137 Phase 119: There and Again
Meanwhile, Alicia herself died her way back to Soft Snows Airport. Colin respawned with her.
"Did you really have to?" Colin groaned, cut off in mid-sentence during a conversation with the Aspenar Lord.
"Look, it's the only way I know of to contact you." Alicia pointed out. "And {you're} not the one feeling sick here!"
"I'm about to be." Colin guessed.
He guessed right. A minute later, with Alicia's finances up by another twenty thousand Clira, they were back in the Heart of the Forest with all their Comrades looking very grumpy about the whole ordeal. All their Comrades, that is, except Shiro, who, once again, didn't respawn with them.
{At least our Comrades are respawning with us this time. That's an improvement. Right?}
They sat there side by side for a while, breathing in the scent of the quick-recovery leaf Colin had split between them. Then, Colin asked, "So, what's so special we had to die to discuss it?"
"Nothing much, really. I just couldn't find what I wanted from the ruins around here. I have to go farther out. Maro city, or maybe another continent entirely." She said, wanly.
"You didn't have to kill us both for that." Colin groaned. "Just go and… don't die."
"I'll try. How are things going on your end?"
"I've got sixty-three Tames ready. Just another thirty-seven and I'll go see Jijin. But you have better chances of talking to someone about this joint-respawning thing than I do. I've mainly been talking to Forest Wilds and collecting volunteers."
"I {have} been asking. Nobody's even heard of such a thing." Alicia coughed. "Not the Breeders, not the J-Knights, {nobody}. I could ask the Coordinators once the comms are back online, but well…"
"Any idea what happened to the comms?" Colin asked.
"Oh, yeah. That." Alicia grunted. "The Green Men blew them up."
"What?" Colin stared.
"The Green Men blew up the communications satellites in orbit. Higher Plane, remember? It's not just our comms that are down. {Everybody's} comms are down. All we've got are land-lines, Wind Knight couriers and writing the kind of letters Lynn left you. Most towns are starting to build communications towers like the airports use, some of them finished theirs already, but the ruined towns on this continent are going to take a while. Especially with Frenzieds still roaming around."
Colin closed his eyes. "What are we going to do?"
"Me, I'm going to the Hourglass Continent, probably Midway Metropolis. I hear they're not just building communication satellites there, they're building Planetary Defense Cannons. What are you going to do?"
"Finish up the 100 Tames quest and try to figure out the answer to Lynn's Third Question before she comes back to ask." Colin got to his feet. "I have a few good answers, but I haven't decided which one is best."
"What's the question and what are your answers?" Alicia asked, curious.
"If I could add anything I wanted to the Forest, what would it be…?" Colin paused. "I'm thinking it's either more Rangers, Guided Tours to increase awareness of Forest needs, or Green Technologies development centers. Maybe even a green-tech settlement as a sample of ecological harmony. Forest Village might be interested."
"A what where why?" Alicia was blur.
Colin held up one finger. "More Rangers and Foresters means more people working for the forest."
"Okay, I get that part."
He held up another, "Pepper Tourism can offer Forest Tours so people like forests more and treat them better."
Alicia waited.
He held up a third, "A green-tech development center is… well… it's a place for people to figure out how to do things without making the environment worse."
"And what's that harmony thing?" she asked.
He held up a fourth finger. "Eco-harmony means people can live in or near the Forest without causing any environmental damage, maybe even make things better for the environment. Forest Village is already eco-friendly; they don't use polluting power sources, but their garbage is a problem. If we can just convince them to fix that, the Forest would have a lot less rubbish flying around with the wind."
"Oh." Alicia thought about that. "Don't do the green tech study places. That's inviting the Cult of Gaia in with a red carpet." she shivered. "Eco-harmony in Forest Village and Forest Tours might be useful, but I think your first guess is best. More Rangers. More Foresters."
Colin agreed. "Yeah. It should bring more respect for the forest from humans, more order in the forests for the Wilds. In the end, it all boils down to manpower. But it has to be the right kind of manpower or things will get worse instead of better."
"Like a forester who destroys a whole continent, for example?" Alicia smirked.
"Shut up." Colin said half-heartedly.
He found himself examining Alicia's Comrades. Five black birds and two squirrels, one brown, one white. "Hey… Alicia… you're a Green badge, right?"
"You think?" Alicia snorted, glancing down at her badge which was, evidently, very green indeed.
"So you gave up Comrades to squeezed in as much power as you could to do lower ranking Lamico Tournaments…"
Alicia shook her head. "Jonah thought the same way, but that wasn't why I gave up my old Comrades."
"It wasn't?" Colin blinked.
"No. I lost them when the Green Men hit Crescent and tons of Comrades went Frenzied." Alicia said softly.
Colin froze. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay. I wanted to start over." Alicia said. "Put everything behind me and just start fresh. I traded in everything I had left, all the things the Green Men gave me other than Comrades… I don't care how rare the items were, I wanted none of them. In exchange, Jijin gave me this." She stroked the smallest black bird she had.
Colin stared. "Jijin? You traded with Professor Jijin?"
"I wanted a good deal. Someone said he wanted a diverse collection. I didn't know about the map piece quest at the time. I thought I was just trading with a Comrade Home Breeder. That's why I told him I didn't want the map piece. He was really perplexed." Alicia let out a short laugh. "He expected Tames, and I gave him items. He expected me to want the map piece, and all I asked for was 'a good Comrade'. He said something about proportionate returns… he said he'd match the amount I gave in proportion to what I had. He almost fell over when I told him that was everything I had. In the end, he gave me Dirge."
"He gave me Sonia too." Colin mentioned. "So your Dirge is a Jijin-enhanced Raven of some sort?"
"No, actually, Jijin said Dirge was bred in a very specific pattern. He wanted a very specific result, so Dirge wasn't enhanced in any way." Alicia said. "Jijin wanted a certain kind of Raven, something Nakama World limits to single existences. In other words, Dirge is a Unique Comrade, the only one of her species."
"Wow." Colin stared. "What class, level and stage is she?"
In response, Alicia brought out her Comrades Summary.
.
Summary Image:
https://imgur.com/k0FR5Fc
.
"You see?" Alicia pointed. "Even at level 44, Dirge is still just a 3rd Stage Juvenile. I know for a fact that the squirrels and Grim Ravens are class 8. I know the Dire Ravens are class 9. But Dirge… she seems beyond even a class 10. When I scan her for class ranking, all my scanner gets are question marks. It's too high for the scanner."
"I know exactly what you mean." Colin nodded. He brought up his Summary too. "See?"
.
Summary Image:
https://imgur.com/iXcmHkO
.
"Storm Swans are class 10. You've got five Comrades at class 10 or higher." Alicia grimaced. "And your Comrades are way higher level than mine. But I did start over, after all. We left Lamico when I was near to hitting 300 levels between all my Comrades and ranking up to Blue… but now I wonder if I should have just stayed and leveled up there."
"You'd have been killed." Colin said softly, remembering.
"Oh yeah. That's right. You nearly wiped out everything. And by the way, that was {before} I left." Alicia paused. "But you didn't do it with your Comrades."
"No. I didn't." Colin answered.
"Then how {did} you do it?" Alicia asked. "People were saying you commanded the Forest Wilds, but I heard there were Wilds coming from the {dungeons} to attack the towns. How does a Forester command Wilds who don't belong in the Forest?"
"I didn't command them, exactly. I sort of… paid them." Colin winced.
"You {hired} the Wilds of the Lamico dungeons to attack the towns?!" Alicia stared.
"More or less, yes." Colin left it at that. He didn't want to go into details.
"Well. I guess it is possible." Alicia mused. "I should try that too, one day."
Colin almost let out a snort of laughter. {Good luck with that! Even if you could communicate with them, getting the resources to pay them is a whole different story.}
Alicia sighed. "I suppose it's really hard to do."
For a moment there, Colin wondered if she could hear his thoughts, but then again, she seemed to have reached that conclusion while wondering about it herself.
"What about that army of Tames over there?" Alicia nodded to the sixty-plus tames Colin had been gathering for Jijin's quest. "Are you going to bond any of them? Some of them look pretty strong."
"No." Colin shook his head. "I have all the Comrades I want to bond. I'm sticking with the seven I have."
"It's a rather diverse group." Alicia noted. "What's your theme?"
Colin hesitated a moment before telling her. "They all belong in the Forest."
Alicia was surprised at that. "I thought the more specific the theme, the stronger the bonds between Comrades."
"Probably." Colin agreed. "Your theme seems to be 'flying tree-dwellers'. It's a strong one."
"Yet you're going for something as general as 'forest wilds'?" Alicia wondered.
"Yep." Colin said.
"Wouldn't it be better to focus a bit more?"
"Maybe." Colin said, "But I'm not going to throw away Comrades. Not without some really good reason."
"Such as Katrin losing all of hers?" Alicia snorted. "You gave her all the Comrades you could bear to part with. And look what happened! Really, Colin, if she couldn't even hold on to her own Comrades, whatever made you think she could hold on to yours?"
"She deserved another chance… and I owe her."
"She could have just started from scratch. Like I did. She could have borrowed money and bought a really good starter Comrade. Or you could just have offered her a Tame instead of transferring all those bonded Comrades."
"I didn't think of that at the time." Colin admitted. "I just remembered how she gave me Raiki and saved me from the Green Men. I just… wanted to give back."
"Well, you seem to have gone overboard with that." Alicia said. "You gave her more than she could handle. On top of that, she wanted to farm, and you gave her bears and mice. Not very helpful there."
"Raiki is worth more than all of them put together. And she's a Traveler too. Sooner or later…"
"Well, she's Traveling now. But that doesn't seem to help much. She keeps trying to keep up with you, and that's practically ruined her."
Colin stared. "What?!"
"Get a clue, Colin." Alicia scoffed. "You're not that dumb. Katrin could have done really well as a farmgirl, or climbed the ranks of the J-Knights at a comfortable pace. She could have gone around playing in Nakama World the way kids were meant to play, gathering power and having fun. Instead, she runs into the middle of a civil war, then goes off to a winter land hardly prepared and loses almost everything. I passed by Edward's Farm earlier today. He had two rooms to let out, Colin. I'm sure you know what that means."
"He's not expecting us back." Colin knew. "Those were our rooms… and he knows neither of us are coming back."
"I think Katrin's said her goodbyes. Edward closed the farm today." Alicia added. "I was half-tempted to ask for that room as a Home Base myself. It beats respawning at Soft Snows every time I die."
"With Comrades like that…" Colin gestured to her birds and squirrels. "I don't know how you're going to get out of the Forest as it is."
"Simple. {You're} getting me out."
***
Katrin, true enough, was Traveling again, and wasn't going back to the Farm. Not because she wanted to Travel, exactly, or because she got bored of it… but because she knew full well that if she stayed there, it would become a top priority target for the Green Men.
Speaking of the Green Men, Satrox was discussing them with Lord Geoffrey right now. There weren't many left, just a few wandering saucers scattered about seven continents, each of them taken down one by one by a joint Knight air force. Most of the Gaians had left Nakama World already.
But Katrin wasn't fooled. She knew the moment they had so much of a hint of one of their three remaining targets, they'd swoop down and cause havoc all over again. Which was why Katrin set the Soft Snows J-Knight Outpost as her new Home Base. The Cult knew she and Colin normally roamed around Crescent Continent. That was why they attacked there so often.
"There goes the last beacon to Burrow Hollow." Henry pointed. "I think that's the Hollow itself up ahead. Let's stop by there before going on to Skycrown."
"Do we need to?" Rita asked. She was sitting on his Cloudy Lynxmouse now while he sat behind his brother on Noble. Rita's own wasp just couldn't take the cold any more and had to be left with Aoi at the Soft Snows Comrade Home.
"Only if you want some snacks and souvenirs. Otherwise, I think we can just go straight on. Unless someone is getting cold or needs a break?"
Heads shook in negative around their little group. Katrin felt a huge wave of relief that she had this comfy suit to wear; otherwise, she'd be freezing by now, her teeth chattering with cold while she tried to make do with a thick bundle of mismatched garments.
She glanced at the boy with the yellow scarf. He sat on his own Pegasus, somehow looking graceful despite being bundled in thick furs. He wore a fur hat too, complete with raccoon tail, and a black face visor.
{I wonder what expression he has on his face right now.} Katrin thought to herself. {I wonder what he's thinking.}
They swooped over Burrow Hollow without stopping, though Henry grabbed Satrox and pointed at a pair of guys wandering off towards the east. Katrin didn't hear what it was about, but Satrox basically shrugged and said to leave them alone, so they did.
Skycrown Mountain came within sight soon after they passed Burrow Hollows. At first, Katrin thought it was surprisingly close, considering how much distance there was between places out on this Continent... but then they kept flying on for another half hour, and the mountain barely seemed to get any closer.
It was then that she began to have suspicions. "Um… just how big IS this mountain?"
"It's the biggest mountain in Nakama World. That's why it's called Skycrown." Satrox explained. "It's the throne of the Mountain Princess. How big do you think it is?"
Bigger than Soft Snows Mountain, that was for sure. Katrin saw what appeared to be a short frozen wave stretching across the horizon behind it, thought it was cute for a while, but as they got closer and closer, and another hour passed, she finally realized the truth of what she was looking at.
"That's… that's the Rainbow Glacier behind it, isn't it?" Katrin said, in shock.
"It is." Satrox confirmed. "It's not very colorful now, but when it is…"
"I'd love to see that." Lucy mentioned.
"We can always hang around until it happens. Could take a few hours, but it'll happen." Sora told her.
She hugged him from behind.
"Still…" Katrin paused. "How big {is} it?"
"It cuts across half the Continent of Eternal Winter." Satrox answered. "The Glacier itself is… let's see… about the height of Granath Mountain, back at Crescent."
{The height of Granath Mountain!} Katrin gaped. {And compared to Skycrown...!}
"Um… Satrox… just how high IS Skycrown?" Katrin dared ask.
"A little over thirteen thousand meters." Satrox mentioned. "Most of the time, not even bad weather gets that high. It's as close as you're going to get to the Higher Plane on this Dreamworld."
(Note: Mt. Everest = 8,848m. Troposphere = 8,000-15,000m. If Skycrown were in 21st century Earth, it would be taller than Everest and possibly punching through the Troposphere right into the Stratosphere.)
Sora barked a laugh. "You remember when the Elder Sage got us to climb it to find a Cosmic Starlight Blossom? The three of us spent a week looking all over the top of the mountain looking for one before we finally realized there was no way a flower could survive up there."
"We weren't thinking straight." Satrox said, remembering. "We were tired out from the climb, nervous about the Rockatauri attacking, and whether the Mountain Princess would find us and chase us away before we found the flower. Shawn kept insisting we keep watch."
"Who's Shawn?" Rita asked. "And what Sage are you talking about?"
Satrox and Sora exchanged glances and burst out laughing. Everybody else was looking at them curiously, but they just laughed.
"Sora?" Lucy prompted.
"I guess it's okay, with this group." Satrox said, glancing around. "We're among trustworthy friends. I think."
"I won't say a word!" Rita promised.
There was a short, awkward pause. Everyone exchanged glances.
Rita winced. "Um… unless you want me to."
"Hush." Henry told her. "It's okay."
"Well…" Sora began. "Where shall I begin? I first met Satrox when I went to the Sage of the Ancient Ways begging for help. Nakama World was in Beta at the time, and we were… what? Thirteen? Shawn was fourteen a week after we became the Elder Sage's apprentices."
"You? You were the Sage's apprentice?" Lucy gasped.
"One of three." Sora told her. "Satrox was there before me, and Shawn even before that. Speaking of Shawn, do you have any idea where he's gone off to?"
"Probably went with the Sage. The Elder Sage." Satrox amended, remembering that he was the Sage of the Ancient Ways now.
"That's hardly fair. He should tell us at least, if he knew where the Elder Sage went." Sora grouched. "Anyway, what was it we were talking about?"
"I think you just covered it." Satrox said. "They just wanted to know what our connection to the Elder Sage was."
"Oh. Yeah. He was our teacher. Showed us how to use the Ancient Ways and pretty much got us killed more than everything else in Nakama World put together. Always kept asking us to do the craziest things."
"So you guys have been here for… four, five years?" Katrin prompted. "And you haven't finished the Journey?"
Again, that exchange of glances. Again, that outburst of laughter. Satrox shook his head. "The Journey is a little bit more complicated than that, Katrin. Let's just say that we have finished it, sort of. But we came back for more."
That actually made sense. Katrin wondered about whether she'd do the same thing. {What do I do once I finish the Journey? she mused. Would I really leave Nakama World? The one world where I can amass power and I have so many friends willing to help me escape the Green Men?}
Satrox and Sora came back after they finished the Journey. She probably would too, Katrin guessed. She sneaked a glance at the boy with the yellow scarf. {Unless…}
"What do you need to finish the Journey?" Rita asked. "All Pepper Tourism says is to get some map and put it all together. But what happens then?"
"Then you go and find the place, and fight some guards, and then you reach the treasure that is out of this world." Satrox said. "Those are some pretty tough fights, though, so you better go prepared… but don't go too prepared."
"Huh?" Rita blinked. "Say… if you already know where it is… then for you to finish the Journey and get the Treasure a second time should be a snap!"
"The location changes." Satrox told her. "The maps change every week. You need to find the place and then beat all the guards there in a single week. That's five big bosses and all their minions we're talking about."
"And you need the key." Sora added. "Never forget the key. The keeper of the key would only give it to you if you've reached the highest rank of a guild, whether a good one or a bad one."
Rita gulped. "So I need to become the commander of all J-Knights to get the key?!"
"No, no. You just need to be a Master Knight. A Master Detective Knight, in your case."
"Easier to become a J-Knight Coordinator." Sora advised. "That's as high a rank as you can get in that line."
"Good idea." Rita said.
Katrin could see it already. Rita always did like to talk.
The Journey's End became the topic of the group as they headed southward to Skycrown Mountain, but Katrin's mind wasn't really on it. She was wondering about a certain boy on a winged horse right next to her and what his plans were.
That, and what happened to the two guys going west from Burrow Hollow earlier.
***
Those two guys, to be sure, were in trouble.
Jonah ducked under a prismatic beam as the Auroar Bear charged in from the left. "LARRY! Hurry up!"
With his own Comrades recently frozen, killed, or drugged, Jonah had to fight off Wilds with nothing but his Adventura Import Links. A saber wasn't much match for an Auroar Bear, and already he'd taken a few heavy hits that nearly killed him back to base.
Larry, with a squad of Frigid Rabbits, a squad of Warbunnies, a squad of Cavalrabbits and a squad of Smithares, was having a furious struggle with two other Auroar Bears, but it was quite evident to Jonah that he had the overwhelming advantage in numbers. {At least spare one or two Comrades to help me out here!}
"But you said to leave that one to you!" Larry pointed out.
"Never mind! Just hurry!" Jonah snapped.
One Auroar Bear went down. Larry's entire squad of Smithares was wiped out and the Cavalrabbits weren't doing much better. The Frigid Rabbits weren't too helpful either; their cold attacks weren't hurting the bears very much. Larry's rabbits were forced to fight in melee and bears were generally a lot better at that than rabbits.
Jonah, for example, was getting firsthand proof of exactly how good an Auroar bear was at fighting hand-to-paw.
"OOF!" Jonah blocked a sidewards swipe with both hands supporting his saber and went flying despite everything.
There was an upcry from Larry's rabbit squads. The other Auroar Bear went down. Larry turned Frigid Rabbit artillery on the Bear chasing Jonah's tumbling form and finally drew it off him.
"You could have done that earlier!" Jonah managed to wheeze as he lay there in the snow, too winded to get up.
The Auroar Bear answered cold attacks with light attacks, freeze rays with prismatic beams, and one of Larry's Frigid Rabbits was knocked out. Larry's remaining Warbunnies and Cavalrabbits charged; more beams lanced out and finished off the last of the Cavalrabbits before they reached striking distance. Two Warbunnies and an Auroar Bear started whacking each other while three Frigid Rabbits tried to get clear shots in from the sides.
Larry took out his Mace and marched into battle wielding his Import Link.
"Careful…" Jonah coughed. "If you die…"
An overhead whack took down one of the Warbunnies. The last one went berserk; a quick bite finished it off.
Jonah saw Larry duck under the Bear's paws, and struggled to get to his feet and join the fight. Frigid Rabbits were blasting away with freeze rays, ice shards, and wind scythes, but the Bear ignored them all, intent on Larry's demise.
The Bear succeeded.
"Great." Jonah said, still unable to do more than sit up when Larry and his army vanished, and the Auroar Bear blasted him with a prismatic beam right in the face.
There was a flash of light, and then Jonah and Larry were back at their Home Base, both feeling very sick, and very miserable indeed.
***
About that time, Colin was talking to the Lord of the Foxbears. He was bigger than a truck, an odd mix of darkest blue and deep brown, and he had a sense of humor to match Foxie's.
"Thank you, Furnando." Colin bowed in farewell. "With this, I have more than a hundred Tames. It's very generous of you."
Furnando shrugged. [They volunteered. We Foxbears like to laze around. It's an easy life.]
"Still. Nine volunteers from all six kinds of Foxbears here…" Colin shook his head. "And those are just the ones who happen to be hanging around."
[Yep. Could always get more if you wanna call them.]
"Uh, no, I've got enough, thanks." Colin said, bidding a hasty retreat. "Foxie, you coming, or you wanna stay and play some more?"
Foxie swished her tail at him, then went back to pouncing around with the Foxbear cubs. {She really had a lot of fun with the Foxbears. Guess I know where she goes every time I leave her back at the Home Base.}
It was like that for his other Comrades too. Raiki was treated like a queen by the White Tigers. Cour was a bit unfamiliar to them, but they seemed to accept him without question. Eclipse and Sonia were nobles among the Shadow Hawks and Sonic Wolves respectively. Kirin, oddly enough, seemed to spend more time at the pool with the Salamon than in the air with the Shadow Hawks, but she was a swan, after all. Wonder where Shiro goes when he hangs out here? Wonder when he'll be done with his business and come back to us…?
Colin found himself on Kirin's back, leading a hundred and two Tames from the Forest of Legends, all volunteers from the clans. There was a huge ruckus going on at Forest Village when he first emerged. Colin heard alarms going off and people screaming that the Forest was about to attack them, and that they were led by the Destroyer of Lamico.
"WAIT!" Colin yelled. "It's for Jijin's quest! 100 Tames for Jijin's QUEST!!"
It took a few minutes to convince them he wasn't about to destroy Forest Village like he did Floras or Riverside or any of those settlements at Lamico. It was Fanny and Florence who first came out to inspect his 'army', and then Jijin himself emerged to study his batch.
"Arrange them in order of type, please." Jijin requested. "Let's do this out here. Don't want to alarm the villagers any more than we have to. Most people bring in Tames a few at a time. Nobody ever brings in everything all at once."
They did that, and Jijin counted as he accepted them en masse. "Nine soaring squirrels, but only five different kinds. Four Wisps, all different kinds. Thirteen Great Bees, but only five different kinds. Seven Sonic Wolves, Seven Shadow Hawks, but only four different kinds of each. It's like that over and over… plenty of strong Wilds, a hundred and two, all of the Forest of Legends and their guests, the Salamon and the Storm Swans… but only sixty-eight different kinds. Colin, I asked for a hundred different kinds."
"Professor, you want them for breeding, don't you?" Colin pointed out. "There's almost seventy different kinds here. Surely that's a rich enough variety. And I'm bringing in more than a hundred Tames. They're all powerful creatures in their own right. How many Tames do you get from the Forest of Legends anyway?"
"Not that many." Jijin conceded. "And there are quite a few here that I've never been able to acquire before. How in all Dreamworlds did you get the Wisps?! And the Gigasequoia?! We can't fit those into the Comrade Home! They're too big to even enter the village!"
"You mean you've gotten Aspenar and Haunting Terrortulas before?"
"No. Never." Jijin admitted. "Like I said. I don't know how you did it, but since you've brought me so many kinds that nobody else ever could… I guess I'll accept."
He tapped his watch and flicked over a data package. Colin's watch beeped as it registered the piece of the compressed map file.
"Thanks, Professor." Colin bowed. "Also, I was wondering… who's in charge of Forest Village? Is there a mayor or elder or council or something?"
"No. Just me." Professor Jijin said. "Everyone seems to think I should decide what happens around here, so I do."
"Great. I was wondering if I could talk to you about Eco-harmony." Colin began.
But then there was a flash of light, and Colin suddenly found himself back at Soft Snows Airport, almost face-to-face with Jonah and Larry.
***
{WHOA! What the-?!}
Jonah and Larry, however, weren't paying attention to him.
"Alicia!" Larry gasped.
Colin spun to see her standing right next to him, looking pale. Alicia pointed to behind Larry, eyes wide. "What's that?!"
They turned to look for what she pointed at.
The moment their backs were turned, Alicia stabbed Colin in the heart.
Just like that, they were back in the Forest of Legends, both of them feeling very sick indeed.
"Ugh." Colin groaned, taking out his half of the leaf to sniff. "What… why…?"
"Sorry. I died." Alicia coughed, taking out hers. "Hit by a car in Midway Metro."
"What were you doing?"
"I dropped one of my bags while crossing the road and went back for it." Alicia warped in her shopping. There was quite a lot of it. "What were you doing?"
"I was talking to Jijin…" Colin breathed. "I have the map piece."
"Then you were done talking?" Alicia asked.
"No, I was discussing… eco-harmony…"
"Is that your answer for Lynn's question?"
Colin shook his head slowly. "No. You're right about Lynn's question. It should be more Rangers and Foresters. But I couldn't let go of the eco-harmony idea so easily."
"Well, write Lynn a letter before we go." Alicia said. "We're a bit short on materials, but I can get the rest of it later. We've got enough gear to get started on the Uber Marshes."
Colin tried to write that letter. He really did.
But five minutes later, in the middle of writing the letter, he found himself back at Soft Snows Airport. He turned around, saw here there, pale faced, and said in the flattest tone he'd ever spoken in. "Alicia."
"I'm sorry!" she protested. "I didn't expect to get killed! I just wanted to take a look around! There was a Calcite Soaring Squirrel…"
At least Jonah and Larry were gone. Colin sniffed his leaf and sat back with relief. He didn't want to keep dying all night. There was a reason for that, he remembered. Something other than losing items. "Dying this much is risky, isn't it? What if our Comrades Abandon us and go Frenzied?"
Alicia frowned, sniffing her own half of the leaf. "I didn't think of that." She admitted. "We better stop killing ourselves for tonight. My Comrades aren't likely to leave me, but yours…"
"Mine won't leave me so easily either." Colin grunted. "But I'd rather not take any chances."
Alicia threw up over him again.
"Ugh!" Colin made a face. "Really?!"
"Sorry…!" Alicia's face turned greener and she let out another load on him.
{Dying twice in a few minutes… she can't be feeling good. It's a wonder she's able to talk at all…}
"I'm going to need a shower." Colin said. "You just… stay put and rest. I'll meet you at the restaurant…"
And then he tried to get up and suddenly realized that he hadn't quite recovered either. The world spun about; his limbs gave way. He almost landed face-first on the floor; only quickly dropping to his tailroots saved him a faceplant.
"Great." Colin grimaced, sickened by both the smell of Alicia's vomit and his recent death. He tapped his badge. "Kirin."
The Storm Swan appeared there in the waiting room that Alicia used as her Home Base. "Kirr?"
"Hose me down, will you?" Colin requested. "Warm water, please."
"Colin, no…" Alicia coughed. "You'll get… sick…"
"Take it easy." He advised her. "I don't need more vomit on me. Go ahead, Kirin. Just… keep it up until I reach the showers."
"Krrr?" Kirin questioned.
"Why would you want Cour…?" Colin wondered. But he tapped his badge anyway. "Cour."
Kirin had a brief conference with Cour, and then dropped a pool of warm water all over Colin. The deluge soaked him in an instant; it cleaned him up right away, but left him dripping and gasping. "You could have… warned me!"
Cour went into action then. Fire appeared in the air, and there arose the sound of sizzling. Steam filled the room as Kirin grabbed Colin and put him on her back. "Kirr?"
"Good idea." Colin admitted. "Straight down the corridor, take the first right, the second left, then the downward ramp. The shower rooms are right in front of that."
"Kirr?" Kirin glanced at Alicia.
"You want a ride?" Colin asked, as Cour dried him and the waiting room with fire.
"Yeah." Alicia said, and was about to say more, but she almost hurled again, and Colin decided it was wiser not to make her talk.
Kirin brought them to the place, and then went in with Alicia to the Ladies'. Cour helped Colin to the Gents', still drying him off as they went.
Jonah and Larry weren't here either. Colin relaxed, and took another overpriced shower, taking it easy for now.
Back in his shaggy bear furs twenty minutes later, he went for the Comms Room again and made a call.
The Forest Princess came on screen.
"Lynn…" Colin began.
But then she said, "Sorry, I'm not available at the moment. Please leave a message."
"A message?" Colin stared. "You're an answering avatar?"
"Really. I'm in the middle of something tricky. If you insist on talking to me, you'll have to wait until I'm done. It could take all night." The answering avvie said.
"Um… Lynn… about your three questions…" Colin cleared his throat. "I have the third answer. I want to add more Rangers and Foresters."
He waited, but the answering avvie didn't say any more. Colin frowned, feeling rather uneasy about this.
{Lynn can't be contacted… and she sounded like she was in trouble. But… all she wanted was my third answer right? Well, here it is. Now what am I supposed to do? She's not at the Heart. She's not available on comms. She's nowhere to be found.}
{I guess this is about as much as I CAN do, for now. Maybe she'll pop up later or call me back or something.}
"I'm at Soft Snows, headed towards Skycrown for the Tournament. Call me as soon as you're back, okay?" Colin requested, and ended the call.
***
He came out fully recovered into an airport that was much busier than before. Prices had practically doubled since the first time Colin respawned here with Alicia. People were all over the place. Colin mentioned the activity to the service coordinator at the restaurant where he had another overpriced meal.
"Haven't you heard?" the guy said, surprised. "There's a huge, super-important Tournament at Skycrown Mountain tonight. It's one of the three most important Tournaments in Nakama World! Hundreds of people from as far as the Northern Spiral have come to watch it!"
"What sort of Tournament?" Colin asked. "Why is it so important?"
The guy gaped. "You really haven't heard?! Casiphia called the Tournament of Ascension! And it's an Open Tournament too! Anyone can challenge on the spot!"
"Really?!" Colin was definitely interested now. "What are the prizes?"
The guy looked like he wanted to strangle Colin. "The greatest prize you can possibly think of! It's the Tournament of Ascension, kiddo! It's a competition for one of the most highly valued titles in the world!"
"What title is that?" Colin felt like an idiot for asking, but he had to ask anyway.
It was then that the guy dropped the bombshell on him.
"The title of the Mountain Prince."
