Chapter 2: New Thoughts

The Null Plains,

"Some say its a conspiracy theory made up by the continents to preserve Maximus legacy;"

"+Null Plains? That's a bunch of Honse phlegm they probably made it up to save Maximus the embarrassment of him and his crew getting piped up by other continent adventurers+"

"Some would believe it very much exists and would prefer it left alone"

"+If whatever that was there did that to Maximus... Leave it alone+"

(+...+ means Mekai is speaking about what people say about the null plains)

Twenty years ago, the existence of the strange Null Plains had been known to all 5 Continents , Each Continent hastily gathered their best adventurers and sent them out to claim the Null Plains for their respective continents. People expected a continent to come out a victor but none of the adventurers came back except a certain Maximus stone who's Brain had been gonked to no return, A shell of his former self most continents have been weary of braving the Null Plains but instead observing it

Ari was looking on in genuine excitement and intrigue as Mekai was educating her about the conflicts of the outside world and the Mystery of the Null Plains, One could say that her sudden interest in the world outside Lagosa had to be suspicious. Those where the exact thoughts of Mekai as he had a lingering feeling Ari had be feigning interest

"Uh Ari, do you actually care about what I'm saying this feels very weird to me" Mekai couldn't help but let out a nervous chuckle after that

Ari developed an abnormally large grin, Mekai had been used to her grin but this felt different, It felt hostile and mischievous at the same time Mekai had been used to one of the two but not two of them at once

"Aw does whittle Mekai feel flustered, I can't believe that you would think i don't care about your interests you really are a bad friend humph."

"You were constantly trying to tell me there's nothing interesting outside Lagosa" Mekai looked at her with a raised eyebrow

Immediately the grin left her face as she realized her attempts to tease Mekai had failed. She scrambled to change the topic

"Uh never mind that, If it's called the Null Plains though why do you call it the Edge?"

"Well if there's an unknown continent that nobody knew about and suddenly its alleged existence came to light where would you think its located?"

"Well I.."

Ari tried to make an argument against Mekai but as she thought it through. He did make a lot of sense.

"Y'know what props to your creativity"

"Thank You" Mekai said with a smirk on his face

They never spoke of it again

After that a silence fell on the conversation with both friends thinking about what had been discussed, The threat and mystery of the Null Plains, The soured relationship between all 5 continents. All that to sink into their minds on a cold but overall festive night

"So wh-"(1) "You wan-"(2)

They both tried to speak at the same time but interrupted each other (1 is Ari, 2 is Mekai)

"Sorry you go first Ari what were you trying to say?"

"Well i wanted to ask you, when did it all change?"

Mekai with a confused look on his face wondered what Ari meant by change

"What do you mean" He said with that same confused look

"What i mean is when did you want to leave Lagosa, When did you become Infatuated with Maximus and the world outside, when did you begin to hate this place?"

Mekai didn't know what to say to Ari, He didn't hate Lagosa he just got bored of it. His love and knowledge of Maximus Stone had always been a constant in his life

His knowledge for the outside world can also be attributed to him growing up with only his mother who was from the Altum Continent so of course she'd tell him about the world outside and he'd wanna talk about it. But...

It was much more than that it didn't have anything to do with physical or Emotional interference, something in him just wanted to travel the world and seek an adventure

"Honestly Ari, I don't know and i know it might sound stupid to just do something with no motivation but that's the exciting part you know? The spontaneous nature of the world just fills me with excitement Ari"

"So what are you saying then?" Ari asked Mekai with a concerned but inquisitive look on her face.

"Ari what I'm saying is, I have a dream"

Mekai immediately got up from the Log he was sat up, With the wind blowing in his face and the waves beginning to come in Mekai looked at the Night sky and began to scream,

"I'M GONNA BE THE GREATEST ADVENTURER MANIDIS HAS EVER SEEN AND NOBODY IS GONNA STOP THAT DREAM"

Ari was stunned at Mekai's passion, For once she was actually understanding of Mekai's nature, she finally started to fully resonate with him but for some reason she burst into Laughter

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA OH MY GOD NO WAY HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

Ari fell to the floor and her laughter only increased, she rolled around with no control and Mekai was concerned

"Huh you Alright Ari? Why are you laughing?"

"NO PIPING WAY MAN THERE'S ACTUAL NO WAY HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

Mekai's concern immediately became Anger. He felt disrespected by Ari's laughter. This wasn't a new thing to him as Ari had always been a rude person but he didn't let her nature bother him but this time, He was hurt why would she laugh at his dreams like that? Was she implying he wouldn't be successful? Was she implying he would fail? Mekai was annoyed and was gonna leave he had enough

"I pour my heart out and tell you about my dreams and you laugh at them? You really are a donk friend"

Mekai started making his way back to his Family's Cabin. Annoyed at Ari's supposed disrespect of his dreams, He had decided to cut her off he had had enough

Ari's Laughter had subsided and she noticed Mekai walking back home angry

"HEY MEKAI!" She called out to him

"Leave me alone!" Mekai didn't want to talk to her she had made a joke of his ambition and he wasn't gonna take it anymore. He was done

"You won!"

Mekai turned back and looked at Ari with a confused expression

"I won? What do you mean I won?"

Ari began getting up from the sandy floor dusted her self up to properly address Mekai's question.

"I said, You won Mekai I suddenly realize that there's more things to experience outside Lagos- WOAH"

Before she could finish her sentence Mekai charged at Ari and hugged her,

"Uh..., You OK there buddy?"

Mekai didn't say anything and continued to hug her

I know you're excited and all but you're beginning to hug and little TIGHT"

Ari immediately pushed Mekai off of her and onto the floor

"Oh My Zamathu I'm so sorry Mekai please don't be mad at me"

"Person that's taken over my friend mind giving me a hand?"

Ari chuckled and began helping Mekai get up

"No its my fault i hugged way to tight and still i can't be mad at you at this moment I finally got through to you"

Mekai had never been this happy before. He had finally made Ari see that the world beyond Lagosa was incredibly exciting.

"Wait so what did it for you I have so many questions, The Continents, Maximus Stone or do you wanna be an adventurer now?"

"Nope" Ari said with a mischievous smile on her face

Mekai developed a worried look on her face and began to back up, He had known Ari for a long time and knew that particular smile wasn't a good thing, As said before, he had experienced one of her two grins, Hostile and Mischievous and this time it was the Latter

"So then... why are you suddenly interested in the outside world?"

Mekai asked with a worried look on his face, Ari wasn't predictable so Zamathu's knows what she's thinking and he was scared big time

"The Null Plains of course, I wanna go there"

Ari with her little mischievous grin said that to Mekai and with the loudest scream he's ever done Mekai shook the island. (Metaphorically of course)

"YOU WHAT"