Chapter 16: The Legendary Heropon and the New Outsider
After grabbing what I needed to fix my hair, I was quite satisfied of what came out of it. Of course, it wasn't the best thing I could make. All I did was tied into to two pigtails with little feathers hanging off of them. Of course it wasn't comfortable enough for me, but I didn't want to cut my hair with the Junk Sword instead of scissors.
My bandages were replaced and they had a furry design to it, allowing my to apply at least some pressure without causing any pain to the scars; even if they were becoming scars, they still hurt like hell if applying lots of pressure to them.
The time passed by fast, including with the feast which I could barely recall as I rested on my sleeping mat. Their strange food still lingered inside my stomach, filling me us and exposing me to the savory food taste so new to me. I had almost eaten equal to what Reyn had if my stomach hadn't started to tell me to stop. Besides that one moment, I couldn't recall anything else before this time and sleep waited to get the better of me.
I woke up some time after to hear something moving. I groaned, trying to roll over and sleep once more; I hated how my sensitive hearing would do these things to me. The Junk Sword rested by me as I curled up, trying to keep myself warm. Opening my eyes, I looked to see if a Nopon had just passed by waking me up. However, I did notice that something was moving about away from where we rested and I would have. Though due to how tired I was, I groaned and tried to go back to sleep. What I didn't expect however was to hear footsteps fading away from behind me.
My eyes snapped open as I quickly looked up, seeing somebody moving towards the exit, back into Makna Forest. I knew that nobody else was up, or rather to my knowledge but the shadowed seemed to resemble Samuel quite a bit. I knew something about that later was odd and I thought he might help me figure out who it was, so pushing myself up and grabbing my weapon, I headed out to see if Samuel was leaving the village.
He didn't actually; well all he was really doing looking out towards the forest. He must have heard me or at least sense me, since he did shake his head.
"Well, didn't expect Sleeping Beauty to wake up this early," he spoke, not facing me still, "You alright waking around here, Neetz?"
"Yeah, I am just fine," I replied, taking a deep breath as I approached, "You know…you're not good at leaving ominous messages."
"Yeah, it was never a thing I was good at." He chuckled. "So, what do you want?"
"Answers… and a way back home," I walked to his side, "That's all I request, if you wouldn't mind…"
"You know, you are losing bits of yourself now that their Ether is inside you."
"Excuse me?" I raised an eyebrow at what he said.
"I'm saying that you're changing to adapt this world, like what's happened to me," His gaze looked towards the forest and monsters were still roaming about the early morning, "Trust me, I looked just like a Homs when I arrived here."
"Then you are like me… But why… how would you?" My mind and words won't work in sync as everything around me about this world began to crash.
"Don't think too much of it beauty," Samuel touched my shoulder, making me flinch. "You still have other things to worry about, like what's going to happen ahead. To me, it looks like you've got no knowledge of this world, correct?"
"Y-Yeah, this place is just…" I looked at the rising sun and how the darkness was fading away as some monster roamed beneath us thanks to the suspension bridges, "It doesn't look like anything I've ever seen… you know?"
"So, you've never heard of Xenoblade Chronicles?"
"Xenowhat?"
He shook his head and folded his arms. "So you are that clueless; I'd never expect a person like yourself to be here without knowing about this place."
"Excuse me?!" I barked back, "Are you saying that I'm not smart enough to be here?"
"No, but I do know that without knowledge of what's to come ahead, you might end up causing another reset-I mean rewind to occur here."
"Reset? Why are you talking like this is a game?"
"Because from Earth, where we come from, it's a game."
I shook my head. "No, you must be joking. Must I knock your sense back into your skull, Samuel?"
"No! I'm not lying! This place is a game! Xenoblade Chronicles! That's the name of the game!"
I giggled at his flustered face.
"Alright then, if it really is a game and not some new world, then tell me what's coming up next?"
He blankly stared at me before giving me a small punch to my shoulder.
"Hey!" I growled, "What was that for?"
"Reasons, but it seems like it still hasn't taken full effect."
"You're making no sense…" I sighed at him as I looked back towards the village, "I should be heading back, before the others wake up."
"No good," Samuel replied, waking ahead of me, "Right now, they'll either be looking for us or Riki's is being introduced to the gang."
"Who's Riki?"
"A Nopon; one of the main and playable characters of the game."
A Nopon… one of the cute creatures is going to fight alongside us. In this world of wonders…a 'video game' which would never be possible unless they had lots of creative minds back on Earth created all of this… and now I'm getting one of these creatures to come alongside us…
"Neetz, stop fan-girling and let's get going," Samuel returned to his voice I recognized when we first met.
Did he just change his- No Neetz, you're just having this weird, strange dream and nothing else.
Samuel and I returned into the main floor of the village and he began flirting with me again in a voice I knew he was faking. I'm guessing that he did that to avoid the other Outsiders, but he wouldn't answer any of the other questions I had on my mind, so I pushed them away for the time being. As we entered, the Nopon were gathered around the main floor cheering out for 'Heropon?' I looked over at Samuel as we heard the Nopon crying out many things at the same time and mushrooms flying about. Geez, these Nopon are either annoyed or bored. As I looked back, it seemed like the Chief was holding the 'Heropon.' I was perplexed the whole time until things finally settled down. As the other Nopon left, I approached the others followed by Samuel.
"Ah, there you two are," Reyn looked at us, "Where were you two?"
"Samuel, did you fetch Neetz as I requested?" Melia asked.
"Well, it's more like she fetched me," Samuel replied scratching the back of his head, "She knew where I was before I even found her."
"Correction, he was slacking off," I looked at the others as Samuel glared at me, "Hey! I'm not kidding! Anyway, I believe we missed an introduction? This Legendary Heropon correct?"
"Yeah, should have seen the bugger," Reyn rubbed his jaw.
"Well I didn't, so I'd like to meet him without what you experienced," I walked over to the Nopon, "So, what's your name, mister?"
"Meet this year's legendary Heropon, Riki! Riki live to serve!" The small orange Nopon winked at me while he saluted.
"Well, it's nice to meet you Heropon Riki."
"And how are you so calm?" Reyn baffled. "The way he entered was just-"
"As I said before Reyn, I wasn't here when he first arrived!" I snapped back at him before I let out a sigh, "Besides, he looks so cute! I like him already!"
"Right…" Samuel rolled his eyes, "You like the Heropon more than your knight in shining armor."
"If you talk to me like that even more, I will not hesitant to slash you to bits."
"Neetz..." Dunban scolded and I grumbled, turning back.
"He's going to be a pain in my butt…" I whispered to myself before everything continued onward.
"Hom Hom seems stressed," Riki stated.
"Yeah, she can be stressed at times," Dunban chuckled before I cleared my throat.
"Sorry about that, sometimes my temper can get the better of me," I looked at the others before back at Riki, "But a Heropon's going to travel with us? Well I don't see the harm of him coming along."
"Yeah, but are going to have to take down the main Telethia if we want to get to our destination," Shulk informed me, "That's why we're going to kill the Telethia first."
"Can't argue with that; they were a pain last time," I rubbed my arms, tracing the scars.
I thought I saw Melia look at me in surprise, but I wasn't quite sure as Dunban turned to face me and Shulk.
"Shulk, Neetz, are these Telethia as strong as they sound?" Dunban asked us.
"Yeah, I didn't have the best time fighting them as Shulk had," I looked over at Shulk, "My arms are proof of that."
"Yes. They're quick as lightning and can read your mind," Shulk finished off my statement.
"A mind-reading giant bird..." Dunban said thoughtfully. "No problem."
"I can see their movement through the Monado, but even that's not enough to get the better of them."
"Don't forget, we had to deal with the spawn of the Telethia," I glanced at Samuel before back at the others. "Those spawns were stronger than anything we've faced yet."
"And Lady Melia only managed to weaken it barely," Samuel reminded us, "If Shulk and Neetz had trouble dealing with it..."
"And we're going against the daddy version," Dunban though for a second. "No one blink for a second."
"Okay," Shulk said with a nod.
"Eyes wide open!" Reyn responded next.
Yah, like that's going to help us.
"And don't forget that Melia is our only chance of making it to Eryth Sea," Dunban continued, glancing at her. "If anything happens to our guide, it's on our heads. The Telethia is our target, but don't forget about the person standing next to you."
"Dunban's right," Sharla agreed.
"I am…in your debt," Melia said, selecting her words with care. "My weaknesses are all too apparent."
"Melia, you managed to wound the Telethia," I smiled at her, "That's impressive that you able to wound the main one. I only fought the spawns with Shulk and I barely survived, though Shulk was wounded none-of-the-less."
"Hey!" Shulk called me out.
"What? It's true."
Dunga turned toward us, continuing on to get us back on track, "Riki has been informed of the Dinobeast, what you refer to as the Telethia. Be safe, my Hom Hom friends." With that, he departed, leaving us with Riki.
Riki waved his arms up and down. "Riki's friends, listen to! Dinobeast is big and scary! Friends get ready, friends help Riki get ready!"
"You… want us to get equipment for you?" Shulk asked uncertainly.
"As in…errand runners?" I inquired.
The Nopon bounced, spreading his wings. "Riki's friend right! Hom Hom clever!" He beat his wings, hovering in the air.
I looked over at Samuel, who sighed before I backed up away over to his side.
"Something wrong?" I asked.
"I hate this quest," he grumbled, "I'm no errand boy."
"Well, too bad, because you can't skip this quest," I joked, nudging his side.
He growled at me as I chuckled. Well, it looks like we're going to have a nice time with the Heropon through gathering his equipment.