《Azure Chronicles》Chapter 134: Unboxed and Unlocked
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The swarm of mini floating bumper cars whizzed through the halls of the flying airship carrier as Lola lined up the last piece of the Rubik's Cube. Yokuza placed the golden magnet pointer against the Rubik's Cube piece and pushed the pointer against the cube piece until it made a click.
"Ha-za!" Lola cheered as she threw her hand in the air with the solved Rubik's Cube puzzle box in her hands. The puzzle box shook and buzzed before it transformed into a normal hand-sized chest.
"Ha... za?" Yokuza uttered as he placed a hand on his knee and balanced the golden magnet pointer on the tip of his other hand's index finger. Lola nodded and settled the puzzle box on the pink metal pull-along cart.
"Yeah... it's the thing Cat Knight in Candy Catz Clawtastrophe says when he's used to solve a puzzle," Lola stated.
"Right," Yokuza said, his male voice being flat and his female voice being wavy.
"Right," Lola remarked as she tried to mimic Yokuza's tone and inflexions before gagging on the air in her throat. Yokuza slowly blinked at Lola before he glanced over at the puzzle box.
"Why don't you open the box before you break your voice box," Yokuza stated as he pointed the golden magnet pointer at the puzzle box.
"Ok...," Lola uttered as she repeatedly coughed. Lola snatched the puzzle box from the pull-along cart and placed a hand on the top of the chest-shaped puzzle box. Lola clenched her fingers on the top of the puzzle and twisted her lips as she struggled to open it. Lola puffed up her cheeks as her face shifted to a shade of red and slowly drained to a faint shade of blue.
"I wouldn't hold your breath, by which I mean in both senses of the phrase," Yokuza remarked. Lola tried denying Yokuza by continuing to hold her breath as she tried to open the puzzle box despite her face continuing to get bluer.
"Gah! Stupid box!" Lola exclaimed in frustration before she hurled the puzzle box past Yokuza's head with a mini sonic boom. Yokuza blankly blinked before a tinge of shock formed on his face as he saw the mortified look on Lola's face.
"What? You look like a cat that realized it hissed at its owner," Yokuza said calmly. Lola raised a shaky hand and pointed over Yokuza's shoulder. Yokuza glanced back and covered his mouth to stifle a snicker at seeing Yumi, who was on Yokuza's back, with a concaved face due to the puzzle box being lodged in her head.
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"Huh...," Yokuza uttered before he pulled the puzzle box out of Yumi's face. After a few seconds, Yumi's face popped back to normal, and she giggled at the pop sound her head made. Lola exhaled in relief at Yumi's lack of anger and frustration
"Sorry...Yumi," Lola said as she lowered her head to Yumi.
"Ok," Yumi murmured neutrally. Yumi condensed her body and morphed into a stereotypical slime. Yumi hopped off Yokuza's back and landed on the pull-along cart causing it to roll away with her on it. The pair watched Yumi get carried away by the pull-along cart as the cart's handle rose and attached to a floating magnet.
"At least it was Yumi and not one of the other kids," Yokuza mentioned as he handed the puzzle box to an emotionally deflated Lola.
"I guess," Lola uttered. Kara glanced up from her handheld-looking remote control and stared at Lola.
"Anyway, why don't you try pressing the chest's side handles?" Kara uttered aloud before returning to looking at the remote control in her hands. Lola sighed and followed Kara's suggestion causing the top of the puzzle box to pop off. Lola glared at the box while voicing her annoyance at why the puzzle box would look like a chest if it didn't function like one.
"I think Mother would call that a bruh moment," Lumios remarked as he loomed behind Lola, and faint Persian green qi flaked off his body. Lumios' abrupt appearance out of nowhere and sudden speaking startled Lola which caused her to fling the opened puzzle box upwards as she freaked out. The puzzle box swiftly smacked Lumios in the face making him staggered backwards and drop the broken old-fashioned gizmo.
"OK... note to self do not use that ability derivation near Lola and anyone else who startles easily on that note," Lumios muttered mentally as he pinched his nose with it making a squishy pop noise as he did.
"Prince Lumios, I'm here to report your project is at fifty percent," Karock (with a faint red mark on his forehead) stated as he appeared from a dark shadow on the ceiling.
"I appreciate the heads-up," Lumios stated as his miruku tendrils picked up his belongings before he hurried off with Karock's puddle-like shadow on the ceiling followed after Lumios. Lola covered her face and incoherently mumbled to herself as Kusana floated over while carrying the opened puzzle box in her hands.
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"Two for two, cousin of Kusana," Kusana stated calmly, leading Lola to sulkingly sigh while Lulu stared at the opaque rainbow-coloured liquid splats on the floor. Coco leaned forward to look around Lulu and glanced at Lulu.
"You crashed into me," Coco stated angerly.
"Oh, sorry," Lulu muttered as she returned her focus to her handheld console-looking remote control. Kusana dropped the puzzle box into Lola's lap as she flew over her. Lola lowered her gaze to the contents of the puzzle box, and she silently sighed as her kitsune ears drooped. Yokuza glanced out the starry night-filled window and caught a glimpse of Providence, Zuno and the eight royal guards on the runway of the flying airship carrier. Yokuza rested his arm on the wall and looked at Lola with sympathetic eyes.
"So, what did you win?" Yokuza asked. Lola kept her head held low and flipped the puzzle box upside down. Lola shook the puzzle box, and three small different-shaped azure gems dropped out onto Lola's lap. Lola dismissively waved at the azure gems before she placed the lid of the puzzle box back on the puzzle box. Yokuza glanced at the azure gems and smirked before looking back at Lola.
"If only an insightful kitsune could bestow me with the knowledge only they could provide," Yokuza remarked with a half-hearted flowery tone. Lola's drooped ears twitched at Yokuza's flowery not so indirect praise.
"Ok...," Lola mumbled shyly as she lightly blushed and poked the tips of her fingers together. Lola went through each of the azure gems, squinting her eyes at each of them to ascertain the azure ability they possess.
"Is the squinting required?" Yokuza asked amusedly, with Lola shaking her head in response.
"Not sure but Papa said doing it provides a plovibo effect.".
"Placebo effect?".
"Yeah, that one, whatever it means," Lola remarked.
"In simple terms, it means your body tricks itself into believing something that does nothing does something," Luna stated as she happened to float by.
"Oh...," Lola mumbled as she raised her head. Lola held out her ball up hand to Yokuza. Yokuza raised his hand, and Lola dropped the tornado-shaped azure gem into Yokuza's hand.
"You have this one for helping me," Lola said as she pushed Yokuza's hand closed.
"I don't think that-.". Yokuza paused as he opened his hand and saw the azure gem was gone, "Huh?". Yokuza turned his hand around to look at the back and front of his hand as he perplexedly looked for the tornado-shaped azure gem.
"What you looking for?" Lola asked as she held the other two azure gems in her hands and made the azure gems phase into her body.
"N-nothing... so, what were the azure abilities?".
"Well... one was the sono one, a healing one, and a unique one about the weather," Lola explained.
"I see, so which one did you give me?" Yokuza asked, causing Lola to give him an annoyed side eye as she placed the empty puzzle box into one of her kitsune tails.
"Was that rhetorical?" Prima asked. Yokuza scratched the back of his head as he looked away from both girls.
"Ok, it was a dumb question in retrospect," Yokuza muttered.
Meanwhile, on the runway of the flying airship carrier, Providence gave the royal guards a rundown of the idea he had for Yokuza and his siblings' next training session. Five raised her hand, and Providence nodded for her to speak.
"Not to be rude my liege, but did you consult Callie first?" Five asked.
"Naturally, it was her, Zalroth and Chronia who thought of the idea in the first place," Zuno stated.
"But really... three years going by in an instant," Seven mentioned worriedly.
"Don't worry about it, I can stop all of your ageings if you're that concerned," Chronia remarked nearby. The group turned to see a cheerful Chronia (back in her original two-armed form) piggybacking on the shoulders of a ragged and exhausted Zalroth.
"I don't know if that makes it worse or not," Five remarked. Zalroth walked over to the others and stood next to Zuno.
"What happened to you?" Zuno asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"It would be too convoluted to explain but I had to run the gauntlet and deal with Chronia's antics immediately before and after it," Zalroth uttered exhaustedly.
"I'll leave it at that then," Zuno said as the group noticed snowflakes beginning to fall from the sky.
"Look at that, Lola gave Yokuza the weather manipulation azure ability from that puzzle box," Chronia mentioned as she caught a snowflake on the tip of her finger with it showing no signs of melting.
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