Maya and Anna also finished presenting their new clothes. With that, everyone had seen the outfits they were going to wear from now on and their many colorful variations. Naturally, the girls went all out and were more than ready to face the upcoming summer months now.

“Okay, first things first, I love the outfits of you two.” A little after everyone showed off their new clothes, Sophia eventually addressed Maya and Ari. “Very cute, very classy, very pretty, very sexy.” She gave each a thumbs up.

“But?” The two tilted their heads.

“Is it really a good outfit for running around and exploring, though?”

“Yup!” The jaguar and cat-girl nodded.

“Really?” The blonde raised an eyebrow. “I’d love to hear your explanation on that.”

“Because the outfit looks cute!” The duo synced up perfectly.

“Solid reasoning.” Chloe saw no flaw in their reply.

“Okay, normally, I would agree that cute is always the answer.” Sophia couldn’t exactly blame them for their reaction. “Still, sandals?” She focused on Ari’s feet. “We’re traveling through all kinds of terrain, so you’ll constantly have to deal with sticks or pebbles getting stuck in there. Heck, we’re about to enter a desert, so that will be a lot of fun with sandals.”

“Worth it for the fashion points!” The jaguar didn’t regret it in the slightest.

“I just wanted to mention it.” The blonde shrugged in return. “Same for Maya.” She then focused on her girlfriend. “You look perfect for a date, but traversing through an overgrown forest like we did a couple of days ago?”

“My fire magic is stronger than some shrubbery that could damage or dirty my clothes.” The cat-girl saw no issues with her choice, either.

“I tried, didn’t I?” Sophia turned to Steph for help.

“You do realize that your clothes aren’t suited much, if any better than theirs, to explore a desert, right?" The dog-girl slowly shook her head. “In fact, none of our clothes really work for such a hazardous place. You’re supposed to wear long clothes to protect your body from the sun and sand.”

“Ah.” She froze. “W-Well, there’s always magic to take of such things.” The blonde awkwardly scratched her cheek.

“That’s why our outfits are just as fine as yours~.” Ari and Maya smiled at her.

“Fine.” Sophia gave up. “I guess my worries were unfounded.”

“Sure were!”

“Speaking of the desert, now that we have new clothes, fitting or not, should we try and find it already.” Anna tried to get everyone back on track.

“Okay!” The others liked the plan.

As it had gotten late already, though, the girls spent the rest of the day chatting and relaxing to have a fresh day dedicated to exploring.

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“How much farther away do you think it is?” The girls returned to the regular world and were currently walking through another green plain when the princess sounded a little eager to find the desert.

“We should get there today.” Aura was also with them and addressed the tall tiger. “If I remember the location correctly, we should arrive at the outskirts of the desert.”

“Ohh!” The princess got even more excited. “The outskirts are the place Sophia and I have to visit first, too!”

“Why?” This was news to Ari.

“We want to borrow some animals.” Sophia smiled at the jaguar.

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“For our savannah biome!” Anna nodded a few times.

“Ahh, I see.” Ari was relieved that it was nothing outrageous. “That makes sense. The area around a desert and a savannah should be relatively similar, huh?”

“We hope!”

“Is your domain, especially that biome, ready for actual animals already?" Aura tilted her head in response.

“Well, we also need to borrow some food for the carnivores, as in smaller animals, but plants and stuff should be enough available, no?” The blonde wondered where the question came from. “Is there anything missing?”

“You, out of everyone, should know that living beings like to sleep.” The wolf stared at the sleep-loving tiger. “We have the jungle roof and a house with curtains. Animals rely on the natural day and night cycle for their sleep. Kind of hard to do that if everything around you is a constant bright white. Especially if we’re talking about a savannah with little to no places to retreat.”

“Ah.” The tigers had forgotten about that bit.

“It could maybe work if you make a couple of underground areas or dark caves for the animals to go and rest, but you’d first need to test and find out if they’re able to adapt to it.”

“I guess it’ll take a little longer to finish our kingdom, huh?” Looking visibly disappointed, Sophia looked at her fellow tiger.

“Yes.” Anna also hung her head.

“I’ll definitely hide a portal there, though. Once we’re ready to have animals, we’ll get them immediately!”

“Okay!” The princess cheered up a little. “That sounds like a plan to me.”

“Let’s keep going!” Not going to be defeated by the slight setback, Sophia energetically raised her arm before pulling a portal stone out of her storage, but she then suddenly stopped while looking around for a bit.

“That way.” Aura, knowing perfectly well what the issue was, gestured to her right.

“Thank you!” Smiling at her, the blonde then finally threw the stone. “Let’s go!”

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“Ohh!” After having taken the portal shortcut two times, the group arrived at the outskirts of a dry savanna-like grassland, which made the tigers quite excited.

“I’m feeling too hot already…”

“Same!” Chloe and Steph weren’t as much of a fan.

“It’s just like the monster country!” Sophia lightly clapped her hands. “Just with less weird and poisonous-looking plants and more regular animals!”

“So, it's quite different?” Ari tilted her head.

“Small details!” The blonde ignored her. “I can even see some gazelles and antelopes in the distance!”

“Urgh!” The princess looked in the same direction with a miffed expression. “It’s sooooo unfortunate that we can’t keep them yet!”

“YES!” Both tigers felt the same. “I’m already giving it my all with pouring all my magic into our savanna so we can try stuff as soon as possible!” Sophia gestured at the small portal attached to the tip of her tail.

“Great!”

“I think I’ll be sitting this one out.” The dog-girl already had enough. “At least until it turns night, and it cools down.”

“I like that idea!” Chloe nodded a couple of times. “No, I love that idea!” After all, she hated heat even more than Steph.

"I'll come and get you once it turns to night." Ari smiled at her.

“Thank you!” The fox-girl was happy about that.

“Because you want to leave before it gets cold, right?” Steph saw right through her.

“Do you want to know when it’s safe to come exploring or not?” The jaguar stared right at her while slowly shaking her head.

“Thank you very much!” The dog-girl immediately stopped the sass.

“Good.”

“Oh, could you send over Fen when you head back?” Aura looked at Steph. “He was a little sleepy earlier, but he told me that he wanted to see the desert because it has been a while for him, too.”

“Okay!” She gave her a thumbs up.

Afterward, the heat-hating duo left through a portal provided by Sophia to let the cats and Aura do their own thing.

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“Oho, it’s just like the monster country!” Fen looked around with great interest. “Just with less weird and poisonous-looking plants and more regular food!” The male wolf joined them instead of Chloe and Steph, and he had a pretty similar reaction to the blonde when he first saw the dry grassland in front of them.

“Seriously, that means nothing!” Ari had to make the same retort again.

“You shouldn’t focus on the small details so much, my dear.” He just stared at her.

“It’s always nice to be reminded why you and Sophia get along.” The jaguar rolled her eyes.

“Ehehe~.” The blonde liked that.

“Do you two still want to explore the grasslands, or should we try to get closer to the actual desert?" Maya looked at the tigers while tilting her head.

“I’m fine for now.” The blonde shook her head.

“Same.” Anna did so, too. “In fact, it would make it worse if we were to find even cooler things.”

“Okay, then let’s go and find the desert!” The cat-girl seemed quite hyped about it.

“Well, if you’re excited about it, all the more reason to find it immediately!” Sophia liked that Maya was looking forward to exploring.

“A grassland is cool and all, but I’ve never been to a desert before! It’s such an interesting place, from the sound of it, so I’m really looking forward to it!”

“A cat liking a giant box of sand isn’t exactly a surprise.” Fen just had to say it.

“Hey!” Maya didn’t appreciate that. “This and that are almost completely unrelated!”

“Almost, huh?”

“As if you aren’t just here because you can dig to your heart's content through the sand!" The cat-girl threw it back at the wolf.

“No comment.” He just turned his head away.

“Alrighty~!” Smiling broadly, Sophia clapped her hand to get everyone’s attention. “Let’s go and find the actual desert!”

“Let’s go!”

Doing as agreed on, the group wandered through the savanna-like grasslands for about half an hour before things eventually turned a lot sandier.