Ambush

Everyone ate their fill and finished tearing down camp, making sure to eliminate all traces of their stay. They mounted their rested horses and rushed to the azure mine. It was easy to travel the short distance on horseback, so they arrived a little earlier than planned.

"It's only midday. Since we've got time, let's set up camp in the forest outside of the mine's entrance," said Rydel, leading the way.

"Are you going to scout the mine?" asked Jack.

"Yeah, I'll scan the entrance and the nearest mineshafts," replied Rydel. "You two should be fine without me for a little while. If something happens, just contact me and I'll come back running."

Nodding their heads, Jack and Slivia agreed with Rydel's plan, dismounted their horses, and tied them down in the nearby forest. There was no clearing, but they preferred it that way. By camping in a denser patch of the forest they could almost eliminate the chance of being discovered while Rydel was away.

As soon as Rydel's tent was up, he disappeared without a trace. Jack swallowed some saliva and nervousness now that he was alone with Slivia. Bowser was stretching near the fire pit when he felt Jack's sudden change and asked, 'Jack, what wrong?'

"Nothing's wrong buddy," said Jack, trying to play it cool.

'But you feel different.' Bowser struggled to communicate clearly but his instincts were sharp enough to tell him that something was off.

Realizing that Bowser could sense his emotions, Jack shrunk a little. He didn't want to mention that awkward moment to anyone.

On the outside he was always confident and cool, trying his best to act like his favorite superhero, shameless and adaptable. But his inexperience with female relationships created more pressure than he anticipated.

When it was a game, it always worked out and it was easy to put on an act. But Jack was starting to understand that he wasn't Jack_J; he was Jack, a weird and awkward hybrid of Jack_J and Jackson Jones. This is something that he wouldn't want to admit and he would try his best to convince himself otherwise.

"Umm, what do you mean?"

Jack looked to Slivia and asked, "What are you talking about?"

"You just said, 'Nothing's wrong buddy.' Why?" Slivia explained her confusion, wondering why he suddenly spoke and even called her buddy. Strangely enough, her heart ached a little when she heard him call her his buddy.

"No, no! I was talking with Bowser," said Jack, putting up his hands after realizing his blunder. "Sorry about the confusion. I didn't mean to call you buddy."

"Oh, why not? Am I not your buddy?" Slivia didn't know why she said that, but she turned terrified the moment the words left her mouth.

Frozen where he stood, Jack's nerves reappeared with a vengeance. He stammered, "That's, umm, not what I meant, but I wouldn't use that word, exactly…"

"Then… What word would you use?" Slivia's confidence was boosted a little by his reply, and since she had somehow asked already, she decided to commit to the conversation.

"Umm…" Jack's face paled slightly as he instantly regretted his open-ended answer. He tried this best to come up with a solution but drew blanks no matter what he tried. Suddenly, he thought of something. "Bowser, stop that!"

Slivia followed Jack's pointed finger and saw Bowser using the rocks from the firepit like a backscratcher. Bowser was confused because he always did this, so he asked, 'What Bowser do wrong?'

'Nothing, just go with it and I'll give you an entire unihorn deer for yourself,' offered Jack.

'Okay!' the simple-minded fox's eyes lit up.

"What's wrong?" Slivia asked, being even more confused than Bowser.

"He's about to pee by the fire, but he knows better," said Jack, picking up Bowser and carrying him to the outskirts of the camp.

'But Bowser no pee. Bowser know better,' argued the little fox.

'I know Bowser, but just go with it. Tonight, you'll have your own unihorn,' persuaded Jack, making sure to keep up the charade in front of Slivia.

"Okay boy, now you can go," announced Jack aloud, now outside of camp and away from the previous conversation.

'But Bowser no need pee.'

'Just pretend for now. You did nothing wrong and I'm glad to have you. You've earned your unihorn,' replied Jack.

'Okay!' Bowser licked his lips in excitement.

Back near the firepit, Slivia was perplexed mentally and emotionally. She couldn't shake the feeling that Jack was avoiding the question, but Slivia knew she wouldn't have the courage to ask again. However, she was happy that Jack didn't want to be her buddy.

Things gradually returned to normal when Jack came back with Bowser on his shoulder and told Slivia that he was going to find food for lunch and dinner. She volunteered to stay and watch the fire, waiting for Rydel to come back when he was finished.

While hunting, Bowser took the initiative to help Jack sniff out any nearby prey, eager to get his unihorn for lunch. They found some wild rabbits and Jack liked the idea of mixing things up, so he decided to chase them back to their rabbit hole beneath a huge tree. There was a total of seven rabbits; two parents, and five children.

Happy with his find, Jack scoped out his surroundings and planned his attack. Both sides of the tree had an exit, making things a little more difficult. Lucky for Jack, he had hunted these all the time in the game.

He stood on one side of the tree without an exit, making sure he could shoot towards both exits from a distance. As he nocked an arrow, Jack pointed it downward and let Bowser bite the end, causing the end to burst into flames. Immediately he blocked off one exit with the flaming arrow and nocked the next one. Again, Bowser lit it on fire before Jack launched the arrow at the other entrance.

That time, one of the rabbits tried to run away and was pinned by the arrow to the ground, blocking the other rabbits from retreating. Jack sighed in relief as he got closer and launched some more arrows into the rabbit hole and quickly offed his prey. Glad he didn't burn the one rabbit too badly, Jack put the rabbits in his storage.

Jack knew that was enough for Rydel, Slivia, and himself, but he continued his hunt for a unihorn. Eventually, they found a small herd of them. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Jack claimed four unihorn and stored them all before he trekked back to camp.

When Jack neared the camp and Slivia came into view, he smiled. Just then, Jack noticed something out of the corner of his eye and jumped back, narrowly avoiding the swing of a katana. Breathing heavily, Jack gathered his bearings and assessed the situation.

"What are you doing here?" asked the long-haired man on the other side of the blade. He was maybe in his thirties and wore a black kimono over an undershirt.

"Why are you asking me, we set up camp first. Shouldn't I be asking you why you're threatening me?" reasoned Jack.

"Answer the question. I'm not sure how you dodged my perfect surprise attack, but I'm certain I won't miss again," exclaimed the man.

Jack hesitated because he knew the man was right; he had only managed to dodge that strike because the man underestimated Jack's perception, but a head-on fight with the man would be impossible for Jack to survive.

He looked behind the man and noticed that someone else had sneaked up on Slivia, who now had a knife to her throat.

"As you can see, you and she are no match for us. Now, what are you doing here near the mine?" the man asked again, clearly losing his patience.

"We're here on business for the Adventurers Association; so, unless you want to die when our captain returns, I'd recommend leaving us alone." Jack cut to the chase and made sure that his new enemies understood exactly what they were getting into.

"You're with the association?" The man tilted his head in surprise. "Prove it."

Jack immediately removed his cloak and showed off the association's insignia made up of two capital "a's" imprinted on an open scroll. Seeing this, the man sheathed his katana and let out a breath as he relaxed.

"Sorry for all the trouble. We're scouting for our master and weren't able to discover anything involving the association on that woman. When you arrived, we thought it would be best to act first and ask later to avoid any possible problems in the future. Please, forgive us," asked the man as he lightly kowtowed to Jack.

Slivia was immediately released and the other man in a dark green kimono kowtowed as well.

"It's fine; no harm, no foul," said Jack, hurrying to Slivia's side. "If you're with the association, then your master should be Maynard, right?"

"Yes, it is, and your captain must be Rydel. It's an honor to fight alongside you, hero," answered the man in green.

"You know who I am?"