The night at Crystal Cove passed more or less quietly.
Sonia growled a bit at the kiver he offered them, but she ate and trained with all the rest of his Comrades and May's. For the rest of the fourteenth night since he joined Nakama World, Colin's Comrades trained their techniques with and/or on May's Comrades.
Tessla, especially, was invaluable for Raiki and Kirin to practice their electric attacks on. Foxie practiced light-elemental attacks on Lanta. Kimba used his Water Cannon technique on Kirin non-stop, and the Storm Swan seemed to treat it like a bath.
Then there were those free-for-all mass brawls when everyone shot at each other regardless of who was whose Comrade. Raiki and Kirin blasted each other and Colin even saw Sonia chasing Eclipse up the wall. May's training methods were nowhere near as organized as Satrox's, but they did get straight to the point.
Afterwards, they explored Crystal Cove, going down tunnels filled with Wilds just like May's. May led him around without any of her Comrades along, content to let his do all the training just in case they shot hers by accident.
Colin tried to call Katrin again, but the moment she heard May's voice in the background, she cut the link on him.
Shiro seemed busy too. "Yip…"
"Just wanted to let you know where I am, in case you were looking." Colin said defensively.
"Yip, yip." Shiro said tiredly.
So Colin ended his fourteenth night on Nakama World watching Tessla trying to teach her Triple Volt Beam to both Raiki and Kirin.
***
Katrin, on the other hand, had a rather rough night.
"This is the most unfriendly town in the world!" she threw up her hands. "What would it take to get a smile from people passing by?!"
"Bruth?" the offer came with a bottle from a guy wearing tinted goggles and heavy Shaggy Bear furs all the way to a hood, with a blue bunny by his side.
"Ugh. It stinks. No, thanks. Get it away from me." Katrin pushed it away and stalked on down the road.
Everywhere she looked, people were eyeing her sideways, as if she was about to sprout thorns or set their houses on fire. Even the shopkeepers who sold her food for her Comrades kept giving her sharp looks, as if she was going to steal something.
It wasn't like she did anything wrong! She started out in this new town the way she normally did, getting a place at the local Comrade Home and applying for a position there as assistant. She had some experience with that work at Crabby Island, after all, and it would give her a place to stay for free rather than renting a room at the inn.
The local Breeder put her on probation, offering her minimal wage for a two night try-out and then gave her menial tasks. Katrin had been going around town delivering reports, picking up packages, and carting loads of garbage to the recycling facilities in between cleaning out a few rooms in the Comrade Home itself. But even after meeting the locals at their doorstep and introducing herself, even after demonstrating that she was a working, contributing member of this community, she kept getting viewed suspiciously.
{What has Colin gotten me into now…?} Katrin grit her teeth. {That idiot. We had a chance to Travel together, just the two of us alone, for the first time since we joined Nakama World, and the first thing he does upon reaching this continent is to call another girl!}
"I don't care about him!" Katrin growled at the snow at her feet. "Let him run off with her. See if I bother!"
So saying, she walked straight into a lamp post. The impact almost made her fall over backwards.
"Ow." Katrin rubbed her head in pain and thought of kicking the lamp post in revenge. But of course, that wouldn't really help anything.
She had thought of the Continent of Eternal Winter as a place where it was always Christmas, with bright lights and shopping and merry greetings all around, all day, every day. After all, this was Nakama World, a Dreamworld made for kids. It should be fun and cheerful all over.
Instead, she was surrounded by suspicious locals all drinking that awful Bruth drink and talking to her like she was an unauthorized tax collector.
"Who manages this blasted Dreamworld anyway?" Katrin grumbled. "I should complain to Dreamworlds Admin."
But with all the complaints she'd been lodging lately (regarding Green Men and Lamico Continent), Katrin doubted that sending more complains was going to help. She already decided before coming here to stop sending in any more complaints, so that they would take the issue of the Green Men seriously. Otherwise, they'd just shrug it off as 'yet another one of this Katrin's complaints'. The more she complained, the less they would really listen.
"Whatever. I'm getting out of town." Katrin said, standing up straighter.
Well, she was actually going out on a few easy quests, and then coming right back to collect the rewards, but it made her feel better to sound as though she was leaving for good.
"First things first." Katrin checked the list of quests she'd picked up. "Delivery and item request to Cold and Crispy Village."
She turned to Gera and Rall. The two bears were the only ones who were really comfortable in this cold weather. Most of the rest, especially the Red Panthers, the Desert Wolf, and the Desert Lynxmouse all huddled together shivering back at the Comrade Home. Meek could manage, but she wouldn't leave Mika while he was freezing, and Warc, the only other Comrade who could take the cold and wasn't in recovery, seemed to want to sit on the Home's rooftop rather than Travel with her.
It was just as well. Gera and Rall were about the strongest Comrades she had at the moment, and even they were having trouble with the local Wilds. The pair of them together barely managed to take down one Ice Mantis and Katrin had to feed them and let them rest afterwards.
The farther she went, the clearer it became.
The Wilds here were strong. Very strong. If the difficulty fighting even one of them weren't enough, Katrin actually saw a bunch of white wolfcats running in the distance.
White Wolfcats! All of them looked like Shiro! Katrin would bet that they could all fight like him. She definitely didn't want to fight one of those.
Gera and Rall seemed rather disturbed by the sight of those wolfcats too. They kept looking back over their shoulders at the pack until they were out of sight.
Then they were attacked by what Katrin thought had been a harmless bush. In the midst of the fight, Rall died and vanished to respawn back at the Comrade Home.
"This is nuts." Katrin said after the fight, as Gera slumped down to rest. "I won't even make it halfway to Cold and Crispy Village."
"Need some help, lady?"
Katrin turned to see a brown-skinned guy wearing an odd round hat and thick furs. He was sitting on a big spotted bear, white with black spots.
"Uh… do I know you?" Katrin asked.
"I'm Hari." He answered. "You're a Justice Knight, aren't you?"
Katrin paused. Now that she looked at him, she saw the crest of the J-Knights on his badge also. "I'm a Detective type."
"I'm a Hunter type." Hari said. "I lead a team searching the northern parts of this land for two dangerous criminals."
"Really?" Katrin mused. "Who?"
"Have you heard of the Gardener?" Hari asked.
Katrin nodded slowly. "I think so."
"We've got reports of him being sighted here. Him, and Scarlet, the Bane of Listra."
"That sounds familiar too." Katrin said.
"I'll send you some images. Let us know if you spot them." Hari said. "Meanwhile, what are you doing?"
"Trying to do some simple quests for the Soft Snows Comrade Home." Katrin winced. "Not J-Knight business, I'm afraid, just a standard delivery and item request."
"Are you headed for Cold and Crispy Village?" Hari asked.
"Yeah. Obviously." Katrin rolled her eyes. "Where else does this beacon trail go?"
Hari laughed. "Well, would you like to come with me? Between your bear and Dalma, I think we can manage quite well on the route north."
They did manage quite well, but Dalma, Hari's spotted bear, did most of the work. Gera barely got in a swipe or two before the offending Wild was taken down.
"Would you like to bond that one?" Hari asked, when they took down a small spotted bear similar to Dalma.
"Nah. It'll mess up my theme." Katrin said, but looking at Dalma, she had to admit, the offer was tempting.
"Really? I thought your theme was bears, the same as mine." Hari mused. "I saw your other bear earlier."
Katrin let out an uneasy laugh. She hadn't sensed or seen him around that time. "Actually, a number of my Comrades are in recovery, and the rest just aren't suited for this cold."
"Why don't you tell me your theme?" Hari invited. "I can help you find good Comrades around here who are suited for the cold."
Katrin didn't even need to think about it. "Nah. It's kind of you, but no, thanks."
{There's no way I'm telling him my theme is that all my Comrades are given to me by one particular guy…}
{One particular guy who ran off with another girl.}
{Idiot!}
Not sure if she meant herself or Colin, Katrin thanked Hari one last time at the entrance of Cold and Crispy Village and went to finish up her quests.
***
When she was done, she found him back at the entrance, waiting.
"Heading back to Soft Snows?" he asked.
"Yeah." Kat frowned.
"Me too. Care to come along?"
{Well, I'd probably not survive the trip otherwise.} "Sure."
{Hold on a minute… was this guy waiting for me…?!}
"We'll have to wait a bit more." Hari told her. "My other friends aren't here yet."
{Oh. For a moment there, I thought…}
"There they are now." Hari pointed.
Kat spotted them immediately. All three of them were brown-skinned like he was, wore the same heavy furs, except that instead of that odd round hat, they wore their hoods up. One of them had a leather mask around the face.
"Kancil, Daud and Amina." Hari introduced them.
Kancil and Daud, the two guys, waved at Katrin. Only Amina, the girl with the mask, shook her hand. When Katrin offered her hand to the guys, they shrank back.
"It's a cultural thing." Amina explained. "Something about guys and girls touching each other."
"Oh."
Back at Lamico, Ginny hadn't been willing to shake Colin's hand either. Maybe they had something in common.
"There are others." Amina told Hari. "Two traders and a courier."
"We can wait." Hari said. He turned to Katrin. "This is how we usually travel in this land. Because the Wilds are so strong, Travelers prefer to move in groups. It is rare to see a Traveler in the open all alone."
"I didn't know." Katrin confessed. "I've only arrived last night."
It made sense though. The Wilds here really were strong, and some of them ran around in packs. Going out there alone now sounded like suicide.
{I hope Colin hasn't been overkilled yet… if his Comrades go Frenzied from dying too often, this would become yet another Continent we've messed up.}
"But you went around alone." Katrin pointed out.
"I was well prepared." Hari said. "Also, I have a thermal sensor with an overlay map of the territory's Wilds zones. I know when something's coming, and how strong the average Wilds are in the area I'm at."
He showed it to her. Katrin frowned at the colored blips. "I'm guessing that blue are us, our Comrades are the green blips and the red ones are Wilds, but what are the yellows?"
"Other Dreamers who aren't J-Knights." Hari explained. "The system detects and matches heat signatures to our J-Knights database. It even got the signatures of our Most Wanted list in there. If anyone on that list shows up within range, I'll have a flashing bright red blip."
"And this works… anywhere?" Katrin stared.
"Only in cold places like this, and only in the open." Hari grimaced. "It's not too good at detecting people in houses, for example. Sometimes, it gets a bit confused too. It's quite new, and our R&D guys haven't fixed everything."
Katrin watched the blips move, then pointed to something. "I think there's a battle starting up. There are green dots appearing around those three yellows to the east, and the reds are closing in."
"That's not too far from the village." Hari frowned. "Wilds don't normally make serious attacks this close to human settlements."
"Shouldn't we help them?" Kancil asked.
"We should." Hari said. "Let's hurry."
***
They saw the smoke before they saw the battle. Someone was throwing fire attacks around up there, probably the Comrades of the Dreamers under attack. Meanwhile, a few small tornadoes were starting up around the site, and the ground was shaking more and more as Katrin and Hari's squad arrived on scene.
"What the-?" Daud blurted as a flood of ice shards started raining down all around them. "Ice Blizzard?! What kind of idiot would…!"
"Grraah!" Gera leapt over Katrin, covering her with her own body, and forming up an earth barrier slanting over their heads. Hari's bear did the same thing, except his barrier was ice rather than soil.
Up ahead, a girl was yelling. "We have to stop this storm!"
A guy shouted. "Fetter! Charge the gray-eared one!"
Katrin saw a tall war-bunny zip across her limited field of vision, and swung at something she hadn't even noticed was there before.
The white form with gray ears shimmered in the sun and the snow, barely visible unless it moved. It leapt aside, swerved away from the war bunny, and then suddenly three other forms pounced on the war bunny from all sides.
The war bunny collapsed.
"White wraiths?!" Hari blurted. "I don't believe it! What are they doing here?!"
"What are they?" Katrin asked, getting more and more worried by the minute.
"I didn't think they were real! Locals claimed that there's a variety of wolfcats out here that were white, but…"
"They're real." Katrin growled. "I saw them earlier. You would have too, if you weren't looking at your thermal sensor all the time."
"But they're not supposed to be out here! They're supposed to be far to the south! And why are they attacking people? In packs, no less!"
A furious howl from behind made Katrin and Hari turn at the same time.
"Oh, scrap…" Hari choked. "Ambush!"
Behind them were at least six other white wolfcats, all looking fierce and intent. All of them looked like Shiro, and Katrin was not in the least surprised to see them dashing forward just as fast as Shiro would…
{That one in front REALLY looks like Shiro.}
"Defensive formation!" Hari called to the others desperately. "We have to…"
Too late. The pack of white wolfcats at their backs were already on them. Katrin braced, expecting to be hit by a powerful tail attack or some sonic strike, and get killed on the spot…
She blinked. The white wolfcat that looked exactly like Shiro dashed right past her, ignoring her completely.
"Huh?" Hari froze, as wolfcat after wolfcat zipped past without so much as growling at them. Instead, the new pack hurled themselves at the other pack of white wolfcats, and a whole lot of barking, growling, snarling, and howling started up. Snow, fur and elemental attacks started flying around every which way, and the blizzard overhead stopped.
"This way!" Amina called to the Dreamers who were attacked. She, Daud and Kancil led them to Hari and Katrin's position, a boy in a red tracksuit, a heavy boy in a yellow t-shirt, and a girl in a green dress…
{Hey. I know those three. That's Jonah, Alicia and Larry. Colin's three oldest friends. Sort-of friends.}
"What are you three doing here?" Katrin blurted.
Alicia blinked right back. "Hey, guys! It's farmgirl Katrin! You know, from Edward's Farm!"
"Edward's Farm is gone." Katrin said, remembering. "Sunshine Town's mostly gone too."
"Yeah. We know. We were at Bovine." Larry rumbled.
Hari interrupted. "Katrin! We must go!"
"You think?" Jonah asked sarcastically.
***
They reached Soft Snows Town in record time, running (or riding Hari's bears) all the way. The whole bunch of them flopped down tiredly all around the inn's lounge area upon arrival, even the bears.
"What… was that…?" Kancil heaved, his voice off-key.
"White wraiths don't… come… this far… north…" Daud coughed. "It's… not… possible."
"It is." Hari gulped down Bruth in a hurry and went into a fit of coughing. "We just saw it."
Jonah spun to Katrin. "Spill it. Where is he?"
Katrin blinked. Jonah looked furious. "What? Who?"
"Colin!" Jonah barked. "Who else could do something like that?!"
"Colin?" Katrin stared. "You think Colin did this?"
"Who else has a white wolfcat?!" Jonah spat. "Who else can command Wilds to attack people?!"
{That's true…} "But why would Colin…"
"He finally shows his true colors." Jonah whirled. "All those years pretending to be our friend, and now he tries to kill us! Our dads always threw us together. I always knew he was no good! Always!"
{That's right… Colin's told me about these three. Their dads were friends so they made their kids play together. But they always left Colin out, or bullied him or something…}
{Or at least, that's what Colin said.}
Alicia and Larry were too busy panting to say anything.
Katrin hovered in doubt. On one hand, she didn't think Colin would do something like that, or if he did, it wouldn't be out of spite. On the other hand…
{Colin's been acting strange lately. He's… different.}
{Or was he? Maybe he's been this way all along, and I just didn't know him well enough.}
{What do I know of Colin, anyway? We just meet two weeks ago! And even then, he was going around with everyone else while I stayed back on the farm…}
"What's he like?" Katrin asked, in between pants. "You've known him a long time, haven't you?"
"Colin's a snake." Jonah said at once. "He'll wait till you turn around and then stab you in the back. He always says bad things about us to our dads and all, and always gets us in trouble! They keep scolding us and get angry at us all the time, and it's all his fault!"
Larry shook his head. "I don't think so. He's not like that."
"You don't think at all!" Jonah shot back.
Katrin turned to Alicia.
Alicia hesitated. "I don't know. I used to think I knew everything, but now… I don't know anything any more."
And then her face changed, as if she felt the warmth of an invisible but familiar hand on her shoulder. For a moment there, Katrin could almost see it.
Amina came up to them at that point, and offered them Bruth.
Katrin made a face. "No thanks. I don't like the taste."
"You must keep warm." Amina said. "With clothes like yours… it is not good."
"Clothes…" Alicia shivered. She was wearing some white leopard furs in a coat of sorts, but that obviously wasn't enough, and even that had been torn in the wolfcat attacks.
"I need warmer gear too." Katrin realized. What she'd bought was fine in town, but out in the open fields, she needed more. Far more.
"Let's go." Amina suggested. "I'll help."
"You guys too." Alicia told Jonah and Larry.
"Later." Jonah said, turning away. He gulped down a mug of Bruth like water, then let out a yell. "That was hot."
"Good, isn't it?" Hari offered him a whole bottle.
Jonah grabbed it and gulped it down too.
Larry was sipping Bruth more cautiously, taking it in slowly but surely. "The taste isn't much, but it sure warms you up."
"Go on ahead." Hari suggested, filling another mug for himself. "We'll bring them along later. If I know anything about Amina, you three will be shopping for hours."
"Sounds good to me." Alicia said, cheering up.
***
When it came to shopping, Katrin found herself utterly outmatched by her two companions. Amina and Alicia both had their own fashion styles and Katrin ended up caught in between them for the better part of three hours.
Amina's style had a sense of dignified elegance, a sense of unity in all she wore, picking out seemingly random items out from all directions and somehow bringing them together into sets that blended surprisingly well. She picked out the warmest, the most covering, and the cosiest gear.
In contrast, Alicia's style was daring and sharp. She picked a lot of things that used cutting edge thermo regulation rather than 'going around wrapped up like moving cocoons', as she put it. Her white leopard furs were a good example – not quite as thick as the heavy furs most people wore, but light and easy to move in. The whole coat had been made of modified materials; if not for the tears in it, the thermal regulation would have kept her comfortable even outside.
It took Katrin ten minutes to realize how far ahead both of them were in terms of style and fashion. It took her half an hour to realize their styles were different and either of them would suit her, but not both together. An hour into their shopping, she found herself swamped with options from both sides and scratching her head while the other two filled up their carts.
The second hour was mostly spent being bombarded with advice and suggestions from everyone, Alicia, Amina, the salesgirl, the cashier, everyone. The third hour found a whole army of people going around picking out stuff for her because she couldn't decide for herself.
By the time Hari, Jonah and Larry came along, Katrin was in near-despair.
"What are you guys going to do?" Alicia asked.
"This place is seriously dangerous. We're going for armor." Jonah said at once. "Armor with Adventura Import-links. Alicia, I think we should join the J-Knights."
"Join the Justice Knights?" Alicia blinked. "But I thought we were going to win tournaments across the world!"
"We will." Jonah said. "But we were looking for a good guild, remember? And the J-Knights have Colin at the top of their Most Wanted list. If he keeps trying to cause us trouble, we can call for help. Besides, there's the Green Men after us too – and the J-Knights have them on the Kill-On-Sight list."
"The Green Men…" Alicia trailed off. "I still can't remember what happened when they grabbed us."
"None of us can." Larry consoled his sister. "Rita and Henry were taken too. They can't remember either."
Katrin shivered. The Cult of Gaia were after eight kids specifically, those who started on the same night as herself. Jonah, Alicia, Larry, Rita and Henry were five of the Eight; all five had been caught and taken away, then returned with apologies and gifts… and the memories of the time they were taken completely wiped.
Now the cultists (the Green Men) were after Katrin, Colin and maybe Phillip, but nobody had seen Phillip since the first night and had no idea if he was even still in this Dreamworld.
Alicia, surprisingly, turned to Katrin and Amina. "What do you think? Should we join?"
"Sure." Amina said, straight off.
Katrin gave Alicia a slow nod. "I joined up long ago. They treat people fairly and did a lot to protect me from the Green Men. They're really trying to make this Dreamworld a better place for everyone."
"Let's do it." Larry nudged Alicia.
"Are you sure?" Alicia hesitated. "I mean…"
"I want the Adventura Import Link." Larry said.
"Oh." Alicia stood up. "Okay. Let's join up."
Hari made a call. "Marcus? You there?"
"Yo, Hari. What's up?" Marcus, Katrin guessed, was one of the J-Knight Coordinators, like Abby.
"Three more recruits for the J-Knights. Greens, but they were Purples before."
"Mmm hmm." Marcus didn't sound in the least impressed. "It's official. We've gotten at least one hundred new Knights this week."
"What?!" Hari choked.
"Oh, that's right. You've no idea what's been going on in Crescent and Lamico. It's been chaos around here, and we J-Knights have been working hard in the spotlight. Lots of people are joining us these days."
{It makes sense.} Katrin thought. {I lost my earlier Comrades when the J-Knights fought the Green Men invasions across the Crescent Continent. I was hailed as a hero when we cleared the Scopic Pirates from Lamico's main trading routes. I commanded the defense of a town in the name of the Justice Knights even in the face of annihilation. The J-Knights are heroes in both Crescent and Lamico, no question about it.}
So thinking, Katrin didn't quite hear what Hari was saying to Marcus over the comms. She didn't pay any attention to what the guys were doing until Hari turned to her directly and asked, "Anything you want?"
"Huh?" Katrin blinked.
"Armor? Food supplies?" Hari asked.
"Uh… sure." Katrin said, wondering what this was about.
"Yeah, Katrin too." Hari told Marcus.
"Right. We'll send your supplies right now. They should reach you in a few hours."
"Great." Hari said. "Wish us luck, Marcus."
Marcus answered. "Good luck with the White Wraiths Investigation."