Sophia and the squad, excluding Alex, assisted the villagers in loading the last of their equipment and belongings into the many wagons. Charlotte handed Akari, who was standing inside one of the wagons, a double-locked chest and she placed it on top of a large crate.
"Thank you for your assistance girls" Akari stated as she wiped her forehead.
"Heh~, don't mention it, it's the least we can do," Charlotte remarked as she scratched her cheek.
"If only Scarlett was as modest as you lot." Akari joked as she hopped down to the wagon. Charlotte, unsure how to respond, simply chuckled and continued to scratch her cheek.
"Although it's very odd Mikou isn't here to help, I wonder where he is?" Akari mentioned while trying to think where he could be.
"He's probably hiding from Alexuvia," Ruby mentioned as she pretended to tightrope while carrying a crate on her head. Alex, covered in sweat and breathing heavily, returned before collapsing to her knees.
"Man he's a lot faster than before," Alex huffed as she slowly raised back to her feet.
"Not that I'm encouraging you, but couldn't you just sense him and just ambush him?" Heather mentioned as she took her black reading glasses off and wiped off the steam of them before putting them back on.
"That's the thing, while I was chasing him, he suddenly disappeared along with his mana too. But that's not even the weirdest part." Alex explain. Luna popped her head out from one of the wagons, causing her round blue glasses to fall off her face which landed on Star's head, as he popped her head out from the wagon as well. Luna picked up her glasses and put them on.
"Then, what is?" Luna inquired as she pushed her glasses up and making them glare brightly. Alex itched her horn as she tried to recall what was weird.
"Oh yeah, he didn't say even a word, not even when I could see him visibly huffing, he didn't make a sound.". Everyone, excluding Akari who seemed pretty unfazed, was surprised by Alex's words.
"Well, Mikou's inability to speak is a byproduct of his azure ability. Now that I think about it, I believe his azure ability awakened not long after he started going to elementary school." Akari explained. A single sweat drop ran down Alex's face as she wondered if it was her fault that Mikou can't talk anymore.
"Well, sensei did mention in one of his stories, his friend telling him that a person's azure ability tends to awaken when put in a situation where the ability could help them," Heather remarked. Alex sweated even more as Mikou, covered head to toe in a layer of opaque blue mana, walked past everyone without being noticed. Akari loudly coughed as Mikou walked past her, causing Mikou to flinch before rushing into the wagon Luna and Star were in.
"Are you ok miss Akari?" Star worryingly asked.
"I'm fine sweetie, but I hope Zalroth will be back soon.". Star tilted her head.
"Zal...roth?" Star asked.
"He's my forgetful sensei, and knowing him he's probably sensed something of value... but I'm certain he'll hurry back when the wagons start moving," Sophia stated.
"I suppose so," Akari replied.
A few minutes later in the forest, Zalroth stopped walking and sighed.
"What's wrong, Zster?" Scarlett asked. Zalroth yawned before he tensed up and stretched his legs
"It's way too early for this, you lot better hold on tight.". Kusana wrapped her arms around Scarlett and Snow and pulled them into Zalroth's tail until only their heads were exposed. Zalroth slammed his foot into the ground and launched himself into the air. Scarlett let out an excited and enthralled scream as they all soared through the air.
"Man this sure beats having to walk," Alex stated as she rested her head against the side of the wagon.
"I know right, just thinking about walking makes my legs feel numb," Iris mumbled as she lead on top of Anthurium's head with an ice bag over her face.
"I think that's because you hardly ever use them, don't you think?" Anthurium remarked as she poked the side of Iris' head.
"It was a figure of speech," Iris mentioned as she patted Anthurium on the head with both her hands simultaneously. A slightly loud thud emanated from the roof of the wagon with the sound of Scarlett excitedly cheering from the roof.
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"It seems he's back," Akari remarked as she finished organizing the luggage. Iris instantly sat up, launching the ice bag into the air, and wobbly staggered to her feet. She spread out her four nearly transparent glowing golden-coloured wings and took off. Iris tried to fly out of the wagon, while constantly bobbing in every direction except the way she wanted to go, but was stopped by Anthurium wrapping one of her hair vines around one of her legs.
"Where do you think you're going?" Anthurium seriously asked. Iris tried to look behind her while continuing to fly but her wings gave out and she fell downwards. Anthurium's vine lifted and placed Iris, face down, on her head.
"Curse that fruit punch..." Iris complained as she buried her face in Anthurium's vine hair.
"How'd you manage to get drunk on the non-alcoholic fruit punch anyway?" Anthurium asked. Luna intently watched Iris as she groaned. Luna felt Star, who was sitting on Elizabeth's lap, tugging on her shirt.
"Do you know why she's sick?" Star asked whilst looking Luna in the eyes.
"Well I used my FBA and she's just having a hangover, which I can only assume given pixies are extremely susceptible to high concentrated substances which can lead to drunk-like symptoms," Luna explained. Star tilted her head and looked dumbfounded.
"What's an FBA?". Luna made a cringe and embarrassed expression while pushing her glasses up.
"It's an abbreviation for the name of my azure ability, Full Body Analysis," Luna explained.
"Oh..." Star uttered.
"Are you a doctor by any chance Luna?" Akari inquired.
"I mean... I am studying to be one.".
"That's wonderful to hear; If that's the case, I would appreciate it if you could give Zalroth a check-up. He's been in a few scuffles recently while he's been defending us." Akari requested. Luna placed her hand on her face and considered it.
"Well, I'll see what I can do but have to ask him first.". Akari smiled and thanked her.
Meanwhile, on the roof of the wagon, Zalroth was profusely sweating as he overheard Luna and Akari's conversation.
"Don't worry Zster; I know doctors are scary but mama says they mean well," Scarlett explained while Snow patted Zalroth on the head. Zalroth scratched his forehead and sighed.
"I'm more worried about her azure ability than a check-up-" Zalroth tried to say before Scarlett suddenly placed her hands on his right shoulder.
"Oh yeah, you promised you'd teach us about azure gems, can you do it now?" Scarlett excitedly asked.
"I think it'd be better if I have the check-up first.". Scarlett pouted and rested her head back on one of Zalroth's tails.
"Yeah... I guess that's the responsible thing to do..." Scarlett replied as she angerly covered her face with some of Zalroth's tail fluff.
Meanwhile, Callie wrapped her arms, and body, around Zulcrestus' head with a deviously smug and wide grin on her face as drool ran down her face.
"Hehe... cherry flavour," Callie mumbled as she nibbled on Zulcrestus' right horn. Zulcrestus was awoken by repeated knocks emanating from the bedroom door.
"Lady Calloukus are you awake?" a nervous Sera knocked on Callie's bedroom door. She stood patiently outside the bedroom and waited for a response. Sera was surprised by the sound of footsteps but was slightly confused by how heavy the footsteps were. The door opened and Sera was greeted by Zulcrestus, who still had a sleeping Callie wrapped around his head and nibbling his horn.
"O-oh, Lord Zulcrestus I didn't know you were already here, I'll leave you to deal with Lady Calloukus then," Sera said as she became extremely flustered before she quickly hurried off. Sera suddenly turned around and returned before Zulcrestus.
"We'll be arriving at Lumios in under an hour," Sera added before running off for real this time: even more flustered than she was before. Zulcrestus sighed as he closed the bedroom door. Zulcrestus used his telekinesis to pull Callie off his head and tossed her through the air. Callie went through her oversized black t-shirt, managing to put it on mid-air before she landed on her bed with the impact waking her up.
"I-I'm not oversleeping again, Sera-Bear." Callie bumbled as she rapidly looked around. She looked behind herself and spotted Zulcrestus as he was putting his boots on.
"Oh it's just you Zuzu, I thought Sera was here to wake me up." Callie playfully remarked.
"She just was," Zulcrestus stated as he put the last of his equipment on. Callie was about to ask why but remembered something.
"Shoot, I need to check on Yokuza to see how they're reacting to the auroraite," Callie stated as she quickly hopped out of her bed and rushed over to her fitted-mirrored wardrobe.
"Who...? Oh, you mean the ice storm subject; I'm sure that can wait; you still need to give Lulu a medical check-up." Zulcrestus mentioned.
"But it could explode or something," Callie replied as she was sorting through her clothes.
"I highly... never mind, besides we'll be arriving at Lumios in an hour, so I doubt you'll have enough time to do your test anyway," Zulcrestus added as he went to leave the room while verbally wondering where Callie put his armour.
"Oh before you leave, if you channel mana through the crest, on your left gauntlet, it will enter full body mode," Callie said as she pulled a lab coat out from her wardrobe.
Zulcrestus stopped in his tracks and sighed while lifting his left arm. The crest on the gauntlet glowed white with a slight pink gradient before pale golden metal particles raced out from both of the gauntlets and around Zulcrestus' body. The metal particles formed into a completely pale golden version of Zulcrestus' templar/paladin armour, helmet included, aside from his boots which the metal particles merged into making it a pale golden colour/material and the cape still being tied around his waist.
"And why didn't you tell me the gauntlets could do this?".
"I wanted to reveal it in a super cool fashion, but I know how you get when people don't dress properly for occasions," Callie stated before playfully sticking her tongue. Zulcrestus simply shook his head and left the bedroom.
"The only one with that problem is you," Zulcrestus replied right before the door closed.