A Development

I closely observed Boo ever since Mitra and Myth died. In a lot of the stories that were read to Sky, Belle, Alexia, and me as kids, they talked about how even some of the bravest Heroes needed their friends to ground them, in case bad things happened to them. It seemed silly at the time, because none of our heroes, like Ali or Lucas, could ever fall into the hands of the dark forces that plague each world.

Boo lost everything. Her Mom was killed, her friends were murdered in cold blood, and to make matters worst, Sky kept the person who did it alive. That couldn't have stung any more than Boo could handle, but I kept a close eye on her. I knew that without somebody watching over her, she could easily fall into the hands of villainy as well.

"Why are you looking at me?" Boo asked, sitting in the back of the carriage that Chi-Chi and Asoh drove for us.

"Just thinking about everything is all. You've come a long way, haven't you?" I asked Boo, crossing my legs in the carriage.

"I hardly think that matters. Do you still have your radio?" Boo asked me. I just remembered that I did carry one into the main area... but when I reached for it on my hip, it was missing. Typical.

"They took it. I expected them to, but it still sucks to see," I commented.

Chi-Chi turned around from the front of the carriage and put her arms on the ledge, looking at Boo and me. Boo hated her gaze, but I welcomed it. It sounded like she had an idea.

"My Dad used to mess with radios all the time. He said that he used to communicate with somebody on The Sanctuary before it fell," Chi-Chi told us.

"What's The Sanctuary? We're not from here... we come from The First Trial," I returned to Chi-Chi. she seemed surprised and confused.

"The First Trial? Which Isle is that? There were only three, right?" She asked us again. She must've misunderstood us.

"We don't come from an Isle. It's another world we come from... Sky was the one who came from The Isle... I think he called it... anyway, we never came from any Isle, but we do know our leader did. What were the other two like?" I asked Chi-Chi.

"Well... one of them was a pretty big desert. I heard some conflict happened up there... and then the other one, The Sanctuary, was the one Dad was contacting. He said they seemed nice, and wanted to go meet them to save them from the anarchy that was happening, but he lost contact with them one day, and they never returned. But anyway, the reason I told that story is that I saw his makeshift radio, and I think I could make one if I had the right parts," Chi-Chi finally explained to us.

"You should've said that sooner. What would you need?" Boo asked her, finally engaging in a conversation.

"A ton of stuff, some wiring, a battery, copper wires, and a signal to hop onto. If you don't know the signal, it's a lost cause unless we spent a week trying to find it. Do you remember the signal you were on?" She asked us.

Chi-Chi moved from the front of the carriage to the back with Boo and me and started to sit close to us as if she knew us her entire life.

"You're too close, mind my space," Boo said, moving over and looking the opposite way with irritation.

"I noticed Shike and you are two completely different people. What brings you two together?" She asked next, clasping her hands together in her lap.

"We were friends from our other world. We fought monsters there, in a place called MTG, and Boo and I were rivals at first, but who she really hated was Sky. Sky and Boo fought a lot and ended up tying a bunch... but Boo comes from a childhood of abuse and neglect. The only things that saved her, two of our friends named Mitra and Myth, were killed in combat, so she's gone cold on me. Before, she was a little distant but became very comfortable and loving to us and our group of friends. Now, I can't blame her for acting like this," I explained, watching Boo shield her face from Chi-Chi.

"I'm sorry to hear that Boo. I hope that we can form a friendship that's worth your time and effort... and I'm sorry about Charlie, Alex, and trying to fight you guys. That's truly not what I want. I want a peaceful life, away from the combat and the worst parts of this world that Boo, you, and I all know. After all, dealing with this world and fixing it so our children can prosper is the entire point of life, right?" Chi-Chi asked us.

Asoh stood silent in the front of the carriage, setting down the reigns to the horses, and jumped in the back with us as well.

"I'm surprised you're talking so much, Chi-Chi. Usually, I'm the one talking for her, but she's really opened up," Asoh said to us next.

"I'm sorry to interrupt... but what actually happened to Charlie and Alex? Are they truly dead?" I asked both Chi-Chi and Asoh.

"Dead? No, but they were put here... didn't we already tell you that? They probably escaped already," Chi-Chi told us.

"I fought Charlie, and he was really fierce. He beat my ass up in the Tower's First Trial, so he shouldn't have lost to the people in here," Asoh said.

She stood up from the back of the carriage, moving to the front. As soon as she made it, she spent a good second staring off into the distance and alerted us that she saw something.

"Over there, I smell death. Something happened," Asoh said.

Boo and I leaned up to the front of the carriage, looking upon a village set up in flames on the line that separated the forest from the mountainside behind it.