“Only 3 more miles, we can keep moving.” Bebe kept walking, as the sun was in the middle of the sky. They were ahead of schedule, until Bebe stopped.
“Did y’all hear that?” Bebe moved forward with his dagger out. When Bebe moved a branch of the bush, Meko screamed, and clung to Walwo as a bat-like creature jumped out of the bush.
Bebe jumped back and held his dagger towards the monster, Walwo, following Bebe’s reaction, pulled out his axe. Instead of attacking, the creature flew into a tree, and shook itself. The creature's eyes were all in the wrong direction, as it looked at Bebe in joy.
“People! You are person, correct?!” The small legless creature yelled. It was unusual to see a monster so friendly.
“Yeah, and what are you?” Bebe asked, it wasn’t normal for monsters to be so giddy towards meeting a person.
“Oh! Hm, Me. What am I?” The creature asked itself, then smiled as its eyes tried to focus on Bebe. “I’m a Batrid!” With a smile, it flew around the trio. “H-Hey! You’re adventures right? And I noticed you um… well, don’t got any winged fellows with ya, nor any rangers. In need of a… friend?” The creature asked, too close for comfort. Bebe backed away a little, trying to keep his bubble to himself.
A talking monster, part of our team. Not sure why the thing would wanna join us, but if he can talk, and isn’t aggressive like most Batrids. Then I’ll let him follow. Until he backstabs us. Bebe put away his weapons, then looked at the other two, gesturing they also yield. “I suppose we could use someone with wings. Do you, by chance, have a name?” Bebe asks, keeping his eyes peeled for any other monsters around, but there didn’t seem to be.
“Oh, yes yes! My name is… wait, my name… what is my name again?” The monster flapped around, closing his eyes, trying to pull the memory up. “Oh! Yes, my name is Suba-duba! But you can just call me Su!” Su smiled with a huge grin that felt a little too genuine, and a little too big. His bat-like teeth made his smile seem cheeky, as if he was up to a childish prank. “So! Um… Person. Where to first? In need of food? Water? Or maybe you want me to scout the area?” Su moved slightly closer to Meko as he spoke again, “You! What’s your name?” Then he fluttered to face Walwo, asking the same question, Walwo spoke first.
“Well, I’m Walwo,” He put his arm around Meko and pointed to him with a finger gun, “And this is Meko.” Meko nodded at Su, in agreeance with Walwo. Bebe looked back at the three.
“Well, we still have a schedule to make, and believe it or not, time is of the essence." Bebe kept walking, the three following behind.
“So, how come you’re alone?” Meko asks, unsure if it’s normal for Batrids to be alone or not.
“Oh! What a story! It’s… a bit long actually.” Su was quiet for a moment, then kept talking, “Batrids aren’t usually alone! Batrids usually live in caves, and look for fruits and stuff in small groups! I would be surprised to see a Batrid alone…”
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Walwo chimed in, “Yeah! Batrids travel in small groups of 6 to 7 creatures at a time, usually bringing the fruit, or pieces of treasure, back to their cave! Batrids also tend to grow in stages, instead of age!” Su just stared at him, happy to know someone with such extensive knowledge of his kind.
“I’m happy ya know so much! D-Do you study Batrids? Actually, now that I think about it, I didn’t even know peoples knew that much about Batrids.”
“So, if you’re a Batrid, what stage are you on?!” Walwo asked, slightly leaning in, pushing Meko back a little.
“Oh! Oh! I’m on the Bitter Stage!” Su exclaimed, slightly flying closer to Walwo’s face.
“R-Really? You look like you’re on the Muncher Stage!” Walwo held Su as they were now almost touching each other’s face.
Meko moved up to stand by Bebe, who was watching Su’s and Walwo’s interaction, he watched his pocket watch. “Okay, we’ve been standing here for 5 minutes already, keep up, or you two can catch up when it’s dark.” Bebe tucked away his pocket watch. Walwo nodded and let Su go. Su backed a tiny bit up from Walwo and they kept walking, Su and Walwo side eyeing each other every so often. After an hour and a half, Bebe looked back, pointing towards the edge of the forest, “We’re almost out, ya guys.”
As the four stepped out of the forest onto the clearing edge, Meko gasped, seemingly inspired by the soft wind and natural green of the lands, it went on forever, and it was all a mix of green, blue skies, clouds, and the slight flapping noises made by Su. “Hey! Look at those birds!” Su’s eyes went bigger in excitement, while Bebe looked at Walwo.
“Remeber this?” It was only a whisper, and only Walwo caught it.
“How could I forget?” Walwo whispered back, looking back at Bebe, until Bebe realized what they were here for, and he broke eye contact.
“Well, I don’t care if the place is better than Elf cities, we have to get past it, and these fields can be a nightmare at, well, night.” Bebe looked at Su for a long second, his face looked as if he was disgusted by Su, or was in a weird interest.
“I… I think we should set up camp here then, right, Walwo?” Walwo just looked at Bebe for a long moment, and Bebe shrugged at him silently.
“I guess so, I don’t usually get asked that.” Walwo scratches the back of his head, Bebe nodded, agreeing with Walwo’s choice.
“We’re on time, so it’s not much different to me, but the Batrid better be in your hands Walwo.” Of course, I’d rather be near Walwo than having a Batrid, but I couldn’t sleep, I wouldn’t. No monster is gonna sleep near me… Bebe looked at the forest, and pointed at Meko to go collect some. Not noticing when the flapping of a certain little Batrid was gone too.
Were you ready?
