5 Phase 05: Option

The girl at the front desk recognized Colin the minute he and Katrin stepped into the Gym. "You're back! And you've brought your Comrade!"

"Nice to meet you too." Katrin said, a bit put off about not being greeted.

"Oh! Sorry!" the girl at the counter offered her hand. "I'm Dani, receptionist of Sunshine Gym. You are…?"

"Katrin." She answered.

"Nice to meet you." Dani turned to Colin. "And you?"

"Colin." He replied.

"Well, then, what can I do for you two?" she asked.

Colin paused and was surprised to find Katrin looking at him. "I don't really know. We just got started, and Nami said to come here."

"Just got started?!" Dani stared. "It's been hours since today's new Travelers have been through here! Most of them came back with their second, third, or even fourth Comrades by now!"

"That must have been Larry." Colin figured.

"You have a lot of catching up to do." Dani turned to Katrin. "Do you know how to command Comrades in battle and bond with new Comrades?"

"I've seen someone do both." Colin answered. "But I haven't tried it myself."

Dani turned to Katrin. "You too?"

Katrin shook her head. "I battled a few Wilds earlier. I also tried capturing a Flying Squirrel and managed to defeat it, but the thing ran off the moment I touched it."

"That means it wasn't willing to bond with you." Dani nodded. "Flying Squirrels are rather picky. Try something that's naturally friendly, like Pinkbits or Lynxmice. Or something similar to your first Comrade; Wilds tend to prefer Travelers with Comrades of the same kind as themselves. I think it's because they believe you'll know how to take care of them better."

Katrin glanced at Colin. "Where do we find cat-types around here?"

"Here…?" Dani scratched her head. "The forest south of here, perhaps. But you have to be careful of giant ants. They'll eat anything."

That forest, Colin realized, was where they had just been an hour ago. "Aren't the Wilds there rather strong?"

"They are. I don't think you should try to go there until your Comrades are level 15 or higher."

"Level 15?" Colin blinked. "How do you know what level they are?"

"Check their abilities tab." Dani said. "Look at the total stats. We count 10 total stats as one level. So level 15 means your Comrade has more than 150 total stats."

"Shiro and Raiki are only at level 7." Colin realized.

"Why don't you try easier places first?" Dani asked. "Get a few different kinds, try to get a feel for fighting Wilds with Comrades."

"Where do you suggest?" Colin asked.

"The Colorbit Hills behind the Comrade Home is a good place. Plenty of Colorbits and Flying Squirrels there. Or hunt Lynxmice at one of the farms around here. Do you know any farmer willing to give you a job?"

Colin and Katrin exchanged glances. They grinned.

***

"Back already?" Farmer Edward blinked.

"We were told to try battling Lynxmice." Katrin explained.

"Mice?" Edward laughed. "Well, that's a good start. Graybark's watching the barn for now, but it would be nice to give him a break. Tell you what… why don't you two go hunt Lynxmice there? I'll pay you 10cr for every catch."

"What do you mean by 'catch'?" Colin asked.

Farmer Edward gave them some sacks. "Defeat them so that they can't move, then just dump them into the sacks."

"Won't they run away?" Colin asked. "Don't Wilds do that when they're not willing to bond with you?"

"That's right." Edward agreed. "But Lynxmice would bond with anybody. You'll have no trouble. Look, I've got a few barns. Why don't you and Katrin take one each? Call me when you've caught ten of those Lynxmice."

"Ten…" Colin thought about it. "Why not?"

Edward brought them to his barns; there were four of them, all side by side. "Good luck, you two."

Katrin took one sack and went into the first barn. Colin took another sack and went into the second.

The barn had three huge heaps of hay on the left, Edward's truck and some repair tools on the right, and a few empty stalls farther ahead.

"Well..." Colin paused. "What do we do?"

"Yip." Shiro said, sniffing the floor. He followed a trail and then pounced on the the nearest haystack. "Yip! Yip!"

A Lynxmouse jumped out and Shiro chased it at once. After a brief scuffle and a quick bite, the fight was over. The Lynxmouse stood very still in Shiro's jaws, eyeing them both fearfully. Colin opened the sack and Shiro dropped the Lynxmouse in it.

"Yip." Shiro wagged his tail at Colin.

"Right. I'll look for them too." Colin said, and picked up a nearby pitchfork. He started poking around the hay.

A Lynxmouse shot out on his second poke. Shiro dashed up to it, but it ran to one side. Shiro spun, and slammed his longer tail on the Lynxmouse's head.

That tail seemed to have hit hard. The Lynxmouse stumbled, then seemed to have trouble standing up.

In the meantime, Shiro took a quick bite and the Lynxmouse stopped moving. Colin opened the sack; Shiro dropped the Wild into it.

This went on for a while. Colin poked hay, and Shiro went on fighting Lynxmice, using his teeth, his claws, or his tail very cleverly. It didn't take long for them to reach ten catches.

"Looks like we're done." Colin said, peering into the sack.

The Lynxmice were huddling together, as if trying to hide. Colin counted them easily, and nodded. They had ten.

Farmer Edward was amazed. "That was quick. It hasn't even been three minutes!"

"Ten mice in two minutes." Colin said. "It wasn't hard."

Michi was right. Shiro really could do it all on his own without any orders from Colin at all. Every fight in there was over before Colin could say a word about what Shiro could do. "I think Katrin might be done by now too."

She wasn't.

"I have six." She said, poking at the hay. There was only one haystack in this barn, and she was poking at it methodically.

Another Lynxmouse dashed out. "Raiki! Sonic Shot!"

Raiki gathered up sonic energy in her mouth, took aim, and let it out. The blast hit the Lynxmouse in the back, and it fell at once.

Katrin stuffed it into the bag. "Seven, now."

Colin watched her and shook his head. Michi was right. Shiro would have beaten the Lynxmouse before Katrin even called Raiki's name. "Can I help?"

Edward and Katrin exchanged glances. Edward shrugged. "Sure. Why not?"

"Shiro…" Colin said.

Shiro gave him a quick nod, and trotted over to Raiki.

"Yip." Shiro said.

"Mew?" Raiki blinked.

"Yip. Yip, yip, yip, yip, yip." Said Shiro.

"Mew." Raiki ran over to the near end of the haystack.

Shiro ran over to the far end of the haystack.

"What's going on?" Edward asked.

Katrin gave Colin a worried glance. Colin just shrugged.

"Yip!" Shiro called.

"Mew." Raiki answered, and backed off some more.

"Yip!" Shiro barked.

"Mew." Raiki replied, and went the rest of the way to the very doors of the barn.

"Yip. Yip, yip!" Shiro said. Then, he glanced at Colin.

"Uh…" Colin glanced about. "We might want to step back. Far back."

Edward and Katrin had no idea what was going on, but they obliged. They went all the way to the wall.

"Ready." Colin told Shiro.

"Yip." Shiro answered. He turned to Raiki. "Yip?"

"Mew." Raiki replied.

Shiro took a deep breath…

And howled.

***

It took ten seconds.

Shiro's Howl hit the haystack with ripples of sonic force. The moment it hit, the sound waves went right into the hay, and shrieking Lynxmice started running away.

First a handful, then a dozen, then a whole flood of Lynxmice scurried out from the hay and ran away from Shiro, towards the big main door.

Raiki was waiting for them. The blue kitten was gathering sonic energy… but not in a simple bolt. In fact, Raiki gathered enough power to make the air shake like a curtain in the wind.

When Raiki released that power, the sonic force went out like a wave. It slammed into the stream of Lynxmice trying to get away from Shiro and swept through them without slowing.

Every Lynxmouse it passed over simply dropped and stopped moving. The Sonic Wave didn't stop until it hit the haystack with a splash of hay.

And then it was over.

***

For a moment, nobody said anything. Nobody dared to say anything.

"Yip." Shiro barked happily. "Yip, yip, yip!"

"Mew!" Raiki was delighted. "Meeowwrl!"

Katrin started counting the Lynxmice and loading them into her sack. "Sixteen… seventeen… eighteen…"

"Wow." Farmer Edward said at last.

"What was that?!" Colin wanted to know.

"It's called a Sonic Wave. I had no idea that blue kitten could do something like that." Edward said.

"Twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six…" Katrin went on counting. "Twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine… thirty… Colin, my sack's full."

Colin handed her his sack and she went on counting. "Ten inside, so that's forty so far, and this makes… forty-one, forty-two…"

"Can they do that again?" Edward asked.

"I'm not sure." Colin said, and turned to Shiro.

Shiro shook his head, and nodded towards Raiki.

Raiki was slumped down tiredly.

"I think they'll need to rest first. Maybe get some food." Colin frowned. "I only have one more can of tuna with me. If you can pay us for this, we can go and buy more food."

"Fifty-eight, fifty-nine…" Katrin went on counting. "Sixty. Farmer Edward, we need another sack."

Edward handed her a third sack, and she went on counting. "Sixty-one, sixty-two…"

They waited until she got them all and handed the three sacks to Farmer Edward. "Sixty-eight, in total."

"I owe you guys six hundred and eighty Clira." Edward calculated. "Three hundred and forty each. Wow. I've never paid anyone so much for ten minutes of work before."

Katrin nudged Colin as Farmer Edward started counting coins. She whispered. "Thanks, Colin. That was brilliant."

"I didn't do anything. Shiro did it all." Colin whispered back.

"I know. But offering to help was your idea."

Edward gave them the coins, then seemed to think really hard about something.

"Is it too much?" Colin asked. "Can you really afford to spend this much…?"

Edward blinked and shook his head. "Don't worry about that. But I was thinking… do you guys have a house here in Nakama World? A place for your Comrades to rest while you're awake? A base of operations?"

"We just started tonight." Colin reminded him. "We're still trying to earn enough money to buy food. I haven't even {thought} of buying a house."

Edward nodded. "Well… since you don't have one yet… I was wondering… if you'd like to stay here."

"Here?" Katrin blinked. "In the barn?!"

Edward blinked. "No, of course not. I mean… on the farm. I'm already expanding the land, and the thing is, I've got trouble keeping track of all those Comrades and what needs doing. So…"

"You want us to join your farm." Katrin said. "To help you expand and run it."

"Well… yes." Edward said. "We can share the profits."

"But aren't we supposed to be Travelers?" Colin asked. "How are we supposed to Travel if we're stuck on a farm?"

"Actually…" Edward paused. "Most Travelers come home every once in a while. I'm not asking you to stay here forever, just… do some work around here, and… take over once a while so that I can have a break."

"Ah. So {that's} what you really want." Katrin laughed.

"It's a fair deal!" Edward protested. "You even have space for habitats and training equipment. We can expand the house as well as the farmlands, so that you each have a few rooms all to yourselves."

"A few rooms…" Katrin glanced at Colin. "What do you think?"

"We're supposed to be Travelers." Colin reminded her.

"But having a place to come back to would be nice, don't you think?" Katrin pointed out. "We can bring back seeds and Comrades from all over the place to improve the farm! Between the three of us, we can make it the biggest food supplier of Sunshine Town!"

"But we're {Travelers}!"

Katrin sighed. "We do need a place for our Comrades."

"I thought there were caravans, or something."

"There are… but you might as well just use a truck." Katrin said. "It's not the same… it's just…"

Colin looked at her, then at Shiro.

"Yip." Shiro said softly, sadly.

And went quiet.

***

"What is it?" Katrin asked, when Colin fell silent.

Colin didn't say anything.

"Colin? What's wrong?" Katrin was getting worried now. "What are you thinking?"

"It's… nothing." Colin answered, turning away.

Katrin glanced at Edward, but Edward didn't know what was going on either.

"It's okay, Katrin." Colin said.

"Okay? What's okay?" Katrin asked.

"Staying here."

Katrin beamed. "You mean it? We'll stay with Edward?"

"You can stay here if you like." Colin said at last.

Katrin's smile slipped when she realized he hadn't included himself. "Wait… what about you?"

Colin turned to her then.

"I am a Traveler."