General Art Wig-Or-Log

[Random Person]

Chapter 34 : Reliable Baas
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[FONT=&quot] Baas stared up into the golden-red sky. It was close to sunset and the group was still in the grassy fields with no sign of the grey territory. That didn’t concern Baas though. Even with the backpack he had on, he felt pretty good and not really tired. What did concern him was the sky. What was it exactly? It was so high up there that there was really no way to tell. Was there really something there or could one pass through it? And why did it change colors? Did it have something to do with the sun, or perhaps the moon was the actual culprit? Perhaps even the clouds had something to do with…[/FONT]

"Hey... Baas." Hearing Sheina’s voice snapped Baas out of his thoughts. "Do you... think we’ll be... stopping soon."

Analysis. As a Leader, It’s what the Center had trained Baas to do best. Sheina was not in a good state. She was sweating hard, breathing heavily and the skin color on her face was not natural.
"Sheina, are you okay?" Baas asked concerned.

"Huh? Yeah." Sheina said, pretending she didn’t know what he was talking about. "I... I was just... just wondering if... if it were time... for a break soon. Not... not that I need one."

"Uh, Sheina, you don’t look so good. If you need a break... "

"No I don’t need one Baas. I’m... not going to hold up the group. If... if they don’t need to rest... then... then I don’t need to. This is the hardest… hardest part of war right?"

Baas raised an eyebrow to show he didn’t believe her.

"Right." He said sarcastically. "Come on. Let’s go ask Atsuma if we can stop for a while." Baas hurried to catch up to the rest of the group.

"Baas, no, wait." Sheina tried to follow him, but her body suddenly wouldn’t go any more. Her vision started to blur.
"Baas..." She cried out weakly. It was the last thing she said before losing consciousness.

******************​

Atsuma wiped the sweat from his brow. He wanted to stop and rest. The group had been walking for some time now since their last break. Plus, the sun was going down. Traveling during the night might have been cooler, but it was also more dangerous. In reality, he had every reason to stop. However, he knew that if the group stopped they would not make it to the grey territory before tomorrow. Atsuma glanced at the sky again. It hadn’t rained for days and the sky was showing signs. It was definitely going to rain the next day and he wanted to get to grey territory before then. So until then, he would just have to suck it up.

"Atsuma," Pandora said sweating hard, "don’t you think it’s time for a break?"

Atsuma understood. The group had been traveling for days with only small breaks during the day and a sleeping break during the night. Spirits were bound to be down. Still, rain was coming.

"I want to Panda," he responded, "but I think we should keep going. At this rate, we’ll reach the first Grey territory by the midnight. Plus, it hasn’t rained in a while. There’s a good chance that it will tomorrow. Do you want to get caught in that?"

"Yeah Panda." Koroko said as though he were not phased. "Stop making such a big fuss. You don’t see me complaining."

"Koroko, stop playing like your invincible." Pandora snapped back. "You’re just as tired as I am. Look at you. You’re sweating through your chainmail. I bet your muscles are so tired, you couldn’t swing your sword properly."

Koroko smiled at Pandora in a mischievous way.

"Maybe, but at least I’m not complaining."

"Don’t make me slap you."

"So long as you don’t complain about it after words."

Both Atsuma and Koroko laughed at that. Pandora was about to respond, but her statement was interrupted from a voice from behind.

"Atsuma!" Baas called out coming toward the group. "Atsuma, do you think we could take a break!"
The group stopped and turned around.

"Kid,” Atsuma called back with a smirk. “Don’t tell me that after that long training session with Koroko, you’re tired after a little walking."

Baas got closer to Atsuma. Atsuma was shocked to see that despite the traveling they had done, Baas was sweating the least of the group.

"Me?" Baas asked. "No. I could keep this up all night long. I was actually concerned about…” He turned around as though he were referring to someone. However, no one was behind him.
“Sheina? Where’d she go?"

"Wasn’t she with you?" Atsuma asked.

"Yeah, she was right next to me. She was telling me that she wasn’t tired and could keep going, but based on the color of her skin, her heavy breathing and the amount of sweat coming from her body, I could tell she was in an unhealthy state."

"You mean like... she was about to collapse?"

"Yeah like..." Baas thought about the situation for a second. "Oh."

"Baas you moron."
Atsuma began to hurry in the direction that they had been walking from. Baas was right behind him. It wasn’t long before they found Sheina’s collapsed body. Baas had been right. Her skin was a bit redder than usual and she was sweating and breathing more heavily than the rest of the group. Atsuma put his hand on Sheina’s forhead.
Upon seeing Baas and Atsuma hurry away, Pandora and Koroko followed but at a slightly slower pace. They were shocked to see their teammate collapsed on the floor.

"What happened?" Pandora asked.
"Heat exhaustion." Atsuma concluded. "Sheina’s body isn’t used to working in this heat likes ours are. She’s been inside all her life."

"Atsuma," Pandora said hurriedly, "we need to..."

"I know, I know." Atsuma said. He stood up and began to take command. "We’ll camp here on this hill for tonight. There isn’t any wood around for us to make a fire, so we’ll have to stay close. Baas I need you to..."

Atsuma turned to where he last saw Baas, but Baas was no longer there. He was closer to Sheina now holding a container he had got from the backpack that was now on the ground. Atsuma watched as Baas poured all the water inside the container onto the ground.

"Baas, what are you doing to our water supply!?"

"Hang on Sheina." Baas said not hearing Atsuma. His mind was focused on one thing. He then pulled up a wet clothe. Though it had looked like he had poured the water on the ground, he had actually poured it on a clothe he had also got from the bag. He then took the clothe and placed it on Sheina’s forehead. Baas then blew softly across the towel. Feeling the coolness of the clothe caused Sheina to open her eyes. They opened slowly but soon enough she was conscious.

"Baas?" She said, sounding as though she had just woken up. "Baas... I told you… I’m not... tired."

After that, she fell back asleep.

"Sure you’re not." Baas said with a comforting smile.

"Baas." Atsuma said startling him. He had forgotten he was there. "What did you do?"

Baas shrugged as though it were no big deal.

"Her body was hot so I figured I needed to cool it down. But since she was already sweating, I figured she needed a bigger jolt of cold atmosphere. With the wind blowing across it, a wet clothe was the best solution."

"And you thought of all just now? No one told you about it before?"

Baas shrugged again. "Yeah. Seemed like common sense to me."

"It is common sense, to someone who’s seen heat exhaustion before. However, you’re straight out of the Center where there’s barely any sun. That’s not something you would have encountered."

Once again Baas shrugged. He was too concerned with Sheina’s wellbeing to really think about why he knew what he knew.

Atsuma smirk returned to his face. "I think Baas has got this guys." He said. "Let’s set up a perimeter for camp. We’re out in the open in enemy territory so we’ll have to be careful."

After reaching inside the bag for some materials, Atsuma, Koroko and Pandora began to set up camp around Sheina. Before continuing, Atsuma took one last glance at the two.

"Kid’s pretty reliable." He then continued his business.

Meanwhile, Baas continued to care for his friend.

"Baas." Sheina said. Baas knew she was only mumbling in her sleep. "Once this is over..."

"Yeah yeah yeah." Baas responded even though he knew she couldn’t really hear him. "‘Everything will be easy.’ That’s what Vatti always told me and it’s what I always told you. Guess we forgot to mention that you actually have to get past the hardest part of war in order for everything else to be easy."

"Baas." Sheina spoke again. Baas looked at her. Her eyes were open this time. She was conscious but still drowsy.
"Did it hurt Baas?" she asked him.

Baas was confused. Sheina was the one on the floor exhausted. "Did what hurt?"

"You... you went five minutes without telling a joke. Did... did it hurt?"

Baas thought about what was said. Then, he smiled. He of all people knew a joke was a great way to clear the atmosphere.

"See?" Sheina said still weak. "It wasn’t so hard." Then, just before she fell back asleep she said one more thing.

"Why can’t you always be like this? You’d make a pretty reliable person."

Baas wanted to respond with a joke, but it was too late. Sheina was back asleep. It didn’t matter to Baas though. A joke made Baas feel that Sheina would be okay and that was all that mattered. Of all the things he said were the hardest parts of war, there was one thing he had never gotten past and that he had never hoped to have to go through again.

Chapter 34 End​

 

[athenian200]

I'm glad I checked my bookmark here again. I almost missed your two most recent updates.

On the previous chapter:

I'm glad to finally see a chapter that talks about the perspective of a country other than Orange, and which also introduces the stereotypes that the nations have about one another.

I also enjoyed the quirky, off-beat humor of a character who is constantly disbelieved but is actually correct, people who are more worried about their uniforms getting dirty than anything else, and the idea of them inflating Atsuma's ego further by calling him the Great One. LOL.

About the current chapter:

It seems that Baas is showing advanced intelligence for his experience level once again. I'm still wondering if there's some kind of secret about Baas and Atsuma's origins that would explain these episodes.

Surprisingly, I have a little to say about Sheina. It seems that her condition was simply used as a catalyst to make the group stop where they were, and reiterate the fact that Baas is good at quick thinking (he thought of a way to cool her down), but poor on foresight and details (he left Sheina behind to collapse while running to tell Atsuma about her condition). I enjoyed the way it was done, though. It seemed natural on the surface, I think.

Reading TVTropes has made it impossible for me to read or watch anything without trying to "seeing through" the way things are set up, and guessing what it's leading up to.

 

[Master Kokiri 9]

Well, that was another nice chapter. Not much plot progression like the last one, but it was still entertaining. I have a feeling you're going to dump a huge amount of plot progression on us in the next chapter or two.

"You... you went five minutes without telling a joke. Did... did it hurt?"

Ah, Sheina, you're so funny sometimes. Well, good job and I can't wait to see your next chapter.

 

[Diablo]

Good chapter RP. By the way you explained the symptoms of heat exhaustion perfectly. Keep up the good work.

 

[Random Person]

Chapter 35 : Questions
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Sheina woke up to see a starry sky. Waking up? When had she gone to sleep? With her peripheral vision, she could make out the light from the full moon. She felt around. She was lying on grass. Warm grass. She had been laying there for a while. She tried to move in order to see exactly where "there" was. Her body ached as she tried. Why did it ache? She was having a hard time remembering exactly what had happened. Baas! Baas would know. She could ask Baas what had happened. But, where was he?

"Baas?" she mumbled hoping he would hear.
"Yeah?" Baas answered. Startled, she turned to her right quickly to see him sitting there. How long had he been there? As Sheina tried to get up, Baas placed his hand on her right shoulder. "You can move." He said. "But don’t push yourself too hard. It was only heat exhaustion, but push any injury too far once it’s healed and it will have negative side effects on the body."

Sheina continued to sit up but, with Baas’ advice in mind, she moved slowly. Finally, she was sitting up straight. Doing so made her realize that they were actually on a hill. And realizing that made her remember that it was the same hill she was on before she… collapsed. Then, she remembered everything. Then she began to feel embarrassed.

"I guess we wound up stopping anyway." She said shyly.

"Yep." Baas responded without looking at her.

Sheina looked around. She noticed that they were alone.
"Where are the others?" Baas pointed behind himself. His gazed still stayed facing forward.

"They’re on top of the hill. That’s where they made camp. They said they wanted to make it around you, but I convinced them that we could see all enemies from up there."

"Are they still awake?"

"I believe so."

Sheina looked at Baas confused. Ever since she had woken up, he had been in the same position, sitting up right with his arms rapped around his knees. His mouth was buried in his arms and his gaze was staring straight. Not once had he looked at Sheina or anywhere else.

"Baas," she asked. "Is something wrong?"

"Hmm?" Baas asked. He turned to look at Sheina. It seemed he had been in deep thought.

"Are you thinking about something?" Sheina asked.

"Yeah." Baas said. He turned back to face forward. "The stars. I wonder. What are they?"

"The stars?"Sheina asked.

"Yeah." Baas said. "Have you ever thought about them? They’re so high up. I wonder if any one has ever really studied them. They emit light, so I’m guessing they’re some sort of power supply. You know, like fire."

This wasn’t like Baas. He was a prankster, not a thinker. Sheina, however, decided to go with it. Maybe she could snap him out of this thing he was going through.
"Do you think, if someone got high enough, they’d reach up and burn themselves when they grab one?" She asked, hoping to spark a joke.

"No." Baas said still staring forward. "If I were to keep walking away from here, I would get smaller and smaller. The sky is extremely far away. If we see small stars, they must be much bigger up close. I don’t think anyone could grab one if they tried due to their enormous size."

Sheina was now intrigued. She had never thought about anything that way.
"Then," She concluded, "the sun and moon must be really big sources of fuels. They emit light too, but they’re bigger than the stars."

"I agree about the sun," Baas said pondering, "but I don’t think the moon is a source of fuel." Baas then turned his head toward the moon. "Do you see how you can see the moon’s full shape? It’s more like it’s reflecting some other sort of light. Yet a star, and the sun too, spreads out its light. There’s really no real shape to them. Just like fire."

Sheina understood. "The real question is though," Baas continued, "'how does everything stay up there?' When we go up, we come back down. Yet the stars, sun and moon never come down. In fact, why do we come down in the first place? Why don’t we keep going up?"

Baas was digging deeper into his thoughts.

"Baas, what is wrong with you?" Sheina asked getting concerned. She stood up quickly.

"What are you talking about?" Baas asked turning to Sheina. "And I told you, don’t push..."

"I’m fine Baas, but you’re clearly not. You’re not acting like, your usual… goofy... crazy self. You haven’t said a single joke since I’ve woken up. Did something happen when I was asleep? Why are you suddenly thinking about stars?"

Baas stared at Sheina. He then stared up in the sky. Then, his gaze went back forward.
"Have..." he started. "Have you ever thought about death Sheina?"

"Death?" Sheina asked confused. "Why would I think about that?"

"We can lose so many things," Baas continued, "but anything you lose, you can usually get back. Weapons. Clothing. Hey, when I was in the Center I lost you, yet I got you back. But… if a person loses their life, they can’t get it back. Seeing you, collapsed on the ground, even though I knew you’d be okay, made me wonder, ...what happens when someone loses a life?... And I thought, maybe they become a star. Then I began to notice that that was impossible because stars had certain characteristics. And... I guess that’s how I got to thinking of stars."

Sheina did not understand. Who was this person holding his knees? It certainly wasn’t the Baas she knew. All because he was scared she might die.

"Baas. I’m sorry I got you thinking about death, but I’m fine. Next time, I’ll make sure to take proper breaks."

Sheina smiled hoping Baas would too. Instead, Baas sank lower into his slump position.

"Baas, did you hear me? I said..."

"You weren’t what made me think of death." Now Sheina was just confused. "But, you said..."

"Death has been on the back of my mind ever since we first saw Diablo in the woods. Just seeing you collapsed made it hit closer to home. I'm rather ashamed of myself actually. I'm live my life in war. Death is all around yet I choose now to start thinking about it."

Before continuing, Baas let out a sigh. He did not want to say what was on his mind, but he felt this conversation would eventually lead to it eventually anyway.
"You... you remember how I was saved by Miss Vanes... I mean, by one of Diablo’s friends?"

"Yeah." Sheina replied. "Atsuma talked about it. He said it was great how you made yourself a distraction but it was extremely risky. I agree by the way. Next time just finish the guy yourself."

"That’s just it Sheina. I... I can’t." Baas hesitated again before continuing. "That arrow didn’t kill the guy first because I wouldn’t kill him. It was because I couldn’t kill him. When I tried to, my body froze. I just kept thinking about what Diablo told me."
Baas then let his voice get low like Diablo’s.

"‘If you think so badly of death, why have you spent your life learning how to give it to others?’"

Sheina giggled. "You actually sound like him."
Baas still did not laugh nor did he lift his head from his knees.
"The thing is, I’m not sure if he was serious or if he was just looking for a good comeback to what I had said, but even if he wasn’t serious, he has a point. Life is a precious thing. Who are we to take it away from someone? Those guys on that boat, they talked to each other just like Atsuma and I did. What made them so bad that we had to kill them? What makes anyone so bad? Just because they’re part of another country? If someone took something away from me that I could replace, I would be extremely upset. Imagine taking something that couldn’t be replaced. And yet, that’s what we do. That’s what everyone in Wig has been trained to do. Ever since I was little, I dreamed of my first kill. Now, I’m thinking I was a sick little child."

"That’s a deep thought."

"I’ve been thinking about a lot of things lately. This one just happens to change how I view life."

Nothing, absolutely nothing Sheina said was getting to Baas. He seemed really in a slump. What could she do? What could she say? At that moment, she was willing to do anything to see his annoying smile. But getting depressed about it with Baas certainly wouldn’t help the situation. Baas had had a dream, and now that dream was lost. After thinking about it for a little while, Sheina let a soft smile appear on her face. She would just have to replace it with another dream. Something else Baas wanted. She just had to get him to realize what that was.

"So tell me Baas," she asked him, "if you could stop fighting in the war, what would you do?"

"I’d become a grey band, of course. Or even worse, a black band."
He was still thinking logically and negatively. Sheina had to get his brain in a positive, creative mood.

"No, that’s not what I meant. I mean, if you could do anything you wanted and have no consequences in life, what would you choose to do?"

Baas looked up from his knees at Sheina. It was a question worth thinking about. He had never thought he could do anything but fight. If he could choose to do anything…

"I would go off with you."

Sheina lost her smile. Her heart almost stopped when she heard that. What did he mean by it?

"Don’t get me wrong, Atsuma and the others are great and I would never let them down. But I can live without them as long as I knew they were okay. If I were to leave and have my own life, there’s no way I’d be able to leave you."

What was Baas saying? Was that what he really wanted? Could it be that he actually...

"And then..." Baas continued. At this moment, he finally lifted his head. A big smile came across his face. He turned and looked at Sheina. "And then, you and I would go off and find Vatti."

Upon hearing that, Sheina began to feel a little let down. Of course.

Baas sat back to lean on his arms. His imagination began to soar into the future.
"I know she’s out there somewhere Sheina. Still alive. It would take a lot more than a simple war like this to kill her. If you, me, and her could meet up again and be on the same team... Man that would be some fun. And then, we’d be team Baas, with yours truly as leading the group."

Sheina raised an eyebrow.
"How would the Leader with the least experience wind up being in charge?"

"Because I’m so ridiculously awesome, that’s why."
Baas’ smile was now huge. He was back to his old self. Sheina was happy. He had found what he really wanted to do. Despite the fact that it was an impossible dream, it was still a dream and something to take his mind off of the seriousness it had been through. Still, for a minute, she had wished his dream would have been to...

"Hey." Baas said interrupting her thoughts. "If you’re feeling okay, we can go up with the others now. It’s best that we stick together since we’re in Gold territory."

Sheina nodded. The two stood up and began to head up the hill.

The three at the top sat in a circle some ways from each other. As Baas and Sheina came up, they turned their attention away from each other and toward them. As they approached where the rest of the group was, Baas immediately noticed that they were all awake.

"Why are you guys still up?" he asked his crossing his arms. "I told you I could handle guard duty by myself."

"Relax kid." Atsuma said with a smirk. "Us staying up has nothing to do with you."

"We’re all just anxious for tomorrow that’s all." Pandora agreed.

"Yeah right." Baas said not believing them. He and Sheina sat down next to each other in between Atsuma and Pandora.
"You’ve really got a smart mouth kid. You know that?" Atsuma said not losing his smirk.

Baas smiled. "I get it from my superior."

"There you go, talking about Panda again."

Everyone laughed at the joke.

"You guys do act alike." Pandora noticed. "If I didn’t know any better, Atsuma, I’d think you were Baas’..." Before she could finished, the sentence she was about to say reminded Pandora of something. Something she was extremely concerned about but had forgotten.

"Atsuma!" she replied quickly leaning forward. "You never told us about what happened to Sean."

Upon hearing the name, Atsuma became extremely uncomfortable.

"Oh yeah!" Koroko spoke up as anxious as Pandora. "What did Diablo mean when he was talking about him?"

Atsuma took a deep breath quickly. This was not a story he wanted to talk about. It was suppose to remain a secret forever. How did Diablo find out?

"I don’t want to talk about it guys." He said.

"I don’t care if you want to talk about it." Koroko stood up. "We care about Sean too! We have a right to..."

"WHAT RIGHT DO YOU HAVE?!" Atsuma shouted. He stood up to meet Koroko. "Just because you care about someone, doesn’t give you a right to their life!"

Koroko was shocked that Atsuma got so upset, but he was not threatened.

"Atsuma, you’re hiding something..."

"And I’ll continue to hide it!" Atsuma interrupted. "Everybody doesn’t need to know everything about my life!"

"But this isn’t about you!" Koroko retorted getting as loud as Atsuma. "This is about Sean."

"Who is my responsibility! Not yours."

"Was... your responsibility. Now he’s another fighter whom you’re no longer in charge of. But that won’t stop you from caring about him and it won’t stop us either. Now tell me, what happened to Sean?"

The two friends stared each other in the face. Intensity had reached a new level there. Baas and Sheina were unsure what to do. This was an argument amongst not only two people of more experience, but two friends. Who were they to get in the middle? They didn’t want to see them fight seriously, but they weren’t experienced enough to do anything about it.

"Hey!" Pandora stood up interjecting. "That’s enough. You guys keep yelling like this, and someone will hear us. Plus, this isn’t going to get us anywhere except in a fight."

"Well maybe that’s what we want..." Koroko started but was interrupted when he was suddenly grabbed by the ear by Pandora. "Ow. Ow. Ow"

"What was that Koroko?" Pandora asked.

"I said, ‘maybe that’s what we... OW!"

Pandora pinched harder. "I’m a Far Koroko. My fingers are incredibly strong and sturdy. If you want, I can make your ear change color."

"Bring it on." Koroko smiled, toughing it out. "I’m not afraid of a little... OW!!!"

Pandora’s grip on Koroko’s ear increased. As he watched his two friends go back and forth, Atsuma couldn’t help but smile. And then laugh.

"Oh you think this is funny?" Koroko asked.

"Yeah." Atsuma answered. "When it’s not happening to me. Plus, I know better than to make Panda squeeze harder."

"Oh ha ha ha." Koroko laughed sarcastically. "You’re a Leader. Make her stop."

"I thought you weren't scared of a little pain."

"Oh, I'll show you a little pain."

"That’s more like it." Pandora said still holding Koroko’s ear. "If you two are going to argue, do it like friends. Don’t become enemies. Understand?"

Atsuma lifted one eyebrow.
"Whatever."He said shrugging.

"No I don’t understand." Koroko rebelled. "You’re not a Leader. You can’t tell me what to do. If I want to fight with Ats, then I’ll fight with... ah!"

At that moment, Pandora pulled her arm down, and Koroko with it, to slam his body on to the floor.

"Yeah yeah Koroko." She said brushing her hands off.

Atsuma laughed. Then, with a smirk on his face, he began to give orders.
"Well this was fun guys, but we need to get some sleep. We have to wake up early in case it rains before noon tomorrow. We should be able to reach the grey territory before then."

Koroko picked himself up. "Don’t think you’re off the hook Ats."

"Yeah yeah Koroko." Atsuma said preparing to sleep in the grass.

"Hmf." Was the last thing Koroko said, before leaving to take his turn on guard duty.

The rest of the group all followed Atsuma’s example and began to prepare for sleep. Baas, however, felt there was something he needed to know before he’d be able to rest peacefully. Otherwise, his curiosity might keep him up pondering about it. He intentionally laid near where Atsuma was so he could talk to him without anyone else hearing. Atsuma had his back turned toward Baas, so he didn’t know he was there.

"Atsuma." Baas spoke quietly. Atsuma immediately knew who it was. He spoke without turning to face Baas.

"Kid, if you’re trying to snuggle me I will punch you in the face." He then lifted his hand and pointed. "The girls are over there. I'm sure one of them will help you get to sleep."

Baas chuckled. He could take a joke.
"No, uh, I was actually wondering... who exactly is Sean?" Atsuma was quiet. Baas could not tell what he was thinking as he was stilled turned away. Finally, Atsuma settled himself in and simply replied, "No more questions Baas. Go to sleep."

Baas understood. Whoever Sean was, he brought up a painful memory. He turned his back and closed his eyes preparing to go to sleep. Before he did, however, he heard Atsuma’s final words before he himself went to sleep.

"He was my son."

Chapter 35 End​

 

[Magatha]

Yea! More chapters!
I am glad to see Baas back to normal though...
And Koroko is funny too. "Bring it on." Koroko smiled, toughing it out. "I’m not afraid of a little... OW!!!"

 

[Master Kokiri 9]

Oh snap! My Baas = Atsuma's Son theory is ruined! Why?! lol just kidding! Anyways, nice chapter, made me laugh several times, and it's interesting to see Baas thinking seriously. But if he does that too much, he may end up spraining his brain. Here are my el oh el moments of the chapter.

"Because I’m so ridiculously awesome, that’s why.”

Baas smiled. "I get it from my superior."

"There you go, talking about Panda again."

"Kid, if you’re trying to snuggle me I will punch you in the face."

I also love how Koroko was practically egging Panda on to pinch harder. That was hilarious! Now for the cliffhangah!

Will Baas and co. find clues of Vanessa's whereabouts in the Grey territory? Will they find clues about the mysterious Grey Band that was seen after Vanessa's capture? Is Vanessa even alive? What exactly happened to Sean? Why does Diablo know of such a thing? And most importantly, why was Random Person so mean to break my theory?! Find out next time on Wig. Or. LOG!!

 

[Jedizora]

Darn it, Baas can't be atsuma's son. Unless Baas had his named changed. Or Atsuma's wife(Forget name) Had another and hid him from Atsuma Because she feared Atsuma wouldn't be able to handle losing another son. Although one line comes to mind
:

"Atsuma, Sean’s okay right? I mean, you probably don’t know now, but the last time you checked he was fine right?"

Its very rare that family to meet in a faction. It almost makes it seems that hes in hiding. But it also makes him sound alive, which is contradicted by this:

"He was my son."

Was as in past tence. That would meen that sean had recently died, and since diabalbo brought this up, he murdered sean. Why do you make life so confusing,Random person?


EDIT: and i think Vanessa was in on it also.

"Atsuma... listen...if this is about your wife and son..."

 

[Random Person]

Chapter 36 : Split Up
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[FONT=&quot] Baas looked up at the sky. Clouds filled it. It was as though the sky had changed colors over night. There was no sign of blue anywhere yet grey was everywhere. Though it seemed like it would pour though, the sky was steady. There were no flashes of lighting, no roars of thunder. The grey was a light grey. The rain had not even started yet. But sure enough, it would rain. There was no doubt about that. Baas began to wonder how rain worked. It was known that the water from the sky had originally been on the ground, but how did it get up there? And once it was up there, how did it know when to come…[/FONT]

"Baas." Atsuma said snapping out Baas out of his thoughts. "Stop spacing out."

"But it’s so much fun." Baas joked with a smile.

The group had moved on from their camp on the hill. Now that Sheina was better, they continued with their journey toward the grey territory. And with the clouds blocking the sky, they no longer had to worry about the heat. With that, they were able to make it to the grey territory without any mishaps. The group could now see the buildings that made up the territory at the bottom of the hill they were standing on.

"There it is guys." Atsuma said as though he were marveling it. "This is our first stop."

"And hopefully our last." Koroko added. "I’m ready to get Vee back. Come on! Let's go charging in yelling at the top of our lungs like we're..."

"Hold on Koroko." Atsuma said holding his hand up to steady his friend. "As you know it’s against the rules of Wig for us to attack grey bands. I don’t know about you, but I’d like to search for our Commander without the Discrete having to search for us."

"Well then how are we going to do this?" Koroko asked upset that he couldn’t fight. "Are we going to politely ask everyone if they’ve seen her?"

Atsuma smirked. "Kinda." He then turned away from territory and back to his group.
"The guys who took Vanessa will probably leave if they find out we’re looking for them. Given that, and the fact that we don’t even know if a grey band took her in the first place, we’ll have to play it subtly. We’ll ask has anyone seen another Orange band around while going about doing other things."

"Doing other things?" Baas asked.

"Nobody comes into grey territory for no reason. If we’re here, we’ll have to be doing something or living here, and our bands clearly show that we don’t live here. We’ll split into three groups to make it less conspicuous. Baas and Sheina, go into the market and look for a clothing store. We’ll need hoods if we want to stay dry in this weather. Panda and Koroko, you find a place where we can stay the night. We may be searching here for a while."

"What about you?" Pandora asked.

Atsuma smirked. "I’ve got some business to take care of at the weaponry."

When she heard that, Pandora smiled.

"You’re going to see the old man?" Koroko asked. "I haven’t seen him in a while. Let me go with you."

"No. I’ve made these teams for a reason. It's all about balance."

"Are you sure this is good?" Sheina asked. "You’re sending two non-Leaders by themselves. Not very strategic according to what we were taught in the Center."

"Hey!" Both Pandora and Koroko said at the same time.

"Don’t worry about them Squirt. For one thing, this isn’t a battle. We’re just searching. And if this was a battle, they could handle themselves. Like I said, it's all about balance." Atsuma nodded affirmatively.

Sheina wasn’t sure. Baas didn’t care. He had never been in a grey territory and was excited to see what it would be like.

"Come on, let’s go." He said rushing everyone. "We’re losing day light people. The guys who took Miss Vanessa could be leaving as we speak."
Baas then headed down the hill toward the buildings.

"Baas, be patient!" Sheina called out to him.

"How can I be patient?!" Baas called back. "I’m Baas!"

"Even though that was a play on words, it makes perfect sense." Atsuma said smirking. He then turned to Sheina. "Don’t worry, we’re splitting up so I don’t really need to keep up with him. The only one who really needs to stay with him is you."
Atsuma then got close to Sheina.
"Don’t let him cause any trouble. Remember we want to be inconspicuous."

Sheina gave Atsuma a disapproving look.
"I really am here to babysit Baas aren’t I?"

Atsuma headed down the hill toward the buildings.
"What ever gave you that idea?" He asked with a smirk.

After sighing, Sheina headed down toward the buildings too. She was followed by both Koroko and Pandora.

Baas was amazed as he came into the territory. The buildings were like nothing he had seen. Rather than being caves and small wooden structures, they were larger structures made of stone. The buildings all appeared similar. About 15 feet high, yet they took up plenty of area. That was much better than anything outside of the caves of Orange. Why did Orange use such cheep wooden buildings when buildings like these were so much...

"Baas." Sheina said tugging on his backpack. "Don’t leave like that. Stay where I can see you so you don’t get lost."

Baas rolled his eyes and smiled. "What am I? Four? I told Atsuma I don’t need a babysitter. Hey, let’s go check out some of those buildings."

Baas tried to run off, but before he could Sheina grabbed on his backpack again.

"Apparently you do need one. Some of these places are houses Baas. You can’t just waltz into them. Plus, we have business to take care of, remember?"

Baas pouted to show Sheina he was let down. Sheina did not care. Pulling Baas by the collar, she pressed forward to search for a clothes store.

Atsuma laughed as he saw the two good friends run off. He laugh stopped short though when Koroko and Pandora appeared behind him.

"Come on Ats." Koroko pleaded. "Let me go with you. Don’t send me off alone with this... thing."

Pandora squinted her eyes at Koroko as he pointed to her.

Koroko then whispered in Atsuma’s ears. "I hear, late at night, she talks to her arrows. You can’t leave me with something like that."

Atsuma snickered. Baas may have thought he was the king of jokes, but Koroko would always be number one in Atsuma’s book. He then put his hand on his friend’s shoulder.

"Alright buddy, you can come with me."

"Really?" Koroko asked feeling pleased.

"No." Atsuma joked. Koroko instantly lost his smile. "Let that be a lesson to you, never ask really when something good happens. Now stop whining and go check for a place to sleep. Try the place we came here last time."

"Come on." Pandora said. She grabbed onto Koroko’s collar and pulled him along with her. Koroko kept his arms crossed angrily and glared at Atsuma.

Atsuma laughed as he saw the two good friends run off.
"It’s all about balance." He said.

Chapter 36 End​

 

[Magatha]

Yayz! Moar Chapters!!! Wig-or-Log is awesome!!

 

[Vanessa28]

I agree! I have read this from the beginning and love every single word of it! Well done RP! Who is this mysterious old man Atsuma wants to see? Will all be revealed in a next chapter and will Koroko finally agree with being teamed up with Pandora?
Stay tuned folks for the next chapter!

*now I understand why MK is doing this *

 

[Random Person]

Chapter 37 : Shopping Trip
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Sheina walked into the building filled with happiness. Baas walked into the building filled with boredom. He wanted to explore all of the grey territory, not be stuck shopping for clothes. He decided to look around just out of curiosity. There were many wooded shelves filled with a variety of clothes. On the wall hung different jackets and hoods that went down to form long capes. Hoods!

"There are the hoods." Baas said pointing to the wall. "Let’s grab some and go."

"Hold on." Sheina said pulling on the backpack he was carrying. She then spoke so only he could hear. "Did you forget? We’re also supposed to be gathering information. Look around as though we’re searching for something and try to do what Atsuma asked."

"Hey Sheina." Baas said jokingly. "Deceiving people is wrong. You know that, right?"

Sheina then pushed Baas away from her. "Just go."

Baas groaned to himself. "Being forced to go shopping for clothes by my female friend, I must be the only guy in history to have been subjected to this."

He began to look at the clothes. Hmm. They actually had some interesting designs. Of course, they weren’t anything he would wear. Even though it was plain, a white outfit stuck out fine with him and made him the center of attention. Baas liked being the center of attention.

"Hey there." Came a voice. Baas turned to his left to see a man smiling at him. His eyebrows slashed down making it appear as though it were an evil smile. Using his instincts as a Leader, Baas began to notice detail. If Baas were to guess his age, he’d say just under 22 years old. The guy was about four inches taller than him. He wore a black shirt with cut sleeves. His black jean pants hugged his legs tightly. His slim boots were also black. Baas thought they probably made him taller than he really was. Then Baas noticed the band on the guy’s left bicep. It was grey. A local! Good. Baas could try and ask him about Miss Vanessa.
“Hi.” Baas said smiling. "They say my name is..."

"Don’t care..." the guy said interrupting Baas. His evil smile did not leave. "But you should care that I’m Brute."

Baas was confused. But he just shrugged off his confusion "Okay Brute. You're obviously a local, I was wondering if..."

"Don’t care." The guy said interrupting Baas once more. Baas was beginning to find that annoying. "But you should care what I’m wondering. Or rather, what we’re wondering."

Baas heard footsteps approaching from behind. Thinking about it, he could make out three other people were close to him, but not in his sight.

"Okay, Brute and friends." He said keeping his smile. "What are you wondering?"

"What we’re wondering is..." Brute said putting one arm around Baas. "What’s a loser country like Orange, doing with a good looking thing like that?"

He then pointed to Sheina who was across the store with multiple articles of clothing in her arms. She had not seen them yet.

"Oh, you like Sheina, huh? Well you better get in line cause almost everyone in Orange..." Baas thought about the sentence that was said to him. "Wait. Loser country?"

Brute’s smile got bigger. As did all of his companions’.

"Yeah. Orange is a loser country. Everyone knows that. They have the worst fighters in all of Wig-Or-Log."

Baas did not understand. Why did this Brute guy think this?

"You have every right to your opinion." Baas said. "But have you ever seen an Orange fighter? I wouldn’t exactly say they’re bad."

"Well I know they’re bad." Brute said getting closer to Baas. "You know how I know? Cause a real fighter would never let me do this..."

And with that, Brute rapidly took his arm that was around Baas’ shoulder and forced Baas’ body to fall forward.

Surprised, Baas hit the stone floor hard. He was able to brace himself so that his head did not take damage, but that didn’t stop him from getting hurt. Shaking off the pain, he immediately stood up.

"What was that for?" He said. His hand began to go for his sword on his back.
"Ah ah ah." Brute said wagging his finger. "Remember the rules of Wig. You can’t attack me."

Baas stopped his hand. Brute was right. Baas was a colored band, and they were not aloud to attack grey bands. Certainly it seemed like an unfair rule of Wig, but grey bands weren’t aloud to fight in the first place. Why was this guy giving Baas such a hard time? Baas looked over at Sheina. She had missed the events completely. Good. Baas didn’t want to get her involved and then have Brute attack her. But what could he do? These guys were attacking him in a narrow space and he didn’t know why.

"Causing trouble again?" came a female voice from behind Brute. Brute turned around to reveal a woman standing behind him with her arms crossed. She wore a jeans, a simple purple shirt with a flower embroider on it and sandals. She was short with brown eyes. Her dark brunette hair came down to her shoulders. Her face showed no emotion. It was as though she were not interested in anything in life whatsoever. She appeared, to Baas, around Brutes age.

"Well hello Eve." Brute said stroking his hair. "You look lovely toda..."

"Not in my store." The female said interrupting Brute.

Baas let out a sigh of relief. He was saved. Surely this female commanded respect. All the guys around him had given her their attention and stopped focusing on him. Surely she would put an end to this ganging up on him.

"If you want to beat up people, do it outside." She said "But not in my store. Understand?"

Baas almost choked. This woman was okay with him getting beat up, so long as he didn’t mess up her clothes.

"Alright." Brute said.

"But Brute." The female said walking further into the store past the big man. "You’re going to die if you keep doing this." She then stopped and looked at Brute. She began giggling too. "It would be funny to see you get caught in the act. The Discretes don’t take kindly to people breaking the rules of Wig." The woman then continued walking further into the store.

Brute sucked in his teeth. "Some girlfriend she is." He complained out loud. He then signaled his friends using only his head to bring Baas outside.

The guys behind Baas, using only their bodies, forced him to move in the way they were going. Baas moved with them without resistance. He was unsure what to do. He was really in a predicament. These guys were going to fight him and he wouldn’t be able to fight back. He could always fight them any way. There was no guarantee that the Discretes would find out. No. No he couldn’t chance that. Even if they didn’t find out now, them finding out later could still put the mission in danger. He could always run. He was sure he was faster than these guys. He could always meet up with Sheina later, he was sure they wouldn’t attack her. And outside, the street was wide enough for him to be able to move evasively...

Baas thought about his options. By now they were outside. After reviewing everything in his head, he let out a smirk. What was he thinking? Running away? That’s no fun. What would be fun though, was figuring out a way to fight these guys, without actually being able to fight these guys.

Chapter 37 End​

 

[Master Kokiri 9]

I agree! I have read this from the beginning and love every single word of it! Well done RP! Who is this mysterious old man Atsuma wants to see? Will all be revealed in a next chapter and will Koroko finally agree with being teamed up with Pandora?
Stay tuned folks for the next chapter!

*now I understand why MK is doing this *

Thanks for doing the cliffhanger for me, Bige. Now that you've tasted the pleasure of fanmade cliffhangers, you won't ever be able to stop.

My lol moments of chapter thirty six.

"How can I be patient?!" Baas called back. "I’m Baas!"

Koroko then whispered in Atsuma’s ears. "I hear, late at night, she talks to her arrows. You can’t leave me with something like that."


And now for the professional fanmade cliffy!

Why were Brute and Company beating up Baas? Will a Discrete be able to find out? Is Baas ACTUALLY planning to fight back?! Can he be saved?! And most importantly, why did he have to shop for clothes with Sheina? Find out next time on Wig. Or. LOG!!

 

[figthersword]

i haven't seen commander cham in the story, where is he?

 

[Jedizora]

i haven't seen commander cham in the story, where is he?

He's probley still back at the base.