The bird chirped, the morning mist made the outside look foggy, and even the owls were still awake. “Wake up, bumbbag.” Bebe pushed Walwo off his bed. Walwo was still drooling as he hit the ground with a thud. “Fine, you be that way, you lazy rock. I’ll give you ten minutes.”

  Bebe tiptoed off his bed and to Meko, who was sleeping on the ground by his backpack he had prepared yesterday. “Hey.” Bebe whispered, shaking Meko just a tiny bit. “Wake up, we’re leaving, and I wanna get a head start before it gets busy.” Meko stirred awake, but it didn’t take long for him to get up. Bebe put on his pre-prepared clothes, and kicked Walwo awake. “Okay, I gave you your promised ten minutes.” Walwo grouched at first, then he jumped awake hearing the church bell ring. “Got-dang it, Walwo!” Bebe said, throwing a bag at Walwo as they all rushed down the castle hall, down the stairs, outside, and through the now waking streets.

  “I know a shortcut!” Walwo yelled as the lights turned on, and the sun brightened, suggesting it’s wake up time for the common worker. “Turn left up ahead!” Bebe turned, Meko almost fell but made it into the alleyway behind Bebe, and Walwo was behind the two. “Go through the shop.”

  “They’re closed, Walwo!” He then turned left into another alleyway and straight into a busy street. Meko almost hits a horse, Bebe already ahead as he runs down the sidewalk to the main gates out of the kingdom.

  “Where are we even going?!” Meko cried, though he wasn’t answered, Walwo wondered the same question.

  “Just keep up!” Bebe yelled, jumping and turning past and around morning men and women. I should’ve kept on my plan, dang it, Walwo. Then Bebe stopped, Meko hit the wall of the gate with a thud, and Walwo hit Meko, making a SPLAT sound. “Walwo, get off Meko.” Bebe walked towards the smaller doors, and opened them. “You two coming?” Meko and Walwo scrambled outside.

  “So uhh, I… I know I asked earlier, but um… Where are we going.” Meko stared at Bebe as they waltzed into the forest.

  “Well, we’re heading into a forest that stretches for miles and miles. So that’s the start.”

  After a few minutes of silence, and some awkward staring, Bebe opened his mouth again. “Okay, fine, we’re heading to a place called Hufftail.”

  “Oh, c-cool…” Meko shivers as he looks around the woods, whispering to Walwo, “Why are the leaves blue? A-And do you get the feeling that something's following us.” Meko jumped and yelled when he heard Bebe sneeze. Instead of getting on to Meko, like Bebe wanted, he just left Meko alone and kept walking on in.

  “It's a beautiful day outside. Birds are singing, flowers are blooming, and I can still feel the nice breeze even in this nice little forest.” Walwo smiled, as he put his hands on the back of his head and breathed in the fresh air. “I could.” He yawned for a long moment, stretching, then kept walking behind Meko. “I could live out here in the sun forever.”

  After many hours of traveling, Bebe stopped to look around, seeing the sun setting. The leaves changing to a purplish look, the forest darkening. “Walwo, go find some wood to start a fire. Meko, you can go with him if you want.” Gotta set up camp before the sun sets.

  Meko nods and clings to Walwo. Walwo was taller, so he made more sense to Meko. Then Meko clings closer to Walwo, shivering as he hears a snicker. “Walwo, w-what was that noise? D-Did you… H-Hear that?”

  “Nope!” Walwo smiles as he takes his small hand axe and breaks pieces of wood and branches, putting it on his backpack. “Hey, hold this.” Meko holds logs and pieces of wood, until he feels something touch his ankle.

  “AAAH!” Dropping all the wood on Walwo’s feet.

  Walwo simply replied with a simple, “Ow.” Then after he picked up the wood and gave it back to Meko, and put his axe away. “This is enough wood. So, you, good?” Walwo looked to his side as he and Meko got back to the now lit camp that shined in the night. As Walwo and a nervous Meko step into the light, Meko notices that Bebe isn’t here.

  “W-Where is Bebe!? BEBE! BEBE!!” Meko yells, shaking Walwo with a strength that no one would figure. Meko screams as something comes down the tree.

  “Shut up, you two.” Bebe whispers as he looked at them and then around. Getting closer to Meko, with a finger in front of his mouth. “We’re not alone.” Walwo puts some wood on the fire. Meko doesn’t say anything as Bebe sits him down on a log that Walwo placed as a chair. “Act. Normal. Whatever’s here already knows we’re armed.” Meko nodded slowly, as Bebe sat around the fire. “They don’t know that we know.” Meko nodded, and they sat there. For. Two. Hours.

  “Now!” Bebe pulled his knife out and cut a green small freak straight through the chest, Meko stabbed one as well. While Walwo stood up and took one of the green freaks by their ears, and threw it against a tree.

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  “What are these creatures?!” Meko whines, getting closer to the fire, but still trying to stand his ground.

  “Ugly, little, freaks that most call; Goblins.” Bebe yells as he cuts another Goblin. “It’s not surprising they’re here, though.” I just didn’t think they’d be this aggressive. Then a screech broke out, all the Goblins running with speed that doesn’t match their tiny, green, dirty legs.

  Suddenly, Walwo threw water all over the fire. Darkness covering everything, Bebe covers Meko’s mouth almost immediately, in absolute sync with Walwo. Is it a troll, Walwo? God knows it smells like one. Walwo looks back at Bebe to give him a nod, Bebe nods back, and steps back, still holding Meko. A roar rang out as trees fell down, then Walwo ran to stand by Bebe. “It smells the goblins.” Then with a quiet rush in their step, they run away from the area to avoid the troll. After an hour of running, they stopped, due to Meko collapsing. “What do we do?” Walwo asks as he picks up Meko, and holds him.

  “Just set him down, we’ll camp here for the night. I’ll keep watch for a while, unless you think you can?”

  “No, don’t worry about it. I’ll keep watch, you just. Rest, man.” Walwo said, as Bebe smiled, nodded, and laid by Meko, then fell asleep.

  Upon waking up, Bebe looked up to see Walwo sleeping. Of course. I’m gonna beat hi- Bebe took a deep breath. We’re safe, nothing’s stolen, and we’ve all got a few hours of sleep. Then he gently shook awake Walwo. “Hey, come on, wake up, we’ve got…” Bebe checked his small pocket watch, which was made of straight gold. “We’ve got nine hours till dinner time, and we should already be half way after to the half mark of this forest.” Of course, that’s saying we DON’T have any more… Interruptions. “Okay. Fine. I’m pushing you off this stupid tree.” Bebe then pushes Walwo off the tree.

  THUD. “O-Ow… W-What?” Walwo got up and rubbed his head. “O-Oh, uhh, sorry man, I f-fell asleep.” Bebe rolled his eyes and just kinda smirked.

  “It’s fine, we’re safe, we got to rest, and I think it’s refreshing outside.” Walwo smiled, and woke Meko up. “Hey, I brought the cookies.” He then laughed, throwing the bag of rotten cookies to Walwo. Bebe grabbed some actual breakfast from Walwo’s bag. “Here, Meko, have some breakfast.” He threw a small bag of food at Meko, of course, Meko missed and got hit straight in the face. “Okay, after breakfast, we’re heading straight…” He pulled his map out and showed them. “South, West. We’ll be heading that way, then it should hit dark.”

  “Is… A-Are there a-anymore monsters on the way…?” Meko stammered.

  “Yup.” Bebe noticed the breeze, it was nice weather, the blue leaves flowing with the fall wind. “Though, with any luck, the trolls hibernate early.”

  “W-What even is a t-troll?”

  “A monster.” Then Bebe stood up, “We’ve been sitting here for too long, we should get a move on, come on Walwo.” Bebe headed forward, and Walwo followed, Meko rushing to keep up with the walk. Good thing we don’t have any chilly weather this year, I’d rather not have to put on our coats.

  No words were uttered as they walked, the soft wind of the trees, a few sneezes and coughs here and there, and the crunching of the leaves under their feet. Then they hit a stop, it was a clearing, or more so, a part of the forest that was all cut down. “More goblins.” Bebe looked to his side to see Walwo ready with his axe. “No, this is a goblin camp, we’d need more people…” He looked back to see Meko holding his short sword and a shield. It doesn’t seem like it matters what we do, it’ll take longer going around, and it poses the risk of a troll. BUT, if we go straight through, we’ll have to fight this goofy hunt of Goblins, they don’t look that strong. Still, goblins aren’t always as easy as they look. “Walwo, I’m gonna give this to you. You make the call.”

  Walwo nods and looks around at the goblin huts. “Let’s just… Go for it.” Walwo nodded as he charged in with Meko running behind him.

  Okay then, I see what we’re doing, THANKS for informing me. Bebe ran into battle with them, stabbing a goblin and dodging a hit from another. Bebe threw his dagger straight at a goblin’s head before it could cut Meko right in half. Walwo chopped off a goblin’s arm, the goblin dropping a strange crystal, and a goblin ear.

  “W-What’s happening to them?” Meko stuttered, moving away from the now gone goblin bodies. “W-Where did they go?!”

  “Wow, do you live under a rock?” Bebe teases, then picks up the crystals and goblin ears. “Monsters drop stuff like this, instead of leaving an actually dead body, that’s how you tell a monster from a person or animal.” Though what a monster drops is absolutely random. Besides these crystals, these are guaranteed. “Hey, Walwo, find anything in those huts?”

  “Yeah! Food!” Walwo yelled as he came out of the small hut. “They got a lot of cooked deer meat, and some treasures that obviously don’t belong to them.”

  “Bring the food, I don’t care what you do with the treasure.” Bebe yelled, then looked at the Goblin finger on the ground and decided to pack it in his monster pouch. “Okay, ready to head out? I have a feeling something out there probably heard all those noises. And I’d NOT like to fight another wave of goblins at the moment.”

  “R-Really?”

  “No, I was lying, I actually would LOVE to fight more goblins.” Bebe rolled his eyes, then gestured for everyone to hurry up and follow. They walked past a huge rock, the sunlight shining through the forest.

  “Hey Meko, look at that beehive.” Walwo kneeled down to Meko’s height and pointed at the beehive.

  “W-What a-about it?”

  “I dunno, just thought it looked cool.” He shrugged as Meko looked at him, stood up, and just kept dramatically marching behind Bebe. The days were long, simple, and peaceful. The blue leaves seemed to be orange as Meko looked at them, he looked back, and saw that for a while, the orange, fall leaves were the main color for a mile or so.

  “Did anyone notice the leaves?” Meko said, Walwo smiled, happy he didn’t have to struggle to hear Meko this time.

  “No, I didn’t even catch that.” Walwo stops, his hands staying on the back of his head. He looked forward to Bebe, who was now looking around for any materials to set up camp for the ninety-billionth time.

  “Yeah, we’re already past the half mark. We didn’t have as many stops as I figured.” Bebe breathed in the air, for a moment, Bebe felt like he could rest for at least a minute. Bebe checked his pocket watch, “It’s VI right now.”