"Are you sure we should go this way?" Evergreen asked when the silver quirlat once again flew down to them.
"I know I saw one somewhere here", Theophilius said and he landed to sit on Freed's head.
"They can move, it might not be here anymore", Roscoe reminded.
"I saw how they move! There's no way it can get far even in one day", Theophilius huffed crossing his wings. "Believe me, it is here somewhere."
"Fine, sure, whatever."
"I'm doing my best to help you, but I can't help you if you don't trust me."
"We trust you", Felix assured with a big smile. "You can find that thing, Theo!"
"Theo, I like that", Theophilius smirked. "Okay! I'll go check again!" he said and flew up again.
They started walking, trying to keep their eyes open for even something. Suddenly Roscoe stopped and he looked at the ground.
"Something big went past here", he frowned looking at the trails. Freed noticed it too, there were big imprints on the ground, like something heavy hit it. "It's not like the other trails we have seen until now. These might actually be made by a kalma-mound walking past here."
"Nice job, baby", Bickslow grinned. "So which way should we go to?"
"It looks like it went that way, it has broken some branches while it moved. It seems like it's at least few feet taller than any of us according to how high those branches are."
"Guess we have no choice but to go and see if it's the right thing", Laxus grunted and they followed after Roscoe.
They walked for a while, when suddenly Laxus sniffed the air and sneered.
"Eww! Something smells bad!" Felix shouted covering his nose.
Freed sniffed too and he smelled a faint scent, it was like something was rotting.
"I found it!" they heard a shout from above and looked up at Theophilius. "It's right ahead! And it's a BIG one! Follow me!"
They followed after the silver quirlat who flew from tree to tree while leading them towards the creature. They walked up on top of a little hill and there they could see lots of marks as something big and heavy had fallen down the other side of it which was much more steep.
Down there, at a small little opening they saw the kalma-mound. That had to be it. It was big and standing on six "legs" made out of long branches. The round body was fully covered with big pieces of rotting wood, moss, twigs, shrubs, obviously anything from the ground. There were even some flowers growing on top of its back.
The "head" was hanging almost on the ground and it looked like made out of a piece of stump. Its roots pointed up like antlers, making the whole creature look a little bit like a moose with six legs.
"It's... Creepy", Evergreen shuddered. "Did it fall down? And it's still in one piece?"
"It might be far more sturdy than it looks like at first", Freed said.
"What are we going to do now?" Chester asked and Theo landed down as well.
"I'm not going near that thing", the quirlat reminded.
"You don't have to, neither will Felix and Chester", the rune mage said.
"Aren't you forgetting a certain someone?" Laxus said lifting his eyebrows. "Someone has to stay with them anyway."
"I could use my runes and make sure it can't get away", Freed reminded and he knew very well that Laxus was talking about him.
"There's four of us, I'm an S-class wizard, that thing won't take more than two steps in an hour, I don't think it can get away from us", Laxus snorted. "You're gonna stay here, Freed."
"Laxus is right, it wouldn't be really wise for you to come with us, baby", Bickslow said and the green haired man rolled his eyes.
He had forgotten already how protective Laxus, Bickslow and Evergreen could get. Of course he understood that they only meant well and he agreed that someone should stay with Felix, Chester and Theo while others were collecting poison.
But if he was honest, it just felt a bit ridiculous for them to act like this when there wasn't actually any proof yet why he should stay aside. Sure they knew how strong dragon mating season could be with its ancient magic, but Freed needed an actual proof. Porlyusica had not yet said anything sure and Laxus hadn't noticed anything different so... Maybe things really weren't as they thought?
"I'll stay aside", Freed agreed nonetheless as he knew Laxus wouldn't let him go with them anyway.
"Wise decision", Laxus smirked. "We got this, Freed. We'll be careful", he assured as they started to get down the hill.
Freed muttered something and he sat down with Felix, Chester and Theo.
"How are they going to collect the poison?" Chester asked.
"I have no idea, but I hope everything goes fine", Freed sighed.
They looked how Laxus, Bickslow, Roscoe and Evergreen approached the kalma-mound without hurry. It moved slowly, so slowly it almost looked it just stayed in its place. But eventually one of the legs heavily hit the ground, breaking twigs and the rotting tree on its body were crackling. Somehow they were waiting to hear growling or something similar but the creature stayed perfectly silent, gradually lifting up another leg.
It really did move slowly. Of course Baluhu and Theophilius had already told that to them, but they all were surprised by how slowly it really moved.
"This is gonna be a piece of cake", Bickslow smirked as they scattered around the kalma-mound.
This time it completely stopped moving. Obviously it was sensing there was something moving around it. Freed was really interested to observe this behaviour. It was a fungus after all! It didn't have brain so how did it even move or notice it was being targeted? How did it understand it was in danger? Without a doubt, this thing was by far the most fascinating creature he had ever seen before.
"Mama, if they get poisoned, can we cure them?" Felix asked worried.
"I'm sure Baluhu has some antidote", Freed assured. "Don't worry, they promised to be careful so they won't get poisoned."
Laxus stepped right in front of the creature. Or he assumed it was the front side, since it had head there and it had been moving to that direction. Why it had a head, he had no idea. Maybe it was trying to look like a big animal so other animals left it alone?
"So we have to make it defend itself and produce poison, but we can't kill it?" he said. "So just attacking it only a little bit? That's such a pain in the ass", he grunted and electricity crackled around his fist.
"Be careful with it", Evergreen reminded.
"Yeah yeah, whatever", Laxus grunted and he raised his fist.
He let out a shocking lightning punch, hitting on the wood that was already soft because all the years. He felt how it easily sunk in, like hitting a pillow. Something greenish yellow squished out between all the crap covering the kalma-mound and Laxus quickly pulled away before touching it.
"Watch out!" he shouted and jumped away, others doing the same. Freed stood up, ready to grab Felix, Chester and Theo if something would happen.
The kalma-mound trembled, its legs got wobbly and its body was expanding like a balloon. Then suddenly it shrunk down, wood falling and it just... Fell apart. Everything crashed down on the ground and there was no sign of that yellow goo Laxus had seen before.
The piece of a stump was lying on the ground and the whole thing looked like any normal pile of trash. Minutes went by and they waited, but nothing happened.
Finally Freed came down the hill with Felix, Chester and Theo since it seemed like nothing would happen. They all stepped carefully closer and Roscoe took a long stick, moving all the moss and stuff but they saw nothing. It was like the fungus had completely disappeared.
"It's..." he murmured.
"Laxus!" Ever shouted looking at the dumbfounded lightning dragon slayer. "You killed it!"
"We weren't supposed to kill it", Freed frowned to his husband.
"And it took so damn long to find one, geez!" Bickslow whined rubbing his face.
"I barely touched it!" Laxus defended himself both baffled and angry.
"That's not what happens when barely touching!" Ever said, pointing towards what was left of the kalma-mound.
"It was just one little punch! I had no idea it would die because of something that small!" Laxus snarled. "I tell you, I barely touched it!"
"Your touch made it fall apart", Freed scolded.
"You should know it best."
"What the hell are we going to do now?" Roscoe sighed annoyed.
Felix carefully stepped closer as they ignored adults who were arguing. There were just a little bit something greenish yellow he saw, stuck in an old branch.
"Is this it?" he asked, pointing towards whatever it was.
"Don't touch it!" Laxus roared grabbing his son before he would manage to touch anything. "It's poison! Don't you understand what that means?!"
"I do", Felix assured quickly, slightly scared. "I wasn't going to touch it!"
"You can't just get near it like that", Freed scolded and for a moment he though his heart was going to jump out from his throat.
"I wasn't going to touch it!" Felix assured and he hiccuped.
Laxus and Freed huffed.
"Just don't get near dangerous stuff", Laxus finally said, letting Felix down next to Chester and Theo.
"I won't, don't be mad", Felix promised hugging Laxus' leg tightly.
"I won't get mad if you won't do something dangerous."
"I won't, I promise!"
Laxus sighed ruffling Felix's hair.
"Okay, so where did you see that whatever you saw?" he asked a bit more softly.
"Right there, on that branch", Felix said and he pointed towards one of the long branches that had worked as one of the legs.
Freed and Evergreen carefully got closer and looked around the branch. Soon they noticed a little amount of greenish yellow goo.
"Give me a vial", the rune mage said and Bickslow gave him one of the little vials.
With a twig Freed managed to get most of the goo in the vial, but it wasn't really much. The vial was hardly half filled.
"Does that old guy want us to fill all those vials?" Laxus grunted when looking at that pathetic amount of poison. If it even was poison, they weren't sure.
"I don't think he would want that after you already managed to kill one of those creatures", Roscoe said and the Thunder God frowned.
"I didn't do that on purpose", he said once again.
"Well, right now this is all we can do", Freed said and he put the cork in it's place, sealing it with runes just in case so it wouldn't open. "In few hours it will be too dark for us to stay in this forest", he said looking up at the sky. It was starting to turn slightly orange as the sun was setting.
"Then we better head back to the cottage", Evergreen nodded.
With Theo's help it was easy to find their way back to the cottage and Felix and Chester were hurrying towards the beach with the tiki dolls and Theophilius right after them. Since they couldn't go back to the forest, they had time to build a sandcastle!
Laxus and others stepped closer to the cottage and there was a fire lit outside in the fireplace. Baluhu was sitting beside it, apparently doing some food and the old man lifted his head when he heard them coming.
"Oh, so you came back", he said. "So how did it go?"
They looked at each other and Freed sighed finally.
"We are terribly sorry, but things didn't go as well as they should have", he apologized and Baluhu lifted his eyebrow.
"You didn't find one?" he asked.
"We did."
"Laxus killed it", Bickslow explained.
Baluhu looked at them and blinked his eyes.
"You killed it?" he finally asked slightly angry and he got up. "I told you to absolutely not do that!" he frowned.
"How could I have known it would fall apart with just a little punch?!" Laxus growled. He was getting really annoyed of everyone thinking like he had exploded that stupid thing in millions of little pieces all over the forest!
"Wait, it fell apart?" Baluhu asked now surprised. "How?"
"For first it looked like it was going to burst, but then it just shrunk down and all that thrash fell on the ground", Roscoe said. "Whatever it was that kept all those things together was gone."
"I see..." Baluhu muttered. Then he looked amused. "Well I have some good news: It didn't die. It hid itself."
"What? Where?" Bickslow asked and they were all confused.
"On the ground, in those wooden pieces, everywhere it could. It squeezes itself inside all the little holes, most of the wooden pieces around it are hollow for that purpose. It's a defence system when someone suddenly hits it. I'm sure that right now while we're talking here, its already collecting itself and then it starts moving again like nothing happened."
"And you couldn't tell us that sooner?!" Evergreen shrieked as they were all left stunned because of this information.
Baluhu bursted out laughing loudly, almost falling down.
"You guys got tricked by a fungus!" he howled as he laughed and he swiped his eyes.
"It's not that hilarious..." Roscoe grunted, though he was slightly embarrassed. They all were.
Baluhu chuckled and finally calmed down after a moment.
"At least you didn't kill it", he said still amused. "So that's a good thing, even if you were fooled to think that was what happened." He let out a few giggles. "It would have been hilarious to see your faces when that happened."
"Whatever", Laxus grunted and now he was definitely annoyed. "If you want us to find more of that poison for you, you better tell us everything you can about those kalma-mounds."
"Oh? So you actually got some poison?" Baluhu asked surprised.
Freed took out the vial and gave it to the old man.
"This is not poison", he said and they all almost dropped their mouths.
"So what the hell is it then?!" Laxus snapped. "It was bursting out when I hit that bunch of shit!"
"This right here", Baluhu said lifting up the vial so they could see the little amount of goo inside it. "Is actually part of that fungus. Kalma-mounds grow through their whole lives and eventually there will be so much of it there is no way it can move no matter how much wood it uses. It seems the one you managed to find was probably ready to split up. Maybe in two or even four parts and then there would be more kalma-mounds to roam around. I have seen that only once in my long life, it's a really rare occasion but it makes sense when you think how long they can live. Who knows, this individual might have walked in that forest for a few thousand years already."
"That long?" Freed asked amazed.
"I can't be sure of course. At some points they also let out spores and reproduce that way too, but as you can guess, that is a rare occassion as well since for creatures that live as long as kalma-mounds, there is no need to reproduce too often. Nature is pretty amazing, isn't it?" Baluhu chuckled. "We can't even imagine what all there might still be hidden in forests, in seas, underground and high up on mountains."
"That's cool", Bickslow grinned. "But if it's not poison, we're back in square one."
"Not necessarily", Baluhu said looking at the vial. "You might have done me a bigger favour than I even expected. I will try and see if I can nurture this tiny fungus and make it grow."
"You can do that?" Roscoe asked.
"Why not? I make a little area in the forest where it can move and eat but can't get too far. I give it twigs and moss to cover itself and slowly but surely it should grow up to be just like any other kalma-mound."
"That would definitely be an interesting project", Freed agreed with a smile. "You can study more closely how it actually functions and you might learn new things about kalma-mounds."
"I might also learn how to collect poison without stressing those poor creatures", Baluhu nodded. "I know they don't look really charming and they can be really dangerous with their poison, but it doesn't make them bad creatures. They won't harm anyone if left alone. I better go then."
"Where?" Laxus asked confused.
"To make a good home for this little fella, of course", Baluhu said. "It shouldn't take too long, I'll be back in a few hours I believe. You wait here and eat, we have lots of things to talk about once I come back."
"Hey, Baluhu", Bickslow said and the old man stopped.
"Yes?" he asked looking at the seith mage.
"You should name it, can I suggest a name?" Bikckslow smirked.
"Go ahead", Baluhu chuckled.
"Call it Laxus! It was thanks to him after all so you could have it as he smashed that thing in pieces."
They laughed and Laxus growled while glaring at his old friend.
"Yes, I think that's what I should do!" Baluhu guffawed and he walked towards the forest, leaving them to have some dinner and set up their camp.
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I forgot to add this earlier, but I got this beautiful fanart of my story, when Laxus is using his dragonic traits (wings, tail, his hair grows out more and stuff like that ^^).
https://www.deviantart.com/sainth91/art/Dragon-Style-830688503
It's amazing! ^^ Thank you, Sainth91!