[Deleted]

"No, I'm not living here. You can't even fit in here, can you?"

In the midst of new residents, an odd scene played itself out in front of...a house? Could it be called that? In front of said "house", a man and a winged monstrosity were arguing. Well, the man was, but the conversation was nowhere near as one-sided as it appeared.

It wasn't a problem about the houses, that didn't matter to the young hunter. A roof over his head and sand not in his boots? That was practically heaven! And living with strangers was nothing new, civilizations mixed and fell apart as easily as sand flowed in his home. No, none of that was a problem.

What was the problem was that the giant Solo Wing was too big to fit in such quarters, and he wasn't putting the Dragon in a stable or something! Yet the Dragon was being strange! Didn't matter that the houses it kept trying to put him in couldn't accommodate it, it wouldn't budge on the situation.

A sudden picture entered his mind, flowed in like swift water. Him, Keil, living in this home, surrounded by humans. They were aged...and looked happy. He knew this, saw similar pictures before. The Dragon had planted this...why?

As it faded away, he blinked to see the retreating tail of the Dragon marching away. Oh, it was not leaving him here to sleep who knew where! They didn't fly like death was on their backs for days just to be separated here! "Come back here! I told you! Not here! We'll sleep outside together if that's what it takes!"

Irritated, the Solo Wing swept it's tail in an arc as it walked, keeping Keil at a distance as he marched after it. This place was safe! If this place needed defense, then it could come back, but what human and Dragon stayed partners in a time of relative peace!? Never, that's what. Their mission together was over. A Dragon must return to mystery once the mission was over not...keep its partner. Not like last time.

A partner. A partner only existed to get killed when it failed, didn't the human know that!? Didn't he see that!?

In its swirling grief and fury, the Dragon didn't pay attention much to its surroundings, it's tail cracking the floor and forced people to practically dive out of its way.

Their little spat was causing quite the disturbance...

[Arrow Rinehart]

Flying low within the confines of the Life Sphere, the Rocket Knight could hear a thunderous crash from something in the nearby distance. The flying knight headed towards the source of the disturbance. Though he was not really armed for combat, as it was more that his eyes peered through his goggles sharply. Having seen so much, the opossum knight had come in for a landing on the sidewalk, maybe around 20 feet or so away? Sparkster gathered his wits, while heading over he started over with a quick trot, while making sure that his jetpack was not boosting him. He didn't want to make someone think he was looking for a fight if so, but a concerned denizen of the Sphere looking to see what was wrong? That was the going theme for him here, he'd shifted his goggles up and moving a little closer, maybe within 10 feet of the pair before speaking. "Uh Hello? Is something wrong? I'd like to help if I may." As even despite the fact that there was a large dragon and a human that he'd spied before him? He imagined that he'd get an explanation while being careful about how he approached.

[Deleted]

The Life Sphere was full of beings and creatures, so an armored opossum flying in and approaching the duo really shouldn't have been much of a surprise. Still, an expectation to see something dangerous in everything strange thanks to the mutants of their planet meant the appearance of Sparkster certainly startled the duo. At least the argument stopped.

The Solo Wing froze in place, wings slightly raised as it lowered its head and clenched it's jaws. Who...no...what was this creature? Instinctively, it tried to access the memories and data it contained, but once again, it was no use. All it could possibly guess was a humanoid mutant, but that was never what these creatures called themselves, was it? Behind it, Keil caught up and ducked under its wings to take a look at what gave his partner pause. His reaction wasn't too dramatic, but the widening of his eyes before he composed himself told of his surprise. "Um...something wrong?"

Yeah, about that.

"Walking disaster." "Put that thing in the Cove if ya can't control it!" Words had followed the arguing duo, and while he was sure he could still live here, no doubt the Solo Wing was already known as a troublemaker...troublemakers typically weren't allowed in civilization much, not with what he knew. Either way, the two had left cracks in the floor, shattered pots, angry civilians, and even scratches on walls. Leave it to the two of them to only be good at destroying stuff. "Y-yeah. I think that's the right word for this." Keil mumbled, trying not to make eye contact with anyone angrily shooting glances at them.

Keil took off his hat, extending his hand in a greeting, "Ah, I'm Keil, sorry...I think my partner and I notice when we break stuff." It came rather naturally, and the concept of valuable stuff besides weapons didn't come to them easily. "Tch! Keeps trying to drop me off in temporary houses where we both can't fit!" As he spoke, he patted the Dragon on the shoulder in a half endeared, half angry manner. "Know any big places? We're new...and this is nothing like home."

[Arrow Rinehart]

To this end, he was certain that it wasn't going to be an issue, in fact as he heard the pair sharing their answers to him. Though he took this into mind, the response from the dragon was a bit off put, he imagined it was by his appearance. Though he wasn't going to linger on it, as though there were dragon-like beings in his realm, he'd never seen one of such a graceful design. Between this and the human before him, he could see that the two were most certainly a duo. It just helped him grasp what it was, all this within a few moments was settled the line of thinking and all before he answered. 

"Nothing wrong for me, I was more concerned about you two is all, just in case I might be able to lend any assistance?" the words given in response to the first question offered his way. He could tell that he was being visually given a once over, though more surprise came, he was impressed with the Solo Wing's ability to adjust to seeing what he imagined was a new being all together for the first time.


In truth, while Sparkster's expression betrayed nothing on his end, it was more likely through his simple means of mental focus, that the veteran rocket knight kept his mental cool over it. But still, he'd felt pretty curious about the pair, even if listening to the trade of words from the people. It was only enough to make it clear to him of their certainly steady bond, though it was clear the angry populace were not intuitive to understand things were not so easy to adjust to. 

"I apologize when I say that I myself am relatively new, the housing is a good size for someone as small as me. But I think I will be able to help you look for something, if that may help? I recall that I was staying in the park for my first night. If only since I was not certain how I'd feel in the housing, but certainly if size is an issue, I am certain the Life Sphere must have some place to suit two fine heroes like yourselves."


 

[Deleted]

At Sparkster's words, Keil nodded heavily, assistance would be greatly appreciated. He could only hope that this person wasn't losing time on anything that was important to them. The Life Sphere seemed huge and bustling, it'd be a shame to harm someone else's livelihood because you and your Dragon couldn't manage to find a place to live by yourselves. Still, Keil was used to accepting help.

"The park? That's...well...hmmm..." Honestly, if the Life Sphere didn't rain, that didn't seem like a bad idea. As if sensing Keil's concerning lack of standards, the Dragon shook it's head emphatically, bony protrusions clattering together. Not a word was spoken, but Keil simply sighed out as if they had a conversation just now, "...Last resort then." Was the Dragon happy then? Judging by its clenched jaws, not really, but it couldn't stop him.

"Heroes...heh. That's weird." Keil pulled his hat back on, quickly hiding his face with his goggles, "We're just...I'm just a hunter along for the ride." He felt like he was admitting some kind of shame. A few days chasing down some black dragon didn't make one a hero, it couldn't. He was just a replacement for a hero. "But that housing would be nice, I'm a little tired of walking around aimlessly." You could get lost in a desert easily, he knew, but he didn't know it was that easy to lose track of your position in a place with nothing but defining landmarks...how many times had they walked in a circle just today!?

"Could I ask you to show us? We owe you either way." And Keil meant it, hunters worked together to bring down prey and kill mutants, and helped each other with that task. If he could assume heroes were similar here, he'd owe this one for helping him with housing.

[Arrow Rinehart]

Deciding that he should introduce himself just before he goes, the means of his introduction was pretty simple and right in between his intent to lead them to the park. "Before I go, I wish to introduce myself. I am Sir Sparkster of Elhorn, that was my home world, at least before coming to Li."   

Giving the pair a gentle nod, the opossum knight started a path along the grass, and gestured with his hand towards the two. "I certainly can! I visit the park often, as its not often I have a place to hang from. I mean, before its asked, I am an opossum, we like to hang upside, its part of the nature. I was a little worried I might not have that here, at least until I found the park." perhaps a little awkward, but he wanted to have it out, it was kind of how he worked, sometimes thinking it best to share odd facts even if they did not know each other well.

"Come this way, we'll take it lightly, the park isn't too far off." Not sure how fast he should move, the regular athleticism of his was employed to get some speed. He'd been pretty fast, despite his armor and without any boost or slight increase of speed from the jetpack, for now he kept a vital, brisk pace for himself and he felt confident it was easy for ones far larger than him to keep pace with.

[Deleted]

"Alright, Sparkster. Didn't have many names like yours back home." Not even actual legends and the like had names like that. Before he started following, he pointed a thumb at his partner, "Forgot something, I got a name. Keil, if you'd remember, but my partner here...doesn't really got one. If you need to tell them something, Solo Wing will do for now, it's what I've been calling them." An affirming nod from the Dragon signaled its consent with the name and, though the Dragon narrowed it's eyes at heading to the park, it didn't fight on the issue. This human seemed dead set on sticking with it, and as long as he was following it, it needed to protect him...and this park could be dangerous...yes, it could, that's why it was coming!

Keil kept up a steady pace next to Sparkster, chuckling at the odd fact, "Hehe, sorry, you just look human to me, didn't think you'd be any different like that. I mean, we had creatures like you in our world, a Coolio born with wings, Worms born with legs, mutants, the whole lot of them...don't last long, but they're powerful if they do." His voice trailed off slightly, as if just realizing perhaps it wasn't a good idea to talk about this with a person who might not consider themselves a mutant, thank you very much!

Abruptly, he raised his voice again, trying to leave behind thoughts of his own world. "If I can just lay down, even on the ground, I'll be all right." He shot a glance behind himself at his protector, his Dragon, keeping a vigilant eye even in the relative safety of the Life Sphere. With those wings, would it just lay down, or did it need a perch of some kind too? Wouldn't that be a sight? An opossum and Dragon hanging from a tree like that was normal. "My partner will figure it out, never actually seen them sleep."

With the park so close, Keil started to see peeks of trees past the roofs of some buildings and sped up, perhaps overtaking his own guide as he sought out the entrance. Green was such a rare color in the deserts, but the Life Sphere had no such restrictions. A place to rest that had the life of everything, home was home but this was great!

[Arrow Rinehart]

Nodding to both the name of the Rider and his Dragon partner, Sparkster's response was prompt, about as welcoming as he could manage, which was pretty good. His tone keeping a lightness to it as he spoke up. "Then I am pleased to meet you both, Keil and Solo Wing. The pleasure is mine."  though one could question the Rocket Knight and his meaning, he otherwise meant every single word. There was no deception in his tone, as quite the opposite, he was pretty earnest about both helping them and thus far, not minding the company he now led to the park.

So there were beings similar to him on his world, but human and their forms twisted through some means? Though he was surprised by it, he'd taken no offense, as certainly he was no mutant himself. Though the subject had him almost ask about it in part, though he imagined he'd need to do so in a way without trying to appear too over enthusiastic. He had not wish to offend with prying questions after all. "Mutants? How curious! On my world there are those who use powers to become powerful, enhanced mutants, mostly lizard-like or robotic pigs. But naturally, we are just as we are, it must be quite an interesting place to live." 

Upon leading the two into the edge of the park, his hands gestured around lightly and smiled. "I imagine that you may find some decent rest, I've found sleep in trees and all I can imagine is that there are comfortable places for your partner to rest also. The park is a fairly large area, he should at least be able to find some place to rest, however he might. This is one of my favorite areas for clearing my head."

[Deleted]

An interesting place to live. With miles and miles of nothing...actually, no. On the back of a Dragon, Keil had seen caverns and pockets of vegetation. All miles away from where humans were, where they couldn't reach. "Yeah, I saw lots of things while flying, it was interesting." Truly, it was. Would he had seen more once the mission was over? Would he see something like the Life Sphere, strange but alive? Well, he shouldn't joke, those were too high of hopes, so probably not. He just got luck to be here.

At the park, blatant joy flickered across Keil's face, visible even under his goggles. "Hey, take a look!" He nudged the Solo Wing who had stepped next to him, "We didn't see this all the time, eh? Isn't it nice?" Soft grass, many trees, benches, and colorful patches of flowers plasnted by some attentive good Samaritan. Couldn't complain now, can you?

With an investigative gleam in its eyes, the Solo Wing cautiously separated from Keil and swivelled it's head back and forth. The trees were too small to perch from, and the benches would surely break if it tried, but there was lots of space, thus, it could sleep. With a snort, it suddenly lowered onto its stomach and folded its wings, then sighed. Great, it was comfortable and able to sleep. Now it had no excuse to leave Keil alone...it had to protect him, especially if he was going to find it every time it tried to run, he was honestly safer under its eyes...at least for now.

"Well, we like it!" Keil announced, jogging over and seating himself next to the Dragon. The Dragon's head didn't lower, artificially leaving it's head up and closing its eyes. As a weapon, perhaps it could sleep that way? "Heh, looks like our long day finally ended...we owe you, Sparkster. If you need something, we'll try to help, ok?"

[Arrow Rinehart]

Having seen the excitement of the pair the Rocket Knight seemed to be pleased by what he'd seen, further as he witnessed the ease of the dragon. He'd hoped to have such a good effect, though he wanted to say something more, at first he was just enjoying the sight of the park and the comfort found. Sure it went unsaid first, but anyone who could see it was free to notice that there was a great deal of relief within the pair. "I don't think the park can be beaten for a lot of things." though this comment was something just quick in passing when the dragon had run off.

The sight of the pair at ease, thankful, all of it left the opossum knight smiling big as he offered a small head bow of sorts. Nothing too grand, but with his arms spread out in the moment that little nod was one to show the gratefulness of his own. "Well I humbly accept your gracious offer, if anything comes up that I require, I shall look first to you friend Keil and Solo Wing."

"For now, shall we enjoy the Park? I've rarely had any company to just enjoy sitting down and even just enjoying the day with. Perhaps we can trade tales, I can share some more about my homeland with you." The armored marsupial approached the pair and made his way over with a few quickly paced steps, though for him it was more of a steady jog/light run for him to bounced on the means of it. While he let stopped within 10 feet of the pair and slowly lowered himself to the grass, catching the soft blades of green beneath his gloved hands and sitting back with his feet spread out. A fully relaxed state of sitting, this was a good sign that he was starting to really find some ease in his company.

[Deleted]

The Dragon's eye flickered open as Sparkster approached, only to close once more as he simply sat near Keil. Maybe it really was very tired? Whatever the case, Keil patted it's shoulder reassuringly.

"We're friends with him now, got that, Solo Wing? Gotta get nicer to our helper, got it?" The Dragon didn't react, as if pretending it were asleep. Serious thing. Well, if it wanted to be serious, nothing he could do about it. "Sharing tales, hmm? That sounds nice." What kind of world could an opposum person live in? Forestry?

"Word of warning, I don't got many tales, the last few days have probably been the most exciting days in my life, but I'll do what I can!" This was insane, he was sitting next to a Dragon, talking to a person who didn't look like a person, sitting in real plants one didn't have to fly miles to see. It fit a dream, not real life. But that didn't matter to much, waking from a dream wouldn't matter, staying in the dream didn't matter. Now living in this dream? That he could do.

[Arrow Rinehart]

Friends? Well that was excellent to him, it was the first thing that came to his mind, a want on his end since he'd arrived. It was one thing to be displaced by a strange warp of some kind, but friendship was one of those things that he was never one to pass up. He welcomed it and found himself already eager to jump right into the thick of accepting it, in fact he thought of a fun way to share that very notion. "That sounds like it will be just dandy for us in terms of getting along. We can start light and work from there, you two will be my first friends since arriving here, so I welcome the chance to get to know you. As these tales needn't just be about adventure, but whatever you want to share with me. Within comfortable reasoning of course."

"Well worry not friend, we need only trade tales of some kind, if these few days have been exciting, then I am certain that we'll have a merry time sharing just that.  Besides, I don't mind being the one to turn a head with my tales, we can share a few as to not bore you too badly today." he said in a light joking manner, as he intended to then share a few fitting tales, something small but early ones of antics growing up, perhaps that which lead up to the very first time that he'd donned the armor in defense of Zephyrus, and ultimately, Elhorn as well. "Would you like me to start?" he felt it only fair since he was the one who brought it up, after all, it wouldn't do to leave the weight of pressure resting upon either Keil or Solo Wing he felt. 

[Deleted]

"First friend...guess your my first friend too." Keil commented easily, smiling in an almost boyish manner before leaning forward, excruciatingly eager for this interaction. "Any tale is fine? Then I got a little to say."

As Sparkster spoke, he chuckled lightly, "After this all, I'm ready to have my head turned again, if that's even possible. Yeah, you can go first, let's hear it." He spoke as if this wouldn't be possible, but in all honesty, he still had enough imagination to be shocked. He just hoped his own story had that ability.

Above them, almost invisibly, the Dragon's eyes cracked open, obviously wanting more information of this world and these inhabitants.

[Arrow Rinehart]

The little laugh rising from his lips was one of a happy one, at this point he briefly pondered where he'd be going with this. Giving Keil a smile as he nodded gently, coming upon a good thought to start with. "Then I have a perfect place to start with over this, let's start with my origins!" the tale was not too hard to tell and to him, it was easy enough to play off of a rhythm on. In fact, he'd let off a soft sigh, the memory as if it were from yesterday.

"I honestly don't have a glorious start, just another orphan of war in my land. My step-father, Mifune Sanjulo, was one of a few active order of Rocket Knights and he was the best. He took me in, brought me to his home and adopted both me and my step-brother, an older opossum named Axle(Or Axel, intriguingly, spelled both ways in canon) Gear." Starting with the simple idea, he'd let his fingertips rub along his lap at this point while letting his tails sweep around behind him while he looked at Solo Wing a moment and then to Keil before he continued.

"The lifestyle was simple, but kind of tough. I got into training when I told my dad I wanted to be like him. Axle went along with it, though he was always distant. I tried to bond with him, we played games and trained together. I thought...we were a real family, I guess, but I only found out how wrong I was." sighing as he shook his head lightly, his fingertips curling into a fist.

"One day after completing training and returning with food, our father was strewn upon the ground, coated in blood. Axle had attacked him, the day that we'd been deemed Rocket Knight trainees no longer. We'd...about finished, then before I could do anything to get back at Axle, I stopped to aid my father. Cleaned up his wounds and bandaged him up." though he'd shook his head softly a moment.

"Not to linger on it too much, but my father is crippled from his Rocket Knight duties permanently. Sure enough, he can fend for himself now. Take care of himself again, but his wounds were strategic, to prevent him from being able to stop Axle." he explained that part before ending the tale on a light note.

"I found the courage that day to face Axle, and as I ended up slicing through the army that he'd allied with. I was not doing it out of vengeance, but duty, and I defeated Axle and single handed put a stop to the army of the Empire of Devintindos. I don't know how...but I found the strength to defeat even if cybernetic Emperor and the true Pig Star's core." Sparkster looked a little forlorn for a moment, though he laughed gently to himself.

"I imagine it might sound like a fairy tale or something too all things considered. But that was just my beginning and essentially my first real duty and adventure at once. Though they both defined me deeply in that same light."  

[Deleted]

If there was anything that Keil was expecting from this Rocket Knight, it was certainly not a rather sobering tale of a crippled father and needing to fight your own brother. A dark shadow started to come over Keil's face, only brightening slightly as the end of his tale. "Oh...that was...that was...sorry, didn't expect that, in I'll be honest." With an effort, he seemed to shake off the shadow, "I-I...well, I'm glad it helped you become...you. It's a pretty great you." Sympathy bubbled in his voice, but he kept it vieled, hoping to keep himself from feeling pity, rather than simple sympathy.

"But I guess I'm glad, now I won't be a downer with my tale." He had no talent in speaking...with talant in a story, so he just started the only way he knew how. "My start wasn't "glorious", I don't think anyone's lives glorious where I was. If you had strength to spare, you gathered food. We sold it, ships came by, but they never stayed. That's what everyone did, whatever you could, I just hunted, I had good eyes. I thought that was all I was going to do...it wasn't terrible."

He paused momentarily, unsure about how to even talk about the moment that changed his life. "My adventure, it came out of nowhere. The idiot me chased a Burrower too far, and...heh...there it was. In those caves, I saw this guy fighting a black Dragon, and he was on the Solo Wing here, must have been partners." Reminisce started to sparkle in his eyes, and then abruptly stopped. The Dragon's eyes closed tightly. "He died." His voice dropped in pitch, entering an almost monotone, "He got distracted by me, and the black Dragon killed him, and guess what? Someone had to stop that black Dragon from getting to the Tower, we had enough troubles with mutants already...but the only one there was me. He asked me to before he died, and I think I had to. If I was the only one there, I had to do it."

Brightness started to rise in his throat, remembering the sights he'd seen as the boyishness led his next words, "And we flew after the Dragon...for days! There was forests, water...so much water!...and we caught him and beat him in the Tower!" He scratched his head, smiling sheepishly, "Uh...I'm acting like a boy, aren't I? Um...and then...I think I passed out, cause next thing I knew, we were here." The smile didn't fade, but now it was tinged with a hint of adventurousness, "So, I don't think I completed my adventure...well, I'm resting now, so maybe I did!" His following laugh was a little happy, and a little lonely, but his smile hadn't faded. He was going to be alright.

"Told you I was a little boring, you had any other adventures before getting here?"