D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

--- Lily ---

The portal they were watching started to shake. Lily reached over with her shadows and held them at the edges. Using them as a way to transfer her mana directly to the portal. Kat was still inside the stone, allegedly anyway, but the portal was trying to shut RIGHT NOW. Lily could feel it straining against her shadows and it was unclear how much she was helping. Lily had to balance using enough mana and force to do… anything at all while ensuring that it wasn’t so much her shadows broke.

Which was a real worry. The portal was still closing down, and Lily wasn’t even sure she was doing anything. As she pushed back against the portal the control she had on her shadows started to waver and almost break. It was not a fun experience, and Lily knew forcing more from her shadows would just lead to them breaking… Kat what the heck is going on?

[No idea. From my end nothing. I’m still just in the arena. No new monsters, no fancy glowing thing to grab… not sure what’s going on.]

*Dammit what am I meant to do then? This portal is already dangerous and I’m not sure I can keep it open much longer. Heck, I’m not sure I’m keeping it open at all. Either way you don’t have much time Kat.*

[Well I’m really not sure how I’m meant to get out of here either way… actually no wait hang on. A light just started to slowly drop down from the ceiling.]

WELL JUMP UP TO IT! Lily found herself mentally screaming as the edges of the portal ground down against her shadows. It was costing so much mana for what might be NOTHING. Still, Lily could feel that Kat was going for the light through the link… and it seemed to work teleporting her back to the ground. Sort of.

*WHAT SORT OF DUMB SHIT IS THAT!*

Kat returned, but not where she’d entered. Kat had no idea where the portal was because of the clouds, but it certainly wasn’t directly next to her like it was meant to be and the stone beneath her was glowing brightly… through a carpet of moss. So she was nowhere near the portal at all. [Guess I’m going to be on my on for the moment.]

*DAMMIT!* Lily hissed as she let her shadows drop. As soon as she did that the portal snapped shut, so at least she was having some effect. Though… Lily was not happy at the moment, she clawed at the ice beneath as she tried to work off the frustration. Kat wasn’t happy either, but she was certainly taking it better.

”I take it Kat won’t be joining us?” asked Appoline.

Lily transformed and sighed, startling Wiggles a bit. Did… he not know? ”Yeah apparently so. I personally think she broke something when she exploded the golem but I’m not sure. It means she didn’t even get teleported out until the portal as mostly closed and when she did, it certainly wasn’t the place she’d touched it. Unlike last time. So… yeah pretty sure something went wrong.”

”I see… what’s the plan then? We’re still essentially in the clouds here, even if the cloud cover is lighter. Are we waiting on this island?” asked Appoline. Lily poked Kat for the answer.

[I’m not going to stop you guys from exploring around. Just make sure you can get back there if you need to. Oh, and I guess I’ll mention it if a portal takes you a lot closer or a lot further way just in case but there’s really no rush.]

Lily nodded to herself and then to Appoline, explaining what Kat had just said. There was also… ”But what do you think we should do with Wiggles?” The rabbit in question glanced away and started whistling. ”I… you can whistle?” Wiggles nodded. ”Right…” intoned Lily as she looked back to Appoline.

Appoline shrugged, ”With the moss I’m not too hungry for ingredients… but I suppose if we have the time we can make the most of it. Though what do you mean ’what should we do with Wiggles’?”

”Well, I mean, Kat’s not around to carry him in her tail… and I was maybe thinking of letting him go? Well that or having him work with us?” offered Lily. Wiggles, for his part seemed very confused as to why this was on offer, raising a clearly questioning eyebrow. ”Look, I can’t waste the mana holding you, and I don’t want to waste the potions on it either… but we did sort of screw up with those birds. Not sure how we could’ve kept you more safe, but that was a lot more intense for you then intended. Of that I’m sure…”

Lily ran a hand down her face. ”We were also thinking that Souris would’ve called you back by now…” Wiggles tilted his head. ”Well you can request medical evac for your familiars. So… we thought Souris would do that but…” Wiggles seems so done with everything. He didn’t know about that either, but doesn’t seem to pleased that Souris forgot it. ”So yeah, we’re willing to let you go, let you hang around, or… medical evac by force.”

Wiggles shakes his head at that last one before clearly thinking on it a moment before clearly indicating that he’d like to stay. Which is weird, because all he did was look around a bit then nod firmly, but somehow Lily was certain in regards to what he meant. Odd… ”Alright then just one more thing.”

Lily sped her mind up as much as she could. Mana didn’t seem to help but simply willing it the way Kat did sometimes worked well enough. She considered if what she was about to do was rude… and if she was really going to share that nugget of information just to scare the rabbit a bit… and Lily decided that yes, yes she was. It… it was an old scar that wasn’t really hurting her anymore. Plus, what was Wiggles going to do? Tell Souris? And? It’s not like they were likely to talk instead of fight her next time.

As Lily was crouching, she let her head tilt sideways as she focused on both her shadows and her transformation. Lips spread wide as her teeth sharpened and her eyes started to glow slightly as the shadows on her ears started to move, just a bit. ”I’d like to inform you that, I happen to be Rank 3 and take betrayal very seriously after my original childhood best friend socially tortured me for months. So best not to do that alright?”

Wiggles shivered under her gaze, and Lily let her shadow return to normal brushing herself off a bit. ”Look, I don’t want to be mean about it, and if Souris shows up? Then it’s not really a betrayal because she’s more important to you and I already know that. Still… if it’s some random thing…”

Wiggles nodded vigorously so Lily sent her own nod back. ”Alright as long as that’s established let me just…” shadow claws reached out and while Wiggles did flinch a little, soon she’d cracked open the rock keeping him in place. Wiggles bounced around a bit, clearly making no attempt to book it, just get himself back on his feet. Shaking them out a bunch, wiggling his toes, and moving his front limbs around a bit as well.

”Are you sure this is the best course of action?” Appoline queried. ”I don’t doubt your skill, nor ability to track him down should he run. In fact, I do rather think it’s the best call given that we need to defend ourselves until Kat catches back up… but the question should still be voiced here I think.”

Lily nodded, ”Yes I do think so. I mean… as I established we can’t easily carry him, it would be a major ingredient burden and I don’t really think I can bring myself to inflict lethal damage on him when he hasn’t tried to escape so far.”

Wiggles gave a little bow.

”Yes, yes, you’re a very well behaved menace. Though, indulge me a bit,” began Lily. ”Would you mind explaining why you didn’t want to go back to Souris?”

Wiggles made an obvious show of looking around the area, then getting confused, looking again a few times until he was ’dizzy’ enough to fall down backwards. ”Ah, of course. How are you meant to find her. I thought you were the twin’s familiar but considering you were with Souris…”

Wiggles nodded, and then did this weird gesture that seemed to make it clear he did indeed belong to the twins. ”How does that work anyway? Isn’t it one familiar a person?” Wiggles shrugged. How was he meant to know something weird like that? He was a rabbit.

*Well… nice to have confirmation that he is tied to both twins… and less nice to know Wiggles has no idea how that happened. Maybe it’s a twin thing? I’d still really like to know… maybe I can ask Thyme? That seems like the best bet if I’m just running the options over in my head. New question though, how long should we stick around before moving?*