The Ropen's Legacy

Fire! Hunters Raid Again

Haru's eyes fluttered open as the rays of sunshine danced through the trees and shone into his eyes. He sat up, rubbing his eyes and stretching his arms. As he looked around, he realized that he had fallen asleep under a large tree in the middle of the forest. He could hear birds chirping, leaves rustling in the wind, and the sound of a nearby river flowing.

Haru stood up and began to walk, letting his intuition guide him. After walking for a while, he came across a river with huge rocks that served as platforms for a figure that looked like Hoshi.

"Hello... Am I interrupting something? Hoshi, is that you?" Haru asked the figure.

The figure was in fact Hoshi, jumping and leaping around the rocks, training his skills. He quickly went down to where Haru was.

"Mornin' Haru." Hoshi greeted his friend. He had with him a stick of bamboo with a sharp end and on the other end a stone tied onto the bamboo.

"What are you doing?" Haru asked, curious.

"Just practicing my hunting skills," Hoshi replied, showing Haru the bamboo stick. "I need to be prepared for anything."

"And what's with the looks?" Haru noticed how Hoshi's eyes were a bit red, his hair was all wet and he had no shirt on.

"I ended up falling into the river while I trained." Hoshi smiled awkwardly and put his arm behind his head.

Haru chuckled. "Looks like you need to work on your balance."

Hoshi shrugged. "I guess so. But it's good to train in unpredictable situations, right?"

Haru nodded in agreement. "Speaking of unpredictable situations, have you seen anything unusual lately?"

Hoshi furrowed his brow. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know, maybe some strange animals or hunters around here?" Haru asked, his eyes scanning the surrounding forest.

Hoshi shook his head. "No, not really. I made sure no hunters will ever want to enter this place again. But I've been hearing some strange noises at night, like something's moving around out there. I thought it might just be some wild animals, but it's been happening every night."

Haru looked concerned. "We should investigate. It could be dangerous."

Hoshi nodded. "Agreed. Let's go check it out tonight."

As the day went on, Haru couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. He felt a sense of urgency, like something important was about to happen.

That evening, Haru and Hoshi set out to investigate the strange noises that Hoshi had been hearing. They moved stealthily through the forest, trying to be as quiet as possible.

As they walked, they noticed that the forest seemed eerily quiet. Even the sounds of animals and insects were noticeably absent. Haru's unease grew with each passing moment.

Eventually, they came to a clearing where they saw a group of people huddled around a campfire. They were all dressed in black and had masks covering their faces.

Haru's heart raced as he realized that they were hunters. He and Hoshi had stumbled upon a group of hunters in the middle of the forest.

"Weren't you sure no hunters would want to enter this forest again?" Haru quietly whispered to Hoshi.

"The ones I ended didn't have masks on." Hoshi explained. "Stay here, don't even think about moving a single muscle, I'll go closer to see more."

As Hoshi ended that phrase, his golden eyes glew and he turned into Ropen and rain started to pour. The campfire that the hunters were huddled around became nothing and darkness took over the camp. All that was visible were the lights on the Ropen's body.