The sounds of waves splashing against the sandy lakeside boomed throughout the area as Lola was sprinting on all fours around picnicking villagers; while she balanced multiple plates of food on her three tails. She eventually arrived at the picnic blanket Zalroth and the others were sitting at before placing the plates down.
She quickly grabbed one of Zalroth's tails and laid it on the ground before sitting on it. Lola was about to dig into her food when she noticed Zalroth was sleeping and laying back in his tails. Lola frowned before standing up and grabbing Zalroth's shoulders before strongly shaking them, but to no avail.
"Auntie Minia, help, papa's sleeping again!" Lola pleaded to Minia, who was sitting next to Zalroth on his right side, as she continued to shake Zalroth. Minia looked up as she was eating a large ham, along with having multiple of them in her gelatin hair, and defeatedly sighed. Minia glared at Zalroth's side before she tensed up her leg and kicked Zalroth in the side of his abdomen.
The still sleeping Zalroth's face contorted as Minia slowly moved her foot away before suddenly kicking him again and fully waking Zalroth up. Zalroth grabbed Minia's ankle before flinging Minia upwards and causing her to soar through the air before crashing into the lake with a large splash.
"It's pronounced auntie, Lola, and Minia-" Zalroth remarked as he opened his eyes and noticed Minia was gone. He eventually spotted Minia when her head slowly emerged from the lake, with a school of fish sticking out of her hair. She gave Zalroth a mean glare as she spat a jet of water out of her mouth.
"I have a few choice words for you," Minia angerly grumbled telepathically to Zalroth. Zalroth sighed as Nola, who was laying down, tried to poke him in the face with her foot but wasn't able to reach his face.
"Come on Zalroth you've gotta eat something before you fall asleep again otherwise Akari's going to get mad at you again," Nola moaned before putting a pizza in her mouth and eating it like a cat. Zalroth sighed again before picking up a garlic pizza and starting to eat it. Kiki took a bite out of her spaghetti as she looked over at Zalroth.
"For being a member of the cat-type demi-human race, he's oddly anti-gluttonous," Ruby mentioned as she and the others around her glanced over at Lola as she finished eating all the food she had brought before picking up her plates, with her tails, and hurrying off again.
"Well, I did read that, just like some animal species and a few other demi-human races, the kitsune race has a dining etiquette where the adults will wait until their children have finished eating before starting to eat themselves," Heather mentioned as she placed some sushi in her mouth.
Zalroth glanced around and noticed Kiki was trying to get his attention while she was eating a hamburger.
"You want to say something, Kiki?" Zalroth asked. Kiki lowered the half-eaten hamburger from her face and quickly went over what she wanted to say.
"I was wondering after the picnic is over and you take me back to my mommy if you were planning on participating in the Maximil...ion Tomata...". Kiki continually struggled to say the name of the tournament before slumping her head.
"Does one mean the Maxicannion Tournament?" Kusana asked as Lola returned with even more food. Kiki energetically nodded her head.
"Yeah, I saw a poster for it and my brother said that it was going to be taking place in four days, oh and my brother is the guy who runs the stadium that's hosting the event this year," Kiki explained.
"We'll... I have to think about it," Zalroth remarked before picking up his slushy and drinking it.
Meanwhile, flashes of the battle between Zalroth and the energy flashed through Yokuza's mind as he layed within the confines of his azuregate, although the blue shapes that broke through the watery floor had a faint purple glow in their centres; other memories appeared in his mind, like the moment Prima tried to bat away the falling angorthite chunk and Yokuza's short scuffle with Sapphire, but they didn't really interest him unlike the memories involving Zalroth.
"You're surprisingly stubborn..."
"...Oh, I'm Zalroth,"
"I'll remember that..."
The last conversation between Zalroth and the energy silhouette became a little choppy and extremely garbled as he tried to remember it. Yokuza tried to grab the azure gem that contained the memory of the battle but all the azure crystals suddenly dimmed before Yokuza's vision went completely dark.
"Come on..." a petite female voice mumbled.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
"Wake up...".
"You've been asleep for ages,". The incessant whining from the female voice began to grate on Yokuza as he started to wake up. Yokuza managed to open his eyes before he was slapped in the face by a translucent cyan-coloured hand made of water. Yokuza looked at the person who slapped his face through the hand and realised the person was sitting on his chest.
"Do you mind taking your hand off my face?" Yokuza request. The young girl slowly removed her hand from Yokuza's face and was shocked when he got a good look at the short girl. The girl bore a striking resemblance to Sapphire in her elemental form, along with Prima(in her kid form) and Yumi.
"Wait... are you... Sapphire?" Yokuza asked as he sat, causing the kid Sapphire to roll backwards before landing on her back inbetween Yokuza's legs. Sapphire quickly darted her eyes at Yokuza with a confused expression on her face.
"How do you know my name?" Sapphire demanded with a cautious expression on her face. Yokuza rubbed his head as he recalled what had happened between him initially waking up to him passing out in the hospital ward.
"Well, you definitely left an impression when you punched me through the hull of the aircraft we awoke in, although you were a lot taller and older than you are now," Yokuza remarked as Sapphire tilted her head.
"Me...?" Sapphire confusedly asked while pointing at herself. Yokuza nodded his head and Sapphire seemed to remember something.
"Now that I think about it I think the cloud lady mentioned I did something like that..." Sapphire remarked before Five suddenly appeared from a light cyan cloud.
"It's the cloud lady!" Sapphire proclaimed as she rolled over and stood up.
"I just got the report from Magistrate Calloukus before she had to leave," Five stated as she presented a transparent green panel and handed it to Sapphire. The two elemental beings inspected the contents of the holographic panel.
"Yeah, I have no clue what this says," Sapphire remarked as she handed it back to Five.
"The panel stated, and I quote, Sapphire seems to be experiencing some sort of disjointed memory due to being released from her pod prematurely; and Yokuza seems to be showing some abnormal readings but since it doesn't seem life-threatening, I'll look into it later after bringing The Oracle Shogun Kara Raiden to Lumios." Five reiterated from the panel before placing it on the nightstand next to Yokuza's bed.
"Other than the issue with Sapphire's memory loss, which given how she originally acted is probably a blessing, it appears you two are in stable conditions, so I believe it won't be necessary for me to constantly monitor either of you anymore," Five mentioned before glancing over at the entrance to the medical ward, where Destiny, Prima, Yumi, Lulu, Coco, Zariah and a platoon worth of kids staring through the creek in the door.
"Are we allowed to enter now?" Destiny asked. Five rolled her eyes and sighed.
"I suppose it won't hurt, since he's awake now," Five stated before the door flung open. All the kids stormed into the practically empty hospital wards and huddled around Yokuza's bed.
"Oh, hey Prince... wait that's not right," Sapphire remarked which made Destiny angerly place her fists on her hips and squint her eyes, causing her five-pointed shaped pupils to miosis(opposite of dilate) for a split second.
"First of all, the word you're looking for is princess and, secondly, just call me Destiny," Destiny explained. Sapphire nodded her head as she sat down on one of Yokuza's legs; Prima and Yumi climbed onto the bed before asking their siblings a ton of questions as Seven walked up to Nine.
"It seems you have your hands full, Seven," Five remarked. Seven grumbled to himself as he took his helmet off and rubbed his baggy eyes.
"You don't need to rub it in, Five," Seven replied as he placed his helmet back on. Five chuckled to herself which only made Seven more annoyed.
"Well, I'm sure you can think of something, you were always good with kids," Five remarked before she teleported away. Seven defeatedly shook his head and sat down as the kids continued to bombard Yokuza with questions.
Simultaneously at the Dragon Heart Arcade, the arcade was pact full of patrons, especially around the bar, with the sound of the arcade machines and other video games filling the air. Kukamo finished making three separate drinks before racing around the bar and placing them in front of the people who ordered them.
Mei, in a maid outfit, and Fei, in a butler outfit, walked under the trap door of the circular bar and walked over to Kukamo as he was in the middle of making four more drinks simultaneously.
"There sure have been a lot of people visiting the bar over the past few days," Fei mentioned as they opened one of the cabinets under the bar stand before climbing into it and using their tail as a pillow. Fei tried to close the cabinet door but their tail was overflowing from the cabinet and blocking the door. Fei eventually relented and gave up on trying to close before closing their eyes and attempting to go to sleep.
"Lady Mei-La, could you stop your brother from going to sleep again?" Kukamo requested as he handed the drinks to whoever ordered them. Mei nodded her head before opening the cabinet and shook Fei's shoulder.
"Come on, Fei-Fei, if you fall asleep again, Mr Kukamo's won't be able to work as effectively," Mei pleaded. Fei sighed as he rolled out of the cabinet and stood up while closing the cabinet with his tail.
Xinia(aka Majin), in a maid outfit, placed her free arm on the bar counter's trap door while holding a metal tray full of food in her other hand.
"Hey Kukamo, you're still okay with us having a day off on the day of the Maxicannion Tournament right?" Xinia asked.
"Of course, I'm sure the influx of people will die down after today, so you'll have plenty of time to prepare and make arrangements," Kukamo stated.
"Thanks again, Kukamo," Xinia remarked before hurrying off. Fei tugged on Kukamo's trousers to get his attention.
"Wait, is it really happening so soon?!" Fei asked with a surprised tone. Kukamo nodded his head. This realisation seemed to revitalise Fei before he hopped on his tail and floated off with Mei quickly floating after him.