"Hey, Lynn…" Colin mentioned, as they were nearing Crabby Island. "I still want to Travel."
"That's nice." Lynn said, absently.
"Lynn… having only Forest Comrades might be a problem in some places I need to Travel to."
Lynn thought about that as they swooped down towards Crabby Island. "I don't think so."
"What if I need to travel through deserts? Or that Eternal Winter continent? What about going over the seas, or the Uber Marshes, or whatever else? What about dungeons?! Won't I need Comrades suitable for those places?"
"No." Lynn said simply. "You won't. In the long run, having Comrades who are alike, live together and go everywhere with you will be better than having different Comrades for different places. Putting it simply, how they like each other and share their lives is more important than being suitable for a place you're traveling through. Even if they have different personalities and talents, the most important thing is that they are comfortable together at home."
"I've never heard that before." Colin mused.
"Most people never realize it. They think of Comrades as weapons, or servants. But you and me… we know better. Comrades must get along. I'm not talking about squads here, I'm talking about all your Comrades as a whole."
"And you're including me." Colin realized.
"Of course. I think that's the most important of all." Lynn said. "That's my way."
Colin glanced behind them, where Kirin was following with all Colin's smaller Comrades. He was worried about her at first, but she proved surprisingly capable of keeping up.
"Nightwind's been going slow for her sake." Lynn explained, knowing what he was thinking.
They landed at the village square, and Colin looked around. He tapped his watch. "Katrin?"
"Hmm?" Katrin sounded distracted. There was all kinds of mewing sounds in the background.
"Where are you?"
"I'm at the Crabby Island Comrade Home." She told him. "Helping to take care of the young ones."
Colin felt relieved. She sounded much better than yesterday. "I'll be right there."
Lynn put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm heading back to the Desert Outpost. I think I'll clean up Bovis Town next. Let me know when you're back in the area. Call me."
Colin's watch buzzed. Lynn's contact had been added to his phone book.
"You too." Colin replied in kind, giving her his contact.
With a powerful gust of wind, Lynn and Nightwind took to the air again, just as Kirin landed rather heavily.
"Are you all right?" Colin asked Kirin, with concern.
Raiki got off Kirin's back, and Colin almost jumped. "Raiki! You're bigger!"
He scanned her.
She was registered now as 'Raiki, M-4 Experimental StormcatJuvenile (3rd Stage)'.
"She's reached Juvenile!" Colin exulted. "FINALLY!"
.
Raiki
Abilities:
HP: 110/110
MP: 92/264
Str: 14
Sta: 48
Spd: 70
Int: 96
Wis: 84
Wit: 24
Total: 336
.
Traits:
Feline Finesse
Protective
Ambitecher
Reserved
Oversurge
.
"Her traits have changed…" Colin realized. "She's not upset any more… but she's not quite what she used to be."
Raiki used to be Independent, Focused and Efficient. Now, she was Protective, Reserved, and had two new traits called Ambitecher and Oversurge.
"What does that mean?" Colin wondered. "I'll have to ask Satrox or someone."
Raiki's strength and stamina hadn't been increasing much. Her wisdom, though, had shot up incredibly high. {Was it because she's been riding Kirin so much and doing long-range attacks all the time?}
Wisdom was the biggest source of MP. Raiki hadn't needed it when she was Efficient, using less MP for her attacks, but when she was tranferred to Colin and became upset, she lost that trait, becoming 'Listless', then later recovering slowly through 'Sorrowful', to 'Shy' and now, 'Reserved'.
Throughout her recovery, though, she had been using MP like crazy. Was that why her wisdom went up so high? Or was it because she was sad? Or because of the experiences she went through?
Colin's eyes narrowed. He scanned Shiro.
Shiro showed up as 'Shiro, M-5 Experimental Wolfcat Juvenile (3rd Stage)'
"Shiro's a Juvenile too?" Colin blinked. "But…"
Shiro wagged his shorter tail, grinning up at Colin. He still looked as small as he ever did, small enough for Colin to carry in one hand.
His abilities had definitely grown, though.
.
Shiro
Abilities:
HP: 92/92
MP: 92/188
Str: 28
Sta: 32
Spd: 120
Int: 100
Wis: 44
Wit: 64
Total: 388
.
Traits:
Feline Finesse
Canine Loyalty
Independent
Analysis
Empath
Protective
Pack Leader
.
"Level 38." Colin whistled. Levels were counted as 10 total stats. A total of 388 meant he was almost 39.
His traits had definitely taken a lot of change. The first four were his starting traits, and he'd acquired 'Empath' and 'Protective' along the way. Now, with Sonia and Junrei around, he'd gotten a trait of 'Pack Leader'.
{Well… having Junrei around did some good after all…}
He scanned Kirin.
She showed up as 'Kirin, Storm Swan Hatchling (2nd Stage)'. Colin grinned. "Second stage already?"
.
Kirin
Abilities:
HP: 112/130
MP: 61/170
Str: 14
Sta: 58
Spd: 54
Int: 50
Wis: 60
Wit: 28
Total: 264
.
Traits:
Feathered Flight
Conservative
Kind-hearted
Cloud Essence
.
"Kind-hearted…? Conservative? Cloud Essence?" Colin scratched his head. More traits he didn't know.
{There's actually a whole lot about Comrades that I still don't know… For that matter, I don't even know what Feathered Flight really does.}
Colin also realized something else. "This is the first time I'm scanning Kirin! Until now, all I knew was that she would be powerful one day and she's able to fly…"
But Kirin seemed to be an all-rounder. She had stamina and speed, which was good, because she was flying around with all the others on her back… but she also had some serious amounts of wisdom and intelligence.
"Long-ranged air attack." Colin mused to himself. "Just what she's been doing all along. Her long-range attacks will take longer to prepare, but she's got that Triple Zap technique. She attacks three times instead of once."
Sonia, too, had grown bigger. Her legs were longer, and her nose got sharper. On his scan, she showed up as 'Sonia, J-87 Enhanced Sonic Wolf Juvenile (3rd Stage)'.
.
Sonia
Abilities:
HP: 76/76
MP: 46/86
Str: 44
Sta: 16
Spd: 60
Int: 26
Wis: 30
Wit: 48
Total: 224
.
Traits:
Canine Loyalty
Hunter's Sense
Pack Instinct
Cunning
.
{Well, we're definitely getting along in growth. They're all hitting Juvenile stages. Sonia hasn't developed new Traits, but she's got a jump in wisdom and wit. Wonder what 'Cunning' does?}
So there it was. All four of them had a boost in growth for Wisdom.
A shared experience? Or the sadness of losing so many Comrades? Or something else entirely?
Shiro and Raiki met M-1 and M-2 in the valley of the winds. Kirin met her mother several times lately. Sonia returned home to the Forest of Legends and met Fenrix, the Lord of Sonic Wolves. Did that affect their growth somehow?
Colin's watch beeped. He took the call.
"Colin? When are you coming, exactly?" Katrin asked.
"Right now!" Colin said, and hurried to the Comrade Home.
***
Katrin was stroking Meek's cubs when he found her in the Comrade Home. "Katrin! How are you doing?"
"I'm going to stay here a while." Katrin said. "A couple of nights, at least, as a temporary Breeder while they recover."
Colin blinked. " 'They'? I was asking about you."
"I'm talking about my new Comrades. {Your} Comrades, until you gave them to me." Katrin said. "They're all in recovery right here. I'm going to stick around the Home and take care of them until they're all better."
"But what about you, yourself?" Colin pressed.
Katrin didn't look at him. "Mom told me that the best way to deal with my own sadness is to care for others… so… I'm going to forget about my own troubles that way."
Colin didn't know what to say.
"Colin! Here are the Transfer plates." The local Breeder said, bringing them in. "Two, you said?"
"Yeah." Colin agreed.
"Two?" Katrin blinked. "I thought Meek was the last."
"One more." Colin told her, registering Junrei for Transfer. "This one."
"Thanks, Maple." Katrin said to the local Breeder while Colin registered Meek too. Then, Katrin turned back to Colin. "Look, you don't have to do this. You've done more than enough already…"
Colin wished he could just send Katrin all his memories the way he sent them to Lynn, but that simply wasn't possible. Instead, he settled for telling her everything that happened tonight.
When he was done, Katrin was looking from Junrei to Raiki. "Colin, you shouldn't feel like you owe me anything. Giving Raiki to you was what I wanted to do, what I felt was right. I… I don't want you to spend all your time here trying to pay me back."
"Well, {I'm} doing what I feel is right also." Colin held out the transfer plates. "Step on them."
Katrin didn't protest, but she still looked worried, even as Junrei and Meek became her Comrades. "What about Meek's babies?"
"All yours." Colin said. "Katrin, come to the Forest."
Katrin shook her head. "I'm staying here for the next two nights, maybe three."
"After that." Colin said. "It's a wonderful place."
"Maybe to you, Colin. But it sounds dangerous to me." Katrin said.
"If you go in alone, perhaps. But if you go in with Lynn, all the Wilds there become your friends." Colin pointed out.
Katrin shifted. "I don't know, Colin. I was thinking of rebuilding the Farm with Edward. I had fun at the farm, I really did. I knew where everything was, I knew what was planted in every field and what they needed to grow. I was in total control of the farm, and if we rebuild it, I can use a lot of ideas I had about the place. But the Forest… it's just… too… Wild. It's completely out of my control. Too many things can happen and go wrong without any warning. Dealing with a drought or too much rain is one thing. Trying to solve the water problem for Silverfin is beyond me."
"Nobody's asking you to do that." Colin said. "That's Lynn's job. I'm just helping her out a bit. You can too."
Katrin glanced at him sideways. "What is she to you, anyway?"
"Huh?" Colin blinked. "She's the Forest Princess. She saved me twice already."
"And I only saved you once." Katrin mused.
Colin groaned. "It's not like that! That's not the issue! It's just… well… she's really cool, and she's got important problems, and if I can help her, then I can really make a difference. It's not like playing on a farm, it would be doing something important!"
"That's right… it's more important… than playing on a farm…" Katrin was looking at the floor.
"Kat…" Colin held his head in his hands. "Please don't be like that. I loved playing on the farm with you. It was great fun. I'd love to do that again…"
"Then you'll need a farm to play in again, won't you?" Katrin said softly. "And I'll build it."
"We could play in the forest too." Colin suggested.
"We can't. We'd hit the trees and dirty the water and disturb all those powerful Wilds." Katrin said.
"True." Colin subsided.
They sat there in silence for a while, watching Meek lick her litter of cubs all over, nursing them in that box filled with soft hay. Not quite the nest she built back at the Farm before it was destroyed, but she made do with what she had.
Meek started to look sadder and sadder. The shock of the Transfer took time, Colin knew. It would get worse before it got better.
"Things are changing on Nakama World." Katrin said softly. "And you're caught up in it all. I might be too, and it might be selfish of me, but I still want to go back to that Farm… to the times we shared together, playing without another care in the world. Back when we didn't need to worry about Shiro and Raiki going Frenzied, before the Green Men started sieging towns and attacking ships to catch us."
"Back before the Forest Princess asked me for help and showed me how I could make a real difference in this world." Colin guessed.
"That too." Katrin said.
Colin dropped the bomb then. "Katrin… we can't go back."
"Why not?" Katrin asked, in a low voice.
"The Green Men know we were at that farm. They know our names, and where the farm was."
Katrin sat very still, very quietly. "We can find another place. Build another farm."
Colin found himself speechless.
[Colin.] Lynn's thoughts came to him. [Satrox needs you. He's in trouble for not keeping an eye on you. You should get back here. Are you done?]
[No…] Colin sent her his memories.
Lynn thought it over for a bit, then told him what was really going on. [Katrin is still upset. She's gone through a lot, and she needs to recover, just like those Comrades you Transferred. Be gentle with her, Colin, and be kind. Let her care for the babies. It'll comfort her. Don't push for a decision, and don't make any promises just yet.]
That made sense to him. "Katrin… are you happy here?"
Katrin nodded. "It's… soothing."
"That's good." Colin said. "That's the important thing now. The rest can wait."
"Yes." Katrin agreed. "It can wait."
"I have to go save Satrox. He's in trouble because of me." Colin said. "Take care of Meek's babies, okay?"
"Of course. I'll watch over them until they're ready to join the Home. I'll keep one for myself." Katrin assured him.
Colin gave her a short squeeze on the shoulder and went back to war.