170 Moving Forward (2)

"Rita? Hello? What are you talking about?" Colin asked, but it was too late. The line was dead. He tapped his watch. "Call to Rita."

Again, no response. Comms around Nakama World was down and he was nowhere near a comms tower. Then how in Dreamworlds did Rita call me?!

He glanced at Cour. Cour sat down patiently, willing to wait. He nodded to Colin. Colin nodded back, then tapped his watch again. "What is a Trans-planar call?"

A red square opened up above the watch and the words, 'Trans-planar comms disabled.'

"Enable." Colin requested.

The words shifted. 'Error. Parental permission required.'

Colin sighed. "Why would mom or dad disable something so useful...?"

It was probably something to do with disappearing into a sudden Gate. Maybe they were just trying to make sure he didn't vanish out of the blue again. Not that it helped.

Either way, he couldn't call Rita back. Colin was left with no choice but to try and figure out what to do.

"She wanted me to help Henry and Katrin. Turtle Island, she said... that's on the way to the Uber Marshes anyway." Colin paused. "But what sort of trouble? And why would she call me? Wasn't that what the J-Knights were for? Unless she doesn't want to get the Knights involved."

The idea held a lot of appeal. A chance to rescue the friends he first Traveled with on Nakama World without all having the complications of them being J-Knights and him being on the Most Wanted list. A simple case of a friend helping out his friends. {But what kind of trouble could THEY get into? Something that would make Rita so worried, so tense...}

The first thing that came to mind was the Cult of Gaia. But that didn't make sense. The Gaians were fighting a war with the Knights Alliance. Surely Rita would have called the Knights in for that.

Then what? Colin pondered for a bit, letting his imagination take rein for a while. Maybe Nakama World had a special event at Turtle Island, some sort of Giant Turtle Attack that gave that place its name. That would be fun. Or perhaps they were just stuck there and needed transportation. After last night, most of those knights probably lost a great many Comrades, including their transport types. It wasn't hard to imagine a hundred knights stuck on an island without any Comrades to fly them out. {What if Shinji lost his swans?! That would be terrible... but wait. He wasn't there last night. I would have noticed. But I guess even he can't fly everyone off that Island by himself. Also, CC was the only captain willing to set sail from that island, last I checked. The two of them would take forever to get everyone back.}

Just what would Rita expect Colin to do in such a situation? {Well, I can't fly a hundred Knights off, but I do have Kirin. I think we can manage Henry and Katrin, at least.}

Still. It didn't sound right. Rita said they were 'going to be in trouble'. That meant something was going to happen to Turtle Island. If it wasn't the Cult, then what? {Maybe the whole Island is actually on the back of a Turtle and it's about to go underwater, which means they're sinking and need rescue... this is Nakama World, after all. You never know.}

Colin found himself grinning. "Now wouldn't that be something to see?"

"Rrowl." Cour replied, and whisked his tail.

For a moment there, Colin paused. He just felt... wistful. {If it were Shiro, he'd wag his tail and say 'Yip'...}

"Chip." A soft voice called from the left.

Colin turned and found Wist looking at him. The squirrel that had been Alicia's Comrade eyed Colin respectfully, as if Colin's feelings of wistfulness had called to it somehow.

Either that, or it felt intimidated by all the high-level Wilds in the Forest of Legends and didn't dare to venture far on its own. Whim was right behind Wist, both of them looking a bit lost as to what to do next.

"Which Forest did you guys come from anyway?" Colin asked. "Are the Wilds back there at your levels, or have you outleveled them all?"

[The East Sunshine Forest.] a silvery voice said from above.

Colin glanced up and waved. "Hi Lunari."

Lunari was, frankly speaking, a big white flying squirrel. Technically, she was a Platinum Moonlight Flying Squirrel, one of the highest class and highest leveled Wilds in the Forest of Legends. She was the Lord of her Clan.

{Well, I guess it makes sense that she's the one a pair of lost squirrels would look to at a time like this.} Colin examined Lunari for a while. The Lord of the Flying Squirrels didn't appear to be particularly bothered or upset. She seemed... well... thoughtful. But then, she always did.

There was a puff of smoke to Colin's right and there appeared a yellow-with-pink-polkadots flying squirrel. It grinned at Colin and wagged a tail that looked rather out-of-place on a flying squirrel.

"Foxie..." Colin half-groaned, half-laughed. He hadn't warped her in, but the Heart of the Forest was his Home Base, after all. Of course she'd be here.

Lunari looked amused at Foxie's antics, twitching a grin as the Whitestreak Fox transformed back to her real form. Foxie wagged her tail at Lunari. Lunari twitched her whiskers at Foxie.

"So, what shall we do with Wist and Whim?" Colin asked. "I kinda freed them, so I kinda have to see them home, don't I?"

[Want a lift?] Lunari offered.

Colin paused. Normally, he'd warp in Kirin, but Lunari would move quicker among the thick trees. Also, Rita's call sounded urgent. It might be faster to fly to Turtle Island on Kirin right away than to wait hours for an airport flight. Colin wasn't sure if Kirin could make the trip in one go. There were places they could stop to rest on the way, but it would be best if she were as well-rested as could be before they tried it. "Sure. Just give me a minute."

He searched out Alicia psionically. [Alicia...]

[Hmm?] Alicia asked distractedly.

[Something's come up.] Colin sent her his memories over the past half minute or so.

Alicia took a moment, literally one moment, to receive his memories and understand exactly what it was that was going on. She replied [This is going to take a while yet. Could be a few hours. Could be all night. You better go ahead. I'll catch up around Turtle Island or kill myself back to Burrow Hollows or something. Or you can kill yourself and respawn back here once your business is done. I think you'll probably finish up before I do. Like I said, this looks like it's going to take a long time yet.]

[No hurry. I'll die my way back here once I'm done.] Colin assured her, and turned back to Lunari. "Okay. A lift would be great, thanks."

Lunari swooped down and scooped him up before he could so much as gasp. Before he knew it, Colin found himself bouncing around from branch to branch in the treetops high above the forest floor.

It wasn't, like he imagined, a life-or-death struggle to hang on to whatever fur he could grasp on Lunari's back. It was surpringly, shockingly smooth. Lunari's movements were graceful, fluid, a momentum that did not jerk or jolt or so much as pause from one branch to the next. {Now I know why they're called 'Flying' squirrels, not 'Jumping' squirrels. This really does feel like flying.}

Or maybe it was just Lunari. Colin glanced at Foxie, trying to keep up with them in Funny Flying Squirrel form. She definitely bounced around a lot. Colin had the distinct impression that anyone trying to ride a flying squirrel that moved like that was in for an extremely bumpy ride indeed.

"Cippi." Wist said, sitting near Colin's left knee, next to Whim. She looked at Lunari with no small envy.

On top of that, Lunari was speeding up. Foxie was trying her absolute best, but she was falling farther and farther behind. Colin hesitated, but before he could say a word, Lunari told him outright, [I'm not going to wait for her or slow down. We need to pick up speed for the glide south.]

"For the...?!" Only then did Colin realize what Lunari intended to do. "All the way to the East Sunshine Forest in one leaping glide?!"

[You see why I need all the speed I can get.] Lunari pointed out.

Colin hastily tapped his watch. "Foxie, take it easy, there's no way you're going to keep up like that. I'll warp you in once we reach the East Sunshine Forest, okay?"

Foxie barked a short gasp of acknowledgment before she stopped and was left behind in a flash. Trees were whizzing by in a flurry now, and despite Lunari's smoothness, the wind pressure from the speed alone was starting to make Colin worry about his perch.

[Hang on.] Lunari warned and sped up even more. Colin had to lean low on her back now and clenched onto her fur as tight as he could. It was just a moment though, before they burst out of the trees and went soaring out over Forest Ville, heading straight for the road.

There were a few yells when they burst out. Colin grimaced, imagining what they might be thinking. {Wonder if they'll start shooting at us thinking we're about to attack or something?}

They might have if Lunari were headed down, but there was a strong wind blowing from the west, and Lunari angled herself to ride that wind higher.

"Whoa! Lunari! We're getting blown away!" Colin yelled.

[That's my technique. Feather-light.] Lunari explained. [We need that height and that speed to get as far as we need to.]

Colin began to wonder if the East Sunshine Forest was really that far. Thinking back, he supposed it was. He could sort of see it now, though. It was that patch of green in the distance...

"Wait. This is..." Colin stared. He quickly brought up his map.

Crescent Continent, South East Region, Current

https://imgur.com/d4t9DDa

"Wow. This place has changed." Colin noted. He tapped his watched and asked for the old maps.

Crescent Continent, South East Region, Before Frenzieds

https://imgur.com/ZbpVZxd

"Yikes." Colin traced the differences. "Bovis Town is nothing but ruins now. Reno and Clear Waters Towns have been reduced to villages. Riveside Town has become a Fort. So has Granath Town. As for Sunshine Town... ruins reclamation, huh? It was destroyed and now they're trying to rebuild? But it looks like Junction Village has grown into a Town."

He could easily picture why. With the Frenzieds running amok around Crescent and all the towns by the river wrecked, people usually moved. Some would leave the continent, but those who didn't want to go too far simply ended up at a nearby town... and among all the towns around here, with Port Frichi in big trouble, the most accessible place, the settlement nearest to the airport, was Junction. That it had gone from a village to a proper town was testimony as to how important the airport had become.

When Nakama World first came out of Beta and was opened to the public about a month ago, they probably never expected such sweeping changes. This was a world for children to play with animals. Kids going from town to town challenging tournaments and doing missions, sure. Entire towns being wiped out, no. {Not to mention civil war in Lamico and the rise of the Underground. The Cult of Gaia coming in force must have been completely beyond their wildest dreams.}

What happened? How had it come to this?

{Adults happened. Who was it who said it? Something about adults interfering with a kids playland and becoming rulers of it. And then they make lots of profit and they start squabbling and wars begin.}

{And now the Cult of Gaia is on the loose. Isn't someone going to do something? Isn't there some sort of law or something in charge of Dreamworlds who should be stopping them? Why isn't Dreamworlds Admin doing anything?}

Colin didn't know, but he felt sure that the Cult had done something in the Higher Plane that allowed them access to Nakama World like this. It was possible that the only way to get them off Nakama World for good would be to do it in the Higher Plane.

{And with most of the population of Nakama World being kids, who's going to stop them? Except for the Knights Alliance, the adults here seem to be more concerned about their profits than someone else's kids being kidnapped.}

The civil war in Lamico was proof enough of that. The Protectorate, the Republic and the Union all had high level adults who most certainly had access to the Higher Plane and likely influence there they could have used to protect Nakama World from the Cult. But they were all focused on fighting each other for the resources of a single island. There were adults in Forest Ville, and they pretty much went about their own business while Rita had been sneaking around hiding in Riverside Town to avoid getting kidnapped by the Cult the way Henry was. The adults in Riverside themselves hadn't done much to help Henry who was kidnapped right in their town.

In fact, Colin himself would have been kidnapped from the very first night if not for Katrin and Michi.

{Michi.} Now {there} was an adult who did something. She saved him from being kidnapped sure enough. She stood up when they came for him with guns. It was Katrin's sacrifice that saved Colin, but it was Michi who acted and brought it to him in time to save him. Katrin tried the same for Rita, Colin remembered, but Edward had failed where Michi had succeeded. He hadn't reached Rita in time.

Michi and Katrin. The thought of them made Colin go still for a while. They were the ones who had been with him the most when he first began the Journey in Nakama World. But now...

{Now they're with Philip. Protecting him. Sending the Cult after me instead.}

Lunari must have sensed his mood. She asked, [Is that why you're wearing furs like mine today?]

Colin blinked and suddenly realized he was still in the white fur costume. He let out a long, long sigh. [Oh well. Maybe it'll come in useful again. I might have use for the helmet yet.]

"Cip." Wist said, with a broad squirrel grin.

***

As the trip ended, Wist and Whim bowed farewell and hopped off Lunari's back among the treetops of the East Sunshine Forest. Lunari descended to the bridge between East and South Sunshine Forests before alighting on the ground and letting Colin off.

"Thanks, Lunari. Is there anything I can get you in return?" Colin asked.

[Just your thanks. It's a good chance for me to visit my friends here.] Lunari replied, glancing at the squirrels already gathered nearby. One particularly large one, brown streaked with yellow, approached and gave Colin a polite bow in greeting.

Squirrels like bowing, don't they? Colin replied with a short bob in return, knowing that he addressed the Lord of the East Sunshine Forest squirrels, whatever they were called. With that as his farewell, he turned to cross the bridge to the South Sunshine Forest and tapped his badge. "Foxie."

Foxie appeared. She was back in her Funny Flying Squirrel Form and looked around for Lunari at once. Seeing the Lord of the Forest of Legends Flying Squirrels chatting up the Lord of the East Sunshine Forest Squirrels, she thought twice about whatever mischief she was plotting and sighed.

"Yeah, better not." Colin agreed. "Come on."

In a puff of smoke, Foxie returned to her original form and padded along at his feet through the South Sunshine Forest. "Arf."

{It's been a long time...} Colin thought as he walked into the South Sunshine Forest. {This was the first Forest I ever entered on Nakama World. That was less than three weeks ago, but it feels like forever and then some.}

But three weeks had changed everything here. Colin passed by the place where he'd first seen Kyria and Midnight, only to find that the fallen tree had been completely removed, and all that remained was a stump. He made his way to where Edward's Farm used to be, only to realize it was a really, really bad idea because that place was now a J-Knight outpost and he was at the top of the J-Knight's Most Wanted list.

As for Sunshine Town, well, there wasn't much left. Just a bunch of ruins, automated perimeter sentry towers and a lot of large Comrades good for reconstruction, like Bull Dozers, Super Cranes, and Steam Prowlers. Someone even had a bunch of spiders putting together buildings with stones and spit.

{Even so, I... I...}

Colin walked. Once more, he set foot upon the road to Sunshine Town. He walked past a broken sign, slipped on the costume's helmet, and casually strode right past where Edward's Farm used to be.

{There's nothing left. Nothing remains of the place where Katrin and I spent our first nights here together. Nothing remains of the Home Base where I first found welcome.}

{But even so...}

The J-Knights at the outpost didn't spare him a second glance. Anyone thinking to seek out Colin Rivers would be looking for the Destroyer of Lamico in the far south with a host of Frenzieds or the great Lords of the Wilds, or at least a white wolfcat. Not some guy in a furry costume and a comedian fox for company.

{Katrin, I'm sorry.} Colin passed by, and he did not turn back. {Ed, I'm sorry.}

{Goodbye.}

He walked up the road to Sunshine Ruins. That same road he'd run down alongside Katrin, chasing their First Comrades. He walked it now and remembered. {Back then, I was so... new. Afraid, yes. But filled with wonder. Surrounded by the unknown, discovering this fascinating world step by step.}

{What happened? What happened to make me so... cold? So bothered by what I needed to do that I forgot how to appreciate the world itself?}

He walked past the ruins of the Comrade Home. That very same building where he'd first met and bonded Shiro. The place Dad first brought him to.

{It is my nineteenth night on Nakama World.} Colin gave it a brief glance-over. {Back then, the very idea of bonding something as big and great as a Stag Beetle felt like an ambition entirely too great for a little boy like me.}

{Now... I have wiped out far, far more fearsome things than Stag Beetles. I have walked the world and changed the very land I set my foot upon. I have turned towns to ruins, grasslands to forests, and the very natures of dungeons. I have led hundreds of Tames all willing to bond me if I but said the word, and only accepted two.}

{And yet...}

Colin set foot once more along that very same road he'd taken the first first time he'd walked beside a single Comrade on Nakama World. The road from the Comrade Home to Sunshine Town was a short one, but it was filled with memories and feelings. {I remember. Back then, I had next to nothing.}

But he had been fulfilled. He had been happy, surrounded by discovery and adventure. He had the companionship of a single cute cub, and all he really worried about was how to feed Shiro and whether the wolfcat would poop on his shoulder.

{And now I fear for my life. I worry for the entire world. And I aspire to be nothing less than the Forest Prince.}

There was a rabbit beside the road. A normal Wild, a yellowbit much like the ones Larissa had offered as First Comrade to Colin that first night. It stared at them with wide eyes. Its ears turned. Its whiskers twitched. And it hopped alongside Colin and Foxie as they walked north on that old, nostalgic road. It didn't attack them, didn't run away. It just hopped along with them.

Colin glanced behind. There were other colorbits, pinkbits and bluebits, even a purplebit hopping after them. There were two squirrels and a little arachnid. There were about six common lynxmice and a trio of grassland lynxmice. He hadn't noticed it before, but for some reason the low level Wilds native to this area had seen him and started following.

"Are you telling jokes again?" Colin asked Foxie suspiciously.

"Arf." Foxie barked a laugh.

As he came to the crossroads just outside Sunshine Town, Colin examined the patched-up signboard critically. It looked like it had been broken thrice and repaired rather hastily each time. Sunshine Town, north. Granath Town, south. Sunshine Lake, east. Gloomy Hollow and Junction Ville, west. Recently, someone had crossed out 'Ville' and replaced it with 'Town'.

{Gloomy Hollow. The nearest dungeon to my starting location... and I never once visited, or trained, or raided there. I don't even know what treasure or boss is at the bottom of the dungeon. I never even tried to find out. My entire time here, my concerns were...}

{What? Exploring? Finding Shiro-food? And then the Green Men came and everything I've done since has been to evade them or solve whatever mess my friends got me into. Up till the Continent of Eternal Winter, until that night when May brought me to Crystal Cove, I never raided a dungeon. Never truly tasted this Dreamworld the way it was meant to be enjoyed.}

{So much of what I've done was because of other people. But now... now I'm going to fight for what I want, for the title of the Forest Prince. Maybe it's not too late to go down a dungeon. Maybe after I get Henry and Katrin to safety, I can come back here with Kirin and see what's at the bottom of this dungeon. Maybe by that time, Raiki would be available to come along.}

Right at the fallen gates of what used to be Sunshine Town, Colin stopped. Through the wreckage and ruins, he could see the green beside the lake where he'd picnicked, with Michi and Katrin, with Mom and Dad and Katrin... he could see the remains of the shattered Gym, of the arena where he'd won his first Tournaments.

"Goodbye." Colin said softly.

He tapped his badge, warped in Kirin, and took to the skies heading south.

He did not look back.