Supposed First Encounter
trying to slowly get back into writing, and I wanna contribute more to the Miitopia community as well, so I wrote a one-shot involving the scene where the MC meets the Great Sage, featuring my ocs :]
(2,141 words)
Scout, alongside his two other traveling companions, were wandering through Easin Hills, unsure of where exactly they were headed. They knew that they had to save the townsfolk in Greenhorne, but there was no real way of knowing where they all were, resulting in most of their time just being spent scanning the area and slaying any monsters they came across along the way. Scout was leading the other two, as they talked amongst themselves behind him.
“Kathy, the goblin ham was fine.” Jaime argued.
“You could hardly bite through it! If I hadn’t seen you cook before I’d think that you’ve never been in a kitchen.”
“Scout said it looked fine.”
“Scout’s been conscious for about a month, you said.”
“So?”
“How would he know what a proper ham is supposed to look like?” Kathy sighed.
“Well I’d probably have an easier time cooking food for us if we weren’t living primarily off of monster remains,” Jaime responded, “Thought it wouldn’t be any different than hunting an animal and eating that, but I guess not.”
Kathy nodded, admittedly understanding their point. “We should really hit up Rocky Roadside after this. Get some actually good food.”
“Hell yeah.”
Scout, who hadn’t been paying much attention to the conversation prior, turned around out of curiosity, upon hearing something unfamiliar. “What do they serve at Rocky Roadside?” He asked.
“A bunch of good stuff,” Kathy answered, “Lots of grilled food, spicy food, with some of the most amazing desserts to go with it all.”
Jaime nodded in agreement, “Even better when Mateo’s the one making your order. Everyone else is fine, yeah, but man… he should really consider opening his own restaurant with how good he is.”
“Ah yeah he’s made one of my orders before, made some of the best cheesecake I’ve ever had.” Kathy sighed wistfully.
“Stop, you’re making me hungry…” Jaime laughed.
Scout’s expression shifted to imply that he was smiling, “That sounds amazing, I wish I could try all of those things.”
“Wish you could too man, but hey if anything you’d at least get to see what a good meal looks like.” Kathy teased, reflecting on the disappointing ham once again, “Maybe you could even learn a thing or two by seeing everybody in action.”
The group kept talking to pass the time, as they continued to venture through Easin Hills, having no luck finding the other townsfolk. Scout and Jaime found one together, and Scout found one on his own prior to that during his first confrontation with The Dark Lord, but they were having a difficult time finding anybody else. They kept walking, but at this point, the sun was already starting to set.
“Is there a faster way to do this? I would've thought we’d have found at least one of the townsfolk by now.” Kathy asked.
Jaime sighed, “Don’t think so, unfortunately.”
“Last time we found one of their faces, the monster appeared after we found them, so we don’t have much to go off of until we find another one of the faces.” Scout explained.
“Yeah, and they could be floating around anywhere.”
“Well, Easin Hills goes on for a while, it might take a bit before we find everybody. In the meantime, we could try heading to the castle and see if anyone there can help us search for them.” Kathy suggested.
“We definitely could, I mean… we’re headed in that direction anyway.” Jaime shrugged, “What do you think Scout? You’re the boss.”
Scout took a moment to think, before generating a response, “That sounds like a good idea. Let’s go to the castle and ask if anybody there has seen anything.”
“Right on.”
“It will probably take another couple of days before we get there, you two should take a break before we continue.”
“Amazing idea, Scout,” Jaime sighed with relief, “Think there’s anything we can eat around here?”
Scout was quick to answer, “There should be foragables in the area.”
“Better than monster carcases…”
“Are you not gonna take a break, Scout?” Kathy asked.
“I’ll search for foragables.” Scout responded enthusiastically.
“You sure? Are you not tired?” “My battery still has a decent amount of charge, I can manage until we reach the next inn.”
“Alright, well, best of luck.”
Jaime had already gotten started on collecting sticks for a small campfire. “Yeah good luck man, shout for us if you need anything.”
Scout left Kathy and Jaime to their own tasks, as he started to look around for any forageables that were edible. Admittedly, he hadn’t been given a ton of information on what forageables were edible when he was created, since he couldn’t eat anything anyway. Whoever created him likely assumed that he’d be able to learn things like that later on down the line.
He tried his best to use whatever knowledge he already had to search for food. The safest bet was to avoid mushrooms for the time being and focus on finding vegetables growing in the ground. After looking around for a while he found some potatoes, and dug up a few of those for his friends to eat. Aside from that, there wasn’t much in the way of food. The lack of trees meant that fruit likely wasn’t much of an option, and berries probably weren’t a safe bet due to Scout’s lack of knowledge on which ones were poisonous.
Foraging for food sounded like a perfectly good idea at first, but Scout very quickly realized that it might’ve been a bit of an overambitious one. Somewhat defeated, Scout started to make his way back to where his friends were, carrying the potatoes in his satchel.
“Well, look who it is.”
Scout jumped, and started frantically looking around to figure out where the voice had come from. He turned around, and met The Dark Lord’s gaze.
“You just keep turning up like a bad penny.” The Dark Lord scowled.
“Harrison!!” Scout immediately got into a defensive position, swiftly yet clumsily pulling out his sword, nearly dropping it while doing so. “Prepare to taste defeat!”
Harrison stared at Scout dumbfoundedly, failing to stifle a laugh. “Ohh… that was a good one.” He noticed an immediate decrease in Scout’s confidence, regaining his composure once he was done mocking him. “Well, if you want it so much, let’s dance.”
While Scout had already seen an improvement in his combat abilities, he wasn’t nearly strong enough to take on The Dark Lord one on one, despite how much he wanted to believe he could. So, when Harrison started casting a powerful spell, one that would inevitably take Scout down in a split second, he was completely lost on what to do.
Scout had gotten a taste of what fear felt like, but in this moment he realized: he was going to die. His prior encounter with Harrison was frightening, he knew he was going to get hurt, but this time it really felt like this was it. It was over.
He couldn’t do anything but take a few steps back, dropping his sword as his legs started shaking. He wanted to call for Jaime. To call for Kathy. But he couldn’t speak the words. It was as if his mind and body were preparing for his inevitable defeat; for him to be shut down.
“Hold it right there!!”
Before Scout could even fully register the unfamiliar voice, the fatal spell that Harrison had cast was dissolved in a split second, by a burst of colorful, bright, beautiful energy.
“I- WHA… WHO DARES?!” Enraged, Harrison searched around for the culprit. Scout, regaining his senses, started to do the same.
They both heard footsteps somewhere behind Scout, eventually spotting a cloaked stranger striding out from behind a large rock. Upon being seen, he started to charge towards them both, abruptly coming to a halt next to Scout.
“So… you’re this ‘Dark Lord’ I’ve been hearing so much about.” The words “Dark Lord” seemed to get caught in his chest, but he persisted regardless, “You won’t be getting your way for much longer.” Head high, confidently stepping in front of Scout, he held up his staff, charging up a powerful attack of his own. “Not if I have anything to say about it.”
Harrison could hardly think of anything to threaten him back with. “D-Didn’t anybody tell you nobody likes a party pooper?” he shakily responded in an attempt to regain his intimidating demeanor.
The stranger’s glare sharpened, and he sustained his position. It was unclear if he intended on actually unleashing his attack, but it didn’t matter. Harrison began to tremble as the stranger stood perfectly still.
“I… I might just let you live… this time!” Harrison chuckled, attempting to make it seem as if this was planned the whole time, despite the obvious quivering of his voice, “Farewell for now!!” With that, he vanished, begrudgingly leaving Scout and the stranger unscathed.
After Harrison was gone, the stranger relaxed, dispelling the magic he had built up and lowering his staff. He turned to Scout, now with a far more sympathetic and warm expression on his face. Scout was still in the process of calming down, but knowing this person wasn’t a danger to him helped quite a bit.
“Are you alright, kid?” the stranger asked in a comforting tone.
“Yes, I’m alright. I’m not hurt.”
The stranger smiled, somehow even more cordially. He looked as if he were about to cry, eyeing Scout up and down in adoration.
Scout chuckled nervously, a bit shaken up by the experience, “Thank you for helping me,” he promptly extended his hand, “What’s your name?”
The stranger’s expression immediately dropped.
A painful silence filled the air, as the stranger looked down, trying his hardest to not appear as disheartened as he was. Scout was puzzled, not understanding how such a simple question left this person feeling so conflicted. Eventually the stranger snapped out of it, giving Scout a strained smile and shaking his hand.
“They call me Crystal. I’m a traveling mage.”
“I’m Scout! I’m on a mission to defeat The Dark Lord. I was given this amulet here by somebody in town,” he held up the amulet for Crystal to see, “and currently I’m trying to save Greenhorne’s townspeople with the help of some friends.”
“Intriguing…” Crystal listened intently.
He’s sure keeping himself busy…
“So, I assume then that you’re going to try following him afterwards then?”
“...Yes.” Scout responded strangely hesitantly.
“Then take him down together as a group?”
“Yes. Well… that is the plan, but…”
Scout’s mind trailed off, looking back on earlier. In retrospect, he must have looked like a complete fool, letting his sword slip from his hands and cowering away like he did. Normally when given a task to complete, Scout tried to complete it to the best of his abilities without question, but now it suddenly felt different, and he couldn’t figure out why. Regardless, he suddenly felt like…
“You feel you’re not quite strong enough?”
Scout was stunned, and began to feel flustered. He hadn’t realized that these strange, unidentifiable feelings were that recognizable. By somebody he didn’t even know, no less. He nodded, relief immediately coming to him just from admitting that.
“I sense a strange power within you, though.” Crystal’s demeanor grew more serious once again, but not out of hostility. “You might not think it’s much at the moment, but,” He gently grabbed both of Scout’s hands, holding them for a moment, rubbing his thumb over them soothingly, “Continue your journey, and you’ll grow and grow. So just hang in there.”
Scout grew increasingly more confused. There was a lot he didn’t know but this was particularly peculiar. Were people always like this with strangers? Jaime and Kathy weren’t, so why was this person acting so familiar with him? He had so many questions, most notably why with each look of confusion he gave, Crystal appeared more and more desperate.
Despite this, the mage’s words did resonate with Scout somewhat, and snapped him out of his feelings of insecurity.
“Got it.” he responded, giving Crystal a warm expression of his own.
Crystal finally let go of Scout’s hands, letting out a deep sigh, before smiling shakily once more. “If fortune is on our side, we’ll meet again.” He started to turn away, staff in hand, looking back at Scout one last time, finally waving goodbye. “Until then!”
Scout watched as Crystal traveled further away from him, this time not turning around or glancing back once. He wasn’t sure what to do except watch him leave, until he remembered that he had friends he had to feed. Now unsure if he had time to gather anything else for their meal, he promptly headed in the opposite direction to find his friends and bring them what he found, in hopes that it would be satisfactory.
