What an odd person, that one was. Why was he so eager to leave his comrades behind? The Chieftain assumed it was to alert the others and bring them here but there was a distinct nervousness about him too. Not giving it much of a second thought once Takeshi left he moved into the building and sat his large frame down on a chair, the wood groaning in protest but managing to somehow remain together. "They have been here... Week? And there have been strange things, yes. An entire village vanished, no trace. Not just destroyed, destroyed would make sense. We travel there to investigate and find nothing. Flat land, like it never existed. No survivors, none we've found. Dark Ones seen occasionally but not often, only in certain areas. Don't know why they are here." It appeared as though these people had some inkling as to why that was, or at least had the intention to find out why. While it wasn't fitting to let strangers fight your battles the Chieftain did recognize they were outmatched by these beasts, and having slain one of those wretched chilopadas they seemed more capable than any of his own warriors.
"Medical attention easy. Other villages help too, if need be. Rarely work together but Dark Ones make us, we band together in dire times to survive. You have my village's support, and I will ask others as well. Whatever is needed you will have." He would promise troops as well if he thought it would do any good. Their weapons had been largely ineffective and, loath as he was to admit it, the one they had killed had likely been purely luck. There was the small issue too of the beasts turning to smoke when slain which was something none of them had ever seen, and there was no way of knowing what it meant. "Dark Ones... When they die, they turn to smoke. Does this mean they are dead? Or do they leave? Used to animals bleeding when slain, body remains behind as the spirit passes on. But these... It is like they do not exist. How do you defeat something like this?"
If there was one upside to being the one going back it was Takeshi could fly this time, which meant covering ground was far easier. The aliens were able to fly to and, impressively enough, kept decent pace with him so long as he didn't really push it. He did have to ignore the beating of their wings behind him as the sound made his skin crawl but that wasn't too hard, he just had to stare at the ground to block out the sounds. In what took them maybe an hour to travel on foot he and the scouts had covered in just minutes, and before long he was beginning to see some awfully familiar terrain. Sure enough after 7 minutes had elapsed there was a glow from within the forest and a small tower of smoke, the spot where their camp had been set up. Slowing himself down he dropped towards the ground first with the aliens following suit seconds later, landing just at the edge of the camp. The confused looks he got from everyone hardly instilled confidence in him, and what Yumi said next had him all sorts of nervous.
"Where are Shu and Viral...?" Yumi asked with a frown, getting up from her seat and watching as the two scouts landed as well. Who the heck were they? They were some kind of bugs from the looks of them too which made it all the more confusing to see Takeshi with them. When she didn't get an answer immediately she approached Takeshi, smiling politely when the guards seemed to tense up and putting her hands up as a show of trust. "I just want to ask my friend here where the others are. Three of them left earlier and he's the only one back, I'd like to know why," she explained, looking at Takeshi as her lips flipped into a frown, placing her hands on her hips expectantly.
Takeshi swallowed back nerves before smiling, rubbing at his neck as he glanced towards the others. "Well uh... You see, we were looking for food like we said we would be, but we didn't find anything. While we were looking we sort of ran into this... Thing. It was some centipede thing, and it uh... Well it tried to eat us," he began, and noticing the surprised look on Yumi's face he quickly waved his hands to try and dismiss whatever she was thinking, "We killed it! No one got eaten, we're completely fine. Uh... I mean we're mostly fine. Viral sort of... Well he got some scrapes and cuts, and I kind of screwed up and... It's my fault?" Not exactly how his admission was supposed to go but it was hard to speak with Yumi looking at him like that. Smiling meekly he pressed his fingers together as Shu had often done, wincing when he was smacked over the head and ended up face down in the dirt, the back of his head throbbing dully.
"Viral was hurt and you just left? What are you an idiot?" Yumi snapped, glaring down at Takeshi.
"N-No! I mean yes I'm an idiot, but no, I didn't just leave! He's being taken care of!" Takeshi said quickly, looking up nervously as he expected to be struck again. "The thing we killed was giving these guys trouble, so they're thanking us by helping treat his wounds. But uh... Well I think they know where those things we're chasing are. And they wanted us to kill them too, so I figured we could go back there and uh... Well do it?"
"Chieftain has also promised food, feed all of you for help," one of the scouts chimed in, holding their spear against their shoulder for comfort, "Come with us, feed you and place to rest. Then tomorrow we show where Dark Ones are, where they travel. We cannot fight but we can show, and we do anything else you need."
"So assuming these 'Dark Ones' are the same creatures we're after, you can show us where to find them?" Vegeta asked, making sure he had heard correctly. This seemed a touch unusual as they had been told there was no kind of civilization on this world, yet clearly that information was wrong. They didn't appear to be a hostile sort however if they were promising food and helping Viral, or if they were they were going to painstaking odds to portray otherwise. "Then I guess there's been a change of plans, hasn't there? Unless anyone objects to us going with these people?"
Haku shook his head as soon as the question was asked, placing a hand on his growling stomach. "I just want something to eat, that's all. Fighting on an empty stomach would r-really stink..." Fighting at all was going to stink but he'd committed to doing this, against his better judgment he might add. He was still convinced he was more of a liability by being here than anything but he had to try and man up, otherwise he'd just spend all his time running away and cowering. Though running away did sound awfully nice right now...
"Food and a fight? As if you had to ask!" Eris shouted, grinning toothily as she sprang to her feet.
"The sooner we find these beasts the better. And... I wouldn't hate a meal either," Orion added, getting up and stretching out his heavy frame, "Just lead the way and point us in the right direction, these creatures need to be slain before long."