Sophia, with sticks and leaves in her hair, slowly sat up from inside a bush and opened her left eye. She blinked a few times before looking around and noticing she had fallen out of the tree. She picked up her golden oval disc and placed it over her right eye. She stood up before brushing the sticks and leaves off her body. Sophia stepped out from the bush and looked around at the camp. She rested her arm against the side of the wagon as she exhaustedly rubbed her face. She lowered her hand, allowing her to spot Lola, Scarlett and Snow talking to each other while sitting on a picnic blanket. She tilted her gaze to the right as she heard the annoyed, and slightly patronizing voice of Akari as she was reprimanding Zalroth.

"Honestly, I thought Scarlett was an expert at getting herself hurt, but you make her look like an amateur," Akari remarked as she wrapped bandages around Zalroth's left arm. Zalroth awkwardly chuckled and rubbed the back of his head.

"That's a little harsh, don't you think?". Akari rolled her eyes as she tightened the bandage around Zalroth's left arm, making his face wince and cringe.

"Don't be such a baby." Sophia said as she approch Zalroth and Akari. Zalroth looked over at Sophia and up at her forehead.

"You got something on your forehead," Zalroth mentioned as he pointed at her forehead. Sophia rolled her eyes and placed her fingers on her forehead. She felt a sting, causing an oddly cute moan, and she instinctively pulled her hand away. She looked at her blood-covered fingers and glared at Zalroth when he started to uncontrollably laugh at her, making Sophia embarrassingly blush.

"Stop it". Sophia wiped the blood off her forehead as Zalroth started to stop laughing.

"Sorry, it's just iro-".

"Yeah-yeah, it's ironic that I called you a baby and instantly made a fool of myself," Sophia said while crossing her arms, and scoffing. Zalroth awkwardly sighed before standing up and walking off. Sophia abruptly opened her eye and a smug grin covered her face.

"I'm going to hold you to that," Sophia said before herring after Zalroth. Akari watched the two walk off into an unoccupied part of the clearing, with a confused expression.

"Why did she... oh yeah, they can talk telepathically," Akari remarked as she packed her medical supplies away. Scarlett leaned to the side as she bit into a sandwich. Lola, with a whole cooked fish in her mouth, looked behind her and then at Scarlett. Lola quickly swallowed the fish, making Scarlett rapidly blink a few times, and reached to grab another fish with chopsticks.

"I think they're going to spar... or maybe papa's going to teach Sophia onee-chan. " Lola said before putting the cooked fish in her mouth. She closed her eyes and attempted to savour the fish's flavour. However, she suddenly opened her eyes and darted her head behind her. Lola frantically put as many cooked fish onto a plate before rushing after Zalroth and Sophia. Scarlett and Snow watched Lola run on all fours while balancing the plate of cooked fish on one of her tails after Zalroth. Snow slowly turned her head and attempted to ask Scarlett something, but was stopped by the sight of Scarlett moments away from trying to eat a cooked fish the same way Lola did.

"Remember your table manners sweetie," Akari said as she walked past Scarlett.

"But mama Lola did it.".

"I was referring to you using your hands," Akari explained as she was walking away. Scarlett quickly glanced at her hand with the cooked fish in it. Scarlett awkwardly chuckled and placed the cooked fish on her plate.

Zalroth finished doing his leg stretches and stood up straight.

"So what do you have in mind instead of us sparring?".

"Alright as I mentioned before, I don't want to incur any more of Akari's wrath, so you'll be trying to get this.". Zalroth put his right hand into his hair and pulled out a necklace with a constant form/colour shifting ornament on it.

"Seriously? I'm not a kid anymore." Sophia said while putting her hand on her hip.

"This is a completely reasonable training exercise for anyone to do, but if you want me to give you an incentive.". Zalroth spun the necklace around his index finger as he thought of an incentive for Sophia. A devious smirk started to grow on Zalroth, Sophia turned her head slightly and raised a concerned eyebrow.

"I know, if you can get this necklace in under three minutes I'll teach you how to do that thing you keep pestering me about, how does that sound?". Before Zalroth even finished his sentence, Sophia, almost instantly, jumped to the edge of the clearing and braced herself, like an Olympic sprinter.

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"Bring it on!" Sophia smugly shouted as her body was surrounded by a golden aura, making her hair raise and flow around like it was in water. Zalroth smirked and crossed his arms. He heard munching noises close to him making him look downwards spotting Lola, Scarlett and Snow standing next to him. Lola finished the last of her fish and froze the plate before storing it in one of her tails.

"We wanna play too," Lola demanded while fist-pumping. Zalroth looked over at Sophia.

"What do you say, Sophia. Do you want these three to help you?" Zalroth asked. Sophia just rolled her eyes and stood up on her feet. The trio high-fived and ran over to Sophia. Zalroth watched the trio huddle around Sophia and the four of them murmured amongst themselves. The group unhuddled and all, except for Snow, got into fighting stances. A large tail, with the same colours as his hair and around double his proportions, appeared from behind Zalroth and quickly wrapped around his body. The tail swiftly unwrapped from Zalroth's body and revealed he was wearing his weights now before the tail disappeared behind him.

"Do you really need those?" Sophia asked.

"I don't want to make it too difficult for the kids, oh and you four can use non-offensive magic in this exercise if you'd like," Zalroth said. Sophia's frown shifted to a confident grin.

"That so? How generous of you, sensei". Zalroth created a small circular barrier in his hand before flipping it into the air like a coin. The five of them watched the coin fall and tensed up when it got inches from the ground. The instant the barrier hit the ground, Sophia's aura surrounded Lola and Scarlett before the two of them sprinted at Zalroth.

"So, Sophia's using Power Booster to increase the kids' power, by half of hers. Good choice." Zalroth thought to himself. Zalroth prepared himself to respond to Lola and Scarlett.

"Scarlett's surprising fast, given she's able to keep up with Lola. Zalroth mentioned to himself, as Lola and Scarlett simultaneously lunged at him. Zalroth steps backwards and the two of them almost crashed into each other. Lola and Scarlett quickly recover from their near-on collision and continue pursuing Zalroth. The duo continued to lunge at Zalroth, making sure to not do it at the same time, however, as he easily evaded them by walking backwards and dodging. Zalroth felt something on his back, making him quickly spin around, and spotted Sophia trying to grab him. Zalroth smirked before bending his knees and jumping high into the sky, creating a small shockwave.

Sophia landed on the ground before grabbing the backs of Lola and Scarlett's clothes. Sophia looked up at Zalroth before she teleported. Zalroth continues to rise into the air before eventually stopping and starting to fall back to the ground. He suddenly turned his head to the right when he started to hear the sound of someone screaming. He spotted Scarlett as she came barreling at him and as he turned his body to face Scarlett, he heard the sounds of someone cheerfully screaming. He looked behind him and saw Lola, in a superman flying pose, careening at him from the opposite direction.

"What're you going to do now, sensei?!" Sophia rhetorically asked. Zalroth looked upwards when he heard the sound of Sophia facepalming. Zalroth playfully rolled his eye before swiftly catching Scarlett and Lola. He flipped his body upside down and his feet collided with Sophia's feet. The force of the collision sent Zalroth plummeting to the ground but, the moment he was a few centimetres from the ground, three of his tails emerged from his body. The tails cushioned Zalroth's fall before he backflipped, retracted his tails and placed the disorientated duo down. Zalroth snapped his fingers in front of their faces, snapping them out of their dazed states, before jumping backwards as Sophia landed in front of Lola and Scarlett.

"You've done pretty well but you only got forty seconds left, so if you have any other plans then you better be quick about it.". Sophia slammed her hands on the ground and tensed up her entire body. Sophia's aura exploded, kicking up dust and rapidly increasing to double the size. Zalroth instinctively, although mostly out of habit, got into his fighting stance, where he pulls his right hand and right leg back while putting his left hand in front of his chest in a defensive position, and braced himself for Sophia's assault.

"I... got it." Snow sheepishly said, making Zalroth raise his eyebrows. Zalroth looked under his right arm and spotted Snow clinging to his back with the necklace in her hand.

"When did you... oohhhh!". Zalroth placed his hand over his eyes, after realising what had happened. Sophia smirked ­­­­and stood up, with her aura dispersing Lola and Scarlett high-fived each other and cheered.

"Your plan worked Sophia onee-chan, papa didn't see the diversion coming.". Sophia blushed a little at Lola's word but hid it with a grin.

"Hah, naturally. Unlike sensei, I'm not a headstrong battle-loving maniac.". Lola laughed and agreed with Sophia.

"Hey, I'm not a maniac... anymore.". Zalroth's response only succeeded in making them laugh even more making Scarlett laugh a little as well. Zalroth defeatedly shook his head and crouched down to allow Snow to get down. Zalroth stood back up and Sophia was confidently standing in front of him with her arms crossed. Sophia smugly grinned as she leaned over at Zalroth, and made him roll his eyes.

"Yeah-yeah, I'll teach you how to transform into a Sage.". Sophia fist pumped and said she'd be right back before she ran off. Zalroth sighed as four of his tails emerged from his body and wrapped around his weight before retracting again, with the weights not being on his limbs anymore.

"What about us?" Lola asked. Zalroth put his hand on his chin.

"Well, I'll have to teach you to how to go into the Surging Mana state first.". The trio, but mostly Lola and Scarlett, celebrated as they followed Zalroth back to the picnic blanket.