Banishment Comes with a Green Friend
Wan may have been able to save his friends by letting them escape from last night's heist, but he wasn't so lucky himself when getting caught by the Chou brothers and the guards despite having the power of fire literally at his hands.
Now we see how Wan being taken to the edge of the city right in front of the head of the Lion Turtle where his judgement will be held.
The eldest Chou, the father, walked up to Wan to get one last small talk with Wan to get some information about any other men that were involved with the incident last night.
"Tell me who else was involved in the rebellion, and I might take mercy on you." Father Chou ordered.
"I'm not telling you anything." Wan glared.
"Then, you've left me no choice. Wan, you are hereby banished." Father Chou declared the punishment for Wan.
"Yeah! And give back the fire you stole." Little Chou added, believing that Wan did not deserve the power from the sacred Lion Turtle.
"No! Wait!" Wan begged, but the guards just pushed him closer to the Lion Turtle.
Wan knew that he wouldn't be able to at least survive for long if he didn't have the gift of fire, the only chance he has is to convince the Lion Turtle to let him keep the fire throughout his banishment.
"Great lion turtle, I am sorry for stealing the fire from you, and I accept my punishment. But please, I need to be able to protect myself in the wilds." Wan begged.
"Never again may you return to this city." The Lion Turtle said.
Wan knew the giant creature of the city would say that, meaning no fire power for him.
"But I will allow you to keep the power of the element." The Lion Turtle decided.
This surprise Wan as he wasn't expecting the Lion Turtle to let him keep the fire, but it was still better than nothing and he wasn't going to question about it if this means his survival would last longer.
Soon, Wan was taken to the edge of the wild forest and then pushed towards it by the guards. Wan starts his new banishment life.
Back at the old home, Yao and Jaya are sitting on top of some tree branches knowing their friend has just enter the forest where all the spirits live as they fear for his safety.
"Bet he doesn't last till morning." Yao feared.
(With Wan)
Wan is walking through the forest which the brightness has gotten dark, and he lit up a fire from his hand hopefully to see a little better, he gets really scared as he turns around like every five seconds fearing that a spirit could pounce on him at any moment.
A snake-like spirit flew close and behind that got Wan spook that he unleashes fire at the snake spirit though it somehow split into two which only freaked him out even more.
"(Shit! Nobody told me spirits can do that!)" Wan thought gasped.
Wan started running for his life from any spirits that gets too close to him, and he blast some fire to keep them away.
"Hey!" A voice shouted.
Wan flinches in fear and looks around, trying to find who said that.
"Watch where you're stepping, human!"
"Who said that?" Wan asked, feeling more scared than before.
"Down here!"
Wan looks down to see a little blue frog creature that slides its head out of the frog while the rest of his body is still under Wan's foot.
"How'd you like it if I started walking all over you?" The blue spirit frog glared up at the human.
"You're just a little frog." Wan sighed in relief.
But that relief only lasted for literally one second when the blue spirit frog suddenly grew bigger and bigger than Wan and looks down angrily at the human boy.
"Who's little now?" The blue spirit frog asked with a deeper voice and tries to stomp him, but then a familiar green arm stretches out to stop the foot from stomping Wan.
"Do not harm this human, he is under my protection." A little green figure walked out of the darkness, revealing himself.
"Protection? You can't be serious, Namek! This human is one of them, those coming into our forest and hurting just so they can take what they want like they own the forest." The blue spirit frog pointed out.
"They only do so in order to survival as well, to provide the necessary needs to feed their people to not go hungry. Even the Lion Turtles offered them shelter on their backs." The green guy called Namek countered.
"I say those fucking giants are being pussy for letting the humans to live on them." The blue spirit frog scoffed.
"Perhaps I should go over to one of them right now and tell them what you said, I'm sure they wouldn't like to unleash their angry on someone like the last time." Namek reminded him of that incident.
That's when the big blue spirit started to look really scared upon hearing that, knowing that Namek has some connections with the Lion Turtles and even remembering what happened when even one of the Lion Turtles gets angry.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, let's not do anything crazy! I'll let the human go." The blue spirit frog backed away, shrinking back down and hopping away.
Wan was struck in shock to see that this weird green guy with pointy ears actually helped him just now, and he even said that he is under this green spirit's protection for whatever reason.
"Are you alright?" Namek asked.
"Huh, uh, yeah…" Wan answered, weirded out by the green spirit being friendly with him now.
"I'm sorry about that guy. He has a bad temper when it comes to his size." Namek apologized on the blue spirit frog's behalf.
"Yeah, I saw." Wan said as he stands up.
"Why exactly did you help me? It's not like I have anything to offer since I was kicked out of my own home." Wan asked.
"I guess you could say I've been growing curious about you humans for a long time, and you seem more than the other humans I've seen." Namek answered, though Wan didn't seem to understand that.
"Uh, thank you?" Wan thanked in confusion.
"You're welcome, though I didn't think I see you again when you first came into the forest." Namek mentioned.
"Wait, you saw me?" Wan raised an eyebrow, and then look down at Namek's arms feeling like he has seen them before.
Then a realization hits his head with a flashback of his first time in the forest with the hunters when he was about to fake his fear to get away, and then those green arms came out scaring him.
"That was you! You were the one who attacked me and those hunters when we came in!" Wan gasped as he points at Namek.
"I am." Namek said simply.
"Why?" Wan asked.
"Because I saw how you were different than those hunters, you had the look in your eyes that you only wanted the power of fire to help those you care for and try to stand up against those who live higher than you. Even showing mercy to those who look down on you." Namek explained.
This surprised Wan as he was not expecting to be described like that, then he saw Namek beginning to walk and quickly follow him.
"Wait, how'd you know I didn't kill the little Chou?" Wan asked.
"I saw you, from the top of the building of your former home." Namek answered.
"Oh, okay." Wan nodded.
Then five seconds later.
"What? You fucking what?!" Wan shouted in shock.
"You were really there? But how and how come no one notice you?" Wan asked freaking out.
"Oh wait, you're a spirit. You can probably turn yourself invisible and stuff." Wan guessed.
"No, I'm not actually a spirit. I'm just a living being like you humans and the animals." Namek revealed, which only shocked Wan even more.
"Oh my god, you're a human who has been possessed by a spirit! I'm so sorry for you." Wan horrified that Namek is like this because of a spirit.
"No, I'm not human either. I was born like this." Namek revealed another shocking piece of information.
"…Okay, so if you're not a spirit or a human, then what are you?" Wan asked.
"I am called a Namekian, once from another world beyond the stars you see every night." Namek answered.
"The fuck… Back up for a second there, are you actually telling me that you're some kind of being from another world?" Wan asked shock some more.
"I am, you can choose not to believe me if you want, I won't hold it against you. But know that I hold truth in my words." Namek said.
"Now come, we should get you something to eat for the night then we'll continue walking in the morning." Namek said.
This has officially been the weirdest day for Wan since his banishment. First, he was attacked by some spirits only for one strange green guy to come to his rescue, and now this Namek guy just reveal that he is really a strange creature from another world beyond the stars which sounds totally, fucking impossible.
Yeah, this is gonna be Wan's life from now on.
(The Next Day)
Wan and Namek are walking together in a wide-open area of the forest while the former is eating a small piece of meat that used to be a horned rabbit.
"Hey, are you sure you don't want any of this?" Wan asked, offering to share his meat.
"I'm fine, my kind don't really need to eat food to survive like you humans. We only need to drink some water and we'll be fine for several days. You could probably think of us as living plants." Namek explained.
"Wow, another weird thing I'm learning about you." Wan commented.
Wan is still not sure if he should trust this weird green man since he still doesn't know a lot about him and he also looks like he could be a few years younger than him, but he acts like a mature young adult at the same time. He could actually be older than he looks, remembering about spirits not aging like humans do, but Namek did say that he's not a spirit.
"So, where are we going exactly?" Wan asked.
"To an oasis that owns by a spirit friend of mine, it should be a safe haven for you. At least for a while until you're ready to move again, perhaps travel the world." Namek answered.
"Huh, that does sound like an adventure. Seeing what the rest of the world is like could be fun." Wan interested.
Namek and Wan continue on traveling while Wan looks around seeing some other things that this forest has to offer, like what appears to be most on a tree turns out to be lots and lots of butterflies along with a big two-headed flamingo flying over them, a few plant spirits making some beautiful flowers grow, and some fishes swimming in the opposite direction of the river.
"Nature sure is a beautiful thing, isn't it?" Namek asked, noticing how Wan is liking the scenery.
"Yeah, I guess it is when nothing is trying to eat you nor scare the shit out of you." Wan nodded.
Moments later, the two have finally arrived the peaceful oasis with fresh fruits and comfort.
"Wow!" Wan was amazed by the sight.
"Yes, it's quite peaceful. Let's go." Namek said.
"Oh, about this friend of yours… Can you tell me about him so I can be ready?" Wan asked.
"Well, he absolutely hates humans, believing them to be "ugly, destructive, and lacking any respect for nature", his words, not mine." Namek answered.
"Okay, so a hard nut to crack. Got it." Wan understood all of that.
Namek and Wan arrive at the bridge where an Aye-aye spirit appears.
"Halt, no humans are not welcome in my oasis." Aye-aye spirit stated.
"It's okay, Aye-aye. He's with me, he means you no harm." Namek promised.
"Yeah, what he says." Wan nodded rapidly.
"What? Namek, are you for real right now? You can't just find a human and expect to bring them here like it's no big deal, especially with how much of a brute they are." Aye-aye spirit complained.
"Hey, that felt like more of an insult!" Wan offended by that.
"Because it was an insult." Aye-aye glared at the human.
"Please Aye-aye, he can't ever return home because he was banished for stealing against the humans that rules over the Lion Turtle, he used to live in. Stealing food to provide survival of hunger for the people who were struggling to get by because of the poor conditions they were forced to live in." Namek explained.
"Really now? That's really selfless." Aye-aye spirit was surprised to hear that.
"You really stood up to your rulers? I thought humans were only good to obey others." Aye-aye spirit asked Wan.
"Not all of us, we had to struggle for whatever scraps we could get our hands on while our "rulers' were living the high life. Well, I say enough is enough and so, I took the fire from the Lion Turtle in order to help my people raise to show them that we can make some changes." Wan explained.
"Whoa, you must've been very brave." One friendly spirit complimented.
"Or very stupid. Did you kill anyone?" Aye-aye spirit asked.
"I… No, I couldn't bring myself to kill the guy even though I wanted to so badly! But I couldn't…" Wan sighed.
"Because you have a bigger heart and a stronger soul within you than any human in the world, that shows you are a kinder person than you ever realized." Namek believed with a hand on Wan's shoulder.
"You really think so?" Wan asked.
"I do, otherwise you would've become more better than those humans, right?" Namek nodded.
"Huh, I guess you're right." Wan was surprised of this fact.
"Of course, he's right. Namek is always right when it comes to these mushy feelings." Aye-aye groaned.
Then Namek's ears started to twitch upon hearing something from a distance.
"I hear an animal in trouble, caught in a trap." Namek informed.
"Must be the hunters from my former home." Wan guessed.
"Well then, let's go save it." Namek grabbed Wan, and then jumps so high and flew through the sky while Wan is screaming for his life.
Namek looks down trying to find the area where the animal is in trouble until he spotted it then floats down to the ground.
"What the fuck was that?!" Wan asked.
"Flight, it's an ability that can be achieved through training and discipline. It's also how I use my energy." Namek answered.
"Energy?" Wan confused.
"Here it is." Namek gestured to the poor cat-deer trapped in a rope net.
"Poor little guy, it has much more life ahead of him, but now it's trapped. Just like how you used to." Namek looked to Wan.
Wan look to the cat-deer struggling to break free with its wimpier noise of sadness, and then looking right at Wan. This got the boy to sigh knowing that this does remind him of his old life.
"Hey, why don't you try using your fire to cut the rope to free him." Namek suggested.
"Okay, how do I do that?" Wan asked.
"Just try imagining your fire in the shape of a blade, a small one, and use it to only cut the rope without burning the whole rope. Concentrate, give it form." Namek lectured.
Wan wasn't really sure what Namek was going with, but he might as well try it at least once. He looks to his hand conjuring a fire and then tries to imagine that very fire into the form of a blade, giving it form which was a little hard at first until the fire blade was form and he made a swift swing to cut the rope getting the creature down.
The cat-deer is free, and he meows in happiness. Seeing this animal enjoy freedom made Wan feel happy too, starting to see that maybe there is something more to life than what he was once forced to live in.
KO a new chapter is done and hope you all enjoy it!
HA! Bet you didn't expect to see a Namekian in this story where Wan stumble upon within the forest, and even learning about more things as he will get to know them and may see more of the world with his own eyes and being open to other things that no one has ever done before!
KO comment, favorite, and follow through of how this story will go!