Tales of Hunter, Polly, and Others

Sneaking to The Twilite Wood

It was a month after Hunter was introduced to the twilite wood. Ever since that day, he couldn't help but think about the mystical place. He couldn't figure out why, but he desperately wanted to return to the Twilite Wood. Hunter waited and waited for an opportunity, but it never came. He felt like he had no choice but to create his own opportunity.

One day Hunter got out of bed, nervous about the day ahead of him. He walked over to the kitchen table where his family was waiting for him. It seemed that they were already finished with their breakfast. His dad looked up at him.
"Well look who's awake! See Polly? Told ya he was alive."
"I don't know dad. He looks more like a zombie to me."
Hunter sat down at the table, tired from a sleepless night. He then began to eat the banya muffin that was waiting for him.
Polly impatiently tapped her fingers on the table. "Can I go play now?"
Bob shook his head no. "Not without your brother ya can't."
Polly groaned and crossed her arms. "Finish your stupid muffin already."
Their mother got up from her chair. "Polly! Watch your mouth! ..You don't want to spend your entire day inside, do you?"
"Hmmph..."
"I thought not."
Hunter hurried up and finished eating his breakfast.
Polly jumped out of her chair. "Can we go play NOW?" Her mom raised an eyebrow at her. "...MAY we go play now? ...Please?"
Her mom smiled. "Of course you may! Be careful you two!"
Hunter got up and followed Polly out the front door. "We will mom!"

Hunter stepped outside and shut the door. "Alright sis! What's the plan?"
Polly smirked. "Hunter, we're gonna fly off the roof of the house! It's going to be awesome!"
Hunter's eyes grew wide. This is NOT something he signed up for. Luckily for him, their mom could be heard from outside the house.
"NO. NO. NO. THERE IS NO WAY I WILL LET EITHER OF YOU TWO KILL YOURSELVES. IF YOU TWO DON'T COME UP WITH SOMETHING DIFFERENT I WILL BRING YOU TWO BACK IN HERE AND NEVER LET YOU OUT OF MY SIGHT. UNDERSTAND?"
Hunter let out a sigh of a relief. "Yes mom! Don't worry mom!"
Polly however, was disappointed. She had planned this in her head for a while now. "Now what are gonna do?"
Hunter looked in the direction of the Forest Gate. A smirk crawled on his face. He finally found the opportunity he was looking for. "...How about good old Hide and Seek? That's kinda fun! ...and safe..."
"Hide n Seek? That's not very thrilling! ...But I guess it's better than nothing. Hide n Seek it is!" Polly then began to walk away.
Hunter grew confused. "Wait. Polly! Where are you going!?"
"To find more players! It's way too easy to find you!"
"Oh coo- HEY!"

Polly and Hunter gathered some of their friends and met up at the center of the village.
"Who's gonna be it?"
"Yeah, who?"
Hunter cleared his throat. "How about Polly?"
The kids looked at each other. "Polly? Nah. She's too good."
Polly snapped, "TOO good? How can a rapo be TOO good?! I'll be it!" Polly grinned proudly. "Heck! I'll even give you EXTRA time! How about that?"
Hunter looked at the Forest Gate's direction. Whatever she's planning to count to isn't going to be long enough. "One hundred."
"What!?"
"Cmon Polly, at least give us a hundred!" Their friends smiled in approval.
"Agghh I hate waiting!"
"Might as well count while you wait!"
"Fine..." Polly covered her eyes. "One... Two... Three..." The kids scattered in different directions, unsure of where to hide. But Hunter knew exactly where he would go. He ran as fast as he could towards the Forest Gate. By the time he got there, he had to quickly catch his breath. Hunter looked up at the magical gate. He really missed this place. Hunter looked around to see if anyone was nearby. Surprisingly, nobody was around to spot him. He pushed the gate open and walked inside.

Hunter stepped onto the sparkling purple grass of the Twilite Wood. He missed the softness under his feet. He looked up at the glittery sky, still in disbelief that the trees were that tall. Hunter took a deep breath, and began to wander the woods.

After a while, Hunter spotted a stump in the middle of the forest. It looked out of place among the tall trees. As Hunter got closer to the stump, it began to look familiar. He looked around his surroundings and sure enough, this was the stump of the very tree his dad chopped down. "No way..." Hunter's eyes began to water a little. "You..." He looked up at the surrounding trees. "...You used to be like them." He looked back down at the stump. "You didn't deserve this..." Hunter sighed. "I'm sorry." He sat down next to the stump, and began to twiddle his thumbs. "..."

All of a sudden, there was a rustling sound. Hunter jumped a bit at the sound. "Hello...?" The rustling became louder and louder. What or whoever it was was getting close. "...W-who are you?" The rustling grew louder. Hunter was getting a little scared. Either this was an evil monster that was going to eat him, or he's about to get in big trouble. "I'm sorry! I won't be here long!" The rustling was even louder. "Go away!" Hunter began to hyperventilate. "L...leave me alone!" The rustling was really loud now. Hunter was scared speechless. He covered his eyes, hoping the nightmare would end. The rustling finally subsided. Was it really over? Hunter uncovered his eyes and looked up. Right before him stood a wild Baki with a leaf on its head. Hunter began to laugh to himself. There wasn't any danger at all! But that Baki tricked him into thinking there was. 'There's only one Baki I know that's that smart...' Hunter grinned. "Hey!" The Baki jumped, and ran away through the trees. "Wait, where you going?!" Hunter got off the ground and ran after the baki. "Come back here!" He zigzagged his way through the woods, chasing after the baki. Eventually the baki ran to a small clearing. The baki continued to run until it came across a ledge lined with bushes. The baki hopped on top of the bushes and jumped off the ledge. Hunter tried to stop the baki from jumping, but he wasn't quick enough. Hunter looked down from the ledge to see the baki glide safely to the ground. 'Wait.. How did he do that!? ...Was that leaf part of his head or something?' He then took a look at his surroundings. This place would make a nice hideout of sorts. There's plenty of room, and it's very well hidden! What else does this place have to offer? Hunter looked back down the ledge. The view was pretty nice. A good amount of baki and other creatures can be seen from here. The ledge isn't actually that high up, so each baki that passes by can be seen somewhat close and personal. That, and the bushes provided a sense of camouflage. No baki could detect Hunter from here. Hunter laughed, excited by his amazing find. Though he wouldn't have found it on his own.... He looked over the ledge, hoping to spot the baki genius. "Where'd he go now?" Hunter looked and looked until he finally found the baki looking back at him. Hunter was a bit startled by the baki staring back at him. "Uh... Hey there!" He extended his arm out to pet the baki. The baki jumped and ran away from Hunter's hand. Hunter retracted his hand and watched him run away. "...Thank you." He looked up at the swirling sky and smiled. His eyes grew heavy from the little sleep he had the night before. Hunter laid down on the grass and began to rest his eyes.

Hunter opened his eyes again and stared at the sky. It looked the same as it always did, yet it was constantly swirling around and changing. Hunter felt so relaxed that he didn't want to get up. 'What if I just stay here forever? Is that so bad? It's not like I have something important to do...' Hunter was about to go back asleep when he had a sudden realization. He DID have something to do. Hunter quickly sat up. "How long was I here!?" He stood up and looked around. He had no idea where the gate was. Each tree looked the same as each other. Hunter grew worried. If he wasn't in trouble already, he will be. He looked for a sign of the way out. After a long amount of pondering, Hunter finally had an idea. He looked at some of the trees that surrounded him. Their branches looked snapped. The grass and leaves on the ground looked trampled on. This must've been where he came from! Hunter followed the pathway until he found the stump. 'Hey! That really worked!' He looked around some more. There wasn't any obvious pathways he could see, so he had to think back a bit. Hunter tried to remember which way he and his dad went from the gate to the tree. After a while, he finally had a rough idea of where to go. On his way to the gate, Hunter took some fallen sticks and twigs to leave road marks. After what seemed to be forever, Hunter found the Forest Gate. He let out a sigh of relief and walked up to it. He briefly looked back at the Twilite Wood, and went though the gate.

Hunter stepped foot back in the village. He looked up at the sky. "Oh no..." The sky was starting to get dark. 'How long was I gone for?'
Hunter could hear his sister call out for him.
"Hunter where are you!?" 'I should've just gave up and thrown a search party....'
"I'm righ-!" 'Wait a minute. We were playing hide and seek! She must be trying to get you out of your hiding spot!' Hunter looked around and hid behind some nearby trees.
Polly walked close to where Hunter was hiding. "I know you're around here! I heard you!" 'Ugh... He's doing way better than usual. ...He must be cheating somehow.'
Hunter chuckled. He never was good at hiding. Knowing he had Polly baffled astonished him. ...But he did feel bad for leaving everyone hanging for what seemed to be hours. So he did everything he could to make his location obvious.
Polly heard a rustling in the nearby trees. 'Aha! It's about time you've shown yourself!' She poked her head through the branches and found Hunter. "Found you!"
Hunter smirked. "You got me." He stepped out of his hiding spot. '...How long was she searching for? She looks exhausted...' "...Where is everybody?"
Polly sighed. "They went home. ...After I found them all of course!"
"I bet it didn't take long to find em huh?"
"Not long at all!" 'Speaking of taking forever to find....' Polly glared at Hunter.
'Why is she looking at me like that? ...Oh.' Hunter looked at the ground, ashamed.
"How did you do that!?" 'There's no way he didn't cheat'
Hunter nervously smiled. "...I'm just really good!" He lied.
"No you're not! You weren't that good last time! You cheated!"
"I did not!" 'Yes I did.'
"I don't know how you cheat at hide n seek, but you cheated!"
'By not even being there. That's how.' "I didn't cheat!"
"Well how did you get so good all of a sudden?"
"You see.. I was always this good! I just didn't show it." 'I was and always will be terrible at hiding...'
'Oh really?' "You were going easy on me that whole time? Why didn't you tell me!?"
"I uhh..." 'Oh rapo... what did I do?'
"I finally have a challenging opponent! We should play hide and seek more often!"
Hunter took a quick glance at the Forest Gate. Maybe this could work.... "Yeah... We should!"
"Just one thing. Don't hold back."
"Only if you won't!" '...I should limit my time in there from now on. I don't wanna see her push herself too hard like this.'
"It's a deal then!" 'Let's see how this plays out...' The two shook hands, binding their deal.
"When are we doing this again?"
"How about tomorrow?"
"Nah. We need a day to prepare. The day after?"
"Sounds good! Come on Hunter, let's go home."
"Glad to."

The two siblings walked home together. They both had gained something to look forward to.
They entered the house and were greeted by their mother. "Thank The Creator! You are okay!" She ran up to Hunter and squeezed him in her arms.
"Of course I'm okay Mom." 'I can barely breath...'
She let go of him. "I'm sorry. You were gone for so long... Polly couldn't tell me where you were..." She had tears in her eyes. "Don't ever make me worry like that ever again."
Hunter hugged her. "I won't mom."