Gotta say, all this feedback is really nice. Pat on the back to you guys. Anyway, I hadn't checked this fanfiction in a couple of days since I'm on another website posting a Voltron fanfiction right now. But Cupcake wanted another chapter and let it not be said I disappoint pastries.

The water sloshed under Yugo's feet making him shiver uncomfortably, while Leon seemed to be having a blast, splashing in the deeper puddles and scaring off frogs and other Swamp Dwellers, after being splashed more times than Yugo could handle, Yugo snapped at the younger. Leon huffed and ran off, singing loudly as he brushed past the foliage.

"One hero, through and through! Dodging the arrows, making kamas in the triple zeros! One fail and he's out the window, everyone yells 'What a Bimbo, what a bimbo!'" Leon sung crudely, Yugo rolled his eyes at the old song, it was written by an old hero that had long since passed, legend said he sung it so much out of spite and anger that the gods even know the silly verses.

Yugo groaned and continued to follow Leon's lead, suddenly having to move faster to keep up with the younger boy's constant skipping, "Whoops-AH!" Yugo jumped into action as he saw Leon slip and his head of whimsical blonde hair drop straight down from the foliage and his yelp cut off into a violent screech. Yugo opened a portal and tossed the other, jumping through it to see that Leon skipped right off a cliff and tangled himself in vines that grew unnaturally from the cliff-face.

"You're too ditsy." Yugo laughed as he lowered himself to the ground, looking up at Leon as he hung uncomfortably upside-down.

"Get me down!" Leon yelped as a vine broke as they rapidly died and crumbled away, "The stability of this structure is waning rapidly and I'd appreciate the help!" Yugo blinked in shock as Leon's demeanour changed from childish to intelligent in a millisecond, "GET ME DOWN!" Yugo smiled and laughed, the childishness is back.

Another snap of vines broke Yugo out of his daze and called him to action, tossing up a portal to catch Leon as he fell, once Leon was safely on the ground he ran a hand through his hair and exhaled calmly, "Thank you." Suddenly his face was garnished with a smile, "Hey, a stream and a path! Double whammy!" Leon pointed, Yugo turned and sure enough there was a stream trickling and a weathered path where people seemed to make trips.

"Who are you?" A voice asked, a young female, Yugo guessed as he looked around to find the body the little uncertain voice belonged to.

"Leon; a Cra, at your service. This is Yugo; Eliatrope." Leon stepped towards the stream, easily hopping one stone to another until he had crossed, "Nice to meet you, m' lady." Leon bowed openly, not really sure where she was either.

"My name is Aries." She said, stepping out from a bushel of tall grass by Leon, Yugo jumped the stream much alike Leon, he found that his portals scared more than amazed strangers most of the time. Once Yugo got a better look at the girl he found himself surprised, she carried a large empty clay pot; almost the size of her torso, she wore a single rag; a hole for her head cut in it and a rope tied around her waist to keep it stationary, and she had a big hat; a big, big, bun-like blue hat. Yugo easily recognized her as a Cra from her pointy ears and elegant stature, even if she was slouched over in a submissive way.

"Do you need any help?" Yugo asked Aries before he could stop himself, she looked up in shock before smiling and handing him the pot.

"Do you need any help?" Leon struggled to with-hold his laughter at the hard time Yugo was having. Yugo smirked and nodded, handing the younger body the huge clay pot, expecting him to struggle even more than he had. They were both shocked at how Leon only had to struggle a small bit before he was able to carry it comfortably.

"Well, where are we heading?" Leon asked and the girl giggled, walking away, assuming that the two boys would follow, and justly so; the boys walked carefully behind her along the side of the stream.

"We aren't just going to let the pot stay empty." She sassed, raising a tree branch away from her head as she continued down the stream.

"Let it not be too heavy for the young maiden." Leon sassed right back letting Ecaflip's teachings of 'smooth talking' show, Yugo just relaxed back and enjoying it, "Perhaps half?"

"Are you trying to get out of work? After all; you did commit to carrying it." Aires pointed out smugly. Leon laughed good-naturedly regardless.

Shuffling the clay pot around in his arms he responded, "I do suppose, although, I am a frail young boy and I'd say half a pot." With a huff from Aries; Leon stopped, "Alright, alright. A full pot."

"Good." She hummed, walking until she pushed apart some branches, revealing a crystal blue pond. She took the pot from Leon and filled it slowly.

"So, are you getting water for your family?" Yugo asked, Aries looked up and shook her head.

"It's for the village." She answered, "A monster got into the well and poisoned the water so the mayor sends out people to collect water every couple of hours."

"A monster?" Yugo asked, this doesn't sound right.

"A big monster, eyes as bright as the moon, fur a red as blood, and teeth sharper than the finest swords." She hummed like she was a poet, "It's only been seen by the mayor and the group that went with him. They said its shadow was as tall as six men, and it's growling was like a rabid wolf. It hides away in a cave." Leon looked back at Yugo, his eyes reflecting what Yugo felt; something fishy was going on.

The village was about a fifteen minute walk away but the village itself was stunning, it was very much simplistic and not made for the aesthetics. Buildings were sparse and large, built with pale stones and long pale logs. The paths was smooth and covered in shiny stones.

"I want to check out this monster." Yugo whispered to Leon, Leon nodded and only heard the noise of Yugo's portals appearing and disappearing.

"So this place is nice, were you born here?" Leon asked Aries, before she could notice that they were lacking a party member.

"No, my mom moved here after my dad got sick. This village has a really good healer, it's thanks to her my dad's still alive." Aries smiled while remembering.

"Do you remember your last village?" Leon asked and took the clay pot from her as she struggled to open a door to a big house.

"It was really hot there, we were the only Cra family there. Mom thought it would be best if we left." Aries said, walking in and putting the jug down next to another jug filled with water. The whole storage house was filled with jugs of water!

"That's a lot of water…" Leon said, making Aries laugh.

"Yeah, it is. We need a lot of it, we have a well just for washing hands and feet. This water needs to be cleaned, then it'll be used for drinking and cooking." She explained and Leon nodded, "It was really hectic at first, the villagers just didn't know what to do, we argued for days. Finally our mayor came to town and got elected, he's done a really good job."

"How long did you have a problem with the water before he came?" Leon asked and the girl hummed.

"I don't know, maybe a week or so? Maybe two?" Aries shrugged before turning to look at the young Cra slowly, "You don't suspect him or something, do you?" She hissed and Leon chuckled awkwardly.

"Uh, maybe?" Leon shrugged.

"…"

"…"

"Okay, thank Cra, I thought I was the only one." She suddenly sighed after a long bout of glaring.

"Wait, what?" Leon asked, shaking his head, "What's going on right now?"

"Do you think I'm dumb? A guy with all the answers to our exact problem can't just show up out of thin air! Did you hear me describe the monster, it sounded totally phony; didn't it?!" Aries groaned, "I don't know why the adults are all star-struck by this guy, they want to kick me out of the village for doubting him without evidence! They forced me to carry the water every day!"

"Wait, why can't you go collect evidence yourself?" Leon asked.

"Because the mayor put me on house arrest, I can't leave unless I'm doing this," She motions down to the water filled pots, "Or have someone follow me around!"

"Harsh." Leon huffed.

"Yeah, and not to mention all of the caves around here are suddenly being 'caved in' by natural disaster! Hog-wash!" Aries grumbled and stomped her feet, frustrated.

"Yeah this is definitely set up." Leon said, "I hope Yugo gets back soon, in the meantime, how about we head to your house?"