---

"Nnn... So I suppose you'd like me to get let you out of there...?" Lucy asked.

"Well..." He started, almost as if he were conflicted about the answer. Clearly, this girl was strong, and it seemed he was actually safer with her. If she were to let him out, who knows what would happen. That said, he's somehow overcome several obstacles without his own knowledge. Maybe it was a sign that he was able to take care of himself, even if he didn't know how. Plus, his being in her stomach probably hindered her combat ability, which would make things more dangerous for him and for her. "Ye-"

""Hey! What's up with you??" She said following (what was to Mako) a loud thumping sound. Her abrupt question startled him, and he even let out a gasp.

"Well...I...uh..." He said, flustered by the abruptness of the comments (though he only found it to be abrupt because he delayed far too long in his first response). His eyes started to look in different directions; was she upset at him for lagging behind in the conversation? What was he supposed to say? He didn't exactly know what about his disposition caused her to ask that. He went on to make a few more flustered grunts.

"...You're pretty calm considering where you are..!" She then said.

Am...am I missing something? Mako thought to himself, even further flustered by the erratic nature of her outbursts. "I don't really see any reason to be worried...I guess," he said, looking down. "You remind me a lot of my mom, so I guess I just feel comfortable around you. I feel safe in here." He then stayed silent for a little while, remembering his primary objective: he needed to see his mother. "...but even still, I have to get out of here. Please. This comfort, this feeling of safety...it can't last forever. I have something I need to do, something that's more important than my life. I may not be that strong, but I'm still a pokewielder...and even if I can't tap into my abilities, somehow I've been able to survive several life-threatening encounters. I can take care of myself...so please, let me out."

Ignis and Fulgur continued their journey towards Children's City. Both were having mental conversations with their respective PokeSpirits. Ironically both conversations had to do with the opposite brother, neither, however, were positive.

Ignis: "You think he's always going to step in my way, and belittle my choices?"
Torch: "Probably, he doesn't see eye to eye with us on those matters."
Ignis: "Argh, he's only going to slow us down if that's the case."
Torch: "Well there is a sol--"
Ignis: "DON'T START THAT AGAIN! He is my brother"
Torch: "Sorry. I'm just saying, things would be much better."
Ignis: "Maybe, maybe not."


Static: "Maybe we should just go our separate way from them?"
Fulgur: "No, I'm afraid of what he may do if I'm not around."
Static: "Couldn't be any worse then what he does while you are here.."
Fulgur: "Even so, I think I can get through to him."
Static: "You've been trying to get through to him for over a year.. He's only getting worse."
Fulgur: "Still, I have to keep trying."
Static: "I guess.."

The city came into view and the Twins could see a crowd in the entrance way. As they approached they could see several children huddling around two young girls.

Fulgur: "Hmm, I wonder what's going on."
Ignis: "Who cares."
Fulgur: "They could need help?"
Ignis: "So? They could need to die to, what's your point?"
Fulgur: "Are you ever going to be willing to help someone in need?"
Ignis: "Yes,"
Fulgur: "Rea--"
Ignis: "If it's helping them kill humanity."

Fulgur sighs as the two get within listening range of the crowd, maybe they can figure out what is going on before they pass by them and head into the city.

Adults can fly?

(OOC, sorry for posting again, but since i wont be interacting with any other RPers during this post, i thought it would be OK)

<whats that?>Casper asked Ryan casually as they flew over the sinnoh region about half a mile up. "oh, what? now your going to talk to me?"

<No, really, look over there!> Casper materialized next to Ryan and pointed to their right as they both hovered in the air, their wings beating to keep them aloft.

"What the f***?" Now i've seen it all Ryan thought to himself. There was an adult male screaming in terror as he fell from the sky about half a mile above them. Ryan flew over and caught him, and they both plummeted towards the ground, but at the last second Ryan managed to flap his wings enough to bring them up to a comfortable hight. Ryan held the guy out at arms length, and the guy was blubbering and crying.

"This may be a weird question, but, um... exactly why were you falling out of the sky?" Ryan asked incredulously. <Maybe he was jealous of all us flying pokespirits and decided to give flying a try?> Casper asked Ryan as he materialized next to him again. Ryan just rolled his eys and sighed, choosing to ignore casper for now. Ryan tried shaking the guy, and yelling at him, but nothing would break him out of his catatonic state.

"hmm..." This guy looks like he is well fed, he reminds me of some of the Caravan attendants back in Johto. "Well, lets search this guy, shall we?" <sounds good to me> Casper agreed. Ryan proceeded to search the guy and found a pouch full of Cheri and Rawst berries, along with two homebrew grenades. He took them from the guy, who continued to blubber like an idiot, and let go of him to fall to the ground. The guy then chose this time to resume screaming as he fell to the ground and landed with a splat.

<anyone up for pancakes?> Casper asked in his usual joking manner. "Let's see..... These grenades are crap, he obviously doesn't know the first thing about explosives, though the gunpowder could be useful" Ryan then took the gunpowder from the grenades and filled the berry pouch with it after eating the berries.

<We heading for Jubilife now?> Casper asked Ryan. "yes, we are". Ryan and Casper continued to fly the short distance to jubilife, and landed in the center of the town.<Um... Those adults dont look so friendly> Casper observed.

"Great" Ryan muttered as the group of adults surrounded him. <Lets try to get out of here alive shall we? i didnt wait a long time to get a spirit wielder host just so he could die on me the first chance he gets> Casper joked. "Planning on it" Ryan said as he began readying his Blast Burn.

[FONT=&quot]Total opened his eyes, he was not in the same place he was, as he sat up, he looked around – he was not in Celestic Town either. He reached up and removed the hood of the cape he had stole before leaving his home before scratching his head, as he looked around, he seemed to be in a forestry area, before he had the chance to ask himself about what had gone on, a voice broke through his subconscious, it sounded very old and more than a little wise.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]You are safe. You are currently in Eterna Forrest – there is no need to panic Total.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Eterna Forrest? So I wasn't dreaming? Who, who are you?[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Correct, I am a poke spirit. Many years ago when there were pokemon in the world, I was a dusknoir, well I still am, just in a less tangible form; my trainer named me Dusk – when you were looking at the crystal stone in Mt Coronet – [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]WHAT? So that wasn't a hallucination? Dusk? Nice to meet you, my name is Ray, but prefer to be called Total[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]No, out of all the spirits it felt that I had the strongest bond with you, and so by the power of the great Arceus I was granted permission to fuse with you, but as you were near death, my first priority to get some nourishment.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]You found some food? Where – tell me, please where did you ... is this BLOOD on my hands?[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]No – not food, as a wielder of my spirit you are able to absorb the essence of others to take nourishment, and in a world where food is scarce – I had to do what I could to help you – [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]You KILLED someone? A kid – an innocent – [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Yes. No – I killed an adult, as they are not innocent, it was the adults who came before many a year ago who plunged the world into this mess, and as the stone says, you are to bring justice to this world, however you see fit. I will always be by your side whatever you choose.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Mr Dusk, just two more questions: Firstly – what would be the best move to make at this time? Secondly, what else happens apart from your being able to speak to me like this?[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]No need for the Mr, Total – I would suggest moving from here, perhaps try and find some other children who also have spirits with them. And you can take on part of my form, you will have access to six abilities to fight with, but even in your current form, you have some ghost qualities about you, you are able to mask yourself to others sight as well as no longer having a need for doors, and lastly you have an substantial increase to your physical strength, but continued use of these powers will tire you quickly to begin with, to take my form, all you need do is ask me in your mind, and I will take care of the rest. For now, head to where the poke spirit wielders dwell.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Total got up, his cape blowing gently in the faint wind, as he looked at it, he saw that it had changed colour, it was now pure black with yellow markings on each side, the outside, the side that others would see from the rear had yellow markings that looked like a smiling face, while the inside had more yellow markings, but made out to look like an angry face, he shook his head as he stood up, pulling the hood over his face, obscuring as much of his face as possible, and set off, he had heard that a lot of kids had taken over Hearthome City and renamed it Child's City, so that would be his first stop...

As Total stood up, he realized that he did indeed feel stronger, and fuller - then he had ever been in his short life. After a short inventory check he noticed the play cape that he had stole had changed appearance.

Dusk? Did you have something to do with my cape changing colours?


Yes Total, The cape will change when you want to take on my form, but for now - just travel as a normal kid, we are approaching Eterna City, the sooner we get through that place the better.


Yes, I agree - you mentioned that I could hide myself from sight Dusk, do I need your form for that?


No, you dont need to take my form for that, when we get to the gates, hide in the plant life and I will tell you what to do then.


With a firm plan in mind, Total emerges from Eterna Forrest and towards the western gates of Eterna City.
[/FONT]

Angry mobs are dangerous

<Look out!> Ryan ducked and rolled just in time to avoid a grenade thrown by one of the adults. "So much for my Blast Burn, i wont have time to use it if they keep chucking grenades!" The blast from aforementioned grenade hit one of the adults and sent him flying backwards with two less limbs. This though, didnt discourage the remaining adults at all, and they kept pressing forward until there was only about a 10 foot radius between Ryan and the mob surrounding him on all sides.

<What do ya say we give them the old shake down?> Casper inquired."On it" Ryan replied. At that moment several things happened, Ryan sprang up into the air, an one of the mob threw another grenade, which of course missed, and a male adult managed to grab his tail and hang on, while trying to stab Ryan with a knife.

<watch out Ryan! You got one right on your tail!> As the grenade detonated The male adult was burned in the face by Ryan,s tail flame, and fell to the ground and rolled out of sight. Ryan quickly changed direction and flew headfirst towards the ground at he angry mob, bringing his feet down at the last second, leaving cracks in the earth and toppling most of the adults over with his earthquake attack. While they were still stunned and injured, Ryan sprinted towards the exit, only to feel and immense pain in left shoulder. He was forced to slow his pace due to the pain, but made it out of Jubilfe in time to lie low in a nearby forest.

Ryan sank down onto the ground next to a tree, and looked at his shoulder to find a scalpel sticking out of it. He sighed, adn reached over his shoulder and pulled it out out with a sharp tug. "ahh!" he yelped as blood began flowing out of his shoulder. he de-shifted, and gingerly took off his hoodie, and used it to tie his shoulder to slow the bleeding.

<Great, what now?> Ryan pushed him to his feet and pulled a map of Sinnoh out of his jeans pocket and stared at it wistfully, Man, i wish Lisa was here, i remember when she gave this map to me for safekeeping before journeying from Johto...I hope she is Okay...Ryan thought to himself. after studying the map for a bit, he decided to head to the nearest inhabited city, Eterna City.

<How are the Wings doing?> "Do you really think i can fly with this shoulder wound, casper?" Ryan asked.<Well, no...> Ryan just shook his head and started towards Eterna Forest.

Like some sort of divine intervention, the darkness was abruptly interrupted by daylight. Mako moved to shield his eyes, but before he knew it, he was pushed out by...something. Landing on his feet, he surveyed his surroundings. It looked like there was a new foe among them. "Hey! If you're so friendly, stop messing with us and tell us what you're doing!" Lucy said. Clearly Mako understood the situation less than he thought. From what he could gather, this guy, whoever he was, was threatening Lucy and Amethyst. Granted, it could have been inadvertent, but from his experience that wasn't much of a matter when it came to these girls. This guy was probably going to get killed, and that's the type of thing that he wanted to avoid, at least until he knew his intentions. Similarly, he didn't want the girls to get hurt, and he had no idea what this mystery man was capable of.

"How about we take care of him?" Kraus asked, with excitement seething through his voice. "We don't have to kill him, let's just rough him up a bit." Kraus had gotten over the spat that had happened between the two previously, at least for the time being.

"Last time I let you help me I woke up in Floaroma Town, and that was today." Mako said in response.

"If it makes you feel any better, I don't know what happened after that, either. I thought I could take over a broken host and, well, it didn't go over so well." Mako was surprised to hear this, he was sure that it was Kraus that was responsible for his Blackout Journey, but he was as in the dark about the affair as Mako was. No pun intended. "Don't worry, I'm not going to try to take your body this time. There's some fresh meat over there and I want to see what this body can do. If not for me, do it for the girls." Mako smiled, Kraus may have been a devious bugger, but he did have the capabilities of being reasonable once in a while.

"But still, we're not even sure that this guy's an enemy." Mako said, looking at him.

"Only one way to find out."

After saying Kraus' this, Mako felt strange. He felt empty, the inside of his body felt like an inexplicable black void. Then, like a Black Hole regressing into a supernova, Mako felt an explosion of energy. Maybe he wasn't the strongest Pokewielder, but this was his first time "merging" with Kraus without becoming Creed (when he becomes Creed, the process is called "synchronization"), and the feeling that came from his first time was most certainly unique. "Amy, down girl," Mako said. He certainly felt more confident, and not really like himself, but at the same time, he did. He took off his sweatshirt and his wool gloved and set them ablaze with Dragon Breath. "I'll take care of this guy," Mako said, moving in front of Amethyst.

Kraus laughed to himself and said"Be careful there, partner. You may be stronger, but you're not the king of the world; don't go crazy." Despite the fact the Mako thought this feeling was due to the merger, for the most part this was a simple adrenaline rush born from this being his first merging, so he felt stronger than he actually was. Kraus was aware of this, but he knew that Mako would make for a more admirable and worthy foe if he didn't know this; he thought it'd be a better idea to let Mako figure this out by himself.

---

Bay startled back at once. Not so much out of fear as surprise when the seemingly insane female released a male boy around his age out of her stomach. So she wasn't pregnant after all Bay sighed in relief. He wasn't sure what to do if he had to fight a pregnant person.

"Hey! If you're so friendly, stop messing with us and tell us what you're doing!"she exclaimed, sounding pretty mad.

She must not be human, or at least a regular human. The boy, who seemed somewhat startled from being abruptly released from the belly of the female, seemed to be debating on fighting too After contemplating it the boy seemed to be merging with a Pokespirit. Bay sighed, he felt like he wasn't going to be leaving without a fight. Here he was stuck in a conflict now with three Pokewielders and one supernatural cannibal.

The boy who was merging emitted a dark like aura to Bay and he seemed to be ready to fight. This guy was a natural fighter and was possibly the strongest of the group but he was the one who seemed to be going all-out as he was semi-merging with his Pokespirit. The other female, who took offense first with out warning, had an odd air about her and Bay knew that someone here was going to be leaving here brutally injured at the very least. The boy stepped forward in front of this girl as if he was going to be first to fight and threw his shirt off. No sooner afterwards he burnt it with a flame emitted from his mouth. "What a show off." Flow said.

After this thought Bay's skin felt jumpy and although he didn't realize it, his hair popped out of the ponytail tinting it from black to blackish-brown and his regular ears slowly changed into fox-like ones. He didn't know it but he was partially merging with he Pokespirit like the other boy.

Bay attempted to get one last warning to the group before fighting. "If you wish not to fight, now is the time to say so, but If you all want to fight I prefer that you all not massacre me at once unless it can't be avoided" Bay said with a calm grin on his face. "I think we are going in for the fight of our life" Bay said to Flow who cautiously replied "You better not die now."

Bay looked coldly ahead, looking at every movement of the three figures ahead of him, prepared to fight and prepared for diplomacy or at least a way to get out of this unscathed.

Stop Total!

The thought boomed inside the boys head making him stop the instant the thought had faded to nothing.

Whats the matter Dusk? Have I done something wrong?

No - I sense something, there are other poke spirit wielders south of the city... and something is not right, we need to get there fast.

But how?

A confused look appeared on Total's face as he internally conversed with dusk, but managed to wipe it off, in case anyone walked by, which luckily, no one did.

I mentioned before about your powers now I am fused with you, you are about to use them for the first time, first - get off the road, this is just so you dont get seen, not that matters for long...


Total quickly got off the road and managed to hide behind the remains of what had been a large and magnificent tree. He looked around quickly before resuming his talk with Dusk.

Ok, What now Dusk?


That has already been sorted Total, look at yourself.


Total followed his Poke Spirits instructions, only to not be able to see himself, it was disconcerting to say the least.

Yes, it is strange the first time, but at the moment, you are only hidden from sight - you still have a physical form, the next step is to imagine yourself free from the binds of gravity, I will help with the direction of travel.


Even though he could not see himself, Total felt his hands press against his temples as he thought hard about not needing to obey the non optional law that was gravity, after a minute he looked down, only to find him self in the air.

Am I flying?


No Total, As I am sure you are unaware the Pokemon species Dusknoir did not have legs and so had to resort to moving through the air - and this is one of the powers you now have Total, it will get quicker to activate the more you practice, but for now, we head to just beyond the southern gates of the City...Hurry.


Total found the sensation fairly odd to be half flying over the city of Eterna, but he was focused upon his destination, he started to descend, just as Dusk had said, there were some odd looking kids, three of them seemed to be ganging up on a forth kid, so trying to do the decent thing, he dropped down behind the forth kid, still hidden from sight, as his feet touched the ground, two small dust clouds rose from where he landed. Total crossed his arms and tried to look mean, but the effort was wasted as he was still invisible, and so he spoke to the group, trying to make it menacing.

"What do you think you are doing? three on one is not good odds."

He looked at one of the kids, who seemed to be salivating, it shook Totals resolve a bit, but he hoped a disembodied voice would surprise them enough to stop what was going on, even for a second....

A voice from somewhere tried to stop the fight, saying that the odds weren't in the other man's favor. Being that Kraus also had no physical form and, at least to Mako's knowledge, he couldn't assume physical form, he decided to write it off as a wandering pokespirit. "This is getting annoying, let's just figh-" Mako stopped himself in his tracks. His words weren't synchronizing with his intentions. The man offered diplomacy and Mako wanted to fight. Something was wrong. "K-Kraus...what did you do to me?" Mako asked, his adrenaline running on low. Even if it was pure adrenaline, there's no energy surge in the world that would make such a radical personality difference. His intention was to protect the three of them, even if it meant getting hurt, and this wasn't how that plan was supposed to be executed.

Kraus, in response, laughed. It was muffled, and he tried to stay silent. He couldn't help it, this idiot actually lent his body over to Kraus, so to speak. Kraus was more in control of Mako's psyche and mentality than ever. "You're such a freakin' idiot! I am honestly surprised that you're that stupid. Granted, I wasn't lying, I indeed wanted to fight this guy, but I wanted to tear him limb from limb." Mako looked at the characters around him, then he looked at his charred gloves and sweat shirt.

He looked to Bay and said, "If you're really not here to fight us, then take your hands away from any potential weapons. Put your hands up and walk over." He then walked over to the girls and said, "Amy, sorry about that belittling comment back there. That wasn't me...at least, I don't think it was." He looked down for a few moments and them back up again and said, "I really should thank you guys for all of your help, if it wasn't for you then I'd probably be dead, for reasons I'm still trying to figure out. Clearly I can't trust this pokespirit of mine and I have blackouts on occasion, but I am putting you two in danger by being here. I'm off to Pastoria, I hope we meet again." With that, he handed his beanie to Lucy and set off for the woods to pass by Eterna City without being noticed.

through eterna forest

"well, that shoulder wound wasnt as bad as expected" Ryan commented to Casper, who was trudging behind him in his insubstantial form.The knife hadnt gone in as deep as Ryan originally thought, and looked worse than it actually was. They had been walking through eterna forest for a bit now and hadn't run into anything remotely dangerous yet, but Ryan was keeping his guard up anyways.

"Pretty soon we will be able to fly, once we get out of this forest" <thank god, i hate being in enclosed woods like this, it makes me nervous> Casper Commented.they continued to walk for a bit more, walking past an odd Boulder covered in moss that had stood the test of time.

<Wow, look at this Ryan!> Casper called when he passed by.Ryan took one look at the boulder, and ignored it. "Notify me if there is something important, Casper, not if you see a pretty rock" Ryan said scornfully to Casper as he continued through the forest.

Suddenly, Ryan heard the rustling of leaves, and spun around into a defensive stance."well, that shoulder wound wasnt as bad as expected" Ryan commented to Casper, who was trudging behind him in his insubstantial form.The knife hadnt gone in as deep as Ryan originally thought, and looked worse than it actually was. They had been walking through eterna forest for a bit now and hadn't run into anything remotely dangerous yet, but Ryan was keeping his guard up anyways.

"Pretty soon we will be able to fly, once we get out of this forest" <thank god, i hate being in enclosed woods like this, it makes me nervous> Casper Commented.they continued to walk for a bit more, walking past an odd Boulder covered in moss that had stood the test of time.

<Wow, look at this Ryan!> Casper called when he passed by.Ryan took one look at the boulder, and ignored it. "Notify me if there is something important, Casper, not if you see a pretty rock" Ryan said scornfully to Casper as he continued through the forest.

Suddenly, Ryan heard the rustling of leaves, and he spun around into a defensive stance. After several minutes of nothing, ryan continued on, making sure he watched his back.

<Is that the exit?>Casper asked."Guess we will find out now wont we?" Ryan answered. They neared the last of the edge of the woods, and looked out from behind a tree to see two girls standing outside of Eterna city and one guy. the guy was heading towards the woods, holding a charred sweatshirt.

<Well, looks like we see our first non adults in Sinnoh, wonder if they are friendly.> Casper said to Ryan. "Lets tail them for a bit, i dont want to confront them until i know what they are doing, and how powerful they are, if they are spirit wielders. knowledge can give you the upper hand in combat." Ryan whispered.

<why cant we make friends for once, why do you have to be so untrusting?> Casper whined. "Trusting people gets you killed, thats why. if i find they have good intentions, i may try to befriend them, as an ally could be useful, but i want more info first".

<It just gets so lonely with just you here, plus you never laugh at my jokes>Casper sighed. Ryan climbed up the tree he was hiding behind, and proceeded to watch and wait.

The Oreburgh mines were dark and damp, a surrounding most people would find avoidable, but Alex felt more at home in these tunnels than anywhere else. He was huddled against the wall with his knees tucked firmly to his chest when he first heard it.

"Can it be? After all this..unf..time you came back here? No...something is..mmrnh...different...ahh, the boy. That is why your spirit seemed to be his."

"H-hello? Who are you...show yourself!" The voice seemed so close, it was as if someone was right on top of him. Alex stood and spun around the cave, searching for the one who was speaking to him.

"Heh...if you insist I shall...unf...show you."

Alex felt a quick and sudden breeze blow by in the tunnel just before he was thrown to the ground by the sheer force of something hitting him right in the gut. He cried out in pain, the sound echoing off the tunnel walls and bouncing back at him as if a crowd had gathered to mock him.

"Yes...share my pain and understand what it means to...hhrrun...use its power."

The voice was coming from iside of him, like it was his own thoughts, but Alex certainly wasn't the one creating them or this pain he was feeling. He slowly crawled to his feet to stand as the pain dwindled down to a more tolerable level, four sleak wings now stiff at his shoulders. The mine was more alive than he had ever noticed before, sights and sounds were all around him.

"What is happening? Who are you?"

"I am you as much as you are me now...and we..unf..are hungry."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alex sat up sharply, breathing heavily. "Still feels like it was yesterday when that happened..." but the truth was it had been longer than that. The town had been abandoned for awhile, save for the few who wandered in to town in search of food or shelter. But this was his home now and he had no intention of sharing it or leaving. Alex stretched and walked to the entrance of the mine, cool air covering him as he reached it.

"Let's see what's going on..mmmrh...in the forest tonight."

Alex sighed as he approached the old gym. He knelt down for a moment as the wings sprouted from his back before leaping high into the air and landing on the roof of the abandoned building. "Not much...wait, there I can smell them...almost feel them. They are different. Seems like some of them are in eternia city already."

"Ah yes, a spirit is much more...unf...filling anyways. Time to go greet our visitors accordingly."

Alex hopped down from the building and as soon as he hit the ground he took off sprinting, though he seemed to hover a few inches off the ground as if he was ice skating. Sounds came at him from all directions, but he had become used to tuning out the noise and to listen for certain things like voices or movements.

Cycling road had seen better days. Overgrown vegetation crawled across the once smooth pavement and in some places the road had collapsed altogether. Alex used to fight Jaqen's urge to feed on anyone or anything in the past, but as time carried on it became easier and easier to justify it as a means of survival. Sure, he wasn't proud of it, but it had to be done, at least that's what he told himself. Alex crept towards the southern gate leading to Eternia city with caution. He kept to the thick grass and the shadows to try and stay out of sight. Once at the gate he sneaked his way to the roof to get a better look.

There were a few off to the west, how many he wasn't sure of, but at this height he could see a boy in a tree. Perhaps he was searching for someone too. Alex jumped down and landed quietly on the ground below, re-assuming his normal human form. He took a deep breath and casually walked into the city making his way towards the western gate that led to the forest.

"Stay sharp, I never know what to expect, but I know I can count on you to keep us both alive."

"That will always be my priority no need to...hrrnnh...worry yourself, boy. We are much stronger than you give us credit for. After all we...unf..are still alive aren't we?"