AN:

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Galataea Crystallim Core: Collection 1 – This contains the first three episodes of the storyline. Making the Grade, Here, Fishy, Fishy. and Yes, Please No.

Those of you who want to purchase it on Amazon may do so at this link.

Link: https://www.royalroad.com/amazon/B01LX7DSRP

Those of you who wish to read it on Smashwords for free can do so at this link using the coupon. It lasts until October 1, 2016. I typically give out 2-week long coupons when I first upload a story to Smashwords and Amazon.

Link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/665901 | Coupon: WF93N

Hopefully I can continue to do that compared to how many others take stories down here in large amounts and leave only a few chapters. So long as I can receive enough support from fans, I can continue to do as I have been. If you like the story and want to contribute in that way, please purchase it on Amazon.

Either way, please leave a review at one place or the other! Thanks!

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Chapter 34: Friendship Rose

Clean-up of the zombies in the local area did not take long after the main wave was destroyed. Instead of going room-to-room to find the stragglers, Scott, opted to have the team locate one of the side-missions in the area.

"Is there something here, beloved?" asked Saelil while she searched the small flower shop alongside him. Samantha and Kitty remained on guard while they did their work, as the building was small.

"There should be, but I don't see anything, so far." Scott hefted a stack of papers, but found nothing underneath.

Several tense minutes passed while they searched the area from top-to-bottom. Wilted and desiccated flowers were tossed aside without care or concern. The end of the world proved to be terrible for business. There was but one flower in the entire shop that managed to survive without care.

Scott's eyes locked onto it. There was something strangely familiar about the little plant. It was brightly colored like a sun flower, but it looked like a rose. Were yellow roses supposed to be this vividly colored?

"Beloved, I have found proper coinage at last," said Saelil. She held up a gold coin that she'd discovered in a desk drawer.

Eyes narrowed briefly, he stared at the coin then whipped his head back to the plant. "Imperial Garden? How?"

Suddenly, a tiny voice whispered, "So alone..."

Scott reached a finger out and lightly touched the flower. It reacted visibly. The little plant wiggled in place and made a gasping noise before trying to cover its blossom with its petals. "No! Don't touch me, you mean thing!"

"I'm sorry..." said Scott. Why did he feel the need to apologize to a flower? Well, it did cry out in a feminine voice and seemed frightened. Was it a reflex action, or did he genuinely feel bad? Uncertain of his own motives, all he could do at that moment was wait to see what happened.

"Who are you apologizing to, beloved?" asked Saelil.

"Are you really?" asked the little flower in a timid voice. "Are you really sorry?"

"Yes. I was concerned about you," said Scott. "So, I reached out to see how you were doing."

The little flower made a cute gasping noise. "You can hear me?"

"Yes," he said. What else was there to say to a talking flower that sounded like a cute girl?

The gasping sound returned, followed by the leaves on her long elegant stem wiggling up and down slightly. The flower leaned forward a little and placed her leaves to the center of her blossom. "Is this real? Am I not alone anymore?"

"Beloved, why are you having a conversation with a flower?" asked Saelil, concerned for his sanity.

The flower ignored the dark elf, but immediately asked Scott, "Do you like to make friends?"

"Sure. Friends are cool," he said. He did not have many of them, but he did enjoy the few that he did have,

"Oh goodness," gushed the flower, "I like making friends too!"

The flower's foremost petal turned a darker shade of yellow. The yellow rose blossom and stem began to shake a little, just before the flower timidly asked, "D-do you want to make friends with me?"

"I'd love to make friends with you," he replied. What was there not to like? The flower seemed rather nice.

"I have thorns, though... I could hurt you by accident, though I really don't mean to do so," said the flower in a bashful tone of voice.

"I refuse to believe that such a pretty flower would ever want to hurt me," he said softly.

The entire flower blossom darkened by several shades of yellow. Its leaves flew to the center of its foremost petal, and the flower began to tremble slightly, "Oh! Oh, I don't even know..."

That makes two of us, thought Scott while he looked at the trembling flower. Thinking quickly, he reached out and tapped his finger against one of her thorns. Nothing happened. "See, you could never hurt me. It's just not in you," he said.

"R-really?" asked the flower while wiping one leaf along the center of her foremost petal. "Do you really think so?"

"I know so," said Scott, a warm smile upon his lips. The champion and the little flower chatted amiably for a brief moment.

Saelil, noticing the chit-chat, became even more concerned. She left the room and came back with the other girls in tow. "See. I told you."

"He's really flirting with a flower?" asked Kitty. She frowned cutely then huffed loudly. Why would he flirt with a flower, when she was around?

"Seriously? Is he trying to get the flower to join the party?" asked Samantha incredulously.

"Oh, you're just saying that!" squealed the flower excitedly, while Scott lightly stroked its stem. The blossom wiggled from side-to-side briefly, like the flower was shaking its head. "I bet you say that to all the girls..."

"No, I mean it. I've never seen a prettier flower around here," he said once more.

The flower giggled excitedly then pushed her leaves toward him like she wanted to push him away. "No, really?"

Saelil's left eyelid twitched. "This... is still happening."

Neither of the girls could hear the flower's side of the conversation. They heard only what Scott said to it. The movements were harder to explain, but there was a slight breeze throughout the store.

Scott and the flower continued to chat for a brief moment, before the situation changed. The flower asked, "You're such a sweet boy. D-do you really, for real, think we could be friends?"

"We could be best friends," said Scott with a nod.

Her leaves flew upward toward her foremost flower petal once more. "Really?"

"Yes!" exclaimed Scott energetically while pumping his fists in the air.

"Yay!" cried the flower happily while wriggling her blossom up and down. "We can be besties!"

"Yeah!" shouted Scott happily while jumping up and down a little.

Samantha snorted incredulously at the sight. Kitty's ears flattened a little. Saelil merely shook her head. What in the world was going on right now?"

"Seriously, we're on a time-limit, you know..." said Samantha.

"Since we're friends now," said the flower, while ignoring Samantha, "We should spend more time together."

"I'd like that," said Scott before reaching out to lightly caress one of her flower petals. She was such a nice flower.

The blossom darkened a little and she released a girlish giggle. "Good... so, you know what you have to do, right?"

"Hmm? Do?" asked Scott.

The flower's leaves curled over and pressed themselves to her stem, like a woman putting her hands on her hips. The blossom moved forward, and she said, "Yes... You know what to do..."

Scott realized what the chatty little flower meant after a brief moment passed. "Ah, you want me to eat you..."

She gasped, "So aggressive!" before laughing softly. She opened her petals a little and stretched her leaves toward him like she wanted a hug. "Let's be together always, bestie!"

"Won't it hurt if I eat you?" asked Scott. He was still a bit uncertain. He still felt bad about eating the first flower that he'd met.

"It'll hurt a little at first," she said, her petals darkening. Her voice becoming slightly scandalous, "But it'll feel really good later..."

"It will?" asked Scott, his eyebrows arching. Was she talking about something to do with the bathroom, or something else?

"Well, yes," she said. "Doesn't it feel good to make a new best friend, and be part of each other's lives forever?"

"Making new friends does feel nice..." he said, "But how should I eat you? Do I just swallow you whole? Won't it hurt if I chew..."

"You're overthinking things! Friendship isn't about how full your mouth is, but about how much time we spend together..." said the flower enthusiastically. Her voice became shy once more as she said, "If you want, you can eat my petals slowly... savor our new friend ship."

"Should I eat just your petals, or should I eat your pistil, too?" asked Scott curiously.

The flower blossom turned dark yellow. She began to tremble in her little window pot. "Oh, goodness... Do be gentle if you do! Maybe just nibble it a little. It's quite sensitive..."

"So, you want me to nibble gently on your petals and pistil?" asked Scott thoughtfully.

"That does sound like a nice way to make a new lifelong friend," she said in a softly purred voice.

"I think I've seen enough of this," said Samantha before she started to turn away. She nearly missed the moment when Scott reached forward and broke the flower free from her stem.

The flower giggled and gushed in girlish fashion, "It's happening!" she cried as Scott pulled a petal free and put it into his mouth. "I'm making a friend!"

Scott gently chewed on the yellow petal, an action that elicited a soft moan from the flower. He eyed the yellow rose carefully before swallowing.

"Ahn!" she cried sweetly. "It hurts a little, but it feels kind of nice..."

"Are we really watching him erotically eat a rose?" asked Saelil. "I mean, is this really happening?"

"Yeah," said Kitty, her tail lashing to the side.

"Seems so," said Samantha, her voice strange even with digitization.

"You're so gentle," said the flower. "That's so sweet."

Scott sped up the pace a little, while the little flower moaned and babbled about friendship.

"You're making me happy!" cried the flower ecstatically as Scott nibbled on her pistil. "I feel so alive!"

Soon, he'd devoured the entire blossom. Her voice inside his head began to drift away, but she seemed content.

A strange sensation came over him. Unbidden, his right hand rose into the air, palm up. A bright yellow sphere of energy appeared in his hand.

Scott earned the Power of Friendship!

A new floral power has awakened within you. Whenever you eat a Friendship Rose from Imperial Garden, your new friend will grant you the power to also make other creatures become your friend for a time...

Please check your Home Point for further information.

"Well that was pretty awesome," said Scott before gently placing the stem back on the flower pot.

"What was?" asked Saelil? "What just happened? What is that magical force I sense?"

"Ah, I found a lost flower from one of the worlds I've been to before. We made friends, and after I ate her I gained a new floral power," said Scott like it was the simplest thing in the world.

"Ah, I... What?" asked Saelil. She tilted her head to the side, curiously. Was that supposed to make sense?

"How could a flower from another world be here?" asked Samantha. "There's no space travel, right?"

"Well, no. I suspect someone from that world came here through a warp, or something similar happened. Either way, we're done here," said Scott.

"You sure?" asked Kitty.

"The coin Saelil found, and the flower were the obvious side mission objectives. It's listed as complete on my map now," said Scott.

"So, we got something out of you talking to a flower?" asked Samantha.

"Yeah. I gained the power of friendship," said Scott, a smile slipping across his lips.

Three sets of eyes stared at him for a moment. Incredulous looks passed between then girls, before Samantha asked, "Seriously?"

Scott's smile widened. He had a new power to try out, though there was currently no way to know how long it would last or how much floral power it would cost to use. Not that the cost mattered. He did not have a boom seed or a gravitas flower at the moment.

After convincing the girls that he was serious, or rather they gave up and accepted his oddness, Scott led them back outside. He wanted to test out his new ability, but he was uncertain whether zombies would affected by it. His chance came after only a few minutes of walking toward the next side-mission goal.

Three zombies staggered around the corner of a nearby building. They moved in a tight formation, so Scott decided to aim for the middle one. The central zombie, a fat little balding zombie wearing a business suit, growled at him and staggered forward a little faster.

"Eat this! Friendship Blast!" exclaimed Scott excitedly. He did not have to name his ability to use it, but it was fun nevertheless. He lobbed the yellow ball of energy like a fat little water balloon. It wobbled in the air as it arced toward the target.

Scott, and the rest of the team, were surprised when it exploded in the air over the zombies like an FAE, a fuel-air explosive. Hot yellow friendship power rained down upon the hapless zombies then began to form into a cloud of rapidly expanding good feelings and hope for joyful days together.

The zombies stopped moving forward. Instead, they wobbled from side-to-side briefly then began to look around.

"What did you just do?" asked Samantha, curiously.

"Let me see if it worked, first..." said Scott, "Hey guys!" he called out to the zombies.

The larger zombie on the left, one with the appearance of a former muscle fitness enthusiast, looked toward Scott. His mouth opened and closed a few times before words creaked out in a high-pitched town, like a rusty hinge, "S-sup bro?"

"Did that thing seriously just call you bro?" asked Samantha.

"Some sort of mind-altering magic that even works on an undead?" Saelil eyed the friendly zombies. Instead of coming for Scott, or any of them, then just stood around and tried to say nice things to each other.

"Good tie, good..." moaned out the skinny zombie on the left while nodding his head lazily toward the fat zombie in the middle.

"Really... l-like... you guys..." said the fat zombie.

"You, aha, some sort of mysticism magic. It has to be. Only divine spells could do such a thing to an undead creature of this caliber," said Saelil.

"Sounds about right," said Scott. "The ancestral garden powers are considered sacred where that flower came from."

"What do we do now?" asked Kitty. "I'd feel bad if you just shot them."

Five more zombies shambled around the corner. Scott struck a pose then casually lobbed another FAE, friendship-air explosion, toward the oncoming targets. These zombies also succumbed to the power of good vibes and making friends.

Scott twisted his hips and danced around a little while he lashed his tail from side-to-side. "Ah, yeah. Makin' friendships happen!"

Samantha tapped her blaster arm against her helmet and sighed loudly. "This guy..."

He summoned another friendship blast and grinned at Samantha. "Wanna be my friend?"

She snorted in amusement and aimed her plasma disruptor at him. "You just try and make friends with me, pal." The end of her weapon began to light up as the plasma built up for a shot.

Scott laughed at her then turned and lobbed his high-yield blast of pure friendship toward a lone zombie that shambled around the corner. It joined the other eight in their inane friendly zombie banter.

"Wow, making new friends is fun," said Scott. He might have been wrong, but he could have sworn that he heard a soft feminine giggle inside his head right after he said it.