MHA Fantasy Quest for the SOL

Part 26: Mountain of Monsters 1/2

The main party had made good progress, but no one was easy about leaving the others behind. Naturally, that made them prime targets for the forest. It didn't take long for some unseen force to lure them away with the sounds of their friends' voices. They lost track of time and the route the map was taking them, and would have been serrated completely if Ei hadn't grabbed some of them by their clothes with his teeth, and others with his tail, then Mina slapped a couple to snap them out of it. The fay seemed more hostile to the humans than them. Even with this though, they were still lost, but no harm came to them before the others, with their army of pixies and a forest goddess, showed up. The girls were ecstatic to see their companions again, and the boys were relieved, but trying to hide it, save for Deku who just cried. "I thought we were never going to see you guys again..." "Thanks for the vote of confidence, dude," Denki said dryly, "we were fine. The pixies loved us." One of the pixies pinched his nose. "We can see that," Mina said, waving at them. "Hello, family... sort of." She shrunk and started talking to them. "They say that you made them cry, that was mean, pixies hate crying." "Blame Kyoka for picking such a sad song," Denki said. "Kyoka picked a song?" Camie said. "No, he's just being a jester!" Kyoka said, stepping on Denki's foot, he didn't protest his point. "Don't ever get lost again," Ochako hugged Momo's waist because she was so tall. "I don't plan to..." Momo replied, quite touched.                                                                                                                                                                                         "As expected," Hitoshi said "All of you got led astray easily... Let's get out of this forest. Before more of the in-laws show up." "Yeah, you never do get along well with them," Nejire said, "But they like you just fine you know. No one put a curse on you. You should come visit more often. There's some troublesome trolls you'd be really useful dealing with." "Herding tolls is like herding cats," Hitoshi said.

Finally they came to an opening in the forest and the trees gave way to grass again, and the dark lands appeared in the distance. It was raining out there, Ibara used her hair to cover herself from it. "This is sudden, I don't remember any clouds when we entered," Momo commented. "This isn't the same day," Hitoshi put his hand out into the air. "Time is different in magical places, I'd say we were in there for three days at least." "Three days?!" Everyone was horrified, they'd lost 3 days! That was a lot of time for their enemies to catch up to them. "Don't feel too bad," Ibara said kindly, "at least you got out." "As long as the people chasing us don't use the forest, we're still ahead of them, right?" Ochako said. "I wouldn't be sure of that," Hitoshi said. "Remember, the Sorcerer can use Blink. You will be safest not lingering anywhere too long. I suggest you sleep for only hours at a time, take more rests, and travel at night more, it won't be safe to stay still at night in this area." They nodded. "So...you're not coming with us..." Deku said. "I know it breaks your heart, but Mei and I are not anxious to go to the Mountain of Monsters," Hitoshi said. "I won't be able to use my power on most of them, I'd only be in your way, and we have appointments to keep. Someone has to tell King Enji some kind of story about his son if we want him to stop sending more people after you." Shoto looked up, then he said somberly, "Tell him I'm fine... and I'll be coming back once my quest is over... don't tell him what it is." "I'm not a fool, Prince," Hitoshi said dryly. "Nor do I wish to be beheaded... Well, good luck. This time we really are leaving for good so look alive, I'd hate to have gotten you all through that forest for nothing." "We can never thank you enough for helping us," Momo said nicely. Hitoshi shrugged. "Keep the medallion, you never know when a fay might cross your path." Ibara bowed to them all politely. "I wish you well, The Dark Lord is a threat to my forest too, please defeat him." She held out her hand and gave Deku a bag of seeds. "If you ever get hungry, plant one of these, it will grow anywhere. It's the least I can do." "Oh... thanks..." Deku was awed. The pixies and Mina were hard to seperate, she was telling them jokes, and they wanted to prank the others, but finally they tore her away. Hitoshi and Mei walked off with Ibara back through the forest, they would get safely out of it in very little time with her help. The party turned their faces back to the North, and they began marching onward again.