Ibnoxe felt his claws touch cloth round the fluffy necks of the vuls, and some metallic charms jingled. Each of their names were inscribed at the center. The little vul which had crawled furthest onto his lap had 'Vie' on her collar—his very own vul.

"You got them collars?"

"Of course! Mrs. Mott has one of those old machines which makes them." Charlotte plucked one of the behefleas from the bag and started playing with it.

The big eyes drew even wider in the vuls' heads. Their large ears flicked as they eagerly bounced for the bugs.

"Bzzt!" she said as she flew it round the vul noses.

Ibnoxe lifted Vie up to help her. The front legs spread wide as the vul kit opened her mouth. "Vul incoming!" Ibnoxe said.

He successfully made Vie swoop in and snap the beheflea from Lottie whose laughter peeled out. "What a good girl!" she squealed.

They had the vuls chase the bugs which they wiggled in their hands. Other times, they flicked insects across the ground or directly at the vul mouths. Almost as big as they were, the vuls needed some time to chew and swallow the bugs before they were ready for the next one.

Since it would feel mean to leave one of the vuls out, they also fed Vue on behalf of his missing owner.

"Where's Holoxe?" Charlotte asked.

"I dunno. Victoria got bit by a strange plant and has been acting funny since…. I'll go check on them." Ibnoxe left the vuls with Lottie so that he could see what was the hold up with his brother.

***

When Victoria pronked to the next room, Holoxe chased after her. He was faced with the daunting task of catching the inebriated girl.

"Victoria," he called. "Sit down before you break something!"

Her long legs kicked over her head in a flashy cartwheel. However, there was not the space to perform her acrobatics inside, so her foot brushed against the lampshade. The lamp teetered to the side, inducing a horrific flashback.

Just the other day, Holoxe had knocked over the lamp and broke the lightbulb. "No," he breathed. Holoxe pounded his wings and caught the lamp in time. His arm was fully extended, and the lamp leaned over at a forty-five degree angle.

"Are you dancing with the lamp?" Victoria asked, spinning back towards him. "I'm jealous. Dance with me!"

When Victoria tried to spin him around, Holoxe decided to go along with it. Her brown hair was a mess every which way, and her eyes were closed in a broad smile. She was not paying attention, so that made it easy for Holoxe to slip out of this awkward situation. He used the momentum of that spin to toss her onto the couch.

Victoria stumbled back and sat down. Her lips pouted for a moment—not the expression her face usually made. Dramatically, she flopped onto her side and moaned. "You're no fun."

"I just don't want you to break anything." Holoxe crossed his arms and glanced around, hoping that Josie would come back soon so he could ask someone to supervise the troublesome girl. Hopefully, a [Cure] spell could make Victoria go back to normal.

"I feel funny," she said.

"I know. You're acting funny."

Her eyes fell closed, and her animated face began to slacken. "I'm getting sleepy."

"Probably best if you sleep this off." Quietly, he tried to remove himself from the room and fetch Josie.

"Liz?" Victoria whined. "Don't go yet." That childish, pleading voice coming from the Disco Menace suckered him into staying a moment longer.

Holoxe knelt at the foot of the couch. When Victoria flung out a grasping hand, he balked. She's not trying to touch me, is she? Holoxe stared at her wriggling fingers like an alien was trying to reach out for him.

"Hold my hand," she demanded.

Awkwardly, he held her fingers limply in his claws. "Happy?"

"Hm. Liz," she said with great trepidation. "Did you…. Did you make it tickle me on purpose?"

"No. I was just trying to get you free."

"Well, it tickled a lot. Ima get you back sometime."

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"Please don't." Holoxe slid his claws away from her hand. Hopefully, she would have no recollection of this after the substances left her system. "I'm getting Josie, and she'll make you feel all better. Just rest for now."

"Okay. Thanks, Liz." When Victoria's heavy lids fell closed, her breaths evened out as if fast asleep.

Holoxe got up and retreated from the room. Just outside, he ran into his brother coming this way. "Hey Ibnoxe." A wave of embarrassment swept over him. I'm so glad Ibnoxe didn't just see that.

"Is everything alright with Victoria?" he asked.

Holoxe flitted his gaze back to the living room. "She's asleep." Raising his voice, he addressed Josie who was in the kitchen. "Victoria was bit by an unidentified plant which made her act goofy. Can you check to make sure the toxins aren't harmful?"

Josie hurriedly turned a casserole around in the oven. "Of course. I'll be right there." She dropped everything and tended to patient passed out on the couch.

Ibnoxe and Holoxe walked together towards the garage. "We're feeding the vuls!" Ibnoxe said. "You need to see this. They're adorable."

Already, Holoxe's tail lifted in a massive improvement to his mood. Back in the garage, each vul now had individualized attention now that Holoxe could hold Vue in his lap. Ibnoxe sat in the center and dragged Vie back by her fluffy tail to catch her.

A tiny, meek yelp curled from Vie's snout.

"Oh no!" Ibnoxe said, taking her tiny paws into his claws. "I didn't mean to hurt you…." Guilt over hurting his vul baby consumed him.

"Yeah, don't pull on her tail like that," Charlotte said. She sat up as tall as she could and tried to raise a playful hand menacingly. "How would you like it if I pulled your tail?" She froze for a second before her face turned cherry red, and Lottie thrust her hands into the fur of Vel.

Ibnoxe did not want his tail pulled by anybody, so the message came across loud and clear. Not understanding Charlotte's sudden change in demeanor, he focused on having Vie play with Vue. The dragon brothers hoped to foster a sibling relationship in their vuls as great as their own.

Related to the prior conversation, Ibnoxe found that he could flick his tail in front of the vuls and wiggle it like a snake. The kits were enticed to pounce on it and mouthed at his scales with their little, pokey teeth. The bites were gentle enough to tickle him, so Ibnoxe laughed and said, "You have to try this Holoxe!"

His brother joined in the good fun by curling his tail into the vuls' playspace. As soon as they caught a glimpse of the movement, their eyes lit up and they charged for it. "You're right!" Holoxe said, doubling over in laughter.

As they goofed around, Charlotte regained her composure. Her hands became calm enough to release Vel and let her rush to play with the siblings. "What exactly happened while you guys were out, by the way?"

Ibnoxe and Holoxe recounted their earlier adventure, especially how they had learned additional magic to take down the beheflea queen.

"That's what I was wondering about, actually. Did you notice the gem on its abdomen by any chance?"

"Yeah," Ibnoxe said. "Victoria wanted it. We figured it was a fair division of the goods since she let us have the disco alloy and the behemoth's horn."

"Excuse me?" Charlotte squeaked out. "You thought what was good deal?"

A sour mood quickly returned to Ibnoxe, and he flicked his tail away from the vuls in agitation. "Was it not?"

Similar frustration entered Holoxe's voice as he tried to justify their actions. "Besides, she did help us learn more about our power."

Charlotte squinted her eyes and whined, "Sure, but you could've hired a real tutor for how much that gem is worth! That, plus you could buy the shadow horn and some disco alloy at auction. Vickie's taking advantage of you! She's really making me mad…."

Holoxe growled and shook his head. "We should've taken it from her when she was trapped in the plant—could've made her agree to hand it over."

"We can take it right now while she's sleeping," Ibnoxe suggested, ready to head back into the living room right now.

"No, wait, guys!" Charlotte had not intended to get them all riled up. She raised her hands in a calming gesture and said, "As much as I'd love to give Vickie a taste of her own medicine, this'll just cause more problems. My mom agreed she could stay until Marcel regains his strength."

"Why'd you even bother telling us then?" Ibnoxe snapped.

Charlotte shrunk away from his outburst and fiddled with the sleeves of her sweatshirt. "What if I can get Victoria to hand it over amicably? I've been meaning to talk to her… just haven't gathered the courage yet." Her dejected gaze was cast sidelong, but when she composed herself, her eyes were sparkling when she looked to them. "Please?"

Ibnoxe flicked his happier tail out for the vuls. "Sure. I mean, you're always welcome to help us." It was funny how she asked pleasingly to do them a favor.

In that regard, their presence also seemed to help Charlotte. Although she often appeared timid, he could not get the first night out of his head, when Lottie had thrown herself off a moving hoverbike so that Victoria could not leave them behind. She was definitely better at standing up for others over herself.

"Okay," she said with a big sigh and smiled. "Thanks. I'll do that. Since I still don't have enough to do yet…. What do you want to do with the disco alloy and shadow horn? I can either put them up for sale online or see if we can make anything out of it."

While Ibnoxe knew that they needed money, he thought the offer from the Mutant Bounty Program was a good start. He could earn 1,500 credits by writing a description about it and submitting the footage. If they would have any use for the resource that they gathered, it would make the most sense to keep them rather than buying them back later.

"What would we do with the stuff, especially the disco alloy."

Holoxe chimed in, "Yeah, I have no idea what we're doing with that hunk of junk. The behemoth horn looks sick though."

"The horn's mostly just a trophy—a collector's item," Charlotte said, similar to what the database had on record. "It's also popular to be used in some cult rituals, from my understanding. The disco alloy is actually the useful one! It's extremely flexible when charged with mana, so I was thinking it could make good armor for shifters. Your current gear looks uncomfortable whenever you're wearing it in human form."

Ibnoxe and Holoxe nodded fervently. "That's a great idea!" Indeed, their armor was optimized for their sub-dragon form—the one they always preferred in dangerous situations. As they spent more time in civilization outside their official role in Grandesia Power Company, Ibnoxe and Holoxe would want to keep a low profile.