healing spell as it growled passively.
"No, no, no! Calm down, shh. I'm not hurting you." Kimora said, trying not to scare it. He tried petting it, but the obvious recoil from him getting his other hand near it proved otherwise. Kimora was so focused in making sure this creature would heal properly, and making sure his spell was steady that he didn't even see someone else come out of the bushes and stand right before him.
But, he was made fully aware of this when the man grabbed him by the collar and yanked him away from the creature. Kimora tried to scream, but it died somewhere in his throat and came out as a squeak. The man himself was a spindly little creep of a man, tall and tan and dark haired, with an extremely angered expression as he glared at Kimora right between the eyes.
"I knew someone was following me," he sneered. "I didn't expect it to be a fat little prick without any adult supervision, though." Kimora tried to think up a retort, but nothing really was coming to mind except screaming for help, and he couldn't even muster that so far, only tears and heavy breathing. "Shut up, this'll be over quick," The man said, opening up a switchblade.
And then Mighty Shouter trumpeted, knocking Kimora out of the man's hands, blowing the man away, and causing the Fear Fang to look up in hope and shock. Shouter had apparently been wondering what was taking so long, and had stumbled across the attempted stabbing. Kimora, quietly thanking his lucky stars, scrambled behind the massive elephants leg, while he picked up the Fear Fang with a sad expression. The sad expression quickly turned to hate, as he looked down into the man's eyes, which widened in terror.
The man ran out of the forest, presumably wishing to avoid getting flattened like a pancake. Shouter roared and was about to follow in quick pursuit, but Kimora raised his hands in front of him. "Take care of your fellow beastkin! This guy is mine!" Shouter grumbled, but nodded, and Kimora nodded back before turning and running after then man.
The forest opened up into a clearing backed by a cliff overlooking water, and there wasn't much room left to run. Kimora was gaining, and ready to summon whatever creature he felt like to finish the final blow, but had his thunder stolen by a physic blast via Rusalka, which floored the attacker for good. Nadia, out of breath ended up beside him.
"Nadia?" He wildly questioned. "What-what are you even doing here? What happened to-?"
"Now then, I can't let you steal all the fun!" She said, pulling him into a warm hug. "You okay?" she asked after she'd released.
"Oh, I've never been better! But we can chat later, I think someone owes us a few answers," He said, pointing to the man on the ground. Rusalka loomed over him with an angry grimace on her face, warning him not to get up.
"Alright," Kimora said in his most serious voice. "Who do you think you are?"
"You don't know what you brats are doing." He said, turning over on his back, groaning slightly. "There's a whole lot coming your way, and you're gonna wish I'd offed you now."
Upon hearing this, Nadia gritted her teeth and lifted her gauntlet. "Threaten my friend again! Rusalka says, 'We dare you.'" And the Trench Hunter's eyes flashed a bright gold. But, before Nadia's bluff or the man's threats could be called out, a sudden quake knocked the kids down. A second one shattered the ground the man was lying on, tossing him into the drink with a scream of fear.
"Children!" Master Ezra cried out, rushing towards them. "Do you want me to put a leash on you two? It's like you go out of your way to give me heart palpitations." The creature she'd summoned, Granite Avenger, poked its head above the trees to see what its master was so cross about.
"We were only trying to help," Kimora said. "I mean, that guy was bad news, he tried to… well…" He trailed off, not wanting to think about it.
Ezra sighed deeply. "I understand your hearts are in the right place, but this is not that time for swashbuckling heroics. At least with Rusalka, we can use her telepathy to prove Nadia's innocence. As soon as we get back, we are never going to bring this little misadventure up. Ever again."