Once the two finished their shopping at “The Deft Duo” they came back with three targets and ten or so different types of bullets. They came back to the cave and set up their training area just a tree or two left of the cave mouth. Gale and others watching them from a distance (so they don’t get injured from Shigeo’s reckless swinging). Jamey was practicing his gun-to-sword transitions a little ways off from Shigeo’s nunchuck flailing.

The process of waking up, training, eating, and sleeping repeated for about three days. On the third day, during training, Shigeo suddenly stopped making the others freeze.

“What’s up?” Jamey asked, cautiously advancing.

“I just remembered, aren’t we going to explore that passage?” Shigeo looked to and from the other parts of the trio.

“Ohh… I genuinely forgot about that, shall we then?” Gale jumped off the branch she was previously sitting on, “I mean, I think you two are trained enough anyway.”

“Woo!” Shigeo cheered, his arms in the air, instantly recoiling once a nunchuck hit his cheek.

“Let’s go then,” Jamey shrugged.

They walked into Losdon after informing Athol about their departure. The walk was relatively peaceful besides the semi-suspenseful semi-adventurous air coming from the three of them. Once arriving at their passageway’s entrance, Gale shuffled through her bag to reveal the ball-esque object from Siana's. She opened the passage entryway and adjusted the ball in hand carefully, the moment the Hinu woman bounced the ball in the passage an immense amount of unknown powder. After it all dispersed, the three proceeded into the passage.

The passage was like it was before but instead the flooring didn’t move. After what felt like twenty minutes they heard a speech being spoken in another language.

“Rahi kherek-nor pål itrenac!” Said a pale humanoid person who seemed to be the leader of the army of nercospawn.

“What are we going to- okay…” Shigeo looked to the two others who were already in firing positions.

Ploing. Gale fired an arrow that landed directly in front of the leader’s feet. The male’s eyes darted in the direction of the trio before another string of Goblinish words went out of his mouth. The nercospawn shouted a battlecry before charging towards them. Shigeo quickly whipped out his nunchucks, flicking it to the high setting. Bam. Bam. Bam. Jamey shot a few bullets before quickly transitioning to the blade. A bipedal racoon was the first to clash with Jamey. Immediately hitting his blade with its own.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Shigeo was fighting against a rhino necrospawn, his nunchucks whirling about as he was being barraged by the zombie-necrospawn. Gale had vanished under the screen of action. Jamey looked for her the best he could as he fended off the necrospawn. Subsequently, he saw Gale on the ceiling, climbing towards a more sunken part of it. She held out a dagger and stabbed the ceiling.

Jamey looked at Shigeo with a “we gotta move’’ expression. Shigeo nodded as if he understood and flung a handful of the necrospawn away from him. They both darted in the direction of the army’s charging, getting low to avoid being targeted less. C-C-Crrk… The ceiling where Gale cut it was coming loose. Shigeo and Jamey exchanged looks, the second they heard the cracking turn into a rumbling the two quickly dived forward. Fortunately, they were just on the edge of the mob, and the boulder’s crash zone.

The leader appeared from the dust, now a young child, “M-my army…” He stared in shock at the scene before him. The pale child turned his head, eyes burning with hatred, “you…” He scowled, “How dare yo-” a small rock hit the young child’s head, knocking him unconscious.

“... Whoops, how did that get there…” Gale had lowered herself to the ground, looking back at the crushed army before making her way to the young child.

“W-what are you doing?” Shigeo hesitantly questioned.

“Taking it back to the cave,” Gale answered as she slowly lifted the child off the ground.

“But why? It was just about to murder us,” Shigeo walked over to assist despite his words. Gale looked at the two of them, her look convincing them to simply oblige.

“Alright…” Shigeo acted as if he wasn’t fully convinced as he helped her hoist the child onto her back. Jamey assisted Gale from the rear as they walked back to the cave. People gave them strange looks as they passed by.

“What is it anyway?” Shigeo suddenly asked.

“A Changeling,” Gale answered as they walked.

“A Changeling?” Shigeo pried.

“A humanoid race that can shapeshift into any person they like, even ones that don’t exist,” she explained.

They awkwardly talked amongst themselves, constantly looking back at the child that was their previous antagonist to see if he had awakened. Arriving at the mouth of the cave, the Hinu woman passed the 7y/o to Athol who took the young boy into the hollow to tend to him. The women exchanged nods as they did so. After a few minutes of unseasonable silence, the two men headed off to practice with their weapons further.