Tales of Hunter, Polly, and Others

Trouble in Twilite

The sky was dark. The Raposa Village was asleep. And no baki dared to disturb the silence. Polly couldn't sleep. The thought of finally escaping the village kept her awake. Her parents still were in their bed, and there was no hint of sunshine in the house. Hunter was hugging his pillow, dreaming away. Well, until someone tried to wake him up. Polly quietly got out of bed and walked over to him.
"Hunter." There wasn't a response. She poked him. "Hunter." He began to shift a little. She tried to shake him awake. "Hunter!" Hunter grumbled and squeezed his pillow tighter. "Hunter! Get! Up!"
He opened his eyes. He seemed grumpy. "What?" 'I was enjoying that dream!'
"Shh!!"
Hunter rolled his eyes. 'Out of all people to tell me to be quiet.' "Sorry..."
Polly began to jump up and down. "When are we going!?"
"Go...ing? Oh yeah. That. ...I don't know."
"Come oooon Hunter! I wanna see it!"
Hunter's head began to ache. "Soon."
"Soon?" Polly began to get excited. "...Does that mean what I think it does?!"
"Yeah. Sure. Just let me sleep first."
Polly squealed in excitement. "Thank you! When are we..." Hunter fell back asleep. He snored a little. Polly put her hands on her hips. "Hey! I didn't get to finish!" She sighed and went back to bed.

The next day, Polly was standing at the door jumping up and down. "Huuunteeerr! Come oooon!!! Let's go already!"
Hunter was rummaging through the kitchen. "Hang on a sec!" He grabbed a plate and began to pile cookies on top of it.
Nixie walked in on him. "What on earth are you doing?! Get your paws out of that jar!"
"But mom, we're hungry!"
"That is no excuse to take the whole jar! Here. Take these Kori fruits instead."
She poured the cookies back into the jar, and replaced them with Kori fruit. "There. Much better."
Hunter looked at the plate. He liked Kori fruit, but he really wanted cookies. "Thanks... Mom." He began to walk away, slowly.
Nixie began to feel bad. 'Bobby wouldn't let this happen... Oh, who am I kidding?' "Alright. I'll let you have a couple."
Hunter turned around with a smile on his face. "Really!?"
She nodded and placed two cookies on the plate. "There. A nice couple."
Polly walked up behind them. "Hey! Give us more!"
Nixie shook her head. "One for each of you is enough."
"Fiiine. We'll be back soon!" Hunter and Polly darted towards the door when their mother interrupted them.
"Where are you two off to?"
Hunter's throat felt like it was stuck. "Uh... We're gonna play hide and seek!"
Polly gave hunter a quick glare. 'Seriously? Hide and seek? THAT of all things is your excuse? ...I'm never going see this place am I?'
Nixie was shocked. The last time they claimed to be playing hide and seek, Hunter went missing and came back in tears. And with the shadow beginning to crawl into the village, she already had a good reason to worry. She was almost positive they weren't playing around, but she just couldn't prove it. "...Oh. Alright. Just be careful okay?"
"Oh. Okay mom."
"And please. Do not go up north! It's dangerous up there!"
"We'll be fine mom! We'll stay close by!"
Nixie let out a small sigh. "Thank you. Make sure you two come back in time for supper!"
"We will!" The two exited the building and went on their merry way.

Hunter and Polly walked to the Forest Gate, still in shock that they were even able to get out of the house.
"How did THAT work?"
"I dunno! It always does!"
They approached the gate.
"How does this thing even work?"
Hunter smiled. "Magic!"
"There's no way."
Hunter pushed open the door. The gate revealed a white glow. The magical light glistened on the grass and danced in the air. "How about now?"
"...Okay that's pretty cool!"
"Told you!"
"So... Um... What do I have to do?"
"Just take a deep breath, and think about where you want to go."
"Okay. I'll try." She deep breath and thought really hard.
"No! No! Don't think that hard! Just relax."
She nodded. 'Okay, okay. Relax... I think I can do this.' She took another deep breath and walked through the gate. Hunter quickly followed.

The gate opened to the lush purple forest known as the Twilite Wood. Polly looked up. "Woah." The trees didn't seem to have an end to them. They just kept going upward towards the swirling sky. "You weren't kidding about this."
Hunter smiled. "Come on. There's more to see."
"Wait. That's not it?"
"Nope!" Hunter revealed a secret pathway.
"A... Path?"
Hunter nodded. "Made it myself!"
"Looks messy. Are you sure we won't get lost?"
Hunter nervously laughed. "Hey, I never got lost in here!" 'Except for that one time or two...' "Just follow me okay?"
"Just because you're older doesn't mean I have to follow you around!" She looked around. As beautiful as this place was, she did not want to get lost in it. "...But okay fine. ...Just don't hold my hand."
"That's fair. Come on. This way." Hunter continued to follow the path, making sure Polly was never too far behind.
Not long into their walk, the two Raposa came across a stump. It was a little thicker than the surrounding trees, and had mushrooms and sprouts growing around it. Hunter approached the stump. He knew this stump since the very beginning. "Hey. I'm back again." He poked one of the mushrooms growing at the stump's base. "I brought someone. Polly, this is the stump."
Polly approached the stump. '...Is he? Talking to a stump?' "Uh... Hi."
"...Oh right! Uh...Remember when dad had to cut down that tree a year ago?"
Polly thought for a second. 'You mean that time he took you here and not me?' "Sounds familiar."
"Well, this is it."
"Really?"
Hunter nodded. "Yeah." He patted the stump and backed away from it. "...Its for good luck." He was about to move on when he remembered something. "...You wanna try?"
Polly looked at the stump and quickly tapped it. She smiled and caught up with Hunter. "Where are we going now?"
"Only the best place in the entire world! Come on!" Polly followed Hunter through the trees, eager to see what he was talking about.
It took a little longer, but they finally arrived at a small clearing in the forest. Hunter took a deep breath and sighed. "It's so good to be back..." Polly followed Hunter into the clearing and looked around.
"Woah..." The tiny clearing was relatively empty. It only had a handful of toys and a single wooden stool. "Hunter, what is this place?"
Hunter smiled. "Welcome to the hideout."
"...What do you do in a hideout?"
"Whatever I feel like!" Hunter took one of the fruit off the plate he was carrying and ate it. "Want any?"
"Sure..." Polly looked at the plate and grabbed one of the two cookies on the plate.
Hunter set the plate down on the stool. "Oh! Check this out!" He ran up to a line of bushes and sat in front of them. "Polly, come on!"
Polly took a bite out of her cookie, and walked over to Hunter. "What is it?"
"Look over these bushes."
"What?!"
"Just do it!"
Polly peered over the bushes. "Woah."
The view was amazing. The sparkling sky was much easier to see from here. It looked like someone swirled a bunch of paint and sprinkled glitter on top of it. Below, there was another clearing. This one was much more narrow than Hunter's. On this lower level, a few enemies walked around. Most of them were baki.
"This view is so cool!"
Hunter smiled. "I thought you'd like it! I know I do."
"This place has everything!"
"That's what I thought!"
Polly finished her cookie. "Hey Hunter, do you got any water?"
"...Oh! Uh...yeah! I do! At least I think I do... Hang on a sec." Hunter got up and went through the nearby trees. After a minute, he came back with a jug. "Tada! Water!"
Polly was shocked. "Where did you even GET that?"
Hunter plopped the jug on the ground. It seemed the jug was a little heavy for him. "Nearby river."
"That's gross! There could be Baki dung in it."
"It's not gross! It's water!" Hunter picked the jug back up and gulped some of the water from it. "You want any?"
Polly was a little disgusted. "I... I'm good."
"Are you sure?"
Polly nodded. "Trust me. I am NOT putting my mouth on that."
Hunter put the jug back down and shrugged. "Suit yourself." He sat back down next to Polly. "Oh Polly! Check this out!" Hunter reached into the bushes and pulled out a notebook. It was beaten and worn on the cover.
"A worn old book? What's so exciting about that?"
Hunter grinned. "This. This is my journal."
Polly giggled. "Oh! So you're letting me see your diary?"
Hunter's face blushed a little out of embarrassment. "What? No! That's not what this is!"
Polly chuckled some more. "I'm just kidding!" '...Partially.' "Come ooooon Hunter! Let me see!"
"Alright! But don't expect mushy gushy diary stuff." He opened the notebook and showed Polly. "See? No mushy stuff!"
Polly took the notebook from Hunter's hands and began to page through it. The notebook had seen better days. The pages were bent, worn and dirt covered. Hunter was right. The book wasn't a diary at all. Instead, it had a bunch of notes on creatures Hunter had come across in the Twilite Wood. The notes were very detailed and even contained a few stories. On top of this, each creature had a drawing next to the notes. The drawings were pretty bad, but anyone could still sense the heart that was put into them. One of the drawings had sharp pointy teeth.
"...Flying Nut Rat?"
"Oh yeah... Bad experience. ...Don't ask."
She continued to page through the notebook. "...Leaf Baki?"
"The smartest one!"
Polly shook her head. "Hunter, come on! Baki aren't smart! Baki are Baki! I know that you know that."
Hunter shook his head back at her. "Are you kidding? That was the baki that tricked the town! Heck, that baki showed me this place! They're smarter than you think!"
"Pfff! Yeah right."
Hunter flipped the page until it revealed a Baki riding a star. "Tell me they're dumb now!" Hunter crossed his arms and smirked, confident in his opinion.
Polly however, wasn't buying it. "There's no way that's even possible." Polly then looked up from the notebook and saw a baki riding a shooting star right past them. "What the?! How!!?? That was so cool!!"
"The smartest baki!"