Kipo and the world beyond

Meeting Rook

Kipo Pov

"What happened? Everything is dark. Am I dead? Is this the afterlife? It's so empty, I don't like it!" Suddenly a light shines on me, I see a figure offering their hand to me. I see they have wings, an angel? As soon as I take their hand, I wake up. Gasping and sitting up in a panic. "What...?" I see I'm in some sort of bed, my wounds are bandaged, and there's water next to me, which I immediately gulp down. "Ah! I'm never complaining about drinking water again!" Suddenly I hear footsteps, I lay back down and pretend to still be asleep, keeping one eye slightly open to see. The cloaked guy walked in, a bag over his shoulder, he sits down and puts his spear next the bed and goes through the bag. I slowly and carefully try and grab the spear, I don't know what he wants, and I'm scared to find out. "If I wanted you dead, I would have left you to Apex" He says, making me freeze

I awkwardly smiled and he puts a bag of fruit in my lap, I didn't hesitate and started eating. "Hungry?" "I haven't eaten anything since I got here, I forgot to before I- Ow!" He smacked me in the head. "I specifically told you, "Not to come onto the island" and what do you do!?" I look down at my lap. "I came to the island... But I had to! A very dangerous person is here, and I have to find them." He takes a deep breath and grabs his spear. "No, I'm taking you back to your boat and you and your people are leaving the island." He grabs my arm and pulls me, but I fight back. "No! I'm not leaving and you can't make me!" I pulled away from him, and ran, but I was tackled to the ground, where he pinned me, I can smell his scent again, this position is kinda embarrassing.

No pov

He breathes heavily as he pins her. "Alright, look..." He takes off his mask and shows her the face of a young man, looking around her age. "I don't want to hurt you, I just want you off this island." Kipo blushes slightly, but clears her throat and speaks. "W-well... Too bad, because I won't leave until I find Emilia... That's the person I'm looking for, by the way..." He pinches the bridge of his nose. "Ugh... Alright, then we'll do this the hard way." He grabs Kipo and throws her over his shoulder. "HEY, PUT ME DOWN!" Kipo tries to get out of his grip, but her strength fails her, she tries to change into the jaguar, but it's not working. "Ugh, Come on! Dang it, let me go!" She demanded, but he ignored her, she then started flailing her arms and legs like a toddler. "UGH! Would you stop squirming, I'm trying to help you!" Eventually Kipo manages to wiggle out of his grip and she kicks his stomach. "Ugh, why you little-" He tackles her again, making them roll down hill, soon they reach a drop and start to fall, Kipo clings to him, screaming as they fall. The guy doesn't seem worried. He grabs her by her waist and holds her tightly, his cloak opens up from the back and suddenly a pair of large grey wings sprout from his back.

Wings sprouted from his back, acting as a glider, soon landing safely on the ground. Kipo, shocked beyond belief, backs away and falls to the ground. "Wha- You're... A-a mute!?" He looks at her with raised brow. "A Mute?" He leans closer and offers his hand, Kipo still shocked, hesitantly accepts it and is pulled to her feet. "I uh... thank you..." She says with a much calmer voice. He rubs his face and tucks his wings back under his cloak. "This isn't going to work... "Listen to me please, I know Dr. Emilia, she's not someone to be underestimated, she's done horrible things and is planning on doing much worse, and now she's partnered with that giant bird somehow and is now doing heck knows what!" They guy looks concerned. "Giant bird? You mean Apex?" "Yeah, the giant bird, the one you saved me from." He looks like he's contemplating something, his thoughts are interrupted by roars and screeches. "We're not safe here." He picks her up and takes flight again, Kipo just sorta froze and stared as he flew. "Not scared of heights I hope." He says and Kipo just kept staring.

Soon after a few minutes of flying, they land at the foot of a large tree, and the guy puts Kipo down. "Uh, welcome to my home, I guess?" Kipo looks at the tree, and is just confused. The tree looks old and dead, old plane parts and poorly made walls line the trunk. What Kipo is most confused by is the hundreds of small, gulf ball sized, different colored fuzz balls scattered everywhere around the tree. The guy walks inside and Kipo quickly follows. The fuzzballs all make little squeaking noises, some jump and crawl around. "What are these things?" She asked. "I don't know, I just call them furrburrs, noisy little things huh? Don't worry, among everything on this island, these little guys are harmless." He grabbed a handful of them and they just squeaked, he took one and threw it and it stuck to the wall. "They tend to gather in places far from predators, so they help you find good places to sleep at night." He dropped the furrburrs and walked into another room. Kipo looked at them and couldn't resist. Soon the guy comes back, only to see Kipo covered head to toe in furrburrs. "What are you doing?" "I couldn't resist, they're too soft!" He brushed them off her. "Ok, listen, I don't want you here, but if what you say is true about Elmo-" "Emilia" "Emilia and that Apex... then I guess... I can help you..." Kipo perked up. "Really!? Thank you.. Oh I just realized I don't know your name, I'm Kipo, Kipo Oak. What's your name?" He just looks at her. "I uh.. I don't have one..." "What? You don't have a name?" He shrugs and takes off his cloak, showing his scared, muscular arms. Kipo blushed at the sight. "I never really had a need for one, so I never really thought about it." Kipo snaps out her trance. "What about your parents, they never told your name?" "What are parents?" Kipo looks shocked and saddened. "You... don't have parents? You know, they feed you, keep you safe, help you, make you happy. You don't have anyone like that?" He shakes his head. "I've been on my own since I was a baby, survived, and just... lived." Kipo looks at him with a sad expression. "You've been alone here, all by yourself?" He nods.

Kipo looks determined to fix this. "I won't stand by this! You can't be alone for the rest of your life." She thinks back to all her friends. "I won't let you, so congratulations, today you get a name!" He looks confused. "Why is a name so important?" "Well how am I supposed to call for you when trouble happens, if I don't know what to say?" He was about to retort but he couldn't think of anything. "Hmm, that might be a problem. Alright, so what's my name?" Kipo thinks for a moment. "Hmm, how about... Rook!" "Rook?" "Yeah, a rook is a bird who symbolizes bad fortune. You tried to warn me about this island, even though I didn't listen, sorry again. And they have dark feathers like yours." He looks at his wings. "Hmm, well I guess it's only fitting, alright, Rook it is." Kipo extends her hand. "It's nice to meet you Rook" He looks at it confused. "Oh, you just take it." He reached out and took a hold of her hand, and instantly, they both felt a slight jolt. It wasn't a shock, but it was something comforting.

Kipo started to get his scent again and her head started to feel fuzzy, she quickly pulled her hand away and cleared her throat. "R-right! Um, so I think we should with finding Emilia." The sound of thunder rings out. "Lets do it tomorrow, you still need to rest." Kipo was going to argue, but she was really tired, so she nodded in agreement. After being given a much more normal bed to sleep on, Kipo bundles up and tries to sleep. The sounds of thunder keep jolting her awake, her paws and ears form. "Oh now you show up... Ugh!" She lays back down and can't go back to sleep, soon she just gets mad and roars out the window into the storming night. "Trouble sleeping?" Rook appears behind her Kipo looks at him and her ears droop down. "I... I'm not used to this much stress..." She just leans against to the windowsill. Rook slowly joins her at the window. "...wanna talk about it?..." He asks with a concerned voice, Kipo is kinda surprised that he's willing to listen. "...I just... UGH!" She flopped onto her bed and screams into her paws. "Everything has been going down hill since that stupid broadcast! I've had my home destroyed by some crazy super bird, who apparently is also the creation of the guy who used to know my parents, and somehow knows Emilia and listens to her. Now I'm here on and Island, with crazy deadly monsters, venting to a guy who has wings! NOTHING MAKES SENSE!!!" Rook looked at her with his bright blue eyes. "...I didn't understand any of that... but I can tell its a lot..." Kipo tears up a little. "And the worse part about is I don't have my friends here to help me, I didn't want them to get hurt, so I left but now I'm the one who needs help..." She cries softly, and just threw her arms around Rook, desperate for comfort. Rook is shocked and doesn't know how to react, so he slowly wraps his arms around her. Kipo can feel his warmth, and his intoxicating scent is helping her relax. Soon she falls asleep in their embrace, and Rook sighs. "Man, this is... a lot..." He looks at Kipo's sleeping face, and smiles. "well... maybe not as much..." He wraps his wings around them and holds her close as they sleep, feeling safe in each others embrace.