“Sorry, didn’t realize you’d be so fully formed, my other three spirits were a little less distinct when they first manifested,” Cal responded mentally.

“Three?!” the voice said with shock. “I’m not super familiar with humans, but how exactly did you end up with three? I didn’t think humans could handle anything like that,” the voice said.

“It’s a long story, but honestly, I was hoping to make it four, or maybe five, I guess, not really sure what this egg is,” Cal flashed a mental image of the egg to the spirit. “But if you’re willing to bond with me, it will likely make a bit more sense.”

“Hmm, yes, I think I’d prefer that to the mean squirrels. They sucked the other pond dry of its mana, and I’m surprised you found an egg left at all. It must have been hiding from them, and I guess if it trusted you to keep it safe, who am I to argue?” The spirit said.

“Thank you, I’m Cal. Welcome to the army,” Said Cal.

“Army? Just what did I get tangled into? Oh, and a name, yeah, the big guy has been calling me Sleek. Will that work?” they responded.

“Of course, alright, let me open my mana channels, and we can start forming our bond. I’ll try to show you my memories as we do this. It will explain a lot, and after that, you can tell me about who this big guy is,” Cal answered.

***

Several hours later, Cal felt the bond firmly settle into place and Sleek’s spirit within his core. While he flashed his memories to her, she had been showing a few to him as well. It looked like she would allow him some control of friction, and much to his own surprise, he had decided to make the responsible decision and not play around with that kind of mana until he was safely back with the others. He had already damaged his body enough on this excursion.

Ethel and Tiffany were sitting around discussing the different types of crustaceans she knew about on Earth and how much had changed since he had last seen the planet. “Not to interrupt your conversation about the crab fishing industry, but I think I’m good, and we can head back. Oh, and it looks like the world seed here is still very alive. He takes a strong guiding hand in raising mana spirits, or at least did before the squirrels and Graylth started interfering. Unlike our previous ones from Earth, these guys are a bit more aware of their abilities and how to manifest them.” Cal explained.

“I suppose I can ignore your rudeness due to your excitement at a new bond, but yes, let’s try to find our way back. You need some real rest before we decide on what to do next,” Ethel said, looking Cal up and down. “You look slightly different, but I can’t put my finger on how exactly.”

Stolen novel; please report.

“Really, that’s weird,” Cal said. He wondered what had caused that. Sleek had no answer for him.

“Yes, yes, it is,” Ethel said suspiciously.

***

“And why did you think it was a good idea to hop in the pools?” Stan asked.

“Wait, wait, wait, who said anything about it being a good idea? I just said it’s what I did. They were draining, and I wasn’t sure we’d have another chance to track them down. Plus, are you telling me Sleek here isn’t a nice addition to our resistance?” Cal said as Sleek manifested before everyone. Ethel had been explaining everything that had happened while he was getting some food in him.

“Hi, I’m Sleek. I’m glad to know you are all fighting against the Gryalth. I’m absolutely delighted to help,” her voice was full of cheer.

“Well, at least she’s going to get along well with Bug. Nice to meet you, Sleek, I’m Stan,” Stan looked over to his son. “So what’s up next for the plan? The big bad squirrel is out of the picture, and we’ve even found several pools. Do we want just want to try and find a way back home?”

“No, Sleek here apparently knows where another dozen are,” Cal answered.

“I do! Six of them haven’t really been touched since the bearded guy was last here. The other six are in Gryalth-occupied territory. I can draw us a map!” She said excitedly.

“Thanks, but not just yet. You can work on that with Jen while I get some rest later. I think as for the rest of the plan, I want to meet the world spirit. I’m curious if he knows we don’t consider Pluto a planet anymore,” Cal said.

“Wait, what?! How can you not consider this place a planet? It’s packed full of magic,” Sleek, shocked voice cut off Cal.

“Sorry, Sleek, I’m sure if the scientists back on earth worked on the principle of where the most magic was, we would still label it a planet, but these days it has to do with size, I think.” Cal tried to calm his new spirit down.

“Oh, well, I guess that’s better. I still don’t like it, though. I want to talk to these scientists once we are back on Earth.” She huffed.

“We’ll see. In the meantime, though, I think I’m going to recover a bit and then head out the big spirit in charge here. Sleek gave me an estimate of six months there and back. So I’ll be gone for roughly a year. I was hoping while I was gone, you could take charge of this group and try to scout out the pools and make some decisions about them.” Cal explained to his dad.

“And the Gryalth?” Stan asked.

“I don’t really know. I think at some point we will need to steal one of their ships if we want to get back to Earth without restarting the loop, but if you can, try to avoid them until I get back.” Cal answered. He wasn’t sure how possible that would be long-term, especially if any of the true believers of the surviving mutated squirrels made contact, but it was for the best to delay it as long as they could for now.