Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Journey.

Xenon and Kazuhiko have finally arrived at The Haunting Drape, a shop that sells potions, electronics and many more. Kazuhiko was the first one to enter the shop and greeted the owner, "Konichiwa! Takashi-san, we're here!"

Kawashima Takashi, the owner of the Haunting Drape came from the backdoor and greeted them, "Oh! Kazu and Xenon. Perfect timing."

"What's wrong?"

Takashi gestured them to come closer while switched on the TV. They went to him and saw a reporter on the TV said something interesting.

"Today we will announce about the recent rumours that everyone have been talking about! You guess it! The rumour about a competition in Estoark! It's true! The King and Queen of Estoark said so! We heard the prize is 6,000,000 crowns! Wow! That's a lot of money and there is a surprise! If you want to learn more about it, go to Estoark and find the Coliseum to ask questions! That's all!!"

Kazuhiko look really excited, "6,000,000 crowns!? That's quite a lot!"

"Well, they're rich after all...", Xenon muttered.

"You actually want to go to Estoark right, Kazu?", Takashi suddenly asked Kazuhiko, who widen his eyes in disbelief, "Wha--!? H-how did you know!?"

"You look really excited just now. And what's more, the reason why I called you here is because you asked me to confirm if that rumour is actually true.", the owner wiggled his eyes at Kazuhiko, who blushed in embarrassment.

Xenon went quiet before smirking, "Nee Takashi, you should seen his face when he tried to ask me about going to Estoark! He look really lame!"

"Oooh! I wish I saw that face!"

"Y-you two are bullying me!!", Kazuhiko pouted as they continued to tease the poor gunner before Takashi gets serious, "...So Xenon, are you going with him?"

"What?", Xenon blurted out in confusion.

"Kazu obviously wants you to join him on his journey."

"I do want to go but I have one problem...", he glared at the floor, "I'm not planning to go to jail."

They sweatdropped, "...Ah. I forgot that you were chased by the Knights a few minutes ago...", the owner then went quiet, look a bit worried for some reason. He cleared his throat, "...What did you do Xenon?"

"Wh-why are you asking me that question?", Xenon asked back nervously.

"Well obviously they were desperate to get their hands on you. What did you do man?"

"Hah! Obviously I pranked them!", he laugh with an evil face, made them sweatdropped.

"Ah...that's Nii-san for you.", Kazuhiko laughed nervously before turning to Takashi, "So Takashi-san, if Nii-san decide to come with me, won't you be sad that you lost your faithful customer?"

"Nope! He'll be always my number one customer!!", the owner said proudly.

"Yeah. He's your number one indeed...", the gunner trailed off as he remembered Xenon would always bought some sketchy items from Takashi so he can used them for his even more sketchy potions.

Xenon sighed, "Well, I can't really let you go alone on a journey anyway."

"Are you sure? You said you don't want to end up in jail...though you have been in it so many times."

"But I always managed to escape right? I say no worries!"

Takashi and Kazuhiko started to laugh nervously as they remembered the time Xenon got arrested by the police here many times. They will never know how Xenon escaped from the prison.

Their day ended with them eating at Takashi's place and the owner keep telling Xenon not to cause troubles, though the prankster only ignored that.

The duo went out and gazed around. It was completely dark now. Only the street lights were bright enough to let them see. They began to make their way back home. They decided to walk slower since the night's air felt good against their skin.

It took about twenty minutes to reach the house and Kazuhiko took out his keys to unlock the door and went inside.

"Nii-san, are you sure you will come with me?", Kazuhiko asked again worriedly.

"It's fine. I will break out of the jail anyway.", Xenon stated proudly.

"Why are you look so proud of it...?".

They went to their own perspective room to start packing their things they will need on the journey later. Xenon was rummaging through his rather...mysterious bag when he heard a tapping sound, caused him to abruptly look at the window.

'H-huh? A tapping sound from the window...? Maybe I should just ignore it...'

He proceeded to ignore the sound but the tapping just kept going. He slowly took his katana and went near the window. He then opened the window abruptly, only to see a pigeon. He sighed in annoyance, "A bird? I got worked up by a bird? Damnit..."

He was startled by the pigeon suddenly flew towards him and dropped a paper before flying away. He picked up the paper and noticed it contain some handwriting. He read it,

Just a bit of warning, the Knights will arrive in the early morning and will block any main road. Be careful not to be caught and good luck.

P.S: Don't doubt it. I'm serious.

Xenon wondered for a second if it was actually from that mysterious girl but he shook his head, "...It couldn't be..."

He went to Kazuhiko's room and knocked the door, "Oi Kazu! I need to show you something."

Kazuhiko opened the door, "Hm? What is it?"

Xenon showed him the letter and let him read it. After reading it, Kazuhiko nodded, "...We should believe it. I can't afford to let you get caught before the competition."

Xenon smirked before heading back to his room. He lay down on his bed, thinking about the mysterious letter, "...Was it from that girl...? But then again, she wouldn't know where I lived right...?"

He sighed in frustration before went to bed.

Timeskip...

Xenon was startled by the loud knock on his door. He groaned and rubbed his eyes, "Kazu...what do you want...?"

"N-Nii-san!", Kazuhiko sounded really panicked, "What the letter said is true! Th-th-th-the Knights are coming!"

"Wh-what!? Damn, they're serious!"

"And I saw them from my window! They're heading here! Hurry Nii-san!"

Xenon immediately get off his bed and hurriedly get ready. When he was wearing his coat, he heard a knock.

"Excuse me! Is anybody home!?"

Kazuhiko rushed to Xenon's room and started to panic, "N-N-N-N-Nii-san! They're--!"

"Shhh!", Xenon shushed Kazuhiko, "Be quiet or they'll find out."

"Sorry."

The Knights are still knocking the door, "Sir!?"

They kept quiet, hoping the Knights will give up. Xenon used his hearing sense to hear what the Knight said.

"...Are they heavy sleepers or this house is actually empty right now?"

"Their neighbours said a man and a woman lived here. They might left to somewhere else."

"That may be true...let's get going then."

Xenon opened his eyes, knowing they'll leave, "Yosh, they left."

"Phew..."

Kazuhiko sighed in relief but then he went paled, "...But they won't rest until they actually get their hands on you right? Oh dear..."

"Don't worry. I won't get caught."

"...Well, I'm not that worried...since you always get away from the jail."

"Now that you calmed down, let's get going. Though we need to hide from the Knights."

They went outside. Xenon look around cautiously as Kazuhiko locked the door, "First we need to go to Takashi-san place to give this key."

"Alright. Though he might be pissed off because we wake him up early."

They look at their surroundings cautiously, just in case if the Knights were here. Just then, they saw some Knights patrolling the area. They immediately hid behind the boxes.

"...I probably shouldn't prank them for my personal gain.", Xenon stated as he made a regretful face, "They look really serious..."

"Damn right Nii-san.", Kazuhiko deadpan, "I wish you would stop pranking people already."

"Anyway we should be careful not to get caught or it's a game over for us..."

"Yeah..."

They walked quietly and hid behind the box everytime the soldiers walked to their direction. As they get nearer towards Takashi's house, they heard the knights talking to each other.

"They finally found their child huh?" -Knight 1.

"Yes...we didn't know that he would be here." -Knight 2.

"We have our orders. Let's continue our patrol and see if he's here. His Majesty warned us that he's especially hard to catch."

"Yes sir!"

The Knights walked away from the boxes. Xenon look around to see if there were anymore Knights.

"What am I? An animal?", Xenon muttered angrily before sighing, "....Let's go!"

They went through the back door and knocked the door, "Takashi!"

The door opened, revealed an annoyed Takashi, "You do know what time it is right?"

"Yeah we know dude.", Xenon said as Kazuhiko gave the key to Takashi, "We only come here to give the keys and tell you that we'll be leaving."

Takashi sighed and smiled, "...Be careful out there. And here."

He gave them two walkie talkies, "You're gonna need some sort of communication right? Just in case if you guys got separated from each other."

"Takashi-san...thank you!", Kazuhiko thanked him happily as he took the walkie talkies and gave one to Xenon.

"Hey Takashi, I hope you remember that you're a accomplice like Kazu.", Xenon said.

"Oh come on! Stop reminding me that!"

They had to say goodbye to Takashi as the Knights knocked on the front door. They hid behind some boxes again to hide from the Knights.

"I actually don't know where to go now since I'm still not familiar with this place...", Xenon said as he look around.

"I say we should go to Ludui Path. I noticed the Knights never near that road before.", Kazuhiko suggested.

"Sounds like a plan. Let's go."

They went to the path that Xenon immediately recognize, "This path..."

"Hm? Have you been here before?", Kazuhiko asked, noticing Xenon's shock face.

"...Maybe. For some reason, it feels familiar."

*Sob* *Sob*

Suddenly Xenon was reminded about his past.

"That tree...", he look back and saw the Knights were coming their way, seems to be aware of their presence, "Crap! The knights spotted us!" The gunner got really panicked as he made a wild gesture with his arms, "Wh-wh-what are we gonna do!?"

Xenon thought he could use his powers but they might get caught before he could cast a spell on them. Plus he can't fully used it as he might potentially killed them. He grabbed Kazuhiko's wrist, "RUN OBVIOUSLY!!!"

They immediately ran away from the Knights, who were currently on their tail. Xenon can't let Kazuhiko get caught so he suggested they should go separated ways for now. At first, the gunner refused to leave him behind but after he convinced him that he'll be alright, he finally agreed and went to a different way.

So now, the knights were chasing Xenon.

"Wait, Fukumoto Xenon!!!"

"Who says I will wait!?"

He yelled before he had to stop running since he was on the cliff, "A dead end!?"

He turned around to see the Knights holding their weapons, "Finally. We have finally found you, Fukumoto Xenon."

"Look I don't want to go back so give up."

"Please come with us. If we get you, we will get a reward.", the knight said before he pointed his spear at Xenon, "If you still protest, then we have no choice but to use force!"

"I don't want to hurt you guys!", the prankster said as he took a step back, "I just don't want to go back!!"

The other Knights raised up their weapons to attack Xenon, who took a step back again. Bad mistake, he screamed when he noticed he was actually fell off the cliff. Good thing the ground are not that high enough to kill him. He rolled down the hill before he bumped his back into a tree. Right there, he lost his consciousness.

Meanwhile Kazuhiko...

He just kept running and running until his legs gave away and fall flat on the ground, "Ow...I can't feel my legs anymore..."

He sat down and start to massage his legs, 'We're in the rush too...I'm hungry...'

"Are you okay?"

He jumped in surprise when a voice talked to him and look up to see a boy, probably same-age as him. He has white hair, dark blue eyes and wore glasses. He look really concerned.

"Um...are you okay?", the white haired boy repeated his question.

"O-oh! Sorry. I'm okay. Though my legs are not.", Kazuhiko laughed nervously.

"I see..."

The boy sat down and hold Kazuhiko's legs. He started to chant something that Kazuhiko aren't familiar with. Suddenly a light appeared on the boy's hands, made Kazuhiko panicked.

As soon it appeared so suddenly, it suddenly disappeared. The boy smiled, "Your legs are fine now."

"H-huh?", Kazuhiko was dumbfounded before he tried to stand up. He smiled brightly, "My legs are okay!"

"I'm glad."

"Thank you for healing my legs!", Kazuhiko thanked him excitedly. The boy only smiled, "Oh no. I-it's not a big deal..."

The stranger stood up, letting Kazuhiko look at his appearance more, 'He's actually a lot shorter than me...'

Suddenly they heard a rumbling sound. Kazuhiko blushed in embarrassment, "O-oh sorry. That was my stomach..."

"Y-you haven't eat something?", the boy asked in concern.

"Ah...hahah...well, I actually left on an empty stomach so..."

"In that case, p-please come with me. I'll give you s-some of the fruits I found."

"O-oh no! I can't really do that..."

"P-please. I-I can't let you go starving."

Kazuhiko sighed silently before smiling, "...Okay. Thank you...um..."

The boy gasped, "Oh! I completely forgot to introduce myself!", the boy smiled sheepishly, "My name is Ozawa D-Daiki. You can say I'm a t-traveller."

The gunner smiled backed, "Sawatari Kazuhiko. Nice to meet you Ozawa-san."

Daiki led Kazuhiko to his temporary camp and gave him some fruits he found. Kazuhiko immediately ate one and smiled brightly, "It's delicious!"

"Yeah? I'm glad then."

A comfortable silence appeared between them as they ate some fruits. Kazuhiko went into a deep thought. What happened to Xenon? Is he safe? Or he actually get caught? He hoped Xenon is safe.

"S-Sawatari-san, you look troubled...", Kazuhiko snapped out of his stupor when he heard Daiki's concern voice.

"A-am I? Sorry. I was just thinking..."

"D-did something happen?"

"Uh...well..."

Kazuhiko wasn't sure if he should tell him. But then again, he might as well tell him since he just helped him out. The gunner explained what happened to Daiki, who listened very carefully.

"Oh...so th-that's why you were out of breath...", Daiki said, "Th-this friend of yours must be a nice person."

"Ah...just you wait until you actually meet him face to face...", Kazuhiko laughed nervously while Daiki gave a confused look.

'...I hope you're safe, Nii-san...'

To be continued...

Bonus!

???: *Walking before spotting Xenon on the ground* .....?

Xenon: *Unconscious* .......

???: ....... *Sigh* ... Can't ignore him... *Went to him & dragged his body to somewhere safe* Better bring him to my camp...