It had been days since the fire inside the city calmed down. Mumei found herself shelter in the meantime the destruction was still going on, her shelter was still empty, no light, no food, just a small room for herself. For days she stayed inside, Mumei didn't feel hungry, she still thought about the incident of the council kicking her out almost a week ago. One day, she quitted the shelter as she felt the warm and comfy sunbeams on her skin, no more dangers around the place, just a lost city with Mumei living there.
The girl started searching for food, even though her body didn't alert for starvation, she was conscious of how her body craved at least something small to eat. The forest was near her shelter, so she simply walked around the forest for any berries. She walked and walked and found on her way berries and apples as the single source of food.
Afterwards her body was satisfied with the nutrients it received, she went looking for something else to do, she already had an idea what to do. Facing the large building she was at when the destruction was still going on, the already destroyed desks and chairs weren't for Mumei's taste, instead she found notebooks that could still be useful to write in it. Slowly she started collecting those notebooks, no matter what their color of the cover were or if they were big or small, the brown-haired girl collected them all. Pencils in good state were included to Mumei's collection, just like erasers.
Mumei took a long time inside the building, she was there at day and at night, she had nothing else to do anyways.
The girl learned how to light up a fire and used the broken wooden chairs and tables as material, she started planting berry bushes too. In addition, months later, she even learned how to work with wood, her dagger was a great help to slit out of wood different things. One of those things were her biggest project ever, which can constructing her council chair, but it didn't go as planned, so she created Kronii's council chair instead. Slowly her life was getting somehow manageable by the time, but she had times, where she couldn't sleep at all. The reason of those sleepless nights were Mumei missing her friends, they were always there for her...
Kronii closed the book, those books and story belonged to Mumei. Kronii broke into tears, she covered her face from regret and shame, why did she let the girl go in the first place ? The slime jumped and jumped to make the woman on the chair notice it. However, the warden kept feeling the regret of letting Mumei go years ago, Kronii couldn't forgive herself...she just couldn't.
"I just can't....Mumei is so precious to me...", Kronii whimpered inside the room, the small slime stopped jumping around, it understood Kronii and jumped away from her, clearly showing a distance towards the warden of time. Kronii couldn't understand how quick she reached Mumei's place, it was fate. It took a long time until the woman on the chair calmed down, the slime stayed in front of the door, waiting patiently. Kronii cleaned up her tears on Baelz's handkerchief, the slime approached her again, staying on her thighs.
"I'm sorry you had to see that, it's just I found out an important friend of mine owns these book and this place...I'm still searching for her, which is why I'm here", Kronii apologized, the slime only went around the warden's upper arm and she felt warmth from the small creature. Kronii already felt secure and trust towards that thing, even though they only met for a day or two.
"Anyways, I will find her no matter what...and I promise that with my whole heart", Kronii proudly said, the slime got hotter any second that even the woman was scared it was harmful after all. With that said, Kronii wanted to make herself on her way when suddenly, her walkie-talkie was turned on.
"Hello Kronii ?", it was Gura's voice coming out of the speaker, Kronii had to answer this call.
"Yes Gura ?"
"Thank god you're still alive...", Gura let out a huge sigh of relief, Kronii could hear and was confused by that sudden reaction.
"What you mean still alive ? Did something happen ?"
"Yes...Bae found HoloX, she and two other members were fighting the creature...all three of them were injured during the battle...", Gura informed the warden, the woman's face turned into panic, worry and shock...
"Wait really ? How are they ?"
"For now, we called Kanata for help with the healing, for now, everyone is great...just Bae...", Gura stopped, making Kronii more worried each second passing. The warden was already upset by those kind of news.
"What about Bae ? Please don't tell me she's dead..."
"Wha-, noooo, she's not dead, she's just...how shall I say this....she's right now in a coma, didn't wake up at all ever since she blasted herself and the creature away", Gura explained, Kronii took a deep breath from the relief she felt. She already knew the shark was talking about Bae's ultimate power, of course she would be unconscious for a good time, everyone's ultimate power had that side effect surely.
"Okay then it's good, tell me if she's awake, I'm gonna explore more after my break"
"Roger Kronii", Gura said in a soft voice, Kronii didn't continue with the talk, but made her way out of the shelter under the earth. It was afternoon already, yet the unusual hot temperature in spring, and Kronii grabbed another apple as her food, she didn't have much appetite anyways. The slime kept hugging Kronii's upper arm, as if it was glued to the humerus.
Laplus, Iroha and Koyori were on their way to search for Mumei as their main mission. They didn't have any contact from Lui and Chloe yet, this team wasn't aware what kind of incidents happened hours ago. The group arrived to the wasteland, only gravel and the feeling of death present on this landscape. Laplus was unsure about this kind of setting the were located at.
"I have a bad feeling about this", exclaimed Laplus, admitting the dangerous silence on the wasteland that felt like a battlefield. Koyori and Iroha looked at each other in worry, they knew Laplus was most of the time right, she was very intelligent after all.
"Let's just go quickly and get over this place already", suggested Iroha, sounding as uneasy as the leader herself. They had no choice as to enter the wasteland territory, paying attention to every small detail, plus Iroha had her samurai katana ready to fight. After a whole hour, they weren't attacked, nor did anything changed. The dry stone field was nothing more than lost and abandoned from everything lively, Iroha packed back her katana and they felt assured nothing would attack them.
"So it seems here is nothing, shall we get away from he-", Koyori got interrupted by the strong quake of the ground. The three girls fell to the ground from the strong shake and stayed like that until they could stand properly.
"What was that...", asked the coyote quietly, fearing that something might happen if she would talk loud or normal. Both the samurai and the leader had no idea what that kind of scene was. Finally they could stand up, but as they stood up, another quake happened. However now, the cause of the strong trembling on the ground was right in front of them.
"Wh-what is that ?", Laplus shouted in fear, staring at the thing in front of them....a giant, black slime...no eyes, no mouth, just a giant slime. It was as tall as three men stacked together...it gave a dangerous aura from it. Iroha ran in front of Laplus and Koyori, as her power was mostly attacking, but also protecting.
"My dark, Koyori, go, run away, run as far as possible", ordered the samurai as she held her katana with both hands and positioned herself to fight. Koyori pulled her leader as strong as she could and ran away as quick as possible, Laplus couldn't take her eyes away from Iroha, this was her last goodbye as they got separated.
"Let's see what you can do...", said Iroha seriously as she started building up her energy inside her to perform any powers she had in mind to defeat the big slime. The first one was her strong attack power, called loyal swing, making the shape as she moved her katana, she shot a light as identical as the swing of her katana. It hit the slime, and yet it was no use....the slime was immune to light...the slime countered her attack and made itself turn into a ball full of spikes. It shot the spikes with a high speed rate, hitting the samurai's face, making the cheek bleed.
"No way...damn you", cursed Iroha, frustrated at what she involved into. She already knew she couldn't kill this thing and prepared herself to release her ultimate power. Her blue glow from the power she was about to use, happily she thought of her friends, this was maybe the last moment she would think of them. As the giant black slime was about to attack, Iroha was ready to release all her energy to her powers...
"Take that, final law of warriors", Iroha yelled, her powers activated and a yellowish sphere around her was visible...something was rising from the ground of the wasteland. A giant samurai warrior stood up, as tall as the dark slime. It had the same color as the sphere Iroha was at, the slime tried to attack by jumping on top of it, but the warrior blocked the attack by holding the slime...
Meanwhile Laplus and Koyori reached the lively forest again, they sprinted the whole wasteland field till they found something else than dry, stony ground. Both girls tried catching their breath in front of a tree, they were way too exhausted to talk. In the end they decided to walk further through the forest until they didn't know where they were anymore.
"And what now ? What about Iroha ?", Laplus panicked, way too worried about her friend's sacrifice for them. The leader was almost in tears, Koyori tried to assure her how Iroha is a strong member of HoloX and how she probably would survive the fight. Instead Laplus started crying hard, the coyote hugged her, making the small leader feel her comfy embrace. They stayed like this for a while before they moved to a new location to find the missed member of the council...Mumei...
"Alright, the meeting has begun, sadly without Bae, IRyS and Kronii", mentioned Sana, sitting on her chair around the table. Fauna too, sat on her own chair, still wearing her armor.
"So with the new reports coming out, more people died during this week...However, nothing too suspicious about the death count", explained Sana, showing a soft smile on her face, she then proceeded with the next reports.
"As for the beast, as per Fauna's point of view, the creature can shape-shift into other creatures, making it more powerful...", Sana explained, stopping halfway just so she could see the reaction of the chosen-ones, they weren't very joyous about it.
"So...any ideas what this could be about ?", Sana asked, everyone kept silent, zero clue what this was about. Unfortunately the detective died, she would solve this case by far now already. Everyone kept thinking hard about the case, with the hints they collected by now...they should come a step closer to the final conclusion. Finally someone raised their hand, Sana asked for them to take a step forward...
"I have an idea, but maybe it might be not true...", she said calmly, it was Gura.
"What if the creature shape-shifts into another thing to fit its combat strategy or its environment...", Gura suggested, the room went from silent to a room filled with chit-chats. It could be possible, but was it ?
"Wait, I have another idea", another person said, this time louder so that everyone could hear from all the talking. Sana nodded, they stepped forward, it was Lui.
"But before I come to a conclusion, I need everyone to assist me to this...one will be the keeper of nature herself", Lui pointed her finger at Fauna, she seemed surprised by the sudden callout. Yet she accepted and waited for Lui's next step. She just looked around at everyone who was present at today's meeting.
"Alright...everyone, for those who saw the creature, raise your arm now", Lui, Chloe, Fauna, Miko and Aqua raised their hand. She demanded for the one with the raised arm come to one side of the room, the rest had to stay at the opposite side and listen how this would turn out.
"Okay, Fauna, what creature did you see ?"
"I saw a creepy kind of tadpole creature, with a big mouth and four limbs, big claws..", Fauna tried to describe the best way possible, but she got interrupted by Miko and Aqua..
"Hey it's the one we saw too..."
"Alright, this is important, because we saw another creature, which was a huge owl", Lui explained seriously, Chloe simply nodded. Miko gasped loudly, getting the attention of everyone inside the meeting room. She went to the wall next to the one she stood, she took a piece of paper that hung on the wall.
"Lui, here, I got this from the outside world, it's a drawing of another creature, humans saw that beast and our detective also found fur from an unknown species...but nobody can touch it or else the toxic products will make you experience strong insanity...we got three kind of creatures now...", Miko explained, handing the paper to Lui. It was the paper she ripped out from the book, she and Pekora found it in the outside world. Lui thanked the maiden for her research and the room got quiet again, with Lui thinking about the conclusion, but not finding any. Suddenly it hit her...the place...
"Miko, Aqua, where did you find the creature ?"
"The tadpole creature came from the ocean...sadly it had zero impact on Pekora's bombs"
"And Miko, do you maybe know where that beast or the fur was found ?"
"Hmmm, I guess I forgot about it...", said Miko sadly, she wished to be forgiven, less did she know that someone else was strongly befriended with the detective...
"Watson told me about city and winter, hope this helps...", said Gura from the other side, Lui was grateful for the assistance she got. With that, the last puzzle piece was in its right place...Lui might cracked the code in this case...
"The beast in the city, winter...the tadpole in the ocean, immune to bombs and explosions...the owl in the forest, immune to water and wind powers...do you know what this means everyone ?", Lui said seriously, she slammed her hands on the council table. Everyone stared at the executive officer with a worried look, waiting for her to come with her conclusion. Lui breathed in calmly and came to her conclusion...
"That creature is at its environment, evolving...we have an instant evolution here...it has a weakness to decrease back to it's weak form...we only need to know what is its weakness, the owl is weak to explosions or fire or both...but the tadpole one, is immune to explosions or fire or both...so we need to find out by experimenting with the creature itself...", explained Lui, everyone in silence, aghast from that explanation. It was logical...there couldn't be another better answer...
"We just have to try when we're ready...", announced the speaker of space before she ended the meeting for today...