Teepo woke up early the next morning, the sun hadn't risen yet. He laid still for a few minutes, recounting the events of the past few days, and thought over his current plans. While his earlier self certainly had wanted to go to Wyndia sooner rather than later, now that he had likely lost Rei and Ryu, staying in the area and clinging onto what familiarity he could was an enticing thought. He then remembered how he had concluded that going to Wyndia probably was his best chance of finding Ryu or Rei, and settled with doing that. Trying to live in an area where you're unwelcome is a bad idea anyway, Teepo also thought. As such, he got up, got his bearings, and started heading towards the Yraall road, which would be the first step on his journey to Wyndia. There wasn't any preparations he needed to do, he knew from experience that the gear that one could get from the shop in the village wasn't any better than the gear he had salvaged from the remains of the burnt down house, and he had as much food as he could reasonably carry with him. He arrived at Yraall road a hour later, having taken a shortcut through the village, figuring no one would be awake this early in the morning. Walking on the road was uneventful, as there was no other people traversing the road. Which he figured there was nothing unusual about, the road was in a region which didn't hold much of interest for travelers, and the railway in Dauna also made Yraall road less traveled. He walked until noon approximately, and then stopped for a little break. He had lunch consisting of more beef jerky, and then got going again, not feeling like he needed to rest. He walked for an hour or so, when he encountered another traveler. Teepo made a quick judgement whether the traveler was dangerous or not. Seemingly no, was his impression. Teepo then decided to talk with the traveler, wanting to ask if anything special was happening in Wyndia, as the traveler was coming from that direction. Mostly he just wanted to talk with someone, although he didn't want to admit that to himself.
"Hey, you coming from Wyndia?" Teepo asked, some of his usual levity slipping back into his demeanor, but also trying to be more polite than he usually would be.
"Yes, so what?" The traveler responded. The traveler in question looked ordinary, a man with no visible distinguishing features, and wearing a simple traveler's outfit consisting of a pair of wool pants, a sturdy wool shirt and a brown cloak.
"I'm headed there, is anything extra up in Wyndia right now?" Teepo continued,
"No, why would there be? Anyway, I don't really have time to stop and chat. Safe travels to you, I guess." The man said and started walking away before Teepo had a chance to respond.
"Well, that was kinda pointless." Teepo thought aloud to himself.
The walking resumed. Teepo was attacked by a few goblins once, but they were easily dealt with, using a combination of sword strikes, and frost spells. Fighting alone felt kind of awkward, but the main thing Teepo found himself missing was the possibility of asking Ryu to heal him with magic if necessary.
"If all monsters are this easy to fight, that won't be needed though!" He thought to himself, winning the battle with ease having boosted his spirits.
"Still, should try and get some medicinal herbs or whatever in Wyndia. They must sell anything you can think of there. Teepo continued his musing.
Teepo also encountered a group of goos later, but he figured it wasn't worth the hassle of fighting them if they hadn't seen him, so he just snuck around instead.
It was evening when Teepo arrived at Mt. Myrneg. Having started early in the morning and having walked for more or less the entire day, he was tired and decided to go find a spot to sleep. Unfortunately, the rather barren terrain around the foot of the mountain wasn't great for sleeping without a tent, so he decided to just lay down in a small trench in the ground a bit away, where he at least couldn't be seen from the main road. It wasn't comfortable, but he was tired enough that that didn't matter. He slept peacefully, and was ready to go the next morning. Which he did, unceremoniously. The local monsters were different from the monsters around Mcneil village and the surrounding forest, consisting of groups of small "nut people", and a humanoid creature with one eye that looked to be made of tar. The nut people were very hard to hit with a sword due to their small size, Teepo quickly discovered, but after putting two and two together, he realized they were easily disposed of with magic, especially fire magic. The tar men were practically invulnerable to his sword strikes though, and he didn't know what to do with them, so he just ran way whenever he saw one. Teepo later on encountered a tar man which didn't attack him. As Teepo got closer, it started talking:
"Heeheeheehee I'm not going to hurt you … My name's Tall man. If you're interested, I can tell you all about different creatures' weak points?" The creature said, sounding slightly sketchy.
"Fire away, weirdo." Teepo cockily responded.
"Heeheehee Well, for example, take the Eye goo… Their weak spots are their eyes, so what would happen if you blinded them? Think about it."
"Huh, that makes sense. Rei had a technique for blinding monsters, shame I didn't learn how to do it." Teepo thought quietly to himself.
"What would happen if you hit the nut people with fire?" Tall man continued.
"Well, duh" Teepo said out loud as response. The tar man paid him no heed and continued talking.
"I've done you a favor by telling you that, so now do me a favor, ok? Don't use frost magic on us, please?"
"You wish" Teepo thought, but also had the insight to not say it out loud. He left quietly, and continued crossing the mountain. Mt Myrneg was worn down and rounded, and there were ladders installed in places, but a traveler still needed to zigzag quite a bit, and as such the crossing of the mountain happened at a slow pace. Evening came eventually, and he figured he should stop for the day, having progressed a bit over halfway up the mountain. The second day of crossing the mountain was incredibly uneventful, with the most exciting thing happening being Teepo finding a wild apple tree, which he proceeded to quickly shake down for fruit. A few of the local monsters attacked again, but the battles went very easily for Teepo. Far as progress went, Teepo did cross the peak, and was around halfway down the other side when he stopped for the day. The third day had literally nothing happen, not even any local monsters attacking. Teepo was fittingly bored, and wished he had some travel companion to talk to, literally just anyone without ill intent. At least he had passed the mountain by the end of the day. The first day of walking after crossing Mt. Myrneg also had little happen, but Teepo saw an unusual fish in the nearby river. His curiosity was piqued, and so he made a makeshift fishing rod out of a branch lying nearby on the ground and some string he had packed with him. He didn't manage to catch the strange … squid?, but he did catch a few piranas., which was good as the limited amount of food he had been able to bring with him was running low. He went to bed satisfied with that. The last day of walking had little happen as well, but the changing scenery was enough to keep Teepo from getting too bored. The barren terrain on the mountain, and the rather barren plains around it, or at least in Teepo's mind barren, being used to the verdant forest of Yraall, changed into small settlements and villages, scattered around the Wyndian countryside, surrounding the capital. Teepo appreciated the feeling of walking through a village without having to worry about being seen, which had been a concern in Mcneil. He stopped at an inn just outside the city walls, feeling he could splurge a bit with sleeping in a real bed, even though he didn't have much money.
Teepo entered the city early next morning. While the initial impression wasn't bad by any means, the city with it's cobblestone streets, large buildings, chrysm-powered street lights, and what-not, Teepo had had a slightly romanticized view of Wyndia to say the least, and it felt like it was too unspectacular to live up to his expectations. Either way, he reminded himself of why he was here: To look for Rei and Ryu, which he started with, heading down the streets with gusto. Wyndia is a huge city though, the biggest in this part of the world, and split up in several height levels due to historical an geographical reasons, and even though Teepo jogged at a brisk pace, he had barely covered the lowest level of the city by afternoon, at which point he ended up back at the gate he had entered through. There a kid called out to him.
"You looking for someone?" The kid asked with a smirk.
"Yes, how did you know?" Teepo responded, feeling a bit on edge over a stranger starting a conversation with him.
"Well, you been running over town like a headless chicken with a fire in it's butt, can't see why you would do that if you weren't looking for someone." The kid responded with a bit too much glee.
"Right, whatever. The people I'm looking for are a boy about my size, and with blue hair, named Ryu and a pretty tall woren with a yellow tail, named Rei, have you seen or heard anything like that?" Teepo quietly berated himself for not being able to think of a better description of them.
"Nah" The kid responded.
"Is there any info dealer or something like that around here?"
"No, but you can try asking the hide-and-seek gang at the fountain, although I think you will need to play hide-and-seek for them to give you info."
"Look, I really don't have the patience for something like that. Thanks anyway. Thanks for nothing" Teepo sneered, and then started walking away.
"Would have had to start asking around sooner or later anyway. Should probably ask some more people, preferably someone who actually knows a damn." Teepo grumbled to himself as he walked.
He did that for a bit on the lower level, but none of the people he asked had anything, to his rising frustation. Then he went up to a higher level of the city, where he found a shop that selled tents, Teepo bought one, having slept outdoors for the last week reminding him of just how nice a tent was. The rest of the day he continued searching for Rei and Ryu, but still not finding anything of them. He also stopped by at another store, this time to buy some medicinal herbs and vitamins.
By the end of Teepo's first day in Wyndia, he had seen no signs of Rei or Ryu. During the journey from Mcneil village, he had been in a calm mood, having been mainly focused on making the trip successfully. Now that he was in Wyndia and there still was no sign of his brothers, anxiety was rising. Sure, Wyndia was too large of a city to thoroughly check in a single day, but he still had a certain feeling, telling him that he wasn't going to find them here. Teepo quelled his thoughts, telling himself he needed to have faith in them surviving, He stayed the night at a inn, he would have preferred to save the money, but he didn't want to look like one of the beggars that he had seen plenty of around the city, and something told him that a lone boy sleeping on the street was less safe than sleeping out in the wilderness away from other people, like he had done on the way to Wyndia.
The second day Teepo continued searching the second level, jogging at the same brisk pace he had had the previous day. He had lunch by covertly stealing some sandwiches from an outdoor coffee shop, and then went up an level, where there mainly were bakeries, and proceeded to search around there. He still found nothing so he went out onto the city walls and had a look around them, and even briefly snuck into the royal cemetery, to make sure he had checked everywhere, as Rei and Ryu wouldn't care if a place was supposed to be off-limits, well at least Rei wouldn't. Nothing was found yet again, so he withdrew to the inn, feeling conflicted as he was satisfied with having covered a large part of the city, but worried over not finding anything he was looking for. At the inn that night Teepo overheard a heated conversation from downstairs.
"Hey, ya headed fer the contest?"
"Nah, better stay away from Balio and Sunder much as ye can if you value yer life. And Garr will beat yer ass in the final even if I got there."
"Don't need to compete stupid! Just sit there and rake in the cash on betting! Genmel has enough cash ya can win so ya could buy this joint if ya win!"
"Shit's rigged anyway, or I'll be damned!
"What do ya know, ya loser! Couldn't win a bet on if the sun will shine tomorrow!"
The sound of chairs being slammed, and then a few minutes later something which sounded like a wet splash, and then the sound of something breaking, and then a bone-chilling cry of pain was let out. And then there was silence. Teepo decided it was best to not head downstairs until next morning.
The third day was spent exploring the higher levels. Teepo stopped when he reached the castle at the top of the city, doubting Rei or Ryu would somehow be there, and Teepo couldn't get into the castle even if he wanted to. Feeling anxious over not finding anything about Rei or Ryu, he spent the rest if the day frantically dashing through the city without a plan, desperate to find just anything. By the time sundown came around he still hadn't found anything, and was too exhausted to keep searching, so he reluctantly withdrew to the inn he was staying at, while (futilely) trying to calm his nerves. He barely made it up to his room, where he then had a nervous breakdown.
"I have been everywhere in this dang place, why can't I find any signs of Rei or Ryu!"
Teepo cried, until he was too exhausted to cry.
"T-they … t-they … t-they are d-dead! I should have accepted that long ago!" Teepo wanted to cry, but all he could do was sob.
Teepo sobbed himself to sleep.
When Teepo woke up the next morning he wanted to cry when he remembered his thoughts from last night.
"That's not what Ryu and Rei would want though." He told himself. Then he willed himself to pull himself together, which felt like quite a difficult accomplishment. Then he just sat on the bed for a good half-hour or so, staring into the wall, not really having any conscious thoughts.
"Can't sit around here forever, I can't afford that even if I wanted to." Inns in a city like Wyndia were understandably quite expensive, and a lone commoner travelling really couldn't expect to afford them long-term.
"What to do?" Teepo stated the question to himself, simple as it was. Various thoughts flowed through his head, some repeating, but none being overly dominant. The most common one was revenge, which Teepo stopped to consider.
"Killing Balio and Sunder, and Loki, and Mcneil would feel nice." Teepo thought it over a bit more.
"Well, Balio and Sunder at least. Those were heartless enough that killing them would just be doing the right thing, and the world a favor. That contest of their's doesn't sound good either."
"When did a thief like I become so concerned with what's right?" Teepo chuckled at his thoughts
"Killing Loki or Mcneil doesn't feel as right, Loki is a lazy coward, but can't really harm anyone who isn't too trusting for their own good. Mcneil is greedy and a sleazebag, but too much of a sissy to hurt anyone without having someone else do it for him. Killing everyone like Mcneil and Loki just doesn't feel right in the end. Why I am thinking about what's right so much all of a sudden?" Teepo berated himself, but then concluded it was natural when he needed to make decisions on his own now, previously Rei had made most major decisions for and with him, and Ryu had had a conscience for two people by himself for whatever that was worth.
"Whatever. Revenge is only so much in any case. What chance do I stand against Balio and Sunder anyway? They curbstomped the three of us together." Teepo thought dejectedly.
"Maybe I'll get my revenge someday. But for now, I gotta start my life over again, somewhere somehow. Where, though? Maybe I should just travel the world a bit, see what happens." Teepo continued his internal monologue.
"Well, if those people shouting downstairs yesterday knew what they were talking about, Balio and Sunder should be at Genmel. Would be good to check out for the future. Will have to ask someone where Genmel is, though." Teepo made up his current plans.
Teepo didn't put much effort into choosing who to ask, so he just asked the first person he saw, which was the innkeeper.
"Hey, can you tell me where Genmel is?" Teepo asked, unaware of how it sounded coming from a kid.
"Yes, but I think it's best for yourself if you don't know where it is. Way too young for that place." The innkeeper responded, with a hint of curiosity over the question.
"I'm a paying customer, why can't you answer my question? What does it concern you where I go?" Teepo stated with audible irritation in his voice.
"Don't like children getting hurt, but if you insist that much you will just ask someone else if I refuse, so fine, I'll tell you," The innkeeper said with a sigh.
"Go south when you leave the city, cross Eygnock road and take the two bridges over the Maekyss river, and then just stick with the main road and you should get to Genmel." The innkeeper continued.
"Thanks, here, have a tip." Teepo flipped a coin to the innkeeper.
"Keep that single zenny, you'll need it more than I will. The innkeeper chuckled and gave the zenny back. "Think over your decision to go to Genmel a bit more before you actually go though." The innkeeper continued with a bit more stern voice.
"Yeah yeah, whatever." Teepo said disinterestedly and left the inn.
Teepo being in need of zenny was undeniable, not having had much to begin with when he left from Yraall, and inn expenses were piling up. As such he decided to work, the way he knew best. Burglary. Teepo settled on a house near the city gate he had entered through, not having seen any especially at least seemingly wealthy buildings except the castle, which Teepo wasn't stupid enough to try stealing from, the house near the city gate also having the advantage of being able to make a run for it out from the city if needed. Teepo waited until night, taking one last look around Wyndia for Rei or Ryu, although having accepted that he likely wouldn't find anything, which he indeed didn't.
Nightfall came, and Teepo realized he had forgot to make a plan for breaking into the house. He checked the door, expecting it to be locked, but as luck would have it the door wasn't locked for whatever reason. Teepo gladly accepted the first lucky break he had had in a while, and went inside. The inside of the house was deceivingly small, and sparsely furnished as well, consisting of a carpet with a table and some stools on the carpet in the middle of the room, a furnace with a stovetop, a cupboard, and a bed which had a woman sleeping in it, which Teepo let out a quiet sigh at, on one hand being annoyed at there being a person in the room which he had to avoid waking up, on the other hand he was grateful she wasn't awake when he came in. The cupboard was the only viable place to look, so Teepo did that. He dug around a bit, finding a few hundred zenny lying at the bottom. Feeling satisfied, not having expected much more than that, he closed the cupboard, and made his way out of the house. Or he would have, but then he ran into a man in the doorway.
"HEY, YOU! WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE!" The man loudly yelled.
Teepo let out a curse under his breath and drew his sword, as the man was blocking the only exit. The man saw this, but didn't flinch. As Teepo approached and made a slash with his sword, the man dodged and hit Teepo in the side with a hard tackle. Teepo flew down onto the ground, and lost his grip on his sword. The man then tried to pin Teepo down on the floor, but Teepo resisted, rolling frantically on the floor. A minute passed, and then Teepo was able to break free. He quickly ran over to his sword, dodging a punch and a kick from the man in the meantime, but getting hit by another tackle when he bent down to grab his sword, which knocked the air out of Teepo, and sent him into a corner. His sword flew with him though, and he grabbed it immediately when he landed. The man made another attempt at a punch, but Teepo was prepared and got in a hefty blow with his sword on the man's right arm. The blade went in deep, blood gushed out, and the man screamed in pain. Teepo took the opportunity to get away, and ran out of the house. He ran quickly out through the city gate, stopping when he was out of sight from the gate. He catched his breath, and thought over how his heist had went.
"Dang those tackles hurt, my entire body will ache tomorrow. Nothing seems broken at least, I don't think I could find medical care or even pay for it. Maybe should just have blasted that man with a simoon spell, if that lady didn't wake up from the man yelling she wouldn't have waken up from an explosion going off. Remembering the small details will be the death of me. Worth it though, that zenny, should cover anything I'll need to buy for a while. Just hope I didn't hurt that man too much, he had done nothing wrong." Teepo summarized it for himself.
"Well, I was headed for Genmel anyway, so I should just keep heading this way." Teepo surmised the situation, when he had gotten his directions sorted out.
And thus Teepo was on the road again, albeit with a heavily different outlook on the future. He didn't know how far Genmel was, but figured it couldn't be further away than Yraall was. Teepo added trying to find maps of the areas he was traveling through to his mental to-get list. He had travelled for two days, with little of interest happening, but the mundane walking did wonders for stabilizing his solemn mood, and he was happy to have a tent now. That's when he reached the second bridge over a huge river, the largest one which had Teepo seen in his life, and which he correctly assumed to be the Maekyss.
"Hey punk! Where ya going?" Teepo turned around as he heard the voice, which belonged to a grassrunner of the more wolf-like variant, smoking a cigarette, wearing a trenchcoat and fedora and giving off an overall shady expression.
"To Genmel." Teepo tried to answer as non-provocatively as he could.
"Really? What's a little punk like you gonna do there?" The man spit out, and onto the ground as well.
"I'm just travelling the world." Teepo stated, not really lying.
"Oh, is that so? How about we give you a ride?" The grassrunner smoking the cigarette smiled and pointed to a wagon standing nearby.
"No thanks." Teepo politely responded, not wanting to draw any unnecessary ire.
"Listen here punk! That was not a choice we were offering! Get in the wagon!" The grassrunner growled.
"Why are you so desperate to get me in the wagon anyway?" Teepo asked and cautiously backed away.
"Balio and Sunder like child fighters for the contest! Gets the crowd riled up! Now get here or we'll have to do this the hard way!" The grassrunner started yelling.
"Balio and Sunder, and you, and everyone else working with them can piss right off!" Teepo yelled back and drew his sword, and delivered a quick slash across the grassrunner's face, which drew a bit of blood, and the grassrunner yelped in pain, but quickly regained his composure, and snarled back.
"Dumb kid! Well then! Boys, get yer asses over here! Out from the wagon came four people, two people similar in appearance to the grassrunner which had been threatening Teepo, and two lanky highlanders. All of them were armed, pulling out knives.
"Feeling tough now, brat?" The lead bandit snarled. "Get him, boys! Don't care if he lives or not!"
The bandits came upon him all at once. Teepo tried to run away, but they quickly flanked and surrounded him, so he chose to instead stay his ground and fight. Teepo aimed at the bandit he had wounded earlier, and let off a simoon spell. The explosion knocked that bandit unconscious, but he still had four bandits rushing onto him. Teepo spun and slashed with his sword to try and fend them off, but one of the bandits got close enough to get a firm grip on Teepo's arm, and then he threw Teepo to the ground. The bandits then stabbed Teepo relentlessly. Teepo gasped for air, as he felt a knife go through his back.
Then it happened again, the feeling that Teepo had almost forgotten that he had even experienced. The shape of the boy lying on the ground warped and twisted, and a few seconds later, a small purple, horned creature was standing there instead. He roared.