After Unit 1576, agreed to join Shadow. Goblin untied her and Shadow placed a necklace on her too. Goblin then asked her for a new name to be called. Unit 1576 chose to be called Mouse. The human name for the animal called goblin on their planet. She felt that made Goblin and her a pair.
Shadow was starting to worry about Leo. This was the longest he was ever gone. She told herself if he didn't return, they would search in the morning. Shadow told Goblin and Mouse to burn the bodies and clean up the hideout.
Mouse looked around at the hideout impressed. The valley had high walls and only one entrance, besides from above. The base itself wasn't half-bad. There was a large metal building against the back wall and an extended open bay area for all the vehicles and weapon caches they stole. Blaster cannons were mounted in various positions all over. She thought to herself that this little refuge was more secure than there own spaceship.
"Mouse we need to busy. Shadow is not a beastman I want to make angry."
Snapping her out of her thought process, the two of them got to work. The moved all of their former comrades to pit and burned them. The smell was awful, but they knew it needed to be done. The cleared up all the shrapnel and wreckage and piled it into the same area. Around midnight they finally finished.
Shadow gave them some furs to sleep on in a corner. Even though the two of them were slaves in a sense, this was the first-night Goblin and Mouse got to sleep in each other's arms. Ability to share their love was worth going against Tigra.
"You two lovebirds wake up. We need to look for my little brother. A human by the name Leo." The three of him headed out to the bay and drove off in search of Leo.
Shadow drove around till they picked up the smell of dead bodies near an area of trees. The three found the remains of Unit 1351 and 1568. Goblin and Mouse looked at the tracks and told Shadow some massive cat beast killed their ex-teammates.
Looking around Goblin and Mouse found a trail of blood. Shadow also found a piece of the bandages the cub was wrapped in. "Shadow, I think it might take a while, but I'm sure we can find your human or at least his killer."
Shadow knew that the fight was a gruesome one, but Leo's body wasn't found. So, she didn't give up hope. "Let us track down this cat beast." Goblin focused on the blood trail and Mouse concentrate on the smell. While they tracked the beast on foot, Shadow trailed them with the hovercraft.
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About a kilometer or so away in a cave in the mountains, Leo awoke in the darkness. A sizeable warm fur pillow was nestled against him. Leo opened and closed his eyes waking himself up.
"Sprite you there?"
"Yes, Sir. Glad to see you finally awake. You took a hard hit back there.
Rubbing the back of his head, Leo remembered, he was smacked by that large mountain lion. "Sprite do you know where we are?"
"Sir, you are currently in the mountain lion's den. She carried you and her child back to here. The young cub has not left your side since you saved it."
Touching the fur up against him, Leo realized that the lion cub was sleeping. Leo rubbed the warm fuzzy cat to feel how its wounds were healing. Realizing they mostly gone, Leo smiled.
The cub woke up and purred at Leo. He then made a meow sound.
"Sir, I will translate that for you."
"Sprite, you speak mountain lion?"
"I learned it while you were asleep. Translating....."
[Goodmorning, Older brother.] Sprite responded in a different tone of audio. He told Leo it differentiated him and the little cub talking.
Leo nodded his head and then petted his new little brother. Using Sprite to light up, Leo got up to get a feel for his new temporary home. The room he was in was a large open area at the end of the tunnel. There were rocks and dirt scattered around. Leo and his little brother slept in a make-shift grass bed.
The little lion cub started moving around. He kept smacking Leo's leg and biting him to play. [Let us play Older Brother,] the cub meowed.
Leo pushed him out of the way when he saw a black metallic ball in the corner. Leo picked it up and stared at it. [Hey, that's toy.] The small cat said trying to grab it from Leo.
"Sprite, scan this."
"Scanning.....Sir, there is a message left inside this ball. Do you want me to read it for you or you want to absorb the mana and the message come to you?"
"Read it to me Sprite."
[Hello traveler. My name is Enyeto. It means to walk as a bear. I was born in the year 2001 on an Indian reservation. I ran away from home in 2018 to find myself. I let nature and my soul guide me. I soon was drawn to the state of Colorado and found this cave north of Denver. In this cave, I found five metal balls. Each one held mana. A source of power that left our plane long ago. In each sphere, had a message left in it. One ball carried the cultivation method to temper one's body. The second ball told me the history of the owner of these balls initially. The third taught me long lost martial arts. The fourth taught me the history of gods. The last one held the soul of the Navajo God Asdzání Shash Nádleehé. Her name means changing bear. This is why I think her soul called me. After absorbing the Mana and her soul, I was at peak Tempered Body. I was not born with a life root to serve as my center to enter Mana Fighter. Alas, the years went by, and the world destroyed itself. I watched it from this cave sitting here till I died. Using mana, I saved over the many of years; I leave this final message. I leave two last requests. If mana ever returns to the world, make mine and Changing Bear's technique called Earth Control famous. The second request is if you ascend to the higher plane, hunt down Coyote god and kill him for stealing Changing Bear's virginity and murdered her family. When this message ends, Earth Control technique will be transferred to you. Wish you good luck traveler.]
"Sir, I recommend you to absorb the mana to hear the message again and receive the technique."
All of this talking bored the little cub so he took a nap since his older brother wouldn't give his ball back.
Holding the metal ball, Leo consumed the mana, and the text floated into his mind. Not only the technique but bits and pieces Enyeto's memory. It took a few hours for Leo to digest all the information he received.
Holding the metal ball, Leo said, "Earth Control." Leo using the ball was able to move around the earth effortlessly. Before this, all his moves took great detail and precision using both yin and yang mana. Now he can do ten times as much with half the mana.
Leo wondered where the other four spheres went, but then he heard a loud growl in the entrance of the cave. "Translating..."
[Mother is home.]