The group of four immediatly ran outside of the shack just in time to see a herd of rabbit-like creatures emerge from the surrounding forest. William was the first to break the silence. ''Rose, Wulfric come out!'' A red and a icy blue beam both came out of his pockets and formed into two creatures.
The first one was what looked like a skunk except it was much bigger and instead of having a while line on it's back it was red. The red line soon bursted into a raging fire on top of the Elestia. The other creature looked like a lemur but it was blue in color with white stripes on it's tail and mist came pouring out of his mouth despite the pretty warm temperature.
Xofamia nodded at the boy before following his example. ''Misty, Angel come out!'' Oliver and Clara were arleady familiar with Misty, but Angel was a new one. It was yet anohter Kitsubi but this one was different from the rest.
She had seven tails which meant she was pretty old. Despite the name she looked nothing like an angel. Her fur was a dark gray color, she had large leathery wings sprouting from her back, she had long fangs sprouting out of her mouth. Her eyes were glowing with an eery green color and her ears were massive and lacked any fur on the inside.
''Another Kitsubi? You're really obsessed with them.'' Clara said with a raised eyebrow. Xofamai only shrugged in response.
''Sandy, Bolt come out too!'' The Fawna and the Shockrirrel materialised in front of him ready for a fight. The last one who wasn't ready was Clara. With deep breath she dropped her illusion revealing her hybrid form and she called out her best friend to her help.
''Marie come out! We have trouble coming on us.'' The small Rodair emerged from her pouch and flew in the air ready to swoop down on any Bunterra that came too close. Meanwhile William looked at Clara with his mouth hanging open.
''What the heck are you?!'' He asked in shock.
''Let save the questions for another time we have a horde to deal with.'' Xofamai said before ordering his Elestia to charge at the rabbit-like creatures. Both Kitsubi stopped a few meters away from their target and they began to attack at a distance. Misty release an icy breath that froze any Bunterra that came too close while Angel released a large gust of wind that sent many of the rabbits fly in the air. When they landed their body splated against the ground with sickening crunches.
Clara gagged when she saw a few Bunterra with limbs twisted in unatural ways laying motionless on the ground. Oliver felt disgusted too but he didn't show it. ''Sandy, Bolt go help them we must keep them away from the settlement!'' The Fawna and the Shockrirrel followed his orders and ran toward the advancing horde of rabbits.
Clara looked at Marie with a determined expression. ''Ready Marie? Let's go!'' Clara and her Elestia ran into the fray ready to blast any upcoming threats coming close to the wall. The first to reach the herd was Bolt with his incredible speed he proceeded to slam into one of the Bunterra. The impact sent both Elestia flying in the air but while the Bunterra had been knocked down Bolt redirected himself in the air and slammed into another upcoming Elestia. He continued like that a few more time until the Bunterra catched on and summoned vines to catch the flying Shockrirrel.
Bolt squeaked in alarm when he became tangled by the dozens of vines sprouting from the ground. ''Marie go help him!'' Clara yelled to her best friend. The Rodair nodded and send a gust of wind toward the vines which was enough to loosen their grip on the electric squirrel. Bolt quickly freed himself and resumed his attack on the Buntera with vengeance.
Meanwhile Xofamai was pointing at his wind Kitsubi. ''Angel send the Bunterra in the air with a strong gust!'' The Kitsubi flapped her leathery wings and produced a massive gust that sent a dozen of Bunterra in the air. ''Now Misty!'' Xofamai exlaimed the ice Kitsubi nodded and created several ice spikes out of thin air and sent them flying with deadly precision.
The Bunterra screamed as they were pierced by the ice rods and were rendered lifeless before they even touched the ground. They were so preoccupied by the advancing horde that they didn't noticed that a few dozens Bunterra had snuck behind them without their notice. That is until they began to feel a small earthquake in the ground.
To their horror when they looked back they saw that a group of Bunterra had managed to reach the wall of Bajoon and were now creating a small earthquake that was quickly creating cracks in the concrete wall. William tried to run toward them but it was too late a small part of the wall crumbled and fell on the ground creating a cloud of dust.
''Crap, crap, crap! Rose spray them with gas! Now!'' The skunk-like Elestia turned around and created a thick layer of gas that floated in the air. Unlike real skunk however it did not smell bad, Clara recognised the smell. It was something she often smelled during hot summer days when her father had not been the bad man he is today. He would often grill hamburgers on the barbecue and spent the rest of the afternoon outside. The gas produced by the Skurnace reminded her of these days. Because it shared the same smell as propane.
''Rose do it!'' William yelled to his Elestia. The fire Elestia nodded and spit out a small ember toward the gas. It was all it needed to ignited into an hellish fire that engulfed every Bunterra that had assaulted the wall. The remaining rabbits squeaked in horror and all began to run away from the humans. William sighed in relief but also a bit with melancholy. ''Look like it's finally over. But we lost a part of the damn wall, I'll surely hear about this from the mayor.'' He said to himself more than anybody else.
''Oliver what are you doing?!'' Clara yelled in alarm as the boy recalled both of his Elestia and started running toward the retreating Bunterra.
''I can't let them get away with this! If we let them get away they'll just try again another time! That's how these damn monsters work!'' Clara froze, here it was. She had thought Oliver was begining to let go of his hatred with Elestia. But she realised he only ever trusted Elestia that were controlled by humans. It was her fault for assuming he was okay with all Elestia.
Clara was about to run after him but was stopped by the hand of Xofamai. ''Where do you think you're going?'' He asked with a frown plastered on his face.
''I need to stop Oliver from doing something reckless!'' She yelled tried to get out of his grip. The man dressed in black shook his head.
''The defense of Bajoon has been compromised other Elestia could try to take advantage of the situation, we need to stay here.'' But as he look at the begging expression on Clara's face he sighed in resignation.
''Fine you can go. But I need to stay here, so be careful alright? I know you like Elestia more than Oliver but don't let that love for them blind you to how dangerous they really are.'' Clara reluctantly nodded before she started running intot the forest that Oliver disappeared into.
Xofamai sighed and placed himself in front of the hole in the wall guarding from any wandering Elestia. William approached the man and rubbed the back of his head nervously. ''Umm I don't know if it's too indiscreet but... What is this girl? Is she a talking Elestia or something else?''
Xofamai grunted in response. ''That's a long story...''
- - - - - -
Oliver was panting loudly as he sprinted into the forest. The Bunterra were quick but he was determined to catch up to them. All his life these damn monsters had ruined everything for him. Now he finally had a way to retaliate against them. Ringabell City, Fluoti Town, Maricas, Old Trombina... Xilo. He couldn't forgive them for all these losses.
Finally he came into a clearing and saw a small group of Bunterra. As soon as they saw him they started to run away again but this time Oliver wouldn't let them. ''Sandy, Bolt! Come out!'' Both of his Elestia materialized in front of him ready for action. ''Take those Bunterra down! Sandy stop them from leaving with your vines and Bolt finish them off with your lightning!''
The two Elestia did as ordered all the Bunterra that tried to run away were swiftly traped by a vine and then Bolt would charge at them and end their life on the spot. The wild Elestia were screaming in a panic but after a few minutes it was over, all of the Elestia trapped in vines laid dead. That was until a small whinning sound catched Oliver attention.
He made his way toward the sound and found himself in front of a bush pushing it aside he saw a den filled to the brim with Bunterra kits. Oliver hesitated for a few seconds but then his gaze hardened. ''Sandy, kill them.'' The Fawna eyes widened and to Oliver's surprise she shook her head. ''What?! I'm your Chosen, you're supposed to obey me!'' Sandy response was to stubbornly glared at him without moving an inch. ''Fine if you won't do it then Sandy return!'' The Fawna was turned into brown energy and returned into her Draconid Gem.
Then he turned toward Bolt. ''What about you Bolt, will you chicken out too?'' The Shockrirrel shook his head and a spark of electricity enveloped him before he dashed toward the group of kits.
Before he could reach them however a older looking Bunterra jumped in front of them and took the hit without flinching. Then he turned to the kits and cried out at them. The kits seemingly understanding what the older Bunterra wanted them to do ran away from the den and scattered around the forest.
Oliver growled but then he noticed that one of the kits had stayed behind and was crying toward the older Bunterra. Oliver smirked at least not all of them would be hard to catch it seemed like. The older Bunterra turn toward the kit and screamed at it before glaring at the oncoming form of Oliver. The older Elestia screamed once again and with sadness the young kit ran away.
''Oliver run, now!''
Oliver paused as the voice entered his mind. Why did he have to think of that day now of all time? But as he look at the Bunterra glaring defiantly at him, he realised why his subconscious had dug up memories of that day. This Bunterra was acting exactly like his father did on that day. And the Dragon was... Himself.
Oliver eyes widened as this realisation sank in. He thought of himself as the hero who was liberating the world of Elestia. But right now he was nothing more than another Dragon wasn't he? Bolt charged himself with electricity and was about to pounce on the older Elestia blocking his way. Oliver shook his head and yelled. ''Bolt return!'' The Shockrirrel was immediatly engulfed in a yellow beam and was returned inside his gem.
Oliver looked at the glaring Bunterra with a guilty expression. ''I-I'm sorry.'' He managed to say before he ran away as fast as he could. What had he become? All this time he thought he was in the right. He believed that Elestia were soulless monsters and that the only 'good ones' were only good because they were taking order from humans. But the way that Bunterra put himself into harm way for his kits. It was such a human thing to do that Oliver was forced to see them for what they really were.
They were people, they acted much more feral than humans were but that did not matter. They felt happiness, sadness, love, hate, they cared for each other like real families and they would probably have the same intelligence to think and reason like humans did if they were not stuck surviving days to days in the wild like animals. They were far from being a force of good however. They were just as flawed as humans, but did they really deserved to all die for that? If the answer was yes then he really was not any better than the Dragons.
''Oliver I finally found you! Are you okay?'' Oliver looked up and saw Clara looking at him with a worried expression. Oliver noticed he had a few tears in his eyes and quickly wipe them away.
''I'm okay...'' He replied not finding the words to say anything else. Clara was about to walk toward him but then a group of Bunterra suddenly appeared and surrounded Oliver from all side. Clara gasped and ran toward them her hands arleady lighting up with power.
''Leave him alone!'' She yelled at them but to no avail. The Bunterra antlers glowed with energy and then the ground under Oliver began to tremble and then exploded outward leaving only a gaping hole in it's place. Oliver screamed as he felt himself fall into the dark abyss bellow.
''Oliver!'' Clara yelled in horror as she saw the boy vanished into the darkness. Her horror turned to anger as the hole was shut down by the Elestia. She turned toward them her hands dangerously crackling with a blue light...
- - - - -
Oliver didn't even realised he had fell unconscious until he woke up. he groaned in pain, his body was hurting all over. Fortunately it seemed like nothing was broken. He looked around to where he had fallen but he only managed to see darkness. Great how was he supposed to get out of here now? Then an idea popped in his head.
''Bolt come out...'' He said in a hoarse voice. As he came out the Shockrirrel squeaked in alarm at his lack of vision. ''Bolt are you able to lit up this place with your powers?'' In response the stripe of yellow fur on Bolt's back became brighter and brighter until Oliver could finally see his surroundings.
They were in a dank cave with no exit in view. How did he ended up here? Then he remembered about the Bunterra that had ambushed him and created a hole under him. He looked up but didn't noticed any holes. Oliver was confused, he had fallen here didn't he? So where was the hole he had fallen throught?
He shrugged now was not the time to ponder on this. He still had a mission to complete and he would rather not spend too long lost in a cave like this. But as he started walking he came in front of a intersection. They looked almost identical to each other, scratching his chin he turned toward Bolt. ''Do you have any idea where we should go?''
The Shockrirrel barked and began to sniff the air before pointing to the left entrance. Oliver nodded and started walking in that direction. His progress was soon halted as he felt something sticky clunging to his face. Oliver frantically rubbed the offending sticky substance away and shuddered violently. ''Eww! I hate spider webs.''
Bolt cocked his head at Oliver before begining to sniff at the air once again but the he stopped and to Oliver surprised he started to hiss at something in the dark. He had an arched back, his fur was standing on end and small jolt of electricity ran through his body.
Oliver looked at this with a concerned look. ''Bolt? What's wrong buddy?'' Then he heard it, there was something skittering in the dark- no it was many things. And then they came into the light and Oliver's blood ran cold. Dozens of spiders the size of his hands were all crawling toward him.
''Ahh! no, no, no! Get the hell away from us!'' He said in a panicked, seeing that his shout had done nothing to dissuade them he turned toward Bolt with a pleading look. ''Bolt take care of them! Hurry!'' The Shockrirrel made a chittering noise and then was engulfed into a cloak of electricity.
Using his incredible speed Bolt launched himself at the spiders and managed to kill a few of them with deadly precision. Before he could kill any more of them however the spiders stopped moving and threw their silky webs at the small rodent. Bolt squeaked in alarm as he became stuck in the sticky substance.
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
Seeing this Oliver steeled himself and tried to tear thought the webs with his hands shuddering each them he touched it. But even with his best effort he wasn't able to tear apart the webs they were much more solid than they looked like. The spiders gathered around Bolt and began to spit a green fluid at him. As soon as it hit the Shockrirrel, the liquid made a sizzling sound and Bolt cried out in pain.
''No! Leave him alone you freaks of nature!'' The spiders continued to spit out the green goop at poor Bolt and he started to writhe in pain. ''That's enough! Bolt return!'' He was sent back inside his Draconid Gem where he could heal safely from the attack he had substained.
Oliver turned at the gathering of arachnids with a hateful glare. ''Alright now you pissed me off let's see how you handle this, Sandy come out!'' He stood there with a smug smirk on his face awaiting for his Elestia to come out and destroyed these abominations. But after a few seconds his smirk had faded away replace with a worried frown. The seconds ticked by and his Elestia had not come out. ''Sandy are you there? Come out! Ahh!'' Oliver screamed in pain as one of the spider got closer to him and spitted out green goo at his left arm.
It felt like his arm was on fire his eyes widened in horror when more spiders came closer and spitted out more of the liquid at him. This time he had the reflex to jump back before it could hit him. The green liquid sizzled as it landed on the rocky floor where Oliver stood a second ago. He decided to run away from the upcoming horde of spiders, his arm torturing him with each step he took.
''Sandy come out! Please!'' There was still no response from the brown Draconid Gem. Oliver looked back and shuddered as he saw the horde steadily coming closer to him. He continued to back away until his back was up to the wall. Oliver took the Earth Draconid Gem and quickly projected his mind inside of it...
- - - - -
The alien forest that he came to know as Sandy's home materialised around him. Oliver looked around but the Fawna was nowhere to be seen. ''Sandy?! Where are you?!'' Nothing responded to him except for the echo of his own voice.
He cursed under his breath and decided to go search for her. Despite it's appearance the world he was in wasn't that big. It was around the size of a football field so it didn't take that long for him to find Sandy sulking into a small meadow.
''Sandy! I finally found you! Why didn't you came out earlier when I called you?'' The Fawna looked at Oliver for a second before turning her head with a huff. ''Sandy? Are you angry with me?''
She glared daggers at him in response. ''What do you think? Oliver I know that Elestia are supposed to follow their Chosen's orders and I am ready to do such things without hesitation... Most of the time. But you tried to make me kill a bunch of innocent kits today. This is where I draw the line, I have no problems with taking care of other Elestia who threathen you. But they were defenseless babies! Am I angry? I would be lying if I said no, but mostly I am dissapointed that my Chosen would stoop so low. From my understanding you were trying to make a better world weren't you? Well I can tell you, you won't do it like this! The only thing you will accomplish is breed more hatred between humans and Elestia!''
At this point Oliver had lowered his head and looked at the ground with a shameful face. ''I-... You're right Sandy. I was so blind by my hatred of wild Elestia that I lost a part of my humanity. I don't deserve to be a Chosen I let the power go to my head.''
She closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. ''You made a mistake today. A big one, it will take a while before I can completely trust you again... But I suppose I can't just leave you alone with that cluster of Toxider. After all you won't be able to learn your lesson if you're too dead to learn it.''
Oliver looked at her with a baffled expression. ''Did- did you just make a joke?''
Sandy scoffed and rolled her eyes at him. ''I know that I act a lot older than my age would suggest. But that doesn't mean I'm completely void of humor. Now come on, exit this realm so we can take the fight to those Elestia.''
He nodded and felt a pulling sensation as the forest fade into nothingness. It was time to get out of this cave once and for all.
- - - - -
When Oliver came back to his senses he had the chance to witness the time-altering abilities of Draconid Gems for himself. The Toxiders as Sandy had called them had barely moved an inch since he was gone. ''Alright Sandy, are you ready?'' He asked while looking at the brown gem.
In response Sandy materialised into the cave arleady in a defensive position. Before Oliver could even say anything she went to the offensive and slammed her hooves to the ground. Instead of vines however, new plants emerged. The plants looked like venus flytraps but they looked much more alive than those plants normally were.
Without hesitation the four plants that had sprouted took huge bites of the uncoming Toxiders and enthusiastically chew them. But even with that the number of Toxiders were far too great and they quickly passed throught the defense Sandy had created.
She growled seeing this and created vines to swat away the arachnids that came too close but even that was soon overwhelmed with the sheer number of Elestia that camed pouring through. Oliver eyes widened when he saw that some of them were preparing themselves to spit out their acidic goo at his Elestia. ''Careful Sandy!'' He yelled before grabing her by the midsection and dragged her away just in time to escape the green goop that sizzled on the floor.
''Oh crap we're so done, there's no way we can kill all of those things... I'm going to die here.'' He said with resignation in his voice. But just as he started to give up hope something bright illuminated the cave. Oliver looked over to Sandy and saw that she was enveloped inside a brown light. ''Is she... Boosting? No I didn't glow like when Bolt did it, so is she Ageing then?''
The Toxiders shrieked in alarm at the development and tried to spit their goop at Sandy but the light repealed it away. Inside the light Oliver could Sandy form twisted and turn in a way that looked painful but she did not seemed fazed by the change that was happening to her.
Finally the light dissappeared and a new being stood where Sandy used to be. Just like when Bolt had transformed she had turned bipedal but she was much taller than the squirrel ever had been. She was now about a head shorter than Oliver, her front hooves had now turned into hands, her hind-legs had remained as hooves but they were much bigger than before. Her fur had become much thicker and fluffier than before and from where Oliver was standing it almost looked like she was wearing a dress made out of fur. On top of her head two small antlers had appeared and finally her muzzle had became a bit bigger making her look a bit more mature than before but not by much.
Oliver stared at her breathlessly. ''You really have gone throught Ageing.''
In response Sandy nodded with a smirk but then her gaze turned serious as she glared at the still oncoming Toxiders. She took a fighting stance and with a growl she stamped her right hoof on the ground with enough force to make a small crack appear. Nothing seemed to happen for awhile.
''Umm, are you sure your attack worked?'' Oliver asked with a worried frown plastered on his face.
But then as if to respond to him the ground beneath them began to shake violently. They heard a screech coming from the Toxiders in the back. Then Oliver saw it and his eyes widened in horror. The entire cave was collapsing crushing any Elestia in it's path. He tried to run away but he soon found himself back to the wall once again with no exit.
In his panicked state however Oliver had not noticed that Sandy did not seemed disturbed by the oncoming avalanche of rocks. Instead she lifted a hand in the air as if trying to command the rocks themselves. When every single Toxiders had been crushed under the rocks. The collapse of the tunnels suddenly stopped just a few meter away from Sandy and Oliver.
Oliver sighed in relief at being spared a gruesome death but then he realised there was still a big problem. ''Umm, Sandy I'm really glad we got rid of these Elestia. But now we're trapped in here with no way out! It's only a matter of time before the lack of oxygen kill us.''
She shook her head in response before taking the same stance as before and pushed the air with both of her arms. Oliver looked at her in confusion but before he could ask anything he felt the ground shake once again. And the rocks in front of them exploded and where sent further away into the cave.
Oliver stood mouth agape at this. ''Whoa I knew you would get stronger when you transformed but this is something else.''
They begin to walk toward the exit but then their way was soon blocked by another collapsed tunnel. Sandy blasted the rocks away once again with her newfound ability and the process repeated until they finally found an exit. Oliver had to shield his eyes as he stepped back into the sun.
He smiled widely and raised his hand toward Sandy in a high-five gesture. She responded by crossing her arms and looking away while making a grunting noise. ''Oh right, you're still mad at me aren't you?'' She responded with a nod and Oliver sighed. ''Well alright I'll talk to you later, for now return Sandy, you deserve a break.'' She was returned into her gem and Oliver was left alone with his thoughts.
It was sad that she had not forgiven him yet, but it was to be expected. He really fucked up on that one. Oliver looked around and tried to find a way back to Bajoon. Further away he saw a huge moutain of rocks that Sandy had blasted away. He was still impressed at everything she had been able to do. His walk throught nature was ruined when he began to smell something vile coming from further away.
Approaching the source of the smell he saw a small lake. He lick his lips at the prospect to drinking some fresh water but as he came closer the disgusting smell from earlier became stronger. When he finally found the source he recoiled in disgust and all his plan of drinking water were thrown out of the window.
On the cliff above the lake was a large pipe and coming out of it was a vile green liquid that Oliver recognised as sewage. ''Ugh disgusting and I was about to drink that.'' Much to his disgusted he saw frog-like creature bathing in the water.
When they saw him they shrieked at him and became bloated. Oliver jumped back when they spited out something at him. The liquid landed on the ground and sizzled and Oliver recognised it as the same liquid the Toxiders had attacked him with. He quickly ran away before they could try to attack him once again.
Once he was far enough he stopped to catch his breath. ''What the heck? Why is there so many Elestia that spit acid? That's not one of the Nature right?'' He shook his head now was not the time to worry about that. He needed to find his way back to Clara and Xofamai.
If there was sewage here it meant that civilisation must not have been far from where he was. With that in mind he started to back away and looked above the cliff and saw a familiar wall in the distance. Oliver grinned victoriously, but then he noticed there was no road to get there. He realised that if he wanted to get back to Bajoon he would need to climb the cliff.
Oliver groaned, he hated climbing he couldn't recall a single time where it had gone well for him. With resignation he began to climb the huge wall of rocks. His hands screamed in protest once he was halfway to the top, but he force himself to continue. He began to hear something coming closer but he dismissed it as his imagination, that is until he heard a loud piercing cry a few meters away from him.
He turned back and cursed loudly when he saw a large beast coming for him. The Elestia had large wings, large claws and a razor sharp beak. The back half of the Elestia however was different. Instead of feathers it had golden yellow fur, a long and thin tail with a tuff at the tip of it and large feline paws. It was a being that was previously only in human's mythology a mighty creature called the Griffin.
''Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!'' Oliver tried to climb the cliff as fast as he could but the creature was determined to have him as meal. The creature came close to him and tried to bite his leg. Oliver yelp as it managed to nip at one of his legs and drew blood. In a rage OIiver kicked the Elestia right in the face. The impact did not hurt it by much at all but it was enough to daze it a little bit. Oliver took that ocassion to try to climb away from the beast. But his speed was affected by the pain in his left leg.
The griffin roared angrily once it recovered and flapped it's wing to stir up a strong gust of wind. The gale it created was so precise and deadly that it acted almost like a blade and cut out a chunk of rocks in the cliff. One of the rocks hitted Oliver square on the left shoulder and he screamed in pain and his left arm lost grip on the cliff.
His right hand felt like it would fall off at any moment with all the weight of his body putted on it. But he forced himself to not let go because he knew he would not survive the fall. He tried to make his left arm take a grip but before he could manage to do it he felt something grab him by the back of his shirt. He yelled in horror as the Griffin started to drag him in the sky.
''Release me you monster! I'll kill you!'' He screamed to no avail. He considered releasing his Elestia to attack the monster. But the only thing it would accomplish is sending both of his Elestria crash on the ground.
Then when he was about to give up all hope he heard a voice coming from the top of the cliff. ''Marie blow it away from Oliver!'' He heard the familiar voice of Clara say. A gust of wind was sent at the Griffin and it cried out in pain as it hit him and made a small cut to his side. The pain made him release Oliver from his grip.
Oliver screamed in terror as he was sent falling back toward the rocky floor beaneath him. But halfway throught his fall he suddenly stopped in mid-air. ''Did you really think I would let you fall to your death?'' The amused voice of Clara said from atop the cliff.
Clara used her ability to drag him toward her. He sighed in relief when he finally felt the ground beneath his feet. ''I really hate climbing.'' Clara looked at him with a confused look before shrugging and turning her attention toward the Griffin who was now chasing Marie in the sky.
The massive beast looked at the small winged mouse with predatory glint in it's eyes. Marie shrieked when the Griffins flew toward her at great speed and grabbed her in it's talon. ''Noo! Marie!'' Clara yelled in horror.
Oliver shielded his eyes as Clara was suddenly engulfed in a green light. Pretty soon Marie was enveloped into the same light and her form started to change much to the shock of the Griffin. Her body grew much bigger and longer. Her wingspan became much more prominent. When the light flickered away they coud see more changes. while most of her fur had stayed white they could see that she had earned green stripes all over her fur. There was mask-like section of fur on her face that had also turn into the grass-like color.
''She... doesn't even look like a mouse anymore.'' Oliver said with a confused expression and he was right if anything Marie now looked more like a ferret with wings than anything else. Meanwhile thanks to her bigger size Marie was able to get out of the claw of the Griffin and retalitated for grabbing her with a large gale of wind that slashed the beast right side. It roared in pain and then created a large gust that send dust everywhere and blocked the vision of everyone.
When the dust settle back the Griffin was far away retreating in the setting sun. Both Clara and Oliver sighed in relief. ''Look like we scared it off. Xofamai is waiting for us we should return to him.'' Clara said.
Oliver nodded at her, Marie returned on the ground her form was now almost as big as dog much too big to fit in her old pouuch. But then she was engulfed into the same green light as earlier and returned to her smaller form.
Clara looked at Marie with a curious expression. ''So that was Boosting huh? If only we knew how that work maybe we could use it more often.'' Marie returned to her pouch with a yawn that put a smile to the girl's face. ''I guess changing of form like that must be tiring huh?'' She started to walk with Oliver in tow. In the distance they could see the wall of Bajoon coming into view.
Before they could walk any further Clara suddenly felt woozy and fell on one of her knee. Oliver immediatly ran toward her side with a worried expression. ''Clara! Are you alright?''
The girl managed to nod. ''Yes, I think the Boosting just took a lot out of me. Don't worry I'll be fine just give me a few seconds alright?'' As she said this she looked at the arm Oliver had a burn mark on and frowned. ''Your arm... You're hurt it look like you got burned, what happened?''
Oliver look down at his arm and saw the burn mark that had been caused by the acid from earlier. It was still stinging a little bit but it wasn't as bad as when he received it. ''I got this from creepy Elestia called Toxiders. Don't worry me and Sandy took care of them. Oh right Sandy! With all the stuff that happened I almost forgot but she went through Ageing!''
Clara shook her head with a frown. ''That's amazing and all but don't brush it off, you're hurt! We should hurry back to the Ding Dong Community and get you checked by a doctor.''
Oliver rolled his eyes. ''Don't act like a mom, I'll be fine.''
She crossed her arm and glared at him. ''You boys are all the same always trying to act tough even when they're something clearly wrong with you. If you don't take care of yourself then I will have to do it for you!''
Oliver huffed and glared back at her. ''I lived for four years alone in the wild. I don't need you to take care of me!''
''Well maybe I want to take care of you!'' Clara blurted out loudly. Both of them stopped and their face began to burn in embarassment when they realised what she had just said.
Before the conversation could go further they heard footsteps coming their way. ''Tsk, tsk, tsk. Always fighting like an old married couple you two. I can't leave you alone for a second.'' Xofamai said with an underable expression.
''We're not a couple!'' Both of them said at the same time.
Xofamai took a cigarette from his pocket and light it up before taking a huge puff that he soon released into the air. ''Sure whatever you say.''
Calra looked at him with a disapproving stare. ''You know you're shortening your lifespan each time you smoke right?''
Xofamai responded with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders. ''With this body I can live up to one thousand years. I'm not really worried about my lifespan if I want to be honest.''
Clara muttered under her breath at that. Meanwhile Oliver realised something. ''Wait if you're here who is protecting the wall?''
''We got reinforcement from the Resistance they will take care of the wall until it repaired. It seem like the General didn't want to risk the two of you staying outside of the Community for too long.'' Xofamai said after taking another puff of his cigarette.
Oliver groaned in annoyance. ''Seriously? First Clara and now the General, why am I surrounded by overprotective women?''
''Because you're reckless.'' Xofamai said in a deadpan tone. Clara giggled at that which made Oliver glared at her. ''Anyway we should get back, you look like you had a rough time back there.''
As they passed in front of the entrance to Bajoon City they could see William talking to two other man with the Resistance symbol on their vest. When he saw Oliver and Clara in the corner of his eyes he waved at them. The two of them waved back before entering inside the car they had arrived in.
The engine roared to life and Xofamai drove them away from the settlement where so much had happened. Oliver had a thoughtful look on his face. There was something familiar about the way William had looked at them. Then he realised, he had the same look Oliver used to have before he met Clara...