-=Making a New Friend=-

Southperry was, all in all, a town only a little bigger than Amhearst. It was the southernmost town on Maple Island. Unlike Amhearst, it was a port town, as it bordered the coast. Southperry didn’t have the green, grassy look Amhearst had; concrete was the foundation of this town, along with buildings made of stone. The inhabitants were somewhat similar to those from Amhearst; all were friendly and willing to help adventurers out, though a good portion were sailors who toiled by the docks all day.

Perhaps the greatest difference between the two villages, as many adventurers easily knew, was the ship by the Southperry docks. The boat was large, made of wood, with majestic sails bearing a blue anchor. Though it wasn’t the most impressive sight in the Maple World, it had what it took to cross the seas with no trouble. This was the one part of town new adventurers aimed for the most, though one new Maple World inhabitant had yet to find out why.

Shadow Viper could see the ship as he headed into town. *That must be the ship,* he surmised mentally, taking all of it’s glory in. *I guess I’d better find out where it goes.*

Shadow walked through the town, watching all around as other adventurers talked amongst themselves, went shopping, relaxed from hunting, and gave eachother info. What amazed the bandit, though, was that nearly every adventurer was clearly stronger than the ones before. Some of them even talked and bragged about their improved abilities.

“Y’know, for a new adventurer, you look rather different.”

Shadow turned around to find one of the adventurers staring at him inquisitively. The boy had bright green eyes, with blond, disheveled hair. He wore a gray shirt, blue jean shorts, and a pair of blue rubber boots. A wooden club was slung over his shoulder. His face held a somewhat confused look, as though it saw many things unfamiliar, though it held a smile all the same. “Something tells me you aren’t from this world.”

“You’d be correct,” Shadow replied. He was intrigued to see that out of the many adventurers that were working, one had noticed him, and not simply due to a dangerous situation. “I’m from a different realm entirely. I’ve also been pre-trained; even Mai was impressed with my skills.”

“MAI? Impressed with your skills?!” The boy gawked at this revelation with unmatched suprise. “Then you must be strong. Not that she doesn’t give us newer trainees any credit, but it takes a lot to really get praise from her. How long were you pre-trained? A month? Three? Six?

Shadow’s look became direly serious when he gave his answer. “I learned my abilities from the best teachers in the land. Even after two years, I’m still learning new things, even if it is no longer from them.”

The boy’s eyes widened. “Two YEARS?!” he exclaimed. “That’s…that’s AMAZING! Even the best of us new adventurers don’t get that much training. For us it’s much simpler. When we wish to adventure, we’re just given a basic course on handling weapons. The rest, we learn on our own.”

Shadow was slightly taken aback from the explanation. “Judging from how this works, it seems whoever instructs you must think highly of you to do this.”

The boy shook his head. “Actually, they don’t, and neither do they underestimate us. All in all, this choice of adventure is ours to make, and it is how we ourselves perform that ends up telling people how good we are. The training only comes to get us started. Pretty much anyone who has had experience in this sort of thing trains us, though a certain level of experience is required on their part.”

Shadow nodded, easily understanding how it all worked. “That is an excellent way to adventure,” he remarked. “It seems that no matter how much you learn in school, you will always learn new things when you actually experience the journey for yourself. That is how they view adventuring, and how they teach it to students.”

“Yeah, that’s right,” the boy said, a little suprised. “You know that pretty well for being a new adventurer here.”

Shadow’s serious look returned. “Like I said, I’ve been pre-trained,” he explained. “All in all, this is indeed my first real adventure, though believe me when I say, before I came here, I learned a lot.”

The boy smiled in awe at this. “Wow, you must’ve done a lot before you came here,” he said. “Perhaps you’ve done even more than what your teachers expected, or maybe wanted. Y’know, I bet I could learn a lot from you. Actually, I’ve learned a little bit talking to you already!”

Shadow raised an eyebrow as he asked, “And what have you learned from me?”

The boy thought a moment before answering. “I’ve learned to not assume that all new adventurers who come here will be the same.”

Shadow smiled; the boy had indeed learned much. “That is a good lesson to take to heart,” he said. “I myself have learned that a time or two.” As he said that, an image of the 9 and 11 year old Yuka and Ryu flashed in his mind.

“Thanks, I’ll do that,” the boy said. He then walked up to Shadow, offering a handshake when he reached him. “My name is Lance. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Shadow Viper,” the bandit replied, accepting the handshake. “The feeling is mutual.”

Once again, confusion swept across Lance’s face. “Shadow…Viper?” he said with uncertainty. “That’s not a name you hear every day. Is it your real name.”

Shadow let out a lighthearted chuckle at this. “No, it isn’t, though it would be interesting if it was,” he said. Then he scratched his head as he thought, before an eventual conclusion came to mind. “Actually, I don’t remember what my real name is. It’s an odd dilemma, but it’s true. In any case, ‘Shadow Viper’ was the nickname I was given by my masters when I started learning under them.”

Lance nodded. “I see,” he responded. Lance was still getting used to the idea of not knowing one’s real name, but he didn’t throw any real doubt towards it, as he had heard of it happening before. “Well, is that why you’re here? Do you wish to find it?”

Shadow shook his head. “No,” he answered. “It would be nice to find it, but it doesn’t concern me too much. When I became Shadow Viper two years ago, I just got used to that life. I enjoyed it. I even had what one would call a family to go with it, even though the family wasn’t real.”

“Interesting,” Lance said. “So, why are you here? And what about your real family?”

Shadow thought about his answer. As he did, images burst into his mind. It started with him, ten years old, standing in front of two dark silhouettes. Then flames surrounded the three of them, eventually consuming the two silhouettes. However, the images of 9-year-old Yuka and 11-year-old Ryu appeared, overpowering the flames with their influences. Then the figures aged to the years of 18 for Yuka, 19 for Shadow, and 20 for Ryu. Finally, Yuak and Ryu faded away, leaving Shadow alone in the darkness.

“When I was young,” Shadow explained, “I made two friends when they saved my life from hostile forces. When we grew older, however, new hostile forces killed both of them. I’ve learned that these enemies are monsters that come from this world. One was killed here, the other was killed back home. I’ve come here in an attempt to avenge both of them, as well as my home, which was destroyed by these monsters. As for my family….that is a personal matter. I’m sorry if it doesn’t explain myself very well, but as nice as a person you are, I don’t feel I trust you enough with the rest of my story.”

Lance nodded. Shadow’s past must have been a dark one for such an explanation. Curiosity still prodded at his mind, but he pushed it away, feeling certain that pushing the issue would be unwise. “I understand,” he said. “It isn’t uncommon for adventurers to take up this sort of life to right any wrongs brought upon their pasts.”

“What about you?” Shadow returned the question.

Lance smiled. “All in all, simply for the thrill of adventuring. I’ve always been interested in it, especially in the ways of the warriors. I’ve always wanted the experience of traveling the Maple World, exploring new areas and fighting off evil forces. It’s just…so EXCITING!” Lance’s eyes seemed to glow upon uttering the last word.”

Shadow was somewhat entertained by Lance’s enthusiam. “Well, Lance,” Shadow said, “it certainly is exciting.” Then the bandit looked over at the boat. “Speaking of exploring new areas, I’m eager to get on that boat and head off this island.”

Lance looked at the boat upon hearing Shadow’s statement. “Right, the boat!” he said, smacking his head. “I was going to get on myself! I’ve managed to strengthen myself up enough that I should be able to attain a job advancement.”

The last two words threw Shadow into a perplexed state. “Job advancements?” he asked.

“I’ll explain on the way,” Lance said, heading for the boat. “I’m from this world, so I know a bit about the whole adventure process. Don’t worry; I’ve met a few people from different realms, so I understand if you don’t quite get it.”

Shadow nodded as he followed. Eventually, they made it to the docks, where a number of adventurers were already getting on the boat. The line in front of the loading ramp moved quickly, and Shadow and Lance were able to get their passes to the boat without incident.

On the boat, Shadow and Lance leaned by one of the sides of the boat, gazing out into the horizon, where the sea seemed to meet the sky. At one point, Shadow turned to Lance. “You said you’re from this world,” he said, “so I’m sure you know where we’re headed.”

“Yep,” Lance said with a nod. “We’re going to a place called Victoria Island.” Then he looked up towards the bright blue sky. “Of course, no matter where you’re from, anyone will tell you you’re headed on the greatese journey of your life.”

Shadow smiled as his gaze returned to the horizon. *Victoria Island,* he thought. *Odd…I feel like I heard that name once…oh, well.*

——————————————————————–

Chapter five is up! Victoria Island looms in the distance! Shadow Viper has made his first friend here, and talk of warriors abound! What is to come in the future?
All in all, not too difficult a chapter to write. I had a bit of fun coming up with Lance, especially with how he, a typical MS beginner, interacted with seasoned bandit Shadow. Ah, diversity!=D
Before I pass out Mountain Dews, I’m reserving one for award winning writer Silver(well, award winning in my mind, anyway) for her accomplished milestone of 100 blogs!*applaudes*
*Sets a huge sack of Mountain Dews on the ground* Have a drink and keep mapling!

Previous Installments:
link link link link link link link link link link link link link link link