"Already?" Colin looked around. "Crystal Cove itself?"
"Underground, remember?" Scarlet poked him. "Squirmy's got some tunnels he can use under the mountains. One of them leads right here."
George reversed the truck out of Squirmy's mouth and then got out to pat and talk to his Frostwyrm. Meanwhile, Scarlet turned to Colin.
"This is actually one of the upper chambers of Crystal Cove, well away from the main entrance or the treasure spots." she told him. "Few enough come to this Dungeon, and most of those want the richest crystals and head below. Those who want a challenging fight go downwards too. Others are content to train at the main entrance, right over the frozen lake. Almost nobody ever comes up."
It was a pity, really. Colin looked up and saw the sky above through a tangle of crystal pillars bigger than Squirmy was. Sunlight shone through clearly, pure and uncolored until it reached the smaller crystals all around them. Those made this entire place radiate with color around their feet.
Meanwhile, vines covered everything. The air here was as fresh as any forest. There were even trees around.
Colin glanced at George. "Did he plant those?"
"Everything." Scarlet nodded. "They don't call him the Gardener for nothing. He's able to make things grow even in a place like this."
And the Gardener didn't stop at small plants, Colin noticed. Those vines seemed to cover all the passages running out of this main chamber. Those trees were large and healthy.
{How in all the world did he manage it…?}
The place was magnificent. A wonder and a beauty grown by the hands of a single misunderstood man.
"Anything I should know?" Colin asked. "Something I should or shouldn't do?"
"Don't move the colored crystals." Scarlet said. "George wants the balance of light to be exact for his plants. Don't hurt the plants. If you want to train, use the hall we have for that. There are no plants there."
"What about the Wilds? This is a dungeon, isn't it?"
"We cleared them out when we moved in. They stopped coming here after a few nights." Scarlet shrugged. "We left our Comrades guarding the place when we Woke Up. I think the locals got the hint."
Colin nodded. It made sense to him. Comrades the likes of which Scarlet and George raised would make anyone want to steer clear.
Then, he spotted one. "Hey! Isn't that a Wild?"
It wasn't red. That means it wasn't Scarlet's. It wasn't a plant or anything that would help gardening, so it wasn't George's. It certainly wasn't one of his.
It was a crystal golem, just soaking in the sun.
"That's one of May's." Scarlet told him. "It used to be a local who kept wanting to come here even after all the others left. It would come close enough to see one of our Comrades guarding the place, and run away. May saw it happen a few times, then decided to let it join us."
Colin reached out to it with his mind almost instinctively. [You really love this place, don't you?]
The crystal golem responded. The idea that came back was, [I grew up here. I have many precious memories here. I love the sunlight here. I love the Crystal.]
Colin frowned. What was the 'Crystal'?
Then, he saw something else that made him jump. "Scarlet! That's Kishin!"
Kishin, who looked and acted like a silent ninja, was one of the Seven Champions of the Justice Knights, the very people who wanted Scarlet, George, and Colin captured or killed. He was someone on a level with Zoe, or Satrox… strong enough to lead all the J-Knights of an entire continent.
"Yes, it is. He's our friend." Scarlet told Colin simply. "He likes it here."
"But the J-Knights are after us, and he's…"
"One of the Seven Champions, I know." Scarlet nodded. "In fact, everyone knows he's here. It's because he's here that nobody dares disturb him, so the J-Knight hunters who are looking for us never come here. They decided to leave this place to him and go search everywhere else."
"Wait. There are J-Knight hunters here? On this continent?" Colin paused.
"Three distinct groups." Scarlet said. "There's Hari's team, who searches the forests and the northern areas. There's Matt's team, who searches the deepest south, beyond the Rainbow Glacier. Then there's Cephas' team, who searches around here. But they don't bother Kishin."
"Cephas?!" Colin jumped. "Cephas is here?"
"Not here." Scarlet said. "Next door, at the highest peak of the Forbidden Mountains, known as the Southern Crown. He knows we're here, and he comes to visit sometimes, but his team has no clue."
"Cripes. Two of the Seven Champions are right here. Why are they here?" Colin wanted to know.
"Kishin just likes the place, and the quiet. Cephas is actually the Mountaineer of this continent." Scarlet explained.
Mountaineer…?! Colin remembered his time as a Forester, taking care of the forests of Lamico. A Mountaineer, according to Sekai, cared for the mountains.
"Is there a Forester here?" Colin asked. "And whoever takes care of the waters?"
"We have no Forester at present, and I doubt you want to take the post while you're hiding out." Scarlet shook her head. "And if we had an Oceaneer, ever, I don't know of it."
Colin thought of his time as a Forester, and the glowing life of the forest. He thought of the Lords of the Wilds and all he'd done with them and for them.
Fond thoughts, even if everything had ended in destruction. He felt a pang of longing for the forest.
The trees in the cavern consoled him. This was, in its own way, a forest too.
"Set this place as your Starting Location and I'll get May to show you around." Scarlet told him.
So he did, and Scarlet went to find May.
May. Colin wondered about that. He still owed her a battle from nights and nights ago.
Talking about owing people…
{Cripes! I owe Lynn the answer to her question, and it was due last night!!}
Worried, he called her. "Lynn?"
"Colin." The Forest Princess greeted him. "I'm in the middle of something. Can you call back in ten minutes?"
"Sure." Colin said, feeling relieved that she didn't blow up on the spot.
He tried calling Katrin next.
"Colin. Are you with May?" she asked him the moment the line connected.
"Uh… yeah." Colin replied, blinking.
She cut the link on the spot.
Colin scratched his head and wondered when she or Shiro would be back. Neither of them seemed to want to be disturbed right now.
"Colin!" May's triumphant shout echoed through the cavern. "I've been waiting for this! Let's fight!"
Colin saw her coming, then glanced at Kishin worriedly.
Kishin was looking right at him, but made no move to attack or capture him.
{I guess he's okay with me too.}
May appeared and dragged him down a side corridor.
"Don't destroy the place!" Scarlet called after them.
"Don't worry! The walls are solid enough to stand stray shots! This IS a dungeon, mom! It was {made} for battles!" May called back, and off they went.
She brought him to an even larger cavern, a place as big as Edward's entire farm, similarly lit from above through a web of crystal pillars, but this place had no plants.
"This is our training hall." May told him. "Let's start with simple fights; one-on-one duels."
Colin felt a bit uneasy about that. "May, I only have six Comrades, and my First is busy with other things."
May stared. "Only five, then. You've already seen my Glass Guardsman back at the Squirmy Cavern, right?"
"That crystal golem? Yeah." Colin said.
"I've also seen your cat there." May said. "Though it was smaller when I last saw it. Let's start with the Comrades we've already seen."
Colin paused. "May, I've already seen your old Comrades back at Hot Sands. Mine have changed a lot."
"Mine have changed too." May told him seriously. "Trust me, you've never seen any of those I have now."
She tapped her badge and said, "Shar!"
The Glass Guardsman Colin had seen above appeared before her.
Colin nodded slowly. May had the ability to Warp in her Comrades. That meant she was at least Purple Badge by now, just like him. "Raiki, you're up."
Raiki stepped forward.
"Let's start." May announced.
She said no more, but Shar leapt forward at once.
Raiki responded before Colin could say anything either. She launched an orb of electric power that exploded into Shar and sent him flying backwards.
{That must be the Volt Orb.}
Then she followed up with a Volt Beam while simultaneously building up a Sonic Barrage in the air above her.
"An Ambitecher?!" May gasped. "With Oversurge?! Shar! Defense! You have to hold out until that cat runs out of MP!"
Colin barely held back a grin. Raiki had a huge amount of MP and the Efficient trait, besides. She unleashed her Sonic Barrage, sending a stream of Sonic Bolts at Shar like a machine gun.
Shar covered his head and ducked low with his hands held up defensively and took the pounding without moving.
Colin said nothing as Raiki kept up the Sonic Barrage and Shar went on getting battered while May waited and waited, getting more worried by the moment.
"That's not possible!" May said, flat out. "I know she's using an Oversurged attack! There's no other way a Juvenile like her can squeeze so much power into a technique. She should be using twice as much MP in that assault!"
"Is {that} was Oversurge does?" Colin blinked.
"You didn't even know?!" May stared.
Raiki went on battering Shar, and fired off a Hypersonic Bolt in the meantime, a more advanced version of the Sonic Bolts she was pouring out.
Shar was shaking as May gulped. "Shar! Hold on! It can't last forever!"
Colin frowned. Why wasn't Raiki using her electric attacks?
Raiki answered him. [Shar is resistant to them. He's a being of crystal. Lightning doesn't harm him as much as Sound.]
[Oh.] Colin settled back and let her handle it.
Just like that, it ended. Shar fell over and raised both hands in surrender. May went on staring at Raiki as she ceased her bombardment.
"How?!" May demanded. "How does a Juvenile like her manage that much…"
"She's got the Efficient trait." Colin supplied. "And a whole lot of MP."
"The Efficient trait…" May looked aghast. "Blast. Shar is my weakest, but I never expected him to get defeated, much less that easily."
Colin gulped. "Well… except for my First, who's busy, Raiki is my strongest."
At least, he thought she was.
"Ah!" May grinned. "That explains everything. You won this round, so for the second round, you call first."
Colin thought about that. {I still don't know what else she's got up her sleeve. I'd better try to figure out her theme first before sending in my stronger guys. That means, I should call in my weakest and let her win this round.}
"Foxie!" Colin called, and the Whitestreak Fox appeared. Brown all over except for a streak of white running from nose to tail, the little vixen was a mistress of self-disguise and cracking jokes.
"Another Juvenile?" May blinked. "Oh, but your cat was your second strongest, so the rest must be Juveniles too… but how did you ever manage to destroy a continent with a handful of Juveniles?"
"I was the Forester." Colin explained. "The Forest Wilds did what I asked them to do."
"You commanded Wilds?!" May gaped. "I didn't even know it was possible!"
"Forester thing." Colin shrugged. "But don't tell anyone about it. I think I abused my power."
May shook her head, then said, "Lanta!"
Out of nowhere appeared a blob.
There was no other way to describe it. Lanta was a mass of shiny liquid that slid over the ground.
"Rainbow Shield!" May called, and a shell of rainbow-colored light surrounded the blob.
May had already started, Colin realized. "Foxie! Attack!"
Foxie looked quite blur, but she obliged, firing off a beam of yellow light at the blob.
May grinned. "Whitestreak Foxes use light-elemental attacks, don't they? That's not going to get through Lanta's Rainbow Shield."
Cripes. She knew what she was doing when she called in this Comrade to deal with Foxie. "Foxie, switch attack types! Use Sonic attacks!"
Foxie gave him a sour look and fired off a sonic bolt at Lanta.
{That's the best sonic attack she's got…?} Colin grimaced. {I'm in trouble.}
"Lanta! Acid Spray!" May called.
"Run!" Colin barked.
"Arf!" Foxie barked back, and ran for it.
It didn't work. Lanta's Acid Spray showered out in a very wide area, and Foxie couldn't dodge it.
"Don't you have some kind of shield or barrier?" Colin asked Foxie.
Foxie gave him a growl, and sand covered her like a cloak.
{Earth Cloak. That should help.}
"Corrosive Wrap!" May called.
Lanta surged forward and splashed itself onto Foxie.
"Foxie!" Colin gaped in alarm.
He couldn't see her. Lanta had completely wrapped around her. He could hear hissing, and could easily guess that Lanta's acid was eating into her defensive cloak. It was also plain to see that she wasn't going to last long.
"Enough!" Colin raised his hands. "Forfeit!"
There was no way for Foxie to really damage Lanta, and no way for her to evade or defend against Lanta's attacks. This match was a loss and he knew it.
"Lanta, back!" May ordered. "Well done!"
Lanta withdrew. Colin looked over Foxie worriedly; her Earth Cloak had almost been eaten through, but she seemed otherwise unharmed. She did look rather irritated at him, though.
{It's not her fault she lost. May picked the worst possible opponent for her. She really knew what she was doing. And I… I didn't even know what Foxie could or couldn't do. I've left things to Shiro up till now. I've got to learn how to manage without him.}
"Your win. Your call." Colin told May.
May thought for a moment. "Kimba!"
Out appeared…
"A white tomato plant?!" Colin blinked.
"A Snow Tomato." May grinned.
The thing sat there like an innocent looking plant, complete with pot, one big fruit for a head and multiple branches with leaves for arms.
{I've seen plants spit seeds like bullets. I'd bet this guy's not too good at short range, though.}
The answer was obvious. "Sonia!"
The Jijin-Enhanced Noble Sonic Wolf appeared, took one look, and growled. [A duel?]
[Yeah.] Colin replied.
"Seed barrage!" May called at once.
"Sonia…" Colin began.
Too late. Sonia was already in full charge, dodging seeds shot at her without skipping a beat. She let out a Sonic Howl directly back at the tomato, deflecting its stream of shots as she rammed straight into it with a Stun Bite.
"Forfeit!" May yelped. Her tomato spun dazedly around on its pot as if to emphasize her words. "Your win!"
"Well done, Sonia." Colin grinned at her.
Sonia wagged her tail at him.
"That white star on her forehead…" May grimaced. "You had a noble?!"
"Yeah." Colin replied.
May frowned. "That had to be your third-strongest."
"I think so." Colin agreed, feeling uneasy. "That tomato…"
"Second-weakest." May confirmed.
Cripes.
"My turn to call?" Colin paused as May nodded. "Kirin!"
The Storm Swan appeared, still a juvenile, but already twice as big as Colin himself, quite capable of carrying him and flying him to places.
"A Storm Swan?!" May gasped. She thought for a minute, then called. "Tessla!"
Out came what could have been a young unicorn, except that this pony had three horns instead of one, and crackled all over with electric power.
"Triple Volt Beam!" May ordered immediately.
"Kirin! Dodge it!" Colin called.
Kirin tried. She really did. In fact, she managed to dodge two of them, but the third one nailed her and sent her fluttering backwards.
"Counter-attack! Hit that horse with your best shot!" Colin shouted.
Kirin replied with a Triple Zap.
Colin winced even as Tessla sat quite still, not even bothering to defend herself as the electric attack, an entire tier weaker than her own, crackled into her.
{Tessla is an electric-type. Kirin's attack probably didn't hurt at all. May, once again, really does know what she's doing.}
"Charge up the lightning blast!" May told Tessla.
Oh, scrap! "Kirin! Hit Tessla with something else other than electric attacks! Hit her with all you've got!"
Kirin tried. Out came a bubble stream, and a wing breeze, but those beginner-level attacks didn't seem to bother Tessla at all. The pony just sat there with electric power charging up between her three horns until the entire cavern was lit by its light.
"Now!" May ordered.
The blast that emerged was, indeed, lightning. Colin was half-blinded by it, even as he heard Kirin's protest as it hit instantly. There was no way she could have dodged that.
"Forfeit." Colin said weakly, trying to blink the after-image out of his eyes. "Your win."
May didn't hesitate. "Squirmia!"
{Squirmia? Wait… that sounds like Squirmy…}
Out appeared a Frost Wyrm.
Colin winced. It was nowhere near as big as Squirmy (this one was barely five feet long) but he had little doubt that one day, it just could be. "Is that a relative of Squirmy's?"
"Squirmy's daughter." May replied, with a smile. "Come on, Colin, call out your fifth."
He really didn't have any other options by now. "Eclipse!"
And before him appeared the Noble Shadow Hawk. May saw that crown on her head and whistled. "Another noble?! Both of them from the Forest of Legends, no less!"
Colin didn't take the time to explain. "Get him!"
Eclipse swept in, a shadow that danced among the crystal lights.
"So much for the Quicksand technique." May grumbled. "Squirmia! Ice shield!"
{That's not going to help.} Colin could already see it. Eclipse's claws were surrounded by that shadow infusion, using darkness-elemental power as she sliced right through Squirmia's defenses and darted away before that Frost Wyrm realized she was there. Squirmia, May, and Colin himself had trouble even seeing her.
"Rock Cannon!" May called. "Just take a guess and shoot!"
Squirmia fired off to the left, just in time for Eclipse to slice down on her from the right. Squirmia turned to the right and fired another shot, but Eclipse slammed down on her from directly above.
"Forfeit!" May said, with a wince. "I can't even see that Shadow Hawk in this shifting light. There's no point continuing. Three matches to two. I guess you win today."
Colin shook his head as they sat down side by side with their Comrades all around them. "You know, I think it's a matter of who calls first and second. Every time you called first, I won. Every time I called first, you won. We're even."
"True." May said, shaking her head. "I can hardly believe it, though. I thought I had Comrades the likes of which most Travelers would envy, but you…"
"My Comrades are incredible." Colin agreed. "But their techniques…"
May snorted. "Their techniques are miserable. You've really neglected to train them. What have you been doing? Relying on sheer power?"
Colin sighed. "Yeah. I better do something about that."
May nodded. "Colin… do you know about Comrade growth potential? The different classes of Comrades?"
"I know some of it." Colin said.
May nodded again. "I actually have only seven Comrades. My three fastest growing ones are Class-8. All the rest have higher growth potential and grow slower… just like yours."
Colin blinked. May was right. Her Comrades were like his; only a few, but with really high potential for growth. Neither of them had any Comrades below class-8.
"I thought I was the only one going around with walking time bombs." Colin grinned.
"Time bombs…?" May blinked.
"The J-Knights were worried about my Comrades going Frenzied, remember? Almost any of them going Frenzied would be able to wipe out a continent. That's why the J-Knights wanted me restrained." Colin paused. "And I remember, {you} said…"
"It is a basic right of all Travelers to choose their own Comrades." May remembered. "The J-Knights have no right to punish you for having the Comrades you have."
"Were you thinking about your own Comrades when you said that?" Colin asked.
May thought back. "Actually? No. But I guess I should've."
They sat there a while longer, not saying anything as their Comrades got to know each other. Raiki and Tessla were sitting side by side. Foxie had disguised herself as a pink-colored Snow Tomato and was bouncing around with Kimba. Sonia and Squirmia were sniffing each other cautiously.
"Forest Wilds." May said suddenly. "That's the only thing I can think of for your theme."
"It is." Colin nodded. "I'm guessing yours has something to do with this place."
"Natives of Crystal Cove." May agreed. "This is home for them in more ways than one."
Colin eyed her Comrades thoughtfully. "I haven't seen your strongest, have I?"
"No." May laughed. "My strongest is in a league entirely of his own. He's not that high-leveled or as mature in growth stages, but he's deadlier than anything you've seen here."
"That sounds like {my} strongest." Colin thought about Shiro. That white wolfcat was definitely in a league of his own. "Seeing them play together could be interesting… if Shiro ever finishes his business and comes back."
"You're really going to let him run around loose?" May blinked. "Just like that?"
"Yep." Colin said. "He can take care of himself."
"That's not what I meant." May said. "What if he Abandons you for his girlfriend?"
Colin paused. "Well, if that's what he wants…"
"You're willing to let him go?" May's eyes went wide. "A Comrade above class-10?!"
Colin thought about that. "May… Shiro's been lonely for a long time. He's finally found another one of his own kind, maybe a whole clan. I won't blame him if he wants to stay with them."
May said nothing for a while, but she gave him a slow nod. "For what it's worth, Colin, I don't think he'd Abandon you."
Colin agreed. "I don't think so either."
***
He called Lynn back while May was training techniques with both her Comrades and his.
"Colin! Are you all right?" Lynn asked, straight off.
"Yes." Colin said. "I wish you were near enough to send you my memories."
"You're far away, then?" Lynn guessed. "Where did you go after everything that happened on Lamico?"
He told her. It took far longer than simply sending his memories in a moment, but eventually, he got the story across.
"You're with George, then." Lynn said, sounding relieved.
"You sound like you know him." Colin mentioned.
"Of course I know the Gardener. He's an old friend. We planted the Silver Pines Forest together. Give him my regards, will you?" Lynn requested.
"Sure."
"Now, about that quest…" Lynn said at last.
"The Most Precious Flower." Colin sighed. "Lynn, I almost gave up until I came to this continent. But now that I've seen it, I know it for sure."
"What is it?"
"It is the Silver Starburst that George grows at the feet of the Blue Phoenix statue." Colin told her. "The one he tends with his own hands. I was looking for an expensive flower, maybe even a gem shaped like a flower, but to tell you the truth, Lynn, I've never seen any plant cared for so preciously as George's flower."
Lynn was silent for a minute. Then, she said, "Are you sure?"
"Completely." Colin said, without hesitating.
Lynn fell silent again, but Colin did not waver, not even for a moment. The certainty he held was rock solid.
"I accept." Lynn said at last. "I have received my first answer."
Colin did not heave a sigh of relief. He was not surprised.
"Now, for my second question." Lynn continued. "Are you ready?"
"Go ahead." Colin said.
"If you could exclude something from the Forest of Legends," Lynn said, "What would it be?"
At that, Colin froze.
***
Three minutes later, May found him still there.
"Colin, we're going to need food if we keep this up much longer. You did bring some, right?" she asked.
"Yeah." Colin told her.
"Are you still on the comms?" May's eyes widened.
"Yeah." Colin said. "At least, I think I am. Lynn, are you still there?"
"I am here." Lynn replied, quietly. "As I have been."
For three minutes without a word being spoken by either of them, Lynn had held the line and waited.
"Lynn, I… I don't have an answer." Colin told her. "I need to think about it."
"All right." Lynn told him. "But don't take too long."
"I won't." Colin gave her his word, and cut the link.