CHAPTER 16: Togon Ends Up in a Strange World

Togon woke up, rubbing his eyes. He was lying on the grass, and he could hear strange noises all around him. As he took in his surroundings, he realized that he was in an unfamiliar place, completely out of his world.

"Wha-what?? Where am I?!!" Togon wailed, getting onto his feet.

In front of his eyes was a strange scene. The ground was hard and black, and on the black ground, there were many big metallic machines zooming past. Only a strange black metal mesh fence separated him from the fast, terrifying metal monsters. Togon gasped in fear, stumbling backwards. Behind him, was a forest, densely populated with trees and shrubs. Togon immediately knew which direction he should head towards. He had to get as far as he could from the big, scary objects.

He took off immediately, fleeing towards the forest. Bursting through the trees, he ran on and on, without stopping. How did he get here? The last thing he remembered was getting bitten by the squirrel in the Secret Garden. Was he dreaming?

In no less than a minute, he suddenly burst out from the forest and into a clearing. Togon no longer had the cover of the looming trees in the forest. This is quite a small forest.

Togon panted heavily, catching his breath. Before him was a field, sparsely dotted with trees. Looking further, he saw a big, sprawling area of structures, that looked like they could house people. Beside that, was a fenced up enclosure, containing an animal. Togon squinted. He could make out that it was a horse, grazing calmly in the fenced up area.

A horse? It would be great if it was not a wild one. He could travel faster on a horse than on foot. He had to find his way back to the palace!

Togon immediately headed towards the horse enclosure, trudging through the field.

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The horse was feeling restless today, and had wandered out from the stables and into his little fenced up field. As he was sniffing about, he noticed a boy approaching him. Hmm... this was strange, people did not usually approach from that direction. And he also did not recognize the boy's scent.

The boy climbed over the fence and walked towards him slowly.

"Hello, horsey! Do you let people ride you?" The boy asked, stretching out his hand towards him.

The horse sniffed his hand and whinnied, "how do you do! This is my territory and you just trespassed! But it doesn't matter. I'm feeling bored. Play with me!"

The boy began stroking his back. Suddenly, he felt a weight on his back and realized that the boy had jumped on. This was strange, humans do not usually ride without a saddle.

"Giddy up, horsey!"

Nooooo! This wasn't his favorite human, Gabe the girl. This was a random stranger! Gabe the girl would be so upset if she found out that he allowed a stranger to ride on him!

The boy controlled him skillfully, maneuvering him towards the fence.

"Jump!" The boy commanded.

Where was the boy bringing him? He was not allowed to go out from his allocated territory!

But the boy was quite skilled with horse riding, and also made him feel very safe and comfortable.

Well, he'd just have some fun first and then throw him off his back later!

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Togon managed to get the horse to jump over the fence and out into the open field. He began riding towards a random direction, hoping to find someone he could ask for directions.