I'm back with another two chapters, everybody! And guess what? I got Xenoblade Chronicles 3D, which I'm so excited about playing it while I'm writing this story. So if I'm not updating that often, that'll be another factor why. But don't worry, I'll be updating whenever I can.
Also, over 2,500 views? Wow, I never expected this to be that popular with a slow update schedule. Thank you to everybody who has view, favorite and followed this story. It is really something to have you all give this story a go. If you all wouldn't mind, I wouldn't mind hearing your reviews at all if you can leave a review. If not, then that's fine. Just getting more views will be enough to push my onward.
Well then, now that that's done, on to the story!
Chapter 17: Unexpected Encounter
Gathering equipment for Riki took us quite some time. Going up and down the floors was a bit of a pain in my eyes, but that wasn't the main concern at the moment for me. Right now, I couldn't help but feeling the itchiness in my bandages, which was only starting up right now. I motioned to Sharla that they were starting to bother me, but she told me that she'll take care of it once the others were away to avoid Shulk or Reyn seeing the scars.
Gathering the items was a pain, but the time we had gathered everything, the itching was getting worse, and I just wanted to just start heading off so I could the bandages replaced. Back to where Riki was, he gathered up the items we fetched for him, and once he was fully dressed, he began dancing about happily, which I couldn't help but giggle at.
"Ready to go! Come, new friends, Riki's adventure begins!" Riki chirped happily.
"Riki, if you may permit me to ask," Samuel asked, still in his annoying tone of voice, "you do know where the beast lays at rest, correct?"
"Of course Riki know!" The Nopon replied, jumping up and flapping his wings as he turned to face Melia. "Melly! Riki hear you hurt Dinobeast!"
"I did," she said and then her voice became somewhat sad, almost in disappointment, "but only a little..."
"When Dinobeast hurt, Riki know it go to place with ether crystals." He jumped to face us. "Friends and Riki go to place with crystals. Then we find Dinobeast! Chief tell Riki! Chief always right!"
"I see... That would make sense, seeing as where Shulk and I fought the spawn," I confirmed Riki's statement. "Looks like we're going after the ether crystals again." We started off to where the Telethia would be, but as soon as we were outside the tree and away from the other Nopon, Shulk stopped ahead of us as I was by Sharla so she could check why the bandages were itching.
"Riki, why are you the Heropon?" Shulk inquired.
Riki stopped and turned around, to me looking a bit confused as he responded, "Why? Because Chief Dunga choose Riki!"
"He choose you?" I questioned. "It's not like something you get from birth right? It's not a birthright or anything of that sort?"
Riki shook his whole body. "Friend wrong. Chief choose by instinct!"
"By instinct?" Reyn failed to hold back his laughter before I glared at him.
"Why friend surprised? Chief have sharp instinct. Chief be village seer!"
"So that's how you became the Heropon?" Dunban realized. "Can't argue with that."
"Well, we shouldn't think too much about that," Samuel pointed out. "We got a Telethia to kill after all."
"Yeah, Samuel, but let Riki speak happily about being the Heropon," I jabbed his side.
"Hey!"
Riki's cheerful expression suddenly faltered before he looked downward. "Oh... Riki owe lots of monies to village. If Riki defeat Dinobeast, village promise to forget my debts." He smiled again as he jumped into the air once more. "So Riki like being Heropon!"
"Alright, if you say so, Riki!" I cheered, "Let's go show that Telethia who's boss!"
Both Riki and I jumped into the air happily as everybody probably rolled their eyes at us. The excitement was cut short when my wound started to itch even worse. I stayed back with Dunban and Sharla while everybody else followed Riki down the roped bridges. We followed them from the back as Sharla was applying new bandages to them, and Dunban was keeping an eye out for Shulk and Reyn, who had returned bickering to one another.
"So, how are the wounds?" Dunban asked me as Sharla was checking them.
"Oh, they were just itching; it wasn't anything too serious," I replied, sighing.
"So, will you be able to battle by the time we get there?"
"I'm not quite sure, but they do seem healed enough," Sharla replied, getting the bandages out and slowly wrapping them around my wounds, "You should be able to fight, but your nerves may sting if you move them around too much. So, if you have to fight, and I won't be surprised if you won't fight, try not to strain those nerves. They may lock up your arms to prevent them from moving unless they release themselves from the tension."
"Okay, thanks for that information, Sharla. I'll try my best to not become a burden to the party again," I averted my eyes as my hands moved the furry coverings on them. I just hope I can do so anyway. I smiled before getting over with the others as we started our search for the Telethia.
After some time walking, I was hanging out with Samuel for the time being, even with his flirty persona for the time being. The reason was because he would let that persona drop while the others were doing some more quests, and we were doing things by ourselves. One of these quests was gathering a certain number of items from the items orbs from a generic quest as Samuel called it. To make things easier for the group (and to my dismay), I was paired up with him, and that's how we ended up wandering the forest looking for more item orbs for the item we were sent after. It was also on our way to where Riki believed to be where the Telethia was recovering at, so we all decided to hit two birds with one stone in a sense.
"Samuel, when are we going to find the last one?" I pouted, looking around the brush avoiding the monsters. "I just want to get this over with so we can beat the bird- I mean, Telethia up already! Can't we just fast-travel there?"
"No, because we have no idea where it is. At least not yet," he replied, wiping off some sweat from his forehead, "But we need the money and extra goodies to upgrade our skills and stuff anyway."
"Upgrading skills?"
"You know, like how you can get points to strengthen the Arts and skills you use to fight- You know what? Never mind." His eyes looked through more brush as I was slashing through a thick-overgrowth, "But next time, please don't run into one of those high-level beasts again. You're lucky that the climbing mechanic that drives monsters away still works here. We would have been screwed if that didn't work."
"Well, excuse me! How was I suppose to know that? I don't have the icons over the monsters or stuff like in this 'game' of this place according to your information!" I clenched the Junk Sword. "And you still didn't answer my question as to how running far enough away or climbing on vines gets the monsters off our trail!"
"That's how the game works if you had played at least the beginning part of the game." He let out a sigh. "And I thought you'd at least had heard of Shulk."
"Um...not that I can recall, but why?"
"I thought he'd be in Smash Bros, but I only remember seeing the last newcomer, Rosalina, announced."
"Smash Bros? Wait, so you don't know who else was announced?" I let out a chuckle. "You've got to be kidding me!"
"Does it look like I'm jok- Neetz, watch out!"
I turned around to see Samuel jumping out with his shield, blocking an attack that was aimed right at me. Taken aback by the sudden attack, Samuel growled before pushing off the attacker, who then landed down in the brush as no monsters were around us. The attacker was wearing a long scarf to cover their nose and mouth, holding what looked to be long sword, but what I didn't expect was that with a flick of the wrist, it turned into an electric whip. Their hair color was a short dull green color of sorts. Both of us were taken aback, but I saw that whoever was attacking us was wearing some kind of grey and blue mechanical suit and had their eyes covered by a blindfold of the same striped colors.
"Who's that?" I asked, taking a step back as the attacker spoke no words to us. It just stared at us as the electricity released into the air.
"I...don't recall ever seeing somebody like this before," Samuel replied before he got his out. "Hey! Who are you, and what do you want with us?!"
The attackers said nothing, but then my eyes widen seeing the wrist move slightly, as if a strike was about to come out. "Samuel!" I tugged his towards the right as both of us barely dodged the sudden strike. Both of us jumped back and getting our footing, saw that another strike was heading our way, but we had enough time to act. Samuel ducked down while I spun out of the way, turning around just in time to see the whip returning back. With a flick of the wrist, the whip returned to being a beam-like sword before the attacker chose to charge right towards us.
"Neetz! Get ready to fight!" Samuel called out as his sword started to shine a bit.
"Alright!" I nodded, getting into a fighting position. "Let's go!"
The attacker exchanged blows with me first, making me turn the blade to act as a make-shift shield to defend against the strike. Even though it was a beam of some kind, the opposing sword didn't slice through the Junk Sword, which was a bit surprising to me. Samuel came from behind with his bright yellow sword.
"Light Gash!" Samuel yelled, slicing from the back as I managed to push off the attacker. Charging up an attack, I swung the sword, hoping to get a good hit as Samuel recovered from using the move. The blades collide, creating a force that escaped from between them. Judging by hold, we quickly moved our blades to get an opening to no avail, this person seemed to be very well match with my skill. However, this wasn't so with Samuel when he rejoined the fight, blocking an incoming attack as I recovered from being grazed on the shoulder, but just barely making a cut that could bleed my skin.
He was well diverse with his attacks, using his shield to block the attacks or even using it to force the blade to act as a shield and switching the usages of his weapons. The way he was quickly adapting to the fight made me wonder how long it took for him to adapt to this world. I haven't been here for long, but I'm exactly the fighting type of person in the party. I'd be more of supporter like Sharla if anything. Biting my lip, I pulled myself up from the ground as Samuel landed back by my side, panting heavily.
"Man, this guy won't give up," Samuel grunted as he blocked another swipe of the whip-blade again. "Neetz, care to lead a quick hand?"
"Right!" I sliced through the whip with a powerful swing. I groaned as the whip retreated. When it returned to being a beam sword, the length of the blade quickly recovered as the broken end of the whip vanished. "Man, why are we getting tired, and yet this guy isn't?" I asked him as the attacker charged at us.
"This attacker's an Outsider; I can confirm that much." Samuel responded quickly. Our blades clashed against the beam-like sword, just getting even with the attacker's strength.
"Out of my way!" the low voice of our attacker growled, releasing a strain of Ether that literally froze my body as both of us flew back in pain. The rough impact of the grass and pain coursing in my body made me drop the Junk Sword. I was unable to move as I tried to open my eyes, seeing Samuel unarmed like I was, but the hooded figure looking over at him before coming my way. Groaning, I tried to get up, but I saw the boot of the figure stomping the ground in front of my hand. With a strong grip, the enemy grabbed my neck and held me up, choking me as you will. "So you're its wielder now?" The attacker looked at my struggle to get air in my lungs, but the interest then shifted to the bracelet daggling on my wrist, "Hm? What's this you got here? I've never seen anybody wearing this before."
I could feel the darkness of unconsciousness trying to seep into my mind, but I couldn't let this happen now. Samuel is in danger!
"You're not going to get free from my grip, alright?" the attacker continued. "I got orders to bring you back to HQ, and that's what I'm going to do. Besides, you should know about what's about to come, unless you do sympathize with them." Them? Who's them?! By then I felt the darkness crawling towards me as everything became blurry. Samuel's figure wasn't moving, and I had to do something, anything! A swift motion sets me free, causing me to kneel to the ground and catching my breath in long gasps. Coughing, I looked up and saw some figure in front of me, holding what looked to be some kind of weapon, but I couldn't tell what. My attacker seemed to be taken aback like I was. "The hell?!"
"If I were you, you'd step away from her this instant," the male replied before raising his weapon into the air. "Black Jack!" Suddenly, something formed what looked to be small flying cards before they were flying straight at the attacker. Grunting, the attacker tried to slice them but they were too quick and got onto their target. Hearing something snap, I was brought back into reality when I saw my bracelet glowing and Telaensis resting in my hands. Blinking a bit, I shakily stood up on my feet holding the blade. From it, a small wave of energy, or rather Ether, was released, and my body instantly was feeling better. "You feeling better now?" The male asked me.
Looking at my savoir, I was met with meeting another Outsider holding a long stick tied by a ribbon that was holding a sharp piece of metal, reminding of some Mechon armor shaped like an Axe-weapon. He was different and weird, but I did manage to get a good look at his appearance. For him, he didn't wear anything tight, just mainly loose clothing. Sure, he wore a brown beanie with a green leafy pattern to it, but that wasn't the main thing I was looking at. His hair was a brown-orange mixture, and it was fairly short. His eyes were brown, and his skin tone was tan, which didn't bother me too much. His loose blue wasn't button all the way, showing off his stomach. Baggy grey shoes finally led me to his bare feet. It was quite weird. but not too surprising. if you ask me. That when to what came under his beanie and hair, being two very long thing like the wings of the Nopon on either side of his head. Those were light blue color and stuck out like a sore thumb. Before I could ask him anything, he swing his axe around and the metal was released, still tied onto the stick as it sliced through the whip with ease, catching the attacker off guard.
The attacker took their next action off guard, fleeing the scene by throwing down an Ice Ether crystal to the ground, letting it release a way of Ether into the area. As the wave of Ether and quick flash of light died down, I saw before me a different scene all together. Looking at what was in front of me now, I saw Samuel still lying on the ground unconscious with his weapons some distance apart from him, but Telaensis and the other person were nowhere to be found. I rushed over to grab the Junk Sword when my eyes widen, seeing only two Ether Crystals lying in its place. There was no trace of the Junk Sword to be seen, and all that was left was the Ether Crystals, so I took them instead and went over to Samuel. He seemed to be getting up, but taking a closer look at him made me notice that there was no trace of the fight to be seen on either one of us.
"Samuel... Samuel, get up!" I gently shook him awake with his weapons in my view. "Samuel!"
"Hold on... Let me recover a bit... Man, I hate that Purge post-contact effects," Samuel groaned, managing to get himself in a sitting position. "Neetz, care to be a lamb and grab my weapons?"
"Sure thing." I grabbed both weapons of his and returned to see him standing, though rolling his shoulders.
"Say Neetz, what exactly happened after...the Purge blast?"
"Samuel, if I told you what I saw, you'd think I'm crazy," I chuckled a bit, returning his weapons.
"Neetz, nothing is unusual here and you should known this," Samuel smirked. "We've got the Mechon, metal machines, attacking life on the Bionis, this world is taking place on two titan's dead bodies, we've got monsters running about, and there are Nopon and High Entia here with the same intelligence as humans back on Earth. Sure, it's not that same as back on Earth like video games and hot showers, but get where I'm getting at as somehow I'm like this instead of looking like you?"
"...So you're saying no logic applies here?"
"Not the logic we've known on Earth...or at least some of it."
"Okay, then I'll tell you, but promise me you won't freak out when I tell you about the other guy with some weird long-ranged axe that screws with physics."
"Huh? Hom-Hom and Bird Man? What are you two doing here? Done recovering, yes?" a voice spoke. Our eyes widened, hearing a Nopon voice. Both of us turned around and my eyes widened, seeing a Nopon jumping down, It was wearing a beanie with the axe-weapon on its back, looking happily at us. Not only that, but it was light blue with a tan-like stomach. "Lokomoco saw Hom-Hom and Bird Man in trouble." He explained in a calm manner as my eye twitched. "So Lokomoco tends wounds quickly. Nothing too serious."
"Thanks for the help then, Lokomoco," Samuel smiled before he turned to me. "Neetz, you alright?"
I think my brain crashed. Before the next thing I know, I saw darkness.