Unexpected Friend

"Ah lad, great to see you!" Doan yelled from a distance as he was at work. He was currently stacking logs in the empty navy field of grass, in order to create a makeshift shelter. He had placed two stacked logs vertically. Then placed another pair horizontally at the left end of the vertical ones. He placed two more on the opposite end horizontally once more.

"I could use some of your assistance!" He called out to Art, who lay unresponsive, breathing deeply with his eyes closed, as if pretending to sleep.

Doan walked around the stacked logs and approached Art. He stared at the boy who seemed to be resting. He tapped his shoe using his own, hoping to wake him up.

"Lad wake up, I need your candy energy." Doan let the boy know.

Art who had finally recovered from his exhaustion opened his eyes and got up. He nodded and walked towards the stacked logs.

"What do you want me to do?" 

"I want you to place your hand on the top log and using your candy energy create some poles to nail them down to the ground, for support of course." Doan followed behind.

Art nodded and moved his right hand to the pink small box connected to his shirt. He started repeatedly pressing the black button on his magic dispenser. He continued until he had a massive pile of small pink pebbles.

"Do you think this is good enough?" He turned to the former knight.

"Place one here and here." Doan nodded, tapping his hand on the top log on both ends.

Art placed his hand on the right end of the first log. He closed his eyes as his bracelet shined a light hue of pink. He began to imagine something that could penetrate through the log and reach the ground.

[CRUNCH]

Art smiled and removed his hand, feeling his success.

"Impressive, it's only been a few hours and your control of your candy energy has improved. I would have thought you'd succeed but the pole would stick out at least a bit, but not in the slightest. It reached the ground and nailed the log perfectly." Doan said, as he saw the perfect placement.

Art grinned and moved his hand to the left end of the dark purple log. He closed his eyes once more and imagined the same item, hoping to succeed a second time.

[CRUNCH]

The sound of his candy energy materializing and piercing through the bark of the dark purple log echoed slightly, scaring off the white critters that were swimming playfully in the dark pond. He proceeded to nail down the rest of the logs, finishing his work. He wiped off a drop of sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand.

Doan smacked the logs, testing out the strength of the supports. He smiled, satisfied with the final results when they didn't budge.

"Well now that we have created a base for ourselves, why not go explore more of this place?" He suggested, turning to Art.

The thought of exploring more of the Uncharted Lands gave Art the creeps. However he nodded since he'd be alright if he and Doan explored together. 

"Alright I say we go and explore this way." He pointed to the dark forest across from them.

"No! Not that way!" Art disagreed frantically. Now that he wasn't completely blinded by fear or being chased by certain black-scaled creatures, he knew that was the direction he came from. That was the direction of the Black Licorice Basilisk cave.

Doan raised his brow at the boy's reaction.

"Why? What's wrong with going that direction?" 

Art proceeded to tell him about his experience while he was looking for items to harvest. He mentioned the stone with writing along with the forest getting darker after walking through an arch made of logs. 

"When I walked past there, I saw a huge cave and I didn't really think it was scary but I was still being quiet because I didn't wanna get eaten by a monster. Then I heard a big loud noise and then the cave started hissing and four Black Licorice Basilisks started chasing me!" Art exclaimed, recapping his horrifying experience.

"Interesting, I'd have imagined their habitat was far deeper into the Uncharted Lands." Doan admitted. 

He smiled and turned around, pointing the opposite way that he had previously suggested. The forest wasn't as dark, so he thought it'd be a safer alternative.

Art started walking towards the direction Doan pointed. Doan walked after him. Art came to a halt and pressed his candy energy dispenser a few times. He popped a few of the pink candies into his mouth and within a few seconds, materialized another crate using his candy energy. Then he put the remaining few in his shorts' pockets.

 "In case we need this." He told Doan, receiving a nod from the brown haired man. He held his new crate and continued walking.

Doan eventually caught up to the boy and began walking in front, leading the way. As they exited their base, Doan reached his left arm on top of a large branch, then ducked his head and stepped over a large overgrown root that curved upwards to his knees. He moved forward while Art went under the root.

Art bent down to pick a few blue flowers that were along the way. They were small and had two petals that curved upwards. The stems were a dark purple color, similar to the trees around. He threw them into the pink crate. 

The two walked for about 15 minutes, then came across a tree with a lighter hue of purple on the leaves. It had small black fruits hanging all over the branches in clusters of 8. Art reached his arm up in the middle of the trunk, where all the branches connected, and picked off a cluster of the black fruits. Doan was nearby sitting on a nature-caused tree stump, observing as the boy picked off the fruits and threw them and the crate. He noticed a slight movement on the bushes close to Art. However, he ignored it and kept sitting.

As Art continues to fill his small crate with black fruit clusters, he heard rustling from the bushes to his right. He turned at the bushes wide-eyed and alarmed. Suddenly a small furry creature hopped out of the bushes and skipped towards him. It stopped directly in front of him and tilted its head and stared at him briefly. Soon after, it hopped towards Arts pockets and pushed its head forward, attempting to grab something.

The creature was small and furry with short legs and no arms. Its legs were covered in the same black scales as the creatures Art barely escaped from. It had small purple bumps on the top of his head with a space in between them. The bumps were a bit transparent, letting Art see through them. Its fur was thick and its pattern naturally pointed downwards, it had big eyes with blue round pupils. It had small little sharp teeth from its underbite that portruded out of its mouth as it smiled.

Art reached into his pocket and pulled out the only thing he had in there. The small creature jumped immediately and opened its mouth, whipping a smooth brown tongue longer than itself, and quickly snatched the pink pebbles that Art had in his hand. It began munching once they reached his mouth. He looked at Art with a gleeful smile, and wiggled its little bumps.

Everything it did made the boy remember a few creatures from the past. When it wiggled its bumps it was very similar to the action the Candy's made when they were happy. When it stuck its tongue out, it reminded him of the small playful creatures back in the Gummy Forest. He also noticed it resembled them too, along with the legs covered in the same hard, armor-like black scales as Art's previous chasers.

'Girby?'

Art reached for the black button on his candy energy dispenser, and pressed it ten times, building a small pile of pink candy pebbles in his palm. The creature waddled slowly and cautiously towards Art, and stuck out its tongue, much shorter than the first time. It swallowed all the candies, and continued chewing happily. Once it finished, it jumped up high enough to stick out its tongue and lick Art in the face joyfully. Art laughed and fell back, and the creature retracted its tongue, shrinking to a smaller size and jumped on Art, and kept licking his face playfully. Art kept laughing and reached for the small creature on top of him. He stood up and held it in his arms, spreading them all the way.

"Okay okay!" Art's laughter started to slow down. 

The creature also stopped licking. It simply looked at Art, smiling with big eyes that radiated friendliness. 

"Lick me two times if you are a Girby!" Art tried out.

The small furry creature's tongue was sent out and licked Art one time upwards, and one time downwards. Art smiled in excitement and started running in place. He turned around, holding the Girby in his hands. He raised it high, showing it to the man sitting on a tree stump from a small distance.

"Doan! I found a Girby!" He yelled out excitedly. 

"That's great lad!" Doan yelled back. 

"I think it wants to be my friend!" 

Doan didn't yell back a second time, but he did smile to himself.

Art looked at the Girby. He quit raising it above him, and put it down on the ground. He smiled and pressed his candy energy dispenser four times. Then he extended his left arm out, and gave the Girby the pink pebbles. The Girby simply opened its mouth, its tongue not being needed this time.

"I think I'm gonna call you 3!" Art pet the Girby's head, receiving a lean and a small altered squeal from it. Art decided it was a good name since the Girby had three parts of its body that reminded him of a different creature. He was pretty proud of himself, since he thought pretty hard at coming up with the name.

3 smiled, and licked Art in the face. Art laughed and pet 3 some more. He was happy with his new friend. With him, the Uncharted Lands didn't seem like it was the worst place.

"Follow me 3! Me, Doan, and you are going on a great adventure!" He pointed towards Doan, and held his crate in one arm, while he walked towards the former knight, 3 walking right behind him.