I saw it again! Another blip! I'm going to tell Lady Talyawa!

Twice in the same few miles? I don't buy it…

Something is going on out there - I can sense it in my wings!

====================

"That feels too risky," grumbled Junior.

"Everything is risky right now," shot back Gwen, "including doing nothing!"

After a lot of discussion, Gwen, Rio and Junior came up with a plan to satisfy both concerns. The plan included Rio quickly darting up above the treeline, flinging an attack to where Gwen sensed Lily to be - or perhaps straight-out seeing the target to hit from that height. Afterwards, Gwen would commit to Junior's stealth plan without a single complaint.

Naturally Junior had misgivings about possibly damaging his village but he was settled by Rio's needle attack being thin and accurate.

"Should I try now?" Rio asked.

"Quickly," Junior replied.

Rio spread her wings and took off past the trees. Sure enough, she could see the three large golems walking around towards a location. She could also barely sense the key from that location as well.

One shot...to put Gwen at ease. But why is she so concerned she must not save herself from trouble? Is Lily so prone to getting herself into trouble or making things worse? No...she must have a magical ability as I suspected…one Miss Gwen doesn't want her using--

Just as she started to take aim, there was rustling beneath her. Night Blade leapt onto her from the treetops, digging her nails into Rio’s thigh and back with a wide grin.

"Get off me!" Rio growled.

"Night Blade can't let you try to escape," she said, blood still on her forehead. "Night Blade can't stand cowards!"

"Did you...nnngh...not hear me say to get off!?"

"Yeah, and Night Blade isn't listening!"

"You should!"

Rio swiped at Night Blade, her claws glowing once more. Unfortunately, Night Blade remembered that attack. With fear welling up in her mad eyes, she let go as one of those cutting energy waves left Rio's hand, letting herself fall to evade. It cut Night Blade's hair slightly and kept sailing on towards the village.

"Eternal Maiden, forgive me," Rio whimpered as she realized what occurred. "Please guide all the innocents to safety to not suffer for my mistake...and guide my hand to finish this game!"

Rio quickly dropped from flight and stomped down on the still falling Night Blade, sending them both to the ground. Night Blade smiled with glee upon restarting her fight with the Veloverij and quickly their limbs got entangled.

"Not again," said Gwen.

"We need to seperate them before more of the forest is cut down," said Junior. "And they kill each other!"

"I'll handle it," said Gwen.

"No...I'll do it. The bigger foe is still out there and you'll need the numbers." Junior clenched his fists. "Meteor Paw is worse than who you fought already. I can handle her...mostly sure."

"But Rio said--"

"I know - her odd magical ability. I have a plan for that too. It’s untested...but I don’t have a choice."

Junior ran up to tackle Night Blade with a hefty run-up, finally separating her from Rio. Rio was mostly unhurt but her hunting outfit had many scratches in it.

"Yo, Rio! Let's get this thing!" called Gwen from behind a tree.

Rio was too stunned to question it and followed Gwen. Meanwhile, Junior tried to keep the snarling Night Blade pinned down with her having a foot of height on him.

"Sent your little bug running away?" taunted Night Blade. “Night Blade could have handled it!”

"I wasn't going to let you two kill each other!" snarled Junior with ears drawn back.

A brief bit of surprise crossed Night Blade's face. "Considerate of Night Blade's life?" she sneered

"Of all life!"

Night Blade drew in both legs to kick Junior off, nearly sending him into a tree’s sturdy trunk.

"More interesting with each word," said Night Blade. "Now come - show Night Blade you are worthy!"

Junior found himself growling as he got behind a tree. He had nothing to prove to her, but he definitely had something to prove to himself.

Night Blade used her ability to split into two once again, going around both sides of the tree to grab Junior. But they would find he already left the spot. They trailed the scent up the tree, but upon climbing to the top, something sprayed in their face sent them back down again, howling and briefly clutching at their eyes.

"Ugh...what did you do to Night Blade!?" The "twins" found their bodies destabilizing and starting to return to one.

"Nothing someone who doesn't understand pronouns is going to get," shot Junior from up a different tree.

“Arrrrgh! If Night Blade has to carve into every tree here, Night Blade will bring you down!” she roared. “One of Night Blade is enough for half a Lunefang!”

Junior found himself growling once more. "Call me that once more and you'll regret it!"

Night Blade smirked as her vision returned. “Come make Night Blade regret it, little cub~”

Meanwhile, Rio and Gwen tracked the objective by Rio using the key's magical signature. The last Lunefang - Meteor Paw - was guarding the cave, his head rapidly swinging like a weathervane in the wind.

"Damn guy is a little too big," grumbled Gwen. "I get what he meant by--"

She stopped talking as she fell over - nearly going headfirst to the ground if Rio hadn’t caught her.

“What is wrong? You don’t appear hurt--”

“I may have overtaxed my power,” said Gwen, gasping for breath, “on offense and defense. I love the fact I can fight like a badass here but...nnngh...this isn’t like the fights back home. That last guy hit like a truck, even when I was protecting myself. He looks worse. Not sure how much it'll take."

Rio frowned. “You are diminished and I am...unsure of myself of doing this without mistakes at the moment. And we are to do this without Great Storm Fang’s assistance?”

“He’s the one doing the assistance right now.” Gwen struggled to her feet. “We got to finish this quickly. Now look - we can still sneak past him like Junior hoped. But distraction is going to be necessary.”

“In your condition?”

“Not what you’re thinking...hopefully.”

Moments later, something flashed by Meteor Paw's vision, making him look up. Then something holds his attention.

"The music girl," he growled.

Rio darted into the cave as Meteor Paw stepped away, drawn to the mental music. There, she found the key tied to an old staff with strings tied around it - and the strings adorned with dull gems. She grabbed it quickly, claws shaking as she held it.

I can’t mess this up, Rio thought. I won’t.

She darted back out, hoping that Gwen didn’t get into another unnecessary fight. To her relief, she was sticking to her plan of simply keeping the Lunefang distracted with her “music” and moving around. But fatigue was setting in as Rio feared. And the Lunefang was close enough to smell her. But Gwen didn’t back down from her duty - covering for Rio.

Rio was upwind and behind him - it was possible to take a shot to help Gwen, but she wasn’t sure she wouldn’t mess this up as well. With the village, she could half-heartedly hope she missed anyone that wasn't the golems, but this mistake would be recognized immediately. Her claws shook again from the conundrum she felt tied to the spot by.

I don’t have a choice...she’ll be hurt...maybe even killed…

Rio gritted her teeth before conjuring a few of her Swift Needles. With a deep breath, she let them loose. As Gwen gritted her teeth, ready for another knock-down-drag-out brawl, she would watch Meteor Paw be caught by Rio's needles getting snared in his thick fur and trapping him against a tree.A few more were thrown to keep his massive mitts restrained against the thick trunk.

“Clutch stuff there…” muttered a wobbly Gwen, finally able to prop herself up with her guitar and stop playing it.

Rio blinked. “Clutch? I don’t understand…”

“It’s like...doing something really skillful in a crucial moment.”

“Really...skillful…” Rio closed her eyes, trying to stop herself from shaking.. “We’ll call this excellent once I am sure everything in the village is alright.”

“Right, gotta see about Lil,” said Gwen, adrenaline the only thing keeping her upright. “Hopefully she hasn’t…. You probably saved her.”

Rio, not looking convinced, simply carried on once Gwen was able to stand - ignoring the struggling Meteor Paw trying to pry himself free. While knowing it was the perfect timing to ask about Lilian and her personal suspicions about what she thought she was capable of, she wasn’t sure enough of herself to ask.

Maybe Lilian’s abilities are dangerous - like this….feeling that overwhelms me - but not as able to be controlled like I managed? I could be wrong and Gwen is just protective with her appearing to be the stronger one...but she avoided being crushed somehow… That continues to bother me…

On the way back to the village, they couldn’t locate Junior to a bit of concern. Just as Gwen assured Rio they would search for him once they were done, Junior strolled out from behind a tree, looking very beat up with a bite mark on his ear.

“Ay, you made it,” Gwen said with a cough. “So how’d you get her? You got to tell us.”

Junior only smiled and walked on ahead, taking the staff from Rio and continuing forward.

“You don’t think he snapped and killed her, do you?” muttered Gwen.

“He is really pleased with himself,” replied Rio. “But I doubt there was death. I am curious how complete the defeat was though.”

It was a slow walk back to the village. Junior explained there should be a trio of Lunefang there to verify their win. Rio shook her head in doubt, given the golems and explaining how badly the attack went earlier because of Night Blade. Junior was alarmed but didn’t hold it against Rio for any potential damage. He knew Night Blade jumped up there after all.

Sure enough, when they got there, only one Lunefang was there to greet them - Junior’s uncle Sabre that they had met earlier on. The congratulatory hug and horn sounding for Junior’s victory was brief as they had to run off and help the village. Sabre urged Rio and Gwen to rest given their injuries, but they refused - not until Lilian was confirmed safe - so they followed.

“I take it you’ll be skipping the Adulthood ceremony,” said Sabre. “After all, it’ll be after repairs have finished to the village.”

“It hasn’t been decided,” said Junior. “I promised to assist them on their quest in exchange for their assistance - so it’s up to them if there is time.”

It wasn’t hard to find where Lilian was to be - the remains of the golems had yet to be moved. One was cut to pieces by what appears to be Rio’s energy claw attack, shredding a nearby hut behind it. Rio was incredibly apologetic - even kneeling amongst the debris - but Sabre was actually very impressed with her power. With no one harmed, he had no reason to be angry. Junior was a bit put off by the damage but he too was fine in the end. The other two were dismantled a lot more thoroughly - partially from Rio’s attack but also something else. They looked completely tossed about like discarded toys. There were many indentations on the ground where they hit the ground.

“One of you did this too?” asked Sabre.

“I wish I had this much fine control from that distance,” said Rio.

“If I could fling shit around from a nearby woods, I’d never leave the house,” added Gwen, looking clearly disturbed. I can’t even fling around that if I was right next to it.

“Hey...is that you guys?” called out a low and tired female voice.

“L-Lily!” Gwen suddenly finds the energy to rush towards the origin point.

Lilian and Trey stumbled out from behind the arm of a thrashed golem. Lilian herself nearly fell as she got out into the open and had to be caught by Gwen. Unfortunately, Gwen overestimated her remaining strength and she fell over seconds later. At the very least, she broke Lilian’s fall.

“You;re okay, right?” Gwen asked. You didn’t do anything crazy?”

Lilian hadn’t looked up yet, seeming dazed as she rested her head on Gwen’s stomach before finally meeting her gaze. “Not sure what you mean...but thanks to that attack from nowhere...and Trey….we made it out okay.”

“That attack was from Rio, but...Trey saved you?”

Lilian looked back at him with a smile. “Yeah.”

Trey, with twitching wings, looked shellshocked as Lilian looked at him once he got out of the makeshift cover. He couldn’t look away from her with eyes shrunken.

=======================

You saw something you really shouldn’t have… And you’re not going to tell anyone about this…

But that...what was…

Not. Telling. Anyone! Got it!?

Y...yes…

==================

“Hey, dude must have fought his heart out - he looks completely out of it.” Gwen helped Lilian to her feet.

Rio grimaced. “Never seen him so scared. Scared but...in awe? This expression confuses me.”

Junior looked confused. “But then why look at her with that look? Is his face just stuck that way?”

After letting Sabre hold Lilian up for a moment, Gwen whispered something to Rio. Rio, after a brief bit of confusion, whispered back. Gwen then walked over to Trey to help him up.

“Didn’t think you had it in you,” said Gwen.

Trey only mumbled lowly in reply. Gwen then kissed Trey on the cheek - this turned the low mumbling to a slightly higher stammering. Sabre then started to lead the group to safety.

“What was she asking you about?” Junior enquired with Rio.

“About how kissing applies to Veloverij culture,” Rio replied. “She thought of that to reward his...heroism, but wanted to ensure she didn’t promise some kind of bond or promise of marriage in the process. Feels like this human had encountered the Gemaya already.”

“Doesn’t smell like it,” added Junior. “She may just read about them in a book. That said...these humans are nothing like the normal.”

“You sense that too…” Rio looked forward again, watching the two humans ahead of them. “Your Uncle needs to look for one more. The fact he’s missing disturbs me.”

Junior acknowledged this with a nod. “It’s not just that which disturbs me. Well...less disturbed and more...my curiosity has peaked.”