The group all finished cleaning up, they ended up standing in front of the mayor's house outside and all stood together. Stocking up on items and food supplies, and with their weapons, everyone decided to check with what was going to happen next.
"So, then, what's everyone going to do now?" Yuri asked, just to be sure.
"Well, the first step on my travels now before the port city is Aspio," Flynn said.
"Aspio? What's that?" Tai asked, tilting his head.
"It's one of the neighboring cities of Halure. To the mountains near here, the city is located inside of it. It's where scholars and researchers tend to live. And I'm thinking of recruiting somebody from there to help us," Flynn explained, with him and Yuri a bit baffled on how the teen was unfamiliar with the area around his home city.
Despite being taken back, Yuri turned to his friend and asked, "Speaking of recruiting, where's your right hand people, Sodia and Applehead?"
"There's somebody who is named Applehead?" Tai asked with a disgusted looking face.
"Yuri! Just because Witcher's hair looks like an apple and its stem doesn't mean you should call him by such names!" Estelle scolded, Tai even more taken back by how that wasn't a better name.
"Yeah, yeah..." Yuri dismissively waved it off and looked at Flynn, "Well?"
"Sodia is back in Zaphias, training soldiers to help be protective for city and town safeties, and Witcher is currently occupied with investigating the Shaikos Ruins with other mages," Flynn said, "Now, the reason I want us to go to Aspio is so we can recruit a mage to help us, just in case we come across technology and devices we don't know how to use."
Suddenly, Estelle perked up with a smile as she said the mage's name, "Rita! You're going to see her?"
"Yes, I'm sure she'll be there and hopefully willing to help us," Flynn said.
"Well, since ol' Raven is at the mercy of the commandant, that means he's headin' over with him," the old man smiled and held his head with his hands, smiling.
"And I guess we are too," Yuri said, meaning him and Repede, "But now, that leaves just one question," then turning to the teenagers, "What are you two going to do?"
There was a bit of silence from the two, but it wasn't long before Estelle finally spoke up, holding her hands tightly with determination.
"I'm coming too!" she said steadfastly, "I feel that if these thieves were trying to target us for who we are, I want to warn the others. Besides, I can meet Rita again."
"All right, Estelle, you're in," Yuri said, smiling.
But the princess dropped her into a posture of concern as she turned to Tai and said, "But... I don't wanna drag Tai into going with us."
"Well, we were only partners for just going to see Flynn, but..." Tai said, actually indecisive on what he should do next.
"Ahh, hello, everyone," they heard the mayor say as he came down the hill and joined the group, "How are you all doing today?"
"Great, thank you," Estelle said, bowing in respect, "We're about to head out and journey outside of Halure."
"Oh? Does that mean you're going to be gone for a while, Lady Estelle?" the man asked.
"Yes. Thank you for all you've done for me, sir," Estelle said, thanking him, "I won't be long; I promise I'll come back and live here."
"Ahh, we'll miss you while you are away, but I do hope you take care of yourself," he said, then looking to Tai, "And how about you, Tai? Are you going to go with all of them?"
"I don't know... I..." Tai said, rubbing his head inside of his hood.
"Please don't feel like I'm forcing you, Tai. Now that Estelle is back safe and sound, you're no longer required to go where she goes, but I always thought you wanted to get out of here, right?" the old man smiled at him.
"Huh? Sir?" Tai asked, looking surprised.
"Oh, come now, you can't decieve these eyes; it's been clear that you've wanted to venture outside of Halure for a while now. The question was 'when'. I won't stop you, no matter what decision you make," the mayor said.
"Yeah, com' on, why not travel with us? I enjoy your time with us, Tai," Raven said, grinning.
"Your battling skills would really come in great assistance and greatly appreciated," Flynn encouraged.
"Besides, who else is going to stand up for the old man when we tease him?" Yuri said, smiling as he shrugged and Repede barked.
The teen looked at all of the new people he met and then closed his eyes. True, he's always wanted to get outside of Halure, but with people he's barely met... the decision swirled around inside of him as time was ticking away, demanding an answer. He sighed and then put his hands in his pockets, slightly groaning and fidgeting in place.
"Nggggh... ahhh... oh, screw it; I'll go," Tai said, walking to the exit of the town with his eyes closed.
"Yay! I'm so joyful you can still travel with us, Tai!" Estelle cheered, causing the teen blush a bit and smirk.
"Yippee! I still got my talkin' buddy!" Raven jokingly joined in, as he hurried next to Tai, and with the princess, began making their way down the hill and out of the city.
"Well, I guess this is good-bye," Yuri said, turning to the mayor, "Thank you again for everything."
"It's not a problem one bit, but if I may, just please never give up hope on Tai and give him encouragement," the man said, "He may act tough and seem cold at times, but he's very loyal and trustworthy. You can count on him to help."
"Thank you for your words, sir," Flynn said, as the group them said good-bye to them, and all made their way out of Halure to Aspio.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Tai, Estelle, and Repede joined the party.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Skit – Continuing together
Estelle: (neutral face, closes eyes) Hehehe...
Tai: (neutral face) What's up, Estelle?
Estelle: (opens eyes) Oh, it's just I'm so happy that you're stilling traveling with us.
Tai: Oh, really?
Estelle: Yes, and you've changed. When we first started, you wouldn't even talk to me about anything or even smile at me. Now, you're doing both those things. You've changed only in the first day, Tai.
Tai: (Looks up into the upper right, a slight blush on his face) Oh, huh... Well, glad that I changed for your liking, Estelle.
Estelle: Hehehe. I know that you'll love continuing the journey ahead, Tai. Just you wait and see.
Tai: (neutral face, smiles) Yeah. I will.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Skit – Hypocritical warnings
Estelle: (neutral face) I'm so glad that I can travel with both you and Yuri again, Flynn.
Repede: (barking upward, neutral face) Woof woof!
Flynn: (smiles) Thank you, Lady Estelle. It's a privilege to be able to travel with my friends again. And I also want to thank you for helping me yesterday fight that monster.
Yuri: (neutral face) Hey, it's no problem. But I'm still a bit upset at you, Flynn.
Repede: (head looks to the left) Awroo?
Flynn: (head tilts to his left, incredulous face, Estelle looks surprised) Huh? Why's that, Yuri?
Yuri: (head tilts to the right, upset face) What the hell were you thinking taking on that monster by yourself? Flynn, you could've gotten killed.
Flynn: (serious face) Yuri, I couldn't just run and let that monster kill innocent people. I had to do what I could to stop it.
Yuri: Hmph. Well, whatever. Just don't do anything reckless like that again, okay? (portrait moves offscreen)
Flynn: (very big smile, closes eyes) Hehe. Yuri, you're the last person to tell someone not to be reckless.
Estelle: Hehehe.
Repede: (barking upward) Woof!
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Skit – Spar attempt - Part 1
Raven: (neutral face) Hey, Tai, just wonderin' if your body is okay and runnin' properly.
Tai: (neutral face) Yeah, for now, I'm gonna be fine. But my body is still sore.
Yuri: (neutral face) Hey, I got an idea. Why not spar with me? (head perks up, confident face) I'll help you retrain yourself and see how strong you are.
Repede: (head tilts to the right) Woof woof!
Tai: (looks to his right, uncaring face) Yeah, I don't think so.
Repede: (looks to his left) Awroo?
Flynn: (head tilts to the left, incredulous/curious face, Yuri tilts head to the right, raises an eyebrow) Oh, really? Why not? I'd love to see what you'd do in one-on-one training.
Tai: (neutral face, closes eyes) Yeah, sorry. But I train by myself. Always have.
Raven: Ahh, right. (head tilts to the right, smiling) Ya said that ya trained all yer life by yourself in Halure.
Tai: Yup, and that's how it's gonna stay. However, I appreciate the offer, Yuri. (portrait goes off-screen)
Flynn: (neutral face) That's a shame. I'd love to see you fight him, Yuri.
Yuri: (head perks up, confident face) Hah, don't you worry. I'll get him to spar against me soon. Just you wait.
Repede: (barking upward) Woof woof!
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
The group soon got about halfway to Aspio before they could finally see the mountains in which the city was in. It was fairly easy for the group to get there, as all the able makes fought of monsters as Estelle stayed back with Tai to care for him. Despite the old man complaining about how he was tired after one battle and couldn't stand much more, they made their way through a few monsters before running into somebody new.
As the group got closer towards their destination, they noticed a teenage male fighting off monsters by himself. He was using a pair of metal circles with spikes on the outsides with handles in the middle. These weapons were called Chakrams and it was red with a silver design. The boy was finishing off a wildebeest type monster impressively as the group made their way over to him, just in case.
"Now, you're mine! Flame Tornado!" the kid yelled.
Suddenly, a gust of flames and fire swirled at the wildebeest and trapped it inside of the fiery tornado. It did massive damage to the monster, and only in a matter of seconds did it fatally collapse as the tornado then faded. The kid grinned victoriously and sheathed his chakrams behind his back.
"Yeah, that's right! You got no chance against me!" he cheered cockily.
Suddenly, the boy looked and turned to the group who came towards him. As they got closer, they examined the boy a lot closer. He was a young male, about younger than Tai was. His black hair was spiking out evenly around his head like a dome, but he had very curvy bangs near the metal forehead protector of his red headband that was tied around his forehead. With bright red eyes, he wore a bright yellow tanktop that had a white furry collar that was very big and stuck out around the neck. The tanktop had very unique black symbols all around it that looked like different weapons. The blue gloves he wore went from his biceps to his hands, stopping before they covered the fingers, and had three simple white lines on them with metal studs on the knuckles. His shorts were red and had blue belts wrapped around the legs. His legs covered from the knee down in athletic tape, he wore yellow sneakers with black outlining and red streaks at the heals.
"Hiya!" he said loudly and very friendly.
"Hello, nice to meet you," Estelle said, smiling to him.
"Hey, kid, that was some attack ya pulled there," Raven complimented, smiling as the kid grinned in pride.
"Haha! Thanks! I worked so hard to make that move work!" the kid laughed, finally intoducing himself, "And I'm no kid! The name's Akihiro!"
After the brief introductions, Flynn looked at him with a bit of a smile that was interested, "So, Akihiro, what are you doing outside here? Are you just fighting monsters for the sake of getting stronger?"
"Haha! You know it!" Akihiro said, grinning proudly as he clutched his right hand into a determined fist, "It's my dream to be the strongest fighter in the world, so I can become the Duce of Nordipolica! That way, people can look to me as an idol; somebody important that they can count on."
"Well, then, you better keep up the good work, then," Yuri said, smiling as the amazing strength and confidence he could sense the kid had.
"But to be honest, the reason I came to train today wasn't for my dream; it's because I was frustrated," Akihiro came out truthfully.
"Oh? Why were you frustrated?" Estelle wondered.
"It's because this guy earlier this morning came by this same way heading to Aspio. All I said was good morning and how he was doing today, and he pushed me out of his way and gave me a rotten smirk!" the boy said, folding his arms with a sudden grumpy look, "Can you believe that?"
"I'm very sorry to hear that, Akihiro," Flynn apologized in sympathy to him.
Suddenly a thought came up in Yuri's mind. A man giving a smirk. He heard somebody specifically describe a certain man doing that before. He lifted his head up to the teenager and thus decided to test his hypothesis.
"Hey, Akio," he said to him.
"Huh? My name's not Akio! It's Akihiro!" the teen snapped at him to correct his name.
"Right, sorry," Yuri apologized (not really) and then continued, "Can you tell us what this man looked like?"
"Hrrrm, uhh... Let's remember," Akihiro closed his eyes and thought, "He wore this black cloak, so I don't know what clothes he wore, but he was really big of a guy, and he had long black hair with a tiny bit of it hanging in front of his face."
"I knew it. That's exactly the same description the messenger said the man who attacked him looked like," Yuri said to the group, causing them to realize that this unknown guy was still around.
"Huh? Does that mean you know the jerkbag?" Akihiro said angrily with a bit of a hilarious rage face, "Because I wanna slug him for being such a... a jerkbag!"
"Wait... you said the guy came through here to Aspio?" Tai asked, tilting his head a bit.
"Yeah, he was heading that way. Why?" the boy said, changing his mood very quickly to the question asked.
"Wait, if Tai's idea about the blastia thieves is true, and the unknown man is wantin' to try and bump us off..." Raven said, suddenly the group understanding with pale faces the possible and horrible fate to come.
"Oh no! Rita!" Estelle said scared for her friend.
"We need to move it to Aspio! Now!" Yuri yelled as the group rushed by the poor teenager, leaving him behind confused and abandoned.
"Hey! Don't leave me behind! Come on! Let me help too, guys!" Akihiro yelled after them, running right behind them as they hurried to rescue the mage.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Skit – Mage in peril
Estelle: (looks down, sad) Oh, no... Rita. I'm so worried about her.
Tai: (neutral face) Seems to me this Rita girl and Estelle are very close.
Flynn: (neutral face) Oh, yes, the two are incredibly close friends. Rita is a mage from Aspio who is amazingly intelligent with blastia, aer, and magic. She helped us back when we defeated the Adephagos and other times as well.
Yuri: (head moves forward a bit, determined look) And she's going to be in trouble if we don't step on it and make it there. She's one of our own, and we won't let this guy touch her.
Raven: (neutral face) So, don't worry yer precious little head, yer highness; we're gonna make sure that our genius mage has no problems with this guy at all.
Estelle: (closes eyes) …
Tai: Estelle... looks like I better do my part in helping you guys save Rita. For Estelle's sake.
Repede: (barking upward, neutral face) WOOF!
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Meet Akihiro, the next of my ocs in the story. I hope you get used to him because he'll be a part of the heroes in several times throughout this story. And Rita is possibly in fatal danger! Can the group with their new friend get over there in time! Find out next!