Powerful Guardians + Sage Mode

[QUEST: Powerful Alliance: SUMMONS]
 
Reo stopped kneeling and stood up. The ground was cold this far above sea level, which was something the young monk had not expected in the land of rocks. Still, the journey to the top of this mountain had served him well. It had taught him much about being a Shinobi. As expected, it had not contained any information on Apollo. He wished it had, but it had been a long shot. There were really no connections between the two other than this Shrine being a place of importance. Unexpectedly, there were no clues here as to who had helped lead him to the Trident. The weapon had been lost for years, but it could be found simply by following some words scrawled beneath the name of the previous owner?
[post 1: 130 Words]

It didn’t add up and Reo was no longer the naïve child who thought that he could trust in everything. No, there was something to this mystery – he just had no idea what it was.
 
“You look lost in thought, Young One.” A voice spoke behind Reo. He jumped, fists moving to protect his face as he wheeled around. Who was it?!
 
There was no one there. Reo scanned the horizon but could only see the land stretched out beneath him. The setting sun cast an orange light on everything. The ground lay thousands of feet beneath Reo. It was a breathtaking sight.
 
[Post 2: 114 Words]

[Endurance X 8; Weights; abilities + 6]
[59 Endurance]

The member 'Archaea' has done the following action : Destiny Roll

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'Dice 10' : 5, 1, 8, 4, 7, 10, 6, 5

Reo felt his breath catch in his throat a moment as he looked over the edge. The lands below him were beautiful…so…beautiful..
 
“Careful, Young One. It wouldn’t be good of you to step on me. I would be unharmed, but you would surely fall to your death” The voice spoke again. It was a relaxed voice, but it sounded as if it was the voice of an older shinobi who had long since retired. Reo stopped himself. He had begun to walk closer to the edge without realizing it. He probably would have fallen off the mountain if the disembodied voice hadn’t spoken to him.
[Post 3: 105 Words]

Reo suddenly had an amazing realization. The voice had said that he would step on him…wait, how small was the person talking to him?! Was Reo about to meet a mythical Dwarf?! He could have sworn that those were only tails told to Sunagakure children who weren’t listening to his parents. Reo nearly jumped up again in excitement. Sure, they were supposed to devour your soul, but surely he could learn many things to help him in his adventure from a dwarf.

Reo glanced down. What he saw there wasn’t a dwarf. At least, he didn’t think so. He frowned as he studied the small creature.

[Post 4: 106 Words]

The creature on the ground before him was standing up on two legs. Its underbelly had some sort of soft white fur, but its back, arms, and legs were completely covered in armored scales. The scales looked similar to a kind of bony protrusion called a horn that Reo had read about once during his Academy days. They had made him study all sorts of animals. The creature had a bushy white mustache that seemed much too large for its face, a cigar pipe in its mouth, and black sunglasses on its face. Reo hadn’t even known they made sunglasses that small.

[Post 5: 102 Words]

Reo had absolutely no idea what it was, but he was sure that it normally wouldn’t be smoking a cigar and wearing sunglasses. That wasn’t even taking its ability to speak into consideration. Nonetheless, Reo bowed. It wouldn’t do to be rude to a creature even if he didn’t know what it was. Perhaps this was what a dwarf looked like and Reo liked his soul where it was.

“Master…” Reo trailed off, unsure what to call the creature. “I apologize but I do not know who or even what you are.”

“Oh? You don’t know what an Armadillo is, huh?” The creature said with a quiver in his voice. Reo could almost hear the laughter.

[Post 6: 116 Words]

“Unfortunately, no. ” Reo said, still bowed towards the creature. Due to its stature, this position was actually better for Reo to see it from.

“Oh, stand up now.” The creature said as it began to toddle into the shrine and past Reo. Reo came out of his bow and turned to face the strange creature known as an Armadillo. Seeing its back for the first time, Reo was able to determine that the creature possessed an armored tail as well. “An armadillo is an armored placental mammal. Our armor is quite hard and is made of a similar material as many tusks and horns.”

[Post 7: 105 Words]

“O-okay.” Reo said as he stood there – unsure of what to do. Travelling off the mountain would be difficult. Should he just start the climb? It was beginning to get dark and he didn’t want to climb off the mountain in the middle of the night. That would be horrendous and probably lead to his death.

“Come in here. I want to hear your story – if you have one to tell.” The Armadillo said as it sat on the floor inside the shrine. There was a small statuette in there next to where it had sat. Reo had paid it no attention before, but he could swear now that it looked just like the armadillo that was talking to him.

[Post 8: 120 Words]

Reo frowned slightly and hesitated before moving forward. He went back into the shrine where the Armadillo was sitting. It looked across from it and then back at Reo as if to say what are you waiting for. Sit down there and talk to an old man. Reo complied with haste. He sat cross legged across from the Armadillo – and then he noticed something about himself. Reo hadn’t looked at his own body in ages and..he was beginning to look strong. His previously skinny arms were thicker than before. Now, they rippled with muscles. It wasn’t just the climb up the mountain – to be sure.

It was just a reminder that he was getting stronger.
[Post 9: 115 Words]