26 The meeting lake

After walking for a while, the group arrived at their destination. The spot they were told to go to was a small isolated lake, or rather, a pair of small lakes.

The road led up to the first of the two lakes, this one was so small it was more of a pond than a lake. The second lake was a bit further up and flowed into this pond before turning into a river.

The whole place was charmingly peaceful and the atmosphere relaxing.

They had been told that this place was very peculiar. There was a breeder living up there that kept all the monsters safe.

Usually, breeders made sure to raise healthy monsters and sold them back either to the league, to the professors or to some particular. Those sold to the league would be left to the use of a gym or another, those bought by the professors with the help of the government would be left in the care of young trainers and the particulars each had their own reasons.

The man living here however didn't do the same as everyone else. Instead of selling them all back for profit, he offered them to whomever the monsters desired to be with.

He used the upper lake to take care of the population of thiefrogs and rank-turtles, providing them a safe environment to live and raise the small ones.

When the small ones felt ready to leave, if ever, they followed the water down to the second, lower, lake to find themselves a trainer. Because of this, that large pond had been called "the meeting lake".

It was the place for people and monsters to meet and find a partner, either through battle or agreement. All the monsters in that lake were willing to be taken in and ready to leave their birth place.

This was a very unusual way to do things, Blaze could not help but wonder how that guy made his money. He couldn't really be running this whole operation at a loss could he?

Whatever the hidden truth behind this whole thing was, it was perfect for them. They should be able to get the two water monsters they desired rather easily and without paying a dollar.

When they got there, they all went their own way. The turtles were on the right side of the lake and the frogs on the left. Blaze and Aurora each went to the side that interested them while Gilly waited for them halfway between the two. She would wait for them to come back in a place removed from the lake's shore in order to prepare their evening meal in peace.

Since the lake was so small, it was easy for her to keep an eye on the both of them. None of the three were afraid to lose sight of the others.

On Blaze's side, things went pretty simply. When he got there, he saw a bunch of those turtles lazily float on the water. The first thing he did was loudly proclaiming what he was here for.

"I'm here to recruit a new warrior for our team. That warrior will have the job of dowsing any fire in our path and protect my companions. I intend to train whoever will join me all the way until it becomes a tank-turtle. I can't guaranty the one who join me will stay in the main team and I will leave in less than ten years and probably never come back but, by then, if you aren't willing to follow anymore, you should be more than strong enough to fare for yourself."

His words where said with strength and resolution, he was doing the same thing he always did when he planned on adding a new monster to his team.

He was confident that the words he used would be enough to catch the attention of one of those turtles. Most completely ignored him, some looked at each other and finally, after a short while, one of them swam up to shore and took a fighting stance in front of him. It had worked again.

"You want to test my strength?"

The turtle made a simple nod and a growl. It wasn't intimidated by the mask Blaze was wearing at all.

"All right then, Dawnshield, come here and show it what we can do."

His knight came and stood in front of him. The two monster looked in the eyes of each other and started a conversation of their own. Blaze had no idea what they were saying but he was in no hurry so he let them talk as much as they wanted.

The exchange ended with the turtle pumping itself up and charging forward towards Dawnshield. The fight didn't last long at all and the turtle was easily defeated in a strange duel of headbutts. Neither of them even knew the headbutt move. They just stood in front of one another and smashed their two heads together until the turtle knelt in pain.

Blaze had no idea what had just happened but got a ball out of his bag anyway while Dawnshield stood proudly.

"Are we done? Do you join?"

A casual throw later, the turtle was now in his team.

On the other side of the lake, things took a bit longer.

Aurora was walking along the shore with all her monsters out in the open. Starburst was on her shoulder, Magus was walking at her side close to the water, Sunsun was on the other side and Slush walked around complaining about how hot it was.

|| Aurora would like one of those thiefrogs to join us. We need to select someone that will not clash too much against us.|| Sunsun reminded everyone.

"You mean, someone that isn't like Slush." Stated Magus.

"Oh! Magimagus is feeling bold today!" Laughed Starburst.

Slush just snorted and ignored his comment. Meanwhile Aurora wondered how they could convince one of them to follow her. What was the best course of action? Usually, the hardest part was to find one of them but here, the frogs were everywhere, she just needed to convince one without using words.

|| I can use the words for you if you want.||

Maybe that would be for the best, but how would she know which would make a better friend?

|| Do you want me to look through the mind of all of them?||

That seemed like a great idea but at the same time, it would probably take a long time.

She sat down somewhere close and started playing a song on her keytar. Magus rested his head on her lap while Sunsun started checking through the heads of them all. Aurora would have helped but she wasn't able to read thoughts yet, she was barely able to feel her own so she was far from knowing how to go into someone else's head.

As she played her music, she looked at all the frogs in the pond, looking for a sign or something that would catch her eye. On her shoulder, Starburst kept rocking his head back and forth in rhythm with the music. It was funny but she was doing something important right now so she didn't have the time to enjoy his quirkiness as much as she wanted.

Scanning through the pond, she saw that many of the thiefrogs enjoyed her music, they listened as if they had somehow found themselves in the crowd at a concert. Then, her eye caught one that was hiding behind a rock. That one frog was observing the show like the others and clearly enjoyed it but it stayed as hidden behind the rock as possible.

Aurora nudged Sunsun and the fairy understood what she was thinking about, turning her attention to the hiding frog.

What Aurora was looking for was a ninja, what best for the job than the one who wanted to stay hidden?

|| It's a girl, she's too shy to get closer even though she would like to get chosen. It seems she has been in the meeting lake for a while. She likes your music, think you seem kind and... She has a strange wish.||

What sort of wish?

|| She wishes to become human. We all know this is impossible but she wishes for it anyway.||

Isn't it like how the boys in her previous world always claimed they would become a super hero when they grew up? Or like when they wished they were Godzilla to topple buildings over?

|| Yes, like that, I didn't know your world had such a huge monster! It's so impressive, it's gigantic! Oh, it wasn't real... I feel a bit disappointed now. Anyway, she seems to like to copy them and pretend to be them in her imagination but she's still smart enough to understand this won't happen.||

So it was like cosplay, a sort of fun pastime for her? Aurora felt she seemed like an interesting one. She decided to try to befriend her.

She got back up from where she sat and walked towards the rock. There were three thiefrogs that jumped out of the water and stood in her way to challenge her but she ignored them for now and continued to walk towards the rock frog.

That one started to panic when she realized Aurora was coming straight at her. She was suddenly torn between the desire to run away and hide and the desire to be picked.

All the other frogs watched with intensity as Aurora got close to the rock and the shy one hiding behind. She stopped close to it and Sunsun made the introductions.

|| Hi, Aurora is mute so I'm talking for her. She would really like you to become her friend. ||

The Frog was startled to hear a voice in her head and after a surprised jump, the only thing she managed to answer was;

"Me?"

|| Yes.|| Sunsun answered as Aurora nodded with a smile.

The frog seemed to be in a daze while Sunsun explained some things to her.

|| As I said, her name is Aurora and she spotted you while she was playing music. I checked in your head, sorry, and we thought we could have fun together.||

|| They looked into my head? Is this even possible? What do I do? What would they have me do? How do I know if it's a trick. ||

|| Aurora has many huge secrets I can't tell you unless you join but what I can promise you is that she is a kind girl that likes to have fun. Aurora doesn't like to fight but she gets in a lot of trouble so you may have to battle as well. I know deep down you really want to be picked, would you please be our friend.||

That was true that she wanted to be picked. She was too shy to come forward when trainers came around. Why was the guardian here unlike the other breeders? If he had been someone normal, she would have been sent to a trainer directly and she wouldn't have to meet someone on her own. That or she would have been kept for breeding purposes like most females, that would have been bad actually, the guardian wasn't that terrible after all. She inwardly thanked him for letting any of them go if they wanted.

This wasn't the point though! This was too stressful! How did the others do it! She became anxious every time she saw someone new, how was she supposed to swim up to them?

The fairy was right, this was a very lucky moment, all she had to do was accept, she didn't have to do anything else. She really wanted to but this was too stressful, she couldn't get the words out.

|| You don't need to say anything if I can hear your thoughts. ||

Aurora and Sunsun each gave her a sweet smile and a ball appeared in the hand of the girl. She threw it at her and she Froze as the ball filled her vision. She was quickly contained in the ball and she didn't struggle a bit, she just felt deep relief. Finally, she had a trainer.

The other frogs stared in disappointment and went back into the pond.

A bit later, everyone was back together in a place removed from the lake. While they had been gone, Gilly had been cooking food and the results were about to be shown.

She was someone who really believed that the best way to a man's heart was through his stomach. She had been confined to soups for a long time because of Aurora but now that the girl was freed from her bandages, Gilly had plunged back into cooking in an attempt to gather more praises from Blaze. (1)

Aurora sometimes helped her for the fun of it but today, her and Blaze used the time to name and properly meet the two new monsters.

The turtle Blaze brought back was close to two feet tall, slightly larger than what its specie usually was. It's skin was blue and it's shell was much closer to a tortoise shell than a turtle shell, seemingly very solid. It's tail was long and fat, providing enough of a counterweight to let it stand on its hind legs and when in the water, strong enough to propel it forward reliably.

It's limbs were stumpy and sturdy, covered in slick, viscous looking leather while its eyes showed some boldness.

From Sunsun, Blaze learned it was a male and from his own observation, that it was competitive and ambitious. With another of his strange naming speech, he decided to call him Extinguisher Buwe.

"What the fuck is that name?" Laughed Gilly.

"There are many things one can extinguish. Be it fire, hope or life, I need him to extinguish it like an executioner if I ask him to."

"At least this time you found a name to add onto the title. You really like saying nonsensical stuff."

"But you like it."

"That's right, I do." She gave him a huge smile and went back to what she was cooking.

The rank-turtle, now known as Extinguisher Buwe seemed to find the name all right and didn't complain about it.

As for the thiefrog, it was somewhat shaped like you would expect a frog to be shaped. The main differences were mostly it's pale blue coloring and how it stood more upright than a normal frog would. It was a foot tall, had thin limbs, huge yellow eyes protruding from its head and wore a small coat made of bubble.

From What Aurora could tell, the bubble coat was probably an attempt at imitating human clothing which she found funny. She decided to name her Mirage because of how she liked her disguise and how ninjas were known for illusions and deceit.

Mirage liked her name a lot and even though she didn't talk to anyone just yet, she seemed to find comforting the fact that everyone seemed nice. Well, almost everyone, there were Slush and Houndy in the mix after all.

Gilly finished preparing their meal and everyone sat down to eat it with appetite. Without any real kitchen or cooking tool, the result was pretty ordinary but she did have enough talent to make a great thing out of seemingly nothing worthwhile.

While they ate, they talked about random things and somehow, the conversation drifted on to their clothes.

"Those suits are fine and all but wouldn't it be better to have something skin tight instead? We don't see enough guys wearing skin tight suits even though it's so sexy, why is that?" Gilly complained.

"It's probably because it wouldn't look all that professional and also, the guys designing these would probably rather see a girl in form fitting clothes than a dude."

"Why not, I'm sure you'd be great in one of those. Either a sci-fi looking one or a latex style one."

"What, are you saying you want me to run around dressed in that?"

He would rather not, that would be so embarrassing.

"What I'm saying is that I want to see your abs at all times! If at least you wore the duster I gave you I wouldn't be that upset but we're stuck in these boring clothes."

She tugged a few times at the professional clothes to express her point.

"It's a necessary thing to hide who we are."

"I know but it's frustrating anyway! Look, we're about two months into this so here's what I'm gonna have you do for the two months mark. I will have you walk around in a Latex suit for my personal pleasure."

That sounded terrible but it still could have been way worse. He didn't want to do it but of course, he would comply for her. Still, he really needed to get that marriage thing underway as fast as possible.

(What is this about?) Asked Aurora

"We talked about how he promised to marry me in under a year right? He also promised he would do a number of things for me equal to the number of months it took him to actually respect his promise."

Aurora nodded in understanding and talked a bit more with Gilly while Blaze was lost in his head.

The money was certainly the biggest roadblock but there were many other things he would need to fix still afterwards.

First of all, he needed someone willing to marry them which would no doubt be an arduous task.

Second, He would really like to have at least his mother and her parents present and since they were under police surveillance it would be hard to do.

Then, he wasn't technically eighteen yet in this world, was it still possible to marry someone like that. Before they left, he had never had any interest about this sort of thing so he didn't know if there was some sort of law forbidding 'minors' from getting married. He expected such a law to exist since the world made a decent amount of sense but it was annoying since he wasn't really seventeen.

Maybe if he found someone willing to marry an international terrorist he would also disregard his age in this world? Maybe all he needed was overwhelming strength. When you are strong enough to beat anything and everything, laws really don't matter, no one can go against your wish anyway. It was wishful thinking to expect himself to become such a powerful person in less than ten months though. He didn't even have a full team yet.

He should probably not wait to get a full team anyway before he made those marriage plans. Who knew what madness Gilly's demands would devolve into. He needed to be way faster. How does one get a vast amount of money in the shortest span of time? Going after the gyms would be way too long, there must be another, quicker way...

The solution flashed in his head like a sudden lightning strike. If the quickest way was to steal the money, how about stealing it from those who stole it? What if they raided some hideout?

The smile that crept up is face scared Sunsun and made Slush shiver in excitement.

***

(1) Calla in Born from a divine Gamble works on the same principle. It doesn't matter that they sometimes eat somewhere else. In the end, they will always go back to the place where they get the most delicious meal. Her mother told her. As a man myself, I'm not sure this is actually true but who can turn down a fantastic lunch?