The Magical Misadventures of Marco Diaz

Marco Gets Organized

Marco woke up next to a warm fire. He was laying in the soft grass next to Salia and Ren. He had followed them for a long time, before they finally decided to set up camp for the night. They ate some bread for supper, and went to sleep soon after. He turned on his back and took a deep sigh. The sun was starting to peak over the trees. It was beautiful.

Then he he saw something in the corner of his eyes. Marco turned his head to the side. That's when he saw it. A pair of eyes looking back at him through the bushes.

Marco crawled over to Ren, shaking him awake. "Hey. Hey. Wake up."

Ren rolled over, "Five more minutes."

"No!" hissed Marco, "No! We don't have five minutes. There's something in the woods. Watching us."

Ren sat up, "Salia! Where is she?"

Marco pointed beside him, the girl was still sleeping peacefully, "She's fine. But what about that thing in the woods?"

The monster ignored Marco's comment and stood up, his hand on the hilt of one of his swords. He scanned the area around them with narrow eyes. A rustling was heard behind the bushes, and out jumped a...

squirrel.

Ren turned to Marco with an annoyed look on his face. "Seriously? You woke me up for this?"

Then something came running out of the woods. An older man with a long white beard rushed out at them with a long samurai sword. "Aaaaaahhh!" he cried out as he slashed his sword in the air.

Ren reacted and blocked the old man's sword with his own. "What the heck, man! Who are you?"

"These are my woods!" spat the old man, "You are trespassing!"

Salia sat up on the ground, looking about her. Her hair was puffed up at weird angles. "Wha...what's happening? Is it morning already?"

The old man pulled his sword back and swung it forward, but was blocked once again by Ren.

"Stop that!" yelled Ren. "I don't want to hurt you!"

"I'm not the one who is about to be hurt," the man snapped.

Ren kicked his leg out and tripped the old man, causing him to fall flat on his face. His samurai sword flew out of his hands and landed in the grass a bit away from the two. Ren pointed his sword at the old man. "Enough. You have been outwitted. Now calm down and let us pass through your woods unharmed."

The old man rubbed his head, wincing in pain, "Ooh... that stings."

Salia floated up over to them, hovering just a bit above the ground. "Good grief, Ren. You made him fall flat on his face."

"He started it!"

Salia just rolled her eyes at him with a smirk, "Such a brave and noble warrior you are."

"Shut up."

Salia stuck her tongue out at her friend then turned to face the old man, "What is your name?"

The old man looked up at her, with clouded blue eyes, "My name is Kia."

"Why did you attack us?"

"You trespassed my forest," the old man frowned.

"We did not know it was your forest," Salia tried to explain, "We are very sorry for walking in without your permission. We were attacked by a dragon and got scared and left our village."

The old man sat up, interested at their story. "A dragon? What are they doing out in these parts?"

"We don't know," Ren said, "They are looking for a pair of dimensional scissors for some reason. We don't know why."