1 Chapter 01: The Start of A New Journey
A while back at the other side of the portal,
almost returning to Sharoo, Geo realizes that there was more he liked to ask.
On the whim that he would make it in time, before he needed to do his report on the investigation, Geo quickly turned around and bolted towards the forests once again.
"I hope I can still catch them before they leave..."
Not caring for what happened around him, Geo kept his eyes on the price.
He knew... that the chance of encountering them was slim,
yet... he did not lose hope!
Instead, he went all in, as he picked up the pace.
Almost returning to the point where he said his goodbyes, Geo once again stumbled upon the island which was cut off from the rest of the world.
Not giving it a second thought Geo bolted towards the waters, not caring for the dangers which could be residing within. Instead, Geo called upon his magical affinity, which allowed him to quickly grow roots from the bottom of the lake. Slowly but with a steady pace, the roots became intertwined, Geo could see that he was getting the hang of it, or at least the basics.
"That went much smoother than expected..."
Geo said while flicking his index fingers and opposable thumbs towards the shrine.
"Off we go then, in the hopes of running into them once more... I'm almost certain they already went through the portal... but, you might never know if we don't go back to look for them, do we?"
Not wanting to waste any more time, Geo began stretching his arms and legs for a bit,
as he knew that he needed to be prepared for whichever he could encounter along the way.
As he was done with his preparations, Geo readied himself... The moment he let loose the sheer strength of his legs it almost felt like he could fly, or at least for a moment...
The moment Geo lost his momentum, he began descending and lowered himself towards the bridge he made out of roots.
Unaware, a gigantic fish jumped out to him hoping for an easy snack, but not Geo,
in a fraction of a second Geo noticed the fish with razor-sharp teeth jumping towards him.
Geo gracefully dodged the fish and kicked it straight in the temple.
The fish then collapsed into the water creating a huge splash, which alerted the others...
The waves the impact had created also broke the bridge apart, which meant it was now or never for Geo. The fish had taken notice of the struggling snack and began to attack in unison,
but with the swiftness and nimbleness that Geo portrayed in the air, the fish were quickly outmatched.
Geo jumped on one after the other, using them as pedestals. Quickly making great use and work of the opportunities which presented themselves to him.
Finally, the last one jumped up and Geo dodged by turning around his axis in mid-air, landing on the ground in front of him, he had reached the edge of the island! Not giving the fish a second thought as there were more important things to worry about.
Excited to tell Michael and the others the importance of his findings, Geo quickly bolted down the entrance of the shrine. Stumbling upon an empty little corridor.
Geo quickly rushed through and entered the room where he had seen his friends just before they had set off towards their journeys, hoping he would find them there one last time before departure.
But what he found couldn't be further from the truth, as everyone had already departed...
Or at least...
The room was pitch black, without a sign of ever having a portal... As realization struck,
for some reason Geo felt left behind as he got left out of the equation.
While at the same time, he couldn't blame them if they essentially had already parted ways...
Disappointed he turned around, only to trip over a sleeping young girl, not because his feet got stuck, but because she had grabbed his feet in her sleep.
In doing so, Geo quickly dropped to the floor,
yet... instead of the expected face plant Geo anticipated and calculated the trajectory of the fall, and almost identical to how cats always land on their feet, so did Geo, because of this he made some big and wide movements as he stumbled around, struggling to prevent his fall.
As he now landed on his own two feet Geo sighed in relief.
*Sigh*
"Oh boy! That... was... close! Hmm... what exactly made my trip? I swear I felt something grab my feet, resulting in my tripping and extravagantly maneuvering, which in turn allowed me to land on both my feet. Haha. But... then again... what made my trip?"
Geo peered and reached out in the darkness of the night, where once the room was lid by runes of old, now... nothing of the sort remained... Like it has been vacant for decades.
Unable to see in front of him Geo stumble upon something that made him trip and fall. Unable to see what or who did this, as well as where he could pivot upon to cancel out his trajectory.
For the first time in ages he slammed onto the ground face first, lucky nobody was there to see what happened he still felt a bit embarrassed but decided not to let it get to him.
His eyes slowly began to get used to the darkness, But when Geo tried to stand up,
he touched something with his hand. A pressure plate of some sort...
Something underneath began to rumble and turn,
followed by light which faintly began to emit from where he had touched.
As he stood up once more, the room slowly spread the light,
almost like how a computer would boot up after pushing the button, giving it the magical feeling it emitted before he had left. Geo looked around hoping to find his friend...
But couldn't seem to find him, disappointed he turned around not looking at what lay on the ground. His feet hooked onto something, which almost made him fall again.
But, this time was different. He could see where he was heading, allowing him to carefully adjust his body and catch himself in the act.
Annoyed it happened one too many times he turned around wanting to lash out what made him trip over his feet several times over.
When he finally saw what caused this, he was surprised... The white-pink haired companion that he met as he encountered Michael lay there sleeping without a care in the world.
Geo knew it would be considered bad manners if he had left a friend of someone precious to him to fend for themselves, which is why he waited until she awakened.
Not to mention that leaving a defenseless young girl alone would go against his policies as a gentleman. When she finally awoke, Geo, stand there pouring away at the pressure plate as the noises, lights, and depth in detail piqued his interest.
It was then he noticed that the young girl had slowly begun to awake.
Slowly he approached her, as he wanted to greet her and ask where the others were.
The girl gently blinked with her eyes as she carelessly stretched her entire upper body.
"You must have needed the rest, didn't you? Little one."
The girl tilted her head as a yawn escaped her mouth.
*yawn*
Soon after her sight slowly returned as the sleepiness made it blurry at first. The first thing she saw was a young man with a tan slightly darker than those with bright white skin.
Not sure where she was, she tilted her head...
Until she realized who was standing in front of her holding out his hand, wanting to support her standing up. The young girl looked away, shy as she was... She tried to avoid eye contact.
Geo turned to her and tried to start a conversation with her.
"You're shy aren't you? Well... it's okay, Michael is a friend of mine! Say... Can you stand?"
Upon hearing Michael's name she quickly jumped up and turned towards Geo, alert and without a care in the world... she quickly noticed that he wasn't there anymore.
"Friend? Where... is? Friend?!"
The young girl started crying and squatted down as she buried her face within her lap.
Geo gently petted her head, wanting to console her.
"There, there... don't you worry. It seems Michael couldn't return through the portal... I missed him too, well... not that it matters, because we will meet again within the Capital!"
Geo smiled at the young girl and again reached out to her.
This time she focussed on it and gently grabbed hold of it.
"Friend!"
Standing up it became clear that she was quite a bit smaller than Geo,
but not to worry as she could hold her own now.
"Say... since we both wish to see Michael again soon... why don't you join me on the journey towards the forest of souls? I'm heading there to train before we meet up once more!
I would love your company along the way Hikari!"
Something within the young girl's eyes began to glistering and shine as the sheer happiness began to radiate from her entire being. One would even say she was glowing.
"Friend! Hikari joins journey!"
Together the both of them left the room, leaving the shrine behind Geo let Hikari know they were heading towards Sharoo first, as he needed to report on his findings here.
As they went on their way Hikari became overjoyed, not being alone anymore meant the world to her...
