“Metal tusk!” Bowen called out, as Crusher smashed into Pillar.
“Stoneskin!” Cian retorted.
To Cian’s sturdy Creature’s credit, it wasn’t sent flying. It took the hit, digging in and stopping it mostly in its tracks, only skidding back slightly as its feet dug into the court. Metal was one of the few things that could cause real damage to stone Aspected protection, though Pillar had metal of its own, as well.
At the same time, Racer took off to meet Armor, who had also lifted off to get the aerial advantage.
Rather than try and get the height advantage, Racer flew low and then swept up under Armor, its antlers posed to gore at the unarmored shunkit belly.
Flight had bounced into the air as well, and dove at the new and improved wiccatsi combo, claws aimed toward it.
“Umbral cloak,” Bowen said, and suddenly, the panther-like can was an even larger Creature of rippling shadow.
“Whoa,” I muttered as Flight dove into the shadow and somehow wound up crashing into the ground. Wiccatsi turned and pounced on Flight. That must have been an improved version of the ability Bowen and wiccatsi had worked on at second-rank, using shadows to obfuscate the Creature’s true body and further raise its impressive evasion.
“Needle shot!” Cian called out, and Pillar fired its metal projectile point-blank into Crusher, but just as Pillar could take Crusher’s hit, so too could the toscault-moobo combo shrug off the shot from the brocmor-grainbear.
“Throw it!”
At Bowen’s command, Crusher started to strain, hooking its opponent with its tusks and lifting. They were both big heavy Creatures, so Crusher couldn’t just throw Pillar like Bowen wanted, but it did disrupt its foundation, lifting its feet off the ground. Pillar’s eyes widened in panic.
“Oh no you don’t,” Cian growled through gritted teeth. “Pillar! Meteor fist!”
Pillar’s paw curled up, and while normally I wouldn’t have thought a badger-bear paw could make an effective fist like that, this wasn’t a normal punch. Stone and metal Aspect energy combined to turn its curled paw into a boxing glove of black ore which it used to pummel Crusher in the head. The walking walrus-like Creature staggered, dropping Pillar, which regained its footing with visible relief.
In the air, Racer and Armor clashed on their own, largely forgotten by the battling boys on account of neither having Aspected abilities. Armor was gaining the upper hand on Racer, which was still getting used to its new aerial combined form, and Cian pressed that advantage now.
“Armor! Tackle it to the ground!”
The boy’s eyes darted over to Flight, still engaged in a ground-based scrap with wiccatsi, and immediately wrote it off. “Flight, keep wiccatsi engaged as long as you can!”
Bowen’s gaze swept around quickly, taking in the wider battle. “Dodge, Racer! Wiccatsi, finish it off and help Crusher!”
Racer tried, but it was unable to avoid the attack of the more experienced aerial combatant. Likewise, Flight just wasn’t able to land enough proper hits on Wiccatsi to do any real damage, while it was being dismantled by the panther’s claws.
As the teams regrouped, it was Pillar and Armor against Crusher and wiccatsi.
Cian had an aerial advantage, but Bowen had the Aspect upper-hand.
We all watched as the fight continued, one which was much too close to call. The two sides traded blows, each weakening as they did. Crusher fell next—perhaps it could have held out it moobo had mastered its stone Aspect, but until it had a defensive ability, it was only as sturdy as any third-rank Creature—and then Armor, who had taken quite a lot of damage in aiding with Crusher’s demise.
“Wiccatsi, let’s end this!” Bowen called to his cat, hoping to conclude the battle quickly. It raced towards its opponent, leaping at it with shadowy claws extended.
“Pillar, catch it!”
Wiccatsi slammed into Pillar, and Pillar let out a cry as its claws dug in despite its tough skin, but it grabbed hold of the large cat. In doing so, it mitigated the Creature’s main advantage: it’s maneuverability.
“Now! Meteor fist!”
While gripping wiccatsi against itself, tanking the damage as the panther-like Creature dug into it with tooth and claw, it began to pummel it with ore-coated fists, until finally, wiccatsi fell.
“Aww, nuts,” Bowen muttered as his Coin returned to him, dull in color. He scratched the back of his head. “Guess I got a little too impatient at the end there.”
Cian’s gaze bore into Bowen. “Good battle,” he finally managed to choke out. Clearly, it had been much to close for the boy’s liking, having been forced to deploy his third-rank, combined Aspect ability, and still only just winning.
“If you’d been a bit more patient and trained up moobo and violynx, that could have turned out differently,” I said as I walked over to Bowen.
“By then, Cian would have another Aspected third-rank.” Bowen flashed me a grin. “I almost had him, this way.”
I slapped at the back of the head, but he ducked, squawking a protest. “Don’t think so short-term. It’s more important that you train your Creatures well now. You can beat him at fifth-rank.”
Bowen scoffed. “Yeah, right. He’ll probably be Champion one day.” He shrugged. “It’d have been nice to say I beat him on his way up.”
I glanced over at Cian, who was grumbling about the battle as Sloane patted him on the back.
“…Yeah, I get it,” I conceded. “I want to beat him too, eventually.”
But I wouldn’t rush, like Bowen, who I reminded to put the effort in now and work on those Aspects so he could draw out the most from his Creatures. Cian couldn’t rush through Ronan’s challenge any faster than I could get through Macha’s, so I had time to finish my third-rank team.
*
After that, the group split back up to go separate ways. Murphy, Nora, and Tallulah headed west; Cian and Sloane headed east; Bowen and I headed south.
“I’m going to be heading south from Speir in search of an iolaroc,” I told Bowen when we were on the transport south. “You want to come with?”
“I think I’ll stay in Speir, train my Aspects.”
“Alright,” I said. I hadn’t had much alone time since my Collector journey started, so a solo trip didn’t sound too bad. I was only after a third-rank Creature, anyway, so I shouldn’t need the help. We sat in comfortable silence for a while before I turned to ask him about something else entirely. “Hey, are you going to nickname wiccatsi now that its combined? Like Racer and Crusher?”
Bowen frowned. “I’m kind of used to calling it wiccatsi,” he said. “But maybe I should.”
That kicked off a lengthy discussion about names that occupied much of the rest of the trip to Speir. By the time we arrived, Bowen had settled on a new name for his large cat, sticking with his theme: Pouncer.
Rather than rush off immediately, I spent a couple of days in Speir, doing some battling in the arena’s training grounds and earning some credits to buy some more Coins. I also worked on Beowulf’s Aspects, developing his third-rank, combined fire and metal ability.
Once I was stocked with Coins and provisions, I said goodbye to Bowen and began my journey south.
The first couple of days were fairly repetitive, just crossing endless fields of grass and the Creatures living within. I passed them by, fending off the more persistent followers with my third-rank Creatures, who caused most to quickly turn and flee.
One more rank, and this will be a lot easier, I though to myself sometime on the third day. Then, I’d be able to ride a fourth-rank Creature on these longer trips, making much better time.
Eventually, the plains and fields started to get a little less lush, and sparse, tall trees started to appear. The thickest and tallest of these were the nesting points of the enormous eagle-like Creatures.
It wasn’t long before one descended on me, annoyed that I dared encroach on its territory, and I released my Creatures to meet it in battle.
“Gargoyle, take it down! Beowulf, once it’s grounded, blaze raze!”
While my Creatures weakened it, I glanced around, making sure we weren’t being approached by anything else.
Sitting in a tree, watching us, was a squirrel.
Of course, it wasn’t a squirrel as I knew it, though it was quite similar. It was a bit larger, as it was a first-rank Creature, and it was camouflaged quite well against the tree bark, with its gray fur. As it noticed me noticing it, it sat upright in alarm, and I saw it had a bright red belly that it had kept covered.
It had long fur growing up from its ears, giving it an almost rabbit-like appearance, but the ears themselves seemed a normal size. The tufted ears matched a fluffy tail.
Like nodluch and cuttook, or even furneas, I didn’t really need another first-rank rodent. But it was pretty cute.
“Gargoyle, catch that Creature!”
My third-rank Creature looked up from where it was in battle with the massive, eagle. It took a look at the rodent, then looked at me with an expression that seemed like it was questioning my sanity.
“Beowulf’s got iolaroc already. Go on!”
Gargoyle took off, and I refocused on Beowulf, in case I needed to add Tank to the mix, but the iolaroc was already quite weakened. It shuddered as it passed a critical threshold, and I whipped an XS Coin at it, capturing it and sending it to my vault.
Then I turned to were Gargoyle landed, holding the little, now-panicking first-rank Creature in its hands.
“Don’t worry, little one, nothing to be afraid of,” I said as I tapped it with another XS Coin.
I checked my licensing device as it was sent to my vault.
“Riora,” I read. “Huh. Might have missed that one.”
Beowulf and Gargoyle looked at me in confusion.
“I’ll… find a use for it. Maybe,” I said to my judgmental Creatures. “Let’s head back.”
*
With iolaroc caught, and the bonus of riora, there wasn’t anything else I felt confident enough to hunt on my list. I settled in to train, earn credits, buy Aspect Coins, upgrade my caught Creatures, and work towards a complete roster of fully Aspected Creatures.
Days turned to weeks, and even in the south, the weather grew cold. With no need to constantly head out in exploration, I made more trips from Speir to Tosachton to visit and appease my mum. I also bounced between Speir and Ceadunas to use the Coin Press, occasionally catching up with the others.
Murphy and Tallulah beat Foraois, ascending to third-rank. Murphy ended up heading north, after that, but Nora came back south to face Speir at second-rank, earning her way to third-rank there.
It was a good opportunity to learn more about Macha’s battle style, though I had already watched a few of her other arena challenges, specifically against other third-rank challengers.
The weeks stacked up, as my training advanced and my team came together. Before I knew it, it had been months since Lughnasa, and Samhain was approaching.
Foraois played host to a festival for Samhain, and I remembered Cian had told Berneen he would be back for the holiday, so I reached out to the others to see if they would be attending. After some group planning, we decided to all meet back up in Foraois for the festival.
There was no tournament, but there would be bonfires, costumes, plays, and lots of delicious food. Collecting aside, it would be a nice break and a good chance to catch up.
But we were Collectors, and it was also said that Samhain attracted Creatures to the woods. Wiccatsi sightings were highest around this time of year, and with a full third-rank team, I was also considering heading deeper into the woods, myself.
If I could, I hoped to catch another artfael.
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AN: I woke up at 6am to write this chapter for today so it's probably a mess, sorryyy. EoR's obviously taking most of my focus but I'm still trying to get these done for whoever's still reading them.