Dragon Lagoon Beach

[Apollymi]

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49022869607_4dbe8455fe_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2hFZ2cM)

Dragon Lagoon Beach is a hotbed of activity as far as the locals are concerned. The area is full of mana and has beaches which flow with riptides and numerous water falls that lead down into the depths. The water levels seem to rise and fall of their own accord but no one seems to mind this very much. The waters here are said to have a mysterious healing property and there are several different legends surrounding mermaids and healing dragons around the area.

[Bloodedge]

Roughly one day of travel from the Filolial farm in the Grasslands, a group of four Adventurers relatively new to this world approached the beach called Dragon Lagoon. Kou led the way, while Karna made the interesting decision of walking to the side of Miki, who held the Filolial egg they intended to hatch here. In what could be considered more his normal fashion, he began speaking to the blonde. "So, Oujo-san~! What's it like finally being a mommy? Dad hasn't been talking much; maybe you didn't listen when he suggested the abortion!?" Again, this was Karna's approach when dealing with Miki and Kou. There was method to his madness, but in addition to that simple matter... he found this approach quite fun.

[Apollymi]

A day of travel later and Miki was walking along pillow at her back, still carrying the Filolial egg. She didn't really think much about this, and was content to do this regardless of everything else. That being said early as they walked she found Karna at her side and he was full of quips which quite frankly annoyed her to no end. She cut her eyes in the lad's direction and put on the biggest and most obvious fake smile of the century. "So great of you to ask. Totally the best thing that ever happened to me. Nothing to worry about, it was totally his idea and everything, I'm sure he's just quietly shocked!~" there was so much sarcasm in her statement that she could have choked on it, and just as easily as that fake smile had come to her face it fell away leaving her normal soured expression. 'Why is he so annoying? If he wanted to talk fine... but why about something he obviously doesn't care too much about?' the girl wondered to herself. Karna was a bit of a hard read for her, he truly came off as something of a troll and nothing she wanted to constantly deal with, though she had no problems with him directly. She sighed in this moment, knowing she was just in a bit of a mood, thought it wasn't necessarily unpleasant for her, she was just generally more annoyed than normal. "Whew, is there something I can help you with Karna?" she asked of the white haired lad, figuring he wouldn't simply waste his time to chat with her, just because he could.

[Bloodedge]

Miki's sarcastic smile was met by one of Karna's own. He continued wearing his long after Miki's faded away, and there was a certain air of mischief about his in the long-run. "Of course, of course! Who wouldn't be? You two haven't even gotten down to business yet, but now there's all this responsibility of parenthood on your plates! How is it alright to skip the fun part, right? Whatever, I'm sure you'll handle that soon!" he said. When Miki sighed and asked if there was something she could help him with, he was already prepared to respond while staring directly into the blonde's face. "Of course there isn't. You know me, just being a good friend, checking up on you... having a chat about something I care so much about~"

[Apollymi]

After her smile faded, it seemed that Karna's was still in full swing. She didn't know what about being annoying always put him in such a good humor, but she was beginning to wonder if such things were good for her own health considering. Moreover the words of the lad seemed to be aimed at the idea he had of the imagined extra relationship between herself and Kou. She cut her eyes at him again and sighed. "It's a chicken. Fun is relative. You're annoying." Her comeback of three concise sentences was far from witty and implied a tiredness which couldn't be faked. Regardless of this, more words from Karna who claimed to be chatting it up because he cared so much. She knew for a fact he didn't care very much about their excursion into Filolial breeding, he'd made that pretty obvious the day before, though he'd been quite chummy with Hikari since then so she figured he'd be less annoying. Apparently she was wrong in this thought, but maybe there would be some way to make up for it in time. She had nothing of substance to offer this shot at conversation, and she knew this lad probably actually thought himself a 'good friend' while being so annoying so she didn't bother trying to dissuade him from his actions, figuring nothing good would come from it. "Uh-huh, well if it makes you happy..." the girl shrugged her shoulders keeping a firm grip of her precious cargo of choice.

[Bloodedge]

"It's a baby. Fun is fun. You're a virgin mother," was Karna's retort. While he hadn't expected to hop any metaphorical fences with this approach, the responses he got from Miki were less than acceptable for the end goal. As such, he heaved a great sigh and skipped out ahead of the girl with the egg in tow. "Yare yare~ Oujo-san's so boooring! Hey Friend, don't you think--" Karna had been making his approach toward Kou, but the moment he began speaking with the lad, Kou turned around. His gaze met Karna, and while there was nothing inherently malicious about said gaze, Karna was taken aback the moment eye contact was made. Something about this look, or some applied power within it, had brought Karna to silence and stillness immediately. He was quite confused by this occurrence, while Kou moved on by ignoring Karna and continuing toward the shore... where he immediately began taking in the rather stunning view of an incredible arcing waterfall surrounding the largest lake-like clearing of water he'd ever seen. "Sugoi..." the lad muttered under his breath.

[Apollymi]

There was a mention of three important facts by Karna, about the current nature of Miki's existence. Whether she cared or not about them would go unknown because to be perfectly honest, she was done talking to the lad anyways. He went on to claim that given her previous responses she was boring and was apparently content to go and pester Kou. But... that didn't exactly turn into an actual bit of pestering. Instead Kou simply looked at the lad, and he backed off for some reason or another... maybe later Miki would have to ask how he managed that because she needed such a skill to survive the constant pestering of Karna. Soon enough though she caught up to the group as Kou had a look around the Dragon Lagoon Beach. Miki herself visited this place often in game, but there were quite a few reasons for that. "Sugoi! It's even better in person!~" Miki chimed. She'd visited this beach a lot and while she enjoyed the views in game, she found them even more breath-taking in person. She stood beside Kou with the giddiness of the moment returning to her person. "What do you think, will it make a good spot?" she asked as far as she was concerned she could live here, but for the purposes of raising their Egg and being a relaxing place for the group as a whole to hang out for a while, that was still up to them.

Hikari was making her way up to the pair wondering why both of them were still so stiff. Even so, she had to admit that this place was absolutely stunning. This had come up as a place offered by Miki for potential raising of the egg, but it actually looked like a nice romantic vacation spot to her. 'Hm, I wonder if this is one of those moments of open availability she presents. This is a nice beach, just raising a Filolial here seems like a bit of an understated use...' the girl thought to herself. She'd never made it out to this side of the country though and even her own mind started to wonder about the beaches and the potential fun to be had here.

[Bloodedge]

Kou had never been to this location in the video game version of this world, but even he had to agree that no game could do justice to such a place as this. Furthermore, as he looked out at the water and saw the various, seemingly randomly-generated riptides not very far from the shore, he gathered that it was just as amazing as the Filolial's birthplace. He even thought he would be made better by traversing the sands of the shore, the thickets of grass farther out, and the waters in front of them. "Yeah... There's no doubt, this is a great spot..." he said.

Karna was privy to the thoughts had by Hikari. Indeed, this place would be completely wasted as just a training grounds for some chicken pet. Whether Miki had ulterior motives with this suggestion or not, there was much use to be had. He moved a little closer to Hikari, if only to be sure the words he shared were received only by her. "Sounds to me like it's bikini season. But, that should probably be your idea~"

[Apollymi]

Miki waited on the verdict about her favorite in game spot as she took in the view, and soon enough, it was mentioned that it was a great spot by Kou himself. A large grin spread across the girl's face, and unlike her earlier sarcastic smile, it was quite genuine. "Hai!" she managed finally seeming pleased after the last day's awkwardness. In this place, she always felt pretty relaxed and as such she was more than ready to settle into some more relaxed things for the next couple of days.

Strangely, more words were being spoken between Karna and Hikari. He mentioned that it seemed like bikini season and that the idea should be hers. She thought about this for a second or two and smiled. "Hai, Dick-sensei. Taking one for the team and mentioning the need for swimwear because you've already annoyed them today and they won't take the advice from you. Got it!~" she mentioned in a hushed whisper. Soon after this she gave a small salute and bounded up beside the pair, taking it in stride and opening the conversation. "Oooh, Nii-san... you didn't say the beach would be so nice!~ Excellent spot, Miki-nee!~" the girl said with a gleeful smile and a delightful hint of deviousness. "Shame on you, Nii-san, I wanna go swimming and play while you two train your chicken. I don't have a swimsuit though, and won't you two need them too... for ya' know all of your training and stuff?" she asked, as if she wanted something while also making it sound like a good idea for the pair of them as well. Upon hearing this Miki nodded her head realizing she did need a bikini for the duration of her stay here maybe a few given her own personality.

[Bloodedge]

As Kou appreciated the view of this beach, Hikari approached and presented the notion of swimsuits. He looked at the girl curiously, considering her opening in this conversation, but nothing seemed too odd to him. Not only did she note wanting to go swimming, but she mentioned the usefulness of swimsuits for his and Miki's training of the Filolial. "Ah... yeah, that'd be pretty useful. We've got a lot of money, so I don't think there's any harm in it." With that, he looked away from the waters, viewing instead the path they'd taken to get here. "Actually, I think there were a few shops on the path, not too far from here. One of them was only a few minutes away."

[Apollymi]

Hikari's suggestion seemed to be taken with no malice by her brother and came with agreement from Miki. When he mentioned the shop which was pretty close to them only a few minutes back her eyes widened. "Hai, I love that shop. In-game the lady there made all kinds of custom clothing items... I spent way too much time picking through her supplies... totally worth it though," said Miki as she looked to Hikari. "You'll probably love it, she's totally into coming up with aesthetics for cute little girls!~ It'll be awesome!~" finished the lass as she turned about to head back towards the shop she'd taken notice of at the start but had avoided suggesting for reasons known only to her. Hikari's eyes widened, it appeared her soft suggestion was more than enough to get them on a new path. "Sugoi! You know all about this part huh? I can trust a girl's fashion opinion. You get to lead the way and help me pick something cute!" Hikari claimed with a bit of forcefulness in those eyes of hers. Miki looked at the lass and chuckled. "Hai hai, you help me pick out something pretty cute too, then it will be fair!~" she offered the young raccoon girl's eyes lit up in the moment as if she'd been given the world. "HAI!~" And with that she fell in step with Miki to walk along with her waving back to her brother. "Come on Nii-san, we're going shopping!~" she mentioned as she turned back around she gave the most discreet of winks to Karna and carried on in her merry little way.

A short trip later would lead to the pair entering a little shop off the road. Inside was a woman in a striped shirt with needles and pins sticking out of her hair which was long, straight and dark green in color. The light from the sun glinted off of large round frame glasses and her tiny face looked up at the entry of the new ones. "KAWAII!! A cute blonde with a great figure and.... a demi-human raccoon girl, just as cute as a button! It must be my lucky day!!" she exclaimed as she immediately approached the girl's with undo fascination, and a tape measure having both of their measurements as they walked around the shop. There were all kinds of things here. Swim trunks, capes, jackets, tops, blankets and bikinis, but for these girls she had something special in mind custom fit items for their beach trip. Everything here was for sale and surprisingly this was one of the few places which had the standard NPC in it... "Take it you two are planning to spend time at the beach?" she asked of them. "Yeah us and the other two..." she mentioned to draw attention to the males if they'd managed to catch up.

[Bloodedge]

A brief exchange took place between Miki and Hikari about the shop, which the group would apparently be going to for the sake of gaining swimwear. The pair of girls were quick to get a move on, with Hikari beckoning for Kou to come along as well. "H-hai..." he said, only slightly weirded out by the amount of excitement shared between these two girls about swimsuit shopping. However, he was always happy to see his sister enjoying herself, so he walked along behind them without any issues. Karna, on the other hand, turned away from the group and waved his hand around in the air. He apparently had nothing to gain from making the trip.

Only a few minutes later, Miki and Hikari were entering the shop, and interacting with an apparent seamstress who boasted a lot of... personality. Kou was several paces behind, though he walked in alone shortly after Miki gestured toward the entrance to draw attention his way. "Uhh... Other one. Karna stayed back," he mentioned, rubbing the back of his head.

[Apollymi]

By the time they reached the shop and were being measured, Kou showed up behind them to mention that they'd apparently lost a member of their party for this little shopping trip. Miki turned and noted that Karna wasn't there and shrugged it off, knowing the lad would turn up at the most inopportune moment to do something she'd find annoying. "Alright then, the other one... I guess~" said Miki without missing beat. The lass in the glasses looked Kou up and down, and though she didn't enjoy making clothes for men, she'd be the first to admit he was rather pretty. "This man is pretty as well!! I won't design you anything special, but feel free to take a 10 percent discount on any of the swimwear you require sir!~" mentioned the lady as she looked over both Miki and Hikari trying to decide how to dress them. "And you two what do you like to wear, I want to come up with looks for you both, something that screams 'You' at the beach..." she mentioned having some kind of note of the type of things this pair was already wearing and drawing ideas. "Isn't she great? I loved this place so much before!~" Miki mentioned to Kou and Hikari. Hikari nodded her agreement her little ears twitching. "Hm, I don't know what would look cute for me... but I have an idea!" she said about the kinds of things she liked or disliked and to Miki and the seamstress. "You can take your ideas for my swimsuit from her... and I'll give you my ideas about a swimsuit for her. And then you make them the way you want and we'll try them on... that sounds like the best right?!" she offered. Miki looked at the lass for a few seconds hanging on to the egg and keeping it close. "Hm, that doesn't really sound like a bad idea. I'll tell her what I want for you... and you tell her what you want for me. And then we can try them on and show each other. I only have one other thing I need. A cover for outside of the water... I don't want to sunburn or anything... and I'm pretty pale now. You can design that to match however you like..." she mentioned to the seamstress.

The seamstress looked wide eyed at the pair. This idea they had was so novel she could do nothing but agree. "I love this. Friends sharing responsibility for looking nice. And giving me a wide bit of freedom with design. Come on then, I'll take your opinions separately and then I'll get to work alright?" she said to both of them. Miki went first to give the lady some ideas for the kind of thing that the lass would likely look good in. Complete with instructions about proper coverage due to her age. In the meantime, Hikari took a moment to talk to her brother. "Ya' know Nii-san, I know the kind of things ya' like looking at, I got your back~" the girl teased her brother mercilessly. "Alternatively, you could go back to being an excited nerd and not giving your partner the cold shoulder. Just saying... you are not doing a good job of increasing my chances to have access to an awesome Nee-san...~" she whispered.

[Bloodedge]

Upon entering the shop, Kou was greeted by the seamstress appraising his appearance. In spite of her positive review, she offered no amount of personalization to whatever he bought, bringing up only a small discount to items of his choice. 'Well... that's a bummer,' he thought, though this was nothing new. "Eto... yeah, alright. Thanks," he spoke casually, deciding it was probably best that he simply have a look around the existing wares. In the meantime, Miki and Hikari continued conversing with the seamstress, until they reached a consensus that left Hikari behind in the aftermath, placing her next to Kou of her own volition. It seemed she had things to say, though her opening statement was odder than he would have preferred. "Ugh! Do you enjoy being this weird around other girls?" he asked. There was more to come from Hikari, involving Kou's apparent coldness toward Miki, and how it ruined her chances of having an 'awesome sister' as it were. Once again, Kou was in shock by the nerve Hikari had to say such a thing. "Eh!? I'm not giving anyone the cold anything, and you definitely can't just go around assigning people to my life like that!"

[Apollymi]

As time progressed Miki stayed talking to the seamstress, after the full conversation about her ideas about what Hikari would look nice in and the drawings offered made her smile, she looked at them and nodded. "Hai hai, just like that... and," Miki looked up and found the brother and sister pair in deep conversation for a second or two longer than she'd needed but to give them space for their conversation and do something she thought would be nice. "You said you wouldn't design anything special for him, but... if I gave most of the input for that would you make the pieces I think he'd like too?" she asked of the seamstress. The woman looked at the girl's face and then back at the boy and then back at her, egg in her arms and had a thought. A small smile came to her face as the glasses on the tip of her nose shined with light. "Well, I suppose I could do something like that... what kind of thing did you have in mind." she asked pulling out a male body sketch and beginning to draw a basic outfit for it, which Miki immediately went about making the kind of adjustments in color and design she thought the lad might enjoy.

In the meantime, Kou and Hikari were having a sibling related conversation which made the small raccoon girl chuckle at his response. "Eh? Other girls don't think I am weird. They think I am an adoring younger sister, doing her best for her idiot big brother. Very common knowledge..." she said her tone still as light-hearted as it always was but she looked at her brother with intensity. Moving right along, he claimed he hadn't been cold at all to anyone and that she couldn't just assign anyone to his life. As she walked around she looked at him with a raised brow. "Uh-huh, well that look you gave Karna-san earlier could have murdered someone... and you haven't said more than three sentences to your partner at a time since yesterday. After all that built up excitement you two had about your egg. So... cold. Lie to someone who can't see what you're doing..." she said with a firm nod of her child sized head. As she turned she looked him dead in the eye with those large pinkish irises of hers shining in the light. "Nii-san, this isn't about me at all, I told ya' I wanted to help take care of you too. You're sabotaging yourself and I don't know why..." she said and she held up a finger. "And before you say anything, yesterday at the farm you definitely could have just sat with her. She left ya enough space... and you both looked so out of sorts for like the whole day. I don't know her well enough to force the issue yet. But... I know you." she said with a sigh. "You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to... but I'm not a dumb kid anymore. I just want you to trust me with stuff a little." the raccoon girl said a bit forcefully.

[Bloodedge]

"Well then, those other girls you're talking about are also weird," was Kou's rebuttal. Hikari was set on being persistent in her points, though, leading to a bit of back-and-forth between her and Kou. "First, Karna's a jackass who just ended up tagging along with us after we killed his Avatar. Second, people are quiet sometimes! Third, how is you pestering me supposed to be 'taking care' of me at all?" he asked with a sigh that seemed just a little annoyed. He wasn't sure why Hikari was so hung up on his association with Miki, when as far as he was concerned, there was nothing she needed to be bothered with. "Why would I do that? We weren't even about to go anywhere, and I was fine where I was. Besides, that was fresh off an awkward situation. Those things happen, it's no big deal. Now, are you done pulling at straws? There's nothing going on here; whatever you think is happening wouldn't work outside of your head."

[Apollymi]

A shake of Hikari's head would go along with the idea that girls who associated themselves with her were also weird because of how they thought of their sibling bond. "You don't get it, and never will with that kind of attitude," she said in her usual way. As they moved right along, Kou came with an itemized list of things to rebut the points brought to his fore by Hikari. His words made her look at him for quite a few minutes and he seemed rather annoyed but this didn't seem to bother the lass in the least. "You killed his Avatar and he's still hanging out with you, must have made a good impression. And sure people are quiet sometimes, but all day... not unless they have to be," she said seemingly annoyed herself but she only smiled after a second choosing to save her last bit for later. "Because that girl is as big a nerd as you are, and there is no reason you wouldn't. And people tend to ease each others awkwardness, that is the point of being in social groups. And if it will make you happy for the moment I'll be done 'pulling at straws' I guess," she said playfully nudging her brother only to look up at him for one more jab. "If I didn't pester you, I couldn't know what kind of stuff you got going on in your head ya' know? And I haven't seen you in ages, I have a lot of this built up..." the lass mentioned with happy and devious light shining in her eyes.

In the time they had the last of their hurried discussing, Miki had finished the design of a couple of custom pieces for Kou. At which point she stood clutching her egg as those two drawings were turned over and pulled out another blank female canvas for her work with the little raccoon girl. "Hikari-chan, it's your turn!~ Make sure I'm super cute, alright?" she said offering the girl a playful wink which she accepted as she bounded off but only after nudging her brother one more time. "Hai hai!~ I'll do my best!~" she said as she ran off to talk to the other woman. In this moment, Hikari reminded Miki of another friend of hers, one of the only people she'd ever called such in her life. It brought a small smile to her face as she began to wander the small shop thinking about incidentals while carrying the egg. Only to feel the smallest of pulses from the creature within. "Sugoi! You growing up in there?" she asked of the creature not expecting an answer but having fun holding on to it just the same.

[Bloodedge]

Kou sighed upon having the thought that his sister would continue behaving in such a way. Allegedly, there was just something he didn't understand, and never would while having the attitude he exemplified. She claimed she would be done pulling at straws, as Kou put it earlier, but he felt this wasn't truly the end of it. "Just because people have something in common, doesn't mean it's alright to try and push them together," was the only thing he had left to say in this exchange. Much to his satisfaction, this conversation came to an end when Miki announced that it was Hikari's turn to speak with the seamstress. While she was walking away, Kou looked toward the selection of swim trunks in the shop. It was during this time that Miki browsed as well. Kou found himself looking in the girl's direction, and as he did, he saw her addressing the egg she carried. Sighing within his mind, Kou decided to approach and reach out to the egg. "Might be an early hatch. It feels pretty strong in there."

[Apollymi]

As the conversation between brother and sister came to an end, Hikari got all the information she needed about where her brother's mind was, she didn't technically know what to do with this information on the whole, 'Dick-sensei will know what to do about him. I don't really at this point since he doesn't even acknowledge that she likes him,' the girl thought to herself as she went back to designing the swimsuit she thought would best accentuate the figure of the blonde lass while leaving enough to the imagination of her brother. Even though she'd said she was joking, she did really have a decent idea of the type of thing he actually enjoyed looking at and would help him out in that regard. Even if he claimed he didn't want the help. In the meantime, Miki's speech to the egg was answered, strangely enough by Kou who spoke about the nature of the egg and even touched it while she carried it. "It does feel strong. It's exciting... I've been wracking my brain wondering what it will look like..." Miki mentioned knowing she was far too excited about the prospect of hatching this egg, even in spite of the random annoyances that seemed to keep popping up around them. She was content to go back to regular nerd level conversation. She expected some changes to the group dynamics but not to the extent they seemed to be, but she supposed this was bound to happen regardless.

[Bloodedge]

Miki had curiosities about the Filolial's appearance when it hatched. Though he still felt things were fated to be a bit awkward, especially after conversing with Hikari on her topic of choice, Kou found this to be a fine topic he had a bit of insight to. "Well, I did a bit of digging when I played..." he said as he rose and ceased touching the egg. "With the precautions we took, it'll be one of two tiers. It'll either be the top tier and be gold or silver, or... it'll be the secret Superior Class Filolial. Those start off looking like one of the lower tiers, unless it's gone completely wrong somehow. That's the best-case scenario, though it'll be a little bit harder to figure out."

[Apollymi]

Miki listened to Kou as he spoke about the particulars concerning the looks of their Filolial. "That sounds amazing!~" she murmured. She spent sometime in her head trying to decide what gold or silver Filolials would look like. She'd seen a great number of them on the farm but none of them seemed to stand out a whole lot to her, except the teal one she'd chosen before. "Even if it's hard to figure out. It should still be a great bit of fun!~" she chimed holding on to the egg as she turned to look at some more items. It was nice being back to a somewhat normal amount of conversation, besides that she'd expected a bit more awkwardness from Kou than he was currently showing. Perhaps a couple other people around wasn't as bad as she thought it could be. Only a second later, Hikari appeared back at Miki's side, having given her input to the seamstress who was now in the back of the shop behind a curtain, sewing her hearts content on a few different mannequins. "Ano, she said she'd be done in a few minutes and we could finish looking around," said Hikari though she managed to look a bit huffy. "She wouldn't show me the sketch for my swimsuit..." she said frowning deeply. "Of course not, it's supposed to be a surprise. That one really likes that sort of thing, the look of happiness on someone else's face when they get something unexpected. She's great!~" mentioned Miki trying to take the lass' mind off the impending wait. "Anything else you think we'll need for the beach trip?" she asked content to let Hikari pick out towels, carrying accessories and other such things. "Hai hai. I'll take care of it. There are a couple other things... I'll look around~" the small girl said as she looked around the store. Miki chuckled after this. She'd never had any siblings and found the small girl to be adorable in her helpfulness and excitement.

[Bloodedge]

"It is. I wouldn't get my hopes too high for the Superior Class one, but... I only barely missed it the way I raised mine in the game, so raising this one at the beach might give it that extra jump," he explained, leaving out the description about the look of a Superior Class Filolial to avoid giving too much to hope for. "As long as we don't get a low roll and end up with an A-Class, we're in the clear. I had that happen once, and it was horrible, but... this one feels like it'll be fine." Soon enough, Hikari was back from discussing business with the seamstress. A brief exchange occurred between her and Miki about the beach trip, and in that time, Kou realized he still needed to pick up a pair of swim trunks. With that in mind, he began looking around again.

[Apollymi]

Kou went on to explain that he'd barely missed the Superior class when he'd been raising his own Filolial. She nodded her understanding of this and given the spot she'd chosen for the hatching and rearing of it she'd hoped it would turn out excellent. As for the feeling of this one being fine, she nodded and spoke as well. "Hai, it feels really excitable, it's been moving around a bit in there and its bristling with energy. At the very least, this world has been rewarding us in a way that gacha mechanics can't so... I think it's okay to have higher hopes than normal," Miki said watching as the lad went about looking around the place. She knew he was looking for trunks and the like given what he'd been told, but within a moment it was rendered unnecessary. "Male outfit done!~" chimed the woman from behind the curtain as she pushed forward a mannequin wearing a pair of deep blue trunks with golden swirl like patterns in single lines across the front as well as a singular jacket with a monochrome color scheme and a a hood. "Male outfit? I thought she didn't make those?" said Hikari which made a chuckle come from Miki. "Yeah, she's got a weird extra quest line and is the start of one of those hidden things. Basically she doesn't like wasting her own ideas on men's clothing because she had a bad experience with it once. But she'll make the designs of a girl for a guy if she asks for it. Gomen, it'd slipped my mind until she spoke to you directly." said Miki holding on to the egg. "Anyway, I figured it wouldn't really be fair if ya' didn't get something cool out of it too!~ So, I threw together a little something based on your current armor choices~" she said to Kou so he could go have a look at the outfit created by the seamstress and technically designed by Miki. Hikari looked at the lass with wide eyes, 'And goodness scale ridiculous... and watch he probably won't think much of it. Nii-san don't be a jerk,' she silently urged on this situation from the sidelines as she finished up the shopping.

[Bloodedge]

"Hai," Kou replied. "Hope is good, at least. I'm sure it'll be great when it hatches." He shared these words while looking around for something worth wearing to the beach, but as he did this, the seamstress called attention to... the male outfit she'd just finished. Kou turned to the seamstress, stunned, and just as confused as Hikari seemed to be. "What she said," he added, pointing to t he demi-human. It would be Miki who cleared up any confusion shared by the siblings. This had been a place she'd dealt with in Age of Eternity, and she had also seemingly followed a quest-line related to the seamstress, in which she discovered the reason behind the woman's refusal to make men's clothes. The simple answer to said refusal was for a girl to suggest the design, so Miki had gone about drawing something up for Kou's swimsuit. What's more, he had to say it was an astonishing look. "So you... designed clothes for me?" he asked in rhetoric as he approached the mannequin and appraised the gear. "It looks... fuckin' awesome! Arigatou!" Kou concluded, legitimately beaming with satisfaction at what he was seeing.

[Apollymi]

The explanation that Miki provided was taken well by everyone and then Kou went on to inspect his gear. "Basically," the lass answered the question of her designing his clothing for the beach. She figured it was the least she could do to make sure he had something nice as well. And much to her surprise he was pleased by what he saw. To be honest, when she'd made the suggestion she wasn't exactly sure what he'd like, such a favorable reaction as the one she was presented brought an honest smile to her face in the moment as she clung to their egg. "I'm glad you like them!" she said with a small blush coming to her face, she couldn't have been more pleased in the moment. Hikari watched the whole of this interaction and couldn't understand how this pair didn't see that they were a couple in the making. There was simply no way they could both be that stupid about romance. Whatever the case, she finally went over to have a look at the outfit the girl had designed and she was also stunned. "Wow! I really don't have anything to worry about... if you design a man's outfit this well, your girl clothes input has to rock, Miki-nee!~" the lass said. And such an assumption would soon be rewarded by the addition of another mannequin. "Our cute little demi-human's bikini!~" mentioned the seamstress before going back to work. This outfit on the mannequin seemed to be several layers of waving fluff. Beyond that a thick bikini top and thick bikini bottoms all in a slightly lighter shade of blue with white trim. It was sized small like the girl's body but allowed her to be a combination of cute and innocent. "Sugoi! Sugoi! It's so cute!" was all the girl could say, all the while Miki had a gentle smile on her face. She was happy she had done something useful for this pair and happy they both liked their clothes.

[Bloodedge]

As things progressed, Kou continued inspecting his trunks and jacket. He eventually began removing the garments from the mannequin they had been made upon, after which he slung them over his left forearm. Interestingly, he could see this outfit feeling very natural, not just for him as Kou, but for him as his human form in the world he was from. This led to a new train of thought which left Kou messing around in his own hair with his free hand. "Ano..." he said, seeking the attention of the seamstress while viewing a golden accent string on his swim trunks. "Could I have an extra one of these?" he asked. In the time between, he viewed Hikari as she witnessed her own beach ensemble. Such a sight took him back mentally to a different time, before the girl's sickness became something crippling. He could only smile as he basked in the nostalgia. 'It's like when she learned how to swim back home.'

[Apollymi]

Miki watched as Kou collected his clothing and further began playing around with his hair. His next question was directed towards the seamstress where he asked for an extra accent string like the one which was attached to his trunks. The seamstress glanced over her body still blocking her current work. "It's your lucky day I have an extra I'm not using... here!" she claimed extending her arm to drop one over the mannequin which had previously housed his clothing. She went back to work immediately after, busily working on what had to be Miki's swimsuit and jacket request. In the meantime, Hikari went about removing her outfit from the mannequin as well, happily having gathered the rest of things they would need for the beach like towels and the like. "Alright, just adding the finishing touches and... here!" this was the claim of the seamstress before she sat down Miki's outfit also on a mannequin. It was a white one piece swim suit with a tear drop sized opening in the front. Sleeve less with a low cut top and teardrop style large openings around the sides. The entire back of it was also missing leaving it just large enough to cover the most important parts of the lass tastefully but also leaving her mostly nude. The jacket of choice was midnight blue, with golden accents and a red jewel like decoration at the top of the right shoulder. It came complete with a hood lined in black fur.

Upon seeing this, Miki looked with a large grin on her face. "Sugoi! You do a pretty good job at this whole designing thing yourself, Hikari-chan!~ Arigatou, I love it..." she said happily. "And you, lady seamstress, this looks like my favorite jacket, arigatou," she said. This made Hikari beam with pride. "Hai hai! Glad you like it. And don't worry, I'll get it off there for ya' so you don't have to put down your egg." she mentioned moving to collect Miki's things as well. After which the seamstress took inventory and calculated the cost of everything here. "Alright you owe me 60 Gold pieces for everything. That includes the discount I owe your cute faced man friend." mentioned the seamstress with a smile. "Hai hai." said Miki this was about what she expected and she didn't have any problem paying for quality merchandise. In fact, she handed over a small sac of coins with 100 of them present. "Arigatou Gozaimasu!~" she said. The seamstress managed to look astounded but had only this one more thing to say. "Wait one moment, do you know about the Dragon Pond at the top of the falls?"

[Bloodedge]

"Sankyuu!" Kou said to the seamstress. He went on to claim the string and add it to his other items. Moments later, the seamstress completed her final task: Miki's swimsuit. Kou knew it to have been selected by Hikari, but if he didn't know any better, he'd assume it was made by another male. Indeed, it certainly fit many criteria for a male fantasy or two... or six. This was so much the case that Kou was left a bit dumbfounded. Much went on in his head about this bikini, but none of it could exit his mouth. As Hikari went about collecting Miki's swimsuit, Kou approached his sister with much skepticism as to how she managed such a thing. "Neh, Hikari... you didn't happen to see any weird books laying around the house back home, did you?" he asked of the lass.

[Apollymi]

Kou had nothing aloud to say about Miki's swimsuit, but he hadn't commented on Hikari's either, given this there wasn't anything apparently to worry about. For the most part, Miki was busy conversing with the seamstress, giving payments and the like. As such the conversation between Kou and Hikari would start again, this time with Kou asking if she'd perhaps seen some odd books lying about their old home. "Huh? Why would you ask that, Nii-san? Was there something there you didn't want me to see?" she asked with big imploring eyes. In this moment it would be like Hikari intended to stare though the boy's soul, almost challenging him to call her on where she might have gotten such ideas from in clothing design. With everything they needed all together she placed the items inside of a square atop a table and closed a certain bag like cloth around them having everything captured within the bag and content to be the one to carry it for whatever reason.

All the while, Miki's left brow rose. She knew that overpaying the seamstress tended to get her to give information, but it was normally weather related and the like, she knew nothing of this 'Dragon Pond'. "No, I've never heard of that, what does it do?" she asked of the lady who continued speaking about it, with a large grin on her face. "The Dragon Pond is an anomaly caused by the gods. It fills one of the craters at the top of the falls with water straight from the belly of a dragon. The path is treacherous and the crater only fills under the light of the moon. But if one makes it there, it is said that the Dragon Pond will bless those who bathe in it with the power of good fortune and vigor!" she said calmly before leaning back. "It's just a legend no one's confirmed it but... I figured a nice adventuring party like yourselves might enjoy something like that..."

[Bloodedge]

In response to Kou's query, Hikari had one of her own. Her stare, and the question itself, made Kou realize he'd backed himself into a corner with the initial question. If there was even the slightest chance she hadn't seen such books, then he'd be exposing her to the knowledge. "Err... no, not at all," he said, subconsciously leaning away from her piercing gaze. "I just figured, you know... maybe tou-san left something behind that you shouldn't have seen... being irresponsible and all..." Kou figured at this point that it was best if he left this conversation as quickly as possible, so he began taking measured steps in Miki's direction. Seeing that the blonde was locked into a discussion with the seamstress, though, he kept a reasonable amount of distance to avoid any unnecessary prying. Still, he offered a question. "Everything good?"

[Apollymi]

Did Hikari know exactly what her brother was referencing? Yes. Had she seen these things at home? No. Did she intend to let him off the hook for bringing it up in so casual a manner? Absolutely not. Her stare continued even as her brother made up some half-hearted excuse about their father perhaps leaving such things around, and being irresponsible. "Well, Tou-san never left anything around I saw in a way that would make me consider something irresponsible," she said sticking her tongue out at the lad as he backed away, strangely making his way towards Miki. This would occur as Miki began processing the necessary information of the Dragon Pond. She looked over to Kou with all new excitement in her eyes. "Everything is pretty cool, there might be a lead on something new or exciting..." she said ready to share the information she was so recently given. "According to the seamstress, there is something at the top of the falls called the 'Dragon Pond' and it only fills at night. She says if you bathe in it, it will reward you with good fortune and vigor!~" she exclaimed only to lower her voice just a bit. "I never got this conversation in game so I don't know what it leads to, but it sounds like it might be one of those EXP or Luck Pools that are randomly generated sometimes. It might be worth looking into to help hatch the egg with better stats or even get some bonus EXP for Hikari-chan!~" she whispered excitedly more than willing to help grow the team as a whole. And figuring a hike up the falls and a night swim in warmer waters might be worth while. Besides that a warm water pond might be a great place to hatch the egg considering where it was created.

[Bloodedge]

Hikari had a few more words to share, but even with that, it seemed Kou was free of the discussion. His opening to Miki was met by an explanation of the seamstress' news. It seemed there was something else to this area, which even Miki previously knew nothing about. Whatever the case, many things about this secret location sounded appealing. They could certainly benefit from a boost to luck, and Hikari could use quite a bit more experience. Most importantly, the Filolial egg would benefit without a doubt. Even aside from the area sharing traits with the egg's place of conception, extra Luck could only help the chances of it being a rarer version of the creature. "Oh? That sounds pretty legit. Whether it's Luck or EXP, or whatever else... it's a new place to go, at the very least. Let's do it."

[Apollymi]

It seemed that Kou was also a bit excited about the secret location. Miki honestly thought it was a good idea, as well, but there was more information to share just in case there were some misgivings to have. "She did say the path was treacherous, but she told me where it starts so we can check it out a bit first if you want," she said calmly about the whole of the situation. "I mean, for the most part it can only be so bad, and it could be very good for training and what we're doing to keep this trip legitimate in nature," she said she didn't want to mislead him in his decision and she had no idea what the seamstress thought classified as treacherous but she supposed they'd be finding out soon enough. "Thank you very much, " she managed to the seamstress with no problem heading out with the egg still clutched in front of her person. Hikari noting they were leaving kept the bag of goods thrown over her shoulder and headed out as well. "Bai bai. Thanks for all your hard work!" she mentioned as she was content to walk beside Miki beaming with pride and seeing many an opening for this blossoming relationship and wondering how her brother managed to miss it.

[Bloodedge]

"Treacherous, huh? I wonder if that means MOBs, traps, or environmental hazards," Kou said, expressing his curiosities aloud. He still shrugged. No matter what sort of dangers lay ahead, there was hardly anything to worry too much about, at least as far as Kou was concerned. "I think we may as well just go for it. If it's somehow too much to deal with, we can always turn around and let the egg hatch at the beach. Best not waste too much time otherwise, yeah?" he inquired. With that, Kou was off behind the others to exit the shop, apparently going toward the eventual destination of this Dragon Pond.

[Apollymi]

"Any... all three, I suppose long term it doesn't really matter much," Miki mentioned. Kou was on the same page, stating that if anything went too wrong, they could always just turn back. Knowing this, it wasn't much of a task for Miki to lead them up towards the top of the falls. At this space, before one could start on the proper upturn of the hills, the trees began to burn away revealing an open space bubbling with magma and a narrow path. The heat of this area was down right oppressive and it did brim with natural magics all around. Such a place could be considered excellent for training as it gave one a magical presence to try and resist, Miki because of this place shrank her own magical influence down around herself. "Oooh, that kind of treacherous... huh. This is like the exact opposite of the beach itself," she casually mentioned still carrying the egg as if it was nothing much to her.

Hikari looked at this place and her eyes went wide. "Whoa. It's like hell out here... why?" she said seemingly not as okay with this rather sudden change in climate. Still, she'd look to her brother for guidance or his reasoning for coming here, while she tried to get over the oppressive heat.

[Bloodedge]

Some time later, the group reached the start to their destined path. Treacherous was undoubtedly one way to view the path ahead, and mysterious would be another. The air was dense and filled with both steam and energy, and the heat was higher than any Kou could have expected from anything other than a volcano. On the positive side, Kou was able to use his magical ability to force Mana from his body to stave off the magic-spawned heat. Miki seemed to be doing alright as well, but Hikari had an issue that forced her to look to Kou. "It's not natural heat, that's for sure. It's magical... and I think it's from an actual Dragon, whether that Dragon still exists or not. That spot in the Marsh Kingdom would probably be like this if Sharrkan's body had been left behind. Actually... other stuff is probably going to take it down the same path. Anyway, you're good at using your Mage trait by now, right? Separate your magical sense from what your body feels, and use your Mana. You should be able to negate or reduce the heat you're feeling, the same way you would resist magical attacks against you by being a Mage."

[Apollymi]

Hikari was staring at her brother as he explained that she should be using her magical senses to balance out the heat of this place. He claimed that she should be pretty decent at using such a sense by now and that it would be a pretty simple task for her to use her mana to balance out the temperature for the area. "Sou ka... you always make things sound so easy. Just... give me a minute," she mentioned, the pack on her back as she tried to calm herself down and concentrate. First she used her magical senses and in getting a direct feel for them separated them from her normal senses. Doing this allowed her to build a barrier of magical energy within herself negating the extra oppressive sensation the heat gave her. But doing so required an extreme amount of concentration from the girl. It was like she was constantly expelling a massive amount of mana to keep her temperature right. "Ano, I think I can do it, but I also think... this is gonna wear me out," she said with a frown even so, she seemed ready to continue and aimed to take the first step towards Miki in a rather exaggerated manner, but this was simply to allow her to keep concentrating on using her mana all around her body. 'Left foot. Right foot. Left foot. Right foot.' Each step she took was painful but she'd managed it a bit. She also wouldn't be complaining, though she wondered how Miki managed it while not being a mage in the traditional sense. Normally she only tried for magical defense in a split second and it didn't require constant concentration, here she was working on her stamina for this sort of thing. Miki smiled noting the girl taking her lesson and casually talking to the lad. She found their relationship interesting since they'd joined up.

[Bloodedge]

"Its definitely not as easy as it sounds. Well... it is, but only after you've gotten used to it. We've had a lot of training in a short amount of time," he explained to the girl. She made use of her Mana after a short time attempting to do so, even if she admitted that it would probably wear her out. Kou could easily understand how draining such a thing would be so early in a Mage's training, but he was sure it would be imperative to her quick development in the near future. "Just stick with it, yeah? Let me know if it ends up being too much," Just in case something were to go wrong, Kou took his place in line just behind Hikari, assuming Miki would be leading the charge to the top. He spared a simple glance and nod to Miki, only to confirm his readiness.

[Apollymi]

Kou after explaining to Hikari how to use her magical abilities moved to the back of their little procession. In the meantime, Miki was left at the front carrying their egg, which jumped just a little bit as they entered the area. 'Sugoi! This must be a great idea!~' she mused about the Filolial's response to its current surroundings. Hikari on the other hand, was taking slow and measured steps and after Miki confirmed that all was in line, she began walking again. She used her own magical abilities to properly navigate this path, with the desire to get to the stop of the winding path at the top of her priorities.

Hikari in the mean time was taking those same slow and measured steps. Her brother was a mage, he was likely doing the same kind of thing she was right now to keep up his own magical resistances. But Miki seemed to be not doing much of anything. Her own magical senses let her know that the lass wasn't really expending any extra magical energy to keep herself up. "How come..." she started as she took a step. "Miki-nee..." she said as briefly. "Isn't expelling..." the words left her mouth. "So much," she paused again. "Extra energy?!" she questioned finally. Mostly she didn't want to move along quietly but she was curious about the difference between their skills that allowed the lass not to have to waste any extra energy.

[Bloodedge]

Whilst keeping his own Mana skill active, Kou was focused primarily on the incredible density of the magical energy in this area. He'd yet to feel a legitimate Dragon in person, though if Miki's other Avatar was anything close to a good example, he could almost be convinced there was a living Dragon nearby. Of course, there was realistically no chance of this. Whatever Dragon was the cause of this area had to be something incredible in its time, whenever that was. As Hikari pressed onward with what appeared to be some difficulty, she brought attention to the lack of energy being expelled by Miki. Kou raised a brow as he looked at the blonde, remembering a skill she'd made use of a couple of times before. "Mana Zone. It's a Support Skill used to manipulate the Mana in the atmosphere, instead of wasting your own. It's something that a late-game Caster wouldn't be caught dead without having equipped, but most people who play other Classes never think of how useful it could be. It's probably the best utility skill for anyone who uses any kind of spells, and it's especially true for anyone with less Mana than others."

[Apollymi]

"Mana Zone..." Hikari repeated. She also took note even as she struggled to move forward that her brother seemed to appreciate Miki's build choices. Whatever else was or wasn't going on between them, she recognized the amount of respect the lad was showing to her by stating such information about her skills usage. "Sou ka..." she muttered. If it was an important skill for Casters she'd likely consider it. She hadn't gotten far enough in her build to even need to choose such a skill yet, so it was nice to know of a couple of the options. Beyond that, Miki wasn't a Caster by nature, so it was good to see that it was possible to choose skills that didn't necessarily align to the type and class previously chosen. 'That's a lot of respect about her build choice. Damn near a nerd winning endorsement. Chikuso! This is almost a jackpot style situation.' she thought absently. The more she walked the more normal her steps were becoming. Her breathing was labored and it still felt like a lot of strain, but over time she was learning to control her output a bit, tapering it down to the bare minimum required to combat the magical heat of the place. "So, ah, Miki-nee, why did you choose Mana Zone, wouldn't a Rogue type choose something stealthier for early game ease?" she asked of the lass. Miki was surprised she was mentioned so directly. She'd been content simply to lead the group up and let the pair of people who obviously knew each other continue their conversation uninterrupted. "Ah, well a couple of things actually. I wanted to be able to control my magical weapon from a distance. Mana Zone added that ability passively. I use a Rogue type of Support Magic and it has better range if I have Mana Zone. And... when I ran this character in-game, I played with a Pets Build and I wanted to share the passive effects of my Mana with my pets..." she said with careful shrug. "Sugoi! Those are great reasons. All skills are like that yeah, they can layer and stuff... so I shouldn't just choose something just to do it?" she asked of her brother, gaining build advice in a manner different than most tended to. Miki heard this follow up question but since it wasn't addressed to her, she went back to leading the group at large, at the very least, she respected this lass for trying to figure out what skills would be good for her, instead of ending up with a completely crappy build.

A decent ways up the path though there was something stirring beneath the surface of the lava. Or rather rising from it. "Uh, minor problem ahead..." she mentioned knowing they were just out of range for discovery but didn't want to lead them into a potential ambush. Up ahead, free magic creatures formed of the residual magical energy stirred below the surface of the lava. They acted like Golems and seemed to be about level 10 to 15. They had humanoid shapes and glowing rocks for eyes, but as their heads rose from the lava they seemed to harden quite a bit, leading Miki to pause and think about whether or not they'd actually be aggressive creatures or not.

[Bloodedge]

Hikari's curiosity led to her questioning why, exactly, Miki had chosen such a Support Skill over others more naturally suited to her character type. Miki's answer was innovative, to such an extent that Kou believed, in another scenario, he would have given the same type of explanation. The difference was that in their original world, he was the gamer known as Geno Killer. The title he bore signified his very existence as a gamer who took unthinkable approaches to overthrow the general perception of video games... A genocide of meta players far and wide. If Kou himself wasn't the Geno Killer of video games, he would likely be assuming Miki bore the title. This train of thought left Kou distracted and staring at the blonde he followed behind, resulting in a bit of a late response to Hikari's query. "... Yeah. You should always put thought into your builds. If you put yourself into every decision you make... then every game can be fun, and you'll never lose to anyone else."

Soon enough, an obstacle was ahead. It was Miki who discovered this, and when she brought attention to it, Kou stopped in his tracks. "Not much choice, huh? There's no way a Mana-dense place like this won't have something spawning in. What do you think? Is it the Talk no Jutsu type, or is this the start of the training montage?"

[Apollymi]

Hikari was walking and waiting for a reply from her brother, and when she looked at him she found the lad distracted staring at Miki. 'Ugh, you couldn't be more obvious... but oh, 'people having stuff in common doesn't mean they should be forced together'. Planetary understatement,' she thought to herself. Her brother's lack of acknowledgement for how much he obviously liked the blonde lass bordered upon annoying to Hikari, she was beginning to understand a bit more why Karna held the sort of disposition he did with this pair in normal conversation. Still there was some insight in his words which made her smile when he finally spoke again. "Ah, alright. Though I'd lost you for a second there. I will!~" she chimed, a knowing and devious light in her eyes.

At the current junction there was apparently some sort of a problem. According to her brother, these dense magical zones were bound to spawn some sort of creature, when he asked Miki if this would be the kind of situation they could talk their way out of, she shrugged for a just a moment deciding to test the waters first. "Let's check..." she said. A moment thereafter she used her 'Snatch' ability to draw towards her a small pebble in the middle of the walkway. Doing so caused a magical disturbance which she used to test the reaction of the creatures within the lava. Almost immediately one rose up from lava and aimed a still cooling molten fist down upon the rock to stop its motion. Miki let go of the rock in this moment which she'd moved using just her index finger. "It's gonna be a montage!!~" she chimed, knowing that if creatures responded that way to rocks, they would definitely attack them. The tone of her voice and how she spoke that sentence was a reference to a certain cult movie she enjoyed a bit.

[Bloodedge]

"Good," Kou said when Hikari agreed to grow as an Avatar in her own way. There were then important things to address, namely the free magic creatures having their aggression tested by Miki at the time. Her little pebble test confirmed that they were, indeed, very aggressive toward anything nearby. Such a thing brought a grin to Kou's face, and that was only widened by Miki's reference. "Oooh, it takes a montage~!" he sang to continue the reference, all while pointing toward their enemies in a very overly-exaggerated way. "Fuck 'em up, Hikari!"

[Apollymi]

"Montage~" Miki continued. Her little test and use of a pretty obscure reference was met in a way so obvious that she knew Kou got it. Though if she was being honest at this point she'd be more surprised if he didn't know something she was talking about. In the meantime, Hikari stood there dumbfounded, how could such a thing even be possible. Her cheeks puffed up and she chewed on the inside of her left cheek. 'Dumb Nii-san. This girl was nerd crafted for you and she's hot! What else do you fucking want?! And you... Missy. What the hell happened to make you afraid of taking a bit of charge in this? Relationships don't build themselves!' she thought becoming more and more aggravated by this pairs lack of coupling as she spent more time with them. At the call to arms so to speak, Hikari went into action, but not simply because she was asked to now she needed a proper outlet for her frustrations. "Aye Sir!~" she chimed in her own reference. "Kawaii!~" Miki mentioned after such a thing happened. She loved that series too and admittedly it was one of a few which wasn't directly as bad as the others created by her favorites.

Hikari dashed forward drawing her sword, and as she made her way past Miki and into the opening, the lava creatures all rose up. She turned her body quickly making use of her Alpha Skill and preparing to respond given it was one of the ones which would require an immediate follow-up. "Illusion Sword!" a quick forward thrust of the blade would cause a duplicate magical one to hit the creature and its mana began to jumble, and then it moved to swing but instead of aiming for Hikari as she backed away from it, it swung at another lava creature behind her. "Huh?!" she was confused by this, not realizing her own stats had increased. "That's confusion. I never get confusion," she said as one lava creature pummeled another causing yet another to rise. Miki watched the entirety of this and spoke to Kou analyzing the situation rather casually as she watched the fight progress. "Eh, she got a passive stats boost by becoming your apprentice. That's nice."

[Bloodedge]

Though she had her own additional reason for doing so, Hikari went along with Kou's go-ahead and charged forward. In doing so, she showcased her first Skill: Illusion Sword. To her credit, she chose an Alpha Skill that would prove very useful in most direct combat situations she could be found in, and in this case, she managed to use it to the effect of handling two Golems. Still, she seemed surprised by the status effect triggered by her technique. "Well, now you do get Confusion! Don't be confused about it!" he said in a lighthearted fashion. While the pair of Kou and Miki stood behind, the latter proved herself privy to the stat alteration of Hikari, and even attributed it to her position as Holy Knight Apprentice to Kou. "Ou. If I rank up as a Holy Knight, it'll get even better... and permanent. I spent a day or so in-game as an Apprentice to a Sapphire Holy Knight, and my stats were insane even when I wasn't doing missions for her."

[Apollymi]

"Urusai, Baka-nii," she snapped a tad, wondering how he managed to be so relaxed in such a situation. Still the lass seemed to be having a bit of fun. With two of the Lava Golems fighting each other, she was given ample time to use her actual blade to finish the job of taking them out. It took her a few moments, but her skill as a Saber was very obvious in this moment. Several slashes seemed to force themselves first through the Golem being attacked and then through its attacker. After a moment both seemed to dissipate into rock formations that fell back into the lava. She landed soon after and took a couple more tentative steps forward, willing to scope out the area a bit more for the pair of them. She found a few yards further up, a trio of Golems popped up. "Oi oi! I was just trying to have a nice day. Damn! Stay down will ya'!" the girl yelled at the creatures as she aimed to make the next assault.

"Sou ka, that's a mutually beneficial. Gives her a reason to choose to partner with someone strong and who will get stronger. And gives the Knight of choice the reason to keep aiming higher. Positive permanent stats boosts are also good for the general party. Very nice..." the blonde lass said. She had to admit above a lot of things, it was nice having another girl around, and Hikari was full of fun little quips and kept things interesting. At the very least, these five creatures would be an easy EXP grind for the lesser leveled lass. Who was pretty close to her next level at the start. This time, Hikari aimed a slash horizontally across the fore of these creatures, in doing so she created haloing affect with her Illusion blade technique so that even as they tried to dodge each of them was hit by something. One immediately began flailing around as if it didn't know where it was. The one in the center immediately attacked the other two one with each hand. And the one on the very end was frozen in place unable to do anything, as Hikari pounced once more aiming to finish each individual with a trio of slashes starting at their heads. AS she'd noticed they were hardening from there and thus it would be easier to damage with her legitimate weapon. At the end she landed and sighed as the group at large crumbled and fell away. "Alright... it's fine guys. Don't need to worry yourselves about me..." she said exhaling a bit winded, only to be enveloped in a flash of golden light as her level increased and this area marked itself as clear.

[Bloodedge]

Kou watched intently as Hikari battled the Golems. He was prepared to step in if it ever became necessary, though he had faith that she would be fine on her own. In the meantime, he continued speaking with Miki about the demi-human's status, and the mutual benefits of the situation. "Yep. It's actually pretty broken in this situation," he said as he viewed the stats and experience of the entire party nearby. "Since we're sharing EXP, we all benefit from each other's gains. She gets bonus EXP, so basically... we all got a leveling cheat the second she joined the Party." If this clause of Kou's needed any confirmation, it would come the moment Hikari completed the area by slaying the final Golem. Her experience shot up even more than what should be expected of a player in this world, and that was spread even to Karna. "Just about Level 13. Nice!" he said to Hikari while moving forward, holding his right hand high.

[Apollymi]

As Kou spoke to Miki he explained the brokeness of the leveling system in the situation they'd created by adding Hikari to the party. Given the way EXP was shared and spread among the party, by virtue of the lass getting a boost they all got a boost. This meant that when they started leveling again it would be possible for all of them to get a major boost to the area. "Sou ka. That's pretty janky. I like it though..." she said. Soon after the light cleared Hikari would be standing in front of Kou a little bit taller with her features slightly more mature. "Yeah yeah... I'm super excited and all..." she said raising her hand to meet his high five. "You didn't seem like you needed any help. Nice job out there, Hikari-chan!~" Miki said congratulating the girl. "I forgive you because you're carrying the egg and all, can't have you doing anything risky, but him... he's just being mean to me!~" the girl exaggerated. And with this she smiled stuck her tongue out at her brother and moved right along.

Such an adventure and getting up to the top of the mountain would take them straight through to twilight. But upon getting to the top they reached an empty basin of a place, which as the moon rose up above them filled from below with steaming magically enhanced water. The whole of the place began to look like the best hidden hotspring that Miki or Hikari had ever seen. "Sugoi! This place is gonna be awesome after all that work," Hikari said, sounding a bit more mature having raised quite a few levels and having her body grow to accompany that a bit, so she was closer to her natural age.

[Bloodedge]

"Right? So do I." This was the last thing Kou said to Miki before approaching Hikari, at which point his high-five was met by a slightly older version of the demi-human. He'd nearly forgotten that demi-humans and the like determined age by their power, but he supposed he would be made very familiar with that over time spent grinding. Eventually, the 'treacherous' journey uphill led the group to a magical hot spring-like plateau under the rising moon. It was yet another incredible sight to behold for Kou, but what Kou found most interesting was the tone of Hikari's voice when she spoke. "Right, so... I'm gonna need you to max out your level so you can stop getting older after every fight."

[Apollymi]

At the end of the journey Kou had something very interesting to say to his younger sister, who now appeared to be not quite so young anymore. She turned to him and frowned, the look being most similar to what her face had looked like in life. "Urusai, Baka-nii. Demi-humans age like Saiyans. I'm level 15 and I've stopped aging, so now you get to deal with me at my normal age," she said squinting with a bit of annoyance in her face. This whole exchange made Miki chuckle just a little but she managed to look off in the distance when Hikari's eyes shifted towards her. It seemed the girl had worked pretty hard today and developed a level of crankiness at her brother that would have made Karna proud. "Now, I'm changing into my bathing suit and I'm getting into the hot spring..." She said taking her clothing and slipping further back into the woods line. Miki decided to be a bit more helpful and took the pillow which was her weapon and extended its size to make something of a privacy curtain for that space. "Arigatou, Miki-nee~" she chimed as she changed. Soon after she emerged from behind the tree in her swimsuit with the rest of the beach gear and spread it out for them. "There ya' go. I'm getting in." she said showing off this flowing swimsuit which left her mostly covered but allowed her to feel as mature as she now felt. "Really nice job on the swimsuit by the way, it's great!~" she said. As she jumped into the hot water with reckless abandon.

That little exchange out of the way, Miki looked to Kou. "If you wanted to change first you could, unless you want to hold the egg for a couple of minutes?" she said, given the exchange of the day it would mean that Miki would need to separate from the egg just to change into the swimwear she'd procured and it could happen now or later it really didn't matter much to her.

[Bloodedge]

"Yeah, until you decide to turn 21 and get stuck there until level 50!" Kou replied without hesitation. With that, Hikari was off to change behind a makeshift curtain created by Miki's pillow. Not long after, she emerged in her new swimsuit and made her way directly into the water. In spite of their most recent exchange, deep within, Kou was elated that the girl could enjoy something like a hot spring, even if she did have to do so in another world filled with potential strife. His attention was taken from this line of thought by the query of Miki. He didn't really mind waiting to enter the hot springs, figuring the girls were more into the activity than he could ever be. As such, he shook his head to the blonde. "I can wait. Besides, you've been holding that egg this whole time. Take a load off already," he said, reaching out to grab the Filolial egg while gesturing for Miki to carry on.

[Apollymi]

"As if!" was the reply of Hikari as she moved to enjoy the water. While Kou and Miki had their conversation, she emerged from the depths of the hot spring with a huge grin on her face. "Whew! The water's great by the way. Hurry it up already don't make me enjoy it by myself!~" she called to the pair. This was while, Kou and Miki were talking over the current holding of the egg to decide who would be the one to go change first. "I mean it's pretty fun holding on to it and all. Thanks..." she managed. Stopping by the bag of outlayed clothing she picked up her swimsuit she planned to wear and headed over to her makeshift privacy area. She found herself changing pretty easily and with a swiftness generally unknown to most, and when she emerged she had the pile of clothing she'd been wearing before which she dropped at the back where she'd picked up her swimsuit from. On her form the white swim suit was open from just under her breasts to around her belly button. it had large openings up the sides and bikini bottoms which showed off the girl's physical form. She even had a gap between her thighs right at the top, and she walked back out as if she hadn't a clue in the world that anyone would be watching her. To be honest she didn't seem the slightest bit perturbed by her current level of partial nudity, almost like she was prone to wearing this sort of thing all the time. She moved past Kou towards the water content to sink into the edge, exhaling a sigh of total relief. "Sugoi! This is amazing!~ Best extra tip ever..." she mentioned about the price of the information that led here. "And also, I really like this swimsuit, thanks so much, Hikari-chan!~" she mentioned. "Hai hai, don't mention it." said the lass with a happy smile though her eyes were trained on her brother.

[Bloodedge]

Kou nodded, and proceeded to cradle the Filolial egg while Miki changed into her swimsuit. In the surprisingly short amount of time it took for this change, Kou stared at the egg and opened his magical senses to it. Doing so while being in physical contact with the egg provided an entirely different experience for the lad. He was quite interested in what he was feeling from the unborn Filolial; it seemed to hold a hidden strength that he'd yet to familiarize himself with, and he was quite exited to see it develop. Soon enough, Miki emerged from the other side of her privacy curtain, clad in her one-piece. Kou hadn't looked up to notice, but his periphery allowed him to see the blonde walking past him, at which point his sights rose and followed her. He took pause as his gaze briefly became one unwavering, but he was eventually able to recover and look away.

[Apollymi]

The amount of excitement both of these people showed for the Filolial egg was something which Hikari could only understanding in passing. She knew her brother to be a big enough nerd to completely immerse in the mini-game aspect, it was confusing for someone else to do so, but she decided Miki was enough like her brother that this wasn't unusual. That being said the amount of focus he showed to the egg was deviated ever so slightly once the blonde returned from the privacy curtain, mostly it became obvious that he was watching her, and for a moment however brief, his gaze didn't waver. This confirmed everything in Hikari's mind and caused a decent amount of irritation within the lass as it was now more solid than it could ever be. 'Yep, he definitely likes her... no doubt about it. And for some reason unknown to the rest of the world she likes him... ugh.' thought the lass. Even so, she'd keep this show moving along, even if it killed her. "Nii-san, hand her back the egg so we can all enjoy the hot spring. It probably won't last all night!~" the girl said as she moved a bit closer to have a look at the pair of them and to be able to have a whispered conversation with the lass when her brother went to change. "She's right you know. I'm all settled now. I'll give it back once you're in here if you want to keep holding it for a while. I think it's really cool in there~" she said of the Filolial which she'd gotten to know a bit more intimately with her abilities since she was constantly in physical contact with it.

[Bloodedge]

"... Hai," he replied to Hikari, still not completely having himself together. Regardless, Kou moved to the water's edge to hand off the Filolial egg to Miki before he went off to grab his own clothes. Once behind the privacy curtain, he began to disrobe. Kou had quite a few intricate layers to discard, so he took much longer than the others. In addition to that, he stopped completely halfway through the act of changing. 'I've got so many problems with all these setup attempts already, but... damn,' he thought. Whenever he managed to snap back to reality, Kou would continue ridding himself of his existing articles.

[Apollymi]

While Kou got changed, which seemed to be taking a ridiculously long amount of time Miki held on to the egg. Hikari crept up behind Miki and did what a young girl would always do. She grabbed both her boobs while her hands were full to make some odd commentary. "Aww, I'm jealous. I grew all the way to 15 and yours are still a bit bigger!~" she claimed. This exchange made Miki squeal a bit but she laughed it off. "Eep!~ I mean... I am a bit older than 15 and well, I'm just thin. I'm sure you'll be fine the next time you decide to age up. Don't sweat it really..." she said as the girl's head came to Miki's left side, she cradled the egg with one hand and patted her head with the other. "Sugoi! Miki-nee is so nice!~" she hugged the lass and Miki shrugged. "Not really, but I think you're pretty cool. And it's nice having another girl along... thanks for being nice to me," she offered as a counter. Hikari's eyes widened slightly. 'Is she friendless... is that why she's like this. A school idol, overachiever, rich girl who just doesn't interact with other people much. That's such a contradiction and a bit sad.' Hikari thought. Thoroughly behind the other lass Hikari began rubbing her shoulders. "Iie, you're definitely the nice one... you're even nice to that nerd over there... so I'd say you're the nicest." Hikari mentioned. Miki looked towards the privacy curtain and even as the other girl rubbed her shoulders while she held the egg she sighed and began to speak. "Iie. He was nice to me and I am probably a pretty big nerd, just not on the surface. I respect anyone who can just be themselves in front of everyone. And he... well... He gave me a fair shake at this whole partnership thing, when I woke up in a world I only dreamed about in a video game. He didn't think I was super weird and and didn't question my resting bitch face. Just let me hang out with him and work with him... so in that case he was nice to me. I am happy he's the first person I found in a place like this..." she said to the lass. This made Hikari's hand movements pause, but then she kept going. "From what I've seen you're definitely a big nerd, but that is cool. And... It's good to hear he's nice from someone else... and I'm happy I found him again too." Hikari mentioned.

[Bloodedge]

Once he'd finally gotten rid of his normal clothes, Kou slipped into his swim trunks. He could obviously forego the jacket this time, but there was one other thing he needed to take care of. In his home world, he often kept his hair tied, hence the additional string he'd asked the seamstress for before this recent journey. Kou took this string and tied back only his excess hairs, leaving him with a small ponytail and fringe. With that done and his trunks in place, Kou gathered the rest of his things and emerged, dropping off his normal outfit on the way back to the waters. He then witnessed the odd sight of what seemed to be Hikari massaging Miki's shoulders, for whatever reason, as they conversed among themselves. As random as this was, he had nothing to actually say about it.

[Apollymi]

Miki was content to converse with Hikari, and eventually Kou emerged. He was wearing just his trunks and had made one minor change to his general appearance. For Hikari this was normal, she was used to seeing her brother with this ponytail, so this just made the white haired verison of him look more normal. Miki on the other hand was left looking at the lad for a moment and her gaze didn't waver for quite a few seconds. The quiet from Miki gave Hikari a chance to make devious eye contact with her brother and when she did she lifted the thumb on her right hand, giving him the universal sign for good job. Meanwhile Miki noticed she'd not been speaking and blushed just a tad breaking her own gaze and feeling a bit strangely having so recently spoken so highly of the lad. Adding to that the visual of him wearing something she had in mind for him and she almost had an issue expressing herself. "That pony tail suits you..." she mentioned softly still cuddling the egg of choice. All of this done, Hikari finished up. "Hai hai. Nice to see you looking normal for a change. Come on in... grab your mini-game egg. Enjoy the water... all that jazz!~" she said breaking the tension of the moment.

[Bloodedge]

Upon his return from the change, Kou was met by Miki's appraisal of his ponytail, to which Hikari also chimed in with approval of his more normal appearance. When he spoke, he did so in a general manner, though his reaction was just the slightest bit bashful. "Uh... arigatou," he said. It was then that Kou took the time to step into the hot spring waters about a meter or so away from the others, doing so carefully enough to avoid entering too much heat too quickly. He didn't have any real issues, and as such, he sank into the water over the course of a few seconds, and seemed to become quite relaxed as a result.

[Apollymi]

Kou seemed to take the compliment on his updated appearance pretty well. Even so, Miki had to eventually let her gaze shift away, to save herself from future embarrassment, but unlike Miki, Hikari was staring directly at Kou. She knew her brother better than anyone else in the world. She knew for a fact that the lad had spent hours designing his character in the character creator to give it his own face as closely as he could manage it. He'd basically just been complimented on how he looked at base. It took everything in the demi-human's body for her not to raise both her arms behind Miki and ask her brother aloud what he thought he was doing not properly accepting this compliment. 'Like what the actual hell. She just said she likes your face, your actual face. She likes the way you look, balls in your court Baka-nii!' she thought. Instead of saying anything she watched with all the ill disposition she developed due to the lack of action here. In the meantime, Miki smiled bashfully down at the egg in her lap, she opened her senses to it once again, and felt its life force moving around within the shell. "Does this seem really active to you?" she managed to Kou. She didn't know what kind of progress to expect from this egg, nor did she have a real way to quantify her own abilities, but she was pretty sure this egg was way more active now than it had been at the start of their journey. To facilitate the conversation she moved a bit closer to the lad all while Hikari leaned her head back. She wasn't interested in hatching the egg, but she kept an eye on the situation for any valuable information she could get from this pairs interactions.

[Bloodedge]

Kou kept his gaze away from Miki for some time after sharing his gratitude. He wasn't sure what sort of reaction was reasonable to have to such a thing, but he was saved from having to do so by Miki herself. The girl moved closer to Kou while asking if the Filolial egg seemed unusually active. Considering her sudden closeness, Kou was able to tentatively reach out and touch the egg, simultaneously making a marked effort to avoid looking to Miki herself. He was at least able to confirm that, indeed, the egg's behavior was quite strange. "Hmm. Yeah, actually. If it's anything like the controller response, this egg's going crazy. The one I had didn't even make my controller pulse this much when it was literally hatching."

[Apollymi]

Both of the older teen adventurers seemed to be content not to look at each other directly, until of course the issue of the egg came up. Kou seemed to be tentative in how he approached it, but upon making contact with the egg, his insight was immedaite and gave Miki a bit of cause for concern. "Wait does that mean it's hatching?!" she exclaimed holding the egg up above the water's surface to have a look at it. "Oh shit! It is..." she said just as the little creature within seemed to rocket itself against one side hard enough to cause the first crack within the shell. "Oh shit, oh shit! What do we do?!" she questioned suddenly rather excited but at a complete loss as to what her next step should be. All this commotion caused Hikari to raise her head and watch the pair of other teens as they became the parents of a chicken.

[Bloodedge]

It was very possible that the Filolial egg would soon be hatching. Miki wondered aloud if it happened to be hatching here and now, only to exclaim that it was after looking at it again. "It is!?" Kou repeated with an upward inflection and much excitement. There was also a spark of nervousness within this reaction, as he didn't actually know what to do. "Uhh... I dunno! They just sort of spawn in the game, I don't know how to deal with an egg hatching when it's real! How do pregnancies work!? Hikari, we need towels and hot water!" he exclaimed, looking frantically toward the demi-human with his hands flailing in the space around the cracked egg.

[Apollymi]

Her head now raised, Hikari got a full vision of the apparent problems of her brother and his not girlfriend. In their excitement surrounding the moment neither of them seemed to know what to do. A string of swears came from Miki which she thought was about expected, but the flailing motions of her brother combined with his words which lacked real thought made her look at him eyes blazing. "First of all, we're teenagers, I doubt either of us has ever been pregnant," she managed, as she moved towards the lad. Upon reaching him she aimed a gentle slap across his face to bring him back to his senses because obviously he'd lost them in the moment. "Second, and this is very important, we are literally sitting in the biggest hot spring known to man. I'm not giving you hot water. Baka-nii, I didn't expect you to actually go fucking stupid on me over a chicken..." she mumbled. She turned to Miki and lowered the egg into the water and then made her way to the outside for the towels she was asked for all while muttering about how stupid this pair was in not so hushed tones. A second or two later, a bit of nervous laughter escaped Miki and she managed to shake off her own embarrassment. "Gomen... I just got a little excited," she murmured still feeling the constant shifting of the creature within the egg. A moment or two later, Hikari dropped a towel at their side of the hot spring on dry land, before moving a great distance across it, content to observe from a distance while muttering more insults about her brother. All the while more and more cracks appeared upon the surface of the egg, until bubbles escaped the shell and the entire top popped off. Out of this popped a small bird, jet black in color with a shining black beak and a look of sheer anger on its face. "Sugoi!~ It's here!" she muttered dropping the egg shell and reaching her hands up into the air with the intention of catching the small bird before it could hit the water again.

[Bloodedge]

During his freak-out caused by the hatching egg, Kou was approached by Hikari, who proceeded to slap him in a way which temporarily took him out of the moment at hand. In fact, the impact to his face made him pause entirely. The words which accompanied this were ones which rang true. If hot water would be of any use, there was no way to bring any... considering they were in hot springs. "... Oh, shit. That was retarded," he said in a moment of clarity. Hikari went about gathering the requested towels though, whilst Kou rubbed his face. The egg continued to crack in the meantime. In a matter of moments, a pure black Filolial was popping out of the egg through its top, rising above the water's surface in a state of rage. "Yosh! It really hatched like that!" Kou was elated, seeming to not even care very much about the status of the Filolial now that it had actually hatched. What's more, he saw the rage in the chick's expression, and realized why it must have been hatching so readily in this area.

[Apollymi]

"Yes, yes it was..." this was Hikari's only words to her brother as she settled back into the water. Still, it was something amazing to watch as this angry little bird popped out of the egg shell only to land in Miki's extended hands. The lass lowered her arms and the bird looked left and right with that same angry expression visible, but that soon shifted to confusion as it didn't seem to find what it was looking for. "Kawaii!~ It's black and cute... and kinda angry," said Miki as she extended her arms out to Kou so he could see it too. "Why is it angry?" she wondered as it was the only way to conceptualize the look on the face of the tiny bird, even as it shifted to confusion it looked between Miki and Kou multiple times only to have its feathers ruffle and then smooth, with the extension of its wings. A gentle chirp escaped it as it came to the conclusion that there wasn't anything present which required it to be aggressive.

[Bloodedge]

Miki addressed the fury of the Filolial, even holding it out for Kou to view in the meantime. He drew closer, until he was interestingly the same distance from the Filolial as Miki herself. "It is angry. I would be too," he said, already having an understanding as to what the creature expected upon hatching. "Filolials and Dragons are natural enemies, according to game lore. This place is full of Dragon Mana, so our little chick here was probably sensing it before hatching." As Kou spoke, he reached out to pet the chick with his forefinger, acknowledging its confusion so soon after birth. "There's no Dragon here, though. Everything's fine," he said with a gentle smile.

[Apollymi]

At the mention of how angry the little bird looked, Kou mentioned a bit lore in the game about Dragons and Filolials. His words implied that the Filolials actions were in response to the high quality Dragon Mana found in the area. "Sou ka, I guess I would wake up angry too, if I thought I was about to be thrown into an immediate fight with my mortal enemy," she said calmly. She shifted the little bird into one hand and gave it a gentle pet too. "Sugoi!!~ It's so soft," she mentioned seemingly excited by the prospect. She cupped it once more as the little chick seemed to lavish in the attention of pets and cuddles. Fully acknowledging this pair as its parental figures. Miki also realized how caring Kou seemed to be in the moment and found it quite cute as she looked at him. She too had all but abandoned the quest for high stats and the like from the creature as she simply fell in love with it as a cute existence. "Ano... one more question, can we tell if it's a girl or a boy? I mean... we still have to name it..." she said with a firm nod. "What if we name it Philip and it's a girl?" she said in a joking tone, though the general output of it was serious.

All the while, Hikari watched as these two practically fawned over their new pet. And while she would admit that the little chicken was quite cute, something about the way this pair was handling the situation was an entirely different kind of cute. 'Look at them. They don't even know they already look like a couple do they? Over there, beaming like new parents with their cute baby... Chikuso! It shouldn't be so hard to hook two people up...' she mused internally. Whatever the case, she'd continue to watch the developments to see what would come of their current situation.

[Bloodedge]

"It is! I never stopped to think what one would feel like, but it's really smooth and all!" Kou said, both agreeing with Miki and adding his own tidbit. Miki shared a curiosity about the gender of the Filolial, which Kou also hadn't considered naming until it was brought up. "Girl Philip would be hilarious, but... probably best to avoid that, yeah. It's a girl though, judging by the beak. In that case..." Kou continued rubbing the chick's head with his finger, wondering if it would respond to a name it preferred if he offered a list. "Filo? Liara? Kuroki? Leeroy? Fiona? Leeroy?"

[Apollymi]

"Right?! It's all fluffy like a pillow~" Miki explained her current feelings about the softness of the Filolial. As their conversation progressed it became apparent that Kou was perfectly capable of figuring out a male from a female Filolial. This was quite a relief to Miki as she didn't want to have to go all the way back to the farm to consult the farmer but she would. She also figured naming the creature earlier would help out its growth prospects, like it had with their other mount. The small chick lavished under the attention of the hands that petted it, "Girl Philip would be funny, but I don't want to ruin the life of a real creature... with my pop-culture references. Can't be a total meme lord or anything..." Miki mentioned. She was no internet troll, but she enjoyed the small jokes, but with a creature so cute she had no intention of making its existence a joke. Soon after, Kou started listing off names, and the little bird in her hands began looking at him as he did. Each time a name was spoken, she nipped at his fingers. Particularly hard when Leeroy was mentioned twice. All the while, Fiona got only a gentle flutter of the female chicks wings and her chest puffed out. Miki felt the vibrations of her little body within her hands. "Uh... might be Fiona, that gave a nice reaction... I think it's pretty cute too!~" she said of that particular name. At the mention of Fiona from Miki, a little vibration came from the creatures body again. Like it was indeed what it'd chosen.

[Bloodedge]

Kou listed a total of five different names, not quite expecting any of them to be preferred. The Filolial's beak bit his finger numerous times throughout his list, but one particular name produced a favorable reaction according to Miki. "You mean a reaction that doesn't take off my finger? Ouch!" he said, though after Miki mentioned the name Fiona again, Kou could see the reaction of the Filolial. "Fiona, then? Seems legit to me. Okaeri, Fiona~" he stated with a wider, brighter grin than he bore previously.

[Apollymi]

The little bird seemed to react favorably to the name Fiona and when it was mentioned by Kou that it seemed only favorable in that it didn't lose him a finger, Miki couldn't help but chuckle. "I mean... that's about as favorable as one could ask for right? You keep fingers, she gets a happy name... sounds fair to me~" she said in a manner light-heartedly sarcastic. Of course, his agreement on the name would bring more direct attention to the Filolial now known as Fiona, and the greeting he gave the creature brought about a happy reaction. Mostly it made the small bird chirp and flutter as it tried and succeeded at jumping from Miki's hands onto Kou's shoulder. "Kawaii!~ Fiona's so cute... and it suits you~" she said to the little bird, also bearing a grin quite large and bright at this point. Fiona continued to muss her feathers and vibrate seeming to gain a bit of pride about the name she'd been given. She reacted favorably to it being said again, this time vibrating against Kou's neck as she settled in there with a smug look of satisfaction upon her face. Miki didn't know what kind of reaction she'd initially expected from Kou, but she found his smile in this moment to be quite attractive, she also enjoyed the idea of him taking care of someone or something else. It was surely becoming one of her favorite qualities about the lad. 'Nice... it's good to see him smile like that...' the lass thought suddenly very pleased.

Hikari for all of her harping earlier, watched these two interact with there new pet and found them to be rather cute. Both seemed to be completely enthralled with something as simple as a chicken. And while she expected this sort of thing from her brother, she didn't expect his female companion to share that sort of interest in something so simple. 'Baka... both of them are so damned cute... they deserve each other...' she thought with a roll of her eyes content to relax until such a time as they left this place in search of their next destination or whatever or wherever they planned to go for the night.

[Bloodedge]

In the midst of the shared excitement over the newborn Filolial, Kou received the pleasure of having the chick hop onto his shoulder. In this way, it was acting more like a pet, or even a child, than what one would expect of a mount from a video game, but this was also just real life now. "From biting to this, huh? I don't mind the change, and I guess I'm doing alright as long as I still have fingers," he said while reaching up to Fiona again.

It was the later part of the same night that this group, still sans Karna, could be found at the beach again after acquiring a large tent and sleeping bags from another shop not too far away. The moon was high in the sky while Kou tampered with the six-person tent's support beams to ensure its solidity by the sandy shores. Once he thought he was as done as he could be with this, he hopped down and called out to the others. "Phew! Looks good! Can we get some runes on it? It'd be nice to not worry about some random monster showing up and trashing the thing while we're asleep."

[Apollymi]

Fiona, as their newest addition was being called, took to her new perch aptly. It seemed that it was respected when she didn't bite this man, and it got her extra petting which she appreciated. With that in mind she found herself snuggling a bit more into him while she was pet for the second time. Small chirps escaped her as well this time, as she was content to ride along this way. "Kawaii!~ She's like the cutest thing ever..." Miki mentioned with untold elation at their newest addition.

When the moon had risen quite a bit and they were back on the shores of the beaches, it would seem that Kou had decided to build the tent for them to stay in. All the while the Filolial chick, Fiona spent its time perched atop Miki's head. It was staring fixedly at what was going on, with a great deal of intelligence in those beady black eyes. Miki found herself absently petting the creature atop her head, as she was called upon to help in the efforts. "Hai hai... I'll take care of it. Not like I want to be attacked while sleeping or anything," she mentioned as she began to walk around the tent posting the necessary runes to create the bounded field which would enclose their sleeping space. "Sugoi! Miki-nee, you know Rune Magic? That's really useful..." she managed finding this whole process to be a bit strange to watch, but she figured there were worse things. "Hai, it was one of the first things I wanted when settling in to this place... it's one of my favorite forms of magic and definitely one of the most useful so far," she mentioned of her choice. Within a few moments the bounded field was created around the tent and to a large area surrounding it. "There... that should about do it..." she said with a quick exhale. Though it didn't take as much energy from her as it used to, creating large bounded fields was still pretty bothersome. After a moment, Fiona jumped down from her head and landed atop her shoulder, choosing to puff up and draw attention to herself. "Hai hai... you were a wonderful help~" she said to the little bird while doting upon it, much like she would any pet.

[Bloodedge]

After Kou hopped down from the tent, Miki did indeed take over with her Rune Magic. Kou stepped back to watch from a distance as she went to work in creating the bounded field. When it was all over, Kou stepped forward with his fist extended. "Noice!" he said to the blonde. He very much appreciated having such conventional abilities in the group, especially ones which also had combat benefits. It was the sort of thing he sought for himself, but didn't often see others select in video games of any sort. "Bright and early, then? Nothing says strong chicken like waking up to a swim in riptides~"

[Apollymi]

After she finished creating the bounded field she turned to find Kou with an arm extended and a fist in her direction. She met it with her own and grinned at the lad. "Noice!~" the lass said in return at the moments their fists met, Fiona hopped down Miki's arm and crossed onto Kou's still seeking affection in the way a pet would between its two favorite people. It seemed she had some recognition of the fact that tomorrows activities were about her, and she seemed to be excited about it. "Hai hai, sounds like a plan to me." Miki said heading inside, she chose a sleeping bag close to the right hand side, and settled in for the night. Hikari went along as well, cuddling herself between Miki and the tents right wall, leaving Miki closer to the middle than the edge. Whatever the case, the demi-human was content to sleep. "Oyasumi, Nii-san, Miki-nee!!~" she said as she settled in as well, content to sleep the night away. "Goodnight, Kou and Hikari-chan~" Miki managed. All the while Fiona was hopping around on Kou ready to settle down for the night as well, but incapable of probably expressing this aside from movements.

[Bloodedge]

"Ossu!" Kou said as his fist was met by Miki's. He joined the others in entering the tent, making an effort to once again pet Fiona with his finger on the way. Considering he was the last one to set foot in the tent, and the other spaces were presently filled, Kou lowered himself into the space on the left side of the tent. He shifted Fiona to the pillow, next to his head. "Oyasumi, minna," he said while closing his eyes.

The next morning, Kou stood at the edge of the shore, awaiting the moment they would officially begin Fiona's 'training' as it were. He took this time to look out onto the waters, finding the riptides to be something he considered just about the perfect challenge. What's more, there was just enough calm space in the sunken part of the ocean ahead for a bit of relaxation between areas of turmoil.

[Apollymi]

Fiona took her attention where she could get it, and seemed to be very pleased by the doting of her father figure. By the time she was moved to the pillow, she settled down like a bird roosting, and angled herself between Kou and Miki. Goodnights were spoken all around and then there was nothing but sleep for the group.

Miki awoke the next morning seemingly early, but hadn't managed to beat Kou to wakefulness. It seemed such a thing was only fated to happen once in their adventures. Whatever the case, she didn't wake by her own mechanization this day, instead their shared Filolial was gently pecking at the lass' nose trying to wake her. This would leave the very tip of the girl's nose a little red as she woke up. "Ano, I would have gotten up soon anyways. You could stand to be a bit more gentle. But... arigatou..." she managed reaching out for the little bird and giving it a firm pet. Sure of Miki's wakefulness Fiona took off at a run and headed to Kou on the shore. Miki in the meantime turned to a still sleeping Hikari and was met strangely with the lass' sleeping words. "Don't even think about it... I'm not waking up early so you guys can raise your chicken... go on without me..." she mumbled as she rolled up and hunkered down for what could potentially be a few more hours of sleep. A few minutes later, Miki would join stifling a gentle yawn but having put herself fully back together again. She'd be seen wearing her swimsuit with her jacket on and zipped covering most of her body but leaving her legs exposed. "Ohayou Gozaimasu..." she murmured. Having reached the same point on the shore, Fiona could be seen running between both of their legs as if excited by whatever was going on here. "Yare yare, she's full of energy..."

[Bloodedge]

After standing around gazing at the sea for some time, Kou was joined at the shore by none other than Fiona. When this occurred, Kou took a crouched position and placed his hand atop the chick's head. "Ohayou gozaimasu, Fio~" he said. Meanwhile, Miki approached as well. Kou was focused on Fiona, but the sound of the blonde's voice pulled his attention away. "Ohayou gozaimasu!" As he greeted Miki, he noticed Hikari was nowhere to be seen. This came as no surprise to Kou at all, and in fact, he began chuckling at the thought. "No Hikari? I'm guessing... it'll be about three hours. It's not like she was the one who wanted to go swimming or anything~"

[Apollymi]

At morning greetings Fiona seemed to be most pleased. She gained even more attention and seemed to revel in it. Miki approached alone and was greeted in return by Kou, who seemed to be aware of the lack of waking of Hikari and estimated a time on her actually getting up for the day. His tone was joking as if he was quite used to it, and he even made a joke about how she was the one most interested in swimming. "Hai hai, actually she said I shouldn't think about trying to wake her, and I took her at her word..." Miki said in a tone which was also joking. "To be fair, she did age like 5 years yesterday. I don't want to imagine what that could do to a girl~" Miki mentioned thoughtfully. At the very least, the girl had basically faced off against a whole dungeon alone in the previous day, and to Miki this entitled her to a bit of extra sleep. "Sou ka, so it seems like it's just us for a bit today... So, how do we feel about swimming today?" she said to Fiona as she reached out for her as well, giving her a happy pet. The black chick seemed to lavish in the extra attention and gave a firm movement of her head and body. "Kawaii!~ It seems like you're ready Fiona~" the lass said looking to Kou she was also ready to get this training going. As such she moved towards the water's edge with Fiona following behind. The little chicks first reactions to the water were about what one would expect. She ran out into the water a bit, then ran back. There was an intense look passing the creatures face as she seemed to try and make sense of this moment on her own. 'Alright, she's thinking. That's good.' Miki thought waiting to see what else would come from the initial exploration of the small black chick.

[Bloodedge]

"Sounds about like what I'd expect. Good choice not pushing it; she probably would have bashed your head in," Kou explained. In doing so, he rubbed the back of his head as if he could remember the sensation physically. Regardless, there was the matter of Fiona's training to address. Kou stepped out to the water's edge as Fiona tested the waters, and he was quite impressed by the discernment shown all of one day into the chick's lifespan. The male snickered again before taking another step forward, after which he dove into the open water. Only a few moments later, his head emerged with a sizable splash and a hair flip. "Whoo! Alright, let's see what we're workin' with!"

[Apollymi]

"Hai hai, I'll make sure I don't try and wake her then~" said Miki happily. To be fair she knew better than to try and wake a sleeping teen girl, if only because she was one herself and knew how cherished comfortable sleep was. Moving right along, as she trailed into the water, she got to watch as their little Filolial started thinking about what swimming would be like, before Miki could do it herself, Kou would be found diving into the water. The black chick stared, as the man was underwater for a short while and then her eyes widened as he broke the surface once more. Miki watched Kou for the moment he came back up to the water's surface, and something about the hair flip and general look of this moment she found unfathomably pleasant. Though she didn't speak on it. When she looked down by her ankles, Fiona was flapping excitedly as if she'd figured out something massive just by watching. Her excited little flaps would turn into adventure as she headed out further into the water. "Sou ka, nice job... Fiona!~ Gambatte!~" she said encouraging the small creature. Miki would in the meantime abandon her jacket and also adventure further out into the water.

And as she did this, Fiona was trying to make it to Kou. Each little movement across the water and flaps of her wings took her closer and closer. Eventually she got the hang of being atop the water a bit and used the speed of her wing flaps to carry her towards Kou were she aimed to perch upon his shoulder when she reached him. Ruffling her feathers and seeming to be a bit proud of herself.

[Bloodedge]

Kou used the time after his dive to watch Fiona's progression in her entry to swimming. The chick's brain processed things quickly enough that she was soon hopping into the water, using her wings to carry her across the surface on a journey toward where Kou stopped. Once there, the young Filolial perched atop the lad's shoulder as she had done on the previous day, and the reaction from Kou was the same petting finger he'd used so frequently thus far. "Ii ne! That's the kind of growth speed I wanted to see!" he cheered. Without further ado, Kou took a deep breath and held it, then immediately submerged himself in the water. Whether Fiona was left on the water's surface or not after this, he couldn't have the chick resting on his shoulder for too long without making more progress.

[Apollymi]

Fiona received more attention after reaching Kou this time. That same petting mechanism seemed to be enough to spur her into action. Strangely she wasn't allowed to simply rest with this notion. In fact, soon after she landed and was praised, Kou dove under water, leaving the little black chick atop the water looking a bit confused. She looked left and right but didn't find Kou, only Miki as she made her approach. This made her look at the blonde strangely, her chest puffing up and her wings flapping as she tried to convey her feelings at this random situation. Miki smiled at the little bird and motioned to herself. "Mite! You can do it!~" she said taking a deep breath and diving beneath the surface of the water as well. The little chick was left up top by herself and would follow along cautiously. First she stuck her head in with her eyes closed. Seeing nothing she came back up. The water rolled off her head and back and she managed to look the tiniest bit confused. As such, she tried it again, this time with her eyes open. She saw Miki and Kou beneath the water and began using her legs to force herself deeper until she reached them. Upon getting to one or both of them, she would flap her wings about a bit, getting a feel for movement beneath the water's surface. All the while Miki watched with a bit of pride in her visage. It was astonishing to her that something which had just been an egg in the previous day, was now thinking on its own and learning a new skill.

[Bloodedge]

Kou remained underwater, eyes open. From his place beneath the surface, he could see Fiona, as well as Miki, above. Distracted, he had a lingering gaze on the blonde for several seconds, until she inevitably descended as well. He then watched and waited to see if Fiona would join them, and lo, the Filolial chick did exactly that in a matter of moments. Kou nodded his approval to the chick during her approach, and began swimming around underwater in a circle. Said circle was one he swam in while rising until he reached the surface again, where he began moving toward the riptides not too far from their current location.

[Apollymi]

Fiona seemed to take the approval of her adventure very well. As Kou began swimming around in circles so did Miki, both of them working towards a rise back to the surface. Their trainee for the day seemed to watch this all with a determined look and also began to circle her way back up to the surface. Miki broke the water tossing her hair back and out of her face, in time to witness Fiona break the water at maximum speed popping out a couple of feet up in the air looking all too satisfied as she fell back towards the water's surface only to land with a gentle plop just a little below the surface. This would cause Miki to giggle. "Ara ara, that's a little too much, no?" she asked of the little bird as it popped back up and she rubbed the top of its head gently. Overall their particular pet seemed to run on affection and as Kou began swimming closer to the riptides, Miki did the same with a gentle back stroke in a manner most casual. "Sugoi! She's learning so fast!~" Miki commented pleasantly pleased by the black chick's progress. In the meantime, Fiona floated atop the surface using her wings to propel her body forwards keeping up with the leisurely strokes of Miki with ease, chirping happily along the way. 'Hm, I suppose they did say Filolials like to work, maybe they think of stuff like this as work and that's why they're easy to train?' Miki thought absently, still the smile on her face just didn't seem to go away, and she was more than content to continue their combined work to help this along.

[Bloodedge]

Kou grew closer and closer to one of many riptides, until he was just outside of its affected area. Fiona was indeed developing with great quickness, and Kou couldn't have been more pleased with the progress. As the Filolial grew closer to him, he became more prepared to make an additional movement. Miki was encroaching upon his location as well, warranting a nod in her direction first and foremost. "Alright... next move~" he said, following the statement by swimming directly into the riptide. Kou relinquished control right away, letting himself be tossed about by the rapid water as it carried him down and around. "Haha! It's like a water park; it's awesome!"

[Apollymi]

Soon enough, Miki also reached a riptide, having received a nod from Kou she knew exactly the sort of thing that would be happening next. All the while, Fiona seemed to be watching and waiting for the next big challenge. And what a challenge it was. Miki soon threw herself into the riptide also relinquishing control of her physical body, allowing herself to float around and down giving only a gentle nod to their pet bird. "Whoa!! This is pretty fun!~" she chimed as she disappeared as well. Fiona looked with cutting gaze, she was not to be left behind in such a situation. She swam towards the riptide finding it to be pulling her in. At first, she resisted a bit, trying to swim away... but having seen the smiles on the faces of her parental figures... she made the decision that she could simply go with it. Her tiny bird body was soon flung into the fray as well, and she was pulled down with the current of the riptide flapping her little wings to carry her further beyond.

[Bloodedge]

Around and around the members of this group went individually. As the first to enter the riptide, Kou became the first to exit far below the surface. He was flung closer to their starting point, which was about where he emerged after the wild ride he had. Another splash occurred as his head and upper torso erupted from the water, and he proceeded to look around and await the appearance of the other two. "Wow, that's great! She's gonna be jealous when she finds out how much fun everything was without her~" the lad spoke to himself, specifically in reference to the demi-human who remained asleep in the tent.

[Apollymi]

Miki emerged soon after Kou and hearing his commentary about the sleeping demi-human she couldn't help but chuckle. "Hai hai, it's okay though. I'm sure she'll join us later and we'll have loads of fun!~" Miki mentioned with a large grin on her face. She then looked out, expecting their small chick to emerge pretty soon as well, but there was no immediate surfacing of the chick. Initially Miki tried not to worry but as the moments ticked on she was eventually just looking out over the surface of the water with visible concern on her face.

In the meantime, their little chipper Filolial, surfaced, but not at the same spot that Kou and Miki did. No instead, she surfaced in a place which was dark and dripped with water. She looked left and right, trying to find her parental figures, only to note that she did not see them anywhere. The black chick looked about and seemed to gain something of a huff with ruffled feathers. Even so, she swam closer and closer to what looked like solid ground as she tried to figure out where Kou and Miki had gotten off too.

[Bloodedge]

Kou was quite confused by how long it was taking for the Filolial to appear. He wasn't all too worried at first, but the seconds became minutes, and concern was building quickly. Little did he know, he would eventually end up searching for the chick. Over time, he looked around with his senses stretched to their limits in search of the Filolial, but to no avail. She hadn't been killed by anything, as he could still see her name with other members of the party, but there was no finding a trace of her at all. An entire day would pass, and on the next morning, Kou paced along the shore, still without a clue where the Filolial could have gone. "It doesn't make any sense. I should've been able to at least tell what direction she's in, even if she went super far away."

[Apollymi]

In the time following the disappearance of Fiona, Miki had been using her abilities to try and look for their newest party member as well. She also wasn't initially too worried because of how the party system worked in this world, and because she had a rather acute sense of death because of her Druid heritage. Given all of these things she was quite sure the Filolial hadn't died, that being said it was quite strange that it hadn't been found by either of their senses to give them any kind of idea of where she'd gotten off to. Kou's statements gave Miki a bit of a pause as well, as she too was pacing along the shore, "Hm, unless we are getting magical interference from something here. There were a couple of dungeons I explored in my game that didn't allow me to use sensory techniques and counted as their own separate spaces. Maybe it's something like that... and we just have to find the same entrance she got into to find her..." Miki offered, she hadn't slept well at all when they couldn't find their Filolial. She'd been thinking about this quite a lot and it didn't make sense that the Filolial hadn't surfaced during the same time they had, it would only make sense if she'd ended up going deeper underwater and thus getting thrown out elsewhere. She didn't have any real explanation for why they couldn't sense her, aside from game mechanics translating into this world, but she was more than content to try and find her. "Our best bet might be to follow the same path we took yesterday and try to end up in the same place she did, though that is risky in its own right. If we take our weapons down it should be mostly fine..." she offered the only plan she'd managed to think of over the last day or so.

In the meantime, Fiona was exploring, this cave underneath the outcropping was full of interesting things. She'd been navigating many of the small spaces. Learned to avoid the traps which were tripped by her landing on certain stones. And she'd even figured out how to jump and land over large openings. All of this was leading her to a level of growth which was quite extreme. Her beady black eyes gazed at her next target, a small worm sticking out from a corner in a dark room.

[Bloodedge]

"I guess that's always a possibility," Kou agreed regarding the possibility of magical interference. Such a thing was always possible in dense Mana zones, such as Raid areas and Artifact Dungeons. Of course, that would mean there was something else of such magnitude in the vicinity, as the Dragon Pond didn't exhibit such an effect previously. "Ugh! This is not how I expected anything to go. I don't know if we can even get away with trying to go the same route if we can just end up any other random place. Even with weapons, there's no helping us actually find her."

[Apollymi]

Miki understood Kou's frustrations. She also hadn't expected something as simple as training a Filolial to turn into them trying to dungeon delve to find the creature because of something as simple as her getting tossed into another space. Still, persistence in these kinds of situations was often rewarded as such they could and should carry on. "Hm, I mean there isn't any direct help in us finding her, but..." Miki gave a slight bit of pause and thought about all the interactions they'd had with Fiona and her egg over the last day or so and she came to a simple conclusion. "Given everything around here is called 'Dragon' something, it is likely something dragon related. Given her obvious hatred of all things dragon, we are likely to find her where the dungeon clears because she'd be looking for the threat as well..." she said. Miki had quite a bit of faith in the cleverness of their shared Filolial. As such she wouldn't be making the case for it doing anything but the same sort of thing they'd be doing. "And if you don't want to go the way of the riptides, then I'd say investigating the falls themselves would be the next best option. We can't see through them, there might be some sort of entrance there. This world translates to real life a bit too well, the entrances have to be finite spaces even if they are magical in nature," she offered. At the very least even if clearing whatever dungeon they found didn't find them the Filolial they were searching for, it would clear the number of places they had to look for her. "And if there are multiple different dungeons here, that clears one and we can go on to searching the next... I don't want to give up on her or anything... she's worth the risk." Miki said very firmly. She wasn't sure about a lot of things, but she was very certain she was already really attached to their Filolial. And while most people would call it a wash and try to hatch another, there had already been a great investment in this one, and she could see it paying off in every way, there was no need to give up on the creature when she was obviously still alive.

[Bloodedge]

Kou's pacing never ceased as they discussed their approach to finding Fiona. "Hmm. I guess there could always be another source of Dragon Mana nearby," he gathered. If there was a dungeon somewhere in the vicinity, and it bore the energy of Dragons, it was very likely that Fiona would be wandering around within. Miki presented the idea of searching by the waterfalls for said dungeon, but also brought up the possibility of there being multiple dungeons in the general area. "If there's more than one Dungeon near, that'd be bad. Multiple Dungeons being active too close to each other is how Rifts spawn, and that would be a problem even for us," he stated with certainty. They still hadn't delved into the ability they shared of changing Avatars and taking on their Dragonoid forms, and Rifts were something only elitist fools and masochists of some sort would enter before level 50. Even most Dungeons required the levels they were currently at, as a minimum. "I feel like we'd be able to tell if there was a Rift. To be safe though, we should find whatever Dungeon is around right now."

There was hardly more to be said. In due time, the two Adventurers shared a raft with Kou at the oar. The raft moved along the edge of the waterfall, whilst Kou kept his senses open to any oddities he could find along the way. "C'mon, c'mon... it's gotta be somewhere..."

[Apollymi]

Miki was given more information she didn't have about the nature of rifts in this world. Though she hadn't gotten around to surfing one herself, she figured they were problematic and as such was waiting to reach the proper level to feel comfortable taking them on. The news that Rifts could be open because of multiple dungeons in an area made her eyes widen, but then soon after they returned to their normal state. "That sounds like a really good reason to close whatever ones we come across. At the very least, it will buy us some time..." she said knowing they weren't yet leveled enough to make a Rift something they'd want to take on, even if they could potentially do it.

Their current plan of action all but decided, Miki would soon find herself atop a raft with Kou at the oar. She would be standing near one edge with her weapon in its weapon form extended. Much like he was presently looking for some disturbance. She was doing something similar, though in an odd way. To be technical about it, she was using her weapon as a dousing mechanism, searching for even the smallest instance of change. The weapon itself would turn or twist when it finally found the difference in magic it was looking for, and it was a strange but simple way for her to make use of their current situation. It worked on the idea that the water they were standing in was itself a source of natural mana. Given this her weapon was one of a different sort, meaning it could search out the one different from what they were currently looking for. She was in this moment exceedingly quiet as she allowed her weapon to hover oven her open palm, but as they came to one particularly seedy part of the falls there was the slightest shift in the the weapon. One which was too forced to be natural. "There!~" she mentioned with excitement in her voice. She grabbed one end of her weapon and pointed at it. It looked like a normal part of the falls but she was almost certain there was something there.

[Bloodedge]

Kou wasn't having any luck finding odd Mana sources in an area so rich. Luckily, Miki had a method of searching for something not different in construct, but different in nature. The blonde used her weapon as a dousing tool, and after what felt like ages tracing the line of the waterfall, she located the oddity and pointed it out. "Hai!" Kou said as he steered the raft in the appropriate direction. He let go of the oar and left the raft to float where he'd pushed it, at least as far as it would go before the currents reclaimed it. Aiming himself at the waterfall, he held out his left hand. "Gofuuken!" he called out, extending his Mana to produce a ranged spell consisting of three swords of energy. He aimed these swords closer to the top of the waterfall, and once they'd entered the water, he used his Transcendence Support Skill to alter the swords' element. The Mana swords became ice instead of pure energy, only to burst afterwards and freeze the water crashing down on them. This effort created a balcony effect as this segment of the waterfall continued to freeze as it cascaded over more ice, until it eventually fell to either side instead without reaching the end. Then, it became visible. There was a dank cave behind the waterfall, and it had been made easily accessible. Kou hopped onto the land marking the cave's entrance, and produced another blade made of light to hover near him and make the path ahead visible.

[Apollymi]

After pointing out the spot which was most likely to house what they were looking for, Miki got to watch as Kou decided how to act on the problem of the still moving waterfall. What she witnessed after was a stunning use of his combined set of skills to make the waterfall freeze over top of them, while creating a place for them to walk and enter the now revealed cave. "Sugoi," she managed at the ingenuity of the skills use. One of the more interesting things she'd noticed was her ability to use her skills not just in the way that the game had laid out but for any other random task her imagination could make them fit into. Witnessing Kou do something to the same effect was amazing and comforting in a strange way, as it overall made her feel less awkward for doing things in a way that wasn't considered conventional. Kou soon hopped onto the landing which made the cave visible, and Miki followed along behind him, taking note of the light sword created to let them see the way ahead of them. She didn't really know what to say at this point so she was content to head further in.

The cave was dripping with water and mana, all sorts of strange noises could be heard from within but it didn't seem to be outright dangerous. This was of course, good news considering they were in looking for Fiona, their Filolial chick. Speaking of Fiona, what was she doing in this cave right now? Well, her black feathered body was deeper within and she sat in a corner, happily feasting upon a worm she'd captured on her own. Immediately after, she looked up left and right before heading towards another opening within the cave. This one had a glowing pond within it, and it teemed with magical energy. She stared at it for several seconds. As if afraid of it for some reason or another, then after thinking it through for a moment or two ran over to the cave wall, picking up a rock in her beak. She'd toss it into the water, and find that the rock itself dissolved in the water. Her beady eyes widened and she flapped her wings furiously as if upset. As such she looked around more, trying to find a way to cross the acid pool which wouldn't end directly in her own death.

[Bloodedge]

Miki joined Kou at the entrance to the cave. With her along, he began moving forward, bringing the illuminating sword to keep the path visible. From within the cave, Kou could tell this was clearly connected to the Dungeon they sought. The Mana shared a thickness of Mana with the hot springs they were in two nights before. Still, his senses were a bit more keen from inside the area. "Alright. Definitely a Dungeon, definitely the only reasonable place to find a little black chicken. Definitely also as dank as the boy's room at school before lunch."

[Apollymi]

Miki followed behind Kou, she was quite sure of the placement of their pet within this dungeon. The confirmation that the chicken was probably in this place. Still there was commentary from Kou which caused Miki to raise her left brow. "I don't know anything about boy's rooms, but I am now infinitely glad I am a girl. I don't think this would work for me as somewhere I had to go at random..." she said in response as the only lightly sarcastic thing she had floating in her head. There were a couple of problems to be taken in a place like this, as such she began thinking about it. "It's a dungeon, right? I guess we should be on guard, for traps, puzzles and the like..." she said to herself. Still this was a strange place and she didn't know what kind of traps to expect from this place. Within a few moments they would be upon the first of such situations. There was a large cylinder on the side of this room, and several raised stones in the walkway between the start of the room and the end of the room. Across the room were several small hints, a glyph that looked like a serpent, a raised stone, and a death skull. Miki looked at this room and took from it a very simple truth, though she was more than a bit curious about the kind of death such a room could cause, she had no intention of finding out herself. "This seems really straight forward..."

[Bloodedge]

"I'd be glad too. I hear the girls' room comes with a sofa," he said, recalling an old myth from school. Onward he went still, while Miki brought up the existence of traps and such within Dungeons like this one. Kou nodded as he sent the light sword out ahead by a meter or so, if only to better light the path before they went too far into any potential traps. "Yeah, for sure. Just like..." His sentence didn't need to reach conclusion. They were upon the first obstacle already. Miki commented on it being relatively straightforward, prompting Kou to have a look around the room from where he stood. "Sou ka," he said. True enough, it all seemed very simple at face value. "Let's go then."

[Apollymi]

Miki thought about this sofa rumor and wondered how such a thing spread to the boys in the first place. She couldn't deny such a thing of course, as it was probably the truest rumor that had ever been spread. "I mean it does, but I guess the rooms are set up with the convenience of the users in mind," she said thinking the reasoning behind such a thing was likely obvious. Moving right along their first puzzle did indeed seem easy enough. As such and with the extra light provided by Kou, she made her way through the room without much of a problem. Several other such puzzle rooms would follow until of course the inevitable happened and they came across a room filled with strange four legged lizards. These creatures crawled across the floors, walls and ceilings and were the size of average dogs with bodies low to the ground. "Do we fight them or try and find a way around them?" she asked of her companion. Obviously there was some sort of way to get around this particular room, as she was quite certain their Filolial wouldn't have been able to fight off such a room filled with potential problems.

Meanwhile, their Filolial had found a way to cross the acid pool and was standing on the other end of it, looking rather proud of herself. Even so, there was something she was looking for and it stood beyond. On a pillar in this final room, just past where the two adventurers currently were, there was a podium and atop it, a large purple gem which emitted an energy most disturbing to the little chick. Having found it, her little face puffed up and her beak opened and she let out a small chirping sound which would echo through the entirety of this half of the cave. The lizards all turned and moved, tripping over the large number of bodies which populated the area, as the tried to find the source of the shrill chirping noise.

[Bloodedge]

For years, Kou had been alongside numerous males in wondering if the rumors were true. Here in another world, at long last, he discovered the truth from the mouth of a girl. There was a sofa. If only he could share this discovery with the others, he'd be heralded as a champion of mankind. Alas, it was not to be here in the other world. "Huh. Cool," was all he said aloud. Moving on, the pair traversed the trapped room without encountering any issues, and they continued through numerous other traps and puzzles until encountering a creature-based threat. "They had to be somewhere, huh?" he commented with an unnecessary upward inflection. Since the threat was lizards, Kou figured it would be much more annoying to sneak past them than to eliminate them. Before he could even voice his opinion though, he heard the familiar chirp of a Filolial chick. Sadly, the lizards were also alerted, and began moving toward the chirp right away. "Shit!" Kou exclaimed in a hushed tone, immediately giving chase to the horde of lizards, sword at the ready.

[Apollymi]

Apparently Kou took knowing about the sofa in the girl's bathroom as a piece of information well. Miki still couldn't say she understood why such a thing was a matter of a rumor, and wondered if the guys simply didn't know the reasoning behind the girl's room needing such an object. Regardless, they were content to move right along, but before a proper plan on dealing with the lizards could be made, a shrill chirp caught the attention of every creature present. "Oh crap!" this was the only sentiment that Miki could express presently. As the room full of creatures took off towards the sound, they followed behind ready and willing to take out the creatures as they approached their pet.

The lead into the next room was a rather easy one, and the lizards themselves seemed to lack a bit of intelligence. Initially they tried to reach the other side of the acid pond simply by swimming across it, when a few dozen of them became shrieking piles of flesh in the pool Miki's eyes widened. "Ano, this seems like it won't require us to do much..." she mentioned as she watched several start crawling up the walls to cross the acidic pond with more relative ease on their search for the Filolial. Still the small chicks screeching didn't stop as she was infuriated by the gem atop the podium but couldn't reach it to get rid of it. Still there was much determination in her little face. "Sugoi! She's alright," Miki said aloud taking the time to begin targeting all the creatures crawling across the ceiling. She threw her spear sweeping a wide area and causing them to fall directly into the acid to keep them from reaching the other side. Admittedly a bit less worried knowing that their pet was nearby.

[Bloodedge]

There wasn't much required to keep the pace with the lizards, but Kou made an effort to avoid running into the group before the time was right. Soon enough, he could see the glowing acid pool that many lizards were falling into at the head of the group, and even farther ahead was Fiona at the center of the Dungeon. Miki used her lance to attack the lizards crawling along the ceiling, and at the same time, Kou continued his forward movement along the left wall with a quick run, in which he slashed at every lizard within his range on the way to the pool's opposite side. Once he reached the floor at the other end, Kou turned around and began slashing and stabbing with elaborate twisting motions to slay any stragglers among the wall and ceiling-crawling lizards, bar some which had gone ahead after initially crawling on the right wall. "Alright, let's clear up and clear out!"

[Apollymi]

While Miki initially took care of the ones crawling along the ceiling, Kou took care of the left side, and all of the stragglers. In the meantime, the rest of the right side would be handled, by a simple whistle, which caused the spear the lass carried to travel along the right wall lancing all of the creatures that crawled along and even flying past Kou to the ones which had gone ahead. All the while, stood on one end wondering how the little chick had managed to cross the gap. Eventually she found that along the middle of the pool there were tiny stones which seemed to be appropriately sized for one foot hopping to the other side at Miki's adult size. "Yare yare, that's a bit too risky for me..." she commented absently. A second later she was whistling once more, causing the spear to double back and she would eventually use it to carry her across the open acid pool by hanging on to it as it hovered over the rather dangerous obstacle. Once on the other side and sure all the stragglers had been dealt with she turned her attention to the podium.

Fiona was still chirping very angrily at the gem atop the podium. But soon she looked up to notice the two adventurers she thought of as her parents joining her on this side. An excited chirp escaped her instead as she moved her tiny body towards them seeming to recognize them both. She did a small motion around them before them as if she wanted their attention and was rather demanding in this entire situation. From all that they could see, it appeared that she was unharmed and not at all bothered by her dungeon adventure. "Awww.... we were really worried about you, Fiona." she managed reaching down for the little bird and bringing it up to eye level for the both of them to greet their pet properly.

[Bloodedge]

The remaining lizards were eliminated by Miki while Kou continued to move. The blonde then found her own way across the acid pool, using her almost telekinetic control over the lance she wielded. Once they were on the same side, there was nothing between them and the black Filolial chick they'd come to find. In fact, Fiona abandoned her angry chirping at whatever she'd been looking at previously, and approached the pair. Miki took the chick in hand while Kou extended the usual finger, having a look at the Filolial's stats. It seemed her Discernment stat had been affected very nicely by her adventure, but Kou was becoming interested in the gem at the center of the Dungeon. 'Hmm. Is that...?'

[Apollymi]

Kou petted the creature at eye level and Miki doted upon it. But after the necessary attention was given to Fiona she went back to her angry chirping now at the right level she hopped from Miki's hands onto the podium and pecked the stone there as if upset with it. This would bring further attention to it, and make the blonde lass rather curious about it. Her own senses let her know that it was indeed brimming with Dragon energy, but she didn't recognize the object as anything she'd come across before. "Sou ka, that's what's upsetting you," she said. Miki averted her gaze to Kou for a second and found him also looking in the direction of the stone. She approached the podium at this point looking upon it with a raised brow. "Uh... I've never seen this before. Do you know what it is?" she asked the lad. It was a rather strange object as it didn't register in her mind as something she could possess, which was rather odd considering.

[Bloodedge]

Kou was quite certain he knew what he was seeing, and if he needed confirmation, Fiona's anger at the gem's presence was it. Miki noted never seeing the item before, and went on to question if Kou knew what it was. Indeed, he did. Stepping forward, he extended his left hand to the gem, and the mask fragment he'd entered this world with appeared. One could note that upon this golden fragment was a black indent between two symmetrical holes in the forehead region. At the center of this black space was a slot which called the gem into it for a perfect fit. The ethereal glow around the gem then spread throughout the mask. Kou seemed transfixed as he briefly pressed the partial mask onto his face, sending a wave of Dragon Mana through his body before it was removed. "Sou ka. Two of five. I might actually be able to finish this thing. Good find, Fiona," he said, apparently still under the effect - at least mentally - of the energy he'd just experienced.

[Apollymi]

A few moments after they came to look at the stone, Kou summoned the mask fragment he'd possessed. Miki hadn't much thought about the artifact, as it was one of those things which simply didn't come up very often. To be fair she also didn't think much about her own. It seemed though that the one Kou possessed was still in pieces, and given this he placed the gem within the socket which was obviously meant to house it. This would make it so when he put it on, it would send a pulse of dragon energy through his body. Miki observed this and knew it had done him a service. "Sugoi! Probably should keep a look out for the rest of them. I'm curious about what it will be like when it finishes~" she chimed. In the meantime Fiona looked at the lad with decided skepticism. As he now had traces of Dragon power within him, she was a bit uneasy about his praise. A shrill chirp escaped her, she managed to look pleased and distrusting at the same time. "You can't take disliking dragon energy that seriously, Fiona... look," she said calmly to their pet while turning her to face Kou. "He's still the same person he always is..." Miki mentioned to the little chick while giving her a pat. A few seconds thereafter, Miki continued to have a look around this space, and though it was the center of the dungeon, there was no telling what other kind of loot could be found here for herself and everyone else. "I was thinking we'd cleared the most dangerous part of this, want to bring Hikari-chan back here as well, maybe see if we can't find anything else?" she said. It seemed like a pretty decent plan to her now that they'd taken care of the most frightening parts of this particular dungeon.

[Bloodedge]

'Dragon Emperor... Sou ka,' Kou thought. There was a great deal of mystery surrounding the Artifact, but he was beginning to understand at least a little of its potential. It seemed Fiona wasn't sure how to feel about Kou once he took the Dragon energy into himself, but whether she accepted this or not, said energy would soon be disappearing. "I feel like my senses just opened," he commented while looking around with the remaining Dragon energy. There was a glow in his eyes unlike the normal, but more reminiscent of the gem he'd placed within the mask. "I think I have Magic Find. I can see the shinies!" Kou was suddenly quite excited by the image of numerous sparkling lights around the cleared Dungeon. There was much loot to be gained, but Miki was right in suggesting that they regroup first. "Yeah, good strat. Besides... it looks like we're gonna need a lot of hands and bags for all this stuff," he explained as his special sight began to fade.

[Apollymi]

Soon enough Kou was explaining what he thought of the power gained from his magical item, this would occur while Fiona fidgeted still a bit unsure about how she felt. Whatever the case, the explanation that the lad had magic find, was something amazing to Miki. She'd been working towards such a bonus while she was playing and quite enjoyed it as an idea though she'd never experienced it herself, in the legitimate sense. "Nani!? I'm so jealous. I did so much work before trying to get it... and it didn't end up with it until level 46," she said thinking of all the hours spent grinding and searching for the appropriate item, weapon or enchantment to make her treasure hunting easier. Whatever the case, the lad having it was more than enough for her happiness. "Still a skill like that will make dungeon crawling significantly easier. Nice~" she commented absently. Having gone along with her plan to regroup the she would head out with Fiona in her arms back the way they'd come being careful of the traps they'd already passed. "Hai hai, I'm sure Hikari-chan will be up for a bit of adventure anyways..." she said with a knowing smirk.

Soon enough they'd be back at the cave entrance with Hikari in tow this time. "Ano, you guys found stuff like this while I was sleeping?! Why didn't you wake me up?!" she asked seemingly petulant about being left out of an adventure. Miki could only shrug of course, there wasn't much she wouldn't do to help the girl out, but she'd implicitly told her not to wake her, how was she to know she'd enjoy the adventuring aspect enough to want to be part of it the first time.

[Bloodedge]

The adventure was not quite done for this group. Some time after their escapade into the Dungeon to locate Fiona, the pair returned with Hikari in tow. Upon entering the cave, Kou lit the way once more. Hikari griped about not being woken for the adventure, prompting a scoff from Kou. "Urusai! It's not like you would have actually gotten up without throwing a fit! Consider yourself lucky we even brought you this time!" he chided. Nevertheless, Kou kept moving. Since he'd taken the time to return his normal clothes to his body, he had the Dragon Emperor's Mask affixed to his waist. From within the cave, Kou felt comfortable grabbing the mask and bringing it to his face, at which point he was able to point out any and all treasures to be found in the Dungeon. "Bags ready. It's gonna be a big haul~"

[Apollymi]

It appeared that Hikari was indeed upset and the pout on her face was oddly childish given the more mature lines and curves her face now possessed. Kou had returned her petulance with some of his own and she'd gone quiet after. "I mean yeah, but you could have tried is all I'm saying..." she said her frown becoming more prevalent. "There there, we didn't do much looting, we mostly only came down here to look for Fiona..." she said, as the little bird flapped on her shoulder with much pride about having been found in such a place as this. At the announcement that bags should be at the ready Miki opened a large plain looking sack which she would use to carry all the things she collected. She was also back to being dressed in a normal fashion complete with a cloak and her normal little black dress with a single legging and tiny boots. Hikari had a similar sack which she opened while recovering from her poutyness. "Hai hai, just point me in the right direction..." she said sounding less than enthused but there was a little sparkle in her eye which let Miki know she wasn't completely out of it. Everyone was at the ready for the lad to point out what they were looking for.

[Bloodedge]

"High risk, no reward," Kou replied. Over the years, he'd learned to not even bother trying to wake his sister up, as she'd rise eventually and take part in something if she had the intention of doing so. He saw no point in making this happen earlier by risking injury to himself. Moving on, Kou began directing the journey toward treasure of all sorts within the Dungeon. Eventually, they ended up on a path very different from that which they'd originally taken, and it was even on the opposite side of the Dungeon's central room. This path led to the Dungeons Treasure Room, and what in-game would be considered its proper exit after clearing the Dungeon. While masked, Kou saw numerous items ahead as golden sparkles - bar a few things which he saw as if they were diamonds, but the group would find one additional thing upon entering the room. On the rear wall, there was a podium meant to house a chest filled with the absolute rarest loot. Upon that podium, was none other than Karna, while the ultra-rare loot lay strewn about the floor beneath him. What's more, Karna was not simply resting atop the podium... It seemed he'd fallen asleep on it.

[Apollymi]

"Oh please, I'm not that bad," Hikari managed, though she knew the truth of her brother's words, at this point she was simply trying to save face. They would eventually walk along ending up in the treasure room of the dungeon which was its official end, but upon reaching the area, this group of three and one bird would find they weren't alone. No, Karna was here sleeping atop the rare loot podium. It had been quiet without Karna present, and Miki held in an internal sigh at the thought of that peace being interrupted over waking him. "Of course, he's knocked over the whole thing..." Miki muttered to herself, still she was quite content to collect small material goods and a few other things without bothering to wake up the lad in the middle of the room. In the meantime, Hikari managed to look really surprised. "Karna-san is here!~" she seemed really happy about his presence, but perhaps this was because she was missing her partner in plotting. "Yosh! The whole crew is back together again!" she said as she started inspecting the ultra-rare loot immediately around the area the man was sleeping. "Oi oi! Wake up!" Hikari chided as she looked among the loot pieces trying to find something she might like or find useful.

[Bloodedge]

When they entered the treasure room, everyone became privy to Karna's presence. "Huh. You know, I figured he'd just made the decision to run off and do his own thing. He wasn't even that far away," Kou commented without a care in either direction. He performed a quick count of the top-tier items dropped from the epic loot chest, and found that only one was missing from the usual amount of three. The other two, from what he could see, were both a special form of Ancient Legendary, which required restoring before their legendary attributes could be unlocked, or even before they could classify as usable items. While Kou considered the surprising amount of courtesy presented by Karna, Hikari decided to wake the more aloof member of the Party.

"Ugh..." Karna said, waking in quite a huff. In spite of this, his rise was a quick one into a seated position atop the podium. "Took long enough. I've been in here for hours," he continued. Of course, Karna had been missing for at least two days, but he thought it best to leave the other details out for the moment. After all... the others would be finding out what else he'd been up to eventually, and it seemed to be something destined to happen sooner, rather than later.

[Apollymi]

Miki continued on her search for small valuables, collecting things that seemed aligned to her goals that had been overlooked, including a few rare stones she could use for rune-scribing and other items like it. All the while she looked over at the lad on top of the table, and when considering they could have come back to nothing at all, it was surprisingly nice of him to have left most if not all of what was here, even if he took something for himself. Miki quietly admonished herself for the amount of annoyed she always was at the other white haired lad, and decided she'd simply go without antagonizing him if it was at all possible. "Hai hai, nice to see you too..." she said though she couldn't stop the sarcasm leaking through. That being said, she tended to speak to Karna this way, and saw no reason to change it. To his commentary about waiting for them to arrive Hikari had a little something to say. "That's probably my fault. I was sleeping and apparently no one... wanted to try waking me up..." she said with a casual eye roll. Hikari had filled her bag with various loot items seeming not to care about anything she picked up one way or the other. "Nii-san, what do you have over there?" she asked of Kou, wondering if he'd found something potentially good for her as well.

[Bloodedge]

Karna yawned before any further words left his mouth. The next statement he shared was offered to Miki. "Hai, Oujo-san. Hope the place wasn't too murky for ya'!" He said. Karna hopped down from the podium thereafter, and began walking toward what the others would find to be the Dungeon's "exit" as it were. However, the path ahead clearly only led down even more. Whilst standing before the next opening, he addressed Hikari. "Oh? What about the last time I was here? That had to be a couple of days ago now, and I'm pretty sure nobody was asleep."

Kou had immersed himself in looting the treasury for whatever he could find, whether it would be useful to the group or not. He'd made progress on his Artifact, so he didn't really care about finding anything for himself, though he did notice one of the Ancient Legendary items happened to be a sword similar in design to his own. As such, when Hikari questioned him, he looked toward the aged, rusted weapon. "I don't need anything else. See that old, beat-up sword though? Grab it. It's the highest tier of loot-able weapon if you can find a blacksmith capable of refurbishing it."

[Apollymi]

"Of course not, exploring caves is pretty fun..." Miki said and strangely she meant this. One of her favorite parts of adventuring in game had been cave exploration, likely because of how she'd started the game. Soon enough she'd gathered everything she thought would be useful to her in a small bag for herself, and in her large one she gathered up anything that showed a reasonable worth for future transactions and trade fodder. Karna's words to Hikari weren't missed, she thought about what had been happening two days prior to this since Karna claimed to have been waiting since the last time he was here. "Sou ka, when they were hatching the chicken, we climbed up the falls and visited a hidden hot spring. That was amazing..." she said of the hot spring, though she still had no real interest in chicken raising, even with the cute little bird right in front of her.

Moving right along, Kou's words to her, had to do with one particular piece of loot. He claimed it was the highest tier weapon one could get as a lootable and that she could take it to a blacksmith to have its true potential revealed. She had a look at the weapon and then took it, strapping it to her back so it didn't get mixed up with anything else. "Hai hai, if you say so, we can look it into whenever," she said. "Arigatou gouzaimasu..." she said in thanks of the good loot gifted to her by her brother. "Miki-nee did you get anything good?" she asked of the blonde haired lass. "Eh, I picked up some things I'll need in the near-ish future. I'm pretty good on actual need of things at this point, since we did the quests that gave me my weapon pretty early on..." she said remembering their trip to the fairy forest and all. She had some pretty fond memories of that place, but as it stood it seemed like it was about time to be leaving. As such Miki headed towards what should have been the exit but something about it seemed strange. "Hm?" she muttered looking down a path that was clearly only going deeper. The little bird on her shoulder fluttered but seemed to settle down after a minute with a small chirp, she looked to Karna with those beady black eyes, and her head turned to the side. Miki supposed this reaction was normal given she'd never laid eyes on the lad before.

[Bloodedge]

"The Dragon Pond? Must've been an interesting night," Karna said in response to Hikari, speaking while briefly glancing at the other two. Kou didn't notice this since he was watching Hikari claim her potential future weapon, and after that, he finished gathering things and approached Miki. He also found it strange that the exit path led deeper into the caverns, but these Dungeons always had such an exit past the Treasure Room. It didn't necessarily follow such a route often, but that also wasn't something totally unheard of. "Hm. Weird. Geronimo?" he asked. Meanwhile, Karna captured the attention of the Filolial, Fiona. He returned this gaze with eyes sharper than any blade, with a naturally sinister gleam behind them, though he bore the chick no ill will. Without ever breaking eye contact with the Filolial, he spoke to the others. "Today would probably be a good time to get moving. Ya' know, disappearing Dungeons and all."

[Apollymi]

Karna's commentary about the interesting sight of the falls was also missed for its extra intent by Miki who was too busy considering the depths of the descent from this room. Hikari thought as she finished gathering the materials she was going to take, found herself looking at Karna with the most exasperated stare she had in her arsenal. This stare came with the full weight of her now properly teen body and her cynicism. "You have no idea," she said only to finally catch up towards them and head towards their apparent destination. In the meantime the little chick on Miki's shoulder was now making eye contact with Karna and she seemed to be thinking over her first impression of the man. His gaze was intense and unwavering and maybe even sinister. That being said, the small black bird would simply chirp in response to this look, along with an added flutter before she went back to minding her own business. Miki thought over this particular exit and though she didn't necessarily think it a good thing to just go further underground she figured there were worse things and at least their full party was now together. "Hai hai, no time like the present. Come on then~" she said she gave a gentle rub to the little bird on her shoulder and then began the descent into the deeper recesses of the cave which was marked as the exit, all in the hope of figuring out where they'd end up. Hikari would also follow along. "Come on now, we're burning daylight and I'm up now~" she said content to follow the group wherever this cave would lead.

[Bloodedge]

When Hikari claimed he had "no idea" how interesting the hot springs trip, Karna looked to the girl with a great deal of curiosity as to what he'd missed. He would surely have to go about getting more details at a later time, but for the moment, the group was on the move. Karna trailed behind the others as if he was more concerned with them moving on than progressing himself, but such was his nature anyway. Kou fell somewhere in the middle of the group after taking the time to pick up the other Ancient item. With that, the entire group was on their way to whatever awaited them at the end of the tunnel.

Continue the Adventure Here (http://www.roleplayuniverse.net/forums/showthread.php?908-Atlantis).