The sun beamed down on the meander, twisted trees created natural bridges through-out its length, meanwhile, a deer grazed by the bank, absentmindedly taking a drink as the forests many sounds echoed far and wide.
"Such a peaceful creature," I sighed, shrugging with plenty of fake woe in my voice. "Sadly, you are made of meat." A toothy grin stretched over my face, hatchet sat at the base of the tree as I readied one of my new moves that had made hunting such a breeze. Metal Claw...
~---~
It has been... two months, question mark? Since I got to this world, and still no dice on civilization, this forest might as well blanket the earth. If we're being honest I half expected to have gone insane, but I was so used to talking to myself back home that I kept myself preoccupied, say what you will but time spent in one's own company can be really insightful.
Speaking of insight, I happen to finally have a use for the stuff I learned in school, most notably, woodworking... and maybe a game... about blocks -besides the point -- point is, it took me around three weeks but I had a place to hunker down after exploring the forest at greater lengths. I'd use a treehouse as my base of operations, keeping tabs on specific landmarks as my map written out on bark with charcoal, and so far I had the lay of the land.
In the end, my little home was merely a hut built into a leaning tree, the thick branches act like a cage to hold it all together soundly, and while my tools were limited to stone I did have the body of what is basically a ninja wolf so I managed. It was a small box home, kept a draft out, I even had candles... though Paraffin wax was far easier to create than Beewax... for obvious reasons.
It didn’t take me long to realize that I had to find either a way out of this maze of a forest or be prepared to face the Fall and Winter once Summer passed, it would be a pain and with a monster from another game I knew lurking in the woods I dared not to imagine what else I could run into out here, it's a big place after all.
I would spend my days traveling, expanding on my maps, gathering firewood, food, water, occasional tinkering for quality of life adjustments, like pitfall traps and training my body in the unlikely event I run into that Barroth again. So far my time in this world has been anything but adventurous, dangers aside, I did find the change of pace to the normality of life refreshing.
Eventually, another day arrived, and I found myself a new landmark.
"--I walk this empty street, on the boulevard of broken dreams, where the city sleeps, and I'm the only one and I walk alone--" My, ahem, beautiful voicals aside my hunting had come up short, though now I made up for my shortage of fruits. I grimaced. "No more berries unless it's confirmed a raspberry, ugh..."
Pushing through some low-bearing trees I broke through another treeline and found myself in a rather spacious field of flowers, my eyes practically widened at the colorful sight. There was a pond across the way, hills divided up the land filled with reds, blues, pinks, yellows, and many others that I couldn't accurately describe by name. Again, despite my predicament, places like this, it really made me remember how fun it is to explore in a new world.
Strolling through the field I picked a lavender, popping it and few others into my bag for later use, there were an abundance of common daisies so I picked those, while not my forte, I had some idea of the medicinal uses of these flowers, it turned into a poultice it can help heal wounds, that part would be trial and error given my... limited knowledge, but hey! I had the time now. Combined this flower with the Butterfly Weed I randomly stumbled across It'd make for a good health kit.
My picking of colorful flowers continued as I found myself pulled into the relaxing normality of the task, the sun was shining down so I wasn't bothered, and there were no definitive tracks of any predators nearby. "Today is certainly nice... wonder if there's a place like this out there, beyond the walls of this forest?" My ears folded. "Man I'm lonely, hehehe."
Self-loathing aside, my ears twitched upright again. something was running this way in a hurry. Standing upright I turned my attention to whatever deer or Timberwolf stormed my way. Yes, there are in-fact wolves made of wood, so I called them Timberwolves... I feel as though I've seen them before though? Observations for later, the target was moving faster and by the time I crawled my way up the hill to investigate I was immediately blindsided by a fast-moving grey object.
"Grah!" Both me and the entity yelled from the impact, tumbling down into the field in a heap. I hit the grass, flower petals dancing in the air as I laid on my back, the weight of the being pushed up against my chest, it too had fur from the sensation. Rubbing my forehead I blinked and peered down at my chest spike, thankfully, the entity missed impalement, not that it was sharp but I certainly wouldn't like to have found out
From the shape and size of the being, it was an equine, although unlike any I've seen before. Grey fur covered its body, with a mane and tail a smooth shade of lilac, although both were messy in style, the bangs over its face covered the left eye, the other still shut in pain, poking out from its lips was a small fang too. Their ears were pointed, and a single, leathery wing sat draped across my side. Carefully, the being stirred as I continued to stare with fascination.
It wore a bag too, with a sky-blue hood with a white outline and arrow-like designs down the middle hugged against its neck, it also doubled a small cape.
"I'd appreciate it if you weren't atop me..." I was talking to myself, but the equine blinked, revealing a familiar, lilac eye. Said eye locked to me and immediately pushed itself off my body. Despite the sudden tackle, my nose caught the scent of a very common aroma, only then did I realize that this equine was actually bleeding. "Something injured it..."
"...w-What are you?" It. Spoke. The equine, and from the voice it was clearly female, spoke to me with both shock and worry. From her posture I'd say something had her spooked, my appearance probably didn't help given I was always frowning
"Sorry, my appearance has the magical effect of making others feel I'm always upset, my gift to the world." I waved my paw wide, observing the deep laceration to her front leg, a clean-cut, damage was definitely a blade so it wasn't me. "You're hurt."
Her head tilted, eyebrow raised. "Is that the only thing you can say?"
I'm a genuine idiot. Facepalming I grumbled odd curses under my breath. Pokemon can't talk you dumbass, but Lucario on the other hand...
Staring back at the equine, I kept a solid leer to her eye, focusing on my aura and thoughts on her own, her's was a flickering blue flame, sweet. Here goes everything I suppose. "You're injured, what happened?"
Her eyes snapped wide, head flicking in every direction. "What? How! Who said... that..." Her eyes slowly peer back to my toothy grin as I resisted the urge to hug her, I finally had someone to talk to!! I'm not alone anymore -- wow I'm maniacally sad, although seeing her freak out was kind of funny. "Did you...?"
"I can speak by projecting my thoughts onto yours, surprise~" I waved, then shifted my expression to a far more serious tone. "Your leg, it's bleeding badly, let me see." She glanced to her leg, then offered a weak smile
"Heh, usually I'm more careful, guess I've gotten sloppy today." She chuckled halfheartedly, even watching as I grabbed her front-hoof in my paw. "What are you?"
I didn't look up as I flicked my bag open and grabbed a few leaves of a fluffy lamb's ear, what an odd name, wrapping them around the deep cut tightly as her face contorted in pain. "I'm a Lucario, my kind are called Pokemon but I doubt you've seen any quite like me. Sadly, when we speak anything that isn't us can only hear us talk with our names," I tied it up, seeing the leaves work overtime to stop the bleeding. "This is bad, I can't treat this injury right now, come on, I'll--."
Her eyes shot open with fright. "Hey, look out!" She alerted me as I grabbed her quickly, diving forward with my bag as a large plume of dust swept over the area. Setting her down I glared back at the last thing I wanted to see. The dust cleared and a single, scarlet eye burned into my own, the Barroth was back, an aura of malicious joy seeping from its soul.
The Barroth was covered in deep scars this time, the once impregnatable armor broken, leaving white abrasions over its form. Something did all this to it? Don't tell me it wasn't the only Monster from World to show up in this place? If so, I was in deep trouble now. I went to push the equine back, but my leg bumped up against her body, now lying on the ground completely passed out.
"Dammit blood, stay in her body!" I cursed, realizing this Barroth was already letting off steam for its big charge-up attack. "Now or never I guess!"
Scrambling to my feet, I, without so much as thinking, threw my paw forward, seeing a radiate light leave my claws, slamming a small, light-blue orb into the Barroth's side, the impact throwing it to the ground in a heap. I... did it, an Aura Sphere! Took a near-dying equine to motivate my body into forming the attack but now I had my escape.
With a surge of unparalleled speed, I dove down, pulling the bat-like equine close before taking off at the speed of sound, the thunderous crash of the Barroth's feet closing in for our second chase. Breaking left of the treeline, I sat the equine down, hastily adjusting the bandages before I took off to the right of the tree line, running out into the open with my arms high. If anything I'm its target now.
"Come and get me." The Barroth obliged, turning just millimeters from where I left her, releasing an ear-splitting roar as it charged. Rolling to my right I effortlessly led it into a tree, seeing it bring it down with ease while leaving its weakened body exposed. "Metal Claw!" What? Saying them out-loud sounds cool
With an iron fist, I drove the sharp digits downward, tearing through the armor with ease, my left spun through the monster's side. Jumping backward I avoided a hip check, harnessing my strength into my fists again for a bronze hue to overtake the appendages, "Rock Smash". Sprinting under a headbutt I swung up with a right cross, quickly followed by a left hook, seeing the Barroth stumble sharply to its left, myself spinning once into the air, palm held out. "Force Palm."
The crackling energy rocketed through the Barroth, but I froze from the lumbering swing of its tail, having missed my chance to paralyze it. Bracing I was forced into the ground by the limb, my arms threatening to break as I gasped, flipping onto my knees. Dodging another charge I decided to give it taste of its own medicine. Shaking my head I motioned for the monster to charge again, my paws shimmering with a silver glint in the sunlight.
Between us, a pregnant pause broke, that bloodshot eye coupled with a snarl, while I breathed heavily from my mouth, holding my form. Aura was an extension of the soul, that's how Lucario can do more without the need to attack at all, I could feel the animalistic hunger radiating from this monster, the rage, and desperation on needing to win. Faintly, that female equine was fighting for her life, blood loss wasn't a kind way to go, so I can't exactly keel over now.
The sound of a kettle fumed from the monster, hunched over for a towering charge, I had one shot at this and it was going to hurt either way. The skull threw itself against me in seconds, and my once stern posture was broken into a struggle to hold back the beast, my feet digging through the soil as my claws strained against an unstoppable force.
Grinding my teeth together, I did everything I could to pull its strength into my own, despite hearing what sounded like metal groan when faced with several tons of rocky scales. Stomping once, that groan burrowed my foot deep through rock.
"C-Counter!!" I snarled, the silver gleam flickering once while my body tensed, the pressure once exerted in staying alive now flew from my fur, my scarlet eyes reflecting my cunning grin
Twisting my lock on the Barroth's crown, I stomped to my right, pulling back with an effortless heave, crashing the body of the Wyvern up against the trees, bringing the wall down atop it. It cried out having it’s own attack rebound.
Pinned and left without the energy to escape I held my hands together, focusing hard on my aura in producing the effect I needed. With a flash of light, the Aura Sphere conjured itself under my breathless laugh. "I win." For that split second, I put the fear of God into the monster's eye
Night draped over the land, the glow of candles inside my humble abode providing me with a clear view of my guest, who still slept through all the chaos of today. She was going to be alright, however, her recovery solely depended on her ability to gather her strength. But after so many weeks I finally found someone, sure, not a Pokemon or human, but atleast she seemed nice enough to talk to.
"Ugh..." My ears flicked up, moving away from my new detailing of the flower meadow. The equine's eyes fluttered open weakly, a hoof to her forehead as she sat up in my small bed. "W-What? Where did--"
"I took care of the Barroth, the monster that attacked us." Her head turned to me swiftly, face contorting in hostility so I casually raised my paws. "You passed out from blood loss, but your injury should heal just fine."
Her eyes darted to her foreleg, seeing the more secure lamb's ear in place, With her guard down, she offered me a genuine look of relief. "T-Thank you, I honestly wasn't expecting to find anypony out, especially somepony like you." I did a little bow and sat back down before her. "Is this place yours?"
I grinned, nodding to the hut. "I've been lost in this place for little over two months, mapping and surviving without much hassle now, back then... ouch," I winced at the memories of my first few attempts to building after so long, it ended as well as you expect a novice to act in practice. "I'm Zen, sorry for the lack of introduction."
“Huh?” She turned back to me. “O-oh, I’m Yui.”
“Well, Yui, happy to meet you,” I stuck out a paw, and with some slight hesitation she returned the shake. With a clap, I motioned to her. "Tell me, where exactly am I? What I mean is," She stopped opening her mouth at my paw. "This world, the forest. You see, I'm... not what you would call a local."
She blinked, having not expected that question. "Well, first, can I ask what it is you've healed me with? I don't think I've seen this method before," She pointed curiously at her bandaged leg. That was a fair trade
"I was out in that field collecting medicinal herbs and mapping down locations. The substance I had time to gride into a poultice aids in healing wounds, the leaves are a natural bandage too, add in a few stitches under it all and 'boom', a rookie's medical skills at its finest," I explained simply, her eyes aglow with fascination, a small smile crossing her muzzle
"You are definitely unique, in a good way of course." She quickly rephrased at my curious brow. Sitting upright Yui watched as I handed her a small cup. Taking a whiff she smiled. "Jasmine tea."
"Good to keep any infections from popping up," I answered, then took a sip from my own with a sigh. "Or because I love tea, win-win I say."
After a good few seconds to enjoy our drinks, Yui cleared her throat. "So, before I tell you, where exactly did you come from if not the Everfree Forest?"
Was that the name of this place? Wait. "The Everfree... oh." I blinked, rubbing a paw over my face for a moment. Now I see why she looks familiar, she's a pony, a Bat-Pony from My Little Pony. "Now the colors and animals make sense..." I paused. "Hope none of my hunts were actually sentient, if so, uh, hehe, oops?"
"So you know this place?" Yui inquired to my nod
"Yeah, this place is Equestria, right?" She nodded and I sat deeper into my stool with a looooong sip of tea. I replied, “How could I go about convincing you I'm from an entirely different world?”
Yui processed, then shrugged, “Tell me you're from another world.”
I looked up at my Bat-Pony companion, not sure how to respond. "I'm... from another world? In a body that's not my own?"
A simple nod and smile. "If I'm being honest that's pretty cool, though it's not the most perplexing thing in Equestria. Discord is a thing."
"Ah, yes, wonder if he's involved somehow, he usually is..." I replied with a tired sigh. "Sorry, today's been a drag, between beating the Barroth into the ground, taking its hide for later use, and everything leading up toward today, that... was kind of underwhelming."
Yui rolled her eyes. "Welcome to Equestria -- Ack." Her forehoof came down quickly at her dramatic wave
I snorted humorously. "Try to keep you bubbling excitement from undoing my hard work." Clearing my throat I continued. "So, where is the nearest town in this forest?"
After recovering from the sharp pain Yui hummed, looking as though she was missing something. Casually I held up her own bag, handing it over. "Perfect, thanks," She fished through the bag with her only wing, then flicked out the holy grail of this world, a perfectly detailed map! Unfolding it on the bed I now realized how large this place was
She pointed to a rough spot on the map. "We're more than likely here, flower meadows like the one we met in tend to grow closer to the center, far away from anypony and the magic in this sector is stronger that way." That made sense, too bad Barroth came about to nearly ruining the place. Her hoof guided my eyes to the edge of the forest miles and miles away. "While Dodge City would seem closer getting there means going through the same territory that... thing came from, Ponyville's your best bet, just North-West of here actually."
Finally, I was actually investigating that section now, those mountains definitely match with what I caught of glimpse of a fortnight ago. "That's great, you've just saved my sanity!" I praised her happily, looking over all my bark sketches of landmarks. I was happy, but... all of this now had no merit. It was rather disheartening. "I've been here, memorized the locations I've been, so... it's kind of a letdown that it was for nothing."
Yui sat up with a confused brow raised. "You serious? Look at all of this!" She motioned to my work. "All of this was you, right? I'm impressed anypo — er, one could live out here, the Everfree is wild and untamed, only a crazy person could survive out here."
That did make me chuckle. "Guess my insanity saved me," She nodded, then froze unexpectedly
"N-Not that I think you're insane or anything!" Now she was deeply confused since I burst into a fit of laughter
Wiping a tear from my eye I grinned. "Thanks, I needed that, but calling me insane is par-for-the-course," Humor aside, I did look to her solemnly. "Yui, you said 'Thing' that attacked you... a Barroth bludgeons things to death, you had a deep laceration." Her eyes slowly lifted to the doorway, sighing shakily
"I... don't know what it was, something large, dark fur with eyes, just like yours," Yui detailed wary of the doorway as though the night might snatch her. Putting my paw on her shoulder I kept my eyes to her own. She sighed. "It shot these strange, sharp bones, they tore into trees like paper, and into my leg."
Oh no... "Nargacuga, the Swift Wyvern," I can hear someone calling me a nerd right now. The name alone had myself on edge. "It's a flying wyvern covered in pitch-black fur. It is extremely agile, especially on the ground, moving with explosive bursts of speed." Yui's own ears folded back with worry. "I'll be honest, if a master hunter was a monster, I'd say Nargacuga fits the bill."
"That's... a little concerning," Yui gulped, holding the fur cover closer to her, don't think she realizes it's real fur but now's not the time
"Aye, it is... but don't worry, it won't come near, I've rubbed an assortment of scents over the area to keep almost anything at bay, and even if it does show itself I'll be sure to give it one troubling time swallowing me," My fake confidence did lift her spirits, thankfully. "They also hate fire, that I can make no problem."
While having her company is great and all, once she's healed up we'll be going our separate ways again. Standing up I shuffled my supplies together on a workbench, sighing. "Despite the situation, I'm glad we got to chat, haven't had a conversation in a while, atleast with someone else." My resting frown returned. "So, why are you out here?"
"That's easy, I'm... a bit of a treasure hunter," She admitted proudly. "There's not one mystery left unturned on my travels!" The look on her face suggested she was thinking. "My pack here is filled with trinkets and relics, there's some I've sent back home to be studied so I'm always on the move."
I smiled, "Sounds like fun, I'll admit, treasure hunting is my thing too back home," A slight lie since it was games but hey, couldn't hurt to relate given her raised expression of wonder. "I've gone on journeys to some of the darkest tombs and discovered mysteries that had myself and my friends boggled for weeks, lots of fun it is."
Yui sat forward with a bright smile. "I know, right!? The adventure, the traps, and puzzles too! Crossing dangerous regions and meeting, let's say, odd ponies, I live for adventure, it's as simple as that, just like Daring Doo." She sounds like the Indiana Jones of this world, both this Doo person and Yui.
She had quite the life. I'd be lying if something about it didn't stir my conscience. Again, I am just another gamer... just that... What had been a struggle for me was resolved in only a few sentences and a piece of paper. I did appreciate her kindness but that wasn't enough to make me feel the work around me didn't just amount to nothing. I've gone through alot to strive in this world, nothing was ever resolved with magic and friendship, Nargacuga was out there, hunting.
Finding this to be the end of our little conversation I realized it was getting late, given the Moon fully risen above the trees. I wanted to talk more, but I've got to makes some... preparations, "Get some rest, I've got some work to do anyhow." I shrugged, moving for the latter just beyond the tarp
"Hey, Zen?" Turning back around I saw both lilac eyes looking back to me with a comforting smile. "You're pretty cool in your own way, today is proof of that, if you want, let's make a deal."
My face lifted a little, both at her offer and words, though it takes more than a few kind words to make me believe them completely. "And that would be?"
She sat up again. "You help me find the treasure I'm after, and I'll split the rewards with you, and also help you out of the Everfree, in return, you help me with my recovery and overall protection," Now it was her turn to be sheepish. "I can handle myself but... if that Nar. ga. cuga shows itself again..."
Butchering its name. I sighed. "Well alright," I moved closer to kneel before her, paw held out. I had my chance, but I also now had someone who I could commune with. "Then let this be the start of a good partnership, Yui."
"Really!?" She accepted my handshake with both hooves, her eyes lighting up. "Awesome! It's a deal!"
To Be Continued...