River Pot

Hunter sighed pulling his luggage out of the train. He looked around the busy station and sighs once more but felt someone throw their hand around his shoulders.

The teal green-eyed boy turned with raised eyebrows. "Alex ..."

"Look, I know you didn't get any rest between the long flight and the train ride but there's no reason for you to be this frustrated. That goes for the rest of you too," Alexander added removing his hand from Hunter's shoulder and turning to face the other sprites.

"Come on guys, we're in River Pot! The island of joy! The island of love! The island of mystery! The island of happiness! The is --"

"What is this? A tour ad?" Petra interrupted, cutting him off.

"Come on, Petra. You agreed to give this a chance, I didn't force your hand or anything," Alex argued.

Hunter sighed, he had agreed to join Alexander two months ago when everything was much simpler. If he had known things would turn out this hectic, the dark-haired boy probably wouldn't have joined.

Alex then invited the rest of the sprite team from the inter-order competition.

"You caught me in a moment of weakness and you said it would be like a summer vacation except in spring," Petra pointed out.

"And I promise you guys, that's how it'll be! There are beaches, parks, and a race course. You can go skydiving, rock climbing, surfing, yachting, and lots of other fun activities here on River Pot," he stated.

"Again, is this a tour ad?"

"You guys should take a page from Tom's and John's book; they are ecstatic to be here!" Alex pointed out.

Petra turned to look at the two. The both of them were wearing knee-length shorts and short-sleeved shirts and a big hat over their head; Alex was right, they were ecstatic to be there.

"You just have to give it a chance," Alex pleaded.

Hunter turned to Yui who was next to him as the scarlet-haired girl nudged his shoulders with hers. "I came here with Alex last summer, it's not bad at all," she said.

"I know, with everything that's been happening, I just didn't expect to do anything so soon," he stated.

"Oh. Zoe was an amazing human being, she liked acting like she didn't care about anyone else but she always checked in on me to ask how I was doing when she learned that my dad was diagnosed with cancer. You were closer to her than the rest of us ... How are you feeling?"

"I'm not sure ... How's your dad doing?" He asked, changing the subject.

Yui smiles. "He's fine. His cancer is in remission and he's back working."

"Awesome! Extend my greetings to him."

"I will."

"Hunter, Yui, come on! We're heading out."

They stepped out of the train station and stopped two cabs, the male sprites fitting inside one and the females fitting inside the other. The cab took them straight to the street the sprite guardian's villa was.

They exit their respective cabs and walk the rest of the way to the villa which wasn't too far from where they had gotten down from the cab.

There was a man at the front gate standing guard. His shirt had a badge in the chest region; a dolphin jumping out of water.

"Alexander!" The man said, a huge smile plastered on his face.

"My man!" said Alex as the two shake their hands and hugged. "Have the others arrived?"

"A while ago," the guard replied.

"Awesome! These are my friends from the Met School of Mysticism. They are participating in the one-month trial run to join the Guardians," he said.

"No we're not," Petra shouted causing the guard to laugh. "You'll come around soon," he said.

"That's what I also said," Alexander smiles. "Anyways, we'll be going in now," he said to the guard.

"Of course. Make sure to visit us at the fortress."

"You know I will!"

The Met school students walk into the villa where there was a small group standing in the garden in front of the main building.

"Alex! You're here!" A blonde-haired woman with gray eyes races forward and embraces the dark red-haired boy.

"Ah, so this must be the friends." A man that looked so much like Alex said, the only difference between the two was that he had brown hair and blue eyes to Alex's dark red hair and yellow eyes and was a couple of decades older. "I've heard so much about all of you," said the man. "Let's move over to where there is shade so we can properly introduce ourselves.

They moved away from under the sun before the man spoke again. "Come," said the man to the other two he was talking to before the Met school sprites came. He turned back to the students. "Welcome, to the Sprite Guardians Villa! I know you had a long journey here so I'll keep this as short as possible. My name is Richard Lewis and I am the leader of the Sprite Guardians - an official organization recognized by the Bureau of Mysticism."

"I --"

"The beauty next to me is my lovely wife, Alice, she's the deputy," he said wrapping his hand around the waist of the woman who had hugged Alex earlier and pulling her close. She let out a soft chuckle.

"The man with the glasses is Joe, he's one of the most important people in the Sprite Guardians. He might be in your age group but he's proved his importance to the Guardians. You too would earn that privilege if you work hard."

Just then, a girl with ginger hair and yellow eyes stepped out of the villa. "And of course, who can forget my princess, Alexandra Lewis --"

"Alexandra Lewis? Her name is similar to Alex's," said John.

"That's because she's my twin," said Alex.

"Wait so you two are Alexander and Alexandra?"

"Amazing, right?" said Richard. "Now, why don't you introduce yourselves."

...

After the introductions, Alice showed the sprites around the villa.

"... And these are the last rooms in the villa. Unfortunately, there are a lot more sprites in the villa than we expected so you will have to share the bedrooms."

"It's no problem. Thank you for your hospitality," Hunter said.

"Aw, it's fine handsome," said Alice.

[Um ...]

"I --"

Alice claps her hand together. "Why don't you all go and shower and rest for a bit," she suggested.

"Ah, before I forget; Alex, I need you to run an errand for me. We're missing a few groceries in the villa ... I have a list here ..." She said.

Alexander collects the grocery list from the blonde woman. "You should go with your sister, I sent her earlier but she said didn't know the way to the store," said Alice.

Hunter turned to enter one of the rooms but Alexander called him. "Hey, Hunter." The teal green-eyed sprite turned to face the yellow-eyed boy. "Let's go, you're gonna love the streets of River Pot!"

...

They walked to the store in an awkward silence that only broke when they got there. "Alright, I've seen the store, can I go back now?" said Alexandra.

"Why? You're here already, why not help me pick out the stuff?" Alexandra groaned. "Fine."

They walk into the store and began browsing it for the stuff they need.

"So ... You're Hunter, right?" Alexandra started. "You're a bit of a legend around here. Alex talks about you every chance he gets," said the ginger-haired girl.

"Um ..."

"Are you trying to embarrass me? Cause it's not working. I like Hunter, I'm a huge fan of his fighting abilities. If anything, you're making things awkward for Hunter talking about this," Alex stated.

The yellow-eyed girl turned to the teal green-eyed sprite. "Am I?"

"Slightly ..."

"See?" Alex said picking out a bag of seasonings and putting it in his basket. "How about we split up? The two of you go to the fruit section and grab these fruits," he said showing them the list.

"Sure." Hunter grabbed another basket and moved to the fruit section with Alexandra closely behind him. "Sorry about earlier, I wanted to embarrass Alex, it wasn't my intention to weird you out," she apologized.

"It's fine," Hunter dismissed. "It's just ... Nevermind."

"Let's start over?"

Hunter stared into her yellow eyes as if searching for something but his lips eventually curled upwards into a smile. "Hello there, I'm Hunter, Hunter Heffernan."

"Nice to meet you Hunter; I'm Alexandra but you can just call me Lexa," she said.

"Nice to meet you, Lexa."

"You must tell me how Alex managed to drag you here 'cause I refuse to believe anyone willing agreed to join 'a River Pot Sprite Guardians guarding mission'," Lexa said.

"No way it's called that."

"You'd be surprised," said Lexa.

"I agreed to it two months ago," replied the dark-haired boy.

"Ah, so he caught you in a good time and convinced you to join because you were already in a great mood, got it." Hunter took a box of raisins and put it in his basket.

"I don't think this is on the list," said Lexa.

"I know, I'm picking it out for myself. They'll go well with some cookies," he stated.

"Why would you ruin the perfect snack by adding a terrible, wrinkled fruit?" Lexa queried.

"You're kidding, right? Raisins make everything better!" He stated.

"I don't think so."

"Have you ever had a cookie with raisins?" He asked.

"Er ... No?"

Hunter picked another box and throws it in his shopping basket, "Well, get ready to have your tongue and your mind blown!"

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