Airavata day came, and school was canceled. That morning, Jugo made his mother breakfast and prepared a gift. Knocking on her bedroom door, Jugo enters.

"Good morning, Mom. I made breakfast. You still eat omelets, don't you?"

"Of course, sweetie. Thank you so much. It looks delicious." Pulling his arm from behind him, Jugo presents a gift.

"That's not the only surprise. Happy Airavata day." Handing over the gift, Ibu opens it with glee.

"A music box! It even has azalea flowers engraved on it; they're my favorite."

"Remember the song you used to hum while working on the garden?" Turning the winding key, the music box plays, spinning the center flower. A soft harmonic tune engulfs the room, putting a smile on both faces. Looking out the window, Ibu reminisces about working on her garden.

"That garden was the same place I met your father. Somehow, he wandered in and fell asleep reading his book under my tree. He was the silent type and carried his book everywhere, even the bathroom." Chuckling amongst themselves, Jugo tells his mother.

"Mom, I promise I'll return you to your garden and make you feel better." Getting teary-eyed, Ibu replies

"Then I'll wait as long as it takes, my little prince. Sorry, but I didn't prepare a gift for you."

"It's ok. You've already given me the greatest gift I could ever ask for."

"What's that?"

"Love." Starting to cry, Jugo comforts Ibu. Over at Kyou's house, her parents, brother, and grandma play a gift-trading game called "White Elephant." Opening her gift, Kyou receives a golden hairpin that can hold something inside of it.

"Thanks, Grandma. It matches my hair perfectly." Even at Hisoka's place, his family was giving gifts.

"Son, you're the pride and joy of the Yuge family, so I want you to have this bow. It was crafted from an ironwood tree far from here." With a somewhat worried expression, Hisoka replies.

"Thank you, Father. I'll use it well and make you proud."

"I have a gift for you too," blissfully stated the mother. Opening the gift, it was a pendant of a Jade green arrowhead.

"It's beautiful mother." Spending the day with their families, the trio felt somewhat guilty for planning to leave without notice, but their families would undoubtedly try to stop them. Night fell, and Jugo dawned his brothers' old gear as the time to escape approached. Anticipating the harshness of the frigid wilderness, he double layered up with a second black jacket and prepped his backpack. Before leaving early, Jugo stops at his mother's room and listens to the beep of her respirator for the last time. Arriving at Takumi's apartment, he knocks on the door.

"I thought that was you. Here to say goodbye?"

"That, and I need to ask you a big favor."

"What do you need? I'll do what I can."

"Can you take care of my mom until I come back? I think it's time you take Reon back, too."

"But he's yours. I can't take him back." Pushing the bowl forward.

"Just keep him somewhere safe, even if it's in the fish tank in the shop. I know I'm asking a lot, but I can't break the news to my mom when she wakes up. Can you explain why I had to leave?"

"I'll tell her, but take this with you at least." Takumi hands Jugo a Bag full of toki.

"These are waxing moon toki! This too much sensei."

"Haha, there's a full moon toki in there, too; your adventure will be expensive. Use that money wisely. Oh, and never forget to listen." Slightly confused, Jugo replies.

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"I won't, and thank you for everything." Leaving the apartment, Jugo runs with a smile on his face. Entering the room, leron asks.

"Are you sure we should stop them?" Turning to Leron Takumi replies.

"This world is more dangerous than you could ever know. If they can't even get past a few vipers, they won't even make it to the next sanctuary, let alone get into it." Arriving at the willow tree, Kyou glares at Jugo angrily.

"You're late. You were supposed to be here five minutes ago."

"Sorry, I had something to take care of. Let's hurry before the minutemen start patrolling again. Sneaking towards the festival grounds, Jugo informs the group.

"I'll use my gift to smell if anyone is in the area." About halfway through the grounds, Jugo picks up on a scent.

"Hide!" sprinting for cover, the group hides in an alley.

"Where are they," asked Hisoka.

"There's three, and they were behind us? No above!" Leron and two other Ophi surround the trio by jumping into the alley.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"We're just going to play a prank on a friend."

"At the festival grounds? Didn't I tell everyone before? My gift allows me to detect lies. Not that I would need it to see through that bluff. We've been following you since the willow tree. It seems like you're headed straight for the walls. You're not planning on escaping before becoming Ophi, are you?" The group remained silent.

"We don't have time to become Ophi; we need to leave now," demanded Jugo.

"Yeah, no. Send the others home; I'll deal with him." As the Ophi began encroaching on the trio, Kyou reached into her pouch. Grasping a mushroom, Kyou announces.

"Vines aren't the only thing I can grow." Raising her fist in the air and throwing the mushroom on the ground, the alley is covered in a cloud of spores.

"You guys know the spot! Meet me there; if not, I'm leaving without you!" Running in opposite directions, the trio exits the cloud. Jugo runs from Leron, but he keeps up with ease.

"If you can keep up with me, then try this." Jugo's arm glows a faint green. Using the attribute of a frog, Jugo jumps onto the buildings, switching to the attribute of a reindeer; he sprints atop the roofs at top speed.

"Just because you can run fast using the strength of an animal doesn't mean you can outrun someone who has mastered nature energy control." Stomping on the roof and shattering it, Leron blitzes forward, passing Jugo and punching him backward. Recovering from the punch, Jugo's nose begins to bleed.

"Please let me go."

"You don't get it, do you? I don't want you to leave, so you're only leaving if you beat me. Now, make your choice."

"I have something I must do no matter what, and if I have to go through you to do it, then so be it."

"I haven't had the chance to test the bear's DNA. I guess there's a first time for everything," Jugo thought.

Jugo punches forward with his left hand, but it was blocked. Following the punch, Jugo turns his right arm into a bear claw, swiping at Leron. Jumping backward to avoid the swipe, Leron mentions.

"That's new. I didn't see that during the trials." Ignoring his comment, Jugo rapidly switches between the speed of a rabbit and a reindeer. Closing the distance, Jugo puts all his strength into his bear fist, punching Leron off the roof into the next building over, angrily rushing towards the roof's edge. Jugo stops himself before he could jump and deactivates his gift. Shaking off the weird feeling he just got, Jugo continues to the wall.

"Some strength, kid. Hopefully, you can keep whatever that was in check, but I don't get paid enough for this. It's cold, and it's snowing. I'm going home. Bruno will be fine." Over where Hisoka is, he runs through the streets and weaves through the buildings. Shooting a scaffolding, he knocks it over, hitting the female pursuer. He laughs, thinking that was easy, but they emerge from the rubble in a pink slime-like form.

"Come on!" Hisoka fires many arrows at her, but they all pass through her viscous form.

"Fuck it, ill lose her over the buildings." Hopping from platform to platform, Hisoka makes it to the top of the building and sprints to gain some distance. Checking his surroundings, Hisoka Fires an arrow with a wire tied to it. Using his bow as a handlebar, Hisoka rides the wire. Following him onto the building, the slime girl notices the zipline and scrunches down into a puddle. Springing into the air, the slime girl flies past Hisoka, landing at his destination.

"Damn!" Cutting the wire, Hisoka falls to the first-story roof and hops down to the ground. Looking up at her, he flips the bird and runs off. The slime girl falls face forward, splatting on the ground but reconfigures into human shape. As the slime girl gives chase and closes on Hisoka, he thinks about what to shoot.

"If she's made of slime, she's gotta be part water," he thought. Looking for a place with water, he turns down a small alley lined with open bars. Firing arrows at the pressurized containers, Hisoka runs through a wall of alcohol. Chasing him through the alcohol wall, the slime girl begins to melt. Before she could melt completely, she returned to her exhausted human form. Jumping onto a booth, Hisoka shoots other containers surrounding her in alcohol, preventing her from transforming and getting her drunk.

"Ha ha ha, smell ya later, pinky." Little did the trio know even though Leron is the strongest, Kyou's chaser was the most dangerous of the three. Out of everyone in the valley sanctuary, this pursuer, in terms of raw gift power, is the strongest there is. What was supposed to be a simple escape mission will crumble before this man, making things more difficult for everyone. His name is Bruno the Quake.